Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Inner Observation
Table of Questions for the Meaning of the Words
Table of Questions for Topics
Table of Answers for the Meaning of the Words
Table of Answers for Topics
1. In order for the light of Ein Sof to be able to shine in all of Atzilut: To understand the words of the ARI from here on, we must repeat the explanation about the five phases in the screen, which emerge from the gradual refinement of the screen from the great coarseness of phase four, to the great refinement in the phase of Keter, and the root of the screen, by which they create five Partzufim. You will find the explanation to these matters in Part Two (Inner Observation), for all these things pertain here, but it is impossible to present them here due to their length. For this reason, I must rely on what I have written there, and here I can only present an abbreviation and summary of everything, as much as is needed for the words of the ARI here.
It has been explained there that the light Ein Sof, which contains four phases, called the ten Sefirot of direct light, does not stop shining for the lower ones even for a moment. However, since there is no perception of the light without a vessel, it is only the vessel for reception that we need. Any Partzuf or degree that acquires a vessel, simultaneously acquires the light, as well, according to the measure of the vessel that has been acquired.
It has also been explained there that the root of all the vessels in all the worlds is the reflected light that ascends from the coupling by striking on the screen in the vessel of Malchut. Thus, the very moment when a new screen is formed in some Partzuf, the light of Ein Sof, which contains ten Sefirot of direct light, immediately expands to it and strikes that screen. Then, reflected light rises and clothes the light of Ein Sof according to the measure of that reflected light.
This is called the clothing Ein Sof in the vessels, or in some Sefira. This is because the name of a Sefira indicates the measure of the light of Ein Sof that is clothed in it. For example, when referring to the clothing of Ein Sof in Keter, it implies that the reflected light clothes all ten Sefirot of direct light up to the Keter. When referring to the clothing of Ein Sof in Hochma, it indicates that the reflected light clothes only up to Hochma.
We might ask, how does such clothing apply only to nine Sefirot, while there are ten and not nine? Indeed, there is Keter there, too, but this Keter is clothed in the internality of Hochma, and thus does not merit a name, but only the Sefira Hochma. In this way you can understand all the levels of the other Partzufim.
The measure by which the extent of the reflected light is measured has also been explained there: It is the discernment of the measure of the coarseness incorporated in the screen in the vessel of Malchut. They are five discernments: The coarsest screen, which is phase four, reflects the greatest measure of reflected light. It clothes the level of Keter in the light of Ein Sof, meaning in the ten Sefirot of direct light. A screen with coarseness of phase three clothes the level of Hochma of the ten Sefirot of direct light; a screen, whose coarseness is only phase two, clothes the level of Bina of the ten Sefirot of direct light; a screen with only coarseness of phase one clothes the level of ZA of the ten Sefirot of direct light; and a screen whose coarseness is only of the root phase of the screen, called the Keter of the screen, there is no coupling by striking in that screen, and no level at all, but only at the level of Malchut.
However, we should remember all the reasons and arguments regarding the matters, as they were explained there in the above-mentioned Inner Observation, and in the previous parts. Study it there, for without understanding the reasons and the necessity in these matters, it is impossible to understand even a single word here in its true meaning, for here I must be brief, of course.
2. This is the meaning of the verse, “You have made them all in wisdom [Hochma]: This means that the world of Atzilut is regarded as the Rosh [head/top] of all the worlds. Even though there are worlds far above Atzilut, meaning all the many worlds contained in Adam Kadmon, they are all concealed within the world of Atzilut. They are not at all roots to the worlds, but are merely regarded as the root of the world of Atzilut. This is why they are concealed within it, and shine only in it, and in concealment.
It has been explained in previous parts that the screen of phase four operates only in the world of AK. Hence, the measure of reflected light there is indeed great, clothing up to the level of Keter in the light of Ein Sof. Consequently, all the worlds contained in the world of Adam Kadmon are called the world of Keter.
The world of Atzilut uses only the screen of phase three (Part 2, Chapter 2, Inner Observation, item 10). The measure of its reflected light that rises from the coupling by striking on that screen reaches only up to the level of Hochma, and does not reach the Keter of the light of Ein Sof. Rather, the Keter is hidden and concealed inside Hochma.
For this reason, the world of Atzilut is called the world of Hochma. This is the meaning of the verse, “You have made them all in wisdom,” meaning that everything is rooted only in Atzilut, and not in the world of AK, which is the world of Keter. It is so because the world of AK is not regarded as the root of the lower worlds at all, and it will appear in the worlds only after the end of correction, as it is written, “And His feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives.”
We must know that the entire ten Sefirot are named after the highest Sefira in it. If it is Keter, all the Sefirot are regarded as Keter; if it is Hochma, they are all Hochma, etc. Similarly, each world is named after its first Partzuf.
3. In Atzilut, the light of Ein Sof is clothed in Hochma: This has already been explained. However, this does not mean that as soon as the world of Atzilut was emanated, it received the level of Hochma, since the smaller levels were emanated there first, called conception and suckling. Rather, it refers to the highest level that finally emerged there, in AA, which is in fact the level of Hochma, lacking the Keter.
