Entries in the 'zeir anpin' Category

Keter – Hochma – Bina – ZA – Malchut

Dr. Michael LaitmanKeter and Bina possess such special properties that they can descend anywhere they wish to and work on the lowest desires. Bina is Hassadim (mercy), and Hassadim can dwell in any place, protected by their intention of bestowal in order to bestow. But how can Keter do the same if, beside Hassadim, it has Hochma (wisdom)?

The key is that Keter fills the desires and relates to everything from below upward. Hence, it is able to descend into any desires living in egoistic intentions, just as Bina, but for a completely different reason.

Keter is the property of the Creator who wishes to fill the entire creation, Malchut, to the fullest. It isn’t the Light of fulfillment, Hochma, but the plan of creation, its initial thought, its program. In a way, it determines what the Creator wishes for us in the very end: to elevate us to His status.

This is why the Sefira of Hochma is marked with the final point of the letter “Yod”: It is the program that begins to get realized, starting with the Sefira of Hochma and below. Hochma is the Light of the purpose of creation, and, below it, Bina is the Light of correction.

Thus, there is GAR, the three upper Sefirot related to the Creator: Keter is the program, Hochma is the purpose of creation, and Bina is the correction of the created being. Further on, the realization of the lower ones takes place. It is Zeir Anpin, the system which determines how the lower one should change and what sequence of acts is necessary for that. As to the lower one, which must change and undergo these modifications, it is Malchut. This is how the created being gets arranged from five parts.

And since Keter is the point of conception, the program of creation, the original idea, it is present in any place! After all, without this idea, nothing would exist, not even the tiniest of desires.

But in relation to the lower ones, Keter acts from below upward since it is aimed solely at elevating them to correction, even if it has to descend into the lowest Klipot (shells) and commit some transgressions on this journey. But after that, as The Book of Zohar describes, all of these problems and transgressions seem to have been correct actions to us, which we had to undergo because they helped us to see our final corrected state.

All of this is done by the Creator’s hand, and we ourselves haven’t made any mistakes, committed any crimes, or made any corrections. Hence, in all its behavior and treatment of the lower ones, Keter is above all limitations and restrictions. It is the thought contained in every particle of creation and its every action. Hence, it expands everywhere and works from below upward in order to connect all parts of creation and lead them to the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun).

Bina works in a different manner: It is the Light of Hassadim, the correction of the created being. Correction may take place in any condition and any place according to the desire of the lower one to be corrected and to receive the property of Bina, the attribute of bestowal. If you wish for it, you will get it, without a limit!

Therefore, Bina also can expand everywhere since it is Hafetz Hesed (pure bestowal). On the other hand, Hochma is the Light of the purpose of creation that fills the desires after their correction is done by Bina, which had been received beforehand. Zeir Anpin organizes the process that determines how such correction is carried out.

Bina, wishing to be similar to the Creator, gives birth to Zeir Anpin (ZA) and works within it in order to bring it to the level of Keter. But ZA cannot attain the level of Keter as Bina desires it to do since ZA can do so only with the help of Malchut!

It turns out that ZA is the concealed Creator, Keter, the highest quality, Atzmuto, the plan of creation. ZA and Malchut work in a pair because ZA cannot become as Keter unless Malchut joins ZA and passes all her desires to him.

Hence, Malchut can correct itself only by following ZA’s example. Watching Him, she learns what desires and correction she needs in order to merge with Him. Malchut is all the souls, ZA is the Creator, and their coupling is the merging of all the souls with the Creator.

But when they finally merge, they ascend to AB – SAG, Hochma and Bina. And when they merge there, they become part of Keter. That is where the program of creation ends!
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/22/10, Beit Shaar HaKavanot

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Rejoice In The Revelation Of The Wicked

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, The Study of Ten Sefirot, Part 7, Questions and Answers, Item 7: The Achoraim of Nukva are NHY de Nukva, where there is the principal grip of the Klipot as long as they lack He’arat Hochma. This is so because it is adjacent to the Klipot as it ends the Ohr Atzilut and from it downward begin the Klipot, by way of “Her feet go down to death.”

All anti-egoistic screens that accompanied the desires in their descent from the World of Infinity to the degree of Malchut de Atzilut end at Nukva. The screens end, and the egoistic desires “grip” on Nukva since through her there’s a chance to capture Light.

Nukva, with her nine lower Sefirot, descends to the worlds of BYA (Beria, Yetzira, Assiya) and has no strength to resist the unclean forces (Klipot). Nonetheless, she stays in a particular “balance” with them. When the Upper One resides within the Klipot, and the Klipot are able to “grab” something from it, by the same token, the Upper One is able to “grab” the Klipa, to analyze this desire and correct it. This is what happens constantly in Malchut de Atzilut with the broken souls. Inasmuch as they desire to “grip” on it and draw its Light, it can draw and correct them.

