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Concerning Achor be Achor
80. Concerning Achor be Achor
I heard
Panim and Achor [face and back].
Panim [face/anterior] means reception of abundance or bestowal of abundance.
Negation is called Achoraim [back/posterior], meaning neither receiving nor giving.
Hence, in the beginning of the work, one is in a state of Achor be Achor [back to back] because he still has the Kelim [vessels] of the will to receive. If he extends abundance into these Kelim, he could blemish the light, since he is considered opposite in value, since the lights come from the Root, and the Root only bestows.
For this reason, the lower ones use the Kelim of Ima, called Achoraim, meaning that they do not want to receive, so as not to blemish. And the Emanator, too, does not bestow upon them for the above reason, for the lights guard themselves so the lower ones do not blemish them. This is why it is called Achor be Achor.
To explain what is written in several places, that “Wherever there is a deficiency, the Klipa suckles,” we might say that the reason is that this place is still not free from Aviut [thickness]. Otherwise, the light would have illuminated in full since the upper light never stops. If there is a place that is corrected with a Masach [screen], the upper light immediately grips there. And since there is a place of deficiency, meaning absence of the upper light, there is certainly a discernment of Aviut, whose entire grip is in the will to receive.