Mashiach: Yesod

Hora’ah – הוראה – Teaching

The Sefirah of Yesod is associated with the tzaddik and concept of Mashiach ben Yosef.  It carries with it the sense of “connection,” acting as the gate between Malchut below, and ‘all’ else above. When it is in place and functioning properly, there is harmony throughout, but when it is displaced or under duress, the world of Malchut is negatively impacted as the sustenance from above is cut off.

“There are two modes through which God judges the world, the Attribute of Judgment (Midat HaDin) and the Attribute of Mercy (Midat haRachamim). The Attribute of Judgment demands a single, fixed, unmitigated response for any wrong, while the Attribute of Mercy admits a number of mitigated responses. Therefore, Judgment comes from the Female, which is derived from a single Sefirah, Malkhut-Kingship, and therefore has just one single response. Zer Anpin, on the other hand, is constructed from six Sefirot, and therefore allows an infinite blend of responses. It is therefore the source of the Attribute of Mercy. Actually, however, all providence ultimately comes from the Sefirah of Malkhut-Kingship, this being the definition of the word. But in order for Malkhut-Kingship to act in a mode Mercy, it must be bound to Zer Anpin, this being the concept of the Supernal Union. This Union, however, takes place through Yesod-Foundation.”
The Bahir, translation by Aryeh Kaplan, Samuel Weiser Inc., York Beach Maine, 1979, p. 137.

“This attribute (Yesod) is responsible for the prevention of tribulation in the world … It is known that at the moment TZaDIK (Yesod) separates from TZeDeK (‘righteousness,’ another term for the Sefirah of Malkhut), the attribute of TZeDeK (Malkhut) remains empty; then it rises to plunder and kill, to uproot and annihilate, bringing to the world several kinds of death: natural death, death from epidemic plagues, death from bizarre circumstances and other forms of death … If heaven forbid, humanity defiles itself, distancing itself from the Torah and the commandments, choosing instead iniquity, wickedness and deceit, the attribute TZaDIK (Yesod) stands, observing their deeds. When it (Yesod) sees humanity defiling itself, disdaining the Torah and its commandments while performing iniquities and deceits, the attribute TZaDIK (Yesod) collects itself and soars far above, thereby ceasing the ebb and flow of the channels. Then the attribute Adonay (Malkhut) is left like a barren land, desolate and empty of all that is good.”
Sha’are Orah (“Gates of Light”), Rabbi Joseph Gikatilla, translated by Avi Weinstein, Altamira Press, 1994, pp. 58-62

 

NEW TESTAMENT

“And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.”
2 Thessalonians 2:6-8

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