PATACH ELIYAHU
“May the pleasantness of Adonai, our God, be upon us; O God, establish our handiwork for us, our handiwork establish.”
Elijah began speaking and said: Master of the universe, You Who are a Unity, but not in the sense of disparate parts; You are supreme over all exalted ones, more hidden than all hidden ones; no intelligence can have any perception of You. You produced ten emanations that we call ‘Ten Sefirot’, by means of which to direct hidden, unrevealed worlds and revealed worlds. Through them You conceal yourself from human beings, but it is You Who connects them and unites them, and because You are within them, anyone who causes these Ten Sefirot to diverge from one another is regarded as if he had caused a divergence within You. These Ten Sefirot proceed according to their fixed order: one long; one short, and one mediating between them. It is You Who regulates them, but nothing regulates You, not above, not below, and not from any side. You made ‘garments’ for them from which souls flutter to human beings. You have fashioned many 'bodies' for them, which are called bodies only relative to the 'garments' that cover them. They are entitled as follows: Chesed [Kindness] is the right arm; Gevurah [Power] is the left arm; Tiferet [Splendor] is the torso; Netzach [Eternity; Triumph] and Hod [Glory] are the two thighs; Yesod [Foundation] is the end of the torso, which is the symbol of the sacred covenant; Malchut [Kingship] is the mouth, which we refer to as the Oral Torah. Chochmah [Wisdom] is the brain, meaning inner thought; Binah [insight, understanding] is the heart within which is the understanding heart, and regarding the last two Sefirot is written: The hidden mysteries belong to Adonai our God, Keter Elyon [the Supreme Crown] is the crown of kingship, and concerning it is said: He Who declares the outcome from the beginning, and this is the head that wears tefillin. Within the tefillin is the Four-Letter Name whose letters Yud Hei Vav Hei when fully spelled out have the numerical value of forty-five, which is the path of Atzilut [spiritual emanation]. This irrigates the tree of the Sefirot with its arms and branches, like water that irrigates a tree causing it to grow thanks to that irrigation.
O Master of the universe, You are the Primary Cause, and Producer of Results, Who irrigates the tree through that spring. That spring is like the soul to the body, in that it gives life to the body. However, in You there is neither similarity nor likeness to anything either within or without. You created heaven and earth and drew forth from them the sun, moon, stars, and constellations; on earth. You drew forth trees, vegetation, the Garden of Eden, grasses, beasts, cattle, birds, fish, and human beings, through whom to make known lofty concepts of the universe, how the upper and lower realms function, how the upper realms can be discerned from the lower ones, but no one can know You at all. Without You there is no unifying force in the upper and lower realms, and You are known as the Cause above all and the Lord of all. Regarding all the Sefirot, each has its particular name and the angels are also so identified; but You have no particular Name, for Your essence saturates all names. It is You Who give perfection to them all. When You withdraw from them, their names all remain like a body without a soul. You are wise, but without a definable type of wisdom; You are understanding, but without a definable type of understanding. You have no identifiable location. Your purpose is only to make known to people Your power and organized force, to show them how the world is directed with judgment and mercy, which are righteousness and justice, according to the deeds of human beings. Judgment is Gevurah; justice is the middle column; righteousness is the Holy Kingship; the scales of justice are the two supports of truth; the measure of righteousness is the symbol of the sacred covenant. All this is to demonstrate how the world is conducted, but not that You have a righteousness that is knowable to man, which is judgment; nor a justice that is knowable to man, which is mercy, nor any of these attributes. Stand up Rabbi Shimon, and may from you come new ideas, since to you has been given permission to reveal hidden secrets that no human being was permitted to reveal until now.
Rabi Shimon stood up and started
his discourse, saying: “Yours, O Adonai, is the greatness, and the power, and
the glory, and the victory, and the majesty[1]”.
Hear! You who are buried in Hebron [the three Patriarchs], and you Faithful
Shepherd [Moshe], arise from your sleep. “Awake and sing, you that dwell in the
dust[2]”.
These are the righteous who belong to her of whom it has been said: “I, was
sleeping, but, my heart, was awake[3]”.
And they are not dead, and thus of them it is said: “Awake and sing, you that
dwell in the dust.” Faithful shepherd, may you and the patriarchs wake up and
sing songs to move the Divine Presence, which sleeps in the exile, because until
now all the righteous sleep in their graves. But in the time of redemption, the
three patriarchs will say: “The voice of my beloved calling”, with the four
letters of the Divine Name, and it will say: “Open to me, my sister, my fair
one, my dove, my undefiled one”. Since it is said: “Your time is accomplished,
O daughter of