Five Levels of Masach
17) The three basic definitions are now clear to us:
1) The Ohr is a direct emanation of the Creator’s light, while the Kli is a 'desire to receive' created by the light. The light initially contains an unexpressed 'desire to receive', but as this desire develops, the vessel (Malchut) is separated from it. Malchut is called “His Name” (Shemo) (“He and His Name are one”). The numerical value of the word “Shemo” is identical to the word “Ratzon” (desire).
2) The 10 Sefirot or the 4 worlds of ABYA correspond to the 4 Behinot (phases). They must be present in any created being. The 'desire to receive', or the Kli, “descends” from the Creator’s level through these 4 worlds and achieves its full development in our world.
3) The First Restriction (FR) and the Masach of Behina Dalet bring forth a new vessel instead of Behina Dalet. The vessel is an intention to bestow to the Creator, and is called “Ohr Hozer”. The quantity of the received light depends on the intensity of the desire.
18) We will now clarify the five Behinot of the screen according to which the size of the Kli is changed during the Stroke Contact with the Upper Light.
After the First Restriction, Behina Dalet ceases to be a receiving vessel. The Reflected Light (Ohr Hozer), which rises above the screen because of the Stroke Contact, now plays that role instead. However, Behina Dalet with its powerful 'desire to receive' has to accompany the Ohr Hozer. Without it, the Ohr Hozer is absolutely unable to be a vessel of reception.
Remember the situation between the host and his guest. The guest’s force of refusal to eat has become a receiving vessel taking on the role of hunger, which lost that function because of shame. During that refusal, receiving actually turns into an act of giving. However, we cannot say that the guest has no need for the usual vessels of receiving. Without them, he will not be able to please the host by eating his delicacies.
By way of refusal, hunger (the 'desire to receive') acquires a new form – a 'desire to receive' for the sake of bestowing to the host, the Creator. Shame has now become a merit. It turns out that the usual vessels of reception keep functioning as before, but acquire a new intention, i.e., to receive for the Creator’s sake. The coarseness of Behina Dalet, the state of being opposite to the Creator, prevents it now from being a receiving vessel.
However, thanks to the screen set in Behina Dalet, which hits and reflects the light, it takes a new form called the Ohr Hozer – the Reflected Light – while receiving turns into giving, as in the example with the host and the guest. Nevertheless, the essence of the form remains the same, because the guest would not eat without an appetite. Yet all the power of Behina Dalet’s desire to receive pleasure is included in the Ohr Hozer, making it a proper vessel.
There are two forces always present in the screen. The first is Kashiut, the force of resistance to receiving light; the second is Aviut, the force of Behina Dalet’s 'desire to receive'. Because of a Stroke Contact of Kashiut with the light, Aviut totally changes its properties, turning reception into bestowal. The two forcesfunction in all five parts of the screen: Keter, Hochma, Bina, Tifferet, and Malchut.
19) As stated, the three first Behinot are not considered vessels yet. Only Behina Dalet is a true vessel. Since these three first Behinot are the reasons, phases preceding the creation of Behina Dalet, it adopted their properties upon completion of its development. They were somewhat imprinted in it, creating inside of Behina Dalet its own four levels of the 'desire to receive'. Everything begins with the Behina Alef, the “purest”, “weakest” 'desire toreceive'. Then follows the Behina Bet, which is a bit “coarser” and has a bigger Aviut than the Behina Alef, i.e., it is a higher level of the 'desire to receive'.
Behina Gimel has an Aviut even greater than that of the Behina Bet. Finally comes the turn of the Behina Dalet, which has the largest Aviut, i.e., the greatest 'desire to receive'. Its desire reached the highest, most perfect and ultimate level. It should be pointed out that the root (Shoresh) of these four Behinot is Keter (known as the highest of all and the closest to the Creator), which also left its imprint in Behina Dalet. Thus we mentioned all five levels of the 'desire to receive' included in Behina Dalet, which are otherwise called Keter, Hochma, Bina, Tifferet and Malchut.
20) The five levels of the 'desire to receive' included in Behina Dalet are called by the names of the 10 Sefirot of the Upper Light because Behina Dalet was a vessel receiving this light before TA (“He and His Name are One”). All the worlds, the entire Universe, was included in Behina Dalet of the Direct Light (Malchut of the world of Infinity).
