Part 1 of 2
DEUTERONOMY
VAETHHANAN
Deuteronomy III, 23-VII, 11
AND I BESOUGHT THE LORD AT THAT TIME SAYING, O LORD GOD, THOU HAST BEGUN TO SHOW THY SERVANT, ETC. R. Jose adduced here the verse: "And Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord" (Isa. XXXVIII, 2). 'How great', he said, 'is the power of the Torah, and how it is exalted above all, since he who occupies himself with the Torah fears no adversaries either above or below, nor any evil haps of the world, because he is attached to the Tree of Life and eats therefrom every day. For the Torah teaches man how to walk in the right way, it gives him counsel how to return to his Master, so that even if sentence of death has been passed on him it is annulled and removed from him and impends not over him. Therefore he should occupy himself with the Torah day and night and never depart from it: for if he banishes the Torah from him or departs from it, it is as though he parted from life. Now it is a good counsel for a man that when he goes to his bed at night he should take upon himself the yoke of the heavenly kingdom with a perfect heart and hasten to entrust to God his soul. The reason, as we have explained, is that all the world then has a foretaste of death, as the tree of death is then present in the world, and all the spirits of men then leave them and ascend and are delivered to Him, but because they are given in trust they afterwards return to their places. Now when the north wind awakes at midnight and a herald goes forth, and the Holy One, blessed be He, enters the Garden of Eden to have joyous communion with the souls of the righteous, then all the sons of the Matrona, and all the denizens of the palace, prepare to sing praises to the Holy King, and then all the souls that were entrusted to her hand are returned to their owners; and most men awake at that time. Those who belong to the supernal Palace rise up in vigour and betake themselves to praisegiving in accordance with the Torah and join the Community of Israel until the day is light. When the morning comes, She and all who belong to the Palace go to visit the Holy King, they being called the sons of the King and of the Matrona, as has been explained. When the morning comes, a man should cleanse himself and gird on his weapons [1] to pay suit to the Holy King. For in the night he paid suit to the Matrona, and now he should come with the Matrona to unite her with the King. He goes to the synagogue, he purifies himself with [the recital of the] offerings, he repeats the praises of King David; he has the phylacteries on his hand and his head, and the fringes at his side; he says "A psalm of David", and offers his prayer before his Master. While he says this he must stand like the heavenly angels, [2] who are also called "those who stand", and concentrate all his thoughts on his Master as he offers his petition. Note that when a man arises at midnight to study the Torah a herald proclaims concerning him: "Behold, bless ye the Lord all ye servants of the Lord which stand in the house of the Lord by night" (Ps. CXXXIV, 1), and now when he stands in prayer the herald proclaims over him, "And I will give thee places to walk among them that stand" (Zech. III, 7). When he has finished his prayer with devotion before his Master, as already said, he should deliver his soul with complete renunciation to the rightful place. Thus there is good counsel for men for all occasions. [260b] When prayer is being offered, all the words that a man has emitted from his mouth during his prayer mount aloft and cleave their way through ethers and firmaments until they reach their destination, where they are formed into a crown on the head of the King. The Companions have agreed that the prayer directed by man to the Almighty should be of the nature of supplication. [3] We know this from Moses, of whom it is said, "And I besought the Lord" (Deut. III, 23); this is the best kind of prayer. When a man stands in prayer he should keep his feet together, [4] and cover his head, and he should also shade his eyes so as not to look at the Shekinah. In the Book of R. Hamnuna the Elder it says that if a man opens his eyes at the time of prayer or does not cast them on the ground he brings the Angel of Death on to himself before his time, and when his soul leaves him he will not behold the face of the Shekinah, nor will he die by a (divine) kiss. If one contemns the Shekinah, he himself is contemned in the hour of need, as it says, "Them that honour me I shall honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed" (I Sam. II, 30). This is he that looks at the Shekinah at the time of prayer. In fact, of course, one cannot look at the Shekinah; but what he should do is to know that the Shekinah is before him, and therefore there should be nothing interposing between him and the wall.
'Before a man stands in prayer he should first recite the praise of his Master and then offer his supplication. So Moses first said, THOU HAST BEGUN, ETC., and then LET ME GO OVER, I PRAY THEE.'
