diff --git "a/txt/Kabbalah/Baal HaSulam/Petichah LeChokhmat HaKabbalah/English/The Sefaria Sulam, 2023.txt" "b/txt/Kabbalah/Baal HaSulam/Petichah LeChokhmat HaKabbalah/English/The Sefaria Sulam, 2023.txt" new file mode 100644--- /dev/null +++ "b/txt/Kabbalah/Baal HaSulam/Petichah LeChokhmat HaKabbalah/English/The Sefaria Sulam, 2023.txt" @@ -0,0 +1,275 @@ +Petichah LeChokhmat HaKabbalah +פתיחה לחכמת הקבלה +The Sefaria Sulam, 2023 +https://www.sefaria.org/ + +Petichah LeChokhmat HaKabbalah + + + +Chapter 1 + +The Talmud states:1Makkot 23b. “Rabbi Ḥananya ben Akashya says: The Holy One, blessed be He, wanted to confer merit upon the Jewish people. Therefore, He increased for them Torah and commandments, as the verse states, ‘It pleased the Lord for the sake of His righteousness to make the Torah great and glorious.’”2Isaiah 42:21. It is known that the word for merit, zekhut, connotes hizdakekhut, purification, and this aligns with the Sages’ statement that the commandments of the Torah were given only in order to refine the Jewish people through them.3Bereshit Rabba 44:1. This purification that we attain by means of the Torah and commandments needs to be understood. What opacity (ovyut) is there in us that we must purify it through the Torah and commandments? +I have addressed this topic in my books Panim Masbirot and Talmud Eser HaSefirot. I will review the ideas here in brief. +The Creator’s initial intent for the Creation was to bestow benefit on the created beings commensurate with His generosity, may He be blessed and exalted. Therefore, souls were imprinted with the great will and desire to receive His shefa (divine bounty). The will to receive is the vessel that contains the measure of pleasure that is in the shefa, because the measure of greatness and strength of the will to receive the shefa is commensurate with the measure of pleasure and delight in the shefa, no more, no less. They are bound together to such an extent that they cannot be distinguished from one another except in terms of that to which they relate: The pleasure is related to the shefa, while the great will to receive the shefa is related to the created being who receives it. Both of these are necessarily drawn from the Creator, only they must be distinguished in the aforementioned manner: The shefa is drawn from His essence, that is, its existence emanates from His essence yesh miyesh. The will to receive, which is incorporated there, in the shefa, is the root of all created beings, that is, it is the root of any new creation, which constitutes the emergence of existence ex nihilo (yesh me’ayin), since the Creator’s essence certainly does not contain any trace of the will to receive, God forbid.4Since the Creator’s essence does not contain any aspect related to receiving, as He needs nothing from anyone, the will to receive could not emanate from His essence, as the shefa did, but rather had to be created as a totally new entity from nothingness. +We can therefore discern that the aforementioned will to receive constitutes all creative material from beginning to end, to such an extent that the myriad species of creations, their innumerable incarnations, and their manners of behavior, both those that have manifest and those that will manifest in the future, constitute nothing more than quantities and differences in the measure of the will to receive.5All things in creation are formed of the will to receive, which can be viewed as the raw material that makes up the vast diversity of all created entities, both matter and living creatures. The differences between various created entities is rooted in the different measures of will to receive that each one contains. Anything contained within the vessel that constitutes those creations, that is, anything received through their imprinted will to receive, emanates from the Creator’s essence yesh miyesh. It is not in any way a new creation that came into existence ex nihilo (yesh me’ayin) , since it is not truly new at all but emanates from the Creator’s eternal essence yesh miyesh. + +Chapter 2 + +As stated, the will to receive was necessarily encompassed in the Creator’s initial intent for the Creation, in all its various forms, together with the great shefa with which He thought to benefit them and to grant to them. Know that this is the mystical meaning of light and vessel that we discern in the higher worlds, because of necessity they come bound as one, and they devolve together from one level to the next, descending further and further from their divine source. The measure by which the levels descend from the light of His countenance and become distant from Him is commensurate with the materialization of the will to receive that is subsumed in the shefa.6The system of Kabbala describes layers and levels of existence, in which the higher a created entity is, the closer to the source it is – that is, to the Creator – and the less material it is. In the process of Creation described here, the supernal light and the vessels descend through the layers, or spiritual worlds, to incrementally manifest as the reality we experience as this world. +One can likewise say the reverse, that commensurate with the measure of the materialization of the will to receive in the shefa, the combined will to receive and the shefa increasingly descends from one level to the next, as will be explained below. This continues until it reaches the lowest place of them all, at which point the will to receive becomes materialized to its fullest potential measure. That place is termed the world of Asiya (Actualization), and there the will to receive is manifest as a human body, while the shefa the created entity receives is the amount of vitality that is contained in that body. The same applies to the other creations in this world. +Thus, the whole difference between the higher worlds and this world is that as long as the will to receive that is subsumed in His shefa has not materialized into its final form, it is still found in the spiritual worlds, which are loftier than this world, whereas once the will to receive has materialized into its final form, it is regarded as being found in this world. + +Chapter 3 + +The aforementioned devolvement in which the will to receive is brought into its final form in this world follows the order of the four levels that correspond to the four letters of the four-letter name of God (the Tetragrammaton). For the four letters of the Tetragrammaton, yod-heh-vav-heh, encompass all of reality without excluding even the most minute particle. +In general, the letters are expressed as the ten divine attributes known as sefirot, the letters being synonymous with them: Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, Malkhut, and their root, Keter. They are ten sefirot because the sefira of Tiferet encompasses six sefirot: Ḥesed, Gevura, Tiferet, Netzaḥ, Hod, and Yesod, and the root is called Keter .7Keter is referred to as the root sefira in this context because Keter is like a bridge, so to speak, between the Creator and the creation. It is connected to the infinity of the Divine on one side and to the finite creation on the other. Thus it acts as a doorway, a link between His essence and the finite world. Without this doorway, there could be no process of creation at all. Note, however, that it cannot truly be thought of as a “bridge,” since His essence is infinite and can never be reached or grasped by anything within creation. However, they are mainly referenced as Ḥokhma and Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut. Keep this in mind. +Additionally, the four letters of the divine name correspond to the four worlds, which are Atzilut (Emanation), Beria (Creation), Yetzira (Formation), and Asiya (Actualization).8The yod of the name corresponds to the world of Atzilut, the first heh to the world of Beria>>, the vav to the world of Yetzira, and the second heh to the world of Asiya. The world of Asiya includes this world within it. Thus there is no creature in this world that is not engendered from Ein Sof, blessed be He, meaning it is rooted in the initial intent for the Creation, which is to give His creations pleasure, as stated above. This initial intent is necessarily comprised of light and vessel, that is, a certain measure of shefa together with the will to receive that shefa. The measure of shefa emanates from His essence yesh miyesh , while the will to receive the shefa comes into existence anew ex nihilo (yesh me’ayin), as stated above. In order that the will to receive may reach its final form, it must devolve, together with the shefa it contains, through the four worlds of Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Asiya. At that point, the created being is complete, composed of both light and vessel, which is referred to as body and the light of vitality it contains. + +Chapter 4 + +The reason that the will to receive devolves by means of the aforementioned four levels, Atzilut (Emanation), Beria (Creation), Yetzira (Formation), and Asiya (Actualization), is due to an important principle that applies to the vessels: It is the expansion of the light and its subsequent removal that renders the vessel suitable for its function. This means that as long as the vessel has not been separated in any way from its light, it is encompassed in the light and subsumed within it like a candle in the presence of a torch. This subsummation occurs because the vessels and light are complete opposites from one extreme to the other. The light is shefa that emanates from His essence yesh miyesh. From the perspective of the intent to create that stems from Ein Sof, blessed be He, the light is intended purely to grant shefa and contains nothing of the will to receive. The vessel is the opposite, as it is composed of the ultimate desire to receive that shefa, a desire that is the entire root of the created being, containing no ability to give whatsoever. +Therefore, when they are bound together, the will to receive is negated by the light within, and a created being is unable to achieve a final form until the light has been removed from it at least once. For after the light is removed from it, the will to receive begins to yearn very much for the light, and this yearning determines and finalizes the appropriate form that the will to receive will take. Subsequently, when the light returns and is enclothed in the form that the will to receive has taken, from that point the entity is categorized as possessing two separate elements: vessel and light, or body and vitality. Consider this carefully, as it is the most profound of ideas. + +Chapter 5 + +Therefore, the four levels that correspond to the Tetragrammaton, the four-letter name of God, which are Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut, are necessary. The first level, called Ḥokhma, actually contains the entirety of the emanated being, both light and vessel. It incorporates the full will to receive together with the entirety of the light within it, which is called the “light of wisdom,” also called the “light of vitality,” as it comprises all the light of the life force that is in the emanated being enclothed in its vessel. Yet this first level is categorized as entirely light and its vessel is barely recognizable, since the vessel is mingled with the light and subsumed in it like a candle in the presence of a torch. +Then follows the second level. At the end of the first level, the vessel of Ḥokhma prevails by equating its form to that of the supernal light it contains. In other words, a will to give to the Emanator is awakened within the vessel, resembling the nature of the light it contains, which is entirely to give. Then, by means of this will to give that has been awakened in the vessel, a new light is drawn to it from the Emanator, which is called the “light of giving.” As a result, it is disassociated almost completely from the light of wisdom that the Emanator bestowed on it, since the light of wisdom can be received only in its own vessel, which is the ultimate will to receive in its fullest measure, as stated. +Accordingly, the light and vessel in the second level are completely different from those of the first level, as the vessel of the second level has the will to give, while the light within it differentiates into the light of giving, a light that emanates from the power of the cleaving of the emanated being to the Emanator. That is, the will to give that is awakened within the vessel brings about the equating of its form with that of the Emanator, and the equating of form is the way an entity cleaves to another in the spiritual realm, as stated below. +Next comes the third level, which comes after the light in the emanated being has been reduced to the light of giving and there is no light of wisdom at all. Yet it is known that the light of wisdom is the essential life force of the emanated being. Therefore, at the end of the second level, the emanated being awakened and drew into it a measure of the light of wisdom to shine into the light of giving within it. This awakening thus draws once more a certain measure of the will to receive, which forms a new vessel referred to as the third level, or Tiferet. The light within it is called “the light of giving illuminated by the light of wisdom,” since the light is primarily comprised of the light of giving but a little of it is the light of wisdom. +After that comes the fourth level. At the end of the third level, the vessel was also awakened to draw the full measure of the light of wisdom, as in the first level. This awakening constitutes a state of yearning that is similar to the will to receive that was present in the first level and in a way exceeds it, for at this point the will to receive has already been separated from that light because in this level the light of wisdom is no longer enclothed in the vessel of the will to receive, but rather the vessel yearns for it, to receive the light of wisdom. Thus, the form of the will to receive has been fully established, since the vessel is completed after the expansion of the light and its subsequent removal from the vessel, as stated above. When the materialized vessel subsequently returns to receive the light once again, the vessel will precede the light.9At this stage of the process, the vessel yearns to receive the light of wisdom. This yearning is what constitutes the completed vessel since the loss of the light of wisdom is what drives the vessel to yearn for it. The idea that the vessel now “precedes” the light refers to the fact that in this context the vessel is present yet, lacking light, yearns for it, so the vessel is said to be first in that it is present but the light is not. By contrast, in the first level the vessel and the light were both present, with the vessel subsumed within the light. Therefore, this fourth level constitutes the completion of the vessel, which is called Malkhut. + +Chapter 6 + +The four levels described above are the mystical meaning of the ten sefirot that can be discerned in every emanated being and each creation, both in the overall