The Torah's Secret of Hadar and Mehitavel [Hat Tip "Doc"]

לא וְאֵלֶּה, הַמְּלָכִים, אֲשֶׁר מָלְכוּ, בְּאֶרֶץ אֱדוֹם--לִפְנֵי מְלָךְ-מֶלֶךְ, לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל. לב וַיִּמְלֹךְ בֶּאֱדוֹם, בֶּלַע בֶּן-בְּעוֹר; וְשֵׁם עִירוֹ, דִּנְהָבָה. לג וַיָּמָת, בָּלַע; וַיִּמְלֹךְ תַּחְתָּיו, יוֹבָב בֶּן-זֶרַח מִבָּצְרָה. לד וַיָּמָת, יוֹבָב; וַיִּמְלֹךְ תַּחְתָּיו, חֻשָׁם מֵאֶרֶץ הַתֵּימָנִי. לה וַיָּמָת, חֻשָׁם; וַיִּמְלֹךְ תַּחְתָּיו הֲדַד בֶּן-בְּדַד, הַמַּכֶּה אֶת-מִדְיָן בִּשְׂדֵה מוֹאָב, וְשֵׁם עִירוֹ, עֲוִית. לו וַיָּמָת, הֲדָד; וַיִּמְלֹךְ תַּחְתָּיו, שַׂמְלָה מִמַּשְׂרֵקָה. לז וַיָּמָת, שַׂמְלָה; וַיִּמְלֹךְ תַּחְתָּיו, שָׁאוּל מֵרְחֹבוֹת הַנָּהָר. לח וַיָּמָת, שָׁאוּל; וַיִּמְלֹךְ תַּחְתָּיו, בַּעַל חָנָן בֶּן-עַכְבּוֹר. לט וַיָּמָת, בַּעַל חָנָן בֶּן-עַכְבּוֹר, וַיִּמְלֹךְ תַּחְתָּיו הֲדַר, וְשֵׁם עִירוֹ פָּעוּ; וְשֵׁם אִשְׁתּוֹ מְהֵיטַבְאֵל בַּת-מַטְרֵד, בַּת מֵי זָהָב. מ וְאֵלֶּה שְׁמוֹת אַלּוּפֵי עֵשָׂו, לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם, לִמְקֹמֹתָם, בִּשְׁמֹתָם: אַלּוּף תִּמְנָע אַלּוּף עַלְוָה, אַלּוּף יְתֵת. מא אַלּוּף אָהֳלִיבָמָה אַלּוּף אֵלָה, אַלּוּף פִּינֹן. מב אַלּוּף קְנַז אַלּוּף תֵּימָן, אַלּוּף מִבְצָר. מג אַלּוּף מַגְדִּיאֵל, אַלּוּף עִירָם; אֵלֶּה אַלּוּפֵי אֱדוֹם, לְמֹשְׁבֹתָם בְּאֶרֶץ אֲחֻזָּתָם--הוּא עֵשָׂו, אֲבִי אֱדוֹם. {פ}

31 And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel. 32 And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom; and the name of his city was Dinhabah. 33 And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead. 34 And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his stead. 35 And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead; and the name of his city was Avith. 36 And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead. 37 And Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth by the River reigned in his stead. 38 And Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead. 39 And Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his stead; and the name of the city was Pau; and his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-zahab. 40 And these are the names of the chiefs that came of Esau, according to their families, after their places, by their names: the chief of Timna, the chief of Alvah, the chief of Jetheth; 41 the chief of Oholibamah, the chief of Elah, the chief of Pinon; 42 the chief of Kenaz, the chief of Teman, the chief of Mibzar; 43 the chief of Magdiel, the chief of Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their possession. This is Esau the father of the Edomites. {P}

These verses in the Torah are the root of all modern Kabbalistic thought, as they express in secretive terms the formation of creation, a process known as "Shvirat HaKelim" - The Breaking of the Vessels.

The 8th King, Hadar and his wife Mehitavel represent the level of repair, and thus didn't die. The Mekubalim all relate to us that the symbolism within "Hadar" the 8th King is to be compared to Moshiach and the Messianic Age. His wife carries the gematria that in some terms is the most significant in Kabalah: 97.

97 is the combined gematria of ס''ג and ב''ן which is 63 and 52, which represent male and feminine, thus 97 is their union, which the Arizal says would spawn a new "ס''ג" or 63. This would be akin to the progression into the Messianic Age, an age of Binah, or Understanding.

