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Michael Laitman, PhD

Foreword to the Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah

Introduction to the Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah

1) All the worlds, Above and below, are within man, and the whole of reality was created for man alone. This is written in The Book of Zohar. So why do we feel different? We feel that we are within reality, not that reality is within us. Moreover, why is this world not enough for us? Why do we need the Upper Worlds?

2) The reason for the creation of reality is the Creator’s desire to benefit His creations. Hence, the Creator created the creature with a nature of wanting to enjoy what the Creator wishes to bestow upon it. The Creator is above time and place; His Thought operates like the act itself.

Hence, when He wished and contemplated creating the creations, so as to fill them with delights, the creatures were immediately created, filled with all the pleasures they had received from the Creator. Yet, we do not feel that state, since it is merely our root, which we must achieve, according to the design of creation.

In creating the sequence of the worlds from the world of Ein Sof through this world, the Creator removed the creature from Himself down to the lowliest state. It is important to understand why He did that. Does this act indicate imperfection in His actions?

The Ari answers this question in the book, The Tree of Life: “to reveal the perfection of His deeds,” so the creatures would perfect themselves and achieve the Creator’s degree, which is the only true perfection. To help them, the Creator created the ladder of worlds. The souls climb down this ladder down to the lowest degree, where they clothe in corporeal bodies of this world. Then, through the study of Kabbalah, the souls themselves begin to rise and climb up that ladder, by which they had descended, until they return to the Creator.

3) The soul consists of Light and Kli. The Light of the soul comes from the Creator, from Atzmuto (His Essence). Through this Light, the Kli (vessel) of the soul was created, being the desire to receive Light, to enjoy the Light. Hence, the Kli perfectly fits the Light that comes to fill it.

The Light is a part of the Creator. The soul is the actual Kli. Hence, only the Kli is considered a creation. It was created from absence, meaning there was no desire before the Creator decided to create it. And because the Creator wished to give the perfect pleasure to this Kli, as is becoming of Him, He created this Kli—the will to receive—enormous, according to the measure of Light (pleasure) that He wished to give it.

4) Creation means initiation, something new that did not previously exist, and this initiation is called “existence from absence.” But if the Creator is complete, how could something not be included in Him? From what has already been said, it is clear that prior to creation, there was no will to receive in the Creator, since the Creator is whole and wishes only to bestow. Hence, what is not in Him, and should be created, is only the desire to receive the pleasure from Him.

The will to receive is the whole of reality. Hence, the only difference between the elements of reality is in the measure of desire to receive in each element, and no two elements contain the same desire.

5) There are no physical bodies in spirituality. The spiritual world is a world of desires, “raw” forces, devoid of material clothing of any kind. Hence, all the words used in the wisdom of Kabbalah are actually appellations of the desire to enjoy, or its impressions of the fulfillment of the Light within it.

The Creator is the desire to bestow, and the creature is the desire to enjoy the Creator’s bestowal. If the creature enjoys only because the Creator enjoys its reception, such an act is considered bestowal, according to its intention, and not as an act of receiving. This is regarded as the Creator’s desire and creature’s desire being equal, with nothing to separate them.

Thus, following the spiritual law of equivalence of form, as a result of equalizing their qualities (desires), they become one. In that state, they are not two identical desires, but are literally one. That spiritual state is called “equivalence of form” or Dvekut (adhesion).

However, if they do not have the same desire, the same intention, they do not have the same goal and they are separated. Because they have different qualities (desires), they are two, and not one. In spirituality, that state is called, “disparity of form.”

The measure of equivalence of form between Creator and creature determines how their closeness and measure of disparity of form determine their distance from each other. In the beginning, the Creator’s desire to bestow and the creature’s desire to receive are equal, since the creature’s will to receive was born from the Creator’s desire to bestow. Hence:

6) We have no attainment in the Creator Himself, in Atzmuto, since we attain only the sensation of the Light in the Kli, the filling in our desire. And what we do not attain, we cannot call by any name, since we assign names according to our impressions of the filling. Hence, we cannot say a single word or assign any name to Atzmuto. All our names and appellations, with respect to the Creator, are only reflections of what we feel towards Him.

We can feel Him and His actions only by the measure of equivalence of form (desire, intention) with Him. Hence, to the extent that we are similar to the Creator, we feel His desires and actions, and we name the Creator accordingly. When we feel them, we can name Him according to what we feel of Him. This is called “By Your actions, we know You.”

7) Kabbalists are people who are living in this world and connect to the Creator according to their measure of equivalence of form while living in this world. Worlds are the different measures of sensation of the Creator. A “world” is the measure of disclosure or concealment of the Creator towards the creatures; and complete concealment is called “this world.”

The beginning of the sensation of the Creator is the transition between this world and the spiritual world. The transition itself is called “barrier.” There are 125 degrees of revelations of parts of the Creator to the creatures between concealment and complete disclosure. These parts are called “worlds.”

Kabbalists climb the spiritual worlds by correcting their desires (intentions). They tell us—verbally or in text—that the Creator has only the desire to benefit. He created everything to give us all His abundance. This is why Hecreated us with a desire to receive, so that we can receive what He wishes to give us.

The desire to receive for ourselves is our very nature. But in that nature, we are opposite in form from the Creator, since the Creator is only a desire to bestow, and does not possess a desire to receive. Hence, if we remain in the will to receive for ourselves, we will remain forever far from the Creator.

Kabbalists tell us that the Creator’s purpose is to bring the whole of Creation to Himself, and that He is the absolute goodness. For this reason, He wishes to bestow upon everyone.

They also say that the reason for the creation of the worlds is that the Creator must be complete in all His actions and forces. And if He does not execute His forces in complete actions, He is seemingly considered incomplete.

But how could imperfect operations stem from the perfect Creator to the point that His actions would require correction by the creatures? We are His actions! If we must correct ourselves, does it not mean that His actions are imperfect?

The Creator created only the desire to receive, called “the creature.” But when the creature receives what the Creator wishes to bestow upon it, it is separated from the Creator, since the Creator is the Giver and the creature is the receiver, and in that, they are opposites. In spirituality, equivalence of form is determined by equivalence of desires (qualities, intentions). And if the creature remains separated from the Creator, the Creator, too, will not be complete, since perfect operations stem from a perfect operator.

To grant the creature the possibility of achieving perfection of its own free choice, the Creator restricted Himself—His Light—and created worlds, restriction by restriction, down to this world. Here man is completely subordinate to the desire to enjoy, but not to enjoy the Light of God, but rather the beastly clothes on top of it. The whole of humanity is developing from the desire for pleasure that animals have, as well, through desires for wealth, honor, domination, and knowledge, until the Creator implants a desire to enjoy something unknown within these desires, something beyond the clothes of this world.

The new desire prompts man to seek fulfillment until he comes to the study of Kabbalah. During the study, he begins to understand the Creator’s intention towards him. In that state, he studies not in order to receive knowledge, but to draw on himself the Light that reforms (“Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 155).

Through that Light, a person begins to correct his desires. In all, man has 613 desires, which are generally called Guf (body). The correction of the desires is done by using each desire with the intention to bestow upon the Creator, just as the Creator bestows upon man. The correction of each desire and the reception of the Light in it is called “keeping a Mitzva (good deed/commandment).” The Light that a person receives within the common, corrected desire is called, “Torah.” And the Light that corrects (reforms) man’s desires is the means by which the creature obtains its perfection (see “Walking the Path of Truth”).

The perfection is in that the creature obtains equivalence of form (qualities) with the Creator by itself. This is because then it is worthy of receiving all the delight and pleasure included in the Thought of Creation. In other words, it enjoys the Light and the status of the Creator Himself, since it achieved equivalence of form in desires and thoughts.

It turns out that only through the study of Kabbalah can one correct oneself and achieve the goal for which man was created. This is what all the Kabbalists write. The only difference between the holy books (Torah, Prophets, Hagiographa, Mishnah, Talmud, etc.) is in the intensity of the Light within them, which can correct a person. The Light in Kabbalah books is the greatest; this is why Kabbalists recommend studying them specifically.

“There is no other way for the populace to achieve spiritual elevation and redemption except through the study of Kabbalah, which is an easy and accessible way. However, only a few can achieve the goal using other parts of the Torah.”

Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 36

“Attainment begins with the wisdom of the hidden, and only then are the other parts in the Torah attained. In the end, the revealed Torah is attained.”

The Vilna Gaon (GRA), Prayer Book

“The prohibition on studying Kabbalah was only for a limited time, until 1490. But since 1540, everyone should be encouraged to engage in The Book of Zohar, since only by studying The Zohar will humanity achieve its spiritual salvation and the coming of the Messiah. Hence, we must not avoid the study of Kabbalah.”

Avraham Ben Mordechai Azulai, Ohr HaChama (Light of the Sun)

“Woe unto those who do not wish to study The Zohar, for thus they cause wretchedness, ruin, looting, killing, and destruction to the world.”

The Book of Zohar, Tikkuney Zohar (Corrections of The Zohar), Tikkun no. 30

“The study of The Book of Zohar is above and is preferable to any other study.”

The Chidah

“Redemption and the coming of the Messiah depend only on the study of Kabbalah.”

The Vilna Gaon (GRA), Even Shlemah (A Perfect Weight)

“There are no limitations on the study of The Zohar.”

The Chafetz Chaim

“If my contemporaries heeded me, they would study The Book of Zohar at the age of nine, and would thus acquire fear of heaven instead of superficial knowledge.”

Rav Yitzhak Yehudah Yehiel of Komarno, Notzer Hesed (Keeping Mercy)

“I call upon every person to dedicate time to the study of Kabbalah every day, as this is what the cleansing of your souls depends on.”

Rav Yitzhak Kaduri

“In the future, only by merit of The Book of Zohar will the children of Israel be redeemed from exile.”

The Book of Zohar, Parashat Nasso

(There are many more such excerpts in the chapter, “Kabbalists Write about the Wisdom of Kabbalah.”)

8) There is a “power” in the study of Torah and Mitzvot. This power is the spiritual force that brings a person to equalize one’s desire with the Creator’s desire. But this power appears and acts in a person only when one engages in Torah and Mitzvot in order to not receive any reward for oneself. Instead, he works only to bestow contentment upon the Creator. Only on that condition does one gradually acquire equivalence of form with the Creator.

Man’s correction of equivalence of form with the Creator is gradual, generally consisting of five degrees: Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida. Each degree is considered a world, since if one draws some degree in the process of his correction, he feels the Creator’s existence according to the measure of his correction. These corrections are called “worlds” because they reveal the Creator according to one’s measure of correction, and conceal the Creator according to the—as yet—uncorrected Kelim (desires), from the total of 613 desires.

It follows that one receives these five degrees on one’s way to perfection from the five worlds: Assiya, Yetzira, Beria, Atzilut, and Adam Kadmon. Within each world are five Partzufim, and in each of them are five Sefirot, hence the total of 125 degrees in “Jacob’s Ladder” from this world to the top of the ladder.

By keeping Torah and Mitzvot in order to give contentment to one’s Maker, a person is gradually rewarded with the Kelim of the desire to bestowal, degree by degree. Thus, one climbs the rungs, one at a time, finally achieving complete equivalence of form with the Creator. At that time, the Thought of Creation is realized in a person—to receive the complete delight and wholeness that the Creator had planned for him. Additionally, one is rewarded with the greatest benefit of all—true Dvekut—by having obtained the desire to bestow, like the Creator.

9) Now we will try to understand the above-written, “All the worlds, Above and below, and everything within them, were created for man alone.” All these degrees and worlds come only to complement each desire in a person with the aim to bestow, so man would acquire equivalence of form with the Creator. This equivalence of form is absent in man by the nature of his creation.

In the beginning, the worlds were restricted and the degrees cascaded degree-by-degree and world-by-world, down to our material world, to come to a “body of this world.” This is the name Kabbalah ascribes to the will to receive for oneself. At the degree of “this world,” a person is like a beast, since he is incapable of any bestowal. In that state, man is opposite from the Creator, and there is no greater distance than that.

A person who studies Kabbalah awakens a “Surrounding Light” on oneself in proportion to one’s desire for spirituality. This is the Light that exists outside, or around one’s Kli (desire/soul). The Surrounding Light corrects the Kli in such a way that its intention will be to bestow. The intention to bestow upon the Creator and not to oneself turns an act of reception into an act of bestowal.

Following its nature, the Kli remains a desire to enjoy, but the aim changes the essence of the act from reception to bestowal. Then the Surrounding Light can enter the corrected Kli with the aim to bestow upon the Creator. It is precisely during the study of Kabbalah that the Surrounding Light can correct one’s desires until they are worthy of receiving it as “Inner Light.”

One obtains the desire to bestow gradually, from Above downwards, from a small desire, which is easier to correct, to the greatest one, following the same order by which the degrees hung down from Above downwards.

All the degrees are measures of the desire to bestow. The ladder of degrees is arranged in such a way that the Higher the degree, the farther it is from the will to receive for oneself, and the closer it is to the desire to bestow. A person gradually acquires all the degrees of bestowal until one is rewarded with having only the aim to bestow, without any self-reception.

At that time, a person is complete, in true Dvekut with the Creator. This is the purpose of Creation, and man was created for that alone. This is why all the worlds and everything within them were not created for themselves, but only to assist man in climbing the ladder of degrees. When one corrects oneself and is filled with Light, the entire system of the worlds and everything within them is included in him.

10) A person who knows and remembers what has been said here is permitted to study Kabbalah without any fear of materializing it. This is because studying the wisdom of Kabbalah without proper guidance confuses the learner. On the one hand, all the Sefirot and Partzufim from the world of Atzilut to the world of Assiya are complete Godliness, in unity with the Creator, and on the other hand, how can there be changes, ascents, descents, and Zivugim (couplings) in Godliness and unity?

11) From what has been explained, it is clear that all these changes—ascents, descents, restrictions, and Zivugim—are discerned only with respect to the Kelim of the souls that receive the Light. Reality can be divided into two parts: potential and actual.

This is similar to a person who wants to build a house and already has the blueprint of the house in mind. But the blueprint of the house is not like the completed house—a blueprint that has been executed. This is because the thought about the house is made of conceptual substance and exists in potential. But when the house begins to emerge from thought to action, it turns into a different substance—bricks and wood.

In the same manner, we should distinguish between potential and actual in the souls. The “actual” elicitation of souls from the Creator begins only from the world of Beria. This is why all the changes and everything that occurs prior to the world of Beria are considered “potential,” without any actual distinction from the Creator.

This is the reason why it is said that all the souls are included in Malchut de Ein Sof, in the middle point of reality, since this point “potentially” contains all the Kelim (plural for Kli) of the souls that are destined to emerge in actuality from the world of Beria downwards. And Tzimtzum Aleph (first restriction), too, occurred in the middle point, only on the “potential,” with respect to the future souls.

With respect to the souls, all the Kelim of the Sefirot and worlds that emerge and hang down from the middle point, after Tzimtzum Aleph and down the world of Beria, are only in potential. When the souls begin to emerge in fact, from the world of Beria downwards, only then do the changes in the degrees of the worlds affect them.

12) This is similar to a person who hides and conceals himself with clothes and coverings, so he will not be seen or noticed. But to himself, he remains as he was. Thus, the ten Sefirot, Keter, Hochma, Bina, Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzah, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut are only ten coverings that cover Ein Sof and conceal it from the souls.

The Light of Ein Sof is in complete rest; hence, it shines within the coverings. But because the souls receive the Light of Ein Sof through the coverings, they feel as though there are changes in the Light. For this reason, the souls that receive Light are divided into ten degrees, too, according to the division in the coverings.

All the coverings are only from the world of Beria downwards, since only from there down are there souls that receive from the ten Sefirot through the coverings. In the worlds Adam Kadmon (AK) and Atzilut there is still no presence of souls, since there they are only in potential.

Although the ten coverings in the ten Sefirot govern only the worlds BYA—Beria,Yetzira, Assiya—the ten Sefirot there are considered Godliness, too, as prior to Tzimtzum Aleph. The difference is only in the Kelim of the ten Sefirot: in AK and in Atzilut they are in potential; and from BYA the Kelim of the ten Sefirot begin to disclose their force of concealment and covering. This is so although the coverings inflict no changes in the Light itself.

13) This brings up a question: If, within the worlds AK and Atzilut, there is still no actual disclosure of the souls that receive Light from the worlds, what is the purpose of the Kelim of AK and Atzilut, and towards whom do they conceal and cover the Light of Ein Sof, according to their measures? In the future, the souls will rise to AK and Atzilut, along with the worlds BYA, and receive Light from them. Hence, changes occur in AK and Atzilut, as well, according to the qualities of the souls, as they are destined to shine to the souls that will rise to them in the future.

