Parte 13 · Capítulo 114
O texto do Ari
Traduzido por IA
Ainda não disponível em Português — exibindo: English
- Know that the eight ways drawn in the skull opposite the face — four opposite the right cheek and four opposite the left cheek — are such that the place of the skull opposite the nose intervenes between them. Thus there are four ways on the right side, opposite the nose, and four ways opposite the left of the nose; hence there are eight ways opposite the face, and only four ways opposite the back. Now through these thirteen white ways the light of the skull, the first head of Arich Anpin, issues forth and shines through those ways in the secret of diminishing the light, so that it can be received.
Luz Interior
Traduzido por IA
Ainda não disponível em Português — exibindo: English
Observação Interior, perguntas e respostas
Ainda não disponível em Português — exibindo: English
Carregando a Observação Interior…
Este comentário ainda não foi associado a itens específicos — as notas aparecem na ordem de leitura, e o número ao lado de cada uma conta as próprias notas, não os itens do texto do Ari.
Não associado a um item
And they are regarded as VAK, only in relation to the Bina of Radla [the unknown head], in which the Hochma is revealed; and since the Galgalta of AA was corrected as the GAR of Bina in covered Hassadim, as above, therefore all three heads of AA are regarded as VAK in relation to that Bina of Radla. For even at the time of Gadlut [greatness/adulthood], the Galgalta does not change its degree, as above, and since it is the first Rosh of AA, therefore the whole level of AA is regarded, because of it, as VAK in relation to the Bina of Radla, as above. For this shows the matter of AA’s clothing of the ZAT of Atik, from Hesed downward, which lacks the GAR of the upper one, since it cannot clothe even the Bina of Radla. And therefore it is hinted at in the Vavs, which indicate VAK on the right and VAK on the left, and the Aleph in the middle. And all this diminution is made because the heads of the thighs of the NHY of Atik were raised above the Yesod, as explained, which established the Galgalta so that it does not receive the illumination of Hochma even at the time of Gadlut, like the Bina of Radla, and is therefore found to be in the discernment of VAK.
Now, through the aforementioned Aleph within the NHY of Atik, three discernments are made: one is the heads of the thighs that are above the Yesod, which are the discernment of the GAR of Bina and the Mem of Tzelem; two is the discernment of the thighs below the Yesod that come from the ZAT of Bina, namely the roots toward ZON that need the illumination of Hochma, which are the discernment of the Lamed of Tzelem; three is the discernment of the ZON of the Rosh itself, which need the illumination of Hochma, which are the discernment of the Tzadi of Tzelem. And understand the difference between Lamed and Tzadi, for it is great. For the Lamed of Tzelem, which is the ZAT of Bina, does not need the illumination of Hochma for itself, since it is a discernment of Bina like the GAR, but only in order to bestow it upon the ZON of the Rosh; therefore it is not diminished so much by the firmament, which is the membrane of the air, and it is not regarded as truly lower waters — unlike the Tzadi of Tzelem, which is the ZON of the Rosh, which is the one regarded as lower waters and bears the whole restriction made by the dividing firmament. Therefore from here come out three HaVaYot: two HaVaYot on the right and left of the Galgalta, which are the two aforementioned discernments of Mem-Lamed, which are the eight white ways on the side of the face — the HaVaYaH of the discernment of Mem stands to the right of the Galgalta, and the HaVaYaH of the discernment of Lamed stands to the left of the Galgalta. For the Mem has in it no power of restriction from the screen of the upper one, therefore it stands on the right; unlike the Lamed, which is the discernment of the ZAT of Bina, upon which the power of restriction rides, so that it cannot bestow Hochma upon the ZON of the Rosh, as above — for this reason it is regarded as the left. Yet both are regarded as the discernment of the face of AA, for even the HaVaYaH of the Lamed is not regarded as so restricted, since it itself does not need Hochma but only to bestow it upon ZON, as above, and is therefore regarded as the discernment of the face like the HaVaYaH of the Mem — except that there it becomes the discernment of the left.
