248. “Once the day was sanctified, etc.” Once the day was sanctified [namely, began], there remained the creation of spirits for which no body had been ‎created. He asks: Did the Holy One, blessed be He, not know to delay the sanctification of the day until bodies were created ‎for those spirits? He responds: Rather, the tree of knowledge of good and evil was awakening the evil side [Sitra Aḥara] ‎and it sought to triumph in the world. Many spirits separated and emerged with numerous weapons ‎to be strengthened and clothed in bodies in the world. ‎

Explanation: Once the day [of Shabbat] was sanctified, [namely, began, ] there remained the creation of the spirits for which no bodies had yet been ‎created. In other words, the day commenced before the Holy One, blessed be He, managed to create bodies for those ‎spirits. This is the mystical meaning of: “Which God had created, to make” [Genesis 2:3], which refers to Shabbat. [The Torah] states: “For on it He rested from all His work which God had created, to make,” which is apparently inexplicable: If He had really completed all His acts of creation with the desired aim, [this implies] He created nothing for us “to make,” ‎because He had made and completed everything Himself.

Rather, the mystical meaning is that the Lord made all the ‎distillations and completed all the works, in such a way that we would have the opportunity “to make,” meaning ‎that we could make and complete them through our labor in the Torah and commandments. ‎The concept of resting [in the story of Creation] is stated only with regard to the works of the Emanator, and the verse is teaching us that God has already “rested from all His work,” indicating that nothing is missing on His part. All of ‎this, “which God had created” and completed, allows us “to make” and complete them from our part ‎as well. ‎

This is the meaning of [the Zohar’s] statement that “there remained the creation of spirits for which no body had been ‎created,” for God did not manage to make bodies for certain spirits ‎before He sanctified the Shabbat, and there remained bare, bodiless spirits. These bodiless spirits are ‎the ‎kelippot and harmful spirits that lead man to sin, as explained below. He left them deliberately, for we ‎were thereby granted the power of choice and a place to labor in the Torah and commandments.

[The Zohar] raises the difficulty: Did the Holy One, blessed be He, not know how to delay the sanctification of the day until after bodies had been created for those spirits? [The Zohar] answers: “Rather, the tree of knowledge of good and evil was awakening the evil side, that Sitra Aḥara of the evil, ‎and it sought to triumph in the world.” The meaning is as follows: the Malkhut is called the tree of knowledge of ‎good and evil (as stated in section #123#): “If [a person] merits, it is good; if he does not merit, it is evil”; see there for the explanation. When Adam ‎[the first man] sinned with the Tree of Knowledge and he became one who “does not merit,” the aspect of evil in ‎the tree of knowledge of good and evil was awakened and the evil wished to intensify in the ‎world, namely, it sought to triumph over the good and cling to the world in such a manner that the good would never be able ‎to defeat it.

Then “many spirits emerged with numerous weapons ‎to be strengthened and clothed in bodies in the world.” Explanation: two points conjoined in Malkhut. One [of these points] is tempered with the aspect of Bina, the attribute of mercy. The second [point] is the ‎ attribute of judgment in Malkhut itself. When Malkhut is properly rectified in holiness, the ‎point of the attribute of judgment is concealed and hidden, and the point of the attribute of ‎mercy is “in a revealed state” (as stated in section #122#, and in the Sulam; see there). Then “a person merits, and it is good.” But if a person sins and impairs [the Malkhut], the attribute of judgment in Malkhut is revealed, and the power is given to masters of harm and destruction to ‎rule over him, “and it is evil.”

If one merits and the point of mercy rules in a revealed state, [the person] merits to raise ‎Malkhut to the supernal Bina through his actions, and the supernal mercy and brains are revealed upon ‎him. If he does not merit and reveals the attribute of judgment within [Malkhut], not only does he ‎impair Malkhut, but he also impairs the point of Bina that conjoined with the Malkhut, as [that point] is transformed from mercy into judgment due to the revelation of judgment in Malkhut, for every revealed [attribute] is the one that rules. ‎

Thus, after the sin of the Tree of Knowledge, the power of judgment in ‎Malkhut was revealed. This also impaired the point of Bina in [Malkhut], which was transformed into the attribute of judgment. This point ‎of Bina is the entire possibility for rectification in ‎Malkhut, as through this point, [the Malkhut] is called ‎‎“good” when the point of Bina is in a revealed state, as explained. But now that the point of Bina has also been impaired and transformed ‎into judgment, the Sitra Aḥara thought that its time had arrived to triumph in the world ‎and be clothed in people’s bodies, namely, those of Adam the first [man] and his sons. ‎ That is, the body of the Sitra Aḥara would inherit the place of the body of Adam the first [man], and [thus] no aspect of rectification of ‎‎Malkhut would be conceivable there any more from the side of the good. [The Sitra Aḥara] saw that the point of Bina in ‎‎Malkhut had also been transformed and become the attribute of judgment, and no rectification was conceivable any more. ‎

[The Zohar] continues: “Many spirits separated and emerged to attack the world with numerous weapons, namely, forces of destruction, ‎to be strengthened and enclothed in human bodies in this world.” They wished to rule here permanently, because they thought that no one could save [people] from their hands [see Deuteronomy 32:39], on account of the impairment that ‎Adam had inflicted with his sin, in the point of mercy in ‎‎Malkhut, as stated. ‎