Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah Reader

...is made to match each Partzuf according to what it is... Each Partzuf has its own distinctive “garb” depending on the governmental power which it needs to receive from the Line, which is equal on all levels. The Partzufim can only receive from the Line through this garment. If so, this garment must exist in each Partzuf according to its nature, in order that the Line may act equally through each one of these different garbs.

...and this is what distinguishes the Partzufim from one another. For all the different aspects of the Sefirot above correspond to the order of the Form of Adam, Man, as we find it here below in this world (as will be discussed later). For this form is rooted above on all levels. And just as we can make inferences from the Sefirot to add to our understanding of the Likeness of Man, so we can make inferences about the Sefirot from the Likeness of Man as we find it in this world, as will be discussed later. Now we see that all human bodies have the same general form. The differences between one person and another in terms of character traits, wisdom and intelligence lie in the soul. Similarly, the differences in one and the same person at different times and in all that pertains to the conduct of the body and its actions derive from the soul.

Thus: The difference is not in the Line but in its garb, which is the soul. For the difference between the Partzufim in terms of their stature could be seen as problematic, because it depends upon how close to or far away from Eyn Sof, blessed be He, they are. But since the Line of Eyn Sof, blessed be He, is completely equal on all levels, it would seem that they should all be equal in stature. However, as I have explained, although the Line is exactly the same, the garments are different, and each Partzuf receives from the Line according to the nature of the garb. Thus the Partzufim may be great or small depending on the readiness of the soul of any given Partzuf to receive from the Line within it.

From the discussion in this and the previous Openings, you should understand that there are three aspects to the Sefirot: (1) the vessels; (2) the mental powers; (3) the inner and encompassing lights. The vessels are the different levels of the Residue – the laws that exist after the concealment of perfection. Through the inner and encompassing lights, Eyn Sof is found on all the different levels. The mental powers are the garments (of the Line) and are made to suit each Partzuf depending on what it is. It is through these mental powers that Eyn Sof, blessed be He, connects with and governs each one according to its particular nature, as discussed above.

The mental powers include a Nefesh, Ruach, Neshamah, Chayah and Yechidah in their own right. The Chayah and Yechidah here are not the same as the encompassing lights of which we spoke in connection with the “inner and encompassing lights” (see Opening 28), for otherwise, various passages in the writings of the ARI would be completely contradictory. However, I will not expand on this now, because it is something that is quite evident in the passages which refer to the mental powers and those which refer to Eyn Sof, blessed be He, and the encompassing level.

I have explained here the way to resolve the contradictions, and everything should therefore be clear. For the lights have their own individual way of spreading forth, and thus they reach the Partzufim in the same way as discussed there, be it in the “garb” of Wisdom or the “undershirt” of Understanding.

In the prophetic vision, the Partzufim thus appear with their mental powers together with the Line, which is the inner essence equal in all of them.

It was rooted in the Tzimtzum that the government of the universe should follow its course until the end. This means that flaws can exist, but in the end, everything will return to the final state of repair, when the true essence of God’s unity will be seen. In accordance with this pathway, the axiomatic law was instituted that would eventually bring about the formation of a realm of existence based on good and evil – “God made also this one against this one” (Ecclesiastes 7:14). This means that the entire array of the Sefirot was to unfold on all their levels with all that they generate, all with a view to bestowing good, while a created realm was to be brought into being that would involve every kind of defect and lack of goodness. This is called the Other Side. The intention is that the power to bestow good should gain sway, until every flaw returns to a state of repair, and then the true essence of God’s unity will be known.

Until this point we have discussed what happened when the path of limitation was first introduced and how it is bound up with the Unlimited. From this point on we will discuss how things developed thereafter, and how the totality of the Residue became divided into different parts in accordance with what had already been prepared. We will now discuss the first axiom of what developed, which is the overall law that governs everything that exists from here and below.

The proposition consists of three parts: Part 1: It was rooted in the Tzimtzum... This explains what was embedded from the outset in this first act of Tzimtzum in accordance with what was destined to develop from it. Part 2: In accordance with this pathway... This explains what develops out of this root. Part 3: The intention is... This explains the purpose of all this.

Part 1: It was rooted in the Tzimtzum that the government of the universe should follow its course until the end. This means that flaws can exist...

