שער היחוד והאמונה

SHAAR HAYICHUD VEHAEMUNAH1Portal of Unity and Belief.Let us understand [at least] in a small measure the statement in the Zohar2I:18b. The Zohar is the most basic Kabbalistic work consisting of the mystical interpretation of the Pentateuch. It was written by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in the Mishnaic period. that Shema Yisrael…3Deuteronomy 6:4. “Hear, O Israel.” is yichudah ilaah (“higher level Unity”) and Baruch Shem Kevod Malchuto Leolam Vaed 4“Blessed be the Name of the glory of His kingdom for ever and ever.” is yichudah tataah (“lower level Unity”).

“Know this day and take to your heart that Havaya is Elokim (G–d is the L–rd)5The Ineffable Name—the Name of four letters, Y-H-V-H—is pronounced in conversation Havaya. The prescribed traditional reading in Scripture and prayer is Ad-nay. Hence, the usual English rendition of L–rd. However, the name Havaya refers to G–d the Infinite, transcending creation and nature, omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. Therefore, it is here translated “G–d.” The name Elokim emphasizes G–d’s justice and rulership (see Rashi’s commentary, Genesis 2:5, 6:2), therefore it is translated “L–rd” instead of the usual rendition of G–d. The original Hebrew readings of both names, rather than their translations, are retained throughout this text as their definition and explanation form a basic part of this treatise and are fully explained in chs. 4 and 6, below. in the heavens above and upon the earth below; there is no other.”6Deuteronomy 4:39. This requires explanation. For would it occur to you that there is a god “soaking” in the waters beneath the earth that it is necessary to negate it so strongly [as to say,] “Take to your heart?”7A simple negative statement would suffice to repudiate the absurd polytheistic notion of a deity inhabiting the waters. Obviously, the emphasis upon the importance of meditation and contemplation that “there is no other” points to a rejection of something far more subtle. The answer to this question will be found in ch. 6. The first five chapters give the reader sufficient background to understand it.

It is written: “Forever, O L–rd, Your word stands firm in the heavens.”8Psalms 119:89. The Baal Shem Tov,9Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov (1698-1760), founder of the Chasidic movement. of blessed memory, has explained that “Your word” which you uttered, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters…,” 10Genesis 1:6. these very words and letters11I.e., the Divine creating forces which bring everything into existence ex nihilo. See below, ch. 11, for a full explanation of this concept. See also Likkutei Amarim, Part I, chs. 20-22. stand firmly forever within the firmament of heaven and are forever clothed within all the heavens to give them life, as it is written, “The word of our G–d shall stand firm forever”12Isaiah 40:8. and “His words live and stand firm forever….”13Cf. Liturgy, Morning Prayer, Blessing after the Shema. For if the letters were to depart [even] for an instant, G–d forbid, and return to their source, all the heavens would become naught and absolute nothingness, and it would be as though they had never existed at all, exactly as before the utterance, “Let there be a firmament.”

And so it is with all created things, in all the upper and lower worlds, and even this physical earth, which is the realm of the silent (inanimate).14Life on our earth is generally classified into four “realms”: Domem—the “silent,” inanimate world, such as water, earth, etc.; Tzomeach—vegetable or plant life; Chai—living or animal life; Medaber—the speaking or human realm. If the letters of the Ten Utterances15  Avot 5:1. “The world was created by means of Ten Utterances.” In the narration of the Creation in the first chapter of Genesis, the words “And G–d said, Let…,” occur nine times. The first word of the chapter, Bereishit (In the beginning), indicates the first Divine utterance of command which created the heavens, as it is written, “By the word of G–d the heavens were made” (Psalms 33:6). Cf. Rosh Hashanah 32a; Bereishit Rabbah 17:1; commentaries on Avot, ad locum. See also Maharsha, Rosh Hashanah, loc. cit. by which the earth was created during the Six Days of Creation were to depart from it [but] for an instant, G–d forbid, it would revert to naught and absolute nothingness, exactly as before the Six Days of Creation.

