Sources – Chapter K

Middot (Attributes)

(It is worth first reading the previous chapter, on the secret of the tzimtzum – the Divine contraction.)

In truth, however, it is as we have said elsewhere in the name of the Baal Shem Tov, of blessed memory, whose soul is in the treasuries on high, on the verse "He watches from the windows, He peers through the lattices" (Song of Songs 2:9): that the Creator, blessed be He, watches "from the lattices" – meaning, He contracts His awe upon a person who is about to commit a transgression in secret. Every moment it seems to him, and he fears, that someone may see him; he imagines and fears as though someone is watching him through the window and peering through the lattices, and through this fear falls upon him as though someone sees him. He does not know that, as it were, the supernal Awe contracts itself for this person so that he will turn back and withdraw from the transgression, out of the greatness of His mercy, blessed be He, upon man; He contracts His awe, as it were, upon this person at so low a level. That is why Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai said to his disciples: "May it be [His] will that the fear of Heaven be upon you like the fear of flesh and blood. Know that when a person commits a transgression he says: 'If only no one sees me.'" The intent is as stated: the supernal awe contracts itself toward the person at the moment he turns aside to transgress, and clothes itself for him in the fear of flesh and blood, so that it seems to him that at every moment someone is seeing him through the window. If he had the understanding and the faith to believe what we have said – that Hashem, blessed be He, arouses the supernal awe upon him in order to hold him back, even though it is clothed in the external fear that no one should see him – it would then be easy for him to hold on to the fear of Hashem, since the awe has been aroused upon him from above, and to strip the awe of its external garments and grasp the essence: to fear Hashem, blessed be He, and to withdraw from the transgression.

And this is "May it be [His] will that the fear of Heaven be like the fear of flesh and blood": when the fear of flesh and blood falls upon you at the time one turns aside to transgression, God forbid, then, through that very fear, may it be His will that the fear of Heaven fall upon you, by your looking at the inner aspect of the matter, as stated. That is "like the fear": meaning, when you are afraid of flesh and blood, it will then be easy for you to hold on to the fear of God that is clothed there.

Accordingly, even when one commits a transgression – which is called "passing over Yah," for Hashem, blessed be He, withdraws from him, and he is called "one who separates the Champion" – nevertheless, the aspect of that fear which falls upon him as he goes to transgress is an aspect of the contraction of His awe and His Godliness, as it were. And because that fear falls upon him at that moment, even though it was in external garments, it is nevertheless an aspect of the fear of Hashem; and through it he is sometimes aroused to repentance afterwards, for the good of the fear that fell upon him at the time of the transgression can bring him to teshuvah (repentance). It turns out that there, too, there is a contraction of His Godliness, blessed be He, even though [the way] is opened for him, to give him free choice, by his being cut off from his root, which is the Creator, blessed be He. Understand this. Thus it emerges that "the whole earth is full of His glory" and "there is no place empty of Him."
(Bereishit)

And this is the whole essence of our service: to purify the middot (traits) within us from evil and to elevate them, by serving Him, blessed be He, with them. All this comes through looking well: when some evil love or evil fear, God forbid, comes to him, let him look and tremble and say in his heart: "Is this not a love that has fallen from the World of Love, the love of the Creator, blessed be He? I must elevate it – how can I do this evil and cast it down even lower? If I love this evil thing, which is a created thing – [how much more] the Creator, blessed be He, and His Torah, through which all creatures were created, who is the delight of all delights!" And likewise with the other traits: when any one of the traits is aroused within him, let him fear, dread and tremble to use the scepter of the King, the King of the universe, to provoke Him, God forbid, and to act against His will and to defy the eyes of His glory, blessed be He. On the contrary: when the trait is aroused within him toward evil and toward that external thing, it is then easy for him to bind himself with this very trait above, in Him, blessed be His name, since the gate of that trait has been aroused and opened; and then he raises fallen things to their root. There is no greater delight above than this, for Hashem, blessed be He, has great delight from it, as is known – all this from what we have explained elsewhere.
(Noach)

Now I will tell you a great thing in this matter. You know that if at some time a person feels in his soul that he has fallen at that time into evil traits, God forbid – and especially if he has fallen into evil love, and in particular the lust of intercourse, even in a permitted way – let him know with certainty that they wish to lift him up to a higher level with the traits imprinted within him, and to open his heart to the love of Him, blessed be He, so that he may merit the aspect of the giving of the Torah from above, as stated above. And before the raising comes the lowering, as explained above concerning Abraham our father, peace be upon him, who needed the descent to Egypt in order to lower himself and to elevate them; for in his descent there he feared Hashem, as Scripture says, "to sojourn (lagur)," and as written above – the opposite of those about whom it is said, "Surely the fear of God is not in this place" (Genesis 20:11). So it is with every person: by falling into the place of evil love and fearing Hashem there, standing at the level mentioned above, and strengthening himself at the arousal of evil love to overcome the evil inclination and not do its will to fulfill his lust, and loving the Creator, blessed be He, with that very arousal of love, as stated above. And even if he must fulfill the marital duty (onah) stated in the Torah, it should be only for the love of the Creator, blessed be He, like all the other mitzvot – tzitzit and tefillin – with no difference between them at all, and he should not do it to fulfill his lust. If he does so, he is raised thereby to a great level, and thereby he raises all the fallen loves to which he descended, elevating them to the head of all, to the World of Love, and he rises thereby to a supernal level. As written above regarding Abraham: through his descent to Egypt he merited "and I will make your name great." So it is with every person and at every time, and through this one merits the aspect of the giving of the Torah, as stated above, and as explained above regarding the descent of Jacob our father, peace be upon him, to Egypt with the tribes, "compelled by the Divine word" – which is the giving of the Torah to Israel, for they would not have been fit to receive the Torah without this descent, as stated. And so it is with every person and at every time.
(Me'or Einayim – Noach)

