נאוו לחייך בתורים צוארך בחרוזים

1“Your cheeks are comely with torim, your neck with strings of beads (charuzim).” Our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “Your cheeks” are the two Tablets; “with torim” are the two Torahs, the Written Torah and the Oral Torah (see the Midrash Rabbah on Shir HaShirim). Now, we need to understand what “with torim” means: it should have said “with Toros” (Torahs).

Let us first understand the analogy in its plain sense. Torim are ornaments made in the likeness of the head of a tor (turtledove), which is a triangular shape (see Shabbos, folio 85b); and it was the custom to make two ornaments like torim to place on the cheeks.

To understand what the analogy illustrates: the Torah and the mitzvos are divided, in general, into three levels, Torah, avodah (divine service) and gemilus chassadim (acts of kindness), which are the levels of fire, water and spirit (esh, mayim, ruach) (as written above on “To my mare, etc.”).

Fire, from below upward, is the level of avodah, etc.; and water is kindness and charity, “to revive the spirit of the lowly,” from above downward; and the intermediate level is the Torah.

Now, the level of fire, water and spirit is the level of [the vowel] segol, and segol is from the term segulah (a special virtue): as, by way of analogy, there are things that heal by way of medicine and nature, and there are [things]

that heal by way of segulah: according to the way of nature there is no way for him to be healed through it, yet nevertheless there is some segulah, in a remote and wondrous way, in a manner not grasped by the understanding and intellect of natural physicians, so that through it this healing comes about.

So too, by way of analogy, Israel are called am segulaso, “His treasured people,” for G‑d chose us not according to the order and way of the chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus), from cause to cause;

rather, Israel “arose in [G‑d’s] thought” above the order of the chain of descent; for what is drawn from above the order of the chain of descent is called by the name segulah.

(See the Zohar at the beginning of Parshas Terumah, folio 126, end of side a; Part I, Parshas Noach, 65a; Vayetzei, 161b; Part III, Bamidbar, 119b; Haazinu, folio 298b. And see what is written on the subject of segol at the end of the discourse beginning “Binding his foal to the vine.”) So too the level of fire, water and spirit mentioned above is drawn from above the order of the chain of descent, etc.

They are also in the form of the vowel-point segol: for the nature of segol is that the middle point is beneath the two points. For such is the order of service: first it must be in the manner of fire, from below upward, etc.;

and afterwards, “If your heart runs, return to the One,” so that there be drawings-down from above downward, in the manner of charity and acts of kindness, “to revive the spirit of the lowly,” etc. And the Torah is the intermediate level,

that is, its [role] is that above and below be equal, as it is written, “You shall not profane (techalelu) My holy Name”: meaning, not to make a void (chalal) and a break in the indwelling of His holy Name, so that below, too, there be a throne and a fixed place for His dwelling, blessed be He,

just as above. (As is written in Parshas Re’eh, at the end of the discourse beginning “When you listen to the voice, etc., to do what is right, etc.”; see there. And in Parshas Yisro, at the end of the discourse beginning “Moshe would speak, and G‑d would answer him, etc.” And see what is written in the discourse beginning “On the eighth day, an assembly,” on the meaning of “and the truth of G‑d is forever.” And “truth” is Torah.)

This is through occupation with the Torah: for one who studies a matter of halachah is only following after the Tannaim and Amoraim, as in “Rabbi Eliezer says,” “Beis Shammai say.”

Sometimes, too, he studies a tractate that is not needed for practice at all; rather, the main intent of the study is so that there be [fulfilled] “And I have put My words in your mouth”: that “the word of G‑d,” “this is halachah,” is what speaks in your mouth.

He must make his mouth a vessel and a fixed place, to be in a state of self-nullification (bittul) to the word of G‑d. And this is the level of segol: two equal points, and the third, the intermediate one, beneath them.

2Now, all this is in the order of service below, in man. But with an arousal from below there is an arousal from above, and there the three points mentioned above become the level of segolta, in which the middle point is above, standing upon the two points.

