And God Tested Abraham

484) It is written, “You are my King, O God.” This is the completeness of all the degrees as one, tied to one another, for in the verse “You are my King, O God,” there is the totality of all the degrees HGT and Malchut. “You” means Hesed, “God” is Gevura, “are” is Tifferet, and “my King” is Malchut.

485) It is also written, “Command the salvation of Jacob” means that all those messengers who carry out missions in the world will all be from the side of mercy and will not be from the side of judgment. This is because there are emissaries from the side of mercy, and there are those from the side of harsh judgment. And the ones that come from the side of mercy do not perform missions of judgment at all.

486) And if you say that the angel that appeared to Balaam was an emissary of mercy, he never changed into executing judgment, but was an emissary of mercy, to protect Israel and be their advocate. And correspondingly, he was judgment for Balaam. So are the ways of the Creator: when He benefits one, this benefit is judgment for another. So was the messenger of mercy for Israel—he turned into judgment for Balaam. This is why David asked, “Command the salvation of Jacob,” meaning command the world that when they send a messenger, he will be from the side of mercy.

487) “Command the salvation of Jacob” means that he prayed for Jacob, who were in exile, that they will have salvation at the time of exile. Tifferet of the patriarchs was Jacob. Had it not been for Isaac, Jacob would not have come to the world. For this reason, he said, “Command the salvation of Jacob,” which is Isaac, who is Jacob’s salvation. Because Isaac was saved at the tying, it was Jacob’s salvation.

488) It is written, “And it came to pass after these things, and the God tested Abraham.” “And it came to pass after these things” was said about grief, after the bottom degree of the upper degrees of Atzilut, which is “things,” Malchut.

489) After this degree, Malchut, “God tested Abraham.” This means that the evil inclination came from there to slander before the Creator, and this is why He tested Abraham. “And it came to pass after these things” is that there was slandering of the evil inclination, whose place is past the Malchut, who is called “things.” Hence, “And God tested Abraham.”

It is written, “And God tested Abraham.” But it should have said Isaac, since Isaac was already thirty-seven years old and his father was no longer punishable for him. Had Isaac said, “I do not want,” his father would not be punished for him. Hence, why does it say, “And God tested Abraham” and not “tested Isaac”?

490) It certainly should have said Abraham, for he needed to be included in the judgment because previously, there was no judgment in Abraham and he was all Hesed. But now water became mingled with fire, Hesed with judgment. Thus far, Abraham was incomplete, and he was crowned to pass judgment and correct the judgment in its place, since there is illumination of Hochma only in the left line.

Hence, before Abraham was included in Isaac, left line, he was incomplete, meaning he lacked illumination of Hochma. And through the tying, Isaac was mingled and was thus crowned with illumination of Hochma and was completed. It is said that he was crowned to pass judgment in the tying, by which the judgment was corrected, meaning the illumination of the left in its place, when he was included in Abraham's place, in Hesed.

491) All his days he was incomplete, until now when he mingled water with fire, meaning right with left, and fire with water, meaning left with right. For this reason, it is written, “And God tested Abraham,” not Isaac, since the Creator invited Abraham to be included in judgment, in left. And when he performed the act of tying, the fire entered the water, meaning the judgment entered Hesed, and one was completed with the other.

Thus, the judgment of the tying made them mingle with one another. This is the reason why the evil inclination came to accuse Abraham that he was not properly completed before he performed the judgment of the tying on Isaac, since the place of the evil inclination is after the “things,” the Malchut, as it is written, “Sin crouches at the door” and comes to slander.

492) Even though it says Abraham and not Isaac, Isaac is included in the verse “And God tested Abraham,” as well. It writes “Et Abraham” [“of Abraham,” appears only in the Hebrew]. Et implies Isaac, since at that time, Isaac was in the lower Gevura, in the Nukva. Since he was tied and was properly set in judgment by Abraham, Isaac was crowned with Abraham in his place, and fire was mingled with water and rose—Abraham to Hesed that rose to Hochma, and Isaac to Gevura that rose to Bina. Then the dispute was properly settled since they had made peace between them because fire and water were included in one another.

493) Who saw a merciful father being cruel to his son? But to settle the dispute—mingle water with fire, meaning Abraham's Hesed with Isaac’s fire—they were crowned in their places. But this was until the arrival of Jacob, the middle line, when everything was erected properly and they became three complete patriarchs, and became a Merkava [structure, vehicle] for the three upper lines, and the upper ones and lower ones were corrected.

494) “And He said, ‘Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah.’” How could Abraham take Isaac his son since he was old? “Take” means to continue with “things.”

“Go to the land of Moriah,” as it is written, “I will get me to the mountain of myrrh,” to correct in the place that is worthy of correction. Myrrh and Moriah are one—the place of the Temple. This is the place that is worthy of correction. And The Zohar brings proof of that in the words “I will get me to the mountain of myrrh,” which is said of the Creator, for the Creator Himself goes there, to correct the Nukva. This is why the Creator told Abraham, too, to go there to correct himself, as well as Isaac his son.

Cabalá Media

Cabalá Media

Área personalIniciar sesión para me gusta, guardar y suscribirse a videos

Ask the Kabbalist (Russian)

Ask the Kabbalist (Russian)

Ask the Kabbalist (Russian)

Cabalá MediaDerecho de autor 2003-2026 Benei Baruj ‘ Cabalá LaAm

Área personal
Iniciar sesión para me gusta, guardar y suscribirse a videos

Cabalá Media
Derecho de autor 2003-2026 Benei Baruj ‘ Cabalá LaAm