138 Openings of Wisdom

Opening 53

The order of the repair

All that was damaged at the time of the breakage is what had to be progressively repaired little by little. This includes both the descent of the hind parts of Abba and Imma and the breaking of the other Sefirot, because everything that was lacking during that time started to be replenished during the time of the repair. And everything will at last be fully complete in the perfect repair that will come about in time to come.

Having explained the main details of the breaking of the vessels, we must now explain how the course of the repair was influenced accordingly.

This proposition is made up of two parts: Part 1: All that was damaged... This introduces the subject of the repair of the breaking of the vessels. Part 2: This explains the course of the repair.

Part 1: All that was damaged at the time of the breakage... For the whole intention was to show what happens when strict Judgment is unmitigated, in order to show afterwards how its sweetening rectifies everything. Since the total damage caused by the breakage constitutes everything that can happen when strict judgment is not mitigated, the power of mitigation -- the repair -- had accordingly to be displayed through the repair of all this damage.

...is what had to be progressively repaired little by little. Here again we have the principle of gradation. For the Supreme Will did not want complete perfection to be revealed all at once, but rather, little by little. This itself is what provides a place for men to acquire merit.

Part 2: This includes both the descent of the hind parts of Abba and Imma and the breaking of the other Sefirot... For the breaking of the seven lower Sefirot is a deficiency in the roots of the separate creations, while the descent of the hind parts of Abba and Imma is a deficiency in that which repairs those roots. Together they make up the totality of all the damage, and both must be rectified. Both were repaired together, for the repair comes at one and the same time: as one was repaired, so was the other. For if the three first Sefirot continually repair the seven lower ones, it follows as a matter of course that the latter are constantly reaching better states of repair. Conversely, if the seven lower Sefirot are constantly reaching better states of repair, this signifies that there is no deficiency in the radiation of the first three Sefirot, which bring about their repair.

...because everything that was lacking during that time... What was lacking was all the individual repairs that had to be brought about, because these were absent owing to the damage caused by the breaking of the vessels, and they include many particulars. ...started being replenished during the time of the repair. As explained earlier, the Supreme Mind brought about a certain degree of repair through the power of God, and afterwards left the rest to be done little by little by man.

And everything will at last be fully complete in the perfect repair that will come about in time to come.