ביאור ע״פ לא הביט הנה יעקב הוא נמשך…

The maamar explains Bilaam’s words, “He has not beheld iniquity in Yaakov, nor has He seen toil in Yisrael” (Numbers 23:21), and begins with the root of the level called Yaakov. Abba is the configuration of Chochmah, and its Yesod is its lowest, transmitting point; the text says that the Yesod of Abba, enclothed within Z’eir Anpin, breaks through and comes out beyond it.

The light of the Yesod of Abba that emerges beyond Z’eir Anpin is what forms the level of Yaakov. Its task is to descend into the three lower worlds, where holy sparks are mixed into kelipas nogah, the husk in which good and evil are mingled, and to sift the good out of it all through the six weekdays.

The name Yaakov (יעקב) is read as two parts: the letter yud (י), which stands for Chochmah, here the Yesod of Abba, and akev (עקב), “heel.” The yud of wisdom reaches down to the “heel,” the lowest worlds, in order to refine there.

The bracketed note gives the reason it is Chochmah that descends: “by Chochmah they are refined,” that is, the sifting of good from evil is the work of wisdom. It also refers to the Torah Ohr maamar on Yaakov’s wrestling with the angel, which explains that the angel “could not prevail against him” because Yaakov is the light of the Yesod of Abba.

“Yaakov our father did not die” is a teaching of the Talmud (Taanis 5b). It is read here in Kabbalistic terms: Yaakov’s root never took part in the shattering of the vessels, the primordial breakage that Kabbalah calls “death,” and because his root never broke, it is from there that the power comes to lift up the fallen sparks.

In the Arizal’s writings, Abba has a “back” (achorayim), an outer aspect, and this back aspect of Abba did not fall into Beriah in the shattering. Since Yaakov was formed from it, “death,” the Kabbalistic term for falling in the shattering, is not said of these levels.

Z’eir Anpin, the six emotive Sefiros of Atzilus, is where the shattering took place, so in this respect Yaakov stands even higher than it. This explains why the refining is done through Yaakov: only what never fell can lift up what did.

Shlomo’s principle “G‑d has made the one opposite the other” (Koheles 7:14) means that every holy force has an unholy counterpart. Opposite holy Chochmah, the level of Abba and Imma from which Yaakov comes, stands a “wisdom of kelipah,” like the craft of Pharaoh’s magicians or those whom Yirmeyahu calls “wise to do evil.”

“When this one rises, that one falls” is Rashi’s comment on the twins Yaakov and Esav: the two cannot be strong at the same time. So when holy Chochmah, the yud-akev, is revealed, the opposing external wisdom of the other side loses its power by itself, without a fight.

The verse is now read in a new way: aven, usually “iniquity,” means the wisdom of kelipah, as in Yeshayahu’s “the man of aven, his thoughts,” where aven goes together with thoughts. These are the evil thoughts that come from that unholy wisdom.

So the verse means that aven cannot even look at Yaakov, because Yaakov is the revelation of holy Chochmah. Darkness does not need to be fought; light drives it away by its very presence.

The same holds in a person’s service during the week: he must serve in the mode of Yaakov, refining through prayer, which brings the yud of wisdom and the heart’s yearning (re’usa deliba) down into the “heels,” the lowest and most practical parts of life, and through “Turn away from evil and do good” (Psalms 34:15). The bracket points to an earlier maamar on “And Yaakov settled.”

When a person serves in the mode of Yaakov, the first half of the verse is fulfilled. The second half, “nor has He seen toil (amal) in Yisrael,” is applied to Shabbos, and the maamar now explains why toil belongs to Yaakov and not to Yisrael.

The service of Yaakov is labor, as in “Man is born to toil” (Job 5:7): to refine nogah one must leave one’s own level and go down to the “heels.” This is the meaning of the weekday command “Six days shall you labor.”

The Hebrew word for service, avodah, is also used for the tanning of hides: raw skin must be worked hard until its nature changes into leather. The analogy shows that avodah means effort that transforms the nature of a thing.

Refining nogah is the same kind of work: when a person eats and then prays with the strength the food gave him, he changes the food from its natural state, “turning darkness into light.” That transformation is avodah in the full sense.

