Read Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah in source order, passage by passage, with the close English translation where available and the original source text for checking.
Blessed be God for ever Amen! Amen! For God’s share is His people, Jacob is the lot of His inheritance. My share is God, says my soul, therefore I will hope in Him. My share is God, I said, to keep Your words. Finished and complete, with praise to the Creator of the World!
The Revelation of Unity and Goodness: Foundation of the Creation (Openings 1-4)
The oneness of Eyn Sof – He who has “No End”, blessed be He – lies in the fact that only His Will exists, and no other will exists except through Him. Therefore He alone is in control and not any other will. The entire structure is built on this foundation.
God’s supreme unity is the foundation of faith and the root of wisdom. Accordingly, this is what must be explained first. For the entire Wisdom of Truth (חכמת האמת, Chochmat HaEmet, the Kabbalah) comes only to demonstrate the truth of Faith (אמונה, Emunah). It comes to explain how all the created realms and beings and everything that happens in the universe all emerge from the Supreme Will (הרצון העליון, HaRatzon HaElyon). It shows how everything is governed in the right way by the One God, blessed be He, to bring the entire cycle of creation to complete perfection in the end. The component details of this wisdom provide detailed understanding of all the laws and processes by which the universe is governed.
Thus the first axiom of this wisdom is that everything we see, including all created beings and all that occurs within time, is under only One Master, blessed be He. God alone makes and does all this, and He governs everything. The purpose of this wisdom is to explain the ways in which He acts to make and govern the creation. If so, the oneness of God is what we must explain first, since this is the very foundation of the creation, as will be explained. If we can understand this subject, we will have an understanding of the foundation of the creation, its root and purpose. Accordingly, it is certainly proper to explain this first.
The opening proposition consists of two parts: Part 1: The oneness of Eyn Sof… This introduces the subject of the supreme unity of God. Part 2: The entire structure… This unity is also the foundation of all the emanated realms and created beings.
Part 1: The oneness of Eyn Sof… You already know that we are not talking at all about God in Himself, namely about the essential nature of the Owner of this Will. Everything that we discuss relates only to His Will, which is all-powerful and unlimited. Of this we are permitted to speak, yet even here there is a limit to how far our minds can reach, as will be discussed below. Nevertheless, since we are not dealing with His Essence but with His Will, it is more permissible for us to seek understanding.
We must believe and have faith that the Supreme Emanator – blessed be He and blessed be His Name – is One alone, unified in all respects. This means that He alone exists, and only He exists of necessity: there is simply none other. And He alone controls everything. That He alone is in control is an obvious inference from the first proposition – that He alone exists. Since He alone exists, He alone is in control. This means that every other being that exists now is contingent upon Him.
Nevertheless, the fact that He alone is in control is a separate item of faith. Otherwise the unbelievers might say that at first He may have been alone and that He chose to bring creatures into being. But they could argue that, nevertheless, as soon as He created independent creatures possessing their own will, it would be possible (were it not for the fact of His perfect unity) for these independent wills to set limits to His will. In other words, once He gave them free will, they became able to choose the opposite of His will.
Moreover, the course of the history of the world makes it appear outwardly as if this is indeed the case. For He created the universe for good, but He created the Other Side (סטרא אחרא, Sitra Achra), which is evil, and He created man with free will, giving him the potential to do evil. Man chose to do evil, with the result that God’s desire was not accomplished. The unbelievers argue that now that the people of Israel have sinned, there is no salvation for them (God forbid) for they sinned and continue to sin.
Accordingly they will always remain exiled and persecuted – for where could their salvation come from? Indeed it says explicitly: “For Jerusalem is ruined and Judah has fallen because their tongues and their doings are against God, to provoke the eyes of His glory” (Isaiah 3:8). It also says: “You forgot (or weakened) the Rock that gave birth to you” (Deuteronomy 32:18).
