The hind of dawn

691. "And on...the first month" (Bemidbar 28:16). Rabbi Aba opened, "As the hart pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after You, Elohim" (Tehilim 42:2). We have already learned this verse, and although it contains masculine and feminine FORMS, it is all one, for the word hart ayal is masculine, while the verb ta'arog (Eng. 'she pants') is feminine, and although the subject and the verb should agree in gender, ya'arog (Eng. 'he pants') is not written IN THE MASCULINE, because it is all one.

692. What is "the morning star (lit. 'the hind of the dawn')" (Tehilim 22:1)? AND HE ANSWERS: This is a certain merciful animal, NAMELY, MALCHUT, and among all the animals of the world there is none merciful like her, for when time is pressing and she needs nourishment for herself and for all the animals, WHICH ARE ALL THE HOSTS OF THE WORLDS OF BRIYAH, YETZIRAH, AND ASIYAH, she goes to a distant place, far away, and comes, bringing food, but does not herself want to eat until she returns to her place. Why is this so? So that all the other animals will collect together by her, and she distributes from that food to them. And when she comes, all the other animals do indeed collect around her, and she stands in the middle, and allocates to each one of them. And this you may derive from the verse: "She rises also while it is yet night, and gives food to her household, and a portion to her maidens" (Mishlei 31:15). And from what she gives to them she is herself satiated, as if she had eaten more food than all of them.

693. And when the morning, which is called 'dawn', arrives, the pangs of the Exile come to her, and this is why she is called 'the hind of the dawn', after the blackness of the morning, for she THEN has pangs as a woman giving birth, as it is written: "Like as a woman with child, that draws near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and cries out in her pangs" (Yeshayah 26:17).

694. When does she distribute to them? This is when the morning is just about to come, but it is still night, and the blackness departs for the illumination, as it is written: "She rises also while it is yet night, and gives food to her household." But by the time it is morning, they are all satiated with her food.

695. And then a certain voice awakens in the midst of the firmament and calls out aloud, saying: Let those who are near, go to their places; let those who are far, leave. Let each one gather to his rightful place. And by the time the sun shines, each one is gathered to its place, as it is written: "The sun rises, they slink away" (Tehilim 104:22). And she departs during the day, and is revealed at night, and distributes FOOD in the morning, which is why she is called 'the hind of the dawn'.

696. Subsequently, she grows stronger and leaves, and is called 'a hart', NAMELY, A MASCULINE FORM. Where does she go? HE ANSWERS, she goes sixty pharasangs from the place that she left and she enters into the mountain of darkness. As she goes into the mountain of darkness, a certain labyrinthine serpent sniffs at her feet and follows her, and she ascends from there to the mountain of light. When she reaches there, the Holy One, blessed be He, arranges for her another serpent, who goes forth and they fight each other, and she is saved. And from there she takes food, and returns to her place by midnight. And from midnight on, she begins the distribution, until the blackness of the morning arises. And when the morning gives light, she goes from there and is no longer visible, as we have learned.

697. And when the world is in need of rain, all the other animals collect near her, and she goes up to the top of a high mountain, puts her head between her knees, and cries out with one long cry after another. And the Holy One, blessed be He, hears her voice, and is overcome by mercy and has pity on the world. And she comes down from the top of the mountain, and runs to hide herself. And all the other animals run after her, but do not find her. This is as it is written: "As the hart pants after the water brooks." What is the meaning of "the water brooks"? This refers to those water brooks that have dried up, and the world is thirsty for water. Then she "pants."

698. When she conceives, she is closed up, but when the time comes for her to give birth, she shouts and cries out, cry after cry, up to seventy shouts, as the number of words in the psalm: "Hashem will answer you in the day of trouble" (Tehilim 20:2), which is the song of this pregnant one. And the Holy One, blessed be He, hears her, and arranges HER SALVATION for her. And then a certain large serpent emerges from the mountains of darkness, and comes between the mountains, its mouth licking the dust and it reaches this hart and comes and bites it twice in the same place.

699. On the first occasion, blood comes OUT OF HER, and the serpent licks it. On the second occasion water comes out, and all those animals of the mountains drink, and she herself is opened and gives birth. And this you may derive from the verse: "and with his rod he smote the rock twice, and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also" (Bemidbar 20:11).

700. The Holy One, blessed be He, has pity on her because of what the serpent did, as it is written: "The voice of Hashem makes the hinds to calve, and strips the forests bare; and in His temple everyone speaks of his glory" (Tehilim 29:9). "The voice of Hashem makes the hinds to calve" refers to the pangs and pains that give rise to those seventy shouts, AS ABOVE. And then follows "and strips the forests bare" in order to awaken that serpent, and reveal the animal to go amongst them. "and in His temple": What does this mean? It refers to the temple of the Holy One, blessed be He, WHICH IS MALCHUT, in which all those multitudes THAT ARE IN THE WORLDS OF BRIYAH, YETZIRAH, AND ASIYAH open and say: Glory! What is meant by glory? It refers to "Blessed be the glory of Hashem from His place" (Yechezkel 3:12), WHICH IS MALCHUT THAT IS CALLED 'THE GLORY OF HASHEM'.

701. Ra'aya Meheimna (the Faithful Shepherd). (THE BEGINNING OF THE ARTICLE IS MISSING.) One might suggest that after seventy YEARS she will feel THE PAINS OF THE BIRTH PANGS and in two years she will give birth TO THE REDEMPTION, one thousand and two hundred years after THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE, THAT IS TO SAY, AFTER THE END OF THE FIFTH MILLENIUM, WHICH IS ALL DESTRUCTION, AND A FURTHER TWO HUNDRED YEARS INTO THE SIXTH MILLENIUM, AND SEVENTY YEARS FOR THE BIRTH PANGS, AND TWO YEARS FOR THE BIRTH ITSELF, coming to the year 272 IN THE SIXTH MILLENIUM. But it is written: "Before she travailed, she brought forth" (Yeshayah 66:7). And the secret of the matter is contained in the verse: "And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer" (Yeshayah 65:24). And what is the meaning of before? HE ANSWERS, before the completion of the seventy years and the two years following the passing of one thousand and two hundred years, WHERE THESE 72 YEARS ARE the birth pangs, two Messiahs will be revealed to the world. And at that time: "and in His temple everyone speaks of His glory." And it has already been taught: "The wise shall inherit glory" (Mishlei 3:35). IN OTHER WORDS: "AND IN HIS TEMPLE EVERYONE SPEAKS OF HIS GLORY," THE MEANING OF WHICH IS THAT THE GLORY OF THE WISE WILL BE THROUGHOUT HIS TEMPLE.

702. And at that time, those Torah sages will be respected, those who suffered pangs and travails as a woman in labor, and who were despised by the ignorant; they will be honored. And immediately: "Hashem sat enthroned at the flood" (Tehilim 29:10) on account of the wicked. Flood here symbolizes Judgments of the flood, when "were all the fountains of the great deep broken open, and the windows of heaven were opened" (Beresheet 7:11), at the time of the Flood. So, too, THEN Judgments will rise over them, OVER THE WICKED, above and below, with no end FOR THEIR JUDGMENTS. And every contempt and disgrace shown by the idolatrous nations of the world towards Hashem and His people and the many insults that Yisrael suffered from them for the sake of Hashem's Name - for all of them the Holy One, blessed be He, will exact vengeance, and therefore, as far as they are concerned, "Hashem revenges, and is full of wrath" (Nachum 1:2) towards them.