148. “This verse was taught, etc.” This verse was taught in the supernal yeshiva. ¹ “A man of great measure”; it is all one. “A man of vision” and “a man of great stature [mida]”; it is all one, since he is Shabbat and the Shabbat boundary, as it is stated: “And you shall measure [u-madotem] outside the city” [Numbers 35:5], and it is stated: “You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in measurement [be-mida,” Leviticus 19:35]. Accordingly, he is “a man of great measure [mida].” And he is truly a man of great measure: His length stretches from one end of the world to the other. This was [the case for] Adam the first [man]. And if you say: “But it is written, ‘five cubits tall, ’” these five cubits stretched from one end of the world to the other.

footnotes: ¹ A "yeshiva" is a Torah study hall.

Explanation: This is the yeshiva of the Holy One, blessed be He. It is with regard to the students of this yeshiva that Rabbi Shimon said: “I have seen the men of ascent, and they are few” (Sukka 45b). There is also a yeshiva below, which is the yeshiva of Metatron. [Rabbi Shimon] says that this verse, which the [Rav Hamnuna] Saba interpreted, was clarified in the supernal yeshiva, as explained here.

“A man of vision” refers to the level of Moses, about whom it is stated: “There has not arisen another prophet in Israel like Moses” (Deuteronomy 34:10), and which is the mystical meaning of the verse: “In a vision, and not in riddles” (Numbers 12:8). “A man of great measure [mida] also refers to the mystical meaning of the vision [mareh], but [specifically] to the mystical meaning of the measure of that vision, since the mystical meaning of the measure of that vision is from one end of the world to the other.

Vision and measure are similar to Shabbat and the Shabbat boundary, for the Shabbat boundary is the edge of the measure of Shabbat. However, during the six thousand years [of this world] the measure of the Shabbat boundary is restricted to a mere two thousand cubits. After the completion of the rectification, the Shabbat boundary will be from one end of the world to the other, which is the mystical meaning of: “And the Lord shall be king over all the earth” (Zechariah 14:9).

[Rabbi Shimon] thus states: “A man of vision and a man of great measure; it is all one, since he is the Shabbat and the boundary, as it is stated: ‘And you shall measure outside the city, ’ and it is stated: ‘You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in measurement. ’” Thus, the concept of a measure is the edge of the boundary of something. Accordingly, a man of measure indicates the edge of the Shabbat boundary after the completion of the rectification, which is from one end of the world to the other. [Rabbi Shimon] continues: “And he is truly a man of great measure.” A man of great measure means the master of that measure, that is, the measure does not rule over him, but rather he rules over the measure and executes it in accordance with his will and desire. ². These vessels serve to limit us (as in the concept of boundaries explained here), but a master of these vessels (a level we will reach after the completion of the rectification) knows how to use them in accordance with his will.

footnotes: ² As the next paragraph explains, the "measure" refers to the vessels of the "man, " the first man whose soul vessels corresponded to the sefirot

[Rabbi Shimon] continues: “This was [the case for] Adam the first [man],” that is, before he sinned with the tree of [the knowledge of] good and evil. [Before the sin] his length stretched from one end of the world to the other (Ḥagiga 12a), and he illuminated from one end of the world to the other, like the measure of the Shabbat boundary after the completion of the rectification.

“These five cubits stretched from one end of the world to the other,” for these five cubits are the mystical meaning of the ten sefirot, which are essentially only Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut (as stated above in Marot HaSulam, section #1#, second paragraph; see there). They will spread from one end of the world to the other after the completion of the rectification.