"And under the firmament their wings were straight, one toward the other. Each one had two which covered on this side, and each one had two which covered on that side, their bodies." "And under the firmament their wings were straight." Now the Malbim explains to us how the Chayot receive the flow (shefa) through the firmament from the world above. We explained that the wings hint at the soaring of a bird, hinting at elevation. Therefore the wings of the Chayot here are not drooped to the side like the wings of ordinary birds. The wings here are spread upward, because they hint at the fact that the Chayot spread their wings upward to receive the flow from the world above. They are in the world of Yetzirah, and they receive the flow from the world of Beriah. Since this is so, they spread their wings upward in order to receive the flow from the world of Beriah, from the world of the Throne, into their world, the world of Yetzirah. The pairs of wings, says the Malbim, why is this doubled? So one wing indicates receiving the flow from above, and the other indicates bringing the flow downward. The wings are essentially the channels for the transmission of the flow, both its reception and its transmission downward. Therefore he says that the wings were "one toward the other," that is, they were joined to one another. The bestower and the recipient, that is the receiver, face one another. Just as it was with the two Keruvim, when Israel did the will of the Omnipresent, it is written that their faces were toward one another. So too here the wings, one bestows, one receives, their faces toward one another, hinting at the fact that the bestowal is as it should be. "Each one had two which covered." "Each one had two which covered," says the Malbim, for this reason each one of them, "each one" (ish) meaning from the term "there is" (yesh), each one of the Chayot had two wings that covered the body. That is, the wings designated for covering were two, since the covering indicates concealment. We explained that the very fact that they cover themselves with their wings is an expression of concealment, that they are, as it were, hidden from us. And the Malbim explains the matter, since there were here two matters of apprehension. There is here an apprehension of how they receive the flow from the world of the Throne, from the world of Beriah, and how they bring it down below to the world of Yetzirah. So there was here the matter of covering the flow as it descends from above, and from the Chayot downward, right? To cover it among the recipients. Therefore two wings were needed. One wing that covers the descent of the flow, one wing that covers the flow and its transmission downward from the Chayot and below. So therefore there are here two coverings with two kinds of wings, each one concealing a different matter, and therefore the paired matter, that there are two, was needed here as well. "And I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of many waters, like the voice of Shaddai, as they went, the sound of tumult like the sound of a camp; when they stood still, they let down their wings." The Radak explains "like the voice of Shaddai" means strong and mighty. And likewise "and destruction (shod) shall come from Shaddai," and "Shaddai in your fortress," that the intent is power, the intent is strength. Another possibility, taken plainly, Shaddai, that they are speaking here of the Name of Hashem. So he said as well in the third vision, "like the sound of the voice of Shaddai when He speaks." What is "when He speaks"? Like the voice that Hashem spoke at Har Sinai. That is "the voice of Shaddai when He speaks," for there too it is written "a great voice." And there too we will see that it is written that it was heard as far as the outer courtyard, which is the boundaries of the House. So too it was at Har Sinai, where it is written that there was a great voice and it was not heard outside the camp of Israel. Rather, the power of the voice could cease at a certain point. That is the aspect of "the voice of Shaddai." So this was also in the third vision that will appear later, that it was heard as far as the outer courtyard, ceased and did not continue further, and so too it was with the voice of Hashem, it reached the camp of Israel and ceased and was heard only by the one to whom the voice was directed, whoever needed to receive it received it.
Beyond that, from there on, one would not hear. So too with Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu would receive the voice from Hashem, and everyone around, this is a strong voice, and everyone around would hear nothing. That is to say, the voice of Shaddai, its characteristics, says the Radak, is that it reaches a certain point and stops. Besides this, it is written here for us, "the sound of tumult like the sound of a camp." "Like the voice of Shaddai as they went, the sound of tumult, the sound of a camp." What is "the sound of tumult" (hamulah)? Says the Radak, that the intent is like a word (milah), only that many people speaking a word, there is a tumult. From here the expression hamulah, right? This is apparently also connected to the term hemyah (roaring). Just as hemyah is a term for the noise of a crowd speaking and stirring, right? "A sound of stirring in the camp." So it could be a combination of two words, the stirring (hemyah) of a word (milah), so that is "the sound of tumult" (hamulah). Many speaking, that is "the sound of tumult."
