Nefesh HaChayim, Gate IV

And during the involvement with and concentrated study of Torah, it’s certain that there’s no need then for the matter of attachment at all, as discussed previously. For via the involvement and concentrated study themselves is he attached to His (blessed be He) will and words, and He (blessed be He) and His will are identical.999This is the difference between the involvement with Torah and the performance of other mitzvote. The involvement with mitzvote ideally requires attachment (d’veikoot), while involvement with Torah is itself attachment—no special intention or attention is necessary to achieve attachment.

And this is the matter of their (OBM) statement in Sh’mote Rabba (parsha 33:6): “A person removes a purchase… [from the marketplace], out of concern that its original owner will reclaim it; in contrast, the Holy One (blessed be He) gave the Torah to Israel and says to them: ‘It’s as if it is Me you are taking…’.” And this is what is written in a few places in the Zohar, that the Holy One (blessed be He) and the Torah are identical1000Here Rav Chayyim introduces a primary theme, based on the Zohar, that the Holy One (blessed be He) and the Torah are to be considered as identical—that God and the Torah are one..

And even greater than this is found in parshat B’sha-lakh 60a: “And we learned that the Holy One (blessed be He) is called Torah…, and Torah is none other than the Holy One (blessed be He).”

And also that the supernal root of the holy Torah is the most supernal of the worlds that are called the “worlds of Ein Sofe”1001Heb.: o-la-mote Ein Sofe, the secret of the concealed garment1002Heb.: ha-mahl-boosh ha-neh-eh-lahm that is mentioned in the recondite wonders of wisdom from the Torah of our rabbi the Ariza”l, that is “beginning”1003Heb.: reisheet, the secret of the letters of the holy Torah. And as is written (Mishlei 8:22): “God-YHV”H made me, the beginning of His path, before any of His works from of old”. And this is what those (OBM) stated, that it pre-existed the world, namely even before all of the worlds in totality. For after all, they stated in Bereshit Rabba parsha 1, that it pre-existed the throne of glory1004The world of B’reeya is called the “world of the throne”. Rav Chayyim is saying here that Torah pre-existed the world of B’reeya.. And the truth is that it’s as if it pre-existed even the world of Ahtzeeloot1005Rav Chayyim seems to say that in some sense, the Torah even pre-existed the world of Ahtzeeloot. (blessed be) as mentioned previously, but the Ahtzeeloot is called Nothingness1006Heb.: ayin. From the secret of the throne begins the secret of, so to speak, the Stature1007Heb.: shee-oor ko-ma. For that reason they stated that it pre-existed the throne of glory1008Rav Chayyim seems to be saying the sages said that the Torah pre-existed the world of B’reeya, which is the world of the throne of glory, which is the starting point for the Stature (the shee-oor ko-ma). And also, that in some way, it even preexisted the world of Ahtzeeloot, which is known as Nothingness (ayin). We would think that if Ahtzeeloot is called Nothingness, then it is essentially beyond language to assert that anything (even Torah) pre-existed it, for Nothingness can not be said to exist. Even so, Rav Chayyim states at the beginning of this paragraph that the supernal root of Torah is in the “most supernal of the worlds that are called the worlds of Ein Sofe.” What are the “worlds of Ein Sofe”? In the Etz Chayyim, hei-khal ah-dahm kahd-mone, sha-ar bet, ah-nahf bet, Rav Chayyim Vittal states that there are a countless number of worlds between the Ein Sofe and the highest of the supernal worlds that are accessible to man. The highest accessible world that we can discuss only with great trepidation and with vastly incomplete knowledge is the “world” of Primeval Adam (o-lahm ah-dahm kahd-mone). Presumably, the source of Torah is even above that. Language and thought fail to be adequate for the task of addressing this topic..

And for that reason, using it [fem.] were emanated and created all of the worlds, upper and lower, as is written (Mishlei 8:30): “And I was with Him as a nursling1009Heb.: o-mahn”. And they (OBM) stated (Bereshit Rabba 1:2): “Don’t read it as ‘nursling’, but rather as ‘craftsman’1010Heb.: oo-mahn…”. And in Mishlei Rabbatta, beginning of parsha 9: “‘With all forms of wisdom did it [fem.] build its [fem.] house’ (Mishlei 9:1)—This is Torah, for it [fem.] built all the worlds.”

