ביאור הדברים בענין לטהר תטהרו

1An explanation of the matters concerning “to purify … you shall be purified.” Now, “you shall live a life of pain”: that is, from contemplating the greatness of the Infinite One (Ein Sof), blessed be He, who is as His name: He has no end, etc.,

of itself he will live a life of pain over being far from the light of His countenance, may He be blessed. And this will be his consolation: “happy are you, and it is well with you” in this world, through occupying himself with the Torah, which is His wisdom; and there the very Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof) is clothed in Chochmah (wisdom).

It follows that he too is clothed in the garment of the Holy One, blessed be He, and the union of the Infinite One is brought about in his soul. And this is the union of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah (Divine Presence), as is explained in the Zohar concerning the union of Z’eir Anpin and Nukva, that the angels cover the union with wings

(this is cited in Pri Etz Chaim, Sha’ar HaKaddishim, chapter 1; and see Etz Chaim, Sha’ar Haaras HaMochin, chapter 2; and see on this also the Mikdash Melech, at the end of Part I, in the Hashmatos, [on the passage] beginning “Bereshis”).

And this covering is drawn from the level of Abba and Imma, etc.; that is, one encompassing [light] (makif) is drawn for the two of them, for the sake of the union. And so

it is with occupying oneself with the Torah: a supernal encompassing [light] is drawn, which encompasses his soul too, so that it be included in the level of the Infinite Light, in a state of union, through one encompassing [light] that includes both levels.

2Now we shall come to the explanation of “His garment is white as snow.” It is stated in the Zohar that the thirteen tikkunim of the beard (tikkunei dikna) are sometimes also called by the name “His garment is white as snow.”

But the truth is that the main garment is the Chashmal; and not the Chashmal that separates between Atzilus and Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, for that is from the outer dimension (chitzoniyus) of Binah (understanding), and it is in nogah, which is from the level of the shattering of the vessels (sheviras hakeilim);

rather, it is the supernal Chashmal that encompasses all of Atzilus. That is, the enclothing of the Gevurah of Atik in Mocha Stima’ah (the hidden brain) is through this encompassing [light] (makif).

(In Likkutei HaShas by the Arizal, of blessed memory, folio 16, [in the passage] beginning “Go and diminish,” it is stated, and these are his words: “For there is a screen between one world and the next, etc.; and between Adam Kadmon and Atzilus there is a screen, and likewise between Atzilus and Beriah, etc.; and all the screens are called makifim (encompassing [lights]).” End of quote.

Now the Ramaz, at the beginning of Parshas Emor, folio 88, end of side b, on “Like the good oil upon the head,” wrote that even the Keser of Arich [Anpin] is counted as [part] of the world of the Infinite One (Ein Sof), etc., and Atzilus proper begins from Mocha Stima’ah, which is the Chochmah of Arich [Anpin]. End of quote. If so, the matter of the enclothing of the Gevurah of Atik in Mocha Stima’ah

is the matter of the drawing down from the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof) at the beginning of Atzilus; and therefore this enclothing is through this encompassing [light] and the screen mentioned above. And possibly this is also the matter of the “membrane of air” (kruma de’avira), etc.; see Etz Chaim, Sha’ar Arich Anpin, chapter 7, that this is the matter of “the firmament that divides between water and water.”

And from this will also be understood the matter of “Salseleha (cherish her), and she will exalt you,” explained above: that the exaltation is from the level of “His garment is like snow” to the level and rank of “the hair of His head,” etc. That is, “the hair of His head” is from the level of the Keser of Arich [Anpin], which is of the world of the Infinite One, which is above the screen and above Atzilus, etc.)

And of this it is said, “His garment is white as snow”: like snow, which first comes into being from water, and it freezes and becomes snow, and afterwards it thaws back and melts and becomes water. And this is “wisdom at the beginning, wisdom at the end.” And it is in the manner of a parable (mashal),

like the parables of Shlomo (Mishlei), or as a teacher explains an idea to the student through a parable: when the student grasps his teacher’s intent in this parable and understands the idea itself,

then it becomes in him, too, the level of Chochmah (wisdom), as the wisdom was with his teacher at first; only, in the middle it crusted over and congealed, because the wisdom could not be grasped in the student’s mind as it is in itself in the teacher’s mind,

but only through a parable. And so the level of the supernal garment is in the state of snow, in which the very essence of the wisdom crusted over and congealed, so as not to be openly revealed as

it is in itself; only afterwards it melts back and becomes water, the level of Chochmah for created beings. And of this matter it is said, “He casts forth His ice like crumbs,” etc.,

“He makes His wind blow, the waters flow”; “He declares His words to Yaakov.” That is, “He declares His words to Yaakov,” which is from the level of “the waters flow,” comes to be through the ice, which crusted over and congealed, like ice. And so it is with snow,

except that snow is divided drop by drop; for in order for the flow to descend, it must come through division, as is known of the “might of the rains” (gevuros geshamim), which descend through division, for otherwise they would be a flood, G‑d forbid.