You have already heard that the only intention of the wisdom of the Kabbalah is to understand the government of the Supreme Will and for what purpose He created all these different creatures, what He wants from them, what will come at the end of all the cycles of the universe, and how all these strange cycles are to be explained. For the Supreme Will Himself already calculated the entire cycle of government ending with complete perfection. When we speak about the Sefirot and the worlds, we are explaining these calculations and measures.

As you have already heard, the Tzimtzum was the first measurement calculated by the Supreme Will in order to create all His creatures. We have already called this the Place of all the worlds, and as we have also said, this Place is sufficient for the whole of existence. He therefore surely calculated from the very outset what this existence would be, and He made the Place accordingly, sufficient for all of it.

This calculated measurement constitutes the pathway of boundaries and limits which, as already explained, was subsumed within Eyn Sof. Afterwards it came forth in the form of the Residue in this Place. The act of limitation, which made it possible for independent creatures to exist, is called the Place, while the revelation of the realm of limits – existence itself – is the Residue left from the Light of Eyn Sof.

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.

The end of the matter is that there is not a single limitation or other accident that we can possibly ascribe to Eyn Sof, blessed be He, except that He is the Master of all. The natural world that we see and experience with our eyes and other senses was made by Him just as it is, with all the sense perceptions to which it gives rise. But He is in no way subject to the limits of any order or law. Whenever we say that something would not have been possible without a certain given factor, what we mean is that, according to the way of gradation and measure, it would have been impossible otherwise (see Etz Chayim, Igulim VeYosher 11b).

Thus it is true to say that the way of gradation and measure made it impossible to bring forth the lower worlds directly from Adam Kadmon, for example, in order for them to receive this light. For according to the way we understand the nature of graded measure, it is not possible for a lowly creature to receive the light of the Supreme Keter. But all this is after we know that Eyn Sof wanted graded measure. If Eyn Sof had not wanted this, He could have done it any way He chose.

Accordingly, the first thing to be understood about the government of the worlds is that it depends on gradation and measure. This is the first foundation that Eyn Sof, blessed be He, willed, and the Place was made according to this will. The very fact of the Tzimtzum itself shows that He wanted gradation and measure, for if not, Eyn Sof, blessed be He, could have made the lowest of all creatures according to His will without any Tzimtzum whatever.

On the contrary, the Tzimtzum is the first foundation of what we are explaining. Since He wanted to contract Himself in order to bring forth creatures, clearly He wanted to put the light on a level corresponding to what was to be born out of it. That is why He removed His limitlessness from here, bringing forth the Place that came forth – the pathway of government by gradation and measure, though certainly, if He had not contracted His light, He could have brought His creatures into being from elsewhere.

If so, we may say that the roots of graded, measured government lie in this Place. But that the Place of the created realms and beings should be one of gradation and measure, as opposed to one that follows some other pathway, is rooted in the Tzimtzum itself. On the basis of what we have explained here, you can understand that, had it not been for the Tzimtzum, even though this Place was included in Eyn Sof in potential, it would not have emerged in actuality. If so, the Tzimtzum was the cause of the Place, yet it could have come into being in some other manner.

(2) The second thing that we have to know derives from the first. This is that the degree of the actual Tzimtzum itself is what made the Place the way it is. What this means is that, even following the pathway of limitation, the world could have been made differently. For the All-Powerful certainly includes everything, and thus a variety of different possible kinds of places could have been brought into existence for the lower realms, all included in the All-Powerful.

If so, only that which the All-Powerful wanted to leave from among all the different hypothetical possibilities actually remained as the Place made for the lower realms and beings. And how was it that this remained? That which He did not want to exist departed, including all these possible places that He did not actualize. If so, we may say that the Place that remained was determined by the measure of that which He removed.

Had He removed more, the place would have been less than it is, yet the worlds would still have existed. Had He removed less, the worlds would have been greater, but they would still have existed. If so, it is the degree of the Tzimtzum that makes things go they way they go now.

If we seek a reason for this degree of Tzimtzum, we could answer: “And God saw all that He made, and behold it was very good” (Genesis 1:31) – we cannot speculate about this, for it is outside the bounds of our knowledge, as explained earlier (see Openings 14-15). Nevertheless, it is possible to give a satisfactory answer even to this, namely that the Supreme Will knew that turning evil back to good would only be applicable under a graded, measured order and not under some other kind of order.

