יוצר אור ובורא רע בעקבות אסון השיטפון

(1) "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I might show these signs of Mine before him, in order that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your son’s son, what things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.' ...tomorrow I shall bring locusts into your borders." (Exodus 10:1-4)
1. The Holy One, Blessed be He, created the world in His compassion, wanting to express His compassion - were there no world, to whom would He show compassion? Therefore He created all of creation, from the highest levels of emanation to the most central point of the physical world, in order to show his compassion. Yet when He wanted to create the world, there was no space for its creation, since everything was infinite ein sof. He therefore had to retract the light to the sides, and from this retraction an empty void was formed. It was in this empty void that he created time and space, and this was the creation of the world. This empty void was necessary for creation, since without it there would be no space for the world. Yet this [concept of] retraction to form the empty void is impossible to comprehend in our time, only at the end of days, since it entails a paradox of two opposites: presence and absence. Since He retracted His divine nature from the void, it is as if there is no divinity there, otherwise it could not be empty, and it would just be complete ein sof with no room for the world. But the deeper truth is that nonetheless, there certainly is divinity even there, because nothing exists without His vitality. As such, [the concept of] the empty void is incomprehensible until future time.

(2) 2. Know this: there are two kinds of heresy. The first kind derives from secular science, and about it the sages have said "Know how to respond to the heretic." (Avot 2:14). This heresy has a response, because it derives from the debris of the broken vessels. As we know, the [original] light [of creation] was too intense and broke the vessels, from which the klippot were formed. Secular science derives from here, from the broken vessels and the surplus of holiness. Just as man has all kinds of surplus parts, like nails, hair or sweat, each of the sciences derives from a different surplus and residue of holiness, and sorcery also derives from this source. Someone who falls into this kind of heresy, even though they should obviously try and escape from such a place; in any case, they can be saved, because in such places one can still find the Holy One, if one seeks Him out, since they derive from the broken vessels which contain a certain amount of holy sparks and divine letters. Therefore, anyone who falls into such a place can still find godliness and the wisdom to resolve the challenges such heretical science presents. Seeing as secular science derives from the surplus of holiness and contains divine vitality, this kind of heresy has a response, and therefore the sages were able to say "Know how to respond to the heretic." There exists, however, another kind of heresy, which consists of types of 'wisdom' which are not wisdom at all, but since they are deep and cannot be comprehended, they seem to be wisdom. For instance, when one makes a false reasoning in the study of Talmud and no one is learned enough to resolve the challenges arising from such reasoning - even though it actually isn't reasoning at all! For several of the theories have embarrassing flaws and are not wisdom at all, and all their challenges are fundamentally mistaken, but the human intellect can't resolve them and they therefore appear to be wisdom. Actually, these heretical challenges really can't be resolved because they derive from the empty void, and the empty void seems to be devoid of divinity. Any response to these challenges is tantamount to finding the Holy One within them, and this is absolutely impossible, since in such a case the void would not be empty and everything would be ein sof, as we have shown. Therefore it is written of this kind of heresy, "All who go there do not return," (Proverbs 2:19), since there is no possible response (teshuva, which can also mean 'return') to this heresy, as it comes from the empty void formed by the retraction of His divinity. Yet Israel, by virtue of their faith, transcend all kinds of wisdom, and even over the heresy of the void, and don't engage in any kind of rational research, but have perfect faith in the Holy One, who "fills all the worlds and surrounds all the worlds." (Ra'aya Meheimana 225). Since he seemingly both fills the worlds and surrounds them, there must be a space between the filling and the surrounding, otherwise everything would be one. The world was created within the empty void, from which He seemingly retracted Himself, and the Holy One who surrounds all worlds also surrounds the empty void, and therefore it is said that he fills all worlds (creation) and surrounds all worlds, and in between there is an empty gap seemingly absent of Him. Yet the empty void was also created from His holy wisdom, and certainly it truly does contain divinity which cannot be comprehended. Therefore Israel transcend all such heretical wisdoms and challenges, knowing that they can't be responded to, since doing so would destroy the empty void and the created world would not be able to exist. Yet the deep truth is that there is a response and there certainly truly is divinity within the void, but examining such things leads one to sink deep down, because it looks like the Holy One is absent from within. Israel, though, has faith in the Holy One who surrounds and fills all the worlds, and this is why they are called Hebrews, Ivrim, because their faith transcends ('ovrim) all these wisdoms, even the second kind. As such, the Holy One is called "God of the Hebrews," (Exodus 3:18), like "Beyond the river" (Joshua 24:2), [the word 'ever] refers to the sides, since He retracted His light to the sides, and this is why Israel is also called Hebrews because of their faith in the Holy One, by which they transcend the wisdoms of the first kind of heresy and the non-wisdoms of the second. Consequently, one must certainly be extremely cautious of this second kind of heresy, keeping far from it and not examining it at all, since that would lead to sinking in it, God forbid, as it says "All who go there do not return."

