In a recent issue of Wonders (175) the article “The Kabbalistic Art of Creating Models and Correspondences” discussed the important role of models, paradigms, and structure in Kabbalistic thought. Indeed, much of Kabbalah is based on these hidden structures and paradigms: the three primary constructs being the ten sefirot, the twenty-two Hebrew letters, and the four-letter Name of God—the Tetragrammaton. Additionally, there is an entire interpretive stratum dedicated to employing mathematical patterns to reveal hidden structures in the Torah. Among the mathematical patterns employed are gematria, the tabulation of the number of times letters and words appear in particular verses and sections (parshiyot) and where they are located in the text, the tabulation of the number of times a word appears throughout the Tanach, and the web of rich associations created by various words and concepts that share the same numbers. For instance, all concepts associated with the number 10.
The number 10 appears throughout the Torah and Jewish tradition. Beginning with creation which came into being through ten Divine Utterances, which are intrinsically connected to the ten sefirot, the channels through which God creates and maintains a finite reality.
The Torah describes ten generations between Adam and Noah and another ten generations from Noah to Abraham. Abraham himself was tested ten times. Furthermore, God promised Abraham that he and his descendants would inherit ten nations. This brings us to this week’s parashah, Va’eira, where we begin to learn about the Ten Plagues. After Israel is freed from Egyptian bondage they travel to Mount Sinai where God gave them the Ten Commandments.
THE TEN PLAGUES
Why were there Ten Plagues and not five or six or some other number? In general, the number ten indicates major shifts in human consciousness and historical development. Abraham’s ten tests enabled his growth in consciousness. The Ten Commandments marked a major transition in humankind’s understanding of morals and ethics. The ten sefirot as well as the Ten Utterances of creation served as the transitional means for channeling God’s infinite revelation into the finite vessels of creation. In this vein, the Ten Plagues represent a historical and psychological process the Jewish people underwent as they moved from slavery to freedom, from exile to redemption. Drastic changes such as these in the lives of nations or individuals rarely occur tranquilly; rather, they are more apt to take place through upheaval and radical change.
While a cursory reading of the Torah might lead the reader to assume that the plagues were intended solely to punish the Egyptians or to force them to free the children of Israel, the teachings of Chasidut clearly states that they were also intended to purify the Jewish people, to smelt out the negative dross of Egypt that had been integrated within the Jewish psyche. According to a Midrash cited by Rashi, four-fifths of the Jews perished during the plague of darkness as they were too entrenched psychologically to be able to leave Egypt. The Ten Plagues symbolize the spiritual purification and growth Israel had to undergo to realize their potential. In this case, they had to go through the crucible of the Ten Plagues before they could receive the Divine will of God as revealed in the Ten Commandments.
TEN EQUALS SEVEN PLUS THREE
In addition to the rich number of associations revealed by the Torah’s repetition of the number ten as a whole number, the number ten can also be interpreted as the sum of seven and three. According to Kabbalah and Chasidut, such an interpretive approach is warranted by the frequent division of ten into seven and three in many different Jewish contexts.