The Malbim explains, "and I heard the sound of their wings," now he tells how he hears their command, whose? Of the Chayot, which as we explained receive the flow from the Throne, from the world above them, which is the world of Beriah. The Chayot are in the world of Yetzirah, they bring it down to the world of the Ophanim. The world of the Ophanim is the world of Asiyah. How do they command the world of the Ophanim? The intent is, how do they bestow downward. Says the Malbim, they do not move the Ophanim by the meeting of matter with matter, or by an attracting force or a repelling force, as the astronomers investigate. Let us explain. The "astronomers" (tokhnim) are people of astronomy, astronomy meaning people who investigate the heavenly bodies. They tried to understand how the operation of the heavenly bodies works. And there were those who wanted to say, the meeting of matter with matter. The Chayot move the spheres through the meeting of matter with matter, like, if you will, like turning pedals. This is called the meeting of matter with matter, meaning one physical thing meeting another physical thing. Like two gears that turn one another, so the Chayot turn the spheres. The Malbim says, certainly this is not correct. Or by an attracting force or a repelling force. An attracting force is gravity, meaning the force of attraction. The force of attraction, or the force of repulsion, a magnet when reversed is a repelling force, right? So through a repelling force, through this, and by this force the operation of the spheres by the force of the Chayot. Says the Malbim, this too is not correct. Rather, by what force do the Chayot move the spheres of the Ophanim, meaning the heavenly bodies? Says the Malbim, only by voice and an intellectual and spiritual appointment. The intent is by command. By an intellectual and spiritual order.
And now he will explain that Yechezkel apprehended three things in this matter. First, there is the reality when they fly with their wings. For we explained that the wings hint at conduct above nature. This is conduct of flight, conduct that is more connected to spirituality, wondrous conduct, according to the will of God, above the nature of the system. Says the Malbim, when he hears the sound of wings that soar upward above the order of the system, he hears the voice and the command resembling the voice of Shaddai. For then in essence the command goes forth from Hashem, Hashem is the one who overrides the systems of nature. By His voice the Holy One Blessed Be He overturns the orders and does not act according to ordinary and existing nature. Therefore He is called Shaddai, Shaddai for He said to His world "enough" (dai). That is, there is the conduct of nature, and the world, the universe was expanding, and the sea was expanding, and the one who stopped it, Hashem by His command stopped it. That is to say, there is here a command that also stops nature. So even though by nature it was supposed to continue and expand, Hashem said to it "enough." And this matter also resembles "the sound of many waters." So too it was at the time of Creation, "the spirit of God hovered over the waters," for the orders of the system did not yet exist, so only the voice of Hashem was heard then over the many waters. So too we are speaking here of the conduct that is the divine conduct, the voice of Hashem alone without any other influences, without conduct of nature, as before all the forces of nature were created. This is one conduct. The conduct of the flight of the wings, "the sound of their wings like the sound of many waters, like the voice of Shaddai."
"As they went, the sound of tumult like the sound of a camp." Now he speaks of an additional reality, when the Chayot are not flying. Flying, we said, is conduct of the wings above nature. Walking, we said, is earthly conduct. They walk and tread on the earth, as it were. So this expresses the earthly conduct, and then they conduct the world according to the order of the system, according to the orders of nature, according to the laws of nature. And then he says, and I heard, as it were, the voice as they went. Therefore he says "as they went," there is a zakef katan, this is a pause. I heard "the sound of tumult like the sound of a camp." "The sound of tumult" means the sound of speech "like the sound of a camp." What is a camp? Says the Malbim, the expression "camp" always comes when one wants to express order. The camp always marches in order. We see that Israel had camps upon camps, banners upon banners. This comes to express order at the time of travel, "each man by his camp and each man by his banner." And then the orders of the system operate in an orderly fashion, in fixed conduct. These are the laws of nature. Not according to the momentary will of Hashem, but according to the more constant will of the Master of the World, as the Chazon Ish says. And the tumult and the speech are according to the sound of the camp, that is according to the orders of the system. As is fitting according to the orders of the system, so the Chayot utter and conduct, as we said, by speech, the Ophanim. So we saw one conduct above the orders of the system, that is the wings, that is supernatural conduct. And there is the natural conduct, which is the walking, which is conduct according to the constant system of nature. Says the Malbim, the "voice" (kol) is a simple sound. In contrast, "tumult" (hamulah) is much speech and many words, as we saw the Radak mentioned. And then he explains, that in the first reality they hear only one voice. Only the voice of Hashem. This is the voice of Providence, this is from Him, may He be blessed. In contrast, in the second possibility, which we said is natural conduct according to the orders of the system, many voices are heard. And why? Because the orders of the system, the laws of nature, are many. The forces operating in nature are many. When the Holy One Blessed Be He acts by Himself and by His will, then only one voice is heard. Therefore at the beginning, "and I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of many waters, like the voice of Shaddai." One voice, only voice (kol) is mentioned. That is it, not voices. But in contrast, "as they went," which is the natural conduct, which is walking with the feet on the earth, here there is "the sound of tumult like the sound of a camp." Here there are many voices heard according to the forces that conduct nature, the forces of nature that conduct it.
