184. “They established it as follows, etc.” They established it as follows: One should not enter the synagogue unless he has first consulted with, i. e., received permission from, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they instituted the prayer before the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is stated: “But as for me, in the abundance of Your kindness [ḥasdekha] I will come into Your house” – this is Abraham, who is Ḥesed. “I will bow towards Your holy sanctuary” – this is Isaac, on whose account the Malkhut is called a “sanctuary.” “In fear of You” – this is Jacob, who is the mystical meaning of Tiferet, called “awesome.” One must first be incorporated in them, and subsequently enter the synagogue and pray his prayer. Then it is stated: “And He said to me: You are My servant Israel, in whom I will be glorified” [Isaiah 49:3].

Explanation: Here [the Zohar] presents three encompassing rectifications that were performed on the holy Divine Presence by the forefathers: Abraham rectified it in the aspect of house, meaning a permanent residence, such that one can cleave to [the Divine Presence] enduringly, just as a person is constantly in his own home. Isaac added a rectification and rectified it in the aspect of a holy sanctuary. This means that the King resides in [the Divine Presence] on a permanent basis, for the King is always in His palace.

Jacob added another rectification and rectified [the Divine Presence] with the aspect of fear, which is the concept of the gate to the residence, the aspect of an opening, both for the aspect of house and the aspect of holy sanctuary within [the Divine Presence], in the mystical meaning of the verse [spoken by Jacob: “And he was afraid, and said]: How full of awe is this place! [This is none other than the house of God, ] and this is the gate of heaven” [Genesis 28:17]. Once a person is already completely incorporated in those three rectifications of the forefathers, he can experience the full measure that has already been rectified in the holy Divine Presence. Then he may “enter the synagogue and pray his prayer,” to rectify the Divine Presence in what is still lacking in it.

The meaning is as follows: Abraham is the root of Ḥesed in the souls of Israel, because he rectified the holy Divine Presence into a receptacle for the light of Ḥesed, and [the Divine Presence] received the light of giving for all the souls of Israel, in their fullness. Had it remained thus, all of Israel would have cleaved to the Creator in a permanent manner, and the holy Divine Presence would be the house of Malkhut, filled with every goodness and pleasure, and not a single person would wish to part from her even for a moment.

However, the entire rectification of Abraham was in the mystical meaning of fashioning a whole receptacle without any possibility of a flaw, for the light of giving. That is, he raised [the Divine Presence within himself] into an expression of giving and satisfaction to our Maker, without receiving anything for our own benefit, since this is the [essence of the] attribute and receptacle of the light of Ḥesed. This is as the Sages said regarding the attribute of a person who says “what is mine is yours, and what is yours is yours,” that he is a pious individual [ḥassid; Avot 5:10], as he does not demand anything at all for his own benefit.

Since all the constrictions and the whole grip of the Sitra Aḥara are only the aspect of receiving for oneself, it follows that [Abraham, by rectifying to receive only in order to give] thereby entirely removed the filth of the kelippot and the Sitra Aḥara, and the Divine Presence was established [within him] in complete purity. However, [God’s initial] intent for the Creation was not completed through this, since [His] intent for the Creation was primarily to provide benefit to His creatures. Now, the measure of benefit is dependent upon and evaluated only by the measure of the desire to receive, because the measure of pleasure from receiving [what one desires] is in accordance with the maturity of the desire to receive.

Therefore, since the Divine Presence had been rectified [by Abraham] only into a vessel of giving, without any receiving for himself at all, this was an avoidance of [Abraham] receiving from Him and only giving to Him. As a result, no rectification came from this with respect to the fundamental intent for the Creation, since that can come only through the matured desire to receive.

This is the mystical meaning of: “Abraham begot Isaac” [Genesis 25:19]. When Isaac found the Divine Presence in a state of utter wholeness and fullness from the light of Ḥesed, by means of Abraham’s rectifications, he sensed the deficiency in the Divine Presence, that it was still unfit to receive all that is included in the intent for the Creation, as stated. He therefore went and rectified it into a receptacle, so that it would be fit to receive all the perfection that was desired and incorporated in the intent for the Creation. That is, he awakened the desire to receive from Him as well, but only in the form of a receiving in order to give. This means that one has a great desire to receive, but only because the Giver wishes it to be so. Had the Giver not wished for this, there would be no desire in [the receiver] whatsoever to receive from Him.

It is known that receiving in order to give is regarded as actual giving. As a result, the Sitra Aḥara no longer has any purchase upon this [kind of] will to receive. Thus, the holy Divine Presence was rectified by him in final, great wholeness, for now it was fit to receive all the pleasantness and softness from all that the Creator had in mind to provide benefit to His creatures, when they arose in [His] intent to create them.

