Kabbalah Library

26. “Every one of you shall fear his mother and his father, and observe My Sabbaths.” This portion is the whole of the Torah. Therefore, we should be precise, why does it place fear of the father and the mother adjacent to My Sabbaths? It is because one who fears his father and his mother observes the Shabbat [Sabbath].

27. Why, in fear, does it precede his mother to his father? It is written, “Every one of you shall fear his mother and his father,” since his mother has no permission to cast fear like his father. This is why the text places her fear first.

28. It is written, “You shall be holy,” that a man has to be sanctified with his wife, together. From whom is the praise more important in that holiness? From the Nukva [Aramaic: female], since she does not know Torah and holiness like the male. For this reason, he places his mother first, and it is written, “Every one of you shall fear his mother and his father.”

29. “Every one of you shall fear his mother and his father,” placing his mother before his father, as it is written, “In the day when the Lord God made Earth and Heaven.” In another place, it places Heaven before Earth, to show that the heaven and the earth were made together. Here, too, it places the father before the mother, and in another place, it places the father before the mother, to show that both of them exerted in Him, as one, and both are equal in fear and in glory.

30a. “…and observe My Sabbaths” indicates two Sabbaths, ZA, and the night of Shabbat, Malchut. They are equal to each other, and everything is as one, weighed as one weight. This is why the verse includes them together. It is written, “Observe the Sabbath, for it is holy to you,” and it is written, “Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it.” Here it says “observe,” and here it says “remember.” However, one verse is in the father, ZA, in “remember,” and one verse is in the mother, Malchut, in “observe.”

30b. It is written, “Every one of you shall fear his mother and his father, and observe My Sabbaths,” and it is written, “Observe My Sabbaths and fear My Temple.” My Temple is the Temple. My Temple is those who sanctify themselves at that time, the father and the mother.

31. “Every one of you shall fear his mother and his father.” It is written, “And you who adhere to the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.” Happy are Israel, who adhere to the Creator, My Temple. They are the ones who sanctify themselves at that time, who are the father and the mother.

32. When a man is sanctified below, as the friends sanctify themselves from Shabbat to Shabbat in their coupling, when the upper coupling is present, for at that time, the will is present and the blessing is ready, at that time, all adhere as one, the soul of Shabbat and the born body, which comes on Shabbat. This is why it is written, “Every one of you shall fear his mother and his father,” as they are one coupling in the body at the time when he is sanctified. That is, through their coupling, they draw a holy body.

“…and observe My Sabbaths” is the upper Shabbat, ZA, and the lower Shabbat, Malchut, which summon the soul to the body from the upper coupling, as the soul is born from the coupling of ZA and Malchut. Hence, “observe My Sabbaths” indicates two, and all are adhered to one another. Happy are Israel.

33. “Observe My Sabbaths” is a warning for those who await their coupling from Shabbat to Shabbat, as it is written, “To the eunuchs who observe My Sabbaths.” Eunuchs are the friends who sterilize themselves on all other days to engage in Torah, and wait from Shabbat to Shabbat. “Who observe My Sabbaths.” Observing means waiting; this is why it is written, “and observe My Sabbaths.”

“Every one of you shall fear his mother and his father” are the father and the mother of the body. “And observe My Sabbaths” are the father and mother of the soul. Both of them are Sabbaths, ZA and Malchut, and all are adhered to one another. Happy are Israel.

34. “Every one of you shall fear his mother and his father, and observe My Sabbaths.” These commandments are equal to each other, for the honor of the father and the mother is equal to the honor of Shabbat. With his father, honor comes first, as it is written, “If I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is the fear of Me?” “My honor” is forty-two [in Gematria], which are ten utterances, and thirty-two Elokim, which are written in the work of creation.

The Zohar interprets “his father” and “his mother” as ZA and Malchut, which are equal to Shabbat, since “observe My Sabbaths” are two Sabbaths, ZA and Malchut. Thus, the two of them are one matter. And concerning the question, that with fear, he places his mother before his father, and with honor, he places his father before his mother, the text brings, “If I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is the fear of Me?” With a father, ZA, honor applies. With the mother, Malchut, called ADNI, fear applies. Hence, with fear, he places the mother first, and with honor—the father. The honor applied in ZA is to draw to it the Mochin of illumination of Hochma in Bina, which is thirty-two Elokim in the work of creation, the Mochin of illumination of Hochma, which are ten utterances and thirty-two Elokim.

35. In every place, as it is written, “The wise will inherit honor.” There is no honor but the Torah, ZA, since those thirty-two Elokim in the Torah are his honor, as honor is thirty-two in Gematria, which are Hochma. Those wise ones in the Torah, wise in Hochma, inherit this honor, which is the Mochin of thirty-two Elokim. And not the fools, of whom it is written, “and fools get disgrace.” How do we know that one without knowledge of the Torah is called “a fool”? It is because it is written, “And a fool will not understand it.” This is only the Torah, as it is written, “This is the law [Torah] that Moses set.”

36. Rabbi Shimon said to Moses, “Because you are weak, I began the portion with these commandments, in order to be of some help to you. Brace yourself, for the camps of the seminaries are coming to you with the commandment that follows this one, which is the commandment to place on you a king above, and the Creator will establish you a king in the upper ones and lower ones in His form, since the sages in the seminary, the upper Shechina, Bina, is upon them, as well as the lower one, Malchut. These two are the letters Hey of the name HaVaYaH, and the Creator—the Vav—is the king, between the two letters Hey, and He is gripped in the upper ones and lower ones, in Bina and in Malchut. Likewise, you will be in His form, His son, arise for the honor of the King.”

