At the dawning of His Kingdom, God founded a throne for His dwelling, establishing it through His spirit, making it through His mighty arm. He brought forth wisdom and understanding, treasure without limits. From there flow the lives of souls; all the worlds draw their existence. Who can comprehend God’s comings and goings, His intentions, save Moses who held fast to His presence, who attained a firm stance upon His foundations, as it is written: “He grasps hold of His throne, He spreads His cloud over him” [Job 26:9].

When God established His throne during creation’s six days, he formed two fawns,⁷ twins of a gazelle, placing them in a domicile of delight, a chamber with figures inlaid. Nothing was denied them, no false divinity was in their midst nor anything of evil. The intent of their creation was that they would be a seed of truth, “holy seed their stock” [Isa. 6:21], so that they might stroll among stones of fire,⁸ among the angelic watches, while the shekhinah herself would walk in the lower worlds.

footnotes: ⁷ Adam and Eve. ⁸ Following Ezek. 12:13–14, referring to the angels.

So it was until a crafty man arose. Iniquitous, endowed with jealous plots, he devised deeds of wickedness, enticing and misleading the gracious lady with his blandishments. Eschewing aforethought, she observed not her commandment but followed his counsel. Swayed by her eloquence, by the sweetness of her lips, her husband followed her lead. Thus a spirit of impurity descended upon them, transformed them, bound itself to them and to all of their descendants, as it is written: “But see, this did I find: God made men righteous but they invent multitudinous contrivances” [Eccles. 7:29].

Seeing his molten image having proved deceitful, the human repented, and conceived Seth in his image and likeness. Seth conceived Enosh; from them came Enoch who walked before God, knowing and cognizing Him in truth. As it says: “And Enoch walked with God” [Gen. 5:22]. Generations passed until Noah’s arose, the tenth in count since Adam’s. He too knew God with a perfect knowledge, prudence dwelling with Wisdom. Thus Noah found favor in God’s eyes, as it is written: “And Noah found favor” [Gen. 6:8]. Among Noah’s three sons, Shem was chosen, for he was the first born, recognizing his Creator, knowing and cognizing Him in faith. His descendent Ever grasped hold of God’s path, upheld its steps, was chosen from his entire generation to be singled out for fame and praise. By means of a knowledge complete, lucid and pure, Shem and Ever comprehended the rational commandments and statutes divine, setting right the branches on high. And they charged the multitudes to walk in God’s paths. The generations progressed. The tenth after Noah’s was distinguished by the man chosen from the womb since the dawn, our father Abraham. He perceived a knowledge of his Creator transcending his predecessors’, comprehending God’s reality in a manner formerly unknown. He began to call upon God’s name among all of the nations and kingdoms, as it is written: “And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon God’s name” [Gen. 12:8]. And it says: “He planted an oak in Be‘er Sheva and invoked the name of the Lord, the God of the world” [Gen. 21:33]. Since he took possession of the attribute of divine love, his son Isaac was chosen from among all of his sons and offspring. As it is written: “God said to Abraham: ‘Do not be distressed over the boy or your handmaid; whatever Sarah tells you, do as she says, for it is through Isaac that your offspring will be continued’” [Gen. 21:12]. Isaac attained knowledge of his Creator, he too exhorting his sons to walk in God’s ways, as it is written: “he built an altar there and invoked the Lord by name, pitching there his tent” [Gen. 26:25]. He took divine justice as his portion. When his son Jacob was born, the image of the likeness of the blessed Holy One, engraved on the Throne of Glory, manifested itself in the world. For Jacob grasped the attributes of justice and mercy a path equalized and balanced, so that his ways were imbued with truth and the paths of peace. For fourteen years he studied in Ever’s school and from his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham, he received the knowledge of God. Thus, shekhinah’s glory was revealed to him. Then the three patriarchs formed a chariot-throne for Him who rides the ancient highest heavens [Ps. 68:34]. They fulfilled the Teaching and commandment, serving their Creator by knowing Him; their worship lacking nothing. “For Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge: My commandments, My laws and My teachings” [Gen. 26:5].

