Four Hundred Shekels

(înapoi la pagina ZOHAR CUPRINS / Chayei Sarah – click)

94) The authors of the Mishnah said this portion, which they interpreted concerning the soul. Abraham is the soul and Sarah is the body. Happy are the righteous in the next world, for the Torah in their hearts is as a great fountain—even when it is blocked, the abundance of water breaks through and opens springs to all directions.

95) Man’s body never joins the count of righteous by Dumah after his demise, until his soul shows a letter for a sign, which the cherubim give her in the Garden of Eden.

This is so because once the soul has entered the Garden of Eden there, she goes to rise to her place above, to Bina, and not to descend into Malchut. But before she rises and enters her place, she becomes the guardian of the body through Dumah and shows him—Dumah—that the body is fit to receive the reward of four hundred worlds.

96) Dumah knows that the body is worthy of the reward of four hundred worlds before the body shows him, since it is declared in the Garden of Eden. But I heard that when the soul is given the letter for the sign, she then returns to the body, to admit it into the count of the righteous through Dumah. It is written, “But if you will, I pray thee, hear me: I will give the price of the field; take it of me.” “The price of the field” is the yearning and the coveting for four hundred worlds that the body is given to inherit.

The righteous that have been rewarded with receiving the Mochin in their lives, which are poured on the Masach in the middle line, Dumah receives that Masach, called “calculation,” and purifies the body of the righteous with it after his demise, and qualifies him for revival. And there are two ways in that: 1) the level of the light is primarily what purifies the body, and the body has been rewarded in its life with receiving these Mochin that extend from the middle line, called “four hundred worlds of cravings.” And then Dumah receives the body and qualifies it for revival. 2) The Masach, called “calculation,” is also called “book,” and it is primarily what purifies the body. Hence, since the soul has been rewarded with it, she already begins to negotiate with Dumah for the body.

“For I have given” means that the money is already prepared, and implies to the Masach. When he has a Masach, the level is already set to emerge on him by itself, and the level that emerges on the Masach is four hundred worlds of cravings. But there is no need to speak to Ephron about the level itself, since because he has obtained the Masach he is already declared as righteous in the Garden of Eden, and he is worthy of receiving the level, which is four hundred worlds of cravings.

97) One who is dust can be rewarded with all that, the four hundred worlds of cravings. Who will be rewarded and who will rise, as it is written, “Who may ascend into the mountain of the Lord, and who will rise in His holy place?”

98) “Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out the silver for Ephron.” This is the great craving after these coveted worlds.

“Four hundred shekels of silver” are four hundred worlds of pleasures and desires.

“Passing to the merchant” means passing through all the gates of heaven and Jerusalem above and there is none who protest. This means that one who is rewarded with these Mochin of the four hundred worlds of cravings is complete in all the degrees of the gates of heaven and Jerusalem above, and there is no one to complain about him there.

And the reason he did not say “Jerusalem below,” as well, is that these four hundred are HB TM of lights that are clothed in KHB and Tifferet de Kelim, without the Keter of lights because he lacks Malchut from the Kelim, as it is known from the inverse relation between lights and vessels. Malchut de Kelim is the Jerusalem below because Jerusalem above is Bina and Jerusalem below is Malchut, which will only be corrected at the end of correction.

Hence, prior to that, there are no more than four hundred shekels of silver to indicate that the Keter is missing from the lights, and Malchut from the Kelim. This is why he says “Jerusalem above,” and does not say, “Jerusalem below.” And yet, the illumination of those four hundred passes and shines in part to Malchut, too. This is why it is written, “Passing to the merchant,” since Malchut is called “merchant,” as it is written, “She is like the merchant-ships.” And through this illumination, which is passed onto her, she gradually becomes qualified to receive her perfection at the end of correction.

99) Subsequently, Abraham buried Sarah, his wife, meaning the body, and it was counted by the appointee along with the rest of the righteous in their company by Dumah, the calculation. All those bodies that are written by the hands of Dumah and are counted by him will be revived when the Creator revives the dwellers of the dust. Woe unto the wicked, who are not written by him in writing, for they will forever be lost in hell.

100) What was the reason that Abraham went into the cave? He was chasing that calf, of which it was written, “And Abraham ran unto the cattle.” And that calf fled to that cave and Abraham followed him to the cave and saw what he saw.

