ואהבת את הוי׳ אלקיך כו׳

1“And you shall love Havayah your G‑d,” etc. Now, from “And you shall love” until “and on your gates” there are forty-two words, and the second section is the Name Av (72). And see the Zohar, Part II, Terumah (132b), and the Pardes (Gate 21, chapter 6 and chapter 12).

Now, it is known that the Name of forty-two [letters] is in Gevurah (restraint) and the Name Av in Chesed (kindness); yet here, is it not the very reverse? For the first section of the Shema is the level of Chesed, “And you shall love,” and the second section, “Take heed for yourselves,” etc., is in Gevurah.

And as is explained in the matter of the order of the sections “Sanctify,” “And it shall be when He brings you,” “Hear” and “And it shall be, if you listen,” which are Chochmah (wisdom) and Binah (understanding), Chesed and Gevurah: “Sanctify” is in Chochmah, etc. But the matter is what is found in the Zohar about the lights, that they “exchanged their places, and included the left in the right.”

2And the explanation is that the lights were exchanged in relation to their vessels: the light of Chesed (kindness) rests in the vessel of Gevurah (restraint), and the light of Gevurah in the vessel of Chesed. [See on this the Ramaz, Parshas Tzav, on page 27, and as is mentioned about this in the explanation on the verse “You have captured my heart.”] And so

also with these two sections: the first section is in the level of Chesed, in the level of vessels, “And you shall love” being the level of the vessel of Chesed; and the Name of forty-two [letters], in Gevurah, is the light of Gevurah resting in the vessel of Chesed. And the second section, the Name Av, is the light of Chesed in the vessel of Gevurah.

3To understand this explanation, we must first explain the matter of the higher unity (yichuda ila’ah) and the lower unity (yichuda tata’ah) that are in “Hear, O Israel” and in “Blessed be the Name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever.” For on the words “Havayah our G‑d” in the first verse of the Shema, the Arizal, of blessed memory, explained that this is the drawing down of the light into Chochmah (wisdom) and Binah (understanding) of the World of Atzilus (Emanation), and it is called the union of Abba and Imma.

That is to say: the chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus) and the coming into being from nothing to something must be constant, as is written in Chinuch Katan; and not only from nothing to physical something, such as the seven firmaments and the earth, etc.,

which must be renewed every hour and moment from nothing to something, for if the drawing down of the life-force into them were interrupted, they would revert to utter naught and nothingness, as before the six days of Creation, as is written at length in Sefer Shel Beinonim, Part II.

Rather, exactly so in the higher worlds too, and even for the levels of Chochmah and Binah to come into being, as it is written, “And wisdom is found from nothing (me’ayin),” and from it [the light] is drawn into Binah, which is called the level of “something” (yesh): “to cause those who love Me to inherit yesh.”

4And this is the meaning of “And a river goes forth from Eden”: “goes forth” is an expression of the constancy of the drawing down from nothing to something, “two companions that never part.”

And this is “which G‑d created to make”: the meaning of “which He created” is spiritual something from nothing, the level of “And wisdom is found from nothing”; and from this there is drawn afterwards “to make,” which is the level of [coming] from nothing to physical something. And see what is written in the discourse beginning “You shall keep My Shabbosos.”

5As is known, the very essence of the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He, is exalted and lofty, far, far above the bounds and the level of supernal Chochmah (wisdom), for supernal Chochmah bears no comparison to Him at all. And “You are One, but not in number” means that there is no comparison, etc. And as was explained above in the discourse beginning “The matter of the Shema.”

6“And He is not of any of these attributes at all,” but rather “to show,” etc. Therefore, for there to be “You are wise”: that is, for “You,” the level of “One but not in number,” to be drawn down and enclothed in the level of supernal Chochmah (wisdom), this is a lowering and a descent, and this is His humility.

Therefore there must be an arousal from below (isarusa dilesata) to arouse this descent and drawing down. For the beginning of the creation of the world, “at the outset of the decree,” etc., came about of itself, as a matter of course: “when it arose in His will,” etc., “for He desires kindness.”

