The Zohar, translated by Harry Sperling and Maurice Simon

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MEZORA'

Leviticus XIV, 1-XV, 33

AND THE LORD SPOKE UNTO MOSES SAYING, THIS SHALL BE THE LAW OF THE LEPER. R. Abba cited here the verse: "Be ye afraid of the sword, for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgement" (Job XIX, 29). 'Observe,' he said, 'that through the evil tongue of the serpent death came upon the world. The evil tongue is called a "sharp sword" (Ps. LVII, 5), and therefore it says, "Be ye afraid of the sword", to wit, of the evil tongue. Why? "For wrathful are the punishments of the sword", to wit, the sword of the Lord, "that ye may know there is a judgement", for he that hath a sword in his tongue is punished with the sword; hence it says, "this is the law of the leper".' [53a]

R. Eleazar said: 'When a man is on the point of leaving this world, his soul suffers many chastisements along with his body before they separate. Nor does the soul actually leave him until the Shekinah shows herself to him, and then the soul goes out in joy and love to meet the Shekinah. If he is righteous, he cleaves and attaches himself to her. But if not, then the Shekinah departs, and the soul is left behind, mourning for its separation from the body, like a cat which is driven away from the fire. Afterwards both are punished by the hand of Dumah. The body is punished in the grave and the soul in the fire of Gehinnom for the appointed period. When this is completed she rises from Gehinnom purified of her guilt like iron purified in the fire, and she is carried up to the lower Garden of Eden, where she is cleansed in the waters of Paradise and perfumed with its spices, and there she remains till the time comes for her to depart from the abode of the righteous. Then she is carried up stage after stage until she is brought near like a sacrifice to the altar. Hence it is written, "This shall be the law of the leper on the day of his cleansing: he shall be brought to the priest", to wit, to the angelic Priest above. This is the fate of a soul which has not been defiled overmuch in this world, and which can yet be healed in this way; but otherwise, "that which is crooked cannot be made straight".'

R. Isaac cited the verse: "The sun also ariseth and the sun goeth down" (Eccl. I, 5). 'When a man's soul (neshamah)', he said, 'is with him in this world, then it may be said of him that "the sun riseth and the sun goeth down". And when man departs from this world in a frame of repentance then "he hasteth to his place where he ariseth". To those who repent, God grants pardon for all sins save for the evil tongue, as it is written: "This shall be the law of the leper", the word mezorah (leper) being interpreted as mozi shem ra' (slanderer).' [1] R. Hiya said: 'Whoever spreads false reports, all his limbs become defiled and he is meet for shutting up, because his evil speech rises aloft and calls down an unclean spirit on him. So it says: "How is the faithful city become an harlot" (Isa. I, 21). Because Jerusalem uttered evil speech, God departed from her and a spirit of murderers abode in her. If that was the fate of Jerusalem the holy city, how much more so must it be that of ordinary men! Hence it says, "This shall be the law of the leper".' R. Judah said: 'Zoth (this) [2] indeed shall confront him to punish him for his evil speech.

'ON THE DAY OF HIS CLEANSING HE SHALL BE BROUGHT TO THE PRIEST. This shows that the prayer of an evil speaker does not ascend to the Almighty, but if he repents, then "on the day of his cleansing he shall be brought to the Priest".'

THEN THE PRIEST SHALL COMMAND TO TAKE FOR HIM THAT IS TO BE CLEANSED TWO LIVING CLEAN BIRDS, ETC. When R. Isaac and R. Jose were once studying with R. Simeon, they said to him: 'We know the symbolism of the cedar tree the shoots of which are transplanted in Lebanon, as has been expounded. But what is the point of the hyssop?' He replied: 'It is written here, "two living clean birds and cedar wood and scarlet [53b] and hyssop". "Living" is a reference to two of the "living creatures" (Hayoth) that Ezekiel saw, denoting the place from which the true prophets draw inspiration. "Cedar wood" we have explained. "Scarlet" indicates the place of Severity, which is associated with him at first. "Hyssop" is the lesser Vau which gives sustenance to the Community of Israel. All these again rest upon him because he has been purified.'

R. Judah and R. Isaac were once travelling together. They stopped at a certain field to pray, and then went on. R. Judah then commenced a discourse on the Torah, taking for his text: "She is a tree of life to them that lay hold of her and happy is every one that retaineth her" (Prov. III, 18). 'The "tree of life" is the Torah, which is a great and mighty tree. It is called Torah (lit. showing) because it shows and reveals that which was hidden and unknown; and all life from above is comprised in it and issues from it. He that "takes hold" of the Torah takes hold of all, above and below. "They that retain her" are those who put the profit of merchandise into the purses of students of the Torah; such become worthy of having a progeny of faithful prophets. Such, too, "retain" her from the beginning, which is Wisdom, to the "end of the body", and become pillars of the faith.'

R. Isaac discoursed on the verse: "And he called unto Moses, and the Lord spake unto him out of the tent of meeting, saying" (Lev. I, 1). 'Who was it that called? The One who abides in the sanctuary. Moses was greater than Aaron, for Moses was the guest of the King, and Aaron was the guest of the Matrona. Just as a king might appoint for his queen a companion to attend to her and her house, and therefore the companion would never appear before the king without the queen, so of Aaron it is written, "With zoth (this, i.e. the Shekinah) shall Aaron come", etc. (Lev. XVI, 3). Moses, however, was invited as a guest by the King himself, and afterwards "the Lord spoke to him". All Aaron's discourse was for the purpose of bringing harmony between the King and the Queen, and therefore he made his dwelling with her to attend to her house, and for this he was perfected after the supernal model and was called "high priest". So he obtained all his requests of the King, and therefore it fell to him to purify all those who came before the Queen, so that there should be none [54a] unclean among those who entered the sanctuary. Hence it is written: "And he shall take for him that is to be cleansed two birds", etc.'

R. Judah cited the verse: "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision" (Ps. II, 4). The word "laugh", he said, has reference to Isaac, who came from the side of wine, which first smiles and then rages and kills. So God is patient with the wicked: if they turn to Him, it is well, but if not, He destroys them from the future world and they have no share in it.'

R. Hiya discoursed on the verse: "Behold a day of the Lord cometh when thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee" (Zech. XIV, 1). 'This day', he said, 'has been fixed from the creation of the world for punishing the wicked and for God to take vengeance on those that afflict Israel. That day ever comes and stands before God, and calls upon Him to execute judgement on the heathen.' R. Isaac said: 'God has two Days: one that stays with Him and one that comes before Him, and with these He makes war on all. And when that Day comes to make war, it unites with another Day, and they join arms and make war on high and low, as it is written: "For there is a day to the Lord of Hosts upon all that is proud and haughty and upon all that is lifted up, and it shall be brought low" (Isa. II, 12).' R. Simeon drew a similar lesson from the verse: "And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days", etc. (Lev. XV, 25).' 'The "blood" is that referred to in the verse, "The sword of the Lord is filled with blood" (Isa. XXXIV, 6). "Not in the time of her impurity", as we have learnt, that the wicked bring punishment on the world before its time. "Or if she hath an issue beyond the time of her impurity": this implies an excess of punishment, as it is written, "I will chastise you still more seven times for your sins" (Lev. XXVI, 18). "All the days of the issue of her uncleanness": this means that the wicked with their sins pollute both themselves and the sanctuary, and bring an unclean spirit upon themselves; but in time to come God will purify Israel and remove from them the unclean spirit.'

Once, when R. Hizkiah was studying with R. Eleazar, they rose at midnight, and R. Eleazar discoursed on the verse: "On the day of good be of good cheer, and on the day of evil observe, for God hath made one to match the other" (Eccl. VII, 14). 'When God', he said, 'lavishes kindness on the world, a man should go abroad and show himself, for God's kindness then extends to all. Therefore a man should do kindness that kindness may be shown to him. But at the time when judgement impends over the world a man should not show himself abroad [54b] nor walk alone, for when judgement impends over the world it impends over all, and will strike anyone it lights upon. Therefore on that day look carefully on all sides and go not abroad, for God hath made one to match the other; just as when kindness is abroad it extends to all, so when judgement is over the world it is over dl. How many swords, then, suspended from the most high sword, issue forth and, seeing that highest sword red and bloody on all sides, decree punishments and set to work!'

R. Eleazar further discoursed on the verse: "Set me as a seal upon thy heart", etc. (S.S. VIII, 6). 'The Community of Israel says this to the Holy One, blessed be He. The seal is the seal of the phylacteries which a man places on his heart; for by so doing a man makes himself perfect after the supernal model. "For love is strong as death": there is nothing so hard in the world as the separation of the soul from the body when they have to part; and similar is the love of the Community of Israel for the Holy One, blessed be He. "Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol": of all the grades of Gehinnom there is none so hard as Sheol, and he who is jealous of a beloved one finds it harder to part than the Sheol, which is the hardest grade of Gehinnom. "The flashes thereof are flashes of fire": this is the fire that issues from the Shofar, compounded of air and water. And with that flame the Community of Israel sets on fire the world when she is passionate for the Holy One, blessed be He, and woe to him who crosses the path of that flame!' R. Eleazar further discoursed on the verse: "Many waters cannot quench love", etc. (Ibid. 7). 'This', he said, 'is the Right Arm which desires to bind the phylactery on the Left Arm, in accordance with the verse, "that his right hand might embrace me" (S.S. 11, 6). Or again, the "waters" may be the primordial stream from which issue other streams in every direction. "If a man were to give all the substance of his house for love, it would be utterly contemned": this means that if the Holy One, blessed be He, were to offer to the angels all the substance of His house in lieu of His uniting with the Community of Israel, they would contemn it, [55a] since they have no joy save in the hour when the Community of Israel unites with the Holy One, blessed be He. When a man puts on the phylactery of the hand, he should stretch out his left arm as though to draw to him the Community of Israel and to embrace her with the right arm, so as to copy the supernal model, as it is written, "O that his left hand were under my head and his right hand embraced me" (S.S. II, 6), for then is that man wholly sanctified.'

R. Hizkiah spoke on the verse: "Hear righteousness, O Lord, attend unto my cry" (Ps. XVII, 1). He said: 'Beloved is the Community of Israel before the Holy One, blessed be He, and whenever she comes before Him, He is ready to receive her. Hence David said: "I am linked with the Community of Israel, being before Thee as She is, and therefore, hearken, O Lord, unto Righteousness first, and then give ear unto my prayer".' He continues: '''Without feigned lips." What is this? We have learnt that every word of prayer that issues from a man's mouth ascends aloft through all firmaments to a place where it is tested. If it is genuine, it is taken up before the Holy King to be fulfilled, but if not, it is rejected, and an alien spirit is evoked by it. So it is written of Joseph, "His feet they hurt with fetters ... until the time that his word came", that is, until the word of Joseph's prayer came to heaven and was tested; and then, "the king sent and loosed him".'

Meanwhile day had arrived. Said R. Eleazar: 'It is now time for the Community of Israel to be united with her Spouse. Happy are the righteous who study the Torah by night and then come to unite themselves with the Holy One, blessed be He, and the Community of Israel.' R. Eleazar continued: 'It is written: "Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness" (Lev. XV, 31). When an unclean spirit is roused below, it rouses another unclean spirit above which obtains permission to go down to the world, when the spirit of holiness which used to come down and smite it is no longer there. Then judgement confronts sinners, and there are two harmful spirits in the world, one of judgement and one of uncleanness.' Said R. Eleazar: 'Here I must say something that I have learnt from my father. Just as when an unclean spirit rests upon a house, God sends a plague of leprosy to attack it and so cause the house to be purified, so if a spirit of uncleanness rests on a man and God desires to purify him, He rouses a spirit of stern judgement which contends with that unclean spirit until [55b] it is expelled. Nor does that spirit of judgement depart until it has loosened the bodily frame. Then at last is the man purified and freed from the unclean spirits. Therefore we have learnt that if a man wants to defile himself, heaven helps to defile him, [3] and woe to a man when an unclean spirit is found in him all his life, for this indeed shows that God desires to clear him out of the world (to come). Happy are the righteous on whom rests a spirit of holiness in this world and in the world to come'.

When it was full day they went on their way, and R. Eleazar discoursed on the verse: "And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him" (Gen. XXXII, 1). 'Observe', he said, 'that all the time that Jacob was with Laban God did not speak with him (save at the very end, when he was about to depart), but as soon as he had left him the angels came to meet and to escort him. It says that the angels met him (bo, lit. in him), not that he met them. This is to indicate that they were some from the side of mercy and some from the side of judgement, and they met and were united "in him". Hence he called the place mahanaim (lit. two camps). It is written of Esau, "And the first came forth red" (Gen. XXV, 25). Though Esau came forth first, he was not really the elder, since at the time of procreation Isaac's thoughts were [56a] first centred on mercy, represented by Jacob, and afterwards on judgement, represented by Esau. Hence Jacob was really created first. R. Judah used to teach as follows. Esau is called "first", and God is also called "first", as it is written, "I am the first and I am the last" (Isa. XLIV, 6). The "first" will one day punish the "first" and rebuild the other "first", to wit, "A glorious throne set on high from the first, the place of our Sanctuary" (Jer. XVII, 12). We have learnt: One day the walls of Jerusalem will reach on high to the throne of the King, as it is written, "At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord" (Jer. III, 17).'

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Notes:

1. Cf. T.R. Erekhin, 16a; Shab, 97a.

2. The Shekinah.

3. T.B. Yoma, 38b.

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Part 1 of 3

AHARE MOTH

Leviticus XVI, 1-XVIII, 30

AND THE LORD SPOKE UNTO MOSES AFTER THE DEATH OF THE TWO SONS OF AARON. R. Judah said: 'Since it says here, "the Lord spoke unto Moses", why does it repeat in the next verse, "And the Lord said unto Moses, Speak to Aaron thy brother", etc.? The same question arises in other places (e.g. Lev. I, 1; Exodus XXIV, 1), and in all cases the answer is the same, that the reference is first to one grade (of the Deity) and then to another; but all are equivalent and come from one root.'

R. Isaac remarked: 'One verse says, "Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling" (Ps. II, 11), and another verse says, "Serve the Lord with gladness, come before him with rejoicing" (Ps. C, 2). The apparent contradiction is explained as follows. When a man comes to serve his Master he should do so first in fear, and through that fear he will afterwards perform the precepts of the Law in joy. It says, "rejoice in trembling", because it is forbidden to a man to rejoice overmuch in this world, but in the words and the precepts of the Torah it is quite right that he should rejoice.' R. Abba said: 'The word "fear" [56b] here esoterically alludes to the Holy One, blessed be He, as in the verse, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" (Prov. 1, 7).' R. Eleazar said: 'If a man desires to serve his Master, from what place should he commence and in what place should he first aim at unifying the name of his Master? In "fear", with which the ascent heavenwards commences.'

Another interpretation is as follows. R. Jose said: 'Why does the text say, "after the death of the two sons of Aaron", and not "after the death of Nadab and Abihu", since we know they were his sons? The reason is to show that they had not yet emerged from the guardianship of their father, but they thrust themselves forward in his lifetime.'

R. Hiya said: 'One day I was on my way to visit R. Simeon to learn from him the portion of the Passover. In a certain mountain which I passed I saw some clefts in a rock and two men sitting in one. As I went along I caught the sound of their voices saying: "A song, a psalm of the sons of Korah." Why both song and psalm? We have learnt in the name of R. Simeon that this is a double song. and therefore superior to other songs. So, too, with the expressions, "A psalm, a song for the Sabbath day" (Ps. XCII, 1), or "Song of songs" (S.S. I, 1): the doubling is a sign of pre-eminence. This is the song of the Holy One, blessed be He, which was sung by the sons of Korah, those who sat at- the doorway of Gehinnom. [1] Therefore this Psalm is recited (in the morning prayers) on the second day of the week. I went up to them and asked them what they were doing in that place. They said: "We are pedlars, and two days in the week we go into a solitary place and study the Torah, because on other days people will not let us." I said to them: "Happy is your portion." They continued: "Whenever the righteous are removed from the world, punishment is removed from the world and the death of the righteous atones for the sins of the generation, Therefore we read the section dealing with the death of the sons of Aaron on the Day of Atonement that it may atone for the sins of Israel. God says: Recount the death of these righteous ones, and it will be accounted to you as if you brought an offering on that day to make atonement for you. For we have learnt that so long as Israel are in captivity, and cannot bring offerings on that day, the mention of the two sons of Aaron shall be their atonement. For so we have learnt, that Abihu was equal to his two brothers Eleazar and Ithamar, and Nadab to all together, and Nadab and Abihu were reckoned as equal to the seventy elders who were associated with Moses; and therefore their death was an atonement for Israel."'

R. [57a] Hizkiah quoted in this connection the verse: "Therefore thus saith the Lord to the house of Jacob who redeemed Abraham" (Isa. XXIX, 22). 'We might think', he said, 'that the words "to the house of Jacob" are misplaced, but really the verse is to be taken as it stands. For when Abram was cast into the furnace of the Chaldeans the angels said before God: How shall this one be delivered, seeing that he has no merit of his ancestors to rely upon? God replied: He shall be delivered for the sake of his sons. But, they said, Ishmael will issue from him? There is Isaac who will stretch forth his neck on the altar. But Esau will issue from him? There is Jacob who is the complete throne and all his sons who are perfect before me. They said: Assuredly through this merit Abraham shall be delivered. Hence it is written: "Jacob who redeemed Abraham". The verse continues: "Jacob shall not now be ashamed ... but when he seeth his children the work of my hands", etc. The reference here in "his children" is to Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, who cast themselves into the fiery furnace. We have learnt that when they were bound in order to be cast into the fire, each of them lifted up his voice and quoted a verse of Scripture in the presence of all the princes and rulers. Hananiah said: "The Lord is on my side, I will not fear what man can do to me", etc. (Ps. CXVIII, 6). Mishael said: "Therefore fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the Lord", etc. (Jer. XXX, 10). When those present heard the name of Jacob they all laughed in scorn. Azariah said: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God the Lord is one" (Deut. VI, 4). At that moment God assembled His court and said to them: For the sake of which of those verses shall I deliver them? They replied: "They shall know that thou alone whose name is the Lord art most high over all the earth" (Ps. LXXXVII). God then turned to His Throne and said: With which of these verses shall I deliver them? The Throne replied: With the one at which they all laughed: as Jacob stood by Abraham in the furnace, so let him stand by these. Hence it is written in connection with them, "Not now shall Jacob be ashamed". Now why were these delivered? Because they prayed to God and unified His name in the fitting manner. The two sons of Aaron brought strange fire on the altar and did not unify God's name in the fitting manner, and therefore they were burnt.'

R. Isaac said: 'It is written here, "After the death of the two sons ... and they died". Why this double mention of their death? One referring to their actual death, the other to their having no children, for he who has no children is counted as dead.' [2] R. Abba derived the same lesson from this verse, "And Nadab and Abihu died ... and they had no children and Eleazar and Ithamar ministered," etc. (Num. III, 4.). He said further that they did not die like others who have no children: they died only their own death but not that of their souls, [57b] because their souls entered into Phineas; wherefore it refers to Phineas as "these" (Ex. VI, 25). R. Eleazar said: 'For this reason whenever Phineas is mentioned he is always called "the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the Priest" (v. Num. XXV, 7; Judges XX, 28) .... [3]

'It has been taught in the name of R. Jose that on this day of Atonement it has been instituted that this portion should be read to atone for Israel in captivity. Hence we learn that if the chastisements of the Lord come upon a man, they are an atonement for his sins, and whoever sorrows for the sufferings of the righteous obtains pardon for his sins. Therefore on this day we read the portion commencing "after the death of the two sons of Aaron", that the people may hear and lament the loss of the righteous and obtain forgiveness for their sins. For whenever a man so laments and sheds tears for them, God proclaims of him, "thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged" (Isa. VI, 7). Also he may be assured that his sons will not die in his lifetime, and of him it is written, "he shall see seed, he shall prolong days" (Isa. LIII, 19).'

R. Simeon said: 'I am amazed to see how little men pay heed to the will of their Master, and how they allow themselves to be wrapt in sleep until the day comes which will cover them with darkness, and when their Master will demand [58a] reckoning from them. The Torah calls aloud to them, but none inclines his ear. Mark now that in future generations the Torah will be forgotten, and there will be none to close and open. Alas for that generation! There will be no generation like the present until the Messiah comes and knowledge shall be diffused throughout the world. It is written: "A river went forth from Eden" (Gen. II, 10). It has been laid down that the name of that river is Jubilee, but in the book of Rab Hamnuna the Elder it is called Life, because life issues thence to the world. We have also laid down that the great and mighty Tree in which is food for all is called the Tree of Life, because its roots are in that Life. We have learnt that that river sends forth deep streams with the oil of plenitude to water the Garden and feed the trees and the shoots. These streams flow on and unite in two pillars which are called Jachin and Boaz. Thence the streams flow on and come to rest in a grade called Zaddik, and from hence they flow further till they all are gathered into the place called Sea, which is the sea of Wisdom. But the current of that river never ceases, and therefore the streams flow back to the two pillars, Nezah and Hod, whence they traverse that Zaddik to find there blessings and joy. The Matrona is called the "time" of the Zaddik, and therefore all who are fed below are fed from this place, as it is written: "The eyes of all wait on thee and thou givest them their meat in due season" (Ps. CXLV, 15). When these two are joined, all worlds have gladness and blessing, and there is peace among upper and lower beings. But when through the sins of this world there are no blessings from these streams, and the "time" sucks from the "other side", then judgement impends over the world and there is no peace. Now when mankind desire to be blessed, they can only be so through the priest, when he arouses his own Crown and blesses the Matrona, so that there are blessings in all worlds. We have learnt that at that time Moses inquired of God concerning this, saying: If the sons of men shall return to Thee, through whom shall they be blessed? and God replied: Do not ask Me. Speak to Aaron thy brother, for in his hands are delivered blessings above and below.'

R. Abba said: 'There are times when God is propitious and ready to dispense blessing to those that pray to Him, and times when He is not propitious and judgement is let loose on the world, and times when judgement is held in suspense. There are seasons in the year when grace is in the ascendant, and seasons when judgement is in the ascendant, and seasons when judgement is in the ascendant but held in suspense. Similarly with the months [58b] and similarly with the days of the week, and even with the parts of each day and each hour. Therefore it is written: "There is a time for every purpose" (Eccl. III, 1), and again, "My prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time" (Ps. LXIX, 14). Hence it says here: "Let him not come at every time to the Sanctuary".' R. Simeon said: 'This interpretation of the word "time" is quite correct and here God warned Aaron not to make the same mistake as his sons and try to associate a wrong "time" with the King, even if he should see that the control of the world has been committed for the time to the hands of another, and though he has the power to unify with it and bring it near to Holiness. [4] And if he wants to know with what he should enter, the answer is, with zoth (this = Shekinah), for that is the "time" which is attached to my name by the letter yod which is inscribed in my name. R. Jose taught: Verily it is as the Holy Lamp (R. Simeon) explained the verse, "He hath made everything (kol) beautiful in its time (be'itto)"; that is to say, "He hath made kol (Yesod) beautiful in 'eth (Malkuth), and none should interpose between them"; and therefore Aaron was warned that he should not come at every "time" into the Sanctuary, but only with zoth.'

Once when R. Eleazar was studying with his father he said to him: 'It is written of the sons of Aaron that a fire went forth from the Lord and consumed them, and also of the assembly of Korah that a fire went forth from the Lord and consumed them (Num. XVI, 35). Were they then in the same category ?' R. Simeon replied: 'There is a difference, because of the assembly of Korah it says that "they perished from the congregation", but this word is not used of the sons of Aaron.' He further asked him: 'Since it says, "let him not come at all times into the sanctuary", why does it not specify at which time he should come?' He replied: 'As we have explained, there was a certain time which was known to the priests, and here these words are inserted only as a warning to Aaron, as we have explained.' He replied: 'That is what I thought, only I wanted to make certain.' R. Simeon continued: 'Eleazar, my son, note that all the offerings were acceptable to God, but none so much as the incense, wherefore it was taken into the inmost shrine with the greatest privacy, and the severest punishment was inflicted for its misuse.' R. Simeon then expounded the verse: "In fragrance thine ointments are good" (S.S. I, 3). 'This fragrance is the odour of the incense, which is more subtle and intimate than any other, and when it ascends to unite with the anointing oil of the streams of the Source they stimulate one another, and then those oils are good for giving light, and the oil flows from grade to grade through those grades which are called the Holy Name; hence it is written, "therefore do maidens love thee" (Ibid.), where 'alamoth (maidens) may be read 'olamoth (worlds); and from thence blessings spread over all below. [59a] And because this incense is bound up with the supernal ointment more closely it is more esteemed by the Almighty Holy One, blessed be He, than all offerings and sacrifices. The verse continues: "Draw me, we will run after thee". Therefore the Community of Israel says: "I am like incense and thou art like oil, draw me after thee, and we shall run, I and all my hosts. Let the King bring me to his chambers that we may all be glad and rejoice in thee".'

FOR I WILL APPEAR IN THE CLOUD UPON THE MERCY SEAT. R. Judah said: 'Happy are the righteous that God seeks to honour them. If a man rides on the horse of an earthly king he is put to death, but God let Elijah ride upon His, as it is written: "And Elijah went up in a whirlwind into heaven" (2 Kings II, 11); and He also took Moses into the cloud, though it is written here, "in the cloud I shall appear on the mercy seat". We have learnt that this was the place where the Cherubim abode. We have learnt that three times a day a miracle was accomplished with their wings. When the holiness of the King descended upon them they of themselves raised their wings and spread them out so as to cover the mercy seat. Then they folded their wings and stood rejoicing in the divine presence.' R. Abba said: 'The high priest did not see the divine presence when he entered the sanctuary, and but a cloud came down, and when it lighted on the mercy seat the Cherubim beat their wings together and broke out into song. What did they chant? "For great is the Lord and highly to be praised, he is to be feared above all gods" (Ps. XCVI, 4). When they spread out their wings they said: "For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens" (Ibid. 5). And when they covered the mercy seat they said: "Before the Lord for he cometh to judge the earth, he shall judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity" (Ps. XCVIII, 9). Then the priest used to hear their voice in the sanctuary, and he put the incense in its place with all devotion in order that all might be blessed.' R. Jose said: 'The word "equity" (mesharim, lit. equities) in the above quoted verse indicates that the Cherubim were male and female.' R. Isaac said: 'From this we learn that where there is no union of male and female men are not worthy to behold the divine presence.' [59b]

It has been taught in the name of R. Jose: Once the people were short of rain and they sent a deputation to R. Simeon, R. Jesse, R. Hizkiah and the rest of the Companions. R. Simeon was on the point of going to visit R. Pinchas ben Jair, along with his son R. Eleazar. When he saw them he exclaimed: ' "A song of ascents; Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity" (Ps. CXXXIII, 1). The expression "in unity",' he said, 'refers to the Cherubim. When their faces were turned to one another, it was well with the world -- "how good and how pleasant", but when the male turned his face from the female, it was ill with the world. Now, too, I see that you are come because the male is not abiding with the female. If you have come only for this, return, because I see that on this day face will once more be turned to face. But if you have come to learn the Torah, stay with me.' They said: 'We have come for both purposes. Let, therefore, one of us go and take the good news to our fellows, and we will stay here with our Teacher.' As they went along he took as his text, "I am black but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem" (S.S. I, 5). 'The Community of Israel says to the Holy One, blessed be He: I am black in captivity but I am comely in religious practices, for although Israel are in exile they do not abandon these. "I am black like the tents of Kedar", to wit, the sons of Keturah, whose faces are always swarthy, and yet I am like the curtains of Solomon, like the brightness of the skies. "Look not upon me because I am swarthy." Why am I swarthy? Because the sun hath gazed hard on me, but not looked upon me to illumine me as he should have done. "My mother's sons were angry with me." These words are said by Israel, and refer to the Chieftains appointed over the other nations. Or they may still be spoken by the Community of Israel, and allude to the verse, "For he hath cast from earth to heaven the beauty of Israel" (Lam. II, 1). Or again, the words, "how good, how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity" may refer to the Companions when they sit together and there is no discord between them. At first they are like combatants who seek to kill one another, but afterwards they become friends and brothers. [5] Then God says: "Behold how good", etc., and He himself listens to them and delights in their converse. You, therefore, Companions that are gathered here, as you have been close friends hitherto, so may you never part until God shall give you glad greeting, and for your sake may there be peace in the world.'

They then went on their way till they reached R. Pinchas ben Jair. R. Pinchas came out and kissed him, saying: 'I am privileged to kiss the Shekinah.' He prepared for them couches with awnings. Said R. Simeon: 'The Torah does not require this.' So he removed them and they sat down. Said R. Pinchas: 'Before we eat let us hear something from the great Master, for R. Simeon always speaks his mind; he is a man who says what he has to say without fear of heaven or earth. He has no fear of heaven since God concurs [60a] with him, and he is no more afraid of men than a lion of sheep.'

R. Simeon then turned to R. Eleazar his son, saying: 'Stand up and say something new in the presence of R. Pinchas and the rest of the Companions.' R. Eleazar thereupon arose and began with the text: "And the Lord spoke unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron" (Lev. XVI, 1). 'This verse', he said, 'seems superfluous, seeing that the text proceeds, "And the Lord said to Moses, speak unto Aaron thy brother", which should properly be the beginning of the section. The explanation is this. When God gave the incense to Aaron, he desired that no other man should use it in his lifetime. He said to him: "Thou desirest to increase peace in the world. By thy hand shall peace be increased above. Therefore the incense of spices shall be delivered to thy hand from now onwards, and in thy lifetime no other shall use it." Nadab and Abihu, however, thrust themselves forward to offer it. We have learnt that Moses worried himself to find out what was the cause of their misfortune. Hence God spoke to him after their death and said to him: "The cause is that they 'drew near to the Lord', and thrust themselves forward in the lifetime of their father." Now if the sons of Aaron brought this upon themselves through thrusting themselves forward in the lifetime of their father, what should I deserve if I thrust myself forward before my father and R. Pinchas and the rest of the Companions?' Hearing this, R. Pinchas came up to him and kissed him and blessed him.

R. Simeon then discoursed on the verse: "Behold it is the litter of Solomon, threescore mighty men are round about it", etc. (S. S. III, 7). He said: 'The "litter" here is the throne of glory of the King, Solomon, the "king to whom all peace belongs". Threescore mighty men are round about it, clinging to its sides as emissaries from stem judgement; they are called the sixty rods of fire wherewith that Youth [6] is girt. On its right hand is a flashing sword, on its left hand coals of fire with seventy thousand consuming flames. Those threescore are armed with deadly weapons from the armoury of the supernal Might of the Holy One, blessed be He. They all "handle the sword and are expert in war": they are ever ready to execute judgement and are called the "lords of wailing and howling". And from whence do they receive all this? "From fear": that is, from the place called "the fear of Isaac". And when? "In the night": at the time when they are commissioned to execute judgement. We have learnt that a thousand and five hundred bearers of arms with authority to smite are attached to the side of those mighty ones. In the hands of him who is called "Youth" there are four mighty keys. Sea monsters go forth beneath the ship [60b] of this mighty sea in four directions, and each has four aspects. A thousand rocks rise and sink every day from the tide of that sea. Afterwards they are uprooted from it and go to another sea. There is no number to those that cling to her hair. Two sons suck from her every day who are called "spies of the land", and two daughters are at her feet, and these cling to the sides of that litter. In her left hand are seventy branches that grow among the fishes of the sea, all red as a rose, and above them all is one of a still deeper red. This one goes up and down and all hide in her hair. When the master of the evil tongue comes down he becomes a serpent leaping over the hills and mountains until he finds prey to consume. Then he becomes mollified and his tongue turns to good. Israel furnish him with prey and then he returns to his place and enters into the hollow of the great abyss. When he ascends, there also ascend demons girt with spear and sword without number, who surround the sixty who are round the litter, so that myriads of myriads stand round this litter above, all being nurtured by it and doing obeisance to it, and below there go forth from it myriads who wander about the world until the trumpet blows and they assemble. These cling to the uncleanness of the nails. This litter embraces them all. Its feet take hold of the four corners of the world; it is found in heaven above and in the earth below. It is called Adonay, the lord of all, this name being inscribed among its hosts. Therefore the priest must concentrate his thought on heavenly things to unify the holy name from the fitting place. Hence we have learnt that Aaron was to come to the sanctuary with zoth. With this he was to bring the holiness to its place, and from this place man must fear God. Hence it is written, "O that they were wise, that they considered zoth" (Deut. XXXII, 29); that is to say, if men consider how zoth is surrounded by her hosts who stand ready before her to punish sinners, then at once they would "consider their latter end", be careful of their acts and not sin before the Holy One, blessed be He.' R. Simeon further said: 'If a man studies the Torah and guards this zoth, then zoth protects him and makes a covenant with him regarding his own covenant that it shall not depart from him or from his sons or his sons' sons for ever, as it is written: "And as for me, this (zoth) is my covenant with them", etc.'

