said (Ezek. i. 14) 'they run and return,' and on this condition has the Covenant been
made.
Mishnah 9 and 10. Ten Sephiroth belimah - One: the Spirit of the living God, blessed and
again blessed be the Name of Him Who liveth f or ever - Voice and Spirit and Word, and
this is the Holy Ghost .
Two: Wind (air, spirit?) from (out of) Spirit - thereby ordered and hewed He the twenty-
two letters of foundation, three mothers, and 7 duplicate, and 12 simple ones, and one
Spirit from (among) them. Three: Water from beneath (wind), He designed and hewed in
them thou vavohu, slime and dung - designed them like a bed (a garden bed), hewed them
like a wall, covered them like pavement. Four: Fire from water, He designed it and
hewed in it the throne of glory, the Ophanim and Seraphim, the sacred living creatures,
and the angels of service, and of these three He founded His dwelling place, as it is said,
He maketh His angels breaths (winds), and His ministers a flaming fire.
Mishnah 11. Five: Three letters from out the simple ones: He sealed spirit on the three,
and fastened them in His Great Name ωηψ (Jehovah, of which these three letters are the
abbreviation; what follows shows how the permutation of these three letters makes the
varied relationship of God to creation in time and space, and at the same time, so to
speak, the immanence of His manifestation in it). And He sealed with them six outgoings
(ends, terminations): He turned upwards, and He sealed it with ωηψ . Six: He sealed
below, turned downwards, and sealed it with ηωψ . Seven: He sealed eastward, He turned
in front of Him, and sealed it with ωψη. Eight: He sealed westward, and turned behind,
and sealed it with ψωη. Nine: He sealed southward, and turned to His right, and sealed
it with ηψω. Ten: He sealed northward, and turned to His left, and sealed it with ψηω.
Mishnah 12. These are the Sephiroth belimah - one: Spirit of the living God, and wind
(air, spirit? the word ruach means all these), water, and fire; and height above and below,
east and west, north and south.
Pereq II
Mishnah 1. Twenty-and-two letters of foundation: three mothers, seven duplex, and
twelve simple ones - three mothers #µ), their foundation the scale of merit and the scale
of guilt, and the tongue of statute trembling (deciding) between them . (This, to be
mystically carried out, in its development, and application to all things: the elements,
man, &c.)
Mishnah 2. Twenty-two letters of foundation: He drew them, hewed them, weighed them,
and interchanged them, melted them together (showing how in the permutation of letters
all words - viewed mystically as the designation of things - arose), He formed by them the
nephesh of all that is formed (created), and the nephesh of everything that is to be formed
(created).