But the third HaVaYaH, drawn from the Tzadi of Tzelem, which is the ZON of the Rosh, upon which the whole restriction of the screen of the upper one rides, as above — it can no longer stand in the discernment of the face of AA, but stands at the back of the Galgalta, and it is the four white ways at the back of the Rosh. And though it has already been explained well how the discernment of the membrane of the air, which was corrected in the middle of the NHY of Atik, divided its NH into two discernments — the NH above the Yesod, called concealed NH, and the NH below the Yesod, called revealed NH, which are the secret of the Aleph within Vav-Aleph-Vav — this is what caused three HaVaYot of the whitenesses to come out upon the Galgalta: two HaVaYot drawn from Mem-Lamed on the right and left in the face, and the third HaVaYaH drawn from Tzadi, which was drawn at the back of the Rosh. These are the thirteen white ways, and one that includes them all.
And this is what he said (in item 119): “Since their root is four discernments, namely two ears and two eyes, they were therefore divided on every side into four corrections; and understand this, both in the hairs and in the whitenesses” — meaning, as explained, that the discernment of the Aleph within the Vav is the secret of the division of the NH of Atik into two discernments: into concealed NH above the Yesod, which are the two ears, namely the discernment of Mem of Tzelem; and into revealed NH below the Yesod, which are the two eyes, which are the discernment of Lamed of Tzelem and Tzadi of Tzelem, as above. This is what caused three HaVaYot to come out, both in the whitenesses and in the hairs, four corrections on every side, of which the two HaVaYot of Mem-Lamed came out from the two sides of the face, and the HaVaYaH of Tzadi came out to the side of the back.
And it is still necessary to understand what the whitenesses and the hairs themselves are. And first it is necessary to know what this NHY of Atik is, that clothes in the Rosh of AA, which is divided into concealed and revealed NH, as above. And you must remember what was said above (page 637, the passage beginning “now”), that the matter of the clothing of the NHY of the upper one in the Mochin of the lower one does not mean the NHY of the structure of the Partzuf of the upper one, but rather they are the discernment of reflected light that came out upon the MAN [Mayin Nukvin] of the lower one at the time of its inclusion in the coupling of the upper one, which the ARI calls the externality of Malchut of the upper one that clothes in the lower one (as above, page 913, item 83, and see Inner Light there); for it can be called Malchut, and it can be called NHY, since the intent is upon the discernment of the screen corrected in the Atara [crown] of Yesod of the upper one, where the MAN of the lower one was included at the time of the coupling for the emergence of its Mochin; and since Yesod includes NHY, it can be called NHY. But in truth they are the whole ten Sefirot of reflected light, that clothe the direct light which comes out upon the MAN of the lower one included in the Atara of Yesod of the upper one. And since they are from the screen of the upper one, they are therefore regarded as NHY of the upper one; and since they are of the discernment of the MAN of the lower one that clothes upon its Mochin of direct light at the time of their emergence in the upper one, they therefore descend with these Mochin and clothe in the Rosh of the lower one. Study it there well.
And in this NHY of the upper one that clothes with the Mochin in the Rosh of the lower one, three places are discerned: one, while they are still in the upper one, meaning at the time the lower one is included there in the discernment of MAN, as above; two, at the time of their emergence from there, when they are corrected in the discernment of Tzelem before their entry to become inner Mochin in the Rosh of the lower one, as the ARI writes above (page 1164, item 117), see there; and three is when they clothe within the interior of the Rosh of the lower one and become garments of Mochin in it.
