118. Ra'aya Meheimna (the Faithful Shepherd). Fish and grasshoppers do not need to be slaughtered, for merely being gathered in permits them to be eaten. It is the same way with the heads of the Talmudic colleges, who do not need to be slaughtered WHEN THEY DIE LIKE OTHER MEN - WHO ARE SLAUGHTERED BY THE SWORD OF THE ANGEL OF DEATH. It is said of them: "...and expired, and was gathered to his people" (Beresheet 49:33), FOR THEY ARE GATHERED WITHOUT BEING SLAUGHTERED, WHICH DISFIGURES THE DECEASED. As the fish live in the sea, so the students who study the Torah and the Mishnah live in the Torah, and if they leave it they die instantly. The Tannaim of the Mishnah are raised by the Torah, like the fish IN THE SEA, and if those who dwell on land enter the sea without knowing how to swim, they die. But he who learns the Kabbalah is above all others, as it is written: "Have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air" (Beresheet 1:28), WHICH ARE THE STUDENTS OF MISHNAH.

119. For those who learn Mishnah are 'crocodiles,' NAMELY the great crocodile, "that crooked (Heb. bariach) serpent" (Yeshayah 27:1), which corresponds to "the middle bar (Heb. bariach) in the midst of the boards" (Shemot 26:28), WHICH IS THE SECRET OF TIFERET. When the 'crocodiles' who study Mishnah have a dispute and argue with each other, ONE swallows the other, if he is a young student and has not yet reached the position of teacher, yet teaches all the same AND IS THUS punishable by death. However, if all the students are in the same position yet have a difference of opinion, then it is said of them AT THE END: "Vahev in sufah" (Bemidbar 21:14) meaning that they have love at the end (Heb. ahava besufah). End of Ra'aya Meheimna (the Faithful Shepherd).