God

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.

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.

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 likewise a citron that is not orlah (fruit forbidden in the first three years) [Gloss: for the orlah belongs to the three kelipot that are wholly impure, which never have an ascent, as is written in Etz Chaim, and so too every mitzvah that comes by way of a transgression, God spare us], and coins of charity that are not robbery, and whatever is of the same kind.

And now that he fulfills with them the mitzvah of Hashem (God) and His will, the vitality that is in them rises, and is nullified, and is included in the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, which is His will, blessed be He, clothed in them, since there is there no manner of hiding of the face at all, such as would hide His light, blessed be He.

For it is impossible for the nefesh elokit (the soul from God) to pronounce words with physical lips, mouth, tongue, and teeth, except by means of the vital nefesh bahamit that is clothed in the limbs of the body itself.

The meaning is that by engagement in the Torah he calls the Holy One, blessed be He, to come to him, as it were, like a person who calls his fellow to come to him, and like a small child who calls his father to come to him, to be with him in one company, and not to be parted from him and left alone, God spare us.

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."

If so, why did their souls descend into this world, to labor for nothing, God spare us, to fight through all their days with the yetzer (the urge), and not prevail over it?

Let this be their comfort, to comfort them doubly, unto sound counsel, and to make their heart glad in Hashem (God), who dwells with them inside their Torah and their service.

And it is not enough for him that he has his soul, which is a portion of God from above, for that soul to be as the oil for the wick.

Now, when a person is engaged in the Torah, then his soul, which is his nefesh elokit (the soul from God), together with its two inner garments alone, which are the power of speech and the power of thought, are included in the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, and united with Him in a complete union.

Now, every manner of drawing down the light of the Shekhinah, which is a manner of revealing the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, is not called a change, God spare us, in Him, blessed be He, and it is not called a plurality.

In this his heart will be glad and will rejoice, and he will give thanks for his portion, in joy and in goodness of heart, because he has merited to be a host to the Mighty One twice in every day, according to his time and his free time, according to the reach of his hand that Hashem (God) has widened for him.

For his being despised in his own eyes, and so on, comes from the side of the body and the nefesh bahamit (the life-soul of the body), and his being in joy comes from the side of the nefesh elokit (the soul from God) and the spark of divinity clothed in it so as to give it life, as spoken of above (in chapter 31).

And as it is written (Jeremiah 30:21): "For who is this, who has pledged his heart to come near to Me, the utterance of Hashem (God)."

And therefore all Israel are called brothers in actual fact, from the side of the root of their soul in the one Hashem (God), only that the bodies are divided.

For the foundation and the root of the whole Torah is to raise and to lift the soul above the body, higher and higher, up to the principal and the root of all worlds, and also to draw the light of Ein Sof (the Endless), blessed is He, into the assembly of Israel, as will be explained further on, that is, into the source of the souls of all Israel, so that it be one in one, specifically, and not when there is division, God spare us, in the souls.

And also those who are near to him, whom he reproved, and they did not turn back from their iniquities, whom it is a mitzvah to hate, it is a mitzvah to love them also, and both are truth: hatred from the side of the evil that is in them, and love from the side of the aspect of the good hidden in them, which is a spark of Godhood within them that gives life to their nefesh elokit (the soul from God).

And the mercy cancels the hatred and awakens the love, as is known from what is written (Isaiah 29:22): "To Jacob, who redeemed Abraham." [And David the king, peace be upon him, did not say (Psalms 139:22) "With a total hatred I hated them," and the rest, except about the sectarians and the heretics, who have no portion in the God of Israel, as it is found in the Gemara at the beginning of chapter 16 of Shabbat (Shabbat 116a).]

But in truth, a broken heart, and bitterness of the soul over its distance from the light of the face of Hashem (God), and over its being clothed in the sitra achra, are not called by the name sadness at all in the holy tongue.

And behold, at times one needs to arouse the aspect of the holy severities, in order to sweeten the judgments, which are the aspect of the nefesh bahamit (the life-soul of the body) and the evil yetzer (the urge) when it rules, God spare us, over the person, for the judgments are sweetened only in their root.

But nevertheless there is within me an actual portion of Hashem, which is found even in the lightest of the light, and that is the nefesh elokit (the soul from God), with an actual spark of Godhood clothed in it to give it life.

