וְהִנֵּה מַה שֶּׁכָּתַב הרמב״ם ז״ל (הלכות יסודי התורה פרק ב הלכה י) שֶׁהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מַהוּתוֹ וְעַצְמוּתוֹ וְדַעְתּוֹ הַכֹּל אֶחָד מַמָּשׁ אַחְדוּת פְּשׁוּטָה וְלֹא מוּרְכֶּבֶת כְּלָל, כֵּן הָעִנְיָן מַמָּשׁ בְּכָל מִדּוֹתָיו שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא וּבְכָל שְׁמוֹתָיו הַקְּדוֹשִׁים,

Now regarding that which Rambam, of blessed memory, wrote (Sefer HaMadda, Hilkhot Yesodei HaTorah 2:10), that the essence, being, and knowledge of the Holy One, blessed be He, are all totally one, a perfect unity, and not at all a composite, this literally applies to all the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He, to all His holy names, In the words of Rambam, God is the knower, the known object, and knowledge itself. All are one. While the implication of Rambam's words seems to apply specifically to divine knowledge, it actually applies to all of God's attributes and to the ways in which He manifests His presence in reality.

וְהַכִּינּוּיִים שֶׁכִּינּוּ לוֹ הַנְּבִיאִים וַחֲכָמֵינוּ ז״ל, כְּגוֹן חַנּוּן וְרַחוּם וְחָסִיד וְכַיּוֹצֵא בָּהֶן,

and to the appellations ascribed to Him by the prophets and our Sages, such as gracious, compassionate, beneficent, and the like. In this respect, there is no distinction between the appellations that the prophets and our Sages ascribed to Him and His sacred names that appear in the Torah itself.

וְכֵן מַה שֶּׁנִּקְרָא חָכָם, דִּכְתִיב: ״וְגַם הוּא חָכָם״ וגו׳ (ישעיה לא, ב), וְכֵן רְצוֹנוֹ כִּי ״רוֹצֶה ה׳ אֶת יְרֵאָיו״ (תהלים קמז, יא), וְ״חָפֵץ חֶסֶד הוּא״ (מיכה ז, יח), וְרוֹצֶה בִּתְשׁוּבָתָם שֶׁל רְשָׁעִים וְאֵינוֹ חָפֵץ בְּמִיתָתָם וּבְרִשְׁעָתָם, וּ״טְהוֹר עֵינַיִם מֵרְאוֹת בָּרַע״ (חבקוק א, יג) – אֵין רְצוֹנוֹ וְחָכְמָתוֹ וּמִדַּת חַסְדּוֹ וְרַחְמָנוּתוֹ וּשְׁאָר מִדּוֹתָיו מוֹסִיפִים בּוֹ רִיבּוּי וְהַרְכָּבָה חַס וְשָׁלוֹם בְּמַהוּתוֹ וְעַצְמוּתוֹ.

So too with respect to His being called wise, as it is written, "He, too, is wise... " (Isa. 31:2), and with respect to His will, as in "The Lord wants those who fear Him" (Ps. 147:11) and "He desires kindness" (Micah 7:18), and He desires the repentance of the wicked and does not want their death nor their evil ways and has "eyes too pure to see evil" (Hab. 1:13). His will, His wisdom, His attribute of kindness, His compassion, and His other attributes do not add plurality or composition, God forbid, to His essence and being. Not only the seven lower sefirot, but also the higher sefirot of Ḥokhma (Wisdom) and Keter (Crown), which represents God's will, are revelations of the Divine, and the very same seamless unity exhibited by the sefira of Da'at (Knowledge) – that of the knower, the known, and the knowledge itself – exists within every fabric of Godly revelation that is manifest through each of the sefirot.

