Night and Midnight

357) “Your people are all righteous.” Happy are Israel from among all the peoples, for the Creator has called them “righteous.” 125,000 birds walk and roam throughout the world; they hear a voice and accept the voice.

358) There is nothing in the world without a voice. It walks and it roams in the firmament, and the birds catch it and raise that voice for MAN to ZON, and sentence it for better or for worse, as it is written, “For a bird of the air shall carry the voice.”

The righteous raise MAN, meaning the screen of Hirik, to the middle line, which unites the Creator and His Shechina through good deeds that the righteous do in the daytime. When the deeds below are upright and man exerts in the work of the holy King, vapor is made out of them, which rises up as MAN, and there is no vapor without a voice. In other words, it becomes a middle line, which is called “a voice.” Also, it becomes an advocate before the Creator, meaning unites the Creator and His Shechina, and all the deeds that are not the work of the Creator, vapor is made of them, which is the breaking of the wind, as it is written, “Hevel [vapor, also vanity] and chasing after the wind.”

Thus, vapor rises out of each deed, and the vapor becomes a voice. If it is good, it rises for MAN to untie ZA and Nukva. The angels that serve in the unification of ZON—to receive the MAN from the righteous and to bring down to them from the level of the coupling—are called “birds” or “fowls.” They are called “birds” because they only have the level of VAK, the light of Ruach [wind], called Avir [air]. This is an intimation that they fly in the air like birds when they receive the MAN, which is called “voice,” as it is written, “For a bird of the air shall carry the voice.”

After the coupling, when they give the level of the coupling, called “speech,” to the righteous, they have GAR, but they diminish the GAR of Hochma with their wings so they will not draw from above downwards. They are called “birds,” as it is written, “And that which has wings shall tell the matter.” “Tell” implies extension and bestowal, and “matter” is the level of the coupling, which is called “speech.”

The number, 125,000 birds stands for the level of the coupling that they draw by the force of the MAN that they raise. The coupling is extended from the three lines, and there is complete NRNHY in the two lines—right and left—which are clothed in the five Sefirot, KHB TM. However, there their middle line is NR that is clothed in the two Sefirot KH.

And since they are from ZA, that each of his Sefirot is ten, they have fifty Sefirot from the right line and fifty Sefirot from the left line, KHB TM, where each of them consists of ten. Also, they have twenty from the two Sefirot KH in the middle line, thus 120. With respect to the Malchut that is attached to the middle line, they have only half the Malchut, from the Chazeh and above, and they lack the half of Malchut from the Chazeh and below. Thus, they have only five Sefirot from her and not ten. Added to the 120 from the three lines, they have 125 Sefirot.

And the name “birds” is primarily because they correct the light of Hochma and cover the GAR with their wings. And since they are acting on the Hochma, whose Sefirot are thousands, they are discerned as the number 125,000.

359) When is this voice judged? In other words, when does the voice rise for MAN to ZON? When a person lies asleep and the soul leaves him and testifies to that person. Then the voice is judged, when it rises for MAN, if the soul testifies favorably. It is written, “Keep the doors of your mouth from her that lies in your bosom,” since she testifies to a person. “From her that lies in your bosom” refers to the soul. Everything that a person does throughout the day, the soul testifies on him at night.

360) At the start of the first hour of the night, when the day breathes and the sun sets, the one with the keys, Matat, the minister of the world—who is appointed over the sun, to draw her light to the world—enters the twelve gates of the sun that are open during the day, meaning the twelve hours of the day. Once he has entered all of them, at the end of the twelfth hour, all those gates are closed. This means that the reign of the day is through, and it is time for the reign of the night.

361) At that time, a herald stands and begins to call out loud, since every change is done with a herald. The announcer, Angel Gabriel, rises and grips those keys, meaning the forces that are extended from the sweetened Malchut, which is called key, which are in Matat’s possession during the day. The herald—through the force of the keys—extends the darkness. And when the herald is through, all those guards of the world gather and rise from the world, and there is no one to open a vent and draw a little illumination, for they all become silent. At that time, the judgments below awaken—those of the unmitigated Malchut—and walk and roam the world, and the moon begins to shine.

362) The wailers—the forces of the judgment that evoke wailing and howling in the world—trumpet and howl a trumpet, and trumpet again. Then the singing awakens and the angels sing before their Master.

There are twelve hours in the day and twelve hours in the night, meaning HB TM. Each of them does not have HB TM, but only HB and Tifferet, since Malchut is missing in each of them. On the one hand, there is Malchut, since there are four faces, HB TM, which is Malchut that is sweetened in Bina. On the other hand, Malchut is absent because there are only three in each of them, and not four, which is Malchut itself that was concealed.

Without this correction, ZON would not be fit for reception of the upper lights. Hence, there is a correction of the twelve hours of the daytime and a correction of the twelve hours at night. However, during the day, they are corrected through the forces of Hesed, and at night, they are corrected through the forces of judgment, which are called “wailers.”

This is why the wailers, which are the forces of judgment that evoke wailing and howling in the world, trumpet and howl a shout, and trumpet again, drawing three lines. The first trumpeting is the right line. Howling, broken trumpeting, and shouting is the left line, and the second trumpeting is the middle line. By that, the night is corrected in twelve hours, since each line contains HB TM, thus they are twelve. And since by that the night is corrected, the singing awakens and the angels sing before their Master that it is time to sing. These are the three shifts of the night during which the angels sing.

Several defenders exist to protect the judgments, and evoke judgments in the world. At that time, people are asleep and the soul exits the body, gives her testimony, and is found guilty, because it is written, “There is not a righteous man on earth who ... does not sin.” But the Creator is gracious with the man and the soul returns to her place in the morning.

