Amidst all the hidden concepts, strange characters and martial arts fighting, the Matrix is also a love story between Trinity and Neo. Trinity, as Malkhut/Shekinah, represents the concept of “bride” in Torah – Neo, that of the “groom.” The union of Neo and Trinity of critical importance to the major concept of bringing tikkun to the Matrix as well as the human and machine worlds.
In Torah literature, the coming together of the “Groom and Bride” represents the “Unification of the Name of G-d,” which in turn relates to the culmination of human history as we now know it, and arrival of the Messianic age.
This is clearly expressed in this verse:
Zechariah 14:9: And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.
The implication in Zechariah is that the “Name” if G-d is not presently “one.” The is because the groom is seen as remaining attached to the Mochin above, whereas the bride is ‘apart’ from him, set adrift with Israel in the world. This fracture is due to incident in the Garden of Eden as well as subsequent sin. Thus the “Name of G-d” is not “One” at this time, but will be “in that day” when the bride and groom are once again together.
Two numbers are associated with this unification. The groom being the number six and the bride seven. The groom (Neo), represents the six Sefirot (G-dly emanations) of what is called Ze’ir Anpin (ZA) meaning “lesser countenance.” This persona (called a “partzuf” in kabbalah) is linked to the letter vav, the sixth letter of the Aleph-Bet and the ideas of ‘son’ and ‘groom.’ The kabbalistic term often used to represent ZA is “Hakadosh Baruch Hu,” – “the Holy One, blessed be He.”
The Bride (Trinity), being Malkut (Kingdom), the last of the seven “emotive Sefirot” (middot) is represented by the number seven and linked to the concepts of ‘daughter’ and ‘bride.’ This is why we see the bride circling the groom seven times in a Jewish wedding. It is also why in Shir haShirim (Song of Songs) the male figure refers to the female as both his sister and his ‘bride.’ The kabbalistic terms often used here are, “shekinah” (divine presence) and “nukveh” (female).
The combination of the numbers six and seven, when they are multiplied (called the “chibur,” meaning ‘joining’), gives us the product of ’42.’ This idea of the unification of the bride and groom is one of the fundamental concepts of Torah literature that we can trace from Genesis to Revelation. It is often expressed in terms of the “42-letter Name of G-d.”
The unification of the male and female, as the key part to the entire Name of G-d being made one, is at the heart of a prayer recited before performing certain observances. The mitzvoth is done for the sake of unifying the last two letters (V-H) to the first two (Y-H), which always remain together, though concealed:
“For the sake of the union of the Holy One Blessed be He, and His Shekhinah, to unite the name Y-H with V-H in a perfect union, in the name of all Israel”
The 42-Letter Name Through the Tenakh and Torah Literature:
CREATION
The forty-two letter Name of G-d is closely associated with God and His role in creation. The following verse from the Zohar speaks to this, also describing these letters as being an “ornament,” which is another translation of the word Tireret (1)
Zohar, Bereshith 30a – AND THE EARTH WAS VOID AND WITHOUT FORM. This describes the original state-as it were, the dregs of ink clinging to the point of the pen-in which there was no subsistence, until the world was graven with forty-two letters, all of which are the ornamentation of the Holy Name.
It is fascinating that the opening words of the Zohar, commenting on Genesis 1, immediately cast the purpose of creation in terms of the union of bride and groom in the 42-letters.