Accordingly we need to know that not only does God alone exist, but also that God alone is in control. This is what is meant by the oneness of his Will: that nothing in the world could ever negate His will, for He alone is in control.
Everything we see that appears to be contrary to His will exists only because He allows it in accordance with His deep plan, which will continue unfolding until He brings everything to complete perfection. At present God leaves man with freedom of choice for as long as He wills. But in the end – whether through repentance or by means of punishment – everything will return to complete perfection. This is called “the oneness of Eyn Sof, blessed be He”. We are talking about the oneness of His Will (but not about Eyn Sof in His intrinsic Essence).
Thus …only His Will… – the Will of the Emanator, the unified Eyn Sof, blessed be His Name – …exists… because only God exists of necessity. In other words, just as we must believe in the oneness of God’s existence – that God alone exists of necessity – so we must believe in the oneness of His power and will. Just as His existence is necessary, and it cannot be otherwise – and He alone is the necessary cause, while everything else derives from Him – so too, His will and power are necessary, and it cannot be otherwise. His power alone holds sway, and all other wills exist only in accordance with this Will. Thus …no other will exists except through Him.
Accordingly you cannot argue that, “While it may be true that all wills exist through Him, now that they exist, they have the power to defy His will” (God forbid). This is not true. Therefore He alone is in control and not any other will. In other words, only He is in complete control, for nothing can limit His power.
This power belongs to the Supreme Will, which can truthfully be said to be the one and only Will. God wills according to His Will, and nothing can limit Him. No other will is in complete control, for all other wills are contingent upon the Supreme Will and therefore subordinate to it. Accordingly, even though they are also wills, they are not in the same category as the Supreme Will.
For it cannot be denied that they derive from it, and therefore they cannot be equal to it, even though they are called “wills”. As soon as we say they derive from the Supreme Will, we imply that, unlike the Supreme Will, they are not in complete control.
Thus when we say that there is one Emanator, blessed be His Name, Who is oneness and unity in all respects, we must immediately understand that His power is also all one. Since it is impossible for two powers both to be in complete control, we must say that only one Will is in complete control, and all others are not in control. It is still legitimate to say that now, other beings exist besides the First Existent.
For this does not negate the power of the First Existent. He exists and He creates, and these other beings exist only through Him. However, if we were to argue that an absolute will exists besides the Supreme Will, even while conceding that the existence of these other wills is not necessary and that they derive from the Supreme Will, this would be a denial of the absolute power of the Supreme Will.
For it is impossible to say that two powers can both be in complete control. If we say that the first absolute power made another absolute power, neither the original power nor the new one are in complete control. Accordingly, when we say that the First Emanator alone has power, it is inconceivable that there is any other absolute power.
Accordingly, when we say the universe has One God, which means one absolute Ruler and Controller, it is inconceivable that there is any other absolute power. For if there were, there would no longer be one Ruler but as many as the number of independent wills that had been brought into being, and then none of them could truly be called “Ruler”. In that case it would be impossible to relate everything to one root – as we must – except in the past.
We could say that at first there was one root, but now we could no longer relate everything to a single root, because we would be saying that a being exists who has the power to limit the initial Ruler. And if you object that if the initial Ruler wills it to be so, this is not called limiting the initial Ruler, the answer to this objection will be given in Opening 2.
Part 2: The entire structure is built on this foundation… namely on the oneness and unity that we have explained.
The entire structure refers to all that was brought into existence by God, including both the lights (אורות, Orot, the Sefirot) and the separate realms and beings (נמצאים נפרדים, nimtza’im nifradim, the worlds and creatures that derive from and are governed by the Sefirot). This entire structure is founded on unity, in the sense that it is a single, complete entity that manifests the truth of this oneness and unity in the parts of the structure itself. The lights (Sefirot) that may be seen in it, the “bodies” (the created realms and beings) that exist in it, how they are governed and all that happens to them – all were made as parts of a single order which points to and actively reveals the underlying oneness.
