84. Rabbi Yosi quoted: "Lift up your voice, oh daughter of Gallim! hearken Laishah! O, poor Anatot!" (Yeshayah 10:30). The friends have already explained this verse, which refers to the Congregation of Yisrael, WHICH IS MALCHUT. So "Lift up your voice, O daughter of Gallim" refers to the daughter of Abraham the Patriarch IN THE SECRET OF 'THE FATHER ESTABLISHES THE DAUGHTER.' AND HE IS CHESED THAT ASCENDED TO CHOCHMAH. AND WHEN THE DAUGHTER HAS THE MOCHIN OF ABA, SHE IS THEN CALLED THE DAUGHTER OF GALLIM (Eng. 'springs'), as it is written: "A spring (Heb. gal), shut up" (Shir Hashirim 4:12), MEANING THAT MALCHUT IS CALLED 'GAL' OR 'SPRING' WHEN SHE RECEIVES THE MOCHIN, ABA. THEREFORE, HERE SHE IS ALSO CALLED 'GALLIM' OR 'SPRINGS,' BECAUSE 'springs' refer to the UPPER lights that gather, enter MALCHUT, and fill her. THE GATHERING OF THESE LIGHTS IS THE SECRET OF THE THREE VOWELS - CHOLAM, SHURUK AND CHIRIK. As has already been quoted: "Your shoots are a garden of pomegranates" (Ibid. 13). SO, THE SHOOTS REFER ALSO TO THE UPPER LIGHTS THAT GATHER AND ARE DRAWN INTO MALCHUT, LIKE STREAMS AND RIVERS.
85. "Hearken Laishah:" The word 'Laishah' also appears in the verse, "The lion (Heb. laish) perishes for lack of prey" (Iyov 4:11). THIS MEANS IT IS THE OPPOSITE OF THE NAME 'GALLIM,' AS IT REFERS TO THE TIME WHEN MALCHUT, LACKING ABUNDANCE, PERISHES. 'Laish' is the masculine term; 'Laishah' is the feminine. SO WHEN THE TERM 'LAISHAH' APPEARS, IT REFERS TO MALCHUT, WHICH IS THE FEMALE PRINCIPLE. AND HE ASKS, "Why is she called AFTER THE NAME 'laish'? Is it because it is written: 'a lion which is strongest among beasts?" (Mishlei 30:30). DOES THIS SIGNIFY THE LION'S MIGHT, or is it written to remind us that "the lion perishes for lack of prey" - WHICH IS BECAUSE OF LACK OF ABUNDANCE? AND HE ANSWERS: All that is said refers to 'laish.' AT THIS STAGE, MALCHUT IS CALLED the lower Gvurah, as she is drawn down from the upper Gvurah, MEANING FROM THE GVURAH OF BINAH. AND THAT IS WHY SHE IS DESCRIBED AS "A LION WHICH IS STRONGEST AMONG BEASTS." But she is also "the lion [who] perishes for lack of prey." When these streams, WHICH ARE THE SUPERNAL LIGHTS, depart and do not enter her, then she is called the 'laishah' (lioness), which perishes for lack of prey. As is written: "The lion perishes for lack of prey, and the lion's whelps are scattered abroad" (Iyov 4:11).
86. And when the verse mentions "Laishah" or "poor Anatot" (the poorest of the poor), the meaning is the same as in, "of the priests that were in Anatot" (Yirmeyah 1:1), and "Anatot, to your own fields" (I Melachim 2:26). THESE TERMS OF 'ANATOT' ALWAYS INDICATE POVERTY. HE FURTHER ASKS: What does SOLOMON want to teach us BY THE TERM 'ANATOT?' AND HE ANSWERS: As long as King David was alive, Evyatar became wealthy and prosperous. But after that, WHEN KING DAVID DIED, EVYATAR BECAME POOR. THEN Solomon told him, "Anatot, to your own fields."