system of existence comprised of the four worlds and in the smallest minutiae of existence. The first level is called Ḥokhma, or the world of Atzilut (Emanation). The second level is called Bina, or the world of Beria (Creation). The third level is called Tiferet, or the world of Yetzira (Formation). The fourth level is called Malkhut, or the world of Asiya (Actualization). +We will now elucidate the four levels as they apply to every soul. +When a soul is drawn from Ein Sof, blessed be He, and enters the world of Atzilut, it is in the soul’s first level. There it is not yet called neshama , as the term neshama indicates that there is some divergence from the Emanator, blessed be He. This state of divergence reflects how the soul has left the level of Ein Sof and has reached a state in which it is revealed as a separate entity unto itself. Prior to this separation, when the soul does not yet possess the form of a vessel, there is nothing to identify it as distinct from His essence so that it may merit its own name. It has already been established that in the first level of development of a vessel, it is not recognized as a vessel at all but rather is entirely subsumed by the light. +This is the mystical meaning of the statement regarding the world of Atzilut, that it is entirely divinity, in the mystical statement “He, His life, and His attributes are one.”10Tikkunei Zohar, Introduction 3b. Even the souls of other living creatures, when they pass through the world of Atzilut, are categorized as still cleaving to His essence. + +Chapter 7 + +In the world of Beria (Creation), the aforementioned second level is dominant, which is the level of the vessel that constitutes the will to give. Therefore, when the soul descends and enters the world of Beria, acquiring the type of vessel that exists there, then it is called neshama. At that point, it has already emerged and separated from His essence and has merited its own name: neshama. Nevertheless, this vessel is extremely pure, since it equates its form with that of the Emanator by acquiring the will to give, and therefore it is categorized as wholly spiritual. + +Chapter 8 + +In the world of Yetzira (Formation), the aforementioned third level is dominant, which includes the incorporation of a small amount of the form of the will to receive. Therefore, when the soul descends and enters the world of Yetzira, acquiring that vessel, it leaves the spiritual level of neshama and is then called ruaḥ. On this level, its vessel is intermingled with a slight degree of opacity (ovyut) because of the small amount of will to receive that it contains. Nevertheless, it is still considered spiritual, as this amount of opacity is insufficient to separate it entirely from His essence to the extent that it can be called a body that exists in its own right. + +Chapter 9 + +In the world of Asiya (Actualization), the fourth level is dominant, which is the completion of the vessel that constitutes the ultimate will to receive, as stated above. Accordingly, it acquires a body distinct and separate from His essence, one that exists in its own right. The light and vitality that it contains is called nefesh, which is indicative of light without movement of its own.11The fourth level is the final stage of this process. In this final level, the light is “without movement” since it does not transition to further stages and descend any lower. +Know that there is no minutia of existence that is not comprised of all the levels of Atzilut (Emanation), Beria (Creation), Yetzira (Formation), and Asiya. + +Chapter 10 + +One thus discovers how this soul level called nefesh, which is the light of vitality enclothed in the body, emanates from the Creator’s essence yesh miyesh. As it passes through the four worlds of Atzilut (Emanation), Beria (Creation), Yetzira (Formation), and Asiya, it becomes increasingly distant from the light of His countenance, until it enters its designated vessel, which is called body. At this stage, the vessel has acquired its proper, final form. +Admittedly, the light it contains has also greatly diminished until the root of its origin is no longer discernible. Even so, by engaging in Torah study and the performance of the commandments in order to give one’s Creator satisfaction, one continuously purifies one’s vessel that is called body until it merits receiving the ultimate shefa in the fullest measure that was encompassed in the Creator’s initial intent for the Creation when He created the world. This is the meaning of Rabbi Ḥananya ben Akashya’s statement that “the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted to purify [lezakot] the Jewish people.12The Hebrew word lezakot means both “to confer merit” and “to purify.” In section #1# above, it was translated as “confer merit” since in that context, the author of the Sulam had not yet developed his concept of the purification of the vessels (our bodies) through Torah study and commandments. In this section, lezakot connotes “to purify,” since his point here is the purification of vessels. Therefore, He increased for them Torah and commandments.” + +Chapter 11 + +With this in mind, you will understand the true basis for delineating the distinction between spirituality and corporeality: Anything that contains a fully formed will to receive, with all its aspects, which constitutes the fourth level, is considered corporeal. This level exists in all facets of the reality that is visible to us in this world. Anything beyond this ultimate measure of will to receive can be categorized as spirituality. This constitutes the worlds of Atzilut (Emanation), Beria (Creation), Yetzira (Formation), and Asiya (Actualization) – they and all of reality that they contain – which are loftier than this world. +With this understanding, you can grasp that all the ascents and descents mentioned with regard to the higher worlds do not refer to an imaginary place, God forbid, but rather to the concept of the four levels of will to receive. Anything that is distant from the fourth level is described as being in a higher place, while anything that is closer to the fourth level is described as being in a lower place. + +Chapter 12 + +However, one must understand that since the central element of a created being, and of all of creation in general, is solely the will to receive, anything beyond this is not actually in the category of a creation but rather emanates from the Creator’s essence yesh miyesh; that is, it constitutes the light of vitality found within the creation. If that is the case, why do we describe this desire to receive with negative appellations such as opacity (ovyut) and murkiness, and why is it that we are commanded to purify it by means of Torah study and commandments to the extent that without this purification we would not achieve the lofty goal of the Creator’s intent for the Creation? + +Chapter 13 + +The explanation is that just as corporeal beings are separated from one another by spatial distance, so too spiritual beings are separated from one another by their difference of form. You can find comparable cases in this world as well. For example, two people who are similar to one another in their perspectives love each other, and physical distance does not cause them to grow apart. By contrast, when they are far apart from one another in their perspectives, they hate each other and physical proximity will not bring them one iota closer. The difference in the form of two people’s perspectives distances them from one another, while the similarity of form in their perspectives draws them closer to each other. If, for example, the nature of one of them is the opposite, in all aspects, from the nature of the other, they will be as far apart from each other as east is from west. +In the same way, you can understand this concept in the realm of spirituality. All the dynamics of distancing and drawing close, or fusion and unification, that are applied to it, are just measures of changes of form. They are separated from one another commensurate with the extent of the difference of form, and they are attached to one another commensurate with the equating of form. +With this in mind, you will understand that although the will to receive is an indispensable quality in a created being, since the will to receive defines an entity as a created being and is the appropriate vessel for receiving the purpose of the Creator’s intent in the creation of the world, nevertheless this quality separates the created being completely from the Emanator. This is because there is a change of form that leads to opposing states between the created being and the Emanator. The Emanator is entirely about giving and lacks even a trace of receiving, God forbid. By contrast, the created being is entirely about receiving and lacks even a trace of giving. There is no difference of form more opposite and distant than this, and therefore this difference of form necessarily separates the created being from the Emanator. + +Chapter 14 + +In order to save the created beings from the enormity of this distant separation, the mystical first constriction (tzimtzum) was implemented, separating the aforementioned fourth level from all the holy partzufim in such a manner that the ultimate capacity for receiving was left as an empty space, devoid of any light.13The constriction referred to here, and upon which the author of Sulam will go on to elaborate at length, is the formation of a partition that separates the fourth and last level called Malkhut from the supernal light. This partition prevents the supernal light from entering the final receiving vessel of Malkhut, leaving that level “devoid of any light.” This is meant to “save the created beings from the enormity of this distant separation” because by using the partition to refuse entry to the supernal light, the vessel of Malkhut creates a situation in which the ultimate receiving of the supernal light is actually an act of giving. As the author will go on to explain, this is like a person giving his friend the opportunity to do him a favor. Once the vessel of Malkhut achieves this, it is not as “enormously separated” from the Emanator, as it now also has the quality of giving, forming a connection to the Emanator through their shared trait of giving, a connection that the author of the Sulam refers to as an “equating of form.” For all the holy partzufim emerged with a partition placed upon their respective vessels of Malkhut so that they would not receive light in their fourth level. +Thus, when the supernal light is drawn down and expands toward the emanated being, this partition rebuffs the light backward, and there is a kind of collision between the supernal light and the partition. This collision gives rise to the returning light, which returns the light from below to above and enclothes the ten sefirot of the supernal light. That part of the light that is rebuffed upward is called the returning light. When it enclothes the supernal light, it becomes a vessel that serves as a receptacle for the supernal light instead of the fourth level.14As explained above, the fourth level called Malkhut cannot receive the supernal light directly because they are opposites. The Malkhut has to be modified through the deployment of the partition, which represents Malkhut expressing its agency to choose not to receive the supernal light except on its own terms. This rejection transforms the act of receiving the light into a gift itself, as in the analogy of a person giving his friend the opportunity to do him a favor. The first part of that transformation is when the supernal light is rebuffed, or sent back, which allows that returning light to act as a partial receiver instead of the fourth level of Malkhut. The mechanism of this rebuffing of the light and the way it is used to enclothe the supernal light is explained further in the next sections. Subsequently the vessel of Malkhut expands commensurate with the amount of returning light that was rebuffed by the partition, which is the rebuffed light that ascended and enclothed the supernal light from below to above, which then expanded from above to below.15After the returning light bounces off the partition and is rebuffed backward, it serves as a vessel to enclothe the supernal light. This process is referred to as “enclothing from below to above,” since the returning light emerges from “below” at the level of the partition and travels upward. The enclothing of the supernal light is actualized when the Malkhut expands to form complete vessels, and this expansion takes place “above to below” because the supernal light travels downward, so to speak, to be enclothed in the fully formed vessels. In this manner, the lights are enclothed in the vessels, meaning in that returning light. +This is the mystical meaning of head and body in each level,16The concepts of head and body are references to the formation of partzufim, which will be explained at length in the following sections. since the fusion through the collision of the supernal light against the partition gives rise to the returning light from below to above and enclothes the ten sefirot of the supernal light in the form of the ten sefirot of the head, which refers to the roots of the vessels, as there, in the head, there cannot yet be actual enclothing in order to form complete vessels. Subsequently, when the Malkhut expands with the returning light from above to below, the returning light ceases to exist as light and now acts as vessels for the supernal light. Then the supernal light is enclothed in the vessels, and it is called the body of that level, meaning it becomes complete vessels.17When the returning light travels upward, it is described as being in its initial state of enclothing of the supernal light. In this state, it serves as “roots” for the vessels that will be enclothing the supernal light in the next stage of the process that the author of the Sulam goes on to describe. Those roots are referred to as the “head” of that structure of sefirot. Once the Malkhut expands, and the returning light now serves as vessels, the supernal light is enclothed in this complete structure, which is referred to as the “body”; now the vessels are no longer roots but are fully formed. When this happens, and the structure of sefirot are fully constructed, the returning light is said to cease, since it is now acting as vessels for the supernal light. The author of the Sulam will elaborate on these concepts extensively in the sections that follow. + +Chapter 15 + +Thus, new vessels were made in the holy partzufim, instead of the fourth level serving in that capacity, after the first constriction (tzimtzum). They were fashioned through the rebuffing of the returning light by means of the fusion through collision of the supernal light against the partition. It is necessary to understand this returning light, how it became a receiving vessel. Initially it was merely light that was rebuffed from being received, and now it subsequently serves a function that is the opposite of its own type.18The rebuffed