!

!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!!
chapter15
Divine Presence In Exile
!!
!!
!
!n this [chapter] will ,
I be explained the
reason why great
. ,
, ,
[and] righteous people can be children
of the completely evil, like Avraham, ,
who was the son of Terach, a high , .
priest and maker of idols for sale to the
"
entire world, to cause them to sin. With
this will be explained why the Klipos so ,
greatly desire to cause a person to sin ,
to the point that they caused the de- " ,
struction of Temple and the exile of the
Divine Presence, may it be blessed, " , .
among the nations, angering God, may ,"
He be blessed, Who created them. .
The sod of the matter you should
know is that as a result of the sin of
Adam HaRishon, all the souls fell into
the depths of the Klipos. The Klipos are

!!
Divine Presence In Exile | 185
the remainder of the zuhama1 and
waste that became separated from ,
holiness at the time of the death of the

kings of Edom.2
As has been explained the Klipos . ,
themselves are considered to be the ,
level of death.3 However, holiness is a
,
living God and King of the world (Yir-
miyahu 10:10), and therefore [the Kli- . ,
pos] chase after holiness called liv- ,
ing, to be fed and sustained by it.4 , .
While holiness is among them5 they live
and are fed from it, [but] when holiness , ,
is no longer among them they die,6 and ,
have no life and abundance.7 There- ,
fore, they make a great effort to chase
,
after holiness, and cause the sin of the
holy soul of a person. ,
Then, from the holiness of the .
soul that enters their domain, which is
,
life, [they nourish off it]. They feed
from [the soul in the Klipos], because it
is impossible for a holy soul to be cut
off from its holy source, since the Cre-
ator, may He be blessed, consider[s]

1 A severe level of spiritual impurity, originally received by mankind from the snake prior to the eating from the

Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

2 As detailed in Aitz Chaim of the Arizal, part of the pre-Creation process was Sheviras HaKeilimthe Breaking of

the Vesselsthe destruction of the the seven lowest pre-Creation sefiros, whose names were those of seven
of the kings of Edom mentioned at the end of Parashas Vayishlach (Bereishis 36:31).
3 Since they draw a person away from God and holiness. See Chapter 20.
4 Those who pursue a holy life are enlivened and sustained from holiness.
5 Matok Midvash amends the text to say besocham.
6 Spiritually-speaking.
7 This refers to the flow of Divine light.

!!
186 | SHAAR HAGILGULIM
thoughts so that no one be banished ,
from him (II Shmuel 14:14), even a ,
small spark of a holy soul. From His holy
,
source, may He be blessed, He influ-
ences,8 causing a flow of nourishment
to those souls among the Klipos, and ,
from that influence the Klipos also feed.
,
Therefore, they run to cause a
person to sin, like one who chases after ,
and troubles himself over food. They ,
will not despise a thief if he steals to sat- .
isfy his appetite, for he is hungry (Mish-
lei 6:30). ,
! ,
Two. Divine Presence in Exile ,
! ,
When the Temple was destroyed,
the Divine Presence was exiled among , " .
the Klipos because the souls were , '
[also] exiled among them, and they

lack the strength and ability to leave
them since they became blemished by ,
their sins. Consequently, His Presence, ,
may He be blessed, about which it says, , ",
God, your God, is a consuming
fire (Devarim 4:24), entered the Klipos .
in order to gather the soul sparks from
among them them, to separate them
[from the Klipos] and elevate them to a
holy place, renewing them and bring-
ing them down into this world in the
bodies of people.

8 That is, God sends down Divine light to sustain the holy spark in the Klipos.

!!
Divine Presence In Exile | 187
 From this the sod of the Divine .
Presence in exile can be understood ,
well, and since the destruction of the
,
Temple this has been His work, may He
be blessed, [and will remain so] until this
work is completed, the gathering of all
the souls that fell into the Klipos of
,
Adam Bliyaal9 and became mingled
with him from his head10 unto his feet.11 , ,
Until He has finished gathering [them], .
even those that fell to his feet, Moshi- , "
ach will not be revealed and the Jewish
people will not be redeemed.12 This is as ,
the Zohar explains in Parashas Pekuday, .
and this is what it says: Until the feet ",
reach the feet,13 as it says, He will
,
stand on his feet on that day on the
Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:4).14 .
However, the Divine Presence
does not gather them except as a result
of the actions of those below and their
prayers, bsod, Give strength to God15
(Tehillim 68:35). According to the ex-

9 In the Torah, the term Bliyaal is a reference to miscreants (Devarim 13:13), being a composite of two words:

bli ole, which means without yoke, that it without the Yoke of Heaven. Kabbalistically, it is the name for the
10 sefiros on the side of impurity.
10 The Keser on the side of impurity.
11 The Malchus on the side of impurity, and the lowest one can descend into the Klipos.
12 Hence, the Final Redemption is intricately tied to the removal of all the souls from the Side of Impurity, as will

be discussed in Chapter 20.

