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Commentary of Gra on “Sefer Yetzirah”
Vilna Gaon Version

Source of the Hebrew text: HaGra on Sefer Yetzirah Gra Version, Sefer Yetzirah, Warsaw 1884.
English translation from the Hebrew text.

This English translation may be copied, distributed, modified, and used without restrictions. The text is provided as-is, without any warranty.

Note on terms:
Technical kabbalistic names are usually preserved in transliteration where a literal translation would obscure the meaning. References of the form [Gl.01] point to the glossary at the end of the file. A marker is normally placed at the first significant occurrence of a term, not at every repetition. The Divine Name is rendered as “Hashem” or descriptively as “the four-letter Name / Hashem’s Name,” depending on context. Where the discussion depends on letters, spellings, or gematria, Hebrew letters are sometimes retained.


CHAPTER 1

Mishnah 1

“By thirty-two.” As explained in the second mishnah: ten sefirot[Gl.01] and twenty-two letters. These correspond to the numerical structure of the line that surrounds the diagonal of ten and divides into ten and twenty-two. The ten of the diagonal divides into the three mothers[Gl.65] and the seven double letters; for seven, the circumference gives twenty-two, and for three it gives ten.

In the human being these thirty-two are hidden in the brain, which corresponds to Hokhmah[Gl.02]. From there they divide in the spinal cord and are sent through the whole body; from them sensation reaches all organs. In the sefirot they are the primordial Hokhmah, Moha Stima’a[Gl.03], which extends to Hokhmah and from there to the Hokhmah of Ze’ir Anpin[Gl.04]. In the Names they are the thirty-two occurrences of “Elokim[Gl.05]” in the work of Creation during the six days, up to “and they were completed.” The three occurrences of “Elokim” in “and they were completed” are the three sefarim mentioned below. They are called Elokim because Gevurah[Gl.06] of Atik[Gl.07] is hidden in them. Therefore it is called Botzina de-Kardinutah[Gl.08], the strict measuring lamp by which the measure was measured and everything was made, as stated in the Zohar[Gl.15]. In the world their beginning is in spirit-breath; they unfold in water, that is, in Hokhmah, and spread to the six ends of the world.

“Paths.” As it is said: “and in mighty waters, a path.” Their root is in water, that is, in Hokhmah, which is called “mighty waters” because Gevurah of Atik is hidden within it. Since it contains twenty-two letters, namely twice 231[Gl.64], as explained in the second chapter, they give the number netiv, “path.” This also corresponds to twenty-two times Ehyeh[Gl.30], for here they are called Ehyeh, as is known.

“Wondrous.” The text is now speaking of Keter[Gl.09], and Keter is called pele, “wonder.” Therefore it is said: do not investigate what is wondrous for you. Here the paths are in Keter, in the most extreme concealment. From Hokhmah they begin to be revealed; in the body they begin to divide. In Hokhmah they are called paths, as in the verse about the waters. In the world they are hidden in spirit and revealed in water. In the human being they are hidden in the air of the skull and revealed in the brain. In the Name they are hidden in the tip of yud[Gl.63] and revealed in yud itself.

“Wisdom.” This is yud in the Name. It is called “golem,” because it is ready to receive the form of all the letters. Likewise Hokhmah is ready for all created beings, as it is said: “You made them all with wisdom.” Hokhmah has the same gematria[Gl.37] as golem; this corresponds to the second name of 72 among the four 72s, namely SAG[Gl.34] with the ten simple letters. Since Gevurah of Atik is in it, it belongs to the name SAG; therefore the sages said that the world was created through the yud of SAG. In the world, water is ready to receive every form, and nothing can exist without water. In the human being, Hokhmah is the capacity of the intellect that is ready to grasp every thing. It unfolds in Binah[Gl.10], which forms in the understanding the image of how the thing is to be grasped. Since each thing has its own mode of apprehension, the formation of the image belongs to Binah; in the system of vowel-points[Gl.50] this corresponds to tsere[Gl.51]. Keter is kamats, for there the thirty-two paths are closed and hidden. Hokhmah is patah, for there they open. Binah is tsere, for there the apprehension receives form and distinction.

So too in the world and in the human being. In Da’at[Gl.11] lies the actual apprehension of the thing. Afterwards it spreads into the body when the person performs the thing. Therefore one speaks of “Da’at that spreads.” There are two kinds of Da’at. These are the seventy-three names: three of them are the three sefarim mentioned below; the remaining seventy are the known seventy names, called Tiferet[Gl.12]. These are also the seventy names of Metatron[Gl.58], whose name is like the name of his Master. They are called “intellect, the one who understands, and the thing understood”; the thing understood includes both intellect and the one who understands. In the human being this is the three cavities of the skull: two in front and one behind, corresponding to them. Hokhmah is called koah mah, the power of “what,” for it is the inner nourishment of the tree. The number 28 is the filling[Gl.36] of the filling of the name MA[Gl.35], as will be explained later at length.

The thirty-two paths are included in alef, which is Keter; therefore they are called wondrous. How? If the vav inside alef is divided in two, because every middle line contains two sides, there are sixteen above and sixteen below. In the world these are the upper and lower waters[Gl.54], the masculine and feminine waters. In the human being these are the thirty-two teeth: sixteen above and sixteen below, for the end of Hokhmah is in the palate. In the Name this is yud-vav-vav: Tiferet of Atik, which clothes itself in Kroma de-Avira[Gl.13], and it is yud-vav from the name BEN[Gl.14], because Atik is the higher Malkhut[Gl.19]. When vav rises to Keter to complete the Name according to Keter’s number, as the Zohar says, it becomes yud-heh-vav. This is the filling of the filling together with the simple spelling.

“Engraved.” Engraving means letters incised on a tablet: everything is still connected, and everything is still in concealment.

“Hashem … until ‘high and holy is He.’” All these words are designations of this Hokhmah. They are twenty-two words, corresponding to the twenty-two letters. In addition, the book explains ten names at the end of the tractate: “These are the twenty-two …”. “He created His world” corresponds to the verse: “You made them all with wisdom.”

“Wondrous paths of wisdom.” As it is said: “But wisdom — from where shall it be found? Man does not know its value …”.

“Hashem, Hashem Tsevaot[Gl.16].” All these designations belong to Hokhmah. Tractate Hagigah speaks of “King, God … who dwells over them in Aravot[Gl.48],” as it is said: “Prepare the way for Him who rides in Aravot, in Hashem …”. This is Hokhmah. When it says “in Hashem is His name,” it shows that Hashem is in Hokhmah. Yud is known; heh comes from the side of “understand in wisdom,” for Binah is included in Hokhmah.

“Hashem.” This too is in Hokhmah, for it is the totality of all the sefirot. Therefore it is yud in the Name, as it is said: “What is His name, and what is His son’s name?” Both are Hashem’s Name[Gl.41], and in their fillings, in the explicit Name, they give the number MA. This is “mah and mah”: Jacob’s beauty is a reflection of Adam’s beauty, Hokhmah and Adam Kadmon[Gl.28].

“Tsevaot.” This is the name of seed. Therefore it is in Netsah[Gl.17] and Hod[Gl.18], in the kidneys, which grind manna for the righteous and cook the seed that issues from the brain. The proper place of the name is in Hokhmah. Therefore Hannah prayed “Hashem Tsevaot,” for from there come all the hosts of Israel. Therefore it also says: “Hannah prayed over Hashem”; the sages said “over Hashem” literally — to Him who rides upon the heavens, according to the pattern of Adam Kadmon, as it is said: “He rides the heavens for your help.” They also said that He dwells in Aravot.

“God of Israel.” Like “God of gods,” for it is written: “Israel is My firstborn son.”

“The living Elokim.” He is called Elokim: the thirty-two Elokim in the work of Creation are the thirty-two paths of Hokhmah. In Him is life, the dwelling of hayah[Gl.66], for “wisdom gives life to its owner.” So too in world, year, and soul. Therefore it says: “Thus said the High and Exalted One …,” which is Hokhmah, “to give life to the spirit of the lowly …”. Why is Torah compared to water? Because water leaves the high place and goes down to the low place. Hokhmah is called life; hence “to give life.”

“King of the world.” As in the cited gemara: “King, God …”. “El.” As there: “the living God …”. “Shaddai[Gl.32].” He who said to His world: “Enough.” Botzina de-Kardinutah, Hokhmah, measured the measure. Although “the living Elokim,” “King of the world,” and “El Shaddai” also stand in Binah, this is from the side of “understand in wisdom” and “be wise in understanding.”

“Merciful and gracious.” The name “Merciful” applies to those who need mercy: orphans and widows, as it is said: “Prepare the way for Him who rides in Aravot … Father of orphans … Elokim in His holy dwelling.”

“High and exalted, He who dwells forever, and holy is His name; high and holy is He.” As it is said: “Thus said the High and Exalted One …,” and this is Hokhmah. He is called high and exalted, for He is higher than all high things; above Him there is no apprehension, and He is the beginning. “Dwells forever” refers to Binah, which is called ad, as will be explained below. “Holy” likewise belongs to Hokhmah. In Hokhmah, His holy world of emanation, called yud in the Name, all worlds were created.

“He created His world with three books.” These are Beriah[Gl.20], Yetzirah[Gl.21], and Asiyah[Gl.22], corresponding to the three AMSh[Gl.42]: head, belly, and body. Binah includes the head; Ze’ir Anpin is the body, namely Hesed[Gl.43]-Gevurah-Tiferet; and Malkhut is the belly. They include the three worlds mentioned, which rest upon them. Likewise air, water, and fire stand in the three worlds.

“He created His world with three books …”. All are included in Moha Stima’a.

“With book, book, and telling.” These are Hokhmah, Binah, and Da’at, through which the world was created. They are the three letters AMSh, through which HaBaD[Gl.23] is made, as explained below, and so it is in world, year, and soul. “Book and book” are Hokhmah and Binah while they are still only in the intellect. “Telling” is Da’at, which brings the intellect from potential into actuality, as narration does. They correspond to the two hands and the tongue: the two hands clothe Hokhmah and Binah of Arikh Anpin[Gl.26], and the tongue is Da’at, which unites palate and throat, Hokhmah and Binah. Every higher Yesod becomes Da’at below. In the two hands are all the letters: twenty-seven letters, plus one at the end to complete to alef, for “their end is fixed in their beginning”; thus twenty-eight. Through them the world was created. Therefore the world lasts six thousand years, corresponding to these letters with the heh through which the world was created. If counted by hundreds, they become the six hundred thousand letters of Torah and of Israel. The twenty-eight letters stand in the twenty-eight joints of the hands, fourteen in each hand, like the two tablets. The tongue fixes all letters in speech and is therefore “telling.” The world too was created by two hands and by speech: “My hand founded the earth, and My right hand stretched out the heavens”; “by the word of Hashem …”.

Second explanation. “By thirty-two …” This is the line of measure for each sefirah and the twenty-two channels between them. Everything is included in three. Thus the book says “with three books,” and later: “These are the twenty-two … and He made of them three books and created …”. AMSh divides into three, the seven doubles into three, and the twelve simples into three. Even the ten sefirot divide into three: the first sefirah consists of voice, spirit, and speech; the six directions are each from AMSh. In the human being, all action is gathered in the covenant; therefore there are two covenants: the covenant of the tongue and the covenant of the flesh, corresponding to Torah and commandments. The heart and mouth, head, belly, and body — in these three the covenant is present.

Third explanation. “By thirty-two wondrous paths of wisdom …” The whole Torah is the name of the Holy One, blessed be He. All names and the whole Torah are contained in the four-letter Name, the explicit Name. It includes the whole world and the whole human being, and it is the axis of the year’s cycle. The entire book revolves around three parts: world, year, and soul. This also applies to Torah and to its letters, vowel-points, and cantillation signs in all three parts, both in general and in every detail.

Hashem’s Name and all the letters of Torah are one. Through them the three parts of the world were created. The world divides into forty-five kinds of light; this is Hashem’s Name filled with alef, the explicit Name, the tree’s inner watering, through which everything was created. It consists of ten letters in the ten sefirot, their inner aspect. Torah divides into letters, vowel-points, and ta’amim[Gl.49], corresponding to nefesh, ruah, and neshamah. Ta’amim are in Keter and are hidden; vowel-points are in Hokhmah; letters are in Binah. Afterwards ta’amim spread into Binah, which includes the three first; vowel-points into Ze’ir Anpin; letters into Malkhut. There nefesh, ruah, and neshamah have their dwelling. So too in the human being: head, belly, and body; in the year: heat, saturation, and cold; in the world: heaven, air, and earth.

