Rabbi
Moshe Chaim Luzzatto ("RaMChaL"):
138 Openings
of Wisdom
The root of the concealed government
Opening 78
A trace of all faulty deeds remains, even after their repair, in order to reveal perfection.
The consequences of each and every deed ever performed remain in existence even though the deed is already in the past. Thus, when a flaw has been repaired, the trace of the flaw does not disappear, but rather, it is registered as a flaw that received its repair. And the reverse also applies. This is because nothing is forgotten before His throne of glory. And at the end of the entire cycle there will be a complete repair taking into account everything that was done, whether good or bad.
Having discussed the Partzuf of Atik in general terms, we must now examine Atik's function in the overall government and the way Atik is ordered accordingly. We must begin by explaining some fundamental aspects of the government that require all these orders of Atik.
There are two parts to this proposition. Part 1: The consequences... This explains the principle that all deeds leave their mark above. Part 2: And at the end... This explains what is gained through this mark left by all deeds.
Part 1: The consequences of each and every deed ever performed remain in existence even though the deed is already in the past. This means that every action adds either a flaw or a repair to the overall governmental order, and the action that comes after it is judged in accordance with what went before it. For there is no comparison between a flaw that comes after a repair and a repair that comes after a flaw, or between a flaw that comes after a flaw that has been repaired, or a repair that comes after a repair that became flawed. There are unending possibilities.
Thus, when a flaw has been repaired, the trace of the flaw does not disappear... Everything that is done below is registered above in order that the judgment that is passed afterwards will take account of what happened previously. ...but rather, it is registered as a flaw that received its repair. And the reverse also applies. In other words, each thing is registered in its uniqueness with all that distinguishes it from everything else - after how many other repairs and how many flaws did it come, and all the other individual details that can be discerned in it.
This is because nothing is forgotten before His throne of glory. Needless to say, there is no forgetfulness before God, since forgetfulness is an accident of the physical body. What is meant here is that the governmental order is made in such a way that when judging a given deed, the entire past is examined and taken into account.
Part 2: And at the end of the entire cycle... The gain that comes from the way everything leaves its mark above is because all that happens is part of the cycle of the wheel that continues turning until the end in order to show the subsequent perfection through the very power of the deficiencies that existed in the past. If so, everything must be revealed as one in order for the perfection to rectify everything, and then this truth will be understood properly.
...there will be a complete repair... This is obvious since, as I have said, the overall perfection will bring about the complete repair of all the defects that existed in the past.
...taking into account everything that was done... i.e. during the time of the cycle of the wheel, because the purpose of the cycle was in order to reach this final rest.
...whether good or bad. Through examining things in their unique particularity, all the different aspects of the rule of concealment - the Residue - will be understood. Thus in the future it will be understood how the Residue was coming ever closer to repair even when it appeared that faulty deeds were making everything go backwards. It will then be seen how the Line continued to sustain the world throughout the time of the rule of concealment in order not to let it reach the point of actual destruction, and how it engineered the cycle in such a way as to reach that state of rest in the end, as will be discussed further below.