Taamim, Dots, and Letters

583. When Malchut rose up in singing, the king stretched out his right to her, Hesed, to welcome her. He took her in his arms, between Hesed and Gevura, and told her words of love. He commanded to give her gifts and presents, and great honor. He said, “We will make for you turtledoves of gold with dots of silver.” Turtledoves of gold are the phrasing of the Taamim [reading intonation marks] in the letters, since they teach the way by which to move the letters, whether to the right, for drawing Hesed, or to the left, for drawing Hochma of the left.

584. They are called “turtledoves” because when the turn [same word as turtledove, in Hebrew] and time of that degree comes to give to Malchut through Yesod, he makes in it a record of Taamim, to move and to walk in that way they need to walk. Also, when the turn and time of another degree comes to give her, he makes in it a record of Taamim in a different manner, to move and to walk in the very same way that they need to walk in order to receive that bestowal. It is written about this, “The ways of the Lord are straight.” These are the movements of the Taamim, each as is appropriate for it.

585. They are called “turtledoves of gold” because the Taamim are hanging this way on the letters, like earrings hang on the ears, like the Taam [singular of Taamim] Talsha and the rest of the movements, which are earrings of corrections on the letters.

586. Words on which there are no Taamim, and in which there are no movements, are as the ears of a bride without earrings: They are devoid of correction. Words without dots are as a woman without clothes; she cannot go anyplace in the world. For this reason, the corrections of the letters are Taamim and movements, and these and those are corrections and clothes for the letters. Hence, turtledoves of gold are the movements of the Taamim.

587. Because they come from the king’s head, to give reason and understanding to all the letters, because of it, they all stand as one.

588. Dots and Taamim are two degrees, and both are required in order to correct the letters with them. The letters are inscribed in high secrets since they all emerge in sublime wisdom, in the thirty-two paths that come out from Hochma.

589. All the letters are engraved below, in Malchut, who inherits them, the oral Torah, Malchut. When all the letters come to correct her with these letters of hers, they make in her dots and Taamim, and it is written about this, “turtledoves of gold.”

590. There are high secrets here for those who know and sit on the throne of judgment, Malchut. The letters are all inscribed in secret, and they are called “the bodies of the Torah,” poised to learn and to know the sublime secrets.

591. The dots emerge from the Moach [brain] to sustain the letters in their correction, and with one dot, the meaning of the word changes and shifts the word from its meaning to another manner.

592. When that pure air made a coupling with the Moach, the hard spark copulated and did not copulate, reached that Moach and departed from it, reached and did not reach. At that time, that illumination of the coupling emerged from the Moach to the letters and the letters were punctuated.

593. It cannot be said that the dots are a correction to the text, since even if all the prophets of the world were as Moses, who received the Torah from Sinai, they would not have permission to change even one tiny dot in one letter, and even in the smallest letter in the Torah.

594. Once the illumination of the coupling has settled in the Moach from the perceived pure air, since there is pure air that is completely imperceptible, but that perceived air, when the illumination of the upper coupling settled in that Moach, all the movements of the Taamim come out.

They are Taamim for the letters, like the bridle to the horse, to walk on the straight path, to the right and to the left according to the will of the Taamim, which walk and stop, return and run, walk proudly and humbly, and there is no permission to any letter to go to this side or that side except with permission, as the Taamim lead them and as the matter is heard from them, in order to walk on the straight path.

595. For this reason, all the letters come to walk in dots and Taamim as one, as it is written, “Like apples of gold in settings of silver, a word fitly spoken.” Apples of gold are Taamim and movements. Settings of silver are the dots. “A word fitly spoken,” since the word is not as it should be unless through these two, Taamim and dots. This is why it is written, “We will make for you turtledoves of gold.

1. There are Taamim and dots and letters, and they are four degrees: 2. Upper AVI, GAR of Bina, from whom come the Taamim. 3. YESHSUT, VAK of Bina, from whom come the dots. 4. ZA and Malchut, from whom come the letters.

The main part of the letters is ZA, but Malchut inherits the letters from ZA, and Malchut, too, is letters. Hence, the letters themselves are ZA and Malchut, which are ZAT, HGT NHYM, lacking GAR. When they attain the dots, the lights of YESHSUT, they have GAR of Neshama. When they attain the Taamim, the lights of AVI, they have GAR of Haya.

The letters are all inscribed in secret, and are called “bodies of the Torah.” Torah means ZA, whose Guf [body], his VAK, HGT NHY, is the letters. However, the letters are not discerned in ZA until after they are corrected, when they are fit for drawing the GAR within them.

Like the letters in the book are fit for revealing Hochma, which is after ZA has risen for MAN to YESHSUT, to unite the right and left in them, which elicited three lines HBD in them, by which ZA was prepared to win those three lines HBD himself, since three come out of one; one is rewarded with the three of them.

However, ZA does not take them right away. Rather, first he comes out in VAK without GAR. At that time, it is considered that he is twenty-two letters, the bodies of the Torah. Afterwards, he draws the GAR, which are Taamim and dots, and the letters are worthy of drawing the upper secrets, which are GAR, and then they are called “bodies of the Torah.”

The letters are inscribed in high secret since they were inscribed through the ascent of ZA for MAN to Bina, to GAR, which are called “upper secrets,” since they all emerge in high Hochma, in the thirty-two paths that emerge from Hochma.

The ascent of MAN of ZA to Bina, who elicits there the three lines HBD, is called “thirty-two paths.” They are the twenty-two letters of ZA, which are MAN for the ten Sefirot of Bina, and twenty-two and ten are thirty-two. You find that the origin of the letters, which are the vessels of ZA, which are fit to receive GAR, is in Bina, as from there they become fit for reception of GAR, which are the Taamim and the dots.

All the letters are engraved below, in ZA, after he exits Bina and descends to his place. The oral Torah inherits them, meaning that Malchut, who is called “the oral Torah,” receives them from ZA.

Dots and Taamim are two degrees, since the dots are drawn to the letters, which are ZA, from YESHSUT, which are called Moach, and the Taamim are drawn to them from upper AVI. Both are needed in order to correct the letters with them, as they are the GAR of the letters.