אֶלָּא עַצְמוּתוֹ וּמַהוּתוֹ וּרְצוֹנוֹ וְחָכְמָתוֹ וּבִינָתוֹ וְדַעְתּוֹ וּמִדַּת חַסְדּוֹ וּגְבוּרָתוֹ וְרַחְמָנוּתוֹ

Rather, His being, essence, and will, His wisdom, His understanding, and His knowledge, and His attribute of kindness, His restraint, as well as His compassion Here the author of the Tanya alludes to each of the sefirot in order. "His will" is Keter. "His wisdom, His understanding, and His knowledge" corresponds to the sefirot of Ḥokhma, Bina (Understanding), and Da'at respectively. "His attribute of kindness, His restraint, [as well as] His compassion" refers to the sefirot of Ḥesed, Gevura, and Tiferet (Beauty).

וְתִפְאַרְתּוֹ הַכְּלוּלָה מֵחַסְדּוֹ וּגְבוּרָתוֹ,

and His beauty, which comprises both His kindness and His restraint, While the attribute of pure Ḥesed constitutes indiscriminate giving, and Gevura imposes absolute restriction, the attribute of Tiferet is a manifestation of God's compassion. It provides with perfect precision exactly that which a specific recipient needs to receive in the way he needs to receive it. Also referred to as the attribute of truth, this attribute of compassion is the golden mean between Ḥesed and Gevura and, in a certain sense, includes both. Compassion, like kindness, is an attribute of effluent giving, yet the two differ in their function and nature. Ḥesed -inspired giving does not consider the needs of the recipient nor his receptive capacity; it is based solely on the giver's need to give. Compassion-inspired giving, on the other hand, is motivated by the needs of the recipient. The giving of pure Ḥesed is boundless, limited only by the giver's decision of whether or not to give. Since this attribute is rooted in love, the giving is dependent on love: If there is love, there will be giving. If not, then the giver will not wish to give. Giving inspired by compassion, however, has undertones of the attribute of Gevura, of withholding in the appropriate measure according to the parameters of the receiver and his receptive capacity. Regardless of whether or not the giver feels love for the recipient, he will give as long as the recipient is lacking. This is Tiferet, the attribute of beauty and harmony. This attribute embodies the magnificence that emerges from the delicate interplay between the two opposing attributes of Ḥesed and Gevura. From this attribute emerges beauty akin to a vivid chromatic painting or to the harmony of distinctive musical notes played together in one symphony. Another definition of Tiferet is truth, and therefore it is the attribute that most closely corresponds to the Torah. Tiferet offers an objective balance that is not found in Gevura or Ḥesed alone. Neither one who loves indiscriminately (exhibiting pure Ḥesed ) nor one who hates (displaying pure Gevura ) can be objective because their sole frame of reference is the subjective experience of their emotions. The object of their emotions is only secondary and lacks any direct connection with the essence of the emotion. By contrast, the attribute of compassion, of truth, that is Tiferet necessarily embodies a certain degree of objectivity, because it is rooted in the object and is spurred by the object's need to receive.

וְכֵן שְׁאָר מִדּוֹתָיו הַקְּדוֹשׁוֹת,

and also His other holy attributes "His other holy attributes" refers to the sefirot of Netzaḥ (Dominance) and Hod (Splendor). With this the author of the Tanya completes his enumeration of the sefirot, which are not included in Rambam's characterization of God's oneness.

הַכֹּל אַחְדוּת פְּשׁוּטָה מַמָּשׁ, שֶׁהִיא הִיא עַצְמוּתוֹ וּמַהוּתוֹ.

are all literally a perfect unity, which is His very being and His essence. The attributes are not extraneous descriptions of His nature and essence. As Rambam explains in the context of God's attribute of Da'at, all the attributes constitute a seamless oneness with His essential nature.

וּכְמוֹ שֶׁכָּתַב הרמב״ם ז״ל, שֶׁ״דָּבָר זֶה אֵין כֹּחַ בַּפֶּה לְאָמְרוֹ וְלֹא בָּאֹזֶן לְשָׁמְעוֹ וְלֹא בְּלֵב הָאָדָם לְהַכִּירוֹ עַל בּוּרְיוֹ״ (הלכות יסודי התורה פרק ב הלכה י).

