It is well known that the commandment and admonition¹ concerning idolatry, which are contained in the first two commandments of the Decalogue—“I am”² and “You shall not have any other gods”³—comprise the entire Torah.⁴ For the commandment “I am” contains all the 248 positive precepts, while the commandment “You shall not have” contains all the 365 prohibitions.⁵, beg. Parashat Yitro. Zohar II:276a. That is why we heard only “I am” and “You shall not have” directly from the Almighty, as our Sages say,⁶ 24a. The other eight Commandments were relayed by Moses. “because these two are the sum total of the whole Torah.”

footnotes: ¹ The positive and prohibitive aspects of the injunction, respectively. ² Exodus 20:2. ³ Ibid., v. 3. ⁴ The first (“I am”) is the positive, and the second (“You shall not”) is the prohibitive aspect, both ruling out idolatry; the first implicitly, the second—explicitly. ⁵ Cf. Shnei Luchot HaBrit ⁶ Makkot

In order to elucidate this matter clearly, we must first briefly refer to the subject and essence of the Unity⁷ of the Holy One, blessed is He, Who is called One and Unique, and “all believe that He is All Alone,”⁸ exactly as He was before the world was created, when there was naught besides Him, as is written, “You were [the same] before the world was created; You are [the same] since the world has been created….”⁹ This means exactly the same without any change, as it is written, “For I, the L–rd, have not changed,”¹⁰ inasmuch as this world and likewise all supernal worlds do not effect any change in His Unity, blessed be He,¹¹ by their having been created ex nihilo.

footnotes: ⁷ The discussion of this subject is carried over into the following chapter; cf. also ch. 33. ⁸ Liturgy of New Year’s Day and Day of Atonement. ⁹ Liturgy, daily Morning Service. ¹⁰ Malachi 3:6. ¹¹ Not to mention His essence.

For just as He was All Alone, Single and Unique, before they were created, so is He One and Alone, Single and Unique after they were created, since, beside Him, everything is as nothing, verily as null and void.

For the coming into being of all the upper and nether worlds out of nonbeing, and their life and existence sustaining them from reverting to nonexistence and nought, as was before, is nothing else but the word of G–d and the breath of His mouth, blessed be He,¹² that is clothed in them.

footnotes: ¹² See Psalms 33:6.

To illustrate from the soul of a human being: When a man utters a word,¹³ this utterance in itself is as absolutely nothing even when compared only with his general “articulate soul,” which is the so-called middle “garment,”¹⁴ namely, its faculty of speech, which can produce speech without limit or end;¹⁵ all the more when it is compared with its so-called innermost “garment,” namely, its faculty of thought, which is the source of speech and its life-force, not to mention when it is compared with the essence and entity of the soul, these being its ten attributes mentioned above,¹⁶ viz., chochmah, binah, daat (chabad), and so on, from which are derived the “letters” of thought that are clothed in the speech when it is uttered. For thought can as much be defined in terms of “letters” as speech, except that in the former they are more spiritual and refined.

footnotes: ¹³ Hebrew text should read דבור instead of דבר. ¹⁴ Of the three garments: thought, speech, and act. ¹⁵ Physical incapacity (or death) does not limit the soul’s potential capacity for speech, which is intrinsic to it. ¹⁶ Ch. 3.

But the ten attributes—chochmah, binah, daat (chabad), and so forth—are the root and source of thought, and, prior to their being clothed in the garment of thought, still lack the element of “letters.”

For example, when a man suddenly becomes conscious of a certain love or desire in his heart, before it has risen from the heart to the brain to think and meditate about it, it has not yet acquired the element of “letters”; it is only a simple desire and longing in the heart for the object of his affection.

All the more so before he began to feel in his heart a craving and desire for that thing, and it is as yet confined within the realm of his wisdom, intellect, and knowledge, that is, the thing is known to him to be desirable and gratifying, something good and pleasant to attain and to cling to, as, for instance, to learn some wisdom or to eat some¹⁷ delicious food. Only after the desire and craving have already found their way into the heart, through the stimulus of his wisdom, intellect, and knowledge, and then ascended once more back to the brain, to think and meditate on how to translate his craving from the potential into the practical, with a view to actually obtaining that food or acquiring that wisdom—it is here that the so-called “letters” are born in his mind, such “letters” corresponding to the language of each nation, employing them in speech and thought about all things in the world.¹⁸

footnotes: ¹⁷ Hebrew text should read איזה instead איזו. ¹⁸ Continued in next chapter.