Twelve sons were engendered by Jacob, righteous and good, who recognized the Creator, be He blessed, and knew Him as they had learned from their father Jacob. From their knowledge and perceptions of the Creator, they too observed the commandments: “Judah said to Onan: ‘Join with your brother’s wife and perform your levirate duty with her, and provide offspring for your brother’” [Gen. 38:8]. So matters unfolded until our father Jacob’s descent to Egypt, engendering offspring, twelve tribes in the likeness of that which is on high, the tribes of Yah, the community of Israel, whose numbers came to fulfillment at seventy.

After that generation, they were immersed in Egypt, among a people lacking comprehension, whose speech was subtle and obscure whose languages were different from their own. Israel adopted their ways and abominations, learnt their customs, grew ignorant of the knowledge of God inherited from their ancestors, elders, and primal progenitors. Then God in His compassion, sent them His beloved prophet, Moses, faithful of His household. He called to Moses, revealing Himself in a bush, the angel Michael with shekhinah’s glory. God charged Moses to inform the people that the time had come; having seen their oppression, their merciful father would extricate them from their imprisonment and captivity.

With Moses’ own words did the process commence: “Moses said to God: ‘When I come to the Israelites and say to them “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they ask me “What is His name?” what shall I say to them?’” [Exod. 3:13]. Israel’s fundamental question, the essence of all mystical intentionality and the mystery of faith, is this very query: “What is His Name?” It is the desire to know its origin, the manner in which the name is bound to the Primal Cause. In that holy place, Moses received the knowledge of God, learning that the divine possesses three names composed of twelve letters, faces within faces, ten sefirot, existence within existences. In verification of his mission, God explained: “Thus shall you say to the Israelites, ‘EHeYeH sent me to you.’” Scripture further states: “And God further said to Moses: ‘Thus shall you speak to the Israelites: “YHVH, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you,”’” placing the name EHeYeH aside and commencing with YHVH, adding and explicating: “This shall be My name forever, This is my appellation for all eternity” [Exod. 3:15]. And in that conversation God said: “And when you have freed the people, they shall worship God on this very mountain” [Exod. 3:12], promising them that God would appear to them face to face, and that they would see God’s glory with their very eyes. To extricate some of the populace from their darkness and doubt concerning the veracity of Moses’ prophecy, God said: “Behold I will come to you in a thick cloud, in order that the people might hear when I speak with you and so trust you ever after” [Exod. 19:9]. In that holy convocation the people directly saw shekhinah’s glory, viewing seven partitions of fire, moving them to the fear of God and faith in His goodness. As soon as they heard that voice, their souls almost departed from their bodies, just as occurred among the nations, as it says: “Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from amidst the fire as you have and lived?” [Deut. 4:33]. And as it says: “All the world’s kings acknowledged you, for they heard the words of Your mouth” [Ps. 138:4]. During that holy convocation, Moses and Aaron, Nadav and Avihu, seventy of Israel’s elders and all of Israel attained an illumination concerning God’s reality and the essence of God’s glory, each and every one in accord with his perfection, ability, and power. There were varied rungs among them, some more inward, some outward, some higher, some lower.

From this true knowing the holy Torah was revealed, coming forth from an inner voice, spreading forth into seventy branches, the seventy “faces” of the Torah. These are the multiple meanings of its verses, ever changing and transmuting in every direction: from pure to impure, forbidden to permitted, ritually fit to ritually disqualified, each parallel to its opposite containing within themselves the ability to declare a given reptile both pure and impure.

From that moment the prophets who would arise in every generation received their prophecies, and the sages who in the future would ascend to greatness received the fundamentals of their teachings, rulings, and debates. As it is written: “From the beginning, I did not speak in secret; From the time anything existed, I was there. And now the Lord God has sent me, endowed with His spirit” [Isa. 48:16]. And it is also said: “The Lord spoke all these words to your entire congregation on the mountain, from amid the fire, cloud, and mist, a great voice that did not cease” [Deut. 5:19].

