Go Forth to Correct Yourself

21) “And the Lord said unto Abram, ‘Go forth.’” “To you” [part of the verse in Hebrew] means “to yourself,” to correct yourself, meaning correct your degree. “Go forth,” since you should not be here among those wicked ones.

22) The meaning of the words, “Go forth” is that the Creator gave Abraham the spirit of wisdom and he knew and purified the spirits of the settlements of the world. He would observe them and weigh them in a scale, and he knew and attained the powers appointed over the spirits of the settlement.

Since it is written, “And they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees ... and they came unto Haran, and sat there,” it means that they had already departed their land and kindred. Thus, why did the Creator tell him, “Go forth from your country and from your kindred”? Indeed, when we know the inner meaning of these words it will not be difficult for us at all. You should know what is the power of Nimrod over Abraham to throw him into the furnace, which is Ur [Aramaic: light, flame] of the Chaldees, and how he was saved from the furnace.

The thing is that all the judgments and shells are extended from the left line, the illumination of Shuruk, Hochma without Hassadim, a burning fire. At the time, their leader was Nimrod, who began to gain strength in the land, as it is written that he was “A mighty hunter before the Lord.” Therefore, when Abraham drew these upper Mochin to him—which are extended in three lines, one at a time, and came and received the illumination of the left line, which is the illumination of the point of Shuruk—he immediately fell under Nimrod’s rule. He, in turn, threw him into the furnace, which is extended from the power of the illumination of Shuruk.

This is when the Creator helped him draw the illumination of the middle line over the screen of Hirik, which decides and makes peace between the two lines—right and left. Then the Hochma on the left dresses and integrates with the Hassadim on the right, the Mochin shine in utter completeness, and the judgments are cancelled. Thus, Abraham was saved from the furnace, went out of Ur of the Chaldees, and was rewarded with the revelation of the Creator, as it is written, “And the Lord said unto Abram, ‘Go forth.’”

The screen of Hirik, on which the middle line comes out is extended from the quality of judgment in Malchut, which was not sweetened by the mercy of Bina, which is called lock. This is so because the right and left are in dispute, since they are two writings that deny one another. Since the left line is extended from the illumination of the Shuruk, which is extended from Bina that returned to Rosh AA, it has great strength and it wishes to revoke the illumination of the right, which is extended from the point of Holam, from Bina when she was outside the Rosh of AA. And since the right line is the root of the left line, he wishes to revoke the strength of the left line and subdue it, as the root relates to its branch.

Therefore, the left line does not surrender to be included in the right line except by two issues that act in it: 1) The screen of Hirik, which comes to diminish the left line from GAR to VAK of Hochma; 2) The middle line, the level of Hassadim, which comes out over this screen. It comes to activate the coupling by striking with the upper light that was made on this screen of Hirik, which elicits the level of Hassadim.

At that time, on one hand the level of the left line descended to VAK of Hochma so now its level is not higher than the right line. On the other hand, the Hassadim from the two sides of the left line increased—from the right line, called “Abraham,” and from the middle line, called “Jacob.” As a result, the left line, called “Isaac,” surrendered and was integrated in the Hassadim of the right and the middle. However, as long as the left line was not diminished from its GAR, no power can incorporate it in the right line.

For this reason, the middle line cannot subdue and unite the two lines before the screen of Hirik can diminish the left line into VAK of Hochma. And when the two lines shine in the degree, Malchut of Nukva will necessarily be as the middle point of the settlement, the key. This means that Malchut was completely sweetened in Bina and received Bina’s form, according to the rule that the mother lends her clothes to her daughter. Without it, the Malchut is unfit to receive any direct light, which is extended from above downwards.

Hence, when wishing to draw the lock in her, which is the self of Malchut that was not sweetened in Bina so she will diminish the left line to VAK of Hochma, four actions are required.

1. To draw the first restriction, which was made on the Malchut so she would not receive light.

2. To reveal the judgments in the screen of the first restriction, which has now been completed with Malchut of the quality of judgment without the sweetening of Bina, who is called lock.

3. To elevate this lock from Malchut’s place to Bina’s place, to diminish the left line from there into VAK of Hochma.

4. A coupling that comes out on that screen, by which the Mochin are completed entirely.

The Creator gave Abraham the spirit of Hochma [wisdom]. He received the spirit of Hochma in the two lines—right and left—because the illumination of the left that is extended from the point of Shuruk will eventually disclose the spirit of Hochma. He knew and clarified the sides of the settlement of the world, the right side and the left side, which shine in Malchut in the place from the Chazeh down. This is called “the settlement of the world” because this is where the Hochma appears, without which people are not made whole. But from the Chazeh and above of Malchut, it is not a place of settlement because the lights of Hochma cannot shine to people there.

