251. If he has one letter behind the right ear, and an inscription of a freckle, with one hair hanging at the top of his ear, and the little finger in his left hand is bent, then his wife will come true and bear sons and daughters.
If she has these signs, one son from among her sons will kneel and fall between her legs, to be a springing fountain in the Torah. He will approach and elicit fountains and streams in the Torah, and after a few years, will perish from the world.
252. That child is of those one thousand children who pass away from Rosh Hashanah [beginning of the Hebrew year] to Rosh Hashanah. That number was in the early days, but once the Temple has been ruined, only sixty children were found, minus one, who depart from Rosh Hashanah to Rosh Hashanah. They are the ones who depart from the world while emitting scent, meaning before they come to sin, before it is their time to exit the world.
253. This is so because when the Creator comes to teach Torah to those children who depart from the world while emitting scent, before it is their time, they are the first in those matters that an ear has never heard before.
The Creator said to that appointee whose name is Yofiel, who stands and ties ties, meaning unifies unifications of the Torah, “Who is it who came before Me?” as it is written, “Who has preceded Me, that I should pay,” and I will indeed pay.
254. At that time, the Creator called Matat, who was standing inside the curtain of the screen, and sixty thousand myriads (six hundred million) of those with the wisdom of Torah around him, and he was tying ties to his lord. The Creator told him, “Who has preceded Me? Who has preceded Me, that I should pay? Is he registered among the members of your seminary, or not?”
Matat said to Him, “Lord of the world, he is not in my seminary; he is among the members of Your seminary. All those before me, in my seminary, are under all the heaven, as it is written, “Everything under heaven is Mine.”
255. There are two seminaries above: the seminary of that boy Matat, and the high seminary of the Creator. Wherever we learned “upper seminary,” it is the Creator’s, and wherever we learn “seminary of the firmament,” it is Matat’s.
256. Then the Creator said to him, “So summon him to Me; take him out from the world and bring him to Me; summon him and I will smell him, as it is written, ‘My beloved went down to his garden, to the flowerbed of perfume, to pasture in the gardens and pick roses.’” “My beloved” is the Creator, as it is written, “My beloved is to me, and I am to him, who pastures in the roses.” “Went down to his garden” is the barn of the firmament, which stands like a barn. “To the flowerbeds of perfume” is the seminary of Matat. “To pasture in the gardens and pick roses,” to visit and look at those seminaries of His.
What is “to pick roses”? Do not pronounce it Shoshanim [roses] but Sheshonim [who study]. They are the ones who are the first to give of scent in this world; they are picked up and depart from this world before their time.
257. At that time, the boy Matat called Gabriel, of whom it is written, “who had the writer’s inkhorn at his waist,” and said to him, “Write a letter and give it to the angel of death regarding so and so, to pluck him from the world.
He promptly departs, and is first raised to the seminary of Matat, where he says the learning he has brought with him. He learns there what he learns, and then he is brought up to the upper seminary of the Creator, and he is destined for His seminary. There, He plays with them, with innovations in the Torah, with those who are His, and with high secrets and flavors of Torah that were concealed from him in this world.
258. Yofiel, the great appointee, goes from the upper seminary and signs concealed matters and secrets of the Torah from the two seminaries. Anything that is asked in the seminary of the firmament, of Matat, those in the upper seminary answer, that of the Creator. This is so because there are no questions and queries in the upper seminary; rather, there are questions in the seminary of the firmament. Yofiel signs the words of Torah from the two seminaries properly, and it is written about it, “will go from strength to strength.”
259. In the days to come [end of correction], the questions and queries will depart from the seminary of Matat, as it is written, “will go from strength to strength, and it is written, “Peace be within your walls, tranquility within your palaces,” meaning that there will no more be questions, but only peace and tranquility. Thus far, the meaning of the eyes and looking at their colors have been clarified.
It is known that when a person is born, he has only the beastly soul, from the side of a pure beast. However, when he is sanctified and purifies himself in Torah and commandments to bring contentment to his maker, he is rewarded with attaining the five degrees of the soul called NRNHY.
At first, he receives the light of Nefesh from Malchut of Atzilut, which sines in the world of Assiya. If he is rewarded more, he receives the light of Ruach from ZA of Atzilut, which shines in the world of Yetzira. When he receives from ZA, he receives from the three lines in him—right, left, and middle—one at a time.