For from below upward, in man’s service, the middle point is the last: first the order of service must be from below upward, etc., and afterwards drawing down, etc.;

and after that he can come, ascend and reach the rank of the level of self-nullification of “You shall not profane, etc.” But from above downward, in the arousal from above, there the level of the middle point is first and foremost.

32. Now, it is written, “We will make you torim of gold with points of silver” (see the Midrash Rabbah, Naso, end of section 13). The meaning: this level of segol, while it is in the form of points, is in the level of silver, the level of a cool love.

But in the level and superiority of gold over silver, which is the level of “flashes of fire,” etc., these points become the level of torim, like the “head of a tor” in the Gemara, the form of a triangle;

that is, to draw lines to these points. For while they are points, they are like separate things: first, from below upward, “flashes of fire,” etc., and afterwards water, etc.

That is, when the love is in coolness, they are “branches that separate,” etc.; but in the flaming and blazing of love, they become included in one another.

Of this it is said, “And the threefold cord, etc.” [See on the subject of the torim of gold in Parshas Naso (folio 143, end of side b, and folio 142, end of side a), on the subject of Mei Zahav (135b);

and in Parshas Haazinu (folio 292, end of side a); Toldos (145b); on the subject of “more desirable than gold,” in Parshas Noach (71b) [and] Vayechi (247a);

and the beginning of Parshas Korach; Haazinu (295b); and in Parshas Terumah (148a), “for certainly gold rises higher, etc.,” cited in the Pardes, Sha’ar 10, chapter 3. And see what is written on the subject of the love that is ablaze,

which is like the superiority of gold, in the discourse beginning “You shall make a tzitz of pure gold,” and in the discourse beginning “And the king extended to Esther the golden scepter,” and in Parshas Miketz in the discourse beginning “For with You is the source of life,” and in Parshas Beha’aloscha in the discourse beginning “I have seen,

and behold, a menorah of gold”; and in Parshas Behar in the discourse beginning “When you come, etc., the land shall rest”; and in Parshas Shelach on “It shall be tzitzis for you”; and in Parshas Ki Sisa on “His left hand is under my head”; and in Sefer Shel Beinonim, chapter 50.

4And on the subject of the inclusion of the attributes (middos) [in one another]: in Parshas Toldos, in the explanation on “Many waters,” on the subject of Rivkah, a rivkah (team) of oxen three by three, etc.; in the explanation on “And the Jews accepted,” at its end; and in Parshas Va’eschanan, on “Know this day.”

As for what is written shortly after on the subject of the two torim, the two Torahs, etc., one may say that they themselves are the level of Z’eir Anpin and Nukva when they are included in one another. And see what is written at the end of the discourse beginning “For the mountains may depart,” on the subject of “and His bundle (agudaso) upon the earth, etc.”

“His bundle” is also the level of inclusion. And see further on the subject of the torim of gold in the Zohar, Part I, Bereishis (folio 1b), Vayera (97b), on “and the voice of the turtledove (tor),” [and] Vayikra (folio 4b).]

Now, just as the level of the segol points has two levels, segol and segolta, that is, from below upward and from above downward, so too in the level of torim there are likewise two torim, from below upward and from above downward; and they are the two levels of Torah, the Written Torah and the Oral Torah.

This is [the meaning of] “Your cheeks are comely with torim, etc.”: “your cheeks” means the upper jaw and the lower jaw (lechi), the place from which the breath (hevel) of speech issues.

For “the breath rises upward, etc.”: the level of the Gevuros (restraint) and of withdrawal (histalkus), which is the level of “flashes of fire,” the superiority of gold over silver.

