Upper Righteous and lower Righteous

132. Come and behold, Leah gave birth to six sons and one daughter, and so it should be, because six directions are established upon her, THAT IS JACOB, WHO IS TIFERET, INCLUDING CHESED, GVURAH, TIFERET, NETZACH, HOD AND YESOD. These six and the one daughter came out according to a supernal mystery. THE SIX SONS CORRESPOND TO THE SIX EXTREMITIES, CHESED, GVURAH, TIFERET, NETZACH, HOD AND YESOD OF JACOB, AND THE ONE DAUGHTER CORRESPONDS TO MALCHUT.

133. Rachel bore two righteous sons, and so it should be, BECAUSE RACHEL is THE SECRET OF the Sabbatical year that sits forever between two righteous ones, as it is written, "The righteous shall inherit the land" (Tehilim 37:29). These are the righteous above IN ZEIR ANPIN, and the righteous below IN THE NUKVA. From the righteous above, the supernal waters are drawn, THE SECRET OF DIRECT LIGHT FROM ABOVE DOWNWARD, and from the righteous below, the Nukva wells up water to the male (THE SECRET OF REFLECTED LIGHT FROM BELOW UPWARD) in complete passion. AND SO IT COMES TO PASS THAT SHE HAS the righteous ones on both sides. As the supernal male, ZEIR ANPIN is situated between two females, BINAH AND NUKVA, so the lower female - MEANING THE NUKVA OF THE CHEST AND BELOW ZEIR ANPIN - is situated between two righteous ones, JOSEPH AND BENJAMIN.

134. Therefore Joseph and Benjamin are both righteous. Joseph merited to be the righteous one above, IN ZEIR ANPIN, because he kept the sign of the Covenant. Benjamin is the righteous one below, IN THE NUKVA HERSELF, so that the Sabbatical year, THE NUKVA, shall be adorned between the two righteous ones, Joseph and Benjamin.

135. HE ASKS, Was Benjamin righteous? AND HE ANSWERS, Yes, because never in his life did he transgress in regard to the sign of the Covenant, although he was not tried by deeds as was Joseph. HE ASKS, If this be so, why is he called 'Righteous' IF HE WAS NEVER CONFRONTED BY TEMPTATION? THERE ARE MANY WHO KEEP THE COVENANT ALL THEIR LIVES, BUT THEY ARE NOT CALLED 'RIGHTEOUS' UNLESS THEY ARE TRIED. HE ANSWERS, All the days Jacob was in mourning for Joseph, he did not perform his marital duty. FOR THAT, HE DESERVED TO BE CALLED 'RIGHTEOUS.' You may say that, when Joseph was taken from Jacob, Benjamin was a mere child and not married. HE ANSWERS, Even when he married later, he did not want to perform his marital duty.

136. HE INSISTED AGAIN, YET we learned that when Joseph asked Benjamin "Have you a wife?," he answered, "Yes." He asked him, "Have you sons?" He replied, "Yes." He then asked him, "What are their names?" He replied, "They are named after my brothers, Gera and Na'aman..." as it is written, "And the sons of Benjamin were Bela and Becher..." (Beresheet 46:21). But you say he did not have conjugal intercourse.

137. He replied, I do say that. At that time, he did not yet have sons. HE THUS DISAGREES WITH THAT AGGADAH. And if you say IT IS EXPLICIT FROM THE VERSE, "And the sons of Benjamin were Bela and Becher," when they came to Egypt, this is surely so, FOR HE ALREADY HAD SONS. Yet as long as Jacob mourned for Joseph, Benjamin did not perform his marital duty or beget any children. Benjamin said, My brother Joseph was the sign of the Covenant of my Father, AS JACOB IS TIFERET, WHICH INCLUDES CHESED, GVURAH, TIFERET, NETZACH, HOD AND YESOD, AND JOSEPH IS YESOD OF JACOB, because the Covenant, YESOD, is the final part of the body, TIFERET. Because he is lost, I will guard my brother's place, THAT IS, I WILL BE THE ASPECT OF THE RIGHTEOUS YESOD, THE ENDING OF TIFERET, LIKE JOSEPH.

