Parte 4 · Capítulo 1

El texto del Ari

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You already know that we have no strength to study prior to the emanation of the ten Sefirot, or imagine any image and shape whatsoever1. However, to simplify matters we do need to speak allegorically2. Therefore, even if we speak of a picture that is up there, it is only to simplify matters.
However, you should know that the ten Sefirot of Atzilut are two matters3: The first is the expansion of spirituality, and the second is the vessels and organs, where the self expands. All this must have a root above, for these two phases, and therefore we need to speak of the order of degrees from Rosh to Sof.
It is written “And saw in a dream, and, behold, the he-goats which leaped upon the flock were Akudim [streaked], Nekudim [speckled], and Brudim [grizzled].4” It is also written, “For I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.”This verse implies all these phases that we discuss here. Laban is the upper whiteness that precedes all this Atzilut and makes all these phases, namely Akudim, Nekudim and Brudim, for the purpose of Atzilut that will emanate after them.It is called by the name Yaakov [Jacob] and began with Akudim as they are the lights that come out from the Peh of Adam Kadmon. The manifestation of the HaVaYot of the vessels began in them, since the ten inner and surrounding lights are tied and connected together in a single vessel. For this reason, it is called Akudim [bound], from the words, “and bound Isaac,” meaning tied.
In the bonding of the inner lights with the surrounding lights, they are connected inside the Peh5. Consequently, when they emerge together outside the Peh, bound together6, they strike one another and clash with each other7, and the HaVaYot of the vessels are born from their striking.
Prior to the existence of Akudim8, the upper light could not clothe any vessel. That is because the vessels could not tolerate it9, and the light did not clothe the vessel until the expansion of that great light reached the phase of Akudim10. Then, the existence of a single vessel for that great light has been made, and there began a certain limitation of the light in Atzilut20, which could not have been done thus far30.
However, first the entire light was of the parts that reach Atzilut. They were all concealed in but a single vessel, and that vessel had the phase of the vessel of the upper Keter in it. Afterwards, the light expanded further down from that phase, called Akudim, and then ten vessels were made.
Let us begin to clarify the existence of Akudim, what it’s about. Know that the upper light is the part that is fitting to clothe Atzilut. It has the force of the ten Sefirot, although they are as yet not apparent as ten lights, but only after the completion of Akudim40. However, certainly the force of these ten lights was there to begin with50, but since the light was not limited inside the vessel60, it was still not apparent that they are ten70.
What did the upper emanator do when He wished to create that vessel called Akudim? He extended His light downward until a sufficient measure for the creation of Akudim had existed, which from the Peh to the Tabur80, and after He extended it90, that light departed upward and returned to its origin in the Peh100.
It is known that when the upper light expands and disappears once more, it necessarily leaves a record below. That light is the record that remains below. When the upper light departs and becomes concealed in its origin, the light of this record remains below, without that upper light. Then, a vessel is formed by the distancing [of the] remaining light. The expansion of the light and its subsequent departure caused the making of the vessel200.
When the first light departed once more, it departed at once, in a single moment300. Hence, all the remaining light became one vessel. It is called a vessel, called Keter, since the upper light had not yet been distinguished in ten Sefirot, for their being ten Sefirot had not yet become apparent. The reason it is called Keter and not some other Sefira is that Keter is always close to the Emanator.
However, although we have explained above that there are the vessels of Malchut and Yesod etc. in this vessel, they are still not called ten vessels since they are still not recognized as ten Sefirot, and also because the light departed together. The thing is that it is like one long vessel, whose parts are not equal, according to the distance of these parts from end to end400.

