When I meditate, I might close my eyes, or I might have a soft gaze, focusing on my breath. Or I might focus on the curves and straight lines of a Hebrew letter, feeling their beat in my heart, in the rhythm of my breath. Or, through a melody, a smell, or a color, I might be whisked away from the concrete world in which I live and function to a different dimension. And sometimes, as I see in my students that spark of knowledge, the beauty of their smiles and the light in their eyes when they connect deeply with what they are learning, I, too, am moved with great joy. When I am blessed with the recognition of a moment like that, I am filled with gratitude for this gift of connection to the Divine.
Martin Buber named this moment of intense connection as I-Thou. When recognition of the I-Thou moment occurs, I am not in that deep connection with the Eternal anymore. I can only describe the moment of connection when I step out of it. Yet the power of that moment moves me in profound ways that are hard to describe, that elude a logic explanation. I lack the words to express all the layers of that experience, but the encounter impels me to act in harmony with my highest aspirations.
There is a mystery to the encounter, and a palpable difficulty in describing both the moment and the emotions generated by it. This is the best way for me to describe the sefirah of Keter. Let me first explain the concept of sephirah. In the Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Formation), a pre-kabbalistic Jewish mystical work, in chapter 1, verse 1, we read:
“And God created God’s universe with three books (sepharim), with a document (sepher), with counting (sphar), and with a story (sippur).”
Sephirah, according to the Sefer Yetzirah, is something that contains the concepts of documents, numbers, and stories in its Hebrew root. In the Book of the Prophet Ezequiel, chapter 1, the same Hebrew root is used to describe God’s Throne with the appearance of sapphire. Sefirah is an energy of God that tells a story, that has features of numbers, texts, and brilliant color. I understand the word Sefirah as an aspect of God’s energy. As I wrote last week, Ayn Sof, God who is absolutely unknowable and indescribable entered a process of contraction (tsimtsum) to create our world, forming ten vessels to contain God’s energy. The vessels could not encompass God’s energy, and they shattered, creating the universe. The structure of these vessels remained as the sefirot of the Tree of Life.
The sefirah of Keter is the highest in the Tree of Life. It is the closest sefirah to the Ayn Sof, retaining the mystery of the Being Without End at the same time that it infuses all the other (more easily describable sefirot) with its energy. Keter, which means Crown, is also known as Primal Will or Nothingness. I understand Keter as that which is impossible to explain, to be known, until one experiences it. And then one tries, in vain, to explain to translate it with words, with logic. I believe that the only way to explain Keter is to live animated by that experience, spreading the positive, sublime feeling through harmonious actions in this world. I cannot make you feel what I feel when I described the recognition of moments of connectivity above. What I can do is to share with you moments of meditation, of contemplation, of clear vision, of good judgment, of teaching, of prayer, and of creativity, in the hopes that we can live in a more peaceful, spiritual world. Maybe, as we all spread that connection in our own ways, as we focus our spiritual energy in creating peace and love in our world, we will increase the chances of a better life for everyone around us, a life with less strife and more joy.