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20 17 15מהות הדת ומטרתה:

2126מהותה של חכמת הקבלה:

2932333436מאמר לסיום הזהר:

445257הקדמה לספר הזהר:

8182ענין שכינתא בגלותא:

83סבת הכבידות בעבודה:

89סמכין בתורה:

9192עניין לשמה:

93זמן העליה:

94אוהבי ה' שנאו רע:

100אם אין אני לי מי לי:

1023-102הליכה על דרך האמת:

106ענין שיתוף מדת הרחמים בדין:

112114מתן תורה:

119120הערבות:

1685-184 ב'167 א'167 ב'166 א'1595-164166הקדמה לתלמוד עשר הספירות:3-192196198

2362371-240242246:הקדמה לפנים מאירות ומסבירות

268:הקדמה לספר פי חכם

272:הקדמה לפתיחה לחכמת הקבלה

מהות הדת ומטרתה

15

Therefore you tell me, how is it possible, that a child of twelve or thirteen years of age, can already thoroughly grasp these subtle notions, and so sufficiently, that he will need to add no further concepts and knowledge in these matters for the rest of his life?

Indeed, here lays the problem! For this rash assumption brought with it all the recklessness and wild conclusions that have come into our world in our generation! And it brought us to a state where the second generation has almost completely slipped from under our hands.

17Thus it is evident that His guidance over the reality that He has created is in the form

of Particular Guidance, without taking into account the order of the phases of development, for they deceive us and prevent us from understanding their purpose, being always in an opposite position to their final shape.

Thus we have thoroughly shown the conducts of His providence in our world, which is only a purposeful care. That the attribute of goodness is not apparent before the coming of the creature to completeness, to its final ripeness. On the contrary, it rather always takes a form of corruption in the eyes of the beholders. Thus you see that God bestows upon His creatures only goodness, but that goodness comes by way of purposeful care.

20Thus we have thoroughly shown that the purpose of religion is only for the individual

who delves in it, and not at all for the use and benefit of common people, although all his actions revolve around the benefit of people and are measured by these acts. But that is but a passage to the sublime goal, which is equality with the Maker. And now we can comprehend that the purpose of religion is collected while living in this world. And examine closely in The Giving of the Torah, the matter of the purpose of the whole and the purpose of the individual.

חזרה לתוכן

מהותה של חכמת הקבלה

21That question comes to the mind of every right-minded person. In order to properly

address it, I will provide a reliable and lasting definition, that this wisdom is no more and no less, than a sequence of roots, which hang down by way of cause and consequence, with fixed, determined rules, interweaving to a single, exalted goal described as – “the revelation of His Godliness to His creatures in this world.”

26It works the other way around, that the lower is studied from the higher. Meaning that

one must first attain the upper roots, the way they truly are in spirituality, above any imagery, but with pure attainment. And once he has thoroughly attained the upper roots

through his own mind, he may observe the tangible branches of this world and know how each relates to its root in the upper world, in order, in quality and quantity.

חזרה לתוכן

מאמר לסיום הזהר

29There is a Mocha (intellect) and a Liba (heart) in the above equivalence of form. And

the practice of Torah and Mitzvoth in order to bring contentment to his Maker is an intellectual one. For just as the Creator does not think of Himself, if He exists, or if He watches over His creatures and other such doubts, so he who wants to obtain equivalence of form must not think of these things, which the Creator obviously does not contemplate, for there is no greater change of form than that. Therefore, he who thinks of those things, is certainly separated from Him and will never obtain equivalence of form.

But we must not ask, how can one do only for one’s fellow man, for he must provide for one’s family? The answer is: All those things that he does out of necessity, meaning in order to receive the little that he must have for his existence, that necessity is neither praised nor condemned, and it is not in any way considered that he does something for himself.

32This is a clear proof, that our generation has already come to the days of the Messiah.

For our eyes do see that all the commentaries on the Zohar that preceded us did not even comment on as much as 10 percent of the difficult places in the Zohar. And the in little they did explain, they are almost as vague as the Zohar itself. But in our generation we have been blessed with the Sulam commentary, which is a complete explanation on the entire Zohar. And not only does it not leave a single thing unexplained in the entire Zohar, the explanations are also based on the simple intellectual mind, such that any intermediate reader can understand. And because the Zohar has been revealed in this generation, it is a clear proof that we are in the days of the Messiah, in the beginning of that generation about which it is said: “And the whole earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord.”

33Know, that redemption and the complete attainment are bound together. And the

proof is, that anyone who has some knowledge in the secrets of Torah, has relevance to the Land of Israel. Therefore, we were not promised that “the whole earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord”, but only at the end of days, meaning at the time of redemption.

Hence, just when the attainment is complete, we still do not attain reception, but only giving, which renders the power to come to complete attainment, so it is with the matter of redemption, that we have not attained yet, but only as giving. Because it is a fact that the Creator delivered our holy land from the aliens and returned it to us. Yet we still have

not received the land into our own authority, because the time for the reception has not come yet, as we’ve explained about the perfection of the attainment.

He has given, but we have not received yet. For we have are not economically and independent, and there is no political independence without economical independence. Furthermore: there is no redemption of the body without a redemption of the mind. And as long as the majority of the people is immersed in foreign cultures of the nations, and are incapable for the religion and the culture of Israel, then their bodies are also captive under the alien forces. In this aspect, the land is still in the hands of strangers.

Thus, although the Creator delivered the land from the government of the nations and gave it to us, we still have not received it, and do not enjoy it. But in this giving, the Creator gave us a chance for redemption, meaning to cleanse and purify and take upon ourselves the work of God in the Torah and Mitzvot Lishma (for Her name). Then the temple will be built and we will receive the land to our government and feel and rejoice and the joy of redemption.

It turns out, that this generation is the generation of the days of the Messiah. Hence, we were given the delivery of our holy land from aliens. We were also blessed with the discovery of the Zohar, which is the beginning of the fulfilling of the verse, “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD… …and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying: 'Know the LORD'; for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them.” But in those two we have only been blessed with giving from the Lord, but we still have received anything into our own hands. We are only given a chance to commence in the work of God, to practice Torah and Mitzvot lishma, at which time we will succeed as much as it is promised to the generation of the Messiah, something previous generations did not know about. And then we will receive them both: the complete attainment and the complete redemption.

