Part 15 · Chapter 5

The Ari's Text

And we shall now explain at length their generalities, although there are many particulars. The limit of her diminution is not less than a single point included of ten, which is the point of her last Malchut, as above; and the limit of her growth is that she will have all her ten Sefirot, and will be with ZA face to face, completely equal, and the two kings will use one crown — which is what the moon complained about, as is known.

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 limit of the diminution that is in her is not less than a single point included of ten, which is the point of her last Malchut. What is spoken of here is not the beginning of the emanation of Malchut, for in the beginning there was the discernment of the breaking in BYA, as is known, she being the discernment of the seventh king of the seven kings that died; and it is known that they were all broken, anterior and posterior, so that there did not remain of her in Atzilut even the discernment of a single point. Rather, what is spoken of is the discernment of the Mochin that are fixed in Atzilut. For even after the correction of Atzilut they were not corrected in the discernment of the self, but only in the anterior vessels of the seven kings, namely as they went out at the time of the Katnut of Nekudim from the discernment of the Nikvey Einayim of SAG of AK; for then there were in them only six vessels, HBD HGT down to the Chazeh [chest], and the point of the Sium [end], which is the point of the Chazeh, is reckoned there as the seventh king, who is the discernment of the Nukva of ZA. And from the discernment of the lights that are in them, the seven kings are reckoned as HGT NHY, and the point of the Sium that is beneath the Yesod is reckoned as the seventh king, who is the discernment of the Nukva of ZA. And they are reckoned as the anterior vessels of Nekudim because there was in them no flaw at all on their own account, for the light of the Einayim of SAG of AK corrected them in this completeness of HGT NHY, as they went out at the time of Katnut. And the matter of their breaking was not on their own account, but because at the time of the Gadlut of Nekudim these seven kings expanded and joined with the vessels of BYA that had already gone out below the Parsa of the Atzilut that is there; and these vessels were not fit to receive the upper light because of the second restriction, which pushed them outside of Atzilut, for which reason they are called the posterior vessels, as is written in Part 7; and therefore they were broken and died, and they caused breaking also to the anterior vessels, which are the vessels of HBD HGT down to the Chazeh. Study it there well, for this is not the place to elaborate. And therefore, after these anterior vessels were sorted once from the breaking, no diminution any longer applies to them, because all the breaking that was in them was on account of their joining with the posterior vessels of BYA, and not on their own account. Therefore, after the Parsa was corrected in the world of correction in such a way that these anterior vessels can no longer join with the posterior vessels of BYA, it is no longer possible for there to be any diminution in them. However, all that is sorted out of BYA anything beyond the aforementioned measure — which is HBD HGT of the vessels down to the Chazeh, and HGT NHY of the lights down to the point that is beneath the Yesod — is reckoned as the discernment of additions, and they have no fixed state in Atzilut, but they rise and fall according to the deeds of the lower ones. And we have already elaborated on this in the previous parts.
And this is what he says, “the limit of the diminution that is in her is not less than a single point included of ten, which is the point of her last Malchut” — that is, as explained, that the seventh king of the Katnut of Nekudim, which is the point of the Chazeh of the vessels and the point of the Yesod of the lights, is the discernment of an anterior vessel, whose whole breaking was only on account of her joining with the posterior vessels that are in BYA; and therefore, after she was sorted once and was corrected in Atzilut, no diminution will befall her any more, as it does in HGT NHY of ZA.
And this point, from the discernment of the vessels of ZA, is attached to the Chazeh that is in him, for so were they attached in the seven kings of the Katnut of Nekudim, in the discernment of HBD HGT of the vessels, as above. However, from the discernment of the lights there is there only Ruach-Nefesh alone, for when NHY of the vessels is lacking the GAR of the lights is lacking, and Ruach-Nefesh is reckoned as HGT NHY, as is known. And the Nukva is thus found, from this discernment, to be a point beneath the Yesod, attached to the Yesod of ZA of Atzilut. And likewise this point is called, from the discernment of the vessels, by the name Keter, her nine lower ones being in BYA; and from the discernment of the lights she is reckoned as Malchut, that is, as the discernment of Nefesh, for when the nine lower ones of the vessels are lacking the nine first ones of the lights are lacking, as is known in the inverse relation between vessels and lights.
And behold, all the aforementioned interchanged names you will find scattered through the words of the ARI, that is, according to what is spoken of, whether from the vessels or from the lights; and here what is spoken of is from the lights. And therefore he calls the point by the name of the point that is beneath the Yesod, as above. And likewise he calls her by the name Malchut, namely Nefesh, as she is from the discernment of the lights. And remember this, and you will not be confused by the interchanges.
2And the limit of the growth that is in her is that she will have all her ten Sefirot, and she will be with ZA face to face, completely equal, and the two kings will use one Keter, which is what the moon complained about. Behold, these words of the ARI are deep beyond deep; and since without them there is no true understanding in all the matters of the Mochin and their interchanges on Sabbaths and festivals, etc., it is therefore necessary to understand them, at the very least to the measure required to connect the discourses brought on this matter.
