ביאור על לויתן זה כו׳ הנ״ל

1An explanation of “This Leviathan,” etc., mentioned above.

2Now, that the souls from the level of the fish of the sea (nunei yama) have an advantage over the souls from the level of the wild ox (shor habar) is simple, since they are from the union of Abba and Imma (Chochmah and Binah), and they are the ones called “brothers and friends.”

But to understand the advantage that the souls from the level of the wild ox also have over the level of the fish of the sea, we must first preface what is written elsewhere on the verse “And your carcass shall be food for all the birds of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth,” etc.

The explanation is that all the curses are against the evil of nogah. “Your carcass” (nivlascha) is a term from novlos [fallen-off fruit]: that is, what fell in the manner of novlos and the shattering of the vessels, and is mixed within the evil of nogah, none of it will remain in it in the Future;

rather, the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth will gather it up. “The birds of the heavens” are as our Sages, of blessed memory, said on the verse “And let birds fly”: “And ‘bird’ is Michael,” etc.

(And see the Zohar, Part I, Parshas Bereishis, folio 11, end of side b, and folio 12, side a; and Etz Chaim, the Gate of Mayin Nukvin and Mayin Duchrin (feminine and masculine waters), Derush 4, on the subject of birds, etc. And see the Zohar, Part III, Parshas Tzav, folio 26, side b, and Parshas Shemini, folio 39, end of side b, and the Mikdash Melech and the Ramaz [there].)

And there are angels that are called “the beasts of the earth”: this is the Chariot, “the face of a lion,” “the face of an ox,” etc. And in the souls of human beings, too, there are these two levels: there are souls that are called “birds,” as is written in the Zohar, Part III, Parshas Pinchas (folio 217, side b):

“Where birds make their nests”: in their shade the souls of the tzaddikim nest. And so it is in the Zohar, Part I, Parshas Vayeitzei (folio 162, end of side b).

And there are souls that are called “the beasts of the earth,” as it is written, “Judah is a lion’s whelp,” “Issachar is a strong-boned donkey,” etc., “His firstborn ox.”

The explanation is that in one respect the bird has a superior quality over the beast: the bird flies with its wings very high up in the air, which is not so with the beast. And in one respect the beast has an advantage over the bird, for the bird’s life-force is small.

This is why it is made fit [through slaughter] by [cutting] one siman, whereas the beast’s life-force is great. In the same way it will be understood above: the level of the angels that are called “the birds of the heavens,”

and likewise the souls that are from this level, have the advantage that they can fly and rise ever higher, to the loftiest heights, through the wings, love and awe.

(And on the subject of flying, see the Ramaz on Parshas Shemini, folio 39, end of side b; and see what is written further on the subject of the level of the birds in Parshas Beha’aloscha, at the end of the discourse beginning “If all the fish of the sea,” etc.)

And there is also a superior quality in the level of the angels and souls that are called “the beasts of the earth”: their strength is abundant and great, as is said of the chayos of the Chariot, “And the chayos carry the Throne,” etc. Thus their strength is immense, so that they carry the Throne, and “upon the Throne, like the appearance of a man,” etc.

3Now, from what has been said it emerges clearly that although the level of the bird has the advantage of the level of flying, of rising ever higher, etc., nevertheless the level of the beasts of the earth also has an immense advantage in the abundance of strength that is in them.

Elsewhere it was explained that this strength in the chayos of the Chariot, to carry the Throne, is because they are from what was refined out of the shattering of the vessels, which is from the World of Tohu, etc., where there was an abundance of light, etc.

According to this, it may be said that for this reason it is not so with the birds, because they were drawn from the union of kisses (zivug neshikin), and the union of kisses takes place even when there is no need to refine [anything] from the shattering of the vessels, as is written explicitly in Etz Chaim there. But this needs examination, for it seems that all the angels came forth from the union of kisses, as is written in Etz Chaim there.

Nevertheless, at any rate, the level of the beast has an advantage over the level of the bird in strength and might, etc., even though the bird has an advantage in flying, etc.

(It is possible to say that this is like the matter of the two Names, [the Name of] forty-two [letters] and [the Name] Av (72), that are in Shema and in Vehayah im shamoa: the Name of forty-two is the level of ascents, “and with two he would fly,” etc., and it is the level of “and with all your might” in the section of Shema; and this level is loftier than the Name Av, as is written in Parshas Terumah, folio 132, side b.

