Part 8 · Chapter 89

The Ari's Text

Now, what remained in him is the aspect of the crowns of all the souls. And the matter is this: it has already been explained that after Adam sinned, he did not merit the souls of Aba ve Ima of Beriah, but only from Zeir Anpin and Nukva downward. And they are ten Partzufim, namely: Zeir Anpin and Nukva of Beriah, Aba ve Ima and Zeir Anpin and Nukva of Yetzira, and Aba ve Ima and Zeir Anpin and Nukva of Assiya. Now, every Partzuf includes ten Sefirot, and every single Sefira includes ten within it, hence every Partzuf comprises a hundred Sefirot, and the ten among them are their crowns, namely: the crown within the crown, the crown within Hochma, the crown within Bina, and so on. Thus, every Partzuf has ten crowns, and since there are ten Partzufim, they contain a hundred crowns, and these are the secret of the hundred cubits that remained in Adam HaRishon — they are the crowns within all the souls, for the Klipot [shells] did not rule over them, as mentioned.

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 Ketarim of all the souls: And you must remember here the inverse relation there is between the lights and the vessels: with the vessels the way is that the upper ones are revealed first, and it is the opposite with the lights, where the lower ones are revealed first. Thus, when the vessel of Keter is revealed in a Partzuf, the light of Nefesh clothes in it; and when the vessel of Hochma is revealed as well, the light of Ruach is revealed in it, until, when the vessel of Malchut too is revealed in it, then the light of Yechida is revealed in the Partzuf. And the reason for this has already been explained above, in the Inner Observation of Part 2 (page 73, the passage beginning “However”), that every bestower bestows through the coarser thing, and every receiver receives through the more refined thing. Study it there well, the whole continuation. And with this you will understand that if nothing remained in the souls but the Ketarim, then there is nothing there but the light of Nefesh alone. So that of the vessels of the souls only their Ketarim remained, and of the lights of the souls only the discernment of the light of Nefesh in them remained.
2That Adam did not merit, after he sinned, the souls of AVI of Beriah, but only from ZON downward: And that is only to the discernment of the Nefashot in them, that is, to the discernment of the Malchuyot of ZON of Beriah, as above. For “Adam” is a name of ZON in every place it appears: if in Atzilut, it is ZON of Atzilut, and if in Beriah, it is ZON of Beriah. And since the soul of Adam HaRishon is an offspring of Atzilut, as above, he therefore has, from the beginning of his emanation, nothing but the discernment of ZON of Beriah. But through the second coupling of ZON of Atzilut he merited the discernments of AVI of Beriah as well, in the secret of the addition. And it is this that was entirely lost to him at the time of the sin, and nothing remained except in the ZON that he had from the beginning of his emanation.
3A hundred Ketarim, and these are the secret of the hundred cubits that remained in Adam HaRishon: For there is no Partzuf that does not have ten complete Sefirot in it, that is, that each one of them is also included of ten Sefirot, so that there are ten Sefirot in its Keter, and likewise in its Hochma, and so forth. Thus every Partzuf has ten Ketarim, namely the Keter of Keter and the Keter of Hochma, up to the Keter of Malchut, and in ten Partzufim there are a hundred Ketarim. And these are the discernments of the vessels that remained in him, but the lights in them are nothing but the light of Nefesh in each Sefira of the ten Sefirot in that Partzuf, as above. So that of the lights there remained in him a hundred Nefashot, which are clothed in the hundred Ketarim that stand from ZON of Beriah downward to the end of Assiya.