אסור לאדם שיטעום עד שיתן מאכל לבהמתו שנאמר…

1A person is forbidden to taste [anything] until he has given food to his animal, as it is said, “And I will give grass in your field for your animals,” and then, “and you shall eat,” etc.

Now, the substance of the sacrifices was to raise up an animal onto the altar, etc., so that there be food for the “lion that eats sacrifices,” as is explained [below] in the discourse beginning “And the lion shall eat straw like the ox” (and this discourse also belongs there).

Now, so that the animal can be absorbed into the fire above and become “a pleasing fragrance,” etc., this requires a drawing down and an illumination from above to below, to give it strength and might to ascend and to be transformed from one essence to another, etc.

And this is the level of the “grass” above, which is given to the animal as food to strengthen its power, so that it can ascend, just as a person is strengthened by food, etc.

And this is [the meaning of] “And I will give grass in your field for your animals”: so that it can ascend, etc. And see what is written on the meaning of “grass” in the discourse beginning “And these are the ordinances.”

That is, in Pesukei deZimra (the Verses of Praise), for the stirring of the G‑dly soul is on the level of an “animal,” after the pattern of the supernal Chariot, with “the face of a lion … the face of an ox,” etc., and as it is written, “And the cows went straight,” etc., “going along and lowing,” etc.,

as is explained [below] (in the discourse beginning “And you shall count for yourselves,” of the festival of Shavuos). And it comes from contemplating the praise of the Omnipresent specifically at the level of the light that fills all worlds (memalei kol almin), as is explained in the discourse beginning “On the twenty-fifth of Kislev” and in the discourse beginning “When a man of you brings an offering”; and as [it is] in its root, for it was taken from the dregs of the Ofanim.

Now, the stirring of the angels who are called “chayos” and “behemos” (beasts and animals) above comes from the constriction of their comprehension of G‑d, at the level of the light that fills [all worlds], the power of the Maker within the made, alone

(as is explained elsewhere on the meaning of “And they shall sing joyously of Your righteousness,” in the discourse beginning “Sing and rejoice”). And this is the matter of the song in Pesukei deZimra, in saying, “I will sing to Havayah,

for He is highly exalted,” etc., and the like. That is why they are called specifically Pesukei deZimra, “Verses of Song” (and see what is written in the discourse beginning “A psalm, a song for the dedication of the House”).

And through this the animal soul too has the power to be elevated and to be absorbed into the fire above, through the fervor of the G‑dly soul; and this is through the level of the “grass” that is given to it,

namely, the illuminations and drawings-down of G‑dliness from the level of the light that fills [all worlds], etc., which the G‑dly soul contemplates, as one sets out the praise of the Omnipresent, etc.

And this is [the meaning of] “A person is forbidden to taste,” etc. (So is the reading at the end of chapter 5 of Gittin, folio 62, end of side a, and so wrote the Magen Avraham, section 167, subsection 18. The Beis Yosef wrote “to eat,” and so is the reading in Berachos, folio 40a.) The meaning is:

there are two kinds of food: one is food for man, and the second is food for an animal. And first one must feed the animal; that is, one should set out

the praise of the Omnipresent in Pesukei deZimra, so that through this there be strength and might for the animal soul specifically, to be absorbed into and to cleave to the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He. And after he has fed his animal, he may taste of the level of food for man,

that is, in the Shema and prayer, where he gives over his soul into the One itself, into the very being and essence of the Infinite Light, and not from contemplating the spreading forth of His light alone, etc.; and this is the level of “man” (adam), [as in] “I will be like (adameh) the Most High,” etc.

And this is [the meaning of] “and then, and you shall eat and be satisfied,” etc.: this is the matter of the Shema, of which it is written, “I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey,” etc.: “my honeycomb” is Yotzer Or, the stirring of the angels; “my honey” is the Shema, etc. And see what is written in the discourse beginning “When you go out.”

