הקדמה

137. “And with regard to this, etc.”And with regard to this, David declared: “Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul would almost have dwelled in silence [duma]” [Psalms 94:17]. “Unless the Lord had been my help,” that is, had He not been my guardian [apotropa] and watchman over me, with respect to the angel Duma. “Would almost have dwelled etc.” – what is [the meaning of] “almost”? Like the measure of a fine thread that is between me and the Other Side [Sitra Aḥara]; it was that measure away from my soul dwelling with Duma, that is, with the angel Duma in Gehennom. Apotropa means a guardian, a watchman, for the Aramaic translation of “and let him appoint overseers” (Genesis 41:34) is “and let him appoint an apotropos.”

Explanation: David is the mystical meaning of Malkhut, regarding which it is stated: “Her feet go down to death” [Proverbs 5:5], because [Malkhut] is the aspect of the endpoint of holiness, from which the Sitra Aḥara and the kelippot are sustained, in the mystical meaning of the verse: “And His kingdom rules over all” (Psalms 103:19). However, when the Malkhut is in its rectified state, with the attribute of mercy, in the manner that Rabbi Ḥiyya stated above (section #122#), it is considered as two points, which are the point of judgment, [derived] from itself, and the point of mercy, which [the Malkhut] received from Bina. The judgment within it is concealed and hidden, and only the mercy within it is in a revealed state; see there.

By virtue of this rectification, the Sitra Aḥara has [access] only [to] a thin light from the illumination of the Malkhut. This [light] is only sufficient for a root for the sustenance of the kelippot, but they have no power of expansion at all. This root is also called “a fine [ḥuta] thread,” which means a thin root for sins [ḥata’im]. This is as the Sages said: “Initially, [the evil inclination] is like a strand of a spider’s web, but subsequently it is like the thick ropes of a wagon” [Sukka 52a]. It is called “thin” because it is the judgment that is concealed and hidden at the point of mercy, as stated.

However, one who impairs his covenant causes the point of judgment in Malkhut to be exposed, and then the kelippot approach it and suckle great shefa from it, receiving strength for a great expansion. One who does this actively forfeits his soul, in the mystical meaning of the verse: “By the breath of God they perish” (Job 4:9). But when he merits and repents, he rectifies the Malkhut once again with the rectification of the attribute of mercy. This is why it is called teshuva [repentance], which has the letters of tashuv heh [“let heh return”], that is, this brings the attribute of mercy back to her place, and thus the power of judgment is concealed inside her once more, in the mystical meaning of only a thin light.

This is the meaning of the statement: “Unless the Lord had been my help, been my guardian.” In other words, He accepted my repentance and repelled the angel Duma to his place, as stated. He brought the Malkhut back to its place, to the attribute of mercy, and left only a thin light from the attribute of judgment, “‘almost, ’ like the measure of a fine thread that is between me and the Other Side.” That is, only that small amount which must necessarily remain between the Malkhut and the Sitra Aḥara, in order to give the [Sitra Aḥara] sustenance through a slight illumination, called “a fine thread.” “It was that measure away from my soul dwelling with Duma” – this measure saved me from falling into the hands of the angel Duma. Had the power of judgment in Malkhut not returned to the measure of a fine thread, I would have already been in the hands of Duma.