75. We can thus discern that there are two heights of “three within three” at the level of gestation:223Here the author of the Sulam returns to his original point. After explaining the male height that emerges from the traces of enclothing of the previous, lost level of opacity in the partition, the author of the Sulam returns to explaining the concept of gestation, in which the male aspect resulting from the height of enclothing is “within” the female aspect, the height of opacity. the height of Ḥesed, Gevura, and Tiferet and the height of Netzaḥ, Hod, and Yesod.
The height of Ḥesed, Gevura, and Tiferet – which is the mystical meaning of the male aspect – emerges upon the trace of enclothing of the first level, which joins with the opacity of the root, while the height of Netzaḥ, Hod,and Yesod, which is the female aspect, emerges solely from the trace of the opacity of the root level in the partition. Since the trace of enclothing is unfit to undergo a fusion through collision unless it joins with the opacity of the root level,224The example of the “root level” here is incidental to the context.
The male aspect must join with whichever level of opacity currently remains in the partition in order to participate in a fusion through collision. In this context, the remaining opacity is that of the root level. the height of Ḥesed, Gevura, and Tiferet cannot stand on its own but must be enclothed in Netzaḥ, Hod, and Yesod. Therefore, the level of gestation, which constitutes Ḥesed, Gevura, and Tiferet, and Netzaḥ, Hod, and Yesod together, is considered “three within three,” that is, Ḥesed, Gevura, and Tiferet within Netzaḥ, Hod, and Yesod.