The Grandfather

(înapoi la pagina ZOHAR CUPRINS / MIŞPATIM – click)

15) Who is a serpent that flies in the air and walks in separation? Whatever the case, there is rest for one ant that lies between its teeth. It begins in bonding, and ends in separation. And who is he? An eagle that nests in a tree that never was. His sons, who were stolen, are not of the creations, since they were created in a place where they were not created. When they rise they fall, and when they fall they rise, two that are one, and one that are three. What is a handsome maiden who has no eyes and the body is concealed and revealed? She comes out in the morning and covers during the day. She adorns herself in adornments that never were.

The Mochin of the left that appear through the exit of the Yod from the Avir in Shuruk are regarded as flying in the air. Then the Malchut is without a Zivug with ZA, and as long as they are without the right, there is suction to the Sitra Achra, and the serpent flies in the air and sucks from the Kedusha [holiness]. When the middle line comes and diminishes the left through the Masach de Hirik, so it will not shine from above downwards but only from below upwards, by that, it connects with the right and the serpent parts from the Kedusha, for it has nothing more to suck.

These Dinim of the Masach de Hirik, which repel the serpent from sucking from the left line are from the Dinim of Tzimtzum Bet, which came by the ascent of the Masach to Bina, and the serpent clings to these Dinim. The venom between the serpent’s teeth, with which it kills people, is from the Dinim of Tzimtzum Aleph [first restriction], meaning only from Malchut. That venom is called “an ant,” since when the serpent has the strength to cling to Dinim of Tzimtzum Bet [second restriction], which rise up to Bina, it leaves the Dinim de Tzimtzum Aleph, which are only in Malchut. Hence, that ant has rest, meaning that she lies between its teeth, for she is from the Dinim of Tzimtzum Aleph. And when Malchut is in a Zivug with ZA and the left line shines in her, if the serpent comes near to suck from the left, the Zivug immediately parts and he has nothing to suck.

Bina is called “an eagle” and there is no Din in her. Rather, he is merciful toward his sons, ZON, and she accepts to her the Dinim of Malchut, and by that she is diminished into VAK to give Mochin to ZON. At the time of Gadlut, the Dinim descend from Bina to Malchut, and Bina returns to GAR, giving Mochin to ZON.

Mochin de VAK are called “tree.” The eagle, Bina, nests there because she received the Dinim of Malchut. However, this tree is not as it was because afterwards, at the time of Gadlut, the Dinim come down from Bina and it becomes apparent that there was no Din in Bina.

When Israel are in exile, the sons, ZON, are robbed from the mother, Bina, meaning that the Sitra Achra sucks from the Dinim in ZON. However, those Dinim come from the Bina when she is in Katnut due to Malchut’s ascent to her. And since the Dinim de Bina are in a tree where they were not—especially the Dinim in ZON that are received from her, which are as though they never were—those Dinim that extend from Bina are called “created” or “creation.”

This is why he says that his sons were robbed, that the Sitra Achra sucks from the Dinim in them, that by that, they rob the abundance during the exile, and they are not of the people, meaning that there are no Dinim of creation [Beria] in them, since they were created in Dinim de Bina, in Beresheet [In the beginning], in a place where they were not. The place itself, Bina, is not considered Beria, since the Dinim in her are in a tree that never was. It is especially so with ZON, who receive from her. It follows that the whole grip of the Sitra Achra in ZON during the exile is unjust.

When the middle line decides between right and left, it corrects the left to illuminate only from below upwards, and the right—from above downwards. The illuminations of the right from before were illuminating in ascent from below upwards, meaning that they were in VAK. Now they shine in descent—from above downwards—and the illuminations of the left, which previously illuminated from above downwards, in descent, now illuminate in ascent, from below upwards. By that, the two lines, right and left, became one—two that are one. And one that are three means that the middle line, which is one, inherits all three lines and becomes three.

Once Malchut diminished and descended to from Chazeh de ZA and below, she has no more Hochma of her own. Instead, she is a handsome maiden with no eyes, for Hochma is called “eyes.” She receives the Hochma that she has from ZA, and the body is concealed and revealed, for once she is covered from illumination of Hochma, and once the Hochma in her is revealed.

She comes out to illuminate in Hochma in a Zivug in the morning darkness, and in the day, she is governed by ZA and the Hochma in her is covered, as in ZA. She adorns herself in adornments that never were, meaning that the adornments extend to her from Dinim and Katnut de Bina, and since the Dinim de Bina are in a tree that never was, those adornments are all regarded as never having been.

21) “If a priest’s daughter is married to a foreign man, she shall not eat of the offering of the gifts.” This verse relies on another verse, “But if a priest’s daughter becomes a widow or divorced, and has no child and returns to her father’s house as in her youth, she shall eat of her father’s bread.” The words of Torah are hidden words, for there are meanings to each and every thing.

22) How many are the words of wisdom that are hidden within each word in the Torah, and which are known to sages who know the ways of Torah? The Torah is not the words of dreams, given to the one who solves them, and following that mouth that solves them. Rather, they must be solved according to their ways. And if words of dreams should be solved according to their ways, then words of Torah, which are entertainments of the holy King, are all the more so, meaning that she is required to walk in the way of truth in them, as it is written, “For the ways of the Lord are right.”

23) A priest’s daughter is a high soul, the daughter of Abraham the patriarch, the first of the proselytes, Hesed, and he extends to this soul from a high place, Bina. There is a priest who is called “a man priest,” and not an actual priest. Similarly, there is a priest,, there is a deputy, there is a high priest, and there is a priest who is not great. A plain priest is greater and higher than a man priest. Hence, there are degrees NRN in the soul: Neshama from the high priest, Ruach from a plain priest, and Nefesh from a man priest.

24) “And if a priest’s daughter be married unto a foreign man.” This is the holy soul that was extended from a high place, Bina, and entered the hidden one of the tree of life, ZA. When the wind of the high priest, Hesed de ZA, blows and gives souls, clothing the souls with Hesed and placing them in this tree, ZA, the souls flee from there and enter a treasure, Malchut.

25) Woe unto the world when people do not know how to beware, for the they draw the extension of the soul into a body during their Zivug with the evil inclination—a foreign man—and the priest’s daughter, the soul, flees down and finds a body in a foreign man. And because it is her master’s will, she enters there, yields, and cannot govern and is not completed in this world when she departs it. She will not eat in the contribution of the holies, as do all other souls who were completed in this world.

26) “And if a priest’s daughter be married unto a foreign man.” The holy soul is shamed because she will be married to a foreign man, meaning extended over a converted proselyte, blooming over him from the Garden of Eden in a clandestine way, over a body that is built from the impure foreskin because his fathers were not circumcised. This is the meaning of “Unto a foreign man.”

27) There are scales to weigh on, on the right hand side and on the left hand side of the pillar that stands inside the air that breathes. On the right side are scales of Tzedek [justice], and on the left side, scales of deceit. These scales are never restful and the souls go up and down, coming and going through these scales. There are robbed souls, when Adam of the Sitra Achra governs Adam of Kedusha [holiness], as it is written, “When the man has power over the man to harm him.”

The middle line decides and sustains the two lines, right and left, separates between them, where the right line illuminates from above to below, and the left line illuminates from below to above, and not from above to below. The middle pillar sustains the two lights right and left, and weighs them as if on a scale, where the illumination of the right line draws down to the lower ones, and the illumination of the left line raises up. By that, the balance pivot stands in the middle, leaning neither to the right nor to the left, but to both, each according to its way. It is said, “Inside the air that breathes” because the illumination of the left appears through the exit of the Yod from the Avir [air], the point of Shuruk.

When the middle pillar illuminates in Malchut, two scales are made there.

Scales of Tzedek, like the middle pillar, to draw illumination of the right from above downwards, and illumination of the left only from below upwards.

Scales of deceit, the grip of the Sitra Achra, who draw illumination of the left from above downwards.

Because of these two scales, Malchut is called “the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” If the soul receives from the scales of deceit, she is robbed by the Sitra Achra and falls into her hands. These are called “the robbed souls.” At that time, it is written, “When the man has power over the man to harm him,” when Adam of the Sitra Achra governs Adam of Kedusha, yet it is to harm him.

28) But this soul, which the Sitra Achra—who is called “a foreign man”—had, and which was robbed by him, is harmful to him, to that foreigner. “She shall not eat of the offering of the gifts,” as do other souls, until the Creator corrects her, as it is written, “If a priest’s daughter is married to a foreign man,” it will be so that she will not eat of the offering of the gifts.

29) How are the souls robbed? This world is lead by the tree of knowledge of good and evil, Malchut. When the people of the world behave on the good side, in determining to the middle line, the scales stand and decide to the good side. When behaving as the bad side—extending illumination of the left from above downwards—the scales sentence to the side of the Sitra Achra, and the Sitra Achra robs and takes all the souls that were on the scales at that time.

30) But it is to harm him, the Sitra Achra, since those souls surrender everything that they find from the evil side and obliterate it. The sign of that is the holy ark, which was robbed by the Philistines and they governed it, to their detriment.

31) What came out of those robbed souls? They became the righteous of the nations of the world and bastards, disciples of the wise. Yet, bastards, disciples of the wise come before an uneducated high priest. They are the most important in the world, even though the high priest enters the deepest of the holy of holies.

32) It is written about the robbed souls, “If a man sells his daughter as a maid, she will not go out as the man-servants do, if she is displeasing in the eyes of her master.” O Lord of the world, who will not fear You, who governs all the kings of the world, as it is written, “Who will not fear You, O king of the nations; indeed it is Your due.”

33) How many are the people in the world who are confused and err in this verse? They all say it, but the verse does not straighten out in their mouths. Is the Creator called “king of the nations”? Is He not the king of Israel? Indeed, so He is called, as it is written, “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance.” It is also written, “For the portion of the Lord is His people,” for which He is called “king of Israel.” And should you say that He is called “king of the nations,” it is a praise for them that the Creator rules over them, and not as they say, that they were given to His servants and appointees.

34) Moreover, the end of the verse writes, “For among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You.” All this is praise to the rest of the nations, so it is a wonder that they do not rise in this verse to the height of the firmament. After all, the verse gives their sages and their kingship some relation to the Creator, for which it should be said that the Creator is greater than them.

However, the Creator blinds their eyes and they do not know of Him at all. This is the meaning of what we say, that they are all nothing, zero, Tohu [void], as it is written, “All the nations are as nothing before Him. They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.” However, this verse ascribes high and honorable importance to them, for it is written, “For among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You,” and it is written, “God rules over nations.”

36) All the names and all the appellations of the Creator expand to their ways, all clothe in one another, and all divide into certain ways and trails, except for one name, which is clearer than all other names, which He has inherited to the only nation that is clearer than all other nations. It is Yod He Vav He, as it is written, “For the portion of the Lord is His people.” It is also written, “And you that cleave unto the Lord,” who cling to this very name more than to all other names.

37) And one name from among all those names, which expanded into several ways and trails, is called Elokim [God]. He inherited this name and it was dispensed to the lower ones in this world. This name was dispensed to the servants and appointees that lead the rest of the nations, as it is written, “And God came to Balaam at night.” It is also written, “And God came unto Abimelech in the night’s dream.”

Similarly, each appointee that the Creator inherited to the rest of the nations is included in this name. Even idol worship is included in this name, and this name was king over the nations, and not the other name, which was king over Israel, the name of the Lord [HaVaYaH], who is unique to the unique nation, the nation of Israel, the holy nation.

38) “Who will not fear You, O king of the nations?” We should not understand the words as the name Elokim being king over the nations, in whom there is fear and Din. It is not written about that, for if so, even idol worship would be included in this rule, “Who will not fear You,” for idol worship, too, is called God.

39) “Who will not fear You, O king of the nations?” It is not written “King of the nations” about the Creator. Rather, the meaning is “Who is the king of the nations who will not fear You, will not be frightened of You or shaken by You?” It is as though it were written “Who is the king of the nations who will not fear You?” Similarly, in the verse, “Praise the Lord! Praise the servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord,” one who hears it does not know what he said. Since he said, “Praise the Lord,” he also said, “Praise the servants of the Lord,” while it should have said, “Servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord.” Yet, it is necessary that even though he first said, “Praise the Lord,” relating to the servants of the Lord, here too, even though he first said, “Who will not fear You,” it relates to the king of the nations. It is as though it were written, “Who is the king of the nations who will not fear You?” and all is said as it should be.

40) “For among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You.” “There is none like You” is the word that spreads among them in their wisdom and they all thank for it. When they see Your deeds and might in their wisdom, this word spreads among them and they say, “There is none like You.” The meaning of the words is that among all the sages of the nations and in all their kingdoms there are none like You, they say, and it spreads among them.

41) “And she said to Abraham, ‘Drive out this maid and her son.’” Sarah wished to clear out idolatry from the house. This is why it is written, “In all that Sarah tells you, listen to her.” A maid is idol worship. Here it is written, “If a man sells his daughter,” the soul that comes by incarnations for bad deeds in the world. The maid is the other side, in the bad incarnation of the scales, when they return to the scales of deceit and she is robbed by the Sitra Achra. To bring her out of there, “She will not go out as the man-servants do,” who are all the robbed souls. Rather, she is crowned with a crown on her head.

42) The souls here are souls of little children who suckle from the power of their mothers. The Creator sees that if they exist in the world they will rot and will become as sour as vinegar. Hence, He collects them while they are small, when they still give off a good scent.

43) The Creator leaves them to be robbed by the maid, Lilit, and when they are given into her possession, she delights in the child, robs it and takes it out of the world while it is still suckling from the power of its mother.

44) These souls will not do good in the world, as it is written, “If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master,” since this man will be spoiled in her after some time if he exists in her. This soul is robbed and another is not robbed. It is written about them, “And I saw all the oppressed.” This is the meaning of “If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master.”

45) “If she is bad in the eyes of her master, for whom she was designated, he shall let her be redeemed. He shall not sell her to a foreign people because he is deceitful with her.” “For whom she was designated.” “For whom” is written with an Aleph [rather than with the usual Vav]. If you say that the Creator gave her to the other side since her first day, it is not so because now in the circling of the scales, “For whom she was designated,” “For whom” with a Vav, which was not so before.

46) It is written, “He shall let her be redeemed.” Now he redeems her for the Creator while she still emits a good fragrance, before she grows sour, and elevates her to the heights above, to His seminary. If you say that since she was robbed by the other, he is giving her to the righteous of the rest of the nations and to bastards, disciples of the wise, the text comes and proves, “He shall not sell her to a foreign people,” indeed, “Because he is deceitful with her,” since he has robbed her with the robbing of the circling of the scales. Rather, he shall give her to Israel and not to another. And when she comes out of the scales, “She will not go out as the man-servants do.” Rather, she is crowned with a crown high on her head.

47) And that side did not come within that child; she has no control over his soul. Rather, she takes her and rejoices with her, she flies out of her hands and enters the place of the Sitra Achra. And the Sitra Achra commands the child and rejoices with him and laughs at him, and longs for that flesh until afterwards the Creator takes his soul and she takes his body. After that, everything is in the possession of the Creator.

48) “She will not go out as the man-servants do.” What is, “As the man-servants do”? When she leaves the scales and that side is in joy, the Creator lists her and seals her with a ring, and spreads over her His garment of honor, the holy name Elokah. This is “Because he is deceitful with her,” in the garment of honor of the King [“garment” and “deceit” are the same word here]. Then she is kept from being delivered to a foreign people—to righteous of the nations of the world and to bastards, disciples of the wise—but only to Israel.

49) It is written, “As in the days when God watched over me.” This is the garment of honor, Elokah. It is written about it, “He shall not sell her to a foreign people because he is deceitful with her,” while the King’s garment of honor is still in her.” Since His garment is in her, it is written, “He shall not sell her to a foreign people.”

50) What is the permission that the Creator gives to the Sitra Achra to rob the soul? All the people in the world are in possession of the holy King, and all have time to live in this world until He wishes to raise them from the world, and the Sitra Achra has no permission to harm them prior to that time. But that soul does not have allotted time to live, hence the Sitra Achra laughs at her, rejoices in her, and takes her out of the world. It follows that by not allotting her time, the Sitra Achra is given permission to rob her.

51) When the Creator wished to create the world, a desire rose within Him and He portrayed all the souls that were to be given to people. All were portrayed before Him in that very form that they were destined to have in people and He saw each and every one.

52) Some of them are destined to harm their ways in the world, and when their time to descend to the world has come, the Creator calls upon that soul and tells her, “Go, come into a certain place, within a certain body.” She replied to Him, “Lord of the world, I am content with this world, where I dwell, and I will not go to another world where I will be enslaved and dirty among them.” The Creator replied to her, “Since the day you were created, you were created for this, to be in that world in a body.” When the soul sees it, she unwillingly comes down and enters a body there.

53) When the Torah, which advises the entire world, sees it, she warns the people of the world and says, “See how merciful is the Creator over you. He sold the good gem that He had, the soul, for nothing so that you would work in it in this world.”

54) “If a man sells his daughter” is the Creator. “His daughter” is the holy soul. “As a maid” means to be a maidservant, enslaved among you in this world. “Please, when it is time for her to exit this world, let her not go out as the servants do; let her not go out soiled with iniquities; let her go out free, clear, and clean so that her Master will rejoice, be praised in her, and reward her well with the purities in the Garden of Eden, as it is written, ‘And satisfy your soul with purities,’ when the soul comes out clear and clean.”

55) But if she is evil in the eyes of her Master, when she comes out soiled with the filth of iniquities and does not appear properly before Him, woe unto the body that has been lost from that soul forever, since when the souls rise clear and come out of this world clean, each soul enters the book in the King’s pouch.” A pouch is a leather pocket in which to put books, notes, and papers that are all named. He said, “This is the soul of so and so and is destined for that body which she left.” Then it is written, “For whom she was designated.”

56) When she is bad in the eyes of her Master because she is defiled with iniquities and the filth of sins, then it is written, “He shall not sell her” with an Aleph, and that body is lost from her and she is not designated for it, except for that soul whose master wishes, when the body repents. Then it is written, “He shall let her be redeemed,” as it is written, “He redeemed his soul from going through hay.” “He shall let her be redeemed” relates to the man, whose counsel is to redeem her and repent. And the writing tells the two sides, “He shall let her be redeemed” over the Creator and “He shall let her be redeemed” from Hell. In relation to man, “He shall let her be redeemed” means that after he has repented, the Creator redeems them from the path of Hell.

57) “He shall not sell her to a foreign people.” Who is a foreign people? When the soul goes out of the world, she is shamed and the man strays from the way with her. She seeks to rise into the holy camps because the holy camps stand on the way of the Garden of Eden, and the camps of the foreigners, the harm-doing angels, stand in the way of Hell.

58) When the soul is rewarded with keeping the spreading of the garment of honor over her, the name Elokah [God] is over her. Several holy camps are intended for her, to bond with her and to bring her to the Garden of Eden. If she is not rewarded, several foreign camps are intended for her, to bring her to Hell, and these harm-doing angels are destined to take vengeance in her.

The writing comes and instructs about it, “He shall not sell her to a foreign people,” which are the harm-doing angels. “Because he is deceitful with her” is the clothing of keeping, the name Elokah that the Creator spreads over her and performs His keeping of her, so no foreign people will rule her.

59) How much should one be careful of deviating in his ways in this world? If a person is rewarded in this world and properly watches over the soul, the Creator desires him and is praised with him each day in His company. He says, “See the holy son that I have in that world. He did so and so, and so and so are his deeds corrected.”

60) When that soul comes out of this world pure, clean, and clear, the Creator illuminates for her with several lights. Each day, He declares about her, “This is the soul of My son, so and so. There will be keeping to that body that she left.”

61) “If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters.” What is the custom of daughters? Within the strong rock, the world of Beria, in that high firmament which is there, is a palace of love that stands under the holy of holies of Beria. There are hidden treasures there, and all the kisses of the King’s love are there, and souls that are loved by the King enter there.

