Da'at Tevunot Reader

Said the Soul - I now understand that which is adequate for me now in the matter of this incarnation and the reward of the future. Now we need to complete the matters that we started:

Said the Intellect - After we understood the existence of man and the matters between his soul and body, through the changing periods and order of time which are enacted for him, behold we need to understand how the Holy One blessed is He interacts with him through all of these times, whether in regard to his body, and in regard to his soul:

Said the Soul - The order is certainly appropriate, for everything needs to be settled in its way, place and time. Now please complete your words:

Said the intellect - See, there are physical essences and spiritual essences. And behold how much difference there is between them, for physicality is certainly lesser relative to spirituality, whose matters are glorified and elevated. And behold how much illumination there is in the spiritual ones and how much darkness and deficiency in the physical ones. Therefore there are for us here two types of creations, creation with great illumination and widespread G-dly emanation and a creation with minimized illumination and minimized G-dly emanation.

And these two characteristics, the character of the creation with illumination and the character of the creation without illumination, the character of the illumination is from the consequences of the construct of His goodness, and the character of the creation without illumination - is from the consequences of the absence of His goodness. And you will see, that the spiritual ones - all of the occupation is with matters of holiness; but the physical ones - their matters are secular matters and lowly and loathsome things.

And we find, that all of the work of man under the sun is nothing but vanity of vanities, and the superiority of man over the beast is not to eat and to drink, and to do business in the world, these are all certainly lesser and insignificant. The general rule is, all matters of physicality and of nature are darkness and not light, in that the Master may He be blessed hides his countenance from the world and does not illuminate it with the light of His holiness, just the opposite, he leaves them in disorder without direction, in these lowly ways.

But the matters of the spiritual ones - this is the path where the light of His countenance resides may He be blessed, for He lights them with His holiness, and this is straightforward. And now you should know, that these two are the foundations of his interaction may He be blessed and its root with all his creations - the character of hiding of countenance, that He is hidden and concealed and does not reveal the splendor of his glory, and the character of the illumination of the countenance:

And that which applies to His behavior - applies to the creation because the course and murky creations were not created other than through hiding of His countenance, for the face of His holiness was not illuminated for them, and the honorable spiritual ones were created through the illumination of His countenance. And according to these fundamental principles was this connection between the body and the soul; that the soul, its matters in all their ways, come and continue through hiding of his countenance; and the soul and all of its matters - through the illumination of His countenance.

And behold that man himself is the rectifier and the rectified, for he himself does he rectify through his service, and this is the subject (Sanhedrin 99b), "And you shall do them.." - it is written and you shall do you (Atem), that was explicated by the sages may their memory be for a blessing, and it is in his power [man's] to strengthen the physical and its ways himself or the spiritual and its ways.

For if he goes after the vision of his eyes and the physical path of his heart, behold his soul, in place of that which was appropriate for it to be, to help the body, in order to refine it as we explained, just the opposite, causes loss and great damage to itself, for it is immersed in darkness. And the opposite of this, if he strengthens himself against his inclination and turns away from the path of vanity, in order to travel in the path of the Torah and Mitzvah - the soul will dominate over the body and refine it:

And now you will see the revolving of the world, and the difference between those who lived earlier and those who live later, for in truth, one who sets upon their heart the matter which G-d gave to be answered, will be quite amazed by the desire for man to see it running to and fro, day and night without rest, fatigued and tired. And for what are they working - for food and drink, for vanities of vanities which are nothing, for a world of emptiness of the darkness, here today and in the grave tomorrow.

But one who is fortunate to see, sees and understands that not for this was man created, rather it would be appropriate that his occupation be only with the grasping of the glory of his master, for it was for this that he was created, and he was given a great deal of knowledge and wisdom, and not to multiply business dealings, or any other immaterial maters. But it is man who spoiled his actions, and caused these for himself today.

And in every generation the world is deficient and continues in this matter. For the early ones were closer to the wisdom, and directed towards the intellect, and the later ones are more distant from the intellect and submerged in physical matters and ordinary nature, in business and all works of art, where afterwards man has nothing as we explained earlier. And all this is possible as we said, because the body was created by the singular master may He be blessed through hiding of His countenance, and not through illumination of his countenance, therefore his existence is dark and murky; which is not the case for the soul, for it is just the opposite, created through illumination of his countenance and a view towards the good, therefore it exists and is eternal, and its creation is pure.

