כנשר יעיר קנו על גוזליו ירחף

1“As an eagle rouses its nest, hovers over its fledglings, spreads its wings, takes him, bears him upon its pinions.” (This verse is cited in the Jerusalem Talmud, chapter 2 of Chagigah; Zohar, Part II, Yisro 80b; Beha’aloscha 154b; Pinchas 233a, 238b; Ha’azinu 298b.)

Now, what is written just before it is “He found him in a desert land,” and this refers back to the verse before it, “For Havayah’s portion is His people”: the souls of Israel are “a portion of G‑d above,” and that portion — “He found him in a desert land.”

For the portion is from the level of Havayah, which brings into being (mehaveh) all the worlds and all that exists (havayos), and [is] “was, is and will be”; and it descends to be enclothed in a body

that comes into being and passes away (hoveh venifsad). And when it is drawn after the body that comes into being and passes away, it is found “in a desert land” and desolation, the opposite of the level of Havayah. Therefore, “As an eagle rouses its nest”: through the levels of the eagle, which is the attribute of compassion.

2The explanation: in the Chariot of Ezekiel it is written, “the face of a lion on the right, and the face of an ox on the left, and the face of an eagle, for the four of them.”

The explanation of the matter is that Ezekiel saw the Chariot in the time of exile — “they were exiled to Babylon, the Shechinah [was] with them,” as it is written, “And I was among the exiles.” Therefore he saw an enclothement in the aspects of “the face of a lion,” “the face of an ox,” etc. For when the Holy Temple stood, the revelation of the Shechinah was on a higher level.

3So it was at the first revelation to all Israel, at the Giving of the Torah, as it is written, “Face to face Havayah spoke with you.” “Face to face” means without any intermediary or enclothement at all. Therefore it is written, “And all

the people saw the sounds”: they saw what is heard and heard what is seen. For it was a revelation of G‑dliness without any division into a multitude of levels; rather, they saw the revelation of the life-force in its general and collective expression (klalus), and a G‑dly flow, and there was no separation whatsoever, G‑d forbid, between seeing and hearing.

In exile, by contrast, the revelation of the Shechinah to Ezekiel came through a division into a multitude of levels, in the enclothement of the face of a lion, the face of an ox, etc.

4It is like, by way of analogy, a child who is able to understand more: he is taught even one [whole lesson] or more at a single time, as much as his mind is able to grasp

as one; whereas one whose mind lacks the capacity to take in so much at once is taught little by little, section by section. So, by way of analogy, it was at the Giving of the Torah.

And likewise, as long as the Holy Temple stood, the souls of Israel were on a lofty level, and their power of apprehension was in the revelation of G‑dliness in the life-force in its general and collective expression (klalus), not through intermediaries (and see what is written in the discourse beginning “Then Israel sang”).

But in exile, when they were exiled and enclothed among the seventy princes, the revelation of the Shechinah, too, comes through a descent into a state of division into a multitude of levels, and their enclothement in the aspect of the face of a lion and the face of an ox.

The face of a lion is the camp of Michael, which corresponds to the camp of Reuben, to the south, and all who turn toward the camp of Reuben, etc. So there are many multitudes of myriads in the camp of Michael, which are many levels, distinct from one another, within them;

and through them the G‑dly flow flows to the soul, the level of love, which the soul receives through the angels, as it is written, “For He will command His angels for you, to guard you in all your ways; upon [their] palms they will bear you up,” etc. The meaning is:

“He will command His angels” to bestow upon you, “and they will bear you up,” for through them the soul is lifted up and elevated — through the face of a lion, in the level of love, and through the face of an ox, in the level of awe

(and see on the verse “For He will command His angels”: Chagigah 16a; Taanis 11a; Sanhedrin 103a; Midrash Rabbah, Vayishlach, beginning of chapter 78, and the end of Mishpatim; Zohar, Part I, 12a, 165b; Part II, 41b; Part III, 297b; and on the verse “upon [their] palms,” Part I, 27b).

Along these lines our Sages, of blessed memory, instituted the blessings before the recital of the Shema: “Who forms ministers, and Whose ministers all stand,” etc., and “the Ofanim and the holy Chayos, with a great noise, raise themselves toward the Seraphim,” etc., from which a person receives the attribute of awe

(whereas by Torah law the Shema alone suffices. That is, as it was in the days of Moses, when the light and the flow were drawn down to Israel through the Shechinah itself, not through the angels — for Moses did not want an angel as messenger, as it is written, “If Your Face does not go,” etc.