R. Judah said: 'Why did Moses say first "Lord" (Adonay) and then "God" (YHVH)? Because this is the proper order from the lower to the higher, so as to combine the measure of day with night, and of night with day, and to unite all fitly together.
'THOU HAST BEGUN TO SHOW THY SERVANT. Why is "beginning" mentioned here? Because Moses indeed made a new beginning in the world by being complete in all. It is true that Jacob was also complete and in him the tree was completed below after the pattern above. Yet there was that in Moses which was not in any other man, since his perfection radiated to many thousands and myriads of Israel in the Tabernacle, the priests, the Levites, the twelve tribes with their chieftains, the seventy members of the Sanhedrin -- in fact, with the perfect body, Aaron being at the right, Nahshon at the left, he himself in the centre, as it says here "thy greatness", referring to Aaron, and "thy strong hand", referring to Nahshon. Thus Moses was a new beginning in the world. And if you ask, Who is the termination? the answer is, the King Messiah, for then there shall be such perfection in the world as had not been for all generations before. For then there shall be completeness above and below, and all worlds shall be united in one bond, as it is written, "On that day the Lord shall be one and his name one" (Zech. XIV, 9).'
AND THE LORD SAID UNTO ME, LET IT SUFFICE THEE, SPEAK NO MORE, ETC. R. Hiya said: 'God said to Moses, It is enough for thee that thou hast been united with the Shekinah; thou canst advance no further.' R. Isaac said: 'Long enough hast thou enjoyed the light of the sun that was with thee; thou canst not do so any more, for the time of the moon is come, and the moon cannot shine till the sun is gathered in. Therefore "Charge Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him"; thou who art the sun must give light to the moon.' [5]
BUT YE THAT DID CLEAVE UNTO THE LORD YOUR GOD, ETC. R. Jose said: 'Happy is the people whom God chose from all the heathens and took for His portion and blessed with His own blessing, the blessing of His Name. All other peoples God has placed under the charge of Chieftains who have control of them, but Israel the Holy One, blessed be He, has taken for His own portion to be united to Him, and He has given them His holy Law that they may be joined to His Name.' [261a]
AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO YOU OUT OF THE MIDST OF THE FIRE: YE HEARD THE VOICE OF WORDS, ETC. R. Eleazar said: 'What is meant by "the voice of words"? It means, the Voice which is also called Utterance, because all utterance proceeds from it. Hence also it says "ye heard" [and not "saw"], because "hearing" corresponds to "utterance".
'BUT YE SAW NO FORM. They were not like Moses, of whom it says, "And he beholdeth the form of the Lord". Or we may say that "form" refers to the inner Voice which was not seen at all. ONLY YE HEARD A VOICE: this is the other voice, which we mentioned above. Hence there is a higher He and a lower He; the higher He is "the great voice which did not cease", the flow of which never ceases, and all those "voices" were in it when the Torah was given to Israel. Now what is called "the repetition of the law" (Deuteronomy) was said by Moses in his own name. For the supreme Wisdom is called the summation of the Torah, and from it all issues through that inner Voice. Eventually it comes to rest in the place called "the Tree of Life", wherefrom depend the general and the particular, the Written Law and the Oral Law. And to show that both are one, the later (of the Ten) Commandments are in this version connected with one another by "and".'
R. Jose said: 'Why do we find here both "thou shalt not covet" and "thou shalt not desire"? Because they are two different grades. A man covets things which it is in his power to obtain (wrongfully), and through coveting he does try to obtain them. A man can desire things even if he sees no way of obtaining them.
'GO THOU NEAR AND HEAR, ETC. When the Law was given to Israel, all the Voices were present and the Holy One, blessed be He, was sitting on His throne, and one was seen within another, and the utterance of each came forth from the one above it, wherefore it is said, "The Lord spake to you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire" (Deut. V, 4), which means that the utterance came forth from the midst of fire and flame, which thrust it forth by the force of spirit and water; and fire, spirit and water all issued from the trumpet which contained them all. Israel were terrified and drew back, and therefore they said: Do thou speak to us; we do not desire to be spoken to by the mighty Power from on high, but only from the place of the Female, not higher. Said Moses to them: Of a truth ye have weakened my power, and also another power. For had not Israel drawn back and had they listened to [261b] the remaining words as to the first, [6] the world would never have been laid waste subsequently and they would have endured for generations upon generations. For at the first moment they did die, for so it had to be on account of the tree of death, but after they revived and stood up God desired to bring them up to the Tree of Life, which is above the tree of death, that they might endure for ever, but they drew back and were not willing; therefore was the power of Moses weakened and another power with him. Said the Holy One, blessed be He: I desired to stablish you in an exalted place that ye might cleave to life, but ye desired the place of the Female. Therefore GO, SAY TO THEM, RETURN TO YOUR TENTS; let each one go to his female and join her. And with all this, since Israel acted thus only through the pious awe that was upon them, nothing worse was said of them than "O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me", etc. From this we learn that if a man, though doing an action which in itself is bad, does not turn his mind and intent to the evil side, punishment does not fall upon him as on another man, and God does not impute it to him for evil.