And the root of these matters is in the words of our sages in Tractate Chullin, page 60b, and these are his words: “Rabbi Shimon Ben Pazi raised a contradiction: it is written, ‘And Elokim made the two great lights,’ and it is written, ‘the great luminary and the small luminary.’ The moon said before the Creator: Master of the world, is it possible for two kings to use one Keter? He said to her: Go and diminish yourself,” etc. See there. And this claim of hers, “is it possible for two kings to use one Keter,” is called by the name the complaint of the moon. And behold, from the words of our sages there it would seem at first glance that the claim was that it is impossible for two kings to use one Keter, but rather that she wanted a Keter of her own, so that she would not be dependent upon the sun, which is ZA. And the ARI says that this is the limit of her correction, that two kings should be using one Keter. And if so, why did she complain then, at a time when they were already using one Keter?
Yet when one is precise in their words, it is found that the claim was not about one Keter. For they asked: why is it written first “the two great lights,” which implies that both of them are equal in one Keter, and after that it is written “the great luminary and the small luminary,” that this one is greater than that one, and they are no longer in an equal measure in one Keter? And upon this they answered that the moon complained, “is it possible for two kings to use one Keter?” And one should not explain that she wanted her Keter to be greater than his Keter, for according to this it would not be called the complaint of the moon, since it is no complaint if she wanted to be greater than him; for a complaint has the sense of an affront and a diminution that she caused to the sun, and what affront is there to the sun if she wanted to be greater than him? And further, what was her grievance, when she said, “Master of the world, since I said a fitting thing, shall I diminish myself?” See there. And if her claim was that her Keter should be greater than his Keter, what fitting thing is there here? And harder than all of them: why this great burning of anger? Is it because she wanted a Keter greater than his that she should be diminished so greatly and emptied entirely of her light, until she has nothing of her own at all except what the sun gives her? Yet the words are not according to their plain meaning.
And in order to understand the matter, one must understand the matter of ZA and his Nukva from their original discernment, and likewise the matter of the taking of the rib and the building of the Nukva, which will be explained below in the explanation of the sawing. And here we shall explain only from a general discernment. And the matter is that the verse “And Elokim made the two great lights,” whose implication is that the sun and the moon are of an equal level, revolves around the fourth day of the days of creation. As will be explained below, that then the Nukva grew through the clothing of the NHY of Ima within her, until she was at an equal level with ZA, from behind him. And since through this she was separated from ZA her husband and rose to nurse from the Tifferet of Ima, being grown like him, the Hassadim were therefore blocked from her. And then she began to complain about these lights of Gadlut which she had received from the NHY of Ima, as our sages wrote, that she said, “is it possible for two kings to use one Keter?” Meaning, that she claimed that it was impossible for her to use one Keter together with ZA, because she could not bear the great blockage of Hassadim, and she wanted to return to her former place, namely to be back to back with ZA from the Chazeh [chest] downward, for then she had Hassadim in abundance, from the discernment of the VAK of ZA. And this is called by the name a complaint, for she complained about the illumination of Gadlut that was bestowed upon her from Ima, which is an affront to the Emanator.
And upon this it was said to her, “Go and diminish yourself,” whose meaning is that she should return to the discernment of the point that is beneath the Yesod, which is the greatest diminution that can be in the Nukva. For it is found in this that all her nine first ones and the whole building of her Partzuf depart from her, and she returns to her root, to be only a discernment of a screen, to raise reflected light for the sake of ZA.
And this is her claim, “Master of the world, since I said a fitting thing, shall I diminish myself?” Meaning, that she claimed that it was impossible for her to use one Keter together with ZA, but rather to return to back to back, from the Chazeh downward, namely to the discernment of VAK; and this, in her opinion, was certainly a fitting thing, for she could not stand in the Gadlut by force of the lack of Hassadim, as above. And therefore she grieved over its being said to her to return to a point beneath the Yesod, which seemed to her a punishment for her complaint, and she did not sense in this any sin, for she could not stand there in any way, because of the lack of Hassadim, as above.
And this is what he says, “the limit of her growth is that she will have all her ten Sefirot, and she will be with ZA face to face, completely equal, and the two kings will use one Keter, which is what the moon complained about” — meaning, that then the complaint of the moon will be corrected. For only in the discernment of the Gadlut of the posterior could the moon not stand there, by force of the lack of Hassadim, as above, and therefore she complained. However, when she is with ZA at an equal level, in the discernment of face to face up to the Keter, then she too will have Hassadim in abundance, and the light of Hochma will clothe within the light of Hassadim, as is known; and then the moon will have nothing more to complain about, and this is the whole correction, as the ARI writes shortly below.