Therefore in [divine] service, too, they did not need to receive love and awe through the angels. But afterwards, since they needed to receive through the face of a lion and the face of an ox — and even with Joshua, the angel said to him, “Now I have come” — therefore in [divine] service, too, to come to the level of

“One” and “You shall love” in the Shema comes through the two [blessings] before it, where it speaks of the angels, how they stand in awe; and through this, love and awe are drawn to the person as well. And see what is written in the discourse beginning “When you go out,” and at the end of the discourse beginning “And the lion, like the ox, shall eat straw”).

52. And this is the meaning of the ladder that Jacob saw: “And behold, a ladder set up on the earth,” which refers to the Congregation of Israel (Knesses Yisrael) (and see Zohar, Part III, 17a, 123b), the souls of Israel as a whole, which is “set up on the earth,” in the physical body, “and its top reaches heaven,”

for “Israel arose in [G‑d’s] thought,” etc.: in the root of their souls they are higher than the angels, even though below they receive from them.

For the life-force of the angels is from “the breath of His mouth,” blessed be He, whereas Israel “arose,” etc. And so we find that in the time of Isaiah it is written, “Holy, holy, [holy] is Havayah of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory” (there, chapter 6).

That is: for His holiness, blessed be He, to be drawn from the supernal Kodesh (Holiness) down below, so that “the whole earth is full of His glory,” comes about through the level of descent through the chain of worlds (hishtalshelus) — three times “holy” — so that there be “Havayah of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.”

That is, through the enclothement in the angels, who are called “Hosts” (and see what is written in Parshas Bo, in the discourse beginning “On that very day,” etc.); and then “the whole earth is full of His glory,” which Israel below receive from them.

But above, in the root of their souls, it is written, “Israel is holiness (kodesh) to Havayah,” for they are from the level of the supernal Kodesh itself (and see what is written in the discourse beginning “My dove, in the clefts of the rock,” and in the discourse beginning “Israel is holiness,” etc., in Parshas Pinchas)

and not from the level of kadosh (holy), which is the drawing down of His holiness below through the descent of the levels. And this is “and its top reaches heaven.” And through this,

“and behold, angels of G‑d ascending and descending on it.” “Ascending” means that they are elevated through Israel, as it is written, “I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey.”

“My honeycomb” is the angels, as is explained elsewhere: through self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh) in the Shema, in “One” and in “You shall love with all your heart and with all your soul” — that is, in the manner of “To You, Havayah, I lift up my soul” — the soul ascends to the source from which it was hewn.

6As it is said, “You breathed it into me,” etc., “and You will in the future take it from me,” etc. — that is, to its source, to the place from which it was breathed into me. And in its root it is lofty, higher than the angels; and the angels, too, are elevated through this.

For since it was from them that it received their love and their awe, to rise up to Havayah [Who is] One, to love “with all your soul,” they too will ascend and be included in the level of the supernal unity, blessed be He, and “be absorbed into the body of the King.”

(See what is written in Parshas Vayeishev, in the discourse beginning “And I will give you places to walk among these who stand,” and from what is written there — “It follows that the influence the angels receive from Israel is both from below upward and from above downward,” etc.; see there — from this the meaning of “ascending and descending,” etc. will be understood: these are the two kinds of walking mentioned there.)

Now, it is written, “ascending and descending.” “Ascending” is two, namely the face of a lion and the face of an ox; and “descending” is the level of the eagle, for nesher (eagle) comes from the word noshar (dropping off),

that is, something that has fallen down. And this is the very level of compassion for the spark of G‑dliness. For the compassion is not for his body and his animal soul, but as it is written, “Let him return to Havayah, and He will have compassion on him”

— that is, for the spark of G‑dliness that has fallen “from a high roof,” etc., in its enclothement in the physical body in this world, because of which it is drawn after the materiality of the body. Therefore we say, “Pardon us, for we have transgressed (pashanu).” For

it is written, “And He placed him in Gan Eden to work it and to guard it”: Gan Eden needs guarding, and it is the revelation of G‑dliness that is revealed in his soul (see what is written in the discourse beginning “When you hearken to the voice,” in Parshas Re’eh).