For he ought to have restrained himself and ruled over the spirit of his craving that is in his heart, because of the fear of Hashem (God), who sees all his deeds, as was explained above, for the brain rules over the heart in its inborn nature.

And even though he understands and contemplates with his intellect the greatness of Hashem (God), it is not caught and does not cleave in his brain so much that he can rule over the materiality of the heart, because of their materiality and their coarseness.

And the cause is the coarseness of the kelipah (a husk that hides holiness), which lifts itself over the light of the holiness of the nefesh elokit (the soul from God), and hides and darkens its light.

And of the nefesh elokit that is in him it is said (the blessing "My God, the soul" in the morning blessings): "The soul that You have given in me, it is pure." "That You have given in me," precisely, which implies that the person himself is not the pure soul.

For the power of desire that is in his nefesh bahamit can also desire forbidden things that are against His will, blessed be He, even though he does not desire to do them in actual deed, God spare us, only that they are not truly loathsome to him as they are to the tzaddikim, as was explained above (chapter 12).

And especially when he recalls the impurity of his soul through the sin of youth, and the damage that he did in the upper realms, and there it is above time, and it is as if he did damage and was defiled today, God spare us, actually.

Nevertheless all its life-force is not from its own side, God spare us, but from the side of holiness, as mentioned above.

And of what use was this to them, if they had not believed in the power of Hashem, God spare us, to conquer thirty-one kings, and because of this they did not want at all to enter the land?

Rather, on the contrary, let him take hold of more strength, and add firmness with all his power, in the concentration of the prayer, with mirth and with added joy, in that he sets it upon his heart that the fall of the alien thought is from the kelipah (a husk that hides holiness) that is in the left cavity, which wages war in the beinoni (the in-between person) with the nefesh elokit (the soul from God) that is in him.

And if it is hard for him to remove them from his mind, because they trouble his mind very much, with force, then let him lower his soul before Hashem (God), and let him plead with Him, blessed be He, in his thought, to have mercy on him in His abundant mercies, as a father has mercy on children who are drawn from his brain.

For even though they fall into his thought, he turns his mind away from them, to fulfill what is said (Numbers 15:39), "And you shall not scout after your heart and after your eyes, after which you go straying." And the verse is not speaking of tzaddikim (righteous people), to call them strayers, God spare us, but of beinonim (in-between people) such as he is, to whom thoughts of adultery fall in his thought, whether in what is permitted, and so on.

And by an awakening from below there comes an awakening from above, and the sitra achra above is subdued, the one that lifts itself high like an eagle, so as to fulfill what is said (Obadiah 1:4), "If you lift yourself high like the eagle," and so on, "from there I will bring you down, declares Hashem (God)." And as the Zohar goes on at length, in the portion Terumah [folio 128], about the greatness of the delight before Him, blessed be He, when the sitra achra is subdued below: that the glory of the Holy One, blessed be He, rises above over all, more than any other praise, and this rising is greater than all, and so on.

And of this Job said (Bava Batra 16a), "You have created wicked people." Not that they should be wicked in truth, God spare us, but that there should reach them the like of the deeds of the wicked, in their thought and their musing alone, and they will be fighting always to turn their minds away from them, in order to subdue the sitra achra.

And that is the true joy in Hashem (God) his Elohim, which comes after the true sadness, at appointed times, over his wrongs, in bitterness of his soul and a broken heart.

But even one who is a man of business and of the way of the world, if sadness and worry from heavenly matters fall to him during his business, it is known that this is a stratagem of the yetzer, in order to make him fall afterwards into cravings, God spare us, as is known.

Now, whether the sadness fell to him at the time of service, in the study of Torah or in prayer, or whether it fell to him not at the time of service, let him set this upon his heart: that the hour is not now the cause for true sadness, even for worry over severe wrongs, God spare us.

And this is what is written (Deuteronomy 30:14), "For the matter is exceedingly near to you," and so on: that at every time and every hour it is in a person's hand and in his power to drive out from within him the spirit of foolishness and of forgetfulness, and to remember and to rouse his love for Hashem (God), the One, which is surely hidden in his heart, without any doubt.