The dots emerge from the Moach, YESHSUT, and with one dot, the meaning of the word changes, for the word, ZA, changes through the dots from VAK to GAR, for each dot is a different phase of GAR of YESHSUT.

Upper AVI are called “pure air” because during the ascent of Malchut to their Bina, when the Yod enters their light and the light becomes air, the level of Ruach without GAR, the entry of the Yod does not blemish their air at all, for she does not make a deficiency in them by this.

Because they are always in the state of air, light of Hassadim, and never receive Hochma, their air is considered pure of any screen and deficiency. All this is in upper AVI, GAR of Bina, which always desire mercy.

Conversely, YESHSUT, ZAT of Bina, must receive Hochma in order to bestow upon ZON. Hence, they suffer a deficiency due to the entry of the Yod into their air, since they cannot receive Hochma, which is GAR. For this reason, their air is not pure because there is a lack in it, and they are simply called “air” and not “pure air.”

For this reason, the pure air of AVI is regarded as GAR, whereas the air of YESHSUT is empty, devoid of GAR, and they have no GAR until through an upper illumination from AK, the Yod exits their air and they return to being light, which is GAR.

Therefore, the lower ones from upper AVI, who need Hochma, cannot receive from the pure air of upper AVI because it becomes plain air in them, and VAK without GAR, since they need Hochma. For this reason, it is called “pure air of AVI,” as pure air that is not perceived, for the lower ones cannot receive it.

However, when the Yod exits the air of YESHSUT, when AVI rise to the Rosh of AA and bestow Hochma upon YESHSUT, at that time, ZA, too, receives Hochma from YESHSUT. And when they are completed with Hochma, they can receive the pure air from AVI because there is no longer any deficiency in them, like AVI. Then it is considered that the pure air of AVI is perceived by the lower ones, which is why at that time, AVI are called “perceived pure air.”

However, they are two degrees, where first, YESHSUT receives Hochma from AVI through her ascent to the Rosh of AA. This degree is regarded as the light of Neshama. After YESHSUT are completed with the light of Neshama, they rise to upper AVI and receive from them perceived pure air, which is regarded as light of Haya.

The difference between them is that as long as YESHSUT did not receive the pure air from AVI, the Hochma does not settle in them and the governance is for the light of Hassadim. Although during the coupling with upper AVI, the Hochma is drawn in them, it promptly disappears. However, when they attain the perceived pure air from AVI, then the Hochma settles in them.

The hard spark is the screen on which the coupling is made. When AVI, who are called “pure air,” made a coupling with YESHSUT, who are called Moach [brain], in a coupling to remove the Yod from their air and bestow in them illumination of Hochma, he copulated and does not copulate, meaning he made a coupling to bestow Hochma to YESHSUT, and the coupling promptly stopped.

This is so because as long as YESHSUT did not receive the perceived pure air from AVI, which is Mochin of Haya, the Hochma of the illumination of the coupling does not settle in YESHSUT, but is rather seen and stops.

The Zohar interprets the matter in three lines, where in the right line, which is the place of the coupling, he is regarded as copulating and not copulating; on the left line, it is regarded that the illumination of Hochma reaches the left of the Moach and promptly departs; and in the middle line, it is regarded that the Hochma came and did not come, that it does not settle. At that time, the illumination of Hochma that appeared during the coupling comes out to the letters, ZON, from the Moach, which is YESHSUT, and the letters were punctuated [with dots], meaning that the letters, ZON, received the Mochin of Neshama, which are called “dots.”

When the illumination of Hochma that emerges from the coupling of AVI settled in the Moach, by receiving pure air from upper AVI, the Hochma settled in them and is no longer in the state of came and did not come.

It is called “perceived pure air” because there is pure air that is not perceived at all, meaning that before YESHSUT received the illumination of Hochma, they had pure air that is completely imperceptible. After the illumination of Hochma was revealed in them, they are fit for reception of the pure air of AVI, and that pure air is perceptible.

When the illumination of Hochma in the upper coupling in that Moach settled, by receiving the perceived pure air, which is the coupling of Mochin of Haya, all the movements of the Taamim emerge from them. Since the Taamim are from AVI, they govern the letters and the dots like a bridle on a horse, turning the words to any side that is appropriate for them.

Turtledoves of gold is written about the Taamim that come from upper AVI. Since they are from upper AVI, from the pure air, Hassadim from the right, why is it written about them “gold,” which implies illumination of Hochma on the left? Should it not have written “turtledoves of silver,” Hassadim?

However, since they come from the Rosh of the king, to give Daat and Tevuna to all the letters, meaning that since the Taamim come from GAR of Mochin, from AVI, which shine GAR to all the letters, and without them, illumination of Hochma on the left does not settle and is not regarded as GAR, therefore, they all stand as one, meaning that the pure air and the Hochma stand as one.

Were it not for the perceived pure air, the Hochma of the left would not have settled. This is why he calls the perceived pure air by the name “turtledoves of gold,” bestowal of Hochma, which is called gold, and which depends on AVI. The bestowal of the dots, which are from YESHSUT, is called “dots of silver,” since the illumination of Hochma stops from them and they return to Hassadim.

596. “And God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our own likeness.’” Certainly, the Creator, Malchut, said this to the upper camps, and consulted with them about creating the man as a king within His armies.

597. But if the God is a living God, Bina, the upper world, which is ZA, who receives from Bina, and if He is God in the lower world, Malchut, who said to her armies, “Let us make man,” how do the words “Let us make man” settle to this side, to ZA, and to that side, to Malchut?

598. However, it is all in one manner. Man is incorporated with all the sides, incorporated with everything. Man is found from the name Elokim [God], and is not found from the rest of the names, as it is written, “And God created the man in His image, in the image of God.” In His image, in the image, why are there two times image? One is for the male in man, and one is for the female in man.

599. There are two times the name Elokim, one male, ZA, is called Elokim because the man is extended only from the name Elokim, and one female, Malchut. “In His image” is male, ZA. “In the image of God” is Nukva, Malchut. Hence, “And God created the man in His image” is the upper world, ZA. “In the image of God” is the lower world, Malchut, which is why it is written, “Let us make man,” written of ZA and Malchut in one inclusion, as was said, that man incorporates all the sides.