101) There was another reason: He was praying every day and would come out to that field, which emitted high scents, and saw light coming out of the cave and prayed there. And there the Creator spoke to him. This is why he craved the cave and his desire was always in that place.

102) Why did he not ask to buy it until now? Because he did not need it; he feared that they would not follow him and would understand his craving and the importance of the cave, and then they would either raise the price or refuse to sell it to him altogether. Now that he needed it he said, “The time has come to ask for it.”

103) If Ephron would see in the cave what Abraham saw in it, he would never sell it. But Ephron certainly saw nothing in it because a thing appears only to its owner. Hence, it appeared only to Abraham and not to Ephron, and it appeared to Abraham because it was his. It did not appear to Ephron because he had no share of it; hence, nothing appeared to Ephron in the cave and he saw only darkness in it. This is why he sold it.

104) He even sold what Abraham did not initially ask for. Abraham said only, “That he may give me the cave of Machpelah”; he did not mention the field. And Ephron said, “I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it.” And this was because it was all loathsome to Ephron, for he did not know what it was. Even the field where the cave was, was loathsome to him; hence, he sold the field, as well, although Abraham did not ask for it.

105) When Abraham entered the cave for the first time, he saw a light there, the dust was thrown before him, and two graves were revealed to him. Then a man of his form stood up from his grave, and saw Abraham and laughed. With that, Abraham knew that he was destined to be buried there.

106) Abraham told him, “Please, is this a castle without a roof?” meaning he was bewildered, since the cave of Machpelah, which means a cave within a cave, must be completely dark, yet he saw light in there as though it was a house that was open at the top, without a roof.

Adam told him, “The Creator hid me here, and I have been hiding since.” Until Abraham came, Adam and the world were incomplete. This is why he needed to hide himself, so the Klipot would not grip him. But when Abraham came to the world, he corrected him and the world, and he no longer needed to hide himself.

107) “And the field and the cave therein rose.” There was actual rising to the field, which it did not have thus far. Rising implies importance, since by moving into Abraham’s hands, the field acquired importance. This is why it writes “rose” in regards to it.

The field rose and ascended by the hands of Abraham because thus far nothing was seen there. And now, in the hands of Abraham, what was hidden has risen and ascended. And then everything was established as it was ordained, as it should be.

108) When Abraham entered the cave and brought Sarah there, Adam and Eve rose and did not wish to be buried there. They said, “It is enough that we are shamed in that world before the Creator, by the sin that we caused; now we will have another shame, for we will be shamed by your good deeds.”

109) Abraham said, I am willing to pray on your behalf before the Creator, so you will never be shamed before Him, so He will completely forgive your iniquity. And afterwards Abraham buried Sarah, his wife, after Abraham took it upon himself to pray for Adam.

110) Adam returned and went into his place. But Eve did not return and enter, for she caused Adam to sin and she feared that Adam would not receive her, until Abraham approached and brought her to Adam and accepted her for Adam. It is written, “And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife.” It does not say “to Sarah,” but “Sarah.” This includes Eve, which Abraham had brought back to the grave.

Then Adam and Eve sat in their places as it should be. It is written, “These are the generations of the heaven and the earth when they were created.” But we learned about Abraham that Behibaram [When they were created] has the letters of “in Abraham” [in Hebrew], which indicates that they existed for him. “The generations of the heaven and the earth” are Adam and Eve. This is because it does not say, “These are the heaven and earth,” but “The generations of the heaven and the earth” indicate that Adam and Eve are not offspring of people. It is written about them that they existed for Abraham, because it is written, “And the field, and the cave therein rose unto Abraham.” And until Abraham came, Adam and Eve did not exist in that world, and Vayakum [and rose] is Kium [existence, similar letters].

“The field and the cave therein” indicates Adam and Eve who were there. “Unto Abraham” means for Abraham. Thus, Adam and Eve existed for Abraham.

111) This cave is not a Machpelah. It is written, “The cave of the field of Machpelah.” Thus, the field is called Machpelah, not the cave.

112) It is called “The cave of Machpelah,” as you say, “That he may give me the cave of Machpelah,” but certainly, neither the cave is the Machpelah nor the field is called Machpelah. Rather, this field and the cave together are called Machpelah. But the field is certainly the Machpelah and not the cave, since only the field carries the name, Machpelah, and not the cave, for the cave is in the field and the field is in something else.

