“Come see, it is written about Abraham, ‘I shall indeed return to you,’ and not to her, but indeed, I will connect to you and not to the Nukva [female]” (The Zohar, BeShalach).

We should interpret this according to what RASHI interpreted concerning, “And the Lord granted him.” It is said, “To him and not to her, for the prayer of a righteous son of a righteous is unlike the prayer of a righteous son of a wicked.”

It is seemingly bewildering that a righteous son of a righteous is a higher degree, for the opposite makes more sense, according to the rule, “According to the labor, so is the reward,” and it is harder for a righteous son of a wicked to be righteous because he does not learn from the practices of his fathers, and each time, he overcomes by himself until he becomes a righteous. Thus, on the face of it, his prayer should have been more accepted.

We should interpret that “righteous son of a wicked” is called Nukva, which is faith. That is, initially, he was wicked, but then he became a righteous. In other words, before he is rewarded with faith, he is still wicked, and afterward he becomes a righteous.

The quality of faith is called Malchut, who has nothing of her own. Hence, there is still no life from her quality. Only when one is rewarded with the Torah, called “tree of life,” is he called “male,” namely a giver, for the Torah gives life. One who has been rewarded with the Torah is called “righteous son of a righteous,” since in his previous degree, before he was rewarded with the Torah, he had faith, which is called “righteous.” Hence, “The Lord granted him,” since through the quality of a male, which is the quality of “righteous son of a righteous,” the son will have existence.