Hevruta, Diversity, and Silence

(1) 4. Know, too, that dispute is the aspect of Creation. For the world was created mainly by means of the Vacated Space, as explained above. This is because without it there would have been nothing but Ein Sof, with no place for the creation of the world, as explained above. He therefore contracted the Light to the sides, and the Vacated Space was made. Within it He created the entire creation—i.e., time and space—by means of the spoken word, as explained above: “By the word of God the heavens were made….”

(2) The same is true of the aspect of dispute. If all the Torah scholars were one, there would be no place for the world’s creation. However, as a result of their dispute and their separating from one another, with each one withdrawing to a different side, the aspect of the Vacated Space is made between them. This is the aspect of the contraction of the Light to the sides, within which the world is created by means of the spoken word, as explained above.

(3) This is because whatever each one of them says is only for the sake of creating the world, which they bring about within the Vacated Space that is between them. For the Torah scholars create everything through their words, as it is written (Isaiah 51:16), “and I have declared to Zion: You are ami (My people)”—do not read ami, but imi (“with Me”). Just as I make heaven and earth through My word, so you do the same (Zohar, Introduction, p.4b-5a) .

(4) Nevertheless, they must take care not to say more than is necessary; only as much as is needed for the world’s creation, no more. For as a result of an overload of the Light, the vessels, which could not bear the overload of Light, shattered. From the Shattering of the Vessels, the forces of evil came into existence. So, too, if one speaks overmuch; he thereby brings the evil forces into existence. For [his speaking] is the aspect of an overload of the Light, as a result of which there was the Shattering of the Vessels that led to the forces of evil coming into existence.

(5) This is the explanation of the Mishnah: All my days gadalti (I was raised) bein (among) the scholars and have found nothing better for the body than silence; the main thing is not the expounding but the practice; and whoever speaks overmuch brings on sin (Avot 1:17) .

(6) All my days I was raised bein the scholars…—“Bein the scholars” is the aspect of the Vacated Space that comes into existence and is made bein (between) the scholars as a result of the separation and dispute between them, as explained above. Thus it is specifically “bein the scholars”—i.e., there is a separation and dispute between them. For if they were all one, it would not be pertinent to say “bein the scholars.” But by means of the dispute, the aspect of the Vacated Space is made, and within this Vacated Space the world is created—i.e., time and space. This is:

(7) All my days I was raised—I would raise my time (“days”) and space, which is the aspect of the creation of the world.

(8) bein the scholars—Specifically “bein the scholars”; within the Vacated Space, because that is where the entire creation comes about, as explained above. This is:

(9) GaDaLti, I was raised—I raised my time and space from constriction to GaDLut (expansion).

(10) He called them “my days” because time is his, since he creates the world etc., as explained above. And this is:

(11) and have found nothing better for the body than silence—For there, in the Vacated Space, nothing is better than silence, as explained above. This is because entry to there is forbidden other than for someone who is in the aspect of silence, the aspect of Moshe, as explained above.

(12) Thus he said: “All my days I was raised among the scholars and have found nothing….” By attaining this level, in the aspect of silence—as he said: there is nothing better than silence—he therefore expanded his time and space there in the Vacated Space, because entry there is forbidden other than for someone who is in the aspect of silence, as explained above. And this is:

(13) the main thing is not the expounding but the practice; and whoever speaks overmuch brings on sin—For the main thing in all the expounding and the words that these scholars speak is not the expounding alone but the practice; that through their words they should make and create the world, as explained above: “Do not read this ‘My people,’ but ‘with Me,’” as explained above.

(14) However, “whoever speaks overmuch brings on sin,” because an overload of the Light brings the forces of evil into existence, as explained above.