והיינו על ידי תגבורת יסוד האש אלקי שבנפש האלקית
This results from the predominance of the element of divine Fire that is in the divine soul, unlike other forms of love which derive from the element of Water in the divine soul.
ומזה באה לידי צמאון, וכמו שכתוב: צמאה לך נפשי
From this, the soul comes to a thirst. Just as, in the physical domain, one becomes thirsty when the element of Fire predominates, so it is in the spiritual domain, too: the ascendancy of the divine soul’s element of Fire creates a thirst within the soul, as it is written:8 “My soul thirsts for You.”9
ואחר כך לבחינת חולת אהבה
Then it reaches the level of “lovesickness”,10 where the soul is sick with love of G‑d, just as an unquenched physical thirst brings on a state of sickness.
ואחר כך באה לידי כלות הנפש ממש, כמו שכתוב: וגם כלתה נפשי
And then it comes to a virtual expiring of the soul (klot hanefesh), as it is written:11 “And my soul expires.” If not for the consequent contrary sensation of “retreat” and restraining oneself (as explained further), the soul would literally expire.
והנה מכאן יצא שורש הלוים למטה
From here, from the level of the Higher Gevurot of the Higher Binah, is derived the source of the divine service of the Levites below in this world.
ולעתיד, שהעולם יתעלה, יהיו הם הכהנים, וכמו שכתב האר״י ז״ל על פסוק: והכהנים הלוים, שהלוים של עכשיו יהיו כהנים לעתיד
(12In the future, when the world will be elevated, they will be the Kohanim13 (unlike now, when the Levites are secondary to them, as it is written:14 “They shall accompany you and serve you”), as our Master, Rabbi Isaac Luria, of blessed memory, commented on the verse,15 “But the Kohanim, the Levites…” — that the Levites of today will become the Kohanim of the future.)16
ועבודת הלוים היתה להרים קול רינה ותודה, בשירה וזמרה, בניגון ונעימה
The Levites‘ service of G‑d was to raise their voice in melody and thanksgiving, with song and music, tunefulness and harmony. Music characteristically combines varied and even opposite moods, some serious (stemming from Gevurah) and others happy (stemming from Chesed).
בבחינת רצוא ושוב
Their music progressed in a manner of advance and retreat (ratzo, literally “running”, and shov, “returning”). This echoed their form of serving G‑d: the headlong advance towards klot hanefesh, and the restraint, retreat and return from that point.
שהיא בחינת אהבה עזה זו, כשלהבת היוצאה מן הבזק, כדאיתא בגמרא פרק ב׳ דחגיגה
Such is the nature of this intense love, like a flame that flashes out of the bazak, as is mentioned in the Gemara (Chagigah, ch. 2).17
One translation of bazak is a crucible for refining gold, in which the flame flashes forth and immediately withdraws. In Yechezkel 1:14, the angels called holy chayyot “run to and from (ratzo vashov) like the appearance of the bazak.” Likewise, the love of G‑d we are discussing in this chapter first experiences ratzo, a state in which the soul surges forward as if about to expire. But then comes shov, as it is written in Sefer Yetzirah: “If your heart runs, return to One.” In other words, when your heart seeks to undergo klot hanefesh, expiring into G‑dliness, then you should return to “One” — withhold yourself from this course and return, in order to bring the revelation of G‑d’s Oneness into this physical world. At this point one realizes that klot hanefesh is not the Divine intent, which is, rather, that the soul remain in the body and observe Torah and the mitzvot, thereby revealing the “One”, G‑d’s unity, in the world.
ואי אפשר לבאר ענין זה היטב במכתב, רק כל איש נלבב ונבון, המשכיל על דבר, ומעמיק, לקשר דעתו ותבונתו בה׳, ימצא טוב ואור הגנוז בנפשו המשכלת, כל חד לפום שיעורא דיליה
It is impossible to explain this subject clearly in writing. Yet every person with a feeling heart (i.e., who has perfection of heart), who is understanding (in that he uses his faculty of Binah), and intelligent in grasping a subject (by using his faculty of Chochmah), and delves deeply to attach his mind and understanding to G‑d (by using his faculty of Daat), will find the goodness and light concealed within his intelligent soul, each according to his capacity:
יש מתפעל כו׳ ויש מתפעל כו׳
(one is affected in one way, from one type of meditation,…and one is affected in another way, by a different form of meditation),
אחרי קדימת יראת חטא, להיות סור מרע בתכלית, שלא להיות עונותיכם מבדילים כו׳, חס ושלום
after prefacing this meditation by fear of sin, the fear of doing wrong by sinning, in order to become utterly removed from evil, withholding oneself from doing any wrong, to avoid “your transgressions interposing between you and G‑d,…” G‑d forbid.
In other words, whatever form one’s excitement with love of G‑d takes, one must first be totally removed from evildoing.
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