light can be viewed as the supernal light that was blocked from entering the fourth level. Since the supernal light is wholly giving, the author of the Sulam questions how it can now serve as a receiving vessel. +I will explain this to you by means of a parable that relates to the affairs of this world: It is human nature to like and respect the attribute of giving, while the attribute of receiving from another person is viewed as repulsive and degrading. Accordingly, if one visits the house of a friend, and the friend invites him to dine with him, he will decline to eat even if he is very hungry because he considers it demeaning and degrading to receive a gift from his friend. However, if his friend implores him sufficiently, so that it becomes abundantly clear to him that he would be doing his friend a great favor by eating, he will agree to dine with him. He no longer feels that he is the one receiving the gift and that his friend is being the giver, but rather the converse: He is the giver, the one doing his friend a favor, by accepting this favor from him. +You thus find that although hunger and appetite are the specific receiving vessels for eating, and this person had sufficient hunger and appetite to accept his friend’s meal, he was nevertheless unable to taste even a morsel of his friend’s food out of embarrassment. However, when his friend began to implore him, and he repeatedly declined his offer, a new receiving vessel for eating began to be formed within him. As the force of his friend’s entreaties and the force of his own repudiations increase and grow, they will ultimately combine and grow large enough that his attribute of receiving is transformed into an attribute of giving to the extent that he can imagine he is doing his friend a favor and providing him with immense gratification by eating. At that point, receiving vessels for his friend’s meal are generated within him. +We can now see how the force of his rejection became the central element of his receiving vessel with regard to the meal, and not hunger and appetite, even though in truth they are the usual receiving vessels. + +Chapter 16 + +From the aforementioned parable, which involves an interpersonal relationship, one can understand the aforementioned concept of fusion through collision and the returning light that rises by means of it, which becomes a new receiving vessel for the supernal light instead of the fourth level that was initially meant to serve as the receiving vessel. The collision of the supernal light against the partition and how the light desires to expand into the fourth level, can be compared to a person imploring someone to dine with him. Just as he very much wants his friend to accept his meal, so too the supernal light wants to expand into the receiver. The partition impacting the light and rebuffing it can be compared to the rejection and refusal of his friend to accept his meal because he rebuffed his offer. Just as you find in this case that it is the refusal and the rejection themselves that are transformed and turned into proper receiving vessels for accepting his friend’s meal, you can likewise imagine that the returning light, which arises by means of the impact of the supernal light against the partition and the partition’s repudiation of the supernal light, transforms into a new receiving vessel for the supernal light instead of the fourth level, which served as the receiving vessel before the first constriction (tzimtzum).19Just as the guest’s repudiation of the host’s meal forms a new receiving vessel, that of receiving in order to give, the rebuffing of the supernal light is the returning light, which serves as a new receiving vessel for the supernal light because the receiving along with the element of giving – receiving in order to give – allows the receiver to accept the gift. Although the returning light is also light (like the supernal light), it is light that comes from the receiver (the created being) and can therefore serve as a vessel for the supernal light. +However, this occurs only in the holy partzufim of Atzilut (Emanation), Beria (Creation), Yetzira (Formation), and Asiya (Actualization), but not in the partzufim of the kelippot nor in this world, in which the fourth level itself serves as the receiving vessel. 20Generally the fourth level constitutes the fully developed form of the will to receive. Therefore, it is separated from the Creator, since it is the opposite in form from that of the Creator in the sense that He is the ultimate giver and has no trace of the attribute of receiving. In the higher worlds of Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Asiya the fourth level is tempered with some of the attribute of giving through the fusion through collision described above. However, the partzufim of the kelippot mentioned here represent creations and beings that operate within the plane of the fourth level, which means they are formed solely within the realm of pure receiving and so are totally separated from the Creator. In these contexts, such creations are unable to interact with or receive the supernal light, since, in their receiving nature, they are fundamentally opposite to the pure giving nature of that light. Therefore, they are separated from the supernal light, as the difference in form of the fourth level from that of the Emanator, which is the attribute of giving, separates them from each other. Consequently, the kelippot, and similarly the wicked, are regarded as dead, for they are separated from the Source of Life, who bestows life, by the will to receive within them, as mentioned in section #13# above. See the description there in detail, as it cannot be explained any further. + +Chapter 17 + +Five Levels in the Partition +Up to this point, we have clarified the first three principles of the wisdom of Kabbala. The first is the concept of light and vessel, how the light is drawn directly from the Creator’s essence, while the vessel is comprised of the will to receive that is necessarily encompassed by that light. Commensurate with the measure of this will to receive that was created ex nihilo, an entity emerges from the Emanator as an emanated entity. This will to receive is the Malkhut that is discerned in the supernal light. This is why Malkhut is called shemo, His name, in accordance with the mystical meaning of “He is one and His name is one,” as shemo has the same numerical value as the word for “will,” ratzon. +The second principle is the explanation of the ten sefirot and the four worlds of Atzilut (Emanation), Beria (Creation), Yetzira (Formation), and Asiya (Actualization), which are four levels, one below the other, through which the will to receive must devolve until the vessel is established properly as an entity in itself. +The third principle is the constriction (tzimtzum) and the partition that was formed upon this receiving vessel, which is the fourth level. This fourth level was then replaced by new receiving vessels in the form of ten sefirot called the returning light.21The returning light is the supernal light that was rebuffed when it impacted against the partition>>. Since the supernal light is comprised of ten sefirot, so too is the returning light comprised of ten sefirot. +You should understand and thoroughly review these three principles, as well as their explanations as described above, for without them there is no comprehending even a single word of this wisdom. + +Chapter 18 + +Now we will clarify five levels that are in the partition, on the basis of which the shiurei koma (literally, “dimensions of height”) change during the fusion through collision between the partition and the supernal light.22As the author of the Sulam will go on to describe, there are actually multiple rejections of the supernal light as it impacts, or beats, against the partition, which results in multiple fusions through collision. The partition changes after each fusion, so the measure of returning light that is refracted from it as a result is also different each time. Each measure of returning light is able to enclothe up to a certain “height” or level of light (defined by the author in previous sections), resulting in structures made up of vessels and lights of different “heights.” These are referred to as shiurei koma, or “dimensions of height,” referring to the “height” of the structure of receiving vessels that are formed as a result of the rebuffing of the returning light off the partition. One must first thoroughly understand that although after the constriction (tzimtzum) the fourth level was disqualified from serving as a receiving vessel for the ten sefirot of the supernal light, and the returning light that rises from the partition by means of the fusion through collision became a receiving vessel in order to receive the supernal light in its stead, the fourth level must nevertheless, with its power of receiving, accompany the returning light. Otherwise, the returning light would not be fit to serve as a receiving vessel.23The returning light changes the form of the receiving vessel by adding an element of giving, so that the receiving vessel resembles the supernal light, which is wholly giving. This allows the returning light to serve as a receiving vessel for the supernal light. Despite this added element, the original receiving capacity of the unconstructed vessel of the fourth level remains and is combined with the giving capacity of the returning light. Recall the analogy of the guest who accepts a meal at his friend’s house captures this. Though he accepts the meal only after he understands that by accepting the meal, he is doing his friend a favor, adding an element of giving to the receiving, he still eats with the same original receiving vessel, which is his hunger. +You can understand this, too, through the aforementioned parable in section #15#. We proved there that the force of the guest’s rejection and refusal to accept a meal became a receiving vessel instead of the hunger and appetite. The hunger and appetite, which are the usual receiving vessel for eating, were disqualified here from being a receiving vessel on account of the shame and degradation the person felt at receiving a gift from his friend, and only the powers of rejection and refusal became receiving vessels in their place, because as a result of the rejection and refusal, the receiving was transformed into giving once the guest realized that he would be doing the host a favor by accepting the meal, and through them the person attained appropriate receiving vessels for accepting his friend’s meal. +However, it cannot be said that now he no longer needs the usual receiving vessels, which are hunger and appetite, as it is clear that without an appetite for eating, he will be unable to fulfill his friend’s wishes and give him the satisfaction of eating with him. Rather, what happens is that the hunger and appetite, which were disqualified in their normative form, have now been altered, due to the force of the rejection and refusal, and have received a new form: receiving in order to give. Through this, the degradation is transformed into honor. Thus, the usual receiving vessels still function now as they always did, only they have received a new form. +You can apply the same idea to the matter at hand. It is true that the fourth level was disqualified from serving as a receiving vessel for the ten sefirot of the supernal light due to the opacity (ovyut) within it, meaning the contrast in form as a receiver in comparison to the Giver, which separates it from the Giver, as stated above. However, through the establishment of the partition in the fourth level, which collides with the supernal light and rebuffs it, the fourth level’s previous, disqualified form was altered, and it received a new form, which is called “returning light,” similar to the alteration of the receiving form into the giving form in the aforementioned parable. The contents of the first form did not change there; also now the person will not eat without an appetite. Here too all the opacity, which is the power to receive, that was in the fourth level was altered and entered the returning light, and thus the returning light was made fit to be a receiving vessel. Understand this well.24Thus the fourth level called Malkhut, which solely comprises the will to receive, is replaced with the returning light, which contains the element of giving, but the fourth level – the original receiving vessel – is still required in order for the supernal light to be received. When the opacity, or the will to receive, of the fourth level enters the returning light, the new receiving vessel is formed, which is receiving in order to give. +Accordingly, one must always distinguish between two forces in the partition: +The first is hardness (kashyut), which constitutes the force of rejection inherent to it to be able to rebuff the supernal light. +The second is opacity (ovyut), which is the measure of the will to receive that is incorporated within the partition from the fourth level. By means of the fusion through collision as a result of the force of hardness that the partition contains, the opacity is purified.25The opacity refers to the will to receive, which separates the fourth level from the Creator, who is wholly giving. After the supernal light was rejected and returned, this refusal allowed the fourth to ultimately receive the supernal light, because that receiving actually constitutes a gift to the Creator by providing Him with a receiver. This is called a “purification” of the initial separation, or opacity. That is, there is the transformation of receiving into giving. +These two forces in the partition operate at five levels, which are the four aforementioned levels of Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut and their root, which is called Keter, each level representing a different measure of will to receive. + +Chapter 19 + +Admittedly, we explained that the first three levels are not characterized as vessels, and only the fourth level is categorized as a vessel, as stated above in section #5#. Nevertheless, the first three levels are the causes that lead to the completion of the fourth level, in such a manner that the fourth level, after its completion, bears the imprints of four different measures of the attribute of receiving that it contains,26As explained above, the fourth level, the level of Malkhut, was the end point of a process. During the course of that process, the other four levels – Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, and Tiferet – each had a certain measure of will to receive, creating some measure of opacity and separation between them and the Creator, though considerably less than Malkhut’s will to receive. These other four levels of the will to receive, each with its own unique amount of opacity, are contained within Malkhut, since Malkhut is the endpoint in the process where the will to receive is incrementally differentiated from the supernal light, creating these levels, until it reaches Malkhut, which is comprised solely of will to