וילקט יוסף את כל הכסף הנמצא בארץ מצרים…

1“And Yosef gathered up all the silver that was found in the land of Egypt, and Yosef brought the silver into Pharaoh’s house.” Now, our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “Yosef hid away three treasures. One was revealed to Korach, and one was revealed to Antoninus, and one is stored away for the righteous in the Time to Come.”

To understand this: it is written, “Light is sown for the righteous,” and it is known that this is the level of the primordial light (or kadma’ah), which shone from one end of the world to the other, which the Holy One, blessed be He, stored away for the righteous.

2The meaning of this storing-away will be understood [as follows]. In the service of G‑d there are found two aspects and levels in the love of G‑d. The first is the level of the love that is born of, and drawn from, contemplation of the greatness of the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He: when a person delves with his intellect into the exaltedness of His greatness, may He be blessed, there is born from this an arousal of longing and fervor toward Him, may He be blessed,

for “A man is praised according to his intellect,” since the emotive attributes (middos) follow the intellect and the contemplation. This love is in the category of a new birth, which comes into being anew through the intellect and the contemplation.

3And there is a second level in love, which is called the hidden love (ahavah mesuteres): the love that is in the inborn nature of the G‑dly soul, which by its nature desires to be absorbed into the Infinite One (Ein Sof), blessed be He, Who is its source and root.

Except that in a person it is in a state of great concealment and hiddenness, and its coming out into revelation is through contemplation, as is written in Tanya. It follows that when it comes out into revelation through contemplation, this is not truly a new birth from the intellect, such that the love was born from it,

for this love was already in his soul from the start, only it was concealed, and through the contemplation it came out of concealment into revelation.

4And this is the meaning of what our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “Wine enters, a secret goes out.” The explanation: “secret” (sod) is the level of the hidden love mentioned above, and its going out into revelation is through contemplation, which is called by the name “wine,” the wine of the Torah, etc.

And in truth, the virtue and rank of this hidden love is far greater than the level of the love born of the contemplation mentioned above. Although that one is a new birth, and this one is not a complete innovation, nevertheless its root is loftier, etc.

And the love born of contemplation is beneath it in rank, except that it has not been lowered as far as the hidden love mentioned above, etc.

(As is written in Tanya, that the hidden love, when it comes out into revelation, is called ahavah rabbah (“great love”), which is above ahavas olam (“everlasting love”), which comes from the level of contemplation, etc. And see what is written below, on [the verse] “Chachlili,” concerning ahavah rabbah and ahavas olam.)

Now, the level and rank of Yosef, the supernal tzaddik, is the level of the hidden ahavah rabbah that is in every soul of Israel, whose root is very high [and] exalted. For this is the level of Yosef, who is the level of Yesod (foundation), that is, the level of yud [and] sod (secret), etc.

And this is the explanation of “Light is sown for the righteous”: it is the level of the primordial light that He stored away for the righteous. And the primordial light is the level of the ahavah rabbah mentioned above, which is far, far above the level of ahavas olam, which is also called “light”

(for light is the level of Chesed (kindness), and there is chesed olam (“everlasting kindness”), which is the level of the love drawn from the intellect; but the primordial light is the level of ahavah rabbah, which is above the intellect and is taken from the level of “abundant in kindness” and “My kindness shall not depart from you,” etc.)

But He stored it away for the righteous, in the level of Yosef, the supernal tzaddik, and from him the level of the love mentioned above is sown in every one of Israel; only it is hidden, in a state of storing-away, secrecy and concealment, and “wine enters, a secret goes out,” as mentioned above.

5And according to this, one will also understand what is written in the Zohar on Terumah (folio 166b and folio 167a): “This light the Holy One, blessed be He, sowed in His Garden of Eden, through this tzaddik who is the gardener of the garden; and he took this light and sowed it, a sowing of truth,” etc.

“And in exile, the gardener does not enter the garden. And that light, which is sown, constantly produces fruits and kinds, and is sown of itself, as at first.”

And the meaning of “the garden”: it is the level of the drawing-down of the kav (line of light) and the thread from the Malchus (sovereignty) of the Infinite One (Ein Sof), which is the beginning of the kav, until its end: all of it is called “the garden,” which is the level of Malchus.

(See Mikdash Melech on the Zohar, Parshas Bo, folio 35a, in the name of Rabbi Chaim Vital, on the explanation of “with one tzaddik,” etc., “who sowed in the garden,” etc. See there.)

And as our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “Just as the garden needs to be hoed, watered and pruned,” which is the level of the service of refinement (birurim), and this is accomplished through Yosef the tzaddik.

