Eastern Religions

As our patriarch Avraham was preparing for his passing, the Torah tells us about his interactions with his children. “Avraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines. He sent them away from his son, Yitzchak, to a land in the east.” The Midrash identifies the gifts as a “Shem Tumah”, literally- a name of impurity. However, the explanation of the Midrash requires clarification: What is a “name of impurity”?

The great rabbi and mystic Rabbi Yishaya Horowitz - also known as the Shelah HaKadosh (d. 1630) - notes that Tumah impurity always has an element of holiness to it. The concubines mentioned in the verse in Hebrew are pilagshim, that can be read as palag shem – half a name. Thus, notes Rabbi Horowitz half, of what the children received was holy. In the messianic era the element of holiness from what was given by Avraham to his children will appear. According to Rabbi Horowitz, a culture from the east will offer something in the messianic era that will be used for holiness.

The word Shem, in Hebrew, means name. However, our rabbis tell us that it also means ‘the essence’, since in the holy language the name of something defines its essence. When Avraham gave to the sons of his concubines a Shem he gave them the tools to identify the true essence of being. It is very possible that eastern religions, which focus on insight into the ultimate nature of reality and emphasize ethics and correct understanding, base their teachings on concepts that originated with Avraham. It is interesting to note that one of the ancient Buddhist works is the Abhidharma.
שם טומאה מסר להם. וזהו סוד הדבר, כי הטומאה דהיינו הקליפות, יש לה למעלה אחיזה בקדושה,
כענין שפירשתי בסמאל, שמחציו ולמעלה נקרא 'אל'. וזהו 'פלגשם' חסר יו"ד, שאז הוא - 'פלג שם', רצה לומר, שחציו הוא שם קודש. וכל זה יהיה באחרית הימים, שהקליפה תחזור לקדושה, והאלילים כרות יכרתון לתקן עולם במלכות שדי וכל בני בשר כו', כנודע ביאור ענין זה למקובלים