And indeed, if man strengthened his body and it dominates him, the master may His name be blessed, will measure him in the character with which he measures - to interact with him only through hiding of his countenance. And from this we find that he will be very far from the light of life, from wisdom and knowledge, and submerged in filthy material rubbish and the vanities of this world:

And you will see that this is what happened to man from the beginning, and to his progeny afterward to this day; for when it was that they followed their eyes and the body rules and not the soul, therefore the Holy One blessed is He also went with them in hiding of his countenance. And to Adam was said from the beginning "...by the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread" (Genesis 3:9), and from then and onward "all of the work of man is for his mouth, and also the soul shall not be filled" (Ecclesiastes 6:7). And behold wisdom became excluded and was removed from mankind:

And this is a great principle, with the boundary that is set by his mind - so are the thoughts of man and his desires. Do you not see - a young child does not recognize what is wisdom, and will not have desire for it at all, rather just the opposite, for a child will flee from school, and will not think there is goodness other than the vanities which which he is occupied; and when his knowledge expands and his boundaries expand, he returns to desire things which are more proper, and on this path according to all of his elevations.

So it is generally for humanity - when it was that all were receiving G-dly emanation from the great illumination, they did not find personal satisfaction other than from wisdom, and from that which is truly good; and when it its the case that all are not receiving G-dly emanation, they don't recognize as good other than the vanities of this world. And this is the negativity which was made after the sin of Adam, that removed the G-dly emanation and the illumination from humanity, and they remained sunken still in coarse physical matters.

However when the Holy One blessed is He rectified things for Israel through the giving of the Torah, they damaged themselves with the calf and the rmainder of their transgressions with all their sins, and the world remained in darkness in the apparent ways of nature:

It is not like this when man rules his soul, for then the Holy One blessed is He will also illuminate his countenance upon him, and will elevate him to a great level to be like one of the Seraphs, for the righteous are greater than the ministering angels, and it is like it was for the generation of knowledge at Mount Sinai, and like it will be in the future at the time that it says (Joel 3:1) "I shall pour my spirit upon all flesh...":

And here also this good has gradations that Israel and the world merited in different generations, sometimes more and sometimes less; as for example, the generation of Moses, the generation of David, the generation of Solomon, and like that all the generations which merited good, it all was the illumination of the countenance of the Blessed One upon them according to the elevation of their souls, which were elevated by the power of their deeds:

And see, that when we understand the details of the existence of the body and the soul, and their situations in the hiding of haShem's countenance and illumination of his countenance, as they were created in al the parts of their details in this matter, we will understand from itself the general rules of the organization of His behavior may He be blessed in the way that he guided and guides his world, at times towards the good and at times towards the negative G-d forbid; and we will see how much great wisdom we find in this behavior; and we will see also what a great principle it is in man, that with him - in his matters and upon his actions - are dependent the entire world, and all that is done with it from the beginning until the end:

Said the Soul - Certainly these words are very settling upon the heart, to see the great wisdom in His behavior may His name be blessed, and how the matters are connected to each other - the creation of man and all the occurs to him, and the creation of the world and all that is in it.

Said the Intellect - I will say further to you on this subject, that when we descend into the details of the matters of the soul and the body, we will understand well how all of them are dependent on this root of the two characteristics that we mentioned, for each one of them can be discussed in all of its matters based on its source, and this is an adequate reason for all of these matters. And not only this, but the decree from his wisdom may He be blessed, was to demonstrate the paths of these characteristics in the body and the soul which come about through them.

And we find, that even though the body comes through hiding of His countenance, it and its matters, still it in properties and parts are drawn entirely from the behavior of hiding of His countenance; and the soul is also drawn entirely from the behavior of illumination of his countenance. This is a detail in our parsing of man as it says in regard to him (Genesis 1:26) "...in our image and likeness" - the the demonstrates in his form all of the arrangement of His characteristics may He be blessed:

And you will see that there is no existence of the body other than darkness, for even when it reaches the greatest merit that can be found in int, never the less it still needs to be differentiated from the soul, and it can only be differentiated through this separation - that the soul is essentially glorious illumination and comes from the illumination of His countenance may He be blessed, and the body is not like this, rather it is something that in and of itself is darkness, which comes from the hiding of His countenance, rather refining befalls it until the place where it can reach, and it is to the farthest reach where there will be a small separation between it and the soul.

