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Chapter 7Conclusion: Sparks and Spirals Surrounding Lecha

Dodi

Chapter Overview

To conclude this dissertation, this chapter moves Lecha

Dodi forward as an enduring song that spirals Jewish history

and, with its vast array of expressions, is as relevant

today as it is beautiful. Further, this chapter shows that

while the poem continues to have deep meaning within a

traditional religious context, its meaning also resonates

with key concerns found in the depth psychology of C. G.

Jung. Finally, it reveals that whether experienced and

understood from a religious or psychological perspective,

Lecha Dodi together with the entire Kabbalat Shabbat service

offers a vision of individuation that is concerned with

wholeness and the world’s redemption.

Sparks and Spirals

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The pathways connecting Etz Hayim’s Sefirot and the

stages of Jung’s individuation process find common ground.

This becomes evident as one unveils Kabbalah’s archetypal

motifs in Lecha Dodi, while playing depth psychology

conversations in the background. For in listening to the

wisdoms of both—that is, in allowing the central concerns of

one to spill over onto the other—it becomes clear that in

both Kabbalah’s archetypal motifs as reflected in Lecha

Dodi, and Jung’s individuation process, acts and experiences

of restoration and repair yield transforming results.

Two points are important here. The first is that

Kabbalistically speaking, internal sparking and spiraling

with the Holy One consists of a constant state of becoming.

The second is that according to Jung, goals themselves

present an ongoing process which never fully achieves

itself. As James Hillman clarifies from a depth

psychological perspective, “Goals are to be taken only as

signposts, goals are to be taken only as the impetus to make

things happen, but never realized […]. This should sober us

all when we use the term ‘the process of individuation’”

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(Hillman and Shamdasani, Lament 137). A discussion of these

two overlapping points follows.

The first point that Kabbalistically speaking, internal

sparking and spiraling with the Holy One consists of a

constant state of becoming, is similar to ideas articulated

by Bradley Shavit Artson in God of Becoming and Relationship: The

Dynamic Nature of Process Theology, which is an emerging theological

expression of holy restoration. In this book, Artson

explains that this core concept “provides an insightful

hermeneutical tool to the layers of meaning of ancient

scripture” (xvii). He presents a group of ideas, three of

which are listed here. Each shares common assertions with

Kabbalah and the path of the Shekhinah’s redemption, stating

that:

The world and the Holy One are expressions of

continuous, dynamic relational change.

We are interconnected, each to each other and

each to all. Therefore, all creation—not just

humanity or subsets of humanity—has value and

integrity.

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Every occasion has an interiority (first

person mode, subjective) appropriate to its

nature as well as an outer (third person,

objective) way of related interaction and

becoming. That is, we are all selves-in-

relation. (xv-vi)

Concerns in Kabbalah Resonate with Those in Depth Psychology

Both tracks of conversations, the first from Kabbalah

and the second from depth psychology, lead to, and evolve

into, a type of transformational death that yields, for the

greater good, an energizing effect on humanity, rather than

endings of tragic sacrifice. Drob articulates this point,

saying that “Jung’s ideas closely correspond to the

Lurianic/Chasidic notion that a personal shevirah, or psychic

rupture, is a necessary prerequisite for a personal Tikkun,

or restoration or regeneration of one’s soul” (Kabbalistic

100). In Ehyeh: A Kabbalah for Tomorrow, Arthur Green offers

encouragement, as he affirms:

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The human mind is a microcosm, a miniature replica

of the Divine. Each human being is the image of

God. To the kabbalist this means that by turning

inward, contemplating the inner stages by which

the self emerges, we may gain some insight about

the cosmic Self as well. (40)

Artson agrees with Green, stating that humanity is already

unified, before shevirah; that the Holy One is presently

inherent.