(And along these lines are the Omer offering and the Counting of the Omer before Shavuos: for the Omer is barley, food for animals, to refine the animal soul and raise it up; and through this, afterwards, on Shavuos, “Come, eat of my bread.” Except that barley comes through sowing, which is not so with grass, as [explained] below.)

Now, it is known that the Torah is called “strength” (oz), and it is also called tushiyah, for it weakens (mateshes) a person’s strength, etc. The explanation is that just as of the sacrifices it is written, “My bread for My fire-offerings,” etc., so the Torah is called “bread,” as it is written, “Come, eat (lachamu),” etc.

And just as food strengthens a man’s power, so the Torah gives strength and might to the G‑dly soul, which is called “man” (adam), and [the Torah] is called “food for man”: for through studying the letters of the word of halachah, the G‑dly soul is strengthened,

so that it can give itself over into the One itself, through the Shema, etc.: “Eat, friends,” etc. And see what is written on this in the discourse beginning “And you shall count for yourselves.”

And this is [the meaning of] what our Sages, of blessed memory, said, that at each and every utterance their souls flew out, and He restored them with the dew of resurrection, as is written in the Targum Yerushalmi on Psalms (chapter 68) on [the verse] “A rain of bounty You shed”; and that is the dew of Torah.

That is: when their souls had flown out in actual self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh), He returned them to their bodies through the dew of Torah, on the level of “returning” (shov), because it gave their souls strength and might to grow strong and return into their bodies, just as one restores the soul through food.

(And this is [why] ratzo vashov, “running and returning,” is numerically equal to “Torah”: for through their souls having flown out, on the level of “running,” and afterwards His having returned [them] to them, on the level of “and returning,” through this they were able to receive the Torah, whose whole substance is running and returning, as is explained in the discourse beginning “This is the statute of the Torah.”)

And that it is also called tushiyah is because, as is known, anything that needs to rise upward but is tied below with a lasting knot cannot rise unless the knot that ties it below is first untied for it; and then it can rise, etc.

So too, because the Torah gives strength and might to rise, it also has the power to untie the knot with which the animal soul has tied itself to the physicality of this world, and to weaken the force of its attachment, so that it can rise, etc.

That is why it is called tushiyah, for it weakens (mateshes) the force of the animal soul’s knot. And this is one matter with giving the soul strength and might to rise, for the one depends on the other. And see what is written on this in the discourse beginning “In the third month after the children of Israel went out of the land of Egypt.”

Now, the difference between grass and food for man lies only in this: grass does not grow as a result of sowing, but of itself alone,

that is, from the power of growth that is in the earth (and see what is written in the discourse beginning “For as the earth brings forth her growth,” and in Iggeres HaKodesh, at the end of the discourse beginning “He and His life-forces”), whereas food for man grows only through sowing: when one sows the wheat, then it will grow, etc.

And the analogue is understood: the angels, who are called “the grass of the field” in the Zohar, Part I, Bereishis, folio 18b, and who are the food for the “animal” (behemah), the Name Ban, etc.,

come and grow from the power of Malchus itself, which is called “earth,” as is explained in the discourse beginning “And the number of the children of Israel shall be,” without the sowings of the sown light from the Tzaddik, the Life of the Worlds (Chai Almin), etc., “the Life of the Worlds, King,” etc.;

and the grain, which is the souls, who are called “the first of His produce” and are called “man,” grows specifically through the level of sowing in the earth, which is the drawing down from the level of “the Only One, the Life of the Worlds,” into the level of the attribute of His Malchus, may He be blessed, etc.

And they are food for the supernal Man, as it were: that is, through the self-sacrifice of the souls in the Shema, into the One itself, they rise “to be absorbed into the body of the King,” etc. And see what is written in the discourse beginning “When a man of you brings an offering.”

