You are here: Kabbalah Library Home / Yehuda Leib HaLevi Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) / Talmud Eser Sefirot / Part 3 / Chapter Five

Talmud Eser Sefirot
(The Study of the Ten Sefirot)
Part 3

Explains how every Ne’etzal and creature consists of the four Behinot Aviut called HB TM, where the Ohr Elyon expands to Zivug de Hakaa on the Masach in Malchut. Their Shoresh is the Maatzil called Keter. Because every Behina is different than the other, there must be a median between them, consisting of both Behinot. Contains eight issues:

1. Every creature contains four elements ERMA (Esh, Ruach, Mayim, Affar Fire, Wind, Water, Dust respectively, pronounced Arma). They represent the four Otiot HaVaYaH, which are HBTM, namely TNTO – Taamim, Nekudot, Tagin, Otiot (pronounced Tanta) and ABYA.
2. These are the four Behinot in the Adam Tachton: a) the spirituality (Ruach) in it; b) the Guf; c) the Malbushim (clothes); d) the Bait (house) one dwells in. Each of them consists of four. In the spirituality in it there is a Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya. The Guf has Atzamot, Gidin, Bassar, Or. The Malbushim have Ktonet, Michnasayim, Mitznefet, Avnet (shirt, trousers, miter, and belt respectively). The Bait contains Bait, Hatzer, Sadeh, Midbar (house, yard, field, desert respectively).
3. Among the four Behinot of Adam, there is one that contains all of them. Also there is an intermediate Behina between each and every Behina that contains both.
4. The Behina that contains all of them is called Ohr Yechida, containing two Behinot: a) Nitzotz of the Creator; b) Nitzotz of the creature.
5. The median Behina between the spiritual Behinot in a person, which are NRNHY, and the Behina of the Guf, is called Revi’it Dam, which clothes Nefesh de Nefesh. It contains both spirituality and the Guf.
6. The median Behina between the Guf and the Malbushim is the Se’arot and the Tzipornaim (hair and nails respectively) of a human.
7. The median between the Malbushim and the Bait is Ohalim (tents), which are made of wool and flax.

There is a Maatzil and a Ne’etzal. Each Ne’etzal is divided by the four Behinot of Hitabut by which the Ohr expands from the Maatzil to become the Kelim of the Ne’etzal. Those are HB TM and are ERMA; they are the four Otiot HaVaYaH, and TNTO, and they are the four Behinot in Adam: NRNH, Guf, Levushim, and the Bait one sits in. It is so because there is no Ne’etzal with less than four parts.

1. There are Maatzil and Ne’etzal (1). The Ne’etzal has four elements: Esh, Ruach, Mayim, Affar (2), which are the four Otiot HaVaYaH and are Hochma, Bina, Tifferet and Malchut. They are also Taamim, Nekudot, Tagin, Otiot, and they are Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, Assiya.

They are also the four Behinot in Adam:

A. The inner Adam, which is the spirituality, called Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida.

B. The Guf.

C. The Malbushim over the Guf.

D. The Bait that Adam and his Guf and Malbush sit in.

Ohr Pnimi

1. Any superior Partzuf is regarded as a Maatzil toward its inferior Partzuf. That is because the Partzufim emerge from one another by way of cause and effect from the beginning of the Kav to the end of Assiya; every Partzuf is Ne’etzal by its superior.

2. These are the four aforementioned Behinot in the words of the Rav (Part 3, Chap 1, item 4) where Ein Sof first expanded to make Kelim over the four Behinot, until it encountered the Masach in Kli Malchut. There are many names to these four Behinot, because there is not a single little item in reality that is not arranged by the above four Behinot, and reality in general is also arranged by them.

They are the four Olamot: Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, Assiya, which contain the entire reality. You must understand that although the order of the four Behinot is imprinted in every item of reality, it does not mean that all items are the same. In fact, each item has a specific value according to the measure of its vessel of reception.