And the pains of death, may Hashem guard us, he would accept with love and with willingness, so as not to be separated from His oneness and His unity, blessed be He, even for the moment, by bowing down to foreign worship, God spare us.

And therefore his nefesh elokit (the soul from God) and his vital soul, and their garments, will all of them be united in the utmost union with the exalted will and with the light of Ein Sof (the Endless), blessed be He, as stated above.

For it is not clothed in a material body, and it knows its Master, and it does not rebel against Him so as to carry out its work by a dispatch of its evil angels otherwise than by the mission of the Place, blessed be He, God spare us, as in the saying of Balaam (Numbers 22:18): "I am not able to pass the mouth of Hashem (God)," and the rest.

And although it is called foreign worship, still they called Him "God of gods," and they are not able to cross His will, blessed be He, at all, because they know and grasp that He is their life and their continuance, for they suck from the aspect of the back side of the back side of the supernal will, blessed be He, which encompasses them.

But nevertheless they do not deny, and they have not belied Hashem completely so as to say "He is not." Rather they called Him "God of gods," that is, their life and their continuance that is drawn and comes down upon them from His will, blessed be He.

And he is in the utmost separation from the union and the oneness of the Holy One, blessed be He, more than it is, and it is as if he denies His oneness more than it does, God spare us.

For even a woman who commits adultery, whose mind is light, would have ruled over the spirit of her appetite, were it not for a spirit of folly in her that covers, hides, and conceals the hidden love in her nefesh elokit (the soul from God), to cling to faith in Hashem and to His union and His oneness, and not to be parted, God spare us, from His oneness, even if they take her nefesh from her, to serve foreign worship, God spare us, and even by bowing alone, with no belief in the heart at all.

So too the outer garment of the nefesh elokit (the soul from God) in the person who fulfills and does the mitzvah, which is its power and the aspect of its deed, clothes itself in the life of the deed of the mitzvah, and it too becomes like a body for the soul, toward the supernal will, and is utterly nullified toward it.

For example, the hand that distributes charity to the poor, or does another mitzvah, and the feet that walk for a matter of a mitzvah, and so the mouth and the tongue that speak words of Torah, and the brain that reflects on words of Torah, on awe of heaven, and on the greatness of Hashem (God), blessed be He.

And the narrowings and the hiding of the upper face grew so strong and so mighty that even unclean things, and kelipot, a kelipah (a husk that hides holiness), and sitra achra (the other side), were able to come into being and to be created, and to receive their life and their continuance from the word of Hashem (God) and the spirit of His mouth, blessed be He, through hiding of the face and descent of the levels.

But sitra achra and the uncleanness are an abomination of Hashem, which He hates, and He does not bestow life on it from the inwardness of the will and His true wish, as if He desired it, God spare us, but only like one who throws behind his shoulders to his enemy, against his will, only in order to punish those who are a rasha (a wicked person), and to give a good reward to those who are a tzaddik (a righteous person), who subdue sitra achra.

For the core and the root of foreign worship is what is reckoned a thing in its own right, parted from the holiness of the Place, and not a complete denial of Hashem, as it is found in the Gemara (Menachot 110a), that they called Him "God of gods." Rather, they too reckon themselves a being and a thing in its own right, and by this they separate themselves from the holiness of the Place, blessed be He, since they are not nullified toward Him, blessed be He.

But as regards the Holy One, blessed be He, no narrowing, hiding, or concealment hides or conceals before Him, and darkness is as light, as it is written (Psalms 139:12): "Even darkness does not grow dark before You," and the rest, because the narrowings and the garments are not a thing apart from Him, blessed be He, God spare us, but like this locust, whose garment is from it and in it (Genesis Rabbah 21:5), as it is written (Deuteronomy 4:35): "For Hashem (God), He is Elohim," and as has been explained in another place.

The meaning is that He is truly without any change, as it is written (Malachi 3:6): "I am Hashem (God).

And for a further explanation, one needs to explain well what is written (Proverbs 20:27): "The neshamah of a person is a lamp of Hashem (God)." The meaning is that Israel, who are called adam, a human being (Yevamot 61a), their neshamah is, as a parable, like the light of the lamp, which constantly sways upward by its nature, because the light of the fire desires by nature to part from the wick and to cling to its root above, in the general element of fire beneath the sphere of the moon, as it is written in Etz Chaim.

