Ginzay Ramchal — Section 26: Olam HaYetzirah — The World of Formation

File 12 — *Olam HaYetzirah* [עולם היצירה] v2 — full audit

§ 76. Opening — The Holy Ones Formed to Serve **Who can glorify the Way, King of the world — Who made servants before You, and holy-ones You formed for Yourself to serve before Your Throne — bearing to You the height of their eyes, frightened and trembling in the splendor of Your majesty, and dropping song and the voice of song — streams of melodies — and praise-glory before You they spring forth, and their mouths shall drip in the heavens — for Your Name is in their mouths and Your praise upon their tongue — wrapped in dread, girded in awe and fear**, as the matter is said: *"G-d revered in the great council of holy-ones, and awesome over all around Him"* [Tehillim 89:8]. **And the Names of Your holiness throng upon their head, crowning a crown upon their pate; clothing them with majesty, splendor, pride, and loftiness — and You are the King who is exalted above them all.** In the song of Your praise and the shield of Your faithfulness in the council of holy-ones, before You I prostrate and before You I kneel this day — to bring to You my cry — from lowliness and humility, in dread and in awe, to give thanks to Your Name — and I say: *"Give thanks to Hashem for He is good, for His chesed* is forever" [Tehillim 107:1]. *"All that breathes shall praise Yah — Halleluyah"* [Tehillim 150:6].

§ 77. The Temple and the Angel *METATRO"N* — the Faithful Appointee

**You are holy and the Sanctuary of Your holiness; You are blessed and the Blessed One of those who bless You — unto You [they shall sing] the thundering of the holy *Chayos*, to lift song with their wings — and Your Name they sanctify**, as the matter is said: *"Holy, holy, holy is Hashem of hosts, the whole earth is full of His Glory"* [Yeshayahu 6:3]. **They bless Your Glory from His place**, and thus is written: *"And a Ru'ach lifted me up and I heard behind me a voice of a great roaring: 'Blessed be the Glory of Hashem from His place'"* [Yechezkel 3:12]. **And the faithful Appointee who is over them all — *METATRO"N*** [[מְטַטְרוֹ"ן] — the classic *Heichalos* angel, called "the Prince of the Countenance" (*Sar ha-Panim*), the appointee over the supernal host. Talmud Chagigah 15a identifies him as having Divine-like authority; Sanhedrin 38b calls him *Na'ar* ("youth"). In this *Yetzirah*-context he stands as the head of the formed angelic beings] **is his name — lifted up before You — in the radiance of splendor and majesty — raising up the song before Your Glory *Y-H*** [[י"ה] — the abbreviated Name *Yah*, = the first two letters of YHVH].

§ 78. The Six Directions Sealed by *YH"V* — The Twelve Combinations of the Holy Name

**Pageantry, honored and awesome — "One G-d in the heavens and in the earth" — to tell Your praise upon all the corners of the earth.** **The six boundaries of Your world — which You sealed with Your Name *YH"V*** [[יה"ו] = Yud-Heh-Vav — the first 3 letters of YHVH; cf. *Sefer Yetzirah* 1:13 and File 9 §61. Each direction is sealed with one of the six permutations of YH"V] **— to the east, to the west, to the north, to the south, above and below.** **One are You in the 12 combinations (*tzairufim*) of Your holy Name *YHVH*** [the 12 permutations of the 4 letters of YHVH — see File 11 §71 for the mapping to the 12 tribes]. **I lift my prayer before You — to join all the branches of the Tree of Life — the Tree of Life it is** [Mishlei 3:18 — *"Etz chayim hi"* referring to Torah], **Your Holy Name *YHVH*, blessed is He forever and unto worlds of worlds.**

