The Zohar

Section

5. The Mother (Ima) lent Her clothes to Her daughter
The Zohar explains that, during the process of Creation, the Sfirah [level] of Malchut had to borrow vessels from the Upper Level, a realm known as Binah, in order to facilitate the creation of our physical realm. Malchut alone lacked the ability to arouse and draw the Light necessary to construct our physical dimension. When our own vessels are not worthy or capable of generating Light on their own, the spiritual forces transmitted through the letters of this story give us the ability to actually draw down vessels from the Upper Worlds.


16. Rabbi Shimon said, so accordingly, the heavens and their hosts were created by Mah, WHICH REFERS TO MALCHUT. As it is written: "When I Behold your heavens, the work of your fingers (Tehilim 8:4). BUT BEFORE THIS, it is written, "How (Mah) glorious is your name in all the earth, who has set your majesty above the heavens" (Tehilim 8:2). THE HEAVENS WERE CREATED BY THE NAME MAH, WHICH IS MALCHUT. HOWEVER, THE PHRASE "above the heavens" REFERS TO BINAH, WHICH IS CALLED MI, AND IS ABOVE ZEIR-ANPIN, WHICH IS CALLED THE HEAVENS. THE MEANING OF THIS IS that It ascended to the name of ELOHIM. To clarify, THE NAME OF MAH, WHICH IS MALCHUT, ROSE UP AND WAS INCLUDED WITHIN BINAH, WHICH IS ELOHIM. It created a light for Its light. THIS MEANS THAT IT CREATED THE LIGHT OF CHASSADIM AS A PRECIOUS GARMENT FOR THE LIGHT OF CHOCHMAH, THAT IS IN THE NAME OF MI WITHIN WHICH they enclothed each other. Then MALCHUT rose and entered in the Supernal Name ELOHIM, WHICH IS THE NAME OF BINAH. That is why the phrase, "In the beginning, Elohim created," (Beresheet 1:1) REFERS TO the upper Elohim, WHICH IS BINAH AND NOT MALCHUT. Mah, WHICH IS MALCHUT, is not there and is not constructed, according to the secret of Mi and Eleh that we have mentioned previously.
17. When the letters, Aleph, Lamed, and Hei are drawn down from above, FROM BINAH, downward TO MALCHUT, it is as if a Mother (Ima) lent Her clothes to Her daughter and adorned her with Her own adornments. THE NAME OF ELOHIM IS THUS DRAWN DOWN FROM BINAH, WHO IS THE MOTHER (IMA), TO THE DAUGHTER, WHO IS MALCHUT. And when does She properly adorn Her? When all the males appear before Her. AND THEN, It is written CONCERNING HER that "all you males shall appear before the Sovereign, Hashem (Shemot 34:23). Because MALCHUT is called "Sovereign" IN THE MALE GENDER. As it is written: "Behold the Ark of the Covenant of the Sovereign (Adon) of all the earth" (Yehoshua 3:11). HERE THE VERSE DESCRIBES MALCHUT, WHICH IS THE "ARK OF THE COVENANT" BY USING THE NAME OF THE SOVEREIGN (ADON) OF ALL THE EARTH, WHICH IS A MASCULINE NAME. THIS IS SO, BECAUSE SHE HAS RECEIVED THE VESSELS, WHICH ARE CALLED 'CLOTHES' AND THE SPIRITUAL ENERGY, WHICH IS CALLED ADORNMENTS, FROM HER MOTHER WHO IS BINAH. Then the letter Hei leaves the name Mah, AND IS REPLACED BY the letter Yud. NOW MALCHUT IS called Mi, JUST LIKE BINAH. Then She dresses up in male clothes, NAMELY THE CLOTHES OF BINAH, to face all the males of Yisrael.
18. And the other letters, SPECIFICALLY Aleph, Lamed, and Hei, are drawn down by Yisrael from above; FROM BINAH down to this place; DOWN TO MALCHUT WHICH IS NOW CALLED MI, JUST LIKE BINAH. "When I remember these (Eleh)" (Tehilim. 42:4) MEANS when I utter these letters with my mouth "and I pour out my soul in me" (Ibid.). I shed tears by the will of my soul to draw down these letters, Aleph, Lamed, Hei, from Binah, and then "I went with them" (Ibid.). From above - FROM BINAH - "to the house of Elohim" (Ibid.). WHICH IS MALCHUT. SO THAT MALCHUT would be CALLED Elohim, just like BINAH. And with what SHALL I DRAW THEM? "With the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept the holy day" (Ibid.). Rabbi Elazar said, My silence has built the Holy Temple on high, WHICH IS BINAH, and the Holy Temple below, WHICH IS MALCHUT. ACCEPTING WHAT PEOPLE SAY AS TRUE, a word is worth one sela (coin), and silence (is worth) two. So the words 'a word is worth one sela' REFER TO what I have said and clarified, but the words 'silence (is worth) two' REFERS TO MY SILENCE, WHICH IS WORTH TWICE AS MUCH. WHY? Because by my being silent, two worlds were created and constructed together as one. These worlds are BINAH AND MALCHUT. IF I HAD NOT KEPT SILENT (Par. 11), I WOULD NOT HAVE ACHIEVED THE UNISON OF THESE TWO WORLDS.
