1. During the departure of the light of Keter because of the ascent of Malchut to ZA, to phase three, there was a coupling of upper light in the screen of phase three, and ten Sefirot of direct light and reflected light on the level of Hochma were extended. In this way, couplings were done in all the degrees along the ascent of the screen for its refinement (see Inner Observation, Part 2). The ARI writes, “although they ascend and depart, they draw from above downward, from the ‎Emanator, the discernment of light called reflected light,‎ since every coupling by striking draws reflected light from the upper light, as that part of the light that is rejected from Malchut is called reflected light.

The departing light leaves a record in its place

2. There is yet another great and very beneficial discernment: Even though they depart, they never completely depart from all of their own phases and ascend. Instead, they leave of their strength and of themselves some illumination below, in the place where they first stood. This illumination is never uprooted from there, even when they ascend upward. This illumination is called a record ₍₂₎, as it is written, “Set me as a seal upon thy heart,” mentioned at the end of Parashat Mishpatim in Saba (114, 71).

Inner Light

2. The record is like a seal. After the seal leaves the place it was once attached to, it leaves its entire form there, nothing missing. So is the manner of the upper light: If it expands into some place, even when it departs from there, it leaves there its entire form, not a single impression missing. In the end, it shall return and manifest in the full measure, as in the beginning.

Every upper light to its lower one is as the relation of a father to a son.

3. The reason is that the upper lights are to the lower lights as a father to his sons; he always wants to bestow upon them, as is explained regarding honoring the father and the mother. A single spark is extended from the father to the son and never moves from there. Similarly, here in the ten Sefirot, the upper ones leave some illumination in the first place, called a record, so that illumination would be drawn from there to the lower ones ₍₃₎.

Inner Light

3. This applies to both the light and the vessel, to the general and to the particular. The Rosh, Toch, Sof of the second expansion of AK, called Partzuf AB of AK, were born and emerged from the records that were included in the Tabur of the first expansion of Adam Kadmon that ascended to its Peh (see Table of Topics, item 210).

It is the same in the particular. A record that remains in the vessel of Keter of the first expansion becomes a male in the vessel of Keter of the second expansion. The record that remains in the vessel of Hochma of the first expansion becomes a vessel of a male in the vessel of Hochma of the second expansion. From their coupling emerged the males in the rest of the Sefirot, as the ARI wrote in Tree of Life.

Also, the females of the second expansion are made of the records that remain of the four levels that emerged during the first departure, called sparks, or letters. The incorporation of Malchut in ZA is made of the sparks that fell from the level of phase three, namely ZA, into the vessel of Malchut, namely phase four. Afterwards, in the second expansion, when the light of Malchut clothes the vessel of ZA, it finds there the vessel of Malchut that belongs to it.

Thus, the force of the sparks that fell from the reflected light of the level of phase two, which is Bina, caused the incorporation of ZA in the vessel of Bina. Later on in the second expansion, when the light of ZA came and clothed the vessel of Bina, it found its vessel there, and so on similarly (see Inner Light, Chap 3, item 80).

Thus, all the phases in the lower Partzuf are extended only from the records that its upper Partzuf left. The ARI writes, “The upper lights are to the lower lights as a father to his sons.” It means that a lower Partzuf is extended from an upper Partzuf as a son from a father. In other words, it cascades from the self of the lights in its upper Partzuf by the records that remain in the vessels of the upper Partzuf from its lights.

The ARI writes, “the upper ones leave some illumination in the first place, called a record, so that illumination would be drawn from there to the lower ones.” Remember this in all the places, for this is the key to the cascading of the degrees by cause and effect, from the beginning of the line to the end of Assiya.

When the light of Keter departs, it leaves a record in its place to shine for Hochma.

4. It turns out that when the Keter ascends and departs, it leaves one record in its place, in its own vessel ₍₄₎, to shine for Hochma, which is below it, after it ascends and departs. After it ascended and departed, an illumination was extended to the light of Hochma from that record ₍₅₎ that the Keter left in its vessel. Although afterwards the light of Hochma will also ascend and depart to the emanator, nevertheless, the record that remains in the vessel of Keter does not move from it, even after the light of Hochma ascended to the emanator.

Inner Light

4. We might ask: In item 9 he says that the existence of the vessel was made from the record, and here he says that there is a vessel even before the record and before the departure of the light! The thing is that there are two kinds of vessels in each Partzuf, which are: Vessels that are drawn from the first look in the Malchut of Rosh. This Malchut expands by the force of the reflected light in her, which she raised from below upward and expanded from her and within her into ten Sefirot from above downward. They are considered the vessels of reception for the first expansion. There is yet another phase of vessels in the Partzuf, which are drawn by the second look in Malchut of the Guf of the Partzuf, which causes the departure and return of that light to the emanator. The records that remain after that departure become complete vessels (see Part 3, Chapter 12, Inner Light).

