THIRTY-ONE. Well known throughout¹ is the statement in the Tikkunim that the “Shechinah is suffering in the exile”—as it were.² II:189a-b.

footnotes: ¹ Lit., well known in the gates; par. Proverbs 31:23. ² Cf. Zohar

Metaphorically speaking, it is like a bodily ailment [“Who makes a distinction between holy…”³]. The cause of illness or health lies in the extension and flow of the life-force vested in the blood of life⁴ which flows from the heart to all the limbs, and turning round and around goes the spirit of life⁵ and the blood into all the limbs, through the veins⁶ that are absorbed in them, and returns to the heart.

footnotes: ³ Between holy and profane; Liturgy, Havdalah (par. Leviticus 10:10). A phrase used to emphasize the essential distinction between the subject and object of the metaphorical analogy. ⁴ Cf. Leviticus 17:11. ⁵ Par. Ecclesiastes 1:6. ⁶ Emended according to H. V.

Now, when the circulation and flow of this spirit of life is always as it should be, in its proper order arranged for it by the Fountainhead of life,⁷ blessed is He, man is perfectly healthy. For all the limbs are bound together and receive their proper vitality from the heart through this circulation.

footnotes: ⁷ Lit., the Life of life (see above, Epistle 17, note 4).

But if there is any disorder in any place, restraining, hindering, or reducing the circulation of the blood with the spirit of life vested in it, then this bond [which binds all the limbs to the heart through this circulation] is broken or diminished and man will fall ill and sick, may the L–rd have mercy.

Precisely so, metaphorically speaking, all the souls of Israel are regarded as the limbs of the Shechinah⁸ III:17a; ibid. 231b (Raaya Mehemna); Tikkunei Zohar 21 (52a). which is called the “heart,” as it is written:⁹ “The Rock of my heart,”¹⁰ 5:2 (l); Zohar I:59a (cf. Nitzutzei Orot, ad loc.); Zohar II:128b. See also Tikkunei Zohar 21 (52a). and as it is written: “And I will dwell among them.”¹¹ That is, the term Shechinah denotes that the light of the L–rd dwells in the worlds Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah in order to vivify them.

footnotes: ⁸ Zohar ⁹ Psalms 73:26. ¹⁰ See Shir Hashirim Rabbah ¹¹ Exodus 25:8.

The issue of this vivification is by means of a prior investment in the souls of Israel. This is so because none of the creatures are in any approximation to the Creator, blessed be He, for all that are before Him are esteemed as truly naught.¹² I:11b. Thus it is impossible for them to receive vivification from His light and effluence, blessed be He, to become creatures ex nihilo into substantiality, and to be living and subsisting.¹³ (This is made possible) only through the souls that rose in His thought¹⁴ 1:4. and preceded the creation of the worlds by the aspect of Speech.¹⁵ 5:1; cf. above, Epistles 5 and 25. Thus our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “With whom did the Holy One, blessed is He, take counsel…,”¹⁶ 8:7; Rut Rabbah 2:3. as was made known elsewhere.

footnotes: ¹² Zohar ¹³ Cf. above, Epistle 20. ¹⁴ See Bereishit Rabbah ¹⁵ The creation of the world was by means of the Divine fiats; see Avot ¹⁶ Bereishit Rabbah

And it is well known throughout¹⁷ that the whole issuance of vivification, and the effluence from the upper worlds to those lower than them, are as stated in the Sefer Yetzirah: “Their beginning is wedged in their culmination, and their culmination is wedged in their beginning.”¹⁸ Yetzirah 1:7; cf. the commentary attributed to R. Abraham ibn Daud, ad loc.—The primordial souls in the “original thought” of G–d are thus the conduit for the Divine issuance and effluence. In the writings of the Arizal,¹⁹ this is referred to as or yashar (direct light), and or chozer (reflective light),²⁰ and as it is written: “And the animals advanced and retreated (ratzo veshov).”²¹

footnotes: ¹⁷ See above, note 1. ¹⁸ Sefer ¹⁹ See above, Epistle 5, note 103. ²⁰ See above, Epistle 20. ²¹ Ezekiel 1:14.

Thus, according to these words and this truth²²—which it is not possible to explain properly in writing—it follows that the Shechinah is referred to as “heart,” and the souls as “limbs.” This teaches us that when all the souls are attached and bound together, the circulation and flow of the vivification and of the effluence “turns around and around,” and “their culmination is wedged in their beginning” to bind and join them all to “the L–rd (who) is One” to be attached to Him, blessed be He. And thus it is written:²³ “You are standing this day, all of you, before the L–rd your G–d—[stating expressly: “all of you,” and stating expressly: “before”]—your heads…from the hewer of your wood….”²⁴

footnotes: ²² Par. II Chronicles 32:1. ²³ Deuteronomy 29:9, 10. ²⁴ Cf. above, Epistle 22b, and the notes, ad loc.

And hereby will be understood the saying of our Sages, of blessed memory, that the destruction of the Second Temple and the Fall of Israel into exile, and the withdrawal of the Shechinah and its descent to Edom,²⁵ into a fate of exile, as it were; all this was because of the sin of groundless hate and a division of hearts,²⁶ 9b. the Merciful save us. And that is why (the Shechinah) is referred to as ailing, metaphorically speaking. As²⁷ for “He raises the fallen, and heals the sick,”²⁸. in plural form, these are all the limbs….

footnotes: ²⁵ See above, Epistle 25, note 48. ²⁶ Yoma ²⁷ Emended according to H. V. ²⁸ Liturgy, opening benedictions of the Amidah