Kabbalah Library

34) King David would sleep as a horse; he slept little. Thus, how did he rise at midnight? After all, this measure of sixty breaths of the horse’s sleep is little and he would not rise even at a third of the night.

35) However, when the night came, he would sit with all the great ones of his house and he would sentence judgments and engage in words of Torah. This means that he did not go to sleep in the beginning of the night, but close to midnight. Afterwards, he would sleep his sleep until midnight, rise at midnight, awaken, and engage in the work of his Master, in song and in praise.

36) King David lives and exists forever and ever. King David kept himself all his life from tasting the taste of death, since sleep is one part of sixty of death. And David, because of his place, which is “alive,” slept only sixty breaths, since he lived only through sixty breaths, minus one, and from there on, man tastes the taste of death and the side of the spirit of impurity governs him.

37) This is why King David kept himself from tasting the taste of death and from being governed by the side of the other spirit. This is because sixty breaths minus one are of the life above—up to sixty breaths—are sixty high breaths, and life depends on them. And from there down it is death.

38) This is why King David was measuring the night until midnight, so he would remain alive and the taste of death would not govern him. And when half the night was through, David would exist in his place, in his degree, living and existing, since he had woken up from his sleep and sang and praised. This is so because when he awoke at midnight and the holy Keter—the Nukva, awakened—it must not find David connected to another place, the place of death.

39) When half the night was through and the upper holiness awakened, if a person who sleeps in his bed does not rise from his sleep to observe the glory of his Master, by that he connects to death and clings to another place, to the Sitra Achra. This is why King David would always rise at midnight to observe the glory of his Master, living in a living, and he would not sleep in slumber to the point of tasting the taste of death. This is the reason why he would sleep as a horse, sixty breaths, but not in completeness, for they lacked one.

Sleeping means shutting of the eyes, meaning the Mochin. This is as one who is lying mindlessly with his eyes shut. Its root is extended from the domination of the illumination of the left line, Hochma, when it is in dispute with the right line, Hassadim, where because the Hochma cannot shine without Hassadim, the Mochin are blocked out.

Awakening from sleep is extended from the middle line, since the state of sleep continues until the ascent of the middle line with the screen of Hirik in it. This is the point of the lock, which diminishes the left line and includes it in the right, when the Hochma in the left is included in the Hassadim in the right. At that time, the Mochin open and the Hochma can shine.

This is the reason for the big difference between HGT of ZA from his Chazeh and above and his NHY from the Chazeh down. The three lines of ZA are called HGT. When the Hesed is in dispute with the Gevura, sleep is extended to him. And when his Tifferet, the middle line, determines and makes peace between them with the force of the screen of the lock in it, it draws the awakening, meaning the Mochin open. At that time, the Hochma in the left is now included in the Hassadim that are in the right and it can shine. Thus, the screen of the lock is in Tifferet, in the middle line, and this is the point of Chazeh in Tifferet where the screen of the lock that makes peace between the lines resides.

It is known that death is extended from the lock, in the matter of, “If he is not rewarded, it is bad,” which is the disclosure of the restriction in Malchut when she is unfit for reception of light of Hochma, the light of life. Hence, upon her disclosure, the man dies, since the light of life flees from him.

However, it is to the contrary in the correction of the awakening: she becomes the cause of all of life because were it not for the lock in the middle line at the point of Chazeh, ZA would have been unable to awaken from his sleep, and the eyes, Hochma, would be blocked forever because she does not shine without Hassadim. Thus, the whole disclosure of Mochin depends on the screen of the lock.

From here comes the difference between HGT from the Chazeh and above, and NHY from the Chazeh and below, since the screen and judgment in it cannot act at all above its place. Hence, HGT above the point of Chazeh has nothing of the judgment of the lock, which is death. But NHY of ZA below the point of Chazeh is no longer affected by the death in the lock.

Instead, here the point of the lock at the Chazeh has an opposite effect—it is the correction of the awakening, since by the determining, it has become the cause of life here, and it is impossible without it. Thus, the NHY, too, is in life and in sanctity, and the power of death does not govern them at all.

But the Nukva, which is called “night,” receives the construction of her Sefirot from ZA. For this reason, she, too, is divided at the point of Chazeh, like him. From the point of midnight, from the Chazeh and above—in the first six hours through the middle of the night—there is no force of judgment and death there from the point of the lock at all. Rather, from the point of Chazeh down, in the second six hours, they, too, become life and holiness like the HGT above, if there is the correction of awakening in them.