…the deed. And as long as he walks constantly at that level, he will gain ever more strength of spiritual delight felt in his service, and he will merit to become a chariot (merkavah) for the Creator, blessed be He, and reach the level where he does nothing except what the Creator, blessed be He, who rests upon him, inclines him to do – as is written in the holy Zohar, the secret that the horse is subordinate to the rider and the rider is not subordinate to the horse. For just as the rider steers the horse with bit and bridle wherever he wishes, so the Torah, through the revelation of the covenant, steers him toward the intention of the Rider, who is the Creator, blessed be He, who rests upon him; and the Torah becomes for him like a bridle in the hand of the rider, and he merits the giving of the Torah as a gift from above, as explained above.
(Me'or Einayim – Noach)

"And the life of Sarah was…" Let us preface with what our Sages, of blessed memory, said: "If one has a pain in his head, let him occupy himself with Torah, as it is said, 'For they are a graceful wreath for your head'; if one has a pain in his throat… if he has a pain in his bowels… if he has a pain in his whole body…, as it is said, 'and healing to all his flesh.'" To understand the matter, let us preface that it is known that "in the image of God He made man" (Genesis 9:6), and Rashi explained: in the mold prepared for him – it is the form of the image of his Maker. Now the Creator, blessed be He, has no form whatsoever, God forbid, since He is Ein Sof (the Infinite), beyond grasp. But the matter is this: "In the beginning [God] created…" – and our Sages expounded: for the sake of the Torah and for the sake of Israel… And "Elohim" indicates the tzimtzum, as is known: since Hashem, blessed be He, is infinite, at the time of the creation of the world He needed, as it were, to contract the light of His precious abundance, to contract Himself into the worlds. Even though He, blessed be He, is infinite and the worlds cannot bear Him, nevertheless, since He, blessed be He, desired their creation, He contracted Himself into the worlds, as it were, so that the worlds could bear Him; and this aspect is called Elohim. But the essence of the tzimtzum is the Torah, for He contracted His Shechinah (Divine Presence) into the letters of the Torah, and through them the worlds were created – for "the Torah and the Holy One, blessed be He, are one," for this reason: it is His very essence, and through it He created the world. Now in the Torah there are 248 positive commandments and 365 negative commandments, and they are called the Shiur Komah (the "measure of the stature") of the Creator of the beginning, for the Torah is a stature in the aspect mentioned above. And man too was created through the Torah in this image, having a stature of 248 limbs and 365 sinews, each limb corresponding to the positive commandment of the Torah particular to that limb. Understand this, as we have said several times.

Now the main intent of this creation was that man should draw life and every perfection from the Torah, which is the Craftsman, by fulfilling the Torah's positive and negative commandments, so that not even one is missing, God forbid. Then life is drawn to him from each particular mitzvah that belongs to that limb or that sinew, as he guards himself not to transgress a prohibition. And even though it is impossible to fulfill all of them in deed, he can nevertheless fulfill them in speech, as our Sages said: "Whoever occupies himself with the Torah of the burnt-offering is as if he offered a burnt-offering," and likewise with the other mitzvot that are impossible to fulfill – since he is ready to fulfill them, and on his part nothing is withheld, only that it is impossible, the speech is counted for him as deed. And the reverse, God forbid: when any mitzvah is missing from the stature of the Creator of the beginning, the life of the limb corresponding to that mitzvah is also lacking, God forbid, and the blemish extends to his soul, and through this also to his physical body, and an illness comes, God forbid, upon that limb – so to speak.

Now if he lacks understanding, he seeks a physician to heal him. But the truth is that if he would return to the Craftsman, to the Torah – for a person knows in his own soul – to examine his deeds and the nature of his sins… Just as with a vessel made by a craftsman wise in his craft: if any damage befalls it, God forbid, it must be brought to the original craftsman who made it, for without him no craftsman knows the nature of the damage. So too in this matter: he must go to the Craftsman and restore upon himself the life of the Torah, with the light of the Ein Sof, blessed be He, that is contracted in the Torah; and he will not need the physical physician, and the healing may come to him in an instant. Understand this. And then he will certainly be whole in every kind of wholeness – in his body, his wealth and his children – for everything that happens to him, God forbid, is all for his rectification (tikkun), as mentioned. And so our Sages said: one who separates from the Torah – "what is crooked cannot be made straight…"

And this is "You shall be wholehearted (tamim) with Hashem your God": meaning, when will you be whole with Hashem? When you cleave to Hashem, blessed be He, and to His Torah, which is "your God (Elohecha)" – the aspect of the tzimtzum, as stated, that He contracted Himself into the Torah. Then you will be whole in every kind of wholeness, in body and soul.

And this is what our Sages said: "'And he shall surely heal' – from here [we learn] that permission was given to the physician to heal." For why would one think not to heal? But in truth one ought to act as above, and not seek bodily cures alone; but because he lacks understanding and relies with his faith on that, and Hashem, blessed be He, does not desire the death of the dead, God forbid – therefore permission was given… But the truth is as the verse says: "And He said: If you will diligently listen… for I am Hashem your Healer," and our Sages expounded: "I will not put [the disease upon you], and if I do put it…" And as the Maharsha, of blessed memory, wrote: even though "and if I do put it" is not mentioned in the Torah, it is all included in "I will not put," for the Creator, blessed be He, is always present, and Torah and repentance preceded the world; so even "if I put," it is as though "I did not put," since the healing preceded the world.

