Kabbalah Library

105. “You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people,” “You shall not hate your brother,” “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge.” In all of them, the friends awakened. But it is written, “Keep My ordinances,” “You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind,” “You shall not sow your field with mixed seed, nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you.”

106. It is written, “‘You are My witnesses,’ says the Lord, ‘and My servant whom I have chosen, so you may know and believe Me, and understand.’” “You are My witnesses” are Israel. They are heaven and earth, as it is written, “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you.” However, Israel testify to one another, and heaven and earth, and all, testify to them. “And My servant whom I have chosen” is Jacob, as it is written, “And He said to me, ‘You are My servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified,’” and it is written, “And you, do not fear, My servant Jacob.” Some say that it is David, and David is called “My servant,” as it is written, “For My sake, and for the sake of My servant David, whom I have chosen.” This is the upper David, Malchut.

107. “So you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He,” that I am He who has chosen that David and that Jacob. I am truly He, meaning I contain Jacob and David, where Jacob is ZA, which is He, and David is Malchut, which is Me. They are the Creator and His Shechina. “Before Me, no God was formed,” that the Creator called Jacob “God,” as it is written, “And he called him God, the God of Israel.” For this reason, I am He, everything. “Nor shall there be after Me,” since this is what David is called, for Malchut, too, is called “God,” and ZA and Malchut, I am He, are one, and there is none other after Him.

108. When the Creator created the world, He set up each thing, each one on its side, either to the ‎right or to the left, and appointed higher forces over them. And there is not even a tiny blade ‎of grass on earth without a higher force above, in the upper worlds. Everything that they ‎do in each one, and everything that each one does, are all by the intensification of the upper force appointed over it above, and all the customs in them are cut out from the judgment, journey on the judgment, and persist on the judgment. No one exits its existence outwards.

109. All the appointees, since the day the world was created, rulers were appointed over everything, and everyone behaves according to a different, higher law that each one receives, as it is written, “She rises while it is still night, and provides food for her household and a law for her maidens.” Since they accept this law, all the appointees are called “statutes,” and that law, which is given to them, comes from heaven. This is why they are called “the statutes of heaven.” It comes from heaven, as it is written, “For it is a statute for Israel, and ZA, the middle line, is called Israel.

110. This is why it is written, “Keep My ordinances,” since each one is appointed over a certain matter in the world through that law. For this reason, it is forbidden to change species and bring one species into another species, since it uproots each and every force from its place and denies the publication of the king.

111. Crossbreed is as one who puts one’s friend in prison so he will not do anything, as it is written, “You have put me in prison.” Crossbreed is like prison. Kilayim [crossbreed] means prevention, when one prevents all those forces from their work. Crossbreed is mixture, since he makes a mixture in the upper force and denies the publication of the king, as it is written, “nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you.”

112. It is written, “And of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die,” since he deviated from the King’s commandment and traded the tree of life, with which everything is completed and on which faith depends, with adhering to another place. In everything, a person must show work such as above, and do the work as it should be. If the work is changed for another thing, he draws upon him another thing to be in him, which he does not need, the Sitra Achra.

113. When a person shows an act below on the straight path, as it should be, a high and holy spirit is extended and emerges upon him. When he shows the work below in a crooked way, which is not the straight path, another spirit, which he does not need, is extended and comes out, and is present on him and diverts the person to the bad side. Who drew that spirit upon him? The act he showed on the other side.

114. It is written, “She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands.” The Shechina, called “a woman of virtue,” seeks and demands over wool and flax, the one who connects them together, to punish him. So why is mixture permitted in a Tzitzit [tassels]? It is because there, the clothing is as is commanded, in the proper wholeness of the work. Since the commandment is so, it is not regarded as a crooked act.

115. “She seeks wool and flax” means avenging against the one who connects them together. However, holiness is in them in the wholeness of the act, as it is written, “and [she] works with willing hands.” The Tzitzit, where there is the mixture, is included in the wholeness and does not do something to draw upon it the other side. This is why it is permitted. It is written about it, “she works with willing hands.” However, when the act is not in wholeness, one who comes to connect wool and flax together, the spirit of the Sitra Achra awakens on him.

