“When you go out to war…” (Deuteronomy 21:10).

It is written: “Back and front You formed me” (Psalms 139:5)—this is the concept of order and disorder. “Front” is the concept of order, the aleph-bet in order. “Back” is the concept of TaShRaK, reverse order.

This also corresponds to Adam and Chavah, order and disorder. HaVaYaH filled in with the letter aleph has a numerical value of forty-five, ADaM. Chavah is the concept of “Malkhut, mouth—She is called Oral Torah” (Tikkuney Zohar, Introduction, p.17a). ChaVaH thus connotes speech, as it is written (Psalms 19:3), “and night to night yeChaVeH (speaks out) knowledge,” namely, “Malkhut, mouth.” Malkhut is called “speech,” because there is no king unless there are subjects. For the people do not know what he wants unless the king reveals his thoughts and desires via his words. It follows, that the primary execution of his kingship is through nothing but speech. This is the meaning of “Malkhut, mouth.”

We see that sometimes things go unorderly for a person. The perfection of all things is only when they are united with and bound to God. The reason is that the completion and fullness of a thing is its life-force. Thus, a limb from which the life-force has departed is then considered missing. And life-force is the mentalities and intellect, as it is written, “wisdom keeps alive…” (Ecclesiastes 7:12). ChoKhMaH (wisdom) is the concept of MaH—KoaCh MaH— “MeH is our life? MaH KoCheinu (is our strength)?” And MaH is ADaM, because there is no ADaM without an Aleph (Tikkuney Zohar, Introduction, p.7a)—i.e., HaVaYaH filled in with the letter aleph. In other words, the Blessed Holy One is the life-force of all things, as it is written, “You keep them all alive” (Nehemiah 9:6).

It follows, that when this concept of Malkhut /Chavah is bound to Adam, to the concept of MaH, i.e., the Blessed Holy One, She is then perfect. This is because through the intellect which the Blessed Holy One invests in the implementation of His Kingship He keeps Her alive, as it is written, “wisdom keeps alive.” This is also “The earth is to God, and all its fullness” (Psalms 24:1). When “the earth”—i.e., the concept of Chavah/ Malkhut—is bound “to God,” it is then in its fullness and is complete.

But whoever splits off the concept of Chavah/ MaLKhut for himself, by saying, “I eMLoKh (will rule)”—with this he splits off and separates Her from the Blessed Holy One, and She is then incomplete. For Her main life-force is MaH, namely, the intellect. This is “since among all the sages of the nations and in all their malkhut (kingdom) there is none like You” (Jeremiah 10:7). The explanation is: Their intellect is not great enough to keep their malkhut alive. Thus, when he splits off Malkhut for himself, things go unorderly for him because he is smack in the concept of disorder—i.e., Malkhut /Chavah/ TaShRaK. But when the concept of Chavah is bound to the Adam—i.e., the Blessed Holy One—things then go orderly for a person. This is because wherever the masculine is present, the feminine is not mentioned there (Zohar III, 183b). It follows, that the concept of Chavah/disorder is eliminated through the Adam/order.

2. Now, the concept of order is called yod. Malkhut, which is called Dalet, has nothing of Her own. The Blessed Holy One draws into Her the life-force of wisdom, which is called YOD, namely Yod Vav Dalet. This is also “Back and front You formed me, and You laid kapekha (Your palm) upon me”—do not read KaPekha but KaPhekha (Your [letter] kaph). This alludes to YOD, whose numerical value is kaph. But when one splits off the Dalet for himself, drawing life-force from Her to himself, things then become chaotic for him, davoy—YOD becomes DaVoY. This is “and every heart is davoy (sick)” (Isaiah 1:5), for when things don’t go as planned, that is heartache, as it is written, “Extended longing…” (Proverbs 13:12).

Thus, when a person sees within himself that things aren’t going for him as planned, he should know that he possesses haughtiness—i.e., “I will rule.” He should repent and humble himself, and be the concept of MaH, as it is written, “And we are MaH (what)” (Exodus 16:7). Then Chavah is restored to the concept of Adam/ MaH and becomes order, that is, “Back and front….”—i.e., KaPekha, namely, YOD .

