קול דודי הנה זה בא מדלג על ההרים…

1“The voice of my Beloved! Behold, He comes, leaping over the mountains, skipping over the hills”: [this means] that He leapt over the end-time of the deliverance, from 430 years to 210.

And to understand the redemption in its spiritual sense, as in what is written, “His right hand has saved for Him,” and it is written, “righteous and saved,” we must first understand the matter of the exile, and [how] the descent is for the sake of an ascent, as it is written, “I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up.”

2And it is written, “And this shall be the sign for you that I have sent you: when you bring the people out of Egypt, you will serve G‑d upon this mountain,” that is, upon Mount Sinai, at the time of the Giving of the Torah, when there was a revelation of His G‑dliness, may He be blessed, face to face.

To understand this, we must understand the meaning of the verse “I will go down with you to Egypt,” which at first glance is not understood, for this expression

applies only in the language of human beings: one who at first was not in that place and now goes down there. But this is not so with Him, may He be blessed; is it not written, “I fill the heavens and the earth,” etc.?

But the explanation is this. Our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “We mention the Exodus from Egypt at night.” This means: in all the exiles and subjugations, which are likened to nights; for every aspect of exile is the aspect of the exile of Egypt.

3And so too with the redemption: it is written, “As in the days of your going out of the land of Egypt, I will show him wonders.” And just as the exile of Egypt was “with hard labor, with mortar and with bricks,” etc.,

so in every aspect of exile, even though there is nothing actually like them in the physical sense, there is nevertheless an aspect of “hard labor, with mortar and with bricks” in the spiritual sense.

As it is stated in the Ra’aya Mehemna: “‘With mortar (chomer)’: this is kal vachomer. ‘And with bricks (leveinim)’: this is the clarification (libun) of halachah. ‘And with all labor in the field’: this is the Baraisa.”

4To understand this: they expounded in the Haggadah, “that they embittered the lives of our fathers in Egypt.” This means that the fathers are the emotive attributes (middos): love, awe and compassion. And their life-force (chayus) is the intellect (mochin), namely Chochmah (wisdom) and Binah (understanding) concerning the greatness of G‑d: to know

that there is nothing else besides Him, in the heavens above and on the earth below, upward to no end and downward [to] no limit, and to the four sides. For through this comprehension and understanding the attribute of love is born and aroused within each and every one.

5And so too awe. For every spark of Israel has within it the aspect of love and awe, and these are the very essence of the soul, as is explained elsewhere.

Likewise the Congregation of Israel (Knesses Yisrael), the joining together of all the souls, is called “daughter of the noble one (nadiv),” the daughter of Avraham our father. He is called nadiv because he is a man of kindness, who freely offers (misnadev) kindness to all the worlds, upper and lower; and he is called “our father,” and our inheritance is from him.

Only, because choice is in a person’s hand, and it is in his power to turn the love from love of G‑d to the complete opposite, he must therefore arouse the love for G‑d.

6And on this the whole matter of the Song of Songs is founded: “If you awaken and if you arouse,” etc. And the arousal of love comes through “The voice of my Beloved knocks,” etc.

This is [the meaning of] what our Sages, of blessed memory, said: the people of Jericho would “bundle” the Shema, and would not pause between “One” and “And you shall love.” For from contemplating the true One,

that there is nothing else besides Him, an arousal of love for G‑d follows of itself, without a break. And therefore, in the Shema, we conclude with “True and firm (emes veyatziv)”: yatziv is the Aramaic translation of emes,

only we say it also in the language of the Targum, to say that He is truly One both in the physical and in the spiritual, for it is written, “There is nothing else besides Him.”

But all this is when there is Chochmah (wisdom) and Binah (understanding) concerning the greatness of G‑d, with great contemplation in his mind and thought; and through this he can arouse his emotive attributes (middos), love and awe, openly in his heart, through depth of thought alone.