The Zohar alludes to the Song of Songs, chapter 2, verse 1, which says: I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. This section speaks of the lily (shoshana = lily or rose) as being the beloved of the man in the story. The lily is related to the “Community of Israel” (and the Shekinah which resides among them). (See also Song of Solomon 3:3, where he feeds among the lilies [shoshanim]). The colors red and white are associated in the Zohar with the Sefirot of judgment and mercy respectively.:
Zohar Bereshith 1a – “Rabbi Hizkiah opened his discourse with the text: As a lily among thorns, etc. (Song of Songs 2:2). ‘What’, he said, ‘does the lily symbolize? It symbolizes the Community of Israel. As the lily among thorns is tinged with red and white, so the Community of Israel is visited now with justice and now with mercy; as the lily possesses thirteen leaves, so the Community of Israel is vouchsafed thirteen categories of mercy which surround it on every side. For this reason, the term Elohim (God) mentioned here (in the first verse of Genesis) is separated by thirteen words from the next mention of Elohim, symbolizing the thirteen categories of mercy which surround the Community of Israel to protect it. The second mention of Elohim is separated from the third by five words, representing the five strong leaves that surround the lily, symbolic of the five ways of salvation which are the “five gates”. This is alluded to in the verse “I will lift up the cup of salvation” (Psalms 116:13). This is the “cup of benediction,” which has to be raised by five fingers and no more, after the model of the lily, which rests on five strong leaves in the shape of five fingers. Thus the lily is a symbol of the cup of benediction. Immediately after the third mention of Elohim appears the light which, so soon as created, was treasured up and enclosed in that b’rith (covenant) which entered the lily and fructified it, and this is what is called “ tree bearing fruit wherein is the seed thereof”: and this seed is preserved in the very sign of the covenant. And as the ideal covenant was formed through forty-two copulations, so the engraven ineffable name is formed of the forty-two letters of the work of creation.”
JACOB
The following section explains how the Shekinah accompanied Jacob when he went to Egypt. It is said that “forty-two heavenly attendants,” which are associated with the Holy Name of God, were with the Shekinah:
Zohar, Shemoth 5a – Said R. Simeon: ‘When the Shekinah went down to Egypt, a celestial “living being” (Hayah, cf.Ezek. 1, 5), called “Israel”, in form like the patriarch Jacob, went down with Her, accompanied by forty-two heavenly attendants, each of whom bore a letter belonging to the Holy Name. They all descended with Jacob to Egypt, and hence it says “and these are the names of the children of Israel which came into Egypt… with Jacob”.’ … When R. Isaac was once studying with R. Eleazar, the son of R. Simeon, he asked him: ‘Did the Shekinah go down to Egypt with Jacob?’ Said R. Eleazar: ‘Surely! Did not God say to Jacob, “I will go down with thee into Egypt” (Gen. XLVI, 4)?’
MOSES
The rod of Moses, which acted a means of connecting above and below is also associated with the 42-letter Name:
Zohar, Bereshith 8b – “And in the Egyptian’s hand was a spear like a weaver’s beam” (I Chr. XI, 23). This alludes to the divine rod which was in Moses’ hand, and on which there was engraved the divine ineffable Name radiating in various combinations of letters. These same letters were in possession of Bezalel, who was called “weaver”, and his school, as it is written: “Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart… of the craftsman and the skilled workman, and the weaver, etc.” (Exod. XXXV, 35). So that rod had engraved on it the ineffable Name on every side, in forty-two various combinations, which were illumined in different colours.
Further, this rod is connected with the mystical figure of Metatron, who connects all worlds. (This is discussed in another section.)
Zohar, Bereshith 27a – Similarly of Moses it is written,“And the staff of G-d was in his hand.” This rod is Metatron, from one side of whom comes life and from the other death.
MANNAH
The manna in the wilderness is also associated with the forty-two letter Name of God. The children of Israel in their journey from Sinai to the Promised Land, stopped a total of forty-two times, at each point meeting with God in the form of the Shekinah appearing:
Midrash Rabbah – Exodus 25:5 – and God said, BEHOLD, I WILL CAUSE TO RAIN BREAD FROM LEAVEN FOR YOU. R. Judah b. Shalom the Levite said in the name of R. Jonah, and also R. Levi in the name of R. Hama b. R. Hanina said: The manna descended after [they had travelled] forty-two stages.