For this reason, the holy Divine Presence is now called “His holy sanctuary,” for now the King resides in it in all his grandeur and splendor, like a king in his palace. However, with respect to the rectification of Abraham, it is called merely a house, i. e., the house of Malkhut, for His total glory and majesty was still not apparent there, since the glory of a king is apparent only in a sanctuary dedicated to him.

It is thus illustrated that Isaac rectified all of the restraint [gevurot] in the souls of Israel, meaning the tempering of all the judgments in His governing [of existence]. This is because all the constrictions, sufferings, and punishments that come into the world exist only in order to rectify the souls’ vessels of receiving, that they should be capable of receiving all of the goodness incorporated in [God’s initial] intent for the Creation. Since Isaac already fully rectified the Divine Presence back then, all of the restraints have thereby been rectified, since they have already achieved the desired goal for them.

However, his rectification also did not remain as such. The reason is that the world was still unfit for the completion of the rectification. Therefore, the evil Esau came out of him, who corrupted his rectification and did not maintain it such that he would receive only in order to give, as Isaac had rectified. Rather, [Esau] failed by receiving for himself. In other words, even when it was clear to [Esau] that the Giver did not want him to receive [something], he still wished to receive [that thing] for his own enjoyment. Accordingly, the kelippot and the Sitra Aḥara clung to [Esau], in the mystical meaning of “ruddy” [Genesis 25:25] and “a hairy man” [Genesis 27:11]. He thereby lowered the legs of Malkhut into the kelippot once again, in the mystical meaning of: “Her feet go down to death” [Proverbs 5:5].

When Jacob saw the corruption of the evil Esau, he went and rectified the holy Divine Presence through the attribute of fear. This is the mystical meaning of: “And his hand was holding onto Esau’s heel” [akev, Genesis 25:26]. As stated in the Zohar, that [letter] yod which Esau tossed to his heel [akevoi], Jacob [Ya’akov] raised to his head. That is, since Jacob saw the corruption of Esau in that yod, which is the mystical meaning of the Divine Presence, he rectified himself with great fear until he raised the Divine Presence to the form of a crown over his head. He thereby grabbed hold of the two rectifications of Abraham and Isaac at the same time, and no impaired [descendant] emerged from him.

However, this rectification is not yet a complete rectification, because the fear is similar to the fear of sin, as Esau’s heel caused [Jacob] to have that fear, so that he should not sin like [Esau]. By contrast, the completion of the rectification is after Esau’s heel has been nullified, in the mystical meaning of the verse: “He will eliminate death forever” [Isaiah 25:8]. At that stage, the fear will be only because He is great and rules over everything. Now, Jacob himself certainly attained that genuine fear as well, but in terms of the aspect of the whole of Israel this rectification still remains for all the generations that come after him, until the completion of the rectification.

Thus [the Zohar] states: “‘But as for me, in the abundance of Your kindness [ḥasdekha] I will come into Your house’ – this is Abraham,” because Abraham rectified [the Divine Presence] with the aspect of the house of Malkhut, filled with all goodness, in the light of Ḥesed, as stated. “‘I will bow towards Your holy sanctuary’ – this is Isaac,” for Isaac rectified [the Divine Presence] with the aspect of the holy sanctuary, for the glory of the King’s honor, as is appropriate for Him, as stated. “‘In fear of You” – this is Jacob,” for Jacob rectified [the Divine Presence] with the attribute of fear, and thereby rectified it into a receptacle for all of the rectifications of Abraham and Isaac together, as stated above.

“One must first be incorporated in them,” for [without this] how will [the person] know what is still left to rectify in the Divine Presence unless he incorporates himself in all of these three rectifications that the holy forefathers have already rectified in [the Divine Presence]. That is, he must accept upon himself to behave in accordance with these rectifications, and he will thereby be considered to have been incorporated in their attributes, as stated.

It is only after [the person] has been incorporated in all three rectifications of our holy forefathers that he will begin to rectify [the Divine Presence] from the place that our forefather Jacob left for us, i. e., to elevate fear to the quality of exaltedness, “because He is great and rules over everything.” “And subsequently enter the synagogue and pray his prayer,” that is, he should pray and draw forth the higher lights into [the Divine Presence], with the fear of exaltedness, in order to bring [the Divine Presence] to the completion of the rectification. Then it is stated: ‘And He said to me: You are My servant Israel, in whom I will be glorified. ’”