As Rambam, of blessed memory, wrote, "This concept is beyond the mouth's ability to express it, the ear to hear it, and the human heart to perceive it clearly" (Sefer HaMadda, Hilkhot Yesodei HaTorah 2:10). Common sense informs us that the knower, the known object, and knowledge itself are three distinct entities. We are incapable of expressing or even apprehending a concept that encapsulates these disparate entities at once. The same is true of the other sefirot. Since this is the nature of the sefirot, we are understandably incapable of apprehending the sefirot themselves. Anything that we do grasp about their nature is only through the prism of our own attributes, which are different from the divine attributes.

כִּי הָאָדָם מְצַיֵּיר בְּשִׂכְלוֹ כָּל הַמּוּשְׂכָּלוֹת שֶׁרוֹצֶה לְהַשְׂכִּיל וּלְהָבִין, הַכֹּל כְּמוֹת שֶׁהֵם בּוֹ. כְּגוֹן, שֶׁרוֹצֶה לְצַיֵּיר בְּשִׂכְלוֹ מַהוּת הָרָצוֹן אוֹ מַהוּת חָכְמָה אוֹ בִּינָה אוֹ דַּעַת אוֹ מַהוּת מִדַּת חֶסֶד וְרַחֲמִים וְכַיּוֹצֵא בָּהֶן – הוּא מְצַיֵּיר כּוּלָּן כְּמוֹת שֶׁהֵן בּוֹ.

This is because a person can only depict in his mind all the concepts that he wishes to conceive and understand as they exist within him. For example, when he wishes to visualize in his mind the essence of will or the essence of wisdom or understanding or knowledge or the essence of the attribute of kindness, compassion, and the like, he depicts all of them as they exist within him. A person's understanding of things is not objectively derived from his external reality. Rather, he translates his surroundings into his own terms and digests them according to his subjective inner world. This is the intrinsic nature of human thought processing, and it is the only way a person can comprehend his environment. Since we can experience true awareness only of ourselves, we must draw comparisons from our own personal realities in order to relate to external phenomena. This imaginative faculty, which engenders the projection of ourselves, our perceptions, onto all of reality in order to relate to it, is our only way of processing our surroundings. The medieval sages taught that the soul depicts everything through the lens of its inner sanctuary, elevating the lowly and lowering the elevated. Since a person employs images that are generated from within, he necessarily elevates realities that are below him and reduces realities that transcend him. He attributes human characteristics to each in order to relate to them. When the author of a literary work assigns human thoughts and emotions to animals, it is not because he fails to understand that a cat thinks differently from a human being, or that an angel processes reality unlike man. Rather, he is employing the only model of thought at his disposal. Even regarding ideas whose meaning clearly defies human conception, we are incapable of illustrating them with any image other than our own. The sefira of Keter, for example, has no conceptual parallel in our psycho-spiritual or emotional realm. When we discuss the concept of will, the divine attribute that Keter represents, in the context of the human model, we are already dealing with an experientially familiar concept. Every attempt to define a phenomenon in the purely abstract sense will be limited by the shackles of our own paradigms, as we repeatedly hit roadblocks at the edge of our consciousness and self-awareness. We know that our picture is not accurate, but it is nearly impossible to free ourselves of it.

אֲבָל בֶּאֱמֶת הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא הוּא רָם וְנִשָּׂא וְקָדוֹשׁ שְׁמוֹ (ישעיה נז, טו). כְּלוֹמַר, שֶׁהוּא קָדוֹשׁ וּמוּבְדָּל רִיבּוֹא רְבָבוֹת עַד אֵין קֵץ וְתַכְלִית מַדְרֵגוֹת הַבְדָּלוֹת, לְמַעְלָה מַעְלָה מֵעֵרֶךְ וְסוּג וּמִין כָּל הַתִּשְׁבָּחוֹת וְהַמַּעֲלוֹת שֶׁיּוּכְלוּ הַנִּבְרָאִים לְהַשִּׂיג וּלְצַיֵּיר בְּשִׂכְלָם.

