The Creation of the World

229. The world was created in ten utterances. “And God said” is mentioned nine times in the work of creation. “In the beginning [God] created” is also regarded as an utterance, and there are ten utterances. And some say, “The world was created in one utterance,” since it is written, “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made,” without an utterance. The verse, “For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast,” is only one utterance.

230. And some say it is neither, not in ten utterances or in one utterance, but the world was created in one letter, which is Hey, without an utterance. These are the words of the The Zohar in the name of Rabbi Elazar.

Now The Zohar brings the words of Rabbi Elazar verbatim. He says, “The Creator took one letter from His name, from the name HaVaYaH, and with that letter, the world was created, as it is written, “Who is like You among the gods, Lord,” who can create the world like You, with one letter?

231. In other words, the world was created with the Hey of HaVaYaH, truly with one letter. Thus, with what will we explain the verse, “For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast,” and the words, “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made,” for it means that the world was created with an utterance? However, it is to show the world that it was created by the Creator, but the creation could not be revealed, and each one had to be revealed, so each and every one would elicit his actions and the forces suitable for him, and for this, an utterance was needed.

232. The whole world and all their generations were created in one moment, created in one hour, and created in one day, as it is written, “These are the generations of the heaven and the earth when they were created, in the day when the Lord God made.” On that very day and in that very hour, and at that very moment.

233. Before the Creator created the world, there was “He is one and His name One.” There was nothing besides Him, and He contemplated creating the world. But first, He created a thousand worlds, as it is written, “The thousand is to you, Solomon,” the Hochma [wisdom], called “one thousand.” Afterwards, he created other worlds, and therefore He first created a thousand worlds, created the Hochma, in order to first alert that everything is nothing compared to Him.

234. Aleph is the first among the letters since in the beginning He created Eleph [one thousand] worlds, which preceded the rest of the worlds, since Aleph is Eleph. Afterwards there is Bet, which implies the Binian [construction/building] of heaven and earth, which was with Hassadim, as it is written, “For I said, ‘The world will be built on Hesed [mercy/kindness].”

In the beginning, the throne, of which it is written in Daniel, “A thousand thousands will serve him.” Following him are the rest of the angels and the earth, which are the house of the world. Afterwards there is Gimel, which is the Garden of Eden, which is the Gemul [reward] for the righteous. After that there is Dalet, which is the man, who is made of the four directions of the world.

235. The forces of judgment were surrounding the abyss, and the abyss was ascending and descending, and one letter was expanding over the abyss with its three kinds of brightness, and the abyss was quieted, as it is written, “And the spirit of God hovered over the face of the water.”

Bina is called “sea.” Malchut that rose to Bina and made a new Sium [end] in her in the place of Bina in Bina, meaning in the place of Bina of the sea, is called “abyss.” When Malchut exits the abyss once more, a left line is made in Bina. At that time, a dispute occurs between the right line and the left line. When the left prevails, the heavens ascend; and when the right prevails, they descend to the abyss.

When the left line of Bina came out, the forces of judgment were surrounding the abyss, as it is written, “will ascend to heaven, will go down to the abyss.” The abyss was ascending and descending, for when the left prevails, the heavens rise, and when the right prevails, they go down to the abyss. This continued until one letter expanded with its three kinds of brightness over the abyss, which is ZA that rose to Bina and unified the right and the left of Bina with one another, and three lines emerged there on the abyss. The abyss quieted, for then the dispute that was over the abyss had quieted.

236. It is written, “The waters saw You, God; the waters saw You, they were afraid; the depths also trembled.” “The waters saw You” concerns ZA, the middle line, which diminished the left line in the water of Bina and unified it with the right. At that time, the waters feared and even trembled, and stopped their war against each other, and were united and quieted.

237. There were a thousand worlds before the world was created, and the brightness of His glory was expanding and created worlds and destroyed them in the breaking of the vessels of Nekudim, until it emerged in His will to create the world of correction.

Two letters expanded from His name, which are KH, and He sustained them so they would not be canceled. Two other ones, which are Bina and ZA, were engraved above, in GAR of Bina, and below, in VAK of Bina, one inside one. He engraved one and it became three. He engraved another letter, and it became two, until they amounted to ten.

These ten expanded and became thirty-two paths of wisdom. These expanded in their engraving to another ten, and became forty-two. From here on, anyone who looks, looks with fear of the heart. He will close, but it is not opened for him. It is written about it, “I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to idols,” and it is written, “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness.”

