מי כה׳ אלקינו המגביהי לשבת המשפילי לראות בשמים ובארץ

1“Who is like G‑d our G‑d, Who raises [Himself] high to sit, Who lowers [Himself] to see in the heavens and on the earth?” Now, it is written, “For a mitzvah is a lamp, and Torah is light.”

We see, then, that the verse likens the mitzvah to a lamp. And it is written, “The lamp of G‑d is the soul of man”: the soul is likened to a lamp. We need to understand what is meant by the lamp of a mitzvah, and what the lamp of the soul is.

2Now, the matter of the lamp is this: it is named after the wick, for [the wick] is the essential part of the lamp. Yet there is no lamp without oil.

For the oil is what causes the lamp to burn gently, so that it lingers and lasts for some time; were it not for the oil, it would burn quickly and in a rush. This is through the oil being drawn after the wick.

And [the oil] is burned and consumed in the light that takes hold in the wick, until it is entirely consumed and nothing at all remains of it, because it rises wholly in the fire. Nevertheless, the wick is the essential part of the lamp.

For the burning light comes about through its taking hold in the wick. Were the light to sink into the oil, it would go out; rather, the wick is what joins the light to the oil, as the oil is drawn after the wick.

3To understand this analogy as it applies to the lamp of a mitzvah and to “the lamp of G‑d, the soul of man,” we must first explain the matter of “You shall love,” etc.,

“with all your heart (levavecha)”: with both your inclinations, with the good inclination and with the evil inclination. At first glance this is not understood: how can the evil inclination turn to love G‑d through the person? Surely it will not listen to him!

But the matter is this. The explanation of the good inclination and the evil inclination is that, as is known, there are two souls in every person, the G‑dly soul and the animal soul, and each soul divides into two, which are intellect and the emotive attributes (middos).

4Now, the core of the soul is the intellect. For the G‑dly soul, at its core, is a thinking soul, which constantly contemplates and comprehends the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He.

It has no other [subject of] thought. And the emotive attributes (middos), love and awe, born of this intellect and comprehension, are what is called the good inclination.

5Likewise, the core of the animal soul is [the faculty] that thinks about and comprehends the physicality of this world and its materiality, which is “the one opposite the other” in relation to the G‑dly soul. For intellect that is clothed in physical matters is the very opposite of the intellect in the G‑dly soul,

which is the level of supernal Chochmah (wisdom), the level of “wise, but not with a knowable wisdom,” above intellect that is conceived and grasped in physical terms.

6And intellect that is conceived and grasped in physical terms, by human reason, is falsehood, the very opposite of divine wisdom, which is the wisdom of truth; and the emotive attributes (middos) born of the physical intellect are what is called the evil inclination.

A person must subdue them, so as not to conduct himself according to emotive attributes born of the physical intellect, but only [according to] “You shall love Havayah your G‑d with all your heart.” That is, by strengthening the power of the thinking G‑dly soul.

7And one contemplates the Infinite Light in the first verse of the Shema, “Hear, O Israel.” “Hear” is a term for understanding: that Havayah is our G‑d (Elokeinu). The meaning of “our G‑d” is the matter of

bringing into being, the level of the light that fills all worlds (memalei kol almin) and the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin). It is drawn from the level of Havayah, “He was, He is and He will be,” which is the Infinite Light, blessed be He, which is the level of ayin (nothing); and the bringing into being of something (yesh) is truly from nothing.

8This bringing into being, something from nothing, is drawn down continually, as in the saying, “And in His goodness He renews every day, continually,” etc. And He, Havayah, is One: “You are He before the world was created, and You are He,” etc.

For the bringing of the worlds into being effects no change at all in Him, G‑d forbid, because the work of the Holy One, blessed be He, is not like the work of flesh and blood.

For in the work of a human being, the power of the maker is actually in the thing made. For example, when he makes something, he turns himself [to it] and immerses his intellect deeply in the thing he is making.

9Therefore the thing he makes effects a change in him, in the power of his intellect. But the bringing of the worlds into being from the Infinite Light, blessed be He, effects no change at all in Him, G‑d forbid; and Havayah is One, just as before the world was created.

For [the meaning of] “Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever” is that all the bringing of the worlds into being, their existence and their life-force, come only from the level of His Malchus (sovereignty), may He be blessed: in that He is King over them, He gives them life and brings them into being. This is only the level of His Name, may He be blessed.