3. Primary repentance is in the month of Elul because [its days] are days of favor, when Moshe ascended to receive the latter Tablets and opened a beaten path in which to go. Now, the path which Moshe made is this: Moshe bound himself with even the least Jew, and gave his life for them, as it is written, “But if not, please blot me out!” (Exodus 32:32). This is also the meaning of: “And Moshe assembled…” (Exodus 35:1)—that Moshe would gather, unite and bind himself with all of Israel, even with the least of the least. This is the meaning of “They have entirely withdrawn; together” (Psalms 53:4). Even when I see a Jew who has totally withdrawn from God, I nevertheless need us to be “together”—I must unite and bind with him, just as Moshe did.

For an aspect of Godliness exists even in the lowest level, even in the Ten Crowns of Impurity, in fulfillment of “His Malkhut rules over everything” (Psalms 103:19). This is the concept of chirik, as it is written: And as a chirik, to draw it down below, to enthrone Her over those below (Tikkuney Zohar #10, p.25a). It follows, that the least Jew certainly possesses some Godliness, and through it I am able to be united with him. This is: “They have entirely withdrawn; together.”

In addition, Moshe had another quality. No matter how high the level to which he ascended, he found God there, as it is written, “And Moshe went up to the Lord” (Exodus 19:3). We see in the physical world that a person who is down-and-out serves God and acknowledges Him, but when he moves up, becoming affluent, he then forgets about God.

King David said: “If I ascend to heaven—You are there!” (Psalms 139:8). Even in heaven, God is there. With each and every ascent he must find God there. Yet we find that Elisha-Acher ascended on high through a Divine Name, and even so denied the essence of God (Chagigah 14b- 16a).

This is perplexing, because, on the contrary, the further a person ascends, the closer he surely is to God. For all which is good is Godliness, as it is written, “God is good for all” (Psalms 145:9). Yet we see the reverse, that when a person comes to wealth, to good, he then forgets about God.

But know! this is the concept of “his eyes grew dim and he could not see” (Genesis 27:1). On account of his getting too close to the light of Godliness, the light then dims his eyes and harms him. It is like when a person looks directly at the sun. The sun’s light harms his eyes. However, there is the concept of segol, as it is written: It is a segol when it is between the two arms of the King (Tikkuney Zohar #18, p .32b).

{“And [Moshe] said, ‘Show me, please, Your glory.’ [God] said, ‘I shall cause all My goodness to pass before you….’ And He said, ‘You shall not be able to see My face, for no human can see Me and live’…. ‘And so when My glory passes over, I will put you in the cleft of the rock and I will shield you with My palm until I have passed over. And I shall remove My palm and you will see My back, but My face will not be seen’” (Exodus 33:18, 20, 22-23) . This is the concept of “and I will shield you with My palm.” Without this, the power of the glory’s light would have harmed Moshe, as it is written, “for no human can see Me and live… and you will see My back….” This is also what David requested: “and receive me after glory,” (Psalms 73:24). Bring me closer with the closeness of Moshe. He requested of You, “Show me, please, Your glory,”and You showed him the aft of Your glory, as it is written, “and I will shield you… and you will see My back.”

4. Now, when things don’t go for a person as planned, this is opposed will: I want it to be like this, but it is the opposite, [it is] unorderly. This is the concept of warfare, for all war is opposed will, the concept of disharmony.

{“When you go out to war against your enemies and God your Lord delivers them into your hand, and you take some of them captive.} This is: When you go out to war— when things go for you not as planned, i.e., opposed will.

and God your Lord delivers them into your hand—that all wills are eliminated in face of your will, so that things go for you as planned, in accord with your will. When is this? It is when…

and you take some of them captive—it is when you attain the concept of MaH, when you draw Godliness to yourself—HaVaYaH filled in with the letter aleph. And this is the meaning of MaChaShaVaH (thought)—ChaShoV MaH (Zohar I, 24a; Tikkuney Zohar #69, p.112b), when you constantly bind His Godliness in your thoughts. And this is the concept of “a King bound in the ReHaTim (tresses)” (Song of Songs 7:6)—inside the RaHaTei (rafters) of your mind (Tikkuney Zohar #6, p.21b).

Thus, this is “and you take some of them captive.” You should draw MaH into your thoughts, binding His Godliness in your thoughts. For anything which is drawn down from a high place is called “captive,” as it is written, “You ascended on high, you took a captive” (Psalms 68:19). As a result all wars and all the wills opposed to your will are eliminated.

This esoteric teaching is alluded to in Etz Chaim, in the Introduction : Principle #19, and in the Kabbalistic meditations for Rosh Chodesh Elul.