Shaarei Orah

‫שערי אורה‬
Sefaria Community Translation
https://www.sefaria.org

Shaarei Orah

Introduction

You asked me, brother, dear friend, to clarify in front of you a path about the names of the Holy
One, Blessed be He, the Exalted and Almighty, to produce with them according your will and to
reach through them the object of your desire. And by seeing that your intention is honest, and
better than (simply fulfilling) your request, I must let you know which way will spread light (be
spiritually profitable); namely, what is the way that HaShem Almighty desires or does not desire.
And when you get to know this, then call HaShem and He will respond. And you will be closest
to him. And love Him with all your soul, and rejoice on HaShem. And He will grant you the
requests of your heart.
Do you not know? Have you not heard? Hashem is the L-rd of the Universe, before Him tremble
all of the upper worlds and lower worlds, from the fear of Him the earth trembles and before His
wrath who can stand? (Nahum 1:6) Who shall endure before His anger? He places no trust
even in His holy ones, and the heavens hold no merit in his eyes. How much less man who is
vile and corrupt and who drinks wickedness like water. (Job 15: 15-16). How may a mortal use
the His holy names and make from them an axe to chop with? Who is he who conspired to do
so? To snatch the kingly crown for his own personal use? Behold, our sages have said: anyone
who utters the name of Hashem according to the way it is written has no share in the world to
come. The holy Rabbi Chanina ben Tradion did not utter Hashem's name in a profane manner
or for his own use, rather in a manner of respect in order to learn and understand the ways of
Hashem blessed be He and he was still punished, we who are (spiritually) impoverished and
lacking, how much more so!?

First Gate, Tenth Sefirah

Second Gate, Ninth Sefirah

Third and Fourth Gates, Seventh and Eight Sefirah

Fifth Gate, Sixth Sefirah

Sixth Gate, Fifth Sefirah

Seventh Gate, Fourth Sefirah

Eight Gate, Third Sefirah

Ninth Gate, Second Sefirah

From the narrow place I called to YAH; He answered me and brought me relief YAH.
The ninth of the holy names is Yah. You must known that the great and blessed name Havayah
is a singular name. This is because it unifies all ten Sefirot as one. We have already explained
that the first two Sefirot are included in the letter yud of the singular Name: The tip of the yod is
Keter, and the body of the yod is Chochmah. The third Sefirah, unified by these two, is Binah,
which represents the first hey of the Name. We find, then, that the included within the [first] two
letters of the Name are the three upper Sefirot. The letter vav of the Name includes six Sefirot:
three from the middle of the letter vav and above, and these are Gedulah, Gevurah and Tiferet;
and three from the middle of the vav and below, and these are Netzach, Hod and Yesod. The
last Sefirah of the Name, which is the tenth, is the last letter of the Name, and this is the letter
hey.
Now we must teach you why the two first letters of the Name [form] a name in themselves while
the last two letters are not a name in themselves. You already know what we explained
regarding the two ‫ה‬-s of the Name: the first ‫ ה‬is Binah, within which the lower Sefirot are
contained. The last ‫ ה‬is Malchut, which is united with the nine upper Sefirot through Yesod. The
main point is that the essence of all the Sefirot are the three upper Sefirot from which the lower
seven flow out abundantly. If, heaven forbid, this drawing down of the three were to cease, the
temple would be destroyed and the palaces burned, and the children exiled among the nations.
Therefore the first half of the name, Yah, can be pronounced by itself while the second half, vav
hey, cannot be pronounced by itself...

Tenth Gate, First Sefirah