§ 79. "*Mi yemalel tokfo*" — The Watchkeepers of the Twelve Appointees

**Who can utter His force and the abundance of His beauty — the Splendor-One in the abundance of rule — that You appointed to lead Your world with *CHaDa"R*** [[בְּחַד"ר] — 3-letter abbreviation with gershayim after the third letter, likely standing for חסד דין רחמים (*Chesed, Din, Rachamim*) — the three fundamental cosmic-administrative principles through which Hashem governs the world]**) — and from before You judgment issues forth; Your eyes behold uprightness — to lead in righteousness the humble and the lowly — to raise up the poor unto the heavens of heavens — Who took Your people, a nation from the midst of a nation, and raised it up upon the wings of eagles — unto this Holy and Awesome Name**, as the matter is said: *"And you saw what I did to Egypt; and I lifted you upon the wings of eagles and brought you to Me"* [Shemos 19:4]. **These wings send me this day, to raise up this my prayer before You, to hear my voice in great mercies.**

§ 80. The Six Wings and the Forty-Two Letter Name

**The six wings — glorified and great — raise up the Glory of the Name of Heaven in the abundance of their might** — ***ABG YTZ, KRA STN, NGD YCS, BTR TZTG, CHKB TN'A, YGL PZK, SHKV TZYT*** [the classical **42-letter Name** — six lines of seven letters each, totaling 42 letters. This Name is the core of the *Ana B'Koach* prayer and is associated with the work of Creation (*ma'aseh bereishis*). Each line corresponds to one of the *Sefiros*, and together the 42 letters parallel the 42 places of the journey of Yisrael through the wilderness (Bamidbar 33)]. **And thus is said by Your prophet: *"Serafim were standing above Him — six wings, six wings each — with two he covers his face, with two he covers his feet, and with two he flies"*** [Yeshayahu 6:2].

§ 81. The Three Great Branches and the Triple *YHVH* Names

**Who can tell the glory-of-glory of His beauty in His bringing forth from Himself the three great branches — likened and lifted up, glorified in the splendor of their majesty — and these are their Names: *YHVH — YaHoVaH — YHVH*** [three variants of the Tetragrammaton — possibly vocalized differently to represent three distinct modes. The middle *YaHoVaH* with kamatz may signal a specific *partzuf*-level vocalization]. **In them are seen the might of Your strength, Your greatness, Your *gevurah*, and the loftiness of Your splendor — for You are G-d and there is no other, and there is no G-d beside You**, as the matter is said: *"I am first and I am last, and beside Me there is no G-d"* [Yeshayahu 44:6]. **And a stream is hung upon them, from the height of the mystery of Your strength — the splendor of Your holiness, exalted and hidden — and from them drips down to everyone who is righteous in his deeds before You — to receive from You blessing and willingness.**

§ 82. The Thirteen Wondrous Names — the 13 Middos by *AT-BaSH*

* Footnote in the source: "י"ג מידות הרחמים באתב"ש" = **"The Thirteen Middos of Mercy by *AT-BaSH* substitution."**

**Your thirteen Names, wondrous and awesome in their deeds — remembered and enacted upon every matter — to hasten faith, and to speed success and rescue — from You, One G-d — three times they drip upon the three branches — and these are Your Names:**

*TAKH, GASPI, PASTAPAT, TAGAL, TOLMI, PAGASH SACHAK, PATIT, TAPHAG SACHAK, KATKUMI, TAPHBAT ZEPAT, POBAZ, PASNETAK, PATDETZ* [[13 Names generated by applying the ***AT-BaSH*** substitution cipher (א] ↔ ת, ב ↔ ש, etc.) to the 13 Middos of Mercy of Shemos 34:6-7. This is a classical Kabbalistic technique of producing Name-formulas from the Middos: for example, רחום ("merciful") becomes גסף by *at-bash*; חנון ("gracious") becomes סמץ, etc. The full list of 13 corresponds to the 13 attributes drawn out by Rabbi Yehudah in the pasuk].

§ 83. Thirteen Rivers and the Twelve Pure Knowledges of the Tribes

**And as they descend in the abundance of the majesty of their beauty, from beneath these branches they joined together and made thirteen rivers — there is no end to the might of their beauty, and to the force of their holiness.** **Who can give limit to the fact that every river strengthens itself and flows out three times each day — corresponding to the three times that the dew of Your holiness drips upon these branches?** **There the souls of Your *chasidim* found rest — those who labored in Your Torah and gave their strength to You — King, G-d, Rock of the worlds.**

**Who can reach to recount Your praise — in the telling of beauty and gladness — in the beauty of the radiance of splendor and of the joy that issues forth from the three great branches — when each brought forth beneath them four branches — and there appeared the twelve tribes**, pleasant, filled with gladness and *sekhel* — pouring forth the *Nogah* of the outpourings of knowledge — making wise all who behold them, and returning [every] soul [to itself].

