Kabbalah Library

565) “You shall not Kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal.” In all of those three commandments, there is the Taam [pronunciation mark] Tipcha under the word “No,” which separates. If there were no Taam that separates, there would not be correction to the world and it would be forbidden for us to kill a soul in the world, even if he transgresses in the Torah. But having the separating Taam indicates that He forbade and permitted.

566) “You shall not commit adultery.” If there were no separating Taam it would be forbidden to even bear or to delight in his wife a delight of Mitzva. Having a separating Taam indicates that he forbade and permitted. “You shall not steal.” If there were no separating Taam it would be forbidden even to steal the teacher’s mind in the Torah, or the mind of a sage to look at it, or a judge who judges by law, according to an argument that one should steal the mind of a fraud, and steal the mind of the two litigants to bring the sentence to light. Having a separating Taam indicates that he forbade and permitted.

567) “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Here there is no separating Taam because it is utterly forbidden. In all the words of Torah, the Creator placed high meanings and taught people the way to be corrected in it and walk in it, as it is written, “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to do benefit, who leads you in the way you should go.”

568) In “You shall not covet,” there is no separating Taam at all. Did the Torah forbid even the coveting of the Torah, since there is no separating Taam? Rather, in all of them the Torah is in general, and in this one it is in particular, for it writes your neighbor’s house, his field, and his servant, meaning specifically all the worldly things. But the Torah is always coveted, entertaining treasures of life, long days in this world and in the next world.

569) The ten commandments of the Torah are the collective of all the Mitzvot of the Torah, the collective of above and of below, the collective of the ten utterances of Beresheet [Genesis]. Those were engraved on stone tablets and all the treasures that were in them appeared before the eyes of everyone, to know and to look at the 613 Mitzvot of the Torah that are included in them. Everything is visible, everything is in understanding, in looking of the heart of the whole of Israel, and everything was illuminating before their eyes.

570) At that time, all the secrets of Torah and all the upper and lower secrets were not denied of them because they could see the brightness of the glory of their Master eye to eye, which has not occurred as on that day since the day the world was created, when the Creator appeared in His glory on Mount Sinai.

571) But we learn that a maidservant by the sea saw what Ezekiel the prophet did not see. Can it be that it was as that day when Israel stood by Mount Sinai? No, because on that when they stood by Mount Sinai, the filth was removed from them and all the bodies were shining with the purity of the high angels when they clothe in pure garments to do their Master’s mission.

572) In that immaculate garment, they enter the fire and are not afraid, like that angel of Manoah, when he appeared to him and he entered into the flame and rose to heaven, as it is written, “The angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar.” When that filth was removed from them, Israel remained immaculate bodies without any filth at all, and the soul within the body was as the luster of the firmament to receive light.

573) So were Israel when they saw and looked at the glory of their master. This was not so by the sea, for at that time, the filth had not been removed from them, while here in Sinai, when the filth had stopped from the body, even fetuses in their mothers’ abdomens saw and looked at the glory of their master, and all of them, each and every one, received as was appropriate for him.

574) On that day, there was more joy to the Creator, than on the day when the world was created, since on the day when the world was created, the world was not in existence until Israel received the Torah, as it is written, “If not My covenant day and night, I did not appoint the ordinances of heaven and earth.”

575) When Israel received the Torah on Mount Sinai, the world was perfumed and heaven and earth existed, and the Creator became known above and below, and rose in His glory over all. This is why it is written about that day, “The Lord reigns, He wears pride; the Lord wears strength,” and there is no strength but the Torah, as it is written, “The Lord will give His people strength; the Lord will bless His people with peace.”