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Chapter 33
Further, this shall be the true joy of the nefesh (the lowest level of the soul), and especially when he sees in his nefesh, at set times, that he needs to refine it and to brighten it with joy of heart. Then he should deepen his thought, and picture in his intellect and his understanding the matter of His true unity, blessed be He: how He fills all worlds, upper and lower. And even the fullness of all this earth is His glory, blessed be He, and all before Him is reckoned as actual nothing, and He alone is, in the upper and the lower, actually, as He was alone before the six days of the beginning. And also in this place, in which this world was created, the heavens and the earth and all their host, He alone was filling this place. And now too, so He is alone, without any change at all, because all the created beings are null before Him in actual existence, like the nullification of the letters of speech and of thought in their source and their root. That source is the essence of the nefesh and its very being, which are its ten aspects, wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, and so on, in which there is not yet an aspect of letters, before it is clothed in the garment of thought [as was explained in chapters 20 and 21 at length, see there]. And as was also explained in another place, a bodily parable for this, from the matter of the nullification of the radiance and the light of the sun in its source, which is the body of the globe of the sun that is in the firmament. For there too its radiance and its light surely shine and spread, and with greater excellence than its spreading and its illumination in the space of the world. Only that there it is null in existence, in its source, and as if it does not exist at all. And exactly so, by way of parable, is the nullification of the world and its fullness, in existence, relative to its source, which is the light of Ein Sof (the Endless), blessed is He, and as was explained there at length.
And behold, when he goes deep into this much, his heart will rejoice and his nefesh will be glad, even with exulting and song, with all the heart and the nefesh and the might, in this faith, for it is great, for it is nearness of Elohim, actually. And this is the whole of the person, and the purpose of his creation and of the creation of all the worlds, upper and lower: that there be for Him this dwelling in the lower ones, as will be explained further on at length.
And behold, how great is the joy of a common person, and of one low among people, when he draws near to a king of flesh and blood who lodges and dwells with him, together with him, in his house. And how much more so, without end, for the nearness and the dwelling of the King of the kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He. And as it is written (Jeremiah 30:21): “For who is this, who has pledged his heart to come near to Me, the utterance of Hashem (God).”
And for this they fixed that one give praise and thanks to His name, blessed be He, every morning, and say: “Happy are we. How good is our portion, and so on, and how fair is our inheritance.” That is to say, as a person exults and rejoices in an inheritance that fell to him, a lasting fortune for which he did not toil, so, and more than so, without end, we have cause to rejoice over our inheritance that our fathers handed down to us. It is the true unity of Hashem, that even in the earth below there is none else besides Him, and this is His dwelling in the lower ones. And this is what our rabbis, of blessed memory, said (Makkot 24a): “Six hundred and thirteen mitzvot (each one a mitzvah (a commanded deed)) were given to Israel. Habakkuk came and set them upon one, as it is said (Habakkuk 2:4): ‘And a tzaddik (a righteous person) shall live by his faith.’” That is to say, as if it were only one mitzvah, that being faith alone. For by faith alone one will come to the keeping of all the six hundred and thirteen mitzvot. That is, when his heart exults and rejoices in his faith in the unity of Hashem, with the utmost joy, as if there were upon him only this mitzvah alone, and it alone were the purpose of his creation and of the creation of all the worlds, then, by the power and the life of his nefesh in this great joy, his nefesh will rise higher and higher, over all that holds back the keeping of all the six hundred and thirteen mitzvot, from within and from without.
And this is why he said “by his faith he shall live,” “he shall live” precisely, like the revival of the dead, by way of parable. So shall his nefesh live in this great joy. And it is a joy doubled and doubled again. For besides the joy of the understanding nefesh in the nearness of Hashem and His dwelling with him together, further he will rejoice twofold, in the joy of Hashem and in the greatness of the pleasure of spirit before Him, blessed be He, through this faith, for the sitra achra (the other side) is actually subdued, and darkness is turned to light. That darkness is the darkness of the kelipah (a husk that hides holiness), the kelipot of this material world, which darken and cover His light, blessed be He, until the time of the end, as it is written (Job 28:3): “An end He set for the darkness” [that is, the end of the right, when He will cause the spirit of impurity to pass from the earth, and the glory of Hashem will be revealed, and all flesh will see together, and as will be explained further on]. And especially outside the Land, for the air of the land of the nations is impure and full of kelipot and of sitra achra. And there is no joy before Him, blessed be He, like the light and the joy in the surplus of light that comes from the darkness, specifically.
And this is what is written (Psalms 149:2): “Israel shall rejoice in his Makers.” The meaning is that everyone who is of the seed of Israel has cause to rejoice in the joy of Hashem, who exults and rejoices in His dwelling in the lower ones, for these are the aspect of making, physical, actually. And this is why it is written “in his Makers,” in the plural, for it is this physical world, full of kelipot and sitra achra, which is called the domain of the many, and mountains of separation. And they are turned into light, and they become a private domain for His unity, blessed be He, through this faith.
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