But one whose mind is too small to contain a revelation of His G‑dliness in his thought, so as to arouse the love: this is his faithful counsel, to cry out to G‑d in prayer,

as it is written, “Their heart cried out.” For the voice arouses concentration (kavanah) and revelation, to arouse the love openly in his heart. And this level is called the level of Mitzrayim (Egypt): meitzar yam, the strait of the sea of Chochmah, which has descended and become clothed in the strait of the throat.

7And this is the meaning of “And Yaakov went out from Be’er Sheva and went toward Charan.” For the aspect of garon (the throat) and Charon are all one, as is known to those who know the hidden wisdom.

And this is the meaning of the bitterness, that “they embittered the lives of our fathers in Egypt”: the life-force of the emotive attributes descended and became clothed in the strait of the throat. And through this they became bitter; for had they been at the level of Be’er Sheva, they would have been sweet, and better.

8And this is [the meaning of] “I (Anochi) will go down with you,” etc. That is: Anochi, He Who is Anochi, the level of the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), the level of the true One, “will go down with you.” This is a descent, as it were, because the revelation of His G‑dliness, may He be blessed, is not so revealed, except at the level of Mitzrayim.

And this is through His being “with you,” as it is said, “They were exiled to Edom; the Shechinah is with them.” And there remains only the level of the faith that is planted in the heart of all Israel, for they are believers, the children of believers, even in exile,

as it is written, “And the people believed.” But hearing is not comparable to seeing, which is the level of the revelation of His G‑dliness, as it was at the time of the Giving of the Torah, at the level of

actual sight. And in the time of exile there is no level of actual sight in this revelation, but only the level of Mitzrayim, which is through the voice, the level of the throat mentioned above.

9Now, even in this there are many thoughts that disturb and confuse the prayer, and these are his iniquities, which separate [him]. The counsel prescribed for this is to arouse great compassion, and not on himself;

for on the contrary, by this he arouses judgment upon himself, so that he is judged whether he is worthy to pray before G‑d and to serve Him.

Rather, [it is] that he “return to G‑d and have compassion on Him,” with great compassion over the exile of the Shechinah, which is the spark of His G‑dliness that is clothed in his thought.

10And the foreign thoughts are called “soiled garments.” Over this he should be very embittered, in the bitterness of his soul; and through this the soiled garments will be removed from him, and the glory of G‑d will be revealed, as it is written, “A light shines in the darkness for the upright,” and it is written, “And the glory of G‑d has shone upon you,” to arouse the love.

11And this is what is written, “Thus says G‑d to Yaakov, who redeemed Avraham”: for through the attribute of Yaakov, the level of compassion, one arouses the love, the level of Avraham. And this is [the meaning of] what is written, “And they embittered their lives.”

The meaning and explanation of the verse: the verse is saying how, through the exile of Egypt, a person must take counsel in his soul to cry out to G‑d in prayer, and to be embittered, in the bitterness of his soul, over his life,

that is, over the G‑dly life-force within him, which is the essential life-force of a person; whereas the life of this world is not called life at all.

12And this is [the meaning of] “with hard labor (avodah).” For “the service (avodah) of the heart: this is prayer,” to cry out to G‑d in the manner of “their heart cried out,” for the sake of the revelation of His G‑dliness, may He be blessed,

as it is written, “The exaltations of G‑d are in their throat”: this is His revelation, may He be blessed, through the level of the throat mentioned above. And through this, “and a double-edged sword in their hand,” to cut off all the kelipos and cravings that a person has.

13Now, by way of analogy: a sword of hard iron can hold firm even against something hard, like stones, and will not be dented when it strikes them; which is not so if the iron were soft. So too, prayer must be hard.

Therefore it is called “hard labor”: that is, to call out to G‑d, to stand against every obstacle, from within and from without, and to break all the strong kelipos and cravings, so that his heart be broken within him. And even if it is like a heart of stone, it will melt.

Now all this toil is because of the exile; whereas when the Holy Temple stood, they did not need prayer,

for then there was a revelation of His G‑dliness in a person’s mind and thought, expansively, to (illuminate) [awaken] the love from “the inner self of a man and a deep heart,” through depth of thought alone.

