Tazria

“she eats, and wipes her mouth”

93. We have so learned that when the primordial serpent begins to appear, the supports that are Netzaḥ and Hod and the edifices that are the brains are gone and removed from Malkhut. And the fierce serpent comes and injects filth, and the result is that the Temple is defiled. Who is the Temple – it is, as we have learned, “and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession” (Leviticus 14:34), and “Now the serpent was craftier than all the beasts of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman” (Genesis 3:1), literally to the woman, that the place the Temple unites with, which is Malkhut. That is [the meaning of] “he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord” (Numbers 19:20) by his sins, since the fierce serpent appeared due to his sins.

94. What are his sins – they are the evil tongue (slander). Due to slander, the primordial serpent appears both above and below, as written, “And the Lord sent venomous (seraphim) serpents among the people” (Numbers 21:6). The verse does not use the common conjugation of venomous[1]. What are the seraphim? And it answers, this refers to the primordial serpent. The reason it speaks of serpents in the plural is similar to the verse, “the heads of the sea monsters” (Psalms 74:13), two, one attached above and one attached below in this world. It is also written, “Seraphim stood above him” (Isaiah 6:2), surely above him, that is, as said, “to present themselves before (lit. above) the Lord” (Job 1:6, 2:1), which means against Havaya. The sons of Elohim are judgments, and Havaya is mercy. Here too, “above him” is in the sense of “against him.” This is closure for everything, meaning that all lights were sealed, and there is none to unlock [them]. The serpent comes then and inject filth in the root of the sinner’s soul in Malkhut, which is considered adultery. Hence the verse, “Likewise the way of an adulterous woman; she eats, and wipes her mouth, and says, I have done nothing wrong” (Proverbs 30:20). What is adulterous – literally adulterous, of which it is said, “she eats, and wipes her mouth, and says, I have done nothing wrong.”

95. Rabbi Ḥiya said, Rabbi Yitz’ḥak said, by the wish of all, that is, by supreme will, the serpent is present below only because it is present above. Yet it is only present above when it is present below due to people’s sins. As we have learned, everything is interdependent.

INTERPRETATION OF THE ARTICLE:

As you already know, Malkhut has two dots. One is the dot of Malkhut of the first constriction that has not been mitigated in Bina that is the attribute of mercy. From that aspect she is incapable of receiving any light because of the force of the partition and the constriction that is mounted on her. The second dot is the dot of Malkhut that has been mitigated with the attribute of mercy that is Bina. All the lights that Malkhut receives derive from the part of the second dot (as in I Bereshit…). The first dot is therefore concealed within it, and only the second dot is visible and has control over it, thus able to receive supernal lights. For that reason, Malkhut is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If man merits it, it is good. The first dot is hidden and only the second dot is in control. Malkhut then has every goodness and the lower receives from her. If he did not merit because he is a sinner, the serpent has the power to expose the first dot within Malkhut that was not joined with Bina. She is then evil for all lights are gone from her; it is revealed that the force of constriction is settled over her (as said in the Introduction for the Book of the Zohar, 124, section 123 and in Vayetzé, section 13). This is the meaning of the verse, “Sin crouches at the door” (Genesis 4:7). The sinner empowers the Other Side to draw downward from the left, as did Cain. The serpent that is called sin that crouches at the door of Malkhut exposes the first dot that is hidden within Malkhut and all the lights are gone from the root of the sinner’s soul that is in Malkhut, as in “If he does not merit it, it is evil.” The serpent then grows more powerful and injects filth, meaning that it wreaks damage and removes the lights from Bina of Malkhut as well; since after Malkhut has become part of Bina, Bina assumed the shape of Malkhut. After Malkhut was rendered defective due to the exposure of the constriction over her, Bina in Malkhut was blemished as well since it assumed the shape of Malkhut. This way, at first Malkhut alone is blemished due to the force of exposure that is the attribute of judgment. Bina of Malkhut is then blemished because it has the shape of Malkhut due to the joining of the second dot. It says here that there are two serpents. Whoever exposes the first dot of constriction, who damages Malkhut alone but none of the first nine sefirot, cannot then blemish Bina. Instead, another serpent awakens, rising and attaching to Bina since it has the shape of Malkhut due to the joining force.