(3) 3. Know this: in fact, a great Tzaddik, one on the level of Moses, actually must engage with such heresy, even though it is impossible to resolve it, as we have seen. Be that as it may, by his engagement there he manages to raise such souls that have fallen and sunk in this heresy. The challenges and difficulties of such heresy coming from the empty void have the aspect of silence, since they are not associated with [divine] letters or thought. "By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host by the breath of His mouth." (Psalms 33:6), and there is wisdom in all speech, since speech come from the five parts of the mouth (two sets of teeth, two lips and the tongue), and through them were all things and words of creation formed, as it says "You created all in wisdom" (Psalms 104:24). Speech is the limit of all things, since He limited his [infinite] wisdom by means of letters, each combination of letters being a boundary to something else. However, the empty void is utterly empty of everything, even letters. Thus all the challenges coming from such a place have the aspect of silence. We learn in the story of Moses enquiring after the death of Rabbi Akiva, "He asked 'Is this Torah, and is this its reward?', and was told 'Silence! This has been decided!'" (Menahot 29b). He was told to stay silent, not to respond or confront such a question, since it is one that has been decided (ala bamachshava, literally means 'risen up in thought'), it has risen to the level of thought, where there is no speech. These questions, therefore, are ones of silence, and all one can do is have faith and remain silent, and none are permitted to engage with such heresies except for a true Tzaddik, who is similar to Moses, since Moses is of the aspect of silence and was described as "heavy of the mouth" (Exodus 4:10). Such silence is higher than speech, and it is because of this that a true Tzaddik like Moses can engage in these challenges, which are also of the aspect of silence - indeed, they must engage in such things in order to raise the souls of those who have fallen in there.

(4) 4. Know this: dispute is like the creation of the world. The essence of the creation of the world is the empty void, as we have shown, without which everything would be ein sof, with no space for the world to be created in. Therefore He retracted the light to the sides, forming an empty void, within which He created all of creation - time and space - using speech. (As it says: "The heavens were created by the word of the LORD" [Psalms 33:6].) This holds the aspect of dispute, for if all the wise scholars were one, there would be no space for creation. Only through the dispute between them - in which they separate from each other and each distances himself a different side - they create between them something similar to the empty void, and they are like the light retracting to the sides, through which the world was able to be created. For all the words they use are ultimately only for the creation of the world created in the void between them. Wise scholars create everything through their speech, as it says: "Say to Zion, you are my people." (Isaiah 51:16), and we are told not to read ami 'my people' but rather imi 'with me' - just as I create heaven and earth with words, so do you. (Tikkunei Zohar, Intro. 5). Still, one must be careful not to speak too much, only as much as is needed to create the world and no more. Because it was the over-abundance of light, which the vessels could not take, that cracked them, and from their shards the klippot were created. So too with speech: too much speech creates klippot through the over-abundance of light.