At first, he receives from the right line of ZA, which shines in a state of Hassadim without Hochma, for at that time, he has only VAK of Ruach without a Rosh. When he is rewarded more, he receives from the left of ZA before he unites with the right through the middle line, for then it is Hochma without Hassadim. At that time, he is rewarded with GAR of Ruach. A person cannot persist very long in this degree, since he might sin, meaning draw Hochma from above downward, and then he will fall to the shells.
For this reason, before he comes into a sin, the Creator takes him from the world and corrects him in the two upper seminaries of Matat and of the Creator in the same way that the Creator, who is the middle line, acts to correct the left line and unite it with the right. Then, he reincarnates into this world and receives from the middle line of ZA the completion of the degrees: Neshama, Haya, Yechida. Hence, anyone who is rewarded with the degree of GAR of Ruach is called “a child” because he will not be able to live long, since the Creator takes him from the world so he does not sin, and he must reincarnate.
It was said, “This child is from those one thousand children who pass away from the world from Rosh Hashanah to Rosh Hashanah,” since those in the degree of GAR of Ruach are implied by the name “one thousand,” for then they receive Hochma from the left line of ZA, and Hochma is called “one thousand. Mochin of GAR of Ruach are the lights of the first state of Malchut, which shine on Rosh Hashanah before the blowing of the Shofar [ram’s horn blown on special dates]. This is the intimation that they perish from the world because they are from Rosh Hashanah to Rosh Hashanah, which are the Mochin of judgment that govern on Rosh Hashanah. For this reason, for fear that they might sin, the Creator removes them from the world.
The number one thousand in completeness was in Malchut in the early days, in the first state of Malchut. However, since the Temple was ruined, after the diminution of Malchut, who is called “the Temple,” and she was ruined from the degree of the first state and came to the second state, only sixty children minus one were found, who depart from Rosh Hashanah to Rosh Hashanah.
This is so because in the second state, GAR of Hochma have been diminished, and only VAK of Hochma, HGT NHY, remained in her. Since each Sefira contains ten, they are sixty. But they lack one Sefira from them, Malchut of the ten Sefirot in Yesod, who cannot receive Hochma because there is illumination from Malchut of the quality of judgment in her, which is restricted so as not to receive Hochma.
These are the ones who depart from the world while still emitting scent, before they come to sin, for as long as they use Hochma in a state of from below upward, which is called “scent,” they depart, for fear that they might come to draw from above downward, which is the sin of the tree of knowledge. After they pass away from the world, the Creator takes them and filters them in the way that the middle line corrects the left line in order to unite it with the right.
When the Creator comes to teach Torah to those children that departed from the world while emitting scent, prematurely, meaning that He wishes to correct them in the middle line, for their light of the left to unite with the right, since the middle line is called Torah, they are the first in those matters. That is, the ear has not heard them before, meaning their light of the left is from the left line, which precedes the correction of the middle line, so they are incomplete.
The Creator said to that appointee whose name is Yofiel, the minister of wisdom who stands and ties the ties of Torah, who stands and unifies the unifications of the Torah, the middle line, called Torah, who watches over the Hochma that is comprised of right and left, He therefore asks him, “Who has preceded Me?” Who is the one who preceded the correction of the middle line, who took from the left line before he united with the right, and who is then in a correction of Hochma without Hassadim. Who is the one who preceded to receive Hochma of the left before I corrected it, and I must complete it with the correction of the left line, and I will certainly complete it.
We must know that as ZA is the middle line in the world of Atzilut, and includes HGT NHY, so Matat is the middle line in the world of Beria, and contains four animals: lion, ox, eagle, and man, which are Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael.
Matat contains the four animals like ZA contains VAK. Thus, ZA, the middle line in Atzilut, stands and dresses in Matat, the middle line, between the animals in the world of Beria. It follows that Matat is he vehicle that the middle line rides, and the Creator, ZA, rides Matat.
However, since Matat is the middle line, like ZA, what is the difference between Matat and ZA, and why must the Creator ride on Matat? It is so because all the power of the middle line to subdue the left line and unite it with the right is in the power of the screen of Hirik in it, which diminishes the light of the left into VAK, and by this unites it with the right.
However, it is known that there is no screen at all in the world of Atzilut, and it is all one, and there are screens only from the world of Beria and below, which are below the Parsa below Atzilut. Thus, from where does ZA have the screen of Hirik with which to subdue the left line?
This is the need for ZA of Atzilut to clothe Matat in the world of Beria at that time, and Matat is the carrier of the screen of Hirik. When ZA is clothed with Matat, he has the power to subdue the left with the screen of Hirik in Matat.