However, in truth, the Holy One, blessed be He, is "the Exalted and Most High... ​and Holy is His name" (Isa. 57:15). " Holy" means that He is holy and separated by myriads upon myriads and endless, infinite degrees of separation, above and beyond any value, type, or category of praises and exaltation that created beings are capable of conceiving and depicting in their minds. The concept of the "Holy One" cannot be confined to a specific definition. On the contrary, the essential meaning of the word kadosh, usually translated as "holy," is "separate," that which is beyond all definition and limitation. According to this definition, there is nothing holy besides God. When we refer to anything else as being holy, such as holy books, holy ritual objects, the holy Torah, or the holy Temple, it is deemed as such only due to its bond with the one and only God who is called the Holy One. Likewise, the idea of "Holy is His name" implies that He is separate not only from our essence but also from any praise that we can possibly formulate in our minds. Not only is God Himself separate but so is His name, which represents the manifestation of the manner in which He conducts Himself toward all created beings and the manner in which they perceive Him. We praise His wisdom, for example, even though that wisdom exists on a fundamentally different plane from any wisdom that we could conceive. His wisdom is holy – separated by myriad upon myriad degrees of separation from all human conception.

כִּי הַמַּעֲלָה וּמַדְרֵגָה הָרִאשׁוֹנָה אֵצֶל הַנִּבְרָאִים הִיא הַחָכְמָה,

For the first stage and level in created beings is wisdom, The attribute of Ḥokhma is the most supernal essence of reality and serves as the primary phase in the progression of levels, both with regard to the layers of the soul (nefesh, ruaḥ, neshama ) and with regard to the levels of the created worlds.

שֶׁלָּכֵן נִקְרֵאת רֵאשִׁית,

and that is why the attribute of wisdom is referred to as the beginning, In several places in Tanakh, wisdom is termed a "beginning," as in "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" (Prov. 1:7) and "Wisdom begins with fear of the Lord" (Ps. 111:10). In the mystical teachings, then, the two concepts are synonymous: Wisdom means beginning.

כִּי בֶּאֱמֶת הִיא רֵאשִׁית וּמְקוֹר כָּל הַחַיּוּת בַּנִּבְרָאִים.

because it is truly the beginning and the source of all the life force in created beings. Wisdom is the beginning of all familiar created realities that function similarly to our own. It represents that initial flash of awareness, the first spark that informs our consciousness on every level, in every form. This awareness is the primary, initial stage of all spiritual life and, in a certain sense, the basis of all of reality, on every level and in every form.

כִּי מֵהַחָכְמָה נִמְשָׁכוֹת בִּינָה וְדַעַת,

For from wisdom stem understanding and knowledge, This flash of wisdom, the lightning bolt of wisdom, expands and develops into bina, understanding, which constitutes analyzing and synthesizing that initial awareness. The faculty of da'at, knowledge, then integrates the wisdom and understanding until they become part of one's being. Without wisdom, without that initial grasp of some internal or external reality, neither the examination of information in a comprehensible and discernible way through understanding nor the acquisition of total awareness through the integration of the information within one's being with the faculty of da'at would be possible. Wisdom, as the genesis of awareness, provides the basis and launch pad for the cluster of sefirot known as Ḥokhma, Bina, and Da'at.

וּמֵהֶן נִמְשָׁכוֹת כָּל הַמִּדּוֹת שֶׁבַּנֶּפֶשׁ הַמַּשְׂכֶּלֶת, כְּמוֹ אַהֲבָה וְחֶסֶד וְרַחֲמִים וְכַיּוֹצֵא בָּהֶן.

and from them stem all the attributes of the rational soul, such as love, kindness, compassion, and the like. All of the attributes – every emotion, desire, and impulse of the soul – are built upon the paradigms and parameters of one's consciousness, through which they develop accordingly.

וְכַנִּרְאֶה בְּחוּשׁ, שֶׁהַקָּטָן שֶׁאֵין בּוֹ דַּעַת,

This is tangibly apparent in the case of a child who, lacking discerning knowledge, A child's comprehension, analytical aptitude, and reasoning ability are limited and undeveloped.

