41. Rabbi Chiya and Rabbi Yosi were walking along a road. As they reached a field, Rabbi Chiya said to Rabbi Yosi, “The words BARAH SHEET (created six) certainly allude to BERESHEET, for the six Supernal Days, VAK de Bina, shine on the Torah (ZA), while the others, GAR de Bina, are concealed.”
ZA of the world of Atzilut is called the Torah. The six Supernal Days are VAK de Bina that are above ZA. Hence, the first word of the Torah, BERESHEET = BARAH (created) and SHEET (six) indicates that the Sefira Bina turns to the Sefira Hochma in order to receive Ohr Hochma and pass it to ZA. Since ZA is unable to receive all the Ohr Hochma(GAR de Hochma, the Light of the ten Sefirot) from Bina, but only VAK de Hochma (Light of six Sefirot), this is stressed in the word BARAHSHEET – CREATED SIX. This means that ZA receives from Bina the Light of only six Sefirot, HGT NHY or VAK de Hochma, whereas GAR de Hochma, the Light of Sefirot KHB, is concealed from him.
The reason for this is that although Partzuf Atik belongs to Tzimtzum Aleph (the first restriction), it is obliged to shine down on all the other Partzufim of the world of Atzilut, and on all the worlds BYA with the Light of Tzimtzum Bet. Therefore, with regards to the lower Partzufim, it appears as a Partzuf that belongs to Tzimtzum Bet.
In other words, it deliberately imposed on itself an outward (with regards to others) restriction of its Light, to enable the lower Partzufim to receive from it. Hence, it elevated Malchut from the Peh to the Eynaim and made a Zivug on the screen that stands in Nikvey Eynaim, thus begetting Partzuf AA.
This is why AA is a Partzuf with properties of the second restriction, and acts as Keter of the entire world of Atzilut instead of Atik. This was designed so by Partzuf Atik itself, which split into two parts: GE remained in Atik, and AHP became part of the second Partzuf, AA. And since Malchut ascended to NE(Nikvey Eynaim),Partzuf AA remained without Malchut, the Sefira Ateret Yesod was used in its stead, and Malchut became concealed in the NE of Partzuf Atik. Also, GE de Atik became concealed from the lower Partzufim, Malchut stood in NE of Rosh de Atik, AHP de Atik became GE de AA, and Ateret Yesod became Malchut de AA.
All the subsequent Partzufim of the world of Atzilute merged similar to these Partzufim. Thus, they all split into two parts, GE and AHP: Partzuf Bina was split into two Partzufim: GE de Bina formed Partzuf AVI and AHP de Bina formed Partzuf YESHSUT. Malchut ascended and remained in AVI, while Partzuf YESHSUT remained without Malchut.
The same applies to ZON: GE formed the big ZON and AHP formed the small ZON. Malchut remained in NE of the big ZON, while the small ZON have only nine Sefirot without Malchut, which is replaced in them by Ateret Yesod, as in Partzuf Atik. Therefore, just as Keter(Atik) split into two parts: GAR = Atik and ZAT = AA, so was Bina divided into GAR = AVI and ZAT = YESHSUT, and ZON into GAR = the big ZON and ZAT = the small ZON: Malchut remained in GAR and Ateret Yesod replaced it in ZAT.
As a result, the Upper Part of each degree remains concealed, just like Partzuf Atik, for Malchut does not descend from the place where she had ascended (NE) to her previous place in the Peh. And although in Gadlut, AHP return to their place or ascend to their own GE (which is one and the same), GE do not become filled with Ohr Hochma (the Light of GAR) as a result, since Malchut remains concealed in GE. Moreover, Malchut exists under the ban of Tzimtzum Aleph on the reception of Ohr Hochma. Hence, GE remain with Ohr Hassadim.
Only the lower part of each degree is filled with the Light of GAR(Hochma) in Gadlut: there was Avir (air) = Aleph- Vav- Yod- Reish, then the letter Yod departed from this word, and only the letters Aleph- Vav- Reish remained to form the word Ohr (Light) – Ohr Hochma or GAR.
