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211) Seven firmaments did the Creator make above, which are the ZAT de Atzilut, HGT NHYM. All of them are in order to know the glory of the Creator and all of them are poised to announce the meaning of the high faith.
212) There is a hidden upper firmament, above those seven firmaments—Bina de Atzilut—the firmament that leads them and shines to all of them. It is hidden—meaning its GAR, AVI—and it is doubted because it is unknown, meaning its ZAT, YESHSUT, since it is hidden and deep and everyone wonders about it. This is why its ZAT is called MI [also “who” in Hebrew], as in, “Out of whose abdomen came the ice?” This is the uppermost firmament, which stands atop all seven firmaments.
213) Below, there is a firmament, Malchut, the lowermost, and it does not shine. And because it is the lowermost and does not shine, that uppermost firmament atop them, Bina, which is called MI, conjoins in it. This means that the uppermost firmament, MI, the Hochma, does not shine to any firmament of the ZAT, but only to the lowest among them, which is Malchut. And the two letters, Mem, Yod, of the upper firmament, which is called MI, contains them within it. It is called Yam [sea], from the letters MI.
214) Because all those other firmaments above the lowermost firmament, which are HGT NHY, became streams and enter it, it becomes the upper sea and bears fruit and various fish, which are the Mochin that it gives to BYA. David said about it, “There is the sea, great and wide, in which are swarms without number, animals both small and great.”
215) It is written about it, “Who has aroused one from the east whom He calls in righteousness to His feet? He delivers up nations before him and subdues kings.” “Who has aroused from the east” is Abraham. Abraham awakened the upper firmament, called MI, to bestow Hochma upon the lower firmament, called Yam [sea]. “He calls in righteousness to His feet” is the lowest firmament of all seven firmaments, which became a sea.
“He delivers up nations before him.” “Before him” is the bottom firmament, which takes vengeance and makes the enemies fall. David is praised in him and says, “You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, and I destroyed those who hated me.” This is so because the illumination of Hochma destroys all the external ones and the Klipot. And since only the bottom firmament receives illumination of Hochma, and the six that are above it, he says that he takes vengeance and makes the enemies fall, and also, “He gives nations before him.”
216) “He gives nations before him” are the nations that Abraham was chasing and the Creator was killing. “And subdues kings” refers to the angels appointed over them from above. This is so because when the Creator inflicts Din [judgment] in the world, He inflicts Din on everyone, above and below, in the nations below and in their ministers above in heaven.
217) “He pursues them, passing on in peace.” “He pursues them” is Abraham, since Abraham was pursuing them and the Creator was passing before him and killing them. “Passing on in peace” is the Creator, who is called “peace.”
218) “By a way he had not been traversing with his feet” means that neither an angel nor a messenger was walking before Abraham, but only the Creator, as it is written, “Traversing with his feet.” “His feet” are those angels that are under the Creator, as it is written, “And His feet shall stand in that day.” The angels are called “His feet.” And the meaning of the words, “His feet” is the angels—who will not come by Abraham’s way at that time, but the Creator alone was on his way.
219) Another interpretation: When the Creator awakened the world, which is Malchut, to bring Abraham closer to Him, this awakening was for Jacob, who is the east. This is because Jacob was destined to come out of him and beget twelve tribes, all of which would be righteous before the Creator. And the meaning of the words is that MI, which is Bina, awakened the world to bring Abraham from the east, for the east is Jacob, since Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are called “south,” “north,” and “east.”
220) “He calls in righteousness to His feet.” The Creator was always calling on Jacob since the day the world was created. And this indeed is the reason why he was called Tzedek [justice], which is Malchut. “To His feet” means bonding with Him in His work and bringing him closer to Him, as it is written, “And all the people that are at your feet,” which is the people that are connected to you. “To His feet” means bonding with Him.
