Qabala for Beginners

11. Binah

Thus far, we've talked about God as "infinite light" (AyN SPh AVR), the will to bring some of this light into manifestation (Kether/Crown), and an indefinable, indescribable sort of pure knowing that represents the initial movement from actual to potential (Chochma/Wisdom). Actually, in discussing these concepts, we cheated a bit and jumped ahead of ourselves. Unlimited light, Kether, and Chochma are all, essentially, indefinable. The only reason we were able to use human language to discuss them, on any level, is because we drew upon the third sefira of the Tree of Life, Binah, which translates to English as "Understanding," and the so-called invisible sefira, Daath, which means "Knowledge" and is the product of Wisdom and Understanding.
As was the case with Chochma, Binah can seem very easy to grasp on certain levels. Reviewing the basic numerological perspective, we saw Kether (#1) as a point or dot, and Chochma (#2) as the line that results when the pencil is moved along the paper. Binah (#3) can be viewed as the plane that results from the containment and shaping of what otherwise might have been an infinitely long, straight line. Binah is located atop the left pillar of the Tree of Life, the pillar of severity. This pillar is generally seen as restrictive or constraining, or, sometimes, even passive. As the right pillar of Mercy is seen as male, so the left pillar of Severity is seen as female. As Chochma, which tops the right pillar is seen as the primal male, father or yang, so Binah, its left-side counterpart, is seen as the primal female, mother, or yin. When Chochma is seen as out-rushing, expansive, assertive energy, we see Binah as that which restricts and contains the outwardness of Chochma. Binah can also be regarded as that which captures and contains the out-rushing male seed, fertilizes it, and gives birth to the lower sefirot (thus reinforcing Binah's image as supernal mother).

name
of the
sefira
But, analogously to the way in which we went further with Chochma, we can continue with Binah. And like Chochma, the clue to the full scope of Binah lies in its name, which translates to English as "Understanding." We previously described Chochma/Wisdom as a pure state of knowing, one that could not be articulated or put into words. Binah/Understanding is the quality that enables us to express, in words, what we perceive in Chochma/Wisdom. Consistent with its position on the restrictive pillar of severity, Binah contains and restricts the pure knowing of Chochma to such a degree that it can be described by human language. Understanding is the quality that allows us to say that we know this, but not that. The pure knowing of Chochma is now given a clearly defined context.

"depths" of
Sefer
Yetzirah,
gematria
Among the ten directions from Sefer Yetzirah, we saw that Chochma was a "depth of Beginning." Not surprisingly, Binah, its opposite, is a "depth of End." This illustrates Binah's function as a constraint to the purity of Chochma. This idea is confirmed by gematria. Binah, (BYNH in Hebrew letters), adds up to 67. Another word having that value is ChNT, which means "to embalm," or "mummify." The ephemeral purity of Chochma has now been captured and preserved. Consistent with the idea of Binah being that which makes Chochma less pure is the fact that 67 is also the value for the word ZLL, which means "to debauch."

How does Binah go about concretizing the pure, indefinable state of Wisdom in order to render it capable of Understanding? Remember that in the section 10 discussion of Chochma, I suggested seeing that sefira as a retina, or aperture, that lets thru some of the infinite light; or put another way, one of the infinite number of probabilities. (Remember from the piece on Chochma that I switched gears a bit. Instead of following a model in which "some-thing" evolves from "no-thing," I suggested a process in which "some-thing" evolves from "every-thing.") Binah is the sefira that identifies for us which of those infinite probabilities is the one that is shining through. To do this, Binah must distinguish among all possible probabilities so as to be able to say that the one shining through is this one, not any of those others.

"sayings"
of
creation
This notion of distinguishing, or separating, is vital to the way Binah performs. We see that in the word BYNH itself. Remember from section 2 when I mentioned that besides gematria, mystics will also recognize linkages among words sharing a common root. BYNH has the root BYN, which means "between" or "to separate." The saying of creation (Genesis 1) to which Binah corresponds is "God said let there be a firmament..." to separate the waters above from the waters above. Through gematria, BYNH also corresponds to ZYN, which means "a sword"; a device that is used to cut and separate.

name
of God
The God name for Binah is especially interesting in this regard. Technically, the God name that corresponds to Binah is YHVH, the most holy, unpronounceable name of God. Because YHVH is not generally pronounced, when Jews see it in the Torah or in prayer, another God name will be pronounced in its place. Binah assumes that the God name Elohim (ALHYM) is the one we'll say aloud in place of YHVH. Think back to section 3, when we discussed the nature of God. ALHYM is really a plural word that means "the Gods." We see, here, a replication of that which Binah does. It takes something whole and indefinable (YHVH) and divides it up into understandable components to which we can relate (ALHYM).