116. Cain and Abel prove it, for Abel comes from one side, from holiness, and Cain comes from another side, the side of the Sitra Achra. Because of it, they must not be connected together. When both brought offering, they did not connect, but rather Cain’s offering moved away from Abel’s offering.

117. For this reason, it is written, “nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you,” that no other spirit will come upon you to rule over you. One must show a proper, kosher [correct] act, and in that deed, the spirit of holiness rests upon him, a high spirit in which to be sanctified. He who comes to be purified is sanctified, as it is written, “Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am the Lord your God.”

118. It is written, “And of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat.” As Adam caused death to the world by this, one who shows another act, which is not needed, it is much more so. “The ox and the donkey will prove,” since from the side of holiness, it is called “an ox,” and from the side of impurity, it is called “a donkey.” Therefore, it is written, “You shall not plow with an ox and an ass together.” Do not mix together since it awakens the Sitra Achra to connect together to harm the world. One who separates them increases peace in the world. Here, too, with wool and flax, one who separates them in a way that they are not a mixture of spun and woven together, which are the letters of “mixture” [in Hebrew], that person increases peace on himself and on the whole world.

119. Cain’s offering was flax, from the fruit of the earth. Abel’s offering was wool, from the firstborn of his flock. Cain was a mixture, a kind with what is not its kind, a mixture that was not needed, since he was from the Sitra Achra, which is not the kind of Eve and Adam, and his offering came from that side. Abel was from the same kind as Adam and Eve, from holiness. These two sides connected in Eve’s insides, a kind and what is not its kind, and because they became connected together, no benefit came to the world from them and they perished.

120. To this day, their side is present, the power of doom from Cain and Abel. One who shows himself in the act of this connection awakens these sides together, the mixture of Cain and Abel, and might be harmed. A different spirit is on him, which is unnecessary, and Israel should awaken on themselves the spirit of holiness, to be holiness, so they will be in peace in this world and in the next world.

121. It is written, “And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen trousers he shall put on his body, and shall wear a linen belt.” Linen means alone, singular, since the flax should not be connected with another. This is why it is not written, “The garment of the priest is flax,” but “linen garment,” which is singular.

122. The priest should be seen in flax, since it implies the other side, as they are linen garments in which to be seen at the altar of the offering when he would clean the ashes of the offering. The offering comes from the side of idol-worship and bad thoughts. For a bad thought, a burnt offering is brought. For this reason, they should be seen in them alone, and not mixed with wool, so that all those iniquities that come from that side will be atoned for the person.

123. When he entered the Temple, the place where there is wholeness, and all those works of wholeness, although wool and flax were connected, we have no fear in this, as we learned about the Tzitzit, since all those kinds of above and those receptacles of the Temple are there. There are several kinds in him, different from one another, and all are incorporated there such as above. Happy are Israel, for the Creator has given them a true law [Torah], the law of faith, and He loves them more than all the idol-worshipping nations, as it is written, “‘I have loved you,’ says the Lord.”

The Zohar clarifies three states:

a. The governance of the middle line, which sustains the two lines, right and left, and makes peace between them by arranging the illumination of the right from above downward, and the illumination of the left from below upward. The great punishment of one who blemishes the order of the middle line is that he draws the illumination of the left from above downward. That was the sin of eating from the tree of knowledge.

b. The great flaw of one who connects the female judgments and the male judgments with one another not in the way of the correction of the middle line, for then, male judgments are added to the female judgments and the destruction is great.

c. Connecting the two kinds of judgments with each other in the way of the completeness of the correction of the middle line. At that time, the judgments of both of them are revoked, and the wholeness of the two lines right and left is revealed properly.

First, it explains the first state. It is written, “‘You are My witnesses,’ says the Lord, ‘and My servant whom I have chosen, so you may know and believe Me, and understand.’” “You are My witnesses” are Israel. They are heaven and earth, as it is written, “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse.” When Israel are adhered to the middle line, there is unification between heaven and earth, ZA and Malchut, and they bestow upon them life and blessing. If they sin and blemish the middle line, they draw the illumination of the left from above downward, the coupling of heaven and earth becomes separated, and curse and death are poured upon them. It follows that heaven and earth are witnesses to the works of Israel.

