Eucharist & Jewish Mystical Tradition

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The Eucharist and The Jewish Mystical Tradition Part 1 Athol Bloomer
Ed. This article appeared in The Hebrew Catholic #77, pp 15-18. Athol is a lay missionary with the Missionary Society of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament. This series reflects talks that Athol gave in the early 1990s. Caution: Athol's reflections spring from his life previously as an observant Jew and now as a Catholic. Our inclusion of these articles are not to be understood as a recommendation to study Jewish mysticism as found in modern day versions of the Kabbalah. On the contrary, without special studies and a firm formation in the Catholic faith, we would urge all Catholics to avoid the Kabbalah - it is a mixed bag of the occult and other elements contrary to the faith. Athol's reflections sort through the distortions introduced by the Lurianic Kabbalists to show the truths of the Catholic faith hidden in the Jewish mystical traditions. Here is Athol's response to an email query. Q. I studied Kabbala years ago; it is a gnostic corruption of Judaism. Could you explain ... your position ...? A. In regards to the Kabbalah being gnostic this is a rather complex topic. It is more that Gnostics took elements of the Jewish and Christian Mystical traditions and distorted them to their own ends. Also, some Gnostic elements have come into the Jewish Kabbalah via certain schools and I am very discerning when reading the interpretations of Kabbalah by the Lurianic Kabbalists. At times the wheat is mixed with the chaff. When we stand on the Rock of our Faith in Yeshua and His Kehilla we are able to discern what is part of the authentic Kabbalah and what has been introduced as a distortion.
--------------------------------In the Middle Ages there were a number of Jewish converts to the Church who had become convinced Christians by studying and practicing the Jewish Mystical Tradition. These Jewish converts wrote a number of books which explored the Kabbalah or Jewish Mystical traditions in the light of Catholic belief. Pope Sixtus IV along with some other Popes approved of this movement and ordered the Kabbalah to be translated into Latin and to be studied by all Divinity students. This was the pre-Lurainic Kabbalah. However with the rise of a more rationalistic generation this field of research was neglected by Catholic scholars.

Shekinah
Shekinah is the central concept of this mysticism. Father Elias Friedman in his writings mentions this understanding of Shekinah in regards to the Eucharistic Presence of Jesus in the Tabernacles of the Catholic Church. Just as the Shekinah dwelt in the Temple of Solomon so the Shekinah in the flesh was Yeshuah and now dwells in the tabernacles of the world. Thus the central concept of both Jewish and Catholic mysticism is the Divine Presence (Shekinah). A study of the Jewish Mystical tradition in the light of the Eucharist is, in my opinion, essential in the future development of a Hebrew Catholic spirituality that would enrich the whole Church. Adoration of the Shekinah is the central activity of the Jewish mystics just as Eucharistic Adoration is the central activity of the Catholic mystics. These adorers in the Jewish traditions are called the Reapers of the Field or Comrades. The present Pope is calling all of us to grow in our personal relationship with Yeshuah through Eucharistic Adoration. On 13 June 1993 at the Eucharistic Congress in Seville, Spain the Pope called on all parishes and Christian communities to establish Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration. The Church in the U.S. has responded generously to this call with over 1000 parishes now having Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration. http://hebrewcatholic.org/PrayerandSpirituality/eucharistjewishm.html

Eucharist & Jewish Mystical Tradition It is significant that it was in Spain, where the population is very Jewish in ancestry, due to the mass conversions of Jews in 1391 and 1492, that the Pope expressed this desire. It is in Spain that many Catholics believe that a future Eucharistic miracle in connection with the Shekinah Presence of God will occur at Garabandal. The Old Testament speaks of a similar event to happen on the mountain where Moses died in the last days. In the Second Book of Maccabees (2:4-12), it describes how the Prophet Jeremiah hid the Ark of the Covenant in a cave. He prophesied that the Ark of the Covenant would remain hidden until the time of the return of the Jews and their receiving of Gods mercy. Then the Ark will be revealed and the Shekinah Presence of God will manifest himself just as he did in the time of Moses and Solomon. In this passage of Scripture our attention is drawn to the two figures of importance in a reflection on the Jewish origins of the Eucharist. They are Moses (Moshe) and Solomon (Shlomo). This short passage is like a capsule hiding many interesting treasures. The figures of Jeremiah, Moses and Solomon represent the role of Yeshuah as prophet (Jeremiah), priest (Moses), and king (Solomon) as well as the three sections of the Old Testament the Torah (Moses), the Prophets (Jeremiah) and the writings (Solomon). Verse 8 of this chapter links us to the Manna of the Old Covenant in Exodus as a type of the Eucharistic bread, and verses 10-11 with the institution of the Old covenant sacrificial priesthood (Leviticus 9). This passage also draws our attention to the Tabernacle (Exodus 40) and the Temple (1 Kings 8) showing the connection between the Shekinah and the sacrificial system.

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What is Kabbalah?
As mentioned above, an understanding of the Eucharist as the Shekinah Presence dwelling in the tabernacles of the Church is helped with a knowledge of the Jewish mystical traditions called Kabbalah. Some Kabbalah is a part of the Jewish Oral Tradition which first started to be written down from the second century onwards, as were the other oral traditions found in the Talmud. Certain aspects of this tradition were also found in written form such as the Books of Enoch. I Enoch was found written in Aramaic in the Dead Sea Scrolls. In Jewish tradition both Enoch and Elijah are associated with the Kabbalah, and aspects are found in Scripture in Ezekiel, Isaiah and Daniel. However, the Jewish mystical tradition as recorded in the Zohar (an important work of Kabbalah written by Moses de Leon), relates that all Scripture has a hidden mystical meaning as well as the literal historical meaning. The earthly meaning is only a shadow of the true heavenly or mystical reality.

Blurred Cloudy Lens

It is through the use of the earthly language of symbols that man can get a glimpse of the heavenly reality as through what the Rabbinic tradition calls a blurred, cloudy lens (as also mentioned by St.Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:12). Thus in one sense we could say that the Eucharistic species is that blurred, cloudy lens through which we see the Real Presence of the Divinity. Paul states that one day the full glory of the Eucharist will be revealed when we see God face to face. This dwelling of Gods Presence in time and space is called in Judaism the Miniature Presence or Shekinah. The Jewish Artscroll Siddur-Sefard (p.391) states in the commentary:

Although Gods Presence is everywhere, it is not readily discernable on earth where events can be understood as a result of natural causes rather than emanating from Him. The lack of clarity in our perception of His Presence is as if we observed an event through me-iy-rah is-pak-lar-ya she-ey-nah, a blurred, cloudy lens. The result is that we have a diminished appreciation of Gods greatness. This is the unclear lens through which we attempt to perceive His influence and is referred to as the miniature Presence of God.

The Miniature Presence

The Shekinah or Miniature Presence of God is also called in Kabbalah the Holy Apple Orchard or the Field of the Sacred Apples. This terminology comes from the Song of Songs where the Bridegroom (in Hebrew, Hatan) is associated with the Apple Tree (Song of Songs 2:3;8:5). The fruit of the apple tree is associated by the Rabbis with the Torah. They interpret Song 8:5 as: http://hebrewcatholic.org/PrayerandSpirituality/eucharistjewishm.html

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How worthy she is who rises from the desert bearing Torah and His Presence, clinging to her beloved.

