Kabbalah Library

174. “You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the wave offering.” It is a commandment to count the Omer count because although Israel were purified to do the Passover and emerged from their impurity, they were still not sufficiently complete and pure. This is why there is no complete Hallel [praise, consists of selected Psalms] during Passover, since until now, they have not been sufficiently completed.

175. This is similar to a woman who has emerged from her impurity. After she has emerged, from then she counts seven days. Here, too, when Israel came out of Egypt, they came out of the impurity and did the Passover, eating at the table, Malchut, of their father. From then forward, they count, to bring the wife close to her husband so she will unite with him. These are the fifty days of purity, to come to the next world, Bina, who has fifty gates, and receive the Torah and bring a woman close to her husband, to connect Malchut with ZA.

176. Because these days are days of the male world, ZA, the count was given only to men. Hence, the count is in standing. But the words of the lower world, Malchut, are in sitting. This is the prayer in standing—Eighteen—and the prayer in sitting is from the blessing Yotzer [maker] to the Eighteen.

177. These fifty days are forty-nine days, the sum of the faces of the Torah, since there are forty-nine pure faces in the Torah, as on the fiftieth day, it is the actual Torah. These are fifty days in which there are Shmita [remission] and Yovel [jubilee/fiftieth year anniversary], seven Shmitot [pl. of Shmita] and one Yovel. How are there fifty here, if they are forty-nine because we do not count the fiftieth day? One is concealed and the world is supported by it. On the fiftieth day, on Shavuot, the concealed becomes revealed and is covered by it, like a king who comes to his friend’s house and is present there.

Explanation:

1. ZA is called “Torah.” His root is from GAR, HBD of YESHSUT, which are Bina, since he rose there in the middle line, called Daat, and decided between the two lines HB of YESHSUT, and remained there. Afterwards, these three lines are extended from GAR of YESHSUT to ZA below. Tifferet and NHY of YESHSUT, namely ZAT of YESHSUT, clothe ZA and elicit ten Sefirot in it: Keter of ZA is extended from half of Tifferet of YESHSUT, and the bottom nine HBD HGT NHY of ZA are extended from NHY.

Although the actual root of ZA is in Daat of GAR of YESHSUT, it has no part from the Chazeh and above of YESHSUT, since the Parsa at the Chazeh of YESHSUT stops between them because the judgments are in Parsa when Malchut rises there, and they operate from the Parsa downward, but not from the Parsa and above since judgment and coarseness cannot rise above the place where they are.

It follows that there is a very big difference between above the Parsa of YESHSUT, where there is no grip to the judgments whatsoever, and below the Parsa of YESHSUT, where there is already a grip to the judgments. Since ZA is below the Parsa of YESHSUT, there is a grip to the judgments in him, so he cannot receive from the upper half of Partzuf YESHSUT. Also, Parsa of YESHSUT is the fiftieth gate of Bina, which even Moses did not attain, since Moses is ZA and ZA, too, does not attain it.

For this reason, the fiftieth gate is Tifferet of YESHSUT, which became the Keter of ZA, Parsa at the Chazeh. It can be said that he is half until the Chazeh, Yod-Hey of YESHSUT above the Parsa, a complete Partzuf, HBD and HG, and half of Tifferet, since when the judgments of the Parsa are revoked and the fiftieth gate opens, ZA will have a grip on all of the upper half of YESHSUT. For this reason, all of the upper half of YESHSUT is regarded as the fiftieth gate.

2. These fifty days are forty-nine days, the sum of the faces of the Torah, since there are forty-nine pure faces in the Torah, as on the fiftieth day, it is the actual Torah. This is so because from the Chazeh of YESHSUT and above, it is considered GAR, Yod-Hey. From the Chazeh and below, it is considered ZAT of YESHSUT, Vav-Hey. Since ZA clothes only from the Chazeh of YESHSUT and below, it has only ZAT, HGT NHYM of YESHSUT, lacking the GAR. Hence, there is a grip to the shells in him because of the Parsa of YESHSUT. For this reason, there are forty-nine pure faces in the Torah, ZA, and forty-nine impure faces, one opposite the other. However, the fiftieth gate, Tifferet of YESHSUT, or the whole half of the Partzuf from the Chazeh and above, the actual Torah is there, opposite which there is no shell at all. There is no grip to the judgments and the shells in it, and there is the actual root of ZA, who is called “Torah,” since he is the Daat of YESHSUT.