62) When the King enters the palace, it is written, “And Jacob kissed Rachel,” for there is Zivug de Neshikin [a coupling of kissing] there, and there the Creator finds that holy soul. He promptly greets her and kisses her, embracing her and elevating her with Him, and plays with her.

63) “He shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters.” As the father does to his daughter, whom he loves, kissing her, embracing her, and giving her gifts, the Creator does to the pure soul each day.

64) It is written, “Will do for the one who waits for Him.” As the daughter, the soul, complements the Assiya in this world, the Creator complements another Assiya for her in the next world, as it is written, “Neither has the eye seen a God besides You, will do for the one who waits for Him.” And here it is written, “Will do for her.” This bears the same meaning, “doing” and “doing,” for the doing here is “Neither has the eye seen a God besides You,” too.

65) “If he takes to himself another.” What is “Another”? Did the Creator prepare another soul for the righteous in this world? Is it not the same soul that has complemented her Master’s will in this world? It follows that there is no guarantee for the righteous whatsoever.

66) “And the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.” The friends established this verse at the ruin of the Temple, “And the dust shall return to the earth as it was.” Here it is as it is written, “And the Canaanite was then in the land.” Indeed he was, since after the ruin, the land returned to the possession of the Klipa of Canaan as it was in the beginning. “And the spirit will return to God who gave it.” That spirit which shall return is Divinity, which is the holy spirit. When Divinity saw, in those ten journeys that she traveled, that Israel did not wish to repent before the Creator and that the Sitra Achra was governing the holy land, Divinity departed and returned to God.

67) The spirit of a righteous man is crowned in a form in the lower Garden of Eden, and on all the Sabbaths, appointed days, and beginnings of months, the spirits crown themselves and take off their form from the lower Garden of Eden. They rise up to the upper Garden of Eden, and as the Creator did in the holy soul above, He does with this spirit below in the lower Garden of Eden, which rose before Him. He says, “This is the spirit of the body of so and so.” Promptly, the Creator crowns that spirit with several crowns and plays with her.

68) The Creator does not leave what He does for the soul for that spirit. Rather, He does not deny her food, clothing, and conjugal rights. These are three upper names that “Neither has the eye seen a God besides You,” which is Bina.

69) They are all in the next world, Bina, and extend from there. “Her food” is an extension of sparkling and light, Ohr Hozer and Ohr Yashar [reflected light and direct light, respectively], which shine in a clandestine way. It is food that nourishes all, HaVaYaH punctuated as Elokim, Bina. “Her food” with its letters reversed means “That God.” “That” is Bina, the first Hey of HaVaYaH, and this is the meaning of “Asher, his bread shall be fat” because the food extends from her.

70) “Her clothing” is the spreading that the King spreads over her, the garment of honor of the name Elokah. It is another extension that illuminates and always keeps the soul. This is the meaning of “His garment is in her” always, for He is not absent from her.

71) “Her conjugal rights” is an extension from the next world, Bina, in which there is everything—the Lord of hosts, the name in NHY de Bina, which illuminates in all the hidden upper lights of the tree of life, in which there is the hidden coupling, from which she comes out. And all of that is in refinement and craving of the next world, Bina.

72) When she is properly rewarded, He will not deny her those three. And if she is not proper, those three are denied of her, so no crown is made for her from even one of them. It is written, “If he will not do these three things for her,” meaning if she is not rewarded, “then she shall go out for nothing, without money.” That is, she will go out of Him and will be rejected to the outside. “Without money” means she has no longing, craving, and no refinement at all.

73) Thus far, the Torah has proven that all the counsels depend on her, and she gives a good advice to people. Henceforth, we will return to the first words in the upper keeping that the Creator spreads over the soul so she will not become a foreign people, “For His garment is in her” and He is always guarding for her.

74) “If he designates her for his son.” “If he designates her for his son”—how can it be said “The son of the Creator”? And how can it be that there will be a discernment of father and son in the upper degrees? However, there is the matter of sowing the beans on the day of the snow. The day of the snow is male Dinim that extend from the domination of the left line. Sowing means preparing for the concealment of the light, at the end of which the concealment is inverted into a great disclosure like the sowing of good wheat in the ground: they disappear and decay there but eventually re-grow abundant crops. The sowing is the rising of Malchut to Bina, which caused the fall of their Bina and TM from all the degrees to the degree below her.

The ascent of Malchut to Bina through the middle line is called “the day of the snow,” the domination of the Dinim of the left line. Beans were sown into 52 wheels, where by the middle line Malchut rose to Bina, her Bina and TM fell to ZA, and Malchut rose to Bina de ZON, while their TM fell to the souls of the righteous. And through this concealment emerged all the Mochin de ZON and BYA.

This is the sowing of the beans. Sowing, since the concealment later becomes a great disclosure, during the Gadlut. Beans [Pulim] come from the word “falling” [Nefillah], meaning the fall of the bottom halves of degrees from each degree to the degree below it. It is known that this ascent of Malchut to Bina made a connection between Bina and ZA, when HB de Bina became AVI to ZA, and ZA became a son to them. Thus, a connection between the degrees was made, when the HB of the upper one became AVI, and the lower one became BON. Hence, as ZA became a son to Hochma and Bina through it, the righteous became a son to ZA. “If he designates her for his son” means that the lower righteous is considered a son to the Creator, as ZA is to Bina.

76) Anyone who is rewarded with thirteen years or more is considered a son of the Assembly of Israel, Malchut. And anyone who is twenty years of age or more and is rewarded with it is considered a son of the Creator, ZA, as it is written, “You the sons of the Lord your God.”

There are two kinds of GAR: GAR that extend from YESHSUT, which are Mochin de Neshama to ZON. Only the small ZON, which clothe ZA from the Chazeh and below, receive these GAR. But ZA himself still remains in VAK until the GAR of upper AVI are drawn to him. Then ZA, too, obtains GAR himself, which are Mochin de Haya. The small ZON settle for GAR de YESHSUT, and both are regarded as Malchut because they clothe the place from Chazeh de ZA and below, a place which belongs entirely to Malchut.

So it is in the lower ones: if a person obtains Mochin de Neshama, he receives them from the small ZON, who receive from YESHSUT. And if a person obtains Mochin de Haya, he receives them from ZA himself. When he is thirteen years of age or more he receives Mochin de Neshama, and when he is twenty or above he receives Mochin de Haya.

Anyone who is rewarded with thirteen years of age or more is called “a son of the Assembly of Israel,” for then he receives Mochin de Neshama from the small ZON, both of which are the Assembly of Israel, Malchut. This is why he is considered her son, but not of ZA himself. At twenty years or more he is considered a son of the Creator because then he receives Mochin de Haya from ZA himself, who receives from upper AVI, hence he is called “a son of ZA,” the Creator.

77) When David reached thirteen years and was rewarded on the day he entered the fourteenth, it is written, “The Lord said unto me: ‘You are My son, this day I have begotten you.’” It is so because previously he was not His son, meaning that the upper soul was not over him because he was in his foreskin years. This is why it is written, “This day I have begotten you.” “I” and not the other side, as it was thus far, but now I am alone. At twenty years, he was rewarded with Mochin de Haya and through them became a son of the Creator, ZA.

78) “If he designates her for his son” means from thirteen years on. At that time, he departs the authority of the other side that came by him.

It is written, “Shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters.” Each day the Creator sees that child who stands in possession of the foreskin, and comes out of it and extends to the school and breaks it, going to the seminary and breaks it. What does the Creator do to that soul? He admits her into His room and gives her many gifts and presents, and adorns her with sublime decorations until the time when He brings her to the Huppah [wedding canopy] in that son, when He clothes her in him from thirteen years on.

79) “If he takes to himself another” means on the Sabbath day. When the day begins, souls come out of the tree of life, ZA, and these souls breathe to the lower ones. Then the lower ones rest in them all through the Sabbath day. These are the added soul [Neshama] that the righteous obtain on the Sabbath day. When the Sabbath ends, all the souls rise once more and crown themselves in holy crowns above.

Here, too, the Creator provides man with an added soul on the Sabbath day. This is another soul, of which it is written, “If he takes to himself another.” And even though this soul was provided for him, he will not deny the food, clothing, and conjugal rights of the first soul, which he had in the beginning.

80) How you have labored to obtain these holy words, and now you say them in an instant. If you intend to spare them, these words, and not say them, it is written, “Do not withhold good from its owner when it is in your power to do so.”

81) Wherever words of Torah are said, the Creator and the Assembly of Israel, Malchut, are there, and they are listened to. Then the good side prevails in the tree of good and evil, Malchut, and rises up, and the Creator and the Assembly of Israel are crowned in good.

83) “O Lord my God, You are very great; You are clothed with splendor and majesty.” “O Lord my God” is the beginning of faith, the ascent of thought, Hochma, and the next world, Bina, and they are one, without separation because AVI, HB, do not separate. “You are very great” is the beginning of ZAT, the first day, the first Sefira, Hesed. These are ancient days, meaning that she receives from Sefirot de Atik, and she is right. “Very” means left, Gevura.

84) “You are clothed with splendor and majesty” are two branches of willow trees, NH. The tree of life, Tifferet, was not counted because of the “Very,” left, for all the branches below amount to one bitter branch, SAM, and are included in the left. This is why the tree of life was hidden and did not wish to be in that count until he returned as in the beginning and praised in a different manner.

85) “Covering Yourself with light as with a cloak, stretching out heaven like a tent curtain. He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters.” Covering Yourself with light as with a cloak” is the beginning of the first day, Hesed. “Stretching out heaven” is Tifferet, who is called “heaven.” Here the left, Gevura, is included, but it does not write “Very” because the left is included in the right so it will illuminate in the entire heaven, Tifferet. “He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters.” Here the tree of life comes out gladly, a river that comes out of Eden, Tifferet, and two branches of willow tree are rooted in its waters, NH, which grow in its waters. His ascents are branches of willows, NH.

86) It is written, “Who extends its roots by a stream,” and it is written, “A river whose streams make glad the city of God.” “Whose streams” are its roots, NH. They are called “its ascents,” “its roots,” “its streams,” and they are all rooted in the water of the river, Tifferet.

87) “He rides the clouds.” Clouds are Michael and Gabriel. “He walks upon the wings of the wind” to give healing to the world. This is Rafael. Henceforth, “He makes the winds His angels, flaming fire His ministers.”

88) “If he takes to himself another.” Several incarnations sleep here, which have not been revealed thus far, and all are true as it should be, since one must not stray from the path of truth even as a hair’s breadth. In the beginning, it should be commented, all the souls of the foreigners flee from the Garden of Eden by a hidden road and clothe in foreigners. When the souls that the foreigners gained from the Garden of Eden depart this world, to which place do they return? Who raises them back to the place from which they came out, to the Garden of Eden?

89) He who first takes and grips the assets of the foreigner who has no heirs is rewarded with them. Here, too, all those holy upper souls that the Creator summoned to come down come out on Sabbath and good day and beginnings of months to play in the Garden of Eden and meet those souls of the foreigners. Which of those souls that she grips is rewarded with them and clothe in them and they rise? They all stand in that clothing and descend to the Garden of Eden in that garment, since all those who are in the Garden of Eden stand there only in a clothing. It follows that those souls raise the souls of the foreigners back to the Garden of Eden.

90) Can it be that because of the clothing of the souls of the foreigners, these souls are deprived of all the pleasure that they had in the beginning? It is written about it, “If he takes to himself another, he may not reduce her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights.” Those who were first to grip them and were rewarded with them stand in this garment in the Garden of Eden, meaning the clothing from the souls of the foreigners. When they rise up, they take it off because up there one does not stand in clothing.

92) When all those holy souls come down to this world, so that each will be in her rightful place in people, they all come down and clothe those souls of the foreigners, and thus enter the holy seed. In that clothing, they are about to be enslaved by them in this world, with Mitzvot and with good deeds. When the garments are drawn out of the words of this world, from the Mitzvot, these holy souls are nourished by the scent that they smell from these garments of theirs.

The garments from the souls of the foreigners became intermediaries between the souls and the body. The Mitzvot that a person performs reach the garments and the souls receive nourishments from the scent that they smell from the garments. The souls themselves are high and do not become enslaved by the act of the body, but their garments are enslaved by the act of Mitzvot, and the souls receive of the scent of the clothes.

93) The Creator puts all the hidden things He does into the holy Torah and everything is in the Torah. The Torah reveals a hidden thing and promptly dresses in another garment, hides there and does not appear. The sages are filled with eyes, and even though that thing hid in its garment they see it from within the garment. When that thing is revealed, they cast opening of eyes in it before it reenters its garment, and although it promptly disappears, it no longer disappears from their eyes.

94) The Creator warned in regard to the foreigner in several places that the holy seed, Israel, should be careful with it, and that afterwards the hidden thing will come out of its sheath, from its cover. After it was revealed, it promptly returned to its sheath and clothed there.

95) When He warns of the foreigner in all those places, the thing comes out of its sheath and appears, and He says, “You know the heart of the foreigner,” since the souls are clothed in it. Promptly, she enters her sheath and returns to her garment and hides, as it is written, “Because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.” This is a secondary reason, and the writing thinks that because it immediately clothed, there was no one to watch over that soul of the foreigner. The soul knows the matters of this world and enjoys them, as it is an intermediary between the soul and the body. This is why it is written, “You know the heart of the foreigner.”

96) “And Moses entered the midst of the cloud as he went up to the mountain.” A cloud is as it is written, “I have set My bow in the cloud.” This bow is Malchut that receives three colors—white, red, green—which are her clothes from the three lines of ZA. She took off her clothes and gave them to Moses, and in that clothing, Moses went up to the mountain. From it, he saw what he saw and enjoyed everything.

97) Many are the people in the world whose minds are confused and they do not see truthfully in the Torah. Each day, the Torah calls upon them with love for them, yet they do not wish to turn their heads back and listen to her.

98) In the Torah, a thing comes out of its sheath, appears briefly, and promptly hides. When it appears out of the sheath and promptly hides, the Torah does it only for those who know her and are known in her.

99) It is similar to a loved one, beautiful in appearance and shapely, who hides in her palace. She has a lover of whom people do not know. Rather, he hides. Out of the love that he loves her, that lover always passes by the gate to her house and looks in every direction. She knows that her lover always circles the gate to her house. She opens a small door in her palace and shows her face to her loved one, and promptly covers herself again.

All those who were with the lover neither saw nor looked, only the lover alone, whose guts and heart, and soul follow her. He knows that because of her love for him, she appears to him for only a moment, to evoke the love for him.

So is a word of Torah: it appears only to the one who loves her. The Torah knows that that wise of heart circles the gate to her house each day. What does she do? She shows her face from within the palace, gives him a hint, and promptly returns to her place and hides. All those from there neither know nor look, but he alone, whose guts and heart, and soul follow her. This is why the Torah appears and covers, and goes to her loved one with love, to awaken the love with him.

100) When the path of Torah begins to appear to a person, it hints at him. If he knows, fine. If he does not know, she sends to him and calls him a fool. The Torah said to the one whom she sent to him, “Tell that fool to come near here and I will speak with him.” It is written about it, “Whoever is a fool, let him turn in here, and one who is heartless.” The man approaches her and she begins to speak with him from behind a curtain, spreading matters his way according to his ways until he gradually observes. This is the interpretation.

101) Then she speaks with him in riddles from behind a thin sheet. And once he grows accustomed to her, she appears before him face-to-face and speaks with him of all the hidden secrets and all the hidden ways that have been hidden in her hearts since the first days. Then he is a ruling man, possessing Torah, master of the house, since she revealed to him all of her secrets and did not keep away or hide anything from him.

102) The Torah says to him, “You have seen the hint that I hinted you initially. So and so secrets were in it, so and so it is.” Then he sees that those words in the Torah need not be added to or subtracted from, and then the literal meaning of the text is as it is—neither adding nor subtracting even a single letter. Hence, people should be careful and chase after the Torah, be among her lovers.

103) How great and sublime are the incarnations that incarnate in this text, since all the souls come by incarnation, and people know the ways of the Creator, how the scales stand, how people are sentenced each day and each time, how the souls are judged before they come into this world, and how they are sentenced once they depart this world.

104) Several incarnations and abstruse deeds the Creator performs with several bare souls who have no clothing of Torah and Mitzvot, and several bare spirits walk in that world, who do not enter the King’s presence. Several worlds overturn for them, changing the order of degrees, called “worlds,” for them.

The world overturns with several hidden wonders, and people neither know nor look. Indeed, how souls incarnate as stones in the hollow of a sling, as it is written, “And the soul of your enemies He will sling out as from the hollow of a sling.”

105) All the souls come out from the big and strong tree, a river that comes out of Eden, ZA. All the spirits come out of another, small tree, Malchut. A soul comes out from above, and a spirit from below, and they join together as male and female. Then they shine upper light and in the bonding of the two of them, it is called Ner [candle], an acronym of Neshama and Ruach, as it is written, “The candle of the Lord is man’s soul.”

106) Neshama and Ruach are male and female, to shine together. They do not shine without one another, and when they join together, all of it is called “a candle.” At that time the Neshama is cloaked with Ruach to stand above in the upper Garden of Eden, in the hidden palace, as it is written, “For the spirit shall wrap before Me,” meaning that it wraps others. Above, in the upper Garden of Eden, in a hidden palace, the soul [Neshama] wraps and clothes in a spirit [Ruach].

107) And since there are Neshama and Ruach in this palace, the Nefesh does not come there, but the Neshama dresses in Ruach there. And when she descends to the lower Garden of Eden, she dresses in another Ruach, in the souls of the foreigners. The Neshama is in everyone in this world, clothed in them in both her Ruach and in the souls of the foreigners.

108) That Ruach comes out of this world, meaning that he did not grow or expand in this world, meaning that he has no sons. He walks in an incarnation, finds no rest, and comes to the world as an incarnation of a stone in a hollow of a sling until he finds a redeemer to redeem him—a brother who marries his widow—and brings him within that very Kli that he was using, and to which his soul and spirit have always adhered, and who was his mate, spirit in spirit, in his wife. That redeemer builds him as before, bringing him in a son that is born to that married widow, who is his wife, and he returns to the life of this world as before.

109) And the spirit that the husband had left with his wife in the first marriage clings to that Kli, to his wife, and never leaves her. Even after his death, he does not disappear, for there is not even a small thing in the world that has no place and status in which to come and hide, and it is never lost. For this reason, the spirit that he left in the Kli is there and chases after the root and foundation from which he came out, meaning after the dead husband who had no sons, and brings him and builds him in his stead, instead of the Ruach that is his mate, who went out with him, in his wife, and he is built there as before. Now it is a new creation in the world, a new spirit and a new body.

110) The spirit in the newborn son is what it was, meaning the man himself, and not the spirit he had left with her in the first marriage, which is only a part of him. However, it was not built in the newborn son, but by the force of the other spirit, which he had left in his wife. That building that was built in the son that was born of the marriage of the widow was built only by the force of the other spirit that he left there in that Kli, in his wife in the first marriage. And when this spirit began to build, it pulled after it the spirit that was walking bare, without sons, and pulled it to it. Thus, two spirits that are one were made there. Afterwards, one became Ruach and the other Neshama, and they are both one.

111) If he is rewarded with being purified properly, they both became one, clothing another, high soul in them. As the rest of the people in the world have a spirit that the souls are rewarded with when they come first and grip it, the souls of the foreigners, and another spirit from above, and the holy soul dresses in both of them. Thus, he has two spirits of his own: the Ruach itself, and the Ruach that he left in his wife in the first marriage for the high soul to clothe in them.

112) But there is another body to it, which was built anew by the marriage. What happened to the first body that he left? Either this one is in vain or that one is in vain. According to man’s mind, that first body that was not initially completed is lost because he was not rewarded. Hence, he engaged in the Mitzvot of the Torah in vain, even if he engaged in only one of them. But we know that even the empty ones in Israel are all filled with Mitzvot like a pomegranate, and although this body was not complemented with multiplying or rewarded with growing in the world, it kept other Mitzvot in the Torah, and they were not lost from him. Was that in vain?

