504. “Fairest among women” is the Yod, a dot among all the letters. There is no beauty to the letters except for the letter Yod. In this dot, all the letters are corrected, and she is the beauty of all of them.
Beauty is Hochma that is revealed only in Malchut, and there is no letter that will walk without that dot. She is in all of them, and all of them are in her, since it is impossible to write a letter unless it begins with that dot. She is beautiful, and the beauty in all of them, since she comes from a high and hidden place, from the Rosh [top] of all the upper degrees, Keter. In her, he is the Rosh of all the lower degrees of below, since Malchut of the upper one is Keter to the lower one. This is why it is written, “fairest among women,” for he is the beauty in all of them.
505. “Fairest among women.” It is written, “among women,” which is female letters, like Bet, Dalet, Zayin, and she is the letter Hey, in which there is all the beauty, for then the Hey is all the expansion and the beauty in all of them to pasture, to nourish, and to allot portions to all her upper camps. It is written, “Go you out,” from this concealment in the letter Yod, which is incorporated and concealed in you, “fairest among women,” to you, for yourself, and for your own benefit.
506. It is written, “God, in her palaces, has made Himself known as a stronghold.” This is so because when that great king, ZA, comes to her and extends her upward to enter her, and makes a coupling with that dot, once he has made a coupling with that dot, she expands and develops to all the sides, and the letter Hey becomes an opening to the halls in each side, so that that great king, ZA, will enter her. Then, “God, in her palaces, has made Himself known as a stronghold,” that in the opening of the halls, He is known in the letter Hey.
507. “God, in her palaces” is the living God. He takes the name Hey to nourish and allot portions to all, and then, “[He] has made Himself known as a stronghold,” to be a stronghold for the lower ones and bestow blessings to all, such as above.
508. When the Creator wanted to create the world, Malchut, all the matters of the world went up—all the phases of Malchut, and all the upper and lower degrees, all of them in the thought—to upper AVI, meaning they rose for MAN to AVI. She is called “a thought,” as she is one, hidden dot that stands in the thought, unrevealed, just as the thought that a person thinks is not revealed.
This is so because it is known to which place the one dot, upper AVI, expands, and what will become of it, and to which places she aims her way, since AVI are hidden because the Yod never exits their air, and they are always in Hassadim that are covered from Hochma. For this reason, they are unknown. That dot is the Rosh of all the desires and all the thoughts in the world.
509. Everything was concealed within the thought, which is AVI. It was unknown until that thought expanded and became one expansion, which is YESHSUT, to this side and to that side. That is, the Yod went out from their air and expanded into three lines. Once the dot expanded in this expansion, all that was concealed became revealed, since the Yod went out from the air, and the illumination of Hochma became revealed.
510. This does not mean that Hochma was revealed in YESHSUT in order to know and attain there, but that that concealment that was in upper AVI has been revealed, to the extent of knowing where the road leads. This is so because the way of revealing Hochma is revealed in YESHSUT, but in them, themselves, in their own place, the Hochma is not revealed, but rather in the place of Malchut.
She comes out from the thought because she no longer stands in the thought, as there is no revelation there at all, and she does not merit the name “thought,” but rather stands in the name to be revealed. She becomes a voice in a whisper, which, on the one hand, has been revealed outwards, like a sound that has been revealed and emerged from the thought, and on the one hand, it is not heard and not revealed here in this place, but below, in Malchut. That expansion is the first Hey of HaVaYaH, YESHSUT, which is a vessel to bring out all those hidden matters that were in the thought.
511. Below, in ZA and in Malchut, the one who makes a coupling with that dot below—Malchut, when she is concealed, as it is written, “and a great king came to her”—is the letter Vav, ZA, who comes out from the first Hey, Bina. That Vav that descends from within her, makes a coupling with that dot, Malchut, and elicits from within her all that she collected from above, and expands and develops to all the sides, and becomes the bottom Hey from the name HaVaYaH. You find that the letter Vav has expansion, and she is the giver, and the dot, which has no expansion, is the receiver.
512. Above, in AVI and YESHSUT, Yod-Hey of HaVaYaH, one who makes a coupling with the first Hey of HaVaYaH, is one upper, hidden dot, which is upper AVI. When she makes a coupling with her, she brings outside, and all the hidden things that were there are revealed and come outside.
At that time, the thought that was concealed and unknown becomes known, since the hidden dot, which has no expansion, is the giver, and the Hey is the receiver, which is the opposite of what is in ZA and in Malchut. The Vav, which has expansion, is the giver, and the hidden dot is the receiver.
513. Similarly, when the Vav, ZA, makes a coupling with the dot below, Malchut, she elicits from within her all those armies and camps and battalions and lights and streams of above in ZA, like the first Hey, which reveals all that there is in the Yod, in upper AVI.
514. At that time, she is told, “Pasture your kids by the shepherds’ tents.” That is, “Take lights and nourishments, and dispense to all those armies, and give to them.” “By the shepherds’ tents” are the shepherds who are the leaders of the world, to give them control and power, each according to what is appropriate for him.
All this is done in the expansion of that dot, Yod, which was previously concealed and has now become the Hey.
515. Rabbi Shimon was delighted and said, “In the beginning, before these words of The Song of Songs were revealed, I cried and I was sad. Now that these words have been revealed, I am happy and say, ‘Happy am I that I have been rewarded with these degrees, that the high matters of above have been revealed.’”