This is the meaning of the two seminaries that are brought before us. The illuminations bestowed from the middle line to the souls are called “seminaries.” The upper seminary is in ZA in the world of Atzilut, and these illuminations come without a screen at all. The bottom seminary, where the illuminations of the middle line come by the power of the judgments in the screen of Hirik, is called “the seminary of Matat,” since he is the carrier of the screen of Hirik.
However, there are two forces in the screen of Hirik: 1) the force of the lock, who is from Malchut of the quality of judgment, 2) the force of the key, Malchut who is sweetened in Bina.
The screen of Hirik that there is in Matat is the second screen of the sweetened Malchut, who is called “a key,” but the first screen, called “lock,” is not at all in Matat.
According to what has been explained, it is clear that after those children pass away from the world while they are emitting scent, they must receive above a correction of the middle line, and that correction comes to them only through the Creator, the middle line in Atzilut, and through Matat, the middle line in the world of Beria, and then they are ready to reincarnate and receive their correction in full.
First, The Zohar explains the death of the children, which comes through the middle line in the world of Beria, Matat, who carries the screen of Hirik. However, there is death only from the lock, Malchut of the first restriction, for wherever she appears, the light of life flees from there due to the restriction that she has been restricted so as not to receive life, Hochma.
And in the screen of Hirik in Matat, there is no lock at all. For this reason, he, too, must use others to reveal for him the screen of the lock, which is the first necessary operation in the screen of Hirik.
For this reason, he is assisted in this by Gabriel and by the angel of death, for in order to reveal the lock, he must first awaken the left line, Gabriel, and at the end of the left line, the lock awakens, as it is written, “Sin crouches at the door.”
As it is written about Gabriel, “who had the writer’s inkhorn at his waist,” the force of the lock that awakens through him is the writer’s inkhorn with which he writes a writing to the angel of death to take his soul, since the angel of death does not put to death unless by revealing the lock.
You find that Matat can reveal the screen of Hirik in his first operation, the lock, only through Gabriel and the angel of death, and through this operation, all the illumination of the left line departs from those children, and then they die.
Afterwards, Matat accepts them into his seminary, where the force of the lock is concealed, and they receive the force of the screen of Hirik of the seminary of Matat, the screen of the key, the second operation of the middle line. At that time, the right and the left unite through the middle line in the world of Atzilut, which is the seminary of the Creator, and through these two seminaries, they receive the soul that is extended through the middle line.
In order to complete the children, as it is written, “Who has preceded Me, that I should pay,” the Creator calls Matat, since the Creator, the middle line, wants to complete them with the middle line, which does two operations in the screen of Hirik until it unites the light of Hochma in the left with the Hassadim in the right, for this reason, He must ride on Matat, who has the screen of Hirik.
Matat stands inside the curtain of the screen, the screen of Hirik, of which he is the carrier, and sixty thousand myriads of those with the wisdom of the Torah are around him, for he contains Hochma of the left and Hassadim of the right in one unification. The Hochma of the left is called sixty thousand. One thousand is Hochma, and sixty indicates that they are VAK of Hochma, where each comprises ten, and they are sixty. Myriad indicates the existence of Hassadim, which are manifold. The Hochma of the Torah means the Hochma that is received through the Torah, who is the middle line.
He ties ties to his lord, for by the power of the screen of Hirik that he carries, he unites the right and the left of his lord—who is ZA, who rides him—with each other.
The Creator asked him “Who has preceded Me, who has preceded Me that I should pay?” Who is the one who preceded Me, who received from the illumination of the left before I corrected him with the middle line? Behold, I must complete him. Is he registered among the members of your seminary, or not? Has he already received the correction of the screen of Hirik, which is applied in the members of your seminary, or not? That is, he awakened Matat to correct him through the screen of Hirik.
Matat said to him, “Lord of the world, he is not in my seminary, meaning he has not received anything from the power of the screen that is applied among the members of my seminary; he is among the members of Your seminary, meaning that there is still no incorporation of the screen in him, and he is similar to the souls from Atzilut from the seminary of the Creator, in which there is no screen. All those before me in my seminary are below all the heavens, for the members of the seminary of Matat are below the heavens, where there are already screens.”
There are two seminaries above: the seminary of the Creator from souls that have no screen in them, and the seminary of Matat, from souls that have screens in them. At that time, the Creator told him, “Pluck him, that I may smell him,” that He will correct those children with the correction of the middle line with the two operations: 1) Through the lock, which completely removes the light of the left, and causes the death of the children. This is why he said, “pluck him,” meaning they exit this world. 2) Through the key, which corrects the children to receive VAK of Hochma, who are called “scent.” “That I may smell him,” that the scent will be drawn in him, VAK of Hochma.
