Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah Reader

For higher than this we find nothing that relates to any aspect of the Other Side at all. However in Nekudim something is revealed that does bear some relation to the function of the Other Side. The proof that only here can we speak in terms of a root to the Other Side is because beyond this level we see nothing whatever relating to its function, whereas here aspects relating to the function of the Other Side were immediately evident. Even if the higher levels were a remote cause, this was not revealed and visible in the least. Here, however, we know immediately that it is so. What it is that is seen here that relates to the function of the Other Side will be discussed later.

For here alone is the general foundation consisting of all these worlds of Atzilut, Beriyah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, which extend to the level of material physicality and to the end of all existence. The two overall roots that I mentioned above, the lights of the Sefirot and Tzur Tak (see Openings 39 & 43), comprise all the separate realms and beings and even material physicality and the Other Side …to the end of all existence.

Let me explain: Not only do we see that it actually happened this way – that here was revealed what was not revealed on the earlier levels; more than this, it is clearly understandable why this root (of the Other Side) specifically relates to the world of Nekudim. This is because it is here that we find the overall foundation of all these separate creations, all of which were measured and calculated individually in detail from beginning to end, including even the Other Side. This was not the case in the worlds that came before, which were only the law instituting that separate creations would emerge but without existence as yet being differentiated into its constituent details. And although it was concealed in this law that the Other Side should also come into being, since this too was included with the rest of existence, there was as yet no trace or mention of it. In Nekudim, however, where everything divided up into particulars, this detail also became visible.

We may thus infer that the Other Side itself is included in the Nekudim inasmuch as they include all the separate creations, because Nekudim is the overall category containing the two roots explained above (see Openings 39 and 43). Thus the lights can now be said to be standing on a level suited to that of the separate creations, for the latter had now been calculated in all their details precisely as they are and not otherwise.

The power of Judgment likewise stood ready, calculating the details of the Other Side as well. This is why the Nekudim contain the root of evil, because as already explained earlier in relation to the mystery of “sparks and flashes” (see Opening 36), Nekudim goes only on the principle of the underlying unity in all that exists, which is revealed through the mystery of evil reverting to good. For this involves the existence of the Other Side and the repair of everything afterwards.

Evil was rooted at the end of the vessel, so that when the light reached there, the vessel broke.

Only in the lowest parts of the vessels was this faint trace of the root of the Other Side evident. Thus initially the overall light entered and continued spreading in accordance with the mystery of the general foundation until it reached these lowly parts. These are none other than the garments, which are considered the feet of Atzilut. Accordingly, as long as the lights did not reach them, there was no breakage. It was when they reached there that breakage took place. They then turned around and departed from even the highest parts.

Having stated that there was a revelation of the Other Side in these Nekudim, we will now indicate the particular place where this occurred.

The proposition consists of two parts: Part 1: Only in the lowest parts... This is the place designated for this root. Part 2: Thus initially the overall light entered... This explains what happened as a result.

Part 1: Only in the lowest parts of the vessels... There is no place for a root for evil except in the lowest parts of any given level. This is because the various parts of a given level are also arranged on a scale, one under the other, like subspecies of an overall category. The last function of all of them is the production of evil, which is the lowest of all in status and whose function is less than that of the others in terms of control and government.

...was this faint trace of the root of the Other Side evident. This is the trace we mentioned above, that is evident in the Nekudim, and it will be explained below.

Part 2: Thus initially the overall light entered... This is the light suitable for the General Foundation, which consists of all that is contained in Nekudim – Atzilut with its three garments. Just as this foundation is general, so is the light.

...and continued spreading in accordance with the mystery of the general foundation until it reached these lowly parts. For the breaking did not take place in the vessels immediately, for it is written that they “ruled” (Genesis 36:31ff). Rather, the light continued spreading to their lowest level, and during all that time they had rule. Only when the lights reached the lowest level where this root lay did the break-up occur in the vessels, as explained below.

These are none other than the garments, which are considered the feet of Atzilut. For we have already discussed above (Opening 31) how all of the various orders are included under the order of the Ten Sefirot. Thus even though the body itself is a complete array of Ten Sefirot, when we also consider its garments with it, the body is like nine Sefirot and the garment stands as their Malchut, the tenth Sefirah.

Accordingly, as long as the lights did not reach them, there was no breakage. It was when they reached there that breakage took place. They then turned around and departed from even the highest parts. For then the Mind decreed that since it was impossible for the light to be joined with the vessel because of this aspect contained in the vessel, it would be best to allow the vessel to do all in its power, and then afterwards the light would enter into it and be joined with it in a perfect bond.