Never the less the soul will be soul - something that has no deficiency applicable to it at all; and the body, just the opposite - something that is deficient according to its nature, but that achieved refinement in the refinement that it achieved:

And you will see further, that the body has divisions of organs and parts, each one with its utility, for the eye sees and does not hear, and the ear hears and does not see; which is not the case with the soul, that all of the powers which are within it without any of the division into organs like the organs of the body, rather all of it is in every part, and this is certain. Now you will see how this emerges thoughtfully from the introduction which we heard, that the body is created through hiding of haShem's countenance and the soul through the illumination of His countenance.

And you will see a great and fundamental introduction, have you not already heard that perfection is one, for there is no relevance to deficiency or excess in actual perfection. But when the Holy One blessed is He does not want to work through his perfection, then there are many ways for The Place to reward or to punish, each person according to their actions, as was explained earlier. And when the decree of the heavenly wisdom is to demonstrate in the creation itself that He created the path and order in which He created it, as we explained, therefore with regard to hiding of His countenance - like its ways are many so did he want to make this creation with many parts and different organs, that they should be actual parallels to all the parts of his properties may He be blessed.

This is the mater that I mentioned to you, that for this was it said, "Let us make man in our form, like our image", for with all the elevated characteristics which can be discerned in His glory may He be blessed, when he acts according to the value of his creations, so shall be found divisions in the image of this man; as an example, the eye- under the eye of his interaction who supervises all of the inhabitants of the earth to judge all their actions, like the matter that is said (Genesis 18:21), "I shall descend and will see" - to teach you that a judge cannot judge other than that which his eyes see (Sanhedrin 6b).

The ears of man - correspond to the way that the Holy One blessed is he sits and listens to the prayers of all of mankind and all of their praises, and so is it said (Exodus 2:24), "And the Lord heard their cry..."; and our Sages may their memory be blessed said (Avot 2:1), "Know who is above you - a watchful eye and a listening ear". The mouth of man - because the mouth of haShem speaks in visions to his prophets and the splendor of his voice is heard by his angels who possess fortitude of strength and do his will.

And similarly like this, all of the other parts of the body can be explained in detail, parallel in their appearance and their matters to His characteristics may He be blessed, that he prepared to activate his creations. And the making of man is right and left, with duplication of his parts to here and there, two eyes, two ears, two hands, to lets, as His characteristics hay he be blessed are also double - whether for benevolence or for His rod, to the right for merit or to the left for obligation.

Is this not the path that the heavenly will grasped after concealing his perfection which equilibrates everything towards the good. And indeed, like the parts of the body are discerned and differentiated according to their purpose, so to all of the occurrences of man in the hiding of haShem's countenance revolve and change in His strategy to activate them, like all that which we see in the passage of time, in everyday events.

But perfection, I already said, is one, to rule over all that is deficient in order to complete it, And it is not split in and of itself, rather in one equalization can complete all who need completion. And so is this matter with the soul which is created with the illumination of the countenance of His perfection may He be blessed. And you will see is this intent not - in order to strengthen the soul over the body and to refine it, in order that the Lord may He be blessed measure for it according to its action, in order that it also reveal His perfection, to rectify all falsehood and all deficiency which is in the world, and all that we will explained earlier.

And the body is prepared for calamity at the time in which it rules in man, for so shall the Holy one blessed is He conceal the face of his perfection, and will leave the world and man under the judgement of the world which turns, like the law of ephemerals where time periods vary upon them in all the corners to which they turn. Therefore there is in the body all that is appropriate to be found in the order of the wheel which revolves in the world, in the concealment of complete goodness, in order to arouse with regard to it all of this, but however, to Him is the monarchy in man, with which he will rule in him.

