The Book of Raziel the Great

...that one should praise another and not praise himself, as it is written: "Let a stranger praise you, and not your own mouth" Proverbs 27:2. However, one may speak to a companion or a student so that they may learn from his words, and in that context, he may praise himself The text suggests that self-praise is only permitted for educational purposes to inspire others, as it is said: "And I shall be whole with Him, for I have kept the ways of the Lord." The man was raised up on high 2 Samuel 23:1, and similarly, "How I have loved Your days." He told them how he lived a long life so that they too might do the same. All positive commandments should be performed in secret, as it says, "and walk humbly with your God" Micah 6:8. But if you perform them so that others may learn from you, do so in front of everyone—such as wearing Tefillin phylacteries, Tzitzit ritual fringes, and the study of Torah—for "the envy of scribes increases wisdom" and the performance of commandments.

Whatever you can do, perform the positive commandments for the sake of Heaven, as it is said: "If you are righteous, what do you give to Him?" Job 35:7. Any commandment that has no one else to perform it, occupy yourself with it. Place the love of your Creator alone and the fear of your needs before your face. Be quick to perform the commandments with joy. Do not speak idle words in any place, and certainly not in the synagogue where the Divine Presence The Shekhinah is before you; sit in awe before Him and direct your heart to thank Him. It is not enough to merely avoid transgressions because of the shame people feel before others; even if no person sees you, one should fear lest it become known to people and he be ashamed. Rather, regarding any transgression that others do and you do not do, your reward is doubled. For every man may look upon the face of a King, but before a woman [it is different]. It is certainly a commandment to see the face of the King, for "your eyes shall behold the King in his beauty" Isaiah 33:17, but it is forbidden to gaze at women, as we say in Chapter 190, 7 Likely a reference to a specific legal code or ethical text, that it is forbidden to look even at an unmarried woman, and how much more so a married woman. If you restrain your spirit and do not look at the faces of women, your reward is doubled and redoubled. Know that anyone who increases words brings about sin. Calculate the "loss" of a commandment against its reward. Let all your deeds be for the sake of Heaven. It is good that you take hold of this, and more than these, be careful. If you do so, happy are you in this world, and it shall be well with you in the World to Come. "My help comes from the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth" Psalms 121:2.

The Secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him Psalms 25:14. This is the secret of the Work of Creation. Rabbi Isaac said: The Torah should not have begun but from "This month shall be for you" Exodus 12:2, the first commandment given to the nation. Why then did it open with "In the beginning"? Because it is said: "He has declared to His people the power of His works" Psalms 111:6. All this was done so that they might know, understand, and contemplate His great and awesome deeds, and testify that there is none like Him and none beside Him. I shall write this book, called "Secret" (Sod), to make known the might of the Creator of the universe. Happy are those who know it, for anyone who knows the secret and fears the Lord is assured that he is a child of the World to Come. I will write for you orally the Gates—all that exists above—to know the unity of the Glory. Set your heart upon His awe and prostrate yourself to Him, for He is one and there is no second to Him, blessed be He.

The word "Aleph" (אלף) is written in a large, ornate square script, enclosed within a rectangular border featuring decorative flourishes.

Aleph

This represents the Holy One, Blessed be He, for He is first and He is last. He is King over the whole world and there is none like Him. Just as the letter Aleph (א) is the head of the letters, so the Holy One, Blessed be He, is the head of all the angels. Aleph (א) is one, which is the smallest count, for there is nothing less than it. Revavah 10,000 is a large count. When Aleph is at the beginning of a word, it is "one" (1); when Aleph is at the end of a word, it is "ten thousand" (10,000) This refers to a mystical interpretation where the word Eleph (thousand/one) changes meaning based on context or positioning. It says that he returns from "one" and from "ten thousand," as it is written in Ezekiel, "one thing to one" Ezekiel 37:16-17, and in Daniel it is written, "ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him" Daniel 7:10. The Aleph at the beginning of the count is "one," as in "one ten-thousand" (had revu), and the Aleph at the end is "ten-thousand" (rebu). This makes known to mankind that He is one and there is no second to Him; He is first and He is last, like the Aleph which is at the beginning of the count and at the end of the count. Furthermore, Aleph is at the start of the alphabet (A, B, C, D) and also at the end in the reversed alphabet (Tashrak). Its pronunciation involves three letters: A-L-P (Aleph).

