The mystical text, Zohar" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="source-link">Tikkunei_Zohar" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="source-link">Tikkunei Zohar, has some pretty powerful words for that feeling.
It warns, "Woe to the person, whose soul has descended to beneath his feet." Think about that image for a second. Your soul – your very essence – dragged down, weighed down, unable to soar. The Tikkunei Zohar says that when this happens, it's as if your mazal – your cosmic destiny, your luck, your fortune – is also affected. It quotes the prophet Amos: "She has fallen, she shall no longer rise-up..." A pretty bleak picture, right?
But there's hope! The text immediately adds that this fallen mazal, this stuckness, "has no rising or ascent, except by the hand of the blessed Holy One." It’s a reminder that we're not alone in this struggle. We can't always pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. Sometimes, we need a little help from above.
The Tikkunei Zohar continues, delving into the mystery of redemption, bringing in the Book of Ruth. Remember the story of Ruth and Boaz? The text quotes Ruth 3:13: "Stay the night, and it shall be in the morning, if he will redeem you, then good – tov, he shall redeem..." The word "good" here, tov in Hebrew, is interpreted as the covenant. In other words, the covenant between God and the Jewish people promises redemption.
But what if Boaz, the potential redeemer, doesn't step up? What if he doesn't want to redeem Ruth? The verse continues, "...and if he shall not wish to redeem you, then ‘I’ – Anokhi shall redeem you, as YHWH lives, lie down until the morning."
Now, this is where it gets really interesting. Who is this "I" – Anokhi? The Tikkunei Zohar identifies it as "Higher Mother," linking it to the "Anokhi" of the Exodus from Egypt (Exodus 20:2). Remember the first of the Ten Commandments? "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." That "I" is Anokhi.
So, what's the connection? This "I," this Higher Mother, this divine presence that redeemed the Israelites from slavery, is the same force that can lift us out of our personal ruts, our own feelings of being stuck. It's a powerful idea: that the same divine energy that brought about the Exodus is available to us now, to redeem us from whatever holds us captive.
What does this mean for us today? Maybe it's a reminder to look beyond our own limitations and to trust in something greater than ourselves. Maybe it's an invitation to connect with that "Higher Mother," that divine "I," through prayer, meditation, or acts of kindness. Maybe it's simply a comforting thought: that even when we feel like we've fallen and can't rise, we are not forgotten. The possibility of redemption, of ascent, is always there, waiting for us.