Part 9 · Chapter 30
The Ari's Text
AI translated
- AVI [Aba ve Ima] required only one Zivug [coupling], of Arich; but ZON [Zeir Anpin and Nukva] required two Zivugim: one of AA [Arich Anpin], and one of AVI. The reason is that AVI already had their existence through the Dikna [beard] and the hairs of the head of AA, and they lacked only the discernment of their NHY [Netzah, Hod, Yesod] and the Mochin — for the one depends on the other, the NHY on the coming of the Mochin, as mentioned there. But ZON as yet had no existence at all; therefore the first Zivug, of AA, was needed to bring forth his first existence, to make him the discernment of "three comprised in three," through the first Ibur [conception] — for this discernment is the essential one, being the root of ZA [Zeir Anpin]; and afterwards came the second Ibur, of the Mochin, through the Zivug of AVI.
Inner Light
AI translated
Inner Observation, Questions, and Answers
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And the entire Katnut of Nekudim came out from the Shibolet of the beard: the Keter of Nekudim came out from the middle of the Shibolet, and AVI from the right and left of the Shibolet, and the ZAT from the ZON of the Dikna, which are: Notzer Hesed for ZA, and Mazal VeNakeh for the Nukva, as is written (page 409, the passage beginning “GAR”); study it there well, the entire continuation, for it is not possible to duplicate such great length here. And accordingly one may ask: why did AVI of Atzilut come out only from the ZON of the Dikna? The matter is that there, the ten Sefirot came out in the level of Bina of clothing and ZA of coarseness, which are the discernment of the GAR of Nekudim, for the level of Bina of clothing was in the Keter of Nekudim, and the level of ZA, which is Hotem and Peh, was in AVI of Nekudim, as is stated there. Thus the Keter is found in the discernment of Bina, namely Ozen [ear], but not in the place of its emergence — only in the discernment of the second Rosh, as above. And since it is the level of Bina, it is regarded as GAR, for Bina is the discernment of GAR; and likewise even AVI, who are Hotem and Peh, which is the level of ZA — still, since they are the discernment of the Nukva of Keter, for the record of Keter was from the discernment of clothing and had necessarily to be included with AVI, who have the coarseness of phase one, in a single coupling, therefore AVI too were included in the light of the Ozen of Keter, and they too are regarded as the discernment of a complete Rosh; and therefore they too received there from the Shibolet of the beard, which is the second Rosh of the Dikna.
This is not so with AVI of Atzilut, who are from the records of the ZAT of AVI of Nekudim, namely from their AHP, for during the Katnut these AHP were clothed in the HGT of Nekudim, but at the time of Gadlut they joined to AVI. And in addition, the Katnut of the Roshim of Atzilut came out only in the level of NHY, from the discernment of coarseness, and only the ZA of clothing — for it was from this discernment that AVI of Nekudim separated from the Keter of Nekudim, since they no longer have any inclusion in the light of the Ozen. And therefore they receive their Katnut only from the discernment of the ZON of the Dikna, which are in the Mazalot: Notzer and Nakeh, that are beneath the Shibolet of the beard — similar to the ZAT of Nekudim, as is stated there.
It was also explained there that two lights served in Nekudim: one is the looking of the Einayim in the AHP, from which the entire Katnut of Nekudim, GAR and ZAT, came out, in the manner above — GAR came out from the Shibolet, and ZAT from the ZON that is below the Shibolet of the beard. The second is the new light that came out through the coupling of AB SAG, which pierced to the Parsa. And it was explained there that the division of these two lights comes from the power of two kinds of records that were included in the screen that was refined from the Guf of SAG: one is the discernments of the records of SAG itself, where only the coarseness remaining in the screen is taken into account here, and since only the coarseness of phase one, and clothing from phase two, remained there, therefore the Katnut of Nekudim came out only in the level of ZA of coarseness and Bina of clothing, as is stated there. And the second is from the discernments of the records of the NHY of AK that are included in the screen, which could not receive correction from the coupling in the Nikvey Einayim through the looking of the Einayim in the AHP, as is stated there; therefore they remained in the discernment of MAN to the Taamim of SAG, and caused the turning of the face of AB SAG, at which time the bottom Hey descended from the Einayim of SAG, and the second restriction was again nullified. And then this level descended below the Tabur of AK, and through the Tabur it illuminated the GAR of Nekudim, and returned AVI to the discernment of a complete Rosh, but in the discernment of face to back. And afterwards it illuminated through the Yesod to the Peh of AVI, and influenced in them the MAN of Vav and a dot, which are the drops of ZON. And then AVI too coupled face to face, like the above AB SAG, and brought forth the ZAT of Nekudim.