Abraham observed the two lines and weighed them on scales, meaning drew illumination of Hochma, whose extension is called “scales,” and he knew the forces appointed over the sides of the settlement, meaning he drew the illuminations on the right side and on the left side and he knew them.

23) When he came to the middle point of the settlement, the point of Malchut of the key, he weighed with a scale but did not succeed. In other words, he raised MAN to draw the spirit of Hochma into there, but it was not drawn for him. He observed so as to know the force appointed over it but his intention was not sufficient to attain it. Thus, after he drew the two lines, right and left, before he drew the middle line, the wicked Nimrod gripped him and threw him into the furnace, which is Ur of the Chaldees. This is why the Creator helped him draw the middle line, to save him from the furnace and to bring him out of Ur of the Chaldees.

He needed four actions to reveal the middle line. The first action was when the first restriction was revealed to him at the point of Malchut. He weighed with a scale and it did not succeed for him because after the power of the first restriction was over the Malchut, she could not receive any direct light within her. And when he saw that she was not receiving light, he looked to see and to examine the power of the key that was controlling her, by which she became fit for reception of the lights. However, he could not obtain that force there anymore because the power of the first restriction was extended over her, which is the part of the point that is not sweetened in Bina. Yet, he still did not find the force of the judgment there yet, since the force of the judgment is not revealed in the first restriction itself, but only through the screen that is erected there after the restriction, and this screen is called lock. This is what happened in the second action.

24) He weighed several times and saw that the whole world was planted and established from there. In other words, because he weighed many times and did not succeed in drawing light into there, by that, the force of the judgment in her was disclosed, from the screen that was made in Malchut after the first restriction. At that time he saw and recognized that the whole world was established from that screen, meaning that Malchut, which is called “world,” was established in it.

He observed and clarified and weighed to know the issue, and he saw that the upper force over her is immeasurable, and that it is profound and abstruse. In other words, at the point of Malchut, he saw the upper force, called lock, since it was now revealed to him that this force was governing her, and it is regarded as immeasurable and so profound and abstruse that it cannot be opened. This is so because there cannot be attainment and perception unless through clothing of the light. But wherever the force of the lock governs, it is impossible to draw the upper light to there, hence there is no attainment and perception there.

However, this is still not enough for a screen of Hirik for the middle line, since this screen controls only Malchut and not the upper nine. For this reason, it is still not strong enough to diminish the left line—which is from the upper nine—into VAK, which is all that is requested of this screen. This is why she is not like the Sefirot of the settlement, the upper nine, since the upper nine are still in the form of the key and the point of Malchut is in the form of the lock. To affect the upper nine, too, of which the left line is a part, a third action is required.

25) He observed and weighed and knew that the middle point of the settlement, the key, rose to Bina and in consequence the whole world, from end to end, was planted from her. In consequence, she governs all the Sefirot of ZA and all the Sefirot of Nukva, called “the ends of the world,” since she is above them. He also knew that the force that is now over the point of the lock rose to Bina, too, and that for this reason, all the other forces—appointed over all the ends of the world—extend and emerge from her. In other words, since she rose to Bina, her ruling extended from there in all the Sefirot of ZA and all the Sefirot of Nukva, which are called “the ends of the world.” By that, the left line of Nukva was diminished, too, and became VAK of Hochma, which is not regarded as direct light. Even so, the left line is from the upper nine, since by the ascent of the lock above Bina, she governs and diminishes the upper nine of direct light, the GAR.

Now all the Sefirot gripped to the point of the lock, and after the left line was diminished from GAR and declined into VAK, its merit is not higher than the right line, its ruling power expired, and Abraham was saved from the furnace and went out of Ur of the Chaldees. This is because now that he has fallen to VAK, he surrenders to the right line. However, he does not completely surrender to being included in the Hassadim on the right before the coupling with the upper light is made on this screen of Hirik and produces the level of Hassadim.

26) Also, he observed and weighed and clarified to clearly stand in that place. But he did not know and could not stand on her in order to cling to her. In other words, the judgments were doubled on him because now they were only judgments by the illumination of the left, for he could not cling to its light because it was a burning fire due to the absence of Hassadim. But now after the lock rose to Bina and diminished the left line to VAK—before the coupling for extension of Hassadim was made—not only were the previous judgments from the illumination of the left governing him, but now the judgments of the cancellation of the GAR were added to it, and he did not know. Thus, now the judgments were doubled.

