I have long anticipated the beginning, actually, before the beginning of our natural confines. There certainly was a supernatural beginning for the Neshamot Tsadiqim (Righteous souls). What was that beginning like for those who are Righteous souls? The questions often permeate the mind with curiosity. But in various places in scripture, we are given subtle hints. For my Sunday Shiur I read a short story I wrote about possibilities. I thought my readers here would love to have an opportunity to read it. I hope to post the audio of this class before tomorrow evening (Aug 8th, 2025) nevertheless, here is the story, I call “The Oath.”
Enjoy a daydream
The Celestial Garden and the Primordial Sabbath
A long, long time ago, before a thing called time was conceived, in a place that was before “land” ever existed, there was a celestial Garden. This Garden was the infinite, ethereal dwelling of a King of boundless being, whose essence was incomprehensible and without end. He resided alone, pondering the most beautiful of all His thoughts. His Garden, the Celestial Gan Eden, was itself a realm of infinite scope and infinitesimal beauty. Its sublime heights were unimaginable to any mind. Within this palace of G-d, there was a beautiful room where He dwelt. The floor beneath His feet was a sapphire expanse, a constant flow of motion appearing as a river of crystal beauty and clarity. The entire Garden was a symphony of ornate beauty. To gaze upon this room was breathtaking, and the sight was so captivating it could hold the mind in awe for billions of years without end. In this palace, “time” had no existence. The King lived in an eternal “Sabbath Kedem,” a primordial state of rest and delight as eternal as the great King Himself. His joy was an unimaginable, boundless ocean of delight that filled all of reality.
The Emanation of the Neshamot Kedem
From His beautiful thought, the concept of “Yesh,” a distinct “something” or “other,” was born. It burst forth, an emanation from His infinite being, in a flash of unbearable, brilliant light. This emanation manifested as billions of “others” who danced about Him with the same celestial joy that flowed from His being. This joy filled each one of them to the point of overflowing with unimaginable brilliance and colors. They moved with grace and purpose. When the King breathed, His Ruach, His Holy Breath, would cause them to spin, twirl, and rise and descend in a cosmic dance. And as they danced together, they would merge into a state of Divine Unity and then separate into their individual selves, a spectacle of glory that the King beheld with unfathomable delight. He called these beings His Children, and each one of them was a perfect reflection of His own being, without a single blemish or flaw. The King would draw them close, huddling them together, and the brilliance of their unfathomable beauty would emanate from them as if they were on the verge of exploding. Then, they would burst forth from Him in a shower of divine fireworks, a spectacle of cosmic joy.
The Words of the Children and the Grand Plan
As G-d looked upon them, He gave them their names, which were a direct expression of their very essence and purpose. He called them Moshe, Chanoch, Yeshua, Miriam, Abigail, and Marta. Each name was a D’bar (Word) that was infused with His own ethereal being. Not a single one of them had a flaw. To look upon them caused the eyes of the King to blaze with a love so intense it was like fire. Each one of the billions of souls came before Him and whispered a beautiful dream into His ear. His chest would rise and fall with an intensity so profound that He thought at times it would surely burst. Each soul told Him their story, a story that was a direct expression of His own D’bar Word. As each one revealed their story, He could see that together they had conceived a great plan, a glorious and unthinkable undertaking that would surpass any imaginable story one could possibly conceive. For billions of years, they danced, holding hands and laughing and playing through the ethereal eons of eternity.
The Great Descent: A Covenant of Sacrifice
Then, one of the beings came before Him, bowing his head so low that the humility of the act was a testament to his profound reverence. His forehead touched the moving sapphire floor, a gesture of absolute spiritual surrender. This act was so moving that it caused tears to flow down the beard of the Ancient of Days, not of sorrow, but of an immense, compassionate love for the path his son was about to undertake. With his voice filled with both courage and a gentle solemnity, he announced that he would soon be leaving home. He was embarking on a journey far beyond what any of his brethren could even begin to conceive—a descent into a realm of existence so dense and foreign it would be a fall for eons, a spiritual plunge that would cause him to disappear from eternity’s direct light. He called this act a Yeridah l’tzorech aliyah, a sacred descent for the sake of an even greater ascent. His was a planned and purposeful fall, one that would enable a deeper transformation and a more profound return. The Ancient of Days, in that moment of profound humility and courage, called this one “Adam haRishon,” “Adam the First One,” signifying not just the beginning of a lineage, but the foundational soul who would undertake the initial, most perilous journey into the material cosmos.
Another being came forward after Adam, tears of gold and sapphire filling his eyes, the manifestation of an unimaginable spiritual sorrow and a perfect purity of purpose. The droplets were indescribable gems of such preciousness that the Eternal, in His infinite hands, gathered them. Though these small stones appeared minute, they seemed to fill the entire palms of the Eternal, for within each droplet was a cosmos of potential redemption. With a voice that was both a whisper and a thunderous roar, He too announced he would be leaving to follow Adam, and to serve as his redeemer.