What I found to be interesting,, and posted several times is the notice that there have been 8 PM's of Israel since Rabin's assassination. The year of which he died, it seems the Zohar hints at being a year that geulah began on faint levels, a liberation from Erev Rav. He began the Erev Rav onslaught against Israel by really pushing forward "Land for Peace." Thus ever since it has been Erev Rav aggression against Holy Liberation in the background, that would culminate with Moshiach. In this case, Hadar and Mehitavel.

In this case, [in English] the verse would read: 


וְאֵלֶּה, הַמְּלָכִים, אֲשֶׁר מָלְכוּ, בְּאֶרֶץ אֱדוֹם--לִפְנֵי מְלָךְ-מֶלֶךְ, לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
 "and these are the "kings" that ruled in the Land; [a proxy of] Edom [i.e. Erev Rav] Lifnim / Inside - Lecha / to you - malach - ruled / Livni / Yisrael

Notice, Livni makes the whole connection work in the counting, and that she is oddly returning now. Yisrael would be the last "king" that ushers in the Messianic Kingdom [while not being Moshiach himself].

For more on Bibi see this post

To resolve contradictions [with Bibi davka] let's now explore the chracter Hadar according to the Seforim.

• The Hadar of the Pshat in the text is of the Klippah, i.e. my take on Bibi. This is because he is a King of Edom. This is strengthened by the allusions to money being worthless and hinting at an oil based economy.
• In Kedusha it represents the Highest Chesed, that which fixes the world, i.e. the evil from the breakage.
• Hadar represents the ו''ק the level of Zeir Anpin
• Hadar is the concept of the 7th madreiga, Malchus leading into the 8th [Hadar] which is Keter on this level.
• Hadar implies that Chesed will return, as the creation/breaking was from a strong din, i.e. a missing upper triad of Keter Chochmah and Binah.

• We learn from this how creation exists; physicality is "Mazal" - Jewish as a garment of light.
• As was mentioned, the "97" concept is the repair of Worlds.

These are the Kabbalistic allusions and main points to Hadar;  the Messianic allusions are equally important.

One interesting note amongst the commentaries, is one of the Rashbam.

"We are not exact according to "pshuto" [as opposed to pshat] in names [in reference to Hadar] so much."

Unfortunately, this is often learned in a poor way, leading to severe misnagdic thought, i.e. that names are not important.

First of all, he says lefi pshuto, rather than pshat. He isn't saying that names don't have simple meaning, he is saying it is not required to spend time learning peripheral Torah  from allusions in names, in a style of exegesis like Rashi, lefi pshuto.

The implications of this, are two-fold: that as I said, people think that names have no meaning - which is not what he said, and, that it can be implied that Kabbalistic thought should not be darshened out from names. Most of the Arizal's kabalah is in fact derived from the chochmah of names. [for example 208 = Isaac; 26 multiplied by 8, which kabbalistically has meaning]

What I believe he is really saying, is that we will not further ourselves in understanding of the text by over-exploring, or drawing from other sources that are brought in. In regards to the text and flow, a name is a name. However that does not mean that names are devoid of meaning or that kabalah can not be learned out from the Biblical characters, as the Arizal often does.

The problem that is seen here is a lack of learning skills to analyze the Rashbam clearly, which leads to bad philosophies in learning. To make this go full circle, that rationale is a direct tribute to the Erev Rav/Katan dynamic that hates the truth and seeks to destroy Am Yisrael.

The 8 Kings are an example of this, with the 8th King being a "different" type of Kli, yet still "Edomic." [in Klippah]

The true Hadar of Kedusha and the light of geulah will rid the world of the Erev Rav/Katan, and restore the truth of Torah. The Vilna Gaon says very clearly that Kabalah and Name Meanings usher in the geulah. He also goes on to glorify the kabalistic glory of Hadar, which can mean Glorified in one of its meanings.

As Hanukah is fast approaching, one of the main points of the winter chag is this concept of Hod V' Hadar, Majesty and Glory.

The mushel to explain it [Rav Hutner] is the following:

...to see a beautiful reed in its setting....along comes a terrible storm of which the reed waxes and wanes; will the reed survive it - one must wonder!...some time later, the reed is still seen standing erect, undaunted. certainly it was beautiful [hod] - but now, I know all that went into his beauty - and he lives on, despite his life - Hadar! [we have re-visited his beauty, for he was then beautiful, and now all the more so, as if it has returned - "Hadar" to his innate beauty - "Hod"]
Such were the Jewish People against Greece.

Hod V' Hadar

May we see Hadar in all of his/its Hod, on Chanuka ...and all the more so in the light of Geulah.

חג שמח

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