146. "And Elohim said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, AND LET IT DIVIDE WATER FROM WATER" (Beresheet 1:6). Rabbi Yehuda said, Were it not for that firmament that divided between the upper and lower waters, THE SECRET OF RIGHT AND LEFT, BETWEEN WHICH THERE IS CONTROVERSY, controversy would have come to the world from them. But this firmament, THE SECRET OF THE CENTRAL COLUMN, made peace between them and the world is established on peace alone. Come and see, the Holy One, blessed be He, is called peace. He is peace and His Name is peace. Thus, everything is connected to peace. Rabbi Aba said, I see, that the Supernal Name is wholly of peace, NAMELY IN ALL ITS GRADES, and it is all one. Its ways separate into this side and that side, NAMELY RIGHT AND LEFT.
147. The Yud of the Holy Name is connected with three ties. Hence Yud has an upper tip, a lower tip and a middle one. Therefore, these three links evolve into a chain as follows: The upper tip is the supernal crown, higher than all the high beings, the beginning of every beginning, which stands above everything.
148. The tip in the middle OF THE YUD is another beginning, for there are three tops TO THE YUD, each a top in itself. Thus, the tip in the middle is another beginning that comes from the upper tip. It is the beginning of all beginnings, through which the Holy Name is built. This head is more concealed than everything. IT IS CALLED CHOCHMAH, THAT EMANATES FROM THE FIRST TOP, THE SUPERNAL KETER.
149. THE LOWER TIP, WHICH IS another lower top OF THE YUD, is BINAH, the head, which waters the Garden - MALCHUT - a source of water by which all plants are watered, BECAUSE ALL THE MOCHIN OF MALE AND FEMALE AND BRIYAH, YETZIRAH AND ASIYAH FLOW FROM BINAH. This is the secret of the Yud of three knots - KETER, CHOCHMAH AND BINAH - which is therefore called a chain, for it is like a chain OF THREE RINGS connected to each other. And all is one.
150. We have learned from the book of Enoch that when he was shown the wisdom of high mysteries and saw the tree in the Garden of Eden, ZEIR ANPIN, THE TREE OF LIFE IN THE GARDEN, he was shown wisdom. NAMELY, THE LOWER CHOCHMAH, KNOWN AS MALCHUT, by a high mystery, UNITED WITH ZEIR ANPIN, WHICH IS ABOVE HER. And he saw that all the worlds are interconnected. He asked them: Upon what are they established? They said to him that they all are established on Yud, NAMELY CHOCHMAH, from which they were established and evolved, as written, "In wisdom have You made them all" (Tehilim 104:24). He saw that they all trembled for fear of their Master, and that they were named after Him.
151. In his book, King Solomon said that the Yud expands through a chain of three rings that are part of the knots of its body. One is feared by all, NAMELY KETER, BEFORE WHICH ALL TREMBLE WITH FEAR; another is a concealed path, CONCEALED CHOCHMAH, and another is a deep river, BINAH.
152. Afterwards, he explained in detail about the letters OF THE NAME YUD HEI VAV HEI. The house completely built is Yud Vav Dalet, Hei Aleph; NAMELY, IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE SECRET OF THE WORDS "THROUGH WISDOM A HOUSE IS BUILT" (MISHLEI 24:3). It builds everything. HE EXPLAINS: The perfection of the Holy Name is Yud, THE Yud being the beginning of all, it fathers all, NAMELY CHOCHMAH. The Vav OF THE YUD FULLY SPELLED is the son it begot and issued, NAMELY ZEIR ANPIN, from whence comes the Dalet OF THE YUD FULLY SPELLED, which is a daughter, and the Matron, NAMELY MALCHUT, who is in charge of all Judgments, WHO ARE MALE AND FEMALE OF CHOCHMAH. They are hidden throughout the worlds, for the upper beings, MALE AND FEMALE OF ATZILUT, issue from it and sustain the upper and lower beings together. THESE MALE AND FEMALE OF CHOCHMAH, ARE THE SECRET OF YISRAEL- SABA AND TEVUNAH, NAMELY BINAH, FROM WHICH ALL THE WORLDS ISSUE AND ARE SUSTAINED, BOTH THE HIGHER, WHICH ARE MALE AND FEMALE OF ATZILUT, AND THE LOWER, WHICH ARE THE THREE WORLDS OF BRIYAH, YETZIRAH AND ASIYAH. Thus is Yud the perfection of everything, and the Holy Name YUD HEI VAV HEI is built by it and hidden within it.
153. Afterwards, the Yud let out everything and chained everything in one connection to each other. Thus, the Holy Luminary has explained it. The Yud, CHOCHMAH, produced from it a river, BINAH, AS MALE AND FEMALE OF CHOCHMAH BECAME BINAH, of which it is written, "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden" (Beresheet 2:10). This is the FIRST Hei OF YUD HEI VAV HEI, AS VAV-DALET OF THE YUD FULLY SPELLED, THE SECRET OF MALE AND FEMALE OF CHOCHMAH WERE FORMED INTO HEI, WHICH IS THE IMAGE OF DALET OVER VAV, the secret of Binah. It is the supernal Ima , NAMELY YISRAEL-SABA AND TEVUNAH.
154. That river, BINAH, produced two children, as we learned, ZEIR ANPIN AND MALCHUT, who are nourished by her. Later, the two children, ZEIR ANPIN AND MALCHUT, come out and the daughter is sustained by the son, Vav. This son is the King that all peace is His, the secret of Tiferet, NAMELY ZEIR ANPIN. Then comes Hei, NAMELY THE DAUGHTER MALCHUT, that is nourished by the Vav, as we already explained. Thus, the Yud is the essence and root and perfection of everything, as written, "Through wisdom a house is built" (Mishlei 24:3).