Kabbalah Library

217. “And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden on the east.” When the Creator created Adam HaRishon, He created him from the Temple. He took of the dust of the Temple and created him. Once He created him and he stood on his legs, all the creations came to bow to him.

218. What did the Creator do? He took him from there and admitted him into the Garden of Eden, and made for him ten canopies like the ten canopies that the Creator will do for the righteous in the Garden of Eden in the days to come, and the ministering angels were descending and ascending, making joy before him, and He gave him sublime wisdom.

219. When Sam came down from heaven above, he saw Adam’s stature, that ministering angels were serving him in his canopy, and it was bad in his eyes. What did he do? He took a camel-like snake and rode it, and went down and tempted him until he broke the words of his maker.

220. And what does it mean that he broke? A spirit of harlotry entered him. The spirit of impurity was in him, and he broke the words of his maker. Since he broke, the Creator appeared before him and drove him out from the Garden of Eden, and sentenced him ten decrees, and ten decrees over Eve, and ten over the snake, and nine over the earth. Thus, there were forty minus one, corresponding to the forty lashes to which the wicked one was sentenced in the courthouse.

221. In the end, he repented, and the Creator accepted him at that time. It is written, “Hear my prayer, Lord, and listen to my outcry; do not be silent toward my tear, for I am a stranger with You.” King David said, “The Lord is near to all who call Him.”

222. “The Lord is near to all who call Him, to all who call on Him in truth.” All those who call on the Creator sincerely, the Creator is close to them, accepts them, and wants their hearts.

223. A person’s desire is more important to the Creator than all the sacrifices and offerings in the whole world. When one places one’s will in repentance, there is not a gate in all the firmaments that will not open to him. The sacrifice of a person depends on the heart and on the desire, as it is written, “and confesses the sin he has committed,” as well as “and confessed to it.” Everything depends on the heart.

224. There is nothing closer to the Creator than man’s heart, and it pleases Him more than all the sacrifices and offerings in the whole world.

225. One who sits in fasting and aims one’s heart to the Creator, makes a complete sacrifice that pleases the Creator, sacrificing to Him his fat, his blood, and his body. He sacrifices to Him fire, and the smell in the vapor of his mouth. Heart and will are called “atonement-altar.”

226. The sacrifice is divided into several sides, several parts. Man’s fasting is divided into several sides, several parts, but the Creator takes from all of them only the heart and the desire.

227. There are three kings in the body: the brain, the heart, and the liver. The brain eats from everything and gives to the heart. The heart eats from everything and gives to the liver. The liver gives to all, as it is written, “All the rivers go to the sea, yet the sea is not full.” It is like the sea, and the Creator accepts them.

They are NRN. The dwelling place of the Neshama is the brain, the Ruach is in the heart, and the Nefesh is in the liver. The Nefesh is Malchut. She is called “sea,” and it is written about her, “All the rivers go to the sea,” that all the lights, which are the Neshama and the Ruach, are bestowed upon Malchut, and from her, all the worlds receive.