112. Tosefta (addendum). "My beloved is to me a cluster of henna" (Shir Hashirim 1:14). A cluster refers to Supernal Ima, NAMELY BINAH. As a cluster is decorated with so many leaves and so many branches to Yisrael who eat it, so the Supernal Shechinah, WHICH IS BINAH, is decorated. SHE ELEVATES MAYIN NUKVIN (FEMALE WATERS) TO CHOCHMAH, with many jewels of eight vessels, NAMELY THE FOUR LETTERS OF YUD HEI VAV HEI AND THE FOUR LETTERS OF ADONAI, WHICH ARE MALE AND FEMALE, many offerings THAT YISRAEL OFFER, and many kinds of ornaments of atonement for Her children. She stands in them before the King, WHICH IS CHOCHMAH, and immediately, "And I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant" (Beresheet 9:16), MEANING THAT HE UNITES WITH HER. AND BINAH gives us from her petitions SHE ASKED FROM CHOCHMAH FOR OUR SAKES, THROUGH those blessings that the sages composed to request before the King in the prayer service.
113. At the time OF THE AFOREMENTIONED UNION OF CHOCHMAH AND BINAH, all the Judgments of the Lower Shechinah, WHICH IS MALCHUT which is Hei Vav Hei Yud Adonai, convert into Mercy such as Yud Hei Vav Hei, to fulfill the verse, "though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow" (Yeshayah 1:18), NAMELY Yud Hei Vav Hei. "Though they be like red crimson," which is Hei-Vav-Hei-Yud "they shall be as white as wool," WHICH IS Yud Hei Vav Hei. All the Judgments of this, NAMELY OF MALCHUT, become whitened by the supernal Shechinah, WHICH IS BINAH.
114. And the Shechinah, which is Hei Vav Hei Yud, is "the bright blade of a revolving sword to guard the way to the Tree of Life" (Beresheet 3:24). The sages explained THAT THE REASON IT IS CALLED THE BLADE OF A REVOLVING SWORD IS BECAUSE it revolves sometimes to Mercy and sometimes to Judgment, sometimes to men and sometimes to women; sometimes to Judgment as in Hei Vav Hei Yud, sometimes to Mercy, as in Yud Hei Vav Hei. It is from the side of the Tree of Life, MEANING THAT IF THE SHECHINAH JOINS WITH THE TREE OF LIFE, WHICH IS ZEIR ANPIN THAT ASCENDED TO BINAH, all the Judgments that She contains turn to Mercy. And from the side of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, MEANING THE SHECHINAH THAT IS NOT ATTACHED TO THE TREE OF LIFE, all the Mercy contained in Her turns to Judgment, to judge all those who transgress the words of Torah.
115. And this Tree OF LIFE is in the World to Come, which is Binah, in which all the names of Judgment turn into Mercy, and the sages therefore explained that the World to Come, WHICH IS BINAH, is not like this world, WHICH IS MALCHUT. FOR GOOD TIDINGS IN THIS WORLD, WE SAY 'BLESSED IS HE WHO IS GOOD AND DOES GOOD.' AND FOR BAD TIDINGS WE SAY, 'BLESSED IS THE TRUE JUDGE.' BUT IN THE WORLD TO COME, HE IS COMPLETELY GOOD AND DOES GOOD, AS THERE IS NO JUDGMENT THERE. Therefore, Binah is the blade of a revolving sword that revolves from Judgment to Mercy for the righteous, to give them reward in the World to Come. Malchut is the blade of a revolving sword that revolves from Mercy to Judgment to judge the wicked in this world
116. But from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which is similar to the rod THAT TURNED INTO A SERPENT, MEANING IT IS TURNED TO REAL EVIL AND NOT FROM MERCY INTO JUDGMENT AS MENTIONED, sometimes women turn into female demons and men to male demons. Hence "And Jacob told Rachel" (Beresheet 29:12). Therefore, our sages explained that a man should not have intercourse with his wife before he converses with her, since his wife might has been exchanged with a demon, because the blade in the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil revolves from good to REAL evil. And if you ask about the sorcerers of Pharaoh, of whom it is written, "And the magicians did so with their secret arts (lit. 'rods')" (Shemot 8:3), who turned their rods into serpents through their blades, HOW THEY COULD DO THIS? HE ANSWERS, Because of these rotations IN THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL, they could do it. End of Tosefta.