Chapter XLII · 1 min read
The Torah That Chanoch Could Not Yet Live Below
A cup lifted on Friday night
If Chanoch could look upon a simple Jew after Sinai, he would see something astonishing.
A Jew lifts a cup Friday night.
No angelic throne appears.
No heavens split.
No body becomes fire.
He says:
יום הששי. ויכלו השמים והארץ...
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Then:
בורא פרי הגפן.
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He drinks.
It seems smaller than Metatron.
In one sense, it is.
In another, something unprecedented has happened.
The Divine will has entered grapes.
Fermentation.
Glass.
A human hand.
A dining table.
Family.
Time.
The lower world does not need to disappear in order to become a dwelling.
Perhaps Chanoch would recognise this immediately.
Perhaps the man whose body could no longer remain in the pre-Sinai world would see the קִידּוּשׁKiddushThe sanctification spoken over wine on Shabbos — the essay's chosen image of Divine will entering grapes, glass, a hand and a table.Glossary cup and understand where history was going.
Not everyone becoming him.
Everything becoming capable of HaShem.