A Vow and an Oath

401) The oath of the Creator is the Shechina, the only daughter. It is with good reason that they determined that three people break an oath, for it is the Shin [] of Shabbat [Sabbath], where the three branches of the Shin are three patriarchs, HGT, and the thick line that connects the three branches from below is the only daughter, an oath that partakes in the three branches in the Shin. Malchut is called “an oath” when she is connected with HGT of ZA, who—above his Chazeh—is the fourth leg of the upper throne. This is what the Shin of Shabbat implies. Hence, three people—corresponding to HGT—can break the oath.

402) The oath applies only to something that is real. A vow applies even to something that is unreal. Vows are more important than oaths because anyone who takes an oath swears in the King himself, in Malchut, while one who makes a vow, it is as though he vows in the King’s life, Bina, from which life—Mochin—extends to Malchut.

In GAR, Hochma can shine without clothing of Hassadim. But in ZAT, Hochma does not shine without Hassadim. The oath applies only to something that is real because the oath, Malchut that draws Hochma above the Chazeh of ZA, is fourth to the patriarchs and does not exist there for lack of Hassadim. Instead, she must descend from the Chazeh and receive Hassadim from Yesod of ZA to clothe the Hochma in them, and then the oath applies, meaning exists.

This screen of Yesod, which draws Hassadim, is called “something real,” coarseness. But a vow, which is Bina and GAR, applies even to something that is unreal, which does not need a screen for bestowal of Hassadim, since in GAR, Hochma can shine even without Hassadim.

403) The one who each day and always renews the act of creation will innovate innovations for us, since it is written, “There is nothing new under the sun,” who is ZA. However, there are innovations above the sun. In the secrets of Torah, it is written, “For the Lord God of hosts is a sun and shield,” there are shining and protecting even under the sun in the world of Atzilut, and not in the world of the layperson, meaning the three worlds BYA, where there are the shells that deny His uniqueness.

And even though it is written, “God has made them one opposite the other,” meaning that the shells are the work of God, since from out of the darkness, from the shells, comes out light—by people overcoming them, they are still regarded as the world of the uneducated, and the light of the sun, ZA of Atzilut, does not extend to protect them.

404) The next world, Bina, is above the sun, the middle pillar, ZA. For this reason, vows from there are more important than an oath and apply to something that is unreal, in which the screen does not extend Hassadim. And because an oath, this world, which is Malchut, exists only on Yesod, which carries the screen of Hassadim, which is real, as it is written, “A righteous is the foundation of the world,” it follows that it applies only to something that is real.

405) We swear by Yesod, as it is written, “As the Lord lives, lie down until the morning.” Yesod is called “living.” The bottom Shechina, which is called “the Western Wall,” Malchut, is its dwelling place, since it is a mound to which everyone turns.

A wall comprises the letters Kaf-Vav Tav-Lamed [Kotel]. HaVaYaH, ZA, is 26 in Gematria. The Shechina is certainly the mound of ZA, after the verse, “His locks are curled, and black as a raven,” where on every curl there are mounds over mounds of laws. The Dalet of Ehad [“one” in the Shema reading] is a mound to which everyone turns, Malchut. The tip of the Dalet [ד] is Yesod, which distinguishes her from the shape of the Reish [ר], gripping between the Aleph-Het of Ehad, ZA, and the Dalet of Ehad, Malchut, as it is written, “For everything that is in the heavens and the earth.” “For everything” is the name Yesod, who clings to ZA, called heaven, and to Malchut, called earth.

406) The world stands on the Yesod [foundation], on a pillar whose name is “righteous,” as it is written, “A righteous is the foundation of the world.” He is the covenant of the oath, Malchut, since the Aleph-Het Dalet stand on him, the heaven and earth, as it is written, “If My covenant be not day and night, I have not put the ordinances of heaven and earth.” Aleph-Het are heaven, ZA, and Dalet is earth, Malchut.

407) The covenant, Yesod, is gripped between heaven and earth, ZON, and in it is the oath, Malchut. It is written about it, “As the Lord lives, lie down until the morning,” since the oath depends on Yesod, who is called “living.” One who swears in His name in vain, it is as though he destroyed the structure of heaven and earth and reverted the world to chaos, for if a person removes the tip, Yesod, from the Dalet of Ehad, Malchut, it will leave Aher [other], SAM, in whose place there is falsehood. It is as though one builds heaven and earth on falsehood. Truth stands, and a lie does not stand and will ultimately be revoked. Thus, he destroyed the building and the heaven and earth fell.

408) One who swears falsely, it is as though, as it is written, “He threw the glory of Israel from heaven to earth.” The Shechina is called earth, and Tifferet [glory] is called heaven. He is with her and did not part from it even in her falling, to keep in her the words “I am the Lord, it is My name, and I will not give My honor to another.” Truth, who is ZA, fell with her, as it is written, “And truth shall be cast to the ground.” Thus, the cause of Malchut’s fall also causes the fall of ZA. This is why one who swears in vain causes the fall of heaven and earth, and one who swears in truth keeps the verse, “Truth shall grow out of the earth,” which is the middle pillar, ZA, which is called “truth,” in which the building stands. Thus, the construction of heaven and earth is established on truth.

409) And because the oath is the structure of this world, Malchut, it cannot exist without Yesod [a foundation], something that is real, which carries the screen on which the coupling of Hassadim comes out. A vow is the next world, Bina. It is higher than an oath and applies to things that are unreal, since Bina does not need a Yesod on which to exist, which is a covenant, in which there is coupling, since in GAR the Hochma does not need Hassadim to clothe in. This is why on Yom Kippur [Day of Atonement], which is the next world, Bina, in which they set up the Kol Nidrey [all the vows] prayer the coupling is forbidden because the vow is from Bina and there is no coupling of Yesodot in Bina.

410) The letter of the covenant, Yod, is in Bina, Yesod of Bina. It is the crown of a book of Torah, which is a righteous, Yesod of ZA. There is neither eating nor drinking in the next world, nor is there coupling. Rather, the righteous sit with their crowns on their heads.

411) Because there is no use of this world, Malchut, in the crown on the head of a righteous, which applies only in Bina, all who use the crown pass away from the world. This is so because the crown in this world is below the Yesod and is not on the head of the righteous. The points are for using the letters, but in the next world, Bina, there is no use for the letters, which imply to ZON. For this reason, there are no dots [punctuation marks] in letters in a book of Torah, but tags that extend from Bina, and they are a crown at the top of the letters, which are ZON. For this reason, one who uses a book of Torah passes away from the world. And so they say of one who studies the laws that one who uses the crown passes.