'BUT AS FOR THEE, STAND THOU HERE BY ME. From this point Moses parted from his wife completely and attached himself to another higher place, of the male and not of the female. Happy the lot of Moses the faithful prophet who was favoured with the highest grades to which no other man ever attained, wherefore he was called "good". But was not David also called "good"? Of David it says that he was "goodly to look upon"; his goodness was in the appearance, but Moses was absolutely good.'
R. Judah said: 'A man should place God before him in all his acts. When a man walks abroad he should have three objects in view, the highest of which is prayer, and higher even than prayer is the converse of two or three companions on matters of the Torah, for they shall come to no harm, since the Shekinah accompanies them.' Thus R. Eleazar and R. Hiya were once walking together, and R. Eleazar said: 'It is written, "And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife coats of skins" (Gen. III, 22). Were they then divested of that skin till then? Yes, for they were robes of glory.' Said R. Hiya: 'Surely they did not deserve even coats of skin. For you cannot say that this was before they sinned, since it is after they sinned that it is written, "And the Lord God made them coats of skins" '. He replied: 'At first they were like heavenly creatures, and divested of the earthly type, and heavenly light played around them. After they sinned they became of the type of this world, and the heavenly character was taken away from them, and then God made them coats of skin and clothed them with the character of this world. None the less the beauty of those garments was incomparable. It is further written, "And the eyes of both of them were opened" (Gen. III, 7), that is, to see the squalor of this world, which they did not notice before since their eyes were turned aloft. So of the future time it is written, "And I will bring the blind by a way that they know not", etc. (Isa. XLII, 16), which means that God will open eyes that are not wise to contemplate [262a] supernal wisdom and to attain to heights which they could not attain in this world, that they may know their Master. Happy are the righteous who are deemed worthy of this wisdom, since there is no wisdom like that wisdom, nor knowledge like that knowledge, nor attachment like that attachment.' As they were going along they saw some robbers following them with intent to harm them. R. Eleazar looked at them and two serpents came out and killed them, whereupon R. Eleazar said: Blessed be the Merciful One who has saved us.
'We have learnt as a profound mystery in the Book of Hidden Wisdom that three hollows of inscribed letters are disclosed in the Cranium of the Small of Countenance, and we have further learnt that there are three Brains enclosed in these hollows, but through the influence of the uppermost and hidden brain of the Ancient Holy One which spreads through that Small of Countenance they become four Brains. These spread throughout the whole of the Body, and these are the four compartments of the phylacteries which the Holy One, blessed be He, puts on. Therefore a man should put on the phylacteries every day, because they are the supernal Holy Name in its inscribed letters. The first compartment of the phylacteries contains the passage, "Sanctify unto me every firstborn", which typifies the highest brain, to wit, Wisdom. The second compartment contains the passage commencing "And it shall come to pass when the Lord thy God bringeth thee".' R. Judah said: 'This typifies the brain which opens out through fifty gates, which in turn correspond to the numerous places where the going forth from Egypt is mentioned in the Pentateuch. We have learnt in the Book of R. Hamnuna the Ancient that God burst open many gates above and below which were closed with chains in order to bring forth Israel, for from the gates of that brain all other gates are unlocked and opened. Had not the gates of that brain been first opened, the others could never have been opened to execute judgement and to bring forth Israel from bondage, All is closed up in that which is called the Supernal Mother, whence power is derived to the Lower Mother. This one comes forth from the Supernal Mother, who is the second compartment, which is called the He of the Holy