This same thought was expressed by the Arizal16Rabbi Yitzchak Luria Ashkenazi, of blessed memory (1534-1572)—in Etz Chaim, Shaar Man U’Mad, Section 3. when he said that even in completely inanimate matter, such as stones or earth or water, there is a soul and spiritual life-force—that is, the enclothing of the “Letters of speech”17In contrast to the Divine “letters of thought” from which the “hidden” supernal worlds come into being. See below, ch. 11. of the Ten Utterances which give life and existence to inanimate matter that it might arise out of the naught and nothingness which preceded the Six Days of Creation.

Now, although the name even (stone) is not mentioned in the Ten Utterances recorded in the Torah, nevertheless, life-force flows to the stone through combinations and substitutions of the letters which are transposed in the “two hundred and thirty-one gates,”18Phrase used to denote the doctrine of “combination of letters” in all its aspects. Specifically, it refers to the arrangement of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet in two-lettered combinations which yield a total of 462 combinations (22 x 21). Of these, half are the exact reverse of the other half, e.g., אב—בא, גד—דג. Hence, there are 231 two-lettered combinations in direct order and the same number in reverse order. Combinations of groups of three or more letters would, of course, yield a greater number of combinations. Combining the letters in this way involves only the arrangement of the same letters in a different order. According to certain systematic rules, the twenty-two letters may be interchanged and substituted one for another (see below, ch. 7, note 3), and they may subsequently be arranged in various combinations. Thus, the number of combinations is incalculable and gives rise to the multitudinous profusion of created beings. either in direct or reverse order, as is explained in the Sefer Yetzirah,19Ch. 2:4-5. Sefer Yetzirah is one of the oldest Kabbalistic works. until the combination of the name even descends20When rearranging the letters of any word into a new combination, the original thought is obscured. Similarly the rearrangements of the supernal letters into a new combination constitutes concealment and diminution of the original vitality and life-force. Since the name even (like all other things not mentioned in the account of creation) is a new combination of the letters of the Ten Utterances, it is on a lower level than those specifically mentioned in the process of creation. This is what is meant by the “descent” of a combination. from the Ten Utterances, and is derived from them, and this is the life-force of the stone.

And so it is with all created things in the world—their names in the Holy Tongue are the very “letters of speech” which descend, degree by degree, from the Ten Utterances recorded in the Torah, by means of substitutions and transpositions of letters through the “two hundred and thirty-one gates,” until they reach and become invested in that particular created thing to give it life.

[This descent is necessary] because individual creatures are not capable of receiving their life-force directly from the Ten Utterances of the Torah, for the life-force issuing directly from them is far greater than the capacity of the individual creatures. They can receive the life-force only when it descends and is progressively diminished, degree by degree, by means of substitutions and transpositions of the letters and by gematriot, their numerical values,21Each Hebrew letter has its own numerical value, e.g., א equals 1, ב equals 2, and so forth. Gematria is the calculation of the numerical values of Hebrew words—for example, אחד equals 13. Gematria represents an even greater descent and diminution of the light and life-force than the combination, substitution, etc., of the Divine letters, for here the relationship between the two words is only a numerical one. See below, end ch. 7. until the life-force can be condensed and enclothed and there can be brought forth from it a particular creature.

And the name by which it is called in the Holy Tongue is a vessel for the life-force22Thus, a name is not merely an arbitrary method of distinguishing one person or object from another but is actually related to one’s soul. This elucidates the statement in the Talmud (Yoma 83b, Tanchuma Hakadum, Bereishit 30) that Rabbi Meir recognized the character and nature of a person merely by knowing his name. For further explanation see Likkutei Torah, Behar 41c; Mayim Rabbim 5636, ch. 22; Sefer Hamaamarim 5708, pp. 154-7. condensed into the letters of that name which has descended from the Ten Utterances in the Torah that have power and vitality to create being ex nihilo and give it life forever. For the Torah and the Holy One, blessed is He, are one.23Cf. Zohar I:240; II:60a. See also Tikkunim 6, 22. This is more fully explained by the author in Likkutei Amarim, Part I, chs. 23, 24.