Each Behina of the four Behinot in Adam consists of four: Spirituality is Haya, Neshama, Ruach, Nefesh; Guf is Atzamot, Gidin, Bassar, Or; Levushim are Ktonet, Michnasayim, Mitznefet, Avnet; Bait is Bait, Hatzer, Sadeh, Midbar.

2. All these Behinot consist of four Behinot (3), as follows:

• Behina Aleph of spirituality is: Neshama to Neshama, Neshama, Ruach, Nefesh (4).

• Behina Bet, which is the Guf, is the Atzamot, the Moach inside them, the Gidin, the Bassar and the Or, as it says, “Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.”

• Behina Gimel is the Levushim. It is known that these are obligatory Levushim for a Laic Cohen (Priest): Ktonet, Michnasayim, Mitznefet, and Avnet. These four of the Great Cohen are higher Levushim than these, as it is written in the Zohar, that these are the Levushim of the name ADNI, and these are the Levushim of the name HaVaYaH, but in principle they are only four Behinot.

• Behina Dalet is the Bait. There are Bait, Hatzer, Sadeh and Midbar.

Ohr Pnimi

3. This Hitkalelut is because of the Hizdakchut of the Masach, which occurs in the emanation of each and every degree (see Histaklut Pnimit, Part 2, Chap 7, item 72).

4. It is Ohr Hochma, also known as Ohr Haya. Ohr Yechida is opposite Keter, which is the Behina of the Maatzil. Also, the Moach in the Atzamot corresponds to Keter.

Between each two Behinot there is a median Behina that contains both.

3. Indeed, in all these four inner Behinot there is one Behina that contains them all (5). It is a median between each two Behinot and consists of both (6). For example, biologists write that between the still and the vegetative there is the coral; between the vegetative and the animate there is Adnei ha Sadeh (Ledges of the field), mentioned in Masechet Kilaim. It is like a dog that grows on the ground with its navel rooted in the soil, from which it sucks its sustenance. When you cut off its navel, it dies. Between the animate and the speaking there is the monkey.

Ohr Pnimi

5. It means that it contains all four Behinot, namely the second Behina of Keter (see Chap 6, item 2), being the Shoresh of the Hitpashtut of the four Behinot. Ohr Keter is called Yechida.

6. It means that a second Behina in Keter is regarded as the middle between the Upper Degree and the lower degree, meaning between the Maatzil and the Ne’etzal. Any Superior is always regarded as the Maatzil of the inferior (see Chap 5, item 1).

Between Creator and creature, which is the spirituality, there is a middle Behina. It is said about it, “Ye are the children etc.” and ends, “ye are Gods.” The patriarchs are the chariot.

4. In much the same way, there is a median Behina between the Creator and the creature (7), which is the collective spiritual Behina. It is said about it, “Ye are children to the Lord your God,” “I said: Ye are God,” and it is said “and God went up from Abraham,” and our sages said, “The patriarchs are indeed the chariot (8).”

Ohr Pnimi

7. This relates to the two Olamot - Atzilut and Beria. Atzilut is called Creator, and the four Behinot in Olam Beria are generally called creature. Also, every item in Olam Beria has the four above Behinot, and the souls of the righteous are conveyed from Atzilut to Beria.

This is what the Rav means when he says, “there is an intermediate Behina between the Creator and the creature, which is the collective spiritual Behina.” It means that there is a median between the Creator and Keter, which is the inclusive spiritual Ohr Yechida of Adam. In other words, it is the aforementioned (item 1) spirituality of Adam, called Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya. Yechida, which is their Keter contains them all.

8. It means that the Yechida of the patriarchs is the chariot to that middle Behina between the Creator and the Yechida in them. “Chariot” means placement, like a rider over its designated chariot, so Godliness is placed over the patriarchs.

The middle Behina consists of two Nitzotzin: a Nitzotz of the Creator, which clothes the Nitzotz of the creature, where there are the roots of NRNH in man.

