517. The Constitution of the Torah

What is the prohibition on teaching Torah to idol-worshippers? “This is the constitution of the Torah [law].”

This means that one who wants to be rewarded with the Torah, he must take upon himself the kingdom of heaven above reason. This means that if the body comes to ask him Pharaoh’s question, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?” and the wicked one’s question, “What is the work?” he should not give any intellectual reasoning, meaning search for excuses and rationalize them. Rather, we must reply, “I mindlessly take upon myself the kingdom of heaven as a law.”

By taking upon himself the kingdom of heaven as a law, he is called “Israel,” meaning he emerges from the control of idol-worshippers, which is what the body demands—that everything will be in the external mind, that the body will understand. He emerges from this control, and at that time he is regarded as “Israel.”

At that time, he is worthy of receiving the light of Torah, which is called that the Torah exists, and this is the meaning of the prohibition to teach Torah to idol-worshippers, as was said, “He did not do so to any nation and they did not know the ordinances.”

This is the meaning of what our sages said, “The world exists only on those who restrain themselves at a time of quarrel, as was said, ‘The earth hangs on nothing.’” “Restraining” means that he does not reply when the body begins to fight with the person with the arguments of “Who” and “What.” He does not provide any answer to this, and this is called “restraining.” By this there is existence to the world. The rest with which one should be rewarded in the world is only through “nothing,” when he has no foundation but only because it is a law.

“This is the constitution of the Torah.” Malchut is called “constitution” and comes from ZA, who is called “Torah.” It is not that the Torah itself is ZA; rather, it is only the judgment of the Torah, the decree of the Torah, which is Malchut.