Kabbalah Library

16. “From the ends of the earth we hear songs, ‘Glory to the Righteous One.’ But I say, ‘My secret is to me! My secret is to me! Woe to me! The traders deal treacherously.’” Woe to people who do not notice and do not engage in their Master’s glory, nor regard the upper Kedusha [holiness], to be sanctified in this world and to be holy in the next world. “From the ends of the earth” is the upper holy cover, Malchut. “We hear songs,” as it is written, “Sings at night,” the songs and praises of the Assembly of Israel, Malchut, before the Creator, ZA. At night means when she is ready and is present to praise the Creator, and plays with the righteous in the Garden of Eden.

17. And when is she ready to praise the Creator? From midnight onward. Then, “We hear songs,” meaning praises. And the songs are as it is written, “The song of the ruthless is silenced,” which means uprooting all those tyrants from their places. It is so because when the night begins, several tyrants, litigators, are present in the world, walking and roaming the world in order to slander. From midnight on, a spirit awakens and uproots them all from their places, removing them so they will not govern. “We hear songs,” praises of the Assembly of Israel for the Creator at night. Why? It is written, “Glory to the Righteous One,” meaning Malchut wishes to mate in a single Zivug with the Creator, to be sanctified with Him in a single Kedusha. “Glory” means desire. “To the Righteous One” means Yesod.

18. “But I say, ‘My Raz [secret] is to me! My Raz is to me!’” This is a sublime secret because Raz means “secret.” The second “My Raz is to me” is to extend a holy spirit, meaning that the Zivug of the Creator and His Divinity at midnight is a high secret. And if people below are sanctified in their Zivug at that time, and intend in that, they extend a great spirit.

But “Woe to me,” for the generation and for the world. “The traders deal treacherously,” meaning they all lie in it, denying the upper Providence, lying about themselves, meaning they are not sanctified at the time of the Zivug. And they not only lie about themselves, but the sons that they bear will be lying due to their lie at the time of Zivug, which was without the upper Kedusha. Thus, they are flawed above and below.

19. When Isaiah saw it, he gathered all those who fear sin and taught them the holy way, how to be sanctified in the Kedusha of the King at the time of Zivug, so that their children will be holy. Once they were sanctified, the sons that they bore were named after him, as it is written, “Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me shall be for signs and for wonders in Israel,” meaning distinguished from the rest of the nations.

20. “From the ends of the earth we hear songs.” When Israel entered the land with the holy ark of the covenant before them, Israel heard from one side in the land praises and joy, and the voice of high singers singing in the land. At that time, “Glory to the Righteous One.” Then the praises were to Moses because glory means magnificence and praise. “To the Righteous One” means Moses, for wherever the ark was in the land, a voice would be heard saying, “This is the law [Torah] that Moses placed before the children of Israel.” However, “Woe to me, the traders deal treacherously,” meaning that Israel are destined to betray the Creator and be uprooted from the land at one time. And because the lie has found a hold among them, they will be uprooted from the land a second time until their iniquities are complemented in another land.