The Ship of State

Mr. Obama prepares to deliver his State of the Union address on Wednesday and lay out his initiatives for the second year of his presidency.

The president often uses the metaphor of a ship at sea when referring to the time it takes to turn and change course; the sixtieth vote in the senate allowed him to turned the wheel and begin a movement–now the wheel is being turned the other direction to stabilize the ship.

Metaphors are helpful inventions meant to augment ideas, but according to the Torah all of life is a metaphor. In our times, the End of Days, just prior to entering the thousand years of Peace is when the 6000 years of man enter into the culminating 1000 years of woman.

The Midrash-Book of Metaphor, one of the four levels of learning in the Torah does not take events out of there simple meaning but rather points the metaphoric meaning implicit in the Torah. The only thing higher than metaphor is the Zohar-Book of Secret from where the explanations of Moshiach/Messiah are derived.

The Cabala teaches how the word Moshiach is derived from the word Meshic/Pouring of Oil. The promise of Moshiach is a new light likened to oil that raises above water.