Of this our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “The righteous sit with their crowns on their heads and delight in the radiance of the Shechinah.” And the reward of a mitzvah is the mitzvah itself,

for the mitzvos are themselves the drawing down of a revelation of G‑dliness upon one’s soul. As in the mitzvos he accepts upon himself the yoke of the Kingship of Heaven, so

will his reward be in Gan Eden: to enjoy and delight in the revelation of G‑d. Not so one who performs mitzvos as “a commandment of men learned by rote”: even though he “turns from evil and does good,” and his reward will certainly be in Gan Eden,

yet this is not an actual revelation of G‑dliness. For it is specifically the righteous who sit and delight in the radiance of the Shechinah itself (see what is written about the radiance of the Shechinah in the World to Come in the discourse beginning “To understand what our Sages, of blessed memory, said,” in Parshas Chayei Sarah, and see what is written on the verse “In the wilderness of Sinai,” etc.)

— namely, those who draw a revelation of G‑dliness upon their souls, whose intent is that the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof) should rest and be revealed through the drawing down of His mitzvos; for all the mitzvos are the commands of the King, and through fulfilling the mitzvos they draw down the Kingship of Heaven, that it be revealed in their souls. And it is they who become a chariot for the resting of His holiness, blessed be He,

as it is said, “Who has sanctified us with His commandments.” Now, “G‑d has made one opposite the other,” as it is written, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways.” The meaning is: when your ways are not My ways, My thoughts, too, are not your thoughts. For

when your ways are My ways, they draw down [a state in which] My thoughts are your thoughts. Not so in the opposite case, when the thoughts of “others” are drawn down, which come from the side of kelipah and the sitra achra.

7Now, every Jew has within him a spark of G‑dliness that at times, at appointed times, arouses love, “each one according to his own measure”; and afterwards he falls, etc. In this fall the spark in his soul, too, is lost and sunk, and the kelipos and the sitra achra draw nourishment from it.

8This is [the meaning of] “for we have transgressed (pashanu)”: for peshiah (negligence) is mentioned in the Torah in connection with guardians, [where] an unpaid guardian is liable for negligence. For the spark of G‑dliness needs guarding, lest it be lost and another find it. And the guarding is, as is found in the books, “‘Guard’ — this is Mishnah.”

That is, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “And G‑d saw that it was good” — to hide it away; and where did He hide it? In the Torah. That is, when the light of love is revealed in a person’s soul, he must guard it so that “the one who falls” will not fall from it; and the guarding is through occupation with Torah, for through occupation with Torah it endures, etc.,

as is explained elsewhere (and see on this the discourse beginning “Command the children of Israel,” etc., “you shall guard to offer,” etc., in Parshas Pinchas). But when he does not guard [it], he is negligent (poshea) with the spark of G‑dliness, which will be lost to him, and another will find it.

This is [the meaning of] “Children I have raised and exalted, and they have transgressed against Me (pash’u vi).” That is: I raised and exalted the source from which their souls were hewn, for “Israel arose in [G‑d’s] thought”; and “pash’u vi,” they were negligent with Me Myself — that is, with the spark of G‑dliness within them.

The rectification for this is “Pardon us.” Pardon (mechilah) is a revelation of will (ratzon): when a person is angry with his fellow, he withdraws his will from him, and when he is appeased again, there is once more a revelation of will toward him.

Now, this revelation of will comes through an arousal from above, from the level of “Who is a G‑d (Kel) like You, Who bears iniquity and passes over transgression,” where transgression and negligence (pesha and peshiah) have no place

(and see Zohar, Part III, 133a; Part I, 206b; and see what is written on this also in the discourse beginning “To understand the meaning of the verse ‘Who is a G‑d (Kel) like You’”),

for “If you are righteous, what do you give Him?” And the drawing down of this revelation of will comes through an arousal from below: the level of teshuvah from the depth of the heart, as it is written, “Out of the depths I have called You, Havayah.” And through this level of depth one arouses above the level of the supernal depth, “the depth of all,”

which is far, far above the chain of worlds (hishtalshelus). For when the supernal will that is above the chain of worlds is revealed again, there transgression has no place at all, and “if you are righteous,” etc.

And through the level of teshuvah mentioned above, he brings the spark of G‑dliness back out of the kelipah and the sitra achra, which drew nourishment and received life-force from it, so that it ascends to its source and root, through the uprooting of the will in the depth of the heart. And then what is written is fulfilled: “He swallowed wealth, and he vomits it up; G‑d (Kel) will drive it out of his belly” (in Job, chapter 20).

(That is: through the revelation from the level of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy — of which it is said, “Who is a G‑d (Kel) like You,” and likewise in the Thirteen Attributes in the Torah it is written, “G‑d (Kel), merciful and gracious,” etc. — through this it comes about that “G‑d (Kel) will drive it out of his belly.” And see what is written in the discourse beginning “When you go out,” regarding “and you take his captives captive,” and in the explanation on the verse “For this commandment.”)