600. When the man was created, all the letters in him were created and were embodied, meaning that actuality and strength were made in them, and they acquired form. When He blew in him the spirit, as it is written, “and blew in his nostrils,” the dots came out and settled in the letters, the soul to the body, which is called “letters.” When he was established with Tevuna and Daat, the movements of the Taamim came out, GAR from AVI, and settled on the dots and the letters.

Man’s entire correction incorporates all the sides of the world; everything settles in man. However, he is not called “man” unless he has all those corrections: letters, dots, and Taamim.

601. Elijah said, “Rabbi, open your mouth and let your words shine, for permission from above has been given to you.” Rabbi Shimon opened and said, “In the beginning, God created, on the dots, since if all the faithful prophets in the world come, and even if they surpass the merit of Moses’ prophesy with their prophesy, they will not be able to innovate even a single point in the Torah.

602. This is so because all the letters emerge only from one tiny dot, the Yod, which is upper Hochma, and the letters are the whole of the Torah. The letters have no permission to journey to travel to this side or to that side, except through the dots.

603. All the letters are as a body without a soul. When the dots come, who are the soul of life, the body exists in its existence. At that time, it is written, “And the man became a living soul.” They all emerged from one dot, from upper Hochma.

604. When the letters emerged from the next world, Bina, they were all embodied, hardened, and acquired actuality in the shape of a man, the middle line, by which the letters are embodied, and they became a body without a soul.

605. Until the upper dot, Hochma, AVI, awakened and entered the next world, Bina, YESHSUT, and all the dots emerged from that dot to sustain the letters in their existence, as it is written, “In the beginning, God created.”

Resheet [head/beginning] is the top dot, Hochma, with which God created, which is Bina. He established all the dots, which are the corrections of the letters. They are heaven and earth, ZA, who is called “heaven,” and Malchut, who is called “earth,” which are called “letters.” Were it not for this beginning, which is the top dot, Hochma, meaning upper AVI, who bestow Hochma to YESHSUT, the letters would not have been punctuated and there would be no existence in them.

606. “In the beginning” is the top dot, Hochma. “God created” means that by the force of this dot, the letters came out and were depicted in their corrections, so the body would have organs. Without a soul, which is why it is written, “created,” implying diminution and concealment, since the soul has not yet come out to the body to sustain it in its existence.

607. When the upper dot, Hochma, awakened to bestow in the next world, Bina, to elicit the dots, the living soul, it is written, “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’” meaning that the letters shone in dots, which are a living soul, Hochma.

608. Light is the first dot that shone from within the top, hidden dot, which is concealed and unknown. That dot that shines from that concealment is the dot of Holam, which shines above over all the letters because of the honor of the point of concealment.

609. Because the twenty-two letters of ZA assembled in the 500 parasangs of the next world, HGT NH of Bina, where ZA rose for MAN, therefore, that dot shines five times, as it is written, “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light, and God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided between the light and the darkness, and God called the light day,” which is five times light corresponding to HGT NH of Bina.

610. “Let there be light” is the dot of Holam. “And there was light” is the dot of Shuruk, since the Holam shines above the letters, and before she was drawn to shine below the letters, she was concealed. When she was drawn, she shone in the middle of the letters, Shuruk. “And God saw the light, that it was good” is the dot of Hirik when it shines below the letters.

“Let there be light” means that the Yod will enter the light of AVI and it will become air, that Malchut will rise to Bina of the ten Sefirot of AVI and end the degree of AVI under Hochma. And since Bina and TM are already below the ending Malchut, they come out to the degree below them. When there are not more than KH of the vessels in AVI, hence, there are only Nefesh-Ruach of lights there, which is the level of air, Ruach, and those KH of the vessels and Nefesh-Ruach of lights that remained in AVI due to the ascent of Malchut to Bina are called “the dot of Holam.”

“And there was light,” light that already was, when the Yod went out from the air of AVI, when Malchut descended from Bina to her place at the Sium of Bina and TM, at which time the three vessels Bina and TM reconnect to the degree of AVI as in the beginning. When they returned to being five vessels KHB TM in AVI, the five lights NRNHY clothed in them once more. This is regarded as the Yod descending from the air of AVI and the light that was initially in AVI returning. This is the light that already was.

Those three vessels Bina and TM of AVI that returned to the degree of AVI, as it is written, “And there was light,” are called Shuruk, Melafum, Vav with a dot within it.

This is so because Holam shines above, over the letters, meaning she shines from below upward, since she is only the level of air, VAK, and does not shine from above downward to clothe inside the letters. Before she is drawn to shine below the letters, before she attained the light of GAR, which is drawn from above downward, she was concealed, meaning her light is concealed and does not shine because Bina and TM of the vessels are missing in her, and therefore GAR of lights are missing in her.

When he obtained GAR and the light was drawn from above downward, meaning that Malchut went out from Bina and returned to her place, and the three vessels Bina and TM returned to their degree in AVI, at that time, the GAR of lights returned, as well, and the light was drawn from above downward. Then the light is drawn and shines in the middle of the letters like the dot of Shuruk, which shines in the middle of the Vav.

These two dots, Holam and Shuruk, are right and left. The Holam, which are KH, remained in the degree and were never blemished, are the right line. Shuruk, which are Bina and TM, a dispute was made in them, and they cannot shine until ZA rises for MAN to AVI and unites the two lines with one another. This is the middle line and the dot of Hirik. Then they can shine. “And God saw the light, that it was good” is the dot of Hirik that shines below the letters.

611. When the dots come out to shine for the Guf [body] of ZA, the first light, Holam shines above and settles at the Rosh [top/head] of the Guf, and gives light to the whole head: to the face, to the eyes, to the light of the head, to all the corrections of the head.

612. The dot of Shuruk is in the middle of the body, in the Toch [interior], and shines light in order to sustain the body from the sight of its waist upward, in HGT of ZA.

613. The dot of Hirik is below, at the Sof [end] of the Guf. It gives light and existence from the sight of the waist of the body downward, in NHY of ZA, in all his corrections and secrets. Then, “And God saw the light that it was good.”

