Kommentar zu Schir haSchirim 6:5

Turn your eyes away from me. Like a young man whose betrothed is dear and pleasing to him, and her eyes are comely, and he says to her, “Turn away your eyes from me, for when I see you, my heart becomes haughty and proud, and my spirit becomes arrogant, and I cannot resist.”

Your hair is like a flock of goats. The text begins to relate the praises of the shekhinah, her hair, eyes, and brow: “Your brow behind your veil [gleams] like a pomegranate split open” [Cant. 6:6]. “Hedged around with lilies” [Cant. 7:3]: She encompasses the six cosmic boundaries and is sealed by them all. Thus the verse states “There are sixty queens …” [Cant. 6:8].¹⁶⁰“Lilies” [shoshanim] is derived from “six” [shesh]. Each of the six intermediate or “directional” sefirot, multiplied by ten for the fact that the sefirot all contain one another, gives us the “sixty queens.”

Made me haughty. They made my heart haughty, as in, “And their pride וְרָהְבָּם is toil and pain,”¹²Tehillim 90:10. [and as in,] “They are haughty רַהַב but idle,”¹³Yeshayahu 30:7. asoajier in O.F. The allegorical meaning is as follows: The Holy One, Blessed Is He, said, “In this Beis Hamikdosh, it is impossible to restore to you the Ark, the Ark cover, and the cherubim, which excessively endeared you to Me in the first Beis Hamikdosh, to show you great affection, until you betrayed Me.”

[Here begins an excursus on Ps. 104. The commentary on the Song of Songs resumes on p. 129 below.]
I have decided at this point to relate the tale of creation in order to apprize you of the truth concerning this verse: “There are sixty queens.” And I will expound: “O Lord my God, you are very great; You are clothed with glory and majesty” [Ps. 104], which propounds the entire issue of creation from its beginning until its end. This is the gist of the psalm.

Your hair is like a flock of goats. The young, tender, and insignificant ones among you, are praiseworthy.

[Ps. 104:2]: “You … are wrapped in a robe of light” corresponds to the light created on the first day of creation. That is, the emanation of that light from Nothing.

[Ps. 104:3]: “He sets His rafters in the waters” corresponds to the command “Let there be a firmament” created on the second day to “separate water from water” [Gen. 1:6]. The verse from Psalms clarifies that that separation encompassed many matters.¹⁶¹I.e., water is separated from cloud and wind, the entire verse reading: “He sets the rafters of His lofts in the waters, makes the clouds His chariot, moves on the wings of the wind.”

[Ps. 104:5]: “He established the earth on its foundations so that it shall never totter” parallels “Let the waters be gathered into one place and let dry land appear” [Gen. 1:9] and designates the length of time established for its existence.

[Ps. 104:14]: “You make the grass grow for the cattle” parallels “Let the earth bring forth herbs …” [Gen. 1:11].

[Ps. 104:19]: “He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows when to set” corresponds to the command “Let there be luminaries …” [Gen. 1:14].

[Ps. 104:22–3]: “When the sun rises [the lions] come home and couch in their dens. Man then goes out to his work, to his labor until the evening” corresponds to “God made the two great luminaries” [Gen. 1:16].

[Ps. 104:25]: “There is the sea vast and wide, with its creatures without number” corresponds to “Let the waters teem with living creatures” [Gen. 1:20].

[Ps. 104:31]: Paralleling the sixth day, on which it is said: “And God created the human being” [Gen. 1:27], it states: “May the glory of God endure forever.”

[Ps. 104:32]: Corresponding to the seventh day of creation which points towards the seventh millennium when the world will be annihilated, it states: “He gazes upon the earth and it trembles.”

[Ps. 104:33]: The joy experienced by the souls of the righteous during that time finds its intimation in “I will sing to the Lord with all my life force.”

[Ps. 104:35]: Allusion to the nullification of the evil inclination during that period appears in “Sinners will disappear from the earth and the wicked will be no more.”

I will now proceed to explicate this psalm as well as expound upon the narrative of creation. And the enlightened will understand.
[Ps. 104:1] “O Lord my God, You are very great”: The psalm alludes to the illumination of Wisdom, extending in every direction. From that flow, each Cause and attribute nurses like an infant.

