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Chapter 38
And behold, with all that has been mentioned above, the ruling of the law that is set out in the Talmud and the deciders will be well understood (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 68:2), that a thought is not reckoned as speech. And if he recited the reading of the Shema in his thought and in his heart alone, with all the strength of his intention, he has not fulfilled his obligation, and he needs to go back and recite. And so too with the blessing after the meal, which is from the Torah, and with the rest of the blessings, which are from the rabbis, and with the prayer. And if he brought it out with his lips and did not direct his heart, he has fulfilled his obligation after the fact, and he does not need to go back, except for the first verse of the reading of the Shema and the first blessing of the prayer of the Eighteen Blessings. And as it is found [at the beginning of chapter 2 of Berakhot (Berakhot 13b)]: up to here is the mitzvah (a commanded deed) of intention; from here onward is the mitzvah of reading, and so on.
And that is because the neshamah does not need a repair for itself through the mitzvot, only to draw down light, to repair the vital nefesh (the lowest level of the soul) and the body, by means of the letters of the speech that the nefesh speaks in the five outlets of the mouth. And so too in the practical mitzvot that the nefesh does with the rest of the limbs of the body.
But even so, they said (brought in various books in the name of the early ones): a prayer, or any other blessing, without intention, they are like a body without a neshamah. The meaning is, that just as all the creatures that are in this world, that have a body and a neshamah, which are the soul of every living thing, and the spirit of all flesh of man, and the neshamah of everything that has a spirit of life in its nostrils, of all living beings, and Hashem (God) gives life to them all, and brings them into being from nothing into what is, constantly, by a light and a life that He flows into them. For even the material body, and even stones and dust that are actually inanimate, has in it a light and a life from Him, blessed be He, so that it will not turn back to be nothing and naught, as it had been.
And even so, there is no comparison and no likeness at all between the aspect of the light and the life that shines in the body, as against the aspect of the light and the life that shines in the neshamah, which is the soul of every living thing. And even though in both of them it is one equal light, in an aspect of a hiding of the face and of equal garments, in which the light hides and is concealed and clothes itself. For both of them are from this world, in the whole of which the light and the life from the breath of His mouth, blessed be He, hide equally, in an aspect of a hiding of the face and a descent of the levels, in the chaining down of the worlds from level to level, in many and mighty contractions, until it has clothed itself in kelipat nogah (kelipah: a husk that hides holiness), to give life to the whole of this material world. That is, all the things that are permitted and clean in this world. And from it, and by means of it, the unclean things are flowed. For it is an intermediate aspect, as mentioned above. Even so, the illumination, which is the drawing down of the life with which Hashem shines and gives life by way of this garment, is not equal in all of them in the aspect of contraction and of spreading out. For in the physical and actually inanimate body, such as stones and dust, the illumination is in an aspect of a great contraction which has none like it, and the life that is in it is so scant that there is not even in it the power of growth. And in the plant, the illumination is not in so great a contraction. And in a general way they divide into four levels: the inanimate, the plant, the living, and the speaking, corresponding to the four letters of the name Havayah, blessed be He, from which they are flowed.
