לבאר ענין יו״כ

1To explain the matter of Yom Kippur. One verse says, “It (hu) is a Shabbos of complete rest (Shabbos Shabbason) for you,” and another verse says, “It (hi) is a Shabbos of complete rest for you.” Now, our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “If one transgressed a positive commandment and repented, he does not move from there before he is forgiven; if one transgressed a prohibitive commandment, teshuvah suspends [the judgment] and Yom Kippur atones.”

To understand this—for surely a positive commandment is superior, since it overrides a prohibition—behold, it is written, “Return to Me and I will return to you” (in Malachi, chapter 3),

and it is written, “Bring us back to You, Havayah, and we shall return.” This is, by way of analogy, the matter of turning back [to be] face to face. For it is written, “For they have turned to Me the back of the neck

and not the face”: for even at the time of the sin it cannot be said of Him, may He be blessed, that G‑d distanced the person by an actual distance of place,

since, after all, “the whole earth is full of His glory,” and “there is no place empty of Him,” and He Himself is the One who gives the person power and life-force to live even at the very time of the sin.

Rather, it is, by way of analogy, like two people who stand next to each other, close in place, except that this one turns his face this way

and that one turns his face that way, because there is no closeness of hearts between them. And through teshuvah it becomes face to face again. [And see what is written about this in the discourse beginning “Return, O Israel.”]

The explanation of this matter will be understood from what is written, “And the children of Israel shall keep the Shabbos.” For the matter of Shabbos, on which G‑d rested, [is this]: “For in six days Havayah made the heavens and the earth,” etc.;

that is, He lowered Himself, as it were, and contracted [Himself] into ten utterances—“Let there be a firmament,” etc.—during the six days of work, to create, to bring into being and “to give life to the spirit of the lowly,” with the level of the outer dimension (chitzoniyus) of His sovereignty (Malchus), may He be blessed, alone,

as it is written, “Your kingship is the kingship of all worlds”: the coming into being of all the worlds and their life-force (chayus) are only from the level of His sovereignty, may He be blessed. And it is not like the soul that gives life to the body, which clothes itself within it to give it life and is affected by the body’s happenings and changes, etc.;

whereas [of Him] it is written, “I, Havayah, have not changed”: there is no change in Him whatsoever, G‑d forbid, on account of the multitude of created beings; as the saying goes, “You were the same before the world was created,” etc. For He does not clothe Himself within the worlds to give them life with the level of the inner dimension (pnimiyus) of His being and essence, may He be blessed,

but only an extension of radiance and illumination from Him, may He be blessed, for it arose in His will to be King over them. And this is their life-force and their existence: that His Name is called upon them; as it is written, “His splendor is over earth and heaven,” etc.

And this extension is considered a great descent and lowering relative to the Holy One, blessed be He, in the level of His inner dimension. And on the day of Shabbos He is elevated into the level of the inner dimension of the Infinite One (Ein Sof),

blessed be He; and this is called the level of “resting” on His part. By way of analogy, it is like a person who speaks: while he is speaking he contracts his intellect and brings it down into the words, and when he does not want to speak, he stops and rests,

and then, behold, his intellect has risen to its source, where the dwelling place of wisdom is. So, and infinitely more so, without end or limit, [G‑d] is elevated on the day of Shabbos above the rank of Chochmah, which is considered like a physical act of making, as it is written, “You made them all with wisdom”;

rather, as the saying goes, “You are wise, but not with a knowable wisdom,” etc. And because Israel arose in [G‑d’s] thought, as the saying goes, “and You breathed it into me,” and “one who blows,” etc., and our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “From where (me’ayin) have you come?” etc.

[That is: from the level of Ayin (nothingness), which is the source of Chochmah, as it is written, “And wisdom is found from Ayin (me’ayin)”; and as is explained in Parshas Bamidbar; and see what is written on the verse “Listen, O heavens.”]—for the level and rank of Israel is very high, exalted above the level of the extension of the outer dimension of His sovereignty, may He be blessed.

Therefore it is said, “And the children of Israel shall keep the Shabbos”: to become sanctified with His holiness, may He be blessed, so as to be “a Shabbos unto Havayah your G‑d,” etc. And it is written, “Between Me and the children of Israel it is a sign,” etc.; that is to say, as I am, so are they, as it were.

And this is [the meaning of] “Six days you shall labor,” etc.: in the level of external action, for the sake of one’s livelihood; “and on the seventh day [it is] a Shabbos unto Havayah”: to be elevated into the Source of all, to be nullified to Him and to cleave to Him, may He be blessed.