The Bride and the Bridegroom

In this interpretation the Bride (Kallah) is called the Kehal (the Community, Church, Assembly, Synagogue, Ekklesia) and is the bearer to mankind of the Torah and the Divine Presence. Thus the Jewish tradition proclaims that the Torah which is the Word of God (Dabar), and the Divine Presence are the possession of the Community (Kehal or Kehilla) of Gods People. In the Catholic sense this is the bride of St. Pauls writings the Church which is the bearer of the Word of God and the Sacraments that make the Divine Presence really present in the life of the believer. That the Song of Songs is a mystical writing is proclaimed by both the Jewish Tradition and the Church Fathers. The Mystery of the Church (or Body of Christ) is explained in symbols through the love of the Bridegroom (Hatan) for his Bride (Kallah). Jesus himself drew on this imagery and referred to himself as the Bridegroom and His disciples as the children of the Huppah (the Marriage Canopy). This is why the Blessed Sacrament, when it is processed, is covered by the Huppah of the New Covenant. Paul also explains the mystery of the Church in this mystical language drawn from the Jewish tradition. As the Jewish bride circles round the bridegroom, so the Church revolves around Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

The Shekinah Presence

St. John the Beloved also uses this tradition. John links the Incarnation of the Divine Word (Dabar in Hebrew, Memra in Aramaic and Logos in Greek) in John 1:14 with the Shekinah in the Tabernacle (or Tent) and Temple of the Old Covenant. John 1:14 states literally that the Word was made flesh and pitched his tent among us. This can be translated also as the Word was made man and tabernacled or shekinah-ed amongst us. Thus Yeshuah is the Miniature Presence of God which in the Old Covenant was veiled by the cloud but in the New Covenant was veiled by Yeshuahs human flesh and also by the veil of the Eucharistic species of the bread and wine. John 1:14 continues in the second part: and we saw his glory (Kavod in Hebrew closely associated with the concept of Shekinah), the glory (Kavod) that is his as the only begotten Son of the Father, full of Grace (Hesed) and Truth (Emet). The Jerusalem Bible commentary on this states that:

The glory is the manifestation of Gods Presence (Ex 24:16+), but the human nature of the Word now screens this glory as the cloud once did. Yet at times it pierces the veil, at the transfiguration, for instance, cf Lk 9:32,35 (alluded to in Jn 1:14?) and when Jesus works miracles signs that God is active in him The Resurrection will reveal the glory fully (cf Jn 17:5+).
The Kavod or Glory of God is closely associated with the concept of Shekinah, as it is Shekinah that allows the Kavod to manifest in time and space through the power of the Holy Spirit (Ruach haKodesh) in a veiled form that man can perceive as through a blurred cloudy lens. It is the Kavod or Dabar (Word), also known as Wisdom or Primordial Torah, through the power of the Holy Spirit, that manifests himself in time and space. This process is what Shekinah is. Thus the Shekinah came to be seen in the Jewish tradition as a simile for the Divine Presence itself. The Shekinah is often refered to in the feminine form because in the Jewish traditions the Holy Spirit and wisdom are at times referred to in the feminine gender. Understanding (Binah) which is closely linked to Wisdom (Hokmah) is also referred to in feminine terminology. Yeshuah also gives himself feminine imagery when he describes himself as a mother hen who gathers her chicks under her wings this is a direct allusion to the concept of the wings of Shekinah found in Rabbinic literature.

The Heavenly Portal

The Kabbalah states that the portal or gateway to the mystical realm of the Heavenlies is through the Holy Apple Orchard or Shekinah. Thus we can say that the Eucharistic Presence in the Tabernacle is the portal or gateway to ascending to the Heavenlies and the mysteries of the Holy Trinity. The following prayer-praise is recited during the http://hebrewcatholic.org/PrayerandSpirituality/eucharistjewishm.html

Eucharist & Jewish Mystical Tradition Jewish Sabbath evening meal.

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Prepare the feast of perfect faith, the joy of the Holy King. Prepare the feast of the King. This is the feast of the Field of Sacred Apples. And the Miniature Presence and the Holy Ancient One come to feast with it. I will cut away (the accusers) with praises, bringing them up through the portals that are in the Apple Orchard, for they are holy. Let us now invite (the Shekinah) with a newly laid table
This links the earthly Sabbath meal with the Heavenly Wedding Feast. The Sabbath itself is called the Sabbath Bride or Queen in the Jewish liturgy for the Sabbath. Thus we see that the Sabbath meal is associated with the Heavenly banquet or Wedding Feast in connection with the Shekinah as the kingly bridegroom and the Sabbath as the queenly bride the linking the Sabbath meal with the Song of Songs. In the New Covenant the Sabbath meal along with all the festival meals is transformed into the Mass as the Wedding Feast of the Eucharistic King. Thus the Jewish Sabbath Meal is a type of the Mass and Eucharist. All the festival meals of Judaism including the Passover have their roots in the weekly Sabbath Evening Meal. These meals all find their fulfillment or culmination in the meal of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, which we call the Holy Mass.

The Sabbath Queen

The Sabbath Bride or Queen is an image or type of Our Lady and the Church. Our Lady is the Sabbath Queen for whom Catholics honour each Saturday as a feast day of Our Lady, and the Jews unknowingly invoke her in song as the Sabbath Queen. The Orthodox Jews sing the song Lechah Dodi (Come my Beloved) each Sabbath to welcome the Sabbath Queen. The title alone links in to the Song of Songs. It concludes with:

Enter, O bride! Enter, O bride, enter O bride, the Sabbath Queen, Come my Beloved to greet the bride the Sabbath Presence, let us welcome!.

The Sefirot
In the Jewish mystical tradition the Sefirot are the ten Attributes of the Divinity or Godhead. The Sefirot are seen in Kabbalah as the garments or crowns of the King and as aspects of the Divine Personality which are united like a flame joined to a coal. The Kabbalah uses the image of a tree or a body to explain the Sefirot. They call this Body the Primordial Adam (Adam Kadmon) and this can be linked to St Pauls concepts of the Second Adam and the Body of Christ. The Shekinah is also Malkut (Kingdom) as the tenth Sefirah of the Jewish mystical understanding of the Godhead. It is through Malkut/Shekinah that one enters the heavenly realm or palaces of the Divine Sefirot (or Attributes of the Divinity). Besides this tenth Sefirah through which one has to enter as a portal or gateway, the Sefirot are grouped into three triads of Attributes. These nine Sefirot within the God head are in complete unity God is not divided into separate parts but is a unity (Echad). The ten Sefirot are further seen as three forces with in the Godhead. One commentary on the Jewish Kabbalistic book Bahir states that the ten sefirot are indeed three, and they represent three celestial forces. The Kabbalah (in the teaching of Rabbi Isaac the Blind of Provence) states that the power that unifies these three forces within the Godhead is the power of Hesed (Divine Mercy/Love/ Grace). Thus we can say the dynamics of the Trinity is that of Love or Mercy. Hesed can also be translated as lovingkindness.

The Head Triad

The first three sefirot of the Godhead make up the Sacred Head of the Divine Body. The Infinite God beyond all images or aspects or sefirah is called Ein Sof. Ein Sof in Catholic thought is the Father. The first Sefirah of the first Triad of the Head is called Keter (Crown) and is co-eternal with Ein Sof, and Keter is also called Razon (Divine Will) and Ayin (Nothingness). It is also the Sefirah of Divine Knowledge. It is from this Sefirah that all the others emanate or proceed. The other two Sefirot of the Head Triad are Hokmah (Wisdom) and Binah (Understanding). Keter, Hokmah and Binah are the three highest sefirot and represent the head of the Divine or Mystical Body and are the most hidden of the Sefirot. http://hebrewcatholic.org/PrayerandSpirituality/eucharistjewishm.html

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The Triad of the Sacred Heart

The second or middle triad of the Primordial Adam is the arms and torso of the Divine Body. In Catholic devotion this is called the Sacred Heart. The White Right Arm is the Sefirah of Hesed (Mercy/Love) and the Red left Arm is the Sefirah of Din (Judgment/Justice/Power). The torso or heart of the divine body is the Sefirah of Rahamim (Compassion/Beauty). The Sefirah of Hesed (Mercy/Love) is the Attribute that unifies the Godhead - and Hesed is described in the Jewish traditions as having 13 Attributes which are recorded in Exodus 34:6-7. The invocation of these thirteen attributes of Mercy saved Israel from Divine Destruction or Judgement. Kabbalah teaches that, when the Sefirah of Judgement (Din) reacts with the Sefirah of Mercy (Hesed) it brings forth the Sirah of Compassion (Rahamim). These three Sefirot of Din, Hesed and Rachamim are the second or middle triad of the Sefirot. The first three attributes of Mercy invoked before Moses was YHVH, YHVH, El this is linked to the three mentions of God in the Shema as YHVH, Elohaynu (Our God), YHVH echad (echad = one unity). The Kabbalistic tradition also associates the thirteen attributes of Mercy with the three Kadoshim of Holy, Holy, Holy of Isaiah 6 and of the Jewish liturgy. The Jewish Prayer Book calls God the thrice- Holy God. Thus in the authentic Jewish mystical tradition is found a preparation for the Trinitarian and Eucharistic revelation of the New Covenant. This is one of the reasons that traditionally the Rabbinic Jews forbade anyone not over 50 from studying the Kabbalah, as it iwas considered potentially dangerous to Orthodox Jewish Faith. The Sefirah of Hesed is also called Gedullah (Greatness) and the Sefirah of Din is also called Gevurah (Power). Mercy is the greatest of Gods Attributes. Hesed and Din are the right and left hands or arms of God. As mentioned above Hesed is the White Right Arm and Din the Red Left Arm. The concept of White as a colour of Mercy and red as a colour of Judgement/Justice reminds the Catholic of the divine Mercy Picture of the white and red rays streaming out from the torso or chest of Jesus in the region of the heart. The reaction between Hesed and Din produces the Sefirah of Compassion (Rahamim) which is seen as the torso or heart of the Divine Body and is also known as Tiferet (Beauty) and Blessed Holy One. The Messiah is also seen as the Beauty of Israel and the Blessed Holy One. Thus this Sefirah is associated with the concept of the compassionate coming Messiah. Tiferet (Beauty) is also called Heaven, Sun, and King as well as being considered the son of Hokmah (Wisdom) and the son of Binah (Understanding). Evil in this Jewish tradition is called Sitra Ahra the Other Side- and comes when Judgement (Din) is not softened by Love/Mercy (Hesed).