363) At midnight, when the roosters awaken, the north side awakens in Ruach [wind], meaning the left line in illumination of Shuruk, meaning illumination of Hochma with absence of Hassadim, GAR of Ruach. The scepter, the south side—right line, Hassadim—rises and mingles with that Ruach of the left line, and they mingle with one another. At that time, the judgments of the left line rest and it is sweetened in Hassadim. Then the Creator awakens in His custom to play with the righteous in the Garden of Eden.

364) At that time, happy is a man who rises to play in the Torah, since the Creator and all the righteous in the Garden of Eden listen to his voice, as it is written, “You who dwells in the gardens, the friends are listening to your voice; let me hear it.”

365) Moreover, the Creator draws upon him a thread of grace, to keep him in the world so that the upper ones and lower ones will guard him, as it is written, “By day the Lord will command His grace; and in the night, His song is with me.”

366) Anyone who engages in Torah at that time will certainly have a permanent part in the next world. What is permanent? These Mochin are extended from YESHSUT, whose coupling is intermittent and not permanent. But each midnight, when the Creator awakens in the Garden of Eden, all those plantings—the Sefirot in the Garden of Eden, the Nukva—will be watered abundantly from that stream, which is called “a primordial stream,” “a stream of delights,” “upper AVI,” whose waters never stop, meaning that the coupling of AVI never stops. And one who rises and engages in the Torah, it is as though that stream pours down on his head and waters him inside the plantings in the Garden of Eden. Hence, he has a permanent share in the Mochin of the next world, too, meaning YESHSUT, since the Mochin of AVI contain the Mochin of YESHSUT within them, too.

367) Moreover, since all the righteous in the Garden of Eden listen to him, they put a share for him in that potion of the stream, which are the Mochin of upper AVI. It turns out that he has a perpetual part for the next world, which are included in Mochin of AVI.

368) Rabbi Abba was on the road. In the evening, he went into a village. When he wished to lie down, he told the landlord, “Since I rise precisely at midnight, I need a rooster to wake me up.”

369) The landlord told him, “You do not need a rooster, since I have a ready mark in the house. This scale before my bed, I fill a vessel with water and place it on one of the pans in the scale, and the water drips one drop at a time through a hole in the vessel. Precisely at midnight, the water is completely emptied and the pan rises while the other pan drops down and makes noise as it falls, and the noise is heard throughout the house. And then it is precisely midnight.”

370) It is written, “Midnight, I will rise to give thanks unto You.” What did David see that he said “Midnight,” and not “At midnight”? “Midnight,” surely he said it to the Creator, whom he called “Midnight.”

371) But is the Creator called “Midnight”? Yes, for precisely at midnight, the Creator and His company are present, and this is the time when He enters the Garden of Eden to play with the righteous. Each name indicates an attainment, that we attain the Creator through that name. And since the conduct of the Creator is to appear in the Garden of Eden at midnight, David called him “Midnight.”

373) At the beginning of the first hour of the night, all the judgments below awaken, the judgments of Malchut that is not sweetened in Bina, and walk and roam in the world. Precisely at midnight, the Creator awakens and comes to the Garden of Eden, the Nukva, and the judgments below disappear and are not present.

374) All the ways above, the ways of Bina that sweeten the Nukva, are not present at night, but only precisely at midnight. How do we know this? From Abraham, of whom it is written, “And he divided himself against them by night.”

Concerning Egypt, it is written, “And it came to pass at midnight,” for then the Nukva was sweetened in Bina and her lights appeared.” David knew that, and this is why he said, “Midnight.”

375) How did David know that? David’s kingdom was dependent on the illumination of the Mochin of midnight. This is why he rose at that time and sang, and this is why he called the Creator, “Midnight,” precisely, “I will rise to give thanks unto You,” since then all the judgments are dependent on the sweetened Nukva at midnight. This is so because the judgments below have already vanished, and the judgments of Malchut are present only from here and not from her unmitigated self. Hence, at that time, David connected with her and rose and sang.

376) Night is judgment everywhere. It writes, “Midnight” because at midnight the kingdom of heaven awakens.

377) Night is the time when the judgment of Malchut rules. Just “night” is always judgment. When it says, “Midnight,” it is because then the Malchut suckles in two phases, judgment and Hesed. The first half of the night is judgment, since the other half, the face, shines from the side of Hesed. This is why it writes, “Midnight,” the half of Hesed.

379) “Your people are all righteous.” What is the reason that it writes, “Your people are all righteous”? Are all of Israel righteous? Surely there are several wicked ones among Israel, several sinners, and a few transgressors who break the commandments of the Torah.

380) Happy are Israel, for they offer a sacrifice of will before the Creator; they offer their sons as offering for eight days. When they are circumcised, they enter that good part of the Creator, as it is written, “the righteous is an everlasting foundation.” Once they have entered that part of the righteous thanks to the circumcision, they are called “righteous.” Surely they are all righteous because all of them were circumcised, even the wicked ones among Israel. This is why the writing says, “Your people are all righteous.”

381) This is why it is written, “They shall inherit the land forever; the branch of My planting.” The Shechina is called “land,” as it is written, “Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will enter into them.” It is also written, “This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter into it,” meaning those who were circumcised and are called “righteous.”

Land is Malchut [Heb: kingdom], and since they were circumcised, they are called “righteous,” and the gates of righteousness are opened to them, the gates of the kingdom. Thus, all of Israel will inherit the land, for because they were circumcised, the gates are opened before them.

“The branch of My planting” is a branch of those plantings that the Creator planted in the Garden of Eden, this land is one of those plantings. The plantings are the ten Sefirot in the Garden of Eden, and the Malchut in them is called “land.” This is why Israel has a good share in the next world, as it is written, “Your people are all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever.”