Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto ("RaMChaL"):
138 Openings of Wisdom


Opening 60

BaN and MaH were bound up under Malchut and Yesod of Adam Kadmon, and then coupled together to bring about the repair.

After the emergence of the lights of the Eyes of Adam Kadmon - these being BaN - they were bound under the rule of Malchut of Adam Kadmon. And when the radiation of the Forehead - MaH - emerged, it was bound under the rule of Yesod of Adam Kadmon. Yesod and Malchut of Adam Kadmon then coupled together, and thus the stern judgments were sweetened and the government ran in a mode of repair and love.

This answers an apparent difficulty regarding the Primordial Kings and their repair. For in one place the Primordial Kings (=BaN) are said to have come from the Eyes and MaH from the Forehead (Etz Chayim, Shaar Drushey Nekudot ch.1). Elsewhere, however, the Primordial Kings are said to be bound up with the mystery of Malchut of Adam Kadmon while MaH is the drop of male waters of Adam Kadmon's Yesod (Etz Chayim, Seder Atzilut ch. 2; see Opening 96 below).

This proposition consists of two parts. Part 1: After the emergence... This explains the places where these lights were bound. Part 2: Yesod and Malchut of Adam Kadmon then coupled together... This explains the resulting path taken by the repair.

Part 1: After the emergence of the lights of the Eyes of Adam Kadmon - these being BaN - they were bound under the rule of Malchut of Adam Kadmon.

For the nature of the lights is such that, besides the original sources from which they emerged, we must also take into account the sources to which they are bound and from which they take their power and rule in the governmental order. In accordance with this principle, these lights emerged from the Eyes and were afterwards bound to Malchut of Adam Kadmon and received their governmental power from there.

And when the radiation of the Forehead - MaH - emerged, it was bound under the rule of Yesod of Adam Kadmon. In other words, since the purpose of this radiation was to repair the first lights, it was therefore bound up under Yesod, which is the power that repairs Malchut.

Part 2: Yesod and Malchut of Adam Kadmon then coupled together... After these lights emerged from the Eyes and Forehead and had been bound under Yesod and Malchut, Yesod and Malchut of Adam Kadmon then coupled for the sake of the lights bound up with them.

...and thus the stern judgments were sweetened... This coupling caused a sweetening of strict judgements throughout the entire governmental order.

...and the government ran in a mode of repair and love. After this sweetening was accomplished in the governing luminaries (מאורות, me'orot), namely Yesod and Malchut of Adam Kadmon, in consequence everything subject to their government is likewise governed in a mode of love and repair, and thus the government of the worlds ran in this mode of repair.

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Translated by Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum
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