15. HE ANSWERS: We have learned at the time they bound HANANIAH, MISHAEL AND AZARIAH in order to cast them into fire, each raised his voice and spoke before all the gathered nations, kings and nobles. Hananiah said, "Hashem is with me, I will not fear: what can man do to me? Hashem takes my part with those who help me: therefore I shall gaze upon those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in Hashem..." (Tehilim 118:6-8). Mishael said, "Therefore fear you not, My servant Jacob, says Hashem...For I am with you, says Hashem, to help you, for I will make a full end of all the nations" (Yirmeyah 30:10-11). At that moment, when THE NATIONS AND THE NOBLES heard the name Jacob, they were disgusted and began mockingly to laugh, BECAUSE HE PUT HIS TRUST IN JACOB. Azariah commenced to proclaim, "Hear O' Yisrael, Hashem our Elohim; Hashem is One" (Devarim 6:4).

32. Come and see: Later generations will come when Torah will be forgotten among them, the wise will gather in their own place and there won't be found anyone who can begin to explain and finalize THE TORAH. Woe to that generation. From here on, there will not be a generation like the present one until the generation in the time of King Messiah, when knowledge will awaken in the world, as it is written, "For they shall all know Me, from the lowest of them to the greatest of them" (Yirmeyah 31:33).

33. It is written, "And a river went out of Eden" (Beresheet 2:10). We have learned the name of this river. We established that its name is Yuval, NAMELY BINAH, as it is written, "And that spreads out its roots by the river (Heb. yuval)" (Yirmeyah 17:8). In the book of Rabbi Hamnuna Saba (the elder), IT SAYS that its name is life, NAMELY BINAH, whence life comes to the world, which is referred to as the life of the King. We established that it is that great and strong tree, WHICH IS ZEIR ANPIN, that feeds all and is called the Tree of Life, MEANING the tree that has planted its roots in that life ABOVE, NAMELY BINAH. And all is appropriate.

40. There are times during the week when graciousness abounds and there are times during the week when decrees are in the world. There are times during the day when graciousness prevails and the world is pampered. There are times during the day when the Judgments are impending and are present. Even during the hour, THERE ARE VARIOUS TIMES. Consequently, it is written, "And a time for every purpose" (Kohelet 3:1). It is also written, "But as for me, let my prayer be to You, Hashem, in an acceptable time" (Tehilim 69:14) and "Seek Hashem while He may be found" (Yeshayah 55:6). Another verse reads, "Why stand You afar off, Hashem? Why hide You Yourself in times of trouble?" (Tehilim 10:1) and another verse reads, "From afar Hashem appeared to me" (Yirmeyah 31:2). At other times, He is close as it is written, "Hashem is near to all those who call upon Him" (Tehilim 145:18). Due to this, it is written, "that he will not come at all times into the holy place..."

75. We have learned that it is written, "She considers a field, and buys it" (Mishlei 31:16). This is like what is written, "Where all the wild beasts (lit. 'beasts of the field') play" (Iyov 40:20), WHICH REFERS TO THE ASPECT OF JUDGMENT OF MALCHUT, WHOSE SECRET IS NIGHT AS MENTIONED EARLIER, AND IS ALSO REFERRED TO AS FIELD. "THE WILD BEASTS" REFLECTS THE SECRET OF YESOD, AND "PLAY" REFERS TO MATING, and about this is written, "So is this great and wide sea...There go the ships; there are the Leviathan, whom You have made to play therein" (Tehilim 104:25-26). LEVIATHAN IS THE SECRET OF YESOD, "TO PLAY" ALLUDES TO UNION, AS IT IS WRITTEN, "AND, BEHOLD, ISAAC WAS SPORTING WITH HIS WIFE" (BERESHEET 26:8). This is as the verse, "She is like the merchant ships: she brings her bread from afar" (Mishlei 31:14); "from afar" surely. FOR "HER BREAD," WHICH IS THE SECRET ILLUMINATION OF CHOCHMAH, DOES NOT SHED LIGHT SAVE FROM "AFAR," MEANING IT DOES SO WITH JUDGMENTS THAT REMOVE THE EXTERNAL FORCES FAR AWAY SO THEY WOULD NOT NURTURE FROM THIS GREAT LIGHT. THIS IS THE SECRET OF, "HASHEM APPEARED TO ME FROM AFAR" (YIRMEYAH 31:2). AND THE SECRET OF THE UNION PERTAINS TO NIGHT AND TO THE FIELD, AS MENTIONED EARLIER, AS IT BRINGS HER LIGHT from the brain inside the head, NAMELY CHOCHMAH, and from that which is above the head, NAMELY THE BLESSED ENDLESS LIGHT. THEREFORE, SHE NEEDS PROTECTION FROM EXTERNAL FORCES. "She brings her bread," NAMELY through the means of the righteous man, DENOTING YESOD. When they join together, there is universal joy. This is the meaning of the verse, "There are the dolphins (Heb. Leviathan) who you have made to play therein," THE LEVIATHAN BEING YESOD, WHILE "TO PLAY" REFERS TO MATING, AS EARLIER MENTIONED.

