Formation of the Tree of Life
June 5, 2011
The Lord declared to Abraham236 that the circumcision of the genitalia is required to be performed on the 8th day from birth, symbolizing the 8th sefirah (counting upwards from Malkut) which is Da‘at. The three circumcisions all lead to (and reinforce) Da‘at—i.e. Da‘at itself symbolizing the ‗Covenant of Abraham‘.
On the kabbalistic Tree of Life, the sefirah Yesod (Tav, ת, Moon) represents the male sex organ because it is through the interface of Yesod that human consciousness interacts creatively with the external physical world (symbolized by the sefirah Malkut and the Lower Shekinah). In other words, it is through Yesod that the Consciousness principle is able to penetrate and impregnate the lower Form principle, and this is the case for both male and female humanbeings.
The deeper meaning of the circumcision applies to both men and women because every man and every woman has the same psycho-spiritual faculties (as symbolized by the sefirot of the kabbalistic Tree of Life). The male/female gender distinction does not apply except within the lowest material realm of existence. In parallel to Yesod, the sefirah Da‘at symbolizes the higher ‗sex organ‘ that is located in the head of Adam.237 Just as Yesod provides the faculty for communion with the Lower Shekinah (i.e. Malkut), so it is through the interface of Da‘at that human consciousness is able to maintain its creative union with the Higher Shekinah (or Binah, the Celestial Mother).
The fabled ‗exile‘ of the Shekinah symbolizes Humanity‘s disconnection in consciousness from the Celestial Mother. This sorry state was/is indicated by kabbalists by their omission of the sefirah Da‘at from the Tree of Life diagram (or by calling it a ‗non-sefirah‘). We are now however, at a point in human 236
Genesis 17:12.
237
Corresponding biologically to the pineal gland.
pg. 229