json/Kabbalah/Other Kabbalah Works/Sefer HaKana/English/Sefaria Community Translation.json

{
    "language": "en",
    "title": "Sefer HaKana",
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    "versionTitle": "Sefaria Community Translation",
    "actualLanguage": "en",
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    "direction": "ltr",
    "heTitle": "ספר הקנה",
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        "Kabbalah",
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            "The secret of blowing the shofar.",
            "He said to me, my son, hear and listen the matter of Rosh Hashanah After it, we will speak. You should know that Hakadosh Boruch Hu, he runs creation and he understands it through his traits (middotav = his attributes, the lower 7 sefirot). Whether it is for judgement or for mercy. That is what is written - he who shepherds among the roses(?) and the roses are the six upper haromzim(? Neither of us recognize this word. We disagree as to whether there are six roses and they are the upper thorns, or whether there are roses and there are six thorns. Or haromez(?) may mean \"hint\", as in hinting at something). So that when he has mercy on the creations, he has mercy in one of the ways, from his ways of mercy, and that way is kindness(Chesed). In the time of anger, one of the ways of judgement(Din) is Pachad (lit. fear, another name for Netzach). This is blowing the shofar, from which emanates the Din and the Rachamim (= tiferet). The truah (9) and shevarim (3) blasts are the Din, tekiyah (1) is mercy. And we arouse the traits of Hakadosh Boruch Hu to arouse/bring about goodness on our behalf. Kenesset Yisrael (assuming that is what כי means), against whom the accusers (Heb. katurgim) come, because from there they are grabbed, and it is among that which hold them back, and that is the tekiyah blasts that are before and after. The accusers will not find any place to come to it. Since it is surrounded by Rachamim, that is, the teruah surrounded by two tekiyah blasts, mercy will be around (upon? before?) us, with our repentance from our sins, and the attribute of judgment (מהד = middas haDin, attribute/sefirah of din) is replaced with Rachamim. This is that which is hinted: praiseworthy is the nation that knows the teruah blast, that the intention is the ones who bring forth the teruah blast (that is כני = kenesses Yisrael), to the mercy, which is the tekiyah tekiyah (if that's what ת''ת means). This is similar to the matter in the verse, ''And Adam knew Chava'', whose explanation is becoming close to knowledge (Heb. da'at or da'as, which is the child of Chochmah and Binah that may be the active manifestation of keter, or a sefirah in its own right, depending on version of kabbalistic doctrine. I am not certain whether its usage here means the sefirah, or the simpler meaning of \"just knowledge\".) And on Yom Kippur, ''both shofar and Tziyon'' (Yoel 2:1, first half) (like Eretz Tziyon?), to signal/indicate mercy, as Tziyon is an extension of the six (roses? thorns?), ''Sound an alarm on the mountain of his holiness'', (Yoel 2:1, second half) which is Yerushalayim, which is signaled(?) in judgement. And therefore, the shofar of the Beis haMikdash, with which they would blow on Rosh Hashanah, was coated with gold because it was standing in Yerushalayim and the Beis haMikdash, and they would blow and the gold would hint at the din. And the shofar they would blow on a (public) fast day (a type of fast day done in times of severe drought, see Maseches Tainis), was coated in silver instead. Because the silver inspires mercy, and on a fast day you are looking for mercy.",
            "...(Key terms: matziyos = a certain thing that exists in reality. Hisorerus = inspiration-ish) And know, my son, the sound that emanates from the shofar is included in the secret of the water, wind (Heb. ruach), and fire, and ruach is binah water and fire are the arms (Chesed and Gevurah?). This is what Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai said (Zohar?): The sound/wind/ruach that emanates from the shofar includes fire and water, and it becomes one sound without separation. When we blow below (in assiyah), this sound, which includes Din and Rachamim, rises up (to the higher worlds), they are the four and six partzufim. (I'm not sure what it means by \"four *and* six\"). It is similar to the two arms above. And it becomes unified in its unity, that is, the Binah, and it pushes away all the accusers (Heb. katurgim). And when there is dispersal among the accusers, the opening is opened and the prayers enter. (Reference to Gates of Repentence on Yom Kippur?) And the king, who is Binah (presumably this refers to HKB, or at least Keter?), he rises from the throne of judgement, and has mercy on Klal Yisrael. Because the sound below has an effect above, without uncertainty, because Hakadosh Boruch Hu