And this is also the reason that all the cures of the Creator, blessed be He, precede the blow. Understand this.

It is known that the Torah is built of the twenty-seven letters of the Torah: twenty-two are complete mercy, and the five doubled letters, MNTzPK (the final letters), are the gevurot (severities), and from them come the judgments. And one who cleaves to the Ein Sof, blessed be He, through the Torah includes them in the twenty-two letters of mercy – for from the Torah [we learn that] "one is nullified in two" – and the gevurot are sweetened. Now a person cannot come to this level, to cleave to the Ein Sof, blessed be He and blessed be His name, and to His Torah, except through humility; and then "I dwell… with the contrite and lowly of spirit," and his heart becomes a dwelling place for the Creator, blessed be He, and then there is no lack in the house of the King, and he is whole in every kind of wholeness. As we said on the verse "What (mah) does Hashem your God ask of you": the trait of mah, which is called humility, He asks of you; and then "but to fear Hashem." Which is not so when one lacks humility: then he has no fear, for humility brings to fear. And then [it is a case of] "I and he cannot dwell together," and he has no awe before the Creator, since He is not with him. Which is not so [with the humble]: since He dwells within him, he fears Him and His awe falls upon him, for the King is near, before him and within him. And this is "Do not read mah (what) but me'ah (a hundred)": for through the level of mah one merits the Alef, the Champion (Aluf) of the world.
(Me'or Einayim – Chayei Sarah)

It is known that the thought in every Jewish person was taken from the World of Thought mentioned above, only that it is in the aspect of shevirah (the shattering) – thoughts fallen from their source. One who has a heart to desire and to know this elevates them to their root, refines them from the place of the shattering, and raises them to supernal Thought, which is called Chochmah (Wisdom), as is written in the Zohar, "all are refined through Chochmah." Through this wisdom by which they raise [the thoughts] to supernal Thought, they refine them from the aspect of shattering, and they become complete good. For this is the essence of our service: to refine the sparks, which are the thoughts clothed in the kelipot (husks) – to refine them, elevate them and unite them with their root mentioned above – as we have said on the verse "Many are the thoughts in a man's heart, but the counsel of Hashem – it shall stand." The intent is that there are seven kinds of thoughts in a person and no more, and each of them includes kinds of thoughts without number. For example, there are many kinds of thoughts that are from the aspect of love, and among them are evil loves, which have fallen from their source, the supernal love, which is only the love of the Creator, blessed be He, the delight of all delights. When one senses this at the moment the thought of fallen love comes to him, let him immediately tremble and say: "Is this not what was above in its source, the World of Love, as stated?" And let him immediately begin to love the Creator, blessed be He, with the aspect of love that was aroused within him – which is then easy for him, since this trait has been aroused within him. Then that fallen thought has a rising. All this applies both at the time of prayer and at other times. And so with all seven kinds of thoughts – such as other fears, glorification, victory and the rest of the seven days of building, as is known – in all of them the intent is to raise them to their root, as stated above, and to refine them through supernal Wisdom, as they said, "and all are refined through Chochmah." But one who has no heart to desire, to know and to understand is drawn after the thought, God forbid, and it brings him, God forbid, to deed, and casts it down further and further, Heaven save us; and what was the counsel of Hashem – that through it he could cleave himself – his thought falls further into the shattering. Understand this.

And this is "From afar Hashem appeared to me" (Jeremiah 31:2): for from things that seem far from Him, blessed be He – on the contrary, Hashem appears to me through them. All this through the aspect of Chochmah, which is called "my sister," as is written: "Say to Wisdom, you are my sister" (Proverbs 7:4); through it he attaches them to their root, which is Chochmah, as stated.

And this is "Many are the thoughts in a man's heart, but the counsel of Hashem – it shall stand" (ibid. 19:21): for many thoughts come into a person's mind every day, and lest you say they come to confuse you, therefore it says that the counsel of Hashem is that it shall rise from its fall – that through this the thought comes to the aspect of refinement (birur). For this is what the Messiah awaits: that we come to this level, as stated.
(Me'or Einayim – Shemot)

The secret of the Egyptian exile is that true da'at (knowledge, awareness) was in exile: they did not attain the da'at to serve the Creator, blessed be He, as it is said: "Know the God of your father and serve Him" (I Chronicles 28:9). For in truth, da'at is the main thing that brings to complete fear and love. For after one knows and believes that "the whole earth is full of His glory" and "there is no place empty of Him," and that He is the delight of all delights, blessed be He and blessed be His name, the Life of all life – then in all delights, were one to imagine, God forbid, the absence of the flow of His light and life, blessed be He, from created things, the creatures would return to chaos and void (tohu va'vohu); and likewise in all the upper and lower worlds – were one to imagine, God forbid, the absence of His life from them, they would be as though they never were. If so, He is the essence in all things; and if so, when one believes this, he will certainly not crave any delight in the world, since its essence is the Creator, blessed be He. Better, then, to cleave to the true delight and not to separate, God forbid – "a whisperer separates the Champion" (Proverbs 16:28), separating the Champion of the world from His Shechinah. For all things are called by the name Shechinah, that is, the life of Hashem, blessed be He, that dwells in all things; and if one does the thing as the masses do, he separates, God forbid. Therefore, certainly one who has this da'at will see in everything the inwardness that sustains it, which is His Shechinah, blessed be He, and he will cleave to it and come to fear and love.

