Rabbi
Moshe Chaim Luzzatto ("RaMChaL"):
138 Openings
of Wisdom
Opening 89
The difference between the Dew of Bedolach and the Head that is Unknown
There is a difference between the nature of the Dew of Bedolach "in which all colors are seen" and the Head that is Unknown. For the Dew of Bedolach is seen to contain all the colors together. However this Head appears to be one thing and then it immediately seems to be not this but the very opposite of what we saw. It remains in this state of constant transmutation in which the yes and the no appear at one and the same moment - yet we cannot even grasp how the yes and the no could both apply. It is simply impossible to attain any certainty at all about it, because sometimes it appears as if it contains the yes and then immediately it looks as if that is not the case at all.
Note: The bedolach stone - a gleaming crystal - is mentioned in Genesis 2:12, while in Numbers 11:7 the color of the manna is compared to that of the bedolach. The Idra Rabba (128b) describes the appearance of the dew descending from the Head of Arich Anpin as being "white like the color of the bedolach stone, in which all colors are seen".
There is a difference between the nature of the Dew of Bedolach "in which all colors are seen" and the Head that is Unknown.
It may still seem problematic why this Head is said to be a matter of doubt and uncertainty. Why is it not like the Dew of Bedolach, which contains all the colors - for the same is said about this Head. The answer is as follows.
For the Dew of Bedolach is seen to contain all the colors together. As explained in the Zohar, it clearly contains both Kindness and Judgment: "It is white, but a red color is visible in the white..." (Idra Rabba 128b and see 132b). Thus all the colors are visible in the bedolach stone: no one color rules out another. However here in the Head that is Unknown, one thing rules out another.
However this Head appears to be one thing and then it immediately seems to be not this but the very opposite of what we saw. It seems as if we were mistaken in how we saw at first, and that it is not the way we saw it but different. It remains in this state of constant transmutation... This is clear as discussed in the previous Opening in connection with the impossibility of determining the source of the mode of government.
...in which the yes and the no appear at one and the same moment... These are the opposites: the one contradicts the other.
...yet we cannot even grasp how the yes and the no could both apply. It is not that we are able to understand that both of these two opposites are contained in it, for that could not yet be considered an uncertainty. Rather, the uncertainty lies in the fact that first we see it in one way but then afterwards it seems as if it was not that way at all. Accordingly:
It is simply impossible to attain any certainty at all about it, because sometimes it appears as if it contains the yes and then immediately it looks as if that is not the case at all.
The essence of the matter is that all the interconnections stand within the interior of this Head in a concealed manner. However the Head radiates through the mystery of its rulership, and this is essentially what determines the direction of the governmental order. For the power which the Head exercises depends on way it shines. The radiant splendor (זוהר, zohar) which shines forth from the light contained within the interior of the Head that is not Known is what rules at any given time. However, we are unable to grasp the nature of this radiant splendor, let alone the interior light itself. The reason why we cannot understand the nature of this radiant splendor and from where it derives is because one moment it seems one way and then it seems different and it is therefore impossible to understand. We thus conclude that what is within is not even seen, while even that which can be perceived - i.e. the radiant splendor - is also a matter of uncertainty and is not known. This is why it is called the Head that is Unknown.