All these records of the second look are drawn to all the phases, meaning to its lower Partzuf. It is said, “The upper lights are to the lower lights as a father to his sons.” It means that the lower Partzuf is extended from the upper Partzuf like a son from a father, meaning by the records that remain inside the vessels of the upper Partzuf from its lights.

The ARI writes, “the upper ones leave some illumination in the first place, called a record, so that illumination would be drawn from there to the lower ones.” Remember that thoroughly for it is the key for the cascading of the degrees by cause and consequence from the beginning of the line to the end of Assiya, where each lower one is caused by the records of its upper Partzuf.

5. Afterwards, when Malchut rose to phase three, where ten Sefirot come out on the level of Hochma, it is impossible for this light to begin in the Sefira of Hochma. It is so because any expansion of light must begin from the Keter. It therefore needs an illumination of a record of Keter, by which the light becomes adhered and tied to the root.

Also, when Malchut rose to Bina and ten Sefirot come out on the level of Bina, an illumination of the records of Keter and Hochma necessarily remains there, and so on likewise for the above reason. Remember this in every place, for it is impossible for any degree to lack the upper Sefirot altogether. Rather, when the upper Sefirot are regarded as mere illumination of a record do we say that they are absent there, for they do not shine there.

When the light of Hochma departs, it leaves a record in its place to shine for Bina.

5. Afterwards, when Hochma rises to the emanator, she leaves a record in his vessel, to shine from him to Bina, after he himself departs. Even after Bina rises to the emanator, the record of Hochma does not leave the vessel of Hochma, and likewise all of them until the Yesod.

Malchut does not leave a record.

6. However, when the light of Malchut departs, she does not leave a record in her vessel, for there is no Sefira beneath her to receive from her ₍₆₎. Although there will be other worlds beneath her, receiving from her, it is not their kind and she has no adhesion with them ₍₇₎, as there is adhesion with the ten Sefirot of each and every world in and of itself.

Inner Light

6. Because it is female light, receiving for herself and not bestowing. Because of it, her ten Sefirot end the degree, as it is only reflected light. Hence, she does not leave a record, as a record is only the remains of the expansion of direct light that remains there, as the ARI says. Also, there is no cessation in the upper light here, for the lower one is completely dependent on the upper one, but the upper one does not need the lower one.

7. Because they come in a renewed form of coarseness, she has no adhesion with them, as adhesion means equivalence of form, while separation and difference mean disparity of form (see Part 3, Table of Questions, item 210).

All the Sefirot leave records in their place after they depart, except for Malchut.

7. It turns out that all those Sefirot leave a record in their place and in their vessel when they want to depart and ascend. However, the light of Malchut does not leave a record in its vessel, only the record that the light of Yesod left in its vessel. The illumination is extended from there to the vessel of Malchut after the departure of her light.

Malchut is called poor since she does not leave a record, for she has nothing of her own.

8. There is another reason why Malchut is called “poor for she has nothing of her own”, and also, “a mirror without light” ₍₈₎. It is because her vessel does not shine at all when she ascends and the light leaves her, as no light remains in her, even as a record. Even the sustenance of that vessel does not come from her own light, but from the record that remains in the vessel of Yesod. From there it sustains and shines in the vessel of Malchut. That is why it is said, “She has nothing of her own.”

Inner Light

8. The ARI has already written why Malchut is called “without light”. It is because in the second expansion, ten Sefirot were extended only on the level of Hochma, and the light of Keter remained concealed in the Peh.

It turns out that the light of Hochma comes in the vessel of Keter, the light of Bina in the vessel of Hochma, the light of ZA in the vessel of Bina and the light of Malchut in the vessel of ZA. Thus, the vessel of Malchut is left without light, hence the name “a mirror without light”. He adds another reason here—that Malchut did not leave a record behind her in the first expansion.

We might ask: If the light of Keter disappeared from the second expansion, the vessel of Keter should have remained there without light. Why were the lights switched, and the light of Hochma came in the vessel of Keter until the vessel of Malchut remained without light? It has already been explained in the Inner Observation (Part 2, Chapter 8) that the conduct of the lights is to clothe only in the most refined vessels in the Partzuf. Even if there is only the light of Nefesh there, it clothes only the highest vessel, namely Keter, while the lower nine remain without light.

Two kinds of light remain in the vessel after the departure: a) reflected light, which is judgment; b) the records, which are direct light and mercy

9. We have now learned by these two introductions how the vessels of the Sefirot, even when their lights return and depart to the emanator, still have two kinds of lights ₍₉₎: The first is called reflected light, and it is judgment. The second is the light that remains in the vessel, called a record. This is direct light and mercy because it remains there from the phases of the lights that emerged from above downward as direct light.