We have to be careful, here, lest we get too carried away with the idea of division / separation and run off in a different direction altogether. The division we're talking about with Binah is more qualitative than quantitative. Picture a large body of water, say an ocean. You stick a jar into the water. While the jar is completely submerged, you screw on the lid. You have now separated some of the water from all that is in the ocean; this is so even if you leave the now-closed jar submerged. The ocean itself is huge; you can't see where it ends, you can't perceive its boundaries. But you've separated away some of the water; a tiny amount that can now be defined. The jar gives it height, diameter, volume, etc. A piece of the undefinable ocean has been separated away and clothed with glass in such a way that it can be defined and explained. (I cheated a bit. You could define the boundaries with a map. But bear with me; I'm trying to illustrate ideas of separation and definition, not infinity.)

This is the way we define a piece of the infinite light. Kether is the will to put the jar in the ocean. Chochma is the process of moving the jar into place (selecting a piece of the indefinable that we'd like to define) and an inexplicable sense of knowing a particular part of the water. In Binah, we bring the jar to rest (having selected the piece of ocean we're going to define) and screw on the lid (thus completing the process of definition).

So in Binah, the light has forfeited its heretofore untrammeled freedom. As the water is contained by its contact with the jar (a situation in which the water is seen in terms of its connection to the jar), so, too, is pure wisdom contained by its contact with rational understanding. Applying gematria, the numerical value of the names of God that are associated with Binah, YHVH plus ALHYM, equal 112. (Since ALHYM by itself relates to another sefira, Gevurah, and since YHVH with a different vocalization relates to yet another sefira, Tiphareth, I decided to give Binah its own unique God-name gematria by adding the core name YHVH and Binah's vocalization of it, ALHYM.) Another word/phrase adding to 112 is VDBQ, which means "and cleaved." (Note: The Hebrew letter M has a standard value of 40, which is what I used here. But in Hebrew, some letters, such as M, take a different form when they appear at the end of a word. The "final M" has a numerical value of 600. When doing gematria, there are no hard-and-fast rules for dealing with this; some use only standard values, some use only final values, and others, including me, use both.) This connection between wisdom and understanding is not necessarily a fleeting thing; once the two are joined, the link is sustainable. Another phrase that adds to 112 is VHARKThM, which means "and you may prolong."

Some of you may see the approach to Binah that's being offered here as being a bit odd. I've talked about defining, delineating, and explaining what had been a pure state of non-rational knowing. We might describe Binah as a set of rational forms or patterns. But some of you may note that this is the way Dion Fortune describes Hod, the eighth sefira. Bear in mind that Fortune was describing Hod based on Christian scholars' link between Hod and Mercury (which relates to the intellect). The Hod-Mercury connection does not exist in Jewish qabala, and in the Jewish system, Hod means something else, something other than intellect. Under Jewish qabala, Binah, not Hod, is the primary intellectual sefira.

name
of the
sefira
In fact, this would be a good time to look more closely at the commonly accepted meaning of "Binah." The word is usually translated as "understanding." According to my dictionary, understanding means "comprehension, knowledge, discernment, sympathetic awareness, etc." or "the power or ability to think, learn, judge, be intelligent, sense" or "a specific interpretation or inference." Dictionary definitions of the phrase "to understand" include "to get or perceive the meaning of" or "to know theoretically: grasp or perceive clearly and fully the nature, character, function, etc. of."

Finally, translation from one language to another is not always precise with each word in one language having a direct one-to-one relationship with a word in the other language. Scanning some Hebrew/English dictionaries yields the following alternative translations of the word "binah": "reason," "intellect," "prudence," "insight." In fact, some Jewish qabala treatises written in or translated to English will refer to the third sefira, not as "understanding" but as "intellect" or "intelligence." So, although Judaism does match up with Christianity in terms of seeing Binah as a maternal sefira, the two systems part company insofar as Jewish qabala looks to Binah as the primary intellectual sefira.

the Ten
Command-
ments
Now that we've seen Binah as the process by which to define the heretofore indefinable, the correspondence between Binah and the Third of the Ten Commandments, the one prohibiting the taking of God's name in vain, starts to come into focus. We now can and do see God as being definable, as a name. As to the prohibition against misuse of the name, that should become easier to grasp after we discuss Tomer Devorah, which we're about to do. For the moment, just note that God (or at least some approximation thereof) has been named; defined.

