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Rashbi / Explanation of the Division of the Fourteen Commandments into Ten Utterances

Explanation of the Division of the Fourteen Commandments into Ten Utterances

Once the fourteen commandments and the way they are divided into the seven days of creation have been clarified, let us clarify the order of their division in the ten utterances by which the world was created:

First utterance: “In the beginning God created.” Beresheet [In the beginning] is both an utterance, as well as the first commandment, fear, because He is great and rules over everything. It is the degree of AVI of Atzilut, implied in the Yod of HaVaYaH—Aba is Yod, Ima is Vav-Dalet of the filling of the Yod. It is pure air, GAR of Bina.

Second utterance: “And God said, ‘Let there be light.’” The second commandment is great love on the side of Hesed, GAR of YESHSUT of Atzilut, the light that was created on the first day of the six days of creation, in which Adam saw from the end of the world to its end. This is the first Hey of HaVaYaH.

Third utterance: “And God said, ‘Let there be a firmament.’” This is the concealing of the light and the harsh judgment that came out in it, the completion of the second commandment, so that love will be on both sides even if He takes your soul. It is considered the Nukva from Chazeh of ZA and below.

Fourth utterance: “And God said, ‘Let the waters be gathered.’” The third commandment is to know that there is a great God who rules over the whole world, and to unify him daily with a proper unification, the unification of “Hear O Israel,” called “the upper unification.” This is extension of VAK of the three previous utterances into ZA, VAK of Gadlut, Vav of HaVaYaH.

Fifth utterance: “And God said, ‘Let the earth put forth grass.’” This is the completion of the third commandment. Once the dry land has been tied there in the unification of above, it must be tied in VAK below, in the lower unification, “Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingship forever and ever.” It is extension of VAK of the three first utterances to Nukva of ZA, by which the harsh judgment in her is inverted into being complete light, called “black light.” It is VAK of Mochin of Gadlut of the Nukva of ZA, the bottom Hey of HaVaYaH.

Sixth utterance: “And God said, ‘Let there be lights.’” This is the fourth commandment, to know that HaVaYaH [the Lord] He is the Elokim [God], to know that they are one and there is no separation between them. They are black light in white light, there is no separation in them, and it is all one. This is an extension of Mochin of GAR of the first three utterances to ZA and Nukva, at which time they unite as one on an equal level PBP.

Seventh utterance: “And God said, ‘Let the waters swarm.’” There are three commandments in it—the fifth, to engage in Torah, the sixth, to engage in procreation, and the seventh, to circumcise on the eighth day. Through them, NRN of Katnut are drawn out from ZON to the souls of the righteous, who extend a holy Nefesh through engagement in Torah. By procreation, they extend holy Ruach, and by removing the foreskin, they extend holy Neshama.

Eighth utterance: “And God said, ‘Let the earth put forth.’” The eighth commandment is to love the proselyte. Through this commandment the Nefesh of the proselyte is extended, and the completion of the Mochin for NRN of Katnut to the souls of the righteous.

Ninth utterance: “And God said, ‘Let us make man.’” There are two commandments in it: the ninth—to pardon the poor. By having compassion for the poor and by sustaining him, we evoke the association of the quality of judgment with the quality of judgment above, in the ascent of Malchut to Bina, and VAK of Mochin of the first Gadlut are drawn out to the souls of the righteous.

The tenth is to wear Tefillin, by which GAR of Mochin of the first Gadlut, Tzelem, are drawn out to the souls of the righteous.

Tenth utterance: “And God said: ‘Behold, I have given you.’” There are three commandments in it: the eleventh, to give the tithing of the land; the twelfth, to bring the first fruit of the tree; and the thirteenth, to make redemption for his son. Through them, NRN of the second Gadlut are drawn out to the souls of the righteous.

There are also two commandments in the verse “And on the seventh day God completed His work”: to keep the Sabbath day, which is “keeping,” and to connect the Sabbath day to its sanctity, which is “remembering.” Those two commandments are one, as in “‘Keep’ and ‘Remember’ were said in the same utterance.” Through those two commandments, the light of Haya of the second Gadlut is drawn out to the souls of the righteous, and this completes the level of the Mochin that the souls of the righteous receive from ZON of Atzilut throughout the 6,000 years.

However, there is also Mochin of VAK of Yechida, drawn out on the afternoon prayer on Sabbath. At that time, ZA ascends to Dikna of AA, but since the Nukva of ZA does not rise with him, he is not counting them here.

You find that the Mochin are drawn out primarily in the first three utterances: “In the beginning God created,” “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’” and “And God said, ‘Let there be a firmament.’” They are HBD because the utterance “In the beginning God created” is AVI, Hochma; the utterance, “And God said, ‘Let there be light’” is YESHSUT, Bina; and the utterance, “And God said, ‘Let there be a firmament’” is Daat, since Rachel’s harsh judgment was created there, which operates in the five Gevurot in Daat, at the point of Hirik.

This completes the entire Mochin because the three utterances “Let the waters be gathered,” “Let the earth put forth grass,” and “Let there be lights” are drawing of VAK and GAR of the first Gadlut and the second Gadlut from the first three utterances to the ZON.

The seventh utterance is drawing of NRN of Katnut from ZON to the souls of the righteous. The eighth utterance is completion of Mochin of Katnut. The ninth utterance is VAK and GAR of Mochin of the first Gadlut, which extend from ZON to the souls of the righteous. And the tenth utterance is drawing out of NRN of the second Gadlut from ZON to the souls of the righteous.