Luz Interior

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Inciso 1

Because all these phases we discern in the worlds stem and emerge from the world of Atzilut downward, meaning from the world where ten Sefirot and the correction of the lines have already appeared as Hesed, judgment and mercy.However, above the world of Atzilut, meaning before the ten Sefirot appear, we have no grasp there, sufficient to discern any similarity and disparity of form between one Sefira and another. That is because attainment begins from the clothing of the ten Sefirot in ten vessels, meaning from the world of Atzilut downward.That is why the ARI writes, “we have no strength to study prior to the emanation of the ten Sefirot, or imagine any image and shape whatsoever.” It is so because prior to the emanation of the ten Sefirot that appeared in the world of Atzilut, the ten Sefirot were regarded as light without a vessel suitable for it, and it is known that we have no attainment in the light without a vessel.
It means that from the world of Atzilut downward we can hint at the discernments in the spiritual upper roots above, as an allegory and metaphors taken from the reality or from the conducts of this world. All the details of the created beings and their modes of conduct in this world cascade and are extended from the upper worlds. It is just like the relation between the seal and its imprint, where all the details in the seal are copied and transferred to its imprint, none are missing.Our sages wrote, “There is not a single blade of grass below that does not have an appointed angel above that strikes it and tells it, ‘Grow!’” (BeresheetRabbah, Portion 10, omissions from Part 1, item 1). This tells us that there is not even a tiny detail in this world that does not have a root in the upper world. This root operates on it in all its forms and inclinations, in everything it does here before us in this world.Thus, the sages have devised a special language to convey their attainment of the upper worlds orally and in text from generation to generation: They take the branches in this world, and with them, explain the reality of the upper worlds which relate to these branches.The above relations of root and branch begin only from the world of Atzilut downward, meaning after revealing the complete ten Sefirot, and not at all before that. It is therefore obvious that it is impossible to imply the existence of the upper worlds using the corporeal branches, as these branches do not have a direct relation to them, qualifying them to explain these concepts.The ARI writes there that here, too, he is speaking allegorically only to appease the ear. In other words, it is to give us some grasp, so as to show us the roots of the world of Atzilut. Thus, we must first understand the branch as it relates to its root in Atzilut, and then we can relate this root to its earlier root in the worlds that precede Atzilut.

Inciso 2

They are the matter of spiritual expansion, called NRNHY, and the matter of vessels and organs called KHB, HGT, NHYM, or five Partzufim: AA, AVI, and ZON in which the NRNHY clothe. Each of these matters is a separate study in itself, meaning its conducts of cascading and manifestation differ from the other.Moreover, they are completely opposite from one another, from one end to the other, since in the vessels, the upper vessels appear first. Keter appears first, then Hochma, and finally Malchut. The lights are the opposite: in them the lower ones appear first, beginning with the appearance of Nefesh, then Ruach and finally Yechida. Also, they are opposite in all their appearances and phases.Thus, if we do not thoroughly know the reasons for the matters, from their root, we will not be able to avoid confusion in this wisdom. The ARI wrote, “Therefore we need to speak of the order of degrees from Rosh to Sof.” It means that then we will thoroughly know the reasons for every single matter at its root. We will be able to understand and distinguish in each degree, the proper conducts and the orders in the vessels, and the proper conducts and the order in the lights, and we will not replace the terms of one with the other.