Holam, Shuruk, and Hirik are three lines. The Holam is KH that were not blemished and did not exit from their degree; they are the right line. The Shuruk is Bina and TM that were blemished upon their exit from the degree, and it is the left line. The Hirik is ZA that rose for MAN to Bina and decided there between right and left, and incorporated them in one another.

Hence, the Holam, the most important, who is KH, which were not blemished at all, shines in the Rosh of the degree, in GAR. The Shuruk, who is Bina and TM, which went out and returned to the degree, and have already been blemished upon their exit, shines only for the Toch of the degree, in HGT. The Hirik, which is not at all from the Guf of the degree, but is rather ZA that rose for MAN to Bina, shines at the Sof of the degree, in NHY, since NHY are regarded as outside the degree and are not from the degree itself.

614. When the Guf of the letters, HGT of ZA, was established with these dots, it is written, “And God divided between the light and between the darkness.” Division is always in the left arm, in Gevura of ZA, in which there is darkness, since in the left line, as long as it is not united with the right, there are darkness and judgments in it, and it shone in the dot of Segol, where the three dots in her are in the depiction of three lines, to shine from within the darkness and the tiredness that are present there.

This is so because through the middle line, the bottom dot in the Segol, the left unites with the right and the darkness and judgments are removed from him.

615. “And God called the light, ‘day.’” This is the dot of Tzereh, which shone and settled in the right arm, Hesed, and established it in all the corrections.

The three dots Holam Shuruk Hirik imply three lines, the origins of the dots. After the Partzuf is established in three dots that contain Holam, Shuruk, and Hirik, other combinations of three lines expand from the three lines in them. These are the rest of the dots, where each shines in a specific Sefira.

This explains the two dots that shine in HG of ZA. The dot of Tzereh shines in Hesed of ZA, where the two dots in her are two lines right and left, one opposite the other on an equal level. The right is KH, and the left is Bina and TM.

The dot of Segol shines in Gevura of ZA. There are two dots above in her, corresponding to the two lines right and left, and one in the middle below, corresponding to the middle line, which was added in the left arm of ZA more than in the right arm, since before the left arm receives this dot of the middle line, it is darkness and not light. Hence, the dot is established in it as the middle line, whereas the right, which always shines, two dots were established in it corresponding to right and left. Hence, the Tzereh shines in the right, and the Segol in the left.

616. When the Nukva, Malchut, adheres to the right and to the left of ZA, and is placed between them, at which time she receives from the right and from the left of ZA, two dots adhered to her, Tzereh and Segol. However, it is in one, opposite existence, since they do not settle in her this way.

The dot of Tzereh was inverted and shines in her in a different way, unsettled, as in the male, ZA. This is the dot of Shvah, where the two dots are one below the other. The Segol was inverted and shines in her in a different way, and this is the Shuruk of three dots, and to show the kindliness of the male, ZA, to the Nukva, Malchut, he and she are all one, for the dots of Tzereh and Segol shine in her as in the male when the male shines in them, when they are in a coupling face-to-face. From there the dots expand to the rest of the organs of the letters in the Guf.

The two dots in the Tzereh indicate that the right line, KH, and the left line, Bina and TM, are one opposite the other on an equal level.

Also, the Segol has in it two dots one opposite the other, right line and left line on an equal level, and the middle dot below them.

However, before Malchut is established into being in a coupling with ZA face-to-face, the right line and the left line do not shine in her on an equal level. Rather, the right line, KH, is above, and the left line, Bina and TM, is below, which is the shape of the Shvah, in a way that those two dots in the Tzereh that were one opposite the other have been inverted in Malchut into being one below the other, which is Shvah.

Also, the two dots in the Segol, which are above, on an equal level, have been inverted in Malchut into being one below the other, KH above, and Bina and TM below. The middle dot, below the degree, from ZA who rose for MAN to Bina, is at the end of all of them, in a way that the right dot, KH, is above all of them, and below it is the left dot, Bina and TM, and under her is the middle dot, from ZA who rose to Bina. They are the shape of Shuruk, three dots one below the other.

However, when ZA and Malchut are face-to-face on an equal level, ZA shines in her two dots Tzereh and Segol as they are in him, and to show the kindliness of the male, ZA, toward the Nukva, Malchut, he and she are all one, where the Tzereh and Segol shine in her as in him when ZA shines for her face-to-face.

617. “And God said, ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water.’” This is the dot of Patach, which is expansion of the light that shines on the side of the male in ZA, on the left side, and shines to that side, and now they have swapped the right were incorporated in the left, and the left in the right.

618. Waters are to the right, since they are Hassadim, the dot of Tzereh that shone in him. On the right side, two were divided from the right. For this reason, the Tzereh is two dots settling one opposite the other, from the right, corresponding to two dots, one above and one below, as is seen in the dot of Shvah.

618. Waters are to the right since they are Hassadim, the dot of Tzereh that shone in him. On the side of the right, two were divided from the right. For this reason, the Tzereh is two dots settled one opposite the other, from the right, opposite two dots, one above and one below, as is seen in the dot of Shvah.

619. Afterwards, since that firmament shone, which is a dot that is called “a door,” that dot entered between the dots in the Tzereh, between water and water, and divided between them, and was incorporated in them. Then the waters of the right became the left side, meaning they were incorporated with the left through the dot that is the door. It is written about it, “The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land,” since water is from the side of the door. This is why it is written “open.”

The ending screen that was made in the degree due to the ascent of Malchut to Bina, which ended the degree under KH, and lowered Bina and TM outside, to the degree below it, is called “a firmament that divides between water and water.” It divides between KH, upper water that remained in the degree, and Bina and TM, lower water that he took out to below the degree. This applies during the Katnut [smallness/infancy] of the degree.

At the time of Gadlut [greatness/adulthood], that firmament becomes the connector of those two degrees together—upper water and lower water—since then he lowers the Malchut in him below Bina and TM, and returns Bina and TM to their degree. That power of connection in the firmament that divides is the dot of the door that opens and corrects the lower water, Bina and TM, and raises them and connects them with the upper water, KH. Accordingly, the dot of the door is discerned on the left since she corrects Bina and TM, and Bina and TM are the left line.

