And to that end, in the process of lowering its level and unfolding downward from level to level and from world to world, it hid itself, clothed itself in each world to address the matters of that world according that world’s contexts and values, so that the world should be able to withstand the Torah’s holiness and light. When it finally descended to arrive in this world, it also clothed itself to address the values and contexts of this world using stories about this world, so that this world should be able to withstand its holiness and light. However, even though it seems to address matters of these lower worlds, with the stories it hints at the primary matters¹¹⁸⁵ of Torah, and interior matters, and those that are even deeper within the interior, higher and higher without end.¹¹⁸⁶ (p’shat, remmez, droosh, sode).

footnotes: ¹¹⁸⁵ Heb.: goofei Torah ¹¹⁸⁶ Rav Chayyim states that the seemingly mundane stories of the Torah hide deeper meaning, as the stories, words and letters are the outer “clothing” that hides/shields the aspects of the Torah’s inner supernal holiness and light. These include the many aspects of PRD”S

Refer to Zohar B’ha-a-lote-kha (162a): “Rabbee Shimon stated…”, and in parshat Toldote (145b): “Rabbee Yosee stated: ‘Everything that the Holy One (blessed be He) does in the world, all is based in the secret of wisdom…’.” And in parshat Ba-lahk 202a: “He furthermore began and stated: ‘How goodly are the paths and roads of the Torah…’.” And in parshat B’sha-lakh (end of 55b): “Rabbee Abba began…: ‘How very important is it for us to delve deeply into the Torah…’.” And in parshat Toldote (end of 134b): “In the Torah are sealed all of the supernal secrets…”, they being the details of the matters of the tens of thousands of worlds and levels with which it clothed itself during the process of its descent.

And for that reason it’s often stated in the Zohar that the Torah is both “hidden and revealed”, which is clear to everyone who understands that the phrase means that the holy Torah’s hidden path is not written explicitly and well-explained, but rather these matters are hidden and concealed within clues in its words; and the revealed path within it is the plain reading of the text, that is written explicitly and well-explained within it.

(And it’s not as I saw written in a book by one who researched the matter, about why the wisdom of the Kabbala is called “concealed”¹¹⁸⁷. Isn’t it the case that for one who understands them they’re revealed? And for people who do not know and understand it’s also the case that they can’t explain even the plain meaning of the text, and for them even the plain meaning of the text is hidden from them. And there he took the position that he took.¹¹⁸⁸ (concealed) because its knowledge is concealed within the plain text of the Torah. Refer to the Lehshem Sh’vo V’ahkh-la-ma, droosh 5, siman 7, ote 8)

footnotes: ¹¹⁸⁷ Heb.: nistar ¹¹⁸⁸ Rav Chayyim seems to say that the wisdom of the Kabbala is called nistar

Refer to Zohar B’ha-a-lote-kha (149a and 149b): “How precious are the words of Torah, for in each and every word there are supernal secrets…”. Refer there [for more details].

And each person gazes into the secrets of the depth of their¹¹⁸⁹ inner aspects based on how much wisdom and clarity of mind he has, and the holiness of the purity of his hearts/minds, and how much he involves himself with it and ponders it.

footnotes: ¹¹⁸⁹ The inner aspects of the Torah’s words

However, the core of the Torah’s underlying reasoning¹¹⁹⁰—the secret of the soul-Neshama-of-its-soul-Neshama¹¹⁹¹*,* the most hidden of the hidden—those are things that the Ancient of Days concealed and diverted away¹¹⁹² from his creations. And to this day no person has knowledge of them. It was only our original ancestor¹¹⁹³, the one who accomplished the acquisition of his soul-Neshama-of-the-soul-Neshama, who was able use it¹¹⁹⁴ to contemplate the supernal splendor, the soul-Neshama-of-the-soul-Neshama of the holy Torah, and the supernal wisdoms were revealed to him at the root of their supernal roots.

footnotes: ¹¹⁹⁰ Heb.: eekar ha-taamei torah ¹¹⁹¹ Heb. nish-ma-ta d’nish-ma-ta deela ¹¹⁹² Heb.: v’heh-eh-tee-kan mi’b’ree-yo-tav ¹¹⁹³ The first Adam ¹¹⁹⁴ The core of the Torah’s underlying reasoning—the taamei torah

And from the moment he sinned and the supernal splendor departed from him, and the supernal processes became confused and mixed up, the supernal paths and trails of the Torah’s wisdom were also sealed up, being the secret of the soul-Neshama-of-its-soul-Neshama.

And again at the time of the holy event, the time when the holy Torah was received, even though the whole world was made pleasant to the point that they (OBM) stated (Shabbat 146a): “When Israel stood at Mount Sinai, their contamination ceased”, even so they only merited to receive the depths of the inner aspect of the Torah’s soul-Neshama but not the aspect of the soul-Neshama-of-the-soul-Neshama. That won’t occur until He (blessed be He) pours His spirit upon all flesh¹¹⁹⁵. Then the causeways of wisdom will be revealed, the wondrous paths of the supernal wisdom, its soul-Neshama-of-the-soul-Neshama.

footnotes: ¹¹⁹⁵ Ref.: Yoel 3:1, in the end of days

As is written in Zohar B’ha-a-lote-kha (152a): “The Torah has a body…, the world’s fools only gaze upon that clothing…, those who know more don’t gaze upon the clothes but rather upon the body which is under the clothes. The wise, servants of the supernal King, those who stood at Mount Sinai gaze only upon the soul-Neshama which is the actual core of the entire Torah, and in the future they will come to gaze upon the soul-Neshama of-the-soul-Neshama that is within the Torah.” And as is written (Yeshayahu 30:20): “And your own eyes will behold your Teacher” and “and your Teacher will no longer be hidden behind His garment”¹¹⁹⁶..

footnotes: ¹¹⁹⁶ Rav Chayyim reverses the order of these two phrases relative to their order in Y’shaya

And this is the matter of the light of the first day that was stored away for the use of the righteous in the future to come (Chagigah 12a). And it is about this that the sages (OBM) stated (N’darim 8b): “In the future to come, the Holy One (blessed be He) will take the sun out of its sheath…”, and this is the secret of the Eden, as is known, which is the soul-Neshama-of the-soul-Neshama.

And the first Adam, before his sin, lived in the Garden of Eden. From within it he would gaze upon the Eden mentioned above. And from when he sinned and after, this supernal aspect departed from him, and for that reason he was then cast out of the Garden of Eden. And this is the secret of its letter combinations, in the manner that it’s written in heaven, as was explained above at the end of Gate 2.

And regarding this they stated in Midrash T’hillim (at the beginning of Mizmor 3): “‘Mankind doesn’t know its order…’ (Iyyov 28:13)—The sections of Torah were not transmitted in their proper order, for had they been transmitted in their proper order, anyone who read them would be able to create a world and to resurrect the dead…”.

Let us now return to explain a bit about the difference in quality and relative greatness that the light of the holy Torah has relative to the mitzvote.