And know that the discernment of the whitenesses and the hairs comes out through this NHY in all three places mentioned above, but here, since it is a very high place, the ARI speaks only of the discernment of the third place, namely after their entry within the Rosh of AA, where they clothe as inner Mochin. Now the ARI explains here, in item 80, that when the reflected light rises from below upward and strikes the membrane of the air, it becomes there in the form of Vavs, which are the hairs; and the whiteness is made from reflected light before it reaches the membrane, and the hairs come out from the membrane; and since their root is Vavs, and Vav in its full spelling [Vav-Aleph-Vav] is thirteen in gematria, they were therefore made in the secret of thirteen, both the hairs and the whitenesses. Study it there well. Meaning: the Mochin of AA, clothed in the NHY of Atik, are of the discernment of the level of AB, as is known; therefore, at the entry of the Mochin into the Rosh of AA, when the coupling is made in the Atara of Yesod of Atik and it brings out in it the level of AB — were it not for that correction of the membrane of the air, which establishes the discernment of the Galgalta in covered Hassadim, by raising the heads of the thighs of the NH of Atik above the Yesod, as above — this level, which comes out from the screen and upward, would have had to reveal the light of Hochma even to the Galgalta of AA, in the way of all the couplings of the level of AB that came out in the Partzufim prior to Atzilut. But since here this correction of the membrane of the air is made, which raises the heads of the thighs clothed in the skull so that they do not receive Hochma, it follows that at the moment the reflected light rising from the screen strikes the membrane of the air there, the discernment of the light of Hochma of the AB departs from it — that is, from the Galgalta, as above. And that light which departed and went out to the outside of the Galgalta is what becomes the discernment of the hairs that hover over the Galgalta above it, in the discernment of a returning surrounding light, meaning that it had already been within vessels and returned and went out from there. For in all the levels of AB that preceded Atzilut, the light of Hochma was clothed within the AB internally; but here, because of the correction of the membrane of the air, it was forced to depart from the Galgalta and go out to the outside of the vessel, and is therefore called by the name a returning surrounding light.
And this is what he said (in item 117): “Thus it is found that there are two discernments to these lights: one, while they are below, coming out from their place until they reach the membrane, and were not yet in the form of Vavs, which are the hairs, but only white and pale lights; and the second is after their ascent through the membrane, when they became Vavs, which are the hairs. Therefore, corresponding to these two discernments, these two discernments were drawn: the thirteen whitenesses and the thirteen locks of hair — the whitenesses from the smooth place, and the hairs from the membrane.” Meaning: it has been explained that the hairs are the discernment of the Hochma that went out from the Galgalta, and cannot clothe within it because of the correction of the membranes of the air; but at the time the reflected light comes out from the screen, and before it strikes the membrane of the air, it would then have been fitting for it to continue and clothe the light of Hochma within the Galgalta, like the reflected light that rose from the screen in the prior Partzufim of AB. Therefore this discernment is discerned by itself, and is called by the name whitenesses, for it is revealed a little in the discernment of the vessel of the Galgalta itself, namely in the skin of the Galgalta. But from the discernment of its meeting with the membrane of the air, which thereby brought all the discernment of Hochma out of the Galgalta to the outside, this discernment is called hairs, and it is entirely a discernment of surrounding, meaning that they have no connection at all with the vessel of the Galgalta except in that they hang from it. Unlike the whitenesses, which are within the skin of the Galgalta, and are, in any case, some small measure of the vessel itself — and this is because it is of the discernment of the reflected light before it struck and received the correction of the membrane, as above.
But according to this, one may ask why these too were corrected in the secret of thirteen, which is Vav in its full spelling, as above, which indicates the discernment of VAK, inasmuch as it cannot clothe the Bina of Atik so that its GAR too would be in the illumination of Hochma — therefore it begins from the Hesed of Atik downward, and is therefore discerned as VAK on the right and VAK on the left, with the Aleph in the middle, which indicates the correction of the raising of the heads of the thighs in the secret of the upper waters from the Yesod, which is the firmament within the Aleph, as above, see there. And since the whiteness is of the discernment of the reflected light rising from the screen immediately at the start of its emergence, before it meets the correction of the membrane, which is the secret of the Aleph, it follows that it is not, of itself, in the discernment of thirteen, but according to its own measure it could clothe even the Bina of Radla, since it has not yet received the diminishing of the light coming from the membrane. Why, then, was it too corrected in the discernment of the thirteen whitenesses? To this the ARI continues and says: “Since their root is Vavs, and every Vav in its full spelling is thirteen in gematria, therefore both the hairs and the whitenesses were thirteen.” Meaning, since the inner vessels of the whole Rosh of AA received no change whatsoever from that whiteness — for only the skin of the Galgalta alone received this whiteness, and the whole Rosh remained limited according to the correction of the membrane — therefore the whiteness itself, too, is discerned according to this root, and it too was made in the secret of thirteen.
