Why the Bible is misunderstood

[John D. Brey]

Anyways, what Sylvius is missing is that the Plain meaning is never superseded by any other meaning. PARDES (PRDS) is an acronym that describes the four levels of biblical interpretation and their respective authority. #1 is the highest, nothing else can contradict it. #2 is second highest. It can't contradict #1, but supersedes #3 and 4. And so on.

#1 Pshat - The literal meaning of the text. Its simplest meaning, based on the text and context.

#2 Remez - Hints and allusions.

#3 Drush - Homilies that can be derived from the text in either contextual or non-contextual form. Also, moral and philosophical explanations.

#4 Sod - Hidden or secret meanings.

Sources:

Ethics of the Fathers 5:1; Babylonian Talmud Tractate Megillah 21b
Gaon of Vilna in Aderet Eliyahu, Bere[color=red]EDITME[/color][color=red]EDITME[/color][color=red]EDITME[/color][color=red]EDITME[/color] 1:1; Maharal of Prague
Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin, Nefesh Hachaim
Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed 2:30 (13th Century)

My understanding, and belief, is that Sod is the highest and most important, and that the meaning and importance descends with 3, 2, and 1. The plain meaning is available to the unbeliever, the profane man can understand the plain meaning. But only the greatest of sages attains to the hidden or secret meaning. God is a hidden God, and He only reveals His hidden aspects to the likes of Abraham and Moses. But the plain meaning is available to profligates and panderers and the profane.

[John D. Brey]

It is because "sod" is hidden within "pshat".

. . . And a theophany is hidden within the foreskin. But you must cut through both outer encumbrances to get to the life of the truth beneath; which . . . life . . . is in the blood. All truth is a bloody truth.

[sylvius]

PARDES (PRDS) is an acronym that describes the four levels of biblical interpretation

PARDES alludes to Paradise (Greek: "paradeison")

LXX Genesis 2:

8. καὶ ἐφύτευσεν κύριος ὁ θεὸς παράδεισον ἐν Eδεμ κατὰ ἀνατολὰς καὶ ἔθετο ἐκεῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὃν ἔπλασεν

9. καὶ ἐξανέτειλεν ὁ θεὸς ἔτι ἐκ τῆς γῆς πᾶν ξύλον ὡραῖον εἰς ὅρασιν καὶ καλὸν εἰς βρῶσιν καὶ τὸ ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς ἐν μέσῳ τῷ παραδείσῳ καὶ τὸ ξύλον τοῦ εἰδέναι γνωστὸν καλοῦ καὶ πονηροῦ

The ones who invented the term PARDES surely had an idea of what about it is.

http://www.jstor.org/pss/1509818

The story of the four who entered pardes, or the orchard, is the crux interpretum of the study of ancient Jewish mysticism

Crux interpretum, a little strange, ain't it, since crux = cross.

http://ascentofsafed.com/cgi-bin/ascent.cgi?Name=pardes

The Talmud (Chagiga 14b), Zohar (I, 26b) and Tikunei Zohar (Tikun 40) report the following incident regarding four Mishnaic Sages
The Rabbis taught: Four [Sages] entered the Pardes [literally "the orchard." Rashi explains that they ascended to heaven by utilizing the [Divine] Name, i.e., they achieved a spiritual elevation (Tosafot, ad loc) through intense meditation on G-d's Name]. They were Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Acher [Elisha ben Avuya, called Acher - the other one - because of what happened to him after he entered the Pardes] and Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva said to them [prior to their ascension]: "When you come to the place of pure marble stones, do not say, 'Water! Water!' for it is said, 'He who speaks untruths shall not stand before My eyes' (Psalms 101:7)."
Etc.