(And see what is written in Parshas Acharei, in the discourse beginning “For on this day He shall atone,” on “the hevel (breath) of the heart”: [hevel has] the letters of lahav (flame), etc.; and it too is composed of all three levels, fire, water and spirit. And see what the Ramaz wrote on Parshas Pinchas) (folio 215), in the passage beginning “This oath,” on the subject of fire, water and spirit. [Through] the superiority of the love, etc.,

mentioned above, the level of torim is made and drawn to these points, and lines are made from them through the inclusion of the points in one another. And all this is in the level of the cheeks, which are the place from which the breath of speech issues, etc.,

for “the breath rises upward.” (See what is written on the subject of the breath of speech in the discourse beginning “On the eighth day, an assembly”; and see Etz Chaim, Sha’ar HaAkudim, chapter 1; and see the Zohar, Part III, Parshas Tazria, 47b; Part II, Shemos, 3a; and the Mikdash Melech there.)

53. But “your neck with strings of beads” is the level of precious stones and pearls that are separate, set and hanging on a thread: the thread enters them and joins them so that they do not come apart.

So too, by way of analogy, there is drawn [the level of] “The voice is the voice of Yaakov”: [Yaakov is] yud [and] akev (heel), which is the attribute of Yaakov, the level of a thread that “runs through from end to end”

(see what is written on this subject of Yaakov in Parshas Tzav, in the discourse beginning “And the light of the moon shall be, etc.,” and in the discourse beginning “Who gladdens the groom, etc.”; and see the Zohar at the end of Parshas Terumah, 175b),

that is, even in the level of the last end, which is utterly distant from the first end, namely the level of the world of separation, alien and separate things, etc.,

a voice and a supernal drawing-down are drawn from above, so that they too be joined and united with His unity, blessed be He. And this is [the meaning of] “He took from the stones of the place and put [them] at his head, etc.”: for He, blessed be He, is “the place of the world,”

as in the saying “Blessed is the Omnipresent (HaMakom),” the level of the light that fills all worlds (memalei kol almin). And the stones are the level of the letters that fell in the shattering of the vessels; and Yaakov is the one who brings them and raises them up, into the level of “at his head.” (See what is written on this subject at the beginning of Parshas Vayetzei, in the discourse beginning “And I return in peace, etc.”)

Just as, in the analogy, the strung beads of precious stones are pierced and hollow, so one must make a hollow place, as it is written, “and my heart is hollow (chalal) within me,” to be an empty vessel that holds the drawings-down of the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He. For the Infinite Light, blessed be He, does not rest and become revealed

except in one who is utterly nullified to Him in his very existence, in the state of truly nothing (ayin), so that he takes up no room at all as a “something” (yesh) and an entity.

6Now, for this self-nullification (bittul) to come about, it is through the level of “the voice of Yaakov”: for the voice arouses the kavanah (intention), and kavanah is not thought alone, but rather to be directed (mechuvan), etc.

So too, the level of the Community of Israel (Knesses Yisrael) is called kavanah, because one must direct one’s heart toward the Infinite One (Ein Sof), blessed be He, in a state of self-nullification, etc.,

so that he be directed toward the level of “There is none comparable to You, etc.”: that it be grasped in his mind and heart that “there is nothing else besides Him.”

7This is the meaning of “that they direct their hearts” in the Mishnah at the beginning of chapter 5 of Berachos: that is, like a man who aims to shoot his arrow at a particular place, so the kavanah (intention) of the soul should be to go out

of its sheath and pour itself out into the bosom of its Father, in a state of nullification of its very existence (bittul bimetzius), and to be included in its source, the source of life, the source of delights, the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He, so that the very Infinite Light, blessed be He, rest and be revealed in his soul.

For the Infinite Light, blessed be He, rests and is revealed only in one who is nullified to Him. And this is the level of making the holes and hollows in precious stones

(see what is written in the discourse beginning “He has not beheld iniquity in Yaakov” on [the principle that] “mitzvos require kavanah”; and what is written in the discourse beginning “I will make [your windows] of kadkod,” on the explanation of “and your gates of carbuncle stones (avnei ekdach), and all your border of desirable stones”),

so that the thread that joins them can enter them. So too, by way of analogy, is the level of the self-nullification mentioned above: to be in the state of “and my heart is hollow within me,” which is the level of an empty vessel.

