Part 5 · Chapter 62

The Ari's Text

The thing is that since the male does not make a coupling in the Nukva, except in the form of his VAK, his son is in the shape of a Vav, as well. But the Nukva is in the shape of the Dalet since she has all ten vessels, except her light of VAK is annulled in her first four. This is why she is called Dalet [the letter, but also the number four]. Thus, the filling of Yod, which is Vav-Dalet, and all this, is called Yod, which are ZON. Afterwards, she is the letter Hey of the y0d-Hey, which is the vessel of the Nukva, and Malchut of the Nukva remains there. When the four lower lights rise in this letter Hey, it is filled with the letter Yod, and becomes Hey, although the shape of this Hey is like this: Vav-Dalet [ה]; hence, it is ten [Vav (6) + Dalet (4)].

Inner Light

This commentary hasn't been matched to individual seifim yet — items are shown in reading order, and the number beside each one counts the notes themselves, not the seifim of the Ari's text.

Not matched to a seif

1That the male couples with the Nukva only in the secret of VAK, etc., it is the form of a Vav, etc., the Nukva is the form of a Dalet: For the male is drawn from a male, who is the aspect of the light of Hochma, as above; but since he couples for the sake of these ZON only from the aspect of the VAK in him, the male therefore has only the VAK of Hochma, and he is therefore called by the name Vav. And the female is drawn from the Nukva of the vessel of Keter, who is the level of Bina, and she is called by the name Dalet; for although she has GAR, her VAK are nevertheless included in the GAR.
2Thus the filling of Yod, which is Vav-Dalet. And by this the matter of the ascents of the lights of the Partzuf of Bina has been explained: that he says that if five lights rise, they all rise to the male. And the reason was explained — that it is because the ZON in this Partzuf have only one vessel, which is the vessel of the male, called Yod. It was also explained that all these five lights that rose to the vessel of Keter are included in the upper lights, which are the ZON of Hochma, called Vav and Dalet. It was also explained that this is the secret of the Vav-Dalet of the filling of Yod: for when they rise to the vessel of the male, which is called Yod, and the lights that rise are called Vav-Dalet, then the coupling returns to the Partzuf, as above. And this is the conclusion he wished to convey to us in this discourse. And further on he brings likewise the ascents of the Partzuf of Hochma to the vessel of the Nukva of Keter.
3When the four lower lights rise into this letter Hey, then she is filled with the letter Yod and becomes Hey-Yod. This is the conclusion of the second division, when four lights rise, that is, in the Partzuf of Hochma; then they rise to the Nukva of the vessel of Keter. And it was explained that the vessel of the Nukva of Keter is called Hey, and that the lights that rise to her are the secret of her filling, since they restore the upper coupling to her. And it was explained why these four illuminations are called by the name Yod — namely after the highest Sefira among these lights, which is the aspect of the male of the vessel of Hochma (which is phase three, and the light of Hochma that is drawn by way of an illumination from the ZON of Keter to the ZON of Hochma, as above), which is called Yod, and all the lights that rise are included in it. And therefore this Hey is filled with the letter Yod and becomes Hey-Yod, as explained.
And the ARI states above (page 352, item 55) three divisions in the matter of the ascent of the lights upward and their inclusion in the ZON of Keter. The first, that they rise and are included in the Nukva of Keter. The second, that they are included in the male of Keter. The third, that some of them are included in the Nukva and some in the male. And only the first two divisions are what have been explained here, while the third division he did not explain to us at all.
However, this third division he has already explained to us above, page 296, item 7, for there he began to speak of these three kinds of inclusion. For he states there three kinds of inclusion: the first is that the ZON are included one in the other in a single vessel; the second is that their illuminations are included one in the other while they are in two vessels; the third is that they are included one in the other when they are two lights without vessels, study it there. And the explanation of these words is as above. For the first inclusion, that the ZON are included in a single vessel, is in the Partzuf of Bina of AK, where there is no striking of the record and the light of Bina one against the other, and therefore no vessel emerged for the female of Keter, and the female therefore clothes in the vessel of the male, as above. And the second inclusion, that the ZON have two vessels, is in the Partzuf of Hochma of AK, where there is a striking of the record and the light of Hochma one against the other, and two vessels emerged, one for the male and one for the female, as above. And the third inclusion is at the time of Lo Mati in Keter, when the ZON themselves rise to the Malchut of the Rosh; for then they are found expanding and emerging from their vessels of the Guf, and they are two lights without vessels.
And the first two inclusions the ARI did not explain there at all, and this is because he relied upon what is explained here at length, as above; for these two inclusions are the first two divisions here, which have been well explained before us. And as for the third division, which he did not explain here, it is the third inclusion there, which the ARI explained there at length. And he explains there that the ZON that rose to the Rosh have two couplings: the first coupling, in which the female is included in the male, and the coupling emerges on the coarseness of phase four, according to the measure of the male, when they draw the light at the level of the upper Keter; and the second coupling, in which the male is included in the female, and the coupling emerges on the measure of the coarseness of the female, that is, on phase three, when they draw the light only at the level of Hochma — study it there, and in the Inner Light there, page 297, the passage beginning “that refines.”
And it was explained there, in the Inner Light, page 294, the passage beginning “Lo Mati,” that in this ascent of the ZON to the Rosh all the Sefirot below Keter are included as well, except that all of them are nullified in the ZON of Keter and are therefore not counted, study it there. And here all five lights that are in the Partzuf rose, and the light of Hesed, which includes the seven lower ones, is likewise included in these ZON, study it there. And then the five lights are found, some of them included in the vessel of the female and some included in the vessel of the male: that is, at the time when the female was included in the male and the coupling was made in the aspect of the male, then the five lights were included in the male; and in the second coupling, when the male was included in the female and the coupling was made in the aspect of the female, the five lights were included in the female as well — so that the five lights were included, some of them in the male through the first coupling and some in the female through the second coupling, as explained.
4The form of this Hey is like this, Vav-Dalet, and therefore it is ten: For there is a Hey whose form is Vav-Dalet, and there is a Hey whose form is Yod-Dalet. And he says that this Hey, which alludes to the Nukva of Keter, has the form Vav-Dalet, which is ten in gematria, alluding to the fact that this Hey has ten vessels — that is, that all the ten Sefirot of the level are included in the Hey, as written above, that the whole new level that emerged in the second expansion, which is the level of Hochma, is the aspect of the light of the Nukva of Keter.