It is written: “And the Lord said: They are all now one people; and they all have the same language; and having begun to do this work, they will not abandon their purpose until they have brought it entirely to completion.” Scripture means: Just as union reigned among men, so did it reign among the celestial degrees, whose image men are. Now, so long as union reigns among the various celestial degrees, all the undertakings of men succeed. Therefore it was necessary to bring about disunion among men, that it might be followed by disunion among the celestial degrees. And Scripture adds: “...And the Lord scattered them from that place throughout all the lands of the world.” But, one might perhaps ask, for what purpose did the Holy One, blessed be He, confound the language of these men? This too was for the purpose of thwarting their plan. For, until that time, all men spoke only the holy tongue. Now, in order to succeed in one’s wishes, he who expresses them must bend his mind to the words that issue from his mouth. Since the holy tongue, that is, Hebrew, is the only one endowed with the property of disposing the soul of him who speaks it in such a way as to make the heart’s inward will conform to the words uttered, God confounded the lan-
as a pledge of these men, in order thus to place an obstacle in the way of the success of their undertaking, seeing that the celestial powers neither hear nor give heed to prayers uttered in any other language than the holy tongue. Thus, as soon as the speech of these men was confounded, their strength was broken. Observe that every word uttered in the holy tongue is heard by the celestial powers, which strive to bring it to pass; but they hear no other language, nor give heed to it. And Scripture adds that, as soon as their speech was confounded: “… They ceased to build the city”; for their strength was broken, and they could no longer carry out their will. It is written: “Blessed be the name of the Lord for evermore, as it was from the beginning, because wisdom and might are His.” By the words “because wisdom and might are His,” Scripture means that eternal Wisdom can belong to God alone, men being too weak to possess it. For it was because the Holy One, blessed be He, had brought down into the world the mystery of Wisdom that men were corrupted to the point of wishing to wage war against Him. Thus, God had veiled from the first man the mystery of the higher Wisdom; and it was through this mystery, which had been revealed to him, that Adam knew the celestial degrees; and he ended by attaching himself to the tempting spirit, with the result that the source of Wisdom dried up within him. After he had done penance, the mystery that had been disclosed to him and that he had forgotten as a result of his sin was revealed to him anew, but not to the same extent as before.
The celestial book containing the mystery of Wisdom was transmitted by Adam to other men who, in their turn, having penetrated this mystery, provoked God to anger. God revealed the mystery of Wisdom to Noah, who at first did the will of God; but what does Scripture say of him thereafter? “And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.” Now, we have already given the explanation of these words. God entrusted the mystery of Wisdom to Abraham.
God entrusted the mystery of Wisdom to Abraham, who likewise profited by it to serve the Holy One, blessed be He; but in the end he begot Ishmael, who angered the Holy One, blessed be He. Likewise, Isaac begot Esau. Jacob in his turn married two sisters, which was contrary to the law. God also revealed the mystery of Wisdom to Moses; and what does Scripture say of him? “But it is not so with Moses, who is My very faithful servant in all My house.” There was no servant faithful like Moses; for, although he knew all the heavenly degrees, he was never tempted to attach himself to any degree other than the supreme one. God likewise entrusted the mystery of supreme Wisdom to King Solomon; and what does Scripture say of him? “Proverbs of Solomon,” and elsewhere: “Prophetic vision of a man who has God with him and who, having God with him, can do all things.” Solomon had said to himself: Since God is with me, and since His eternal Wisdom dwells with me, I can do whatever seems good to me. What, then, was the consequence? Scripture says: “And the Lord raised up Satan against Solomon, etc.” Observe that the rebellion of these men against the Holy One, blessed be He, their plan to build a tower, and all their evil deeds, had no other source than a limited knowledge of the mystery of ancient Wisdom. At the time of their dispersion, they were deprived of the knowledge of this mystery; thus they were deprived of the power to do anything whatever. But a time shall come when the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring Wisdom into the world, as it is written: “I will put My Spirit within you, and I will cause you to walk in the way of My precepts, to keep My ordinances, and to do them.” God therefore says: I shall no longer send My eternal Wisdom to men in such a way that it may serve as their downfall, as has already happened; but I shall cause you to walk in the way of My precepts, to keep My ordinances, and to do them.