34And when one sees that one’s environment disrespects one’s work of God, and do not

properly appreciate His greatness, one cannot overcome the environment. And he too cannot attain His greatness, but also regards his work as unimportant. And because he has not the basis of the attainment of His greatness, it is understood that he cannot work to give contentment to his Maker, rather than for himself. That is because he has no fuel for the work in the form of “If you labour and do not find, do not believe.” And one has no other counsel but to either work for himself, or not work at all, because bestowal upon his Maker will not serve his as reception in every way.

36And in order to accept the first condition, every student must feel that he is the

smallest among the friends. And then he can receive the appreciation of the greatness from every one. That is because the great cannot receive from the smaller, much less be impressed with his words, but only the small can be impressed with the appreciation of the great.

And for the second condition, every student must increase the virtue of each friend and regard him as though he was the greatest of his time. Then the environment will act upon him as a great environment should, for quality is more important than quantity.

חזרה לתוכן

הקדמה לספר הזהר

44Indeed, when everyone has only the will to receive for himself, from here originate

the pains, the wars and slaughter which we cannot escape. They weaken our bodies with all sorts of sores and maladies and you find that all the agonies in our world are but manifestations that are offered to our eyes, so as to push us to annul the evil shell of the body and take on the complete form of the will to receive. And it is as we’ve said, that the Path of Pain in itself can bring us to the desired form. Bear in mind that the Mitzvot (precepts) between man and his friends come before the Mitzvot between man and God, because the bestowal to his friend brings him to bestow to his Maker.

52When man is born, he immediately receives a holy soul. But not an actual soul, but

the posterior of it, meaning its last category, which is called a “point” because of it smallness. And it dresses in a man’s heart, meaning in his will to receive, which is found primarily in a man’s heart.

And know this rule, for all that you’ll find in reality in general, you will also find in every world, even in the smallest particles of it. That just as there are five worlds in reality, which are the five sfirot KCBTM, so there are five sfirot KCBTM in each and every world, and there are five sfirot in the smallest particle of that world.

5757) Now you can understand the aridity and the darkness that have befallen us in this

generation, such as we have never seen before. It is because even the worshipers of the Lord have abandoned the study of the secrets of the Torah.

The RAMBAM has said about this: if a line of a thousand blind walk along the way, and there is at least one amongst them who can see, they are sure to take the right path and not fall in the pits and obstacles along the way, since they take after the sighted leader. But if there is no such person, they will undoubtedly stumble over every hurdle on the way and fall into the pit.

And so it is with the issue before us. Even if only the worshipers of the Lord were dealing with the internality of the Torah and were to extend a complete light from infinity, the whole generation would follow them, and everyone would be sure to succeed. But if the worshipers of the Lord have distanced themselves from this wisdom, it is no wonder the whole generation is failing because of them. And because of my great sorrow I can pursue it no further!

58) Indeed I have known the reason: that it is mainly because faith has generally diminished, especially faith in the holy men, the wise men of all generations. And the books of Kabbalah and the Zohar are full of corporeal parables. Therefore people are afraid lest they will fail with materializing and will lose more than they will gain. And that is which prompted me to compose a thorough interpretation to the writings of the ARI and now to the holy Zohar. And I have removed completely that concern, for I have proven the spiritual message behind everything, which is abstract and devoid of all physical resemblance, above space and time as the readers shall see, in order to allow all of Israel to study the Zohar and be warmed by its sacred light.

And I have named that commentary The Sulam (ladder), to show that the purpose of it is, as with every ladder – that if you have an attic full of goods, then all you need is a ladder to reach it, and then all the bounty of the world is in your hands. But the ladder is not a purpose in and of itself, for if you pause midway and not enter the attic, the purpose will not be fulfilled.

And so it is with my commentary to the Zohar. Because there has not yet been created the way to clarify these most profound of words. But nonetheless I have constructed a path and an entrance for all, that using it they can rise and scrutinize in depth the book of Zohar itself, for only then will my purpose of this commentary be completed.

59) And all those who know the ins and outs of the holy book of Zohar, that is who understand what is written in it, unanimously agree that it was composed by the Godly Tanna (sage) Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. Only those who are far from this wisdom doubt this origin and tend to say, relying on opponents’ fabricated tales that its composer is Rabbi Moshe De Leon, or others of his time.

60) And as for me, since the day I have been endowed with a glance into this holy book through the light of God, it has not crossed my mind to question its origin, for the simple reason that the content of the book brings to my heart the merit of the Tanna Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai far more than all other sages. And if I were to clearly see that its composer is some other name, such as Rabbi Moshe De Leon, than I would praise his merit more than all other sages, including Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.

Indeed, judging by the depth of the wisdom of this book, if I were to find that its writer is one of the forty-eight prophets, I would have found it a lot more acceptable than to relate it to one of the sages, and even more so if I were to find that Moses himself received it from the Lord on Mt. Sinai. Then my mind would really be at peace, for such a composition is worthy of him. Therefore, since I have been blessed with presenting an interpretation that enables every examiner to understand its content, I think I am completely excused from bringing myself into that examination. That is because any examiner of the Zohar will settle now for no less than the Tanna Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai as its writer.

61) That brings us to the question: why was the Zohar not revealed to the early generations, whose merit was undoubtedly greater than later ones and they were more

worthy? We must also ask, why was the commentary to the Zohar not revealed before the time of the ARI, why was it not revealed to his predecessors? And most perplexing of all: why were the words of the ARI and the commentary to the Zohar not revealed until today?

The answer is that the world, during the six thousand years of its existence, is like one partzuf that is divided into three parts: head, interior, end, meaning – CBD (Chochma, Binah, Da’at), CGT (Chesed, Gvurah, Tifferet), NHY (Netzah, Hod, Yesod). Or as our sages said: “Two thousand years of Tohu (chaos), two of Torah and two of the days of the Messiah. In the first two millenniums, which are as head or as CBD, the lights were very small, and they were regarded as a head without a body, which only has the light of Nefesh, because there is a contradicting virtue between lights and vessels: with vessels the rule is that the first vessels grow first in each partzuf, and with the lights it is the opposite – the smaller lights dress first in the partzuf.