They then sat down to eat, and in the course of the meal R. Simeon said to the Companions: 'Let each one enunciate a new idea concerning the Torah at the table before R. Pinchas.'

R. Hizkiah then began with the text: "The Lord God hath given me the tongue of them that are taught, that I should know how to sustain with words him that is weary" (Isa. L, 4). 'Happy are Israel in that God has chosen them above all other peoples and called them "holy" [61a] and given them as their portion union with the holy name. How do they effect this union? By their attainments in the Torah, for knowledge of the Torah means union with the Holy One, blessed be He. We have learnt in the presence of our Master: What is holiness? The consummation of the whole which is called Supernal Wisdom. From thence issue streams and fountains in all directions till they reach this zoth. And when this zoth is blessed from the supernal place called Holiness and Wisdom, it is called "the spirit of holiness"; and when mysteries of the Torah proceed from it, it is called "the language of holiness". When the holy oil flows to those two pillars! that are called "the disciples of the Lord", it is gathered in there, and when it issues thence through the superior holy saints. Hence it is written, "The Lord has given me the tongue of disciples", and why? "To know how to sustain with words him that is weary". God gives this tongue to the Sacred Lamp, R. Simeon, nay more, He raises him higher and higher: therefore he speaks his mind openly without concealment.'

R. Jesse then took the text: "And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom as he had promised him, and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon" (I Kings V, 26). 'What is the connection between these two statements? The answer is this: "God gave Solomon wisdom"; and how did Solomon display this wisdom that God gave him? First in this way, that he made Hiram assume a more modest frame of mind. For we have been taught that Hiram at first set himself up as a god, as it is written: "Thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God" (Ezek. XXVIII, 2). Solomon, however, with his wisdom induced him to give up these claims, and he deferred to him, and therefore it is written, "and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon". We have also learnt that R. Isaac said in the name of R. Judah that Solomon sent him a carriage which took him down to the seven circuits of Gehinnom and brought him up again. We have also learnt that Solomon inherited the Moon complete on all sides. So R. Simeon ben Yohai surpasses all others in wisdom, and none can rise save they make peace with him.'

R. Jose took as his text the verse: "O my dove that art in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the steep place" (S.S. II, 14). 'The "dove" here is the Community of Israel, which like a dove never forsakes her mate, the Holy One, blessed be He. "In the clefts of the rock": these are the students of the Torah, who have no ease in this world. "In the covert of the steep place": these are the specially pious among them, the saintly and God-fearing, from whom the Divine Presence never departs. The Holy One, blessed be He, inquires concerning them of the Community of Israel, saying, "Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice, for sweet is thy voice"; for above only the voice of those who study the Torah is heard. We have learnt that the likeness of all such is graven above before the Holy One, blessed be He, who delights Himself with them every day and watches them, and that voice rises and pierces its way through all firmaments until it stands before the Holy One, blessed be He. And now the Holy One, blessed be He, has graven the likeness of R. Simeon above, and his voice rises higher and higher and is crowned with a holy diadem, and God crowns him in all worlds and glories in him.'

R. Hiya took as his text: "That which is hath been already and that which is to be", etc. (Eccl. III, 15). 'This is explained by what we have learnt, that before God created this world He created others and destroyed them, until [61b] He consulted the Torah, and through it made the proper adjustments and became crowned. Thus all that was to be in this world was before Him fully prepared. We have learnt, too, that all men of all generations stood before Him in their likenesses before they came into the world, and even all the souls of men were traced out before Him in the firmament in the similitude of their shape in this world. All, too, that they afterwards learnt in this world they already knew before they came into it. All this, however, applies only to the truly virtuous. Those who did not turn out virtuous in this world even there were far from the Holy One, blessed be He, being in the hollow of the abyss, whence they came down into the world before their time. And as they proved to be stiff-necked in this world, so, we have learnt, they were before they came into the world. They threw away the holy portion which was given them and went and defiled themselves with the hollow of the abyss and took their portion from thence and came down into the world before their time. If such a one deserves well afterwards and repents before his Master, he takes his own proper portion, namely, "that which hath been already". Now we may ask concerning the sons of Aaron, the like of whom were not in Israel, how they could perish from the world as they did. Where was their own merit, the merit of their father, the merit of Moses? We have, however, learnt from the Sacred Lamp that God was indeed solicitous for their honour, and so their bodies were burnt within but their souls did not perish. [7] Phineas, too, was already in existence who was to repair the damage; whence it is written, "that which is to be already was". We have learnt that all the truly virtuous before they come into the world are prepared above and called by their names. And R. Simeon ben Yohai from the first day of Creation was stationed before the Holy One, blessed be He, and God called him by his name, happy is his portion above and below!'

R. Abba took as his text the verse: "While the king sat at his table, my spikenard sent forth its fragrance" (S.S. I, 12). 'This has been applied by the Companions to the children of Israel when at the giving of the Law they sent forth a sweet fragrance which will bestead them in all generations by saying "we will do and we will hear". Or we may translate "my spikenard forsook its fragrance", applying the words to the making of the calf. There is, however, also an esoteric allusion in this verse. It says "A river went forth from Eden to water the garden" (Gen. II, 10). This stream first issues in a path which none knoweth. Then Eden joins with it in perfect union, and then fountains and streams issue and crown the holy Son, who thereupon assumes the inheritance of his Father and Mother, and the supernal King regales himself with royal delights. Then "my spikenard gives forth its fragrance": this is Yesod, who sends forth blessings at the union of the Holy King [62a] and the Matrona, and so blessings are dispensed to all worlds and upper and lower are blessed. And now the Sacred Lamp is crowned with the crowns of that grade, and he and the Companions send up praises from earth to heaven wherewith She is crowned. Now blessings must be brought down from heaven on to the Companions through that grade. Let, therefore, R. Eleazar his son expound to us some of the profound ideas which he has learnt from his father.'

R. Eleazar then cited the verse: "And he looked and behold a well in a field," etc. (Gen. XXIX, 2). 'These verses', he said, 'have an esoteric meaning which I have learnt from my father. The "well" is the same as that of which it is written, "the well which princes digged" (the Shekinah). The three flocks lying by it are Nezah, Hod, and Yesod, and from them the well is ever full of blessings. "Out of that well they watered the flocks": this means that from it the lower worlds are sustained. "The stone upon the well's mouth was great": this is rigorous Judgement, which stands by it from the "other side" to suck from it. But "thither all the flocks gather": these are the six Crowns of the King, which gather together and draw blessings from the Head of the King and pour them upon her, and thereby they "roll away" the stern judgement and remove it from her. Then they "water the flock", that is, pour out blessings in that spot for higher and lower, and then "put the stone again upon the well's mouth in its place": that is to say, judgement returns to its place, because it is necessary for the upholding of the world. And now God has poured upon you blessings from the source of the stream, and from you all of this generation are blessed. Happy are ye in this world and in the world to come!'

R. Simeon then spoke on the verse: "Let the saints exult in glory, let them sing for joy upon their beds" (Ps. CXLlX, 5). 'We have learnt', he said, 'that the knot of faith is tied with thirteen attributes, and in addition the Torah is crowned with thirteen "measures", [rules of interpretation] and the holy name is crowned therewith. Similarly, when Jacob desired to bless his sons, he said that his sons should be blessed with the bond of faith; it is written, "all these are the tribes of Israel, twelve, and this (zoth)", etc. (Gen. XLIX, 28); thus there were thirteen, the Shekinah being joined with them. We have learnt that all those "measures" ascend and rest upon a certain head, and the pious inherit all that glory from above, as it is written, "Let the saints exult in glory", in this world, "and let them sing for joy upon their beds"-in the next world. "The high praises of God are in their mouths", to tie the bond of faith in fitting manner; and so "a two-edged sword is in their hand", to wit, the sword of the Holy One, blessed be He, which flashes with two judgements. Now R. Pinchas ben Jair is the crown of Lovingkindness, the high attribute, and therefore he inherits the glory from on high and ties the celestial and holy bond, the bond of faith. Happy is his portion in this world and in the world to come. Of this tahle it is said: "This is the table that is before the Lord" (Ezek. XLI, 22).' R. Pinchas then rose and kissed and blessed him, and R. Eleazar and all the Companions, and took the cup and said the benediction and the psalm, "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies" (Ps. XXIII, 5). All that day they gladdened themselves [62b] with words of the Torah, and the joy of R. Simeon was great. R. Pinchas took R. Eleazar and did not leave him all that day and night, saying: 'All this great joy and gladness is of my portion, and they will make proclamation concerning me to that effect in the other world.'

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Part 2 of 3

When they rose to depart R. Pinchas would not at first let R. Eleazar go, but he accompanied R. Simeon and all the Companions on their way. As they went along R. Simeon said: 'It is time to work for the Lord.' R. Abba came and asked him: 'It is written, AND AARON SHALL CAST LOTS UPON THE TWO GOATS. What', he asked, 'is the meaning of these lots, and why had Aaron to cast them?' R. Simeon began his reply by citing the verse: "And he took from them Simeon and bound him before their eyes" (Gen. XLII, 24). 'Why did Joseph take Simeon rather than any other one of the brothers? The reason was that Joseph said to himself: Simeon and Levi everywhere open the door to judgement. So it was with me and so it was with Shechem. It is therefore meet that I should take this one so that he should not rouse contention among all the tribes. The question has also been asked why Simeon associated himself with Levi rather than, say, with Reuben, who was also his full brother. The reason was that he saw that Levi came from the side of judgement and he himself was attached to the side of stern judgement. He therefore thought that if Levi joined him they would be able to conquer the world. What then did God do? He took Levi for his portion, and made Simeon isolated.

'We have learnt that on the side of the Mother there are two emissaries attached to her left hand who roam about the world to spy it out. Now Israel are God's portion, and from His great love for them He gave them one day in the year to cleanse and purify them from all their sins, and therefore on this day they are crowned and are safe from all executioners and all hostile emissaries. It is written that Aaron shall cast lots upon the two he-goats. Why is one of these for the Lord? Because God said, Let one abide by me and the other roam about the world; for if the two were combined the world would not be able to stand against them. The second one therefore goes forth, and when he finds Israel absorbed in religious service and pious deeds and all at peace with one another he can see no opportunity to bring a charge against them. We have learnt that there are many demons under his control, whose office it is to spy out the earth for those [63a] who transgress the commands of the Law; but on that day there is no opening for any accusation against Israel. When that he-goat reaches the rock (of Azazel) there is great rejoicing and the emissary who went forth to accuse returns and declares the praises of Israel, the accuser becoming the defender. And not only on this day, but whenever Israel desire to be cleansed of their sins, God shows them how to restrain the accusers by means of the offerings which are brought before the Holy One, blessed be He, and then they cannot harm. But this day is more efficacious than all; and just as Israel appease all below, so all those who have accusations to bring (above) are appeased, though all the service is to the Holy One. We have learnt that at the hour of which it is written that Aaron should take the two he-goats, all those (accusers) above rouse themselves and seek to go forth into the world, and when Aaron brings near those below those above are also brought near. The lots are then produced for both sides; and as the priest casts lots below so the Priest casts lots above; and just as below one is left for the Holy One and one is thrust out to the wilderness, so above one remains with the Holy One, blessed be He, and one goes forth into the supernal wilderness; so the two are connected. It is written later:

'AND AARON SHALL LAY HIS TWO HANDS ON THE HEAD OF THE LIVE GOAT AND CONFESS OVER HIM, ETC. He must use both hands in order that the Holy One may concur with him. The he-goat is called "live", to include the one above. The words "over him" mean that the sins shall all be left on the goat.' R. Abba asked how this could be reconciled with the verse which says, "And they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices unto the he-goats after which they go a-whoring" (Lev. XVII, 7). He replied: 'It does not say there that they should not sacrifice he-goats, but to he-goats. So here, the goat bore on itself all their iniquities, but the offering was brought only to the Holy One, blessed be He, and through the offering upper and lower are appeased and judgement has no sway over Israel.

'AND SHALL SEND HIM AWAY BY THE HAND OF A MAN THAT IS IN READINESS. The words "in readiness" contain a hint that [63b] for every kind of action there are men specially fitted. There are some men specially fitted for the transmission of blessings, as, for instance, a man of "good eye". There are others, again, who are specially fitted for the transmission of curses, and curses light wherever they cast their eyes. Such was Balaam, who was the fitting instrument of evil and not of good, and even when he blessed his blessing was not confirmed, but all his curses were confirmed, because he had an evil eye. Hence, as we have learnt, a man should turn aside a hundred times in order to avoid a man with an evil eye. So here, "a man that is in readiness" means a man who is marked out by nature for this service. The priest was able to tell such a man because he had one eye slightly larger than the other, shaggy eyebrows, bluish eyes and a crooked glance. This was the kind of man fitted for such a task. In Gush Halba [8] there was a man whose hands brought death to whatever they touched, and none would come near him. In Syria there was a man whose look always brought ill hap, even though he meant it for good. One day a man was walking in the street with a beaming countenance when this man looked at him and his eye was knocked out. Thus different men are fitted either for one thing or the other. Hence it is written, "He that hath a good eye shall be blessed" (Prov. XXII, 9), or, as we should rather read by a change in the vowelling (yebarech for yeborach), "shall bless". We have learnt that the man who took the goat to the wilderness used to go up on a mountain and push it down with both his hands, and before it was half way down all its bones were broken, [9] and the man used to say: "So may the iniquities of thy people be wiped out", etc. And when the accuser of Israel was thus made into its advocate, the Holy One, blessed be He, took all the sins of Israel and all the records of them above and threw them into the place called "depths of the sea", as it is written: "Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea" (Mic. VII, 19).

'AND OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL HE SHALL TAKE TWO HE-GOATS FOR A SIN-OFFERING. This offering was to be taken from all of them, so as to make atonement for all of them, [64a] and it was not sufficient that it should be taken from one individual. From whence, then, was it taken? They used to take the money for it from the boxes in the Temple court, [10] which contained the contributions of all. The other goat, which was left to the Lord, was brought as a sin-offering first of all, being attached to a certain grade, and afterwards the other offerings were brought and Israel were left purified of all the sins which they had committed against God. On that day many doors were opened facing Israel to receive their prayers. On that day the priest was crowned with many crowns, and his service was more precious than at any other time, since he gave portions to all in those offerings of the Holy One, blessed be He. On that day lovingkindness was awakened in the world by the hand of the priest bringing offerings.'

Having gone some way, they sat down in a field and prayed. A fiery cloud came down and surrounded them. Said R. Simeon: 'We see that God's favour is in this place, so let us stay here'. They therefore sat down and discoursed on the Torah. R. Simeon quoted the text: "As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country" (Prov. XXV, 25). 'King Solomon', he said, 'composed three books corresponding to three supernal attributes -- the Song of Songs to Wisdom, Ecclesiastes to Understanding, and Proverbs to Knowledge. Why does Proverbs correspond to Knowledge? Because all its verses are in parallel form, one half balancing the other, and when we examine them we find that they can be placed in either order. Thus here we have two things, "cold waters" and a "good report", either of which may be compared to the other as a source of comfort and refreshment.' As they were sitting a man came up and told them that the wife of R. Simeon had recovered from her illness; and at the same time the Companions heard a voice saying that God had forgiven the transgressions of the generation. Said R. Simeon: 'This is a fulfilment of the verse about "a good report from a distant country"; it is as refreshing to the spirit as cool waters to a thirsty soul.' He then said: 'Let us rise and pursue our way, since God is performing miracles for us.' He then continued his exposition, saying: 'The "cold waters" mentioned here refer to the Torah, since he who studies the Torah and sates his soul with it will hear "a good report from a distant land", to wit, the promise of many good things in this world and the next from God, who was at first far from him, and also from the place where men were previously at enmity with him, from that place [64b] greeting of peace shall be given to him.' AND HE SHALL GO OUT UNTO THE ALTAR THAT IS BEFORE THE LORD. R. Judah quoted here the verse: "God, even God the Lord hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof" (Ps. L, 1). 'We have learnt', he said, 'that a thousand and five hundred and fifty myriads of choristers chant hymns to God when day breaks, and a thousand and five hundred and forty-eight at midday, and a thousand and five hundred and ninety myriads at the time which is called "between the evenings".' R. Jose said that when day dawns all the "lords of shouting" utter words of praise to greet it, because then all are exhilarated and judgement is mitigated. At that moment joy and blessing is in the world, and the Holy One, blessed be He, awakens Abraham [11] and has joyous communion with him, and gives him sway over the world. At the time called "between the evenings" all those angels called "masters of howling" are vocal, and contention is rife in the world. That is the time when the Holy One arouses Isaac [12] and rises to judge the guilty who transgress the precepts of the Law. Seven rivers of fire issue forth and descend on the heads of the wicked, along with burning coals of fire. Then Abraham returns to his place and the day departs and the sinners in Gehinnom groan as they say : "Woe unto us, for the day declineth, for the shadows of evening are stretched out" (Jer. VI, 4). At that time, therefore, a man should be careful not to omit the afternoon prayer. When night comes, those other fifteen hundred and forty-eight myriads are summoned from without the curtain and chant hymns, and then the underworld chastisements are aroused and roam about the world. These chant praises until midnight, a watch and a half. Then all the others assemble and sing psalms, after the north wind has risen and gone forth, until daylight comes and the morning rises, when joy and blessing return to the world.' R. Abba said that there are three leaders for all of the choirs. Over those who sing in the morning is appointed one named Heman, under whom there are many deputies for ordering their song. Over those of the evening there is appointed one named Jeduthun, who also has many deputies under him. At night time, when all from without the curtain arise, they are in disorder until midnight, when all gather together and the lead is taken by one called Asaph, to whom all the deputies are subordinate till morning comes. Then that "lad" [13] who sucks from his mother's breasts rises to purify them and enters to minister. That is a time of favour when the Matrona converses with the King, and the King stretches forth [65a] a thread of blessing and winds it round the Matrona and all who are joined with her. These are they that study the Torah at night time after midnight. R. Simeon said: 'Happy he who comes with the Matrona at the hour when she goes to greet the King and to converse with Him, and He stretches out his right hand to receive her. This hour is called "the uttermost parts of the sea" (Ps. CXXXIX, 9), when her chastisements depart and she enters under the wings of the King, with all those that are attached to her. At that time the Patriarchs invite the Matrona and advance to converse with her, and the Holy One, blessed be He, joins them. Hence it is written: "God, even God the Lord hath spoken and called the earth", etc. The first "God" here (El) refers to the light of Wisdom which is called Lovingkindness; the second "God" (Elohim) to Might: and "the Lord" to Mercy.'

When R. Eleazar was once studying with his father he asked him why the name YHVH is sometimes pointed with the vowels of ELOHIM, and read so. R. Simeon answered: 'The name YHVH everywhere indicates mercy, but when the wicked turn mercy into judgement, then it is written YHVH and read Elohim. There is, however, a deeper explanation, as follows. There are three grades (of Judgement) which though essentially one can yet be distinguished. All plants and lamps are illumined and fired, watered and blessed from that perennial Stream in which all is comprised, and which is called the Mother of the Garden of Eden. In itself this is Mercy, but being called Mother it is also the source of Judgement. This is represented by the name YHVH read as ELOHIM, and this is the first grade. Then we have the grade of Geburah itself, which is properly called Elohim. Thirdly we have Zedek (Righteousness), which is the final Crown and the Court of Justice of the King, and this is called Adonay, being also written so; and the Community of Israel is also called by this name.'

R. Eleazar then asked his father to explain to him the name EHYEH ASHER EHYEH (I am that I am). He said 'This name is all-comprehensive. [65b] The first Ehyeh (I shall be) is the comprehensive framework of all when the paths are still obscure, and not yet marked out, and all is still undisclosed. When a beginning has been made and the Stream has started on its course, then it is called Asher Ehyeh (That which I shall be), meaning: Now I am ready to draw forth into being and create all, now I am the sum total of all individual things. "That I am": to wit, the Mother is pregnant and is ready to produce individual things and to reveal the supreme Name. We find it stated in the book of King Solomon that the Asher (That) is the link that completes the joyful union. Observe now how the divine utterance [14] went from grade to grade to teach the secret of the holy name to Moses. First came Ehyeh (I shall be), the dark womb of all. Then Asher Ehyeh (That I Am), indicating the readiness of the Mother to beget all. Then, after the creation had commenced, came the name Ehyeh alone (Ibid.), as much as to say: Now it will bring forth and prepare all. Finally when all has been created and fixed in its place the name Ehyeh is abandoned and we have YHVH (Ibid. 15), an individual name signifying confirmation. Then it was that Moses knew the Holy Name, as it is both disclosed and undisclosed, and attained to an insight to which no other man has ever attained, happy is his portion!'

R. Eleazar came and kissed his hand. He said: 'Eleazar my son, from now onward be careful not to write the Holy Name save in the manner prescribed, since whoever does not know how to write the Holy Name in the manner prescribed so as to tie the bond of faith and unify the Holy Name, of him the Scripture says, "he hath despised the word of the Lord and hath broken his commandment", etc. (Num. XV, 31), even though he only left out one stroke from one letter. See, now, the Yod signifies the first framework of all, undisclosed from all sides. The Yod then produces the perennial stream indicated by He, and also a son and daughter, Vau and He, as explained elsewhere. Happy the lot of the righteous who know the profound secrets of the Holy King and are meet to give thanks to Him!'

R. Judah said: 'In the verse from the Psalms quoted above, the three names "God", "God", "the Lord" indicate the complete triad of the holy Patriarchs. God "called the earth", that the Community of Israel might perfect the gladness. And from what place does He join her? "Out of Zion the perfection of beauty" (Ps. L, 2). For, as we have learnt, Jerusalem is the centre of the earth and a (heavenly) place called Zion is above it, and from this place it is blessed, [66a] and the two are indissolubly linked together.

'AND HE SHALL GO OUT UNTO THE ALTAR WHICH IS BEFORE THE LORD, AND MAKE ATONEMENT FOR IT. We have learnt that just as the priest makes atonement below on this day, so also it is above, nor does the Priest above commence his service until the priest below has done so; for from below the sanctification of the Holy King commences to ascend, and then all worlds are one before the Holy One, blessed be He.' Said R. Judah: 'If Israel only knew why God visits their sins upon them more than those of other nations, they would perceive that He does not collect from them a hundredth part of His due. Many are the Chariots, Powers and Rulers that God has to serve Him. Now when He placed Israel in this world He crowned them with holy crowns and placed them in the holy land that they might devote themselves to His service, and He made all the celestials depend upon Israel, so that there is no joy or service before Him until Israel commence below; and when Israel neglect the service, it is suspended above, and there is no service either in earth or in heaven. And if this was so when Israel were in their own land, how much more so subsequently! If Israel but knew, says God, how many hosts and multitudes are held up through them, they would see that they are not worthy to survive for an instant. Therefore "the priest shall go out to the altar which is before the Lord" -- this is the supernal Altar -- and then "make atonement for it", and then "he shall come forth and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people" (V. 24).'

It is written: "And he shall make atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel" (V. 16). R. Eleazar said: 'The wicked cause imperfection above and arouse judgement and bring defilement on the Sanctuary, so that the mighty Serpent shows himself. So on this day the priest has to purify all and put on his holy crown so that the King may come to abide with the Matrona and to awaken joy and blessing in the world. Thus completeness both above and below can be realized only through the priest, when he awakens his own proper Crown. So when the joy of union comes to the King and the Matrona, all the ministers and attendants of the palace rejoice, and all the sins that they committed against the King are forgiven. Hence it is written, "No man shall be in the tent of meeting when he goeth in to make atonement in the holy place until he goeth out", to wit, when he goes in to unite them; and at that moment "he shall make atonement for himself and his house".'

R. Isaac said: 'When Israel are in captivity, God, if one may say so, is with them in captivity, for the Shekinah never leaves them. It was with them in Babylon and returned with them from the captivity; and for the sake of those righteous [66b] who were left in the land it abode in the land, as it never left them.' R. Judah said: 'The Matrona returned to the King and everything was gloriously restored, and therefore they were called "the men of the great Synagogue". We have learnt that if Israel in exile show themselves deserving, God will have mercy on them and hasten to bring them forth from exile, and if not He keeps them there until the appointed time, [15] and if when that comes they are still not worthy He has regard to the honour of His Name and does not forget them in exile, as it is written: "I shall remember my covenant with Jacob", etc. (Lev. XXVI, 42).' R. Isaac said: 'When the Holy King shall remember Israel for the sake of His Name and restore the Matrona to her place, then, as the Scripture says, "no man shall be in the tent of meeting when He comes to make atonement for the holy things", just as it is written of the priest when he went in to unify the Holy Name and to join the King with the Matrona.' R. Judah said: 'It has been taught that the priest entered into one degree and bathed his flesh. Then he left that grade and entered into another and bathed, making peace between the two. Thus at every step he had to perform some fitting ceremony, and wear corresponding garments, until he had properly completed the service, bringing blessing above and below. When all was linked together, [67a] all faces were illumined. Then all fell on their faces and trembled and said, "Blessed be the name of his glorious kingdom for ever and ever". Their voices joined that of the priest and he replied, "Ye shall be clean" (V. 30); only the High Priest said this, not the other priests or the people.

'FROM ALL YOUR SINS SHALL YE BE CLEAN BEFORE THE LORD. It has been taught: From the beginning of the (seventh) month the books are opened and the judges sit in judgement, until the day which is called "the ninth of the month" (Lev. XXIII, 32), when all judgements are submitted to the Supreme Judge, and a Throne of mercy is set for the Holy King. Then it is meet for Israel below to rejoice before their Master because on the next day He intends to try them from the holy throne of Mercy, of forgiveness, and to purify them from all the sins recorded in the books that are open before Him. Hence it is written, "from all your sins before the Lord".

'When the public recited this verse (in the Temple service) they went up to this point but no further, and none was permitted to say the word "Ye shall be clean" save the High Priest alone who was linking the Holy Name together through his utterance. When he had done so a voice came down and struck him and a word flowed into his mouth and he said "Ye shall be clean". He then performed his service and all the celestials that were left there were blessed. Then he bathed himself and washed his hands in preparation for another service, in which he was to enter into a place more holy than all. The other priests, the Levites and the people stood around him in three rows and lifted their hands over him in prayer, and a golden chain was tied to his leg. He took three steps and all the others came to a stand and followed him no further. He took three more steps and went round to his place; three more and he dosed his eyes and linked himself with the upper world. He went into the inner place and heard the sound of the wings of the Cherubim chanting and beating their wings together. When he burnt the incense the sound ceased and they folded their wings quietly, if the priest was worthy and joy was found above. Here, too, at that moment there went forth a sweet odour as from hills of celestial pure balsam, and the scent was brought into his nostrils, gladdening his heart. Then all was silent and no accuser was found there. Then the priest offered his prayer with fervour and joy. When he finished, the Cherubim raised their wings again and resumed their chant. Then the priest knew that his service had been acceptable, and it was a time of joy for all, and the people knew that his prayer had been accepted. Happy the portion of the priest in that through him joy upon joy was diffused on that day both above and below!'

R. Hiya discoursed on the verse: "(With) my soul have I desired thee in the night, yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early" (Isa. XXVI, 9). 'It does not say here,' he remarked, "my soul desires thee", but "my soul I desire thee'. The explanation is, as we have learnt, that God is the soul and spirit of all, and Israel here calls Him so and says, "I desire thee in order to cleave to thee and I seek thee early to find thy favour".' R. Jose said: 'When a man is asleep at night his soul goes and testifies to all that he has done during the day. Then the body says to the soul "I desire thee at night" [67b] and to the spirit "I shall seek thee early". Alternatively, the Community of Israel says to the Holy One, blessed be He, "While I am in exile among the nations and withhold myself from all evil communication with them, my soul desires thee to restore me to my place, and although they subject my sons to all kinds of oppression the holy spirit does not depart from me nor do I cease to seek thee and do thy commandments.' R. Isaac said: 'Israel says before God: While my soul is still within me I desire thee at night (the exile), because at such time the soul is constrained to yearn for thee, and when the holy spirit awakens within me I shall seek thee early to do thy will.' R. Hizkiah said that "soul" refers to the Community of Israel and "spirit" to the Holy One, blessed be He.

When R. Abba was studying with R. Simeon, the latter once rose at midnight to study the Torah, and R. Eleazar and R. Abha rose with him. R. Simeon discoursed on the verse: "As a hind panteth after the water-courses so my soul panteth for thee, O Lord" (Ps. XLII, 2). 'Happy are Israel,' he said, 'for that God gave them the Holy Law and caused them to inherit holy souls from a holy place, that they might keep His commandments and delight themselves in His Law. For the Torah is called a delight, and this is what is meant by the saying that God comes to delight Himself with the righteous in the Garden of Eden, to wit, to regale Himself from the selfsame stream as the righteous. And whoever studies the Torah is privileged to delight himself along with [68a] the righteous from the waters of this stream. So we are told here that the "hind", to wit, the Community of Israel, pants for the water brooks to receive a draught from the sources of the stream at the hands of the Righteous One. What are these sources? One is above, of which it is written, "And a river went forth from Eden to water the Garden", etc., and from there it flows forth and waters the Garden and all the streams issue from it and meet again in two sources called Nezah and Hod, and these pour forth water into that grade of Zaddik which goes forth from thence and waters the Garden. Observe that the soul and the spirit are inseparable. We have learnt that the perfect service offered by man to God consists in loving Him with his soul and his spirit. As these cleave to the body and the body loves them, so a man should cleave to God with the love of his soul and his spirit. Hence it says, "With my soul I have desired thee and with my spirit I seek thee early". It has been taught: Happy is the man who loves the Almighty with such a love; such are the truly virtuous for whose sake the world is established and who can annul all evil decrees both above and below. We have learnt that the virtuous man who with his soul and his spirit cleaves to the Holy King above with fitting love has power over the earth below, and whatever he decrees for the world is fulfilled, just as Elijah decreed concerning the rain. When the holy souls come down from heaven to earth and the virtuous of the world withdraw themselves from the King and the Matrona, few are they who at that time stand before the King and on whom the King deigns to look. For, as we have stated, at the time when God breathed spirit into all the hosts of the heavens, they all came into being and existence, but some were held back until the Holy One, blessed be He, [68b] sent them below, and these have sway both above and below. Hence Elijah said: "As the Lord liveth before whom I have stood" (I Kings XVII, 1), not "before whom I am standing". Afterwards he returned to his place and ascended to his chamber, but the others do not ascend until they die, because they did not stand before God previously. Therefore Elijah and all those who cleave to the King were made messengers of the heavenly King, as we find in the book of Adam that all holy spirits above perform God's messages and all come from one place, whereas the souls of the righteous are of two degrees combined together, and therefore they ascend to a greater height. This applies to Enoch and Elijah. We have learnt that a hundred and twenty-five thousand grades of souls of the righteous were decided upon by the Almighty before the world was created, and these are sent into this world in every generation and they fly about the world and are "bound in the bundle of the living", and through them God will resurrect the world.

'YE SHALL AFFLICT YOUR SOULS, that Israel may be meritorious in the eyes of God and that their whole intent may be to cleave to Him so that their sins may be forgiven. The word "souls" (instead of "soul") indicates that one should eat and drink and feast on the ninth day so as to make the affliction double on the tenth.

'FOR ON THIS DAY SHALL HE ATONE FOR YOU. This indicates, as we have learnt, that on this day the Ancient Holy One reveals himself to make atonement for the sins of all.'