And just as there is no comparison and no likeness between the illumination and the drawing down of the life that is in the inanimate and the plant, and the illumination and the drawing down of the life that is clothed in the living and the speaking, even though in all of them it is one equal light in an aspect of a hiding of the face, and it is clothed in one garment in all of them, which is the garment of nogah. So there is no comparison and no likeness at all between the illumination and the drawing down of the light of Ein Sof (the Endless), blessed be He, which is the inwardness of His will, blessed be He, without a hiding of the face and without any garment at all, that shines and is clothed in practical mitzvot in actual fact, and likewise in the mitzvot that depend on speech and on an utterance of the lips without intention, which is reckoned as an actual deed, as mentioned above, as against the illumination and the drawing down of the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, that shines and is clothed in the intention of the practical mitzvot, in which the person intends in doing them in order to cling to Him, blessed be He, by means of the fulfillment of His will, for He and His will are one. And so too in the intention of the prayer, and of the reading of the Shema and of its blessings, and of the rest of the blessings, in which by his intention in them he binds his thought and his intellect to Him, blessed be He. And not that the clinging of the thought and of the intellect of the person to Him, blessed be He, is from its own side above the clinging of the fulfillment of the practical mitzvot in actual deed, as will be explained further on. Rather, because this too is His will, blessed be He, to cling with intellect and with thought and with the intention of the practical mitzvot, and with the intention of the reading of the Shema and of the prayer and of the rest of the blessings. And the illumination of this supernal will, which shines and is clothed in this intention, is great without end, high, high above the illumination of the supernal will that shines and is clothed in the fulfillment of the mitzvot themselves, in deed and in speech without intention, like the greatness of the level of the light of the neshamah over the body, which is a vessel and a garment of the neshamah, just as the body of the mitzvah itself is a vessel and a garment for its intention. And even though in both of them, in the mitzvah and in its intention, there is clothed one simple will, in the utmost simplicity, without any change and any plurality, God spare us, and it is united with His essence and His substance, blessed be He, in the utmost union, even so, the illumination is not equal in the aspect of contraction and of spreading out.
[Gloss: And as it is written in the Tree of Life, that the intention of the mitzvot, and Torah study, is on the level of light, and the body of the mitzvot is the level and the aspect of vessels, which are an aspect of contraction, for by the contraction of the light the vessels came to be, as is known to those who know hidden wisdom.]
And it also divides into four levels. For the body of the mitzvot themselves, in actual fact, they are two levels, which are mitzvot that are actually of deed, and mitzvot that depend on speech and on thought, such as Torah study, and the reading of the Shema, and prayer, and the blessing after the meal, and the rest of the blessings.
And the intention of the mitzvot, to cling to Him, blessed be He, which is like a neshamah to the body, also divides into two levels, like the two levels of the neshamah that are in the material body, which are the living and the speaking. For one whose mind is fair, to know Hashem, and to contemplate His greatness, blessed be He, and to bring forth from his understanding an upper awe in his brain, and a love of Hashem in the right chamber of his heart, so that his nefesh thirsts for Hashem, to cling to Him by means of the fulfillment of the Torah and the mitzvot, which are the drawing down and the illumination of the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, upon his nefesh, to cling to Him, and with this intention he studies and fulfills the mitzvot, and likewise with this intention he prays and blesses. Behold, this intention is, by way of a parable, like the neshamah of the speaking one, who is a master of intellect and of choice, and with knowledge he speaks.
And one whose mind is too short to know and to contemplate the greatness of Ein Sof, blessed be He, so as to bring forth the love from his understanding in a revelation of his heart, and likewise the awe in his brain and the dread of Hashem in his heart. Only, he remembers and awakens the natural love that is hidden in his heart, and he brings it out from the concealment and the hiding of the heart into the revelation in the brain at least, so that his will that is in his brain, and the hidden places of his heart, agree and consent with a complete consent, in truth, in its real truth, to surrender his nefesh in actual deed for the unity of Hashem, in order that his nefesh elokit (the soul from God) and its garments may cling to Him, and to include them in His unity and His oneness, which is the supernal will that is clothed in the study of the Torah and in the fulfillment of the mitzvot, as mentioned above. And the awe too is included in it, to accept His kingship, so as not to rebel against Him, God spare us. And with this intention he turns from what is bad and does what is good, and he studies and prays and blesses in the plain sense of the words alone, without fear and love in a revelation of his heart and of his brain. Behold, this intention is, by way of a parable, like the neshamah of the living one, which is not a master of intellect and of choice. And all its traits, which are its fear of things that harm it, and its love of things that are loved by it, are only natural to it, and not from its understanding and its knowledge. And so they are, by way of a parable, the natural awe and the love that are hidden in the heart of all Israel, for they are an inheritance to us from our fathers, and like a nature in our souls, as mentioned above.
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