His desire is only to bestow good. Even evil is a means through which He bestows good. In this way His oneness is clearly revealed.
The will of the Emanator, blessed be His Name, is only good, and therefore nothing will endure except His goodness. All that is initially evil does not arise from another domain that could endure against Him. In the end it will certainly be good, and then it will be revealed that there is no domain other than His.
This is the answer to the objection posed above: If the Supreme Will wanted to bring into being powers capable of setting limits to His power (as if such a thing were possible) – this would not be contrary to the Supreme Will, since He willed it so.
The will of the Emanator, blessed be His Name, is only good… We cannot say that the Supreme Will desired the existence of other wills with the power to limit Him in any way whatever. For the Supreme Will wants only good, and it would certainly not be good if His goodness could not reach His creatures. If you say that such is the nature of goodness – to benefit the righteous and punish the wicked, while “showing compassion for the wicked is cruel” – the Torah says the opposite: “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious” (Exodus 33:19) – “even though he may not be worthy” (Berachot 7a).
It is also written that, “The sin of Israel will be sought but it will not exist, and the transgression of Judah will not be found” (Jeremiah 50:20). From here we see that it is God’s will to benefit even the wicked.
If you argue that all this applies only after the long exile and punishment – this is precisely what proves the point. For if so, we see that the Supreme Will ensures that eventually everyone benefits. From this we may infer that His will is only to benefit, quite literally. However, He has to deal with each one suitably according to his nature.
It is necessary to punish the wicked in order to forgive them afterwards. If the intention was to reject the wicked, they should literally be destroyed instead of being punished in order to benefit them afterwards. The fact that they are punished to benefit them later is clear proof that His will is only for good. For the intended result of an action is the ultimate purpose that governs all parts of that action.
In the end, all men, whether righteous or wicked, receive goodness. If so, the ultimate purpose is to bestow goodness on all. This proves that His will is only for good.
And therefore nothing will endure except His goodness. Seeing that His will is only to benefit, it must be that the present state will not continue endlessly. Granted, if He did not spurn the destruction of the wicked, we could have said that their punishment is not bad, but rather that, “Evil pursues sinners” (Proverbs 13:21) and their punishment is fair retribution, as discussed above. However, now that we have said this is not His way, but that he punishes the sinner in order to bring him to repent so as to benefit him, the punishment itself is bad.
As such, it cannot continue forever. It must come to an end so that the sinner may be released. Since the punishment is bad, it is against the Supreme Will. And just as it cannot continue forever in each individual case, so it cannot continue forever in the world as a whole, for it is against the Supreme Will.
Let me now demonstrate conclusively that evil must come to an end in the world as a whole. For the intended result of any action is the ultimate purpose that governs all parts of that action. Now the end result of the complete cycle through which all people pass, including even the wicked, is good. If so, good is the ultimate purpose of the complete cycle in all its parts. Thus we have proof that the ultimate purpose of the entire cycle is good. But it is the Supreme Will that brings about the entire cycle. Since the ultimate purpose of the cycle is good, the whole purpose of the Supreme Will must also be only good. Thus we have proof that the entire purpose of the Supreme Will is only good.
Now let us consider whether the punishment which the wicked suffer before the end is good or not. When something ends up being different from what it was in the beginning, its beginning and end are not in the same category. The end of the cycle through which the wicked pass is different from what it was at the beginning. For in the end they attain good, while before the end, they suffer punishment.
If so, the beginning and end of the cycle are not in the same category. The end is good – and this was the original intention of the Will that brings about the entire cycle. However, the intermediate stage or means – the punishment, which comes before the end – is not in the same category as the end. If so, that which comes before the end is not good: it is not what was initially desired by the Will that brings about the cycle.
If we object: Then why does it exist? The answer is that it is not possible to attain the end without it. If it were possible to attain the end without this means, it would not be fitting for this intermediary to exist.