It is written, “My beloved went down to his garden, to the flowerbed of perfume.” “My beloved” is the Creator, the middle line. “Went down to his garden” is the barn of the firmament, the left line in the firmament, which, before it unites with the right, is called “a barn,” from the words “living in a foreign land” [in Hebrew], since they receive from the left without right, feeling themselves as living in a foreign land. The Creator went down to that barn in order to correct it with the screen of Hirik and unite it with the right.
“The flowerbed of perfume” is the seminary of Matat, who is called “fragrant perfume,” since through him, VAK of Hochma, which are called “scent,” are corrected.
“To pasture in the gardens and pick roses” means to visit and look at those seminaries of his, to correct the left through the two seminaries, where from the first seminary, he takes the screen of Hirik, and in the upper seminary, he unites the left with the right.
“And pick roses” means the roses that are early to give of scent in this world, the children who are standing on the degree of GAR of Ruach, who are early to receive the scent of Hochma from the left line before it receives the correction of the middle line. And while they give off scent, when they receive Hochma from below upward, who is called “scent,” they are plucked and exit the world so they do not fail in drawing the Hochma from above downward.
And now it explains how Matat can reveal the screen of the lock, which is the first operation of the screen of Hirik, since there is nothing in it from the state of the lock, for it only carries the screen of the key. After the Creator told him to awaken two operations of the screen of Hirik on them, Matat begins to work.
At first, he goes to awaken the screen of the lock, and it is said, “Then the boy Matat called Gabriel,” awakening the left line, who is called Gabriel. It is written, “who had the writer’s inkhorn at his waist,” for at the end of the left line there is the lock, as it is written, “Sin crouches at the door,” and it is called “the writer’s inkhorn,” since with it, he writes writings to the angel of death and gives him the power to put to death, since the angel of death puts to death only by the force of the revelation of the lock, which is revealed by Gabriel. “At his waist” means at his end.
He said to him, “Write a letter and give to the angel of death regarding so and so, to pluck him from the world,” meaning to awaken his writers’ inkhorn, the revelation of the lock, and give it to the angel of death. This is the first operation of the screen of Hirik which reveals the screen of the lock, which cancels all the illumination of the left line from the children, and then they are given to the angel of death, and they die with the revelation of the lock.
Now there is a need for the second correction of the screen of Hirik, to conceal the lock and reveal the key, for by this, the children will be able to receive the VAK of Hochma that are united with Hassadim, the light of Neshama. It was said that first, he is elevated to the seminary of Matat in order to receive the screen of the key from him, which qualifies him to receive his VAK of Hochma. There he says his learning which he has brought with him, and there, in the screen of Matat, he receives his learning once more, the Hochma, but only to the extent of VAK. Afterwards, he is elevated to the upper seminary of the Creator, where he will receive the lights without any screen at all.
Yofiel, the great appointee, goes from the upper seminary and seals concealments and secrets of the Torah from the two seminaries. Through the screens in the seminary of Matat, he takes the unified lights of Hochma and of Hassadim in the seminary of the Creator.
The reason for the need for two seminaries is that anything that is asked in the seminary of the firmament, of Matat, those in the upper seminary, that of the Creator, answer. All the judgments in the screen of the seminary of Matat are sweetened by the lights in the seminary of the Creator, for were it not for the screen and the judgments in the seminary of Matat, the unified lights of right and left in the seminary of the Creator would not be. For this reason, they are as praised as the light, since they caused them.
There is no screen at all in the seminary of the Creator in Atzilut, since the screens begin from the Parsa below Atzilut and downward. There are no questions and queries in the upper seminary, the seminary of the Creator, for there are no screens and judgments there. Rather, in the seminary of the firmament there are questions, in the seminary of Matat in the world of Beria. For this reason, Yofiel must seal the secrets of Torah from the two seminaries together, for one complements the other, and only from the two of them do the words of Torah, the lights, ascend and correct properly.
In the days to come, the questions and queries will depart from the seminary of the firmament of Matat. In the days to come, when the lock is corrected, as it is written, “Death will be swallowed up forever,” all the screens and judgments in the three worlds BYA will be canceled, and BYA will return to being Atzilut. Then you will find that the questions and queries will have departed, which are the screens and the judgments from the seminary of the firmament in the world of Beria.