כי תצא למלחמה על אויביך וגו׳

1“When you go out to war against your enemies,” etc. Now, it is stated in the Zohar: “The time of prayer is the time of battle.” And this war is that of which it is written, “Havayah has war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

For in each and every generation, and on each and every day, this war must take place in a person’s soul. For “G‑d has made the one opposite the other”: a soul of holiness, [with] action, speech and thought, emotive attributes (middos) and intellect of holiness; and opposite it, the vital, animal soul, etc. And “one nation shall be stronger than the other nation.”

And a person must make the soul of holiness prevail. And the time of war is the time of prayer, for then is the opportune time above, etc.

(See in Parshas Vayechi, on the verse “Yehudah, you,” that the two sections of the Shema, “Shema” and “Vehayah,” are the levels of Reuven and Shimon; “Emes Veyatziv” is the level of Levi; and the Shemoneh Esreh is the level of “Yehudah, you”: self-nullification (bittul), etc.

And it may be said that this is why the time for the Shema and for mentioning the Exodus from Egypt, which is the content of “Emes Veyatziv,” is until the end of three hours, corresponding to the three levels of Reuven, Shimon and Levi; and the Shemoneh Esreh prayer is until four hours, the fourth level, that of Yehudah.)

Now, it is stated in the Zohar: “Whoever kills the serpent is given the King’s daughter.” The serpent is the primordial serpent, the level of Amalek; and whoever kills the serpent, who has won the war, is given from above the level of “the King’s daughter.”

The explanation is that this war has two aspects. The first is from the side of the power of the G‑dly soul, which is intellect and emotive attributes, etc.; and it has a power of holiness to prevail and to win the war.

2About this they said, “Whoever kills the serpent,” etc. The second is what is not within the soul’s power, of itself, to overcome. And about this they said, “He is given from above”: this is the level of “Havayah has war with Amalek.”

The explanation of this matter: “The King’s daughter” is the point of Zion and the Community of Israel (Knesses Yisrael), which gathers (koneses) and collects into itself the illumination of the supernal Yisrael.

(On this matter, see in Parshas Tetzaveh, in the discourse beginning “Remember what Amalek did to you”; and see the Zohar, Part II, at the beginning of Parshas Mishpatim, [folio] 94b.)

And it is the level of the point of the heart and its inner dimension, which is revealed in the souls of Israel as a whole as the desire of the heart (re’usa deliba). As it is written, “with all your heart (levavecha),” for there are two hearts: the outer dimension of the heart

and the inner dimension of the heart. (See on this in the discourse beginning “Who has counted,” and in the discourse beginning “You are standing”; and see what is written in the discourse beginning “There are sixty,” etc., what is written there in the name of Mishnas Chassidim.)

The outer dimension of the heart is below Daas (knowledge), from which it was taken. It is the soul’s prevailing by the power of its comprehension and intellect, as it reasons and contemplates that “there is no blade of grass below that does not have a mazal (constellation),” etc.,

and “one higher than the high,” and so on, up to the loftiest heights; and the source and beginning of the entire chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus) and of the coming into being of the life-force is “and by the breath of His mouth, all their host,” and “You give life to them all.”

3And it is written, “See, I have set before you today life,” etc. For in every created thing there is an aspect of death and of life: the death is the thing’s physicality and materiality, and the life is the spirituality within it. Through this, “you shall choose life,” “to love Havayah, for He is your life,” etc.

For He, blessed be He, is the Life of all life, and the source and beginning of everything, and everything, compared to Him, is the level of death. And this is [the meaning of] “The exaltations of G‑d are in their throat, and a double-edged sword in their hand, to execute,” etc.

That is to say, the “nations” are the deeds, words and thoughts that are not for G‑d, and they are drawn from the level of Amalek. And the “vengeance,”

which is their nullification and breaking, comes through “and a double-edged sword,” which is from the level of “the exaltations of G‑d”: that is, when a person contemplates that He, blessed be He, is the source and root of the chain of descending worlds and the Life of all life.

