Part 13 · Chapter 140

The Ari's Text

Thus it is found that these two — Tzitz and Tzitzit — are so called after the verse "And he took me by the lock of my head," which are the aspect of the hairs. Also, the matter of Tzitzit is an expression of gazing (histaklut), as above. And the reason is that these hairs, which are in the locks of hair of Arich Anpin or of Zeir Anpin, were drawn and hanging in order to receive the faces of Arich Anpin and Zeir Anpin, and they covered their eyes, so that neither would Arich Anpin gaze upon Zeir Anpin, nor Zeir Anpin upon his Nukva, to shine one into the other. And through our deeds in the commandment of Tzitzit, we cast and throw those hairs behind Arich Anpin and Zeir Anpin, so that Arich Anpin might gaze upon Zeir Anpin, and Zeir Anpin upon his Nukva.

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

1 The hairs which are in the lock of hair of Arich Anpin or of Zeir Anpin were drawn and hanging in order to receive the faces of Arich Anpin and Zeir Anpin, and they covered their eyes so that neither Arich Anpin would gaze upon Zeir Anpin, nor Zeir Anpin upon his Nukva, etc.; and we cast and throw these hairs behind Arich Anpin and Zeir Anpin, so that they might gaze upon one another: Meaning, it has already been explained that these hairs behind the Rosh [head], which bestow Hochma, cannot shine in the internality of the vessels of Galgalta, because they are clothed in the discernment of the membrane of the air, which removed the heads of the thighs of NHY of Atik above Yesod, in such a way that they never diminish nor grow from its power. See there. Therefore the hairs are not from the discernment of the vessels of the Partzuf, but as something foreign to them, hanging upon the Galgalta. And all this came to them through their clothing in the membrane of the air, as the ARI wrote above, page 1332, item 80.
However, there is a further matter in the power of this membrane of the air, to which he alludes in the Zohar, Naso, in the Idra Rabba: “the Tav is marked as a record for Atik Yomin, than whom there is none like” (Idra Rabba, page 129). And it is that this membrane is the secret of the screen of the Havaya of AB, which is the secret of the four Yods that are in the filling of this Havaya — for each one, comprised of the Yod, is, in gematria, four hundred (Tav), as above, in the words of the ARI (page 1351, item 174), which is the secret of four hundred shekels of silver. See there. And you already know that the whole difference from the ending of the Partzuf of AB to the ending of SAG — that is, between Aba and Ima — is that the Yesod of Aba is narrow and long; and so the screen that ends his Partzuf has in it, not the discernment of the power of restriction that always interrupts the illumination of the Partzuf, but only the discernment of the interruption of the Hassadim alone, which is the secret of narrow, reckoned in the Yesod of Aba. Yet he is long, meaning that there is in him an illumination of Hochma in its full completeness, so that from the discernment of the Hochma the Partzuf does not end, since there is no restriction of the bottom Hey there that makes an end and a conclusion, but it is interrupted only from the discernment of narrow alone. And therefore the form of the filling of the Havaya of AB is in the discernment of Yods, for the significance of the Yod is that it is the discernment of Rosh, and along with this there is no whiteness in it at all — that is, the lack of Hassadim that blocks there, and brings about a conclusion upon the illumination of the Partzuf.
However, the ending of Ima is the discernment of short, meaning, a screen that is truly from the discernment of the power of the restriction of Malchut, which interrupts the illumination of the light of Hochma, and by its power the Partzuf of Ima is interrupted. Yet from the discernment of Hassadim there was no interruption there at all, and from the discernment of Hassadim the Partzuf could still continue; and therefore she is reckoned in the discernment of short and wide. And this matter has already been explained well in the previous parts, that it is drawn from the discernment of the Yesod of AB of AK, and likewise from the discernment of the Bina that is there, for it expanded there only until Hod and no further. Study it there well. And there is no need to elaborate here.