And this is what he said (in item 120): “And what is written in the Idra, that four hundred thousand worlds spread out from the whiteness of the Galgalta, etc. — this speaks only of those four ways alone that are at the back of the Galgalta, etc.” For it has been explained above, the matter of the division of the three HaVaYot of the whitenesses and the hairs, which follow the distinctions of Mem-Lamed-Tzadi of Tzelem, in that the two HaVaYot on the right and left are the Mem-Lamed of Tzelem, and the HaVaYaH at the back of the Rosh is the discernment of Tzadi of Tzelem. And the reason is that the Mem-Lamed, which are the discernment of the GAR and ZAT of Bina, do not need the illumination of Hochma, for even the Lamed does not need the illumination of Hochma for itself, but only in order to bestow it upon the Tzadi, and therefore both of them are the discernment of the face. But the HaVaYaH of the Mem is wholly to the right, for it is corrected as the discernment of the heads of the thighs above the Yesod, which are neither diminished nor enlarged by the Yesod, and therefore the screen of the upper one has no rule over it at all, and it is therefore on the right of the face; but the HaVaYaH of the Lamed, which in any case needs the illumination of Hochma in order to give it to the Tzadi, is therefore regarded as the left in relation to the Mem, but it too is found in the face, since it does not need it for itself. And only the HaVaYaH of the Tzadi, which needs the illumination of Hochma for itself, is therefore the only one that principally suffers from the screen, and is therefore found at the back of the Rosh. See there.
Therefore, in the discernment of the whitenesses, which are the discernment of the illumination of Hochma of the Galgalta, in the secret of its white skin, which is of the discernment of the reflected light before it struck the membrane of the air, and it did not receive from it the discernment of the diminishing of the light, as above — the principal power of it is discerned only in its third HaVaYaH, which is the HaVaYaH at the back of the Rosh, for the two HaVaYot of the face are only in the discernment of bestowers to the HaVaYaH at the back of the Rosh, as above. And this is what he said, that the four hundred thousand worlds of the spreading of the whitenesses are only from the HaVaYaH at the back of the Rosh, and from these four ways of whiteness the four hundred thousand worlds were drawn. For the intent is upon the spreading of the Hochma from it, as the ARI writes further on.
This spreading is found mainly in the four ways at the back of the Rosh, as explained.
And this is what he said in item 123: “The whiteness itself is four hundred thousand worlds, but its shining forth is only four hundred worlds; for in AA they are thousands, and in AVI they are hundreds; and this is what is said, in the world that is coming — for there they are hundreds, etc.; and you already know that every Keter [crown] is from the side of Ima, and this Galgalta is the discernment of Bina that surrounds the Hochma, etc.” Meaning: the light of Hochma is always called by the name thousands, in the secret of “and I will teach you wisdom”; and therefore the whiteness itself, which is the discernment of AB in the light of Hochma, since it did not receive the diminishing of the light from the membrane of the air, as above, is therefore itself the discernment of four hundred thousand worlds. But the righteous take it from the discernment of the Galgalta, in that it is the discernment of Bina that surrounds the Hochma — meaning, from that it is the discernment of the correction of the Mem, which is the discernment of the correction of the GAR of Bina that does not change its way, and is always in covered Hassadim, as above; and since the righteous can only receive the whiteness by means of the GAR of Bina, as above, this light is therefore diminished for them, and is not discerned in the discernment of thousands but in the discernment of hundreds, for Bina in relation to Hochma is discerned by the name hundreds. And this is what the Zohar states precisely: “The righteous inherit it in the world that is coming” — which is Bina, meaning by means of Bina.