R. Abba expounded in this connection the verse: "There was a little city and few men within it, and there came a great king against it and besieged it", etc. (Eccl. IX, 14, 15). 'The "little city",' he said, 'has here its well-known esoteric meaning (Malkuth); it is so called because it is the last and the lowest of all (the grades). There are "few men within it", for few are those who succeed in ascending to it and abiding in it. "A great king comes to it": this is the Holy One, blessed be He, who comes to unite with it, and He "surrounds it" with walls, "and builds great bulwarks for it", so that it is called "the holy city", and all the treasure of the King is placed there, and therefore it alone is crowned with all the diadems of the King. "He finds therein a poor wise man", or, as we should rather say, "a prudent (misken) wise man", a man crowned with the crowns of the Law and the precepts of the King, and endowed with wisdom to interpret aright the service of his Master. He "shall escape to that city in his wisdom", but "no man remembereth that man" to follow his example in keeping the precepts of the Law and studying the Torah. [69a] "Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength", because in the other world none are permitted to enter save those truly virtuous who study the Torah day and night and are crowned with the precepts of the Law. "But the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard", since mankind pay no heed to him and have no desire to associate with him and listen to him. For so we have learnt, that to listen to the words of the Torah is like receiving it from Sinai, no matter from whom it comes, and he who inclines his ear to listen gives honour to the Holy King and to the Torah.'

One day, as the Companions were walking with R. Simeon, he said: 'I see all other peoples elevated and Israel degraded. What is the reason? Because the King has dismissed the Matrona and put the handmaid in her place. Who is the handmaid? This is the alien Crown whose firstborn God slew in Egypt.' R. Simeon wept, and continued: 'A king without a queen is no king. If a king cleaves to the handmaid of the queen, where is his honour? A voice will one day announce to the Matrona, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout, 0 daughter of Jerusalem, for thy king cometh unto thee; he is just and having salvation", etc. (Zech. IX, 9); as if to say: The Righteous One (Zaddik) will be saved, he that was hitherto poor and riding on an ass, viz., as we have explained, the lower Crowns of the heathen nations whose firstborn God killed in Egypt. It is the Zaddik, as it were, who will be saved, because till now he was without Zedek (righteousness), but now they will be joined.' R. Isaac here asked R. Simeon to explain how it is that some say the world is founded on seven pillars and some on one pillar, to wit, the Zaddik. He replied: 'It is all the same. There are seven, but among these is one called Zaddik on which the rest are supported. Hence it is written: "The righteous one (Zaddik) is the foundation of the world" (Prov. X, 25). This handmaid', resumed R. Simeon, 'will one day rule over the holy land below as the Matrona once ruled over it, but the Holy One, blessed be He, will one day restore the Matrona to her place, and then who shall rejoice like the King and the Matrona? -- the King, because he has returned to her and parted from the handmaid, and the Matrona because she will be once more united to the King. Hence it is written: "Rejoice exceedingly, O daughter of Zion", etc. Observe now that it is written, "This shall be to you a statute for ever" (Lev. XVI, 29). This promise is a decree of the King, fixed and sealed. [69b]

'IN THE SEVENTH MONTH ON THE TENTH DAY OF THE MONTH. The allusion of the "tenth" is as we have explained. We have learnt that on this day all joy and all illumination and all forgiveness depend on the Supernal Mother from whom issue all springs. Then all the lights shine with glad brightness until all is firmly established, and all judgements are also bathed in light and punishment is not inflicted. It is written: "Howbeit (ach) on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement, and ye shall afflict your souls" (Lev. XXIII, 27). What is the force here of the word ach (only)? When used in connection with the Passover (Ex. XII, 15) we derive from it the lesson that on half of the day preceding the Passover the eating of leaven is permitted and on half it is forbidden. [16] Shall we say that here also it teaches that half the day eating is permitted and half forbidden ?' R. Simeon replied: 'It goes here with the words "ye shall afflict your souls", and signifies that the real affliction is only in the second half of the day.'

FOR ON THIS DAY HE SHALL ATONE FOR YOU. R. Eleazar said: 'We should expect here, "I shall atone for you". The "he", however, signifies that the Jubilee sends forth streams to water and replenish all on this day, and this "for you", to purify you from all sins, so that judgement should have no power over you.' R. Judah said: 'Happy are Israel in that God took pleasure in them and sought to purify them so that they might belong to his Palace and dwell therein.'

R. Judah cited here the verse: "A song of ascents. Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord" (Ps. CXXXI). 'We have learnt', he said, 'that when God was about to create man, He consulted the Torah and she warned Him that he would sin before Him and provoke Him. Therefore, before creating the world God created Repentance, saying to her: "I am about to create man, on condition that when they return to thee from their sins thou shalt be prepared to forgive their sins and make atonement for them". Hence at all times Repentance is close at hand to men, and when they repent of their sins it returns to God and makes atonement for all, and judgement is suppressed and all is put right. When is a man purified of his sin?' R. Isaac said: 'When he returns to the Most High King and prays [70a] from the depths of his heart, as it is written, "From the depths I cried unto thee".' R. Abba said: 'There is a hidden place above, which is "the depth of the well", whence issue streams and sources in all directions. This profound depth is called Repentance, and he who desires to repent and to be purified of his sin should call upon God from this depth. We have learnt that when a man repented before his Master and brought his offering on the altar, and the priest made atonement for him and prayed for him, mercy was aroused and judgement mitigated and Repentance poured blessings on the issuing streams and all the lamps were blessed together, and the man was purified from his sin.'

(AFTER THE DOINGS OF THE LAND OF EGYPT IN WHICH YE DWELT SHALL YE NOT DO.) The Holy One, blessed be He, has produced ten holy crowns above wherewith He crowns and invests Himself, and He is they and they are He, being linked together like the flame and the coal. Corresponding to these are ten crowns beneath, which are not holy, and which cling to the uncleanness of the nails of a certain holy Crown called Wisdom, wherefore they are called "wisdoms". We have learnt that these ten species of wisdom came down to this world, and all were concentrated in Egypt, save one which spread through the rest of the world. [17] They are all species of sorcery, and through them the Egyptians were more skilled in sorcery than all other men. When the Egyptians desired to consort with the demons, they used to go out to certain high mountains and offer sacrifices and make trenches in the ground and pour some of the blood around the trenches and the rest into them and put flesh over it, and bring offerings to the demons. Then the demons used to collect and consort with them on the mountain. Israel, being subject to the Egyptians, learnt their ways and went astray after them; hence God said to them: "After the doings of the land of Egypt in which ye have dwelt shall ye not do", and also, "And they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices unto the satyrs after whom they go a-whoring", since, as we have learnt, the demons used to appear to them in the form of he-goats. R. Hiya said: 'This is the last of the unholy crowns, as we have learnt.' R. Isaac said, in the name of R. Judah, that the souls of the wicked are the demons of this world. Said R. Jose: 'If so, the wicked are well off; where is their punishment in Gehinnom? Where is the evil in store for them in the other world?' R. Hiya replied: 'We have learnt and laid down that when the souls of the wicked leave this world many executioners of judgement await them and take them to Gehinnom, and subject them there to three tortures every day. Afterwards they go about the world in company with them and mislead the wicked, from whom repentance is withheld, and then return to Gehinnom and punish them there, and so every day'. [70b]

R. Isaac said: 'Happy are the righteous in this world and in the next, because they are altogether holy. Their body is holy, their soul is holy, their spirit is holy, their super-soul is holy of holies. These are three grades indissolubly united. If a man does well with his soul (nefesh), there descends upon him a certain crown called spirit (ruah), which stirs him to a deeper contemplation of the laws of the Holy King. If he does well with this spirit, he is invested with a noble holy crown called super-soul (neshamah), which can contemplate all.

'In the book of King Solomon it is written that God has made three abodes for the righteous. One is for the souls of the righteous which have not yet left this world and are still here, and when the world is in need of mercy and the living afflict themselves, these pray for mankind and go and inform those that sleep in Hebron, [18] who being thus awakened go into the terrestrial Paradise where are the souls of the righteous in their crowns of light, and take counsel of them and decide what shall be, and God carries out their desire and has pity on the world. These souls of the righteous are in this world to protect the living and know their troubles, and these are they of whom the Companions say that the dead know the sorrows of the world and the punishment of the wicked. The second rank belongs to the terrestrial Paradise. In it God has made excellent chambers after the pattern of those of this world and of the celestial world, and palaces of two colours without number and sweet-smelling herbs that grow afresh every day. In that place abides that which is called the "spirit" of the righteous, each one being clad in a precious garment after the pattern of this world and of the upper world. The third grade is that holy celestial abode which is called "the bundle of the living", where that holy superior grade called the super-soul (neshamah) regales itself with the supernal delights. Now we have learnt that when the world requires mercy and those righteous ones take note of it, that soul of theirs which is in the world to shield mankind flits about the world to tell the spirit, and the spirit ascends and tells the super-soul, and this tells the Holy One, blessed be He. Then God has pity on the world and the reverse process takes place, the super-soul telling the spirit and the spirit the soul. Thus when the world requires mercy, the living go and inform the spirits of the righteous and weep over their graves, in order that soul may cleave to soul, [71a] and the souls of the righteous then come together and go and inform the sleepers of Hebron of the sorrows of the world, and then all enter the gateway of Paradise and inform the spirit, and those spirits which are crowned in Paradise like celestial angels join them and inform the super-soul, and this informs the Holy One, blessed be He, and God has mercy on the world for their sakes; and regarding this Solomon said: "Wherefore 1 praised the dead which are already dead more than the living that are still alive" (Eccl. IV, 2).'

Said R. Hiya: 'I wonder if anyone knows how to inform the dead besides us.' R. Abba replied: 'The sufferings of men tell them, the Torah tells them. For when there is none who knows how to do this, they take out the Scroll of the Law to the graveyard, and the dead are curious to know why it has been brought there; and then Duma informs them.' R. Jose added: 'They then know that the world is in trouble and the living are not meet nor know how to inform them. Then they all lament for the dishonour done to the Torah in bringing it to such a place. If men repent and weep with all their heart and return to God, then they all gather together and seek mercy and inform the sleepers of Hebron, as we have said. But if they do not repent, then woe to them for that they have assembled for nothing, and have caused the holy Torah to go into banishment without repentance, and they all go to remind God of their sins. Therefore men should not go thus to the graveyard without repentance and fasting.' R. Abba said: 'There should be three fasts.' R. Jose, however, said that one is sufficient, namely on the same day, provided they are very contrite'.

R. Judah taught: One day R. Hizkiah and R. Jesse were going together when they came to Gischala, which they found in ruins. They sat down near to the graveyard, R. Jesse having in his hand the cylinder of a Scroll of the Law which had been torn. While they were sitting, a grave began to stir near them and to cry: Alas, alas, that the world is in sorrow, since the Scroll of the Law comes into exile hither, or else the living have come to mock us and to shame us with their Torah! R. Hizkiah and R. Jesse were greatly alarmed. Said the former: Who art thou? 1 am dead, was the reply, but 1 have been awakened by the Scroll of the Law. For once the world was in trouble and the living came here to awaken us with a Scroll of the Law, and I and my companions approached the sleepers of Hebron, and when they joined the spirits of the righteous in Paradise it was found that the Scroll of the Law which they brought before us was faulty and so belied the name of the King, there being a superfluous vau in one place. So the spirit said that since they had belied the name of the King they would not return to them, and they thrust me and my companions out of the assembly, until a certain elder who was among them went and brought the Scroll of Rab Hamnuna the Elder. Then R. Eleazar the son of R. Simeon who was buried with us awoke and entreated for them in Paradise and the world was healed. And from the day that they caused R. Eleazar to leave his grave with us and join his father there is none of us that has wakened to stand before the sleepers of Hebron, for we remember with fear the day when they rejected me and my companions. And now that you have come to us with a Scroll of the Law in your hands, I presume that the world is in trouble and therefore I am in fear and trembling as I think: Who will go and tell those sainted ones, the sleepers of Hebron. R. Jesse thereupon let go of the stick of the Scroll and R. Hizkiah said: God forbid, the world is not in trouble, and we have not come on that account.

R. Hizkiah and R. Jesse then rose and went on their way. 'Verily,' they said, 'when there are no righteous in the world, the world is sustained only by the Scroll of the Law.'

R. Jesse asked: 'Why, when rain is wanted, do we go to the graveyards, seeing that it is [71b] forbidden to "inquire of the dead" (Deut. XVIII, 11)?' He replied: 'You have not yet seen the "wing of the Bird of Eden". [19] The "dead" here are those of the sinners of the heathens who are forever dead, but of Israel who are truly virtuous Solomon says that "they have died aforetime", but now they are living. Further, when other peoples visit their dead, they do so with divinations to summon demons to them, but Israel go with repentance before the Lord, with a contrite heart and with fasting, in order that the holy souls may beseech mercy for them. Therefore we have learnt that the righteous man, even when he departs from this world, does not really disappear from any world, since he is to be found in all of them more than in his lifetime. For in his lifetime he is only in this world, but afterwards he is in three worlds. So we find that Abigail said to David: "May the soul (nefesh) of my lord be bound in the bundle of life" (I Sam. XXV, 29); she did not say "super-soul" (neshamah), because all three are bound together, and so even the nefesh of the righteous is in "the bundle of the living".'

R. Eleazar said: 'The Companions have laid down that it is forbidden to remove a Scroll of the Law even from one synagogue to another, all the more to bring it out into the street. Why then do we do so when praying for rain?' R. Judah replied: 'As we have explained, that the dead may be awakened and entreat for the world.' R. Abba said: 'The Shekinah also was driven from place to place until she said: "O that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men", etc. (Jer. IX, 1). So here, the Scroll is first taken from synagogue to synagogue, then into the street, then to "the wilderness, the lodging place of wayfaring men".' R. Judah said: 'In Babylon they are afraid to take it even from synagogue to synagogue.' It has been taught that R. Simeon said to the Companions: 'In my days the world will not require this.' R. Jose said to him: 'The righteous shield the world in their lifetime, and after their death even more than in their life. For so God said (to King Hezekiah): "I will defend this city to save it for my own sake and for my servant David's sake" (Isa. XXXVII, 35), but in David's lifetime He did not say so.' R. Judah said: 'Why does God put David here on a par with Himself? Because David was found worthy to be attached to the Holy Chariot of the Patriarchs, and therefore all is one. [72b]

R. Isaac said: 'The Egyptians used to serve the power called "handmaid" and the Canaanites the power called "the captive which is behind the mill", and all used to misuse holy words and practise their arts therewith; therefore the Israelites were commanded: "After the doings of the land of Egypt shall ye not do", etc.' R. Judah said that they caused evil demons to rule over the land, as it says, "and the land was defiled". We have learnt that one day God will purify His land of all the uncleanness wherewith the heathen have defiled it, like one who cleans a garment, and will cast out all those that are buried in the holy land, and purify it from the "other side", since, if one may say so, it went a-whoring after the Chieftains of the peoples and received their uncleanness. R. Simeon purified the streets of Tiberias, removing all dead bodies from there.' [20] R. Judah said: 'Happy he whose lot it is during his lifetime to abide in the holy land; for such a one draws down the dew from the heavens above upon the earth, and whoever is attached to this holy land in his lifetime becomes attached afterwards to a supernal holy land. But of those who do not live there but are brought there to be buried, the Scripture says: "Ye have made my inheritance an abomination" (Jer. II, 7). His spirit leaves him in a strange land and his body comes to rest in the holy land; he turns holy into profane and profane into holy. But if one dies in the holy land his sins are forgiven and he is taken under the wings of the Shekinah. Further, if he is worthy, he continually draws to himself a holy spirit, but he that lives in a strange land draws to himself a strange spirit. We have learnt that when R. Hamnuna the Elder went up to Eretz Israel he was accompanied by twelve members of his academy. He said to them: If I go on this way it is not for myself, but to restore the pledge [21] to its owner. We have learnt that all who do not attain to this in their lifetime restore the pledge of their Master to another'. R. Isaac said: 'Consequently, if anyone takes those evil spirits or foreign powers into the land it becomes defiled, and woe to that man and his soul, because the holy land does not receive him again.'

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Part 3 of 3

MY JUDGEMENTS SHALL YE DO AND MY STATUTES SHALL YE KEEP. R. Abba said: 'Happy are Israel in that God has chosen them above all peoples, and for the sake of His love has given them true laws, planted in them the tree of life, and made His divine Presence abide with them. Why? Because Israel are stamped with the holy impress on their flesh, and they are marked as being His and belonging to His temple. Therefore all who are not stamped with the holy sign [73a] on their flesh are not His, and they are marked as coming from the side of uncleanness, and it is forbidden to associate with them or to converse with them on matters of the Holy One, blessed be He. It is also forbidden to impart to them knowledge of the Torah, because the Torah consists wholly of the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, and every letter of it is bound up with that Name.' R. Simeon said: 'We are told in regard to the paschal lamb that no stranger who is uncircumcised may eat it. If this is so with the paschal lamb because it is the symbol of some holy thing, how much more must it be so with the Torah, which is holy of holies.'

R. Eleazar once said to his father: 'We have learnt that it is forbidden to teach the Torah to a heathen, and the Companions in Babylon have well connected this rule with the text, "He hath not dealt so with any nation" (Ps. CXLVII, 20). But in the preceding verse, why, after saying, "He sheweth his word unto Jacob" does it add "His statutes and his judgements to Israel"?' He replied: 'Eleazar, God has given this holy celestial portion to Israel and not to the nations. And Israel themselves are in two grades, corresponding to the two grades of the Torah, the disclosed and the undisclosed. To all who have been circumcised and stamped with the holy impress, we impart those things in the Torah which are on the surface, the letters and the plain contents and the precepts, and no more. This is indicated in the words, "He telleth his words to Jacob". But if the Israelite rises to a higher grade, then "His statutes and his judgements to Israel": these are the allegories of the Torah and the hidden paths of the Torah and the secrets of the Torah, which should only be revealed to those of a higher degree. But to impart even a little letter to one who is not circumcised is like destroying the world and repudiating the Holy Name of the Holy One, blessed be He. Hence it is written, "This is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel" (Deut. IV, 44), and not before other peoples. Peace be upon the fathers of the world, Hillel and Shammai, who thus dealt with Onkelos [22] and refused to impart to him any knowledge of the Torah until he was circumcised. See now. The very first thing taught to children, the Aleph Beth, transcends the comprehension and the mind of man, and even of the higher and highest angels, because the Holy Name is concealed in the letters. A thousand and four hundred and five worlds are suspended from the point of the aleph, and seventy-two holy names traced in their full spelling, which uphold heaven and earth, upper and lower beings, and the Throne of the King, are suspended along the stroke of the aleph, while the mystery of Wisdom and the hidden paths and the deep rivers and the ten Words all issue from the lower point of the aleph. From this point aleph begins to extend into beth, and there is no end to the wisdom that is here inscribed. Therefore [73b] the Torah is the support of all and the link that binds all in faith, and he who is circumcised is attached to that link and he who is not circumcised is not. Of such it is written, "No stranger shall eat of the holy thing" (Lev. XXII, 10), for an unclean spirit comes from his side and mingles itself with the holiness. Blessed be the Merciful One who has separated Israel from them and their uncleanness.' R. Eleazar then came and kissed his hands.

R. Hizkiah said: 'It is written, "God will not forsake his people for the sake of his great name" (I Sam. XII, 22), since Israel is linked to God, and by what? By the holy impress on their flesh. We have learnt that the Torah is called "covenant", and God is called "covenant", and this impress is called "covenant", and so all is inseparably linked together.' R. Jesse asked whence we derive the statement that God is called covenant. He replied: 'From the text, "And he remembered for them his covenant" (Ps. CVI, 45), as has been explained.

'The "statutes" mentioned above are ordinances of the King, and the "judgements" are the edicts of the Torah.' R. Judah said that all those ordinances which come from the place called "Righteousness" are called "my statutes", and they are the edicts of the King, and those that come from the place called "judgement" are called his "judgements", the judgements of the King who is enthroned in the place where two sections, judgement and mercy, meet. We have learnt that even though one is circumcised, if he does not carry out the precepts of the Torah he is like a heathen in all respects, and it is forbidden to teach him the precepts of the Torah. He is called "an altar of stones" because of the hardness of his heart, and therefore his circumcision does not avail him aught. [74a]

THE NAKEDNESS OF THY FATHER AND THE NAKEDNESS OF THY MOTHER SHALT THOU NOT UNCOVER. R. Hiya cited the verse: "As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons" (S.S. II, 3). 'Why', he said, 'does the Community of Israel praise God by comparing Him to an apple tree? Because it combines all excellences. As it is healing for all, so is God healing for all; as it combines two colours, so God combines two attributes; as the apple has a more delicate scent than other trees, so of God it is written, "His scent is like Lebanon" (Hosea, XIV, 5); as the apple has a sweet taste, so of God it is written, "His mouth is most sweet" (S.S. V, 16). And the Holy One, blessed be He, praises the Community of Israel by comparing her to a lily, for reasons which have been explained elsewhere.' R. Judah said: 'When the righteous abound in the world, the Community of Israel emits sweet odours and is blessed in the Holy King and her face shines. But when the wicked abound she does not send forth good odours, and she receives a bitter taste from the other side, and her face is darkened.' R. Jose said: 'Of the time when the righteous abound it is said, "His left hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace me" (S.S. 11, 6). But of the time when sinners abound it is written, "He hath drawn back his right hand" (Lam. II, 3).' R. Hizkiah said: 'The King separates from the Matrona, and in regard to this it is written, "the nakedness of thy father and thy mother shalt thou not uncover".'

When R. Eleazar was once studying with his father he said: 'If an Advocate comes down to the world, he is to be found in the Matrona, and if there is an Accuser who assails the world, it is the Matrona that he assails. Why is this?' He replied with a parable. 'A king once had a son from a queen. As long as the son was obedient to the king the latter consorted with the queen. But when the son was not obedient to the king he separated from the queen. So it is', he said, 'with the Holy One, blessed be He, and the Community of Israel. As long as Israel perform the will of God the Holy One makes His abode with the Community of Israel. But when Israel do not perform the will of God He does not make His abode with the Community of Israel, because Israel is the firstborn of the Holy One, blessed be He, and the Community of Israel is their mother. All the time that Israel is kept away from the temple of the king, the Matrona, if one may say so, is kept away with them. Why is this? Because the Matrona did not in time apply the lash to this son to keep him in the right path. For the King never punishes his son, but leaves it in the hand of the Matrona to punish him and to lead him in the straight way before the King. [74b] It is written, "A wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother" (Prov. X, 1). As long as this son goes in the right way and is wise he rejoices his father, the Holy King, but if he perverts his way he is the heaviness of his mother, to wit, the Community of Israel. Never was there such joy before the Holy One, blessed be He, as on the day when Solomon attained to wisdom and composed the Song of Songs. Then was the face of the Matrona brightened, and the King came to make his abode with her, so that she became more beautiful and exalted than ever. Why was this? Because she had produced this wise son for the world. [23] When she produced Solomon she produced all Israel, and all were in high degrees, virtuous like Solomon, and God rejoiced in them and they in Him. On the day when Solomon completed the temple below the Matrona prepared the house above, and they made their abode together and her face was bright with perfect joy, and then there was gladness for all above and below. But when this son does not conform to the will of the King, then there is uncovering of nakedness on all sides, because the King parts from the Matrona and the Matrona is kept away from the palace; for is not their separation a kind of nakedness? Hence it is written, "the nakedness of thy father and thy mother shalt thou not uncover". [75a]

THE NAKEDNESSOF THY FATHER'S WIFE SHALT THOU NOT UNCOVER. Who is meant by "thy father's wife"? Said R. Simeon: 'We have learnt: As long as the Matrona is with the King and giveth suck to thee, she is called "thy mother". Now, however, that she is banished with thee and is removed from the King, she is called "thy father's wife". She is his wife, because he has not divorced her, although she is in exile. Therefore the text enjoins concerning her twice-once in reference to the time when she is still with the King and is called "thy mother", and once in reference to the time when she is banished from the King's palace and is called the wife of the King. Although she is far from him, thou shalt not cause her to remove from thee, lest thine enemies gain dominion over thee and she do not protect thee in the captivity. Hence "thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's wife". Why? Because "it is thy father's nakedness": because although she is removed from the King, yet he is constantly watching over her, and therefore thou must be careful before her and not sin against her.'

R. Simeon here quoted the verse: "For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp to deliver thee", etc. (Deut. XXIII, 14). 'This', he said, 'refers to the Shekinah, which is in the midst of Israel, and especially in the captivity, to protect them continually and on all sides from all other peoples, that they should not destroy them. For so it has been taught, that [75b] the enemies of Israel have no power over them until Israel weaken the might of the Shekinah in face of the Chieftains who are appointed over the other nations. Then only the latter have power over them and enact cruel decrees against them. But when they return in repentance to her she breaks the power of all those Chieftains and of the enemies of Israel and avenges them on all. Hence "thy camp shall be holy": a man must not defile himself by sin and transgress the commands of the Law. We have learnt that there are two hundred and forty-eight members in the human body, and all are defiled when he is defiled, that is, when he is minded to be defiled. We have learnt that for three things Israel are kept in captivity: because they pay scant respect to the Shekinah in their exile, because they turn their faces away from the Shekinah, and because they defile themselves in the presence of the Shekinah.'

THE NAKEDNESS OF THY SISTER ... THOU SHALT NOT UNCOVER. R. Abba was once going from Cappadocia to Lydda in company with R. Jose. As they were going they saw a man approaching with a mark on his face. Said R. Abba: 'Let us leave this road, because that man's face testifies that he has transgressed one of the precepts of the Law against illicit intercourse.' Said R. Jose: 'Suppose this mark was on him from his boyhood; how can it show that he has transgressed by illicit intercourse?' R. Abba replied: 'I can see that he has by his face.' R. Abba then called him and said: 'Tell me, what is that mark on your face ?' He replied: 'I beg of you, do not punish me further, because my sins have caused this.' 'How is that?' said R. Abba. He replied: 'I was once travelling with my sister, and we turned in to an inn, where I drank much wine. All that night I was in company with my sister. When I got up in the morning I found the host quarrelling with another man. I interposed between them and received blows from both, one on one side and one on the other, and was severely wounded, but was saved by a doctor who was living among us.' R. Abba asked who the doctor was, and he replied: 'It was R. Simlai.' 'What medicine did he give you?' asked R. Abba. He replied: 'Spiritual healing. From that day I repented, and every day I looked at myself in a mirror and wept before the Almighty for my sin, and from those tears my face was healed.' Said R. Abba: 'Were it not that you might cease repenting, I would cause that scar to be removed from your face. However, I will say over you the verse, "And thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged" (Isa. VI, 7). Repeat that three times.' He repeated it three times and the mark vanished; whereupon R. Abba said: 'In sooth, your Master was fain to remove it from you, which shows that you have truly repented.' He said: 'I vow from this day to study the Torah day and night.' R. Abba asked him what his name was, and he said 'Eleazar'. Said R. Abba: 'Eleazar, God is thy help; as thy name is so art thou.' He then sent him away with a blessing.

Some time after, R. Abba, as he was on his way to R. Simeon, went into the town where this man lived. He found him expounding the verse: "A brutish man knoweth not, neither doth a fool understand this" (Ps. XCII, 6). 'How stupid', he said, 'are mankind that they take no pains to know the ways of the Almighty by which the world is maintained. What prevents them ? Their stupidity, because they do not study the Torah; for if they were to study the Torah they would know the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He. "A fool doth not understand this": to wit, [76a] the ways of "this" (zoth, the Shekinah), in the world, how it judges the world. For they only see the punishments of this zoth alighting on. the righteous and not alighting on the wicked who transgress the precepts of the Torah, and who inherit this world in every direction, as it is written, "the wicked spring as the grass". Nor should we know better, did not King David enlighten us in the second part of the verse, saying, "It is that they shall be destroyed for ever"; that is, to be destroyed in the other world, where they shall be dust under the feet of the righteous.' He further discoursed on the verse: "My leanness riseth up against me, it testifieth to my face" (Job XVI, 8). 'Observe', he said, 'that if a man transgresses the precepts of the Law, the Torah itself goes up and down and makes marks on that man's face so that all both above and below look at him and heap curses on his head. We have learnt that all the eyes of the Lord which go to and fro in the world to observe the ways of mankind look well at the face of that man and exclaim: Alas, alas I Alas for him in this world, alas for him in the world to come. Keep away from So-and-so because his face testifies against him that an unclean spirit rests upon him. If during the days that that testimony is upon his face he begets a son, he instils in him a spirit from the unclean side; and such become the shameless sinners of the generation, to whom their Master allows scope in this world in order to destroy them in the next. But if a man is virtuous and studies the Torah day and night, then God weaves around him a thread of grace and sets a mark on his face which makes all afraid of him both above and below.' Said R. Abba to him: 'All this is very true; from whence have you learnt it?' He replied: 'So I have been taught, and I have also been taught that this evil heritage is transmitted to all his sons, if they do not repent, for repentance overcomes everything. For this remedy was given me once when I bore a mark on my face, until one day as I was going along I met a certain saintly man through whom this mark was removed from me.' 'What is your name?' asked R. Abba. He replied: 'My name is Eleazar', and he divided it into El ezer (God is help). Said R. Abba to him: 'Blessed be God that I have been privileged to see thee thus. Blessed art thou in this world and the next. I am the man who met you.' He thereupon prostrated himself before him and brought him into his house and prepared for him special bread and flesh from a fatted calf.

After they finished eating the man said: 'Rabbi, I want you to tell me something. I have a red heifer, the mother of the calf the flesh of which we have just eaten. One day before it had calved I was going with it to the pasture when a man met me and said to me : What is the name of that cow? I replied that I had never given it a name. He said: It will be called Bathsheba the mother of Solomon if you shall succeed in repenting. Before I could turn my head he was gone, and I thought his remark very ridiculous. [76b] Now, however, that I have become a student of the Torah I have been thinking again over that remark, but since R. Simlai departed this world there has been none who can enlighten us on questions of the Torah like him, and I am afraid to put forth any opinion of my own which I have not learnt from a teacher, and I can see that there is a hidden meaning in this remark though I do not understand it.' 'Truly', replied R. Abba, 'it has a hidden meaning with reference both to the upper and the lower world. A certain divine grade is called Bath sheba (daughter of seven) in the mystery of Wisdom, and is symbolized by the seven kine, the seven burnings, the seven sprinklings, the seven washings, the seven unclean, the seven clean, the seven priests. [24] This was the hidden meaning in that man's remark.' He said: 'Thank God for granting me to hear this, and for giving me His greeting of peace, and bringing me near to Him when I was far away.' Said R. Abba to him: ' "Peace be unto thee and peace to thy house and peace to all that thou hast" (I Sam. XXV, 6).'

THOU SHALT NOT UNCOVER THE NAKEDNESS OF THY FATHER'S SISTER. We have learnt elsewhere that Adam separated from his wife a hundred and thirty years [25] after Cain killed Abel. R. Jose said: 'When death was decreed for him and for all mankind, he said: Why should I beget children for confusion? and he therefore separated from his wife. Then two female spirits used to come to him and they bore from him. Their offspring were demons and were called "plagues of the children of men". We have learnt that when man came down to earth in the supernal likeness all who saw him, both higher and lower beings, came to him and made him king of this world. Eve hare Cain from the filth of the serpent, and therefore from him were descended all the wicked generations, and from his side is the abode of spirits and demons. Therefore all spirits and demons are half of the class of human beings below and half of the class of angels above. So, too, those that were born from Adam afterwards were half of the lower and half of the upper sphere. After these were born from Adam, he begat from those spirits daughters with the beauty of the heavenly beings and also with the beauty of the lower beings, so that the sons of God went astray after them. One male came into the world from the side of the spirit of the side of Cain, and they called him Tubal Cain. A female came with him who was called Naamah, from whom issued other spirits and demons; these hover in the air and tell things to those others below. This Tubal Cain produced weapons of war, and this Naamah clung to her own side, and she still exists, having her abode among the waves of the great sea. She goes forth and makes sport with men and conceives from them through their lustful dreams. From that lust she becomes pregnant and brings forth further species in the world. The sons whom she bears from human beings show themselves to the females of mankind, who become pregnant from them and bring forth spirits, and they all go to the ancient Lilith, who brings them up. She goes out into the world and seeks [77a] her little ones, and when she sees little children she cleaves to them in order to kill them and to insinuate herself into their spirits. There are, however, three holy spirits which fly in front of her and take that spirit from her and set it before the Holy One, blessed be He, and there they are taught before Him. Thus they guard that child and she cannot hurt him. But if a man is not holy, and draws upon himself a spirit from the unclean side, she comes and makes sport with that child, and if she kills him she enters into his spirit and never leaves it. You may say: What about those others whom she has killed, although the three angels confronted her and took from her their spirits? Since they were not on the side of uncleanness, why had she power to kill them? This happens when a man does not sanctify himself, but yet does not purposely try to defile himself nor actually do so. In such cases she has power over the body but not the spirit. Sometimes it happens that Naamah goes forth to have intercourse with men and a man is linked with her in lust, and then suddenly wakes and clasps his wife though his mind is still full of the lust of his dream. In that case the son so born is of the side of Naamah, and when Lilith goes forth she sees him and knows what has happened, and brings him up like the other children of Naamah, and he is often with her, and she does not kill him. This is the man who receives a blemish on every New Moon. For Lilith never gives them up, but at every New Moon she goes forth and visits all those whom she has brought up and makes sport with them; hence this man receives a blemish at that time. These things King Solomon revealed in the book of Asmodai, and we find therein a thousand and four hundred and five manners of defilement which can affect mankind. Alas for mankind that they close their eyes and observe not nor take any heed how they are preserved in the world! Counsel and healing are before them but they heed not, for they cannot deliver themselves save by the counsel of the Torah, as it is written; "Ye shall sanctify yourselves and ye shall be holy, for I am the Lord your God."

