“…the questioner asks about the First Cause and its emanation, the primary Intellect, which two of the classical philosophers called Father and Son. To demand or claim knowledge of all of these mysteries, answers Agur, is presumption, they are not accessible to human investigation."�Malbim on Mishley, Proverbs 30 abridged and adapted into English by Rabbi Charles Wengrov, Feldheim Publishers, pg. 101
וַיְדַבֵּ֤ר ה׳ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה בְּהַ֥ר סִינַ֖י לֵאמֹֽר׃
“HaShem spoke to Moshe �on Mount Sinai…”
Leviticus 25:1
Nesiat Kapayim
Raising of the Hands
נשיאת כפיים
“Then Aharon lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he descended from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings.”
Leviticus 9:22
Aliyah l’Dukhan
Ascending the Platform
“And he blessed them. The three blessings of the Kohanim (Bamidbar 6, 24-26) correspond to three types of offerings: The first blessing corresponds to sin offerings, “and may He guard you” — from sin, as it says (Shmuel I 2:9), “The feet of His pious ones He will guard”; “May he cause His face to shine” corresponds to the burnt offering [olah], as it says (Shemos 34:24), “When you go up [ba’aloscha] to see” “peace” corresponds to the peace offerings.”
Kitzur Ba'al HaTurim on Leviticus 9:22:2
“It is offering that ascends upon the
pyre of the Altar. . .”
Leviticus 6:2
צַו אֶת־אַהֲרֹן וְאֶת־בָּנָיו לֵאמֹ֔ר זֹ֥את תּוֹרַת הָעֹלָה הִוא הָעֹלָה עַל מוֹקְדָה עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּ֤חַ כׇּל־הַלַּיְלָה עַד־הַבֹּקֶר וְאֵשׁ הַמִּזְבֵּחַ תּוּקַד בּוֹ׃
“OLaH (burnt-offering) literally means “ascend.” This brings to mind the phrase Mi zot OLaH (Who is this that ascends?) (Song of Songs 3:6).”
Rebbe Nachman of Breslov �REBBE NACHMAN'S TORAH: EXODUS-LEVITICUS. �Breslov Research Institute. Kindle Edition.
“No one has ascended to heaven
but He who came down from heaven,
that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.”
John 3:13
Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” So he saw him no more.
2 Kings 2:11-12
“R. Yose stated: The Shechinah never descended to earth, nor did Moses or Elijah ever ascend to Heaven, as it is said, ‘The heavens are the heavens of the Lord…But did the Shechinah not descend to earth? Isn't it written, "And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai?" (Exodus 19:20)? That was above ten handbreadths [from the summit]. But is it not written, "And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives?" (Zechariah 14:4)? Above ten handbreadths. Is it not in fact written, "And Moses went up unto God?" (Exodus 19:3). [That was] to a level lower than ten [handbreadths from heaven].”
Sukkah 5a, The William Davidson Talmud, Sefaria
"Ten journeys were made by the Shechinah: from cherub to cherub, from the cherub to the threshold of the house, from the threshold of the house to the cherubim, from the cherubim to the east gate, from the east gate to the Court, from the Court to the roof, from the roof to the altar, from the altar to the wall, from the wall to the city [of Jerusalem], and from the city to the Mount of Olives... The Shechinah may be likened to a king who left his palace in anger. After going out, he came back and embraced and kissed the walls of the palace and its pillars...”
