324) “The song of songs that is for Solomon.” When the Creator, who is Bina, created His world, a desire appeared within Him and He created the heaven, ZA. On His right are Hassadim and on His left, the earth, Nukva, Gevurot. And a desire appeared in Him to establish the day and the night so they would come into a coupling, as it is written, “And there was evening and there was morning, one day.”
He created the angels who are appointed by His grace—and extend from ZA—in the day, and created the angels and the appointees to sing at night, since the singing is illumination of Hochma that is drawn through the Nukva, called “night.” It is written, “By day the Lord will command His grace,” through the angels appointed over Hesed [grace], “And in the night His song shall be with me,” through the angels appointed over singing.
On the right are the appointees over Hesed; on the left, the appointees over singing. And those on the right listen to the singing of the day, the singing of the holy Israel, since Israel sing in the day. Those who sing at night listen to the singing of Israel in the daytime, as it is written, “The friends listen to your voice.”
325) One faction, from the left line, consists of three factions, three lines, and sings at night, as it is written, “She rises also while it is still night, and gives prey to her household.” If the left line is alone and does not comprise all three lines, no singing is extended from it. On the contrary, then all the judgments extend from it.
326) Ten things were created on the first day, among them are the quality of night, Malchut, and the quality of day, Tifferet. It is written about the quality of night, “She rises also while it is still night, and gives prey to her household and a law to her maidens.” Prey is judgments, as it is written, “And preys and there is none to rescue.” Law is also judgments, as it is written, “There the Lord made for them a statute and an ordinance,” and also, “His statutes and His ordinances for Israel,” “For it is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.” We learn from this that the quality of judgment governs at night.
327) Those who sing at night are ministers who rise above all the singers. When the living, the lower ones, begin to sing, the upper ones add strength to know and to attain all that they did not attain. Heaven and earth, ZON, add strength through this singing, too.
Singing is extension of Mochin of illumination of Hochma, whose root is only from the left line and from the Nukva, called “night,” and is extended in the form of a sentence. It was said that those who sing at night are the ministers who rise above all the singers. It is written, “She rises while it is still night, meaning the disclosure of Mochin of illumination of Hochma is called “rising,” and this rising applies only at night, the time of judgments in the Nukva. It is written, “And gives prey to her household and a law to her maidens,” since prey and law mean judgments.
It is known that it is impossible for the lower ones to extend Mochin if that Mochin does not first appear in all the Partzufim in the world of Atzilut and BYA that precede them. It was said that when the living lower ones begin to sing, the upper ones add strength, to know and to recognize and attain what they have no attained. This is so because when the lower ones begin to sing, which is obtainment of Mochin of Hochma, that Mochin had necessarily been revealed already in ZON and the angels that precede them. In this way, the lower ones add strength and illumination of Mochin in the upper ones.
328) Happy is the one who is rewarded with knowing that song, these Mochin of illumination of Hochma. One who is rewarded with that song will know the matters of Torah and wisdom and will balance and scrutinize and will add strength and might in what was and what will be. In that, Solomon was rewarded with knowing.
329) David had knowledge in it, for he obtained the Mochin of Hochma within reason, hence he established many songs and praises. Through them, he hinted to the future and added strength and might in the spirit of holiness, the Nukva, when she receives spirit from the holiness, Hochma. He knew about the Torah and the wisdom, and he balanced and scrutinized and added strength and might in the holy tongue, the Nukva, when she receives Daat from the holiness, Hochma.
330) Solomon was more rewarded with that song, and he knew the wisdom and balanced and researched and corrected many proverbs, and made a book out of that very song, as it is written, “I have made for myself male singers and female singers,” meaning I have acquired for myself to know a song of those upper songs under which it is as it is written, “The Song of Songs,” the song of those singers of above, a song that contains all the matters of Torah and wisdom, strength and might, in what was and in what is destined to be, which the singers of above sing.
331) Those who sing, the poets above, halted their singing until Levi was born. But since Levi was born, they sang, though it was as yet, incomplete. When Moses was born and Aaron was anointed and the Levites were sanctified, the song was completed and the singers above stood guard.