We may conclude from all this that the punishment is bad, and it is the opposite of what is desired and intended by the Supreme Will. However, it exists as a necessary means through which His creatures attain the end goal. If it were possible to attain the end goal without this means, it would have been better, given that His will is for good. Just as inflicting punishment in individual cases is the opposite of His will – which is why it must eventually come to an end – so too we may infer that punishment in general in the running of the world is also against the Supreme Will, and must change in the end.
Since the Supreme Will planned that all the individual components of creation will ultimately attain good, it must be His purpose to bring the entire world to attain only good in the end. Just as He created punishments sufficient to bring each individual to receive good in the end, so He has the power to create a kind of punishment, or whatever else it may be, for the entire world, that is evil at first but ends up being good.
It is certainly true that His will is only for good, and this is what must endure forever. For His power is forever and only His will holds sway. If the means to accomplish this end is through evil, this does not undermine His intention to benefit everyone, for evil is the means to eventual good. On the contrary, His good purpose will eventually be revealed and the intended result will endure forever. For what comes out of the entire cycle on every side is only His essential goodness.
All that is initially evil does not arise from another domain that could endure against Him. Now that we understand that what He does must ultimately be good, we must understand another truth. This is that there is certainly only one domain, contrary to the claim of the unbelievers that there are two domains. When we say that our God is one, it is necessary to understand two things.
The first is that even though we see such a multitude of diverse phenomena in the universe and so many different and opposing causal chains, we know that even so, there is only One God, blessed be His Name, and only one Will. The second thing that follows from saying that God is one is that no other will can limit Him, even one brought into being by Him. And it is certainly impossible that two powers or realms exist, one creating good and the other creating evil. “HaShem our God, HaShem is One” – with every kind of oneness and unity.
If at the present time it appears as if events occur through a power other than God, be it a power that He created or another “independent” power, it is not so. God alone in His intrinsic goodness brings everything about. We have already discussed how everything evil that now exists will not endure forever. In the end, everything will be good, and we will know and retroactively understand that there never was any other power or domain.
For an independent power or domain must by definition endure forever. This is obvious, for any power is independent only to the extent that nothing else has power over it. An independent power or domain is one that exists in and of itself. Whatever does not endure cannot be said to be an independent power or domain.
Once we understand this, we see that no will – not even one that He brought into being – can limit Him. On the contrary, the purpose of the entire cycle is to reveal His dominion afterwards and to perfect all things through His goodness. This is what we must believe with perfect faith.
From this discussion we may clarify two aspects of the evil that apparently exists in the world now. The first is that it does not emerge from another domain or power (God forbid) that could exist against Him. The second is that in the end it will be good. In the end it will certainly be good… for it cannot stand against His goodness, not even in the sense explained earlier whereby a will that He brought into being might limit Him. In the end, it will be good.
Moreover, it is precisely in this way that Eyn Sof makes known to us His true oneness. And then it will be revealed that there is no other domain but His. Had He simply given His creatures an immediate understanding of His perfection, they might recognize His complete perfection (inasmuch as He revealed it to them) and understand His great majesty and glory. But this would not have refuted the doctrine of the unbelievers in earlier generations that it is impossible to understand a thing except from its opposite. They argued that if we say there is one God who is the ultimate good, there must (God forbid) be another who is the ultimate evil. For if it were not so, there could be no knowledge of the ultimate good.
In order to refute this claim, God willed and created evil, as it is written, “making peace and creating evil” (Isaiah 45:7). In this way, the opposite is immediately manifest, and then it is possible to understand the side of good. Moreover, we will also know that even this evil was not an independent domain in its own right. Only the omnipotent God, blessed be His Name, has the power to bring about what appears to be His very opposite. And through this we will see His great perfection.
