הקדמה

40. “Bereshit, Rabbi Yudai etc.”Bereshit (“In the Beginning,” Genesis 1:1) – Rabbi Yudai said: What is [the meaning of] Bereshit? It means in Ḥokhma. This is Ḥokhma upon which the world, which is the mystical meaning of Ze’er Anpin, stands, to enter into the supernal, hidden secrets, i.e., into the light of Bina. Here are engraved the six great, higher extremities, which are the six extremities of Bina, from which everything emerges, and from which six origins and streams are formed, which are the six extremities of Ze’er Anpin, to bring them into the great sea, Malkhut. This is bara-shit [“created six”], which is alluded to in the letters of Bereshit, as the six extremities were created from here. Who created them? The one who is not mentioned; that hidden one who is unknown, Arikh Anpin.

Explanation: There are two [types of] Ḥokhma in Atzilut: a) The primordial Ḥokhma, which is the Ḥokhma of Arikh Anpin, and which is called the sealed Ḥokhma; b) The Ḥokhma of the thirty-two paths, which is the Bina that ascends to the head of Arikh Anpin, where [that Bina] becomes Ḥokhma in order to give to Ze’er Anpin.1The ascent of Bina to the head of Arikh Anpin allows Bina to serve as a channel for the light of Ḥokhma to reach Ze’er Anpin. This process is discussed extensively in the commentary of the Sulam in previous sections (see section 16 and onward, for example). Thus, [Rav Yudai] states: “What is Bereshit? In Ḥokhma.” Reishit [beginning] is the name of Ḥokhma, not the primordial Ḥokhma of Arikh Anpin, but rather the “Ḥokhma on which the world stands,” i.e., the Ḥokhma of the thirty-two paths on which the world, which is Ze’er Anpin and Nukba, stands, from which [the world] receives and through which [the world] is sustained. This is not the case for the Ḥokhma of Arikh Anpin itself – Ze’er Anpin cannot receive anything from it and the world was not created through it. Therefore, Bereshit bara (“In the beginning [God] created,” [Genesis 1:1]) refers to the Ḥokhma of the thirty-two paths, which is Bina that returns to become Ḥokhma by means of her ascent to the head of Arikh Anpin.

[Rav Yudai] then says: “To enter the supernal, hidden secrets.” When the Ze’er Anpin and Nukba, which are called "the world, " receive from the Ḥokhma of thirty-two paths, they ascend to Abba and Imma Ila’in, and this Abba and Imma are called “the supernal, sealed secrets.” He thus states: “This is Ḥokhma upon which the world stands, to enter the high and sealed secrets.” “Stands” means the attainment of brains.2When Ze’er Anpin and Nukba attain the brains of the light of Ḥokhma, the world "stands, " stable upon this sustaining divine light of vitality. He says, “this Ḥokhma" is the Ḥokhma on which the world,” Ze’er Anpin and Nukba, “stands,” as Ze’er Anpin and Nukba are sustained through the brains that they receive from [this Ḥokhma]. [Ze’er Anpin and Nukba] thereby ascend to “the high and sealed secrets,” which are Abba and Imma, and enclothe them, i.e., [Ze’er Anpin and Nukba] become like Abba and Imma, since a lower [level] that ascends to a higher [level] becomes like [that higher level].

