Greater Holy Assembly: Chapter XXXV.

CHAPTER XXXV. CONCERNING THE FIRST PART OF THE BEARD OF MICROPROSOPUS. 819. "IN the first conformation the hair is disposed from above, and goeth forth before the opening of the ears, beneath the locks which hang down over the ears; and the hairs descend, hairs above hairs, even unto the beginning of the mouth.

820. "This have we learned. All those hairs which are in the beard are harder than all the hairs of the locks of the hair of the head. But the hair of the head is longer and bendeth more easily, while these hairs (of the beard) are not so long.

821. Of the hairs of the head some are hard and some are soft.

822. And whensoever the white locks of the Ancient of Days reach forward into Microprosopus, it is written that, Prov. i. 20: 'Wisdom crieth without.'

823. "What is this (word) 'without'? In this (instance) in Microprosopus, wherein are conjoined the two (forms of the) brain. Two forms of the brain, sayest thou? But it should rather be said, four forms of the brain.

824. (Assuredly) "there are three (forms of the) brain in Microprosopus, and they are found in the three cavities of the skull of His head.

825. "And there is one calm and tranquil brain residing in its own clear brilliancy, which comprehendeth all the three (forms of the) brain, and from it are brought forth the productions of the hairs which are produced and continued in equilibrium in the white hair into that part of Microprosopus, into His three (forms of) brain (namely), so that therein in Him are found four (forms of the) brain.

826. "And hence are perfected the four texts which are written on the phylacteries, because in them is contained the Holy Name of the Ancient of Days, the Ancient of the Ancient Ones, and that of Microprosopus.

827. "For this is the perfection of the Holy Name, concerning which it is written, Deut. xxviii. 10: 'And all the people of the earth shall see that the name of Tetragrammaton have been invoked over thee, and they shall be afraid of thee.'

828. The Name of the Lord is this very Name of Tetragrammaton, which formeth the canals and hollows of the phylacteries.

829. "And therefore is it said: 'Wisdom crieth without,' Prov. i. 20, because it is herein found (i.e., in Microprosopus).

830. "For truly the Ancient of the Ancient Ones, even He who is concealed with all concealments, is not found, neither doth His wisdom come forth (openly); seeing that His wisdom is concealed in all, and doth not make itself manifest.

831. "And since there are four (forms of the) brain associated together, and that herefrom, even from Microprosopus, there flow down four fountains in four directions, and that they are all distributed from one fountain, which proceedeth from them all, therefore are there four. 1

832. Also we have learned: From the Wisdom which is comprehended in the Quaternary the hairs flow down, which hang in curls upon curls, and all are strong and close, and they extend and flow down singly each in its own direction.

833. "And so many thousand thousand myriads of myriads depend from them that they are innumerable.

834. "This is that same which is written, Cant. v. 11: 'His locks are bushy, ThLThLIM, Teltelim,' as if it were ThLI ThLIM, curls heaped upon curls.

835. "And all are strong and close (fit) for breaking (whatsoever is opposed to them), hard as the rock, and as hardest stone.

836. "Until they can make openings in the skull, and the fountains can flow down beneath the locks, those strong fountains flow forth in separate directions, and in separate ways.

837. "And because those locks are black and obscure, it is written, Job xii. 22: 'He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.'

838. "Also we have learned that those hairs of the beard are so much harder than those hairs of the head, because these alone make themselves so prominent, and are easily found, and are hard in their paths. 1

839. "Wherefore sayest thou that they are hard? Is it because they all symbolize Judgment? By no means; for truly in those dispositions Mercy as well as Judgment is found.

840. "When the thirteen fountains of the rivers of oil descend, all these are mercies.

841. "But yet we have learned that all those hairs of the beard are hard. Wherefore? Those which symbolize mercies necessarily must be hard in order to divert the course of Judgment.

842. "And all those which denote Judgment, are also firm; and therefore it is necessary in every instance that they should both be hard.

843. "When the Universe hath need of Mercy, mercies are strong, and prevail over Judgment; but when it requireth Judgment, Judgment is strong, and prevaileth over Mercy; and therefore is it necessary that in each instance they should be firm and strong.