And there is in the soul that which is appropriate for completion, to complete all deficiency, in order to arouse upon it, like it, whether man will merit his manner, and the crown of kingship will be placed on his head, in order that it alone rule in its wisdom and the property of its reason, for it is good:

And indeed this matter is well explained in the Midrash of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (Raya m'himna [the faithful shepard], Zohar Parshat Pinchas, page 257b), "And there is wisdom which is called wise among all types of wisdom", for in addition to that which was explained in it by those who know the truth according to the ways of the holy ones, behold from the simple meaning of the saying we learned that which I explained to you already above, that the Holy One blessed is He has many nicknames, not based on himself but according to His creations, and this is what they said (there) "...according to the name of their creator that they were going to be created in the future".

And indeed they said "according to the name of their creator" is clear, for it is not said that is an innovation in Him G-d forbid, for there is no innovation or change in Him, but rather from the beginning it was in his power to do this, but these characteristics are always only those that are relevant to his creations, not that which is relevant according to Himself. And it said "like this did He create the Soul", and this is that the existence of the Soul reflects His perfection with which it was created; "Like this is the Master of the world..., but all of those are to Him like the Sefirot...and just like the Master of worlds has no known name..so to the Soul does not have [a name]... see there.

And it is necessary that you be precise in regard to this matter in order to understand the existence of the body and soul in the manner of their creation and and all that is dependent upon it. Behold the singular Master may His name be blessed, according to his perfection it is impossible to ascribe any name or appellation, for we cannot grasp His perfection, and it is impossible to name that which one cannot grasp, for the name is a limitation in the owner of the name, and that which cannot be completely understood - cannot be limited.

And indeed we grasp in His glory may He be blessed specific characteristics, as for example, mercy, rulership, strength, justice, compassion, anger, power, and similar to this, all of the characteristics that we can grasp in Him are from the aspect of his actions, those characteristics that the prophets grasped in Him from the early times to the late, because He may He be blessed gave them this comprehension.

And according to this comprehension that they grasped in his Glory, we name Him may He be blessed with these appellations. merciful one, ruler, courageous, judge and others like that. And here, even though He may He be blessed in his perfection with without boundary or measure at all, but these are the characteristics that he wanted, he wanted them in the limit and measure that he wanted; and therefore to one characteristic we call mercy and to one - rulership, and to one characteristic - strength, and to one characteristic - love and so for all of them.

And in the characteristic of mercy there is nothing other than mercy, and nothing in rulership other than rulership, and in mercy there is only the measure that He may He be blessed wanted in it, and in rulership only the measure that He wanted, and so for all of them. And do not say because of this that He may He be blessed according to his perfection has these powers in these measures, rather all of this is dependent on his will may He be blessed, and as we explained, the he is the master to change all of this; and just the opposite, in his perfection we may not measure any measure at all.

Indeed since he wants to be understood through these characteristics and to act in this way, therefore we ascribe these appellations to him. And do not understand when we said that the Holy One blessed is He is merciful, to say that his essence may He be blessed according to himself is such, like we would say about a person that there is this quality in his soul to be merciful - that it is so impressed upon his temperament, that it will be grasped and its matter understood from it even from one aspect G-d forbid, for this we should not think at all, for it is impossible to know from His matters may He be blessed, that which He is to himself in truth at all.

But when we call him merciful, we understand that he desires in one characteristic, which is the characteristic of mercy, a character which is not according to he Himself, but is according to the values of the creations and measured in their measurements. But since he wants this, and he wants to be understood in this way, we call him by this name - merciful. But his complete and straight essence is certainly outside of all these matters.

And this is the faith that we are obligated to believe in may He be blessed with certainty, as we explained above already:

Now we will understand this matter itself in regard to the body and soul. For the body has parts and specific limbs, with specific functions with limitations; but the soul, in and of itself is it not one matter, external to the matters of the body altogether, and all of its ways are other ways, different from the ways of the body entirely, even in the matter of the senses themselves, but since it actuates all of the actions of the body when it [the soul] is in it[the body], it [the soul] hears with the ears of the body, it sees with the eyes of the body, and with all like this, therefore it is called seer, hearer, and all of the other appellations, but it is not that it has any of these ways at all.

For even though it is the soul alone that sees, and not the body which is inanimate, and we find that it sees things the way that people in their completeness see in truth; this is not the way it [the soul] sees at all, for it has an entirely different way from the way of the senses of the body, and this is a way that a person while in the body is unable to appreciate. But since it is affected by the rule of the eye to see according to the rule engraved in it, therefore we say the it is the seer, and so for all of the other senses.