14) It follows that the worlds, initiations, changes, and degrees all relate only to the Kelim, which affect the souls and gauge them so they can receive from the Light of Ein Sof. But when the souls rise in degrees, they do not induce any changes in the Light of Ein Sof itself, since the coverings do not affect the thing being covered, only the one who wishes to sense what is covered and receive from it.

15) We should make three discernments in the Sefirot and Partzufim, wherever they are —Atzmuto, Kelim, and Lights.

  1. In Atzmuto, the receivers have no thought or perception.

  2. In the Kelim, there are always two opposite discernments: concealment and disclosure. First, the Kli conceals itself so the ten Kelim in the ten Sefirot are ten degrees of concealment. But after the souls receive the same conditions as in the Kelim, these concealments become disclosures, attainments of the souls. In that state, the two opposite discernments in the Kelim become as one, since the measure of disclosure in the Kli is just as the measure of concealment in the Kli. And the coarser the Kli, when it hides more of its Atzmuto, it discloses a Higher Level.

  3. The Lights in the Sefirot are the specific measure that should appear for the attainment of the souls. Although everything extends from Atzmuto, the attainment in the Light is only in the qualities of the Kli. Hence, there are necessarily ten Lights in these ten Kelim, meaning ten degrees of disclosure. Thus, the Light cannot be distinguished from Atzmuto, but only in that there is no perception or attainment in Atzmuto. What is revealed to us is only what reaches us from the Creator through His clothing in the Kelim of the ten Sefirot. Hence, we refer to anything we attain by the name, “Lights.”

Four Stages in the Development of the Kli

The Kabbalists attained spirituality and wrote it down in Kabbalah books. They perceived that the root of the whole of reality is a Higher Force, which they called Atzmuto (His Self), since they could not attain it in itself. They did, however, attain that a thought and intention originates from Atzmuto—to create creations and delight them. They called that thought and intention the “Thought of Creation” or “Upper Light.” Thus, with respect to the creature, the Light is the Creator, since Atzmuto is unattainable. Hence, the Creator-creature connection exists through the Upper Light.

To summarize: Light emits from Atzmuto and wishes to create a creature and delight it by filling it with pleasure. In other words, the Light’s goal is to create a creature that will feel the Light as pleasure. This is why the Kabbalists named the creature, Kli, and the Light, “filling.” The Light that stems from Atzmuto, to create the creature, is called Behinat Shoresh (Root discernment), since it is the root of the whole of reality. This Light creates a desire to enjoy it, and the desire to enjoy the Light is called “the will to receive” Light.

The measure of pleasure depends on the measure of desire to receive it. As in our world, one may have an empty stomach, but no desire to eat. Hence, the desire is the Kli for the filling, and without desire, there is no pleasure. There is no coercion in spirituality, and the filling always follows the desire.

The Light emerges from Atzmuto, creates a Kli, and fills it. The pleasure experienced in the creature by the reception of Light is called Ohr Hochma (Light of Wisdom). The desire born by the Light that fills it is called Behina Aleph (first discernment). It is given that name since this is the first discernment of the future Kli.

Yet, this desire is still not autonomous, since it is directly created by the Light. A real created being is one that wants to enjoy all the Light emitted from the Creator by itself. In other words, its desire and decision to enjoy the Light should come from within it, instead of being instilled in it by the Creator.

To want to receive Light, the creature must first know the amount of pleasure that exists in the Light. Hence, it must be filled with Light and then feel what it is like being without Light. In that state, a true desire for the Light is created in it.

It is similar to situations we know from life. When a person is given some unfamiliar fruit to taste, initially, one has no desire for it. But after one tastes the fruit, and experiences the pleasure that stems from it, and the fruit is taken away, one begins to crave it and wishes to re-experience the pleasure. This craving is the new desire that was born in a person, which one feels as one’s autonomous desire.

Hence, it is impossible to build the Kli all at once. Instead, for the desire to know what to enjoy, for it to feel that it wants to enjoy, it must undergo the entire order of evolution. In Kabbalah, this condition is presented as a law: “The expansion of the Light inside the desire to receive and its departure from there make the Kli fit for its task of receiving all the Light and enjoying it.” The states of the development of the desire are called Behinot (discernments), since they are new observations in the will to receive.

Therefore, a Light that fills the Kli gives it, along with the pleasure, its quality of giving. And while the Kli enjoys the Light, it suddenly discovers that it wishes to bestow, like the nature of the Light that fills it. The reason for it is that the Creator intentionally prepared for the Light the ability to convey to the Kli the desire to bestow, along with the pleasure.

It follows that once the Light created Behina Aleph and filled it, it felt that it wished to be similar to the Creator. And because this was a new desire, it was a new discernment, called Behina Bet (second discernment).

Behina Bet is a desire to give. The pleasure it feels from being similar to the Creator is called Ohr Hassadim (Light of Mercy). We therefore see that Behina Aleph is opposite from Behina Bet in the sense that the desire in Behina Aleph is to receive, and the desire in Behina Bet is to give. The Light in Behina Aleph is Ohr Hochma, and in Behina Bet it is Ohr Hassadim.

When the will to receive in Behina Aleph begins to enjoy the Light that fills it, it immediately senses that the Light is the giver of the pleasure and that it (Behina Aleph) is the receiver of the pleasure. In consequence, it begins to want to be like the Light itself, not wanting to receive the pleasure, but to give it, like the Light. For this reason, the desire to receive in it disappears and remains empty of Ohr Hochma, since pleasure is sensed only in a desire for it.

The will to receive cannot remain without Ohr Hochma, since Ohr Hochma is its Light of life. Hence, it is forced to receive some Ohr Hochma. Thus, this new desire, called Behina Gimel (third discernment) consists of two desires: 1) a desire to be similar to the Light; and 2) a desire to receive a little bit of Ohr Hochma.

In that state, the Kli feels two Lights: Light of Hassadim—in the desire to bestow—and Light of Hochma—in the desire to receive.

When Behina Gimel receives Light, it feels that of its two Lights, the Ohr Hochma, the Light of life, suits its nature. Then it decides to receive it in full, and thus a new, independent desire to receive that pleasure, Ohr Hochma, is born. This is the same pleasure that the Creator wishes to fill the creature with.

We therefore see that the Light that emerges from Atzmuto creates for itself a Kli in four steps. Hence, this final desire, called Behina Dalet (fourth discernment), is the only creature. All its preceding stages are but the stages of its development. In fact, the whole of Creation is Behina Dalet. Everything that exists in reality besides the Creator is Behina Dalet. Behina Dalet is called Malchut (Kingship), since the will to receive reigns in it.

Four Behinot

Behina Dalet is the only creature. Behina Dalet is divided into externality, whose parts are Sefirot, Partzufim (plural for Partzuf), worlds, and our world—still, vegetative, and animate—and to internality: the souls of people. The difference between all these parts is only in the measure of desire to receive within them.

Behina Dalet, which was completely filled with Ohr Hochma, is called “the world of Ein Sof” (no end), since there is no end to its desire to receive the Light. Behina Dalet receives Light through its four preceding Behinot—Shoresh,Aleph, Bet, Gimel. Thus, it is internally divided into five Behinot of desire to receive: desires for Lights in the Behinot preceding itself, and the desire for the Light that comes to her.

The Four Behinot Prior to Behina Dalet, with Five Behinot within it

Summary: Light emits from the Creator, Behinat Shoresh. The Light creates a creature, Behina Dalet, in four stages. The essence of the creature is the desire to receive pleasure. The pleasure is the sensation of Light within the desire. Behina Dalet itself divides into four parts, which receive Light from the previous Behinot. Behina Dalet, which is filled with Ohr Hochma, is called “the world of Ein Sof.” The parts of Behina Dalet are called “souls” and “worlds.” The worlds contain Partzufim, Sefirot, and everything other than the souls.

Tzimtzum Aleph, Masach, Partzuf

When Ohr Hochma fills the will to receive in Behina Aleph, it gives the will to receive its nature—the desire to bestow. This is the reason why, at its end, Behina Aleph—after she felt the nature of the Light that fills her—changed her desire from wanting to receive to wanting to bestow.

Once Behina Dalet departed Behina Gimel and was filled with her Light, which is Ohr Hochma, too, the Light affected her in such a way that she began to want to bestow, similar to the nature of the Light within her. Hence, the will to receive disappeared from Behina Dalet.

But why does the Ohr Hochma give the Kli a desire to bestow when it fills it? This is so because the Kli feels not only the pleasure from the Light, but the desire of the Giver, too. The Creator could have created a Kli that would not feel Him as the Giver, but only the pleasure of reception. In our world, this is what people feel when their will to receive is still undeveloped, like that of children, crude people, or the mentally unwell.

As a child grows, it becomes ashamed of receiving. In man, this sensation is so developed that one would prefer any pain in the world to the suffering of shame. The Creator created this quality in us deliberately, so that through it, we would be able to rise above our nature, the will to receive.

To be ashamed and suffer from receiving, one must feel that one is receiving. This is possible only if you feel the giver, that there is a giver. If I cannot feel the host, I will not be ashamed. But if the host is in front of me, I will be ashamed.

I cannot receive directly because I will have to relate to him. I will feel that I must give something in return for receiving from him. In that case, I will no longer be receiving, but I would change places with him and become a giver, since then he, too, would be receiving from me.

The sensation of the Creator evokes such great suffering from reception in Malchut, it decides to never use her will to receive for reception of pleasures for herself. This decision in Malchut, to not receive Light for herself, is called Tzimtzum (restriction). The name, Tzimtzum Aleph (first restriction), indicates that this operation occurred for the first time.

Thus, Malchut stopped receiving Light. By that, she stopped being a receiver, but she was still not giving anything to the Creator; she still did not fulfill her wish to become like the Light, the giver of pleasure. By not receiving pleasure from the Creator, Malchut did not obtain equivalence of form. Hence, we see that the act of Tzimtzum Aleph was not a goal, but a means to acquire the ability to give.

The Creator’s purpose in Creation was for Malchut, the created being, to receive pleasures. The Thought of Creation is constant and absolute. Hence, the Creator, the Light, continued to pressure Malchut to receive it. Malchut sensed that the act of restriction was insufficient to achieve the act of bestowal. Yet, how could the creature, whose only quality is to receive, give to the Creator, as He does?

By sensing the qualities of the Upper nine within her—the qualities of the Creator that she feels within, which, to her, form the Creator’s attitude towards her —Malchut begins to understand how she can come to bestow upon the Creator. She decides that if she receives the Light and enjoys it only because the Creator enjoys her delight in it, her reception would be tantamount to bestowal. Reception of pleasure by the receiver in order to benefit the giver turns an act of reception into one of bestowal. Thus, if Malchut receives all the Light (pleasure) that the Creator has prepared for her, she would be giving to Him, just as He is giving to her.

Take, for example, a visiting guest. The host treats the guest with food, precisely in the amount and flavor that the guest wishes it (the desire is in perfect match with the Light, in flavor and quantity, since the Light-pleasure created the Kli-desire in accordance with itself).

Yet, even though the guest is hungry, the presence of the host creates shame in him, which stops him from receiving. The shame stems from the sensation of himself as a receiver, and the host as a giver. And the shame is so powerful that he can no longer receive.

Yet, the host’s imploring of him to eat, since He has prepared everything for him, persuades the guest that the host would enjoy his eating. Then, it seems to the guest that if he were to receive the pleasure, after having rejected it several times, this reception would be regarded as him giving and benefiting the host. Thus, the guest would become a giver, and the host would become the receiver.

In Kabbalah, the hunger, the desire to receive delight and pleasure, is called Kli (vessel). The pleasure that comes from the Creator is called Ohr Yashar (Direct Light). The force that repels the pleasure that comes from the Creator is called Masach (screen). The Light repelled from the Masach is called Ohr Hozer (Reflected Light).

Using the force of the Masach—the power to resist self-gratification and delight the Creator—the Kli can resist its own will to receive. We can understand that the Kli rejects the Light, but it is truer to say that the Kli rejects using the desire to enjoy for itself.

The Kli cannot return Light to the Creator; it can only change its intention. The aim created in the Kli to delight the Creator is called Ohr Hozer (Reflected Light). Ohr (Light) is another name for pleasure. Ohr Yashar is the pleasure that the Creator wishes to give to the creature, and Ohr Hozer is the pleasure that the creature wishes to bestow upon the Creator.

Once the Kli (guest) is certain that it will not receive (enjoy) for itself, it examines the intensity of its Ohr Hozer (the measure of its desire to bestow pleasure upon the Creator—Host), and decides to receive the abundance that comes by it from the Ohr Yashar (the delicatessen and delights the Host is imparting), but only as much as it can receive in order to delight the Creator (Host).

Kabbalists are people who feel the Light emitted from the Creator and all its actions. But when they write about spirituality, they convey their sensations in a language of “technical” terms and definitions. Hence, only if the reader has a Masach and the forces that the books speak of, can one “translate” the words into feelings, by performing the same actions he reads about within himself.

The Light comes directly from the Creator (hence its name, Ohr Yashar) and wishes to clothe within the Kli. Yet, it encounters the Masach. The Masach repels the Light (refuses to receive it in order to receive), thus keeping the condition of Tzimtzum Aleph: to not receive for oneself. Once the Kli is certain that it will not receive for itself, it calculates (using the Masach) how much it can receive in order to bestow (delight the Creator). The sensation in the Light and the decision how much to receive is done prior to receiving it. For this reason, this part in the Kli is called Rosh (head). The place of calculation, where the Masach stands, is called Peh (mouth).

Following the decision in the Rosh, the Kli receives the Light in the Toch (interior). The Toch is the part of the Kli in which the reception of Light (sensation of pleasure inside the desire to enjoy) occurs de facto. Ohr Hochma (the pleasure) is received with the aim to delight the Creator in this manner. This aim is called Ohr Hassadim (Light of Mercy). In the language of Kabbalah, Ohr Yashar dresses in Ohr Hozer, and Ohr Hochma dresses in Ohr Hassadim.

The Kli can receive only a small portion of the Light that comes from the Creator, since the Masach hasn’t the power to receive all the Light. Thus, a part (of the desires) in it is filled and a part remains empty. The part that remains empty is called Sof (end, conclusion). We therefore see that the creature consists of three parts: Rosh, Toch, and Sof. Together, they are called Partzuf (face, countenance). The Guf of the Partzuf (all its desires) divides into Toch, the receiving part, and Sof, which remains empty.

Malchut comprises five Behinot (discernments). The Masach decides how much to receive in each Behina. Each Behina divides into a part that receives and a part that does not receive. Hence, there are five Behinot in the Toch, and five Behinot in the Sof.

Summary: When the Light corrects the Kli, it gives the desire of the Creator to the Kli. This, in fact, is what we are lacking: for the Light (the Surrounding Light, which we evoke during the study, if we wish to achieve the purpose of Creation) to come and correct us, so that we may want our actions to be like the Creator’s (bestowing). This is the uniqueness of the study of Kabbalah, and this is also its importance. The study evokes the Surrounding Light, which corrects a person.

Expansion and Departure of Lights

After Malchut decided to receive a part of the Ohr Yashar, and received it in the Toch, she stopped receiving. Malchut always calculates, in the Rosh of the Partzuf, what is the maximum Light she can receive in order to bestow. Depending on the force of the Masach, Malchut receives only a very small part of the whole of the Ohr Yashar, since receiving in order to benefit the Creator is against her nature.

The part of the Ohr Yashar that remains outside the Kli is called Ohr Makif. It continues to pressure the Masach, which limits its expansion in the Partzuf and wishes to break through the Masach and fill the entire Kli, including the Sof of the Partzuf, as prior to the Tzimtzum.

The Partzuf understands that if it received only a part, meaning filled itself only to the Tabur, and remained in that state, the Thought of Creation would not be realized. To realize the Thought of Creation, all the Light that filled Malchut prior to the Tzimtzum must be received with the aim to bestow. But if the Partzuf were to receive more, below Tabur, it would be reception in order to receive, since it does not have a Masach to receive in order to bestow over those Kelim.

For this reason, the Partzuf decides to leave the reception of Light altogether and return to its state from before the reception. This decision is made at the Rosh of the Partzuf, as with all decisions. Following the decision, the Masach that descended from Peh to Tabur and stood there, begins to rise from Tabur to Peh. The ascension of the Masach causes the Lights to depart the Partzuf through the Peh to the Rosh.