Thus, as long as there are only the upper parts of the vessels, meaning the CBD vessels, only the light of Nefesh can dress in the partzuf, which are the smallest lights. That is what’s written about the first two millenniums, the Tohu years. And the second era of the world, which are vessels of CGT dresses the light of Ruach in the world, which is Torah. Therefore the middle millenniums are called Torah. And the last millenniums are vessels of NHYM (Netzah, Hod, Yesod, Malchut). Therefore at that time the light of Neshama dresses in the world, which is the greater light, hence the name – the days of the Messiah.

Each partzuf is built the same way: in its vessels of CBD, CGT, down to the chest, the lights are covered and the revealed mercies do not begin to light. That means that the appearance of the light of Chochma only occurs from the chest down, meaning in the NHYM. That is the reason that before the vessels of NHYM were revealed to the world, which are the last two millenniums, the wisdom of the Zohar in particular and the wisdom of the Kabbalah in general were concealed from the world.

But during the time of the ARI, when the time of the completion of the vessels below the chest had drawn closer, there revealed in the world the light of the sublime wisdom through the soul of the Godly Rabbi Itzhak Luria (the ARI), who was ready to receive that great light. And therefore he had discovered the primary issues in the book of Zohar and the wisdom of Kabbalah, until he overshadowed all his predecessors.

However, since these vessels were not as yet completed (since he passed away in 1572), the world was not yet worthy of discovering his words, and they were only told to a chosen few, who were prohibited to tell them to the world.

And now, in our time, when we are nearing the end of the last two millenniums, we are given the permission to reveal his words and the words of the Zohar throughout the world to a great measure, in such a way, that from our generation onwards the words of the Zohar will become more and more revealed in the world, until the full measure is discovered as God wills it.

63) Now you can understand that there really is no end to the merit of the first generations over the last, as that is the rule in all the partzufim (faces) either of the worlds or of the souls, that the finer is constructed first in the partzuf. Therefore the finer vessels of CBD were constructed first in the world and in the souls. Thus, the souls that

descended in the first two millenniums were much higher than the latter ones. Yet they could not receive the full light because they lacked the lower vessels in themselves and in the world, which are CGT NHYM.

And afterwards too, in the middle millenniums, when the vessels of CGT came to the world and to the souls, the souls were indeed in and of themselves very fine, because the merit of the vessels of CGT is very close to that of CBD. Yet the lights were still concealed in the world because of the absence of the vessels below the chest from the world and from the souls. Therefore in our generation, although the essence of the souls is the worst, which is why they could not be constructed until this day, however they are the vessels that complete the partzuf of the world and the partzuf of the souls from the vessels’ point of view, and the work is not completed but through them.

For now, when the vessels of NHY and all the vessels, head, interior, end are in the partzuf, full measures of light (head, interior, end) are now being extended to all those who are worthy. Therefore, only after the completion of these lowly souls can the supreme lights be revealed, and not before.

64) Indeed our sages have asked about this: “Rabbi Papa said to Avy: How were the first different that a miracle had happened to them, and how are we different that a miracle does not happen to us. Is it because of the study? During the years of Rabbi Yehuda the whole study was Nezikin (section of the Talmud – C.R.), whereas we are learning the whole Mishna. And when Rabbi Yehuda studied Okatzin he said – I find here the essence of Rav and Shmuel, whereas we are learning thirteen yeshivot in Okatzin. When Rabbi Yehuda took off one shoe the rain came, whereas we torment our souls and cry out, and no one notices. He replied: the first gave their souls to the sanctity of the Lord.

Thus, although it is obvious that the first were much greater than the last, from the Torah and the wisdom point of view, Rabbi Papa and Avy were merited more than the first. Thus we see that although the first generations were higher than the last in the essence of their souls, because the finer is constructed first, still the wisdom of the Torah reveals more and more in recent generations. And that is because – as we have said – the stature is being completed by the last generations, which is why more complete lights are extended to them, although their essence is far worse.

65) And we should not ask because of that: why then is it prohibited to disagree with the first in the revealed Torah? It is because as far as the practical part of the mitzvot is concerned - it is the opposite, meaning the first were more complete in them than the last. That is because the act extends from the sacred vessels of the sfirot and the secrets of the Torah and its ta’amim (tastes) are extended from the lights in the sfirot.

You already know that there is a contradicting value between lights and vessels – in the vessels the lights grow first, which is why the first are more complete in the practical part than the last. But with the lights, where the smaller lights come first, the last are more complete than the first.

66) Bear in mind, that everything has internality and externality. Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is generally considered the internality of the world, and the seventy nations are considered its externality. Within Israel also, there is internality, which are the wholehearted worshipers of the Lord, and externality, who do not devote themselves entirely to the work of God. And among the nations of the world as well there are internal parts, which are the Righteous of the Nations, and an external part, which are the rude and the destructive among them.

And also within the worshipers of the Lord that are within Israel, there is internality, which are those who are endowed with the comprehension of the soul of the internality of the Torah and its secrets, and externality, which are those who merely observe the actual part of the Torah. And in every man from Israel there is internality, which is the Israel within him, being the point in the heart, and externality, which is the Nations of the World within him, being the body itself. But even the Nations of the World within him are regarded proselytes, because by cleaving to his internality, they become like proselytes from the Nations of the World, who cleave to the whole of Israel

67) When a man from Israel enhances and dignifies his internality, which is the Israel in him, over his externality, being the Nations of the World in him, meaning that he dedicates the majority of his time and efforts to enhance and exalt his internality, for the good of his soul, and a minor effort, the mere necessity, to sustain his Nations of the World, meaning his bodily needs, as it says (Avot 1) - “make your Torah permanent and your labor transient”, by that he makes - in the internality and externality of the world - the Sons of Israel soar upwards and the Nations of the World, which are the general externality, recognize and acknowledge the value of the Sons of Israel.

And if, God forbid, the contrary occurs, that a man from Israel enhances and regards his externality, which is the Nations of the World in him, higher than the Israel in him - as it says (Deuteronomy 28) “The stranger that is in the midst of thee”, the externality in him will soar upwards, and you, that is the internality, the Israel in you, will plunge deep down. That causes the externality of the world in general, which are the Nations of the World, to soar ever higher and overcome Israel, degrading them to the ground, and the Sons of Israel, the internality of the world, to plunge, God forbid, deep down.

