Beresheet Bet [Genesis 2]
2-3) The Creator crowned Adam HaRishon with high crowns, with Mochin de GAR, and created him in the six edges of the world, in Mochin de VAK, so he would be complete in everything. All the animals dreaded and feared him because when Adam HaRishon was created, he was created in the high form, and the people would look at that form and dread and fear him.
Afterwards, the Creator admitted him into the Garden of Eden to be refined there in sublime delights. High angels surrounded him, served him, and informed him the secrets of their Master. When the Creator admitted him into the Garden of Eden, he saw and beheld from there all the high secrets and all the wisdom so he would be able to know and to behold the glory of his Master. All of it came to Adam HaRishon because he was created in the upper form, that of Bina.
7) Those who attain the Malchut in the palaces are the righteous who did not replace the glory of their Master with other gods, who attain the Malchut, as it is written, “A virtuous woman is the crown of her husband.” It is so because the power of Malchut’s faith is that one who attains it is rewarded with Dvekut [adhesion] with his Maker, with always fearing Him, and never straying to the right or to the left.
24) The palace of the Hassidim [pious] whose quality is “What’s mine is yours and what’s yours is yours,” meaning to bestow and not to receive.
That palace is superior to all the palaces because the degree of Hesed is the highest of the six Sefirot HGT NHY. It is a palace that stands above all the palaces. It is impossible to be rewarded with that palace unless one has been completed in all the degrees in the palaces below. It is considered as though he was relying and standing over their degrees. It is the palace of the right because the degree of Hesed is considered the right line and there is no one to attain it except for those holy Hassidim and all those who love their Master with great love. At the palace door stand all those who unified for their Maker each day, who extend each day the disclosure of the unity of the Creator from Ein Sof to the Sefirot and to all the worlds. They are the first to rise from there to higher palaces.
60) Rabbi Shimon says, “I have found in the books of the ancients the order by which to tie the degrees, which are the secrets of secrets, in one connection, meaning the explanations of the seven palaces.”
A connection means unification of two degrees or more in one another so they illuminate together in a joint illumination to the lower ones. Sometimes, the prayer must be ordered properly and unify unifications to mitigate and appease his Master properly, to tear the firmaments and to open the gates and the doors, and there will be no one to protest against him, meaning that the slanderers will not be able to slander him.
Firmaments mean ends of Tzimtzum Bet that halve the degrees and leave them in VAK without GAR. The three worlds BYA came out of Atzilut and became the worlds of separation, as well as the constant, except when the righteous raise MAN through work and good deeds, extending illumination of Tzimtzum Aleph from above, from Tabur de AK. At that time that illumination lowers the firmament from the place of Bina back to the place of Malchut, as she is in Tzimtzum Aleph, and Bina and TM de Kelim return to their degree, complementing the ten Sefirot de Kelim and GAR of lights. Likewise, the three worlds BYA become Atzilut once more.
Thus, through their work, the righteous cancel the boundaries of Katnut, called “firmaments,” and extend the Mochin de Gadlut. That matter is considered that they tear the firmaments, as it was said, “To tear the firmaments,” meaning they tear and cancel the boundaries of Katnut, which elicit the three worlds BYA to separation from Atzilut and return them to Atzilut.
96-97) All the degrees need each other to complement one another and illuminate in one another until they all rise to the place that requires wholeness.
First, they rise from below to complement the upper place, then they come down from above downward to complement the lower ones, then wholeness is made from all sides, and all are completed as it should be.
One who knows these secrets and makes the wholeness above and below clings to his Master and revokes all the harsh decrees. He crowns his Master, extending GAR to ZA, and extends blessings to the world. This is the man who is called “righteous,” “the pillar of the world.” That is, the world stands and exists because of him. His prayer is not returned empty; he is answered in all his prayers, his portion is in the next world, and he is counted among those with faith. That is, he is counted among those with faith who are in the world.
