Archive for year: 2017

  

It is known that the desired purpose of the work in Torah and Mitzvot is to cleave unto the Creator, as it is written, “and to cleave unto Him.” We should understand what Dvekut (adhesion) with the Creator means. After all, the thought has no perception of Him whatsoever. Indeed, our sages have discussed this question before me, asking about the verse, “and to cleave unto Him”: “How can one cleave unto Him? After all, He is consuming fire.”

And they replied, “Cleave unto His qualities: as He is merciful, you are merciful; as he is compassionate, you are compassionate.” This is perplexing; how did our sages drift from the literal text? After all, it is explicitly written, “and to cleave unto Him.” Had the meaning been to cleave unto His qualities it would have to write, “cleave unto His ways.” So why does it say, “and to cleave unto Him”?

The thing is that in corporeality, which takes up space, we understand Dvekut as proximity of place, and we understand separation as remoteness of place. However, in spirituality, which does not occupy any space, Dvekut and separation do not mean proximity or remoteness of place. This is because they do not occupy any space at all. Rather, we understand Dvekut as equivalence of form between two spirituals, and we understand separation as disparity of form between two spirituals.

As the axe cuts and separates a corporeal object into two, by removing the parts from one another, disparity of form distinguishes the spiritual and divides it in two. If the disparity of form between them is small, we say that they are a little far from one another. And if the disparity of form is great, we say that they are very far from one another. And if they are of opposite forms, we say that they are as far from each other as two extremes.

For example, when two people hate each other, it is said about them that they are as separated from one another as the East from the West. And if they love each other, it is said about them that they are as attached to one another as a single body.

And this does not concern nearness or remoteness of location. Rather, it is about equivalence of form or disparity of form. This is so because when people love each other, it is because there is equivalence of form between them. Because one loves everything that one’s friend loves, and hates all that one’s friend hates, they are attached to one another and love one another.

However, if there is any disparity of form between them, and one loves something even though one’s friend hates that thing, they are hateful of each other and remote from one another to the extent of their disparity of form. And if they are opposite so that everything that one loves, one’s friend hates, it is said about them that they are as remote and as separated as the East from the West.

And you find that disparity of form in spirituality acts like the axe that separates in corporeality. Similarly, the measure of remoteness of location and the measure of the separation in them depends on the measure of disparity of form between them. Also, the measure of Dvekut between them depends on the measure of equivalence of form between them.

Now we understand how right our sages were when they interpreted the verse, “and to cleave unto Him,” as adhesion with His qualities—as He is merciful, you are merciful; as He is compassionate, you are compassionate. They did not deflect the text from the literal meaning. Quite the contrary, they interpreted the text precisely according to its literal meaning, since spiritual Dvekut can only be depicted as equivalence of form. Hence, by equalizing our form with the form of His qualities, we become attached to Him.

This is why they said, “as He is merciful.” In other words, all His actions are to bestow and benefit others, and not at all for His own benefit, since He has no deficiencies that require complementing. And also, He has no one from whom to receive. Similarly, all your actions will be to bestow and to benefit others. Thus, you will equalize your form with the form of the qualities of the Creator, and this is spiritual Dvekut.

There is a discernment of “mind” and a discernment of “heart” in the above-mentioned equivalence of form. The engagement in Torah and Mitzvot in order to bestow contentment upon one’s Maker is equivalence of form in the mind. This is because the Creator does not think of Himself—whether He exists or whether He watches over His creations, and other such doubts. Similarly, one who wishes to achieve equivalence of form must not think of these things, as well, when it is clear that the Creator does not think of them, since there is no greater disparity of form than that. Hence, anyone who thinks of such matters is certainly separated from Him, and will never achieve equivalence of form.

This is what our sages said, “Let all your actions be for the Creator,” that is, Dvekut with the Creator. Do not do anything that does not promote this goal of Dvekut. This means that all your actions will be to bestow and to benefit your fellow person. At that time, you will achieve equivalence of form with the Creator—as all His actions are to bestow and to benefit others, so you, all your actions will be only to bestow and to benefit others. This is the complete Dvekut.

And we could ask about it, “How can one’s every action be to benefit others? After all, one must work to sustain oneself and one’s family.” The answer is that those deeds that one does out of necessity, to receive one’s bare necessities for sustenance, that necessity is neither praised nor condemned. This is not considered doing something for oneself whatsoever.

Anyone who delves into the heart of things will certainly be surprised at how one can achieve complete equivalence of form, so all one’s actions are to give to others, while man’s very essence is only to receive for oneself. By nature, we are unable to do even the smallest thing to benefit others. Instead, when we give to others, we are compelled to expect that in the end, we will receive a worthwhile reward. If one as much as doubts the reward, one will refrain from acting. Thus, how can one’s every action be only to bestow upon others and not at all for oneself?

Indeed, I admit that this is a very difficult thing. One cannot change the nature of one’s own creation, which is only to receive for oneself, much less invert one’s nature from one extreme to the other, meaning to not receive anything for oneself, but rather act only to bestow.

Yet, this is why the Creator gave us Torah and Mitzvot, which we were commanded to do only in order to bestow contentment upon the Creator. Had it not been for the engagement in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma (for Her Name), to bring contentment to the Creator with them, and not to benefit ourselves, there would have been no tactic in the world that could help us invert our nature.

Now you can understand the rigorousness of engaging in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma. If one’s intention in the Torah and Mitzvot is not to benefit the Creator, but oneself, not only will the nature of the will to receive in him not be inverted, but rather, the will to receive in him will be much more than what he was given by the nature of his creation.

But what are the virtues of one who has been rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator? They are not specified anywhere, except in subtle intimations. Yet, to clarify the matters in my essay, I must disclose a little, as much as necessary.

I will explain the matters with an allegory. The body with its organs are one. The whole of the body exchanges thoughts and sensations regarding each of its organs. For example, if the whole body thinks that a specific organ should serve it and please it, this organ will immediately know that thought and provide the contemplated pleasure. Also, if an organ thinks and feels that the place it is in is narrow, the rest of the body will immediately know that thought and sensation and move it to a comfortable place.

However, should an organ be cut off from the body, they will become two separate entities; the rest of the body will no longer know the needs of the separated organ, and the organ will not know the thoughts of the body, to benefit it and serve it. But if a physician came and reconnected the organ to the body as before, the organ would once again know the thoughts and needs of the rest of the body, and the rest of the body would once again know the needs of the organ.

According to this allegory, we can understand the merit of one who has been rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator. I have already demonstrated in my “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” Item 9, that the soul is an illumination that extends from His Essence. This illumination has been separated from the Creator by the Creator’s clothing it with a will to receive. This is so because the Thought of Creation, to do good to His creations, created in each soul a desire to receive pleasure. Thus, this form of the will to receive separated that illumination from His Essence and turned it into a separate part from Him.

It follows that each soul was included in His Essence prior to its creation. But with creation, meaning along with the will to receive pleasure that has been instilled in it, it acquired disparity of form and was separated from the Creator, whose only wish is to bestow. This is so because, as we have explained above, the disparity of form separates in spirituality as the axe does in corporeality.

Thus, now the soul is completely similar to the allegory about the organ that was cut off and separated from body. Even though, prior to the separation, they—the organ and the whole body—were one, and exchanged thoughts and sensations with one another, after the organ has been cut off from the body they have become two entities. Now one does not know the other’s thoughts and needs. It is even more so after the soul is dressed in a body of this world: all the connections it had had prior to the separation from His Essence have stopped, and they are like two separate entities.

Now we can easily understand the merit of one who has been rewarded with cleaving unto Him once more. It means that he has been rewarded with equivalence of form with the Creator by inverting the will to receive, imprinted in him through the power in Torah and Mitzvot. This was the very thing that separated him from His Essence, and turned it into a will to bestow. And all of one’s actions are only to bestow and benefit others, as he has equalized his form with the Maker. It follows that one is just like the organ that was once cut off from the body and has been reunited with the body: it knows the thoughts of the rest of the body once again, just as it did prior to the separation from the body.

The soul is like that, too: after it has acquired equivalence with Him, it knows His Thoughts once more, as it knew prior to the separation from Him due to the will-to-receive’s disparity of form. Then the verse, “know thou the God of thy father,” lives in him, as then one is rewarded with complete knowledge, which is Godly knowledge. Also, one is rewarded with all the secrets of the Torah, as His Thoughts are the secrets of the Torah.

This is what Rabbi Meir said: “All who study Torah Lishma are granted many things. The secrets of Torah are revealed before them, and they become like an ever-flowing spring.” As we have said, through engagement in Torah Lishma, meaning by aiming to bring contentment to one’s Maker through one’s engagement in the Torah, and not at all for one’s own benefit, one is guaranteed to cleave to the Creator. This means that one will achieve equivalence of form, and all one’s actions will be to benefit others and not oneself at all. This is just like the Creator, whose every action is only to bestow and to benefit others.

By that, one returns to Dvekut with the Creator, as was the soul prior to its creation. Hence, one is granted many things, and is rewarded with the secrets and flavors of the Torah, and becomes like an ever-flowing spring. This is so because of the removing of the partitions that parted one from the Creator, so he has become one with Him again, as before one was created.

Indeed, the whole Torah, revealed and concealed, is the Thoughts of the Creator, without any difference. Yet, it is like a person drowning in the river, whose friend throws him a rope to save him. If the drowning catches the rope in its near part, his friend can save him and pull him out of the river.

The Torah is like that, too. Being entirely the Thoughts of the Creator, it is like a rope that the Creator throws to people to save them and pull them out of the Klipot (shells). The end of the rope that is near to all the people is the revealed Torah, which requires no intention or thought. Moreover, even when there is a faulty thought in the Mitzvot, it is still accepted by the Creator, as it is written, “One must always engage in Torah and Mitzvot Lo Lishma (not for Her Name), since from Lo Lishma he will come to Lishma.”

