Kabbalah Library

49. Although they were fleeing, they were not quieted because previously, they covered the earth, and now they were fleeing from it. What did the Creator do? He took like a bundle of clay, engraved His name of seventy-two names in it, cast it into the water, and it promptly stood still and became quiet.

50. In which place did they stand? In Zion, as it is written, “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty.” “The perfection of beauty” is the name of the Creator, the name AB, and it is placed in Zion. This is why they stood from there. When the earth collapses, it collapses only from this place, which is the place of the world.

51. One who swears in the name of the Creator in truth, this bundle in which His name is sealed departs upward with joy and exists in it, and the world exists. One who swears falsely, that bundle ascends and departs, and He sees that it is false, and then the world collapses and wants to return to chaos, for the world exists only on His name, which is sealed in truth. It is written about this, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.”

52. The place of the whole world is one dot, on which everything stands, and the honor is not blessed unless from its place, as it is written, “Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place.”

It is written, “He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth.” Snow is Malchut from the side of the first state, when she was adhered to the left line of Bina without right. For this reason, her lights froze, and the water, which are the lights, froze and became snow. Not only does the snow not bear fruit, it is good for nothing. The Creator said to the snow, “Fall on the earth,” meaning He said to the snow, “You are fit for nothing, fall on the earth, which bears fruit and gives nourishment and life to all living beings.”

How did He say this? He said to her, “Go and diminish yourself,” and she descended and came under the screen of the Chazeh of ZA. That screen diminished her level so she could no longer receive from Bina, and then she adhered to ZA, who is right, and received from him Hochma and Hassadim together, for the Hochma clothed in Hassadim. Then she becomes a land that bears fruit and gives nourishment to all the living beings.

The matter of the saying that He told her, “Fall on the earth,” is the correction of the screen that will diminish her level, for by this correction, she adhered to ZA and became the earth. That screen is also regarded as a measure, since it measures her level, that she will be below ZA, for through this measuring, she was established into being a land that bears fruit.

When the Creator took the snow, Malchut from the first state, and threw into the water, to the lights of ZA from the Chazeh and below, under His throne, that He took the Malchut that is under Bina, who is called the “throne,” which is the throne of Hochma, since Malchut from the first state was adhered under the Bina in her left line; this is why He took her from there.

He took as much as the hollow of His hand. His hand means that screen that measured and diminished her level so she would be below the level of ZA. And with that screen, He took the snow, Malchut from the first state, and diminished her and lowered her below the Chazeh of ZA.

The extent of a third of a Zeret of ice is the force of judgment in the screen of Chazeh, which operate on Malchut to lower her from the level of ZA, since there are three kinds of judgment in the screen of Chazeh, from three lines. The collection of these judgments is called Zeret, from the words Zer [bundle] and Zarut [foreignness], as well as a bundle of gold.

The judgments of the right line were made from the ascent of Malchut to Bina, and the judgments of the left line are from the darkness and freezing in the left. The judgments of the middle line are the screen of the lock, and because they are extended from three lines, they are regarded as two thirds of the Zeret. The amount by which He took the snow and lowered her below the level of ZA is a third of a Zeret, the bottom third which is drawn from the middle line.

He took as much as a third of a Zeret, the lock, and threw into the water. By its strength, He threw the snow into the water of ZA from the Chazeh and below, as it is written, “And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure.” A third means the bottom third of the Zeret, in which the snow was corrected into being the dust of the earth. It is written, “He says to the snow, “Fall on the earth,’” for by the force of the third of a Zeret, He said to the snow that there will be a land that bears fruit and gives nourishment and life.

In the beginning of the diminution and the descent of Malchut, the waters of ZA were covering all of it, and it was not seen. That is, the Hochma that was in it, which is called “seeing,” was revoked. Afterwards, ZA bestowed upon it Hochma and Hassadim, and it rose above the water and was seen.

In other words, at first, the snow went under the water, and from there, one stone was made, sunken in the middle of the deep, meaning it sank in the middle of the deep, and the judgments of the deep surrounded it from all sides, and it was unseen because the Hochma in it was revoked. Afterwards, ZA bestowed upon it GAR, and it rose up and was seen in Zion, meaning that Hochma was revealed in it again, and it was seen. This is the point of the world, for the whole world lies on the point of Zion, where there is the illumination of Hochma.

However, it cannot be said that the world stands on the point of Zion, since Malchut has nothing of her own except what ZA gives her. Hence, she is a receptacle to receive for the whole world.

Malchut is a circle and a sphere; she has no standing in and of herself, for the world to stand on, since she has nothing of her own except from within one point, the point of Zion in the middle, and that point is the place of the world. That is the place and the receptacle for the whole world, as from there, the earth expanded to the four directions of the world, which are HG TM.

When the earth froze under the water, after the snow—Malchut from the first state—descended under the lights from the Chazeh and below of ZA and the water covered it, revoking the Hochma in it, it is written, “Let the waters under the heaven gather into one place, and let the dry land be seen.” In other words, ZA bestowed Hochma and Hassadim in it once more, and the seeing returned to Malchut, as it is written, “And let the dry land be seen.”

When the water saw the dry land, they wanted to cover it and revoke it as in the beginning, until the Creator admonished them, diminished the Hassadim in them, and they fled from the dry land.

Although they were fleeing, they were not quieted, for they still wanted to cover the earth. Because previously, they were covering the earth, and now they were fleeing from it, they were not quieted. What did the Creator do? He took a kind of bundle of clay, the screen in the Chazeh of ZA, where the judgments are bundled, and engraved His name of seventy-two names in it. Seventy-two names are in HGT of ZA, “and journeyed,” “and went,” “and pitched,” and the screen of the Chazeh receives the name AB [72 in Gematria] from HGT of ZA, which is regarded as being engraved on it.

“And cast it into the water,” meaning that the name AB shines Hochma and Hassadim in the water from the Chazeh and below of ZA. “And they promptly stood still and were quieted” in Zion, meaning that they stood and united with the point of Zion, which is the place of the revelation of Hochma, as it is written, “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty.” “The perfection of beauty” is the name of the Creator, who is the Hochma, who is in Zion.

One who swears by the name of the Creator in truth, that bundle where his name is sealed departs upward with joy, and he persists in it. This is so because a truthful oath causes existence to that bundle, which draws there AB below the Chazeh, and the world exists through him. But one who swears falsely, that bundle ascends and departs, and sees that it is false, for the false oath causes the departure of the screen of Chazeh and the illumination of the name AB, and then the world collapses and the water want to cover the earth once more.

For this reason, the place of the whole world is one point, the point of Zion, and the honor is not blessed unless from its place, since there is the place of the revelation of Hochma.