Cordovero:
Tomer
Devorah
What can we do to develop within ourselves the qualities of Binah? Tomer Devorah gives an answer that may, at first glance, seem strange: repentance. Why? Because it "corrects every imperfection." And indeed, every imperfection can be corrected. Every flaw has its roots in perfection. According to Tomer Devorah:
"Do not think that because thou comest from the evil side there can be no correction for thee. That is false. If thou dost well, thou canst root thyself in the Mystery of Repentance, by correcting evil deeds to the Mystery of Good wherein they are rooted. For All Upper Bitterness is rooted in the sweet, and can enter by its root and mend itself; thus those very evil acts can benefit man, and his willfully committed misdeeds are accounted as merits."

This association with Binah doesn't stand in complete isolation. Remember the gematria calculation for Binah's God name (YHVH plus ALHYM; 112). Another word adding to 112 is ThVSRV, which means "you will be corrected."

Tomer Devorah is doing something here that is interesting and which we've seen before with Chochma. It focuses on the result, rather than a process. To review, we know Chochma invokes movement, but Tomer Devorah focuses us not so much on the process - the actual motion - as the result; the fact that something, wisdom, gets from one place (i.e. the teacher) to another (i.e. the student).

So, too, with Binah. Cordovero doesn't ask us to tinker with hypothetical logical exercises in order to get us to understand any random thing. We are instead being asked to understand accurately, correctly, or perfectly. (Going back to the Third Commandment, we can define - at least an aspect of - God, but we are still being asked to refrain from using this ability in an inappropriate manner.) What is this perfect thing we should try to understand? Looking at the small picture, I suppose you could say you have achieved understanding any time you know something that is correct; i.e., you understand that two plus two equals four, not five. But from a big-picture perspective, you can also understand the link between all things in the world and the divine source from which they spring. Understand that all things - even things we regard as bad - are "rooted in the sweet" and that any so-called bad thing can potentially "enter into its root and mend itself." (We saw this in section 6, in the discussion of how the fragments of the broken vessels have their roots in God's original creation and how we can rectify calamity by addressing the underlying source.)

summary
We're now ready for our key-word/phrase summary of Binah.
The aspect of God that is perceived through this filter - Intellect; the ability to explain the heretofore inexplicable.
The tool of creation - reasoning, defining, explaining, distinguishing, searching for perfection.

