שער היחוד והאמונה

Now, the name Elokim is the name which indicates the attribute of gevurah and tzimtzum, hence it is also numerically equal to hateva1The numerical value of each word is 86. Pardes, Shaar 12, ch. 2. See also Shaloh, Shaar HaOtiot, 89a. (nature), for it [Elokim] conceals the supernal light which brings the world into existence and gives it life, and it appears as though the world exists and conducts itself in a natural way.2I.e., according to fixed, immutable laws, in no way dependent upon or influenced by anything supernatural. Divinity is not readily evident in nature. And this name Elokim is a shield and a covering for the name Havaya, to conceal the light and life-force which flows from the name Havaya and brings creation into existence from naught, so that it [the light and life-force] should not be revealed to the creatures, who thereby would become absolutely nullified.3Since the light and life-force is too abundant and powerful for finite creatures to exist without its concealment and contraction.

This quality of gevurah and tzimtzum is also a quality of chesed for through it [tzimtzum and gevurah] the world is built. And this is the quality of gevurah which is included in chesed.

From the inclusion of the attributes one in the other, it is evident that “He and His attributes are One,” for since they are in a complete unity with Him, they therefore unite with each other and are comprised of each other.4The attributes, or sefirot, are interconnected with each other and function harmoniously together. They are also mutually inclusive—each attribute contains all the others—and are differentiated only by the predominance of the particular quality which gives each its name. Cf. Pardes, Shaar 8, ch. 2. As Elijah said, “You are He who binds [the attributes] together and unites them…; and aside from You there is no unity among those above….”5Tikkunei Zohar, Introduction.

This, then, is the meaning of that which is written “And take to your heart that Havaya is Elokim”6Deuteronomy 4:39. Here follows the answer to the question raised above, beginning of ch. 1.—that is, these two names are actually one, for even the name Elokim, which contracts and conceals the light, is a quality of chesed, just as the name Havaya. For the attributes of the Holy One, blessed is He, unite with Him in a complete unity, and “He and His Name are One,”7Cf. Zohar II:19b. for His attributes are His Names.8The attributes correspond to the specific Names of G–d, namely—Havaya corresponds to kindness and mercy, Elokim to might, Ad-nay to sovereignty, etc. Cf. Zohar III:10b, 11a.

Since this is so, you will consequently know that “In the heavens above and on the earth below, en od—there is nothing else [besides G–d].”9Deuteronomy, ibid. Thus, the unity of G–d does not mean only that there are no other gods, but that there is nothing apart from Him, i.e., there is no existence whatsoever apart from His existence; the whole Creation is nullified within Him as the rays of the sun within the orb of the sun. This is the meaning of yichudah ilaah (higher level Unity), which will be further explained in ch. 7, below. This means that even the material earth, which appears to the eyes of all to be actually existing, is naught and complete nothingness in relation to the Holy One, blessed is He. For the name Elokim conceals and contracts [the light and life-force] only for the lower [creatures], but not for the Holy One, blessed is He, since He and His Name Elokim are One. Therefore, even the earth and that which is below it are naught and complete nothingness in relation to the Holy One, blessed is He, and are not called by any name at all, not even the name od (else) which is an expression indicating a secondary, subordinate status, as the statement of our Sages of blessed memory, “Yehudah v’od likrah,”10Kiddushin 6a. In English: “Does a verse in the Torah require additional or secondary substantiation from the customs of the Land of Judah?” [unlike] the body which is subordinate to the soul and life-force within it [and is referred to as od]. [And this is the meaning of the verse: “I will praise Havaya with my life (soul) and will sing to Elokim be’odi”11Psalms 146:3. (with my body). For the soul is derived from the name Havaya and the od, which is the body, the subordinate (of the soul), from the name Elokim.]12Brackets are the author’s. For the soul does not bring the body into existence ex nihilo, [hence it can be called od in relation to the soul], but the Holy One, blessed is He, Who brings everything into existence ex nihilo—everything is absolutely nullified in relation to Him, just as the light of the sun [is nullified] in the sun.

Therefore, it was necessary for Scripture to warn, “And know this day and take to your heart…,” 13Deuteronomy, ibid. so that it should not enter your mind that the heavens and all their host and the earth and all therein are separate entities in themselves, and that the Holy One, blessed is He, fills the whole world—in the same way as the soul is invested in the body, causing the flow of the vegetative force into the earth, and the force of motion into the celestial spheres, moving them and directing them according to His Will—just as the soul moves the body and directs it according to its will.

In truth, however, the analogy bears no similarity whatsoever to the object of comparison since the soul and the body are actually separate from each other in their very sources. The source of the body and its essence comes into being not from the soul, but from the seed of his father and mother, and even afterward, his growth is not from the soul alone, but through his mother’s eating and drinking all the nine months [of gestation], and subsequently through his own eating and drinking. This is not so, however, in the case of heaven and earth, for their very being and essence was brought into existence from naught and absolute nothingness, solely through the “word of G–d” and the “breath of His mouth,” blessed be He. And the word of G–d still stands forever [in all created things], and flows into them continuously at every instant and continuously brings them into existence from nothing, just as, for example, the coming into existence of the light from the sun within the very globe of the sun. Hence, in reality, they [heaven and earth] are completely nullified in relation to the “word of G–d” and the “breath of His mouth,” blessed be He, which are unified with His Essence and Being, blessed be He, as will be explained later,14Below, ch. 7. just as the light of the sun is nullified in the sun.

Yet these are His restraining powers, to hide and conceal, through the attribute of gevurah and tzimtzum, the life-force which flows into them, so that heaven and earth and all their hosts should appear as if they were independently existing entities. However, the tzimtzum and concealment is only for the lower [worlds], but in relation to the Holy One, blessed is He, “everything before Him is considered as actually naught,”15Zohar I:11b. just as the light of the sun in the sun. And the attribute of gevurah does not, Heaven forfend, conceal for Him, blessed be He, for it is not an independent entity—since Havaya is Elokim.