Kabbalah Library

36. “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm.” “Set me as a seal” is the assembly of Israel, Malchut. She said that to the Creator. A seal is the seal of the ring of truth. “As a seal upon your heart” is the seal of the Tefillin that a person places on his heart.

“As a seal upon your arm” is the weak hand, Malchut, putting on that arm, which is Isaac, the left line of ZA. The assembly of Israel says “Set me as a seal,” as a seal like those head Tefillin, which are called “a seal,” as gain, Mochin, comes from them to the whole body. This is why the Tefillin are in the arm and on the heart, and by this, a person is as whole as above.

The Mochin of AVI are called “pure ring,” after the light in them, which are called “pure air.” The Mochin of YESHSUT are simply called “ring.” When illumination of Hochma shines in them, they are called “a ring of truth,” since the illumination of Hochma in the ring removes all the shells that lie in the name of the king, and the truth is revealed, as it is written, “You will give truth to Jacob,” as these Mochin are revealed only through the middle line, called “Jacob.”

From the perspective of Malchut, those Mochin are called “a seal” for two reasons: 1) It is the last of the Sefirot, akin to a seal that comes at the end of the letter. 2) Since those Mochin are revealed only in her, and shine only from her and above. In that respect, she is the seal of the king. It is like a king who sits in his hall, and the countryfolk recognize his seal. When they see his seal on his commands, it is as if they see the king himself.

For this reason, these Mochin are generally called “the seal of the ring of truth,” which contain YESHSUT, ZA, and Malchut. YESHSUT is the ring, ZA is the truth, and Malchut is the seal. Hence, a seal is the seal of the ring of truth, meaning the Mochin of illumination of Hochma which includes YESHSUT, ZA, and Malchut.

Malchut receives these Mochin from the middle line and from the left line in ZA. For this reason, “as a seal upon your heart” is the seal of the Tefillin that a person places on his heart, which corresponds to Malchut who receives these Mochin from the phase of the heart of ZA, the middle line, from which Malchut receives, as it is written, “His left under my head.”

The assembly of Israel says, “Set me as a seal.” “As a seal,” like those head Tefillin, the Mochin of GAR of ZA, which receive these Mochin first. The gain comes from them, they shine for the whole body of ZA, to the right and to the left, and for this reason, the Tefillin are in the arm and on the heart, since she receives from the two phases of the Guf [body] of ZA, from the heart, the middle line, and from the arm, the left line.

37. “For love is as strong as death.” There is nothing as hard in the world as the departure of the soul from the body at the time of death, when they have to part. So is the love of the assembly of Israel for the Creator; they never separate. For this reason, the hand Tefillin, Malchut, connects to the arm, the left line of ZA, to observe the verse, “His left under my head.”

38. “Jealousy is as hard as Sheol [netherworld].” In all the degrees of Hell, there is no place like Sheol; it descends lower than all the degrees, except for the degree called “limbo,” which is below Sheol. The two of them connect, and they are harsher on the wicked ones than all the others.

It is written, “Jealousy is as hard as Sheol,” but there is no Jealousy except out of love, and out of love comes jealousy, when one is jealous for the diminution of love, as it is written, “and he is jealous for his wife.” One who is jealous for the one he loves the most, it is harder for him to part from him than the degree called Sheol, which is harder than all the degrees in Hell.

39. “Its flashes are flashes of fire, the flame of the Lord.” The flame of the Lord is fire that comes out of the Shofar [festive horn blown on certain occasions]. It consists of wind and water, meaning illumination of Hochma that emerges from the left line, which is the fire in Bina, which is called Shofar. That fire, the left line, also consists of her two lines, the middle line, which is called “wind,” and the right line, which is called “water.” From within the flame of the Lord that blazes in the assembly of Israel, Malchut, it burns the world with the blaze of jealousy for the Creator. At the time when she is jealous for Him, woe to one who encounters that flame, for it burns them.

The illumination of Hochma is received mainly from the left line. Although it already incorporates all the lines, when the illumination of Hochma appears, it still appears only on judgments, which are the flame of the Lord. At the time of revealing of the judgments, there is diminution of love. At that time, Malchut says, “Jealousy is as hard as Sheol, its flashes are flashes of fire, the flame of the Lord.”