Kabbalah Library

269) Everything is established differently in the holy land because the hard shell that dresses inside the land breaks off from that place and does not govern her at all. It is so because the hard shell breaks and develops from this side and from that side until an opening is made there. This means that the illuminations of the lines from the right and from the left break the hard shell that is blocking out, and an opening is made instead of it to receive the lights.

270) This is an opening in the holy land whenever the work is done properly. When Israel cause iniquities, the hard shell on the sides of the opening is drawn back to this side and to that side until the edges of the shell come together. This was only during the ruin. When the shell blocks out the Moach [brain], the shell governs Israel and repels them from this place to the outside.

271) Yet, even though she repelled them to the outside, the hard shell cannot govern in the holy place, in the holy land, because it is not its place. Hence, since the shell cannot govern in the holy place, why is it standing ruined? After all, there is ruin in the world only from the side of the hard shell.

272) But when it was ruined, it was ruined only on the part of the hard shell, when he blocked the Moach, and the Creator made it that a shell would not rule over this place. And when the shell repelled Israel from it, then that shell reopened as before. And because the holy people were not there, for they were in exile, a holy cover of a light curtain covered that opening, to keep that place so that the hard shell would not block it. And the cover grips to all of its sides to safe-keep it.

273) There cannot be a holy ointment on the earth as in the beginning because the light cover grips there so it would not come down because the holy people is not there. This is why the ruin was not built since the day when the land was ruined. Also, the hard shell cannot govern because a light cover grips to all its sides on the opening so the shell would not govern there and would not block the Moach, since the light cover from the extension of the holy curtain above keeps that place.

274) For this reason, when all those souls of the rest of the nations that dwell in the land depart from the world, the land does not receive them and repels them outside. They walk and roam and incarnate several incarnations until they leave the whole of the holy land, and circle about until they reach their side in their impurity. And all those souls of Israel that are deceased there rise, the light cover receives them, and they enter the upper Kedusha [holiness], since every kind goes to its kind.

275) Each of the souls of Israel that pass away abroad, in the domain of the hard shell, walks, and circles, and incarnates until she returns to her place and enters her proper place. Happy is he whose soul comes out in the domain of the Kedusha, in the opening in the holy land.

276) If one whose soul comes out in the holy land is buried on that day, the spirit of impurity does not govern him at all. This is why it is written in regard to the hanged, “But you shall surely bury him on the same day, for the curse of God hangs, and you shall not defile your land.” It is so because at night, permission is given to the spirit of impurity to roam, and although they were given permission, they will not enter the holy land, except if they find there a vessel in which to enter, meaning the corpse of the dead.

277) Organs and fat that burn on the altar at night, to feed other kinds off their smoke, meaning the Sitra Achra, does not mean that they enter the land in order to feed on the smoke and not to draw them into the land. On the contrary, it is so that the Sitra Achra will not govern inside the land and they will not be drawn to enter there. This is why the smoke from the organs and the fat would rise in a twisted manner and would roll abroad, walking hastily until it enters a foramen on the north side, which is the chambers of all the Sitra Achra. There the smoke would enter and all would be fed there.

278) The smoke of the offerings that rises during the day would rise to its place directly upward, and those who feed on it would be fed, as it is written, “For a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the Lord.” From the opening, from the foramen on the north side, all the sides of the hard shell would be fed—those who are outside the holy land. They would feed on the coarse smoke of organs and fats.

279) The bodies of the righteous who were not taken after pleasures and lusts of the hard shell in this world are not governed by the spirit of impurity at all, since they did not participate with it at all in this world. As the body of the wicked takes after the hard shell in this world, and after its delights and pleasures and its corrections, so it is defiled after the soul departs it.

280) The spirit of impurity cannot rule over the bodies of righteous who only take delight in pleasures of Mitzva in this world, and the meals of Sabbaths, festivals, and special occasions, since they did not delight in anything that belongs to it. And because they took nothing from it, it has no authority over them. Happy is he who does not enjoy anything that belongs to it in this world.

281) One whose soul exits the holy land, and the body is defiled by the spirit of impurity, the spirit of impurity is absorbed in it until it returns to the dust. If a body, in which the spirit of impurity is absorbed, is elevated to be buried in the holy land, it is written about it, “But you came and defiled My land, and you made an abomination of My inheritance.” “My land” which the spirit of impurity did not govern in your body, in which the spirit of impurity was absorbed, and which you bring to bury in “My land.” You defile it, to be defiled by it, by the impure body, unless the Creator brings remedy to the land, since when the body decays, the Creator breaths wind from above and repels the spirit of impurity outward, for He spares the land.

282) The spirit of impurity never governed Joseph’s body, even though his soul departed into another authority, abroad, since during his life, he was never taken with the spirit of impurity. This is the reason why he did not want his body buried in the holy land but said, “And you shall carry my bones up,” and not “My body.”

283) Jacob did not die. His body always exists. Also, he did not fear the Sitra Achra because his bed was perfect in the wholeness of the upper light, in the illumination of the 12 tribes and the 70 souls. This is why he did not fear the Sitra Achra, who could not govern him. Moreover, he is a body of the upper form, the Merkava for Tifferet, and his beauty grips to all the sides, and all those organs of Adam HaRishon would grip him. This is why it is written, “And I will lie down with my fathers, and you will carry me from Egypt,” meaning a whole body. This is why, “And the physicians embalmed Israel,” so his body would remain existing, and so it should be. For the rest of the people in the world whose soul departed in the holy land, the soul and the body are saved from everything.