For the aspect of wisdom in the nefesh elokit (the soul from God), together with a spark of divinity from the light of the Ein Sof, blessed be He, that is clothed in it, are in a state of exile in their body, inside the nefesh bahamit (the life-soul of the body) on the side of the kelipah in the left cavity of the heart, which reigns and rules in their body, in the mystery of the exile of the Shekhinah (the divine presence), as mentioned above.

That is, to stand in a trial and hand over his nefesh, even only so as not to do some single deed against faith in the one Hashem, for example to bow to foreign worship even though he does not believe in it at all in his heart, and likewise not to speak a straying word, God spare us, about the oneness of Hashem, even though his mouth and his heart do not agree, and only his heart is whole in faith in Hashem.

Because of this love and this will, it fears and dreads by its nature to touch the edge of the impurity of foreign worship, God spare us, which is against faith in the one Hashem, even in its outer garments, which are speech or deed, with no faith in the heart at all.

And for a further explanation, to explain well the word "very" in the verse (Deuteronomy 30:14), "For the matter is very near to you," and so on, one needs to know, and to hold it as sure, that even one whose knowledge is short in knowing Hashem (God), and who has no heart to understand the greatness of the Ein Sof (the Endless), blessed be He, so as to bring forth from it awe and love even in his brain and his understanding alone, even so the matter is very near to him, to keep and to do every mitzvah (a commanded deed) of the Torah, and Torah study, which equals all of them, in his mouth, and in his very heart, from the depth of the heart, in truth and in its real truth, with awe and love.

And with this, what is written will be understood (Deuteronomy 30:14): "For the matter is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it." For at first sight, "in your heart" goes against our sense [and the Torah is eternal], since the matter is not very near, to turn his heart from the desires of this world to a true love of Hashem (God).

And this is a great rule in the service of Hashem (God) for the beinoni (the in-between person).

The main thing is to govern and to rule the nature in the left cavity, by the light of Hashem that shines for the nefesh elokit (the soul from God) in the brain, and to rule the heart, when he contemplates in his brain the greatness of the Ein Sof (the Endless), blessed be He.

This is in order to bring forth from his understanding a spirit of knowledge and awe of Hashem in his brain, so as to turn from what is bad, whether of the Torah or of the rabbis, and even a light prohibition of their words, God spare us, and love of Hashem in his heart, in the right cavity, with longing and with desire, to cling to Him by fulfilling the mitzvot (commanded deeds) of the Torah and of the rabbis, and Torah study, which equals all of them.

But the tzaddik is called "a servant of Hashem (God)" as a descriptive name, like the name "sage" or "king," for one who has already become a sage or a king.

Only, he makes no war at all with the yetzer, to conquer it by the light of Hashem that shines upon the nefesh elokit (the soul from God) in the brain, which rules the heart, as mentioned above.

For even at a time when the heart covets and craves some bodily craving, in the permitted or in the forbidden, God spare us, he can gain strength and turn his mind away from it completely, by saying to his heart: I do not want to be a rasha (a wicked person) even for one hour, for I do not want to be separated and parted, God spare us, from the one Hashem (God), in any way, as it is written (Isaiah 59:2): "your wrongs...

And with this, the wording of the saying of the sages of blessed memory (Berakhot 61b) will be understood: beinonim (the in-between person), this one and that one judge him [Meaning: the good yetzer (the urge) and the bad yetzer], as it is written (Psalms 109:31): "For He will stand at the right hand of the needy one, to save him from the judges of his nefesh (the lowest level of the soul)." And they did not say, this one and that one rule, God spare us.

So the bad yetzer states his opinion in the left chamber of the heart, and from the heart it rises to the brain to muse on it, and at once the second judge disagrees with him, and that is the nefesh elokit (the soul from God) in the brain, which spreads into the right chamber of the heart, the dwelling place of the good yetzer.

And the law follows the words of the one who decides, and that is the Holy One, blessed be He, who helps the good yetzer, as the saying of the sages of blessed memory (Kiddushin 30b): "Were the Holy One, blessed be He, not helping him, he could not overcome it." And the help is the shining with which the light of Hashem (God) shines upon the nefesh elokit, so that it has an advantage and rule over the folly of the fool and the bad yetzer, like the advantage of the light over the darkness, as mentioned above.

