הקדמה

81. “He began and said, etc.”He began his discourse and said: “My Sabbaths [et Shabbetotai]” (Leviticus 19:30). Et comes to include the Shabbat boundary, which is two thousand cubits in each direction. For this reason the verse added the word et, alef-tav. Shabbetotai, in the plural, is the higher Shabbat and the lower Shabbat, which are two, incorporated together and sealed together.

Explanation: “Et comes to include etc.” Although it is stated: “Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day” (Exodus 16:29), by means of the word et the Torah added two thousand cubits in each direction, from beyond one’s place. Et is the mystical meaning of the Malkhut from whose fusion the brains of Abba and Imma emerged, which shine on Shabbat in addition to the illumination of the [Ze’er Anpin] and Nukba. The Abba and Imma are the mystical meaning of two thousand. thus states “for this reason, it added et,” as et thereby comes to include.

[The Zohar] continues: “Shabbetotai is the higher Shabbat and the lower Shabbat.” The higher Shabbat is Tevuna, 1This refers to the female component of the lower aspect of Bina called Yisrael Sabba and Tevuna. while the lower Sabbath is Malkhut, the Nukba of Ze’er Anpin, which are called Mi and Ma (see section 8, above), or “the higher world” and “the lower world”; see there. They are “incorporated together” because on Shabbat [Ze’er Anpin] and Nukba ascend and enclothe Abba and Imma. Thus, Tevuna and Malkhut are incorporated in each other together because the lower [entity] that ascends to the higher [entity] becomes like [the higher entity]. They are “sealed together” because despite this [incorporation], the Malkhut still does not become actual Tevuna without any distinction between them. This is because these brains of Tevuna are received by Malkhut only above, in the place of Tevuna, whereas in the actual place of Malkhut, below, [Malkhut] does not have these brains. In that sense, the Malkhut is still considered sealed [off from the brains]. He adds that Tevuna also suffers from the sealed state of Malkhut, for since their brains are incorporated together, they are therefore also sealed together. It follows that although Tevuna by itself is not sealed at all – as now on Shabbat [Tevuna] is a unified partzuf with Imma Ila’ah2Imma Ila’ah is the female aspect of Abba and Imma Ila’in. – nevertheless, since the brains [of Tevuna] illuminate in one incorporation with the brains of the Malkhut, the sealing of Malkhut is therefore also detectable in the brains of Tevuna.