Refining means turning “something” (yesh), a thing that feels self-standing, into “nothing” (ayin), self-nullified before G‑d. That runs against the natural order of the chain of worlds, which goes from nothing to something, and so it takes work and toil.

The Torah says of the seventh day, “for on it He rested” (Genesis 2:3); rest implies that the six days before it were days of labor. This weekday toil belongs specifically to the level of Yaakov.

Yisrael, by contrast, has no toil. Pri Etz Chaim teaches that on weekdays the union (zivug), the joining through which Divine flow is drawn down, is between Yaakov and Rachel, the feminine configuration that receives.

In that weekday union there is the work of refinement: the vessels go down into the lower worlds to refine and then rise into Atzilus during prayer. On Shabbos the union is of Yisrael and Rachel, and “Yisrael” here is Z’eir Anpin itself, the higher partner.

On Shabbos nothing goes down to refine; the reverse happens: what was refined during the week rises and is absorbed into Atzilus, and all the worlds ascend. This is why the Shabbos level is called Yisrael (ישראל), read as shir E-l (שיר אל), “the song of E-l.”

Song is the language of ascent, since it lifts. The ascent of “E-l” is brought about by the “returning light,” the light that rises from below out of the week’s refinements, and in response the “masculine waters,” the flow from above, come down from a lofty source: supernal delight, as the prophet promises for Shabbos, “Then you will delight in Havayah.”

A second suggestion, in brackets, ties shir E-l to the explanation of “Sing to Havayah a new song” (Psalms 96:1). Mayin nukvin, “feminine waters,” is the yearning that rises from below; here it is the refined sparks of the lower worlds rising to join the mayin duchrin, the flow from above, of Tikkun, the rectified world of Atzilus.

That ascent is called shirah chadashah, “a new song,” in the feminine form, as in the blessing after the morning Shema. The feminine fits because the lower worlds as a whole are the receiving, “feminine” world relative to Atzilus.

The song is “new” because something that fell into nogah in the shattering now rises into the highest holiness of Atzilus, which is a genuinely new state. Likewise, when Malchus rises from the lower worlds into Atzilus, its ascent is called by the feminine word shirah.

The masculine shir is a different kind of ascent: the rising of the male, the giver, Z’eir Anpin itself. Its vessels receive directly from the lights of Abba themselves, without anything being refined from below.

The lights of Abba are the Infinite Light that rests in Chochmah. This ascent does not come from refining lower things at all; it is holiness itself rising higher and receiving more light.

This is what will happen in the Time to Come, when all refinement is complete and G‑d will “remove the spirit of impurity” (Zechariah 13:2): there will be no evil left to refine, yet holiness will still keep ascending.

Shabbos even now is a foretaste of that future state, because its ascent is not brought about by refining, as the weekday ascent is.

Borer, selecting the good from the bad, is one of the labors forbidden on Shabbos, a sign that Shabbos is not a time for refining. Still, the present Shabbos ascent does depend on the weekday refinements, as the Talmud says: “One who toiled on Erev Shabbos will eat on Shabbos” (Avodah Zarah 3a).

In the future “day that is entirely Shabbos” the ascent will come with no refinement at all. Such an ascent is called shir, the masculine form, the ascent of the giver himself.

Following the distinction just drawn, the Shabbos ascent is called shir E-l, with the masculine shir, because it is holiness itself rising, not something refined from below. This fits Etz Chaim’s statement that Z’eir Anpin is called E-l, so that “the song of E-l” is the ascent of Z’eir Anpin itself.

A second reading is offered: shir E-l may refer to the ascent of Malchus, as in the Zohar’s account of the Chariot in Parshas Bereishis and the Mikdash Melech’s commentary on it. The name Yisrael is also linked to “for you have striven (sarisa) with Elokim” (Genesis 32:29): Yisrael is the one who prevails over Elokim.

The five letters of the Name Elokim can be arranged in 120 different orders, and these combinations rule the three lower worlds, as in “Elokim reigns over the nations” (Psalms 47:9). The bracket specifies their range: from the Z’eir Anpin of Beriah down to the very end of the Malchus of Asiyah.

The bracket gives its sources, the end of Mavo She’arim and Etz Chaim’s Sha’ar HaShemos (Gate of the Names). These combinations come from the Malchus of Atzilus, called the Name Elokim, the “lower unity,” whose role is to hide the Divine light so that the world seems to exist on its own (yesh).