This is [the meaning of] what is written, “The voice is the voice of Yaakov.” Now, the first “voice” is [written] without a vav: this is the level of prayer and of ascent from below upward, to be “like a lion he shall roar.”

But this ascent cannot come about except through a drawing down, the level of the supernal voice, from above downward, as is written elsewhere on “The voice is the voice of Yaakov.” Along these lines it is stated in the Zohar, Beshalach

(folio 50a), in the Tosefta: “Before the pure air settled and shone, the pierced stones were sealed.”

For there must first be a drawing down from the level of the “pure air,” through which the stones become pierced. And this is the level of the drawing down of the masculine waters (mayin duchrin) to arouse the feminine waters (mayin nukvin) of [the Name] Ban: even (“stone”) is alef [and] Ban, etc.

This is the meaning of the voice and the drawing down from above, to arouse the voice [that rises] from below upward, and the kavanah, etc. And the second “voice” of Yaakov, [written] in full, with a vav, is the level of the middle bar, which “runs through from end to end,”

and it is the level of the thread that enters within them to join them, so that they become one. For the thread is the level of that which “runs through from end to end,” so that there be the level of “I, G‑d, have not changed” and “I am the first and I am the last,” equally.

(This is the level of Torah, as above, from what is written on “When you listen to the voice, etc., to do what is right, etc.”: that is, the Torah is the inner dimension (pnimiyus) of His will and wisdom, blessed be He, and He, His wisdom and His will are all one; and this is the level of the thread that enters into the stones to join them, etc. And see what is written at the end of the discourse beginning “And Korach took,” on the subject of “Yosef is a fruitful son.”)

And this is [the meaning of] “Thus says G‑d, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the G‑d of hosts: I am the first and I am the last.” For “the King of Israel” is the level of His Malchus (sovereignty), blessed be He, which dwells and is enclothed in the lower realms through the chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus) and the descent of the levels from the Infinite Light.

And “his Redeemer,” [the Redeemer] of the King, means that He redeems and ransoms the attribute of His Malchus, blessed be He, from its enclothement in kelipas nogah, so that it be in the state of “the heavens and the earth I fill”: in the level of heaven and in the level of earth equally, so that the revelation below be

as above; and then [there is] “I am the first and I am the last,” equally. (See what is written in the discourse beginning “There are sixty queens,” on the subject of “and from there it divides, etc.,” “from the upper half, etc.”: but through “Who sows tzedakos (righteous deeds),” there is drawn “Who causes salvations to sprout,” so that the revelation below be as above.

And this is the meaning of “I am the first and I am the last,” equally, etc. And see the Pardes, in Erchei HaKinuyim, under the entry “Ge’ulah” (redemption), on “then I myself will redeem you”; and see the beginning of Parshas Vayigash) (folio 205b),

regarding “One does not interrupt between Ge’ulah (redemption) and Tefillah (prayer), just as one does not interrupt between the tefillin of the hand and the tefillin of the head.” Now, this illumination and drawing down, to be in the state of “I am the first and I am the last,” equally, depends on Israel, “the people near to Him,” as it is written of the mitzvos, “which a man shall do,” [meaning] that man makes them into mitzvos.

For the discerning will understand that the matter mentioned above, “He took from the stones of the place, etc.,” applies also to Torah and mitzvos,

which are enclothed in physical matters and are called the level of “the stones of the place,” the level of letters. And vayishkav (“he lay down”) [is] yesh kaf-beis, “there are twenty-two”: they are “the fallen fruit of the supernal wisdom.” And in order that there be in them the level of the revelation of the illumination of the Infinite Light, blessed be He, from the supernal Chochmah (wisdom),

and also that the illumination of the Infinite Light, blessed be He, be in Chochmah (and in Chesed), from the level of “for He desires kindness” (see what is written in the discourse beginning “To my mare,” concerning “For I said, A world of kindness will be built”),

their illumination and drawing down are through Israel, as it is written, “which a man shall do and live by them,” and it is written, “and you shall do them,” [meaning] that Israel make them into the mitzvos, as above (see what is written in the discourse beginning “Moshe commanded us the Torah, etc.”). That is, through “spirit brings spirit.”

