I have over the last few weeks been studying with our Rabbi a course called "Meditations from Sinai" and in last week's class the text spoke about Kabbalah, Chasidus, Mussar and Litvak study of Talmud Torah which brought to mind the essay I wrote on this entitled Jewish Thought: Talmud Torah, Musar, Kabbalah and Hasidut.

This explanation comes from the Chabad perspective in which they use a passage in the Midrash Talpiyot by Rabbi Eliyahu Cohen. This passage is about the antediluvian Patriarch who is described as a shoemaker. 

Enoch (Chanoch) would sew shoes to bind together the worlds. For every knot he would tie, he would say, "Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom for all eternity!" for these words contain the unification and connection of all the upper chambers.

Among philosophers many see ontology or the study of being as the first philosophy. Others such as Levinas question ontology as first philosophy as it is a too self focused approach and they thus posit ethics (goodness) and a focus on the other as first philosophy. The first is rooted in the intellect and the second in the heart or memory. However, I would see that first philosophy or Wisdom is that of the Will (ratzon) as it is Will that moves the intellect and leads the heart to action.

The Chronicle or Book of  Gad the Seer is mentioned in the Bible. Gad was a prophet connected to King David. In the 18th century a book claiming this title was discovered in India among the Cochin Jews. This was a 18th century copy of an older manuscript. This made its way to England and was bought eventually by Cambridge University.Some scholars such as Schechter and Abrahams decided that due to some terminology it was probably written in the Middle Ages.

It is possible that Germany is Zebulon and Holland and the Low Lands is Issachar. The arrangement above is based on the division of the two Kingdoms and the prophetic order of Genesis 49. The R1b L21 y-dna British and the Irish belong to the Tribe of Judah from the Davidic House of Nathan. The peoples of Germany, the Netherlands and the Low Countries belong mainly to the Tribes of Zebulon and Issachar. The Slavs are the Birthright Nations (Ephraim of R1a).

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