This is the meaning of the Mishna (Avot 1:17): "I spent my days growing up between the scholars, and found nothing good for the body but silence. The exposition [of Torah] is not what is essential, but deeds. And whoever increases words brings sin." "Between the scholars" - this refers to the empty void formed through the dispute and distancing between scholars. Therefore it specifically says "between", emphasising the distance and dispute between them; if everything would be one, there would be no reason to say "between". In this void the world is created, time and space. Therefore the Mishna continues "My days growing" - meaning, I increased time and space, in a sense creating a world, making time grow, because they were his days since he created a world [in the void]. "And found nothing good for the body but silence" - in the void, nothing is better than silence, since it is forbidden to enter unless one masters the aspect of silence, like Moses. This is the meaning of the Mishna: since he could reach this aspect of silence, he created time and space in the empty void between the scholars, for only through silence can one enter this place. "The exposition is not what is essential, but deeds, and whoever increases words increases sin" - because all the words and exposition of the scholars is not only for the sake of explaining things, but rather for deeds [ma'aseh, which can also mean 'creation'], for they create worlds through their words, and yet "whoever increases words increases sin" - an over-abundance of light creates the klippot.

(5) 5. Know this: by means of melody, a Tzaddik like Moses can raise the souls fallen into the heresy of the empty void. And know: every kind of wisdom in the world has melody and music which are unique to it, and each wisdom is derived from its particular music. This is the meaning of "skilful song" (Psalms 47:8) - each song is associated with particular skill and wisdom. Even heretical wisdom has its own melody and music, and this explains the Talmudic description of Elisha ben Abuya, "Greek songs flowed continuously out of his mouth, and as he rose from the house of study, several books of heresy would drop off of him." (Chagigah 15b) - this particular song was associated with this particular heresy. Each kind of wisdom, therefore, has melody and music appropriate to its type. The melody also changes according to the level of the wisdom, higher melodies for each level of wisdom, onwards and upwards until the absolute primal level of creation, which is the point of emanation, and there is no makif to such wisdom, only the light of the ein sof surrounding the empty void, which contains the world and all wisdoms. Even at such a level there is wisdom, but such wisdom touching on the light of the ein sof itself can only be know by the Holy One, whose wisdom cannot be fathomed at all, but can only be approached by faith: faith in the Holy One whose light surrounds all the worlds - and this faith also has its own melody and music. We see that even the false faiths of idol-worshippers have melodies, that they falsely sing in their houses of worship. In contradistinction, every type of holy faith also has its unique melody. And the highest faith, that of the light of the ein sof surrounding all worlds, has a melody of the highest kind: in fact, all other melodies draw from this specific melody, which is higher than all of them because it is attached to the highest possible faith, that of the light of the ein sof. And in the future, when He will "give all peoples a clear language, to call out together in the name of the LORD" (Zephaniah 3:9), and all will have faith in the Holy One, then the prophecy "Come look from the top of Amanah" (Song of Songs 4:8) will be fulfilled. "The top of Amanah" - this refers to the highest faith [emunah], on top of all other faiths. And it specifically says "look" [tashuri, related to shir, song], the melody and song belonging to the highest of faiths - this will be achieved by no other than the Tzaddik of the generation, one like Moses, who is on the level of such faith and capable of the aspect of silence, of whom was said "Silence, such has been thought out", one above speech. This is why it is written "Moses shall sing" (Exodus 15:1), and our sages pointed out that it says "will sing" rather than "sang" (Sanhedrin 91b), which is a reference in the Torah to the resurrection of the dead, since Moses is destined to sing in the future all possible songs, both of this world and of the future world, since all the songs of the future exist only with Moses, who is of the aspect of silence and merited the melody of the highest possible faith, from which all other melodies derive. Thus Rashi comments on the word "sing" [yashir, in which the letter yud is possibly superfluous], and says "yud comes to indicate thought", just like "such has been thought out", which was said of Moses and his silence. As such, by means of melody a Tzaddik like Moses can raise and extract all those souls that have fallen into the heresy of the empty void, since his melody is like "the top of Amanah", the highest faith of all. Truly, through such melodies and such faith all heresies are negated, and all melodies mix into the highest melody of all, which is the ultimate source of them all.

