KABBALAH - Selected Writings. Bernhard Pick

Eliezar spoke, and said: "Lift up your eyes on high and behold who hath created these." (Isa. 40:26) Lift up your eyes on high. Where? To the place whither all eyes are turned. There is the pathakh azeen, or opening of eyes. There you will recognize the mysterious Ancient One who created these and is the object of research. And who is he? It is Mi (who) that is called the summit of the heavens above, for all things exist by his will. Because he is the object concealed and invisible after which all seek. Therefore is this mysterious being called Who (Mi), and beyond him search in vain. Rut at the other extremity is another being known as What! (Mah). What distinguishes the one from the other? Mi (who), the concealed and hidden One, is he whom all created beings are seeking to know, but after all their efforts and endeavors, by the gaining of knowledge, they only come at last to Mah (the what). Then, what do we know, What understanding of him have we? What have we found out or discovered, Truly, all is mysterious, as at first., and this is what the Scripture refers to where it is written: "Mah (what) I take thee to witness." "Mah (what) shall I liken thee to?" When the temple at Jerusalem was ravaged and destroyed there was heard a voice crying aloud: "What shall I testify concerning thee? (Lam. 2:13) For from the beginning of creation have I testified to thee." Also, is it written: "I call heaven and earth this day to record." (Deut. 30:19) "Mah (what) shall be likened unto thee." "I will crown thee with crowns of holiness and make thee to rule over the world." So that it shall be said: "Is this the city called Beautiful, etc?" (Lam 2:15) "This is Jerusalem, the city most compacted in beauty." "Mah (what) shall equal thee?" That is, it shall ascend on high, where thou art sitting, and even as thou observest below, the holy people do not now enter the holy city; so I say unto thee I will not ascend there until the people have entered into thy walls below. Let this console and comfort thee. I will not ascend until, under the form of Mah, I become like thee in all things. If the overflow of thy afflictions be like that of the sea, and if thou say there is no healing or remedy for thee, thou thinkest wrongly. Mi (who) shall heal thee? This is the highest scale of the mystery--the mystery of the being, upon whom dependeth all things. He shall heal and strengthen thee. Mi of the heavens above is the highest pole, Mah of the heavens below is the lower pole, and the heritage of Jacob stands between these extremities of the heavens (Ex. 27:28)--Mi (who) and Mah (what). This is the meaning of the words "Who (Mi) created these?"

      Then Rabbi Simeon, interrupting, spake, and said: "Eliezar, my son! cease thy interpretations of the words, for a profound mystery is about to be revealed, which the children of the world know nothing of, even onto this day." Rabbi Eliezar obeyed, and ceased speaking.

      Rabbi Simeon for a moment was silent, and then said: "Eliezar, my son, what is the meaning of Aleh (these)? If thou sayest it includes the stars, constellations and other heavenly bodies which are visible and seen always to the eye of man and have been created by Mah, as it is written, "By the word of God the heavens were made." (Ps. 33:6) Aleh (these) cannot refer to things invisible, but to those that are seen. The mysterious meaning of the word was revealed to me one day that I was standing by the seashore, when Elijah, the prophet, suddenly appeared and said unto me: Rabbi! knowest thou what Aleh (these things) means? And I answered and said it means the heavens and their hosts, the work of the Holy One, blessed be He, which it behooves every man to study as it is written: "When I consider the heavens the work of that fingers, etc." (Ps. 8:3) "Oh, Lord, our God how excellent is thy name in all the earth!" (Ps. 8:9) Rabbi! said Elijah, this word is an occult word, and was revealed and explained in the heavenly college thus. When the Most Secret One wished to reveal himself, He first created a point, and it became a divine Thought, in which were the ideas of all created things and forms of all things, and also that holy, glorious Light wherein was the Holy of Holies--a structure of magnificent and lofty dimensions, the work of that divine Thought and the beginning, or cornerstone, to this structure, hidden and concealed in the name as yet ineffable find known only as Mi (who), who wished to manifest itself and to be called by a name and become arrayed and clothed with a precious and resplendent garment. He therefore created Aleh (these things), which then became a part of the divine name; for these words, joined and associated together, form Alhim, which is composed of Aleh (these things), and Mi reversed and which existed not previous to this conjunction.

