Kabbalah Library

49. It is written, “A son will honor his father, and a servant his master.” “A son will honor,” in order not to receive reward. However, he is commanded to honor Father and Mother. If he does not want to do it, Father and Mother will afflict him until he does against his will. If he is a grownup son, the courthouse forces him. And if he does not want to do it, it is written about him, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice,” and he is sentenced to stoning. However, a servant who serves in order to receive reward, if he does not obey the commandment of his master, his master removes him from his home and takes another. This he cannot do for his son; either he will obey his command or he will kill him.

50. Who caused the son not to follow his commandment, since it is his son? It is certainly the mixture of evil in him, which caused Israel to sin against their father in Heaven, as it is written, “And they mingled with the nations.” This caused killing to Israel and the Temple was ruined. For this reason, foreigners are not accepted to the days of the Messiah, but rather, as it is written, “The Lord alone will guide us and there is no foreign god with Him.”

51. Israel are from the tree of life, and there is a good servant and a bad servant. From the side of Matat, it is a good servant, a servant faithful to his master. The bad servant is Sam. However, one who is from the tree of life is a son of the next world, a son from the side of Yod-Hey, ZA, since Bina has the letters of Ben [son of] Yod-Hey. He inherits the Malchut [kingship], the Hey of HaVaYaH. He inherits it if he obeys the commandments of Abba and Ima, since the Malchut is the commandment of the king, and it is written about her, “Why are you breaching the king’s commandment?” It is a commandment, and the king’s commandment about to-do and not-to-do.

52. It is a commandment from the Torah, from Tifferet, and there is no separation here between Torah and commandment since the Torah is the whole, and the commandments in it are its details, and they are one. The Creator is truth, His Torah is truth, He and His Torah, since they are one. Like Bina, which is the Torah and commandment of the Hochma, since the upper Torah and commandment are HB, who are one and are never separated. There is also the Torah of Beria, ZA of the world of Beria, and Hochma of Beria and Bina of Beria. Likewise, in all the qualities, there are HB and Torah and commandment.

In the world of Beria, the son can be in this Torah without a commandment, and in the commandment without the Torah, in separation. The stubborn and rebellious son is extended from the world of Beria, since in the world of Beria, there are already shells, as it is written, “God has made one opposite the other.” However, from the world of Atzilut, there is no separation. Likewise, no sin comes through a soul that is extended from there, and there is no punishment and no reward, and no death in her from there, since there are no shells there at all, as it is written, “Evil will not dwell with you.”

53. For this reason, in Atzilut, the Torah is the tree of life, whose attainment is the reward in the next world, Bina. That tree is called the tree of life, and on the part of Bina, it is called the next world. It is not considered a reward because he is a son from there, does not engage in Torah in order to receive reward, not in action, not in speech, and not in thought.