דִּּבּוּר הַמַּתְחִּיל
(שַיָּּיךְ לַפָּּסוּק "אֵרְדָּה נָּא")
פָּּתַח אֵלִיָּּהוּ אַנְתְּ הוּא חָּד
פָּּרָּשת וַיֵּרָּאדף יג,ג “The Ten Sefiros and Hashem”
Summary of the Maamar:
1- The maamar starts by quoting the Zohar as saying that:
“You are He that is One, but not one that can be counted.
You are He that brought forth Ten Tikunim, which are called Sefiros.”
The maamar explains the idea of why the Sefiros of Atzilus are called Tikunim, and the meaning that He is “One, but not that can be counted.” With this understanding of the role of the Sefiros of Atzilus, we can understand what it means that Hashem “went down to see” the actions of the people of Sedom in order to judge them.
2- The Ten Sefiros of Atzilus are called “Tikunim-Adornments” because their relationship to Hashem’s Infinite Light is analogous to how the soul powers of intellect and emotion relate to the essence of the soul:
On the one hand, the soul powers of intellect and emotion are not separate from the essence, and they reveal the essence, like how jewelry adorns and beautifies the person, that it brings out the inner beauty of the person. However, on the other hand, they are not the essence of the person. The essence is simple and uncompounded, and never changes, whereas the intellect and emotion are complex and changing over time. In that sense, they are like “garments” for the essence of the soul, since they are the medium through which the essence interacts and reveals itself with others. (However, the “garments” of thought, speech, and action are farther removed from the essence of the soul, and therefore are not called “adornments” since they cover over the soul even as they express it.)
Similarly, the Ten Sefiros of Atzilus are not separate from the Infinite Light, they are completely united with it, and they reveal the beauty and power of the Infinite Light, as though they are jewelry that adorns and reveals the Infinite Light. However, they are in altogether a different category of being from the Infinite Light, they have limitation and definition, whereas the Infinite Light has no limit or definition. In that sense they are only like “garments” for the Infinite Light, since they are the medium for the Infinite Light to be expressed in the finite worlds, but the Sefiros themselves are in a completely different category of existence from the Infinite Light. (However, the Sefiros of Beriah, Yetzira, and Asiya are not fully united with the Infinite Light, they have a degree of separation from the Infinite Light, and therefore they cover over the Light even as they express it.)
3- This is the meaning of the statement “You are He who is Wise, but not with a knowable wisdom.” The Wisdom of Atzilus is not in the same category as the wisdom that exists in the created worlds, and cannot be understood directly by creations. Nonetheless, since it is a “limited” Wisdom (relative to the Infinite Light), it serves as the source for the existence of wisdom in creations. This is like how the spiritual aspect of sweetness in the spiritual worlds can ultimately serve as the source for the physical sweetness of physical fruits. Even though we do not directly recognize His Wisdom of Atzilus, but since it is ultimately the source of wisdom in creation, we can still praise Hashem for His Wisdom in Atzilus, since without it, there would be no wisdom in our world either.
4- Now we can understand the meaning of “You are He who is One, but not a one that can be counted.” This refers to how Hashem puts Himself into the level of Kesser, the levels of Infinite Worlds that transcend and precede Atzilus.
These levels of Kesser are not counted in the same category as the Ten Sefiros of Atzilus, since in Kesser Hashem’s Oneness shines in an unlimited capacity, relative to the existence of the Ten Sefiros of Atzilus. In that sense, Chochma of Atzilus is so far removed from Kesser that it comes into being as something completely new, without any recognizable precedent.
5- What is the difference between how Atzilus comes from Kesser in comparison to how Beriah comes from Atzilus, or Yetzira from Beriah? Doesn’t every level of Hishtalshelus have a “Kesser,” a spiritually transcendent source? Why do we say that specifically Atzilus derives from its source in Kesser as something completely new, whereas we don’t say that regarding how the other levels of Hishtalshelus derive from the source?
6- The answer: BY”A is derived from its source in Atzilus only through a “Parsa-curtain,” which merely reduces the nature and quality of the existing Light. However, for Atzilus to come into existence from its ultimate source in the Infinite Light, a complete Tzimtzum, a complete retraction of the Light was required, creating a space empty of all revealed Light.
7- To understand this distinction, we need to explain the idea of the “Tzimtzum” in the Infinite Light:
8- The Infinite Light of Hashem is Hashem’s power to express Himself and give life and create in infinite manners to infinite different types of worlds, with infinite possibilities of Sefiros. Regarding this it says in the Midrash “Before the world was created, there was only Him and His Name.” The term “Him” refers to Hashem, and “His Name” refers to His infinite power for expression and creation, the Infinite Light as it exists inside of Hashem.
9- However, Hashem Himself is the “Luminary,” the source of the Light, from which the Light comes into being. (Even though it is not Hashem’s job to give Light, and if He wanted there would be no Light, but since the Light comes into existence from Him, He is called the “Luminary.”)
10- Now, the Tzimtzum of the Infinite Light was when He retracted the revelation of His Infinite Light from the “place” where He wanted to create the worlds. This affected that in that “place” the Infinite Light is not shining in a revealed state, rather, it only exists there in a hidden potential state, as it is included as a potential power for revelation inside the “Luminary” of Hashem Himself.