14And so too regarding the Torah: in the time of exile it is “with mortar and bricks,” etc., as stated in the Ra’aya Mehemna. The explanation is: it is written, “There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and maidens without number; one is My dove, My perfect one.” And it is explained in the Zohar: “There are sixty queens”: these are the sixty tractates;

15“and eighty concubines”: these are the Baraisos; “and maidens without number”: these are the halachos. “One is My dove, My perfect one,” etc.

And “My perfect one (tamasi)” is explained as “My completion”: for He has no completeness, as it were, without the Congregation of Israel, as it is written, “And the earth is My footstool.” And it is written, “You are children to G‑d your G‑d,” and “a son is his father’s leg.”

16This is because the revelation of His unity, may He be blessed, in the higher worlds is in all the host on high, as it is written, “And the host of the heavens bow to You”: for they are nullified to Him in [their] existence, in actual fact.

But in the lower worlds there are the worshipers of stars and constellations, who rebel and transgress against Him. Only “Who is like Your people Israel, one nation on earth,” to unite their hearts to the One and to nullify their will before His will.

17This is like the analogy of a person’s limbs, which are nullified to him, even the legs, which are “outside the body,” and even his toenails; that is, as long as they are attached to him.

But when one of his limbs is separated, and likewise a nail that separates from a person, it is no longer counted as part of the person, because it is not nullified to him.

18So too regarding the human soul, it is written, “One who seeks desire is separated”: that he has separated from His unity, may He be blessed; and he is like a limb that separates from a person,

and it is as if one of His limbs were severed, or one nail clipped, from the complete stature of the Maker of creation, as it were.

But one who comes to cleave to Him in truth is utterly nullified to Him and has no other desires at all, as it is written, “Whom have I in heaven? And with You I desire nothing on earth,” etc., “The Rock of my heart and my portion,” etc. And he makes the stature complete, as it were; and therefore [Israel] is called “My perfect one.”

19Now, through an arousal from below [comes] an arousal from above, as it is written, “I am my Beloved’s, and His longing is for me.” For just as one arouses the longing, with the joy of G‑d, to give gratification to his Maker with joy, as it is written, “Let Israel rejoice in its Maker,” so “the joy of G‑d is His strength,” and “G‑d rejoices in His works.”

20And this is [the meaning of] “‘And with bricks’: this is the clarification of halachah.” For it is written, “I am black, yet comely.” This means that the Oral Torah

appears to every eye as “black,” in that no light at all is seen in it, since it speaks of matters of the physical world: matters of seeds, and monetary matters between a man and his fellow.

But in truth [it is] “comely,” for all the matters in it have their foundation “in the holy mountains,” from the supernal Chochmah (wisdom); for so it arose in His will and wisdom, may He be blessed: “He is wise, but not with a knowable wisdom,” etc.

21And this is “the clarification (libun) of halachah”: the halachos, which appear black, must be whitened with the supernal whiteness through the joy of G‑d, which is the true joy in G‑d, the One; and [one must] be nullified in His will, and not seek any other will besides His will, may He be blessed, which is clothed in His Torah.

And this is [the meaning of] “Rise up (kumi lach), My beloved, My fair one, and go forth (lechi lach)”: lach means “to yourself.” For Israel arose first in thought, and therefore “rise up to yourself,” to be included in the One.

22Now, in the same way, there is aroused above the level of the supernal whiteness, revealed as the level of the shining of the Face; that is, the arousal of joy, and the joy of G‑d: “His face beamed.”

As it is written, “May He make His face shine with us, Selah”: the shining of His face is “with us” and through us, according to the measure in which we arouse the revelation of His G‑dliness, as it is written, “As water [reflects] face to face,” etc.

23Now the ultimate purpose and completion of this revelation will be in the Time to Come, in the days of Mashiach, when “they will see eye to eye,” as at the time of the Giving of the Torah, and even more than that; for at the time of the Giving of the Torah it was only for the moment,

whereas in the days of Mashiach the revelation of His G‑dliness will be forever and to all eternity, without interruption. And this is [the meaning of] “Selah,” which denotes eternity.

