A Dialectic of the Hebrew

Language
Prof. Márcio Carvalho

The Hebrew language is multifaceted. Many Hebrew words have

both a surface meaning and deeper levels of meaning. These
words can be mapped out as triangles. The left side of the triangle
(the thesis) is the contractive side. The right side (the antithesis) is
the expansive side. The synthesis of the paradoxical meanings is
the word at the top of each triangle.

Definitions
Tzimtzum The dark space which is the first stage of Creation that is
apparently empty of HaShemʼs presence.
Dichotomy Two polar opposite ideas -the framework of free choice in the
tzimtzum.
Paradox The potential collaboration of opposite ideas.
Dialectic A thought process that creates a dialogue between two
opposite ideas.
Synthesis The joining of two opposite thoughts into a balanced middle
idea.

Step one is seeing a dichotomy. The logical result of Creation is

dichotomy. Dichotomy is the framework of free choice, e.g.: Good
and Evil; Male and Female; Shekinah vs. Elohim; Love vs.
Judgment and Boundaries...
This either/or thinking is competitive and abrasive.

Step two is transforming a dichotomy into a paradox - a potential

collaboration of opposite ideas. For example, the potential
collaboration between Judgment and Love is a Paradox.
Step three is the Torah dialectic, which is essential to create a
dialogue between opposite ideas. It is a Dialectic Paradox, the
framework of truth. It is compassionate or womb-like, since the
womb both loves and protects the foetus, and also pushes the
foetus out. This womb presence is the goal of the Torah for human
consciousness. Yod He Vav He is the synthesis of Elohim and
Shekinah, expressing HaShem's ultimate mystery of compassionate
presence, which synthesises the polarised ideas. It is realising that
there are two sides to a coin, but both sides are the coin... and both
are valid.

Key-point: Thesis and Antitheses do not disappear in Synthesis.

The following triangle illustrates an example of the dialectic method

with the names of HaShem:
yy

yy
syhla la

yy Wombs and Compassion

syhla Judgment, Strength and Fear.

la Love and dwelling presence (Shekinah)

The presence of HaShem in nature is Elohim. The natural

consequence of choices creates the boundaries in which man
operates -the ultimate boundary being death. According to the
Torah, every person dies from their mistakes. Death is the cumulate
result of choices rather than an accident of fate. The love of
HaShem for mankind is absolute. No one is rejected from that love,
which is called Shekinah.

The tension of two opposites: intuition and intellectual

knowing.

hmkj

hnyb tud

Binah is intuition, while Daat stands for our intellectual knowledge.

Thereʼs an importance in asking the right questions, and perhaps
this is one of the biggest contributions of Jewish education: the
power of ʻwhat?ʼ (‫)מה‬. And at the same time: once you perceive
something, it has already changed.

Key-point: there is a long way from the ‫( עץ הדעת‬Tree of

Knowledge) to the ‫( עץ החיים‬Tree of Life).
The tension of two opposites: the Dichotomy between
Avraham and Isaac, and the Synthesis of Wombs.

symjr

shrba qjxy

The dichotomy between Avraham and Isaac; Love and Discipline;

Fear and Desire.

Torah uses the terms fear and desire, and it is exactly what we have
seen in our economy: total desire and greed, followed by logical
crisis.

“Too much love or too much discipline, the ultimate consequence is

murder.”

Reality is the balance of the two poles, it is indeed the presence of

wombness. The womb pushes the baby out and protects it from the
outside, but mainly from the mother. Reality is push and pull, breath
in and breath out.

Einstein and Eisenberg

Eisenbergʼs theory postulates that the more precisely the position of

a particle is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known
in this instant, and vice versa. e.g.: Schrodingerʼs box.

Once einstein told Eisenberg that “the old man doesnʼt play dice
with the universe.”
Four Worlds of Consciousness

‫ עשיה‬Action Men are like ants: compulsively constructive (active).

‫ יצירה‬Formation How things are formed from others.

‫ בריה‬Creation Creation from nothing.

‫ אצילות‬Emanation Intimacy, being present.

hnch car

‫שנה‬
‫ עשיה‬To sleep. People need to sleep so they can change.

‫ יצירה‬Review and remember.

‫ בריה‬To learn (Tree of Knowledge).

‫ אצילות‬Change your behaviour (Tree of Life).

The blasts of Shofar:

a Tekiah: One long and commanding blast. A man reaching the

Heavens with one hand, and the Earth with the other.

g Shevarim: Three broken notes. A person running.

f Tekiah: Nine long and smooth blasts. A pregnant woman (9 months)

h``b