103) It is written, “There was no joy before Him as on the day when heaven and earth were created.” This means that all the people of the world are in utter wholeness, to such an extent that there has never been such joy before Him. However, a person cannot take part in that great joy unless he has made complete repentance from love. Before that, he will not rejoice at all with himself or with the people of the world. On the contrary, he feels before him a world full of sorrow and pain, and all of that came to him because he is going against the nature of creation, since the world was created only in bestowal, to engage in Torah and good deeds in order to bestow contentment to one’s Maker, and not for one’s own pleasure. It is written, “All the works of the Creator are for Him,” so that people would bestow contentment upon Him. But in the beginning, “A man is born a wild ass’ colt,” whose sole interest is his own delight and who has none of the desire to bestow. He argues, “All the works of the Creator are for me, for my own delight,” since he wishes to devour the entire world for his own good and benefit.
Hence, the Creator imprinted bitter and harsh afflictions in self-reception, instilled in man from the moment of his birth—bodily pains and emotional pains—so that if he engages in Torah and Mitzvot even for his own pleasure, through the light in it he will still feel the lowliness and the terrible corruptness in the nature of receiving for self. At that time he will resolve to retire from that nature of reception and will become completely devoted to working only in order to bestow contentment upon his Maker. Then the Creator will open his eyes and he will see before him a world filled with utter perfection in which there are no deficiencies whatsoever. Then he partakes in the joy of the Creator as at the time of the creation of the world it was said, “If he is rewarded, he sentences himself and the entire world favorably,” for wherever he casts his eyes, he sees only good and only perfection, and he does not see any faults at all in the works of the Creator, only merits.
103) There are two ways in the corporeal and spiritual afflictions that a man suffers before he repents:
1) All that the Creator does, He does for the best. He sees that were it not for the terrible pains that he suffered for being immersed in the nature of reception for himself, he would never have been rewarded with repentance. Therefore, he blesses for the bad as he blesses for the good, since without the bad he would not be rewarded with the good, as well. It follows that all are causing good.
2) That, too, is for the best. Not only did the evils that were done cause good, but even the evils themselves have turned into good through very great lights that the Creator illuminates through all those evils until they are inverted into goods—both the bodily afflictions and the emotional afflictions, which are the transgressions. Thus, the demerits have been inverted and have taken on the form of merits.
124-125) The sixth palace is the spirit, called “the scarlet thread.”
The spirit is the will that all those lower spirits chase in order to obtain and cling to it with a kiss of love. That palace is the palace of desire, since it is the desire of all, the one who ties ties, who unifies unifications and raises the lower palaces to that palace. It is he who yields good will from the Creator with love.
140) One who knows how to tie that unification is happy. He is loved above and loved below; the Creator sentences and he revokes.
Is it conceivable that the righteous would slander his Master’s will, that he would revoke the will of the Creator? It is not. Rather, when the righteous ties and knows how to unify unifications, all the faces illuminate and all the wholeness is found, and everything is blessed properly, all the Dinim are removed and cancelled, and there is no Din in the world. Happy is he in this world and in the next world. It follows that the meaning of the Creator sentencing and the righteous revoking is through many lights that the righteous extends through the unifications that he makes, and those lights cancel the decrees and Dinim from the world. Everything we said about the righteous is what he does below in this world. This is why it is written about him, “A righteous is the foundation of the world,” since the righteous is the existence of the world.
141-143) The priests extend right and the Levites extend left. One without the other is incomplete. A palace enters a palace, spirit in spirit, until all bond in their rightful places, organ to organ, rising to Atzilut, to ZON, and each Behina of ZA bonds with its corresponding Behina in the palaces, and they complement one another through Zivug de Yesodot. They unite in one another until they become one through Zivug de Neshikin [a coupling of kissing] and illuminate in one another through the embrace.
Then the highest soul of all comes from above and illuminates upon them, and all the candles, the Sefirot, shine in full as it should be, until that upper light awakens and all the palaces enter the holy of holies, the seventh palace, in a Zivug of seventh in seventh. The seventh palace is blessed and filled like a well of springing waters that do not stop, and all the palaces are blessed above and below.
