The Womb Between Worlds: Holding the Hidden Midpoint Before the Breach both 40 days...

B"H

“In the silence between fire and water, the soul begins to form.

In the space between ascent and return, HaShem waits with us.”

I. Between the 40s — A Sacred Hiddenness

Our sacred calendar is laced with rhythms — not just days and weeks, but wombs of time. Among the most quietly powerful are the two 40-day arcs that flank early summer:

1. The first, ending 25 Iyar, marks the conclusion of a concealed 40-day journey — the period in which Yeshua of Nazareth, in emerging Messianic texts, walked among his disciples after rising from death, offering hidden teachings, deepening their faith, and quietly preparing them for the descent of the Ruach.

2. The second begins on 1 Elul — the 40 days that Moshe Rabbeinu spent atop Sinai begging for forgiveness and receiving the second set of tablets. These are the days of teshuvah, of divine intimacy reestablished.

Between these two arcs — one flowing from resurrection, the other ascending toward return — lies an unsung window. A threshold. A hidden womb of spiritual formation.

We find ourselves now in that womb.

II. Binah — The Womb of the Calendar

In the Tree of Life, Binah is the Divine Understanding. Binah is not just intellect/understanding — Binah is understanding that nourishes, wisdom that gestates, compassion that holds.

Binah is called the Upper Womb — and the number 40 is connected Binah.

• The world was once reborn through 40 days of flood.

• The soul begins forming in the womb at 40 days (Mesechet Niddah).

• Moshe ascends Sinai for 40 days — twice.

• Yeshua ascends after 40 days, having implanted the seed of renewal.

In each case, 40 marks gestation — the quiet period before something holy is born.

So, what happens when two 40s face one another?

The space between becomes a womb within a womb. A deeper Binah. A doubled concealment. A waiting within waiting.

This is where we now stand.

III. Before the Breach — The Unbroken Moon

The days leading up to the 17th of Tammuz — particularly the 12th -13th Tammuz itself — fall just before the breaking point. Before the mourning begins. Before the walls fall.

• The Temple still stands — both above and below.

• The Shekhinah is still present, hovering in the fields.

• The Divine Presences is not yet weeping — It’s is watching, waiting, preparing.

In Kabbalah, the Shekhinah is the bride, the daughter, symbolized as the moon. But she is also the lower vessel of Binah. In these days, Binah is not yet diminished. Binah is full, glowing, untouched by judgment.

This midpoint — falling near 12–13 Tammuz, though unnamed in the calendar — is the perfect stillness before contraction. It is a hidden sanctuary of Binah— rest, gestation, compassion, and unshed tears.

IV. Rav Sabba and the Joy of The Divine.

Into this mystical womb-space steps the voice of Rav Yisrael Dov Ber Odesser, the Breslover known as Rav Sabba.

He taught, radically and sweetly, that the fast of the 17th of Tammuz — and the mourning of the Three Weeks — may no longer be the main path for this generation.

His Story:

When he was approximately 24 years old, Odesser came into possession of a document later published as

The Letter from Heaven (known colloquially as the Petek).

According to Odesser, he succumbed to cravings during the fast of the Seventeenth of Tammuz and he ate something. He was severely distraught as a result. For six days he suffered intensely and felt like a dead man. He prayed and had a "powerful thought enter [his] mind" to "Go to your room and open the bookcase, and put your hand and any book…and open it to wherever it opens…and there you will find good things that will enable you to revive yourself; there you will find a healing for your soul!"

Acting on this thought, he chose a book, opened it, and found a letter inside containing words of greeting and encouragement, along with a phrase in the Hebrew language based on the four letters of the name Nachman (i.e., Rebbe Nachman of Breslov), added one letter at a time, in a Kabbalistic achorayim form.

Content of the Petek

Very hard it was for me to descend to you

My precious student to tell you that I benefited Greatly from your service and upon you I said My fire will burn until Messiah will come be strong and brave In your service Na Nach Nachma Nachman Me'Uman And with this I shall reveal to you a secret and it is: Full and heaped up from line to line (PZPZYH) And with strong service you will understand it and the sign is

The 17th of Tammuz they will say that you are not fasting

Rav Sabba’s teachings align not with the fires of Gevurah (judgment), but with the aspect of tenderness/Binah of HaShem —who does not punish, but patiently holds the soul until it is ready to return.

To him, fasting was optional. But joy was not. Because joy is Binah’s midwife — it draws the hidden light down from above and helps the Shekhinah rise.

V. Not Fasting in Mourning, but Waiting in the Womb

So, what do we do as we approach the 17th of Tammuz?

Some will fast (like we do a Shtiebel on the Hill) — and may that fast be with love, not guilt.

Some will not — and may that not-fasting be with deep joy, not negligence.

What matters is not the hunger of the body, but the fullness of the heart. Whether we fast or eat, we do so within the womb of Binah — slowly forming ourselves anew, preparing to be born again at Elul’s door.

This is the spiritual truth:

We are being gestated.

Not judged. Not punished.

Held. Formed. Readied.

VI. Yeshua, Binah, and the Ruach in Waiting

Yeshua’s ascension on 25 Iyar did not end the story — it began the waiting.

The Ruach HaKodesh, like Shekhinah, did not fall immediately. It waited — like a mother about to give birth — for her children to be ready.

This waiting is feminine part of HaShem. It is not passive — it is fermenting, warming, softening. The Yeshua’s followers were not abandoned — they were placed in the womb of spiritual maturity.

That womb did not close after 10 days. It lingers — through the heat of Tammuz, through the quiet of Av, until the cry of Elul awakens the soul.

VII. The Shekhinah Above the North

Here in the northern wilds, where the stars are bright and the lakes still whisper of Eden, we see the Shekhinah not in the crowded city, but in the open sky. The Divine Presences walks our forests like Ruth among the barley. She hides in the fog of morning, in the space between deer-tracks, in the hush before the rain.

The days before and after Shavuot to the days before 17 Tammuz are her song:

“Do not weep for what has not yet fallen.

Let the walls hold.

Let the soul prepare.

Let joy rise where mourning would otherwise dwell.”

VIII. Practical Binah for Shtiebel on the Hill

In this mystical womb-time, what can we do?

1. Sit silently in the woods — and listen to what your soul is forming.

2. Write letters to HaShem — and tell her what you hope to birth this Elul.

3. Light a single candle at dusk, not to mourn, but to hold space for the unfallen.

4. Speak kindly to yourself, as a mother would speak to a child in the womb — you’re not late, you’re growing.

5. Learn a Torah of compassion — a teaching from Rebbe Nachman, from the Zohar, from Tehillim, or from your own heart.

IX. Conclusion: Gestation Before Redemption

This is a time of becoming, not achieving.

The 17th of Tammuz will come after Shavuot. The walls may fall. Or perhaps, if enough of us dwell in Binah, they will not fall in the same way this year. Perhaps they will fall inward, breaking open our hardened hearts — not our sanctuaries.

Yeshua waited in silence. Moshe begged for mercy. The Shekhinah hovers above all, whispering:

“Be still. I am with you. Be not afraid.”

We are not yet in Teshuvah. We are not in judgment. We are in the womb.

So do not rush. Do not fast in fear.

Fast in joy. Or sing instead.

Return gently. Prepare like the moon.

In the silence of these hidden days, before the breach and before the thunder, something is forming. May it be you.