113) Friends, open your eyes. You think and know that all those bodies are marked with marks for no reason, that they never merit existence. It is not so and we must not consider such matters.

114) “Who can speak of the mighty deeds of the Lord, or sound all His praise?” Who is it in the world who can speak of the mighty deeds that the Creator has always done in the world? The first body that he left is not lost. In the future, it will exist, since it already suffered its punishment in several ways, and the Creator does not deny the reward of any creation He has created, except for those who have departed His faith and in whom there was never any goodness, and except for those who did not kneel in “We thank” in the Eighteen Prayer. The Creator makes other creatures of them because that body will not be built in the form of a human being and will never rise. But this is not so for those who died without sons.

115) If that spirit is rewarded with being corrected in the other body, what does the Creator do? The redeemer that redeemed him, the brother who married, that spirit of his—which he put in there, mingling and mixing with that spirit that was in that Kli that his brother left in her in the first marriage—is certainly not lost, since there are three spirits there. The first is a spirit that was in that Kli and remained there, which his dead brother had left in it in the first marriage. The second is the spirit of his dead brother himself, who was drawn to there, who was bare, without sons. The third is the spirit that that redeemer has placed in there, the marrying brother, who was mingled with them.

It is impossible to be in three spirits, so what should be done?

116) But so are the upper Gevurot that the Creator makes. The soul dresses in the spirit that that redeemer has placed in there, in the place of the clothing from the souls of the foreigners. And the spirit of the dead—who is bare, without sons, who returned there to be rebuilt—will be clothing for the upper soul.

The spirit that was in the beginning—which remained in the Kli—the spirit that her dead husband had left in her in the first marriage has fled from there and the Creator summons a place within the window in the rock, past the shoulders of the Garden of Eden. That spirit is hidden there and rises to the first body of the dead without sons that he had had before, and in that spirit will the body rise for the revival of the dead. This is one that are two.

117) But until the body is revived, its punishment is heavy, for because he could not grow with sons, it is lowered into the ground near the land of Arka. There are seven lands: Earth, Ground, Valley, Oblivion, Aridity, Arka, Universe. He is sentenced there and then he is raised to this universe in which we are. Now he descends back to the ground, and now he rises. Thus, he rises and descends, and he has no rest except on Sabbaths, good days, and beginnings of months.

118) These are the ones who sleep in a ground of dust. It is called Admat [ground] because it is from Udma. It is called “dust” because it is from Universe. It is written about them, “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake,” some to eternal life, and some to cursing and eternal disgrace. If the bare spirit is rewarded, the spirit of the dead without sons, since he returned to this world as before in the son that was born from the marriage of the brother, he merits being corrected. This is so because the spirit he had left in his wife in the first marriage, and which hid in the rock, will be corrected in the first body that the dead left without sons. It is written about those, “Some to eternal life, and some to cursing,” meaning all those who were not rewarded with being corrected.

119) These are the high Gevurot of the upper, holy King, that nothing was lost, and even the fume of the mouth has its place and status, and the Creator does what He does with it. Even a word of a person and even a voice are not in vain. There is room and status for everything.

120) The one who is built now—the dead without sons, who incarnated in the son that was born from the marriage of the brother and came out to the world a new creation—has no mate. For this reason, his mate is not declared prior to his birth because he lost his mate: the mate that he had has become his mother, and his brother has become his father.

123) “Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and gaze on King Solomon with the crown with which his mother has crowned him.” Who could gaze on King Solomon, the king that peace is his? It is ZA. And yet, he is hidden from all the hosts of above, which are above in the place of Bina, the place of which it is written, “Neither has the eye seen a God besides You.” Thus, how does it write, “Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and gaze on King Solomon”? Also, there is his honor. All the upper angels ask and say, “Where is the place of His honor,” the concealment? And what is the merit of “Go forth … and gaze”?

124) However, “Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and gaze on King Solomon,” is written “With a crown,” and not “And with a crown,” for anyone who sees a crown, the Malchut, sees the pleasantness of the King that peace is his. “With which his mother has crowned him” is Malchut, which surrounds ZA. He calls her a daughter and calls her a sister and calls her a mother. She is everything and everything is in her. One who gazes and knows in Malchut will know the upper wisdom.

125) It is written, “In Your hand I commit my spirit, You have ransomed me, O Lord, God of truth.” The Kli that was below—the woman who married the brother, who was previously the wife of the dead without sons—was below him. How will it be made above that she will be his mother? Her husband—the dead without sons—who was above her, how did he turn and become lower, becoming her son? His mate has become his mother; his brother is his father. If the father of the first, of his wife, would redeem him, meaning would marry his wife, all would be well. But having his brother become his father? Is this not a wonder? Indeed, it is an upside down world, the upper ones below and the lower ones above.

126) One who is in the place of the light cannot look and see in the dark. But the Creator is not so. He knows what is in the dark even though the light is with Him. Out of the light, He gazes into the darkness and knows all that is there.

127) Here we should first say one thing, which the first ones said about those visions of the night. One who mounts his mother in a dream should expect Bina, as it is written, “For if you call upon understanding [Bina]. “If,” because it is mother [“If” is spelled like “mother”], hence he should expect Bina. This is fine but he should have written that one who saw his mother in a dream will be rewarded with Bina. But why is it, “One who mounts his mother”?

128) It is because he turned over and rose from below upwards. First he was a son, below her. When he rose upwards and mounted her, the tree overturned and he became from the upper world, governing her and rewarded with Bina.

129) First, when Adam rose to thirteen years, it is written, “The Lord said unto me: ‘You are My son, this day I have begotten you,’” meaning that he became a son to Malchut, and Malchut is his mother, and then he is below her. Once he rose above her, becoming her husband, he is from the upper world, ZA, since he rose to the degree of Joseph, Yesod de ZA, rewarded with Bina like ZA, who has Mochin de Bina.

130) So is this Kli, the dead man’s wife. First, he was her dead husband, in the degree of Joseph, Yesod de ZA, the husband of the lower tree, Malchut, who obeys his will and whom he governs. It is so because every female stands in the form of the Nukva, the lower tree, Malchut. Since he did not wish to exist in the degree of Joseph and did not exist to copulate in it, to multiply in the world and to produce offspring, and died without sons, he therefore went down and incarnated in the son that was born from the marriage to the brother, while she, his wife, became his mother. And the redeemer, the marrying brother, who previously was his brother, inherited the inheritance of Joseph, while he went down and incarnated in the newborn son.

131) When he went down, the verse, “You are My son, this day I have begotten you” came true in him. He became her son and the tree that was below while he was governing her as a husband over his wife has overturned. Once he went down, incarnating in the son that was born from the marriage of the brother, who inherited the inheritance of the place of Joseph, his marrying brother is called his father and everything is as correct and proper as it should be.

132) First, he was from the male world, Joseph. But he was uprooted from there and now he is from the female world, Malchut. He who was governing her is now governed by her, and he is brought back to being in the female world. Hence, he has no mate at all, and he, the female, is not declared, as every person is declared prior to being born, “The daughter of so and so to so and so,” since he was brought back to the female world.

133) The first body that he had left, the dead without sons, if people in the world had known and looked at the sorrow that he had while he was uprooted from the male world and was brought back to the female world, they would know that there is no sorrow in the world such as that sorrow. He has no mate because he does not stand in the place of the male. He, the female, is not declared because he is from the female world. And if he has a mate, with Rachamim [mercy], through prayer, he meets with a female who has not had a mate, as we learn, “Perhaps another will greet him with mercy,” since the dead without sons is called “other.” Thus, everything is properly corrected.

134) “But if a priest’s daughter becomes a widow or divorced, and has no child and returns to her father’s house as in her youth.” The priest’s daughter is the soul. A widow is from the first body, of the dead without sons. A divorced is one who does not come into the curtain of the King. All those who do not stand in the male world have no share in it, he departed and uprooted himself from the male world, he has no part of the King, ZA, and this is why she is divorced and has no child. If she had a child, she would not be uprooted from the male world and would not descend to the female world.

135) “And [she] returns to her father’s house as in her youth.” Her father’s house is the female world because that world is called “Her father’s house.” That Kli, his wife, which was corrected to be used, has been turned over, he went down and that Kli went up. “As in her youth” is while it is written, “This day I have begotten you,” when he becomes a son to the female, Malchut. “Begotten you” means returning to the days of his youth, as he was from thirteen years and on.

136) If she is rewarded with being corrected, when she returns to her father’s house, it is written, “She shall eat of her father’s bread,” meaning delight in the delight of the female world, who eats from the bread of knights that comes down from above, from ZA. However, she cannot look and enjoy what the rest of the righteous enjoy because she is a stranger there. It is written about her, “But no foreign man shall eat of the holy,” since holiness is in the male world. However, she eats the contribution because she dwells in the female world.

137) Because she is from the female world, she eats it only at night, when there is domination of the Nukva, Malchut, as it is written, “And when the sun sets, he will be pure, and afterward he shall eat of the holies, for it is his bread.” Holy, which is from the male world, is eaten only during the day, when it is the dominion of the male, ZA. This is why it is written, “Israel are holiness to the Lord, the first of His harvest.” It is called “First” because the upper beginning of the entire male world is holiness, upper AVI, Mochin de ZA, and what came up from the holy is Israel, ZA. This is why “Israel are holiness to the Lord, the first of His harvest.”

138) When the spirits visit the cemetery, from the time it is dark until midnight, they do not visit dead without sons because they are not rewarded with the world of holiness, as it is written, “But no foreign man shall eat of the holy.” Their spirits have no abundance to give to the body at the cemetery, and if that spirit is not rewarded with being properly corrected, when it returns in an incarnation, even in the female world, it does not eat in the contribution and is considered a foreigner even to the lower world, the female world, and does not eat in it.

139) When this redeemer, the marrying brother, comes and enters the Kli, he brings and attaches his spirit to that Kli, and nothing is lost, not even the fume of the mouth.

140) The rest of the people in the world, who are rid of it, know that he left his spirit in the wife that he had, and he brought a spirit there in the first marriage. What became of that spirit? If that woman marries, what becomes of the spirit that her first husband had left in her? After all, another man has mounted her.

141) A spirit cannot exist with a spirit, since the one who mounted her now has instilled a spirit in her, and the first one, who departed, also instilled a spirit within her. The first one, who departed, had sons, and the current one is not a redeemer. Hence, the spirit that the first one left in that Kli, and this other one came and also brought a spirit into her. The two of them certainly cannot be together in the woman’s body. It is impossible that it will be lost because nothing is lost. Thus, what has become of it?

142) Also, if she does not marry, what becomes of the spirit that her husband had left in her? After all, it is not lost. All of that should now be revealed.

143) “O Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor are my eyes lofty, nor do I walk in great matters or in things too wondrous for me.” King David said that because he was a high king and ruled over all the high kings and over the rulers from east to west, who feared his might. It did not occur to him to stray from the path, and he always lowered his heart before his Master. When he engaged in Torah, he would grow as strong as a lion and his eyes were always lowered to the ground for fear of his Master. And when he walked among the people, there was no crudeness of spirit in him at all.

144) It is written about it, “My heart is not haughty,” even though I am a king and rule over all the kings in the world. “Nor are my eyes lofty” while I stand before You, engaging in Torah. “Nor do I walk in great matters or in things too wondrous for me” while I walk among the people. And if King David said so, it is all the more so for the rest of the people in the world.

145) How beautiful are the tears on your beard, as the good oil that would come down on good old Aaron’s beard was beautiful. The rest of the people who passed away from the world and left a spirit in the Kli that they were using, their wives, they married, and another came and instilled another spirit in that Kli. What has become of the first spirit?

146) How high are the mighty deeds that the holy King performs, and who can count them? When this second husband comes and instills a spirit in that Kli, in the woman, the first spirit, of the first husband, slanders that spirit which entered and they do not settle together.

147) For this reason, a woman does not settle well with a second husband because the spirit of the first pounds in her and then she always remembers him and cries over him or sighs over him, for his spirit pounds in her guts like a serpent, slandering the other spirit that has entered her from the second husband. Indeed, they slander one another for a long time.

148) And if the one who entered from the second husband passed on to that spirit that was the first, from the first husband, the first one goes out and leaves. Sometimes, the first repels the second and slanders it until it takes it out of the world. And from two onward, meaning after both her husbands have died, a man should not take that woman because the angel of death has grown strong in her. The people of the world do not know that the spirit of the first husband, once it has prevailed and defeated that other, second spirit, repelling it from the world, henceforth another man should not be involved with her.

149) Can it be that the second husband died without sentence, that he was not sentenced from above, but that the spirit of the first husband repelled him? Indeed, all is with judgment, for it is sentenced above that so and so will win, or that he will not slander so and so. And one who takes a widow is as one who goes into the sea without ropes when strong winds are blowing, and he does not know if he will get across in peace or drown in the deep.

150) If the one who has just entered, the second spirit, has prevailed and defeated the first spirit, the first one leaves there and goes away. To which place does it go, and what becomes of it? These questions are among the four hundred questions that they would ask about the tower that flies in the air. Indeed, no man has answered them until King Solomon came and clarified each and everyone of them as it should be.

152) Where did the spirit that came out go? A man is repelled from a man. They are repelled in several hidden ways. The first spirit that was repelled by the other, where did it go? That spirit walks out and roams the world. It is not known, and it goes to the grave of that man, and from there it roams the world. It appears to people in a dream and they see the shape of that man in a dream. He alerts them things in the way of that first spirit that was extended from it. As it is in that world, so it roams and alerts in this world.

153) Thus it walks and roams the world, and always visits that grave until the spirits visit the graves of the bodies. At that time, the spirit of the first husband himself comes to the grave to visit its body. Then that spirit, which is only a part of the main spirit, joins its main spirit, clothes in it and leaves. When the spirit enters into its place, it extends from it and has room in these palaces in the Garden of Eden or outwards, according to the ways of each one, and there it hides.

154) When the spirits visit this world, the dead that are with the living are only extending the spirit that the husband leaves in his wife in the first marriage, and the other, main spirit dresses in it. Hence, can it be of benefit to the spirit, and is this woman beneficial to all, since through that spirit that her husband had left in her, the spirit comes to need life? However, had she not married another, and had the first spirit not been repelled by the other man, the second husband, he would have another benefit in a different way, and he would not exert in the world as he does, nor would he need the life in this world as he is roaming here and there.

155) Thus, was the second coupling of the woman not from above, repelling one man before another man? Indeed, she is truly the mate of the second husband, and the first is not her actual mate. Accordingly, she belongs to that second one, and when his time comes and he takes her, the first one is repelled by him, since the first spirit that was in the woman is repelled only because of the other, who is her mate. It follows that the second coupling is from above.

156) And all those second husbands, who are repelled by the first husbands, the first were the woman’s mates, and not they. This is why they have no existence with them and the second spirit is rejected by the first spirit. For this reason, one who takes a widow is declared, and he does not know that he is risking his life because it is not known whether or not she is truly his mate.

157) When a widow does not marry even though her mate has come, yet she does not wish to marry, the Creator does not force her in a sentence. Rather, the Creator provides another woman for that man, and the widow does not fall into judgment in that world even though she has no son, since a woman is not commanded to multiplication.

158) A woman who does not remarry, the spirit that her husband has left in her in the first marriage sits in the woman for 12 months. Each night, it comes out, visits the soul, and returns to its place. After 12 months, when her husband’s judgment has departed—since all those 12 months the spirit is lowered in sadness all day long—after 12 months it comes out of the woman and goes and stands at the gate of the Garden of Eden, visiting the Kli in this world—the woman it has left—from which it came out. And when the woman departs from the world, that spirit comes out and dresses in her spirit, and she is rewarded with it in her husband, and both shine as they should, in a single bonding.

159) The hidden ways of the Master of the world, which people do not know, should be revealed. And all walk by the path of truth, as it is written, “For the ways of the Lord are right, the just walk in them and the wicked fail in them.” People neither know nor notice how superior are the deeds of the Creator and how varied they are. And the people in the world do not know, and all are on a path of truth, not straying to the right or to the left.

160) Those incarnated ones that were expelled by expulsion from that world and who have no mate, who are those women, the mate, who mate with them in this world? After all, every man has a mate, apart from those who are incarnated.

161) See now how great and important are His mighty deeds. One who divorces his first wife, the altar sheds tears over him. All the women in the world stand in the form of that altar, Malchut, for every woman has a root in Malchut. Hence, they inherit seven blessings, all of which are from the Assembly of Israel, the Malchut. And if he divorces his first wife, the stone of the upper altar, meaning the root of the woman in Malchut, returns to diminution and lack because the divorced ones join together, for as she was divorced from her husband, she was also divorced from her root in Malchut.

162) This is the meaning of what is written, “And writes her a bill of divorcement, and gives it in her hand, and sends her out of his house.” “And leaves his house and goes and becomes another’s.” When it is written, “Goes and becomes another’s,” who did not divorce her, why does it write, “another”? Indeed, it is written, “another,” and he is called “another,” as it is written, “They will spring out of another dust.”

Thus, the incarnated one is called “another,” and the divorced join together. The divorced man in that world, the incarnated man who has no mate, who was expelled from that world to this world took the divorced woman in this world from her husband. And this woman, who was in the upper form, in Malchut, has now been enslaved to the lower form, the incarnated one who has no mate, who took her for a wife. His name is “another” because he clung to another God, and this is why he was reincarnated into this world.

163) He is called “last,” as it is written, “And at the last He will take His stand on the earth.” Thus, the incarnated one is called “last.” And here it is written, “And the last husband hates her … or if the last husband dies.” Why last? Should it not have written “second”? The text does not come to forbid her from mating ten, one after the other. Will she be coupled with this husband and not with another? Why should she be forbidden to another? Thus, why is he called “last”?

164) Rather, he is “another,” of which we said “And he is another and he is last,” since now the stone is rolling in the hollow of the sling. In relation to the first body that died, it is called “the incarnated in the hollow of the sling,” who returned once more to the world, with the name “another,” and “last.” And because he has no mate, he took the divorced one. This is why the text calls him, “another,” “last.” Why is he called “another” in relation to the first body that died? After all, the whole construction, the first body, fell into the dust once more and it is as though it never was, and the incarnated one was what he was in the first body, and not another. So why is he called “another”? Also, why is he called “last”? Is he the last? If he straightens his ways and becomes corrected, very well, and he will be the last and no longer incarnate. But if he does not, he will reincarnate and will be planted as before, so why is he called “last”?

165) It is written, “And God saw all that He has done, and behold, it was very good.” “Good” is the good angel. “Very” is the angel of death. The Creator provides His corrections to all until even the angel of death returns to being very good.

166) “And a river comes out of Eden to water the garden” is ZA that waters the Malchut. This river never rests from multiplying and from bearing fruits. Another God is sterile and has no desire for the world or to multiply or bear fruit, for if it bore fruits, it would make the whole world murky.

167) For this reason, the man who caused the evil side to multiply in the world never sees the face of Divinity. That man, who incarnates in an incarnation, if he moved and clung to another God, which does not bear fruit and does not multiply in the world, for this reason he is called “another.” And the name of the Sitra Achra causes him, for even though he died, he who incarnates is called “another,” like the Sitra Achra [other side].

168) He is called “last” because from the first one onward he is called “last.” He is second, and in the Torah, he is immediately called “last.” The Creator, too, calls him “last,” so he would be corrected in this incarnation, becoming the last one, and he will not incarnate again. The third one is also called “last,” and so it is each time he incarnates. From the first one on, he is called “last.” So he should be called “last,” for if he were to be immediately called “second,” it allows for him to return once more and reincarnate as before, so that the current building would be ruined.