From that period until now, there never ceased to be a generation of Israel to which the heritage of Wisdom, that is the knowledge of the divine Name, was transmitted through the tradition of Oral Torah. For our master Moses, when death drew near and the transmission of Wisdom was concealed from him, handed this wisdom to Joshua, as it is written: “Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had placed his hands upon him” [Deut. 34:9]. And Joshua transmitted it to the elders, who sustained their generation and were Israel’s leaders, praying for them during periods of trouble. All Israel obeyed them and were directed by their instruction, as it is written: “Israel served the Lord during the lifetime of Joshua and the lifetime of the elders who lived on after Joshua” [Josh. 24:31]. And the elders transmitted to the prophets. From the prophets it was given to the Men of the Great Assembly: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, Mordecai, Zerubavel and Ezra, the last among them being Simon the Righteous. Afterwards, this wisdom came to the masters of the Mishnah. At the hour of his death, R. Judah the Prince transmitted the tradition of wisdom to his son Simon. Thus R. Akiba and his companions entered the Garden. And when R. Yohanan b. Zakkai and R. Eliezer b. Arakh discoursed upon the mysteries of the Chariot, an angel responded from heaven, saying: “Such indeed is the work of the Chariot.”⁹ 13a.

footnotes: ⁹ b. Ḥagigah

Since then God’s Temple has been destroyed and the numbers of sages has dwindled, wisemen have ceased and the pious and saints for whose sake miracles were wrought are no more. The exile continues to worsen and our sufferings proceed, indeed undergoing constant renewal, there being neither anyone to impart knowledge nor comprehend tradition. And thus this wisdom ceased from Israel. Wisdom was lost and with it Torah. No one knew its interpretation and subtleties, exegesis and the reasons for its commandments. For a powerful connection exists between this wisdom and the commandments’ meanings, the Torah’s interpretation and the words of tradition, many passages of Scripture being based upon it.

Instead, interpreters arose possessing neither wisdom nor insight, whether they turned either towards the right or the left. They turned words of holiness into profanity, diminishing Scripture adding, subtracting, enhancing, interpreting passages spoken through the holy spirit, from a quarry of sacred gems, in terms never to be entertained by human consciousness, let alone spoken, and how much more so transcribed in a book. I call such interpreters those who “overturn the words of the living God, the Lord of Hosts” [Jer. 23:36]. Concerning this dual cessation of wisdom and its nullification in Israel, the prophet, trembling, devastated, and sighing, said: “Many are the days which will pass in Israel without the God of truth and without instruction” [Isa. 30:21]. By the phrase “without the God of truth” he referred to the interruption in the knowledge of God in Israel. “Without instruction” designates that on account of this negative situation we lack clarity concerning the reasons for the Torah’s commandments and its mysteries. Just as it is with the words of Torah and Scripture, so is it with the words of our sages of blessed memory, who expounded upon this wisdom in their homiletic compendia and narratives in the form of parables and ciphers, so as to hide these matters and conceal them. They scattered one here and one there, so as to hide their place. When encountering them, a person does not sense their inner meaning but instead takes them at their face value. He does not contemplate the inner dimensions of their details, pays no heed, lacks the knowledge or insight to say: “How is it possible for our sages to have written such things, to have put them into writing in a book, unless a delightful treasure is hidden and concealed within them?”

So have I seen again and again over the course of many years. Yet I kept my silence, placing hand to mouth until I reached my fifth rung¹⁰ and saw that the days of my life were setting before me, that old age was rapidly approaching. Therefore, I pressed forward to interpret one of Scripture’s twenty-four books, encompassing every delight, bespeaking matters weighty, mysteries and secrets whose memory was lost to Scripture’s interpreters, neglecting its perdurance and splendor: that is the Song of Songs. In accord with my strength, I have interpreted it as I have received from our rabbis. I have crowned it with the meanings of the commandments and composed it in accord with the mysteries of creation.¹¹

footnotes: ¹⁰ Probably his fiftieth year. ¹¹ Referring to the two major excurses within the text.

I have observed that concerning the Song of Songs there are three classes of individuals with three distinct sets of opinions. The first group, possessing neither understanding nor insight, has left the world scattered with corpses. They contend that its words are those of sexual desire, seductive enchantment and falsehood, vanity lacking all value. Let their mouths be stuffed! Their eyes blinded! For if their words were true, it would not have been composed among the works of Scripture nor counted among them. The second group views it as an allegory of the love of the Creator, the God of the entire world, for the splendor of Israel, His special treasure and unique inheritance, comparable to the desire of the lover for his beloved, of a man for his wife. They have established their words, suggested their interpretations, in accord with this allegory.

