Part 15 · Chapter 189

The Ari's Text

*And behold, at the death of ZA up to the upper third of his Tifferet, the backs of Aba and Ima had already descended; but the backs of YESHSUT were not completed until the death of the Nukva of ZA. Therefore ZA takes the backs of Aba and Ima, and Malchut takes the backs of YESHSUT, and their lights are clothed in them, in the manner of the Mochin of ZA.

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.

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1At the death of ZA up to the upper third of his Tifferet, the posterior of Aba and Ima had already descended; but the posterior of YESHSUT were not completed until the death of the Nukva of ZA. This passage has already been printed above in its place, page 531, from item 51 to 53. However, the matter was not explained there sufficiently; and since it is the most important key for the knowledge of the building of the Nukva, we have returned and printed it here.
And it has already been explained there that four levels from below upward came out in the upper AVI, whose essential one is the level of the look of the eyes of the upper AVI one in the other, whose from-above-downward is the king of Daat. Only, by reason of the refinement and the breaking of the vessels, three further levels came out, one below the other, which are: the Guf [body] of Aba, the Guf of Ima, and the Yesodot of AVI, whose discernment of from above downward are the three kings: Hesed, Gevura, and the upper third of Tifferet up to the Chazeh [chest]. For after the vessels of HGT up to the Chazeh were broken, the discernment of the MAN [Mayin Nukvin] of ZA was likewise nullified — those that had to be in the discernment of existence and standing in the Rosh [head] of AVI — and therefore the Mochin of AVI were nullified as well, and they descended from the discernment of Rosh to the discernment of Guf, that is, to the place of the four kings of HGT of ZA, and became the discernment of VAK without a Rosh. And you already know that these posterior are in truth those same discernments of AHP of AVI that fell at the time of the second restriction of the NHY of AK to the place of the HGT of ZA; only that at the time of the Gadlut [greatness/adulthood] of Nekudim they returned and were joined in their heads, in the heads of AVI, in the discernment of new NHY of vessels. And therefore, after these Mochin were nullified and the second restriction returned to its place, the AHP too, which are the NHY of vessels, descended to the place where they had been before the coming of the Mochin, as written there.
And in like manner four levels came out in YESHSUT, which are called there: the look of the eyes of YESHSUT, the Guf of YESHSUT, Yesod, and Malchut; whose from-above-downward are the four kings: the two thirds of Tifferet, and NH, and the Yesod of ZA, and the Malchut of ZA. And after these four vessels of ZA were broken, up to the Malchut, who is his Nukva, the Mochin of YESHSUT were nullified, and their posterior too descended to the place of the bodies, TNHYM, and became the discernment of VAK without a Rosh. And they too are the discernment of their AHP, as above in AVI.
And this is what he says, “At the death of ZA up to the upper third of his Tifferet, the posterior of Aba and Ima had already descended” — that is, as above, that after all four kings of HGT of ZA up to the Chazeh were broken, the matter of the falling of the posterior of AVI was likewise completed. And this is what he says, “but the posterior of YESHSUT were not completed except after the death of the Nukva of ZA.” That is, after the completion of the death of the four kings, TNHYM. As above.
And this is what he says, “ZA took the posterior of Aba and Ima, and Malchut took the posterior of YESHSUT, and their lights clothe in them in the manner of the Mochin of ZA.” The explanation: for through the ascent of MAN of ZA he is found to raise with him from these parts of the posterior of AVI and YESHSUT that fell to the place of ZON. For through the drawing of the drop of AB SAG of AK to Atik of Atzilut in the discernment of MAD [male waters], which is above the second restriction, that drop of the coupling is found to lower the bottom Hey from the Einayim to the place of the Peh [mouth], as she stood before the second restriction that was made in Nekudim; and the AHP of AVI and YESHSUT that fell to the place of ZON are found to be restored, and with them they attain the GAR of lights as well.
And this has already been explained in the previous parts, that the AHP of every degree is found descending into the lower degree, and therefore it is then regarded that in every discernment of HGT there are in them AHP of the Rosh. And therefore, by reason of the descent of the bottom Hey to the Peh, the HGT of all the Partzufim [pl. of Partzuf] then rose and became HBD, and they raised with them also the lower one that clothes upon these HGT. For the HGT of Atik rose and became the Rosh of Atik, and they raised with them also AA, who clothes these HGT, and he too rose to the discernment of the Rosh of Atik. And likewise the HGT of AA rose and became the Rosh of AA, and they raised with them also AVI, who clothe upon these HGT, and AVI too rose to the Rosh of AA. And in like manner all the discernments of NHY of the degrees, into whose domain the discernment of the HGT above them had fallen by force of the second restriction, are now found, at the time of the descent of the bottom Hey to the Peh, that these NHY returned and became the discernment of HGT; and therefore the NHY of AA rose to his HGT and raised with him also ZA, who was clothing upon his NHY, and then ZA was included in the HGT of AVI, where the NHY of AVI now are.
Behold, it has been clarified that the whole cause of the ascent of AVI to the Rosh of AA — where they receive the coupling that lowers the bottom Hey from the Einayim and raises the AHP, which are their posterior that fell at the time of the breaking of the vessels — is because of the ascent of MAN of ZA to them; for then they rise to AA, and then they attain their AHP, which are the new NHY that complete the ten Sefirot of vessels; and then AVI receive, through the coupling of Neshikin [kissing] of AA, the discernment of GAR of AB. And therefore ZA too takes the discernment of the Mochin of AVI, for this is the rule: everything that the lower one causes to come out in the upper one, all this gain returns to the lower one as well. And therefore, through the ascent of MAN of ZA, which caused the NHY of AA to become HGT, and which raised there the posterior of AVI that had fallen to the discernment of NHY — with this ascent, whereby AVI then attained the discernment of the new NHY and were completed in the GAR of lights — it turns out that ZA too takes that same level.
And this is what he says, “the posterior of Aba and Ima, etc., and their lights clothe in them, in the manner of the Mochin of ZON” — that is, according to the measure in which ZON receive the Mochin from AVI, he has already of necessity raised the like of it from the discernment of their posterior. For it has been clarified that the whole discernment of ZA’s reception of the Mochin is because he caused these Mochin to AVI, that is, because through him the NHY of vessels of AVI and YESHSUT and the GAR of lights were elevated, as above. It turns out that the measure of the Mochin of ZON and the measure of the completion of the posterior of AVI and YESHSUT are equal. However, in the matter of the raising of these posterior of AVI and YESHSUT there are five discernments to discern: two for ZA and two for the Nukva, and one at the end of correction. And this will be explained in the adjacent item.