'We have learnt that when Cain and Abel were removed, Adam returned to his wife and was clothed with a fresh spirit and begat Seth, with whom commenced the generations of righteous men in the world. God showed lovingkindness to the world, and with each one a female was born to populate the world, after the supernal pattern. For so we have affirmed in the secret doctrine of the Mishnah, that "if a man taketh his sister, his father's daughter or his mother's daughter, it is hesed" (lit. lovingkindness); truly so, and after hesed had appeared, roots and stocks came forth from beneath the highest, and branches spread and that which was near receded afar. This was at the beginning, in the hidden development of the world, but subsequently human beings who behave so "shall be cut off before the eyes of the children of their people". [77b]

'We have learnt that the upper He was conceived from the love of its inseparable companion Yod, and brought forth Vau. When this Vau came forth, its mate came forth with it. Lovingkindness came and parted them, and there came forth roots from beneath the Highest, and branches spread and grew and the lower He was produced. It spread its branches higher and higher until it joined the upper tree and Vau was linked with He. Who caused this? Hesed. But the union of Yod with the upper He is not caused by Hesed but by mazzal (lit. luck). In this way Yod is linked with He, He with Vau, Vau with He, and He with all, and all forms one entity, of which the elements are never to be separated. He who causes separation between them, as it were, lays waste the world and is called "the nakedness of all". In time to come God will restore the Shekinah to its place, and there will be a complete union, as it is written: "On that day the Lord shall be one and his name one" (Zech. XIV, 9). It may be said: Is He not now one? No; for now through sinners He is not really one; for the Matrona is removed from the King and they are not united, and the supernal Mother is removed from the King and does not give suck to Him, because the King without the Matrona is not invested with His crowns as before. But when He joins the Matrona, who crowns Him with many resplendent crowns, then the supernal Mother will also crown Him in fitting manner. But now that the King is not with the Matrona, the Supernal Mother keeps her crowns and withholds from Him the waters of the Stream and He is not joined with Her. Therefore, as it were, He is not one. But when the Matrona shall return to the place of the temple and the King shall be wedded with her, then all will be joined together without separation, and regarding this it is written, "On that day the Lord shall be one and his name one". Then "saviours shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau" (Obad. I, 21), as it has been taught: R. Simeon said, The Matrona will not enter her temple in joy until the kingdom of Esau has ,been brought to judgement and she has taken vengeance on it for causing all this. Therefore "they shall judge the mount of Esau" first, and then "the kingdom shall be the Lord's" (Ibid.), the kingdom being the Matrona.'

THE NAKEDNESS OF THY FATHER'S BROTHER THOU SHALT NOT UNCOVER. R. Judah taught that this refers to Israel below, and "the mother's sister" to Jerusalem below; for it was for these sins that Israel was destined to go into exile among the peoples and the earthly Jerusalem to be destroyed. Concerning this we have learnt that God showed His love for Israel by calling them brothers, as it is written, "For my brethren and companions' sake I will speak peace concerning thee" (Ps. CXXII, 8), the esoteric meaning of which is as follows, as explained by R. Simeon in the name of R. Judah. The word "companion" refers to one who never parts, and so the supernal Mother is called "companion" because the love of the Father never departs from her, [78a] whereas the lower Mother is called "bride" (daughter-in-law) and "sister". In this passage it refers to her as "the daughter of thy father" and "the daughter of thy mother". If she is from the side of the Father she is called Wisdom (Hokhmah), and if from the side of the Mother she is called Understanding (Binah); and in either case she is from both the Father and the Mother; and this is hinted in the words "born at home", to wit from the side of the Father, "or born abroad", to wit, from the side of the Mother. R. Abba, however, said that "born at home" means coming from the River that issues from Eden, and "born abroad" from the Small of Countenance. R. Judah said that Israel are called "brothers" to the Holy One, blessed be He, because His love never departs from them. The earthly Jerusalem is called "thy mother's sister". It is written, "Jerusalem that art builded as a city that is compact together" (Ps. CXXII, 3). It is so called because the King is joined to it from six sides and all the crowns of the King are comprised in it. "Whither the tribes went up, even the tribes of Jah": these are the twelve boundaries which spread from that great and mighty Tree, and which it inherited from the side of the Father and the Mother. "For there are set thrones for judgement, thrones for the house of David": that he may inherit the holy kingdom, he and his sons for all generations. Thus this is a hymn which David composed concerning the holy supernal kingdom. R. Hizkiah said: 'The whole has a supernal reference, to show that he who impairs below impairs above. It is written: "The nakedness of thy daughter-in- law thou shalt not uncover". If the disciples of the wise who know the inner meaning of this commit an offence below, then, as it were, they cause a blemish in the Bride above; but in regard to the mass of men the verse has its literal significance, and for this sin the Shekinah departs from them.' [78b]

R. Simeon said to R. Eleazar: 'See now. These twenty-two letters which are inscribed in the Torah are all illustrated in the Ten Creative Utterances. Each of those ten, which are the crowns of the King, is traced in certain letters. Hence the Holy Name is disguised under other letters and each Utterance lends to the one above it certain letters, so that they are comprised in one another. Therefore we trace the Holy Name in other letters not its own, one set being concealed in the other, though all are linked together. He who desires to know the combinations of the holy names must know the letters which are inscribed in each crown and then combine them. I myself trace them from the profound book of Solomon, and so I am able to do it and reveal them to the Companions. Blessed are the righteous in this world and the next, because God desires to honour them and reveals to them profound secrets of the Holy Name which He does not reveal to the celestial holy ones (angels). And therefore Moses was able to crown himself among those holy ones and they were not able to touch him, though they are like a burning flame and coals of fire. For otherwise how could Moses have stood among them? When God commenced to speak with Moses, the latter desired to know His holy names, disclosed and undisclosed, each one in fitting manner, and thus he came closer and learnt more than any other man. When Moses entered into the cloud and came among the angels, one named Gazamiel came up to him with flames of fire, with flashing eyes and burning wings, and sought to wound him. Then Moses mentioned a certain holy name which was traced with twelve letters, and the angel was utterly confused; and so with all the others.

'THOU SHALT NOT UNCOVER THE NAKEDNESS OF A WOMAN AND HER DAUGHTER. We have explained these prohibitions to refer to the adornments of the Matrona, but they also have their literal meaning because they are necessary for the right ordering of society, and if a man transgresses one of them, woe for him and woe for his soul, because he uncovers other nakednesses. We have learnt that the last of the Ten Commandments, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife", comprises all the others, and he who covets his neighbour's wife is like one transgressing the whole of the Law. Nothing, however, can stand in the way of repentance, especially if a man receives his punishment, like King David.' R. Jose said: 'We have learnt that if a man sins and gives up the fruit of his sin, his repentance brings him to a higher grade than before; but if he does not give up the fruit of his sin, his repentance does not avail him. If that is the case, it may be asked why did not David part from Bathsheba?' He replied: 'Bathsheba was his by right, and he only took his own, her husband having died. For it has been taught that Bathsheba was destined for David from the Creation, and what kept her from him was his marrying the daughter of King Saul. On that day Uriah obtained her by a special grace, though she was not really his. Afterwards David came and took his own; and it was because David anticipated matters by killing Uriah that God was displeased with him, and He punished him that he might be established in the supernal holy kingdom.'

I AM THE LORD. R. Jose taught: 'This means, "I am the Lord who will one day bestow a good reward on the righteous in the time to come; I am the Lord who will one day punish the wicked in the time to come". It is written, "I kill and make alive" (Deut. XXXII, 39); although [79a] I am in the attribute of mercy, the wicked turn me to the attribute of judgement.' R. Simeon said: 'Sinners cause imperfection above, as we have explained.'

THOU SHALT NOT APPROACH A WOMAN TO UNCOVER HER NAKEDNESS AS LONG AS SHE IS IMPURE BY HER UNCLEANNESS. R. Judah taught: 'The generation of whom R. Simeon is one are all righteous, saintly and fearful of sin, and the Shekinah abides among them as among no other generation. Therefore these things are stated openly and not concealed, whereas in former generations supernal mysteries could not be revealed, and those who knew them were afraid to utter them. For when R. Simeon expounded the mysteries of this verse all the Companions were in tears, and his meaning was clear to them. For one day R. Jesse mockingly repeated R. Simeon's words, "An egg of truth [26] which issues from a bird which abides in fire and bursts forth on four sides; two go forth from there, one is depressed and one overflows into a great sea".' R. Abba said to him: 'You have turned sacred into profane before R. Simeon.' Said R. Simeon: 'Before the egg breaks open, you shall depart from this world; and so it came to pass in the Chamber of R. Simeon. [27] We have learnt that in the days of R. Simeon one man used to say to another: Open thy mouth that thy words may spread light. In the holy Chamber it was said: Here it is fitting to reveal what concerns this subject. When the mighty Serpent above rouses himself on account of the sins of the generation, he joins himself to the Female and injects filth into her. Then the Male parts from her because she is defiled, and it is not fitting for the Male to approach her, for pity would be if he were defiled with her. We have learnt that a hundred and twenty-five species of uncleanness came down into the world and are connected with the side of the mighty Serpent, and twenty-seven chiefs of them attach themselves to females and cling to them. Alas, then, for a man who touches such a woman at that time, for through this sin he awakens the supernal Serpent and casts filth into a holy place, and punishments are let loose on the world and all is defiled. We have learnt that the Serpent injected twenty-four kinds of uncleanness into the female when he was joined to her, so that twenty-four punishments are roused above and twenty-four below. The hair and the nails grow, and therefore when a woman comes to purify herself she must cut off the hair which grew in the days of her uncleanness and cut her nails with all the filth that clings to them. For, as we have learnt, the filth of the nails arouses another filth, and therefore they must be hidden away. [28] He who hides them away completely, as it were, awakens lovingkindness in the world, for they even provide opportunity for sorcerers to exercise their magic on account of the demons attached to them, [79b] and a person stepping on them with his foot or his shoe may come to harm. If this is true of this remnant of a remnant of filth, how much more of the woman who was joined with the Serpent! Alas for the world which inherited that filth from her! Therefore it is written, "To a woman in the separation of her uncleanness thou shalt not draw near". Happy the generation in which R. Simeon lived! To it the words apply, "Happy art thou O land, when thy king is a free man". This is R. Simeon, who holds his head erect to expound doctrine and fears not, like a free man who says what he wants to say without fear.'

R. Simeon said: 'It is written: "And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another", etc. (Isa. LXVI, 23). Why is "new moon" put side by side with "Sabbath"? Because both are of one grade, being the time when one is joined to the other. On Sabbath there is joy and an additional soul, because the Ancient One reveals Himself and the wedlock is prepared. So, too, at the renewal of the moon, because the sun illumines her with the joyful light of the Ancient One above. Therefore the offering of new moon is an atonement above.

'It is written, "The burnt offering of the Sabbath beside ('al, lit. upon) the continual burnt offering" (Num. XXVIII, 10). The word 'al here signifies that the thought should be directed to the very highest more than on other days. Similarly it is written, "And Hannah prayed to ('al, lit. upon) the Lord" (I Sam. I, 19), because children depend upon the holy mazzal, as we have pointed out.' R. Jose found R. Abba similarly interpreting the words, "Cast thy burden upon the Lord" (Ps. LV, 23), because food also depends on mazzal. R. Judah expounded similarly the verse, "For this ('al zoth) let every one that is godly pray to thee" (Ibid. XXXII, 6): verily, to that which is above zoth.

R. Isaac said: 'Happy are the righteous in that many precious treasures are stored up for them in the other world, where God will have joyous converse with them, as we have laid down. Happy their portion in this world and the [80a] next, as it is written: "But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice, let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them, let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee" (Ps. V, 12).'

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Notes:

1. According to another reading, "regarding those who sat", etc. Cf. T.B. Baba Bathra, 74a.

2. T.B. Nedarim, 64b.

3. The text here expounds the significance of the Yod with which the name Pinchas is written in Numbers XXV, 7. finding in it an indication that by his zeal in the matter of Zimri he rectified the misdeed of Nadab and Abihu, and reunited the letters of the Divine Name.

4. Al. "Yet it is not so far committed that this power should be united and brought near to Holiness (i.e. that its name should be linked with God as the name Adonay is)."

5. v. T.B. Kiddushin, 30b.

6. Metatron.

7. v. T.B. Sabbath, 113b, where the reverse is stated.

8. = Gischala, in Galilee.

9. v. T.B. Yoma, 67a.

10. v. Mishnah, Shekalim, IV, 2.

11. Hesed.

12. Geburah.

13. Metatron.

14. In Ex. III, 14.

15. v. T.B. Sanhedrin, 98a.

16. v. T.B. Pesahim, 28b.

17. v. T.B. Kiddushin, 49b.

18. The patriarchs.

19. R. Simeon.

20. v. T.B. Sabbath, 33b, 34a.

21. His soul.

22. The reputed author of the Aramaic version of the Pentateuch.

23. Al, "King".

24. The reference is, apparently, to the section of the Red Heifer, Num. XIX

25. v. T.B. Erubin, 18b.

26. The primordial Yod.

27. v. Zohar. Numbers, 144a.

28. v. T.B. Moed Katon. 18a; Niddah, 17a.

[admin]

KEDOSHIM

Leviticus XIX, 1-XX, 27

YE SHALL BE HOLY, ETC. R. Eleazar cited here the text: "Be ye not as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding", etc. (Ps. XXXII, 9). 'How often', he said, 'does the Torah warn men, how often does it cry aloud on all sides to rouse them, yet they all sleep in their sins [1] and heed not! With what face will they rise on the day of judgement when the Most High King will visit upon them their neglect of the Torah in not listening to her call, since they are full of blemishes and know not the faith of the Heavenly King. Alas for them and for their souls I For the Torah has warned them saying: "Whoso is simple let him turn in hither; as for him that is void of understanding (lit. heart), she saith to him" (Prov. IX, 4). Why is he called "void of heart"? Because he has no faith; since he who does not study the Torah has no faith and is wholly blemished. It is the supernal Torah which "saith to him", and calls him "void of heart". Similarly we have learnt that if a man does not study the Torah it is forbidden to go near him, to associate with him, to do business with him, all the more so to walk in the road with him. We have learnt that if a man walks abroad and no words of Torah accompany him, his life is forfeit; still more one who goes with a man who has no faith and heeds neither the honour of his Master nor his own, being regardless of his soul. Hence it is written: "Be not as the horse or as the mule", etc. Happy are the righteous who study the Torah and know the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He, and sanctify themselves with the holiness of the King and become holy throughout, thereby drawing down a holy spirit from above, so that all their children are truly virtuous and are called "sons of the king". Woe to the wicked who are shameless and do shameless deeds, for which their children inherit an unclean soul from the unclean side. "Be not like a horse or a mule", which are lustful above other creatures, for "they which have no understanding" fall a prey to the "dogs which are greedy and can never have enough" (Isa. LVI, 11), and which are ready to "shepherd them that have no understanding" (Ibid.) [80b] into Gehinnom. Why does all this come upon them? Because they do not duly sanctify themselves in wedlock. God said: Of all peoples I desired to attach to myself only Israel; hence, "Ye shall be holy".'

YE SHALL BE HOLY FOR I THE LORD AM HOLY. R. Isaac cited here the verse: "Ah land of the rustling of wings", etc. (Isa. XVIII, 1). 'When God', he said, 'came to create the world and reveal what was hidden in the depths and disclose light out of darkness, they were all wrapped in one another, and therefore light emerged from darkness and from the impenetrable came forth the profound. So, too, from good issues evil and from mercy issues judgement, and all are intertwined, the good impulse and the evil impulse, right and left, Israel and other peoples, white and black -- all depend on one another.' Said R. Isaac in the name of R. Judah: 'The whole world is like a garland of variegated flowers; when it is tried, it is judged with judgement mingled with mercy; otherwise it could not stand an instant. We have learnt that when judgement is suspended over the world and righteousness is crowned with its judgements, many winged messengers arise to meet the lords of stern judgement and to obtain sway over the world, and they spread their wings on both sides to overshadow the earth, which is then called "the land of the rustling of wings".' R. Judah said: 'I perceive that all mankind are shameless save the truly virtuous. So, if one may say so, it is throughout: if one commences to purify himself he is supported from above and similarly if he commences to defile himself.' [2]

As R. Jose was once on the road he met R. Hiya and said to him: 'In reference to the verse, "Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever" (I Sam. III, 4), the Companions, you know, have stated that it will not be purged with sacrifices nor offering, but it can be purged with words of Torah. [3] Why is this? Because the words of the Torah rise above all offerings.' He replied: 'This is truly so, and if a man studies the Torah it benefits him more than all sacrifices and burnt-offerings, and even though punishment has been decreed against him from above: it is annulled. Therefore it is that words of the Torah are not susceptible to uncleanness, [4] because it can itself purify those who are unclean. We know this from the verse: "The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever" (Ps. XIX, 9).' Said R. Jose: 'But it says here "the fear of the Lord", and not "the Torah"?' He replied: 'It means the same thing, because the Torah comes from the side of Geburah (Might).' Said R. Jose: 'Rather derive it from here: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Ibid. CXI, 10). It is written: "The fear of the Lord is pure", and the Torah is called "holiness", as it is written, "I the Lord am holy", and the Torah is the supernal holy Name. Therefore [81a] he who studies it is first purified and then sanctified. We have learnt that the holiness of the Torah surpasses all other sanctifications, and the holiness of the superior recondite wisdom is highest of all.' He said to him: 'There is no Torah without wisdom and no wisdom without Torah, both being in the same grade, the root of the Torah being in the supernal Wisdom by which it is sustained. As they were going along they came across a man riding on a horse through a garden, and as he raised his hand he broke off the branch of a tree. Said. R. Jose: 'This illustrates the verse: "Ye shall sanctify yourselves and become holy"; if a man sanctifies himself below, he is further sanctified above.'

R. Abba taught: 'This section sums up the whole Torah, and is the seal of truth. In this section are contained profound mysteries of the Torah relative to the Ten Commandments and divine decrees and penalties and precepts, so that when the Companions came to this section they used to rejoice.'

Said R. Abba: 'Why does the section of "holiness" follow immediately upon the section dealing with sexual offences? Because we have learnt that whoever preserves himself from these offences shows that he was begotten in holiness; all the more so if he sanctifies himself with the holiness of his Master. The Companions have indicated the proper time of marital intercourse for all classes. He who desires to sanctify himself according to the will of his Master should not have intercourse save from midnight onwards, or at midnight, for at that time the Holy One, blessed be He, is in the Garden of Eden, and greater holiness is abroad, wherefore it is a time for a man to sanctify himself. This is the rule for the ordinary man. But students who know the ways of the Torah should rise at midnight to study and to join themselves with the Community of Israel to praise the holy name and the holy King; and their time of intercourse is at that hour on the night of the Sabbath [5] when grace abounds, that they may obtain favour from the Community of Israel and the Holy One, blessed be He, and those are called holy.'

R. Abba quoted here the verse: "Who is like thy people Israel, one nation in the earth?" (I Sam. VII, 23). 'God', he said, 'chose Israel alone of all peoples, and made them one unique nation in the world and called them "one nation", after His own name. He gave them many precepts to be crowned withal, including the phylacteries of the head and the arm, wherewith a man becomes one and complete. For he is only called "one" when he is complete, and not if he is defective, and therefore God is called One when He is consummated with the Patriarchs and the Community of Israel. When, therefore, the Israelite puts on his phylacteries and wraps himself in the fringed garment, he is crowned with holy crowns after the supernal pattern and is called "one", and it is fitting that One should come and attend to one. And when is a man called "one"? When he is male with female and is sanctified with a high holiness and is bent upon sanctification; [81b] then alone he is called one without blemish. Therefore a man should rejoice with his wife at that hour to bind her in affection to him, and they should both have the same intent. When they are thus united, they form one soul and one body: one soul through their affection, and one body, as we have learnt, that if a man is not married he is, as it were, divided in halves, and only when male and female are joined do they become one body. Then God rests upon "one" and lodges a holy spirit in it: and such are called "the sons of God", as has been said.'

YE SHALL FEAR EVERY MAN HIS MOTHER AND HIS FATHER, ETC. The fear of mother and father is here put side by side with the keeping of the Sabbath. Said R. Jose: 'It is all one; he who fears one keeps the other. Why is the mother here placed before the father? As we have learnt, because she has not so much power as the father.' R. Isaac connected this with the preceding words, "ye shall be holy": when a man comes to sanctify himself together with his wife, it is the female who deserves the greater credit for that sanctification, and therefore the mother is placed first here.' R. Judah pointed out that in another place the father is placed before the mother, the object being to indicate that both contributed equally to producing the son. The verse continues: AND YE SHALL KEEP MY SABBATHS, to show that one precept is of equal weight with the other. [82a] R. Simeon said: 'When a man sanctifies himself below, as, for instance, the Companions who sanctify themselves from Sabbath to Sabbath at the hour of the supernal wedlock, when grace abounds and blessings are at hand, then all cleave together, the soul of Sabbath and the body that has been prepared for Sabbath. Therefore it is written, "Ye shall fear every one his mother and his father", who form one wedlock in the body at that hour which has been sanctified. "Ye shall keep my sabbaths": the plural refers to the upper and the lower Sabbath which invite the soul to that body from that supernal wedlock. We may also translate "Ye shall wait for my sabbaths", this being an admonition to those who wait for their marital intercourse from Sabbath to Sabbath, as it is written, "the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths" (Isa. LVI, 4), for so we may call the Companions who emasculate themselves all the other days of the week in order to labour in the study of the Torah and wait from Sabbath to Sabbath. We may also take "father and mother" here to refer to the Body, and "my sabbaths" to the Soul, both of which cleave together.' [83b]

TURN YE NOT UNTO IDOLS NOR MAKE TO YOURSELVES MOLTEN GODS. R. Hiya adduced in this connection the verse: "Turn not unto the stubbornness of this people" (Deut. IX, 27). 'How', he said, 'could Moses address such a request to the Almighty who observes all things and passes all deeds in judgement? The answer is as follows. If a man performs a religious action, that action ascends and stands before the Almighty and says: I am from So-and-so who has performed me; and God then sets it before Him that He may look upon it all the day and treat the doer well for its sake. Similarly, if a man transgresses a precept of the Law, that action ascends and stands before the Almighty and says: I am from So-and-so who has performed me; and God sets that action where the sight of it will remind him to destroy that man. But if the man repents, then He removes that sin to where He will not observe it. Hence Moses said to God: "Turn not to the wickedness of this people, nor to their wickedness nor to their sin".'

R. Jose the younger once went in to see R. Simeon and found him expounding the verse: "And the man said: The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat" (Gen. III, 12). 'The expression "with me",' he said, 'indicates that Adam and Eve were created together with one body.' Said R. Jose to him: 'If so, what of the words of Hannah to Eli: "I am the woman who stood with thee here" (I Sam. I, 26)?' He replied: 'It does not say here "was given".' 'But,' said the other, 'what of the verse, "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone, I will make him an help meet for him" (Gen. II, 18), which implies that she was not made until then ?' He replied: 'Adam was indeed alone in so far as he had no support from his female, because she was fixed in his side, as we have explained. Hence God did not say "I will create a help", but "I will make", that is, fashion; and so God did by taking one of his sides and fashioning it and bringing it to him. Then Adam cohabited with his wife, and she became a support to him.

'We have learnt that the beauty of Adam was like an emanation from the supernal effulgence, and the beauty of Eve such that no creature could look steadily at her. Even Adam could not look steadily at her until they had sinned and their beauty had been diminished. Then only did Adam gaze steadfastly at her and "know" her. We have learnt that it is forbidden to a man to gaze at the beauty of a woman [6] lest evil thoughts should be provoked in him and he should be incited [84a] to something worse.' When R. Simeon went through the town, followed by the Companions, if he saw a beautiful woman he used to lower his eyes and say to the Companions, Do not turn. Whoever gazes at the beauty of a woman by day will have lustful thoughts at night, and if these gain the better of him he will transgress the precept, "Ye shall not make to yourselves molten gods". And if he has intercourse with his wife while under the influence of those imaginings, the children born from such union are called "molten gods". R. Abba said: 'It is forbidden to a man to fix his gaze upon heathen idols and upon Gentile women, or to receive benefit or healing from them.'

R. Abba discoursed on the verse: "Turn unto me and have mercy upon me, give thy strength unto thy servant" (Ps. LXXXVI, 15). 'Had God, then', he said, 'nothing more beautiful than David to turn to? It is, however, as we have learnt, that God has another David who is in command of many celestial hosts and legions: and when God desires to be gracious to the world He looks upon this David with a smiling countenance, and he in turn sheds light and grace upon the world through his beauty, his head being a skull of gold broidered with seven ornaments of gold. And through God's great love for him, He tells him to turn his eyes towards Him and look at Him, because they are very beautiful; and when he does so, His heart is, as it were, pierced with shafts of supernal love. And for the sake of that celestial David, beautiful, beloved and desired of God, David said: "Turn

to me and be gracious unto me". Similarly, when Isaac said to Jacob, "Behold the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed", this, we are told, was because the Garden of Eden entered with Jacob. Here, too, we may ask, how could the Garden of Eden enter with him, seeing that it is of immense extent in length and breadth, with many compartments and residences? The truth is that God has another holy Garden of which He is specially fond, and which He guards Himself and which He appoints to be continually with the righteous; and this it was that entered with Jacob. Similarly when we are told that the whole land of Israel came and folded itself under Abram, [7] this refers to another holy supernal land which God has and which is also called "the land of Israel". This is below the grade of Jacob and has been transmitted by God to Israel out of His love for them to abide with them and to lead and protect them, and it is called "the land of the living".

'It is forbidden to a man to gaze upon a place which God loathes, and even on one which God loves. For instance, it is forbidden to gaze upon the rainbow, [8] because it is the mirror Of the supernal form. It is forbidden to a man to gaze upon the sign of the covenant upon him, because this is emblematic of the Righteous One of the world. It is forbidden to gaze upon the fingers of the priests when they spread out their hands to bless the congregation, [9] because the glory of the most high King rests there. If one must not gaze at a holy place, [84b] how much less may he at an unclean and loathsome one! Therefore, "turn not to the idols".' R. Isaac said: 'If it is forbidden to look at them, how much more to worship them!

'The injunctions in this section correspond to those in the Ten Commandments. Thus: "Ye shall not turn to the idols" corresponds to "Thou shalt have no other gods before me"; "nor make to yourselves molten gods" to "thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image"; "I am the Lord your God" to "I am the Lord thy God"; "ye shall fear every one his mother and his father" to "honour thy father and thy mother"; "and ye shall keep my sabbaths" to "remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy"; "ye shall not swear by my name falsely" to "thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain"; "ye shall not steal" to "thou shalt not steal"; "neither shall ye deal falsely nor lie to one another" to "thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour"; "the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death" (XX, 10) to "thou shalt not commit adultery"; "neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour" to "thou shalt not murder". Thus the Law is summed up in this section.' R. Hiya asked: 'Why in the Ten Commandments is the singular (thou) used and here the plural (you)? Because in the whole of their existence Israel were never so united in heart and mind in devotion to God as on that day when they stood before Mount Sinai; hence they were addressed there as a single individual, hut later they were not so single-hearted.'

R. Eleazar once went to pay a visit to R. Jose ben R. Simeon ben Lakunia, his father-in-law, accompanied by R. Hiya and R. Jose. On reaching a certain field they sat down under a tree, and R. Eleazar said: 'Let each of us give a discourse on the Torah.' He himself commenced with the text : "Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me" (Hos. XIII, 4). He said: 'Was God then their king only from the land of Egypt and not previously? Did not Jacob say to his sons, "Remove the strange gods from your midst" (Gen. XXXV, 2)? The truth is that Israel never paid such recognition to the glory of God as in the land of Egypt, where they were so bitterly oppressed and yet did not change their customs; nay more, they saw every day much magic and sorcery which might have seduced them, and yet they turned aside neither to the right nor to the left, although they did not actually know much of the glory of God, but only adhered to the customs of their fathers. Afterwards they saw many wonders and miracles, and therefore God said to them, "I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt", where His glory was revealed to them by the sea, and they saw the brightness of His glory face to face, so that they should not say it was another God who spoke with them, but should know that it was the same one who brought them out of the land of Egypt, whom they had seen in the land of Egypt, who had slain their enemies there and wrought the ten plagues there.'

He further discoursed on the verse: THOU SHALT NOT OPPRESS THY NEIGHBOUR, NOR ROB HIM; THE WAGES OF A HIRED SERVANT SHALL NOT ABIDE WITH THEE ALL NIGHT UNTIL MORNING. 'The reason for this last injunction is to be found in the verse, "In his day thou shalt give him his hire, and the sun shall not go down upon him" (Deut. XXIV, 15): that is to say, that thou be not gathered in from the world on his account before thy time cometh. From this we learn another thing, that if one restores the soul of a poor man, even [85a] if his time has arrived to depart from the world, God restores his soul and gives him a further lease of life. To withhold the wage of a poor man is like taking his life and the life of his household. As he diminishes their souls, so God diminishes his days, and cuts off his soul from the other world. For all the breaths which issue from his mouth for the whole of that day ascend and stand before the Almighty, and afterwards his soul and the souls of his household ascend and stand in those breaths. Thus, even if length of days and many blessings had been decreed for that man, they are all withdrawn, nor does his soul mount aloft. Therefore R. Abba said: God save us from them and from their plaint! And the same is true even if it is a rich man, and his right is withheld from him. Hence R. Hamnuna, when a hired worker had finished his work, used to give him his wage and say to him: Take your soul which you have entrusted to my hand! Take your deposit! And even if the other asked him to keep it for him, he was unwilling to do so, saying: It is not fitting that your body shall be deposited with me, still less then your soul, which should be deposited only with God. Why is it written, "On his day thou shalt give him his hire"? Because every day is under the surveillance of another, a supernal Day, and if he does not give him his soul on that day, it is as if he impairs that supernal Day.'

R. Hiya discoursed on the next verse: THOU SHALT NOT CURSE THE DEAF NOR PUT A STUMBLING BLOCK BEFORE THE BLIND. 'This verse can be taken literally, but all this section has also other significations, and each set is connected with the other. See now. If a man curses his neighbour in his presence, it is as if he spills his blood. When, however, he curses him not in his presence, the voice of his words ascends, and is joined by many emissaries of judgement until the place of the great abyss is aroused. Woe, therefore, to him who lets an evil word issue from his mouth. The words, "thou shalt not put a stumbling block before the blind" we interpret of one who leads another into sin, [10] and also of one who strikes his grown-up son; or again, of one who not being competent gives decisions on points of Jewish law, because he causes his fellow-man to come to grief in the future world. For we have learnt that he who walks straightly in the path of the Torah and who studies it in the fitting manner has ever a goodly portion in the world to come, since the word of Torah which issues from his lips flits about the world and goes aloft, where many angels join it, and it is crowned with a holy crown and bathed in the light of the world to come, so that there proceeds from it a celestial light which crowns him during the whole of the day. But if a man studies the Torah not in the true and [85b] proper manner, his words stray from the path and no angels join them, but they are thrust away by all and find no resting place. Who is the cause of this? The one who led him astray from the right path. If a man, however, desires to study the Torah and cannot find a proper teacher, and yet out of his love for the Torah he pores over it and babbles it ignorantly, all his words ascend and God rejoices in them and plants them around the River, where they grow into mighty trees and are called "willows of the brook". Happy are those who know the ways of the Torah and study it in the proper manner, for they plant trees of life which are superior to all healing medicines. Therefore it says, "The law of truth was in his mouth" (Mal. II, 6). For there is a law which is not of truth, namely, of him who gives decisions without being qualified, and one who learns from him learns something which is not truth. None the less it behoves a man to learn Torah, even from one who is not qualified, in order that thus his interest may be aroused and he may eventually learn from one who is qualified and walk in the straight path of the Torah.'