receive. Therefore, the partition, positioned upon Malkhut, the ultimate form of the will to receive, can transmit one of the five qualitatively different types of opacity, one for each of the five levels mentioned here, and the returning light will be qualitatively different depending on the measure of opacity that rebuffs it. starting from the first level, which contains the most dilute measure of the attribute of receiving, followed by the second level, which is somewhat more opaque than the first level in terms of its attribute of receiving, and then the third level, which is more opaque than the second level with respect to its attribute of receiving, and finally the fourth level, whose own attribute is the most opaque of them all, as its attribute of receiving is complete in all regards. In addition, one should discern that the fourth level also contains the opacity (ovyut) of the root of the four levels, that of Keter, which is the purest of them all, since it contains a minute measure of will to receive. +These are the five levels of the attribute of receiving that are incorporated in the fourth level, which are also known by the same names as the ten sefirot – Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, which encompasses six sefirot, and Malkhut – since the four levels are Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut, as stated in section #5# above, and the fifth level is their root called Keter. + +Chapter 20 + +The reason the five levels of receiving that are within the fourth level are called by the names of the sefirot, Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut, is because prior to the constriction (tzimtzum) – that is, when the fourth level was the receiving vessel for the ten sefirot that are encompassed in the supernal light, which is the mystical meaning of “He is one and His name is one,” for all the worlds are incorporated there within the supernal light,27In the initial phase or level, the vessels and lights are not differentiated at all, so all the worlds are incorporated within the supernal light. This is the mystical idea of “He is one and His name is one,” because it reflects the reality that the Creator’s essence (the light, referred to here as “He”) and His manifestation (the vessels, referred to as “His name”), were initially one, and still remain one, as neither of these aspects are outside the Creator, even after the process of differentiation. as we wrote in Talmud Eser Sefirot, part 1 – the enclothing of the ten sefirot by the fourth level was structured according to those aforementioned five levels.28The fourth level, Malkhut, is the final receiver in the series of vessels. While the sefirot are often described in a vertical, linear structure (from top to bottom), they are also referred to as garments, with the lower “bottom” ones also described as “outer.” This is the meaning of the concept of enclothing used here: The lowest, or outermost, vessel of Malkhut contains the aspects of receiving, or opacity, found in each of the preceding vessels, because it is the “garment” for all the vessels that precede it. As the author of the Sulam goes on to explain, each of the vessels contains a particular capacity for receiving the supernal light. For example, the light that fills Keter is a different level from that which fills Bina. Malkhut contains elements of receiving for each of these levels, allowing it to receive all the different levels of light that the previous vessels contain. +Each one of the five levels within the fourth level enclothed the corresponding level in the ten sefirot that are encompassed in the supernal light: The root level aspect of the fourth level enclothed the light of Keter of the ten sefirot. The first level aspect within the fourth level enclothed the light of Ḥokhma of the ten sefirot, the second level aspect within the fourth level enclothed the light of Bina, the third level aspect within it enclothed the light of Tiferet, and the fourth level aspect within the fourth level itself enclothed the light of Malkhut. Therefore, now too, after the first constriction (tzimtzum), when the fourth level has been disqualified from being a receiving vessel any longer, the five levels of opacity (ovyut) within it are still called by the name of the five sefirot, Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut. + +Chapter 21 + +As you are already aware, the substance that generally constitutes the partition can be described as hardness (kashyut) , meaning something very hard that does not allow anything to penetrate its boundary at all. Likewise, the partition does not allow any trace of the supernal light to pass through it into Malkhut, which is the fourth level. It can thus be said that the total measure of light that can be enclothed in the vessels of Malkhut is blocked by the partition and rebuffed. It has also been clarified that the five levels of opacity (ovyut) that are in the fourth level are incorporated and enter the partition, fusing with its attribute of hardness.29The opacity of the different levels of vessels are incorporated into the partition, adding a second quality, called opacity, to the partition in addition to the first quality of hardness. This is what the author of the Sulam referred to in section #20# when he explained that each of the five levels of receiving vessels are found in Malkhut. Now the author is expanding on that point to describe how those levels of receiving that exist within Malkhut are incorporated into the partition after the first constriction (tzimtzum) that prevented Malkhut from receiving the light directly. +Consequently, five types of fusion through collision can be discerned in the partition, corresponding to its five measures of opacity (ovyut): +Fusion through collision against a complete partition, which is formed with all five levels of opacity, gives rise to returning light that is sufficient to enclothe all ten sefirot – that is, until the level of Keter. +When there is fusion through collision against a partition that lacks the opacity of the fourth level, and has only the opacity of the third level, the returning light that it raises is sufficient to enclothe the ten sefirot only up to the level of Ḥokhma and does not include Keter. +If it contains only the opacity of the second level, its returning light is smaller and is only enough to enclothe the ten sefirot of the supernal light up to the level of Bina; it lacks Keter and Ḥokhma. +If it contains only the opacity of the first level, its returning light is diminished even further and is sufficient to enclothe only to the level of Tiferet; it lacks Keter, Ḥokhma, and Bina. +If it lacks even the opacity of the first level, so that only the opacity of the root level remains in it, its impact is very weak and is sufficient only to enclothe up to the level of Malkhut alone. It lacks the first nine sefirot, which are Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, and the six sefirot encompassed in Tiferet.30As explained in section #3# above, Tiferet includes the six sefirot of Ḥesed, Gevura, Tiferet, Netzaḥ, Hod, and Yesod, so that together with Keter, Ḥokhma, and Bina, the total is nine. + +Chapter 22 + +You can thus see how five shiurei koma (literally, “dimensions of height”) of the ten sefirot emerge through five types of fusion through collision against the partition, which are determined by the five levels of opacity (ovyut) within the partition. I will now inform you of the reason for this. +As is known, light cannot be contained without a vessel, and you are also aware that these five levels of opacity in the partition come from the five levels of opacity in the fourth level. That is, before the constriction (tzimtzum) , there were five vessels in the fourth level that enclothed the ten sefirot, Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut, as stated in section #18# above. After the first constriction, they were incorporated into the five levels of the partition, so that through the returning light that it raises, they return to being five vessels for the ten sefirot, Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut, formed from the returning light, replacing the five vessels that were in the fourth level itself prior to the constriction. +Accordingly, it is obvious that if the partition contains all five of these levels of opacity, it yields five vessels for enclothing the ten sefirot. However, when the partition does not contain all five levels – for example, if it lacks the opacity of the fourth level – then the partition yields only four vessels.31Recall that opacity refers to the presence of the will to receive in a given created entity, which obstructs the supernal light from entering it, since the will to receive is wholly receiving, while the supernal light reflects divine giving. When there is a reduction in opacity, there is less conversion of pure will to receive into will to receive in order to give. As a result, the returning light rebuffed by the opacity in the partition is reduced, which reduces the levels of the supernal light that are able to be enclothed by that returning light. Thus, when the partition does not contain all five levels of opacity, it gives rise to returning light that cannot enclothe all five levels of light. Consequently, the partition has the capacity to give rise returning light that will enclothe only four lights – Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut – and it will lack the capacity to enclothe one light, the light of Keter, as in the partition lacks one vessel, which is the opacity of the fourth level.32The opacity of the fourth level, the greatest amount of opacity, is required in the partition in order for the returning light to enclothe the light of Keter, the loftiest of the lights. If a level of opacity in the partition is lacking, there isn’t a sufficient amount of returning light to ascend to reach all the way to the light of Keter. As a result, the light of the level of Keter is not enclothed, and the light of Keter cannot be received within its vessel. +Similarly, when it also lacks the opacity of the third level, so that the partition contains only three levels of opacity, that is, only until the second level, then the partition contains only three vessels and thus it can enclothe only three lights, which are Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut. The structure of lights and vessels will then lack the two lights of Keter and Ḥokhma, just as it lacks two vessels, the third level and the fourth level. +When the partition contains only two levels of opacity, that is, that of the root level and the first level, it contains only two vessels, and therefore it enclothes only two lights, which are the light of Tiferet and the light of Malkhut. This means that the structure of lights and vessels will lack the three lights of Keter, Ḥokhma, and Bina, just as it lacks three vessels: the second level, the third level, and the fourth level. +When the partition contains only one level of opacity, which is the opacity of the root level alone, it has only one vessel and can therefore enclothe only one light, which is the light of Malkhut, and this structure will lack the four lights of Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, and Tiferet, just as it lacks four vessels, which are the opacity of the fourth level, the third level, the second level, and the first level. +Thus, the shiurei koma (literally, “dimensions of height”) of each partzuf is precisely dependent on the measure of opacity in the partition, as the partition of the fourth level generates a structure up to the height of Keter, that of the third level generates a structure up to the height of Ḥokhma, that of the second level generates a structure up to the height of Bina, that of the first level generates a structure up to the height of Tiferet, and that of the root level generates a structure up to the height of Malkhut.33The amounts of opacity in the partition determine the heights of the resulting vessel structures. The greater the opacity, the higher the returning light can reach, effectively enclothing the loftier lights, such as the lights of Keter and Ḥokhma. The height that the returning light can reach determines the height of the resultant structure of vessels containing the levels of supernal light. These structures are each known as a partzuf. + +Chapter 23 + +However, it remains to be explained why the lack of the opacity of the vessel of Malkhut in the partition, which is the fourth level, leads to a lack of the light of Keter and, likewise, why the lack of the opacity of the vessel of Tiferet in the partition leads to a lack of the light of Ḥokhma, and so on. One would have thought that the opposite would be the case, that the lack of the opacity of the vessel of Malkhut in the partition, which is the fourth level, would lead only to a lack of the light of Malkhut in the structure of vessels and lights so that it should contain the four lights of Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, and Tiferet. Similarly, the lack of the two vessels of the third level and the fourth level would lead to the lack of the lights of Tiferet and Malkhut, so that the structure should contain the three lights of Keter, Ḥokhma, and Bina, and so on and so forth in this manner (see section #20# above). + +Chapter 24 + +The answer is that there is a consistent inverse relationship between the lights and the vessels.34Within the system of Kabbala, the levels or layers of worlds descend from the more intangible, spiritual worlds to this tangible, physical world. This means that each vessel is initially very small because it is most spiritual at that stage. The vessel grows and develops the lower it descends, until it reaches the level of Malkhut, where the vessel has achieved its final form. The opposite is true with regard to light. Since the levels devolve from the most spiritual to the physical, the “lowest” level of light (it’s “lower edge,” or nefesh) is revealed in the constructed world first, entering through the highest vessel, Keter. When the light progresses to greater revelation, triggered by the presence of vessels with greater opacity, which draw the light to them, the light of nefesh, the lowest level of light, descends to the next, lower vessel. In this manner, the supernal light is increasingly revealed, while the preceding, higher level receives the next higher level of the light. This dynamic expresses a fundamental principle: The more the supernal light descends into the lower world and is revealed within it, the greater the drawing of divine light into the vessels of the higher worlds.  