And from these two discernments above, the two discernments of Katnut and Gadlut of the Partzufim of Atzilut are also drawn. For every lower one is obliged to receive from its upper one, every discernment from the discernment corresponding to it in the upper one. Therefore the Katnut of the Partzufim of Atzilut raised MAN and caused the first coupling of Nekudim, from the discernment of the looking of the Einayim in the AHP, namely from the records of the screen of SAG itself. And from there it is drawn to the discernment of the coupling of Katnut of Atzilut: for example, the Katnut of AVI of Atzilut first raised MAN, until the coupling was made in the Rosh of SAG upon the discernment of the bottom Hey in the Nikvey Einayim, and from there it descended to the Dikna of SAG — but not to the discernment of the Shibolet of the beard, rather to the discernment of the ZON of the Dikna below the Shibolet, for the reason above: that AVI of Atzilut are only from the discernment of the ZAT of AVI of Nekudim, which, after the nullification of the Gadlut of Nekudim, fell and returned to the discernment of a Guf, as they were before the Gadlut. Therefore they receive only from the discernment of the ZON of the Dikna, in the manner that the ZAT of Nekudim received. And afterwards, in the second Ibur, of AVI, for the need of the Gadlut, they raised MAN until the coupling was made in their upper one, namely in the Rosh of SAG, through the records of the NHY of AK, and caused there a face-to-face coupling of AB SAG of AK, and a new light was born, which pierced to the Parsa, and this level was drawn as far as Atik and AA of Atzilut, and AVI of AA of Atzilut coupled face to face, and drew this new light to the Nikvey Einayim of AVI of Atzilut, and brought down the bottom Hey also from the Einayim of AVI; and then AVI attained the Mochin of GAR.
And it was explained that the coupling of Katnut was made upon the screen of SAG and of Nekudim, which was refined to the level of NHY of coarseness and HGT of clothing, which was drawn from the screen of SAG that was refined and rose to the Nikvey Einayim, so that through the looking of the Einayim in the AHP of the Dikna, it influenced the Dikna of AA, and likewise from the Dikna of AA, down to the Katnut of AVI, and in the same way the Katnut was drawn also to Atik and AA. However, it was not so for ZON, for the Katnut of ZON has no root now in the records that are in the screen of Nekudim and the screen of SAG. They begin only from the records of the NHY of AK, which rose as MAN to AB SAG of AK, which gives birth to the new light that pierced to the Parsa and descended to the Yesod of AK, which influenced it in the discernment of MAN to AVI. Thus ZON have no root in the light of the looking of the Einayim in the AHP, but only in the second light that comes from the NHY of AK. And although the ZAT of Nekudim themselves could receive from the looking of the Einayim in the AHP, namely from the ZON of the Dikna, as above — this was for two reasons: first, that the vessels of the ZAT of Nekudim were from the discernment of the nine lower ones of SAG itself, as is stated there; and second, that their upper one, which is AVI of Nekudim, received from the Shibolet of the beard, and therefore the ZAT, who are a second degree to AVI, received from the ZAT of the Dikna; but here, where AVI descended from the degree of a Rosh to the degree of a Guf — for now they receive from the ZAT of the Dikna — therefore ZON of Atzilut are entirely excluded from the discernment of the light of the looking of the Einayim in the AHP, and even the Katnut of ZON is likewise obliged to receive only from the second light of Nekudim, namely from the new light that pierced to the Parsa.
And this is what is said: “AVI had their existence through the Dikna and the hairs of the Reisha of AA, and they lacked only the discernment of NHY and Mochin” — meaning, as explained, that the discernment of their Katnut needs nothing at all from the second light of Nekudim, but rather they receive from the discernment of the screen of SAG and of Nekudim that was refined to the level of NHY, and are thus found to receive from the Dikna of AA, which receives from the Dikna of SAG. Therefore one coupling suffices them for their Katnut, namely, according to what is needed in the cascading of the degree, that every lower one is corrected from within its upper one. And likewise the coupling of Gadlut comes to them from AA, namely from their own upper one.
And this is what is said: “But ZON as yet had no existence at all; therefore the first coupling, of AA, was needed to bring forth his first existence, etc.; the second Ibur, of the Mochin, through the coupling of AVI” — meaning, as explained, that ZON have no root in the hairs of the Dikna, and even their Katnut is obliged to be drawn from the new light that pierced to the Parsa, and therefore they need to arouse and bring forward the upper coupling of the NHY of AK as MAN to AB SAG of AK, from which it is influenced to the Yesod of AK, and from there to the Yesod of AA, which influences the Yesodot of AVI, in the manner that the Yesod of AK influenced the Vav and the dot, which are the roots of ZON, to AVI of Nekudim. And they cannot cascade from their own upper one, which is AVI alone, in the manner of the upper Partzufim, for their root begins from the Yesod of AK, which is the Yesod of the Partzuf Keter of AK, and in the same way they are obliged, even in Atzilut, to cascade only from the Yesod of the Partzuf Keter of Atzilut, which is the Yesod of AA, and they cannot cascade from their own upper one, which is AVI. But only after the very substance of their emanation has already come into being from the Yesod of AA, then, afterwards, for the second coupling, of the Mochin, their own upper one, which is AVI, suffices them. And thus the great difference between ZON and GAR has been explained: for since the Katnut of GAR comes from the coarseness of the screen alone, they come out one from another, in the way of the cascading of the degree; but ZON require two Partzufim to take part in their emanation, for their Katnut is bound to the Yesod of AA, since they have no root in the looking of the Einayim in the AHP of Nekudim; but in the Gadlut, then they can cascade from their own upper degree, which is AVI, as explained.