However the rule is that the soul is one type of creation distant in its matter from all the ways of the body entirely, but it is created in its rule to do all that is rooted in the limbs of the body according to their nature. And here it grasps these rules, and does all these actions with the body, and therefore they all interact with it. And behold this is precisely like the matter of His perfection may he be blessed, regarding the specific qualities which he wanted in them, for there is not matter of these qualities in perfection but rather these are the specific qualities which he wanted, limited and measured in the measures that he wanted for them.

But since He may He be blessed - the perfect in his perfection - he acts according to these qualities, therefore we refer by these names and appellations, and these actions and descriptions are ascribed to him, even though according to his perfection simply in truth in all of these matters, and he has no relationship from the aspect of Himself with any of these ways and these activities at all:

Said the Soul - This is the explicated tradition whether for the body or for the soul, and it is a great gate opened to understand all of the matters of man in all time periods:

Said the Intellect - Now we need to com to the gradation of the periods of the soul and the body, and their various situations. But one more introduction needs to be introduced first, and it is, that it is clear that many rules and many ways are needed to complete all of the matters of man, and all of the matters of the creation in all of their time periods; and it was already said (Psalms 40:6) "Much have you done you are haShem our Lord your wonders and your thoughts..." and it says (Psalms 92:6) "How great are your actions haShem", (Psalms 104:24) "How many are your actions haShem...". However in any event the details need to enter and come under the general rules, and the general rules are not so may, but their details are many, and are adequate for all that is needed in this creation:

Said the Soul - This is certainly clear, there are no details that do not have generalizations, and that which the details fatigue the mind to organize them, the generalizations are easier for him to receive. Therefore, we need to pursue the generalizations and not the details:

Said the Intellect - And so did the sages say (Sifrei HaAzinu 32:2), "Always have the words of the Torah in your hand, the generalizations and not the details". Returning to our matter...here you have already seen the existence of two qualities to Him may He be blessed - the hiding of his countenance and the illumination of his countenance, they are the root and reason for the body and soul. And it is for us to understand these two qualities each one on its own, in all of their many details which are summarized under generalizations, in order to understand the matters of the soul and the body, each one on its own in all their details like this.

And after we found this and know it, we need to know more for these two qualities come as one to direct the entire world and its inhabitants, and there is nothing which does not have a place for these two characteristics - the concealment in its revelation and the illumination in its covering, as we explained earlier. Afterwards we will go to understand and to study the consequences that emerge from the joining of these two characteristics, when one of them or the other is strengthened.

Here we have three items of knowledge, knowledge of these two characteristics this one by itself, and this one by itself, knowledge of their joining to also act always together, and knowledge of the consequences born from this joining of these types, according to the the strengthening of the concealment or the illumination:

Said the Soul - I observed after you said that the Holy One Blessed is He wanted to demonstrated the organization of his creation and its ways in the creation itself, for through this way behold the two characteristics through which man behaves, that through them was he created, we see within him in the the two parts from which he was composed and build, and these are, the body and the soul; and this is the first matter of knowledge that you mentioned. And also the second we have the parallel explicated in man, for is the soul not joined to the body and disseminated in all of its parts, to make all action through both of them equally as one. But with regard to the third, I will ask of you, does it have a parallel? For I have not found it:

Said the Intellect - Also for this will you find a parallel if you will be precise in depth upon this construct of man. For behold other than the appearance of the body in its form, and other than the soul which has its form, there is one thing which is found that joins both together - which is the radiance of the face. And you can see that this is what distinguishes the living from the dead. And not this alone, but even the variation of the presence of the soul in the body is apparent through it.

Do you not see that the face of the sick is bad; and not only this but the thoughts of the heart are seen in it, do you not see, playful faces, angry faces, expressive faces - all witnesses to the thoughts hidden within the heart. And this radiance is not found in the soul by itself, for the radiance is of the the body, and not in the body by itself, for a body does not have radiance without a soul; but it is something that is born from the joining of the soul and body together.

