READING: BETWEEN AFTER MIDNINGHT AND DAWN WEDNESDAY

Baal HaSulam. Study of the Ten Sefirot. Vol. 1. Part 3. Chapter 6, item 4

Chapter Six

Explains how the Sefira of Keter contains two phases: 1. The last phase of Ein Sof, for example, Malchut of Malchut of Ein Sof, called Atik; 2. The root of the emanated beings, called Arich Anpin. Together they are called Keter. Containing four issues:

1. In the ten Sefirot, there are no more than four phases HB TM, and Hochma is the first. 2. Keter is sometimes counted in the Sefirot, and it is sometimes not counted in the Sefirot, and Daat is counted instead. 3. Keter is the median between the Emanator and the emanated being, containing two phases: A. The Emanator, for example, Malchut of Malchut of Ein Sof, called Tohu and Atik; B. The emanated being, which is the root of the emanated beings, called Bohu, or AA. 4. Similarly, Malchut of Malchut of the world of Atzilut is Atik in the world of Beria.
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There are no more than four phases HB TM in every emanated being, and Hochma is the first Sefira in the emanated being.

1. We will now speak once more of the upper worlds. After we have explained the allegory, we will now explain the lesson. The lesson is made of four rudiments only ₍₁₎, being the four letters HaVaYaH, namely Hochma, Bina, Tifferet and Malchut, and that is why Hochma is first.

Inner Light

1. He wishes to say that the allegory he introduced, that there is a median phase between each two phases, you should not take from it to the lesson—that this is why there are five phases in the upper ones, meaning four phases and a median phase. He warns and says that the upper ones have no more than four rudiments: fire, wind, water, dust, which are the four letters HaVaYaH.

It is so because the median phase is not counted among the four phases. And the ARI concludes, “and that is why Hochma is first.” It indicates that no phase is counted prior to that, for the median phase, namely the spark of the Creator, is Ein Sof, which is not counted in the degree.

Also, the spark of the created being, called Yechida or Keter, it has been clarified that its essence is only the root of the four phases HB TM (see chapter 5, item 20). Hence, the beginning of Yechida is phase one too, called Hochma, which is why there are only four letters in the name HaVaYaH, and there is no letter there that designates the Sefirot of Keter.
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Keter is sometimes counted among the ten Sefirot and is sometimes not, and Daat is counted instead.

2. You should also understand what is written, that Keter is always the highest phase ₍₂₎, which is not included in that world. It is like the crown of a king, which is above his head and not a part of him. Hence it is not regarded as a part of the Sefira, and Daat, mentioned in Sefer Yetzira (Book of Creation), is counted instead. However, sometimes we do count it in the ten Sefirot. It will be explained by our earlier words that there is a median phase between each and every two phases. It is similar to what nature scientists have written and the Rambam wrote in the beginning of the verse, “Now the earth was Tohu [unformed] and Bohu [void].” He also wrote in Sefer HaBahir [The Book of the Bright One], that before He created the four rudiments, He created one substance, called primordial. This is something that is prepared for acquiring the form of the four rudiments later on, but it does not clothe in any form whatsoever. Because it precedes the Tohu, it is called “nothing,” as in “They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.”

Inner Light

2. It refers to the spark of the Creator that is clothed in the Keter, being Ein Sof, which is not at all the Partzuf itself.
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Ein Sof is called nothing. Following it, Keter is called Tohu, and following it Bohu, which consists of four rudiments‎.

3. The thing is that Ein Sof is called “nothing” because there is no perception of it. It has no substance ₍₃₎ and no form ₍₄₎. After that comes Tohu, which is the Keter ₍₅₎, and after that Bohu, which consists of four rudiments HB TM.

Inner Light

3. (See Table of Questions, Part 2, item 26). The will to receive in the emanated being is light that became coarse and it is the entire substance of the emanated being, from which his vessels of reception were formed. It is certain that there is nothing whatsoever of that will to receive in Ein Sof (see Inner Light, Part 1, chapter 1, item 50).

The ARI wrote, “Ein Sof is called ‘nothing’ because there is no perception of it. It has no substance,” meaning the will to receive, and it is known that there is no attainment in the light without a vessel.

4. The four phases HB TM are called “four forms” because they are degrees one below the other, which form in the substance of the emanated being (see Inner Light, Part 1, chapter 1, item 50), but all this is not in Ein Sof.