“Similarly when the Shechinah went forth from the Temple, it returned and embraced and kissed its walls and pillars, and wept and said, 'O the peace of the Temple, O the peace of My royal residence, O the peace of My beloved house! O peace, from now onward let there be peace!) . . . From the city to the Mount of Olives; for it is written, 'And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city (Ezek. 11:23).”�Lamentations Rabbah Prologue 25, Soncino Press Edition
"R' Yonatan said, "For three and a half years the Shekhinah waited upon the Mount of Olives, hoping Israel would repent, but they did not. And a Bat Kol went forth and said, 'Return O Backsliding Children (Jer. 3:14). "Return to Me, and I will return to you." (Malachi 3:7) When they did not repent, the Shekhinah said, "I will go and return to my place." (Hoshea 5:15)"�Lamentations Rabbah, Peticha 25
אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹנָתָן שָׁלשׁ שָׁנִים וּמֶחֱצָה עָשְׂתָה הַשְּׁכִינָה יוֹשֶׁבֶת עַל הַר הַזֵּיתִים
So when they had come together, they asked him, �“L-rd, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Mem b’Omer
“And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Yeshua, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olives, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. ”
Acts 1:6-11
“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”
Daniel 7:13-14
“… Resh Lakish said: [There are] seven (heavens), namely, Vilon, Rakia, Shehakim, Zebul, Ma’on, Makon, Arabot…Zebul is that in which [the heavenly] Jerusalem and the Temple and the Altar are built, and Michael, the great Prince, stands and offers up thereon an offering, for it is said: ‘I have surely built You a house of habitation [Zebul], a place for You to dwell in forever…”�Chagigah 12b, Soncino Press Edition
“Waving represents shaking off – in this case, shaking off layers of self-centered physicality and materialism in order to elevate our existence. We see a hint to this idea in the parsha itself (Leviticus 23:9-22), which mentions waving seven times. We could suggest that these seven mentions of waving correspond to the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot. Each week we have the ability to shake off another layer. What are these layers, exactly? All the physical aspects of this world were initially created in seven days. Each week of the Omer period thus “shakes off” one of these physical layers of Creation. As we progressively refine and elevate ourselves, we prepare ourselves to receive the Torah on Shavuot.”�R’ Aba Wagensberg, Between the Lines, Aish.com
“When the Holy One, blessed be he, took me to serve the throne of glory, the wheels of the chariot and all the needs of the Shekinah, at once my flesh turned to flame, my sinews to blazing fire, my bones to juniper coals, my eyelashes the lighting flashes, my eyeballs to fiery torches, the hairs of my head to hot flames, all my limbs to wings of burning fire, and the substance of my body to blazing fire.”�3rd Enoch 15:1
“The Holy One, blessed be he, revealed to me from that time onward all the mysteries of wisdom, all the depths of the perfect Torah and all the thoughts of men’s hearts. All the mysteries of the world and all the orders of nature stand before me as they stand revealed before the Creator. From that time onward I looked and beheld deep secrets and wonderful mysteries. Before a man thinks in secret, I see his thought; before he acts, I see his act. There is nothing in heaven above or deep within the earth concealed from me. . .”
“…Out of the love which he had for me, more than for all the denizens of the heights, the Holy One, blessed be he, fashioned for me a majestic robe, in which all kinds of luminaries were set, and he clothed me in it. He fashioned for me a glorious cloak in which brightness, brilliance, splendor and luster of every kind were fixed, and he wrapped me in it, He fashioned for me a kingly crown in which 49 refulgent stones were placed, each like the sun’s orb, and its brilliance shone into the four quarters of the heaven of Arabot, into the seven heavens, and into the four quarters of the world…”
3 Enoch 11:1 – 12:5, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, pg. 268
“Just as we find that Moshe Rabbeinu ascended to heaven, body and soul, and remained there for forty days, similarly Moshiach will, through the help of the Almighty, merit to attain that lofty soul. He will then realize he is in fact Moshiach, although no one else will be aware of this. This is the secret to which the Zohar alludes, ‘Moshiach will be revealed, yet no one will perceive him.’ Shortly afterward, Moshiach will be hidden away, body and soul…Moshiach will thereupon rise up to heaven just as Moshe ascended to the firmament, and will subsequently [return and] be revealed completely for all to see. The entire Jewish people will then perceive him and flock towards him.”�R’ Chaim Vital, Arba Meiot Sheqel Kesef, pg. 68, cited in And He Will Redeem Us, Moshiach in Our Time, compiled and edited by Chayalei Beis Dovid, Mendelsohn Press, Inc., pgs. 134-135
“At the end of twelve months the "scepter of Judah", namely the Messiah, will arise, appearing from Paradise, and all the righteous will surround him and gird him with weapons of war on which are inscribed the letters of the Holy Name…and when the Holy One, blessed be He, shall behold the Messiah adorned with the garments of holy zeal and girded with weapons of war, he will take him and kiss him upon his brow. At that moment three hundred and ninety firmaments will shake. The Holy One shall command one of these firmaments, which has been kept in waiting since the six days of creation, to approach, and He shall take out from a certain temple in it a crown inscribed with holy names. It was with this crown that the Holy One adorned Himself when the Israelites crossed the Red Sea…With this same crown will He crown King Messiah…angels shall give him a robe of deep red in order that he may commence his work of revenge.”
Zohar, Volume III, Shemoth 8a. Soncino Press Edition, pg. 22
“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”
(In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)”�Ephesians 4:8-10, citing Psalm 68:19
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, immersing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Matthew 28:18-20
“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the shofar of God. And the dead in Messiah will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
“Because of this obedience, G-d exalted Jesus and bestowed on him the “name which is above every name” (Phil 2:9). For a Jew this phrase can only mean that Jesus received the divine name [Yud-Kei-Vav-Kei], the tetragrammaton . . . We have seen that sharing in the divine name is a recurring motif of early Jewish apocalypticism . . . ”�Alan F. Segal, Paul the Convert, Yale University Press, pg. 62
מרנאתא