Kabbalah Library

106) When the Temple was ruined and the sins caused Israel to be exiled from the land, the Creator departed high above and did not watch over the ruin of the Temple and His people, who was exiled. And at that time, the Shechina was exiled with them.

107) When He came down, He observed His home, and behold it was ruined. He observed His people, and behold they were exiled. He asked about the mistress, the Shechina, and she was exiled. Then, “And in that day did the Lord, the God of hosts, call to weeping, to lamentation, to baldness, and to wearing sackcloth.” And it is written about the Shechina, “Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth for the husband of her youth.” It is written, “For he is gone.” Her husband is gone because He parted from her and separation was made.

108) And even the whole of heaven and earth lamented, as it is written, “I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.” All the high angels lamented for her, as it is written, “Behold, their valiant ones cry in the streets; the messengers of peace weep bitterly.” The sun and the moon lamented and their lights darkened, as it is written, “The sun shall be darkened when he rises,” and all the upper ones and lower ones cried and mourned for her because the Sitra Achra governed her, meaning she ruled over the holy land.

109) “And you, son of man, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel, ‘An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land.’” “The end” is the end of the right. The end of the left is as it is written, “Puts an end to darkness, and to the farthest limit he searches out.” This is “The end of all flesh.”

110) The end of the right is as it is written, “An end to the land of Israel.” The end has come to the four directions of the earth is the end of the left. The end of the right is the end of the good inclination. This end of the left is the end of the evil inclination, and this is the meaning of “When the sins cause and intensify, it was sentenced that the evil Malchut will be given governance, to rule and to destroy His House and His Temple.” And it is written, “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Evil after evil is coming,’” and it is all one.

The left is the evil, where there are judgments and punishments. The end of the left is a second evil, the evil inclination, Satan, the angel of death. Those two evils became one because they united with one another.

111) This is the reason why the upper and lower lamented for this end of the left being given governance. Hence, since the holy Malchut, the kingdom of heaven, was lowered and the evil Malchut prevailed, every man should mourn with the holy Malchut and be lowered along with her. For this reason, when the holy Malchut rises and the world is glad, he, too, will be glad with her, as it is written, “Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her.”

112) It is written about Egypt, “Egypt is a very fair heifer.” Israel were under the rule of this heifer for REDU (Gematria, 210) years when they were in Egypt. And because afterwards Israel were destined to rule over it, it was not implied to them in the words, “Take you wagons [“wagons” also means “heifers” in Hebrew] out of the land of Egypt for your little ones.”

The shell of Egypt is extension of Hochma from above downwards from the left line, like the sin of the tree of knowledge. This is so because the vessels and sparks that Adam blemished with his sin with the tree of knowledge fell into the possession of the Egyptians.

It is written, “Take wagons from the land of Egypt,” meaning they will receive Merkavot [chariots/structures] from the land of Egypt for extension of the Mochin. But can it be that the tribes and Jacob would use the wagons of the land of Egypt, who were Merkavot of impurity? However, the harsh judgments that rule during the illumination of the left are the ruin of the Temple, the exile of Israel, and the exile of the Shechina, as it is written, “And in that day did the Lord, the God of hosts, call to weeping, to lamentation, to baldness,” which are applied in every coupling. It is the same with the general couplings, which are exile and redemption.

During the governance of the left, the Sitra Achra was given power to rule over Israel, to destroy his house and his Temple. By that, the complete coupling for the time of redemption was prepared, the complete three corrections.

This is so because the particular couplings and the general couplings are the same in all their conducts. And every person should mourn with the holy Malchut and be lowered with her, since no one can receive from the light of perfection of the coupling of ZON if he is not included with the Nukva when the harsh judgments of the left awaken upon her, at which time he mourns with her and is lowered with her. By that, he, too, receives those three corrections that qualify him to be included in the illumination of the coupling.