But for G‑dliness to be drawn down from above to below through Torah and practical mitzvos, this is the level of the Name Av: “And I will give grass (esev) in your field for your beasts” — Av [and] shin.) (As is written in the Tikkunei Zohar.)

If so, it may also be said in the same way regarding the souls called “the fish of the sea” and the souls called “the beasts of the earth”: although the fish of the sea have the superior quality that they swim in ascents and in bringing about unions (yichudim), etc., this is like the level of the flying of the birds, etc.,

except that the fish of the sea are in the sea, the hidden world (alma de’iskasya). Nevertheless, there is also an advantage in the level of the souls called “the beasts of the earth,” on account of [the verse] “And much produce comes by the strength of the ox.”

Now, (in Psalms, chapter 50,) on the verse “The beasts (behemos) on a thousand mountains,” Yonasan rendered: “and the wild ox that grazes every day on a thousand mountains.”

(This matter is explained in the Zohar, Part III, Parshas Pinchas, folio 217, side a, and in Part I, Parshas Bereishis, [folio] 18, side b.) This is the level of Malchus (sovereignty), which is called “the great beast” (behemah rabbah), the Name Ban (52),

which refines the sparks that fell, in the shattering of the vessels, into Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah; and “a thousand mountains” are in the World of Beriah (Creation), etc. It may also be said that this is why it is called tor bar [“wild ox”].

For bar is the Aramaic translation of “outside”: that is, Malchus is called the revealed world (alma de’isgalya), the level of speech, etc., whereas the level of the sea is the hidden world, thought, etc.

(And see what is written in the discourse beginning “If only you were as a brother to me,” on the subject of “I would find you outside.”) Now, it is written, “A righteous man knows the soul of his beast”; this is Yesod (foundation) of Z’eir Anpin, as is found in Parshas Pinchas there, in the Mikdash Melech.

This is the matter of “one pillar, and Tzaddik (Righteous One) is its name,” on which the world stands. And this is what is written in the Zohar: “that man who rides and rules over this beast,” etc.

And this is what Rabbi Akiva’s wife said about Rabbi Akiva: “A righteous man knows the soul of his beast” (in Kesubos, folio 63). And the souls that are drawn from the union of Z’eir Anpin and Nukva are also called “the beasts of the earth,” the wild ox. Principally, they are souls of Beriah, born and drawn from Malchus of Atzilus.

This is as is written in Iggeres HaKodesh, in the epistle beginning “He and His life-forces”: “the creation of the souls is from her, to be a yesh (an entity) and a thing separate unto itself in the World of Beriah,” etc.; “the birth, by the Nukva, of the souls and the angels into the World of Beriah,” etc.

Whereas of the nefesh, ruach and neshamah of Atzilus proper he wrote just before this that perhaps their essence did not change so as to become a thing separate from G‑dliness, etc.

This is like the fish of the sea, which are within the sea; the sea covers them, and it is impossible for them to be separate from the sea (as is written in Parshas Beshalach, in the discourse beginning “And Israel saw,” and on the statement of the Zohar, Parshas Beshalach, folio 48, side b).

But the souls that were created from Malchus of Atzilus in Beriah, to be a yesh and a separate thing, are called “the beasts of the earth,” like the creatures on dry land, “the living soul after its kind”: although

they live from it and eat of what grows from the earth, they are nevertheless a yesh and a thing unto itself, and not like the fish of the sea, which the sea covers and which cannot separate from the sea, etc., as mentioned above.

4And see Etz Chaim, the Gate of the Order of Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, Gate 47, chapter 4: the union of Z’eir Anpin and Nukva of Beriah is to give birth to the angels of Yetzirah, their souls, etc., and not to the souls of the human beings of Beriah, etc.

If so, then likewise what is written there, that the union of Z’eir Anpin and Nukva of Atzilus gives birth to the souls of the tzaddikim — these too are souls of Beriah, etc.

See there, and in chapter 5. And so it is written in Mishnas Chassidim, Tractate Zivug Abba ve-Imma, chapter 3: “They give power to Z’eir Anpin and Nukva of Atzilus to unite and to give birth to the souls of the tzaddikim into the World of Beriah,” etc.;

“to Z’eir Anpin and Nukva of Beriah, to unite and to give birth to the souls of the angels into the World of Yetzirah.” And so it is explicitly indicated in the Zohar, Vayeitzei, folio 155, side a. And see Pardes, Gate 15, chapter 4.