And love is called, as they said in the Mishnah, "And you shall love… with all your might (me'odecha)" – "with every measure and measure (middah u'middah)." What is "with every measure and measure"? For it is known that Hashem, blessed be He, is infinite, and if so He is a thing without limit or end, while the world is a thing that has a limit. How then can the world bear the light of the flow of His life that dwells in all creatures, as mentioned, since He, blessed be He, has no limit? Rather, He, blessed be He, conducts His world through His middot (attributes), and the middot are called so because Hashem, blessed be He, measured (madad) and contracted Himself, as it were, in such a way that the world could bear Him – and this is the meaning of the word middah (measure). All this is according to what His wisdom, blessed be He, which is beyond grasp, decrees: sometimes He measures with this measure and sometimes with another measure, according to what His wisdom, blessed be He, decrees He must at that time conduct His world through the flow of His life. And so for every Jewish person: He measures Himself and contracts His Godliness, blessed be He, according to the person's strength and intellect at that time – sometimes in chesed (kindness) and sometimes in mercy – for it is impossible for a person to receive His Godliness at that time except in that particular measure. And if the person has da'at, he will certainly receive His Godliness according to how He measured Himself to him at that time, and will rejoice in receiving His Godliness upon himself, and will thank Him very, very much, and serve Him with complete fear and love, since he has da'at, and da'at is what includes them, as is known.

For this reason everyone must accept upon himself, at the time of reciting the Shema, at the Dalet of "Echad" (One), the four deaths in the four [directions], and to unify His name in truth, as is written: "For Your sake we are killed all the day" (Psalms 44:23) – this is one who accepts upon himself the four death penalties of the court for the sake of the unification of His great name, blessed be He. For certainly a unification is made of Havayah (the Tetragrammaton), which is mercy, and Elohim, which is judgment, since he accepts His Godliness, blessed be He, in both. And this is "Hashem our God, Hashem is One" (Deuteronomy 6:4): whether He conducts Himself with him through the attribute of Havayah or through the attribute of "our God (Elohim)," it is all Hashem, which is the kindness of God, blessed be He, so that he can receive His Godliness in that matter, since that is what he needs at that time. And this is "that Hashem is the God…" (ibid. 4:39), and all this through da'at, as is written at the beginning of the verse: "And you shall know this day…" And when one serves thus with this da'at, the judgment too becomes mercy: since he believes and receives it with joy and thanks Him greatly, and holds the judgment as though it were kindness, it truly becomes so. And this is "the righteous turn the attribute of judgment into the attribute of mercy." And the wicked – even when the Creator, blessed be He, conducts Himself with them through the attribute of mercy, they do not receive His Godliness through it, since they lack da'at, and they separate it from the Creator, blessed be He, and turn it into the attribute of judgment; and the tzaddik (righteous one) can rectify even what the wicked have spoiled, and turn it into the attribute of mercy.

And this is "Ben Bag Bag says: Turn it over and turn it over [again]": for through the Torah, which is da'at, one turns what the Creator, blessed be He, conducts with him in the attribute of judgment into the attribute of mercy, and also turns over what the wicked spoiled, as stated above. Understand this.

Yet each and every one must come to trials (nisyonot). Even though one accepts His Godliness in his thought, as above, nevertheless every person is tested with ten trials, as they said about Abraham: "With ten trials was Abraham our father tested, and he withstood them all." The trial is that the bond by which he was bound to Hashem, blessed be He, through da'at is removed from him when he comes to the trial, and only free choice remains with him – for otherwise it would not be called a trial, since certainly through the bond "the righteous holds to his way." And through this his da'at is diminished – not an actual removal of da'at – and [he passes] if he withstands the trial through what was fixed in his heart beforehand, when he had expansive da'at.

Now when Israel were in Egypt, da'at was in exile, for "the husk precedes the fruit": da'at was covered by kelipot (husks), like the shell of a nut, as the verse says: "I went down to the garden of nuts" (Song of Songs 6:11), which refers to the Egyptian exile. In a nut there is the outer shell, the hardest, which covers the edible part, and beneath it the hard shell, so that they could see the edible part – although the thin shells still remained, until our Messiah comes, speedily in our days, when the inwardness will be revealed completely – nevertheless the main covering was uncovered. For Mitzrayim (Egypt) has the letters of metzar yam ("the strait of the sea"): for there is the sea of Chochmah, which is da'at that comes from there; and one who has no da'at at all is even today in the "strait of the sea," not having yet entered the sea of wisdom.

Therefore the author of the Haggadah said: "Not our fathers alone did the Holy One, blessed be He, redeem, but us too He redeemed with them," for every year there is an exodus from Egypt in the manner described, and the wicked who have no da'at have still not left Egypt. Therefore it says: "The wicked son – what does he say? 'What is this service…'" Since he has no da'at, the service is difficult for him. "And you too say to him… 'for me and not for him; had he been there he would not have been redeemed'" – since even today he is in Egypt, that is, his da'at.