Evil is not an independent domain God forbid. It is created by God in order for His creatures to see what is the opposite of good, so that they will not think that there is some other opposite. For the only opposite is that which is actually the opposite. And when they have seen the opposite, and have also seen that it is nothing but His creation, they will have clear knowledge of His perfection and oneness. Then the folly of the wicked and the unbelievers will be exposed. For in the created realms, it is indeed the case that one side can only be known through its opposite. But the way of the Creator is not the way of His creatures at all. For a creature cannot make the opposite of himself. But He made His opposite, and then He negates it – and His oneness is revealed to perfection!
The ultimate goal of creation – to bestow the ultimate good on God’s creatures
The ultimate purpose of the creation of the world was for God, in accordance with His good desire, to bestow the ultimate good.
Having explained the meaning of faith in God, we will now discuss His works.
The ultimate purpose of the creation of the world… For clearly, every actor acts for a purpose …was for God… to bestow… not for His own need, since He has no need for His creatures, but in order to benefit His creatures …in accordance with His good desire. In other words, if you ask, “Where did this purpose originate?” the answer is clear: That which is good desires to bestow good. The Supreme Will is the ultimate good. If so, His desire is to bestow good – the ultimate good, because He is the ultimate good, and therefore His desire is to bestow the ultimate good. This is why He made the world in this way, with free will, reward and punishment. For this is the means to bring His creatures to the ultimate good, as will be explained in the next Opening.
His desire to bestow good to perfection through the revelation of His oneness is the cause of the deficiencies in the world, which create the conditions for man’s service. The revelation of His oneness is itself the reward.
The Eyn Sof, blessed be He, wanted to bestow complete good, so that its recipients will not even be ashamed. He planned and calculated how to reveal His perfect oneness in actuality, for before Him there are no barriers or deficiencies. Accordingly, He established the system of government that He follows, in which eventually evil actually turns back into good. Initially, He gave a place for evil to do what is in its power, but at the end of everything, all the damage is repaired and all evil turns back into actual good. And thus His oneness is revealed, and this itself is the delight of the souls.
The proposition consists of four parts: Part 1: The Eyn Sof, blessed be He... This is the underlying principle of the order that was instituted to serve the ultimate purpose as discussed in the previous Opening. Part 2: He planned and calculated how to reveal... This is the plan that lies behind this order. Part 3: Initially, He gave a place... This discusses how evil reverts to good. Part 4: And thus His oneness is revealed... This tells us what comes at the end of the cycle.
Part 1: The Eyn Sof, blessed be He, wanted to bestow complete good... As explained earlier, He wanted to bestow good to the utmost degree of goodness and perfection …so that its recipients will not even be ashamed. For, as the rabbis stated, “One who eats what is not his, feels ashamed to look in the face of his benefactor” (Yerushalmi, Orlah 1:3). In order to avoid this, He wanted that people should have a way of working in order thereby to earn the good which they then receive as their reward. Accordingly He created good and evil and gave man free will, placing him in a situation of reward and punishment until the intended goal is achieved.
Part 2: He planned and calculated how to reveal His perfect oneness in actuality... For the actual method of man’s service also had to be fitting and not merely arbitrary. For clearly, whatever commandments He instituted would all have been to men’s merit when duly performed by them, and they would receive a reward for all of them. But true to His exalted wisdom, the Master of the World wanted that the method of service, rather than being merely arbitrary, should itself be a single system, consistent in all its parts and constructed according to a deep plan.
He wanted one root for the entire system. The Supreme Will calculated that there could be no more fitting and logical focus for man’s service than if He were to reveal His oneness in actuality. This would provide a suitable area in which man could serve, and the revelation of God would itself be the benefit man would receive, as will be discussed below.
For before Him there are no barriers or deficiencies. His unique perfection surely lies in His total and absolute power. No possible barrier or deficiency can stand in His way. This we will come to know from the side of God’s perfection, not from the opposite side. For this is revealed only when it is not the deficiencies and the repair that comes to them through the power of His perfection that are seen, but rather when only His perfection is seen. This was a suitable area within which service could exist. His plan to reveal His oneness in actuality consisted of first revealing the deficiencies, and then rectifying them, thus revealing His oneness and His power over everything.