4And this is what is written, “with my sword and with my bow,” which Targum Onkelos renders “with my prayer and with my supplication.” For through prayer, in which His exaltedness and the ordering of the praises of the Omnipresent are recalled, this becomes the level of a sword and a bow, to nullify the evil in his soul.

Now, this contemplation is from the level of His Malchus (sovereignty), may He be blessed, which fills all worlds (memalei kol almin), for it is written, “Your kingship is the kingship of all worlds”; and it is there that the comprehension of the souls and the angels rises. (On this matter, see the discourse beginning “Sing and rejoice,” on the explanation of “and they shall sing of Your righteousness.”)

And “whose ministers all stand,” etc., “and they sanctify and proclaim the sovereignty of the Name,” etc.: that is, the level and attribute of His Malchus, which is only the level of a “name.”

For He alone, may He be blessed, is exalted and holy: He is exalted, uplifted and set apart, etc. And it is there that the soul that understands and contemplates cleaves to its root in the living G‑d: the level of His Malchus, may He be blessed. As in the saying, “Blessed be the Name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever,” “And you shall love,” etc.

52. But the level of the inner dimension of the heart is the desire of the heart (re’usa deliba) and “the secrets of the heart.” (See at the end of the discourse beginning “And I will make [your windows] of kadkod,” on the explanation of “and all your borders of precious stones”; and in the discourse beginning “See, I,” on the explanation of the matter of “nachal eisan”; and on the verse “On the eighth day he sent”; and in the discourse beginning “For this commandment,” regarding teshuvah: “tashuv hei” (the hei returns), spelled out with a yud, etc.)

which is far, far above the reason and knowledge that are grasped and understood by the power of the soul’s comprehension and intellect. And it is the level of G‑dliness within the soul, which is revealed in the level of yechidah within it, so that it pours out its soul into the very bosom of its Father, in a state of self-nullification (bittul), etc.

And this illumination is from the level of the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin). For the light that fills all worlds (memalei kol almin) is the life-force and the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He, which descends and is drawn down through the descending chain of levels, from cause to cause, an illumination and an illumination of an illumination, etc.

And the light that encompasses all worlds means that He, may He be blessed, is alone, as before the world was created, etc., and is not within the bounds of worlds at all, and the aspect of a chain of descent does not apply before Him, may He be blessed, at all. As it is written, “The heavens and the earth I fill,” for heaven and earth are equal;

and as in the saying, “and holy in heaven and on earth”: that He is holy and set apart in the heavens above just as on the earth below; for even the spiritual

is considered like the physical before Him, may He be blessed. Therefore the angels say, “Where is the place of His glory?” and they say, “The whole earth is full of His glory.”

6Now, “the stars and all the host of heaven,” etc., “which [He] apportioned,” etc. The stars are the mazalos (constellations), which receive from the seventy princes; and these receive life-force from the guardians of the Ofanim, and “one higher than the high,” until they receive from the breath of His mouth, may He be blessed. This is by way of the order of the chain of descent, from level to level.

7Now, our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “Israel has no mazal,” etc.; as it is written, “For Havayah’s portion is His people,” and “You shall be Mine,” etc.

For they receive from the level that is holy and set apart, which is not within the bounds of the chain of descent: the level of the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin). And there is the root of the point of the inner dimension of the heart, so that the love for G‑d be above the level of reason and knowledge, as the desire of the heart (re’usa deliba).

As it is written, “Whom have I in heaven? And besides You I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart yearn; the Rock of my heart and my portion,” etc. (And see what is written in the discourse beginning “On the eighth day, an assembly,” and in the discourse beginning “If you do not know,” etc.)

Now, this love in the soul is hidden and covered in a garment of sackcloth, in a state of exile within the body and the animal soul; as in the saying of our Sages, of blessed memory, “They were exiled to Edom: the Shechinah (Divine Presence) is with them.”

For the Shechinah is the spark of G‑dliness in the soul (see Etz Chaim, Sha’ar 41, chapter 3), which is in a state of exile and enslavement to the worry of earning a livelihood, which surrounds and clothes the inner dimension of the heart and the soul; for “he brings his bread at the peril of his soul,” and his heart is preoccupied with “many thoughts,” etc.

