Hosafa-Addendum 1
Explanation of the three levels of “עֲקֻדִּּ ים-Akudim נְקֻדִּּ ים-Nekudim, and בְרֻ דִּּ ים-Berudim”:
עֲקֻדִּּ ים-Akudim: At this level, the Light and energy of the Ten Sefiros are “עֲקֻדִּּ ים-bound together” in their source. This means: The way that the 10 Lights of the Sefiros are manifest before being limited in practical application. This can be compared to a person that has many different desires that exist simultaneously since they are not limited to a specific reality. (I.e., he wants to be the smartest person in the world, and learn all day, and the wealthiest person in the world that runs the best business in the world, and the go on vacation by himself all day, and spend all day with his family etc.). When these desires are all deep inside of the person, they can exist at full force simultaneously, since none of them are tangible. Similarly, before the Ten Sefiros are manifest in “tangible” application they can all exist simultaneously at full force with contradicting each other, since they are still “bound up” with their souce.
נְקֻדִּּ ים-Nekudim: This word means “points,” and refers to how the Sefiros are manifest as ten separate modes of revelation of Hashem. (As opposed to being still bound up in their source.) However, since they are manifest in a general way, as “points,” these Sefiros do not yet merge together cohesively. This concept of the World of Nekudim is a reference to one of two possible levels:
- The World of Tohu, where the Sefiros couldn’t merge together and there was a system breakdown, which results in the possibility for unholiness in our world, or
- The level of Arich Anpin, which is the direct source of the World of Atzilus, where all the Ten Sefiros of Atzilus exist in potential form.
(However, the “potential” form of Arich is different from the “potential” form of Akudim. The Sefiros in Akudim exist like the potential for producing fire contained in flintstone. There is no actual fire in the flintstone, just a potential to produce fire. This potential doesn’t get weaker by soaking the flintstone in water, since there is no actual fire. The Sefiros as they exist in Arich Anpin is like the fire hidden inside of a burning hot coal. Even though the fire isn’t revealed on the surface of the coal, there is actual fire inside the coal. This is why if you put the coal in water, it will put out the fire inside of it.)
בְרֻ דִּּ ים-Berudim: Rashi explains that these “בְרֻ דִּּ ים-white belt shaped patches” encompass the entire body of the goat, and are open to each other, i.e., they all interconnect. This contrasts Nekudim, where the white dots/splatches are all separate from each other and don’t interconnect. These interconnecting Berudim patches represent the World of Atzilus. This is because in Atzilus, all of the Sefiros interconnect with each other, and merge together cohesively. This is in contrast to the level of Tohu or Arich, where the Sefiros are somewhat separate from each other, in comparison to the level of interconnection of the Sefiros of Atzilus.
