Kabbalah Library

26. It is written, “To You, Lord, belongs righteousness, and to us is shame this day, to the man of Judah and to the dwellers of Jerusalem.” Happy are Israel, whom the Creator has chosen from among all the idol-worshipping nations. For the love for them, He has given them the true law, to know the way of the holy king. Anyone who engages in Torah [law] is as one who exerts in the Creator, since all of the Torah is the name of the Creator. For this reason, one who engages in Torah, engages in His name, and one who departs from the Torah, departs from the Creator.

27. “To You, Lord, belongs righteousness,” as it is written, “To You, Lord, is great and might, glory and eternity and splendor,” for all that is in heaven and in earth is His qualities, HGT NHYM. Righteousness, too, is a quality of Malchut. Righteousness is a place where all the shining faces are gripped, and He is gripped to everyone, in all the Sefirot of ZA, and they are in him. That is, in Malchut, all the Sefirot of ZA are in her. And to us is the shame, a place from which all the shining faces draw far, which is the Sitra Achra.

Righteousness, which is Malchut, is truth, and the light of everyone, the light of the face, and the joy of everything. Shame, which is the Sitra Achra, is a disgrace and departure of the truth. One who is ashamed, it is because the truth, righteousness, has moved away from him, which is a departure of the shining face.

28. The top priest, the high priest, should be seen in more beauty of the face, illumination of the face, and in joy more than everyone. Sadness or anger must not be seen on him, but rather everything is as it is above. Happy is he, for it is written about him, “I am your portion and your inheritance,” and it is written, “The Lord is his inheritance. For this reason, he must appear complete in everything, in himself and in his clothing, and not to blemish himself at all.