The decision to stop receiving the Light was made because the Masach that stood at the Tabur was pressured by the Ohr Makif that wanted to be received in the Partzuf, as well as by the Ohr Pnimi. These two Lights wish to cancel the Masach, which is like a limit on the expansion of the Light. Their pressure on the Masach is called “Bitush (beating) of Ohr Pnimi an Ohr Makif.”

These two Lights pressure the Masach at the Tabur, which limits the reception of Light in the Partzuf. They want the Masach to descend from Tabur to the Sium (end) of the Partzuf, and that thus, the whole of the Ohr Makif would be able to enter.

This state is similar to a person who received a part of what his host had served him. He feels great pleasure in what he has received, and that weakens him because he feels what great pleasures exist in what he did not receive.

As a result, the Masach returns from Tabur to Peh, and the Partzuf is emptied from Light. Just as the Light entered the Partzuf through the Peh, it leaves the Partzuf through the Peh. The expansion of Light from Above downwards, from Peh to Tabur, is called Taamim (flavors). The departure of Light in the Partzuf from Toch to Rosh is called Nekudot (points). When the Light departs the Partzuf, it leaves an impression of itself, called Reshimo (memory/recollection). A Reshimo from the Lights of Taamim is called Tagin (tags), and a Reshimo from the Lights of Nekudot is called Otiot (letters).

The expansion of Light and its departure make the Kli fit for its task, since only after the Kli feels the pleasure and the pleasure departs, does a true desire for this pleasure appear in the Kli. After the departure of the Light, a Reshimo remains in the Kli. This is a Reshimo of the pleasure that was there, of the Nekudot. Once the Kli is emptied of Light, the Reshimo determines the desire and craving of the Kli. Hence, the Reshimo from the departure of the Light is called Otiot, or Kli.

Prior to the Tzimtzum, Behina Dalet receives Lights from all of its four preceding Behinot. Light comes to her from Atzmuto through Behinot Shoresh, Aleph, Bet, Gimel, and Dalet. Hence, Behina Dalet contains five internal Behinot. Each internal Behina of Behina Dalet receives Light from its corresponding Behina:

Only Behina Dalet in Behina Dalet feels that the will to receive pleasure is hers. Hence, only this Behina is regarded as a “creature.” The rest of the Behinot in Behina Dalet, preceding Behina Dalet in Behina Dalet, are desires that Behina Dalet received from Behinot Shoresh, Aleph, Bet, and Gimel that preceded it. Although the desires in its preceding Behinot are desires to receive, they come from the Creator and not from Behina Dalet herself.

Behina Dalet consists of five Behinot; this is her structure and it is unchanging. These Behinot may divide, fill, join for actions of reception of Lights within them, but their structure remains the same. It is called the tip of the Yod, Yod, Hey, Vav, Hey.

The worlds, and everything in them besides people, emerge from the Behinot that precede Behina Dalet in Dalet. They have no independent desire to receive. They are operated by the desires that the Creator imprinted in them, and are therefore not defined in Kabbalah as “creatures.” Only the souls of people were made of Behina Dalet in Dalet, where the will to receive exists in her independently. Hence, only souls of people are considered “creatures.”

A true desire to receive for oneself appears only in Behina Dalet in Behina Dalet. She is the only one that perceives herself as receiving. Hence, she is the only one that decides to restrict the reception of the Light. But the Light departs from the rest of the Behinot in Behina Dalet, too, since only Dalet in Dalet receives, while the preceding Behinot only develop her will to receive. When she stops receiving, the Light disappears from all of them, since all five Behinot are one Kli, the tip of the Yod, Yod, Hey, Vav, Hey.

After the Tzimtzum, when Malchut receives those five Lights through the Masach—within her five Behinot—they enter those five parts of Malchut. The order in which Lights enter the Partzuf is from the smallest Light to the greatest Light: Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, and Yechida. Hence, these Lights are called NRNHY.

Entrance and Departure of Lights in a Partzuf

The five parts of Malchut are called Behinot Shoresh, Aleph, Bet, Gimel, and Dalet. Following the Tzimtzum, when these parts receive Lights through the Masach, they are called Sefirot (sapphires, illuminations) because the Light shines in them. Hence, instead of Behinot, we call them Sefirot.

Keter = Shoresh

Hochma = Aleph

Bina = Bet

Zeir Anpin (ZA) = Gimel

Malchut = Dalet

The Reshimot (plural for Reshimo) from the departing Lights are called Otiot (letters). After the departure of the five Lights, Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, and Yechida, from the five Sefirot, Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut, five Reshimot, or Otiot remain: the tip of the Yod, Yod, Hey, Vav, Hey.

Later in this article, we will learn how Kabbalists use symbols to depict spiritual forces in writing. They build letters, words, and names out of dots and lines. This is how all the holy books were written. It turns out that the writing is information about spiritual forces and operations. When Kabbalists read books, they can act according to the instructions in them.

Yet, when we examine holy books, they seem to discuss historic events. But it is written in the Torah that the whole of the Torah is names of the Creator. This means that all the words in the Torah tell us either about the Kelim or about their actions. In other words, the whole of the Torah is the same wisdom of Kabbalah that we must learn today, written in a different language.

There are four languages to the Torah: the language of the Torah, the language of legends, the language of the Talmud, and the language of Kabbalah. All of them were invented by Kabbalists who attained spirituality, to tell us how we can achieve the purpose of Creation.

Overview

The Creator wishes to benefit His creatures. The creatures are meant to receive the Creator’s benefit by themselves. For this purpose, the Creator created an independent creature, completely detached from Him. The creature does not feel the Creator because the Light is Higher than the Kli, and when it fills the Kli, it controls it and determines what the Kli will want.

Hence, the creature must be born in concealment from the Light so as to be independent, without the sensation of spirituality and the existence of the Creator. It is born at the farthest degree from the Creator, in a degree called “this world.” Yet, when the creature is independent from the influence of the Upper Light (the Creator), it also lacks the power to understand its state, its reality, the purpose of its life. It follows that the Creator must prepare the right environment for the creature to develop and grow:

  1. He must restrict His Light to the minimum, restriction by restriction. This is how the degrees were built from Above downwards, from the degree of Ein Sof, the closest to the Creator, to the degree of “this world,” the lowest and farthest from the Creator. This act is called “the expansion of the worlds and the Partzufim.”

  2. Once the starting point has been prepared for the creature, it must be given a possibility to rise from that state and reach the Creator’s degree. But how can this be done, if after Tzimtzum Aleph no Light reaches the Kli—the creature—who is at the degree of “this world”? For this reason, the Creator provided us in this world with a Segula (power, remedy): Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light), which shines even to the restricted Kli.

Rav Yehuda Ashlag wrote about this Segula in Item 155 of his “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”: “Therefore we must ask, why then, did the Kabbalists obligate each person to study the wisdom of Kabbalah? Indeed, there is a great thing in it, worthy of being publicized: There is a wonderful, invaluable remedy to those who engage in the wisdom of Kabbalah. Although they do not understand what they are learning, through the yearning and the great desire to understand what they are learning, they awaken upon themselves the Lights that surround their souls.

“This means that every person from Israel is guaranteed to finally attain all the wonderful attainments that the Creator had calculated in the Thought of Creation to delight every creature. One who has not been awarded in this life will be granted in the next life, etc., until one is awarded completing the Creator’s Thought, which He had planned for him.

“And while one has not attained perfection, the Lights that are destined to reach him are considered Surrounding Lights. This means that they stand ready for him, but are waiting for him to purify his vessels of reception, at which time these Lights will clothe the able vessels.

“Hence, even when one does not have the vessels, when one engages in this wisdom, mentioning the names of the Lights and the vessels related to one’s soul, they immediately shine upon him to a certain measure. However, they shine for him without clothing the interior of his soul for lack of able vessels to receive them.

“Yet, the illumination one receives time after time during the engagement in the wisdom of Kabbalah draws upon one grace from Above, imparting one with abundance of sanctity and purity, which bring one closer, until he achieves perfection.

“Yet, there is a strict condition during the engagement in this wisdom, to not materialize the matters with imaginary and corporeal things, as thus they breach, ‘Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness.’ In that event, one is rather harmed instead of benefited.”

Thus, only proper study of the wisdom of Kabbalah can bring man to the purpose of his life. This is what Kabbalists are saying, and who knows about reality more than they?

Ohr Makif is the power with which any person can begin to rise from this world to the spiritual world. Without the help of the illumination of this Ohr Makif, we would have no possibility of transcending our state, since the Kli can be corrected only by the Light, and the Upper Light cannot reach this world. Hence, we need the Ohr Makif.

To help beginners avert failures on their way, we added a table of questions and answers, a glossary, abbreviations, and various media files. We do not intend to delve deep or expand the explanation and the amount of information, but to direct the student towards obtaining the drive to progress correctly. It should be clear that the purpose of the study is to achieve Dvekut (adhesion) with the Creator. This must be before our eyes, since only then do we evoke upon ourselves the Surrounding Lights, and through their impact, we will enter the Upper World.

The glossary is intended for the correct understanding of basic terms. But only if one knows how to interpret the words one is reading correctly, in their true, spiritual meaning, unlike the way we usually interpret them in our world, only to that extent is one permitted to learn and read anything in the Torah. Otherwise, one might perceive the books of Torah as historic narratives.

When a Kabbalist attains spirituality, it is indescribable in words, since spirituality contains only sensations. This is why Kabbalah books are written in the language of branches, using worldly words to describe spiritual concepts.

The spiritual world is an abstract place, “virtual,” where only forces and emotions exist, without bodily clothing. We must constantly renew and repeat the spiritual concepts because until we achieve emotional connection with spirituality, we will be reading in the Kabbalah books without any understanding of what stands behind the words.

The primary mistake is that there are “Kabbalists” who teach that there is some connection between the human body and the spiritual Kli, as though the spiritual Kli clothes in a human body, as if within each corporeal organ clothes a spiritual organ. In their view, if one performs a physical act or any physical motion whatsoever, it seemingly contains spiritual content. They think that in so doing, one actually performs a spiritual action.

Their mistake stems from the Kabbalists’ use of the language of the branches, using worldly words to name and define spiritual terms. This is the reason for the strict prohibition in the Torah, “Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness.” In other words, it is forbidden to imagine spirituality in corporeal shapes, not because this could inflict harm Above, but because the false image would prevent one from understanding the Creator’s ways and approaching the goal.

Hence, the student must constantly repeat the key concepts of Kabbalah, such as “place,” “time,” movement,” “no absence,” Guf (body), “body parts” or “organs,” Zivug (coupling), “kiss,” “embrace” until each concept is perceived correctly. This is what Baal HaSulam writes in his “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot.” Those who want to study Kabbalah the right way are advised to leave all the books on this subject, except for The Book of Zohar, the writings of the Ari, the writings of Baal HaSulam, and the writings of Rabash.

Interpreting the Torah as a historic narrative contradicts the verse that says that the whole Torah is the names of the Creator, that it is the Torah of the world of Atzilut, and that all the words in it are Holy Names. It is important to remember that it does not speak of this world, and the people in it (see “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” Item 58).

All the names in the Torah are holy, even such names as Pharaoh, Balaam, Balak. For example, one who is called up to stand next to the Ark of the synagogue during service, kisses the book of Torah without first checking to see if he mistakenly kissed the name Pharaoh or Laban. The Zohar explains that each name symbolizes a spiritual degree: Pharaoh corresponds to Malchut, Laban to the Higher Loven (whiteness), Partzuf of Upper Hochma, etc.

Reshimot

To perform the correct operation, the Kli must know what it wants, how to get what it wants, and have the strength to get what it wants.

Besides the Creator, there is only one Creation: the will to receive pleasure. Hence, the whole of reality contains only Light and Kli, pleasure and desire, Hitlabshut (clothing) and Aviut (coarseness/desire to receive).

In each spiritual act, following the departure of Light from the Kli, meaning after the transition from a state where the Kli is filled with Light to a state where the Kli is empty, it leaves behind it two “recollections” of the previous state. They are called Reshimo de Hitlabshut (recollection of the clothing)—a Reshimo of the Light that was in the Kli and departed, and Reshimo de Aviut (recollection of the desire to receive)—a Reshimo of the Kli on the Masach that remains to be used.

These two Reshimot (plural for Reshimo) are considered one Reshimo. If no Reshimo is left, the Kli will not know what to want or how to get what it wants. The whole process of reality’s cascading from its initiation in Malchut de (of) Ein Sof, through its end in this world, are different states of Malchut de Ein Sof. It undergoes this sequence of states with the help of the Light that surrounds it, which evokes the Reshimot that remain in it after each state.

The state in which Behina Dalet is filled with Light is called Malchut de Ein Sof. After Behina Dalet experienced herself as a “receiver,” she decided to restrict the reception of Light. The Light departed and a Reshimo of the Light that was in it remained in Malchut. Even after the Tzimtzum, Light came to fill Malchut, but she calculated and decided to receive only as much as she could receive with the aim to bestow upon the Creator.

The required data for this calculation are (a) the Reshimo from the Hitlabshut of the Light in the previous state, and (b) the desire to receive in order to bestow. Once Malchut calculates these Reshimot in the Rosh, she receives what she has decided to receive in the Guf. And when the Kli completes the reception of the part of the Light that it decided to receive, the Ohr Makif batters the Masach and forces it to return to the Peh. Thus, the Partzuf is emptied of its filling.

When the Masach rises from Tabur de Galgalta to its Peh, the Ohr Pnimi exits Galgalta and leaves the Masach of the Guf with a Reshimo of the Light that it had, called Reshimo de Hitlabshut. But the Reshimo of the strength of the Masach that received the Light does not stay, since the Masach had decided to stop receiving the Light, and disqualified itself from working with its strength. Hence, the Reshimo of the Masach disappears.

The Masach rose from Tabur back to the Peh. Hence, it feels the Upper Light in the Rosh, which pressures it with a demand to receive it. As a result, the desire to receive Light in order to bestow is reawakened in Malchut. This is the beginning of the birth of a new Partzuf on the remaining Reshimot from the previous state.

Summary: A Reshimo of the Light is a part of the Light, which the Light leaves after its departure. It is the nucleus, the root of the birth of the next Partzuf. The Reshimo from the Masach is lost, and the Zivug is done on a new Reshimo.

The Reshimot on which the Partzufim Emerge

World /Partzuf

Name

Reshimo de Hitlabshut

Reshimo de Aviut

World of Adam Kadmon:

     

Partzuf Keter

Galgalta

Dalet

Dalet

Partzuf Hochma

AB

Dalet

Gimel

Partzuf Bina

SAG

Gimel

Bet

Partzuf ZA

MA

Bet

Aleph

Partzuf Malchut

BON

Aleph

Shoresh

Partzuf Nekudot de SAG:

     

Partzuf Nekudot de SAG

 

Bet

Bet

World of Nekudim:

     

Partzuf Katnut

(smallness/infancy)

 

Bet

Aleph

Partzuf Gadlut

(greatness/adulthood)

 

Dalet

Gimel

World of Atzilut:

     

Partzuf Keter

Atik

Dalet

Dalet

Partzuf Hochma

AA

Dalet

Gimel

Partzuf Bina

AVI

Gimel

Bet

Partzuf ZA

ZA

Bet

Aleph

Partzuf Malchut

Nukva

Aleph

Shoresh

World of Beria:

     

Partzuf Keter

Atik

Dalet

Dalet

Partzuf Hochma

AA

Dalet

Gimel

Partzuf Bina

AVI

Gimel

Bet

Partzuf ZA

ZA

Bet

Aleph

Partzuf Malchut

Nukva

Aleph

Shoresh

World of Yetzira:

     

Partzuf Keter

Atik

Dalet

Dalet

Partzuf Hochma

AA

Dalet

Gimel

Partzuf Bina

AVI

Gimel

Bet

Partzuf ZA

ZA

Bet

Aleph

Partzuf Malchut

Nukva

Aleph

Shoresh

World of Assiya:

     

Partzuf Keter

Atik

Dalet

Dalet

Partzuf Hochma

AA

Dalet

Gimel

Partzuf Bina

AVI

Gimel

Bet

Partzuf ZA

ZA

Bet

Aleph

Partzuf Malchut

Nukva

Aleph

Shoresh

Reshimot of the Aviut de Masach of the Worlds

World of Keter

world of Adam Kadmon

Aviut Dalet

World of Hochma

world of Atzilut

Aviut Gimel

World of Bina

world of Beria

Aviut Bet

World ZA

world of Yetzira

Aviut Aleph

World of Malchut

world of Assiya

Aviut Shoresh

Reshimo is left in the Masach, this is the end of the world of Assiya. Malchut of the world of Atzilut begets yet another Partzuf, called Adam ha Rishon, which shatters into pieces that fall below the world of Assiya, to a place called “this world.”

