26. Rabbi Elazar opened with, "Go you near, and hear..." (Devarim 5:24). Come and see, when the Torah was given to Yisrael, all voices were present, NAMELY, FROM BINAH, ZEIR ANPIN AND MALCHUT. BINAH IS CALLED AN INNER VOICE, ZEIR ANPIN AN OUTER VOICE AND MALCHUT THE VOICE OF THE WORDS. The Holy One, blessed be He, sat on the throne, WHICH IS MALCHUT, and one was visible from within another - ZEIR ANPIN WAS SEEN FROM WITHIN MALCHUT. The words of the one, MALCHUT, came from within that which was above it, ZEIR ANPIN. This is the secret of the verse, "Hashem talked with you face to face in the mountain out of the midst of the fire" (Devarim 5:4), AS ZEIR ANPIN AND MALCHUT WERE FACE TO FACE. And speech came out and spoke from within the fire and the flame, WHICH ARE THE LEFT COLUMN that pushed the speech out OF ZEIR ANPIN by striking of wind and water, WHICH ARE the CENTRAL AND RIGHT COLUMNS that empower THE LEFT, SO THAT SPEECH, WHICH IS MALCHUT, COMES OUT FROM ALL THREE COLUMNS OF ZEIR ANPIN. For fire, wind and water, THE THREE COLUMNS OF ZEIR ANPIN, came out of the Shofar, BINAH, as it, BINAH, includes them all. Yisrael kept away from this awe.
27. Because of that, BECAUSE OF THAT AWE, YISRAEL SAID TO MOSES, "And speak to us" (Ibid. 24), SAYING, We do not want this lofty force from above, NAMELY FROM ZEIR ANPIN, but from the place of the Female, MALCHUT, and no further. THIS IS THE MEANING OF, "and speak to us," WITH A FEMININE SUFFIX. Moses said TO THEM, You have surely weakened my power and weakened another power OF MALCHUT, for had not Yisrael distanced themselves, they would have heard all those words FROM ZEIR ANPIN as before, the world would not have been destroyed and Yisrael would have lived for generations.
28. The first time, AFTER HEARING THE FIRST WORDS, they died. The reason is that it had to be so, since the tree of death, MALCHUT, brought it upon them. Later they were resurrected, rose and grew BY RECEIVING MOCHIN OF GREATNESS. The Holy One, blessed be He, wanted to bring them into the Tree of Life, ZEIR ANPIN, that is situated above that tree of death, so they will live forever. But they distanced themselves and refused AS MENTIONED. Then the power of Moses who was above them weakened, and another power OF MALCHUT weakened. The Holy One, blessed be He, said, 'I desire to uphold you in a supernal place, that you shall cleave to life, yet you wish the place where the Nukva dwells. For that reason, "Go say to them, Return again to your tents" (Ibid. 27), each one will go to his wife and mate with her,' BECAUSE THEY DESCENDED TO THE WORLD OF THE FEMALE.
29. Nevertheless, since Yisrael did it only because of the highest awe that rested upon them, it did not say of them but, "O that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear Me" (Ibid. 26). From this we learned that whoever does something but does not concentrate in his mind and wish on the Evil Side, even though it is evil, since he did not do it on purpose there is no punishment for him, and he is not like another WHO DOES IT PURPOSELY. And the Holy One, blessed be He, does not sentence him for evil.
30. "But as for you, stand here by Me" (Devarim 5:28): from this WE UNDERSTAND that he totally separated from his wife, and cleaved and rose to another place of THE WORLD OF the male, instead of the female. Happy is the lot of Moses, the faithful prophet, who attained the highest grades, such as no other man ever attained. Of that it is written, "he who pleases (lit. 'good before') Elohim shall escape from her" (Kohelet 7:26). What is "good"? It is Moses, of whom it is written, "he was a goodly child" (Shemot 2:2). Since he was good, he rose to another high level, THE GRADE OF ZEIR ANPIN, and therefore it is written, "for the place on which you stand is holy ground" (Shemot 3:5). "you stand" is precise. The reason STANDING IS MENTIONED is because it is good, and good is the male, WHICH IS YESOD OF ZEIR ANPIN, AND STANDING PERTAINS TO THE MALE.
