The Two Great Lights - 2

113) The moon was not at peace with the sun, for she was ashamed of her. The moon said to the sun, “How do you feed? How do you lie down at noon?” That is, a tiny candle, how will it light at noon? “For why should I be as a veil over the herds of your friends?” How will I be in shame? Then she diminished herself to being a head to the lower ones, as it is written, “Go your way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed your kids by the shepherds’ tents.” The Creator told her, “Go and diminish yourself.”

A wife or a pasture means light of Hassadim, received from the Peh downward and lacking the light of the Rosh. Laying down means VAK of vessels, missing NHY. Noon is an appellation for the light of Hochma, like the light of the sun at noon, which stands over the Rosh [head] of every person and does not make a shadow. So is the light of Hochma, illuminating to all directions and removing all the shadows.

In the verse “The two great lights,” meaning when the Nukva was with ZA on an equal level, she was in a state of posterior, for although she was as big as ZA, having light of Hochma, the Hochma did not illuminate in her due to lack of light of Hassadim. Therefore, the moon was not at peace with the sun, for the Nukva could not tolerate that state. She argued that ZA should draw for her the light of Hassadim, as it is written, “How do you feed? How do you lie down at noon?” It means, “How will she draw light of Hassadim—called feeding and laying down—at noon when the light of Hochma illuminates, since she wished for Hochma and Hassadim together?”

It is written, “Why should I be as a veil?” That is, “How can I be in shame?” She was ashamed to be in that state so she diminished herself into being a head for the lower ones. Then the Creator told her, “Go and diminish yourself.” She diminished herself and went outside the world Atzilut, becoming a Rosh [head] for the lower worlds BYA while her internality rose for MAN and for a renewed Ibur with AVI, and she was built in a new structure, so she would be fit for reception of Mochin of Gadlut from ZA, her husband.

Then her request was completed, on the one hand, for she obtained Hochma and Hassadim together, as she wanted it, but on the other hand, she had been greatly diminished, for because of that new structure, she no longer had any lights of her own, but must receive everything from ZA, her husband.

114) Henceforth, she has no light of her own, except that which she receives from the sun. At first, they were attached as one on an equal level. Afterward, she diminished herself from all her degrees, meaning lost all her degrees and went outside the world of Atzilut. Although she is the head of all the lower worlds BYA, she is still regarded as having lost all her degrees because nothing is important to a woman except being together with her husband.

That is, since the Nukva parted from ZA, her husband, and went outside the world of Atzilut into Beria, it is the loss of all her degrees because her becoming the head in the world of Beria is of no importance to her, since she is separated there from ZA, her husband, who is in the world of Atzilut.

It is written, “The great light for the governance of the day, and the small light for the governance of the night.” “The great light” is ZA, called HaVaYaH. “The small light” is the Nukva who is now called Elokim because she became the Sium of all the degrees, the end of the thought, the end of the world of Atzilut, who is called a “thought.” That is, while ZA and his Nukva were initially on an equal level, “The two great lights,” now after the diminution, ZA was made in the name HaVaYaH, and the Nukva was diminished and became the Sium of Atzilut, called “a dot under Yesod of ZA” at the Sium of Atzilut, and now she is called Elokim, indicating judgment‎.

In the beginning, the Nukva was inscribed above, in ZA, in the letters of the holy name HaVaYaH, in the fourth letter of the name, for the Nukva was the bottom Hey of HaVaYaH when she was on the same degree with ZA. Afterward, she diminished herself into being called by the name Elokim.

115) And yet, the Nukva illuminates from all the sides. She illuminates from above, prior to the diminution, while she was the letter bottom Hey, in the combination of the letters of the holy name HaVaYaH. Afterwards, when she was diminished, the degrees expanded from this side and from that side. That is, she illuminates in relation to her being before the bottom Hey of HaVaYaH, and illuminates in relation to her now being the name Elokim. The degrees that expanded in relation to her being above the bottom Hey of HaVaYaH, are called “The governance of the day.” The degrees that expanded in relation to her being below the name Elokim, are called “The governance of the night.”