...that the government of the universe should follow its course until the end. For under the present order, everything is based on choice, reward and punishment, with all the associated flaws and defects. This is certainly the result of the Tzimtzum, where the origins of strict judgment lie rooted. Afterwards Eyn Sof, blessed be He, will want to bring the evil back to good through the revelation of His unity. However you should not think that the latter is a new path that will come into existence only later. The underlying principle here is: “There is nothing at all new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). From the very outset everything was prepared in this way. Eyn Sof, blessed be He, calculated the entire governmental order the way it would truly be from beginning to end. Even though the repair itself appears to be the very opposite of the Tzimtzum and what resulted from it, the truth is that He calculated it this way from the very outset and produced the Tzimtzum accordingly.

This means that flaws can exist... This is bound up with the concealment of perfection that I have mentioned. Since Eyn Sof, blessed be He, is the ultimate perfection, it is quite impossible to ascribe any deficiency whatever to Him, for if there were any possible deficiency in Him, His perfection is sufficient to negate it. The negation of any possible deficiency is intrinsic to Him because of His axiomatic perfection.

However, His ability to negate any possible deficiency remained potential as long as there was never an actual deficiency that His perfection would have to negate. Until an actual deficiency came into existence, we would have had no clear knowledge at all of how that perfection operates to negate all deficiencies, for the light is only discernible out of darkness. As long as we do not know what deficiencies the darkness causes, it is impossible to know the good and perfection caused by the light. In order to demonstrate this clearly in actuality, it was necessary to produce a work in which perfection is invisible. Then all the deficiencies found within this concealment would become visible, so that with hindsight we can know the deficiencies which the primordial perfection negated.

This is the key to understanding the Sefirot as they appear within the Residue. The Sefirot constitute the governmental order of reward and punishment, and were made in accordance with the concealment of perfection. It is because of this that the flaws and defects exist in actuality, since they are contingent on the fact that the government is subject to the rule of strict judgment, and the bestowal of good hangs in the balance because there is a barrier which impedes it. This is not so in the case of perfection, which has no impediment whatever.

...but in the end, everything will return to the final state of repair… For the existence of flaws and defects when perfection is concealed provides clear and complete proof that perfection must be their remedy, since without the concealment of perfection they did not exist. Even now in the encompassing Eyn Sof – the place of perfection – they do not exist, while in the place from which He is concealed, they do exist.

However, we must say that the knowledge of His perfection is still not complete. For although we have actually seen the flaws and defects and proved that His perfection is what rectifies them – since they do not exist in Him – we have not seen the actual repair and how it proceeds. Thus the intention is that flaws and defects should exist, as explained above, but that at the very end they should be brought back to a state of complete repair. In retrospect, His perfection will then be known completely.

...the final state of repair... Here is the answer to why the flaws and deficiencies continue for so long. Sometimes a state of repair is evident, after which things deteriorate and it turns out that perfection is still not visible. But the truth is that from the first days of the world, the wheel has been turning towards one point only: the final perfection that will eventually reign.

So far this perfection has not reigned at any time or on any occasion. On the contrary, the way of the cycle is to come near to ruin, then near to repair, then after approaching repair, to return to destruction and deficiency. So far perfection has not arrived to do what is in its power. Only the final repair – which is the destined redemption, may it come soon in our days, and all that will follow in its wake – will be the complete revelation of perfection, when evil will revert to good.

After this perfection, there will be no flaws or deficiencies, for the wheel will be at rest from its movement and the truth will have been clarified. From then on will be the time of delight: to delight in the truth that has been clearly manifested.

This is clearly proven by the fact that every time we thought the world was approaching a state of repair and that perfection was operating or starting to operate, the repair affected only Israel. But the nations of the world continued their rebellion, and the world remained in a state of ruin. There was still death, there was still impurity, and there was still an evil inclination. True perfection means there will be no more flaws and deficiencies, and everything will be rectified.

Thus in time to come even the nations of the world will be rectified. The Bible explicitly states loud and clear: “On that day, Israel will be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth” (Isaiah 19:24). “For then I will turn to the peoples a pure language...” (Zephaniah 3:9). Even the animals will be rectified: “And the wolf will dwell with the lamb…” (Isaiah 11:6).

“They will not do evil and they will not destroy...” (ibid. v. 9). As for death: “He will consume death for ever” (ibid. 25:8). As for impurity: “I will remove the spirit of impurity from the earth” (Zechariah 13:2). As for the evil inclination: “And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).