4. There are several worlds above Atzilut: It has been explained above, that all the innumerous worlds that exist prior to Atzilut, are all included in the name Adam Kadmon, or the world of Keter, for the above reason.
5. Hochma that there is above Atzilut (5), Ein Sof clothes within it and shines in Atzilut: You already know about the diminution of the reflected light that comes because of the refinement of the level of coarseness in the screen (Part 2, chapter 7, Inner Observation, item 72). You can therefore see that after the world of AK has been completed, over the clothing in reflected light from its screen of phase four, that screen was refined to phase three for the above reason in Inner Observation. This does not mean that there was a change in the screen of phase four in the world of AK itself, since there is no absence in the spiritual. Rather, any change denotes an addition, for by the refinement to phase three, a new screen of phase three was added and born, and the upper light promptly spreads to it for a coupling by striking, raising reflected light from the screen up to the level of Hochma (chapter 3, item 1). This is called “a new clothing in the world of AK,” meaning clothing of the light of Ein Sof in Hochma.
However, this new clothing is not required for itself, but only for the world of Atzilut, since the above screen of phase three, whose reflected light rose from the place of the screen upward, clothed the light of Ein Sof up to the level of Hochma, because of it, all ten Sefirot above the screen return and descend from the place of the screen downward (Chapter 2, item 3). This is regarded as the screen and Malchut expanding from her and below into ten Sefirot because of the reflected light that is drawn to it once more from above. Thus, Malchut expands to ten Sefirot of reflected light from her and within her like the ten Sefirot of reflected light that rose from the screen of phase three from above, meaning at the level of Hochma, and they are the ones that are called “ten Sefirot of Atzilut.”
The ARI writes “And in that Hochma that there is above Atzilut, Ein Sof clothes within it and shines in Atzilut.” He wishes to say that that coupling by striking on the screen of phase three had to be in the world of AK above Atzilut, because the screen of phase three is but a refinement from phase four, and phase four is in the world of AK. Thus, the refinement and the coupling by striking had to be in the world of AK above Atzilut. After Ein Sof clothed there, in the reflected light that rose from the screen upward, the ten Sefirot of Atzilut descended and were extended from the place of the screen downward.
6. When he wanted to shine in Beria, he also clothed Bina in Atzilut: Here, too, as in Atzilut, it does not mean that the level of Bina emerged in the world of Beria right at the beginning. Instead, he wishes to say that the highest level that finally emerged there, is not more than the level of Bina, and the coupling was above in phase two of Atzilut, meaning also for the above-mentioned reason that the refinement of the screen from phase three to phase two, called Bina, had to have been in the world of Atzilut, the place of the screen of phase three, called Hochma. In the four Partzufim AB SAG MA BON of AK, the coupling of each Partzuf occurred in the Peh of the Rosh of the Partzuf above it. The coupling of AB, which is phase three, was done in the Peh of the Rosh of Partzuf Galgalta. The coupling of SAG was done in the Peh of the Rosh of AB, etc. (as is explained clearly in Inner Observation, Chapter 9).
It is the same in the worlds of ABYA, where the coupling for each world was done in its upper world. After the screen of phase three is refined there to phase two, it is considered that a new screen of phase two was born and added there. The light of Ein Sof promptly expands to it for a coupling by striking, and the reflected light rises and clothes the degree of Bina of the ten Sefirot of direct light. Then Keter and Hochma of direct light clothe the internality of Bina. When the clothing of Ein Sof in Bina is completed from the screen upward, the reflected light descends once more from the place of the screen downward, and expands that Malchut into ten Sefirot from her and within her, meaning from her Keter to her Malchut. It is like the ten Sefirot from the screen upward in Atzilut, meaning only at the level of Bina, in which Keter and Hochma are concealed.
However, these ten Sefirot are the ten Sefirot of the world of Beria, so the ten Sefirot at the level of Bina that emerged above the screen are in the world of Atzilut. The ARI says about them, “when he wanted to shine in Beria, he clothed Bina in Atzilut,” and the second ten Sefirot that were extended and emerged downward from the screen are called the ten Sefirot in the world of Beria.
7. By that Bina, he shines in Beria: It means that everything that exists in the ten Sefirot of the world of Beria is extends in the ten Sefirot on the level of Bina above Beria, for the reason explained above (Chapter 2, item 3).
8. In order to shine in Yetzira, he clothes in Tifferet of Beria: Meaning also for the reason explained above in Atzilut and in Beria, namely that the world of Yetzira is extended from the screen of phase one, and the refinement from phase two to phase one must be in the world of Beria because that is where that screen is. After the refinement is done there, ten Sefirot emerge there from the screen upward on the level of ZA, called Tifferet, and the first three Sefirot Keter, Hochma, Bina of [direct light], are concealed and clothed in the internality of Tifferet. After this clothing is completed, a second ten Sefirot descend once more from the place of the screen downward in the level of ZA, and they are called the “ten Sefirot of the world of Yetzira.”