The smallest Reshimo in the smallest broken Kli is called “the point in the heart.” This is what a person feels as a desire for spirituality when being awakened from Above. These Reshimot clothe in certain people in our world and give them no rest, until they correct them with a Masach and fill them with Light.

If a person feels that Reshimo, he or she is worthy of achieving spirituality, of experiencing the Upper World and knowing the whole of reality. The guidance for achieving it is found in books of Kabbalah. Each generation has its own books of Kabbalah, written for that generation, for the particular kind of souls that descend in it.

The books that are to guide our generation into spirituality are the books of Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), and Rav Baruch Ashlag (the Rabash). Besides studying in these books, there are two more necessary conditions for proper learning: studying in a group, whose goal is to achieve the purpose of Creation, which is headed by a Kabbalist teacher (Rav).

In the cascading of reality from Above downwards, a ladder of degrees was formed, on which a person climbs back. One who achieves a certain degree discovers in it Reshimot from a Higher degree, and can thus continue to climb. Reshimot from Higher degrees appear in people in our world, too. These are Reshimot from the closest spiritual degree to that person. By working with these Reshimot, a person exits our world and enters the spiritual world.

The Birth of the Partzufim

Behina Dalet is called Malchut, since it hosts the biggest will to receive. When filled with Light, she is called Ein Sof (no end), since she receives the Light without putting an end to it. Malchut is the only created being. Her parts are called Olamot (worlds), since they Maalimim (conceal) the Creator’s Light from the creatures. The concealment in each world corresponds to the measure by which the creatures can receive the Light using the Masach.

When Behina Dalet received the Light of Ein Sof, she felt that the Light was coming from the Giver. The sensation of the Giver evoked such shame and agony in her that she decided never to be a receiver.

A decision in a Higher One becomes a binding law for all its subsequent states. Thus, even if a part of Malchut does want to receive for itself, it will not be able to receive, since Malchut controls all its parts. Each new decision comes from the weakness of the degree; hence, each decision affects only the lower degrees.

Following Tzimtzum Aleph, Reshimo of the Light and the Kli remained in Malchut. The Light returned to Malchut and wanted to fill it, since the Creator’s intention to delight the creature is constant. It is only this Thought of the Creator that operates in every act in Creation, even when it seems to us that reality is not in our favor.

Malchut, which stands at the Peh of the Rosh of the Partzuf, senses the Creator’s goal to benefit her, as in the example of the guest and the host. Malchut feels that if she does not receive from the Creator, she will not be giving Him anything. Hence, she decides to receive, so the Creator will enjoy her reception.

With the help of the Reshimot de Hitlabshut and de Aviut from the previous filling, Malchut can accurately calculate how much she can receive, not according to her desire to enjoy, but in order to delight the Creator.

The Reshimo de Hitlabshut is a Reshimo from the Light that was in Malchut. The Masach, on which Malchut received that Light, has been purified. There was no power in the Masach to once again receive the same Light from which the Reshimo de Hitlabshut remained. Thus, the Rosh de Hitlabshut of the next Partzuf was born on the Reshimo de Hitlabshut. Afterwards, the Masach made a Zivug on the Reshimo de Aviut, begetting the second Rosh, called Rosh de Aviut, from which the Guf expanded. This is the clothing of the Light in Malchut.

The part in which Malchut decides how much of the Upper Light she can receive in order to bestow is called Rosh. Following the decision in the Rosh, Malchut receives the amount of Light she has decided, within the Partzuf. This Light is called Taamim (flavors).

When the Light of Taamim completes its entrance to the Guf, the Masach that extended it stops the expansion of the Light into the Partzuf. The Masach does not allow the Light to continue entering, since Malchut’s decision is a decision on the maximum amount she can receive not in order to delight herself. If she receives more, it will be in order to receive pleasure for herself.

Hence, in a place where the Masach stops and does not receive anymore, Malchut senses once more the prompting of the Upper Light to receive it. This place is called Tabur (navel). If Malchut receives more Light, it will be for her own pleasure. Hence, she has no choice but to stop receiving Light altogether.

All decisions are made only at the Rosh of the Partzuf, and are then executed in the Guf. Here, too, following the decision in the Rosh to stop receiving, the Masach rises from Tabur to Peh and deports the Lights from the Guf of the Partzuf.

The Masach comes to the Peh with a Reshimo of the Light that filled the Partzuf, and a Reshimo of the Aviut that remained in the Masach. By the meeting of the Masach with the Upper Light at the Rosh of the Partzuf, the desire to receive Light in order to bestow is reawakened in the Masach, which awaken Reshimot in it. The Masach makes a Zivug de Hakaa with the Upper Light and begets the next Partzuf.

There are two Masachim (plural for Masach) in each Partzuf: a Masach that rejects the Light, and a Masach that receives the Light. The Masach that rejects the Light always stands at the Peh of the Partzuf, repelling all the Light that wishes to penetrate the Partzuf, and thus meets the condition of Tzimtzum Aleph.

Once the first Masach repels all the Light and is certain that it will not receive for itself, but only with the aim to bestow upon the Creator, it activates the second Masach, which weighs how much of the Upper Light that comes to it can be received with the aim to bestow.

Following the decision, the Masach begins to receive Light. It descends from the Peh down, and following it, the Light enters the Partzuf. When the measure of Light within the Partzuf reaches the measure that the Masach of the Rosh had decided on, the Masach that descended to the Guf stops. This is so because the Masach of the Guf always follows orders and decisions made by the Masach of the Rosh. Thus, the next Partzuf is born out of the former.

The calculation is done at the Masach in the Rosh. But because its Aviut is less than in the previous Partzuf, the Masach descends to the Chazeh of the Partzuf, and does not stand at the Peh. This is because the Chazeh is the level of Aviut Gimel of the Guf, as opposed to the Peh, which is Dalet.

Hence, once the Masach rises from Tabur to Peh, where it receives a desire to make a new Zivug, it descends to the Chazeh and calculates how much to receive. That calculation begets the second Rosh of the Partzuf. Following the decision, the Masach descends from the Peh down to the place it chose as the place through which it would receive Light. That place will become the Tabur of the next Partzuf.

Below Tabur and through the Sium Raglin of the next Partzuf, there remain empty Kelim that the Masach does not fill due to absence of resistance power. The second Partzuf, and the rest of the Partzufim of the world of Adam Kadmon, cannot descend below Tabur of the first Partzuf, due to the absence of power in their Masach.

After the second Partzuf, AB de AK, emerged and received what it decided in the Rosh, on the Masach that descended into its Tabur, too, there was a Bitush of Ohr Pnimi and Ohr Makif. Here, too, the Masach understands that it cannot remain at the Tabur because it does not have the strength to receive more, and were it to remain in its state, it would not achieve the purpose of Creation.

Hence, the Masach of the second Partzuf, too, decides to purify, and rises to the Peh. Here, too, a Reshimo remains in the Masach. When it reaches the Peh and is integrated in the Masach of the Peh, it reawakens to receive Light. The last Reshimo de Aviut, from Behina Gimel, disappears from the Masach, and Reshimo de Behina Bet appears. Hence, the Masach descends to the Chazeh, where it makes a Zivug de Hakaa for begetting the new Partzuf, called Partzuf SAG of AK.

Here, too, once Partzuf SAG emerged, its Masach de Guf is purified by the Bitush of Ohr Pnimi and Ohr Makif on it. The Masach rises to the Peh, descends to the Chazeh, and begets the next Partzuf at the level of Aviut Aleph, called “Upper MA.”

When Partzuf Upper MA stops the expansion of the Light within it, it senses the Bitush of the Inner and Surrounding Lights within it, and decides to purify. It returns to the Peh with Aviut Shoresh, since the Masach no longer has the strength of Kashiut (hardness) to receive Light. It cannot beget a Partzuf, but only a Rosh, and thus stops the process of the birth of the Partzufim.

The Overall Reality

Following the Tzimtzum, Malchut decides to receive in order to bestow upon the Creator. This intention is called Masach (screen). Following, a sequence of Partzufim emerges on the Masach in Malchut:

The names of the Partzufim are determined by the quantity and quality of the Lights that fill them. Malchut emerged as Behina Dalet, meaning the fifth in the evolution of the Light of Atzmuto. Hence, she receives from the previous Behinot and contains them. For this reason, within Malchut de Ein Sof are five Behinot of the desire, from the smallest desire in Behinat Shoresh to the greatest desire in Behina Dalet, and she receives Light inside of her unboundedly.

After the Tzimtzum, Malchut decides to receive Light only in order to bestow upon the Creator. Reception in this manner is contrary to her natural desire; hence, she cannot receive unboundedly. She cannot receive all the Light at once, as before. Thus, she decides to receive all this Light in smaller portions. In the end, she will be completely filled and will achieve the purpose of Creation.

Each tiny part of Malchut is like the whole of Malchut, containing five parts of will to receive. This is so because there cannot be a desire if there are no four degrees of expansion of Lights preceding it.

For this reason, each Kli has a fixed structure, according to the five parts of Aviut: Shoresh, Aleph, Bet, Gimel, and Dalet, called Sefirot Keter, Hochma, Bina, ZA, and Malchut, called Otiot Tip of the Yod, Yod, Hey, Vav, and Hey.

The whole of Malchut is divided into five main parts, called five worlds: AK (Adam Kadmon), Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya. Each world is divided into five Partzufim: Atik, AA(Arich Anpin), AVI (Aba ve Ima), ZA (Zeir Anpin), and Nukva (Malchut). Each Partzuf contains five Sefirot: Keter, Hochma, Bina, ZA, and Malchut.

The five worlds contain 5x5=25 Partzufim. Each Partzuf contains five Sefirot. Hence, in all the worlds there are 25x5=125 Sefirot or degrees each soul must experience, from this world to the world of Ein Sof, in order to achieve Dvekut with the Creator.

Each degree, Sefira (singular for Sefirot), Partzuf, world—a part of Malchut de Ein Sof, the smallest fraction of reality—comprises five parts of the will to receive, a Masach above it, and Light, which it receives through the Masach. Hence, the difference between all the parts of Creation is only in the measure of the will to receive and the Masach atop it. The measure of the Masach determines the kind and level of the implementation of the desire.

Our body contains the same parts. The difference between the parts is in their filling (stronger, smarter, or more skillful). Thus, the same parts exist in all the spiritual Partzufim: the tip of the Yod, Yod, Hey, Vav, Hey.

These letters are called “the name of the Creator,” since He created the creature in this pattern. The creature senses its Creator by the way it is filled with Light—the Creator—and ascribes names to the Creator accordingly.

The name of each Kli follows the extent to which the Kli senses the Creator. Hence, each degree bears its own name, from this world to the world of Ein Sof. The souls rise to attain the purpose of Creation, beginning with this world, which is the lowest degree. When a soul ascends to a certain degree, it means that it receives the Light in that degree. In other words, it fills its HaVaYaH with a certain filling of Light of HaVaYaH, which, along with the filling, creates the name of the degree.

It is written that everyone must come to be like Moses. This means that everyone must achieve the degree called “Moses.” All the names in the Torah are Holy Names, since they are depictions of the revelation of the Light, the Creator. Hence, the whole Torah is called “the names of the Creator,” including such names as Pharaoh, Balaam, Balak, etc.

The name of the degree is determined by the Light that fills the Partzuf, the HaVaYaH. For example, if the Kli is filled with Ohr Hochma, and the symbol of that Light is the letter Yod, the filling of the letters Yod, Hey, Vav, Hey is Yod, Hey (a Yod in the Hey), Viv (a Yod in the Vav), Hey (a Yod in the Hey).

This is because each letter in the Hebrew alphabet has its own number:

Aleph = 1

Zain = 7

Mem = 40

Kof = 100

Bet = 2

Het = 8

Nun = 50

Reish = 200

Gimel = 3

Tet =9

Sameh = 60

Shin = 300

Dalet = 4

Yod = 10

Ayin = 70

Tav = 400

Hey = 5

Chaf = 20

Peh = 80

 

Vav = 6

Lamed = 30

Tzadi = 90

 

Thus, if we sum up the letters in the name HaVaYaH: Yod, Hey, Vav, Hey = Yod (10+6+4) + Hey (5+10) + Viv (6+10+6) + Hey (5+10) = 72, which is the letters AB (Ayin + Bet). This is why Partzuf Hochma is called AB.

A Partzuf that receives Light of Hassadim is called SAG:

Yod, Hey, Vav, Hey = 63 = SAG (Samech + Gimel).

This is how all the degrees in the whole of reality are named. Hence, to know the name of each degree, we need only know the names of each type of Light. Then, when we read the Torah, we will understand which spiritual actions and which places and degrees in the Upper Worlds are being discussed.

Then we will no longer mistakenly think that the Torah discusses anything below the spiritual world. We will not think that the Torah speaks of our corporeal lives, of history, or of how to manage ourselves in our material lives. Instead, we will know that all books of Torah are actually instructions telling us how to achieve the purpose of our lives while still living in this world, so we will not have to return to this world cycle-by-cycle and repeatedly suffer this vain, purposeless, and useless life.

A Partzuf is ten Sefirot: Keter, Hochma, Bina, ZA, and Malchut

A Partzuf in letters is Yod (Hochma), Hey (Bina), Vav (ZA), and Hey (Malchut).

But the level of a Partzuf—Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida—is not explained by the name HaVaYaH, since the letters HaVaYaH are ten Sefirot of the skeleton of the Kli. They clarify the state of the empty Kli, without fulfillment with the Upper Light. The level of the Kli, the spiritual degree of the Kli, is determined by the measure of the Masach. The Masach fills the ten Sefirot of HaVaYaH with Lights. The Masach can fill the Kli with Light of Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, or Yechida. The Light in the Kli determines the Kli’s degree on the ladder of degrees.

There are only two Lights in reality: Ohr Hochma (Light of Wisdom) and Ohr Hassadim (Light of Mercy). The symbol for Ohr Hochma is the letter Yod, and the symbol for Ohr Hassadim is the letter Hey.

  1. The registration of the level of Yechida (Kli Keter) is simple HaVaYaH, without filling: Yod, Hey, Vav, Hey = 10+5+6+5 = 26.

  2. The registration of the level of Haya (Kli Hochma) is HaVaYaH filled with Yod: Yod, Hey, Vav, Hey = (10+6+4) + (5+10) + (6+10+6) + (5+10) = 72.

  3. The registration of the level of Neshama(Kli Bina) is HaVaYaH filled with Hey, except that the letter Vav is filled with Aleph, and the letter Hey is filled with Yod: Yod, Hey, Vav, Hey = (10+6+4) + (5+10) + (6+1+6) + (5+10) = 63.

  4. The registration of the level of Ruach (Kli ZA) is HaVaYaH filled with Hey, except that the letter Vav of HaVaYaH is filled with Aleph: Yod, He, Vav, He = (10+6+4) + (5+1) + (6+1+6) + (5+1) = 45.

  5. The registration of the level of Nefesh (Kli Malchut) is HaVaYaH filled with Hey, except the letter Vav of HaVaYaH, which remains without filling: Yod, Hh, Vv, Hh = (10+6+4) + (5+5) + (6+6) + (5+5) = 52.

This is the source of the names, AB, SAG, MA, BON.

Nekudot de SAG

After Tzimtzum Aleph, Malchut decides to fill herself in order to bestow using the Reshimot that remained from the world of Ein Sof. Reception in order to bestow is against the creature’s nature. Hence, Malchut cannot instantaneously receive all the Upper Light that filled her in the world of Ein Sof, but only in small portions, called Partzufim. Thus, Malchut receives five portions of Light: Galgalta, AB, SAG, Upper MA, and Upper BON. This completes the exit of all the Reshimot in her, and the chain of expansion is stopped.

The third Partzuf to emerge is Partzuf SAG. Its nature is that of Bina, so it does not want to receive anything for itself; it “delights in mercy.” For this reason, this Partzuf can descend below Tabur de Galgalta and fill the end of Galgalta with its Lights.

Partzuf SAG emerged on Reshimot of Hitlabshut Gimel and Aviut Bet. Hence, there is illumination of Hochma in its Taamim. For this reason, the Taamim of SAG cannot descend below Tabur de Galgalta. But when Partzuf SAG begins to purify, the Ohr Hochma immediately vanishes, and as the Masach purifies from Tabur to Peh, Partzuf Nekudot de SAG emerges, and this Partzuf contains only Ohr Hassadim. Thus, this Partzuf can descend below Tabur de Galgalta and fill the Sof (end) of Galgalta with Ohr Hassadim.

