Part 11 · Chapter 138

The Ari's Text

And now it is the phase of the Tzadi of the Tzelem alone, and it is the phase of the ZA, in which the Mochin expanded a third expansion and entered within ZA itself, in the secret of internal Mochin, and not surrounding. And the reason it is now called the Tzadi of the Tzelem is that these four Mochin, when clothed within the NHY of the third Tevuna, become only three, for the HG become one Daat; and these three Mochin, being clothed within the NHY of Tevuna, descended and clothed within ZA, as said, and first enter into the Galgalta, and afterward expand in all his body, as said in other discourses, later, God willing. And it is known that ZA is nine Sefirot and not more, and each one is included of ten, and they are ninety; therefore these Mochin, which expand in all of ZA, are called the Tzadi of the Tzelem.

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

1A third expansion, and they entered within ZA itself, in the secret of internal Mochin, and not surrounding: For until here the expansion was from the discernment of the Tevuna itself, and it is known that the lower one does not come out from the discernment of the internality of the upper one itself, but from the externality of the upper one. And therefore, the first two expansions, the Mem and the Lamed, which were from the discernment of the internality of the third Tevuna, are not fit for clothing within ZA, for they are not in accordance with his discernment; but the discernment of the externality that descends from the Lamed of Tzelem, which is in accordance with the degree of ZA, is what is fit to clothe within him. And this is what he says, “the discernment of the Tzadi of Tzelem alone, which is the third phase of the Tzelem of ZA, in which the Mochin expanded a third expansion, and entered within ZA itself, in the secret of internal Mochin, and not surrounding”: meaning, as explained, that only the third discernment, which is the Tzadi, which is the discernment of the externality of the Lamed, is what alone is fit to clothe within the internality of ZA, since it is in accordance with the degree of ZA; but the first two discernments, which are of the discernment of the internality of Tevuna, are reckoned as surrounding, since they are not of the degree of ZA.
2Three Mochin within the Galgalta of ZA, in the secret of HBD, etc.; first Hochma comes, then the Daat, and afterward the Bina, which are the three letters in the male Tzelem: One must not err here, thinking that the intention is about the three letters of Tzelem that come in the three aforementioned expansions in the third Tevuna, for in them, certainly, before they expanded in Bina, which is the secret of the Lamed of Tzelem, it is impossible for them to expand to the Daat, which is the Tzadi of Tzelem. Rather, the intention is only about the three Mochin HBD that expand in the Galgalta of ZA, that is, in the discernment of the Tzadi alone. For the three Mochin HBD of ZA, too, are called by the name of the three letters Tzelem: the brain of Hochma is Mem, and the brain of Bina is Lamed, and the brain of Daat is Tzadi. And about these three Mochin he says that first Hochma comes, and afterward the Daat, and afterward the Bina. And therefore he is precise: “which are the three letters in the male Tzelem,” meaning ZA, and not the three letters Tzelem of the third Tevuna, which is female.
And the meaning of the matter is: that the illumination of Hochma does not come to the Bina except by means of the Daat, which is from below upward, for the upper light, which is the discernment of Hochma, expands first until the end of the Daat, that is, to the discernment of the Yesod and Malchut that are in the Daat, which is the crown of Gevura, and then the reflected light ascends from below upward until the Hochma, and brings the illumination of Hochma outward and imparts it to the Bina. In such a way that at first the light of Hochma is drawn to the brain of the Daat, and the coupling is made in the Daat, and by means of the Daat the illumination of Hochma is imparted to the Bina. For so the ARI explained in many places. And see in the Mevo Shearim, Gate 5, Part 1, Chapter 9. And in the Gate of the Discourses of Rashbi, Teruma, page 167. And in many other places.