It follows that all Partzufim of the world of Atzilut have GE, GAR of Kelim, Sefirot KHB HGT with Ohr Hassadim, the Light of VAK, whereas AHP, Sefirot NHY, Vak de Kelim in the Gadlut of the Partzuf are filled with Ohr Hochma,the Light of GAR. GE (GAR de Kelim) are filled with the Light of VAK (Ohr Hassadim), and AHP(VAK de Kelim) are filled with the Light of GAR (Ohr Hochma). It is therefore said that there’s no greater light for ZA in the world of Atzilut than the Light of VAK = six days, while GAR are concealed even in the Partzufim above ZA.
42. However, it is said in the secrets of creation of BERESHEET that He who is Holy and Concealed established the laws in Bina, in the secret and concealed, meaning Malchut of Partzuf Atik, which is a Partzuf with Malchut of Tzimtzum Aleph, who ascended to Bina and removed AHP de AA below its Rosh. And the same law that He established in Bina He established and concealed within, and everything is locked under one key. And He hid this key in a hall. And although everything is hidden in that hall, the most important thing is in that key, for it locks and unlocks everything.
HE WHO IS HOLY AND CONCEALED is AA, for its Hochma is concealed. THE LAWS ARE ESTABLISHED IN IT, meaning in Malchut de Atik. The deficiency of the Kelim de AHP is confirmed. Malchut of Tzimtzum Aleph, called “the central point of all creation,” is also the sole creation on which Tzimtzum Aleph was imposed. Contrary to her, if the screen stands not in Malchut, but in Yesod or, more precisely, in Ateret Yesod, the place of the covenant (circumcision), the place of the Zivug that was permitted after Tzimtzum Bet, this screen allows for the reception of Light. Hence, it is called the “point of population,” and not the “central point.”
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Keter
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Hochma
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Bina
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ZA Yesod
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A – Malchut that received ZA’s properties to “bestow,” the populated place
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Malchut – no Zivug can be made; the deserted place
The thing is that there is no GAR in AA, for the Supernal Malchut of Atik, within AA, is already corrected to the point of being in NE of her own Partzuf. In Gadlut, the screen descends from NE to Peh, which makes AHP return to their place, and a Zivug transpires on all ten Sefirot, which receive the GAR of the Light, Ohr Hochma.
Therefore, the screen in NE is called a “lock,” for it blocks the entry of GAR of the Light into the Partzuf. The GAR of the Light are called Ohr Hochma. Yet, by descending from NE to Peh, the screen lets the Light into the Partzuf, and is therefore called Nikvey Eynaim (pupils of the eyes).
Although Atik itself is in NE together with Malchut, it affects AA, and not Atik itself, as AA was created by the screen, located not in Malchut, but in Ateret Yesod (or simply in Yesod), and there is no Malchut in it. This is why it is not Malchut that rules in NE de AA, but Ateret Yesod. And this is why, unlike the Light of Atik, its Light can be attained, for Malchut in Atik is the central point, which does not make a Zivug on Ohr Hochma. Although with regards to Atik, AA is AHP of Atik, AA itself has its own GE and AHP.
Subsequently, AA created AVI and confirmed the absence of Ohr Hochma in them, due to the absence of AHP de Kelim. These AHP are the HALL in which the entire Light of Hochma is concealed (GAR de Neshama, GAR de Haya, and GAR de Yechida). This KEY IS KEPT HIDDEN IN A HALL: Bina is a hall for Ohr Hochma. Malchut ascends to GAR de Bina ( AVI) and rules there, but the absence of Ohr Hochma is not felt there, for the properties of AVI want only Ohr Hassadim; this is what is important to them, as it completely substitutes the Ohr Hochma. And VAK de Bina is ruled by the key, Ateret Yesod.
IN THAT KEY, FOR IT LOCKS AND UNLOCKS EVERYTHING – concealments and revelations are made by Malchut that stands in NE: when Malchut ascends to NE she conceals Ohr Hochma, since in such a case, the Partzuf remains without its Kelim of AHP – it cannot use its desires to “receive” for the Creator’s sake. Consequently, it contains no Ohr Hochma, for Ohr Hochma can only be received in Kelim de AHP.