Here is the secret of secrets, a light that is not known and does not enter the count of the ten Sefirot, the desire that is never captured, meaning the light of Yechida. It is so because the ten Sefirot begin with Hochma, HBD HGT NHYM, mitigated completely, and that desire is neither known nor perceived even in the thought to know it. Then all the degrees unite and become one desire through Ein Sof, since when the light of Yechida mitigates and fully clothes the degrees, all the degrees unite in its illumination and become one desire, united, through Ein Sof, and all is in completeness from above and from below, from the very inside, until all become one.
151) “And there was evening and there was morning.” “And there was evening” extends from the side of darkness, the Nukva. “And there was morning” extends from the side of light, ZA. Since ZA and Nukva partake together in a Zivug, it is written about them, “One day,” indicating that the evening and morning are as one body, and both make the day, meaning that the light of day comes from the Zivug of ZA and Nukva together.
Each day it is written, “And there was evening and there was morning,” since it indicates Zivug ZON, that the light of day comes out of both. Thus, after the text notified it on the first day, what is the point that on each day, it is written, “And there was evening and there was morning”?
The text announces it to us repeatedly each day to indicate that it is impossible that it will ever happen that there will be light of day without prior darkness of the night. And likewise, there will not be darkness of the night that does not bring after it the light of day, since they never part from one another.
174) “And God saw all that He had done.” Did He not see what He had done before? But it is written, “And God saw all that He had done,” which means that He saw only after He had done. However, the Creator saw everything—both what He had already done, and before it was done. But the verse comes to add that He saw all the future generations and all that was to be innovated in the world in each generation, even before they would come to the world. The verse, “That He had done” means the whole work of creation because in the work of creation, the foundation and root of all that would come and be innovated in the world was created. This is why the Creator saw even before it came to be, and placed everything in the work of creation, since the work of creation is the foundation and root of all that would be. For this reason, the Creator included in them seeing all the future that would come to the world throughout the generations.
Our sages said about the verse, “And to say unto Zion, ‘You are My people,’” with Me in partnership; I began the worlds and you finish them, since the Creator established the whole of reality in a way that people could complete the correction. And since the end of correction was left for people, they are partners in creation.
This is why there are two discernments in heaven and earth: 1) That which the Emanator has already corrected. This is called “the work of creation.” 2) The new heaven and earth, which are to appear after the end of correction, as it is written, “The new heaven and the new earth.”
176-177) The Creator created the man in the world and corrected them so he would be whole in his work and correct his ways so he would be rewarded with the upper light that the Creator had concealed for the righteous. It is written about it, “Neither has the eye seen a God besides You,” meaning the hidden light, “Will do for the one who awaits Him,” meaning the righteous.
By what will the man be rewarded with that hidden light? He will be rewarded with it through engagement in Torah, since anyone who engages in Torah each day will be rewarded with a part in the next world. It will be considered for him as though he built worlds, since the world was built and perfected with the Torah, as it is written, “The Lord established the earth with wisdom, set up the heaven with intelligence,” the wisdom and intelligence of the Torah. It is also written, “And I was with Him as a master craftsman,” meaning that the Torah was His craftsman to create the world. The Creator made the world with spirit, and the world persists with spirit, by the spirit of those who study the Torah.
189-190) In the Shema reading, a person should unify his Master and tie ties of faith in the heart’s desire. When he reaches Ehad [one], he should aim in the Aleph of Ehad, which is hidden and more ancient than all, the Sefira Keter de ZA. In the Het of Ehad he should aim with the eight upper degrees, which are from upper Hochma through Tzadik [righteous], Yesod. In the big Dalet of Ehad, he should aim to cling to the Assembly of Israel, Malchut, David’s portion, who is called “poor and meager,” when Malchut is not attached to ZA, when she is now attached to those upper degrees implied in the Aleph-Het of Ehad, which are from Keter through Yesod de ZA. At that time Malchut is great, and this is implied by the big Dalet in Ehad, and the whole world nurses from her. And the breasts are as towers because the whole world nurses from them when Divinity says, “I am a wall and my breasts are as towers. Then I was in His eyes as one who has found peace.”