Therefore it is said: "And God (Elohim) saw the children of Israel, and God knew" – da'at came to discern, through da'at, that even the aspect of Elohim is the reception of His Godliness, blessed be He. And this is "And God (Elohim) spoke to Moses and said to him: I am Hashem." For Moses our teacher, peace be upon him, said, "Why have You done evil to this people?" and Hashem, blessed be He, answered him: What evil is this? Is not the essence of the redemption that they should know that Elohim and the name of mercy are one, a single unification, as stated above? What appears to be evil is so for one who lacks da'at; but in truth, according to His wisdom, blessed be He, which is beyond grasp, it was necessary at that time to contract in that very measure. And this is what He, blessed be He, taught Moses, saying to him with the attribute of Elohim: that which you said, that I did evil – know that I am Hashem (Havayah), as stated.
(Me'or Einayim – Va'era)

Or it may be explained: "At the time that they put first [na'aseh, 'we will do']… He said: Who revealed this secret to My children…" One must understand how it is possible to do before hearing what to do; and also what was the glorying of Hashem, blessed be He, that He gloried so much in their putting "we will do" before "we will hear."

But the truth is that a person cannot always stand at one level, for the vitality (chiyut) "runs and returns" (ratzo va'shov) – it comes and departs. That is, when he cleaves to Hashem, blessed be He, he feels vitality and delight, and afterwards it departs and he falls from his level. There are secrets of the Torah in the reason why he must fall from his level; one reason is so that afterwards he will come to a greater level, for in everything there must be absence before being; and when one is to be raised to a greater level there must first be absence – therefore he must fall from the level he is at now.

Now a person must, even in falling from his level, strive to rise to Hashem at the very level he is at now, for he must believe that "the whole earth is full of His glory" and "there is no place empty of Him," and even in the level he is at now there is also Hashem, blessed be He, for there is no place empty of Him – only that He is very contracted. And this is "From the rising of the sun to its setting…" (Psalms 113:3): the tzaddik is called "sun," as in the saying "Before the sun of Eli set, the sun of Samuel shone…"; so the tzaddik is called sun. And this is "from the rising of the sun" – that is, when his mind is bright and pure and cleaving to Hashem, blessed be He – "to its setting" – that is, when the brightness departs and he falls from his level – always the name of Hashem must be praised, and he must strive to rise to Hashem, blessed be He, at the level he is at now.

And this is called "we will do" before "we will hear": even in our falling from our level, to cleave to Hashem, blessed be He, at that level, as above; and afterwards "we will hear" – for hearing mainly means understanding, that is, coming to a greater level, as above. And this was the essence of the receiving of the Torah that Israel received, and therefore Hashem, blessed be He, gloried in it greatly: that they received the Torah in great truth and grasped the truth – that they would always cleave to Hashem, blessed be He, and never separate from Him, even when falling from their level. And this is the main path and conduct of a Jew, and in this one must walk. And by what can one come to Hashem, blessed be He, when he has fallen from his level, since the mochin (expanded consciousness) and da'at have been taken from him? Though Hashem, blessed be He – "the whole earth is full of His glory," that is, even in a place that is "all the earth," wholly earthiness, only coarse matter – nevertheless it is full of His glory, blessed be He. And Hashem, blessed be He, is called the Life of all life: that is, all life in the world – beasts, animals, birds and the human species – their vitality is Hashem, blessed be He; and this is "Life of life," that He, blessed be He, is the vitality of all living things. So let one think, when he has fallen from his level: "Am I not alive? And who is my vitality? Is it not the Creator, blessed be He?" It turns out that He, blessed be He, is here as well, only very contracted.

And this is what the Holy One, blessed be He, said: "Who (mi) revealed this secret to My children?" – meaning, "Who": when they think "Who is our vitality?" – this revealed to them the secret of putting "we will do" before "we will hear," as above.

And this is "On this day they came to the wilderness of Sinai," which our Sages expounded: let them be new to you as on the day it was given. How is this possible? The Torah was given long ago – how can they be new as on the day it was given? But according to our words above it is well understood: each and every day one puts "we will do" before "we will hear," which was the essence of receiving the Torah, as explained. And this is "But you who cleave to Hashem your God…" One must understand why two names are written, "to Hashem your God" (Deuteronomy 4:4); it could have said "you who cleave to Hashem," and no more. According to our words above it is well understood: Elohim everywhere is judgment and contraction; and this is "you who cleave to Hashem your God" – that is, even when He is contracted for you, when you have fallen from your level, nevertheless you cleave to Hashem, blessed be He, by means of [the thought]: "Are you not all alive this day? And who is your vitality? Is it not He, blessed be His name and exalted be His remembrance?"

And this is the saying of King David, peace be upon him: "I have set (shiviti) Hashem before me always" (Psalms 16:8) – meaning, Havayah was equal (shaveh) to him: that is, when I cleave to Hashem, blessed be He, with bright mochin; and "before me (lenegdi)" is an expression of opposition, that is, when I have fallen from my level – it was all equal to me, for he cleaved to Hashem, blessed be He, even at the time of his fall. And this is what King Solomon, peace be upon him, said: "Do not say, 'How was it that the former days were better than these?' For it is not out of wisdom that you ask about this" (Ecclesiastes 7:10). Meaning: there are fools who, when they fall from their level, lie in the dust and do not rise again to Hashem, blessed be He. And this is "Do not say that the former days were better than these" – that is, "then I used to serve Hashem, blessed be He, and now I have fallen from my level" – do not say so, "for it is not out of wisdom that you ask about this," for wisdom gives life, and vitality runs and returns, and so it must necessarily be thus. And this is called in the holy Zohar "matei ve'lo matei" (reaching and not reaching): when he cleaves to Hashem, blessed be He, in brightness, it is called "reaching," and when it departs it is called "not reaching."