הוּא בְּכַעַס תָּמִיד

is constantly angry Children become easily angered when their desires go unfulfilled; they are easily frustrated when they do not receive what they want. The ability to distinguish between one's desires and what is available, between what is necessary and unnecessary, depends on the degree to which one's conscious thought equips him to qualify, classify, and selectively employ his soul's resources. Since this soul power is underdeveloped in children, when they do not attain the instant gratification that they perpetually seek, they are consistently angry.

וְאַכְזָרִי.

and cruel. Cruelty stems from the inability to take others into account, from being blind to their suffering to failing to sympathize with their pain. The ability to process a situation outside one's own self-centered perspective demands a measure of da'at. It requires a person to harness the ability to empathize with others, to recognize their reality, to understand them and, to a certain degree, identify with them. Since children can apprehend others only to a very limited degree, and tend to view them more as objects or tools for their use, they are frequently cruel.

וְגַם אַהֲבָתוֹ הִיא לִדְבָרִים קְטַנִּים, שֶׁאֵין רָאוּי לֶאֱהֲבָם, מִפְּנֵי שֶׁאֵין בּוֹ דַּעַת לֶאֱהוֹב דְּבָרִים הָרְאוּיִים לֶאֱהֲבָם, שֶׁהָאַהֲבָה כְּפִי הַדַּעַת.

Also, his love is directed toward trivial things that are not fit to be loved, because he does not have the knowledge to love the things that are worthy of love, for the love is commensurate with the knowledge. As explained elsewhere, it is not the emotive attributes themselves that stem from da'at. Human drives such as love and hatred do not come into existence due to the attainment of a certain level of awareness. Human emotions exist independently and are inherent to the rubric of the soul. Their ability to become manifest, however, is entirely dependent on consciousness. It is cognizance that frames a person's objectives, which in turn provide a forum for his emotions. The intensity, scope, and refinement of the emotions, then, are all bound up with da'at. Da'at determines the objects of one's love or hate and the target of one's desire or loathing. In this sense, it is the faculties of consciousness – the sefirot of Ḥokhma, Bina, and Da'at  – that determine the unfolding of the soul's development. Hokhma is the beginning of all consciousness, the first of the attributes and the inception of all that transpires within the soul. By contrast, Da'at is the capacity to encompass and channel consciousness to the realm of emotion. The smaller and more constricted one's awareness, the more limited and constricted his emotive attributes. The more expansive his awareness is, the greater his love and vice versa. Since a baby's level of awareness has limited scope, his love and hate are commensurate with those petty objectives.

וּמֵהַמִּדּוֹת שֶׁבַּנֶּפֶשׁ נִמְשָׁכוֹת בָּהּ תֵּיבוֹת וְאוֹתִיּוֹת הַמַּחֲשָׁבָה,

From the emotive attributes of the soul stem the words and letters of thought, Ḥokhma, Bina, and Da'at formulate the primary blueprint of awareness and lay the foundation for the other attributes, such as love, hate, and compassion. The next phase of progression engenders the cultivation of these emotions into thought, so that they become crystallized into letters and words. When a person is hungry, for example, he initially feels a vague, nondescript sensation. This feeling, albeit universal, is impossible to convey to others and, in a certain sense, is impossible to even articulate to himself. The sensation then develops and takes the shape of letters, becoming formulated as words of thought. This formulation, no longer universal, becomes defined by the person's specific language. (It is noteworthy that a bilingual person who thinks in both languages can distinguish how the contents of his thought change according to the language in which he thinks them.) Though now confined to letters and words, this expression now possesses the potential to be moved along through the progression from will and desire through emotion and its articulation in thought and speech to external action and thus acquires the power to affect other people and things.