When the Assembly of Israel, Malchut, is in exile with her sons among the nations of the world, she is called “small,” as it is written, “We have a little sister.” When Israel cling to the Torah and walk on the path of truth, Malchut is filled with abundance, peace, Yesod bonds with Malchut, and she replies and says, “I am a wall and my breasts are as towers,” meaning they are big and full of bounty for the world. At that time, when He bonds with me, then, “And peace.” He interprets the Aleph of Az [then] as the most holy Atik. Keter, the Zayin of Az, is seven degrees from Hochma to Hod, and “peace” is called Tzadik, Yesod. Because those degrees bond with me, I was in His eyes as one who has found peace. The eyes are seven degrees, ZAT de Hochma, called “eyes of the Lord,” “Face of the Lord,” and then there is peace to the world and Hesed de Atik is in the place of male and female, ZA and Malchut. This is why Moses commanded in the Torah and said, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one,” tying all the ties of faith.
205) “He who marries his daughter.” As long as she did not enter her husband, her father and mother fix her and give her everything she needs. Once she has connected with her husband, the husband nourishes her and gives her what she needs. In the beginning, it is written, “And the Lord built,” when AVI established her. Then it is written “And brought her to the man,” to connect with one another and so the husband would give her what she needs.
217-219) “And the man said, ‘This time.’” These are words of sweetness, to extend love with her and draw her to his will, to evoke love in her. See how pleasant these words are, how they evoke love. These words—“A bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh”—to show her that they are one and there is no separation whatsoever between them.
Now he began to praise her, “She shall be called ‘a woman,’ for there are none other like her, the glory of the house. All the women compared to her are as a monkey before a man, but she shall be called ‘a woman,’ she and none other.” The name “woman” indicates the fire of the Lord, the wholeness of illumination of the left, called “fire,” which is connected to the letter Hey, the Nukva. This is why he praised her, “She shall be called ‘a woman,’” for because of the illumination of Hochma that illuminates in her after she has been included in her husband’s Hassadim, she is given the name “woman,” which is illumination of Hochma, called “fire,” as it is written, “And the light of the Lord shall become fire.”
It was said, “Woman” because fire is connected to Hey [Esh (fire) + Hey make up Isha (woman)]. It is her, and there are none other like her, since the illumination of Hochma is not revealed at any degree except hers.
“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh,” to extend her with love and to cling to her, since he has been awakened toward her with all those things.
226) When he comes to his home, he should make his wife happy because it is his wife who caused him that upper Zivug. This is so because through the road-prayer that he prayed while still at his home, when he was in wholeness because he was in male and female, he was rewarded with the high Zivug on the road. Thus, his wife caused him the high Zivug on the road—the instilling of Divinity. When he comes to her, he should make her happy for two reasons: because of the joy of the Zivug, for that Zivug is a joy of Mitzva, and the joy of Mitzva is the joy of Divinity.
229) Disciples of the wise depart from their wives all the days of the week so they would not idle away from engagement in the Torah. The high Zivug mates in them and Divinity does not part from them so they would be male and female. When the Sabbath begins, the disciples of the wise must make their wives happy for the glory of the upper Zivug, for they cause a high Zivug for imparting of souls and must aim their hearts with the will of their Master.
230) Come and see. When a person is in his home, the essence of the house is his wife, since Divinity is in the house thanks to his wife.
259-266) The secret of the wisdom in the holy unification—the bottom Hey of the holy name, the Nukva—is the light of azure and black that connects in Yod-Hey-Vav, ZA, the illuminating white light.
Sometimes the azure light is Dalet, sometimes it is Hey. When Israel do not adhere to her below, to light her and connect her with the white light, she is regarded as the letter Dalet. When Israel awaken her, raising MAN to bond with the white light, she is called Hey.
It is written, “If there be a virgin damsel,” but it writes “damsel” without a Hey since she did not connect to the male, and wherever there are no male and female, there is no Hey there. This is why it is written “damsel” without a Hey, and the Hey went up from there, leaving the Nukva in the letter Dalet, indicating meagerness and poverty.