And the reason one must fall from his level is this: there are fallen souls – some that fell from the six days of Creation and some that fall in each and every generation – and they reincarnate, wandering and drifting, and cannot come to Hashem, blessed be He, for they have nothing with which to come, since in their lifetimes they occupied themselves with the vanities of this world and did nothing. And when the tzaddik falls from his level and afterwards rises – as the saying goes, "Seven times the righteous falls and rises" (Proverbs 24:16) – when he rises and ascends to Hashem, blessed be He, he raises with him those souls. But he can raise only those souls that are from his root; therefore every person must fall from his level in order to raise the souls that are from his root. Understand this.
(Me'or Einayim – Yitro)

…"In the beginning" – for the sake of the Torah… and for the sake of Israel. The matter is that each and every Jew has the root of his soul in the Torah, which is the root of all the roots of the collective souls of Israel, and through this the souls of Israel are united with Hashem, blessed be He, when they occupy themselves with Torah, for "the Torah and the Holy One, blessed be He, are one." For it would have been impossible for the world to exist except through the Holy One, blessed be He, uniting with the Torah: for Hashem, blessed be He, is Ein Sof, without end, without limit, bound or measure, and it was impossible to create the physical world, bounded in time and space, except by means of the Torah, in which the Creator, blessed be He, clothed Himself – "who wraps Himself in light as a garment" – and through this a contraction could take place, to set limits of time and space in it. For in the Torah we find that it has a certain limit, bound and measure, as our Sages said on the verse "a flying scroll, its length twenty cubits and its width ten cubits" (Zechariah 5:2), that this is the Torah, which has a measure such as our Sages gave it in explaining this verse. Therefore, through it the Creator, blessed be He, contracted [Himself] within the worlds until He created this world with limit and end. And therefore the attributes received by us are called middot (measures), for thus His wisdom, blessed be He, measured and estimated how much the world could bear of the light of the flow of the wisdom of His Godliness.

And this is the explanation of the Gemara on the verse "and to Him you shall cleave": "Is it possible to cleave to the Shechinah? Is it not a consuming fire? Rather, cleave to His attributes: just as He is merciful, so you be merciful…" At first glance the matter is puzzling, for in any case the wording of the verse is surprising, since it implies cleaving to Him, blessed be He, literally, and not to His attributes. "Is it possible…" – and how can we take the explanation away from its plain meaning and say "cleave to His attributes," when that is not the language of the verse? For it is written "and to Him you shall cleave," implying specifically to Him and not to His attributes.

However, it is understood with what was said above: the middot are what was contracted through His clothing Himself, blessed be He, in the light of the splendor of His garment, blessed be He, which is the Torah. In it are the thirteen middot (hermeneutic principles) by which the Oral Torah is expounded from the Written Torah, and these are the very thirteen middot (Attributes of Mercy) mentioned in the verse "Hashem, Hashem, God, merciful…" (Exodus 34:6), to which our Sages alluded: "just as He is merciful…" And when a person occupies himself with Torah in devekut (cleaving) to the root of his soul, which is there in the Torah, as stated, he becomes one unity with the Creator, blessed be He, as it were. Therefore the plain meaning of the verse is also true: "and to Him you shall cleave" – to Him literally, for he becomes united with his source, which is the Torah, and there they become literally one unity. And our Sages explained how his cleaving to Him, blessed be He, can be literal, and answered that it is through His middot, as stated: through the middot by which the Torah is expounded he can cleave to Him, blessed be He. And this is what they said, "just as He is merciful…": this is sound advice for a person who cannot occupy himself with Torah constantly – at least he should be among the supporters of Torah, through whom the person who occupies himself with Torah can learn in the devekut mentioned and cleave to Him, blessed be He.
(Me'or Einayim – Tetzaveh)

…for the Torah is the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, and He and His name are one; and just as He was, is and will be, so is the Torah. Let us explain this. We were commanded: "And you shall love Hashem" (Deuteronomy 6:5), for love is chesed, as it is said: "and to love chesed" (Micah 6:8). "The earth is full of the chesed of Hashem": for example, all the delights of the world are the loves, for a person loves delights. And we were commanded by the Torah to love Hashem and not external love; for the physical loves are those that descended from the very highest until they came here to earth – and "whoever descends from his level, it is said of him 'and he died'" – for the beloved things became physical. But before they came to earth, when they were in their root, before they were created and descended to earth – that is, when they were in the Creator, blessed be He – they were of the finest subtlety, in spirituality. And this is "How fair and how pleasant you are, O love, in delights" (Song of Songs 7:7): that is, within the delights of this world is the love of the Creator, blessed be He. And the greatest of the loves in the delights of this world is the love of women, and Hashem warned us: "See life with the woman whom you love" (Ecclesiastes 9:9) – that is, not to cleave to dead love, in the manner of "whoever descends from his level… and he died," but rather "see life": look and see the vitality, that is, Hashem, blessed be He, who gives life to all – "and You give life to them all" – one must look and see the living love and not the dead love.

Now there are seven middot by which Hashem, blessed be He, conducts His world, and they are called the seven days of building, for the building of the world is through seven days: after seven are completed, another seven begin, and so forever; and they are seven middot corresponding to the seven days mentioned. On the first day is the attribute of chesed, which is love; and the wise person takes from all loves the love of Hashem, blessed be He, and through this attribute sustains the world on the first day. And the wicked destroy the world – that is, if one loves loves that Hashem hates, then he spoils this attribute, as it were.

And this is what the Baal Shem Tov said [on the verse] "And if a man takes his sister… it is chesed" (Leviticus 20:17): the explanation is that the Torah rebukes the person who comes to a forbidden relation – his sister being the root of all forbidden relations – and says: "What is this love that burns in you to go to a forbidden relation? Is it not chesed? Is this not the attribute of chesed – and you are taking the attribute out to a repugnant place, as it were! It would be fitting for you to attach yourself, through the love that is within you, to the attribute of chesed."