Inciso 3

These are names of the first three worlds that cascaded down from one another until the ten Sefirot were emanated properly. It refers to ten lights, called: Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida, clothed in ten vessels, called: Keter, Hochma, Bina, Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzah, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut.In the beginning, only one vessel was emanated, called the vessel Malchut. All the other ten lights were clothed and tied to that single vessel. Thus, that first world is called the world of Akudim, from the words bound and tied, as we will discuss henceforth.It is also called “one line,” or the world of Adam Kadmon. It is called one line because the light is clothed in but a single vessel, and it still does not have the three lines of governance called Hesed, Din [judgment], Rachamim [also mercy]. This vessel is called the quality of judgment, which is the vessel of Malchut.However, afterwards there was the association with the quality of mercy. It means that Malchut, called the quality of judgment, was incorporated and associated with each and every Sefira of its previous nine Sefirot, called the qualities of mercy.Through this association, a vessel was made in each and every Sefira, at which time the ten Sefirot were completed properly. Then the three lines of governance are formed in the ten Sefirot, called: Hesed, judgment, mercy.Our sages wrote: “In the beginning it came upon the thought to create the world in the quality of judgment; He saw that the world does not exist, preceded the quality of mercy and associated it with the quality of judgment” (Beresheet Rabbah). This verse seems unbecoming; are His thoughts like the thought of flesh and blood, who first want to do thus, but regret for some reason and do otherwise?However, we have already explained (Part 1, explanation of the words “Before” and “After”), that “Before and After” in spirituality mean cause and consequence. The cause is called first, and the consequence that is extended from it is called “after.”Our sages tell us that the first cause for the emanation of the worlds, called the “first world,” was emanated and emerged as only the vessel of Malchut, called the quality of judgment. However, “He saw that the world does not exist,” meaning it does not have that wholeness desired from the creation of the world, and so He “associated it with the quality of mercy.”In other words, it therefore became the element that causes the association of the quality of mercy with judgment. As a result, ten Sefirot of lights and vessels, in the three lines, Hesed, judgment, mercy, emerged and were emanated. Our sages also implied that same matter in another place in different words (Avot285): “The world was created in ten utterances. Could it not have been created with one utterance? But to avenge the wicked, who destroy the world that was created in ten utterances, and give a good reward to the righteous, who keep the world that was created in ten utterances.”Ten utterances refer to the ten Sefirot. They ask: “Since the first world of Hesed had been created in a single utterance, meaning with a single vessel, the vessel of Malchut, why then did ten Sefirot cascade and emerge from it?” They answered: “To avenge the wicked, etc., and to give a good reward for the righteous, etc.”In other words, the thought of creation to delight His created beings does not happen in another way, but by a conduct of reward and punishment, meaning the ten Sefirot, which is the governance in three lines, Hesed, judgment, mercy. Thus, the first world, where there was only the vessel of Malchut, had to cascade from state to state until the ten Sefirot were emanated, meaning the association of the quality of mercy with judgment. That, in turn, manifests the governance of reward and punishment that brings that benefit incorporated in the thought of creation.The beginning of the above association occurred in the world of Akudim itself by the refinement of the coarseness in the screen. As a result, three Partzufim emerged and cascaded there, called Galgalta, AB, SAG. Even though they are all still regarded as Akudim, still the association gradually occurs in them.Afterwards emerged, Partzuf BON of AK, called the world of Nekudim, where the three lines Hesed, judgment, mercy were emanated in the ten Sefirot of the first three, KHB, called Rosh. However, in the lower seven, the ten Sefirot still emerged in one line, and in that world was the matter of the breaking of the vessels.This breaking of the vessels became the cause for the matter of the association of the quality of mercy with judgment to be completed as three lines Hesed, judgment, mercy and ten complete vessels also in the seven lower Sefirot HGT NHYM that are in the following world, called the world of Brudim and the world of correction, since the correction of the world, according to the thought of creation, begins specifically in that world and not before.Now we have learned the difference between the three worlds, mentioned in the words of the ARI: the world of Akudim means that ten lights were bound and tied in a single vessel. However, in the world of Nekudim, in its upper three, KHB, there was already the association of the quality of mercy with judgment.Only in the world of Brudim, called the world of Atzilut, was the association of the quality of mercy with judgment corrected completely, in the seven lower Sefirot as well. Thus, we have here a clothing of ten lights inside ten vessels, and from that world begins the distinction of ten Sefirot in actual fact.

Inciso 4

You already know that the Peh is the Malchut of the Rosh of AK where the screen of phase four had been erected. It detains the upper light from expanding and clothing the fourth phase, as the upper light has the conduct of expanding in phase four also, and filling the entire reality as before the restriction. However, the screen established in the Peh detains it and does not receive it. This is called coupling by striking.The entire measure of the upper light that is suitable for clothing in phase four, which (as was said) she does not receive, this upper light returns backwards to its origin and becomes a clothing over the first nine Sefirot of direct light (see above Part 3, Chapter 12, and in Inner Light there). It turns out that all the lights that are destined to come into the worlds after their correction, called surrounding lights, are included in that reflected light that clothes the first nine Sefirot of direct light of the Rosh of AK.It is so because this is the upper light that is not received in phase four. Hence, it does not fill the entire reality as it was prior to the restriction. However, through all the couplings and the reflected light that are destined to appear in the worlds by raising MAN through the acts of the righteous, phase four becomes corrected until she becomes fit to receive the light as it was in Ein Sof before the restriction. It is written in The Zohar: “Ein Sof does not bring down His unification upon her until He is given his mate,” which is the correction of phase four.Now we have clarified that all the surrounding lights are included in the screen and reflected light in the Peh of the Rosh of AK, along with the inner lights, which are the nine Sefirot of direct light that are connected with it. The ARI writes, “The inner lights with the surrounding lights are connected inside the Peh,” meaning Malchut, by the power of the screen of phase four that is established there.
Both the inner light and the surrounding light are connected in phase four. The upper nine Sefirot of direct light are connected and clothed in her reflected light, which are called inner light, but the lights that are destined to come until the end of the correction, called surrounding lights, are also included in that reflected light. It is so because they are the essence of the reflected light, thus destined to manifest bit-by-bit over six thousand years and after that until the end of correction.
Because when the two lights descend and expand from the Peh down into the Guf of AK, the surrounding lights cannot clothe inside the Guf because of the force of the screen there, which detains that light (see Part 2, Table of Questions, item 4). Because they are connected and incorporated there, they too want to expand in the internality of the Partzuf. Hence, they refine the coarseness in the screen, meaning that force of detainment that does not let them clothe there.However, because of their clash with the coarseness of the screen, for which the screen is refined, it causes the departure of the inner lights from the Guf. It is so because as it becomes refined into the coarseness of phase three, the reflected light is shortened and clothes only the level of Hochma, and the light of Keter disappears from the Guf.When phase three is also refined into the coarseness of phase two, the reflected light is shortened to the level of Bina, and the light of Hochma also disappears until all the coarseness is refined and there is no more coupling by striking there. Then, the entire inner light disappears from the Partzuf. When the ARI writes, “they strike one another and clash with each other,” meaning that one rejects the other because the measure of the inner light is as the measure of the coarseness in the screen.Hence, in a greater coarseness it grows stronger, and vise-versa, the detainment of the surrounding lights that cannot clothe is only because of the coarseness and limit in the screen. For this reason, it refines the coarseness, and for this reason they clash with each other until they both depart.