Rabbi Yossé and Rabbi Hiyâ once travelled together. Rabbi Yossé said to Rabbi Hiyâ: Let us converse about matters con-
cerning the esoteric doctrine. Rabbi Yossé opened his discourse as follows: It is written: “For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp (mithhalekh), to deliver thee from every peril and to deliver thine enemies into thy hand. Therefore thou shalt take care that thy camp remain holy, and that nothing defiling appear therein, lest the Lord forsake thee.” Why does Scripture say “mithhalekh,” when it should have said “mehalekh”? But this verse contains the same meaning as the words of Scripture: “And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking (mithhalekh) in the garden, after noon, when a gentle wind arose.” Herein is expressed the mystery of the tree whose fruits Adam ate. “Mithhalekh” designates the female, and “mehalekh” designates the male. It is the same divine essence that walked before Israel when it wandered in the wilderness, as it is written: “And the Lord went before them, etc.” It is likewise the Shekhinah that walks before a man when he is on a journey, as it is written: “The Just One walks before him, when he directs his steps to go on a journey.” And if a man is worthy, the Shekhinah walks before him. To what end? Scripture answers: “… To deliver thee from every peril and to deliver thine enemies into thy hand.” The Shekhinah protects a man on his way and shields him from the assaults of the Other, that is, of Satan. Therefore, a man must strive to remain ever in a state of purity. What is meant by a state of purity? Scripture answers: “… Therefore thou shalt take care that thy camp remain holy.” Why does Scripture say: “… That thy camp remain holy,” when it should have said: “… That thy camps remain holy”? But Scripture designates by the word “camp” the purity of the body; for it is the body that attracts Satan; and this is why Scripture says: “… That thy camp remain holy.” It adds: “… And that nothing defiling appear therein.” Why does Scripture say “ervath dabar,” words which, literally translated, mean “the defilement of speech”? Scripture indeed teaches us that a man must take care that his body be holy, and that he will attain this if he guards himself against the defilement of speech; for this is the kind of defilement that the Holy One, blessed be He, abhors most. This explains why Scripture adds the word “dabar” to the word “ervath”; it designates the sin of the guilty, who defile themselves by the speech that issues from their mouths. And Scripture has explained the reason why it enjoins this purity upon man: “… Lest the Lord forsake thee.” For the Shekhinah forsakes all those who defile themselves with indecent words. Therefore, Rabbi Yossé added, since we are on our way, let us continue to converse about subjects concerning the esoteric doctrine, so that the Shekhinah may not leave us.
Rabbi Hiyâ then opened his discourse in the following manner: It is written: “And the Lord said: They are all now but one people, and they all have the same language, etc.” Observe that Scripture had previously said: “And as these peoples had journeyed from Qedem… (from the side of the East).” What does the word “qedem” mean?—The First of the world. Scripture adds: “…And they found a plain in the land of Sennaar.” Why does Scripture use the word “found,” when it should have said: “…And they saw a plain, etc.”? Scripture teaches us that these men found the book containing the mysteries of Wisdom, which had belonged to the generation destroyed by the Flood; and it was with the aid of these mysteries that they undertook their campaign of rebellion against the Holy One, blessed be He; they had only to utter words for things to come to pass. See how Scripture speaks: “They are all now but one people, and they all have the same language.” Thus, because of their union and their language, which was the holy tongue, these men could have brought the work they had undertaken to a successful conclusion, as Scripture adds: “…And having begun to do this work, they will not abandon their purpose until they have completed it entirely.” Nothing, then, could…
to resist their work. Therefore God said: I will bring about disunion in the heavenly degrees, and confusion of tongues among them below, which shall hinder their work. Rabbi Hiyâ added: If the union of these guilty men, who spoke the holy tongue, was so powerful that the heavenly rigour could not reach them so long as they remained in that state, as it is written: “They will not depart from their purpose until they have accomplished it entirely,” how great must be the power of our union, we who devote ourselves to the study of the esoteric doctrine and are united in heart and mind! Rabbi Yossé replied: From this we infer that men who are disunited cannot endure; for so long as men remained united in mind and heart, although they had rebelled against the Holy One, blessed be He, the heavenly rigour could not reach them. But as soon as they were disunited, Scripture says: “And the Lord scattered them from that place, etc.” Rabbi Hiyâ continued: From what precedes, we also deduce that everything rests upon language, since as soon as there was confusion of tongues, Scripture says: “... And the Lord scattered them from that place.” But at the end of days, what Scripture says shall come to pass: “For then I will change the tongues of all the peoples into a pure tongue, so that all may call upon the name of the Lord, and all submit to His yoke in one spirit”; and elsewhere it is written: “On that day the Lord shall be King over all the earth; on that day the Lord shall be One and His name shall be One.” “Blessed be the Lord for ever; amen, amen.”