| The text of Tomer Devorah, written by Rabbi Moshe Cordovero (HaRamak). Teshuvah Elyonah ~ Exalted Repentance. Chapter Four, Binah (Divine Enlightenment). Presented in the original Hebrew text and accompanied with the English translation. The English text is annotated with the commentary of “Laughter Will Fill Our Mouths.”
The Secret of the Jubilee Year
What is the Ramak hinting in his esoteric words, “The Secret of the Jubilee Year”? In these few words, the Ramak reveals the very secret of Teshuvah Elyonah (Exalted Repentance). Our holy soul is rooted in the Light of Binah (Divine Enlightenment), which is the Ima Elyonah, i.e., the Exalted Mother. Just as an earthly mother always perceives the goodness of her child, so too, Binah always perceives the infinite levels of goodness that comprise the essence of Man. When we engage in Teshuvah Elyonah we align our consciousness with Binah and view ourselves as Holy. As a result we initiate the process of transformation and we ascend towards our Holy essence that is rooted in the Realm of Binah. Yet, how do we disengage from the defilement of our past?
Teshuvah Elyonah (Exalted Repentance) merges with the Secret of the Jubilee Year, and generates a true miracle — Spiritual Freedom! The Ramak reveals that Teshuvah Elyonah embraces the concept of the Jubilee Year, the fiftieth year culmination of the Sabbatical year cycle that evokes the idea of freedom. (the Torah decrees once every seven years the prohibition against agricultural undertaking, an imperative to cancel debts, and the reversion of properties to ancestral ownership) On the Jubilee Year, Jewish slaves are granted freedom.
So too, when a person engages in Teshuvah Elyonah, the Creator opens new worlds of freedom for him, which liberates him from the physicality of this world and the impurity of transgression. After disengaging from the material aspects of this world, one ascends to the holy root of his soul and the essence of his being is sanctified. The Holy Light of Binah grants us the freedom to ascend to our holy roots that are housed in Binah, and awaken the incandescent light of Binah to elevate and sanctify us to the highest level of Holiness. That is, the liberation from all defilement and transgression that we accumulated during our lifetime in this physical world, as the verse writes, And He is compassionate and grants atonement for transgressions (Psalms 78:38).
In the Words of the Ramchal
The Ramchal states similarly (Otzros HaRamchal, Parshas Vayeira): “There can be no redemption without illumination from the Light of Binah (Divine Enlightenment). And this is the Secret of the Jubilee, which liberates the slaves and takes them out to freedom.” This idea also finds expression in the ninth blessing of the prayer of Silent Devotion: Sound the Great Shofar for our freedom. “Our freedom” is an allusion to Teshuvah (Repentance). The Secret of the Jubilee assists Man in returning to his holy root. It thus behooves us to contemplate this idea and strengthen our Trust that the Creator, in His infinite compassion, liberates us from the strictures of this world through the Secret of the Jubilee.
The Fiftieth Year and the Fifty Gates of Binah
Apart from granting freedom to slaves, the Jubilee Year also mandates the reversion of ancestral lands according to their original tribal distribution. This cyclical fifty-year occurrence corresponds to the “Fifty Gates of Binah (Divine Enlightenment).” Thus, the Secret of the Jubilee Year opens the Fifty Gates of Binah so its light can shine upon a person and release him from the shackles of his earthly body and the bonds of material existence. More, we find that the Jubilee Year affects a property’s return to ancestral ownership despite the existence of debts. So too, the Jubilee Year alludes to the “Fifty Gates of Binah” which elevates a person to the holy root of his soul despite his “debt-load” of impurity. Not only that, but the Light of Binah actually rectifies human nature and cleanses the impurity, just as the Sun’s light dispels the darkness.
Clearance for Entry is Readily Available
There is an essential difference between the “Earthly Jubilee Year” and the “Secret of the Jubilee” aroused by Teshuvah Elyonah (Exalted Repentance): Whereas the former occurs but once every fifty years; the latter, wherein the “Fifty Gates of Binah” are opened, is available to a person whenever he arouses himself to do Teshuvah! Also, the gates of Teshuvah Elyonah are opened immediately for the person who intends to rise to the holy root of his soul.
The Liberating Power of the Jubilee
Moreover, Teshuvah Elyonah (Exalted Repentance) applies even to a person who perceives himself as so spiritually defiled that he has virtually no chance of mastering the perversions of his nature. Through the Secret of the Jubilee he can free himself from all the impurity that previously seemed indelibly ingrained in the very fiber of his being.
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