10And it is there [in His Malchus] that the power of the maker applies: “By the word of G‑d the heavens were made,” for “the word of a king is sovereign.” It is written, “Your kingship is the kingship of all worlds,”

“the Unique One, Life of the worlds, King,” as is known. And when a person immerses his intellect and thought deeply in this, in the depth of his understanding and in the depth of the heart,

then the vital soul will cease from its thinking about physical things, through the ascendancy of the G‑dly soul, which thinks about and contemplates the greatness of the Infinite One (Ein Sof), blessed be He, so as to give birth,

out of the spirit of its understanding and contemplation, to a fierce love like flashes of fire, to cleave to Him, may He be blessed, with cleaving, yearning and desire, in an immense burning fervor, until the soul is consumed (kelos hanefesh), as it is written, “My soul longs, indeed it is consumed,” etc.

11“And besides You I desire nothing on earth; my flesh and my heart are consumed,” etc. Then the Chochmah (wisdom) in the vital soul will be like oil that is drawn after the wick,

which is “the lamp of G‑d, the soul of man”: the soul is the wick that joins the light of the fierce love and the flashes of fire, to shine in the animal soul, until it too is consumed and longs to cleave to Him, with cleaving and yearning, etc.

And so there will be “You shall love,” etc., “with all your heart”; and great will be the animal soul’s power to be consumed (kelos hanefesh), with surpassing strength, in the manner of oil that is consumed and rises until all of it becomes the fire of the lamp’s light,

through the level of “their heart cried out,” which is the transformation of the fire within it, and “flashes of fire,” a fierce love, etc. And this is the lamp of the soul, which comes from the contemplation of the G‑dly soul itself.

12And the matter of the lamp of the mitzvah is that the mitzvah has a special virtue (segulah) to raise the animal soul and bind it to the Infinite Light, blessed be He, as in the words “Who has sanctified us with His commandments”: with the supernal holiness, which is above the chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus).

For the mitzvos are garments, and they are called “royal garments,” for they are encompassing levels (makifim), which encompass and clothe the soul from its head

to its feet, so that it be “bound up in the bond of life with G‑d,” truly. Through this [the mitzvah] raises the soul, just as when a person is clothed, he can be drawn along by his garment.

13So too, “like a stone bound in a sling”: because it is bound in a pouch, it is thrown higher. The rule is that every level of makif is an elevation upward.

Therefore one puts on tallis and tefillin before prayer, to draw a level of makif above, so as to raise the animal soul in prayer; for, as is known, the lower does not rise upward until an illumination first descends from above. And prayer is the ascent of the animal soul.

Therefore prayer is one text every day, [for] all the days of a person’s life that are allotted to him, “the days of our years are seventy years,” correspond to the sparks of the animal soul that must be raised (which is not so with the G‑dly soul, which is eternal); and each day a new aspect comes into being.

That spark too, which is newly formed, must be raised, and it is all one elevation (which is not so with the study of Torah: one must specifically learn something new every day).

Therefore all the mitzvos are called by the name tzedakah (charity), for “tzedakah raises up a nation”: through the tzedakah and kindness that one does below, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and a poor person is considered as dead,

so, and infinitely more than this, a spirit of life is drawn down from above, from the Life of life, blessed be He, to revive those who are truly dead, in the manner of

“the right hand draws near,” and “His right hand embraces me,” truly, with the encompassing light from above, to exalt and raise the soul higher and higher, into the Infinite Light, blessed be He, itself. And this is the matter of the lamp of a mitzvah.

14But “Torah is light” is the drawing down of the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He, from above to below. It is the light and revelation of the Infinite Light, blessed be He, itself, which is far above the chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus); for the descent and gradation of the order of hishtalshelus is the level of concealment and enclothement of the Infinite Light, blessed be He, so that one entity after another may come into being, in different modes and kinds.

15As it is written, “He made darkness His hiding place”: this is darkness and concealment, not light and revelation. And of the Torah it is said, “He reveals deep things out of darkness.”

And: “From the depths I have called You, G‑d.” And this is the purpose of the creation of man: to draw down upon his soul the Infinite Light, blessed be He, that is above the chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus),

so that the Infinite Light, blessed be He, rests below as above, as it is written, “I am first and I am last, and besides Me there is no G‑d.” That is to say: just as “I am first,” before the world was created,

16and “last,” after the world was created, so “besides Me” (mibaladai), that is, in the middle, at the time of the world’s creation, the Infinite Light, blessed be He, will be drawn down below, so that there will be the nullification (bittul) of the world in its existence, as before it was created and after it was created. And this is through the Torah, for “the Torah comes forth from Chochmah.”

17And as it is written, “For My glory (kevodi) I created it.” Kavod (glory) is numerically thirty-two: these are the thirty-two paths of Chochmah. “I created it” is the level of Talmud; “I formed it” is the level of Mishnah; “and I made it” is the level of Scripture (Mikra).

For all of them are on the level of Chochmah, and the Infinite Light, blessed be He, rests and is revealed in Chochmah, where there is no hiding of the Face at all.

