Kabbalah Ulangan 29:28: Ohr Ne'erav, Sha'arei Kedusha & Pardes Rimmonim

Who has caused these people to chase after the simple meaning [of Scripture] and ignore the esoteric portions? It is you dullards [who] hate knowledge (Prov. 1:23), meaning the knowledge of hidden things. What is written [in the verse] after that? You are indifferent to my rebuke, I will now speak my mind to you. This means that the soul which is enwrapped in the simple meaning [is now addressed]: I will now speak my mind to you and let you know my thoughts concerning the secrets which I possess. And you spurned [my counsel](Prov: 1:25) … Then they will call upon me [but I will not answer (Prov. 1:28). This is why [the passage] states, “This concerns one who removes Kabbalah and wisdom. [Kabbalah] means the written Torah, [which symbolizes] Tiferet, and [wisdom] refers to the oral Torah, which is Malkhut. This is the mystery of the vav heh in which the yod heh is concealed,³⁴Cf. n. 18 above. as it is written, The hidden things are for the Lord our God. There the secret of God is revealed—to us and our children forever (Deut. 29:28).

From then on, they only made use of the methods of ascending to the world of Action-Asiyah, and nothing more. However, because Action-Asiyah is the lowest of the four world, and additionally, because the angels of the world of Action-Asiyah themselves are composed of a majority of evil with a minority of good, and moreover, because the good and evil in them greatly adhere to each other, therefore there is no Godly comprehension and grasp in the world of Action-Asiyah, being that it is impossible to only grasp the good in it. Therefore, whatever grasp there is, is an admixture of good and evil, truth and false.⁹⁰⁴[The following passage from the Zohar, which is included as a note in this section, appears to either be an addition from an alternate manuscript, or added by the Chida]: This is similarly stated in Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 66 (97a), as follows: Rabbi Shimon said, “Woe to those people who set aside engagement in the study of the Torah, about which it states (Genesis 3:22), ‘And he shall take also of the Tree of Life,’ and engagement in the mitzvot, which are the fruit of the tree, about which it states (Gen. 3:22 ibid.), ‘and he shall eat and live forever.’ Woe to those who instead follow after those who entice them, who are from the side of the primordial snake (Nachash HaKadmoni). They entice them, telling them, “Come and learn how to command the angels who rule over the stars and the sun and the moon, and those who are appointed over the evil spirits and demons, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” It is about such people that it states (See Deuteronomy 17:3; Kings II 23:5; Jeremiah 44), “So says HaShem-יהו״ה to those who sacrifice and offer incense to the stars and constellations, to the sun and moon, and to all the hosts of the heavens; something that I never commanded.” The engagement in such matters is forbidden by the Holy One, blessed is He, as He commanded Adam (Genesis 2:17), “But as for the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it etc.” Yeshu the wicked one, made use of this knowledge, and the same is so of the generation of Enosh, the generation of the flood, and the generation of the dispersion. The Holy One, blessed is He, uprooted them all from this world and from the coming world, as it states (Genesis 2:17), “On the day that you eat of it, die you shall surely die (Mot Tamut-מות תמות).” That is, “you shall die” (Mot-מות) in this world and “you shall surely die” (Tamut-תמות) in the coming world. This sin of making use of the holy names to command angels and demons is what brought about the destruction of the first Holy Temple and the exile of the Jewish people among the nations of the world, through which many were killed. For, each man sacrificed and offered incense to angels and demons, and drew the powers of impurity upon themselves. When the prophets would come and chastise them, the verse (Kings II 17:13-14) attests that they did not listen to the voice of the prophets and the seers. How would the prophet chastise them? He would tell them, “Repent and do Teshuvah, and if not, there will be the fulfillment of the verse (Deuteronomy 11:17), ‘He will restrain the heaven so that there will be no rain, and the ground will not yield its produce, and you will be swiftly banished from the goodly Land that HaShem-יהו״ה gives you.’” They, however, made light of the words of the prophet, and ridiculed him, saying, “We need not be concerned with your words, as we will command the angels who are appointed over the rain, and we will force them to bring forth the rain.” However, because of them, the Holy One, blessed is He, exchanged His appointed angels in their tasks, and they were instead killed and the Holy Temple was destroyed because of them, and it is because of them that the Jewish people were exiled. This was the sin of Adam, through which the snake caused death to him and his wife. He enticed them with that tree, as written (Genesis 3:5), “God knows that on the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God etc.” For this reason, the Holy One, blessed is He, commands man and tells him to contemplate that which is permitted to be contemplated, but not engage in hidden matters (See Deuteronomy 29:28).

And see, Malkut is the end of Atsilut/Emanation and the beginning of Beriah/Creation, and it is to Beriah as the En Sof [is] to Atsilut, and the last degree that is in Beriah [is] to Yetsirah/Formation as Malkut is to Beriah, and this is their order until their coming to the celestial spheres/planets by way of the steps concealed and hidden for us, but revealed⁵ an allusion to Deuteronomy 29:28 to the experts on the Work of Creation and the Work of the Chariot⁶See Babylonian Talmud, Chagigah 11a/b.