The third group, those who receive shekhinah, who possess a portion in God’s Torah and remember it well, the true wise men of Israel who have revealed its secrets and hidden mysteries, who have brought forth its occult depths through wisdom’s path and knowledge, have interpreted the entire text with that pithy principle enunciated by our sages in the tractate on Oaths: “Every Solomon mentioned in the Song of Songs is holy,¹² referring to Him who is the possessor of peace, save one: ‘I have my own vineyard: You may have the thousand O Solomon …’ [Cant. 8:12].”¹³ 35b. Our sages state further in Sanhedrin, the chapter called “Portion”:¹⁴ “Anyone who recites a verse of the Song of Songs treating it as a mere song, brings evil into the world.”¹⁵ 101a. In the tractate Hands R. Akiva states that “the entire world’s value can not be compared to the day upon which the Song of Songs was given to Israel. For while all of the Writings are holy, the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies.”¹⁶ I have therefore directed my attention and proposed in my mind and thoughts to reveal in my commentary that true principle which our sages have transmitted through allusion. I have established it upon the pillars of their words, supported it upon the pedestals of their exegesis, and the wise will understand.

footnotes: ¹² I.e., a name of God. ¹³ b. Shavu‘ot ¹⁴ The final chapter of the Talmudic tractate Sanhedrin. ¹⁵ b. Sanhedrin ¹⁶ m. Yadayim 3:5.

However, I must commence with three fundamental principles, in order to instruct you and provide your understanding with illumination.

The first principle serves to inform you that Solomon wrote this book in his old age,¹⁷ inspired by the holy spirit. He referred to God’s name as Solomon, like his own name. For we have found God designated as “Peace,” as in Judges 6:24: “Gideon built an altar there and called it “the Lord of Peace.” The name possesses two usages, one revealed, the second esoteric.¹⁸ refers especially to tiferet, the sixth of the ten sefirot, the central “male” element of the Godhead, the aspect of divinity understood by the kabbalists as the bridegroom of the Song of Songs. Through it Solomon glimpsed all that would occur in the future with regard to the construction of the Temples and Israel’s exiles. He concealed the mention of the exile in an allusive manner for it was not to be mentioned in poetic language. His first words contained hidden within them wondrous songs, and an awesome righteousness,¹⁹, who is also God’s throne. See Prov. 25:5, etc. The passage here is obscure. making mention of the construction of God’s throne, its appearance, height, work, and shape and the number of steps [ma‘alot] which it possessed. He made mention of all of the events which would befall Israel from the Exodus, at which time they attained the appellation of God’s people. For God’s name is united with His people until the seventh millennium, the day which is entirely Shabbat and rest eternal. At the conclusion he concealed, indeed sealed, the work with an allusion to the exile’s end and the fact that Israel would hold fast to their Torah and stand firm in faith in every location, even when suffering from intensified destruction and evil decrees.

footnotes: ¹⁷ Following the view of R. Ḥiyya the Great in Cant. Rabbah. 1:10. ¹⁸ Designating God as Solomon (Shelomo=Shalom) ¹⁹ “Righteousness” for the kabbalist can be a designation of shekhinah

Solomon called it the Song of Songs, a song composed in the form of an allegorical parable replete with inner meaning. A person must thus interpret the song, establishing upon its foundations. But he must understand that it is filled with many elements provided for the sake of the narrational continuity of the allegory and the context of its imagery, rather than for any other purpose or function. For example, let me quote one verse from this book. It states: “Let him kiss me with the kisses …” [Cant. 1:2]. The kiss symbolizes the soul’s adhesion to God, as we will explain. The verse further states “the kisses of his mouth.” There is no additional meaning here. But having analogized the soul’s adhesion to God with a kiss, the verse is constrained to state “the kisses of his mouth” in order to tie the allegorical figure to its context. Thus one of the wise men of the generation has already written. Know that there are parables in this work whose details should in no manner undergo exegesis, such as: “the buds appear in the land, the time of pruning has come, the song of the turtledove is heard in our land” [Cant. 2:12]. We are not to minutely examine such and similar texts. Rather, we are simply to interpret it as an allegorical figure referring to the efflorescence of the coming days of release, while the winter rains refer to departing days of exile. Similarly: “Your belly is a heap of wheat” [Cant. 7:3–4]; and “Your breasts are like twin gazelles” [Cant. 4:5]. Neither through the exercise of rational nor traditional means of exegesis should you seek out their detailed meaning, for you will mire your mind in a multitude of words, vanities, and obstacles galore: “Hear this and accept it” [Job 5:27].