169) This comes to us from the Second Temple, who was called “last.” It is written, “The glory of this last house will be greater than the first,” because from the first onward it is called “last” so as not to give excuse for that building to fall and be rebuilt as before.

170) Similarly, this one, who reincarnates, is called “last,” like the Second Temple. This is why it is written, “Her former husband who sent her away will not be able to take her again.” Why does it say, “Will not be able”? Should it not have written, “Will not take her”? It is because the woman clung to another and descended to be enslaved in a low degree of the Sitra Achra. Hence the Creator does not want him, the first, to descend from his degree, bearing fruits and clinging to a degree that is not his own.

171) If that woman does not marry, even if she fornicates with all the people in the world, if her husband wishes, he can return to her. But if she clung to another by marriage, she will not be able to return to the previous degree that she had had before. This is why it is written, “Will not be able.” Indeed, he will never be able to return to that degree.

172) It is written, “After she has been defiled.” We learned that she has been defiled in his heart. Thus, can it be that even if she drifts away and fornicates without marriage she will be forbidden? However, since she clung to another, she took upon herself that evil side, and her first husband, who is from the other, good side, the good will never have a part in her and will never multiply that place. Thus, if the last man had sent her, or if the last man had died, she is forbidden to the first. However, she is permitted to the rest of the people, perhaps she will find a place as before, and the last one to mate with her will rise.

173) He who has sons from the first wife and lets this woman into his house, on that day he clings to the harsh sword that turns every way. It is so for two reasons: 1) She has already repelled two men outside, and now he is the third. 2) The Kli that partook in her is another. How will he come to place his spirit in it, partaking with her, and clinging to her? It is not that she is forbidden, but it is certainly bad partnership for him.

174) Rabbi Levitas would laugh and mock that woman when he saw who was mating with her. He would say, “It is written, ‘She laughs at the last day,’” meaning he who clings to the last man is laughter for later.

175) Now we should reconsider one, great and high place that was in the world, and a stem, and a root of truth. It is, Oved, the father of Yishai and the father of David. It was said that the incarnated one is the last, and Oved was an incarnation of Machlon, the dead without sons. So how did a root of truth come out from this place?

176) However, Oved was corrected in the high correction, and the root of the tree that was overturned, with his wife becoming his mother. Thus, he was restored and rose in it, and was properly corrected. This is why he is called Oved, from the word Avdut [slavery], but the rest of the people in the world were not rewarded.

177) Oved came, worked and hoed the core and the root of the tree, and came out of the bitter face, and restored the foliage, Malchut. Yishai, his son, came and strengthened him, corrected him, and clung to the trees of another, a high tree, ZA, connecting a tree to a tree, and they became entangled in one another. When David came he found the trees, ZA and Malchut, entangled in one another, and inherited the governance of the land. Indeed, Oved caused it.

179) This Oved was corrected and came out of the evil field of evil pits. Yishai, his son, came and set up, and hoed the tree. For this reason, Oved set up the tree. When King David came, he remained in the lower tree of the female, Malchut, and had to receive life from another, for he had no life of his own. And if the one who was corrected and established everything was so, then the rest of the people who incarnate are several times more incapable of being corrected.

180) He turns to the incarnation on all sides. Paretz was an incarnation of Er; Boaz was an incarnation of Yehuda; Oved was an incarnation of Machlon, and in all of them, the tree came out from the evil side and later clung to the good side. In the beginning, it writes, “And Er, Yehuda’s firstborn, was evil.” Machlon, too, was evil, but not as much. However, in them, the evil was uprooted and the good came out afterwards. Here the bottom tree, Malchut, stood corrected, and God was king over the nations.

181) In the beginning of everything, the degrees were rooted from the upper core and foundation, Reuven, Shimon, Levi, and Yehuda are HGT and Malchut. It is written about it, “This time I will thank the Lord,” and it is written, “Then she stopped bearing.” It is as it is written, “Shout for joy, O barren one, who have borne no child,” since when Yehuda was born, the Nukva, Malchut, came out attached to the male, ZA. However, they were not as they should be, face-to-face, and Malchut was unfit to bear. When the Creator cut her off, separating her from the male’s posterior and establishing her, she became fit for impregnation and bearing.

182) “Then she stopped bearing” is not written about Leah, Nukva de ZA above the Chazeh, but about Rachel, who is weeping over her sons. She was rooted in Yehuda, Nukva below the Chazeh, the letters Yod–Hey–Vav, Dalet–Hey, and “She stopped bearing” because she was still not corrected.

183) In the beginning, the form above was everything. Even Rachel rose and was above the Chazeh.

Reuven is the letters Ohr Ben [“light,” “son” respectively]. This is the meaning of what is written, “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’” which is right, Hesed de ZA.

Shimon is left, light with a waste of gold, since Shimon has the letters of Shem [name] Avon [iniquity], left, Gevura de ZA.

Levi is the joining of the two sides, the middle line, Tifferet de ZA.

After HGT de ZA above the Chazeh came out, the Nukva, Rachel, came out, and Yehuda, the Nukva, clung to the male, HGT de ZA. Yod-Hey-Vav is male, HGT, Dalet-Hey is the Nukva, Rachel, who was with the male.

184) Why is the Nukva implied in the letters Dalet-Hey? Dalet is considered the Nukva during the attachment of the evil with her, when he is only in the left, attached to the posterior of the male. Dalet means that she is poor and must return in an incarnation—the incarnation from Yehuda through King David, to uproot the evil and to decay in the dust, and later grow on the good side through reconstruction of AVI, as it is written, “And the Lord God fashioned the rib,” and to go from poverty to richness. Then she is considered the letter Hey. This is why Yehuda is the letters Yod-Hey-Vav Dalet-Hey [the letters comprising the name Yehuda in Hebrew], Yod-Hey-Vav are HGT of the male, and Dalet-Hey are the Nukva in her two states, who conjoins with the male.

186) “You are Yehuda, your brothers shall thank you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies.” When we say, “Blessed are You,” he is blessed when Yesod de ZA gives Hassadim to Malchut. He is called “Blessed” and Malchut is called “You.” It is so because the name “You” implies Hassadim. Jacob did not say “You” to all the sons, but to the place that was needed. It is so because the Malchut extends from the left side, where Hochma shines without Hassadim. It needs the name, “You,” Hassadim, to clothe Hochma in it, since without Hassadim, Hochma does not shine and she is in dark. This is why he said to Yehuda, “You.”

187) “Your brothers shall thank you,” meaning everyone will certainly thank you for that name. “Your brothers shall thank you”: For this name, the other side departed and surrendered. This is so because when the name Yehuda is mentioned, the Sitra Achra comes out with her in the Dalet of Yehuda, implying to her first state, extending only from the left, where the Sitra Achra nurses due to the lack of Hassadim on the right. When “You” is being said, meaning extension of Hassadim from the right, she has governance and greatness, and the Sitra Achra surrenders and is not seen there.

Certainly, with that name it is inscribed and becomes sorted out from the Sitra Achra because when she clothes in Hassadim, the Sitra Achra departs from her. This is the ascension and the governance of Malchut, and shattering and evil to the other side. Since your brothers will thank you for the name “You,” your hand will be on the neck of your enemies, meaning the Sitra Achra will promptly yield before you, and this name is the cause.

188) The name, “You,” is said to a different, high place, as it is written, “You are a priest forever,” which is in the upper right, in Hochma.

189) For you are a priest. Here a cup of blessing is tied—Malchut, who is called “You”—to the right—Hesed, who is called “priest”—without any separation. For this reason, “You are a priest forever,” for here the cup, Malchut, is thoroughly tied. This is why it exists forever.

“The day of the snow” is the time when Malchut clings only to the left line, when she is filled with Dinim, which are called “ice” and “snow.” This continues until the middle line, ZA, comes and raises the Masach de Malchut to Bina, which is called sowing the beans. At that time, the Hassadim appear and the illumination of Hochma on the left in the construction of the Malchut dresses in those Hassadim. This is “You,” and then the Dinim of the snow depart, and the Hochma illuminates in utter completeness. This is the implication of the text, “You are a priest forever,” since once you, Malchut, are tied in Hassadim, the priest, by sowing the beans of the middle line, it exists forever.

190) It is written about it, “You are Yehuda.” It is this “You” that your brother will thank you. It does not write, “Yehuda, your brothers shall thank you.” Rather, it is for the name, “You,” that his brothers will thank. “You,” Malchut’s place, needs that name since she is in Dinim, in snow and ice from the left side. And not another, meaning that she does not need another degree, for only the Malchut extends from the left and is built entirely from it, and none other.

191) Yehuda is the first father of Er and Onan, and the second father of Paretz and Zerach, who are incarnations of Er and Onan. There was never any exchange in him, meaning that the degree did not change to where the brother became the father, where the dead without sons incarnates in the son that is born to the marrying brother, making his brother his father. This is a descent of degree and a flaw.

In Yehuda, however, there was no interchanging and decline of degree, since he was also the first father of Er and Onan, incarnated in Paretz and Zerach. For this reason, Paretz prevailed in his might, as it is written, “What a breach you have made for yourself,” since there was no decline of degree in him.

This was not so with all the people in the world who reincarnate. They do have a decline where the brother becomes his father. Hence, David’s construction begins the count from Paretz and not from Boaz, in whom there was a change, since he was not the first father of the incarnated one, who was Machlon.

192) This is why Yehuda merited that name, “You.” It was first sorted and clarified in Er and Onan, and the second time in Paretz and Zerach, and it never changed. Yehuda’s sons and descendants thank and say, “For you are our father,” since no decline occurred to them with the brother becoming a father.

This is not so for the rest of the incarnated ones in the world. The rest of the incarnated ones have two fathers and two mothers, a wheel for his structure, since in addition to his first father, his brother also became his father. Thus, he has two fathers. And there are also two mothers, for in addition to his first mother, his wife has become his mother.

193) It seems that there was a change in Boaz when he begot Oved because Oved is changed, as he is his second father. However, it is not so. Ivtzan is Boaz. He is called Boaz because he is the first father, who made no change, in whom Yehuda, the first father, incarnated. Can it be that he was and is not an incarnation of Yehuda? However, it is certain that when he awoke to the deed of marrying the brother’s widow, there was someone in him who is as fierce as a lion and as a young lion, Yehuda. This is why he was called Boaz, from the words Bo [in him] Az [one who is fierce], who is Yehuda.

This was so that there would be no change in David. And because Yehuda incarnated in him, the matter returned to the first root, so that all would be from a single father and a single dynasty. Thus, all is one and there was no change in the incarnation of David’s seed. This is why “You” is without any change from beginning to end.

194) Happy is David, who was sorted so and rose above the rest of the roots of people on earth.

195) It should have said, “All the people in the world will thank you.” Why does it say, “Your brothers”? Indeed, usually people do not marry the brother’s widow to incarnate the dead without sons, but only on the brothers’ side, and the brother arrives for the marriage of the widow. Yet, you yourself came for the marrying of the brother’s widow, and here all your brothers shall thank you that the dynasty of kingship did not hang down from them or from one of them, but you alone. “You” means you have worked from beginning to end, and from you did the whole dynasty and the race of the lion come out.

196) Your sons are the sons of a lion. They were not passed into change over your brothers, nor were they exchanged with a lamb or an ox or a kid. It is so because there are twelve forms in the twelve fortunes, opposite the twelve tribes, and the sons of Yehuda were all in the form of a lion. However, a lion began to build, and a lion completed the construction. Your whole dynasty are sons of lions, for if it came be incarnation in your sons from your brothers’ side, all the forms would interchange and mingle in one another. For this reason, “Your brothers shall thank you,” since there was not one of them incarnated in your sons’ dynasty. Raise your hand, for there was no mingling of one of them within you.

197) “From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches, he lies down as a lion and as a young lion. Who will rouse him up.” “From the prey, my son, you have gone up” means that there was no prey and food for another on your table. “Crouches,” in Er’s bed, “Lies down” in Onan’s bed, then prevailed as a lion, to raise up Paretz, “And as a young lion,” to raise up Zerach. “Who will rouse him,” as it is written, “And he knew her again no more,” meaning did not stop. This is the meaning of “Who will rouse him.”

Who is the one who said that this woman was forbidden, who is the one who will say that since she completed her ways, she no longer needs you, that since this brother’s widow completed her ways, she no longer needs you and it is best to retire from her. But who will rouse him? Indeed, henceforth she is his because the one who rumbles her guts is the one who takes her out. The spirit of her first husband, which he had left in her in the first marriage, is rumbling in her guts, and now she took him out.

198) Why does a brother’s man marry his widow? Also, why did Yehuda, who is his father, marry his wife? Why not another man who was not a relative? Rather, the one who rumbles in the guts of the widow, the spirit that her dead husband had left in her, sees that the one who keeps him, the one who is close to him, slanders him from all sides. If it were a stranger, he would repel him. But he did not wish to repel his relative, so he wished to get out of there.

When he comes out, he summons that other spirit, the dead man’s main one, and both come to enter the guts of the woman as before, until he is built as before, incarnating in the drop of semen of the marrying brother.

This was by the force of the strong slandering that he slandered his brother. This is why he decided to exit her, and henceforth that woman was permitted to him, since the slandering spirit has already departed her. This is why the relative must marry her, for the spirit would reject a stranger, who is not a relative.

199) Happy is Yehuda. First he was a whelp, then a lion who grew and expanded in his power like a lion, and he ended in a young lion. The rest of the people are not so, and this is why Yehuda is “You.”

200) Reuven, Shimon, and Levi are HGT. Yehuda, Malchut, joined them. Issachar and Zebulun are two thighs, NH, the place from which true prophets nurse. Issachar is the right thigh, Netzah, as it is written, “Of the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times,” where Netzah extends the light of Bina to the Malchut, who is called “times.” It is also written, “Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going forth,” where Hod is the end of HGT NH. It is the measure of expansion of the light of Bina, and from him down it is regarded as departure from the degrees.

In a great measure, there are seven Sefirot HGT NHYM, and then it is written, “Zebulun dwells by the seas, and he shall be a shore for ships,” meaning up to Malchut, who is called “sea,” and is called “a ship.” He dwells up to the Malchut because of the words, “And his flank shall be upon Sidon,” meaning that the measure of his thigh, Hod, spreads through the Malchut, who is called “Sidon.”

201) Benyamin, Yesod, remained above, between the thighs. And even though Joseph is Yesod, the form of Joseph was in the land, Malchut, to use in this world, Malchut, and Moses used him, as it is written, “And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him.” Benyamin rose up in Yesod de ZA, and Benyamin is the righteous of the world, Yesod.

202) There are two more joints from the knees and down: Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. On the left thigh, Dan is in the leg’s middle joint, and Naphtali is in the leg’s bottom joint. This is the reason why Naphtali is a hind let loose, meaning nimble. On the right thigh, Gad is in the middle joint, and he “Raids their heels,” down to the joint of the heel. The bottom joint in the joint of the heel is as it is written, “And may he dip his foot in oil.”

It is also written, “Your locks will be iron and bronze,” so in the three joints of the right thigh, Issachar is the upper joint, Gad is the middle one, and Asher is the bottom one. In the three joints of the left thigh, Zebulun is the upper joint, Dan is the middle one, and Naphtali is the bottom one.

All those twelve tribes are high forms in the form above. Because they were actual creations in this world, Divinity was established in them in those twelve joints, twelve extensions that actually extended from Israel, ZA, as it is written, “All these are the twelve tribes of Israel.” The extensions of Israel are called ELEH, to expand the name MI in them, so that the structure will be as it should be, so that Israel will be included in the name Elokim: ELEH is Israel in general, MI connects ELEH to it, and the construction is complete as it should be, one name indeed.

It is known that during the Katnut, Malchut rises to the place of Bina in each degree. At that time, each degree splits into two because Malchut that rose to the place of Bina ends the degree, below Hochma, and only two Sefirot KH remain in each degree, while three Sefirot, Bina and TM of each degree fall to the degree below it. The five Sefirot KHB TM are the five letters of the name Elokim, where the two letters MI of Elokim, KH, remained in the degree, and the three letters ELEH, Bina and TM, fell from each degree to the degree below it. Thus, the two letters MI remained in Bina, and the three letters ELEH fell to the degree below it, to ZON. Similarly, in ZON, two letters MI of their degree remained and three letters ELEH fell to the degree below them, to the souls of the righteous.

At the time of Gadlut, Malchut comes down once more from Bina’s place to her own place, and the Masach of Malchut that split each degree is cancelled. At that time, all the bottom half-degrees that fell from their degree rise again, return to their degree, and the letters ELEH of Bina that fell to ZON rise back up to Bina, joining as one with the two letters MI that remained in it. Thus, the name Elokim is completed in five Kelim KHB TM, with five lights, NRNHY.

And since these letters of Bina were in ZON, when they rise they also take the ZON that were clothed there with them, and there ZON receive Mochin de Bina. Similarly, when ELEH of ZON rise, having fallen among the souls of the righteous, and conjoin in the two letters MI of ZON, completing the name Elokim in them, they also take with them the souls of the righteous in which they were clothed, and the souls receive the Mochin de ZON there.

There are two constructions in it. The first construction is the return of ELEH to MI, by which the name Elokim, Shuruk, is completed. The second construction is the ascent of the middle line for MAN in the Masach in it, reducing the GAR de GAR and clothing the Hochma in Hassadim, Hirik.

203) Esau’s appointee said to Jacob: “For you have striven with God,” above, meaning that he rose with the letters ELEH de ZON and was included in the name Elokim, bonding and being completed there in the first correction in the first construction, the construction of the point of Shuruk.

204) Hence, there is no annihilation for Israel forever and ever. If they were to be annihilated, this name, Elokim, would not be, because the three letters ELEH of Elokim are clothed in the souls of Israel, as it is written, “And cut off our name from the earth. And what will You do for Your great name?” This great name is the first construction, the first name, Elokim. It was withdrawn from the letters ELEH, which are clothed in the souls of Israel, and now that Israel are in exile, the whole building has seemingly fallen because the letters ELEH are absent in the construction of the name.

In the future, when the Creator redeems His sons from exile, MI and ELEH, who were separated in the exile, will join together and the name Elokim will be properly completed. Then the world will be perfumed, as it is written, “Who are these who fly like a cloud and like the doves to their lattices?”

205) Because it is one name, it does not write, “Who [MI] and these [ELEH] will fly like a cloud,” but rather, “Who are these,” one name without separation, the name Elokim. In the exile, MI departed upward in Malchut, and the mother, Malchut, departed from the sons—Israel—and the sons fell. Then the name Elokim, which was completed, the first great name, fell because the letters ELEH—that are clothed in Israel—were withdrawn from it.

206) And we pray and sanctify with the name Elokim in synagogues, that it will be built as it was. We say, “Let His great name grow and be sanctified. Amen, may His great name be blessed.” Who is His great name? The first among all, the name Elokim that was completed in the first construction. It is so because it has a construction only with us, since MI will never be constructed if not in the letters ELEH, which are clothed in the souls of Israel. Hence, at that time, “Who are these who fly like a cloud,” and the whole world will see that the upper name is properly corrected.

207) And if His great name is corrected and properly structured, then Israel govern everything, and all the other names are restored and corrected. Israel govern everything because everyone depend on His great name, the first among all constructions, the name Elokim, since through It, the illumination of Hochma appears, and the light of Hochma subdues all the Klipot. This is why Israel rule over everything, and all the names receive Hochma from it and are complemented by it, meaning after the second construction, since while it is still in the first construction, it lacks Hassadim and cannot shine. But in the second constructions it obtains Hassadim.

208) When the Creator, Bina, created the worlds, ZON, this name was the first to be built among all the structures, the first among all the Behinot [discernments] GAR, as it is GAR de Ruach. It is written about it, “Lift up you eyes on high and see who has created these,” created His name Elokim as it should be. And when He created ELEH, He created it with all its due powers, so that His name will be properly corrected, clothing it in Hassadim, as it is written, “The One who leads forth their host by number.”