Hence, the Torah and Mitzvot are the end of the rope, and there is not a person in the world who cannot grip it. If one tightly grips it, meaning is rewarded with engaging in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma, to bring contentment to one’s Maker and not to oneself, the Torah and Mitzvot lead one to equivalence of form with the Creator. This is the meaning of “and to cleave unto Him.”

At that time, one will be rewarded with attaining all the Thoughts of the Creator, called “secrets of the Torah” and “flavors of the Torah,” which are the rest of the rope. However, one is granted it only after one has achieved complete Dvekut.

The reason we compare the Creator’s Thoughts, meaning the secrets of the Torah and the flavors of the Torah, to a rope is that there are many degrees in the equivalence of form with the Creator. Hence, there are many degrees in the rope, in attaining the secrets of the Torah. One’s measure of attainment of the secrets of the Torah, of knowing His Thoughts, is as the measure of equivalence of form with the Creator.

Overall, there are five degrees: Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida, and each is made of all of them. Also, each contains five degrees, and each of those contains at least twenty-five degrees.

They are also called “worlds,” as our sages said, “The Creator is destined to grant each righteous 310 worlds.” And the reason the degrees of attaining Him are called “worlds” is that there are two meanings to the name Olam (World):

1. All those who enter that world have the same sensation; what one sees, hears, and feels, all who are in that world see, hear, and feel, too.

2. All those who are in that “hidden” world cannot know or attain anything in another world. And also, these two degrees are in attainment:

1. Anyone who has been rewarded with a certain degree knows and attains in it everything that those who came to that degree attained, in all the generations that were and that will be. And he has common attainment with them as though they are in the same world.
2. All who come to that degree will not be able to know or to attain what exists in another degree. It is like this world: they cannot know anything of what exists in the world of truth. This is why the degrees are called “worlds.”

Hence, those with attainment can compose books and put their attainments to writing in intimations and allegories. They will be understood by all who have been rewarded with the degrees that the books describe, and they will have common attainment with them. But those who have not been rewarded with the full measure of the degree as the authors will not be able to understand their intimations. It is even more so with those who have not been rewarded with any attainment; they will not understand a thing about them, as they have no common attainments.

We have already said that the complete Dvekut and complete attainment is divided into 125 degrees overall. Accordingly, prior to the days of the Messiah, it is impossible to be granted all 125 degrees. And there are two differences between the generation of the Messiah and all other generations:

1. Only in the generation of the Messiah is it possible to attain all 125 degrees, and in no other generation.
2. Throughout the generations, those who ascended and were rewarded with Dvekut were few, as our sages wrote about the verse, “I have found one person in a thousand; a thousand enter the room, and one comes out to teach,” meaning to Dvekut and attainment. It is as they said, “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord.” “And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, 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.”

An exception is Rashbi and his generation, the authors of The Zohar, who were granted all 125 degrees in completeness, even though it was prior to the days of the Messiah. It was said about him and his disciples: “A sage is preferable to a prophet.” Hence, we often find in The Zohar that there will be none like the generation of Rashbi until the generation of the Messiah King. This is why his composition made such a great impact in the world, since the secrets of the Torah in it occupy the level of all 125 degrees.

Hence, it is said in The Zohar that The Book of Zohar will be revealed only at the End of Days, the days of the Messiah. This is so because we have already said that if the degrees of the students are not at the full measure of the degree of the author, they will not understand his intimations, since they do not have a common attainment.

And since the degree of the authors of The Zohar is at the full level of the 125 degrees, they cannot be attained prior to the days of the Messiah. It follows that there will be no common attainment with the authors of The Zohar in the generations preceding the days of the Messiah. Hence, The Zoharcould not be revealed in the generations before the generation of the Messiah.

And this is a clear proof that our generation has come to the days of the Messiah. We can see that all the interpretations of The Book of Zohar before ours did not clarify as much as ten percent of the difficult places in The Zohar. And in the little they did clarify, their words are almost as abstruse as the words of The Zoharitself.

But in our generation we have been rewarded with the Sulam (Ladder) commentary, which is a complete interpretation of all the words of The Zohar. Moreover, not only does it not leave an unclear matter in the whole of The Zoharwithout interpreting it, but the clarifications are based on a straightforward analysis, which any intermediate student can understand. And since The Zoharappeared in our generation, it is a clear proof that we are already in the days of the Messiah, at the outset of that generation upon which it was said, “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord.”

We should know that spiritual matters are not like corporeal matters, where giving and receiving come as one. In spirituality, the time of giving and the time of receiving are separate. This is because first it was given from the Creator to the receiver; and in this giving He only gives him a chance to receive. However, he has not received a thing yet, until he is properly sanctified and purified. And then one is rewarded with receiving it. Thus, it may take a long time between the time of giving and the time of receiving.

Accordingly, the saying that this generation has already come to the verse, “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord,” refers only to the giving. Yet, we have not yet come to a state of reception. When we are purified, sanctified, and study, and exert in the desired amount, the time of reception will arrive, and the verse, “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord,” will come true in us.

Also, it is known that redemption and the complete attainment are intertwined. The proof is that anyone who is drawn to the secrets of the Torah is also drawn to the land of Israel. This is why we were promised, “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord,” only at the End of Days, during the time of redemption.

Therefore, as we have not yet been rewarded with a time of reception in the complete attainment, but only with a time of giving, by which we have been given a chance to achieve complete attainment, so it is with redemption. We have been rewarded with it only in the form of giving. The fact of the matter is that the Creator delivered our holy land from the foreigners and has given it back to us, yet we have not received the land into our own authority, since the time of reception has not yet come, as we explained concerning the complete attainment.

Thus, He has given but we have not received. After all, we have no economic independence, and there is no political independence without economic independence. Moreover, there is no redemption of the body without redemption of the soul. And as long as the majority of the people are captive in the foreign cultures of the nations and are incapable of Israel’s religion and culture, the bodies, too, will be captive under the alien forces. In this respect, the land is still in the hands of foreigners.

The proof is that no one is excited about the redemption, as it should have been with redemption after two millennia. Not only are those in the Diaspora not inclined to come to us and delight in the redemption, but a large portion of those that have been redeemed, and are already dwelling among us, are anxiously waiting to be rid of this redemption and return to the Diaspora whence they came.

Thus, even though the Creator has delivered the land from the hands of the nations and has given it to us, we have not yet received it. We are not enjoying it. But with this giving, the Creator has given us an opportunity for redemption, to be purified and sanctified and assume the work of God in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma. At that time, the Temple will be built and we will receive the land into our own authority. And then we will experience and feel the joy of redemption.

But as long as we have not come to that, nothing will change. There is no difference between the current manners of the land and the way it was while still under the hands of foreigners, in law, in economy, and in the work of God. Thus, all we have is an opportunity for redemption.

It follows that our generation is the generation of the days of the Messiah. This is why we have been granted the redemption of our holy land from the hands of the foreigners. We have also been rewarded with the revelation of The Book of Zohar, which is the beginning of the realization of the verse, “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord.” “And they shall teach no more… for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them.”

Yet, with those two, we have only been rewarded with giving from the Creator, but we have not received anything into our own hands. Instead, we have been given a chance to begin with the work of God, to engage in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma. Then we will be granted the great success that is promised to the generation of the Messiah, which all the generations before us did not know. And then we will be rewarded with the time of reception of both the complete attainment and the complete redemption.

Thus, we have thoroughly explained our sages’ reply to the question, “How is it possible to cleave unto Him, which they said means ‘cleave unto His qualities’”? This is true for two reasons:

1. Spiritual Dvekut is not in proximity of place, but in equivalence of form.
2. Since the soul was separated from His Essence only because of the will to receive, which the Creator had imprinted in it, once He had separated the will to receive from it, it naturally returned to the previous Dvekut with His Essence.

1) However, all this is in theory. In fact, they have not answered anything with the explanation of cleaving unto His qualities, which means to separate the will to receive, imprinted in the nature of Creation, and arriving at the will to bestow—the opposite of its nature.

And what we explained, that one who is drowning in the river should firmly grip the rope, and before one engages in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma in a way that he will not turn back to folly, it is not considered gripping the rope firmly, the question returns: Where will one find motivation to wholeheartedly exert solely to bring contentment to one’s Maker? After all, one cannot make a single movement without any benefit for oneself, as a machine cannot work without fuel. And if there is no self-gratification, but only contentment to one’s Maker, one will have no fuel with which to work.

The answer is that anyone who sufficiently attains His greatness, the bestowal that one bestows upon Him is inverted into reception, as it is written in Masechet Kidushin (p. 7): with an important person, when the woman gives him money it is considered reception for her, and she is sanctified.

So it is with the Creator: if one achieves His greatness, there is no greater reception than contentment to one’s Maker. This is sufficient fuel to toil and wholeheartedly exert to bring contentment to Him. But clearly, as long as one has not sufficiently attained His greatness, one will not regard giving contentment to the Creator as reception enough for one to give one’s heart and soul to the Creator.

Hence, each time one truly aims only to bring contentment to one’s Maker and not to oneself, one will immediately lose the strength to work, as he will be like a machine without fuel, since one cannot move any organ without drawing some benefit to oneself. It is even more so with such great labor as giving one’s heart and soul, as dictated in the Torah. Undoubtedly, one will not be able to do so without drawing some reception of pleasure for oneself.