“Enclothed in glory and majesty”: So is Wisdom bounded. Never will we find Her in Your absence. Thus it was prior to the world’s creation, when the Holy One was alone in His world, when the primal existences [havayot] were still deeply hidden within Wisdom.

The text then explicates the manner of the creation of the two worlds, above and below.
[Ps. 104:2]: “Wrapped in a robe of light; You spread the heavens like a tent cloth”: This denotes the invocation of Wisdom’s emanation enveloping the entirety of being. “Enwrapment” means that it receives illumination from that flow. Its amplification sparked a light which was among the ten entities emanated upon that first day, all as one, without differentiation. These are: heaven and earth; primeval chaos—formless and void, darkness and light, water and wind, the quality of day and the quality of night.¹⁶²The author is linking the ten sefirot of the upper world to these ten attributes which, according to the Talmud [Ḥagigah 12a], underlay the creation of this world. They are heaven, earth, formlessness, void, darkness, light, water, wind, day, and night. This is one of several such lists of primordial entities to be found in rabbinic sources.
And thus [Gen. 1:2 states]: “The world was chaotic, empty”: Chaos is an entity lacking all form; but primal Emptiness enclothed that chaos, until it traced a tracing finer than spirit. “Darkness was upon the face of the deep”: The depth of the supernal heights, the depth below.¹⁶³The depth above: omek rom = keter; omek tahat = malkhut. See the Commentary of R. Azriel to Sefer Yetzirah 1:5. “And the spirit of God hovered over the waters”: The Messiah’s spirit, the spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, hovered over the waters, covering all. This is all that was emanated upon that first day.
The essence of all things was emanated upon the first day, just as our Sages taught concerning the primordial human: “In the first hour of the day the dust from which he was created was gathered together.”¹⁶⁴b. Sanhedrin 38b. When Scripture states: “Let there be light” [Gen. 1:3] its meaning is that Divinity enwrapped Itself in that light as we have explained, meaning that through the amplification of that luminescence, the light entered into a state of actualization.
In this first passage we find the word “light” five times, just as the phrase “it was good” appears five times. In the second passage the term “water” is repeated five times. Five were the drops of water, five were the drops of light in their midst. These were the five voices uttered at Torah’s revelation.¹⁶⁵See comments to Canticles 1:8. It is for this reason that Scripture states, “it was good,” for the light was kindled candle from candle, granting the primal essences the power to expand and flow forth.
“God separated the light from the darkness” [Gen. 1:4]: God set a boundary to the effluence and expansion of each and every one. This is the intent of “Let there be light and there was light” [Gen. 1:3], meaning “the speculum that shines.” “And there was darkness” [Gen. 1:2]: “the speculum that does not shine.”
Concerning both of them it said: “It was good.” This is the meaning of: “God called the light day, the darkness He called night” [Gen. 1:5]. He drew forth the effluence of the attribute of Day to daytime, the attribute of Night to nighttime. “And there was one day” [Gen. 1:5] all remained unified, in all of this the primal essence came to manifestation. Another interpretation: “There was evening”: the speculum that does not shine. “There was morning”: the speculum which does shine. “One day”: unique and unified in His names.