Therefore, since the level of Arich Anpin was corrected in AB of MA, that is, in phase three, therefore his screen did not need to be at all in the discernment of restriction, but only in the discernment of the blockage of Hassadim alone, as above — except that, because the Partzufim came out in Atzilut in two degrees, in Katnut and Gadlut, it is therefore reckoned that there still remains there the discernment of a record from the time of Katnut, while it was in the discernment of Ibur [impregnation], when the bottom Hey was in the Nikvey Einayim — that is, the discernment of the screen of restriction upon the illumination of Hochma. And this power of the record of Katnut is also found in the membrane of the air that covers over Mocha Stimaa [the concealed brain].
And this is the secret of the Tav, whose left leg has in it some slight additional thickness beyond the form of the leg itself. This thickness indicates the discernment of the power of restriction that remained in the four Yods of AB from the time of the Ibur. And it is found that although those four Yods of the filling of AB — whose meaning is the discernment of the screen that concludes the Partzuf only by the power of the blockage of Hassadim that is in it, but from the discernment of the illumination of Hochma there is no diminution there at all, as above — there is added to them also the discernment of a record of the restriction of the illumination of Hochma; and since it is only a record in general and is not so discernible, it is therefore reckoned in the slight thickness on the left leg of the Tav, as above. And this is what is said: “the Tav is marked as a record for Atik Yomin, than whom there is none like” — meaning, that there is nothing like it in purity from the discernment of restriction. And for this reason this membrane is not interrupted, as it is in AVI and Zeir Anpin, since it does not depend on the power of restriction that operates in it with ascent and descent, as explained. See there, in the Idra Rabba.
And this is what he said: “because these hairs, etc., cover their eyes so that neither would Arich Anpin gaze upon Zeir Anpin nor Zeir Anpin upon his Nukva” — meaning, that all the correction of the lock of hair is only in their dwelling behind the Rosh; and in front of the Rosh, the discernment of the forehead will be uncovered, bestowing covered Hassadim from the discernment of GAR [first three] of Bina. However, at the time when they shine also in the discernment of the face with the illumination of Hochma that is in them, then their eyes are covered, and Zeir Anpin cannot gaze upon Arich Anpin, for then there comes about in them a blockage of Hassadim by the power of the Tav that is in the membrane of the air, which is the discernment of the four Yods that block the Hassadim, and the illumination of the Partzuf is interrupted even from the discernment of Hochma. For this is the rule: that the light of Ein Sof does not clothe within the Partzuf except in a garment of the light of Hochma, and the light of Hochma does not clothe in the Partzuf except in a garment of the light of Hassadim; and now that these locks of hair shone in the face of Arich Anpin, and because of this the light of Hassadim was interrupted, then from there the light of Hochma is also interrupted, which is the discernment of the gazing of the eyes of the Partzufim [pl. of Partzuf], one into the other.
And this is what he said: “and through our deeds in the commandment of Tzitzit, we cast and throw these hairs behind Arich Anpin and Zeir Anpin, so that Arich Anpin might gaze upon Zeir Anpin, and Zeir Anpin upon his Nukva” — for then the hairs shine an illumination of Hochma in the discernment of surrounding light, by the power of their posterior, to the face which is found in the discernment of covered Hassadim, and the eyes are opened. For once the Hassadim are in the internality of the vessels in the forehead, the hairs are able to bestow Hochma by way of striking, from outside to the face that goes out upon the forehead, also in the discernment of surrounding light, as above; and then they are bestowed from this surrounding light to the eyes, which is the secret of Lamed of Tzelem [image]; and it is reckoned that the opening of the eyes of Arich Anpin bestows upon Zeir Anpin, and likewise the opening of the eyes of Zeir Anpin bestows upon his Nukva. Now it has been explained that the locks of hair are the discernment of the illumination of Hochma only while they are in the discernment of posterior — that is, in a place where there is a lack of lights even without the blockage of the Tav mentioned above — and this is only in the discernment of surrounding light, as above. But if they shine in the discernment of the face, they block the Hassadim in the face, and then they are truly in the discernment of judgments, for even the illumination of Hochma is also interrupted, as explained.