The third reality, "when they stood still, they let down their wings." "When they stood still," the Malbim explains earlier, in verses 19 and 21, that when the stars travel from west to east, there are found stoppings and delays in their path. Explains the Malbim, sometimes there is a reality that the stars seem to stand still. They appear, as it were, to rest from their motion, and he brought us proofs for this as well from the words of Chazal. Says the Malbim, the investigators attribute this matter to the force of attraction of the other stars that they meet on their path, which halt their course. Caused by the force of attraction of the sun. Let me explain. We explained this then as well, that essentially by nature, the larger a heavenly body is, then naturally its gravitational force is greater. Its magnetism is greater. And then what this causes, is that the moment another heavenly body passes near it, another star, it can cause it to deviate from its orbit. And the reason is, even though that star, for the sake of the matter, makes some fixed circular motion, but it can happen suddenly that it is drawn in a certain direction, if it came close to another star, and the other star exerts magnetism upon it, then it is drawn to it. And this is essentially what the Malbim explains here, that the investigators attributed this to the force of attraction of the other stars. The intent is to the gravitational force of the other stars, that same magnetic force that causes this star to deviate slightly from its orbit, and then it halts it from its course. It cannot run at the same speed because it slows it down slightly. And then it appears as if it stands still. And the prophet says, know that this too comes about through the Chayot, through the will of Hashem. Not only supernatural conduct of angels, as we explained regarding the wings, which is influence above nature. And not only the natural conduct, which is "as they went," which is the feet, which is conduct according to nature. But even the conduct that we, as it were, see, "they let down their wings," the wings of the Chayot that receive the power from the world of the Throne slacken and weaken, and their hands become weak from turning, as it were, the spheres, you suddenly see that there is as if some stopping in the turning of the spheres, he says, know that this matter stems from the fact that from above this is the instruction that they received. Since they move the Ophan only by the power that they receive from the firmament, which is the world of Beriah that is above the head of the Chayot, and this is through the wings that are spread straight, and by the fact that now "when they stood still, they let down their wings," so if you see that "when they stood still," you see the heavenly bodies as standing still, the reason is that "they let down their wings." The wings are not receiving the flow from above with full power. They are as if slackened. Ah, if there is not the full power of the wings' reception of the flow, how will they bring it down below? And if they cannot bring it down below, then you see a reality of "they let down," this matter causes "when they stood still." If "they let down their wings," then "when they stood still." So the stars, as it were, seem to stand still in their orbits and appear as if they are not revolving.
"And there was a voice from above the firmament that was over their heads; when they stood still, they let down their wings." "And there was a voice from above the firmament," Rashi explains, essentially he brings the language of the Targum, "and at the time when there was favor before Him to let the word be heard to His servants, the prophets of Israel," when there is a will before the Creator to let a voice of speech be heard to the prophets of Israel, to speak with them, "there was a voice heard from above the firmament," so there is a voice heard from above the firmament, from among the Keruvim, from under the firmament that was over their heads, "in their standing their wings were silenced before the word." That is, when they stand, their wings are silenced on account of the speech. And this is "they let down their wings." Why did "they let down their wings"? Rashi explains, because now the divine speech is heard. When the divine speech is heard, the wings, which had power, as it were, become weakened by the force of the voice of Hashem in the speech. Let us continue with the Malbim. Says the Malbim, after he explained to us three matters of conduct, how the Chayot conduct the Ophanim, now he explains to us that there is yet a fourth matter, when the Holy One Blessed Be He conducts the world Himself, not by means of the Chayot. "Hashem has established His throne in the heavens," Hashem gives forth the voice of His word upon the heavens and the Ophanim. All that we explained earlier, that is that Hashem bestows, that is "the voice of Shaddai," that is the first possibility, Hashem bestows but the flow descends in a chain of gradations. From the world of the Throne to the Chayot and from there to the Ophanim. Only Hashem, but through the Chayot. Now we will speak of only Hashem by Himself. Without influence through the Chayot. And then says the Malbim, the Chayot have no power to do anything, since then the Holy One Blessed Be He acts through the Serafim in the world of the Throne, as Yeshaya saw, not through the world beneath it, the world of Yetzirah, as it was at the time of the exodus from Egypt, as it was in the generation of the wilderness. And this is an aspect like "it arose in His will." This arose in His will, not through a way that is one of the ways of conduct. And in fact we have already mentioned this several times, that this is what the Ramchal defines as the Conduct of Unity (hanhagat hayichud). There is the Conduct of Judgment and there is the Conduct of Unity. The Conduct of Judgment is constant conduct, "a king by justice establishes a land." In order to merit, in order to receive, one needs to be worthy and fitting, and then you receive by law and by justice. There is accusation, Hashem takes the accuser into account, and then, God forbid, there is punishment and strictness. There