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Chapter 40
But all the while that he has not gone back and studied this thing for its own sake, his study does not rise even into the ten sefirot (divine channels) that shine in the world of Yetzirah (the world of formation) and of Asiyah (the world of making). For the sefirot are an aspect of Godhood, and in them the light of Ein Sof (the Endless), blessed be He, clothes itself and unites, actually. And without fear and love it cannot rise and stand before Hashem (God), as it is written in the Tikkunim. Only his study rises to the palaces and the dwellings that are the externality of the worlds, in which the angels stand. And as Rabbi Chaim Vital, of blessed memory, wrote in the Gate of Prophecy, chapter 2, that from Torah without intention angels are created in the world of Yetzirah, and from the mitzvot (a mitzvah is a commanded deed) without intention angels are created in the world of Asiyah, and all the angels are possessors of matter and of form. But Torah that is actually not for its own sake, for example to be a student of the wise, and the like, does not rise above at all, even to the palaces and the dwelling of the angels of holiness, but remains below in this bodily world, which is the dwelling of the kelipot (a kelipah is a husk that hides holiness).
[Gloss: As it is written in the Zohar, part 3, folio 31b and folio 121b, see there, that word: they rise upward and they split firmaments, and so on, and there is awakened what is awakened, if good, good, and so on, see there. And folio 105a: a word of Torah, a voice is made from it and it rises, and so on. And folio 168b: voices of Torah and of prayer split firmaments, and so on.]
And as it is written in the Zohar (Zohar, part 1, 223b) on the verse (Ecclesiastes 1:3), “What gain is there for a person in all his toil that he toils under the sun,” that even the toil of the Torah, if he does it for the sake of his own honor, and so on. And this is what they said (Pesachim 50a): “Happy is the one who comes here and his learning is in his hand.” The meaning is, that it has not remained below in this world.
And even though the Torah and the Holy One, blessed be He, are entirely one, for He and His will are one, behold, the Holy One, blessed be He, He fills all worlds equally, and even so the worlds are not equal in their level. And the difference is from the receivers, in two aspects. The one, that the upper ones receive an illumination greater without end than the lower ones. And the second, that they receive without so many garments and screens as the lower ones. And this world is the low world in the two aspects. For the illumination that is in it is contracted very much, to the last extremity, and therefore it is material and bodily. And this too is in many garments and screens, until it has clothed itself in kelipat nogah, to give life to all the clean things that are in this world, and included among them is the speaking vital nefesh (the lowest level of the soul) that is in the person. And therefore, when it speaks words of Torah and of prayer without intention, even though they are holy letters, and the kelipat nogah that is in the vital nefesh is not a dividing screen at all, to hide and to cover His holiness, blessed be He, that is clothed in them, as it hides and covers His holiness, blessed be He, that is in the vital nefesh when it speaks idle words, and that is in the vital nefesh in the rest of the clean living beings. For even though there is no place empty of Him, even so He is the hidden of all hidden ones, and He is called (Isaiah 45:15) “a God who hides Himself.” And also the illumination and the spreading of the life from Him, blessed be He, is hidden in many and mighty garments and screens, until it has clothed itself and been hidden in the garment of nogah. It is not so in the holy letters of the words of Torah and of prayer, for on the contrary kelipat nogah is turned to good and is included in this holiness, as mentioned above. Even so, the illumination that is in them from His holiness, blessed be He, is in an aspect of contraction to the last extremity, since the voice and the speech are bodily.
But in a prayer with intention, and Torah with intention for its own sake, behold, the intention clothes itself in the letters of the speech, since it is a source and a root for them, for on account of it and by its cause he speaks these letters. Therefore it raises them to its place, in the ten sefirot of Yetzirah or of Beriah (the world of creation), according to what the intention is, in intellectual fear and love or in natural ones, and so on, as mentioned above. And there shines and is revealed the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, which is the supernal will, blessed be He, that is clothed in the letters of the Torah that he studies and in their intention, or in the prayer and in its intention, or in the mitzvah and in its intention, in an illumination great without end, which cannot shine and be revealed at all while the letters and the mitzvah are in this bodily world, not of it and not of any part of it, until the time of the end of the right, when the world will rise from its bodiliness, and the glory of Hashem will be revealed, and so on, as mentioned above at length.
