The ten negative mitzvahs, hinted to by the letter yud are masculine, and the five remaining hinted to by the letter hei are feminine.

Yud and hei are male and female relative to each other.

The reason for this is that yud-hei are male and female relative to each other. Being the first two letters of the name, they are called the upper unification.

Even though the negative commandments are primarily feminine, male and female aspects exist within and relative to themselves, in their own infrastructure.

The six positive mitzvahs alluded to by the letter vav are masculine, whereas the five alluded to by the last hei are feminine.

The same relationship between yud-hei above is found by vav-hei below in the lower unification.

I did not receive from my teacher knowledge of what the ten masculine negative mitzvahs are, but these are the five remaining feminine mitzvahs referred to by the first hei:

1. Do not murder, which includes not embarrassing a person in public, since [when one is shamed,] the red [blood in his face] goes and leaves him [looking] white. It is therefore [considered] a form of spilling blood.

2. Do not steal, a warning regarding things of monetary value.

3. Do not cook a kid [meat] in its mother’s milk.

4. Do not eat [forbidden] fat.

5. Do not eat blood.

These are the six positive mitzvahs of the letter vav:

1. Your brother shall live with you; this is like the mitzvah to give tzedakah and it means to seek out a way to be able to live together without financial hardship.

2. Eat tithes of the second year [ma’aser sheni] in Jerusalem.

3. Make a parapet for your roof.

4. Procreate and fill the land.

5. Circumcise your son.

6. Love your neighbor as yourself.

The five feminine positive mitzvahs alluded to by the final hei are:

1. Lend to a poor person, and the way to recall this is, "If you will lend money to My people …" (Ex. 22:24); don’t read "im" [if], rather read "aim" [mother]. (Hei is the maternal letter, thus this mitzvah associates with it.)

2. Tzitzit, and included in this is to put it on the shoulder, for as we mentioned the root of this particular soul was from the shoulder.

3. Send away the mother bird, and your reminder is: Surely send away the mother bird.

4. Keep the Shemita year.

5. Remember the exodus from Egypt.

 A person who does not learn Torah blemishes the sefira of tiferet.

A person who does not learn Torah blemishes the sefira of tiferet, since in each of the Four Worlds of ABY"A Torah is on the level of tiferet.

There are four levels and their pneumonic is, "PaRDeS" for: Peshat, Remez, Drash, and Sod. A person who merits to enter the depths of these four levels, merits, in the end, to all of the levels. And with respect to him it says, "He will do (special things) for one who waits for Him." (Isaiah 64:3).

This verse is referring to the pleasures of the World-to-Come.

However, the one who does not want to learn Torah, even the simple meaning of the verses, blemishes tiferet of Asiya. One who does not wish to pursue proofs for a Torah matter [i.e., Hints], blemishes the tiferet of Yetzira. One who does not learn the exegetical teachings of the Torah [Drash] blemishes the tiferet of Beriyah. And, one who does not learn the mysteries of Torah [Sod] blemishes the tiferet of Atzilut.

These high levels all depend upon little man below. When one learns, he draws to them nourishing, sustaining light. If not, they are left lacking. Learning Torah is not a mental exercise. It is not a way of amassing data. It is a spiritual process that illuminates the self and all the worlds dependent upon it, each according to his soul root.

[Translation and commentary by Perets Auerbach.]