But now it depends on the raising of mayin nukvin (feminine waters), etc. And this raising of mayin nukvin is in the Shema, for then we draw down the coming into being from nothing to something: “Havayah our G‑d,” etc.

That is: “our G‑d” (Elokeinu), what we comprehend, and [the fact] that our intellect has the capacity for grasp and comprehension, etc., is from the level of Havayah, which is the level of Chochmah, the level of self-nullification (bittul), etc.,

which “is found from nothing,” not in the way and order of the chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus), which is something from something; which is not so with Chochmah relative to the level of Keser (the Crown), etc.

[And see what is written about this in the discourse beginning “Eliyahu opened,” in Parshas Vayera, and in the explanation on the verse “Who has counted,” etc.] And this level of Chochmah is the level of Havayah, which brings into being the level of “our G‑d” from nothing to something, etc.

(And see what is written in the explanation on the verse “And I shall be sanctified in the midst,” and in the explanation on the verse “My dove,” about this drawing down in the Shema, that it is the drawing down of a new light, etc.; see there.)

Therefore we first say “Hear, O Israel,” which is the raising of mayin nukvin from below to above, in order to draw down the revelation of the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He, into Abba and Imma; and this is what is said afterwards, “Havayah our G‑d,” as mentioned above.

That is, for Shema is shem ayin: the large ayin, which is the source of the emotive attributes (middos), namely when the attributes are in the intellect (and the seven attributes, each one comprising ten, make seventy), for then they are in a state of greatness (gadlus).

Whereas when they become complete attributes, after they have been drawn down into the heart to become the stirring of complete love and complete awe, they are in a state of smallness (katnus),

and bear no comparison to when they are in the intellect, for then the love and awe are great, with surpassing exaltation, etc. Therefore the attributes are called by the name Z’eir Anpin, for they have been made small and have become ze’ir, a term meaning “little.”

And see what is written in the discourse beginning “My offering, My bread,” on the matter of bones, sinews and flesh; and what is written in Parshas [Vezos] HaBerachah on the verse “And He came from the holy myriads”; and see the Zohar, beginning of Parshas Vayikra, and in Parshas Terumah (p. 132),

on the matter of large letters and small letters. And see what is written on the verse “And He called to Moshe,” on the matter of the small alef and the large alef.

And the raising of mayin nukvin to the source of the attributes is through the level of shem, that is, the 288 sparks together with the Name Ban (52), equal in numerical value to shem.

For the Name Ban is what raises the level of the 288 sparks that fell in the shattering of the vessels (sheviras hakeilim) to give life to all physical things, since all their life-force is from the 288 sparks;

and these 288 sparks, which are the life-force in all physical things, rise through the Name Ban, Malchus (sovereignty), which refines, etc., to the level of the large ayin, the sources of the attributes, from which comes the drawing down of the aforementioned 288 sparks.

7And this is shem ayin. And there is a further reason why it is called shem ayin, shem in the literal sense of “name”: namely, also from the standpoint of the root of the root of the 288 sparks and of the Name Ban of the Tikkun (rectification), which is all only from the level of His Name, may He be blessed, alone, as it is written,

“For I am Havayah, that is My Name.” And as is known, Keser (the Crown) is the intermediary between the Emanator and the emanated, and it is called the Malchus (sovereignty) of the Infinite One (Ein Sof), merely the level of a name, which is for the coming into being of the level of Atzilus, and of the shattering and the rectification.

Whereas in the Infinite One Himself this does not apply at all, for “I, Havayah, have not changed,” and “I am first and I am last”; and before the shattering and after the shattering, and at the time of the rectification and the refinement, and after the completion of the refinement has been finished, all is equal before Him, may He be blessed;

for the shattering of the vessels touched only the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He, and not the Luminary itself, G‑d forbid, for in the Luminary itself there was no change at all, G‑d forbid. It is like the analogy of a screen or a cloud that interrupts the light and radiance of the sun and darkens it, which does not touch the very essence and being of the sun, etc.