However, if there is no correction of awakening in them—the sentencing in the middle line—and the dominion of the left without the right continues, meaning sleep, then the force of death in the lock at the point of Chazeh awakens and the NHY from the Chazeh down, the second six hours—after midnight—are dominated by death and the Sitra Achra.

However, the kingdom of David is from the Chazeh of Nukva and above, the first six hours before midnight, the fourth of the fathers, which are HGT. It was written that King David lives and exists forever and ever. This is so because his place is from the Chazeh and above of the Nukva, the first six hours before midnight, where it is all life and the force of judgment and death at the point of the lock in the Chazeh cannot reach there whatsoever. Thus, he lives and exists.

And King David kept himself from tasting the taste of death, so he would not continue sleeping past the middle of the night, when death already governs. This is because sleep is one part of sixty of death, since by the mingling of the Sefirot in one another, there are six Sefirot HGT NHY, where each consists of ten, thus sixty breaths from the Chazeh and above.

Also, there are six Sefirot HGT NHY, sixty breaths from the Chazeh and below. And since the point of the lock, which is the cause of death, stands at the point of Chazeh, in Malchut of Yesod from the Chazeh and above, one who sleeps in the first six hours of the night has the cause of death there in the last Sefira [singular for Sefirot] of the sixty Sefirot. Thus, the sleep is one of sixty of death, meaning that there is death—the point of Chazeh—the tenth of the Sefira of Yesod, in one Sefira out of sixty.

Up to sixty breaths minus one he is alive, six hours, where each consists of ten, and they are sixty breaths before the point of midnight, the point of Chazeh in the Nukva, where life is without any force of judgment at all. However, one is missing, the tenth in Yesod, the point of midnight itself, where there is the lock, which is the cause of death. Thus, life is only in sixty minus one.

From there on man tastes the taste of death, from the second six hours, since the force of death at the point of midnight, the lock, controls the six hours that follow it. Hence, one who sleeps during them necessarily tastes the taste of death. Life above does not extend more than sixty breaths, through the point of Chazeh—the point of the middle of the night, which are the sixty upper breaths above the Chazeh where the force of judgment does not act at all above its place.

This is the reason why King David assumed the measure of the night until midnight and would sleep sixty breaths minus one, until the point of midnight, in which he awoke and did not sleep. Rather, he would draw to it the correction of awakening, which inverts the point of the lock in the middle of the night. Thus, what was the cause of death became the cause of life, since when half the night was through and the upper holiness awakened, meaning the correction of awakening was made above through the middle line, which turns the point of Chazeh in the Nukva from death to the cause of life, from impurity to holiness. And a man who sleeps in his bed and does not awaken from his sleep to observe the glory of his Master connects to death, since the man who sleeps at that time, by doing so, he draws the dominion of the left, the root of sleep. Then the point of the lock at the point of midnight remains the cause of death for him because he was not included in the correction of awakening, which turns it from death to life. Thus, he has connected to death, the domination of the Sitra Achra and the impurity.

This is why King David would always rise at midnight to observe the glory of his Master, living in a living, since his degree was “living,” for he was a Merkava [chariot/assembly] to from the Chazeh and above, a fourth to the patriarchs, and the force of judgment and death has no effect at all at the point of Chazeh, above its own location. And when he would rise and make the correction of the awakening, he became a Merkava for this correction at the point of Chazeh in the Nukva, which awakens at that time, when he is alive, and the point of Nukva is brought back from death to life.

And this is why he slept as a horse, sixty breaths, six hours before the point of midnight, but not in completeness, since he did not sleep at the point of midnight, which is one sixtieth of death. Instead, he brought it back from death to life through the awakening.

41) “HaVaYaH [The Lord] establish the earth by wisdom.” When the Creator created the world, He saw that it could not exist because the world was created under the domination of the left line, Hochma without Hassadim, and Hochma does not shine without Hassadim. Hence, it could not exist until He created the Torah, the middle line. ZA is called “Torah”; it includes the two lines—right and left—in one another, so Hochma was included in Hassadim and then Hochma illuminated.

From it, from the middle line, arrive all the upper and lower conducts, in which the upper and lower persist. This is why it is written that HaVaYaH, meaning ZA, middle line, establish the earth by wisdom, meaning He established the earth with wisdom.

“Established the earth by wisdom,” since He clothed the Hochma in Hassadim and the illumination of Hochma existed in the world. Everything that exists in the world, exists by Hochma and everything stems from it, as it is written, “In wisdom have You made them all.”