However, in the Zohar, Vayikra, folio 24, end of side b, it is explicitly indicated that there are souls that were drawn from the union of Z’eir Anpin and Nukva of Atzilus, and that soul is called a nefesh of Atzilus proper

(and so it is further indicated in several places in the Zohar, in the explanation of “You are children of G‑d your G‑d.” And see the Zohar, Yisro, folio 87, side b; Parshas Vayikra, folio 7, side b; and the beginning of Parshas Mishpatim, folio 94, side b, according to the interpretation of Etz Chaim,

Gate 38, Derush 4, and according to the plain sense of the Zohar’s wording there; and Sefer HaGilgulim, chapter 1 and chapter 20. And see what is written in the explanation of “I am black, yet beautiful.” And see the Zohar, Mishpatim, folio 96, side a. But this is not the place for it.)

But at any rate it is understood that ordinary souls that were drawn from the union of Z’eir Anpin and Nukva of Atzilus into the World of Beriah became the level of Beriah through their birth from the Nukva of Atzilus, etc.

This is why the twelve tribes in Beriah are called in the Zohar “twelve oxen,” etc. Now, the meaning of “twelve oxen” is that their strength is great as a Chariot, to carry the Throne and the level of the Man of Atzilus that is upon the Throne;

and this is by the power of the refinements from the World of Tohu, etc., like what was explained above regarding “And the chayos carry,” etc. Now, it is explained elsewhere on the verse “Sing and rejoice, O daughter” that the level of “daughter,”

which is the level of Malchus of Atzilus that descends into Beriah, will rise with surpassing eminence and become “a woman of valor, the crown of her husband,” for great will be the power of what is refined, which is from the Name Sag (63), etc.

That is, she will rise even above the level of Imma, as is written elsewhere on the Zohar, Parshas Shelach, folio 171, on the verse “And it shall come to pass on that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem,”

which is the level of Malchus, “half of them toward the eastern sea,” which is Binah, etc. The reason is the refinements of the sparks of Keser, Chochmah and Binah of Tohu, which Malchus refines in Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, etc.

5Furthermore, for “their end is wedged,” etc., and “last in deed,” etc. Therefore Malchus is the level of Keser (the Crown), etc., in the Ten Sefiros of returning light (or chozer), as is explained elsewhere on the verse “Let me see your countenance,” etc.

Therefore, for this reason, the souls born from Malchus of Atzilus, that is, from the union of Z’eir Anpin and Nukva, also have an advantage over the souls from the level of Imma, which are called “the fish of the sea,” the souls that come forth from the union of Abba and Imma.

Moreover, [this is so] also on account of Z’eir Anpin of Atzilus (and even with souls of Atzilus proper, from the level of Z’eir Anpin and Nukva, this advantage applies, as is understood), according to what is written in the Idra Zuta, folio 292: “Abba and Imma come forth from this brain,” etc.;

“Z’eir Anpin hangs on and is held fast in Atika Kadisha (the Holy Ancient One).” That is, Z’eir Anpin, which is the emotive attributes of Atzilus, is in its root higher than the root of Abba and Imma, except that it is drawn down below.

It is as, by way of analogy, with the emotive attributes (middos) in a person: although they were born and revealed from the intellect, etc., nevertheless the essence of the attributes, in their root, was taken from above the intellect.

6Therefore there is a greater intensity in the emotive attributes than there was in the intellect that gives birth to them. And as was explained in the explanation of “Set me as a seal,” regarding the straps of the tefillin, etc.

And see what is written in the explanation of “These are the journeys,” and on the Tosefta in the Zohar, Parshas Beshalach, folio 50, side a, regarding “three spirits that are included in three,” etc.

7This is why our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “The Patriarchs are themselves the Chariot.” The Patriarchs, who are Chesed, Gevurah and Tiferes of Atzilus, are the level of a Chariot to raise up “the Man,” which is the level of Chochmah of Atzilus, in the way mentioned above regarding the Chariot of Beriah in relation to Atzilus, etc. This matter is explained at length in the discourse beginning

“To understand the explanation of ‘The Patriarchs are themselves the Chariot,’” in Parshas Yisro. And see what is written elsewhere on the Zohar, Parshas Chayei Sarah, folio 123, side a, on the subject of “a hundred years,” etc.: [it is] also the matter of the advantage that Z’eir Anpin has over Abba and Imma, etc. See there.

