Part 14 · Chapter 191

The Ari's Text

And the matter is that the Yesod of the male is long, protruding, and substantial; and this is because the male is in the secret of Hesed spreading within him, and the abundance of the illumination of the Hassadim causes great influence in his Yesod, and it protrudes outward from the abundance of its illumination. But the Yesod of the female is very short, and it is in the secret of air and a cavity, and is not substantial; because the female is in the secret of the Gevurot spreading within her, as is known, and the Gevurot do not illuminate like the Hassadim; for the female is called darkness, as is known, and there is not in her the power for her Yesod to protrude. Therefore it remains in the secret of air. And therefore it ceases at the chest of ZA, and does not spread to the Yesod of ZA, to complete the rest of the Sefirot within it.

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 Yesod of the male is long, protruding and substantial, and this is because the male is in the secret of the Hesed that expands within him, etc. The Yesod of the female is very short, and it is in the secret of air and space. Explanation: the measure of the male is the drawing of the direct light, which is the substance of the upper light; and the measure of the female is that she bears the screen upon which the coupling by striking is made, as written above in the words of the ARI (page 1536, item 76) in the secret of Joseph and Benjamin. Study it there well. Therefore the female is regarded as the discernment of a space and a receptacle for the upper light that is bestowed from the Yesod of the male; for through her striking the upper light and returning it backward, there is born from this the reflected light that rises and clothes the ten Sefirot of direct light. And so the light of the Yesod of the male is in the measure of protrusion, since it is direct light, and the light of the Yesod of the female is in the measure of sinking and engraving and a receptacle, for her reflected light is what draws and receives the direct light. And there is here yet a further discernment: for according to the measure of the sinking and the darkness in the Yesod of the female — that is, according to the magnitude of the rejection of the upper light that the female rejects by means of the coarseness included in her screen — by precisely that measure is the measure of the magnitude of the direct light that her reflected light rises and clothes; for the coarseness of phase one is the level of ZA, and the coarseness of phase two is the level of Bina, and so forth. Thus this one is sunken and that one protrudes, and their measure is exactly equal, so that according to the magnitude of the sinking, so is the measure of the magnitude of the protrusion. And “long” means the illumination of Hochma, for the light of Hochma is called long; and “protruding” means direct light, as above.
Therefore the discernment of the Yesod of Ima does not suffice for the drawing of the Yesod of ZA, for the discernment of the Yesod of ZA is the opposite of the discernment of the Yesod of Ima, as explained: that the Yesod of Ima is short, which means that she strikes and rejects the light of Hochma by means of the coarseness in her screen; and the Yesod of ZA is long, that is, that there is in it the illumination of Hochma, which is the light of Haya, and therefore it is fit to beget souls, as is known.