86. Rabbi Chizkiyah opened the discussion saying, "Hashem Elohim has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know to sustain him that is weary" (Yeshayah 50:4). How fortunate are Yisrael that the Holy One, blessed be He, chose them from among all nations and called them "holy," as it is written, "Yisrael is holy to Hashem" (Yirmeyah 2:3). He gave them a share to maintain the Holy Name. With what right can they hold on to the Holy Name? It is because they merited the Torah, as anyone who merits Torah merits his portion in the Holy One, blessed be He.

144. He opened the discussion saying, "Cold water to a thirsty soul" is referring to Torah. Of all those who merit to toil in Torah and satiate their souls from it, it is written, "good news from a far country." The Holy One, blessed be He, announces about many favors for him in this world and in the World to Come. This is the meaning of "good news." Whence do they come TO BE GOOD? "From a far country," MEANING from the place in which the Holy One, blessed be He, was far off from him at the beginning, MEANING where He was in enmity with him at first, as it is written, "And the earth shall rise up against him" (Iyov 20:27). From this place, they welcome him with peace. This is the meaning of, "A far country." It is also written, "Hashem appeared to me from afar, saying, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore I have remained true to you" (Yirmeyah 31:2). THE END OF THE ARTICLE IS MISSING.

147. At twilight, all of these 1,590 tens of thousands THAT ARE DRAWN THERE, ARE called those who lament. They sing at that time and dissent is then dominant in the world. That hour is when the Holy One, blessed be He, awakens Isaac, REPRESENTING THE LEFT COLUMN OF ZEIR ANPIN. He rises and judges the wicked that violate the words of the Torah. Seven rivers of fire - CORRESPONDING TO CHESED, GVURAH, TIFERET, NETZACH, HOD, YESOD AND MALCHUT - are drawn out and hover over the heads of the wicked, and a flame of fiery coals stirs from above downward. Then Abraham, THE SECRET OF CHESED, returns to his position, MEANING THAT CHESED RETURNS TO ITS SOURCE AND DISAPPEARS FROM THE ONES BELOW, as the verse says, "And Abraham returned to his place" (Beresheet 18:33). The day departs and the wicked in Gehenom cry out and say, "Woe to us! For the day declines, for the shadows of the evening are lengthened" (Yirmeyah 6:4). At that time, one should be prudent with the Minchah prayer.

275. Rabbi Elazar said: Regarding that which the friends have said, it is forbidden to exile a Torah scroll even to be taken from one synagogue to another and certainly into the street. If so, why DO WE TAKE IT OUT into the street? Rabbi Yehuda replied: So it will awaken them to seek mercy for the world. Rabbi Aba said that when the Shechinah went into exile, it also moved from place to place until She said, "Oh, that I were in the wilderness, in a lodging place of wayfaring men..." (Yirmeyah 9:1). Here too, at first the Torah is exiled from one synagogue to another and later into the street. Afterwards it is "in the wilderness, in a lodging place of wayfaring men." Rabbi Yehuda said: The Babylonians are reverent and do not pass the Torah scroll even from synagogue to synagogue and certainly not there, INTO THE STREET.

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.

301. If it is so to Yisrael, THAT TORAH IS NOT TO BE REVEALED BUT TO ONE WHO IS IN THE UPPER LEVEL, it is all the more so with the idolatrous nations. If one gives to all those who are uncircumcised even a single letter of the Torah, it is considered as if he devastated the world and was false to the name of the Holy One, blessed be He. It is all dependent upon this, CIRCUMCISION. One is bound to the other, TORAH IS CONNECTED TO CIRCUMCISION, as it is written, "If My covenant be not day and night, it were as if I had not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth" (Yirmeyah 33:25).