(Now, barley is food for animals, and it too comes specifically through sowing, exactly like wheat. It must be said that there are several grades among the angels who are called “animal,” as in the difference between the level of

“Who forms ministering [angels]” and “and Whose ministers,” in the discourse beginning “And he shall wave the Omer”: of the level of the angels called “Who forms ministering [angels]” it is said, “He makes grass grow for the animals,” etc.; whereas the angels called “and Whose ministers all stand in the heights of the universe,” [who are] from the six days of Creation, are higher, etc.,

and they receive from the level of barley (se’orah), [whose letters spell] shi’ur hei, “the measure of hei.” Moreover, of the souls too it is written, “And I will sow the children of Israel [with] the seed of man and the seed of animal”: thus of the level of “animal,” too, it says “And I will sow,” for they come through actual sowing.

And it may be said that the grass that grows by itself is rooted in the level of the drawing-down of the outer dimension (chitzoniyus), to renew what has grown old, in the manner of “Who in His goodness renews each day, continually,” etc.; but what comes through sowing and growing is drawn from the level of the inner drawing-down.)

(See Etz Chaim, Sha’ar Kerias Shema, chapter 11.) And see what is written in the discourse beginning “Know this day” on the difference between what is written, “You have been shown, to know,”

which is Daas (knowledge) at the level of the light that fills all worlds, and what is written, “Know this day,” which is Daas at the level of the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin). Along these lines one may explain the difference between the level of grass and the level of barley.

2Accordingly, the level of wheat, food for man, which is the Torah, is what is higher than the level of the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin); for the Torah is called “the parable of the Ancient One,” the level of the Ancient One of the world, etc.

It may also be said that the influence of the barley is drawn into the angels through the souls, that is, through the Omer offering of barley. And this is like the matter of “And I will give you walking among those who stand”: [the souls] draw walking into the level of “those who stand,” who are the angels, as is explained in Torah Ohr, at the end of Parshas Vayeshev, on this verse.

And this is [the meaning of] “the donkeys’ pace is barley”: for through this [one] comes to the level of one who walks, etc. And as for what is written in the passage of the Shema, “And I will give grass,” etc.,

that is because “their end is wedged in their beginning,” etc.; therefore, through the self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh) in the Shema today, one can give food to his animal tomorrow, in Pesukei deZimra, etc.

32. Now, there is a further difference, between sowing and planting: “A land of wheat,” etc., “vine,” etc., and it is written, “And I planted you a choice vine.” For the sowing of grain

is like the kernel of wheat: from it grows [a plant] in its likeness and in its image, only with addition and increase; and it does not need so much time and delay from the time of sowing until the growth.

However, it will need the thirty-nine labors: to plow and to sow, etc., threshing, sorting, and baking and cooking, until it is fit to eat, etc.

And with planting, when one plants the seed of an apple, its tree grows, and the apple grows specifically at its top; and there is a long time and delay in the time of its growth.

And the three years of orlah also apply to it (see what is written in the discourse beginning “And you shall plant every tree for food”); and there are some whose growth is delayed seventy years, like the date palm, as it is written, “The righteous shall flourish like the date palm,” etc. (and see what is written on this in connection with Shemini Atzeres).

However, it does not need preparation and rectification through the thirty-nine labors, for the fruit is fit to eat at once, and it also has delight, from the sweetness of its taste, which is not so with the food of bread from grain, etc. And there are several more kinds of grades of difference between them, etc.

4The analogue of all these differences will be understood above: of the G‑dly soul, which is sown from the “light sown for the righteous,” etc., there is a soul that is like the analogy of grain, as it is written, “the first of His produce.” For example, the grain sown from the kernel of wheat will be only with increase,

but not with a change of essence, as with the growth of the apple, etc. And this is the matter of the souls in the lower Gan Eden, who are only in increase and growth, in that the G‑dly light is added in them by way of increase alone, etc.

And there are higher souls, who delight in Havayah with delight and pleasantness and the sweetness of affection, etc., like the analogy of the apple, and as it is written, “Spread apples about me,” etc.

And their essence has been changed completely, for the better, from the manner of their sowing from the “light sown for the righteous,” etc., like the superiority of the apple over the planted seed.

