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Chapter 39
And because of this also, the angels are called by the name of living beings and of beasts, as it is written (Ezekiel 1:10): “and the face of a lion toward the right,” and so on, “and the face of an ox from the left,” and so on, for they are not masters of choice, and their fear and their love is natural to them, as it is written in the Faithful Shepherd, the portion Pinchas. And therefore the level of the tzaddikim (a tzaddik is a righteous person) is greater than theirs. For the dwelling of the souls of the tzaddikim is in the world of Beriah (the world of creation), and the dwelling of the angels is in the world of Yetzirah (the world of formation).
[Gloss: And that is in angels in general. But there are upper angels in the world of Beriah whose service is in intellectual fear and love, as it is written in the Faithful Shepherd there, that there are two kinds of holy living beings, natural ones and intellectual ones, and as it is written in the Tree of Life.]
And the difference that is between them is this. For in the world of Yetzirah there shine there only the traits of Ein Sof (the Endless), blessed be He, which are His love and His dread and His awe, and so on. And as he wrote [in the Tikkunim and the Tree of Life], that six sefirot (divine channels) nest in Yetzirah. And therefore this is the service of the angels always, day and night they are not silent, to stand in awe and in dread, and so on. And that is the whole camp of Gabriel, which is from the left. And the service of the camp of Michael is the love, and so on. But in the world of Beriah there shine there the wisdom and the understanding and the knowledge of Ein Sof, blessed be He, which are the source of the traits, and a mother and a root to them. And as it is found in the Tikkunim, that the supernal mother nests in three sefirot in the throne, which is the world of Beriah. And therefore it is the dwelling of the souls of the tzaddikim, who serve Hashem (God) with fear and love drawn from the understanding and the knowledge of the greatness of Ein Sof, blessed be He, for this love is called the will of the heart, as mentioned above. And from the will of the heart a garment comes to be for the neshamah in the world of Beriah, which is the upper Garden of Eden, as further on, and as it is written in the Zohar, the portion Vayakhel.
But that is precisely actual souls, which are the aspect of minds of the greatness of Ein Sof, blessed be He. But the aspect of the ruach of the tzaddikim, and likewise all the rest of the souls of Israel, who served Hashem with the fear and the love that are hidden in the heart of the whole of Israel, do not rise there, except on the Sabbath and the new moon alone, by way of the pillar that goes from the lower Garden of Eden to the upper Garden of Eden, which is the world of Beriah, called the upper Garden of Eden, to take delight in Hashem and to enjoy the radiance of the Shekhinah (the divine presence). For there is no enjoyment and no delight for a created intellect, except in what it apprehends and understands and knows and attains, with its intellect and its understanding, of whatever it is possible for it to understand and to attain of the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, by means of His wisdom and His understanding, blessed be He, that shine there in the world of Beriah.
And that which these souls merit, to rise above the angels, even though they served in natural fear and love alone, is because by means of their fear and their love the sitra achra (the other side) that is clothed in their body is subdued, both in the aspect of turning from what is bad, to conquer the cravings and to break them, and in the aspect of and do what is good, as mentioned above. And they were masters of choice, to choose the bad, God spare us, and they chose the good, to subdue the sitra achra, so that the glory of the Holy One, blessed be He, rises, and so on, as the advantage of the light, and so on, as mentioned above.
And behold, all this is in the dwelling of the souls and the place where they stand. But their Torah and their service are actually included in the ten sefirot, which are an aspect of Godhood, and the light of Ein Sof unites in them in the utmost union. And that is, in the ten sefirot of Beriah by means of intellectual fear and love, and in the ten sefirot of Yetzirah by means of natural fear and love. And within them are clothed the ten sefirot of Atzilut (the world of emanation), and they are united in them in the utmost, and the ten sefirot of Atzilut are united in the utmost in their Emanator, Ein Sof, blessed be He. It is not so with the souls. They are not included in the Godhood of the ten sefirot. Rather, they stand in the palaces and the dwellings of Beriah or of Yetzirah, and they enjoy the radiance of the Shekhinah, which is the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, that is united in the ten sefirot of Beriah or of Yetzirah. And it is actually the radiance of their Torah and of their service (see the Zohar, the portion Vayakhel, folio 210). For the reward of a mitzvah (a commanded deed) is the mitzvah itself.
And the world of Atzilut, which is above intellect and attainment and understanding for a created intellect. For the wisdom and the understanding and the knowledge of Ein Sof, blessed be He, are united there in Him in the utmost union, in a mighty and wondrous union, in surpassing excellence and in surpassing strength, without end, over the world of Beriah. For there they descended to shine in an aspect of contraction, so that created intellects would be able to receive from them wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, to know Hashem, and to understand and to attain some attainment in the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, according to the power of the created intellects, which have a bound and an end, lest they be nullified in their existence and not be in the category of created beings at all, but only return to their source and their root, which is an aspect of actual Godhood.