116) The words “And the stars” indicate the rest of the hosts and the camps of angels, which are innumerable. All of them, those that are numbered and those that are not numbered, hang in that firmament of the heaven, Yesod of ZA, called “the one who lives forever,” as it is written, “And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth.”

117) The kingship of the house of David was established on the fourth day, the fourth leg, and the fourth foundation of the throne. At that time, the letters were set, and properly settled in their places.

Commentary: NHYM, which are sorted and rise to complement the ten Sefirot of Malchut at the time of her Gadlut, are the four animals that carry the throne, since they complement the ten Sefirot of the throne, Malchut, and carry her for a coupling with ZA. This is why they are also called “the four legs of the throne.” Netzah is the face of a lion, Hod is the face of an ox, Yesod is the face of an eagle, and Malchut is the face of a man. The face of a man is whole in Malchut only from Malchut’s Chazeh and above. But from Malchut’s Chazeh and below, there is no face of a man.

Those two phases in Malchut, the kingship of the house of David, which is the fourth day, and the kingship of the house of Joseph, which is the seventh day, and those two phases in Malchut, who is the fourth to the fathers, HGT, and a seventh to the sons, to TNHY, is at the end of all the Sefirot. The house of David is the fourth day, and Joseph is seventh. It is so because her from Chazeh and above, where the face of a man is complete, it is considered the kingship of the house of David and the fourth day. Her from Chazeh and below, which is devoid of the face of a man, is regarded as the kingship of the house of Joseph, the seventh day.

On the fourth day of the work of creation, only the kingship of the house of David was established, from Chazeh of Malchut and above, where there is the face of a man in the full completeness. But the kingship of Joseph was not yet established, hence the kingship of David is regarded as the fourth leg, and the fourth foundation of the throne, since the face of a man is the fourth leg of the throne, which is the inclusive of all of them, and without whom there is no coupling of Gadlut in ZON.

Thus, the letters were established, the first correction of Malchut in the two great lights, when she was told, “Go and diminish yourself.” After the diminution, she received from ZA the Mochin of Gadlut, and her letters returned to being straight Aleph-Bet, meaning she received the Mochin from HaVaYaH directly. All this was set up only for the kingship of the house of David.

And yet, prior to the sixth day, when the form of the face of a man was corrected a complete correction, as it should be, Malchut did not settle in her place. And then, on the sixth day, the upper throne and lower throne were set up, all the worlds settled in their places, and all the letters were established on their wheels in the simplification of the complicated depiction that was in the letters.

Commentary: Although the wholeness is primarily in the kingship of David—as he is complete, in the face of a man, the fourth leg, the correction on the fourth day—it is still not sufficiently completed before it is included with the kingship of the house of Joseph, the seventh day. The kingship of the house of David is considered the fourth day in the work of creation, and Joseph is the seventh day. But when the kingship of the house of David is included in Joseph, and Joseph gives him additional delight from the king’s house, the kingship of the house of David is also called “the seventh day.”

It is so because the correction and perfection of the Malchut [kingship] is primarily in the wholeness of the lower ones in the worlds BYA, and the lower ones are rooted in her from Chazeh and below. This is why they cannot receive from the Chazeh of Malchut and above, for they have no root there, but only from Malchut’s Chazeh and below, whose root is there. For this reason, before the kingship of the house of David, from Chazeh and above, is included in the house of Joseph, from Chazeh and above, she cannot complement the lower ones. That inclusion is done on the sixth day, and then the kingship of the house of David is sufficiently completed.

On the sixth day, the kingship of David, from the Chazeh and above, was mingled with the kingship of Joseph, from Chazeh and below. Then the form of the lower man, his NRN of Atzilut, emerged from Malchut properly. At that time, the two thrones of Malchut were established—the upper throne from her Chazeh and above, and the lower throne from her Chazeh and below. It is so because they were included in one another, and all the worlds settled in their places. The three lower worlds BYA rose and clothed the three Partzufim Atzilut, whose real place is there, and all the letters were established with their incarnations and combinations in the simplification of the depiction of the complication of the connection that was in the letters.