But we have still not discharged the obligation of explaining what the ARI writes, that the whitenesses are the root of the illumination of Hochma that is in the hairs, as the ARI writes (page 1368, item 156): “And when it is a time of favor, then the thirteen whitenesses shine within the thirteen locks, and then the locks depart from upon the forehead and the face, etc., and a wondrous light shines in the thirteen corrections of the Dikna [beard],” study it there well. Thus, the whitenesses are the root of the illumination of Hochma of the hairs of the Rosh and the Dikna, through which the light of the face of AA is revealed. Therefore it is necessary to understand the matter of the whitenesses with still greater depth.
And first it is necessary to understand well the words of the ARI above (page 1076, item 139), in the secret of “the forest of Matzal.” And these are his words: “Now first comes Hochma, and afterward Daat, and afterward Bina, which are the three letters of the aforementioned Tzelem; thus the order is Matzal [Mem-Tzadi-Lamed], namely: Hochma, Daat, Bina. And this is called in Ezekiel, ‘fair of branch, and a forest that casts shade [Matzal],’ which is ZA, called the cedar of Lebanon,” see there. And it seems puzzling at first, that ZA, which is a branch of Bina, should bestow the illumination of Hochma upon its own root, which is Bina — why is the order reversed here?
And the matter is that there is here a great and important discernment, drawn from the ten Sefirot of direct light; and you must remember well what was explained above in the explanation of these ten Sefirot (page 5, the passage beginning “and the reason”), see there, the whole continuation. And it was explained there that the discernment of the drawing of the Hassadim from the Emanator is called the Sefira of Bina of direct light; and after Bina was emanated, it drew the illumination of Hochma to the light of Hassadim, and this drawing is called the Sefira of ZA of direct light, for this change in the light of Hassadim, which received the illumination of Hochma, separates the Hassadim from Bina, and it is called ZA, see there. Thus the Sefira of Bina in itself is only the light of Hassadim, without Hochma, and Hassadim with the illumination of Hochma is ZA. But after ZA was emanated, it is necessarily so that Bina received into itself also the illumination of Hochma from the Sefira of ZA, from below upward, even though it has no relation to this illumination of Hochma, being in the secret of “for He desires mercy.” And so it is found that, from this discernment of the illumination of Hochma, the branch is turned into a root, for the place of the illumination of Hochma is in ZA of direct light, and ZA shines to Bina from below upward from the discernment of its illumination of Hochma. And remember this always, for this is the key to all the Mochin of Atzilut.
And with this you will understand why the ARI sometimes says that the light of Bina is pure mercy, and no judgments whatsoever apply to it, and wherever the light of Bina spreads, the external forces flee from there; and at other times he says that judgments mix from it, as is written in the Zohar. With the above, you will understand this well: for from its own side, being the discernment of Hassadim without Hochma, no judgments whatsoever mix from it — on the contrary, in every place where its great light spreads, the external forces flee from there. But from the discernment of the illumination of Hochma that it received from ZA, from below upward, as above, from this discernment judgments do mix from it. And understand this well.
With the above, you will also understand the matter of the descent of the Nekudot of SAG below the Tabur of AK, whereby this descent connects to it the discernment of the bottom Hey of AK, so that a new restriction is made in the secret of the rise of the bottom Hey to the Einayim, which brought the AHP of all the degrees to the outside, as is known. And this is the secret of “and the two of them went,” for the two Heys joined with one another, as written in Part 7, see there. And in truth one may ask how it is possible that the Nekudot of SAG should join with the bottom Hey of AK and be diminished because of this, seeing that they are the discernment of the light of Hassadim; for the Taamim [tastes] of SAG did not descend below the Tabur, since they hold the discernment of AB, but the Nekudot of SAG, being only of the discernment of the light of Hassadim, could therefore descend below the Tabur, as is written (page 390, the passage beginning “and SAG”), see there. If so, why were they diminished because of this? Is it not known that no judgment or coarseness can rule over the light of Hassadim, seeing that upon them there was no restriction at all?