That is, the three garments of the nefesh bahamit (the life-soul of the body), which are thought, speech, and deed from the side of the kelipah (a husk that hides holiness), do not gain strength in him over the nefesh elokit (the soul from God), to clothe themselves in the body, in the brain and in the mouth and in the rest of the 248 limbs, to make them sin and to defile them, God spare us.

For then he binds his wisdom, understanding, and knowledge to Hashem (God), to press his mind deep into the greatness of Ein Sof (the Endless), blessed be He, and to awaken the love like the sparks of a flame in the right chamber of his heart, to cling to Him in the fulfillment of the Torah and its mitzvot out of love.

And then the folly of the evil fool can be in a revealed state in his heart, in the left chamber, to crave a craving for all the bodily matters of this world, whether in the permitted or in the forbidden, God spare us, as if he had not prayed at all.

Only, in a forbidden matter, it does not rise in his mind to do the forbidden thing in actual act, God spare us.

And even in the brain alone, to muse on evil, it has no rule and no dominion to muse, God spare us, by the will in his brain, so that he would accept willingly, God spare us, this evil musing that rises on its own from the heart to the brain, as mentioned above.

Rather, the moment it rises there, he pushes it away with both hands, and he turns his mind aside at once when he remembers that it is an evil musing, and he does not accept it willingly, even to muse on it willingly, and all the more so to raise it in his mind to do it, God spare us, or even to speak of it.

The moment there rises in him, from the heart to the brain, some grudge and hatred, God spare us, or some envy, or anger, or touchiness, and the like, he does not accept them at all in his brain and in his will.

On the contrary, the brain rules and governs the spirit in his heart, to do the very opposite, to conduct himself with his fellow in the trait of kindness and in a surpassing fondness made known to him, to bear from him up to the last limit, and not to be angry, God spare us.

And also not to repay him according to his deed, God spare us, but on the contrary to grant good things to the guilty, as it is written in the Zohar (Zohar, part 1, 201a and onward), to learn from Joseph with his brothers.

That is, the good that is in his nefesh elokit (the soul from God), in his brain and in the right chamber of his heart, is bent and null before the evil from the kelipah (a husk that hides holiness) in the left chamber.

And this too divides into tens of thousands of levels, separate in the matter of the amount and the quality of the nullifying and the bending of the good to the evil, God spare us.

That is, either in deed alone, to do light transgressions and not severe ones, God spare us.

And afterward the good in his nefesh elokit gains strength in him, and he regrets, and he asks pardon and forgiveness from Hashem (God), and Hashem will forgive him if he turns back in the fitting return, according to the counsel of our sages, of blessed memory, in the three divisions of atonement that Rabbi Yishmael expounded (Yoma 86a), as is explained in another place (in Iggeret HaTeshuvah, the Letter of Return).

Now, when a person strengthens his nefesh elokit (the soul from God) and fights so much with the nefesh bahamit (the life-soul of the body), until he drives out and purges the evil that is in it from the left chamber, as it is written (Deuteronomy 13:6, and elsewhere): "and you shall purge the evil from your midst", and the evil is not turned into actual good, he is called a tzaddik (a righteous person) who is not complete, and a tzaddik and it is bad for him.

That is, to loathe very much the pleasures of this world, taking pleasure in them in the pleasures of human beings, so as to fill the cravings of the body alone, and not for the service of Hashem (God), because they are drawn and they flow from the kelipah (a husk that hides holiness) and the sitra achra (the other side).

But the dwelling place of the nefesh elokit (the soul from God) is in the brains in the head.

As it is written (Ecclesiastes 10:2): "The heart of a wise person is on his right." And that is the love of Hashem (God), like the sparks of a flame, blazing in the heart of people of insight, who understand and who look deeply with their knowledge, which is in their brain, into things that stir the love.

The nefesh elokit, its wish and its will is that it alone should be the ruler over him and the one who leads him, and that all the limbs should yield to its orders, be wholly null before it, and be a chariot for it, and be a garment for its ten aspects and its three garments mentioned above, so that they all clothe themselves in the limbs of the body, and the whole body be filled with them alone, and no stranger pass inside them, God spare us.