The Lower Triad

The lower or third triad is made up of the two sefirot of Netzach (Endurance/Victory) and Hod (Majesty/Glory) which produce Yesod (Foundation) as the third Sefirah of this triad. Netzach and Hod are seen as the right and left legs of God and are considered the source of prophecy. Yesod is the foundation of the world and the axus mundi or cosmic pillar as the phallus of the divine Body. Yesod is also called Tsaddik (righteous) and is thus associated with the title of Tsaddik given to the Messiah. Proverbs 10:25 states: The Righteous One (Tsaddik) is the foundation (Yesod) of the world. The light and power of the Sefirot are channelled through Yesod to the last Sefirah (the 10th) of Malkut/Shekinah. Tiferet and Shekinah are united by Yesod. Shekinah is seen as the Bride and in this context can be associated with the Church (Community) as the Bride of the Messiah. Kabbalah sees that the human marriage symbolises the Heavenly or Divine Marriage. As we have seen above the Sabbath Eve is seen as the weekly celebration of the Sacred Wedding.

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The Eucharist and Jewish Mystical Tradition - Part 2 Athol Bloomer

Ed. This article appeared in The Hebrew Catholic #78, pp. 24-27. All rights reserved. Athol is a lay missionary with the Missionary Society of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament. This series reflects talks that Athol gave in the early 1990s. Caution: Athol's reflections spring from his life previously as an observant Jew and now as a Catholic. Our inclusion of these articles are not to be understood as a recommendation to study Jewish mysticism as found in modern day versions of the Kabbalah. On the contrary, without special studies and a firm formation in the Catholic faith, we would urge all Catholics to avoid the Kabbalah - it is a mixed bag of the occult and other elements contrary to the faith. Athol's reflections sort through the distortions introduced by the Lurianic Kabbalists to show the truths of the Catholic faith hidden in the Jewish mystical traditions. Here is Athol's response to an email query. Q. I studied Kabbala years ago; it is a gnostic corruption of Judaism. Could you explain ... your position ...? A. In regards to the Kabbalah being gnostic this is a rather complex topic. It is more that Gnostics took elements of the Jewish and Christian Mystical traditions and distorted them to their own ends. Also, some Gnostic elements have come into the Jewish Kabbalah via certain schools and I am very discerning when reading the interpretations of Kabbalah by the Lurianic Kabbalists. At times the wheat is mixed with the chaff. When we stand on the Rock of our Faith in Yeshua and His Kehilla we are able to discern what is part of the authentic Kabbalah and what has been introduced as a distortion. ---------------------------------

The Four Rabbis

A story is told about four Torah scholars (Rabbis) who entered into the mystical realm. One returned from the mystical ascent insane, one still orthodox (according to Rabbinic Judaism), one as a heretic, and another as a Christian. The rabbi that remained strictly Orthodox was Rabbi Akiva who proclaimed Simon bar Kokba as the Messiah in the 2nd century. Thus, as a Hebrew Catholic I must query whether Rabbi Akiva was deluded by Satan (as an angel of light) in his attempt at the mystical ascent. The rabbi that came back a Christian was the famous Rabbi Simeon ben Zoma who was a contemporary of Rabbi Akiva.

Eucharistic Centred
It is only through Yeshuah and his shed blood that one can safely attempt the mystical ascent, and such an ascent must be totally Eucharistic centred. St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, both from Judaeo-Converso families, reveal the completion of the Jewish Kabbalah in the Revelation of Yeshuah as the Messiah. Avila was a centre of medieval Jewish Kabbalah so it is quite possible that Teresa and John would have been familiar with the Jewish understanding of the mystical ascent. The seven castles of St. Teresa mirror the seven palaces (heikhalot) of the early Kabbalah tradition. The famous compiler of the Zohar, Rabbi Moses de Leon, was centred with his Kabbalistic school in Avila. That the Jewish Kabbalah is truly ancient can be seen in that St. Paul and St. John the Beloved seem to be familiar with its images and symbolism. The Egyptian theology of the Ennead is a corrupted version of this same mystical tradition. Later misuse of Kabbalah can be seen in Lurianic Kabbalah and its offspring Freemasonry. These both distort the Kabbalah into an occultic direction.

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Wisdom and Understanding

Hokmah (Wisdom) is also called Reshit (Beginning) and is associated with the creation of the Universe in the first word of the Bible Bereshit (In the Beginning). Thus Hokmah is linked to Dabar (the Word) which brings forth all creation. St John in John 1 confirms this Jewish concept linking Wisdom, creation and the Word. Binah (Understanding), the
third Sefirah of the Head Triad, is seen as the Divine Womb or Mother. She receives the seed, the point of Hokmah and conceives the lower Sefirot. Binah on one level can be associated with the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Understanding. In Catholic tradition the Holy Spirit and Mary are so united as to call Mary the Spouse of the Holy Spirit. Mary, like the Spirit, became a divine womb or Mother receiving the seed of divinity (the Divine Word or Wisdom) and conceiving the God-Man. The role and function of Mary is so united to the Holy Spirit that Mary (Miriam ha Kadosha) is the perfect mirror of the Holy Trinity. On one level each Sefirah in each Triad can represent a person of the Holy Trinity. Also each of the three Triads can also represent one of the persons of the Trinity. The Head Triad with the Father, the middle Triad with the Son and the Lower Triad with the Holy Spirit. In the Head Triad Keter represents the Father, Hokmah the son and Binah the Holy Spirit. Within the Middle Triad Din represents the Father, Hesed the Holy Spirit and Tiferet (Rachamim) with the Son. In the Lower triad Hod represents the Father, Netzach the Holy Spirit and Yesod the Son. The dynamic of reaction within the family of the Godhead is animated by Hesed. Hesed is the blood of the Divine Body. In one sense then we can say that Mary is the daughter of Keter, the mother of Hokmah and the spouse of Binah. Binah is the mother of the seven lower sefirot that make up the Mystical Body (Adam), just as Mary is the Mother of the Body of Christ the Church.

The Eucharistic Mystery

This heavenly or mystical understanding of the Sefirot opens up a fuller understanding of the unity of the Godhead with the Church and with each member of the Church. It is only through the Eucharist that this mystery of unity can be found. The Eucharist is the way to the mystical union or marriage of the soul with the Heavenly Bridegroom. It is Eucharistic Adoration that helps sanctify the soul in preparation for that mystical union. The outward appearance of the Eucharist is in time and space but within the veil it is beyond time and space and the whole mystery of the Heavenlies and the Trinity is encompassed within the Sacred Host, as a portal to the Divine realm. The Trinity dwells not so much in the heights but in the depths of the Sacred Host of the Altar which is the Sacred Heart.

