הקדמה

185. “Rabbi Pineḥas was, etc.”Rabbi Pineḥas was often in the presence of Rabbi Reḥumai, by the shore of the Kinneret. [Rabbi Reḥumai] was a great and elderly man, and his eyes had grown dim. He said to Rabbi Pineḥas: “I have heard as a fact that our colleague Yoḥai has a gem, a valuable stone, i. e., a son. I peered at the light of that gem, which bursts forth like the shining of the sun from its sheath, illuminating the entire world.”

Explanation: The Malkhut, when fully rectified, is called “a valuable stone,” and it is [also] called “a gem.” [Rabbi Reḥumai] said: “Our colleague Yoḥai has a gem, a valuable stone,” [meaning that] he has already merited Malkhut with all of its rectifications and adornments. He peered, with the Holy Spirit, into the light of the gem, [and saw] that it was shining like the light of the sun upon its emergence from its sheath. This is the mystical meaning of the future rectification of Malkhut, that the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun [Isaiah 30:26], for then [the Malkhut] illuminates the entire world.

Now, after the light of the Malkhut became the light of the sun and its apex ascended to heaven, it illuminated from the heaven to the earth in one pillar of light, to the entire world. [That pillar] was continuously illuminating until Rabbi Shimon Bar Yoḥai was able to rectify the throne of Atik Yomin properly [see next section]. This is alluding to the fact that he had already merited the two revelations of the completion of the rectification, which are the six verses and six names (as stated in section #145#, above). The “light [that] stands from heaven to the earth etc.” [see next section] is the mystical meaning of the six verses, while “until Atik Yomin arrives and sits on the throne properly” is the mystical meaning of the six names; see there thoroughly.