שלוש מיני בריתThe Three Covenants

shalosh minei beritIn Gamatria ↗

Between the ten fingers and the ten toes, a covenant.

El Chai is also called Berit, covenant. Gikatilla counts three covenants. The covenant of the tongue, which is the Written Torah, comes from Binah. The covenant of the flesh (circumcision, also the covenant of Shabbat and of the rainbow) belongs to El Chai. Between them, Adonai holds the Oral Torah. Quoting Sefer Yetzirah, he says Abraham received a covenant between his ten fingers (the tongue) and his ten toes (circumcision). Without the covenant of flesh Israel would not have received the Torah. So this sefirah is a gatehouse: through it a person goes into Tiferet, the Written Torah within.

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