Part 14 · Chapter 86

The Ari's Text

And this is what is said: 'they illuminate and sparkle with the radiance of the upper wisdom.' And just as there is in the lower Yesod nine from above downward and nine from below upward, so too in the secret of the Daat, which separates between Arich Anpin and ZA, there are these. And this is what is said in the Zohar: 'the radiance and sparkle of the river that goes out of Eden,' which is the secret of the Daat, which goes out of the upper Eden and enters the brain of ZA; and in this Daat there is radiance and sparkle, as I explained.

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 Daat that separates between AA and ZA, etc., the radiance and sparkle of the river that goes out of Eden, which is the secret of the Daat that goes out of the upper Eden and enters within ZA. For the discernment of the Yesod of the Mocha Stimaa [the concealed brain] that is in the palate of AA, which is the Yesod of Aba, as above — behold, there is there the discernment of Joseph and Benjamin, as above, which are the discernment of the two crowns: the crown of Tifferet, which is the bearer of the illumination of Hochma and is the discernment of the GAR of direct light; and the crown of Gevura, which are the discernment of the two screens — the narrowness of the Yesod of Aba, and the shortness of the Yesod of Ima, as above (page 1542, the passage beginning “indeed”). See there. And therefore they are called by the name Daat, for the two crowns are the discernment of the Daat in all the Partzufim [pl. of Partzuf], as is known. Indeed, this revelation of the Daat applies only at the time of the coupling and the ascent of AVI to the GAR of AA. Indeed, before the coupling, in the discernment of the permanent Mochin that are in Atzilut, this Daat that is included there in the palate is regarded as the discernment of a Daat that separates between AA, which is the discernment of the ancient Hochma, and ZA, which is the discernment of the Hochma of the thirty-two paths — that is to say, that the screen of the palate detains and conceals this Hochma of the thirty-two paths and does not let it be revealed; and it is thus found that it separates the Hochma from ZA.
And the matter of this separation is because the concealed Hochma of AA was corrected for itself with a screen and a Nukva, and it brought the Bina outside of the Rosh [head] in the discernment of the throat, and she was diminished from the discernment of Rosh and GAR. And it is known that this separation does not show its power in the GAR of Bina that are drawn down to the Chazeh [chest] of AA, since they are the discernment of covered Hassadim; indeed, from the Chazeh of AA downward this separation is revealed in all its force, and the ZAT of Bina, which clothe there in the middle third of the Tifferet, became the discernment of a Guf [body] lacking a Rosh. For the middle third of the Tifferet of AA, which is the source of ZA, has no correction except through the Hochma of the thirty-two paths; and since it brought the Bina outside of the Rosh, and her whole correction is in the discernment of her posterior over Hochma, that is, in covered Hassadim, behold, by this action it separated the coupling of HB face to face, and there is no way whatsoever for the thirty-two paths of Hochma to be revealed. Thus the Mocha Stimaa separated and concealed the Hochma of the thirty-two paths together with this — that it brought the Bina outside of the Rosh.
And this is what he says, “just as there is in the lower Yesod nine from above downward and nine from below upward, so too in the secret of the Daat that separates between AA and ZA there are these; and this is what is said in the Zohar, ‘the radiance and sparkle of the river that goes out of Eden,’ which is the secret of the Daat that goes out of the upper Eden”: for the discernment of the screens that are in the palate, which is the secret of the Nukva of the Mocha Stimaa and the discernment of its Yesod, called Daat, as above, is entirely similar to the discernment of the lower Yesod; for it too ends its own discernment of Hochma without bestowing the Hochma of the thirty-two paths, because of the detaining that is in its screens. And therefore that very coupling by striking that was explained upon the screens of the Yesod of ZA applies likewise in this Daat of the palate of AA, and here too there is radiance and sparkle, just as in the coupling of the Yesod of ZA. And this is what the Zohar says, “the radiance and sparkle of the river that goes out of Eden, which is the secret of the Daat”: for the discernment of the throat, which is the discernment of the bearer of the screens at the time of the coupling of AVI of the Mocha Stimaa, as above, is the river that goes out of Eden, which is the concealed Hochma; and it is the Daat, that is, in the discernment of Benjamin, like the Yesod of the Nukva. Of ZA, who raises the reflected light and receives the nine of direct light from the palate and bestows upon ZA. And this is what he says, “which is the secret of the Daat that goes out of the upper Eden and enters the brain of ZA”: this turns upon the language of the Zohar, which calls the river that goes out of Eden by the name Daat, which is the throat. And upon this he explained that they are engaged with the discernment of the Yesod of the female, which is the Yesod of Ima that is in the Mocha Stimaa, whose Daat enters and clothes within ZA; and therefore they are precise about the discernment of the Daat of the river that goes out of Eden, which is the throat, from which ZA receives. Indeed, he already explained above that the discernment of the Yesod of the female is necessarily included in the male himself, for there is Joseph and Benjamin in the Yesod of the male himself, just as there is in the discernment of the coupling of male and female, where the male is regarded as the discernment of Joseph, and the Yesod of the female as the discernment of Benjamin. See above.
And this is what he says, “and this Daat is called the upper firmament, in the secret of Bina, which is called firmament”: that is, as above, that also in the discernment of Bina herself that same discernment of the Daat that is in the palate, which is the Yesod of Aba, is regarded; and the Zohar is engaged with the Yesod of Bina, which is likewise called firmament, by reason of her separation upon the illumination of Hochma, and radiance and sparkle apply in her, as above. And this is what he says, “therefore there are in this firmament stars, which are the souls, etc., and the secret of the twelve constellations, etc.”: that is, as written above, that everything that was explained in the Yesods of ZA and the Nukva in the matter of stars and constellations and the seven planets, etc., all of it applies also in the Daat of the Rosh of AA, which is in the secret of the Yesods called palate and throat, as explained.