Pardes Rimonim Reader

And see, from scripture it is established that the creation of the heavens and their forces is through the fingers, which are other names for the Sefirot of the Supernal King.

And see, there are 10 fingers. And if this is so, the conclusion is that the Sefirot, with whom the worldwas created, they [are] 10. “Five opposite five”. There is a difficulty to it that Scripture says: “Further, My hand founded the earth, and My right hand measured out the heavens”(Isaiah 48:13). See, we find that the heavens are the work of the hand of G-d, which are five fingers, and they are only five Sefirot and not ten. To this he says: “Five opposite five”, because if the heavens are the work of a hand of G-d, and the earth is the work of a hand of G-d, we see that for sure the two of them together are ten [fingers], and this is “five opposite five”, five from the right hand and five from the left hand, the right hand for making the heavens, the left hand for making the earth. “and the single covenant corresponding in the middle”. There is a problem to it, as from this topic there is no necessity, because we could say that they [= the fingers] are five or that they are twenty. And factually there are twenty fingers, ten on the hands and ten on the feet, their sum [being] twenty. [And thus we could say about the Sefirot also]. What you could say [is] that the ten “fingers” that are on the feet, they are shadow and resemblance of the ten that are on the hands, and there are always only ten Sefirot, but that the allusion is that the ten Sefirot in [the world of] Beriah are shadow and clothing for the ten Sefirot that are in [the world of] Atsilut, as we will explain in the Gate of Atsilut, Beriah, Yetsirah, Asiya [Gate XVI], with help of HaShem. If thus, we might say that they are always only five, and the five left ones are shadow for the five right ones, and the Sefirot they are always only five, or the conclusion is drawn again and we might say that they are twenty. To this [= to avoid these interpretations] it is necesssary that the two of them are in one house, in his saying “and a single covenant” etc. And the general principle of the matters is, as we found unity and a unifying covenant between five and five, that we will find that the five right ones and the five left ones are one matter and one subject, that their sum is ten Sefirot. Which we did not find between the ten [fingers] of the hand and the ten on the feet, since we have seen that they are two [different] arrangements, each one [an arrangement] of ten, this one shadow and clothing of that one. And the harmonizers between five and five are the tongue - harmonizing between the fingers-, and the covenant of the genitals - between the ten that are on the feet -. And on the Sefirot, on the subject that they are “five opposite five”; in this matter the commentators have given two explanations. The first one is that the Sefirot are arranged in two arrangements. The first arrangement is: Keter, Chochmah, Binah, Gedolah, Gevurah, these are five, and they say that they are to direct the upper ones. And Tif’eret, Netsach, Hod, Yesod and Malchut, this is the second arrangement, to direct the lower ones. And although there is no subject telling [us] that they are to direct the upper ones nor to direct the lower ones, it is accepted among us. Nevertheless on the subject of the division of the Sefirot, they have aimed rightly, because this is the opinion of Rashbi, of blessed memory, in some places, especially on the subject of the Tefilin, because the four portions [texts in the compartments of the bayit] of the head are Chochmah and Binah, Gedolah and Gevurah, and [of the bayit] on the hand they are Tif’eret, Netsach, Hod and Yesod, thus its explanation in the Zohar (Parashat Vaetchanan, III.264a). And if these matters involve intense meditation, because it is written that the four portions are the four letters [of the Tetragram; see Tikkunei haZohar (Haqdamot) 3a], if this is so, it [then] follows for us that the Sefirot are divided into two arrangements according to the words of the commentators. And thus on the subject of the chariots in the Sefirot, its explanation in the Tikkunim (Tikkunei haZohar, Haqdamot 3; Tikkunei Zohar Hadash 111) [is] that the face of Adam on the throne is Chochmah(חכמה) [also spelt as] כח מה, power of What (מה), as the numerical value of Adam (אדם) [מה and אדם both have the numerical value of 45], the eagle [is] Binah, the lion Chesed and the bull Gevurah; this is the chariot up high. And below it is a second chariot, [where] the face of Adam [is] Tif’eret, and Netsach, Hod and Yesod [are] lion, bull and eagle [respectively] this is the second chariot. And upper Keter complements everything above, and Malkut complements everything below. See, this divides the Sefirot in two arrangements as we have mentioned. And besides these there are many [other] indispensable things [to mention], but we will not make it long [here] so as not to stray from what we intend.

And see, to comprehend this saying we need to introduce the subject that the Sefirot are ten from above towards below, ánd ten from below towards above, is as the resemblance of a spark of the sun coming and reaching a polished mirror, and the light turns and returns towards its source, similar the subject with the Sefirot, as they come from above downwards until Malkut, and there is the station of the light, and it returns to its source by way of journeys [= in stages], as just as they are ten from above downward, similarly then are ten from below upward, and we will this discourse in more length in its own Gate [Gate 15], with help of HaShem.

And see, this mystery is explained within the form of the [letter] א (Aleph), which is י (Yud) above, [and] י (Yud) below, to reveal the source of the light from above downward, and from below upward, and they [= the two Yud] are the upper waters and the lower waters, as we will explain in the Gate on the entries of the special names [Gate XXIII] in the entry ‘water’.

And see, the ו (Wav) that is between the two י (Yud) is Tif’eret, the one who unites the upper waters and the lower waters, and this is ‘the half-shekel’ which is situated exactly between the shekel which is the complete measure, the measure of Atsilut/Emanation: ten from above downwards and ten from below upwards, and it [the Wav/Tif’eret] is situated exactly between and the medium between the two Yud which are ‘twenty gerah’, the ‘shekel’. And now the meaning of the half-hin [the two “He’s”] and the meaning of the half-shekel are all one [and the same] matter. And [thus] the first contradiction is solved [the Wav is placed between two Yud]. ‘The stone to weigh with, it is a Yud’. Explanation: this stone has always the shape of י (Yud), which is called ‘stone’, and all ‘stone’ refers to the essence of Yud as we will explain in the Gate on the entries of the special names [Gate XXIII] in the entry ‘stone’, with help of HaShem.

See, in this holy passage [from the Zohar] he the Holy One, he [the Rashbi], of blessed memory, intended to depart on this height, as En Sof is exalted above its emanated entities, which need to take council, the lower from the higher, as it needs influx from its cause which influences on it, and therefore it says: “Let us make a human being”, as if to say: ‘You shall influence [on me] and I shall act, and a human being is found made by means of the two of us’.

But [even] the upper one still needs to be influenced by its cause, as [even] in its hand there is also no [total] ability. But blessed En Sof has no need to talk to what is besides it ‘Let us make’, but [only] “I, I am He, and there is no god/elohim beside me”, meaning to say: with assistance [that is] with me: not below, as it does not have its equal below it, and not above, as there is no above beside it, because it is above all emanated entities. And he [= the Rashbi] said: ‘cause for all those above’, ‘above those causes’.

He intended to clarify for us that the reason which is called ‘cause of causes’ is of two aspects. The first [aspect] he explained from the expression ‘ascent’, and the intention [is] that it is above all the upper ones. And the intention is not a spatial ascent - Heaven forbid! – as there is no spatial matter at all in Atsilut/Emanation, let alone in the Emanator, but the explanation [is] the reality of an upward ascent and the spirituality and the possibility.

And the second explanation [and aspect] is from the expression ‘cause’/עילה and ‘reason’/סיבה as it is cause and reason for all the causes that there are in reality.