[Ps. 104:3]: “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters” [Gen. 1:6] parallels: “Who lays the beams of Your Upper chambers in the waters.”
“Let there be a firmament”: let the firmament expand into the midst of the waters, like the expansion of the soul into form. On the second day, God created the boundaries of space. For this reason, Scripture did not state “it was good” on the second day. For the work of the divine attribute of goodness remained incomplete. Such is the meaning of: “Let the firmament divide the waters from the waters.” The basic act of separation is this division into two: the upper waters and the lower waters. The upper waters are allegorically designated as male: the lower waters as female. This division works out in multifarious details. Consequently, Scripture states: “He builds His upper chambers in the heaven” [Amos 9:6]. For they are constructed as rungs upon rungs, as it is written: “For one higher above the higher, watches” [Eccles. 5:7]. All of these entities are traced, one within the other, each encompassing the other. Thus half of the waters are on high, half are below. So it is said: “Just as the shekhinah is above, is the shekhinah below.”¹⁶⁶This quotation is not found in the extant rabbinic sources.
Corresponding to this matter there are eighteen thousand worlds.¹⁶⁷b. Avodah Zarah 3b. As David the King states: “God’s chariots are myriads, even thousands upon thousands” [Ps. 68:18]. Having stipulated that God’s chariots are myriads, that is twenty thousand worlds, corresponding to ten sefirot above and ten below, he subtracts two thousand from their number, for they are the nought. All of the above is true. The worlds number twenty thousand. But two thousand are not included in the count, for they are Nought. Each and every world consists of a thousand generations. There are consequently eighteen thousand worlds. The primal essences originate in the mystery of Wisdom and its Cause. For this reason, it is fitting that the phrase “God said” appears but nine times in the narrative of Creation. The tenth is an allusion to the Nought. It appears in the phrase “In the beginning.” It is proper that it not be enunciated.
“Who makes the clouds His riding-mount”: The total of divisions wrought in the upper waters is seventy, excepting that at the center, which makes them seventy-one. Facing them are the lower waters, stamped in their image yet considered but one, leading to a total of seventy-two. This is the meaning of “clouds,”¹⁶⁸“Cloud [‘av] is numerically 72. as in “Behold the Lord rides upon a light cloud” [Isa. 19:1] or “Behold I come unto you in a dense cloud” [Exod. 19:9].
The seventy divisions are the five “voices” divided into seven directions, excepting the central one that gives stability to them all and is not one of them. Actually there are six directions, each of them multiplied by ten. That is why “it was good” is said six times in the chapter on creation. This too is why Scripture speaks of “sixty queens” [Cant. 6:1] and “sixty warriors surround it” [Cant. 3:7]. All of this refers to a single matter, as we are to explain. Counting the seventh [central] direction also as ten, they make up seventy. Adding the innermost spiritual direction they are seventy-one. This is the totality of distinctions made on the second day.
Each setting of limits is in fact a division of space. Thus it says of man’s creation that in the second hour He “limited” him. This is like a person who is building up a ruined place; he needs to trace out where he will put the upper stories and the chambers. The building is completed by means of these divisions. That is why division exists.
“He walks upon the wings of the winds”: The blessed Holy One is revealed in and is raised up through the world. His footsteps are known through those attributes, just as the soul’s action is revealed through the body. This is the meaning of “God called the firmament heaven” [Gen. 1:5]. All the names are included in the word “heaven.” Thus Scripture says: “And you hear, O heaven” [II Chron. 6:27], “the Lord, God of heaven” [Neh. 1:8], “He who rides in heaven” [Deut. 33:26].

[Ps. 104:4]: “He makes the winds His messengers”: This alludes to the fact that the angels were created on the second day. These are His hosts on whose account He is designated the “God of hosts.” For they are neither replaced nor annihilated as are the other angels created on the fifth day, as we shall explain.

[Ps. 104:10]: “You make springs gush forth in torrents, they make their way between the hills” corresponds to “Let the water below the sky be gathered into one area, so that dry land may appear” [Gen. 1:9].¹⁶⁹The gathering of the waters and the appearance of dry land occurs on the third day of creation. This is the preparation of the channels leading into the sea of Wisdom.¹⁷⁰Malkhut.

[Ps. 104:5]: “He established the earth upon its foundations” indicates that the separation became truly distinct and visible. Therefore, it is in this place that the verse repeats “God saw that it was good” instead of on the second day. Just as our sages said concerning the creation of the primordial human, “God shaped his limbs in the third hour,”¹⁷¹b. Sanhedrin 38b. similarly, it was on the third day “that dry land was seen” [Gen. 1:9]. For when the world existed as undifferentiated water¹⁷²Lit. mayim be-mayim, water within water. the land could not become visible. Paralleling the Genesis text is “He established the world on its foundations, so that it should never totter” [Ps. 104:5]. That is the time allotted it, one thousand generations. That is fifty thousand years, fifty years for a generation.¹⁷³This alludes to the doctrine of shemitot, or cosmic sabbaths, claiming that the world goes through a series of seven-thousand year cycles and then returns to its source.