(6) 6. This, then, is the meaning of "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart, etc.' " (Exodus 10:1) These verses speak of the empty void. The word 'Pharaoh' implies negation (as it says, "break loose [taphriu] the people." (Exodus 5:4) ), but the same word also implies revelation, and this is similar to the empty void, which is empty and negated of everything, and within it the world is revealed. Within the void is a heaviness of heart, because the empty void cannot be comprehended; so too, all wisdom that derives from the empty void has a heavy heart, since its challenges cannot be resolved, and the presence of the Holy One cannot be found there, since it seems like He negated Himself from there, in order to allow for creation. "Moses, go" It had to be Moses who would go to Pharaoh, who is the empty void, because no one can enter such a place except for one like Moses, as we have shown, since the Holy One cannot be found there. This is why it says "for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants." 'Servants' are like introductions of various wisdoms: each kind of wisdom also has an introduction which also derive from the empty void, and they also have a heaviness of heart since they cannot be resolved. "That I might show these signs otot of Mine before him." This means, that I might set down within him the letters [otiot of creation, within the empty void, from which He retracted in order to make room for creation. "That you may tell." For within the world created within the empty void, you can speak and tell, because there are letters and words there. "In the hearing of your son, and of your son’s son", since all of creation came from His compassion, as we have seen. Creation was performed by speech, and every word of creation is an act of compassionate retraction, meaning that everything created as it is was done out of compassion. The compassion of the Holy One is expressed as the desire that each thing be created as it is, since compassion is at the root of creation, and everything was created in order to reveal his compassion. This is seen in the verse "In the hearing of your son, and of your son’s son," which is like [Rashi's comment on a similar phrase in Genesis 21:23], "thus far extends one's compassion for his descendants." In everything created one can speak and discover His compassionate retraction, understanding that there is this much compassion in this thing, and this much compassion in that thing. "What things I have done in Egypt". This refers to the klippot formed from the over-abundance of light and the broken vessels. Hence Rashi explains the words "I have done" as "I have mocked", I have made mockery and ridicule in the world, which refers to the klippot, which are grotesquely related to holiness, like someone contorting himself in front of his friend, or like a monkey trying to imitate a man. "And My signs which I have done among them." This refers to the letters that are there, [also] created by the over-abundance of light and the broken vessels. "That you may know that I am the Lord." This shows that even there, within this mockery of the klippot and within the first type of heresy, even there one can recognise the Holy One, because this is the type meant by the phrase "Know how to respond to the heretic." (Avot 2:14). Letters and sparks of holiness can be found there, and a response can be given, since they derive from the broken vessels.
It then says, "Tomorrow I shall bring locusts into your borders." (Exodus 10:4) This refers to the end of days, like in the Talmudic phrase "Get your reward tomorrow," (Eruvin 22a) which refers to the end of days. This is also hinted at in the verse "So shall my righteousness be a witness to me tomorrow," (Genesis 30:33). At the end of days reward will be given, and one will be able to comprehend the paradox of the empty void, which is truly empty and yet filled with divinity. This in itself is the reward which awaits us at the end of days, when we will be able to comprehend everything on a level impossible today. Then it will be known that the empty void is like locusts, which are like "a snail whose garment is part of its body" (Bereishit Rabbah 21) - this mystery is brought in all the kabbalistic books, and is the essence of the concept of the empty void. The empty void and the divine retraction is also known as garment, and also "part of His body", this is the comprehension that one will finally receive at the end of days, that even though there truly is divinity in the void, it is a kind of garment. To the verse "So shall my righteousness be a witness to me tomorrow," we can add the verse "I wore justice" (Job 29:14), which speaks of the ultimate 'tomorrow', when the reward will be given and the mystery of the 'garments' of the divine retraction and the empty void will be understood. On that day, the "top of Amanah" will be revealed, which we have seen refers to the highest melody of the highest faith, by which all the contradictions of the empty void will be annulled. Therefore it says, "Tomorrow I shall bring locusts (arbeh)," which stands for "Truly there is spirit in mankind" (Job 32:8) [the first letters of which spell out arbeh], and this is music, which is a kind of spirit. In those days, therefore, the music and melody of the highest faith will be revealed, and it will negate all heresies, even those deriving from the empty void.