הקדמה

61. “In the beginning. Rabbi Shimon etc.”“In the beginning.” Rabbi Shimon began his discourse with the following exposition: “I placed My words in your mouth” (Isaiah 51:16). How much must a person toil in the Torah day and night, because the Holy One, blessed be He, listens to the voices of those who are engaged in the Torah. With each word that is renewed in the Torah, by means of that person who labors in the Torah, He fashions one firmament.

Explanation: The Holy One, blessed be He, gave His power of speech into the mouths of the righteous, as He declares: You are with Me, to partner with Me. Just I fashioned the heaven and earth with My speech, as it is stated: “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made” (Psalms 33:6), the same applies to you. So too, the righteous will create heaven by the power of their speech. With that, Rabbi Shimon began his discourse on the verse: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). “Created” is a sealed word, a language of closing rather than opening, as stated above. It must be understood why He fashioned them in a sealed state. He says that He did so in order to place the completion of the rectification of heaven and earth in the speech of the righteous, thereby rendering them partners with Him in the creation of heaven and earth. This is why [Rabbi Shimon] cites the verse: “I placed My words in your mouth.”

It can be explained that here there are two aspects of the renewal of heaven and earth, which He placed in the mouths of the righteous:

1. To rectify the sin of Adam the first [man], for the Emanator fashioned the rectification of heaven and earth in a lofty form before the sin of Adam the first [man]. The verses of the act of creation explain that Ze’er Anpin and Nukba of Atzilut ascended to Arikh Anpin and Abba and Imma Ila'in, and Adam the first [man] ascended and enclothed [himself with] Yisrael Sabba and Tevuna and Ze’er Anpin and Nukba of Atzilut. Adam the first [man] had [the levels of] nefesh, ruaḥ and neshama of Atzilut, which is called “supernal brightness,” to the extent that Adam’s heel darkened the sphere of the sun (see Bava Batra 58a). After the sin of the Tree of Knowledge, he descended to this corporeal world (see Ḥagiga 12a) and now his nefesh, ruaḥ and neshama come to him from the three worlds of Beria, Yetzira, and Asiya of separation. The heaven and earth of Atzilut were reduced on [Adam's] account to [a level of] six extremities and a point, from the navel of Arikh Anpin and below.1This represents a reduction from a fully formed set of partzufim to the reduced structure of six extremities (the sefirot in the level of Tiferet) and a point (the reduced form of the sefira of Malkhut). It also indicates a descent to the area below the "navel" of Arikh Anpin, a much lower region than before. The [responsibility of this] rectification lies upon the righteous, to rectify all the impairments caused by the sin, and once again to renew the heaven and earth of Atzilut, which are Ze’er Anpin and Nukba, and to elevate them to Arikh Anpin and Abba and Imma Ila'in, as they were before the sin. The righteous themselves will be given back the supernal brightness of Adam the first [man], which is [the aspects of] nefesh, ruaḥ and neshama from the world of Atzilut.

2. Even Adam the first [man], before the sin, did not have all the perfection that the Emanator wished to grant him. Therefore, once the righteous rectify the sin of the Tree of Knowledge and attain the completion of nefesh, ruaḥ and neshama of Atzilut that Adam the first [man] had before the sin, a new task will be imposed upon them – to draw forth all the supernal minds that have never yet been in the world at all, which is the mystical meaning of: “No eye has seen it, God, aside from You” (Isaiah 64:3).

These worlds, which no eye has seen, and which the righteous will complete, are called “new heavens and a new earth” (Isaiah 65:17), for they are truly new, as they have never yet completely existed. This is not the case for the heavens and earth, which the righteous will renew and return to the state they were in at the act of creation, before the sin of Adam the first [man]. They are not considered a truly new heaven and earth, since they already existed once in the world, for the Emanator already rectified them Himself before the sin. Rather, they are renewed, as after they were impaired and nullified, they were renewed once again.

Consequently, these righteous are still not yet considered partners with the Holy One, blessed be He. Thus, the verse: “I placed My words in your mouth,” which Rabbi Shimon cites, refers to the supernal minds which Adam the first [man] also lacked, since they were truly innovated by the righteous and had not yet emerged from the Emanator. Accordingly, the righteous are considered actual partners [with the Emanator] with respect to [these worlds].

[The Zohar] continues: “The Holy One, blessed be He, listens to the voices of those who are engaged in the Torah. With each word that is renewed in the Torah etc.” Ze’er Anpin is called a “voice,” and its Nukba is called “speech.” When a righteous person engages in [the study of] the Torah, he raises feminine waters to Ze’er Anpin and Nukba through the voice and speech of his Torah [study], as the voice ascends to Ze’er Anpin and the speech ascends to the Nukba. This is the meaning of the statement: “The Holy One, blessed be He, listens to the voice of those who are engaged in the Torah,” that the voice of Torah ascends as feminine waters to Ze’er Anpin, which is called “the Holy One, blessed be He.” “With each word that is renewed in the Torah etc. He fashions one firmament.” “Word” means speech. Each and every word that is renewed in the Torah of the one engaged in Torah [study] ascends as feminine waters to the Nukba, which is called by the name “word” and “speech.” Through this, one firmament is fashioned. A firmament is the mystical meaning of the partition upon which is performed the pairing of the Holy One, blessed be He, with His Divine Presence. 2In Kabbalistic language, these two aspects are described as male and female and engage in a union called the "unification of the Holy One and His Divine Presence. " This is achieved by means of the feminine waters that the righteous raise through their engagement in the Torah.

As for the concept of innovation that is said [to be associated] with the “word of the Torah,” rather than saying an innovation in the voice of the Torah, this is because the Nukba requires a new construction of its Yesod for each pairing. This is because after each pairing, [the Nukba] returns to a virgin state. By means of the feminine waters of the righteous, the aspect of Yesod in [the Nukba] is continuously renewed, that is, the receptacle for the lights of Ze’er Anpin [are continuously renewed to receive those lights]. Therefore, [Rabbi Shimon specifically] says: “With each word that is renewed in the Torah, as the word, which is Malkhut, is actually renewed through the word of Torah of the righteous, for after every pairing its receptacle disappears once again, as explained.