Inciso 5

Akudim are regarded as the ten Sefirot of the Toch of the first Partzuf the reality that follows the first restriction, called Adam Kadmon. Prior to that there weren’t any Rosh, Toch, Sof in the upper light, but rather the upper light filled the entire reality (study closely in Part 1).The ARI writes, “Prior to the existence of Akudim,” meaning in the ten Sefirot in the Rosh of Adam Kadmon that precede the ten Sefirot of Toch of Adam Kadmon, called Akudim, “the upper light could not clothe any vessel.” It is thoroughly explained in Part 3, that there is no discernment of a vessel in the ten Sefirot of the Rosh, but only roots for the vessels.
The reflected light that rises from Malchut upward is not regarded as a vessel for reception of the upper light, but only as a root for a vessel of reception. Thus, as much as Malchut of the Rosh expands and broadens to ten Sefirot from her and within her by, the reflected light that overturns and descends from above downward, there are still no vessels there at all (see Part 3, Chapter 2, Inner Light, item 3).It is so because the reflected light rises there from below upward, and any clothing from below upward indicates departure from reception. The reason we call it clothing is that the ten Sefirot connect there and become a root for the clothing. This is why the ARI writes, “The vessels could not tolerate it.”
Until Malchut and the reflected light with her extend the ten Sefirot of the Rosh to the Toch from above downward. Then a single vessel was made, meaning the vessel of Malchut. She expanded, broadened and received the entire amount of light inside it. Her reflected light clothed the ten Sefirot of the Rosh (see Part 3, Chapter 2, Inner Light, item 3). These ten Sefirot that descend from the Rosh downward and clothe the vessel of Malchut that had expanded are the ones called the ten Sefirot of Akudim, or the world of Akudim.
Because Malchut in the Sof of that vessel, which is regarded as Malchut of the vessel of Malchut, limits the upper light on its path from expanding from her downward. The force of that limitation is called Tabur, or Chazeh.
Meaning that although Malchut of the Rosh also limits the upper light, which is why a coupling by striking occurred there, and the raising of the reflected light (see Part 3, Chapter 1, Inner Light, item 70), nevertheless this limitation and this reflected light of Malchut of Rosh are not regarded as an actual limitation, only as a potential limitation. As the ARI writes in Tree of Life, gate 42, Keter is like a primeval substance, containing the root of all four elements, but in potential, not in actual fact. It is therefore possible to call it Ein Sof and Emanator, referring to the ten Sefirot of the Rosh, called Keter.These words of the ARI are indeed profound, and we must understand them, for they pertain to the very root of the wisdom and its beginning. We must determine the difference between “potential” and “actual” that the ARI speaks of. He divides between the ten Sefirot of the Rosh that clothe the reflected light from below upward, and the ten Sefirot of the Guf that clothe the reflected light from above downward. It is for that reason that the ten Sefirot of the Rosh are sometimes called Ein Sof and Emanator to the ten Sefirot of the Guf.There is a great difference and distance between the reflected light that rises from the screen in Malchut upward, clothing the ten Sefirot of the Rosh, and the reflected light that descends with the direct light from the ten Sefirot of the Rosh down to the Guf. It appears that they are opposite from one another because the reflected light that rises from below upward, not only is it not regarded as a vessel of reception for the clothing direct light, but it even has in it resistance to reception.It is so because any “from below upward” means that the light turns to the Emanator and not to the receivers. However, the ascending reflected light still becomes a clothing for the upper light. In other words, it becomes the root for the attachment of the upper light to the emanated being, since the vessel of Malchut of the Rosh, which raised that reflected light, is expanded and broadened by it, from her and within her, and becomes a vessel of reception called the Guf of the Partzuf (see Part 3, Chapter 2, Inner Light, item 3). It is so because the ten Sefirot of the Rosh descend from above downward and expand and clothe within her.You see that although from the perspective of their own quality, the ten Sefirot of the Rosh depart from coming into the vessel of reception, as this is the meaning of reflected light that rises from below upward, meaning to the Emanator and not to the emanated beings, as was written above, nevertheless, all the light that is actually received in the Guf is only from the ten Sefirot of the Rosh that expand in it from above downward, as explained in item 30.For this reason, the ten Sefirot of the Rosh are considered to have ten potential Sefirot, but not actual. It means that the actual clothing of the light in the vessels is not at all in the Rosh, but only the potential and the root from which this clothing will be extended. That is why the Rosh is called Ein Sof, or Keter.The ARI wrote, “Then,” meaning after the light expanded in the Guf of the Partzuf, called Akudim, “the existence of a single vessel for that great light has been made, and there began a certain limitation of the light in it, which could not have been done thus far.”It means that before the Akudim, meaning in the Malchut of the Rosh, there could not be any limitation there because when Malchut limits and raises reflected light in the ten Sefirot of the Rosh, this limitation is actual bestowal, since the greater the limitation, the greater the measure of bestowal. The limitation of phase four extends the level of Keter, and a smaller limitation, meaning only on phase three, extends only the level of Hochma. Thus, no limitation is discerned in the Rosh whatsoever.