שֶׁהַנֶּפֶשׁ מְחַשֶּׁבֶת בַּדָּבָר שֶׁאוֹהֶבֶת, אוֹ אֵיךְ לִפְעוֹל הַחֶסֶד וְרַחֲמִים, וְכֵן בִּשְׁאָר מִדּוֹת.

for the soul contemplates that which it loves or how to actuate the kindness and compassion through deeds. The same is true with regard to the other attributes. Thought is a mutual garment donned by both brain and soul, enveloping various sensations, lending them definition and shape. This garment enables the development of emotions and even facilitates their progression into the practical realm of implementation, such as how to demonstrate kindness, compassion, and the other attributes. One type of thought may contemplate the very nature of love, while another form of thought considers the various avenues through which to express that love. A person may analyze in his mind the most appropriate way to relate to love and fear, hatred and compassion, or aggression and generosity. In their primary phase, then, the attributes constitute amorphous, generalized impulses of the will. Only through mental speculation do they take the specific, detailed shape that enables them to become manifest both internally and externally.

וּבְכָל מַחְשָׁבָה שֶׁבָּעוֹלָם מְלוּבֶּשֶׁת בָּהּ אֵיזוֹ מִדָּה הַמְּבִיאָה לַחְשׁוֹב מַחְשָׁבָה זוֹ, וּמִדָּה זוֹ הִיא חַיּוּתָהּ שֶׁל מַחְשָׁבָה זוֹ.

Within every thought in the world is clothed some emotive attribute that brings the soul to think that thought, and this attribute constitutes the life force of that thought. The attribute clothed within every thought fuels that thought with vitality. The thought manifests due to the presence of an emotion, an impetus that fuels it with the possibility and necessity of existence. A person only thinks about that which concerns him. His mind is drawn to that which attracts or offends him. Behind every thought is a motive, whether a person ruminates over an object of interest or over that which offers him escape. This primal impetus that provides the life force within a particular thought, which can extend over a lengthy period of time and assume varying forms, is always the expression of that rudimentary thrust – the attribute itself.

וּמֵאוֹתִיּוֹת הַמַּחְשָׁבָה נִמְשָׁכוֹת אוֹתִיּוֹת הַדִּבּוּר,

From the letters that comprise thought are derived the letters that comprise speech, The letters and words of speech become articulated from the letters and words that constitute thought. The letters of speech are the avenue through which the letters of thought find external expression. If the thought is the avenue for inner-directed expression, speech is the outer-directed expression of the soul. Speech formulates a connection between the speaker and his external reality, lending those outside him a glimpse into his inner world.

וְהֵן חַיּוּתָן מַמָּשׁ.

and the letters that comprise thought are literally their life force. The letters that constitute thought comprise the soul of the letters of speech. Whether the bond between them is immediate and intimate or slower and more distant, the letters of thought are necessarily the root and substructure of the letters that constitute speech.

וְהַדִּבּוּר מֵבִיא לִידֵי מַעֲשֶׂה,

Speech then engenders action, Since speech connects a person to his external environment, it is no longer exclusively his own, and it can thereby have a real impact on his environment and serve as a vehicle that facilitates action.

הַצְּדָקָה וָחֶסֶד, כְּגוֹן הַמֶּלֶךְ שֶׁמְּצַוֶּה לַעֲבָדָיו לִיתֵּן.

such as charity and acts of kindness – for instance, when a king commands his servants to give charity. This analogy provides an example of the progression from the phase of raw awareness to action. Awareness offers a depiction of a particular phenomenon to the soul and engenders interest. Upon this awareness are built the sensations and emotions of love and kindness. These emotions become clothed in thought, which then expresses itself as speech. Speech, given as a command in this case, directly triggers the act of giving, which is the outer expression of those initial sensations. Even when speech is less direct and does not take the form of a command, it is an outward expression of a person's inner experiences and ultimately engenders their fruition through action.

וְגַם כְּשֶׁהָאָדָם עוֹשֶׂה בְּעַצְמוֹ אֵיזֶה דָּבָר,

Even when a person performs some action himself, Whether a person acts of his own volition or instructs others is inconsequential. The point is that the process of issuing the command demonstrates the progression from initial awareness to action. It highlights all the phases of the chain of progression from the primary, initial awareness to the sensation it engenders and then to its expression in thought, speech, and, finally, action.