These are fifty days in which there is Shmita and Yovel, since ZAT of YESHSUT are Shmita due to the ascent of Malchut to the Parsa of YESHSUT from the Chazeh and below, and this is why she is not regarded as Bina there, Yovel. Hence, they are seven Shmitot [pl. of Shmita], which are forty-nine days, and only the fiftieth gate, above the Parsa, is the Yovel, the fiftieth year.

3. We should count fifty, and not only forty-nine, since the fiftieth gate is hidden and there is no attainment in it because of the Malchut that rose to the Parsa and ZA cannot receive from Tifferet of YESHSUT from the Chazeh and above. It is impossible that he will be revealed completely since the world, Malchut, is supported there by the Parsa, for she receives the sweetening of Bina, the quality of mercy, through her ascent there, as Tifferet is Bina of the Guf, and without it, the world would not exist.

The concealed fiftieth gate is revealed on one side, and is still concealed on one side, since it cannot become revealed completely before the end of correction. At that time, when Malchut of the first restriction is corrected and can receive the upper light, there will no longer be a need to sweeten Malchut with Bina concerning the Parsa, and the Parsa, which covers the fiftieth gate, will be revoked entirely. Then there will be complete attainment to each one on the fiftieth gate. However, prior to that, it opens only by way of ascending of the degrees.

In that, too, there are two discernments: 1) In the days of Solomon, ZON were permanently in the place of upper AVI. 2) On all other generations, ZON are permanently from the Chazeh of YESHSUT and below.

4. Although there are ascents of the degrees on Sabbaths, festivals, and during prayer, the positions of the Partzufim in their permanency does not change. In the permanency of ZA, it clothes from the Chazeh of YESHSUT and below. For this reason, ZA has only VAK permanently, ZAT without GAR. However, through the ascents of the degrees, ZA can rise up to the Rosh of AA, three degrees above itself. Nevertheless, then, too, it remains clothing from the Chazeh of YESHSUT and below, as during the permanency, since the Partzufim above it have also risen three degrees, like ZA. When ZA rose to YESHSUT from the Chazeh and above, prior to that, YESHSUT rose to AVI, and AVI to AA, and so forth likewise. You find that although ZA had risen to YESHSUT, it clothes only from their Chazeh and below, since their from the Chazeh and above has risen to AVI.

Also, when ZA ascends to upper AVI, it mandates that previously, YESHSUT rose to AA, and AVI to Atik. Thus, although ZA rose to the place of AVI, it clothes only from the Chazeh and below of YESHSUT, since from the Chazeh of YESHSUT and above, they are already in the place of AA.

And when ZA rises to AA, it clothes only from the Chazeh of YESHSUT and below, since they have necessarily already risen from the Chazeh of YESHSUT and above to the place of Atik, and AVI to the place of the tastes of SAG of AK. It follows that although ZA rose to the Rosh of AA, it still clothes from the Chazeh of YESHSUT and below, and during the permanency.

5. On the day of Shavuot, ZA rises up to the place of the Rosh of AA, as prior to that, YESHSUT rise to the place of Atik, and AVI to the place of the tastes of SAG of AK, since the dots of SAG are clothed in Atik. At that time, two discernments are made in YESHSUT: 1) They, too, rose to SAG of AK along with AVI, since during the coupling, AVI and YESHSUT are on the same degree. 2) They are in the place of Atik, for there is their third degree.

There is a great difference between them. In the first discernment, when YESHSUT are incorporated in AVI, YESHSUT, too, is in tastes of SAG, where there is no Parsa, since in the beginning, in the dots of SAG, YESHSUT are in a cancellation of the Parsa, the revealing of the fiftieth gate, as in the end of correction, since the lower one that ascends to the upper one becomes like it. In the second discernment, when YESHSUT are only in the place of Atik, the Parsa still governs them and the fiftieth gate is still covered, and ZA cannot receive from the Chazeh of YESHSUT and above.

