14. With this in mind, you will understand how the Zohar will sometimes state that with the ascent of Malkhut to Bina the five letters of the name Elohim (alef-lamed-heh-yod-mem) were divided in such a manner that the two letters mem and yod remained in the level, while the three letters alef, lamed, and heh left and were negated from the level (as explained in the Introduction to the Zohar, p. 20, in the Sulam, s.v. “tziyer”).22The “ascent of Malkhut to Bina“ refers to the second constriction mentioned previously, in which Malkhut ascends from the end of a given level up to the level of Bina, connecting with Bina and creating a new endpoint in the level.
On other occasions, the Zohar will say the converse, that with the ascent of Malkhut to Bina the five letters of the name Elohim were divided in such a manner that the two letters alef and lamed remained in the level, while the three letters heh, mem, and yod were negated and descended from the level (as explained in the Zohar, Bereshit 1:59).