הקדמה

64. “And likewise, each and every word etc.”And likewise, each and every word of wisdom are fashioned into firmaments, established in full existence before the Atik Yomin, who calls them “new heavens,” that is, renewed heavens, which are sealed secrets of the supernal wisdom. And all the rest of the innovated words of Torah, which are not from the supernal Ḥokhma, stand before the Holy One, blessed be He, and ascend and become the lands of the living, and descend and are crowned into one land. Everything is renewed and becomes a new land by the strength of that word which was innovated in the Torah.

Explanation: The righteous proceed in this manner, continuously raising feminine waters and drawing those sublime levels from the Atik Yomin by means of these firmaments that were fashioned through the supernal [fusion through collision]. The mystical meaning of the “new heavens” is made from those firmaments, which are renewed at the level of the Atik Yomin, as stated. Therefore, those high attainments are called “sealed secrets of the supernal wisdom,” because they come enclothed in the garment that is drawn from the firmaments.

[The Zohar] continues: “All the rest of the [innovated] words of Torah etc. into one land. Everything is renewed and becomes a new land.” In each level, there are [the aspects of] Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut. Thus far, the discussion was only in reference to “the secrets of wisdom [Ḥokhma],” not of Bina, Ze’er Anpin [which is Tiferet], or Malkhut in each level. [Rabbi Shimon] thus says: “And become the lands of the living,” meaning that [these words] all become Bina, which is called “the land of the living.” They descend “and are crowned into one land,” that is, to Malkhut, which is called simply “land.” “Everything is renewed and becomes a new land,” because the Malkhut was crowned and received all the levels of the lands of the living, which are Bina, and by means of this [receiving], the Malkhut ascended to become Bina.

[Malkhut] is now called “a new land,” since what was previously Malkhut is now Bina. This is the mystical meaning of: “The Ban (or bet-nun) will in the future be Sag (or samekh-gimmel), and the Mah (or mem-heh) will be Ab (or ayin-bet).” The heavens are Ze’er Anpin, and now at the level of the Atik Yomin, they are in [the state of] “the secrets of the supernal wisdom [Ḥokhma].” Thus, the Mah, which is Ze’er Anpin, becomes Ab, that is, Ḥokhma; and “land,” which is Nukba of Ze’er Anpin, becomes Sag, that is, Bina. It follows that the mystical meaning of “new heavens and a new earth” is Mah and Ban that were nullified and have become Ab Sag.