Part 15 · Chapter 108

The Ari's Text

In that this vessel is not in the Yesod alone, but they are the actual mochin throughout the entire stature of Aba and Bina, and throughout the entire stature of ZA and the entire stature of the Nukva; and from the aggregate of those five Hasadim, it is also drawn into their Yesod. And then the females — Ima and Malchut — receive these mochin through their husbands, this one face to face and that one back to back, and their bodies are built. And the aggregate of her Hasadim, ReYu, is given in her in the aspect of back to back, and then she becomes a vessel.

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

1This vessel is not in the Yesod alone, but they are the actual Mochin throughout the entire level of Aba, etc., and throughout the entire level of the Nukva; and from the whole of those five Hassadim it is also drawn into their Yesod. This has already been explained in the adjacent item: that these Mochin of RIU, although they are regarded mainly as the making of the Yesod and Malchut within her, which are the vessel and the Ruach as above, are nevertheless in truth the discernment of the completion of the lower third of each and every Sefira of her ten Sefirot, which are regarded as the five discernments HGT NH. So that they are Mochin that expand throughout the entire level of the Nukva and complete each and every Sefira within her, that is, the particular AHP of that Sefira. But since the five discernments have at the very least the existence of their GE even at the time of Katnut [smallness/infancy], therefore the completion effected by the RIU is regarded as bearing mainly upon the vessel of Yesod and Malchut within her, since for these there was no existence at all at the time of Katnut. See the adjacent item.
And this is what he says, “from the whole of those five Hassadim it is drawn also into their Yesod,” as above in the adjacent item: that the Yesod is not a discernment in its own right, like the other five discernments HGT NH within the Nukva, but is only a discernment collective of them. And therefore at first, at the time of Katnut, as long as the five discernments themselves were not whole, the collective within them, which is the Yesod, was not revealed, for a collective discernment is corrected only out of whole vessels. But now, since the five discernments HGT NH have been completed together with their lower thirds, that is, the discernment of the NHY of each one, then the collective of the Yesod was likewise revealed, and so too the collective of the Malchut.
2Ima and Malchut receive these Mochin through their husbands, this one face to face and that one back to back, and their bodies are built, etc., and then the vessel is made. That is, as above, that in these Mochin there are two discernments of couplings. The first is at the time when ZON are included in AVI, which is the discernment of face to face; and it is truly regarded that this coupling is of the discernment of the coupling of AVI themselves, and Ima receives these Mochin from Aba, except that ZON are included in them, ZA in Aba and the Nukva in Ima; and therefore this coupling is regarded as the Nukva receiving from Ima and not through ZA. And afterward ZA descends to his place and gives these Mochin, which he received above, to the Nukva in the discernment of a coupling of back to back. And this is what he says, this one face to face and that one back to back. And besides what has been said, the matter of the making of a vessel prevails also in AVI themselves. For although AVI have Mochin of SAG in the wholeness of the ten Sefirot of vessels, nevertheless from the discernment of AB they are regarded as lacking the NHY of vessels and the GAR [first three] of lights, as the ARI wrote in the preceding part. And therefore the matter of a vessel and a Ruach prevails in AVI as well, just as in ZA: that is, at the time when their new NHY are completed, it is regarded with respect to Ima that she then attains the discernment of a vessel for raising MAN [Mayin Nukvin], for then the collective of the five discernments of Ima, HGT NH, is revealed, which is the discernment of the Yesod of Ima, as explained with regard to the Nukva. And this prevails every day, for the Mochin are not fixed in AVI from the discernment of AB, but only from the discernment of SAG, as is known; and therefore they are present only at the time of prayer, and after the prayer they depart, as prevails with ZON. For with respect to the Mochin of AB, AVI are found to be like ZON, only in the discernment of VAK [six ends] without a Rosh [head].