Now, this revelation of will is revealed in the Ten Days of Teshuvah, through the level of “out of the depths.” Therefore it is written, “Seek Havayah while He may be found.”

And our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “‘While He may be found’ — these are the Ten Days of Teshuvah.” The meaning is that the spark of G‑dliness that was lost through negligence in guarding is found again, so that it ascends to its source.

(This, too, is the meaning of “He found him in a desert land,” etc. — “He found him,” specifically, for the lost object will be found. And see what is written in the discourse beginning “I am my Beloved’s,” regarding “And from there you will seek,” etc., “and you will find,” etc.)

And then, “Call upon Him,” to draw [Him] down so that He is revealed in one’s soul, “while He is near” — for now “the matter is very near,” when “he swallowed wealth and vomits it up” (along the lines of what is written, “And Havayah spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah”).

93. This is [the meaning of] “As an eagle (nesher) rouses”: through the level of compassion [arising] from what has dropped off (nashar) and fallen. Of this it is written, “the way of an eagle in the heavens,” for it soars upward to the very highest heights and rises from one elevation to the next

(and see what is written on the meaning and the concept of “heaven” in the discourse beginning “For this commandment,” regarding “It is not in heaven,” etc.; see there how the level of “heaven” relates to the mitzvah of teshuvah; along these lines one may explain “the way of an eagle in the heavens.” And in the Zohar

(Parshas Yisro, 80b) it explains that “heaven” is Tiferes of Atzilus; and see what is written below). And at first, “rouses its nest,” which is nothing

but a mere arousal, touching and not touching, in the manner of “reaching and not reaching” (mati velo mati): that is, G‑dliness is revealed upon his soul, and “it touches the soul.”

But it does not touch completely, so as to enter his innermost core (see what is written in the discourse beginning “The eyes of all,” in Parshas Matos), and so that “all my bones shall say, ‘Havayah, who is like You?’” Afterwards, “hovers over its fledglings”: it envelops the soul and surrounds it on every side, except that it is nothing

but at the level of “its fledglings,” which are small and have no wings. This is the revelation of this level throughout Pesukei deZimrah, up to the Shema.

10This is the arousal of mercy in the blessings before the Shema — “In Your abundant mercy, have mercy on us,” etc., “Our Father, merciful Father,” etc. — which is [the meaning of] “As an eagle,” etc.,

“hovers over its fledglings,” etc. In the Shema, by contrast, through self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh) in “One” and in “You shall love… with all your soul,” there is the revelation of the level of teshuvah “out of the depths,” and through this, “bears him upon its pinions” — “upon,” specifically.

For “its pinions” (evraso) is the level of “the limbs (evarin) of the King,” which are the mitzvos, which are drawings-down of the supernal will as it is enclothed in this physical world, like a thread of tzitzis made of wool.

But through the higher teshuvah (teshuvah ila’ah) one arouses the supernal will that is far, far above the chain of the worlds (hishtalshelus), of which our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “In the place where penitents (baalei teshuvah) [stand],” etc.

(See what is written about the Shema at the end of the discourse beginning “A psalm, a song at the dedication of the House.”) And the phrase “over its fledglings” (gozalav) fits well with penitents specifically, for gozal is explained in Bereishis Rabbah

(Parshas Lech, chapter 44) as also a term for a robber (gazlan); and the sinner is called one who “robs his father and his mother,” as our Sages, of blessed memory, said (beginning of chapter 6 of Berachos). But through teshuvah, “darkness is turned into light,” and intentional sins become like merits.

Therefore, from the level of “robbing his father and his mother” comes the level of “As an eagle,” etc., “hovers over its fledglings,” etc. — and that is, so that “it bears him upon its pinions.”

And see what is written in the discourse beginning “Blow the shofar at the New Moon,” regarding the supernal will having two levels, etc.; see there, for from there the meaning of “upon its pinions” will be understood more fully.

And in the Raaya Mehemna, Parshas Pinchas (238b), it explains “bears him” (yisa’ehu) in the sense of “May Havayah lift up (yisa) His countenance,” etc. (and see what is written on the meaning of yisa in Parshas Nasso, at the end of the discourse beginning “Thus shall you bless”). Therefore it is said, “Who is a G‑d (Kel) like You, Who bears (nosei) iniquity and passes over transgression,” etc.