8Therefore, for this reason too, the souls from the level of the wild ox raise up the Leviathan, the souls of Abba and Imma, just as Chesed, Gevurah and Tiferes of Atzilus raise Chochmah into the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof) that is above Chochmah, etc.

The emotive attributes of Atzilus in relation to Chochmah are compared, by way of analogy, to the beast, which has more might than man because in its root it was taken from a higher place, etc. For “beast” is the level of the emotive attributes, and “man” is the level of Chochmah, etc.

9And see the Mikdash Melech, in its commentary on the Zohar, Parshas Shemini, folio 38, side b, on “And an ox and a ram,” etc., which explains “ox” as Yesod of Z’eir Anpin, as is written of Joseph, “His firstborn ox, majesty is his.”

All the more so does all this apply on account of the root of the souls that are from the Nukva, Malchus, which refines from Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah [what is] from the World of Tohu, etc. And see what is written in the explanation of “I am black, yet beautiful,”

that this level of Malchus, which descends into Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah: precisely through this, an exceedingly lofty ascent comes about. And all this applies here to the level of the souls that are called “the wild ox,” as is understood.

10This is the meaning of what our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “Behemos gores the Leviathan with its horns.” For it is stated in the Gemara: “The feet of the chayos are equal to all of them,” etc., up to the highest level, which is “the horns of the chayos are equal to all of them.”

For the feet of the chayos are the level of Netzach, Hod and Yesod, and the horns of the chayos are at the level of Keser, for they grow out of the skull, etc.

11This is the matter mentioned above: Malchus, which is called “the great beast,” is the level of Keser from below to above, and through this they will lift up the Leviathan, which is from the level of Chochmah and Binah, into the light of Keser, which is above Chochmah, etc.

This is like what is written elsewhere in the explanation of “My horn is exalted,” etc., [and] David, who was anointed with a horn, etc., in the discourse beginning “Now, to understand the root of the matter of the Giving of the Torah,” in Parshas Yisro. And see on this the Sifra DiTzniusa, end of chapter 5, in the Zohar, end of Parshas Terumah, folio 179, end of side a.

12This is [the meaning of] “He has scattered, he has given to the needy,” etc., “his horn shall be exalted with honor”: through the fulfillment of the practical mitzvos there will come about the level of “exalted”

“shall his horn be,” as is written in the Zohar, Parshas Beha’aloscha, folio 153, end of side b, [and folio] 154, side a. And see the Zohar, Parshas Vayeira, folio 96, side a, and Parshas Tzav, [folio] 34, side a, on the subject of “on a horn, son of oil,” etc.

13This is [the meaning of] “His firstborn ox,” etc., “and his horns are the horns of a re’em,” as it is written, “But You have exalted my horn like a re’em’s; I am anointed with fresh oil.” And see the Zohar, end of Parshas Bamidbar, folio 120, side a, on the subject of “and he comes to the horn,” etc.

Furthermore, this ascent, in which the wild ox will also raise up the Leviathan, will be understood — even though, as a general rule, the fish of the sea are loftier souls than the level of the souls called, after the earth, “the beasts of the earth” — for the same is true of sea and dry land themselves.

The sea is the hidden world, which is above the level of dry land, the revealed world. But all this is from the standpoint of the order of the chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus); through the revelation of a great and immense illumination from above the order of hishtalshelus, however, through this “He turned the sea into dry land,”

for there, sea and dry land are equal; on the contrary, there, in the primordial thought, “the earth came first,” as was written above at the end of the discourse beginning “Six days you shall eat matzos,” etc. And it is likewise with the souls that are drawn from the two levels of sea and dry land.

Therefore, from the standpoint of the order of hishtalshelus, which is from above to below, the Leviathan will raise up the wild ox; and from the standpoint of the level that is from below to above, in which, in [G‑d’s] thought, “the earth came first,” etc.,

the wild ox will raise up the Leviathan, etc. See also what is written in the discourse beginning “And the number of the children of Israel shall be,” that in the Future “earth” will be above the level of “water.”