Ta’amim are hidden because they are in Keter, and Keter is hidden. Likewise in the world, “the heavens belong to Hashem,” and therefore the creation of heaven is not explained at length in Torah. In the human being, neshamah is very hidden. The human being’s actual life is ruah; it is the human being who receives reward and punishment, senses, and possesses forces and faculties. Neshamah is the intellect that teaches a person knowledge; it is the person’s mazal and angel. It is in heaven, and only sparks from it shine upon the person to guide and illuminate him. Therefore neshamah in the human being corresponds to heaven in the world. The human being begins from ruah, and when ruah leaves him, he dies. In the world this corresponds to air, by which the human being lives and without which he cannot exist even for a moment. It too is called ruah. In the letters this corresponds to the vowel-points: without them the letters have no motion, like bodies without spirit.

In the year the real count begins with Tishri, the time of saturation, the year’s ruah. The heat from Nissan is like neshamah. Here lies the disagreement between Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua: both speak truth, but creation from Nissan is hidden. The human being was created in Tishri, while the calculation of the formless time begins from Nissan. Nefesh is joined to the body; in the world it corresponds to the earth, from which the body comes. Therefore it says: “let the earth bring forth living soul.” Above there is the higher earth. In the year this corresponds to the rainy season: “a mist rose from the earth and watered …”; “Hashem Elokim formed the human being from the dust of the ground …”.

The general conclusion is this: ta’amim are hidden everywhere; Keter is called “nothing” because of its great concealment. The creation of the world begins with Hokhmah: “You made them all with wisdom,” and Bereshit is rendered “with wisdom He created.” Hokhmah is called “beginning,” for there formation and revelation begin. Therefore it says here: “with thirty-two paths of wisdom He engraved …”. The name MA is divided so that thirteen measures are in Keter, the thirteen measures of mercy, the root of all. Of this the sages said that before the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world, He and His name were one. From Hokhmah downward the Name divides into four letters and four partzufim[Gl.46]. Thirty-two paths remain in Hokhmah, containing all sefirot and worlds; through them world, year, and soul are governed.

The thirty-two paths are ten vowel-points and twenty-two letters. Hokhmah and Binah are included in one another in the secret of “understand in wisdom and be wise in understanding”; therefore all thirty-two paths are also in Binah, as the thirty-two Elokim of the work of Creation. The letters too issue from Hokhmah, but receive body in Binah. The vowel-points are the ten inner sefirot; the letters are the body and kelim[Gl.38] of the sefirot. In the simple Name yud-heh-vav are counted as twenty-one from Hokhmah downward, and the tip of yud is one as their root; together, twenty-two. The final heh corresponds to the five doubled final letters, for it has nothing of itself; therefore the principal count is twenty-two.

Fourth explanation. “By thirty-two” refers to letters and vowel-points in world, year, and soul. In the world: ten sefirot; three — heaven, earth, and air; seven planets; twelve signs. In the year: ten sacred times; three — heat, cold, and saturation; seven — the week; twelve — the months. In the soul: head, belly, and body; seven openings; twelve leaders; also three elements, seven qualities, twelve senses, and ten sefirot in the inner spirit. In the generations: three — Adam, David, Messiah; seven shepherds; twelve tribes; ten rulers. The same structure is found even in a silent stone: ten as its inner ordering, twenty-two as three dimensions, six ends with the inner point, and twelve boundaries. Sefer Yetzirah is founded on letters and vowel-points, not on ta’amim; therefore it begins with thirty-two.

The same appears in the Mishkan, the image of the world: ten — the nine vessels and the Mishkan as tenth; twenty-two — Holy of Holies, Hekhal, and courtyard; seven — the menorah; twelve — the loaves on the table. So too every commandment has its own three, seven, and twelve. Prayer, tefillin, tsitsit, kiddushin, and every limb and detail follow this pattern. The thirty-two paths are the life-force. They issue through the eighteen vertebrae of the spine and continue into further divisions; the nine of Nukva are joined with the male eighteen, giving twenty-seven letters, and the heh through which the world was created. Everything is sealed in the special Name: twenty-two as the simple spelling with the tip and heh over against the five doubles; ten sefirot as the explicit Name.

Fifth explanation. “By thirty-two paths.” These are three names: Ehyeh, Hashem, and Adonai, which include all Atzilut[Gl.29]: Arikh Anpin, Ze’ir Anpin, and Malkhut, while Abba[Gl.24] and Imma[Gl.25] are hidden under mazal. They are also the three names יב״ק — unity, blessing, and holiness — which include everything. These three names are included in AMSh: head, belly, and body. They are the three books that include all thirty-two paths. Each of the three partzuf-names contains ten, and between them are two curtains. Thus three times ten and two curtains make thirty-two paths. All the paths are included in the brain and divide through the spinal cord to the entire body; from there sensation reaches the whole body.

“Created His world with three books.” Opposite this, in all sefirot there are three kelim, three inner lights, and three surrounding lights[Gl.39]; three lines; and three names that include everything: Ehyeh, Hashem, Adonai. So too the body: head, belly, body; the soul: nefesh, ruah, neshamah; the year: heat, cold, saturation; the world: AMSh.


Mishnah 2

“Ten …”. This explains how the thirty-two are found: ten sefirot and twenty-two letters — together thirty-two.

“Ten sefirot.” In number there is no more than ten; afterwards eleven begins, and likewise in hundreds and thousands. The teacher explained orally that they are called sefirot because number is not an enacted creation but exists in thought. If people or species are counted as one, two, three, and so on, once they separate one can no longer see who was first and who was second; the number does not adhere to the thing’s essence. So too the sefirot are in thought. And just as number has no end — after ten one can count tens, hundreds, and onward without end — so the ten sefirot have no end and no boundary. Therefore they are called sefirot.

In bodies they are the three depths together with the six surrounding surfaces and the middle point that carries them. In the world they are the heavenly spheres. In the year they are three times — cold, heat, and saturation — and the seven days of the week. In the human being they are skull, brain, heart, mouth, two hands, two feet, body, and covenant. In the sefirot they are Keter, Hokhmah, Binah; Hesed, Gevurah, Tiferet; Netsah, Hod, Yesod, and Malkhut. In Hashem’s Name they are the tip of yud, yud, heh, vav, which includes six, and the final heh. In all these orders the first, though counted, is also their root.

The main root is in Hokhmah, for there is yud in the Name; therefore the book begins there. In Keter this is hidden in the tip. Alef also hints to it, since its form consists of yud above, dalet below, and vav in the middle: the root of the ten sefirot. The ten are included in alef in great concealment. Yud in Hokhmah has two additional points besides the upper point that hints to Keter: the right foot and the lower point. This gives three yuds and two connections between them, together thirty-two.

“Without what / without graspable content.” This means that the mouth must be restrained: in the unit sequence there is no number higher than ten. Therefore it later says: “and before One, what do you count?” In the sefirot, mouth and heart must be restrained before the One, for He cannot be grasped. The letters בלי מה point to this: בלי — the thirty-two paths and yud of Hokhmah that includes them; מה — the name MA of Hokhmah. Everything is included in the ten sefirot of Hokhmah; therefore they are called belimah, “without what.” Likewise: “He hangs the earth on belimah,” for “Hashem founded the earth with wisdom.” The ten sefirot in Hokhmah are hidden and included; therefore they are in the letter yud, where there is no white space.

The twenty-two letters are the known letters. No thing exists that does not contain the twenty-two letters in some way. They are the primordial Torah. They are called “foundation” because they are the foundation of everything emanated, created, formed, and made; of every bodily and spiritual thing, pure and impure. They unfold in the ten sefirot, each in its place, and all are included in Yesod, which is called “all.” They then return and are included in Malkhut with the added heh, kallah, the bride; therefore the five final letters מנצפ״ך are added.

Second explanation. “Ten sefirot without what and twenty-two foundation letters” explains the thirty-two paths. The ten sefirot are the inner aspect, the ten letters of the explicit Name, the inner watering of the tree. The twenty-two letters are the outer tikkunim. Sefirot are in thought, on the level of Hokhmah. The letters are signs and markers; their revelation is stronger. Each letter itself shows its number, while the vowel-points receive numerical structure only in combination. The letters are called foundation because all 231 gates are built upon them.

“Three mothers” correspond to Keter-Hokhmah-Binah, for they are mothers of everything and spread into all seven lower sefirot. Da’at stands in the place of Keter, as the holy Mazal from which the two crowns emerge.

“Seven doubles” correspond to the seven lower sefirot, in which the two crowns of Hokhmah and Binah are hidden: five hasadim[Gl.55] and five gevurot. Their totality is in Yesod, and from him Malkhut receives. Therefore they are double: with dagesh and rafe, with Hesed and Gevurah.

“Twelve simples” are in Da’at itself as it spreads: five hasadim and their totality, five gevurot and their totality. They are also in Tiferet, where the twelve diagonal boundaries, the twelve permutations of Hashem’s Name, and the twelve great hayot stand. The seven are double because each sefirah contains both hasadim and gevurot; the twelve simples stand as each force in its own right.


Mishnah 3

“Ten sefirot without what, according to the number of ten fingers.” Now the ten sefirot are explained. They correspond to the ten utterances of Creation, the ten commandments, and the ten praises.

“According to the number of ten fingers.” The word “finger” points to the name אהו״ה in filling with yud; this is the seal with which heaven and earth were created, as in the words et ha-shamayim ve-et ha-arets.

“Five opposite five.” These are the five hasadim clothed in the right and the five gevurot clothed in the left, which come out in the fingers. These are the two books that include all thirty-two in each hand.

“One covenant directed in the middle, in the circumcision of the tongue.” This is the third book, the telling, the tongue, Da’at of Arikh Anpin, which decides between Hokhmah and Binah, clothed by the two hands. It includes all ten.

“And in the circumcision of the flesh.” This is Yesod of Atik. The tongue is also Tiferet, deciding between the hands, Hesed and Gevurah; the sexual covenant is Yesod, deciding between the toes, Netsah and Hod. Both are called covenant: the covenant of Torah in the tongue and the covenant of circumcision in Yesod. They are called “one” because the middle line stands in the secret of unity. Tiferet unites Abba and Imma; Yesod unites Ze’ir Anpin and Nukva[Gl.27]. Tiferet and Yesod are also counted as one: body and covenant are one. “Directed in the middle” means that they are on the middle line.

Second explanation. Five opposite five are the five hasadim and five gevurot. Therefore each hand has five fingers: the right hand hasadim, the left gevurot; so too the feet. The two crowns, Hesed and Gevurah, are hidden in Abba and Imma. Ze’ir Anpin inherits them, gives the crown of Gevurah to Nukva, and takes the crown of Hesed for himself. The union of Abba and Imma is through Da’at, the tongue; the union of Ze’ir Anpin and Nukva through Yesod. Through these two covenants the world endures: “If not for My covenant day and night, I would not have established the laws of heaven and earth.” The higher union through the tongue is “kisses,” spiritual, and creates angels; the lower union through Yesod is bodily and produces human souls. Thus both covenants require “circumcision”: the flesh physically and the tongue spiritually through Torah-labor.


Mishnah 4

“Ten sefirot without what: ten and not nine; ten and not eleven.” Although the discussion here is from Hokhmah, one must not say that they begin from Hokhmah and not from Keter. Keter is Malkhut of the world above it. If Keter is omitted, there are only nine. Conversely, one must not count Malkhut as an additional eleventh, because the last Malkhut is included in the first quality of Keter. In the particular sefirot of each partzuf the structure ends in Yesod, while Malkhut as Nukva is the crown of her husband and rises with him. In the general ten sefirot Atik is not counted, but Malkhut of Ze’ir Anpin completes the ten. Therefore: ten and not nine; ten and not eleven.

“Understand in wisdom and be wise in understanding.” This explains that all ten sefirot are included in one another. Do not say that in Hokhmah there is no Binah or the reverse. The filling of yud is vav-dalet, which becomes heh, Binah; and in the filling of heh of Binah there is yud, Hokhmah. Therefore they divide into Abba-Imma and Yisrael Saba-Tevunah: in Abba-Imma, Binah is included in yud; in Yisrael Saba-Tevunah, Hokhmah is included in heh. Therefore they are called companions who do not separate.

