READING: BETWEEN AFTER MIDNINGHT AND DAWN THURSDAY

Zohar for All. Introduction of The Book of Zohar. Two Points

Two Points

120) Rabbi Hiya started, “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, a good understanding for all who do them; His glory endures forever.” Should this verse not have said, “Fear of the Lord is the end of wisdom,” since fear of the Lord is Malchut, which is the end of wisdom [Hochma]? However, Malchut is the first to enter the degree of upper Hochma, as it is written, “Open for me the gates of righteousness,” the gates of Malchut, who is called “righteousness.” “This is the gate of the Lord.” Indeed, if he does not enter by this gate, he will never enter the upper King, for He is sublime, hidden, and concealed, and He makes gates for Himself, one atop the other.

Explanation: Because the fear of the Lord is the Sefira Malchut, which is at the end of the ten Sefirot, should he not have said, “Fear of the Lord is the end of wisdom”?

It was said about the upper King that he is sublime, hidden, and concealed, and He makes gates for Himself, one atop the other. This is not an allegory. Rather, it is the lesson itself, since He is a sublime, hidden, and concealed King, the thought cannot perceive Him whatsoever. Hence, He made many gates one atop the other, by which He made it possible to approach Him, as it is written, “Open for me the gates of righteousness.” These are the gates that the Creator has made and made it possible for the righteous to approach Him through those gates.

At the end of all the gates, He made a gate with several locks. That gate is called Malchut of Malchut, the final point of all the upper gates. This last gate is the first gate for the upper Hochma [wisdom]. That is, it is possible to be rewarded with the upper Hochma only after the attainment of this last gate specifically, as for attainment of the upper Hochma, it is the first gate. This is why it is written, “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” since “Fear of the Lord” is called the last gate, which is the first for the wisdom of the Lord.

121) “At the end of all the gates, He made a gate with several locks,” several openings in several halls, one atop the other. He said, “Anyone who wishes to come into My place, this gate will be the first toward Me. One who enters will enter through this gate.” Here, too, the first gate for the upper Hochma is the fear of the Lord, which is Malchut, and this is the one called “first.”

We should thoroughly understand the meaning of locks, openings, and halls. Know that they are three forms that come one after the other over a single substance. This is a very deep matter and I will exert to clarify as best as possible, enough to somewhat understand the words of The Zohar before us. We should know that although it is clear that the thought cannot perceive Him whatsoever, the truth is that the thought of creation is to delight His creations, and no pleasure is perceived by the created being while he must be separated from the Creator. Moreover, we learn that the Creator craves to dwell in the lower ones.

The common thing in understanding those two matters, which deny each other, is that the world was created in complete oppositeness from the Creator, from one end to the other, in all one hundred points. This is so because this world was created with a desire to receive, which is the opposite form of the Creator’s, in whom there is not even a shred of this desire, as it is written, “And man is born the foal of a wild donkey.”

In that respect, all the issues of the governance of His guidance in this world are in total contrast to the thought of creation, which is only to delight His creatures, for it is according to the will to receive in us, which is our taste and our standard.

This is the meaning of the locks on the gates. First, all the many contradictions to His uniqueness, which we taste in this world, separate us from the Creator. Yet, when we exert to keep Torah and Mitzvot with love, with our soul and might, as we are commanded—to bestow contentment upon our Maker—all those forces of separation do not affect us into subtracting any of the love of the Creator with all our souls and might. Rather, in that state, every contradiction we have overcome becomes a gate for attainment of His wisdom. This is so because there is a special quality in each contradiction—revealing a special degree in attaining Him. And those worthy ones who have been rewarded with it turn darkness into light and bitter into sweet, for all the powers of separation—from the darkness of the mind and the bitterness of the body—have become to them gates for obtainment of sublime degrees. Thus, the darkness becomes a great light, and the bitter becomes sweet.

Hence, to the extent that previously, all the conducts of His guidance were for them forces of separation, now they have all been inverted into forces of unification, and they sentence the entire world to the side of merit. This is because now each force serves for them as a gate of righteousness, by which they will come to receive from the Creator everything that He has contemplated for them, to delight them with the thought of creation, as it is written, “This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous will enter through it.”