The whole of reality emerges from Behinat Shoresh, the Creator’s desire to benefit His creatures. In accordance with this desire, the Light expands as a cause and effect sequence to execute the Thought of Creation within the Kli, so it will receive it.

In Behina Aleph, which is the whole of the Light and the Kli, there is the whole of the Creator’s intention to make a Kli and fill it with Light. Everything that emerges after emerges from it. Thus the thought of the Creator appears in actual fact. The Creator imprinted the possibility to bring Creation to its goal of rising to the degree of the Creator within the nature of the Kelim and the Lights, from the outset.

After Tzimtzum Aleph, Malchut de Ein Sof decided to receive through the Masach and generated five Partzufim: Galgalta, AB, SAG, Upper MA, and Upper BON. This completes the elicitation of all the Reshimot, and exhausted the force of the Masach, although only part of Malchut was filled.

Had Nekudot de SAG not descended to fill the Sof of Galgalta, Malchut de Ein Sof would never have been filled. This is so because Malchut is only a desire to receive, without any mixture of desires to bestow. And here, when Nekudot de SAG—which are Bina—descend to the Sof of Galgalta—which is Malchut—it creates a mixture of Malchut with Bina. Thus, Malchut is given an opportunity to acquire the desire (Kli) for bestowal, to correct herself and be filled with Light.

Following Tzimtzum Aleph, Malchut de Ein Sof decided to receive only by means of a Masach, that is, according to her ability to receive in order to bestow. She makes a Zivug on Reshimot of Hitlabshut Dalet and Aviut Dalet, which remained in her after the Tzimtzum, and received a part of the Light of Ein Sof. The part of Malchut de Ein Sof that was filled by this Zivug is called Galgalta or Keter.

Subsequently, Malchut receives yet another share of the Light of Ein Sof, in order to bestow. The part of Malchut that was filled by this Zivug on the Masach with Reshimot of Hitlabshut Dalet and Aviut Gimel that remained after Galgalta is called AB, or Partzuf Hochma.

The part of Malchut de Ein Sof that was filled by the Zivug on the Reshimot in the next stage —Hitlabshut Gimel and Aviut Bet that remained after Partzuf AB—is called SAG, or Partzuf Bina. Partzuf SAG is the same Malchut, will to receive, except it cannot receive in order to bestow, through the Masach, like Partzufim Galgalta and AB; it can only make itself similar to Behina Bet, Bina.

By its nature, Bina does not want to receive Light; she wishes only to bestow. There are no limitations on the act of giving; hence, Partzuf SAG can fill with its Ohr Hassadim, the whole part of Malchut that remained empty.

Bina comprises three parts:

  1. Expansion of Ohr Hochma.

  2. Bina’s decision that it does not want Ohr Hochma, but wishes only to bestow. This is why Ohr Hassadim spreads in this part.

  3. Bina receives some Ohr Hochma, but not for herself, to pass it on to Partzuf ZA.

The first part in Bina is still Hochma. Only from the second part in Bina does the desire to bestow begin to manifest. Hence, she can fill the part of Malchut de Ein Sof, the part where there is a desire to bestow with Ohr Hassadim, below the general Tabur, which has not yet been filled.

Partzuf SAG begins to receive Light in its Toch through a Zivug on Hitlabshut Gimel and Aviut Bet. The presence of Reshimo of Gimel de Hitlabshut induces the expansion of Ohr Hochma in its Taamim. For this reason, this part of Malchut cannot descend below Tabur de Galgalta.

But once Masach de SAG begins to purify and rises from Tabur to Peh, a part of the Partzuf, which is only Bina, can descend below Tabur de Galgalta. The Light that departs from Partzuf SAG can also descend below Tabur de Galgalta, since it is Ohr Hassadim, without Ohr Hochma.

For this reason, the part of Partzuf SAG, called Nekudot de SAG, which includes the second and third parts of Partzuf Bina, descends below Tabur de Galgalta and clothes over its Sof.

Tzimtzum Bet

Nekudot de SAG descended below Tabur de Galgalta and there filled the empty Kelim of Sof de Galgalta with Ohr Hassadim. They sensed that there are Reshimot from the Light that filled the Sof of Galgalta prior to its Hizdakchut (purification) in Galgalta’s empty Kelim.

The Light that filled the Sof de Galgalta was Ohr Hassadim with a little bit of Hochma, and Reshimot remained there after the Hizdakchut of the Masach: Reshimo from the Light of Dalet de Hitlabshut, and Reshimo from the Masach on Gimel de Aviut. The Sof of Galgalta repelled the Light from spreading in it, like Bina, and in that, it became similar to Nekudot de SAG. Hence, Nekudot de SAG mingled with the Sof de Galgalta and filled her empty Kelim.

By mixing Nekudot de SAG with the Sof of Galgalta, they received Reshimot that remained in the Sof of Galgalta. The Reshimot from Galgalta were larger than the Masach of Nekudot de SAG, and in consequence, Nekudot de SAG began to want to receive the pleasure that was in Galgalta for themselves.

The rule is that if the pleasure being sensed in the will to receive is greater than the force of the Masach, the Kli wants it for itself, since the stronger one —Masach or desire—determines.

All the worlds and Partzufim are parts of Malchut de Ein Sof. This Malchut made a Tzimtzum and decided never to receive for herself. Hence, now that a desire to receive for itself appeared in Partzuf Nekudot de SAG, Malchut that made the Tzimtzum Aleph rose and stood at the Sium of Galgalta, up to the place where Partzuf Nekudot de SAG stands. This is the place from which Nekudot de SAG began to want to receive the Light for themselves.

Each Partzuf contains ten Sefirot: Keter, Hochma, Bina, Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzah, Hod, Yesod, Malchut. Nekudot de SAG is Partzuf Bina, and Bina divides into two parts:

  1. Bina’s Upper parts are the Sefirot Keter, Hochma, Bina, Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet. These Sefirot want only to give, and to not receive a thing.

  2. The bottom parts of Bina are the Sefirot Netzah, Hod, Yesod, Malchut.

These Sefirot do not belong to Bina. Their role in Bina is to receive Ohr Hochma from Hochma, and pass it onto the lower one. This means that Sefirot Netzah, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut in Bina have a desire to receive Light. They have a Masach to receive the Light not for themselves, but only to pass it on to the lower one. But if the Masach is lost, the Sefirot—these desires—immediately want to receive it for themselves, without giving it to others.

Example: A certain person was used to receiving a regular sum of money and pass it to people who were destitute. All of a sudden, he received a much larger sum than usual, and felt that he could not deliver the money; he wanted it for himself. He could not resist such a great pleasure.

As long as the pleasure in the money was smaller than his Masach, he resisted the pleasures because the pleasure of giving the money was greater than the pleasure of delighting himself (stealing). But when the pleasure from reception became greater than the pleasure from giving, he immediately wanted to receive for himself.

This is how the will to receive operates in every person and in every creature because our very substance is the will to receive. If we perform acts of bestowal, it is only because they bring us more benefit than acts of reception.

This is also what happened in Partzuf Nekudot de SAG: When the part of the Partzuf that received in order to deliver to the lower ones was exposed to greater pleasure than the power of the Masach, the Masach was immediately cancelled and the Partzuf wanted to receive for itself.

The will to receive for self evoked in Partzuf Nekudot de SAG from the Sefira Tifferet downwards. This is so because Sefirot Keter, Hochma, Bina are Sefirot of Rosh, which do not want to receive, and Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet are like Sefirot Keter, Hochma, Bina, except they are in Guf of the Partzuf. Hesed is like Keter, Gevura is like Hochma, and Tifferet is like Bina. Thus, the Sefira Tifferet is Bina of the Guf of the Partzuf.

Each Sefira comprises ten internal Sefirot. Hence, the Sefira Tifferet is divided in its ten internal Sefirot into two parts, like Bina:

1) Kelim that “do not receive ”—Sefirot Keter, Hochma, Bina, Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet;

2) Kelim that “receive in order to bestow,” which are the lower part of Bina, Sefirot Netzah, Hod, Yesod, Malchut.

Partzuf Nekudot de SAG divides into vessels of bestowal and vessels of reception. The separating line between them is in the internal Sefira of Tifferet, of the Sefira Tifferet. This place is called “the Chazeh of Partzuf Nekudot de SAG.”

Now, a part of the Kelim of Nekudot de SAG received a desire that was greater than their Masach; hence, Malchut de Tzimtzum Aleph, which maintains Tzimtzum Aleph, rose specifically to this place. It stood there and did not allow Light to permeate below it. The boundary on the expansion of Light that was made here is called Parsa.

Malchut’s ascent to the place of Chazeh of Nekudot de SAG, to limit the expansion of Light downwards, is called Tzimtzum Bet (second restriction). Tzimtzum Aleph (first restriction) is the ban on receiving Ohr Hochma in order to receive, and Tzimtzum Bet is a ban on any reception of Ohr Hochma, since there is no strength to receive Ohr Hochma in order to bestow from Partzuf Nekudot de SAG down. This is why any dealing with it is forbidden.

“A desire in the Upper One becomes a binding law in the lower one.” Hence, in all the Partzufim that emerge after Tzimtzum Bet, the Parsa in them does not allow the Upper Light —Ohr Hochma—to go through it and down to the vessels of reception. For this reason, the place below Tabur de Galgalta was divided into four parts:

  1. The place of the world of Atzilut, where Ohr Hochma can shine.

  2. The place of the world of Beria, under the Parsa, where Ohr Hochma cannot appear, but only Ohr Hassadim.

  3. The place of the world of Yetzira, below the place of the world of Beria.

  4. The place of the world of Assiya, below the place of the world of Yetzira.

The Sium (end) of the world of Assiya is also the end of Kedusha (holiness). Below the Kedusha there are (1) the barrier—the boundary between spirituality and corporeality, separating the world of Assiya from the point of the world; (2) the place of this world; and (3) our world.

The World of Nekudim

The whole process of the descent of Nekudot de SAG below Tabur de Galgalta, their mingling with the Sof of Galgalta, and Tzimtzum Bet took place during the ascension of the Masach de SAG from Tabur to Peh. Hence, when the Masach reached Peh de SAG, the Reshimot from all that had happened from Nekudot de SAG upwards and from Tabur de Galgalta downwards were already in it.

Following the Hizdakchut (purification) of Partzuf Galgalta, there remain a Reshimo de Hitlabshut Dalet of the Light that was in Galgalta and a Reshimo de Aviut Gimel of the remaining Masach. Following the Hizdakchut of Partzuf AB, Reshimot of Hitlabshut Gimel and Aviut Bet remained in the Masach. Thus, we see that after the Hizdakchut of the Partzuf, a pair of Reshimot remain in it: Reshimo de Hitlabshut and Reshimo de Aviut.

But following the Hizdakchut of Partzuf SAG, three pairs of Reshimot remained in the Masach that reached from Tabur to Peh, on which the Masach made three Zivugim, by order of importance:

1. A Zivug on Reshimot Bet de Hitlabshut and Aleph de Aviut from Taamim de SAG. They create a Partzuf at the level of ZA, above Tabur, called “Upper MA.”

2. A Zivug on Reshimot Bet de Hitlabshut and Aleph de Aviut from Nekudot de SAG that have spread below Tabur de Galgalta. These Reshimot are subsequent to Tzimtzum Bet that was made in Nekudot de SAG, below Tabur.

Everything that was in the Partzuf moves to the Reshimot. Hence, the prohibition on using the vessels of reception from Tzimtzum Bet is registered in the Reshimot from Nekudot de SAG. To keep this condition according to the demand of the Reshimot, the Masach de Rosh de SAG rises from Peh to Nikvey Eynaim, where it makes a Zivug de Hakaa with the Upper Light on Reshimot Bet de Hitlabshut and Aleph de Aviut.

The place at the Rosh where the Masach makes a Zivug de Hakaa with the Upper Light determines the uniqueness of the expansion of Lights in the Guf of the Partzuf.

3. A Zivug on Reshimot Dalet de Aviut and Gimel de Hitlabshut. This will be discussed later in the essay.

The Masach rose to Nikvey Eynaim (NE) due to the ban on reception of Light in the vessels of reception. The Light can only expand through the Chazeh in each Partzuf, since the vessels of bestowal are present only through the Chazeh, and from the Chazeh down begin the vessels of reception in the Partzuf.

The Masach that makes a Zivug on the restricted Reshimot begets a Partzuf. The Light spreads in this Partzuf and fills only the vessels of bestowal. It does not fill the Kelim for the reception of the Light, and they remain empty. The Partzuf can use only a part of its Kelim, which is why it is considered “small.”

Question: Why does the Masach rise from Peh to Nikvey Eynaim and makes the Zivug there, according to the demand of the Reshimot?

Answer: This is so because the Reshimot require a Zivug only on the vessels of bestowal. For this reason, the Masach should rise to half of Bina de Rosh de SAG, where the vessels of bestowal of the Rosh end, and make a Zivug on Reshimot Bet de Hitlabshut and Aleph de Aviut.

The Reshimot from below Tabur demand to extend Light only in vessels of bestowal, but how can a Partzuf be born only with vessels of bestowal? There cannot be a Partzuf that does not comprise ten Sefirot. However, there can be a Partzuf that is not using some of its desires —Sefirot. Hence, Rosh de SAG must beget a Partzuf whose vessels of reception will be inactive. These Kelim in the Partzuf are the bottom half of Bina, ZA, and Malchut.

The Masach of SAG must beget the Partzuf in such a way that, from the outset, it will not use the vessels of reception in its Toch, so these vessels in the Partzuf will not be filled. For this to happen, the Masach must make a Zivug for delivering the Partzuf, only with the vessels of bestowal in the Rosh.

The Kelim of the Rosh are as follows:

Keter = Galgalta

Hochma = Eynaim

Bina = Awznaim

ZA = Hotem

Malchut = Peh

The Division of Rosh de SAG into Five Behinot

The Kelim, Keter, Hochma, and Upper half of Bina together are called Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE), or “vessels of bestowal.” The Upper half of Bina belongs to the vessels of bestowal since she is filled with Ohr Hochma, and hence does not want to receive anything, but craves Ohr Hassadim. But Bina’s lower half does want to receive Light for ZA. Partzuf Nekudot de SAG is Partzuf Bina. From the bottom half of Partzuf Bina, that is, from the Sefira Tifferet de Nekudot de SAG down, there are vessels of reception:

For this reason, this part of Partzuf Nekudot de SAG received a desire to receive in order to receive.

The Division of Partzuf Nekudot de SAG into GE and AHP

The place where the Masach de Rosh stands determines the shape of the Partzuf that will be born:

Once the Masach stands at Nikvey Eynaim, its Kashiut determines the size (height) of the Partzuf, that is, the percentage of its vessels of bestowal that the Partzuf will use. The Partzuf that is born under these conditions is called “Katnut of the world of Nekudim.”

Once a Zivug on the restricted Reshimot of Bet de Hitlabshut and Aleph de Aviut is made in Rosh de SAG, the newly born Partzuf descends to the place from which the Reshimot rose. It descends below Tabur de Galgalta and spreads there in Rosh and Guf. The Rosh de Hitlabshut is called Keter, Rosh de Aviut is called Aba ve Ima (AVI), and the Guf is called ZON.

Its structure contains Rosh and Guf, and each part in it is divided into two parts: GE and AHP:

The third pair of Reshimot, which rose with the Masach to Rosh de SAG, are Reshimot that moved to Nekudot de SAG from the Sof of Galgalta: Dalet de Hitlabshut and Gimel de Aviut. Partzuf Nekudot de SAG was integrated with these Reshimot when it filled the Sof de Galgalta, and these Reshimot demand to receive Ohr Hochma.

After Partzuf Katnut of the world of Nekudim descended to its place, from Tabur de Galgalta through Parsa, Rosh de SAG gave it the remaining Reshimo, Dalet de Hitlabshut and Gimel de Aviut. By the demand of these Reshimot, the Masach that stood at Nikvey Eynaim de Rosh AVI descended to Peh de AVI, where it made a Zivug on Reshimot Dalet- Gimel. As a result of this Zivug, Ohr Hochma descended to the Guf, reached the Parsa, and went through it.