And about this it is said, “Whoever kills the serpent” — through the soul’s prevailing in the outer dimension of the heart, in the war that is given into its hands, by the power of its intellect and comprehension — “is given from above the King’s daughter”: this is the level of the revelation of the point of the inner dimension of the heart in the soul. And this is “Havayah has war with Amalek”: to bring it out of concealment into revelation.

(And see what is written along these lines on the verse “You shall count fifty days,” and on the matter of “Open for Me like the point of a needle, and I will open for you like the doorway of a hall,” in the explanation on the verse “I am asleep.”)

And this is [the meaning of] “When you go out to war”: that is, the war of the soul with “the one opposite the other.” Then you will be “over (al) your enemies”: this is the level of the revelation of the point of the heart,

which is from the level of the light that encompasses all worlds, above your enemies, for the enemy below has no dominion and no hold there; as it is written, “which [He] apportioned,” etc.

And then, “and you shall capture his captives”: the evil is transformed into good, through the removal of the soiled garments, etc. (As is written in Etz Chaim in the name of the Zohar, cited in Sefer Shel Beinonim (Tanya), at the end of chapter 9.)

That is, when the light of G‑d that encompasses all worlds is openly revealed in the inner dimension of the point of the heart, which is specifically “above your enemies.”

83. Now, this revelation that comes through winning the war by the power of the soul below is the revelation of an illumination of the point of the heart in the soul, to transform the garments of

thought, speech and action of “the one opposite the other,” and to gather the powers of the G‑dly soul that are scattered, through the soul’s dispersion, in those garments; for it is only its powers and its illuminations that extend into these garments.

9And about this it is said, “If your dispersed are at the end of the heavens, from there He will gather you,” etc. The dispersed are the illumination of the powers that extend from the soul to spread out and be clothed in the body

and the animal soul, in the many thoughts that distract, confuse and make a person fall, so that he is drawn after them; as is known from the matter of dreams and of the hollow of the sling, which are of the garments that clothe the soul from its head to its foot, until

it is bound and tied up in them. And the gathering is through the illumination of the revelation of the point of the heart, which is from the level of the light that encompasses all worlds, which “is given him from above” through his having “killed the serpent,” as mentioned above.

But for there to be a revelation of the very essence of the point of the heart, to transform the very essence of the emotive attributes from evil to good, about this it is said, “and you see among the captives a woman of beautiful form (eshes yefas to’ar),” etc.

(And see what is written in the discourse beginning “If you do not know,” on the matter of “And Rachel was beautiful of form (yefas to’ar).” Now, to understand somewhat what the root is of the revelation of the very essence of the point of the heart, and of the revelation of an illumination of the point of the heart, etc.:

for at first glance the difference is not so understood, since the illumination of the point of the heart, too, is from the level of the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), as mentioned above. If so, from where do we derive [grounds] to make such gradations in the point of the heart in a person, between essence and illumination, etc.? But the matter is as the Ramaz writes at the beginning of Parshas Mishpatim)

(folio 94b), in the name of Sefer HaGilgulim: that there are three levels in souls. The first is nefesh, ruach and neshamah from the level of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. The second is nefesh, ruach and neshamah from the level of the Atzilus that is within the inner dimension of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. The third is from the mystery of Atzilus itself.

Now, the outer dimension of the heart, which is taken and drawn from Daas (knowledge) and contemplation, is the first level, namely the nefesh, ruach and neshamah of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah themselves; for “Binah (understanding) nests in the Throne,” which is the World of Beriah (Creation), etc.

And the essence of the point of the heart, which is far, far above comprehended reason and knowledge, is the third level, which is Atzilus itself; for Atzilus in general is the level of Chochmah (wisdom) and the mochin (intellect) of Abba, which is what is above Binah and Daas, etc.