68) Do not wonder, that a single person will trigger with his action, a descent or an ascent to the whole world. For it is an unbending law, that the general and the particular are as equal as two drops in a pond. And all that is customary in the general is customary in the particular as well. Moreover, the particulars compose everything that is in the general. For the general cannot come to be, but after the particulars have been revealed, according to the quantity and quality of the particulars. Evidently, the act of a particular, according to its value, raises or declines the whole. That will clarify the words of the Zohar, that through the study of the Zohar and the Wisdom of Truth, they will be redeemed from exile, into complete deliverance. But what is really the connection between the study of the Zohar and the deliverance of Israel from amongst the nations?

69) It’s been thoroughly clarified, that the Torah too has its internality and its externality, as does the whole world. Therefore, he who delves in the Torah also has

those two degrees. And upon increasing his toil in the internality of the Torah and its secrets, to that extent he makes the virtue of the internality of the world, which is Israel, rise ever higher over the externality of it, meaning the Nations of the World. And all the nations will recognize and admit to the ascendancy of Israel over them, until the words - “And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall posses them in the land of the Lord (Isaiah 14, 2)” “Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and set up my standard to the peoples: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried on their shoulders (Isaiah 49, 22)” - finally come true.

But if, God forbid, the contrary occurs, that the man from Israel degrades the virtue of the internality of the Torah and its secrets, dealing with the customs of our souls and their degrees, and also in the part of the reasoning of the mitzvoth (precepts), with regard to the virtue of the externality of the Torah, that deals solely with the practical part alone, and even if he dedicates some time to the internality of the Torah, but just a little of his time, when it is neither night nor day, as though it were, God forbid, redundant, by that he causes degradation and decline of the internality of the world, which are the Sons of Israel, and enhances the domination of the externality of the world - meaning the Nations of the World - over them, and they shall humiliate and disgrace the Sons of Israel, and regard Israel as redundant, as though the world has not a need for, God forbid.

And furthermore, by that they make even the externality of the world overcome its internality. For the worst of the Nations of the World, which destruct and damage it, mount higher over the internality of them, which are the Nations of the World, and then they cause the ruin and the heinous slaughter our generation witnessed, may God protect us from now on.

Thus you see that the redemption of Israel and indeed its rise depends upon the study of the Zohar and the internality of the Torah. And vise versa, all the ruin and decline of the Sons of Israel, is a result of their abandoning of the internality of the Torah, degrading it and turning it to something seemingly redundant, God forbid.

70) The correction of the Zohar says (correction 40): “Awaken and rise for the Divine Presence, for your heart is empty, without the wisdom to know and to attain it, although it is within you.” And the secret of it is, as it says: that a voice pounds within the heart of each and every one of Israel, to pray for the rising of the Divine Presence, which is the assembly of the souls of Israel. But the Divine Presence says, I have no strength to pick myself up from the dust, for all the flesh is but hay. They are all like hay eating beasts. Meaning that they perform the precepts mindlessly, just like beasts, and all its grace is as the flower of the field, all the good deeds they do, it is for them they do it.

That means that in the good deeds that they perform, they do not mean to please their maker, but only to please themselves. And even the best of them, who have dedicated all their time to the Torah, did not do it, but for the benefit of their own body, lacking the desired aim, to please their maker.

It is said about the generation of that time: “a spirit leaves so as never to return, that is the spirit of the Messiah, the one who should deliver Israel from exile and from trouble to complete redemption, to fulfill the words: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord. That spirit left and alights not in the world.”

Alas, these people, who make the spirit of Messiah vanish from the world, so as never to return, make the Torah dry, without the moist of mind and knowledge, for they confine themselves to the practical part of the Torah, and do not wish to try and understand the wisdom of the Kabbalah, to know and educate themselves in the secrets and the reason behind the Torah and the precepts. Alas, they cause by their deeds the poverty, the ruin and the robbery, the looting, the killings and destruction in the world.

71) And the reason for that is, as we’ve said, that since all those who delve in the Torah, depreciate their own internality, and the Torah’s internality, leaving it as though it were redundant in the world, and studying it only at a time that is neither day nor night. And they are like blind men searching the wall, causing by that the proliferation of their own externality, meaning the benefit of their own body, and they regard the externality of the Torah as higher than its internality - thus causing the expansion of each external aspect in the world over its internal parts, each according to its own essence.

Because the externality of the whole of Israel, meaning the Nations of the World among them, intensifies and revokes the internality of the whole of Israel, which are the Greats of the Torah. And the externality within the Nations of the World too, which are the destructors among them, intensifies and revokes the internality among them, which are the Righteous of the World. And the externality of the whole world, being the Nations of the World, intensifies and revokes the Sons of Israel, which are the internality of it.

In such a generation, all destructors of the Nations of the World raise their heads and wish primarily to destroy and kill the Sons of Israel, as it says: (Yebamot 63) “No calamity comes to the world but for Israel”, as it says in the above corrections, that they cause poverty and ruin and robbery and killings in the whole world.

And since, through our many faults, we’ve witnessed the aforesaid in the corrections, and not only that, but the calamity struck at the very best of us, as it says: (Baba Kama 60) “And it does not start, but from the righteous”. And of all the glory Israel had had in the countries of Poland and Lithuania etc. there remains but the remnants in our holy land. Now it is upon us relics, to correct that dreadful wrong. And each of us remainders, will take upon himself, heart and soul, to intensify from this day forth, the internality of the Torah, and give it its worthy place, above the externality of the Torah.

Then, each will be awarded with the intensification of his own internality, meaning the Israel in him, which is the needs of the soul over the aspect of his own externality, being the Nations of the World in him, which are the needs of the body. And that force will come to the whole of the people of Israel, until the peoples of the world within us recognize the virtue of the Greats of Israel over them, and listen and obey them. And also the internality of the Nations of the World, which are the Righteous of the World, will overcome their externality and subdue them, which are the destructors. And the internality of the world too, which are Israel, shall rise with all the praise and virtue, over the externality of the world, which are the nations. Then, all the Nations of the World will recognize and admit to the ascendancy of Israel over them.