And when a Partzuf receives strength from Above to resist the egoistic desires of reception of its Kelim de AHP, and can receive for the Creator’s sake, this means that it has acquired a screen against its desires, and can also work with them for the Creator. It then brings its Malchut back from the NE to the Peh. Put differently, it elevates its Kelim (desires of AHP) to the Rosh and begins to calculate how much Light it can receive within them for the Creator’s sake. However, the received pleasure must not be too great, or it will make the Partzuf enjoy it egoistically. Afterwards, the Partzuf receives Ohr Hochma in its Guf.
Thus, only Malchut that stands in NE allows or forbids the Light from entering the Partzuf. And since she must let the Light into the Partzuf in ZAT (where the rule belongs not to Malchut that ascended to NE, but to Ateret Yesod, called “key”), whereas the GAR of each Partzuf remain with Ohr Hassadim (they desire only the Light of Hassadim), letting the Light in or preventing it from entering the Partzuf depends only on the key, and not on Malchut herself.
43. That hall conceals tremendous treasures piled one upon the other. And there are fifty tightly closed gates in that hall, which are meant to block access to the Light. They were divided into four sides and became forty-nine gates, for one gate has no side, and it is unknown whether it exists above or below. Hence, it remained closed.
There are many types of GAR: GAR of Ohr Neshama, Haya, or Yechida. Each of them contains countless individual degrees and details. Hence, it is written, ONE UPON THE OTHER. Yet, as long as Malchut stands in NE, all these degrees of Light remain concealed and unknown.
A gate signifies a vessel – a desire to receive the Light. In the spiritual world, there are no bodies, only desires. The desire itself is called “a body.” If there is no desire, there is no body, as there is no vessel to receive the Light (pleasure). The bigger the desire, the “bigger” the body. However, all the bodies are similar in structure; just as a human body in our world consists of 613 parts, the spiritual body consists of 613 spiritual parts (desires).
If one is able to use one of the desires of his spiritual body for the Creator’s sake, such action is referred to as a Mitzva (commandment, good deed). The received Light is called “Torah.”
A spiritual Partzuf has a Rosh (head), the place where decisions are made. It contains only those desires that are known to be fit with a screen (resistance to the desires) to use them spiritually, altruistically, and to “reverse” them from “for one’s own sake” to “for the sake of the Creator.” If one has fulfilled all 613 Commandments of the Torah and the seven Mitzvot (plural for Mitzva) of the nations of the world (620 Mitzvot in all), he thereby ascends 620 degrees and completely merges with the Creator.
To observe all the Commandments means to completely fill one’s spiritual Partzuf with the Light of the Torah by fulfilling observant Commandments (Mitzvot Aseh – positive Mitzvot) and prohibitory Commandments (Mitzvot Lo Taaseh – negative Mitzvot). The fulfillment of the later lies in the unwillingness to receive the pleasure that is found within them.
There are two types of desires or gates: when they are closed and receive nothing, and when they open and receive the Upper Light. When they are all closed, there are fifty of them. However, only forty-nine of the fifty can be opened. There are ten Sefirot KHB HGT NHYM or five Sefirot KHB ZA-M (as ZA consists of six Sefirot HGT NHY). However, Malchut also consists of these six, and hence includes allten Sefirot. And since each of the five Sefirot consists of ten, in all they make up fifty.
However, since a Zivug is made not on Malchut, but on Ateret Yesod, Malchut de Malchut itself does not receive the Light. Instead, Light is received by the four Sefirot KHB ZA that precede Malchut. Each of them consists of ten, hence 4 x 10 = 40 plus nine Sefirot from Keter to Yesod in Malchut herself yields 40 + 9 = 49.
Only one Sefira (Malchut de Malchut) out of the fifty does not receive the Light. This is because until all the Kelim (desires) have been completely corrected, the Light cannot enter it, as it is known in advance that Malchut de Malchut has no strength to oppose such a powerful egoistic desire to receive pleasure.
Instead of being in Malchut de Malchut, the screen stands in Yesod de Malchut, and this place is called Brith (Covenant), the place where the Mitzva of circumcision must be kept, so as to make a Zivug not on Malchut herself (on the first restriction), but on Yesod, or rather, Ateret Yesod (on the second restriction). Malchut de Malchut itself is called “ Shaar Nun” (the 50th gate). This refers to Malchut of each Partzuf in the worlds ABYA.
