And a candle is lit for it above its head, and it gazes from one end of the world to the other, as it is stated: “When His lamp shined above my head, and by His light I walked through darkness” (Job 29:3). And do not wonder how one can see from one end of the world to the other, as a person can sleep here, in this location, and see a dream that takes place in a place as distant as Spain [beAspamya].

And do not be surprised, for just as a person sleeps here and sees a dream in Spain, and when he wakes up from his sleep he has nothing in his hand from what he saw, so it is with the fetus...

And a fetus is taught the entire Torah while in the womb, as it is stated: “And He taught me and said to me: Let your heart hold fast My words; keep My commandments, and live” (Proverbs 4:4). And it also states: “As I was in the days of my youth, when the converse of God was upon my tent” (Job 29:4)...

...And once the fetus emerges into the airspace of the world, an angel comes and slaps it on its mouth, causing it to forget the entire Torah, as it is stated: “Sin crouches at the entrance” (Genesis 4:7), i.e., when a person enters the world he is immediately liable to sin due to his loss of Torah knowledge.

...Why do they teach it in vain and then make it forget afterwards? But it is like this: The Torah is hidden from the eyes of all living things, and there is no way for a man on earth to attain even a little bit of it without divine help and assistance. 'For [G-d] spoke and it was" (Tehillim 33:9), and "who can say to [G-d] 'What are you doing?'" (Koheles 8:4). But if it is the act of G-d, then there is no room for reward and punishment, since it is inevitable as it has been decreed by the Creator. Therefore, they make it forget the entire Torah when he comes into the world, so that he may acquire the knowledge of the Torah afterwards of his own free will, with effort and free choice, and with sound mind. And the purpose of teaching him the whole Torah in the womb of his mother is so that it will remain engraved in him by the power of divine help, so that he will be able in the world to it from potentiality to actuality. And if he did not have the reality of the Torah in potentiality, there would be no way to to touch even the edge of the matters of the Torah in this world, just as, by way of analogy, it is impossible for fish in the sea, whose whole life is in the water, to be able to strive with effort to fly in the air like a bird in the sky.

Rav Shmuel bar Rav Yitzḥak says: When Reish Lakish would introduce his discussion of the Torah passage of sota he would say this: Heaven matches a woman to a man only according to his actions, as it is stated: “For the rod of wickedness shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous” (Psalms 125:3), indicating that if one has a wicked wife it is due to his own evil conduct. Rabba bar bar Ḥana says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: And it is as difficult to match a couple together as was the splitting of the Red Sea, as it is stated in a verse that speaks of the exodus from Egypt: “God makes the solitary individuals dwell in a house; He brings out prisoners into prosperity [bakosharot]” (Psalms 68:7). God takes single individuals and causes them to dwell in a house by properly matching a man to a woman. This is similar to the exodus from Egypt, which culminated in the splitting of the Red Sea, where He released prisoners into prosperity.

The Gemara asks: Is that so that a man is matched to a woman according to his actions? But Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: Forty days before an embryo is formed a Divine Voice issues forth and says: The daughter of so-and-so is destined to marry so-and-so; such and such a house is destined to be inhabited by so-and-so; such and such a field is destined to be farmed by so-and-so. This clearly states that these matters, including marriage, are decreed for a person even before he is formed. The Gemara answers: This is not difficult. This statement that Rav Yehuda says in the name of Rav is with regard to a first match [zivug], while this statement of Rabba bar bar Ḥana in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan is with regard to a second match. A first match is decreed in heaven; a second match is according to one’s actions.

"Is that so?" - How can a person's match be determined according to their righteousness and wickedness? After all, before their creation, when their righteousness and wickedness are not yet known, their match is proclaimed. And if you say that everything is revealed before G-d, [the answer is that] "everything is in the hands of heaven except for fear of heaven," as it says in Tractate Niddah (16b)...

Second match - in accordance with his actions. And it is as difficult as the splitting of the Red Sea.

There are those who interpret it that the reason why it is compared to the redemption of the Jews from Egypt is because there [G-d] killed the Egyptians and drowned them in the Red Sea for the sake of the Jews. So too, he kills the husband of this one and the wife of that one and pairs them up together, since we established that this is second marriage.

If he came by himself [unmarried], he shall go out by himself. If he was married, his wife shall go out with him.

However, if he is a married man, who has just been married, and they try [to concieve], but are not able to, he is not punished like the other one. He will not enter alone, and he will not come out alone. But if he is a married man, HaKadosh Baruch Hu does not withhold the reward of any creature, even though they did not merit children. What is written? "And his wife will go out with him."(Exodus 21:3) - they are both reincarnated, and they merit to be reunited just as before.

...The understanding of first and second marriages is not literal, because many second marriages are better than the first, as we see with our own eyes every day. But the explanation of the matter is understood in what the Saba d'Mishpatim says in the Zohar on the verse "If a man has a wife and she goes out with him." (Exodus 21:3) The idea is that when a man is new, meaning that it is the first time he has come into this world, then his female counterpart is born with him, as is known. And when the time comes for him to take her [as a wife], she is available immediately, without any trouble at all.

But if this person has transgressed and needs to reincarnate because of it...then when the time comes for him take her [as a wife], she is not available immediately, but after great trouble. Because since he reincarnated because of some transgression, there are accusers above who want to hold her back from him and cause them to quarrel. And about this they said, "It is difficult to match them like the splitting of the Red Sea." And it is a situation like this which is called a second marriage, meaning that she is his true match, but she was already married to him once before at the beginning.