Часть 4 · Внутреннее созерцание 1

The Sefirot of Akudim, contains six chaptersExplains six topics:
1. The matter of couplings by striking and clashes.
2. The matter of reflected light.
3. The matter of records.
4. The matter of vessels.
5. The matter of the screen.
6. The matter of direct light.All of the words of the ARI here are fundamental, as the whole foundation of the wisdom is built on them. There is not a single matter in all the worlds of ABYA that does not have, in the general and in the particular, the results of all the matters that are brought here in the ten Sefirot of Akudim. Moreover, any slight change and tiny innovation here branches in the Partzufim of ABYA into numerous profound matters.It is known that all the forces and the new forms in the upper ones must be present in every lower one, without a single detail missing. This applies throughout the cascading of the Partzufim and the worlds to the Sof of Assiya. It is even more so here, where we are still concerned with the first line that is extended from Ein Sof to the place of the restriction, which is the first Partzuf of Adam Kadmon.Hence, every single word here is a precious gem that must be understood in its entire breadth and true definition. It must be memorized and remembered throughout the rest of the wisdom.Thus, here I have come to arrange the topic headings brought in this part in a useful order for remembering, and also to distinguish each issue of the primary discernments that the ARI brings here, and define each matter as much as possible. The purpose is that the reader will be able to beware of taking an issue out of its true definition, as a slight error in these places will completely stop the understanding throughout the rest of the wisdom.

Chapter OneFive kinds of coupling by striking and clashThere are five kinds of coupling by striking and clash that we find here in the ARI’s words in the first expansion of AK, which are:a. The first look, which is coupling by striking of the upper light in the screen in the vessel of Malchut for the phase of vessels of the Rosh (see Part 3, Chapter 12, item 4).b. The striking and clash of the inner light and the surrounding light with each other, as they exit the Peh of AK, which the ARI introduces here (Chapter 1, item 3).c. The second look, which is coupling by striking of the upper light in the screen in the vessel of Malchut to make vessels for the Guf (see Part 3, Chapter 12, item 5).d. Striking and clash of the record and the descending reflected light with each other (see here Chapter 3, item 9).e. The clash of the light of Malchut with the descending reflected light (see Chapter 4, item 3).

The first coupling by striking makes only the roots of the vessels. The second – the vessel and the light are mixed, and the third makes complete vesselsThe root of everything is the coupling called the first look. All the light in the Partzuf is extended from it, and its issue has been thoroughly explained in the ARI’s words (Part 3, Chapter 1, item 1 and Chapter 12 items 2 and 3). However, it is sufficient only to elicit the roots for the vessels, called “potential clothing,” not “actual,” because here the reflected light clothes from below upward, which means resistance to the clothing in the coarseness of the vessel. This is why the ten Sefirot in the Rosh are called Ein Sof, or Keter, as the ARI wrote (Part 3, Chapter 6, item7).Moreover, even afterwards when the ten Sefirot from Malchut of the Rosh expand down into the Guf through the Tabur, they are still not distinguished as vessels in and of themselves. Rather, it is as though the light and the vessels are mixed together, as the ARI wrote here (Chapter 6, item1). The manifestation of the HaVaYot of the vessels begins primarily in the second look done on the screen in the vessel of Malchut during the refinement, meaning the four levels that emerge in the degrees of its refinement.

The third coupling by striking is performed by the surrounding light and the inner light. The surrounding light refines the screen and the upper light makes a coupling by striking on the screen in the degrees of its refinement, eliciting four levels HB TMThis matter of refinement is done by the striking of the inner light and the surrounding light on each other, as the ARI wrote here (Chapter 1, item 3, and see there in Inner Light). It explains there that the surrounding light refines the coarseness in the screen until it becomes as refined as the screen in Malchut of the Rosh.Indeed, this whole refinement is done instantaneously and at once, as the ARI says (Chapter 1, item 9). However, the upper light does not stop shining even for a minute. Thus, the upper light makes a coupling with it in the four degrees to which the screen comes during its refinement. It elicits four levels of ten Sefirot there, which are Hochma, Bina, ZA, and Malchut, as it is written in Inner Light (Chapter 1, item 7).

The completion of the manifestation of the vessels is only through the second lookThe difference between the three kinds of coupling by striking has been explained: the first look, though it is the root and the origin of all the lights and the vessels in the Partzuf, still has no ability to actually manifest. The entire manifestation is only through the second look, done in the degrees of the refinement of the screen. This matter of refinement is done by the striking and the clash of the inner light and surrounding light with each other.

The last two couplings through striking are for the following PartzufAll these three kinds of striking are the purpose of the Partzuf itself. However, the striking and the clash of the record and the reflected light with each other is for the vessels of the following Partzuf (see Inner Light Chapter 2, item 3). Similarly, the striking of the light of Malchut on the record is for the purpose of the vessel of Malchut of the following Partzuf. Thus, it has been clarified how the first three kinds of striking are for the purpose of the Partzuf itself, and the two final strikings are for the purpose of the following Partzuf.