And this is not an empty thing this matter, for when the prophets liken a form to its maker, as we explained, in demonstrating for them the heavenly honor in his characteristics, and from allegory can completes, when he demonstrates his characteristics to their eyes like a powerful young man going to war, or like an elderly man filled with mercy seated, like [the sages] said may their memory be blessed (Chaggigah 14a).

Behold the eye of the prophet visualizes this, and in his heart for him so conceives, to understand in the vision of his prophecy the concealment of His face and the illumination of His goodness, and that which is born from their joining, like the appearance of man upon him from above, that he has a body and soul and illuminated face from the joining of both as one, whether they are expressive, whether they are lighthearted, whether they are angry, to know all that the Lord haShem will do in His world, to the right or to the left:

Said the Soul - This is enough for me now in regard to this matter for the parallel. Let us return to the understanding of the behavior itself in its gradations:

Said the Intellect - Here this comes out first in the consequences of the joining of these two characteristics as one, the perfect situation which is appropriate to be for man in the end-time of perfection which will be for him. And the thing is evident from itself, for the intended level, which will be at the end of all of the elevations of man it is established first, for from when the soul emanates from its source it needs to be in its state of greatest perfection to which it can reach at the end of everything rather it is said to it from above, go and diminish yourself, until you return to your original place when elevated by your actions.

But it is not that its creation is diminished from its beginning, and that is elevation will be greater later, for there is nothing new under the sun, rather the order is the opposite of this, for in its great strength did it emanate, afterwards - it was diminished until it will return to its strength. And in any event - the end action is the original thought. Therefore the perfection of many is established first, and afterwards - his dimininution, to return in the steps that he descended, to elevate toward his perfection as was established in him from the beginning:

And we find that the situation of perfection with which man is initially distinguished, which is the path and period where the soul alone controls and rules entirely, without any control by the boy at all, it is as if it [the body] were not, for it is entirely subservient and bent completely under the rule of the soul in its purity, until it does not even have identity, it only has existence, but no control.

And this is clear, for the control of the body is not other than darkness and blackness to the soul, for behold the matter of physicality is nothing but concealment of illumination, and something from it - hinders, for it is impossible for there to be even a small amount of control for the body, in order not to decrease some light and power from the soul. Therefore, in the time when the soul in all its might, that nothing in it be decreased that is appropriate for its perfection, this is the time when the body certainly has no control, therefore the soul has nothing withholding it.

But it should not be said that it [the body] does not have existence, for we already said that the reward needs to be for both of them, but it will not have control, and it will be completely bound to the soul without separation from it, for it cannot do anything by itself, there cannot be in its will that which is not in the soul's will, to the point that it is almost as if it cannot be discerned by itself for something, rather it is as if it were intermingled among the pure powers of of the soul:

The situation lesser than this, is when the body is distinguished by its slight control, for consequent to this a deficit comes to the soul, for it to not be perfect in all of the glory of its splendor; but this minimal control does not cause other than a minimal deficit, but if the control multiplies then the deficit multiplies. And indeed, if we speak about one generality alone, we would say that there are 3 time periods, the time of the complete control by the soul, and the time of the minimal control by the body, and the time of complete control by the body. But if we go in the manner of gradations, to understand other situations of the body in its control - five levels can be counted according to the way of the generalization. And these are they:

The first level, is it not that the body has existence, but no control at all, until the point that there is no hint in the world of matters of physicality, the way there are now. And we find, that in this situation man will not find within himself anything from those items that he has today when his physicality controls him, and this is the most perfected situation among the situations:

The second level, that there will be for the body minimal control, and you will find in man himself like a remembrance of that which he had at the time that he had a body, and this is not a remembrance of the details of things, rather a remembrance of the generalities of many things that he had. It can be compared to someone who suffered many difficulties, and worked and toiled through various experiences, and afterwards remained weakened and generally tired. For like this the existence of control by the body produces one general deficiency, without clarity on what it is in detail, rather it is like a person who has some sorrow in his heart, such that his joy is not complete, even though there is no specific cause for this sorrow. Similarly you will not find a power of the soul by itself to expand through all its powers, rather you will feel some kind of small heaviness, and the details of the hindrance are not known:

