22. It is written, “Should one open a pit or dig a pit without covering it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, the owner of the pit shall pay.” One who causes harm to the world through his sins, it is much more so. Why does repentance help him, as it is written, “And he shall confess the sin that he had done, and make full restitution for his wrong”?
23. It is certainly beneficial, since he repented. Repentance returns the letter Hey to the Vav, since what he flawed above, he corrected it by repentance, as it is written, “When a man or woman commits any of the sins that men commit by unfaithfulness against the Lord, and he shall confess the sin that he had done, and make full restitution for his wrong.” Repentance corrects everything: corrects above and corrects below, corrects himself and corrects the whole world.
24. “When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God.” When you are in distress” means that repentance is better than anything before there is judgment in the world. After there is judgment, its power increases; who will remove it from the world and drive it out? Since the judgment is already present, it does not depart until it is completed. After the judgment is completed and he makes repentance, he corrects all the world. This is the meaning of the words, “and all these things have happened to you in the latter days,” and it is written, “You will return to the Lord your God since the Lord your God is a merciful God.”
25. What has the latter days got to do with this? It is to incorporate the assembly of Israel, who is called “latter days” in exile, and she is with them in trouble, and never leaves them. For this reason, although the Creator has installed judgment in the world, He wants Israel to repent, to do good to them in this world and in the next world, and noting can resist repentance.
26. Even the assembly of Israel, Malchut, is called “repentance.” It is a high repentance, which is Bina; it is not present anywhere. But this Malchut, who is called “repentance,” when mercy, which is ZA, returns opposite from her and she nurses all her throng once more, the best repentance is when the sinner gives his soul to her and she takes her when he is in repentance. At that time, everything is corrected above and below, and he and the whole world are corrected.
27. One wicked in the world, several others are harmed because of him. Woe to that wicked one; woe to his neighbor. Jonah, because he did not want to follow the mission of his master, many people would have been lost at sea because of him, until they all returned to him and sentenced him to throw him into the sea, and then they were all saved, and afterwards, the Creator had mercy on him, and he saved many multitudes in the world, the people of Nineveh. When was that? When he returned in repentance to his master out of his plight, as it is written, “Out of my plight, I called unto the Lord, and He answered me,” and it is written, “From the narrow place I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me in the expanse.”
28. The commandment of repentance is Bina. Because of our iniquities, when the Temple was ruined, we remained with only the confession of words, which is Malchut, who is called “confession of words.” Bina has the letters of Ben [son of] Yod-Hey [Koh]. That son is Vav, ZA, who is adhered to her and receives from her the Mochin of Yod-Hey. Anyone who repents, it is as though he returned the letter Hey, Malchut, to the Vav, ZA, Ben Yod-Hey, and with him, HaVaYaH was completed, since the son is Vav, and with the Yod-Hey, it is Yod-Hey-Vav, and with Malchut, the letter Hey that returned to it, the entire name is completed. This is repentance, the turn of the letter Hey to Vav.
29. The letter Hey is confession of words, as it is written, “Take words with you, and return to the Lord. Say to Him, ‘Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously, for we will offer the sacrifices of our lips.” When a person sins, he causes the Hey to move away from the Vav, since Ben Yod-Hey, which includes Yod-Hey-Vav, has departed from the letter Hey. This is why the Temple was ruined and Israel went away from there and were exiled among the nations. And for this reason, anyone who repents causes the return of the Hey to the letter Vav. Repentance depends on this, and this is why everything depends on repentance, as we learn, “All the dates have passed, and the matter depends only on repentance,” which is the wholeness of His name, since the letter Hey completes the Yod-Hey-Vav into HaVaYaH.
30. This is why it is written, “And I will do for the sake of My name,” to complete the name HaVaYaH. It is also written, “For My sake, for My sake I will do,” and if they do not repent, I will establish for them a king whose decrees are harsher than the decrees of Pharaoh, and they will repent against their will, as it is written, “And you shall return unto the Lord your God,” indeed, unto HaVaYaH, to complete the name HaVaYaH.
31. Repentance, which is Malchut, and the letter Hey of HaVaYaH, is called “life,” as it is written, “for from it results life,” which are the souls of Israel, which are the results of Malchut, who is called “life.” Malchut is Hevel [mouth vapor/nonsense] that exits and enters a person’s mouth without toil and without labor; it is the letter Hey of Hibaraam [they were created], since the letter Hey is expressed from the mouth more easily than all the letters.
