78. "Hear (Sh'ma), O Yisrael, Hashem our Elohim, Hashem is one" (Devarim 6:4) is one meditation (lit. 'unification'), and 'Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever' is another meditation, so that His Name, WHICH IS MALCHUT CALLED NAME, should be of the same secret. According to this secret of "Hashem, He is the Elohim" (I Melachim 18:39), YUD HEI VAV HEI, WHICH IS ZEIR ANPIN, IS MALCHUT CALLED ELOHIM. This is written WHEN ZEIR ANPIN AND MALCHUT are unified together. HENCE, "SH'MA YISRAEL" IS THE SECRET OF YUD HEI VAV HEI, AND, 'BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE GLORY OF HIS KINGDOM FOREVER AND EVER' IS THE ELOHIM.
79. You may say that in that case THE MEDITATION OF SH'MA AND 'BLESSED BE...' resembles the verse, "Hashem shall be one, and His name One" (Zecharyah 14:9), which is not equal to, "Hashem, He is the Elohim." For had it been written, 'Hashem and His name shall be one' we would say so THAT IT EQUALS, "HASHEM, HE IS THE ELOHIM," BUT it is not written so but, "Hashem shall be one, and His name One." IN THAT CASE it should have said thus: 'Hashem is, the Elohim is,' and it would equal, "Hashem shall be one, and His name One." BUT SINCE IT IS NOT WRITTEN SO, BUT, "HASHEM, HE IS THE ELOHIM" IT IS NOT SIMILAR TO, "HASHEM SHALL BE ONE, AND HIS NAME ONE." HOW CAN WE CLAIM THAT THE MEDITATION OF "SH'MA" AND 'BLESSED BE...,' WHICH ARE TWO MEDITATIONS, LIKE "HASHEM SHALL BE ONE, AND HIS NAME ONE," IS EQUAL TO, "HASHEM, HE IS THE ELOHIM"?
80. HE ANSWERS, Everything is one; THE MEDITATION OF "SH'MA" AND 'BLESSED BE...,' THE SECRET OF "HASHEM SHALL BE ONE" IN "SH'MA" AND "HIS NAME ONE" IN 'BLESSED BE...' ARE ONE WITH "HASHEM, HE IS THE ELOHIM." For when these two names are unified - YUD HEI VAV HEI, WHICH IS ZEIR ANPIN, TOGETHER WITH ELOHIM, WHICH IS MALCHUT, the one by one meditation, WITH THE MEDITATION OF "SH'MA YISRAEL," and the other by another meditation, NAMELY THE MEDITATION OF, 'BLESSED BE...,' or when the two names become one and are mutually included in each other and everything becomes one complete name, then IT IS WRITTEN, "Hashem, He is the Elohim." For then everything is included in each other to be one. But before they are unified each on its own, they cannot be mutually included to be all one, IN SUCH A WAY THAT "HASHEM SHALL BE ONE, AND HIS NAME ONE" IS NOT EQUAL TO "HASHEM, HE IS THE ELOHIM," BUT THE LATTER IS THE RESULT OF THE FORMER, AS EXPLAINED.
81. The generality of the whole Torah, NAMELY THE WRITTEN TORAH AND THE ORAL TORAH TOGETHER, is surely that way, for the Torah is the Written Torah and is the Oral Torah. The Written Torah is as it is written, "Hashem," NAMELY ZEIR ANPIN; the Oral Torah is as it is written, "the Elohim," WHICH IS MALCHUT. Since the Torah is the secret of the Holy Name it is therefore called thus, THE ONE IS CALLED YUD HEI VAV HEI AND THE OTHER THE ELOHIM.
82. The Written Torah and the Oral Torah, the one is general and the other particular. THE WRITTEN TORAH IS GENERAL, NAMELY ZEIR ANPIN, WHILE THE ORAL TORAH IS PARTICULAR, NAMELY MALCHUT. The general needs the particular and the particular needs the general. THE ONE CANNOT REACH PERFECTION WITHOUT THE OTHER UNTIL THE TWO ARE JOINED, they unite with each other and everything becomes one. Therefore the generality of the whole Torah is the generality above, ZEIR ANPIN, and the generality below, MALCHUT, since that name exists above and that name exists below. The one, THE WRITTEN TORAH, is the secret of the supernal world, ZEIR ANPIN, and the other, THE ORAL TORAH, is the secret of the lower world, MALCHUT. Hence it is written, "To you it was shown, that you might know that Hashem He is the Elohim" (Devarim 4:35), WHERE BOTH ARE ONE. This includes everything, ALL WORLDS. All that we said one should know in this world.
83. You may ask where the commandments of the Torah are in this inclusion, WHETHER "HASHEM, HE IS THE ELOHIM," INCLUDES EVERYTHING. HE ANSWERS, The one, YUD HEI VAV HEI, is 'remember,' while the other, THE ELOHIM, is 'keep.' All the commandments of the Torah are included in these in the mystery of 'remember' and the mystery of 'keep.' 'REMEMBER' INCLUDES THE 248 POSITIVE COMMANDMENTS AND 'KEEP' INCLUDES THE 365 NEGATIVE COMMANDMENTS, and everything is one.
84. Rabbi Yosi opened with, The fact that we learned that Arvit (the evening prayer) is obligatory is surely so, because the Holy One, blessed be He, is unified at night THROUGH THE THE SH'MA READING, just as He is unified during the day. The quality of night is included in day and the quality of day is included in night, and unification takes place. Whoever says it is optional, it is BECAUSE THE PRAYER WAS COMPOSED to correspond to the portions of the sacrifices and the fatty parts that are consumed AND BURNED at night, WHICH ARE NOT OBLIGATORY. FOR SHACHARIT (THE MORNING PRAYER) AND MINCHAH (THE AFTERNOON PRAYER) CORRESPOND TO THE TWO DAILY OFFERINGS, WHICH ARE OBLIGATORY, BUT THE EVENING PRAYER CORRESPONDS TO THE PORTIONS OF THE SACRIFICES, ETC., WHICH ARE OPTIONAL. We have already explained it.
85. It is written, "And you shall love (Heb. ve'ahavta) Hashem your Elohim" (Devarim 6:5). We have explained this verse, and so did the friends. But we should ask: If everything, right and left, is included in this meditation of "Sh'ma Yisrael," why it is then written, "And you shall love," WHICH IS THE RIGHT, and, "And it shall come to pass, if you hearken (Heb. vehayah im shamo'a)" (Devarim 11:13-17), WHICH IS LEFT, if they were already included in the meditation OF THE SH'MA READING? AND HE ANSWERS, There, IN THE SH'MA READING, it is part of the general, WHERE THE RIGHT AND LEFT OF DA'AT WERE COMPREHENDED INTO A GENERAL PRINCIPLE, and here it is of the particular: AT FIRST IT IS WRITTEN, "AND YOU SHALL LOVE" IN ITSELF, WHICH IS CHESED, AND THEN "AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS, IF YOU HEARKEN," WHICH IS GVURAH. And so it should be.
86. In the secret of the meditation we remarked on, the meditation OF THE SH'MA READING is like THE MEDITATION OF the head Tefilin and the hand Tefilin. In the head Tefilin there are four passages, which we have already learned, and here IN THE SH'MA READING there are three names, YUD HEI VAV HEI, OUR ELOHIM, YUD HEI VAV HEI. There, there are four passages, each on its own, and here there are only three names. What is the difference between them?