R. Jose then discoursed on the next verse: YE SHALL DO NO UNRIGHTEOUSNESS IN JUDGEMENT, ETC. IN RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALT THOU JUDGE THY NEIGHBOUR. 'Two grades are here mentioned, "judgement" and "righteousness". What is the difference between them? One is mercy and one judgement, and one is established by the other. When "righteousness" is aroused it deals out sentence to all impartially without indulgence; but when "judgement" is aroused, clemency is also in it. I might then think that judgement alone should be used; therefore the verse says, "In righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour", not sentencing one and passing over another, but treating all equally. Should, then, righteousness alone be used? No: the verse tells us "thou shalt judge", implying that both must be together. Why so? Because God is there, and therefore the trial must be without flaw: as he does below, so does God do above. For God sets up His throne of judgement when the judges sit on earth, and it is from there that God's Throne is established, that Throne consisting of righteousness and judgement. Hence if a judge offends against these, he, as it were, impairs the Throne of the King, and then God leaves the judges and does not remain among them.' [86a]

They then rose, and as they went along R. Eleazar cited the verse: THOU SHALT NOT GO UP AND DOWN AS A TALE-BEARER AMONG THY PEOPLE, ETC. 'All these rules', he said, 'have been commented on by the Companions. Let us, however, also give some exposition of this section. It is written: YE SHALL KEEP MY STATUTES. THOU SHALT NOT LET THY CATTLE GENDER WITH A DIVERSE KIND, ETC. It is written: "Ye are my witnesses said the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen" (Isa. XLIII, 10). Israel are called witnesses and the heaven and earth are called witnesses, as it says, "I testify against you heaven and earth" (Deut. XXX, 19). Israel witness against one another and heaven and earth against all. Observe now. When God created the world, He assigned all things to their respective sides, and appointed over them celestial powers, so that there is not even a tiny herb without such a supervisor, [11] and whatever they do is done through the power of that heavenly control, and all are rigidly assigned, and none [86b] leaves its appointed sphere. All are guided by another superior regulation which gives to each its portion, which comes from the heavens, and all together are called "the statutes of the heavens". Hence it is written, "Ye shall keep my statutes", because each power is appointed over a certain sphere in the world in virtue of a certain statute. Therefore it is forbidden to confound species and mate them one with another, because this dislodges the heavenly power from its place and is a defiance of the celestial household. The word kilaim (divers kinds) may be connected with kele (prison), and it also bears the meaning of preventing, indicating that one who does this prevents the celestial powers from carrying out their function, and throws them into confusion. As has been said, he alters the commands of the King, and exchanges the Tree of Life, by which all is perfected and on which faith depends, for another place.

'We have learnt that in all things a man should act after the supernal model and perform the right thing, and that if he alters it he draws upon himself something which he would better have avoided. When a man does things below in the right way, he draws upon himself a celestial holy spirit. But if he does things in a crooked way, he draws upon himself another spirit which leads him astray to an evil side. What brings upon him this evil spirit? The action which he exhibited in the other side. Such is he who joins wool and flax. (In the case of the fringes, however, this is allowed, [12] because when making these a man is in the category of completeness, and therefore he does no wrong.) But if one joins them when he is not in the category of completeness, he brings an unwelcome spirit on himself. We have a proof of this in Cain and Abel, because they came from different sides; therefore the offering of Cain was rejected for that of Abel. Another proof is in the prohibition to plough with an ox and an ass, which are names given to two different sides. These must not be mingled together, lest the junction should harm the world, whereas he who keeps them separate benefits the world. So, too, he who keeps flax and wool separate. [87a] Cain was of the type of kilaim because he came partly from another side which was not of the species of Adam and Eve; and his offering also came from that side. In the case of Abel the two sides were joined in the womb of Eve, and because they were joined no benefit came to the world from them and they perished. Hence he who makes this union arouses both sides together and may come to harm, and a wrong spirit rests on him. Israel, however, ought to call down upon themselves a holy spirit, so as to be at peace in this world and the next. Therefore the High Priest on the Day of Atonement wore only linen garments when he came to clear away the ashes from the altar (Lev. VI, 10), because the burnt-offering is an atonement for evil thoughts; but when he went into the Sanctuary, the place where there was completeness and all services of completeness, it mattered not if he wore wool and flax together, because there all the different celestial species were found together in harmony, and similarly all kinds of holy vessels were there in combination, after the supernal model.

R. Hiya followed him with a discourse on the text: WHEN YE SHALL HAVE COME INTO THE LAND AND SHALL HAVE PLANTED ALL MANNER OF TREES FOR FOOD ... IN THE FOURTH YEAR ALL THE FRUIT THEREOF SHALL BE HOLY, FOR GIVING PRAISE UNTO THE LORD. 'Observe', he said, 'that the tree only produces fruit from the earth, which is its true source, nor does the earth produce the fruit save through another power above it, just as the female only produces issue from the energy of the male. Now, that fruit does not reach its complete state until three years have passed, nor is any power appointed over it above until it has reached its complete state. Then, too, the earth is established with it, and the establishment of both constitutes completeness. Similarly the progeny of a woman does not reach completeness till her third delivery, and therefore Levi was chosen from all the sons of Jacob, being the third to his mother who was established with him. Thus after three years a power is appointed over the fruit above, and in the fourth year "all its fruit is holy for giving praise" to the Holy One, blessed be He. For in the fourth year [87b] the Community of Israel becomes united with the Holy One, blessed be He, and then celestial powers are appointed over the world, an appropriate one for each object. Thenceforward all products are blessed and are permitted to be eaten, since all are in their complete state, in regard both to heaven and to earth. Till that time it is forbidden to eat of them; and he who eats of them is like one who has no share in the Holy One, blessed be He, and in the Community of Israel, since that fruit is as yet under no holy celestial control, nor is the strength of the earth established in it, so that he who eats of it shows that he has no portion either above or below, and if he makes a blessing over it, it is an idle blessing.'

R. Jose then said: 'The succeeding verses are to be taken in their literal meaning, but some remarks may be made on the verse: THOU SHALT RISE UP BEFORE THE HOARY HEAD, AND HONOUR THE FACE OF AN OLD MAN. The "hoary head" refers to the Torah, and a man should rise before the Scroll of the Torah. When R. Hamnuna the Elder saw a Scroll of the Law, he used to rise and say, "Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head". Similarly a man should rise before a man of learning, because he exhibits the holy supernal image and is emblematic of the supernal Priest. Further we may derive from the verse the lesson that we should rise up to do good deeds before old age comes upon us; for there is not much credit to a man in doing this when he is old and cannot do evil any more; but it is an honour to him if he is good while still in his prime.'

Said R. Eleazar: 'In very truth this way of ours is made straight before us, and it is the way of the Holy One, blessed be He. For "God knows the way of the righteous" (Ps. I, 6), to benefit them and protect them. Therefore when a man goes forth on the way he should see that that is the way of the Holy One, blessed be He, and should obtain His companionship. [88a] Of such a way it is written: "The path of the righteous is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day" (Prov. IV, 18).'

_______________

Notes:

1. Al. "in their dens".

2. v. T.B. Yoma, 38b.

3. v. T.B. Rosh Hashanah, 18a.

4. v. T.B. Berachoth, 22a.

5. v. T.B. Ketuboth, 62b.

6. v. T.B. Berachoth, 24a et passim.

7. v. Midrash Rabbah on Genesis XIII, 15.

8. v. T.R Hagigah. 16a.

9. v. Ibid.

10. v. T.B. Moed Katon, 17a.

11. v. Bereshith Rabbah, 10.

12. v. T.B. Yebamoth, 4a et passim.

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Part 1 of 2

EMOR

Leviticus XXI, 1-XXIV, 23

AND THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES, SPEAK UNTO THE PRIESTS THE SONS OF AARON AND SAY UNTO THEM, THERE SHALL NONE DEFILE HIMSELF FOR THE DEAD AMONG HIS PEOPLE. R. Jose said: 'What is the connection of this with the verse that immediately precedes, "A man also or a woman that hath a familiar spirit or that is a wizard shall be put to death" (Lev. XX, 27)? It is this: that having admonished the Israelites to sanctify themselves, the Scripture now admonishes the priests to sanctify themselves specially. Later, too, it admonishes the Levites (Num. XVIII, 21 et seq.), so that all should become holy and pure. The priests are designated here "the sons of Aaron", to show that they are something more than merely the sons of Levi, Aaron being the starting point of the priesthood because God chose him to make peace in the world, his conduct having entitled him to this distinction, since all his days he strove to promote peace in the world, so that God appointed him to bring peace to the celestial family also.

'THERE SHALL NONE DEFILE HIMSELF FOR THE DEAD AMONG HIS PEOPLE. Observe that when a man is on his deathbed and on the point of departing for the other world, three messengers are sent to him, and he sees what other men cannot see in this world. That day is a day of heavenly judgement on which the King demands back his deposit. Happy the man who can restore the deposit just as it was lodged within him; for if it has been defiled with the impurity of the body, what will he say to the owner of the deposit? He sees the angel of death standing before him with his sword drawn, and all his limbs are relaxed, nor is anything so hard for the soul as its separation from the body. Before a man dies he beholds the Divine Presence, towards which the soul goes out in great yearning; [88b] and after it has left the body what other soul will cleave to it? This we have discussed elsewhere. After the soul has left the body and the body remains without breath, it is forbidden to keep it unburied. [1] For a dead body which is left unburied for twenty-four hours causes a weakness in the limbs of the Chariot and prevents God's design from being fulfilled; for perhaps God decreed that he should undergo a transmigration at once on the day that he died, which would be better for him, but as long as the body is not buried the soul cannot go into the presence of the Holy One nor be transferred into another body. For a soul cannot enter a second body till the first is buried, just as it is not fitting for a man to take a second wife before the first is buried. Another reason why the body should be buried on the same day is that when the soul departs from the body it cannot enter the other world until it is invested with another body formed of light. (So Elijah had two bodies, one in which he appeared on earth, and one in which he appeared among celestial angels.) So long as the body remains unburied the soul suffers pain and an unclean spirit rests upon the body, and therefore the body should not be kept over night, because by night the unclean spirit spreads over the earth, seeking for a body without a soul to defile it further. Therefore the priest was warned "not to defile himself for the dead among his people".' R. Isaac said that the word "say" here signifies "say quietly", just as all the operations of the priests were carried out in quietness; and the repetition "say" and "thou shalt say" is to give emphasis to the injunction that they should not defile themselves, since he who ministers in a holy place should be holy throughout. As we have said, the body without the spirit is unclean, and the desire of unclean spirits is for the bodies of Israel, since now that the holy spirit has been emptied out of them they want to be joined to a holy vessel. The priests who are additionally holy must not defile themselves at all, since "the oil of the anointment of the Lord is upon him".' [89a] R. Isaac also said: 'The priest who stands here below is emblematic of the Priest above, and therefore he must be in a superior grade of holiness.'

AND FOR HIS SISTER A VIRGIN THAT IS NEAR UNTO HIM. R. Abba quoted here the verse: "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?" (Isa. LXIII, 1). 'God', he said, 'will one day put on garments of vengeance to chastise Edom for having destroyed His house and burnt His Temple and driven the Community of Israel into exile among the nations. He will wreak vengeance on them until all the mountains are full of the slain of the nations, when he will summon all birds of the air and the beasts of the field and they shall feast on them, the beasts twelve months and the birds seven years, and the earth shall not bear the stench thereof. God shall come from Bozrah, because from there the world's hosts went forth to war against Jerusalem, and they began to bum the Temple, and the children of Edom threw down the walls and destroyed the foundations. God will be "glorious in his apparel", His robes of vengeance, and "marching in the greatness of his strength". Said the Israelites to Isaiah: "Who is he that shall do all this?" He replied: "I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save". And why all this? Because "for his sister a virgin that is near unto him, which hath had no husband", to wit, for the Community of Israel who does not belong to the portion of Esau, for her He may be defiled, to wit, in those garments of vengeance with which He will stain himself among all those hosts.'

THEY SHALL NOT MAKE BALDNESS UPON THEIR HEAD. R. Jose said: 'The reason is that on the head of the supernal Priest is the holy oil of anointing, the removal of which would cause baldness; and therefore the priest below must perform an action symbolical of this.' [2] [89b]

(AND HE THAT IS THE HIGH PRIEST AMONG HIS BRETHREN, ETC.) R. Abba here quoted the verse: "To thee, O Lord, belongeth righteousness, but unto us confusion of face" (Dan. IX, 7). ' "Righteousness" " he said, 'refers to the place to which all the shining faces are attached, as it is attached to them; and "confusion of face" refers to the place from which the shining faces are removed. Therefore the High Priest should always present a face bright and shining and more joyful than others, seeing that he symbolizes the higher grade.

[90a] 'HE SHALL NOT PROFANE HIS SEED AMONG HIS PEOPLE. Whoever discharges his semen without purpose will never be allowed to behold the divine Presence, [3] and such a one is called wicked. This is not the case, however, if a man's wife does not conceive; still, a man should pray that God should provide him a fitting vessel so that his seed should not be spoilt. For he who discharges his seed into a vessel that is not fitting spoils his seed; and if this is the case with ordinary men, how much more so with the priest who is the counterpart on earth of the supernal holiness. AMONG HIS PEOPLE: that is to say, this is a disgrace, a defect among his people. FOR I AM THE LORD WHICH SANCTIFY HIM: I am He that sanctifies him every day, and therefore he must not spoil his seed nor must any blemish be found in him. He must be holy throughout, so that the Holy One may be served by a holy one. [90b] And because God is served by the hand of the priest, who is holy, the priest is served by one who is sanctified by his purity, to wit, the Levite. The ordinary man, too, is served [4] by one who has already sanctified himself, and thus Israel are set apart in holiness to serve the Holy One, blessed be He.'

He further expounded the verse: "Salvation is the Lord's; thy blessing be upon thy people" (Ps. III, 9). 'We have learnt', he said, 'that wherever Israel go into exile the Shekinah goes with them. [5] When, therefore, they will come forth from captivity, who will be delivered? Israel or God? The answer is given in the verse, "Salvation is the Lord's". And when will this be ? When "thy blessing is upon thy people, selah", to take them out of captivity and deal well with them.'

WHOEVER HE BE OF THY SEED THROUGHOUT THEIR GENERATIONS THAT HATH A BLEMISH. R. Isaac said: 'Whoever has a blemish is not fitted to serve before the Holy One, as we have laid down, that whoever has a blemish has no true faith, and his blemish bears witness against him.' R. Eleazar was once sitting in the room of his father-in-law, and he complained that his eyes were watering. A man happened to pass by who had lost one eye. 'Let us ask him,' said the father-in-law. He replied: 'He is blemished, and therefore not to be trusted.' 'Still let us ask him,' said the other. So they said to him: 'Who is mightiest in the world?' He replied: 'A rich man; and I shall remain with him through all.' Said R. Eleazar: 'His words show that he has no religious faith in him.' He then discoursed on the verse: "For the law and for the testimony; if they speak not according to this word" (Isa. VIII, 20). '''Law'' here', he said, 'signifies the Written Law, and "testimony" the Oral Law. The Oral Law does not rest in a blemished place, because it is fashioned from the Written Law. Hence the text says "Bind up the testimony" (Ibid. 16), because there in the Oral Law is the bundle of life, and the knot of faith is tied up with the testimony above, and thence diverse paths through all the worlds. "Seal the law among my disciples" (Ibid.) Where is the seal of the Written Law? In "my disciples", that is, the prophets. The whole is established only in its completeness, and holiness rests on it only when it is complete, when part is joined with part and there is no empty place. Hence no man with a blemish must draw near to serve, nor must a sacrifice with a blemish be offered. But surely it may be said, God abides only in a broken place, a broken vessel, as it is written, "With him that is of a contrite and humble spirit" (Isa. LVII, 15)? That is so, for this place is more perfect than all, when a man humbles himself so that the grandeur of all, the heavenly grandeur may rest upon him. But it is not written [91a] "with the blind and crippled". If a man humbles himself, God raises him. Therefore the priest must above all others be complete and not show any blemish, and therefore the Scripture warns the priests saying, "whoever of thy seed hath a blemish", etc.' He further quoted the verse: "And when ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it no evil?" etc. (Mal. I, 8). In those days the Israelites used to appoint priests with blemishes to serve at the altar and in the Sanctuary, saying: What does it matter to God if it is this one or another? It is no evil. And God answered them with their own words: It is no evil I "Present it now unto thy governor, will he be pleased with thee or will he accept thy person ?" (Ibid.) If anyone of you wanted to make a present to the king, would he send it by the hand of a man who was deformed ? How then can you set before Me a man with a blemish to present your gift ? Such a gift is given to the dog.' R. Jose said: 'God will one day make Israel whole so that there shall be none with a blemish among them, in order that they may adorn the world as a man's garments adorn his body. Observe that when the dead rise from the dust, they will leave it as they entered; if they went into it lame or blind, they shall rise from it lame or blind, in order that it should not be said that it is another who has risen. Afterwards, however, God will heal them and they will be whole before Him and the world will be whole. [6]

WHEN A BULLOCK OR A SHEEP OR A GOAT IS BROUGHT FORTH, THEN IT SHALL BE SEVEN DAYS UNDER THE DAM. R. Jose said: 'It is written, "Man and beast thou preservest, O Lord" (Ps. XXXVI, 7): that is to say, in mercy God preserves both in equal measure. The law of the beast and the law of the man is the same; man is to be circumcised on the eighth day, and the beast shall be seven days under its dam and from the eighth day it shall be accepted for an offering made by fire unto the Lord.' R. Hiya said: 'Israel from the eighth day cleave to God and are impressed with His name and become His, but the other peoples do not cleave to Him nor conform to His rules, and they remove from themselves the holy impress until [91b] they cleave to the other side which is not holy. When God came to give the Law to Israel, before doing so He summoned the children of Esau and said to them: Do you desire to accept the Law? [7] At that moment the earth quaked and was fain to enter into the cavern of the great deep. She said: Sovereign of the Universe, is that which was a plaything of delight for two thousand years before the universe was created to be presented to the uncircumcised who are not stamped with thy covenant? Whereupon the Holy One, blessed be He, answered: Throne, throne, let a thousand such peoples perish before the covenant of the Law is presented to them. Hence it is written, "Lord, when thou wentest forth out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled" (Jud. V. 4), because the Law is not to be given save to one who bears on himself the holy covenant. And he who teaches the Torah to one who is not circumcised is false to two covenants, [8] to the covenant of the Zaddik and the covenant of the Community of Israel, since the Torah was given to this place and to no other.' R. Abba said that he is false to three supernal places, the Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings.' R. Hiya said: 'When God revealed himself on Mount Sinai to give the Law to Israel, the earth reclined and rested at ease, as it says, "the earth feared and was still" (Ps. LXXVI, 9).

'Observe that when a child is born, a power from above is not appointed to watch over it until it is circumcised. When the child is circumcised, some supernal activity is stirred in connection with it. If he proceeds to the study of the Torah,. the activity is heightened. If he is able to keep the precepts of the Law, the activity is still further heightened. If he advances so far as to marry and beget children and teach them the ways of the Holy King, then he is a complete man. Contrariwise, the beast from the moment of its birth is under the same supervision as throughout its life. Therefore it is written, "when a bullock or a sheep or a goat is born", not "a calf or a lamb or a kid", to show that what it has at the end it has at the moment of birth. It is to be seven days under its dam in order that that power may be settled and firmly established in it. For this it is necessary that one sabbath should pass over it; and then "it is acceptable for an offering made by fire unto the Lord".' [92a]

AND WHETHER IT BE AN OX OR A SHEEP, YE SHALL NOT KILL IT AND ITS YOUNG BOTH ON ONE DAY. R. Jose said: 'This must be taken to refer to the mother, since the young goes after the mother and not the father, [9] nor do we know which it is. Why must not both be killed on one day?' R. Judah said: 'If it is to avoid giving pain to the animal, we could kill one in one place and the other in another, or one somewhat later than the other.' He replied: 'Some actually allow this, but this is not correct; the prohibition relates to the whole of the same day. Observe now that we have learnt that "a fast is as good for a dream as fire for flax", [10] but it must be on the same day, because every day below is controlled by a day above, and therefore if the man fasts, that day does not pass till the adverse decree is annulled, but if he puts it off to another day, then the control belongs to that day. Thus over every day below is appointed a day above, and a man should take heed not to impair that day. Now the act below stimulates a corresponding activity above. [92b] Thus if a man does kindness on earth, he awakens lovingkindness above, and it rests upon that day which is crowned therewith through him. Similarly if he performs a deed of mercy, he crowns that day with mercy and it becomes his protector in the hour of need. So, too, if he performs a cruel action, he has a corresponding effect on that day and impairs it, so that subsequently it becomes cruel to him and tries to destroy him, giving him measure for measure. Israel are withheld from cruelty more than all other peoples, and must not manifest any deed of the kind, since many watchful eyes are upon them.'

R. Simeon said: 'When God resolves to punish the world with famine, He makes the proclamation Himself, and not by the hand of a herald, as in the case of all other punishments. [11] From that moment it is forbidden to a man who still has plenty to make a show of it, since in so doing he defies the word of the King and, as it were, drives the emissaries of the King from their place. Therefore it was that Jacob said to his sons when the famine came, "Do not show yourselves off", as much as to say: Why do you cause blemish both above and below, and belie the word of the king and all his emissaries? For Jacob still had much com, and yet he only desired to "buy among those that came", so that no blame should attach to his actions. So, too, when Aaron blessed the people he raised his right hand above his left, so that the action below should stimulate a corresponding action above.' [93a]

THE SET FEASTS OF THE LORD WHICH YE SHALL PROCLAIM TO BE HOLY CONVOCATIONS. R. Isaac said: 'It is written, "And God called the light day" (Gen. I, 5). Does this mean that the light called day exists by itself? No, for it says, "and the darkness he called night". Does this mean that each exists separately? [93b] No, for it says, "And there was evening and there was morning one day". This shows that there is no day without night and no night without day, and on account of their interlocking they are called one. Similarly the Holy One, blessed be He, and the Community of Israel are called one when together, but not when parted; and so now that the Community of Israel is in exile, she is, as it were, not called one, and will only be called one when Israel emerge from captivity. Similarly it says: "These are the appointed feasts of the Lord which ye shall proclaim" (lit. call), that is, invite all to one place so that all shall form one, and Israel below shall be one nation on the earth. And how will they be called one? Through the earthly Jerusalem, as it is written, "And who is like thy people Israel one nation in the earth" (2 Sam. VII, 23), since they are only called one when wedded to this "earth", after the supernal pattern.'

HOLY CONVOCATIONS. R. Isaac cited here the verse: "Unto thee my heart said, Seek ye my face; thy face, Lord, will I seek" (Ps. XXVII, 8). 'We can explain this verse', he said, by supposing that King David was speaking here on behalf of the Community of Israel, thus: "For Thy sake my heart says to mankind: Seek ye my face, to wit, the Crowns of the King which are one with the King"; and David was more qualified than any other man to speak thus in the name of the Community of Israel because he was closely attached to Her. We may also interpret the word "face" to refer to the appointed seasons and festivals, all of which were invited by David to the place called "holy", in order to crown each of them on its day and its appointed time, that all might draw from that most profound source from which issue streams arid fountains. Therefore they are called "invited to holiness" -- invited to that place called "holiness" to be crowned with it and draw from it that all may be sanctified together and joy may be found among them. R. Abba said that "holy convocations" means "invited by holiness", and when they are invited by this, they are invited by the Stream that issues forth perennially. We may compare it to a king who, having invited people to a banquet, sets before them all manner of dishes and opens for them casks of well flavoured wine, for he who invites invites to eat and drink. So the "holy convocations", since they are invited to the banquet of the King, are invited to partake of the good wine which has long been kept in store. Israel, too, are called "holiness", because they are invited by the holiness above; therefore they should prepare a banquet and rejoice, since for them it is fitting. [94a]

THESE ARE THE SET FEASTS OF THE LORD. R. Simeon said: 'They are from the Lord (YHVH), because He is the link between those (grades) above and those below, all being united through Him. Why? Because just as the King inherits the Father and Mother and is attached to their holiness, so all those that are attached to the King are to be invited to that supernal place called "holiness" in order that they may all be united. Hence they are called first "set feasts of the Lord", and then "holy convocations".

'WHICH YE SHALL PROCLAIM IN THEIR APPOINTED SEASON. Israel have two portions in them -- whether from the sir1p of the King, since Israel "cleave to the Lord", or from the side of Holiness, since they are called "men of holiness". Therefore (says the Scripture), for you it is fitting to invite them and to prepare a joyful feast before them and rejoice in them: for one who invites a guest must show him a smiling face to crown his visit therewith. Imagine a king who invites an honoured guest and says to his court: All other days you are each in his house doing his work there, or in business or in the field, save only on my special day which you devote to rejoicing with me. Now I have invited a very honoured guest, and I desire that you should engage in no work in the house or in business or in the field, but that you should all come together as on my special day and prepare to meet that guest with smiles, with joy and with praises. So God said to Israel: All other days you are engaged in work and in business, save on my special day (the Sabbath). Now I have invited a very honoured guest, and do you therefore receive him with smiles and prepare for him a special table as on my own day. Hence it says: "You shall call (i.e. invite) them in their appointed time". See now. When Israel below rejoice in those festivals and sing praises to the Holy One, blessed be He, and prepare a table and put on their best garments, the angels in heaven ask: What do Israel mean by this, and God answers them: They have a distinguished guest on this day. But, they say, is he not Thy guest, from the place called Holiness? He replies: And are not Israel holy and called holy, so that it is meet for them to invite My guest -- alike from My side, because they cling to Me, and from the side of holiness, since it is written, "Israel are holy to the Lord". Assuredly the guest is theirs. Then they all break forth with the words, "Happy is the people that is in such a case".

'There are three that are invited from Holiness, and no more -- the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles.' 'But', said R. Abba to him, 'is not Sabbath also invited from Holiness ?' 'No,' he replied, 'for two reasons. One is that Sabbath is itself called holiness, and the other is that Sabbath has the right of entry by inheritance. Hence all the rest are invited and link themselves with Sabbath and crown themselves with it, but the Sabbath is not invited. It is like a son who enters the house of his father and mother and eats there whenever he desires. A king, we will say, had a son whom he fondly loved, and to whom he assigned a number of companions. One day he said: It would be a good thing to invite my son's companions and to show my affection and esteem for them. So he invited the companions, but the son did not need an invitation, since he could go into his father's house and eat and drink there whenever he wished.' [94b]

It is written here: SIX DAYS SHALL WORK BE DONE. R. Jose said: 'The six Days made the heaven and the earth, each performing its own work, and therefore they are called the six workdays.' Said R. Isaac: 'Why then are they called the six "ordinary" days ?' 'Because now', replied R. Jose, 'the world is carried on by their agent, [12] and therefore they are called "ordinary" or "profane".' R. Hiya said 'It is because work may be done on them. For that reason they are not called holy, and what is not called holy is called ordinary. Hence the Companions have laid down that we should say at the close of Sabbath, "who divideth between holy and profane", the separation consisting in the fact that holiness is something apart, and the rest issue from it. Hence these are for work. And there is a time when these too are to be kept, namely, when they are invited, from Holiness'. [13] R. Judah said: 'The joy and the observance of the Sabbath are superior to that of all the others, because this day is crowned with the Father and the Mother, and is invested with an additional holiness; wherefore it is a day of joy for higher and lower, and full of blessings in all worlds. On this day, too, there is rest for higher and lower, and even for the sinners in Gehinnom. Suppose a king made a feast in honour of his only son, during which he placed a crown upon him and invested him with supreme authority. There would be universal joy, so that the governor of a prison who had in his charge men condemned to stripes and execution, would, in honour of the king's celebration, release them, So that day is the day of the King's rejoicing with the Matrona. of the joy of Father and Mother in Him, of the rejoicing of higher and lower. In the joy of the King all must rejoice, and there must be no suffering then. On this day the sons of the King must prepare three meals for their table for the honour of the King, as we have laid down. But if a festival or appointed time occurs on it, a man need not prepare two tables for each meal, one for Sabbath and one for the guest: there is sufficient at the King's table for the guest who has come.' R. Eleazar asked: 'If the guest arrives at the time of the third Sabbath meal, [14] do we waive it nor not? If we waive it, then the guest is debarred from the table of the King. If we do not waive it, then the banquet of the King is itself deficient.' R. Simeon his father replied: 'The case is like that of a king on whom a guest happened to call, so he took food and put it before him, so that although the king did not eat with him, yet he ate from the food of the king. In the household of R. Hamnuna the Elder, however, they used to pay no attention to the guest at this time, but later they used to set a table for the guest.' 'But,' said R. Eleazar, 'how is it possible not to set the king's banquet before the guest, seeing that if the fourteenth day of Nisan falls on a Sabbath, the banquet of the king is waived in favour of the Passover, although it is not yet a guest.' He replied: [95a] 'There are indeed a number of reasons why the banquet of the King is waived on account of the Passover -- one, that a man should come hungry to the unleavened bread and bitter herbs, and, again, there is no bread after midday, and a table without bread is not complete. However, I myself have always been particular not to waive the third Sabbath meal even when the Sabbath happens to be the eve of Passover. On this day (of Sabbath) the holy Field of Apples is blessed, and higher and lower are blessed, and this day is the link of the (two branches of the) Torah.' R. Abba said: 'R. Simeon, when the Sabbath meal was removed, used to arrange his table and meditate on the Construction of the Chariot, [15] and say, Here is the banquet of the King, let Him come and partake with me. Therefore Sabbath is superior to all feasts and appointed seasons, and is called "holy" and not "holy convocation".' R. Judah said: 'New Year and the Day of Atonement are not called "holy convocations", because there is no joy on them, they being days of judgement. But the three festivals are times of gladness when Israel have joyous communion with the Holy One, blessed be He. On the Sabbath all sorrow and vexation and trouble is forgotten because it is the day of the espousals of the King, when an additional soul is imparted (to men) as in the future world. R. Isaac asked R. Judah: 'Why have we learnt that Sabbath is to be remembered over wine ?' He replied: 'Because wine represents the joy of the Torah, and the wine of the Torah is the universal joy.'

IN THE FIRST MONTH ON THE FOURTEENTH DAY OF THE MONTH. R. Hiya adduced here the verse: "I was asleep but my heart waked, it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh", etc. (S.S. II, 2). 'Says the Community of Israel: I was asleep in the captivity of Egypt, when my children were sore oppressed, but my heart was awake to preserve them so that they should not perish under the oppression. "The voice of my beloved", the Holy One, blessed be He, saying, Open to me an opening no bigger than the eye of a needle, and I will open to thee the supernal gates. "Open to me, my sister", because thou art the door through which there is entrance to Me; if thou openest not, I am closed. Thus it was that when the Holy One, blessed be He, slew the firstborn in Egypt, at that very time Israel entered into the covenant of the holy sign, and linked themselves with the Community of Israel, by means of the blood which they displayed on the door -- the blood of the paschal lamb and the blood of the circumcision, one on one side and one on the other, and one between, to show their faith. On the fourteenth day, too, they removed the leaven and Israel emerged from the sphere of an alien power and clung to the unleavened, [95b] which is a holy bond, and later they became linked to a still higher realm of faith called "heaven".

'AND ON THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF THE SAME MONTH. At the hour of wedlock, when the moon is in full union with the sun and the lower crowns are not found in such numbers in the world (for the evil species abound at new moon and spread throughout the world, but when the moon enjoys the full light of the sun they all withdraw to a certain place and the sanctifications of the King are aroused), of that time it is written, "a night of vigils for the Lord", for then the holy wedlock takes place which is protection for all.' R. Abba said: 'Therefore the adornment of the bride is on that day, and at night is the visiting of the house. Woe to those that are not of the household when the two Torahs come to unite, woe to them that are not present! Therefore holy Israel prepare for them the house all that day, and through them the visitors enter, and they rejoice and sing gleefully.' Said R. Jose: 'The verse says as much distinctly in the word "vigils", which implies two -- the union of the moon with the sun. It is "for all the children of Israel for their generations", since from that time they were linked to the holy Name and emerged from the dominion of another power. Therefore on the fourteenth day they prepare themselves and remove leaven from among them and enrol themselves under holy power, and then the bridegroom and the bride are crowned with the crowns of the Supernal Mother, and a man should show that he is free.'