And they shall carry out the words: “And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall posses them in the land of the Lord (Isaiah 14, 2)”. And also: “and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried on their shoulders (Isaiah 49, 22)”. And that is as the Zohar says: “That through

this composition, which is the book of Zohar, they will be freed from exile with mercy (Nasah 124)”. Amen, may it be so.

חזרה לתוכן

עניין שכינתא בגלותא

81It is written that “there is none else beside Him”, meaning that there is no other power

in the world with the ability to do anything against Him. And what man sees, namely, that there are things in the world, which deny the household of above, is because He wills it so.

And it is deemed a correction, called “the left rejects and the right adducts, meaning that which the left rejects is considered correction. This means that there are things in the world, which from the beginning aim to divert a person from the right way, and they reject him from holiness.

And the benefit from these rejections is that through them a person receives a need and a complete desire for God to help him, since he sees that otherwise he is lost. Not only does he not progress in his work, but he sees that he regresses, and he lacks the strength to practice Torah and Mitzvoth even if not for Her name. That only by genuinely overcoming all the obstacles, above reason, he can practice Torah and Mitzvoth.

82And although he is occasionally awakened from above, which momentarily revives

him, but soon he falls into an abyss. However, this is what causes him to come to realize that only God can help and really draw him closer.

חזרה לתוכן

סבת הכבידות בעבודה

83Bear in mind, that the reason for the heaviness that one feels when one wishes to practice self denial before the Lord, and not concern for oneself, is that one comes to a state where the entire world seems to have stood still, and it is as though he alone is now absent from the world, and he left his family and friends for the sake of self denial before the Lord.

And this is for the simple reason, called the “lack of faith.” This means that one does not see before whom one denies oneself, meaning one does not feel the presence of the Creator. That causes him the heaviness.

חזרה לתוכן

סמכין בתורה

89Thus it turns out, that the statement that Torah is more important than mitzvah refers

specifically to a time when one does not practice it, meaning when one feels no vitality – then Torah becomes more important than mitzvah, for a mitzvah holds no vitality. And since one cannot receive anything from a mitzvah for it is without vitality, which is not the case with Torah, one is still left with a way to work, that is what he received when he was practicing Torah, although the vitality has left him, but the way remains and he can use it. And there is a time when a mitzvah is more important than Torah, which is when there is vitality in the mitzvah and none in the Torah.

חזרה לתוכן

ההרגל נעשה טבע שני

89By adopting oneself to something, than that thing becomes one’s second nature.

Hence, there is nothing that one cannot feel its presence. This means that although man never has any sensation in anything, but by getting oneself used to something one can learn to feel it.

חזרה לתוכן

עניין לשמה

91In order for a person to obtain, Lishma, he needs an awakening from above, because

that is an illumination from above, and it is not for the human mind to understand it. But he who tastes it knows. And about that it is said, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”

92And one should not say that if Lishma is a gift from above, then what good does his

effort to overpower is, and all the corrections and remedies that he does in order to come to Lishma, if it is all in the hands of God? And about that our sages said, “You are not free to idle away from it.” But one must give the awakening from below, as this is one’s prayer. But there cannot be a real prayer, if one does know in advance, that it is impossible to attain Lishma without a prayer.

חזרה לתוכן

זמן העליה

93When one feels oneself in ascent, that one is high-spirited, at which time one feels

that one has no other desire, but for spirituality alone, it is good to study the secretes of Torah in order to attain its internality. And although one sees that despite one’s efforts to understand anything, one still knows nothing, still it is good to study the secrets of Torah, even a hundred times on one thing, and not despair, meaning say that there is no use in that, because one does not understand a thing.

חזרה לתוכן

אוהבי ה' שנאו רע

94It turns out that one should hate the will to receive with utter loathing, for every ruin

in the world comes but from the will to receive. And through the loathing one corrects it and comes under the sanctity.

חזרה לתוכן

אם אין אני לי מי לי

100I have already stated in the name of the Baal Shem Tov, that prior to performing a

mitzvah there should be no thought of private providence. On the contrary, one should say: “If I am not for me, then who is for me?” But at the conclusion of the act, one settle one’s mind and believe that it was not by my strength and the might of my hand that I performed this mitzvah, but only the power of God, for He had thought it all through in advance, and so I had to do.

חזרה לתוכן

הליכה על דרך האמת:

102Behold the souls’ reward: before the soul was clothed in a body, it was but a little

point, though it did cling to the root like branch to a tree. This point is deemed the root of the soul and its world. And if it had not come to this world in a body, it would not have had but its own world, meaning its own portion of the root.

But the more it gets to follow in the ways of God, which are the 613 paths of Torah, which once again become His holy names, the more its measure grows.

3-102And thus you see that the meaning of the above 620 names of the 613 mitzvoth of the

Torah and the seven mitzvoth of our rabbis, are in fact, the five phases of the soul. Meaning, they are the NRNHY, for the vessels of the NRNHY come from the 620 mitzvoth and the lights of NRNHY are the essence of the light of the Torah which comprises each and every mitzvah. Thus, the soul and the Torah are actually one.

But the Creator is the light of Ein Sof clothed in the light of the Torah, found in the 620 mitzvoth. And our sages said: “The entire Torah is the names of the Creator.” meaning, the Creator is the whole, and the 620 names are details and parts. And these parts go by the steps and degrees of the soul, which does not receive her light at once, but gradually and very slowly, one bit at a time.

Thus you see that the soul is bound to attain all the 620 holy names and her stature, which is 620 times more than she had before it came. And her measure is seen in the 620 mitzvoth that cloth the light of the Torah, and the Creator in the collective light of the Torah. Thus it is explained that the Torah and the Creator and Israel are indeed one and the same thing.

חזרה לתוכן

עניין שיתוף מדת הרחמים בדין

106One’s primary work is the choice, meaning “therefore choose life” which is adhesion,

meaning Lishma, by which one attains adhesion with the life of lives. But when there is open providence there is no place for choice. Because of that the upper one raised Malchut, which is the attribute of judgment to the Eynaim. That created concealment, meaning it appeared to the lower one that there is a deficit in the upper one, that there is no greatness in the upper one. At that time the attributes of the upper one are put down with the lower one, meaning they are lacking, hence there is no vitality in the upper attributes, meaning one feels no taste in Torah and mitzvoth, for they are denied of any vitality.

