ויהי בשלח פרעה את העם ולא נחם אלהים…

1“And it came to pass, when Pharaoh sent the people away, that G‑d did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines,” etc. Now, concerning the Jewish people in the exile of Egypt it is written, “And I will sow her for Me in the land,” and our Sages, of blessed memory, said: one who sows a kor brings out many kors, etc. [We need] to understand the matter of the sowing, and of the increase and multiplication that came about from the exile.

Now, it is written, “Israel is holy to G‑d, the first of His produce (tevu’asoh)”: tevu’aso, “His produce,” specifically, for the Jewish people are called G‑d’s produce. It is, by way of analogy, like a person who sows grain for the sake of the increase that will sprout.

So too, when G‑d wills that the revelation of His G‑dliness in the world be increased and multiplied, and that “the glory of G‑d fill the whole earth,” and “the glory of G‑d shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see,” etc.,

He sows the Jewish people, who are His produce, and through whom His glory will be revealed with multiplication and increase. This is [the meaning of] “Blessed is G‑d, the G‑d of Israel, from the world to the world”:

that is, in order for blessing and an added abundance in the revelation of His G‑dliness to be drawn down from the hidden world (alma de’iskasya) to the revealed world (alma de’isgalya), it is through the Jewish people. Therefore He is called “G‑d, the G‑d of Israel,” for through this

there comes to be an abundant revelation of His G‑dliness below as above. And just as it is written of above, “and the host of heaven bow down to You,” because they are nullified out of existence by the revelation of G‑d’s light that they apprehend, so

of the time to come it is written, “for eye to eye they shall see,” etc., and it is written, “And they shall enter the caves of the rocks and the hollows of the earth, for fear of G‑d,” etc., as in the saying, “Every knee shall bow to You,” etc.,

and “Before You they shall kneel and fall,” etc. And what brings the Jewish people to this great distinction and level is the work of sowing in the earth during the time of exile, which is,

by way of analogy, like sowing a single seed, which brings forth much, or like planting a single pit, from which a whole tree with many branches grows,

as it is written, “And I planted you a choice vine (sorek),” etc., which is a shoot of a vine, in order to grow a whole vine; and as our Sages said on the verse “and behold, a vine was before me,” that the Jewish people are likened to a vine, etc.

2Now, as in the analogy of sowing and planting mentioned above — where the seed is covered in the soil of the earth and from there it grows, because the seed rots, decays and is nullified before the power of growth that is in the earth, and that power of growth is what makes it grow and sprout with multiplication and increase — so is the matter of the sowing of the Jewish people.

3The explanation of this matter: it is known that kelipah (the husk) precedes the fruit, as it is written, “And these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the children of Israel.” Not that the husk itself, G‑d forbid, precedes the fruit;

rather, the light and life-force that is clothed within them in a state of exile and fall, having fallen there in the breaking of the vessels, as is known to those who know the hidden wisdom —

it fell there from high levels and very, very supernal heights, far, far above the level of the World to Come and of the Jewish people, whose souls are rooted in the holy attributes (middos), and of the Torah, which issues from Chochmah (wisdom), which is called the level of “action” (asiyah), and these are the performance of the mitzvos, etc.

4The explanation of the matter: we learned in the Mishnah, “There were ten generations from Adam to Noach,” etc., “and ten generations from Noach to Avraham,” etc., “to make known how great is His forbearance (erech apayim), for all the generations kept provoking Him,” etc.

This means: the fact that all the idolaters receive the bounty and life-force of this world from the holiness of the Holy One, blessed be He — as it is written, “and You give life to them all” — is from the level of “forbearance and abundant kindness”; that is, because He, blessed be He,

is all-powerful, and gives life and bestows in the manner of abundant kindness even in a place that covers and conceals His holiness, blessed be He; and they call Him “the G‑d of the gods,” etc.

5Therefore they have wealth and honor not according to reckoning, deed and knowledge, for their nurture is from the divine life-force that fell into the kelipos (husks) in the breaking of the vessels, as is known to those who know the hidden wisdom.

It is hidden and covered among them — “and from the wicked their light is withheld” — for it does not shine among them openly, but only in doubled and redoubled darkness, to the point that they deny G‑d: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no G‑d’”; and they appear to be an independent existence, a thing unto itself.

This is not so on the side of holiness: they receive life-force from the revelation of the light of G‑d’s countenance, and it is revealed through the descent of the order of levels in the chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus), in the ten holy Sefiros, which are His attributes (middos), blessed be He, which are vessels for drawing down the revelation of His G‑dliness, blessed be He.