When he saw the power of the judgments of that place of the cancellation of the GAR and could not stand on it and struggle with it because the judgments of the illumination of the left remained under their control, as well, and they are a burning fire, it is immediately written, “And they came unto Haran, and sat there.” In other words, the name Haran indicates Haron Af [anger/wrath] for the doubling of the judgments over him. Also, the text tells us that besides not coming to the land of Canaan, a fruit-bearing land, implying to the place from the Chazeh down of Nukva, he also came to the place, Haran, to Haron Af, since the judgments on him were doubled, and they sat there.

27) Why was Abraham detained in Haran and did not go straight from there to the land of Canaan, as it is written, “And sat there”? Abraham knew and clarified all those rulers, the leaders of the world in all directions of the settlement. They come by the force of the lock, the middle point of the world as a whole, and he would weigh and scrutinize those who govern the spirits of the settlement, the leaders of the stars and fortunes that come through the key, which is extended from Bina, in the matter of “Mother who lends her clothes to her daughter.” Also, the illumination of GAR of Bina is called “stars,” and the illumination of ZAT of Bina is called “fortunes,” hence the rulers that come from the key lead them.

How strong are these over those? He would weigh those rulers that draw from the lock compared to the power of the rulers that come from the key to know which was stronger so one could revoke the other. He did not go out of Ur of the Chaldees until after the lock rose to Bina, at which time the rulers of the lock overcame the rulers of the key, who govern the ends of the world, and diminished them into VAK. Because of them, the left line, too, was diminished into VAK and its power expired. And then he went out of Ur of the Chaldees and came to Haran.

And now that he came to Haran he repeated his inquiry and weighed the two kinds of rulers once more—which of them was stronger—and was able to revoke the other. This was because he still did not gain anything by his exit from Ur of the Chaldees. Moreover, judgments from the cancellation of GAR were added to him. For this reason, he tried perhaps he could restore the GAR of the illumination of the left. This is why he weighed them against each other once again and hoped to see that the rulers of the key would be stronger than the rulers of the lock and would not be diminished from GAR because of them.

He weighed all the settlements of the world, the upper nine, and succeeded. He succeeded in making it sufficiently clear that the rulers of the key are stronger than the rulers of the lock and their GAR is not revoked because of them. But when he arrived at that place, the point of Malchut, he saw the power of the deep ones, the force of the judgments of the lock, which grew stronger over the key and revoked the GAR. And he could not resist it; he could not cling to it because of the judgments of the illumination of the left that have not been removed yet, and this brought back the doubling of the judgments on him. And since he still did not decide concerning the establishment of the screen of Hirik, which is the screen of the lock, but was still trying to weigh the forces of the two rulers over one another, he was detained in Haran, in Haron Af [anger/wrath], as it is written, “And sat there.”

28) Since the Creator saw his awakening and his desire, He immediately revealed Himself to him and told him, “Go forth,” to know yourself and to correct yourself. Meaning, he should stop weighing the upper forces but raise MAN and draw a high coupling on the screen that appeared to him, by which he will be rewarded with drawing Daat for himself and correcting himself.

Here, the fourth action took place, when the level of Hassadim on the screen of Hirik was extended, meaning the elicitation of the middle line that decides over the two lines—right and left—which includes them together. By that, the Mochin were completed and revealed to him, and all the blessings mentioned in this text.

29) “Go forth from your country,” from that side of the settlement to which you clung, the right side, without integration with the left. “And from your kindred,” from that Hochma with which you would observe and weigh your consequence, and the moment and time when you were born, and that star and that fortune. All of that is illumination of the left without mingling of the right, and this illumination comes by the power of the key, from which come the leaders of the stars and fortunes.

And the reason why the illumination of the left is called “Your kindred,” and that he weighed the moment and time when he was born, is that the Mochin for begetting of souls are extended only from the illumination of the left. Hence the negotiations in it, when Abraham weighed these forces one opposite the other. It is like a researcher who seeks to know the moment he was born, to see and to examine the level at which he was born, whether from GAR or from VAK, etc.

30) “And from your father’s house” means go forth and look no further at the house of your father, who is Haran. In other words, do not search if you have a root from your father’s house to succeed in the world. Do not weigh the two kinds of rulers one compared to the other anymore, and hope to restore the domination of the key that has vanished, whose action is the shell of Haran. Hence, “Go forth” from this wisdom and from this looking.

31) Why was he told, “Go forth from your country and from your kindred”? After all, he had already departed from Ur of the Chaldees, which was his country and kindred. However, “From your country” means from the illumination of the right without the left, and “From your kindred” means the illumination of the left without the right.

“To the land that I will show you.” “I will show you” what you could not perceive because of the judgments of the illumination of the left. You could not know the power of that land, Malchut, which is profound and abstruse because of the judgments of the cancellation of the GAR, and henceforth, I promise you that those two judgments will be lifted from you, and the Mochin will shine for you in the whole of the GAR and the sweetening of the adhesion.