is a conduct that is above nature, it is the Conduct of Unity. The Conduct of Unity is the aspect of "there is none besides Him." The Holy One Blessed Be He conducts the world without relating at all to the accusers and to the Sitra Achra and to the kelipot and all those forces that essentially demand to render judgment, to render justice; the Holy One Blessed Be He does not relate to them at all. This is a conduct that is, we will define it as one-time, it is not a constant conduct, but it occurred on several occasions. So one occasion was at the time of the exodus from Egypt and in the generation of the wilderness. As the sea argued, "these are idol worshippers and these are idol worshippers," they did not take its argument into account. For in the Conduct of Unity, that Hashem is God and there is none besides Him, then even those conducts that are conducts of nature, that are the conduct of the orders of the heavenly bodies and so on, which bestow the flow according to what is fitting for each one, all of it is nullified. The Holy One Blessed Be He gives and bestows without taking any of this into account at all. So too it will be in the future to come, in the future redemption, the Holy One Blessed Be He will redeem us according to that which arises in His will, in the Conduct of Unity, without taking into account all the rules of the conduct of creation. And this is what he says, this is the conduct we are speaking of here. The Holy One Blessed Be He acts through the Serafim in the world of the Throne. What of the world of Yetzirah beneath it? It is, as it were, bypassed. The Holy One Blessed Be He does not act through it at all. And this is what Yeshaya saw, "Serafim standing above Him," and he saw the influences that go forth from them directly. And this is what is written, "and there was a voice from above the firmament that was over their heads." When the voice goes forth, note, not from the Chayot, but from above, from above the firmament, from the Throne, or from the supernal Atzilut, and then in such a state "when they stood still, they let down their wings." The wings of the Chayot are slackened. They do not act at all. The flow does not pass through them at all. Therefore "they let down their wings." The wings are slackened, they cease from acting, they do not receive the flow, for we said the wings are the channels for receiving the flow and transmitting it downward. Therefore we said they have two wings, they have two wings, one wing that receives and one that bestows. But "when they stood still," when the conduct is a conduct, as we said, of the aspect of the world of Beriah or Atzilut, "they let down their wings," they do not act at all.
"And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, like the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness like the appearance of a man upon it above." Says the Malbim, after he apprehended the firmament, which is essentially the curtain, the screen, the divider, this is the "parsa" as we spoke of, that divides between the world of the Throne, which is the world of Beriah, and the world of the Chayot, which is the world of Yetzirah, there is a curtain that divides. And he now looks at the world of the Throne that is above the firmament, there in the world of the Throne he apprehends "like the appearance of a sapphire stone, the likeness of a throne." He sees a likeness of a throne like the appearance of a sapphire stone. It is not really a throne, but a likeness of a throne, a resemblance of a throne, so it appeared to him in his vision. Says the Malbim, he sees the likeness of the throne that is, as it were, special to the King in the Conduct of Judgment, since the throne hints at judgment, that the King sits on a throne of judgment. Hashem, as it were, conducts the world and this is the conduct of the Throne. From there goes forth the Conduct of Judgment of Hashem, and this conduct comes by the power of the Throne, the throne is made of sapphire stone. Says the Malbim, sapphire stone is clear in appearance like a mirror (aspaklaria). Like a mirror. This is the aspect of sapphire stone. Like the mirrors of the assembling women in which the images standing before it appear. Like a mirror. So too says the Malbim, the matters of divinity in the world of the Sefirot that are above were reflected in returning light in the polished and sapphire-like mirror of the Throne. That is, everything that is here below, as if reflected upon the Throne, and soon the matters will become clearer. Says the Malbim, when he looks in the mirror or in the vision, he sees that upon the likeness of the throne is like the appearance of a man above. "A likeness of a throne, and upon the likeness of the throne a likeness like the appearance of a man upon it above." Like a man who looks in a mirror and sees the sun, he does not see the body of the sun. What does he see? Its reflection in the mirror. So too here, he does not see the body of the man, he sees a reflection of a man in the mirror. Upon the throne he sees a reflection of a man. What is the meaning of the matter? Says the Malbim, for we know, and the Sephardim certainly are familiar with this and we have spoken of it endless times, from the matter of Pesach Eliyahu, that essentially the array of the Sefirot, "in the image of God He made man," its meaning is in the image and likeness of the array of the Sefirot, that the head is essentially the mochin, Keter Chochmah Binah, afterward Chesed the right arm, Gevurah the left arm, Tiferet the body. We understand that the likeness of a man is "from my flesh I behold God," since in the supernal reality too there is like a likeness of a man. It is forbidden to imagine or to depict, but in a spiritual concept there is an aspect of a man, and this is the aspect of the array of the Sefirot. And this is what he now sees as reflected from the Throne. And this is what Chazal say, that the prophets in the greatness of their power compared the form to its Former. That is, the aspect of the man which is the form, is the aspect of the Former, which is, as we said, the aspect of the man that appears likened there above. Says the Malbim, a bit of it I hinted at