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Chapter 36
Now this saying of the sages of blessed memory is known (Tanchuma, Naso 16), that the purpose of the creation of this world is that the Holy One, blessed be He, desired to have a dwelling in the lower realms. Now, the category of above and of below does not apply before Him, blessed be He, for He, blessed be He, fills all worlds in the same way.
The explanation of the matter is this. Before the world was created, He alone, blessed be He, was single and unique, and He filled all this place in which He created the world. And so it is now as well, before Him, blessed be He. Only the change is toward those who receive His vitality and His light, blessed be He. They receive by way of many garments that cover and hide His light, blessed be He, as it is written (Exodus 33:20): “for a human being will not see Me and remain alive”, and as the sages of blessed memory explained (Numbers Rabbah 14:21), that even the angels who are called living beings do not see, and so on.
And this is the matter of the downward chain of the worlds, and of their descent from level to level, by the multitude of garments that hide the light and the vitality which come from Him, blessed be He, until this world was created, physical and material in the full sense. And it is the lowest in level. There is no lower one beneath it in the matter of the hiding of His light, blessed be He, and the darkness is doubled and doubled again, until it is full of kelipot (husks that hide holiness) and the sitra achra (the other side), which stand against Hashem (God) Himself, saying, “I, and nothing else remains besides me.”
Now, the purpose of the downward chain of the worlds, and of their descent from level to level, is not for the sake of the upper worlds, since for them it is a descent from the light of His face, blessed be He. The purpose is this lowest world. For so it arose in His will, blessed be He, that there be a contentment of spirit before Him, blessed be He, when the sitra achra is subdued and darkness is turned to light, so that the light of Hashem, Ein Sof (the Endless), blessed be He, will shine in the place of the darkness and of the sitra achra of this entire world, with a greater height and a greater might, and with an advantage of light coming out of the darkness, over the way He shines in the upper worlds. There He shines by means of garments and a hiding of the face, which hide and conceal the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, so that they will not be nullified in their existence. For this, the Holy One, blessed be He, gave the Torah to Israel. It is called might and strength (Midrash Psalms 8). And as in the saying of the sages of blessed memory, the Holy One, blessed be He, gives strength to the tzaddikim (righteous people), so that they can receive their reward in the time to come, and not be nullified in their existence itself in the light of Hashem that will be revealed in the future, without any garment, as it is written (Isaiah 30:20): “your Teacher will no longer be wrapped aside” [meaning that He will not be covered from you by a corner and a garment], “and your eyes will see your Teacher”. And it is written (Isaiah 52:8): “for they will see eye to eye”, and the rest. And it is written (Isaiah 60:19): “the sun will no longer be a light for you by day, and the rest, for Hashem will be a light for you (by day) [everlasting]”, and the rest. And it is known that the days of the Messiah, and in particular the time when the dead will live, are the purpose and the completion of the creation of this world, which is why it was created from its beginning. [Gloss: And the receiving of reward has its main place in the seventh millennium, as he wrote in Likkutei Torah of the Ari, of blessed memory.]
And there has already been, for the worlds, something of this kind, at the hour when the Torah was given, as it is written (Deuteronomy 4:35): “You were shown, so that you would know that Hashem is Elohim. There is nothing else besides Him.” “You were shown” in the full sense, with a seeing of the senses, as it is written (Exodus 20:14): “and all the people were seeing the sounds”, seeing what is heard. And the sages of blessed memory explained: they look toward the east and hear the utterance going out, “I”, and so on. And so toward the four directions, and upward and downward. And as is explained in the Tikkunim, that there is no place from which He did not speak with them, and so on.
And this was because of the revealing of His will, blessed be He, in the Ten Utterances, which are the whole of the Torah. The Torah is the inner side of His will, blessed be He, and of His wisdom, and there is no hiding of the face there at all, as it is said (the blessing “Grant peace” in the Amidah prayer): for in the light of Your face You gave us a Torah of life. Therefore they were nullified in their existence itself, as in the saying of the sages of blessed memory (Song of Songs Rabbah 6:3), that at every utterance their soul flew out, and so on, except that the Holy One, blessed be He, returned it to them in the dew with which He is destined to bring the dead to life. And that is the dew of Torah, which is called might, as in the saying of the sages of blessed memory (Ketubot 111b): whoever engages in the Torah, the dew of Torah gives him life, and so on.
Only afterward the sin brought this about, and they and the world became coarse and material, until the time of the end of the right. Then the materiality of the body and of the world will be refined, and they will be able to receive the revealing of the light of Hashem, which will shine for Israel by means of the Torah that is called might. And from the surplus of the shining given to Israel, the darkness of the nations will also grow bright, as it is written (Isaiah 60:3): “nations will walk by your light”, and the rest. And it is written (Isaiah 2:5): “House of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of Hashem”. And it is written (Isaiah 40:5): “the glory of Hashem will be laid open, and all flesh will see it together”, and the rest. And it is written (Isaiah 2:21): “to go into the hollows of the cliffs and into the clefts of the rocks, away from dread of Hashem and from the splendor of His majesty”, and the rest. And as it is said (the fourth blessing in the prayers of Rosh Hashanah): “and shine forth in the splendor of the majesty of Your might upon all who dwell on the dry land of Your earth”, and the rest.
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