Sunday, December 26, 2021

Possible reason for the Ramak's choice of the title Tomer Devorah - Megillah 14a

Tomer Devorah by the Ramak is one of my favorite Jewish texts - it takes the Thirteen Supernal Attributes of Mercy from Micah 7:18-20 (different from the Thirteen Attributes taken from Shemot, although I have one siddur that has them superimposed over one another in the text of Tashlich, the practice of which is inspired by a phrase in these verses from Micah) and gives instruction on how we as humans can emulate these attributes of mercy that G!d possesses. That's the first chapter - the rest of the short work describes how to apply this through the ten sfirot, even toward the end giving a schedule of which sfirot are most active at a particular time of day.

But one thing that has puzzled me since discovering the work a couple of years ago is the title, Tomer Devorah, "Palm-Tree of Devorah", which is not referenced in the work - indeed, the only tree of any kind mentioned is the tree of klippot - hardly a tree one would compare with the tomer Devorah!

But I may have discovered the reason in today's daf.

מָה תָּמָר זֶה אֵין לוֹ אֶלָּא לֵב אֶחָד — אַף יִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁבְּאוֹתוֹ הַדּוֹר לֹא הָיָה לָהֶם אֶלָּא לֵב אֶחָד לַאֲבִיהֶן שֶׁבַּשָּׁמַיִם.

"Alternatively, the verse means: Just as a palm tree has only one heart, as a palm tree does not send out separate branches, but rather has only one main trunk, so too, the Jewish people in that generation had only one heart, directed to their Father in Heaven." (Megillah 14a)

Perhaps the Ramak is exhorting us, through his work Tomer Devorah, to have only one heart, directed to G!d, manifested in living out the 13 Supernal Attributes of Mercy.

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