Daf Yomi, Marriage Counseling, Psychotherapy, Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, Torah and Psychology
Our Gemara on Amud Aleph cites a verse (Shemos 34:19): “From the first that break out of the womb (petter rechem), from all your livestock you shall take the males (tizachar).”
The Baal Shem Tov (Ki Tissa 29) looks at this verse in a mystical way. The Hebrew word for womb, rechem, is the same gematria as 248, which is the rabbinic number of limbs in the human body and symbolic of the 248 positive commandments. Then there is another gematria coming from the Hebrew word to break out, petter , which equals 289. This number starts with the 288 sparks of holy light that were lost at the time of creation. That is, some way that divinity became hidden and lost in material matter, and by doing mitzvos we elevate the material matter and bring it back to God. The number 288 is alluded to in the verse (Bereishis 1:2), “And the spirit of God hovered over the water.” The Hebrew word for hover is merachefes, which can also be read as a contraction for “R-P-CH mes”: that is, the Hebrew letters reish, peh, and chet (gematria 288) mes, have died. Two hundred eighty-eight holy sparks became muted and lost their divine life-power. If one adds the human soul that draws the divine, it is the extra singularity which brings back the sparks, in effect from 288 to 289.
Now we can read the verse as follows. All of the 288 sparks, with the human adding the divine (288 + 1 = 289 = petter ), are restored via the rechem (the 248 mitzvos). This is done by mindfully noting (tizachar also can be read as remember or note) God and subduing human physical lusts and selfishness, to elevate the physical into the divine.
Someone might look at this numerology as trivial mathematical tricks, but that is missing something important. The ancients, such as Pythagoras, saw l mystical power and truth in numbers. To this day, even though we do not attribute anything mystical to it because of arbitrary bias and fear of the unknown, the world of physics is only understood through mathematics. The secrets of the universe, which surely are divine, cannot even be expressed without the language of mathematics. This says something about the power of numbers. Even though I personally am terrible at math and have a hard time grasping what it means, it shows you that something is going on: numbers may deeply correspond to and represent truths that are harder to explain in mere words.
Regardless, we can get the idea without resorting to numerology or mysticism. The idea that the firstborn—i.e., the immediate energies that come at the moment of life—represent a potential to transform the physical into the spiritual is intuitively true because it mimics the Big Bang (breaking out and petter) of creation itself. And this is not only true for the literal physical firstborn animals, but any endeavor that represents a beginning, a new effort, and a spontaneous creation taps into that divine energy that is entrusted within us to elevate the world.
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Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation
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Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, LCSW-R, LMFT, DHL is a psychotherapist who works with high conflict couples and families. He can be reached via email at simchafeuerman@gmail.com