These are examples of the function of perfection, where evil itself reverts to good. However, all the earlier good times were caused by the function of the Sefirot in the mode of reward and punishment. In this mode, everything is evenly balanced. Either the Side of Holiness can hold sway over the Other Side, so that the Other Side is subdued and unable to cause harm, even though it does not actually revert to good but is tied up like a dog on a leash; or, Heaven forbid, the Other Side can hold sway and perpetrate the worst evils in its power.

However, this is not called the function of perfection but rather the function of concealment, which in any event does contain some aspect of God’s actual unity. This is why we said that the good times came about through the influence of these mental powers. For it is through the mystery of these mental powers that unity is to be found even in the time of concealment, because these mental powers are the force that is the strongest, nearest and most closely related to perfection.

However, perfection itself will function only in time to come, when “Torah will come forth from with Me” (Isaiah 51:4) – meaning that a new level of Torah will come forth from God (see Vayikra Rabbah 13:3). This means that initially the only aspect of the Torah that was given was that which is bound up with the building of the cycle itself, a radiation of God’s unity to keep the world in existence.

However, in time to come the Torah will be given from its supreme Source, which is the unity functioning as what it truly is in itself. For this reason, after this there will be no more flaws and deficiencies at all.

It could be objected: How can we say that the concealment itself contains some aspect of unity? Surely the purpose of the concealment was to manifest all possible deficiencies, and to show how they can all be completely rectified only through His perfection, in order that His perfection may be known in actuality rather than merely in potential. But if He wants to be revealed in some aspect within the concealment, this means that He does not allow the imperfections complete rein, with the result that in the final repair His perfection is not completely known.

The answer is that the concealment cannot make what certainly exists cease to exist. No matter how many flaws and defects you can think of, His existence, blessed be His Name, is intrinsically necessary. If so, it is impossible to conceive of any deficiencies except after the initial axiom that God certainly exists. All you can say is that He is concealed and that this is why the defects emerged, but His existence is a certainty.

If so, even within the concealment itself, one thing remains enduring: His existence and the existence of His perfection – for they are one and the same. This is what sustains the world and prevents it from being destroyed, for any other existence besides Him is inconceivable. But God is perfect goodness. If so, it is inconceivable that there is any evil that is not in some way subject to perfect good.

This can be clearly proved. For if evil were in complete control without being subject to any other power, it would have to be called a domain in itself. However, since we know that the existence of Eyn Sof, blessed be He, is intrinsically necessary, there is no place at all for complete evil to be in control. Even if you think of all the evil in the world, it is impossible not to postulate the existence of a domain of goodness that necessarily exists and therefore holds sway over this evil.

It follows that evil cannot gain total power to destroy the entire world. However, this necessary existence can be concealed as much as God wants. Yet His existence cannot be nullified, and it is therefore impossible for the world to be destroyed. Even within the concealment itself, His unity cannot be negated.

A further objection could be raised: If the Torah derives from the unity revealed even within the concealment, why was the Torah not given immediately as soon as the world was created? The answer to this is that the Torah which derives from the unity that exists necessarily even within the concealment is the Seven Commandments of the Children of Noah, which were given to Adam (Sanhedrin 56b). As for the knowledge of the Torah itself, there were Tzaddikim in every generation who had knowledge of the Torah (see Yoma 28b).

However, this revelation of unity clearly does nothing more than prevent the world from being destroyed, but it allows the Other Side to perpetrate all the evil in its power. Nevertheless, this revelation can become even stronger, and therefore initially there were only seven commandments, for it is impossible for there to be less than this; but afterwards the revelation did indeed become stronger and the Torah was given.

To summarize: Everything that has happened until now derives from the turning of the wheel of reward and punishment under the government of the Sefirot, where either Kindness is dominant while Judgment is inactive, or the opposite, God forbid. Therefore either the Side of Holiness prevails and the Other Side is subdued but still remains evil, or God forbid the opposite. This is what Eyn Sof, blessed be He, wanted for the sole purpose of showing all the flaws and deficiencies that can exist – in order to show afterwards how they are all rectified.

However, the final redemption – may it come quickly in our days – is brought about through the eventual function of perfection. The revelation of this perfection will rectify all the flaws and deficiencies that He wanted to be seen. For this reason, the perfection will be complete and there will be no more flaws and deficiencies afterwards. This is the meaning of the words of the Tikkuney Zohar (Tikkun #70, 127a): “At the time when HaVaYaH rises up from the Throne of Judgment and from the Throne of Compassion, there will be no punishment or reward.” This will be when His unity is roused into action, but this is not the place to discuss this at length.