The fall and breaking of the vessels – to produce evil

When it was necessary to give control to the garments by themselves in order for them to be repaired, the highest part that was contained in Nekudim became concealed, this being their Atzilut, and then the garments ruled by themselves. This is called a fall for them, for they had fallen from having been included in Atzilut as its garments and were now ruling by themselves, not in a state of order and repair but in one of damage and destruction, empty of all the lights that had distanced themselves from them. In this state they were all the time intent on providing a place for evil to emerge and exist, in order that it should be rectified in the end.

Having discussed these garments and how they needed to rule in order to produce evil, we will now explain what this rule entailed.

The proposition consists of two parts. Part 1: When it was necessary to give control... This explains how the garments ruled. Part 2: This is called a fall for them... This explains why their rule is called a fall.

Part 1: When it was necessary to give control to the garments by themselves... As I wrote above, the root of evil lay only in the function carried out by the garments during the time of their rule, when they were considered worlds in their own right. For it is said of all that stands in Atzilut, “Evil will not dwell with You” (Psalms 5:5). Now since the intention was to produce evil, it was necessary for these garments to rule, and then they would produce it.

...in order for them to be repaired... This too is as I wrote above (Opening 41) that all this was necessary for the sake of the eventual repair. For as long as the actual damage had not occurred so as to prepare things to be repaired through the mystery of the return of evil to good, the light (of the new MaH) could not come (so as to return to the vessels after they broke). On the contrary, it was precisely for this purpose that the light was concealed – to allow the vessels to carry out this function.

...the highest part that was contained in Nekudim became concealed, this being their Atzilut... For after the emanation of the lights of Atzilut, the function of these worlds (after the repair) would be to draw those lights down to the outside for the sake of the lower realms and beings. Each one then takes what it takes from Atzilut and channels it to its proper place, and this is the rectified order. However, this was not the intention now (in Nekudim). For what was necessary now was to establish the existence of these worlds in and of themselves so that they would afterwards be suited to perform their appropriate function, which is to draw from Atzilut.

This can be compared to a system of pipes or channels taking water from a river in order to conduct it to various different locations. When each pipe takes its proper share of water to bring it to its proper place, this is the rectified order. However, during the process of preparation and installation of the actual channels themselves – to produce vessels that will afterwards serve as pipes to channel the water from the river – the river is of no relevance. Quite the contrary: the river must not be allowed to flow into the pipes: it is as if they are not its pipes. And indeed, as long as they are being built away from the river, they are not its pipes. Rather, they are vessels that are under construction in order to serve as pipes for the river later on.

So too here, when Beriyah, Yetzirah and Asiyah are with Atzilut after having been built, each one receives from Atzilut so as to channel its influence outwards. However, during the process of their actual construction, Atzilut is of no relevance. On the contrary, Atzilut is concealed, leaving them as unfinished vessels that are built successively, little by little, until everything depending on their structure is complete, so that they may afterwards serve as channels for Atzilut.

Accordingly, now that it was necessary to produce the things that depended on their existence – i.e. to bring forth evil so as afterwards to restore what was damaged to a state of repair, as discussed above – Atzilut was concealed from this process, since it had no connection with it. These worlds thus remained alone on their own as part of the process of becoming steadily more defined on the way to their rectification. For Atzilut has no part or share whatever in the production of evil, and its light can only be drawn down by way of Beriyah, Yetzirah and Asiyah when they are rectified to serve as its channels.

...and then the garments ruled by themselves. During that time, they cannot be considered the feet of Atzilut, and instead of being the feet as they had been, they were left as worlds on their own.

Part 2: This is called a fall for them... Although the orderly array of the worlds (in their rectified state) entails that Beriyah, Yetzirah and Asiyah should initially be garments of Atzilut and afterwards worlds in themselves, the process we are discussing was not like this. Rather, it is called a fall – i.e. the death of the kings....for they had fallen from having been included in Atzilut as its garments and were now ruling by themselves... The order in which they spread forth (after the Tikkun) is that Atzilut remains, while it is the garments that extend in the sense that control is given to each one of them to draw its share from Atzilut, as stated above. Here, however, Atzilut is concealed, and the garments do not channel its influence in an orderly way. Rather, it is a fall for them because it was not that they spread forth but rather that Atzilut departed. After having previously been the feet and garments of Atzilut, they were then left as the worlds of Beriyah, Yetzirah and Asiyah on their own, since they lacked the body which they had been clothing.