5. It means that there is a very small Nitzotz (9), which is Godliness that extends from the last Behina in the Creator (10). That Nitzotz clothes a creature by the power of another Nitzotz, which is a very fine Neshama, called Yechida (20). That Nitzotz contains the roots of the four Behinot of spirituality (30), which are: Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya (40).

Ohr Pnimi

9. Know, that this does not refer to imaginary Gadlut and Katnut whatsoever, but only to the absence of attainment, for the unattainable is called very small. You should also not be mistaken in the name Nitzotz, and interpret it literally, as an imaginary spark of fire. Rather, Nitzotz means Ohr Hozer (Table of questions Part 2, item 2), as Ohr Yashar is called Orot, and Ohr Hozer is called Nitzotzin.

10. It is Behina Dalet, namely Malchut.

20. Meaning in Keter, which is Yechida. The Nitzotz of the Creator is called Ein Sof, and the Nitzotz of the creature is called Keter of the degree. It is also called GAR, the Rosh of the degree, containing interior four Behinot de Ohr Yashar where Ein Sof expands for Zivug de Hakaa, raising Ohr Hozer and clothing the Ohr Yashar from below upward.

That, in turn, creates the roots of the Kelim (see Histaklut Pnimit Part 2, item 202). All this is called a Nitzotz of a creature, or Yechida. It is called Nitzotz after the Ohr Hozer that rises, where the Nitzotz of the Creator clothes this Ohr Hozer. That is why the Rav wrote: “That Nitzotz clothes by the power of another spark, a creature.”

30. Because Hitlabshut Ein Sof in Ohr Hozer that ascends from below upward does not generate complete Kelim but only roots of Kelim, hence the words of the Rav, “the roots of the four Behinot.”

40. You already know that Nefesh is clothed in Malchut, Ruach in ZA, Neshama in Bina, and Haya in Hochma. These Kelim are the four above Behinot in the words of the Rav (Part 3, Chap 1, item 4).

Between the spirituality of man and man's Guf, there is Behinat Revi’it Dam in the Nefesh, which consists of both. The Nefesh is spiritual, and the Revi’it Dam, where the Nefesh clothes, is Guf.

6. Between the Behina of spirituality and the Behina of the Guf there is also one Behina that consists of both. It is Behinat Revi’it Dam of the Nefesh, for it has the last Nitzotz of the Nefesh, being the Revi’it of the Nefesh, meaning Nefesh de Nefesh, and hence the name Revi’it (50).

That Nitzotz clothes the above-mentioned Revi’it Dam and it is all one, as it says, “for the blood is the life,” said about this Revi’it Dam. This Revi’it Dam is the better part of all the aforementioned four Behinot of the Guf, where each part is divided into four.

It is the first and the top Revi’it from the perspective of the Atzmut of the Mochin, which is the vitality inside it, being the Dam that expands in them to revive them. All the roots of the above four Behinot are in that Revi’it in the upper Dam because it is the middle between spirituality and the Guf and consists of both.

Ohr Pnimi

50. Nefesh too has four Behinot HB TM of her own, which expand from Malchut herself, and Nefesh in Nefesh is clothed in Malchut de Malchut.

Between the Guf and the Levushim there are Behinot Se’arot and Tzipornaim of man, which contain both. Between the Levushim and the Behinat Bait there is a median, which is Ohalim (tents).

7. Also, there is a median between the second Behina and the third, which are the Se’arot and the Tzipornaim of Adam, as it is known that this was the preliminary Levush of Adam. They stick to the Or of Adam and are like the Guf of Adam itself, but when they leave, these Se’arot become a Levush like the ones made from goat and sheep wool.

Moreover, even when they are attached to the Guf of Adam, they are like a Malbush, like animals and beasts whose hair is their clothes. The example for that is Adam ha Rishon, regarding the Tzipornaim.

We also find in Nebuchadnezzar, whose clothes were this, as it says, “till his hair was grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws.” Also, between the Levushim and the Bait, there are Ohalim, made of wool and flax, which are Levushim that are used in houses too. This Behina of the Ohalim requires further scrutiny if it so or there is something else there.