Chasidut zu Jeschijahu 43:78

The root of faith,which leads to the fear of God, is for man to wholeheartedly believe that God brought forth the entire creation ex nihilo, out of absolute non-existence.²²⁵The proper expression of faith leads one to believe in the absolutely autonomous power of God to create the world. One who lacks this faith will see only inflexible, natural laws of an eternal universe. As the author explained above, this approach will ultimately lead to idolatry, which is a fear born of deficiency; that is, the fear of losing one’s own absolute truths. He carved the laws of the universe, established all its systems, and arranged all of its orders. He meted out knowledge and wisdom to every aspect of His creation, with everything received its proper amount. He gave every creature the amount of wisdom perfectly suited to its attributes, and gave mankind the ability to know and comprehend, each person according to his own measure. All was emenated, created, formed, and made²²⁶These four terms parallel the basic concept of the Kaballah of the four worlds, atzilut, beriyah, yetsirah, and asiyah. See Yeshayahu, 43:6. out of nothing. Everything was established only in order to create the appearance of separate entities in the world, with each being acting on its own accord, based upon the consciousness that God has granted us. Still, we need to know and believe that our own human knowledge does not come close to the root of God’s knowledge. We may only contemplate that which we are permitted to know. Even the prophet’s knowledge is limited by the way God created him and the power of comprehension granted unto him. His prophecy is only according to his knowledge, as it is written (Hoshea, 12:11), “I have multiplied their visions, and I shall use images through the prophets.” This idea is found in the Tikkunei Zohar (Tikkun 19, page 40a). When God wants to draw prophecy into the world, then all of the Sefirot are included in a man, and he is called a prophet. The Sefirah of Malkhut (sovereignty) is a representation of all of the Sefirot. This is as it is written, “I shall use images through the prophets.” And as it is written (Hoshea, 12), “I have spoken to the prophets,” where Malkhut is like a mirror in which you can see all of the various faces.²²⁷The sefirah of Malkhut is the lowest in the arrangement of the sefirot. Thus, Malkhut serves as a sort of catch-basin, or mirror, that receives and reflects the potencies of the upper sefirot that descend into it. The prophet attains this consciousness, and is therefore able to receive God’s word, as it filters down through all the upper worlds and spheres. Similarly, all of the Sefirot show their power and forms to the prophet according to his ability to perceive the upper realms. In the same way it is enclothed below in the Throne of Glory, in all of the angels, the Ofanim, the holy Hayot, in all of their firmaments and thrones, and in all of the angels that are dependent on them. There are many levels of angels, one above the other, as it is written (Kohelet, 5:7), “For there is a higher one who watches over him that is high, and there are yet higher ones over them.” So too, with every Cherub and mazal (astrological force), as it is written (Tehillim, 145), “His sovereignty (Malchus) is in every dominion.” This is, “I shall use images through the prophets.” Each one sees the images (from the beyond) according to his power, which is his soul. It is said in the Midrash (Rabbah, Ta’azria, 15), “Even when Ruah haKodesh rests upon the prophets, it does so only according to a defined measure.” “To make a scale for the wind (spirit)” (Iyov, 28:25). This is all to say that the understanding of the prophets is also a force created by God and allocated to each prophet and sage according to God’s wisdom. His prophecies all follow the specific power of understanding granted at the root of his soul. All of man’s ability to understand is a force that God created and distributed to mankind.²²⁸The point here is that human wisdom – even the highest, prophetic wisdom – is a creation of God, which God emanates in accordance with the level of the prophet’s soul. That being the case, one must realize that there is something higher than all comprehension, whether knowledge is prophetic or intellectual.

