The 28 Times in Every Person
The 28 Times in Every Person
Tehillim 31:16
- “B'yadkha itotai, atzileni miyad oyevai umerodfai” - (In Your hand are my times; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and pursuers.)
Every Jew experiences different times—good times and, chas v'shalom, bad ones. These are the 28 times about which King Solomon wrote in Kohelet (3):
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:
1. A time to be born and a time to die;
2. A time to plant and a time to uproot what has been planted.
3. A time to kill and a time to heal;
4. A time to break down and a time to build up.
5. A time to weep and a time to laugh;
6. A time to mourn and a time to dance.
7. A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones;
8. A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing.
9. A time to seek and a time to lose;
10. A time to keep and a time to cast away.
11. A time to tear and a time to sew;
12. A time to be silent and a time to speak.
13. A time to love and a time to hate;
14. A time for war and a time for peace.”
These encompass all the times through which every person passes from birth until death. And the greatest tzadikim always taught how to conduct oneself in every circumstance so as not to become detached from G-d: “And from the sons of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.” (I Chronicles 12:32)
28 times—14 good and 14 bad—and these are the mysteries of week after week, week after week.
The Number 28
In addition to being the gematria of the word “koach,” there is another interesting detail. Once every 28 years, the blessing over the sun is recited. The necessary conditions for reciting the blessing are that the day on which the sun was created (the fourth day of the week) coincide with the position in the heavens where it was created.
This coincidence occurs once every 28 years, on one of the days of the month of Nissan.
The 28 Times of Man—A Time to Heal
In the book of Kohelet, King Solomon lists 28 alternating “et”s (times), divided into 14 pairs. Each of these 28 “times” is an experience a person undergoes or a type of work he performs in the world.
In Kabbalah, these 28 states correspond to the 28 phases of the moon during its monthly cycle as it revolves around the earth.
The third pair among these “times”:
עֵת לַהֲרוֹג וְעֵת לִרְפּוֹא - “et laharog ve'et lirpo” - (a time to kill and a time to heal).
From this we may conclude that the very power to kill can be changed and transformed into the power to heal.
Of the 28 “times,” the time suited for healing is, naturally, the time called “ve'et lirpo”—(and a time to heal). The letters that form this expression, when rearranged, form the expression “peulat or” (the action of light). The letters composing the word “refua” רפואה (healing) also form the words “or po” אור פו (light here), and the healing powers of a physician begin with his eyes, which radiate encouraging and healing light toward the patient. This is analogous to the way G-d Himself began to heal the world of Chaos (Olam HaTohu), shattered by the “excessively great” created light.
Indeed, among the 28 “times,” “a time to heal” is the sixth from the beginning and the 23rd from the end. This fact points to the third verse of the Torah:
- וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יְהִי אוֹר וַיְהִי-אוֹר
- “Vayomer Elokim, yehi or vayehi or” - (and G-d said: Let there be light! And there was light). (Genesis 1:3)
This verse consists of six words and 23 letters. Moreover, as already stated, seven different letters in this verse form the words “or milah” (the light of the word), whose gematria is equal to the numerical value of the expression “or po” (light here) and the word “refua” (healing)—287.
(Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, “Likkutei Halachot”; Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, “Body, Mind and Soul”; Leah Gurvitz, “Sha'arei Rachamim”; Rebbetzin Rachel Hendel)
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Tags: Tehillim 31, Kohelet, Numbers, Tehillim 31 – 28 Times for Every Person, The 28 Times in Every Person’s Life, 28 Times in a Person’s Life – A Time for Healing