And as long as the judgment‎s were connected and entangled in the letters, the letters were disordered and inverted, and the name HaVaYaH illuminated only as Matzpatz. But once the judgment‎s were removed from them, the letters were established with their incarnations, meaning the letters of the name HaVaYaH illuminated in their proper order, straightforward, as well as all the letters in her. This is considered that the complication was removed from them.

118) The fourth day, the Malchut of David, is a day that was loathed by the builders, as it is written, “The stone which the builders loathed.” It is also written, “My mother's sons were incensed against me.” “Stone” is Malchut’s name in her Katnut. The builders are the righteous who correct Malchut and build her Partzuf, so she is worthy of making a coupling with ZA.

Initially, David’s Malchut was loathsome to the builders because that light, Malchut, diminished herself and her light, and the shells were established in their places. And because she allowed for the emergence of the shells and their rule, she was initially loathed by the righteous who build her.

However, once she was corrected in a structure PBP with ZA, it is written about her, “Became the cornerstone.” All those lights that illuminate during the 6,000 years hang in the firmament of that heaven to correct David’s throne with them, David’s kingship.

Commentary: The firmament of the heaven is the new Sium from the second restriction, by which all the Mochin of Gadlut that emerged in the 6,000 years are drawn. Through that Sium, the letters ELEH fell from YESHSUT into ZON, and in Gadlut, the ZON were drawn with them to Bina’s place, and they received their Mochin from the place of Bina. Were it not for that, it would have been impossible for ZON to have Mochin of Gadlut.

Thus, all the Mochin that emerged on the screen of the second restriction, called “the firmament of the heaven,” were only to correct Malchut because the Sefirot above Malchut could receive all the lights from the first restriction, too, and did not need the firmament of the heaven. Also, all those lights that illuminate during the 6,000 years hang in that firmament of the heaven to correct David’s throne along with them because the Sefirot above her do not need the firmament of the heaven whatsoever.

119) The lights of David’s Malchut depict the depiction to the degrees from Malchut’s Chazeh and below where there is no face of a man. That is, the degrees from the Chazeh and below rise and become included in David’s Malchut, which is the face of a man from Chazeh and above. A depiction means a level of some degree. Depicting is like making a coupling because in a coupling, the degrees come out in the proper depiction according to the quality of that coupling, to correct the depiction of all those who are included in the face of a man, in an inner depiction.

Any inner depiction is called “the face of a man.” “Inner” means that it comes out from the coupling from Chazeh and above, where there is David’s Malchut, the face of a man. Yet, through the ascents of the degrees from Chazeh and below to David’s Malchut, there are the three faces Shina [ox, eagle, lion], included in the inner depiction, the face of a man, in the upper coupling from Chazeh and above. That incorporation is implied in the stretched letter Nun [ן] of Shinan.

The stretched letter Nun is an incorporation of the three faces in the face of a man, and not an actual face of a man. That correction was done by their incorporation in the inner depiction, in the face of a man, the inner coupling with David’s Malchut. Thus, any depiction included in this expansion of the stretched Nun is called “man” even though there is no actual face of a man in them.

It is written, “You are man.” Although the souls of people are extended from Malchut’s Chazeh and below, where there is no face of a man, because they rise from the Chazeh and below, they still rise and become included in the face of a man from Chazeh and above, in a stretched letter Nun. Souls are also called “man,” as we learn, “You are called ‘man,’ and idol worshippers are not called ‘man.’” Yet, this is only by incorporation.

120) Any Ruach is called “man,” meaning only the light of Ruach that is clothed in a body is called “man.” The Guf of the Ruach on the side of Kedusha is only a clothing. That is, the Ruach is the essence of the man, and the Guf is subordinate to it, merely its clothing. But in the Sitra Achra, it is the other way around. This is why in Kedusha it is written, “Clothe me with skin and flesh.” This indicates that man’s flesh is only a clothing for the essence of man, which is the Ruach [spirit]. In all the places, it is written “man’s flesh,” indicating that there is the essence of man inside of him, but the flesh is merely a clothing for the essence of the man; it is a Guf for the man’s essence, while the essence of the man is the spirit [Ruach] in him.