It is the nature of the vessels that the higher vessels develop first in the partzuf. Keter develops first, followed by the vessel of Ḥokhma and so on, until the vessel of Malkhut, which develops last. This is why we list the vessels in the order of Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut, from above to below, as that is the order of their growth. The lights are the reverse. In the case of the lights, the lower lights enter the partzuf first, because initially the nefesh enters, which is the light of Malkhut, and then the ruaḥ, which is the light of Ze’er Anpin, or Tiferet, and so on until the light of yeḥida enters last. Consequently, we list the lights in the order of nefesh, ruaḥ, neshama, ḥaya, and yeḥida, from below to above, as that is the order of their entrance, from lowest to uppermost. +Accordingly, when only one vessel has developed in the partzuf, which is necessarily the highest vessel of Keter, as stated above, the light of yeḥida, which is linked to that vessel, will not enter the partzuf, but only the lowest light of them all, which is the light of nefesh, and the light of nefesh is then enclothed in the vessel of Keter. When two vessels have developed in the partzuf, which are the two uppermost ones, Keter and Ḥokhma, then the light of ruaḥ also enters the partzuf, and the light of nefesh descends from the vessel of Keter to the vessel of Ḥokhma, and the light of ruaḥ is enclothed in the vessel of Keter. Similarly, when a third vessel has developed in the partzuf, which is the vessel of Bina, the light of neshama enters the partzuf, and the light of nefesh descends from the vessel of Ḥokhma to the vessel of Bina, the light of ruaḥ descends to the vessel of Ḥokhma, and the light of neshama is enclothed in the vessel of Keter. When a fourth vessel has developed in the partzuf, which is the vessel of Tiferet, the light of ḥaya enters the partzuf, and the light of nefesh descends from the vessel of Bina to the vessel of <<Tiferet, the light of ruaḥ descends to the vessel of Bina, the light of neshama descends to the vessel of Ḥokhma, and the light of ḥaya is enclothed in the vessel of Keter. And when a fifth vessel has developed in the partzuf, which is the vessel of Malkhut, the light of yeḥida enters the partzuf. Then all the lights enter the vessels to which they are linked, as the light of nefesh descends from the vessel of Tiferet to the vessel of Malkhut, the light of ruaḥ descends to the vessel of Tiferet, the light of neshama descends to the vessel of Bina, the light of ḥaya descends to the vessel of Ḥokhma, and the light of yeḥida is enclothed in the vessel of Keter. + +Chapter 25 + +Thus, as long as all five vessels, Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut, have not developed in the partzuf, the lights are not in the places to which they are linked. What is more, they maintain an inverse relationship, so that when the vessel of Malkhut is lacking, the light of yeḥida is missing, and when the two vessels of Tiferet and Malkhut are lacking, yeḥida and ḥaya are missing, and so on. The reason is that in the case of the vessels, the highest ones grow first, whereas with regard to the lights, the last ones enter first, as stated above. +You will also find that every newly arriving light is enclothed only in the vessel of Keter. This is because any recipient of light must receive the light in its purest vessel, which is the vessel of Keter.35The vessel of Keter is purest because the will to receive is most undeveloped in this vessel. As a result, the contradiction between the will to receive and the giving nature of the supernal light is minimal. For the same reason, the lights that are already enclothed in the partzuf must descend one level from their place upon the arrival of every new light. For example, when the light of ruaḥ arrives, the light of nefesh must descend from the vessel of Keter to the vessel of Ḥokhma, in order to clear the space of the vessel of Keter so that it can receive the new light, which is ruaḥ. Similarly, if the new light is neshama, then ruaḥ must also descend from the vessel of Keter to the vessel of Ḥokhma to clear the space of Keter for the new light, which is neshama. Consequently, nefesh, which is in the vessel of Ḥokhma, must descend to the vessel of Bina, and so on and so forth in this manner. This is all in order to clear out the vessel of Keter to make space for the new light. +If you maintain a fine grasp of this rule, you will invariably be able to tell, concerning any topic, whether we are speaking about the vessels or the lights. You will not become confused since there is always an inverse relationship between them. +We have thus fully clarified the topic of the five levels in the partition, how they lead to differences in the shiurei koma (literally, “dimensions of height” in the structure of the lights and vessels) in descending order. + +Chapter 26 + +The Five Partzufim of Adam Kadmon +Having fully clarified the concept of the partition that was placed on the vessel of Malkhut, which is the fourth level, after its constriction (tzimtzum), and the concept of the five types of fusion through collision against the partition, which produce five structures of ten sefirot, one below the other, we will now clarify the concept of the five partzufim of Adam Kadmon, which precede the four worlds of Atzilut (Emanation), Beria (Creation), Yetzira (Formation), and Asiya (Actualization). +You are already aware that this returning light that rises as a result of the fusion through collision from below to above and enclothes the ten sefirot of the supernal light is sufficient only to form the roots of the vessels, which are called the “ten sefirot of the head of the partzuf.”36The impact against the partition represents the receiving vessels’ rejection of the supernal light of the Giver. This leads to the formation of a new receiving vessel: receiving in order to give. In the analogy that the author of the Sulam gave above, when the friend rejects his host’s offer of a meal, the rejection repositions him as someone who can now theoretically receive in order to give. This new status is only theoretical because the giving has not yet transpired, and the receiver is only now prepared to receive the gift from this new position. When the friend ultimately receives the meal from his host in his new status as receiver in order to give, the vessels are then fully formed as actual receivers. The first modified state, in which the vessels are theoretically prepared to receive in order to give, is referred to as the “head” of the partzuf, the head being the seat of thought, representing the theoretical or conceptual, and the vessels are therefore referred to as “roots.” The subsequent state in which the vessels are actualized as receivers in order to give is referred to as the “body” of the partzuf, body representing that which occurs in practice, that which is actual, and the vessels are then considered to be fully formed. In order to complete the vessels, the Malkhut of the head from among those ten sefirot of the returning light that enclothed the ten sefirot of the head expands and spreads itself downward from above to below,37The author of the Sulam emphasizes here that Malkhut “spreads itself” because in this case the author is referring to the formation of the head and body of one partzuf, as opposed to comparing two different partzufim, which are each already complete with a head and body. In the formation of the partzuf described here, the author is describing the formation of a complete partzuf, where the head component expands and materializes as an actualized partzuf consisting of both head and body. in the same shiur koma as the ten sefirot of the head.38This term refers to the particular structure of lights and vessels of a given partzuf, and literally translates as “structural dimensions of height.” The structure varies from partzuf to partzuf. As the author of the Sulam explains, higher partzufim have more vessels and more lights (described as taller partzufim), and lower ones have less of each (described as shorter partzufim). The system of these patterns will be explained in detail over the next sections. This expansion completes the vessels, which are called the “body of the partzuf,” as stated in section #14# above. Thus one should always distinguish between two levels of ten sefirot in every partzuf: head and body. Keep this in mind. + +Chapter 27 + +Initially, the first partzuf of Adam Kadmon emerged, because immediately after the first constriction (tzimtzum), in which the fourth level was restricted from serving as a receiving vessel for the supernal light, and a partition was placed upon the fourth level, as stated above, the supernal light was drawn down to be enclothed in the vessel of Malkhut in its normal manner, that is, with the supernal light trying to fill any available space. But the partition that formed on the vessel of Malkhut prevented this and rebuffed the light. By means of this impact against the partition of the fourth level, the returning light was elevated to the height of Keter of the ten sefirot of the supernal light. That returning light became the garment for the ten sefirot of the supernal light and the roots of the vessels for the ten sefirot of the supernal light, which are called the ten sefirot of the head in the first partzuf of Adam Kadmon. Subsequently, that Malkhut expanded itself and spread together with the returning light, driven by the power of the ten sefirot of the head, to form ten new complete sefirot from above to below,39“Above to below” refers to the direction of the expansion of the returning light vessel of Malkhut as it now expands “downward” to form complete vessels. By contrast, when discussing the returning light that emerges from the partition, the description is “below to above,” because the flow of returning light moving to enclothe the supernal light is, in that context, rising from the partition upward. and thus the vessels were completed, having formed the level of the body. Each shiur koma (literally, “dimension of height”) that emerged in the ten sefirot of the head was also enclothed in the ten sefirot of the body. Thus the first partzuf of Adam Kadmon was completed, containing both levels of head and body. + +Chapter 28 + +Subsequently, the same fusion through collision was repeated on the partition that was placed on the vessel of Malkhut that now has only up to the opacity (ovyut) of the third level.40The opacity of the fourth level was already purified, or removed, in the first fusion described in the previous section, in which the first partzuf emerged. The author of the Sulam explains the mechanism of this purification in the sections that follow. Accordingly, only the structural height of Ḥokhma, both head and body, emerge from it. On account of the lack of the opacity of the fourth level in the partition, it contains only the opacity of four vessels: Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, and Tiferet. Consequently, there is only the capacity in the returning light to clothe four lights alone, which are ḥaya, neshama, ruaḥ, and nefesh, and the light of yeḥida is missing. This partzuf is called “Ab (or ayin-bet) of Adam Kadmon.”41As the author of the Sulam explained above, the vessels always emerge from highest (Keter) to lowest (Malkhut). Since the returning light is now formed from a partition that is lacking some opacity, that of the level of Malkhut, it cannot form the vessel of Malkhut. As a result, it only forms the vessels of Keter, Hokhma, Bina, and Tiferet. By contrast, when the different levels of the supernal light emerge to be contained in vessels, it is the lowest levels that emerge first: nefesh, then ruah, and so on. When the vessel of Malkhut is missing because the partition has been purified of the fourth level of opacity, the highest light of yeḥida cannot be received in the vessels. Therefore, the light of nefesh is contained in Tiferet, ruaḥ in Bina, neshama in Ḥokhma, and ḥaya in Keter. The structure that emerges, which is missing the vessel of Malkhut and the light of yeḥida, is the partzuf of Ab. This pattern continues with the successive purification of each level of the partition. +Then that same aforementioned fusion through collision is repeated on the partition that was placed on the vessel of Malkhut that now has only up to the opacity of the second level, so that then only the ten sefirot of the structural height of Bina, consisting of both head and body, emerge from it. This structure is called the “Sag (or samekh-gimmel) partzuf of Adam Kadmon,” which lacks the two vessels of Ze’er Anpin, or Tiferet, and Malkhut and the two lights of ḥaya and yeḥida. +After that, the fusion through collision takes place on the partition that has only up to the opacity of the first level, and then the ten sefirot of the structural height of Tiferet, both head and body, emerge. This partzuf lacks the three vessels of Bina, Ze’er Anpin, and Malkhut and the three lights of neshama, ḥaya, and yeḥida. It contains only the lights of ruaḥ and nefesh, which are enclothed in the vessels of Keter and Ḥokhma. This is called the “Mah (or mem-heh) and Ban (or bet-nun) partzuf of Adam Kadmon.”42Generally, Mah and Ban are two separate partzufim. At this point, however, prior to the second constriction, the partzuf of Mah is not distinctly identifiable. In this context, recall the inverse relationship between the vessels and the lights described in section #24# above. + +Chapter 29 + +We have thus explained the manner that the five partzufim of Adam Kadmon emerge, which are referred to as gulgalta: Ab, Sag, Mah, and Ban, in that descending order, such that each lower partzuf lacks the higher level of light of the one above it. The Ab partzuf lacks the light of yeḥida, and the Sag partzuf lacks the light of ḥaya as well, which is present in the one above it, which is Ab. The Mah and Ban partzuf lacks also the light of neshama, which is present in the one above it, Sag. The reason for these differences is that this is an outcome of the amount of opacity (ovyut) in the partition upon which the fusion through collision occurs, as explained in section #18#. However, we have to understand who and what causes the amount of opacity in the partition to gradually decrease, one level after the other, so that it leads to the division into the five shiurei koma (literally, “dimensions of height”) of partzufim resulting from these five types of fusion. + +Chapter 30 + +The Purification of the Partition for the Emanation of a Partzuf +To understand the development of the levels in these five shiurei koma (literally, “dimensions of height”), the structures consisting of levels of lights and vessels that form the partzufim, one below the other, described with regard to the aforementioned five partzufim of Adam Kadmon, and likewise all the levels of the five partzufim of each of the four worlds – Atzilut (Emanation), Beria (Creation) , Yetzira (Formation) , and Asiya (Actualization) – until the Malkhut of Asiya, which have been described, we must fully comprehend the matter of the purification of the partition of the body that occurs in each partzuf of the partzufim of Adam Kadmon and the world of nekudim (points) and in the world of tikkun (rectification). + +Chapter 31 + +The concept that we need to understand is that there is no partzuf or level of any kind that does not contain two lights, which are called surrounding light and inner light. We