“And God said, ‘Let there be a firmament inside the water.’” The firmament is the screen that divides between the upper water, KH, and the lower water, Bina and TM. It is the dot of the door. However, this pertains to Gadlut, when the screen lowers Malchut from within it and reconnects Bina and TM, and Bina and TM with KH into one degree.

The door is the expansion of the light that shines on the left side, in Bina and TM, and connects them with the right, with KH. Now that the middle line united the right and the left with each other, there is left in right, and right in left. It follows that there is right that is KH, and left that is Bina and TM, in the right line. Also, in the left line, there is KH, and Bina and TM, which are right and left.

Waters are to the right, since waters imply Hassadim, the right line, the dot of Tzereh that shone in him, since in the right line, Hesed, the dot of Tzereh shines. On the right side, two were divided from the right, for due to the incorporation of the left in the right, two phases of right and left were made in the right line, where the right dot is KH, and the left dot is Bina and TM. During the Katnut, they are one below the other, where the dot of KH is above, and the dot of Bina and TM is below, since the screen, the firmament, repelled them below the degree, and this is the shape of the Shvah.

However, the shape of Tzereh indicates the time of Gadlut, when the ending Malchut has already descended from the firmament, and Bina and TM went up, two dots—one with the other. For this reason, the two dots in Tzereh, which are right and left that settle in the right line, correspond to two dots, one above and one below, as is seen in the dot of the Shvah.

The two dots in the Tzereh, and the two dots in the Shvah are one matter, which is right and left. They are KH and Bina and TM in the right line. However, the difference is that in Tzereh, they are corrected, for Bina and TM have already ascended to KH in the right, to be the left line, and in the dot of the Shvah, they are still not corrected, and Bina and TM are still below the degree, which is KH.

Afterwards, when that firmament shone and elevated and reconnected the right and the left, KH and Bina and TM, with one another, at that time he is called “the dot of the door.” That dot, the door, entered between the dots in the Tzereh, between water and water, between the right dot, KH, and the left dot, Bina and TM. It is written about them, “between water and water.” First, he divided between them, corrected them so the right would shine from above downward, and the left from below upward.

By this, he was incorporated with the two dots, and the two dots connected with each other and were made in the shape of one line across, a door, meaning he corrected them so they would shine together as one.

Then the waters were incorporated from the left side, which is a door, since the door is the correction of the left, the correction of the Hochma in the left line, and the waters, Hesed, were incorporated in the door, which is the opening of the Hochma.

It is written about this, “The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain,” which is water, and it is written about that, “The Lord will open to you His good treasure,” implying the opening of the Hochma, called “good treasure.”

Waters are from the side of the door. This is why it is written about them “will open,” since they were incorporated from the side of the door. Firmament also implies Tifferet, the middle line, as it is written, “And God called the firmament heaven.” Tifferet incorporates right and left; hence, the door shines in the right of Tifferet, and the Kamatz in the left of Tifferet.

620. The firmament expanded further from the right side, and entered on the left side, between the dots of Segol, and became a Kamatz. At that time, the left entered and was incorporated with the right, and they were incorporated with each other: right in left, and left in right.

After the firmament connected and glued the two dots in Tzereh, right and left, in the right, so they would shine together in the door, the firmament from the right line reentered to correct on the left side, in the three dots in the Segol, and connected them together so they would shine together as one light. By this, the two upper dots in the Segol adhered into one line, the bottom dot adhered to that line, and they became the shape of Kamatz.

From the correction that he made in the two dots right and left in Tzereh, attaching them in the shape of Patach, the firmament expanded from the right side and entered on the left side, between the dots of Segol, meaning attaching the three dots in the Segol so they would shine as one light, and Kamatz was made, where from the two upper dots, a line was made, and the bottom dot attached itself to it from below it.

At that time, the left entered and was incorporated with the right, since the right and left in the left in Segol became as one light and were incorporated with each other, right in left, in Tzereh, and left in right, in Segol.

621. “And God said, ‘Let the waters gather.’” In the verse, “Let there be a firmament,” water is written five times: “Let there be a firmament inside the water, and let it divide between water and water, and God made the firmament, and it divided between the water that is below the firmament and between the water that is above the firmament.” Five times water correspond to two dots, which are five: Tzereh and Segol. In the Tzereh, there are two dots: KH in the right. In Segol, there are three dots: Bina and TM in the left line. These five settle in the right and in the left—KH in the right, and Bina and TM in the left. With respect to the Hassadim, they are called HGT NH.

622. The Nukva, Malchut, enters between the right and left of ZA and receives these dots, to give her Daat in completeness. This is so because Daat in completeness is the middle line, which unites the two upper dots, HB. The two dots Tzereh and Segol point to this unification. However, the dots do not settle in her in such a way that the right and the left will be united through the middle line, and are inverted into other dots in an easy way, meaning in a bad manner.

The Tzereh is inverted in her into the dot of Shvah in a light [light weight] way, indicating that the left, Bina and TM, are below the right, which is KH. The Segol is inverted in her into the dot of Shuruk of three dots one below the other in a light way, where the left is under the right, and the middle one is under the left.

623. The woman, Malchut, her Daat [mind] is always light [impulsive/whimsical] since the three lines cannot settle in her so there will be complete Daat in her as they are above, in ZA, in the unification of right and left through the middle, a unification that is Tzereh Segol. Rather, they return to being in her in Shvah Shuruk, in a light way. Hence, her mind is light since the Daat, the middle line, does not unite the right and the left in her.

The HBD in her are like Shuruk: Hochma on top, Bina underneath it, and Daat [reason/mind] at the Sof, in her Guf [body]. This is when she is not in a coupling with ZA. Just as the two dots Tzereh and Segol are five, the Shvah Shuruk in her are five, but without any settlement, without the correction of the middle line.

624. “Let the waters gather,” that all five dots will gather into one dot, Shuruk, Melafum, which stands under the firmament, Kamatz. All the water on the right side and on the left side, all those five dots, settle in the dot of Shuruk, and this dot settles and shines to the holy covenant in the male, Yesod. Yesod inherits all the light of the five dots, which are five phases KHB TM, which, from the perspective of ZA, are called HGT NH.

