Thus the first act was the formation of the Place brought about by the Tzimtzum. This Place was the first innovation produced when Eyn Sof, blessed be He, removed His limitlessness. This gave existence to the new pathway so that it could be revealed and operate. The pathway of limitation is the order underlying the course of the government of the universe. If so: It was rooted in the Tzimtzum that the government of the universe should follow its course...
(1) Inasmuch as this Place is the root of the lower creations, we must understand what is the root of the Place itself. Let me explain: We cannot say that because Eyn Sof, blessed be He, created the universe in its present order, this is what He was able to create and He could not have made it in any other way. An example of such an argument would be to say that exactly so many worlds had to be created because the light of the first world was so great that it was impossible for the creatures to receive it. A similar argument is to say that a given thing was necessary because it would have been impossible without it. But we cannot say that Eyn Sof was, heaven forbid, forced to act in this way. We must understand that Eyn Sof is completely all-powerful, possessing every kind of power that the mind can and cannot grasp.