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32) “The Lord favors those who fear Him.” Oh how the Creator desires the righteous, since the righteous make peace above, in AVI, and make peace below, in ZON, and bring the bride to her husband. And for this reason, the Creator desires those who fear Him and do His will. Through the MAN that they raise to ZON, ZON, too, raise MAN to AVI, and a Zivug occurs above, in AVI, and below, in ZON. And they bring the bride, Nukva, to her husband, ZA, to mate. For this reason, the Creator, ZA, desires only them, for without them there would be no peace, which is a Zivug, neither above in AVI nor below in ZON.
33) “Them that await His mercy.” “Them that await His mercy” are those who engage in Torah at night and partake with Divinity. And when the morning comes, they await His mercy.
When a person engages in Torah at night, a thread of mercy extends upon him during the day, as it is written, “By day the Lord will command His mercy, and in the night His song shall be with me.” Hence, the Creator desires those who fear Him, and it does not say, “In those who fear Him,” for He does not desire them themselves, but it is as though He is turning His will to another and wishes to make peace with him. “Wishes” comes from the words “appeasing” and “reconciling” [in Hebrew], which is why it is written, “The Lord favors those who fear Him,” meaning that He appeases and reconciles them. It is not written, “In those who fear Him,” which would mean that He desires them themselves, and it would also not mean that He is appeasing and reconciling them.
34) “Joseph was sad,” sad in spirit and sad at heart, since he was imprisoned there. Since Pharaoh sent after him, it is written, “And they brought him out hastily,” meaning that he appeased him and replied to him with words of joy, words that delight the heart, since he was saddened by his being in the dungeon. First, he fell in the dungeon, but from the dungeon he later rose to greatness.
35) Before that event happened to Joseph, he was not considered righteous. Because he kept the holy covenant, for he did not fail with Potiphar’s wife, he was considered righteous, and that same degree of holy covenant, Yesod, was crowned with him. And what was initially in the dungeon with him—a Klipa—rose with him, for by this deed he was awarded being called, “righteous.” Hence, why was he put in the prison? The answer is that because he was first in the dungeon, by that he rose to Malchut. It is also written, “And they brought him hastily out of the dungeon,” meaning he departed the Klipa and was crowned with a well of living water, which is Divinity.
36) “Then Pharaoh sent and called for Joseph.” Should it not have said, “Called Joseph”? However, “Called for Joseph” is the Creator, who called him out of the dungeon, as it is written, “Until the time that his word came to pass,” meaning the Creator called him. “And he shaved himself, and changed his clothes” for the king’s honor, since he had to stand before Pharaoh.
37) “Israel also came into Egypt; and Jacob lived in the land of Ham.” The Creator makes incarnations in the world and sustains prohibitions and oaths, to sustain the oath and the sentence He had sentenced.
38) Had it not been for the fondness and love that the Creator had for the patriarchs, Jacob would have been brought down to Egypt in iron chains. But with His love for them, He enthroned His son, Joseph, and made him king over all the land. Then, all the tribes descended in their honor and Jacob became as king.
39) “Israel also came into Egypt; and Jacob lived in the land of Ham.” Since it is written, “Israel also came into Egypt,” I do not know that “Jacob lived in the land of Ham.” However, “Israel also came into Egypt” is the Creator, ZA, called, “Israel.” “And Jacob lived in the land of Ham” is Jacob, since it was for Jacob and his sons that Divinity came to Egypt. And the Creator made incarnations and brought Joseph down first, for by his merit, the covenant with him was kept, and He made him governor of all the land.
40) “The Lord sets the prisoners free.” But here it is written, “The king sent and released him.” “The king sent” is the Creator. “Ruler of the peoples” is the Creator. “The king sent” is the high king, ZA. “Sent and released him,” sent the redeeming angel, the Nukva, which is the ruler of the people, which governs below in the lower world. And it is all from the Creator.