11- However, this Tzimtzum was only for the Light. But Hashem Himself, the “Luminary,” was not affected by the Tzimtzum at all. In fact, He is even more experienced and felt after the Tzimtzum than before the Tzimtzum. This is for two reasons: 1- The revelation of the Light “distracts” from feeling and being aware of Hashem’s Essence that transcends the entire category of Light and revelation. 2-Only after the Tzimtzum can there be seemingly independent existence with its own ego. The sentient being that feels itself as completely independent of its source, the human, is a backwards reflection of the True Being of Hashem, who has no source. It is specifically the Jewish person in this world serving Hashem and overcoming his ego for His sake, that can connect to the True Essence of Hashem whose being is from Himself.
12- Going back to the Tzimtzum on the Infinite Light in the “place” of the worlds. An analogy for how the Infinite Light exists in potential state: When a person closes his eyes, his potential power for sight exists just as strongly as when his eyes are open and he is actually looking at things. When a wise person is involved in material matters and is not occupied in matters of wisdom, his power for wisdom exists just as strongly as it does when he is actually involved in wisdom. The soul power for sight or wisdom has retracted back into the soul itself during the time it is not expressed, without taking away from the existence of those powers, it is just that they are existing in potential form. Similarly, in the “place” of the worlds, Hashem’s Infinite Light exists in potential form, it is just not revealed in those worlds.
13- Now we have seen that in regards to Atzilus coming into being, the original Infinite Light had to be completely hidden, and only a limited Kav-Line of Light came back to shine in the “place” of the worlds. For Atzilus to come into being from the Infinite Light there needed to be a complete Tzimtzum, retraction, of the Infinite Light.
14- This is not the case with how BY”A come into existence from Atzilus. In that case, all that was required was to set up a “Parsa-dividing curtain” to filter out the intensity of the Light.
15- The analogy to understand this “Parsa-curtain” is from the concept of how analogies work in general: When a teacher has a deep concept that he wants his student to grasp, he clothes the concept in an analogy regarding a different topic that is more easily understood to the student. Through the analogy, the student will be able to extract some type of understanding of the concept the teacher wanted to convey in the first place. This “creates” a new way to understand the concept, as the student grasps it through the analogy.
Even though it is a different level and type of understanding the understanding, it contains the essential concept of the teacher, just in a new format.
16- Similarly, the creation of the worlds through the Parsa created a new way of understanding about Hashem, as the Creator and Director of worlds that are separate from Him.
In Atzilus the “understanding” of Hashem is by “seeing” Him as the True Being, and there is no separate existence at
concept
than
the
teacher’s
original
way
of
all. Through the “analogy” of the story of creation of the worlds of BY”A, we understand the basic concept of Hashem’s existence as Creator and Director, but in a very different way from how it is “understood” in Atzilus.
17- However, the way Atzilus derives from the Infinite Light is through a complete Tzimtzum of the Infinite Light, as described above. This is why the way Hashem put Himself in the levels that are the source of Atzilus He is called “You are He that is One, but not one that can be counted.” That level, which is the source of Atzilus, is completely beyond the category of the World of Atzilus, in a completely different category of existence, One but not one that can be counted in the same category as Atzilus.
18- Nonetheless, even though the Ten Sefiros of Atzilus are so far removed from the category of existence of Hashem’s Infinite Light, these Sefiros are still united with the Light through the Kav. The Infinite Light shines through the Kav into Atzilus, binding all the Ten Sefiros to His Absolute Oneness. Therefore, they are not separate from the Infinite Light, even though they exist very differently from it. The analogy for this: A person can imagine a physical object in his mind, and in his mind that object exists as part of his mind. So too, the Kav that shines into the Ten Sefiros of Atzilus “grasps in itself” these Sefiros, enabling them to be part of the Kav, even as they are “limited” Sefiros.
19- The Zohar continues: “These Ten Sefiros emerge according to their order, one order is long, one order is short, and one order is intermediate.” The meaning of “one order is long” refers to His attribute of Kindness that extends and goes a long way to give His Light and Life-force unlimitedly, even to those that do not deserve it. “One order is short” refers to His attribute of Severity that shortens and limits the flow of Light and Life-force to only give to those that deserve it.
“One order is intermediate” refers to His attribute of Mercy, that is an intermediary between absolute Kindness and absolute Severity, allowing His Light and Life-force to go to those who do not deserve it in the absolute sense, but not to those that are completely rebelling against Hashem and have no merit at all.
20- Based on this we can explain what it means that Hashem “went down to see” the actions of Sedom and Amora to judge them: Even though Hashem Himself, as He transcends Atzilus, automatically knows everything, He wants to interact with creations through the Sefiros of Atzilus, so that we can relate to Him. As He puts Himself into the realm of Atzilus, He first “goes down” to look at Sedom in a way of Kindness, which operates by revealing and giving from Above to below. He wanted to see if from the perspective of Kindness of Atzilus there was some way to save Sedom. However, it turned out that the people of Sedom were so evil and corrupt, that even Kindness of Atzilus could not justify continuing to give them life. Only after He saw them in a way of Kindness and still could find no merit in them, did He decide to actually destroy them.