Therefore, even the best in Israel, who are adhered to the middle line and draw life and blessing from the coupling of heaven and earth, have become witnesses to the governance of the middle line over those of Israel who are not adhered to the middle line. These are heaven and earth that are witnesses of the governance of the middle line.

“You are My witnesses are Israel.” Thus, why does The Zohar say, “But Israel are witnesses to one another, and heaven and earth, and all are their witnesses? Because heaven and earth testify about Israel, and they bestow upon those who adhere to them, and not to the sinners, by this the good part of Israel become witnesses to the part of the sinners in Israel.

“And My servant, whom I have chosen” is Jacob. “Some say that it is David,” for both became a Merkava [chariot/structure] to Me.

“Whom I have chosen” is the upper David, Malchut, who is called David. This is so because although Malchut is built from the left, still, ZA, the middle line, unites with her and bestows upon her illumination of Hochma from the left side, and Hassadim from the right.

“So you may know and believe Me” that the two lines exist. “So you may know” is illumination of Hochma, which is drawn through Daat, the left line. “Believe Me” are the faithful mercies of David, which are drawn from the right. “And understand that I am He,’ who chose that David and that Jacob, for although Jacob is the illumination of Hassadim from the right, and David is the illumination of Hochma from the left, I chose both of them, since the illumination of the left line sustains them both. “I am He,” truly so, for “I” implies revealing, indicting the revealing of illumination of Hochma on the left. “He” is a word for hidden, indicating the concealment of Hochma on the right. He says, “I am He, truly He,” for both of them are one through the correction of the middle line.

“Before Me, no god was formed.” Before the middle line, Jacob, made peace between right and left, the name God was not attained, the name of Hesed and wholeness. “After Me,” after Malchut, David, who is united in the middle line, “there will not be,” meaning that after her, this name will no longer shine.

The Zohar explains the second state, which is the prohibition to connect female judgments and male judgments with one another. It divides all of reality into two sides: right and left. It says, “When the Creator created the world, He established each thing, each to its side.” Half of them were created on the right, and half of them on the left. “He appointed higher forces over them,” the forces of the two lines, right and left, of the degrees of above, “and there is not even a tiny blade ‎of grass on earth without a higher force above,” for besides their creation, where each one was extended from a specific line, the guidance of each item is also extended on each from its side, and all their conducts are cut out from judgment.

“They journey on the judgment and exist on the judgment.” They journey, journey to their goal because of the judgment in them, so that in the end, the judgment in them will be revoked, as it is written, “Death will be swallowed up forever.” They exist, meaning receive the abundance for their sustenance because of the judgment in them, for there are judgments on the right line, the judgments in the screen, on which the level of Hassadim emerges, and there are judgments on the left line, the judgments that appear with the disclosure of Hochma on the left, so as to preserve the Hochma from the suckling of the outer ones. Were it not for those judgments, the illumination of Hochma would not have been revealed. From these two kinds of bestowal, the abundance is extended to all parts of reality, to each in its degree, as is suitable for it, down to every blade of grass on earth. “No one exits its existence outwards,” as each one is limited to suckling only from its own side.

It is known that the two lines can shine only through the middle line, which makes peace between them and arranges their illumination so that Hassadim on the right will shine from above downward, and the Hochma on the left will shine from below upward. One who draws illumination on the left from above downward, it immediately revokes the peace between the lines and their illumination ceases. Thus, you find that the existence of all of reality depends on the law of the middle line, so the left line will not shine the Hochma in it from above downward.

Everyone behaves according to a different upper law, as it is written, “She rises while it is still night, and provides food for her household and a law for her maidens.” “She rises while it is still night,” meaning that Malchut receives illumination of Hochma, called “rising.” This is at midnight, when she receives Hochma from ZA. When the Creator enters the Garden of Eden, she receives the law from ZA, that the Hochma that receives will not shine from above downward. Malchut gives this law to her maidens, to her seven maidens, the seven halls in Beria, which are the posterior vessels in which Hochma is received.

“She rises while it is still night” to receive Hochma, and then she “provides food for her household,” abundance of Hochma, “and a law to her maidens,” so they will not bestow Hochma from above downward. Everyone behaves according to this law that Malchut gives to her maidens, for if the lower ones cause this law to be blemished, the complete abundance of all of reality will be revoked. Malchut receives this law from the middle line, ZA, and that law, which is given to them, comes from heaven, ZA, who is called Heaven.

