פתיחה לחכמת הקבלה 14

יד) ובכדי להציל את הנבראים מגודל הפירוד הרחוק הזה, נעשה סוד הצמצום הא', שענינו הוא, שהפריד הבחינה ד' הנזכרת לעיל מן כל פרצופי הקדושה, באופן שמדת גדלות הקבלה ההיא נשארה בבחינת חלל פנוי וריקן מכל אור. כי כל פרצופי הקדושה יצאו בבחינת מסך מתוקן בכלי מלכות שלהם, שלא יקבלו אור בבחינה ד' הזו.

In order to save the created beings from the enormity of this distant separation, the mystical first constriction (tzimtzum) was implemented, separating the aforementioned fourth level from all the holy partzufim in such a manner that the ultimate capacity for receiving was left as an empty space, devoid of any light.¹³The constriction referred to here, and upon which the author of Sulam will go on to elaborate at length, is the formation of a partition that separates the fourth and last level called Malkhut from the supernal light. This partition prevents the supernal light from entering the final receiving vessel of Malkhut, leaving that level “devoid of any light.” This is meant to “save the created beings from the enormity of this distant separation” because by using the partition to refuse entry to the supernal light, the vessel of Malkhut creates a situation in which the ultimate receiving of the supernal light is actually an act of giving. As the author will go on to explain, this is like a person giving his friend the opportunity to do him a favor. Once the vessel of Malkhut achieves this, it is not as “enormously separated” from the Emanator, as it now also has the quality of giving, forming a connection to the Emanator through their shared trait of giving, a connection that the author of the Sulam refers to as an “equating of form.” For all the holy partzufim emerged with a partition placed upon their respective vessels of Malkhut so that they would not receive light in their fourth level.

ואז בעת שהאור העליון נמשך ונתפשט אל הנאצל, והמסך הזה דוחה אותו לאחוריו, הנה זה נבחן כמו הכאה בין אור העליון ובין המסך, המעלה אור חוזר ממטה למעלה ומלביש העשר ספירות דאור העליון. כי אותו חלק האור הנדחה לאחוריו נקרא אור חוזר, ובהלבשתו לאור העליון נעשה אחר כך כלי קבלה על האור העליון במקום הבחינה ד'. כי אחרי זה התרחבה כלי המלכות באותו שיעור האור חוזר, שהוא אור הנדחה שעלה והלביש לאור העליון ממטה למעלה, והתפשטה גם ממעלה למטה, שבזה נתלבשו האורות בהכלים, דהיינו בתוך אור חוזר ההוא.

Thus, when the supernal light is drawn down and expands toward the emanated being, this partition rebuffs the light backward, and there is a kind of collision between the supernal light and the partition. This collision gives rise to the returning light, which returns the light from below to above and enclothes the ten sefirot of the supernal light. That part of the light that is rebuffed upward is called the returning light. When it enclothes the supernal light, it becomes a vessel that serves as a receptacle for the supernal light instead of the fourth level.¹⁴As explained above, the fourth level called Malkhut cannot receive the supernal light directly because they are opposites. The Malkhut has to be modified through the deployment of the partition, which represents Malkhut expressing its agency to choose not to receive the supernal light except on its own terms. This rejection transforms the act of receiving the light into a gift itself, as in the analogy of a person giving his friend the opportunity to do him a favor. The first part of that transformation is when the supernal light is rebuffed, or sent back, which allows that returning light to act as a partial receiver instead of the fourth level of Malkhut. The mechanism of this rebuffing of the light and the way it is used to enclothe the supernal light is explained further in the next sections. Subsequently the vessel of Malkhut expands commensurate with the amount of returning light that was rebuffed by the partition, which is the rebuffed light that ascended and enclothed the supernal light from below to above, which then expanded from above to below.¹⁵After the returning light bounces off the partition and is rebuffed backward, it serves as a vessel to enclothe the supernal light. This process is referred to as “enclothing from below to above,” since the returning light emerges from “below” at the level of the partition and travels upward. The enclothing of the supernal light is actualized when the Malkhut expands to form complete vessels, and this expansion takes place “above to below” because the supernal light travels downward, so to speak, to be enclothed in the fully formed vessels. In this manner, the lights are enclothed in the vessels, meaning in that returning light.

והוא סוד ראש וגוף שבכל מדרגה. כי הזווג דהכאה מאור העליון במסך, מעלה אור חוזר ממטה למעלה, ומלביש העשר ספירות דאור העליון בבחינת עשר ספירות דראש, שפירושו שרשי כלים, כי שם עוד לא יכול להיות הלבשה ממש. ואחרי זה כשהמלכות מתפשטת עם האור חוזר ההוא ממעלה למטה, אז נגמר האור חוזר ונעשה לבחינת כלים על אור העליון, ואז נעשה התלבשות האורות בכלים, ונקרא גוף של מדרגה ההיא, שפירושו כלים גמורים.

This is the mystical meaning of head and body in each level,¹⁶The concepts of head and body are references to the formation of partzufim, which will be explained at length in the following sections. since the fusion through the collision of the supernal light against the partition gives rise to the returning light from below to above and enclothes the ten sefirot of the supernal light in the form of the ten sefirot of the head, which refers to the roots of the vessels, as there, in the head, there cannot yet be actual enclothing in order to form complete vessels. Subsequently, when the Malkhut expands with the returning light from above to below, the returning light ceases to exist as light and now acts as vessels for the supernal light. Then the supernal light is enclothed in the vessels, and it is called the body of that level, meaning it becomes complete vessels.¹⁷When the returning light travels upward, it is described as being in its initial state of enclothing of the supernal light. In this state, it serves as “roots” for the vessels that will be enclothing the supernal light in the next stage of the process that the author of the Sulam goes on to describe. Those roots are referred to as the “head” of that structure of sefirot. Once the Malkhut expands, and the returning light now serves as vessels, the supernal light is enclothed in this complete structure, which is referred to as the “body”; now the vessels are no longer roots but are fully formed. When this happens, and the structure of sefirot are fully constructed, the returning light is said to cease, since it is now acting as vessels for the supernal light. The author of the Sulam will elaborate on these concepts extensively in the sections that follow.