Without such mutual work, when each one strives to draw the opposite side to itself, there wouldn’t be any discernment and correction. Therefore, all our work (as the Torah describes) consists of transgressions and corrections that take place over and over again. All these fluctuations back and forth, from holiness to wickedness and vice versa, occur between Nukva and the broken souls that must discover their broken state.

These broken parts are revealed only when they are joined with Nukva; otherwise, they wouldn’t see that they are broken. As a result of such action, the Creator (Zeir Anpin) is aroused, and so tells the Torah when it describes how the Creator speaks with Moshe and apprehends his people for another sin.

In this way, Nukva reveals in the souls that their desire is egoistic. Nukva lifts a part of the souls that she is able to incorporate into herself up to Zeir Anpin. Zeir Anpin, the Creator, comes and cries, “What have you done?” This is the correct reaction to the desires which soon are going to be corrected.

We simply don’t understand the Torah. It doesn’t speak about any transgressions, but only about how the desires are revealed when they come to correction. At the instant when they are revealed, we “rejoice in the revelation of the wicked,” as Baal HaSulam writes. We rejoice because the “wicked” who aren’t revealed have no chance at correction. And who knows when it’s going to happen?

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Do You Wish To Enter?

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, Chapter “Lech Lecha (Go Forth),” Item 237: When the Creator, Bina, wished to create the world, which is ZA, He elicited one flame of the harsh spark and blew wind into wind, and the flame was darkened, as well as burned. He elicited a single drop from the sides of the deep and put them together—the drop and the flame—and created the world with them, ZA.

The Upper Governance descends to us from the system called GAR of the World of Atzilut. Below it, resides Zeir Anpin whom we call the Creator because he is the Upper One in relation to Malchut of the World of Atzilut, the place of the gathering of all souls.

At present, however, our souls are broken and they reside below Malchut. When the broken souls desire correction, they raise their prayer to her. Yet, how do they know what this correction entails? They wish to stick together! They say: “We are willing to pledge for each other and unite!” Malchut means assembly of all souls that yearn for the Creator (Isra-El). Only he who wants to be with the others without any exception will be able to enter Malchut; and the one who doesn’t will not.

The condition is very clear and simple, and everyone is welcome. The door is open, come in! But at the entrance, you will have to meet the condition, and if you do, you will enter; if you don’t you will not. If you wish to come in, prepare yourself.

All souls who enter Malchut come together and raise a prayer to the Creator (Zeir Anpin). This prayer is a request to become similar to Him. In the beginning, with the help of the group, we raise our first prayer to Malchut. From Malchut, we raise the prayer (MAN) further, to Zeir Anpin. Zeir Anpin collects our prayer and raises it to Bina (Ima Ilaa), and there, he receives the force, Light, and anti-egoistic screens on our behalf. Then, he descends and passes this force down to Malchut, who passes it on to the souls included in her. In this way, everyone who has entered Malchut is granted the entire Light promised to him from Above.

This is what all of The Zohar is talking about. And this is the only system that exists in Universe.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/30/10, The Zohar

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Bestowal Has A Thousand Names


All words are names of the qualities of Malchut; this is the only thing we read about in Kabbalah books. You might object because the letters originate in the following way: nine come from ZAT de Bina, nine come from Zeir Anpin, and just the last four letters of the alphabet are contained in Malchut . So why do all the words come from Malchut? It’s because we receive everything as an imprint in Malchut, no matter where it comes from.

Every name is the will to enjoy through the action of bestowal, meaning through reception for the sake of bestowal. The intention to bestow is what gives the desire a specific form. We don’t name the desire and the Light themselves, but their connection, the relationship between desire and Light. Only it has a name.

For example, a “plant” is not just a desire to enjoy, but a desire that contains the force of the Light that forms it into a plant, which is a desire of the vegetative type. The original Kli HaVaYaH is not yet a name, but just its basis. Names are fulfillments that are contained inside this name, or the Lights that can clothe inside this matter according to equivalence of form. This is why all the names come from Malchut.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/4/10, Beit Shaar HaKavanot

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In Spirituality, Everything Is The Other Way Around


Baal HaSulam, Beit Shaar HaKavanot (The Gatehouse of Intentions): “The Moon waned on the fourth day of creation, for in the beginning Zeir Anpin and Nukvah were as two great lights, standing on the same degree, back to back, and Nukvah had a full spiritual Partzuf of ten Sefirot of the reverse side. [This means Nukvah contained spiritual vessels. Why, then, did she lack lights?] When the Moon made a complaint, saying that two kings cannot use the same crown (Keter), she was told, ‘Go and diminish yourself!’ Thus, she returned to a point beneath Yesod of Zeir Anpin, where she dwelled prior.