So too, the Torah has a measure, as it is written, “Its measure (middah) is longer than the earth”: middah with a mappik in the heh, meaning “its measure”; that is, it has a measure, which is the measure of the level of His instrument of craftsmanship, blessed be He, only that it is “longer than the earth,” etc. Therefore it is written, “If you walk in My statutes,” etc.

6Therefore Yaakov is called “the small one” (hakatan), for he is the level of the smallness and tzimtzum (contraction) of His G‑dliness, blessed be He, to be revealed according to His attributes (middos) through the light of the Torah and the mitzvos, such that His supreme will is that if Reuven claims thus, etc., the ruling shall be thus.

7So too, in this way, the other mitzvos, [such as] tzitzis and tefillin: the revelation of His G‑dliness and will, blessed be He, is a level of tzimtzum (contraction), for in His essence and being, blessed be He, the level of will does not apply at all, since He is far, far above the level of will and is called the Master of the will. Of this it is said,

“Behold, the heavens and the heavens of heavens cannot contain You.” This means: even as a vessel within a vessel, to receive life-force from the holiness of the Holy One, blessed be He, at the level that precedes the tzimtzum, so that it would be in a revealed manner, through the descent of the order of levels in the chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus).

This is not so with the level of “And these are the kings,” etc., which receives life-force from the holiness of the Holy One, blessed be He, from the level of “and abundant in kindness” that is above the tzimtzum, through the fall of the light and life-force and its descent in the concealment of the levels, from level to level, to be clothed in a state of the hiding of the Face (hester panim),

and not openly at all, until the time to come, when the verse that is written will be fulfilled in us, “And I will remove the spirit of impurity from the earth,” and it is written, “for eye to eye they shall see,” etc.

8Now, our Sages said, “When they were exiled to Babylon, the Shechinah (Divine Presence) was with them.” This means: the spark of G‑dliness in their soul is in a state of exile, and the spark of G‑dliness within them wills and longs to cleave and to depart [upward] to its source, like the nature of fire, etc.

And through this they also gather the sparks of divine life-force that fell there in the breaking of the vessels, and raise them up, to bind them and attach them to the living G‑d, through his occupying himself with his livelihood in things that are under the dominion of kelipas nogah,

as our Sages said, “There is no blade of grass,” etc. And he keeps far from falsehood, theft, robbery and the like — things that are forbidden (asurim) and bound in the hands of the external forces, which cannot ascend, etc.,

as is explained elsewhere. And so too when he fulfills the mitzvos of tefillin and tzitzis: the wool of the tzitzis and the parchment of the tefillin were at first under the dominion of the prince and ruler that bestows bounty and life-force upon them, to give them life and sustain them

from the life-force of the holiness of the Holy One, blessed be He, that fell there in the breaking of the vessels, as mentioned above. And through this the above-mentioned holy life-force is also raised up to its source and root, and “darkness is turned into light,” as it is written, “And Egypt shall know that I am G‑d.”

9This is the increase and multiplication of “light [that is] sown,” sown in the ground and covered with the soil of the earth, in order to sprout and rise ever higher, with an abundance and increase of light, like “the advantage of light” that comes from darkness, etc.

This is [the meaning of] what is written, “And Rivkah took the garments of Esav,” etc., “and she clothed Yaakov, her small (katan) son”: for Yaakov is small, from the level of the smallness and tzimtzum (contraction) of His light, blessed be He, to be clothed in His attributes (middos) according to the way of the Torah, as mentioned above.

10Now, the Torah has been clothed in physical garments, and the doing of the mitzvos in things that were under the dominion of kelipas nogah, whose root is from the World of Tohu (chaos); and they are called “the garments of Esav, her elder son,”

for the World of Tohu preceded the World of Tikkun (rectification), so that through this an increase of light and joy comes about, like “the advantage of light that comes,” etc.

And the joy is when the darkness of the things that are under the dominion of kelipas nogah is turned into the light of the Torah, and they are raised up in holiness, as in the saying, “Who has sanctified us with His commandments,” with the supernal holiness, etc. This is the level of teshuvah (return),

as our Sages said, “If the Jewish people do teshuvah, they are redeemed”: that is, the level of lifting the soul to its source and root, as it is written, “To You, G‑d, I lift up my soul” — the level of self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh): that whatever he used to enjoy and be nourished by in his vital soul, from all

the eating and drinking that was under the dominion of kelipas nogah, and the other pleasures of this world, be turned from one extreme to its opposite, to serve G‑d with joy and with gladness of heart,

as it is written, “Because you did not serve,” etc. And every single time that a Jew pushes away the desires of his body and draws his heart near to the service of G‑d, this is the level of self-sacrifice,

for “what difference is there between killing all of it and killing half of it?” And so too through charity from money that is not stolen, etc.,

as it is written, “Charity exalts a nation.” And this is like “And He has raised up a horn for His people.” The explanation: it refers back to [the words] just before it, “His splendor is over earth and heaven”: only His splendor and radiance, as is explained elsewhere, and this is the level of the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin).