[Ps. 104:6]: “You made the deep cover it as a garment”: The deep coexists with the world like a pot and its lid. Thus [the verse continues] “the waters stood above the mountains.” How were the waters gathered to one side? For you rebuked them “and they fled from your rebuke” [Ps. 104:7], as in: “The voice of the Lord is over the waters, the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over the mighty waters” [Ps. 29:3]. That is why it repeats the word: “Water, water.”¹⁷⁴The repetition in Ps. 29:3 is not direct. There may be an allusion here to the tale of R. Akiva’s ascent to the pardes, as described in b. Ḥagigah 14b.

[Ps. 104:8]: “They rise up to the mountains, flow down to the valleys, to that place You have assigned to them”: This refers to the ocean, as in “Let the waters be gathered to one place” [Gen. 1:9]. “God called the dry place ‘land’” [Gen 1:10] means that He drew forth the Will, which is the [upper] end of Thought, to the “dry place,” “dry” refers to that which does not bear fruit.¹⁷⁵He derives ‘erets from r-ts-h, meaning “will.” Keter is extended to meet malkhut. The circle of the sefirot is thus closed. He drew to her this end of Thought, which is the totality of all the entities. Thus Scripture says: “Let the land bring forth grass” [Gen 1:11] and “Let the waters be gathered,” making channels through which the river then proceeds from Eden, flowing on the fifth day to water the garden. But for now those channels appeared as raw form [golem]; there was as yet no drawing forth. The channels were only preparations for the flowing springs.¹⁷⁶The sefirot as kelim, or the ordering of the sefirotic structure, “precedes” (better “underlies”) the actual flow of divine energy into these channels. Therefore it says:

[Ps. 104:10–11]: “He sends forth springs in the river-beds; they run between the mountains, giving drink to all the beasts of the field”: This refers to the well-known “beast,” the one who is also called “garden,” of which it says: “A river flows forth from Eden to water the garden” [Gen. 2:10].

[Ps. 104:11]: “The wild beasts quench their thirst”: The angels are thus called, those appointed to serve over matters of this world, as it is conducted. These are also “the young lions roar for prey” [Ps. 104:21]. And thus: “the gathering of waters He called seas” [Gen. 1:10]. He drew forth the central line, the one that nurses from the Source, like a spinal column drawing sustenance from the brain, into an attribute of day, passing through the cosmic Foundation, as in “all the rivers flow into the sea” [Eccles.1:6]. All the channels flow from the attribute of day to that of night by means of the cosmic Foundation.¹⁷⁷Tiferet, the male energy of the central column, reaches into the heights of keter, the Will that is above the upper reaches of Mind, and flows down through yesod, its sexual manifestation, into malkhut, the “garden” or female.

[Ps. 104:12]: “Upon them dwell the birds of heaven”: Upon these two attributes; because of them, the ministering angels exist. “From amid the branches they give forth their voice”: The voices proceed from the seventy names, all of them deriving from the primal and innermost soft voice, the singular nation, parallel to the power of Israel, making seventy-one.

[Ps. 104:13]: “He gives the mountains drink from His upper chambers”: Because grasses and plants do not grow until the rain falls, it says: “He gives the mountains drink.” Right after this it says: “He causes grass to grow for the cattle; earth is sated by the fruit of Your deeds” [Ps. 104:14–15]. And where do they all come from? The “upper chambers,” which is to say “the fruit of Your deeds.” From the upper chambers, the glorious palaces which are the primal spiritual elements, come the forces that bring about rain for the world. This is the fruit of those “deeds,” for they are the cause of all being and non-being in the world, the cause of light and darkness. Of them are born the clouds¹⁷⁸Hebrew term obscure. over the earth, from which the rain comes. The Land of Israel drinks of the innermost and purest of these, since it is parallel to the central column, the innermost, while the rest of the world drinks of them in diluted form. Of this Scripture says: “He builds His upper chambers in the heavens and founds His vault upon the earth; He calls to the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the earth” [Amos 9:6]. After mentioning the upper chambers, he speaks of the rain that comes about through them. Job too mentions first the primal causes and then the rain that comes about because of them: “He looks to the ends of the earth and sees beneath all of heaven, making a weight for the wind and measuring out the waters. He makes a decree for the rain and a way for the thunderstorm” [Job 28:24–26]. The rain is sent forth as a result of those primal causes. Of this Scripture says: “Depth calls unto depth by the sound of Your channels” [Ps. 42:8]. Understand this. The drops of rain are the drops of sexual coupling, coming from that which is without end [eyn sof].