221) “Who has aroused one from the east,” from which the light begins to shine. All the force of the light in the south, Hesed, is from the east, which is Tifferet. This is why it is written, “Who has aroused” the light of the south, Hesed, “From the east,” which is Tifferet, who aroused him. Tifferet takes and is nourished first, and then gives to VAK, which are included in Tifferet, in which there is the south, Hesed. The desire of the upper firmament, Bina, is to bestow upon the east, Tifferet. This means that the one who receives from Bina is Tifferet, who is the main one from the VAK. Afterwards, he gives to the edges, in which there is the light of Hesed. Thus, the south does not receive from Bina but from the east. This is why it is written, “Who has aroused one from the east?”
222) “He calls in righteousness to His feet” is west, Malchut, who always calls to the east, Tifferet, and does not rest, as it is written, “O God, keep not Your silence,” since the west, Malchut, called Elokim [God], always awakens to Him. “He delivers up nations before him and subdues kings,” since from Him, from the east, he receives the strength to subdue all the peoples of the world.
223) “Who has aroused one from the east” is Abraham, who took the awakening to the Creator only from the east because when he saw the sun rising in the morning from the east, he took an awakening for himself, which is the Creator. He said about the sun, “This is the King who created me,” and he worshipped the sun the whole day. In the evening, he saw that the sun was setting and the moon rose. He said about the moon, “This one must be ruling the worship that he was worshipping the whole of that day, the sun, since the sun had darkened before the moon and does not shine.” Thus, he worshipped the moon the whole of that night.
224) In the morning, he saw that the moon darkened and the east illuminated. He said, “There must be a king and a ruler over all those, who leads them.” When the Creator saw Abraham’s desire, He appeared before him and spoke to him, as it is written, “He calls in righteousness to His feet.” Righteousness is the Creator, who called him and spoke to him and appeared before him.
225) “Speak righteousness and declare things that are right.” All of the Creator’s words are true. “And declare things that are right” because when the Creator created the world, the world did not stand, but collapsed to this side and to that side. The Creator said to the world, “Why are you falling?” It told Him, “Dear Lord, I cannot stand because I have no foundation [Yesod] on which to stand.”
226) The Creator told it, “Thus, I will place a righteous one within you, Abraham, who will love Me.” And the world immediately stood and existed. It is written, “These are the generations of the heaven and the earth when they were created.” Do not read it, BeHibar’am [when they were created], but BeAvraham [in Abraham, same letters in Hebrew], since the world existed in Abraham.
227) The world replied to the Creator, “Abraham is destined to beget sons who will destroy the Temple and burn the Torah.” The Creator told it, “One man will come out of him, Jacob, and twelve tribes will come out of him, all of which are righteous.” Promptly, the world existed for him.
228) It was said, “And he spoke,” and “And he said,” and each has its unique reason. “And he spoke” means in disclosure, which is Malchut, who is called “the revealed world.” This is the outermost degree and is not an internal degree, such as the ones above her. “And declare things that are right” is the Malchut, which is considered speech.
229) “And he said” implies to an internal degree, above Malchut, which governs the speech, Malchut. This is the meaning of “Declare things that are right.” “Right” is a high degree, where Jacob is, Tifferet, as it is written, “You have established rightness.” This is why it writes, “Declares” here, and does not write, “Speak,” to indicate that it refers to Tifferet and not to Malchut.
230) But it is written, “And He spoke unto you His covenant.” As was said “Speak” regarding the covenant, he could have said it with Tzedek [justice], too. Speaking is also considered a covenant, Yesod, since Tifferet and covenant are one. However, Yesod is a degree that rules over the lower one, which is the “Speak righteousness,” hence it is possible to use “Spoke” in it, as well.
Although it is said that speaking is the lowermost, it is a high and important degree. Speaking indicates that it is filled with all the degrees and that it is a high degree. This is so because although speech is the outermost degree, Malchut, Malchut is not called “speech,” unless when she is built and made of an internal Partzuf, equal to ZA PBP [Panim be Panim (face-to-face)]. At that time, ZA is called “voice,” and the Nukva, “speech.” Thus, on the one hand, speech means Malchut, the most external and the lowest, and on the other hand, it indicates to her complete construction, PBP with ZA, at which time she is a high degree.
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