The Reapers of the Holy Field

The Jewish mystical tradition calls the masters of the mystical wisdom the Comrades or the Reapers of the Field. This field is of course the Apple Field mentioned above in connection with the Shekinah and the Song of Songs. The Apple Trees of this Holy Field or Orchard are the sefirot from Hesed to Yesod. The Zohar links this concept of the Holy Apple Orchard with the Heavenly Bread similar to the Heavenly Manna. To understand the Heavenly mysteries and to make the mystical ascent one must feed on this Heavenly Food or Dew. This Bread is Jesus himself proclaims John 6. St. John the Beloved, as his name suggests, is a master of this mystical tradition of the Apple Trees of the Song of Songs of the Beloved. Thus John and Paul, both Jewish Rabbis, can be called Reapers of the Holy Field. Thus today the true Reapers of the Field are those who enter in to the Eucharistic Mystery and spend time feeding on the Eucharistic Lord through the Mass and Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration. The Zohar says:

Come and see; Every single day, dew trickles down from the Holy Ancient one to the Impatient One, and the orchard of holy apple trees is blessed. Some of the dew flows to those below; holy angels are nourished by it, each according to his diet, as it is written: A human ate angel bread (Psalm 78:25) Israel ate of that food in the desert. Rabbi Shimon said: Some people are nourished by it even now! Who are they? The Comrades, who engage Torah day and night. Do you think they are nourished by that very food? No, by something like that very food....

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The Divine Body

The Divine Body of the Sefirot is not only Trinitarian but is the Divine Body of the Messiah/Word (the Primordial Adam) himself. The first Triad represents his role as King, the second triad his role as Priest and the Third Triad his role as Prophet. The Divine Body is the Son as the visible manifestation of the invisible Deity as stated by St. Paul. Man (Adam) is created in his image and likeness. Man also has the sefirot as the make up of his spiritual emotive being. The Sefirot in the Godhead are of one substance with the Deity. The Sefirot emanate from the Deity (Ein Sof/Father) in the sense of generation and procession. In man the Sefirot of his spiritual self (soul powers) are a created illumination made in the image and likeness of the Divine Sefirot. These sefirotic soul powers are reunited by the Holy Spirit with the Divine Sefirot (Attributes) in baptism and we regain the full likeness of God which was lost in the Fall and is relost each time we fall into mortal sin. In Eucharistic Adoration this likeness grows from glory to glory. The Zohar proclaims that the Shekinah is also Kneset Yisrael, the mystical community of Israel and that all of Israel are her limbs (Zohar 3:231b). thus the Church, the New Israel, is the Shekinah seen as Bride of God. The shekinah as the Eucharistic Presence is so connected with the Church, that both are seen as Shekinah. It is the Church which possesses and brings forth through its priesthood the Presence of the Eucharistic Lord. Therefore the concept of the Sefirot shines a light of understanding on the unity between Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit: and the unity between Christ and the Church: and the unity of the hearts of Jesus and Mary: and the unity of the soul with the Divinity. The Shekinah as Bride is seen as a daughter of Binah (Understanding) also called Moon, just as Mary is the Moon (or Understanding) of Israel and the Mother of the Church. As noted above Miriam ha Kadosha (Holy Mary) is the spouse of the Holy Spirit (or Binah) and Mother of the Eucharistic Lord (the Shekinah).

The Torah
What is the Torah? Jewish people call the first five books of Moses the Torah. They also use the word Torah for the whole of Scripture and the oral Tradition. Thus the word Torah is associated with the term Word of God (Dabar). The Jewish tradition claimed that the Patriarchs also kept Torah so that Torah was not just the giving of the Torah on Mt Sinai. The giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai is seen as the earthly garments of the heavenly or Primordial Torah. In Kabbalah, as handed down by Rabbi Isaac the Blind of Provence, it states that:

It is written God by Wisdom founded the Earth (Proverbs 3;19). Wisdom (Hokmah) is nothing other than Torah due to the number of its commandments. Also its name was Amon before the world was created, as it is written It was by Him, as an architect (Amon) (Proverbs 8:30).
Thus Torah as Wisdom and word of God is part of the divinity itself and the commandments of the Torah are only an earthly garment of this Primordial Torah. Thus it can logically be said that Jesus as Wisdom and Word of God is the Living and Primordial Torah who took on flesh in the Incarnation. The garment Torah cloaked itself in, in the Old Covenant, was only temporary whereas Jesus as Living Torah (as the early Jewish Christians called him) took on human nature for eternity thus elevating man to level of Divinity. Rabbi Isaac the Blind of provence further reveals that from the Primordial Torah was drawn a single name Hesed (Love/mercy/Lovingkindness). St John the Beloved also states that God is Love (Hesed). Rabbi Isaac explains that this power Hesed (which is the Divinity himself) is divided into three forces from these three forces emanate the ten sefirot. Thus Kabbalah states that the Torah is based on Love (Hesed). Jesus sums up the Torah as Love of God and neighbour. God is Hesed and Jesus is Hesed incarnated. The angelic salution of Mary as full of Hesed (meleat ha Hesed) proclaims that Mary as Mother of God is full of Hesed or full of Jesus/God. Thus the way of the spiritual life must be the way of Hesed. David Goldstein in his book Jewish Mythology (p.24) states that:

... the Torah then became personalised as a kind of artisan, a medium by which the creation of the world was set in motion, and the whole creative process planned. In this sense it may be seen as Logos, or the divine word... Connected with the idea that the Torah was present at Gods side
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at the creation is the view that the letters of the Hebrew alphabet were in themselves instrumental in the formation of the world. This view is most directly put at the beginning of the Sefer Yezirah (The Book of Formation), which was attributed to the Patriarch, Abraham... It states that the world was created by the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet and the ten numbers, which together form the 32 paths of understanding.
This corresponds with the Christian idea found in the New Testament that Jesus is the Alef and Tav (in Greek, Alpha and Omega), the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet which encompass all the letters, and are thus the Divine Word. The first line of the Bible states Bereshit bara elohim et (In the Beginning created God the). The et is alef and tav. It is through this alef and tav which is the divine Word that the creation occurred. This teaching of Judaism is confirmed by the first chapter of Johns gospel. The Zohar tells us that this et is the Shekinah and 3 Enoch tells us that the Shekinah dwelt with Adam and Eve in the Garden. The Zohar considers this as a great mystery or secret. The Hebrew word for mystery or secret is sod. The eastern Church refers to the Seven Sacraments as the Holy Mysteries and the early Church referred to the Eucharist as the Great Secret. Thus the Latin term sacramentum corresponds with the Hebrew sod. Zohar teaches that the Shekinah is a great sod and the Church refers to the Eucharist as one of the seven great Mysteries of the new covenant.

Dangers of Power
When one seeks the mystical way or kabbalah to gain more power rather than love as did many of the Lurianic Kabbalists, one enters into evil Sitra Ahra (the Other Side) and encounters the Evil One (Satan) and his demons often as angels of light. The followers of Rabbi Isaac Luria (mid 16th century) took the authentic Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah centred on Love (Hesed) and used or misused it to gain power over spiritual entities not distinguishing between invoking angels or demons. The Scriptures forbid the occultic practice of summoning spirits- thus the Lurianic mystics generally follow occultic practices which seek power rather than love. Freemasonry and theosophy owe much to this perversion of Kabbalah. True Kabbalah (such as found in Zoharic Kabbalah) warns that to seek power (Gevurah) without Hesed is to enter in to evil the Other Side. The rigid code of legalistic observance found in Shulhan Arukh, that seems to me to be lacking in love, was compiled by a Lurianic Kabbalist Rabbi Joseph Karo (1488-1575) of Safed. He was guided and instructed by a spirit guide a maggid or celestial teacher. Rabbi Morris Margolies in his book A Gathering of Angels states:

Lurianic Kabbalists were also given to summoning angels and demons by using intricate combinations of the names of God, literally numbering in the hundreds. They did not think of this as magic (though, in effect, it was), since God himself was the means by which they were seeking certain ends.
Thus Lurianic Kabbalism has introduced occultism into Judaism and the Jewish tale of Joseph della Reina is a warning of this perversion of Kabbalah. The movement of the false messiah Sabbetai Zvi (1626-1676) also followed Lurianic Kabbalah and fell into sexual as well as spiritual perversion. The only safe way to enter into the mystical realm is through Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament the God of compassion. In the Eucharist we enter the mystical realm in and through and with the power of his Precious Blood which is the hesed of the Divine Body.