With the above you will understand this well. For the discernment of the bottom Hey that joined the first Hey, namely in the Nekudot of SAG, was not, in its own essential discernment, so; rather, it was through the discernment of the illumination of Hochma that necessarily exists there from the discernment of ZA of direct light — this illumination necessarily exists in it, only it is not called by that name in it, since it is not of its own discernment, and it has no relation to it, as above. But since it is found in it, this illumination became a place of grip for the bottom Hey of the NHY of AK, so that it could join there, in the secret of “and the two of them went”; and from there onward, judgments mix from it, that is, by the power of the joining of the bottom Hey to it, as explained.
With this you will understand still better the matter of the correction of the Mem of Tzelem through the power of the membrane of the air, which was explained above: that the screen in the Peh [mouth] of Atik separated the GAR of Bina from the ZAT of Bina by means of this membrane; for it set its screen beneath the GAR of Bina in the secret of the firmament that divides between water and water, so that the GAR of Bina was corrected as the upper waters, out of the Mem that bounds them so that they should not receive within themselves the illumination of Hochma even at the time of Gadlut — whereby it raised this Mem above the Yesod, meaning that it receives nothing at all from the Yesod, neither from its Katnut nor from its discernment of Gadlut, as is written (page 1339, the passage beginning “Bina”, see there). For this whole correction is meant to separate the GAR of Bina, so that it should have no connection whatsoever with ZA of direct light, and should no longer receive any illumination of Hochma from it. And understand this well.
And it is known that this correction of Mem-Lamed-Tzadi of Tzelem applies only at the time the Partzufim rise to the degree of the upper one — that is, when AA joins with Atik into a single Partzuf, and likewise AVI rise to the GAR of AA, and YESHSUT joins with them into a single Partzuf, and likewise ZA to AVI — namely at the time of the illumination of the upper AB and SAG, when the Parsaot are nullified for the time of the coupling, so that then every lower one joins with its upper one, since the second restriction of the bottom Hey in the Einayim is then nullified; and since every lower one is the AHP of the upper one, it is then found joining to the upper one, to its GE, as is known. And then the matter of Mem-Lamed-Tzadi of Tzelem applies, which indicates that this change of the nullification of the Parsa and the descent of the bottom Hey from the Einayim has no effect at all upon the Mem of Tzelem of every Partzuf, but only upon the Lamed within it, and in it the descent of the bottom Hey is discerned, in the secret of the going out of the Yod from Avir [air], leaving Or [light]. Unlike the Mem of Tzelem, which remains in the discernment of the air as before, meaning that it remains in the discernment of covered Hassadim without any change at all. But regarding the fixed Mochin of every Partzuf — namely, as the ARI divides them according to the levels of MA, where Atik took the Keter of MA, and AA the Hochma of MA, and AVI the Bina of MA, and ZA the discernment of Nefesh-Ruach of MA — from the side of these Mochin they are not discerned in Tzelem, but in the discernment of Samech and concealed Mem. For the Rosh of AA, in relation to Atik, is only Bina and ZON, namely its AHP, called the half of the lower Keter, of which the Bina is divided only according to Samech and concealed Mem; for their HBD HGT are the discernment of the GAR of Bina, and are called the upper AVI, and the discernment of the ZAT of Bina is called concealed Mem, for the reason that from the ZAT of Bina downward the screen of the upper one already rules, and they are in the discernment of VAK without a Rosh. And this is what the ARI writes, that the air is called the concealed brain within the skull, namely because it is the concealed Mem, as above.
And it is found that the Rosh of AA, from the side of its fixed state, is not called three heads, in the secret of Mem-Lamed-Tzadi, as above, but only Galgalta and Mocha Stimaa [the concealed brain] alone, for the brain of the air does not then rise by that name; rather, the Galgalta is the discernment of Samech, and it is the discernment of HBD HGT and the upper AVI — that is, down to the membrane of the air; and from the membrane of the air downward is the discernment of concealed Mem, called Mocha Stimaa. And accordingly, AVI, which clothe from the throat of AA downward, are discerned as AVI to the discernment of Samech, namely HBD HGT of Bina, as above; and from the Chazeh [chest] downward is discerned as the discernment of concealed Mem.
