Kabbalah Library

16. Moses had to learn the Oral Torah for forty days because the degree of Bina is called “forty,” as we learn, “At forty years of age, to Bina.” This is why it is written, “And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights,” for the Written Torah, ZA, connected with the Oral Torah, Malchut.

Bina is the root of ZA and Malchut. They emerged from her, and she unites them. For this reason, he had to mention and detail forty days and forty nights since it implies ZA and Malchut. Were it not for that, it would have been enough for him to say “forty days.”

17. In forty days, their mother elicited them in Torah and commandment, the male, Moses, to teach Torah and commandment to Israel, corresponding to the forty days of the creation of the embryo, which emerges from the potential, Bina, to the actual, Malchut.

The organs of that male, Moses, were inscribed in these forty days, to include in it the light of above, of Bina, and his body will be built from the light of above so he is worthy of serving before the king and drawing upon him the spirit of prophesy downward.

It is written, “Come up to Me to the mountain and be there, and I will give you the stone tablets and the Torah [law] and the commandment that I have written to instruct them.” He interprets “instruct them” on Bina, since “instruct them” is from the words “the chamber of her who conceived me,” meaning impregnation. Torah is ZA, commandment is Malchut, since Bina conceived from ZA and from Malchut, who are called “Torah and commandment.”

After they received from her a pregnancy of forty days, HG TM, where in each one there are ten Sefirot, she took them out to their place. This is why it was said, “On the fortieth day, their mother took them out,” which is Bina. In Torah and commandment means ZA and Malchut. The male is Moses, who will teach Israel Torah and commandment.

Moses was impregnated in Bina together with ZA and Malchut, and emerged from her together with them, opposite the forty days of the making of the embryo. In those forty days, he goes from potential to actual, from Bina to Malchut, since from Bina to Malchut there are HG TM, where each of them consists of ten, which are forty days.

18. As the body below is completed in its mother’s womb in forty days, so it is completed above. This is why it is written about him, “In all My house, he is trusted.” “In all My house” implies both houses, the upper one, Bina, and the lower one, Malchut, since he was completed above, in My house, Bina, as in the house below, Malchut.

19. This is why Moses’ skin beamed, since he shone from the upper beam, Bina, and the anointment of the good oil on his head, and each of his four elements—fire, wind, water, and dust—was completed in ten, which are forty. Thus, there are forty days from the side of ZA, and forty nights from the side of Malchut. He drew the good oil on his head, and then he shone.