209) “The One who leads forth … by number.” The Creator has a son who shines from the end of the world to the end of the world. He is a great and strong tree—Yesod de ZA. His head reaches the height of the sky, ZA, and at his end, his roots expand and take root in the holy dust, Malchut, as it is written, “For everything that is in the heavens and the earth,” and his name is “number.”

He hangs in the upper sky, ZA, and five firmaments are hanging in the sky, HGT NH, through this number, which is the six firmament, Yesod. All of them, all the firmaments, get that name, “number,” thanks to Yesod, as it is written, “The heavens tell.” Because of this number, all the heaven, the five firmaments, gain that name thanks to it. For this reason, “The One who leads forth their host by number.” Were it not for this number, there would not have been hosts and offspring in the world because the Yesod begets offspring.

210) It is written about that, “Who has counted the dust of Jacob and numbered the stock of Israel?” They are two who counted the flock and came with the number on their hands, since the evil eye did not control them. “Who has counted the dust of Jacob” is one who counts. “And numbered the stock of Israel” is another counter.

211) The evil eye does not control those two, since “Who has counted the dust of Jacob” are the holy stones, strong stones from which water comes out to the world. It is written about it, “Your seed will be as the dust of the earth.” “As the dust” means that the world is blessed by his merit. Thus, “And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,” truly as the dust of the earth.

Stones are the degrees of Malchut, who is called “a stone.” When Malchut is dominated by the left without the right, the stones become very hard, and then they are strong. They are placed over the deep that due to the Dinim of the left, block the exit of the water, Hassadim. For the world to be able to exist, they are punctured by the Masach de Tzimtzum Aleph [Masach of the first restriction], and the water comes out through the holes, and by that the world exists.

Under the domination of the Masach de Tzimtzum Aleph, Malchut is called “dust.” It is written about it, “And your seed will be as the dust of the earth.” Hence, she is the first counter of which it is written, “Who has counted the dust of Jacob?” The number, which is the second counter, counts to lay down all those females, upper gems, the degrees of Bina, of the bed on which Jacob lied, the Malchut. The number, Yesod, carries the Masach of Tzimtzum Bet that raises Malchut to Bina, and because of that raising Bina becomes the mother that lays over the sons. Also, Bina is called “the upper gem,” for by that Malchut is mitigated, meaning the bed on which Israel lied.

212) From there on, after Yesod is established as a counter by the force of the Masach de Tzimtzum Bet, it counts everything. It is so because the first counter was concealed because it is the Yesod, good eyed, as it is written, “He counts the number of the stars.” Through him, they are all counted. In the future, it is written, “The flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts.” We do not know whether he is the first counter or the second one, but because at that time all will be unified, without separation, all will be done by a single counter, the first counter, for then the Masach de Tzimtzum Aleph will have been corrected and the Masach de Tzimtzum Bet will have been cancelled. There will no longer be any Din in Malchut compelling her to mitigate in Bina, hence only the first counter will be left. And it is written about it, “Who has counted the dust of Jacob?”

213) “Who has counted the dust of Jacob and numbered the stock of Israel,” when the Creator awakens to revive the dead, those who came in an incarnation—which are two bodies in one spirit, the dead body and the incarnated body—have but one spirit. There are two fathers: the father of the dead and the father of the incarnated body. There are also two mothers. How many incarnations do they incarnate until they are corrected? “Who has counted the dust of Jacob?” The first counter will correct everything, all the incarnated bodies, and nothing will be lost and all will be revived.

214) “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awaken.” “The dust of the ground” is when the friends looked at these letters that sail the air. They are Aleph–Ayin–Dalet Peh–Mem–Tav–Reish, which means “Dust of the ground” [the letters comprising the words in Hebrew]. “They sail the air” means that they have the level of Ruach by the force of the Masach de Tzimtzum Aleph, and then they are called “dust.” And if through the Masach de Tzimtzum Bet, then they are called “ground,” since Bina is called Adom [red], and Malchut that is mitigated in her is called Admat [ground of].

215) “And I praise the dead who are already dead,” who are the letters of “Dust of the ground.” Both the dead from the discernment of dust, and the dead from the discernment of “Ground.” A voice has awakened and alerts so in the second building—the incarnated body. It is the one that corrects both the dead body—from the discernment of dust—and the body itself—which is considered ground. It is the one that says, “And I praise the dead,” meaning correct them.

Dust is the first dust, the dead body. The ground is the second one, which was corrected. It is the incarnated body.

The core of the first is waste for it, since the body of the dead without sons, which is the core, is waste in the incarnated body, which is the one that corrects it. This is why it is written, “And I praise the dead,” meaning correct them.

216) “Those who sleep in the dust of the ground will all awaken.” Those who have been corrected will be for life in the lower world, Malchut, since they were not rewarded with being in the upper world, but descended to the world of Nukva. And those who were not rewarded with being corrected will be to cursing and eternal disgrace because the other side will pass away from the world, and the Creator will leave those who were from the springing of that side to astound with them all the people in the world, as it is written, “To cursing and eternal disgrace.”

217) All this caused Adam to not want to multiply in the world, and he did not wish to keep the holy covenant.

218) “If you buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall go out free.” Every male stands in the form of the male world, ZA, and every female stands in the form of the female world, Malchut. While he is still a servant of the Creator, he clings to the first six years, HGT NHY de ZA, and if he uproots himself from His work, the Creator uproots him from those six years of the male world, HGT NHY de ZA, and he is given to man, who is from VAK, HGT NHY, serving him for six years, and he is uprooted from the six years of above, of ZA.

219) Afterwards he comes down from there and is given into the female world. He did not wish to stand in the male; he descends and stands in the Nukva, Malchut. Nukva, the seventh Sefira, comes and takes him. It is written about him, “And in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.” Henceforth, he is from the female world.

220) If he does not wish to stand in her and in her redemption, as it is written, “I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,” he comes down and clings below, clinging to the other side. Henceforth, he is uprooted from the male world and from the female world, for he has united with the servants from the other side.

221) Since he has clung to the Sitra Achra, he needs a flaw, and to make a Reshimo of a flaw in him, as it is written, “And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl,” for any flaw is from the other side. And then, “And he shall serve him forever,” until the Yovel [50 year anniversary], which is called “world” [also “forever” in Hebrew]. From the Yovel onward, he reincarnates and returns to the world as before, clinging to the female world and nothing more. If he is rewarded, he produces offspring in the female world, Malchut, and he is pure, when he is corrected and rewarded with it.

222) If he is not rewarded even in the incarnation of the Yovel, he is as though he never was, for he returned in an incarnation but did not complete his days to be married in the world and to produce offspring. It is written, “If he comes alone, he shall go out alone.” If he enters that world alone, without offspring, and did not wish to exert in it, and came out of this world alone, without a seed, he goes as a stone in the hollow of a sling up to that place of the strong rock, which is passed the shoulders of the Garden of Eden. He enters there and promptly, the solitary wind blows, which left the Nukva and comes there. This is the spirit that has remained in the female from her first husband.

He goes alone, as a serpent that does not connect to another on the way, for he is separated by the two spirits in the woman, and he walks alone. He blows in that wind [also spirit] of the dead without sons who has now come there, repelling him from there so he will come to reincarnate and be corrected.

223) Promptly he leaves the place of the strong rock alone, without a female, and walks and roams the world until he finds a redeemer to bring him back to this world to be corrected. This is the meaning of “If he comes alone, he shall go out alone,” without a Nukva. It is because he did not wish to marry a woman so as to have offspring. And since he has no mate, he must marry a divorced woman.

224) But if he has a woman whom he married and tried with, but could not bear sons, he is not expelled like the other one. He neither comes alone nor goes out alone.” Rather, if he is a husband to a wife, the Creator does not deny the reward of any creation, and even though he was not rewarded with sons, it is written, “His wife shall go out with him.” Then both are incarnated and are rewarded with joining together as before.

He does not take a divorced wife, like the other one, who has no mate. Rather, he takes the same woman with whom he tried before but they were not rewarded with sons. Now, if they correct their deeds, they will be rewarded together. This is the meaning of what is written, “His wife shall go out with him.”

225) “If his master gives him a wife”—the text returns to that one who goes out alone, without a Nukva—the place of the seventh, Malchut, will redeem him. The seventh is called “His master,” Master of the whole earth. If this master of his has mercy on him and brings him back to the world as he was, giving him that wife, for which the altar sheds tears—meaning a divorced wife—and they join together and she gives births to sons or daughters for him, the woman and her children will be to her master, to the holy Malchut.

226) It is so because if he repents and corrected that place which he flawed in his life, he is accepted before the holy King, and then He takes him and fully corrects him. This is called “One who has repented,” since he inherited the seat of that place—the river that stretches out, the Malchut, since the river that stretches out is Yesod, and its residence is the Malchut. Thus, he corrects himself in relation to how he was before. Since he has been corrected and repented, he rises over his correction, for there is nothing in the world, nor a key in the world that he who has repented will not break.

227) “He will go out alone” means praise and elation. The place to which those who repent rise, even complete righteous cannot stand there. For this reason, because he has repented, the Creator immediately accepts him.

228) There is nothing in the world that can resist repentance, and the Creator certainly accepts all of them. If he repents, the path of life is ready for him. And even though he flawed what he flawed, all is corrected and everything is restored. It is so because that in which there is an oath, the Creator accepts him, as it is written, “‘As I live,’ declares the Lord, ‘Even though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim.’”

It is also written, “’Write this man down childless.” But once he has repented, it is written, “sons of Jeconiah, the prisoner, were Shealtiel his son.” Thus, repentance breaks several sentences and judgments, and several iron chains, and there is no one who can resist repentance.

229) It is written about that, “And they shall go out and see the carcasses of the men who transgress against Me.” It does not say, “Who have transgressed against Me,” but “Who transgress against Me,” meaning those who did not wish to repent and regret what they had done. But if they regretted and repented, the Creator accepts them.

230) For this reason, even when there is transgression in a person and he flaws what he should not, but he repents, He accepts him and has mercy on him, since the Creator is full of mercy and is filled with mercy for all His works, as it is written, “His mercies are over all His works.” His mercies reaches even beasts and fowls. And if His mercy reach them, it is all the more so with people, who know and are known for praising their Master. His mercies reach them and remain over them. David said about that, “Great are Your mercies, O Lord; revive me according to Your ordinances.”

231) If His mercies reach the wicked, it is even more so with righteous. After all, who needs healing? Those who are in pain. And who are those in pain? They are the wicked. They are the ones who need healing and mercy, and the Creator is merciful toward them, so they will not be left away from Him. He does not depart from them and they shall return before Him in repentance.

When the Creator brings closer, He brings closer with the right. And when He repels, He repels with the left. When He repels, the right brings closer. He repels from one side and brings closer from the other. Thus, the Creator does not leave out His mercy from them.

232) “And he went in mischief in the way of his heart.” Afterwards, it is written, “I have seen his ways and I will heal him, and I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners.” Even though the wicked work maliciously, follow their hearts, and others warn them but they do not wish to listen to them, still, when they repent and take the good path of repentance, healing is provided for them.

233) Is the text speaking of the living or of the dead, since the beginning of the text is not its end and its end not as its beginning? In the beginning of the text, it points to the living, “And he went in mischief.” Its end indicates the dead when it says, “I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners.” Rather, it speaks of while a person is alive, and so it is. “And he went in mischief in the way of his heart,” since the evil inclination in him is strong and prevails in him, hence he goes in mischief and does not wish to repent.

234) The Creator sees his ways, that he is marching futilely in evil. The Creator says, “I must hold him by his hand.” “I have seen his ways,” that he is walking in the dark, I wish to give him a cure, “And I will heal him.” The Creator brings into his heart the path of repentance and the healing for his soul. “I will lead him,” as it is written, “Go now, lead the people.” The Creator leads him in the upright path, as one who holds the hand of another and leads him out of the darkness.

235) “And [I will] restore comfort to him and to his mourners.” Thus, it seems that he is dead. He is dead indeed, and he is standing alive, for because he is wicked, he is called “dead.” What is “And [I will] restore comfort to him and to his mourners”? The Creator performs gracefully with people, for because he entered the 13^th year and on, He places two angels with him, to guard him on his right and on his left.

236) When a person walks on the upright path they rejoice in him and strengthen him with joy, declaring before him, “Give honor to the form of the King!” And when he marches on a twisted path, they mourn him and move away from him. When the Creator held him and led him by the upright path, it was written, “And [I will] restore comfort to him and to his mourners.” First, “I will restore comfort to him,” for regretting what he has done before and for what he has done now, and he repents. Afterwards, “To his mourners,” who are the angels, who mourned him when they moved away from him. But now that they have returned to him, there is regret on all sides, regret for his deeds and regret for his woes and mourning.

237) And now he is certainly alive, alive on all sides, gripping to the tree of life. This is why he is regarded as one who has repented, since the Assembly of Israel, Malchut, is also considered repentance.

Repentance has the letters of Tashuv [shall return] Vav toward Hey. Vav is the tree of life, ZA, and Hey is Malchut. This is why Malchut is called “repentance,” and he is considered one who has repented, Malchut’s husband, who bestows upon her. Hence, even complete righteous cannot stand in a place where they who repent stand.

238) King David said, “Against You alone have I sinned and done what is evil in Your eyes.” There are sins that a person does to the Creator and to people, and there are sins that a person sins to people and not to the Creator. There are also sins that he sins to the Creator alone, and not to people. King David sinned only to the Creator, and not to people. This is why he said, “Against You alone have I sinned.”

239) But he had sinned that sin of Bat Sheba. And one who comes over nakedness is forbidden to her husband. Hence, did he not sin against his friend, as well as against the Creator? However, that sin was by permission. David took what was his, since she had a divorce from her husband before he went to war, for so was the custom of the whole of Israel: Anyone who went to the army would give a temporary divorce to his wife, and so did Uriah with Bat Sheba. Once the time had passed and she became permitted to all, David took her and did all that he did with permission.

240) If it were forbidden, the Creator would not leave her with him, for it is written as a testimony, “And David comforted Bath-Sheba his wife,” which is a testimony that she was his wife. Of course she was his wife and mate, that she has been prepared for him since the day the world was created. And this is a testimony that David did not sin the sin of Bat Sheba.

241) And what is the sin that he had sinned only against the Creator and against no one else? It is that he killed Uriah by the sword of the children of Ammon, and did not kill him when he told him, “And my lord Yoav,” for he was his master. The text proves, as it is written, “These are the names of the mighty men whom David had,” and not “Whom Yoav had.” It follows that he was rebelling against the kingdom, and one who rebels against the kingdom must be put to death. Yet, he did not kill him at that time, but killed him by the sword of the children of Ammon.

242) And nothing was found with him, as it is written, “Save in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.” “Save” comes to diminish. He sinned “In the matter of Uriah,” and not in Uriah himself. And the Creator said, “And [you] have killed him with the sword of the children of Ammon.” Each sword of the children of Ammon was engraved with a twisting snake, the shape of a dragon, which is their idolatry. The Creator said, “You have given strength to that abomination,” since when the children of Ammon killed Uriah, and many of the children of Israel along with him, at that time the sword of the children of Ammon grew stronger, and so did the strength of that idolatry increase, the abomination.

243) Can it be that Uriah was not righteous because it is written about him, “Uriah the Hittite”? Rather, he was righteous, but the name of his place was Hittite, as it is written, “And Yiftach the Gileadite.” He was called so after his place, and so was Uriah the Hittite.

244) This is why it is written, “In the matter of Uriah the Hittite” and not in Uriah himself, since he already had to be put to death for his rebellion against the kingdom. David caused the abomination of the children of Ammon to prevail over God’s camp of the camp of David, which was actually in the shape of above, of the armies of the upper Malchut. When David flawed this camp of his, he flawed another camp above. This is why David said, “Against You alone have I sinned,” alone, and that sin which he sinned against Him was not against any other.

This is why it is written, “In the matter of Uriah,” and this is why it is written, “By the sword of the children of Ammon.” Thus, the sin was not in Uriah himself, but in the matter of Uriah, in having given strength to the sword of the children of Ammon.

245) It is written, “For the eyes of the Lord roam throughout the earth.” These are the females. It is also written, “The eyes of the Lord are roaming throughout the earth.” These are the males. It is so because there are discernments of male and female in them. David said, “And [I have] done what is evil in Your eyes.” Should he not have said, “Before Your eyes”? But David said, “In the place where I sinned, it was in Your eyes, for I knew that Your eyes were readily standing before me, yet I did not consider them. Thus, the sin that I have sinned was in Your eyes.”

246) “So that You are justified when You speak,” and he will have no excuse for saying before You, “Test me, O Lord, and try me.” Any craftsman who speaks, speaks with his craftsmanship. David was the King’s joker. Even though he was in grief, since he was before the King, he returned to his joking as he was, to please the King.

247) He said, “Master of the world, I said, ‘Test me, O Lord, and try me,’ and You said that I would not be able to withstand Your test. But I have sinned so You would be right in Your words and that Your words be true. Had I not sinned, my words would have been true, and Your words would have been vain. Now that I have sinned so that Your words would be true, I have made it possible to justify Your words. This is why I did, “So that You are justified when You speak,” since David returned to his craft, and said words of drollery to the King while he was in grief.

248) We learned that David was not worthy of that act because he said, “My heart is a void within me.” So it is, but David said that there are two palaces in the heart—blood in one, and spirit in the other. The one that is filled with blood is the dwelling place of the evil inclination, and my heart is not so because it is empty, and I did not give dwelling to the evil blood, to place the evil inclination in it. And my heart is certainly a void, without an evil dweller.

And because this was so, David was not worthy of the sin that he had sinned. Rather, it is to allow the wicked to say that King David sinned and repented, and the Creator forgave him, it is all the more so for the rest of the people. David said about that, “I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will be converted to You.”

249) David rose up the olive ascent, rising and crying. His head was low and he was walking barefoot. Why? He made himself rebuked so as to receive a punishment, and the people were a little far from him. Happy is the slave who serves his master so, and who is known in his sin in order to repent from it in complete repentance.

250) What Shimei, the son of Gera, did to him was more than all the troubles he had been through up to that day. But David did not respond at all against him for it suited him, and by that they were atoned for.

251) Shimei was a wise disciple and there was much wisdom in him. Why did he go out to David and do to him what he did? Rather, the matter was from another place, and placed that matter in his heart. He did all that to David’s benefit, since what Shimei did to him caused him to repent in complete repentance and broke his heart with a great shattering, and he shed many tears from his heart before the Creator. This is why he said that the Creator told him, “Curse.” He knew that the matter had come down from another, high place.

252) Two commandments did David command his son, Solomon. One was Yoav’s and the other was Shimei’s, along with the rest of the commandments he had commanded him. Yoav’s is as it is written, “And you also know what Yoav the son of Zeruiah did to me.” That was a secret matter, which even Solomon did not know. But because others knew, Solomon found out. This is why he said, “You also know,” what he was not meant to know.

253) Shimei’s is as it is written, “Behold, there is with you Shimei the son of Gera.” Behold, there is with you” means that he is always available for you, since he was his teacher, and this is why he did not say of Yoav, “Behold, there is with you Yoav.” But with Shimei, who is always with him, he said, “Behold, there is with you.”

254) “And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said unto him: ‘Build you a house in Jerusalem.’” Where is King Solomon’s wisdom in that? However, he did everything with wisdom, and watched over all the sides, because Shimei was wise, and Solomon said, “I want the Torah to multiply in the land through Shimei, that he will not go out.”

255) Solomon looked with wisdom, as it is written, “He came out, and kept on cursing as he came.” “He came out” twice, once when he came out of the seminary to curse David, and one exit when he went out of Jerusalem toward his servants, over whom he died. One exit was toward the king, and one exit toward his servants. Solomon saw all that and looked at the second exit with the holy spirit. This is why he said, “And it shall come to pass on the day of your exit,” he knew that in the exit he would die.

