הקדמה

63. “And that sealed word etc.”And that sealed word that was innovated here, in this world, when it ascends it connects to those words of the Atik Yomin, ascending and descending with them, and enters eighteen concealed worlds, which “no eye has seen it, God, aside from You.” They emerge from there and wander, and they come full and whole, and present themselves before the Atik Yomin. At that time, the Atik Yomin smells that word, and it is more pleasing to him than anything. He then takes that word and crowns it with 370, 000 crowns, and that word of a new innovation in the Torah wanders, ascending and descending, and one firmament is fashioned from it.

Explanation: At the time of the ascent of the Nukba to the Atik Yomin, [the Nukba] is incorporated in the [fusion through collision] that is there. [The Nukba] raises returning light and draws direct light from the Atik Yomin. “Ascending” means that [the Nukba] raises returning light from below upwards. “Descending” means that [the Nukba] draws the direct light from above to below, at which point [the Nukba] receives the aforementioned wisdom of the loftiest, concealed secrets. When he says “with them,” this indicates that [the Nukba] is incorporated with the returning light and the direct light that are in the Atik itself.

[The Zohar] continues: “And enters eighteen concealed worlds, which ‘no eye has seen it, God, aside from You. ’” This [fusion through collision] that is performed in the Atik also takes place upon the Yesod of Atik that is there, and it is also “the righteous one who lives for eternity,” like Yesod of Ze’er Anpin at its ascent to Abba and Imma Ila'in, as stated above. The difference is that regarding Yesod of Atik, “no eye has seen it, God, aside from You.” The [fusion through collision] of Yesod is performed on the partition in the mystical meaning of collision. [This collision] raises the returning light in order to enclothe the direct light, as is known. Now below, in the Abba and Imma (father and mother), the partition is considered like wings that cover the supernal light when [the supernal light] is rebuffed backwards. This indicates that [the wings, an aspect of the partition, ] contain the force of judgment, as this is the mystical meaning of how every returning light is called “light of judgment.”1The partition restricts the flow of the direct light downward, preventing it from entering the receiving vessel. This is associated with the concept of judgment, which represents the idea of boundaries and restrictions.

[However, ] this is not the case for the Yesod of Atik, regarding which it is stated: “Your Teacher shall not hide Himself any more etc.” (Isaiah 30:10). Although the partition raises returning light from below upwards, the aspect of wings is not present. [This Yesod of Atik Yomin] is therefore called “eighteen concealed worlds, which ‘no eye has seen it, God, aside from You. ’” In other words, [at that level, there are no longer wings there that cover [it] from a foreign eye, since there are no judgments there, but “no eye has seen it, God, aside from You.” Understand this well. For the level that is from below upwards is called “concealed,” yet it is in the form of “no eye has seen it etc.”2The point here is that although there is a partition giving rise to returning light, in this environment that returning light does not operate with the aspect of judgment. This is because the area of Atik Yomin and above is beyond any current conception (no eye has seen it), and so cannot be "judged" or restricted based on the lower levels.

[The Zohar] continues: “They emerge from there and wander, and they come full and whole.” [The phrase] “they emerge from there” means [they emerge] from the mystical meaning of the [fusion through collision] upon the partition, which is called “eighteen concealed worlds, which ‘no eye has etc. ’” The term “wander” means that [the partition] raises the returning light from below upwards. “They come” means that the direct light is drawn down from above to below, and then they are “full and whole,” filled with direct light, from the wisdom of the loftiest, concealed secrets. They are “whole” with respect to the returning light, as it contains no judgments but is entirely complete mercy, equal to the direct light. They then “present themselves before the Atik Yomin,” as they are ready to enclothe the Atik Yomin.

[The Zohar] continues: “At that time, the Atik Yomin smells that word, and it is more pleasing to him than anything.” “Smells” is the mystical meaning of contentment of the spirit, since this great and lofty [fusion through collision] brings exceedingly sublime contentment of the spirit to the Atik Yomin. This is because every single one of the worlds and all of their merit are then incorporated in the Nukba. This is the meaning of the statement: “And it is more pleasing to him than anything [mi-kula],” because that contentment comes to [Atik Yomin] “from all [mi-kula],” from all of the worlds at once, since this is the utter perfection, and the height upon which the worlds were created.

