Previous: Part 2, Chapter 4. Book contents. Next: Part 2, Chapter 6.
Chapter 5
Now, of this our rabbis, of blessed memory, said (Genesis Rabbah 12): At the beginning it arose in thought to create the world by the attribute of judgment. He saw that the world does not endure. He joined the attribute of mercy with it. That is, the revelation of divinity by means of tzaddikim (a tzaddik is a righteous person), and the signs and wonders that are in the Torah. Now, of this they said in the Zohar (Zohar, part 1, 53a) that above, on the side of supernal holiness, there is a right and there is a left, that is, kindness and might. The meaning is that the two of them are attributes of divinity, above the intellect of the creatures and their grasp, for He and His organs are one, in the world of Atzilut (emanation).
And even the grasp of Moses our teacher, peace be upon him, in his prophecy, was not in the world of Atzilut, except by means of its being clothed in the world of Beriah (creation). And even this was not in these two attributes, kindness and might, but by means of their being clothed in attributes that are below them in degree, which are the attributes netzach (victory), hod (splendor), and yesod (foundation) [as is written in the Gate of Prophecy]. Only, the gift of the reward of the tzaddikim in the Garden of Eden is the grasp of the spreading of the life force and the light that is drawn from these two attributes, kindness and might, and that is the food of the souls of the tzaddikim who occupied themselves in the Torah for its own sake in this world. For from the spreading of these two attributes an expanse is stretched over the souls that are in the Garden of Eden, and this expanse is called the secret of the Torah, and in it is the secret of the 22 letters of the Torah that was given from these two attributes, as it is written (Deuteronomy 33:2): “From His right hand, a fire of law for them.” And from this expanse dew drips, for the food of the souls, that is, the knowledge of the secret of the 22 letters of the Torah. For this expanse is the secret of knowledge, and the Torah is the food of the souls in the Garden of Eden, and the mitzvot (a mitzvah is a commanded deed) are garments, as all this is explained [in the Zohar, the portion Vayakhel, folio 209 and folio 210, and in the Tree of Life, gate 44, chapter 3].
Previous: Part 2, Chapter 4. Book contents. Next: Part 2, Chapter 6.