Apocalypse 19 and Kabbalah

Apocalypse 19 describes Jesus in kabbalist imagery. Jesus is seen in a mystical way crowned with many crowns. The Kabbalah equates the ten sefirot with crowns. So John is proclaiming that Jesus is crowned with the attributes of God himself with the many crowns of the Divinitys Attributes or Sefirot. Jesus title of King of Kings and Lord of Lords is seen inscribed in his thigh or right side. Kabbalah states through the teaching of Rabbi Isaac the Blind:

The world was created in the right side of the Holy One, blessed be He ... In the right side of the Holy One... was engraved all the inscriptions which were destined to change from potentiality to actuality, due to the emanations of all the crowns which are inscribed, pressed and formed in the degree of Loving kindness (Hesed).
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Eucharist & Jewish Trad 2 This majestic Divine King is described, in other parts of the Apocalypse of John, as the Lamb that was slain as the Eucharistic Lord. Kabbalah only finds its true fulfillment in the Eucharistic mystery as proclaimed by the Kehilla of the Messiah. It is the mystery of humility. The eyes of pride cannot perceive this key to the divine mysteries. It is only given to the childlike and the humble. Jesus is the humble (Aniv) Righteous (Tzaddik) King of the Old Testament prophecy who is even more humble now, as a prisoner of Love in the tabernacles of the world, than when he walked Israel 2000 years ago. The whole of the Jewish tradition, culture and religion was a preparation for mankind to understand this divine mystery of the Paschal or eucharistic mystery but only a minority of men have been able to comprehend this mystery. However during the Eucharistic reign of Jesus over the earth which is the triumph of Marys Royal and Immaculate Heart (i.e., her heart full of Hesed), all men will see the glory unveiled of the Eucharistic Lord.

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The Blood of Jesus

The Kabbalah also sees the ten sefirot as the cloak or garment or Tallit (Prayer Shawl) of the Godhead. This Tallit is also seen as the Divine Light in which God encompasses Himself. Jesus is the Divine Light that has come into the world according to the New Testament. Apocalypse 19 reveals this cloak or Tallit as soaked in blood. This blood is the Love (or Hesed) of God poured out for mankind. Love or Hesed is the principle of unity and life in the Godhead and in time and space manifests as the blood of Jesus. The Divine mercy devotion links Hesed with the Precious Blood. The Old Testament sees blood as the principle of life and thus sacred. Man was made in the image and likeness of God and this is why we can explain the heavenly mysteries as a Divine body in which the blood that animates its life is Hesed.

And now I saw heaven open and a white horse appear; its rider was called Faithful and True; he is a judge with integrity, a warrior for justice. His eyes were flames of fire, and his head crowned with many crowns, the name written on him was known only to himself, his cloak was soaked in blood. He is known by the name, the Word of God. Behind him dressed in linen of dazzling white, rode the armies of heaven on white horses. From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike the pagans with; he is the one who will rule then with an iron sceptre, and tread out the wine of almighty Gods fierce anger. On his cloak and on his thigh there was a name inscribed; The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords (Apocalypse 19:11-16).
The symbolism of this whole passage is Kabbalistic and comes alive with hidden depth when seen in the light of Kabbalah. The glorious coming of the Lord with the clouds of Heaven is here seen as the God of Justice coming in Judgement (Din/Gevurah) but that Din covered with Hesed (the Precious Blood). The beings on white horses are the Heavenly company of the angels and saints (who the Epistle to the Hebrews calls a great cloud of witnesses), the white horses are the power of God. In apocalypse 11 and 12 the heavens are opened and this same Divine King is seen with Mary as the Ark of the Covenant as well as the divine child in the womb of the pregnant Queen-Mother (Givirah) this imagery is completely Eucharistic. At other times such as in Apocalypse 5 and 6 the heavens open to reveal the Divine Liturgy (Mass). The whole Book of the Apocalypse is a Eucharistic exposition. It is the story of the lamb. That lamb is revealed as our Eucharistic Lord. It is the story of the battle between the Eucharistic Lord and the beast that would destroy the Eucharist. St. John is celebrating the Eucharist on the Lords Day when he is taken up into the Divine Liturgy in heaven. It is through the Eucharistic consecration that Jesus and his sacrifice become present on the altar and a portal or vortex is opened up with heaven or eternity here on earth. By receiving the Eucharistic Lord in Communion we are already starting to enter into the Eternal life of God as explained in Johns Gospel. The true mystical life cannot be separated, since the coming of Christ, from the Eucharist as its central and supreme point. Any mystical movement that doesnt have the Eucharist at its heart is not authentic. All the mystical Catholic saints saw the Eucharist as essential and central to their mystical spiritual life.

The Immanent God

The Jewish tradition saw that the Divine Presence in the Temple above the Ark of the Covenant was the point at which the Immanent God entered his creation and maintained it. Gods presence is the Eucharist in todays world and it is this way through the Eucharist that the Immanent God manifests His love and power into His creation. http://hebrewcatholic.org/PrayerandSpirituality/eucharistjewisht.html

Eucharist & Jewish Trad 2 The more that perpetual Adoration is spread the more love and power flows from these Eucharistic gateways from the heart of God. Zohar 1:7h states that the Shekinah (the Real Presence) is the gate to the Divine. It is adoration of this Divine Presence that opens this gateway and allows the Power (Din/Gevurah) and the Love and Mercy ( Hesed) to flow from the heart of God (the Sacred Heart). 1 Kings 9:3 proclaims that the Shekinah is the eyes and the heart of God and Catholic belief proclaims that the Real Presence of the Blessed Eucharist is the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

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The LORD said to him, I grant your prayer and the entreaty you have made before me . I consecrate this House you have built; I place my name there forever; my eyes and my heart shall dwell there perpetually(1 Kings 9:3). Back to Part 1 To Part 3
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The Eucharist and Jewish Mystical Tradition - Part 3 Athol Bloomer

Ed. This article appeared in The Hebrew Catholic #80. All rights reserved. Athol is a lay missionary with the Missionary Society of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament. This series reflects talks that Athol gave in the early 1990s. Caution: Athol's reflections spring from his life previously as an observant Jew and now as a Catholic. Our inclusion of these articles are not to be understood as a recommendation to study Jewish mysticism as found in modern day versions of the Kabbalah. On the contrary, without special studies and a firm formation in the Catholic faith, we would urge all Catholics to avoid the Kabbalah - it is a mixed bag of the occult and other elements contrary to the faith. Athol's reflections sort through the distortions introduced by the Lurianic Kabbalists to show the truths of the Catholic faith hidden in the Jewish mystical traditions. Here is Athol's response to an email query. Q. I studied Kabbala years ago; it is a gnostic corruption of Judaism. Could you explain ... your position ...? A. In regards to the Kabbalah being gnostic this is a rather complex topic. It is more that Gnostics took elements of the Jewish and Christian Mystical traditions and distorted them to their own ends. Also, some Gnostic elements have come into the Jewish Kabbalah via certain schools and I am very discerning when reading the interpretations of Kabbalah by the Lurianic Kabbalists. At times the wheat is mixed with the chaff. When we stand on the Rock of our Faith in Yeshua and His Kehilla we are able to discern what is part of the authentic Kabbalah and what has been introduced as a distortion. ---------------------------------

The Pinnacle of all Human Acts

Kabbalah states that human righteous acts open a channel (Yesod/Tzaddik) that allows the attributes or emanations of God to flow on to the earthly level (see the Zohar). This channel is called the Sefirah of Yesod or Tzaddik. The Jewish traditions and Scripture associate the Tzaddik with the humble Messiah. This is confirmed in the New Testament where Jesus as Messiah and High Priest of the New Covenant opens the gate or veil to heaven for all believers. One can only perform righteous acts by being in union with the Righteous One (Tzaddik) who is Jesus. The pinnacle of righteousness is to love God with all your heart, mind, and soul you do this through worship and adoration of God. Thus Perpetual Adoration is the pinnacle of all human acts and opens wider and wider the gateway to Heaven pouring out increasing amounts of Gods purifying love and power this is the fire of the Holy Spirit which is the love of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. When enough people adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament then the whole of creation will be impenetrated with Gods Presence of Love (Hesed), flowing from the Eucharist, that the earth will be transformed and it will culminate in a new heavens and a new earth.

A Symbolic Language
Of course it is important to note that the whole system of the Sefirot and Kabbalah is a purely symbolic explanation of reality put into human language, as is the case with the explanations of the Catholic mystics such as St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila. The mystics experience the reality of the heavenly mysteries and symbolic language is the closest they can express this reality so that it can be comprehensible to others. http://hebrewcatholic.org/HCLives/Bloomer-Athol/eucharistandjewi.html

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The Titles of Jesus

That Jesus himself was familiar with this mystical tradition or kabbalah within Judaism is evident by the titles he calls himself such as Son of Man (Ben Adam), the Bridegroom (Hatan), and the Lord of the Sabbath. His reference to himself as Lord of the Sabbath proclaims him as the heavenly King associated with the concept of Shekinah. The title Bridegroom (Hatan) linked him with the mystical interpretation of the Song of Songs as mentioned above. The use of the title Son of Man (Ben Adam) linked him to the mysticism of the Book of Daniel and the Enochian literature. The role of Enoch was very important in the Jewish mystical tradition.