Indeed, obtaining His greatness in a measure that bestowal becomes reception, as mentioned concerning an important person, is not at all difficult. Everyone knows the greatness of the Creator, who created everything and consumes everything, without beginning and without end, and whose sublimity is endless.

Yet, the difficulty in that is that the measure of the greatness does not depend on the individual, but on the environment. For example, even if one is filled with virtues but the environment does not appreciate one as such, one will always be low-spirited and will not be able to take pride in his virtues, although he has no doubt that they are true. And conversely, a person with no merit at all, whom the environment respects as though he is virtuous, that person will be filled with pride, since the measure of importance and greatness is given entirely to the environment.

And while one sees how one’s environment slights His work and does not properly appreciate His greatness, one cannot overcome the environment. Thus, one cannot obtain His greatness, and slights during one’s work, as do they.

And since one does not have the basis for obtaining His greatness, he will obviously not be able to work to bestow contentment upon his Maker and not for himself. This is so because one would have no motivation to exert, and “if you did not labor and found, do not believe.” And one’s only choice is to either work for oneself or to not work at all, since for him, bestowing contentment upon one’s Maker will not be tantamount to reception.

Now you can understand the verse, “In the multitude of people is the king’s glory,” since the measure of the greatness comes from the environment under two conditions:

1. The extent of the appreciation of the environment.
2. The size of the environment. Thus, “In the multitude of people is the king’s glory.”

And because of the great difficulty in the matter, our sages advised us: “Make for yourself a rav [2] and buy for yourself a friend.” This means that one should choose for oneself an important and renowned person to be one’s rav, from whom one will be able to come to engaging in Torah and Mitzvot in order to bring contentment to one’s Maker. This is so because there are two facilitations to one’s rav:

1. Since he is an important person, the student can bestow contentment upon him, based on the sublimity of one’s rav, since bestowal becomes as reception for him. This is a natural fuel, so one can always increase one’s acts of bestowal. And once a person grows accustomed to engage in bestowal upon the rav, one can transfer it to engaging in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma towards the Creator, too, since habit becomes a second nature.

2. Equivalence of form with the Creator does not help if it is not forever, that is, “until He who knows all mysteries will testify that he will not turn back to folly.” This is not so with equivalence of form with one’s rav. Since the rav is in this world, within time, equivalence of form with him helps even if it is only temporary and he later turns sour again.

Thus, every time one equalizes one’s form with one’s rav, he is adhered to him for a time. Thus, one obtains the thoughts and knowledge of the rav, according to one’s measure ofDvekut, as we have explained in the allegory of the organ that has been cut off from the body and was reunited with it.

For this reason, the student can use his rav’s attainment of the Creator’s greatness, which inverts bestowal into reception and sufficient fuel to give one’s heart and soul. At that time, the student, too, will be able to engage in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma with one’s very heart and soul, which is the remedy that yields eternal Dvekut with the Creator.

Now you can understand what our sages said (Berachot 7): “Serving in the Torah is greater than studying it, as it is said, ‘Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.’ It did not say studied, but poured.” This is perplexing; how can simple acts be greater than studying the wisdom and the knowledge?

But according to the above, we thoroughly understand that serving one’s rav with one’s body and soul in order to bring contentment to one’s rav bring one to Dvekut with one’s rav, that is, to equivalence of form. Thus, one receives the thoughts and knowledge of the rav by way of “mouth-to-mouth,” which is Dvekut of spirit with spirit. By that, one is rewarded with obtaining His greatness sufficiently to turn bestowal into reception, to become sufficient fuel for devotion, until one is rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator.

This is not so concerning studying Torah with one’s rav, as this must be for one’s own benefit, and does not yield Dvekut. It is considered “from mouth to ear.” Thus, serving brings the student the rav’s thoughts, and the study—only the rav’s words. Also, the merit of serving is greater than the merit of the study as the importance of the rav’s thoughts over the rav’s words, and as the importance of “mouth-to-mouth” over “from mouth to ear.”

However, all this is true if the service is in order to bestow contentment upon Him. Yet, if the service is to benefit oneself, such service cannot bring one to Dvekut with one’s rav, and certainly the study with the rav is more important than serving him.

Yet, as we have said about obtaining His greatness, an environment that does not properly appreciate Him weakens the individual and prevents one from obtaining His greatness. And this is certainly true for one’s rav, as well. An environment that does not properly appreciate the rav prevents the student from being able to properly obtain the greatness of one’s rav.

Hence, our sages said, “Make for yourself a rav and buy yourself a friend.” This means that one can make a new environment for oneself. This environment will help him obtain the greatness of his rav through love of friends who appreciate the rav. Through the friends’ discussing the greatness of the rav, each of them receives the sensation of his greatness. Thus, bestowal upon one’s rav will become reception and sufficient motivation to an extent that will bring one to engage in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma.

They said about that, “The Torah is acquired by forty-eight virtues, by serving friends and by meticulousness of sages.” This is so because besides serving the rav, one needs the meticulousness with friends, as well, the friends’ influence, so they will affect him the obtainment of his rav’s greatness. This is so because obtaining the greatness depends entirely on the environment, and a single person cannot do a thing about it whatsoever.

Yet, there are two conditions to obtaining the greatness:

1. Always listen and assume appreciation of the environment to the extent of their greatness.
2. The environment should be great, as it is written, “In the multitude of people is the king’s glory.”

To receive the first condition, each student must feel that he is the smallest among all the friends. In that state, one can receive the appreciation of the greatness from everyone, since the great cannot receive from a smaller one, and much less be impressed by his words. Rather, only the small is impressed by the appreciation of the great.

And for the second condition, each student must extol the virtues of each friend and cherish him as though he were the greatest in the generation. Then the environment will affect him as a sufficiently great environment, since quality is more important than quantity.

 

Notes

[2] Translator’s note: a great teacher

  

Before I clarify this exalted matter, it is important for me to note that although all the readers seem to consider it impossible to clarify and bring such a matter closer to the human mind, except by relying on abstract, philosophical concepts, as is usually the case in such scrutinies, since the day I have discovered the wisdom of Kabbalah and dedicated myself to it, I have distanced myself from abstract philosophy and all its branches as the east from the west. Everything that I will write henceforth will be from a purely scientific perspective, in utter precision, and by means of simple recognition of practical, useful things.

Although I will mention their words below, it will be only to indicate the difference between what the human mind can conjure up and what can be understood using the concepts of the Torah and the prophecy, which are based on practical foundations (as I have shown in “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”).

I would also like to thoroughly clarify the terms “body” and “soul” as they truly are, since truth and sound mind are one and the same. This is because the truth is available for anyone, but only by the spirit of the Holy Torah and by removing all the distorted concepts that have taken root among the people. These are primarily taken from abstract methods from which the spirit of our Holy Torah is utterly removed.

THREE METHODS IN THE CONCEPTS OF BODY AND SOUL

In general, we find that the methods that abound in the world concerning the concepts of body and soul are gathered into three methods:

1) The Method of Faith

The method of faith argues that all that exists is the spirit, or the soul. They believe that there are spiritual objects separated from one another by quality. They are called “souls of people,” and that they exist independently, prior to dressing in a human body. Afterwards, when the body dies, the death does not apply to it, since a spiritual object is a simple object. In their view, death is but a separation of the elements comprising the object.

This is possible with physical objects, comprised of several elements which death disintegrates. But the spiritual soul, which is an utterly simple object, lacking any complexity, cannot be separated in any way, as this separation would annul its existence. Hence, the soul is eternal and exists forever.

The body, as they understand it, is like a clothing over this spiritual object. The spiritual soul clothes in it and uses it to manifest its forces: the good qualities and all kinds of concepts. Also, it provides the body with life and motion and guards it from harm. Thus, the body itself is lifeless, motionless, and contains nothing but dead matter, as we see it once the soul departs it—when it dies—and all the signs of life that we see in human bodies are but manifestations of the soul’s powers.

2) The Method of Believers in Duality

Those who believe in duality think of the body as a complete creation, standing, living, and nourishing, and safekeeping its existence in all that is required. It does not need any assistance from any spiritual object.

Yet, the body is not considered man’s essence. Man’s primary essence is the perceiving soul, which is a spiritual object, as in the view of the supporters of the first method.

The difference between these two methods is only in the concept of the body. Following the extensive developments in physiology and psychology, they have found that Providence has provided for all of life’s needs within the machine of the body itself. This, in their view, restricts the role of the soul’s functionality within the body solely to concepts and virtues of the spiritual kind. Thus, while they believe in duality, in both methods together, they say that the soul is the reason for the body, meaning that the body is a result, extending from the soul.

3) The Method of the Deniers

The method of deniers of spirituality, who acknowledge only corporeality. Supporters of this method completely deny the existence of any kind of abstract spiritual object within the body. They have evidently proven that man’s mind, too, is but a product of the body, and they depict the body as an electronic machine with wires that stretch from the body to the brain, and operate by encounters with external things.

Also, they send their sensations of pain or pleasure to the brain, and the brain instructs the organ what to do. Everything is run by wires and cords built for this task. They move the organ away from sources of pain and towards sources of pleasure. Thus, they clarify all of man’s conclusions from life’s events.

Also, what we feel as concepts and rationalities within our minds are but images of corporeal occurrences within the body. And man’s pre-eminence over all animals is that our minds are developed to such an extent that all the body’s events are depicted in our brains as images that we experience as concepts and rationalities.

Thus, the mind and all its deductions are but products that extend from the events of the body. In addition, there are proponents of the second method who completely agree with this method, but add the spiritual, eternal object to it, called “the soul that dresses within the machine of the body.” This soul is man’s essence, and the machine of the body is but its clothing. Thus, I have laid out in general terms all that human science has thus far contrived in the concepts of “body” and “soul.”

