Chapter 4
However, all three aspects explained above are still in the category of how Hashem’s Light “Permeates all Worlds,”
Since they are aspects of Divine service that cause Hashem’s Infinite Light to come down into the level of Malchus, which is the source of how Hashem’s Light “Permeates all Worlds,” in the created worlds of Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiayah,
Since the aspect of Reuven is to awaken the love for Hashem so that “my soul yearns and longs for Hashem,” and he desires to become enveloped in and reunited with his source in Hashem who brought the soul into being, from this we see that he is still not fully enveloped in and reunited with Hashem’s Infinite Light that “Encompasses all Worlds,”
(which is equally found “in heaven Above and on earth below” (see Devarim 4:39), and all physical and spiritual levels are all equally insignificant before Him.)
Since the person is yearning to experience Hashem’s Infinite Light, it means that he does not actually perceive it directly. Rather, what he actually perceives is Hashem’s Light as it comes into Malchus of Atzilus, the level of Hashem’s Light that creates the worlds and permeates them in a revealed manner. From the level of Malchus, this Light then descends to the person in this world.
Similarly, the other two aspects (of Shimon and Levi), they do not elevate the person to the level of Hashem’s Light that “Encompasses all Worlds,” rather, they are aspects of Divine service that draw down Hashem’s Light into Malchus, whose light “Permeates all worlds,” and through that level it comes down to the person in the physical world.
In other words, Shimon, fear of Hashem, and Levi, Torah study, result in drawing down Hashem’s Light into the created worlds, and into the person. But they do not enable the person to be elevated to the point of experiencing Hashem’s Light that “Encompasses all Worlds.”