And the context is that the holy Torah is His (blessed be He) speech, and by the utterances of His (blessed be He) mouth during the creation event, were all the worlds created; that by sequencing the metamorphoses of the combination of letters according to the sequence of the two hundred and thirty-one gates, front and back, that are in the statement “In the beginning created…” [Bereshit 1:1], were the worlds emanated and created, the highest of the high, myriad, in their every arrangement of how they are situated, and the details of their contexts, and everything integrated within them. And so too with each and every utterance in it, according to the method discussed previously, all the details of the species and the contexts in that variety were created, about which that utterance was mentioned.

As is written in Zohar T’rooma 161a: “That when the Holy One (blessed be He) created the world, He gazed into it [fem.], into Torah, and created the world. And with the Torah was the world created, as we established, for it is written ‘And I will be a craftsperson in His domain…’. The Torah screams: ‘And I will be a craftsperson in His domain’—Using me did the Holy One (blessed be He) create the world, for before the world was created, the Torah existed prior... . And when the Holy One (blessed be He) desired to create the world, He gazed within it [fem.], the Torah, into each and every word, and acted based upon it [fem.] to craft the world, because all of the words and actions of all the worlds are in the Torah…, for it is written in the Torah: ‘In the beginning created…’. He gazed on that word and created the heavens. In the Torah is written: ‘And God-Elohi”m stated: let there be light’—He gazed at that word and created light. And that’s the way it was for each and every word that’s written in the Torah: the Holy One (blessed be He) gazed and did that word. And regarding this it’s written: ‘And I will be a craftsperson in His domain’. In this way the entire world was created.” This completes the quote.

And for that reason the entire Torah, and all of the worlds, taken as wholes and in all their details and structures and all of their contexts, are all incorporated and hinted at in the ten statements of the creation event. And this is as our great rabbi, the genius, the pious, our teacher Rabbi Eliyahu1011The Vilna Gaon (may the memory of the righteous and holy be for blessing) wrote in his commentary on the Sifra D’tzniuta in chapter five. And [for more details] refer to Zohar Bereshit 47a.

And for that reason they stated in the Zohar: “The Torah illuminates all the worlds, is their sustenance, maintains them and is the root of them all.”

And the matter is, that the worlds proceed according to the order in which they unfolded and gradually descended, that each world that is above and higher, it alone is the soul-Neshama, and the life-force, and the maintaining force, and the light of the world below it. However, the world of Ahtzeeloot has an additional quality over the three worlds B’reeya, Y’tzeera, Ahseeya, in that it extends and illuminates to all three of the worlds B’reeya, Y’tzeera, Ahseeya that are below it1012The Etz Chayyim explains that while each world is nourished and maintained by the world immediately above it, the world of Ahtzeeloot is exceptional, and performs those functions for all three worlds below it.. Refer to the Etz Chayyim, Sha’ar P’nee-mee-yoot V’khee-tzo-nee-yoot, d’roosh bet; and there at the beginning of d’roosh chet and the beginning of d’roosh yud; and in Sha’ar D’rooshei ABY”A, chapter 7; and in Sha’ar Ha-shei-mote, chapter 1; and in Sha’ar Klee-paht Noga, chapter 1. It is godliness in its entirety, as is written in the introduction to the Tikkoonim, that the King is within the ten s’feerote of Ahtzeeloot—He and His essence are identical in it, He and His sustenance are identical in it—which is not the case in the ten s’feerote of B’reeya, where they and He are not identical, He and their essence are not identical.

For that reason, the holy Torah, whose supernal hidden root is exceedingly high above even the emanation of His holiness1013Heb.: mei-ah-tzee-loot kahd-sho—Since the Torah’s origin is above even the world of Ahtzeeloot, it is the source of sustenance and illumination for all of the worlds below it, including Ahtzeeloot. (blessed be He) as mentioned above, and the Holy One (blessed be He) and the Torah are completely identical—it [fem.] is the soul-Neffesh and the sustenance and the illumination and the root of all the worlds. It being that just as at the time of the creation, within it [fem.] were emanated and created all of them, so too since then it [fem.] is their soul-Neshama, sustenance, maintaining force according to how they are situated. And lacking the influence of its [fem.] light within them, literally in every instant, to illuminate them, sustain them and maintain them, they would all return to literal nothingness and chaos.