Reuben, Shimon, and Levi are HGT, three lines, right, left, and middle line. Hence, even when Shimon was born, the left line, from which the singing is extended, meaning illumination of Hochma, they still halted their singing because the left line cannot shine for lack of Hassadim. When Levi was born, meaning the middle line that sustains them both and clothes the Hochma on the left with the Hassadim on the right, then Hochma on the left shines, meaning the singing.
However, it is still incomplete, since the middle line itself should be divided into right and left, for the tribe of Levi was divided into priests, on the right, and Levites, on the left. And the Levites, the Hochma in the left line, must clothe in the priests’ light of Hassadim from the right. And then the Hochma shines in the Levites, as the Levites are sanctified by the priests, since holiness is Hochma.
At that time, the singing—the extension of Hochma—is complete, since it is extended through the left line in the middle line, the Levites, which are always connected to the priests and are their subjects.
When Moses was born and Aaron was anointed, Moses separated the tribe of Levi into priests—from the sons of Aaron—and Levites, the rest—meaning right and left. The Levites were sanctified because the Hochma in them clothed in the illumination of Hassadim in the priests. Thus, the song was completed, since it is extended from the phase of the left in the middle line, and not from the actual left line. At that time, the ministers above stood guard in the night shifts, when the angels sing.
332) When Levi was born, they opened above and said, meaning the Shechina told ZA, “Who would make you like a brother to me,” meaning that you will impart Hochma within me, since with respect to the Hochma, ZON are called brother and sister.
“Who nursed at my mother's breasts,” for then both of them suckle from Bina and are on the same degree.
“If I found you outside, I would kiss you,” since illumination of Hochma without Hassadim, externality, asked of him to be able to kiss him and shine from him, even when she is in externality.
“No one would despise me, either,” since in the externality, the shells awaken to despise the Shechina, as it is written, “Sin crouches at the door,” and she asked that they would not be able to despise her.
All this was before the middle line, Levi, prevailed and sustained the two lines, right and left, because of which it, too, inherits those two lines himself, priests and Levites.
When the poets below came from the tribe of Levi, after they were divided into right and left, priests and Levites, they were all sanctified, meaning that the Hochma in the Levites was sanctified by their clothing in the priests’ Hassadim. And the ministers of above stood guard, and the angels were sanctified in correspondence with the Levites, friends as one, since the acts of the lower ones complement the upper ones, and then the worlds become one. And one king is over them means that after all these corrections, Solomon came and made a book out of that song of those ministers, and the Hochma [wisdom] was concealed in him.
333) The ministers below are called “Levites” because they accompany and join above as one [Livui means accompanying], and because one who hears the singing becomes accompanying and his soul clings upwards, in the Creator. This is why Leah said, “My husband be joined unto me.” This is why he was called “Levi,” since the whole of the seed of Levi accompanied the Shechina in Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, and in all his seed after him. Also, they are the ones that follow the Creator, to serve Him.
334) When the poets above stood above, they did not stand in their guard until the three brothers were born: Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. It is one thing with Moses and Aaron, but why Miriam? However, it is written, “I have made for myself male singers and female singers,” and it is written, “And Miriam answered them, ‘Sing to the Lord, For He has triumphed gloriously.’”
335) At the time when Levi was born, the Creator took him and chose him out of all his brothers, and settled him in the land. He bore Kehat, and Kehat bore Amram, who bore Aaron and Miriam. He retired from his wife and returned her. At that time, the singers of above stood and sang. The Creator admonished them and the song subsided. Finally, his right line leaned and he reached out to Amram.
336) Why is he called Amram [Hebrew: high nation]? It is because a nation higher than all the nations emerged from him, and his name was not mentioned. Why was his name not mentioned? It is because he walked humbly, and humbly returned to his wife, so he would not be recognized. It is written, “And a man walked.” It is not said, “And Amram walked,” in public. “And took the daughter of Levi.” She, too, returned humbly, and her name was not mentioned.