On the famous question, posed by the commentators: How could Choice be taken from [Pharaoh], when it was supposed to be free? And based on our way we should pay attention to read precisely the word these in [God’s] statement, that I may show these signs of mine among them (Ex. 9:1) – it is as if [God] points with a finger at the signs, that here they are before [Moses’] eyes; but in truth they were not visible to his eyes. However, the point of the Exodus from Egypt was that Awareness was in exile with Pharaoh; and that meant that the nation, although they were the Children of Israel, did not know God even though they had a tradition from the mouth of their holy ancestors, the fathers of the world. Nevertheless, since they were the fourth generation they had forgotten the true Awareness about which King David, peace be upon him, said to his son Solomon, know the God of your father (1 Chron. 28:9). And that is the essence of the exile, that Awareness was in exile in Egypt. And therefore wicked Pharaoh said Who is the LORD? etc. (Ex. 5:2), that he denied the essential principle and believed only in sorcery. For he was a great sorcerer and did not know God or that it is written, “there is none but [God] (Deut. 4:35), even sorcery,” “which contradicts the power of Heaven” (Sanhedrin 67b); they have no ability to act beyond Blessed God’s will, as is explained in the Talmud in the incident of Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa. And therefore when Blessed God wanted to redeem [God’s] nation the Children of Israel from Egypt so that they would have the true Awareness, and to teach them that the LORD is God (Deut. 4:35), powerful and master of all abilities and powers, [God] said that I may show these signs of mine among them. That is to say, it was with [Pharaoh] in exile, and through this combination the word “Elohim” will be in wholeness and, and it will be known that the LORD is God, [God] is powerful and master of ability, and there is none but [God], even sorcery as we have stated.

And through this we can explain the commentators’ question mentioned above. For the essence of Choice is what was stated in the verse, See, I have set before you today life and good… therefore choose life (Deut. 30:15, 19). And how should a person choose good from evil, if not through Awareness? When a person has the Awareness to distinguish between good and evil, then he can choose good and despise evil. Now, in the Egyptian exile the Awareness was in exile, as we have stated, and then they did not have the full choice, with full awareness. For this is the essence of the Exodus from Egypt, that the Awareness should come out of exile and there can be Choice with Awareness – which is not the case in exile, when Awareness was with [Pharaoh] in Egypt. Then, even Choice could not be; in which case Choice was not taken from Pharaoh at all, since Choice [itself] did not yet exist, as we have explained. For it came into being afterward, in their Exodus from Egypt, when the Awareness came out of exile – then Choice had something on which to take effect, as we have stated.

And with this, we can further clarify Maimonides’ question (Laws of Repentance 5.5), which is explained in Zohar Hadash (Tikkunim 98a) in the name of the Ancient Ones, regarding the matter of Choice – which was given freely to Adam – and Blessed God’s knowledge: how can the two of them be as one?

However, when we said that the essence of Choice is Awareness – that when a person knows God with whole Awareness, then Choice is relevant, whereas without Awareness Choice has no relevance – and if that is the case, Choice and Knowledge are one; for with what should a person choose, if not Awareness? And God’s Awareness is Choice; if so, this is the essence of the Blessed Creator’s Knowledge: that [God] Knows the Choice, and they are not contradictory but they are all one as we have explained, and understand this.

Indeed, regarding what is explained in the Talmud, “A person does not commit a sin unless a spirit of nonsense has entered him” (Sotah 3a), relates to another matter. For is it not known what is stated in the verse, the tzaddik shall live through his faith (Habakuk 2:4)? For sometimes a person falls from Awareness, and it is by way of a trial from the Blessed Creator, by taking from him the Awareness in order to see if he will stand by God’s ways. Nevertheless the righteous holds to his way through his faith; and even though they take the Awareness from him, nevertheless he walks and strengthens himself in God’s ways. But this is not true if he does not have the faith; then when he falls from Awareness and “a spirit of nonsense enters him” he might commit a sin, God forbid. And this is what our Sages of Blessed Memory intended in their saying, “A person does not commit a sin unless a spirit of nonsense has entered him,” which is to say that he fell from Awareness by way of a trial. But in the Egyptian exile they did not have Awareness at all, and then there was no relevance for Choice as we have stated. And that is because the Awareness was in smallness, which is to say that they were in Awareness like a minor who has no [legal] awareness; and therefore it was stated in the Talmud, “A minor has no [legal] intention” (Hullin 13a). And that is [the meaning of] the verse’s further statement, that you may tell … how I have toyed [hit’allalti] with the Egyptians (Ex. 10:2), from the idiom of child [ollel] and infant (Jeremiah 44:7) – as if [God was saying] “Like I have made myself small in Egypt,” which is to say that the Awareness was in smallness in Egypt. And after this it says that you may know that I am the LORD (Ex. 10:2), which is to say that they will have the whole Awareness in their Exodus from Egypt, to know God with Awareness.