brought into existence matziyos (Heb. difficult - more accurately, a certain thing that exists in reality), from above (Atzilut?) to below (Assiyah?), hisorerus so when it wants to go up, this reality goes up/rises. (Heb. difficult). And this is late the spirit (ruach) of a person, who brings in and releases air, and its entering is the reason why it exists. Because first it goes in, and afterwards it goes out. Yes, י''ת (abbreviation, but we do not know for what. Yitbarach = he will be blessed?), and it (He?) will rise (rises?), the secret of hisorerus of the matziyos does not go out above, until it rises from below, to return to the place of its creation, and then the hisorerus will go out from above like originally. And similar to this, Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai said, if you understand how the influence spreads out when you bring the dove offering or the pigeon offering, the ??? (word סטרין unknown to us - plural of \"sater\"?) and legions(?), which have no number to them (ie they are countless), or when you bring one animal, then so too that happens with blowing the shofar, spread out many legions and many (???) with no count. Come and see from one candle that fills the whole world with lit candles. How many thousands and thousands that are lit from them! This is what Rabbi Yehuda bar Nachman said in the name of Rabbi Levi, when they bring up the judgement (Din), that is, the congregation of Israel (via the shofar), then the understanding (Binah) sits on a seat of judgement. (Wedebated the meaning of this. I believe it to be both literal and metaphorical. Literal in that Gevurah, AKA Din, is in fact below Binah in the etz chaim, and so \"bringing up\" Din can mean it literally moving up until it is right below Binah so that Binah can \"sit\" on it. It may also refer metaphorically to Hashem's judgement on Rosh Hashanah being tempered by His understanding.) And when we blow a tekiyah blast with the shofar, immediately, the attribute of judgement (Din) is reversed to the attribute of mercy (Rachamim), and when we blow a teruah blast, it goes up as judgement. And when we blow a tekiyah blast, it goes up as mercy. (we have tekiyah twice, and its description is slightly different each time. Significance unclear.) And this is the order of judgement. And when the binah sits on the seat of judgement, the world stands in judgement. The attribute of judgement is on His (HKB)'s left, and the attribute of mercy stands on His right side. And they fight with each other in front of Binah. The attribute of judgement says (word \"says\" is feminine), \"I have not gone out to work for naught. If you judge with mercy, there are those who sinned, and it is not collected from. Rather, pay back to them like what they did.\"",
            " And the attribute of mercy says (also feminine) (quoting Psalms 130:3),\"If you keep a count of sins, oh Lord, who will survive? Heaven forbid!\" Therefore, Hashem joins Din and Rachamim, for if he would judge them with Din alone, ??? (מ''י unclear acronym), who will stand with all her sons? All of them will be destroyed. And the attribute of judgement says, \"A sinner should die for his sins (and no one else). The entire world should not deserve destruction! There is enough to sustain the world, through the hands of the righteous. And the wicked ones should die.\" And the attribute of compassion says (also a (paraphrase of a) pasuk), \"He does not desire the dead to die,\" that is, the wicked, for also he can repent, and Hashem accepts repenters. And if he dies, if so, what is there in the way of teshuvah(?)",
            "...And the attribute of judgement says, (paraphrasing \"For the transgression of Ya'akov, and for the sins of the house of Israel\", Michah 1:5) \"For the transgression of Ya'akov, all this\", this means to say, that there should never be any complete sinners, because complete sinners should die, and the attribute of mercy says \"No more shall Ya'akov be shamed(, no longer his face grow pale\", Isaiah 29:22), and the attribute of judgement says, \"It is true that a small amount of sins should not be shamed, but at the same time, remember the sins of the fathers onto the sons (unto the fourth generation)\", that is, they will exchange and accept their sins. And the attribute of mercy says, \"But the pasuk also says that the father should not die for the son's sins!\", meaning, the father should swap to return to the sons(? Meaning, neither should take responsibility for the other) And the attribute of judgement says, \"I in turn will do this to you: (I will wreak misery upon you—consumption and fever, which cause the eyes to pine and the body to languish; you shall sow your seed to no purpose, for your enemies shall eat it.\" Vayikra 26:16), meaning, the anger and attribute of ani (א-נ-י: self? God referring to God's self?) That is what is called, this is for you, it will be the taking of judgement. The attribute of mercy replies, \"For my sake, my sake I will do, ( Lest [My name] be dishonored! I will not give My glory to another.\" Isaiah 48:11), meaning, I will do judgement with them, with mercy, for the sake of Your name, that he is with them in their goodness and their exile.",
