Rabbi
Moshe Chaim Luzzatto ("RaMChaL"):
138 Openings
of Wisdom
Opening 115
Zeir Anpin and Nukva - root of the lower creations
The root of all the creations in the world lies in Zeir Anpin and Nukva, and it is in essence through them that the world is governed. The arrangements instituted in them are thus on a level suitable for the government of the world. Accordingly all their different aspects are known in greater detail inasmuch as they are nearer to us.
Having completed our examination of Abba and Imma, we will now discuss the Partzufim that follow them in the chain of development - Zeir Anpin and Nukva.
This proposition has two parts. Part 1: The root. Zeir Anpin and Nukva are the root of this world. Part 2: Accordingly. This is the reason why they are discussed in greater detail in terms of the human form.
Part 1: The root of all the creations in the world lies in Zeir Anpin and Nukva. As explained earlier in connection with the World of Nekudim, the seven lower Sefirot are the root of all the individual creations, while everything above them is only a necessary preparation in order to reach this level (see Opening 51).
.and it is in essence through them that the world is governed. Since Zeir Anpin and Nukva are the chief root of the creations, they also make up the main levels of the governmental order to which those creations are subject.
The arrangements instituted in them are thus on a level suitable for the government of the world. For as discussed earlier, the arrangements and repairs (Heb. tikunim) in each Partzuf match its particular nature in order to ensure the complete repair of the Partzuf in question and its orderly functioning. (Thus Arich Anpin has unique arrangements in the Head and Beard, Zeir Anpin and Nukva have the aspects of immaturity and maturity, and so on.) It is Zeir Anpin and Nukva that essentially govern this world, and accordingly the particular repairs instituted in them must be precisely what relates to the government of this world since this is their function.
Part 2: Accordingly all their different aspects are known in greater detail. The Kabbalistic writings enter into fewer details about the construction of Abba and Imma than in the case of Zeir Anpin and Nukva, where there is extensive discussion of their stages of immaturity and maturity, how many years these stages last and the details involved in the different states of the Partzufim - face-to-face, back-to-back and so on. The reason for this is because the higher Partzufim are only the indirect cause of our world while Zeir and Nukva are the immediate cause. Accordingly they contain aspects parallel to all that exists in man below in all their individual details. For if this were not the case, these aspects would not exist here below.
.inasmuch as they are nearer to us. The earlier Partzufim do not directly generate these aspects in the world below and there is therefore no need to trace their roots in those Partzufim. It is only from the inception of Zeir Anpin and Nukva that these resulting offspring come into being, and their roots must therefore be contained within Zeir and Nukva.