In Midrash Rabbah Song of Songs, we see the Shekinah speak of how it met with the children of Israel a total of forty-two times in their wildernesss journey:
Midrash Rabbah – The Song of Songs 1:41 – MY MOTHER’S SONS, the sons of my nation, namely the spies, WERE INCENSED AGAINST ME: they attacked me, they filled the Judge with wrath against me. THEYMADE ME KEEPER OF THE VINEYARDS: because I stayed in the wilderness journeying forty-two stages, I was not able to enter the land of Israel. Hence, MY OWN VINEYARD I DID NOT KEEP.
This gives us yet another “connection,” as in the “New Testament,” Yeshua refers to Himself as being this manna:
John 6:33 – For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
THE PROPHETS
The number 42, representing the opening of a gate between the spiritual and physical worlds is found hidden in Ezekiel’s prophecy of the millennial temple. The connection between the six and seven, and coming of the Messianic Age, is found in the description the dimensions of the Eastern Gate, through which the blessings of G-d will come into the world.
As is mentioned in the book “Secrets of the Future Temple,” by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato (translated by Avraham Greenbaum):
“As the great and powerful letter Vav asserted itself (for it was from the Vav that the light [of the heavenly Holy of Holies] emerged, its force was so great that it broke through the wall and made there a gate as high as the measure of the vav (=6): six cubits. And since the Vav was joined with its mate (6+1=7), the width of the gate was seven cubits.”
YESHUA
Turning to the gospels, we find a direct mention of 42 with regard to the number of generations between the ‘first Adam and second Adam.” Again, this would reflect a connection being made between above and below:
Matthew 1:17 – All the generations, therefore, from Abraham unto David are fourteen generations, and from David unto the Babylonian removal fourteen generations, and from the Babylonian removal unto the Messiah, fourteen generations.
THE END OF DAYS
The final reference to the number 42 as found in the book of Revelation in two separate but related capacities. The last seven years prior to the end of this age, are split into two segments, of 42 months each. The first seems to point to the point that an anti-messiah figure reaches the ability to bring great calamity over the world. The next set of 42 months takes us through many difficulties, resulting in the coming of the messiah.
What is particularly interesting here is the idea that the first set of 42 months leads to the opening of a spiritual window that functions in the opposite manner. This is based on the principle that for everything which G-d created, he also created its opposite. (i.e., everything that exists on the side of the Holy has something corresponding to it on the side of evil.)
This is not the first occurrence of this phenomenon. During this excursion to the Promised Land, The children of Israel experience their encounter with the evil prophet, Balaam, who offered his services to the king Balak, who had sought him out. The Torah and Talmud record that Balak (and Balaam) offered a total of forty-two sacrifices to come against the power that supported Israel. (In the Torah he offers seven sacrifices going up and seven going down each of three mountains.
Talmud, Sotah 47a – R. Hanina said: On account of the forty-two sacrifices which Balak, king of Moab, offered, were forty-two children cut off from Israel.
The Zohar states the same about Balak and Balaam, and then goes on to explain that the prophet Elisha exacted revenge upon forty-two children for the curses that Balak and Balaam attempted to inflict upon Israel:
Soncino Zohar, Shemoth, Section 2, Page 224a – R. Simeon said: ‘Observe that the forty-two offerings brought by Balaam and Balak were offerings diverted from the “other side” towards the Holy One, blessed be He, and so the “other side”, which is called “curse”, had to be repaid these offerings from Israel. This is the inner implication of the verse, “And he (Elisha) looked behind him and saw them” (2 Kings II, 24). That is to say, “behind him”, meaning the “other side,” which stands behind the Shekinah. He turned “and saw them” (the children), as being meet for punishment; “and cursed them in the name of the Lord” (Ibid.), inducing the Divine Name, as it were, to discharge the debt owing to the “other side”, for the latter’s offerings which had been diverted to Him. Thus all is made right before the Holy One, blessed be He, and not a single act is lost, whether for good or for evil.