[Rav Yudai] continues: “Here are engraved the six great, higher extremities, etc. this is bara-shit,” since Bereshit has the same letters as bara-shit, referring to shit sitrin, the six extremities. He is saying that the “great, higher” six extremities were engraved with this Ḥokhma and all [things] emanate and emerge from them, in the mystical meaning of the verse: “In wisdom [Ḥokhma] You have made them all” (Psalms 104:24). For the Ḥokhma referred to here means the Bina that was ejected from the head of Arikh Anpin, in the mystical meaning of “the father took out the mother on account of the children,” and the father himself is established as a kind of male and female. This means that Ḥokhma of Arikh Anpin, and likewise the Abba (father) of Atzilut, were themselves established as a kind of male and female as a result of the ascent of the Malkhut to the place of Bina. This caused the Bina itself to eject from the head of Arikh Anpin and from the Abba, and become of the aspect of the body of Arikh Anpin, without a head. While [the Bina] is positioned in the body of Arikh Anpin, it cannot not receive from the first three [sefirot] of Arikh Anpin and becomes of the aspect of six extremities that lack the first three (see above, in the Marot HaSulam, section 2, third paragraph). Thus, the Bina was carved and became “six extremities” without a head. This is the meaning of his statement here: “Here the six great, higher extremities are engraved, from which everything emerges,” since through the Ḥokhma of the thirty-two paths, which is Bina, six extremities without the first three [sefirot] were carved, due to the departure [of Bina] from the head of Arikh Anpin. Subsequently, by means of the feminine waters from the lower [beings], [Bina] returns to the head of Arikh Anpin and receives the first three of Ḥokhma from Arikh Anpin, and [Bina] transmits to Ze’er Anpin and Nukba, who transmit the shefa to all the worlds [below]. Thus, all the worlds emerge from these “six extremities” that were carved in Bina. The reason why [Rav Yudai] calls them “the six great, higher extremities” is because they are from Bina, in the manner of the letters of Bina, which are called “great letters.”3In the preceding sections, entitled "the Letters of Rav Hamnuna Sabba, " the letters corresponding to Bina are called "great letters."

He then says: “From which six origins and streams are formed, to bring them into the great sea.” The engraving of “six extremities” while the Bina is outside of the head of Arikh Anpin, is called “six origins,” as they are only the origins of the brains of Ze’er Anpin. Subsequently, upon the return of [Bina] to the head of Arikh Anpin, they become the brains of the first three [sefirot], which are called “streams” for Ze’er Anpin. They then become “six streams,” in the mystical meaning of the verse: “He will drink from the stream on the way; thus will his head be raised” (Psalms 110:7), and then the Ze’er Anpin transmits them to “the great sea,” meaning to the Nukba [of Ze’er Anpin>>]. [Rav Yudai] thus says: From which,” i.e., from the six extremities, the six great, higher extremities of Bina, “six origins,” which are the six extremities of Ze’er Anpin of immaturity, “and streams,” i.e., the brains of Ze’er Anpin, “are formed, to bring them,” that is, to transmit, “into the great sea,” which is the Nukba. The reason why the six extremities of immaturity of Bina are called “origins of minds” is because the Bina emerged to become the six extremities of immaturity only in order to be a source for transmitting brains to Ze’er Anpin and Nukba. Had Bina not emerged, [Ze’er Anpin and Nukba] would not have been fit for any brains, as stated.

He adds: “This is bara-shit, as they were created from here.” “Created” refers to six extremities without a head, since the word “created” means sealing, as explained below. Accordingly, two matters are alluded to here by the word Bereshit: a) Ḥokhma, as reishit [beginning] denotes Ḥokhma; b) Bara-shit, which teaches that “six extremities” without a head were created from Ḥokhma, the origins of brains for Ze’er Anpin and Nukba which are called world, and they are the seven days of creation.4The six sefirot of Ze’er Anpin and the sefira of Malkhut embodied by Nukba correspond to the seven days of creation.

He concludes: “Who created them? The one who is not mentioned; that hidden one who is unknown.” Since the word bara is in Bereshit itself, who created [bara] this?5The language of bereshit bara (in the beginning [he] created) implies the presence of a hidden subject performing the act of creation. Rav Yudai is answering the implicit question of "who engaged in this act of creation?" To this, [Rav Yudai] states that it is “that hidden one who is unknown,” the sealed Ḥokhma of Arikh Anpin, since [Arikh Anpin] removed Bina from his head and made [Bina] into six extremities, as he created these “six great, higher extremities” that are alluded to in Bereshit.