Name which opens out through fifty gates, and from this issues a spirit to one of the Nostrils. We have learnt, too, that the Jubilee in which slaves go forth to freedom is attached to this Brain, and the fifty days of the Jubilee further correspond to the fifty days of the Omer. Thus He stands for the appeasement of the spirit and its going forth to freedom, and thus the going forth from Egypt depends on this compartment and on the letter He of the Holy Name, as has been explained. Observe that from the side of the Father issues Lovingkindness and from the side of the Mother Force, and the Holy One, blessed be He, grasps both and crowns himself therewith as the letter Vau. [262b] The third compartment contains the passage commencing, "Hear, O Israel", the reference being to the patriarch Israel. R. Simeon, however, says that the reference is to the supernal Israel crowned from the side of his Father, to wit Abraham, and crowned from the side of his Mother, to wit, Isaac. We have learnt that he who loves the King does lovingkindness with all, and all the more so if he asks for no reward, which is a "kindness of truth", through which he increases lovingkindness in the world. Hence this passage goes on, "Thou shalt love". The fourth compartment contains the passage commencing, "And it shall come to pass if ye diligently hearken". This passage contains the words, "Take heed to yourselves ... and the anger of the Lord be kindled against you", and this compartment typifies Might and stem judgement, and it comes from the side of the supernal Mother; for we have learnt that although She Herself is not judgement, yet from Her side issues judgement and force. These four does Vau take and crown himself therewith, and these are the phylacteries which the Holy One, blessed be He, puts on. We have learnt that this Vau ascends and assumes his crowns and grasps both sides and is crowned with all, and therefore Vau is the centre of all above and below to display complete Wisdom on all sides.'
R. Abba learnt: It is written, "Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers" (Deut. X, 15). Commenting on this, R. Simeon said that the patriarchs are the holy chariot above. As there is a holy chariot below, so there is a holy chariot above. And what is this? As we have said, the holy chariot is the name given to the Whole, all being linked together and made one. But the fathers are only three, and the chariot has four wheels. Who is the fourth? It says: "And he chose their seed after them"; this includes David, who is the fourth to complete the holy chariot, as we have learnt: The patriarchs are the consummation of the whole, and the Body was completed through them and made one. Then King David came and perfected the whole and made firm the body and perfected it. R. Isaac said: 'As the patriarchs merited to be crowned with the holy chariot, so did David merit to be adorned with the fourth support of the chariot.' R. Judah said: 'It is written of David, "He was ruddy and withal fair of eyes". The "ruddiness" typifies his occupation (as a man of war), while "with fair of eyes" refers to the patriarchs. Note that while Jerusalem and Zion correspond respectively to Judgement and Mercy, yet it is written, "The city of David, that is Zion" (I Kings VIII, 1).
'We have learnt: Vau takes those upper ones that we have mentioned, and those are the phylacteries which the Holy One, blessed be He, puts on, and therefore a man should take a pride in them. Of such a one it is written, "And all the people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord" (Deut. XXVIII, 10) -- literally. These are the phylactery of the head. The phylactery of the arm is the left, which is called "strong", and inherits from the "strong". [263a] Therefore the second He, which is the left, takes the four which are one body and entwined in one another, to wit, Tifereth, Nezah, Hod, and Yesod.' Said R. Hiya: 'If that is so, this is what is meant by "Thou shalt see my back" (Ex. XXXIII, 23), which, as we have learnt, means the knot of the phylacteries.' He replied: 'So we have explained, and this is the truth of the matter, and therefore a strap hangs down below to show that all below are sustained by this, and therefore it is called a "sign", as it is written, "And it shall be for a sign upon thy hand".'