This power [given] to Israel is the level of a voice and a supernal drawing-down from the level of “a lion roars,” as is written elsewhere, so that there be “spirit brings spirit”; and afterwards the second voice

is so that there be a drawing down, [as in] “and draws down spirit,” so that the illumination of the Infinite Light, blessed be He, rest and be revealed in Torah study and mitzvos: the level of “I, G‑d, have not changed,” and above and below are equal. And this is the level of the thread that joins them.

And this is [the meaning of] “Like a thread of scarlet are your lips, and your speech is comely” (the meaning: “your speech” is speech in words of Torah, as is written in the Zohar, Part I, Parshas Vayechi) (folio 246b); and it is also called “words of beauty, etc.”; see there.

However, regarding “like a thread of scarlet,” this needs examination. For it is stated in the Zohar, Vayikra (folio 23b, and folio 25, end of side a and side b), that through occupation with the Torah a thread of kindness is drawn upon him (see there), and as is written in the Gemara.

Yet “a thread of scarlet” implies the level of Gevurah (restraint), as is written in the Zohar, Part I, Parshas Vayechi (folio 238b), on “for all her household are clothed in scarlet”; and see there (folio 241, end of side b), and in Parshas Bereishis (folio 44b), on the subject of the thread of scarlet; and in Likkutei Torah [of the Arizal] on Yehoshua.

However, in the Zohar, Terumah (folio 139a), on the subject of “and tola’as shani (scarlet wool),” according to the explanation of the Mikdash Melech there, it is the level of Chesed (kindness). And it also fits well that it refers to occupation with the Torah, for this is the level of the tola’as (worm), whose strength is only

in its mouth, as is written elsewhere on “This is the statute of the Torah, etc.”; and there it is explained that it is Gevurah within Chesed, etc. And see further in the Zohar, Part III, Parshas Chukas (184a).

And perhaps [it is] because Malchus is the Oral Torah, whose structure is [built] from the Gevuros. And this is the matter of the fine points of the Scribes (dikdukei soferim), and they too are certainly the level of Gevurah within Chesed.

Therefore it is called “like a thread of scarlet, etc.” And see what is written above on “I am black, yet comely”: that through these Gevuros there is drawn the revelation of the very Infinite Light, that which is above the level of “the hair of His head like pure wool, etc.”

And see what is written elsewhere on the statement of the Zohar, Vayishlach (folio 175b), on the verse “For the ways of G‑d are straight, etc.”; see there.

Now, through the self-nullification of the soul in prayer, in the manner of “a lion roars,” and the drawing down of the Infinite Light, blessed be He, below, in the manner of a dwelling place among the lower realms, which is the level of Torah and mitzvos,

then even the things that are alien and utterly separate, in the level of the world of separation, are drawn and rise of themselves, “to be transformed from darkness to light.” For of them too it is said, “He took from the stones of the place”—the level of “the place of the world”—which fell in the shattering of the vessels, from the level of “before a king [reigned], etc.”

8This is why it first says, “Your cheeks are comely with torim,” which is the Written Torah and the Oral Torah, as above; and through this, afterwards, “your neck with strings of beads”: “your neck” is the level of the voice and the drawing down from above downward, so that there be the level of making holes in all kinds of precious stones, which are the letters enclothed in physicality, etc.,

through “and my heart is hollow, etc.”; and through this, afterwards, “with strings of beads”: that the thread be drawn through the entire order of the chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus), from the beginning of all levels to the end of all levels, “running through from end to end.” And see what is written on “You have captured my heart, etc., with one necklace of your neck.”