61. Beresheet. Rabbi Shimon opened the discussion with the verse, "And I have put My words in your mouth" (Yeshayah 51:16). How important it is for a person to study laboriously the Torah day and night. Very important, because the Holy One, blessed be He, listens attentively to the voices of those who occupy themselves with the study of the Torah. And every word that receives a new interpretation by a person who delves into the study of the Torah creates a new Firmament.
62. We have already learned that at the moment when a novel interpretation in the Torah is presented by any person, that word ascends and is met before the Holy One, blessed be He. And the Holy One, blessed be He, receives this matter and kisses it. He also adorns it with seventy graven and inscribed crowns. And this new word of wisdom that is revealed is then set upon the head of the Righteous who lives forever. Then it flies off and floats through 70,000 worlds until it reaches Atik Yomin, WHICH IS THE SFIRAH OF KETER. And all the words of Atik Yomin are words of wisdom comprising sublime and hidden mysteries.
63. When this concealed matter of wisdom is revealed here IN THIS WORLD as it ascends, it joins the words of Atik Yomin and goes up and down together with them. Then it enters 18 hidden worlds that "neither has the eye seen, Elohim, beside You" (Yeshayah 64:4). Afterward, they leave there to float around before they are presented in full perfection to Atik Yomin. At this stage, Atik Yomin smells the odor of the matter, and He finds it most desirable - MORE DESIRABLE, IN FACT, THAN ANYTHING ELSE. He then takes it and crowns it with 370,000 crowns. And the phrase, WHICH REVEALS A NEW IDEA OF THE TORAH, flies on high - going up and down before landing. Thus, a heaven is made OUT OF IT.
64. And from every matter of wisdom many heavens are made. They stand in full perfection in front of Atik Yomin, who calls them 'New Heavens'. IN OTHER WORDS, 'Renewed Heavens' BECAUSE THEY ARE concealed by the hidden secrets of the sublime wisdom. While all the other phrases and sayings of the Torah that are newly revealed THAT DO NOT BELONG TO THIS ASPECT OF SUBLIME WISDOM stand before the Holy One, blessed be He, these words of wisdom ascend and become the lands of the living. They then descend and are put as a crown upon a certain land. Thus, all is renewed and it becomes a new land BY MEANS of that phrase of the Torah that was freshly discovered.
65. On this subject, it is written, "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I - make, shall remain before Me, says Hashem, so shall your seed and your name remain" (Yeshayah 66:22). He does not say 'I have made,' but rather "I make," IN THE PRESENT TENSE, BECAUSE, He constantly makes NEW HEAVENS AND EARTH from the secrets and the new teachings of the Torah. And on this subject, it is written, "And I have put My words in your mouth, and I have covered you in the shadow of My hand, that I may plant heavens, and lay the foundations of earth" (Yeshayah 51:16). He does not say 'the heavens,' but rather "heavens," WITHOUT THE DEFINITE ARTICLE. THIS MEANS THAT HE IS NOT ENCOMPASSING THE ACTUAL HEAVENS, BUT THE HEAVENS THAT ARE MADE ANEW FROM THE TEACHINGS AND THE UTTERANCES OF THE TORAH.
66. Rabbi Elazar then asked, what is the meaning of "I have covered you in the shadow of My hand?" He told him, when the Torah was given to Moses, many tens of thousands of angels on high were about to burn him with the flames of their mouths, but the Holy One, blessed be He, protected him. So now, when the new explanation on the Torah is uttered, the saying rises up, is crowned, and then stands before the Holy One, blessed be He. And He guards that saying and shelters the person who said it so that it may be known only to Him and to stop the angels from envying him until new heaven and earth are made from that saying. So it says, "I have covered you in the shadow of My hand, that I may plant heavens, and lay the foundations of earth." And from this we learn that everything which is hidden from the eye has a supernal advantage, as expressed in "I have covered you in the shadow of My hand." But why should it be covered and hidden out of sight? So that it may receive the supernal advantage. As it says, "that I may plant heavens and lay the foundations of earth," as we have learned. IN OTHER WORDS, TO MAKE NEW HEAVENS AND EARTH OUT OF IT.
67. "And say to Zion, You are My people" (Yeshayah 51:16). The phrase "and say to Zion" MEANS TO SAY to those gates and those words that are stated one by the other, REFERRING TO THE NEW TEACHINGS OF THE TORAH, 'You are My people' (Heb. ami ata). Do not pronounce it ami ata but rather imi Ata (Eng. 'you are with Me') WHICH MEANS, 'be My partner.' Just as I have made the heavens and the earth with My words, as is written, "By the word of Hashem the heavens were made" (Tehilim 33:6), so shall you BY YOUR WORDS OF WISDOM MAKE NEW HEAVENS AND EARTH. Happy are those who occupy themselves in the Torah.
68. And so, you may say that the words OF A NEW EXPLANATION by any person, EVEN one who does not know WHAT HE IS SAYING, have the same effect. Come and see, however, what happens when a person who is not familiar with the secrets of the Torah brings forth a new explanation of which he does not know the exact truth, as he should. Under those circumstances, that word OF THE NEW EXPLANATION rises upward, and "a perverse man" (Mishlei 16:29), 'a lying tongue' goes forth to grab it. He emerges from the cavern of the great abyss, makes a leap of 500 parasangs to receive that word, then grabs it, returns with it to his female partner, and makes a false heaven out of it, which is called Tohu (Chaos).
69. The perverse one then flies in that FALSE heaven, traversing 6,000 parasangs in one bound. And as soon as this false heaven is formed, a wife of harlotry emerges, seizes onto this false heaven, and joins it. From there, she leaves to slay by the thousands and tens of thousands. Because as long as she appends herself to this heaven, she has the authority and the ability to fly and traverse the whole world in an instant.
70. And on this subject, it is written, "Woe to them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity" (Yeshayah 5:18). "Iniquity" is related to the Male. "And sin as it were with a cart rope" (Ibid.). What is sin? This is the female, namely the wife of harlotry. The gender is implied in the phrase, "and sin as it were with a cart rope." He WHO SINS draws iniquity, NAMELY THE MALE OF THE KLIPAH, with these cords of vanity. And afterwards: "draws sin as it were with a cart rope." SO HE DRAWS UPON HIMSELF that female, who is called "sin," as she grows strong and flies off to slay human beings. Therefore, "she has cast down many deadly wounded" (Mishlei 7:26). Who "has cast down?" That sin that slays human beings. And who caused all this? The student of the law who did not earn the right to teach, but does so. So may the Merciful One save us!