“Test them and investigate from them.” In Abba and Imma one can test how the seven sefirot issue from them. In Yisrael Saba and Tevunah, belonging to Binah, investigation is permitted — not into Binah herself, but into what issues from her. “Set the matter upon its clear ground” — “matter” is Malkhut. “Return the Former to His place” — the six ends, called Yotser and nesting in Yetzirah. Each returns to its root: the six ends to Hokhmah, Malkhut to Binah.

Second explanation. Hokhmah and Binah in every thing are the first matter, hyuli, and the first form. Matter and form are inseparable: there was never matter without form or form without matter. Afterwards come the matter of the three upper elements, the three fathers, HaGaT[Gl.44]; then their forms, NeHi[Gl.45]. The fourth element, the element of dust, comes last as matter and form together. “Set the matter” means Malkhut, the last foundation. “Return the Former” means the inner composing force, Keter, which permeates all and is called “nothing.”


Mishnah 5

“Ten sefirot without what.” Until now it was explained that Hokhmah and Binah include all ten; now it is explained that each of the ten includes all.

“Their measure.” The Zohar says that Botzina de-Kardinutah measured the measure; it is the measuring line. Therefore all the sefirot are called measures.

“Ten that have no end.” Each contains ten, and each of those ten again contains ten, without end, like the letters of Torah that have filling, filling of filling, and onward without end. This is because Ein Sof[Gl.40] unites with them: He and they are one. In created, formed, and made things He rules through His holy Name. Even in material things surfaces can be divided endlessly into surfaces, lines into lines, and points into points; a person cannot set a final limit to their number. So too number is endless even though the units end at ten. Among lower things this is incidental; in the ten sefirot the Holy Name is essential.

“Depth” is that which has three distances; less than this does not exist in the bodily realm. In the spiritual realm the three distances are AMSh, the mothers of all. In number they are alef-bet-gimel: root, beginning of pairs, and beginning of separated numbers. In the sefirot they are HaBaD, yud-heh-vav of the Name.

“The depth of beginning” is Hokhmah, called beginning. Keter is the root and may not be investigated; in Hokhmah its existence can be discerned, though its essence is not grasped. Therefore it is called yesh, being. In the world this is water, which precedes everything. In number it is bet, because alef is the root.

“The depth of end” is Binah, for she completes everything. The beginning is water and the completion is in fire. Everything returns to her, the coming world. In the physical world, fire ripens and completes, but also dissolves and returns things to their root.

“The depth of good” is Keter, Arikh Anpin, where mercy is without limit and no judgment exists. “The depth of evil” is Malkhut; there is no evil in the divine, but her feet descend, and she becomes the head of the foxes in the world of separation. “The depth of height” is Netsah; “the depth of below” Hod; “the depth of east” Tiferet; “the depth of west” Yesod, where all sefirot are mingled, and therefore the Shekhinah[Gl.57] is in the west. “The depth of north” is Gevurah, from which judgment and also hidden gold come. “The depth of south” is Hesed. These are the six known ends.

“The one Lord, God, faithful King, rules over them all.” Although ten depths were named, there is no separation among them. The one Lord is Ein Sof, who rules them all and unites them. The names do not refer to His essence but to His measures. “Lord” — Malkhut; “One” — Ze’ir Anpin; “El” — Binah; “King” — Hokhmah; “Faithful” — Keter. The order begins from below because the subject is rule.

“From His holy dwelling to eternity of eternities.” “Dwelling” is Keter, where the light of Ein Sof is hidden. “His holiness” is Hokhmah. “To eternity of eternities” is Binah, the six ends, and Malkhut. In simple meaning, the depths are the realms a person cannot grasp: what was before and after creation, how good and evil relate to the Creator, and what lies above, below, and beyond the world. About this Hagigah says: whoever gazes into four things — what is above, below, before, and after — would have been better not to have come into the world.


Mishnah 6

“Ten sefirot without what: their vision is like the appearance of lightning.” This mishnah explains the previous one. “Their vision” explains why they are called depths: a person can see them only like a lightning-flash, for a moment, and must immediately draw back. Therefore it later says: “restrain your mouth …”. The word for “seeing” implies seeing from a distance; therefore prophets are called watchers, for they see Hashem from afar. All the sefirot are in Hokhmah.

“Their end has no limit.” Do not think that they cannot be grasped only because they are far from us. Their end truly has no limit, for they unite in all worlds without limit, and there is no place empty of Hashem’s Name. Above it was said that they have no end upward toward Ein Sof; here “their end” means downward toward unlimited unfolding.

“His word in them runs and returns.” This returns to “the one Lord.” His word is Malkhut of Adam Kadmon, in the sefirot, in the state of running and returning; it cannot be grasped. The Zohar calls this “touching and not touching.” In Yetzirah the four hayot are the four letters of Hashem’s Name, and Metatron stands above them from the side of Keter. From the side of Arikh Anpin he is called Nuriel; from the side of Beriah he is Metatron, whose name is like his Master’s name. Therefore the hayot “run” from Nuriel’s side, where there is some grasp, and “return” from Metatron’s side, where there is no grasp. Running and returning also hints to the 613 commandments.

“And at His utterance they pursue like a storm.” This refers to the utterance of Adam Kadmon’s six ends. Here there is not even running and returning, only pursuit after the higher, as Malkhut in every world pursues the upper. “Like a storm” hints to Malkhut, the end of all grades, with the added heh, the final heh of the Name.

“Before His throne they bow.” His throne is Binah of Adam Kadmon, for every throne is in Binah. They bow because they cannot grasp it at all. “Before the throne” is Hokhmah of Adam Kadmon, the throne’s face. In Binah there is some interrogative apprehension; in Hokhmah only its existence is grasped. They bow before it, because it is their cause: Ein Sof, clothed in Hokhmah of Adam Kadmon, emanated the ten sefirot of Atzilut; clothed in Binah of Adam Kadmon and Atzilut, He created the ten sefirot of Beriah; through the six ends He formed Yetzirah; through Malkhut He made Asiyah. Therefore the worlds are called by the four letters of the Name.


Mishnah 7

“Ten sefirot without what: their end is fixed in their beginning, and their beginning in their end.” This returns to “ten and not …”: if one counts the first quality of Keter, Malkhut is not counted separately, for the end is fixed in the beginning; if one counts Malkhut, the beginning is fixed in the end.

“Like a flame bound to the coal.” In the flame one can see how the end is fixed in the beginning. There are five kinds of fire in a flame: the blue color around the wick, corresponding to Malkhut; the white color around it, corresponding to the six ends; the glow around the fire, seen only with half-closed eyes, corresponding to Binah; the light shining from the flame, whose source cannot be grasped, corresponding to Hokhmah; and the black color by which all are held in the circle of fire, corresponding to Arikh Anpin, of whom it is said: “He made darkness His hiding place.” The elemental fire is the root of all the colors and corresponds to the concealed Atik. In the coal itself there is an aspect of elemental fire, and through it the blue color holds; through it all colors are connected. So too Malkhut raises all to Keter, where she is called Keter Malkhut.

“For the Lord is one, and He has no second.” Only that which has another beside it can enter number and be called “one” numerically. That which has no second cannot be counted as one in the ordinary sense. Of Adam Kadmon one cannot say that there is another. When one speaks of Hokhmah, Binah, and the other sefirot in Adam Kadmon, this is only with respect to His influence upon the lower worlds, to make the matter audible. Therefore He cannot be called part of the count of the sefirot.

“Before One — what do you count?” In Adam Kadmon there is no number. If Keter is one and Adam Kadmon precedes the beginning of the sefirot, how could one speak of number there? Just as nothing is counted before one.


Mishnah 8

“Ten sefirot without what: restrain your mouth from speaking and your heart from contemplating.” The process of speech has five parts: will, thought, inner contemplation, voice, and speech. Will is the first desire to speak. Thought is considering what to say without yet forming words. Inner contemplation shapes the words in the heart. Voice is in the throat before descending to the mouth. Speech is the articulation of letters. Will is in the soul, thought in the brain, contemplation in the heart, voice and speech in throat and mouth. They correspond to five partzufim. A person cannot grasp the soul’s will; thought can be grasped as necessity but not in its essence; contemplation is grasped through speech as the form of speech. Voice is simple like thought; speech is like contemplation but brought into actuality.

Since the sefirot are in thought, it says: restrain your mouth — voice and speech — and your heart from contemplation. Therefore they are called belimah. Even the ten sefirot in the four worlds are called belimah, for in each of the four worlds there are Atzilut, Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah: the sefirot are Atzilut; the kelim are the throne and the source-place of souls; the garment is the source-place of angels; the palace is the world itself. They correspond to thought, contemplation, voice, and speech.

“If your mouth runs to speak and your heart to contemplate, return to the place.” This is the known Place: “Behold, a place is with Me.” What is with Me may be grasped as contemplation, but “My face shall no human see.” Each thing must return to its place: speech to the place of speech, contemplation to the place of contemplation.

“For therefore it is said: the living creatures ran and returned.” The hayot are in the secret of the four mohin, where hayah, Hokhmah, dwells. Thought flashes forth in an instant and draws back. Over their heads is the firmament, the membrane over the brain; over the membrane is the sapphire stone, Keter of Arikh; over the throne is the likeness of a human, nefesh. Up to there you have permission. From there onward is “what is wondrous for you”: the intellect above the upper membrane, which cannot be grasped, not even in its existence.

“And upon this matter the covenant was cut.” A covenant is like a person who has a friend as dear as his own soul, yet cannot always be with him. He gives the friend an object to which his longing and thought are bound, and through that object they remain joined. “Covenant” means assurance that they will not separate. “Cutting a covenant” means cutting away something connected to oneself and giving it to the other. So too the rainbow is something from Him, blessed be He; philosophers erred about it because it lies above ordinary intellect. So too Torah and circumcision are mediating things between the Creator and Israel. Because He Himself cannot be grasped directly, Israel needed Mishkan, Temple, Ark, and cherubim; therefore the Ark is called the Ark of the Covenant.


Mishnah 9

“Ten sefirot without what: one — the spirit of the living Elokim.” Now the order of the ten sefirot is explained. It is like a glassblower making a vessel: first there is breath within him; when it goes out, it divides into spirit, water — the moisture in the breath — and fire — the warmth; then it spreads to the six ends of the vessel. So too in the higher analogy: the root of the breath in Him is touching and not touching in spirit, water, and fire, which afterwards divide from it. About this it is said: “The spirit of Elokim hovered over the waters,” like something that touches and does not touch. In the world this is the spirit over the waters above the firmament; in the year, the sphere of intellect; in the soul, the intellect between the skull and the upper membrane; in the body, the skull ending in the mouth, for “the beginning is fixed in the end,” and “Malkhut is mouth.” In the sefirot it is Atik Kadisha, Malkhut of Adam Kadmon, in the secret of Ein Sof; it is the life-force of all worlds. In it there is no sign, neither in yud nor in the tip of yud. All sefirot are its revelations and are called His name.

“Blessed and praised.” “Blessed” of Himself, from above downward; “praised” through the righteous, from below upward.

“The name of the Living One of the worlds.” These are all sefirot emanated from Him; He is the watering of all Atzilut. In the secret of all worlds, it is the primordial air, the intermediary between the first Emanator and all worlds. About this primordial air one cannot even use the word “human” as a teaching image, and no name or designation applies to it. The breath that leaves a person includes voice, spirit, and speech. These are the roots of Hokhmah, Binah, Ze’ir Anpin, and Nukva: the first spirit — root of Hokhmah; voice — root of Binah; spirit — root of Ze’ir Anpin; speech — root of Malkhut. Therefore it says “voice, spirit, and speech.”

“And this is the spirit of holiness.” It is the intermediary between Creator and created beings, the hidden light by which one can see from one end of the world to the other, and which He hid for the righteous. In the year it is the sphere of intellect; in the human being it is intellect, a divine spark resting in the person, the spirit of prophets. It is what unites with Israel and is therefore called God of Israel and God of Abraham.