31. You may say that Rabbi Yehuda said that 'good' is said of David, as it is written, "good looking" (I Shmuel 16:12), which means that as the mirror (Heb. mar'ah) in which to look, WHICH IS THE SECRET OF MALCHUT CALLED MIRROR, was good, so David was good looking (Heb. mar'eh). Of Moses it is written, "a goodly child," namely, he himself. But here IT ONLY SAYS "and good looking." Nevertheless, DAVID was attached to both, NAMELY TO YESOD CALLED GOOD AND TO MALCHUT CALLED MIRROR, since the one is attached to the other. FOR YESOD AND MALCHUT ARE ALWAYS MUTUALLY ATTACHED, ONLY HE WAS MAINLY OF MALCHUT AND REMAINED THERE. Moses, since he was good, BEING YESOD OF ZEIR ANPIN, rose to be THE ASPECT OF the body, WHICH IS ZEIR ANPIN HIMSELF, CALLED man, as it is written, "the man of Elohim" (Devarim 33:1), and "Now the man Moses was very meek" (Bemidbar 12:3).
32. Rabbi Yehuda said, In all his deeds, man has to set the Holy One, blessed be He, before him, as we already explained. Rabbi Yehuda followed his own reasoning, saying that whoever walks on the road AND FEARS ROBBERS should meditate on three things, A GIFT, A PRAYER AND WAR, LIKE JACOB WHEN HE FEARED ESAU. The most valuable is prayer. And even though prayer is more VALUABLE, two or three friends studying the words of the Torah is even more valuable, because they do not fear ROBBERS, because the Shechinah is joined to them BECAUSE THEY ARE OCCUPIED IN THE TORAH.
33. Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Chiya were walking on the way. Rabbi Elazar said, It is written, "For the man and for his wife did Hashem Elohim make coats of skin" (Beresheet 3:21). Were they divested of that skin until then? HE ANSWERS, Yes, SINCE UNTIL THAT TIME THEY DID NOT HAVE THESE COATS OF SKIN, which were precious garments. Rabbi Chiya said to him, In that case, they were not even worthy of coats of skin, SINCE THEY SINNED BY THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL. You may say that before they sinned, He clothed them WITH COATS OF SKIN, yet it is not so. Only after they sinned, it is written, "For the man and for his wife did Hashem Elohim make coats of skin, and clothed them."
34. He said to him, It is surely so THAT IT OCCURRED AFTER THE SIN, only at first THEY WERE CLOTHED in the likeness of above, NAMELY WITH THE SUPERNAL SPLENDOR OF ZEIR ANPIN and were divested of the lower hues OF THIS WORLD, and the celestial light surrounded them. After they sinned, He returned them to the colors of this world, and removed from them the supernal colors THEY HAD FROM ZEIR ANPIN. It is written, "For the man also and for his wife did Hashem Elohim make coats of skin, and clothed them" as in this world. It is written, "And you shall bring his sons, and put coats upon them" (Shemot 29:9). In the latter verse, it bore resemblance to the supernal, NAMELY THE LIGHT OF ZEIR ANPIN, while here, REGARDING THE COATS OF SKIN OF ADAM, they bore resemblance to the lower. FOR THAT REASON they are called linen (Heb. shesh) coats THAT ALLUDES TO ZEIR ANPIN THAT IS CALLED SIX (HEB. SHESH), AFTER THE SIX EXTREMITIES. In this verse there are coats of skin, WHICH PERTAIN TO MALCHUT THAT IS CALLED SKIN, WHICH BEARS THE ASPECT OF THIS WORLD. Even though it is so, the beauty of these garments surpassed everything.
35. "And the eyes of them both were opened" (Beresheet 3:7), which means THEIR EYES OPENED to the mold of this world, NAMELY TO THE REGULAR MODEL OF THIS WORLD, which was not the case before when they were above, observing with open eyes, in the supernal world. In the future to come, it is written, "And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not..." (Yeshayah 42:16). For the Holy One, blessed be He, will open eyes that were unwise so they will behold supernal wisdom and attain what they did not attain in this world so as to recognize their Master. Happy are the righteous that will attain this wisdom, since there is no wisdom as that wisdom, nor is there knowing such as that knowing.