Kabbalah Library

298. “Go up on a high mountain, herald of Zion.” A high mountain is the mount of the Hebrews, the place where Moses was buried. The Shechina will rise there and announce the world. However, the words “herald of Zion” contain all the literal meanings. “The herald of Zion” is Heftzi Ba, the wife of Natan Ben David, the mother of the Messiah, Menachem Ben Amiel, who came out from her loins. She will go out and announce the redemption, and she is regarded as the herald of Zion.

299. A voice will be heard in the world, and two kings will awaken in the world to engage in war. At that time, the holy name will come out to reign the world. What will she announce and say? Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and His arm establishes His rule. His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.”

“His reward is with Him” means that the Creator will declare in all the household of above and tell them, “Gather and judge a judgment. One who gave his soul to sanctify My name, what is his reward?” And they will say, so and so. “One who suffered several curses and swears against Me every day, what is his reward?” And they will say, so. “One who was punished every day over Me, what is his reward?” They will say, so. This is as it is written, “His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.”

300. What is “His work”? It is written, “How plentiful is Your goodness, which You have concealed for those who fear You; You have wrought for those who take refuge in You against people.” “You have wrought for those who take refuge in You” is His action. What is “against people”? It is against idol-worshipers, so everyone will see the good reward of the righteous. What is “which You have concealed for those who fear You”? Who will rob and take from His hands what He wants to give, for it is written, “You have concealed”?

301. See the work of mercy that the Creator does, for where He strikes, there He gives the healing. He strikes with the left because with the right He brings closer and with the left He strikes. Where He strikes, there He gives healing to the world. It is written, “From the north shall calamity break forth,” from the left. He strikes in the north since all the judgments and harsh decrees come out from there. And in Him there is every good reward and every Hesed [kindness] that the Creator is destined to give to Israel.

In the future [end of correction], the Creator will call on the north, the left, and tell it, “In you I have placed every goodness and every good reward for My children, who have suffered many evils in this world over the sanctification of My name. Give all the good reward that I have placed in you.”

302. “I will say to the north, ‘Give!’ and to the south, “Do not withhold.’” Is the way of the south, right, to deny blessings? After all, all the blessings are from the south side, and all the good in the world emerges from the south.

303. However, at that time, the Creator will awaken Abraham and tell him, “Arise, for the time has come for Me to redeem your children and to give them a good reward for all that they have suffered in the exile.” And because Abraham was in their selling to exile, as it is written, “their Rock had sold them,” which is Abraham, hence, it was to him as though it was not good in his eyes, and he showed himself as one who wanted them to be stricken more for their iniquities. And He will say, “You will be redeemed from their iniquities, redeemed from their sins.”

The Creator said to Abraham, “I know that everything you said is only superficial, and not from the bottom of the heart. I, too, will be lenient with you and tell you, “Do not withhold.” I want to appease you for your children, do not withhold mercy from them, do not deny them a good reward, they have suffered much for their iniquities. This is why it is written, “I will say to the north, ‘Give!’” that the north will give the good reward and everything, and the south will not withhold. This is as it is written, “which You have concealed,” that the north [spelled like concealed] gives everything. This is the matter of that herald, “Go up on a high mountain, herald of Zion.”

There is GAR only through the illumination of Hochma on the left, and only through the incorporation of the right with the left together, for then Hochma dresses in Hassadim and the GAR shine, and all the reward and all the good that is in the future is only in the illumination of the GAR.

If, however, by the sins of the lower ones, the left overcomes the right and wants to control alone, a dispute is made between right and left, and the right line removes its Hassadim from the left line. At that time, the left quenches because Hochma cannot shine without Hassadim, and the harsh judgments in it are revealed. And the right, too, remains in VAK without GAR, since GAR is only from the illumination of Hochma on the left. This is why the Temple was ruined and Israel were exiled among the nations.

It is written, “I am the Lord; in its time, I will hasten it.” We learn that if they are rewarded, “I will hasten it”; if they are not rewarded, “in its time.” How can Israel be redeemed even if they are not rewarded and are still standing in their mutiny? The thing is that the exile was because through their sins, they caused the left to overcome the right and rule alone, at which time the right removes the Hassadim from it.

Hence, when Israel repent and adhere to the Creator in the middle line, the middle line reunites the right with the left, and sustains the lights of both of them, the Hochma clothes in Hassadim, and the GAR are revealed. With their illumination, Israel are redeemed and receive all their good reward. This is “If they are rewarded, I will hasten it.” There is no set time for this, but whenever they repent, they are redeemed.