Then there is room for choice. This means that now the lower one must say that this concealment that one feels is because the upper one restricted himself in the lower one’s benefit. It is called “Israel in exile, Divinity is with them.” And whichever taste one tastes, that is what one states. Meaning, it is not one’s fault that one does not feel a taste of livelihood, but in one’s opinion, there really is no livelihood in the upper one.

And if man overcomes and says that the bitter taste one finds in this nourishment, is only because one lacks the appropriate vessels to receive the bounty, meaning because one’s vessels are of reception and not bestowal. And one regrets the upper one having to conceal himself, which gives room for slander for the lower one, which is considered raising MAN by the lower one. And by that the upper one raises his AHP, which means that the upper one can show the praise and pleasure in his vessels of AHP that he can now disclose. Thus, toward the lower one, it turns out that one raises one GE by the very sight of the upper one’s virtue. It thus turns out that the lower one rises along with the AHP of the upper one.

חזרה לתוכן

מתן תורה

112We must first understand why the Torah was given to the Israeli nation and not to all

the peoples of the world. Is there, God forbid, nationalism involved here? Of course only an insane person would think that. Indeed our sages have examined this question, which is what they mean by their words: “God gave it to every nation and tongue and they did not receive it”.

But what they find bewildering is why then were we called the chosen people, as it says: “the Lord thy God has chosen thee (Deuteronomy 7, 6)”, since there was no other nation that wanted it? Furthermore, can it be that the Lord came with Torah in His hands to negotiate with those savage peoples? Such a thing has never been heard of and is completely unacceptable.

114Now here opens before us a door to understand the source of all the pleasures and

pains that abide in this world. Since the Lord is the root of its creations, all that abides in Him and extends to us directly from Him we feel as pleasant and delightful, because our nature is close to our root.

Conducts that do not abide in Him, and do not extend directly from Him, according to the polarity of creation itself, will be against our nature and difficult for us to tolerate. For example, we love to rest and hate to move so much, that we do not make a single move if it is not for the attainment of rest. That is because our root is immobile but at constant rest and no motion exists in Him, God forbid. Therefore it is hated by us and goes against our nature too.

חזרה לתוכן

הערבות

119Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, clarifies this concept even further, by saying that

it is not enough that all of Israel be responsible for one another, but that the whole world must be included in that bond. Indeed there is no dispute here, for everyone agrees that to begin with, it is enough to start with one nation for the observance of the Torah and the beginning of the correction of the world, because it is impossible to begin with all the nations all at once, as they said that the Lord went with the Torah to every nation and they did not want to receive it, meaning they were immersed in self-love up to their necks, some with adultery, some with robbery and murder and so on, until it became impossible to conceive, in those days, to even ask if they agreed to retire from self-love.

120But the end of the correction of the world will be by putting all the people in the world under His work, as it says: “And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: on that day the Lord shall be one, and his name one (Zechariah 14, 9)”. And it said: “on that day”, and not before. And it also says: “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord…(Isaiah 11, 9) …and all the nations shall flow on to him (Isaiah 2, 2)”.But the role of Israel toward the world resembles the role of our holy fathers toward the Israeli nation, meaning just as the righteousness of our fathers reflected upon us and helped us develop and cleanse ourselves until we became worthy of receiving the Torah, that if it were not for our fathers, who observed the Torah before it was given we would not be any better than all other nations.It is also upon the Israeli nation, through Torah and mitzvot, to qualify themselves and all the people of the world, to develop so that they take upon themselves that sublime work of the love of a fellow man, which is the ladder to attain the purpose of creation, which is adhesion with Him.

חזרה לתוכן

הקדמה לתלמוד עשר הספירות

159Indeed, if we aim our hearts to answer but one very famous question, I am sure that

all the doubts will vanish from the horizon, and you will look unto their place, and they will not be: it is the angry question, asked by all, being: What is the meaning of my life? Meaning, these years of our lives, which cost us so heavily, meaning, the plenitude of torments that we suffer in order to complete it to its fullest, who is it that enjoys them? Or to be precise, whom do I delight? In earnest, historians have already grown tired of contemplating it, and all the more so in our generation, not one person wishes to even consider it. However, the question still stands, as bitter and assertive as ever, for it sometimes meets us uninvited, pecks at our mind and humiliates us to the ground, before we find the famous scheme, and carry on with the currents of life as always.

5-16417) Hence, the disciple must pledge before the study to strengthen himself with faith

in the Creator and His providence of reward and punishment, as our sages have written, “Your landlord is liable to reward you for your work.” And one should aim one’s effort to be for the purpose of the Mitzvot of the Torah, and thus one will be blessed with the delight of its light, and that one’s faith will strengthen and grow through the remedy of this light, as they said, “It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones” (Proverbs 3, 8).

And then one shall rest assure that from LoLishma one will come to Lishma. Thus, even one who is certain that one hasn’t yet acquired faith has hope through the practice of Torah. For if one sets one’s mind and heart to attain faith by that means, there is no greater deed than that, as our sages said, “Came Habakkuk and stressed only that: “the righteous shall live by his faith” (Makkot 4).

Furthermore, there is no other counsel, as it is written: Rabbi said: “Job wished to rid the entire world of judgment. He said: Oh Lord, Thou hath created the righteous, Thou hath created the wicked, who holds you down?” and RASHI interprets there: “Thou hath created righteous by means of the good inclination, Thou hath created wicked by means of the evil inclination. Thus, there is none that is saved from Thine hand, for who holds you down? Coerced are the sinners.” And what did the friends of Job reply? “Yea, thou doest away with fear, and impairest devotion before God” (Job 15, 4), the Creator has created the evil inclination, He has created for it the Torah as a spice.”

And RASHI interprets there: “Created the Torah, which is the spice, for it abolishes thoughts of transgression,” as they said (Masechet Kidushin): “If thou cometh across this villain, pull him to the seminary (Beit Midrash). If he is hard, he will soften, hence not coerced are they, for they can save themselves.”