R. Jose asked: 'What is the meaning of the four cups of wine drunk on this night?' R. Abba replied: 'The Companions have explained that they correspond to the four expressions of deliverance, [16] but a better explanation is given in the book of R. Jesse the Elder, which says that it is because the holy wedlock takes place on this night, and this is consummated in four unions. When this wedlock takes place we partake in the joy of all, and therefore this night is different from all other nights and it behoves us to form the Name in all four. Further, we call those four "deliverances", because this last grade [17] is called "deliverer", and that only on account of another higher grade which illumines it, and that one does not do so save through the agency of two more which are above it, so that in all there are four deliverances.'

R. Judah asked R. Abba: 'Seeing that the seven days of Passover are all days of joy, why do we not say the complete Hallel on all of them, as on Tabernacles?' He replied: 'Because at this point Israel were not yet linked with the supernal world to such an extent as they were to be later. Therefore on this night (the first night of Passover) when there is the divine wedlock and universal joy in which Israel participate, we say the whole Hallel as a sign of completeness. But afterwards we do not say the whole, because Israel were not yet linked with those four higher grades, since the holy sign was not yet displayed on their flesh, and they had not yet received the Torah; whereas on Tabernacles all had been completed and the joy was more complete.' [96a] Said R. Judah to him: 'All this is quite correct, and this is the second time I hear It, but I had forgotten. Now I should like to know another thing. Why is it that Passover and Tabernacles consist of seven days, but not the Feast of Weeks, which really ought to more than the others?' He replied: 'It is written: "Who is like thy people Israel one nation in the earth?" (2 Sam. VII, 23). Now why are Israel called "one" here rather than in any other place? It is because the text is here speaking in praise of Israel, because it is the pride of Israel to be one. The reason is that the junction of upper and lower takes place at the spot called "Israel", which is linked with what is above and what is below, and with the Community of Israel: wherefore the whole is called one, and in this spot faith becomes manifest and complete union and supernal holy unity. The Tree of Life is also called one, and its day therefore is one, and therefore we have Passover and Tabernacles and this in the middle, and this is the honour of the Torah that it should have this one day and no more.' R. Isaac said: 'Israel will in the future chant joyful hymns of praise to the Holy One, blessed be He, like those which they chanted on the night of the Passover when the Community of Israel was hallowed with the sanctity of the King, as it is written: "Ye shall have a song as in the night when the holy feast was kept" (Isa. XXX, 29).

'AND ON THE DAY OF THE FIRST FRUITS WHEN YE BRING A NEW OFFERING TO THE LORD IN YOUR WEEKS, ETC. Up to this time Israel were bringing "the produce of the earth", that is to say, an earthly product (barley), literally, and they occupied themselves therewith and found therein their link (with the divine). God said: I gave you manna in the wilderness from the place which is called "heaven", and now you bring before me barley (for the Omer). The truth is that this offering had the same significance as the offering brought by the wife of the jealous husband, which was also of barley, and was to show that the Community of Israel was not unfaithful to the Holy King. [96b] This was brought for seven full weeks, and then the Holy King came to join the Community of Israel and the Torah was given to Israel. [97a]

'AND YE SHALL COUNT TO YOU FROM THE MORROW AFTER THE SABBATH. Observe that when Israel were in Egypt they were under an alien domination and they were trammelled with uncleanness like a woman in the days of her uncleanness. When they were circumcised, they entered into the holy portion which is called "covenant", [97b] and thereupon the uncleanness left them as the blood of uncleanness leaves a woman. Just as a woman then has to count seven days, so now God hade the Israelites count days for purity. They were to count "for themselves", so as to be purified with supernal holy waters, and then to be attached to the King and to receive the Torah. The woman had to count seven days, the people seven weeks. Why seven weeks? That they might be worthy to be cleansed by the waters of that stream which is called "living waters," and from which issue seven Sabbaths. When Israel drew near to Mount Sinai, that dew that descends from the supernal Point came down in its fullness and purified them so that their filth left them and they became attached to the Holy King and the Community of Israel and received the Torah, as we have explained. Observe that any man who does not count those seven complete weeks so as to qualify himself for purity is not called "pure" and is not in the class of "pure", nor is he worthy to have a portion in the Torah. But if a man has reached this day in purity and has not lost count, then it behoves him on this night to study the Torah and to preserve the special purity to which he has attained on this night. We have learnt [98a] that the Torah which he ought to study on this night is the Oral Law, and afterwards in daytime the Written Law can come and he can attach himself to it, so that both may be interlocked above. Then proclamation is made concerning him, saying, "And as for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; my spirit which is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth", etc. (Isa. LIX, 21). Therefore the pious ones of old used not to sleep on this night, but they used to study the Torah and say, Let us acquire a holy inheritance for ourselves and our sons in two worlds. On that night the Community of Israel is crowned above them, and comes to join the Holy King, and both are crowned above the heads of those who are worthy of this. When the Companions gathered round him on this night, R. Simeon used to say: 'Let us go and prepare the ornaments of the Bride, that to-morrow she may appear before the King fitly adorned and bedecked. Happy the portion of the Companions when the King shall inquire of the Matrona who has arranged her adornments and illumined her crowns. For there is none in the world who knows how to arrange the jewels of the Bride like the Companions, happy is their portion in this world and in the world to come! Now the Companions adorn the Bride, but who prepares the King on this night for his visit to the Matrona? It is the Holy Stream, the deepest of all streams, the Supernal Mother, as it says, "Go forth, ye daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon in the crown wherewith his mother hath crowned him in the day of his espousals" (S.S. III, 1I). After she has prepared the King and crowned him, she goes to purify the Matrona and those that are with her. Imagine a king who had an only son whom he united in marriage to a noble lady. What did his mother do? All that night she spent in her storeroom, and she brought forth therefrom a noble crown set with seventy [98b] precious stones to crown him with; she brought forth silken garments and clad him therewith and adorned him royally. Then she wept to the bride and saw how her maidens were arranging her crown and her garments and her jewels. She said to them: I have prepared a bath with flowing water perfumed with all manner of sweet scents to purify my daughter-in-law. Let my daughter-in-law, the lady of my son, come with all her maidens that they may purify themselves in the place of flowing water which I have prepared for them, and then they can robe her with all her ornaments. To-morrow when my son comes to wed the lady he will prepare a palace for all and his abode shall be among you. So it is with the Holy King and the Matrona and the Companions, whose dwelling shall thus be together inseparably, as it is written, "Lord, who shall sojourn in thy tabernacle? ... He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness" (Ps. XV, I, 2); these are they that array the Matrona in her jewels, her raiment and her crowns.

IN THE SEVENTH MONTH IN THE FIRST DAY OF THE MONTH. R. Isaac said: 'Blessed are Israel in that Go d has drawn them near to Him from a far place, as it says, "And Joshua said unto the people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt of old beyond the River" (Joshua XXIV, 2), and a little further on it says, "And I took your father Abraham from beyond the River" (Ibid. 3). Now these verses require consideration. Did not the Israelites, and still more Joshua, know all this? [99a] Then why did God tell it to them? The inner meaning, however, is this. Great kindness did Goo show Israel in choosing the patriarchs and making them a supernal holy chariot for his glory and bringing them forth from the supernal precious holy River, the lamp of all lamps, that he might be crowned with them. Also it says, "I took your father Abraham from beyond the River" (Ibid. 4), because Abraham did not cleave to that River as Isaac clave to his side. Now, although this River is not judgement, yet chastisements issue from its side, and when Isaac lakes hold of his sons, then higher and lower angels assemble for judgement, and the throne of judgement is set up and the Holy King takes his seat thereon and judges worlds. Then is the time to "blow up the trumpet on the new moon, at the appointed time on our solemn feast day" (Ps. LXXXI, 4): for happy are Israel who know how to remove the throne of judgement and set up the throne of mercy; and wherewith? With the shofar.' R. Abba, as he was once studying with R. Simeon, said to him: 'Many times have I inquired concerning the significance of the shofar, but I have never yet received a satisfactory answer.' R. Simeon replied: 'The true explanation is this. Why Israel have to use a ram's horn on this day and not any other is this, that we know to what place the horn belongs, and we do not desire to awaken judgement. For, as we have learnt, by word and deed we have to awaken secret powers. Now when the supernal Shofar, in which is the illumination of all, removes itself and does not shine upon the sons, then judgement is awakened and the thrones are set up for judgement, [99b] and Isaac strengthens and prepares himself for judgement. But when this Shofar rouses itself and men repent of their sins, it behoves them to blow the shofar below, and the sound thereof ascends on high and awakens another supernal Shofar, and so mercy is awakened and judgement is removed. We must produce from this shofar below various sounds to arouse all the voices that are contained in the supernal Shofar, and therefore we not only use the shofar on this day but arrange the blasts in a number of series.

'With the first blast the voice goes forth and makes its way upwards to the firmaments, breaking through lofty mountains till it reaches Abraham, on whose head it rests so that he awakes and prepares himself for the throne, where the Father and Mother appoint him to his station. Then there goes up a second mighty blast to break down wrath, being itself of broken notes, and all chastisements that stand in its way as it ascends to Isaac are broken. Then Isaac awakens and beholds Abraham preparing the throne and standing before it, and then he also is chastened and his severity is abated. And on this he who blows the shofar should concentrate his mind, so as to break the strength of stern judgement. With the third blast the voice issues and ascends and cleaves the firmaments, till it reaches the head of Jacob, [100a] who thereupon awakens and sees Abraham ready on the other side. Then both take hold of Isaac, one on one side and one on the other, so that his violence cannot break forth. These three blasts form one series.

'In the next series a voice goes forth and ascends and takes hold of Abraham and brings him down to the place where the harshness of Isaac abides and sets Abraham in the midst thereof. With the second blast goes forth a broken voice, not so powerful as the first; not that it is weaker, but because it does not approach Isaac like the previous one, but only the lower court, which is weaker; and they all see Abraham among them and are humbled. With the third blast a voice issues and rises till it forms a crown on the head of Jacob, whom it brings down to the place where those powers of judgement are, so that Abraham faces them on one side and Jacob on the other, and they being in the middle are rendered more lenient. These form the second series.

'The last series has to take them back to their places and to place Isaac between them as before, since it is necessary to fix him in his place so that he should not leave it in his violent mood. In this way all punishments are kept in check and mercy is awakened. This is the purpose which these blasts should serve, being accompanied by repentance before God. Thus when Israel produce the blasts of the shofar with proper devotion, the supernal Shofar returns and crowns Jacob so that all is properly arranged. Another throne is set up and joy is universally diffused and God has mercy on the 'world. Happy are Israel who know how to divert [100b] their Master from justice to mercy and to be the instruments for establishing all worlds. Corresponding to the three series of blasts three books are opened above on this day, and just as mercy is awakened and punishments are restrained and put back in their place above, so below in the same way harsh punishments are kept back and removed from the world. And what are these? These are the irremediably wicked who are inscribed at once for death.' Said R. Abba: 'Assuredly this is the true explanation of the matter. Blessed be God that I asked for and obtained this instruction.' R. Judah said: 'It is written, A MEMORIAL OF BLOWING OF TRUMPETS. We make a memorial by the concentration of our mind and thought. Israel make a memorial below by an appropriate ceremony, so as to arouse a corresponding reaction above.'

R. Eleazar said: 'This day is called "the concealing (keseh) for the day of our feast", because the moon is still covered and does not shine. [18] Through what then will it shine? Through repentance and the sound of the shofar, as it is written, "Blessed is the people that know the trumpet sound, because, O Lord, they shall walk in the light of thy countenance" (Ps. LXXXIX, 15). On this day the moon is covered, and it does not shine until the tenth day, when Israel turn with a perfect repentance, so that the supernal Mother gives light to her. Hence this day is called the day of atonements (kippurim), because two lights are shedding illumination, since the higher lamp is illumining the lower. For on this day the Moon receives illumination from the supernal Light and not from the light of the Sun.'

R. Abba sent to inquire of R. Simeon: 'When is the union of the Community of Israel with the Holy King ?' He answered him with the verse: "And moreover she is indeed my sister the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother" (Gen. XX, 12). R. Abba lifted up his voice and wept, saying: 'My master, my master, holy lamp, alas for the world when thou shalt depart from it, alas for the generation which shall be orphaned of thee!' R. Hiya said to R. Abba: 'What means this answer that he sent you?' He replied: 'The union of the King with the Matrona is only when she is illumined from the supernal Father, when she is called holy. Then indeed she is "my sister the daughter of my father", but not "of my mother", since it is from the Father that she derives this name.'

R. Abba said: 'On New Year Adam was created and was brought to trial before his Master and [101a] repented and was pardoned by the Almighty. He said to him: Adam, thou shalt be a sign to thy descendants for all generations. On this day they are brought to trial, and if they repent I will pardon them and remove from the Throne of Judgement and sit on the Throne of Mercy and have mercy on them.'

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Part 2 of 2

HOWBEIT ON THE TENTH DAY OF THIS SEVENTH MONTH IS THE DAY OF ATONEMENT; IT SHALL BE AN HOLY CONVOCATION UNTO YOU. R. Hiya quoted here the verse: "A Psalm of David, Maschil. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered" (Ps. XXXII, 1). 'What', he said, 'is meant by Maschil? The waters that give wisdom to those who seek to find that place which is called maschil (lit. he that giveth heed). And because it is called so, forgiveness and complete freedom depend on it. What is meant by "whose sin is covered"? As we have explained, that sin which he commits before God and, concealing it from men, confesses to God. Observe that when a man commits a sin once and twice and three times, and does not repent, his sins are exposed and are published above and below, and heralds go before him and proclaim, Keep away from So-and-so, who is scorned of his Master, scorned above and scorned below, Woe to him that he has impaired the likeness of his Master, woe to him that he has not regarded the honour of his Master. When, however, a man walks in the way of his Master and occupies himself with His service, if then he should happen to commit a sin, all screen him, higher and lower, and he is called "one whose sin is covered".' Said R. Abba to him: 'All this is quite correct, but you have not yet got to the root of the matter. There are two recondite teachings in this expression. One is this. We have learnt that the good deeds which a man does in this world fashion for him a precious and noble garment wherewith to cover himself. Now when a man has laid up a store of good deeds and then falls into evil ways, if God observes that his bad deeds outweigh the good and that he is wicked enough to regret all the good deeds that he did at first, [19] then he is entirely lost both in this world and in the other. What, then, does God do with the good deeds which he performed at first? For though the wicked sinner perishes, the good deeds that he performed do not perish. If, then, there is a righteous man who walks in the ways of the King and is preparing his garment from his works, but before he has completed it he departs from this world, God completes it from the deeds which have been lost to that wicked sinner for him to array himself therewith in the other world, as it is written, "He (the wicked man) shall prepare it, but the just shall put it on" (Job XXVII, 17). Hence he may be said to be "covered from sin", that is, from the sins of the wicked. Another lesson is this, that the sin of this righteous man is hidden in what are called "the depths of the sea", just as one who falls into the depths of the sea can never be found, because the waters cover him. [101b] What are these "depths of the sea" ? It is a deep mystery, which R. Simeon has explained. All those that come from the violent side and are attached to the "evil species", the lower crowns, like Azazel on the Day of Atonement, are called the "depths (m'zuloth = clarifying region) of the sea", since they draw the impurities off the holy sea in the same way as the fire purifies silver, drawing off its dross. All the sins are thus dropped into it. For this reason it is also called "Sin" (hetaah, lit. failure), inasmuch as it takes away, especially on this day, the defilement of the soul and of the body, to wit, the sins committed through the evil prompting which is called filthy and disgusting.'

R. Jose said: 'It is written, "And he shall put on the two he-goats lots". This would seem to be a great honour for AzazeI. Have you ever seen a slave cast lots with his master? Usually the servant takes only what his master gives him. The fact, however, is that because Samael is ready on this day with his accusations, and so that he should not have any grievance, he is given a portion in this way. This lot used to come up of itself. For so said R. Judah in the name of R. Isaac: We find a great wonder in the lot. The lot which Joshua cast used of itself to say, This is the portion of Judah, this is the portion of Benjamin, etc. And so here, too, when the priest placed his hands in position, the lots used to leap up and come down in their places, as it is written, "The goat on which hath gone up the lot for the Lord".

'Not on this occasion only, but whenever accusation is prepared and permission is given to the accuser it behoves us to set before him something with which he may occupy himself and so leave Israel alone. The Companions have noted in connection with the words of the Satan "from going to and fro in the earth" (Job I, 7), that, when the Israelites were about to cross the Red Sea, he said, I have gone to and fro through the Holy Land and I have seen that these are not worthy to enter it. If Thou wilt here execute judgement on the Egyptians, how do the Israelites differ from them? [20] Either let them all die together, or let them all return to Egypt. And further, didst Thou not say, "they shall serve them four hundred years", and only two hundred and ten of the number are past? Thereupon God said: 'What am I to do? This one must have some sop thrown to him. I will give him something with which to occupy himself so as to leave my sons. I have someone for the purpose. Straightway God said to him, "Hast thou considered my servant Job?", and straightway the Satan sought to discredit him, saying, "Does Job fear God for nothing?". Imagine a shepherd seeking to take his flock across a river, when he sees a wolf about to fall on them. What shall I do ? he says. While I am carrying the lambs across, he will fall on the sheep. Then he catches sight among the flock of a ram from the fields, strong and powerful. I will throw this one to him, he says, and while they are struggling I will take all the flock across and save them. So God said: Here is a strong and powerful ram, I will throw it to him, and while he is busy with it my sons shall cross and not be attacked. Thus while the Satan was busy with Job he left Israel alone and they were not accused. So on the Day of Atonement also the informer is ready to spy out the land, and we must send him something with which he may occupy himself. So there is a saying, Give some wine to the menial of the king's palace and he will praise thee to the king, and if not he will malign thee to him, and it may he that the officers of the king will take up his words and the king will execute judgement.' R. [102a] Isaac said: 'Give the fool who stands before the king some wine and tell him all the faults and errors thou hast committed and he will come and praise thee and say that there is not another in the world like thee. So here the informer is ever before the king, and Israel present him a gift along with a list of all the faults and wrongs which they have done, and he comes and praises Israel and becomes their defender, and God puts all on the head of the wicked of his own people.' Said R. Jose: 'Woe to the people of Esau at the time when Israel send that he-goat to the Informer who is their Chieftain, since for its sake he comes and praises Israel and God diverts all those sins on to the head of his people.' Said R. Judah: 'If the heathen knew of that he-goat, they would not leave Israel alive a single day. All that day Satan is occupied with that goat, and therefore God makes atonement for Israel and purifies them from all their sins and they are not accused before Him. Afterwards the Satan comes and praises Israel and the accuser becomes defender and departs. Then God says to the seventy Chiefs that surround His throne, Do you see how this Informer is always seeking to attack my sons? A certain goat has been sent to him with a tablet recording all their sins and errors which they have committed before me, and he has accepted it. Then they all agree that those sins should be discharged on the head of his own people.' R. Abba said: 'At first all those sins cleave to him, and afterwards they are discharged upon the head of his people.

'On this day the priest is crowned with superior crowns and stands between heavenly and earthly beings and makes atonement for himself and his house and the priests and the sanctuary and all Israel. We have learnt that at the moment when he enters with the blood of the bullock he concentrates his thoughts on the highest principle of faith and sprinkles with his finger, as it is written, "and he shall sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat and before the mercy-seat". He used to dip the top of his finger in the blood and sprinkle, going lower and lower each time, at the side of the mercy-seat. He began to count one [21] -- the first "one" by itself, one being the sum of all, the glory of all, the goal of all, the beginning of all. Then "one and one", joined together in love and friendship inseparable. When he had passed this "and one" which is the mother of all, he began to count in pairs, saying, "one and two", "one and three", "one and four", "one and five", "one and six", "one and seven", so as to draw down this "one" which is the supernal Mother by certain grades to the crown of the lower Mother [22] and to draw deep rivers from their place to the Community of Israel. Hence on this day two luminaries diffuse light together, the supernal Mother giving light to the lower Mother.' R. Isaac said: 'A cord was tied to the feet of the High Priest before· he entered the Holy of Holies, so that if he died suddenly within they should be able to draw him out. They used to know by a certain thread of scarlet if the priest had been successful in his intercessions. If its colour did not change, they knew that the priest within was not free from sin, but if he was to issue in peace, it was known by the thread changing its colour to white, when there was rejoicing above and below. If it did not, however, all were distressed, knowing that their prayer had not been accepted. [23] R. Judah said: 'When he went in and closed his eyes so as not to see what he had no right to see, and heard the voice of the Cherubim chanting praises, he knew that all was in joy and that he would come out in peace, and another sign was if his words came forth joyfully, so as to be accepted and blessed.' [102b]

R. Eleazar asked R. Simeon: 'Why is this day attached only to this grade? Surely it should more than any other day be in the grade where the King abides ?' He replied: 'Eleazar, my son, you have asked a good question. The reason is this. The Holy King has left his temple and house in the hands of the Matrona and has left his sons with her that she may guide them and chastise them and abide in their midst, so that if they are virtuous the Matrona enters with joy and honour into the presence of the King. If, however, they are not deserving, She and they are sent into exile according to our interpretation of the text, "and through your transgression you r mother is sent away" (Isa. L, 1). Hence one day is appointed in the year for examining them. When this day comes the supernal Mother, in whose hand is all freedom, comes to examine Israel, and Israel prepare themselves on this day with many prayers and services and fastings to make themselves worthy. Then is freedom granted to them from the place where all freedom abides, through the hand of the Matrona. And when she sees the sons of the King, her sons who are entrusted to her hands, all virtuous without sin or guilt, She joins the King with smiles, with gladness, and with perfect love, because she has trained up fitting sons for the supreme King. But if they are not found as they should be on this day, woe to them and woe to their emissaries, for the Matrona is removed from the King and the supreme Mother departs and no freedom proceeds from her to any world. Happy are Israel whom the Holy One, blessed be He, has taught His ways that they may be delivered from judgement and found deserving before Him. Hence it is written: "For on that day he shall make atonement for you" (Lev. XVI, 30), and "I shall sprinkle on you purifying waters" (Ezek. XXXVI, 25).''

HOWBEIT ON THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF THE SEVENTH MONTH. R. Jose asked R. Abba: 'What is the meaning of these fifteen days?' He replied: 'Assuredly they contain a deep mystery. Observe that both above and below each day proceeds on its own path and remains in its own place and performs its own function. The first group of ten belongs to the Community of Israel, while the five are of the King, because in the fifth grade (from the Matrona) the King sits upon his throne. Then the Father shines upon the Mother and fifty gates are illumined from Her to shed light upon the fifth. And should you say that the Matrona is the seventh, this is because the King completes the Patriarchs. Therefore the seventh is the day on which the King is fully crowned and inherits from the Father and Mother, who are joined together. Hence both come to the same thing.'

R. Judah discoursed here on the verse: "And the Canaanite the king of Arad heard" (Num. XXI, 1). 'We have learnt', [24] he said, 'that three notable gifts were conferred upon Israel through the three brethren, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. The manna was given to them for the merit of Moses, the clouds of glory for the merit of Aaron, and the well for the merit of Miriam. [103a] When Miriam died the well was taken from them, as it is written, "And Miriam died, and there was no water for the congregation" (Num. XX, I, 2). Another well which was with Israel also desired to depart, but when it saw six clouds that hovered over them it remained attached to them. When Aaron died the clouds departed and the cloud of the well with them, until Moses came and brought them back.' R. Isaac said: 'Why was this honour conferred upon Aaron? Because he was linked with clouds and he linked them all together, so that they were all blessed through him. For in addition to all the lovingkindness that God did with Israel, He linked with them seven precious clouds which He also linked with the Community of Israel, whose cloud was linked with seven others, and Israel traversed the wilderness protected by all of them. They all form a bond of faith, and therefore Israel were bidden to dwell in booths seven days, so that the Israelite may show that he is dwelling in the shadow of faith. As long as Aaron was alive, Israel were in the shadow of faith under those clouds. When Aaron died, a cloud on the right departed and the rest departed with it, and the weakness of Israel was exposed, and straightway the king of Arad heard that the clouds had departed [25] and the great explorer to whom they were all linked was dead.' R. Isaac observed that the King of Arad dwelt in the south, and the spies also brought back word that Amalek dwelt in the south (Num. XIII, 20), to awe the people, because Amalek had struck the first blow at them. R. Abba said: Why is the Canaanite mentioned here? Because Canaan was a slave of slaves (Gen. IX, 25), and this shows that he who withdraws himself from the shadow of faith deserves to be a slave to the slave of slaves. Hence "all that are home-born in Israel shall dwell in booths"; everyone who is of the holy root and stock of Israel shall dwell in a booth under the shadow of faith. Shall he that is not of the holy stock withdraw himself from the shadow of faith? We are told that Eleazar the servant of Abraham was a Canaanite, but because he served Abraham, who sat under the shadow of faith, he was delivered from the curse of Canaan and was even called "blessed", as it is written, "Come in, thou blessed of the Lord" (Gen. XXIV, 31). Thus whoever abides under the shadow of faith acquires freedom for himself and his descendants in perpetuity, and is blessed with a noble blessing, but he who withdraws from the shadow of faith brings captivity upon himself and for his children, as it is written, "And he took some of them captive". [103b]

YE SHALL DWELL IN BOOTHS. The word succoth (booths) is written without a vau, to show that there is one cloud to which all the others are linked. R. Eleazar cited here the verse: "Thus saith the Lord, I remember for thee the kindness of thy youth", etc. (Jer. II, 2). 'This verse', he said, 'refers to the Community of Israel at the time when She went in the wilderness with Israel. The "kindness" (hesed) is the cloud of Aaron which carried along with it five others which were linked with thee and shone for thee. "The love of thine espousals": when they adorned and perfected thee like a bird. And all this for what ? That thou mightest "go after me in the wilderness, in a land not sown". Observe that when a man sits in this abode of the shadow of faith, the Shekinah spreads her wings over him from above and Abraham and five other righteous ones make their abode with him.' R. Abba said: 'Abraham and five righteous ones and David with them. Hence it is written, "In booths ye shall dwell seven days", as much as to say, "Ye seven days shall dwell in booths", and a man should rejoice each day of the festival with these guests who abide with him.' R. Abba further pointed out that first it says "ye shall dwell" and then "they shall dwell". The first refers to the guests, and therefore Rab Hamnuna the Elder, when he entered the booth, used to stand at the door inside and say, Let us invite the guests and prepare a table, and he used to stand up and greet them, saying, In booths ye shall dwell, O seven days. Sit, most exalted guests, sit; sit, guests of faith, sit. He would then raise his hands in joy and say, Happy is our portion, happy is the portion of Israel, as it is written, "For the portion of the Lord is his people", and then he took his seat. The second "dwell" refers to human beings; for he [104a] who has a portion in the holy land and people sits in the shadow of faith to receive the guests so as to rejoice in this world and the next. He must also gladden the poor, because the portion of those guests whom he invites must go to the poor. And if a man sits in the shadow of faith and invites these guests and does not give them their portion, they all hold aloof from him, saying "Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye" (Prov. XXIII, 6). That table which he prepares is his own and not God's. Alas for him when those guests leave his table.' R. Abba further said: 'Abraham always used to stand at· the cross roads to invite guests to his table. [26] Now when a man invites him and all the righteous and King David and does not give them their portion, Abraham rises from the table and exclaims, "Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men" (Num. XVI, 26), and all rise and follow him. Isaac says, "The belly of the wicked shall want" (Prov. XlII, 26). Jacob says, "The morsel thou hast eaten thou shalt vomit up" (Ibid. XXIII, 8). The other righteous ones say, "For all tables are full of vomit and uncleanness" (Isa. XXVIII, 8). David says.... [27] In those ten days during which David judges the world, that man is judged who has treated him more ungratefully than Nabal.' R. Eleazar said: 'The Torah does not demand of a man more than he can perform, as it says, "Each one man shall give as he is able" (Deut. XVI, 7). A man should not say, I will first satisfy myself with food and drink, and what is left I shall give to the poor, but the first of everything must be for the guests. And if he gladdens the guests and satisfies them, God rejoices with him and Abraham proclaims over him, "Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord", etc. (Isa. LVIII, 14). Isaac proclaims, "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper" (Ibid. LIV. 17).' R. Simeon said: 'This verse is said by King David, because all royal weapons of war have been handed to David. What Isaac says is, "His seed shall be mighty on the earth" (Ps. CXII, 2). Jacob proclaims, "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning" (Isa. LVIII, 8). The other righteous say, "The Lord shall guide thee continually and satisfy thy soul in dry places" (Ibid. II). Happy the lot of the man who attains to all this!'

AND YE SHALL TAKE YOU ON THE FIRST DAY THE FRUIT OF GOODLY TREES. R. Simeon quoted here the verse: "Every one that is called by my name, for my glory I have created him, I have formed him, yea I have made him" (Isa. LXIII, 7). '''Every one that is called by my name": this is man whom God has created in His likeness and whom He calls by His own name when he does truth and justice, as it is written, "Thou shalt not revile the judges" (Elohim, Ex. XXII, 28). "I have formed him, yea I have made him": as has been explained, the words "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" refer to the time of wedlock, namely, the union of "image" and "likeness", so that man issued from Male and Female. In the Book of King Solomon it is written that at the hour of wedded union [104b] on earth, God sends a certain form with the figure of a human being which hovers over the union, and if a man's eye were capable of such a thing it would see such a form over his head. The child is created in that form, and before that form stands over a man's head the child is not created, that form being prepared for it before it issues into the world. In that form it grows up, in that form it goes about, as it is written, "Surely every man walketh in a form" (zelem, Ps. XXXIX, 9). This form is from on high. When the spirits go forth from their places, each one stands before the Holy King with its adornments, with the countenance which it is to wear in this world; and from that adornment comes forth this form (zelem). Thus it is the third from the spirit, and it comes down first to this world at the time of wedded union, from which it is never absent. In the case of Israel, who are holy, this zelem is holy and from a holy place. But for the heathens it comes from the "evil species", from the side of uncleanness. Therefore a man should not mix his form with that of a heathen, because the one is holy and the other unclean. [28] This explains why the dead body of an Israelite defiles while the dead body of a heathen does not defile. For when an Israelite dies, all the sanctifications of his Master depart from him, and that holy form and holy spirit leave him and his body is left unclean. But the contrary is the case with the heathen: his form and spirit are unclean in him when he is alive, but when he dies they leave him, and his body, though unclean itself, does not propagate uncleanness. Observe that when judgement is aroused, and God sits upon the throne of judgement to judge the world, a man should betake himself to repentance and amend his ways, since on this day the sentences are written. If a man repents in time, his sentence is tom up. If not, he still has a chance on the Day of Atonement. If still his repentance is not perfect, his sentence is suspended till the last day, the eighth of the Feast of Tabernacles, after which the sentences are no more returned to the court of the King. The sign is that a man's shadows depart from him.'

ON THE EIGHTH DAY SHALL BE AN HOLY CONVOCATION UNTO YOU. This is because this day is from the King alone, it is his day of rejoicing in Israel. A king invites some guests, and while they are there all the household attend on them. When they depart the king says to his household, Till now I and you have all of us been attending to the guests; now I and you will rejoice together for one day. So God said: Up to now you have been bringing sacrifices for the other peoples, now bring one for yourselves. The guests of faith are with the King continually and all assemble before him on the day of the King's rejoicing. On this day Jacob is at the head of the rejoicing. Therefore it is written: "Happy art thou, O Israel, who is like unto thee?" (Deut. XXXIII, 29).

THAT THEY BRING UNTO THEE PURE OLIVE OIL BEATEN FOR THE LIGHT. Why does this section follow the section of the festivals? Because there are lamps above in which bums the supernal oil, and through Israel both higher and lower are blessed and the lamps are lit. [105a] R. Abba quoted here the verse: "Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, ye righteous" (Ps. XXII, 11). '"Be glad in the Lord", when judgement is repressed and mercy is aroused. Then "the righteous", that is, Zaddik and Zedek, bless and rejoice all worlds. Then "Exult, ye upright of heart": these are the sons of faith who are linked with them. In all things some action is required below to arouse the activity above. For observe: he who says that no action is needed or no audible utterance, a curse light on such a one! This section confutes him, of the lighting of the lights, for through this act there is a kindling above and a rejoicing above and below and a proper linking of both.' R. Judah said: 'The altar below rouses another altar, above, the priest below rouses another Priest, above.'