However, if they do not repent, there is a set time that brings redemption, even though they have not repented. This is after it is possible to collect all the harsh judgments that Israel have suffered during the exile into a complete measure in a way that is enough for Israel to be afraid and not sin again, increasing the left more than the right, as they did at the time of the ruin. At that time, they are suitable for redemption even without repentance.

Even without redemption, they are guaranteed never to return to folly—because of all the harsh judgments that they suffered. This is “not rewarded, in its time,” which is done by itself, with the disclosure of the judgments in the exile at a sufficient extent so there is no need at all for Israel’s awakening for redemption.

It was said that He strikes with the north, since all the exile and the harsh judgments in the exile come from the control of the left without right, the north side, and all the good reward is in it, for through the left, the GAR are revealed, as from there comes all the reward and all the good that is destined to come to Israel.

At that time, the time of redemption, the Creator will awaken Abraham, the right line, south, and will tell him, “Arise, for the time has come for Me to redeem your children, and although they have not been rewarded, that they did not repent to adhere to the middle line, it is already time to redeem them even without repentance.”

And since Abraham was in their selling, since the exile was because the right line removed its Hassadim from the left line, by which the GAR departed and the judgments of the exile became revealed, the message of the redemption was not good in his eyes, since they had not repented their sin, and might increase the left more than the right once more. For this reason, he said, “You will be redeemed from their iniquities, redeemed from their sins,” that the exile will be so heavy on them that they will repent, and then the right and the left will unite.

The Creator commented saying, “All this is not with a whole heart,” since the right line also lacks GAR during the exile, and it, too, yearns to unite with the left and reveal the GAR. “I, too, will be forbearing with you and reply to your words, and not according to your heart. I want to appease you,” since the Creator, the middle line, came to make peace between right and left, and appease the right so it will no longer be afraid of the intensification of the left. “Do not deny them the Hesed; do not remove the Hesed from the left anymore, and do not deny them the good reward,” meaning he should not detain the illumination of GAR by the removal of his Hesed, since all the good reward is from the GAR.

All this is because the time has already come to redeem them, even without repentance. They have already suffered harsh punishments for their iniquities, enough so as not to return to folly. Hence, their end has come. And for this reason, He tells the north to give its illumination of Hochma and the GAR will be revealed. And to the south, Abraham, the right line, He tells not to detain it, not to deny the Hassadim from it, but unite with it, since all the hoped-for good reward is in the north. For this reason, he says, “How plentiful is Your goodness, which You have concealed,” meaning concealed in the north wind.

This is the matter of that herald, as it is written, “Go up on a high mountain, herald of Zion. Tell the cities of Judah, ‘Here is your God!’ His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.” Since His work is before Him, which are all the punishments that Israel had suffered in the exile until they have accumulated to an amount sufficient to redeem them, hence, his reward is with Him, to be able to unite the right with the left and reveal the GAR, from which comes all his good reward and the redemption of Israel, since now there no longer fear that they will return to folly.

The Creator will declare that one who has given his soul to sanctify My name, one who suffered many swears and curses over Me, one who was punished every day over Me, what is his reward? Meaning the Creator collected all the punishments and harsh judgments that Israel had suffered in the exile and proved to them that they have already received a sufficient amount to redeem them. “Behold, his reward is with Him,” that through his work before Him, which are the punishments, hence, his reward is with Him, since they are revealed at once.

304. Also, she will announce a second time, when the Shechina [Divinity] rises on that high mountain and goes and tells the fathers, the Shechina will promptly go to Jerusalem and see it in its ruin. She will enter Zion, where she will make a wall as in the beginning, over the place of her dwelling and over her honor, which she had in that place. And there she will swear that she will not leave there and not come out until the Creator redeems her children.

And that Heftzi Ba will announce, as in the beginning, saying “Shout, and sing for joy, dweller of Zion, for a great one is in your midst.” “A great one is in your midst” is the Creator, who comes to her to raise her from the dust, and tell her, “Shake off the dust, arise, sit, Jerusalem.” The Shechina is Jerusalem, and Jerusalem is her name.

305. There is much joy to the righteous in the Garden of Eden. Because of it, happy is one whose soul testifies on Sabbath before the King about the innovations in the Torah that she said, for the Creator and all His entourage, and all those souls of the righteous in the Garden of Eden are crowned with that innovation.

306. There is much honor over honor and a crown over a crown that crown the father of that person whose soul testifies before the King about his innovations in the Torah when the Creator tells His entourage, “Gather, hear innovations and new things in the Torah from so and so, son of so and so.” At that time, the Creator mentions the father of the innovator. Some of them kiss the head of the father of the innovator, and several righteous ones crown him when they descend. Happy are all those who engage in the Torah, and on the Sabbath day more than on the rest of the days.