Second explanation. Sefer Yetzirah here speaks of the secret of kisses, voice, and speech that issue from Binah’s inwardness through the throat. First the spirit becomes silent in the throat; when it reaches the palate, it takes three colors — spirit, water, and fire; when it reaches the tongue, it becomes vav. Thus there are ten sefirot: in the throat Keter from Imma-Binah; in the palate HaBaD, the three colors AMSh; in the tongue the six ends. From the side of the letters, fire precedes air and water; from the side of the vowel-points, water comes first, because the vowel-points belong to Hesed.


Mishnah 10

“Second — spirit from spirit.” This is the spirit over the waters, over which the spirit of Elokim hovers; the spirit that divides from the spirit in the mouth. In the year it is the daily sphere; in the human being, nefesh between two membranes, Kroma de-Avira; in the sefirot, Arikh Anpin; in ABYA[Gl.56], Adam Kadmon; in the Name, the tip of yud; in the body, the skull.

“He engraved and hewed in it.” Engraving is incising letters on a tablet and removing their inner space. Hewing is taking the letters out of the tablet like stones from a mountain.

“Twenty-two foundation letters.” These are the known twenty-two letters. They are called foundation both for the reasons already explained and because they divide in the sefirot and are all included in Yesod, called “all.”

“Three mothers, seven doubles, and twelve simples.” These are the twenty-two letters, explained later. Here begins the proper revelation of the sefirot, even though their root was already in the spirit of Elokim. The first sefirah is root and the place of Malkhut’s ascent; here the ten sefirot, the ten known points, are included — hence the thirty-two. They divide into three kelim in each sefirah and into two curtains: one between the three first and the seven lower, like the curtain between the holy and the Holy of Holies, the membrane under the brain; the other before Nukva’s beginning, the diaphragm of the liver.

“And one spirit from them.” This spirit is itself one of the letters; do not think it is merely the field in which the letters are engraved. It is alef, air, as explained in the second chapter. Therefore alef stands first among the letters and includes all sefirot. The letters after alef together with the doubles are twenty-six, and the form of alef, yud-vav-yud, has the gematria twenty-six. The filling of alef also shows that all letters are included in alef: alef is the beginning of the throat letters; lamed the middle of the tongue letters; peh the end of the lip letters. The two spirits — Elokim’s spirit, Atik, and this spirit, Arikh Anpin — are one in the name Keter, with Malkhut included.


Mishnah 11

“Third — water from spirit.” These are the waters above the firmament, in which all spheres and stars are, under the spirit. In the year this is the zodiacal sphere that gives this world life; in the human being, mohin, where hayah dwells; in the worlds, His holy Atzilut; in the sefirot, Hokhmah.

“He engraved and hewed in them twenty-two letters.” Here revelation begins; therefore it is called beginning. In it the thirty-two paths begin to open, and therefore it is called yesh. Each path contains ten, but one path “the bird of prey did not know”; those that are found in intellect give the number yesh.

“From tohu and bohu, slime and clay.” Now the creation of earth is explained, for earth was created from water. In water are four things: tohu and bohu opposite Hokhmah and Binah; slime and clay in the depth opposite the six ends and Malkhut. From slime the birds of heaven were created; from clay the animals of the earth. The first letters of the four words give 611, the gematria of Torah: they come from the twenty-two letters of water. Torah begins with bet and ends with lamed, opposite the thirty-two paths.

“He engraved them like a garden-bed.” Like different seeds in a bed: each species separately, yet all fixed in one bed.

“He hewed them like a wall.” These are the 231 gates, front and back, set in a wheel like a wall.

“He surrounded them like a ceiling.” He made them like a square: twenty-two houses, and in each, twenty-one gates, front and back together. This is the secret of the feminine waters.

“He poured snow upon them.” These are the masculine waters, congealed like snow, from Hokhmah, from the brain.

“And it became earth.” As stated below: earth was created from water; Abba founded the daughter.

“For He says to snow: become earth.” So too with rain: feminine waters rise from the earth into the clouds, and upper masculine waters descend into the clouds; through them the lower waters are blessed and fall as blessing.


Mishnah 12

“Fourth — fire from water.” This is the sphere of fire beneath the firmament, in the secret of Binah. Hesed is called water because it comes from Hokhmah; Gevurah is called fire because it comes from Binah. The firmament between them is Da’at, which decides. There are the sun, moon, stars, and signs, the life-force of the whole world. Da’at is that by which chambers are filled with all good. It is from fire and water where they meet; thus the firmament is brought forth. Between every two opposite elements an intermediary is required. Its principal side, however, is fire, and this fire rises and unites with water; therefore Binah precedes Da’at in HaBaD. In Arikh Anpin, water is Moha Stima’a, ending in the palate, and fire is in the throat, ending in the heart: “Binah is the heart.” The tongue is Da’at, deciding between them.

In the year this is Saturn’s sphere, a force that does not seek settled life in this world but inclines toward the coming world; therefore it belongs to ascetics and desert-dwellers. In the worlds this is Beriah, the throne of judgment and the coming world. From Binah judgments are awakened, but she herself is the place of mercy, like elemental fire, from which burning fire comes while it itself does not burn. Therefore she is Hashem’s Name with Elokim’s vocalization.

“He hewed in it the Throne of Glory.” The Mother nests in the throne; she is called throne because ha-kise has the numerical value of Elokim. She is the throne for Glory, Hokhmah, in which the thirty-two paths are, and “glory” has the same numerical value. Beriah is also the throne for Atzilut, which is called Glory.

“Serafer.” They are from Binah and therefore called seraphim; they are in Beriah.

“Ofanim, holy hayot, and ministering angels.” Even though they stand in Yetzirah and Asiyah — the six ends and Malkhut — their creation comes from Binah, for Imma nests in the throne. Serafer are from Binah in Binah; hayot from Tiferet in Binah; ofanim from Malkhut in Binah. Therefore every revelation of Shekhinah and every governance by will is through fire. On the altar everything is through fire. The four holy hayot correspond to the four winds in the air of the world, which receive Israel’s prayer.

“And from the three He founded His dwelling.” The three first are called His dwelling, for His glory is hidden above them, and Shekhinah never descended below this in her essence.

“As it is said: He makes His angels winds, His ministers flaming fire.” The continuation of the verse — “He lays His chambers upon the waters” — is implied. Water and fire are yud-heh in the Name and, in the fillings, AB[Gl.33] and SAG.


Mishnah 13

“He selected three letters.” These are yud-heh-vav from the twelve simples.

“In the secret of the three mothers AMSh.” AMSh is the secret of HaBaD; Keter and Da’at are the outer and inner aspect of one another. This is yud-heh-vav in the Name, all included in Da’at. Da’at then spreads into the six ends. Therefore: “He fixed them in His great Name and sealed with them the six ends.”

“Fifth — He sealed …” These are the six known ends, sealed with yud-heh-vav; three letters build six houses. He begins with the upper, because there the order is yud-heh-vav. The two houses beginning with yud are Hesed and Netsah on the right; those beginning with heh are Hod and Gevurah; those beginning with vav are Tiferet and Yesod. East precedes west, and height and depth precede north and south. In the human being these are the hands, feet, body, and covenant; in the world, the six ends; in the year, the six planets besides Saturn; in the worlds, Yetzirah, Metatron, and the six orders of Mishnah. The eighteen letters in the six names are included in Yesod, called “living in the worlds,” corresponding to the eighteen blessings.

Second explanation. The six ends show that these ten sefirot include the twenty-two letters of the soul: eighteen in the six names and four in the root. Vav is the very six ends. Yud-heh are mohin, Hokhmah and Binah, the twelve simples in Da’at. The six vavs are double through Hesed and Gevurah; the seventh double is the unifier, alef inside vav.


Mishnah 14

“These are the ten sefirot …” All this is in Ze’ir Anpin. But Nukva of Ze’ir Anpin also contains all ten sefirot; she begins from the second third of Tiferet of Ze’ir Anpin. In the human being, the wife is included in the husband and also has ten sefirot. In the Name she is the final heh; in the worlds, Asiyah; in the year, the sphere of the Moon. Venus contains Netsah and Hod, the two halves of the body, and therefore it is both morning star and evening star. Mercury, Yesod, also decides and can be both morning and evening.

In the world she is earth. Her ten sefirot begin with the two lower parts of the air, for she begins in the second third of Tiferet. Therefore the air divides into three. Vilon is the curtain and serves as her beginning. The waters on earth are her Hokhmah. Within the earth there are seven earths: the highest, Tevel, where Gan Eden is, corresponds to Binah and the coming world; below it is fire, the source of Gehinom and judgments; below this are six earths opposite the six ends, and downward the four klipot: depth, slime and clay, tohu, bohu, and darkness. In the ten sefirot of Asiyah, Vilon and everything below it is Malkhut, which has nothing of itself; the firmament with all the spheres is Yesod of Asiyah, for the firmament is the secret of Yesod and Da’at of Malkhut. Shhaqim is Netsah and Hod; Zevul is Tiferet; Makhon is Gevurah; Maon is Hesed; Aravot is Binah, where throne, ofanim, seraphim, hayot, and angels stand. “King, El, living and enduring” is Hokhmah. Darkness, cloud, and thick cloud surrounding them are Keter in the secret of the three heads.


CHAPTER 2

In this chapter the twenty-two letters and their details are explained.

Mishnah 1

“Three mothers AMSh.” These are water, spirit, and fire. They are the three books mentioned above, which clothe themselves in the hands and the tongue. Therefore it says: “their foundation is the scale of merit,” the right hand, “and the scale of guilt,” the left hand, “and the tongue of law deciding between them.” It resembles a balance: two pans hang, and the tongue stands in the middle; therefore they are called pans.

“The tongue of law decides between them.” “Law” means an exact measure, neither more nor less. It is the foundation from which everything spreads to all worlds in the secret of the three lines: Hesed, Din, and Rahamim. The details of AMSh in all things are explained in the third chapter.

“Mem is silent.” It comes from the lip, without movement of the tongue and without a strong voice; the speech is quiet. Likewise Hesed bears everything and is silent; the waters also rest silently in their place.

“Shin hisses.” It comes from the tongue among the teeth and hisses more than all other letters; so too the measure of judgment cries out, and fire does not rest for an instant but burns everything.

“Alef — air-spirit.” It arises from the opening of the throat, as spirit alone, without the tongue; it corresponds to spirit and to the measure of mercy.


Mishnah 2

“Twenty-two … He engraved, hewed …” As stated in the first chapter: He engraved them like a garden-bed and hewed them like a wall.

“Combined.” He joined two letters together, such as alef with bet, and so all of them.

“Weighed.” This is in the scale of merit: 231 gates in the face.

“Exchanged.” This is the scale of guilt: 231 gates on the reverse side. Afterwards He included them in the tongue and created the whole world with them, as it is said: “By the word of Hashem the heavens were made …”.

“With them He formed all formation.” Everything is created through them, for the world was created through Bereshit, that is, through Torah; and “You made them all with wisdom,” in which the twenty-two letters are.

“And all that will be formed in the future.” Everything was already created in the six days; there is nothing new under the sun, only the bringing out from potential into actuality.


Mishnah 3

“Twenty-two … He engraved them with voice …” This seems to contain a textual error; the reading should be: “He engraved them with spirit and hewed them with voice,” corresponding to what came before. This stands opposite the three AMSh.

“He fixed them.” This is what the first chapter calls: He fixed them like a garden-bed.

“In five places in the mouth.” This corresponds to heh in the Name. The root of the letters is from the spirit of Elokim, which is heh, Malkhut of Adam Kadmon.


Mishnah 4

“Twenty-two … He set them in a wheel like a wall.” Because they turn forward and backward, face and reverse, one opposite the other: the face of alef opposite the reverse of alef, and so all the letters. Face and reverse are connected, and this can only be depicted as a wheel. They also return cyclically.

“In 231 gates.” There are twenty-two rows, and in each row twenty-one houses: together 231. The middle is hinted by alef-lamed, bet-mem, which gather them.

“The wheel turns forward and backward.” Alef joins with bet as alef-bet, one gate; alef with gimel, another; and so with all. Then bet with all, and so onward. There are 462 in all, but they are doubled: alef-bet and bet-alef are the same pair in two directions. Therefore half are 231 faces and half 231 backs. Whatever follows the alphabetic order is called face; the reverse is called back. In the face the row decreases from alef with 21 combinations down to shin with one; tav has no face-combination because it is already the back of all. In the back the order increases in reverse. Therefore the square forms of the names are called backs, and many incantatory sequences work by constant shortening; their force is in the back, and when the face is mentioned they withdraw.