According to this it is clear that all that was mentioned in the above quote in the Zohar, Parshat Pinhas – that all of the names, appellations, and attributes, were all created for the purpose of directing the creation – falls within the realm of [God’s] desire to emanate the creation and everything that that includes,²⁴¹Note that the author now applies the concept of a contingent creation not merely to some past occurrence – the Genesis story of the Bible – but to an ongoing, constantly recurring state; meaning to say, just as God originally created the world and everything in it – including human cognition – so He continually creates and renews the world, so that their continued existence is also, at every moment, contingent and mutable. but not above this. For above this, there is no garment or attribute at all. This is as it is written in the Zohar (Parshat Bo, 42a): “To whom shall you liken me, that I shall be his equal, said the Holy One.” (Yeshayahu, 40:25) All of the holy Hayot (angels) are called in the letters of the holy name. This is as it is written (Yeshayahu, 43:6), “All that is called in My name, I have created for My glory.” Everything in the creation was created with the letters of God’s name, and there is no creation that does not have God’s name inscribed in it, in order that one may know who created it. For this reason it is written, “To whom shall you liken Me, that I shall be his equal, said the Holy One.” No creature shall be My equal. Even though I created it in the form of My letters, still, I can erase its form and re-create it as many times as I want, and there is no god above Me that can erase My “form.” Here it is clear that all created beings, even the holy Hayot (angels) and all the supernal powers, even the root of their spiritual forms are only arranged and ordered in holy likenesses, and renewed according to God’s desire. It is in the power of God’s desire to change these likenesses into different forms; for according to the changing of the supernal forms, so will the order of God’s governance change, from the loftiest of heights to the lowliest of levels. This is true even for the nature order of the physical world. There the Zohar concluded (Bo, 42b): If one were to propose a difficulty by quoting the verse (Devarim, 32), “for you saw no image,”²⁴²The verse says, “you saw no image,” not the letter yud, nor the letter vav, or any other letter. How, then, could one say, “Everything in the creation was created with the letters of God’s name, and there is not creation that does not have God’s name inscribed in it”? he will give the answer, “This image I did see, for it is written (Bamidbar, 12:8), “He shall see the vision of God.” “The vision of God,” but not any other vision that He created and formed out of letters.²⁴³That is, you see only the vision of the letters of creation, but no other vision. For this reason it is written (Yeshayahu, 40:25), “To whom shall you liken me, that I shall be his equal.” To whom can God be compared? What form could you possibly ascribe to Him? Even this “form” of God that is accessed by created beings through the letters of creation does not exist in God’s own place, but comes into being when He descends to reign over his creation. Then the vision spreads over the creation, and each one sees it according to his specific ability to perceive. This is as it is written (Hoshea, 12:11), “I have used images through the prophets.” For this reason, God will say to them that even though He appears to them in a vision that they can comprehend, still, “to whom can I be compared,” because before God created any image or formed any form in the world, God was alone without any form or semblance. We have mentioned how all names and appellations of God are created entities, and that before the creation, there was no name or form from the holy forms. This is as it is written Zohar (Bo, 42b): One who receives information about the state of existence before the creation²⁴⁴Despite the limited nature of human cognition, it can receive information about states of existence prior to creation; that is, beyond cognition. However, since that information pertains to unconstricted aspects of Divinity, it is forbidden to make an formal, limited likeness, even in terms of letters, Divine names or other abstract forms. – before there was any form of God’s being that was at all discernable to mankind – is forbidden to make any formal representation of that information, not with the letter Hei nor with the letter Yud. One cannot use a holy name, or even so much as a letter or point to describe this knowledge. This is as the Torah says (Devarim, 4:15), “You did not see any form.” You did not see anything which engenders a likeness or form. However, after God made the form of the holy merkava (chariot) of the supernal man, then God descended there, and He is called in the name of the Tetragrammaton (Yud Hei Vav Hei). This is in order that God may be comprehended through His attributes,²⁴⁵Seven lower Sefirot from Chesed to Malkhut, the supernal source of emotions such as love, fear, pride, and so forth. and perceived through each of His attributes.