Parallel to “Let the earth bring forth grasses” [Gen. 1:11], which sets out the pattern of all generation, it says here: “He causes grass to grow for the cattle” [Ps. 104:14–15]. After telling us that rain is sent forth as a result of those primal forces, he says that grasses and plants grow because of forces attached to those same primal entities, for there is no blade of grass below that does not have a power attached to it above by which it comes to be and grows, and for the sake of which it exists. The Psalm goes on to say:

[Ps. 104:15]: “Grass for man’s labors … wine to make man’s heart glad, and food to satisfy the heart”: The rain and the grasses that grow because of it are human food, and drinks bring us joy. So too: “May the trees of the Lord be sated, the cedars of Lebanon He has planted, there where the birds make their nests” [Ps. 104:16–17]. The mountain goats and rabbits up on the boulders and the high mountains, all sensate beings, need those primal entities which are the first source of the entire birth process. How “may the trees of the Lord¹⁷⁹Here “trees” and “cedars” are taken as symbols of the sefirot. be sated”? They are sated first from the Source of Life, giving of the overflow of their water to living creatures, both feeling and unfeeling. “The cedars of Lebanon that He planted” [Ps. 104:16] are those delicate entities, as we have explained. This is the meaning of “where the birds make their nests” [Ps. 104:17]. “The high mountains are for the mountain-goats; the boulders are hiding-places for rabbits” [Ps. 104:18]. Here it has been explained that everything draws life from those primal entities, nursing from those that emerged and appeared on the third day.¹⁸⁰The seven lower sefirot are born of binah, the third sefirah, or possibly referring to tiferet, the third of the seven upper “days.” This was fixed in their nature as a primal and eternal desire. He placed their rule over the earth, that all creatures be attached to them and sustained by them, and in the end that all return to them. Of this it says here [on the third day] “And it was good.”

[Ps. 104:19]: Parallel to “Let there be lights” [Gen. 1:14], the Psalmist says: “He made the moon for fixed seasons.” The word “Let there be” indicates a drawing forth from Wisdom; therefore it is used in the account of creation only when referring to inward things:¹⁸¹Sefirot. light, firmament, luminaries. But of whatever was formless it says “Let there appear,” so that potential form or soul might appear in them.¹⁸²Hebrew obscure; translation conjectural. So it is said of Adam, that in his fourth hour the soul-breath was cast into him. [The following line, having to do with the hiding of the light after seven days, and quoting Ps. 97:11, is quite garbled in the manuscript as well as the printed edition, and must be considered untranslatable. It may refer to the light of the seven sefirotic “days” transferred to the shekhinah.]

[Ps. 104:20]: “God made the two great lights, the greater light …” [Gen. 1:16]. He gave it dominion over those servants appointed to rule the night. Thus it says “You bring on darkness and it is night, when all the beasts of the forest stir.” This refers to the well-known “beast” who rules at night and the servants appointed over the night, who seek from her their appropriate role and tasks. These are “the young lions roar for prey, asking of God their food” [Ps. 104:21]. This means to draw it forth to them and lead them, so that which they are appointed over might exist. Of this it is also said: “She rises while it is yet night, giving food to her household and portions to her maidservants” [Prov. 31:15].

[Ps. 104:22]: “When the sun shines they return home, crouching in their dens”: This refers both to those who serve at night and to the one who rules over them.

[Ps. 104:23]: “Man goes forth to his work”: the attribute of day; “and to his work unto evening”: serving the attribute of night. That is why it says here “and it was good” [Gen. 1:18], for the lights were kindled to receive the power of the soul. Thus far the completion of the fourth day, including the attributes of day and night. It is said that all creatures are attached and bound to these, the source of all that they bring forth. These rule, as master rules over servant, one over the day and the other over the night. Thus the passage concludes: “How many are Your works, O Lord, You have made them all in wisdom,¹⁸³Both tiferet, the sun or power of day, and shekhinah, the moon or power of night, rule by the power of hokhmah, source of the flow that animates them. the earth is filled with Your creations” [Ps. 104:24].

