Part 7 · Chapter 9

The Ari's Text

The thing is that these seven kings are the Gevurot that emerged in the world first, as it is written, “In the beginning God created.” Afterwards, He associated the quality of mercy with it “in the day that the Lord God made,” so that the world could exist and not return to Tohu veBohu [chaos], as it is written, “Now the earth was unformed and void.” After he says, “In the beginning God created,” which are the seven kings, there are seven words corresponding to them in the verse “In the beginning.” The name HaVaYaH is the Hassadim, and is the eighth king, called Hadar, which is the upper Hesed, as mentioned in the Idra, and this is the name MA. It is known that the name MA is in Hassadim, and the name BON in Gevurot. They are all harsh and strong judgments from whose dross the shells came out through their death and fall as the dust of the upper Earth. That dust that will be in the ground of the tabernacle, the world of Beria, where they were sorted as in a man in the grave. This is because Beria under the tabernacle is Malchut of Atzilut, and these strong sparks are thrown there, as it is written in the portion Pekudei, “Throws sparks in every direction and sorted the waste from within the thought.” Thus, throwing these sparks down to Beria is to sort out the waste and the shells that were in potential in the upper thought, and have now been executed. As the sparks that the craftsman beats with his hammer instantly quench, so those sparks quenched and died and returned to the dust, and then they were sorted.

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

1The Behinat Gevurot that emerged in the world first, as it is written, “In the beginning God created.” This refers to what our sages have written, “In the beginning it came up in the thought to create the world in Midat ha Din. Saw that the world does not stand, preceded Midat ha Rachamim and associated it with Midat ha Din.”We have already discussed it at length (Part 4, Chap 1, Ohr Pnimi item 4), and it explains there that the first three Partzufim de AK had only one Kli from the Behinat Malchut, being Midat ha Din, hence they had only one Kav. In order for the world to exist according to His wish to do good to His creatures, this can only be depicted in the form of a conduct of reward and punishment, by way of Ten Utterances, and the Tikun of the three Kavim, Hesed, Din, and Rachamim.This was done by the association of Midat ha Rachamim with Din, meaning the association of the First Hey, called Midat ha Rachamim, namely Bina, with the Hey Tata’a, called Midat ha Din, which is Malchut. The beginning of this association is made in the Zivug of the Rosh SAG for Olam ha Nekudimin the form of ascent of Hey Tata’a to the Eynaim and YHV in the AHP.This is sufficient only for Tikun Kavim in GAR, but in ZAT there was still no Tikun Kavim. For this reason the Kelim of the ZAT broke and fell to BYA, as written there at length.The association of Midat ha Rachamim with Din in the GAR was not enough to correct the ZATentirely, meaning from Behinat Hassadim too. Nonetheless, the association in GAR de Nekudim did help to correct the ZAT in the Behinot Gevurot. Although the Kelim de ZAT broke and fell to BYA, still, Nitzotzin came down with them to revive the Kelim.Know, that these Nitzotzin mean the Tikun of the Gevurot to be ready to receive the Hassadim afterwards, when they are sorted, and rise from there to Atzilut as MAN. He writes, “these seven Melachim are the Behinat Gevurot that emerged in the world first, as it is written, ‘In the beginning God created.’”This refers to the Tikun of the Gevurot to be fitting for sorting and to raise them as MAN to receive the Hassadim of the new MA. They are implied in the words, “In the beginning God created,” as the name God indicates Gevurot.
2He associated Midat ha Rachamim with it “in the day that the Lord God made.” This refers to the verse, “These are the generations of the heaven and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven” (Genesis 2; 4). The name HaVaYaH (lit. Lord) implies Hassadim, which is Melech Hadar, called the new MA.They cause a Zivug Elyon there through raising MAN from the sorting of the Nitzotzin and the Kelimin BYA to the Atzilut, and receive the He’arat Hassadim of the new MA. At that time the desired association of Midat ha Rachamim with Din is over, meaning by that the Tikun Kavim is completed in ZAT too, and all this will be explained elaborately in its place.