19. Rabbi Shimon said, from here onward we shall complete the text. As it is written, "That brings out their host by number" (Yeshayah 40:26), BECAUSE there are two grades, and each one has to be recorded, THAT IS, DEFINED: The first called Mah is the lower one; the second called Mi is the upper one. Now the upper grade is recorded with the words, "Hamotzi (that brings out) their host by number." NOTE THAT THE DEFINITE ARTICLE HEI IN THE WORD Hamotzi alludes to the One that is known and there is no other like that One, namely Mi. Similarly in the phrase, "Hamotzi (He who brings forth) bread from the earth" THE DEFINITE ARTICLE HEI IN Hamotzi ALLUDES to the one that is knownthe one of the lower grade, namely Mah. And all is one, BECAUSE THEY ARE BOTH ON THE SAME LEVEL OF MALCHUT, WHERE THE UPPER ONE IS MI OF MALCHUT AND THE LOWER ONE IS MAH OF MALCHUT. So, "HE THAT BRINGS OUT by number," MEANS THAT THE NUMBER 600,000 REFERS TO THE NUMBER OF STARS that stand together and bring forth the hosts according to their types, which are innumerable.
20. All of them, whether these 600,000 or all their hosts, WHICH ARE INNUMERABLE, shall be called by the name. What is meant by "shall be called by the name?" (Devarim 28:10). If you say that He calls them by their names, it is not so. Because had it been so, He should have said, "be CALLED by its name." Rather, when this grade does not rise up into the name ELOHIM, and is called Mi (Par. 14), it does not beget (any offspring) and does not bring forth what is concealed inside it, or their types. Although all of them were hidden inside it, MEANING THAT EVEN THOUGH THE LETTERS ALEPH, LAMED, HEI HAVE ALREADY ASCENDED, THEY ARE STILL LACKING THE 'PRECIOUS GARMENT' OF CHASSADIM. SO THEY ARE STILL CONCEALED AND DO NOT RISE UP INTO THE NAME ELOHIM (Par. 14). Because He created THE LETTERS, Aleph, Lamed, Hei, and they rose up into His name, MEANING THAT THEY ARE ENCLOTHED WITH THE 'PRECIOUS GARMENTS' OF CHASSIDIM, THEN THE LETTERS ALEPH, LAMED, HEI JOIN THE LETTERS MEM and Yud, and are called Elohim. Thus, by the power of this name He brought them forth in all perfection. And this is the meaning of the phrase, "shall be called by the name," WHICH MEANS by His own name did He call and bring forth each and every type (species) to exist in perfection. AND THEN IT IS WRITTEN: "THAT BRINGS OUT THEIR HOST BY NUMBER, HE CALLS THEM ALL BY NAMES," (YESHAYAH 40:26) REFERRING TO THE NAME OF THE PERFECTION, THAT IS, ELOHIM. The same appears here, WHERE IT IS WRITTEN, "See, I have called by name" (Shemot 31:2), WHICH MEANS, "I have bestowed my name on Bezalel," so that Bezalel's existence reaches perfection.
21. "Of the greatness of His might" (Yeshayah 40:26). HE ASKS: What is the meaning of "of the greatness of His might?" AND HE REPLIES: This is the supreme grade where all desires rise up in Him. And they ascend through a hidden and secret path...because He is strong in power. This is the secret of the supernal world called Mi that rose up into the name Elohim. As we have stated, the phrase "no one is missing" REFERS to the 600,000 stars that He brought forth by the power of this name. And because "no one is missing" FROM THE NUMBER 600,000, it follows that in every place that Yisrael died and were punished for their sins, they were AFTERWARD numbered. And no one was ever missing from the 600,000, to keep the similarity, BETWEEN THE UPPER AND THE LOWER WORLDS. Just as no one was missing FROM THE NUMBER 600,000 above, no one was missing FROM THIS NUMBER below.