When They Went, They Went

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405) “When they went, they went, and when they stood, they stood.” “When they went”—the animals, when the animals go, the Ophanim will go. Hence, “When they went, they went, and when they stood, they stood,” since all the journeys of the Ophanim are in the journeys of the animals. Their existence is not in their own place, but depends entirely on the animals. The animals and the Ophanim go together.

406) 24 lintels—the hollows of the openings of the upper guards—are within a lintel that is on the east. That opening is guarded by 24 guards, hidden within the power of the flame that surrounds and encircles inside the lintel on the east. A lintel means a hollow.

407) There are 24 bases under them, and 24 pillars stand on the bases. Those are the ones who always stand and never fly in the air like the others. They are called “standing,” as it is written, “And I will give you access among these that stand.” Those are the pillars that stand on those bases, turning in them, to exist in their places.

The four animals from Chazeh de ZA and above have 12 Panim [face/faces] to them. This is because although there are Panim of a man in each, still, all her Malchuts from Chazeh and above are considered HGT de Malchut: lion, ox, and eagle. Malchut herself, from Chazeh down, is missing there. Thus, there are four animals—ox, eagle, lion, and man—and in each there are only HGT, from Chazeh and above: lion, ox, and eagle, which are 12 Panim. However, the same 12 Behinot exist from Chazeh and below, as well, though they are only ox, eagle, lion, and man that have an outline of a man’s face, which is the Nun of SHANAN [acronym for Shor (ox), Nesher (eagle), Arieh (lion), and Nun should have been Adam (man)], and not the actual Panim of a man. These are the 12 in Malchut, and they are called Ophanim.

Those two times 12 in ZA and in Malchut are included in one another, becoming 24. Hence, there are 24 Behinot in ZA, and 24 Behinot in Malchut, animals and Ophanim in ZA, and animals and Ophanim in Malchut. Also, only the animals in ZA consist of 24, and only the Ophanim consist of 24. It is likewise with the animals and Ophanim in Malchut. Those animals and Ophanim are also called “Pillars and bases,” where pillars are animals, and the bases are Ophanim. They are also called “lintels and guards,” where lintels are bases and Ophanim, and guards are pillars and animals. It is so because the lintels are hollows and the guards are in them, like the pillar stakes inside the hollows of the bases.

It was said, 24 lintels—the hollows of the openings of the upper guards—are within a lintel that is on the east,” in ZA, who is the east. It is so because the lintel consists of HG TM, in each of which are HGT, which are 12. When included with the 12 in Malchut, they are 24. It was said, “That opening is guarded by 24 guards, hidden within the power of the flame that surrounds and encircles inside the lintel on the east.” The lintel is bases, the forces of Din that appear on the left line. This is why it calls it here “The power of the flame,” for the guards, the pillars, are hidden from ZA in the flame on the east. This is why he explained the 24 pillars and 24 bases of ZA, and now he explains the 24 pillars and 24 bases of Malchut.

Below the pillars and the bases of ZA there are also 24 bases, and 24 pillars stand on the bases, just as in ZA, since they are included in one another. But the difference is that the pillars and bases of ZA, which are the lintels and the guards, fly in the air—flying and traveling by the order of three lines in three places: in the entrance of the Yod in the Ohr [light] instead of the Holam, making it Avir [air], and in the exit of the Yod from the Avir in the place of the Shuruk. But the pillars and bases of Malchut do not fly in the air because Malchut does not do any work, but receives the three lines in ZA. Hence, they are at rest in her, standing.

Yet, this does not mean that the pillars and the bases, the animals and the Ophanim in Malchut are always standing in her. Rather, there are two states in Malchut:

1. Malchut in VAK, when HGT NHY de ZA illuminate in her. At that time her animals and Ophanim, which are animals and Ophanim de ZA, are regarded as flying in the air as in ZA.
2. Malchut in the state of the seventh day, when she obtains NHY de Kelim and GAR of lights until she dresses upper Ima. At that time she illuminates from upper Ima by herself, and her pillars and bases are at rest, not flying in the air like the pillars and bases of ZA. Here he is speaking of the second state of ZA.

The distinction between lintels and guards explains the difference between the tabernacle that Moses, ZA, did, and the Temple that Solomon, Malchut, built. The tabernacle is VAK de Malchut, and Moses built it with his VAK, HGT NHY de ZA. This is why the pillars and the bases in the tabernacle are not at rest, but are taken apart in each journey and reassembled at each stop, as do the animals and the Ophanim of ZA, who travel from place to place. But the Temple that Solomon built was in GAR, as on the Sabbath, when her pillars and bases stand in everlasting rest, since then her own Behina illuminated in a clothing for upper Ima. At that time, Solomon, Malchut, is called “a man of rest.”

408) When those pillars stand in their places, all the rulers that stand on them, the guards in ZA, hover and fly throughout the world and watch with the eyes. Those who listen to the voices raise words above, as it is written, “For a bird of the sky will carry the sound.” For this reason, those bases always exist. They divide into seeing, meaning Hochma, and hearing a sound, which is Hassadim. Some of them are dominated by Hassadim, and some are dominated by the Hochma.

409) It is written, “When they went, they went,” meaning when the animals went. “And when they were lifted up from the earth, the Ophanim were lifted up beside them.” As the animals journey and rise, so do the Ophanim. “For the spirit of the animal is in the Ophanim,” meaning the spirit of holiness, Malchut, blowing and striking all the Ophanim so they will go. It follows that anyone who is at a high degree carries the one who carries him. The ark carried those who carried it, and here too, the animals were carrying the Ophanim.

410) Why is it written, “The spirit of the animal was in the Ophanim, and not “The spirit of the animals”? And where does it imply that the animals were carrying the Ophanim? Also, animal means four animals, since it is on the right side and on the left side, on the front side, and in the rear. That is, four Sefirot HG TM in the animals, which are right, left, front, and back, considered four animals. This is why it is an animal, and this is the four animals, which are the same.

411) It is written, “This is the animal that I saw beneath the God of Israel by the river Chebar.” This is the squared animal to the four sides of the world, HG TM, and it is the chair, Malchut, for the form of man, ZA, who is HaVaYaH filled with Alephs, as it is written, “And on the image of the chair, an image resembling a man atop it from above.” It is all for the high, holy, and hidden degree, called “the God of Israel,” Bina. “This is the animal that I saw,” meaning Malchut, on which ZA, man, was riding, and both under the God of Israel, Bina.

412) “This is the animal,” the animal below, Malchut, standing under all the upper, holy animals, HGTM de ZA, man, since there are superior animals one atop the other; the upper animals of ZA atop the animals of Malchut. The throne under the God of Israel is the form of Jacob, ZA, a throne for Bina, who is called “the God of Israel.” The lower throne, under ZA, is the form of David, Malchut, squared to the four sides of the world. For this reason, a spirit comes out from above, from Bina, emerging and drawn from degree to degree, from Bina to ZA, and from ZA to Malchut until it strikes those lower ones below, in BYA. That spirit leads everything and corrects the corrections of everything to be corrected.

413) In that very way it was established below in the tabernacle. It is written above, “For the spirit of the animal was in the Ophanim.” And it is written, “Wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go.” And below it is written, “And Moses established the tabernacle, becoming a spirit for the degree below, the tabernacle, in the form of the upper spirit. It is written about it, “This is the animal that I saw beneath the God of Israel,” as from this animal, a spirit comes out to correct everything. Moses is the animal that gives the spirit below in the tabernacle, to correct everything. This is why it is written, “And arose,” “And gave,” “And placed,” for in all there is the spirit to correct everything.

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