Kabbalah Library

39. “And Abram heard that his brother had been taken captive.” Once the evil inclination parts from the body of a righteous, where does it go? To the place of the wicked ones, so they do not slander against him.

40. “And Lot dwelled in the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom, and the people of Sodom were evil and sinful against the Lord.” To the place of the wicked and sinful, there he pitched his tent to dwell. What does the evil inclination do there? It commits sins with them and makes others sin until it is caught for its iniquities and is captured.

41. And what does the soul of the righteous do? “And Abram heard” is the soul. “That his brother had been taken captive” is the evil inclination. “And he armed his trained servants, who were born in his house.” These are the righteous who are educated with commandments and the good way. When the righteous sees that the wicked one is abandoned and caught for his iniquities, he goes to grip him, perhaps he will reform him, and he brings him closer and teaches him, as it is written, “and went in pursuit as far as Dan.” He chases to the core of his judgment to save him from the judgment of Hell.

42. So is the way of the righteous, to chase the wicked in order to reform them, as it is written, “And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them.” This is the soul of the righteous, who afflict and ask for them, so they do not walk in the way of their wickedness. The soul and the righteous pursue them and chastise them and torment them.

43. “And pursued them to Hova.” They are notified their wickedness and chased until their evil and wickedness are revealed to them, so they are ashamed of their actions. The soul does this and alerts them of their bad way, and this is “as far as Hova [fault].” And how do they walk? To the left and not to the right.

44. Afterwards, it is written, “He retrieved all the goods, as well as his relative Lot.” Against their will they repent, as it is written, “and also brought back his brother Lot and his goods.” Even the evil inclination will repent against its will. Great is the reward of one who helps others repent.

45. When the soul of the righteous, who reforms others, exits the body, Michael, the great minister who brings the souls of the righteous before his maker, comes out and greets the soul of that righteous, as it is written, “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of God Most High.”

Melchizedek is Michael, head of the guardians of the gates of justice. “King of Salem” is Jerusalem of above. “Brought out bread and wine” means he greets him and comes out toward him and tells him, “Come in peace.”

46. We learn from this that anyone who rushes to meet and greet those who come from the road, the text says about him that it is as though he has given him food and drink, as it is written, “because they did not greet you with bread and water on the way when you came out of Egypt.” Did Israel need bread and water? After all, they had the manna, which was finer and better than any food in the world.

47. However, because they did not come to greet them, the text refers to them as though they denied them sustenance. Anyone who rushes to greet his neighbor and goes out to the road toward him, the text refers to him as though he has given him food and drink. And Michael and Gabriel, and the ministering angels who guard the gates of justice come out toward him and greet him.

48. It is written, “He was a priest of God Most High.” Just like a High Priest below, Michael, the great minister, is a priest above. He rushes and greets the soul first, then blesses the Creator, as it is written, “And he blessed him and said, ‘Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth,’” happy are you that you have been rewarded with this. And afterwards, “And blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” These are the wicked ones that you have awarded with repentance and made their souls.

49. “And gave him a tenth of everything.” In this verse, we do not know who gave a tenth to whom. However, the Creator gave him a tenth, for he took one letter from under the throne and gave it as a crown for the soul, which is Abram. This is the letter Hey, Malchut. As the world was created with a Hey, the soul will be bundled in the bundle of the living, and her completion is as the completion of the Hey, as it is written, “And your name shall no longer be called Abram, and your name shall be Abraham,” this is the tithing [one tenth] that the Creator gave him, since the letter Hey, Malchut, is one of the ten Sefirot, which is why she is called a tenth.

50. What is “from everything,” as it is written, “And gave him a tenth of everything”? It is the Shechina of the place, since the Shechina is called “all,” as it is written, “And the Lord blessed Abraham with all,” that He placed His Shechina with him, who is called “all.”

51. The Creator does not judge the wicked in the next world before He consults with the souls of the righteous, as it is written, “By the breath of God they perish.” When they perish, they perish only because of that judgment, that the soul sentences the wicked.

52. Arsiel, Minister of Hell, stands before the souls of the righteous so they do not pray to the Creator for the wicked, so He would give them into his possession, to bring them down to the pit, as it is written, “And king of Sodom said to Abram, ‘Give me the soul.’” The king of Sodom is the minister of Hell, who stands over the wicked.

53. He says to the soul, who is Abram, “Give me the soul” that is sinful, as it is written, “The sinning soul, she shall die.” That is, give me that soul that yearns for sins so she is sentenced according to her wickedness, and do not take her with your litanies. “And the possessions you may take for yourself,” those who have returned in their souls from their bad way, take for yourself and save them from the judgment of Hell.

