Sources – Chapter E

Letters – The Building of the World

Bereishit

"Bereishit" (In the beginning) – with the Torah, which is called "the beginning of His way," the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world. It turns out that everything was created through the Torah, and the power of the Maker is in the made; if so, in everything and in all the worlds there is the power of the Torah. And so too man, as it is written: "This is the Torah: a man…" (Numbers 19:14), as will be explained. And the Torah and the Holy One, blessed be He, are one; it turns out that in everything there is the vitality of the Holy One, blessed be He – "and You give life to them all." And He contracted [Himself], as it were, down to the lowest levels, and "a portion of God above" was placed within the darkness of matter. For the whole main intention is that the lower levels should be elevated upward, and that there be "the advantage of light over darkness." …….

To return to the matter: since in everything there is the Torah that gives life to that thing, one should not look at anything in its physicality but at the inwardness of the thing, in the secret of "the wise man's eyes are in his head." And it says in the Zohar: "And where are a person's eyes [if not in his head]? Rather, the wise man looks at what stands at the head" – meaning, in everything he looks at the beginning of that thing: from where it came down, and what is the root of that thing. And this is "In the beginning [God] created…" – with the Torah were created the heavens and the earth, which are the totality of everything and every thing within them, as our Sages said: "'et' – to include their offspring." "And the earth" – meaning, one who is sunk in earthiness – "was tohu va'vohu (chaos and void)," because he does not look at the vitality; and in truth, of themselves they are chaos and void. And Rashi explained: a person is astonished (toheh) and bewildered at the void (bohu) in it. Meaning: one who is a man is astonished and bewildered at the fool sunk in earthly matters – "bo hu" (in it is He), meaning, in it is the vitality of the Holy One, blessed be He, and he does not understand, and distances himself from it.

And when a person looks in everything at the vitality, he fulfills "I have set (shiviti) Hashem before me always," for in everything he sets before him Havayah, who brings every being into being.

To understand the matter: it is known what our Sages said in Tractate Ta'anit: "There is one pillar in the world, from the earth to the firmament, and its name is Tzaddik." For it is known, from what we have written elsewhere, that the Creator, blessed be He, created all the worlds with the Torah, which is the 22 letters of the Torah: the Creator, blessed be He, contracted Himself into the letters. The beginning of His contraction and emanation was in the letter Alef, and afterwards He contracted the light of the flow of His preciousness and splendor, together with the letter Alef, into the letter Bet; and likewise with these two letters into the letter Gimel; and so from letter to letter – these are the revelation of His Godliness – down to the letter Tav. Tav is the end of the levels, where there is good and evil: "Tav – you shall live; Tav – you shall die," which is free choice, as is known. And the true tzaddik must bind himself with all the levels, even with the lowest levels, which are in the place of free choice, the aspect of Tav, and draw himself near with them, level after level, in the secret of TaShRaK (the alphabet in reverse), up to the letter Alef, which is the Aluf (Champion) of the world. For even the lowest levels were created with the letters of the Torah, since the letter Tav too is among the letters of the Torah, for there too He contracted the revelation of the Godliness of the Champion of the world, as stated, only that it is at the end of the levels, far from the Alef. Therefore the tzaddik who binds himself to the Creator, blessed be He, must bind himself with the aspect of all the letters of the Torah, from Tav to Alef, to bring all the levels near to the Champion of the world. For this is the essence of complete service: that all the lower levels be elevated upward, as is known – all this from what we have written elsewhere.
(Me'or Einayim – Bereishit)

"Lech lecha" (Go forth) – Rashi explained: for your benefit and for your good. Now our Sages said on the verse "Do you indeed speak righteousness in silence (elem)?" (Psalms 58:2): "What should a person do in this world? Let him make himself like a mute (ilem). Could this be even regarding words of Torah? Scripture says: 'speak righteousness.'" For it is known what is written: "Adonai, open my lips" (Psalms 51:17). For the Creator, blessed be He – "the whole earth is full of His glory," there is no place empty of Him; only that "His glory" means His garments, as is known, for He, blessed be He, is clothed in everything. And this aspect is called Shechinah, for it dwells (shochen) in everything, and it is the name Adonai, blessed be He and blessed be His name. It is also called the World of Speech, for "by the word of Hashem the heavens were made," and with the Torah the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world – that is, with the twenty-two letters of the Torah, the World of Speech, all creatures were created. And it is found in Sefer Yetzirah: "He fixed them in the mouth of man." And this is "Adonai, open my lips." Therefore our Sages said that lashon hara (evil speech) is equivalent to idolatry, etc., for when one speaks lashon hara he does not believe that his speech is the World of Speech, the attribute of Adnut (Lordship). And this is what they said: "With our tongue we will prevail; our lips are our own – who is lord (adon) over us?" as explained by us elsewhere. And this is "Let him make himself (atzmo) like a mute" – meaning his own self: that he should not speak any speech except when he believes that, of himself, he is mute, and only that his speech is the World of Speech, the attribute of Adonai, as above. And it says: "Could this be even regarding words of Torah" – that he should not learn except when he believes as above? "Scripture says: speak righteousness" – it is a mitzvah to learn even not for its own sake (lo lishmah). And this is what our Sages said: "One who engages in idle talk transgresses a positive commandment, as it is said, 'and you shall speak of them' – and not of idle matters." At first glance, how is it possible not to speak any speech except words of Torah, as is implied by the wording "and you shall speak of them"? But the explanation is this: "and you shall speak of them (bam)" means – whatever you speak, believe that you are speaking with the Torah, whose speech is the World of Speech, the 22 letters of the Torah, as above. And when he speaks about the conduct of the world, let him not worry, for with the Torah the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world, and by the Torah the world is conducted, for all the worlds are conducted through the 22 letters of the Torah, the World of Speech – only that he must believe this, as above. But when he speaks not for any conduct of the world, this is called idle matters.
(Me'or Einayim – Lech Lecha)

Translated from the Hebrew sources page "מקורות- פרק ה’" by Roni Ayalon-Hirsch.