256) “And dusted in the dust.” Solomon said, “He was in the dust with my father, he will be in the water with Shimei.” Solomon sentenced both, to be sentenced to dust and to water as one who has strayed, who has slandered the way with his father.

257) It is written, “He cursed me with a grievous curse.” It is also written, “And I swore to him by the Lord saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’” What is “With the sword”? Was Shimei a fool who did not understand that if he had sworn to him in this way, he would not say later on, “Not with a sword, but with a spear or an arrow”?

258) There are two matters here: 1) The child, the son of the great fish whose scales rise to the top of the clouds, said King David’s oath. When he wished to swear, he took out his sword, where the engraved name was carved, and there he swore. And so he did to Shimei, as it is written, “And I swore to him by the Lord saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’” This oath was with the sword. 2) Solomon judged and said, “He came to father with a curse,” which is the words, “Then I too had words for him,” and he killed him with the explicit name and not with the sword. This is why Solomon did so.

259) Since David swore to him, why did he kill him? Was this oath a lie, since the mouth and the heart were not the same? Of course, David did not kill him. It is known that all the organs of the body receive everything, and the heart does not receive even as much as a hair’s breadth. King David was the heart of Israel, and he received what he was not meant to receive, what Shimei stoned in stones and dusted in dust. This is why it is written, “And you will know what to do to him.” And also, the tree, Malchut, caused him to be as vengeful as a serpent.

260) It is written, “For You do not delight in sacrifice; otherwise I would give it. You have no wish for burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.” “For You do not delight in sacrifice.” Does the Creator not wish for sacrifices to be offered before Him? But he established it that wicked would sacrifice an offering and their iniquities would be atoned. But David said that before the name Elokim, Midat ha Din [quality of judgment], and they do not sacrifice to the name Elokim but to the name Yod–He–Vav–He, since El [God] is harsh Din, Midat ha Din, and they do not offer a sacrifice.

It is written, “Should any man of you offer a sacrifice before the Lord.” To the Lord [HaVaYaH], and not to the name Elokim [God]. It is also written, “When you bring a meal-offering unto the Lord,” “A sacrifice of thanksgiving unto the Lord,” “A sacrifice of peace-offerings unto the Lord,” and it does not write the name Elokim.

261) Since King David spoke to the name Elokim, it should be written, “For You do not delight in sacrifice; otherwise I would give it. You have no wish for burnt offering,” as this is why we sacrifice only a broken spirit, as it is written, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.”

The sacrifice of Elokim is sadness and shattering of the heart. For this reason, one who dreamt a bad dream should show sadness because he is standing under the quality of Elokim, and the offering of Midat ha Din should be sadness and a broken spirit. That sadness is good for the bad dream and the Din does not govern it because he sacrificed before it an offering that is fit for Midat ha Din.

262) “A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” “You will not despise” means that there is a heart which He despises? Yes, a proud heart, a heart in crudeness of spirit is the heart that He despises. But “A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”

263) “By Your favor do good to Zion.” What is “Do good,” because it seems that there is good in it, so why the need to pray, “Do good” for that good one? There is a need to pray, “Do good,” since from the day the Creator has exerted in the construction of the Temple above until now, there was no bettering of the desire on that building. Hence, it did not improve, since when the desire of above awakens, it will improve and light up the lights of the construction and the work until even the angels above will not be able to look at the Temple or at the building. At that time, the Temple and all its work will be perfected, and it is for this that he prayed, “By Your favor do good to Zion.”

264) “Build the walls of Jerusalem.” Did He not build them since the day He exerted in the construction of the Temple? And if He has not built the walls of Jerusalem thus far, He certainly did not build the Temple. Thus, how did it say, “By Your favor do good to Zion,” which is the Temple? After all, first you build the walls and then the Temple.

However, all of the Creator’s works are not as people’s works. When people build the Temple below, first they make the walls of the city and then the Temple. First, the walls of the city, to protect them, and then the construction of the house. The Creator builds the Temple first, and finally, when He lowers it from the sky and places it in its place, it will build the walls of Jerusalem. This is why David said, “By Your favor do good to Zion” first, and then, “Build the walls of Jerusalem.”

265) In all the deeds that the Creator does, first He does that which is on the outside, and then He makes the brain within. Is it not the same here, since He put the building of the Temple prior to building the walls, which are on the outside? All those deeds that the Creator does, beginning with what is on the outside, in the thought, He begins with the brain, inside, while in the act He begins with what is on the outside. It is so because every Klipa [shell], which is on the outside, is from the other side, and the brain extends from the brain, from the side of Kedusha [holiness]. Hence, He always begins with the other side, which increases and grows, and guards the fruit. And when the fruit has ripened, the Klipa is thrown outside. “The wicked shall prepare it, but the righteous shall wear it.” Thus, the Klipa is thrown and we bless the Righteous one of the world.

266) However, the construction of the Temple is for the future, when the other side has passed away from the world, and there is no need to begin with what is on the outside, since the brain and the Klipa are both His. Hence, He begins with the brain, as it is written in the beginning, “By Your favor do good to Zion,” and subsequently, “Build the walls of Jerusalem,” since the outside wall, the Klipa, is actually His, as it is written, “‘For I,’ declares the Lord, ‘will be a wall of fire around her,’” I and not the evil side.

267) Israel are the upper brain of the world; Israel was contemplated first. It is so because in thought, internality comes before the Klipa. The idol worshipping nations, Israel’s Klipa, came first in action, since in action, the Klipa comes before the fruit, as it is written, “These are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.” The Creator will begin with the brain without the Klipa, as it is written, “Israel are holiness to the Lord, the first of His harvest,” meaning that the brain precedes the Klipa. And even though the brain rises without a Klipa, who can reach out his hand and eat from it, as it is written, “‘All who ate of it became guilty; evil came upon them,’ declares the Lord.”

268) At that time, it is written, “Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices,” for then everything will conjoin in one bonding, and the name will be fully completed. At that time, the offering will be whole for the Lord God [HaVaYaH Elokim], since now Elokim does not bond to the sacrifice. Had He bonded with it, several other gods would raise ears to bond there and would nurse from the Kedusha. But at that time, it is written, “For You are great and do wondrous deeds; You alone are God,” and there is no other God.

269) At that time, it is written, “See now that I, I am He, and there is no God with Me.” Why does it say, “Now”? Indeed, it was not so before, and it will be at that time. The Creator said, “See now” what you could not see before.

270) “That I, I am He.” Why twice? It is to make the precision that there is no God there but He, since there are several times where it writes “I” once, and it was the name of the other side. But now, I, I am He and there is no God with Me,” since the whole of the other side has passed away.

271) “It is I who put to death and give life.” Thus far, death has been done through the other side. Henceforth, “It is I who put to death and give life.” At the time of the revival of the dead, all those who did not taste the taste of death from the Creator will have the death, and He will promptly revive them. Why is death done by the Creator? It is so that nothing of the filth will be left in the world, and there will be a new world, the work of the Creator.

272) “And if he shall plainly say … ‘I will not go out free, then’” he blemishes him with a blemish: “And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl.” “If he comes alone.” Alone is good, but we learn that the whole world stands on a single fin of a whale.

273) When the whale is male and female, where they went, the world would shake. And if the Creator had not emasculated the male and cooled down the female, they would make the world turbid. Hence, he does not bear offspring. This is the meaning of “If he comes alone,” meaning if he comes under that limb of the whale, which does not produce offspring. And because of it, he shall go out alone, he is repelled there and does not come into the King’s presence whatsoever. Then he is repelled and departs that world. “He will go out alone,” indeed alone he will go out.

274) It is written, “They will die childless.” “Childless” includes a male and a female. The male comes, the female goes out, coming by this and going out by that. This is the place to which he clung in that world, Malchut, since the Creator does not wish that one who emasculated himself in this world will come before Him.

275) They would not sacrifice before Him one who is emasculated, and took him out so he would not be offered to Him. He commanded and said, “Nor shall you do in your land.” Also, for all generations, it is forbidden to emasculate the creations that the Creator created in this world, for castration is from the other side.

276) And if he tried and married a woman but did not bear offspring and did not want, although he has a wife, or if she does not want and he came into that world without sons, it is written, “If he is a husband to a wife but they did not notice the work of the Creator to bear sons, his wife shall go out with him.” He came in the limb of the male and she in the limb of the female, Malchut. And each will come alone and will go out alone.

277) “If his master gives him a wife.” “If his master” is the Master of the whole earth, Malchut. “Gives him a wife,” for it is not in one’s possession to marry a woman, but all must be weighed on the scales, and he merits according to the weight of the merits. Hence, “[He] gives him a wife,” for it is not within his possession. And who is she? She is not his, meaning she is not his mate and has not been prepared for him. She is a woman who has been prepared for another, and he came with mercy and married her. The one who was given to him was not meant for him.

278) And the Creator sees from afar, and sees that that woman is ready to bear offspring in the world. After He brought this one earlier with mercy, she was given to him and he bore fruit and sowed a seed in a woman that is not his own. For this reason, the woman and her children will be to her master, and he will go out alone. What a miserable poor man. He tried so hard in vain, toiled and exerted to bear fruit in a garden that was not his own, and he went out alone.

279) He said to himself, “Old man, old man. At such times you would not push away the gate with your feet, as one who lies on the ground powerless,” for he was weakened, and in his weakness, he cannot open the gate and pushes it with his feet. “Brace yourself, old man, and fear not.” This is the poor man who tried in vain. Why? If it is because he sowed in another garden that is not his own, very well. But here the Creator gave him that garden to sow in, and he did not take her by himself.

280) The Creator does everything justly, and nothing is in vain. The Creator giving a woman and bearing fruit and offspring in her is not as the other ones who incarnate. One who toils in this world to multiply a tree but fails is not like one who did not wish to toil and multiply, and uprooted and dropped leaves from the tree, diminishing its fruits.

281) One whose master gives him a wife to bear fruit, who first tried to multiply the tree but could not, his merits are not so great, for if he were properly worthy he would not reincarnate, for it is written, “And I will give in My house and within My walls a hand and a name better than sons and daughters.” And now that he has not been rewarded, the Creator sees that he tried to bear sons but could not, this is the meaning of “His master gives him a wife.”

And since the Creator had mercy on him and gave him a wife with mercy, the Creator takes what is His to begin with, and takes what He had subtracted from that fountain before. For this reason, “The wife and her children shall belong to her master,” and then he will once again exert for himself, to complement his deficiency.

282) He said to himself, “Old man, old man. You said about it that he had tried in vain to bear sons, and you did not watch over yourself, that you were walking empty, in what you said, since the text is chasing you. This ruins the whole construction that you have built thus far, and you think that you are roaming freely in the sea.” And what is the verse that says, “And if the servant shall plainly say: ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free’”? Thus he is rewarded with them once more, and he has not exerted in vain.

283) “What an old man, old and powerless. What shall you do? You thought that there would be no one to chase you, but this verse is chasing you, appearing from behind the wall as a hind in the field.” In other words, he did not remember it before, and suddenly remembered it. “It is as though it is leaping after you, thirteen leaps it has leaped behind you and caught up with you.” These are thirteen leaps that are the thirteen words in the text, “And if he shall plainly say,” until the word “Free,” and not forever. “What shall you do old man? Now you must overcome with your strength, for you have been mighty strong thus far. Old man, old man. Remember the day of the snow when we were sowing beans and several mighty men were against you, and you alone defeated thirteen mighty powerful men, each of whom has killed a lion before he ate.”

Sowing beans on the day of the snow is the ascent of Malchut to Bina, for which Bina and TM fell from all the degrees, beginning with Bina that came out of Rosh de AA, through the end of the degrees. “On the day of the snow” means Mochin of the left, which come with the point of Shuruk. It is known that through the ascent of Malchut to Bina at the point of Holam, the ten Sefirot divided into thirteen Sefirot because they became two times HGT. This is why he said, “The day of the snow, when we were sowing beans,” meaning raising MAN for the ascent of Malchut in Bina to cancel the Dinim of the snow.

“And several mighty men were against you” is the division of the Sefirot to thirteen, “Each of whom has killed a lion before he ate,” since due to the Dinim of the day of the snow, they cancelled the Hassadim, which are called “lion.” This is considered killing, so they could receive the light of Hochma from the left line. Extension of the lights is called eating. “And you alone defeated thirteen mighty powerful men” because he raised MAN for the ascent of Malchut to Bina, and then the thirteen mighty men from the left line were diminished and joined the Hassadim on the right line, which are called “lion,” and they killed him no more.

284) If you defeated these thirteen mighty men, it is all the more so with these thirteen words in the verse, “If he shall plainly say,” in which there is no power, only words. It is written, “He shall plainly say,” since it is the conduct of the Creator to sentence and judge all. When it is time for the woman that the slave had taken to find her mate, the Creator kills that slave who took her and who is not his mate, and takes her to her mate, while the slave leaves this world alone.

285) “And if the slave shall plainly say.” If he said in the beginning of the six years, he will say at the end of the six years, before he enters the seventh year. It is so because if he says when he is even one day into the seventh year, his words are invalid. It writes, “The slave” because he speaks while he is still a slave, in the sixth year. If he says in the beginning of the six years and not at the end of the six years, it is nothing. This is why it is written twice, “If he shall plainly say” [The Hebrew writes “say, say” instead of “plainly say”].

286) Here, while the slave is with that woman, he offers much prayer and litany each day before the holy King. As the beginning of her taking was through mercy, so is the end with mercy. This is the meaning of “Shall plainly say.” “Say” [translated as “plainly”] in the beginning, when he began with mercy, and “Say” in the end, when he asks not to be rejected by her mate and that his prayer be accepted with mercy.

And what shall he say? “I love my master.” For this reason, for the manifold prayers, he loves the Creator, corrects his deeds. “I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free.” And the Creator accepts him in that repentance and for the profusion of those prayers.

287) The Creator, who was willing to bring him back in an incarnation to suffer punishments in this world for what he had done, does not bring him back to this world. What does the Creator do? He brings him closer to the courthouse of the seminary of the firmament, where he is judged and handed over to the beating house. The Creator inscribes him with an awl, how he has been given to the punishment house, and blemishes him to be under the governance of the foreskin for a certain time, and then He redeems him.

288) If the Yovel [50^th year anniversary] arrives while he is being flawed with the awl, even a single day into the Yovel, it is considered that he was the whole time until the Yovel. This is how he is punished and not more. The Yovel comes and he is redeemed and admitted into the presence of the Creator.

289) “Hear, O mountains, the quarrel of the Lord and the strong ones, the foundations of the earth.” He said to himself: “Old man, thus far you have been in the depths of the sea, and now you have leaped on strong mountains to wage war against them. Indeed, thus far you were in the strong sea, but before you went into the depth of the sea, you met those strong mountains within the sea. Now you must wage war in the depths of the sea and against these mountains.”

290) An old and powerless man, who gave you into this? You were at peace; did you wish for all of that? You have made it; you will suffer. Now you have no choice but to wage war and to triumph in everything, and not turn back. Be strong in your might, gird your arms, and fear not breaking those mountains, so they will not attack you. Tell them, “High mountains, strong mountains, how are you strengthened?”

291) Two verses are written, “Arise, quarrel with the mountains and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, O mountains, the quarrel of the Lord.” There are high mountains up above, HGT. For them it is written, “Hear, O mountains, the quarrel of the Lord.” And there are lower mountains, below, NHY. For them it is written, “Arise, quarrel with the mountains,” for there is one who chases quarrel to them because there are Dinim in them.

292) Old man, but it is written, “And let the hills hear your voice,” the hills below, why do you make them mountains? However, in regard to the high mountains they are considered hills, but in and of themselves they are considered mountains.

293) “And the strong ones, the foundations of the earth.” Mountains are three upper ones above, on the heads of the strong ones, HGT. “The strong ones” are three below them, NHY, but they are all one, mountains above. David said about them, “I will lift up my eyes unto the mountains.” These are the first three, HGT. And the strong ones, the foundations of the earth are the three last ones below them. The two support the house, NH, and one is the joy of the house, Yesod. And these are called “The foundations of the earth,” and they are strong and mighty.

294) He said to himself, “Old man, old man. You knew that if one who makes war does not know how to watch out, he will not win the war. He should be struck on his hand and be careful with his thoughts, for what the other thinks, he thinks, and he should look out for himself. The right hand is always made to strike, and his thoughts and the left hand are made to receive and to look out—the thoughts are to look out and his left hand suffers the beating from the other one. And the right is for anything.”

295) Now you said, “And the strong ones, the foundations of the earth.” The strong ones below are NHY, and the mountains above are HGT. Be careful old man, for there is another thought against you, as it is written, “Maschil of Eitan the Ezrahite.” This is Abraham Saba, who is called Eitan [strong], and if Abraham is strong, Isaac and Jacob are strong, as well. The patriarchs are HGT. Thus, HGT are strong. Rise up old man, for you know that this idea strikes your idea.

296) “He took up his discourse and said, ‘Strong is your dwelling place.’” “Strong” is Abraham’s morning, meaning “The morning was light.” This is the pillar, Yesod, on which the whole world, Malchut, stands. It inherits its light from Abraham, Hesed, the river that comes out of Eden, Yesod. Thus, Yesod is called “strong.” He said to himself, “Indeed old man, here is one idea against you and you do not know how to take care: how is war made? Old man, where is your might? Indeed, war is not for the mighty.”

297) It is written, “Maschil of Eitan the Ezrahite,” and “Maschil of David.” The river that comes out of
Eden, Yesod, to David, Malchut, to inform him those high, hidden matters. This is why Yesod is called Maschil [educating/enlightening]. And if Maschil is the river that comes out of Eden, Yesod, which is below in NHY, then Eitan the Ezrahite will be Abraham, above in HGT. And even though I am old, I strike this idea.

However, Eitan the Ezrahite is two degrees, “Morning was light.” Light is Abraham, Hesed, and morning is the river, Yesod. Here, too, Eitan the Ezrahite, Ezrach is Abraham, and Eitan is the river that stretches out of Eden, Yesod.

298) “Now arise old man and stand on your chariot, for now you will fall and will not be able to rise. But King Solomon comes with his armies, his chariots, his men, and his horsemen. They are coming toward you, arise, get out of the field lest they find you there.” It is written, “All the men of Israel assembled themselves to King Solomon at the feast, in the month Eitanim [strong], which is the seventh month.” This is the month in which the strong ones, the patriarchs, the strong ones of the world, were born. It is the month Tishrey, when the alphabet return reversed in it, from below upward, in the order Tav–Shin–Reish–Kof, since the order of the letters Tishrey is reversed. Thus, the Eitanim [strong ones] are the patriarchs, HGT.

299) And more of your words: “Eitan the Ezrahite” are two degrees. It is good that you go out of the field and not be there, since had it written, “Maschil, Eitan the Ezrahite,” it would have been good, as you said, that they are two degrees. But now that it is written, “Maschil of Eitan the Ezrahite,” your war is pointless because it means that they are one degree and not two. Thus, you must go out of the field and not be seen there.

300) Woe poor old man, how will you go out of the field? Thus, you will be defeated and you will flee from the field. All the people in the world will chase you, and you will have no face to show to man and to the world. “Here I swear that I will not get out of the field, and here I will see King Solomon, all the men of Israel, the mighty men, the horsemen, and his chariots face-to-face.” The Creator will help you old man, for you are tired and powerless. Rise up old man, prevail in your power, and grow strong, for until this day, you were the bravest hero among the mighty ones.

301) “Maschil of Eitan the Ezrahite.” Had it written, “Maschil of David,” it would mean that it is Yesod that gives to Malchut, who is called David. But it is written, “Maschil of Eitan.” There is Maschil and there is Maschil. There is Maschil above and there is Maschil below. “Maschil of Eitan,” since when the river, Yesod, rises in yearning, all the organs rejoice and bond with it. And if it rises up to the upper Moach [brain], Hesed that became Hochma, it reconciles with it and greets it gladly. Then it is “Maschil of Eitan the Ezrahite, for he enlightens the Yesod and informs it through Abraham his loved one—who is Hesed that rose and became Hochma—all that is needed. And that upper Moach, Hochma, enlightens Eitan, Yesod. And when King David, Malchut, is corrected in craving for Yesod, Yesod enlightens David as the upper Moach enlightens Yesod. Hence, there is Maschil [enlightening] and there is Maschil.

