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Posters |
Orchard of the Torah
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level study worlds:
1.
Pshat literal
Scripture
Asiyah-body
2. Remez
symbolic Mishnah
Yetzirah-heart
3. Drash
homiletic Talmud
Beriyah-mind
4. Sode
esoteric Kabbalah Atzilut-soul
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The
Torah is sometimes called an orchard.
In Hebrew this is pardess or paradise. Like an
orchard, the deeper one enters into it, the sweeter the
fruit. Four levels of Torah knowledge which correspond
to four areas of Torah study and four worlds are depicted
here in four concentric rings. These are hinted at in
the four Hebrew letters of the word
pardess.
1. The outermost circle quotes the
opening sentences of the first scroll of the Scriptures
- B'reishit (Genesis). This ring contains twenty
four trees with scenes representing the 24 Books of
the Written Torah, Tanach, moving counterclockwise from
B'reishit at the top. The name of each book is
written on the scrolls which are open across the trunks
of these trees.
2. Moving more deeply inward, the next level depicts
the six orders of the Mishnah as six trees in whose
branches the various texts of the Mishnah are fruit
that the Mishnah students that stand between
them are learning by heart.
The passage ringing this region is the opening of the
text Avot, the Ethics of the Fathers, which tells of
the unfolding of the oral Torah from the written Torah.
3. The next circle holds four trees whose branches form
the names of the four parts of the Shulkhan Arukh,
the code of Jewish law.
Between the trees stand four brilliant scholars, teaching
their students the complex logical arguments used in
deciding legal matters from the Babylonian and Jerusalem
Talmud. Around this circle are the opening words of
the Talmud.
4. The innermost circle is the secret or spiritual region
of Kabbalah.
The 'Tree of Life' at its center is the Zohar. Kabbalists
at its base partake of its fruit, the mysteries of the
Torah.
All are surrounded by holy fire.
The Zohar's opening passage encircles this scene.
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