Part 9 · Chapter 13

The Ari's Text

And the first time that ZA [Zeir Anpin] coupled with the Nukva [female] — which was at the time of their emanation, when they were sawn apart [Nesira] and returned Panim be Panim [face to face] — was still called the first intercourse; and from those Gevurot that her husband gave in her she did not conceive, for at that time there were made in her the discernment of the Yesod, the womb, and the Kli [vessel] in her, within which the MAN [Mayin Nukvin] would afterwards be. And then he gives in her one name BON [52], which is the Gevurot mentioned, and it becomes a Kli in her; and it never departs from them until the day of the woman's death, of which it is written, "And it came to pass, as her soul was departing, for she died." This is the secret of that Ruach [spirit] that her husband placed in her at the first Zivug [coupling], which became a Kli to receive in it the male and female waters; and then, from the second intercourse onward, she conceives by the power of that Kli which receives them within it.

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 Yesod, the womb, and the vessel within her, within which the MAN will afterward be: This has already been explained — that at the first intercourse he brings back her posterior, which is her AHP, and brings it back from the place of BYA, to complete the ten Sefirot of the Nukva [female] of Atzilut; and these are the discernment of her new NHY that she now attains, as above in the adjacent item. You also know that clinging to this posterior are also the discernments of the anterior vessels of the souls of the righteous — for so they were clinging to one another while in BYA. But at this first intercourse they are still without depiction, for the discernment of the upper one of the souls of the righteous — namely the Nukva — must first be completed; only afterward, once the Nukva has already attained her full completeness from the first intercourse, are the anterior vessels depicted in the discernment of MAN within the completed posterior of the Nukva — which are the Yesod, the womb, and the vessel that raises the MAN within her. And this is what he said: that afterward the MAN will be within it.
2One name BON, which is the Gevurot mentioned, and it becomes a vessel in her: Meaning, the discernment of the square of the HaVaYaH of BON, which is AB and KADEM, whose Gematria is RIU, as above in the words of the ARI, item 10.
3The Ruach that the husband places in her at the first coupling: For the completed posterior contains within it the discernment of a vessel and the discernment of light. Therefore two things are discerned in them: a vessel for raising the MAN, and the light within the vessel, which is the Ruach that the husband places in her at the first intercourse. And all the new MAN that are born and emerge from there take with them a portion of that light — namely, of that Ruach.