R. Jose and R. Isaac were once walking together when the former said: 'It is written, "Thou shalt call the Sabbath a delight and the holy of the Lord honourable, and shalt honour it, not doing thine own ways" (Isa. LVIII, 13). So far I understand. But what is the meaning of the next words: "Nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words"? What derogation is there in this for the Sabbath?' He replied: 'Truly it is derogatory. For there is no word which issues from the mouth of a man but has a voice which rises aloft and awakens something else, namely that which is called "ordinary" above, belonging to the ordinary days. Now if the ordinary is awakened on the holy day, it is counted something derogatory above, and the Holy One and the Community of Israel ask: Who is this that seeks to break up our union, who is it that seeks the ordinary here? The Ancient Holy One appears not and rests not on the ordinary. For this reason it is permitted on Sabbath to think about ordinary things, because mere thinking produces no effect, but if a word issues from a man's mouth it becomes a voice and rises aloft and breaks through ethers and firmaments and arouses something else. Therefore it says, "Not to find thine own pleasure nor speaking thine own word". But if a man utters a holy word of the Torah, it rises aloft and arouses the saints of the King, who set a crown on its head, so that there is rejoicing above and below.' 'Assuredly it is so,' said R. Jose, 'and so I have already heard. But tell me, if a man fasts on Sabbath, does he do anything derogatory to the Sabbath or not? How can you say he does not, seeing that he neglects the repasts of faith, and his punishment must be great, since he does away with the joy of the Sabbath.' He replied: 'I have heard that on the contrary this is he who is more remarked above than any other. For this day is one of supreme joy above and below, joy of all joys, the joy of faith, on which even sinners in Gehinnom have respite. Now when this man is seen to be without joy and without rest, different 'from all others above and below, they all ask, What is the cause of So-and-so being in sorrow? And when the Ancient Holy One is revealed on this day and the prayer of this sorrowful one rises and stands before Him, then all the punishments decreed against him are cancelled, even if the Court of the King has concurred in the sentence, because when the Ancient One is revealed all freedom and all joy is present. Hence, as we have learnt, the sentence of "seventy years" is annulled, the "seventy years" being the seventy crowns of the king in which He is revealed. All this, however, is only [105b] when a man is warned in a dream on the night of Sabbath. Imagine a king who makes a wedding feast for his son and orders all to rejoice. All therefore rejoice, but one man is in sorrow because he is chained for execution. When the king comes he sees all rejoicing as he ordained, but he lifts up his eyes and sees one man chained and sorrowing. Why, he says, should all rejoice in the espousals of my son and this one be chained for execution? And straightway he orders him to be released. So with him who fasts on Sabbath when all the world is rejoicing: when the Holy Ancient One is disclosed, even though all those "seventy years" have concurred in his sentence, it is wholly annulled. If on other days it is possible to procure annulment, how much more on Sabbath? For every day has its own power, and if a man fasts on account of a dream, before the day ends his sentence is annulled; not, however, if it is of the "seventy years", unless on Sabbath. Hence he has to fast on that day and not on another, for one day has no power over the next, each being responsible only for what happens in itself. Hence a man should not postpone his fast from one day to another. Observe, too, that a man is not warned in a dream without reason. Woe to him who has no warning dreams; he is called "evil", as it is written: "He that is not visited (in a dream) is evil" (Prov. XIX, 23).'

AND THE SON OF AN ISRAELITISH WOMAN WHOSE FATHER WAS AN EGYPTIAN WENT OUT. R. Judah said: 'He went out from the sphere of the portion of Israel, from the sphere of the whole, from the sphere of faith. AND THEY STROVE TOGETHER: From this we learn that he who comes from a polluted seed is ultimately exposed before all. What is the cause? The defilement of the evil portion in him, since he has no portion in the whole body of Israel.'

(AND THE SON OF THE ISRAELITISH WOMAN 8LASPHEMED THE NAME.) R. Hiya quoted here the verse: "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing" (Prov. XXV, 2). 'This means', he said, 'that it is not permitted to a man to disclose mysteries which are not meant to be disclosed, and which the Ancient of Days has hidden, as it is written, "To eat sufficiently, but to conceal the Ancient One" (Isa. XXIII, 18). "To eat sufficiently" -- until that place which is permitted, but no further. Or we may also take the words to refer to R. Simeon and his generation, the Companions who know how to walk in the path of faith, like the generation of R. Simeon and his colleagues, but such things are to be concealed from other generations which are not fitted to "eat a sufficiency". In the days of R. Simeon a man would say to his companion, Open thy mouth and let thy words give light, but after his death they said, "Let not thy mouth cause thy flesh to sin" (Eccl. V, 6). [106a]

'AND HIS MOTHER'S NAME, ETC. Up to this point his mother's name was concealed, but now that he had uttered blasphemy his mother's name is mentioned.' Said R. Abba: 'Were it not that the Sacred Lamp is still alive, I would not reveal this, since it is not meant to be revealed save to those who are among the reapers of the field: a curse light on those who want to reveal to those who should not know! The Israelitish man mentioned here was the son of another woman, and his father was the husband of Shelomith. When an Egyptian came to her in the middle of the night and he returned home and became aware of it, he separated from her and took another wife. Hence one is called "the Israel· itish man" and the other "the son of the Israelitish woman". Now if they quarrelled, how came the Holy Name to be involved? The reason was that the Israelitish man reviled the other's mother, and the latter took the He from the Holy Name and cursed with it to defend his mother; hence the word nakab (lit. hollowed) is used, to show that he separated the letters of the Holy Name. But all this is only for "the reapers of the field".'

(AND THEY PUT HIM IN WARD.) R. Isaac said: 'Besides insulting his mother, he mentioned that his father was the man whom Moses had slain with the Holy Name, and therefore it was that "they brought him to Moses", since Moses was concerned in the matter. When Moses perceived who it was, straightway "they put him in ward", and so both father and son fell by the hand of Moses.'

WHOEVER CURSETH HIS GOD SHALL BEAR HIS SIN. R. Isaac quoted here the verse: "There shall no strange god be in thee, neither shalt thou worship any strange god" (Ps. LXXXI, 9). 'The "strange god" " he said, [106b] 'mentioned in the first clause refers to the evil prompting, for if a man links himself with this, a "strange god" enters into him, for straightway he breaks the commandments of the Torah, and so he comes to abandon the faith in the Holy Name and to bow down to false gods. Hence the verse tells us that "if there is no strange god in thee, through the evil prompting, then thou shalt not come to bow down to a strange god". Hence if a man only "curses his god", in which case he may plead that he is referring only to that evil prompting which abides in him, and we do not know whether he is speaking truly or not, he shall merely "bear his iniquity"; but "he that uttereth the name of the Lord shall be put to death".' Said R. Judah: 'If that is so, it should say, "his sin shall be forgiven", not "he shall bear his sin".' He replied: 'We must suppose him to say "my god", without specifying.' Said R. Hiya: 'Certainly in that case he shall bear his iniquity, but if he pronounces the name of the Lord he shall be put to death, because on this all faith depends and he can make no excuse.' R. Jose said: 'Assuredly it is so, that this name is the basis of the faith of higher and lower, and all worlds are established on it. On one tiny letter are suspended thousands of thousands and myriads of myriads of delectable worlds, as we have learnt that these letters are linked with one another, and thousands and myriads of celestials depend on each one, and there is wrapped in them that which is not grasped by higher or lower.'

R. Hizkiah cited the verse: "No hand shall touch it, for he shall surely be stoned or shot through", etc. (Ex. XIX, 13). 'Now if', he said, 'this was to be the penalty for touching a mere mountain like Sinai because the glory of the Holy King was revealed on it, what must happen to one who touches the King? And if this was to happen to one who touched the mountain, even respectfully, what must happen to one who touches the King insultingly?' R. Jesse cited the verse: "Draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet", etc. (Ex. III, 5). 'If', he said, 'this could be said to Moses, from whom the holy halo never departed from the day that he was born, and who drew near in reverence and holiness, what would be said to one who draws near to the King insultingly?'

R. Abba said: 'When Israel were in Egypt, they were acquainted with the Chieftains who are appointed over the various nations of the world, and each of them feared one or other of them. When they were linked with the bond of faith and God brought them near to His service, they abandoned those powers for the higher faith. Therefore they were commanded, "Whoever curseth his god", etc., as much as to say: Although the service of these is strange worship, yet I have appointed them to control the world, and therefore whoever curses or insults them must bear his iniquity. But "he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord shall be put to death".'

R. Simeon was once going along accompanied by R. Eleazar, R. Abba, R. Hiya, R. Jose, and R. Judah. They came to a certain watercourse, and R. Jose slipped down in his clothes into the water. He said: [107a] 'I wish this water channel had never been here.' Said R. Simeon to him: 'You must not say that. This is for the service of the world, and it is forbidden to revile a ministrant of the Holy One, blessed be He, especially those loyal servants of his. They are appointed by Providence. It is written that "God saw all that he had made, and behold it was very good" (Gen. I, 31), even serpents and scorpions and fleas and all things that appear to be pests -- all these are for the service of the world, though men know it not.' [29] As they went along, they saw a snake crawling in front of them. Said R. Simeon: Assuredly this creature is there to perform some miracle for us. The snake quickly crept in front of them and wound- itself round a basilisk in the middle of the path. They then struggled together until both were killed. When they came up to them they found them lying dead in the road and R. Simeon said: 'Blessed be God for performing for us this miracle, for if anyone had looked upon this creature while it was alive, or had been looked upon by it, he would not have escaped harm, much less if he had approached it. Thus God makes all things His agents and we must not revile anything that He has made.'

R. Simeon discoursed on the verse: "I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys" (S.S. II, 1). 'How beloved', he said, 'is the Community of Israel to the Holy One, blessed be He, so that He continually praises Her and She continually praises Him, having many chants and hymns in store for the King. The Community of Israel is called the rose of Sharon because she flowers beautifully in the Garden of Eden, and the lily of the valleys because she desires to be watered from the deep stream, the source of rivers, as it is said, "Sharon is like an Arabah" (dry land). She is also called the lily of the valleys because she is at the lowest point of all. At first she is a rose with yellowish leaves, afterwards a lily with two colours, white and red, a lily with six leaves, a lily which changes from one colour to another. When she seeks to unite with the King she is called "rose", but after she has joined him with her kisses she is called "lily".

'Observe that when God created man and invested him with high honour, He required of him to cleave to Him in order that he might be unique and single-hearted, cleaving to the One by the bond of single-minded faith wherewith all is linked together. Afterwards they turned aside from the way of faith and abandoned the unique tree which is high above all trees and clung to the place which is ever changing from colour to colour, from good to bad and bad to good, and came down from on high and clung below to the ever changeable and abandoned the supreme and changeless One. Hence their hearts alternated between good and bad: sometimes they deserved mercy and sometimes punishment, [107b] according to that to which they clave. Said the Holy One, blessed be He: Man, thou hast abandoned life and clung to death; verily death is before thee. Therefore death was decreed for him and for all the world. Now if Adam sinned, what was the sin of the rest of the world? For it cannot be said that all creatures came and ate of the forbidden tree. No. What happened was that when man stood upright, all creatures saw him and feared him and followed him like slaves. So when he said to them, "Come, let us bow down to the Lord who made us", they all went after him. And when they saw man bowing down to the other place and cleaving to it, they again followed him, and thus he brought death on himself and all the world. Thus Adam alternated between various colours, good and bad, commotion and rest, judgement and mercy, life and death: never constant in one, through the influence of that place, which is therefore called "the flame of a sword which turns every way", from this side to that, from good to evil, from mercy to judgement, from peace to war. The Supreme King, however, in compassion on the works of his hands, warned them saying, "From the tree of knowledge of good and evil ye shall not eat". Man, however, did not listen, and followed his wife and was banished for ever, for woman can attain to this place but no further, and woman brought death on all. But in days to come "the days of my people shall be as the days of the tree" (Isa. LXV, 22) -- like that tree of which we know. Of that time it is written, "He hath swallowed up death for ever, and the Lord God hath wiped away tears from all faces" (Ibid. XXV, 8).'

_______________

Notes:

1. v. T.B. Moed Katon, 28a; Baba Kama, 82b.

2. Here follows in the original a passage expanding this idea in the highly allusive and untranslatable style of the Midrash Hare'elam.

3. v. T.B. Niddah, 13a.

4. i.e. should have water poured over his hands, v. Shuldan Aruch.

5. v. T.B. Megillah, 29a.

6. Cf. T.B. Sanhedrin, 91a. 2

7. v. T.B. Abodah Zara, 2b.

8. v. T.B. Hagigah, 13a.

9. v. T.B. Hullin, 78b, where two views are given.

10. T.B. Taanith, 12b.

11. v. T.B. Taanith, 2a.

12. Metatron.

13. i.e. when the festivals fall on them.

14. i.e. if the third meal is prolonged until the evening which commences a festival.

15. i.e. the relation of God to the universe, as set forth in the first chapter of Ezekiel.

16. In Exodus VI, 2-8, v. Shemoth Rabbah, 6.

17. Malkuth.

18. Cf. T.B. Rosh Hashanah, 8b.

19. v. T.B. Kiddushin, 40b.

20. v. Yalkut Reubeni on Beshalah.

21. v. T.B. Yoma, 53b.

22. Al. "to illumine the lower mother".

23. v. T.B. Yoma. 39a.

24. v. T.B. Taanith, 9a.

25. Cf. T.B. Taanith. ibid.

26. v. T.B. Sotah, 10b.

27. There is here a lacuna in the text.

28. From here to the end of the paragraph is inserted from Zohar. Genesis. 220a, whither it has been transposed in the text.

29. v. T.R Shabbath, 77b.

[admin]

BEHAR

Leviticus XXV, 1-XXVI, 2

AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES ... THEN SHALL THE LAND KEEP A SABBATH UNTO THE LORD. R. Eleazar introduced this portion with a discourse on the verse: "This is the law of the burnt-offering, the burnt-offering shall be", etc. (Lev. VI, 2). 'We have explained this verse', he said, 'to refer to the Community of Israel when she ascends to join the Holy King in perfect union. When night enters and the gates are closed, the lower judgements are aroused in the world, and asses, she-asses and dogs wander about; that is to say, the asses of their own accord, but the she-asses and dogs only if human beings practise sorceries with them. Then all men sleep, and a fire is kindled on the lower altar without [the curtain]. At midnight the north wind awakes, and from the lower altar there goes forth a flame of fire, and the gates are opened and the lower judgements shrink back into their holes. The flame of fire in its passage parts and travels in many directions and enters [108a] under the wings of the cock, which thereupon crows. Then the Holy One, blessed be He, enters the company of the righteous, and the Community of Israel utters His praises until morning, when they are found to be discoursing on a certain secret. The daybreak is a time for flames and judgements, but then Abraham awakens and there is rest for all. Now when Israel entered the promised land, there were no lower judgements in it, and the Community of Israel was at ease in it upon the wings of the Cherubim, for Israel did not go to rest until they had brought the evening sacrifice and so caused judgements to depart. When the burnt-offering burnt on the altar, there was ease and comfort throughout, and the Spouse was with her Husband. Hence it is written, "and the earth shall rest a sabbath for the Lord"; for such it was literally.' R. Eleazar further quoted here the verse: "If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years shall he serve" (Ex. XXI, 2). 'Every Israelite', he said, 'who is circumcised and bears on him the holy impress has relief in the sabbatical year, because it belongs of right to him to find rest therein: and this is called "the Sabbath of the land". Truly there is freedom and rest in it; as the Sabbath is rest for all, so the sabbatical year is rest for all, for the spirit and the body. Observe that the He denotes rest for higher and lower -- the higher He for the higher and the lower for the lower. The higher He is seven years seven times, the lower He is seven years only; the one is a sabbatical year, the other a Jubilee; and when closely scrutinized, both are found to be one.

'In this rest of the land slaves are also required to partake. Hence it is written, "In the seventh year he shall go out free for nothing" (Ex. XXI, 2). What is meant toy "for nothing"? The words have the same inner meaning as in the verse, "We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt for nought" (Num. XI, 5) -- that is to say, without pronouncing a blessing; for in Egypt the yoke of heaven was not upon them. What is the yoke of the kingdom of heaven? Just as an ox is put under a yoke in order that it may be of use, and otherwise it never does any work, so a man must first accept the yoke and then perform religious service: and without it he will not be able to serve God. This yoke will not rest upon one who is subject to another, and therefore slaves are exempt from the yoke of the kingdom of heaven. And if they are exempt from this yoke, they are exempt from all the rest of the religion, and therefore Israel ate in Egypt "for nothing". Here, too, the slave shall go forth to freedom, although so far all that he did was "for nothing", without the yoke of heaven, and he shall have rest. Later when he is free and has rest, he receives a yoke from the place which brought him forth to freedom. And if a man refuses to go forth to freedom, he impairs that place, since he leaves the yoke of the kingdom of heaven and accepts the yoke of a master. Therefore "his master shall bring him to Elohim" -- to the place which he impairs, "and bring him to the door or the doorpost", [108b] since this place is the gateway to the higher world. And since he was minded to impair that place, a blemish is left in his body, as it is written, "And his master shall bore his ear through". And since Israel at Mount Sinai placed "doing" before "hearing", therefore "hearing" is attached to this sabbatical year.

'It is written: "Six years thou shalt sow thy land and in the seventh year thou shalt let it rest", etc. Why so? "That the poor of thy people may eat" (Ibid.). For the poor are attached to that place, and therefore let them eat. Hence he that loves the poor brings peace to the Community of Israel and increases blessing in the world, and brings joy and strength to the place which is called Righteousness that it may pour down blessing on the Community of Israel.' [110b]

AND IF YE SAY, WHAT SHALL WE EAT, ETC. R. Judah cited here the verse: "Trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and follow after faithfulness" (Ps. XXXVII, 3). 'Observe', he said, 'that, as we have learnt, the deed below arouses the activity above, as it says, "and ye shall do (lit. make) them", as much as to say, by your action below you make those above. Hence it says here, "Do (i.e. make) good", "good" being a reference to the Zaddik. When you do this, then that "good" is aroused, and then you may "dwell in the land and follow after faithfulness". The "earth" referred to here is the supernal earth, with which none can abide save he first arouse this "good"; but if he does that he may dwell in its midst and eat its fruit and delight in it. And the same meaning is in the words "follow after faithfulness". We may also take these words to mean, "Concentrate all thy thought upon Her". For if thou arousest not this good to meet Her, bestirrest thyself not to meet Her, this good departs from Her and thou canst not approach Her, as thou canst not approach a burning furnace, and if thou dost approach it will be in fear, like one who is afraid of death, for then a fire burns to consume the world. But if this "good" advances to meet Her and abides in Her, then thou needest not to fear, and then "thou shalt decree a thing and it shall be established unto thee and light shall shine upon thy ways" (Job XXII, 28). For the sons of faith bend Her to their will every day. Who are the sons of faith? Those who arouse this "good" to meet Her, and do not spare their substance, knowing that the Holy One, blessed be He, will give them more, because they set in motion blessings before Him. Hence "if ye say, What shall we eat in the seventh year?" the answer is, "I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year"; just as it is written elsewhere: "See that the Lord ... giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days" (Ex. XVI, 29).'

As R. Jose and R. Hiya were once travelling together, they saw in front of them two other men going along. They saw a man come up to them and say, I beg of you, give me some food, if only a piece of bread, because for two days I have been wandering in the wilderness without tasting anything. One of the two men thereupon took out the food which he had brought with him for the journey and gave him to eat and drink. Said his companion to him: 'What will you do for food, for I am going to eat my own ?' He replied: 'Do I want to eat yours ?' The poor man ate up all that he had save some bread, and this he gave him for the road. Said R. Hiya: 'God did not desire that this good deed should be done by us.' R. Jose replied: 'Perhaps that man was doomed to some punishment, and God sent this man to him so as to deliver him.' They resumed their journey, and soon after the man who had given his food became faint. Said his companion to him: 'Did I not [1211a] tell you not to give your bread away?' R. Hiya then said to R. Jose: 'We have bread, let us give him some.' Said R. Jose to him: 'Do you want to undo the merit of his good deed? Let us watch a little, for assuredly the pallor of death is on this man's face, and God prepared some merit for him in order to deliver him.' Meanwhile the man fell asleep under a tree and his companion left him. R. Jose and R. Hiya then saw a fiery adder by him. 'Alas for that man,' said R. Hiya; 'surely he will now be killed.' R. Jose replied: 'He deserves that a miracle should be done on his behalf.' At that point a snake came down from the tree with intent to kill the man, but the adder attacked and killed it, and then turned its head and departed. Said R. Jose: 'Did I not tell you that God desired to perform a miracle for him, and that you should not exhaust his merit ?' The man then woke up and began to go. R. Hiya and R. Jose came up to him and gave him food. When he had eaten they informed him of the miracle which God had performed for him. R. Jose then quoted the verse: "Trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and follow after faithfulness" (Ps. XXXVII, 3). 'Happy', he said, 'is the man who does good with what he hath, because he arouseth good for the Community of Israel, to wit, with righteousness. [1] Hence it is written, "Righteousness delivereth from death" (Prov. X, 2). Why so? Because righteousness is the tree of life, and it rouses itself against the tree of death and takes those who are attached to it and delivers them from death. And what rouses it to do so? You must say, the charity which that man does; as it were, he performs it above also.'

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Notes:

1. Zedakah. i.e. charity.

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BEHUKOTHAI

Leviticus XXVI, 3-XXVII, 34

IF YE WALK IN MY STATUTES, ETC. R. Hiya introduced this section with a discourse on the verse: "O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him" (Micah VI, 5). 'Happy', he said, 'is the people whose Master exhorts them thus, as though to say, Although you go astray from the ways of My people, My ways, yet ye are My people, and I do not desire to requite you according to your deeds.' R. Isaac said: 'Happy the portion of the people whose Master says to them, "O my people, what have I done to thee and wherein have I wearied thee?" (Ibid. 3).' R. Jose said: 'God said to Israel, "Remember now (I pray you)". We cry every day with tears -and wailing, "Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us" (Lam. V, I), "Remember, O Lord, against the children of Edom" (Ps. CXXXVIl, 7), and He says to us, "I pray you, remember now", and we pay no heed; therefore when we cry He pays no heed to us.' R. Judah said: 'In truth God does heed us and remember us, otherwise Israel would not be able to stand a single day in captivity, for so it is written, "And yet for all that when they be in the land of their enemies", etc. (Lev. XXVI, 44). [112b] God does not requite us according to our deeds.

'Balak was a greater master of magic arts than Balaam. For just as the celestial holiness can be aroused both by act and by word on our part, so can they that come from the side of uncleanness. Balaam was the greatest of sorcerers, but Balak was still greater. Balaam was greater in divination, but Balak in sorcery. For sorcery depends on actions, but divination on utterances and observations. Not so holy Israel, whose whole endeavour is to draw upon themselves the spirit of holiness, wherefore it is written, "For there is no divination against Israel nor enchantment against Jacob" (Num. XXIII, 23). Because Balaam was more powerful with his mouth than all diviners and in the observation of the great Serpent, therefore Balak wished to combine his own sorcery with his divination. Said God to him: Wretch, my sons have anticipated you. They have something which prevents all evil sides and species and sorceries from coming near them, to wit, the tent of assembly and the holy vessels and the utensils of the Sanctuary and the incense of spices, which allays all wrath and anger, both above and below, and the daily sacrifices and the two altars and the table and the shew-bread and the laver and its base, and many utensils to serve the utterance of the mouth, the ark and the two tablets of the Law and Aaron to make atonement for the people with his prayer every day. When the wicked Balaam saw all this he said: "For there is no divination against Israel nor sorcery against Israel". Why? Because "the Lord his God is with him, and the pleasure of the King is in him". Therefore, "My people, I beseech you to remember the time when Balak and Balaam joined forces to destroy you, but did not succeed because I took hold of you as a father takes hold of his son, not letting him fall into the hand of another." The verse continues, "From Shittim to Gilgal". Why are these places mentioned? As much as to say: Remember that when you let go your hold upon me, then in Shittim "the people ate and bowed down to their gods" (Num. XXV, 2), and in Gilgal "they sacrificed bullocks" (Hos. XII, 11), and then your enemies prevailed over you. Why all this? "That you might know the righteous deeds of the Lord", all those kindnesses that I did to you when you kept hold on Me, and I allowed nothing in the world to dominate you and neither the higher nor lower wrath nor the evil species were able to touch you. "And he said to them: Tarry here this night, and I will bring you word again as the Lord shall speak unto me." Observe that when the sun goes down and all the gates are closed and night falls and it grows dark, many dogs are loosened from their chains and go wandering about the world. There are many Chieftains who guide them and one supreme Chieftain from the side of the Left. That wicked Balaam gained access to this supreme Chieftain by his sorceries, which he practised in the night when he was at the head of all his company, and then he made known his requests to him. [113a] The word Elohim is used in connection with Balaam as with Laban and with Abimelech, because this is a name of general application, being used of idols under the title of "other gods", which includes these Chieftains also. So this wicked Balaam summoned the Chieftain to him and he came to him. It may be said that he was with him by day (when he was with Balak). The truth is, however, that at that hour he only made observations by means of his divinations to fix the right hour, and when it says, "he went not as at other times to meet with enchantments" (Ibid. XXIV, 1), this signifies that he tried to fix the hour. but was not able as on other days, because he saw that there was no great wrath in the world and knew that "it was good in the eyes of the Lord to bless Israel" (Ibid.). For when burning wrath is rife the Left is aroused, and the wicked Balaam knew how to take hold of the left side so as to curse; but on this occasion he looked and saw that the wrath was not there.

'IF YE WALK IN MY STATUTES. This is the place from which depend the decrees of the Law, whereas "judgements" signifies another and higher place to which this statute is attached; and the two, "statute" and "judgement", are connected both on the higher and the lower plane. All the commandments and decrees and sanctifications of the Torah are attached to these, because one is the Written Torah and the other the Oral Torah. Both are intertwined and form one entity, and this is the sum of the Holy Name, so that he who transgresses against the commandments of the law in effect impairs the Holy Name.

'AND YE SHALL DO (MAKE) THEM. After "walk" and "keep" have been mentioned. why does it also say "do"? Because he who "keeps" the precepts of the Law and "walks" in God's ways, if one may say so. "makes" Him who is above. Also it says. "You shall make them", because the two aspects (of statute and judgement) are both aroused through you and join together so that the Holy Name is consummated.' Similarly, R. Simeon commented on the verse, "And David made him a name" (2 Sam. VIII, 13). 'Did, then, David really make it ?' he asked. 'What it means is that because David walked in the way of the Torah and carried out the precepts of the Torah and exercised his royal power in the fitting manner, he, as it were, "made" a Name on high. No other king was so worthy to accomplish [113b] this as David, because he used to rise at midnight and praise the Holy One, blessed be He, until the Holy Name ascended on its throne at the hour when the light of day appeared. In the same sense it is written here, "and ye shall make them"; and if ye strive to stablish thus the Holy Name, all those blessings from above shall abide firmly with you. Similarly it is written: "And they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgement" (Gen. XVIII, 19), to signify that he who keeps the ways of the Torah, as it were, "makes" justice and judgement. And who are these? The Holy One, blessed be He.' R. Simeon here wept and exclaimed: 'Alas for mankind that they know not and heed not the honour of their Master t Who is it that "makes" the Holy Name every day? You must say, he that gives charity to the poor. As we know, the poor man takes hold of judgement and all his food is judgement, the place that is called Zedek (righteousness). Hence he that gives charity (zedakah) to the poor makes the Holy Name complete as it should be above, since zedakah is the tree of life, and when it gives to Zedek the Holy Name becomes complete. Hence he who sets this activity in motion from below, as it were, fully makes the Holy Name. It has been stated elsewhere which is the place of the poor man. [1] Why is it so ? Because the poor man has not anything of his own, save what is given him, and the moon has no light save what is given her by the sun. Why is a poor man counted as dead ? Because he is found in the place of death. [2] Therefore, if one has pity on him and gives him charity, the tree of life rests upon him, as it says, "Zedakah (charity) delivereth from death" (Prov. X, 2). This applies only to charity done for its own sake, for then the doer links together zedakah with zedek so that the whole forms the Holy Name, since zedek is not established without zedakah.'

AND I SHALL GIVE PEACE IN THE LAND, AND YE SHALL LIE DOWN AND NONE SHALL MAKE YOU AFRAID. R. Jose cited here the verse: "Stand in awe and sin not", etc. (PS. IV, 5). 'When night has fallen', he said, 'and men have gone to bed, many emissaries of the law arise and go about the world, and it behoves men to tremble in awe before the Holy One, blessed be He, in order that they may be delivered from them. And a man should be careful not to make any reference to them with his lips so as not to draw their attention to him. Hence it is written, "Commune with your own heart upon your bed" (Ibid.) Hence, when Israel are virtuous it is written of them, "I shall give peace in the land". This means peace above, where the Holy One, blessed be He, comes to join the Community of Israel. Then "ye shall lie down and none shall make you afraid". Why so? Because "I shall cause evil beasts to cease out of the land". [114a] These beasts are the evil species below, namely Iggereth bath Mahalath with all her company. She it is by night, but in the day the men who come from her side, in reference to whom it is written, "neither shall the sword go through your land".' R. Abba said: 'We have explained that this includes even a sword of peace, like that of Pharaoh Necho. King Josiah interpreted the verse thus, but as we have learnt, he was made to suffer for the sins of Israel. Here a difficulty arises, since we have learnt that if the head of the people is good, they are all delivered for his sake, and if the head is not good the whole people is made to suffer for his sake. Now seeing that Josiah was a good king and acted rightly, why had he to suffer for the sins of Israel? The reason was because he did not exercise control over Israel, since he thought that they were all virtuous like himself, and though Jeremiah told him that they were not, he did not believe him. Another reason was that the Moon's light was fading and it was seeking to disappear.

'AND I WILL SET MY TABERNACLE AMONG YOU. "My tabernacle" (mishcani) means the Shekinah; the word can also be rendered "my pledge", which was taken back for the sins of Israel. Once a man was very fond of a friend of his and said to him: I am so fond of you that I am going to stay with you. Said the other: How do I know that you will stay with me ? So he took all his most precious belongings and brought them to him, saying: Here is a pledge to you that I shall never leave you. So God sought to abide with Israel, and He therefore took his most desirable possession and sent it down to Israel, saying: Here is my pledge to you that I shall never leave you. And although the Holy One, blessed be He, has departed from us, He has left his pledge in our hands, and we keep that treasure of His, so that if He wants His pledge He must come and abide with us.

'AND MY SOUL SHALL NOT ABHOR YOU. Suppose now the man is so fond of his friend that he wants to live with him, then he takes his bed to his house, saying: Here is my bed in thy house so that I shall have no need to leave thee. So the Holy One, blessed be He, said: Here is my bed in your house, and therefore you shall know that I shall not leave you.

'AND I WILL WALK AMONG YOU AND BE YOUR GOD. Since my pledge is with you, of a surety you will know that I walk with you, as it is written, "For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp to deliver thee and to give up thine enemies before thee" (Deut. XXIII, 14).' Once, when R. Isaac and R. Judah were in a village near the Lake of Tiberias, they rose at midnight and R. Isaac said to R. Judah: 'Let us discourse on the Torah, for though we are in such a place as this, we ought not to go away from the Tree of Life.' R. Judah then expounded the verse: "Now Moses took the tent and pitched it without the camp" (Ex. XXIII, 7). Why did he do so ? Said Moses: Since Israel have denied the Holy One, blessed be He, and have exchanged His glory for another, let His pledge here be in the hands of a faithful keeper until we see with whom it will be left. He said to Joshua: Thou shalt be the man of trust between God and Israel, and the pledge shall be entrusted to thee, until we see [114b] with whom it shall be left. Why to Joshua? Because he stood to Moses in the relation of the moon to the sun, [3] and he was a fitting person to hold the pledge, and therefore it is written, "Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the camp" (Ibid. 11). Said the Holy One, blessed be He, to Moses: Moses, this is not right. I have given my pledge to them, and even though they have sinned against me, it must remain with them. Therefore return my pledge to them, and for its sake I will not abandon them wherever they are. Therefore wherever Israel go into exile the Shekinah is with them, and therefore it is written, "And I will set my tabernacle among you".'