6. On the fiftieth day, on Shavuot, the concealed is revealed and is covered by it. On one side, the fiftieth is revealed, the fiftieth day, since then ZA ascends to AA, and AVI that include YESHSUT have risen to the tastes of SAG where there is no Parsa, and it is tantamount to the cancelling of the Parsa, as in the end of correction. Then ZA can receive the Yod-Hey in it from above the Chazeh of YESHSUT, since there is no difference there between below the Parsa and above the Parsa, and there is Parsa that separates there. Thus, on the fiftieth day, on Shavuot, the fiftieth gate is revealed.

However, on the other side, according to the order of ascent, it is considered that YESHSUT is in the place of Atik because there, it is the third degree, where the Parsa governs, and the fiftieth gate is not revealed but concealed. For this reason, it is considered that this illumination of AVI and YESHSUT in general, which reveal the fiftieth gate, reaches only up to Keter of ZA, to half of Tifferet of YESHSUT from the Chazeh and below. Since it is part of the Sefirot of YESHSUT, it receives from YESHSUT in AVI. But NHY of YESHSUT, which are clothed in ZA and are incorporated in the vessels of ZA, cannot receive from the illumination of the revealing of the fiftieth gate because the specificity of YESHSUT is regarded as being in the place of Atik.

The ascent of YESHSUT to SAG is not a complete ascent. Rather, it is like a king who came to his friend’s house for a short while, and he is there. Likewise, YESHSUT come for the time of the coupling in the incorporation of AVI, but they will eventually return to the place of Atik. Hence, the revealing of the fiftieth gate does not expose the entire half of the Partzuf from the Chazeh of YESHSUT and above. Rather, only its Tifferet, Keter of ZA, is revealed, and not the ZAT, NHY of YESHSUT, since they are clothed and mixed with the vessels of ZA.

7. This applies to all the generations besides the generation of Solomon, for then Malchut was permanently full, since ZA and Malchut had been established then to permanently clothe from the Chazeh of AVI and below, since YESHSUT and AVI became one Partzuf permanently. Thus, when ZA rose to AA, YESHSUT and AVI rose to the tastes of SAG, for then there was no difference whatsoever between YESHSUT and AVI. For this reason, the fiftieth gate was revealed in full, and Yod-Hey of YESHSUT from the Chazeh and above were also revealed to their ZAT, which are clothed inside ZA.

When Solomon came, he made them into a singular, as it is written, “seven days and seven days, fourteen days,” that the fiftieth gate illuminated in completeness, two times seven days, which are the seven phases of Yod-Hey and the seven phases of Vav-Hey, which are below the Chazeh. Another person does not need to make of them besides Solomon since these seven days below do not illuminate in wholeness from the seven days of above until Solomon comes, since the seven phases of Yod-Hey do not illuminate below the Chazeh of YESHSUT in the place of Vav-Hey. Hence, there are only seven days here. Nevertheless, even in the days of Solomon, it was not considered complete wholeness because the ascent of the degrees is needed nonetheless, and the real revelation of the fiftieth gate will be at the end of correction.

178. The following commandment is to hold the festival of Shavuot. It is called Shavuot [Hebrew: weeks] because Israel had entered the fiftieth day, which are seven weeks, for the fiftieth day in itself consists of seven weeks, as the fiftieth day is the fiftieth gate, Yod-Hey of YESHSUT in which there are seven Sefirot: Hochma, Bina the right of Daat, left of Daat, Hesed, Gevura, the upper third of Tifferet through the Chazeh, who is together with Malchut at the Chazeh. In the Omer offering, which is the barley offering, the evil inclination is canceled, the woman of harlotry who runs away from the virtuous woman. When the woman of harlotry does not approach the virtuous woman, Israel adhere to the Creator in seven weeks and the evil inclination is revoked from above downward, for he has no grip on ZA and Malchut.

179. This is why it is called “assembly,” for there is cancellation of the evil inclination in it, although “sin” is not written about it, as on the rest of the festivals. That is, here, it is not written “one he-goat for a sin offering,” since in the sin, the external ones have a portion, while here they have already been revoked and there is no need to fuel them. At that time, all the lights gather to the virtuous woman, Malchut, the lights of the seven weeks, and this is why it is called “assembly.”