...when the true essence of God’s unity will be seen. As discussed already, the purpose of all this is to show clearly in actuality all that lies within the power of the supreme unity.

Part 2: In accordance with this pathway... As discussed earlier, the Place that came into being in all its aspects corresponds directly to the degree of the Tzimtzum....the axiomatic law was instituted... This means that it was the rectification of the Residue to form worlds and structures that was prepared, and the rule of good and evil was instituted, as I will presently discuss.

...that would eventually bring about the formation of a realm of existence based on good and evil... What this means is that good and evil as such were not revealed there immediately but rather, that a certain path unfolded in such a way that eventually, the rule of good and evil emerges. Let me explain this whole matter: We know that there is such a thing as an opposite and something else that is divergent.

What is truly evil is the Other Side and all that results from it, namely every kind of ruin. This is literally the opposite of perfection. On the other hand there is something which diverges from perfection and is incompatible with it but which is not its complete opposite. This applies to all those deficiencies which are not actually evil in themselves but which lead to a steady deterioration until evil emerges. However, as long as we have only a deficiency and not actual evil, we cannot call it the opposite.

Nevertheless, this did not immediately cause the worst possible deficiency, which is the opposite of perfection, as we said above. What it did was to cause deficiency after deficiency, gradually, stage by stage. Each one was a further divergence from perfection until finally, total deficiency emerged, the very opposite of perfection – the Other Side. Initially the power of Judgment caused only the slightest of all deficiencies, the first concealment, which was the concealment of perfection.

Nevertheless, great light, abundance and illumination remained, and this is the ultimate that the most perfect of creatures can attain. Afterwards, the power of Judgment caused a greater concealment, leaving a weaker radiation than the first. So it went on, causing concealment after concealment. Each further concealment brought about new consequences.

Even the second concealment did not cause actual evil and destruction but only a diminution of radiation. In this way things descended from level to level, with one concealment after another and one deficiency after another, until actual flaws appeared and then evil emerged, as will be discussed below.

Thus as soon as the Tzimtzum came about, it brought into existence this power to cause deficiencies, which would eventually produce evil. Indeed, this power was central in all the acts that followed the Tzimtzum, standing ready to descend and spread forth from level to level until actual evil emerged. However, since the intention was not only to produce evil, it did not immediately bring forth the evil that is the opposite of perfection. In fact, the intention was to produce good and evil together. For this is the difference between perfection and imperfection: perfection is entirely good, while imperfection can include good and evil. Perfection consists of nothing but perfection, while that which is deficient may involve many deficiencies, each one worse than the other.

If you think about it carefully, you will see that this comes from the fact that the opposite – total evil – was not brought into being at once. Initially there was only a certain concealment of perfection. What remained of the perfection that was not completely concealed was good, while what was lacking from the initial perfection was bad. With the first concealment, a great deal of the initial perfection remained, while the deficiency was minimal.

We could even say that there was no actual deficiency but only a preparation that would eventually lead to the development of evil, inasmuch as there was now a state of concealment, whereas evil would not have developed from perfection at all. Thus, as stated earlier, there was as yet no deficiency but only a state of concealment. Afterwards a second concealment occurred, but even so, much of the initial perfection remained while the deficiency was still minor.

Thus it descended level by level. Each time, what remained of the initial perfection became less and less, for this is precisely what the concealment caused, until in the end, only a modicum of the initial perfection remained, while the deficiency was so great that actual evil started to develop. Nevertheless, what is able to emerge from it is only the beginning of evil. With further intensification of the concealment level by level, the deficiency eventually becomes so great that actual evil comes into being, this being the very opposite of perfection, as stated above.

Thus we find here two things that exist on all the different levels. The first is the Line of Measurement, which is what causes successive degrees of concealment. The second is the existence of good and evil, which are what is left of the initial perfection depending on the degree of the concealment and the extent of the deficiency. You must understand that the deficiency caused by the Tzimtzum is what is called the root of the roots of evil.

In the end, when the deficiency becomes completely overwhelming, the result is that evil becomes manifest. Thus we see that the Tzimtzum is the root of the axiomatic law that eventually brings into being a realm based on good and evil. This law consists of what remains of the original perfection together with the deficiencies that came into being afterwards. What remained of the original perfection later brought forth the entire realm of holiness, which consists of the Sefirot in all their different aspects, while the deficiency brought about a new consequence, just as deficiency itself was an innovation. This new consequence is the Other Side, as we will discuss further below.