The same letters can be merit in one place and guilt in another. Therefore the sign is given: in good there is nothing higher than oneg, delight, and in evil nothing lower than nega, affliction. They are the same letters, only turned around.


Mishnah 5

“How did He combine, weigh, and exchange them?” Here the 231 gates are explained.

“Alef with all and all with alef.” This is the upper face and the lower back.

“Bet with all.” This means with those remaining, because bet with alef has already been included in “all with alef.” So it continues with every letter. This is the joining of two letters. If all letters are joined together, the number becomes immense; but all such combinations are branches of the 231 gates. Therefore they are called gates: one counts only the first two letters as the gate, though each gate contains many details.

“And it follows that every formation and all speech issues from one Name.” Every word, in every language, even if it contains many letters, issues from one Name. Whether the force of the word turns toward Hesed, toward the opposite, or toward a mixture, depends on the order of the letters: face or back, upper, lower, or middle, near or far. Thus one understands the secret of names and their permutations. Every created being is formed from all twenty-two letters; if one is missing, there is a defect. Therefore the sages said that Bezalel knew how to combine the letters with which heaven and earth were created.

All were created by Hashem’s Name: the thirty-two paths are ten sefirot in the secret of the Name and twenty-two letters. The ten sefirot are the inner life of the letters, as vowel-points are the life of letters. In the Name there are four fillings: AB in yud, SAG in heh, MA in vav, and BEN in the final heh. The face belongs to yud-heh and AB-SAG; the back to vav-heh and MA-BEN. The whole wheel turns 21 times 21, Ehyeh times Ehyeh, which hints to emet, truth; therefore His seal is truth.


Mishnah 6

“He formed substance from tohu.” Tohu, bohu, and darkness correspond in reverse order to Binah, Hokhmah, and Keter. Tohu is the green line, Binah, encircling the world. Bohu is Hokhmah, the deep stones from which the waters issue. Darkness is Keter, of which it is said: “He made darkness His hiding place.” In them are the three mothers AMSh, for the earth is included in them all.

“He formed substance from tohu” — formation from Binah. “He made the non-being into being” — Malkhut is “nothing” in the secret of the end fixed in the beginning, and through action she becomes being from bohu, Hokhmah, which is called yesh.

“He hewed great pillars from air that cannot be grasped.” This is Keter, Kroma de-Avira, where the 620 pillars stand. The pillars of earth are described in rabbinic tradition as standing upon waters, waters upon mountains, mountains upon wind, and wind upon storm — here in reverse order, because the discussion is from the back.

“This is the sign: alef with all and all with alef” — in the lowest back.

“He looks and exchanges.” The exchange sets the highest face opposite the lowest back. In this way He makes every formation and all speech by one Name. The twenty-two correspond to eleven in the face — ten fingers of the hands and the covenant of the tongue, the body/Tiferet deciding in the middle — and eleven in the back — ten toes and the sexual covenant deciding in the middle. Therefore: twenty-two objects in one body.

The 231 gates have face and back. In each gate the remaining twenty letters combine in many permutations; here only the first two are counted. All words of all languages and all forms of beings can be found in this network of reversals. The letters are the kelim of the sefirot, while the vowel-points are their inner life, like spirit in the body. Five great vowel-points correspond to five hasadim, five small ones to five gevurot; dagesh and shva[Gl.52] come from the side of Gevurah. The not fully sweetened gevurot appear as shorter and more compressed sounds.


CHAPTER 3

Mishnah 1

“Three mothers AMSh, their foundation …” Wherever three lines are found — Hesed, Din, Rahamim — their root is in these three letters. They are called mothers because they are the main source of the generations of heaven and earth.

“Merit” is as explained above. “Tongue” is that which kneads, mixes, and connects the two scales.


Mishnah 2

“Three mothers AMSh — a great, wondrous, and hidden secret, sealed with six rings.” Their root is in the first sefirah, the spirit of the living Elokim. There they are included in great concealment. Afterwards they divide into the first three sefirot, Keter-Hokhmah-Binah, and then into the six ends, where each end contains the three AMSh according to the six house-permutations. Yesod contains them all: eighteen letters; therefore he is called “living in the worlds.” At this level everything is still only engraving, in hidden form.

“Secret” corresponds to the first sefirah, the spirit of Elokim. “Great, wondrous, and hidden” correspond to its first three: Binah is called great, Hokhmah wondrous, Keter hidden. “Sealed with six rings” are its six ends, where the three letters rotate.

“From them issued air, water, and fire.” These are the first three in the ten sefirot.

“From them fathers were born.” These are HaGaT, called fathers.

“And from the fathers, offspring.” These are NeHi, the sons. In the human being this lies in the air of the skull, brain, and heart; in the world everything begins with the spirit of Elokim, then AMSh, then fathers — heaven, earth, and air — and from them offspring. In the letters AMSh gives birth to the seven doubles, and the seven doubles to the twelve simples.


Mishnah 3

“Three mothers AMSh: He engraved …” This occurs in the twenty-two letters and here especially in the six permutations of AMSh.

“Three mothers AMSh in world, year, and soul.” The whole book divides into three: world, year, and soul. These correspond to Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah. World belongs to Beriah; year to Yetzirah, for the year is determined by the sun’s cycle; and soul to Asiyah, where Malkhut nests. First the ten sefirot stand in Atzilut; from them AMSh issues in Beriah, the fathers in Yetzirah, and the offspring in Asiyah.

“Male and female.” This applies especially to soul, but it exists hidden in world and year as well. Everything created has male and female sides. In the twelve permutations of Hashem’s Name, six are male and six female. In the three groups of letters there are male and female: AMSh according to their order; the seven doubles in speech and exchange; the twelve simples in six and six, with the thirteenth as unifier. In the sefirot AMSh are Da’at, Tiferet, and Malkhut, which issue from Keter-Hokhmah-Binah: Da’at from fire, Tiferet from air, Malkhut from water.


Mishnah 4

“Three mothers AMSh in the world: air, water, and fire.” This explains the acronym AMSh itself.

“Heaven was created from fire, earth from water.” Heaven issues from light, the garment; earth from the snow beneath the Throne of Glory. Light is in Binah, the light of fire; snow is water in Hokhmah. Therefore heaven is created from fire and earth from water. The heaven and earth discussed here are the particular heavens and earth created on the second and third days. In Torah it says there “let there be,” not “created,” because it is yesh from yesh. Heaven here is Da’at, deciding between fire and water; earth is Malkhut; air is Ze’ir Anpin. They are created from the three first, AMSh. Each of them includes three again, and thus all ten sefirot are included in AMSh.


Mishnah 5

“Three mothers AMSh in the year: heat, cold, and saturation.” The months begin with Nissan, and so does the zodiacal order below. “Saturation” is between summer and the rainy season: neither cold nor heat. Here too each side includes three: in cold and heat there are six times — seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter — and saturation decides between them and contains both.

“Heat was created from fire.” This is the sun and the side of fire. “Cold was created from water.” This is the rainy season, wet and cold. Each moves toward its root. Therefore in summer one says “He causes the dew to descend,” for dew is from heaven; in winter “He causes rain to descend,” for rain also rises from earth and the deep. “Saturation from spirit decides between them,” and therefore wind is mentioned in both seasons.


Mishnah 6

“Three mothers AMSh in the soul.” Each of the three — head, belly, and body — again includes three. The head includes Keter-Hokhmah-Binah: the brain is water, the membrane of the skull air, and the soul on the throne like fire. The body has the heart as fire, the lungs as water, and the blowing spirit in the lungs as air; yet it is called after spirit, for ruah dwells there. The belly also includes all three, but is called after water, because nefesh has its dwelling there and comes from earth.

These are three partzufim: Binah, Tiferet, and Malkhut; they are also the three worlds. In another reading they correspond to nefesh, ruah, and neshamah: head — neshamah; belly — nefesh in the liver; body — ruah in the heart, deciding between them. In the world, nefesh is in earth, ruah in air, and neshamah in the firmament. The head comes from fire because neshamah burns; without the cold vapors rising from the belly it would burn the person. The belly is cold; the body is natural heat that decides.


Mishnah 7

“He caused the letter to reign …” In each of the three permutations the ruling letter stands first; this is called binding a crown to it. So too for all letters. The rule is that in the feminine side judgments are stronger, and it is hotter than the masculine. Therefore fire stands over water and air in the feminine permutations.


Mishnah 8

[In the Hebrew text at hand there is no separate commentary on this mishnah.]


Mishnah 9

[In the Hebrew text at hand there is no separate commentary on this mishnah.]


CHAPTER 4

Mishnah 1

“Seven doubles …” This means letters with dagesh and without dagesh, unlike the other letters, where this doubleness is not manifest. They correspond to the seven lower sefirot. AMSh stands in the three first, which are mercy; the seven lower are in Hesed and Gevurah. Alef in Keter is the beginning of the letters; tav in Malkhut their end.

“The form of soft and hard.” Soft is without dagesh; hard is with dagesh.

“Strong and weak.” Both can be with dagesh, but one is strong and the other light. In the sefirot this corresponds to four grades: Hesed, strict Din, Rahamim, and mild Din, corresponding to the four letters of the Name.


Mishnah 2

“Seven … their foundation …” The order follows the seven lower sefirot. Wisdom in Hesed, for Hokhmah rests in Hesed and descends to the right. Wealth in Gevurah, for “from the north comes gold.” Seed in Tiferet, “seed of truth, seed of Jacob.” Life in Netsah, for Netsah is bound to the right, and “wisdom gives life to its owner.” Rule in Hod, the left side, where wealth and honor stand. Peace in Yesod. Grace in Malkhut, as with Esther, who found favor.


Mishnah 3

“Seven … in speech and exchange.” That is, rafe and dagesh, the soft and its opposite. So too in the sefirot: “one opposite the other.” In every thing there is a middle and degrees of leaning. A direct letter-sequence is good; a reversed one is exchange. According to the leaning of the letters, the force also leans toward good or toward the opposite: soft, hard, strong, weak. This is the twenty-eight times in Kohelet: fourteen for good and fourteen opposite; they correspond to the Moon’s twenty-eight stations, half in fullness and half in waning.


Mishnah 4

“Up and down …” Just as every body has six surfaces and an inner point that carries them, so the sefirot have six ends and the Shekhinah as the Holy Palace[Gl.62] in the middle. Her place is between Tiferet and Yesod, between HaGaT and NeHi. Hekhal has the gematria of Adonai; it is holy because its root is in Hokhmah, called holiness. When she is filled from all six ends, she is called holiness. She is the Moon’s inner point and the throne where Shekhinah rests, with Adam — Ze’ir Anpin — above her. Therefore she carries them all.

Second explanation. The seventh of the doubles is alef in the middle of vav; the six doubles are two vavs, and alef carries them. Therefore she is the inner Yesod in the world, containing everything.


Mishnah 5

“Seven, not eight.” Do not count Binah with them, even though judgments are awakened from her; in herself she is simple mercy. “Seven, not six” — do not omit Malkhut. “Test them and investigate them” is as in the first chapter: Hokhmah in Hesed and Binah in Gevurah; these four main points contain the whole lower seven.


Mishnah 6

“Seven … foundation.” Yesod is seven letters, but through permutation they can divide into many word-forms. Here permutation occurs only in the seven letters, not in all twenty-two. AMSh gave six permutations; these seven give 5040.

“Seven gates.” These are the seven openings of the head: two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and mouth. They are called gates because the senses enter and exit through them from the brain.


Mishnah 7

“Seven planets …” They stand in order according to their placement in the spheres from above downward; their order of service is explained in the following sections.


Mishnah 8

“He caused the letter to reign …” As in the third chapter.

“He joined them with one another.” The six remaining letters give 720 permutations: 360 in the face and 360 in the back. This corresponds to the 360 degrees of the heavenly circle and the opposite motion. Heaven is the six ends with 720 permutations; earth is the Holy Palace that completes to seven.