But “And He has raised up a horn for His people” is far, far above the level of “His splendor”: rather, it is to be “a people near to Him,” to His very essence and being, as it were, which is far, far above the level of the light that encompasses all worlds, since it is not within the category of worlds at all, etc.,

as is explained elsewhere. This is [the meaning of] “You have chosen us from all the nations”: from the level of all the nations specifically You have chosen us, exalted us, as mentioned above; and as our Sages said, “In the place where those who return in teshuvah stand, the perfectly righteous do not,” etc.

This is the level of “with all your might (me’odecha).” And along these lines the whole matter of prayer was instituted; therefore, at the time when the Holy Temple stood, they did not prolong prayer as much as now.

11Now, just as in the analogy of sowing the seed mentioned above, it does not grow until it rots and decays, and then it comes up and grows, so it is impossible to raise up and bring to growth an increase of light and of joy in G‑d, as mentioned above, except

through “a broken heart,” “a broken spirit” — the coarse spirit of the sitra achra (the other side) within him — so that it comes to rot and decay, and “he return to G‑d and have compassion on Him,” over the exile of the divine spark that fell into the kelipos to give them life, how it fell “from a high roof,” etc.

Along these lines they instituted Tikkun Chatzos (the midnight lament), so that prayer would be with proper intent, as our Sages said, “One may stand up to pray only in a mood of heaviness of head”: that he be pained and anxious over the level of the “head” and the loftiness of His holiness, blessed be He, which is, as it were, in the heaviness of exile.

Only, for the early pious ones one hour was enough: contemplating for one hour before prayer. But the others need to set a separate time and season to arouse bitterness in our soul,

that is, at midnight; and after midnight, the study of Torah with joy, and the light that comes out of the darkness, etc., as is explained elsewhere. This is [the meaning of] “Because you did not serve G‑d with joy,” etc.,

which is a punishment measure for measure, since with the destruction of the Holy Temple, because of our sins, we lost the complete joy that was in its place of rest; through this one will rise, come and reach the level of the joy and light that comes out of the darkness, as mentioned above.

12This is what our Sages said about Rabbi Akiva: when he saw a city of the idolaters, he laughed and said, “If for those who transgress His will it is so, for those who do His will, how much more so!”

This means: the flow of life-force and of the bounty of this world to the idolaters, who are called “those who transgress (ovrei) His will,” passes over (oveir al) the will, from the level that is above the will;

for there sins do not interrupt or hold back the bounty, for “If you are righteous, what do you give Him?” and “If your transgressions are many, what do you do to Him?”

Only after the level of will (ratzon) came into being — and ratzon has the letters of tzinor (channel), which is the passageway for the revelation of bounty and divine life-force by way of tzimtzum (contraction) and the order of levels in the chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus), according to His attributes (middos), blessed be He — there it is according to the ways of the Torah: “If you walk in My statutes,” etc.

But above, “darkness is as light,” and from there is the nurture of the idolaters, by way of the fall of the light, from afar, as mentioned above, even though they are far from the light of His countenance, blessed be He, that is revealed, as mentioned above. And “how much more so for those who do His will,”

that is, those who make (osim) the will and draw down bounty and divine life-force through the channel that is revealed in the chain of descending levels, for they are higher and closer to their source and root.

However, since they are drawn from the light of His countenance, blessed be He, by way of the spreading forth of the light in the order of levels and the chain of descending worlds, not by way of a fall, G‑d forbid, it is impossible for there to be the joy [that comes] with a revelation of light, as mentioned above.

But in the time to come, when the fallen sparks are raised up, as mentioned above, then also the level of light and life-force that was within the fall, which is from the level above the will, is revealed with an increase of light and joy, in a great and mighty revelation, with surpassing excellence.

13This is [the meaning of] “And it came to pass, when Pharaoh sent the people away”: for Pharaoh said, “I do not know G‑d,” and he is the level of the nape, the back side, of the supernal will, and their nurture is from the level of “those who transgress His will,” mentioned above.

And he was sending forth boughs and branches and fruit-bearing [shoots] above — “the people”: for through their exile in Egypt and their subjugation to them, they caused the sparks of G‑dliness that fell there in the breaking of the vessels to be raised up; and this itself is the level of the power of growth, to make the salvations of the Jewish people sprout,

as it is written, “And Pharaoh drew near,” and our Sages said that he drew the hearts of the Jewish people near to their Father in heaven. And along these lines the whole Song of the Sea, “Then Moshe sang,” etc., is founded, as is explained elsewhere.