R. Isaac adduced the verse: "My beloved is like a doe or a young hart, behold he standeth behind our wall", etc. (S.S. II, 9). 'Happy', he said, 'are Israel to whom it has been granted that this pledge should be with them from the supreme King, for though they are in exile, the Holy One, blessed be He, comes at the beginning of every month and on every Sabbath and festival to take note of them and to look at his pledge which is with them, his most precious possession. He is like a king whose queen has offended him so that he has expelled her from the palace. What does she do? She takes the king's son, his pride and his darling; and because the king is still fond of her he leaves him with her. When the king yearns for the queen and her son, he climbs up roofs and goes down steps to peep at them through chinks in walls, and when he obtains a glimpse of them he weeps behind the wall and then departs. So Israel, though they have gone forth from the king's palace, have not lost that pledge, which the King has left with them because He still loves them, and when He yearns for them He goes up on roofs and steps to gain a sight of them through the chinks of the wall, as it says, "He looketh in at the windows, he glanceth through the lattice", in the synagogues and houses of learning. Therefore Israel should rejoice on the day on which they know this, and say, "This is the day on which the Lord hath wrought, we will rejoice and be glad in it" (Ps. CXVIII, 24).'

AND IF YE SHALL REJECT MY STATUTES, ETC. R. Jose adduced here the verse: "My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his reproof" (Prov. III, 11). 'Israel', he said, 'are beloved to God, and therefore God is fain to reprove them and to lead them in the right path as a loving father leads his son, and because of his love he always has the rod in his hand to keep him in the right path and to prevent him from straying to the right or the left. But from him whom He loves not and hates God withdraws His reproof and His rod; and so we interpret the verse, "I have loved you, saith the Lord ... but Esau I hated" (Mal. I, 2). The word takuz (be weary) in the above-quoted verse may be connected with kozim (thorns), for the reproof is like a thorn in a man's flesh, and yet he should not flee from it. When righteousness arises with its judgements, many are the shining emissaries who bestir themselves on the right hand and on the left, with many rods of fire, coal and flame, with which they traverse the world and smite the sons of men. Under them are many other emissaries, lords of the thirty-nine strokes, who come down and smite and ascend and receive authorization, who enter [115a] into the hollow of the great deep where they become painted with flames and a burning fire is attached to them and they issue forth like burning coals. Hence it is written, "I shall chastise you still more (lit. I will add to chastise you) seven times for your sins", that is to say, I will give additional power to the chastisers to chastise, up to seven times for your sins. It may be asked: How can this be, seeing that if God were to collect His due, the world could not endure for an instant? The truth is that this "seven" refers to the Sabbatical Year which is so called: "seven" will chastise you.'

AND I ALSO WILL CHASTISE YOU SEVEN TIMES FOR YOUR SINS. R. Abba said: 'This means that I will rouse this Seven against you. Observe the deep love of the Holy One, blessed be He, for Israel. We may compare Him to a king who had a dearly beloved son who repeatedly offended against him. At length one day the king said: All these days I have chastised thee and thou hast not hearkened. What shall I do to thee? If I banish thee from the land and depose thee from the kingdom, perhaps bears or wolves or robbers will attack thee and destroy thee. Therefore I and thou together will leave the land. So God said to Israel: What shall I do to you? Behold I have smitten you and ye have not inclined your ears. I have sent against you smiters and burners and ye have not hearkened. If I send you out of the land alone, I fear for the many bears and wolves who may rise against you and drive you from the earth. What, then, shall I do? I and you will leave the land and go in exile: yet think not that I shall abandon you, for "I also" shall be with you. For "Seven" shall be banished with you: the Matrona shall leave her temple with you, and all will be desolate, both my temple and yours. Hence I too will be with you, and therefore when Israel emerge from captivity, God will return with them.'

As R. Hiya and R. Jose were journeying together, they came to a cave in a field and R. Hiya asked R. Jose: 'Why is it written "These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel, besides the covenant which he made with them in Horeb" (Deut. XXVIII, 69)? It should be: These are the words of the adjuration, should it not ?' He replied: 'Both were words of a covenant, for [115b] although the later ones were not from the mouth of God (but of Moses), yet they were words of a covenant, since both good and evil are foreshadowed in them, good from the side of Zaddik and evil from the side of judgement, which is Zedek, and Zaddik and Zedek are called "Covenant". Hence these words are words of a covenant.'

AND YET FOR ALL THAT, WHEN THEY BE IN THE LAND OF THEIR ENEMIES I WILL NOT REJECT THEM, NEITHER WILL I ABHOR THEM TO DESTROY THEM UTTERLY AND TO BREAK MY COVENANT WITH THEM. R. Jose said: '"When they be" means when they are all together. "I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them", so as not to be associated with them. "To break my covenant with them": for if I shall not redeem them, my covenant will be divided.' Said R. Hiya: 'I have heard the following from R. Eleazar. The expression "I will not reject them or abhor them to destroy them" is somewhat strange: we should expect, "I will not smite them or slay them". What it means, however, is this. One who is hated of another is abhorred and rejected of him, but God will not reject Israel, because the beloved of His soul is among them, and for her sake all of them are beloved of Him. If a man loves a woman who lives in a street of tanners, if she were not there he would never go into it, but because she is there it seems to him like a street of spice makers where all the sweet scents of the world are to be found. So "even when they are in the land of their enemies", which is the street of tanners, "I will not abhor or reject them", because of that bride in their midst, the beloved of my soul who abides there.'

Said R. Jose: 'If I had only come to hear this, it would have been worth my while. It is written,' he continued, '"A son honoureth his father" (Mal. I, 6). We have learnt that when the father is alive it is the son's duty to honour him with food and drink. Is he free from the obligation of honouring him after his death? Not so, since it is written, "Honour thy father" (Ex. XX, 12). If the son walks in the crooked path, of a surety he brings dishonour and shame on his father. But if he walks in the straight path and his deeds are upright, then he confers honour on him both in this world among men and in the next world with God, who gives him a special throne of honour. An example is R. Eleazar, who honoured his father in his lifetime and now has made him more honoured in the next world after his death as the progenitor of holy sons and a holy stock.'

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Notes:

1. Viz. the Shekinah.

2. The Shekinah being called "the tree of death".

3. Cf. T.B. Baba Bathra, 75a.

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NUMBERS

BEMIDBAR

Numbers I, 1-IV, 20

AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES IN THE WILDERNESS OF SINAI, IN THE TENT OF MEETING, ETC. R. Abba cited here the verse: "And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him", etc. (Gen. I, 27). 'We have already explained', he said, 'that when the Holy One, blessed be He, created man, He made him in the image of the higher and the lower grades, so that he epitomised the whole, and his light shone forth from one end of the world to the other, and the whole of creation feared him. It is necessary, however, to look deeper into this verse. For since Scripture says "And God created man in his own image", why repeat "in the image of God created he him"? But what it signifies is a two-foldness of grades, of male and female comprised within the man, which made him a duality of prosopa, so that he was complete in all respects, and he contemplated in wisdom both what was above and what was below. But once he sinned his prosopa diminished, wisdom departed from him, and he could survey only the affairs of his body. He then begat offspring partaking both of the higher and of the lower nature, but the world was not settled by either of them until Adam begat a son called Seth, [1] by whom the world was made complete. [2] Yet was not the lower world finally completed, nor was it firmly established until Abraham appeared, until Abraham took hold of it by the right hand as one upholds with his right hand one who is falling. Then came Isaac, who seized the world by the left hand, establishing it still more firmly. When Jacob came, he held the world by the centre of the body, uniting the two sides, whereby the world became firm and immovable. With all that it did not take deep root until there were born the twelve tribes and their offspring, numbering seventy souls. Nor yet was the world finally completed until Israel received the Torah on Mount Sinai and the Tabernacle was set up. All worlds were then finally established and perfected, and higher and lower creatures were properly based. The Torah and the Tabernacle thus having been established, the Holy One, blessed be He, desired to take a muster, as it were, [117b] of the forces of the Torah and the forces of the Tabernacle. For a thing cannot be finally settled in its place until its name has been called and it has been assigned there. We thus see here that the Holy One, blessed be He, decided on an enumeration of the forces of the Torah and of those of the Tabernacle, these two being in essence one and inseparable on the celestial model. Their forces were thus enumerated and noted, excepting some who did not enter into the count. Therefore it is written that "the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting", the two corresponding one to the Torah and the other to the Tabernacle. Both were "in the first day of the second month", the two being one. That month, besides, is called Ziv (= brightness, splendour), in allusion to the brightness of the moon of that month in that year, by reason that then the worlds altogether found themselves in completion.

'AFTER THEY HAD COME OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT: this emphasizes the fact that Israel's exodus from Egypt took place in the first month.' R. Isaac cited here the verses: "The Lord hath been mindful of us, he will bless ... the house of Israel ... the house of Aaron ... them that fear the Lord, both small and great. The Lord increase you" (Ps. CXV, 12-14). 'The first "he will bless",' he said, 'refers to the men who were numbered, and whom the Lord blesses and "increases more and more". Observe this. Whoever speaks in praise of his companion or of his children or his substance, should also bless him and shower blessings on him. We learn this from Moses, who, after saying "And, behold, ye are this day as the stars of the heaven for multitude" (Deut. I, 10), continued, "The Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand so many more as ye are" (Ibid. 1I), and then confirmed his words by adding "and bless you, as he hath promised you" (Ibid.). But he who, recounting his neighbour's good points, omits to bless him, will be the first to incur heavenly displeasure. Whereas he who does so bless will receive blessings from above. The man's blessing, moreover, must be given not grudgingly, but generously and with a good heart, as God above all desires man's good heart. [3] How much more so must this be the case when a man offers praise to the Holy One, blessed be He! So Scripture says: "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart", etc. (Ibid. VI, 5). Now it has been laid down that the heavenly blessing does not rest on anything enumerated. How, then, is it that the Israelites were enumerated? Because the enumeration was by means of a ransom taken from them. The Israelites were thus first blessed, then their ransoms were counted, and that was followed again by a blessing given to them. The blessings, before and after, were a shield against death, which is ready to attack wherever there is enumeration. Should the blessing be removed, the "other side" may swoop down and inflict harm. The text continues: "He will bless the house of Israel", indicating the women who were not included in the enumeration, "He will bless the house of Aaron", who pronounce the blessing on Israel generously and out of goodness of heart and love. "The house of Aaron": again including their women. "He will bless them that fear the Lord", alluding to the Levites, all of whom are blessed, because they fear the Lord. "Both small and great": that is, even those who were not included in the enumeration. Observe that at no other enumeration were the Israelites blessed as at this one, which was intended in especial to be attended by a blessing and to put the finishing touch to all worlds.' [118a]

R. Judah used to be much in the company of R. Simeon. Once he asked him: 'Which region is it whence blessings go forth to Israel?' R. Simeon replied : 'Woe to the world in that its people do not ponder or reflect on the glory of the Most High King. Observe this. When Israel are found worthy before the Holy One, blessed be He, and are with Him in a certain sacred celestial tree which contains the food of the whole world, then He is blessed from the repository of all the blessings, and Israel below are blessed from the place from which all blessings come, as it says: "Then Lord bless thee out of Zion" (Ps. CXXXIV, 3), also, "Like the dew of Hermon that cometh down upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for ever" (Ibid. CXXXIIl, 3). This same is, too, the shining light of the world of which Scripture says: "Out of Zion the perfection of beauty, God hath shined forth" (Ibid. L, 2). It is the light which, when once it shines, will shine for all the worlds. When that light will awaken, the whole will be one common fellowship, under the reign of universal love and universal peace. There will be peace in heaven and peace on earth. So Scripture says: "Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces" (Ps. CXXIl, 7).'

EVERY MAN WITH HIS OWN STANDARD, ACCORDING TO THE ENSIGNS, BY THEIR FATHER'S HOUSES, SHALL THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL PITCH. R. Eleazar began a discourse, citing the verse: "Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad in her, all ye that love her", etc. (Isa. LXVI, 10). 'How beloved', he said, 'is the Torah before the Holy One, blessed be He, inasmuch as wherever words of the Torah are heard the Holy One, blessed be He, listens together with all His hosts. Indeed, He comes to lodge with the one that gives utterance to those words, as Scripture says: "In every place where I cause my name to be mentioned", etc. (Ex. XX, 21). Moreover, the enemies of such a man fall down before him, as said elsewhere. Observe this', he continued. 'The precepts of the Torah are exalted essences on high. Whenever a man fulfils one of the precepts, that precept presents itself, all adorned, before the Holy One, blessed be He, saying: So-and-so fulfilled me and I proceed from him. That man, thus, as he roused that precept below, caused a stirring on high, and brought about peace on high and below. Of this Scripture says: "Or else let him take hold of my strength, that he make peace with me; yea, let him make peace with me" (Isa. XXVII, 5); twice "peace", to wit, peace on high and peace below. Happy is the portion of the man who observes the precepts of the Torah. The text cited above says: "Rejoice ye with Jerusalem", etc., inasmuch as at no time is there joy save when Israel is established in the Holy Land, where the Wife is joined to her Spouse, diffusing thereby world-embracing joy, both on high and below. But when Israel is not in the Holy Land, a man is forbidden to display joy or gladness, as Scripture says: "Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad in her", to wit, only when within her.' R. Abba once saw a man making merry in the house of some Babylonian officers. R. Abba struck at him, citing the words: "Rejoice ye with Jerusalem", etc., which teaches us that only when Jerusalem is in joy is it permissible for us to rejoice. In harmony with this idea, R. Eleazar reconciled the two seemingly contradictory verses, one of which says "Serve the Lord with gladness" (Ps. C, 2), whilst the other says, "Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling" (Ibid. II, 11). 'The former', he explained, 'speaks of the time when Israel dwells in the Holy Land, whilst the latter refers to the time of their dwelling in a strange land. Or we may also say that "serve the Lord in fear" speaks to the Community of Israel at a time when She is in exile among the nations.' R. Judah adduced in opposition to this the verse, "For ye shall go out with joy" (Isa. LV, 12), which seems to show that the Community of Israel will be in joy whilst still in exile. R. Eleazar, in reply, said: 'The truth is that so long as She is in exile and lies in the dust there will be no real gladness. But only when the Holy One, blessed be He, will raise Her from the dust, saying, "Shake thyself from the dust", etc. (Isa. LII, 2), "Arise, shine", etc. (Ibid. LX, 1), and the people will assemble together, then there will be gladness indeed -- gladness for all. Then indeed "ye shall go out with joy"; then indeed numerous hosts will go forth to meet the Matrona, sharing in the joy of her espousals with the King. Scripture thus says: "The mountains and the hills shall break forth", etc. (Ibid. LV, 12); also, "For the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rearward" (Ibid. LII, 12). [118b]

'EVERY MAN WITH HIS OWN STANDARD, ACCORDING TO THE ENSIGNS.... [4] This signifies the four camps of the Community of Israel, comprising the twelve tribes, forming twelve boundaries enclosing Her, all on the celestial model. Of this Scripture says: "Whither the tribes went up" (Ps. CXXII, 4), to wit, the twelve tribes, the twelve lower boundaries: "even the tribes of YH, as a testimony unto Israel" (Ibid.), inasmuch as of a truth YH is the attestor of Israel. This we see in their names, as Hareuben Y (the Reubenite), Hashimeon Y (the Simeonite), and so on. Assuredly it is so, inasmuch as a sacred celestial Tree traced out its boundaries through them, as expounded elsewhere. We find Scripture saying: "As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man; and they four had the face of a lion on the right side", etc. (Ezek. I, 10). The image of man, that is, was combined with all of them. The faces turned toward the four cardinal points, each with its own likeness, but all combined with the likeness of man. Michael was on the right, Gabriel on the left, Uriel in front, and Raphael behind, while the Shekinah was hovering over them all. Thus there were two on each side with the Shekinah in the centre. This model was followed here below, namely, two on either side with YH in the centre; for as soon as two standards had commenced to march, then "the tent of meeting, the camp of the Levites, journeyed", and then two others set forth. First "the standard of the camp of the children of Judah set forward" (Num. X, 14), corresponding to the camp of Uriel; the camp of Reuben corresponded to the camp of Michael; the one was toward the south, the other toward the east, symbolic of the southeast of the altar. Then the camp of Dan toward the north, corresponding to the camp of Gabriel, and the camp of Ephraim to the west, corresponding to the camp of Raphael. This is symbolic of the north-west of the altar. The whole was linked together and was unified in the Divine Name, which is both the starting-point and the consummation of all existence. Thus the Yod, symbolic of the east, is the starting-point of light which moves on toward the south; the He is symbolic of the south and the north. Thus, YH (the Yod and the Hi) is the upholder of the south and the north; whilst the Vau is the centre, and is significant of the male child. Hence the dictum, "Whoever places his bed between north and south will have male children horn to him". [5] Then the last He denotes the west. The south is thus interlinked with the east, which constitutes the starting-point of the sun. Hence we have learnt that it is the side of the Father to which is attached the supernal Hesed (Mercy), and the side of the Mother from which depends Geburah (Might). So are the comers of the altar circled (by the priest when sprinkling the blood), beginning with southeast, as the strength of the south resides in the east, the starting-point of the sun; followed by the east-north, since the south in its turn gives its light to the north, the north being enfolded in the south, as the left hand is clasped in the right; there follows north-west, the west, symbolised by the last He, deriving from the north; finally, west-south, the west thus proceeding to be embraced, as it were, by the south; in the same way as the south depends on the east, from which it derives its strength, so the west is embraced by the south, as it says: "Let his left hand be under my head, and his right hand embrace me" (S.S. 11, 6). The right signifies the south, and the left the north. This mystery we are taught by the Holy One, blessed be He, who thus places His bed between the north and the south, and so has man to do -- as my father taught me -- in order that he may have male children born to him. In all his deeds [119a] it behoves a man to imitate the celestial model, and to realize that according to the nature of a deed below there is a responsive stirring on high.' R. Phineas, having heard this discourse, kissed R. Elezar. He wept and laughed, saying: 'Happy is my portion in this world and in the world to come.' The same R. Phineas then quoted the verse: "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?", etc. (Ps. XXVII, 1). 'When a man', he said, 'turns his eyes to the heavenly light, he will be illumined by the light that God will cause to shine upon him, and he will fear no one, either in the upper- worlds or the lower. So Scripture says: "But upon thee the Lord will arise, and his glory shall be upon thee" (Isa. LX, 2); "The Lord is the stronghold of my life" (Ps. XXVII, 1), for when the Almighty takes hold on a man he will have no fear in the other world of any of the executors of judgement. So I,' said R. Phineas, 'having taken hold of thee and of thy father, have no fear of anything in this world or in the other world. It is concerning such a one as thou that it is written: "Let thy father and thy mother be glad, and let her that bore thee rejoice" (Prov. XXIII, 25). "Thy father" is the Holy One, blessed be He, and "thy mother" is an allusion to the Community of Israel, while "her that bore thee" refers to thy mother here below. As for thy father, R. Simeon, where is his joy referred to ? In a separate verse, saying: "The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice. and he that begetteth a wise child will have joy of him" (Ibid. 24). where by "the father of the righteous" is meant the Holy One, blessed be He, and "the begetter of a wise child" refers to thy father here below.' R. Eleazar cited the verse: "In thy hand I commit my spirit; thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, thou God of truth" (Ps. XXXI, 6). 'This statement', he said, 'is somewhat surprising; for have you ever seen a man committing anything into the hand of the King? But, assuredly, happy is the man who walks in the paths of the Most Holy King and does not sin before Him. For as soon as night falls the Tree of Death dominates the world and the Tree of Life ascends to the height of heights. And since the Tree of Death has sole rule of the world, all the people in it have a foretaste of death. It is therefore incumbent upon man to make haste and meet the Tree of Death and deposit his soul with it, as a man deposits a pledge with his creditor. For, although the debt exceeds the value of the pledge. yet the creditor does not distrain on him because he has the pledge, but otherwise he will exact his debt. So all the souls of man are taken by the Tree of Death in deposit, and all have a taste of death. Now although their sins are excessive, and they do not deserve to receive back their souls. and the Tree has really no right to give them back, [6] yet they are returned to men at the moment the Tree of Life awakens in the world, to wit, the moment when dawn breaks. The Tree of Death then departs, and people come to life again by reason of the Tree of Life. It is true that many men wake during the night, but this, too, is the work of the Tree of Life. This happens in accordance with what is written, "to see if there were any man of understanding that did seek after God" (Ibid. XIV, 2); for thereby is removed any excuse that man might plead, saying: "Had I been in control of my soul in the night, I would have laboured in the study of the Law": Said R. Judah: 'This is rightly explained in regard to Israel; but what about the other nations to whom we see the same thing happens?' R. Eleazar replied: 'That is a good remark: He then discoursed (concerning the other nations), citing the verse: "How shall I curse, whom EL (God) hath not cursed, and how shall I execrate, whom the Lord hath not execrated?" (Num. XXIII, 8). 'Observe', he said, 'that the lower world is modelled on the upper world. On high there is a Right and a Left; so below there are Israel and the idolatrous nations, the former on the right, attached to the holiness of the Holy King, the latter on the left, on the side of the unclean spirit. The grades are linked one with another, [119b] all depending finally on the one at the head, and the tail has to move in accordance with the head. Balaam could avail himself of all the lower grades, but he saw that even the lowest was still guided by the head. Hence his declaration: "How shall I curse, whom EL hath not cursed?", because the superior Head did not exercise rigour in those days. It is true that El denotes Goodness and Mercy, but it also expresses Rigour, as it says, "and El (God) hath indignation every day" (Ps. VII, 12). As for the compound "El-Shaddai", this signifies the God who put a limit to the universe. [7] Hence "How shall I curse, whom El hath not cursed?". For, as the Head moves, so does the Tail.' [8] R. Eleazar wept. He discoursed on the verse: "The sound thereof shall go like the serpents", etc. (Jer. XLVI, 22). 'At the present time,' he said, 'when Israel is in exile, he is assuredly as the serpent. For when the serpent presses its head into the sand its tail flies upwards, being master, as it were, and lashing out at anyone near him; so Israel in exile has his head bowed down into the dust whilst the tail obtains the mastery. But although the head is bowed down into the sand, it is the same head, and that directs and rules the movements of the tail; and so at the present time it is indeed the other nations, who are attached to the tail, that rise on high, have the mastery and are lashing out, whilst the head is bowed down into the dust, as it says, "The virgin of Israel is fallen, she shall no more rise" (Amos V, 2); yet it is the head that directs the tail in its motions, as it says: "They made me keeper of the vineyards" (S.S. I, 6), to wit, of the idolatrous nations, which are the tail.' R. Judah then came and kissed the hands of R. Eleazar, saying: 'Had I never asked you any other question but only this, my gain would already be great in that now I know how the sway of the idolatrous nations is being directed. Happy is the portion of Israel, in. regard to whom it is written: "For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his own treasure" (Ps. CXXXV, 4.).' R. Eleazar asked him what was meant by "for his own treasure". R. Judah replied: 'The three patriarchs are called "treasure", both on high and here below; so are the priests, the Levites, and the Israelites; it is all one, and this is indicated in the words, "Then ye shall be mine own treasure from among all peoples" (Ex. XIX. 5).'

THEN THE TENT OF MEETING, WITH THE CAMP OF THE LEVITES.... THE STANDARD OF THE CAMP OF EPHRAIM, ACCORDING TO THEIR HOSTS, SHALL BE ON THE WEST SIDE. This was because the Shekinah is in the west. [9] In this regard it is written: "And he blessed them that day, saying, By thee shall Israel bless, saying.... And he set Ephraim before Manasseh" (Gen. XLVIII, 20). It is not written "shall be blessed", but "shall bless", as much as to say: Holy Israel will not bless the world save by invoking Thee, [10] who art in the west. This shows that Jacob then saw the Shekinah. It is true that it is written, "the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see" (Ibid. 10), but it also says, "putting his hands crosswise" (Ibid. 14.).That is, he first raised up his right hand, but the Shekinah turned it toward Ephraim, and having caught the scent of the Shekinah, as it were, over his head, he said: By Thee will Israel bless. He saw then that the Shekinah is in the west. The reason for this, as has been explained, is that She may be between north and south, in an attitude of nuptial union, with the north supporting Her beneath Her head and the south embracing Her. So says Scripture: "Let his left hand be under my head, and his right hand embrace me". There is a dictum: "Whoever recites the Psalm Praise of David (Ps. CXLV) thrice daily may be assured that he is destined for the world to come". [11] [120a] This is because thereby we symbolize daily the union that is effected between north and south. Thus in the morning a man takes upon himself the yoke of heaven by reciting the Psalm headed "Praise of David", followed by ten "Hallelujahs", to wit, the five Psalms each commencing with "Hallelujah" and ending with "Hallelujah", with the very last of them containing ten times the expression "praise ye" (Ibid. CL). Then follows the Song of Moses, which contains all praises, and whereby a man takes upon himself the yoke of the Holy Kingdom. Then at the end of the Service he places Her in Hesed at the end of the prayer proper, to be sanctified therewith. Then the same Psalm is repeated at Minha (Afternoon Prayer), when Vigour is in the ascendant and Rigour prevails alongside the south. Thus unification is effected all along between north and south; and whoever co-ordinates daily his prayers in this way is assuredly destined for the world to come. Thus ON THE WESTSIDE SHALL BE THE STANDARD OF THE CAMP OF EPHRAIM, that is, lying between north and south; with the standard of the camp of Reuben on the south, and the standard of the camp of Dan on the north, Ephraim is found on the west between the two, between north and south, all on the heavenly pattern. The following is a mystery known to those who inhabit the south, and has been sent to us by our "brethren who arrange the lamps". 'That ye may effect unification by means of the intertwined mysteries that are of the shape of the celestial intertwining, accept upon yourselves the first thing every day the yoke of the Holy Kingdom; thereby will ye enter into the holy intertwining of the south. These encircle the sides of the world unfit they become bound up in one knot, but keep firm hold of the south and there abide.' R. Eleazar then asked his father, R. Simeon, for a mnemonic suggestive of this method of effecting unification. In reply his father mentioned the manner in which the priest goes round the altar, regarding which the Mishnah-Code says: "And [the priest] came to the south-eastern, then to the north-eastern, the north-western, and the south-western horn". [12] R. Eleazar then asked: 'How could one come to the south before taking upon oneself the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven?' R. Simeon, in reply, said: 'Just so. It says [literally] "and he came to the horn of south-east", that is, first to the horn, symbolic of the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, and then to the south-east, symbolic of the Tree of Life .... And whoever accomplishes [120b] unification in the proper way as just indicated, happy is his portion in this world and in the world to come, and, moreover, in such a one the Holy One, blessed be He, glorifies Himself. Concerning such a one, Scripture says: "And he said unto me, Thou art my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified" (Isa. XLIX, 3).'

R. Simeon began a discourse, citing the verse: "[A Psalm] of David. Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift my soul. O my God, in thee have I trusted", etc. (Ps. XXV, 1-22). 'Why did David', he asked, 'compose this Psalm in an alphabetic acrostic, and besides, why is the letter Vau absent therefrom? Why, again, has this Psalm been prescribed as the "falling-on-one's-face prayer"? [13] Now the solution of all this is based on an esoteric doctrine known to the Companions, which is as follows. When night falls the Nethertree, from which death issues, spreads its branches so as to cover the whole of the universe. And so darkness prevails, and all the people of the world have a foretaste of death. And every man hastens to surrender his soul into His Hand as a trust. And inasmuch as He takes them in trust He returns each one to her owner in the morning. Thus, as each morning arrives, man, having received back his deposit, ought to render blessings to the Holy One, blessed be He, who is trustworthy above all. Then, having risen, a man goes to Synagogue, adorns himself with phylacteries and enwraps himself in a garment provided with fringes, then he first purifies himself by the [recital of the regulations concerning the] sacrifices, then follows the recital of the hymns of David by which he accepts upon himself the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven. After that comes the prayer said sitting, followed by the prayer said standing, the two being knit together into one. Observe the inwardness of the matter, to wit, that although prayer is performed by speech and verbal utterance, its efficacy springs primarily from the preparatory actions performed. First action, then prayer -- utterance corresponding to that action. Thus a man has in the first place to cleanse himself [by ablution], then accepts upon himself the Heavenly Yoke symbolized in the act of spreading over his head the fringed robe. Then he makes tight on himself the knot expressive of unification, to wit, the phylacteries, consisting of the phylactery of the head and that of the hand, the latter on the left hand over against the heart, in consonance with the Scriptural verses, saying: "Let his left hand be under my head", etc. (S.S. II, 6), and "Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm" (Ibid. VIII, 6). So far the preparatory actions. Then corresponding to these, man, in entering Synagogue, first cleanses himself by the [recital of the regulations concerning the] sacrifices; then he accepts upon himself the Heavenly Yoke by the recital of the hymns of King David. Then comes the prayer said sitting, which corresponds to the arm-phylactery, followed by the prayer said standing, which corresponds to the head-phylactery. So prayer is made up of both action and speech, and when the action is faulty speech does not find a spot to rest in; such prayer is not prayer, and the man offering it is defective in the upper world and the lower. The main thing is to perform the act and to give utterance to words in co-ordination with it; this is perfect prayer. Woe to him who spoils his prayer, the worship of his Master. Of such a one Scripture says: "When ye come to appear before me ... yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear" (Isa. I, 12-15). Observe this. Both upper and lower worlds are blessed through the man who performs his prayer in a union of action and word, and thus effects a unification. And so with the conclusion of the prayer said standing, a man has to assume the appearance of one who has departed this world in that he has separated himself from the Tree of Life. Now he has to be gathered towards that Tree of Death and fall on his face and say: "Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.... " As much as to say: "Before, [121a] I gave Thee my soul in trust, now that I have effected unification and performed act and word in befitting manner and have confessed my sins, behold, here is my soul which I surrender to Thee completely." A man must then look upon himself as having departed this world, his soul having been surrendered to the region of death. This is the reason that that Psalm does not contain the letter Vau, since that letter is symbolic of the Tree of Life, whereas that Psalm is concerned with the Tree of Death. For there are sins which are beyond forgiveness until a man departs this world, of which Scripture says: "Surely this iniquity shall not be expiated by you till ye die" (Isa. XXII, 14), so that man has given himself over, as it were, to death, and delivered his soul into that region, not merely in trust as during the night, but al; though he had actually departed this world. This service must be performed by the man with full devotion of heart, and then the Holy One, blessed be He, will take pity on him and forgive his sins. Happy is the man who knows how to persuade, as it were, and how to offer worship to his Master with devotion of will and heart. Woe to him who comes to persuade his Master with an absent heart and without true intent in the way described in the words: "But they beguiled him with their mouth, and lied unto him with their tongue. For their heart was not steadfast with him" (Isa. LXXVIII, 36-37). Such a one may recite: "Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul ...", but all his words proceed from an absent heart; and this causes him to be removed from the world before his allotted days, at a moment when that Tree bestirs itself in the world to execute judgement. Hence it is incumbent on man to cleave heart and soul to his Master. and not to come to Him with deceitfulness. Of such a one Scripture says: "He that speaketh falsehood shall not be established before mine eyes" (Ibid. CI, 7). Being interpreted. this means that when a man prepares himself for this. but with a heart remote from the Holy One. blessed be He. a Voice proclaims. saying: He will not be established before Mine eyes. All the more is this so when a man comes to effect unification of the Divine Name. but does not do so in the proper manner. Happy is the portion of the righteous in this world and in the world to come. Of them it is written, "and they shall come. and shall see my glory", etc. (Isa. LXVI, 18); and again, "Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name", etc. (Ps. CXL. 14).' R. Eleazar then approached and kissed his father's hand. saying: 'Had I not come into the world for aught else but to hear these words it would have sufficed me.' Said R. Judah: 'Happy is our portion and the portion of Israel who cleave to the Holy One, blessed be He. So Scripture says: "But ye that did cleave", etc. (Deut. IV, 4); and again, "Thy people also shall be all righteous", etc. (Isa. LX, 21).'

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Notes:

1. Sheth = foundation.

2. Al. with whom the world was planted. v. Mid. R. Num. XIV, 12; Cant. VIII, 9.

3. v. T.B. Sanhedrin. 107a.

4. There is here a lacuna in the text.

5. T.B. Berachoth, 5b.

6. Being the attribute of Judgement.

7. SHaDaY (Shaddai) = He who ... enough; i.e. He who, at the proper moment, put a limit to the expanding universe at the Creation by the word of command: "Enough!'', v. T.B., Hagigah, 12a.

8. This is in reply to the question of R. Judah as to how men of other nations awake during the night.

9. v. T.B. Baba Bathra, 25a.

10. Referring to the Shekinah.

11. T.B. Berakoth, 4b.

12. Mishnah Zebahim v. 3.

13. This in accordance with the Sephardi ritual. v. Common Prayer Book. ed. Gaster. The Ashkenazi ritual prescribes Psalm VI.