Rabbi
Moshe Chaim Luzzatto ("RaMChaL"):
138 Openings
of Wisdom
Opening 105
Function of the Hairs of the Head and Beard of Arich Anpin
The Hairs of the Head are a revelation of the holiness of the very Brain itself just as it is within. However, the Beard is such that its lights descend in sequence level by level down to Zeir Anpin.
Having discussed how Arich Anpin is the root of Zeir Anpin, let us examine the start of this root's downward descent.
The proposition consists of two parts. Part 1: The Hairs of the Head. This explains the nature of the Hairs of the Head. Part 2: However, the Beard. This explains the nature of the Hairs of the Beard.
Part 1: The Hairs of the Head are a revelation. As the proposition itself states afterwards in Part 2, the Hairs of the Beard are channels that draw the light of Chochmah S'tima'ah - the Concealed Wisdom - to the outside so as to produce the downward chain of development. Yet the Hairs of the Head also draw forth light from the Brain, as stated in the Idra Rabba (129a): "In every strand there is a flow that comes forth from the Concealed Brain". Accordingly we must first understand the difference between the Hairs of the Beard and those of the Head. The difference is that the Hairs of the Head merely reveal the light of the Brain exactly as it is and not by way of sequential development and gradation. However, the Beard draws the light downwards sequentially, level by level.
.of the holiness of the very Brain itself. The number of strands of hair in the locks of the Head corresponds to the numerical value of the letters of the word קדוש, kadosh, "holy" - 410, as explained by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in the Idra Rabba (128b): "Every lock consists of 410 hairs." This is because it is through the Hairs of the Head that the holiness of the inner Mental Powers flashes forth to be revealed on the outside. .just as it is within. Even when drawn forth, it does not change at all.
Part 2: However, the Beard is such that its lights descend in sequence level by level... The reason why the levels of the Beard are enumerated individually (as 13 Repairs corresponding to the 13 Attributes of Mercy) - which is not so in the case of the Hairs of the Head - is because the levels of the Beard are involved in the mystery of the interaction and coupling of the two attributes of Notzer (רצונ), ".Preserver of Kindness." and Venakei (אקנו), ".Who cleanses." (Exodus 34:6). These are the two Mazalot or "Constellations". (The eighth and thirteenth of the 13 Attributes of Mercy include all the others. "These two Mazalot rest one over the other and are male and female" - Etz Chayim, Shaar Arich Anpin ch. 9.) They interact and couple together, the purpose being to draw down the lights in proportion to the power of the two parties to the interaction. For it is in the brains of the couple that the light emanated through them is drawn down. In this way the light descends to the same level as that of the couple, and it is on this level that the light is emanated.
(It is through coupling - גוויז, zivug - together that they draw down the light from above. Since it is the two parties in the interaction that draw the light, what they draw down is on their level, and this is how the developmental chain of the Partzufim descends level by level. In the case under discussion, the two parties in the interaction or coupling are Abba and Imma, which are included under the Mazalot of Notzer and Venakei respectively, which transfer the lights of the Head of Arich Anpin to Zeir Anpin.)
.down to Zeir Anpin. For the function of the Beard is to bring forth the order of Kindness-Judgment-Mercy contained within the Concealed Wisdom to the outside. Once it begins drawing it forth, it is channeled downwards, descending to Zeir Anpin. For this reason, "Abba and Imma are included in Mazal" (i.e. under Notzer and Venakei, as noted above, in order to provide the governmental order of right and left). This will be discussed further later on. For the purpose of the Beard is to bring this order down to the level of Zeir Anpin. (It is Abba and Imma that effect the transfer). Accordingly Abba and Imma end at the Navel - the Mazalot of the Beard end at the Navel of Arich Anpin - and this way Abba and Imma are literally over the Head of Zeir Anpin, which starts at the Navel of Arich Anpin.