Les Nombres 25:10 Cabale : Sefer Etz Chaim, Pardes Rimmonim & Chesed LeAvraham

Regarding Ein Sof, Blessed be He. How did the beginning of the emanation of the worlds from Him (which are greater than us) occur, and also a great inquiry and enormous dispute arose among all the Kabbalists, for there are those who wrote that the Ten Sefirot are like a hierarchy of ten levels, one above the other, while others argue that they are arranged in a descending order. And there are those who wrote that their arrangement is in the form of lines - right, left, and center - and they are: Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet in the right line, Gevurah, Hod, and Netzach in the left line, and Da'at, Yesod, and Malkhut in the middle line. And many sages will speculate and say that they are in the form of circular wheels, one within the other, and this one encompasses and surrounds that one. And behold, anyone who looks into the words of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in the book of the Zohar and the Tikkunim, as well as in the Sefer HaBahir (by Rabbi Nechunya ben HaKanah), will find various and interchangeable statements in their words, leaning here and there. The later Kabbalists (struggled with this) and could not (fully) understand them because a great and powerful question arises in their words, since the Ein Sof is equal in all aspects of perfect equality, there is no justification for elevating or lowering it, because all these arrangements indicate the rhythm, boundary, limit, and measure of the light of the Ein Sof, which passes through all spheres and emanates from one to another, as mentioned in the Zohar, Parshat Behar, verse 109, and in Parshat Pinchas, verses 206-207, as well as in the introduction to the Tikkunim, page 4. And above all ascents, there is no Godliness upon it, nor beneath it, nor to the four sides of the world, and it fills all worlds, and emanates from every side, as mentioned in the Zohar, Parshat Naso, verse 124. Therefore, since all the sefirot are closely related to the Ein Sof, and all receive light from it, what is the difference between them, and how does each sphere elevate from its connection with the others, since all the levels are equal, as well (explained) in the Sha'ar HaYichud VeHaEmunah, chapter 4? And behold, the truth is that both of these explanations are the words of the Living God, and they are all correct for one who understands them properly. However, the difference between the two explanations is whether they are in their proper order, where one level is higher than the other, or whether they are arranged in a line. This matter will be explained further later, with the help of God, regarding the world of points, how before their correction they were in their proper order, one higher than the other, but after their correction, they were in the other explanation, and were arranged in three lines, as well. Indeed, the difference between the two explanations, whether they are in straight lines or circles, will be explained in detail in this section. Pay attention to the following points and you will understand everything, because both explanations are correct and true. In terms of the Ten Sefirot, the first one is in the form of ten circles within each other, and there is another aspect to them, which is that they are straightforward in three lines, like a human figure with a head, arms, legs, and a body. I will explain this fully in the following sections, and this is their clarification.

5. Behold, when the light of the Infinite is drawn in the aspect of a straight line into the aforementioned void, it does not immediately extend and spread downwards. Rather, it spreads slowly, meaning that initially the line of light began to spread there, and immediately at the beginning of its spreading, in the mystery of the line, it spread, extended, and became like a single circular wheel around. This circle was not attached to the light of the Infinite that surrounds it from all sides, for if it were attached to it, the matter would return to the way it was and would be nullified in the light of the Infinite, and its power would not be seen at all, and everything would be the light of the Infinite alone as at first. Therefore, this circle is close to the circle of the Infinite but not attached to it. The main connection and attachment of this emanated circle with the emanating Infinite is through that aforementioned line, through which descends and extends light from the Infinite and influences that circle, and the Infinite surrounds and encompasses it from all sides, for it too is in the aspect of a circle around it and distant from it as mentioned, for it is necessary that the illumination of the Infinite in the emanations be through that line alone. For if the light were drawn to them also from all their surroundings, the emanations would be in the aspect of the emanator himself, without limit and boundary, and not only that, but even that line is very thin and not in great expansion, so that the light drawn to the emanations be in measure and boundary, for this reason the emanations are called ten measures and ten sefirot to indicate that they have measure and boundary and a fixed number, unlike the Infinite, and as it says in the Holy Zohar, Parshat Pinchas, the thirteen countings of the Shema etc., but that which has no measure and no known name like the aspect of the sefirot etc., for every sefirah has a known name and measure and boundary and domain, and by the line being thin, it will draw to them influence according to their need only, in proportion to their being emanations and not more than necessary in proportion to their being emanators. And behold, this first circle, which is most attached to the Infinite, is called the crown of the Ancient of Days, and then this line spread further and extended a little and returned to circle and became a second circle within the first circle, and this is called the circle of wisdom of the Ancient of Days. It spread further downwards and returned to circle and became a third circle within the second circle, and this is called the circle of understanding of the Ancient of Days, and so on it went, spreading and circling until the tenth circle, which is called the circle of kingship of the Ancient of Days, thus the matter of the ten sefirot that were emanated in the mystery of ten circles, one within the other, has been explained, and all of this is in the aspect of the ten inclusive sefirot in a general way, including all the aspects of all the worlds. However, it is clear and simple that many kinds of worlds were emanated, created, formed, and made, thousands of thousands and myriads of myriads, and all of them are as one within the aforementioned void, and nothing is outside of it. And behold, every world and world has in it ten specific sefirot, and every specific sefirah and sefirah in every world and world is comprised of a hundred specific specific sefirot, and all of them are in the form of circles, one within the other, and this within that, without end and number, and all of them are like onion layers, one within the other, according to the image of the wheels as mentioned in the books of the craftsmen. And behold, the aspect that connects all the circles together is the matter of this thin line that extends from the Infinite and passes and descends and extends from circle to circle until the end of all of them as mentioned, and through this line extends the light and the influence needed for each and every one of them, and thus the aspect of the circles of the ten sefirot has been explained.

