Part 12 · Chapter 89

The Ari's Text

And after the two years of the Yenika, when the two aforementioned brains grew — they themselves through the milk, as above — behold, the power of the milk expanded and was drawn downward into the seven lower Sefirot, which are his VAK and the Nukva, Malchut, which is the seventh; and they too grew. And this was in the course of seven more years; and if you join them with the first two years, they are nine years.

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

1And after the two years of nursing, when the two Mochin grew — they themselves through the milk — behold, the power of the milk expanded and was drawn downward into the ZAT, etc.: Now the order stated here seems puzzling at first: that first the Mochin of Hochma and Bina are completed, and afterward the ZAT, which are the VAK [six ends] and Malchut — which is the reverse of what is known, that first the VAK are completed and afterward the Mochin. However, the matter is that what is spoken of here is only the growth of the vessels, and you already know that there is an inverse relation between vessels and lights: with lights, it is reckoned that the lower ones come first; but with vessels, it is reckoned that the upper ones grow first. And here, since what is spoken of is vessels, certainly the upper ones grow first, namely the HB within it, and afterward the seven lower ones.
And besides what was said, there is also an intermediate relation of lights and vessels together, namely from the discernment of the clothing of the lights in the vessels in the relation of the level in the correction of the lines. From this discernment it is always said that the level of the Ibur is NHY, and the level of the nursing is HGT NHY. And here too, if what is spoken of is the growth of vessels, one may say that in the Ibur, HBD are completed, and in the nursing, HBD and HGT are completed. And one should not fix hard rules about this, for everything depends on the matter, except that one must always be precise about the reversals between vessels and lights.
Now these Mochin, HB, which are completed in the two years of nursing — the intention is about the anterior vessels called Galgalta ve Einayim, which are the discernment of HBD and HGT of the vessels; for the intention is not about actual Mochin in practice, since in nursing he has only VAK without a Rosh, as is known, so from where would he have Mochin here? As he himself hints further on, in item 93. Rather, since the lights that come in a Partzuf always clothe in the higher vessels of the Partzuf, it is found that now, in nursing, the level of the light of Ruach comes to him, which clothes in his vessels of HBD; and the light of Nefesh, which had been clothed earlier in the vessels of HBD, now descends to the vessels of HGT, as is known. Therefore it is said that in nursing the vessels of HB grow — meaning that the light of Ruach, which comes with the milk of nursing, clothes in those vessels. And the reason he does not also count Daat, saying that the vessels of HBD grow, is because he himself says in item 88, “Daat is not needed now, and this will grow afterward, in the second Ibur.” For even the vessel of Daat is not revealed except in the days of Gadlut. Thus one is not to think now of the clothing of the light of Ruach except in the vessels of Hochma and Bina alone. And the reason he does not count the light of Nefesh, which descended and clothed in the vessels of HGT, is because this is not a new light of the days of nursing that comes with the milk, for the light of Nefesh already belongs to him from the time of the Ibur, as is known.
2The power of the milk expanded and was drawn downward into the seven lower Sefirot, and they too grew: This expansion of the power of the milk is the entry of the surrounding lights, the LM [Lamed-Mem] of the Tzelem; for in the first two years they could not expand except the Tzadi of the Tzelem of nursing, whose meaning is the discernment of Nefesh Ruach of the light of Ruach — but the GAR [first three] of the light of Ruach, which are the discernment of the LM of the Tzelem, could not enter him, because then he has only six vessels alone, which are the discernment of GE, and he lacks AHP, as is known; and so he has no place for the expansion of the LM of the Tzelem, since he lacks the vessels. Now these vessels come to him only through the second Ibur, through the raising of MAN [Mayin Nukvin] to the upper AB SAG, who bring down the bottom Hey from the Einayim and return to him the AHP, which are called the new NHY; and then the GAR of nursing are drawn into him, which is the entry of the LM of the Tzelem of nursing, as above.
And it is known that at the time when the lights of GAR come, then the light of Ruach, which had been clothed in HB, descends to the vessels of HGT, and the light of Nefesh, which had been clothed in the vessels of HGT, descends to the vessels of the new NHY, and the light of GAR, which comes now, clothes in the upper vessels of HB. Thus now, at the time of the Gadlut that comes with the second Ibur, the ZAT grow: HGT NHY, for now the lights of Ruach and Nefesh are clothed in them, as above. This is unlike the time of the two years of nursing, when the GAR of the light of Ruach had not yet entered, but only Ruach of Ruach; so Ruach of Ruach was clothed only in the vessels of HB, and in the vessels of the ZAT there was nothing of the light of Ruach at all. And this is what is meant by, “in the seven years after the two years of nursing, the power of the milk was drawn downward into the ZAT,” namely as explained, that before the seven years, the power of the milk, which is the light of Ruach, was only in the Rosh, in HB alone, and in the ZAT there was nothing of the power of the milk at all. Understand this well. And you must remember all that was explained in Part 10, in the matter of the three discernments belonging to the fetus, for it is impossible to repeat it here at length, for the sake of brevity.