The most important one among them is the third correction of leaving the GAR of the left and not drawing light of Hochma from above downwards, but from below upwards, regarded as only VAK. In return for this, when the holy Malchut rises and the world is glad, he will be glad with her, as well, and he will be able to be included and receive from the wholeness of the coupling, as it is written, “Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her.” This means that anyone who is included with the Nukva when the judgments of the left line awaken upon her, and has mourned for her and been lowered down with her, will rejoice with her when she is in the complete coupling.

However, if he did not mourn for her because he was not included in her during the awakening of the harsh judgments, he will not be able to rejoice with her and receive from the illumination of her complete coupling. This is because he is not guaranteed to be kept from drawing the GAR of the left, when the domination of the Sitra Achra returns and intensifies over the holiness. Hence, “Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her,” since one who mourns for her is certain to draw the measure of VAK of GAR as it should be.

This opens the understanding of the words, “Now you are ordered, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt.’” It is written about Egypt, “Egypt is a very fair heifer,” since Egypt is the Hochma of shell, and there are four degrees HB TM in it, which are called “ox,” “cow,” “calf”, and “heifer.” But only their VAK were separated from it to holiness, which is from below upwards, the light of Malchut, called “heifer.” It is written, “Rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her.” This is why the writing does not speak of a fair ox or cow, but only of a fair heifer, since only the discernment of heifer was sorted out from them.

Israel were under the rule of this heifer for REDU (210) years. Israel were under the shell of Egypt for several times and several years only to sort out this heifer, which is VAK of the left. This is so because it is forbidden to take from Egypt more than this measure, which is called “heifer.” Afterwards, Israel are destined to rule over her during the illumination of the coupling. Israel are destined to rule over this heifer, meaning receive VAK of Hochma. This is why it was hinted to them in the words of Pharaoh, “Take wagons [also heifers] from the land of Egypt,” since they were permitted to take this measure from Egypt.

113) Joseph hinted to Jacob about the beheaded heifer, since when they were engaged in that chapter about the beheaded heifer, he parted from him. The beheaded heifer comes because he was found slain, as it is written, “and it was not known who struck him.” To prevent evil spirits from dominating the land, for they are unwanted, this heifer is given for correction, so that they will not recognize it and will not govern the earth.

114) All people pass away through the angel of death, except one who was slain by people first, before the time of the angel of death to govern him and receive permission to take his soul has come. This is so because he does not rule over a person before he receives permission from above.

115) And for this reason, the angel of death governs him by judgment, as it was written, “It was not known who struck him.” And he has judgment, too, for it is not known who struck him, to slander against this place, the Nukva. This is why the elders of that city took the heifer of cattle, to remove the judgment from that place and to be corrected so that the slanderer would not govern over him and he would be saved from him.

Two kinds of judgment are included in the words, “It is not known who struck him.” 1) The force of the restriction rose to Malchut and the lights of GAR, which are the light of life, parted from the Nukva. 2) Even if she is corrected and the GAR return to the Nukva, there is still strength for the Sitra Achra to slander against her and to block her lights by his gripping to those GAR.

This is why the angel of death can govern from the judgment of the Nukva because the lights of GAR departed her, which is considered the first judgement. And he, too, has judgement, that “It is not known who struck him,” to slander against this place, the Nukva, the second judgement, where if she were corrected and the GAR would return to her, he would be able to block her lights.

Hence, there are two corrections that she needs: 1) To remove the judgment of the restriction from her and correct her so that the GAR returns to her. This is a correction for the first judgement, which was done by bringing the heifer. 2) To correct her so that the slanderer will not govern her, meaning to reduce her from GAR of GAR. By that, the clinging of the Sitra Achra is revoked, blocking her lights. This is the correction of the second judgement, done by beheading the heifer.

116) When Joseph parted from his father, he was sent without company and without food, and what happened, happened. And when Jacob said, “Joseph was undoubtedly devoured,” he said, “‘I will go down to Sheol [the underworld] to my son,’ for I caused him to be killed by sending him without accompaniment. I cannot say, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood,’ as with the beheaded heifer, meaning we did not send him off without company. Moreover, I knew that his brothers hated him, but I sent him to them.” And Joseph hinted all that to him in the sending of the wagons.