302) “In the month Eitanim [month of the strong ones],” meaning who were born on this month, Eitanim, since the building below, NHY is as that of above, HGT. Hence, strong mountains were born in it. The mountains, HGT, are hidden, meaning that Hochma was hidden in them and is not shining. Strong ones are thighs, NH, as strong as copper, and Eitan is among them, Yesod, giving illumination of Hochma.

303) Rise up old man, strike in every direction. When Moses rose to receive the Torah, the Creator gave him the 70 keys of the Torah, the seven Sefirot HGT NHYM, in each of which are ten, thus they are 70. When he reached the 59^th, Yesod de Yesod, there was one hidden and concealed key, Malchut in Yesod, which is called Ateret Yesod [crown of Yesod], which He did not give him. Moses begged Him and said, “All upper and lower keys depend on this key, since the Atara [crown] is the Masach de Tzimtzum Bet [Masach of the second restriction], in which all the Partzufim of VAK in the five Partzufim of Atzilut were corrected; it is the key of all the Mochin.”

He said before Him: “Master of the world, what is his name?” He replied: “Eitan [strong] and all the strong ones depend on him” since NHY from the Chazeh down, which are called Eitanim [strong ones], are Partzuf VAK de Guf, and HGT from the Chazeh and above are GAR de Guf. For this reason, the Miftacha governs them, Ateret Yesod, and the NHY exist in it, being outside the Guf of the written Torah, ZA, since from Chazeh and below it is considered outside the Guf, HGT. ZA informs him, which is the giving of the Daat [Sefira but also knowledge], and educates him. Also, Ateret Yesod is the essence and the key of the written Torah, ZA, for without the Masach of Ateret Yesod, Tzimtzum Bet, ZA would be unfit for reception of GAR.

304) When the oral Torah is corrected in regard to him, meaning Malchut, Ateret Yesod becomes her key, to Yesod of Malchut. At that time, Yesod is called “Maschil of David,” Malchut. And because he inherits that oral Torah, Malchut, and becomes her Yesod—called illuminating net [made of the letters Reish–Shin–Tav] from below upward—the letters in her are reversed. This is why at that time her Yesod is called Tishrey [name of the first month, with the letters reversed—Tav–Shin–Reish–Kof]. It is Tav–Shin–Reish, but because it is the holy name, Malchut, the Creator signs the letter Yod in it from His name. This is why it is called Tishrey [comprising the letters Tav–Shin–Reish–Yod in Hebrew].

In the alter, Malchut, He signed the Hey de HaVaYaH in her Yesod, the Hey of the net up to half the altar. Deborah, Malchut, came, and He signed a Vav in her. This is the meaning of the verse, “Then sang Deborah [in Hebrew “and sang” comprise the letters Tav–Shin–Reish–Vav].” In the place of Yesod of Malchut is the seal of the holy name that He signed in it, since the letters Reish–Shin–Tav are the name “Yesod of Malchut.” Also, ZA signed his name Yod–Hey–Vav in these letters Reish–Shin–Tav in three places: here in Tishrey, the letter Yod; in the net of the altar, the letter Hey; and in “Then sang Deborah” in the Vav.

305) We must know the key, Ateret Yesod, that opens in the written Torah, which is established as her Yesod. This is why we say Tania [Aramaic: said], comprising the letters of Eitan. Then it is written, “Strong [Eitan] is your dwelling place,” since Malchut is called “dwelling place,” and when she receives from Ateret Yesod, it is written in regard to her, “Strong is your dwelling place.” She is also called Braita [Aramaic: external], which means outside the body, ZA, since Braita comes from the word LeBar [outside], externality. The strong ones in the written Torah, ZA, are Tanaa’im [sages] in the oral Torah, Malchut. They are supporting pillars outside the body, which are NHY. These NHY are called “strong” in the written Torah, ZA, and they are called “Tanaa’im” in the oral Torah, since Eitan [strong] in the written Torah is Tania in the oral Torah.

306) “Friends, I am in the field.” King Solomon and his brave heroes will come and find one weary and powerless old man, strong, hero, triumphant in wars. I know he will come. I stand behind the rock in the field and he is looking at me, at my strength being in the field. He looks at me alone. He is the man of peace, who owns peace, and walks away. Now old man, your strength is upon you, and you alone are in the field. Return to your place and untie your arms off you.

307) “Hear, O mountains, the quarrel of the Lord and the strong ones, the foundations of the earth.” The earth is Malchut, and she is nourished by them, the strong ones, foundations of the earth, NHY. It is from them that she receives her abundance each day, hence they are the foundations of the earth.

308) The Creator has a quarrel with His people. Who can endure the Creator’s quarrel with Israel? “Hear, O mountains the quarrel of the Lord” is one quarrel. “Arise, quarrel with the mountains” is the second quarrel. The Creator was triumphant in all those quarrels with Israel and all these rebukes are all as a father who rebukes his son.

309) When He comes to win, it is written about Jacob, “The Lord also has a quarrel with Judah, and will punish Jacob.” The quarrel as it is written, “In the womb he took his brother by the heel.” It is about that that the rebuke and all those quarrels were. Is it not a great thing, “In the womb he took his brother by the heel”? It is not a small thing that he did in the womb. But did he commit deceit in the womb? Yes indeed.

310) Jacob repelled Esau in everything, so he would have no part of the Kedusha [holiness]. Esau was angered only by one, which are two, as it is written, “For this one has supplanted me twice.” “This one” implies to one who equals two, one that went out to two. It is “My birthright” with the letters inverted, becoming “My blessing” [in Hebrew the letters are the same but inverted]. This is the meaning of twice, one that has equaled two.

311) Esau did not know what he had done to him in the womb, but his appointed minister knew. The Creator thundered the skies and their hosts for that voice of the slandering of Esau’s minister, since his appointee did not demand blessing and birthright, and he did not say that he had a blessing to demand but did not demand. He certainly demanded brotherhood, as it is written, “Do not hide yourself from your own flesh,” and Jacob did not wish to let him eat until he took his birthright from him.

312) What is the birthright that he took? He took from him the birthright of above and of below, the sanctity of the birthright above, to offer sacrifices, and the birthright below, to receive twofold. “Birthright” is written without a Vav [in Hebrew], then he certainly supplanted his brother, making him a heel and throwing him back, moving ahead of him, for he came first into this world. Jacob said to Esau, “You will receive this world first, and I will receive next.”

313) “After that came forth his brother, and his hand had hold on Esau’s heel.” His hand was gripping the one that he was following, who was Esau, since Esau is called “heel” from the time his brother followed him [“follow” and “heel” are spelled the same in Hebrew], and since the day the world was created, the Creator named him “follow” [also “heel”]. It is so because Esau is considered a serpent, of whom it is written, “He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” You, who are called “heel,” will bruise him first, and in the end he will bruise your head off you. His head was SAM, who was striking in this world.

314) For this reason, he was following his brother in the womb, where he had to be following, and Esau took this world first, as it is written, “And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.” This is the meaning of King Solomon saying, “An inheritance gained hurriedly at the beginning will not be blessed in the end,” meaning it will not be blessed at the end of the world.

315) For this reason, “In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his power he contended with God.” He asks, “What is his power?” And he replies, “They explained, ‘In his power and might as it should be.’”

Yet, this is not so. Clarifying the matter, Jacob had the upper form and a holy body, for since Adam HaRishon, there has never been a body such as Jacob’s in beauty. Jacob had the very same beauty that Adam HaRishon had, and Jacob’s form was the very same shape of Adam HaRishon.

316) When the serpent came to Adam HaRishon and he was tempted, the serpent could prevail over him because Adam HaRishon had no power and might, for the one who is his power and might had not been born then. Adam HaRishon’s power and might is Seth, who was in the actual form of Adam HaRishon, as it is written, “And begot a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth.” “In his own likeness, after his image,” meaning he was born circumcised. When Esau’s appointee came to Jacob, Jacob’s power and might, who is Joseph, had already been born. This is the meaning of “And in his power he contended with God,” who is Joseph, who was his power.

317) The voice of the serpent can cling to a woman’s voice like a dog to a bitch. In all the voices of the women in the world, there is none to whom the voice of the serpent can cling, grip, and partake in, except in two women: one who does not properly keep the impurity of her menstruation and bleaching days, or dips a day early, and one who belates her period to afflict her husband, except if the husband is not meticulous and does not notice it.

318) Those are two women, since as they dip before it is time, they are delayed with the voice of the serpent until a voice clings to a voice. And as she belates her period to afflict her husband by delaying the Mitzva, so the voice of the serpent hurries to cling to the voice of that woman. Those are two women in whom the voice of the serpent clings to their voices as a dog to a bitch. Impurity follows impurity, a kind after its kind.

319) What concern is it of ours if a voice grips a voice or not? This is how the people of the world are lost unknowingly. When this voice of the woman mingles and partakes with the voice of the serpent, when the sinful and wicked Lilit comes out of her Ephah (measure of volume) and roams the world, if she meets those two voices—the voice of the serpent and the voice of the woman—the woman Lilit warms in them and they in her. And when she is warmed, she becomes a spirit and they walk with her until the spirit roams and enters that woman’s intestines.

320) And the child that she bears, when wicked Lilit comes and visits the spirit that came out of the evil joining of the voice of the serpent that knocks in her, the spirit laughs with the child until wicked Lilit arrives, as a woman who visits the son of another woman, chatting with him and laughing with him until his mother arrives. This is what this spirit does. And many times the spirit is an emissary of wicked Lilit and kills him. The power of the spirit robs him. This is why it is written twice, “And they have none to comfort them,” from wicked Lilit and from the spirit.

Voice and speech together are GAR. Voice without speech is VAK without a Rosh. The Dinim that make it become VAK are from Masach de Tzimtzum Bet or from Masach de Tzimtzum Aleph. This is the difference between the woman’s voice and the serpent’s voice because the woman’s voice is like that voice of Malchut above, who receives from ZA, her husband, from Tzimtzum Bet, while the voice of the serpent is from Tzimtzum Aleph.

The voice of the woman is kept by ZA, who is from Tzimtzum Bet. The voice of the serpent is from Tzimtzum Aleph, and has no governance over her, except for two women—who remove their husbands by dipping too early, bringing impurity over her husband, or who belates her period and afflicts her husband. And because separation is made between a woman and her husband, they lose the keeping of ZA from above and the voice of the serpent can cling to them.

For this reason, the voice of the serpent cannot join the voice of a woman, unless through the Klipa, Lilit, the female of the Sitra Achra and the serpent. This is why it was said that if Lilit meets those two voices she warms in them, and when she warms, a spirit is made, and this spirit is the filth of the serpent. And when he is born and comes out of the two voices of the woman and the serpent, there are mixtures in it from the two Dinim: Tzimtzum Aleph and Tzimtzum Bet. For this reason, it has equivalence with the woman’s son from Tzimtzum Bet, like him, and has the strength to kill him with the power of the Din of Tzimtzum Aleph.

322) “Sin crouches.” The serpent, of whom it is written, “Sin crouches at the door,” meaning at Malchut’s door, stands by the door like a dog. When the last voice comes out, which the woman in labor gives before the delivery, he leaps from the door, moves from there, and follows the woman. Because the Creator sends a key to open her womb, the voice flees and the key arrives.

The serpent follows the voice that goes out to the world, and until the mountain in the abdomen goes, meaning Yesod, since NHY are called “bottom mountains,” it bites there and opens her womb. It knocks there until she is cleaned from that filth of the bites of the evil serpent, and the Creator causes reasons and does deeds as it should be.

The souls are born out of Nukva de ZA. Before they are born and come out in the world of Beria, they need to be impregnated in TNHY de Nukva, in the abdomen. There they receive illumination of Hochma through the Nukva, who receives Hochma from the domination of the left line, and who gives to the souls.

The Nukva, who came under the domination of the left line, freezes and all her gates and doors close. It is said in The Zohar that when she needs to give birth, she is blocked from all sides, since she is frozen by the domination of the left, and the Creator takes pity on her and provides a certain serpent for her, who bites in her pudendum and opens her, and she promptly delivers. This is so because then the Creator, the middle line, elevates Malchut back to Bina, diminishes the left line, unites it with the right, gives her Hassadim, and she opens and gives birth.

When Malchut rises to the place of Bina, Nukva returns to VAK, Bina and TM of the Nukva fall to the world of Beria, and the serpent acquires the strength to suckle from NHY de Nukva. This is because while she has GAR, her TNHY are in Atzilut and the Klipot cannot suckle from the Nukva because in Atzilut it is written, “No evil dwells with You.”

However, when they fall into Beria, they can already suckle from her. Then it is considered that the Creator’s elevating of Malchut to Bina to unite the two lines with one another and open her womb is the invitation of the serpent to bite in her NHY to suckle from them. Thus, the opening of the womb and the suckling of the serpent come as one. However, the Creator does it out of necessity, so the Nukva may be able to deliver.

“Sin crouches.” The serpent that stands outside of Atzilut is like a dog that stands outside the house and has no strength to suckle anything from the Nukva in Atzilut. When the last voice comes out, the last voice of the seventy voices of the one who is in labor, a moment prior to delivery, he leaps over the door and follows the Nukva herself to cling to her, since the Creator sends a key, Masach de Hirik, on which the level of Hassadim comes out, opening her womb and elevating Malchut de Nukva to Bina de Nukva, to Tifferet. Then TNHY from her Chazeh down fall into Beria, and the last voice leaves and the key arrives, meaning that her TNHY fall into the world of Beria.

At that time the serpent follows the voice and clings to it until the mountain in the abdomen, Yesod, goes and suckles there. This is regarded as biting in her pudendum because when TNHY de Nukva are in Beria, he can suckle from them until she brings her TNHY back from Beria to Atzilut, meaning that she extends GAR once more. Then she is purified from the serpent’s bite, from his suckling, since he has no power to suckle from Atzilut.

323) The whole of the suckling of the serpent comes entirely because the abdomen, TNHY de Nukva, was rejected, that they fell into the world of Beria. Of course the serpent is repelled from the abdomen and has no part in it, since afterwards she extends GAR once more, and those TNHY that fell into Beria return to Atzilut. Also, he is rejected from the abdomen below—of the rest of the women in the world—since the women below are branches of the upper Nukva. Thus, even though she pains them, he is not given permission to govern them. Rather, he is given an abdomen that he governs, an abdomen of one who has strayed because in this abdomen he takes vengeance as he pleases. The Creator gave him that abdomen so he would not be completely repelled.

324) It is written, “Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him.” It is also written, “And when he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh.” The Sitra Achra obtained that thigh from Jacob, and that thigh was in its weakness until Samuel arrived. Its weakness means that he did not extend the light of prophecy. When Samuel came, he took that thigh and removed it from the Sitra Achra, snatching it from him. Since that time, it has been removed from him and he has no part in Kedusha [holiness] at all.

325) The Creator does not deprive the Sitra Achra and does not repel him altogether because Samuel took his thigh. He gives him the thigh and the abdomen of the diverted in return for the thigh and abdomen He had removed from him. Hence, the Creator gave both of them to the Sitra Achra, so that the place of Kedusha would be free of any impurity.

326) It is as one who throws a bone to a dog and tells it, “Take this as your share.” All of it did not harm him, except that the thigh—for which he labored and toiled, and which he gained—was stolen from him and was taken out of his hand. This is why the Creator threw him the bone of the one who has strayed, and by that he was happy and content.

327) All those Merkavot [chariots/assemblies] and his company always wish for a thigh and follow him with yearning. For this reason, these are the knees of the sages who are tired from the Sitra Achra, whose desire is only for a thigh, especially the thigh of sages. Everything has been brought back to its place, and the Creator does not deny anything of all that is required, or wish for it to be brought near to Kedusha [holiness], except for His people and lot, His share and domain.

As the Creator does above, Israel do below, and so it should be. Thus, Israel are forbidden to teach idol worshippers Torah, as it is written, “He declares His words unto Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel. He has not dealt so with any nation,” since they should be removed from Kedusha.

328) This is why Jacob rejected him and Samuel repelled, so he would have no part of the Kedusha. And this is the reason for all the holding of grudge toward Israel, like a dog that snatched a pure chicken from the market and brought it in, and before it managed to break it, a man came and snatched it from it. Afterward, he gave him a useless bone to drag.

329) So is Esau’s minister. He was taken out from the abdomen, the thigh has been snatched from him, and he was given a bone: the diverted one’s abdomen and thigh. This is the bone that was given to his share and lot, and it was tasteful to him.

For this reason, all of the Creator’s Dinim are Dinim of truth, and people neither know nor notice the Creator. Everything is in truth. The Sitra Achra diverted herself from her husband, and likewise, the woman who is like her in the earth, the diverted one, is given to her.

330) One who finds his friend like him, who does as he does in the world, loves him and clings to him, and deals gracefully with him. But the Sitra Achra is not so, since he finds those who leave the Creator’s side of Kedusha, and does as his deeds and clings to him, wishing to annihilate him and take him out of the world. This woman did as his deeds and clung to him. She saw what he did in her, her belly swelled and her thigh fell. The Creator is not so: One who leaves the Sitra Achra and clings to the Creator, He loves him and does to him all the grace in the world.

331) It is written, “What gain does man have in all his work which he does under the sun?” Had it written, “In his work which he does,” it would have been fine because there would be work in which there is gain. But since it writes, “In all his work,” is there nothing left in which there is gain?

332) There is a person in the world who is always engaged in harm and in harming, and does not engage in the good for even a single moment. This is why it is written, “His work,” and does not write, “His labor,” since “work” means bad deeds, as it is written, “Nor has He seen work in Israel.” But labor indicates good deeds, as it is written, “God has seen … the labor of my hands.” But of his labor, it writes, “Labor and anger,” since his exertion is always in order to harm. This is why Solomon said, “What gain does man have in all his work which he does under the sun?” “Under the sun” points to the Sitra Achra, who is under the sun.

333) When this person engages in evil, it is written, “He shall have neither great-grandson nor grandson among his people,” since the Creator does not wish for him to bear offspring. If he were to bear offspring, he would make the world murky. This is why it is written, “What gain does man have in all his work.” And one who does not engage in bearing offspring clings to that side of the evil man and comes under his wings.

334) Ruth said, “Spread your wing over your maidservant,” to mate with the righteous and bear offspring. The Creator spreads His wings on man so that he will be fruitful and multiply in the world. But one who does not wish to bear offspring will come alone, on the wing of the evil man who walks alone like that serpent who walks alone, and he will go out alone, for he did not try to bear offspring.

335) The Creator made a quarrel, as it is written, “Arise, quarrel with the mountains,” meaning the mountains below, NHY. It is a quarrel because the whole iniquity that Israel do against their Father in the sky depends on them. It is so because Israel knew the service, the swears of all the angels in the sky, and did not miss on even one of them, including their usage.

336) They were being persuaded into fornication on two sides: they knew how to draw the powers of the stars and the fortunes on earth, and knew how to swear in them in all that they needed. For this reason, the Creator wished to make a quarrel and judgment in the mountains, since all the angels and the upper ministers receive their strength from these NHY, the mountains. Thus, He aimed that there would be quarrel and judgment in them, their lights will weaken, and all the angels and ministers in BYA will fall because they were useless, as their power had ceased.

“And let the hills hear your voice.” Hills are mothers, the seven palaces in Beria, degrees that are called “virgins” after her, the seven maids that serve Malchut. This is what Israel would do until they partook in the lower degrees.