THE SCIENTIFIC MEANING OF BODY AND SOUL ACCORDING TO OUR HOLY TORAH

Now I shall explain this exalted matter according to our Holy Torah, as our sages have explained it to us. I have already written in several places that there is not a single word of our sages, not even in the prophetic wisdom of Kabbalah, that relies on theoretical bases. This is so because it is a known fact that man is naturally doubtful, and each conclusion that the human mind deems certain, it deems uncertain after some time. Hence, one doubles the efforts of one’s study and invents another inference and declares that as certain.

But if one is a genuine student, he will walk around this axis all of one’s life, since yesterday’s certainty has become today’s uncertainty, and today’s certainty become tomorrow’s uncertainty. Thus, it is impossible to determine any definite conclusions for more than a day.

REVEALED AND CONCEALED

Today’s science has sufficiently understood that there is no absolute certainty in reality. Yet, our sages arrived at this conclusion several thousand years earlier. Hence, concerning religious matters, they have guided and forbidden us to not only refrain from drawing any conclusions based on theory, but even prohibited us from being assisted by such theories, even by way of negotiations.

Our sages divided the wisdom into two matters: revealed and concealed. The revealed part contains everything we know from our direct consciousness, as well as the concepts built upon practical experience, without any assistance from scrutiny, as our sages said, “a judge has only what his eyes see.”

The concealed part contains all those concepts we had heard from trusted people or have acquired by ourselves through general understanding and perception of them. However, we cannot sufficiently approach it so as to criticize it with a healthy mind, with straightforward cognizance. And this is regarded as “concealed,” where we were advised to accept matters with “simple faith.” And with all that concerns religion, we have been strictly forbidden to even gaze at matters that could arouse us to scrutinize and study them.

Yet, these names, “revealed” and “concealed,” are not permanent names, applying to a certain kind of knowledge, as the uneducated think. Rather, they apply only to the human consciousness. Thus, one refers to all those concepts one has already discovered and has come to know through actual experience as “revealed,” and regards all the concepts that are yet to be recognized in this manner as “concealed.”

Thus, throughout the generations, all people have these two divisions. The revealed part will be permitted for study and research, as it relies on a true basis, and the concealed part is forbidden for even a shred of scrutiny, since one has no real basis there.

PERMITTED AND FORBIDDEN IN USING HUMAN SCIENCE

Hence, we who follow in the footsteps of our sages are not permitted to use the human science, except with knowledge that has been proven by actual experiences, and of whose validity we have no doubt. Therefore, we cannot accept any religious principle from the above three methods, all the more so concerning the concepts of body and soul, which are the fundamental concepts and the subject of religion as a whole. We can only accept concepts of life sciences taken from experiments that no man can doubt.

Clearly, such a proof cannot be found in any spiritual matter, but only in physical matters, set up for perception by the senses. Hence, we are permitted to use the third method, to an extent. It engages only in matters of the body, in all those deductions that have been proven by experiments, and which no one doubts. The rest of the concepts, which combine the reason of their method and other methods, are forbidden to us. One who uses them breaches, “Turn you not unto the idols.”

Yet, this third method is foreign and loathsome to the human spirit. There is hardly any truly educated person who is able to accept it. This is so because according to them, man’s humane form has been erased and vanished. Man has been made into a machine that walks and works by other forces. According to them, man has no free choice whatsoever, but is rather pushed by nature’s forces, and all his actions are compulsory. Hence, man has no reward or punishment, since no judgment, punishment, or reward apply to one who has no freedom of will.

Such a thing is utterly unthinkable, and not only for the religious, who believe in reward and punishment, since believing in His Providence, that all of nature’s forces are guided by Him, assures them that everything has a good and desirable cause. Yet, this method is even stranger in the eyes of the nonreligious, who believe that everyone is given to the hands of a blind, mindless, and aimless nature. These intelligent ones are like toys in its hands, led astray, and who knows where? Hence, this method has become despised and unaccepted in the world.

But you should know that the method of those who conceive duality came only to correct this above-mentioned wrong. For this reason, they have decided that the body, which is but a machine according to the third method, is not at all the real human. Man’s real essence is something altogether different—invisible and imperceptible to the senses. It is a spiritual entity, clothed and hidden within the body. This is man’s “self,” the “I.” The body and everything within it are considered possessions of that eternal and spiritual I, as they have written.

Yet, by their own admission, this method is lame, since they cannot explain how a spiritual entity, being the soul or the self, can move the body or decide anything concerning it. This is because following the philosophical precision itself, the spiritual has no contact whatsoever with the physical. It has absolutely no impact on it, as they have written themselves.

THE ACCUSATION AGAINST THE RAMBAM (MAIMONIDES)

Yet, even without this question, their method would have been forbidden among Israel, as we have explained above. It is important to know that the whole accusation of Rambam by Israel’s sages and the harsh judgment to burn his books, were not because they had any doubt of the righteousness and piousness of the Rambam himself. Rather, it was only because he used philosophy and metaphysics, which were at their peak at the time, as assistance in his books. The Rambam wished to save them from it, yet the sages did not agree with him.

Needless to say, today our generation has already recognized that metaphysical philosophy contains no real content upon which it is worthwhile to spend one’s time. Hence, it is certainly forbidden for anyone to take any spices from their words.

 

What is the wisdom of Kabbalah? As a whole, the wisdom of Kabbalah concerns the revelation of Godliness, arranged on its path in all its aspects—those that have emerged in the worlds and those that are destined to be revealed, and in all the manners that can ever appear in the worlds, to the end of time.

THE PURPOSE OF CREATION

Since there is no act without some purpose, it is certain that the Creator had a purpose in the Creation set before us. And the most important thing in this whole diverse reality is the sensation given to the animals—that each of them feels its own existence. And the most important sensation is the noetic sensation, given to man alone, by which one also feels what is in one’s other—the pains and comforts. Hence, it is certain that if the Creator has a purpose in this Creation, its subject is man. It is said about him, “All of the Lord’s works are for him.”

But we must still understand what was the purpose for which the Creator created this lot? Indeed, it is to elevate him to a Higher and more important degree, to feel his God like the human sensation, which is already given to him. And as one knows and feels one’s friend’s wishes, so will he learn the words of the Creator, as it is written about Moses, “And the Lord spoke unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.”

Any person can be as Moses. Undoubtedly, anyone who examines the evolution of Creation before us will see and understand the great pleasure of the Operator, whose operation evolves until it acquires that wondrous sensation of being able to converse and deal with one’s God as one speaks to one’s friend.

FROM ABOVE DOWNWARDS

It is known that the end of the act is in the preliminary thought. Before one begins to think about how to build a house, one contemplates the apartment in the house, which is the purpose. Subsequently, one examines the blueprint to make it suitable for this task.

So it is with our matter. Once we have learned about the purpose, it is also clear to us that all the conducts of Creation, in its every corner, inlet, and outlet, are completely prearranged for the purpose of nurturing the human species from its midst, to improve its qualities until it can sense the Creator as one feels one’s friend.

These ascensions are like rungs of a ladder, arranged degree-by-degree until it is completed and achieves its purpose. And you should know that the quality and quantity of these rungs is set in two realities: 1) the existence of material substances, and 2) the existence of spiritual concepts.

In the language of Kabbalah, they are called “from Above downwards” and “from below Upwards.” This means that the corporeal substances are a sequence of disclosure of His Light from Above downwards—from the first source, when a measure of Light was cut off from His Essence, and was restricted Tzimtzum by Tzimtzum (restriction by restriction)until the corporeal world was formed off it, with corporeal creatures at its very bottom.

FROM BELOW UPWARDS

Afterwards begins an order of from below Upwards. These are all the rungs of the ladder by which the human race develops and climbs up to the purpose of creation. These two realities are explained in their every detail in the wisdom of Kabbalah.

NECESSITY TO STUDY KABBALAH

An opposer might say, “Therefore, this wisdom is for those who have already been rewarded with a measure of Godly revelation, but what necessity can the majority of the people have for knowing this sublime wisdom?”

Indeed, there is a common opinion that the prime goal of religion and the Torah is only the cleansing of actions, that all that is desired concerns observing the physical Mitzvot (commandments), without any additions or anything that should result from it. Had that been so, those who say that studying the revealed and practical actions alone is sufficient would be right.

Yet, this is not the case. Our sages have already said, “Why should the Creator mind if one slaughters at the throat or at the back of the neck? After all, the Mitzvot were only given to cleanse people.” Thus, there is a purpose beyond the observance of the actions, and the actions are merely preparations for this purpose. Hence, clearly, if the actions are not arranged for the desired goal, it is as if nothing exists. And it is also written in The Zohar: “A Mitzva (commandment) without an aim is like a body without a soul.” Hence, the aim, too, should accompany the act.

Also, it is clear that the aim should be a true aim worthy of the act, as our sages said about the verse, “‘And I will set you apart from the peoples, that ye should be Mine,’ so your separation will be for My Name. Let not one say, ‘Pork is impossible.’ Rather, let one say ‘it is possible, but what can I do, my Father in Heaven has sentenced me.’”

Thus, if one avoids pork because of abomination or because of some bodily harm, this aim does not help at all for it to be considered a Mitzva, unless one has the unique and proper intention that the Torah forbade. So it is with every Mitzva, and only then is one’s body gradually purified by observing the Mitzvot, which is the desired purpose.

Hence, the study of physical conducts is not enough; we need to study those things that producethe desirable intention, to observe everything with faith in the Torah and in the Giver of the Torah, that there is a Judgment and there is a Judge.