18) And it is clear that they cannot rid themselves of the judgment if they say that they received that spice but still have thoughts of transgression. Meaning that they are still in doubt, and still the evil inclination has not melted. For it is the Creator who created us and give the evil inclination its strength, and thus it is also clear that He thought to create the remedy and the spice, which are true to wear off the power of the evil inclination and abolish it entirely.

And if one practices Torah but fails to remove the evil inclination from himself, it is either that he has been negligent in giving the necessary effort and labour one must give in the practice of Torah, as it says, “I have laboured but have not found, do not believe,” or perhaps one did put in the necessary labour, but has been negligent about the quality.

That means that they did not set their mind and heart while practicing Torah to draw the light of the Torah that brings faith to the heart of man, but have rather been absent minded about that essence that is demanded of the Torah, which is the light that brings faith. And although they aimed for it in the beginning, their minds went astray during the study.

And either way one cannot rid oneself of the blame by claiming for coercion, for our sages strictly state: “I have created the evil inclination, I have created for it the Torah as a spice.” And if there were any exceptions there then Job’s question would remain valid.

א'166Therefore he advises him to leave his hands from it, and practice the wisdom of truth,

for it is easier to draw the light of the Torah while practicing and labouring in the wisdom of truth then in labouring in the literal Torah. And the reason is simple: the wisdom of the literal Torah is clothed in external, corporeal clothes, such as stealing, plundering, damage etc, that all those make it difficult for any man to aim his heart and mind for the Lord while practicing in order to draw the light of the Torah.

ב'166And therefore he advises him to practice the wisdom of Kabbalah, as this wisdom is

entirely clothed in the names of the Creator. And then of course, he will be able to aim his mind and heart for the Creator without trouble, even if one is slow in learning. And this is because the study of the topics of the wisdom and the Creator is one and the same. And this is very simple.

א'16724) And this is very simple, for there is nothing here of the literal Torah in any thing

that one must practice, “for the it is not the ignorant who is pious, and a mistaken learning makes for evil,” and one sinner destroyeth much good.” Hence, one must necessarily repeat them as much as needed so as not to fail in one’s act.

ב'167Now you shall see how all the questions that we presented at the start of the

introduction are but nonsense. Moreover, they are the obstacles that the evil inclination spreads before the innocent souls, so as to rid them of the world robbed and abused.

168Furthermore: we need to know that there are two parts to the wisdom of truth: The

first, called the secrets of Torah, should not be exposed, but only implied, and only from a wise Kabbalist to a disciple who understands of his own mind. And the esoterics of creation belong to that part as well. The sages of the Zohar refer to that part as “the first three Sefirot, Keter, Hochma, and Bina. It is also the Rosh (Head) of the Partzuf.

The second part is called the “flavours of Torah.” They are permitted for disclosure and it is a great mitzvah to do so. The Zohar refers to it as the “seven lower Sefirot of the Partzuf.” It is also called the Guf (Body) of the Partzuf.

5-184103) That clarifies the two names the Torah is called by: the revealed (literal) and the

concealed. We must understand why there is a concealed Torah, and why isn’t the entire Torah revealed? Indeed there is a deep thought here, for the concealed Torah implies that the Creator hides in the Torah, hence the name “the Torah of the hidden.”

And it is also called revealed because the Creator is revealed by the Torah. Therefore, our sages said, and so it is found in the prayer book of the Gaon from Vilna, that the order of the attainment of the Torah begins in the concealed and ends in the revealed. Meaning: by the correct labour that one puts into the hidden Torah first, one attains the revealed Torah, which is the literal Torah. Thus, he begins with the concealed, called the Torah of the hidden, and when he is blessed, he ends in the literal.

3-192133) Also, keep in mind, that what we said, that there isn’t choice, but when there is

concealment of the face, does not apply for when one has already attained a providence of revealed face, one has no further trouble and labour in the practice of Torah and Mitzvot. On the contrary, the work begins primarily after man has been blessed with repentance out of love, for it is only then that he can practice Torah and Mitzvot with love and fear as we are commanded to: “The world was not created but for the complete righteous” (Brachot, 61).

It is like a king who wished to select for himself the most loyal of his subjects in the state and bring them in to work inside his palace. What did he do? He issued an open pronouncement that anyone who wished it, young or old, would come to his palace, to practice the works of his inner palace. But then he appointed many of his servants to guard the palace gate and all the road that lead to it. He ordered them to cunningly mislead anyone who approached his palace and divert them from the way that leads to the palace.

And naturally, all the people in the county began to run to the king’s palace. However, they were cunningly put off by the sedulous guards. Many of them overpowered them and approached the palace gate, but the guards of the gate were very diligent, and even when someone approached the gate, they diverted him and turned him away with great craftiness, until one despaired and retuned as he had come. And so they came and went, and regained strength and came again and so on and so forth for several days and years, until they grew weary of the effort. And only those heroes amongst them, whose patience endured, defeated the guards and opened the gate, and at once were welcomed by the king, who put each person in his right position. Of course, from that moment on, they had no business with those guards who diverted and mislead them and made their life bitter for several days and years, running back and forth around the gate, for they have been blessed with working and serving before the glory of the king’s face in his inner palace.

So it is with the work of the complete righteous, that providence deals differently with them once the gate has been opened for open providence. Indeed, they begin the actual work in disclosed face, at which time they commence the journey on the many degrees in the ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven, as it is written, “The righteous shall go from strength to strength,” and as our sages say, that each and every righteous is covered by the cover of his friend. And these works qualify them for the will of God, to realize in them the purpose of creation, which is to “delight His creatures” as would His good and large hand.

196148) Now you will understand the truth in the words of the Gaon from Vilna in his

words in the blessing for the Torah, when he wrote the Torah begins with the secret, meaning the revealed Torah of Assyia, which is concealed, for the creator is completely hidden there. Then he moves on to the Remez (implied), meaning that He is revealed further in the Torah of Yetzira, until one attain the Pshat (disclosed), which is the Torah of Atzilut, thus called for it is stripped off all the clothes that conceal the Creator.

198155) Therefore we must ask: why then, did the Kabbalists obligate each person to

delve in the wisdom of Kabbalah? Indeed there is a weighty thing here, worthy of being publicized: that there is a magnificent, invaluable remedy, to those who delve in the wisdom of Kabbalah: that although they do not understand what they are learning, but through the yearning and the great desire to understand what they are learning, they awaken upon themselves the lights that surround their souls.

