Part 13 · Chapter 168

The Ari's Text

*We shall explain the matter of the thirteen corrections of the beard that issue from the third head, called the Mocha, the hidden Hochma, as above. And there it was explained that the seven lower [Sefirot] of Atik Yomin also became clothed in them, just as they became clothed in the seven corrections of the head, which are also divided into thirteen, as mentioned there. And I did not receive their order. And you must know that the matter of these thirteen corrections of the beard — all of them are strong judgments, and they are made from the clarifications of the kings, from that which was clarified from them and became the aspect of these thirteen corrections. Therefore these thirteen corrections did not issue except from the hidden Mocha, since all the clarifications were clarified in the thought (Machshava), as above. For the hidden Mocha, the Hochma of Arich Anpin, is female (Nukva) relative to the Keter, the skull of Arich Anpin; and therefore all these corrections of the beard were clarified within it, from the aspect of the kings.

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

1The thirteen corrections of the Dikna [beard] — all of them are strong judgments, and they are made from the sortings of the kings, from that which was sorted from them and became the discernment of these thirteen corrections: It has already been explained in the previous parts, that the matter of the raising of the vessels and sparks from BYA to Atzilut is accomplished by way of the couplings that were made upon their records, which rose as MAN [Mayin Nukvin] to the one above them, in the secret of the Ibur [impregnation]. For according to the measure of the level that came out upon the MAN — which are the records that rose — according to this same measure, sortings are made from the broken vessels that are in BYA, and they rise and are corrected in their Partzuf in Atzilut, as the ARI writes above (page 1368, item 158)
It was also explained above (page 1371, the passage beginning “Perush”) that the beginning of the hairs of the Rosh, as they went out in the first Ibur of AA, went out only in the discernment of Vavs, and there was in them nothing except GE [Galgalta ve Einayim] of the material of the vessels of hairs, and the discernment of Nefesh and Ruach of Hochma clothed in them in the discernment of surrounding light. And this is because they lack the AHP of vessels, and the bottom Hey stands in the Nikvey Einayim. And therefore only the discernment of GE alone was raised then from the vessels of AA; for according to the measure of the light of Ruach that went out upon the bottom Hey that is in the Einayim, upon the MAN of the records — according to this same measure, vessels are raised and sorted from those that are in BYA, and rise and join to the Partzuf. However, in the second Ibur of Gadlut, when the Yod descended from Avir by the illumination of AB and SAG of Radla [the unknown head], and the AHP of the records were raised, and there came out upon them the level of the ten Sefirot of AB — then the vessels from BYA are also sorted and rise, and join to the Partzuf of AA, and his level expands to the level of AB.
And it is found that that portion of the light of Hochma, together with the hairs that clothe it, which went out now, at the time of Gadlut, over Galgalta in the discernment of a returning surrounding light, by force of the coupling of Gadlut that was made upon the screen of phase three, raised — according to this same measure that is in it — also the discernment of the vessels from BYA, namely the discernment of the AHP of vessels that were in BYA, ascribed to the clothing of Hochma, and to complete the level in its ten Sefirot, besides the AHP belonging to the building of the Partzuf according to the correction of Tzelem [image]. However, since Galgalta did not receive into herself this light of Hochma in her own vessel, it is found that only the discernment of surrounding vessels alone could rise from the discernment of the vessels of AHP of Hochma from BYA — and these vessels are called by the name hairs of the Dikna, which are regarded as the discernment of the AHP of the hairs of the Rosh. In such a way that the earlier vessels of the hairs of the Rosh, which are the discernment of GE, as above, remain now, at the time of Gadlut too, in their place as before; while these AHP that were now sorted, at the time of Gadlut, from the discernment of the vessels of BYA, did not rise to the hairs of the Rosh, but rather joined to AA in the discernment of the thirteen corrections of the Dikna, which begin below the ears; so that the GE of the hairs are found from the ears and above, and the AHP of the hairs are from the ears and below.