[The Zohar] continues: “He takes that word and crowns it with 370, 000 crowns.” That is, [Atik Yomin] then bestows upon [the Nukba] the sublime brains of Atik himself, which are Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut, each of which amounts to one hundred thousand, since the sefirot of Atik are one hundred thousand each, as stated. However, the difference is because of the upper thirty of Ḥokhma, as there it is the mystical meaning of: “He was the most honorable of the thirty, but did not attain to the first three” (see II Samuel 2:23). In other words, even though [the Nukba] also receives and is honored by the first three [sefirot] of Ḥokhma of Atik, which are the upper thirty thousand [of Atik Yomin], as stated earlier, nevertheless, the Nukba cannot actually ascend and enclothe these thirty thousand themselves. The reason is that if [the Nukba] were to enclothe those thirty thousand as well, the Nukba would be nullified within him, like a candle before a torch. Therefore, [the Nukba] receives from the Atik only 370, 000 crowns, that is, four hundred thousand minus thirty thousand, for that stated reason.

[The Zohar] continues: “that word wanders, ascending and descending, and one firmament is fashioned from it.” “Wanders” means that it flies upwards; “wanders, ascending” means that it raises returning light from below upwards. “And descending” – with the returning light that it raises, it descends with direct light from above to below. 3The ascent of returning light as vessels for the direct light allows the descent of the direct light from above to below the partition, to the lower levels. “And one firmament is fashioned from it” – by means of the enclothing of the direct light by the returning light, one firmament is fashioned there. For after the [fusion through collision] is performed upon that partition, which was established in Malkhut in order to raise the returning light that reached the Nukba through good deeds [of the created beings] and feminine waters (which the [created beings] raised in order to bestow contentment upon their Maker, as stated) – [the partition] becomes a firmament through which the righteous attain that height of fusion that was performed upon [that partition]. 4This refers to the spiritual attainment of the righteous through this process. They attain the spiritual height corresponding to the structure of brains that they evoke in the supernal structures described here. The idea is that when the level descends to the righteous through the firmament, [the level] is enclothed in a garment that is drawn from that firmament, which is an aspect of the returning light that inverts from the firmament to below, 5Meaning, the returning light which originates below and ascends upward, enclothing the direct light. together with the direct light from the firmament and above. Thus, [this height] is available for the attainment of the righteous who are enclothed in one another.

The meaning of this is as follows: Those righteous who have merited that wholeness, to raise feminine waters for that lofty fusion, no longer have any aspect of receiving for their own needs. The feminine waters that they raised was [purely] in order to bestow, not to receive. Consequently, with their good deeds and the [resulting] feminine waters, the [righteous] rectify the partition of the Nukba, rendering her fit for this great fusion. The fitness [for the fusion] itself is the mystical meaning of the returning light that ascends from the partition of the Nukba upward, since anything that ascends from below upwards is the mystical meaning of bestowing, and the rebuffing of receiving for oneself. Then the fusion through collision with the supernal light is performed, and the supernal light is enclothed in a garment of ascending returning light.

Now, the light that descends from above to below, and which is enclothed in returning light, comes to be received by the lower one, that is, for that righteous person who raised the feminine waters, because when anything comes from above to below, this means that it comes to be received. Since the supernal light passes to the lower [level] through the firmament, [the supernal light] takes with it the aspect of the clothing of the returning light from the firmament, and the lower [righteous person] receives the supernal light within this garment. This means that even after the height comes to be received by the lower one, [that person] only benefits from the supernal light that descends to him according to the measure of bestowal of contentment upon his Maker, that is, according to the measure of the clothing of the returning light, which enclothes the supernal light. This is considered “receiving in order to bestow.” [The righteous person] does not receive anything if it does not include a bestowal upon his Maker. Therefore, the receiving [of the supernal light] is enclothed within the bestowal [upon his Maker], direct light in returning light. This is why [the Zohar] emphasizes that “that word wanders, ascending and descending, and one firmament is fashioned from it.” In other words, [the word] is received by the lower [beings] only through the firmament, that is, [the supernal light] with its enclothing garment, as stated.