The second principle serves to inform you with words truly reliable that this text possesses words whose meaning is not revealed by any book, yet which serve as the foundation of its allegory and edifice. Among them are those whose meaning we have received from tradition; others have been found scattered in the homiletic dicta and exegetic texts of our sages, deep wells in which no drop of water is wasted. All of their words possess an inner heart free of an obstructive husk.

We have been taught by tradition that the following phrases refer to divine Wisdom:²⁰, the second of the ten sefirot. “of wood from Lebanon” [Cant. 3:9], “the scent of Lebanon” [Cant. 4:11], “Come with me from Lebanon” [Cant. 4:8], “flowing streams from Lebanon” [Cant. 4:15]. This too was the intention of our sages when they interpreted “of wood from Lebanon” [Cant. 3:9] as referring to the counsel of Torah, which is refined [ha-melubbenet] in its words. The Aramaic translation also took this tact “From this goodly mountain and Lebanon” as “that goodly mountain and sanctuary” [Deut. 3:25].

footnotes: ²⁰ Ḥokhmah

We have further received from tradition that “your love is more delightful than wine” [Cant. 1:2] and “I will let you drink of the spiced wine” [Cant. 8:2] also symbolize divine Wisdom. So too, we have discovered that the number seventy designates the seventy divine names emanated from Wisdom. For Wisdom’s numerical equivalent is seventy-three; the meaning of the remaining three is well-established.²¹, the first sefirah, related to a notion of three primal flashes of light (tzaḥtzeḥot) that precede the sefirot. All that which we have mentioned is support and aid for this matter in addition to what has been received from tradition. Similarly, the terminology of “perfume” or “spice” as in “all choice perfumes” [Cant. 4:14], “to the bed of spices” [Cant. 6:2], “than any spice” [Cant. 4:10], “that its perfume might spread” [Cant. 4:16], and “to the mountain of spices” [Cant. 8:14] figure Wisdom. For it constitutes the beginning of being; from the point of Wisdom commences the propagation and expansion of scent.²² through the sefirotic world.

footnotes: ²¹ Obscure. He may be referring to a tripartite division of keter ²² Reaḥ or scent is a metaphoric figure for the vivifying outflow of emanational energy, wafting forth from ḥokhmah

Similarly, tradition imparts that the following figure the glory of the shekhinah: “like the apple among the forest’s trees” [Cant. 2:3]; “your breath is like apples’ fragrance” [Cant. 7:9]; “refresh me with apples” [Cant. 2:5]; and “under the apple tree I aroused you” [Cant. 8:5]. This figure derives from the change of the apple’s cover from green to red to white, like the appearance of the rainbow within the cloud.²³ The apple also figures the two cherubim, as it states in the tractate Shabbat: “‘Like the scent of a field blessed by God’ [Gen. 27:27]. R. Yehudah states in the name of Rav: ‘Like the scent of a field of apple trees.’”²⁴ 29b.

footnotes: ²³ Ezek. 1:28. ²⁴ b. Ta ‘anit

“The shepherd among the lilies” [Cant. 6:3], “hedged about by lilies” [Cant. 7:3], “a lily of the valleys” [Cant. 2:1], and “to gather lilies” [Cant. 6:2] refer to that plant known as “lidi,” which possesses six leaves and figures the six supernal boundaries.²⁵ from ḥesed to yesod. On the other hand, “to browse in the gardens” [Cant. 6:2], “who lingers in the garden” [Cant. 8:13], “the garden spring” [Cant. 4:15], and “a garden locked” [Cant. 4:12] refer to the shekhinah, as we will explain further on.

footnotes: ²⁵ The sefirot

The third principle comes to inform you briefly concerning the principles of Kabbalah inherent in these verses which serve as the pillar upon which all things rely, the peg upon which they hang, so that the interpretation of this book might be absorbed like water, directing your mind in the proper path.

