Part 16 · Chapter 241

The Ari's Text

And the secret of the matter: know that all the Klipot were made only from the sediments and the clarifications of the seven kings who died, as is known. And behold, those seven kings who died are only the aspect of ZON of Atzilut, because the kings of Aba and Ima did not die, as is mentioned by us, for they remained above in the place of Atzilut and did not descend to the world of Beriah. And therefore there was no death in them. But the seven kings of ZON, who descended to Beriah and died there — or were aroused and became the Klipot called death.

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 shells were made only from the lees and the sortings of the seven kings who died. The root of judgment begins from the secret of the first restriction and from the second restriction. However, the matter of the shells, whose matter is to cause human beings to sin, had no root whatsoever before the death of the kings, except by reason of the expansion of the ZAT below the Parsa, in the secret of “I will reign,” as above, page 1995, the passage beginning “And with this you will understand the matter.” Study it there well. For because of this the upper light departed from them and they died, and they all sank into the shells, which is death, since the shells are the secret of death. However, afterward, in the world of correction, they all returned and were sorted and rose to Atzilut, above the Parsa, except for their Malchuts, which are called the heart of stone, for they are not fit for sorting throughout the whole duration of the six thousand years, and they are regarded as complete shells that are not fit for anything, because it is not fit that anything of them be sorted for holiness before the end of correction. And in these — the heart of stone — there are ZA and Nukva, and they took the place of the four lower ones of Yetzira for the ZA of the shell, and the ten Sefirot of Assiya for the Nukva of the shell. However, from this discernment they have no building whatsoever, except that the ZA of the shells was the discernment of VAK without a Rosh [head], and his Nukva was in the discernment of a point alone. And all this sorting was done before the sin of Adam HaRishon. (As above, page 1943, the passage beginning “And behold.”) And by reason of the sin of the Tree of Knowledge, the shells returned to take hold in holiness, and therefore the upper light departed again, and the sparks and the vessels fell into the shells. And they died, as it was at the time of the breaking of the vessels the first time. As is written there at length.
However, here there is a great change from the time of the breaking of the vessels, for there the vessels of the ZAT of Nekudim were broken, front and back, whereas here, in the sin of the Tree of Knowledge, only the discernment of the posterior of ZON was broken, but their anterior vessels remained in Atzilut, which are the VAK of ZA and the point of the Nukva. For the flaw did not rule in them, as above. And the reason for the matter is that in truth grip and flaw do not rule in the GAR, and even in the GAR of the Guf [body], which are the HGT of ZA down to the Chazeh [chest], for the second restriction was only upon the vessels from the Chazeh and below of the ZAT, as is known; except that there, in the seven kings, the anterior vessels, which are HBD HGT down to the Chazeh, were broken as well, because they joined with the posterior vessels into one Partzuf. Whereas here there was a special discernment of Ibur [impregnation] for the anterior vessels, for they were so corrected permanently in the secret of the principal part of the Partzuf, and therefore the Mochin of Gadlut [greatness/adulthood] were not made in them, but only as a discernment of addition alone; and therefore the anterior vessels remained here, since there is no rule for the externals except over the vessels that had already come into the discernment of the vacant space by force of the second restriction, that is, from the Parsa and below, as above, page 1946, the passage beginning “And the answer.”
One more change was here. For there, in the seven kings who died, there was no breaking and death except in the ZAT alone, for the posterior of AVI and YESHSUT remained in Atzilut and did not die. For although all the posteriors are the discernment of ZON, that is, the discernment of the AHP of vessels, which join with the Partzuf through the new light in the coupling of AB SAG, which brings the bottom Hey back down to the Peh [mouth], and all the AHP are YESHSUT and ZON, as is known. However, the AHP of every degree, which join it at the time of Gadlut, are found in the degree beneath it: the AHP of Keter fell to the place of AVI, and the AHP of AVI fell to the place of YESHSUT, and the AHP of YESHSUT fell to the place of ZON. Rather, only the AHP of ZON, which are their TNHY that came from the place of BYA, are the ones that fell back to BYA and died. And they are the ones that dragged with them also the anterior vessels, as above. But from AVI and YESHSUT nothing fell to BYA, for their AHP were sorted and raised only from the degree beneath them, and therefore at the time of the descent they returned to the place where they were at the time of Katnut [smallness/infancy].
Whereas here, in the sin of the Tree of Knowledge, in which before the sin ZON had already ascended to the place of AA and AVI, for ZA was in the place of AA, and the Nukva in the place of AVI, as above, page 1933, the passage beginning “And now.” See there. And behold, the TNHY of ZA come only from the place of BYA, from behind the Parsa, which before the sorting were in the place of death, and after the sorting returned and joined ZON, who stand in the place of AVI, and they are now regarded as actually the discernment of AVI, as is known, for the lower one that ascends to the place of the upper one becomes like it. And if so, after the GAR of lights and the NHY of vessels departed from them, these NHY should truly have fallen to the place of BYA, since from there they were sorted; except that because they joined the degree of AVI, this caused them not to fall to BYA but to remain in Atzilut in the place of ZON, in the manner of the falling of the posterior of AVI. And therefore on one side they are regarded as shells, that is, on the side that they came and were sorted from BYA, where they were supposed to fall and die. And on the second side, however, they did not fall and die, because they joined ZA at the time they were in the discernment of AVI, and the TNHY of AVI do not fall outside of Atzilut, as above. And understand this well, for through this the continuation of the words of the ARI that are before us will be understood.