הקדמה

44. “Within those gates etc.”Within those gates there is one lock, and one narrow place through which to insert that key. It is inscribed and recognizable only by the inscription of the key, [meaning] that it, that narrow space, is known through that key alone. And it is written with regard to this secret: Bereshit bara Elohim (“In the beginning [God] created,” [Genesis 1:1]). Bereshit is the key in which everything is hidden, and it is that which closes and opens. Six gates are incorporated in that key, which closes and opens. When it closes those gates and incorporates them within itself, then it is certainly written: Bereshit, a revealed word within a sealed word, and in all places Bara is a sealed word, which indicates that the key closes and does not open.

Explanation: The lower heh in the apertures of the eyes is called a “lock,” since it locks the lights of the first three [sefirot] so that they cannot illuminate in the partzuf, as long as [the lower heh] is positioned above, in the apertures of the eyes. He states: “Within those gates, there is one lock, and within that lock there is one narrow place,” i.e., the Yesod in the lower heh, which is the forty-ninth gate of the vessels, as the lower heh itself is Malkhut of Malkhut, the fiftieth gate, whereas Yesod of Malkhut is the forty-ninth gate, “through which to insert that key.”1This was explained more extensively in the previous two sections. The “key” enters the Yesod of the lower heh, and it is the coronet of Yesod of the brains2Note the distinction of the Yesod of Malkhut and the Yesod of the brains. The latter is the key which unlocks the former. that brings down the lower heh from the apertures of the eyes to the mouth, and the partzuf is opened to the lights of the first three. This is why the coronet of Yesod is called a “key.”

[Rabbi Ḥiyya] then states: “It is inscribed only by the inscription of the key; it is known through that key alone.” The “key” is the coronet of Yesod of the brains, and it enters its corresponding aspect in the lower heh, which is Yesod of Malkhut, as stated. The “lock,” which is the lower heh, is inscribed to hide and lock the first three “only by the inscription of the key,” which rules over the lower seven [sefirot] of Bina (Yisrael Sabba and Tevuna). However, [the key does not enter the lower heh] itself, the lower heh that rules over the first three [sefirot] of Bina, which are the Abba and Imma Ila'in, which are always regarded as a complete first three [sefirot].3This refers to the fact that the lower heh, the Malkhut, does not repel the lights of the first three sefirot of Bina in its ascent to Bina in the second constriction. This is because the lights of the first three of Bina are the light of giving, not the light of Ḥokhma. Likewise, the “lock” is inscribed to open only by [the key of] Yesod of the brains.

The result is that “it is known through that key alone.” This “knowledge” means the drawing forth of brains, and he is saying that the brains were drawn forth only in the aspect of the “key,” i.e., in the lower seven [sefirot] of Bina. It is here that the “key” operates, the coronet of Yesod. However, in the place of Abba and Imma Ila'in, which are the first three [sefirot] of Bina, where the “key” does not operate, but only the lower heh itself, they remain in a state of "unknown." This fully clarifies how despite the fact that with respect to the lower heh itself, “it is unknown whether it is above or below,” as stated above [section 43], nevertheless it is still enough to be known for the sake of Yisrael Sabba and Tevuna, since through [the "key"] there is an opening of the brains of the first three. In Yisrael Sabba and Tevuna, there are only yod-heh-vav without Malkhut, and the coronet of Yesod serves as a partition instead of the Malkhut.4This was also explained in the preceding two sections. The Yesod of Malkhut stands in for Malkhut of Malkhut, which is the lower heh that ascended to Bina. The brains which bring down the lower heh from the apertures of the eyes to the mouth, also serve only in the partition of the coronet of Yesod, because [there is no need for these brains in the partition of the lower heh], as there was no closing and deficiency of the first three [sefirot] at all in the lower heh that would need to be opened. This [lack of deficiency in the first three is] because [the lower heh] operates in Abba and Imma (father and mother), who always [possess] the [aspect of the] first three, as stated.

Since the entire concealment and closing occurred only in the aspect of the coronet of Yesod, which operates in Yisrael Sabba and Tevuna, the result is that only the coronet of Yesod of the brains is the “key” to bring down the lower heh from the eyes to the mouth, i.e., only in the delicate vessels, which are fashioned with the force of the partition of the coronet of Yesod, like [those brains]. This is why he concludes that “it is known through that key alone,” meaning, the brains reach only the vessels of Yisrael Sabba and Tevuna that emerge from the aspect of the “key,” [which is] the coronet of Yesod. [The brains do not reach] Abba and Imma, which are from the aspect of the lower heh, Malkhut of Malkhut, the essence of the lock.

[Rabbi Ḥiyya] continues: “Bereshit is the key etc.” That is, the word Bereshit, which is Ḥokhma, incorporates within itself only the aforementioned “key,” which is merely the coronet of Yesod, the forty-ninth gate of the [the aspect of] vessels. It does not incorporate the fiftieth gate of the vessels, which is Malkhut of Malkhut. He thus states: “Bereshit is the key in which everything is hidden,” i.e., everything is blocked with [the key] in the phase of immaturity. “And it is that which closes and opens,” as it closes all the brains in the phase of immaturity, while the lower heh is in the eyes, and opens [the brains] in the phase of maturity, to bring down the lower heh from the apertures of the eyes to the mouth. The ramification of this is that this is why the opening of Ḥokhma (which is alluded to in the word Bereshit) is only for the six extremities of the levels, which are of the aspect of the vessels “of that key” (as stated in section 41, above, third paragraph; see there). However, the brains of Bereshit do not illuminate for the first three of the partzufim, since their vessels are not from the aspect of the “key” but rather from the aspect of the lower heh, as stated.

Accordingly, [Rabbi Ḥiyya] states: “Six gates are incorporated by that key, which closes and opens,” as the first three [sefirot] of the brains are lacking from it, and it opens only the lower seven [sefirot] of the brains, such that each of the lower seven [sefirot] only contains six extremities, and they are seven partzufim of six extremities. Thus, the “key,” i.e., the seventh sefira, the coronet of Yesod, contains within it only six gates. This is the meaning of the statement: “Six gates are incorporated in that key, which closes and opens,” indicating that it draws only [the aspect of] six extremities of brains.

[Rabbi Ḥiyya] then states: “Bereshit, a revealed word within a sealed word, and in all places Bara is a sealed word.” In other words, Bereshit represents Ḥokhma, which is “a revealed word,” but when it states Bereshit bara, this means that the Ḥokhma is hidden and sealed. He says [that] “Bereshit [is] a revealed word within a sealed word” because it is followed by the word bara, “and in all places Bara is a sealed word.” Thus, Bereshit bara means that the Ḥokhma is sealed. The implication of “closes and does not open,” is that the Ḥokhma is closed and not yet opened.