The Palace of the Object of the Heaven, Hod

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511) The second palace stands in faith to unite above. It is more concealed than the first, and contains three doors. Appointed over them is Orphaniel, which means “light of the Panim [face/anterior],” as he stands at the door toward the east, which is called Panim. The appointee also controls the three directions of the world—south, north, and east. South is right, Hesed; north is left, Gevura; and east is in the middle, Tifferet, the deciding line.

512) There are three doors to three sides. Two doors are blocked, and the middle door is open, as it is written, “As pure as an object of the heaven,” which is the door that is open in the middle, Tifferet, called “sky” [or “heaven”]. The appointee Orphaniel was appointed and stands in the open door on the east. Under him are two other appointees, appointed over the two other openings on the south and on the north. Those are hidden.

513) All the souls of the slain by the courthouse or slain of the rest of the nations were deposited to those three appointees, and the appointee over them carves their form in his garments, which are burning fire, raises them, and shows them to his Master. Then the Creator takes them and carves the slain of the rest of the nations in His clothes.

514) The appointee lowers the slain of the courthouse and lets them in after those two hidden doors, where two other appointees stand. From there, the souls see the glory of all those who observed the Torah and kept His Mitzvot. They are ashamed of themselves and are burned [suffer burns] by their own Huppah [canopy] until the appointee who stands over them opens the Eastern gate for them and illuminates for them, giving them life that opens at that gate. In the hand of the appointee is a cup of life full of lights, which is called “a cup of consolation,” “a cup of life,” for because they first drank a cup of death—meaning they were killed—they are rewarded with this.

The slain of the courthouse for their sin drink the cup of poison, meaning they were killed by the fourth courthouse deaths. Their death is their atonement, hence the appointee Orphaniel lets them in first, after the two hidden gates on the south and on the north—the two lines right and left—from which they see the complete righteous who cling to the right line and engage in Torah, as well as their good reward. They envy them and are burned by their Huppah, and then he opens for them the Eastern gate, the middle line, uniting the two lines and giving the souls a cup of life countering the cup of poison that they drank from the Klipot.

515) Likewise, in the Sitra Achra, in the palace of Tuma’a, there is another appointee, in whose hand is the cup of poison, the cup of His fury. As there is wine and there is wine, here too there is a cup, and there is a cup. One is for better and one is for worse. Wine is for better, as it is written, “And wine delights the heart of man.” A wine for worse is as it is written, “And foaming wine, full of mixture.” The cup for better is as it is written, “I shall raise a cup of salvation.” A cup for worse is as it is written, “The cup of His fury … the cup of poison.”

516) As on the side of Kedusha, palaces and appointees are all for the better, as are holy spirits and holy Behinot. Likewise, on the side of Tuma’a are palaces and appointees that are all for worse—the appointed spirits of Tuma’a, and all the Behinot of Tuma’a. They are one opposite the other, like the good inclination and the evil inclination, and it is all one.

517) This palace is called “a palace of radiance” because there is the spirit of Orphaniel in it, a radiance that does not change, that always illuminates only in the white in it, Hesed. He stands in a hidden light that illuminates from above, from the third palace, and in the light that illuminates from below, from the spirit in the first palace, which rose here. When the light below, from the first palace, strikes the upper light that is here, that spirit illuminates as the seeing in the eye. When it incarnates, it emits the sparkling and radiating light. Likewise is that spirit. This is why that palace is called “radiating.”

518) The spirit, Orphaniel illuminates to that palace and to the first palace because the spirit in the first palace illuminates openly from the hidden spirit that is here. This is why that spirit travels upward and travels downward, as it is written, “The curves of your thighs are as jewels,” for here is the palace of Hod, and NH are called “thighs.” And since it is a hidden light, it is called Hamukey [curves], meaning concealment [Homkim means concealed], as it is written, “my beloved has slipped and passed.”

It is written, “The curves of your thighs” in plural form because there is another spirit here, which came out of Orphaniel, to the left, and connects with him. The left spirit, Hadarniel, means Hod and Hadar [majesty and splendor]. They are included in one another, mingled together, and they an object of the heaven, for it consists of fire and water, two spirits, right and left, where right is water and left is fire.

519) It is written, “As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain.” The first spirit, Orphaniel, is hidden both above and below, and illuminates like HASHMAL [electricity]. But not actual HASHMAL, which is uttering fire-animals, for there is no speaking in it, illumination of Hochma. At times it is actual HASHMAL, when Hadarniel is included in it, from whom emerge all those seraphim, since HASHMAL has the letters of Hayot Esh Memallelot [uttering fire-animals], and also present and absent animals—animals that at times feel and at times utter. This is why it is HASHMAL.

520) In Orphaniel there is life forever. When the world is sentenced favorably, that spirit illuminates, and all of life and joy are present, for because the merit departs and the Dinim press in and illuminate, that spirit illuminates, as it is written, “In the light of a king’s face is life,” for so are the letters of Orphaniel.

521) When the world is sentenced to DinSitra Achra rules and attacks, and the spirit of Orphaniel is concealed and darkened. At that time the whole world is in Din and sentenced. It all depends on that spirit. The mark is that the fear of the Dinim is felt in the knees, NH, and that palace is the palace of Hod.

522) Here there are all the garments of the souls of the righteous, who ascend to be seen before their Master and stand before Him. When the soul rises and reaches that palace, that appointee over the garments, Tzidkiel, which means justice, arrives. It is so because when a person performs the Mitzvot of the Torah in this world, to the extent that he exerts and labors in keeping them, so a garment is made for him in that place above, to wear in that world.

523) When the soul ascends, the appointee takes her garment and reaches the river of fire, where the soul must bathe and be whitened. Sometimes the soul burns there and drowns, and does not rise from there all day until morning, when the spirit from the south side awakens. Then the souls stand, they are renewed, and sing like the angels whose governance passes away. They burn and stand, and are renewed as before.