"When you come to the place of pure marble stones, do not say, 'Water! Water!' " might be a play on Hebrew "shesh" = six ,

http://www.balashon.com/2006/05/shesh.html

Two homonyms that aren't related to the number six are shesh (the fabric) and shayish שיש(marble). Shesh the fabric refers to white linen, and despite the drasha in Yoma 71b that connects it to the number six (a six ply linen thread) - Klein and Steinberg point out that both shesh (linen) and shayish are originally Egyptian words. (Perhaps related to each other, both being white?)

One interesting possible derivative of shesh is the Hebrew word for lily - שושנה / שושן shoshana (or shoshan). This is a common name for women in Hebrew, and is the source of the English name Susan. Ibn Ezra connects shoshana to shesh in his commentary on Shir HaShirim 2:2 -

It is a white flower of sweet but narcotic perfume, and it receives its name because the flower has, in every case, six [shesh] petals, within which are six long filaments.

.

But I picked it up this way, that it it alludes to "the sixth day" ("yom hashishi") in Genesis 1:31 ...

"Water, water"

http://ascentofsafed.com/cgi-bin/ascent.cgi?Name=pardes

"There shall be a firmament between the waters and it shall separate… (Genesis 1:6). Thus there are two types of water and a separation between them.
(...)
"Here there is no spiritual impurity… they are from the aspect of the Tree of Life…" These waters are in Atzilut and therefore there is no separation between them… on the contrary, the firmament unites them….

But this translation: "There shall be a firmament between the waters " is not right .

It is written, Genesis 1:6, יְהִי רָקִיעַ בְּתוֹךְ הַמָּיִם
"y'hi rakia b'toch hamayim" = "There shall be a firmament in the midst of the water".

This "in the midst of" returns in Genesis 2:9,

וְעֵץ הַחַיִּים, בְּתוֹךְ הַגָּן,
"v'ets hachayim b'toch hagan" = "and the tree of life in the midst of the garden".

Where LXX had: ἐν μέσῳ τῷ παραδείσῳ = in the midst of the paradise, from which the Rabbis derived the term PARDES.

There is another strange thing, because Genesis 2:9 goes on with:
וְעֵץ, הַדַּעַת טוֹב וָרָע, "v'ets hadaat tov vara" = and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

So two trees in one midpoint.

Are they two trees or just one?

More strange, even miraculous:

The numerical value of "ets hachayim" is 233 while the numerical value of "ets hadaat tov vara" is 932, showing up an exact 1:4 ratio.

The "4" coinciding the four levels of PARDES ...

If you just acknowledge the outer meaning (= translation) you get lost on life.

"4" is also value of "dalet" = fourth letter.

As a word it means "door", with numerical value 434, coinciding the 434 words in the first chapter of Genesis , "hashishi" (with the extra letter "heh") being the 434th, which would not have been
the case if the earth had brought forth "ets pri oseh pri" , like God had asked, instead of "ets oseh pri", Genesis 1:11-12, for then "hashishi" would have been the 435th word, and "b'hibaram" (in Genesis 2:4) would have been the 475th word instead of the 474th.

474 being the numerical value of "daat" = knowledge.
"B'hibaram" can be read as : "with the letter "heh" they were created." - Letter "heh" in "hashishi" and also added to Abraham's name.

To this must also allude Luke 11,52,

Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.

[sylvius]

. . . And a theophany is hidden within the foreskin. But you must cut through both outer encumbrances to get to the life of the truth beneath; which . . . life . . . is in the blood. All truth is a bloody truth.

NT being the "sod" of OT ...

Mark 2

21No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse.

22And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles

Which means: "Kabbalah supersedes Torah"

Same says Mark 12,

27He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.

said to those who stick to the outer meaning, the Sadducees.

[Tanakh Keeper]

The translation issues have not changed the traditional Christian interpretations, because of traditional doctrinal beliefs and prophecy beliefs that predetermine the interpretations. Just translating from Hebrew to English does not really resolve the problems

As to why the bible is misunderstood, this thread demonstrates multiple reasons. Not only is it mistranslations, but some people such as Sylvius, believe that G-d purposefully made puzzles for people. These people believe that G-d put out a false plain meaning with the 'real' meaning to be found with word play, word counting, and use of books written hundreds of years in the future as references. It is very sad the lengths that people will stoop to, to avoid the plain obvious meaning that G-d gave to us.