Now in the time of exile, great toil and labor are needed to fix in one’s heart the true joy in G‑d, which is “the clarification of halachah”; whereas in the days of Mashiach, then “all flesh will see together.”

24So too regarding “‘And with all labor in the field’: this is the Baraisa.” For Baraisa is the level of “outside (lebar) the body,” which are the outer limbs,

and the Mishnah is called the inner limbs. And everything taught in a Baraisa is alluded to in the Mishnah, as Ilfa said: “Whoever asks me about a Baraisa and I do not resolve it (pashtina) for him from the Mishnah…”

The meaning: pashtina is from the expression “he stretched out (pashat) his hand,” which denotes extending a hand. He said that he would stretch out his hand from the Mishnah to explain the law taught in the Baraisa, and he did not need to study the Baraisa on its own, since it is included in the Mishnah.

But not every person merits this, and his name proves it: for this reason he was called Ilfa, from the expression “I will teach you (a’alefcha) wisdom; I will teach you understanding,”

and therefore he could understand the law of the Baraisa from within the Mishnah. But we must also occupy ourselves with the law of the Baraisa from within the Mishnah.

25And this is “and with all labor in the field.” It is like one who brings wheat from inside the house and sows it in a field outside the city: so are those who occupy themselves in the Baraisa with a law that is taught in the Mishnah.

Now the purpose of the descent and the exile is for the sake of a great ascent: that the light of G‑d will shine in great revelation in the days of Mashiach.

26And this is [the meaning of] “The voice of my Beloved! Behold, He comes, leaping over,” etc.: that is, from above to below. “Over the mountains”: like a person who jumps from mountain to mountain, and thereby goes a great distance at once. So too,

the supernal mountains are the level of Chesed (kindness) of the World of Atzilus (Emanation), which is the very kindness of G‑d, in great and mighty revelation; and the arousal from above comes through the arousal from below,

even though there are many levels in between. “Skipping over the hills”: the hills are the Matriarchs, the level of recipients from the mountains.

That is: even one who does not have love of his own accord, yet because he sees and hears the prayers of others, it is aroused in him as well.

Now our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “The world stands on three things: on the Torah, on the service (this is prayer), and on acts of kindness.” These are themselves the refinements of the emotive attributes (middos), between man and the Omnipresent and between man and his fellow.

Now regarding Torah and prayer, it has already been explained in the verse how this is the aspect of exile, as stated above. And it also comes to explain the refinement of the emotive attributes,

and this is called “all their labor which they labored in them (bahem)”: for the labor is from them and in them themselves, to refine their emotive attributes.

For this, great toil, labor and exertion are needed, to turn from one opposite to the other and to change one’s way and nature. And it is called avodah (labor) from the expression “tanned (avudim) hides”: for one must tan (le’abed) the emotive attributes so that they be refined for G‑d alone.

27The counsel prescribed for this is what is written, “with rigor (befarech).” It has two explanations. One is an expression of toil and heavy work; and not because of the heaviness of the work in itself,

but rather like what our Sages, of blessed memory, expounded concerning Pharaoh: “With rigor (befarech): he gave women’s work to men.” For although in truth women’s work is lighter than men’s work, it was nevertheless heavy for them, because they had to change their nature and habit.

28So too regarding the refinement of the emotive attributes of love and awe, which are between man and the Omnipresent: whether in the mode of “turn away from evil” or in the mode of “do good,” one must change his habit and nature.

The second explanation is an expression of “a soft mouth (peh rach).” And a person should take this to heart in [matters] such as anger, envy, pride and exalting oneself over one’s fellow. This is the rule: “A soft answer turns away wrath,”

and not only the wrath of his fellow, but even the wrath within himself; that is, all the bad traits between man and his fellow, whose root is the level of Gevuros (restraint). And the discerning will understand.