467. There is a place in civilization where that destroyer has no dominion and is not permitted to enter, and those who live there do not die until they go out of the city. There is not one there who does not die. They all die like other people, but not in the city. What is the reason? They cannot remain constantly in the city, but they rather go in and out, and therefore they all die.
468. What is the reason that the destroying angel does not dominate there? If you say that this is not in his domain, behold the Holy Land that is not located under another domain but people still die. So what is the reason people do not die in this place? And if you say, because of the holiness OF THE PLACE, you do not have a place in the entire civilization that is holy like the Land of Yisrael, and if you say it is because of the merit of the man who built the city, there were many people who merited more than him. Rabbi Yitzchak said, I did not hear anything and I cannot comment.
469. They came and asked Rabbi Shimon. He said to them, Certainly the Angel of Death has no dominion over that place, and the Holy One, blessed be He, does not want any person to ever die there. If you say people did die in that place originally before it was built, it is not so. From the day that man was created, that place was established for existence, and the secret of secrets is here for those who view the secret of Wisdom.
470. When the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world, He created it with the secret of the letters. The letters rolled and He created the world with the engravings of the Holy Name, and the letters rolled and surrounded the world with engravings. When the world became manifest, expanded and was created, and the letters were circling to create, the Holy One, blessed be He, said that the world should be concluded with Yud. The letter Tet remained in that place suspended in the air. Tet is the letter that illuminates with life; therefore, it is a good sign for one who sees the letter Tet in his dream, as life is prepared for him. Therefore, since Tet is suspended over that place, death has no dominion there.
471. When the Holy One, blessed be He, WHO IS THE CENTRAL COLUMN, wanted to maintain the world, MEANING TO DRAW THE FIRST THREE SFIROT INTO THE WORLD THAT ARE CALLED 'EXISTENCE,' He threw a stone into the water. HE ENGRAVED by the secret of 72 letters and from there, FROM BINAH this stone started to go, BUT could not find a place to exist except in the Land of Yisrael. Water, WHICH IS THE SECRET OF THE SIX EXTREMITIES OF BINAH, was following THE STONE until that stone reached under the altar. There it sank, and the whole world was maintained from this.
472. If it is so that life dwells in that place, why wasn't the Temple built there to give life to the people who live there? HE ANSWERS, Here in this place, it exists because of one letter that dwells upon it, WHICH IS THE TET but in the Temple, all the letters dwell, and THE TEMPLE was created through them alone, equal to the whole world. JUST AS THE WHOLE WORLD WAS CREATED WITH ALL THE LETTERS, WITH EVERY LETTER HAVING A PARTICULAR PLACE, SO WAS THE TEMPLE INDIVIDUALLY CREATED WITH ALL THE LETTERS BY ITSELF.
473. Also, the Holy Land gives life and atonement to its inhabitants in that world, but that place is not so, for it gives life to that place only in this world and not in the World to Come. The Temple is the opposite of that place, because the children of Yisrael have a portion in that world but not in this world. Therefore, the Temple exists to atone for sins and to merit Yisrael for the World to Come.
474. Come and see, The letter Tet is universally the illumination of life, FOR IT IS YESOD OF BINAH. Therefore, the passage opens, "That it was good (Heb. tov, with Tet)," as it is written, "And Elohim saw the light, that it was good" (Beresheet 1:4). The Destroying Angel flees from this letter AND THE ZOHAR REPEATS AND SAYS, Do not say that he flees, but rather he was not given permission to enter there.
475. This letter is different from the letter Kof. The letter Kof does not settle at all in any place in the world. You may derive it from, "Let not a slanderous man be established in the earth" (Tehilim 140:12). The letter Tet can settle everywhere and is able to settle properly. Wherever the letter Tet is, there is no place for the letter Kof to settle there. Therefore the Other Side does not dominate at all in this place, FOR HE IS THE ANGEL OF DEATH, and the Tet gives life of this world to those who dwell under this letter and do not go outside. Once he goes outside, the Other Side has permission to have power over him, and as this letter dominates in this place TO GIVE LIFE THERE, so does a different letter dominate in the place of Gehenom. Which one is it? It is the letter Kof.