This is the meaning of, when the serpent begins to appear, that is, the sinner causes the serpent to appear, based on “Sin crouches at the door.” The serpent acquires force by his sin, exposing the hidden dot of the first constriction. Then the supports and the edifices are gone and removed, meaning that the vessels of Netzaḥ, Hod, and Yesod of Bina in Malkhut, in which Malkhut receives all her lights, are gone. These vessels of Netzaḥ, Hod, and Yesod she received from Bina by joining the attribute of mercy, based on “Mother lends her clothes to her daughter” (as said in the Introduction to the Book of the Zohar…). These vessels are called supports, and all the lights in those vessels are called edifices; they are gone with them, because the process of her joining with Bina was interrupted by the exposure of the dot of Malkhut of the first constriction that is not at all incorporated in Bina. After all the lights were already gone by exposing the first dot the serpent was attached to, the fierce serpent comes and injects filth, and the result is that the Temple is defiled, meaning that a second serpent appears and injects filth in Bina of Malkhut that is called a Temple. The Temple is then defiled. It therefore calls the second serpent the fierce serpent for rising and attaching where it does not belong, that is, to Bina, which is wholly mercy without judgment at all. Still, it has the power to attach to it because it joined Malkhut to temper her. This is the meaning of, “And he said to the woman,” literally to the woman, that is, Malkhut that is called a woman. And since the place of the Temple unites with her, and the vessels of Bina that stand for the locus of the Temple were incorporated in Malkhut by joining Malkhut with Bina as said, “he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord.” The serpent injected filth in Bina of Malkhut that is called the sanctuary of Havaya as due to the joining of Malkhut in Bina, Bina assumed the shape of Malkhut and the serpent had the power to inject filth in it, as said, by his sins, since the fierce serpent appeared. That means that the second serpent, which is called a fierce serpent, appeared. It is this that rises to attach itself to Bina, as said. What are his sins – they are the evil tongue (slander). Due to slander, the serpent appears. The slanderer, who speaks about others’ ills that they do not possess, causes the power of the second serpent to lay filth and blemish Bina of Malkhut even though it is clear of any constriction and judgment. Yet since the second serpent can only act after the previous damage to Malkhut by the first serpent, it blemishes both above and below, both in Bina by the second serpent and in Malkhut by the first serpent. In order to empower the second serpent, the first serpent must be roused. It brings evidence of the two serpents from the verse, “And the Lord sent venomous serpents among the people” that speaks of serpents in plural, as in the verse, “the heads of the sea monsters,” two. It is written “sea monsters,” in plural since one is attached above, that is, in Bina of Malkhut, and one below in Malkhut by herself, as said. It therefore speaks of the venomous serpents in the plural. The verse does not use the common conjugation of the verb. What are venomous (seraphim)? It is also written, “Seraphim stood above him.” (This is how it should be done, that is, bringing the verse of “the heads of the sea monsters” before the question about the venomous serpents…), that is, do not mistakenly consider the venomous serpents as physical snakes. It therefore speaks of seraphim by inference, teaching us that venomous (seraphim) serpents are seraphim by analogy from the verse, “Seraphim stood above him.” This is why it speaks of venomous (seraphim) serpents” instead of consuming (sorphim) serpents. They are surely “above him,” that is, against him, as said, “to present themselves before (lit. above) the Lord” which means that the sons of Elohim that are judgments stood against Havaya that is mercy. Even in the verse, “Seraphim stood above him” they are against Havaya, that is, they are the aforementioned sea monsters. And we learn the analogy between seraphim and seraphim. Even the venomous serpents here are the said sea monsters. This is closure for everything, and there is none to unlock, meaning that all the lights were sealed because wherever the dot of Malkhut of the first constriction was revealed all the lights were sealed and there is no one to open them. Repentance is not useful in the case of Malkhut of the first constriction, but only with Malkhut of the second constriction (as said in Vayikra, section 256).

This is what is meant by, for repentance to be effective, it is written, “Likewise the way of an adulterous woman…” What is adulterous – literally adulterous. The subject of exposing the dot of the first constriction by the serpent and its hold on it, which removes the lights of holiness, considers the serpent as literally an adulterous woman. Surely, “she eats, and wipes her mouth, and says...” Meaning: this raises a difficulty. Since the first serpent exposed the dot of the first constriction that is not joined with Bina, it lost the joining with the attribute of mercy that is Bina. Therefore, once the partnership in Bina was dismantled, Bina no longer has the shape of Malkhut. How then can the second serpent inject filth into Bina that has the shape of Malkhut? They contradict each other. It therefore brings the verse, “Likewise the way of an adulterous woman…” that is the first serpent, “she eats, and wipes her mouth,” after damaging Malkhut and her lights were gone up due to the spoiling of the joining with the attribute of mercy. It eats and wipes its mouth as if it has done nothing, saying, “I have done nothing wrong” to keep the shape of the joining of Malkhut in Bina intact as before the damage by the serpent. Thus, the second serpent could seize Bina since Bina assumes the shape of Malkhut.

In truth, the issue of this ascent of the serpent to seize Bina is the serpent’s stumbling block, as said above (Vayera, sections 109-110, see there). Now that it is attached to Bina, and the serpent itself rescinded the damage to Malkhut of the first constriction, and the sin’s damage was fixed in Malkhut of the second constriction, it became possible to rescind the damage by repentance. With repentance, an illumination descends from ayin-bet samekh-gimel of Primordial Man, which brings Malkhut down from Bina; and Bina is cleansed form the serpent’s filth. This would have been different had it not been attached to Bina. Then, the blemish of the first serpent would have stayed, that is, the revealing of the dot of Malkhut of the first constriction. The force of constriction is mounted over Malkhut that is incapable of receiving light. Repentance does not pertain to this aspect, because repentance will not rescind the first constriction and the partition that prevents Malkhut from receiving supernal light. Thus, regarding the second serpent that seizes Bina, this seizing was allowed it so that repentance will be effective. It is only a stumbling block to the serpent.

This is the meaning of, by the wish of all, that is, by the supreme will, it is present below only because it is present above. Since the serpent’s hold exists above, which enables the sinner to repent, the serpent’s hold also exists below, to reveal the first constriction in Malkhut, as said. There is no need for fear that repentance is ineffective in that case and that the blemish will remain forever. It is certain that the serpent will rise and seize Bina above. It itself will annul the damage of the first constriction, as said, based on the verse, “she eats, and wipes her mouth, and says, I have done nothing wrong.” Repentance will be effective in that case. There should be no worry that the serpent might not rise to seize Bina. It has been imprinted on the serpent’s nature to always yearn to be attached to a higher place. If it sees a way to hold on to Bina, it will surely attach itself to it. Yet it is only present above when it is present below for had the serpent first revealed the damage of the first constriction in Malkhut so she cannot receive light, the second serpent would not have been able to hold on to Bina and damage it since it [Bina] assumes the shape of Malkhut, while the damage did not become apparent in Malkhut herself. As we have learned, everything is interdependent. Had there been no serpent’s hold above, which enables repentance and the repair of the damage, no opportunity would have been given from above for the serpent to be attached below to Malkhut. Had there been a serpent’s hold below first, the serpent’s hold above in Bina would be inconceivable for everything is interdependent.

Translation of Sulam Zohar by Michal Ricardo