Inciso 7

Meaning only after the two Partzufim AB and SAG of AK emerged and were revealed. When the light entered and departed the vessel ten times, and these entrances and exits created and distinguished the ten separate lights.
This is before they expanded to Akudim, meaning in the ten Sefirot of Rosh where the ten Sefirot are only in potential and not in actuality (see this chapter, item 30).
This limitation begins to manifest only through a coupling by striking and the ascents of reflected light from below upward in the second look that comes after the clothing of the light in the emanated being, meaning after Akudim. However, the light is not limited by the first look in Malchut of the Rosh: remember that.
Even in the expansion from the Rosh downward it was still not apparent that they are ten lights, because the ten lights are regarded as a single light. It is so because all the differentiations in the lights are from the perspective of the vessels in which they clothe. Since here there is only one vessel, the ten lights are also regarded as a single light.

Inciso 8

Malchut of the Rosh is called Peh, and Malchut of the Guf is called Tabur. The first nine Sefirot of the Guf begin to expand from the Peh, meaning from Malchut of the Rosh, and end at the Tabur, which is Malchut of the Guf.The entire place from the Tabur down to the Sium of the Guf is regarded only as the Sefira of Malchut. Even though there are ten Sefirot from the Tabur down, they are regarded as reflected light, and female light, and as receivers that cannot bestow. Thus, the expansion of direct light from the Peh down is considered to extend only through the Tabur, where it stops because of the screen in Tabur.
Meaning as the second look, as the ARI wrote (Part 3, Chapter 12) that it comes after the light is drawn to the vessel and not before (see Inner Light, Chapter 7, item 60).
It is Malchut of the Rosh, called Peh. It is regarded as the origin of the entire light that expands in the Guf of the degree because she extended it through the first look that is done in her (Part 3, Chapter 12).

Inciso 9

The vessel is made primarily through the record that remains after the departure of the light, as explained here in the words of the ARI. Hence, both are equal in the making of the vessel. Therefore, two couplings are needed here, called: the first look and the second look. The first look is for the expansion of the light, while the second look is for the departure of the light.It is by these two phases of couplings that the vessels of reception of the degree are completed, as it is written, “as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good … so the Lord will rejoice etc.” Rejoicing means coupling. There is an upper coupling to destroy, meaning the departure of light, as there is an upper coupling to do good, meaning expansion of light. For that reason they are both called rejoicing.

Inciso 10

Although couplings by striking are done there along the departure of the light, and because of it, four levels of ten Sefirot emerged one above the other, it is still regarded as a single departure at a single moment. It is so because the upper light copulates with the screen as it becomes refined and concealed, therefore, these couplings are not regarded as expansion.

Inciso 11

You will understand that from what is written in Part 1 (Inner Light, item 50). There are four phases in the upper light itself: HB TM, even before it expands for coupling by striking. Because of it, the single vessel, too, was impressed by the same four phases HB TM in the light. Thus, these ten Sefirot are also discerned in that single vessel, according to the distance of these four phases from end to end.However, since there is but a single vessel here, which is Malchut, the light is therefore regarded as a single light as well, without the discernment of ten Sefirot. It is so because we have no perception of the light, if not through the evaluation of its clothing in the vessels, and since the vessel is one, we also have a single light.

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