The breaking of the vessels of Nekudim was because of the revealing of the inner AVI, Hochma of direct light. Because of it, when Malchut went out from Bina and the light of GAR returned, Hochma was promptly drawn from above downward to BYA, and the vessels broke and died, since anything that exits from world to world is regarded as death.

Therefore, after the breaking of the vessels, when the Emanator corrected the ten Sefirot of Atzilut, He concealed the inner AVI, Hochma of direct light, and concealed it in the Rosh of AA in a way that none of it would be revealed to the lower ones. These AVI, which were established in Atzilut, went out in GAR of Bina, pure air, Hassadim without Hochma.

In order to shine Hochma to the worlds, another Hochma was established in its place, Hochma of the thirty-two paths. Not Hochma of direct light, but from Bina that returned to being Hochma. That Hochma emerged through the raising of MAN of ZA to Bina.

ZA is the twenty-two letters of the Torah. When it is connected with the ten Sefirot of Bina, it is thirty-two in Gematria. When ZA ascends and connects with Bina, Bina ascends to the Rosh of AA and returns to being Hochma, and the Hochma that is revealed is only Hochma of the thirty-two paths. However, Hochma of direct light was concealed in the Rosh of AA, and none of it will be revealed before the end of correction.

One thousand means Hochma, as in the words, “I will teach you wisdom.” Before the world was created, there were a thousand worlds, meaning the Hochma of direct light, which was revealed in those worlds. For this reason, He was building worlds and destroying them, which is the ten Sefirot of Nekudim that emerged but did not persist, but were rather canceled and broke. That was because of the Hochma of direct light that was revealed, for in the exit of Malchut from Bina, she expanded and went out from the world of Atzilut to the worlds of the separated BYA.

Until it emerged in His desire to create the four worlds ABYA, who are called “the world of correction,” and were established in a manner that the incident of the breaking of the vessels will not happen again, and they will persist. Two letters expanded from His name: Yod-Hey, GAR of the world of correction. He sustained them, made a correction in them that they would persist and would not be canceled as in the time of the breaking of the vessels. That correction was that He concealed the inner AVI that operated in Nekudim, which are a thousand worlds, so they would no longer shine.

In order to extend illumination of Hochma in the world, two other ones were drawn instead of Hochma of [direct light]: Bina and ZA, which connect above, in GAR of Bina, upper AVI, and below, in ZA of Bina, YESHSUT. This is so because the rising of MAN of ZA to Bina is in two places, in GAR of Bina and in VAK of Bina.

Through raising MAN of ZA in the GAR of Bina, Bina returns to being Hochma. Also, through the ascent of ZA in the VAK of Bina, three lines were established in her, where one entered into one, ZA inside Bina.

Now The Zohar interprets the construction of the Sefirot that emerged through the connection of ZA and Bina. It says, “engraved one and it became three,” for by engraving one, raising ZA to Bina, three emerged, three lines emerged in Bina, since ZA united the two lines right and left in Bina, making the three lines HBD, where the two lines right and left are HB, and ZA is their middle line, Daat.

Since ZA caused the three lines in Bina, he, too, obtained the two lines right and left in Bina, which is itself their middle line. This is why it was said “engraved another letter,” ZA, and it became two, where he, too, obtained the two lines in Bina, and he, too, was made in three lines until they amounted to ten, until they expanded into the ten Sefirot of ZA.

Now it explains what is done of the two ascents of ZA to AVI and YESHSUT. The ten Sefirot of ZA expanded through raising MAN to YESHSUT, and became the thirty-two paths of wisdom. Through this expansion that is extended from the raising of MAN of ZA to YESHSUT, the thirty-two paths of wisdom are drawn, since the three lines that it obtained from YESHSUT reveal the Hochma of the thirty-two paths.

Anyone who looks, looks with fear of the heart. Looking means seeing [vision], Hochma. One who looks, who draws Hochma, will look only through the thirty-two paths of Hochma in a manner of three lines, where the Hochma is revealed only in the left line, where there are judgments that threaten the wicked so they do not draw Hochma from above downward. This is the meaning of looking with fear of the heart, in the left line, where that Hochma of the thirty-two paths is revealed, where the heart is afraid of the judgments.

From the perspective of Hochma of direct light, which is concealed in forty-two, it was said, “He will close, but it is not opened for him,” since Hochma was concealed in MS of AA, with a crust that never opens. It is written about that, “I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another,” for one who wants to draw Hochma of direct light commits idol-worship.