HEAR, ISRAEL. R. Yesa said: 'This is the patriarch Israel.' R. Isaac said: '''Israel'' here has the same meaning as "heavens" in the verses "Hear, O heavens" (Isa. I, 2), and "Give ear, O heavens" (Deut. XXXII, 1). "The Lord" here indicates the starting-point of all, in the radiance of the Holy Ancient One, and this is what is called "Father". "Our God" is the deep source of the streams and founts that flow forth to all. "The Lord" again is the body of the Tree, the completion of the roots. "One" is the Community of Israel. All form one whole linked together without division.' R. Isaac learnt: 'The holy supernal chariot consists of the four compartments of the phylacteries which are put on by Vau, as already explained. There is another holy chariot of four other compartments united into one which are put on by the second He, as already stated.' [265a]
R. Simeon said: 'When a man rises at midnight and gets up and studies the Torah till daylight, and when the daylight comes he puts the phylacteries with the holy impress on his head and his arm, and covers himself with his fringed robe, and as he issues from the door of his house he passes the mezuzah containing the imprint of the Holy Name on the post of his door, then four holy angels join him and issue with him from the door of his house and accompany him to the synagogue and proclaim before him: Give honour to the image of the Holy King, give honour to the son of the King, to the precious countenance of the King. A holy spirit rests on him and proclaims: "Israel in whom I will be glorified" (Isa. XLIX, 3), and then ascends aloft and testifies concerning him before the Holy King. Then the Most High King orders the names of all the children of His palace, of all those that acknowledge Him, to be written before Him, as it says, "And it was written in the book of remembrance before him, for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name" (Mal. III, 16). The word hoshebei (that thought upon) can also be taken in the sense of "making designs" -- designs of the phylacteries with their compartments, their straps and their writing; designs of the fringes with their threads and the thread of blue; and designs of the mezuzah, all for the sake of God's Name. God then glories in them and proclaims through all worlds: See what my son has done in my world. He, however, who leaves his house to go to the synagogue without the phylacteries on his head or fringes on his garment and who yet says, I will bow down to Thy holy temple in Thy fear -- of him God says: Where is my fear? he is bearing false witness.'
R. Jose said: 'Happy the portion of Moses who attached himself to a higher grade than all the other faithful prophets. For in connection with the verse, "Moses spoke and God answered him with a voice" (Ex. XIX, 19), we have learnt that this voice was the voice of Moses, the Voice to which he was attached through his superiority over all the other prophets. And because he was attached to this higher grade he was able to say to Israel, "The Lord thy God", namely, the grade called Shekinah which abode in their midst.' R. Simeon further said: 'We have learnt that the curses in Leviticus were uttered by Moses as coming from the mouth of the divine Might, but those in Deuteronomy were uttered by him as from the mouth of himself. What is meant by "as from the mouth of himself"? Can it be thought that Moses said a single word of the Law of himself? No: what it refers to is the Voice to which he was attached, which is called "himself", so that one set of curses were uttered from the mouth of the divine Might and the other of that grade to which he attained in virtue of his superiority over the other prophets. Hence, while in all other places he says "Thy God", here (in the Shema) he says "Our God".
'Note how diligent men should be to devote themselves to the service of their Master so as to win eternal life. Under the throne of the Holy King there are supernal chambers; and in that place of the throne there is fastened a mezuzah to deliver men from executioners of justice [265b] who are ready to assail them in the other world. Similarly did God do to Israel, giving them precepts of the Law which they may observe to deliver themselves from many assailants and accusers that are on the watch for men every day.' R. Hiya said: 'If a man wishes to guard his steps, he should not step over water that has been poured out in front of a door, because a certain demon abides between the two posts of the door with his face to the door seeing all that goes on inside, and therefore a man should not pour water between the two doorposts.' (R. Isaac, however, said that if it is clean water it does not matter, provided it has not been poured out in contumely.) The reason is that he is authorized to do harm, and if he turns his head to the house everything on which he looks will be cursed. He has three hundred and sixty-five assistants, corresponding to the number of the days of the year, and all go forth with a man when he leaves his house.' R. Eleazar said: 'Against all this God desired to protect Israel, and therefore a man should inscribe on the door of his house the Holy Name in which all faith is summed up. For wherever the Holy Name is the evil species cannot come and are not able to accuse a man. The place of the door of the supernal House is called mezuzah, which is a necessary part of the house, and from it flee the emissaries of justice and punishment. Correspondingly when on earth a man affixes a mezuzah to his door with his Holy Name inscribed in it, such a one is crowned with the crowns of his Master and no "evil species" come near to the door of his house.'