Soncino Zohar, Shemoth, Section 2, Page 224b – Straightway “he [Elisha] cursed them in the name of the Lord”. “And there came forth two bears”(2 Kings II, 24)-she bears, as indicated by the feminine numeral sh’tayim, big with offspring, “and tare forty and two children of them” (Ibid.), in correspondence, as has been explained, to the number of offerings brought by Balak.
The Scripture verse in question is from 2 Kings:
2 Kings 2:24 – And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
We find this sort of ‘negative unification’ of groom and bride in the Matrix in the relationship between the Merovingian and Persephone. As with all things, this too serves the ultimate purpose of brining the true bride and groom together.
Persephone: If you want the Keymaker, follow me.
To put it succinctly, the number 42 is associated with the idea of a “window” between worlds. When the groom (6) and bride (7) come together (6×7=42) a window is open.
Just as there are multiple ‘connections’ that occur between the ‘bride and groom’ from Genesis through Revelation, we find Neo and Trinity undergoing several moments of unification that lead to new steps along the path.
For instance:
- When Trinity risks her life to meet with Neo the first time, it opens the window to Morpheus.
- When she kisses him, and he is restored after being killed by Smith, it opens the window to the higher level of the Oracle.
- When she sacrifices herself to save him, when the plan to cut the power to the building fails, it opens the window to the Architect.
- Finally, when Trinity goes with him to the machine city, she again expresses her willingness to die for/with him – and does, serving her final purpose.
This beautiful dialogue, from their last day together, says it all:
Trinity: I’m ready.
Neo: Trinity… There’s something I have to say. Something you need to understand. I know I’m supposed to go. But beyond that – I don’t know…
Trinity: I know. You don’t think you’re coming back. I knew it the moment you said you had to leave. I could see it in your face. Just like you knew the moment you looked at me that I was coming with you.
Neo: I’m scared Trin.
Trinity: So am I. Took me ten minutes to buckle up one boot. But I’ll tell you something. Six hours ago I told the Merovingian that I was ready to give anything and everything for you. Do you know what’s changed in the past 6 hours?
Neo: No.
Trinity: Nothing.
Her mission will take her a bit further, but she cannot go as far as he does. Like Rachel in Torah (which is who she represents) she dies ‘on the road’ and Neo (Jacob) must go on without her to fulfill his purpose.
All of which points to a ‘hidden’ scene in the first movie. When Neo and Trinity truly ‘come together’ as one in order to accomplish a great task and elevate Neo to the next level.
In order to save Morpheus, they embark on a rescue mission. The scene in question is when they take an elevator which Neo stops on the 41st floor. (As seen when Neo pushes the button.) When they come to a stop, they climb out the top of the elevator compartment, standing on its roof and embracing, where Neo says to himself, “There is no spoon” – at the level of the 42nd floor.
From their they launch themselves ‘upwards’ to the next level of their journey. The subsequent sequence of events culminates with both Morpheus and Trinity’s lives being saved by Neo, and everyone agreeing, “He’s the One.”
ANOTHER HIDDEN GEM
In the book Sha’are Orah (Gates of Light) where speaking of the first gate (Sefirah of Malkhut) which is the Shekinah/Bride (Trinity in the Matrix) it says within it are hidden the 54 quadrilateral names of YHVH (based on letter combinations). (2)
Thus the full potential of the bride is found in the number 54.
In other kabbalistic literature, the number associated with the hidden aspect of the Mashiach/Groom (Neo) is 17. This is because mashiach unites our reality of the 7 lower Sefirot with the totality of the 10 Sefirot. Further, all the numbers from 1 to 17 added together come to 153, which is the numerical value of Bezalel (whom we associated with Neo in another study) as well as a clue behind this peculiar verse:
John 21:11 – Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three…
Note the time on the clock as it goes off the morning right after Neo (17) and Trinity (54) connected. This is the very first “chibur” (unification) that makes everything happen.
The chibur is: 17 x 54 = 918.
As producer Joel Silver said, there is a lot hidden in the movies – you have to know what to look for.
NOTES
- Strong’s #8597
- Sha’are Orah, Section I