An essence of both Kabbalah’s Tikkun and depth

psychology’s focus on healing the soul is revealed in the

emphasis given to the relationship between the individual

and the collective. There is a commitment in Jung’s adamancy

about myth, which is that one cannot own or claim a personal

myth. Myth, to him, must be shared; it must be open to that

which is more than, as myth in his view both encompasses and

exceeds self. Reflecting Jung’s teachings, Robert A. Segal

notes, “Myth is not just a statement, but an action” (Myth

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61). Myth, to Jung, serves the egoless Self; it heals the

tender soul and balances the distraught mind.

Lawrence Kushner, in his book, Honey from the Rock, relates

this relationship between the individual and the collective

with these words:

The aware rise in spirals to ever higher rungs of

awareness in each lifetime. Until they will

finally have been through and been everyone and

everything. They reach out to death and inquire

“now where?” Because once they were both beggar

and rich, they understand. Because at one time in

their past, they lived on every rung of being—

human and animal. And through their own light they

try to share their awareness. For they know that

we are each different fragmentary manifestations

of the Holy One Itself. And that the ultimate

unification cannot occur until every single soul

has become fully aware. Not until the wickedest

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person […]—seeks holiness instead, will the last

part of the last person be realized. (85)

Myth from Kabbalistic and Jungian Perspectives

In the Lament of the Dead, Sonu Shamdasani (SS) and James

Hillman (JH) discuss Jung and myth in a manner that

resonates with Kushner’s assessment of Tikkun. These Jungian

scholars articulate that a personal myth, one’s own story,

lacks sufficiency for Jung as follows:

JH: …What’s his myth, like in the Red Book, where’s

my soul, basic questions. Isn’t the myth that he’s

looking for the fact that myth is what he’s

looking for, not my myth. You see, I think that

has been a big problem, that each person reading

Jung comes out and thinks, I’ve got to find my

myth. What is my myth? What myth am I living? […]

Myth is what he wanted. […] Myth is the metaphor

that translates the libido into configurations.

SS: …You can’t have a myth if it’s just yours.

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You’re talking about an idiolect. You’re saying

you’ve found something and it’s your own story,

but that’s your own story, it’s nothing more than

that. That’s insufficient for Jung. That’s not

what he’s talking about. That would be in his

criticism, his clarification of what he calls his

individuation. (63-4)

One might assess that throughout his years evolving and

developing his Red Book, Jung gathered together an

evolutionary definition of myth, one that superseded,

through communal experience, previous definitions that had

supported concepts of individual and personal myth. In a

sense, this later view of Jung and myth corresponds with

reducing concepts to their prime states. Kabbalah also

reduces concepts to their prime states, as it expresses its

connection to prime concepts through numbers and letters.

The systems of numbers and letters involved in

Kabbalah, as reflected in Lecha Dodi, lend ever more layers

of symbolism to the inner workings of the-world-to-come as

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an everyday state-of-being. Kushner comments on this point

from a lettered, otiot, view:

Alef ףףף is the first letter. It has no sound.

Only the sound you make when you begin to make

every sound. Open your mouth and begin to make a

sound. STOP! That is Alef. […] That is why Tav is

also ףףףף TIKKUN. Mending. The repairing of the

universe. In truth ףףף EMET indeed. The last

letter. (Letters 21, 76)

Kushner is articulating that no sound, Ein Sof, is realized in

the first letter, from which all letters emerge.

Malkhut/Shekhinah, as repair, mending, and truth, is realized

circumambulatedly, in the Hebrew alphabet’s last letter;

from the mouth of Alef, its first.

Daniel Chanan Matt, in The Essential Kabbalah: The Heart of

Jewish Mysticism, provides an enthusiastic perspective to this

discussion on the Ein Sof, stating:

“Oblivion” Ein Sof is a place to which forgetting

and oblivion pertain. Why? Because concerning all

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the sefirot, one can search out their reality from

the depth of supernal wisdom. From there, it is

possible to understand one thing from another.