121) The phases from Malchut’s Chazeh and below were melted by a melting from that spirit. Depictions were depicted from the face of a man, meaning that levels of Ruchot [pl. of Ruach] emerged and were born, and clothed in a different clothing, not the clothing of a man. The depictions of pure beasts are as it is written, an ox, a lamb, a young goat, a deer, a gazelle, an eland, a wild goat, an ibex, an antelope, and a mountain sheep. These phases were meant to be included in the clothing of a man’s face, but were not included in him, but rather became other clothing, for the Shina.

Explanation: Man is called “a small world” because all the details of the world are included in him. It follows that the relation of all the particular specimens of a species in relation to man’s soul are as the relation of individuals toward their whole. Men’s souls are extended from the three faces from Chazeh and below. However, they obtained incorporation with the face of a man in that stretched Nun once the three faces Shina rose to the Chazeh and above of the Nukva and were included in the face of a man that is there.

However, even before the three faces Shina rose to be included in the face of a man from Chazeh and above, they still elicited offspring to BYA. Thus, from the illuminations that were extended from the face of an ox, all the beasts came out. From the illuminations that extended from the face of an eagle, all the fowls came out. And from the illuminations that extended from the face of a lion, all the animals came out. Yet, during the ascent of the three faces Shina for the upper coupling, to the face of a man, all the beasts, and fowls, and animals that had already emerged from them rose and were included in the upper coupling. All of them were included in the face of a man above the Chazeh, and out of the whole of them, the soul of Adam HaRishon was born.

Thus, the soul of the man [Adam] contains all the particular animals that were distinguished from the three faces Shina, for it is their inclusive. This is why the face of a man includes all the forms. And because there is no absence in the spiritual, and any change that emerges in spirituality is only an addition to the first, once the soul of Adam emerged out of all the details in the three faces Shina—for all the forms were already included in Adam’s face—the power of the left illuminated once more, and once again distinguished the particular animals as they emerged each to its kind from the three faces Shina prior to the coupling.

They expanded each to his place so that after the ascent of the three faces Shina for a coupling above the Chazeh, a single whole was born from them—the soul of the man. Afterwards, all the particular details were born again, as they were prior to the coupling, and these are all the species of animals. However, because they were once included in the man’s holy soul, they are considered pure species, although they were distinguished once again.

The phases from Malchut’s Chazeh and below, which melted by a melting from that spirit, are all the particular animals that emerged from the three faces Shina from Chazeh and below prior to their ascent for a coupling. Once the three faces Shina rose for the upper coupling and became included in Adam’s face, begetting the spirit of the man out of their inclusion, the force of the left—fire—returned and melted the spirit of the man. Once again, it distinguished from him all the particular animals by their kinds, as they emerged from the three faces Shina before they were included in the upper coupling.

This is like a metal that consists of several elements, and a connecting force makes them all one whole in the form of a metal. When the metal is placed over a fire, it loses the connecting force in it and melts into liquids, and each element in it parts for itself and no longer connects with the other.

Likewise, the force of the left affects the man’s spirit, which includes all the animals. It melts it until each element included in it parts for itself as it was prior to its incorporation in the man’s spirit, since they lost the force that connects them—the incorporation in the face of a man that is there, which tied all of them into one whole. It was said that they “Melted by a melting from that spirit,” where through the force of the left, the spirit of man melted and parted into all the details of Shina that were included in it.

However, both of them remained. The whole remained, as it is written, “The spirit of men that rises is above.” And likewise the details, as it is written, “The spirit of the beast that descends is below toward the earth.” It is so because there is no absence in the spiritual. They had to be included in a clothing of Adam’s spirit, and then they were in his phase. But by the force of the left, they lost the incorporation of the man, which is the connecting force within them, and hence melted off him and parted into their elements: “an ox, a lamb, a young goat, a deer, a gazelle, an eland, a wild goat, an ibex, an antelope, and a mountain sheep,” as they were prior to the ascent for the upper coupling for the birth of Adam’s soul.