“You give truth to Jacob, kindness to Abraham,” etc. — for it is He Himself Who gives His own truth and kindness, etc. And then, “Havayah alone led him,” etc. The level of Havayah is the level of contraction (tzimtzum) and of the spreading forth of the flow, etc.,

which is the level of the order of the drawings-down and of the chain of the worlds (hishtalshelus); whereas “alone” (badad) is the level of “He alone,” as before the world was created — that is, the level of “Before Havayah you shall be purified,” of Yom Kippur.

(One may further explain “As an eagle rouses,” etc. For it was explained above that at the Giving of the Torah, and likewise as long as the Holy Temple stood, there was a revelation of G‑dliness from the level of the life-force in its general and collective expression (klalus), which is above the level of the angels — the face of a lion, etc., and the face of an eagle, etc.

If so, it is understood that the revelation of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy is certainly the level of great mercy, far, far above the level and rung of the face of an eagle. And see what is written in the discourse beginning “A Song of Ascents: Out of the depths,” on there being two levels of compassion, “merciful Father” (Av HaRachaman) and “Father of mercy” (Av HaRachamim), etc.;

see there. If so, one may say the meaning is as follows: “As an eagle rouses its nest,” etc., is an analogy. Just as mercy is drawn down through the level of the face of an eagle in the Chariot over the soul’s descent into the physical body and the animal soul — as it is written regarding the Exodus from Egypt, “And I bore you on eagles’ wings,” etc. —

so too, and infinitely more so, is what afterwards comes about through this: “Havayah alone led him” — that is, the revelation of great mercy, the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, which are revealed on Yom Kippur, through which “alone He led him,” that is, in the very essence of the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), as in the words, “And bring us back in complete teshuvah before You.”

Accordingly, the meaning of “bears him upon its pinions,” in connection with “an eagle rouses,” refers specifically to positive commandments. For regarding positive commandments our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “If a person transgressed a positive commandment and repented, he does not move from there before he is pardoned”; for this he does not need Yom Kippur specifically.

This is “upon its pinions”: for “the 248 commandments are the 248 limbs of the King,” and this comes through “As an eagle rouses,” etc. However, through the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy that are revealed on Yom Kippur, together with teshuvah, even transgressions of prohibitions are rectified and pardoned; for the prohibitions are higher than the positive commandments, since the positive commandments depend on the vav and hei of the Name Havayah, and the prohibitions depend on the yud and hei.

But since Yom Kippur is the level of “Before Havayah you shall be purified,” higher even than the level of yud-hei — and this is “alone He led him,” etc. — therefore the blemishes, iniquities and transgressions of the prohibitions are also rectified. And see what is written in the discourse beginning “For the mountains may depart.”

It may also be said that “As an eagle rouses” is the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy that are revealed in the month of Elul, according to what is written in Zohar HaRakia, at the beginning of Bereishis, that the thirteen petals of the rose are the twelve oxen of Beriah, “and the sea upon them,” etc.; see there. And “Havayah alone led him” is the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy that are revealed on Yom Kippur.

And see on “alone He led him” in Midrash Rabbah, Parshas Balak, regarding “Behold, it is a people that dwells alone.”) (Zohar, Part I, 26a; Part III, 124b, 210b, 298b; and in the Arizal’s Likkutei Torah, end of Parshas Ha’azinu.)

And in Emek HaMelech, at the end of Shaar 3 and in Shaar 6, at the end of chapter 46, it is explained that this is the meaning of “And Havayah alone shall be exalted on that day.” And a glimmer of this is revealed every day in the Shema,

for every day there must be a small drawing down, so that it be revealed in the Ten Days of Teshuvah and on Yom Kippur in a general way. For such is the rule of the Torah: a general statement, a particular, and a general statement again — so that there is included again

what was divided into finest particulars each day, so that through this there will be a revelation of the general (klalus); for the particular is drawn from the revelation of the general, etc. And see Rashi’s commentary (on Job, chapter 39, [verse] 27) regarding “the eagle mounts up.”

Now, it is through the teshuvah from the depth of the heart mentioned above that it is said, “He guarded him like the pupil of His eye.” For the pupil (ishon), the “daughter of the eye” (bas ayin), is the darkness in the eye, and specifically in it

is that which gives light, and the essence of a person’s sight is revealed — it is with it that a person sees. So too, through the darkness with which a person darkens himself in the bitterness of his soul, in the depth of the heart, the revelation of the supernal will shines.

And this is “He found him in a desert land”: because he was in the desert, “in a parched land,” etc. And this is “Who is this coming up from the desert?” — her elevation is from the desert, and her departure is from the desert, etc.