Who is so foolish as to not understand that faith in the Torah and in reward and punishment, which have the power to yield this great thing, require much study in the proper books? Thus, even before the act, a study that purifies the body is required, to grow accustomed to faith in the Creator, His Law, and His Providence. Our sages said about that, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created for it the Torah as a spice.” They did not say, “I have created for it the Mitzvot as a spice,” since “your guarantor needs a bondsman himself,” as the evil inclination desires licentiousness and will not let him keep the Mitzvot.

TORAH AS A SPICE

The Torah is the only spice to annul and subdue the evil inclination, as our sages said, “The Light in it reformed them.”

THE MAJORITY OF THE WORDS OF THE TORAH ARE FOR STUDY

This reconciles why the Torah speaks at length on parts that do not concern the practical part but only the study, meaning the introduction to the act of Creation. These are the whole of the book ofBeresheet (Genesis), Shemot (Exodus), most of Devarim (Deuteronomy), and, needless to say, legends and commentaries. Yet, since they are what the Light is stored in, his body will be purified, the evil inclination subdued, and he will come to faith in the Torah and in reward and punishment. This is the first degree in the observance of the work.

COMMANDMENT IS A CANDLE, AND TEACHING IS LIGHT

It is written, “For the commandment is a candle, and the Torah is Light.” As one who has candles but no light to light them sits in the dark, one who has Mitzvot but no Torah sits in the dark. This is because the Torah is Light, by which the darkness in the body is illuminated and lit up.

NOT ALL PORTIONS OF THE TORAH ARE OF EQUAL LIGHT

According to the above-mentioned power in the Torah, that is, considering the measure of Light in it, it is certain that the Torah should be divided into degrees, according to the measure of Light that one can receivefrom studying it. Clearly, when one ponders and contemplates words of Torah that pertain to the revelation of the Creator to our fathers, they bring the examiner more Light than when examining practical matters.

Although they are more important with respect to the actions, with respect to the Light, the revelation of the Creator to our fathers is certainly more important. Anyone with an honest heart who has tried to ask to receive the Light of the Torah will admit to that.

NECESSITY AND UNFOLDING OF THE EXPANSION OF THE WISDOM

Since the whole of the wisdom of Kabbalah speaks of the revelation of the Creator, naturally, there is none more successful teaching for its task. This is what the Kabbalists aimed for—to arrange it so it is suitable for studying.

And so they studied in it until the time of concealment (it was agreed to conceal it for a certain reason). However, this was only for a certain time, and not forever, as it is written in The Zohar, “This wisdom is destined to be revealed at the end of days, and even to children.”

It follows that the above-mentioned wisdom is not at all limited to the language of Kabbalah, as its essence is a spiritual Light that emerges from His Essence, as it is written, “Can thou send forth lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee: ‘Here we are,’” referring to the two above ways:from Above downwards and from below Upwards.

These matters and degrees expand according to a language suitable for them, and they are truly all the beings in this world and their conducts in this world, which are their branches. This is so because “You have not a blade of grass below that does not have an angel above, which strikes it and tells it, ‘Grow!’” Thus, the worlds emerge from one another and are imprinted from one another like a seal and imprint. And all that is in one is in the other, down to the corporeal world, which is their last branch, but contains the world Above it like an imprint of a seal.

Thus, it is easy to know that we can speak of the Higher Worlds only by their corporeal, lower branches, which extend from them, or of their conducts, which is the language of the Bible, or by secular teachings or by people, which is the language of Kabbalists, or according to agreed upon names. This was the conduct in the Kabbalah of the Geonim since the concealment of The Zohar.

Thus, it has been made clear that the revelation of the Creator is not a one-time disclosure, but an ongoing matter that is revealed over a period of time, sufficient for the disclosure of all the great degrees that appear from Above downwards and from below Upwards. On top of them, and at the end of them, appears the Creator.

It is like a person proficient in all the countries and people in the world, who cannot say that the whole world has been revealed to him before he has completed his examination of the last person and the last country. Until one has achieved that, one has not attained the whole world.

Similarly, the attainment of the Creator unfolds in preordained ways. The seeker must attain all those ways in both the Upper and the lower. Clearly, the Upper Worlds are the important ones here, but they are attained together because there is no difference in their shapes, only in their substance. The substance of a Higher World is purer, but the shapes are imprinted from one another, and what exists in the Higher World necessarily exists in all the worlds below it, since the lower one is imprinted by it. Know that these realities and their conducts, which the seeker of the Creator attains, are called “degrees,” since their attainment is arranged one atop the other, like rungs of a ladder.

SPIRITUAL EXPRESSIONS

The spiritual has no image, hence it has no letters to contemplate with. Even if we declare in general that it is Simple Light, which descends and extends to the seeker until one clothes and attains it in the amount sufficient for His revelation, this, too, is a borrowed expression. This is so because everything that is called “Light” in the spiritual world is not like the light of the sun or candlelight.

What we refer to as Light in the spiritual world is borrowed from the human mind, whose nature is such that when a doubt is resolved in a person, one discovers a kind of abundance of light and pleasure throughout the body. This is why we sometimes say “the light of the mind,” although this is not so. The light that shines in those parts of the substance of the body that are unsuitable for receiving resolved scrutinies is certainly something inferior to the mind. Hence, those lower, inferior organs can receive it and attain it, too.

Yet, to be able to name the mind by some name, we call it “the light of the mind.” Similarly, we call the elements of the reality of the Upper Worlds “Lights,” as they bring those who attain them abundance of light and pleasure throughout the body, from head to toe. For this reason, we may call one who attains “clothing,” for he has clothed that Light.

We might ask, “Would it not be more correct to call them by names used in scrutiny, such as observation and attainment, or to express oneself with expressions that emphasize the phenomena of the noetic mind?” The thing is that it is nothing like the conducts of the noetic phenomena, since the mind is a particular branch among all the elements of reality. Hence, it has its own ways of manifestation.

This is not so with degrees, as they are a complete whole, which contains all the elements that exist in a world. Each element has its own particular ways. For the most part, the perception of matters in degrees is similar to the perception of animate bodies: when one attains some essence, one attains the whole of it, from head to toe.

If we judge by the laws of the noetic mind, we can say that he has attained everything he could attain in that essence, and even if he contemplated it for another thousand years, he would not add to it even an iota. Yet, in the beginning it is very similar to… meaning he sees everything but understands none of what he sees. Yet, by the passing of time he will have to attain additional matters, similar to Ibur (conception), Yenika (nursing), Mochin (adulthood), and a second Ibur. At that time, he will begin to feel and use his attainments in every way he wishes.

However, in truth, he did not add a thing to the attainments he had achieved in the beginning. It is rather like ripening: previously it was unripe, hence he could not understand it, and now its ripening has completed.

Thus, you see the big difference from the conducts of noetic phenomena. For this reason, the definitions we are accustomed to using will not suffice for us with noetic phenomena. We are compelled to use only the conducts that apply to corporeal matters, since their shapes are completely similar, although their substance is utterly remote.

Four Languages Are Used in the Wisdom of Truth

1. Four languages are used in the wisdom of truth:
2. The language of the Bible, its names, and appellations.
3. The language of laws. This language is very close to the language of the Bible.
4. The language of legends, which is very far from the Bible, since it has no consideration of reality. Strange names and appellations are attributed to this language, and also, it does not relate to concepts by way of root and its branch.
5. The language of Sefirot and Partzufim. In general, sages had a strong inclination to conceal it from the ignorant, since they believed that wisdom and ethics go hand in hand. Hence, the first sages hid the wisdom in writing, using lines, dots, tops, and bottoms. This is how the alphabet was formed with the twenty-two letters before us.

THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE

The language of the Bible is the primary, rudimentary language, perfectly suited for its task, as for the most part, it contains a root and branch relation. This is the easiest language to understand. This language is also the oldest; it is the Holy Tongue, attributed to Adam ha Rishon.

This language has two advantages and one disadvantage. Its first advantage is that it is easy to understand, and even beginners in attainment immediately understand all they need. The second advantage is that it clarifies matters extensively and in depth, more than in all other languages.

Its disadvantage is that it cannot be used for discussing particular issues or connections of cause and consequence. This is so because every matter needs to be clarified in its fullest measure, as it is not self-evident in showing to which element it is referring, unless by presenting the whole matter. Hence, to emphasize the smallest detail, a complete story must be presented. This is why it is unfit for small details or for connections of cause and consequence.

Also, the language of prayers and blessings is taken from the language of the Bible.

THE LANGUAGE OF LAWS

The language of laws is not of reality, but of the existence of reality. This language is taken entirely from the language of the Bible according to the roots of the laws presented there. It has one advantage over the Bible: it greatly elaborates on every matter and hence points to the Upper Roots more accurately.

However, its great disadvantage, compared to the language of the Bible, is that it is very difficult to understand. This is the most difficult of all the languages, and only a complete sage, called “entering and exiting without harm,” will attain it. Of course, it also contains the first disadvantage, as it is taken from the Bible.

THE LANGUAGE OF LEGENDS

The language of legends is easy to understand through the allegories that perfectly fit the desired meaning. In superficial examination, it seems even easier to understand than the language of the Bible. Yet, for complete understanding, it is a very difficult language, since it does not confine itself to speaking in sequences of root and branch, but only in allegories and marvelous wit. However, it is very rich in resolving abstruse and odd concepts that concern the essence of the degree in its state, for itself, which cannot be explained in the languages of Bible and law.

THE LANGUAGE OF KABBALISTS

The language of Kabbalists is a language in the full sense of the word: very precise, both concerning root and branch and concerning cause and consequence. It has a unique merit of being able to express subtle details in this language without any limits. Also, through it, it is possible to approach the desired matter directly, without the need to connect it with what precedes it or follows it.