The third level, when the body controls in particular, but not in all its details rather in some details. That you find man in himself some things from the things of the body, the simplest ones, but in any event physical. And indeed it is clear, that in all of these situations there are no great consequences to these matters of the body as I will write with the help of heaven:

The fourth level, when the body will control in all its details, and you find man in himself all the physical matters. But like the souls is presently in this world like a stranger in the land, it it needs to travel in the ways of the body, similarly the body will be like a stranger in the land, and the soul will be the ruler, and the body will need to travel in its ways, like the matter (Shemot Rabbah 47:5) "You came to the city go according to the custom of the place". What is this like? Like Moshe our teacher, peace upon him, when he went to receive the Torah for Israel, he did not lose his body and did not change, but since his body was like a guest in the place of the souls he changed his style to act like the actions of the souls, like the Rabbis explained, may their memory be for a blessing (Bava Metzia 86b), "A person should never deviate from the local" etc., (see there). And you find, that his change at that time does not follow as a consequence of himself but rather a consequence of his place, and it is not a complete change. And here consequences still do not emerge from these matters of the body, for it is still like a stranger, and like we explained, that it needs to go in the ways of the soul; but rather in this fourth level - all the matters of the body are differentiated and known, but they are not in their place, and need to nullify their matters because of the soul. And from this level and up we shall not differentiate all the details of the body, and all the more so that they don't have consequence, since they need to go in the ways of the soul.

The fifth level, is when the body controls in all aspects, and is like a person reigning in his home, that all of its matter are in their strength and will all their consequences. And this level is also divided into two, and even so is all one level. And this is, because the matters of the body, even in the aspect of the body, can be of two paths, either the secular path and animalistic action, like that actions of most people, or a path of holiness and service, like the matter of (Mishlei 3:6), "in all your ways know him", when everything is in the straight intention as appropriate and like it will be in the future time as it says (Ezezkiel 36:26), " and I will give you a heart of flesh", as was appropriate for man to have had he not sinned.

But both of them are like one in any event physical matters, for he needs to eat, needs to drink and it is impossible without this whether the eating or drinking is secular or holy. Both are physical matters:

And indeed, once we knew that all these things come into being from the concealment of His countenance may He be blessed or from the illumination of his countenance, therefore it is said that the Holy One blessed is He changes his behavior according to that which is needed for his creations in these five levels. For in the low level which is the fifth, the lowest of all, he will increase his behavior through concealment of his countenance, and a small amount of illumination of his countenance will act in his world; And in the fourth - the concealment is diminished and the illumination is increased; and in the third - the concealment is diminished in diminution after diminution, and the illumination is increased in a greater increase; And so according to this way, until rising to the first level, where the illumination is strengthened greatly, and the concealment is a very small amount, until because of this there will only remain control for the soul alone and not for the body at all:...

Said the Soul - Why was it necessary to divide this division to five levels?

Said the Intellect - Since it is like this according to gradation, and this is apparent to the eye, because all of these things can be, and they are in levels one after another, existence without control; general control, control with some of the details, control of all the details, and still like someone who is a visitor outside of his place; control of all the details in his place, like a person residing in his home.

These are the five things which emerge and continue according to the nature of the matter, there is no application to this of proof or count. Indeed what you need now, is the division that I mentioned to you at the beginning, which is, control of the soul by itself completely; slight control by the body; complete control by the body, for this is what you need to understand the behavior in its entirety.

And the five levels that I mentioned, will be a preservation for you, for I already know - items will be found in the words of the sages may their memory be for a blessing that in order to understand them in their meaning you will need to use this introduction, but there is no space here for this matter:

Said the Soul - If so, lets discuss these three situations.

Said the Intellect - Our sages may their memory be for a blessing taught us that the world exists for six thousand years, and afterwards in the seventh millennium is destroyed and afterwards the Holy One blessed is He renews His world (Sanhedrin 97b). And we also found that they said (ibid 92a) regarding the seventh millennium, "The righteous what do they do? The Holy One blessed is He makes for them sails and they float upon the water, as it says (Isaiah 40:31) "And those who trust in haShem will renew their strength...".

