הקדמה

43. “In that palace, there are etc.”In that palace, there are many hidden treasures, stacked atop each other. In that palace, there are gates – fifty of them – that are designed to seal off, i.e., they are fashioned so as to block the lights. They were carved in four directions, and were forty-nine gates, since one gate has no side and it is unknown whether it is above or below. For this reason that gate remains sealed.

Explanation: There are many kinds of [sefirot] of the “first three” – the first three of [the level of light of] neshama, the first three of ḥaya, and the first three of yeḥida. Each of these three kinds of “first three” contains innumerable details. This is the meaning of: “Many hidden treasures in that palace, stacked atop each other.” When the lower heh resides in the apertures of the eyes, all these levels are concealed and unknown.

[Rabbi Ḥiyya] then states [that there are] “gates – fifty of them – that are designed to seal off.” These “gates” are receptacles for lights, which can be in one of two states: a) When they are still “sealed off,” i.e., the gates are closed and sealed and do not receive anything; b) When the gates are opened and receive lights from the [level] above. He thus says: “Gates – fifty of them – that are designed to seal off,” as when the palace gates are in the closed state, they number fifty. However, when it comes to opening the gates, they are only forty-nine, as will be explained below. The concept of the number fifty is because the ten sefirot are essentially only five sefirot: Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut, but Tiferet incorporates six extremities so [together] they are ten. Consequently, when each of the five sefirot incorporates ten [sefirot], they are fifty.

“They were carved in four directions, and they became forty-nine.” As explained above, the closing and opening are not carried out in [the context of] the [full] lower heh, but only in the “key,” which is the coronet [of Yesod].1As explained in the previous section, the environment of the full lower heh does not undergo an opening from the sealing presence of the full Malkhut. Only in the six extremities, in which the Malkhut is that of the Malkhut of Yesod (the coronet) does the unsealing take place. Thus, the aspect of "carving, " [meaning] the carvings [of vessels] suitable for receiving [the lights], was not formed in all five sefirot: Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut, but only in the four sefirot: Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, and Tiferet, not in Malkhut, and four times ten is forty. However, Malkhut also incorporates ten sefirot, which are Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut, and thus [Malkhut] can also receive from the “key” to its first nine [sefirot], i.e., until the coronet of Yesod [of Malkhut]. Therefore, forty-nine sefirot are carved out: Forty from the four sefirot: Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, and Tiferet, each of which is comprised of ten, and the first nine sefirot from the Malkhut that incorporates ten. The result is that only the Malkhut of Malkhut is missing.

“One gate has no side; it is unknown whether it is above or below. For this reason, that gate remains sealed.” This is the Malkhut of Malkhut, which is the fiftieth gate, the lower heh itself that descends from the eyes to the mouth at the time of maturity, as stated above. It was explained earlier that although the lower heh descends from the apertures of the eyes of Abba and Imma Ila'in to the mouth, and the [vessels of] ears, nose, and mouth [of Abba and Imma Ila'in] (together with Yisrael Sabba and Tevuna that enclothe [those vessels]) combine with the level of Abba and Imma into a single partzuf (as then the first three of the light are drawn into them) – nevertheless, the Abba and Imma Ila'in do not receive anything from the lights of the first three and they remain in a state of pure air alone, and it is as though the lower heh did not descend at all from the apertures of their eyes. It therefore follows that with respect to the first three [sefirot] of Bina, which are Abba and Imma Ila'in, it is not discernible whether the lower heh is still positioned at the apertures of their eyes above, since they remain only [containing] the light of giving as before, or whether the lower heh descended from the apertures of the eyes to the place of the mouth. [This latter option is implied since] the vessels of ears, nose and mouth of [Abba and Imma Ila'in] ascended [back to their place] along with Yisrael Sabba and Tevuna and they transmit the brains of the first three of lights to Yisrael Sabba and Tevuna. [This illustrates that] it is necessarily the case that the lower heh descended to the mouth. [Thus it is] the case that if we were to look from the perspective of Abba and Imma, it would seem to us that the lower heh is [still] above, in the apertures of the eyes, whereas if we were to look from the perspective of Yisrael Sabba and Tevuna, we would see it below, in the mouth.

This is the meaning of the statement: “One gate has no side,” i.e., the Malkhut of Malkhut, which is the essence of the lower heh; “it is unknown whether it is above or below,” since with respect to Abba and Imma, [the heh] is above, whereas in relation to Yisrael Sabba and Tevuna it is below. “For this reason, that gate remains sealed.” The consequence is that this Malkhut of Malkhut is not opened at all, and it remains as sealed as during the phase of immaturity, that is, before the descent [of the heh] to the mouth. The opening of the gates transpires only in Yisrael Sabba and Tevuna, where the lower heh is lacking and the coronet of Yesod operates in its stead. However, in the Abba and Imma, where the lower heh [itself] does operate, they remain sealed from the first three, as before.

[Rabbi Ḥiyya] thus states: “For this reason, that gate remains sealed.” You must comprehend that although the fiftieth gate is the Malkhut of Malkhut, as stated, that is the case only with respect to the vessels.2Recall that there is an inverse relationship between the vessels and the lights. Since Malkhut of Malkhut is the lowest vessel, it inversely corresponds to the highest of the lights (the brains). In this case, since the lower heh blocks the higher lights of the brains off at a certain point, it is described as the corresponding light to the lowest vessel (as the author explains). However, with respect to the lights, it is considered the first three of the brains, as on account [of the Malkhut of Malkhut], Abba and Imma Ila'in remained in [the state of] the light of giving without the first three [of the brains of Ḥokhma], and the same applies to all of the higher levels (as stated in section 41 above, third paragraph). Thus, the sealing of the fiftieth gate causes the lack of the first three of the brains in all the levels, such that they contain only [the level] of the brains of the six extremities. You can thereby understand the statement of the Sages (Nedarim 38a) that all fifty gates of Bina were granted to Moses, apart from one. This is the mystical meaning of the lack of the first three [sefirot] of the brains, as stated. These first three of the brains will illuminate in the levels only at the completion of the rectification.