Now the Psalm begins to speak of how the divine will flows into all the secondary beings who were created in the sea of wisdom, of the completion of the structure through them, and of the further extension of those well-springs that had begun to flow into the sea of wisdom on the fifth day.

[Ps. 104:25]: Parallel to “Let the waters bring forth creeping things” [Gen. 1:20] it says: “There is the sea, vast and wide, its creatures beyond number, beings both small and great.” “The face of the cherub is like that of a man,”¹⁸⁴b. Hagigah 13b. the cherub being in the form of a little child. When it says “birds shall fly” [Gen. 1:20], it refers to the two cherubim which draw blessing forth, the attributes of south and north. Of these Scripture says: “Awake, O north, and come forth, O south. blow your winds in my garden” [Cant. 4:16], as we have explained it. Once heaven and earth are doing their work, the power of these other two attributes is drawn toward them and added to them.

[Ps. 104:26]: “There go the ships”: those channels created on the third day. Of this it says: “She is like a merchant ship, she brings her food from afar” [Prov. 31:14]. She brings them through those channels, well-springs, and streams, and they flow into this sea and appear there.

“God created the great sea-monsters” [Gen. 1:21]: These are the four camps outside the shekhinah of the blessed Holy One, glorifying and exalting Him with words of song and praise. Of this it says “You created him to delight in him” [Ps. 104:26].
“And all the living creatures who creep” [Gen. 1:21]: This is the being with four faces, those of man, lion, ox, and cherub. Each of those faces itself has four faces and four wings, the wings spread out above the faces. Their appearance and their deeds have the appearance of fire. Within the red fire there is a black fire. This is the one spoken of in the [prophetic] tradition, where it says: “That is the being I saw beneath the God of Israel on the River Chebar, and I knew that they were cherubs” [Ezek. 10:22]. That is why the verse says: “which the waters caused to swarm forth after their kind” [Gen. 1:21]: They are [collectively] called “beast” [or “being”], for their bodies are joined but the faces are separate.¹⁸⁵The author plays on the inconsistency of number in these texts. Therefore it says: “which the waters caused to swarm forth after their kind.”
“And each winged bird after its kind”:This refers to those angels created on the fifth day, for there are various rungs, some lower than others and some higher than others. There is a fire that pushes out fire and a fire that consumes fire. Some of them are from water, still others from air. The mission of each is in accord with its essence: the one sent on an errand of mercy is from water; the one who goes as an emissary of justice is derived from fire. Therefore no one angel is sent for both justice and mercy.
“God blessed them, saying: ‘Be fruitful and multiply, filling the land and the waters of the seas’” [Gen. 1:22]. As Scripture says, “Like entities in the full belly” [Eccles. 11:5], since water did not flow forth from wisdom until the sixth day, of which Scripture says “Let earth bring forth a living being after its kind” [Gen. 1:24]. The angels that were created on the fifth day are negated, just as the spark is reabsorbed into the coal, once they have sung their song. The reason [for their existence] is external to them and they are not sufficiently strong to stand before their Creator. They are incarnated a second time, sing their song, and then they disappear. Of this matter it has been said: “New each morning, great is Your faith!” [Lam. 3:23]. Here our Psalm continues: “All of them look to You to give them their food in its due time” [Ps. 104:27]. This refers to their flowing forth.

[Ps. 104:28–30]: “You give to them and they gather … when You hide Your face, they are terrified; when You take their breath, they die. Send Your breath and they are created….” All I have created is for your sake; that is why it says here: “it was good” [Gen. 1:21]. Thus it says of Adam, that in the fifth hour he stood up on his feet.

Of the sixth day Scripture says: “Let earth bring forth” [Gen. 1:24]. Let it bring forth all the generations, and with them the spirit of the first human came forth. Parallel to “God created man in His image” [Gen. 1:27], the completion of the structure, replete with its future implications and potentials, conducting it in such a way that each part is joined to the others, the Psalm says: “May the glory of YHVH be forever!” [Ps. 104:31]. For the name was not complete until Adam was created in God’s image. Only then was the seal complete, about which the prophet said to the prince of Tyre: “you are the seal of the account” [Ezek. 28:12]. He meant to say that you are on the rung of Adam, who completed the ten sefirot. The word tokhnit here means “account,” as in “a full account of the bricks” [Exod. 5:18]. Of this it says: “May the glory of YHVH be forever!”: a complete name spoken over a complete world.