The inner spirit of the phases—ox, lamb, etc.—is called by the same name by which the body of that spirit is called, since the body is a clothing of that name, not the actual owner of the name. The body is the ox’s flesh, and the ox is the inner spirit of that body. His flesh is a clothing to it. Similarly, the bodies of all the animals are named after the inner spirit clothed in each of them.

122) As has been explained about the spirit of the man of Kedusha and pure animals, so it is on the other side, which is not holy. The spirit that expands through the rest of the idol-worshipping nations comes out of the side that is not holy and is not considered Adam. This is why he is not called “man,” since the face of a man is absent from Malchut’s Chazeh and below, from which the spirits of the sons of men are born. Rather, for the birth of a holy soul, the three faces Shina rise from the Chazeh and below and become included in the upper coupling from Chazeh and above, in the face of a man that is there.

However, after the sin of Adam HaRishon with the tree of knowledge, the filth of the serpent was drawn into the world, and the system of impurity, called “a wicked man,” was extended from there. He does not wish to rise to the face of a man above the Chazeh of Malchut because Bliyaal [wicked] has the letters of Bal Yaal [will not go up]. Instead, he wishes to extend the coupling in Malchut’s Chazeh and below. This is the filth of the serpent. This is also the sin of the primordial serpent who connected from Malchut’s Chazeh and below, and separated the face of the man above the Chazeh. Spirits of idol worshippers extend from that wicked man, impure spirits of sons of men that extend from the filth of the serpent.

That spirit is impure and is not called “man” because it extends from a wicked man, who does not wish to rise to the face of the man above, and for this reason has no part in him. His body is a clothing of the impure spirit, impure flesh. The spirit is impure in its internality, and the flesh is its clothing. For this reason, as long as that spirit is in that body, he is called “impure.” If the spirit comes out of that clothing, out of the body, the body is no longer called “impure,” and the clothing is not considered impure, since the impure one, the spirit, had already left and came out of it.

123) Depictions were depicted from the lower phases—beasts, animals, and birds—that melted by a melting from that impure spirit. These are particular spirits that clothed in another clothing, in depictions of the impure beasts, as it is written, “And this to you is impure,” which are the pig, the fowl, and the beasts of the Sitra Achra. The spirit is called “impure,” and the body is its clothing. The body is called “the flesh of a pig” because the pig is in its internality, which is the spirit, and the flesh is the clothing of that spirit called “pig.”

As has been explained about the spirit of the man of Kedusha, the elements of Shina precede the whole, which is the spirit of the man. Once the spirit of the man came out, all the animals were included in him and were then distinguished into their elements once more as before. And since they were included in the face of a man in the holy coupling, they obtained purity from it even after they were distinguished. These are the pure animals.

In the exact same manner, once the spirit of the man is defiled by the filth of the serpent by drawing the coupling above to the place from Chazeh and below—when the force of the left comes over that impure spirit of the man and separates all the elements in him into their forms, in which they emerged before they were included in a coupling—all become spirits of impure animals. It is so because they are elements that were melted off the impure spirit.

For this reason, those two sides part from one another and are opposite one another—one is included in the face of a man, and one is included in the impure one. On the side of Kedusha stands the general spirit of the man, and the pure spirits of the beasts, animals, and fowls, the elements that are distinguished from him. Likewise, on the side of the wicked man stands the spirit of the wicked man, which is impure as a whole, and the spirits of the impure spirits of the beasts, animals, and fowls, the elements that are distinguished from him. They are two orders one opposite the other. Each species goes to its species and does not mingle with the opposite side. And even if it does mingle, in the end it returns to its kind, for so it is both on the side of Kedusha and on the side of impurity.

124) All the upper lights that illuminate, illuminate in the firmament of the heaven so that below, proper depictions would be made. Depictions are levels of the Sefirot BYA, and for NRN of people and angels, as it is written, “And God placed them in the firmament of the heaven ... and to rule over the day and over the night,” to depict depictions properly, since a governance of the two lights is a governance as it should be.