Yisrael, the Z’eir Anpin of Atzilus, rules over the Name Elokim; this is the meaning of sarisa, “you have ruled” or “striven.” Its rule means that Elokim can no longer hide what is behind it.

What Elokim would hide is the Infinite Light itself. The bracket refers to the explanation on “the mezuzah on the right and the Chanukah lamp on the left,” on the verse “Havayah is great, and our L‑rd is above all Elokim” (Psalms 135:5): Havayah stands above all the concealments of Elokim.

Through the descending chain of the 120 combinations of Elokim, the external forces and the “seventy princes,” the heavenly ministers of the seventy nations, also draw their nurture. This is the “man” who wrestled with Yaakov (Genesis 32:25).

The struggle is with Yaakov because Yaakov goes down into the lower worlds where these forces draw their nurture, and that is a state of war. Yet the angel “could not prevail against him,” since Yaakov is a light of the Yesod of Abba, as explained above.

In the Z’eir Anpin of Atzilus the external forces have no hold at all, so at the level of Yisrael there is no war. This is the second half of the verse: “nor has He seen toil (amal) in Yisrael.”

The bracketed note applies this to a person: on Shabbos the level of shir E-l is revealed in him as “love in delights” (Song of Songs 7:7), a love that delights in G‑d. This is the level of Knesses Yisrael, the community of souls, which receives from the supernal Yisrael, Z’eir Anpin.

The bracket ends with a reference to the explanation on “Remember what Amalek did to you” (Deuteronomy 25:17): when that love in delights is revealed, the bad traits fade by themselves because they have nothing left to draw from. This echoes the command to “wipe out” Amalek.

The verse continues, “Havayah his G‑d is with him” (Numbers 23:21). Havayah and Elokim here stand for Abba and Imma, Chochmah and Binah: on Shabbos they are “with him,” inside Z’eir Anpin as inner light, whereas on weekdays they are above him as encompassing light, which affects from outside without being absorbed.

The principle is that on Shabbos what was encompassing on the weekdays becomes inner, and new, higher encompassing lights appear above. The parenthesis refers to Pri Etz Chaim and adds that later on Shabbos Z’eir Anpin and Nukva rise further, to the very place of Abba and Imma and beyond.

This exchange, the encompassing becoming inner and a higher encompassing appearing, is the whole purpose of the ascents of the worlds. The bracket refers to the explanation on “In days to come Yaakov will take root; Yisrael will bud and blossom” (Isaiah 27:6).

That explanation is in Torah Ohr, at the end of Parshas Shemos. On weekdays the union is of Havayah with Elokim, while on Shabbos it is of Havayah with Ehe-yeh, a Name drawn from Keser, the level above intellect, as Pri Etz Chaim explains.

“And the King’s teru’ah is in him” is read in two ways. Teru’ah as in “You will break them with a rod” (Psalms 2:9) means breaking, the sweetening of the judgments; teru’ah as rei’us, friendship, means closeness, as in “In the light of the King’s face is life” (Proverbs 16:15): on Shabbos the 375 lights are drawn into Malchus as the shining of the King’s face.

An objection: it was explained earlier that Yaakov, though below Yisrael (Z’eir Anpin), has a special advantage of his own, being from the Yesod of Abba. This was said in the explanation on “Who has counted the dust of Yaakov” (Numbers 23:10).

If Yaakov has an advantage over Yisrael, how can the weekdays be Yaakov and Shabbos be Yisrael? That would mean the weekday has something that Shabbos lacks.

It is unthinkable that Shabbos, the holier time, should lack a quality found on weekdays. The answer has two parts, and the first is that, all told, Z’eir Anpin is higher than Yaakov.

That Z’eir Anpin is higher in general is shown by the Arizal’s comment on “He established a testimony in Yaakov” (Psalms 78:5). Moreover, the root of Z’eir Anpin is higher even than Abba and Imma, since, in the well-known phrase, Z’eir Anpin is “bound to and hangs upon Atika,” the innermost level of Keser.

The second part: Yaakov’s advantage is that he comes from the Yesod of Abba, and that very quality is present in Z’eir Anpin on Shabbos, in greater measure.