625. When Yesod inherits all five dots, the Nukva shines, Malchut, to bear fruits and offspring, as it is written, “Let the earth put forth grass,” through the dot that stands below, Yesod, which makes fruits and offspring in Malchut.

626. “And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven.’” This is the dot of Hataf-Kamatz, which shines an illumination like that first light, the dot of Holam. Because she did not shine in the settlement like the Holam, she is “lights” that is deficient of a Vav, since she does not shine in the settlement like the Holam although she stands in her manner.

This dot shines in the Sefira Netzah, which is the fourth day in the work of creation. It is known that the three lines above the Chazeh are called HGT, and the three lines below the Chazeh are called NHY. Hence, as the dot of Holam is the right line above the Chazeh, so is the dot of Hataf-Kamatz the right line below the Chazeh.

Hataf-Kamatz, which is illumination of the right line like the Holam, is because he does not shine in the settlement like the Holam, but in a place of judgments below the Chazeh, which is regarded as the phase of Malchut, where there are judgments. This is why it is written about it, “lights” without a Vav, and this is why it is called Hataf-Kamatz. Hataf is regarded as Tzereh of the right, which was inverted in him into a Shvah, since she is in a place of judgment, and Kamatz points to the left line in the firmament, which is incorporated in him.

627. “And God said, ‘Let the water swarm with swarms of living souls.’” This is in the dot of Shvah-Segol, Hataf-Segol, since in Segol, the water was incorporated with fire, for the Segol was fire, meaning left line, in which there are judgments, but it is incorporated with water, Hassadim. Hence, they swarm swarms of that living soul, Malchut, where the Daat that was given to her from two sides, right and left, is light in her, and she is called “swarms of living souls” since she is vermin that is teeming and goes out and walks in all the dots, since Malchut is incorporated in all the Sefirot.

That dot, Hataf-Segol, shines in the Sefira Hod, which is the fifth day in the work of creation. Hence, it is the dot of Shvah-Segol, which are right and left incorporated in the left, and the Tzereh is turned into a Shvah, since she is below the Chazeh, which is regarded as Malchut, as in Netzah. The Segol is drawn to her from the left line, in which there is the dot of Segol, and the Segol is incorporated from the right, as well, which is water. This is why it is written, “Let the water swarm with swarms of living souls,” that it is swarming with vermin of that living soul, which is Malchut.

628. Shvah-Shuruk shine in Malchut. Shvah is called “quick in justice,” who is quick to make justice and judgment. So is Malchut. Hence, the Tzereh becomes a Shvah in her. This is why she is called “a living soul,” which is Malchut.

When the letter Vav, ZA, departed from Malchut, she elicits Daat, the middle line, which she took from above during the coupling with ZA. Hence, instead of the letter Vav, which has departed from her, the dot of Shuruk of three dots comes out, indicating a deficiency of the middle line, and there is no coupling between three lines. As it is in her Rosh, so it is in all the places of her Partzuf.

629. For this reason, all the dots are poised to shine to the letters, as in the work of heaven and earth, and all the worlds. There is no existence and light to all the letters, except for the illumination of the dots, and everything was given in the Torah on Sinai from above, and everything is the correction of man.

‎630. “And God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our own likeness.’”‎ It is written, “From the Lord are the steps of a man established, and He makes his way desirable.” When the Creator created the upper world, ZA, and the lower world, Malchut, both were of ‎the same form—one similar to the other. When the Creator wished to create the man below, ‎He wished to make him like the two worlds, so his form would be similar to the two worlds.‎

631. All the secrets of above and of below are in man. The skull of the head that is on the body is ‎the upper world with those corrections in the head. The body, HGT, is the body of above, ‎whose degrees stand in organs under the head. The thighs and the legs, NHY, are all are in ‎the degrees below, as it should be such as above. The Creator engraved in man all the upper and ‎lower forms so that man would be whole in everything.‎

‎632. “From the Lord are the steps of a man established.” When the Creator desires a person, all his steps and all his roads are set before Him ‎and He corrects them, each as it should be, and his way is desirable even ‎in matters of this world.‎

633. “From the Lord are the steps of a man established.” If a person sets his mind, will, and heart on the holy king, to walk in His ways, which he made in himself, the Creator desires him as if those ways were truly His.‎

634. When the letters went out from the upper one and were embodied, namely obtained actuality and were depicted in the shape of man, the body of Adam HaRishon, afterwards, the dots came out and He breathed in the letters the spirit of life, since the dots are the spirit of life in the letters, and the letters existed as a man standing on his legs in the existence of the spirit.

635. When the dots existed on the letters and placed a soul in them, as it is written, “and berthed into his nostrils the soul of life, and the man became a living soul,” he still needs to be in Daat and Tevuna, and to journey in his journeys, and give nourishment and power to others. This is as it is written, “in our image, after our own likeness.” “Our own likeness” is the illumination of the upper world, illumination of ZA. “In our image” is the lower world, the illumination of Malchut.

636. “In our image” is the movements of the Taamim, which are a correction and wholeness in Daat and Tevuna, to know knowledge and look upwards, in that he is concealed and is not revealed, since the Taamim ere extended from the hidden upper AVI.

637. “In our image” is similar to a king who is wise in intelligence and wisdom, but does not travel to this side or to that side, but with wisdom, gumption, and knowledge. Here, too, it is like the movement of the Taamim, whose journeys are all in Hochma, Daat, Tevuna.

638. “After our own likeness” are the dots that come out from one form of the upper dot, from the hidden form that was unseen upper AVI. And because they come from one dot, the dots are called “image,” meaning the shape of the upper dot.

There is a big difference between AVI and YESHSUT. AVI are regarded as essentially Hochma because they clothe HS of AA. However, YESHSUT are not essentially Hochma; rather, they are Bina that returned to being Hochma since she went out from the Rosh and returned to the Rosh. For this reason, the Taamim that are extended from upper AVI are GAR, HBD, but the dots, which are extended from YESHSUT, which are only a form of Hochma and not actually Hochma, are the spirit of Hochma, and not actually Hochma.

“After our own likeness” are the dots, for the light of the dots, which are extended from YESHSUT, are called “likeness,” since the dots emerge from one form of the form of the upper dot. The upper dot is upper AVI, the form of Hochma. The dots that precede that form, which emerge from YESHSUT, are truly Bina, but there is an image of AVI in them, which are Hochma.