As R. Abba was once coming away from a visit to R. Simeon he was met by R. Isaac, who exclaimed: 'Who is coming? The master of light, the man who all day has been cleaving to a consuming fire. Behold, light abides with him.' R. Abba said to him: 'We have learnt that a man should go to pay his respects to the Shekinah every Sabbath and New Moon, and who is meant? His teacher. All the more, then, is it incumbent on all people to pay their respects to the Sacred Lamp.' Said R. Isaac: 'I will turn back with you and pay my respects to the Shekinah and [meanwhile] taste of those excellent words of which you have tasted.' R. Abba then commenced a discourse on the verse: "A song of degrees, Unto thee do I lift up mine eyes, O thou that sittest in the heavens" (Ps. CXXIII, 1). 'The author of this psalm is not mentioned, and in all such cases we suppose the holy spirit to have uttered it concerning Israel in captivity. We have laid down that whoever desires to offer his supplication before the Holy King should pray from the lowest depth that blessing should be poured down below. This is indicated by the superfluous yod in the word hayoshebi (who sittest), the yod being the lowest of all; and therefore through it one should pray that blessings be poured down to the place called "heaven", that all may be fed from it. For when blessings are drawn from that spot most remote of all and collected in the place called heaven, then blessings abound among both higher and lower beings. "As the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their master": these are the Chieftains of the other peoples who are fed only from the remnants, the overhanging branches of the tree to which Israel cling, and when Israel receive blessings from that place they are all blessed from Israel. "As the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress": this, as already stated, is the handmaiden whose host God slew in Egypt, since she has no power of her own save when it is drawn to her from the Land of Israel, which itself [266a] is called "mistress". From the direction of this handmaiden issue many officials of judgement who bring accusations against Israel, but the Holy One, blessed be He, protects Israel from them as a father protects his son. God says to Israel: "Many are the accusers looking out for you, but be diligent in my service and I will protect you without, while within you will sleep safely in your beds. Now when the evil species come to the door of a man's house, and they raise their eyes and see the Holy Name written outside the mezuzah, namely Shaddai, which has power over all of them, they flee away in fear of it and do not come near the door.' Said R. Isaac to him: 'If that is so, a man should inscribe only this name on his door; why all the section?' He replied: 'This is quite right, because this name is crowned only with all those letters, and when the whole section is written this name is crowned with its crowns and the King goes forth with all his hosts stamped with the impress of the King, and they all flee from him in fear.' R. Abba said: 'Many holy hosts are present when a man fixes a mezuzah on his door, and they all proclaim, "This is the gate of the Lord", etc. (Ps. CXVIII, 20). Happy is the portion of Israel, for then Israel know that they are the sons of the Holy King, for all bear His stamp. They are stamped on their bodies with the holy impress; their garments bear the stamp of a religious precept; [7] their heads are stamped with the compartments of the phylacteries with the name of their Master; their hands are stamped with the straps of holiness; their feet with the ceremonial shoes; [8] without they bear the stamp of the [precepts connected with] sowing and reaping, and in their houses that of the mezuzah at their doorway. Thus in all ways they are stamped as the sons of the Most High King,'
As they proceeded R. Abba said: 'What is the meaning of the verse: "They have forsaken me the fountain of living waters to hew out to them cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold the water" (Jer. II, 13)? This', he said, 'refers to one who is false to the sign of the holy impress. And how is he false to it? By letting it enter into an alien domain, which is called "broken cisterns". For so the idolatrous peoples are called, but Israel's God is called "a fountain of living waters". For the perennially flowing Stream waters all the Garden and replenishes every place, as we have already pointed out, until it comes to that place in the Garden which is called "the fountain of living waters", whence are sustained all creatures above and below. But all the sides of the Left Side are not watered from that Stream of running water because they are of the side of the other peoples, and they are called "broken cisterns". Hence he who is false to the holy impress cleaves to the "broken cisterns which do not hold the waters" because they do not enter into them, whereas he that is able to guard it is granted to drink of the waters of that stream in the world to come, and causes that supernal Well to be filled so as to pour forth blessings to higher and lower; happy is he in this world and the next: of him it is written, "And thou shalt be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not" (Isa. LVIII, 11). Woe to him who is false to the holy impress, for he is false [266b] to the most high Name, nay more, he causes blessing to be withheld from that Well, and we apply to him the words, "he hath brought up an evil name on a virgin of Israel" (Deut. XXII, 19); for so R. Simeon has expounded, that one who brings a false charge against his first wife and brings an evil name upon her is like one who casts aspersions on high. This, again, is in conformity with what R. Hiya said in the name of R. Jose, that a virgin inherits seven blessings, but not a woman who is married again; she, however, inherits the blessing of Boaz and Ruth.'