            "... And the intention of the matter is, Binah set up an arranged all the matters/things in the manner of truth and judgement and the kingship/government (in context, court) of the firmament (arguably heavens, but *not* shamayim. Rakia is typically translated as firmament I believe) is like the kingship/government of the Earth. Even though the Binah truly knows the truth, it will not judge without a plaintiff and witnesses. And it, in this form, the Binah appoints a litigator/a plaintiff, which is the Satan, to litigate the judgement from the people of the world. And the witnesses are the eyes of Hashem, which see and watch over the actions of people hidden and visible. (Here, Sefirah Binah appears to refer to Hashem's ideation, as distinct from God's eyes, meaning vision). This is what Chazal said, \"If someone is to commit an aveira in secret, the beams of his house testify against him.\" These are the eyes of Hashem. The beams of the crown and strengthening.(Heb. unclear)",
            "...And the Binah judges a true judgment, and the litigator is only collecting truth and righteousness. And he does his task which was tasked to him when the world was created. This is what Chazal said: Behold, it is very good, this angel of death. Why do they call it good? Because it collects truth and does not say falsehood. And the Binah, since he appointed him, does not send him away empty. For all who are to be punished, and all the ones who are going to die, they are given unto his hand. And behold! Now, I will arrange the order that the Binah is misyachaed (lit. become one, apparently not translatable) with the attribute of Din of the lower (world). And it judges the world with that lower Din, that is, the congregation of Israel. And on that, the Binah judges the world on Rosh Hashanah with judgement (mixed) with mercy(Rachamim, also compassion), and Yom Kippur is a day of mercy (mixed) with judgement. Therefore, we do notmention the tekiyah or the shofar, as opposed to on Yom Kippur (This is not sensible on a surface level, but we think it means that neither tekiyah or shofar is mentioned in relation to Rosh Hashanah in the Torah). Behold, you will see, because it is judgement, we say \"Hamelech haMishpat\" (the king of judgement, which is a line added between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur to the Amidah). Meaning to say, the Binah that guides the world, with the attribute of judgement, when we are standing in prayer, and we request mercy, that he should not judge us with the attribute of judgement but rather with the attribute of mercy.",
            "...And if so, my son, in the wilderness, place of the emptiness, there are snakes, serpents(? Heb. difficult), scorpions, and thirst, where there is no water. You are required to blow two tekiyah blasts, and to bring in the harsh and the soft (presumably the teruah and shevarim blasts) between them, lest they hit a heat wave(?) or sun, because the teruah blasts go up in one place, and they (the shofars?) are of silver, to hint with them that their nation is with mercy. (The nature of/reason for the relationship between the color silver and mercy is not clear.) But on Rosh Hashanah, we must stand in Din to recall all of our sins, and if they do not do actively three teruah blasts, and in this and in this (\"this\" = tekiyah?) to include them in mercy. They are Pachad and Hod and Atarah (Atarah is the lower half of Yesod, which split from the rest of Yesod before creation. They later recombined. It is the part of Yesod which governs the world in the time of Moshiach but before Olam ha-Ba.) If so, it will not allow the prayers to rise up. Therefore, we blow the shofar, because the shofar signals to Binah, who designated the subdivisions (Heb. difficult. Literally \"who delegated arms\". This may refer to the arms of Adam Kadmon, or subdivisions.) Din and Rachamim. This is comparable to the sound that emanates from the shofar. Din and Rachamim, they are the tekiyah and the teruah. (Ordering here appears imprecise, as we see above that Din is teruah and Rachamim is tekiyah.) And the women, there is to fulfill their obligation (to hear) this sound completely. (Heb. difficult.) And we do not require them to blow, because it is a teruah and not a tekiyah. (Heb. difficut. Because women are more compassionate, they are not obligated to the sound of judgement?) And because the Binah considers the nation of Israel, which is called the seventh (we know of no place where this term is used), therefore the mitzvah is in the seventh month, Tishrei. And it is said on