BINAH: MAIN READING OF THE WEEK – THE ZOHAR BOOK

Main Reading for PRAYER OF MANY, today with ENGLISH ZOHAR READING, page 133.

ARVUT OF : Robin Anderson

The white background is a plain, indistinguishable and thereby imperceptible
Light (by us). Whatever we can distinguish may only be expressed by restricting
the diffusion of this white color. The forms and degrees of its restriction are
called letters. That is why we see black outlines on white background, and attain
only the black restrictions.
We can describe the diffusion of Light in the worlds using attraction and
restriction of the Light. And these two forces must act simultaneously. Similarly,
when we perceive something in our sensory organs, we only sense it by way of
restriction, as the object’s surface or a light wave collides with our sensory organ,
which restricts its expansion, and can thereby perceive it.
The spiritual roots of the forms are as follows: A circumference originates
from the first restriction of the Light in the world of Ein Sof (Infinity), the
first restriction on the diffusion of Light. Since this restriction was equal and
uniform, it assumed the form of a circumference.
A vertical line, length without width, signifies that the notion is unattainable
by us, and is therefore called a “thin line” of the diffusion of the Light of Hochma.
The Light of Hochma can only be received with the help of the screen in Malchut,
which creates Returning Light that clothes the Light of Hochma. Therefore, the
Upper Light that comes to the Kli is called a line.
A horizontal line, width without height: when a vertical line—the diffusion
of the Light of Hochma from Above downwards—collides with the screen, their
collision (of desires) compels the vertical line to shift into the horizontal line (to
the right), resulting in a shape of the English letter L. Its width is determined by the
force of the Returning Light that ascends from the screen from below upwards.
A rectangle is formed by the interlacing of the descending Light of Hochma
and the Returning Light: five vertical descending lines—five Sefirot of the Light
of Hochma and five horizontal lines from right to left—five Sefirot of the Light
of Hassadim. The size of the rectangle’s side is called Amah, consisting of five
parts—Tefachim (plural for Tefach). (Both Amah and Tefach are distance measuring
units.) This is why we describe the Kli as a rectangle.
The two kinds of diffusion of Light, the Light of Hochma and the Returning
Light, are called the right and the left cheeks, respectively, which turn into the
upper and the lower lips. Since, after the first restriction, the Light may not be
received in Malchut, the Returning Light is only received in four parts of the Kli,
not in five. This is why there are 4 x 4 = 16 teeth on the lower jaw and 16 teeth
on the upper jaw (The Returning Light stems from resistance, from “chewing”
the Light before receiving it inside).