740. Come and see, There are three souls which pertain to certain supernal grades. The three are really four. The first is a supernal soul, which cannot be perceived by the higher treasurer, much less by the lower one. It is the soul of all the souls, hidden and never revealed to be known. All stem from it.
741. It is wrapped in a garment made of the splendor of the Carmel, which drips pearls, all linked as one like the limbs of the body. The supernal soul enters them, and displays through them its works, AS THE BODY REVEALS THE WORKS OF THE SOUL. It and they are one with nothing to divide them. This is the supernal soul, the most hidden.
742. Another soul is the Nukva, which hides among Her armies; She is their soul and receives a body from them. SHE IS CLOTHED IN THEM AS A SOUL WITHIN A BODY, so as to display through them Her handiwork to all the world, just as the body is a vessel which executes Her works through it. They are ATTACHED AND UNITED TO EACH OTHER, like the hidden ones above are attached.
743. Another soul is the souls of the righteous below. The souls of the righteous come from the supernal souls, the soul of the female and the soul of the male, ZEIR ANPIN. For this reason, the souls of the righteous are higher than all the armies and legions of angels above, SINCE ANGELS COME FROM THE OUTER PART OF THE NUKVA, BUT THE SOULS COME FROM THE INNER PART OF THE NUKVA AND ZEIR ANPIN, NAMELY FROM THEIR SOULS.
744. HE ASKS, You may say that if the souls are elevated on two sides, OF ZEIR ANPIN AND THE NUKVA, AND COME FROM THEIR INWARDNESS, why then do they descend into this world, and why leave it? HE ANSWERS, THIS IS LIKE a king who begot a son. He sent him to be raised in a village until it was time for him to be taught the ways of the palace. When the King heard his son is grown up, out of love for him, he sent the Matron his mother to fetch him. She brought him to the palace, where he rejoiced with HIS SON every day.
745. The Holy One, blessed be He, also begot a son by the Matron. Who is he? The supernal Holy Soul, THE DESCENDANTS OF ZEIR ANPIN AND NUKVA. He sent him to the village, NAMELY to this world, to be raised and be brought up in the ways of the King's palace. When the King saw that His son was grown up in this village, and that it was time to bring him to the palace, what did he do? Out of love for his son, he sent the Matron, who fetched him to His palace. The soul never leaves this world until the Matron comes for it, and brings it to the King's palace where it remains forever.
746. Yet it is the way of the world that the inhabitants of the village weep when the King's son parts from them. There was a wise man there, who said, Wherefore are you crying, is he not a king's son? It is not meet that he shall dwell among you any longer, but in his father's palace. Moses too, who was wise, saw the inhabitants of the village crying, and said to them, "You are the children of Hashem your Elohim: you shall not gash yourselves" (Devarim 14:1).
747. Come and see, if all the righteous knew that, they would be glad when the day comes for them to depart from this world. For is it not a high honor that the Matron comes for them to escort them into the King's palace, and that the King will daily rejoice in them? For the Holy One, blessed be He, amuses Himself only with the souls of the righteous.
748. Come and see, the love of the Congregation of Yisrael, THE NUKVA, for the Holy One, blessed be He, ZEIR ANPIN, is stirred by the souls of the righteous below. Since they come from the side of the King, ZEIR ANPIN, the side of the male, the female is aroused from the side of the male, and love is stirred. Thus the male incites affection and love within the female and she is united in love with the male. THIS SETTLES THE QUESTION, THAT IT IS NOT PROPER FOR THE FEMALE TO COURT THE MALE. NOW IT IS EXPLAINED, THAT THE SOULS OF THE RIGHTEOUS, WHO ARE MALE, INCITE IN HER THIS LOVE TO ZEIR ANPIN.
749. In the same manner, the desire of the female to pour forth lower waters towards the upper waters is aroused solely by the souls of the righteous. Happy are the righteous in this world and in the World to Come, for they support the upper and lower. Therefore it just says, "The righteous is the foundation of the world" (Mishlei 10:25), WHICH MAY MEAN EITHER THE SUPERNAL RIGHTEOUS, YESOD OF ZEIR ANPIN, OR THE SOULS OF THE RIGHTEOUS. BOTH MEANINGS ARE TRUE.