113) The whole of the land of Israel is folded under Jerusalem, which is the Malchut. And she is above and below. Thus, there is Jerusalem above, which is Bina, and there is Jerusalem below, which is Malchut, for she is gripped above and she is gripped below. Jerusalem above is gripped by two sides—above and below. And Jerusalem below is gripped by two sides—above and below. This is why she is twofold.

Jerusalem above is Bina and Jerusalem below is Malchut. It is known that the association of the quality of Rachamim in Din means that they were mingled in one another. And four discernments emerged out of this mingling—BinaMalchut in BinaBina, and Malchut in Malchut. It turns out that the quality of Malchut is twofold, since there is Malchut in Bina and there is Malchut in Malchut.

114) Hence, this field is from that Machpelah [multiplication], which is Malchut, for there she is, as it is written, “See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed,” which is Malchut. And she is twofold—above and below. This is why it is written, “The field of Machpelah [multiplication]” and not “A twofold field,” for it concerns the doubled Malchut, which is called “a field.”

There are four Malchuts, two Malchuts above the Chazeh, from Bina and Malchut de Bina, and two below the Chazeh, from Bina and Malchut de Malchut. And the two Malchuts above the Chazeh are both mitigated and included in one another. But below the Chazeh, only the third Malchut is mitigated, and the fourth Malchut is not mitigated by Bina at all.

The cave where Adam ha Rishon was buried is from the fourth, unmitigated Malchut, as it is written, “for dust you are, and unto dust you shall return.” But because he repented, the cave was included in the field, which is the third, mitigated Malchut, and there he was buried.

The cave is the fourth Malchut, which is not mitigated in Bina. This is why she is not doubled in Bina. The field, the third Malchut, is mitigated and is not doubled, since there aren’t two Malchuts in her place below the Chazeh. Only above the Chazeh is Malchut called Machpelah, for there, there are two Malchuts that actually mingle in one another, one from Bina and one from Malchut.

When it writes, “Jerusalem above,” it means above Chazeh de Nukva, gripping two sides—above and below—two Malchuts from Bina and Malchut de Bina.

Jerusalem below means below Chazeh de Nukva. These are two Malchuts, from Bina and from Malchut de Malchut. For this reason, Jerusalem above is Machpelah, for there are two mitigated Malchuts there. Hence, this field, which is the third Malchut, is considered a Machpelah, as well, since the Machpelah is the mitigation of Bina.

This is why it is certainly the field of Machpelah and not a twofold field. If the field itself had been twofold, it should have said “a twofold field,” in masculine form. But since it is not doubled itself, but draws the doubling from the two Malchuts above the Chazeh, it writes Machpelah after the Malchut above the Chazeh.

115) Certainly, the field of Machpelah. Machpelah means the Hey in the Holy Name, where there are the two Heys in the name HaVaYaH, and both are in it as one, included in one another, associating the quality of Rachamim in Din. And it is for her that the text speaks in a way that conceals the double Hey, for there is no other doubled letter in the Holy Name HaVaYaH but her. This means that the word, HaMachpelah [the Machpelah], with Hey at the beginning of the word, implies the doubled Hey, the bottom Hey of HaVaYaH, which is the Malchut that is mitigated in Bina, which is the first Hey de HaVaYaH.

116) And although it was certainly a twofold cave, meaning a cave within a cave, it is for another name that it is called “The cave of the field of the Machpelah,” after the mitigation of Malchut in Bina, and not because the cave was doubled.

Abraham knew that. When he spoke to the sons of Heth, he concealed this matter and said, “That he may give me the cave of Machpelah,” for the cave was twofold. And he did not say, “The field of the Machpelah” after the mitigation of Bina. But the Torah calls it only “The cave of the field of the Machpelah,” as it should be, after the mitigation of Malchut in Bina, which is only in the field and not in the cave.

117) And the Creator does everything to make this world, Malchut, such as above, in Bina, to make them cling to one another so His glory will be above and below. Happy are the righteous, whom the Creator desires in the world—in this world and in the next world.

(înapoi la pagina ZOHAR CUPRINS / Chayei Sarah – click)

error: Content is protected !!