However, concerning Ein Sof, there is no aspect

anywhere to search or probe; nothing can be known

of it, for it is hidden and concealed in the

mystery of absolute nothingness. Therefore,

forgetting pertains to the comprehension of this

place. So open your eyes and see this great,

awesome secret. Happy is one whose eyes shine from

this secret, in this world and the world that is

coming! (Matt, 62)

The mythic activity of Hebrew writing also falls under the

canopy of holy acts. Not only are Hebrew letters themselves

induced with depths of meanings, but the physical act of

writing is also wrapped in tradition and mystical

significance. Drob explains, referencing Elliott R.

Wolfson’s Circle in the Square:

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The work of a scribe is considered exceptionally

holy in Jewish tradition, and Wolfson refers to a

manuscript that instructs a scribe how to ritually

prepare for writing a text concerning the ten holy

Sefirot. The scribe is instructed to wrap himself in

a prayer shawl (tallit) and place the crown of the

Torah on his head. According to Kabbalistic

tradition, this “crown” refers to the feminine

aspect of the Holy One, and the scribe, in placing

it on his head, unites himself with the divine

feminine principle. (Drob, Kabbalistic 65)

Numerically, gematria shows its scientific correlation

throughout Kabbalah and Lecha Dodi. According to Marie-

Louise von Franz in C. G. Jung: His Myth in Our Time, Jung also was

generating interest in the symbolic strength of numbers, as

she notes:

Toward the end of his life, Jung planned to

concentrate his research on the nature of natural

numbers, in which he saw archetypal structures and

a primordial, very primitive expression of the

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spirit, that is, of psychic dynamics. He made

notes of the individual mathematical

characteristics of the first numbers but was

unable to carry out his plan. (246)

Von Franz’s records lend insight into comments from the Sefer

Yetzirah, Kabbalah’s seminal Book of Formation.

Delving into the Hearth and Heart of Kabbalah.

According to von Franz, this Book of Formation outlines

Kabbalah from three distinct points of view while

emphasizing in each the importance of letters and numbers.

Aryeh Kaplan’s translation of this book describes Kabbalah

as follows:

In general, the Kabbalah is divided into three

categories, the theoretical, the meditative, and

the magical.

The theoretical Kabbalah which, in its

present form is based largely on the Zohar, is

concerned mostly with the dynamics of the

spiritual domain, especially the worlds of the

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Sefirot, souls, and angels. This branch of

Kabbalah reached its zenith in the writings of the

Safed school in the 16th century, and the vast

majority of published texts belong in this

category.

Meditative Kabbalah deals with the use of

divine names, letter permutations, and similar

methods to reach higher states of consciousness,

and as such, comprises a kind of yoga.

The third category of Kabbalah—the magical—is

closely related to the meditative. It consists of

various signs, incantations, and divine names,

through which one can influence or alter natural

events. (ix, x)

In each of these three categories, Lecha Dodi finds its home

squarely in the hearth and heart of Kabbalah. Such

footprints offer assurance that inherent within the poem are

the strengths needed for its continued expression that may

endure throughout time, ever fresh, eternally rooted in its

own present states of becoming.

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If one were to take a turn and weave the essentials of

pathways, gematria, and otiot, and merge these aspects into

the fabric of shadow, sacrifice, and death, one might reveal

redemptive patterns in Kabbalah. Drob begins this discussion

by observing Jung’s words on this matter:

A battle between the elements is set up that

brings about an alchemical separation, division,

putrefaction, mortification, and solution, each representing

an element of chaos, resulting in physical change

in the substances and, more importantly, spiritual

healing for the alchemist. (Kabbalistic 99; Jung, CW

14, p. 353)

For the alchemists to willingly enter such a chaotic battle

implies that spiritual healing is of great value not only to

the scientific intellect, but also to the psychic soul of

such a chemist. In a sense, these spiritual alchemists may

have been seeking an ultimate balance, as Shekhinah

experiencing a holy marriage with Tiferet. Traveling along

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the pathways of Etz Hayim, such a journey must contain both

light and shadow, or order and chaos.

