Group None

And this is the elegance of Hillel’s phrasing, “If I am not for myself, who is for me, etc.” For this is not the phrasing of a question, like the simple understanding of the world. Rather, it is a statement: If I am not for myself, meaning if the prayer, which is called I, as is well-known, is not for me, meaning for my own benefit, but rather as if it is the divine presence that is pleading and praying from the Holy One, blessed be He – that is [for] the unification of the Holy One, blessed be He, and the divine presence – then Who [Mi] is for me. For there is a trait that is called Who, which is Understanding [Binah], which is called the living God, and that is the life of the King, from which there is life. And since he has connected Kingship [Malkhut, which is the diving presence], to the Holy One, blessed be He, which is life, then minds from Understanding, which is called life, are drawn to him, so life is automatically drawn to me, as it is impossible for it to be otherwise. [This is the case] even though he did not intend it for himself