Introduction to Sulam Commentary

The Middle Line That Is above the Two Lines40. However, there is a version of the middle line that is above the two lines. This takes place in the three heads of Atika, with the unknown head mediating and uniting the two lines, the right and the left, which are the two heads, Keter and the sealed Ḥokhma60The Ḥokhma of Arikh Anpin is described as sealed because it doesn't reach the lower levels in any direct form. As the previous sections have explained, the entire process of the rectification of lines allows for the illumination of Ḥokhma to reach the lower created beings. However, this ultimate illumination is only a reflection of the pure light of Ḥokhma that is manifest at the highest reaches of Atzilut. of Arikh Anpin, which are below the unknown head (as explained in Idra Zuta, p. 15, s.v. “veyesh peirush,” and p. 27, s.v. “biur”).61In this instance of the three lines, the mediating middle line is above the lower lines of right and left. The author of the Sulam explains elsewhere (in the Idra Zuta) that this highest version of the three lines, serving as the root for the rectifications taking place in the lower levels, does not have the same constrictions as the lines in the lower levels. Accordingly, the middle line here, the “unknown head,” is able to include the right and left into a unity. In the lower levels, in contrast, the partition of ḥirik is required, as the Sulam explains. Although these three lines were established to be the root of the three lines, in all three lines apart from these, the middle lines comes from below, as explained.

There are thus three aspects to the rectification of lines:

a. The rectification of lines in the three heads of Atika, in which the middle line is above the two lines, as stated above.

b. The rectification of lines in the first three,62The first three, the upper component of each level undergoes a “milder” form of rectification of lines, since that level does not need any illumination of Ḥokhma. This is the meaning of the second kind of rectification mentioned here. The third kind refers to the lower half of each level, which are levels of Ze'er Anpin and the six extremities. These types of levels require the illumination of Ḥokhma, as explained in previous sections. in which there is no revelation of Ḥokhma even in the left line (as stated in section 26 above).

c. The rectification of lines in the seven lower sefirot, in which there is a revelation of Ḥokhma in the left line (as stated in sections 27 – 39 above).