The wise man stated in an allegorical parable:²⁶ There is a mine for silver, And a place where gold is refined, Iron is taken out of the earth, And copper smelted from the rock [Job 28:1–2]. He mentions the four metals smelted from the rock, corresponding to the four types of elements as manifest in a human: white, red, green, and black biles. Similarly, every living thing, whether sentient or non-sentient, draws its life from the primary spiritual principles which exist among the ten sefirot. These are the primal progenitors of all generated things. When the verse enumerates the four terrestrial elements: silver, gold, iron, and copper, it is alluding to the four primary elements, informing us that they possess a place of origin.²⁷; gold is din; copper is tiferet; and iron is malkhut.

footnotes: ²⁶ From here through the end of the introduction R. Ezra is explicating Job 28, which he employs to introduce sefirotic discourse. ²⁷ Silver is ḥesed

The verse furthermore explicates and designates the source of their origin: “He sets bounds for darkness” [Job 28:3]. It is common knowledge that darkness designates absolute nullity.²⁸ or nullity designates the highest sefirah, usually described in negative terms. Here that most primordial seed of existence is not clearly separated from Eyn Sof, the primordial boundless “darkness” of the unknown and unknowable God. Under no circumstances can nullity be described with the terminology of formation [yetzirah] but rather that of creation [beriah]. In this context creation designates the manner in which God differentiated another principle and rung of emanation from darkness, which in itself lacks boundary or end. In stating “He sets bounds for darkness,” the intention is that God set a boundary to darkness, infixing within it border and limit. “To, every limit man probes” [Job 28:3]. The possibility of speculative analysis inheres within each and every quality and being existing by the creative power of that nullity. That is to say, after these forces were actualized from their potential state, He made them into qualities and instruments that are subject to measure and hence to inquiry. For this reason Scripture speaks of darkness in terms of creation, and the light which existed within the creative capacity of darkness in terms of formation, as it says: “He forms light and creates darkness” [Isa. 45:7]. This is also the meaning of: “He draws mysteries out of the darkness, and brings obscurities into light” [Job 12:22]. Nullity is designated as darkness and obscurity. Inherent within its creative power were light and other entities. This is further the meaning of: “rocks in deepest darkness” [Job 28:3]. Understand this, for it comprises a fundamental principle.

footnotes: ²⁸ Afisah

The verse further states: “A stream sprang forth from a dwelling-place, forgotten by wayfarers, destitute of men, far removed” [Job 28:4]. That is to say, the source of the channel watering all things was hidden and sealed. The figure of the stream refers to the path of Transcendent Wisdom. There was therefore neither modality nor place to water Lebanon’s trees or its planted cedars. But, Scripture says, “a stream sprang forth” from the place from which it was appropriate to flow. Due to the extraordinary mysteriousness of that place from which the stream flowed, it was parabolically and with poetic richness described as being “forgotten by wayfarers, destitute of men, far removed” [Job 28:4].

The text further states: “Earth, out of which food grows, is changed below as if into fire. Its rocks are a source of sapphires; it contains gold dust too” [Job 28:5–6]. That locus which is the origin of existence, the awakening of desire, is designated as the “earth.”²⁹, the primal will of God. Providing sustenance for all things, it is the source of life, supplying the needs of the upper and lower worlds. “[It] is changed below as if into fire“: the figure refers to its wondrous illumination and pure light, transcending all likeness and comparison.³⁰, the channel of infinite divine energy.

footnotes: ²⁹ In the sense of a divine “ground of being.” The passage refers to keter ³⁰ The light flowing forth from keter

“Its rocks are a source of sapphires”: the quarry of the holy gems, the twenty-two primordial letters, each and every one an object of value, transformed into a creative vessel. From them holiness draws nigh, a tower of might is constructed and quarried, “to which the righteous man runs and is safe” [Prov. 18:10].

“No bird of prey knows the path to it, the falcon’s eye has not gazed upon it” [Job 28:7]. Wisdom’s thirty-two pathways are designated as a “path,” for they were previously hidden and sealed, unknown to the ministering angels. For “the falcon’s eye has not gazed upon it” until the time of favor.