Delving into Jung’s Views and Lecha Dodi’s Verses.

Jung underscores this experience of balance. Just as he

believes that the substance of goals is dynamic rather than

static, he also affirms that “Death is psychologically as

important as birth and, like it, is an integral part of life

[…]. For, seen in correct psychological perspective, death

is not an end but a goal” (CW 13, par. 68). Similarly, this

attention to the unification of birth, death, and life is

critical when observing the balance of Kabbalah, delving

into the internal verses of Lecha Dodi, and tending to the

souls of the world. As Drob affirms:

We have a powerful metaphor for the psychological

truth, later recognized by Jung, that one’s

destructive urges cannot simply be willed away.

The Kabbalah has a healthy respect for man’s baser

instincts, and it recognizes the real power of

destructiveness in the human heart. (Kabbalistic 84)

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The initial acceptance of shadow is seductive. While it may

seem painful to pursue its pathways, doing so allows one to

walk the razor’s edge to a possible end, visible only in

retrospect, after the tunnel, beyond the embryonic journey.

The Etz Hayim contains a very strict pattern and

ordered system of how one travels through its Sefirot. Each

Sefirot contains balanced aspects of shadow and light in the

nature of its attribute, powered by the force of the Holy

One’s Ein Sof, and monitored by the filters of tzimtzum. As

much as Lecha Dodi is a love song of Shabbat, it too

contains internal failsafes against imbalances, such as

going too far into states of devakut, removing oneself from

family and communal life for the love of the Shabbat Queen,

or falling out of rhythm in the rhymes of one’s own poetry.

In his Seven Sermons for the Dead:

Jung reports that his soul was silent for many

days, but that eventually he was visited by a

“dark crowd” (RB, p. 346b), and his soul hastily

informed him that they would tear down his door.

Jung curses the crowd, but his soul bids him to

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let them speak. At this point Philemon, who is

garbed in a white priestly robe, places a hand on

Jung’s shoulder, and Jung tells the dead to have

their say. In unison they cry out, “We have come

back from Jerusalem where we did not find what we

sought” (RB, p.346b), and they ask Jung, not for

his blood but for his light. (Drob, Reading 221)

Oh, to give the dead their voice! When the dead are not

underground but rather breathing, walking, and working

amongst the living, one is moved to ask what differentiates

one from the other. In Kabbalistic terms, there are a

variety of answers to this question, all of which are

concerned with being statically out of balance.

The teachings of Kabbalah proclaim that to reconstruct

oneself as Shekhinah, a certain amount of dying and

rebirthing takes place, dynamic in its reordering, and

shifting in its becoming. This is why the image of the

redeemed Shekhinah is that of Keter, Hochmah, and Binah,

folded into their centers; Hesed and Din, folded into

themselves; Tiferet, Netzach, and Hod, folded into

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themselves; and Yesod and Malkhut—all centered into the Etz

Hayim’s core. Now, it forms a central column of seven

spheres; for it is possible that the spiritual alchemists

sought this transmutation into the golden state of death

through the seven primal centers of the psychic body.

Sefirot are emanations of the Holy One. Such a primal

force requires a system of balance, even within Itself.

Luria garnered a Kabbalistic wisdom that addressed this

potential blowout or overdose by his understanding that the

Sefirot and the Holy One, by Its nature of emanation with

the Sefirot, were inextricably connected to the thoughts and

actions of humanity—and of all life. This co-description of

a Holy One embraces both shadow and life; it is not to

extinguish the flame nor banish the shadows. The Holy One,

in common language, is as dirty as She is clean. There is

ever a certain wounding that takes place in language when no

one is perfect, all is relative, and humanity struggles to

care for itself through its shadows and brilliant lights.

