Chest 9. Up to this point, we have discussed the partzufim of Adam Kadmon. However, in the partzufim of the world of Atzilut, a new end point is added to the ten sefirot of the interior: the Malkhut of the interior, which is called “navel,” rises to Bina of the ten sefirot of the interior, where it forms an endpoint for the ten sefirot of the level of the interior.19Here, the author of the Sulam introduces the concept of the second constriction, which applies only from the level of the world of Nekudim and the partzuf of Atzilut which derives from it, and downward.
In this process, the sefira of Malkhut that was positioned at the navel, the bottom of the interior aspect of the partzuf, is repositioned to the chest of the partzuf, the place of the sefira of Bina. This changes the format of the partzuf such that the interior area now ends at the point of the chest (just as Malkhut of the navel marked the end of the interior before the repositioning). Additionally, the area below the chest now becomes part of the lower area of the partzuf that was below the navel.
The chest thus acts as a new separation, a new endpoint, wherein only two sefirot of the interior, Keter and Ḥokhma, and half of the sefira of Bina, remain above the chest, in the interior. The remaining sefirot of the interior “fall” below the separation, into the area of the end of the partzuf, with the six extremities. This second constriction is integral to the purpose of Creation, as the author of the Sulam will explain. This endpoint is called “chest.”