(And see what is written on this matter in Parshas Shemos, on the verse “For your love is better,” etc. And this is the matter of turning back face to face: that is, the revelation of the inner dimension of the soul and the desire of the heart (re’usa deliba) to be nullified to Him, may He be blessed, in the level of the inner dimension of the Infinite One (Ein Sof), blessed be He.)

22. However, our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “One who toiled on Erev Shabbos will eat,” etc. That is why it is written, “And the children of Israel shall keep the Shabbos, to make,” etc.:

that is to say, that he should keep [it] from the weekday toward Shabbos, and also to rectify within himself and to make the Shabbos in his soul, so that it truly be so. And this keeping—making the Shabbos in one’s soul during the weekdays—is through prayer. For

in the Tikkunim they said that prayer is “a ladder set on the earth, and its top reaches heavenward, and angels of G‑d ascend and descend on it.” “Angels of G‑d” are the mitzvos,

for they are angels, “messengers of the King” (sheluchei de’malka), as is written in the Tanchuma, Parshas Vayigash: “Honor the mitzvos, for they are My messengers, and a person’s agent is like himself.” (And see what is written about this also in the discourse beginning “And He called to Moshe.”)

And in their source they are “limbs of the King” (evarim de’malka). That is, by way of analogy: just as the soul extends itself through the limbs of the body to perform its action, so through the mitzvos the revelation of His G‑dliness, may He be blessed, is drawn down and extends. And their ascent on high, to their source, is through prayer.

(And see what is written in Parshas Shelach, in the explanation of “And you shall remember all the commandments of Havayah.”) To explain this matter: our Sages, of blessed memory, instituted that before every mitzvah one says, “Who has sanctified us with His commandments,” for through the mitzvos [we] are elevated into the supernal holiness.

The point is this. It is written, “I am like a verdant cypress (berosh),” etc. The meaning: a berosh is a kind of cedar that has not yet grown old,

and it is soft and fresh while it is still moist, so that then it can be bent downward. And because it is the tallest of the trees, when something is placed on it while it is bent down,

then, when it returns to its full strength, it lifts that thing up to a very high place. And so, by way of analogy, is the level of Ani (“I”). For there is the level of Anochi (“I”) and the level of Ani. The level of Anochi is “Who I am” (mi she’anochi),

that is, the level of the hidden world (alma de’iskasya). And the level of Ani is the level of Torah and mitzvos as they are below, when they are clothed in physical matters and set bounds to those matters, to give a measure and a limit to the physical matters of the mitzvos,

such as “A revi’is of water [is used] to wash the hands,” etc. (And see what is written in the discourse beginning “For this commandment” on the matter of Anochi and Ani.) And it is like the analogy of the verdant cypress, which is bent down and returns upward, to the supreme Source of all.

And likewise in this matter, on the opposing side, it is said, “And we will no longer say ‘our god’ to the work of our hands.” For just as the mitzvos are elevated through the uplifting of the inner dimension (pnimiyus) of the hearts of the souls of Israel as a whole (klalus),

as the saying goes, “[Israel] arose in thought,” etc., and therefore we say “our G‑d,” meaning that He is the power of our life, and that to Him we bow and give acknowledgment in a state of self-nullification (bittul).

Now, our Sages, of blessed memory, said in the chapter Lifnei Eideihen (folio 8, end of side a): “Jews outside the Land are star-worshippers in purity.” For bowing in the worship of stars is that one bows and bends his head to the stars and constellations (mazalos).

And it is written, “And with the bounty of the crops of the sun”: the crops grow from the sun. And so with all the other matters of this world: “There is no blade of grass below that does not have a star above,”

which is the mazal from which the thing receives its flow. And when a person occupies his thought and heart only with the matters of this world all his days, he brings down the intellect in his head to a thing that flows from the stars and constellations, and they too become the level of “our god” to the work of our hands.

For out of “the work of our hands,” which is the occupation of earning a livelihood, there is made the level of “other gods.” And this is [the meaning of] “And the soul of your enemies He shall sling out, as from the hollow of a sling”: although the thing in which he is clothed in physical matters looks to the eye like one of the sins that a person tramples with his heels,

it is nevertheless comparable to the analogy of slinging a stone, which is slung with the hollow of a sling to a very distant place, until he becomes as though he worships the stars.

Now, the ascent of the mitzvos is chiefly through prayer, because that is the propitious time, and the level of the inner dimension of the point of the heart, in the souls of Israel as a whole, is revealed and elevated, in longing and cleaving to the living G‑d. And this is the saying of our Sages, of blessed memory, “They instituted the prayers in place of the offerings.”

