You are already aware that this returning light that rises as a result of the fusion through collision from below to above and enclothes the ten sefirot of the supernal light is sufficient only to form the roots of the vessels, which are called the “ten sefirot of the head of the partzuf.”36The impact against the partition represents the receiving vessels’ rejection of the supernal light of the Giver.
This leads to the formation of a new receiving vessel: receiving in order to give. In the analogy that the author of the Sulam gave above, when the friend rejects his host’s offer of a meal, the rejection repositions him as someone who can now theoretically receive in order to give. This new status is only theoretical because the giving has not yet transpired, and the receiver is only now prepared to receive the gift from this new position.
When the friend ultimately receives the meal from his host in his new status as receiver in order to give, the vessels are then fully formed as actual receivers. The first modified state, in which the vessels are theoretically prepared to receive in order to give, is referred to as the “head” of the partzuf, the head being the seat of thought, representing the theoretical or conceptual, and the vessels are therefore referred to as “roots.”
The subsequent state in which the vessels are actualized as receivers in order to give is referred to as the “body” of the partzuf, body representing that which occurs in practice, that which is actual, and the vessels are then considered to be fully formed. In order to complete the vessels, the Malkhut of the head from among those ten sefirot of the returning light that enclothed the ten sefirot of the head expands and spreads itself downward from above to below,37The author of the Sulam emphasizes here that Malkhut “spreads itself” because in this case the author is referring to the formation of the head and body of one partzuf, as opposed to comparing two different partzufim, which are each already complete with a head and body.
In the formation of the partzuf described here, the author is describing the formation of a complete partzuf, where the head component expands and materializes as an actualized partzuf consisting of both head and body. in the same shiur koma as the ten sefirot of the head.38This term refers to the particular structure of lights and vessels of a given partzuf, and literally translates as “structural dimensions of height.”
The structure varies from partzuf to partzuf. As the author of the Sulam explains, higher partzufim have more vessels and more lights (described as taller partzufim), and lower ones have less of each (described as shorter partzufim). The system of these patterns will be explained in detail over the next sections. This expansion completes the vessels, which are called the “body of the partzuf,” as stated in section #14# above.
Thus one should always distinguish between two levels of ten sefirot in every partzuf: head and body. Keep this in mind.