Enoch and Metatron

The Enoch traditions confuse Enoch with the Son of Man who is also called Metatron and, in other Jewish accounts, the Angel Yahoel. Both 1-Enoch (the Ethiopian Enoch which was also found in Aramaic in the Dead Sea Scrolls) and 3-Enoch (the Hebrew Enoch) confuse the identity of the ascended Enoch with the divine Son of Man. Enoch however, is like Elijah, a type of the Messiah or Son of Man. The mystical tradition associates Metatron with the name Shaddai. Both these names add up to 314. Shaddai is a title of the divinity and is translated as Almighty. In this same tradition Metatron is called the shining light of Shekinah, and thus is the Divine Presence. The mistaken understanding that Enoch, a human, could be transformed into Metatron shows a vague and confused knowledge that the Divinity was to become man. This same misunderstanding is shown by Eve in Genesis when she thinks she has given birth to God in the flesh of Cain. This is seen when one reads this account in the Hebrew. The concept of the GodMan found in the Enoch/Metatron tradition shows that there was a strand of this knowledge in the authentic mystical tradition. Isaiah also shows evidence of this belief that the Messiah would be both God and man. In the Zohar, Metatron is in existence before the creation and thus Enoch could not really be Metatron. However Enoch is closely associated with Metatron who will become the Son of man and be a Son of Enoch . Enoch, in his translation into the heavenlies, is so transformed by the light of the Divine Presence (Metatron) that in a mystical sense he becomes one with the Divine Presence and reflects this light of Metatron. Tikkunei Zohar identifies Metatron as the Biblical Tree of the Knowledge and Good and Evil. The Sefirot are described as a cosmic Tree or Divine body. The Sefirot are also seen as an orchard. The New Testament describes Gods People with the images of the Body (see Pauls epistles) and a Tree (Hebrews). The figure of Enoch is at the heart of much of the Kabbalah. According to the Catholic mystic (whose case for beatification has been reopened by the Pope in recent times) Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich, Abraham and the patriarchs had access to the writings of Enoch. I believe that the books of Enoch are edited versions of the oldest surviving literature of man and its influence is seen in both the Old and New Testaments. It has also influenced other ancient Jewish writings as well as the ancient Egyptian texts and religion. The whole mystery of the Pyramids is connected with these Enochian mysteries. Within the ancient religious cults of Mesapotamia and Egypt elements of the Divine revelation were concealed and hidden among many false concepts and ideas. They had a confused knowledge of the coming of the Divine Seed of God and the writings of Enoch were the pure form that the Mesopotamian and Egyptian cults distorted. The Church Fathers taught that elements of the Divine Revelation were concealed in the ancient pagan religions and these seeds of the gospel were a preparation for the full revelation in Jesus Christ. Satan however has sought to conceal these truths by mixing in his own elements in order to lead mankind astray from the truth.

Ancient Mythologies
The Norse Mythology, also like the Bible and the Jewish mystical tradition, had the concept of the cosmic Tree and the whole of the Norse Mythology is a corruption of the religion of the northern Israelites. In fact the mythological religions of the Norse, Celts, Greeks and Egyptians show a substratum of the Hebrew religion and a distorted version of the Kabbalah. The Egyptian theology of the Ennead shows this link very clearly. Many of the ancient Gnostic and mystery religions show evidence of this link with Kabbalah but coming via the Egyptian distortion of Kabbalah. The roots of Kabbalah are in the http://hebrewcatholic.org/HCLives/Bloomer-Athol/eucharistandjewi.html

Eucharist and Jewish Trad 3 Enochian literature and both the religions of Mesapotamia and Egypt show evidence of a confused transmission of this tradition. This Kabbalistic influence in the Egyptian religion confirms the radical redating of the chronology of Egypt as first proposed by the Jewish genius Immanuel Velikovsky in his writings.

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Joseph and Amon

The Egyptian religion of Amon is a confused translation of the Hebrew mystical tradition brought to Egypt by Jacob and Joseph. The Kabbalah in Judaism is closely associated with the patriarchs. The primordial Torah in Kabbalah is said to be given the name Amon before the creation as taught by Rabbi Isaac the Blind of Provence. Amon means architect and this is why the Freemasons who draw on Kabbalistic and Egyptian traditions call the Divinity the Great Architect. The Egyptian priests saw the patriarch Joseph as a manifestation of the deity Amon (Architect). Jacob ,his father, they called Ra (Sun). Ra which means Sun in the Egyptian language was associated by Joseph with his father Jacob in his heavenly dream or vision in Genesis 37. Look, I have had another dream Joseph said. I thought I saw the sun and moon and eleven stars, bowing to me. He told his fathers and brothers, and his father scolded him. Are all of us then, myself your mother and your brothers, to come and bow to the ground before you? His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the thing in mind. (Genesis 37:9-11) The Sefirah of Tiferet was also called Jacob as well as Sun in the Jewish Kabbalah. The Ennead of the Nine gods is the Egyptian understanding of the Sefirot of the nine Triadic Sefirot. The phallic image of Geb the Earth god is linked to the Sefirah of Yesod also known as the phallus of the divine body and this divine phallus is called in Kabbalah the axis mundi or cosmic pillar. This is why the Egyptians portray the earth as a male with an erect phallus. This phallus or Sefirah of Yesod is also associated with Osiris whom the Egyptians identify with Joseph. The Catholic mystic Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich states that Joseph and his wife Asenath were associated by the Egyptians with Osiris and Isis. She also saw that the Egyptian religion was a confused distortion of the teachings of Joseph and Asenath and the patriarchal religion. The Zoharic Kabbalah associates the Sefirah of Yesod with Joseph. The Egyptian Benben stone is associated with the phallus of Osiris which can be connected with the Stone of Jacob or Jacobs Pillow on which he saw the ladder or channel to the heavenly realm in Genesis 28. The Yesod is seen in Kabbalah as a channel linking the Shekinah to the higher Sefirot. Here is the gate to heaven. Taking one of the stones to be found at that place, he made it his pillow and lay down where he was. Jacob had a dream: a ladder was there, standing on the ground with its top reaching to heaven: and there were angels of God going up it and coming down ... Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, Truly the LORD was in this place and I never knew it! He was afraid and said, How awe-inspiring this place is! This is nothing less than a house of God: this is the gate of heaven! Rising early in the morning Jacob took the stone he had used for his pillow, and set it up as a monument, pouring oil over the top of it. He named the place Bethel ... this stone I have set up as a monument shall be a house of God, and I will surely pay you a tenth part of all you give me. (Genesis 28)

The Divine Sparks

The concept of the Divine Sparks of Truth being diffused throughout the world and that the Messiah will gather together these Divine Sparks is a part of Kabbalistic lore. However this doctrine has become unfortunately entangled with the false notion of reincarnation especially among Lurianic Kabbalists. The Church Fathers taught that not only was the Jewish inheritance the preparation for the Gospel or New Covenant but that elements (Divine Sparks) within the pagan religions and philosophies were also a preparation for the Gospel. All these authentic elements were a preparation for the understanding of the Paschal Mystery of Jesus as the Eucharistic Lord. Many of the enemies of the Catholic Church and of the Eucharist associate the Catholic beliefs and customs with paganism because of similarities with some aspects of Pagan Religion. It can be demonstrated that all these so-called pagan beliefs and customs are http://hebrewcatholic.org/HCLives/Bloomer-Athol/eucharistandjewi.html

Eucharist and Jewish Trad 3 rooted in Jewish prototypes and the reason some aspects are similar to pagan religions is because these religions have distorted Jewish and Enochian beliefs and religion, mixing the truth with the lies and distortions of the Evil One. From the beginning there have been two priesthoods and two religions symbolised by Cain and Abel. The spiritual descendants of Cain have tried to twist the divine truths preserved by the spiritual descendants of Abel such as Seth, Enoch, Noah and Shem. The Cainite religion was reintroduced by the grandson of Shem, Cainan, to the post deluge world and it was centred at Eridu as the cult of Enki. It succeeded in conquering and absorbing the Enochian cult of Anu at Uruk and developed a hybrid or synthesis of religion in ancient Mesapotamia. The result of this was that God chose Abraham, a descendant of Heber in his generation to preserve the authentic Divine Truths or Revelation, and his descendants - the Hebrew nation after him. This Elect people were to be prepared for the unveiling of the mystery of the Incarnation and the Paschal Mystery of the Eucharist. From the remnant of Grace among the Jewish People the Eucharist was to be taken to all nations. It is by means of the Eucharist that Jesus is winning back the whole of the fallen creation for God the Father.

