The Voice of Words
18. “And the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the voice of words, but saw no image but the voice. “The voice of the words”, a voice that is called “speech,” that all the speech depends on it. The voice is ZA, the speech is Malchut. But since the speech depends on the voice, Malchut is called “the voice of words.” This is why it is written, “And the Lord spoke to you out of the fire,” since speech depends on Malchut, who is called “fire,” and Malchut is called “the voice of words.”
19. “You heard the voice of words,” since hearing depends only on Malchut because hearing depends on speech. This is why it is written, “You heard.” It is also written, “And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl,” since he flawed the place called “hearing,” and it is speech and it is hearing.
20. “You heard the voice of words, but saw no image.” An image is as it is written, “And he beholds the image of the Lord,” which is Malchut. This is written only in Moses’ praise, who was looking at the illuminating mirror, ZA. Hence, “And he beholds the image of the Lord,” Malchut, who reveals the HaVaYaH. An image is an inner voice, Bina, who was not seen at all even by Moses, but only a voice. This is another voice, external, Malchut, called “the voice of words.” And why is Bina called an “image”? It is because the whole correction of the body, ZA, which is a depiction of VAK and twelve boundaries and seventy branches, emerges from Bina.
21. Why is Malchut called an “image”? It is because the corrections below, corrections of BYA, emerge from her. This is why Bina and Malchut are called the first Hey and the bottom Hey, since they are equal to each other. The first Hey is as it is written, “A loud voice, and He did not continue,” since her fountains never stop, since she is with Abba, Hochma, in a never ending coupling. All those voices were there when the Torah was given to Israel, which are the seven voices of ZA; they all came out from the inner voice of everything, Bina, since the matter depends on it, because they were emanated from Bina.
22. Mishneh, Torah, Moses said them from himself. Upper Hochma is called “the whole of the Torah,” and from it, everything comes out to the inner voice, Bina. Afterwards, everything settles and grips the place of the tree of life, ZA, Moses, and the general and particular depend on him. The written Torah, ZA, is called “general,” and the oral Torah, Malchut, is called “particular.” They are called “Torah” and Mishneh Torah.” ZA is called “Torah,” and Malchut is called “Mishneh Torah.” Mishneh Torah, which is Malchut, is Moses, who is ZA. He said them from himself, as she was emanated by Moses, ZA. In the beginning, the first ten commandments emerged from Gevura that does not stop, from Bina, of whom it is written, “A loud voice, and He did not continue.” Now, the ten commandments in the Mishneh Torah, all emerged together from ZA and from Malchut, as Moses, ZA, said them from himself. For this reason, here, in these ten commandments, they are all written in the letter Vav, as it is written, “You shall not commit adultery,” and “You shall not steal,” and “You shall not bear false witness,” and “You shall not covet,” and “You shall not crave,” as the Vav implies ZA.
23. Why is it written, “You shall not crave”? Is the verse “You shall not covet” not enough? Happy are the true righteous, coveting is one degree, and craving is another degree. Coveting means that if he can, he will go and take it, for because of that coveting that gripped him, he will go and do a deed. Craving is not so. Rather, even if he does not take another path to follow, it is still regarded as craving.
24. Why is it not written, “You shall not murder,” with a Vav [and] first? It is because the degree of murder is judgment, and depends on Gevura, in the left line, and not in the place of mercy, ZA, who is called Vav. This is why it is written, “You shall not murder,” and “Vav” [and] is not written. And because the five letters Vav are needed, corresponding to HGT NH, the Vav was added to the word, “And you shall not crave,” since in the verse, “You shall not murder,” there should not be a Vav in it, since it is in Gevura. This is why the Vav was added here.
26. When the Torah was given to Israel, all the voices were present, from Bina, from ZA, and from Malchut. Bina is called the “inner voice,” ZA, the “outer voice,” and Malchut, the “voice of words.” The Creator sat on the throne, Malchut, and ZA was seen from within Malchut.
The speech of Malchut emerged from the upper one that is above it, ZA, as it is written, “The Lord spoke with you face-to-face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire,” for ZA and Malchut were face-to-face, and the speech came out and spoke from within the fire and the flame, the left line, which the speech rejected out of ZA through the knocking of spirit and water, the middle line and the right line, which give strength to the left.
You find that the speech, Malchut, emerges from all three lines of ZA, for fire, wind, and water, the three lines of ZA, emerged from the Shofar [festive horn], Bina, which contains all of them, and Israel drew far because of that fear.
27. Because of the fear, Israel said to Moses, “And you shall speak to us all that the Lord will speak.” They said, “We do not want the upper force that is above, meaning from the ZA, but from the place of the Nukva, Malchut, and not more, as it is written, “And you shall speak to us,” implying the Nukva [“you” is spelled like a female “you”].
Moses said to them, “You indeed weakened my strength, and you have weakened the strength of Malchut,” for had Israel not drawn far, and heard all those words from ZA, as in the beginning, the world could not have been ruined afterwards, and Israel would live for posterity.
28. This is so because in the first hour, after they heard the first speech, they died, since the tree of death, Malchut, caused them. Afterwards, they were revived and arose and grew, obtaining the Mochin of Gadlut [greatness/adulthood]. The Creator wanted to let them into the tree of life, ZA, which stands above the tree of death, so they would live forever, but they moved away and did not want. Therefore, Moses’ strength over them weakened and the power of Malchut weakened.
The Creator said, “I want to sustain you in a high place, that you will adhere to life, and you want the place where the Nukva is present.” This is why it is written, “Tell them, ‘Return to your tents.’” Each one should go to his Nukva and unify with her, since they descended to the world of the Nukva.
29. For this reason, because Israel did this only out of the upper fear that was on them, it is written about them, “Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me.” Thus, anyone who does something and does not set one’s heart and will to the evil side, even if the thing is bad, since he did not do it willingly, there is no punishment on him, and he is not as another person, who acts willingly, and the Creator does not sentence him to the bad.