10And this is the meaning of “the fourth part of Israel”: the fourth level is the level of Atzilus (Emanation). And now the basis for making gradations in the point of the heart in a person will be well understood: between the very essence of the point of the heart, which is the level of a revelation and drawing down from the Malchus (sovereignty) of the supernal Atzilus itself,

11and an illumination of the point of the heart, which is from the level of the Atzilus within the inner dimension of Asiyah (Action), or the Atzilus within the inner dimension of Yetzirah (Formation) and Beriah (Creation), which are an illumination from the supernal Atzilus.

Therefore it is called an illumination of the point of the heart; and therefore the effect of revealing this illumination is to transform the garments of thought, speech and action, which are themselves the level of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, as is known.

12And now it is understood how this level of the point of the heart is present in each and every one of Israel; for even in a soul that is from the level of Asiyah, the level of Atzilus is clothed within its inner dimension, as mentioned above. And see what is written on the verse “Who has counted,” on the matter of “I even made him”: “even” comes to include the fourth level mentioned above.

13And see what is written on the Raaya Mehemna, Parshas Ki Sisa, on the matter of “and the poor shall not give less,” etc.: “The Yesod of Abba is long,” for the illumination of Abba is drawn down and extends into every one of Israel, even one who has no Binah (understanding) and Daas (knowledge);

that is, to have self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh) without any reason or knowledge at all, etc. And this is even in the nefesh of the nefesh of Asiyah, which has no illumination of Binah and Daas.

One may further say that the very essence of the point of the heart is drawn from the level of Knesses Yisrael (the Community of Israel) itself, which is the inner partzuf (configuration) of the Malchus of Atzilus, and the illumination of the point of the heart is drawn from the level of the outer partzuf, etc.

And this too is close to the first approach. The explanation of the matter: the meaning of to’ar (form) is the matter of what is written, “Let us make man in Our image,” etc.

14Now, it is written, “And G‑d created man in His image; in the image of G‑d,” etc.: “in the image” twice, corresponding to two levels that there are in the soul. The first is that which extends and is clothed in the body,

and this is what descended by way of the order of the chain of descent, from cause to cause, as it is written, “For My glory I created him, I formed him, I even made him.” And the second level is the level of the soul that stands above, in the manner of a makif (encompassing), and does not extend

and is not clothed within the body at all. And it is called mazal in the language of our Sages, of blessed memory: “Even though he does not see, his mazal sees.” For mazal is a causative term: it makes flow (mazil) and draws down the illumination and the influence to the level of the soul that is within the body.

15Now, the soul that is at the level of makif is called yefas to’ar (beautiful of form), for its root is from the level of “Yours, Havayah, are the greatness and the might and the beauty (tiferes),” for Tiferes is a matter of beauty: “Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved,” etc.

And the level of the soul that is within the body is called eshes yefas to’ar (a woman of beautiful form), for it receives from the yefas to’ar. (See the Zohar at the beginning of Parshas Bamidbar, folio 117a; Parshas Shelach, folio 159a; and see the Zohar, Part I, Vayechi, folio 245, end of side a and side b.)

And in order to bring it out of captivity in its very essence and being, that is, the intellect and the emotive attributes themselves, so that they be for G‑d alone, and to eradicate the evil from within him entirely,

that is, through the transformation of the emotive attributes of evil into actual good and their inclusion in holiness, as is written in Sefer Shel Beinonim (Tanya), chapter 10, one must draw down a revelation of G‑dliness from the level of mazal, which is the soul that is above the body.

And about this King David, peace be upon him, said, “Seek my face (panai)”: the meaning is, my inner dimension, that is, the very essence of the inner dimension of the point of the heart and the desire of the heart (re’usa deliba), which is hidden and concealed;

and one must seek it, search for it and bring it out of concealment into revelation (as in the matter of what is said, “I have strayed like a lost lamb; seek Your servant”). And how is one to seek and search for it? “Your face, Havayah, I will seek”: that is, the inner dimension of Havayah, the level of “And Havayah passed before him (al panav),” etc.,

from where the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy are drawn. And they are drawn during the days of Selichos, for then is a time, an hour of favor, above. And during the whole year the inner dimension of Havayah is drawn at this level through the Torah

and the mitzvos, which are the inner dimension of the will and wisdom of the Holy One, blessed be He, in His glory and in His essence, as it were, whom “no thought can grasp.” For through engaging in Torah one is called “one who reads (korei) in the Torah,” for he calls forth (korei) and draws down His wisdom, may He be blessed, for “the Torah came forth from Chochmah (wisdom),”

which is the level of an illumination of the inner dimension, as it is written, “A man’s wisdom makes his face shine.” (See the explanation on the verse “And Moshe wrote their goings forth,” etc.)