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Eucharistic Evangelisation
Today we are in the time of Divine Mercy and this is also the time of the Eucharists greatest glory. Today all evangelisation must be Eucharistic evangelisation drawing all people to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. It is there with the Eucharistic Jesus that hearts will be converted and souls healed. It is only by receiving the Divine Love or Mercy (Hesed) in our Holy Hours that allows us, like Mother Teresas nuns, to go out to others and bring them the true love and mercy and forgiveness of the Lord from the midst of the Sacred Heart of Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament.

The Popes Request

Pope John Paul 11 has asked in Seville, Spain on 13 June 1993, that every parish and Christian community have Perpetual Adoration of Jesus exposed in the Blessed Sacrament. The Virgin Mary as Mother of the Eucharist is asking for Eucharistic adoration in her numerous apparitions. The Lord is leading the Church at this stage of history into a deeper understanding of the mystery of the Eucharistic Sacrifice. At this time of Mercy (see Romans 11 and Zechariah), the Jewish People will be converted by a Eucharistic miracle to the Catholic Faith. In these last days they will become the champions of the Eucharist. It is then that the full impact of the Kabbalistic preparation for the Eucharist will be revealed and the Lurianic perversion of Kabbalah will be expelled by the Jewish body.

The Sons of Antichrist

The Catholic tradition, as recorded by St. Thomas Aquinas, claims that Enoch and Elijah (two important figures in Jewish Kabbalistic thought) will take the newly found Ark of the Covenant (whose discovery will be associated with the Eucharistic miracle, see 2 Macc 2) and they will place the Blessed Sacrament upon the Ark proclaiming that the Eucharistic Jesus is the King Messiah of Jewish prophecy and belief. The Antichrist or False Messiah will persecute these two Eucharistic messengers and all those who remain true to the Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Mass. All the enemies of the Sacrifice of the Mass and Perpetual Adoration are in the spirit of antichrist for they deny Christ come in the flesh. His flesh and blood are the Eucharistic species which is the Sacrifice of the Mass. Those who wish to turn the Wedding Feast of the Sacrificial Lamb into a bland Protestant memorial meal are the sons of Antichrist. When the meal aspect of the Eucharist is stressed to the detriment of the sacrificial aspect we see the hand of Satan. The Jewish Passover Meal cannot be fully comprehended without understanding the role of the sacrificial Lamb. Thus the Last Supper is incomprehensible without it being perceived as the sacrifice of Christ as the Lamb of God made present in the Eucharistic species of bread and wine.

The Good News

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Eucharist and Jewish Trad 3 That all evangelisation should be Eucharistic evangelisation (preaching the good news) is shown in that the Hebrew word basar (flesh/body) used by Jesus in John 6 and at the Last Supper comes from the same root as the Hebrew word bisir (to bring good news/to herald), Joseph Stallings in his book Rediscovering Passover states ...the Hebrew word biser comes from the same root as basar (flesh, body) and means to bring good news, to herald (Alcalay, Complete Hebrew-English Dictionary, col.299). Kittel asserts that the New Testament concept of evangellion (gospel, the good news) comes from the Rabbinical use of the verb biser for proclaiming good news and that it is not derived from some Greek source. That implies that the concept of good news (evangellion) originates in Jesus words, Den Bisri (Stallings pg
216)

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Den Bisri is the Aramaic for This is my Body and is connected with the Hebrew and
Aramaic idiom for flesh and blood, meaning a persons whole being. In Aramaic the expression is bisra-adam and in Hebrew basar-dam. Stallings also states: ... basar/bisra have sacrificial connotations as well, as both body and flesh are terms used to describe the sacrificial offering, especially of the sacrificial lambs. (Stallings p.215)

The Errors of the Pharisees

The Kabbalah can be used as advocated by Pope Sixtus IV to proclaim the truths of Catholicism but with an awareness that much is handed down by the Pharisees (whom we today call the Orthodox Jews), and some of their faulty suppositions will be found in the material. The Pharisees confused the doctrine of the Resurrection (in which Jesus and Paul agreed with them) with the concept of reincarnation. Thus in the Kabbalah, coming via Pharisaic sources, will be found allusions to this erroneous belief in reincarnation. That this false teaching was admixed with the authentic in the mystical tradition is seen in that many early Christians such as Origen taught it. St. Jerome tells us that it was also taught among the early Christians as an esoteric and traditional doctrine which was given to the select few (see The Kabbalah: Its Doctrine, Development and Literature by Christian G. Ginsburg p. 125). Ginsburg tells us that it was also taught by the Karaite Jews since at least the 7th century. lt would seem that this occultic teaching of transmigration or reincarnation entered the Jewish Tradition through Gnostic or Babylonian sources. Jesus warned his followers against many of these traditions of the elders that the Pharisees had introduced into the pure religion of Moses. Rigid legalistic fence building, followed by the Pharisees and continued by the Lurianic Kabbalists, turn true spirituality in religion into a magistical ritualistic observance which puts the greatest importance in the strict following of rituals rather than a humble spiritual search for the Divine. Rules, rituals and laws should be the pathway or signposts to an encounter with God, not a method for blocking such access.

A Catholic Mystic
Venerable Anne Catharine Emmerich, a Catholic mystic who bore the stigmatic wounds of Christ (born 1774) and could see the past, present and future in mystic vision, states in regard to the authentic mystical visions of the Patriarch Josephs wife, Asenath, a Priestess of Annu (Heliopolis) that: ... Asenath ascended a tower upon which she seemed to be, as it were in a little garden. Here she gazed upon the stars by moonlight. She fell into ecstacy and read all things clearly in the stars. The truth was shown her in pictures, because she was chosen of God. I have seen the pagan priests introduced into strange, diabolical worlds where they beheld the most abominable things. By such diabolical visions were the secret communications of Asenath disfigured and made to contribute to the abominations of idolatry... ( Life of Jesus Christ p.98 Vol 1). Much of Emmerichs mystical concepts have similarities to the Kabbalistic concepts, just as do the mystical works of St. Teresa of Avila. However one must weed out the chaff http://hebrewcatholic.org/HCLives/Bloomer-Athol/eucharistandjewi.html

Eucharist and Jewish Trad 3 from the wheat in the Kabbalah, removing the leaven of the Pharisees. For just as the pagan Egyptian priests have distorted Kabbalah through occultic means, so have the Pharisees and Lurianic Kabbalists. Today the New Age movement is another perversion of the spiritual and mystical tradition which takes elements of the truth and mixes them with the doctrines of demons. Today true mysticism is found centred on Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament found at the heart of his Church, just as in the Old Covenant true mysticism was centred on the Shekinah Presence of God found above the Ark of the Covenant in the Jewish Temple.

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The Gate to Heaven

It is only through Jesus and his Church that one can make the mystical ascent to the highest realms of the Heavenlies whether in this life or after death. In the Old Covenant times, the gate to Heaven was closed and even Enoch and Elijah (the two greatest figures in the Jewish mystical tradition), only ascended to the Garden of Eden situated at the gate to Heaven. Venerable Anne Catharine Emmerich states that: ... Enoch was taken up to Paradise. There he waits at the entrance gate, whence with another (Elijah) he will come again before the last day. This gate or portal was only opened by the sacrifice of Christ. Emmerich states: ... I have always thought that by the wounds of Jesus there were opened anew in the human body portals closed by Adams sin. I have been given to understand that Longinus opened in Jesus side the gate of regeneration to Eternal Life, therefore no-one entered Heaven while that gate was closed. Emmerich with Kabbalah believes that man (Adam) was created in the image of the Divine Body or Primordial Adam. She states: The first man was an image of God, he was like Heaven, all was one in him, all was one with him. He was a reproduction of the Divine Prototype. Thus the basic teachings of Kabbalah in regards to the Godhead seem to be in accord with Catholic belief. This is why many Catholics, including Popes Sixtus IV and Leo IX, were so excited about Kabbalah. Pope Sixtus IV ordered the Kabbalah to be translated into Latin so it could be studied by Divinity students. A knowledge of Kabbalah also helps one comprehend more clearly the writings of the great Catholic mystics as well as many concepts found in Scripture, especially in the writings of Paul and John as well as in the Letter to the Hebrews.