Malchut (creation) thought that she could be the same as Zeir Anpin; however, she could not shine as he. She ascended to Bina in order to receive Light like Zeir Anpin, but was unable to. This was for the reason that Zeir Anpin possesses the quality of bestowal. His nature is the Light of Hassadim and He feels perfection even when there is no Light of Hochma. He shines with the Light of Hochma anytime he wishes so because he always has the Light of Hassadim.

However, Malchut does not have the Light of Hassadim and she feels her existence in the Light of Hochma as darkness. This constitutes the complaint made by creation (Kitrug Yareach): “I can ascend to the height of the very World of Infinity, but if I don’t have the Light of Hassadim, the Light of Bestowal, then the Light of Hochma won’t shine for me and I will only feel greater darkness.”

When do we reveal that we are in the dark? It’s precisely at the time when we are being elevated! When we are slightly elevated upward, it makes us feel that we lack the corrected desires, the Light of Hassadim. This is what we perceive as darkness.

We don’t feel darkness because we fall, but because we ascend; however, it’s because we ascend without the garment of the Light of Hassadim, the Light of love and bestowal. What we consider descent is actually the ascent, but one that is not corrected. Likewise, what seems to us as an ascent is really a descent, because we receive what we are given into the desires of reception. Thus, everything is the other way around in the spiritual world.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/7/10, Beit Shaar HaKavanot

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In Spirituality, Why Does Circumcision Pertain To Men?

Dr. Michael Laitman A question I received: Why is it that in spirituality men need to go through circumcision (Brit Mila) even though men embody the quality of bestowal in the spiritual world and not women who correspond to the quality of reception?

My Answer: Indeed, if we’re talking about Malchut’s correction, it follows that it is the female (receiving) part that should be corrected. So, why is it that the correction (circumcision of three impure desires or Klipot) is done in Zeir Anpin which is the symbol of male qualities?

Before the End of Correction, my intention to bestow only applies to the desires above Tzimzum Bet (Second Restriction). These are the desires connected to the qualities of Bina while all the other desires still can’t be corrected. For this reason, they are cut off from use and become usable again only at the End of Correction.

The intention to bestow within me is called “man” and desire is called “woman.” This intention to bestow is called Zeir Anpin, man, or “overcoming.” I see how I need to arrange and cut off this intention and I see which form of bestowal to apply to make it suitable for the Creator. Malchut, the receiving part within me, is without form. However, the “bestowing” part in me must be given form, specifically to the extent of and depending on what I am willing to bestow. Then, I realize that I’m unable to work with my intentions and that my screen doesn’t cover the full depths of Malchut. It follows that I must reduce my intentions to some degree.

The part within my soul called “man” is the intention to bestow in my soul. It is this part that the circumcision applies to. We’re not talking about anything external; this is my inner “bestower” whose form must correspond to the Creator. That’s why I perform this correction of Brit Mila, meaning I restrict myself in the usage of certain parts of Malchut, and thereby advance in the spiritual world. Accordingly, this is why this commandment doesn’t pertain to “women.”

Wanting To Be Like The Creator Above Everything Else


The Zohar, Chapter “BeHukotai (In My Statutes),” Item 24: …This is so because justice is neither corrected nor completed but in righteousness, as it is written, “In righteousness shall you be established.” This is said to the assembly of Israel, Malchut, which is completed only in righteousness, as it is written, “And do them,” which is done by the awakening of the lower one.

What do MAN, appeal, tears, charity, “gates of tears,” and prayer mean? It all means that I want to become like the Creator. It is only under the condition that being like the Creator is the only thing I ask for, that I will awaken Zeir Anpin, so that He influences Malchut.

Only when the lower wants to become like the Upper, can the Upper influence him and lift him to the next degree giving him strength and understanding of what it means to be the Upper. After all, what else can the Upper give? The Creator only has perfection, and He can only pass the degrees of this perfection to us, gradually and according to the state that we are in.

This is why we have nothing to ask of the Creator except for the opportunity to gradually become like Him, where every time our qualities become equal to a greater degree. He has nothing to give us besides our correction. We would really like to become like Him; this is our connection with the Creator.

Therefore, this is why all the other cries and tears that we shed in this world do not lead to anything. Looking back at history we can see that it does not help. The only thing that works immediately is when I attain the “switching point.” Beginning with this point, which is that I want to be like the Creator, when I determine precisely who He is, what He represents, what I lack, what I really need to strive to, and when I make my desire into a desire like the one He has – this is what is called the beggar’s prayer, tears, the gates of tears and charity.