Mochin of Haya of the second Gadlut are drawn out from ZON to the souls of the righteous by keeping and sanctifying the Sabbath. Thus, the Mochin came out primarily in the first three utterances in AVI and YESHSUT, and the rest of the utterances were drawn out from them to ZON of Atzilut and to the souls of the righteous.

Now you can understand the saying “The world was created in ten utterances.” But when you look, they are only three in which the world was created—Hochma, Tevuna, and Daat. The Mochin by which the world was created are found primarily in the first three utterances, HBD.

Also, there are only nine times “And God said” in those ten utterances, and they had to explain that “In the beginning” is also an utterance. However, there are actually ten times “And God said”: 1) “Let there be light,” 2) “Let there be a firmament,” 3) “Let the waters be gathered,” 4) “Let the earth put forth grass,” 5) “Let there be lights,” 6) “Let the waters swarm,” 7) “Let the earth put forth,” 8) “Let us make man,” 9) “Be fruitful and multiply,” and 10) “Behold, I have given.”

We could seemingly argue that the utterance “Be fruitful and multiply” is not considered an utterance because there is no creation in it, but only a blessing for man, and this is why The Zohar does not count it here. However, in the corrections, you will find that it does count the utterance “Be fruitful and multiply” among the ten utterances, and does not count the utterance “Let us make man” among them. This is the opposite of The Zohar before us.

The thing is that those two utterances, “Let us make man” and “Be fruitful and multiply” are regarded as a single utterance because they were both said only upon man’s creation. Hence, it makes no difference if we regard the utterance “Let us make man,” or the utterance “Be fruitful and multiply” among the utterances.

It was said that when the Creator wished to sustain the world, He made Abraham with Hochma, Isaac with Tevuna, and Jacob with Daat. By that, Jacob was called “And by knowledge the rooms are filled,” and at that time, the world was completed.

But in all the places, The Zohar says that Abraham is Hesed, Isaac is Gevura, and Jacob is Tifferet, while here he says that He made them HBD in order to sustain the world. How did the Emanator make them HBD? Also, what is the meaning of making Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob HBD in order to sustain the world?

ZA is called “world.” The existence of ZA, meaning the existence of the world, is extension of Mochin of GAR to ZA. The essence of the ten utterances is primarily only the first three utterances, HBD of Partzuf YESHSUT. When the Creator wished to sustain the world, to extend Mochin of GAR to ZA, who is called “world,” He made Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, HGT of ZA, into HBD.

Turning HGT into HBD is done by drawing out light of Neshama, which dresses in them. The vessels are always named after the lights that are clothed in them. The vessels of light of Nefesh are called NHY, vessels of light of Ruach are called HGT, and vessels of light of Neshama are called HBD. Hence, when ZA was VAK without GAR, with only two lights NR, deficient of the light of Neshama, he had only six vessels, HGT NHY. This is so because the vessels of light of Ruach are HGT, and the vessels of light of Nefesh are NHY.

Now that the Mochin of VAK of Gadlut and GAR of Gadlut were extended to him through three utterances, “Let the waters be gathered,” “Let the earth put forth grass,” and “Let there be lights,” by that, light of Neshama was drawn to HGT of ZA, which are called Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Thus, HGT rose and became HBD: Abraham into Hochma, Isaac into Tevuna, and Jacob into Daat, since the vessels of Neshama are considered HBD.

Also, the light of Ruach descended into the vessels of NHY and became NHY to the vessels of HGT, as they are now a tabernacle for the light of Ruach. Thus, new vessels of NHY were sorted out for him from BYA, connected to his Partzuf, and the light of Nefesh clothed in them. These three utterances, which are for ZA, were drawn out from the three previous utterances in YESHSUT.

It was said, “He made Abraham with Hochma.” The clothing of light of Neshama made the vessels of Hesed of ZA become Hochma. “Isaac with Tevuna” means that that clothing made the vessel of Gevura become Tevuna. “Jacob with Daat,” the vessel of Tifferet of ZA became Daat, middle line, deciding between the two vessels: Hochma and Tevuna.

By that he was called “And by knowledge the rooms are filled.” That is, once it became a vessel of Tifferet for Daat, deciding between HB and completing the ten Sefirot of the light of Neshama from below upward, called Rosh, the light was inverted and illuminated from above to below, as well, to vessels of NHY of ZA. This light, which shines from above downward, is called “light of Ruach,” and it is the Daat that expands from the Rosh to the vessels of the Guf and fills them as it is written, “And by knowledge the rooms are filled.”

Then the vessels NHY, called “corridors,” were made into the vessels HGT, which are called “rooms,” and then the whole world was completed. The entire world was completed, meaning ZA, since through those lights, new vessels are sorted out for him, rising from BYA to clothe the light of Nefesh. Then, the entire Partzuf ZA, called “world,” is completed, for now it has all the vessels HBD, HGT, NHY.

We could ask about him saying that Tevuna is for Isaac and not Bina, since the Mochin are called HBD. He thus wished to tell us that this refers to the complete Mochin of the light of Haya, where the left line of the light of Haya extends from Tevuna, the place of disclosing light of Hochma in the Yod that came out of the Avir and which is not from upper Bina. This is why he made the precision, “And Isaac with Tevuna,” since the world, ZA, exists only in Mochin of illumination of Hochma.