844. "And whensoever Mercy is required, those hairs which symbolize Mercy stand forth, and the beard is evident in those hairs only (otherwise, is contained by those hairs only), and all are abundant mercies.

845. "But when Judgment is required the beard is evident in those hairs only (which denote judgment), and all consist in judgments.

846. "But when that holy white beard 1 is uncovered, all these (hairs denoting Mercy) and all those (hairs denoting Judgment) are alike illuminated and made brilliant, like as when a man cleanseth himself in a deep river from his uncleanness.

847. "And all consist together in Mercy, and there is no Judgment to be found at all.

848. "And when all those 2 nine forms shine together, all are made white with Mercy.

849. "And therefore Moses saith in another place, Num. xiv. 18: 'Tetragrammaton is ARK APIM, Arikh Aphim, long-suffering (literally long of nose), and of great mercy.'

850. "And that which he had said concerning truth, 3

Exod. xxxiv. 6, he addeth not (in this passage), because the Arcanum of the matter is these nine measurements which shine down from the Ancient of Days into Microprosopus.

851. "For when Moses in the second passage rehearseth these praises of God, Num. xxiv. 18, he enumereth the nine conformations; and these are the conformations of the beard, even those which are found in Microprosopus, and descend from the Ancient of Days and shine down into Him.

852. "The word AMTh, Emeth, Truth, therefore dependeth from the Ancient One; whence in this passage Moses saith not: 'And in truth.'

853. "We have learned that the hairs of the head of Microprosopus are all hard and curling, and not soft. 1

854. "For we see that in Him three forms of the brain are found in the three cavities (of the skull), which shine forth from the hidden and concealed brain.

855. "And because the brain of the Ancient of Days is tranquil and quiet, like good wine upon the tees, hence all His hairs are soft, and anointed with excellent oil.

856. "And therefore is it written, Dan. vii. 9: 'His head like pure wool.'

857. "But those which are in Microprosopus are partly hard, and partly not hard, because they all hang down, and are not diverted from their course.

858. "And therefore Wisdom 2 floweth forth and proceedeth (therefrom); but it is not the Wisdom of Wisdom, for that is quiet and tranquil.

859. "For we have learned that no one knoweth the brain of the Ancient of Days save Himself alone.

860. "This is that very thing which is said, Job xxviii. 23: 'God understandeth the way thereof,' &c.; which (words) are spoken concerning Microprosopus."

861. Rabbi Schimeon said (unto him): "Blessed be thou, O my son! in that Holy and Blessed One, in this world and in the world to come!"

Footnotes 214:1 This four proceeding from one, and containing all things, is precisely the Pythagorean doctrine of the Tetractys, which Pythagoras probably obtained from qabalistic sources, though indeed most religions of antiquity attached considerable importance to this number four. Four is said to contain the whole Decad, because the sum of the first four numbers = ten; 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10. But eight is the reflection of four, and eight is IHVH ADNI (see Introduction). And 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 = 36. the number of the Decans (or groups of ten degrees) in the Zodiac. But 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 = 26, the number of the IHVH. Therefore thirty-six represents the sum of the letters of the Tetragrammaton, and the number of the Sephiroth.

215:1 See definition of term "path" in Introduction.

216:1 Which is of course that of Macroprosopus. the Ancient of Days.

216:2 The nine conformations into which the beard of Microprosopus is divided.

216:3 I give these two passages side by side for the reader's benefit.

Exod. xxxiv. 6 and 7: "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.

"Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation."

Num. xiv. 18: "The LORD is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty. visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation."

217:1 It appears to read thus in the Chaldee and in the Latin alike, though this statement is contradicted distinctly both in § 587 and in § 857. I should think the word "LA, not," before "soft," is a mistake, or else that the passage refers to the hair of the beard, and not that of the head.

217:2 That is, Chokmah of the second Sephira, and not that Chokmah which is its root concealed in Kether: for in Kether are all the other Sephiroth contained.