For just as with the offering, where they would offer the animal so that it would be burned in the fire on top of the altar, so one must arouse the love in prayer with flashes of fire, a flame blazing in his heart—for the element of fire is in the heart—and burn up and consume the animal soul within him, etc.

33. Now, it is written, “And the sons of Aharon the Kohen shall put fire on the altar,” and our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “Even though fire comes down from heaven, it is a mitzvah to bring [fire] from the ordinary (hedyot).” For above, too, there is the level of Aharon, who puts the level of fire into the Congregation of Israel (Knesses Yisrael).

For Aharon is “the groomsman of the Queen” (shushvina de’matronisa), and he is one of the seven shepherds who bestow the revelation of His G‑dliness, may He be blessed, into the source of the souls of Israel. And the level of the fire above is the natural love, the great love (ahavah rabbah) in the G‑dly soul, which is included in the Chochmah of his soul

(see Sefer Shel Beinonim, chapters 18 and 19; and what is written in Iggeres HaKodesh, in the passage beginning “Israel will be redeemed only through charity”; and see what is written in Parshas Eikev, in the discourse beginning “To understand the root of the reason for the bond, connection and relation of covenant and Torah”; and see what is written in the discourse beginning “I am black,” etc., “for the sun has tanned me,” etc.; see there),

which is not clothed at all in the garments of the vital soul; and it flares and blazes with self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh) for the actual sanctification of G‑d’s Name, and to separate from the wick—that is, the body—to which it is attached, like a flame that rises of itself, in order to cleave

to Him, may He be blessed. And “it is a mitzvah to bring from the ordinary” the fire below, through contemplating the greatness of G‑d, each one according to his own measure, and to set his heart and soul aflame for the service of G‑d. And the contemplation that gives birth to an intense love, which is like flashes of fire, is when one contemplates something new,

as we plainly see that when one sees something novel, he is greatly stirred. And so our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “Every day they should be in your eyes as new.” And this is when the thoughtful person contemplates that truly “they are new every morning,” etc.,

and [that] He renews every day, continually, the work of creation, from nothing into something; and as the darkness of night grows dark and then withdraws, the light of day comes into being. And so a person will see in himself: at night he sleeps and his life-force withdraws from him, and when he rises he becomes a new creature.

From this he will understand regarding all the creatures of the world that it is so with them, and that their life-force is “running and returning” (ratzo vashov). And when he sees with his eyes, and his heart understands

that “see, this is new,” then he will set his heart aflame and direct his heart and his soul toward Him, as it is written, “Their heart cried out.”

And this is the matter of turning the face back. For just as there is a back and a face in the body, so it is in the soul. And it is like the matter mentioned above: even before the person takes these things to heart,

in truth it is so, that He gives life and brings into being from nothing into something, and in His goodness renews every day, continually, the work of creation; and it cannot be said that [the person] is far from G‑d, G‑d forbid.

Rather, it is like the analogy of a person who turns his back to his fellow and turns his face away from him. And afterwards, if he takes the above-mentioned things to heart, he is

like one who turns his face back toward his fellow. Along these lines they instituted the wording of the prayer, “Blessed are You, King of the world.” The meaning: all the worlds were drawn forth from the level of King,

as it is written, “Your kingship is the kingship of all worlds”; and this is only the level of the outer dimension (chitzoniyus), so that only His Name and His sovereignty are called upon them. And we ask that it be “Blessed are You.” That is, as it is written, “Blessed is Havayah, the G‑d of Israel, from the world and to the world”

(see the Zohar, at the beginning of Parshas Terumah, folio 126b; and in Parshas Emor, folio 100b, “because two lights,” etc.; and folio 99a, regarding “from the world”);

that is, that He be blessed and drawn forth from the supreme Source, the beginning of all, from concealment into revelation, so that one will say of Him, “This is He”—“You,” in the language of direct address; that is, that He turn back to us in the level of face, through our turning our faces to Him, as mentioned above.

44. Now, it is written, “This is My Name forever”: shmi (“My Name”) together with yud-hei is 365, etc. For the positive commandments are drawn from the level of vav-hei,

which is the level of the revealed world (alma de’isgalya), and the prohibitive commandments are drawn from the level of yud-hei, which is the level of the hidden world (alma de’iskasya). [And this is the matter of “from the world and to the world.” And see what is written on the matter of the positive and prohibitive commandments in the explanation on the verse “Set me as a seal.”]

Now, when one transgresses one of the positive commandments of the Torah and their rabbinic branches, he blemishes the vav-hei; whereas when one transgresses the prohibitions and their branches, he blemishes the yud-hei

(and see what is written in the discourse beginning “See, I (Anochi)” on the matter of the level of yud-hei and the level of vav-hei that are in the soul; and see what is written about this also in the discourse beginning “But Havayah your G‑d would not listen to Bilaam”).