And this too is like the difference between ascent by way of the chain (hishtalshelus) of cause and effect and ascent that is not in the order of the chain of descending worlds. And this level is called “the field of holy apples,” after [the verse] “Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved,” etc.

And this is the level of “May Havayah make His face shine upon you.” And see the Pardes, under the entry “field,” [where it] explains “a field of apples” as the level of Tiferes (beauty); and see what is written on the matter of Tiferes in Parshas Kedoshim, in the discourse beginning “And you shall plant every tree for food.”

5Along these lines one may explain the matter of the “white field” and the “tree field” in the Mishnah of tractate Sheviis: they are the lower Gan Eden and the higher Gan Eden.

For the lower Gan Eden is rooted in Malchus (sovereignty), and the higher Gan Eden is rooted in Binah (understanding). But this needs examination, for the meaning of “garden” is plantings, as it is written, “And Havayah Elokim planted a garden,” etc.;

so how is it compared only to the growth of grain? One may say [it is] along the lines of the saying of our Sages, of blessed memory, “The Tree of Knowledge was wheat,” etc. But the main point is that in the lower Gan Eden too there are souls who receive from the level of plantings, and some from the level of His produce, etc.

(And see what is written in the discourse beginning “Give ear, O heavens,” on the matter of “like showers upon the vegetation, like raindrops upon the grass”: there too something like this is mentioned. And see the Zohar, Part I, Vayechi, folio 226b, on the difference between grain and the fruits of the tree; and in Parshas Emor, folio 96b and folio 97a; and in Parshas Pinchas, folio 253a.)

Yet there is a long time [involved], to the point that it is said, “The righteous shall flourish like the date palm,” etc.; that is, from the time of its sowing above until its completion, in the revelation of the light in the supernal delight, seventy years may pass, etc.

And an example of this is what we see in the G‑dly soul below: until it delights with a felt delight in G‑dliness, a long time can pass, such as a full year and more, etc.

And it also grows at the top of the tree, that is, in the Chochmah (wisdom) that is in the soul, etc. And this is what is written, “For man is the tree of the field”: that it gives its fruit specifically above, for delight is only in Chochmah, etc.

6However, in this lies its superior quality: it does not need rectification through love and awe, etc., which are called baking and cooking, as with the food of grain in the lower souls, who cannot be digested and become food for the supernal Man except through the baking of fervor, etc.

And as it is written, “And ten women shall bake,” the level of the ten Sefiros of Malchus, “your bread,” of the sown light, etc., “in one oven”: that is, in an oven made from the supernal One,

meaning that after the baking they were digested and absorbed into the One, etc., like the analogy of food, which is not digested in a person except through baking first, etc.

7Through all this one will understand what our Sages, of blessed memory, said at the end of Kesubos: “In the future the Land of Israel will bring forth fine loaves and garments of fine wool,” etc. The meaning: the “land” is the level of

Malchus of Atzilus, the source of the souls and the angels, and it will bring [them] forth of itself, without the labor of the “light sown for the righteous,” etc.; for Malchus will then be elevated and will be “the crown of her husband,” as is explained at the end of the discourse beginning “And the number of the children of Israel shall be.”

8And at the end of the discourse beginning “The voice of my beloved,” on “leaping over the hills,” and in the explanation on the verse “For You are my lamp,” on the meaning of “King, Only One, Life of the Worlds.”

And “fine loaves” means this: just as bread is baked in an oven, so too, through the work of the thirty-nine labors, the sown light of the soul is absorbed into the One in the time of this world;

but in the Time to Come the soul will be completed in the manner of baking and cooking as a matter of course and of itself, for all the supernal lights will be revealed specifically in Malchus, and all will come to receive from it, as it is written, “And it shall be on that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem,” etc.

And see the Shelah, Parshas Vayetze, on the verse “and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,” where he explains along these lines the blessing “Who brings forth

bread from the earth.” And in saying specifically “fine loaves and garments of fine wool,” [the Sages] meant to allude to the chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus) as a whole, of inner lights and encompassing lights: the inner [lights] in the “fine loaves,” and the encompassing [lights] in the “garments of fine wool.”