E-mail Marc H. Gerstein

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Copyright © Marc H. Gerstein 1998. Posted on July 19th, 1998.
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	Thus far, we've talked about God as "infinite light" (AyN SPh AVR), the will to bring some of this light into manifestation (Kether/Crown), and an indefinable, indescribable sort of pure knowing that represents the initial movement from actual to potential (Chochma/Wisdom). Actually, in discussing these concepts, we cheated a bit and jumped ahead of ourselves. Unlimited light, Kether, and Chochma are all, essentially, indefinable. The only reason we were able to use human language to discuss them, on any level, is because we drew upon the third sefira of the Tree of Life, Binah, which translates to English as "Understanding," and the so-called invisible sefira, Daath, which means "Knowledge" and is the product of Wisdom and Understanding. As was the case with Chochma, Binah can seem very easy to grasp on certain levels. Reviewing the basic numerological perspective, we saw Kether (#1) as a point or dot, and Chochma (#2) as the line that results when the pencil is moved along the paper. Binah (#3) can be viewed as the plane that results from the containment and shaping of what otherwise might have been an infinitely long, straight line. Binah is located atop the left pillar of the Tree of Life, the pillar of severity. This pillar is generally seen as restrictive or constraining, or, sometimes, even passive. As the right pillar of Mercy is seen as male, so the left pillar of Severity is seen as female. As Chochma, which tops the right pillar is seen as the primal male, father or yang, so Binah, its left-side counterpart, is seen as the primal female, mother, or yin. When Chochma is seen as out-rushing, expansive, assertive energy, we see Binah as that which restricts and contains the outwardness of Chochma. Binah can also be regarded as that which captures and contains the out-rushing male seed, fertilizes it, and gives birth to the lower sefirot (thus reinforcing Binah's image as supernal mother).
name of the sefira	But, analogously to the way in which we went further with Chochma, we can continue with Binah. And like Chochma, the clue to the full scope of Binah lies in its name, which translates to English as "Understanding." We previously described Chochma/Wisdom as a pure state of knowing, one that could not be articulated or put into words. Binah/Understanding is the quality that enables us to express, in words, what we perceive in Chochma/Wisdom. Consistent with its position on the restrictive pillar of severity, Binah contains and restricts the pure knowing of Chochma to such a degree that it can be described by human language. Understanding is the quality that allows us to say that we know this, but not that. The pure knowing of Chochma is now given a clearly defined context.
"depths" of Sefer Yetzirah, gematria	Among the ten directions from Sefer Yetzirah, we saw that Chochma was a "depth of Beginning." Not surprisingly, Binah, its opposite, is a "depth of End." This illustrates Binah's function as a constraint to the purity of Chochma. This idea is confirmed by gematria. Binah, (BYNH in Hebrew letters), adds up to 67. Another word having that value is ChNT, which means "to embalm," or "mummify." The ephemeral purity of Chochma has now been captured and preserved. Consistent with the idea of Binah being that which makes Chochma less pure is the fact that 67 is also the value for the word ZLL, which means "to debauch."
	How does Binah go about concretizing the pure, indefinable state of Wisdom in order to render it capable of Understanding? Remember that in the section 10 discussion of Chochma, I suggested seeing that sefira as a retina, or aperture, that lets thru some of the infinite light; or put another way, one of the infinite number of probabilities. (Remember from the piece on Chochma that I switched gears a bit. Instead of following a model in which "some-thing" evolves from "no-thing," I suggested a process in which "some-thing" evolves from "every-thing.") Binah is the sefira that identifies for us which of those infinite probabilities is the one that is shining through. To do this, Binah must distinguish among all possible probabilities so as to be able to say that the one shining through is this one, not any of those others.
"sayings" of creation	This notion of distinguishing, or separating, is vital to the way Binah performs. We see that in the word BYNH itself. Remember from section 2 when I mentioned that besides gematria, mystics will also recognize linkages among words sharing a common root. BYNH has the root BYN, which means "between" or "to separate." The saying of creation (Genesis 1) to which Binah corresponds is "God said let there be a firmament..." to separate the waters above from the waters above. Through gematria, BYNH also corresponds to ZYN, which means "a sword"; a device that is used to cut and separate.
name of God	The God name for Binah is especially interesting in this regard. Technically, the God name that corresponds to Binah is YHVH, the most holy, unpronounceable name of God. Because YHVH is not generally pronounced, when Jews see it in the Torah or in prayer, another God name will be pronounced in its place. Binah assumes that the God name Elohim (ALHYM) is the one we'll say aloud in place of YHVH. Think back to section 3, when we discussed the nature of God. ALHYM is really a plural word that means "the Gods." We see, here, a replication of that which Binah does. It takes something whole and indefinable (YHVH) and divides it up into understandable components to which we can relate (ALHYM).
	We have to be careful, here, lest we get too carried away with the idea of division / separation and run off in a different direction altogether. The division we're talking about with Binah is more qualitative than quantitative. Picture a large body of water, say an ocean. You stick a jar into the water. While the jar is completely submerged, you screw on the lid. You have now separated some of the water from all that is in the ocean; this is so even if you leave the now-closed jar submerged. The ocean itself is huge; you can't see where it ends, you can't perceive its boundaries. But you've separated away some of the water; a tiny amount that can now be defined. The jar gives it height, diameter, volume, etc. A piece of the undefinable ocean has been separated away and clothed with glass in such a way that it can be defined and explained. (I cheated a bit. You could define the boundaries with a map. But bear with me; I'm trying to illustrate ideas of separation and definition, not infinity.)
	This is the way we define a piece of the infinite light. Kether is the will to put the jar in the ocean. Chochma is the process of moving the jar into place (selecting a piece of the indefinable that we'd like to define) and an inexplicable sense of knowing a particular part of the water. In Binah, we bring the jar to rest (having selected the piece of ocean we're going to define) and screw on the lid (thus completing the process of definition).