Thus in the order in which things developed, they are garments in one aspect, but afterwards, during their period of rule, they are considered in a different category and then they are “worlds”. However, here it is the very aspect that was previously in the category of garments that remains as worlds, since they lack the aspect of being garments inasmuch as they lack the body that is being clothed, as stated above. And this is only because they now need to be built in order to be able afterwards to serve as garments to Atzilut in this way, and then they will serve in their proper function.

You must likewise understand that their rule now cannot be compared to the rule they have when they are rectified with Atzilut. For when they are rectified with Atzilut, the purpose of their rule is to channel the lights of Atzilut to the lower creations. But their rule (in Nekudim) is not like this, for they then rule with parts of their own, and they have no connection with Atzilut at all. (The vessels are then cut off from the lights remaining in Atzilut.) They actually rule with parts of their own – revealing their individual powers and functions as they are when built, in order to bring forth the various aspects of evil swallowed up among these powers...

...not in a state of order and repair but in one of damage and destruction... This is the breaking we speak about, because falling and breaking are two different things. When we speak of falling, it means that they fell from their high level to a lower level. When we speak about breaking, it means that they did not rule with an orderly balance of their various parts, but rather in a destructive way, generating all the different kinds of damage that evil causes when it rules.

For as you have already heard, the breaking of the vessels means that the powers of destruction took control, damaging them and causing all the different kinds of damage and evil that can exist in the world. On the upper level, these are all the different kinds of flaws and damage that can exist in the supernal lights. For the vessels in their broken state constitute the measure of all the different kinds of damage that can exist, because what was not calculated at the outset could not come into being afterwards.

...empty of all the lights that had distanced themselves from them. This very deficiency also gives them the power to perform their intended function in this broken state. For the light is the mystery of the unity that turns all evil to good. Here, however, the intention was to produce evil as such, and what gives added power to these vessels to carry out this function is precisely the fact that the light distances itself from them so that they descend bereft of light.

This means that in this phase they are not governed by the light. On the contrary, it is precisely from the intense concealment of the light that this fragmentation derives. They then direct themselves entirely to the purpose of bringing forth evil. And in truth nothing caused such a concealment of perfection as the fact that the light disdained even to enter into the vessel. The vessel was then left ruling only in its aspect of harsh judgment.

In this state they were all the time intent on providing a place for evil to emerge and exist... For since they were now completely distanced from perfection, they were left intent only on producing evil, and everything was directed to this purpose alone.

...in order that it should be rectified in the end. Nevertheless the intention was not merely to produce evil, for the ultimate distant intention was only for the sake of repair. Accordingly, you will see that in any event the light did not altogether cease shining from afar to the vessels. Even when it did not shine at all, which is when the fall came about – a great fall – nevertheless there were the 288 sparks that descended with the vessels. For on the contrary, the final and ultimate intention was only to turn this great destruction into a total, perfect repair.

The repair of the vessels from evil, albeit incomplete

When the Emanator, may His name be blessed, wished to rectify the matter of these garments, He would refine their levels one by one, so that they would not turn toward the evil, but rather would turn their faces to withdraw from it. And then each level would leave the matter of expelling the evil to the level beneath it. It thus emerges that it had a share in this, only that it withdrew and purified itself from it. And then it became fit to receive light. And so each level passed it to the level beneath it, until all the levels of Atzilut, Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah were refined, as they are now. And they left the matter of expelling the evil to the lowest level of all the levels, namely Malkhut of Asiyah. And then all of them were made ready to receive the light, except for this last one, since the light can spread only into a vessel that has been purified from the evil.

All this is called only the repair of the garments of Nekudim. To the extent that the vessels were repaired, so the light would successively enter into them. The more remote the level of a given vessel from anything that has to do with evil, the greater the light it was fit to receive. However, the first Atzilut was not revealed again, for the repair of all these garments cannot be called complete as long as this lowest level is still directed to the production of evil and thus devoid of the light.

When a person wants to attain a deep understanding of a given subject, he should start by gaining a sufficient overall picture of the entire subject from beginning to end and then go into the details. The reason for this is simple: the end goal of the completed project is present in the mind from the very outset, and all the early stages in the execution of the project are carried out in accordance with the initial intention, which is directed to what is to come later. If so, it is impossible to understand those initial stages and their purpose except through knowing what comes after them, since their purpose is to lead to what follows them. This applies to every stage until the execution of the project is complete, for everything is done for the sake of the end goal.