הֲרֵי כֹּחַ הַנֶּפֶשׁ וְחַיּוּתָהּ הַמִּתְלַבֵּשׁ בַּעֲשִׂיָּה זוֹ הוּא כְּאַיִן מַמָּשׁ לְגַבֵּי כֹּחַ הַנֶּפֶשׁ וְחַיּוּתָהּ הַמִּתְלַבֵּשׁ בְּדִבּוּר הָאָדָם,

the power of the soul and its life force that are concretized through that action are literally as nothing in comparison to the power of the soul and its life force that are concretized in the person's speech, The measure of soul power that is manifest within the physical deed is practically nothing compared to the soul's energy within speech. It is not that the action is less important; in fact, the opposite is usually true. However, within the faculty of speech, there is more immediate access to knowledge and awareness of the soul.

וּכְעֵרֶךְ וּמְשַׁל הַגּוּף לַנְּשָׁמָה.

which is comparable to the significance of the body in relation to the soul. Speech is compared to action like the soul to the body, in that the body serves as a vessel for the soul. Like every vessel, it lacks to a major degree the essential nature of that which is clothed within. The relationship between speech and action can also be likened to the relationship between an idea or plan and its practical implementation.

וְכֵן עֵרֶךְ אוֹתִיּוֹת הַדִּבּוּר לְאוֹתִיּוֹת הַמַּחֲשָׁבָה,

Likewise the significance of the letters that comprise speech in comparison to the letters that comprise thought, Speech – external expression – conveys a small fraction of the contents of inner-directed thought.

וְכֵן עֵרֶךְ אוֹתִיּוֹת הַמַּחְשָׁבָה לְמַהוּת הַמִּדָּה הַמְלוּבֶּשֶׁת בָּהּ וּמְחַיָּה אוֹתָהּ,

and likewise the significance of the letters that comprise thought in comparison to the essence of the emotive attribute that is clothed in the thought and sustains it, Thought is only one of the manifestations of a given attribute. An attribute that manifests as love, hate, or compassion in the form of thought contains only a negligible degree of the scope of the actual essence of the attribute to which it is giving definition.

וְכֵן עֵרֶךְ מַהוּת וְחַיּוּת הַמִּדָּה לְגַבֵּי הַחָכְמָה וּבִינָה וְדַעַת, שֶׁכְּלָלוּתָן הוּא הַשֵּׂכֶל שֶׁמִּמֶּנּוּ נִמְשְׁכָה מִדָּה זוֹ.

and likewise the significance of the essence and life force of the emotive attribute in comparison to the wisdom, understanding, and knowledge that together comprise the intellect from which this attribute was derived. Emotional sentiment expresses only a small facet of the entirety of the cognizant consciousness that is its core. In summation, the gap between wisdom, the origin of all consciousness, and action, the last and lowest expression of the soul, is immense.

וְכָל זֶה בְּנֶפֶשׁ הָאָדָם וְנֶפֶשׁ כָּל הַבְּרוּאִים שֶׁבְּכָל הָעוֹלָמוֹת עֶלְיוֹנִים וְתַחְתּוֹנִים, שֶׁבְּכוּלָּם הַחָכְמָה הִיא רֵאשִׁית וּמְקוֹר הַחַיּוּת.

All this pertains to the human soul and to the soul of all the creations in all the worlds, both higher and lower. In all of them, wisdom is the beginning and origin of the life force. Comprising the principal component of the intellect, wisdom functions as the life force for all the other dimensions and expressions of the soul. The intellect in turn gives life to the emotive attributes. The emotive attributes then activate the faculty of thought. Thought gives life to speech, and finally, speech empowers action. Wisdom is thus the primary force of all the human faculties, and there is no higher level (though from a different perspective, Keter, which represents will, is a higher level than even that). The faculty of wisdom, then, is the beginning and origin of our entire existence. In general, this chapter explored how the Divine is one with the