And the thirteen tikkunim of the beard, too, are called the level of garments in this way: [as for] the radiance that descends through the hairs, which are hollow,

the hairs are the level of garments, and they are in a state of separation and division, like snow; and it is called “white” because the root of the flow itself is the level of Chesed (kindness).

(And snow, too, has a greater intensity of whiteness than the level of “clean wool,” as is explained elsewhere on [the verse] “He gives snow like wool.”) And [this is] water, which descends from a high place to a low place (except that it descends in a state of contraction and of division of the flow into fragments).

32. Now, from the level of “His garment is white as snow” is drawn the level of “the hair of His head is like clean wool”: these are the particular laws concerning physical things,

such as the whole of Tractate Yoma, where all the stir over the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) is that he withdraws from the rest of the people and enters the innermost sanctum; and this was

only once a year, and he needed five immersions and ten sanctifications; and the whole service is that he sprinkles of the blood of the bull and of the blood of the goat with the finger, once upward and seven times downward, and counts “one, and one,” etc.

4Now this power that the physical blood of the bull and the goat has, to bear upon the drawing down of the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He, comes by way of the level of hairs,

which are contracted drawings-down; for a hair is a drawing-down, so that there be a revelation of the Infinite Light below as well. But this is specifically through self-nullification (bittul) and self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh).

5And in this way was the study of the Tannaim and Amoraim; and all of the occupation of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was in the revealed [Torah]: twenty-four questions and twenty-four answers.

And also, in every one of the chapters of the tractates of the Shas, Rabbi Shimon is mentioned, even in Keilim and in Nega’im and Uktzin. And he was exempt from prayer, because all of his occupation with Torah was in this way, as it is written, “And My words which I have placed in your mouth.”

But this power is only in the Torah itself. The mitzvos, however, are the commands of the King, which is the nullification of yesh (something) to ayin (nothing): that he be a yesh and [yet] be nullified. And Malchus (sovereignty) is called by the name “garment,” as it is written, “Havayah reigns; He is clothed in majesty.” For [regarding] being the level of Malchus:

over whom does He reign? Surely the whole essence of the created beings and their life-force is from the level of Malchus; so how does the term “kingship” apply?

Rather, the whole matter of Malchus Above is only the level of a garment: it becomes a garment and a concealment, so that there be the level of Malchus. As it is written,

“For Havayah Elokim is a sun and a shield”: the level of Elokim is the level of Malchus; it is the level of a “shield,” which is the level of a garment.

(And see what is written in the discourse beginning “My dove, in the clefts,” on the matter of “My fair one”; and see the end of the discourse beginning “And you shall make holy garments,” and in the discourse beginning “Let them bring royal apparel.”)

Only, in the supernal root the mitzvos are higher, for the mitzvos are from the level of Gulgalta (the skull), and the Torah is the level of Mocha (the brain).

But because the mitzvos are higher, they cannot be in a state of revelation, only in the state of a garment, which is the level of the outer dimension (chitzoniyus) and of an encompassing [light] (makif).

But the Torah, which is the level of Mocha, becomes the level of food: “And Your Torah is within my innards.” (And see Iggeres HaKodesh, [the epistle] beginning “He and His life-forces”; and see what is written in the discourse beginning “A psalm, a song at the dedication of the House,” on the matter of food and garment, etc.)

Now, for the drawing down of the mitzvos below, it is likewise only through the level of hairs, “the hair of His head is like clean wool,” by which it is drawn down below, through the Kohen Gadol, as in the order of the Yom Kippur service mentioned above.

And this too is through self-nullification (bittul), for the Kohen Gadol is called Kahana Rabba (the great priest), the level of bittul. Only, because this bittul is the nullification of the yesh, it therefore depends on time and on place: in the Holy of Holies specifically.

But [with] the Torah, even though he is a non-kohen and learns at night, which is not the time of offering, nevertheless Scripture accounts it to him as if he had offered [it] at its time and in its season.

For the Torah is on the level of true ayin. That is, because the essence of Torah study is [that] “the matter depends on the desire of the heart”: that he be nullified in his thought and his speech; and this can be [so] in his occupation with Torah.