It is written about it, “Man lives by everything that comes out from the mouth of the Lord.” Malchut is called “everything that comes out from the mouth of the Lord.” It is on a person’s head, as it is said in the Shema reading, “And on my head, the Shechina of God.” It is written about it, “And he beheld the image of the Lord,” since Malchut is called the “image of the Lord.” It is also written, “Only in the image shall a man walk.”
32. Because she is on a person’s head, a man must not walk four cubits bare-headed, for if she departs from over a man’s head, life immediately departs from him.
33. Is Malchut present also over the nations of the world, even though the heaven and the earth, and all the generations in them were not created by them? Behibaraam [when they were created] has the letters of “in Abraham” [in Hebrew], in whom heaven and earth and their generations were created, as well as the descendants of Abraham, and not of the nations of the world. However, it is certainly not present on them since Moses asked the Creator for the Shechina not to be present over the nations of the world, and He granted him this.
Thus, the Hevel that is on the nations of the world, from which place does it come? Or the one that is on the wicked, who are the mixed-multitude that are mingled with Israel, from where is it? Indeed, not all the faces are equal, and even in Israel, not everyone is equal, much less others.
34. We learn about the shape of the letter Hey: “I have a good gift in My treasure, whose name is Shabbat [Sabbath].” Shabbat is Malchut. When she rises to Bina and is present over Israel, they have neither labor nor enslavement, and in her, the soul toils and labors, as it is written, “Sabbath, and He rested.”
35. There is another soul on a person’s head, which is not from Malchut, and it is called a “servant,” since it is extended from Matat, who is called a “servant.” She is the shape of the man in the place of Malchut, and she is the servant of a king who rattles all of a person’s organs to walk in good ways, and to observe in them 248 commandments, so the letter Hey of BeHibraaam is on them, Malchut, since this is how Hibaraam amounts to the number 248 [in Gematria].
36. After it clarifies man’s Nefesh [soul], The Zohar interprets NRNHY of Ruach [spirit], which is extended to the rewarded person from the four letters HaVaYaH of ZA, which are present on his head. It says that there is another form on his head, which is called “fear,” Yod of HaVaYaH, KH, the lights Yechida-Haya of Ruach. Since it is Keter, it is discerned as fear, since fear is extended from Keter.
It is written about them, “And God created the man in His image, in the image of God.” Twice “in the image” are two good forms, male and female. The male is from the side of the letter Yod of HaVaYaH, Yechida-Haya, and the female is from the side of the letter Hey of HaVaYaH, Neshama.
37. The two letters Yod-Hey awaken a person to Torah and Mitzva [commandment], where the Torah is Vav, and the commandment is Hey. Yod is fear on a person’s head, and from it, fear is extended to a person’s heart, to fear the Creator and keep himself from transgressing against the commandments not-to-do. Hey is love on a person’s head. From it, the love of the Creator is extended over a person’s 248 organs, to observe in them the 248 commandments to-do. Vav of HaVaYaH, from whose side there is the light of Ruach of Ruach on a person, is on a person’s head. From it, words enter a person’s heart to study the Torah, which are Malchut, Nefesh of Ruach, called “words,” the letter Hey, and HaVaYaH is completed.
38. It is written in the words that are extended into his mouth to study the Torah, “Take with you words and return to the Lord,” since the words complete the Yod-Hey-Vav with the bottom Hey, which is called “words.” By having fear, love, and the Torah in you, which are Yod-Hey Vav-Hey, since fear and love are Yod-Hey, and the Torah is Vav, and the words in the mouth are the letter Hey, by this HaVaYaH, ZA, will return to being Bina, which is repentance, which means returning of Vav, ZA, to the first Hey, which is the work of creation, and it is thirty-two times Elokim [God] in the work of creation, Bina.
This means that ZA and Malchut rise and clothe the GAR of Bina, upper AVI, and the HaVaYaH is completed, and in Malchut that rose to Bina, you will have rest from everything. In her, as it is written, “Sabbath, and He rested.” Malchut that ascends to Bina is called Shabbat [Sabbath], and she is the rest and the repose. As long as she does not ascend to Bina, Malchut is not called Sabbath.
39. The Yod-Hey-Vav will be included in Malchut, the bottom Hey, which rose to Bina, and the name will be completed. This is why it is written, “And the heaven and the earth were completed,” on Shabbat, which is the wholeness of everything. The whole world was created on it, and heaven and earth stand on it, and the sea and all the creations that were created, as it is written, “These are the generations of the heaven and the earth when they were created,” He created them with the Hey, with Malchut. If she were to move away from the world for even an instance, everything would be ruined and canceled, and there would be no existence to the world.