If the female judgments and male judgments connect by way of correction through the middle line, the judgments cancel each other and mercy is revealed. If they connect with one another not by way of correction then it is to the contrary: female judgments are added to the male judgments and the Sitra Achra intensifies so as to destroy the world through revealing these two kinds of judgments.

Therefore, if a person connects two kinds that are extended from the two lines, right and left, with one another, he causes two kinds of judgments above to connect with one another: judgments of the right line, female judgments, with judgments of the left line, male judgments. Since they are not by way of correction of above, the judgments are added to each other and it destroys the abundance drawn upon them from above.

For this reason, it is forbidden to replace the kinds and bring one kind into another kind, since it uproots each and every force from its place and denies the publication of the king, for the judgments of the right are added to the judgments of the left. Then, both forces are ruined because the judgments of the right uproot the force of the left, and the judgments of the left uproot the force of the right.

The third state is when a person shows an act below on the strait path, that the connection of the two judgments is done by way of the correction of the middle line, which does not lean or become crooked, neither to the right nor to the left. At that time, the upper, holy spirit is extended and comes out, and is present on him, since then the judgments cancel each other and the spirit of holiness is revealed on them. When he shows an act below in a crooked way, connecting the two judgments with one another not by way of correction on the straight path, but in a crooked way, which is crooked once to the right and once to the left, another spirit is extended and comes out, and is present on him, since then the judgments are added to each other and the Sitra Achra receives the power to destroy the abundance of both of them.

It is written, “She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands.” The Shechina asks and explains about wool and flax, who connects them together, since wool is extended from the right, and there are female judgements in it, and flax is extended from the left, and there are male judgments in it. One who connects them not by way of correction adds female judgments to male judgments and gives strength to the Sitra Achra to hold on to the judgments of both of them.

However, it is permitted to connect wool and flax in a Tzitzit since it is a garment of correction, a commandment extended from the correction of the middle line, when the judgments revoke one another and the spirit of holiness is revealed on them. So it is with garments of priesthood: If it is on the side of correction and wholeness, it is written about wool and flax, “and works with willing hands.” Not only is it not forbidden, it is even a commandment, which she does readily and willingly since by this she draws the spirit of holiness.

Cain and Abel prove it, since Cain is extended from the left line, and Abel is extended from the right line. If they are connected, the female judgments on the right are added to the male judgments on the left and they destroy one another, where the female judgments destroy the abundance of the left, and the male judgments destroy the abundance of the right. Cain’s offering moved away from Abel’s offering since the judgments in Abel’s offering rejected Cain’s offering, which is from the left. Afterwards, Cain’s judgments rejected Abel himself, as it is written, “And Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.”

It is written, “And of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.” As by this, Adam caused death to the world, one who shows another act that is not needed, it is much more so, since the sin of the tree of knowledge was that they drew the illumination of Hochma on the left from above downward. Thus, they had blemished only with the left line. However, one who connects two kinds with one another blemishes both lines, on the right and on the left. Thus, his sin is greater than that of the tree of knowledge.

“The ox and the donkey will prove,” since the ox is extended from the left side, and the judgments on the left lie on it. The donkey is extended from the right side and the judgments on the right lie on it. It is also written, “You shall not plow with an ox and an ass together,” since the shells that grip to the female judgments will connect with the shells that grip to the male judgments on the left, and then they destroy the world. To separate them, we must draw the illumination of the middle line, which makes peace between right and left, and the judgments cancel each other out. At that time, the grip of the shells is revoked, and he who separates them increases peace in the world, for he extends the middle line, which makes peace between the lines.

By this, the matter of the crossbreed is clarified, that the female judgments are added to the male judgments, such as Cain and Abel. First, Cain’s offering is rejected before Abel’s offering, and Cain’s face drops, for he lost his GAR, meaning that Malchut returned to Bina. This is regarded as slander. From this, it is extended that Cain breached the verse, ‎“You shall not hate your brother,” and from this, it is extended that Cain breached the verse, “You shall not take vengeance,” and he killed him.