Kabbalah Library

2. Everything that the Creator created in His world, He created only for His glory, as it is written, “All that is called by My name, and which I have created, formed, as well as made for My glory.” The Creator created the man in the world and placed in him His name, HaVaYaH, the bottom Hey, man’s soul. Vav is His spirit; the first Hey is man’s soul; Yod is Neshama to His Neshama, and He called them Yod-Hey, father and mother, Vav-Hey, son and daughter.

3. Similar to the way He created Ruach and Nefesh of holiness, He created Ruach and Nefesh from the left side, the beastly Ruach and Nefesh. Similar to the way that wine stands on its yeast, the noetic Ruach and Nefesh, those of holiness, stand on the beastly Ruach and Nefesh. She is called beastly because she is from the side of Sam and the serpent, male and female.

The Ruach is from the side of Sam, and the Nefesh is from the side of the serpent. He said about this that king Solomon said in his wisdom, “Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the beast, which goes down to the earth?”

4.The Creator does not give His name to the side of impurity, as it is written, “I am the Lord; this is My name, and I will not give My glory to another, and My praise to carved images.” “I” implies the verse, “Even I will chastise you.” Malchut, the quality of judgment, is called “I.” HaVaYaH [the Lord] implies the quality of mercy, ZA. “Will not give to another” implies another God, as it is written, “You shall not bow to another God,” on the side of impurity.

5. Rabbi opened and said in the meaning of HaVaYaH. Yod is called by an example; this is Elimelech, meaning Elimelech implies the Yod of HaVaYaH, Neshama to Neshama. Hey is called by an example; it is Naomi, for Naomi is called the first Hey of HaVaYaH, Neshama, Bina. Why is she called Naomi? As it is written, “And the Noam [pleasantness] of the Lord will be upon us.” Bina is called “the pleasantness of the Creator,” Vav-Hey are called by example; it is Ruth and her husband. Ruth is the bottom Hey; her husband is from a window, Vav.

6. Ruth, who is the bottom Hey, Malchut, inverted her name from Ruth to Tor, as it is written, “a turtledove [Heb: Tor] and a nestling.” It is also written, “My dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the steps, show me your looks, let me hear your voice, for your voice is pleasant and your looks are lovely.” Thus, Malchut is called “dove,” “turtledove.”

7. It is written, “And establish the work of our hands for us.” This is the deed that a person does. If they are good deeds, the Lord [HaVaYaH] will be on him. If not, the Lord will depart from him, as it is written, “Women’s wisdom built her home, and folly in her hands will ruin it.” “Women’s wisdom” is the Neshama and the Nefesh, which are females. Folly is the Nefesh of the left, called Orpa. And her husband, Kilayon [annihilation], is the Ruach of the left.

8. “Show me your looks.” When a person is made from a drop in his mother’s placenta, as he grows, the Creator instills in him Ruach and Nefesh bit by bit, and a candle is placed on his head at night, as it is written, “When His lamp shone upon my head.” “And a pillar of light by day,” as it is written, “By day, in a pillar of cloud, to guide them on the way, and by night, in a pillar of fire, to shine for them, to walk day and night.” It is also written, “For a candle is a commandment and the Torah is light.” Malchut, which governs at night, is called “A candle is a commandment,” and ZA, who is called Torah, who governs during the day, is called “and the Torah is light.”

9. “And he is taught the whole Torah.” He is taught all the commandments, and he is told, “See that this is a winding road, called ‘night,’ and in that place, all the souls of people will ascend, as it is written, ‘small and big are there, and a slave is free from his master.’’”

10. He is shown in the pillar of fire that is on his head, several bears and leopards, lions, and sabotaging angels sitting there, and there is a dog there. David said about that, “Save my spirit from the sword, from the hand of a dog, my only one.” That place is darkness, and sabotaging angels call it “nights.” It was said about that, “afraid at night.” They are called “truly nights.”

11. He is told, “If you are rewarded with commandments, each and every commandment, a good angel will be made of it for you. When you come to that place and you are rewarded with commandments, they will say, ‘Heap it up! Heap it up! Make way, pick up the stumbling block from the way of so and so,” and sabotaging angels will not govern you.

12. Similarly, in the day, we say, “If you are rewarded with the Torah, every letter will be an angel who will help you in that place.” The Torah is called “way,” “walk in this way, so you are not governed.” It is written about that, “to guide them on the way.” Afterwards, he will be shown the Garden of Eden, and each and every part that is in it for a righteous in itself, and he is sworn to observe the whole Torah.

13. Afterwards, he will be told, “And the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your land, from your kindred, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you, and I will make you into a great nation.’” The soul is called Abram, Av [father] to the spirit, and Ram [high] to the body. “Go forth from your land” is the Garden of Eden.” “From your kindred” is the abdomen of the flesh and blood mother, who is called “kindred.” “And from the house” is the Shechina [Divinity]. “Your father’s” is the Creator, since his father is none but the Creator, and his mother is none but the assembly of Israel, the Shechina. “To the land” is the bottom world. He is given seven blessings that are said above, from the word, “And I will make you” up to “with all the families of the earth.”

14. If a person is rewarded and becomes a righteous, and knows the name of the Creator, what will he be told when he departs from the world? “Do not fear the fear of the night, they will lift you up in their hands, lest your foot stumbles on a stone.” From the stone of the winding road, your foot, until, “because he knows My name.”

15. If the person is not rewarded with the Torah and good deeds, when he departs from the world, he will enter the way of darkness, and anyone who is in that place will be shaken and say, “Is this Naomi, the soul that went in that place filled with abundance, filled with Torah, to whom the pillar of cloud shone in that place to walk by day, and the pillar of fire shone for her to walk in that place at night, and who was with her husband Elimelech, Neshama to Neshama?”

16. The soul replied and said, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Marah [Heb: bitterness], for the Lord has made it very bitter for me, bringing me in a bad body. I went full in that place, and the Lord returned me empty.”

17. At that time, she says to the two souls, the noetic soul called Ruth, and the beastly soul called Orpa, “Return, my daughters,” as it is written, “And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, ‘Return, my daughters.’” Ruth, a holy soul, replies and says, “But Ruth replied, ‘Do not urge me to leave you or to turn from following you, for wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you stay, I will stay.’”

18. But Orpa, the soul from the left, the beastly soul, parts from the soul and goes to the body and mourns it, as it is written, “He feels only the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself.” As long as she mourns for him, the body says to the beastly soul, “Because of the eating and drinking that you gave me, the soul is in great grief, and without Torah and without commandments. Take what you have given me,” and the body is cracked open.