87. HE ASKS: What is the true reason that Solomon called him BY THE NAME ANATOT? WHY SHOULD HE CALL HIM WITH A NAME OF DISGRACE? AND HE ANSWERS: He wanted to tell him, during your days, my father lived in poverty, but now THAT I AM RICH, " go to your own fields." FOR A PERSON WHO SERVED DURING THE DAYS OF POVERTY IS NOT FIT TO SERVE DURING THE DAYS OF PROSPERITY. HE FURTHER STATES that we should now explain why Evyatar was called Anatot. Should one assume that it was because he was from Anatot? We have already learned from the verse: "And one of the sons of Achimelech, the son of Achituv, named Evyatar, escaped" (I Shmuel 22:20). And he came from Nov, the city of the priests. We have learned that Nov is also called Anatot and why is it called Anatot - because of the poverty and destitution to which it had been reduced by King Saul through the slaughter of all its priestly inhabitants. Nevertheless, THIS IS NOT THE TRUE REASON FOR THE NAME, BECAUSE Anatot was the name of a village and is not Nov. Rather, King Solomon called Evyatar Anatot, "because you were afflicted (Heb. hit'anita) in all that my father was afflicted" (I Melachim 2:26) - and because he also came from the city of Nov. So the true reason is that, because King David lived in poverty in his days, he called him thus -- ANATOT.
88. Rabbi Chiya said that the world was in a state of poverty from the time that Adam transgressed the command of the Holy One, blessed be He, until the time when Noah came forward and offered his sacrifice, thereby settling the world. Rabbi Yosi said that the world was not settled and the land was not pure from the pollution of the serpent until Yisrael stood at Mount Sinai and held onto the Tree of Life. Only then did the world settle properly.
89. And had Yisrael not sinned before the Holy One, blessed be He, they would have never died, for the pollution of the serpent had been purged from them. But because of their sin, the first tablets, which brought freedom from all sins, freedom from the serpent - who is "the End of all Flesh" (THE ANGEL OF DEATH) - were broken.
90. And when the Levites rose up to slay the guilty, THAT IS WHEN MOSES TOLD THEM, "PUT EVERY MAN HIS SWORD BY HIS SIDE...AND SLAY EVERY MAN HIS BROTHER (SHEMOT 32:27), then the evil serpent walked in front of them. Nevertheless, he could not dominate them because all Yisrael were girt with a special armor that protected them against his attacks. THIS SPECIAL ARMOR IS THE ORNAMENT THAT THEY RECEIVED AT MOUNT HOREB. Thus, the serpent could not have prevailed against them. However, when He said to Moses, "Therefore now put off your ornaments from yourself" (Shemot 33:5), permission to rule over Yisrael was given to the serpent.
91. Come and behold: it is written, "And the children of Yisrael were stripped of their ornaments by the mount Horeb" (Ibid. 6). SO HE ASKS: "Were stripped?" It should have been written 'stripped themselves!' AND HE ANSWERS THAT the words "were stripped" SHOW US that they were actually stripped by another POWER, as permission was given to the serpent to rule over them. "Their ornaments by the mount Horeb," REFERS TO the ornament they received from mount Horeb when the Torah was given to Yisrael.
92. Rabbi Chiya asks: Ehy, if Noah was a righteous man, did he not cancel death over the world, JUST AS IT WAS CANCELED AT THE TIME OF THE GIVING OF THE TORAH? AND HE ANSWERS: Because the pollution of the serpent had not yet been removed from the world and because the people of the world had no faith in the Holy One, blessed be He. As a result, they clung to the 'leaves of the lower Tree,' THE EXTERNAL FORCES, and covered themselves with the spirit of defilement.
93. Not only that, but WHEN THEY LEFT THE ARK, they continued to sin and follow the Evil Inclination, as they had before. Also the holy Torah, which is the Tree of Life, had not yet been brought down to earth by the Holy One, blessed be He. In addition to all this, Noah himself brought death again upon the world. As it is written: "And he drank of the wine and was drunk, and was uncovered within his tent" (Beresheet 9:21). This has already been explained.