13 Zohar, Pekuday 258a. The feet of the Divine Presence will stand above the feet of Adam dKlipah and eradicate

the spirit of impurity from the world.

14 The verse is talking about the Final Redemption, but the mention of the legs is an allusion, on the level of Sod,

to the previously discussed idea.

15 To empower man, and to give him a role in the Final Redemption, God acts as if He draws strength and ability

from our mitzvos, and becomes weakened and disabled because of our sins.
!!
188 | SHAAR HAGILGULIM
tent of the actions of the lower beings, ,
that is the extent to which the souls .
and the sparks go out [from the Klipos].
,
If the entire Jewish people re-
turned in complete repentance, then
the Divine Presence, may it be blessed, .
would have the strength to take all the
" ,
souls out from there in a single in-
stance. However, our sins weaken God, .
as the verse says, You weakened the ,
Rock that bore you (Devarim 32:18). , ,
Once the souls have completely
left there then the Divine Presence, , ,
may it be blessed, will also leave there, : "."
and removing their life force the Klipos ,
will die and evil will be consumed like
,
smoke.16 This is the sod of the verse,
Death will be swallowed forev- .
er (Yeshayahu 25:8), meaning that the .
Klipos, which are called death, will end
,
and be swallowed in a single moment
because of the removal of the Divine ,
Presence, may it be blessed, from
among them, as well as all of the soul
sparks that were among them, as men-
tioned.17
!
Three. Feeding The Klipos
!
Returning to the topic, since the
Divine Presence is among them, it is

16 This is mentioned in the Shemonah Esrai of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
17 See Chapter 20.

!!
Divine Presence In Exile | 189
clear that [the Klipos] will receive sus- ,
tenance, flow, and life. The Divine Pres- ,
ence is not exiled among them except
, .
because of the souls, so therefore their
entire desire is to draw souls to be ,
among them, to detain them from leav- . ,
ing so that they can be supported be-
,
cause of them.
According to the extent of the .
greatness of the soul is the extent of ,
the amount of abundance that flows to ,
them. Therefore, when there is a valu-
able soul they will not leave it, allowing
it to depart from them, and their entire . ,
drive will be to sully and defile it with all
that they can, in order to detain it with
,
them forever.
Sometimes they fear that a cer-
tain great righteous person will do an ,
important mitzvah and will have the
,
ability to remove the soul from among
them, drawing it out through his seed ,
from a holy union with his wife.18 "
Therefore, when they see a certain evil ,
person who is very blemished, they go
to great trouble and accuse, before ,
Him,19 may His Name be blessed, this
soul, to have it put it into his impure
seed, so that as a result damage will
occur to this soul more than in the be-

18 As mentioned previously in Chapter 10, the intention of the parents while conceiving affects the spiritual level

of the child. Apparently, it also determines the level of the soul that will be sent into the child they conceive.
And, as mentioned before, it is the prayers and mitzvos of the Jewish people that draw souls out of the Klipos.
19 God.

!!
190 | SHAAR HAGILGULIM
ginning, and it will become extremely
blemished. In this way it will return to " ,
them very blemished and never [be
. ,
able to] leave them.
! "
Four. Deceiving The Klipos ,
! , ,
However, The Holy One, Blessed
is He, consider[s] thoughts so that no ,
one be banished from him, especially , " ,
this soul which is pure and elevated. He
listens to their voices and puts it in this
evil place,20 but once it leaves their con- , ,
trol, The Holy One, Blessed is He, helps ,
it,21 and it shakes off22 the ashes from
the burning of the purification
"
[offering]23 and impurity,24 and recti-
fies its actions, like a pearl that has "
been rinsed and whose refinement is ,
apparent to everyone.
It is not enough that this soul be-
comes rectified but even the father
who gave birth to him merits because
of his son and repents. This is what
happened, as explained, in the matter
of Iyov, who was the reincarnation of

20 The seed of the evil person.

21 Arranging situations that inspire the soul to do teshuvah.
22 The verse in Yeshayahu says, Shake the dust from yourself (Yeshayahu 52:2), which is basically what is writ-

ten here. However, the Hebrew word affar, or dust, is translated as ashes in the verse that follows, and there-
fore, its usage here has a double meaning,
23 Bamidbar 19:17; this is taken from the mitzvah of the Red Heifer used for purification from coming into con-

tact with a dead body.

24 Another way of saying that it turns away from evil.

!!
Divine Presence In Exile | 191
Terach,25 the father of Avraham, who ,
repented because of his son Avraham. ."
The Holy One, Blessed is He, deceived
,
the Klipos, because He consider[s]
thoughts so that no one be banished .
from him.26
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!

25 Thus, the suffering of Iyov completed Terachs process of teshuvah, as discussed in Chapters 36 and 38.
26 See Chapter 38.

!!
192 | SHAAR HAGILGULIM