Although U. S. presidents do not get to “reign” for 50 Golden Jubilee years, Obama is nevertheless experiencing a golden 50 of sorts. He has now lived onthis planet for 50 years - and what a half-century it’s been!
When a body is this far along in years, some profound self-assessment seems in order. In terms of a “What do you want to be when you grow up?” type yardstick, President Obama certainly rates an “A” in both effort and achievement. Being the “leader of the free world” tends to look real good on a worldly resume.
However, the original Jubilee injunction to “hallow the 50th year” that is found in Leviticus 25:10 lends itself even more to a spiritual-type assessment. And what better “assessment” would fit with a Golden Jubilee theme than Judaism’s mystical 50 Gates of Understanding…
According to Rabbi Ginsburgh, these Kabbalistic 50 Gates are based upon sections of the Hebrew Bible (the 50 questions that God asks of Job), the Zohar (a foundational set of Kabbalistic books), and the Chassidut (a movement founded by Rabbi Ba’al Shem Tov). Jeff Spiegel states that the 50 Gates correspond with the “7 weeks of self-elevation and self-evaluation (followed by one day of prophetic revelation) that the Israelites strived for from the time of the Exodus from Egypt until the time they received the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai.”
Spiegel then lists all 50 of the “aspects of character” that the Israelites were striving for. The top seven of these are Hesed (kindness/Abraham), Gevurah (judgment/power/Isaac), Tiferets (beauty/Jacob), Netzah (victory/eternity/Moses), Hod (thankfulness/Aaron), Yesod (foundation/Joseph), and Malchuts (kingdom/David). Other aspects on this list of 50 include the following: orderly speech, attentive listening, attendance on scholars, debate with colleagues, deliberation, moderation, trust in the sages, is composed in his learning, shares the burden of his fellow man, asks pertinent questions and answers to the point, patience, and good naturedness.
Sound familiar?
Happy Birthday, Mr. President.
Resources
http://www.slate.com/id/2300558/pagenum/all/#p2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Jubilee
http://www.inner.org/kabbalah/intermediate/50-gates-understanding.php
http://www.digital-brilliance.com/kab/50gates1.txt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_(biblical)
http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Leviticus-25-10/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zohar
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/baal.html
Copyright August 4, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
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