177. Rabbi Yehuda said: If Yisrael knew why the Holy One, blessed be He, visited to punish them more than all other nations, they would be aware that the Holy One, blessed be He, overlooks and forgives His own and does not punish them even one percent. We have learned how many Chariots and how many hosts are possessed by the Holy One, blessed be He, and how many rulers and appointees are in His service. When He designated Yisrael in this world, He crowned them with holy crowns similar to those above and caused them to dwell in the Holy Land, WHICH CORRESPONDS TO MALCHUT, in order that they should worship Him. And He connected all the exalted beings with Yisrael.

234. We have learned that this maid would eventually rule the Holy Land below, just as the Queen ruled at first, as it says, "Righteousness lodged in it" (Yeshayah 1:21), REFERRING TO MALCHUT CALLED RIGHTEOUSNESS, but now "a handmaid that is heir to her mistress" in every respect, BOTH ABOVE AND BELOW. However, the Holy One, blessed be He, will in the future return the Queen to her original position and then whose joy will it be? One says: The joy of the King and Queen. It is the joy of the King for returning to her and casting off the maid as we said. It is the joy of the Queen, because she has returned to join the King. This is the essence of, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion."

290. "After the doings of the land of Egypt:" Rabbi Chiya said, "That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it" (Iyov 38:13). We have learned that the Holy One, blessed be He, in the future will cleanse His land, MALCHUT, from all the defilement of the idolatrous nations that defiled it, just as one takes hold of a garment and shakes out from it all the filth, referring to all THE WICKED buried in the Holy Land. SO HE WILL SHAKE OUT THE LAND in order to cast them out and IN ORDER to purify the Holy Land, DENOTING MALCHUT, from the Other Side. It is as if it was sustaining the other ministers of the nations, from whom it received defilement in order to guide them. And He will cleanse it and remove THE MINISTERS OF THE NATIONS to the outside.

291. Rabbi Shimon was cleansing the marketplaces of Tiberias. He dug out all the dead that were there, and cleansed the land. We have learned that it is written, "But when you entered, you defiled My land" (Yirmeyah 2:7). Rabbi Yehuda said: Fortunate is the portion of he who deserves during his lifetime to make his dwelling in the Holy Land. All who merit it will cause the dew of the heaven above to continue to descend upon the earth, so all who deserve the Holy Land in this lifetime will later deserve the higher Holy Land, MALCHUT.

292. About all those who did not merit during their lifetime TO BE IN THE HOLY LAND and are brought there later to be buried, it is written, "And made My heritage an abomination" (Ibid.). His spirit expired under another, strange dominion and his body came under the dominion of the Holy Land, so he made, so to speak, the sacred profane and the profane sacred. Those who deserve that their souls expire in the Holy Land will have their sins forgiven and will merit to be bound under the wings of the Shechinah, as it is written, "And will forgive His land" (Devarim 32:43). Moreover, if he merits during his lifetime TO BE IN THE HOLY LAND, he will merit to have drawn upon him consistently the Holy Spirit. Those who dwell under another dominion, MEANING OUTSIDE THE HOLY LAND, will have drawn upon them a foreign spirit.

293. We have learned that when Rav Hamnuna Saba (the elder) ascended there, THE HOLY LAND, he had with him twelve members of his Yeshiva students. He said to them: If I go this way, it is not for my own sake that I do so but to return the pledge to its owner. We have learned that all those who did not merit this, TO LIVE IN THE HOLY LAND, during their lifetime must return the Master's pledge to another, NAMELY THE SOUL THAT WAS GIVEN TO THEM, TO THE OTHER SIDE.

294. Rabbi Yitzchak said: Because of this, whoever brings into the land any of the evil beings or other domains defiles the land. Woe is to him, woe to his soul, as the Holy Land will not receive him after that. Of him, it is written, "The sinners will be consumed out of the earth" (Tehilim 104:35) in this world and the World to Come. Then, "the wicked will be no more" (Ibid.) during the resurrection of the dead. Then "Bless you Hashem, my soul, Haleluyah" (Ibid.).