For on Shabbos, in Musaf, Z’eir Anpin rises and enclothes the very essence of the lights of Abba until it stands at Abba’s rank, as Pri Etz Chaim explains on the words “a remembrance of the work of creation” in the Shabbos Musaf. So Shabbos has both qualities: Z’eir Anpin’s own height and the essence of Abba.

To apply this to the service of G‑d, there are two modes: that of a servant and that of a son. A son, who serves out of love, is in general the higher.

Yet the servant has an advantage of his own: self-nullification above reason and understanding, obeying because he is a servant and not because he understands. The bracket refers to the explanations on “For with You is the source of life” (Psalms 36:10) and, in Parshas Shelach, on “And now, let the strength of my L‑rd be great” (Numbers 14:17).

“With Chochmah He founded the earth” (Proverbs 3:19) means that the “earth,” Malchus, from which the lower awe (yirah tata’ah) comes, is rooted in the higher Chochmah. That is why Aharon could enter the Holy of Holies only “with this (zos)” (Leviticus 16:3), zos being a name for Malchus and its awe; and this is the advantage of Yaakov, called “My servant,” over Yisrael, called “son.”

Therefore a person needs both modes, servant and son. The text then cites the Zohar on Balak for two levels of “servant” in prayer.

The first servant is in Pesukei deZimra, the second in the Shemoneh Esreh, and the Shema comes between them. Behind this lies the correspondence of the letters of Havayah to modes of service: the yud to awe (dechilu) and the hei to love (rechimu).

The Arizal’s writings say that during Pesukei deZimra one fulfills the mitzvah of fearing G‑d. That is the lower awe, from the final hei of Havayah, which is Malchus, and it is the Zohar’s “first servant.”

The lower awe of Pesukei deZimra is the level of “Yaakov My servant.” Next come the blessings of the Shema and the Shema itself, the service of love: the word ve’ahavta, “and you shall love,” has the numerical value of twice or, “light” (414 = 2 × 207), pointing to two levels of love, and love is the mode of a son, as Tanya, chapter 44, describes in the words of the Raaya Mehemna.

The Raaya Mehemna describes the son who “loves them,” his father and mother, “more than his own self and his soul,” and this is the love a person expresses at the word “One” (Echad) of the Shema, giving himself over entirely. The bracket refers to the Rosh Hashanah maamar “A Song of Ascents: From the depths,” which explains that although a son below is not obligated to give his life for his father, in the analogue above it is otherwise.

Then comes the Shemoneh Esreh, the higher awe (yirah ila’ah), which is even above the great love of the son. Binah, the source of love, is called ben Yah because its letters spell ben (“son”) and Yah, so love belongs to the son.

The higher awe belongs to the higher Chochmah, the yud of the Name Havayah, “in which awe dwells.” It is the Zohar’s “second servant,” and it stands above the love of the son just as Chochmah stands above Binah.

The second servant, of the higher awe, is “My servant Moshe.” Yaakov, yud-akev, holds only a ray of this yud of Chochmah drawn down to the heel, in the way that “With Chochmah He founded the earth”; the yud in its essence is the level of Moshe.

The bracket refers to an explanation on “And great shall be the peace of your children” (Isaiah 54:13), on which the Talmud says: do not read banayich, “your children,” which is the level of a son, but bonayich, “your builders” (Berachos 64a).

The “builders” are the Torah scholars, who receive from Chochmah, and they are the second servant. Their study of the Torah is done in self-nullification, wholly given over to the wisdom they receive.

This explains Shabbos: it is the level of Yisrael, the son, but it also reaches the level of a servant, the highest servant, “My servant Moshe.” That is why the Shabbos morning Amidah says, “Moshe rejoiced in the gift of his portion, for You called him a faithful servant.”

On Shabbos the son rises to the rank of the second servant, the “faithful servant.” This is Z’eir Anpin, the “son of Yah,” enclothing the essence of the lights of Abba on Shabbos, as explained above, and that is the higher awe.

This higher awe comes together with joy. As the Nishmas prayer says, “all hearts shall fear You,” and in the same breath, “all innermost parts and kidneys shall sing to Your Name.”

So “Moshe rejoiced... for You called him a faithful servant”: on Shabbos joy and the highest servanthood go together. The text closes by referring to the discourses “Know this day” and “And these are the names of the children of Israel.”