According to this it is clear that all that was mentioned in the above quote in the Zohar, Parshat Pinhas – that all of the names, appellations, and attributes, were all created for the purpose of directing the creation – falls within the realm of [God’s] desire to emanate the creation and everything that that includes,²⁴¹Note that the author now applies the concept of a contingent creation not merely to some past occurrence – the Genesis story of the Bible – but to an ongoing, constantly recurring state; meaning to say, just as God originally created the world and everything in it – including human cognition – so He continually creates and renews the world, so that their continued existence is also, at every moment, contingent and mutable. but not above this. For above this, there is no garment or attribute at all. This is as it is written in the Zohar (Parshat Bo, 42a): “To whom shall you liken me, that I shall be his equal, said the Holy One.” (Yeshayahu, 40:25) All of the holy Hayot (angels) are called in the letters of the holy name. This is as it is written (Yeshayahu, 43:6), “All that is called in My name, I have created for My glory.” Everything in the creation was created with the letters of God’s name, and there is no creation that does not have God’s name inscribed in it, in order that one may know who created it. For this reason it is written, “To whom shall you liken Me, that I shall be his equal, said the Holy One.” No creature shall be My equal. Even though I created it in the form of My letters, still, I can erase its form and re-create it as many times as I want, and there is no god above Me that can erase My “form.” Here it is clear that all created beings, even the holy Hayot (angels) and all the supernal powers, even the root of their spiritual forms are only arranged and ordered in holy likenesses, and renewed according to God’s desire. It is in the power of God’s desire to change these likenesses into different forms; for according to the changing of the supernal forms, so will the order of God’s governance change, from the loftiest of heights to the lowliest of levels. This is true even for the nature order of the physical world. There the Zohar concluded (Bo, 42b): If one were to propose a difficulty by quoting the verse (Devarim, 32), “for you saw no image,”²⁴²The verse says, “you saw no image,” not the letter yud, nor the letter vav, or any other letter. How, then, could one say, “Everything in the creation was created with the letters of God’s name, and there is not creation that does not have God’s name inscribed in it”? he will give the answer, “This image I did see, for it is written (Bamidbar, 12:8), “He shall see the vision of God.” “The vision of God,” but not any other vision that He created and formed out of letters.²⁴³That is, you see only the vision of the letters of creation, but no other vision. For this reason it is written (Yeshayahu, 40:25), “To whom shall you liken me, that I shall be his equal.” To whom can God be compared? What form could you possibly ascribe to Him? Even this “form” of God that is accessed by created beings through the letters of creation does not exist in God’s own place, but comes into being when He descends to reign over his creation. Then the vision spreads over the creation, and each one sees it according to his specific ability to perceive. This is as it is written (Hoshea, 12:11), “I have used images through the prophets.” For this reason, God will say to them that even though He appears to them in a vision that they can comprehend, still, “to whom can I be compared,” because before God created any image or formed any form in the world, God was alone without any form or semblance. We have mentioned how all names and appellations of God are created entities, and that before the creation, there was no name or form from the holy forms. This is as it is written Zohar (Bo, 42b): One who receives information about the state of existence before the creation²⁴⁴Despite the limited nature of human cognition, it can receive information about states of existence prior to creation; that is, beyond cognition. However, since that information pertains to unconstricted aspects of Divinity, it is forbidden to make an formal, limited likeness, even in terms of letters, Divine names or other abstract forms. – before there was any form of God’s being that was at all discernable to mankind – is forbidden to make any formal representation of that information, not with the letter Hei nor with the letter Yud. One cannot use a holy name, or even so much as a letter or point to describe this knowledge. This is as the Torah says (Devarim, 4:15), “You did not see any form.” You did not see anything which engenders a likeness or form. However, after God made the form of the holy merkava (chariot) of the supernal man, then God descended there, and He is called in the name of the Tetragrammaton (Yud Hei Vav Hei). This is in order that God may be comprehended through His attributes,²⁴⁵Seven lower Sefirot from Chesed to Malkhut, the supernal source of emotions such as love, fear, pride, and so forth. and perceived through each of His attributes.