42) “The Lord establish the earth by wisdom; by understanding He established the heavens.” The upper world, Tevuna, was created only by Hochma, and the lower world, Nukva, was created only by the lower Hochma, the Hochma that dresses in the Nukva. It turns out that everyone came from the upper Hochma.

“By understanding He established the heavens.” “Established” is Tevuna, which establishes ZA, the heavens. But it was not established at once. Rather, each day it is corrected.

43) It is written, “The heavens are not clean in His eyes.” Can it be that it is a flaw in heaven? Rather, it is an advantage to heaven due to the great love and desire that the Creator, Tevuna, has for the heaven, ZA, and His love for him. And even though He corrects them every day, they do not seem properly corrected in His eyes due to His love for him and His constant desire to shine for them incessantly.

This is so because the next world, Tevuna, elicits sparkling lights each day incessantly, to always shine for them. This is why they are not clean in His eyes. It is written “In His eyes” to indicate that in truth, they are clean, but for the great desire to bestow upon them, they seem unclean to Him. This is why it is written, “By understanding He established the heavens.”

44) “By understanding He established the heavens.” Who is the heavens? It is the patriarchs, HGT. And the patriarchs mean Jacob, the middle line, Tifferet, who includes them, since the middle line includes the right and left within it, meaning Abraham and Isaac. This is so because Jacob is the glory [Tifferet] of the Fathers, and he will shine upon the world, Nukva.

45) And because he ascends inside the next world, rising and clothing Ysrael Saba—who is called “the next world,” covered Hassadim—there is no room for disclosure of illumination of Hochma. For this reason, one fair-looking fowl comes out of him, in light of Hochma, which is called “vision” and “sight,” and all the lights, Hochma and Hassadim, come out of it, as well as any satiation and the anointing oil, to shine upon the land, the Nukva. This branch is the righteous Joseph, who gives satiation, illumination of Hochma, to the whole world, and by whom the world is nourished, for he is illumination of Hassadim. For this reason, anything that the Creator does is superior and everything is as it should be.

46) Thus, these are sixty breaths indeed, the six hours preceding midnight, which are of life, both above in the upper worlds, from Chazeh of the Nukva and above, and below in this world. And past the point of midnight, there are sixty other breaths, HGT NHY from the Chazeh down, all of which are from the side of death, and the degree of death is upon them, meaning the point of the lock at the point of Chazeh, which causes every death in the world. And those sixty breaths from the Chazeh and below are called “sleep,” and they are all the taste of death.

47) This is the reason why King David clung to those sixty breaths of life on the six hours preceding midnight, from the Chazeh and above, since the force of judgment and death at the point of Chazeh cannot reach them. And from then on he would not sleep at all, as it is written, “I will not give sleep to my eyes.”

48) King David said, “O Lord, the God of my salvation, I have cried out by day and in the night before You.” At midnight, King David would rise and engage in Torah, in songs and praises for the joy of the King and the mistress. This is the joy of faith in the land, since this is the merit of faith, the Shechina, which is seen in the land.

49) This is so because above, several high angels begin with joy and singing in several ways, praising at night on all the sides, even in illumination of the left side. This is so because at that time it is the dominion of the Nukva, as it is written, “She rises while it is still night.” It is similar below, on earth. He who praises the Creator in the night on earth, the Creator desires him, and all the holy angels that praise the Creator listen to the one who praises the Creator on earth at night, since this singing is in perfection, to enhance the glory of the Creator from below and to sing of the joy of unification.

50) King David said, “O Lord, the God of my salvation.” When is the Lord the God of my salvation? He is my salvation on that day when I first sing for You in the night, for then He is my salvation in the day.

51) This is so because he who praises his Master in the song of Torah at night grows stronger in Gevura during the day, on the right side, Hesed. The Hochma that he received in the night from the left side dresses in Hesed from the right side during the day because a thread of grace comes out from the right side, and then it is extended upon him and he is strengthened in it. This is why David said, “O Lord, the God of my salvation, I have cried out by day.”

52) And this is also why he said, “It is not the dead who praise the Lord.” “It is not the dead” because the living should bless the living, and not the dead toward the living, as it is written, “It is not the dead who praise the Lord.” Rather, we bless the Creator because we are alive and we have no part whatsoever in the side of death. King David is alive and close to the One who lives forever. And one who is close to Him, to the One who lives forever, is alive, as it is written, “But you that adhere unto the Lord your God are alive everyone of you this day.” And it is also written, “And Benayah the son of Yehoyada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel.”