“After our own likeness” are the dots that emerge from the hidden form that was unseen, from upper AVI. They are essentially Hochma, in which there is no attainment, and YESHSUT are an image from that form that that image is seen, since she is Bina that returned to Hochma, and not actually Hochma. And because the dots that emerge from the image of the dot AVI, the dots are called “likeness” since they are a likeness of the upper dot, meaning the upper dot is AVI, and YESHSUT are a likeness of the upper dot.

639. But the letters, too, came out from YESHSUT, and are a likeness of the upper dot, like the dots, and are therefore equal to the dots? This is not so since that form in the letters is not above, in YESHSUT, and their form is not hanging there, since after the letters went out from the upper world, YESHSUT, and came to the place of ZA, they were all embodied and depicted. This was not so before since there is no image and form at all in YESHSUT. For this reason, they are not known and there is no one who knows anything about them.

The letters are ZA, and their correction begins in Bina, where through the ascent of ZA for MAN to Bina, the letters, who are ZA, were made suitable for reception of GAR from Bina. The dots are the Mochin from YESHSUT, suitable for clothing in letters, which are ZA, but ZA will not be able to accept them right away in the place of YESHSUT, since in the place of YESHSUT, everything is regarded as YESHSUT, and the lower one that rises to the upper one is like him.

Hence, first, the letters descend to their place in the place of the degree of ZA, and there they acquire the form of ZA. Afterwards, the Mochin from YESHSUT are extended from them, which are the dots.

The letters are above, in YESHSUT, and why do they not have Mochin from them, and they rather need the dots? The letters have no form above, when they are in YESHSUT, since they are there in the form of YESHSUT and not in the form of ZA. After the letters come out from the upper one, YESHSUT, and come to the place of ZA, they were all embodied and depicted since they must first descend to their own place, where they are depicted in their degree, which is the degree of ZA.

For this reason, when the letters come down from YESHSUT, they still do not have any Mochin in them and are not known at all, since they must first receive the form of ZA in the place of ZA, and then they draw the Mochin, which are the dots.

640. The Resheet [head/beginning] of the hidden one that was revealed and is unknown in his own place is one hidden dot, YESHSUT, where there is the beginning of the disclosure of Hochma. That dot is unknown and not revealed, and there is no one who knows her in her own place, but rather below, in the place of ZON, which are the letters where she is revealed.

However, the letters, ZON, are not depicted in her, since when they are in the place of Bina, they do not have a depiction of ZON and are not hanging above, since their shape is not found there whatsoever. For this reason, “after our own likeness” are the dots that are bestowed upon the letters after they have received their form in their place. “In our image” are the movements of the Taamim, which are the wholeness of everything.

641. There is a secret here for those who sit on the throne. The movements of the Taamim, which are the wholeness of everything, where are they in man? Indeed, “in our image” is the images of man from within and from without. From within, it is Tevuna, Daat, and Hochma. From without, it is that image that walks over him and leads the man in guarding, so he will be kept from everything. As long as these movements are in man, the man is complete in everything. It is likewise in all those high secrets of above, in which there is internality, the Mochin, and externality, the garments of the Mochin

642. It is written, “From the Lord are the steps of a man established,” to journey in his journeys, in the movements of these Taamim. “And He makes his way desirable,” with these dots. “From the Lord,” from which he was taken, so that everything below will be in one manner and in one matter.

643. “From the Lord are the steps of a man established.” These are the Taamim that are called Azla, Makaf, Shofar, Holech, which are the steps of a man, where each one is corrected as is suitable for it. This is “are established.” It is written about the rest of the movements of the Taamim, “And He makes his way desirable,” indicating standing or walking, or indicating to stop, or to play with joy, or to be silent, or to be held accountable. Everything is Daat and Tevuna, to journey in his journeys properly.

644. The Taam [singular for Taamim] Zarka is a joyful melody. When the harsh spark, the screen, comes in that coupling of the pure air that is not perceived, upper AVI, it gives gladness and joy, and throws its illumination from afar, so it is unattainable, to play with joy, to draw the abundance from one who is not known and is completely imperceptible, which is upper AVI, who stands in his existence and does not settle so as to know him, until he approaches more in Tevuna, until he spreads to YESHSUT, and so are all the movements, each as it should be.

645. Before the movements of these Taamim reach the letters, all those organs of the body cannot journey in journeys, since all the organs of the body are divided in letters, which are twenty-two letters that have been embodied in the joints and organs of the body.

646. Twelve organs are the joints that journey: two hands and two legs, with three joints in each, and four times three is twelve. These twelve do not journey in journeys properly, except for the twelve movements of the Taamim, who all make these joints to move them. Then there are other movements of Taamim, to give Tevuna and Hochma and Daat to the whole body, and to move the whole body, and to give joy above and below, all as it should be.

647. The twenty-two letters are the entirety of the body. They are all divided in the organs of the body, and the body is completed from the letters. Twelve letters are in the twelve organs that journey, and ten other letters remain, shining in the rest of the organs of the body. The first twelve letters, the twelve organs, are the core of the existence of the body, so each organ will be corrected.

648. Among the letters, there are letters that are seen as males, and letters that are seen as females—Aleph is male, Bet is female, Gimel is male, Dalet is female, Hey is female, Vav is male. So are all the other letters: Some are incorporated in a male, and some are incorporated in a female. Hence, how do we build the man in twenty-two letters? After all, when they looked at them and the letters were sorted, which were needed and required for the male, there are not more than twelve male letters, opposite twelve organs, and not twenty-two letters, since the rest of the ten letters are females and are not worthy of a male.

649. However, all twenty-two letters are incorporated in the male, and these twenty-two letters in it are male letters and female letters, since all the organs, in each organ there are joints that are incorporated in each other and permeate one another. The one who enters is a male letter, and the joint he receives into him is a female letter.

650. In all the organs, there is a male and a female, and they enter one another like a male in the female. All the letters need one another, to connect with one another, to come into each other like a male in a female.

