אגרת הקודש

THIRTY-ONE. Well known throughout1Lit., well known in the gates; par. Proverbs 31:23. is the statement in the Tikkunim that the “Shechinah is suffering in the exile”—as it were.2Cf. Zohar II:189a-b.

Metaphorically speaking, it is like a bodily ailment [“Who makes a distinction between holy…”3Between holy and profane; Liturgy, Havdalah (par. Leviticus 10:10). A phrase used to emphasize the essential distinction between the subject and object of the metaphorical analogy.]. The cause of illness or health lies in the extension and flow of the life-force vested in the blood of life4Cf. Leviticus 17:11. which flows from the heart to all the limbs, and turning round and around goes the spirit of life5Par. Ecclesiastes 1:6. and the blood into all the limbs, through the veins6Emended according to H. V. that are absorbed in them, and returns to the heart.

Now, when the circulation and flow of this spirit of life is always as it should be, in its proper order arranged for it by the Fountainhead of life,7Lit., the Life of life (see above, Epistle 17, note 4). blessed is He, man is perfectly healthy. For all the limbs are bound together and receive their proper vitality from the heart through this circulation.

But if there is any disorder in any place, restraining, hindering, or reducing the circulation of the blood with the spirit of life vested in it, then this bond [which binds all the limbs to the heart through this circulation] is broken or diminished and man will fall ill and sick, may the L–rd have mercy.

Precisely so, metaphorically speaking, all the souls of Israel are regarded as the limbs of the Shechinah8Zohar III:17a; ibid. 231b (Raaya Mehemna); Tikkunei Zohar 21 (52a). which is called the “heart,” as it is written:9Psalms 73:26. “The Rock of my heart,”10See Shir Hashirim Rabbah 5:2 (l); Zohar I:59a (cf. Nitzutzei Orot, ad loc.); Zohar II:128b. See also Tikkunei Zohar 21 (52a). and as it is written: “And I will dwell among them.”11Exodus 25:8. That is, the term Shechinah denotes that the light of the L–rd dwells in the worlds Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah in order to vivify them.

The issue of this vivification is by means of a prior investment in the souls of Israel. This is so because none of the creatures are in any approximation to the Creator, blessed be He, for all that are before Him are esteemed as truly naught.12Zohar I:11b. Thus it is impossible for them to receive vivification from His light and effluence, blessed be He, to become creatures ex nihilo into substantiality, and to be living and subsisting.13Cf. above, Epistle 20. (This is made possible) only through the souls that rose in His thought14See Bereishit Rabbah 1:4. and preceded the creation of the worlds by the aspect of Speech.15The creation of the world was by means of the Divine fiats; see Avot 5:1; cf. above, Epistles 5 and 25. Thus our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “With whom did the Holy One, blessed is He, take counsel…,”16Bereishit Rabbah 8:7; Rut Rabbah 2:3. as was made known elsewhere.

And it is well known throughout17See above, note 1. that the whole issuance of vivification, and the effluence from the upper worlds to those lower than them, are as stated in the Sefer Yetzirah: “Their beginning is wedged in their culmination, and their culmination is wedged in their beginning.”18Sefer Yetzirah 1:7; cf. the commentary attributed to R. Abraham ibn Daud, ad loc.—The primordial souls in the “original thought” of G–d are thus the conduit for the Divine issuance and effluence. In the writings of the Arizal,19See above, Epistle 5, note 103. this is referred to as or yashar (direct light), and or chozer (reflective light),20See above, Epistle 20. and as it is written: “And the animals advanced and retreated (ratzo veshov).”21Ezekiel 1:14.

Thus, according to these words and this truth22Par. II Chronicles 32:1.—which it is not possible to explain properly in writing—it follows that the Shechinah is referred to as “heart,” and the souls as “limbs.” This teaches us that when all the souls are attached and bound together, the circulation and flow of the vivification and of the effluence “turns around and around,” and “their culmination is wedged in their beginning” to bind and join them all to “the L–rd (who) is One” to be attached to Him, blessed be He. And thus it is written:23Deuteronomy 29:9, 10. “You are standing this day, all of you, before the L–rd your G–d—[stating expressly: “all of you,” and stating expressly: “before”]—your heads…from the hewer of your wood….”24Cf. above, Epistle 22b, and the notes, ad loc.

And hereby will be understood the saying of our Sages, of blessed memory, that the destruction of the Second Temple and the Fall of Israel into exile, and the withdrawal of the Shechinah and its descent to Edom,25See above, Epistle 25, note 48. into a fate of exile, as it were; all this was because of the sin of groundless hate and a division of hearts,26Yoma 9b. the Merciful save us. And that is why (the Shechinah) is referred to as ailing, metaphorically speaking. As27Emended according to H. V. for “He raises the fallen, and heals the sick,”28Liturgy, opening benedictions of the Amidah. in plural form, these are all the limbs….