14“And G‑d did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines,” etc. Pelishtim (Philistines) is related to the term mavoi hamefulash, an alley that is open through, as our Sages said on the verse “nor sat in the seat of scoffers”: these are the Philistines.

The matter is that “G‑d has made one opposite the other”: there is a level of Pelishtim in holiness and a level of Pelishtim in kelipah (the husk). The level of Pelishtim in holiness is the revelation of joy in cleaving to G‑d openly (bepilush), revealed, and with an expansiveness without end: the level of “with all your might,” mentioned above.

15And the Pelishtim of kelipah (the husk) are the scoffers, which is also a matter of opening his mouth wide as he wishes, to speak whatever his heart desires; and this is a joy of frivolity, saying, “Our lips are our own,” etc.,

and there is no restraint on his spirit. That is why it is called kelipah, a husk: for just as the husk covers and conceals the fruit, so that it looks as though

it were the main part of the fruit, so the joy of frivolity covers and conceals the light of G‑d within it, so that it becomes an independent existence, a thing unto itself — the opposite of the spirituality and divine life-force within it, which is to rejoice in G‑d, the living G‑d, out of the nullification of one’s existence before Him, blessed be He.

16The meaning of the verse: this is not the way of G‑d — to come at once to the level of joy in G‑d, “for it is near” to falling from it;

for “lest, when they see war” — which is the trial that may come upon a person — he will not be able to stand firm in the thick of the battle, and will retreat, “and they will return to Egypt.”

Rather, the right way is as it is written, “Because you did not serve G‑d, your G‑d, with joy”: that the joy should come through service. This is [the meaning of] “And G‑d led the people around by way of the wilderness of Yam Suf (the Sea of Reeds).”

Yam (sea) is Chochmah (wisdom); Suf (end) is “the end of all levels,” as is stated in the Zohar. And it is the Oral Torah, which is the matter of accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven (kabbalas ol malchus shamayim), as it is written, “You shall surely set a king over you” — to fulfill His commandments; for the main part of the Torah is founded on the laws of the mitzvos, as our Sages said

on [the verse] “the Torah and the commandment, which I have written to teach them”: “the Torah” — this is the Written Torah; “and the commandment” — this is the Oral Torah, etc. Through this the true joy of “Who has sanctified us with His commandments,” mentioned above, will be realized in him,

for “this is the gate to G‑d,” a gate through which to enter, etc. And true joy, which comes from the love of G‑d, must be preceded by awe, which is “the beginning of the service, its essence and its root,” as is explained elsewhere.

17Now, our Sages said: one who wishes to accept upon himself the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven in full should relieve himself, wash his hands, and put on tzitzis and tefillin. This means: first he should relieve himself and remove the filth from within him, which is the evil within him;

and afterward he accepts upon himself the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven by spreading the tallis of the mitzvah, which is the matter of “You shall surely set a king over you,” that is, the level of His Malchus (sovereignty), blessed be He,

which is “sovereignty over all worlds” — he draws it down upon his soul by spreading the tallis. And so too, in this way, is the fulfillment of all the mitzvos: to draw down upon his soul light and life-force from the level of His Malchus, blessed be He.

18So it is also with the study of Torah, for “the Mishnah is the queen” (masnisa malkesa) — the level of His Malchus (sovereignty), blessed be He — and the level of “and My words which I have put in your mouth,” etc., and “I have put My words in your mouth,” etc. Through this he draws down the level of His Malchus, blessed be He, into his very soul.

This is [the meaning of] “And G‑d led the people around by way of the wilderness of Yam Suf”: in order to come to the level of Yam Suf, which is accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, one must first go around by way of the wilderness,

which is the level of “he should relieve himself,” mentioned above: that is, to put bitterness into his soul constantly over the sins he has committed, even though he has already done teshuvah (return) for them,

as it is written, “and my sin is ever before me”; or, even if he has not sinned at all, he should nevertheless always set before his eyes to be one of the masters of reckoning over thought, speech and action that are not for G‑d — “it comes in vanity and departs in darkness.”

Afterward he can accept upon himself the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, the level of Yam Suf mentioned above, in occupying himself with the Torah and the mitzvos. And once he accepts upon himself the yoke of Torah, the yoke of worldly affairs (derech eretz) is removed from him,

which is subjugation to the animal soul; and from this he will rise, come and reach the level of true joy and cleaving to the One G‑d, in a state of self-nullification (bittul) before Him, blessed be He, to be united with the very oneness of G‑d,

which is the level of the land of Canaan (Kena’an), from the term hachna’ah, submission and self-nullification before the One G‑d; and this is a distinction and level more excellent than the level of the land of the Philistines (Pelishtim) mentioned above.