And this is what he says: “These thirteen corrections of the Dikna — all of them are strong judgments, and they are made from the sortings of the kings, from that which was sorted from them and became these thirteen corrections”: that is, as explained, that they are the discernment of the AHP of vessels that rose from the sortings of the kings from BYA; for the hairs of the Rosh are the discernment of GE of vessels that rose from the sortings of the kings. And it is known that GE are always regarded as the anterior vessels, in which the breaking was not on their own account, but rather because they had joined, at the time of Nekudim, with AHP in one Partzuf, as stated there. And therefore, once they were sorted and separated from the posterior vessels, which are AHP — namely at the time of the first Ibur, as above — they remained entirely clean of judgments, just as they had been in the Katnut of Nekudim before they joined with the posterior vessels. However, the vessels that were sorted into the discernment of the Dikna, which are the discernment of AHP and the posterior vessels, by whose cause the anterior vessels were also broken at the time of Nekudim — therefore, even after they were sorted, the records of those judgments are discernible in them. This is the secret of why the hairs of the Dikna are hard, while the hairs of the Rosh are far smoother; for their hardness indicates the discernment of the records of the judgments found within them. As above.
2And therefore these thirteen corrections issued only from Mocha Stimaa [the concealed brain], since all the sortings are sorted in the thought, etc., for the Nukva is always the one who sorts the MAN [Mayin Nukvin]: It has already been explained, that at the time of the Katnut [smallness/infancy] of AA it has only two heads: Galgalta and Mocha Stimaa, which are the discernment of male and female within the vessel of Keter, in the way the ARI explained regarding the Partzuf of AB of AK, at the beginning of Part Five. See there. It is also known that the discernment of the Dikna [beard] does not go out in Katnut, except in the Gadlut [greatness/adulthood] of the Partzuf; for they are the discernment of the AHP of the Partzuf of the hairs of the Rosh — that from the ears and above are the GE [Galgalta ve Einayim] of hairs, called the hairs of the Rosh, and these go out at the time of Katnut; while from the ears and below are the AHP of hairs, which join to the Partzuf after the second Ibur [impregnation] of Gadlut, when the bottom Hey descends from the Einayim to the mouth of the records of AHP, and then the vessels of AHP from BYA that pertain to these records are also raised.
And now AA and Atik are regarded as one Partzuf; for the two heads of AA are the discernment of AHP that came out from Radla [the unknown head] because of the rising of the bottom Hey to the Einayim, whose power — this bottom Hey’s — is the membrane of the air that is above Mocha Stimaa, as above. And it is found now, in the second Ibur, that through the illumination of the upper AB and SAG, the bottom Hey of Atik descended from the Einayim to the mouth of AA, and AA and Atik became one whole; then the membrane of the air also descended to the place of the mouth of Mocha Stimaa, since it is the discernment of the revelation of the bottom Hey that is in the Malchut of the Rosh of Atik, as is known. And it is found now that the place of the coupling of the collective of the Rosh of Atik and AA together is in the Malchut of Mocha Stimaa — namely the mouth of AA. And the upper light that strikes upon the screen that is in this mouth brings out ten Sefirot of direct and reflected light at the level of AB, according to the coarseness of phase three that is found in the MAN there, as is known. And according to the measure of the level of the light, so vessels of AHP are raised and sorted from BYA, as above. And you see that the place of the coupling and the sorting of AHP and vessels is in the Malchut of Mocha Stimaa, which is the discernment of the mouth of the collective of AA and Atik. And this is what the ARI says: “These thirteen corrections issued only from Mocha Stimaa, etc., for Mocha Stimaa, the Hochma of AA, is female relative to the Keter, which is the Galgalta of AA; and therefore all these corrections of the Dikna were sorted within it from the discernment of the kings, for the Nukva is always the one who sorts the MAN” — that is, as explained, that the screen of this coupling of Gadlut, of the level of AB, stands in the Malchut of Mocha Stimaa; and there stand the records, which are the MAN, so that according to the level of the coupling, so it is sorted from the vessels that are in BYA. Thus, in the Malchut of Mocha Stimaa is the sorting and the raising of the AHP from BYA.