Yet, his descent would go beyond even that of Adam’s initial spiritual plunge. Adam’s fall was a purposeful entry into a lower realm; this being’s journey was a targeted, harrowing descent into the deepest spiritual abyss. His sacred path would lead him into the most profound and fragmented depths of Gey Hinnom, a place not merely of fire but of the utter absence of G-d’s light. There, he would suffer an unimaginable torment, an act of spiritual self-sacrifice required to reclaim the most fallen and lost sparks of divine essence. This was a suffering not of the physical body, but of the very soul, as he would confront the pain and fragmentation of all creation. Through this ultimate act of redemptive suffering, he would prove his worthiness to be the savior of all. The Ancient of Days, in a moment of both profound sorrow and immense pride, called this one “Yeshua,” the Savior.
A form of incomparable beauty presented herself before the Eternal King. She was a being as radiant as the Divine aura itself, and she stepped forth with a request. HaShem said to His daughter, “I will give you anything your heart desires. What would you ask of your Eternal Father?” She replied, “I want to be Adam’s wife, to be the mother of all living, Chavah. I will play my part in his deception, causing him to fall even further than he has imagined. And I will bear, give life to all of these billions standing here before you, causing them such grief and agony that they will curse me.” The celestial palace did not dim; instead, the radiance of the Eternal glowed with even greater eminence. He loved her with the profound, protective love of a father who would watch over her and help her take every step down through the corridors of darkness.
Another came forth after those had already begun the fall. “I will be the first of their children,” he said, “and I will deepen the despair of this new land, causing it to plunge into a darkness even darker than they have imagined. I will rise up and kill my brother in a fit of jealousy, rage and negativity.” As his words had barely ceased, a voice from the midst of the radiant light of beings spoke, raising his hand and pushing forward. “I will be that brother,” he said, “whom he will destroy and bury in the dirt of that mundane world. I will be the one to cause his jealousy and hatred.” Then he turned to “Qayin,” announcing his name, and also to “Hevel.” They embraced and held each other with the greatest brotherly love for what seemed like a million years. Together, they turned and walked towards the place of descent.
The family line of the Neshamot Kedem continued to come forth, one by one. Then one came and called himself “Sheva,” the seventh. “I will walk with my Eternal G-d day and night,” he said. “The heavens will be my vision. I will walk so close to You that You will not be able to resist my presence, and I will never resist Your spiritual wooing. And I will return to be the Administrator of Your Divine Will.” One by one, they each came before the King and told their story: Lawgivers, conquerors, martyrs, young shepherds, and even a story where a man crawled into a lion’s den and killed that lion on a snowy day, on and on the story went. There were stories of men who stopped the sun and the entire Spiritual clock from moving. There were stories of such heroics so overwhelming that the King’s courage swelled, and then stories of such unbelievable horror that the Eternal cried the tears that would fill the oceans of that far, far away land.
The Ultimate Redemption and the Seal of Completion
Finally, after billions of years had passed, one came to present himself again with a story that would shake the very heavens. Yeshua spoke. The Ancient of Days said to him, “Have you come to tell me the rest of your story?” With his face on the sapphire floor, bowed in reverential awe, one could not tell if there was water flowing beneath him or if it was a river of his tears. As he talked, still with his face to the floor, the heavens began to tremble. One could feel the whole Garden shaking and trembling under their feet. “I will be born in the lowliest of births, and I will walk up and down the paths of the Hallowed Land where so many of the Neshamot Kedem will dwell.” “I will shine the brightest light from the heavens that will be a beacon of EMET (truth). And on the anniversary of the Exodus, I will submit my life for the sake of Redemption for all who will submit to my Eternal King. I will hang on that tree and bear the death of the billions. I will submit to even the most incredible torture and death.
Yet, my descent will not end there. I will enter into the deepest, most fragmented depths of Gey Hinnom, to a place where not even the eternal light of G-d has ever shone. I will take upon Myself the full torment of that spiritual abyss, bearing the absolute separation from G-d that is the true death. Then, on the third day, the Eternal Father will reach with His powerful Hand into that ultimate darkness, rescuing His begotten Son and bringing forth a victorious resurrection. It is then that I will arise, showing the way for all who will follow. I will ascend to be here at your side, to rule the Kingdom of My G-d.”
There was a long silence, and after billions of years, one came forth and said, “My name will be Hotam shel HaKadosh Barukh Hu—’ the seal of the Holy One, blessed be He.’” “I will mark and place a seal on the foreheads of the Holy Ones who have here today danced before You. I am the last of the Otiot (the final letter in the Holy Alphabet). I will also be the seal of judgment and carry Your ‘Crown of Torah.’ I will be the steadfast guardian and escort of the Holy Shechinah and bear ‘The Portal of Completion.’ I will be the holy Mafkod for when I have counted and seen that every Holy Soul has returned, I will close the gate behind me. I will never stop counting until the last soul has returned to this Celestial Garden.”
The Divine Oath and the Everlasting End
The tears of the Eternal G-d flowed as if they were an eternal river of living water. These waters would cleanse His children repeatedly and continuously. Then a thunderous roar echoed through the heavens, a single word: “Amen.” “So be it.”
Then HaKadosh Barukh Hu gathered all the words that had been communicated on that day. He reached even into the heights of the heavens and wove all the letters and words together in a single, continuous string of the Holy Otiot. And He called it “Mafkod, the one who accounts for the oath.” And even before his descent, Adonai the Eternal G-d called for Metatron, the divine recorder, to write everything that would be the history of that day. Metatron called it “haD’bar Adonai, The WORD OF G-D.”
And they all lived happily ever after.
The End.
