A River Comes Out of Eden

256) “And a river comes out of Eden.” It is certain that there are no foreign shells in the upper tree of life, ZA of Atzilut, as it is written about it, “No evil shall come to you.” It is so because the shells ‎begin in the world of Beria, below Atzilut, but in the tree below, meaning in the tree below the world of Beria, there are foreign shells. This tree is planted in the Garden of Eden of ZA below, ZA of Beria, and the tree that is there is called Hanoch [Enoch] or Matat.

In the Creator’s Garden of Eden, the Garden of Eden of Atzilut, there are no shells to have one who is “perverse or crooked” there. This is why it is written about it, “And a river comes out of Eden.” A river is Matat. “Comes out of Eden” means it is coming out of its Idun [pleasantness], Mochin of Ima, since Bina is called Eden. “To water the garden” means the garden of Matat, his orchard, Malchut of Beria where Ben Azai, Ben Zoma, and Elisha entered. The shells ‎of Matat are good on that side and bad on that side. This is the meaning of having prohibition and permission in the Torah, kosher and non-kosher, impurity and purity.

“A river” is ZA of Atzilut. Eden is upper Ima. Thus, how does it write, “Comes out of Eden,” which means that it departs from the Mochin ‎of upper Ima? After all, in Atzilut ‎there are no shells to detain the illumination of Mochin ‎there, so it is possible to say about ZA that it comes and becomes separated from upper Ima? This is why Rabbi Shimon interpreted that a river is Matat, below Parsa of Atzilut, in which shells ‎are already possible, separating it from Atzilut ‎and standing in the Garden of Eden of Beria to water it.

This is why it is written, “And a river,” Matat, “Comes out of Eden,” of the upper Garden of Eden, Malchut of Atzilut, since it exits and parts from her and comes to Beria, “To water the garden,” the Garden of Eden of Beria, Malchut of Beria, called PARDESS, where Ben Azai, Ben Zoma, and Elisha entered.

257) An old man arose and said to Rabbi Shimon, “Rabbi, Rabbi. It is indeed so—that there are no shells ‎in Atzilut, but in Beria. However, Matat is not called ‘the tree of life.’” That is, he was wondering about him: if you interpret the garden in the text to be the Garden of Eden of Beria, how will you interpret the words “And the tree of life in the midst of the garden”? Thus, the tree of life is not in the garden of Beria, and Matat is not the tree of life because there is good and bad in him.

The thing is this: “And formed” that is written with two letters Yod [in Hebrew] indicates two Yetzirot [pl. of Yetzira]—the good and the bad, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, in which there are those two Yetzirot. The tree of knowledge is the small Adam when he has Mochin of Katnut. At that time, the side of death and the side of life are from him, prohibition and permission. That is, the prohibition brings death, and the permission is life because those two extend from Mochin of Katnut ‎of the man, which are his two Yetzirot. This is why he is called “the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” This is also why it is written about him, “And formed,” with two letters Yod, for it is written about Adam of Katnut, “And the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground.”

258) “And breathed into his nostrils the breath [also “soul”] of life,” from the upper Shechina, called Eden and called “repentance.” Two states are presented in this verse: 1) a state of Mochin of Katnut, of which it is written, “And the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground.” This is considered the tree of knowledge of good and evil because “And formed” indicates two Yetzirot, good and evil. 2) The state of Mochin of Gadlut, of which it is written, “And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,” since the light of Bina, who is the upper Shechina, is called “the breath of life,” and the light of Bina is Mochin of Gadlut, called Eden. It was written about the Adam of Mochin of Gadlut, “And the tree of life in the midst of the garden,” since in Gadlut, the tree of life is called “the middle pillar,” ZA of Atzilut.

The garden is the lower Shechina. Those three ties to it are called Neshama, Ruach, Nefesh: 1) From the upper Shechina, he has Neshama; 2) From ZA of Atzilut, he has Ruach; 3) From the garden, Malchut, the lower Shechina, he has Nefesh.

In them, meaning with the Neshama, Ruach, and Nefesh, the man had a Nefesh ‎Haya [also “living soul”]. It is called “from His mouth,” actually in relation to the Shechina, who is the breath [Neshama] of life. That is, now the words “And breathed into his nostrils” seem that He actually breathed with His mouth into the nostrils of Adam ‎HaRishon, since the breath of life is the light of the upper Shechina. That abundance of the Shechina also extends from the mouth of ZA. That is, the Mochin of GAR are always poured out from Peh of Rosh, Malchut ‎of the Rosh, which is why it is written, “And breathed,” meaning through the mouth.

This explains the question of Rabbi Shimon, who asked, “How come it is written about ZA of Atzilut, ‘And a river comes out of Eden and from there it parted,’ since there are no shells ‎in Atzilut ‎to part ZA from Bina for the text to say ‘And from there it parted’?” To that, the old man answered, “The text applies to Adam ‎HaRishon, who has two states—Katnut and Gadlut.” In Katnut, it was written about him, “And formed,” which is the two Yetzirot, good and evil. At that time, the man is in BYA, among the shells, and he is called “the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” The words “And a river comes out of Eden” imply that state, for then the river, man, comes out of Atzilut, Eden, to the worlds of separation, BYA.

And the words “And the tree of life in the midst of the garden” apply to the man’s state of Gadlut, when he acquires Neshama, Ruach, Nefesh from Atzilut, for then Atzilut ‎rises and clothes ZA, called “the tree of life,” and the man is also considered the tree of life, like him, since the lower one who clothes the upper one becomes like him. At that time, the man was in the Garden of Eden of Atzilut.

Immediately after the old man said those words, he went up. Rabbi Shimon said, “He was surely an angel. And yet, we have supports.” Rabbi Shimon explained the words “And the tree of life in the midst of the garden” as relating to the end of correction, hence the old man did not need to question about him—that Matat is not called “the tree of life”—since the words “And a river comes out of Eden” deal with the 6,000 years, when Matat is in the form of good and evil, while the words “And the tree of life in the midst of the garden” deal with the end of correction when BYA and Matat return to being in Atzilut, and Matat is considered the tree of life.

When Rabbi Shimon saw that the old man did not understand it, he knew he was an angel, for angels have no attainment in what is destined to come at the end of correction, as it is written, “Now it shall be said to Jacob and to Israel, ‘What has God worked?’” That is, then, at the end of correction, the attainment of Israel will be made greater than the attainment of the angels, and the angels will ask Israel what God has worked, since the Emanator corrected the four worlds ABYA as much as necessary for Israel to be able to complete the correction.

However, he did nothing in relation to the end of correction itself, as we learn, “You are with Me in partnership,” I started the worlds and you finish them. This is why the angels, too, have nothing of the end of correction and attain none of it. In that regard, they must ask Israel, “What has God worked?” For this reason, since Rabbi Shimon saw that he did not know how to settle the verses of the tree of life through the end of correction, he realized that he was an angel, that he had no attainment there.

This is why he said, “Not only did the old man not contradict his words, but there was even support in his words to the words of Rabbi Shimon.” According to the old man, the words “And a river comes out of Eden” relate to the time of Katnut, and the words “And the tree of life in the midst of the garden” relate to the time of Gadlut. It is similar to the words of Rabbi Shimon who interpreted the words “And a river comes out of Eden” in relation to the 6,000 years when BYA are in Katnut, ‎separated from Atzilut, and the words “And the tree of life in the midst of the garden” relate to the end of correction, when BYA return to Atzilut ‎and Gadlut. Thus, the words of the old man are similar to the words of Rabbi Shimon and support his words.