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Chapter 19
And for a further explanation, one needs to explain well what is written (Proverbs 20:27): “The neshamah of a person is a lamp of Hashem (God).” The meaning is that Israel, who are called adam, a human being (Yevamot 61a), their neshamah is, as a parable, like the light of the lamp, which constantly sways upward by its nature, because the light of the fire desires by nature to part from the wick and to cling to its root above, in the general element of fire beneath the sphere of the moon, as it is written in Etz Chaim. And even though by this it would go out and would shine nothing at all below, and also above, in its root, its light would be nullified out of existence in its root, even so, this is what it desires by its nature.
So it is with the neshamah of the person, and likewise the aspects of ruach and nefesh (the lowest level of the soul). Its wish and its longing, by its nature, are to part and to go out from the body, and to cling to its root and its source, in Hashem, the life of lives, blessed be He. Even though it will become nothing and naught, and will be completely nullified there out of existence, and nothing at all will remain of it of its first essence and its first being, even so this is its will and its wish by its nature. And this “nature” is a borrowed name for every thing that is not in the category of reason and knowledge. And here too, the meaning is that this will and wish in the nefesh are not in the category of reason and knowledge and an intellect that is grasped and understood, but above the knowledge and the intellect that are grasped and understood. And it is the aspect of wisdom in the nefesh, in which is the light of the Ein Sof (the Endless), blessed be He.
And this is a rule in the whole of the side of holiness. It is only what is drawn from wisdom, which is called the upper holiness, which is nullified out of existence in the light of the Ein Sof, blessed be He, that is clothed in it, and it is not a thing on its own, as mentioned above, and therefore it is called koach mah (the power of “what”). And this is the exact opposite of the aspect of the kelipah (a husk that hides holiness) and the sitra achra (the other side), from which come the souls of the nations of the world, who act for themselves and say “Give, give” and “Stuff me,” so as to be a something and a thing on its own, as mentioned above, the opposite of the aspect of wisdom. And therefore they are called dead, for “wisdom gives life” (Ecclesiastes 7:12), and it is written (Job 4:21): “They die, and not with wisdom.”
And so too the reshaim (wicked people), and the transgressors of Israel, before they come to a trial to sanctify the Name. For the aspect of wisdom in the nefesh elokit (the soul from God), together with a spark of divinity from the light of the Ein Sof, blessed be He, that is clothed in it, are in a state of exile in their body, inside the nefesh bahamit (the life-soul of the body) on the side of the kelipah in the left cavity of the heart, which reigns and rules in their body, in the mystery of the exile of the Shekhinah (the divine presence), as mentioned above.
Therefore this love in the nefesh elokit, whose will and wish are to cling to Hashem, the life of lives, blessed be He, is called by the name concealed love. For it is concealed and covered in a sackcloth garment of kelipah in the transgressors of Israel, and from that a spirit of folly enters them, to sin, as the sages of blessed memory said (Sotah 3a): “A person does not sin,” and so on. Only, this exile of the aspect of wisdom applies only to the aspect that spreads from it through the whole nefesh, to give it life. But the root and the principal part of the aspect of wisdom in the nefesh elokit is in the intellects, and it does not clothe itself in the sackcloth garment of the kelipah in the heart, in the left cavity, in a state of actual exile. Only, it is in a state of sleep in the reshaim, and it does not carry out its work in them all the while they are occupied, with their knowledge and their understanding, in the desires of the world.
But when they come to a trial in a matter of faith, which is above knowledge, and it reaches the nefesh, the aspect of wisdom in it, then it wakes from its sleep and carries out its work by the power of Hashem that is clothed in it. And as it is written (Psalms 78:65): “And Hashem awoke like a sleeper,” to stand in the trial in faith in Hashem, without any reason or knowledge or an intellect grasped by him, to overpower the kelipot and the desires of this world, in the permitted and in the forbidden, to which he has grown used, and to loathe them, and to choose Hashem for himself as his portion and his lot, to hand his nefesh over to Him for the holiness of His Name. And even though the kelipot overpowered him all his days and he could not master them, as the sages of blessed memory said (Genesis Rabbah 34:10) that the reshaim are in the power of their heart, nevertheless, when he comes to a trial in a matter of faith in the one Hashem, a faith whose foundation is in mountains of holiness, which is the aspect of wisdom in the nefesh elokit, in which the light of the Ein Sof, blessed be He, is clothed, then all the kelipot are null and are made null, and they become as though they had never been at all, before Hashem, as it is written (Isaiah 40:17): “All the nations are as nothing beside Him,” and so on, and it is written (Psalms 92:10): “For see, Your enemies, Hashem, for see, Your enemies will perish, they will scatter,” and so on, and it is written (Psalms 68:3): “As wax melts before fire, they will perish,” and so on, and it is written (Psalms 97:5): “The mountains melted like wax.”
Now the light of Hashem, the Ein Sof, blessed be He, that is clothed in the aspect of wisdom in the nefesh, its power is so great and so mighty to drive out and to push away the sitra achra and the kelipot, that they cannot touch even its garments, which are thought, speech, and deed of faith in the one Hashem. That is, to stand in a trial and hand over his nefesh, even only so as not to do some single deed against faith in the one Hashem, for example to bow to foreign worship even though he does not believe in it at all in his heart, and likewise not to speak a straying word, God spare us, about the oneness of Hashem, even though his mouth and his heart do not agree, and only his heart is whole in faith in Hashem. And this is called the awe that is included in the love, which is the natural love in the nefesh elokit of the whole of Israel, whose wish and will by its nature are to cling to its root and its source, the light of the Ein Sof, blessed be He. Because of this love and this will, it fears and dreads by its nature to touch the edge of the impurity of foreign worship, God spare us, which is against faith in the one Hashem, even in its outer garments, which are speech or deed, with no faith in the heart at all.
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