in the pamphlet "HeCharash VehaMasger," printed at the end of Sefer Shir HaNefesh. We already learned this here, we learned it, it is the commentary of the Malbim by way of Kabbalah at the end of Shir HaShirim. Just as we learned the commentary of the Malbim according to the plain meaning, he brought at the end of Shir HaShirim a further explanation by way of Kabbalah, and we learned his commentary there, it is called the pamphlet "HeCharash VehaMasger." How Hashem arranged and ordered the connections of the conduct of reality and the great man, related and arranged in relation to the small man. Man is called a small world, since man is like a reflection of a reflection of the great man. What is the great man? That is the array of the Sefirot. That the array of the Sefirot, as we say, is in the likeness of a man, their order is like the order of a man, so too this reality there, emanated from the head cornerstone above the world of the Throne, the root of his soul above "with the King in His work they dwelt." So as we explained according to the Pesach Eliyahu, that there is here a resemblance between the reality of man here below and the structure of his body, and "in the image of God He made man." He says, with all this, note, this is "a likeness like the appearance of a man." It is only a resemblance. That is, there is here only a reality to satisfy the ear in order to understand the matters according to our perception, but do not think that he saw literally a likeness of a man, but only like the appearance of a man, until the imaginative faculty, says the Malbim, which is essentially the power of imagination, was inscribed in him in a depiction of a man, in the form of a man. And then through this Hashem, as it were, conducts the great chariot, which is the likeness of the man above, an aspect of the Sefirot that bestow from the aspect of Atzilut down below. And from this aspect Yechezkel sees Hashem, as it were, riding in the heavens on the chariot, as it were conducting like one riding upon a chariot as we explained, and this is the parable to man whose soul rides upon the body. Hashem, what is on the likeness of the throne? On the likeness of the throne there is, as we said, a likeness of a man. The matter comes to hint that man too has within him a soul that rides and sits upon the body, that the body too is an aspect corresponding to the ten Sefirot, Chesed the right arm and so on. And since we are speaking here of the supernal spiritual reality, it symbolizes all the ways of conduct of the lower physical reality.
"And I saw like the color of chashmal, like the appearance of fire enclosing it round about; from the appearance of His loins and upward, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw like the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about." Rashi says, "and I saw like the color of chashmal," permission was not granted to contemplate this scripture. Says Rashi, there is no permission to contemplate this, and we already saw citations regarding those who contemplated the chashmal and the harm that befell them as a result of the matter. The Malbim brings what the Abarbanel explains, and says the Malbim, Heaven forbid to listen to the view of the Abarbanel, that the chashmal indicates the First Cause. The Abarbanel explained, "and I saw like the color of chashmal," that here he, as it were, saw Hashem. That is what is called the First Cause. Says the Malbim, Heaven forbid to listen and to heed this explanation. First, this is against Chazal. For Chazal said "chashmal" - "living creatures of fire that speak" (chayot esh memalelot). So you see that they are speaking here of the Chayot, they are not speaking here of the Holy One Blessed Be He in His essence. Or "chashmal" - "silent that speak" (chashot memalelot), Chazal say sometimes they are silent, sometimes they speak. But certainly they are not speaking of the Holy One Blessed Be He, they are speaking here of the Chayot. And this is against the verse that says "and from within it like the color of the chashmal." The chashmal is the Chayot, who are the camp of the Shechinah, and there we see "a still small voice," which is the chashmal, from the term "chash," silence, and they receive the flow from above and bestow it to the Chayot who are the movers of the Ophanim. And now says the Malbim, now he sees an appearance of chashmal. What is the meaning of the matter? "From the appearance of His loins and upward." Says the Malbim, from the appearance of His loins and upward he does not see the chashmal itself. Be precise in the language of the verse, "and I saw like the color of chashmal, like the appearance of fire enclosing it round about, from the appearance of His loins and upward." The upper part is only like the appearance of chashmal. He did not see actual chashmal. Only "enclosing it round about," appearing like the appearance of fire. This is not so from the appearance of His loins and downward, where he sees like the appearance of fire and brightness round about it. It is implied from this that there he sees the body of the chashmal. For he did not mention "an enclosure round about." He does not say I see it only around, from the loins downward. It is also implied, says the Malbim, that at first he apprehended from the appearance of His loins and upward, this is at the beginning of the verse, "and I saw like the color of chashmal, like the appearance of fire enclosing it round about," this is from the appearance of His loins and upward. "And from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw like the appearance of fire and brightness round about it," without "an enclosure round about it." So first of all, that is to say that here he already apprehended the chashmal not "like" but actual chashmal. And second, it is implied that the lower part he apprehended second. The upper part he apprehended first, this is from the appearance of His loins and upward, and only at the end does he write about from the appearance of His loins and downward. Says the Malbim, this is not understood, since this is the reverse of the order. Always the order in apprehension is that one apprehends from below to above. For