      To this mystery the worshippers of the golden calf alluded when they cried: "Aleh is thy God, Oh, Israel! As on the work of creation, Mi remains conjoined with Aleh (these), so in the name Alhim they are always inseparable. And by reason of this unity the world abides as it is having thus spoken, Elijah disappeared, and I saw him no more. It is from him I learned the meaning of this mystery of Mi, Aleh and Alhim."

      Rabbi Eliezar and the rest of the students went, and prostrating themselves before their master, said: "If we had come into the world only to hear and understand the meaning of these words, we should be satisfied." Rabbi Simeon then commenced speaking again, and said: "Thus the heaven and all its hosts have been created by means of Mah, for it is written: "When I behold the heavens. the work of that fingers, etc. Oh, Lord, our God, Mah (what) that name is excellent in all the earth." (Ps. 8:3) Thou who hast set thy glory above the heavens, signifying and referring to the ascension of Aleh in Mi, after creating one for the other and forming one name. Thus mean the words berashith, bara. Alhim, God, in the beginning created Alhim. This junction of the two words being effected, the mother lent the daughter her garments of splendor and arrayed her in her jewels; and when was this? When all the males appeared before Alhim (God) as it is written: "All the males, three times a year shall they present themselves before the Lord, Alhim." (Ex. 34:23) Alhim is here called Adon, or Lord, as it is written: "Behold the ark of the covenant, Adon of all the earth." (Jos. 3:11) So the H from Mah, representing the female principle, went forth and was replaced by I (representing the male principle) from Mi, and thus Alhim is formed. This is the signification of the words "When I remember Aleh, I pour out my soul within me." (Ps. 43:4) "I have remembered this and have shed tears."

      That the letters, emanating one from the other, might produce Aleh and then form Alhim, according as it is written: "I will bring them down from on high into the house of Alhim below," in order to form an Alhim like Alhim above. How? By songs and thanksgiving. Rabbi Simeon ceased speaking, and his son, Rabbi Eliezar, exclaimed: "My silence has resulted in the building of a temple above and a temple below, and the old proverb has been realized--'if speech is worth a shekel, silence is worth two.' If my speech was worth a shekel, my silence was worth two; for I have learned that two worlds have been created--the heavenly and the earthly--at the same tame."

      Rabbi Simeon spake again: We will explain the words following those which have been quoted and explained: "That bringeth out their host by number." There are two personalities inferred, viz.: Mi and Mah---the one above, the other below. That above says "Bringeth out the host by number." (Is. 40:26) It must be confessed there is none like unto hire, yet is he who bringeth forth bread from the earth, though below, one and the same. By number, amounting to six hundred thousand, "who stand together as one man." "He calls them by name." If you say by their own special name, He calls them. It is not so, because Aleh had not as yet entered into the divine name, and He was only known as Mi, and was then creating things in their own nature, and at the same time hidden and concealed in him. But as soon as Alhim was formed, as stated before, from Aleh, Mi, then, by virtue of this name, he created the universe. This is the meaning of the words: "He called by the name," (Ex. 31:2 Is 40:26) his name. "By the greatness of his might"; that is, by the divine will, which in a hidden and mysterious manner and according to its good pleasure worketh and doeth all things both in the world above and the world below. "Not one faileth," meaning that of the host of six hundred thousand created and produced by the power of the name Alhim, not one is wanting or missing. Like the children of Israel, who, although punished and afflicted by plagues, yet always continued undiminished in number as they went out of Egypt, not one was missing of their six hundred thousand strong; and so shall it be with the host, both above and below, not one shall be wanting.

      The Mysticism Of The Alphabet

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      Rabbi Chananya spake, and said: "Before creation began, the alphabetical