8And this level of shem is what raises the 288 sparks to the large ayin, which is the level of Binah (understanding), the source of the emotive attributes (middos), the root of the seven kings who were shattered, “and he reigned … and he died,” etc.,

who are the kings “who reigned in the land of Edom,” etc.: it is Binah, and from there they fell and were shattered. And this name (shem) is what raises those 288 sparks of the shattering to their source and root, which is the level of Binah, the large ayin, etc.

9And afterwards [there is] a higher ascent, to the level of Yisrael. For Kel is “the radiance of Chochmah (wisdom),” as is written in the Zohar on the verse “The heavens declare the glory of Kel,” etc.;

and Yisrael is the letters of shir Kel (“a song of Kel”), etc. [And see what is written in Shir HaShirim, in the explanation on the verse “Go forth and see,” on the matter of “And may Israel, who sanctify Your Name, rejoice in You.”

And in the explanation on the verse “My dove, in the clefts of the rock,” on the matter of “Israel arose in thought”; and what is written on the verse “Nor has He seen wrongdoing in Israel.”]

102. Now, through the level of the aforementioned raisings of mayin nukvin (feminine waters), we draw down from above to below, that there be “Havayah our G‑d,” etc.: Havayah in Chochmah (wisdom), the level of self-nullification (bittul), etc.

For the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof) rests only in Chochmah, which is ko’ach mah (“the power of ‘what’”); and even in Binah (understanding) the Infinite Light does not rest

except through the enclothing of Chochmah. And Chochmah is the level that connects, so that there be a drawing down of the Infinite Light into every world, etc.,

for “You made them all with wisdom”; and as is known from the matter of the Torah that is in every world, etc. That is: the Infinite Light, blessed be He, is the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), which encompasses from head to foot equally.

11Along these lines he gives the analogy, in Etz Chaim, of the great circle that encompasses the kav (line of light), and it cannot be enclothed in any vessel as an inner light (or pnimi).

For all are considered as nothing before Him, may He be blessed, and there is no comparison, etc. And of this it is said, “The heavens and the earth I fill,” equally; that is, in a manner of concealment,

for “no thought can grasp Him at all,” and He is not enclothed in any vessel as an inner light, except in Chochmah (wisdom) alone, in which He is enclothed as an inner light, and through it He is drawn down and acts in the other nine Sefiros. And the reason is written in Sefer Shel Beinonim, chapter 35, in the gloss.

12Therefore, through engaging in the Torah we draw Him, may He be blessed, down, that He be revealed to us as an inner light. For the Torah has been enclothed in physical things in Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah (Creation, Formation and Action), and we comprehend it,

and within it is enclothed supernal Chochmah (wisdom), and within that specifically the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof) is enclothed as an inner light, as mentioned above, that which is not enclothed in any vessel as an inner light but only as an encompassing light (or makif), etc., as mentioned above.

And this is the meaning of “Havayah our G‑d.” And through this, “Havayah is One.” For the word “One” does not denote His unity, may He be blessed;

for since “there is none else besides Him,” the term “one” does not apply, for this term applies only to a thing that is separated and divided, and nevertheless all is one.

As with “These and these are the words of the living G‑d”: although they are apparently divided, nevertheless all is one, etc. Rather, it refers to His attributes, may He be blessed, Chesed (kindness) and Gevurah (restraint), etc.;

that is, although they are separate things, and almost two opposites, for where there is Chesed, Gevurah does not apply, nevertheless all is one, because there is drawn

the Infinite Light, blessed be He, which is enclothed in Chochmah, into Binah (understanding), and from there it is drawn into the attributes as well, so that in them too there be self-nullification (bittul) and inter-inclusion, “to be one in one”; as it is written, “Yours, Havayah, are the greatness and the might,” etc.,

for all are nullified to You and are not reckoned by any name at all, since “He is not of any of these attributes,” etc. And see what is written about this on the verse “When you raise up the lamps,” and on the verse “And I appeared to Avraham.” And afterwards

we draw this unity down with “Blessed be the Name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever”: baruch (“blessed”) is an expression of drawing down, that there be drawn into Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah and into the chambers (heichalos) a level of unity too, as above in Atzilus, in that the Infinite Light is drawn to them too, so that there be self-nullification and inter-inclusion, etc.