But in a mitzvah, in physical action, by means of the body that performs [it], this is not true bittul, only the nullification of yesh to ayin,

in that he does and fulfills the command of the King; and this is the level of a servant, who is separate. Whereas occupation with Torah is on the level of a son. And this is “whether as sons or as servants,” etc.

But “G‑d has made the one opposite the other,” and the whole side of kelipah (the husk) is only the level of yesh: “Envy, lust and honor drive a person out of the world.” And “the wise shall inherit honor.”

For one who is on the level of Chochmah, koach mah, honor does not make him a yesh. Therefore, “Before the hoary head you shall rise”; and likewise, “And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for honor,” etc.

Whereas one who is not on the level of koach mah, his heart can be drawn after honor, and he becomes a yesh and haughty of spirit.

And this is the essence of idolatry: that he considers himself a yesh, [though] they call Him “the G‑d of gods.” And therefore our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “One who has haughtiness of spirit,” etc.

6Now, just as in holiness there are two levels, Torah and mitzvos, which are the inner dimension (pnimiyus) and the outer dimension (chitzoniyus), as mentioned above, so too opposite this there are two things, an outer and an inner. The outer

is haughtiness, in the mode of garments and encompassing [lights] (makifim); and the inner is the lust of the “glutton and drunkard.” And all of it is in nogah, whose outer [part] is evil and whose inner [part] is good; and sometimes the whole of it rises and is included in the good, and sometimes the reverse, as is explained in Sefer Shel Beinonim, chapter 7.

7Now the inner level can itself be turned from evil to good. For example, a man who is among “guzzlers of wine and gluttonous eaters of meat”: if the next day he prays with the strength of the eating, the evil itself is turned into good, and from evil it becomes good.

But from the outer dimension and the garments nothing good is made, such that he could receive the honor, so that it be held within him, without his being a yesh.

8Therefore, “For on this day He shall atone for you (aleichem), to purify you”: aleichem, “upon you,” specifically, what is on the level of an encompassing [light] (makif), “He shall atone”: He shall wipe [it] away and remove [it] completely. “And the spirit of impurity I will remove”; “for You will remove the dominion of arrogance.”

But “from all your sins,” the inner [sin] that is in you: “before Havayah you shall be purified,” in your very selves. That is, “before Havayah” means “From the depths I call You, Havayah,” like a person who calls his fellow to come

to him: so one calls and draws down the level of Havayah through “from the depths,” the depth of the heart (umka deliba), in which the heart cries out within him. And this is the level of the Infinite One (Ein Sof) that is in his soul, through which he arouses the level of the Infinite One of “from the depths,” which is above the Name Havayah.

9And this is specifically “on this day,” which is Yom Kippur, the ascent of Malchus to be face to face. For Malchus is the source of the created beings and gives them life,

and now it rises to receive the supernal face of the Infinite One (Ein Sof): “Your face, Havayah, I will seek.” Therefore on Yom Kippur only six are called up to the Torah, because Malchus, which is the seventh level, has risen above.

(And see the explanation of “before Havayah” in the Zohar, Part III, 67a; according to the explanation of the Mikdash Melech there, in the name of Rabbi Chaim Vital, it is understood as was explained here, that “before” means higher, etc. However, in the Zohar on Terumah, 170b, it explains that “from before” (milifnei) is the level that is above the Name Havayah,

whereas “before” (lifnei) is the level of Malchus, which is the level that precedes the Name Havayah [counting] from below upward. Yet even according to that explanation there is no contradiction to what was written, that it is the level of “from the depths,” which is above the Name Havayah; for Yom Kippur is the ascent of Malchus into Atik.

If so, the two explanations agree as one: the level of Malchus, which is “before” the Name Havayah from below upward, rises on Yom Kippur to the level of the Infinite One, which is above the Name Havayah; and therefore, through this, you too “shall be purified.” And this is as is written in the Zohar on Tetzaveh, 185b, on [the verse] “For on this day He shall atone”:

“He shall atone on this day and cleanse it first, and all of this is ‘for you.’” And the Mikdash Melech explains: first the attribute of Malchus, which is called “this day,” is rectified, and afterwards Israel. That is, through the ascent of Malchus into the Infinite One, through this all the blemishes are rectified, for “You are the completion of them all.”)

(And see further on [the verse] “For on this day,” etc., in the Zohar on Vayikra, 15b; and in Parshas Acharei, 62b [and] 64a; and in Parshas Emor, folio 102; [and in] Haazinu, at the end of 290b.)