138. You may say that when Joseph was lost, he was not yet righteous, because one cannot be righteous before one is tried, AND AT THAT TIME HE WAS NOT YET TEMPTED. HE ANSWERS, Everybody knew it from Jacob, who knew that Joseph would inherit this place, MEANING THAT HE KNEW FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT THAT HE WOULD BE TRIED BY THE WIFE OF POTIPHAR AND WOULD MERIT TO BE CALLED 'RIGHTEOUS.' Therefore, he stopped a long time at the house of Laban AND DID NOT RETURN HOME before the body was perfected. And the final part of the body is the Covenant, NAMELY, JOSEPH. Therefore it is written, "And it came to pass, when Rachel had given birth to Joseph, THAT JACOB SAID TO LABAN, SEND ME AWAY..." (Beresheet 30:25). He said, Now THAT JOSEPH, YESOD, IS BORN, surely the body, TIFERET, is perfected. Because the body is perfected, I desire to go "TO MY OWN PLACE, AND TO MY COUNTRY," AS JACOB KNEW FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT THAT JOSEPH IS OF THE ASPECT OF YESOD, AND FROM HIM EVERYONE ELSE KNEW AS WELL. Therefore, Benjamin knew and guarded his brother's way, THAT IS, HE BECAME THE RIGHTEOUS, YESOD, FOR HIS FATHER, INSTEAD JOSEPH, AFTER HE WAS LOST.

139. When he came to Joseph, and he was found, NAMELY MADE HIMSELF KNOWN TO HIS BROTHERS, Benjamin returned home and performed his marital duty and begot children. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, made him Righteous below IN THE NUKVA, as Joseph was Righteous above IN ZEIR ANPIN. Thus did Rachel bear two sons, and Leah six sons and a daughter.

140. Therefore, the first seven years were undisclosed, because Jacob did not know THEY WERE FOR LEAH, as they stem from the Jubilee year, WHICH IS BINAH, THE SECRET OF THE HIDDEN WORLD. And the SEVEN YEARS of the Sabbatical year, THE DISCLOSED WORLD, were revealed, AS HE KNEW HE WAS SERVING FOR RACHEL. Because of the Sabbatical year, the Disclosed WORLD, he ACTUALLY served for the Jubilee year, the Hidden WORLD. THAT IS, HE THOUGHT HE SERVED FOR RACHEL, THE SECRET OF THE SABBATICAL YEAR, BUT ACTUALLY HE SERVED FOR LEAH, THE SECRET OF THE JUBILEE YEAR, as it is written, "And Jacob served seven years for Rachel." He served seven undisclosed years - NAMELY, FROM THE ASPECT OF THE HIDDEN WORLD, LEAH - for Rachel, and served the supernal seven years, THE SEVEN SFIROT OF LEAH, and so became attached through them to the two worlds. WHILE HE THOUGHT HE SERVED FOR THE DISCLOSED WORLD, HE WAS SERVING FOR THE HIDDEN WORLD. From this we learn that from the disclosed, a man reaches that which is hidden.

141. You may say that he served the first seven years for the Jubilee, WHICH IS LEAH. Yet, it is written of the Jubilee, "seven times seven years" (Vayikra 25:8). There are seven years, AS IT IS WRITTEN, "AND HE SERVED SEVEN YEARS," BUT what happened to seven times SEVEN? DID HE HAVE TO WORK 49 YEARS, THE NUMBER OF THE YEARS OF THE JUBILEE? HE ANSWERS, These are the seven days he kept at the feast of Leah, AS IT IS WRITTEN, "AND FULFILLED HER WEEK" (BERESHEET 29:28) - which amounts TO 49, because each day represents one SEVEN, as it is written, "Seven times a day I praise You because of Your righteous Judgments" (Tehilim 119:164). THUS, there are seven in each day called one, seven times seven AMOUNTS TO 49, THE NUMBER OF THE YEARS OF THE JUBILEE.

142. In regards to Rachel it was not so, for he did not keep the seven days OF HER FEAST, but seven years only after HER MARRIAGE. You may say, if this be so, he should have served first the years of the Sabbatical year and then joined the Sabbatical year, RACHEL. FOR HE HAD TO DRAW FIRST THE SFIROT FOR HER, AS HE DID FOR THE JUBILEE YEAR, LEAH. HE ANSWERS THAT because he was intent upon serving, it was considered as if he already did serve, AND IMMEDIATELY THE SEVEN SFIROT FOR RACHEL WERE DRAWN TO HIM. Rabbi Aba came to him and kissed him. He said, Blessed be the Merciful One, that I merited an understanding of this verse. It is written of this place - FROM THE CHEST OF ZEIR ANPIN DOWNWARDS, NAMELY THE DISCLOSED WORLD, RACHEL - "Hashem was well pleased for his Righteousness' sake, to magnify Torah, and to make it glorious" (Yeshayah 42:21).