And behold, this contraction is the cause of the illumination, that there shine there wisdom, understanding, and knowledge of Ein Sof, blessed be He, for these souls in the world of Beriah. It is not so in Atzilut, where they are not in so great an aspect of contraction. Created intellects cannot receive from them, and therefore no thought of theirs grasps there at all. Therefore it is a dwelling for the great tzaddikim, whose service is high, high above even the aspect of fear and love drawn from the understanding and the knowledge in His greatness, blessed be He, just as the world of Atzilut is high, high above the aspect of understanding and knowledge for a created intellect. Rather, their service was in the aspect of an actual chariot to Ein Sof, blessed be He, and to be nullified to Him in existence and to be included in His light, blessed be He, they and all that is theirs, by means of the fulfillment of the Torah and the mitzvot, in the manner that they said (Genesis Rabbah 47:6): the fathers, they themselves are the chariot. And that is because all their days this was their service.
But one whose neshamah has a root too small to contain this complete service, to be nullified and to be included in His light, blessed be He, in his service in a fixed way. Only at intervals and at times, which are a time of favor above, and as in the prayer of the Eighteen Blessings, which is in Atzilut, and in particular in the bowings that are in it, for every bowing is in the aspect of Atzilut [as it is written in the Fruit of the Tree of Life, in the welcoming of the Sabbath], for it is a matter of nullification in His light, blessed be He, so as to be counted before Him as actually nothing. Then too, the main fixed place of his neshamah is in the world of Beriah. [Only at intervals, at a time of favor, his neshamah rises to Atzilut in the aspect of feminine waters, as is known to those who know hidden wisdom].
And behold, the reward of a mitzvah is a mitzvah. The meaning is, that from its reward we know its essence and its level. And we have no business with the hidden things, which are the great tzaddikim, who are in the aspect of a chariot. Only the revealed things are for us, after which every person should draw himself, to know faithfully the essence and the level of the service of Hashem in fear and love in a revelation of his heart, which are drawn from the understanding and the knowledge of the greatness of Ein Sof, blessed be He: its place is in the ten sefirot of Beriah. And a service in the natural fear and love that are in his brain: in the ten sefirot of Yetzirah. But a service without an awakening of fear and love even in his brain in an aspect of revelation, that is, to awaken the natural love that is hidden in the heart, to bring it out from the concealment and the hiding of the heart into the revelation, even in his brain and in the hidden places of his heart at least, only it remains hidden in the heart as at its birth, as it was before the service. Behold, this service remains below in the world of separation, which is called the externality of the worlds, and there is in it no power to rise and to be included in His unity, blessed be He, which are the ten holy sefirot. And as it is written in the Tikkunim, that without fear and love it does not fly upward, and it cannot rise and stand before Hashem.
And that is so even if he does not occupy himself actually not for its own sake, for the sake of some side aim, God spare us, but as it is written (Isaiah 29:13): “and their fear of Me has become a command of men learned by rote.” The meaning is, because of a habit to which he was habituated from his childhood, that his father and his teacher habituated him and taught him to fear Hashem and to serve Him, and he does not occupy himself actually for its own sake. For actually for its own sake is impossible without an awakening of the natural fear and love at least, to bring them out from the hiding of the heart into the revelation in the brain and in the hidden places of his heart at least. For just as no person does a thing for his fellow in order to fill his will, unless he loves him or is in awe of him, so it is impossible to do for His sake, blessed be He, in truth, to fill His will alone, without any memory and any awakening of His love and His awe at all in his brain and his thought and the hidden places of his heart at least. And also love alone is not called by the name of service without a lower awe at least, which is hidden in the heart of all Israel, as will be explained further on.
And when he occupies himself actually not for its own sake, for the sake of some side aim for his own honor, for example to be a student of the wise, and the like, then that side aim, which is from the side of the kelipah (a husk that hides holiness) of nogah, clothes itself in his Torah, and the Torah is in an aspect of exile inside the kelipah for the time being, until he makes a return that brings healing to the world, for when he returns to Hashem his Torah also returns with him. And therefore the sages of blessed memory said (A person should always occupy himself in the Torah and in the mitzvot even not for their own sake, for from not for their own sake one comes to for their own sake. Nazir 23b): a person should always occupy himself, and so on, for from not for its own sake he comes to for its own sake, certainly, for certainly his end is to make a return, in this transmigration or in another transmigration, for no banished one is banished from Him. But when he does it in a plain way, not for its own sake and not not for its own sake, the matter does not depend on a return. Rather, as soon as he goes back and studies this thing for its own sake, behold, also what he studied in a plain way joins and is added to this study, and it flies upward, since no kelipah of nogah has yet clothed itself in it. And therefore a person should always occupy himself, and so on. And so is the matter in a prayer that is without intention, as it is written in the Zohar.
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