“The servant then took ten of his master’s camels...”
Camels and God’s Names
In the Pentateuch, the Five Books of Moses, there are 34 instances of the root of the word “camel”: לָמַּג. In the entire Bible there are 112 instances of this root. Now, since the numerical value of “camel” (לּמַּג) is 73, let us look at the 73rd instance of this root in the Bible: “God is the God of payments, he will surely repay” (־לֵי אִכּםֵּלַׁשְם יֵּלַׁות י־הוה שֹלֻמְּג).
There is a famous Talmudic saying, “Knowledge is great, for it was placed between two letters [Names of God], as it is stated, ‘For a God of knowledge is Havayah.’” In the original Hebrew form of the verse, “For a God of knowledge is Havayah,” knowledge appears in its plural form (תֹעוֵּד), and it appears between two Names of God, Kel and Havayah. The Talmud then mentions that both “temple” (ׁשָּדְקִמ) and “revenge” (הָמָקְנ) also appear in verses flanked by two Names of God.
As we have discussed in the past, the teaching about “knowledge” can indeed be extended to “revenge.” Very significantly, when one checks the entire Bible, one finds that there is one more example of a word that appears between two Names of the Almighty. This is our word here: “payments.” Surprisingly, though the sages do not mention it. Incidentally, “payments” has more in common with both “knowledge” and “revenge” because all three are flanked by the two Names, Kel and Havayah, while “temple” is flanked by Adni and Havayah.
The Symbolism of a Camel
Now this word ותֹלֻמְּג, even though it stems from the same root, does not mean “camel.” It means “payment,” a meaning that is closer to “acts of kindness” which also stems from the same three-letter root. But payment can be positive or negative. You can get a reward and you can get punishment as payment. Though it does not mean “camel,” “payment” is still etymologically related to camel, since they stem from the same root. It is in the Zohar that we find that the camel can be a negative image. Sometimes it is so negative that it is a symbol for the angel of death (that should be written on Camel cigarettes). Nonetheless, camels were part of the positive image of the patriarchs and matriarchs, especially Isaac and Rebeccah. The camel is also a symbol of acts of loving-kindness, which is one of the most important themes in Eliezer’s search for a suitable match for Isaac. The unified view of a camel is therefore that it is a symbol of just payment: reward and punishment. The essential message of the first letter of “camel,” the gimel (ג), is itself one of reward and punishment. To believe in reward and punishment, the twelfth of the 13 Principles of Faith enumerated by Maimonides, is thus camel-consciousness.
So, now we have that the three words that in a verse appear between the two names Kel and Havayah, we can correspond them with the three axes: left, right, and center as follows:
- “Payments” corresponds to the right axis and loving-kindness
- “Knowledge” corresponds with the center axis which spans the sefirot from crown, through knowledge, to kingdom
- “Revenge” clearly corresponds to the left axis and the power of might
(Excerpted from Lectures in Modern Physics)