[And from this will be understood what is said about the destruction of the Holy Temple, “The angels of peace weep bitterly; the highways are desolate,” etc.; and as the disciples of the Arizal, of blessed memory, wrote, that when there is a union in Z’eir Anpin (the emotive attributes) and Nukva (Malchus) of the World of Atzilus (Emanation),

then the chambers that extend from Tiferes (beauty) are also united with the chambers that extend from the level of Malchus (sovereignty). And see the Mikdash Melech, beginning of Parshas Shemos (page 4),

on the verse “each man and his household came.” And the explanation and meaning of this unity is that a revelation of the Infinite Light is drawn into them, so that there be self-nullification; and this is the meaning of “Blessed be the Name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever.”

Therefore, at the destruction of the Holy Temple, “the angels of peace weep bitterly” over the absence of the revelation, etc. And see what is written further on this unity of the chambers and the angels on the verse “And they shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts.”

13One may also explain: the higher unity (yichuda ila’ah) is the root of the drawing down from nothing to something, Chochmah (wisdom) and Binah (understanding) of Atzilus; and the lower unity (yichuda tata’ah) is from nothing to something in Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, until it is drawn also from nothing to physical something.] And through this, “And you shall love Havayah your G‑d with all your might”: without limit,

that is, to go out of the level of vessel and limit, for the vessel is what limits the light. And along these lines, the whole section in its entirety is for there to be a withdrawal of the light from the vessel.

14Now, this withdrawal is the level of the Name of forty-two [letters], in Gevurah (restraint), as is known that all ascents are through the Name of forty-two [letters]. [And see what is written about this on the verse “These are the journeys,” on the matter of the forty-two journeys.]

Therefore it was established to say [it] in the Shema recited upon the bed, to raise the soul through this Name. And therefore it has, seven times, six words each: “with two he covers,” etc., “and with two he flies,” flies from the vessel, to rise and withdraw upward. And this is the matter of Gevurah within Chesed (kindness), etc.

And this is the meaning of “they exchanged their places”: the light rests in another vessel. For the first section is Chesed, since “And you shall love,” etc. is said in it, and it is the level of the vessel of Chesed,

but the light is Gevurah and withdrawal upward, and this is the Name of forty-two [letters]. And with this it will be understood that it is specifically the kavanah (intention) in the Shema that is in this Name.

For the kavanah is the inner dimension [the level of light], that is, the intent, the ultimate purpose, upon whose foundation the whole matter revolves; and the whole matter is in the level of the outer dimension (chitzoniyus), etc.

Therefore the body of the section, which is the matter [itself], is in “And you shall love,” etc., the vessel of Chesed, as mentioned above. (That is to say: the outer dimension and the vessel of “And you shall love … with all your might” is the level of Chesed, that is, inasmuch as it is the level of love, and love is, in general, the level of Chesed.

But its inner dimension (pnimiyus), which is the intent of the love, is the level of the light of Gevurah, which is for there to be a withdrawal, and to separate from the wick, etc. And see Sefer Shel Beinonim, chapter 50. And this is “He crouched, he lay down like a lion and like a lioness.” And our Sages, of blessed memory, said at the end of the first chapter of Berachos)

(page 12b) that they sought to fix the section of Balak in the Shema because this verse is written in it; and in the Yalkut: “They stand like lions, snatching the Shema.”

That is: the level of the lion is also along the lines of the above, the light of Gevurah in the vessel of Chesed, as the Ramaz wrote on Parshas Tzav (pages 27, 28)

on the matter of the fire upon the altar, which was in the form of a lion, for aryeh (“lion”) is numerically equal to gevurah; and it is written, “And the face of a lion on the right,” etc.; see there. And this is “they stand like lions” specifically: that in the Shema there be the level of “And you shall love,” etc., “with all your might,” etc.

