Hora’ah – הוראה – Teaching
Mashiach ‘descending’ (into the klippot, gehenna)
“Citing a passage in Tikunei hazohar (Zohar hadash, tikunim, 112d-113a), the Ramchal wrote that what was meant by Pharaoh’s decree that all newborn males were to be cast into the river, and by the concealment of Moshe in ‘the ark of bulrushes’ (Exo.1:22; 2:3), was the retention of ‘the light of the Torah’ and ‘the spirit of the Mashiach’ in Gan Eden (Adir bamarom, 27-9). This surprising exposition (‘into the river’ = to Gan Eden, ‘cast him’ = conceal the secrets of the Torah and the Mashiach in Gan Eden) has no support in the passage in the Zohar on which it is alleged to be based or in Luzzatto’s lame explanation of the subject matter of the exposition. (Zohar hadash, tikunim, 98b; Tikunei Zohar, tikun 21, 53b – the casting into the river is made to apply to the degradation of esoteric secrets; that is to say, Pharaoh’s order ‘Cast him into the river’ is understood as alluding to the decree that the decree that the secrets of the Torah should be cast out and besmirched in exile. None of the three passages contains any reference to ‘Gan Eden’). But it contains the key to the understanding of his TRUE INTENTION, which he declared he had purposely obscured. What he really meant by ‘the river’ was the abyss of the kelipot – the evil spirits known as the husks – and since the secrets of the Torah and the soul of the Mashiach were being held captive in the prison of the Sitra Achra for so long as the Temple lay in ruins and Israel was in exile, it was said of them that they were cast ‘into the river.’
As for the kabbalistic scholars who sought to attain a knowledge of the mysteries hidden in the river of the husks, they, too, must cast themselves into it in order to extract those mysteries. ‘The son that is born’ is the Moshe-Mashiach, by which designation is meant that ‘when the Temple was destroyed, truly the Mashiach was born, as is well known.’ Contained within the spirit of the Mashiach were secrets of the Torah and holy powers which had to be known and understood in order to bring about the Redemption, but the Holy One, blessed be He, decreed that during the Exile ‘the transmission of the divine spirit to the Mashiach will be blocked, and he will be unable to draw the emanation down into Israel as he should, but will be cast into the river.’ Thus, so long as the Mashiach and the secrets of the Torah he carried within him remained plunged in the river of the husks of evil, the Exile would continue, and therefore ‘the reapers of the field’ [kabbalists] were given the ability to attach themselves to them and all to be contained within the spirit of Mashiach… and to hold strongly to him, so that they should all be cast into the river; and that is the tikun which I am expounding to you… and so they will receive there what is proper for them to receive and afterwards bring it down, and will be called maskilim [‘enlightened’ or ‘enlighteners’] … and the reason that the Scriptural expression tashikhuhu [‘cast him’] has become taskiluhu [‘enlighten him’] is that they are perfected through the mystical action of [the sefirah] Yesod, so as subsequently to bestow this bounty on others.
In freeing the captive secrets from dominion of the husks they would also liberate the soul of the Mashiach and help him to complete the Redemption, ‘for the Mashiach is called tzadik [‘righteous’], as in the allusion in Scripture: “he is righteous and saved” (Zech.9:9), and those who hold fast to his strength are called tzadikim.'”
Messianic Mysticism, Isaiah Tishby, pp. 70,71
“For the intensity of the descent is determined by the potential for ascent — “the bigger they are, the harder they fall.”
Mashiach – Who? What? Why? How? Where? When? Chaim Kramer, p. 185
Keter actually has two levels, a lower level corresponding to Arikh Anpin and an upper level, the intellect of Arikh Anpin, which corresponds to Atik (“The Ancient One”), Atik Yomin (“The Ancient of Days”), Atika Kadisha (“The Holy Ancient One”). … The connection between Mashiach and Atik is learned from Daniel’s vision: “A man came and he approached (the level of) the Ancient of Days..” Rashi explains that this refers to Mashiach, who will administer justice to the entire world. … Atik thus transcends anything we can conceive … at this level there is neither past nor future. Everything is in the present. And, as we have seen, every part of Creation, from the first constriction to the lowest level of Asiyah, is contained within the Keter Atik. Thus, Atik includes all time and space – yet transcends it all. The soul of Mashiach “resides” within Atik, and it is from this level that all his powers will be drawn. And, since he transcends time and space, Mashiach can trascend every transgression ever done, he can bring each person to a state prior to his having sinned. This is because in Keter, God overrides the rules that He set up for all the Sefirot and their interaction between each other and man. With the power inherent in this exalted level, Mashiach will be able to bring the world to a state of perfection.
Mashiach – Who? What? Why? How? Where? When? Chaim Kramer, pp. 208-209
NEW TESTAMENT
“Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)”
Ephesians 4:8-10
“For Messiah also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to G-d, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.”
1Peter 3:18-20
Hora’ah – הוראה – Teaching
Defeat of ‘Satan’ despite appearances to the contrary, Mashiach in captivity/assimilated
“This brings us to another crucial principle that appears in the writings of the Ari and especially in the kabbalah school of the Gaon. Along with the law of parallelism there is yet another cosmological law that King Solomon formulated. This law states: There is a time when the (evil) man subjugates the (good) man to his own undoing (Ecclesiastes 8:9). In other words, the forces of good must temporarily suffer at the hands of evil, in order to undermine those very forces by extracting and drawing out aspects of the fallen forces of good that are being held there in captivity. The principle of “a time for subjugation” is the second reason why the higher knowledge of Mashiach ben Yoseph is forced to go into exile. His soul must be subjugated to captivity, abuse and, under specific circumstances, even temporary loss of identity, in order to redeem specific ‘inverted’ fragments of Supernal Wisdom.
Only by the captor believing that the captive is under his control can the captive get close enough to ‘draw’ out the imprisoned energies from the soul of the captor himself. The “bad guy” thinks he is winning and yet he is ultimately losing to the “good guy.” The catch is, however, that in order for this mode to operate successfully, not only can’t the “bad guy” know the truth, the “good guy” as well cannot really know what is going on. In fact the “good guy” can’t always even know that he has been turned “inside-out” and that he is in a present state of captivity – also known as assimilation. This is an insurance policy. It guarantees that the divinity of Mashiach ben Yoseph will always be protected whenever it is forced to go into exile among the klippot.”
The Gift of Kabbalah, Tamar Frankiel, P. 87
NEW TESTAMENT
“I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. But he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.”
John 14:30,31
“For Mashiach’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Mashiach in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Mashiach, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from G-d, who reconciled us to himself through Mashiach and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that G-d was reconciling the world to himself in Mashiach, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Mashiach’s ambassadors, as though G-d were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Mashiach’s behalf: Be reconciled to G-d. G-d made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of G-d.”
2 Corinthians 5:14-21
“Who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our G-d and Father,”
Galatians 1:4
“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, G-d made you[d] alive with Mashiach He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
Colossians 2:13-15
“Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”
Titus 2:14
“The one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning The Son of G-d appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.”
1John 3:8
“Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”
Hebrews 2:14,15