When she unites with the illuminating white light, she is called Hey, since then everything is connected as one—the Nukva clings to the white light, and Israel cling to her, standing below her to light her through the MAN that ELEH raise. Then, everything is one because ZA and Nukva conjoined and Israel raise MAN to the Nukva to light her and to connect her with ZA, for without their MAN she would not connect. Then they bond with them as well because all the measure that the lower one causes in the upper one, it is rewarded with it, as well, and then the Creator, His Divinity, and Israel become one.
This is the offering, the smoke that rises from the fire, evoking the azure light to be lit up. When it lights, it connects to the white light. The candle, Divinity, is lit in one unification, clinging to the white light and to smoke, and the three of them become one.
And because it is the conduct of this azure light to consume and to burn all that clings below it, when there is a time of good will and the candle burns in one unification, it is written, “Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt-offering.” And then, when everything burned beneath it, it is known that the candle, Divinity, burns in one bonding and one unification, since the azure light clung to the white light, and it is one. How are they one? The azure light, the Nukva, connected with the white light, ZA, and both became one. Likewise, the azure light burns and consumes beneath it fats and offerings. This means that it does not consume and burn under it, but rather rises to the white light. It follows that everything—the smoke and the azure light—were connected and bonded with the white light, and then peace extended through all the worlds, and everything was connected in one unification.
And once the azure light completed burning and consuming everything beneath it, priests and Levites and Israelites come and cling to it with joy of songs—the poet Levites—with the aim of the heart—the priests—and with prayer—Israel. And the candle, Divinity, burns over them and illuminates, the lights cling as one, the worlds illuminate, and the upper and lower are blessed.
Then it is said about Israel, “And you who cleave to the Lord your God are alive everyone of you this day.”
318) Where a person walks, and in that way to which he has clung, so he extends on himself an appointed force that walks opposite him. If he walks in a good way, he extends upon him an appointed force from the side of Kedusha that assists him. If he walks in a bad way, he extends upon him an evil force from the side of Tuma’a that harms him.
326-327) When a man walks on the path of truth, he goes to the right and extends upon himself the upper spirit of holiness from above. That spirit becomes for him a holy desire to unite above and to cling to the upper Kedusha so it will never cease from him. When a person walks on the bad way and his ways lean from the straight path, he extends upon him the spirit of Tuma’a on the left, which defiles him and he is defiled in it, as it is written, “And you shall not make yourselves impure with them and you were defiled in them.” He who comes to defile is defiled.
368-369) “He created them male and female.” This means that any form in which there are no male and female is not a high form as it should be. Wherever you do not find a male and a female together, the Creator’s abode is not there. There are blessings only in a place where there are male and female, as it is written, “And He blessed them and called their name ‘man’ on the day when they were created.” It is not written, “And He blessed him and called his name ‘man,’” teaching you that he is not called even by the name “man” unless a male and a female are together.
445-446) Any man who fears the Creator, faith is with him properly because that man is complete in the work of his Master. One in whom there is no fear of his Master, faith is not in him and he is not worthy of having a portion for the next world.
Happy are the righteous in this world and in the next world because the Creator desires their glory. “The path of the righteous is as the light of dawn.” What is “As the light of dawn”? It is as that light that illuminates, which the Creator created in the work of creation. It is the light that the Creator hid for the righteous for the next world. It shines stronger and stronger because it always rises in its light and is never deficient.
New Zohar, Beresheet Bet [Genesis 2]
5) It is written, “How plentiful is Your goodness, which You have hidden for those who fear You.” This is the first light that the Creator hid for the righteous, for those who fear sin, as it is written, “And there was evening,” on the part of darkness, “And there was morning,” on the part of light. And when they conjoin, “One day.”
Although the first light was concealed through the middle line, He still did not intend to hide it altogether. On the contrary, He intended that by concealing, that light could illuminate to the righteous who fear sin. Since they are careful to receive that light from below upward—for there is wholeness only by the illumination of Hassadim on the right together with the Hochma on the left—then the joy of all is in the middle line that unites them. This is why it ends, “And there was evening,” on the part of darkness, the left line, “And there was morning,” on the part of light, the right line, and when they conjoin through the middle line, it is written, “One day,” which is all the wholeness and unity.