Rosh de AVI thought that according to the current awakening of Reshimot Dalet- Gimel, the vessels of reception below the Parsa could now receive in order to bestow. Hence, AVI made a Zivug on Gadlut, that is, on Reshimot Dalet- Gimel. For this purpose, they joined the Kelim of GE with the AHP in their Rosh, as well as in their Guf, which are ZON, and Ohr Hochma expanded from them down to ZON.

The Birth of a Partzuf from the Upper One, Partzuf Katnut de Nekudim, and Partzuf Gadlut de Nekudim

The Roshim (plural for Rosh) of Keter and AVI have no knowledge that the Light of AB- SAG that came from above and gave strength to the Kli to shift from Katnut to Gadlut, could not descend below the Parsa. This is why the Parsa was not cancelled. When Ohr Hochma began to fill the Kelim below the Parsa, the Kelim began to break, since they remained in the will to receive in order to receive.

When Rosh of AVI made a Zivug on Reshimot of Dalet de Hitlabshut and Gimel de Aviut, Ohr Hochma came out of them and entered the Guf of Nekudim. The Light extended through GE, wishing to go through the Parsa and enter the AHP of the Guf. At that time, the Kelim of AHP began to receive the Ohr Hochma in order to receive. The Kelim of GE, which stand above the Parsa, joined the Kelim of AHP below the Parsa into a single Guf. For this reason, the GE—vessels of bestowal—broke along with the AHP—vessels of reception.

The first Partzuf of Gadlut de Nekudim was made when Ohr Hochma came out of Peh de AVI and expanded through the Guf of Nekudim, which include GE and AHP. And it broke—(a) the Kelim de Guf lost the Masach, and (b) they fell from their previous state, since they wanted to receive in order to receive.

As a result of the shattering, the Masach of the first Partzuf de Gadlut, Partzuf AVI, purified and rose with Reshimot Gimel- Bet that remained in it, to Peh de Rosh AVI. There, it made a Zivug de Hakaa on these Reshimot and generated the next Partzuf, whose Rosh is called YESHSUT. Once the Rosh emerged, it calculated and produced a Guf.

Partzuf YESHSUT broke and died, too. Hence, the Masach purified and rose to the Peh of YESHSUT with the Reshimot Bet- Aleph. A Guf cannot emerge on these Reshimot, since there is not enough Aviut to receive Light.

Thus, we see that the two Partzufim that emerged, AVI and YESHSUT, broke. As each Partzuf purified, four Partzufim of Nekudot emerged. Thus, in all, eight Partzufim emerged, called “the eight Melachim” (kings), since Malchut, the will to receive in order to receive, governs them.

Each Partzuf comprises HaVaYaH, four parts. This is the structure of every creation. Each Partzuf contains its own ten Sefirot; hence, the total number of parts is 8x4x10=320. In Gematria, this number is called Shach (Shin + Chaf), since the letter Shin equals 300 and the letter Chaf equals 20.

The breaking occurred at all the Sefirot. All the Sefirot were mingled and integrated in one another, so each broken part comprised 320 parts. Hence, the whole work in the Tikkun (correction) is to sort out each of the parts of the broken Kelim.

The least broken of the 320 parts should be taken first, and then sort out the parts of Malchut that caused the breaking from among its broken pieces. In total, the 320 broken pieces are the nine Sefirot of ZON de Nekudim. Malchut is the tenth part in these ten Sefirot, meaning that within the 320 parts are 32 parts of Malchut.

Sorting the parts of Malchut is done by the Ohr Hochma. When Ohr Hochma shines to all 320 broken pieces, it can only shine to the nine Sefirot, meaning to 288 (320-32) of the pieces, and not for the tenth Sefira, the 32 parts of Malchut. This is how the sorting is done.

Malchut is the only evil part, preventing us from entering spirituality. Our nature is to distance ourselves from the bad. This is why one comes to hate evil. Because in spirituality the separator is hatred, one is separated from this evil, the will to receive for oneself.

Therefore, after the sorting of the Lamed- Bet (32) Malchuts that are not to be used, the Rapach (288) broken pieces remain to be corrected. These are the broken pieces of the first nine Sefirot. Of those, the first ones to be sorted are the vessels of bestowal, GE. They comprise the ZON of the world of Atzilut.

As there are ten Sefirot in the Hitpashtut (expansion) of the Light in the Kli from Above downwards, there are also ten Sefirot in the thickness of the Kli. These come from the Hitkalelut (mingling) of the Sefirot through the Ohr Hozer. The ten Sefirot at the thickness of the Partzuf are called:

Keter—Mocha

Hochma—Atzamot

Bina—Gidin

ZA—Bassar

Malchut—Or

Here, too, the law of Tzimtzum Bet applies just as in the Sefirot of the length.

The World of Tikkun (correction)

Following the shattering of the world of Nekudim, the Lights that filled Partzuf Gadlut de Nekudim departed to the Rosh of Partzuf Nekudim. The Reshimot that remained in the Masach rose to the Rosh of Partzuf Nekudim, and then to Rosh de SAG. The Nitzotzin, parts of Ohr Hozer (pieces of the broken Masach), fell into the broken Kelim, which lost the Masach and returned to the will to receive in order to receive. It is considered that they fell to the place of BYA, below the Parsa.

The difference between the Hizdakchut of the Partzuf through the Bitush of Ohr Pnimi and Ohr Makif, and the Hizdakchut of the Partzuf through the shattering is that after the shattering, the Kelim must be mended first, and only then can Zivugim be made on them, to bear new Partzufim, meaning to fill them with Light.

The intention of the Rosh of the world of Nekudim was to receive all the Light of the purpose of Creation in order to bestow, by filling the whole Sof of Galgalta. Thus, it would achieve the complete filling of Malchut de Ein Sof. Hence, when the shattering of the vessels is corrected, it cforrects all the vessels of reception, so they work in order to bestow, and Gmar Tikkun (the end of correction) is achieved.

Yet, this will not make the whole of Malchut de Ein Sof corrected, but only a part of it, its Behinot Shoresh, Aleph, Bet, and Gimel, excluding Behina Dalet. Behina Dalet is the only creature. Behinot Shoresh, Aleph, Bet, and Gimel in it come from the Hitkalelut of the Upper nine in her, from the Creator’s influence on her, while a “creature” is a desire that is completely detached from the Creator and stands in its own right.

Only Behina Dalet in Behina Dalet is a will to receive in order to receive that feels independent. Hence, it is only she who restricts her will to receive. After the Tzimtzum, all the Partzufim and all the worlds emerge to fill desires Shoresh, Aleph, Bet, and Gimel in Behina Dalet, and not Behina Dalet in Dalet.

But if what requires correction is Behina Dalet in Dalet, and not Behinot Shoresh, Aleph, Bet, and Gimel in Dalet, why are Lights received in these desires? These desires are not the creature’s desires; they are the qualities of the Creator, the forces of the Creator. Using them, He guides the creature —Behina Dalet in Behina Dalet. These forces fill the spiritual worlds, except for Adam’s soul.

Behina Dalet herself, Adam’s soul, cannot really correct herself into receiving in order to bestow. Rather, the very correction of the creature is in examining all its qualities opposite all of the Creator’s qualities, and in all cases, preferring to be like the Creator. The creature does not use its own quality—the stony heart—but only the Upper nine, the 248 Behinot that it sorts out and elevates after the breaking, towards unity with the Creator.

All the Zivugim performed after Tzimtzum Aleph are made on these desires. The Partzufim, worlds, and everything within the worlds are born out of these Zivugim, and spread from Above downwards. All five worlds, with the five Partzufim in each world, become a ladder of degrees from the Creator—the Giver—to the creature—the receiver. The rungs of the ladder are measures of equivalence of desires between the creature and the Creator.

The cascading of the Partzufim and the worlds from Above downwards builds the degrees, which are like coverings over the Light of Ein Sof. Each Partzuf covers the Light and conceals it from the Partzufim below it, to the extent that it receives in order to bestow.

We can compare the Partzufim and the worlds to onion skins: round, encircling one another, and the more internal the skin, the more the Light is covered. Thus, the point of darkness is at the end of the ladder, in the middle of all these circles.

To allow the creature’s desire freedom of action, and for the creature to achieve equivalence with the Creator and cleave to Him out of free choice, and also, to enable the creature to develop and rise from its state to the degree of the Creator, the creature must be born in the middle point of all the worlds, the point of darkness. Also, the possibility of correcting its desire must be prepared for it, although due to the creature’s weakness, the correction is not instantaneous, but gradual.

For this purpose, a ladder of degrees has been prepared, with five worlds, five Partzufim in each world, and five Sefirot in each Partzuf. In total, there are 125 degrees from the creature’s initial state to its completion. Hence, the worlds have two roles:

  1. To gradually hide the Light of Ein Sof. This is done by the cascading of the worlds from Above downwards. This is why the degrees of concealment are called Olamot (worlds), from the word Haalama (concealment).

  2. Providing the creature (souls) with corrections with which they can climb the degrees of the worlds from below Upwards. Each degree it acquires is a Partzuf, created during the cascading from Above downwards. To climb the spiritual degrees, the creature must be assisted by the degree for which it aspires. When the creature is assisted by that degree, it uses this auxiliary force to acquire a Masach and rise to that stage. When the creature rises to that degree, it is given the name of that degree.

From this, we learn that all the worlds and what fills them are but a ladder prepared by the Creator for man’s ascension. When one climbs those degrees, all the souls rise along with him, since all the worlds and everything that fills these worlds is within us. Hence, other than the attaining individual, the creature, there is only the Creator!

Around us is only Simple, Upper Light, in complete rest. This means that the Creator’s intention is unchanging, and it is the same in all His Actions—to benefit man. A person feels the Creator only to the extent of one’s equivalence of qualities with the Creator’s quality of bestowal:

All the changes are only within man, in one’s vessels of reception. They depend on the measure of correction of one’s Masach within him. But other than man, there is only the Upper Light, where there are no changes. By obtaining a part of the Upper Light, one attains and feels a part of the Creator. And according to this feeling, one names the sensation of the Creator: “Merciful,” “Gracious,” “Terrible,” etc.

The whole of the Torah is only registrations of sensations of a person who attains spirituality, who approaches the Creator. It follows that the whole Torah is names of the Creator. This is why it is written that the whole Torah is His Holy Names. A person who attains the Torah attains a part of the Common Light. The degrees of attainment of Light are called by the names of the Sefirot (Partzufim, worlds) or by the Lights that one receives (NRNHY).

Besides man, there is only the Creator. Hence, anything each of us feels, thinks, and wants comes to us from the Creator. What each person in the world feels is only the Creator.

When the creature climbs from the lowest point, from which one begins to approach the Creator (the point of this world), to the time one achieves complete equivalence of form with the Creator (Gmar Tikkun), one traverses 620 degrees, called “the 613 Mitzvot of the Torah” and the “Seven Mitzvot of our great sages.”

A Zivug with the Upper Light in the Masach is called a Mitzva. The Light that the attaining individual receives in one’s Kli is called Ohr Pnimi (Inner Light), or Ohr Taamim (Light of Flavors), or “Torah.” This is why Kabbalists tell everyone, “taste and see that the Lord is good.”

The creature, Behina Dalet in Behina Dalet, corrects its will to receive so it would receive in order to bestow. The Tikkun (correction) is not on the desire to receive itself, but on how it is used—with the aim to bestow. That Tikkun, placing the aim to bestow, is made on small portions of the creature’s desire, from the smallest part to the largest, and not on all of it. By that, the creature rises from degree to degree on the ladder of degrees. The worlds are degrees on which one ascends from below Upwards.

The Tikkun of the will to receive, to receive only in order to bestow, is a very difficult Tikkun, since it is opposite to the intention. It is opposite to the creature’s nature. Hence, the Creator divided the whole way into 613 small degrees, and split the creature itself into 600,000 small pieces, called “souls.” When all the souls unite, they are called “the common soul” or Adam ha Rishon (the first man).

But the correction work begins even before that, in a lower state, called “our world,” where all the parts of Creation exist in a reality where there is no Creator and no spirituality. They do not even feel that they lack the sensation of absence of knowledge of the Creator. Everyone is born in this degree, which is only a will to receive the pleasures available to our five senses.

The whole world is led by the Creator’s commandments. This leadership is called “nature,” since the desire to receive pleasure in each of the states—still, vegetative, animate, and speaking—necessarily determines every reaction. This is so because the law is that every creature always chooses the greatest pleasure and escapes suffering.

In each generation, there are people in whom the Creator “plants” a point in the heart—a desire to feel the Creator. Such a person begins to seek fulfillment for this new desire in him, not knowing that it is a desire for the Creator and that it can be filled only with the Upper Light.

The Partzufim that emerged after the breaking are called “the world of Tikkun.” Everything that happens must appear in Creation and is necessary for the development of the creature, so it can obtain the perfection of the Creator’s actions and enjoy what the Creator has prepared for it.

Hence, both the breaking in the world of Nekudim, called “the breaking in the worlds,” and the breaking in Adam ha Rishon, called “the breaking in the souls,” were preordained. In the breaking of the world of Nekudim, vessels of reception mingled with vessels of bestowal. The broken parts are in such a mixture that each of them is included in all the others. Thus, each of the 320 pieces (desires) contains all the others within it. As a result, 1) the vessels of reception will be corrected due to the mingling with the vessels of bestowal, and 2) NRNHY Lights will appear in each desire (instead of the Light of Nefesh, which was there previously).

Without the mixture, obtained by the breaking, the vessels of reception would have no way of receiving Light, since the Parsa would separate them from the place in which the Upper Light could begin to spread. But now, after the breaking, they can be elevated to Atzilut (raised AHP) and be filled there.

The breaking in the world of Nekudim is called “the breaking of the worlds,” since Malchut de Ein Sof comprises five parts. Four of them beget the worlds and everything within them, as they spread from Above downwards. They contain the whole of Creation besides man, who was created from Behina Dalet in Dalet, from Malchut’s last part—the actual, independent will to receive, completely detached from the Creator’s desire to bestow.

Hence, only man is the purpose and the goal of Creation. Besides him, the rest of the parts of Creation are not independent. They belong to the Creator’s desire, since the Creator determines their conduct, as the still, vegetative, and animate exist in our world.

In our world, man’s desire is not essentially different from that of animals. Only a person in whom the desire for the Creator emerged (a part of the desire of Adam ha Rishon) is called “Adam” (Man). A person with such a desire can correct it by acquiring a Masach and achieving the desire to bestow. And if no such desire appears in a person, one has nothing to correct and such a person feels no inclination to draw near to the Creator.

The whole of reality in this world is divided into the four parts of Creation: still, vegetative, animate, and speaking, according to the measure of the will to receive, and hence according to the measure of the beneficial and detrimental powers.

A person in this world must undergo four stages of development: still, vegetative, animate, and speaking, to develop and intensify the desire to receive in him, until the Creator “plants” the point in him, meaning the desire for the Creator, to reach the goal. For this reason, for millennia, humanity has been pulverized under nature’s press—the evolution of the will to receive from the “still” degree through the “speaking” degree. This is the evolution of the generations we know.

The whole of humanity, and each soul—from generation to generation—undergo four stages of development of the will to receive:

  1. Plebs: The “still” in the human species. Through a propensity for wealth, they develop into the degree of “wealthy.”

  2. Wealthy: The “vegetative” in the human species. Through a propensity for honor (power), they develop into the degree of “strong.”

  3. Strong: The “animate” in the human species. Through a propensity for knowledge, they develop into the degree of “knowledgeable.”

  4. Knowledgeable: The “speaking” in the human species. In the speaking in man, the desire is unlimited by time or place. A person is envious of people who lived in previous generations, in things one has no need for, but that others have and he does not. Hence, he can increase his will to receive, since he wants what he sees in others. Thus, one can enhance one’s will to receive unboundedly, and this makes one a suitable candidate for achieving the purpose of Creation.

  5. If the Creator plants a point in the heart in this “speaking,” such a person begins to awaken toward the goal and seeks the root of one’s soul.

The order of corrections from Above downwards is as follows:

The whole system of Creation achieves Gmar Tikkun only through the world of Atzilut. This is why the world of Atzilut is called “the world of Tikkun” (the world of correction).

The World of Atzilut

Following the breaking, the Masach purified and rose with the Reshimot to the Rosh of AVI de Nekudim. The Reshimot in the Masach demand correction so a Zivug can be made on them for reception of the Light. But the Rosh of AVI de Nekudim returned to the state of Katnut and could not do it. Hence, the Masach rose to the Rosh of the Higher Partzuf, Rosh de SAG.