153. Now all this is in the first section, which is the level of ratzo (running); but the second section is the level of shov (returning), for there to be specifically a drawing down of lights into vessels.

Therefore “with all your might” is not said [in it]. And in this it is the reverse: the vessel is Gevurah (restraint), “Take heed for yourselves,” etc., “And the anger will flare,” etc.

But the inner dimension (pnimiyus) is in the Name Av (72), which is in Chesed (kindness) [chesed is numerically seventy-two], for Chesed is divided into seventy-two aspects, which are the seventy-two bridges.

16The matter of a bridge is like what is made, by way of analogy, over the water: a bridge built of many chambers, so that the water passes through it divided up in each chamber, etc., and does not pass all at once, but rather there is a separation between water and water, etc.

So, by way of analogy, there are seventy-two bridges, which are seventy-two kinds of separations in the kindnesses, between one kindness and another. For there are a number of things, and all are alluded to in Chesed (kindness): the first day is Chesed.

And light (which was created on it) is Chesed. And water is Chesed. The color white is Chesed, etc. And there are many particulars like these below.

And likewise above: the song of the angels; and “the righteous sit and enjoy the radiance,” etc., in the upper and lower Gan Eden, etc.; and the 310 worlds, etc.; and the like. There are many particulars beyond number, except that they are all included, in a general way, in seventy-two aspects.

[And see the Tosefta in the Zohar, Part II (Beshalach, page 50), on the verse “And the angel journeyed,” etc., regarding “and the waters are sealed beneath the openings, in seventy-two letters”; and it is explained elsewhere.]

But with one simple Chesed the worlds could not have existed at all; only by way of contractions (tzimtzumim) and the chain of descent (hishtalshelus) of the levels, in the upper Gan Eden one way and in the lower Gan Eden another way, and so that there be light and water, etc.

Therefore the Name Av that is in the three verses Vayisa (“And … journeyed”), Vayavo (“And … came”) and Vayet (“And … stretched out”) has three letters in each name, numbering 216 [letters], which is the numerical value of gevurah; for the descent of Chesed is by way of gevuros (restraints) and contractions,

like “the might of rain” (gevuros geshamim): we mention the rain in [the blessing] “You are mighty,” because rain descends with might, even though rain waters the earth and makes it give birth and sprout, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater, etc.;

but its might is in that it descends drop by drop, for it must be divided into many drops, so that it not sweep away and make a flood. And “He did not create it for tohu (chaos),” etc., “He formed it to be inhabited”: in the level of vessels this is specifically through the level of gevuros, so that the vessel may have the capacity to receive, etc.

17Now, the drawing down of this light into the vessel, in the second section of the Shema, is through what is written in it, “with all your soul,” that is, to be in the level of “And you shall not profane,” etc.:

not to make a void (chalal) and an interruption in the resting of the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof) that he drew down upon his soul in the first section of the Shema, in the level of “and with all your might,” with self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh), etc.;

for through this the Infinite Light itself is drawn into him, in the level of the Name Av (72): “And I will give the rain of your land”: “rain” is mayin duchrin (masculine waters); “your land,” of mayin nukvin (feminine waters). [And see Pri Etz Chaim, Gate of the Shema, chapter 24.]

18And this is “And I will give.” It should have said, “And Havayah will give”; what is “And I will give”? Although it is the speech of Moshe our teacher, peace be upon him, and the Shechinah (Divine Presence) was speaking from his throat, nevertheless it is not said so elsewhere.

Rather, it is because here it is the matter of the drawing down of the Name Av, which is the drawing down of the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof) itself into vessels; and even any person can say this section about himself, since in the first section he was in self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh), etc.,

and inclusion in the Infinite Light itself; so he draws the Infinite Light itself into his soul, that there be “with all your soul” and “And you shall not profane,” etc., and that there be the drawing down of the Name Av: “And My words which I have placed in your mouth,” My very words in your mouth, etc.

And the matter of the three verses Vayisa, Vayavo, Vayet, straight, reversed and straight, is that it must first be from above to below, and afterwards from below to above, and afterwards it returns to be from above to below; and these are the three lines, etc.