we have no apprehension in supernal matters. How can we apprehend? We apprehend from the lower part and it ascends until one apprehends upward. Asks the Malbim, if so, how here did he apprehend from the more hidden to the less hidden? He apprehended from the supernal reality to the less supernal reality, from the upper part afterward to the appearance of His loins and downward? Says the Malbim, note, there is later, we will see in chapter 8, there we will see that there he expresses the opposite. "And I saw, and behold a likeness like the appearance of fire, from the appearance of His loins and downward fire, and from His loins and upward like the appearance of brightness, like the color of the chashmal." There you see that he began from below to above. What he apprehended from below, afterward what he apprehends from above. Says the Malbim, what is the difference? He explains that here in this vision he still does not apprehend all the innerness of the matter of the chashmal, but only he apprehends from the appearance of His loins and downward. From the appearance of His loins and upward he apprehends "an enclosure round about it." He does not apprehend the essence of the chashmal. "Like the color of chashmal, like the appearance of fire enclosing it round about." Only what is around it, not its essence. But from the appearance of His loins and downward he sees like the appearance of fire, here he apprehends the chashmal, the lower part, he apprehends it more clearly, without garment. Therefore here he arranges the vision for us, note, from above to below. And why? Since the garment is easier to apprehend than the innerness. Below he apprehended the innerness, but above it is high, he could not apprehend the innerness, he apprehended only the garment. Therefore he begins from above to below, since the upper part is relatively easier because he apprehended only the garment, and "an enclosure to it," this is only an enclosure, external to it. Whereas below, it is not written "an enclosure to it" but "like the appearance of fire and brightness round about it," he apprehends the chashmal in its essence. Says the Malbim, in contrast, in the second vision, note there, he already apprehends the upper part, the innerness of the chashmal also above. This is later in chapter 8, where he says that he begins the order from below to above, not like here from above to below. Since there he reached in the upper part already the chashmal itself. That is, he reached the innerness. Here he was still at the beginning, what is "at the beginning"? Relatively, he was at the beginning of his path. There he was later in his path. Since this is so, at the beginning of his path he apprehended the chashmal only from His loins and downward, above it was only garment. Later he apprehends also the above, and since this is so, there the matter of the chashmal is mentioned, apprehended from below to above, according to the order of apprehension. And therefore he says, there it is written that from the appearance of His loins and upward it was like the appearance of brightness and not fire. For from His loins and upward, the Malbim explains, this is the flow that he receives from the world of the Throne, from above. There he receives like the appearance of brightness. Why? Fire is an aspect of burning. This is an aspect of harm. But from above there is no burning fire. From above everything is pure kindnesses, above there is no aspect of harm, there is no aspect of judgments. Therefore what does he apprehend? He apprehends brightness. He does not apprehend an aspect of fire. But from the appearance of His loins and downward, this is the flow that descends to the lower ones, as we spoke several times that in Binah there are no judgments. Judgments are aroused from it, but there are no judgments. When Binah brings down to Gevurah, here it already materializes as judgments. But in Binah itself, we explained several times, that this is to sweeten the gevurot at their root, meaning to return them to their source, to Binah, that in Binah there it is mochin. In the mochin there everything is holiness and there are no judgments at all. Therefore note, regarding the upper part he does not speak at all of burning fire. There he speaks of brightness. But when it descends below and bestows downward, here it already becomes an aspect of burning fire, and this is the matter of apprehension in the attribute of judgment, and he sees the aspect of burning that goes forth from the Chayot to the Ophanim in order to burn the House of Hashem, and this is what we explained, that this vision was in the appearance of the chariot as we opened at the beginning of the chapter, that he sees here an aspect of that fire and brightness that burns descending below and burns the Beit HaMikdash. He sees, as it were, from where this comes, and as Chazal say, that he saw the Keruv with the coals that he takes in his hand to throw upon Yerushalayim. This is this aspect of that fire that he perceives descending from above. Says the Malbim, note here, here he does not apprehend the innerness of the flow that descends from above. Here what did we say he apprehends? In the upper part he apprehends only the garment, only "an enclosure round about," only the external part. Therefore what does he tell us here about the external part? "Like the color of chashmal, like the appearance of fire enclosing it round about." For earlier we said that in chapter 8 he speaks of the upper part as brightness. For in the upper part there is no fire, no judgments. Why here does he speak of the upper part as fire? Says the Malbim, because in truth he did not apprehend it in its fullness. He apprehended only the externality. Since he apprehended the externality, then it appeared to him, as it were, like the appearance of fire that is ready to burn. And also from the appearance of His loins and downward, he apprehends that there is brightness round about it. What is the meaning of "brightness round about it"? Brightness (nogah), for we know that this is a kelipah that is composed of good and evil, of mercies and judgments. And what is essentially shown to him, even though it appears to