8. Any person who does and observes the commandments of the Torah, the soul is kept in his body, for the body is called an “ark,” and he is not punished, and the angel of death does not control him. And any person who does not observe and does not uphold the commandments of the Torah, and breaches them, at that time, the angel of death controls him.
9. The ark is the body. Noah and his wife are Yod-Hey, Shem and his wife are Vav-Hey, and the complete name is done by Noah and his wife, and Shem and his wife, which are one Yod-Hey Vav-Hey. They are NRNHY of Neshama that clothe in the body, the ark. Yefet and his wife are Yod-Hey, and Ham and his wife are like Vav-Hey, but not actually Vav-Hey, and the name is incomplete with Yefet and his wife, and Ham and his wife.
10. And God said to Noah, “You shall make a window for the ark.” God is the Shechina [Divinity]. The ark is the body. You, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you, meaning men for themselves and females for themselves, which are Yod-Vav Hey-Hey, indicating judgment. “And Noah made” is the holy covenant, Yesod, “all that God had commanded him” is the Shechina.
“And HaVaYaH [the Lord] said to Noah, ‘Come into the ark, you and all your household.’” Here, the quality of mercy is written, HaVaYaH, and not the name Elokim [God] as before, which is the quality of judgment, since he mentioned the salvation of Noah and his descendants.
11. “Of all the pure beast, you shall take for you seven-seven, man and wife, and of all the beast that is not pure, two, man and wife,” since it is from the side of impurity. He looked that on the side of impurity, there were only two, and there were not seven-seven in them, as it is written about the bird of the sky, seven-seven, male and female, which are fourteen, “to revive the seed upon the whole earth.”
It is written, “they came two-two.” He did not mention seven-seven in their coming to the ark. This pertains to what is written earlier, “And from the beast that is not pure,” and it is written about this afterwards, “They came two-two.” From the pure beast, they came seven, and the text relies on what is written earlier.
12. There is not a night in which the soul, who is called a “dove,” does not come out from a person’s body, as it is written, “And he sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded.” These are the evil waters, from the side of impurity. “From the face of the ground,” namely above the earth, which are sabotaging angels.
13. It is written, “But the dove found no resting place.” The soul, who is called a “dove,” was denied the upper world and the righteous of above and all the blessings, as it is written, “and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth.”
14. He took her out a second time, as it is written, “And again he sent out the dove from the ark.” Out of the duress and sorrow, “the dove” the soul, “came to him in the evening,” for the time of relief did not shine for them as before, and the day has become dark for her, and the sun became evening.
15. She said to Noah and his sons, “The guards who went about the city found me.” These are the guards of the gates of Jerusalem. “They struck me, they wounded me.” Nevertheless, “And behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf in her mouth,” meaning that the torments, which are as bitter as olive, are pleasing to her, and they were prey in her mouth, since they polish the iniquities.
This is why it is written, “And Noah knew that the waters had receded,” that the angels of holiness had overcome the sabotaging angels. “So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore,” and it is written, “The waters were dried up from the earth,” meaning that the evil waters had dried up and were gone.
16. After he hid in the ark and the time when the angel of death controlled him had passed, and the wicked had passed from the world, it is written, “And God remembered Noah.”
17. A ship is comparable to Noah’s ark since there are Jewish people in it, and Ishmaelites, and the children of Esau. This is similar to what there is in the body, which consists of all seventy nations. That body, which consists of the nations, is not the body of the holy soul, but of an animate soul. This is as he said to Noah, who is Neshama to Neshama.
This is so because Noah and his wife are Yod, where Noah is Yod, Neshama to Neshama, or Haya, and his wife is Hey, Neshama, as it is written, “Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood,” which is the body, called “Noah’s ark,” meaning the body that clothes the soul.
18. It is as He said to Abram, “Go forth from your land and from your kindred.” Why twice, your land and your kindred? It is go from your abode and from your body. “From your kindred” means from your abode. “From your land” means from your body. “And from your father’s house” means from the wholeness that you now have from above. “To the land that I will show you” is the body, Noah’s ark, a body that is worthy of clothing the soul.
19. Noah was like that, as it is written, “And he sent out the dove,” meaning that the dove, the soul, was taken out from the ark, the body, and placed in the evil waters. Similarly, the dove, the soul, went out from Noah’s ark, the body, and no longer returned to the body, as it is written, she “did not return again to him anymore.”
20. When Noah was in the ark, he feared that the Creator might never remember him. Once the iniquities of the world had passed, it is written, “And God remembered Noah.