And what there is to arouse in this saying is [first] the lengthiness of its expression, and the repetition of the subject in not [very] different words. In his saying ‘right arm with left thigh, Chesed with Hod’ etc., [even] if we, until now, had not heard that the two arms are: Gedolah the right arm, Gevurah the left arm, and [about] the two thighs that they are: Netsach the right thigh, Hod the left thigh, why is there need for this lengthiness in the explanation of the plain matters? Second [note]: Essentially he could have used a short and clear expression in his saying [, such as]: ’“my myrrh with my balsam”, Chesed with Hod. “my honeycomb with my honey”, the pillar of the center with Malkut. “my wine with my milk”, Gevurah with Netsach. And he could have kept quiet about thighs and arms, so that there would have been no need to explain them afterwards. Third [note]: that essentially this saying [is] in parasha Pinchas (Zohar III.241a/b), as thus he said: ‘and in the first recension’, explanation: in the Zohar, because that is the book that precedes this [book/saying]. And there in parasha Pinchas he does not lengthen, nor in whole nor in part, but [gives] only the first part of the saying. And it says thus: ‘“I have mixed my myrrh with my balsam”, right arm with left thigh. “my honeycomb with my honey”, Jacob with Rachel. “my wine with my milk”, left arm with right thigh’ – until here the citation. And although he adds there [that is: in Raya Mehemna, Zohar III.244a] to the subject of harmonizing [that] the special name “my myrrh” is Chesed, and “my balsam” [is] Netsach as we will explain, nevertheless he does not further add to the subject of clarification of the words. And one needs to find out why he does not use this relation here [Zohar III.241a/b]. Fourth [note] on his saying ‘Jacob with Rachel’. And he does not say ‘body [= Tifer’et = Jacob] with the female [= Malkut = Rachel]’, the limbs in the same way and with the same treatment as the limbs which he assigned to the other Sefirot. Fifth [note]: After he goes down to the explanations of his works in what he says: ‘And they are, etc, it would have been fitting to say: ‘right arm with left thigh, Chesed with Hod’, as this is the normal order, and not to let the explanation precede the [original] text [that needs to be explained] by his saying ‘Chesed with Hod, right arm with left thigh etc.’, and similar for them all. Sixth [note]: And what difficulty does he find in: ‘And why are there two of his attributes here’. And what is difficult [is] that sometimes Netsach is suckling from Gevurah and similarly Hod from Chesed, but most of the time Netsach is suckling from Chesed and Hod from Gevurah. But sometimes it occurs, because of the assimilation and influencing that Netsach is suckling from Gevurah, and Hod from Chesed. And therefore each one is composed of them all, so that they all consent to a single action and a single emanation. And therefore is it possible that the two opposites become equalized, even Gevurah with Chesed. And we will explain that Rashbi, of blessed memory, found difficulty in the scriptural verse, because it was proper for it to say: ‘I mixed my myrrh and my balsam, I ate my honeycomb and my honey, I drank my wine and my milk.’ Why [does the verse use the words] “with” [instead of ‘and’], because it [appears to be] superfluous? And to this he answered that there above the verse that is before us (what is printed in parasha Wayikra, page 4b and further) he said: ‘”My myrrh with my balsam”, Chesed with Netsach. “my honeycomb with my honey”, Gevurah with Hod. “my wine with my milk”, body and covenant.’ [I did not find the exact citation but a slightly longer paraphrase in Zohar III.4a].