However, prior to being rewarded with inverting the desire to receive in us through Torah and Mitzvot, into reception in order to bestow, there are strong locks on those gates to the Creator, for then they have the opposite role: to drive us away from the Creator. This is why the forces of separation are called “locks,” since they block the gates of approaching and drive us away from the Creator.

But if we overcome them so they do not affect us, to cool His love from our hearts, the locks become doors, the darkness becomes light, and the bitter becomes sweet, since over all the locks, we receive a special degree in His Providence, and they become openings, degrees of attainment of the Creator. And those degrees that we receive on the openings become halls of wisdom.

Thus, the locks, the doors, and the halls are three forms that come upon our substance, the will to receive in us. Before we turn it into reception in order to bestow contentment upon our Maker, that substance turns the light to darkness and the sweet to bitter, according to our taste, since all the conducts of His Providence remove us from Him. At that time, locks are made from the desire to receive in us, and after we repent, we are rewarded with receiving in order to bestow, all the locks become doors, and then the doors become halls. Remember this well henceforth, for I will not repeat the words.

He said, “Anyone who wishes to come into My place, this gate will be the first toward Me.” The end of all the gates, the last phase among them, the lowliest there is, can be called Malchut of Malchut. And he says that to be rewarded with the upper Hochma, this gate, the last of them, was made the first gate to the hall of upper wisdom.

In truth, all the gates serve as doors and as halls of the Creator’s wisdom, but it is impossible to obtain the upper wisdom unless by attaining specifically the last gate, since it is the first for the upper wisdom. This is why it is called “first,” meaning Beresheet [“In the beginning” but also, “At first”] in which the Torah begins, since Beresheet indicates the fear of the Lord in relation to the last gate, which is the first for obtainment of the upper wisdom.

122) The letter Bet from Beresheet [in the beginning] indicates that those two join together in Malchut. They are two points, one concealed and hidden, and one disclosed. And because they are not separated, they are called “first,” meaning only one and not two, for one who takes this one, takes that one, too. It is all one, for He and His name are one, as it is written, “That they may know that You alone, Your name is ‘the Lord.’”

Explanation: Those two points are the sweetening of the quality of judgment with the quality of mercy, when Malchut rose and was sweetened in Bina, the quality of mercy, as it is written, “And they both walked together,” Bina and Malchut. It follows that the screen that was established in Malchut consists of both, hence there are two points there, conjoined as one. One is hidden and concealed, and the other is disclosed, since the judgment in the point of Malchut is hidden and concealed, and only the mercy from the point of Bina is disclosed. Had it not been so, the world would not be able to exist, as we learn, “First, the world was created with the quality of judgment; He saw that the world could not exist, and associated it with the quality of mercy.”

And because they are not separated, they are called “first,” only one, and not “two,” for one who takes this one, takes that one, too. That is, although the quality of judgment is concealed, it does not mean that the coupling is not performed on her, for those two points have actually become one, and the point of Malchut receives this coupling with the point of Bina, too, albeit in secret and not openly. This is what the name Resheet [beginning]—in singular form—indicates, that they are both one.

“It is all one, for He and His name are one.” “He” indicates Bina, and “His name” indicates Malchut. In “He and His name are one,” both must be one because when they are one, Malchut, too, receives the upper coupling along with Bina, by which the quality of judgment itself is finally sweetened at the end of correction. And on that day, “The Lord will be one and His name One.”

Because of this quality of judgment, included in the letter Bet of Beresheet, she is called “first” to Hochma, as her correction will be at the end of correction. At that time, the upper Hochma will appear, as it is written, “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord,” since the last gate is the first gate to Hochma. And it is written, “That they may know that You alone, Your name is ‘the Lord,’” for then the knowledge will be revealed in all the earth.

