Kabbalah Library

320. “Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. And whoever punctures [blasphemes] the name of the Lord shall indeed be put to death.” It is written, “Hear, My people, and I will warn you, Israel, if you listen to Me. There shall be no foreign god within you, nor shall you worship any foreign god.” Since it is written, “There shall be no foreign god within you,” what is “nor shall you worship any foreign god”? “There shall be no foreign god within you,” that one must not let the evil inclination into himself, for anyone who comes to bond with it, a foreign god is in him, since when one bonds with it, it immediately comes to breach the words of Torah and breach the faith of the holy name, and then it comes to bow to a foreign god. Hence, since there will be no foreign god within you, you will not come to bow to a foreign god, which is man’s bad faith and breaching the faith of the holy name.

321. Hence, “Whoever curses his God,” he can argue that he cursed a foreign god, the evil inclination, which is sometimes present on him, and we do not know whether his words are true or not. Hence, he alone shall bear his sin. However, one who curses the name of the Lord shall indeed be put to death.

322. Why then, is it written, “he shall bear his sin,” when it refers to the evil inclination? Should it not have written “and his sin is forgiven”? However, this is similar to saying “my god” plainly without interpreting that he means a foreign god, the evil inclination. Hence, it cannot be written, “his sin is forgiven,” since it is doubtful. Plainly “cursed his God” without interpreting is certainly, “he shall bear his sin,” that he is not punished. However, one “who blasphemes the Lord will indeed be put to death,” since on this depends the faith of everyone, and he has no permission to argue anything about him, since he cannot say that he meant another god.

323. Certainly, the name HaVaYaH is the faith of the upper ones and the lower ones, and all the worlds stand on this, and a thousand thousand and ten-thousand ten-thousand worlds of passions are dependent on one tiny letter, Yod. For this reason, the letters of HaVaYaH are connected to each other, and several thousand and tens of thousand worlds are dependent upon each and every letter; they rise and connect with the faith, Malchut, and what the upper ones and lower ones did not attain is hidden in them. The Torah depends on them, and this world and the next world, He and His name are one. This is why it is written, “I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue,” and as it is written, “Do not let your mouth make your flesh sin.”

324. It is written, “No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live. When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.” As with Mount Sinai, which is a mountain like the rest of the mountains in the world, and because the glory of the holy king was seen on it, it is written, “No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot,” especially one who approaches the king. As with Mount Sinai, in which a person can stretch out his hand in a manner of respect, in fear, and it is written, “No hand shall touch him,” plainly, even in a manner of honor, and especially one who stretches out his hand in a contemptible manner against the king.

325. “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” Since the day he was born, the high and holy radiance was not removed from Moses. Yet, it is written about him, “Do not come hear.” The Creator told him, “Moses, until now, you are not worthy of using My glory; take off your shoes.” If Moses is so, where although he was near in fear and in holiness, this is what is written about him, it is much more so for one who approaches the king in a disgraceful manner.

326. “Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin.” When Israel were in Egypt, they knew of those ministers of the world, the appointees over the rest of the nations, and each of them had its own god. Since they connected in ties of faith, and the Creator brought them near to His work, they parted from them and drew near to the upper, holy faith. This is why it is written, “Whoever curses his God,” one of the seventy ministers. Although it is idol-worship, since I appointed them as appointees to lead the world, he who curses and demeans them shall certainly bear his sin, since they are standing and walking and leading the people of the world with My permission.

However, “Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall indeed be put to death.” It is not written that he shall bear his sin, as with those seventy ministers. Rather, he “shall indeed be put to death,” he will die in this world, and be put to death in the next world. And to those seventy ministers, “he shall bear his sin,” since he despises the work of My hands, despises My servants, which I appoint, and he is incarcerated. However, it does not require death.

327. Along the way, Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Yosi came to a crevice with water. Rabbi Yosi stepped into the water with his clothes. He said, “Correcting crevices and rifts of water that people make in their fields to convey water, I wish they did not exist.” Rabbi Shimon told him, “You must not say this; it is serving the world, and man must not treat the servant of the Creator with contempt, even if it is harmful, and especially if these crevices in the fields are works of truth, for they are under the high Providence, as there is a root above to this correction.”

328. “And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” “And God saw all ‎that He had made” is written plainly, to include even snakes, scorpions and mosquitoes, and ‎even those that seem like the harm-doers of the world. About all of them, it is written, “And ‎behold, it was very good.” They all serve the world, the leaders of the world, and people do ‎not know.

‎329. While they were walking, they saw a serpent walking ahead of them. Rabbi Shimon ‎said, “This one is going to make a miracle for us, for certain.” That serpent ran before then ‎and was tied to an adder [extremely venomous snake] in the middle of the road. They fought ‎each other and died. When they reached them, they saw them lying on the road. Rabbi ‎Shimon said, “Blessed be the merciful One who has made a miracle for us, for anyone who looks ‎at an adder when it is alive—or if the adder looks at the person—is certain not to be saved from it, ‎especially if it is close to him.” He called upon it, “No harm shall come to you and affliction ‎shall not come near your tent. The Creator does His mission through everything, and we must ‎not be contemptuous of anything that He has done. It is written about this, ‘The Lord is ‎good to all, and His mercies are over all His works,’ and it is written, ‘All Your works shall give thanks to ‎You, O Lord.’”