337) Many attacks did Israel do on the Sitra Achra in that thigh. Mordechai was showing that wicked one, Haman, his thigh. This is why he was angry, for it is something that is rightfully his, which he has gained from Jacob, and Mordechai angered him with it by showing him that it has already been snatched from him.

It is written, “And Rebecca took the choicest garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house.” With those garments Jacob robbed him and took him out of all his blessings and the birthright.

338) For this reason, the Merkavot [chariots/assemblies] of the Sitra Achra have found a libel for the sages, and this is the rubbing that they always rub the sages’ garments, for the thighs and for their garments. These are two things of the Sitra Achra, and the whole anger of the Merkavot of the Sitra Achra is because they were robbed from him. Hence, they have no complaint except for the sages.

For this reason, those garments of the sages that have been worn out by their rubbing, and those knees that have grown tired, it is certainly from them. They were theirs and hence they take libel from sages and from what comes from them, and ask of the sages, since they are the whole of the rule of Jacob dwelling in tents. For this reason, there is no libel without a reason, and hence there is nothing without judgment and sentence, and everything returns to its place.

339) Solomon said, “And I returned and saw all the oppressed.” From where did Solomon return?

340) Each day, Solomon would rise early and go to the east, Tifferet and middle line, then return to the south, Hesed and right line, then return to the north, Gevura and left line. He would stand there, lower his eyes and raise his head.

341) At that time, the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud would come. On the pillar of cloud came a big and strong eagle. The right wing was on the pillar of fire, and the body and left wing were on the pillar of cloud. He would bring two leaves in his mouth. The pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire came, that eagle was on them, and they were bowing before King Solomon.

342) The eagle came, bent down before him, and gave him those leaves. King Solomon took them and smelled them. He knew the signs in them and said, “This one belongs to a falling one, and this one belongs to one who is open-eyed. When there were two leaves, he would know that both the falling open-eyed wish to inform him of some matters.

343) He signed his chair with a seal engraved with the holy Name, took a ring on which the holy Name was engraved, went on an ascent, riding that eagle, and went away. The eagle would rise to the top of the clouds, and wherever he went, the light darkened. The sages in that place where the light had darkened would know and say, “King Solomon is going passed here,” but they did not know to which place he was going. The fools that were there would say, “These are clouds going and darkening the world.”

344) The eagle soared with him and flew 400 parsas [length unit] until he reached the Mountains of Darkness, where it is Tarmud [name of a place], in the desert in the mountains. There he descended, raised his head, saw the Mountains of Darkness, and knew all that was necessary. He knows that it is necessary to enter there. He was riding the eagle as before, and flew and went into the mountains up to that place where the olive is. He called out loud and said, “O Lord, Your hand is lifted up yet they do not see it.”

345) He went in there until he came close to the place of the olive, and placed the ring before them. He approached, and there he knew all that he wanted of those foreign teachings that he wished to know. When they told him all he had wanted, he would ride that eagle and return to his place. When he returned to his chair, he would reconsider and speak with his mind the words of the respected teaching. He said, “I returned and saw.” “I returned,” from that road, returned from that teaching, “And it settled in my heart and in my mind.” And then, “[And I] saw all the oppressed.”

The grandfather explains the order of the reception of the wisdom that King Solomon, the wisest of all men, extended each day. Disclosure of the wisdom [Hochma] is only in Malchut, which is called “lower Hochma,” and whose time of domination is at night. This is why Solomon rises early, while it is still dark, and first unites the three lines, south, north, and east in one another.

First he united the three lines in the middle line, on the east side, and extended Hochma there, which is called “seeing.” Then he returned to the south, right line, and extended Hochma there, seeing. Then he returned to the north, left line, the origin of the emergence of Hochma. He stood there to receive Hochma, since due to the subduing of the middle line over the two lines, the GAR de Hochma disappeared and only VAK de Hochma remained. “He lowered the eyes,” meaning Hochma, to not receive from GAR de Hochma, “And raised his head,” extending the discernment of Rosh, only Rosh, from VAK de Hochma. This is the reason why the grandfather explained in general, and now he explains the details concerning reception of the Hochma from the left side.

The place of the emission of the light of Hochma is in Bina, after she returned to being Hochma in Shuruk, her left line. However, the place of disclosure of the Hochma is in Malchut, which for this reason is called “bottom Hochma.” The disclosure is in two lines, right and left, in Malchut, which are called “the pillar of cloud” and “the pillar of fire.” Bina is called “a big and strong eagle,” since eagle alone is ZA.

When he would draw the VAK de Hochma, the pillar of fire and pillar of cloud would come, meaning the two lines on the right and left of Malchut, in whom is the place of disclosure of Hochma. A big and strong eagle, Bina—which is called “big and strong eagle”—came on the pillar of cloud. This is so because Hochma is extended to Malchut from Bina, where Bina is the place of exit and Malchut is the place of disclosure. Hence, both are needed, the eagle, Bina, the pillar of cloud, and the pillar of fire in Malchut, which is the place of disclosure.

The right wing is Bina’s right line. It is supported by the pillar of fire, the Nukva’s left line, where there are Dinim de Nukva, which are called “fire,” and extend from there Masach de Hirik of the middle line. These Dinim caused the surrender of the left line and its unification with the right. It follows that the right of Bina received its power to dominate through that fire. This is why the grandfather says that the right is supported by the pillar of fire. Also, the left wing, the left line of Bina—the place of the exit of Hochma—is supported by the pillar of cloud, the right line of Malchut, Hassadim, since Hochma cannot shine without Hassadim.

The Hochma comes out of the left line and divides into two Behinot [discernments]: Falling, and open-eyed. By the force of the Masach de Hirik—by which the middle line unites the two lines—GAR de Hochma disappear and only VAK de Hochma remain. And because the GAR de Hochma departed from the left line, the three bottom Kelim, NHY, fell off it, and the Kelim HBD HGT in the left line remained, lacking the NHY.

The upper lights cause the fall of the bottom Kelim due to the inverse relation between lights and Kelim. Had NHY de Kelim not fallen through the middle line, Hochma would have been unable to illuminate due to absence of Hassadim. For this reason, NHY that fell from the left line are called “falling,” and HBD HGT that remained in the left line with the lights of VAK de Hochma that are corrected in Hassadim through the unification with the right are called “open-eyed,” since the Hochma, which is called “eyes,” appeared in them.

The eagle would bring two leaves in his mouth. These are the two Behinot in the left line of Bina, “falling” and “open eyed.” The pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire came with that eagle atop them, and bowed before King Solomon, since bowing of the head is called bowing. And since they were carrying two leaves, “falling” and “open-eyed,” they were already lacking GAR de Hochma, which is called “head.” This is considered that they lowered their heads and bowed down, to correct the Hochma before Solomon.

King Solomon took the leaves and smelled them, meaning extended Hochma, since extension of Hochma is called “scent.” He knew a sign in them, meaning how much Hochma it was permitted to draw, and how much was forbidden. He said, “This one belongs to the falling, GAR de Hochma, it is forbidden to extend, and this one—the open-eyed, VAK de Hochma—is permitted.”

First, the falling was not corrected at all. Rather, it was fallen and blemished. Afterwards the falling, too, was corrected, since the falling in it was recognized as correction. Without the fallen, which caused the middle line, the Hochma in VAK would be unable to shine due to lack of Hassadim. For this reason, the correction was applied to the falling, as well, and the falling, too, informed him words of wisdom, like the open-eyed, since they were illuminating in one another.

Solomon rose and clothed in the core of the left line of Bina, the place of darkness—illumination of Hochma without Hassadim, which is darkness and not light. However, it is the exit of Hochma there, and when he later came to the middle line, clothing Hochma in Hassadim, the Hochma returned to being light.

Before Solomon went to the place of darkness in the left line, he feared that he would fail there in extending Hochma from above downward, which is regarded as the sin of the tree of knowledge. For this reason, he sealed his chair with a seal in which the holy Name was engraved, and the holy Name was keeping the Malchut from receiving the Hochma from above downward. He took a ring on which the holy Name was engraved—the Mochin are called “ring” when the holy Name is on them—and guards them so they will not draw Hochma from above downward.

It was said that the eagle soared high with him and flew 400 parsas, meaning united his HG TM, the three lines and the Malchut that receives. Because they are from Bina, whose Sefirot are hundreds, they are four hundred. And since their origin is the Parsa, Masach de Tzimtzum Bet, they are called 400 parsas.

The unification of the three lines is in two manners: First, the middle line unites the two lines—right and left—with each other under the dominion of the right line. At that time only Hassadim is poured down, but they are mingled with Hochma. Then it unites the two lines in one another under the domination of the left, and the light of Hochma is poured down.

The first manner, uniting the two lines under the dominion of the right line, is regarded as having reached the Mountains of Darkness because of the mingling of Hochma in Hassadim. And yet, he still did not actually come to the Mountains of Darkness, where there is dominion of the left, and where it is Tarmud in the desert in the mountains.

It is written, “And Solomon went … And built Tadmor in the desert.” This is the unification of the two lines in one another under the domination of the right. This is why Solomon could build it even though it was in the desert, in an uncultivated land.” Because of the mingling of the left it was a desert there. And because it is primarily Hassadim, he could make it a settled place.

His going down there means that he went down from Bina to the earth, extending this light from above downward because it is the light of Hassadim. “He raised his head” means that he extended GAR, “And saw the Mountains of Darkness,” meaning he saw them from afar because due to the mingling of Hochma in Hassadim, he saw them but did not enter them, since he was under the dominion of the right, Hassadim. Also, he was completely content by the light of Hassadim for completion of the GAR, and he attained that he was already fit for entering the Mountains of Darkness themselves, under the dominion of the left.

It was said that he was riding the eagle as before, when he rose back to Bina, making the unification of the second manner there, uniting the two lines—right and left—under the domination of the left. This means that he entered the Mountains of Darkness themselves, which are on the left line, up to that place where the olive is, the power of Masach de Tzimtzum Aleph, which is called “an olive,” and which is hidden in the Mountains of Darkness.

He declared and said, “O Lord, Your hand is lifted up,” meaning he prayed for this force of Din to be covered and concealed there. He entered the Mountains of Darkness up to the place of the olive and placed before them the ring on which the holy Name was engraved, for keeping him from failing in drawing Hochma from above downward. Hochma that is drawn from above downward under prohibition is called “alien Hochma,” and he received that Hochma, too, from the Mountains of Darkness, although he himself did not draw it.

Once they told him all that he had wanted, he returned to his place, meaning went out of the left line and returned to his place, to the middle line, extending the light of Daat from the middle line, while the Hochma that he received before—when he was on the left line—was now illuminating in his Daat. At that time he said, “And I returned and saw.” “I returned” from that road, the road he had taken on the left line. “I returned” from that Hochma, meaning he returned from that Hochma that he received there and came into the illumination of the Daat, while the Hochma that he received there was included in him and settled in his heart and mind. Then, “And I … saw all the oppressed,” since all the oppressed are because of their clinging to the left line and their unwillingness to walk on the path of the middle line.

346) “And [I] saw all the oppressed.” Do you even consider that King Solomon saw all the oppressed that are in the world? Rather, the oppressed are the children who die in their mothers’ laps, who are oppressed from several sides: oppressed in the high place above, on the part of their spirit, and oppressed below, on the part of the body.

347) There is none so oppressed as those oppressed that he oppressed first, when he sinned, or that because of his iniquity he was punished from the third generation to the fourth, when he was oppressed due to iniquity. The children die without a sin, hence they are not oppressed harshly. This is not so with those who did sin or whose father or grandfather sinned, as it is written, “Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations.”

348) How did he oppress? What was his iniquity? King Solomon cried out and said, “A man who is laden with the guilt of human blood will flee to the pit; let no one support him.” Because he is oppressed due to iniquity of blood that he spilled, he or his son or his son’s son will be oppressed in the scales by the Sitra Achra, as it is written, “Will flee to the pit; let no one support him,” meaning he will flee to the pit of the Sitra Achra. He will only flee from the place of Kedusha [holiness] and let no one support him in this world. Because he is oppressed in the iniquity of taking a life, he or his seed will be oppressed by the Sitra Achra.

349) There is one who is more oppressed than the rest of the oppressed, who is oppressed because of the iniquity of “You shall not oppress,” which his father or his grandfather sinned, as it is written, “You shall not oppress your neighbor.” If he transgressed and oppressed, he is given an eye for an eye, and his sons are oppressed by the Sitra Achra. This is why King Solomon said, “All the oppressed.” He said, “I stand and know all the oppressed,” on every side that he oppressed, and it is not that he saw all the oppressed in the world.

350) Why are those who were done under the sun oppressed? Why “That were done”? It should have said, “That dwelled.” And if doing is to praise, then it is above the sun, which is the place of praise and corrections. Why does he say, “Under the sun”?

351) Of course, “That were done.” But since they were oppressed there in their spirit, why did they incarnate into this world? It is because doing is in the body, which is the world of Assiya [action/doing]. But the spirits were certainly done, meaning they were done in this world in spirit and body. And because their bodies were perfected and a spirit was made and clothed in a pure and clean body, without the filth of iniquities in this world, the body was oppressed as the spirit was oppressed. This is the body that the Sitra Achra enjoys more than anything. There are other oppressed spirits there, of several kinds that were not made in bodies, meaning they did not incarnate into this world. However, these are the oppressed ones that were made in bodies. This is why it is written “That were done.”

352) There are others who were done, people who troubled their Master. Who are they? One who oppressed his neighbor’s wife secretly or openly, and the child that was born to them is oppressed, without the will of their Master and without the knowledge of the wife’s husband. Those deeds are oppressed and trouble the Creator with making a body for them, and with portraying a form to them. Those are the oppressed that were done, whose bodies were certainly done by forcing. This is why King Solomon said, “And [I] saw all the oppressed,” meaning I stand and know all the kinds of oppressions that were done in Assiya.

353) Such as those are the oppressed that were already done with a foreskin, who took and multiplied and raised the body, and did it. When he turns thirteen years old, he is robbed of him and he is taken away. Thus are the oppressed that were done. King Solomon stands over all and says, “I stand and know of all the oppressions that were made.”

354) “And behold the tears of the oppressed.” Everyone sheds tears with a complaint before the Creator. They shed tears because the foreskin, the Sitra Achra, multiplied and raised them up to thirteen years, then they were robbed from the foreskin and the Creator took them. Thus you have oppressed who were already done.

355) One who is thirteen years and one day old, who committed a transgression that is punishable by death is put to death. They argue and will say, “Master of the world, is a day old infant that has sinned sentenced? I was a day old because the Creator calls me ‘a son’ after thirteen years, as it is written, ‘The Lord said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.’’ Master of the world, is a day old child to be sentenced?” These are the tears of the oppressed, and they have no comforter.

356) And there is another one who is oppressed, one who is called “a bastard.” When he passes away from the world, he is promptly separated from the congregation of the holy nation. A bastard is the poor and wretched who sheds tears before the Creator and argues before Him, “Master of the world, if my father had sinned, what debt did I do? After all, my deeds before you were upright.” “And behold the tears of the oppressed, and they have no comforter.” Also, all those who are oppressed have a complaint before the Creator, and they have no comforter on that complaint or one to reply with a word for their hearts.

357) When he said, “And behold the tears of the oppressed,” it is those who died in their mothers’ bosoms. They shed tears for all the people in the world because no tear comes from the heart like those tears, since all the people in the world wonder and say, “But the judgments of the Creator are true, and they walk on the path of truth. Why did those poor children who did not sin die? Where is the true judgment that the Creator works? And if they passed away from the world for their fathers’ iniquities, why?” Indeed, they have no comforter.

358) That tear of theirs in that world protects the living. A place has been set up in that world where even complete righteous cannot stand. The Creator loves them, clings to them, and establishes in them His high seminary. It is written about them, “From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength.” And why do they ascend there? It is as it is written, “Because of Your adversaries, to make the enemy and the revengeful cease.” And there is also another place for those who repent.

359) Ten things were created on the eve of the Sabbath: the writing, the letter, and the tablets. The tablets are the work of God. The letter is a letter of God. How is this evidence that it was on the eve of the Sabbath? The full name is not written throughout the act of creation, only Elokim, in all that was created. When all the work was completed, on the eve of the Sabbath, He was called HaVaYaH Elokim, the full name.

360) Even though everything was created in the name Elokim, not all that was created was completed in action, until the eve of the Sabbath. At that time, everything was completed in action, as it is written, “His work which He had made.” “From all His work which He had made” means that it was established in action. This is why it is written, “The tablets were the work of God,” when the world was completed in the name Elokim in the work on the eve of the Sabbath and not for afterwards, as it is written, HaVaYaH Elokim. By that, the world was completed and established in its existence.

361) When Moses broke the tablets, as it is written, “And shattered them at the foot of the mountain,” the ocean floated from its place and rose up to drown the world. Promptly, “He took the calf which they had made, burned it with fire, ground it to powder, and scattered it over the surface of the water.” Moses rose over the waters of the ocean and said, “Water, water, what do you want?” They said, “The world can exist only by the law in the tablets, and for the law in which Israel lied and made the golden calf, we want to wash the world over.”

362) Promptly, he told them, “Behold, all that they did with the iniquity of the calf is given to you. Are all those thousands that have fallen from among them not enough?” Promptly, “And [he] scattered it over the surface of the water.” And they would not bathe in the water until he took from the waters of the ocean and made them drink. Promptly, the ocean retreated to its place.

363) There was no water in the desert, so it must be that he took from the waters of the ocean. Can it be that he threw the ashes into the well of Miriam? It is unthinkable that Moses would throw that bad memory there and then drink. Moreover, at that point they still did not have a well until they came to the desert of Mattanah,” as it is written, “The well that the ministers dug … and from the desert of Mattanah,” from there they inherited the well.

364) What is “Engraved [Harut] upon the tablets”? It is freedom [Herut] from the angel of death, freedom from enslavement of kingships, freedom from everything. Freedom is the seal of the next world, in which there is freedom in every kind of freedom. And had the tablets not been broken, all that came to the world afterward would not have come, and Israel would be in the form of high angels above, as it is written, “The tablets were the work of God.” Thus, do not say that after the world was completed and the full name HaVaYaH Elokim was mentioned, the tablets came to be, but rather, from the time the world was completed with the name Elokim, before the arrival of the Sabbath.

365) “…are the work of God.” What is “Are”? Turn the “are” [in the Hebrew letters, Hey–Mem–Hey] and you will find Mem–Hey–Hey, from two sides, from the two letters Hey de HaVaYaH, Bina and Malchut. One is in action—the bottom Hey, Malchut—and one is in freedom of above—the first Hey, Bina. It is written above, in Bina, to keep everything. And the letter is a letter of God, black fire over white fire. It is Bina, freedom, Yovel [50^th year anniversary], and makes freedom for the entire world.

367) “Place me as a seal over your heart, as a seal on your arm, for love is as strong as death, jealousy is as harsh as Sheol.” “Place me as a seal.” When the Assembly of Israel, Malchut, clung to her husband, ZA, she said, “Place me as a seal.” Since I have clung unto you, my whole form will be engraved in you. And though I may roam to or fro, you will find my form engraved in you and you will remember me.

368) “As a seal on your arm,” as it is written, “His left under my head and his right shall embrace me,” so my form will be engraved there. By that I will forever be clung to you and will never be forgotten by you. “For love is as strong as death,” with a strong Gevura such as that place in which there is death. Love is the place called “Eternal love.”

369) “Jealousy is as harsh as Sheol,” as it is with love, since the names, “Love” and “jealousy” come from the left side. “Its flashes are flashes of fire.” “Flashes” are precious stones and gems that were born out of that fire, which are high degrees, from the flame that comes out from the upper world, from the left line of Bina, clinging to the Assembly of Israel, so all will be one unification. But the love and the flashes of the fire of the heart follow you, may our form be engraved in your heart as your form is engraved in ours.

(înapoi la pagina ZOHAR CUPRINS / MIŞPATIM – click)