465. THE FAITHFUL SHEPHERD SAID TO ELIJAH: Elijah, certainly WHEN EVEN ORDINARY PEOPLE bless and sanctify and unite the Matron, numerous hosts of the Matron ascend with him, and hosts of the King descend to him and all with the purpose to guard him, to make known to that spirit many novel ideas, and forecasts within the dream of prophecy and many hidden matters. An example is Jacob, about whom is written, "And behold the angels of Elohim ascending and descending on it" (Beresheet 28:12). Regarding the hosts of the King and the Matron are written, "And he called the name of that place Machanaim (lit. 'two camps')" (Beresheet 32:2). However the King and Matron THEMSELVES do not descend there, WHEREAS WITH REGARD TO A REPENTANT, THE HOLY ONE, BLESSED BE HE, PERSONALLY DESCENDS TO THAT SPIRIT, AS DISCUSSED.

466. Elijah said, Faithful Shepherd, so it is. As a result of your efforts in every precept to unify the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah with all the hosts above and below, so the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah and all Her hosts above and below unify with your spirit, with every precept done. As a prince whose parents love and kiss him, they do not rely on their hosts, but choose to guard him themselves.

467. EXPLANATION, Your spirit stems from the central pillar, NAMELY ZEIR ANPIN, being the Vav that comprises Aba and Ima, which are Yud-Hei. Your soul is an only daughter from the aspect of the letter Hei, the lower Shechinah, NAMELY MALCHUT, that does not move from you. Just as Aba and Ima guard the son, NAMELY ZEIR ANPIN, so they guard the daughter, NAMELY MALCHUT, in the supernal hosts, the two camps. With the supernal thought, WHICH IS CHOCHMAH, they raise your spirit, as was stated. The thought of Yisrael came to mind, being Yud Hei Vav Hei. When does your spirit come up in thought? When it is complete. It is said about it: "Let everything that has breath (lit. 'every soul') praise Yah" (Tehilim 150:6), and with the Nefesh too, being the Hei OF YUD HEI VAV HEI, MEANING THE SOUL ASCENDS WITH THE SPIRIT.

468. Regarding the spirit of Hashem, it is written, "Come from the four winds (also: 'spirits') O breath (also: 'spirit')" (Yechezkel 37:9). WHEN COMPOSED OF THE FOUR SPIRITS, IT IS CALLED 'THE SPIRIT OF YUD HEI VAV HEI;' that is, "and the spirit of Hashem shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might..." (Yeshayah 11:2). If he is perfect with the four letters OF YUD HEI VAV HEI, the thought of him occurs, NAMELY CHOCHMAH, and the Cause of all Causes adorns him with the crown. Within all this glory, your spirit ascends and descends nightly. All things are revealed to you with Chesed, of which the verse says, "But you that did cleave of Hashem" (Devarim 4:4); you, but not the nations of the world. Hence, "He that sacrifices to any Elohim," other Elohim, "save to Hashem only, he shall be utterly destroyed" (Shemot 22:19).

469. Fortunate is the Holy Nation that are called 'sheep of the Holy One, blessed be He,' ready to offer themselves as a sacrifice for Him, as it is written, "But for Your sake are we killed all the day long; we are reckoned as sheep for the slaughter" (Tehilim 44:23). They would sacrifice themselves as sheep by fasting. Diminishing one's own fat and blood during a fast takes on more importance than animal sacrifice, where the diminishing of animal fat and blood takes place, as well as the nightly burning of the limbs and parts OF THE SACRIFICES.

470. Happy are they that offer their spirits as an offering to Hashem, and nightly their spirits ascend to Him. If it ascends with Torah and the precepts, meaning the Ten Utterances that were given by the Yud OF YUD HEI VAV HEI, AS THE NUMBER OF the Ten Utterances are from the letter Hei (= 5) OF YUD HEI VAV HEI, ADDING TO TEN. Now with the Vav OF YUD HEI VAV HEI, with six books of Torah with the book of Beresheet, five are called the Five Books - AS HE COUNTS TWO VERSES OF "AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN THE ARK SET FORWARD..." (BEMIDBAR 10:35) AS AN INDEPENDENT BOOK, AS TOLD BY OUR SAGES OF BLESSED MEMORY. SO THERE ARE FIVE BOOKS, BEGINNING WITH THE BOOK OF SHEMOT. Beresheet is considered the sixth Book. If it occurs to thought, being Yud Hei Vav Hei OF THE FIRST THREE SFIROT, it is written, "Yisrael came to mind (lit. 'Yisrael ascended with thought);" to where does he ascend? To Keter, the site of the most wondrous, concealed cause of all causes.