5. Meaning in the median between the Emanator and the emanated being because it contains the roots of the four forms of the emanated being in potential, but not in actual fact.
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Tohu contains the four rudiments of the emanated being, potentially, not actually‎.

4. Explanation: It is necessary to have a median degree between the Emanator and the emanated being, for the distance between them is as between heaven and earth. How can one shine in the other‎ and how can create one create the other when they are two ends, if there is no median between them that connects them, and be a phase that is close to the Emanator and close to the emanated being? This phase is Keter, called Tohu ₍₆₎, for it contains no rudiment and is therefore not implied in the name HaVaYaH at all, only in the tip of the Yod. However, it is a median, since Keter is like the prior substance, called primordial, containing the roots of all four rudiments in potential, but not in practice. It is called Tohu because it perplexes humans’ thoughts, and they say: “We see that it is formless, yet we see that it is an emanated being ₍₇₎ and has the potential of all four forms ₍₈₎.”

Inner Light

6. It means that the four phases HB TM are also called “four rudiments,” for there is no phase of them in Tohu.

7. It means that it has already left the Emanator, which is Ein Sof, called “nothing.”

8. Meaning the four phases HB TM, also called “four forms.” However, they are there only in potential, but not in actual fact. Bohu is the spark of the created being, containing the roots of the actual phases, which is the expansion of Ein Sof to make vessels by striking on the screen (see Part 3, chapter 1, item 1).

The four phases of direct light that expanded from Ein Sof are clothed with reflected light that rises from below upward, and the self of Ein Sof is clothed in this reflected light as the Rosh of a degree. However, these vessels are called “Roots of Vessels” that are not completed until after their expansion below the screen.
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Keter might be called an emanated being in relation to Ein Sof, and in relation to the emanated beings, he is the Emanator.

5. It turns out that we can call it Ein Sof and Emanator, as is the opinion of some Kabbalists, that Ein Sof is the Keter, but we can also call it emanated being, because Ein Sof is certainly greater than it. This is why the sages warned regarding it, “Do not ask about that which is beyond you.” However, it is all we can speak of, for the Keter is the median between the Emanator and the emanated being. The reason for it is that it is the last phase in Ein Sof. It emanated one phase ₍₉₎ that contains the root of the entire ten Sefirot in concealment and great subtlety. In fact, the emanated being cannot be subtler than that, for Tohu, which is above it, there is nothing more but the absolute zero ₍₁₀₎.

Inner Light

9. Called Bohu, for it is already called the Rosh of the degree.

10. Relates to the beginning of matters, meaning that the very last phase in Ein Sof is called Tohu.
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Keter contains two phases: the last phase of Ein Sof, which emanated a second phase, which is the root of the emanated beings.

6. Thus, this phase has two degrees: The first is the lowest and the most inferior among all the phases of Ein Sof. It is as though we say, as an allegory, that it is the phase of Malchut in Malchut, although it is not so, since there is no image or a Sefira there whatsoever; we only say so for the purpose of clarity. That lowest degree in Ein Sof contains all that is above it and receives from everyone, as it is known that Malchut receives from everyone. This low degree emanated the second phase, which is the highest degree in the emanated beings. It contains the root of all the emanated beings and bestows upon all of them. Thus, the smallest in all of the Emanator emanated the finest of all the emanated beings, and there is no other degree between them whatsoever because beyond that Emanator, there is no emanated being closer and more similar to Him than this one.
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The phase of the Emanator in Keter is called Atik and the phase of the root of the emanated beings in Keter is called Arich Anpin.

7. These two phases are actually one phase called Keter. With respect to phase one in her, some Kabbalists called it Ein Sof, and with respect to phase two in her, some Kabbalists called it Keter, counted as one of the ten Sefirot. However, our opinion is like neither, but rather that it is a median phase between Ein Sof and the emanated beings and has a phase of Ein Sof and a phase of the emanated beings. These two phases are called Atik and Arich Anpin, and they are both called Keter.
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The last phase of Atzilut, being Malchut of Malchut of Atzilut, became Atik in the world of Beria and clothed in AA in Beria.

8. It is written elsewhere that Malchut in Malchut in the world of Atzilut that clothes the Rosh of Beria, which is Keter, called Arich Anpin, is Atik of the world of Beria.