651. Twenty-two other letters are incorporated in the Nukva below, in Malchut. They are small letters, since when the male connects to the Nukva [female], with the passion of all the letters of all the organs for the Nukva, he cast in her twenty-two letters in her MAN. After the letters were embodied, other letters emerge in the Nukva, such as those of the male. Hence, there are Aleph-Bet of big, high letters of the male, and there are Aleph-Bet of small letters of the Nukva.

652. The letter Aleph has the number one, and it is one. High organs that connect in one emerged and were embodied in the matter of below, and they are one. For this reason, she is but one organ.

653. This is so because when the Aleph came out and was placed at the start of all the letters, she emerged in that form of those other ones who must connect with her. When the Aleph emerged, she showed her light to the two other degrees that must connect with her, left and middle, and all of them united together and are seen in her shape, that of the Aleph. When both other degrees were present and settled in their place, the Aleph settled in her place once more, at the top of all the letters, to the right side.

The letters are the vessels of ZA that were made fit to receive the Mochin of Bina through raising the MAN of ZA to Bina, who corrected two lines there, the right and left of Bina, and united them with one another, and were completed in three lines. The whole measure of the wholeness that the lower ones causes to the upper one, the lower one also attains it. Hence, since the three lines of Bina emerged through ZA, ZA, too, received three lines.

Since the letter Aleph is the head of all the letters, the shape of these three lines was inscribed in her: The top Yod in her is the right line, and the bottom Yod in her is the left line, and the line between the two Yods is the middle line.

654. When the letters came out, the first letter that came out, the head of all the letters, is Aleph. At that time, the Creator, Bina, wrapped Himself with that letter and created heaven, ZA. With this letter, He created the unification, which is three degrees, three lines in the shape of the letter Aleph. They are heaven, ZA, meaning that the letter Aleph shone in the whole of the degree of ZA, who is one. Since the heaven was created in the letter Aleph, the heaven has not congealed and coagulated, since it was covered inside the water, which is the letter Aleph, which is to the right, who is called “water.”

655. After the letters were congealed from within the water, the letter Vav came out, depicted in a depiction and embodied in the shape of Adam. For this reason, nothing was missing in that shape in the letter Aleph, and she returned and settled in her place.

The difference between the Aleph and the Vav is that in Aleph, the three lines are distinct, and each line is apparent in it in and of itself, while the Vav is all middle line, and the incorporation of the right and left edges in her is not apparent in her, and the coagulation of the letters comes by the force of the middle line.

Since the heavens were created in the letter Aleph, they have not been congealed, since before they were congealed, the three lines could be distinct in ZA, who is called “heaven,” as in the shape of the Aleph. However, after they were congealed and the middle line governed inside the letters, the letter Vav emerged, whose is primarily the middle line, and there is no distinction of right and left in it.

Nevertheless, it has not been flawed at all because of this compared to the shape of the Aleph, which has already emerged. Rather, the shape of the three lines remained in her as before, since there is no absence in the spiritual.

656. The light of the letter Aleph began to shine from the beginning of the world to the end of the world, and concealed its light in another letter, which is Bet, and made that letter one house, to conceal the light of the Aleph within it, and that light was concealed within it.

The shape of the Bet is fenced from three directions: from the east, from the south, and from the west. The north side is breached open, and that breach implies the judgments that were revealed on the north side, the left line. These judgments block the light of the Aleph so she will not shine from the beginning of the world to its end.

657. From that time, that light of the Aleph was concealed and hidden, and never comes out, except for one, fine one, Yesod, who extends one thread of Hesed [mercy] from himself, and the world is nourished and exists from it.

658. Everything is built from that letter Aleph. Everyone is nourished from that letter. In this letter, the Creator guards Israel, and their enemies break before them, as it is written, “Your right, Lord, mighty in power; Your right, Lord, shatters an enemy.” When they caused iniquities, it is written, “He has drawn back His right.” At that time, Israel were exiled from the land, and their enemies ruled over them.

659. The Aleph settled in the right arm, Hesed, by the force of the two other lines that grew stronger in her, the left and the middle. She is the right arm. The Bet incorporates within her and collects the light of the Aleph, and she is opposite the Aleph, like a female that the male enters into her. For this reason, all the letters are one male and one female, meaning that the letters divide into bestowing letters and receiving letters.

660. Aleph spreads to other letters, which are completed in wholeness, to take the two other degrees from the Aleph, each letter from one line, and two lines are missing in her, and she takes them from the expansion of the Aleph so they will be her wholeness, as it is written, “Those who camp next to him shall be the banner of so and so,” since “those who camp next to him” are two degrees that connect in one. The four tribes, Judah, Reuben, Ephraim, and Dan, correspond to the three lines and Malchut, and two tribes were added to each of them, so each of them would consist of three lines. So are the letters: Each letter is from one line, and draws to her two lines from the Aleph.

661. Until the letters amount to sixty myriads (600,000), like the number of the tribes of Israel, who are twelve tribes, which amount to sixty myriads. So are the letters: When they are full, they amount to sixty, like this: Aleph, Bet, Gimel, which are sixty letters. These are the ascent of the letters into sixty myriads so there will be wholeness in the letters, in all the organs.

662. More letters remained, which are twelve, a closed Mem, long Tzadi, Nun, Peh, Kaf, which are the other, doubled [final] letters MANTZEPACH. When they are full, they add up to twelve letters. When all the letters have been filled, twelve letters and MANTZEPACH, they add up to AB (seventy-two) letters, which is the holy name by which the Creator is called.

663. The number of Israel is seventy souls that went down to Egypt, and the two letters that are witnesses among them, from which the families were sealed and were incorporated in them, are Yod-Hey, as it is written, “Where the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, to the testimony of Israel.” It is written about this, the Reubenite, the Shimeonite. And all of them, the Yod-Hey and the seventy souls, amount to AB [seventy-two].

664. Like Israel, who amount to seventy-two, it is so in the alphabet, where all the letters add up to seventy-two letters, so they will all be a complete body, man, the high Merkava [chariot/structure], the engraved, holy name.

665. Hence, all the letters rise in the ascent of the upper Merkava, HGTM of ZA, in their shape and in their body, so all will be one, as it should be. All the letters, when they connect and are engraved in their engraving in the seventy-two engraved letters, all become one body.