the first of the month, the hint in (?) renews our intentions to be in their company (Heb. difficult, identity of \"they\" in \"their company\" unclear). And therefore, they call the seventh \"The day of shofar\". And even so, you should not learn from the creation of the world, that it is day and night. Rather, seven, seven from Yom Kippur. (Unclear but may mean \"One should not learn from the creation of the world that it is seven nights and seven days from now until Yom Kippur.) If you blow a tekiyah blast by night, with the teruah alone (Disagreement on whether this means a tekiyah blast and a teruah blast with no shevarim, or if tekiyah here means a general \"blowing\" and this means blowing teruah alone), ??? (next three words we could not figure out) and therefore, it is the teruah between the two tekiyahs, and there will be a sealing of the Din and you must do it by night without uncertainty. (Meaning unclear as we do not blow the shofar at night during Rosh Hashanah), because it is Din with Rachamim. Also on Yom Kippur, you cannot compare it with it (Rosh Hashanah with Yom Kippur?) and on Shabbos they bring two sheep offerings, and you should not light a fire like the day of Shabbos (meaning unclear), and the first day is called holy (Yom Tov), and the seventh day is also called holy, because on Yom Kippur is judgement by day, but not by night because the Din is every day and at night for Binah. (I think this means that Binah descends from its height as Binah into its lower form of Din during the day, and reascends to the position of Binah - leaving room for Rachamim in the middle triad of sefirot - during the night.) But the actions of the judgement happens by night. You cannot ever lock it (Din?) up. (Possible meaning: You cannot ever lock Din up/get rid of it entirely. One might think that, if it ascends to Binah at night, it is totally gone. But as the actions of the judgement happens by night, we see that Din is still there to some extent and still exerts a force on the world, even at night.) (Remainder of paragraph not translated.)",
            "...I said to him, \"Rebbe, my master, if so, why do they not require tekiyah shevarim teruach tekiyah? ( ק = tekiyah, ש = shevarim, ר = teruach, so קשר''ק = tekiyah shevarim truach tekiya. ) And there, they were uncertain.\" He said to me, \"My son, I will teach you a great matter. You should know, that the mother of Sisra is Lilit the Wicked. And Sisra is possessed (may also be held/grabbed) by Samael, and Tanin'iver stands between Samael and Lilit. He gives to that name of Sisra. What did Barak do? He made a tekiyah and three shevarim. That is the fear that descended on the crown by way of the shevarim, which dwells on Hod, and from there on the crown which are Pachad, Hod, and Atarah. And afterwords, from the wailing of the crown, woe, woe in the world! And it must be (lit. against your will), there is never wailing (teruah) before groaning (shevarim). And three of them (groanings, three of them because shevarim is composed of three sounds) are placed in the middle, and they also took the wailing which is the attribute of Din the broad(also rough/wide) which returned from the shard of wailing (teruah, the sound of which is broken up into shards) and then did a tekiyah and that is tekiyah shevarim teruah tekiyah. And immediately (lit. at hand), the power of Samael, Tanin'iver, and Lilit are interrupted, and came with them outer powers to help Sisra, to no purpose and count and all of them will be humiliated. And they remove the shade (meaning unclear) of Sisra from upon him, and it is given into the hands of Barak because he brought close all ten (sefirot) and unified them. (ב ר ק -> ק ר ב backwards, ק ר ב \"means \"come close) And he sweetened the Din and in his name, so did he do. And in any case, there is what to sweeten the judgement from every side, between the two tekiyahs? Perhaps the judgement came down through the shevarim and wailing? One should also do tekiyah shevarim (groaning) tekiyah. Perhaps the judgement came down only through groaning, and it will turn out that that pathway is not sweetened. And we should also do tekiyah teruah (wailing) tekiyah, because perhaps the Din came down the way of wailing and was not sweetened. Therefore, one should do all of this three times, correspending to Pachad, Hod, and Atarah. And in the prayer that adds additional blessings (that is, Musaf adding on Malchuyos, Zichronos, and Shofaros on Rosh Hashanah) one should be careful to do Tekiyah-Shevarim-Teruah-Tekiyah, Tekiyah-Shevarim-Tekiyah, Tekiyah-Teruah-Tekiyah, for the Malchuyos, and the same for Zichronos and the same for Shofaros. (This indicates that each of the three additional blessings for Rosh Hashanah Musaf is for one of the three aspects, Pachad, Hod, and Atarah. I am not certain which is which, but I believe that Malchuyos is Atarah, Shofaros is Hod, and Zichronos is