The explanation of this matter: the term pegam (blemish) [denotes] a hole, in which there is a lack. When one neglects a positive commandment, he makes a lack and an obstruction, so that the light of the revealed world does not shine upon him,

that is, the level of an arousal from below (isarusa dilesata) (which is also what is called “the small love” (ahavah zuta), as is explained in Parshas Eikev, there), the level of the fire below, which comes through the contemplation mentioned above. And when one transgresses a prohibitive commandment,

he withholds and diminishes the supernal light, so that the fire above, which is the natural love, cannot grow strong in his soul and add vigor to his love, with help from above, beyond the love from below.

For it is written, “Evil shall not dwell with You,” and “your iniquities separate,” etc.; for he has already been slung far away, as, by way of analogy, [with] the hollow of the sling mentioned above.

Therefore he cannot draw down the fire of love. And therefore, if one transgressed a positive commandment and repented, “he does not move from there before he is forgiven”: for when he does teshuvah, the arousal of teshuvah serves to kindle in his soul the arousal from below that he lost through his sin.

And this is [the meaning of] “he does not move from there”: that is, he remains in his place and has set right what he made crooked. [As mentioned above, the prayer of every day is called “a ladder,” etc., and on it “angels of G‑d”—which are the performance of the mitzvos—“ascend,” etc.;

and therefore, through prayer with intent (kavanah), in the manner of teshuvah, he sets right what he made crooked by neglecting a positive commandment.] This is not so when one transgressed a prohibition: for he blemished and withheld the supernal light, the arousal from above (isarusa dile’eila), so that even if he arouses [himself] with an arousal from below, it will no longer yield the strength of the supernal love,

for he withheld its light. And therefore “teshuvah suspends, and Yom Kippur atones”: for “on this day He shall atone for you before Havayah,” since the level of the inner dimension (pnimiyus) of His will, may He be blessed, is aroused

(which is above the level of yud-hei and the level of vav-hei; and see what is written about this at the end of the discourse beginning “A person is obligated,” etc., “until he does not know,” etc.),

for then He “bears iniquity and passes over transgression” and “cleanses,” so that the iniquity takes up no place at all. And this is called “like a cedar in Lebanon,” etc.

(which is a higher rank than the level of “a verdant cypress” that comes through the performance of the mitzvos; and see the Zohar, Vayikra) (folio 16a), and in Parshas Lech Lecha (folio 82, end of side a).

And see what is written in Parshas Acharei on the matter of the white garments of the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur, which whiten the iniquities of Israel. Therefore we ask, “Forgive us, pardon us”; that is, it is

by way of analogy like a person who asks his fellow not to be angry with him any longer and to set his love upon him. That is, through our saying, “We have been guilty, we have sinned,” and “For the sin,” etc.,

and lowering ourselves, and making the sin known, and admitting that it is detestable and abominable. Through this the sitra achra (the other side) is subdued, and as a matter of course “the glory of the Holy One, blessed be He, rises on high,” and “He will again have compassion on us.” And when His love returns to us from the inner dimension of His will, may He be blessed,

then sin and iniquity no longer separate. For iniquities separate only “between you and your G‑d,” that is, in the level of the Elokim that is “yours”;

but in the level of the inner dimension of His will, may He be blessed, before Him “darkness is like light.” (And see what is written at the end of the discourse beginning “But [Havayah your G‑d] would not,” mentioned above, on the matter of “And [He] turned,” etc.; see there.)

And this is [the meaning of] “Shabbos Shabbason”: for even relative to Shabbos, which is the matter of turning back face to face, it is Shabbason, meaning that it has elevation upon elevation, with surpassing excellence

(and see what is written on this matter at the end of the discourse beginning “Listen, O heavens,” and in the discourse beginning “Return, O Israel, unto.” And see what the Ramaz (Rabbi Moshe Zacuto) wrote in the commentary on the Zohar, Parshas Emor)

(folio 93b), on the matter of “Your face, Havayah, I will seek,” “Seek My face always.” And although Shabbos, too, is called “Shabbos Shabbason,” because there is a lower Shabbos and a higher Shabbos

(and see what is written in Parshas Behar on the verse “You shall keep My Shabbosos,” and in Parshas Shelach, at the end of the discourse beginning “Gathering wood,” etc.), nevertheless there it is written, “a holy convocation (mikra kodesh),” meaning that it remains in the supernal holiness;

but here it says “for you,” meaning that that great illumination descends and is revealed below, in the source of the souls of Israel, etc.