Part 9 · Chapter 12

The Ari's Text

Indeed, this Nefesh is the discernment of the Gevurot: for in the Daat of the male there are Hassadim and Gevurot, since the firstborn takes a double portion, and afterwards he gives the Nukva [female] her portions, which are the Itra de Gevurot [crown of Gevurot], as mentioned. For although, while she is still Achor be Achor [back to back] with ZA [Zeir Anpin], her body is completed only through the Gevurot given to her from his posterior, as said above — even so she does not take the Gevurot themselves, only their illumination, which passes through the Masach [screen] of the posterior of ZA. The Gevurot themselves she takes only through a Zivug [coupling]: for the five Hassadim spread in his body, and the five Gevurot descend into his Yesod, and he gives it in the secret of a Zivug to the Nukva.

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

1This Nefesh is the discernment of the Gevurot, for in the Daat of the male there is HG [Hesed, Gevura], since the firstborn takes a double portion: Know that the five Hassadim of the Mochin — meaning the illumination of Hochma within them — is in direct light from above downward. And the five Gevurot in the Mochin — meaning the illumination of Hochma within them — is only from below upward, which is called reflected light, and the light of the female, which is the light of the Nefesh. Remember this. And this is what he said, “Nefesh is the light of the Gevurot” — meaning only reflected light, as above. And he explains, “for the firstborn takes a double portion” — namely ZA, who is called the firstborn in relation to the Nukva [female], takes the five Hassadim and the five Gevurot in their completeness, which are direct light and reflected light, as above — “and afterward he gives the Nukva her portion, which is the Itra de Gevura [crown of Gevura]” — for she cannot receive from him the illumination of Hochma in the discernment of direct light, called the Itra de Hassadim, but only from the discernment of reflected light alone, called the Itra de Gevura, which is the discernment of Nefesh, as above. The reason for this will be explained in its place. And the reason the ARI calls ZA here by the name firstborn is that everything spoken of here concerns the discernment of the illumination of Hochma between the male and the Nukva, as above; and this revelation applies only in the posterior vessels of ZA — namely, in his NHY from the chest downward. And you already know that the posterior of the upper one are called firstborn sons in relation to the whole lower Partzuf, for the reason well explained above (page 739, the passage beginning “firstborn sons”). And in order to hint to us precisely which discernment he is speaking of, he therefore calls him by the name firstborn.
2Although, while she is still back to back with ZA, her body is completed only through the Gevurot given to her from his posterior: He raises a difficulty — how can it be said here that at the first intercourse he makes in her the discernment of a vessel, whose meaning is the completion of the Gevurot, as above, while there it was said that while the Nukva is still back to back, ZA completes her body in the discernment of the Gevurot? For then the Nukva is still unfit for any coupling, and so it follows that he completes her Gevurot without any coupling at all — since nothing is called coupling and intercourse except face to face, as is known.
3Even so, she does not then take the Gevurot themselves, but only their illumination, which passes through the screen of the posterior of ZA: Meaning, there is a great difference between the Gevurot of Katnut and the Gevurot of Gadlut. For you know that Gevurot means reflected light; but reflected light is only the discernment of the striking of the upper light upon the coarseness in the screen, as is known. Thus there are two senses to the word Gevurot: one is the discernment of the screen and the coarseness within it; the other is the discernment of the reflected light that rises from them through the striking of the direct light upon the coarseness. And this is what the ARI distinguishes between: the completion of the Gevurot that applies at the time of the Katnut of the Nukva, whose meaning is the completion of the screen and the coarseness she receives through the posterior and the screen of ZA — and for this completion she certainly needs no coupling, since the act of the coupling is the opposite act from this, for the coupling brings light, not coarseness. Therefore the ARI calls them the illumination of the Gevurot and not the Gevurot themselves — for the essence of the Gevurot means the reflected light itself, which is entirely light, since the reflected light is discerned as a part of the direct light itself, as is known. But the coarseness and the screen that she takes at the time of her Katnut is only the discernment of the illumination of the Gevurot, and not their essence, as explained. And the reason he calls them by the name illumination, although they are only discernments of coarseness and screen, is that there is no bestowal at all from Partzuf to Partzuf except by way of illumination — for the essence of the light that the Nukva receives from the aperture that is behind the chest of ZA is what builds the coarseness and the posterior mentioned, which is the secret of “and the Lord God built the rib,” as will be explained in its place.
(A note in the author’s own handwriting, on the words “only their illumination, which passes through the screen of the posterior of ZA”: namely, the illumination that brings the bottom Hey down from the Einayim to the Peh, and draws down the AHP, which is the secret of the Gevurot.)
4The Gevurot themselves she does not take except through a coupling, etc.: Namely, in the secret of Mochin — for he bestows upon her the Mochin of the anterior, from the coupling of the upper AB and SAG, which come to them through all the degrees, and bring down her bottom Hey from the Einayim to the Peh; and so her AHP are found returned to her Rosh and to her Toch, and then the vessels of her posterior are corrected — which is the discernment of her NHY, called Yesod and womb, and the lights belonging to them. And then she is completed in the discernment of her Gevurot from the discernment of their very essence, for now she becomes fit to receive within them the MAN and the MAD [male waters]. As above. For these completed Gevurot are the vessel that raises the MAN, and within them is the secret of the Ruach that the husband places in her at the first intercourse mentioned above.