54. At that time, “And Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I raised my hands up to the Lord, God Most High.” The soul swears that I will not pray and take those wicked ones that I would declare before them in that world and have chastised them to repent, and interpreted for them all the sentences of Hell, and they would not listen to me. “And if I take from all that is yours, then they are yours and in your possession.”

55. Rabbi Yehoshua said, “Once, I saw, and I met near the gates of Hell, and heard the voice of the wicked being tormented in Hell with which the great judgment that the wicked are sentenced in the next world. They were saying, ‘We deserve this verdict because we heard reproof but would not listen. Woe to us, woe to us for not heeding the words of the righteous.’

56. “I wept. I heard a voice saying, ‘Make your ascent and shut your mouth, you have no permission to pray for them. You and the friends, it is written about you, ‘and crush the wicked,’ for they will be dust under your feet.’’”

57. There are seven sections in Hell, in which the wicked are sentenced in the days to come. There are also seven doors in Hell, corresponding to the seven doors that the souls of the righteous have through which to enter. Corresponding to them, the soul of the wicked has seven doors to enter, which are Blackness, Shadow of Death, Gates of Death, Doom, Active Lyme, Sheol, Oblivion. They are sentenced there for twelve months.

58. The sentence of the wicked in Hell is twelve months. There, they tweet in repentance and the souls of the righteous reach before the Creator and raise them from Sheol, from the sixth section, as it is written, “Brings down to Sheol and raises up.”

59. One who enters the bottom section, Oblivion, never again rises. Even if he goes into Sheol, he ascends in repentance, as it is written, “From the midst of Sheol I cried out; You heard my voice.”

60. “And Abram said to the king of Sodom, ‘I raised my hand up to the Lord, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’’” Those who are worthy of you, the complete wicked, who had never repented, with an oath that I will never take them.

61. How precious is the Torah to the Creator, for by its merit, one is rewarded with the life of the ‎next world, and anyone who teaches Torah to others, more than everyone. It is written here, “that I would not take … anything that is yours,” “without me, except what the young men have eaten.” “That I would not take … anything that is yours” are those wicked ones who deserve you. “Without me, except what the young men have eaten,” meaning except for those who teach Torah to others and to infants. Their reward is twofold.

62. One who teaches Torah to children, ‎his abode is with the Shechina [Divinity]. When Rabbi Shimon came to see the ‎youths in their teacher’s home, he would say, “I am going to see the face of the Shechina.”

63. It says, “except what the young men have eaten,” except for those who taught youths Torah. And the part of the men who went with me in that world, know that I will hang on to them and will not give them to you, although they deserve to be punished.”

64. Such is what the soul of the righteous has with the king of Sodom, the minister of Hell, who rules over the wicked. Moreover, he tells him, “I will not hang on to them by myself, but Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre, who are the patriarchs, will take their portion.”

65. Rabbi Elazar met Elijah, who was in the form of an old man, and a young boy was with him. There was a crossing of a great river there, a place for crossing the river to move to the other side of the river. I said to him, “Old man, I will lift this boy on my shoulder and take you on the other side, and get you across the water.”

66. He said to me, “You are not the greatest of the generation, you will not be able to take us across.” I said to him, “If I grab you with both hands, for you and for him, I will throw you to the other side with half a word,” meaning in the time that is takes to utter half a word.

67. He said to me, “Do you engage in Torah?” I told him, “Yes.” He said, “Is the Torah not called Tushia because it Mateshet [exhausts] a man’s strength?”

I said to him, “And is it not called healing, and potion, as it is written, ‘It will be healing to your navel and a potion to your bones? I, too, drank much from the Torah, as one who drinks a medicine, and my strength increased.” I took them across.

68. I said to him, “Who is the child with you?” He replied, “I teach him Torah.”

I said to him, “My power is great in this world and in the next world, and thanks to this child that you are learning with, I will not let the angel over Hell touch you, and I will bring you to the next world with the great power that I have there.”

69. He said to me, “Your power is great in the next world, as one of the servants of the Creator, who serve before Him.” While I was looking at him, I did not see him. I said, this means that he was Elijah, and I was happy with the things I did.

70. Since that day, when he would see the form of his father, he would tell him, “Father, tell that elder, ‘There were many cancelations in the Torah.’” His father said to him, “Tell him, ‘elder of the first, elder in the writings,’ and your strength will immediately grow.”

Rabbi Elazar told his father to ask Elijah to pray for him, for he has many cancelations of Torah, and his father gave him a remedy for that, to mention the old ones, on whom Moses’ spirit lies, as it is written, “and took of the spirit that was upon him, and placed it on the seventy elders.”

“Elder of the first,” of seventy elders. “Elder of the writings,” an elder who received the writing on which it was written “Elder.” Rabbi Shimon promised him that when he mentions these things, “Your strength will immediately grow.