Why Tiferet Encompasses Ḥesed, Gevura, Tiferet, Netzaḥ, Hod, and Yesod 4. When the five levels – Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut – emerged into existence, they incorporated one another, such that each of them, individually, was comprised of Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut. However, within the sefira of Tiferet, the structures of the sefirot descended from the level of the first three.4Each of the five sefirot are individually composed of all (the same) five sefirot.
The point here is that the five sefirot that make up the sefira of Tiferet are lower than the sefirot making up the previous sefirot of Keter, Ḥokhma, and Bina (called “the first three”). The reason for this lower state is that the sefira of Tiferet primarily shines the light of giving (ḥassadim), while the previous, higher three levels shine the light of Ḥokhma (wisdom). As a result, the five sefirot that make up Tiferet are given different names, indicating their lower position.
The author expands this point in the following lines. Consequently, within the sefira of Tiferet, the names Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut, which are incorporated in each of the five levels, have been changed to Ḥesed, Gevura, Tiferet, Netzaḥ, and Hod, and the sefira of Tiferet contains an additional sefira called Yesod, which incorporates them all. Therefore, when we say that Tiferet encompasses six sefirot, this is not due to the elevated status of Tiferet over the first three sefirot of Keter, Ḥokhma, and Bina.
Rather, it is due to the deficiency of Tiferet with respect to the light of the first three that the five levels within Tiferet – Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut – received other names, which are Ḥesed, Gevura, Tiferet, Netzaḥ, and Hod.