And likewise we were commanded in the Torah about the fear of Hashem, which is the attribute of gevurah (might) and "the Fear of Isaac." And all the fears that come to a person – it is Hashem in His mercy who frightens him. For the essence of fear is yir'at ha'romemut (awe of His exaltedness), "because He is great and ruling, the essence and root of all worlds" – only not every mind can bear this. For "Behold, the fear of Hashem is wisdom" (Job 28:28), and one who lacks this wisdom to bring him to awe of exaltedness – Hashem frightens him with fears that he fears through his feeble intellect, so that through this small fear he will come to fear Hashem with awe of exaltedness.

And this is "And God has made it so that they should fear before Him" (Ecclesiastes 3:14), and our Sages said: "Thunder was created only to straighten the crookedness of the heart." For "the thunder of His mighty deeds – who can understand?" And this is one of His mighty deeds: that through fear of thunder one comes to fear Hashem. For thunder [is among] the messengers of the Merciful One doing [His will], for many times, most often, no harm comes to a person, only that he is frightened by the thunder.

And so the Baal Shem Tov, of blessed memory, said: all the fears that come to a person – even from animals – are the intention of Hashem, blessed be He, to frighten him, so that he will remember to fear Hashem. And if the person is wise and contemplates this, then nothing that frightens him will harm him, since from the start the intention of Hashem, blessed be He, in frightening him was not that he be punished through the fear, but that from this fear he come to fear and dread Hashem – and so the person did. But if the person does not contemplate this and does not dread and fear Hashem, then the evil he was afraid of comes upon him. And this is "Happy is the man who fears always" (Proverbs 28:14): that is, from all the fears that come upon him he comes to fear Hashem and to dread Him always – then happy is such a man. "But he who hardens his heart will fall into evil": that is, one who does not contemplate, so as to fear and dread Hashem through the fears that come to him, will fall into the evil he fears, because he did not contemplate fearing Hashem; for once the fear has reached him from above to below, he can easily come to the fear of Hashem.

And this is what our Sages said: "Is fear a small thing? Yes – for Moses it is a small thing." And it is difficult: granted that for Moses it is a small thing, but for Israel it was not small! One may say that Moses our teacher, peace be upon him, saw that Israel were afraid to approach him, and he contemplated this: why should they fear me? It must be that the supernal fear descended below, as it were, through contractions, into Moses our teacher, peace be upon him, to make Israel fear.

And likewise the attribute of tiferet (beauty, glory): "Israel, in whom I will be glorified" (Isaiah 49:3) – that is, we are obliged to glorify Hashem, and for this Hashem glories in the heavenly retinue; and this is "Israel, in whom I glory" in the heavenly retinue. And the attribute of netzach (victory): we are obliged to vanquish the evil inclination, in the manner of what our Sages said: "A person should always stir up his good inclination against his evil inclination." And the attribute of hod (splendor) is the Torah, in the manner of the verse "who has set Your splendor (hod) upon the heavens" (Psalms 8:2). And yesod (foundation) is not an attribute in itself; rather, it is what connects all the attributes to flow into malchut (kingship), and we must be connected to Hashem, blessed be He. And malchut is Shabbat the Queen – "whoever keeps Shabbat…"

Now the seven middot mentioned correspond to seven days: the attribute of chesed corresponds to the first day, the attribute of gevurah to the second day, and so all of them. And the wicked destroy the world… – that is, they spoil the seven middot mentioned, which correspond to the seven days that are the building of the world, for after the seven days end another seven days begin… That is: with the attribute of chesed, by which one must love Hashem, they love the delights of this world and evil loves; and with the attribute of gevurah and fear, by which one must dread and fear Hashem, they fear other fears, as explained elsewhere; and so with all seven middot. And the tzaddikim (righteous) are those who rectify the middot and fill the lack caused by the wicked who spoil the middot. And the main rectification is through lowliness, for chet (sin) is an expression of lack, in the manner of "I and my son Solomon will be chata'im" (I Kings 1:21) – lacking the kingship.
(Me'or Einayim – Shemini)

"Hear, O Israel, Hashem is our God, Hashem is One…" It is found in the Midrash: "In the past you put 'we will do' before 'we will hear'; you made the Calf – you lost 'we will do.' Now guard 'we will hear.'" And this is "Hear, O Israel." To understand the matter, and also to understand the matter of putting "we will do" before "we will hear," which is not the way of this world, where hearing must come first – as that heretic said: "Impetuous people, who put your mouths before your ears!" – and with what intention did Israel say this at the giving of the Torah? The root of the matter: it is known what our Sages said: "Bereishit (In the beginning) – for the sake of the Torah and for the sake of Israel, who are called reishit (first)," did the Holy One, blessed be He, create the whole world, the heavens and the heavens of heavens. And these two things, Torah and Israel, are one single unity, as is known, for the root of the souls of Israel is the Torah. It turns out that the power of the Maker within the made – in all beings, upper and lower – is the Torah and Israel, which are a complete unity, and "the Holy One, blessed be He, and the Torah are one." It turns out that the intention of the Creator, blessed be He, was that Israel and the Torah be one single unity with Him, blessed be He, without interruption, God forbid.