you as an aspect of fire, know that this is brightness. Brightness, we said, is light that shines from afar, you see the moon, sometimes it has a brightness, like a halo. That is, it does not burn, but know that the ultimate purpose of the matter, one cannot say it does not burn, but the ultimate purpose of the burning is mercy. That is to say, even if it burns, know that its ultimate purpose is mercy. Its purpose is to illuminate and to have mercy, this is the purpose of judgment. This is the aspect that we always say that there is no evil in the world at all, but even if there is something that appears to us as evil and as burning fire, know that it is an aspect of brightness. The idea of the matter is to do good and to have mercy. Says the Malbim, it is known that in the world of Yetzirah there is found the aspect of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. Therefore says the Malbim, he apprehends from His loins and downward fire, but brightness round about it. That is to say, fire, what is fire? We said fire is judgment, fire is evil, fire burns. But what does he see around it? He sees brightness. What does the brightness say, we said? It is for a good purpose. The brightness is not an aspect of burning, it is to illuminate. It tells you, even though you see fire within, but the goal is for a good purpose. But in contrast, from the appearance of His loins and upward, there he sees that everything is an aspect of brightness. And brightness we explained is all good, this is the aspect of Binah, there in the supernal worlds it is only positive influences. Says the Malbim, understand now why the heretics and the sectarians erred in this. Chazal say that the sectarians would say, from the middle and downward is Hormin or Hormiz, right? They held that there are two conducts. And there are, as it were, two powers. And why? Since as we explained now, the conduct of the Holy One Blessed Be He is infinite kindnesses. And in contrast, when it descends below, it can come in a way of judgments, but these are judgments whose purpose is kindness. These are judgments whose purpose is good. And he tells you, in this they erred. Since they held that from the middle and downward is Hormin, from the middle and upward is Hormiz, from the middle and upward Hormin, or reversed, that is to say there are two powers. Therefore Chazal warned not to expound on the chashmal. There was an incident with a child who understood the chashmal, and the Gemara says that a child who was not of the way of the world. That is, what is to expound on the chashmal? They reached this point, and this point is to understand that there is a conduct that is an aspect of complete kindnesses, and from it goes forth and spreads an aspect of judgments, and to understand that this is the same conduct. To understand that this is not two separate conducts. In this matter the nations denied, and since this is so, they also determined that man was created by the power of two deities. That is, the upper part is not the one that created the lower part. For the upper part is exalted. There is the heart, there are the lungs, there is the intellect, there is thought. The lower part is the intestines, this is the stomach, this is excretions, this is a lowly part. Therefore they said that the upper part was created by a certain power, and the lower part by another power, this by a god, this by a demon, or any other explanation they had in this matter. And the source of these matters is, as it were, in the division of the conduct in the supernal worlds. Says the Malbim, this too was the reason that Acher cut down the plantings. And why? In its essence, Chazal say he erred, he saw Metatron sitting on the throne of Hashem. What is the meaning of the matter? Metatron is an angel, his full name is Metatron. Only it is not read together because one does not mention names of angels. But there it is brought that he saw him sitting on a throne in the world of Yetzirah. And the tet and the tet, says the Malbim, come to hint at the good that is in the Tree of Knowledge. It is known that always the first letter that begins a word in the Torah expresses the meaning of that letter. The first place that the letter tet is mentioned in the Torah, which word? "Good" (tov). Fine. What this says, is that the letter tet expresses good. So note how wondrous, Metatron is twice tet. This is good within good. But which letters are there if I remove the two tets from Metatron? Says the Malbim, if you clean the two tets from the name of the angel, you get "pomegranate" (rimon). And this is essentially an aspect of kelipah, an aspect of evil. Rabbi Meir went and learned Torah from whom? From Acher. And Acher, where did he err? Acher erred in this matter of the tet. He saw Metatron sitting on a throne. They ask you, how does Rabbi Meir go and learn Torah from him? Rabbi Meir found a pomegranate, its inside he ate, its peel he threw away. The meaning of the matter, Rabbi Meir received the aspect of good, and he did not err in that same error that Acher erred in, who thought that there are two conducts, and thought that here in this conduct, as it were, an angel sits on the throne of Hashem. He saw, as it were, an additional power of conduct. He threw away the pomegranate, what remained for him? The tet and the tet. And the tet and the tet is the aspect of the good. And this is what Chazal say, that in the Torah of Rabbi Meir it is found written "garments of light" (or). What is "garments of light"? It is not written "skin" (or). And why? Again, for skin is a covering, skin is a kelipah, skin is a coating. He cleaned the peel. Its peel he threw away. Rabbi Meir removed the peel, ate only its inside and its innerness, only the good within it. Therefore he also rectified his teacher, whom he brought out from his grave, for he brought him to rectification, by the fact that its inside he ate, so he rectified that aspect, and consequently through this he was able to bring his teacher out from the grave and to bring him to his rectification. Although not a complete rectification, he did not bring him to Gan Eden, but at any rate, this too was already the beginning of a process.
"Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on a day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Hashem; and I saw and fell upon my face, and I heard a voice speaking." "And I heard a voice speaking." While I fell upon my face, I hear a voice speaking to me, and this was the angel that spoke with him. Chazal say that Israel at the giving of the Torah saw the chariot that Yechezkel saw. To the point that Chazal already told us that the least of the women was like Yechezkel ben Buzi. What does this mean? That since that same apprehension that Yechezkel now apprehended in the vision of the chariot, was then seen by the least of the women, since the Holy One Blessed Be He opened for them seven firmaments above and seven chambers below, and showed them that there is none besides Him. And this too is the explanation of why they made the calf. Why did they make a calf? Since they saw the face of the ox from the left, as the Ramban mentions there. And since the face of the ox is the aspect of judgments, and it is from the left, and since we are in the wilderness, and the wilderness is a place of judgments, so consequently we draw our conduct from where? From the face of the ox. Therefore they made themselves a calf in order to draw those forces, in order to draw influence from the face of the ox in the holy chariot, that from it and from its power we would be influenced. Chazal say as well, these faces of the chariot were in the four banners. It is written "and the banner of Yehudah, the face of a lion." This corresponds to the face of the lion that we saw in the chariot. "A lion's cub is Yehudah." The banner of Reuven was the face of a man, for regarding Reuven it is written "and he found mandrakes in the field," and it is known that this root of the mandrakes has the likeness of a man. In the banner of Ephraim they had the face of an ox, as we explained now, and this is interesting since in Ephraim and Menasheh they also made themselves calves, and this too was drawn to them from the face of the ox, and regarding him it is said "the firstling of his ox, majesty is his." And in the banner of Dan the face of an eagle, "let Dan be a serpent upon the way," and it is said "a viper and a flying serpent," we see that an aspect of flight, there are serpents that fly. What have you learned? That all this aspect, as we explained now, was also the aspect of the tribes and their division into camps and banners. Says the Malbim, "like the appearance of the bow." Now this is essentially the verse that concludes this prophecy, the prophecy of Yechezkel about the workings of the chariot. He says, know that the brightness that he saw, this was an aspect of returning light from the supernal light, or the hidden that reflects upon the chariot. And it appeared like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on a day of rain. The meaning of the matter, just as sometimes you see an aspect of one light and it divides into many colors, for behold, contemplate what happens in the bow in the cloud, this is exactly what happens there. There is one light, the sun shines, and behold the matter divides into seven colors. So too this light, that same special light, supernal light, when it breaks through into the conduct of the lower ones, it divides into seven colors. What is seven colors? The seven lower ones, right? Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, Malchut. This is the reflection of the supernal light divided into seven. And why not into ten? We already explained, for the conduct of the lower world is only from the seven lower Sefirot. Not from the mochin, from Keter, Chochmah, and Binah. Therefore he connects this specifically to the cloud, for the cloud is seven kinds of lights that bestow here downward. Says the Malbim, and just as the light of the bow has no existence in the cloud, it is only an impression upon the cloud, by the fact that the light of the sun is caught in the clouds, returns backward and appears like a colorful appearance of a bow, but no one has yet succeeded in grasping the bow, or sliding on it, or whatever you wish. Perhaps to photograph, yes. But essentially it has no grasp in reality. So too know, that when the supernal light reflects upon the Chayot, that the Chayot are an aspect of thickness and cloud in relation to the supernal light, for the supernal light is clear and pure. The cloud is characteristic of a screen, it is characteristic of thickness, it is a blockage. So the lower world is certainly a thick world and darkens the influence of the light that bestows from the supernal worlds. So too, when the light goes and bestows, it materializes downward. Like light that you receive through clouds. The light weakens. The sun no longer shines with the same power, and sometimes it can be dark in the middle of the day, depending on how thick the cloud is. So too the light that bestows, the light of Hashem, is like bestowing through the world of the Chayot, it is like bestowing through the thickness of the cloud, and this matter causes the light not to shine according to its power at its source. Says the Malbim, and just as the vision of the bow would not be if the light were to pass without obstruction, we have the possibility of a bow only when there is a cloud. That is to say, although the cloud, we said, obstructs, but if there were no cloud there would be no vision of the bow. He says the same thing also about the divine word of Hashem, had we not been somewhat materialized, we would not have been able to receive it. We can receive it only through the fact that a person has that same aspect of a cloud, the cloud creates some barrier, and then I can receive it. Like if we want to give an example, if I want to look at the sun, I cannot receive it. But if I take, I don't know, special glass like that of welders, I can look at the sun itself, and nothing happens to me. That is to say, you understand that the cloud, the screen, enables me to receive the light of the sun. Directly I cannot receive it. So too here, the prophet in the aspect of thickness and in the aspect of materialization, this is what enables him to receive the word of Hashem, for without this he could not receive, had it not been for that screen it could not be received, and this is exactly like the cloud. Had it not been for the cloud, nothing would be discernible in the light of the sun. Where is the light of the sun discernible as a bow? Specifically since there is a cloud, through this the matter is spread into seven colors. Says the Malbim, and this is essentially the definition of brightness. What is brightness? Brightness we explained is not the essential light, it is like the moon has a brightness round about it, it is the returning light. "The appearance of the brightness round about, this was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Hashem," for it is not the essence of the appearance in its essence, but only an appearance of a likeness, the imagination depicts it thus, and through this, says the Malbim, Yechezkel saw it, "and he fell upon his face," the senses and the faculties were nullified, the power of imagination remained secluded to behold and to influence upon the intellectual faculty, that from this aspect the prophets saw visions and imaginings, as he wrote in the Moreh Nevuchim, and then I hear a voice speaking, the prophetic speech reached me.