[Regarding] the statement in the Holy Zohar, “Come to Pharaoh (Ex. 10:1) – it should have said ‘go to Pharaoh!’” (cf. Zohar Bo, 2:34a), as well as the question posed by the commentators, which I wrote above – the miracle of the Exodus from Egypt was that the Awareness was in exile with wicked Pharaoh in Egypt; and therefore Israel was exiled there to bring the Awareness from there. And the difficulty of the servitude made it whole, as is stated in Tikkunei Zohar: “And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve… in mortar [be-homer] (Ex. 1:13-14), that is [the logical argument of] ‘…and certainly…’ [kal ve-homer]; and in brick [oo-vil’venim] (Ex. 1:14), that is the heating [libbun] of halakhah; and in all manner of service in the field (Ex. 1:14), that is the external sources; in all their service, wherein they made them serve with rigor [b’farekh] (Ex. 1:14), that is argumentation [pirkha]” (Tikkun 9, Supplement 147a), which is to say that all of this was in exile in Egypt. And through their servitude they took the Awareness, which is the Torah, out of the exile. When they served in mortar they brought [the logical argument of] “…and certainly…” out of the exile, and so on for all the other servitudes as we have stated. And therefore when Moses our Teacher, peace be upon him, said, Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me [ – How then shall Pharaoh listen to me] (Ex. 6:12), and Rashi explained, “This is one of ten ‘…and certainly…’ [arguments] in the Torah,” that is to say that when [Moses] said this “…and certainly…” [argument] he brought the “…and certainly…” [argument] in the Torah out of the exile. For the all of the Torah was in the Egyptian exile, since the Awareness was in exile; and the Awareness is the Torah. Now, the Torah begins with [the letter] bet, In the beginning [God] created etc. (Gen. 1:1); but why didn’t the Torah begin with aleph, which is the first of all the letters? Because [if that were the case] the world would not be able to exist for even one hour, and would be nullified from existence because of the letter aleph’s great brightness, since it alludes to the Champion [aluf] of the World, who is Blessed God in [God’s] Glory and [God’s] Essence, as if it were possible. But because the LORD God is a sun and shield (Psalm 84:12) – which is to say just like one can not look at the sun because of its great brightness, only by way of a shade or a shield can one look at the sun’s light – so too, as if it were possible, with a thousand thousands of thousands of distinctions without end or boundary, would it be impossible to exist because of the letter aleph’s great brightness, since it is the Champion of the World. Only by way of a shade or a shield, which is the letter bet – [only] through it does it become possible to constrain the letter aleph so that it can also be in the Torah. For after the letter bet in bereshit we find several alephs, in the word bereshit and in the words bara elohim, once it was constrained by the letter bet. And that is [the meaning of] Come [בא] to Pharaoh, which is to say through the bet the aleph will be in the Torah. And since now the Torah is in exile, therefore I have hardened his heart and [the heart of his servants] (Ex. 10:1) so that Israel will serve in mortar and in brick (Ex. 1:14) to bring the Torah out of exile. And as is stated in Tikkunei Zohar, “… in mortar [be-homer] (Ex. 1:13-14), that is [the logical argument of] ‘…and certainly…’ [kal ve-homer],” as we said above – through this they brought [the argument of] “…and certainly…” out of the exile, and so on for the other servitudes. And that is [the meaning of] that I may show these signs [otot] of mine among them (Ex. 10:1), that the letters [otiot], which belong to the Torah, must be taken out of exile. And the verse concludes, that you may tell … how I have toyed (Ex. 10:2), which is to say that I made Myself small since the Awareness was in smallness. And now you may know (Ex. 10:2), as was stated above.