NOTEThe name Nekudim derives from the verse in Genesis 31:10: “I saw in a dream, and behold, the rams which leaped upon the flock were streaked, speckled and grizzled”. “Streaked” (עקודים, akudim) alludes to the World of Akudim, the lights of the Mouth of Adam Kadmon, which were contained in a single vessel, as discussed in the preceding Openings. “Speckled” (נקודים, nekudim) alludes to the World of Nekudim, so-called because it is the “world” in which the vowel points (nekudim) emerged as “broken”, separate and unconnected vessels, prior to the Tikkun (“repair” or “rectification”).
Nekudim is the plural form of the Hebrew word nikud (cf. nekudah), which means a “dot” or “point” (as in Tosefta Shabbat 12:8). The word nekudim is also found with the connotation of “crumbled pieces” (in Joshua 9:12 and Terumah 5:1).The World of Nekudim was when Atzilut with all its branches were successively being made, like the way in which a craftsman makes a vessel out of a piece of wood: at first it is a shapeless mass, but afterwards, when its form is completed, its beauty is then visible in its complete form.