We thus see that the various actions performed are governed by what is intended through them. Yet what is intended through them is what comes after them: the final goal is the finished work that will come at the end of everything. If so, someone who wants to understand the purpose of the earlier actions must first understand the general direction until the end. Then afterwards he can go back to investigate the details. This way he will not have to remain in suspense until the end while seeking to understand the details of the early stages. When he already has a grasp of the overall direction, he will be able to understand each successive detail in its place.

Accordingly, having begun discussing the “garments” and how they were given independent control in order to bring out the evil from them so that they would afterwards be fit for the light to join with them, we must first explain the overall direction until the end, when things will reach a state of repair. By explaining this first, all the details we will discuss later in connection with the initial stages will be understandable in the light of the end goal.

The proposition consists of two parts: Part 1: When the Emanator… This explains the repair whereby the vessels could again receive their light. Part 2: All this is called... This explains that all this is only the process of the rectification of the garments, but not the complete repair.

Part 1: When the Emanator, blessed be He, wanted to rectify these garments... For the Primordial Kings remained broken for just as long as it took to let the powers of evil be revealed from them. To explain this more fully: Israel went down into exile and must remain there for as long as it takes for all the levels that exist in the evil which rules over them to unfold (until the people of Israel are rectified through suffering or until they overcome all the tests to their faith, such as idolatry, philosophy, secularism, etc.).

In a similar way, these kings remained in their state of destruction for just as long a time – i.e. on just as many levels – as was required to produce the different divisions of evil. Then afterwards, the Supreme Will will be revealed and will repair everything through the mystery of unity, as explained above. For we see that evil is getting stronger every day, but the Supreme Will will put a stop to it in the end.

Now the root of all this lies in the Primordial Kings, and this is why they went down and broke, remaining broken in proportion to the increasing power of evil on its various levels. However, when the Supreme Will so desired, He put an end to this and repaired them again. In the same way, the people of Israel remain in exile for a given length of time, which is followed by their redemption. This is because the evil only exists until the powers of the Sefirot – the powers of the Likeness of Man – complete their mission.

For the intention was as explained earlier: the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted to show that while the Other Side has the power to raise a challenge against the entire power of the Sefirot, it cannot stand for even a moment against the power of His unity, which is in control, and this is the revelation of His unity, as explained above (see Opening 30, end).

And this is what was accomplished through these kings. For He allowed evil to hold sway against all the powers that depend on the Likeness of Man – the number of levels of evil corresponds exactly to the number of these powers – and accordingly He did not then reveal His unity. Things continued in the same way, and indeed the evil became ever stronger. But when these powers of the Sefirot were completed, He then revealed His will, wanting to rectify everything through the power of His rule.

From that point on (after the emergence of the Primordial Kings) the powers of evil were instituted, having already been revealed. Against every power in the Sefirot, there emerged corresponding powers of evil. Then afterwards the will (of unity) becomes revealed. So it is now, inasmuch as the Other Side holds sway on all its levels, which correspond directly to the levels of the Sefirot. However, the will is already set to be revealed at the end of these levels, and this is the day of redemption.

...He selected and cleansed their various levels, one by one, so that instead of being directed towards evil... For initially included in the law of these levels was the production of evil, i.e. the measures of the creations when in a state of disrepair, for this is the state in which the creations later came forth down below too, as it is written: “And the earth was desolate and void” (Genesis 1:2). First it was created and afterwards destroyed. In other words, it was created full of evil, until the evil in it came forth and actually destroyed it by not allowing anything to exist. Afterwards – “And God said, Let there be light” (ibid. 3). This was when the creations started being sifted and cleansed one by one.

Nevertheless, evil did not disappear from the world. However, each individual creation was not itself full of evil but rather, it was cleansed of the evil and was trying to evade and escape it, leaving evil subdued and humiliated. Yet since that creation was not completely repaired, the same evil could still return and attack and destroy it. However, this was not inevitable in the way it had been at first.

For at first the evil was ready and waiting to attack, whereas now it remains sunk quietly in its place, although it could still be aroused. More than that, the hardest part of the evil, which caused the initial attack, is no more. For initially, not only did all the creations contain great evil but also, the various parts were not arranged in a way that would allow order to come about in actuality, and this itself was a great evil.

Afterwards, however, things were made in a graded order, for everything was arranged in a different way and a new, improved and better repaired mode of existence was given to the creations themselves. For while the first mode of existence (BaN) alone was the cause of this entire destruction, the second mode of existence (MaH) did not cause this. More than this, since the first mode of existence was also with it, this first mode itself became organized in a new order, so that instead of the evil parts waiting to emerge, they remain sunk inactive in their place.

Thus the hard part – the lack of order – was gone, because order was introduced (through the ordering of the Sefirot in balanced columns and the construction of the Partzufim). Evil no longer stood ready to attack with such great power. On the contrary, the deepest intention was directed to making the remaining parts turn to good in the end.

Now all of this manifests itself down below, but the root of it all lies above. For the measure of all that exists is the governmental order. Initially the Sefirot were laws of government which included in them the production of evil as an actual reality so that afterwards, through its repair, God’s unity would be revealed. Accordingly, the intention in each individual level at the time of the fall, when control was given over to the garments, was to produce evil.

They therefore still lacked the complete perfection that nullifies evil, because the intention was precisely that they should produce evil. And after having produced it, the evil itself was causing their own destruction in the sense that the good powers within them existed only in the mode of negation, powerless to function, while it was the powers of destruction that held sway.

Understand the great difference between their initial state and this one. Initially, they were levels intended to produce evil, and it could be said that this purpose permeated every single part of them, because each part had to produce its corresponding evil. Now, however, as each level was repaired – in the sense of emerging from this task of producing evil – it stood to be rectified of the damage caused to it by the evil, except that evil did not disappear from the world, as stated above.

If so, it means that evil remained able to damage that level since it was not yet fully and completely established so as to be able to rule and endure for ever. Nevertheless, we say that the evil was outside them in the sense of being outside of and separate from their mission. For now, the various levels that were sifted out and cleansed of the evil had a purpose opposite to that of evil, since now their mission was that of repair and not of destruction as it had been at first, when their function was rather to cause the destruction we spoke about above.

However, since evil exists in the world – meaning that they are not immune to destruction, which, though not caused by themselves, may come upon them from elsewhere – we may therefore say that evil is outside them.

Thus the process of selection and cleansing that took place was such that as each individual level emerged from the destruction that had engulfed it, it became fixed as a law in the governmental order whose purpose was no longer to produce evil at all but on the contrary, to contribute to the repair now that evil and destruction already existed. And thus:

...they would turn around to evade it. For even though it had been in their nature to produce it, they were now intent on being repaired through the path of unity and leaving the previous mission behind. And this is the revelation of the perfection that I mentioned above, which constitutes the entire repair of the Sefirot. For since it is revealed gradually, the repair of the Sefirot likewise proceeds gradually. This means that they now returned to the path of unity in order to be repaired, but evil was not nullified. And the truth is that the reason evil was not entirely nullified is that not all the Sefirot were repaired completely in this way, for Malchut remained, as will be discussed below. Certainly, if all the Sefirot had been completely rectified, evil would have had no existence whatever.

You thus learn that the entire repair of the Sefirot is none other than the revelation of the perfection, when the levels change over to the path of unity, thereby departing from the mission of producing evil. Evil then exists only outside them, for it remains functional only on the level not yet repaired in this way, as the proposition goes on to state:

Each level in turn then left the task of producing evil to the level below it. Initially all the levels were intent on producing evil, and all of them were destroyed. We will now think of the entirety of all that was destroyed as one whole, with the levels coming forth out of this totality one by one. Now as each level emerged from the totality to be established as a law in the governmental order, its good purpose was determined. However, the evil purpose that had left it was not now negated. This is because the revelation of the perfection had come only to establish one governmental law and allow it to come forth from the evil, but not in order that evil should be nullified.

However, there is nothing that does not have a root, and if we say that evil was not nullified, where did it get the power to endure? The answer is that each level was initially engaged in the production of evil, and when the process of selection and cleansing took place, whatever departed from that purpose was picked out as a law in the governmental order. Even so, some root for evil remained because of that very level itself, for as yet the perfection was not completely revealed, except that this root was no longer considered to be at all related to the rectified level.

For the latter is a single law established in the mode of repair, to which that part bears no relation, and therefore that root remains outside together with the rest of the overall totality which did not enter into the construction of the repaired level (i.e. the other levels, which had not as yet been cleansed. And since that root of evil remained, the evil – albeit limited – could, through sin, again become a part of that level.)