756. Those WHO ARE CALLED 'CHILDREN', WHO ARE MENTIONED ABOVE, are the ones who arrange the wine and bread of the supernal King, ZEIR ANPIN, and about them it is said: "My offering, the provision of My sacrifices made by fire" (Bemidbar 28:2). For only those that are called 'the fire offerings of Hashem' may be offered to Him, and it is therefore WRITTEN: "My offering, the provision of My sacrifices made by fire." For it is said about it: "Come, eat of my bread" (Mishlei 9:5), and they are called 'the shewbread' (lit. 'the bread of the countenances'), there being twelve countenances THAT ARE ALLUDED TO IN THE THREE YUD HEI VAV HEI'S: "Hashem bless you... Hashem make His face to shine... Hashem lift up His countenance..." (Bemidbar 6:24-26), AND THERE ARE THUS TWELVE THAT CORRESPOND TO THE twelve countenances of three holy living creatures.

757. What is the bread of these twelve countenances? It is the bread of man, who is THE SECRET OF YUD HEI VAV HEI, FULLY SPELLED WITH ALEPH'S, THUS Yud-Vav-Dalet, Hei-Aleph, Vav-Aleph-Vav, Hei-Aleph, WHICH IS THE NUMERICAL EQUIVALENT OF MAN (HEB. ADAM = 45). AND THEY ARE TWELVE IN THE SECRET OF THE THREE YUD HEI VAV HEI'S, WHICH MEAN THE THREE COLUMNS, IN EACH OF WHICH IS ONE YUD HEI VAV HEI, MAKING A TOTAL OF TWELVE LETTERS, AS ABOVE. And He has bread in four faces, which are the four letters of Yud Hei Vav Hei, THAT INCLUDE TWELVE FACES, AS ABOVE. This bread of the King's table is clean fine flour, THAT CONTAINS NO CHAFF OR STRAW, WHICH ARE JUDGMENTS.

758. His oven, in which he bakes the bread, is the Shechinah, for THE BREAD cooks and is completed there. And this is why one should not start cutting the bread other than at the point where its cooking was completed, namely, it is similar to the perfection of a fruit that has reached full ripeness. And this is Adonai, WHICH IS MALCHUT, which is completion and perfection of Yud Hei Vav Hei, WHICH IS ZEIR ANPIN, which is the shewbread (lit. 'bread of the faces'), NAMELY, THE TWELVE COUNTENANCES MENTIONED ABOVE WHICH ARE IN ZEIR ANPIN. Adonai is ZEIR ANPIN's oven AND COMPLETES HIM. AND SHE IS CALLED 'A FURNACE' (HEB. KIVSHAN) because she is subdued (Heb. KEVUSHAH) under Her husband, and for Her it is said: "And Mount Sinai smoked in every part, because Hashem descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended like the smoke of a furnace" (Shemot 19:18). "Furnace" here does not MEAN as an ordinary furnace, but rather that in which He applies (Heb. kovesh) His mercy to His people when they pray and present their supplications. AND SO IS IT SAID: 'May Your mercy suppress (Heb. yichbeshu) your anger'. And IT WAS SAID of it: What do you have to do with the secrets (Aramaic kivshei) of the Merciful One?

759. And in the bread of the Torah there is CLEAN fine flour, which the King gives to those about whom it is said: 'All Yisrael are the children of kings', NAMELY, HE GIVES IT TO THOSE WHO ARE CALLED 'CHILDREN', for it is the food of the righteous. And there is also bread of the Torah that is waste matter and which is given to the servants and handmaids of the King's house, WHO ATTEND TO THE HORSES AND RIDERS OF THE KING'S HOUSE. And for this reason it is said about the Queen: "She rises also while it is yet night, and gives food to her household, and a portion to her maidens" (Mishlei 31:15), who are the sages of the Mishnah. And this is why it is said about the food of the King: "and a tenth part of an efah of flour" (Bemidbar 28:5). FINE FLOUR, certainly; while THE TENTH PART OF AN EFAH is Yud (whose numerical value is ten) of Adonai, which is certainly tenth, and it follows that this fine flour is the food of the King, AS ABOVE.

760. THE FAITHFUL SHEPHERD SAID: Rise up, Holy Luminary, you and Rabbi Elazar, your son, together with Rabbi Aba, Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Yosi, Rabbi Chiya and Rabbi Yudai, to prepare a gift for the King, THE HOLY ONE, BLESSED BE HE, to make a sacrifice of all the limbs, which are Yisrael, so that they should be sacrificial offerings to the Holy One, blessed be He. And those who are called 'the Soul' OF YISRAEL ARE OFFERED to the limbs of the holy Shechinah, NAMELY, TO THE SFIROT OF MALCHUT, WHICH IS CALLED 'fire OF the Most High'. AND THIS FIRE is attached to the pieces of wood that are called "the wood (lit. 'tree') of the burnt offering" (Beresheet 22:6), namely, the Tree of Life, WHICH IS ZEIR ANPIN, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, WHICH IS MALCHUT. Trees of holiness are the name given to the sages of Torah, for the Torah is attached to them, of which it is said: "Is not My word like a fire? says Hashem" (Yirmeyah 23:29).