From the simple meaning of the words we learn there are there time periods, and they are the six thousand years; the seventh millennium, and the renewal of the world. For six thousand years the world stands as it is now; in the seventh millennium the world has still not been renewed and the righteous are like they lived in the resurrection of the dead, but the Holy One blessed is He makes for them sails etc; and the renewal of the world - that the Holy One blessed is He will renew the world in a complete renewal.

And indeed, the world is as it is now, here we see that the body has control like a person residing in his house, because this is his place and not another; but in the seventh millennium the righteous become elevated from the earth, and the body remains external to the place of its rest, and it is like a person wandering from his place, and like a visitor diverted to sleep. Therefore it has no remaining control except like Moshe our teacher may he rest in peace in his ascension to the mountain, where since he ascended from the earth he no longer went in the ways of the occupants of the earth.

And similarly with regard to the seventh millennium the sages may their memories be for a blessing called it (Sanhedrin 97a) "A day that is completely Sabbath for eternity", for you rest upon it from all the physical labors which are secular, but the body does not move yet from its existence, for no renewal has been made yet to creation. But from the renewal of the world and onward, which is (Eruvin 22a) "...tomorrow to receive their reward", there is no need anymore for the control of the body at all, for it is not needed other than for service in its time, but is existence will become subjugated to the soul, to be pampered with the heavenly goodness forever and ever:...

Said the Soul - But the seventh millennium and renewal of the world, are they not things that are hidden from our knowledge, and how can we discuss them?

Said the Intellect - On the contrary, we shall not discuss them. But the existence of these times and their matters in general we know with certainty, and this is what we are saying with regard to the body and the soul. But the details of these times it is certainly not possible for us to grasp them and to know them at all. Only the time of these six thousand years is known to us and grasped in its details, and our eyes and words focus on this in a detailed way. And the two other times we will only know in generality, for they are times when the body loses is control and the soul is elevated to the first time:

Said the Soul - If so, let us discuss that which we are permitted and we are able to grasp:

Said the Intellect - Now we need to understand the first situation of man, which is when he is in this world, is this not the time of his service. And indeed, what is this service in general - we already explained, that it is to remove all of the deficiencies that exist in His creation, it is this negativity that is found now and stands to be nullified. And indeed, upon man is this burden to try to nullify it from himself at first, and afterwards - from all of creation in its entirety according to that which is relevant to him, and like the Sages may their memory be blessed said (Sanhedrin 37a), Man needs to say for me was the world created.

And this matter was explained by them may they be blessed in the Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni Hosea at the end of section 532) regarding the verse (Hosea 14:2) "For you have fallen because of your sin", this is their language "Said Rabbi Simai, "It is analogous to a high stone that stands at the junction of roads and people trip on it. Said the king revive it bit by bit until the time will come and I will remove it from the world" etc, (see there).

Indeed what needs to be explained now, are the details of this service, and in what way this rectification can be made for man and the world.

However, what needs to be explained first is the existence of this negativity, which is the cause for the burden of this service, and to understand all of its parameters, what is its matter and derivatives, with what is its power great and with what one can chisel away at it, like their saying, may their memory be for a blessing, and through what it can be removed from the world. And you will see that this is entirely innovative existence, which was willed and innovated by the Master may He be blessed to test man with it, to give them a place for service; and there was no hint or trace of this existence, nor anything close to it at all, before the Master may He be blessed innovated it, for the Master may He be blessed behold he is the absolute goodness and perfection.

And all that which is good, even if it is innovated, is named as related to Him may He be blessed, and is drawn slightly near to his matters blessed is He; but this negativity, in contrary is something actually opposite to him may He be blessed, which is not relevant to this matter and not close to him in name or trace at all before it was innovated by the Master blessed is He, as we explained. But from the power of his ability which is without limit is that he can cause to exist even that which is actually opposite to him, for there is not in his rule may He be blessed any matter from it at all, to announce and make know that there is no limited whatsoever to his ability may He be blessed.

And this is what was said in the text (Isaiah 45:7) "Crafter of light..and creator of negativity, I am G-d who does all of this". And indeed it is He may He be blessed who caused it to exist - He only fabricated it in order that it be nullified, like they say may their memories be blessed that I brought above, and only fabricated them with this limitation, and with this nature and with the rule He willed, for in any event the intent is to reap from the negativity itself a good fruit from the righteous, to give them good reward in the world: