TUESDAY PRAYER: YESOD-MAIN READING OF THE WEEK – THE ZOHAR BOOK
READING: SUNSET MONDAY
Main Reading for PRAYER OF MANY, today with ENGLISH ZOHAR READING, page 156-158.
ARVUT OF : Robin Anderson
THE LETTER PEH
- The letter Peh entered and said: “Master of the world, it would be good
to create the world with me, for the future liberation of the world is inscribed
in me, as the word Pedut (liberation, redemption) begins with me. That is,
liberation is deliverance from all suffering. And it is therefore fitting to create
the world with me.”
The Creator answered her: “Though you are fine, the word Peshah
(transgression) begins with you and is secretly denoted by you, like a serpent
that strikes and hides its head in its body. So a sinner bows his head, hiding
from others’ eyes, but stretches out his hands to sin. So is the shape of the
letter Peh, whose head is hidden inside it.” And the Creator also said to the
letter Ayin that it would be unfitting to create the world with its properties,
for within it is the property of Avon (crime, sin). And though Ayin tried to
object, saying that its properties are contained in the word Anavah (humility),
the Creator refused it nonetheless.
Pedut (Liberation) begins with the letter Peh, meaning that the property
of Peh is contained in future liberation. This is why the letter Peh claims that
it is worthy of being the basis of the world. Indeed, both Galut (exile) and
Ge’ula (redemption) depend on Malchut: when Malchut has no inner Light
of Hochma, the people of Israel are exiled from the land of Israel. For in our
world, the land of Israel corresponds to Malchut of the world of Atzilut, the
spiritual land of Israel.
Just as in the spiritual world, ZA (Israel) distances from Malchut (the land
of Israel), the people of Israel separate and leave their land in our world. And
when the children of Israel correct their actions, they cause ZA (Israel) to fill his
Malchut (the land of Israel) with Light, build her with his Light and unite with
her face-to-face. As a result, the children of Israel of our world merit redemption
and return to their land.
The Light from ZA, which builds and fills Malchut, descends from Sefirot
Netzah and Hod in ZA. Hochma of Malchut clothes in Netzah and Bina of Malchut
clothes in Hod. The letters Ayin and Peh are Netzah and Hod in ZA. This is why
Peh, the Sefira Hod in ZA, claimed that it was suitable to be the basis of the world,
for the Light of Hochma that brings redemption to the entire world stems from
Peh to Malchut. Thus, if the world achieved its property, it would undoubtedly
reach the end of correction—complete redemption.
The letter Peh thought that it was more suitable to become the basis of
the world than Ayin because although Ohr Hochma enters Netzah-Ayin and Hod-
Peh, and is mainly present in Netzah-Ayin, redemption depends on Hod-Peh,
nonetheless. That is because initially, Bina liberates Malchut from her restrictions
and thereby redeems her.
By receiving from Bina her properties of mercy, Malchut merits redemption.
This is fulfilled in the following way: Bina transcends her own properties and
joins with Malchut, as a result of which, upon receiving the Light of Hassadim,
Malchut can now receive the Light of Hochma. The restrictions imposed on the
reception of Light mostly affect the left side, i.e., Hod-Peh in ZA. And that is why
the letter Peh thought that since the Light of Bina enters it, and not Netzah-Ayin,
it is better suited to become the basis of the world.
However, all the individual corrections made during the 6,000 years of the
world’s existence until the end of correction are considered incomplete, for the
Upper Light, which allows for the discovery and analysis of all the impure forces
within oneself, is not present in its entirety. Therefore, the Light may not be
received in the worlds of BYA, below Parsa, below the boundary that separates
the world of Atzilut from the worlds of BYA.
Parsa is Malchut that ascended to Bina in order to restrict the diffusion and
reception of Light into those parts of her that are located below Bina. And as
a consequence of Adam’s attempt to nevertheless receive the Light under the
Parsa, impurity slipped into Malchut, of which it is said that the serpent appeared
before Chava (Eve) and brought impurity upon her (Talmud, Shabbat, 146). This
impurity will only be corrected at the end of correction.
The thing is that the absence of the Upper Light in the force capable of
discerning good from evil in all of Malchut’s thickness gives rise to a flaw called
“tears”—two tears that fall into a vast sea from the two eyes of Hochma and Bina
that are concealed from all.
The two eyes are Hochma and Bina, and the tears signify the flaw in them
from the presence of the impure force that appeared in them as a result of
Adam’s sin. This led to the ruin of the two Temples. These tears in Malchut’s
eyes will only dry at the end of correction, when death disappears from the
world and all the Light shines in Hochma and Bina (item 56).
So the letter Peh was told that although it brings the world Pedut (redemption)
with its Light, and although all redemptions pass only through it, this Light is
incomplete. All the individual corrections are imperfect, for they come and go,
just as the two Temples.
For the properties of Peshah (transgression) and Pedut (redemption) in the
letter Peh are not sufficiently perfect and complete so as to withstand the sin of
Adam, for in the absence of the full Light of Hochma, there is clinging of impure
forces. Hence, the letter Peh is unworthy of being the basis of the world.
And since the property of Peshah (transgression) is concealed, the force of
the serpent is present therein, deceiving people and leading them to their death.
And it is impossible to kill it, just as a snake bites and immediately hides its head
in itself (similar to the head of the letter Peh), which makes it impossible to kill
it, for one may only kill the serpent within oneself by striking the “head.” This
is why the letter Peh is unsuitable for the creation of the world.