(înapoi la pagina ZOHAR CUPRINS / BAMIDBAR – click)
41) “Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth.” Happy is a man who walks in the ways of the Holy King and does not sin before Him. When the night comes, the tree of death governs the world and the tree of life departs high above. And since the tree of death alone rules in the world, all the people in the world taste the taste of death, since sleep is one part of sixty of death. This is so because this tree causes. It is Malchut that governs alone, without ZA, which causes that, since Malchut is called “night.”
42) A man should come first and commit his soul in deposit, like a deposit that one gives to another, a mortgage, where even though one is committed to more than the price of the mortgage, it is not important to engage in quarrel with him because he has given him a mortgage. And if he refuses to give him a mortgage we will certainly inspect him, for he is not from a holy seed and is not one of those who have faith.
43) So is that tree, Malchut, which people precede and commit their souls to it in mortgage. It takes the souls of all the people in the world, and they all taste the taste of death because this is a tree of death, since when Malchut is separated from ZA, the tree of life, and she is the tree of death. And although all those souls commit to it, and it is unfitting to return one’s mortgage, still, because they were all given as deposit, he returns all the deposits to their owners.
44) The tree of death is unsuitable for returning man’s deposit, except in the morning when the tree of life awakens in the world. And then, since the tree of life awakens in the world, all the people in the world live and that tree of death leaves and returns all the deposits that were deposited in it, and retires. And they live because that tree of life causes, which is ZA that governs the day.
45) But many people awaken from their sleep at night and life is given back to them while the tree of death governs. Indeed, the tree of life does it, since it is written, “To see if there are any who seek after God.” And a person will not have a cause to say, “If I were governor of my soul at night I would rise and engage in Torah.” This is true for Israel; but what of the crude nations of the world who rise from their sleep at night?
46) As it is above, so it is below. Above, in Malchut, there are right and left. Below, too, there are Israel and the nations. Israel cling to the right, to the holiness of the king, and idol worshipping nations cling to the left, to the spirit of impurity, below all the degrees of the left. And all the degrees cling to one another from below until they are dependent on the head, the left side that is above in Malchut. Thus, when the head goes up, the tail goes up, as well, meaning the last and lowest degree, the spirit of impurity, because it is gripped to it, since they are gripped to one another from bottom to top like a chain. For this reason, idol worshipping nations are led in the same way as their impure side.
47) Balaam used all the lower degrees that come down from Malchut’s left side and was considering the bottom degree, the tail, and knew what was above because the lower one can only be led by the head. This is why he said, “How shall I curse whom God has not cursed?” since he looked down and knew that the upper head, the left in Malchut, was not in Din on those days.
48) And even though we said that this name, God, is upper Hesed, the holy Malchut takes this name as it is above, and she is kindness and mercy in this world. This is why she is called “God.” However, He is furious every day because there is Din in Him, and in those days there was no Din in him. This is why Balaam said, “How shall I curse whom God has not cursed?”
49) We said that in El Shadai there is the fulfillment of the world, and He said to the world, Dai [enough]. He is Yesod that gives enough to Malchut, which is called “world.” This God, Malchut, mates with Him, and this is why he is called El [God] Shadai, meaning the God of Shadai, since God, which is Malchut, mates with Shadai, which is Yesod. This is why he said about Malchut, called “God,” “How shall I curse whom God has not cursed?” And he knew that because as the head awakens, which is Malchut, so the lower one awakens, meaning the tail, the spirit of impurity. And Balaam looked at the tail and knew what was in the head.
50) “Her voice walks like a serpent,” since now that Israel is in exile, Malchut certainly walks like a serpent, for it is that conduct of the serpent that when it bows its head to the dust, it raises its tail and the tail rules and strikes all those who are before it. Now, too, when Israel are in exile, Malchut acts as a serpent—the head is lowered to the dust and the tail, the bottom degree, governs.
Who made the tail rise and govern and strike? The head, when it bowed down. And who leads the tail, and who moves the tail in its travels? The head, for although it is bowed to the dust, it leads the moves of the tail. This is why it is written, “Her voice walks like a serpent.”
51) And the rest of the nations that cling to the tail rise up and govern and strike, and the head is bowed to the dust, as it is written, “She has fallen, she shall no more rise.” And yet, the head leads the tail and guards it, as it is written, “They made me keeper of the vineyards,” which are the idol worshipping nations, who are in the tail.
52) What does it mean when he says? “Israel for His own Segula [virtuous quality/remedy (depending on context)]”? These three patriarchs are called Segula, whether above—HGT—or below—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Similarly, the priests, Levites, and Israel correspond to HGT, and it is all one. They are the Segula of the Creator above, and Segula of the Creator below.
It is written, “Then you shall be My own treasure [in Hebrew: Segula] among all the peoples.” This is so because there are priests, Levites, and Israelites among them, who are called Segula. The difference between Israel and the nations is that the nations cling to the left line without right, and Israel cling to the three lines, HGT. This is why they are a Segula [remedy] from among all nations, for the unification of the three lines is called Segula.
(înapoi la pagina ZOHAR CUPRINS / BAMIDBAR – click)