“Man sets his hand against the flinty rock and overturns mountains by the roots” [Job 28:9]. Wisdom is compared to a flinty rock on account of the paths hidden within it, the depth of Wisdom being analogized to an entity hidden in a hard and difficult place, whose foundation must be overturned.

“He carves out channels through rock; His eyes behold every precious thing” [Job 28:10]. Channels [ye ‘orim] refers to the totality of all of the sefirotic existences [havayot] and is derived from “light” [‘or] as in “the waters [=lights] lift up their voices [Ps. 93:3].³¹ These primordial existences are implied by the term “water” in the Biblical account of creation, as it is written: “And the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters” [Gen. 1:2]. After all of these channels flowed forth, “his eyes beheld every precious thing.”

footnotes: ³¹ Here he calls upon an ancient connection between the Hebrew and Aramaic words for “light” and “water.”

Among the phenomena emanated on the first day were ten entities commingled one with the other: heaven and earth; primordial chaos;³². light and darkness; wind and water; and the quality of day and the quality of night.³³ 12a. The kabbalists associate this list with the ten sefirot. This is the intent of “He dams up the sources of the streams” [Job 28:11]. Since these ten entities were considered as one, the cosmos being in the inchoate state of water intermixed with water, God dammed those watery channels, separating the waters with the command: “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the water …” [Gen 1:6]. Thus the verse continues, “from its hiddenness He brought forth light.” The hiddenness of transcendent Wisdom brought forth light.

footnotes: ³² Primordial chaos is twofold: tohu va-vohu ³³ v. Hagigah

“Whence [me-ayin] can Wisdom be found?” [Job 28:12]. This Wisdom itself derives from Nought [ayin], the primordial Nought, no mortal knowing its value [‘erkah] which here means its order and array. That is to say, no one knows how to order the primal existences that are situated within her or how to know its characteristics. As it is written: “Who like Me can announce, can foretell it—and match Me thereby? Even as I told the future to an ancient people …” [Isa. 44:7]. “[For Wisdom] can not be found in the land of the living” [Job 28:13]. Even the angels do not know it. Thus the text states figuratively: “The deep says: ‘It is not in me.’ The sea says: ‘I do not have it’” [Job 28:14]. Similarly we find “But whence does wisdom come?” [Job 28:20] and “it is hidden from the eyes of all of the living” [Job 28:21], from them whose lives are eternal. “Concealed from all the fowl of heaven”—the ministering angels.

“Abaddon and death say” [Job 28:22]—this is primal void, whence comes the emanation of all of the existences. “God understands its way” [Job 28:23]—by meditating upon it. It traced and emanated the four primal elements, these being “For He sees to the ends of the earth, observes all that is beneath the heavens, when he fixed the weight of the winds, set the measure of the waters” [Job 28:24].

“Then He saw and gauged it” [Job 28:27]—gazing upon Purity of Thought [keter], just as a man considering an enterprise first examines it within his heart and then begins to undertake it. Thus our sages say: “the thought of the righteous preceded all.”³⁴ already includes and implies the last, associated with righteousness. In accord with the images within, it traced the totality which emanated from it. “He saw it and gaged it”: the three primal “books”—Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge. “He measured it”—the existences were not arrayed in accord with the order of the sefirotic structure. Rather God, be He praised, brought the existences into being, arrayed them in order, transformed them into a structure, after combining, measuring, and transposing the twenty-two letters, binding each and every one to its colleague, so that they paralleled one another. “And He probed it”: He affixed boundary to the sefirotic qualities, rendered them accessible to probing, although they in principle possessed no boundary from their beginning.

footnotes: ³⁴ Bereshit Rabbah 1:5. The first sefirah

“He said to man: “See, fear of the Lord is Wisdom” [Job 28:28]. For Wisdom [ḥokhmah] is the Holy One’s quality of goodness, all existing, going forth and being emanated from the luminescence of Wisdom and continually blessed through it without cessation. Because their origin is from it, it provides the essence of their sustenance. The remaining sefirot possess but one request, toward which the entirety of their desire is directed. That is to ascend and enter into the sacred sanctuary, to draw water from the honored fonts of Wisdom, as we are about to explain. Having provided you with these three introductory principles, I will explicate the text with the help of God.