And Noah Went into the Ark

194) “‘Can a man hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?’ says the Lord.” How coldhearted and blind are people? They do not look and do not know the glory of their Master, of whom it is written, “But I fill the heaven and earth.” How do people seek to hide from their sins, saying, “Who sees us and who knows us?” It is written, “And their works are in the dark”; where will they hide from Him?

195) It is like a king who built a palace and underneath the palace made fortified hideouts. Once, the people in the palace rebelled against the king, and the king surrounded them with his armies. What did they do? They went and hid inside the fortified tunnels. The king said, “I made these hideouts, and you want to hide from me in them?” It is as it is written, “Can a man hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?” I made the fortified tunnels, and I made light and darkness, and you, how can you hide from Me?

196) When a man sins before his Maker and continues and hides himself, bringing himself to think that no one will see him, the Creator executes the judgment on him openly. And when a person purifies himself and repents, the Creator seeks to hide him so he will not be seen in the day of the Creator’s wrath. It is so because a person should certainly hide himself so as to not be seen by the saboteur when he is in the world, so he will not look at him, for he has permission to destroy all those seen by him.

197) Any man whose eye is evil, the eye of the saboteur is on him, and he is called “the destructor of the world.” One should beware of him and not approach him, and he will not be harmed. It is forbidden to approach him openly, in a way that he is revealed to his evil eye. This is why if we should beware of an evil-eyed man, we should be even more cautious with the angel of death, and we must hide in the day of the Creator’s wrath.

198) It is written in relation to Balaam, “And the saying of the man who is blind in one eye.” He had an evil eye, and wherever he looked, he would draw on it the spirit of the saboteur. This is why he wanted to look at Israel, so they would be consumed wherever his eye would look. It is written, “And Balaam raised his eyes,” raising one eye and lowering one eye, in order to look at Israel with the evil eye.

The doubled organs—eyes, ears, etc.—come from the association of the quality of judgment with the quality of mercy, Malchut with Bina. The right-hand side organ is primarily from the quality of mercy, Bina, and the left-hand side organ is primarily from the quality of judgment, Malchut of the first restriction. It is also known that if one is rewarded, the quality of judgment is hidden and in concealment, and the quality of mercy is revealed and does all the work. If he is not rewarded, the quality of judgment appears on him and he loses everything.

When the wicked proliferate in the world, the saboteur is given permission to disclose the quality of judgment and punish the world. For this reason, the righteous, too, should fear him, since his whole power is because the quality of judgment is hidden and concealed, and does not act on the righteous. For this reason, the saboteur will be able to disclose the quality of judgment in him, and punish him along with the wicked. This is why Balaam, with his evil eye, was disclosing the hidden, the quality of judgment, and was raising one eye—the left eye, the one of the quality of judgment—while lowering one eye, canceling the power of his right eye, where there was the quality of mercy, in order to look at Israel with his evil, left eye, the quality of judgment.

199) “And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel dwelling tribe by tribe, and the spirit of God came upon him.” He saw the Shechina covering them and laying on them, and being established in the twelve tribes below her. Balaam’s eye could not govern them. He said, “How will I prevail over them, since the high spirit of holiness, Bina, is laying on them and covers them with her wings?” It is written, “He crouches, he lies down as a lion. And as a lion, who will rouse him?” That is, who will rouse him for the high spirit of holiness so it does not cover them, so they become revealed and the eye can rule over them?

The high spirit of holiness, Bina, the quality of mercy, was covering and protecting Israel, so the quality of judgment would not be able to control them. This is why Balaam said, “Who will rouse him?” so that the quality of mercy does not cover them and his evil eye can consume them.

200) This is why the Creator sought to cover Noah and hide him from sight, so the impure spirit would not be able to rule over him, so he is not corrupted. And Noah came to hide from the eye, from the water of the flood, for the water pressed him into the ark. He saw the water of the flood and feared it, and therefore came to the ark. He saw the angel of death coming with the floodwater, and therefore went into the ark.

201) He was kept in the ark for the twelve months of the year. Why are they twelve months? It is twelve months because so is the judgment of the wicked in Hell, to complement in twelve degrees the righteous Noah and the rest of the degrees that should have come out from the ark, since the correction of each degree requires one month. This is why they were detained twelve months.

202) In Hell, the wicked are sentenced six months in water, and six months they are sentenced in fire. But here in the flood, there was only the judgment of water, so why were they sentenced twelve months? Would six months not be enough? However, they were sentenced in both judgments, the water and the fire.

They were sentenced in water because the water that descended on them from above was as cold as snow. They were sentenced in fire because the water that emerged from below, from the abyss, was as boiling as fire. Thus, they were sentenced in the judgment of Hell, twelve months in water and in fire, until they perished from the world.

But Noah was hiding in the ark, out of sight, the saboteur did not approach him, and the ark was roaming over the water, as it is written, “And lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth.”

203) They were struck for forty days, as it is written, “And the flood was forty days.” In the rest of the time up to the twelve months, they were blotted out from the world. Woe to those wicked, for they will never be revived to be sentenced, as it is written, “And they were blotted out.” It is also written, “You have blotted out their name forever and ever.” They will not even rise to be sentenced, meaning they will not even be among those who will rise for everlasting abhorrence.