But at the time there is illumination of the upper AB and SAG, when the drop of AB nullifies the Parsaot and the three heads of AA rise and join to their GE which is in Radla, then this correction of Mem-Lamed-Tzadi is revealed, indicating that the matter of the nullification of the Parsa does not reach the HBD of the Galgalta but only its ZA, called the brain of the air, as above. And accordingly, with AVI, which rise to the GAR of AA, they are likewise divided into Mem-Lamed-Tzadi, in the manner explained above.
Now at that time, the upper drop of AB cannot come to the Lamed of Tzelem, for it is the discernment of Bina, like the Mem of Tzelem, meaning that it too is in covered Hassadim in the way of Bina, which from its root does not need Hochma, as above. Therefore the drop of AB comes first to the Tzadi of Tzelem, which is the discernment of ZA and the HaVaYaH of MA, which from the side of direct light is discerned as the discernment of the inner light of Hochma, as said above. And then the illumination of Hochma rises from ZA to Bina, which is the Lamed; and after the Lamed has received the illumination of Hochma, the Yod descends from the Avir [air], leaving Or [light]. In such a way that, just as in the discernment of the ten Sefirot of direct light the branch, which is ZA, bestows the illumination of Hochma upon its own root, so too now: when the illumination of AB wishes to bring the Yod down from the Avir of the Lamed of Tzelem, called the brain of the air, it first bestows upon the Tzadi, which is Mocha Stimaa, where the place of the illumination of Hochma is, and the illumination rises from Mocha Stimaa to the Lamed, which is the brain of the air, and the Yod goes out from the Avir, leaving Or.
And this is what the ARI means by the verse “fair of branch, and a forest that casts shade [Matzal],” that Daat, which is ZA and the Tzadi of Tzelem, receives first, and it bestows the illumination of Hochma upon Bina, which is the Lamed of Tzelem, and so the order Matzal is made, as above; for this is regarded as the beauty of the branch, that it becomes a bestower upon its own root, and therefore Scripture called it “fair of branch.”
And this is the merit of the whitenesses: for also in the discernment of the order of the coming of Hochma to AA, it is discerned likewise that Bina, which is the Lamed of Tzelem, received Hochma from the Tzadi of Tzelem, which is MA, and Mocha Stimaa. And it is found that, at the time of the coming of Hochma to Mocha Stimaa, the light of Hochma has not yet undergone the discernment of the clothing of Mem-Lamed, which drives out the GAR of Hochma from the Rosh of AA; for this clothing comes only after the coming of Hochma to Bina from ZA, when the going out of the Yod from the Avir of Lamed takes place, leaving Or, but the going out of the Yod from the Avir of Mem does not take place, and it remains in the discernment of Avir as before. But before Hochma has reached the Lamed, that is, while Hochma is still in Mocha Stimaa, Hochma is still revealed, without the garments of Mem-Lamed, and it clothes there in the inner vessels; and this discernment is called the whitenesses, namely while the light of Hochma is still in Mocha Stimaa. And after Hochma rises and meets the membrane of the air, where the discernment of the Lamed of Tzelem is, then the clothing in Mem-Lamed begins, and the revealed GAR of Hochma is forced immediately to depart from the inner vessels into the discernment of a returning surrounding, and the garments of that part of Hochma became the hairs, bursting forth and going out to the outside as the surplus of the brain. Thus the discernment of the whitenesses is the root of the hairs, for the whitenesses are of the discernment of Mocha Stimaa, which is the secret of a bestower upon Bina, and from this discernment it is the root, as above. And all the more so now, since the light also departed immediately upon striking the Lamed, namely the membrane, as above — it is certain that this part of Mocha Stimaa, before it reached Bina, is the root of the light that departed by way of the hairs. And therefore the hairs must always receive from the whitenesses.