Dennis Slattery comments forthrightly on this topic, as he

states:

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Certainly some outside presence or force is needed

for all of us to forgive the wounds and the

wounding we do in the world. […] The nature of the

wound may vary, but the one thing they have in

common is the recognition that no theorist,

psychologist, philosopher, theologian, critic has

a complete or unsullied purchase on the meaning of

embodiment, scarred or unblemished. (Wounded 237)

The compassion inherent in accepting death and the dead

while living is that tie to the sanctity of the daily

actions of humanity. Wounds abound. Absorbing pain and

suffering into the Binah, or realm of the home, is an

attribute contained in each Sefirot. Even the Shekhinah

exhibits transport in her frustrated states of exile.

Gershom Scholem explains:

The Shekhinah has its terrible aspect. Insofar as

all the preceding sefioth are encompassed in it and

can exert a downward influence only through its

meditation, the powers of mercy and stern

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judgement are alternately preponderant in the

Shekhinah which, as such is purely receptive, “has

nothing of its own.” (Symbolism 106-7)

The Holy One gets dirty because, at times, that is where

love is found, hidden amongst the shadows. Humanity is

responsible not only for itself, but also, dynamically, for

the divine.

In this same sensibility of living, functioning, and

balancing, Jung conveys:

The great, original fullness is the unconscious

origin of all specific psychological functions, as

well as the goal towards which the individual,

once […] adequately differentiated, can return for

his/her sense of personal meaning and wholeness.

(Drob, Reading 246)

Further, Jung later suggests that the dead also represents

the unconscious aspects of the living, as they are “the

voices of the unanswered, unresolved, and unredeemed” (MDR

19; Drob, Reading 231).

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According to Kabbalah, balance is the key to, and the

destination of, receiving the teachings of life. Depth

psychology strives to heal imbalances as it tends to souls.

Arthur Green sets his Kabbalistic sights on the future,

proclaiming:

But let us be clear. Post-modernity is not a

return to pre-modernity. All the grand systems of

metaphysical truth taught by prior ages collapsed

for good reason. In turning back to the sources of

Kabbalah, we seek inspiration and wisdom for what

is essentially a Jewish mysticism for a post-

kabbalistic age. We seek to be richly nurtured by

the past, but not to return to it or to restore

its unquestioned authority. In that sense, our

work continues that of the neo-Hasidic teachers

who came before us, mining the deep veins of

spiritual insight within Judaism for use by those

living in a different age and with very different

sets of life experience. (Kabbalah 17)

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Lecha Dodi’s Vision of Individuation and World Redemption

In conclusion, Lecha Dodi’s combined forty lines is a

portal into a sense of individuation. It addresses

circumambulation and its events, experiences, and

crises/significant moments of life. Circumambulation,

according to Daryl Sharp, is:

A term used to describe the interpretation of an

image by reflecting on it from different points of

view. Circumambulation differs from free

association in that it is circular, not linear.

Where free association leads away from the

original image, circumambulation stays close to

it. (35)

Spirals, in this case, capture both time and space. It is a

revisiting without touching, a return with new recollection.

In essence, it is living life anchored in memory and

expressed as discovery. Spirals often affect life through

death.

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Lecha Dodi speaks of love. Within the love song’s

spirit and kavanah of love, spirals infinitely swing back,

close enough for Mnemosyne’s recognizable glance, yet

distanced enough for the leap into Shekhinah’s redemption.

The enduring beauty of Lecha Dodi and the essence of this

dissertation are both captured in a brief quote from Daniel

Chanan Matt’s The Essential Kabbalah which invites, encourages,

and hopes for, in a most Jungian sense, myth. Accordingly,

he calls out to all those who are ready to listen, “Delve

into this. Flashes of intuition will come and go, and you

will discover a secret here. If you are deserving, you will

understand the mystery of the Holy One on your own” (27).

This dissertation concludes with a blessing from the

essence of Lecha Dodi—and, ever more, from the author’s

heart and soul to that of the reader:

Through the infinite Powers of Love and fierce Forces of Grace and Gratitude,

may the Shekhinah find singular dwelling places of comfort, ease, and balance

throughout the worlds of humanity’s collective soul.