The Church
We have seen that the Shekinah is associated with the heavenly King or the Word of God who dwells in History through the power of the Holy Spirit. We also saw that the Shekinah was associated with the Sabbath Bride and thus with Our Lady and the Church. The Shekinah has two aspects in the Jewish mystical tradition, as the dwelling Presence of God and secondly as the mystical Body of Israel, or the Community of the People of God. In this second aspect, Shekinah is called the Matronita in the Kabbalah. Matronita is the prototype of the Church. The Messiah Jesus and the Church are so united that they can both be associated with the term Shekinah. Matronita or the Matron is seen in Kabbalah as a Queen (see Ginsburg p. 102). The Matronita is seen as the Mother of Israel or People of God. ... The Shekina-Matronit, we read in the Zohar, is the (spiritual) mother of Israel, and as such she is the embodiment of the Community of Israel (the Hebrew term for which, Knesset Yisrael, has the feminine gender). ( The Hebrew Goddess by Raphael Patai p.200). Matronita in Kabbalah is also seen as a warrior Queen who commands the hosts of Heaven. She is the defeater of Israels enemies both spiritual and physical. Matronita is also seen as the mother of Metatron. Thus Matronita is an image of both Mother Church and the Mother of God. Raphael Patai in his book The Hebrew Goddess shows the similarities between the Jewish concept of Matronita and the Virgin Mary of Christianity. http://hebrewcatholic.org/HCLives/Bloomer-Athol/eucharistandjewi.html

Eucharist and Jewish Trad 3 This role of Mary is also seen in the Jewish concept of the Sabbath Bride/Queen. Matronita is closely associated with the Sabbath in the Kabbalah. The Falasha Jews describe the Sabbath in language very similar to that used by Christians of Mary. The union between Christ and his Church as taught by St. Paul is seen as a marriage relationship and the Christian interpretation of the Song of Songs confirms this. The church as Mother or Matronita unites or embraces her husband God/Christ seen as the Sefirah of Tiferet or King. Kabbalah teaches that this mystical union between Matronita (Shekinah) and Tiferet is called the Sacred Apple Orchard and it produces the human souls of the Just. Thus we are all the children of the heavenly Huppah (marriage canopy) and thus children of our Holy Mother, the Church.

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The Zohar
The Zohar compiled by Rabbi Moses de Leon contains much of the traditions of the Jewish mystical tradition. Rabbi Moses de Leon takes this precious material and places this wisdom in the mouths of the famous second century A.D. rabbis. However throughout the Zohar material, appears the mysterious figures of the Old Man Donkey Driver as a heavenly messenger and of his mysterious child. The disguised Old Man is familiar in Jewish tradition as the Prophet Elijah who sometimes visits men in this guise. The Zohar associates the child in close connection with this Donkey Driver. The Messiah is to enter Jerusalem riding on a donkey according to Zechariah, and thus this Donkey Driver is none other than the Prophet Elijah who is to herald this Davidic Messiah. The mysterious Child of the Zohar is revealed as a Son of Joseph and he is connected with the sign of the Fish. Thus hidden in the Zohar is information that Jesus Christ is the Jewish Messiah. He is revealed as the Christ-Child in the Zohar, an image of the Messiah dear to Catholic devotion. The wisdom and questioning of the Child by the Rabbis is an allusion to the Child Jesus in the Temple, at twelve, confounding the Rabbis of his time. Thus within Judaism is hidden the true identity of the Messiah. The Zoharic account of this Child is disturbing and the reader knows that the Child is somehow Divine or Heavenly not just the son of a famous rabbi. The Zohar has retained this in hidden form possibly through traditions coming from Rabbi Simeon Ben Zoma and Rabbi Eleazar who were both famous rabbis of the second century who accepted that Jesus was the Messiah. That Ben Zoma taught these Christian doctrines has been recently shown by Jewish scholarship. Due to the greatness of Ben Zoma, the Orthodox Jews tried to hide Ben Zomas Christian convictions from future generations.

The Rabbis Encounter a Child

In the Zohar is found the following story which reveals Jesus as the Messiah and the Eucharistic Lord.

... His mother came and said to them, Masters, please look on my son with a good eye. They said to her, Happy are you, worthy woman! Singled out from among all women! The Blessed Holy One has selected your portion, raised your banner above all women of the world. The Child said, I am not afraid of the evil eye, for I am the son of a great and precious fish, and fish do not fear the evil eye, as it is written, They shall multiply like fish in the midst of the earth (Genesis 48:16). This blessing includes protection from the evil eye, for we have learned: Just as fish of the sea are covered by water and are immune to the evil eye etc [so the descendants of Joseph are immune to the evil eye]. In the midst of the earth, indeed among human beings on earth. They said, Son, Angel of YHVH! There is no evil eye in us, we do not come from the side of the evil eye. The Blessed Holy One is covering you with His wings. They kissed him as before and said: Come, let us bless, I-Ie said, I will bless, because everything youve heard until now was from me, I will fulfill the verse: One whose eye is generous will be blessed. Read it: will bless. Why? Because he gave of his own bread to the needy (Prov. 22:9). From the bread and food of my Torah you have eaten. Rabbi Judah said: Son, Beloved of the Blessed Holy One! We have learned: the master of the house breaks bread, and the guest blesses.
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He said to them, I am not master of the house, and you are not guests! But I have found a verse and I will fulfill it, for I am truly generous. Without your asking, I have spoken until now and you have eaten my bread and my food. He took the cup of blessing and began to bless. His hands could not hold the cup; they were trembling. When he reached for the land and the food he said I raise the cup of salvation and invoke the name, Y~. (Psalm 116:13). The cup stood firm and settled in his right hand and he continued blessing. At the end he said, May it be the Will that life be extended to one of these from the Tree of Life on which all depends! May the Blessed Holy One be surety for him. May he find surety below to share his surety with the Holy King. Having finished blessing he closed his eyes for a moment. Then he opened them and said, Comrades, Shalom to you from the good Lord who possesses all Shalom! They were amazed, and cried, and blessed him. They stayed the night. In the morning they rose early and left. When they reached Rabbi Shimon, they told him what had happened. Rabbi Shimon was amazed. I-Ie said, I-Ie is the son of an invincible rock! He deserves this and more than any human can imagine. He is the son of Rav Hammina Sava.

The Davidic Messiah

This account in the Zohar is a description of the Davidic Messiah as the Jewish tradition connects this with the role of the heavenly David. David Goldstein in his book Jewish Mythology states: ... David occupies a privileged position in Paradise. On the Day Of Judgement, there will be a banquet for the righteous in Heaven, when they will all taste the delicious flesh of Leviathan. David will say to God, Master of the Universe, may it be your will that your Presence dwell among us. The Holy One, blessed be He, will accept Davids invitation ... and he will enter with David. All the righteous will stand by their thrones, and the Holy One, blessed be He, will sit upon his throne of glory, and David will sit opposite him, on the throne prepared for him ... After the meal Grace is said, and God invites all the righteous in turn to take the cup of wine and say the blessing over it. Abraham refuses because he says, I had a son (Ishmael) who angered God. Isaac refuses because the descendants of one of his sons, Esau, destroyed the Temple. Jacob refuses because he married two sisters together which was later forbidden by the Torah. Moses refuses because he was not permitted to enter the Promised Land, and Joshua because he was not blessed with a son. When Davids turn comes he accepts, saying, I shall pronounce the blessing. for I am the fit person to do it. as it written (Psalm 116:131) 1 shall raise the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the LORD. Thus we see a veiled revelation of the Eucharistic Messiah King in these two accounts. The above account states that it is David who raises the cup of salvation and the Zohar states that it is the Mysterious Child. That it is not the earthly David but the Davidic Messiah is shown in that King David due to adultery and homicide would not be worthy to raise the Cup of Salvation (Jesus/Yeshua), but it is the righteous (Tzaddik) King Messiah whom David is representing in this tradition. We see this in the Psalm about God not allowing David his Holy One to see corruption but the new Testament sees this as referring to Jesus the Davidic Messiah.
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Part 2 To Be Continued

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