1 Corinthians — Chapter 11

1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.
2 Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head.
5 But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.
6 For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.
7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
8 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
10 For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.
11 Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.
12 For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.
13 Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?
14 Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
15 But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.
16 But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.
17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.
18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.
19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
20 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.
21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.
23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.
27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
33 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.
34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.
Abrahamic Catechism
Bible Study
1 Corinthians — Chapter 11
◈ Zohar

• Paul's teaching on head coverings reflects the Zohar's understanding that the head (rosh) is the seat of the highest Sefirot — Keter, Hokhmah, Binah — and must be covered to contain and protect the light. The Zohar teaches that going bareheaded invites the forces of judgment to rest on one's head (Zohar III:187a). Covering is not cultural but metaphysical shielding.

• "The head of every man is Christ" — the Zohar's chain of emanation flows from Ein Sof through Keter to Hokhmah to Binah and down. Each level is the "head" of the level below it. Paul's hierarchical chain (God → Christ → man → woman) mirrors the Sefirotic cascade where each partzuf receives from the one above (Zohar III:290b, Idra Zuta). Order is not oppression but the structure of light-transmission.

• "For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels" — the Zohar teaches that angels are intensely affected by human modesty and immodesty. The Shekhinah withdraws from places of exposure, and the ministering angels refuse to bless where sacred boundaries are violated (Zohar I:57a). Paul's concern is for maintaining the spiritual ecology of worship.

• The Corinthians' abuse of the Lord's Supper — eating before others, getting drunk — violates the Zohar's principle of the sacred meal (se'udah). The Zohar teaches that when the righteous eat together with proper intention, the Shekhinah joins them and heavenly gates open; when they eat selfishly, they feed the kelipot instead (Zohar II:157b). The meal's holiness depends entirely on the participants' kavvanah.

• "He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself" — the Zohar teaches that sacred food consumed without sanctity becomes poison. This is the mystical principle behind kashrut: it is not the substance but the spiritual charge it carries. The sickness and death Paul reports among the Corinthians are not divine punishment but natural consequences of spiritual short-circuiting (Zohar III:41b).

✦ Talmud

• Berakhot 51a discusses the proper manner of holding the cup at a communal meal, including the requirement that it be received with both hands and with full attention — Paul's detailed instructions on the Lord's Supper reflect the same Talmudic understanding that communal sacred meals carry an enormous weight of intention and reverence.

• Yoma 86a teaches that public desecration of God's name (chillul Hashem) is the gravest of sins, worse than private transgression — Paul's declaration that those who eat and drink unworthily are "guilty of the body and blood of the Lord" invokes this same principle of communal sanctity being magnified beyond the personal.

• Sanhedrin 43b describes the process by which the court investigates whether a witness truly understands what testimony involves before they are permitted to speak — Paul's insistence that "let a man examine himself" before approaching the table is the Tzaddik's application of this same rigor to the act of sacred eating.

• Ketubot 17a discusses the requirement to honor a bride and groom at a communal celebration as a form of sacred obligation — Paul's reproof that the Corinthians "humiliate those who have nothing" at the Lord's Supper violates the Talmudic principle that communal sacred space must be one of radical equality before the divine.

• Avot 3:3 teaches that "when three eat at a table and speak words of Torah, it is as if they have eaten from the table of the Omnipresent" — the reverse is also true: when the table is dishonored and the community fractured, the divine presence departs, which is precisely what Paul warns has resulted in weakness, sickness, and death among the Corinthians.