“May YHVH rejoice in His creatures,” He caused the holy spirit to lie upon him, for he was crowned and adorned with the ten sefirot. So too it says of Adam that in the sixth hour he gave the creatures names. Here He concludes His words regarding the sixth day, sealing them with “it was good,” the name of God. Here the phrase is repeated a second time in the verse “God saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good” [Gen. 1:31]. The word “very” refers to attachment to the Nothing, which is [the primal] good, that which brings about the renewal of generations. Thus it said in the Torah scroll of Rabbi Meir: “and behold, death was good.”¹⁸⁶Bereshit Rabbah 9:5. For this reason too they established the blessing “who is good and does good”¹⁸⁷b. Berakhot 46b. to be recited in the house of mourning, for if one generation did not pass, no new one could come in its place.
The six extensions parallel the six days of the week and the six thousand times 365, the years of the world. The river that flows from Eden never ceases, and souls return and are reincarnated.

From here on the Psalmist is speaking of the seventh extension, which is something like the backbone in the human body, providing a basis for each of the six extensions. It is the blessed Holy One’s chamber of strength.¹⁸⁸The seventh extension or direction is mysterious, beyond the six directions of space. It seems here to be the direction called “inward” or “innermost.” the center from which all the others radiate. Of it Sefer Yesirah says: “The extensions have a holy place prepared in His place. The holy palace is placed at the center and it maintains them all.”¹⁸⁹Sefer Yetsirah 4:2. It is parallel to the Sabbath and to the seventh millennium, which is entirely Sabbath rest, life eternal. All souls cleave and are joined to the Throne of Glory: “there is no breaching and none goes out” [Ps. 144:14].

This is the meaning of “Heaven and earth were completed, and all their hosts” [Gen. 2:1]. They were perfected and made into lovely and perfect vessels,¹⁹⁰A play on words, reading ve-yekhulu, “were completed,” as derived from keli, “vessel.” perfect in physical form, in structure, and in type.
“On the seventh day God completed the work that He had made” [Gen. 2:2]. He included within that central column all that he had wrought in the six extensions, indicating that the seventh day is the end of the flow which is the world’s existence, and thus that the world will be destroyed. “And He rested on the seventh day from all the work that He had made” [Gen. 2:2]: Sabbath, the Holy Spirit amid the six extensions.
“God blessed the seventh day” [Gen. 2:3]: He blessed it above the other entities by an infusion of the Holy Spirit. This indicates also that in the seventh millennium all souls will be in the Bond of Life, delighting in it.
“And He called it holy, for on it He rested” [Gen. 2:3]: The power of soul was added to it, distinguishing it from all the other entities.
“That God had made” [Gen. 2:3]: Actions, including the calling forth of future generations. It further indicates that the entire seventh millennium, which parallels the seventh extension, is holy, without Satan and without the evil urge, as it says: “He called it holy.”

Thus there are three allusions to the seventh millennium: the destruction of the world, the delight of souls, and the negation of the evil urge. Parallel to the world’s destruction, David says in our Psalm: “He looks to earth and it trembles; He touches the mountains and they smoke” [Ps. 104:32]. Of the delight of souls he says: “I will sing to the Lord as I live!” [Ps. 104:33]. “In [that millennium] there will only be the righteous seated and crowned….”¹⁹¹b. Berakhot 17a. There will be haloes about them of the clear light that hovers over the soul’s light. Of that great delight, the taste of which is unequaled, he says “as I live,” referring to life eternal, about which he further says: “I shall rejoice in the Lord” [Ps. 104:34]. This joy is the added Holy Spirit, basking in the light of shekhinah as it cleaves to the soul. Of the negation of the evil urge and the passing away of the spirit of defilement, he says: “Sins will vanish from the earth” [Ps. 104:35]. Of this the sages said: “David composed one hundred and three Psalms, but he did not say ‘Hallelujah’ until he saw the fall of the wicked,¹⁹²b. Berakhot 9b. meaning the negation of the evil urge. When David foresaw in the holy spirit the soul’s delight and its rest, he cried out ‘Praise the Lord. O my soul, Hallelujah!’”