60. In the meantime a great fish came to him, RAV HAMNUNA SABA, and said, Faithful Shepherd, "Strong (Heb. eitan) is your dwelling place, and you put your nest in a rock" (Bemidbar 24:21). Tania, THAT IS, THE TANNAIM, helps you IN EXILE TO RAISE THE SHECHINAH, because the fish, THE TANNAIM, have their nest in the rock, WHICH IS MALCHUT. Eitan is Tania written backwards; Eitanim (plural) is Tannaim spelled in a different order. Beware of them, because you are slow of speech and of a slow tongue. And whoever wishes to attack the sea fish in the rock, who are the Mishnah sages, the Tannaim, needs to be strong and of a sharp and polished tongue that bores and reaches the great abyss that lies there.

61. "For there is still a vision for the appointed time; and it speaks concerning the end, and does not lie. THOUGH IT TARRY, WAIT FOR IT; BECAUSE IT WILL SURELY COME, IT WILL NOT DELAY" (Chavakuk 2:3). It has been explained that this verse pierces and descends to the great abyss. Who is it that shall descend to the great abyss to find that time OF THE END but you, of whom it says, "Your righteousness is like the great mountain; your judgments are a great deep" (Tehilim 36:7). Many Mishnah sages wanted to reach down to the depth of the Halachah, WHICH IS MALCHUT CALLED HALACHAH, to find there THAT TIME, NAMELY the time of the coming of the redemption, and went down there but did not come up. Though their tongue was "like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces" (Yirmeyah 23:29), their hammer was too weak and could not pierce that rock, NAMELY PIERCE IT TO KNOW ABOUT THE END. Whoever pierces that rock without permission, a serpent will come to bite him; others bore it until they reach the great abyss but do not come up from there.

62. And when the gulf is open, whoever falls there does not come up. And Messiah, the son of David, fell there together with Messiah, the son of Joseph, of whom one is, "humble, and riding upon an donkey" (Zecharyah 9:9) and the other is, "The firstling of his herd" (Devarim 33:17), who is Messiah, the son of Joseph. This is the meaning of, "if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or an donkey fall into it" (Shemot 21:33). For that reason the Messiah is called 'the one who fell,' and She, NAMELY THE SHECHINAH, fell with them, and of Her it says, "The virgin of Yisrael is fallen; she shall no more rise" (Amos 5:2). And you, FAITHFUL SHEPHERD, are "the owner of the pit shall make it good, and give money to the owner of them; and the dead (beast) shall be his" (Shemot 21:34). The dead refers to Messiah, the son of Joseph that will be killed.

63. (THE BEGINNING IS MISSING) descended for his sake. For surely there were four exiles, three corresponding to the three nutshells. The first is without form (Heb. tohu), which is a green line, namely the green shell of the nut. The second is void (Heb. bohu), which is viscous stones, which are strong boulders, from which the Mishnah sages legislated some decrees, and they hold on to them since water will come out of them. The third Klipah is the thick shell OF THE NUT, which is the third exile that was short. This is darkness. The fourth exile is a great abyss, which is the space inside the nut. This is "darkness was on the face of the deep" (Beresheet 1:2).

64. THE FOURTH KLIPAH, THE DEEP, is called a pit where an ox has fallen. This is why it is written of Joseph, "The firstling of his herd, grandeur is his" (Devarim 33:17), of whom it says, "And they...cast him into a pit" (Beresheet 37:24), which is the evil female OF THE KLIPAH; "and the pit was empty" (Ibid.) is the male OF THE KLIPAH, which is empty, without Torah THAT IS CALLED WATER. But there are snakes and scorpions in it. This is the fourth exile, WHICH IS EMPTY WITHOUT TORAH, which is a generation of evil people, filled with snakes and scorpions that are scoundrels like snakes and who are scorpions (Heb. akrabim) since they uprooted (Heb. akru) the words of the sages and give false sentence. Of them it says, "Her adversaries have become the chief" (Eichah 1:5).

65. "And he looked this way and that, and when he saw that there was no man" (Shemot 2:12) of Yisrael among the wicked OF THAT GENERATION, BUT THAT THEY ARE the mixed multitude. This will be at the end of exile. And because of that the end, the coming of the exile, bores all the way to the great abyss, WHICH IS THE FOURTH EXILE CALLED A GREAT ABYSS. Faithful Shepherd, you came down there. Tehom (Eng. 'abyss') is Hamavet (Eng. 'the death') spelled backwards, and death is no other than poverty, THAT IS, POVERTY IN KNOWLEDGE. It has been clarified up high, before the Tannaim and Amoraim, that they will all descend for your sake into the deep, IN THE FOURTH EXILE, to help you.

66. And you support yourself by your sage's statement more than all of them, since you are the Leviathan of the sea of the Torah. For the master of all fishes is called Leviathan, named after the Torah of which it says, "for they are a graceful garland (Heb. liviat) for your head" (Mishlei 1:9). By you, "Hashem, You preserve man and beast" (Tehilim 36:7). Of man, NAMELY TIFERET, it has been said, "when a man dies in a tent" (Bemidbar 19:14), and the sages of the Mishnah have stated that the Torah is maintained only by whoever is willing to die for it, death being no other than poverty. 'Beast' refers to the ignorant, who are submissive like horses and mules to the sages of the Mishnah.

67. In the meantime the Holy Luminary, RABBI SHIMON, came. The Faithful Shepherd opened and said, Mishnah sages, who is the Leviathan? The Holy Luminary answered him, it is he whose grade is the Central Pillar and a righteous man of whom it says that we consider his body, TIFERET, and member of the covenant, YESOD, as one. And he grows in that sea, which is supernal Ima, NAMELY BINAH, which is a sea where the Holy One, blessed be He, is unified in 25 and 25 letters IN SH'MA YISRAEL AND IN 'BLESSED BE...,' the numerical value of which is that of 'yam (Eng. 'sea'),' THAT IS, FIFTY, and who is in it ???, BEING IN THAT SEA THAT IS BINAH. The Faithful Shepherd said, surely this Leviathan stands on the beach and the world is poised on his fins, AS THIS LEVIATHAN is, "the righteous is an everlasting foundation" (Mishlei 10:25). The Holy Luminary said, Blessed is your portion, Faithful Shepherd.

68. (THE BEGINNING IS MISSING) echo (lit. 'daughter of sound'), WHICH IS MALCHUT, is in exile until you come for her, since you are her sound SINCE MALCHUT IS THE SECRET OF SPEECH; MOSES, ZEIR ANPIN, IS THE SOUND IN SPEECH, AND SPEECH IS THE DAUGHTER OF SOUND. IT IS CALLED DAUGHTER since every wife is a daughter to her husband, as it is written, "took her for his own daughter" (Ester 2:7). SHE IS THEREFORE CALLED DAUGHTER OF SOUND. She is betrothed to you since you have not come under the Chupah, WHICH IS REDEMPTION, with her.