Pachad. This is because Malchuyos, meaning kingship, would be most associated with Atarah. Zichronos being Pachad checks out because Hod is of the same concept as Din/Gevurah, which is of judgement, and Zichronos is of judgment. The parallel breaks a bit here, as one might think that Shofaros would be associated with compassion, but that would actually associate it with Atarah because that is on the same line as tiferet/rachamim. However, its association with the kinder right line at least somewhat holds (even though it is on the left - for some reason, Netzach and Hod are associated with the left and right respectively, even though they are *on* the right and left in that order). Note that we say zichronos and shofaros on major public fast days, **but not malchuyos**, which further cements malchuyos being associated with the same line as rachamim (recall the above, that we sit in judgement and use the silver shofar of Din on such days, and so Rachamim/Atarah/Malchuyos is absent). Because the matter of malchuyos, zichronos, and shofaros is similar to turning to every direction to sweeten the judgement (like lulav and esrog on Sukkos). In truth, it would appear that you should not change these blasts (Heb. tekiyos), because of Rabbi Avahu the great, he was afraid of the fourteen(? Educated guess but could be completely wrong), which is the attribute of Din. Behold! It is the hand of Hashem. Therefore, since his (Abahu's) name is the Gematria of 14 (א ב ה ו = 1 + 2 + 5 + 6 = 14), he would be careful not to interrupt with their fixing (change from fixing to better translation when possible) and then hand to hand would not be clean, and Rabbi Yochanan had many merits (Heb., or Aramaic as the case may be, slightly unclear). And he thought that everyone else was like him. And that which they blow teruah (Heb. has verb form of \"teruah\"), and they blow tekiyah and teruah when they are standing - that is, the prayer of musaf which is hinted at in Sod (the Kabbalah), If you do not blow when sitting, which is hinted in the congregation of Israel (meaning unclear), that is, the gate which they entered to the king. Therefore, with the tekiyah blasts, we also need to enter with this, as it says, \"With this, Aharon will enter the inner sanctuary.\" And because the tekiyos of the sitting part (when we blow the shofar not during Musaf) are the opening of the (heavenly) gates, the Satan is grabbed from there against his will, trembling and not trembling. And when the guardian(/doorkeeper) attached with the king, he has no fixing. Certainly, when his attribute (Heb. middah. Kabbalistic term generally but I think it is being used literally here.) is to interrupt the power from within him. He is busy with his things, and he is not learning prosecution. (That is, by using the shofar to trick the Satan into believing that he is in trouble, we distract him from creating a case to prosecute humanity that he would bring to HKB, and therefore prevent disaster from befalling us at his hand.) And therefore, do not make a mistake and say, \"There is here extra blasts\", for everything is needed. It makes sense that the additions with tzitzis that is attached and tied, it is a mitzvah to you, the king, to unite the sons with the mother, and she is included in the spirituality of Chochmah and Keter (is this talking about lifting up Binah to Chochmah and Keter?), He will give too many pregnancies of the mitzvos of the king (Heb. *really* unclear, could also be too many sins of the mitzvos of the king, but frankly neither makes much sense). See, my child, all the mitzvos that have a set time, and that women are therefore exempt from doing, we therefore do not make them do them, for that is the decree of the king, because their doing these things damages above. Behold! \"All your males shall appear.\" (Part of Devarim 16:16, which is in full: Three times a year—on the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Pesach), on the Feast of Weeks (Shavuos), and on the Feast of Booths(Sukkos) —all your males shall appear before your God יהוה in the place that [God] will choose. They shall not appear before יהוה empty-handed.), and that appearance is the appearance before the face of the king with the queen, and the abscondence of the Din from there (I think this refers to the breaking of the vessel of Din?) The Writer (the one who wrote the Torah, that is, HKB) if you go up and see, the damage is because the Din goes up. And similarly by the shofar, judgement does not appease judgement. Similarly, by circumcision, a matter of pasulah (disqualification), as Rabbi Yochanan said: \"And see earlier in the laws of circumcision and its secrets.\" And said to him, \"My master! If so, we should warn the women with a warning of punishment, that they should not do like the matter of do not destroy to go up (Heb. unclear)."
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