However, despite all the sublime merits that you find in it, there is a great fault to it: it is very difficult to attain, almost impossible, except from a Kabbalist sage and from a wise one who understands with his own mind. This means that even one who understands the rest of the degrees from below Upwards and from Above downwards with his own mind, will still not understand a thing in this language until he receives it from a sage who had already received the language from his teacher face-to-face.

THE LANGUAGE OF KABBALAH IS CONTAINED IN ALL

The names, appellations, and Gematrias belong entirely to the wisdom of Kabbalah. The reason they are found in the other languages, too, is that all the languages are included in the wisdom of Kabbalah. This is so because these are all particular cases that the other languages must be assisted with.

But one should not think that these four languages, which serve to explain the wisdom of Godly revelation, evolved one at a time, over time. The truth is that all four appeared before the sages simultaneously.

In truth, each consists of all the others. The language of Kabbalah exists in the Bible, such as the standing on the Tzur (rock), the thirteen attributes of mercy in the Torah and in Micah, and, to an extent, it is sensed in each and every verse. There are also the chariots in Isaiah and Ezekiel, and atop them all The Song of Songs, all of which is purely the language of Kabbalah. It is similar in laws and in legends, and all the more so with the matter of the unerasable holy names, which bear the same meaning in all the languages.

ORDER OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE LANGUAGES

Within everything is a gradual development, and the easiest language to use is one whose development is completed before the others. Hence, the first products were in the language of the Bible, as it is the most convenient language and was prevalent at the time.

Following it came the language of laws, since it is completely immersed in the language of the Bible, as well as because it was needed in order to show the people how to implement the laws.

The third was the language of legends. Although it is found in many places in the Bible, too, it is only as an auxiliary language because its wit rushes the perception of matters. However, it cannot be used as a basic language, as it lacks the precision of root and its branch. Thus, it was rarely used and hence did not develop.

And even though legends were used extensively during the time of the Tanaaim and the Amoraim, it was only in conjunction with the language of the Bible, to open the words of our sages—Rabbi… started, etc., (and other suffixes). In truth, expansive use of this language by our sages began after the concealment of the language of Kabbalah, during the days of Yohanan Ben Zakai and soon before, meaning seventy years prior to the ruin of the Temple.

The last to evolve was the language of Kabbalah. This was so because of the difficulties in understanding it: in addition to attainment, one needs to understand the meaning of its words. Hence, even those who understood it could not use it, since, for the most part, they were alone in their generation and had no one with whom to study. Our sages called that language, Maase Merkavah, since it is a special language by which one can elaborate on the details of the Herkev(composition) of the degrees in one another, and not at all with any other.

THE LANGUAGE OF KABBALAH IS LIKE ANY SPOKEN LANGUAGE, AND ITS PREFERENCE IS IN THE MEANING CONTAINED WITHIN A SINGLE WORD!

At first glance, the language of Kabbalah seems like a mixture of the three above-mentioned languages. However, one who understands how to use it will find that it is a unique language in and of itself from beginning to end. This does not pertain to the words, but to their meanings. This is the whole difference between them.

In the first three languages, there is almost no meaning to a single word, allowing the examiner to understand what the word implies. Only by joining a few words, and sometimes issues, can their content and meaning be understood. The advantage in the language of Kabbalah is that each and every word in it discloses its content and meaning to the examiner in utter precision, no less than in any other human tongue: each word carries its own precise definition and cannot be replaced with another.

FORGETTING THE WISDOM

Since the concealment of The Zohar, this important language has gradually been forgotten, as it was being used by fewer and fewer people. Also, there was a cessation of one generation, where the receiving sage did not convey it to an understanding receiver. Ever since then, there has been an immeasurable deficit.

You can evidently see that Kabbalist Rabbi Moshe de Leon, who was the last to possess it and by whom it appeared in the world, did not understand a word of it. This is because in those books where he introduces pieces of The Book of Zohar, it is clear that he did not understand the words at all, as he interpreted it according to the language of the Bible. He confused the understanding completely, although he himself had a wonderful attainment, as his compositions demonstrate.

So it was for generations: all the Kabbalists dedicated their entire lives to understanding the language of The Zohar, but could not find their hands and legs, since they forced the language of the Bible on it. For this reason, this book was sealed before them, as it was to Rabbi Moshe de Leon himself.

KABBALAH OF THE ARI

This was so until the arrival of the unique Kabbalist, the Ari. His attainment was above and beyond any boundary, and he opened the language of The Zohar for us and paved our way in it. Had he not passed away so young, it is hard to imagine the amount of Light that would be drawn out of The Zohar. The little we have been blessed with has paved a way and inlet, and true hope that over the generations our understanding would grow to fully grasp it.

Yet, you must understand the reason why all the great sages who followed the Ari abandoned all the books that they compiled in this wisdom and in the commentaries on The Zohar, and nearly prohibited themselves even from being seen, and dedicated their lives to the words of the Ari. This was not because they did not believe in the sanctity of the sages preceding the Ari; God forbid that we should think so. Anyone with eyes in the wisdom could see that the attainment of those great sages in the wisdom of truth was immeasurable. Only an ignorant fool could doubt them. However, their logic in the wisdom followed the first three languages.

Although each language is true and fitting in its place, it is not completely fitting, and quite misleading to understand the wisdom of Kabbalah contained in The Zohar using these orders. This is so because it is a completely different language, since it was forgotten. For this reason, we do not use their explanations, either the explanations of Rabbi Moshe de Leon himself, or his successors’, as their words in interpreting The Zohar are not true, and to this day we have but one commentator—the Ari.

In light of the above, it follows that the internality of the wisdom of Kabbalah is none other than the internality of the Bible, the Talmud, and the legends. The only difference between them is in their explanations.

This is similar to a wisdom that has been translated into four languages. Naturally, the essence of the wisdom has not changed at all by the change of language. All we need to think of is which translation is the most convenient for conveying the wisdom to the student.

So is the matter before us: the wisdom of truth, meaning the wisdom of the revelation of Godliness in His Ways to the creatures, like secular teachings, must be passed on from generation to generation. Each generation adds a link to its former, and thus the wisdom evolves. Moreover, it becomes more suitable for expansion in the public.

Hence, each sage must pass on to his students and to the following generations everything he has inherited in the wisdom from earlier generations, as well as the additions he himself has been rewarded with. Clearly, the spiritual attainment—as it is attained by the attaining—cannot be passed on to another, and all the more so be written in a book. This is so because spiritual objects cannot come in letters of the imagination whatsoever (and even though it is written, “…and by the ministry of the prophets have I used similitudes,” it is not literally so).

ORDER OF PASSING THE WISDOM

Thus, how can one who attains convey one’s attainments to the generations and to students? Know that there is only one way for this: the way of root and branch. All the worlds and everything that fills them, in their every detail, emerged from the Creator in One, Unique, and Unified Thought. And the Thought alone cascaded and created all the many worlds and creations and their conducts, as explained in The Tree of Life and in the Tikkuney Zohar.

Hence, they are all equal to one another, like seal and imprint, where the first seal is imprinted in all. As a result, we call the closer worlds to the Thought about the purpose, “roots,” and the farther worlds from the purpose we call “branches.” This is so because the end of the act is in the preliminary thought.

Now we can understand the common idiom in the legends of our sages: “and watches it from the end of the world to its end.” Should they not have said, “…from the beginning of the world to its end”? But there are two ends: an end according to the distance from the purpose, meaning the last branches in this world, and 2) an end called “the final purpose,” since the purpose is revealed at the end of the matter.

But as we have explained, “The end of the act is in the preliminary thought.” Hence, we find the purpose at the beginning of the worlds. This is what we refer to as “the first world,” or “the first seal.” All other worlds stem from it, and this is why all creations—still, vegetative, animate, and speaking—in all their incidents exist in their fullest form right at the first world. And what does not exist there cannot appear in the world, since one does not give what one does not have.

ROOT AND BRANCH IN THE WORLDS

Now it is easy to understand the matter of roots and branches in the worlds. Each of the manifold still, vegetative, animate, and speaking in this world have their corresponding parts in the world Above it, without any difference in their form, but only in their substance. Thus, an animal or a rock in this world is a corporeal matter, and its corresponding animal or rock in the Higher World is a spiritual matter, occupying no place or time. However, their quality is the same.

And here we should certainly add the matter of relation between matter and form, which is naturally conditioned on the quality of form, too. Similarly, with the majority of the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking in the Upper World, you will find their similitude and likeness in the world Above the Upper. This continues through the first world, where all the elements are completed, as it is written, “And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good.”

This is why the Kabbalists wrote that the world is at the center of everything, to indicate the above, that the end of the act is the first world, meaning the goal. Also, the remoteness from the goal is called “the descent of the worlds from their Emanator” down to this corporeal world, the farthest from the purpose.

However, the end of all the corporeals is to gradually develop and achieve the goal that the Creator had designed for them, meaning the first world. Compared to this world, which we are in, it is the last world, meaning of the end of the matter. This is why it seems that the world of the goal is the last world, and that we, people of this world, are in between them.

ESSENCE OF THE WISDOM OF TRUTH

Now it is clear that as the emergence of the living species in this world and the conduct of their lives are a wondrous wisdom, the appearance of the Divine Abundance in the world, the degrees and the conduct of their actions unite to create a wondrous wisdom, far more than the science of physics. This is so because physics is mere knowledge of the arrangements of a particular kind existing in a particular world. It is unique to its subject, and no other wisdom is included in it.

