Part 9 · Chapter 53

The Ari's Text

*The third discernment is at the time of the Yenika [suckling] of ZA [Zeir Anpin]. For then the two of them came out from within the upper Hey, in the secret of birth, and were revealed outside; he became the Vav of the Name, and she became the lower Hey of the Name, cleaving to the back of the Vav. The matter is that in the secret of the Ibur [conception], her point rose and clothed the Yesod, which itself clothes the Tifferet; and when they came outside, she did not descend with the Yesod when it descended and spread out from upon the Tifferet, whereby six revealed points were made in him. Rather, she remained cleaving there above, behind the Tifferet, encircling him from behind.

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

1Behind the Tifferet, encircling him from behind: For she became a discernment of posterior to his Chazeh [chest]. And you shall understand that this rising is like the rising of the bottom Hey in the Nikvey Einayim of the Rosh of SAG of AK, which was after the second restriction; for HGT are the discernment of GAR of ZA, which are the KHB of Hassadim, as is known. And since Malchut rose to the Tifferet, she rose to the Bina of Hassadim, but not to the GAR of Bina, for in the GAR the force of the restriction of the bottom Hey is not discernible, since there the posterior of Bina rules, in which there is no grip at all for judgments and restriction, because she is desirous of Hesed, as is known. Therefore the Tifferet divides into GAR and ZAT: from the Chazeh and above is the secret of the GAR of the Tifferet, which is Bina, and from the Chazeh and below is the ZAT of the Tifferet — in such a manner that the bottom Hey rose only to the place behind the Chazeh, where the GAR already ends, and therefore she gripped there.
You will also understand that Malchut has now become a complete measure. For at the time of the Ibur, when she was clothing the Yesod, in the discernment of Pesia LeVar, and in the internality of NHY of Ima — which is the secret of the Peh of the Rosh of Tevuna, as will be written below — the discernment of her screen was only in the discernment of the coarseness of Keter, which is only a root for coarseness, and not actual coarseness. Therefore there was only the level of Malchut alone, which is the light of Nefesh; and therefore there were only three Sefirot in coarseness, which are NHY, though there was also there the level of ZA, in the discernment of clothing alone, as is known. Therefore it is regarded that the level of ZA has no vessels of his own, but was compelled to clothe himself in the vessels of NHY — which is the secret of “three within three,” as is known. Thus Malchut was not yet sufficient to reveal there, in the fetus, anything beyond the level of the Yesod — namely, the discernment of the root Yesod that is in AB of AK, which had only the light of Malchut in it; for because of the refinement of phase one in the vessel of Hod, there remained in it nothing at all from the level of Hassadim, which is phase one, but only the light of Malchut alone. (As above, page 336, and in Inner Light, the passage beginning “Returned.”) And this level is called a quarter of the level of ZA, named after Malchut, who is called “a quarter of the Heys,” which is the secret of “and the number of the fourth part of Israel,” as above. Thus Malchut is only a quarter of the measure, which does not serve to reveal the level of ZA, namely phase one, but only her own level alone.
But now, after they were born, through nursing from the mother’s milk, Malchut acquired the coarseness of phase one, as written in its place. Therefore she now raised the level of ZA, which is HGT.
And now she serves him as a complete measure, for through her he attained the level of Hassadim. This is what is meant by “in the secret of the Ibur her point rose and clothed the Yesod, which itself clothes the Tifferet” — meaning, that Malchut raised nothing but the level of the Yesod, which was also the level of the Tifferet, since she had in her only the coarseness of Keter, as above. “And when they came outside, etc., she remained cleaving there above, behind the Tifferet, encircling him from behind” — namely, as above, that through nursing from the mother’s milk, Malchut acquired the coarseness of phase one; therefore she rose and cleaved behind the Tifferet, at the place of the Chazeh, from where and above she brings out for him the level of HGT, which is the level of ZA. And she is now found serving him in the discernment of a complete measure, as above.