AYIN BEIS | Existence Unplugged

Chapter 28 (part 1): Dual Nature of Light (Kav)

Short Summary

The dual properties of the kav — finite and infnite, structure and transcendence.

Long Summary

[This chapter concludes the discussion that began in chapter 18, that the kav, (according to the opinion that it is) rooted in the finite energy, is only revealing what was concealed in the ten hidden sefirot (and not a new entity), because the tzimtzum in the kav was only a form of diminishment, not total concealment, like that of the infinite energy].

Thus there are two tzimtzums allowing for the emergence of the distinct sefirot: 1) The tzimtzum of the infinite energy within the finite energy, which is total concealment (siluk), allowing for the finite energy to emerge. 2) The tzimtzum of the finite energy, which separates the individual sefirot from being all joined together as one, allowing for each specific sefirah to manifest. Because the root of the energy of the sefirot is in the finite energy (of the ten hidden sefirot), this tzimtzum is only one of diminishment (miyut), the chochma of the revealed conscious sefirah is fundamentally one with chochma as it stands in its hidden unconscious state, yet it can only emerge after a diminishing of the energy.
Based on this we can understand how the kav (according to the opinion in this discourse) is only revealing what was concealed in the ten hidden sefirot (and not a new entity), which was only diminished. But compared to the infinite light — the synergistic transcendent energy (which needed to be totally concealed) — the kav is like a new, infinitely distant, entity.
And yet, even as the the infinite energy is totally concealed from the finite energy (of the ten hidden sefirot), an impression (reshimu) of the infinite energy remains, and is somewhat revealaed, in the finite energy, and is in turn passed on to the kav. [This impression is not the same reshimu that remains in the letters after the tzimtzum — the root of the finite power of the containers, which is completely concealed]. One can say that this impression is the transcendent consciousness of chochma (explained in the note in Tanya ch. 35).
According to this — that the kav is both finite energy and also has the impression of the infinite — we can understand (also according to the opinion discussed here that the kav is rooted in the finite energy) the dual nature and antithetical properties of the kav: The kav not only defines the parameters of existence, but also connects and unites all the detailed components of the structure.

Hebrew Text

prueba prueba prueba prueba

Concepts

Hidden sefirot; Malchut of Ein Sof

Citations

The Map of Existence — Internal Energy (chapters 1-48)
Ten Hidden Sefirot (chapters 18-28)

Sources

Two tzimrzums – Maamorei Admur Hazokon Ketzorim p. 440. Inyanim p. 45. Ohr HaTorah Inyanim p. 103.