And through this, “May He make His face shine upon us, Selah.” And the mitzvos are the inner dimension of His will, may He be blessed: the 613 mitzvos of the Torah and the seven

rabbinic mitzvos, which in gematria are the 620 (tarach) pillars of light, which are drawn down below through the fulfillment of the mitzvos; as in the saying, “who has sanctified us with His mitzvos,” etc., and as our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “The Holy One, blessed be He, puts on tefillin,” etc.

16And charity is equal to them all; for the matter of charity is that the attribute of Chesed (kindness) be [extended] freely, to revive the spirit of the lowly, which are all the levels in the chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus), for “all before Him is considered as nothing.”

And this is [the meaning of] “And the work of charity shall be peace.” And it is written, “Peace, peace, to the far and to the near”: to the far who has become near; for peace is the level of the bond between above and below, so that even the far be at the level of near, as mentioned above.

And just as the level of “Your face, Havayah,” is drawn from above to below, so is the level of “Seek my face” drawn from below to above: that the point of the inner dimension of the heart rise and be included in the very Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He.

(And see in the discourse beginning “Who has counted,” and in the discourse beginning “The heads of the tribes,” and in the discourse beginning “And the number of the children of Israel shall be,” and in the discourse beginning “After Havayah your G‑d you shall walk,” regarding “and His commandments you shall keep,” and in the discourse beginning “If you do not know,” etc., “go out,” etc.; see there.)

And not from this world alone, which is the level of the gathering in from the dispersion of the soul, which is scattered and spread out in thought, speech and action, the garments of the physical body, which are drawn after this world;

but even from the lower and the upper Gan Eden, as it is written, “Whom have I in heaven? And besides You I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart yearn; the Rock of my heart,” etc.

17And about this it is said, “Who is this coming up from the desert, leaning upon her beloved?”: upon her very beloved. And this is [the meaning of] “and you take her to yourself as a wife”: that is, as in what is said, “On that day,” etc., “you will call Me Ishi (my husband).”

And this is through the Torah, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “‘On the day of his wedding’: this is the Giving of the Torah”; for the Torah is the level of the bridegroom, and Knesses Yisrael is called kallah (bride), the very level of “my flesh and my heart yearn (kalah).”

But for there to be this level of the drawing down of the Torah and the mitzvos, the inner dimension of His will and wisdom, may He be blessed, in order to raise the level of the inner dimension of the point of the heart in its very essence and being, one must first be at the level of “and you desire her,” so that all his salvation and all his desire be in this;

for “spirit brings spirit and draws spirit”: “If he sets his heart toward Him, his spirit and his soul He will gather to Himself.” Whereas if he does not desire and long to raise the inner dimension of the point of the heart, he will certainly not draw down anything.

184. “And you shall bring her into your house.” The matter is as is written in the Zohar (Parshas Vayikra, folio 6, end of side a and side b; and in the Raaya Mehemna, Parshas Pinchas, folio 257, end of side a and side b)

on the verse “She has fallen, she shall rise no more,” etc. (in Amos, at the beginning of chapter 5): that she will not be in the state of rising from below to above,

but only as it is written, “On that day I will raise up,” etc.: that it be drawn from above to below, so that she will have, even below, the level of a superior rising.

(As in the matter of what is written in the discourse beginning “And I will make [your windows] of kadkod,” regarding “one said shoham (onyx)”; and see the Zohar, Part I, Vayechi) (folio 237b), [which] explains it in another way than what is written in Parshas Vayikra; it may be said that this is according to the one who says “yashfeh (jasper).”