41) “And they brought him out hastily,” lacking the Vav [in Hebrew], which indicates singular tense. It should have said “hastily” [with a Vav in Hebrew], meaning plural tense. And who is it who brought him out hastily out of the dungeon? It is the Creator, since there is no one to imprison and to release from prison except the Creator, as it is written, “He shuts a man in, and none can open.” It is also written, “When He keeps quietness, who can condemn?” for it is all up to Him. It is written, “And He does according to His will.” Hence, “And they brought him hastily out of the dungeon,” meaning that the Creator brought him hastily out of the dungeon.
42) What does it mean, “Brought him out hastily”? It is as you say, “Then he will pray to God, and He will accept him,” which means appeasing. Similarly, “Brought him hastily out of the dungeon” means that the Creator responded(1) to him, and then, “And came in unto Pharaoh.”
Another interpretation: “Brought him hastily out” comes from the words Ratzon [desire] and Hen [grace], meaning it extended upon him a thread of grace, to give him grace before Pharaoh. “God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” He told him that so as to greet him and to begin his words with the word, “peace.”
43) See that wicked, Pharaoh, who said, “I do not know the Lord.” But he was wiser than all his magicians; how then did he not know the Lord? He certainly knew the name Elokim, for it is written, “Can we find such a man in whom there is the spirit of God?” And because Moses came to him only with the name HaVaYaH and not with the name Elokim, it was harder for him to understand this than anything, for he knew that the name Elokim was the ruler of the earth but he did not know the name HaVaYaH. This is why this name was abstruse to him.
44) It is written, “And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh.” This word, HaVaYaH [Lord] was toughening Pharaoh’s heart and hardening it. This is why Moses did not tell him a word from a different name, but only the name HaVaYaH.
45) “Who is like the Lord our God, who is enthroned on high” means that He rose above His throne and did not appear below, since when there are no righteous in the world, He is removed from them and does not appear to them.
“That looks down low” means that when there are righteous in the world, the Creator comes down in His degrees to the lower ones, to watch over the world and to do good to them.
46) When there are no righteous in the world, He departs and hides His face from them and does not watch over them because the righteous are the foundation and the sustenance of the world, as it is written, “The righteous is the foundation of the world.”
47) Hence, the Creator revealed His holy name only to Israel, who are the lot of His share and domain. And the Creator divided the world to strong appointees, into seventy ministers, as it is written, “When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance.” It is also written, “For the portion of the Lord is His people, Jacob the lot of His inheritance.”
48) Solomon said that all his words were concealed and unknown. And Ecclesiastes concealed the matters and his words are concealed.
49) “All things are wearisome, no man can tell it, the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.” But are all the words weary of telling? After all, there are light words, too. Moreover, he says, “No man can tell it, the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.” Why does he think specifically of those? It is because two of them, eyes and ears, are not in man’s authority, while the mouth is. Hence, they contain all of man’s powers.
And he tells us that all of those three and their likes cannot complement everything and obtain everything, that they cannot attain all the things. This answers the first question, too, that “All things are wearisome,” which means that the eye and the ear and the mouth cannot attain all the things.
50) Man’s speech cannot speak, nor the eyes see, nor the ears hear, “And there is nothing new under the sun.” This means that one must not think that they will ever be changed by this restriction. Hence, he ends, “That which has been is that which shall be, and that which has been done is that which shall be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.” Even demons and ghosts that the Creator has made under the sun cannot tell all the things in the world, and the eye cannot govern and see, nor the ear to hear. Hence, Solomon, who knew all things, said that.
51) All the deeds in the world depend on a few appointees, for you do not have a blade of grass below that does not have an appointee above, which strikes and tells it, “Grow.” And all the people in the world do not know and do not watch over their root—the reason why they are in the world. Even King Solomon, who was the wisest of all men, could not perceive them.
52) Happy are those who engage in Torah and know how to observe the spirit of wisdom. “He has made every thing beautiful in its time,” meaning in all the deeds that the Creator has done in the world, there is a degree that is appointed over that deed in the world, both for better and for worse, and these are the twenty-eight times that Ecclesiastes calculates. Fourteen times for the better are on the right. This is Divinity. And fourteen times for the worse are on the left. These are in the Sitra Achra, to punish people.