will clarify these two types of lights as they apply to Adam Kadmon: +The surrounding light of the first partzuf of Adam Kadmon is the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, that fills all of reality. After the first constriction (tzimtzum) and the placement of the partition on the vessel of Malkhut, the fusion through collision of the supernal light of Ein Sof on this partition occurred. By means of the returning light that the partition raised, the supernal light was drawn into the constricted world in the context of the ten sefirot of the head and the ten sefirot of the body, as stated in section #25# above. However, this drawing forth of the supernal light that occurred in the partzuf of Adam Kadmon>> from Ein Sof, blessed be He, does not fill all of reality with the light as the light filled all of reality before the constriction. Instead, a beginning and an end can now be discerned regarding the light, which contain two different aspects. The first aspect is the quality of above and below, in that this light is arrested at the entry point of this world,43In this context, “below” refers to this world, where the light is not allowed entry. This stopping point reflects the “end” of the light, illustrating the idea that the supernal light now possesses an endpoint. The endpoint of the supernal light above our world at the point of the terminating Malkhut, the point where the light is arrested, represents the end of the process through which the supernal light of the Creator is hidden from the inhabitants of this world. This is in contrast to the supernal light prior to the first constriction, which had no beginning or end. which is the mystical concept of the terminating Malkhut, as implied by the mystical meaning of the verse “He will set His feet…on the Mount of Olives.”44Zechariah 14:4. The Mount of Olives symbolizes Malkhut, the fourth level. After the second constriction, the “feet” of Adam Kadmon are restricted from reaching this level and do not illuminate at this lower point. In the future, after the process of rectifications, the feet of Adam Kadmon will return to their original place of the fourth level, the “Mount of Olives.” The author of the Sulam quotes this verse here to illustrate that Adam Kadmon has a beginning and end – head and feet. +Likewise, the second aspect, similar to the qualities of above and below, is the quality of from within to without. Just as there are ten sefirot from above to below, Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, the six sefirot encompassed in Tiferet, and Malkhut, and Malkhut is the end of the world of Adam Kadmon from below, so too there are ten sefirot, Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut from within to without. These are called brain, bones, sinews, flesh, and skin, with skin being Malkhut, completing the partzuf from without.45The sefirot can be described in two directional senses: top to bottom (“above to below”) or innermost to outermost (“within to without”). The supernal light can be thought of as above us, and the sefirot are the vessels that act as a bridge from the supernal light above to the lower world below, translating and transmitting the supernal light into its lower forms (since all of existence is filled with the supernal light and animated by it, as stated in the first sections above). Alternatively, the supernal light can be thought of as being at the root of all of existence, or “within,” and the vessels of the sefirot serve to manifest the hidden supernal light into a revealed form in the world. From this perspective, the five parts of the body – brain, bones, sinews, flesh, and skin – named here correspond to the same five groupings of the sefirot used previously, namely, Keter, Hokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut. +In this respect, the partzuf of Adam Kadmon is like a mere thin line in relation to Ein Sof, blessed be He, who fills all of reality. This is because the partzuf formed of skin encloses the light and limits it all the way around from without so that it cannot expand to fill all the space from which it was constricted, and only a thin line is left positioned in the middle of the space. The measure of light that was received in Adam Kadmon, which is the thin line, is called inner light. The vast difference between the amount of inner light contained in Adam Kadmon and the amount of light that remains beyond Adam Kadmon, which is the remainder of the total amount of supernal light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, before the constriction, is called surrounding light. It remains a surrounding light around the partzuf of Adam Kadmon, since it cannot be enclothed within the partzuf.46Following the constriction and the fusion through collision, when the returning light enclothed the supernal light, the returning light does not have the capacity to enclothe and receive the supernal light in its totality. It can absorb only the small amount that it is able to receive and subsequently transmit. This small amount that can be received in this way is referred to as the inner light. The remaining light that cannot be received by the vessels while they maintain the dynamic of receiving in order to give remains outside the vessels and is called surrounding light. Consider a pipe that is being fed water from a lake. For the purposes of this analogy, the walls of the pipe are the “outside” of the aspect of “within to without” and the length of the pipe is the aspect of “above to below.” The pipe can receive only the amount of water that it is capable of channeling to another destination that will receive the water. The remaining water must wait outside the pipe, surrounding it, as the pipe is incapable of taking it in while simultaneously channeling it and would simply be overwhelmed by the sheer quantity. + +Chapter 32 + +We have thoroughly explained the mystical meaning of the surrounding light of Adam Kadmon, which is endless and unlimited in its enormity. This does not mean that Ein Sof, blessed be He, who fills all of reality, is Himself the surrounding light of Adam Kadmon. Rather, the meaning is that when the fusion through collision occurred with the partition that was placed on the Malkhut of the head of Adam Kadmon, the supernal light of Ein Sof struck the partition that was there. This means that Ein Sof wanted His supernal light to be enclothed in the fourth level of Adam Kadmon, as before the constriction (tzimtzum) , but the partition of the Malkhut of the head of Adam Kadmon impacted against His light, meaning that it prevented His light from spreading into the fourth level and so rebuffed it, as stated above in section #14#, so that in truth this returning light that emerged through the rebuffing of the supernal light also became vessels for enclothing the supernal light, as stated above. +However, there is a vast difference between the receiving capacity of the fourth level before the constriction and the receiving capacity of the returning light after the constriction. The returning light enclothes only a thin line of the supernal light, containing a beginning and end, as stated. All this was wrought by the partition, due to its impact against the supernal light. Thus, this entire amount of light that was rebuffed from Adam Kadmon on account of the partition, meaning, the entire amount of the supernal light from Ein Sof, blessed be He, that wanted to be enclothed in the fourth level were it not for the partition that prevented it, becomes the surrounding light around Adam Kadmon. +The reason that the uncontained supernal light became surrounding light is that there is no change or loss in the spiritual realm.47Since nothing can be lost or destroyed in the spiritual realm, the supernal light cannot simply be stopped or extinguished from achieving its designated purpose of entering the fourth level. Therefore, it remains outside the fourth level as surrounding light, until the fourth level is finished being rectified to fully receive it. The process of rectification refers to the incremental way that the fourth level “evolves” to be able to ultimately receive the supernal light in its entirety. This process is discussed extensively in later sections below. Since the light of Ein Sof was drawn to Adam Kadmon to be enclothed in the fourth level, it must achieve this, and therefore, although the partition has now prevented it from entering the fourth level and rebuffed it, nevertheless this does not nullify the process of the drawing forth of the supernal light of Ein Sof, God forbid. On the contrary, it sustains it, only in a different manner. That is, it is achieved by the multiple fusions in the five worlds of Adam Kadmon, Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Asiya, until the rectification is completed so that the fourth level is rectified through all these fusions, in all its perfection, able to receive the supernal light, at which point the supernal light of Ein Sof will be enclothed in it as before. +Thus, the impact of the partition on the supernal light does not lead to any change or loss. This is the mystical meaning of the Zohar’s statement “The unification of Ein Sof is not actualized until it receives its female half.”48Zohar Ḥadash 2:71b. The receiving vessel, which is continually modified and expands until it is capable of receiving the supernal light is referred to here as the “female half,” the receiving partner, that completes the “male half,” the supernal light that emanates from Ein Sof. In the meantime, that is, until that time, this light of Ein Sof becomes surrounding light, which means that it is ready to be enclothed in the fourth level subsequently, but for now it surrounds and shines on the fourth level only from the outside with a partial illumination. This illumination drives the fourth level to incrementally expand according to the system of rules that will lead it to receive this surrounding light in the full and original measure that Ein Sof, blessed be He, extended to it at the outset. + +Chapter 33 + +We will now clarify the matter of the beating of the inner light and the surrounding light against one another, which leads to the purification of the partition and the loss of the final level of opacity (ovyut). +Since these two lights are the opposites of one another, and they are both connected to each other in the partition of Malkhut of the head of Adam Kadmon, they therefore beat and collide with one another. Meaning, the fusion through collision that takes place in the mouth of the head of Adam Kadmon – that is, in the partition of the Malkhut of the head called mouth,49As was explained in previous sections, there is a process through which the vessels are modified in order to be able to receive and enclothe the supernal light. The partition that is placed above the fourth level called Malkhut initially creates returning light that transforms the vessels from receiving vessels into vessels that can receive in order to give. In this way, they have the potential to be able to absorb the supernal light, which is entirely giving. At first, the vessels exist only in their initial “root,” or potential, form. This root form can be thought of as purely theoretical, like a blueprint for the fully formed vessel. This theoretical form is called the head” of the partzuf, because the head is associated with the theoretical world of thought. Subsequently, the vessel of Malkhut expands to fully form the lower part of the partzuf, the body, in which the sefirot vessels are now fully formed and no longer theoretical. During this phase, Malkhut can be thought of as a mouth because it lies at the bottom of the head. Additionally, in kabbalistic thought, a mouth represents the part of the body that translates one’s thoughts, which exist in the realm of the theoretical, into actualized, expressed words. The Malkhut of the head serves as the vehicle that allows the supernal light to be contained in the body of the partzuf, the completed form of the vessels of the returning light. It serves to actualize the containment of the supernal light, bringing it from the theoretical stage of the head to the actualized form of the body. Thus, it is called the “mouth of the head.” which caused the enclothing of the inner light within Adam Kadmon by means of the returning light that the partition raised (as stated in section #14# above) – is also the cause of the emergence of the surrounding light of Adam Kadmon. Through the partition preventing the light of Ein Sof from being enclothed in the fourth level, the light emerged outward in the form of surrounding light. That is, that entire part of the light that the returning light cannot enclothe, that the fourth level itself was meant to enclothe, emerges and becomes surrounding light, as stated in the previous section. Thus, the partition in the mouth is equally the cause of both the surrounding light and the inner light. + +Chapter 34 + +It has thus been clarified that the inner light and the surrounding light are both tethered to the partition, but with opposite dynamics. At the same time that the partition draws down part of the supernal light into the inner region of the partzuf through the returning light that enclothes that supernal light, so too the partition also prevents the remaining supernal light, which is called surrounding light, from being enclothed within the partzuf. Since the part of the light that remains outside as surrounding light is very large, on account of the partition preventing it from being enclothed in Adam Kadmon, as stated in section #32# above, it is regarded as impacting against the partition that repudiates it, since it wants to be enclothed inside the partzuf. +By contrast, the forces of opacity (ovyut) and hardness (kashyut) in the partition are regarded as impacting against the surrounding light, which wants to be enclothed within the partzuf, and prevent it from being enclothed in the same way that the partition impacts on the supernal light at the moment of the fusion through collision. These impacts that the surrounding light and the opacity of the partition strike against one another are called the beating of the surrounding light on the inner light. However, this beating is carried out between them only in the body of the partzuf, since it is only there that the enclothing of the light in the vessels, which leaves the surrounding light outside the vessel, is discernible. This is not the case for the ten sefirot of the head. This beating does not occur there, since there the returning light is not categorized as true vessels at all, but only as thin roots, that is, as potential for forming vessels. Consequently, the light within the vessels of the head is not categorized as circumscribed inner light to the extent that the light remaining outside can comparatively be regarded as surrounding light.50As explained in the note to section #33# above, the head of the partzuf can be thought of as referring to the theoretical potential of the process of forming proper receiving vessels, while the body of the partzuf is