Meaning, that each man from Israel is guaranteed to finally attain all these wonderful attainments, which God has resolved, in the Thought of Creation, to grant each creature. But he, who has not attained it in this life, will attain it in the next and so on, until he has completed that which He preliminary thought of. And while man has not attained perfection, these lights, that are destined to come to him, are deemed surrounding lights. That means that they stand ready for him, waiting for man to cleanse his vessels of reception, and then they will cloth the able vessels.

Thus, even when the vessels are absent, when one delves in this wisdom, mentioning the names of the lights and the vessels, related to his soul, they right away illuminate him

to a certain degree. However, they illuminate him without dressing inside his soul, since he doesn’t have the vessels needed to receive them. Indeed, the illumination one receives time and again, when studying, draws upon him grace from above, imparting him with a bounty of sanctity and purity, which greatly furthers one toward one’s perfection.

חזרה לתוכן

הקדמה לפנים מאירות ומסבירות:

2361) However, it is said in the prayer book of the Gaon from Vilna that attainment

begins with the concealed, and once that concealed is attained, it is possible to attain the Drush (interpretation of the Torah), and then the Remez (allegoric interpretation of the Torah). And after one is educated in these three parts of the Torah proficiently, he attains the literal part of the Torah (The Pentecost).

2372) Indeed we do find mysteries in the wisdom, and even in past secular scholars. It is

written in the introduction of Rabbi Butril’s interpretation to the book of Yetzira, in an article called “Plato,” that he warned his disciples thus: “Do not convey the wisdom to he who does not know its virtue.” And so warned Plato: “Do not give away the wisdom to the unworthy, lest they might destroy it.” And he (Rabbi Butril) explained that if the sage teaches wisdom to the unworthy, he destroys and ruins the wisdom.

But that is not the way our sages act in our time, for on the contrary, they make every effort to expand the gates of their wisdom to the entire population, without any limits and conditions. And they seemingly have a profound dispute with the sages of past scholars for closing the gates of the wisdom except for a chosen few who were found to be worthy of it, while living the rest of the people to search the walls in the dark.

1-2405) Now you will understand that which is written the Zohar: “That with that

composition the Children of Israel will be redeemed from exile.” And in many other places too, that only through the expansion of the wisdom of Kabbalah in the masses will we obtain complete redemption. And the sages said: “The light in it reforms.” And they were intentionally meticulous about it, to emphasize that only the light inside it, “like apples of gold in settings of silver,” is the remedy that reforms. That both the individual and the entire nation will not complete the intention and the aim for which they were created, except by the attainment of the inner part of the Torah and its secrets.

And though the complete attainment will come to us at the coming of the Messiah, it is written: “Will give wisdom to the wise.” And he says: “and in the hearts of all that are wise-hearted I have put wisdom.” Hence, it is the great expansion of the wisdom amongst the nation that we need first, so that we become worthy of receiving the benefit from our Messiah. Consequently, the expansion of the wisdom and the coming of our Messiah depend on one another.

Hence, we must establish schools and compose books, to hurry the circulation of the wisdom in the nation. And that was not the case before, for fear lest unworthy disciples would mingle with the worthy, as we’ve explained above at length. That became the

primary reason for our many sins to this day, and consequently for the prolonging of the exile.

Our sages said: “Messiah Son of David doth not come, but in time when the generation is all worthy,” meaning that every one will retire from pursuit of glory and lust, at which time it will be possible to establish schools and prepare them for the coming of the Messiah Son of David. “Or in time when the generation is all unworthy,” meaning in such a generation that the “face of the generation is as the face of a dog,” and “the righteous shall be considered loathsome,” and “authors’ wisdom will go astray” in them. At such a time it will be possible to remove the careful guard and anyone who will remain in the house of Jacob with his heart pounding to attain the goal and the purpose, “holy” be his name, and he shall step forth and learn. For there will no longer be fear lest he might not stand firm and trade the wisdom in the market, for there is no one in the mob who will wish to buy it, and the wisdom will be loathsome in their eyes, so that no glory or desire can be bought in return for it.

Hence, he who wishes to enter may come and enter. And many will roam and the knowledge will increase among the worthy. And by that we will soon be blessed with the coming of the Messiah and the redemption of our souls soon in our days, amen.

2426) And now sons do hear me: The “Wisdom crieth aloud,” and it now calls upon you

from the streets it calls onto you: “Whoso is on the LORD'S side, let him come unto me.” “For it is no vain thing for you; because it is your life, and through this thing ye shall prolong your days,” for you were not created to repeat the act of the grain and the potato, “you and your asses in one trough.” And just as the purpose of the beast will not be to serve all the other beasts of the time in this world, so is not the goal of man to serve all the physical bodies of the people of his time. The purpose of the ass is to serve man, who is superior to it, so as to be of use to it, and the goal of man is to serve the Lord and complete His aim.

24610) Now come and see the words of the wise, Rabbi Even Ezra in his book “Yesod

Mora”: And now put your heart to it and now, that all the Mitzvot that are written in the Torah or the conventions that our father had established, although they are mostly in act or in speech, they are all the purpose of the correction of the heart, because the Lord wants all hearts” and any inclination and desire He understands.

חזרה לתוכן

הקדמה לספר פי חכם:

268Now let us come to the clarification: It is has been known that the souls of the

Children of Israel are a part of God above, that that soul descended by way of cause and consequence, degree-by-degree, until it became fit to come into this world and clothe the filthy corporeal body. But by observing Torah and Mitzvot it rises degree-by-degree until it completes its stature, and becomes fit to receive its reward from the whole, that is ready

before hand, which is the attainment of the holy Torah in the form of the names of the Creator, which are the 613 deposits.

חזרה לתוכן

הקדמה לפתיחה לחכמת הקבלה:

272Hence it is explained that “all the worlds, upper and lower, are contained in man, and

everything inside those worlds is also for man alone. We must clarify these words: is it not enough for man to have this world with everything in it, that he must have all the upper worlds as well? For it says that they were not created but for man!

חזרה לתוכן