471. Happy is he who ascends by a precept, meaning the precept of Tefilin, containing the four chapters containing the name Yud Hei Vav Hei. Yud OF YUD HEI VAV HEI is the portion, "Sanctify to me" (Shemot 13:2). Hei OF YUD HEI VAV HEI alludes to: "And it shall be when Hashem shall bring you" (Ibid. 11). Vav OF YUD HEI VAV HEI, in "Hear, O Yisrael" (Devarim 6:4); and the last Hei OF YUD HEI VAV HEI: "And it shall come to pass, of you shall hearken" (Devarim 28:1). ALL ARE INCLUDED in thought, MEANING THE FIRST THREE SFIROT, IN THE HEAD, to connect thought with the hand - ALLUDING TO THE SHECHINAH, REFERRED TO AS THE HAND TEFILIN. THE SHECHINAH IS COMPOSED OF DEED, SPEECH, THE SIX SFIROT, AND THOUGHT. She is composed of Deed, being the Hei, ALLUDING TO HER MALCHUT; of speech, being Her Binah; composed of six Sfirot, BEING HER TIFERET; AND composed of thought, being Yud-Vav- Dalet, Hei-Aleph, Vav-Aleph-Vav, Hei-Aleph - Yud Hei Vav Hei EQUALING fourteen letters, equaling the numerical value of Yad (Lit. 'Hand') WHICH IS HER FIRST THREE SFIROT. THE NUMBER FOURTEEN alludes to four chapters and one compartment of HAND Tefilin, with two straps - now we have seven. Two Shin's ON THE RIGHT AND LEFT OF THE TEFILIN COMPARTMENT, NOW equal nine, and WITH the knot of the strap, now ten. With the four chapters of the hand TEFILIN, this equal fourteen. So that is why the Shechinah is called 'hand,' 'the hand of Yud Hei Vav Hei.'

472. About Her it is written, "Into Your hand I commit my spirit..." (Tehilim 31:6). The spirit is deposited with Yud Hei Vav Hei, and the Holy One, blessed be He, descends to receive it and place it by the Shechinah. For the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah guard it. Who brought this about? He who with every precept lifted the Shechinah to the Holy One, blessed be He.

473. The seventy words IN THE PSALM, "May Hashem hear you in the day of trouble" (Tehilim 20:2), ALLUDE TO THE SEVENTY SOUNDS MADE BY THE EXPECTANT MOTHER ABOUT TO GIVE BIRTH, BEING ALSO THE SEVENTY SOUNDS GIVEN OUT BY THE SHECHINAH FOR THE DISTRESS OF THE CHILDREN OF YISRAEL PRIOR TO REDEMPTION - CONSIDERED THEN "A DAY OF TROUBLE." HE ASKS, Why does She cry out? HE ANSWERS, It is known that among Yisrael there are masters of Torah and kings from the aspect of the star of dawn, namely the Shechinah. There are two grades, morning and dawn, about which it is said, "at Your right hand are pleasure for evermore (Netzach)" (Tehilim 16:11). The morning of Abraham, Chesed, appears on the ACTUAL Day of Redemption. But the dawn precedes the Day of Redemption, being Netzach, as the Shechinah from this aspect is called 'the star (or doe) of dawn.'

474. Hence, "the chief musician (Heb. lamenatzeach)," WRITTEN BEFORE, "MAY HASHEM HEAR YOU IN THE DAY OF TROUBLE," is spelled Netzach and Lamed-Mem, AS THE WORD LAMNATZEACH IS SPELLED LAMED- MEM-NETZACH, SINCE THE PREVALENCE OF DAWN IS FOREVER (HEB. NETZACH). THE NUMERICAL VALUE OF LAMED-MEM IS SEVENTY, which are the seventy sounds that the doe of dawn cries out for her children when the darkness of the exile overcomes them, NAMELY the darkness (Heb. shacharut) of dawn (Heb. shachar) taking place at the last seventy years. At that time will be fulfilled in Yisrael: "Like a woman with child, that draws near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and cries out in her pangs; so have we been in Your sight, Hashem" (Yeshayah 26:17). And SO SINCE THE SHECHINAH SUFFERS WITH US, "And therefore we hope for You, Hashem our Elohim," THAT YOU WILL REDEEM US.