[sylvius]

(...) the plain obvious meaning that G-d gave to us.

What then is the plain obvious meaning (in a nutshell)?

(f.e. of Genesis 2:9 )

that G-d gave to us

"to us" = to the Jewish people and/or to Christianity or to all of mankind ?

I thought God did give Torah, Torah being something else than "plain obvious meaning".

[sylvius]

PARDES (PRDS) is an acronym that describes the four levels of biblical interpretation and their respective authority. #1 is the highest, nothing else can contradict it. #2 is second highest. It can't contradict #1, but supersedes #3 and 4. And so on.

conradicted by Rabbi Pinchas Winston:

http://www.torah.org/learning/percep...764/yisro.html

(...) "entering" Pardes is also a process of going from one area of Torah learning to a higher one, from Pshat to Remez, to Drush, and finally to Sod.

Another way of looking at these four levels is as layers, concentric spheres that overlap each other like layers of an onion. Pshat represents the most outer, obvious layer, while Sod represents the most hidden, inner, and essential layer. In fact, Sod, being the most inner layer, is said to be enclothed by Drush, which is enclothed by Remez, all of which are enclothed by the most outer layer, Pshat.

But I do not see it as layers of an onion, but as windings of a spiral, like the four windings of a snail-house, which also can be seen as the structure of the 49 days of the counting of the omer, from the second day of pesach ( the 16th day of Nisan) till shavuot ( the 6th day of Sivan) Pentecost, the 5Oth day = Revelation at mount Sinai.

[sylvius]

But I do not see it as layers of an onion, but as windings of a spiral, like the four windings of a snail-house,

The biblical colors Argaman (purple) and Techelet (blue) are said to have been obtained from snails, see:
http://www.breslev.co.il/articles/ju...nguage=english

Interesting Mark 15:16-20,

And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call together the whole band. And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.

"they took off the purple from him", like just an outer layer.

Hebrew "pshat", as a verb, means (ao) "to take off".

"they took off the purple from him", Hebrew: "hif[color=red]EDITME[/color][color=red]EDITME[/color][color=red]EDITME[/color][color=red]EDITME[/color]o oto et-m' il haargaman"

But the royal color (the blood of the snail) is at all four levels there...

[sylvius]

That the four levels of PARDES in fact are four windings of a spiral is hinted at ("remez"!)
by the respective numerical values of "kedem" (144) and of "ets hachayim" (233),
two subsequent fibonacci numbers, "kedem" and "ets hachayim" both mentioned in Genesis 2:8-9.

144:233 expresses the golden ratio.

This must be also why Matthew introduced "Magi from the east" who saw "his star in the east", presenting him "with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh", essences from the higher windings.

(Gold = "olam atzilut" ; incense = "olam b'ria"; myrrh = "olam yetsirah")


And more:
The first story of creation (Genesis 1:1 - 2:4a) is written with only 21 letters. The letter "samech" is not used.
"Samech" is written as a closed circle.
The closed circle is defined by "pi" -
21 / 7 < "pi" < 22 /7

(The first story of creation being about seven days).

So this hints at the little opening, the circle is not closed, there is a way up into another winding....

Little opening in the letter "heh" of "hashishi" in Genesis 1:31 (my invention).

[mitzi]

Since the exact opposite is true, please provide a reference backing up your statement from a Jewish source stating that the Kabbalah supersedes the Torah.

Any quotes from a non-Jewish source, like revelations, are irrelevant and not acceptable.

So where does Kabbalah stand on the Oral verses the written? Basically, isn't the Oral tradition carried over from one generation to another, not all has been transmitted into the bible. Could this be true?