§ 84. The Twelve Combinations of the Holy Name crowning the Tribes — *"Atem Eidai"*

**Who can tell their power and their beauty — that they strengthened themselves to show forth the pleasantness of the root of the Beautiful** [[שֹׁרֶשׁ הַנָּאֶה וְהַטָּהוֹר] — "*shoresh ha-na'eh ve-ha-tahor*" = "the root of the Beautiful and the Pure." The word הַנָּאֶה (*ha-na'eh*) means "the beautiful/graceful one" (from root נ-א-ה, "to be beautiful, fitting"); this echoes the same phrase in §85 where the "beautiful Root YHVH" (הַשֹּׁרֶשׁ הַנָּאֶה יְקוֹק) is invoked] **and the Pure forever.** **And thus appears upon them the twelve combinations of this Holy Name** [the 12 permutations of YHVH — cf. §78, File 11 §71] **— crowning upon their head, and placing upon them a great crown; before them all the princes of fury and anger were subdued, all masters of [tempest] and dread, storm and hurricane, cloud and fog.** **And I have come in their power, and the power of their crowns, to invoke Your Name this day — to cause to pass every cloud and partition that separates between You and Your people Beis Yisrael.** **And let the remembrance of their testimony ascend before You for favor**, as the matter is said: *"And you are My witnesses — declares Hashem — and I am G-d"* [Yeshayahu 43:12]. ***"Hear O Yisrael, Hashem our G-d, Hashem is One"*** [Devarim 6:4].

§ 85. The Seventy Sweet Dates and the Seventy Names Repairing the Altar

**The height of Your beauty is exalted above every blessing and praise — sitting upon His Throne of Glory and looking with mercies upon all His creations in love and willingness.** **Seventy dates, sweet from honey, You placed — to bequeath to those who love You, and to end their sins**, as the matter is said: *"Your iniquity is ended, daughter of Tzion..."* [Eicha 4:22], and it says: *"Let sins end from the earth..."* [Tehillim 104:35]. **And these are Your 70 Names**, spreading out in strength from the beautiful Root *YHVH*, blessed is He forever — to heal with them the altar of Hashem that is destroyed — all of them whole stones — joining together in their letters three to one — and the three-stranded cord is not quickly broken [Koheles 4:12]. **From them I shall draw this day atonement and forgiveness for all Your people Beis Yisrael — to shut up transgression and to end sin — and to build the eternal Holy Place.**

§ 86. The Six-Hundred-Thousand Flames and the Letters of Yisrael

**And who can elevate the Way in the six-hundred-thousand shades of fire** that blaze from before You — seen in their splendor full of radiance and might — and sparkling in them like polished brass. **They are the six-hundred-thousand letters of Your Torah** — holding fast in the height of the holy-ones — to the number of the sons of Yisrael [the classical teaching that the Torah has 600,000 letters corresponding to the 600,000 souls of Yisrael — cf. *Zohar*, and *Megaleh Amukos*. The exact letter-count is a Kabbalistic abstraction, not the literal count]. **And in their going forth from before You, they stood upon the branches of the holy Tree, and appeared there as fruits of the righteous — the Tree of Life — to satisfy every soul, and to give life to every Ru'ach in the light of Your countenance.** **You I shall call this day — G-d of the gods and Lord of the lords, Hashem G-d, G-d of Yisrael, the Provider of all His creations, the Feeder of His formed-beings in *chesed* and in mercies — *YHVH*, blessed is He forever and unto worlds of worlds — that You make Your Name lofty over all Your hosts, and crown Your people with a crown of holiness — to rejoice before You, and to exult in the light of Your joy**

§ 87. Closing — Seeing the Good of the Chosen One

Until here is *Olam HaYetzirah*.

[*Olam HaYetzirah* ends here. The next section on p. 353 is **עולם הבריאה** = *Olam HaBriah* (World of Creation) — to be addressed in File 13.]