“The Moon in the world.” The Moon corresponds to Hesed and is therefore white. The order of formation is described through colors: white — Moon; red — Mars; green — Sun; black — Saturn; blue-ish — Jupiter; Venus and Mercury from the side of purity. These are the seven doubles, judgment and mercy, in the four grades from speech and exchange.

“The first day …” The seven days of the week correspond to the seven lower sefirot. The Sabbath is the inner point that carries all, for all days are blessed from the Sabbath.

“Right eye …” The eyes correspond to yud, the ears to heh, the nose to vav, the mouth to heh. They are arranged as right eye, right ear, right nostril — HaGaT, yud-heh-vav; left eye, left ear, left nostril — NeHi, yud-heh-vav; and the mouth in the middle — heh. Eyes and ears are separated because the body divides between Hesed and Netsah, and between Gevurah and Hod; the nostrils are not separated in the same way because body and covenant are counted as one.


Mishnah 9–14

[In the Hebrew text at hand there is no separate commentary on these mishnayot.]


Mishnah 15

“Seven worlds.” These are the seven palaces, the Matron’s seven maidens: Livnat ha-Sapir, Etsem ha-Shamayim, Nogah, Zakhut, Ahavah, Ratson, Kodesh ha-Kodashim. They are double, male and female palaces. Opposite them stand the seven palaces of impurity and the seven gates of Gehinom.

“Seven heavens.” Vilon, Raqia, Shehaqim, Zevul, Maon, Makhon, Aravot.

“Seven earths.” Erets, Adamah, Gey, Neshiyah, Tsiyah, Arqa, Tevel.

“Seven seas.” Sea of Tiberias, Sea of Sodom, Hilat, Hulta, Sivkhi, Sea of Spain, and the Great Sea. The ocean that surrounds the whole world is not counted, for it includes them all and corresponds to Binah.

“Seven rivers.” Jordan, Yarmuk, Qirmayon, Pugah, Pishon, Gihon, and Hideqel. Euphrates is not counted, for it includes all.

“Seven deserts.” Etam, Shur, Sin, Sinai, Paran, Tsin, Qedemot/Matana. They correspond to seven sefirot.

“Seven days,” “seven weeks,” “seven years,” “seven shmittot,” “seven jubilees.” The fiftieth year, yovel, includes all and corresponds to Binah. In all these rows the seventh is beloved: the Holy of Holies among the palaces, Aravot among the heavens, Tevel among the earths, the Great Sea among the seas, Jordan among rivers, Sinai among deserts, Sabbath among days. Therefore He loved the sevenths under all the heavens. Twelve sevens are listed, for the twelve depend upon the seven, as chapter six says: seven over twelve, and all are connected.

Hanokh was the seventh from Adam; Yosef the seventh in the order of the tribes; Moshe the seventh from Avraham; David the seventh; Tishri the seventh month; the seventh millennium is Sabbath.


Mishnah 16

“Two stones …” Stones mean letters; houses mean words. Two letters build two permutations, face and back. Three letters build six; four — twenty-four; five — one hundred twenty; six — seven hundred twenty; seven — five thousand forty. The rule is: multiply the numbers from one up to the number of letters. For four: 1×2×3×4 = 24. If only pairs are formed, multiply the number of letters by the preceding number and divide into face/back; therefore twenty-two letters give 231 gates in the face and 231 in the back. It begins with two stones because a one-letter word builds no house. The count reaches seven because this section concerns the seven letters בג״ד כפר״ת.


CHAPTER 5

Mishnah 1

“Twelve simples …” They have neither dagesh nor rafe, as mentioned above. Although the three mothers are also simple in pronunciation, they are mothers from which all twenty-two letters — both doubles and simples — issue.

The twelve simples also stand in the secret of the three Hashem-Names in the saying: “Hashem was King, Hashem is King, Hashem will be King.” Each letter is repeated three times: Keter-Hokhmah-Binah — yud-heh-vav, where Da’at stands in Keter’s place; Hesed-Gevurah-Tiferet — yud-heh-vav; Netsah-Hod-Yesod — yud-heh-vav; and Malkhut, the final heh, completes each triad as the fourth. Thus the three names Ehyeh, Hashem, and Adonai also include all ten sefirot; their initial letters hint to twelve.

“Their foundation is speech, thought …” Here there is no real exchange, because these forces are necessary in every living creature. If a person is deaf, blind, or lacks another of these twelve functions, the force itself is not missing, but the instrument through which it moves from potential to action. Exchange applies where another form exists in the same bearer; here the lack is merely absence.

They are twelve senses or operative powers in living beings. Ten are shared with animals, while two — reflective thought and laughter — are especially human. The twelve signs of the zodiac also have living form, and only two are human: Gemini and Virgo. The difference between the foundation of AMSh in the soul, the foundation of the seven doubles, and the foundation of the twelve simples is this: AMSh is the substance of the soul itself — air, water, and fire. The twelve senses are an accident attached to substance, for life cannot function without them. The seven doubles — wisdom, wealth, and so on — are more external accidents, for one can exist without them.

The twelve stand in Malkhut, who stands upon twelve oxen, three on each side. These are the twelve wings of the hayot, the twelve letters in the filling of Adonai, the twelve faces of the hayot, the three Hashem-Names in “was King, is King, will be King.” They are six ends in direct light and six in returning light: six from Hesed to Yesod and six from Yesod back to Hesed. Malkhut stands in the middle like alef between two vavs. So too in the zodiac: six signs are always above the earth and six below.

Supplementary notes connect the twelve senses with the twelve tribes: Reuven with sight, Shimon with hearing, Levi with smell and incense, Yehudah with speech and thanksgiving, Yissakhar with reflection in Torah, Zevulun with joy or movement according to the reading, Dan with anger, Naftali with walking, Gad with action, Asher with food, Yosef with union, Binyamin with sleep. Different traditions arrange them differently, but the principle is the same: the twelve powers govern organism and time.


Mishnah 2

“Twelve simples … diagonal boundaries.” A house has six surfaces, the six ends; the place where two ends meet is called a boundary. Each surface has four boundaries, which would give twenty-four, but each boundary serves two surfaces, and therefore there are twelve. Each side has three boundaries, four times three, corresponding to the twelve wings. East comes first because east is qedem, the primordial, and from there one turns to the right.

“They expand …” Not like a bodily thing that has a finite limit; in the sefirot there is no finite limit. They are called boundaries only in relation to measure.

“To eternity of eternities.” From one end of heaven to the other: from Binah, who includes the three first, to Malkhut.

“These are the boundaries of the world.” The earth is divided into twelve parts, and there are twelve princes on the side of impurity opposite the twelve tribes of Israel: “He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel.” Thus every body has its twelve boundaries. In every body there are twenty-two letters: three AMSh in the three dimensions; seven doubles in the six ends and the middle point; twelve simples in the twelve diagonal boundaries.

In the sefirot these are twenty-two channels: three horizontal — Hokhmah to Binah, Hesed to Gevurah, Netsah to Hod; seven vertical — from Keter to Tiferet, from Hokhmah to Hesed, from Hesed to Netsah, from Binah to Gevurah, from Gevurah to Hod, from Tiferet to Yesod, from Yesod to Malkhut; and twelve diagonals.


Mishnah 3

“Twelve … He engraved …” Here permutation occurs among the twelve letters; in each sense one letter rules.

“With them He created …” Everything stands in the secret of the twelve permutations of Hashem’s Name. The first is in direct order; after that follows the order of permutation. In the season of Nissan all Names begin with yud; in Tammuz with heh; in Tishri with vav; in Tevet with heh. So too are arranged the months, signs, the twelve permutations of Ehyeh, and the twelve tribes. One series stands for surrounding light, the other for inner light.

The twelve senses are linked to the tribes: sight — Reuven; hearing — Shimon; smell — Levi; speech and thanks — Yehudah; reflection — Yissakhar; laughter or movement — Zevulun/Naftali according to the order; anger — Dan; walking — Naftali; action — Gad; food — Asher; union — Yosef; sleep — Binyamin. These attachments describe not merely the outer organ but the root-force acting through it.


Mishnah 4–5

[In the Hebrew text at hand there is no separate commentary on these mishnayot.]


Mishnah 6

“Twelve … small intestines, stomach, liver.” In the printed text the order should be read: small intestines, stomach, liver.


Mishnah 7

“He caused the letter heh to reign over speech …” The letters’ main place is in the senses — in world, soul, and year — for the whole world is a bodily measure-structure, and so is the year. In the senses the simple letter stands without permutation: heh in speech. Only afterwards “He joined them with one another and created …”. So too with the three AMSh: their foundation lies in air, water, and fire, and only through permutation do they produce. So too with the seven doubles: their foundation is wisdom, wealth, and so on, and through permutation they create.

Where the text has “zayin in walking and the left foot,” according to Gra it should be corrected to “in sight and the right hand”; afterward the first part of the second group should read “in walking and the left foot.” The rest follows the proper order: first the right line, then the left, as in chapter four — right eye, right ear, right nostril, and afterward the left. The months go from Nissan to Tishri as the six ends in direct light: Nissan-Hesed, Iyyar-Gevurah, Sivan-Tiferet, and therefore the Torah was given in Sivan. From Tishri back toward Nissan, the light returns as returning light, included in Yesod.

The connection between senses and organs does not necessarily mean that the organ is the practical instrument of that sense. It means the organ contains the root-force of the sense. Speech is linked with the foot because people walking on the road should speak words of Torah. Reflection is linked with the kidney because “the kidneys advise,” especially at night. Sight is linked with the hand because sight in Scripture is often connected with action. These stand on the right side, the more spiritual powers. Walking, hearing, and action stand on the left, the more bodily side. Hearing stands in the left kidney because wisdom is received through hearing: “incline your ear to wisdom, your heart to understanding.”

Union is linked with the gall, because proper union requires the middle path — neither excessive cold nor excessive heat. Excess heat produces anger; excess cold produces weakness. Therefore the time of union is midnight, the middle. Tishri is saturation, equilibrium between heat and cold, and its sign is Libra. Smell is linked with the intestines because the burning of fat on the altar is for “a fire-offering, a pleasing scent.” Sleep is linked with the stomach, anger with the liver, food with the gizzard that grinds, and laughter with the spleen, as the sages said: the stomach sleeps, the liver grows angry, the gizzard grinds, the spleen laughs.

The senses are also linked with the months: speech in Nissan, because the Exodus is told; reflection in Iyyar, where desire awakened; sight in Sivan, where “all the people saw the voices”; walking in Tammuz, when the spies went to the land and the beginning of the fall came; hearing in Av, when they listened to the spies and the message of destruction came; action in Elul, when the tablets were hewn; union in Tishri, the middle way; smell in Heshvan, “Hashem smelled the pleasing scent”; sleep in Kislev, with the dedication of the Mishkan and Hanukkah; anger in Tevet, the siege of Jerusalem; food in Shevat, the new year of trees; laughter in Adar, “joy and gladness for the Jews.”

All senses and organs have counterparts in the upper chariot and in the sefirot, for Scripture describes the Divine through actions: Hashem speaks, thinks, sees, walks, hears, acts, unites, smells, sleeps in figurative speech, grows angry, consumes as fire, and laughs. This is not corporeality, but measures according to effects.


Mishnah 8–9

[In the Hebrew text at hand there is no separate commentary on these mishnayot.]


Mishnah 10

“He made them like a vessel.” This applies to the twelve signs in the world: He arranged them beside one another like a vessel or trough.

“He set them like a wall.” This applies to the twelve months of the year.

“He arranged them like a battle.” This applies to the soul’s twelve leaders, as explained in the sixth chapter: Teli in the world, the wheel in the year, the heart in the soul.


CHAPTER 6

Mishnah 1

“These are the three …” They are the totality of all sefirot. Three AMSh stand in Keter-Hokhmah-Binah, and Binah includes them; this is the secret of the head. Seven doubles stand in Ze’ir Anpin: six ends with the crown of the covenant as the seventh, corresponding to the body, where the heart/Tiferet is. Twelve simples stand in Malkhut, who stands upon twelve oxen, her twelve tribes and Jerusalem’s twelve gates, three on each side; this corresponds to the belly, where her building is.

In each of the three are all twenty-two letters and ten sefirot. In the brain are the thirty-two paths; in the heart there are also thirty-two, like the thirty-two Elokim in the work of Creation; and in the belly there are likewise ten sefirot, AMSh, seven, and twelve. Each part contains the others, but each is named after its main force.

