227. “For this reason, Israel were imprinted, etc.” For this reason, Israel were imprinted with a holy and pure imprints below, like the holy imprints above, to distinguish between the holy side and the other side [Sitra Aḥara]. So is Israel imprinted, to distinguish between the sanctity of Israel and the idol-worshipping nations that come from the other side, as we learned. And just as He imprinted Israel, so too He imprinted their beasts and fowl, to differentiate between them and the beasts and fowls of the idol-worshipping nations. Happy is the portion of Israel.

Explanation: Their beasts and fowl were also imprinted because a person’s relation toward the rest of the creatures in the world is like the relation of the collective toward its individuals. [This is] because man incorporates in his body all the creatures of the world in one collective [form]. Each and every creature is a single unit that exists independently, a [form] differentiated from the [collective] form of man [which collectively contains all those creatures]. Therefore, just as Israel are distinguished from the nations of the world in terms of their human aspect, that same distinction operates in the individualized [creatures], which are the [individualized forms of] beasts and fowl. [The Zohar] singles out beasts and fowl because the verse mentions them, but the same applies to all creatures that are individualized [differentiations from the collective forms] of Israel and the [different collective forms of the humans of the] nations of the world.