117) He sent these heifers by Pharaoh’s words, as it is written, “And Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh.” So why is it said that Joseph hinted to him by sending the wagons? It is because it is written, “Now you are ordered.” There was no need to say, “Now you are ordered,” since it is already written, “And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, ‘Say unto your brothers.’”

However, “Now you are ordered” that he says here is accurate. This is why it writes “Ordered” with the letter Hey at the end [in Hebrew], to indicate that it is precise. This comes to teach us that Joseph demanded of him to give him wagons. This is why, “And Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh,” since Joseph was the giver and he asked of Pharaoh. But why did he demand wagons from Pharaoh? It is because he wished to hint to his father about the beheaded heifer. And this is why Jacob did not believe it until he saw the wagons and understood the hint that he hinted him, as it is written, “And when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent.”

118) In the beginning, it is written, “The spirit of Jacob … revived,” and afterwards, “And Israel said, ‘It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive.’” Why does he begin with Jacob and ends with Israel? In the beginning, the Torah calls him Jacob, for the participation of the Shechina in the ban that the tribes executed to not disclose when Joseph was sold. For this reason, the Shechina parted from Jacob all that time. But now that the Shechina has returned to him, it is written, “The spirit of Jacob their father revived,” for this is the Shechina, called “the spirit of Jacob.”

And after the Shechina was in him, the degree above went from the degree of Jacob to the degree of Israel, from Mochin of VAK, called “Jacob,” to Mochin of GAR, called “Israel.” From this we learn that the degree above does not awaken above before there is awakening below. This is because here it writes, “And the spirit of Jacob … revived” first, meaning an awakening from below, and afterwards it is written, “And Israel said,” an awakening above.

119) “And God spoke unto Israel in the visions of the night.” It writes “vision” without Vav [in Hebrew], in singular form, implying to the degree of the Nukva, who is called “a mirror” and is called “night.”

“And offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac.” It is written in the beginning in order to evoke the left, which is called “Isaac,” with love toward the Nukva, the love of lovers, which is extended from the left. And then, “And God spoke unto Israel in the visions of the night,” meaning He appeared over him at that degree of Nukva, which is called “visions of the night.”

120) “And He said, ‘I am God, the God of your father.” What is the reason that He mentioned His name to him? It is because this is the conduct of the holy side above. The side of impurity does not mention the name of the Creator, and the whole of the side of holiness is mentioned by its name. Also, it is written, “I will go down to Egypt with you,” meaning that the Shechina went down to exile with him, and wherever Israel exiled, the Shechina exiled with them.

121) How many wagons were there? There were six wagons, as it is written, “Six covered wagons.” There were sixty, and it is all one, since six implies the six Sefirot HGT NHY, and sixty implies that each consisted of ten.

In the beginning, it is written, “The wagons which Joseph had sent.” And in the end, “Which Pharaoh had sent.” The wagons that Joseph sent were properly calculated, and those that Pharaoh sent were too numerous, they were not calculated.

The wagons are the shape of the Mochin of illumination of Hochma. Calculation is Malchut, which is called “calculation.” All the wagons that Joseph sent were calculated, since they were only in the measure of the light of Malchut, VAK of GAR, for only this measure, a wagon, is permitted to take from Egypt, and not more. But those that Pharaoh sent were not calculated. Rather, they were more than the measure of a wagon, from the discernment of ox, cow, and calf. This was a gift from Pharaoh, which was forbidden for Joseph.

122) Both came to Jacob—from the wagon that Joseph had sent, and from the discernment of more than a wagon, which Pharaoh had sent. This is why it is written, “Which Joseph had sent,” and it is written, “Which Pharaoh had sent.” And when Israel came out of exile, it is written, “And they shall bring all your brothers out of all the nations for an offering unto the Lord,” since then they will bring all the nations an offering to the Lord like Pharaoh.