When perfection holds sway, there is certainly no need for service at all, for nothing could be better than His complete perfection. If so, fulfillment of the commandments would not add anything to it, or to His government of the world. But in a situation in which deficiencies exist, fulfillment of the commandments is of benefit, because through them, that which is imperfect and deficient is able to attain perfection. If so, only a realm of deficiency provides the appropriate arena for service in this way. Service is very applicable in a realm of deficiency. For it is impossible to speak of oneness and unity without speaking of absolute power and control without any limits. It follows that if He desires to actually reveal this unity, He will create a limitation and then remove it.
Here we have the concept of the “center” of Eyn Sof mentioned in Kabbalistic literature (Etz Chayim, Derushey Igulim VeYosher 11:3), where the Tzimtzum (“contraction”) took place. This “center” is the central “point” on the basis of which the worlds and the service within them were created. The act by which they came about was the concealment of perfection, which left a realm governed by the principle of imperfection, a realm in which service is relevant.
However, what He wanted to reveal is how the realm of deficiencies becomes rectified through the power of His oneness. If so, the work is not complete unless perfection is initially concealed, to make it possible for deficiencies to exist. In this phase, the possibility of service exists – until the perfection of His oneness and unity is revealed and He rectifies all the deficiencies.
Indeed the service itself includes the actual revelation of His oneness, for it is the people who serve who draw down and reveal this unity so as to rectify all that is lacking. And now see what is their reward: it is the very unity, which will be revealed to them, and they will attain it. This itself is the perfect goodness that He wants to bestow on them. For the reward for the fulfillment of the commandments is only in the world to come, when the souls come to their root, which is the root of the entire creation.
Their delight will be according to their level of attainment. When they attain the revelation of God’s unity, their delight will be perfect in every way: no barriers will stand in the way of the recipients, and they will attain the light of perfect unity – the greatest possible delight the souls can enjoy.
To summarize: When Eyn Sof, in His perfect wisdom, wanted to institute a system of service, He calculated in what arena it would be applicable. He knew that there was no aspect of His perfection in which there was any need at all for His creatures or any place for their service except in the bestowal of good, whereby evil itself reverts into good. This is the fundamental concept of perfect unity about which I wrote.
In God’s aspect of complete perfection, there is no place whatever for service. However, because the very concept of oneness and unity involves the hypothetical possibility of imperfection (not that it exists, but that it is negated through the power of perfection) it was therefore pertinent that in order to reveal His goodness, He should conceal His perfection – in order then to reveal it in actuality.
This is like “damaging in order to repair”. On this foundation He did all His work: He made a place for independent beings and a place for their service, and fixed a very precious reward for them.
Part 3: Accordingly He established the system of government that He follows... namely, the system of government that exists now …in which eventually evil actually turns back into good. In this way, what existed within His unity in potential becomes revealed in actuality, in that… Initially, He gave a place for evil to do what is in its power – He concealed His perfection – but at the end of everything, all the damage is repaired and all evil turns back into actual good – quite literally, and this is the end of the cycle through which His oneness is revealed.
Part 4: And thus His oneness is revealed. Several things are involved here. First, His oneness itself is actually revealed. Since this involves evil reverting into good, it could not actually come about until evil was actually revealed in the lower realms.
Secondly, the revelation of God’s oneness is so precious that His creatures will have the greatest delight when they attain it. Thirdly, this revelation, which involves initial concealment, provides a place for service and, when attained, for reward. Since evil exists only during the phase of service to reveal His oneness, the service does not need to last forever. “ ‘Today to do them’ – and tomorrow to receive their reward” (Eruvin 22a on Deut. 7:11).
For as soon as His oneness is revealed, there is no further need for service, because …this itself is the delight of the souls: the revelation of His unity is itself precisely the goodness that, as we have said, He wants to bestow.