Inner Light

9. The first expansion, extended by the broadening of Malchut from her and within her to ten Sefirot down to the Malchut of the Guf, is extended from above downward as clothing, and it is called direct light and mercy. Also, all the records that remain of these ten Sefirot after the departure of that light are also direct light, mercy, but as a small illumination called a record.

However, these levels that emerge through a coupling by striking as Malchut ascends and refines from below upward degree-by-degree until all the light departs, all these levels are called reflected light, judgment, since the levels gradually diminish until they depart completely.

The coarse light that does not depart becomes a vessel, and the reflected light and the records remain in it.

10. It turns out that in that world of Akudim, although at that time, the making of the vessels had not been completed, nevertheless, the phases and existence from which they were made, which is coarse light that is connected with refined light, had already been there ₍₁₀₎. When the refined light returns upward, the coarse light remains below, and this is the phase of the vessels themselves. There, in that coarse light ₍₂₀₎, which is the phase of the vessels, the refined lights left the above two phases: 1 - direct light, a record; 2 – reflected light.

Inner Light

10. When the light expands from Malchut of the Rosh down to the Guf, that light consists of direct light and reflected light, as they clothe one another in the Rosh. This direct light is called refined light and reflected light is called coarse light since it is extended by the force of the coarseness and restriction in the screen of Malchut of the Rosh.

There is no recognition of coarseness above, in the Rosh, since it ascends and clothes the upper nine from the screen upward, and the force of the coarseness cannot operate above the place of its manifestation and existence even a bit. However, afterwards, this reflected light expands and descends once more with its direct light from Malchut of the Rosh downward. Then the coarseness in the screen is certainly in it, though it is not at all regarded as a drawback, for its entire merit is connected with the coarseness, as there wouldn’t have been any light in the Partzuf without it.

Indeed, when the light finally departs from the Partzuf and the coarseness is emptied of that direct light that is clothed in it, then the full demerit and ignobility of that coarseness, compared to the direct light, is revealed.

The ARI writes, “...remains below.” It means that after the refined light had been emptied of the coarse light, meaning once the direct light departed and was pulled out of the reflected light that clothed it, the coarse light remained below. In other words, the demerit of the reflected light compared to the direct light was revealed. That is why it is said that after the return of the refined light upwards, the coarse light that remained below “is the phase of the vessels themselves.”

In other words, this reflected light that had been emptied of direct light after its first expansion is the entire substance of the vessels in that Partzuf, called the first expansion of AK, or Partzuf Galgalta of AK. The record and the sparks of the descending reflected light clothed inside it. We shall now see that these records and the sparks of reflected light became and were corrected as the vessels of the following Partzuf, called the second expansion, or AB.

20. Meaning the reflected light that remains after the departure of the direct light from within it. Yet, we need to thoroughly understand the above matter of the ascent of the lights, and know precisely: what ascended, what was refined, and what remained below and became vessels.

You already know that the screen means a “detaining force over the upper light so that it does not expand into the four phases of coarseness in phase four, called Malchut.”

In the matter of the ascent of Malchut to ZA in the ARI’s words below, know that it pertains only to the screen and reflected light in her. In the words of the ARI, these two are called the light of Malchut. They are called light, as there is no other light in Malchut from the restriction onwards.

However, the vessel of Malchut herself cannot rise to ZA, since ascent means refinement, and that can only be in the screen, but not in the vessels. This matter of refinement does not apply to the vessels whatsoever. Rather, that measure of coarseness that exists in the phase of the vessels in each and every Partzuf remains permanent and exists forever until they receive their correction. This has already been explained (Part 2, Table of Questions, item 43).

The matter of the refinement of the screen from phase four to phase three means that because of the clash of the inner light with the surrounding light in the screen, the last phase of the coarseness that is included in its force of detainment disappeared and was lost. From now on it detains the upper light from expanding further than phase three of the coarseness, which remains in it. It is so because phase four within phase four is no longer included in it, so it only detains and returns the upper light from the three phases of coarseness that remained incorporated in it from phase four.

The reflected light that is returned from these three phases is sufficient only to clothe the direct light up to Hochma, and its clothing does not reach Keter. It therefore naturally turns out that the light of Keter disappears from the Partzuf because the light is not captured in a Partzuf without a garment and a vessel (see Inner Observation, Part 2, Chapter 7).

It has been thoroughly explained that the ascent and the refinement relate to the screen and not at all to the vessels. The vessels that remain in their place after the departure of the direct light (which the ARI calls coarse light) are the four phases of coarseness incorporated in that reflected light that has already been clothed. They clothe the ten Sefirot of the Guf, which have now been emptied of their lights.