The Aleph (א) is among the guttural letters (from the throat); the Lamed (ל) is among the letters of the tip of the tongue and the middle of the palate; the Pe (פ) is among the letters of the lips. Thus, the word "Aleph" begins at the house of swallowing (the throat), is in the middle of the palate and the tongue, and its pronunciation ends at the lips. This is to inform you that He is one: the first, the middle, and the last. The letter Aleph turns its face away from the other letters to tell you that the One in His world, when He created the world, turned His face away from the world, as it is said, "He saw there was nothing and did not look," because He foresaw the destruction of the Temple. He said, "I have no pleasure in My world; I will hide My face from it."

Know that at the very beginning of the creation of the world, there was a hint of the destruction of the Temple. The Beit (ב) of Bereshit ("In the beginning") is large to say that the "Beginning" refers to the Temple, of which it is written, "A glorious throne, on high from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary" Jeremiah 17:12. Then it opens with "And the earth was chaos and void" (Tohu va-Vohu). The middle word in Gematria Gematria is the Jewish system of assigning numerical values to Hebrew letters hints that the First Temple would stand for 410 years. And the "H" and "T" numerical values hint that the Second Temple would stand for 420 years. Tohu va-Vohu refers to the two Sanctuaries, both of which stood for roughly 400 years; this is "And I shall dwell (ve-shakhanti) among them" Exodus 25:8, where the word "dwell" (shakhan) contains the number 410. In many places, the destruction of the Temple is hinted at. And here, in "In the beginning" (Bereshit), it makes known that at the start of the world the destruction of the House was mentioned, for everything He created shall be destroyed, and "the Lord alone shall be exalted" Isaiah 2:11.

The letter Beit (ב) also means "house" (Bayit). He created everything in "twos" (Beit equals 2), for everything has a partner: two worlds (this world and the world to come), heaven and earth, mountains and hills, seas and rivers, Hell and the Garden of Eden, the Leviathan and the Piercing Serpent, the sun and the moon, male and female, the wicked and the righteous. Man has two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, a mouth and a tongue, two hands, two legs, and ribs on this side and that side. Even the fat tail of a sheep is divided into two by a single sinew. All this is to inform you that everything has a pair; therefore, the Torah opens with the letter Beit (2), except for Him, who is One in His kingship, blessed be He.

Therefore, the name Aleph is at the head of the letters, and Aleph is at the start of the name Adonai (Lord). But the letter Yod (י) is at the head of the Pre-eminent Name, Y-H-V-H. This is the sound of the breath from the Melafum vowel sound to inform us that He created His world with ten utterances, filling everything. Furthermore, the pronunciation of "El" is above... The text describes the mystical pronunciation and vowel points of divine names to inform us that He is unique above the seven heavens and rules over all. (Another version: The tongue of His name is Aleph, and the name Ehyeh ["I Shall Be"], which is the beginning of the ten Sefirot The ten divine attributes or emanations in Kabbalah from top to bottom, [begins with Aleph]. And Adonai, which is the end of the ten Sefirot at the bottom, begins with Aleph).

The Aleph is the head of all letters and the end of the letters in the reversed alphabet, like the "material of a seal," to show that everything is One. Within these letters is the pronunciation of all the Holy Names. The reason Yod (י) is at the head of the Pre-eminent Name Y-H-V-H is because one cannot write an Aleph without first starting with a Yod In Hebrew calligraphy, the letter Aleph is composed of a diagonal Vav and two Yods. Also, no movement or vowel pronunciation can exist without the Yod, Vav, or Yod—whether it is a Holam, a Melafum, or a Hirik. This is to inform us that with the Yod, He created the ten Sefirot, the middle world, and the lower world. The Aleph itself contains the Shva, Tzere, Patah, Hirik, Holam, Melafum, and Hataf-Patah...