the actualization of the process. It is only in its full form, where it contains both body and head, that the amount of supernal light received in the body vessel structure can be called inner light and the rest of the supernal light that remains outside the partzuf can be called the surrounding light. +Since there is no clear demarcation between the inner light and surrounding light within the head of the partzuf, the idea of an impact between the inner light and the surrounding light in the ten sefirot of the head is irrelevant. It is only after the lights spread from the mouth downward to the ten sefirot of the body of the partzuf, where the lights are enclothed in the vessels, which are the ten sefirot of the returning light from the mouth downward, that the impact occurs there between the inner light within the vessels and the surrounding light that remains outside, as stated above. + +Chapter 35 + +This beating continues until the surrounding light purifies the partition of all its opacity (ovyut) and elevates it to its root above, which is the mouth of the head.51The beating of the surrounding light represents the constant insistence of the surrounding light to enter the vessel. The vessel of Malkhut resists this pressure, represented by the partition. Since the surrounding light is inexorable, over time it erodes the partition, degrading it so that it loses its opacity. This removal of opacity, which the author of the Sulam refers to as “purification of the partition,” causes the body of the partzuf to revert to the more theoretical form of the head of the partzuf, causing the body to merge and unite with the structure of the head. In other words, the surrounding light purifies the partition of the Malkhut of the body of all the opacity, that is, the opacity of above to below, which is referred to as the partition and opacity of the body.52The “opacity of above to below” refers to the dynamic of the body of the partzuf receiving the supernal light, which flows from above. By contrast, “the opacity from below to above” conveys the opposite dynamic, of the returning light moving “upward” to serve as new vessels for the supernal light. In this state, the “separation” described here has not yet been achieved because the returning light only serves as theoretical vessels for the supernal light, the head that then expands to become the body. This purification leaves the partition of the body with only the root of the body, which is the same as the partition of the Malkhut of the head, called “mouth .” That is, the partition is purified of all the opacity that is of above to below, which separates the inner light from the surrounding light, and only the opacity from below to above remains, where this separation between the inner light and the surrounding light has not yet been achieved, as stated in the previous section. +As is known, the equating of form merges spiritual entities, unifying them into one. Therefore, once the partition of the body has been purified of the opacity of the body, and all that remains in it is the same measure of opacity found in the partition of the mouth of the head, its form is equal to the partition of the head. As a result, it is incorporated within the partition of the head, literally becoming one, as there is nothing between them that would divide them into two. This is referred as the partition of the body rising to the mouth of the head. Since the partition of the body is thus incorporated in the partition of the head, it is included again in the fusion through collision of the partition of the mouth of the head, and a new fusion through collision is performed upon it. A new structure of ten sefirot emerges from it, which is called “Ab (or ayin-bet), of Adam Kadmon,” or the partzuf of “Ḥokhma of Adam Kadmon.” This is considered a son and an offspring of the first partzuf of Adam Kadmon. + +Chapter 36 + +After the Ab partzuf of Adam Kadmon emerges and is made complete with a head and body, the beating of the surrounding light on the inner light is repeated within this partzuf as well, in the manner described above regarding the first partzuf of Adam Kadmon. The partition of the body of the Ab partzuf is likewise purified of all the opacity (ovyut) of the body until the form of the partition of the body is equated with the partition of the head. The partition of the body is then incorporated in the fusion through collision that occurs in the mouth of its head, and a new fusion through collision is performed on it, which produces a new structure of ten sefirot with the shiur koma, or height dimension, of Bina, called the “Sag (or samekh-gimmel) partzuf of Adam Kadmon.” This too is considered a son and offspring of the Ab partzuf of Adam Kadmon, as it emerged from the fusion through collision in the mouth of the head of the Ab partzuf. The partzufim from Sag of Adam Kadmon and below emerge in the same way. + +Chapter 37 + +We have thus clarified the emergence of the partzufim, one below the other, which are formed through the force of the beating of the surrounding light against the inner light, which purifies the partition of the body until it restores it to the state of the partition of the mouth of the head. At this stage, the partition of the body is included in the fusion through collision that occurs in the mouth of the head, and it emits, by means of its fusion, a new structure of ten sefirot. This new structure is categorized as a son of the previous partzuf. +In this manner, Ab emerges from the partzuf of Keter, Sag from the partzuf of Ab, Mah from the partzuf of Sag, and likewise the other levels in the worlds of Nekudim and Atzilut (Emanation), Beria (Creation), Yetzira (Formation), and Asiya (Actualization). However, it still remains to be understood why the ten sefirot of Ab emerge only from the third level of opacity (ovyut) within the partition rather than from the fourth level, and likewise Sag emerges only from the second level. In other words, each subsequently emerging lower partzuf is one level lower, in terms of the levels of lights it contains, than the one higher than it and preceding it. Why don’t they all emerge one from another at the same height, with the same number of vessels and lights?53The question that the author of the Sulam is asking here is in reference to the incremental decrease in the heights of the structures of the partzufim after each purification and subsequent collision. Why is the emerging partzuf considered a “son” to the preceding one given that it emerges from the partition of the mouth of the head just like the preceding one? In other words, if the body of the first partzuf emerged from the mouth of the head of the first partzuf, and so did the second partzuf (the Ab), why are these viewed as two separate entities in which Ab is an “offspring” of the first partzuf, instead of being viewed as all part of one partzuf, like the head and body of the first partzuf? Additionally, why is the emerging partzuf smaller in height, lacking some vessels below and some lights above, than the preceding one, given that they were both formed using the partition of Malkhut of the head? + +Chapter 38 + +First, one must understand why the ten sefirot of Ab are categorized as offspring of the first partzuf of Adam Kadmon. After all, the partzuf of Ab emerged from the fusion through collision that took place in the mouth of the head of the first partzuf, just as the ten sefirot of the body of the first partzuf itself also emerged from there. Why, then, is the partzuf of Ab removed from the category of the first partzuf so that is should be considered like a second partzuf and offspring of the first partzuf? +In this context, you must understand that there is a great difference between the partition of the head and the partition of the body. For there are two types of Malkhut in the partzuf: +The first is the fusing Malkhut, which fuses with the supernal light through the force of the partition placed upon it, as stated above. The second is the terminating Malkhut, which arrests the flow of the supernal light into the ten sefirot of the body through the force of the partition placed upon it.54As the author of the Sulam goes on to explain, the vessel of Malkhut, and the partition that rests on it, exists in this system in two forms. The partition that was placed on the Malkhut of the head is used to create the returning light, which enclothes the vessels of the head and allows them to receive the supernal light. This Malkhut can therefore be viewed as facilitating the process of channeling and transmitting the supernal light. It is referred to as the fusing Malkhut because it is able to interact with the supernal light and fuse with it to some extent, generating the returning light through the collision. By contrast, once the Malkhut vessel has expanded downward, forming the body of the partzuf, the partition of the Malkhut of the body does not engage in any fusion with the supernal light. Instead, it serves as a barrier that blocks out the supernal light from fully entering the Malkhut of the body. It is this barrier against which the surrounding light beats. For this reason, the Malkhut of the body is referred to as the terminating Malkhut. This is the meaning of the “force of the partition”: the partition has the power to block the surrounding light from entering the Malkhut of the body. +The difference between them is like the distance of an emanator from an emanated being. The Malkhut of the head that fuses, by means of a fusion through collision, with the supernal light, is regarded as an emanator relative to the body because the partition placed on the Malkhut of the head did not repel the supernal light when the light impacted against the partition. On the contrary, by means of the returning light that rose from the partition, the partition enclothed and drew in the supernal light of the ten sefirot of the head. The Malkhut then expanded from above to below so that the ten sefirot of the supernal light were enclothed in the vessel of the returning light, which is called body.55This refers to the ten sefirot of the lower half of the partzuf called the body. As explained in section #26#, these are fully formed sefirot, as opposed to the sefirot of the head of the partzuf, which are only theoretical roots. Consequently, the partition and Malkhut of the head are regarded as the emanator of the ten sefirot of the body, and no dynamics of limitation or rejection are as yet discernible in this partition and Malkhut of the head. +This lack of dynamics of limitation in the partition of the head is not the case with regard to the partition and Malkhut of the body. Meaning, after the ten sefirot expand from the mouth of the head, from above to below, they expand only until the Malkhut in those ten sefirot. The supernal light cannot expand into the Malkhut of the body because the partition established there prevents it from expanding into the Malkhut. Therefore, the partzuf stops there, and the end of the partzuf is reached. Accordingly, the full force of constriction and limitation is revealed only in this partition and the Malkhut of the body. +Consequently, the entire beating of the surrounding light on the inner light that was discussed above occurs only on the partition of the body, as only this partition limits and repels the surrounding light, preventing it from shining into the interior of the partzuf, and not the partition of the Malkhut of the head. The partition of the head only draws in and enclothes the light, but no trace of the force of limitation manifests itself within it. + +Chapter 39 + +Now it can be explained how, by means of the force of the beating of the surrounding light against the inner light, the partition of the terminating Malkhut reverts to the status of fusing Malkhut (see section #35# above). The beating of the surrounding light against the inner light purified the partition of the terminating Malkhut of all the opacity (ovyut) of the body that it contained. Only slight remnants of that opacity remain in it, which are equal to the amounts of opacity found within the partition of the head. As is known, the equating of form attaches and unites spiritual entities together. Therefore, after the partition of the body has equated the form of its opacity to the opacity found in the partition of the head, the partition of the body is immediately incorporated within the partition of the head, joining it as though they were a single partition. Then the partition of the body receives the power for a fusion through collision to the same extent as the partition of the head, and the new structure of ten sefirot of the next partzuf emerge from the impact against the partition, as stated above. +However, together with this fusion, the remnants of the opacity of the body, which were within the partition of the body at the outset, are manifest anew within the partition of the body.56The author of the Sulam is clarifying here that this partition is slightly different from the original partition of the Malkhut of the head because it contains a different measure of opacity than that of the original partition. Since the surrounding light degraded some of the original measure of opacity in the process that led the partition of the body to merge with the head, this partition lacks the opacity of the fourth level, but retains only that of the third level and above. As a result, this partition gives rise to a different structure of returning light, purified of the opacity of the lowest, or fourth, level. Accordingly, it cannot contain the highest light in its vessels, since it lacks the lowest vessel. The head of this new partzuf, then, is only as high as the bottom of the head of the previous partzuf, as the author will explain. The difference in form between the partition of the body that was purified and then unified with the partition of the head and the partition of the head is then discernible once again within the partition of the body to some extent. This detectable difference of form between the two partitions separates the partition of the body and expels it from the mouth of the head of the upper partzuf.57The upper partzuf here refers to the complete structure of head and body with their respective partitions discussed in the previous sections. This process of unification of the partition of the body of the upper partzuf with that of the head of the upper partzuf leads to a new fusion through collision, since the partition of the body is now a fusing Malkhut instead of an terminating Malkhut. The surrounding light then beats against this partition and creates a fusion through that collision. This fusion leads to a new returning light arising as a result of that fusion that can serve as vessels for the surrounding light that was beating against the partition, creating a new head that will then expand into a complete body. However, this entire emergent structure of head and body rises only as high as the headof the previous partzuf since that is where the partition was operating. As a result, the head of the new