305. For this reason, the Torah, THE SECRET OF ZEIR ANPIN, is the sustenance of everything and the Faith of all to bind the bond of Faith, NAMELY MALCHUT, one with another properly. He who is circumcised is bound with that bond of Faith, but he who is not circumcised is not bound with it, as it is written, "No stranger shall eat of the holy thing" (Vayikra 22:10) and "for no uncircumcised man shall eat of it" (Shemot 12:48). The spirit of defilement is stirred up from him and it comes to intermingle with holiness. Blessed is the Merciful One who set apart His children, Yisrael, who are marked with the holy impression, from them and their filth. About them, it is written, "And I had planted you a noble vine, an entirely right seed" (Yirmeyah 2:21). For this reason, IT IS WRITTEN, "You will show truth to Jacob" (Michah 7:20) and to no one else, a true Torah to a true seed. Rabbi Elazar approached and kissed him on his hands.

329. So it is written, "Hashem shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation; He shall mightily roar because of His habitation" (Yirmeyah 25:30), because of His actual habitation, namely the Queen, WHO IS GONE. It is surely so THAT HE ROARS. What does He say? THUS: woe that I have demolished My house. "My house" MEANS the union with the Queen. This is surely the meaning of, "The nakedness of your father, or the nakedness of your mother, shall you not uncover." From all directions there is nakedness, NAMELY BLEMISH. FOR WHEN MALCHUT, YOUR MOTHER, PARTED DUE TO THE SIN OF THE LOWER BEINGS, THEN THE LIGHTS DEPARTED FROM ZEIR ANPIN AS WELL. THUS, ZEIR ANPIN, YOUR FATHER, WAS DAMAGED. Then "I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering" (Yeshayah 50:3), MEANING ZEIR ANPIN REFERRED TO AS HEAVEN, as the place of the reception of blessings of the springs' sources, WHICH ARE IN BINAH which were flowing and watering ZEIR ANPIN properly, withdrew AND STOPPED.

333. Surely this is when sins in the world multiply excessively. At first, repentance was available but they did not want TO REPENT, then the Hei takes off, BEING BINAH, THE SECRET OF REPENTANCE and the Aleph, BEING KETER, raises the Vav Yud to it, so it is now called Oy. When the Temple was destroyed and repentance was gone, then they cried and said, "Woe (Oy) to us! For the day declines" (Yirmeyah 6:4). What is meant by "For the day declines?" It refers to the supernal day, MEANING BINAH called repentance, which departed and is not available. This is that specific day that extends its right hand to welcome evildoers. It has departed from all and is not available. Therefore, they say Oy instead of Hoy "for the shadows of the evening are lengthened" (Ibid.), MEANING PERMISSION has been granted to the rulers over other nations to rule over YISRAEL.

335. Then the Vav and Yud draw one towards the other. THE YUD, BEING THE HEAD OF YESOD, IS DRAWN TO THE VAV, ZEIR ANPIN, AND SEPARATES FROM MALCHUT. The upper Hei OF YUD HEI VAV HEI, BEING BINAH, pours its sources to the Other Side, and no blessings abound, because no Male and Female are present, ZEIR ANPIN AND MALCHUT, and they do not dwell together. Then "He shall mightily roar because of His habitation" (Yirmeyah 25:30), MALCHUT. Rabbi Shimon wept and Rabbi Elazar wept. Rabbi Elazar said: There is a lament placed in my heart on one side and a joy in my heart on the other, as I have heard words that I never heard until now. How blessed is my lot.

342. We have learned that Yisrael are detained in exile for three things: For treating the Shechinah with contempt in exile; for turning away their face from the Shechinah, AS IT IS WRITTEN, "FOR THEY HAVE TURNED THEIR BACK TO ME, AND NOT THEIR FACE" (YIRMEYAH 2:27). Finally, for defiling themselves before the Shechinah, WITHOUT CONSIDERING THAT THE SHECHINAH IS WITH THEM IN EXILE. We explained them all in our Mishnah.