“From them issued three fathers: air, water, and fire; and from the fathers offspring.” So it is in world, year, and soul. First AMSh as root; then air, water, and fire as fathers; from them heaven, earth, air, heat, cold, saturation, head, belly, and body. Every letter and every force has a hidden root and a visible consequence.

“The proof of the matter is faithful witnesses: world, year, and soul.” All three show the same structure: three, seven, and twelve. What repeats in three independent witnesses is established. Therefore the correspondence between world, year, and soul shows that the same order applies in sefirot, angels, palaces, worlds, elements, and all details.

“Twelve as law, seven and three, and He set them under Teli, the wheel, and the heart.” Teli[Gl.59], the wheel, and the heart guide all three domains and show that everything issues from one root.

“Teli.” This is the Dragon in the zodiac. Through it all signs come forth and return, and through it one understands swiftness, slowness, station, and retrograde motion of the planets. Because philosophers and astronomers did not know it, they had to invent epicycles and eccentric circles. But through the Dragon in the signs everything is explained. It is hidden like the heart: the heart governs all organs from within; through it they go out, and to it they return.

“The wheel.” This is not the sphere of the stars but the circuit of the sun, through which the year comes to be. By the sun’s circuit a thirteenth month is sometimes added, so the year may be aligned with the sun. The wheel is also alef inside vav. Therefore there are thirteen tikkunim: thirteen ornaments of the beard, thirteen strands of hair, thirteen paths, thirteen measures of mercy, and thirteen rules by which Torah is interpreted. Through thirteen everything becomes one, for ehad has the gematria thirteen. Unity likewise comes through seven and three.


Mishnah 2

“Three mothers … fire above.” So it is on all planes: in the world, heaven is above; in the year, heat and Nissan as beginning; in the soul, the head. “Water below and air …” applies to all as well.

“The sign: water carries fire.” This is how the text should be read. Look at water and fire: they are opposites. When water is poured on fire, the water descends and the fire rises; this is extinguishing, because the fire returns to its root. If water were above fire, the opposite would occur. Therefore the order water-over-fire is a heavy burden. Likewise a mild, cold nature can bear an angry, hot nature, but not the reverse. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, bears everything in the highest mercy.

“Mem is silent, shin hisses.” Mem is among the lip letters, closed and silent; shin among the hissing tooth letters, strongest in hiss. Alef is the opening of the throat, light and middle, and decides. Waters are silent; the sea’s noise comes from the wind within it. Fire hisses and moves; spirit stands in the middle. Judgment cries, mercy is silent, and justice decides. In the soul, the belly has no voice, the head speaks, the body carries the voice. In the year, the rainy season brings stillness to the roads, while the middle time decides.


Mishnah 3

“Teli in the world.” It stands fixed, and all turn toward it.

“The wheel in the year as a king in the city.” As a king protects the city, the wheel protects the times of the year: summer, winter, sowing, harvest, and the entire cycle.

“The heart in the soul as a king in war.” There are three kinds of kingship: the king on the throne in peace; the king who guards the city; and the king in war, surrounded by enemies. These correspond to world, year, and soul. The world, heaven, is calm; the year, air, has changes and requires governance; the soul, earth, is the place of battles, passions, anger, sickness, and inner conflicts. The heart is the king, but also the one who feels the war most.


Mishnah 4

“Also this opposite this Elokim made.” Just as there are twelve signs in the masculine, there are twelve oxen in the feminine. Therefore there are twelve permutations of Hashem’s Name in Ze’ir Anpin and twenty-four permutations of Adonai in Malkhut, because she includes both his side and her own. “This opposite this”: the word zeh has the numerical value twelve, and opposite it stands another twelve.

The twelve signs divide into four grades corresponding to the four letters of Hashem’s Name and the four letters of Adonai in Hesed-Gevurah-Tiferet-Malkhut. Hesed is good; Gevurah is evil — not because evil exists above, but because evil is awakened below from that side. Tiferet is good from good; Malkhut is evil from evil on the side of fear. In face-to-face union, his Hesed stands opposite her Gevurah — good opposite evil — and his Gevurah opposite her Hesed — evil opposite good; this sweetens the gevurot. Tiferet and Malkhut stand opposite themselves: good from good, evil from evil.

“The good discerns the evil, and the evil discerns the good.” Just as too much evil cannot be received, too much good also cannot be received. Malkhut moderates his good and evil through a small distinction; therefore her judgment is called mild judgment. Afterwards: “good stored for the good, evil stored for the evil,” because Tiferet and Malkhut govern life and death, the great light of day and the small light of night.


Mishnah 5

“Three — each stands by itself.” Now it is explained how three, seven, and twelve are bound. Three stand vertically: head above body, body above belly; so too in world and year.

“Seven — three opposite three and one law decides between.” Right eye, ear, and nostril stand opposite the left, and the mouth decides in the middle. In the sefirot, Hesed, Netsah, and Tiferet stand opposite Gevurah, Hod, and Yesod, and Malkhut decides.

“Twelve” divide into four groups according to the four letters of Hashem’s Name, each with three. “Three loving” are yud, Hokhmah, and Hesed. “Three hating” are heh, Binah, and Gevurah, from which judgments are awakened. “Three giving life” are vav, Tiferet, the tree of life. “Three killing” are the final heh, Malkhut.

“Three loving — the heart and the ears.” They are vessels of Torah: the ear receives wisdom, the heart understands. Therefore hearing has such weight. “Three hating — liver, gall, and tongue.” Liver is desire; gall is jealousy; tongue is honor, pride, and the degradation of others. Jealousy, desire, and honor drive a person out of the world. “Three giving life — spleen and nostrils.” The nostrils carry the spirit of life; the spleen carries laughter and joy. “Three killing — two lower openings and the mouth.” If they are stopped or corrupted, the body dies; and the mouth can kill through harmful food and harmful speech.

All this is joined to the Name: one above three, three above seven, seven above twelve. In the Mishkan, three correspond to the Holy of Holies, the Sanctuary, and the courtyard; seven to the lamps of the menorah; twelve to the showbread. This structure repeats in every detail.


Mishnah 6

“These are the twenty-two letters by which He engraved …” These are the ten sefirot acting through the twenty-two letters. Here ten names are listed for ten sefirot. In printed editions there are some errors; some names should not be counted independently but only show inclusion, as when yud-heh-vav in Binah is vocalized as Elokim, and Adonai is vocalized with the vowel-points of Hashem. Altogether there are ten names, and together with the twenty-two letters there are thirty-two.

“He made of them …” That is, of the twenty-two letters: AMSh, the doubles, and the simples.

“He formed.” To form means to give the thing its shape.


Mishnah 7

“When Abraham our father — peace be upon him — came, he saw …” Seven verbs — he saw, looked, understood, investigated, engraved, hewed, and creation succeeded for him — correspond to the seven lower sefirot, the seven days of building, where vision is permitted. “The souls that they made in Haran” shows that one who teaches and acts is as if he made. Abraham therefore reached the secret of creation.

“Immediately the Master of all revealed Himself to him.” These are the three first. “He placed him in His bosom, kissed him on the head, and called him His beloved” — this corresponds to Hokhmah, Binah, and the two aspects of Da’at, the four compartments of tefillin. Afterwards these mohin spread into Hesed and Gevurah.

“He cut a covenant with him.” Covenant is the connection among the ten sefirot. The first covenant, between the divided animals, concerned the inheritance of the land and is the covenant of Torah in the tongue; there it says: “he believed in Hashem, and He counted it to him as righteousness.” Afterwards came the covenant of circumcision for him and his seed: “to be God for you and for your offspring.” Therefore the text speaks of the covenant between the ten fingers of the hands — the covenant of the tongue — and between the ten toes — the covenant of circumcision. Torah and covenant are two protections for the human being, in this world and the coming world.

“He bound the twenty-two letters of Torah on his tongue and revealed His secret to him.” These are the inner ten sefirot together with the twenty-two, namely the thirty-two. Hashem’s secret is for those who fear Him, and His covenant makes them know; in the tongue and circumcision all are included.

“He drew them with water, kindled them with fire, shook them with spirit, measured them by seven, and led them with twelve signs.” These are three, seven, and twelve. The seven are fixed in the head’s seven gates, and the twelve in the soul’s twelve leaders. Thus the whole order of creation was opened to Abraham.

Blessed is the Merciful One who helped. Here ends Gra’s commentary on Sefer Yetzirah.

GLOSSARY OF KABBALISTIC TERMS

This glossary is intended to help orientation in the terminology of the translation. It does not replace the Gra’s commentary itself and is not a complete independent doctrinal system. In different kabbalistic schools the same words may have several layers of meaning. Here the working meaning most often used in this commentary to Sefer Yetzirah is explained.

[Gl.01] Sefirah / sefirot.
One of the ten fundamental forms, measures, or channels of divine ordering and manifestation. In Sefer Yetzirah the term is still close to number and measure; in later Kabbalah it becomes the name for the tenfold structure of emanation. The sefirot are not separate gods, but ways of speaking about the manifested modes of the one God’s activity.

[Gl.02] Hokhmah.
“Wisdom.” The second sefirah in the common enumeration, but in many places in this commentary the first revealed point after the hidden Keter. Hokhmah is the first still-unfolded apprehension: the seed of thought, the possibility of form, yud in the Name.

[Gl.03] Moha Stima’a.
Aramaic: “the concealed brain.” In the Gra’s language it denotes a high and hidden level of Hokhmah, connected with Arikh Anpin and the root of the thirty-two paths. It is not a physical brain but an image for the hidden source of thought and ordering.

[Gl.04] Ze’ir Anpin.
Aramaic: “the small face.” A partzuf that usually includes the six middle sefirot: Hesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netsah, Hod, and Yesod. In kabbalistic language it is the region of revealed divine governance between the higher intellectual level and Malkhut / Nukva.

[Gl.05] Elokim.
A Divine Name that in this commentary is often connected with measure, judgment, creation, number, and the thirty-two paths in Genesis. It should not be reduced to the simple translation “God”; in Kabbalah the Names function as technical markers for different ways in which the divine is manifest.

[Gl.06] Gevurah / Din.
Gevurah means strength, severity, or force; Din means judgment. It is the line of limitation, measure, cutting, and concentration. In the commentary Gevurah often stands opposite Hesed, but not as “evil” opposite “good”; rather as the necessary force that sets boundary.

[Gl.07] Atik / Atik Yomin / Atik Kadisha.
Hebrew-Aramaic names for a very high level of Keter: “Ancient of Days,” “Holy Ancient One.” In Lurianic and related terminology it is the innermost and most hidden dimension of Keter, prior to the more revealed Arikh Anpin.

[Gl.08] Botzina de-Kardinutah.
Aramaic expression, roughly: “the severe measuring lamp” or “the lamp of dark / flintlike power.” In the Zohar and later Kabbalah the image is associated with measure, judgment, and the power of formation that makes infinite light appear as determinate order.

[Gl.09] Keter.
“Crown.” The highest sefirah in the common enumeration. It is the root of will, the beginning before beginning, the boundary between complete unknowability and the first possibility of manifestation. In the commentary it is often linked with concealment, the point of yud, the root of number, and “the wondrous.”

[Gl.10] Binah.
“Understanding.” The sefirah in which Hokhmah’s first wisdom unfolds into structure, form, and distinction. If Hokhmah is a lightning-like seed of thought, Binah is the space where that seed takes shape and becomes intelligible.

[Gl.11] Da’at.
“Knowledge” or connective knowing. In Kabbalah Da’at often stands between Hokhmah and Binah, or functions in the place of Keter in a lower count of ten. In the commentary it is the middle principle that joins, spreads, and brings hidden apprehension into action.

[Gl.12] Tiferet.
“Beauty,” “harmony.” The central sefirah on the middle pillar, uniting Hesed and Gevurah. In the commentary it is often connected with the body, the middle line, mercy, harmonization of opposites, and Ze’ir Anpin.

[Gl.13] Kroma de-Avira.
Aramaic: “the membrane of air.” A technical image for a fine boundary or veil in the head / skull of the higher partzufim. In the commentary this is not literal anatomy, but a schema for the boundary between the hidden brain, the air, and further manifestation.