Now, just as in the physical earth there are two kinds of growth: the first, the crops that are sown each year and come up and grow;

6And the second are what are called sefichin (aftergrowth), that is, what grows by itself, which was not sown now at all, but [comes] from the sowing that fell into it earlier, etc. And these are what are called “the aftergrowth of the earth, which sustains the earth,” for the main sustenance of the earth is through the aftergrowth.

7And so too, above, in the supernal earth that is called “the garden,” these two aspects and levels are found: that is, the level of the flows that are drawn down into it in the manner of sowing,

as it is written, “Light is sown,” etc.; and there is the level of what grows in it as aftergrowth, that is, from what was already sown, etc. And as for the aftergrowth, although this is not truly a matter of a new coming-into-being and a new flow, but only

a growth from what was concealed in the earth, nevertheless it has an extra virtue, in that its root is exceedingly high. And this is as [explained] above concerning the hidden love when it comes out into revelation: although it is not a new coming-into-being

like the love born of contemplation, nevertheless its root is higher, etc. And the revelation of the hidden love is the matter of the aftergrowth, which the earth brings forth as its growth by itself.

And “it is sown of itself”: that is, from that very love that was already sown in it, which was hidden, etc. And this is the level of “Light is sown,” etc.

(Which was already sown in the G‑dly soul; but the love that is born of and drawn from contemplation, called ahavas olam, is, in the analogy, like the sowing that is sown now, anew.)

And all the sowings of these loves, all of it is from the level of Yosef the tzaddik, who is called “the gardener of the garden,” from whom the light is drawn into the level of Malchus (sovereignty), which is called “the garden” (which is the source of the souls of Israel).

8And this is the meaning of “And Yosef gathered up all the silver,” etc.: it is the level of the chasadim (kindnesses), all of which are drawn in the level of Yosef the tzaddik, as [explained] above concerning the primordial light, which He stored away for the righteous,

which is drawn in the level of Yosef, who is called the supernal tzaddik; and he is “the gardener of the garden,” from whom the level of the hidden love mentioned above is drawn into every one of Israel.

And this is “and he brought [it] into Pharaoh’s house”: this is the level of Malchus (sovereignty), which is called “the garden” and “the revealed world” (alma d’isgalya), which is the source of the souls of Israel. And this is the meaning of “Yosef hid away three treasures,” etc.

For it is known from the writings of the Arizal, of blessed memory, that Chesed (of the five chasadim that are drawn into Z’eir Anpin, and the Chesed that is in Tiferes) is divided into three joints (perakin): that is, the upper third is in a state of concealment and hiddenness and is called “covered chasadim” (chasadim mechusim), and two thirds are revealed.

And this is the meaning of the three treasures mentioned above, of which two were revealed: these are the two thirds that are revealed. And the upper third, which is the level of the Chochmah, Binah and Daas within it, is covered and hidden, and will be revealed to the righteous in the Time to Come,

as it is written, “Light is sown for the righteous.” And this is the matter of the level of the primordial light that He stored away for the righteous, etc. And all this Yosef hid away, for he is the level of Yesod (foundation), in which the chasadim mentioned above are drawn.

And [this is] as is known to those versed in the hidden wisdom (yod’ei chen). (It can also be said that the covered and revealed chasadim are the levels of ahavah rabbah and ahavas olam mentioned above. And this is “And Yosef gathered up all the silver”: both the covered chasadim and the revealed ones.

And he brought it all into Pharaoh’s house, for they are revealed in the union of Z’eir Anpin and Nukva (the feminine / Malchus). It can further be said: “Pharaoh” (Paroh) is a term of periah (uncovering), for through periah the three joints of Chesed are revealed, as mentioned in Etz Chaim; and it is all one.) And see what is written in the Zohar on Balak (folio 204),

concerning the “morning of Yosef,” for there it is also explained that the primordial light mentioned above is drawn in the level of Yosef, and David prepared a canopy for it,

as it is written, “In the morning I will set [it] in order for You, and I will watch.” And this is the meaning of “And Yosef gathered up the silver, and he brought [it] into Pharaoh’s house.” And one who understands will understand.

And see what is written elsewhere, on [the verse] “And Your right hand, from within Your bosom, consume [them],” that the meaning is that the chasadim should be revealed from their covering, the Yesod of Imma, etc. And it can also be said that the meaning of “the silver that was found in the land of Egypt” is the covered chasadim, and “in the land of Canaan,” the revealed chasadim.