There is no difference between a Masach that is purified by the Bitush of its internal and surrounding Lights and a Masach that is purified by the breaking. Even after the breaking, Reshimot remain in the Masach and demand to be filled:

The restricted Reshimot Aleph de Hitlabshut and Shoresh de Aviut come from Partzuf Nekudim itself. Hence, the Masach makes the first Zivug on them. After a Partzuf is born on them, the Masach will provide for the demands of Reshimot Dalet- Gimel that caused the elicitation of the Gadlut of the Partzuf. Hence, once the Masach rose to Rosh de SAG, it rose according to the restricted Reshimo de Aviut Shoresh, to Bina of Keter de Rosh SAG.

The five Behinot of the Rosh are called:

Keter—Galgalta—Aviut de Shoresh

Hochma—Eynaim—Aviut Aleph

Bina—Awznaim—Aviut Bet

ZA—Hotem—Aviut Gimel

Malchut—Peh—Aviut Dalet

In each of the Sefirot in the Rosh are five particular Sefirot: Keter, Hochma, Bina, ZA, Malchut. The Reshimo of restricted Aviut de Shoresh demands a Zivug only on the vessels of bestowal in Aviut Shoresh. The Reshimo demands that a Partzuf will be born, which works only with vessels of bestowal, GE, de Aviut Shoresh. Hence, the Masach that begets this Partzuf must make a Zivug only on the vessels of bestowal of Aviut de Shoresh at the Rosh.

Accordingly, the Masach rises from the Peh to the Sefira Keter de Rosh de SAG, and from there Higher still, to Bina de Keter, standing after the Sefirot KHB HGT de Keter. It follows that Above the Masach there are only vessels of bestowal of Keter, meaning Aviut Shoresh. The place where the Masach stands is called Metzach (forehead).

The Partzuf, born out of the Zivug on the Reshimo of the restricted Aviut de Shoresh, is called Ubar (fetus). In spirituality, there cannot be less than this degree. Put differently, this is the minimal spiritual degree. After its birth, the newly born Partzuf descends to the place from which the Reshimot rose, below Tabur de Galgalta, and spreads there from Tabur down.

After the Partzuf Ubar spreads into its place, Reshimot Dalet de Hitlabshut and Gimel de Aviut (from the Sof of Galgalta) awaken in it. The Gadlut of the Partzuf emerges on these Reshimot: the Masach makes a Zivug with the Upper Light on Reshimot Dalet- Gimel, and the level of Gadlut spreads from Tabur de Galgalta through Parsa. This Partzuf is called Atik, since it is Ne’etak (detached) from the attainment of the lower ones (souls).

Partzuf Atik is the first Partzuf in a new series of five Partzufim, called “the world of Atzilut.” Hence, Partzuf Atik is the Keter of the world of Atzilut.

After Partzuf Atik emerged in Gadlut, Rosh de SAG gave it all the Reshimot that rose to it after the breaking. Of all the Reshimot, Atik chose the purest Reshimo, made a Zivug on it, and generated the next Partzuf, first creating it at the Ubar level and then making a Zivug on Gadlut (Dalet- Gimel). This Partzuf expanded from Peh de Atik through Parsa, and it is called Partzuf Hochma, or Arich Anpin (AA).

Once Gadlut de Partzuf AA emerges, Atik gives it all the remaining Reshimot, from the ones that rose to Rosh de SAG after the breaking. Of those, AA chooses the purest, makes a Zivug on them, and this generates Partzuf Bina of the world of Atzilut, first at the Ubar level and finally in Gadlut. This Partzuf spreads from Peh de AA to Tabur de AA. It is called Aba ve Ima (AVI).

After Partzuf AVI emerges in Gadlut, AA gives it all the remaining Reshimot. Of the Reshimot that AA gave it, AVI chooses the purest Reshimot and makes a Zivug on them, thus generating Partzuf ZA of the world of Atzilut. Here, for the first time, there are three states: Ubar, Katnut (infancy, smallness), and Gadlut (maturity, greatness). Partzuf ZA takes its place from Tabur of AA through the Parsa.

Once Partzuf ZA emerges, AVI gives it all the remaining Reshimot. ZA makes a Zivug on them and generates Malchut of the world of Atzilut. This completes the Zivugim that can emerge on the Reshimot that rose to Rosh de SAG following the breaking of the vessels.

The constant state of Atzilut is Katnut—GE—vessels of bestowal. There cannot be less than that in it. In this state, it precisely matches the Katnut of the world of Nekudim, prior to the breaking. However, the world of Atzilut emerged in order to bring the whole of Creation to Gmar Tikkun, so Malchut de Ein Sof would be filled with the Light of Ein Sof with the aim to bestow. And this has not yet been achieved.

In the breaking, the vessels of reception were mixed with the vessels of bestowal. Hence, four discernments were made in each Kli:

  1. Vessels of bestowal.

  2. Vessels of bestowal within vessels of reception.

  3. Vessels of reception within vessels of bestowal.

  4. Vessels of reception.

First sorting: Vessels of bestowal are sorted out from the mixture and constitute the Katnut of the world of Atzilut.

Second sorting: Vessels of bestowal within vessels of reception are sorted out from the mixture and comprise the worlds BYA. These worlds are vessels of bestowal, GE, like the world of Atzilut, but they remain contained in the AHP, the vessels of reception. For themselves, these are vessels of bestowal; hence, Light can spread within them.

Thus, once the world of Atzilut emerged, Malchut of the world of Atzilut rose to AVI and made a Zivug on the vessels of bestowal within the vessels of reception. She generated the world of Beria, then the world of Yetzira, and finally, the world of Assiya.

Third sorting: Vessels of reception within vessels of bestowal are sorted out from the mixture. This sorting and correction is done by souls of people. They sort out these Kelim and elevate them above the Parsa to the world of Atzilut. This work is called “awakening from below,” since it is done by the souls. The broken Kelim that rise to Atzilut are called “raised AHP.”

Fourth sorting: Vessels of reception that were not mingled with vessels of bestowal are examined, verifying that they remained in their qualities, and are hence banned from being used. These Kelim are called Klipot (shells), or Lev ha Even (stony heart), since they cannot be corrected until Gmar Tikkun.

The Worlds BYA

The Zivug for begetting the world of Beria was made in Bina de Atzilut. Hence, the world of Beria expands in the place of ZA de Atzilut.

The world of Yetzira, born after the world of Beria, expands from it down in the place of Malchut de Atzilut. Partzuf Malchut de Atzilut clothes only the four Sefirot NHYM of Partzuf ZA. Thus, only the first four Sefirot of Partzuf Malchut—KHB and Hesed—are in Atzilut, opposite the four Sefirot NHYM de ZA. The Sefirot Gevura, Tifferet, and NHYM de Partzuf Malchut are below the Parsa.

Therefore, when the world of Yetzira was born, its first four Sefirot clothed the first four Sefirot of Malchut, while its last six Sefirot clothed in the place of the first six Sefirot of the place of BYA.

The place of BYA comprises thirty Sefirot. In the future, after the sin of Adam ha Rishon, the worlds BYA will fall into this place. The place where the last six Sefirot of the world of Yetzira end is called “Chazeh of the place of the world of Beria.” This is where Chazeh de Beria will be after the sin of Adam ha Rishon.

After the world of Yetzira was born and expanded to its place, Malchut de Atzilut generated the world of Assiya, which spreads below the world of Yetzira from the Chazeh of the place of the world of Beria to the Chazeh of the place of the world of Yetzira.

The Chazeh of the place of the world of Yetzira is called “Chazeh of the place of the worlds BYA.” This is the place where the expansion of the worlds BYA ends. Below the Chazeh of the place of the world of Yetzira, it is empty of Light. This place, from the Chazeh of the place of BYA downwards through the Sium, is the place of the Klipot, called Mador ha Klipot (the shell section). Below it is a place called “the point of this world.”

In spirituality, a “place” means a “desire.” The point of this world is a desire to receive (enjoy) in order to receive (for oneself), a desire to enjoy pleasures in dresses of this world: sex, honor, power, envy. The Klipot are considered Higher, since they wish to receive pleasure from the Creator, which corresponds to Kedusha (holiness).

The wisdom of Kabbalah always speaks from the perspective of the perceiving individual. Hence, one who perceives that his desires are only to receive in order to receive, and not to bestow, can be said to have attained, that he is in a state called “this world.” But one who did not attain that all his desires are to receive in order to receive is not in this place (desire). Such a person is lower down (before this revelation), in a place (desire) called “our world,” where people are unaware (of their desires), and do not feel their unawareness.

The whole of humanity is at the degree of “our world,” unaware. From this degree, the desire to receive begins to develop in a person. Evolution occurs by nature’s prompting everyone towards correction by the force of harsh judgment.

The entire history of humanity is a generation-by-generation evolution of the will to receive by three elements: pride, honor, and envy. Suffering brings man, and humanity as a whole, to the decision to exit the will to receive, since it is the reason for all suffering.

Those whose will to receive has developed sufficiently receive a drive from Above to want what is beyond this world. Following this drive, a person begins to search for a source of pleasure that will fill the new desire, until one finds the right teacher. This search may take years, or even more than one lifetime, but if the Creator brings a person to a place where Kabbalah is being taught, as it happened with me (Michael Laitman), it is a sign that you are given an opportunity from Above to correct your soul and reach the goal.

The States of the Partzufim in the Worlds ABYA

Adam ha Rishon

Adam ha Rishon is a separate entity from everything that preceded it. He is the only one that was created from Malchut de Ein Sof; hence, he is the only one who merits the title, “creature.” He, too, was generated by Malchut de Atzilut, which rose to AVI. She procreated Partzuf Adam ha Rishon, just as she procreated the worlds BYA, and for this reason, Adam ha Rishon is always within the worlds BYA.

When the worlds BYA were born, they stood from AVI through the Chazeh of the place of the world of Yetzira. When Adam ha Rishon was born, he was within them at the level of all three worlds BYA, receiving the Lights NRN from BYA. Adam ha Rishon received additional Lights, NRN de Atzilut, since BYA were in Atzilut.

The state of the worlds when Adam ha Rishon was born is called “eve of Shabbat.” Afterwards, through an awakening from Above, the worlds rose the first ascension, one degree Higher—ten Sefirot—along with Adam ha Rishon, so the Sium of the worlds BYA, with Adam ha Rishon within them, rose to the Chazeh of the place of the world of Beria.

In that state, Adam ha Rishon wanted to receive all the Lights in order to bestow, as in the state that preceded the breaking of the vessels in the world of Nekudim. There, in Nekudim, Rosh de AVI did not understand that the part of ZON did not have Tikkun Kavim (correction of lines); hence, they gave the Light of Gadlut and ZON broke.

The same occurred here with Adam ha Rishon: there was no understanding that a shattering would occur. But after the first time he mistakenly received in order to receive, he wanted to receive again, this time deliberately. He could no longer stop himself from enjoying.

As a result, Klipot were born of this breakage, desires to receive in order to receive. Also, the worlds BYA descended below the Parsa, to their constant state, from Parsa to the general Sium. It is called “the constant state” because the worlds BYA cannot be in a lower state than that. But they are not “permanently” fixed to that place; they can rise and descend to their constant place.

Besides the decline of the worlds BYA to their constant place, a result of the shattering of Partzuf Adam ha Rishon, the impure BYA were born. These are three worlds that contain the deficiencies in BYA and stand opposite BYA. Hence, BYA, which are clean of desires to receive in order to receive, are called “the pure BYA” and their corresponding deficiencies are called “impure BYA.”

The three impure worlds are called:

After the sin, Partzuf Adam ha Rishon was broken into 600,000 pieces. The shattering continued deeper into the broken pieces (additional breakages are referred to in the Torah as “the killing of Abel,” “the generation of the flood,” the generation of Babylon,” etc.).

Finally, all the pieces in his Partzuf remained only in their will to receive in order to receive, with the spark of Light that was in it. These pieces, the desires with the sparks in them, clothe people in our world and prompt them to awaken towards spirituality, to the Light, the Creator. Thus, we are made to come into a group of people who are studying Kabbalah, learning the method by which to achieve the goal.

There is yet another Klipa (singular for Klipot): Klipat (Klipa of) Noga. These are desires mixed of good and evil. “Mixed” means they receive Light in their good part and transfer it to their bad part, too. The Tikkun of the whole of reality focuses on the Tikkun of Klipat Noga—detaching it from the three impure Klipot (Ruach Se’ara, Anan Gadol, and Esh Mitlakachat), to which it is tied in its evil part, and joining its good part to Kedusha, to Atzilut.

The Ascension of the Worlds

The worlds’ real place is that of the second state, prior to the sin:

The Sequence of Cause and Consequence

Four Behinot (stages) of Ohr Yashar:

Tzimtzum Aleph: Behina Dalet makes the Tzimtzum Aleph. The restricted Behina Dalet is called “the world of Tzimtzum.”

The work of the Masach: Behina Dalet, Malchut, decides to receive Light in the desires to bestow, her Behinot Shoresh, Aleph, Bet, and Gimel, and not in her Behina Dalet, which is a pure desire to receive.

Partzuf Galgalta: Through the Masach with Reshimot Dalet de Hitlabshut and Dalet de Aviut, Malchut makes a Zivug with the Upper Light, which parted due to the Tzimtzum. In the Zivug with the Light, the Masach decides how much Light it will receive into Malchut.

Following the decision, the Masach descends to the Guf with the amount of Light it had decided to receive. The Lights that enter the Partzuf are called Taamim. The place in which the Masach stops descending and limits the reception of Light is called Tabur.

The Light that enters the Partzuf is called Ohr Pnimi (Inner Light). The general Light that remained outside the Kli is called Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light). Subsequently, a Bitush (beating) between the Ohr Pnimi and Ohr Makif occurs on the Masach that stands at the Tabur, since they both wish to cancel the limitation on the reception.

The Masach decides to not use the Reshimot de Aviut Dalet and purify. It rises from Tabur to Peh and the Ohr Pnimi departs the Partzuf. The departing Lights are called Nekudot (points). The whole Partzuf, from the Zivug at the Rosh to the end of its Hizdakchut, is called Partzuf Galgalta.

Partzuf AB: The Masach de Guf de Galgalta that rose to Peh de Rosh de Galgalta is integrated in the perpetual Zivug at the Masach in the Peh. The encounter between the Masach and the Upper Light at the Rosh causes the Masach to want to receive a part of the Light in the Rosh, but according to the Reshimot in it, Dalet de Hitlabshut and Gimel de Aviut. The last Reshimo de Aviut (for extension of Light) vanishes, a result of the decision to depart from reception.

The Masach descends to Chazeh de Galgalta, according to Reshimo Gimel de Aviut, and makes a Zivug on Reshimot Dalet de Hitlabshut and Gimel de Aviut. This is the place of the Peh of the next Partzuf. After the Zivug, the Masach descends from the Peh down to the Tabur of the new Partzuf, and the Lights of Taamim enter the Toch.

Subsequently, there is a Bitush of Ohr Pnimi and Ohr Makif on the Masach at the Tabur, to cancel the limitation of the Masach. The Masach decides to purify, the Reshimo of Aviut Gimel disappears, and the Masach rises from Tabur to Peh. The departing Lights are called Nekudot de AB.

Partzuf SAG: When the Masach comes to the Peh, it is integrated in the perpetual Zivug with the Upper Light that exists there, and wishes to receive a part of the Light that is in the Rosh. Hence, the Masach descends to Chazeh de Partzuf AB, according to the Reshimo, and there makes a Zivug with the Light on Reshimot Gimel de Hitlabshut and Bet de Aviut. It receives Light and stops at the place it determined in the Rosh— Tabur. An immediate Bitush of Ohr Pnimi and Ohr Makif is applied to the Masach, as they want to cancel the limitation on the reception that the Masach de Toch creates. The Masach decides to purify and rises to the Peh.

Nekudot de SAG: The Lights, which emerge during the Hizdakchut of the Masach, are called Nekudot. Nekudot de SAG are Bet de Hitlabshut and Bet de Aviut. This is Bina’s quality. These Lights can appear anywhere (any desire). For this reason, the Lights of Nekudot descend below Tabur de Galgalta and fill the Sof de Galgalta.

Sof de Galgalta and Nekudot de SAG mingle and Partzuf Nekudot de SAG, which is Partzuf Bina, divides into GAR de Bina and ZAT de Bina. ZAT de Bina, being vessels of reception, are affected by the Reshimot at the Sof de Galgalta and want to receive those Lights in order to receive. This is so because the force of the Masach de Nekudot de SAG is Bet de Aviut, and the Reshimot at the Sof de Galgalta are Dalet- Gimel, more than the resistance power in the Masach.

