Avodat HaKodesh (Ibn Gabbai)
- _.2.10.4
And the intention of this request is that, out of the great desire and will to know his Creator and contemplate the supernal things that depend upon them, the petitioner is requesting knowledge, understanding, and intelligence from before Him, as they are the key for unification with God, in His great glory. This is the goal of service; with it, he shows his love and his clinging to Him, and that he does not want to separate from Him, but rather to know Him. And true knowledge is unification.
- _.2.10.5
The prophet Jeremiah, peace be upon him, said, But let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the Lord (Jeremiah 9:23). He said that true glory for a person is from the angle of unification. And that is his saying, he understands and knows Me, meaning that through proper intellect, which is the foundation of the Life of the worlds, I am brought close to the secret of the Lord, to knowledge. And that is the unification of the Bride with Her Beloved. For I am the Lord who does kindness, justice, and righteousness, [being] the unification of the three forefathers with the land, the land of the living. And behold, the Chariot is complete in the connection of the three legs with David, who is the fourth leg, and that is the secret of does, which is the unification in the secret of the Work of the Chariot. For in these four things, which are the secret of the Chariot that rides in the heavenly heights of old, I delight, that My unification be recognizable and known through them. And their unification is the supernal will and desire. Behold, that true knowledge is unification. And that is why the blessing for knowledge was fixed at the top of all of the blessings and requests.
- _.3.37.9
And their saying "[If] you listen with the old, you will listen with the new," is to hint that this listening needs to be without pause. For there is no pause or end to the Unification and the listening Above. So the complete servant must constantly seek that listening, and hear. And that is [the meaning of] their saying, "[If] you listen with the old," and if you do it, "you will listen with the new" - you will revitalize the listening and the connection to the Above. And for this, the path and the great refinement are the Torah and the commandments, which have no pause ever. So one should not separate from them even for an instant, to illustrate that which they resemble Above. And about this is it said, "And you shall meditate upon them day and night." For the Spring of the Unification constantly flows and moves and never ceases. And to point to all this, they said at the end of Berakhot and the end of Moed Katan, "Torah scholars have rest (menuchah) neither in this world nor in the world to come, as it is stated (Psalms 84:8), 'They go from strength to strength, every one of them appears before God in Zion.'" And the explanation of rest [here] is pause and cessation, as in, "David’s young men went and spoke to Naval, etc. in David's name, and they rested (vayanuchu)" (I Samuel 25:9). And Yonatan translated it [as], "and they ceased." And the idea is that true Torah scholars occupy themselves with Torah, which is the building of the world - and that is why they are called builders, as it is found in the chapter [entitled] Elu HaKoshrim - and they perpetuate the Unification with this building. This indicates that it does not pause, and that is why they do not have rest, pause or cessation from the Torah, which is the greatest cause of the Unification, neither in this world nor in the world to come. And it is like the matter that they said about Yehudah in the first chapter of Sotah (7b:11) and [Bava] Kamma (92a:23) at the end of the chapter [entitled] HaChovel, "He did not know how to deliberate with the sages. [So Moshe] said, 'May his hands fight on his behalf' (Deuteronomy 33:7)."
- _.3.37.10
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- _.3.41.7
And in Midrash Yilamdenu, there is a traditional account that Esau will fall by the hand of Rachel's children, as it is stated:surely the least of the flock shall drag them away (Jeremiah 49:20), which are the youngest of [Jacob's sons]. And this is according to the [exact] measure of the law, since the children would take vengeance for their mother. And our rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said, "[God's name will not be complete nor His throne complete until the name of Amalek be blotted out. But when his name is blotted out then will His name be complete and His throne complete, as it is stated: The enemy is come to an end, he whose swords were forever (Psalms 9:7). And after this, it is written: But the Lord shall now remain forever (Psalms 9:8)." And the intention is that Amalek caused that the name and the throne be lacking and put a defect in both of them. For it distanced the Ruler of the world, as this is its power. It put a defect in the moon on account of its seductions. And this is [the meaning of] their saying, "When the serpent had intercourse with Eve, he put pollution into her." And in Midrash Yilamdenu (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Teitzeh 11:1): As long as the seed of Amalek remains alive in the world, it is as though a wing is hiding [God's] face. When the seed of Amalek has passed from the world, [God's] name will be complete." The intention here is that Amalek is the reason for the hiding of the Face of Mercy from shining on the desired land, and it is a cloud that separates between the Heavens and the earth. So it covers over the shining Face, until the one comes who brings judgment and destroys the spirit of impurity. And the kingdom will be the Lord's (Ovadiah 1:21). For the uncircumcised and the unclean shall never enter her again (alluding to Isaiah 52:1). And that will be when the seed of Amalek, which causes the distance and the division, will be erased. And then the Lord will be king upon all the earth — specifically upon the earth — on that day the Lord shall be one and His name shall be one (Zechariah 14:9). And this is essentially what I saw to explain about the secret of the throne.
Sefaria Community Translation. Via Sefaria (sefaria.org), Sefaria-Export. Version source: https://www.sefaria.org Licence: CC0. Source.