Our tradition, particularly Kabbalah, offers some fascinating, and sometimes startling, answers. to a concept that might sound a bit strange at first: the Nekudim. Now, you might think of the Nekudim as just another rung on the ladder leading up to Atzilut, the world of emanation, the closest we can get to understanding God's direct influence. But what if they're something else entirely?

The Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, a key text in understanding Kabbalistic thought, suggests just that. It tells us the Nekudim aren't a step towards Atzilut, but something… different.

Think of it like this: Remember those "flashes" and "sparks" that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai talks about in the Zohar (II, 254b)? The Zohar, that mystical masterpiece, is full of secrets, and this is one of them. It's a powerful image.

Imagine a craftsman, hammering away at a piece of metal. Each strike sends out sparks, little bursts of light and heat that separate from the main body. These aren't part of the finished product; they're byproducts, cast aside as the craftsman shapes and refines the metal.

This is how we can understand the Nekudim.

Atzilut, then, is where the "Supreme Mind" – think of it as the divine intellect – takes the raw potential, the "Likeness of Man" in its most mysterious form, and begins to establish it, to give it form and foundation. But in that process, something has to be removed, discarded.

So what’s being discarded?

Evil.

That's right. The Nekudim, those flashes and sparks, represent the aspects that needed to be separated out, the impurities that couldn't be integrated into the pure emanation of Atzilut. It's a radical idea, isn't it? That evil isn't some external force, but rather something that's inherent in the process of creation itself. It's the slag, the waste product of divine artistry.

It’s not a comfortable thought. It challenges us to think about the very nature of good and evil, and how they're intertwined in the unfolding of the cosmos. It suggests that even in the highest realms, there's a process of refinement, of separating the wheat from the chaff. And perhaps, that's a process that continues within us, too, as we strive to become more refined versions of ourselves.