partzuf is only as high as the bottom of the head of the previous partzuf. Once the original source of the partition of the body is again discernible, from the mouth of the upper partzuf and below, the partition of the body can no longer remain above the mouth of the upper partzuf, unified with the partition of the head, since the difference in form separates spiritual entities from one another. Instead of remaining on the level of the head of the upper partzuf, it must descend from there to the place that is from the mouth of the upper partzuf and below. Consequently, it is necessarily categorized as a second body in relation to the upper partzuf,58This answers the author of the Sulam’s first question (see section #38#): Why is this structure is viewed as a separate partzuf? This difference in the height of the structure, resulting from the returning light being unable to enclothe the same amount of vessels as it did in the first partzuf, means that the upper partzuf and this partzuf are different and therefore exist as spiritually different entities. as even the head of the new emergent structure is categorized relative to the upper partzuf as merely its body, since it is drawn from the partition of the body of the upper partzuf. Therefore, this difference in form divides them into two separate bodies. Since this new structure is entirely an offshoot of the partition of the body of the previous upper partzuf, it is categorized as a son in relation to it and like a branch that extends from it.59This point answers the author of the Sulam’s second question (see section #38#) as to why this second partzuf is viewed as the “offspring” of the upper partzuf. + +Chapter 40 + +There is another element to the difference between the lower and upper partzufim. It is that each lower partzuf emerges from a different shiur koma, literally, “dimension of height,” in the five levels of the partition, as described in sections #22# and #24# above. Each lower partzuf lacks the highest level of the lights of the previous, upper partzuf and the lowest level of the vessels of that upper one. The reason for this is that it is the nature of the surrounding light to destroy the last level of opacity (ovyut) in the partition when beating upon the partition. +For example, in the first partzuf of Adam Kadmon, whose partition has all five levels of its opacity, that is, up to and including the fourth level, the beating of the surrounding light on the partition of the body purifies the opacity of the fourth level entirely without leaving even a trace of that opacity. Only the traces of the opacity of the third level and upward remain in the partition. Therefore, when that partition is incorporated into the head, where it undergoes the fusion through collision where the supernal light impacts against the opacity that remains in trace amounts from the body, the fusion through collision takes place only through the light beating against the third level of the opacity in the partition, as the traces of opacity of the fourth level are gone and are no longer there. +Therefore, the structure that emerges from this partition is at the shiur koma, at the structural height, of Ḥokhma alone, which is called “Havaya of Ab of Adam Kadmon,” or the “partzuf of Ab of Adam Kadmon.” As explained in section #22# above, the structural height of Ḥokhma that emerges from the partition of the third level lacks the vessel of Malkhut among the vessels and the light of yeḥida from among the lights, which is the light of Keter; see there. Thus, the partzuf of Ab lacks the last level of the vessels of the previous, upper partzuf, and the highest level of the lights of that upper partzuf. Due to this great difference in form, the lower partzuf is regarded as distinct from the upper partzuf. + +Chapter 41 + +Likewise, after the partzuf of Ab has expanded into a head and body, and the beating of the surrounding light on the partition of the body of Ab, which is the partition containing opacity (ovyut) up to and including the third level, has been performed, this beating erodes and obliterates from it the traces of opacity of the last level in the partition, which is the third level. Thus, when the partition rises to the mouth of the head and is incorporated into it to engage in a fusion through collision, the collision is performed only against the opacity of the second level, which remains in this partition. The third level is lost from the partition and is no more, and therefore the partition produces only ten sefirot of the structural height of Bina, which is called “Havaya of Sag of Adam Kadmon,” or the “partzuf of Sag,” and the vessels of Ze’er Anpin, or Tiferet, and Malkhut among the vessels, as well as ḥaya and yeḥida from among the lights, are lacking, as stated above. +Similarly, when this partzuf of Sag expands into a head and body, and the beating of the surrounding light against the partition of its body, which is the partition containing opacity up to and including the second level, has been performed, this beating erodes and obliterates from it the current last level of opacity in the partition, which is the second level. Only traces of opacity of the first level and upward remain in the partition. Therefore, when the partition rises to the mouth of the head and is incorporated there to engage in the fusion through collision there, the impact is performed only against the opacity of the first level, which remains in this partition. The second level is already gone from the partition, and therefore the partition produces only ten sefirot of the structural height of Tiferet, which is called “the structural height of Ze’er Anpin,” and it lacks the vessels of Bina, Ze’er Anpin, and Malkhut among the vessels and neshama, ḥaya, and yeḥida among the lights, and so on and so forth in this manner are the partzufim formed. + +Chapter 42 + +We have thus fully clarified the reason for the diminishment of the structural heights, one below the other, in the course of the development of the partzufim, each lower partzuf forming from the other preceding, upper partzuf. This formation occurs because the beating of the surrounding light on the inner light, which occurs in every partzuf, always obliterates the traces of opacity (ovyut) of the last level that are within the partition. +One should know, however, that there are two aspects to those traces that remain in the partition after its purification of the last level: The first is called “trace of opacity,” and the second is called “trace of enclothing.”60Here the author of the Sulam introduces a new concept: the “trace of enclothing.” Recall that in order for light to reach incrementally lower layers, it must traverse all preceding layers. In earlier sections, the author described the various partzufim through their differences of structure. For example, the partzuf of gulgalta has the full structural height of Keter, while the Ab partzuf only reaches the height of Ḥokhma. But how does the light transfer from one partzuf to another? In order for light to transfer between these partzufim, the head contains a quality called the trace of enclothing, which serves as a bridge layer between the higher partzuf and the one below it. The trace of enclothing is referred to as the male aspect of the head of the lower partzuf and is nearly at the height of the partzuf above it. Since the trace of enclothing bridges these two partzufim, allowing the light to travel from the higher partzuf to the lower, it is referred to as a mashpia, or giver. +For example, after the purification of the partition of the body of the first partzuf of Adam Kadmon, we said that the last level of the traces of opacity, which is the trace of opacity from the fourth level, was lost from it, and only the trace of opacity from the third level remains in the partition. However, the trace of the fourth level includes the two aforementioned aspects – enclothing and opacity – and that purification caused the partition to lose only the trace of opacity of the fourth level, whereas the trace of enclothing of the fourth level remains in that partition and has not been lost from it. +The trace of enclothing refers to a very refined aspect of the trace of opacity of the fourth level, which does not contain enough opacity for a fusion through collision with the supernal light. This trace remains from the last level in each partzuf when it was purified. Our statement that the last level is lost from every partzuf when it is purified refers solely to the loss of the trace of opacity. + +Chapter 43 + +The remaining trace of enclothing from the last level that is left in each partition caused the emergence of two structures, male and female, in the heads of each of the partzufim, starting from Ab of Adam Kadmon, and likewise in Sag of Adam Kadmon, and similarly in Mah and Ban of Adam Kadmon, and in all the partzufim of Atzilut. +In the Ab partzuf of Adam Kadmon, the result of a partition that has only the trace of opacity of the third level, producing ten sefirot at the structural height of Ḥokhma, the trace of enclothing from the fourth level remained there in the partition. This trace is not fit at all for fusion with the supernal light on account of its purity, as stated above.61The trace of opacity retains trace amounts of the opacity of the will to receive, allowing it to create a fusion through collision on the partition. By contrast, the trace of enclothing is far less tangible: It is like a memory or imprint of the enclothing of the supernal light that took place. Such a trace lacks sufficient will to receive to participate in a fusion through collision on its own. By becoming incorporated in the trace of opacity, this trace of enclothing is able to participate in such a fusion, and its presence in the fusion through collision yields a partzuf. This trace is therefore incorporated with the opacity (ovyut) of the third level, becoming one trace. Then the trace of enclothing acquires the force for a fusion with the supernal light, and accordingly a fusion through collision with the supernal light takes place. This collision produces ten sefirot nearly at the structural height of Keter, because the partition contains an aspect of the enclothing of the fourth level. +This incorporation is called the incorporation of the female in the male, for the trace of opacity of the third level is called “female,” since it bears the opacity that remains in that level after the purification of the fourth level, while the trace of enclothing of the fourth level is called “male,” since it comes from a higher structural height and because it is more refined than the opacity.62In kabbalistic thought, the concept of male is associated with the greater refinement and prominence of the realm of ideas, while the concept of female represents the practical reality of the implementation of those ideas. Since implementation inherently draws from the ideas that precede it, or are “above” it, female as a concept is considered lower than the male. Accordingly, when the female is incorporated in the male, that is termed “higher fusion,” and when the male is incorporated in the female, that is termed “lower fusion.” Thus, the male is often described as the mashpia, meaning the one that directs or influences, and the female is described as the mekabel, the receiver that receives the instructions from “above” and actualizes them in implementation. It should be noted that these are abstract concepts that should not be confused with today’s modern usage of gender terminologies. Consequently, although the trace of the male alone is insufficient for a fusion through collision, even it becomes fit for fusion through collision by means of the incorporation of the female within it. + +Chapter 44 + +Subsequently, there is also an incorporation of the male within the female; that is, the trace of enclothing is incorporated in the trace of opacity. Then a fusion through collision takes place against the partition of the structure of the female alone, which is the structure of only the third level, and that is the structural height of Ḥokhma called “Havaya of Ab,” as stated above. +The higher fusion, where the female is incorporated in the male, is regarded as the structure of the male, which is nearly the structural height of Keter. The lower fusion, in which the male is incorporated in the female, is regarded as the structure of the female, which is the structural height of Ḥokhma alone. However, since the structure of the male does not contain opacity (ovyut) in and of itself but only as a result of its incorporation within the female, and although that is enough for the aforementioned emergence of the ten sefirot from below to above called head, nevertheless this structure cannot expand downward from above to below to form the level of the body, meaning the enclothing of the lights in the vessels. This is because fusion through collision against the opacity in the partition that results only from the incorporation of the female within the male is insufficient for the expansion of the vessels to form the body of a partzuf since the measure of opacity is insufficient. Therefore, the structure of the male contains only a head without a body, and the body of the partzuf is formed only from the structure of the female, which has its own opacity. For this reason, we name only the structure of the female by the name of the partzuf, that is, the name of the partzuf called Ab, since the main part of the partzuf is its body, which is the enclothing of the lights in the vessels, and this body emerges only from the structure of the female, as explained. Therefore, the name of the partzuf is attributed to it. + +Chapter 45 + +In the same manner that we explained the two structures of male and female in the head of the partzuf called Ab, these two structures emerge also as the head of Sag, in exactly the same way, only in that case the structure of the male is nearly at the level of Ḥokhma. This is because it is formed from the trace of enclothing of the third level, incorporating the opacity (ovyut) of the second level, while the structure of the female is at the structural height of Bina, that is, formed from the opacity of the second level. Here too the name of the partzuf is attributed only to the structure of the female, because the male is a head without a body. +The same applies to the partzuf of Mah of Adam Kadmon. There, the structure of the male is nearly at the structural height of Bina, which is called “the structural height of Yisrael Saba and Tevuna,” since it is formed from the trace of enclothing of the second level of, incorporating the opacity from the first level. The structure of the female constitutes the structural height of Ze’er Anpin, or Tiferet, alone, as it contains only the first level of opacity. Here too the name of the partzuf is attributed only to the female, that is, the Mah partzuf or the partzuf of the six extremities, because the male is a head without a body. In this manner, you can understand the dynamics in all the partzufim. \ No newline at end of file