Chapter 21: Understanding G-d’s speech & How everything Remains nullified to G-d

7^th Shevat/(LY)14^th Shevat

• Man’s speech is separate from his soul: G-d’s attributes are not the same as that of man’s. When man speaks, the breath of his speech which comes out of his mouth is recognizably felt and seen as a separate entity, separate from its root which are the 10 aspects of the soul itself.
• G-d’s speech does not separate from Him: However G-d’s speech does not separate from G-d forbid, as there is nothing outside of Him and there’s no place at the of Him. Accordingly, G-d’s speech cannot be compared to our speech, G-d forbid.
• G-d’s thought is not like our thought: This is similar to the idea that G-d’s thought is unlike our thought and is rather much higher than our thought.
• Why G-d’s speech is called speech at all: The only reason why G-d’s speech is even called speech at all is due to its similarity in the fact that it reveals the concealed as does the speech of man. Just as the speech of man reveals to the listeners that which was hidden and concealed within his heart, so too above the speech of the infinite G-d expresses and reveals the light and energy of G-d from its concealed state, in order to create and enliven the world’s. This is what’s referred to as his speech.

• The 10 utterances with which the world was created is the speech of G-d which revealed the concealed energy of G-d into creation to bring about its existence.
• The Torah: Likewise, the words of the Torah and books of the prophets and Scripture [i.e. Tanakh], which are the words of the prophets expressing what they comprehended through prophecy, is likewise a revelation of the concealed light and energy of G-d.

(LY)15^th Shevat

3. G-d’s speech and thought is completely unified with him even after it is spoken:

• The speech and thought of G-d are completely united with Him.
• The unity of man’s speech and thought prior to its expression: The speech and thought of man while it is still contained within his intellect and mind, or within his emotion and craving of the heart prior to it being sent from the heart to the mind to contemplate it with letters of speech, is completely united with him and his soul. In this stage, the letters of thought and speech which derive from the lust and craving of his heart is only in a state of potential within the heart and is therefore united within the heart and its root in source with an absolute unity. This means that at this stage the letters of speech and thought are united with the wisdom and intellect found in the brain, and with the lust and craving within the heart.

8^th Shevat

• The unity of G-d’s speech within Him: The above example of how man’s speech is united within him prior to it being spoken applies also regarding G-d, however by G-d it applies even after the words are spoken The thought and speech of G-d is united with His essence in an absolute unity even after His words of speech have been expressed within the creation of the world’s. In fact, His speech is united with Him after it was spoken to the same extent that it was united with Him prior to it being spoken and there is no change at all in front of G-d regarding this matter.

• It is only in the eyes of the creations who receive the divine energy from G-d’s speech that a change is felt from before the words are spoken and afterwards.
• The speech of G-d entails contractions and dilution of the original divine energy: The words of speech of G-d affects that the divine energy be able to become invested within the creations to enliven them. To do so, the energy must go through a chain descent from level to level, which incorporates many contractions of different qualities and quantities, until finally the creations are able to receive this diluted divine energy in order to be created and not be nullified in their existence to a revelation of G-d that is greater than their capacity.

(LY)16^th Shevat

• The contractions are a concealment of the original divine energy: All of the contractions are different forms of concealment of the original divine energy. Their function is to conceal and mask the light and energy that derives from G-d’s speech so that it not be revealed in its full intensity, which the creations would not be capable of receiving. [Meaning, that not only is the divine revelation that is expressed through G-d’s speech already in a contracted form having passed through various levels of concealment, but furthermore, this divine speech itself must go through further contractions, so the creations are able to receive it.]

• It is due to the above contractions and concealment of the divine energy both within G-d’s speech and after it is spoken, that creations feel that the divine light and energy of G-d’s speech that is invested within them, is a separate entity from Him, and is similar to the speech of man which although is derived from the soul of the man is nonetheless separated from the soul once it is spoken. [This mistaken feeling of G-d’s speech being separate from Him then causes the creations to feel themselves as separate entities from G-d.]

• In truth, before G-d, the contractions and concealments which His divine energy and speech experiences do not conceal before Him at all, as to Him darkness is like light.
• The contractions themselves come from G-d: The reason the contractions do not conceal before G-d is because the contractions and garments placed on the divine energy are themselves not separate from G-d, G-d forbid, and is rather similar to shell of a snail which is made from its own body. Accordingly, before G-d the contractions are as if they do not exist. [Accordingly, it is understood that since the contractions do not exist from G-d’s perspective, then the creations also truly do not exist from G-d’s perspective, as they are truly nullified to the divine energy and light that is within them, and they are not considered separate entities at all from His essence. It is only from the perspective of the creations that they feel that they exist. Accordingly, it ends up that G-d is the only existence even after the creation.]