The Hidden Meaning Of The Scroll Of Esther


The following is an excerpt from Rabash’s article on the holiday of Purim, “Concealment and Revelation”:

“Darkness is the Babylonian exile, which the nation of Israel brought upon itself because the Creator (Zeir Anpin) was asleep. The sinner Haman, who was a great astrologist, cast lots (Pur) to determine fate. Haman and his ten sons are the ten Klipot (impure forces) because he knew that the Creator slept and thus His upper governance did not protect the nation of Israel (those who aspire toward the Creator). Therefore, Haman thought that the time has come to annihilate the nation of Israel.”

Haman is our entire will to enjoy, which stands opposite the entire Light of Hochma. He knows that the Light is about to be revealed. However, he doesn’t know that this can only happen in the middle line, and that later even that will be revoked when the transition to the state of the First Restriction (Tzimtzum Alef) takes place. Malchut unites with Zeir Anpin in the middle line and they ascend to Bina, where they attain the state of the End of Correction.

Annihilating the nation of Israel means annihilating the intention of “for the sake of bestowal,” which holds a person back from receiving the Light of Hochma egoistically. Mordechai is the intention of bestowal, but if he acts alone, without the desires of Haman, then it is just bestowal for the sake of bestowal. That means he blocks the Light of Hochma, preventing it from being revealed.

In other words, if a person does not work in the middle line, then even his best actions of bestowal will block his path of development. This is why Mordechai needs a connection with Haman. When they start to argue with each other (an argument between the intention of bestowal and the egoistic desire), they come to understand how they are able or unable to unite.

The intention of bestowal enables the desires of Haman to be used. However, these actual desires will not be fulfilled, and this is why a clash occurs between Haman and Mordechai. This story is talking about how a person can create the right unity between two conflicting forces or two opposite intentions. It is also describing the battles, confusion, and doubts that await us on the path of correction until we find the right method.

This is what “Megillat Ester (The Scroll of Esther)” tells us about.

Purim Signifies The Birth Of A Corrected World


Every new state is born only under the condition that the former state completely exhausts itself, similar to how a grain planted in the soil needs to rot completely in order for a new stage of life to be born from its former state, which is then perceived as unneeded and useless. This is why it is written about the holiday of Purim that Zeir Anpin sleeps while Malchut becomes immersed in darkness due to this. Only from this state of darkness do we attain the greatest Light, the state called Purim, which corresponds to the End of Correction.

If Zeir Anpin does not bring Light to Malchut, we feel that we are in exile and cannot tune into Malchut and unite. However, suffering and darkenss force us to demand strength from Zeir Anpin to accomplish our unification, in order to tune into Malchut, the one common soul. This is how we give rise to our next degree.

The True Meaning Of Sacrifice


The Zohar, Chapter “BeHaalotcha (When You Mount the Candles),” Item 10: This is so in action, meaning in sacrifices.

Item 11: When the priest intended to light candles below and bring the incense closer, the upper candles, the Sefirot, would shine at that time, everything was connected, and joy and jubilation were in all the worlds, as it is written, “Ointment and perfume delight the heart.”

The main spiritual work is sacrifice, where the word “sacrifice” (Kurban in Hebrew) means “closer” (Karov). This means that we take our desire to enjoy, measure it, and check to see which part can be the “sacrifice.”  By “slaughtering it,” we bring it closer to the quality of bestowal, releasing it from its egoistic form of “an animal” that lives only for its own sake.

We want to raise it to the level where it can be used by man, elevating it from the animate to the human level. This is the essence of all sacrifices from the still level (salt and water), the vegetative level (grains), and the animate level (birds and animals), which are the levels that are brought to the Temple. It is the corrected Malchut, where Malchut is connected to Zeir Anpin.

All of this is talking only about desires inside a person, which are corrected from egoistic to altruistic. It seems like it is talking about hard, dirty, and cruel work, such as sacrificing or killing with blood and water. And indeed it is – the correction of our egoistic desire is dirty work. It is written, “Mother (Bina) will come and cleanse the son.” This is why we need to attract the Upper Light so that it works on us. Then, the work is done by forces of Cohen, Levi, and Israel: singing, blowing the horn and lighting the candles – the Sefirot that shine from Zeir Anpin into Malchut. A person does not have to know all the details of this work; once he receives these qualities corrected by the Surrounding Light, he will see how it all works. We only need to observe the Creator; He will wage this war with Pharaoh, while we simply have to want it.