	So in Binah, the light has forfeited its heretofore untrammeled freedom. As the water is contained by its contact with the jar (a situation in which the water is seen in terms of its connection to the jar), so, too, is pure wisdom contained by its contact with rational understanding. Applying gematria, the numerical value of the names of God that are associated with Binah, YHVH plus ALHYM, equal 112. (Since ALHYM by itself relates to another sefira, Gevurah, and since YHVH with a different vocalization relates to yet another sefira, Tiphareth, I decided to give Binah its own unique God-name gematria by adding the core name YHVH and Binah's vocalization of it, ALHYM.) Another word/phrase adding to 112 is VDBQ, which means "and cleaved." (Note: The Hebrew letter M has a standard value of 40, which is what I used here. But in Hebrew, some letters, such as M, take a different form when they appear at the end of a word. The "final M" has a numerical value of 600. When doing gematria, there are no hard-and-fast rules for dealing with this; some use only standard values, some use only final values, and others, including me, use both.) This connection between wisdom and understanding is not necessarily a fleeting thing; once the two are joined, the link is sustainable. Another phrase that adds to 112 is VHARKThM, which means "and you may prolong."
	Some of you may see the approach to Binah that's being offered here as being a bit odd. I've talked about defining, delineating, and explaining what had been a pure state of non-rational knowing. We might describe Binah as a set of rational forms or patterns. But some of you may note that this is the way Dion Fortune describes Hod, the eighth sefira. Bear in mind that Fortune was describing Hod based on Christian scholars' link between Hod and Mercury (which relates to the intellect). The Hod-Mercury connection does not exist in Jewish qabala, and in the Jewish system, Hod means something else, something other than intellect. Under Jewish qabala, Binah, not Hod, is the primary intellectual sefira.
name of the sefira	In fact, this would be a good time to look more closely at the commonly accepted meaning of "Binah." The word is usually translated as "understanding." According to my dictionary, understanding means "comprehension, knowledge, discernment, sympathetic awareness, etc." or "the power or ability to think, learn, judge, be intelligent, sense" or "a specific interpretation or inference." Dictionary definitions of the phrase "to understand" include "to get or perceive the meaning of" or "to know theoretically: grasp or perceive clearly and fully the nature, character, function, etc. of."
	Finally, translation from one language to another is not always precise with each word in one language having a direct one-to-one relationship with a word in the other language. Scanning some Hebrew/English dictionaries yields the following alternative translations of the word "binah": "reason," "intellect," "prudence," "insight." In fact, some Jewish qabala treatises written in or translated to English will refer to the third sefira, not as "understanding" but as "intellect" or "intelligence." So, although Judaism does match up with Christianity in terms of seeing Binah as a maternal sefira, the two systems part company insofar as Jewish qabala looks to Binah as the primary intellectual sefira.
the Ten Command- ments	Now that we've seen Binah as the process by which to define the heretofore indefinable, the correspondence between Binah and the Third of the Ten Commandments, the one prohibiting the taking of God's name in vain, starts to come into focus. We now can and do see God as being definable, as a name. As to the prohibition against misuse of the name, that should become easier to grasp after we discuss Tomer Devorah, which we're about to do. For the moment, just note that God (or at least some approximation thereof) has been named; defined.
Cordovero: Tomer Devorah	What can we do to develop within ourselves the qualities of Binah? Tomer Devorah gives an answer that may, at first glance, seem strange: repentance. Why? Because it "corrects every imperfection." And indeed, every imperfection can be corrected. Every flaw has its roots in perfection. According to Tomer Devorah: "Do not think that because thou comest from the evil side there can be no correction for thee. That is false. If thou dost well, thou canst root thyself in the Mystery of Repentance, by correcting evil deeds to the Mystery of Good wherein they are rooted. For All Upper Bitterness is rooted in the sweet, and can enter by its root and mend itself; thus those very evil acts can benefit man, and his willfully committed misdeeds are accounted as merits."
	This association with Binah doesn't stand in complete isolation. Remember the gematria calculation for Binah's God name (YHVH plus ALHYM; 112). Another word adding to 112 is ThVSRV, which means "you will be corrected."
	Tomer Devorah is doing something here that is interesting and which we've seen before with Chochma. It focuses on the result, rather than a process. To review, we know Chochma invokes movement, but Tomer Devorah focuses us not so much on the process - the actual motion - as the result; the fact that something, wisdom, gets from one place (i.e. the teacher) to another (i.e. the student).
	So, too, with Binah. Cordovero doesn't ask us to tinker with hypothetical logical exercises in order to get us to understand any random thing. We are instead being asked to understand accurately, correctly, or perfectly. (Going back to the Third Commandment, we can define - at least an aspect of - God, but we are still being asked to refrain from using this ability in an inappropriate manner.) What is this perfect thing we should try to understand? Looking at the small picture, I suppose you could say you have achieved understanding any time you know something that is correct; i.e., you understand that two plus two equals four, not five. But from a big-picture perspective, you can also understand the link between all things in the world and the divine source from which they spring. Understand that all things - even things we regard as bad - are "rooted in the sweet" and that any so-called bad thing can potentially "enter into its root and mend itself." (We saw this in section 6, in the discussion of how the fragments of the broken vessels have their roots in God's original creation and how we can rectify calamity by addressing the underlying source.)
summary	We're now ready for our key-word/phrase summary of Binah. The aspect of God that is perceived through this filter - Intellect; the ability to explain the heretofore inexplicable. The tool of creation - reasoning, defining, explaining, distinguishing, searching for perfection.