This is not so with the wisdom of truth, since it is knowledge of the whole of the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking in all the worlds with all their instances and conducts, as they were included in the Creator’s Thought, that is, in the purpose. For this reason, all the teachings in the world, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, are wondrously included in it, as it equalizes all the different teachings, the most different and the most remote from one another, as the east from the west. It makes them all equal, meaning the orders of each teaching are compelled to come by its ways.

For example, the science of physics is arranged precisely by the order of the worlds and the Sefirot. Similarly, the science of astronomy is arranged by that same order, and so is the science of music, etc. Thus, we find in it that all the teachings are arranged and follow a single connection and a single relation, and they are all like the relation of the child to its progenitor. Hence, they condition one another; that is, the wisdom of truth is conditioned by all the teachings, and all the teachings are conditioned by it. This is why we do not find a single genuine Kabbalist without comprehensive knowledge in all the teachings of the world, since they acquire them from the wisdom of truth itself, as they are included in it.

UNITY

The greatest wonder about this wisdom is the integration in it: all the elements of the vast reality are incorporated in it, until they come into a single thing—the Almighty, and all of them together.

In the beginning, you find that all the teachings in the world are reflected in it. They are arranged within it precisely by its own orders. Subsequently, we find that all the worlds and the orders in the wisdom of truth itself, which are immeasurable, unite under only ten realities, called “Ten Sefirot.”

Afterwards, these ten Sefirot arrange in four manners, which are the four-letter Name. After that, these four manners are included in the tip of the Yod, which implies the Ein Sof (Infinity).

In this way, one who begins in the wisdom must begin with the tip of the Yod, and from there to the ten Sefirot in the first world, called “the world of Adam Kadmon.” From there one sees how the numerous details in the world of Adam Kadmon necessarily extend by way of cause and consequence, by the same laws we find in astronomy and physics, meaning constant, unbreakable laws that necessarily stem from one another, cascading from one another, from the tip of the Yoddown to all the elements in the world of Adam Kadmon. From there they are imprinted by one another from the four worlds by way of seal and imprint, until we arrive at all the elements in this world. Afterwards, they are reintegrated in one another until they all come to the world of Adam Kadmon, then to the ten Sefirot, then to the four-letter Name, up to the tip of the Yod.

We could ask, “If the material is unknown, how can we study and scrutinize it”? Indeed, such as that you will find in all the teachings. For example, when studying anatomy—the various organs and how they affect one another—these organs have no similarity to the general subject, which is the whole, living human being. However, over time, when you thoroughly know the wisdom, you can establish a general relation of all the details upon which the body is conditioned.

So it is here: the general topic is the revelation of Godliness to His creations, by way of the purpose, as it is written, “…for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord.” However, a novice will certainly have no knowledge of the general topic, which is conditioned by all of them. For this reason, one must acquire all the details and how they affect each other, as well as their causes by way of cause and consequence, until one completes the whole wisdom. And when one thoroughly knows everything, if he has a purified soul, it is certain that he will ultimately be rewarded with the general topic.

And even if he is not rewarded, it is still a great reward to acquire any perception of this great wisdom, whose advantage over all other teachings is as the value of their topics, and as the advantage of the Creator over His creations is valued. Similarly, this wisdom, whose subject is Him, is far more valuable than the wisdom whose subject is His creatures.

It is not because it is imperceptible that the world refrains from contemplating it. After all, an astronomer has no perception of the stars and the planets, but only of their moves, which they perform with wondrous wisdom that is predetermined in wondrous Providence. Similarly, the knowledge in the wisdom of truth is not more hidden than that, as even beginners thoroughly understand the moves. Rather, the whole prevention was because Kabbalists very wisely hid it from the world.

GIVING PERMISSION

I am glad that I have been born in such a generation when it is permitted to disclose the wisdom of truth. And should you ask, “How do I know that it is permitted?” I will reply that I have been given permission to disclose. Until now, the ways by which it is possible to publicly engage and to fully explain each word have not been revealed to any sage. And I, too, have sworn by my teacher not to disclose, as did all the students before me. However, this oath and this prohibition apply only to those manners that are given orally from generation to generation, back to the prophets and before. Had these ways been revealed to the public, they would cause much harm, for reasons known only to us.

Yet, the way in which I engage in my books is a permitted way. Moreover, I have been instructed by my teacher to expand it as much as I can. We call it “the manner of clothing the matters.” You will see in the writings of Rashbi that he calls this way, “giving permission,” and this is what the Creator has given me to the fullest extent. We deem it as dependent not on the greatness of the sage, but on the state of the generation, as our sages said, “Little Samuel was worthy, etc., but his generation was unworthy.” This is why I said that my being rewarded with the manner of disclosing the wisdom is because of my generation.

ABSTRACT NAMES

It is a grave mistake to think that the language of Kabbalah uses abstract names. On the contrary, it touches only upon the actual. Indeed, there are things in the world that are real even though we have no perception of them, such as the magnet and electricity. Yet, who would be so foolish as to say that these are abstract names? After all, we thoroughly know their actions, and we could not care less that we do not know their essence. In the end, we refer to them as sure subjects to the actions that relate to them. And this is a real name. Even an infant who is just learning to speak can name them, if he only begins to feel their actions. This is our law: All that we do not attain, we do not name.

ESSENCE IS NOT PERCEIVED IN THE CORPOREALS

Moreover, even the things we imagine we attain by their essence, such as rocks and trees, after honest examination we are left with zero attainment in their essence, since we only attain their actions, which occur in conjunction with the encounter of our senses with them.

SOUL

For example, when Kabbalah states that there are three forces, 1) Body, 2) Animate Soul, and 3) Sacred Soul, this does not refer to the essence of the soul. The essence of the soul is fluid; it is what psychologists refer to as “self” and materialists as “electric.” [1]

It is a waste of time to speak of its essence, as it is not arranged for impression through the touch of our senses, as with all corporeal objects. However, by observing in the essence of this fluid three kinds of actions in the spiritual worlds, we thoroughly distinguish between them by different names, according to their actual operations in the Upper Worlds. Thus, there are no abstract names here, but rather tangible ones in the full sense of the word.

ADVANTAGE OF MY COMMENTARY OVER PREVIOUS COMMENTARIES

We can be assisted by secular teachings in interpreting matters in the wisdom of Kabbalah, since the wisdom of Kabbalah is the root of everything and they are all included in it. Some were assisted by anatomy, such as in, “then without my flesh shall I see God,” and some were assisted by philosophy. Latterly, there is extensive use of the wisdom of psychology. But all these are not considered true commentaries, since they do not interpret anything in the wisdom of Kabbalah itself, only show us how the rest of the teachings are included in it. This is why the observers cannot be assisted by one place, in another place. …even though the wisdom of serving God is the closest wisdom to Kabbalah from all the external teachings.

And needless to say, it is impossible to be assisted by interpretations according to the science of anatomy, or by philosophy. For this reason, I said that I am the first interpreter by root and branch, and cause and consequence. Hence, if one were to understand some matter through my commentary, one can be certain that everywhere this matter appears in The Zohar and in theTikkunim, he can be assisted by it, as with the commentaries on the literal, where you can be assisted by one place for all the other places.

The style of interpreting according to external teachings is a waste of time because it is nothing more than a testimony to the genuineness of one over the other. And an external teaching needs no testimony, as Providence has prepared five senses to testify for it, and in Kabbalah (nevertheless) one should understand the argument prior to bringing testimony to the argument.

STYLE OF INTERPRETING ACCORDING TO EXTERNAL TEACHINGS

This is the source of Rav Shem Tov’s mistake: he interpreted The Guide for the Perplexed according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, and he did not know, or pretended not to know, that the wisdom of medicine, or any other wisdom, could be interpreted according to the wisdom of Kabbalah no less than the wisdom of philosophy. This is so because all the teachings are included in it and were imprinted by its seal.

Of course, The Guide to the Perplexed did not refer at all to what Rav Shem Tov interpreted, and he did not see how… in The Book of Creation, he interpreted the Kabbalah according to philosophy. I have already proven that such a style of commentaries is a waste of time, since external teachings need no testimony, and it is pointless to bring testimony to the truthfulness of the wisdom of Kabbalah before its words are interpreted.

It is like a prosecutor who brings witnesses to verify his words before he has explained his arguments (except for books that deal with the work of God, since the wisdom of serving God truly needs witnesses to its truthfulness and success, and we should be assisted by the wisdom of truth).

However, all the compositions of this style are not at all a waste. After we thoroughly understand the wisdom in itself, we will be able to receive much assistance from analogies, how all the teachings are included in it, as well as the manners by which to seek them.

ATTAINING THE WISDOM

There are three orders in the wisdom of truth:

1. The originality in the wisdom. It requires no human assistance, as it is entirely the gift of God, and no stranger shall interfere with it.

2. The understanding of the sources that one has attained from Above. It is like a person who sees that the whole world is set before his eyes, and yet he must exert and study to understand this world. Although he sees everything with his own eyes, there are fools and there are wise. This understanding is called “the wisdom of truth,” and AdamhaRishon was the first to receive a sequence of sufficient knowledge by which to understand and to successfully maximize everything he saw and attained with his eyes.

The order of this knowledge is given only from mouth to mouth. And there is also an order of evolution in them, where each can add to his friend or regress (whereas in the first discernment everyone receives equally without adding or subtracting, like Adam, in understanding the reality of this world. In viewing it, all are equal, but this is not so in understanding it—some evolve from generation to generation and some regress). And the order of its conveyance is sometimes called “conveying the Explicit Name,” and it is given under many conditions, but only orally, and not in writing.

3. This is a written order. It is a completely new thing, since besides containing much room for the development of the wisdom, through which each inherits all the expansions of his attainments to the following generations, there is another magnificent power in it: All who engage in it, although they still do not understand what is written in it, are purified by it, and the Upper Lights draw closer to them. And this order contains four languages, as we have explained above, and the language of Kabbalah exceeds them all.