Hence, a desire to receive in order to receive is formed from the Chazeh de Nekudot de SAG downwards. This forces Malchut, which performed Tzimtzum Aleph, to rise from Sium de Galgalta to the place of Chazeh de Nekudot de SAG and limit the expansion of the Light so it reaches only the Chazeh.

All the processes at Nekudot de SAG unfold during the ascension of the Masach de Guf de SAG from Tabur de SAG to its Rosh, except that Reshimot from Tzimtzum Bet and from Sof de Galgalta were added to it.

Tzimtzum Bet (second restriction): The ascension of Malchut de Tzimtzum Aleph to Chazeh de Nekudot de SAG is called Tzimtzum Bet.

MA and BON above Tabur de Galgalta: When the Masach de Guf de SAG reaches the Peh, it makes a Zivug on Reshimot Bet de Hitlabshut and Aleph de Aviut that remained of the Lights of Taamim de SAG Above Tabur, generating Partzuf Upper MA, from Peh de SAG through Tabur de Galgalta. After the Hizdakchut of Partzuf Upper MA, Partzuf Upper BON is born from it, from Peh de MA through Tabur de Galgalta.

The World of Nekudim (Katnut): When Masach de Guf de SAG purifies and rises to Peh de SAG, it wishes to make a Zivug on the Reshimot in it (Bet de Hitlabshut and Aleph de Aviut from below Tabur de Galgalta). It ascends, following the demand of the Reshimot, from Peh to Nikvey Eynaim(NE) de Rosh de SAG, since Reshimot Bet- Aleph are restricted, demanding to receive Light only in vessels of bestowal.

Hence, the Masach stands below the vessels of bestowal in the Rosh, below Keter and Hochma at the Rosh de SAG. The Masach always makes a Zivug only on the Behinot Rosh that are above it. For this reason, it stands at the Rosh, the place from which it wishes to receive Light into the Guf.

After the Zivug, the Masach actively passes to the Guf what it had received in the Rosh in potential. The Light spreads to the place from which the restricted Reshimot Bet- Aleph rose, meaning from below Tabur de Galgalta. This Partzuf is called Partzuf Nekudim, since it emerged on Reshimot from Nekudot de SAG.

This Partzuf includes:

In each of them, only the vessels of bestowal are active; their vessels of reception are concealed (within them).

Gadlut of the world of Nekudim: After the elicitation of the Katnut of the world of Nekudim, the Masach in Rosh de SAG descended, following the demand of Reshimot Dalet de Hitlabshut and Gimel de Aviut, into the Peh de SAG, and made a Zivug. As a result of this Zivug, Ohr Hochma came to the Rosh of Keter de Nekudim and to Aba of Rosh AVI.

Ima is Bina, which does not want to receive Ohr Hochma except by ZON’s request. Ohr Hochma shines from Rosh de Nekudim to Sof de Galgalta, and from there comes a request—through ZON de Nekudim—to ask AVI for Gadlut, Ohr Hochma. When ZON ask of AVI, they mate and bring ZON Ohr Hochma.

The breaking of the vessels: Ohr Hochma spreads from Rosh de AVI into ZON, through the GE of ZON and to the Parsa. When the Light wishes to cross the Parsa and fill the Kelim of AHP de ZON, it encounters the will to receive and departs Upwards. The Kelim GE and AHP break and 320 broken pieces fall below the Parsa.

In the breaking, the vessels of bestowal (GE) mix with the vessels of reception (AHP); hence, in each broken piece there are four types of Kelim:

  1. GE—which formed GE de ZON de Atzilut;

  2. Hitkalelut of GE in AHP—which formed the worlds BYA;

  3. Hitkalelut of AHP in GE—which formed the raised AHP;

  4. AHP—which formed the Klipot, which are desires to receive in order to receive, unfit for reception of Light. These are the (32, Lamed Bet) Malchuts of the (320 Shach) pieces that cannot be corrected until Gmar Tikkun, and receive in order to bestow in them. The thirty-two Malchuts are called Lev ha Even (the stony heart). Their correction is in being sorted from all 320 pieces and not being used.

288 pieces (320-32) of the 320 that exist in each broken piece can be corrected, since they are not parts of Malchut, but are parts of the Upper nine Sefirot. Some, those that belong to GE de ZON, should be sorted out of the mixture, since they are vessels of bestowal. These are the ones that build the Katnut (GE) de ZON de Atzilut.

Emerging of the World of Atzilut

Atik: The Masach, with the Reshimot, rose to Rosh de Nekudim and from there to Rosh de SAG. The Masach sorted the purest Reshimot, Aleph de Hitlabshut and Shoresh de Aviut, rose from Peh to the Sefira Keter de Rosh de SAG, and from there it went further up to Bina in Keter, where it stood behind the Sefirot KHB HGT de Keter.

Thus, above the Masach are only Keter’s vessels of bestowal of Aviut Shoresh. This place is called Metzach (forehead), and it is where the Masach makes a Zivug, from which Partzuf Keter de Atzilut is born, called Partzuf Atik.

The Partzuf born of this Zivug is called Ubar, since it has only vessels of bestowal in Aviut Shoresh, the least that can be in spirituality. After its birth, this Partzuf descends to the place from which the Reshimot rose, below Tabur de Galgalta.

When Partzuf Atik is born and descends to its place, Reshimot Dalet- Gimel awaken in it and demand that this Partzuf obtain Gadlut. The Masach makes a Zivug with the Upper Light on these Reshimot and builds the level of Atik in Gadlut. This Partzuf spreads from Tabur de Galgalta to Sium de Galgalta, crossing the Parsa, since it is Partzuf Keter, which still belongs to Tzimtzum Aleph. This is why it is named Atik, because it is Ne’etak (detached) from the attainment of the lower ones.

AA: Once Partzuf Atik in Gadlut emerges, Rosh de SAG passes it all the Reshimot it received after the breaking. Of all the Reshimot, Atik chooses the purest Reshimo, makes a Zivug on it and begets the next Partzuf—Hochma—at the level of Ubar, and subsequently in Gadlut. This Partzuf spreads from Peh de Atik to the Parsa and is called Partzuf Arich Anpin (AA).

AVI: Once Gadlut of Partzuf AA emerges, Atik gives it all the Reshimot that remained of those that rose to Rosh de SAG after the breaking. Of those, AA chooses the purest Reshimot and makes a Zivug on them. This Zivug produces Partzuf Bina de Atzilut, first at the level of Ubar and subsequently in Gadlut. This Partzuf spreads from Peh de AA through its Tabur.

ZA: Once Partzuf AVI emerges in Gadlut, AA gives it all the remaining Reshimot. AVI chooses the purest Reshimot of all the Reshimot it had received, makes a Zivug on them, and begets Partzuf ZA de Atzilut, at the levels of Ubar (Katnut) and then Gadlut. Partzuf ZA takes its place from Tabur de AA through the Parsa.

Malchut: After Partzuf ZA in Katnut emerges, AVI give it all the remaining Reshimot, which have not been corrected by the previous Partzufim. Of those, ZA chooses those that suit it, makes a Zivug, and begets Partzuf Malchut de Atzilut as a Nekuda (point), as it was in the world of Nekudim. This completes the correction of all the Reshimot de Katnut de Nekudim that rose to Rosh de SAG after the breaking.

Emerging of the World BYA

The Partzufim of GAR of the world of Atzilut emerged on Reshimot de Rosh de Nekudim, which was only purified, but not broken. From ZON de Nekudim downwards, the birth of the Partzufim is done by sorting and correcting the broken pieces. This is so because through the breaking in the world of Nekudim, vessels of bestowal from Above the Parsa mingled with the vessels of reception from below the Parsa and were integrated in one another. Thus, in each of the 320 broken pieces are four types of Kelim:

  1. Vessels of bestowal;

  2. Vessels of bestowal integrated with vessels of reception;

  3. Vessels of reception integrated with vessels of bestowal;

  4. Vessels of reception.

First, only the vessels of bestowal are sorted and corrected (Zivugim are made on them) from all 320 pieces by order of Aviut, from pure to coarse. The Masach that descends from Rosh de SAG begets all the Partzufim of the world of Atzilut, first in Katnut and then in Gadlut. Katnut of the world of Atzilut emerges opposite the Katnut of the world of Nekudim.

Subsequently, ZON de Atzilut rise to AVI de Atzilut, ZA becomes like Aba, and Malchut becomes like Ima. The lower one that rises to the Upper One becomes like it; hence, Malchut received the degree of Bina so it could make a Zivug on Ohr Hochma and beget new Partzufim. When Malchut de Atzilut rose to Ima, she sorted the vessels of bestowal that were integrated with vessels of reception from each of the 320 broken pieces, by order of Aviut—from pure to coarse. In this order, she generated new Partzufim:

Malchut de Atzilut made these Zivugim while standing at the place of Ima de Atzilut. For this reason, the world of Beria, which she created, stands below her, occupying the place of ZA de Atzilut.

The world of Yetzira, born of Malchut de Atzilut after the world of Beria, emerged from her and occupied the place below the world of Beria in the place of the four Sefirot of Malchut de Atzilut and six Sefirot of the place of the world of Beria.

The world of Assiya, born of Malchut de Atzilut after the world of Yetzira, emerged from her and occupied the place below the world of Yetzira, from Chazeh of the place of the world of Beria to Chazeh of the place of the world of Yetzira.

All the worlds end at the Chazeh of the world of Yetzira, since of all the broken pieces, the ones that were sorted are the vessels of bestowal and the vessels of bestowal, integrated with vessels of reception. This corresponds to the Chazeh of the place of the worlds BYA, since there is where their GE end.

Below Chazeh de Yetzira begins the AHP of the place of BYA, the place of the vessels of reception that were integrated with the vessels of bestowal, and the vessels of reception (Lev ha Even).

Raised AHP: The sorting and correcting of the vessels of reception that were integrated in the vessels of bestowal adds Kelim of AHP in the world of Atzilut. The Light that spreads in these Kelim is Ohr Hochma, and the world of Atzilut receives Gadlut.

Ohr Hochma spreads only in real vessels of reception, while here there are vessels of reception integrated with vessels of bestowal during the breaking. Hence, the Light that appears on the Zivugim of these Kelim is not Ohr Hochma (Light of Hochma), but only He’arat (illumination, smaller Light) of Hochma.

There is a special Tikkun at the Rosh of the world of Atzilut ensuring that there will never be another breaking in the world of Atzilut, as it happened in the world of Nekudim. There is a limitation at Rosh of Partzuf AA, so there is no Zivug on Malchut herself below Partzuf AA, but only on the Hitkalelut (integration) of Malchut in the Sefirot Above her, in desires to bestow.

As a result, the world of Atzilut was born only in Katnut, and each Partzuf has only vessels of bestowal, Kelim de GE. The vessels of reception, AHP, are below the Parsa. It is impossible to add AHP to GE and make a Zivug on all ten Sefirot in their place, as it was in the world of Nekudim, as this was the cause of the breaking.

Hence, each addition of vessels of reception in Atzilut is done by raising a few vessels of reception, which are integrated in vessels of bestowal. The ascent is from below the Parsa to Above the Parsa, so that pieces of AHP are added to Atzilut. This, in turn, prompts illumination of Hochma in the world of Atzilut.

Thus, pieces of the vessels of reception rise from below the Parsa and join Atzilut. All the vessels of reception that can join the vessels of Atzilut, which are the vessels of reception that are integrated in the vessels of bestowal, rise in order from pure to coarse.

Correction of Lev ha Even is done only by the Light of the Messiah: After all the above-mentioned corrections are completed, all that remains in BYA are vessels of reception, called Lev ha Even. These are not included in vessels of reception and hence cannot be corrected. Their correction is in being excluded each time a sorting is done on one of the 320 broken pieces. Thus, the thirty-two pieces of Lev ha Even are removed. When using the remaining 288 pieces for building the Partzufim, we must sort out and decide that we do not want to use the Lev ha Even that belongs in that part.

After the Tikkun of all 288 pieces, a special Ohr Hochma will come from Above called “Messiah,” and will correct these Kelim in the Masach. At that time, the whole of Malchut de Ein Sof will be corrected with a Masach. This state in Malchut is considered its Gmar Tikkun (end of correction).

All the pieces in the worlds BYA, except for Lev ha Even, are corrected by order of from pure to coarse. In each of the worlds BYA there are 2,000 stages of correction, called “years” or “degrees.” In all, there are 6,000 degrees in the three worlds BYA, called “the six weekdays,” since the worlds BYA are considered weekdays, while the world of Atzilut is considered “the Holy Shabbat.”

In other words, after the correction of the whole of Malchut de Ein Sof, it will be filled just as it was prior to Tzimtzum Aleph. In addition, it will receive additions from the infinite ascensions in the degrees of bestowal upon the Creator.

Yet, since the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches a person only what concerns one’s own correction, what one must do, these states are not taught. They do not appear in books of Kabbalah, since they belong to the part that is forbidden to reveal, called “secrets of Torah.” Only a chosen few engage in them, and under strict conditions.

Adam ha Rishon: In all of Malchut’s corrections mentioned thus far, Malchut of Malchut, the central point of all the worlds, has not been filled. All that has thus far unfolded —TzimtzumAleph, Tzimtzum Bet, the breaking of the vessels, the Tikkun of the Kelim—happened in the Upper nine Sefirot of Malchut, not on Malchut herself, Behina Dalet in Behina Dalet. This is so because there was a Tzimtzum on her, so she would not receive within her, in the will to receive. What is received after Tzimtzum Aleph is received only in vessels of bestowal, in the Kelim of Malchut de Ein Sof, which were impressed by the Upper nine, the Upper Light’s desire to bestow.

Malchut in Malchut will be corrected and filled with Ohr Hochma, as prior to Tzimtzum Aleph, only if desires to bestow enter that Malchut and mingle with Malchut’s desires to receive. In the breaking of the vessels in the world of Nekudim, Malchut mingled with the nine Sefirot preceding it. As a result, the worlds, the externality of reality, emerged. But this did not correct anything in Malchut herself, since she did not mingle with the desire to bestow.

After the birth of the worlds BYA, Malchut de Atzilut, which stands at the place of Ima, made a Zivug on Katnut on joining the vessels of bestowal with Behina Dalet de Dalet. The result of this Zivug is Partzuf Katnut, GE, whose AHP is Behina Dalet de Dalet. Hence, this Partzuf is forbidden to use its vessels of reception, its AHP. This Partzuf is called Adam ha Rishon (First Man), who was forbidden to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, that is, to make a Zivug on the vessels of reception —AHP.

At the birth of Adam ha Rishon, the worlds BYA expanded through the place of Chazeh de Yetzira. Afterwards, Light from Ein Sof, called “awakening from Above,” came and elevated all the worlds by one degree. Thus, the Sium of the world of Assiya rose from the place of Chazeh de Yetzira to the place of Chazeh de Beria. Afterwards arrived more Light of awakening from Ein Sof, by which all the worlds rose one more degree, so the Sium of the world of Assiya rose above the Parsa.

Adam ha Rishon is inside the worlds BYA; hence, he rose to Atzilut along with them. Adam ha Rishon thought that now he could receive in order to bestow all the Light in his vessels of reception, in the AHP, in Behina Dalet in Behina Dalet.

But just as it happened with the breaking of the vessels in the world of Nekudim, when he extended Light into the vessels of reception, he broke. He lost his Masach, his aim to bestow. His whole Guf was divided into 600,000 pieces, called “organs” or “souls,” which fell to the Klipot and received the desire to receive.

All the pieces together, and each piece in particular, fell lower still (as described in the sins that the Torah narrates in the first generations following Adam). These parts clothe in people in our world. Those in whom broken pieces of Partzuf Adam ha Rishon are clothed, feel—specifically in this part—a desire to rise and unite with their Source, which was in Adam ha Rishon. That Source is called “the root of one’s soul.”

For the creature to merit the title “creature,” it must stand in its own right, that is, be unaffected by the Creator. This is why the Creator hides Himself. By doing so, He helps the creatures equalize with Him through their own efforts. It turns out that a person in our world, in whom a piece of Adam ha Rishon is clothed, is defined as a “creature.”

A creature is a part of Adam ha Rishon that exists in a person in our world. All the creatures, all the souls, are parts of the Guf of Adam ha Rishon. They should all partake in correcting its shattering. By doing so, they return to the state that preceded the sin and add Dvekut (adhesion) with the Creator. They sort out all the pieces from the Klipot. Thus, each person must reach the root of his or her soul while still living in our world. One who does not, reincarnates into our world until one achieves the purpose for which one was created.

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