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This series is a continuation and should be read in order. If you are not familiar with previous posts you may have trouble understanding later ones.
And now Chapter 11 Summary
Just as there are three levels in the process of revelation from the essence of the soul, so too, by way of analogy, there are three levels in the revelation of the Divine Light for creation out from the Essence of the Infinite Light.
The first is the Essence of the Infinite Light Itself as It is one with G-d and hidden within His Essence. At this point there is no actual existence of light only that G-d in His perfection possesses the ability of emanating light to reveal Himself exactly as He is. Therefore, being that G-d is absolutely infinite and perfect, His light is also infinite and perfect and includes within Itself the potential for any revelation, included, but not limited to, the ability to emanate the ten Sfiros. At this point all of the particular revelations are included within the essence of the Infinite Light in the manner of an essential heyuli, and so there can not even be said to be a unity of separate parts, but rather one simple entity. This is the level called Yachid.
Next, is the level where G-d chose - in general - to reveal Himself outwardly by creating man and a world to house him, so that G-d could bestow His kindness upon man by choosing to rule over man as his King. Thereby, having chosen man as His subject, this would give man the opportunity to have a connection to G-d by fulfilling His commands, working to building a world where G-d could reveal His very Essence to man in a way that man would be able to receive this revelation without becoming nullified into his source. In addition, G-d chose to make man and the world where he would dwell out of particularly the ten Sfiros and so out of the essence of the Infinite Light was brought out a general Light, which was composed of the power for the revelation of the ten Sfiros. At this point the general Light of the ten Sfiros can be said to be composed of ten individual lights and powers that are joined together to form one general whole. This is the level refereed to as Echad where the ten Sfiros can be said to unite as one in a simple unity.
In the second level there is not yet any limitation as to the particulars of how this desire is to be fulfilled, only the general desire for the end product. Therefore, the second level is still too infinite to even be a source to create a particular world for it possesses the potential for an infinite number of different worlds, courses of history and for an infinite number of different souls. Before the creation, however, there has to be a decision of all of the particulars of the hishtalshellus, which will lead up to the fulfillment of the original desire and will.
This choice of G-d’s where He estimated all of the particulars for the fulfillment of His will in actuality is the third level in the Infinite Light before the tzimtzum and it is called Kadmon [preceding], because it is within this Light that G-d preceded within Himself all of the details that were destined to be in the revealed Hishtalshellus.
However, even this third level is completely hidden within G-d’s Essence, still only the choice of G-d’s as to how He wishes to create the world. Therefore, this is all still within the Essence of the Infinite Light as it is before the Tzimtzum, meaning that it is a revelation of Himself to Himself and is called the ‘Upper Purity,’ because it is only Him and His Name alone. In order for there to be a revelation of something that is perceived as outside of His essence - i.e. creation - it is necessary for there to be a Tzimtzum that allows for a change of the essential nature of the light from a revelation of the Infinite Essence of the Creator to a revelation of limited created beings. This change being comparable to the change from the spiritual to the physical, when the soul comes into the body or when the spiritual power of growth comes into the plant. In each of these cases and similarly in the analog of the Infinite Light, the original light is completely hidden leaving only an impression of the original light and the new light that is revealed is called a new light in relation to the original light before the Tzimtzum - Lessenning, for it outwardly has no relationship to the old light. So too the entire general Light of the Kav, (line of light) which is the source for the entirety of creation comes only from an Impression of the original Light. The concept of the Tzimtzum and the Reshimu [impression], which was left over will be explained in following Chapters.
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The material in this series is copyrighted by Rabbi Yossi Markel