37. Moses rose and raised his hands up, to Keter, and said, “May Your wish, the Cause of Causes, who rises from cause to cause until there is no cause above Yours, for You are above any cause, and may it be Your will to give me the strength to do Your will in Your degrees,” which are AVI, HB, “and I am their son,” since Moses is Daat, the son of HB. “By Your unification, they are both one, and You have equalized the fear of AVI to Your fear, since You are in the middle,” since HB is on the right and on the left, and Keter atop them is in the middle. One and not two, without partnership, although they, AVI, are one, through Your partnership. But You are one, without partnership with another. This is why it is written about You, “There is no other God with Me.”

38. Give me the strength to awaken in Your glory first, and then in the glory of my father and mother in heaven, ZA and Malchut, as it is written about them, “Whoever robs his father and his mother and says, ‘That is no crime,’ is a companion to a man who destroys.” His father is the Creator, ZA, and his mother is the assembly of Israel, Malchut. Your honor is Abba, Hochma, incorporated in his ten Sefirot above and below, since Hochma shines only from below upward. And both of them, HB, are a throne and a bench under You, for Your honor.

39. This is how they established: The little one shall respect the great one above him. Abba, Hochma, as there is one father to all of us, to be serving under You. And You are the high crown on his head, and there is no crown over you, and no other god. And Ima, Bina, must serve Abba and be a throne under him.

40. The word “said” in every utterance is Abba, up to thirty-two times Elokim, who said, “May it be so,” and it was so. Ima did his utterance immediately. Because she did his utterance and command without any delay at all, in the thirty-two paths of Hochma that shine in the thirty-two Elokim in Bina, by which the whole work of creation was created, she is called “honor,” since honor is thirty-two in Gematria, as it is written, “And in His Temple, everyone says, ‘Glory!’” And also, “Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place,” as well as “Where is the place of His honor, to admire Him,” for all those are Bina, called “honor.”

41. The translation [into Aramaic] of the glory of his father is Ikara de Avuhi. This is as it is written, “The law of the Lord is complete.” It is written about it, “She is more precious than pearls.” Thus, the Torah, ZA, who is called “precious,” is the glory of Abba. Israel, who are called “sons,” are actually a son and a daughter from the side of Tifferet and Malchut. With these son and daughter, the glory of his father and his mother, who are HB, to do the commandment of Abba, and the commandment of AVI are the commandments to do. Thus, there is one who is commanded and does, and because of it, “We will do and we will hear,” which is the glory of AVI, to command his son to do so, and he does so immediately, without any delay at all.

42. “The Cause of all Causes, Keter, I want to exert in Your honor, to correct the qualities of AVI, of HB, in Your honor. Help me arrange everything properly. Arrange for me, and for all the heads of the seminaries above and below, and to the camps of upper and lower angels, to be corrected and arranged in Your honor, Keter, and in the honor of AVI, HB, to be a bench under His feet and to do the commandment of AVI in all His commandments, and to fear Him in all the commandments not-to-do.”

43. This is “Every one of you shall fear his mother and his father,” and right next to it, “and observe My Sabbaths.” And in another verse, “and observe My commandments.” From the perspective of the commandments to-do, which are honoring, Abba comes before Ima, and this is Yod-Hey. Abba comes first because the commandments to-do are from the side of Abba. From the side of not-to-do, which are fear, Ima comes before Abba, and this is Hey-Yod, where Ima, who is Hey, comes before Abba, who is Yod, as it is written, “The glory of God is to conceal a matter”; those who do not exert in this honor, in commandments, conceal the matter from them.

44. It is written about them, “and fools get disgrace.” These are the uneducated people who do not exert in the glory of the Torah. So how is it said, “Our Father in Heaven, hear our voice, have compassion and mercy on us and accept our prayer”? The Creator would tell them, “If I am a father, where is My honor? Where is your exertion in My Torah and commandments to do My commandments? One who does not know the commandments of his master, how will he serve him?”

45. The exception are those who hear from sages and do, although they themselves do not know. This corresponds to “We will do and we will hear,” that he hears from sages and does. Nevertheless, there is a difference between one who does not receive from one’s master but from his emissary. What is the difference between them? Moses received the Torah from Sinai, and then gave it to Joshua. Likewise, one who receives from another, it is similar to the reception of the moon and the stars from the sun, which is filled by this reception. As for the recipient, it is possible for the abundance to depart from it, as with the sun and the moon, whose light departs at night, for the sun shines only during the day, and the moon only at night.

46. If the light of the moon is from the sun, although its light has stopped, it shines in the moon and in the stars. It follows that the sun shines at night, as well. On the other hand, we see, during eclipses of the moon and the sun, that their light departs and they remain as a body without a soul, since there is a master over them who darkens their light. Yet, the kernel of the light is the welling place, and there is no cessation to its light, and there is no other God over it to stop its light from it.

47. As for the Cause of Causes, once you are in the Torah, there is no cessation to the fountain of the light of Torah. May it be your will not to move from my father and mother, who are Torah and commandment, ZA and Malchut, and not from his sons, who are Israel. So is one who puts himself to death over the Torah, which is precious; the Torah exists in it and does not stop from it. Conversely, one who does not exert in it—even though he follows the commandments of sages, who hears from sages and does, who serves them—is a servant and not a son. However, if he is a faithful servant, his master makes him ruler over all that is his.

48. Yet, one who does not engage in Torah and does not serve sages, obeying their commandments and following “we will do and we will hear,” but rather sins and transgresses in commandments not-to-do, is tantamount and similar to the idol-worshipping nations of the world, the children of SAM and the serpent, of whom it is written, “and fools get disgrace,” for they did not want to receive the Torah, since anyone in whom there is no Torah, there is no honor in him, as it is written, “The wise will inherit honor.”