And this is the level of the garments and the encompassing [lights] of the mitzvos, and as is written in the Midrash Rabbah on Song of Songs, on the verse “A garden locked,” on [the words] “and I covered you with silk (meshi),” etc.: “He made them substantial (mamash) in the world,” etc., “as it is said, ‘The pillar of cloud did not depart (yamish),’” etc.; see there.

9The explanation: of the Torah it is said, “Come, eat (lachamu),” etc., which is the level of inner light; and regarding the mitzvos we say, “Who has sanctified us (kideshanu),” the level of betrothal (kiddushin), which is the level of encompassing light. And the proof of this is that a person can perform a mitzvah by wrapping himself in a tallis

and it will not touch his heart inwardly at all, to the point that he may think an alien thought, etc., like the encompassing [light], which does not touch the inner, etc.

Whereas at the Giving of the Torah, which is called “the day of his wedding,” at every utterance their souls flew out, at the level of inner light, for it was, after all, willingly:

for since their souls had flown out at the first utterance, why did they hear the second utterance? etc. (chapter 9 of Shabbos, folio 88b). And the betrothal was before

that, when He sent Moshe to them and made a covenant with them through the blood that he sprinkled, etc., and they said, “All that Havayah has spoken we will do and we will hear,” etc.; and this is the level of encompassing [lights].

Yet the encompassing [light] gives strength and might to the illumination of the inner [light]: for His making a covenant with them was the cause of their self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh) at the Giving of the Torah, etc.

But the essence of the marriage was at the Giving of the Torah, because their souls actually flew out, which is not so at the level of the concealment of the encompassing [lights], etc.

And this is like the matter mentioned in the Idra, folio 146b, about those three who passed away: that “with great and mighty desire their souls cleaved at the moment they were taken (isnesivu),” etc. (and see what is written in the discourse beginning “The eyes of all look hopefully to You”).

And with this will be understood what seems puzzling in the passage “And it shall be, if you will diligently listen”: Moshe said it, so how could he say “And I will give the rain,” etc., “And I will give grass,” etc., as though he were the giver, G‑d forbid?

as the commentators asked: for since in Mishneh Torah Moshe is like one speaking on his own behalf (see the Ramban in his introduction to his commentary on the Torah), if so, it should have said, “And Havayah will give rain,” etc.

But the explanation is that the Shechinah spoke from within Moshe’s throat, and it was the spirit of Havayah that spoke, etc.: “And I will give grass,” etc.;

and he is not the giver, G‑d forbid. And the reason is as mentioned above: through the Giving of the Torah there came about the level of marriage, which is the inclusion and the ultimate self-nullification (bittul) in the essence of the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), to the point that their souls actually flew out, etc.

And so it was with Moshe constantly, as it is written, “Go, say to them, ‘Return to your tents,’ but you, stand here with Me”: for he did not occupy any place, and was not anything in his own right at all;

therefore he could say “And I will give,” because the word of G‑d spoke through him, speaking from within his throat, etc. And see what is written on this in Parshas Va’eschanan, in the discourse beginning “And you shall love.”

10And similar to this, it is known that so it is with one who studies halachos, for our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “The Mishnah is a queen.” The meaning is, by way of analogy: like a king who decrees and speaks through his messenger, etc., so we say, “Abaye said,” etc.,

for [these are] the decrees of the King, the Holy One, blessed be He, “the law of the kingdom,” which Abaye said: it is the spirit of Havayah that spoke through him, and as it is written, “And I have put My words in your mouth,” etc., and as is explained elsewhere.

However, this is only after the self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh) of the marriage mentioned above. And see what is written in the discourse beginning “At the time when [Israel] put first,” on the meaning of “mighty in strength, who do His word,” and through this, afterwards, “to hearken to the voice of His word.”