תורה 54

7. Now, the way to subdue the imagination is through the aspect of the hand, corresponding to “by the hand of the prophets I have been imagined” (Hosea 12:11). And “hand” is the aspect of joy, corresponding to “and you shall rejoice in all the effort of your hand” (Deuteronomy 12:7). This is also the aspect of musical instruments that are played with the hand, by means of which prophecy would come to rest upon the prophets, as it is written, “get me a musician…” (2 Kings 3:15) .

For an instrument is a gathering of the ruach, which is a mixture of good and evil. There is a ruach of depression, a gloomy ruach, a ruach of evil, as it is said of Shaul, “an evil ruach began to terrify him” (1 Samuel 16:14). There is also a good ruach, as it is written, “Let Your good ruach guide me on level ground” (Psalms 143:10). This is the aspect of the ruach of prophecy, Divine ruach .

But when a person is a mixture of good and evil, he cannot receive truthful prophecies. Thus it is written of Shaul (1 Samuel 19:24), “he began to prophesy… and he lay arom (naked).” Rashi explains that this connotes madness, because he had been infused with a ruach of folly, a ruach of depression. {“Let our lord order the courtiers attending you to look for someone skilled at playing… his hand will play, and it will be good for you” (1 Samuel 16:16).}

The person whose hand plays an instrument collects and gathers up with his hand the good ruach, the ruach of prophecy, from within the ruach of depression. Thus he must be “skilled at playing,” knowing how to collect and gather and find the components of the ruach one by one, in order to build the tune, the joy—i.e., to build the good ruach, the ruach of prophecy, which is the opposite of a ruach of depression. For he has to raise and lower his hand on the instrument he is playing in order to direct the buildup of the joy to perfection.

Thus, when the prophet hears this music from one who is “skilled at playing,” he receives from him the ruach of prophecy which [the musician] gathered with his hand from within the ruach of depression. This is the explanation of “his hand will play, and it will be good for you”—specifically “it will be good for you,” because he gathers and refines the good from within the evil.

And the main gathering and building up of the ruach of prophecy is by means of the hand, because the deposits of the ruach are there, as it is written (Psalms 31:6), “Into Your hand I deposit my ruach,” and as in (Job 12:10), “in Whose hand is the life of every living thing and the ruach of all human flesh.” This is the explanation of “As the musician played, the hand of God came upon him” (2 Kings, ibid.) .

We see then that by playing a musical instrument with his hand, a person thereby extracts the good ruach from the evil ruach, this being the aspect of the ruach of prophecy, as explained above. All this is the aspect of subduing the imagination, which is the aspect of an evil ruach, a foolish ruach, that would blemish and confound the aspect of the good ruach, the ruach of prophecy. [And the imagination] is subdued and eliminated by means of joy, which comes from the one who plays music with the hand, as explained above. For the main strengthening of the imagination is by means of depression, because the imagination is the aspect a depressed ruach /a gloomy ruach /an evil ruach, which confounds the good ruach /the ruach of prophecy, this being the aspect of memory/attaching one’s thoughts to the World to Come, which was mentioned above.

It is therefore impossible to receive the ruach of prophecy/Divine ruach except by means of joy, which is the aspect of playing music with the hand, as in, “As the musician played, the hand of God came upon him,” the aspect of “his hand will play, and it will be good for you,” as explained above.

Now this musician has to be “skilled at playing,” as explained above. Also the instrument on which he plays has to be whole, so that the ruach, which is a mixture of good and evil, does not emerge all at once. This is why he must be “skilled at playing,” and why the instrument he plays must be whole, so that he can properly extract and direct the music to perfection. This corresponds to extracting the good ruach, which is the aspect of joy/the ruach of prophecy, from the ruach of depression/the ruach of evil, as explained above. For when the instrument is not whole, or he is not skilled at playing and so does not know how to raise and lower his hand in order to extract the good ruach from the evil ruach, it is said of him (Proverbs 29:11), “A fool vents all his ruach”—i.e., he gives out all the ruach at one time, so that the music is certainly not built up.

This is because the essential beauty of the music is achieved through the extraction of the ruach {this is the air from which the sound comes, as is known to those skilled in music}. In other words, the aspect of music comes essentially through the extracting of the good ruach from the evil ruach. But when he brings out the ruach all at once, it comes out as it is: a mixture of good and evil. As a result, the music and joy are not built up, and the imagination is not subdued.

This corresponds to “His ruach goes out; he returns to his adamah (dust)” (Psalms 146:4). “To his aDaMaH” is the aspect of the meDaMeH. In other words, when all the ruach comes out, he returns and goes back to the imagination. This is because he has not subdued the imagination, since he is unable to gather and extract the good ruach, so that all the ruach, which is a mixture of good and evil, comes out.

However, if he has the aspect of the hand that gathers and extracts the aspect of the good ruach from the evil ruach, he can then subdue the imagination, in the aspect of “by the hand of the prophets I have been imagined,” as explained above. For the essence of the aspect of prophecy comes from the above mentioned aspect of the hand that extracts the good ruach from the evil ruach and through this subdues the imagination, which is the aspect of the evil ruach mixed with the good ruach, as explained above.

This is the explanation of what is written, “Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the ruach in his palms? Who has wrapped the waters in a robe? Who has established all afsay (the ends) of the earth?” (Proverbs 30:4) .

Who has gone up to heaven and come down?—This is the aspect of the musician. The musician goes up and down in the music, because he has to go up and down on the scale of the strings in line with the song’s notes in order to gather the ruach. And this is:

Who has gathered the ruach in his palms?—Literally, “in his palms,” which are the hands, because the root of the ruach is there, as explained above. The essential aspect of the ruach is in the hands, because the deposits of the ruach are there, as explained above. And this is:

Who has wrapped the waters in a robe?—“Waters” is the aspect of the heart, as it is written (Lamentations 2:19), “Pour out your heart like water.” In other words, by gathering the ruach, he “has wrapped the waters in a robe”—he guards the heart so that the imagination does not rule over it. And this is:

Who has established all afsay of the earth?—Through this he elevates the aspect of the feet that is enclothed in this world. “Afsay” is the aspect of the feet, as it is written (Ezekiel 47:3), “They led me [through the water]; the water was afsayim (ankle-deep).”

For by playing music with the hand, as mentioned above, the imagination is subdued. Then he merits memory, which is the aspect of his knowing to understand all the hints that are in each thing in the world. These [hints] are the aspect of the vitality of Godliness, the aspect of the feet of holiness that are enclothed in all that exists in the world, as explained above. This is the explanation of “Who has established all the ends of the earth?”—he elevates and establishes the feet of holiness that are enclothed in this world, as explained above.