[Gl.14] BEN.
One of the four ways of filling the four-letter Name. Its gematria value is 52. In Kabbalah BEN is often associated with Malkhut, the lower receiving level, the feminine side, and the world of repair after the breaking.

[Gl.15] Zohar.
The classical corpus of Jewish mystical literature, mostly in Aramaic, formally arranged as interpretation of the Torah. The Gra’s commentary constantly draws on the language and imagery of the Zohar, especially concerning sefirot, Names, partzufim, and heavenly structure.

[Gl.16] Tsevaot.
A Divine Name literally connected with “armies” or “hosts.” In Kabbalah it is often associated with Netsah and Hod and with the many ordered forces that operate in the world.

[Gl.17] Netsah.
The seventh sefirah in the common enumeration. Often rendered as victory, endurance, or permanence. Together with Hod it forms the lower dynamic of extension, the “legs” of the structure.

[Gl.18] Hod.
The eighth sefirah. It means splendor, glory, or majesty. Together with Netsah it corresponds to the lower supports, the channels of transmission, resonance, and formalization of the force that comes from the higher sefirot.

[Gl.19] Malkhut.
“Kingship.” The tenth sefirah, the receiving and manifest level. Malkhut “has nothing of her own” because she receives from the preceding sefirot and reveals them in the lower world. She is often connected with Shekhinah, speech, earth, moon, and the feminine side.

[Gl.20] Beriah.
“Creation.” One of the four worlds ABYA. In this order Beriah stands below Atzilut and above Yetzirah; it is the level where the created begins to appear as relatively distinct while remaining in a very high spiritual condition.

[Gl.21] Yetzirah.
“Formation.” The world below Beriah and above Asiyah. It is associated with angelic structures, formation, movement, the emotional-dynamic level, and the six middle sefirot.

[Gl.22] Asiyah.
“Action,” “the made.” The lowest of the four worlds ABYA. It is the level of execution, concretization, and greatest distance from the source, down to the material world.

[Gl.23] HaBaD.
Acronym for Hokhmah-Binah-Da’at. It denotes the upper intellectual triad: first grasp, understanding development, and connective knowledge. In the text it often corresponds to the head or the three mohin.

[Gl.24] Abba.
“Father.” Partzuf connected with Hokhmah. In the partzufim schema Abba works together with Imma as the source of the first wisdom that must be unfolded by understanding.

[Gl.25] Imma.
“Mother.” Partzuf connected with Binah. Imma unfolds, shapes, and “carries” what lies in Abba as a first seed.

[Gl.26] Arikh Anpin.
Aramaic: “the long face” or “great face.” The outer or more revealed dimension of Keter, connected with long-suffering patience, will, high mercy, and hidden governance of the lower levels.

[Gl.27] Nukva.
Aramaic: “female.” The partzuf of the feminine / receiving side, usually corresponding to Malkhut. Together with Ze’ir Anpin she receives, gathers, and reveals influences in the lower world.

[Gl.28] Adam Kadmon.
“Primordial human.” In Lurianic Kabbalah, the first great order of manifestation after Ein Sof, an intermediary between the Infinite and the subsequent worlds / sefirot. It is not the earthly Adam but a cosmic schema of the divine image.

[Gl.29] Atzilut.
“Emanation.” The highest of the four worlds ABYA, the level of nearest manifestation, where true separateness in the created is not yet felt. In the commentary Atzilut is often linked with the sefirot as such.

[Gl.30] Ehyeh.
The Divine Name אהיה, connected with “I will be / I am.” In Kabbalah it is often associated with Keter or higher levels and enters the commentary’s technical arrangements of Names, letters, and sefirot.

[Gl.31] Adonai.
A Divine Name traditionally connected with lordship and with the reading of the four-letter Name. In Kabbalah it often corresponds to Malkhut, the level where divine governance becomes manifest.

[Gl.32] Shaddai.
A Divine Name traditionally interpreted through boundary: “He who said to His world: enough.” In the commentary this Name belongs to the system of measure, limitation, and creation through determination.

[Gl.33] AB.
One of the four fillings of the four-letter Name; numerical value 72. Often connected with Hokhmah, higher light, and the masculine side of influence.

[Gl.34] SAG.
One of the four fillings of the four-letter Name; numerical value 63. Often connected with Binah, unfolding, and the maternal level.

[Gl.35] MA.
One of the four fillings of the four-letter Name; numerical value 45. In many kabbalistic schemas it is connected with Ze’ir Anpin, the human form, and repair.

[Gl.36] Filling / milui.
A way of writing a Hebrew letter by spelling out its full name: for example, yud as yud-vav-dalet. “Filling of the filling” means that the already spelled-out letters are again written in full. This generates numerical and structural calculations of the Names.

[Gl.37] Gematria.
Calculation of the numerical value of letters and words. For the Gra, gematria is not ornament; it is often used as evidence of structural correspondence among Name, number, body, world, and time.

[Gl.38] Kelim / keli.
“Vessels,” “instruments,” “containers.” In Kabbalah, light in itself is undifferentiated, while kelim give it measure, form, and the possibility of being received. Letters are often described as kelim in relation to vowel points or light.

[Gl.39] Inner and surrounding light.
Inner light is light that enters a vessel and is received according to its measure. Surrounding light exceeds the vessel’s capacity to receive internally while still affecting it from outside.

[Gl.40] The Infinite / Ein Sof.
Ein Sof means “without end”: God before any determinate manifestation, and therefore without form, name, image, or number. When the text speaks of Ein Sof, one should not imagine “another sefirah”; it speaks of the source that does not enter the count.

[Gl.41] The four-letter Name / Hashem’s Name.
The Name יהוה. In this translation it is not rendered as a pronounced word but as “Hashem” or descriptively. In Kabbalah the four letters of the Name form a structural schema: yud, heh, vav, heh correspond to levels, worlds, partzufim, and phases of manifestation.

[Gl.42] AMSh.
The three “mother letters”: alef, mem, shin. In Sefer Yetzirah they correspond to air / spirit, water, and fire, and to triads in world, year, and soul. They are matrices for further unfolding.

[Gl.43] Hesed.
“Grace,” “kindness,” “generosity.” The fourth sefirah, the right line, the principle of expansion and giving force. Together with Gevurah it creates the tension between extension and limitation.

[Gl.44] HaGaT.
Acronym for Hesed-Gevurah-Tiferet. The central triad of emotional / middle sefirot: kindness, severity, and harmonizing beauty. It often corresponds to the body or the middle section of the structure.

[Gl.45] NeHi / Netsah-Hod-Yesod.
Acronym for the lower triad: Netsah, Hod, and Yesod. In many schemas this is the level of the “legs,” transmission, stabilization, and the channel through which higher influences reach Malkhut.

[Gl.46] Partzuf / partzufim.
“Face,” “configuration.” Later kabbalistic language in which sefirot are not merely isolated points but are organized into full anthropomorphic configurations: Atik, Arikh Anpin, Abba, Imma, Ze’ir Anpin, Nukva, and so on.

[Gl.47] Mohin.
“Brains,” meaning intellectual powers or higher states of consciousness within a partzuf. Usually Hokhmah, Binah, and Da’at in a particular configuration; not physiology, but symbolism for thought and knowing.

[Gl.48] Aravot.
The name of the highest of the seven heavens in rabbinic and kabbalistic cosmology. In the commentary it may designate a high heavenly level connected with the throne, angelic orders, and the dwelling of divine glory.

[Gl.49] Ta’amim.
The Torah’s cantillation marks. In Kabbalah they can correspond to the most hidden layer of the text, higher than vowel points and letters. If letters are the body and vowel points are motion / spirit, ta’amim often denote a deeper impulse of meaning.

[Gl.50] Nekudot / vowel points.
The vocalization signs used in Hebrew writing. In Kabbalah they can function as the inner movement of the letters: that which animates and guides the consonantal “body.”

[Gl.51] Kamats, patah, tsere.
Names of specific Hebrew vowel signs. In the commentary they are not only grammatical: kamats can signify concealment / contraction, patah opening, and tsere formation and distinction.

[Gl.52] Dagesh and shva.
Dagesh is a dot in a letter that may indicate strengthening or altered pronunciation. Shva is a short or zero-like vowel sign. In the commentary they enter the symbolism of strength, weakness, movement, contraction, and severity.

[Gl.53] Holam, shuruk, hirik.
Three vowel signs that in Kabbalah often form a vertical order: above the letter, within / in the middle of the letter, and below the letter. They may thus denote upper, middle, and lower levels of manifestation.

[Gl.54] Upper and lower waters; masculine and feminine waters.
An image for two directions of influence: from above downward and from below upward. “Masculine waters” often denote initiating influence from above; “feminine waters” denote the ascent of desire, receptivity, or awakening from below.

[Gl.55] Hasadim and gevurot.
Plural forms of kindness / expansion and severity / limitation. “Five hasadim” and “five gevurot” are a typical kabbalistic schema for the distribution of forces in Da’at, the body, speech, organs, and letters.

[Gl.56] ABYA.
Acronym for the four worlds: Atzilut, Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah. It is a sequence of manifestation levels: emanation, creation, formation, action.

[Gl.57] Shekhinah.
The divine Presence that “dwells” among the created. In Kabbalah Shekhinah is often associated with Malkhut: the nearest, receiving, and manifest dimension of divine reality in relation to the world.

[Gl.58] Metatron.
A high angelic figure in rabbinic, Hekhalot, and kabbalistic literature. In Kabbalah he is often associated with Yetzirah, angelic mediation, and transmission of influence, but he is not an independent deity.

[Gl.59] Teli.
A term from chapter 6 of Sefer Yetzirah. It is often translated as “Dragon” or understood as a celestial node / axis in the order of the zodiac. For the Gra, Teli is connected with the governance of the movements of signs and planets.

[Gl.60] Wheel / galgal.
A cosmic wheel or sphere, especially connected with the year, the heavenly circuit, and the cycle of time. In Sefer Yetzirah it stands together with Teli in the world and the heart in the soul.

[Gl.61] Heart / lev.
The central governing organ in the “soul” / human being. In Sefer Yetzirah the heart is “like a king in war”: it governs the inner powers while standing in the midst of tension, passions, and struggle.

[Gl.62] The holy Palace / Hekhal ha-Kodesh.
The central point, “directed in the middle,” which bears the six directions. In Kabbalah it can be an image of Malkhut, the midpoint, or the inner palace where the powers of the structure are gathered.

[Gl.63] Alef, yud, heh, vav.
Hebrew letters that in the commentary have both literal and structural meaning. Yud often points to Hokhmah or the point of beginning; heh to unfolding / Binah or Malkhut; vav to the six middle sefirot; alef to mediating air and unity between opposites.

[Gl.64] 231 gates.
The combinations of pairs of the twenty-two letters: 22 × 21 / 2 = 231. In Sefer Yetzirah this is a model for producing words, things, and permutations through letter-combinations, face and back.

[Gl.65] Three mothers, seven doubles, twelve simples.
The classification of the twenty-two letters in Sefer Yetzirah. Three mothers are AMSh; seven doubles have doubled pronunciation / quality; twelve simples correspond to zodiac signs, months, and leaders in the soul.

[Gl.66] Nefesh, ruah, neshamah, hayah, yehidah.
Five levels of soul. Nefesh is the vital-active level; ruah is spirit, emotional-moral movement; neshamah is the intellectual / higher soul; hayah is a supersensory life-level; yehidah is the soul’s highest unity with its source.

Reference sources used as orientation for the glossary:
- Jewish Encyclopedia, “Sefirot, The Ten”: https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13387-sefirot-the-ten
- Jewish Encyclopedia, “En Sof”: https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5746-en-sof
- Jewish Encyclopedia, “Adam Kadmon”: https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/761-adam-kadmon
- Jewish Encyclopedia, “Shekinah”: https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13537-shekinah
- Chabad.org, “The Four Worlds”: https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/361902/jewish/The-Four-Worlds.htm
- Chabad.org, “Growing Up” / partzufim: https://www.chabad.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/379241/jewish/Growing-Up.htm
- Chabad.org, “Neshamah: Levels of Soul Consciousness”: https://www.chabad.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380651/jewish/Neshamah-Levels-of-Soul-Consciousness.htm
- Chabad.org, “Knowing G-d’s Real Name”: https://www.chabad.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380205/jewish/Knowing-Gds-Real-Name.htm