123) “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, a good understanding for all who do them.” Why is Malchut called “Fear of the Lord?” It is because Malchut is the tree of knowledge of good and evil. When one is rewarded, it is good. If he is not rewarded, it is bad. Hence, there is fear in that place. She is the gate to come into all the good that is in the world. “A good mind” is those two gates, the two points that are as one. Rabbi Yosi said, “A good mind is the tree of life, for it is a good mind without any evil at all. And because there is no evil in it, it is a good mind, without evil.”

The last gate is called “the fear of the Lord,” of which it is written, “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” This is the tree of knowledge with which Adam HaRishon sinned, for on this point, his punishment is death, and the great fear is not to blemish it. At the end of correction, when this point is completely corrected, in the full perfection, the verse “Death will be swallowed up forever” will come true. This is why it is called “The fear of the Lord.”

This is why it was said that there is fear in that place, and that she is the gate for all the good in the world, since the disclosure of the upper Hochma is all the good in the world, included in the thought of creation. And since the fear of the Lord is the first gate to the upper Hochma, it follows that it is the gate to all the good in the world.

“A good mind” is those two gates, the two points that are as one. The two points are included in the letter Bet of Beresheet together, and when he does not say “two points,” but “two gates,” it refers to after the correction of BON, when the two points are called “two gates,” for then both of them are good without any evil at all. Hence, the words “A good mind” are possible. But prior to the end of correction, they are called “the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”

Rabbi Yosi said, “A good mind is the tree of life, for it is a good mind without any evil.” Rabbi Yosi does not dispute Rabbi Hiya, since Rabbi Hiya explains the verse after the correction of BON, when the two points have become two gates. There is no evil in them, they are a good mind without any evil, and Rabbi Yosi explains the verse prior to the end of correction, when they are considered the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This is why he says, “A good mind is the tree of life,” ZA in Mochin of Ima, called “the tree of life,” which is all good without any evil, even before the end of correction. However, the two points are good and evil prior to the end of correction, for which the Malchut is called “the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”

124) “For all who do them” are the faithful followers of David, the keepers of the Torah. Those who keep the Torah are seemingly the ones who make it. There is no doing in all those who engage in Torah while they are engaged in it. However, there is doing in those who keep it, and by that, the verse “His glory endures forever” comes true, and the throne is properly sustained.

Explanation: The gate of the fear of the Lord is the last gate. It is the first gate to the upper Hochma. It follows that all those who engage in Torah, who have already corrected the last gate and the two points have become two gates for them—which are a good mind without evil—it is considered that there is no doing in them, which is the tree of knowledge of good and evil. However, there is doing, which is good and evil, in those who have not yet been rewarded with the end of correction, those who are called “keepers of the Torah,” since they have not yet corrected the sin of the tree of knowledge.

Also, those who keep the Torah are seemingly the ones who make it because all those forces of separation are inverted and become gates, each lock becomes a door, and each door becomes a hall of wisdom. By those who keep the Torah, all the sublime degrees that are included in the thought of creation to delight His creations come and become revealed.

It follows that all the wisdom and the whole Torah are revealed only by those who keep the Torah, meaning those in whom there is doing, in whom there is good and evil. This is why they are called “keepers of the Torah,” for it appears only through them. The verse calls them those “who do them,” for they are seemingly the ones who make the Torah. This is so because were it not for their concealments, which have become gates through their prevailing, the Torah would not have been revealed.

This is why it was said, “Those who keep the Torah are seemingly the ones who make it.” That is, they are regarded as the ones who seemingly make it, revealing it. It was said that the Torah seemingly preceded the world. Certainly, the Creator made it, but were it not for the good deeds of those who keep the Torah, it would never have been revealed, hence they are regarded as the doers and the makers of the Torah.

By that, the verse “His glory endures forever” is sustained, meaning by the force of those who keep the Torah. You find that His glory, which is all the wisdom and all the Torah, endures forever and ever, including after the end of correction, since then, too, they will need the fear of the Lord. After the correction of the tree of knowledge, they will have nowhere to take fear of the Lord except the past, from the keepers of the Torah. It follows that they establish the glory of the Creator forever and for all eternity. This is why it was said, “The throne is properly sustained,” for by that the throne of the Lord is properly sustained forever.