This is [the meaning of] “To Him who spread out the earth over the waters,” etc. (And see what is written close to this in the discourse beginning “The voice of my beloved,” on the subject of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, who are called “mountains” and “hills,” etc.)

14One may further explain the matter of the Leviathan and the wild ox: for it is explained elsewhere on the verses “There are sixty queens,” etc., “One is my dove,” etc.,

that from this it is implied that the souls are higher than the Torah. For on “sixty queens” our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “These are the sixty tractates,” etc.; [and] “One is my dove”: “This is the Congregation of Israel (Knesses Yisrael).”

Yet sometimes the opposite is implied: that the souls are bound to the Torah, and the Torah to the Holy One, blessed be He (and so it is implied in [Midrash] Rabbah, at the beginning of Parshas Vayakhel, on the verse “Who created these?” See there).

But the explanation is that this is what our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “He did not cease to cherish her until he called her ‘my daughter,’” etc.; “he did not cease to cherish her until he called her ‘my mother.’”

For “daughter” is the level of a recipient, meaning that they are at the level of recipients from the Torah. But when he called her “my mother,” this means, on the contrary, that they are at the level of givers to the Torah, etc. (And see what is written on this in Torah Ohr, Parshas Mikeitz, in the discourse beginning “Sing and rejoice, O daughter.”)

This is the matter of the two levels, the wild ox and the Leviathan. For the ox has great strength for the yoke, that is, the yoke of the mitzvos.

A yoke specifically, in the manner of a servant, as it is written, “and to serve Him,” and as is written on this in the discourse beginning “And now, let the power of Ado-nai be great,” on the meaning of “Master, our strength, rock of our stronghold,” etc.: through this self-nullification (bittul) and yoke, an encompassing [light] and a garment are drawn down to the soul, to raise it on high and [enable it] to be at the level of “walkers.”

15And see [Midrash] Rabbah, Vaeira, section 8: “And what is the garment of the Holy One, blessed be He? Strength,” etc.; “G‑d will give strength to His people,” etc. See there. From there is the root of the garments that are drawn through the mitzvos, so that there will be “and the glory of G‑d will gather you in.”

It follows that at this level he is a recipient from the mitzvos specifically, for precisely through this he will come to be at the level of “walkers among those who stand,” etc.,

through the garments mentioned above. These garments are also what are called “boats and ships”: in them and through them they will be enabled to travel in the sea, which is the hidden world (as was written above at the end of the discourse beginning “And you shall not omit the salt”).

However, there are very lofty souls in whom there is the level of the desire of the heart (re’usa deliba), the level of “with all your might,” without limit, in the manner of the early pious ones (mentioned at the beginning of chapter 5 of Berachos, folio 32, side b);

this level is above the Torah, as is hinted in the Gemara there. And of something like this they said, “There is one who acquires his world in a single hour,” etc.

For this level of the desire of the heart is from the level of Keser (the Crown), which is will (ratzon) that is above intellect, etc., and it is the source of the Torah, for “from Chochmah it came forth,” etc.

16Of this they said, “He did not cease to cherish her until he called her ‘my mother,’” etc. And this is the matter of “One is my dove,” etc., as is written on this verse.

This is the matter of the Leviathan, which swims in the sea and encircles it in a moment: that is, it is above the level of the boats and ships, which are the garments from the performance of the mitzvos, in which

and through which the souls will be elevated in the level of the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), the sea of Chochmah. Rather, on the contrary, it encompasses the sea, and bestows and draws down into the sea of Chochmah from above Chochmah, etc.

For “Leviathan” is an expression of joining, in the manner of David, who would join the Torah above to the Holy One, blessed be He, as was written above. And although in truth this level of “he did not cease to cherish her until he called her ‘my mother,’”

which is the level of the Leviathan, is higher than the level of the wild ox, which is the level of “he did not cease to cherish her until he called her ‘my daughter,’”

nevertheless, of the Time to Come it is written, “Sing and rejoice, O daughter,” etc., “and I will dwell in your midst,” specifically. As is written elsewhere, this is along the lines of “Behold, My servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up,” etc.:

the level of a servant mentioned above, of “to serve Him,” in the manner of “like an ox to the yoke,” has in it a surpassing quality and level, etc.; and “their end is wedged in their beginning,” etc.