Bahir Verse 136

We have come to be watered by the wells of meaning.

Bahir 136. What is Kindness? It is the Torah, as it is written (Isaiah 55:1), "Ho, let all who are thirsty come for water, let he without silver come, [stock up and eat; come, stock up wine and milk, without silver and without payment]." [Kindness is therefore] silver. It is thus written, "come, stock up and eat; come, stock up wine and milk, without silver and without payment." He fed you Torah and taught you, for you have already earned it through the merit of Abraham, who did deeds of kindness. Without silver, he would feed others, and without payment, he would give them wine and milk.

Commentary: What happens when we study Torah? What happens as a result of our intention to know what lies behind the many veils? What is this process that so takes us over in fascination and internal discovery that it feels as though we are being given a life enhancing nourishment? What is it therefore that we receive in response to what we want to know? How can we tie our study of Torah into our quest for meanings in our life? Let's break this down then and find some answers while using the above passage as an inspiration for the compositions which are about to come forth.

The central theme is kindness. Kindness is sharing what we have with others as well as treating others with respect and in the way in which we would like to be treated. Yes this is the golden rule. Expanding upon this concept we see that there is a distinct feeling of kindness that prevails whenever our actions demonstrate kindness. This kindness and its demonstration are none other than the mitvoth (good deeds) that we are called upon to do each day in order to unify the above and the below, in order to unify our thirst for knowledge with the satisfaction of that thirst. This satisfaction is provided by the openings that are produced whenever we reach up for the answer.

The flow of information is enhanced and raised to the level that we are seeking. In this way our sense of discovery is expanded as well as our capacity for meaning. Think about the meanings that have already come forth from Torah from Rashi, the Zohar, this Bahir, Isaac Luria, et al. In our own way we are following in this tradition of mining the source of discovery by our intention to continuously discover these meanings that are relevant to what we have set our intention upon. When it says in the verse, "come, stock up and eat; come, stock up wine and milk, without silver and without payment," it is telling us that all we need to do is to contemplate the higher meanings of Torah. This contemplation unifies our understanding and takes what we already know and transformed it into the next level of meaning. By the action of this transformation not only is our knowledge transformed but our entire experience as well is transformed.