And although Malchut of Partzuf AVI descends from NE de AVI to her place in Peh, while AHP and YESHSUT that clothe them ascend to the degree of AVI, and AVI merges with YESHSUT into one Partzuf, as a result of which, Ohr Hochma descends to them from AA, AVI are unwilling and therefore do not receive anything from Ohr Hochma, and remain only with Ohr Hassadim, as though Malchut had never even descended from Eynaim to Peh.
Therefore, it is impossible to tell by the Light of AVI whether Malchut is located at the NE or at the Peh. On the contrary, by looking at AVI, it always seems to us that Malchut stands at NE. Only by the state of YESHSUT can we determine Malchut’s location, for when she ascends to AVI in Gadlut (big state), YESHSUT receive Ohr Hochma.
Although Malchut herself can receive Ohr Hochma in AVI, since AVI receive no Ohr Hochma whatsoever, they do not utilize their own Malchut. Since YESHSUT already has Ateret Yesod instead of Malchut, it receives the Light or “opens up,” whereas AVI remain closed.
However, the absence of the 50th gate, the Zivug on Malchut herself in YESHSUT, causes the absence of the corresponding Light of Hochma in all the Partzufim. It is written about it: “fifty gates of Bina, and all are given to Moshe, except for one, the last secret of the absence of the Upper Light.” For this Upper Light can be received only within the Kelim (desires) of Malchut herself, of primordial egoism, which will occur at the end of all the corrections, at the completion of the 6,000 years.
44. Those gates have one lock with a narrow space inside for inserting the key. It is unmarked, and recognized only by the impress of the key, which is unknown in that narrow space, but only in the key itself. And it is written of this secret: BERESHEET BARAH ELOKIM (IN THE BEGINNING THE CREATOR CREATED). “In the beginning” is the key, and all is concealed within it, as it unlocks and locks. And six gates are contained in this key, which locks and unlocks. When it locks those gates, encloses them within itself, it is written IN THE BEGINNING (BERESHEET): a revealed word, though it is usually concealed. BARAH (CREATED) is a concealed word everywhere, implying that the key unlocks it and locks it up.
Malchut that stands in NE is called a “lock,” for she prevents Ohr Hochma from entering the Partzuf. The entire Partzuf ends in Hochma (the Light can only be in K-H). Hence, it is merely Nefesh- Ruach. After all, in the absence of Kelim- Sefirot B-ZA-M, the Lights Neshama-Haya-Yechida are absent. Yesod de Malchut is the 49th gate, the maximum that can be before the end of correction, for Malchut de Malchut itself is the 50th gate.
If the key (Ateret Yesod of the Light) enters Yesod de Malchut (the 49th gate), then this Light lowers Malchut to her place, from NE to Peh. This Light opens the Partzuf and Ohr Hochma fills it. This is why Ateret Yesod is called a “key.”
However, there is a special Reshimo that allows one to not use Malchut de Malchut as a place of Zivug before the final correction of all the others (except for Malchut de Malchut, Kelim-desires). This Reshimo is in AVI: since they never receive Ohr Hochma (they do not use this key), their real AHP do not ascend. Nevertheless, even their false AHP is sufficient to let YESHSUT receive Ohr Hochma and realize that knowledge signifies the presence of Ohr Hochma.
If the Light that corresponds to Ateret Yesod enters the corresponding Sefira in Malchut (in Yesod de Malchut, the 49th Sefira), then Malchut (the 50th gate) does not forbid this Light to fill the Partzuf, does not “lock up” the Partzuf, as she contains the Reshimo of prohibition only on that which enters Malchut herself. The reason for it is that the Reshimo (the key’s memory) rules in ZAT de Bina, that is, in YESHSUT. Hence, this Light is called a “key.”
And the word BERESHEET – IN THE BEGINNING – includes in itself only the key (Ateret Yesod, the 49th Sefira), excluding Malchut de Malchut, the 50th gate. However, none of the Sefirot KHB of all the Partzufim of the world of Atzilut receive Ohr Hochma; Ohr Hassadim shines within them instead.
Therefore, the words IN THE BEGINNING CREATED (BERESHEET BARAH) mean CONCEALED HOCHMA, for the word BARAH (created) is derived from the notion of BAR (beyond), which signifies moving Malchut de Malchut beyond the reception of Ohr Hochma; hence, this part of the Kelim was locked up by the absence of Light.