485. Rabbi Shimon and his son Rabbi Elazar were sitting one night and studying the Torah. Rabbi Elazar said to Rabbi Shimon his father, it is written: "To the woman He said, I will greatly multiply the pain of your childbearing. In sorrow you shall bring forth children; and yet your desire shall be to your husband..." (Beresheet 3:16). We learned that this high secret, TAHT IS, WHICH APPLIES ALSO TO MALCHUT ABOVE, IS true below FOR THE PHYSICAL WOMAN. But if this is the reflection of above, TO WIT, THE SUPERNAL WOMAN, MALCHUT, WAS TOLD "IN SORROW YOU SHALL BRING FORTH CHILDREN," what then is the meaning of all this?

486. Rabbi Shimon opened the discussion and said, "as the hart longs for the water brooks" (Tehilim 42:2). This verse was already explained, yet there is a living creature in the world, WHICH IS MALCHUT; it has in its charge a thousand keys every day, NAMELY, THE ILLUMINATION OF CHOCHMAH CALLED THOUSAND. This animal is female, and is always desirous of the water brooks, THAT IS, OF CHASSADIM OF ZEIR ANPIN, IN WHICH CHOCHMAH CLOTHES ITSELF, to drink and quench her thirst. FOR CHOCHMAH IN HER CANNOT ILLUMINATE WITHOUT CHASSADIM AND THEREFORE IT IS DARK AND ATHIRST FOR THE LIGHT OF CHASSADIM CALLED WATER, as is written: "as the hart longs for the water brooks."

487. Here we should look closely. In the beginning it is written 'hart', WHICH IS MASCULINE, and not THE FEMININE 'doe'. Later it is written 'longs' IN THE FEMININE FORM. The secret thereof is that male and female are together and must not be separated, nor mentioned the one without the other, only together. The female longs for the water brooks, conceives from the male, and is in labor because he is under judgment.

488. When she gives birth, the Holy One, blessed be He, prepares for her a big supernal serpent. It bites that place and she delivers. This is the meaning of "I will greatly multiply the pain of your childbearing" (Beresheet 3:16), because she shudders daily, and is saddened by the deeds of the world. "In sorrow you shall bring forth children" (Ibid.): this sorrow is the secret of the serpent which saddens the face of the people, FOR IT BROUGHT DEATH TO THEM BY THE TEMPTATION OF THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL, AND SHE NEEDS HIM TO OPEN THE OPENING SO SHE CAN DELIVER.

489. "And yet your desire shall be to your husband" (Ibid.) is connected to "longs for the water brooks" (Tehilim 42:2). SHE IS DESIROUS OF ZEIR ANPIN THAT WILL FILL HER WITH ABUNDANCE OF CHASSADIM SO SHE WILL QUENCH HER THIRST. "and he shall rule over you" (Beresheet 3:16) refers to the meaning that he, ZEIR ANPIN, rules over her, MALCHUT. And all this is BECAUSE IN THE BEGINNING SHE WAS AS BIG AS ZEIR ANPIN, AND HE DID NOT RULE OVER HER, and since the moon said, as we learned, THAT SHE IS MALCHUT, WHO SAID THAT IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR TWO KINGS TO RULE UNDER ONE CROWN, SHE WAS TOLD TO DIMINISH HERSELF. For that reason she diminished her light, and her rule, and has no power of her own but what power ZEIR ANPIN gives her. AND SO HE RULES OVER HER, AS IS SAID, "AND HE SHALL RULE OVER YOU."

490. "In sorrow you shall bring forth children" is explained THAT SORROW IS THE INNER MEANING OF THE SERPENT. And if you say, why do we need this serpent. HE ANSWERS: he opened a way through which the souls descend into the world, and but for that opening through which the souls can descend, no SOULS would dwell inside man. It is written: "sin crouches at the door" (Beresheet 4:7). What is this door? It is the door OF MALCHUT, which purpose is to give birth, to deliver souls into the world. He, THE SERPENT, stands at the door.

491. But all the souls that descend into holy bodies, NAMELY, THE SOULS DRAWN FROM THE RIGHT COLUMN, THE SERPENT is not present at the entrance. FOR THEN MALCHUT IS NOT OBLIGED TO DRAW CHOCHMAH FROM THE POWER OF THE LEFT COLUMN. HER GATES ARE NOT CLOSED SO THERE IS NO NEED FOR THE SERPENT TO OPEN THEM. The serpent has no dominion over that soul. Otherwise, the serpent bites, and that place is defiled, and such soul does not remain pure. OF THESE IT IS WRITTEN: "In sorrow you shall bring forth children," and the secret thereof is the serpent, with whom she bears souls, THAT IS, HE OPENS THE DOOR, AS WAS SAID. For the one, THE SERPENT, rules over the body, THE BODY BEING BORN OF THE DEFILEMENT OF THE SERPENT, and the other, MALCHUT, rules over the soul, AS SOULS ISSUE FORM HER. Both ARE CLOTHED with each other, one attached to the soul and one to the body.

492. The serpent is destined to deliver all those bodies before his time is due. This is the meaning of the verse "before she travailed, she brought forth" (Yeshayah 66:7). Because though the serpent gives birth after seven years, here he bears after six years, that is, before his time. And when he bears at that time, he dies at delivery, as is written: "He will destroy death forever" (Yeshayah 25:8), and "The dead men of your people shall live, my dead body shall arise" (Yeshayah 26:19).