[Gloss: And there shines and is revealed also the supernal union that is made in every mitzvah and in Torah study, which is a union of His traits, blessed be He, that are included one in the other, and the mights are sweetened in the kindnesses, by means of a time of supernal favor, Ein Sof, blessed be He, who shines and is revealed in an aspect of a great and mighty revelation, in an awakening from below, which is the doing of the mitzvah or occupation in the Torah, in which the supernal will of Ein Sof, blessed be He, is clothed.
But the main part of the union is high, high above, in the world of Atzilut (the world of emanation), for there is the essence and the substance of His traits, blessed be He, united in their Emanator, Ein Sof, blessed be He, and there is the essence and the substance of the supernal will of Ein Sof, blessed be He, and their illumination alone shines in Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah, in each world of them according to its level. And even though the nefesh of the person who occupies himself in this Torah and this mitzvah is not from Atzilut, even so, behold, the supernal will that is clothed in this mitzvah, and it itself is the very matter of the ruling and the Torah in which he occupies himself, is Godhood and the light of Ein Sof the Emanator, blessed be He, for He and His will are one, and by His will, blessed be He, He emanated His traits that are united with Him, blessed be He. And by means of the revelation of His will that is revealed by means of occupation in this Torah and this mitzvah, they are included one in the other, and the mights are sweetened in the kindnesses, at this time of favor.]
And with this it will be well understood, that fear and love are called wings, by way of a parable, as it is written (Isaiah 6:2): “and with two he flies” [and as Rabbi Chaim Vital, of blessed memory, wrote in the Gate of the Unifications, chapter 11], that the wings of the bird are the arms of the person, and so on. And in the Tikkunim it explained, that those who occupy themselves in Torah and mitzvot with fear and love are called sons, and if not, they are called chicks, that cannot fly.
[Gloss: And in Tikkun 45, that the bird is Metatron. Its head is yod, and its body is vav, and its two wings are hei, hei, and so on. And that is the world of Yetzirah, which is called Metatron, and the vav is the bodies of the rulings that are in the Mishnah. And its head, they are the brains and the aspect of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, which are the inwardness of the rulings and their secret and their reasons. And the two wings, fear and love, are the upper hei, which is love, and the lower hei, which is lower awe, the yoke of the kingship of heaven and the dread of Hashem, like the dread of the king, by way of a parable, which is an outer and revealed awe. It is not so with upper awe, the awe of shame. It is from the hidden things, for Hashem our Elohim, and it is in the supernal wisdom, the yod of the name Havayah, blessed be He, as it is written in the Faithful Shepherd.]
For just as the wings of the bird are not the main part of the bird, and its life does not depend on them at all, as we learned (according to Mishnah Chullin 3:4): “if its wings were removed, it is valid,” and the main part is its head and all its body, and the wings only serve its head and its body, to fly with them. And so, by way of a parable, the Torah and the mitzvot are the main part of the supernal union, by means of the supernal will that is revealed through them, and the fear and the love raise them to the place where the will will be revealed, the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, and the union, which are Yetzirah and Beriah.
[Gloss: Or even in Asiyah, in the ten sefirot of holiness, the place of the practical mitzvot, and likewise Scripture. But in the Mishnah the union and the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, is revealed in Yetzirah, and in the Talmud, in Beriah. That is, that in the study of Scripture the union and the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, spreads from Atzilut as far as Asiyah, and in the Mishnah only as far as Yetzirah, and in the Talmud only as far as Beriah, for all of them are in Atzilut. But Kabbalah does not spread at all from Atzilut to Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah, as he wrote in the Fruit of the Tree of Life.]
And behold, even though fear and love are also from the 613 mitzvot, even so they are called wings, for this reason, that the goal of the love is the service out of love. And love without service is a love in delights, to take delight in Hashem, a likeness of the world to come and a receiving of reward. And “this day, to do them” is written (Deuteronomy 7:11), and tomorrow to receive their reward (Eruvin 22a).
And one who has not reached this measure, to taste a likeness of the world to come, but still his nefesh yearns and thirsts for Hashem and longs for Him all the day, and he does not quench his thirst with the waters of the Torah that are before him, behold, this one is like one who stands in the river and cries, Water, water, to drink, as the prophet complains against him (Isaiah 55:1): “Ah, every thirsty one, go to the water.” For according to its plain sense it is not understood. For one who is thirsty and craves to study, it is plain that he will study of himself, and why does the prophet need to cry over him, “Ah”? And as has been explained in another place at length:
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