That is, that the light of G‑d’s face be drawn down below, so that it be “as water [reflects] the face,” in the manner of “and bring us back in complete teshuvah before You”: “before You” (lefanecha) specifically, at the level of the inner dimension; for this is the completeness of teshuvah, “tashuv hei” (the hei returns), etc. And this is the level of rising: “I will raise up the fallen tabernacle of David,” etc.

And this is the level of the Ten Days of Teshuvah, “as water [reflects] the face,” etc.: for during Selichos we draw down “And Havayah passed before him (al panav),” etc., so that during the Ten Days of Teshuvah there be the level of “and bring us back in complete teshuvah before You.”

19“And she shall shave her head and do her nails.” Now, the hairs of the head are the surplus of the mochin (intellect), which have fallen into worldly matters.

And the nails are the surplus of the emotive attributes of Chesed (kindness), “the right arm,” Avraham, from whom came forth, etc. And a person must remove the surplus;

for from the side of the supernal holiness, the surplus is a level of holiness, like the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, which are drawn from the level of the hairs, etc.

And as in the matter of “He shall be holy; he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long.” (See on this below, on the verse “For as the earth brings forth her growth,” and in Parshas Emor, on the verse “And I shall be sanctified among.”)

But regarding the Levites, who are lower in level, from the side of severe judgment, it is written, “and let them pass a razor,” etc. And see in Parshas Tazria (folio 48, end of side b). And “a woman’s hair is nakedness,” for there the external forces draw nourishment.

And this is the meaning of their saying, “An unlearned person (am ha’aretz) is forbidden to eat meat,” for the meat brings him down and lowers him below; which is not so with a Torah scholar, for it is written, “The righteous one eats to the satisfaction of his soul.”

And likewise they said, “The mundane conversation of Torah scholars,” etc., specifically. Therefore the penitent (baal teshuvah) must afflict himself, in order to distance himself from the surplus, so that it not bring him down and return him to his former ways, G‑d forbid.

20“And she shall remove the garment of her captivity.” Now, our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “A reflection of a reflection they do not have; but a reflection alone they do have.” So too in “the one opposite the other,”

that is, the level of a makif (encompassing) above, as in the matter of “one transgression draws another transgression” and “they make him very impure,” etc. And one must also remove the level of the makif that is drawn from above of its own accord,

for it is written, “Your iniquities separate”: they separate and interpose between the indwelling of the revelation of His G‑dliness, may He be blessed, which is drawn through the Torah and the mitzvos, and the point of the inner dimension of the heart, so that it does not touch the inner dimension of the heart unless

the covering and concealing level of the makif of “the one opposite the other” is removed. And through this removal, “and she shall dwell in your house”: that there be a level of settled dwelling and permanence of the love in the point of the heart, “it shall never be moved, forever and ever.”

And through this he will rise, come and reach a higher level and rung, the rung of “and she shall weep for her father,” etc. For

the virtue and rank of weeping is the level of the higher teshuvah (teshuvah ila’ah), which is greater than all; for there are many levels and rungs in the higher teshuvah, and this one surpasses them all. And about this it is said of the Time to Come, “With weeping they will come,” etc.

And it is written, “And behold, a boy was weeping, and she had compassion on him.” And this is along the lines of what they said about Rabbi Akiva, that when he recited the Song of Songs

his eyes shed tears; for this weeping comes from the cleaving of the soul to its root beyond what his soul can bear, for then “there is no one who has power over the spirit to restrain it,” etc.

(And see what is written above, at the end of the discourse beginning “And I will make [your windows] of kadkod,” and in Parshas Vayishlach, on the verse “And he took from what came to his hand a gift,” and on the verse “And the Jews undertook.”)

And concerning this weeping it is stated in the name of the Arizal, of blessed memory, that whoever does not weep on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, his soul is not complete; for this weeping is the completeness of the soul. And its main [time] is on Yom HaKippurim, the level of the higher teshuvah: “before Havayah you shall be purified.”