Kabbalah Library

597. “And after Boaz had eaten and drunk.” Boaz is Yesod of ZA. “And his heart was cheerful” is eating the life of above, the lights of Bina, that his heart was delighted with this life. And since he was delighted, promptly, “he went to lie down at the end of the heap.” The heap is the precious stones and good, high gemstones, the degrees of illumination of Hochma that surround the holy throne, as it is written, “Your belly is a heap of wheat, encircled with roses.”

598. “And she came quietly, uncovered his feet, and lay down.” Lying at his feet means that Malchut was lying below his feet. She did not lie down opposite from him, or with him. “And it came to pass that at midnight,” meaning that until midnight, Boaz did not know since the Creator does not enter the Garden of Eden, Malchut, with the righteous until after midnight.

599. This is so because at the beginning of the night, all the souls ascend, and the pile of wheat, degrees of Malchut, is corrected in them. When half the night is through, a voice awakens and calls out, and that voice awakens from the north side, and a flame reaches all the way to the place called “man,” and then he calls out loud. This is called the calling of the man [calling of the rooster], and it is Gabriel. She batters that flame with the wings of the rooster below, and he calls.

600. At that time, above and below are in observance of the judgment of the left, and then it is written, “And it came to pass at midnight that the man was startled, and turned himself; and there, a woman was lying at his feet.”