40. That Hey will not go from a person’s body, and she stands in it. When she walks from him, the potion of death will come and be on him, which is called “impurity,” a “carcass,” “unqualified,” “angel of death,” “darkness,” “blackness.” She is present on a person’s body, and at that time, a person is called “dead,” as it is written, “‘For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,’ says the Lord God. ‘Therefore, turn and live!’” It should have written, “in the death of one who lives.” However, the wicked is already dead; this is why it is written “the death of one who dies.”
41. All the to-do commandments that were destined to be in his 248 organs mourn over him, as it is written, “I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners.” His mourners are the 248 organs mourning over him, the upper form that is on his head, in which there is the Yod-Hey-Vav Hey.
As there is a good form on the righteous, which leads him to do all the good deeds, to give him credit for the next world, so there is a bad way on the head of the wicked, to lead them in bad deeds that they will inherit in Hell. For this reason, there is Hevel and there is Hevel. There is good Hevel, of which it is written, “Man lives by everything that comes out from the mouth of the Lord,” and there is bad Hevel, of which it is written, “This, too, is nonsense [Hevel] and pursuit of the wind.”
42. Man’s actions reveal the Partzuf that is on him, and the Partzuf of Panim [anterior/face], whether he is a lion or an ox, an eagle or a man, and whether from the Merkava [structure/chariot] of the Creator and His Shechina, or from the evil Merkava of SAM, or from the Merkava of the four foundations of the world, in which there is neither the good inclination nor the evil inclination, but are rather like the beasts of the world. For this reason, there are several differences in a person, each according to his kind. And for this reason, to the extent that a person allots, he is allotted to, and each Partzuf has an appointee over it.
43. Each of the six days of creation has a Partzuf of the degree that leads it. You will not find a day in which there is no good, as it is written, “And God saw that it was good.” Although on the second day, it is not written about it that it is good, you will find it in the third day, which is why “good” is written twice in regard to it.
44. Each day has a fence from the outside, so that not any person can enter the good in it, as there is darkness that covers the light. As you find light on the first day, and as you find darkness in it, so there is guarding in each day. This is guarding in the same way that thorns guard the vineyard so no alien may enter it. There are also other guards, like serpents and scorpions and seraphim [a kind of angels] who guard that good so that on one who is unworthy of entering may come in there. Were it not for the guarding, all the wicked ones would be able to come into the secrets of Torah.
45. For this reason, one who is wicked and enters in order to know the secrets of Torah, several sabotaging angels, who are called “darkness” and “blackness,” serpents and scorpions, who are called the “animals of the field,” confuse his thought so he does not come into a place that is not his.
46. But one who is good, all those guards are at his command to help him, and the accuser becomes an advocate. They bring him to the hidden good and say to the hidden good, “Our master, here is a good and righteous man, heaven fearing, who wants to come in before you. He told us, ‘Open for me the gates of justice that I may come through them and thank the Lord.’” Then that hidden good will say to them, “Open for him that gate called ‘love,’ or that gate called ‘repentance,’ and each righteous will enter according to his degree,” as it is written, “Open the gates, that the righteous nation may come.”
47. Now we must return to the door to repentance, since the repentance that people make is from several kinds. They are all good, but not all the faces are the same. There is a person who was completely wicked his entire life, who transgressed in several commandments not-to-do, and regrets and confesses them. And afterwards, he does not do good or bad. To this one, the Creator will certainly forgive, but he will not be rewarded with high repentance.
Then there is a person who, having repented from his sins and they have been atoned for him, walks in the ways of commandments and engages in them with all his might with fear and love for the Creator. This one is rewarded with the lower repentance, called Hey, Malchut.
48. Then there is a person who, having regretted his iniquities and repented, engages in Torah with fear and love for the Creator, and not in order to receive reward. This one is rewarded with the letter Vav of HaVaYaH, ZA, Ben Yod-Hey, Bina is named after him, and he caused the Vav, ZA, to return to Hey, Malchut. The word Teshuva [repentance] has the letters of “the Vav will return to the Hey.”
49. Both Hey and Vav are never present in a person without fear and love, which are Yod-Hey. Indeed, we call them fear and love, and from there we were given the Torah and the commandment, which are a son and daughter, Vav-Hey, ZA and Malchut. And because Israel observe the Torah and the commandment, they are called “the children of the Creator,” as it is written, “You are the children of the Lord your God.”
50. it is written, “The concealed things to the Lord our God, and the revealed things to us and to our children.” The concealed things are fear and love, which are in the mind and in the heart. They are in the hollow of the body and in the insides of the head. They are Yod-Hey. “The revealed things to us and to our children” are the Torah and the commandment in the externality of the body and the head, which are Vav-Hey, since if a person fears the Creator or loves Him, no other person knows it, since it is a matter that is not revealed except between the Creator and his Maker.