125) The great light, ZA, is the governance of the day. The small light, his Nukva, is the governance of the night. The rule of the male is during the day, to fill the house with all that is needed and to bring into it prey and food. When the night comes and the Nukva takes everything, there is no rule in the house but the Nukva, for then the governance is hers, as it is written, “She rises while it is still night and gives prey to her household.” She and not he. At that time, the Nukva gives and not ZA because the governance of the day is the male’s ZA, and the governance of the night is of the Nukva, and not of ZA.

126) The great light is the sun, containing twelve openings and twelve hours, and the sun governs the day. The small light has twelve openings, and it is the moon, the Nukva of ZA. She governs the night. There are twelve hours in the night. This is why it is written, “On that day the Lord [HaVaYaH] will be one and His name One.” It writes “One” twice, since One is the name HaVaYaH, ZA, the great light, and “One” is His name, the Nukva, the small light.

The sun and the twelve openings in him became the thirteen qualities of mercy. The night, the moon, and the twelve openings in her also became thirteen, and the sun became one, and the moon one. Then it is written, “On that day the Lord will be one and His name One,” since Aleph-Het-Dalet [Ehad, meaning One] is thirteen in Gematria. And since there is thirteen in HaVaYaH, who is the sun, it is written HaVaYaH Ehad [The Lord is one]. Also, regarding the thirteen of the Nukva, who is the moon, called “His name,” it is written about her, “And His name One.”

The sun and the moon became one, and the day and night became one, as it is written, “And there was evening and there was morning, one day.” That unification was done only above, above Chazeh of the Nukva, where there is that complete unification, and not from Chazeh and below.

The Zohar explains the verse “And there was evening and there was morning, one day.” The meaning is that the evening, too, returns to being day. Also, the difference between the unification in the verse “And there was evening” here, to the verse “On that day the Lord will be one and His name One,” is that it writes “one” twice in it. One is the big Mochin of illumination of Hochma, that when they illuminate in the worlds, the unification of the Creator appears in the world, hence one [Aleph-Het-Dalet] is thirteen in Gematria, the thirteen qualities of mercy, since the number thirteen that is made in the ten Sefirot indicates that they extend illumination of Hochma from the thirteen qualities of mercy in AA.

The governance of the day extends from the twelve openings in the sun to the twelve hours of the day. With the actual sun, which illuminates from twelve openings, they are thirteen. This is “The Lord is one,” since the sun, ZA, extends the great Mochin of illumination of Hochma from the thirteen qualities of mercy, and then it is called “The Lord is one.” Similarly, twelve openings were set up in the moon, the Nukva, and with the actual moon, in whom the openings are opened to receive from the sun, it is in one number thirteen, which is “And His name One.”

However, this will be at the end of correction, when the light of the moon is as the light of the sun, as it is written, “On that day the Lord will be one and His name One.” But during the 6,000 years, once the moon has been diminished, the actual moon does not appear, complementing the number “one,” since she does not illuminate from her own self, but from what she receives from the sun. This is why it is not written here, “And there was one evening and one morning,” but both are included in “one day,” since “one” appears only in the governance of both of them as one. At that time, the night comes and is included in the governance of the day, which is why it is written, “And there was evening and there was morning, one day.”

127) Since the Nukva was appointed to the house and entered her husband, there is no governance in the house except to the maidens who remained in the house. The maidens that serve the Nukva are called “stars,” as it is written, “And the stars.” The Nukva gives them the rule over her house when she enters the coupling with ZA, near the morning light, for then it is the governance of the maidens, who are the stars, which is lesser governance. This is why at that time, the darkness doubles in the world, as it is written, “And a portion to her maidens.”

However, it is a preparation for the coupling to correct all the corrections of the house to prepare her for the coupling with the sun, to correct the abundance of the day. And after the coupling near the morning light, the house returns to the governance of the male during the day, and everything becomes as it should be—the Nukva being included under the ruling of the male in a coupling, and then she gives the morning light to the world as it should be.