The word the Torah uses to describe the physical blemish that would disqualify a cohen is “moom.” This word appears exactly five times in the Torah section discussed in the previous section. This is significant because according to Kabbalah and Chassidut there are five levels of the soul and five worlds. Furthermore, the numerical value of the word “moom” is eighty-six, the same as Elokim, God’s name, which connotes judgment. Eighty-six is also the numerical value of the all-inclusive Hebrew word for nature (hateva).
The web of association spun between “blemish,” the name “Elokim,” and “nature,” reveals a deep insight into the world we live in. In relation to the world above it, each of the five worlds described by Kabbalah is “blemished,” for it is more material, farther away from its pristine Divine source. The soul as well experiences this sense of being flawed when it descends from its pristine heavenly abode via the five worlds and enters a body in this, the lowest world, the world referred to by the Sages as a “world of lies.”
The blemished nature of the physical world we live in is a result of our being exposed to a confusing bombardment of multiple stimuli, the conflicting pull of emotions, and the overwhelming sense of multiplicity, contradiction, and paradox infusing creation. Only by breaking through the illusary material shells of this world can we reveal the unity underlying all of reality.
Although the name “Elokim” connotes judgment, the inner force animating it is God’s four-letter name, which connotes mercy. This is the profound meaning of the statement: “Hashem [God’s fourletter name] He is Elokim.” As we saw in the last section, a complex dynamic comes into play between God’s qualities of strict judgment and hidden mercy in those with a physical disability.
In the Song of Songs (4:7), a profound allegory describing the passionate love between God and Israel, the male protagonist describes his beloved as unblemished. Since the male protagonist in the song is God and His beloved is Israel this statement is puzzling. Who knows the Jewish people’s faults, shortcomings, and blemishes better than God? Yet, here God proclaims that His beloved is unblemished.
The answer to this question lies in the distinction between body and soul. While it is true that the Jewish people due to their actions may be blemished, their souls at their Divine source are truly pure and untainted. Indeed, every morning a Jew declares the following as part of the Morning Service: “The soul you have given me is pure.”
One of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach’s most important teachings was that while every Jew may not be holy, every Jew is the Holy of Holies. When the soul descends into the body and is forced to confront all the temptations, trials, and illusions of this world, it may betray its Divine inclinations. Yet at its very core the soul remains pure and untainted even by its temporary wrongdoings. It is this highest level of soul, corresponding to the highest of the five worlds, that God refers to as unblemished.