18And there is the level of “I, G‑d, have not changed,” as before the world was created. Therefore Rav Yehudah, all of whose learning was in [the order of] Nezikin, [learned] to acquit the innocent and to convict the guilty,

to separate between them, in order to separate the external forces from holiness, and “all workers of iniquity shall be scattered,” etc. Therefore he was exempt from prayer, because his Torah was his occupation, like Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai and his colleagues.

This was because Rav Yehudah was a very great man, so much so that Shmuel said of him, “This one is not born of a woman,” for the awe of his Master was upon him: he was in a state of self-nullification (bittul) before the Infinite Light, blessed be He, which he drew upon himself in the recitation of the Shema.

(For he was not exempt from the recitation of the Shema; and even Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai and his colleagues [were exempt] only from prayer.)

And his Torah, too, was in a state of true self-nullification, on the level of “And I have put My words in your mouth” and “My words which I have placed in your mouth,” and as our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “Our Mishnah is a queen,”

the level of a king, who commands and decrees that the ruling shall be so, for “a king establishes the land through justice,” to acquit the innocent, etc. For there are two levels: the level of a servant, who learns in order to know the king’s will,

19and the level of a king, who at the time of his learning is himself the one who decrees and commands, etc. And this is what is written, “And there was a king in Yeshurun,” because the Shechinah (Divine Presence) spoke from within Moshe’s throat.

And so too Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai and his colleagues, and Rav Yehudah according to his level: for in proportion to the self-nullification (bittul) of one’s soul before the Infinite Light, blessed be He,

so was the drawing down of the Infinite Light, blessed be He, into their Torah and their service. And the Mishnah that spoke from their mouths is truly the word of G‑d. Through this, the nullification of the world in its existence is drawn down below as above.

20Now, this light of the Torah takes hold in the mitzvah and is joined to it, for the entire Torah before us, both the Written Torah and the Oral Torah, has its essence and foundations in the mitzvos. Of this it is said, “And she filled her jug and went up.”

“The twenty-four (kaf-dalet) books of the Torah,” etc., which are the level of a jug (kad) with which the supernal water is drawn, the supernal Chochmah of the Infinite One, blessed be He, which is without end or limit. And of this it is said, “And these words which I (Anochi) command you shall be”: “Anochi,” specifically.

21And the mitzvah is the wick, which clothes itself in the intellectual and vital soul, to raise it and bind it to the light of the Torah, which is the level of “wise, but not with a knowable wisdom,” the opposite of human intellect, and in which the Infinite One, blessed be He, rests, as it is written, “G‑d founded the earth with wisdom.”

But one must first [engage in] the contemplation of the G‑dly soul, which is “the lamp of G‑d, the soul of man,” so that there will be “You shall love,” etc., “with all your heart”; for “spirit brings spirit and draws down spirit,” and as it is written, “If he sets his heart toward Him,” etc.,

until the Chochmah in the vital soul becomes the level of the oil that is drawn after the wick of the mitzvah, to be truly absorbed in the light of the Torah, so that it is truly transformed from one extreme to its opposite, from comprehended human intellect to the intellect of the wisdom of the Torah, divine wisdom, the level of “wise, but not with a knowable wisdom,” etc.

This is why [the Torah] is clothed in physical matters, and all physical matters are included in it, such as all that grows from the ground and the fruit of the tree, in the order of Zeraim (Seeds),

and all living creatures, in the order of Kodashim (Holy Things), in order to refine everything and transform it into holiness. “And the glory of G‑d shall fill all the earth,” this physical [earth], etc.

22And this is [the meaning of] “Who raises high to sit.” The explanation: hamagbihi means “raises the yud (י),” the yud that is in the heh (ה). For the dalet (ד) is the level of dalis (“there is not”): “it has nothing at all of its own”; it becomes a heh through the yud within it.

And this is the level of the mitzvah, for from tzedek (צדק) comes tzedakah (צדקה); and “tzedakah raises up a nation,” by raising the level of the yud in the heh higher and higher, into the Infinite Light, blessed be He, itself.

“To sit”: to be the level of “a place for Your dwelling,” that is, that there be there the resting of the Infinite Light, blessed be He, itself, which is the level of sitting,

that is, a level of descent and lowering on His part, as it were; as it is written, “G‑d sits as King forever (le’olam).” For to be King over the world (le’olam) is the level of sitting and lowering, for over whom would He reign? etc.

23And this is the elevation that comes through the mitzvos, from below to above. But “Torah is light” is a drawing down from above to below: “Who lowers [Himself] to see in the heavens,” the Written Torah, “and on the earth,” the Oral Torah.

And there it is “to see”: the level of sight and of the revelation of the Infinite Light, blessed be He, below as above, and not the level of “Hear, O Israel,”

that is, the contemplation in the G‑dly soul, which is only the level of hearing; rather, as it is written, “For they shall see eye to eye,” etc.