524) If the soul is rewarded and rises, the appointee Tzidkiel takes the soul and clothes it in a garment. She is corrected in it, and rises for an offering by the angel Michael the priest, to always stand, for all times, before Atik Yomin. Happy is that soul which stands and is rewarded with it.

525) The spirit Orphaniel, who rules over that palace, is appointed over all of it. When spirit is included in spirit—Orphaniel in Hadarniel—and they strike each other to be mingled together, the other rules that were appointed over the world are created. These are the seraphim with six wings, which sanctify their Master three times a day. They are meticulous with the righteous as a hair’s breadth, and are poised to punish—in this world and in the next world—those who slight the man from whom they learned even a single matter in the Torah and are not respectful of him, and all those who are using one who has learned the six books of the Mishnah, to unify the unification of their Master.

526) When spirit settles in spirit—Orphaniel in Hadarniel—and they illuminate together, an animal comes out of that light—Yofiel—ruling over the seraphim. There are four animals below it, whose faces are the face of an eagle. Yofiel is in all the secrets of the wisdom, and all those keys to the wisdom are in it.

527) This animal is poised to demand reward from the Creator, to give to all who chase after all wise ones, and even after every man to learn wisdom to know their Master and to reward people who pursue wisdom, to know their Master.

528) When a person passes away from this world, this animal comes out on four flying seraphim. They fly in front of him and it does not let all those evokers of judgment and sentence approach him. There are several messengers of peace around him, which are the seraphim. When they travel and are seen, those serpents and seraphim that come out of the serpent, who caused death to the entire world, surrender.

529) This holy animal stands, and when the soul ascends and reaches it, it asks the soul about the wisdom of her Master. She is rewarded according to the extent of the wisdom that she pursued and obtained. If the person could have obtained wisdom but did not, the soul is repelled and does not enter. She stands in shame under the palace. When the seraphim under the animal lift their wings, they all flap their wings and burn the soul. She burns and does not burn; she stands and does not stand; she illuminates and does not illuminate. And so she is sentenced each day.

530) And although she has good deeds, she is repelled because there is no reward in that world as for those who exert in wisdom, to observe the glory of their Master, and there is no measure to the reward of those who know wisdom, to observe the glory of their Master. Happy are they in this world and in the next world, as it is written, “Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who obtains understanding.”

531) The spirit, Orphaniel, rules over everything. All are included in him; all look to him. That animal, Yofiel, rules over four other animals, and four wheels look to each side—to the east, to the north, to the south, and to the west.

Each wheel has three pillars. The wheel to the east, Tifferet, is Haniel, from the word Hen [grace]. The wheel to the north, Gevura, is Karshiel, from the word, Krisha [coagulation], since the lights on the left side coagulate, freeze. The wheel to the south, Hesed, is Azriel, from the word Ezra [help], and the wheel to the west, Malchut, is Aniel, from the word Ani [poor], since Malchut has nothing of her own and she is poor. Those three pillars on each wheel look to the middle, Tifferet, since the middle one carries all of them, and they all travel thanks to it. Were it not for the middle line, they would have been dark, without light.

532) Those who stand in the middle, Tifferet, are all appointed to sing. Those on the right, Hesed, sing, the desire rises up, and they say, “Holy.” Those on the left, Gevura, sing, the desire rises up, and they say, “Blessed,” since “holy” is above, in HGT, and “blessed” is below, in Malchut. For this reason, those who stand above, on the right side, take Kedusha and connect to Kedusha, to all who know how to sanctify the name of their Master in the unification of the wisdom. Those who stand on the left take Kedusha and connect to those who do not know how to properly sanctify their Master. They are all included in the unification and connect to one another until they all become one connection and one spirit.

533) From this place all the wise ones that are to know through a vision or a dream suckle. This is because the prophets suckle from above, from NH de ZA de Atzilut, and the dreamer or visionary suckles from here, from the palace of Hod. When the palace of Hod connects to the place above, in NH de ZA, the prophets suckle from above and from below in one connection.

534) This is why there is an allegory in the words of the prophets that their prophecy is not properly polished, as was with Moses, whose prophecy was completely polished because the light came from above, from Bina, the place from which all the lights emerge and reach his degree, Tifferet de Atzilut, and from there he suckled his prophecy and illuminated. This was not so for any person, nor for all the prophets. And those dreamers and visionaries suckle from below, from the palace of Hod, without the connection of NH de ZA above, and through a lower degree, Malchut, who is outside, in the first palace.

535) As with the degree of the prophets above, who receive from NH de ZA, the prophets do not see it from NH de ZA, but through another, inferior degree, Malchut de Atzilut. Here, too, the dreamers and visionaries, whose suckling is above, in the palace of Hod, it appears to them only through a degree outside the palace, which is Malchut in the first palace, inferior to it. It is so because the matter comes from the palace of Hod, and the matter reaches the appointee who stands at the gate to that palace, and from there to another appointee who is under him, and so forth until it reaches Malchut in the first palace. And when the matter reaches man, several have mingled with the matter, hence it is not properly polished.

536) When four wheels connect to the four pillars in the middle, and each wheel has three pillars—right, left, and middle—they are all called “desirables.” They are the visionaries because illumination of Hochma is the desirable, and it is not revealed in the wheels from Chazeh and above, but only in the pillars from the Chazeh and below. But their primary disclosure is in their middle one. Hence, the wheels do not give to the handsome ones, except by Hitkalelut with the middle pillar. This is why Bazak rules over them and Daniel is called “A man of desirables.” Happy are they who know the secrets of their Master, to walk in the path of truth in this world and in the next world.

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