196. “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” “The heaven and the earth,” acronym AHVH [Aleph-Hey-Vav-Hey, in Hebrew], in which the heaven and earth were created. Aleph-Hey, the heaven were created in it; Vav-Hey, the earth and all that is in it were created in it. It is what gives passion in all the trees and the herbs on the earth to grow. This is the meaning of what they said, “You have not a blade of grass below that does not have an angel over it from above, who strikes it and tells it, ‘Grow!’” The passion to grow is extended from the name Vav-Hey, as it is written, “Do you know the ordinances of heaven? Can you establish their rule on the earth?”
The combination Aleph-Hey indicates the roots of the three lines right, left, and middle in Bina. Aleph has the form of three lines: The top Yod in it is the right line; the bottom Yod in it is the left line; and the line between the two letters Yod is the middle line.
Hey is Bina, in which the shape of the letter is rooted. Vav is ZA, who receives from the name Aleph-Hey. All that is in it, it receives from the Aleph-Hey. For this reason, the name Aleph-Hey is regarded as a seal, for all the elements that there are in the seal are passed on to what is imprinted from it. Similarly, all the elements that are in the Aleph-Hey are imprinted in the Vav, ZA.
For this reason, Aleph, which is three lines in Bina, is the Rosh and the root of all the elements of the lights that emerge from Bina to ZA, for all the elements in ZA are imprinted from the Aleph in the first Hey.
The combination Vav-Hey indicates that once the Vav, ZA, has been imprinted by the combination Aleph-Hey, it bestows all that is in it to Malchut. Here, too, they are as similar as a seal and imprint, for all the elements that are in the bottom Hey, Malchut, have been imprinted from the Vav, ZA. The three worlds BYA were imprinted similarly: Beria was imprinted from Malchut, Yetzira from Beria, and Assiya from Yetzira. Hence, the name AHVH is a seal in which the heaven and earth, and all that is in them were imprinted.
Aleph-Hey, the heaven were created in it, meaning that all the lights found in the heaven, ZA, called Vav, emerged from the shape of the Aleph in the first Hey. All the lights and elements that are found in ZA were imprinted from the combination Aleph-Hey. Vav-Hey, in which the earth and all that is in it were created, meaning that from the bestowal of Vav, ZA, to the bottom Hey, Malchut, emerged all the elements that are found in the earth, Malchut. Also, all that is in her, which are the three worlds BYA, were all imprinted and emerged from one another like a seal and imprint.
This is why they said, “You have not a blade of grass below that does not have an angel over it from above, who strikes it and tells it, ‘Grow!’” “That does not have an angel over it from above” since the world emerged as an imprint in the name AHVH. You find that the forms and the elements and sub-elements down to the last detail that can even be detailed were imprinted in the bottom one because their form is so in the seal in the world above it. You find that they appear in the bottom one because the upper one strikes it and tells it “Grow!” in this way and not in another way.
“You have not a blade of grass below” means that there is not even the smallest item in the world of Assiya that does not have an angel over it from above, that does not have an upper force on it in the world of Yetzira. This is so because the forces in the world of Yetzira are called “angels,” meaning that that element that is found in the world of Yetzira requires its corresponding element, which is imprinted by it in the world of Assiya, to acquire precisely its form, like a seal and imprint. It strikes it, forcing it, and telling it “Grow!” in a form that corresponds to me!” This is that angel and force in Yetzira from which the grass in Assiya is imprinted.