252. “The Lord founded the earth with wisdom; established the heaven with gumption; by his knowledge the depths are broken up.” The world was created by these three things, by HBD, and on these two it stands: on gumption and knowledge. But we learned that the world stands on three? However, the Creator took the Hochma [wisdom] up, and it is His name, to make it known to His righteous servants, and not to the whole world. And the two, gumption and knowledge, remained in the world, and they are its persistence. Tevuna [gumption] is Bina.
253. All three, HBD, were implied in a small vision, and they are the three movements of the mouth, in which the conducts of the mouth are applied, the three outlets of the mouth. The top one is the palate, from which come the letters Gimel, Yod, Kaf, Kof, implying Hochma. The middle one is the throat, from which come the letters Aleph, Hey, Het, Ayin, implying Tevuna. The bottom one is the tongue, from which come the letters Dalet, Tet, Lamed, Nun, Tav, implying Daat. Thus, they are Hochma, Tevuna, and Daat.
254. These two, Tevuna and Daat, the world is led by them, since the heaven, ZA, were created in Tevuna through YESHSUT, and the abyss, Malchut, with Daat, and ZA and Malchut are the leaders of the world. Thus, the world is led by Tevuna and Daat, and Hochma is not regarded in the leadership, as well, since Hochma is the name of the Creator, and He is called Hochma; He and Hochma are one and the same.
255. It is written, “I am the Lord, that is My name.” This teaches that He and His name are one. He has given everything to the lower ones, but He did not give or lend His great name to another, as it is written, “I am the Lord,” alone, teaching that He did not give that name to any prophet.
256. How concerned was the Creator for the glory of His name. When the Temple existed, anyone who offered a sacrifice and offered it to that name, called Elokim [God], had to be put to death, as it is written, “He who offers to any god shall be put to death, only to the Lord alone,” teaching that we must mention only His unique name.
257. Therefore, in order for a person not to be mistaken, He commanded about the offerings and said, “If any one of you brings an offering to the Lord,” “And when you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord,” “And if you offer a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord,” “When anyone offers a grain offering to the Lord.” It is all to the Creator, and it is not written “to God.”
258. This name is common, for the angels were called God, people were called God, and the judges were called God, and we do not know to which of them he offers. This is why he must mention only the unique name.
259. One who curses the name, as it is written, “Each man who curses his God shall bear his sin,” for if he cursed only that name, he need not be put to death and he is not expelled.
260. He does not have to be put to death, but he does have to be expelled because of the prohibition from the Torah, as it is written, “You shall not curse God,” generally. But if he cursed the unique name, he must be put to death, as it is written, “And whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death,” teaching that it is not mandatory until he mentions His unique name.
261. One man dedicated his son and said, “This son who was born will be dedicated to God.” Rabbi Hiya heard and cast a boycott on him. That man said to him, “Is it because I dedicated my son to the Creator that that man should be under boycott?”
He said, “This is not why I did it, but because you dedicated him to the name called “God,” and the Torah said, “He who offers to any god shall be put to death.”
He said to him, “How should I have said?”
He replied, “You should have said, ‘This son who was born to me will be consecrated to the Lord,’ and not to any other name. How do we know this? From Hannah, where it is written, ‘I gave him to the Lord,’ and she did not say ‘to God.’”
262. But the world was created with the name Elokim [God], so a person could say like this, that they were angels, or that they were the greatest of the generation, or that they were judges. Rabbi Abahu said, “But the world was created before people came, and before the judges of the generation came, and the greatest of the generation, and we must not be mistaken about this.”
263. And the world being created with the name God, as it is written, “Who is like You in the gods, Lord,” that He can create the world. This means that gods could not create the world until the Creator took one letter from His name, the letter Hey, and with it, the world was created, and from Elim [gods], it became Elokim [God], and his name Elokim was built. It is about this that we learn “created them with Hey.”
264. There are Keter and Malchut only in His holy name, for He did not lend it to another. This is the name Yod-He-Vav-He [Yod-Vav-Dalet Hey-Aleph Vav-Aleph-Vav Hey-Aleph]. Upper ones and lower ones were incorporated in it, the heaven and the earth, and all their hosts, the throne, and the holy animals, and all are as zero and nothing compared to Him, and He was, He is, and He will be.