ORDER OF CONVEYING THE WISDOM

The most successful way for one who wishes to learn the wisdom is to search for a genuine Kabbalist and follow all his instructions, until one is rewarded with understanding the wisdom in one’s own mind, meaning the first discernment. Afterwards, one will be rewarded with its conveyance mouth to mouth, which is the second discernment, and after that, understand in writing, which is the third discernment. Then, one will have inherited all the wisdom and its instruments from his teacher with ease, and will be left with all one’s time to develop and expand.

However, in reality there is a second way: through one’s great yearning, the sights of the Heavens will open for him and he will attain all the origins by himself. This is the first discernment. Yet, afterwards one must still labor and exert extensively, until one finds a Kabbalist sage before whom one can bow and obey, and from whom to receive the wisdom by way of conveyance face to face, which is the second discernment, and then the third discernment.

And since one is not attached to a Kabbalist sage from the outset, the attainments come with great efforts and consume much time, leaving one with only little time to develop in it. Also, sometimes the knowledge comes after the fact, as it is written, “and they shall die without wisdom.” These are ninety-nine percent and what we call, “entering but not exiting.” They are as fools and ignorant in this world, who see the world set before them but do not understand any of it, except the bread in their mouths.

Indeed, in the first way, too, not everyone succeeds. This is because the majority, having attained, become complacent and stop subjugating themselves to their teacher sufficiently, as they are not worthy of the conveyance of the wisdom. In this case, the sage must hide the essence of the wisdom from them, and “they shall die without wisdom,” “entering but not exiting.”

This is so because there are harsh and strict conditions in conveying the wisdom, which stem from necessary reasons. Hence, very few are regarded highly enough by their teachers for them to find them worthy of this thing, and happy are the rewarded.

 

[1] Rav Laitman explains that by “electric,” Baal HaSulam means based on atoms.

 

There is an idiom among great sages when they come to disclose a profound matter: they begin their words with, “I am disclosing a portion and covering two portions.” Our sages took great care not to utter words needlessly, as our sages instructed, “A word is a rock; silence is two.”

This means that if you have a priceless word whose worth is one rock, know that not saying it is worth two rocks. This refers to those uttering needless words without pertinent content or use except to decorate the tongue in the eyes of the beholders. This was strictly forbidden in the eyes of our sages, as is known to those who examine their words. Hence, we must be attentive to understand this common idiom of theirs.

THREE KINDS OF CONCEALMENT OF THE WISDOM

There are three parts to the secrets of the Torah. Each part has its own reason for being concealed. They are called by the following names:

1. Unnecessary

2. Impossible

3. The counsel of the Lord is with them that fear Him

There is not a single fraction of this wisdom where scrutinies of these three parts do not apply, and I will clarify them one at a time.

 

1. UNNECESSARY

This means that no benefit will stem from its disclosing. Of course, this is not such a great loss because there is only the issue of the cleanness of the mind here, to warn of those actions defined as “so what,” meaning so what if I did this, there is no harm in it.

But you should know that, in the eyes of the sages, the “so what” is considered the worst corruptor. This is because all the destructors in the world, those that have been and those that will be, are the “so what” kind of people. This means that they occupy themselves and others in needless things. Hence, sages would not accept any student before they were certain that he would be cautious in his ways, so as not to reveal what was not necessary.

 

2. IMPOSSIBLE

This means that the language does not compel them to say anything of their quality, due to their great sublimity and spirituality. Hence, any attempt to clothe them in words may only mislead the examiners and deflect them to a false path, which is considered the worst of all iniquities. Therefore, to reveal anything in these matters, permission from Above is required. This is the second part of the concealment of the wisdom. Yet, this permission, too, requires explanation.

 

PERMISSION FROM ABOVE

This is explained in the book, The Gate to Rashbi’s Words, by the Ari, in The Zohar, Parashat Mishpatim, p 100. It reads as follows, “Know that some of the souls of the righteous are of the Surrounding-Light kind, and some are of the Inner-Light kind. Those that are of the Surrounding-Light kind have the power to speak of the secrets of the Torah by way of concealment and intimation, so their words will be understood only by those worthy of understanding them.

“Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochai’s soul was of the Surrounding-Light kind. Hence, he had the power to clothe the words and teach them in a way that even if he taught them to many, only the worthy of understanding would understand. This is why he was given ‘permission’ to write The Book of Zohar.

“The permission was not ‘granted’ to write a book in this wisdom to his teachers or to the first ones who preceded them, even though they were certainly more proficient in this wisdom than he. But the reason is that they did not have the power to dress the matters as did he. This is the meaning of what is written, ‘Yochai’s son knew how to guard his ways.’ Now you can understand the great concealment in The Book of Zohar, written by Rashbi, that not every mind can grasp his words.”

His words in essence: Explaining matters in the wisdom of truth is not dependent whatsoever upon the greatness or smallness of the Kabbalist sage. Rather, it is about the illumination of a soul dedicated to this: the illumination of this soul is considered “giving permission” from Above to disclose the Higher Wisdom. We therefore learn that one who has not been rewarded with this permission must not make clarifications in this wisdom, as he cannot clothe the subtle matters in their suitable words in a way that will not fail the students.

For this reason we did not find a single book in the wisdom of truth that precedes Rashbi’s The Book of Zohar, since all the books in the wisdom prior to his are not categorized as interpretations of the wisdom. Instead, they are mere intimations, without any order of cause and consequence, as it is known to those who find knowledge, thus far understanding his words.

I should add, as I had received from books and from authors, that since the time of Rashbi and his students, the authors of The Zohar, until the time of the Ari there was not a single writer who understood the words of The Zohar and the Tikkunim (corrections) like the Ari. All the compositions before his time are mere inklings in this wisdom, including the books of the sage, Ramak.

And the same words that were said about the Rashbi should be said about the Ari himself—that his predecessors were not given permission from Above to disclose the interpretations of the wisdom, and that he was given this permission. And also, this does not distinguish any greatness or smallness at all, since it is possible that the virtue of his formers was much greater than the Ari’s, but they were not given permission for it at all. For this reason, they refrained from writing commentaries that relate to the actual wisdom, but settled for brief intimations that were not in any way linked to one another.

For this reason, since the books of the Ari appeared in the world, all who study the wisdom of Kabbalah have left their hands from all the books of the Ramak, and all the first and the great ones that preceded the Ari, as it is known among those who engage in this wisdom. They have attached their spiritual lives solely to the writings of the Ari in a way that the essential books, considered proper interpretations of this wisdom, are only The Book of Zohar, the Tikkunim and following them, the books of the Ari.

3. The Counsel of the Lord Is with Them that Fear Him

This means that the secrets of the Torah are revealed only to those who fear His Name, who keep His Glory with their hearts and souls, and who never commit any blasphemy. This is the third part of the concealment of the wisdom.

This part of the concealment is the strictest, as this kind of disclosure has failed many. From the midst of those stem all the charmers, whisperers, and “practical” Kabbalists, who hunt souls with their cunningness, and the mystics, who use withered wisdom that came from under the hands of unworthy students, to draw bodily benefit for themselves or for others. The world has suffered much from it, and is suffering still.

You should know that the root of the concealment was only this part. From here the sages took excessive strictness in testing the students, as they said (Hagiga 13), “heads of chapters are given only to a chief justice, and to one whose heart is worried,” and “ Maase Beresheet is not to be explored in pairs, neither is Merkava to be explored alone.” There are many others like that, and all this fear is for the above reason.

For this reason, few are the ones who have been rewarded with this wisdom, and even those who passed all their tests and examinations are sworn by the most serious oaths to not reveal anything of those three parts.

Do not misunderstand my words, in that I have divided the concealment of the wisdom into three parts. I do not mean that the wisdom of truth itself is divided into these three parts. Rather, I mean that these three parts stem from every single detail of this wisdom, since they are the only three manners of scrutiny that are always applied to this wisdom.

However, here we should ask, “If it is true that the firmness of the concealment of the wisdom is so strict, from where were all the thousands of compositions in this wisdom taken?” The answer is that there is a difference between the first two parts and the last part. The prime burden lies only in the above third part, for the reason explained above.

But the first two parts are not under constant prohibition. This is because sometimes an issue in the “unnecessary” is reversed, stops being unnecessary for some reason, and becomes necessary. Also, the part, “impossible,” sometimes becomes possible. This is so for two reasons: either because of the evolution of the generation or by being given permission from Above, as it happened to the Rashbi and to the Ari, and to smaller extents to their formers. All the genuine books written in the wisdom emerge from these discernments.

This is what they mean by their idiom, “I am disclosing a portion and covering two portions.” They mean that it happened that they revealed a new thing that was not discovered by their predecessors. And this is why they imply that they are only revealing one portion, meaning he is revealing the first part of the three parts of concealment, and leaves two parts concealed.

This indicates that something happened, which is the reason for that disclosure: either the “unnecessary” received the form of “necessary,” or “permission from Above” was granted, as I have explained above. This is the meaning of the idiom, “I am disclosing a portion.”

The readers of these tracts, which I intend to print during the year, should know that they are all innovations, which are not introduced purely as such, in their precise content, in any book preceding mine. I received them mouth to mouth from my teacher, who was authorized for it, meaning he, too, received from his teachers mouth to mouth.

And although I had received them under all the conditions of covering and watchfulness, by the necessity introduced in my essay, “Time to Act,” the “unnecessary” part has been inverted for me and became “necessary.” Hence, I have revealed this portion with complete permission, as I have explained above. Yet I will keep the other two portions as I am commanded.