Some of them are degrees to the right and some of them are degrees to the left. When a man walks to the right, that deed he has done—the degree that is appointed to the right side—gives him help, and he has many who help him. When a man walks to the left and does his deeds, the appointee that is on the left side slanders against that deed that he has done, leads him to that side, and fools him.
Hence, with a proper deed that a man does, the right hand side appointee helps him. This is “In its time,” as the writing says, “Beautiful in its time.” This is so because that deed has been connected in its time, properly, which is the Nukva, called “time”—meaning the fourteen times for the better—which are on the right. And through the punishments in the fourteen times for the worse, he chooses the fourteen times on the right and connects to Divinity. It turns out that he did everything beautiful in its time.
53) “He has also set the world in their heart,” for the whole world and all the deeds in the world are connected to holiness only by the desire of the heart, when it comes into man’s will. It is written, “Know this day, and lay it to thy heart.” Happy are the righteous who draw good deeds by the will of their hearts, to do good to themselves and to the entire world. They know how to adhere at a time of peace, when there is a Zivug of the upper one, called “peace.” Also, by the power of righteousness they do below, they raise MAN and extend it into that degree called, “everything,” which is Yesod, to shine in its time, which is the Nukva.
54) Woe unto the wicked who do not know the time of peace of the action, and do not see that they do their deeds in the world for the correction that is needed in the world, and to correct the deed in its appropriate degree. Also, they do not raise MAN through their deeds for the upper Zivug, which is a time of peace.
55) Hence, everything is given to people’s will, as it is written, “So that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.” And because these deeds were not done so as to be corrected in their degree—as they should have—for this deed to be included in its corresponding degree, it is all in correction. Instead, they were done according to man’s will, by his arbitrary heart, as it is written, “I know that there is nothing good about them but to rejoice and to get pleasure so long as they live.” “I know that there is nothing good about them,” about those deeds that were not done with the proper intention for correction. But to rejoice with everything that comes to him, both good and bad, and to give thanks to the Creator, “And to get pleasure so long as they live.”
Why should one rejoice with the bad? If the deed he has done harmed him because of the degree that was appointed over it from the left, he should be happy and thankful for this bad that has come to him, for he caused that himself, since he went without knowledge, like a trapped bird. And now, since he has obtained knowledge through the punishment, he will know how to do good in his life. Hence, he should be happy and thankful for the punishment.
56) How do we know that one has no knowledge? It is written, “Moreover, man does not know his time: like fish caught in a treacherous net and birds trapped in a snare.” What is “his time”? It is the time of the deed that he had done, as it is written, “He has made every thing beautiful in its time.” Hence, they are as birds trapped in a snare.” And for this reason, happy are those who engage in Torah, who know the ways and trails of the law of the High King, to walk in it on the path of truth.
And the meaning of the words, “He has made every thing beautiful in its time” is that all twenty-eight times that he calculates there are all good, each in its time. This is so because even the fourteen times on the left are good, since they bring one closer to connecting to the fourteen times on the right, which is Divinity.
“He has also set the world in their heart,” where by the harsh punishments in the fourteen times on the left, the sweet fourteen times on the right are set in their hearts. Because of the bitter punishment that he suffers on the left, he escapes from the left and comes to the right. And he needed this advice, since “Man will not find out the work” because man cannot obtain everything, as he says, “All things are wearisome, no man can tell it.” This is why he was given the scrutiny in the heart, which runs from the bitter punishment and ties to the good and mercy on the right, as it is written, “I know that there is nothing good for them,” in the fourteen times on the left. Still, they are a sure reason “to rejoice and to get pleasure so long as they live.”
57) One should never open one’s mouth for evil, for he does not know who receives the word. And when a person does not know, he fails in it. And when the righteous open their mouths, it is all peace. When Joseph began to speak to Pharaoh, it is written, “God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” The Creator had mercy on Malchut, as it is written, “And gave them a charge unto the children of Israel, and unto Pharaoh, king of Egypt.”
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(1) In Hebrew, the words, “haste,” “accept,” and “appease” have the same root.
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