51. However, a person who engages in Torah and walks in the commandments to-do, this is revealed to every person since the Creator has made for him a mouth openly, to engage in Torah, and eyes to look at it, and ears to listen to it. The Creator made hands and legs and body in man, to perform the commandments to-do with them.
52. Thus, why did the Creator make the nose of a person? It is written, “And He breathed in his nostrils the soul of life.” This is the form over man, of whom it is written, “And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder is placed on the earth.” A ladder is the soul of life, Malchut, a throne to the name HaVaYaH, which is fear and love, and Torah and commandment, where fear and love are Yod-Hey, and Torah and commandment are Vav-Hey. In the soul of life there is the name HaVaYaH. This is the throne, the ladder, from which all the souls of Israel are carved, and it is the form over a person’s head.
53. “And behold, angels of God ascending and descending in it.” These are the Havalim [pl. of Hevel] ascending and coming out in the body, on this ladder. One ladder is the seventh among them. “Placed on the earth” is another one, and they are two. “Its top reaches heaven” is another one, and they are three. “And behold, angels of God ascending” are two, and they are five. “And descending” are two more, and they are seven. They correspond to the four directions of the world, and the heaven and earth that shine in that ladder.
It is written, “Vanity of vanities [Hevel Havalim], says Kohelet [Ecclesiastes], vanity of vanities! All is vanity [Hevel].” These are seven Havalim corresponding to the throne. “Vanity of vanities” are three. The second time “Vanity of vanities” is six, and with the final Hevel [vanity], they are seven. They are the ladder and the heaven, the sea and the earth, and the four foundations of the world, which are seven. They correspond to the seven days of creation, HGT NHYM. Opposite them there are all the creations of heaven and earth, animals, birds, beasts, and fish, and many generations that hang from them.
54. Because everything is caused in that image that is on all of Israel, who is righteous, Yesod, it is written about them, “And the fear of you and the dread of you will be upon all the animals of the earth, and all the birds of the sky, upon everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea.” This speaks about people, who are comparable to animals of the field, to beasts, birds, and the fish at sea. There is a person whose sign is an ox, there is one whose sign is a lion, there is one whose sign is an eagle, and there is one whose sign is a man.
55. Yet, all of them fear the form over the man, from which they were created, since the name HaVaYaH is on him, as it is written, “And all the nations of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord [HaVaYaH] is called upon you, and they shall fear you.” Anyone who blemishes his actions, his form is blemished. The name HaVaYaH is not present in a flawed place, for there is darkness in that flaw, since there is darkness in the flaw of the moon, Malchut. As that man blemished his form, so he is blemished below: He becomes mute, or deaf, or blind, or lame, so he will be registered above and below.
56. That darkness is present in his flaw, and the holy degrees, which are the armies of the Creator, immediately recognize him and move away from him, for they already know that the king is not present in that flaw. And because of it, the armies of the king move away from him, for the armies of the king are present and come near only to a place where the king is present, as this is how they are led after him, like organs after the body.
57. In the place where there is darkness, there are several sabotaging angels, which are called serpents and scorpions, approaching him and giving him several bites. These are sufferings.
If he has money, possessions from good deeds he had done, if his possessions are good deeds, they diminish from him, for every merit, every illumination that comes down to him because of the good deed, is given to those sabotaging angels, and in return for it, the sufferings are canceled for him.
If he has neither merits nor debts above, but all his possessions are below, and for every merit, corporeal money comes down to him, then the nations of the world approach him instead of sabotaging angels, and he gives them of his money and is saved from them.
58. Because of it, Israel would sacrifice to Azazel, to that darkness. The seventy bulls corresponding the seventy nations that they would sacrifice on Sukkot were to observe the verse, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him bread, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.” As soon as they repent, that darkness is removed from the flaw and they are completed, as it is written, “The Lord will also take away your sin and you will not die,” and promptly, the name HaVaYaH returns upon him and heals him from those bites of suffering, as it is written, “and repent and be healed.” The Creator returns to him as soon as he repents, and that flaw is completed, as it is written, “Return to Me, and I will return to you.”
59. All this is in complete repentance, which causes the return of Bina, Yod-Hey-Vav, to Hey, Malchut, who went wandering from her nest, which is a form over man’s head, in which all the commandments are connected, and in which the ten Sefirot are connected. When a person performs one commandment and not more, but does it with fear and love for the Creator, thanks to it, there are ten Sefirot over him. Anyone who observes one commandment properly, it is as though he observes 248 commandments to-do, since there is no commandment that does not incorporate all 248 commandments to-do.