Nevertheless, since the Arizal used the analogy of light to describe the revelation and life-force that extends from the Infinite One that brings into being the Ten Sefiros (Chochma, Bina, etc.), likening it to the radiance and rays that travel from the sun in order to shine upon the world and its inhabitants, therefore, he (the Arizal) called the Tzimtzum, which describes how the light retracted and become included in its source within the luminary, as an “empty place,” in reference to the concealment of light and revelation, indicating that the place is empty and devoid of our perception of Hashem’s revelation.
This concealment is a lack of expression, to the extent that it cannot be given any name at all, not Chochma-Wisdom, and not even “Wise, but not in the sense of a wisdom that can be known [to others],” (in fact, it cannot be felt or experienced at all, not even as an abstract potential).
The Rebbe Rashab explains: When Hashem “retracted” the expression of His Infinite Light to become included back into the Luminary, it became reunited with its source in Hashem so powerfully, that it lost any sense of being a possibility to be the source of creation in any way.
To explain this: When a person holds up a candle in the middle of the day facing the sun, the light of the flame is unnoticeable. However, the flame still exists, and if one were to put something in the flame of candle it would still get burned, since the fire exists, even though it isn’t noticeable. However, the light of the sun that we see, when it was still inside the sun, it did not exist as light at all. If you could somehow go inside the sun, you would not find light, only fire. Inside the body of the sun is only the “possibility” for light, no actual light, not even “unnoticeable light.” Similarly, when the Infinite Light was retracted into the Luminary of the Infinite Hashem, it only exists as a “possibility” for Light, not “potential Light,” not “unnoticeable Light.”
This “possibility for Light” found in the Luminary can only be perceived after it is drawn down in a “Kav-Singular Ray of Light” that undergoes numerous descents from one level to the next, through the various levels of Adam Kadmon, Akudim, Nikudim and Brudim, etc.
The maamar does not mention here (although it will mention it later) a concept that is important to note: The Light that was retracted back into the Luminary through the Tzimtzum had to go through another process before it becomes accessible to worlds. This process is called “חזר והאיר-it had to return to be revealed” but this time in only a “קו קצר וקטן -a tiny thread,” a hairsbreadth, of the original Light. This “Kav” (also known as Kav VeChut-Line and String of Light), this singular ray of Light, had to penetrate through the Tzimtzum to come into the “void and empty space” of concealment on the Light, so that there should be some revelation in the place of concealment.
The Rebbe Rashab (see Sefer Hamaamrim 5661, p. 166) explains this process with an analogy: A teacher has a deep idea in his head, but it is too deep for the student to grasp. In order to be able to give over to the student some grasp of that concept, he must do two things: First, he must remove from his mind his deep way of understanding the concept that is way above the level of the student. He needs to create an “empty space” devoid of the intensity of that revelation. If his original way of thinking is shining in his head, there is no possibility of finding a way to explain it to the student. After he moved his deep understanding into the back of his mind, he can sort out and find some aspect of that idea that is relevant to the student, that is possible for the student to understand. He brings out from his deep understanding in the back of his mind a “Kav,” a singular ray of light, the essential point of an idea that he can develop into an explanation that his student will grasp. When he finds that essential point of an idea, he needs to “flesh it out” and develop it, stage after stage, until it is ready to be given over to the student.
This is the idea of the Tzimtzum: The Infinite Light is too powerful for worlds to handle, even the “World” of Atzilus. In order to give over His revelation to “Worlds,” He first had to retract His Infinite Light into the “back of His mind,” as it were, and create an “empty space,” as it were, to be able to reveal a limited Light. If the Infinite Light is shining, there is no “room” for the limited Light to be revealed. Then He picks out, from the Infinite Light, a limited Light that is possible for the worlds to handle, and shines it into the “empty space” He made for limited worlds to be revealed. This limited Light is called “the Kav.”
Once this “Kav” is revealed in the “empty space,” it can serve as the source of the various levels which bring about the existence of Atzilus. This is similar to how the teacher has to develop and flesh out the essential idea he picked out for this student, until it is ready to be given over to the student.
Specifically, this Kav brings into being three levels that precede Atzilus:
- Adam Kadmon, the “beginning of man,” the beginning of the concept of 10 Sefiros, which are called “Adam Helyon-the Man Above,” since it is the source of the ten aspects of the soul of man.
- Akudim, the next stage of the idea of Ten Sefiros, as they begin to take form as a source for “actual” Sefiros.
- Nekudim/Tohu, the first “World” of “actual” Sefiros. This “World” of the Sefiros of Tohu had the “Sheviras HeKeilim-shattering of the Keilim,” and after it was “repaired” it became the World of the Ten Sefiros of Atzilus.