Therefore, in every particular deed that a person happens to do in this world – the deed in which a person is engaged – he must think: "Is not this thing created by the power of the Torah, which is one unity with Him, blessed be His name? And for my sake, because I am of Israel, this deed was created. And in this thing there is the power of the Maker. And just as the creation was with that Maker – the Torah and the Creator, blessed be He, who are a complete unity – so I will see to do this particular deed with that power of the Maker, and be a faithful servant to the One who sent me: to connect this physical deed, in which the power of the Maker has become coarse, invisible to the eye – to strip it of physicality and connect it to the spiritual Maker according to the Torah; to do this deed according to the Torah and the law, and with a desirable intention, as the mitzvot written in the Torah." It turns out that when he does so, he fulfills the intention of the Creator, blessed be He, in creating His world for the sake of the Torah and for the sake of Israel, and he connects the whole World of Action with the spirituality of the Ein Sof, blessed be He, and brings it near to its root; and through this abundance and blessing flow into the World of Action from the supernal spiritual place. And certainly he does this deed not for any physical intention or for his physical pleasure, but to give nachat ru'ach (satisfaction) and to fulfill the will of the Creator, blessed be He.

And this is the intention of putting "we will do" before "we will hear." For it is known that what was explained above is the complete unification, which unites and connects the power of the Maker that dwells in the lower realms – the aspect of the Shechinah – with Havayah, which brings all beings into being. That power of the Maker is called the aspect of Adonai, from the word adanim (the sockets) of the Mishkan (Tabernacle), for the Mishkan's foundation was the sockets – a term for the power of the Maker that dwells in the World of Action, in all things made in this world, which is the aspect of "the whole earth is full of His glory," since the power of the Maker is in all things made. As long as Israel act in this world as above, they connect and unite the aspect of Adonai with Havayah, as stated. But when one does the thing without the above intention and makes the deed he does physical, then he is called "one who separates the Champion" – separating the Champion of the world from His Shechinah – for he separates it, as it were, from its root and brings it into excessive physicality.

Now, "From my flesh I shall behold God" (Job 19:26): just as – with a thousand thousand distinctions – in physical union the essence of the union is in the absence of garments, so too, with a thousand thousand distinctions, the supernal spiritual union mentioned is impossible unless there is no separating screen and no physical garment over this intention described above – unless he does it without clothing it in a physical intention. And first he must do complete teshuvah for his sins, so that they will not be a separating screen to the union. And truly, to merit this level – that the union be complete with all the conditions explained, in total wholeness – is impossible except in the days of the Messiah, speedily in our days, as is known; and also at the giving of the Torah, for then they were at a level like that which will be in the days of the Messiah, speedily in our days, as is known, for then the union was in complete wholeness, without any screens or garments.

And this was their intention in putting "we will do" before "we will hear": they said "we will do" all our deeds without any other intention but "we will hear (nishma)" – which is an expression of gathering and joining, as in "And Saul summoned (vayeshama) the people" (I Samuel 15:4). So here too they took upon themselves to do all the deeds in the World of Action with the intention of "nishma," which is for joining and union, without any garments and screens; for then all of Israel were greatly stripped of physicality, their matter refined, as is known. Therefore they put "we will do" first, for after doing them with this intention, the union – which is the aspect of "we will hear" – comes afterwards. But after they made the Calf and returned to their materiality and physicality, as it is written, "And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments…" (Exodus 33:6), it is no longer possible for the union to be in the choicest and most complete way, because of the physical garments and screens that come from the great materiality of man and his sins, which he commits because of his materiality. Even so, everyone must refine himself as much as possible so that the union will come about through him; even though it is now without complete wholeness, he is nevertheless called a servant who gives satisfaction to his Creator as far as he can, by connecting the World of Action with the Ein Sof, blessed be He.

And this is the intention of the Midrash: "In the past you put 'we will do' before 'we will hear'" – in the best, most fitting and complete way; "you made the Calf – you lost 'we will do'": for now you no longer have such ability to do every deed of the world in complete union without any external garments and screens, because of the sins that matter causes you to commit. "Nevertheless, guard (shimru) 'we will hear'": shimru is an expression of waiting, as in "and his father kept (shamar) the matter" (Genesis 37:11) – you must do whatever is possible, in the best way according to your present level, and wait for the complete union until the coming of the Messiah, speedily in our days, when your level will be great in the refinement of materiality and the garments, and then there will be the complete union, in which the whole aspect of Adonai will be included in Havayah, and "Hashem will be One and His name One," because of the great and constant union that we will then merit, speedily in our days.

And this is the intention of the Talmud: it is written, "And Hashem shall be King… on that day Hashem shall be One and His name One" (Zechariah 14:9). Is He not One now, as it were?… Rather: "Not like this world is the World to Come. In this world I am read as Adonai and written as Havayah, and in the World to Come I will be read as Havayah and written as Havayah…" This too accords with what was said: now, in the days of exile, since the complete union is possible only through garments and screens, and it is impossible to connect the aspect of Adonai in constant and complete inclusion – only at times and occasionally, and in particular individuals, for the "sons of ascent" are few – and all this because of the coarseness and physicality of the people of the world, it is as if the aspect of Adonai is alone and the aspect of Havayah is alone. But in the World to Come, which is the days of the Messiah, Hashem will be One, for then there will be the inclusion of the aspect of Adonai in Havayah constantly, in a complete and general union, in every person who will merit then to see it, at the coming of our Messiah, speedily in our days. Amen, Selah. Blessed be Hashem forever, Amen and Amen.
(Me'or Einayim – Va'etchanan)

Translated from the Hebrew sources page "מקורות- פרק י”א" by Roni Ayalon-Hirsch.