Each Behina contained in Malchut adopted the properties of the corresponding Behina in the 10 Sefirot of the Upper Light. Behina Shoresh of the Behina Dalet adopted the properties of Keter, “dressed in it”, one of the 10 Sefirot of the Upper Light. BehinaAlef of the Behina Dalet “dressed” into the light of Hochma of the 10 Sefirot, and so on. Even after TA, when Behina Dalet ceased to be a vessel of reception, its five levels of the 'desire to receive' still bear the names of the five Sefirot: Keter, Hochma, Bina, Tifferet, and Malchut.
21) We have already learned that the screen’s material is called kashiut. It is similar to a solid body that does not allow anything to enter it. Likewise, the screen prevents the Upper Light from entering Malchut, i.e., Behina Dalet. The screen stops and reflects all the light that was destined to fill Malchut. The five Behinot of Aviut in Behina Dalet are included in the screen according to its kashiut. Hence, the screen performs five Stroke Contacts (Zivugey de Haka’a) with the light according to its five Behinot of Aviut.
The light reflected by the screen, consisting of all the five Behinot of Aviut, rises back, envelops the coming light and reaches its source, the Behina Shoresh. However, if only 4 out of 5 parts of the Aviut are present in the screen, then its Reflected Light will “see” only four portions of pleasure.
In the absence of Behinot Alef and Gimel, the 5-th and the 4-th parts of rigidity in the screen, it can reflect the Ohr Hozer only up to the level of Bina. If there is only the Behina Alef in the screen, then its Ohr Hozer is very small and can envelop the Direct Light only up to the level of Tifferet in the absence of Keter, Hochma, and Bina. If there is only the Behina Shoresh of Kashiut in the screen, then its resisting power is quite weak and the Ohr Hozer can envelop Malchut’s coming light, while the nine first Sefirot are absent.
22) The five levels (Behinot) of the 10 Sefirot of the Reflected Light emerge because of five kinds of Zivugey de Haka’a (Stroke Contact) of the Upper Light with the five levels of the screen’s Aviiut. This light is not perceived or attained by anyone if there is no vessel to receive it.
These five phases emerge from five Behinot of Aviut of Behina Dalet, which were five receiving vessels of Behina Dalet before TA; they enveloped the 10 Sefirot: Keter, Hochma, Bina, Tifferet, and Malchut. After TA, these same five Behinot merge with the five Behinot of the screen, and with the help of the Reflected Light again become receiving vessels instead of the five Behinot of Behina Dalet, which played that role before TA.
Now we can understand that if the screen has all these five Behinot of Aviut, then it possesses five vessels for enveloping the 10 Sefirot, i.e., for receiving the Upper Light. If the Aviut of the BehinaDalet is absent in the screen, it has only four vessels and can receive only the four lights corresponding to Hochma, Bina, Tifferet and Malchut but cannot receive the light of Keter.
If the Aviut of Behina Gimel is absent in the screen, it has only three vessels and can receive only the three lights corresponding to Bina, Tifferet and Malchut. The lights corresponding to Keter and Hochma as well as the vessels corresponding to Behinot Gimel and Dalet are absent in it.
If the screen has only two levels of Aviut, Shoresh, and Behina Alef, it possesses only the two vessels corresponding to the lights of Tifferet and Malchut. It turns out that such a Partzuf lacks the three lights of Keter, Hochma and Bina, as well as the three vessels corresponding to Behinot Bet, Gimel, and Dalet. If the screen has only Aviut Shoresh, then it has only one vessel with only the light of Malchut (Nefesh).
The remaining lights, Keter, Hochma, Tifferet and Malchut, are absent in it. Therefore, the size of each Partzuf depends only on the screen’s Aviut (thickness). The screen with the Aviut of Behina Dalet creates a Partzuf consisting of five levels including Keter. The screen with Aviut of Behina Gimel creates a Partzuf consisting of four levels up to Hochma, and so on.
23) We need to understand why, in the absence of the vessel of Malchut, the light of Keter is missing, and why light of Hochma is missing when the vessel of Tifferet is also absent. On the face of it, everything should be the other way around. If the Aviut of the Behina Dalet is absent in the screen, then the light of Malchut(Nefesh) should be missing. If two vessels are absent –Behina Gimel and Behina Dalet- the lights of Tifferet and Malchut should also be missing.
24) The fact is that there is an inverse relationship between the lights and the vessels. First, the higher vessels emerge and start growing in the Partzuf, from Keter and down to Hochma and so on until Malchut.
Hence we call the vessels according to the order of their growth: Keter, Hochma, Bina, Tifferet and Malchut (KaHaB-TuM), from up downwards. The lights enter the Partzuf in an opposite order, first the lower ones: the lowest light – Nefesh (its place is inside Malchut), then Ruach (ZeirAnpin’s light) and so on until Yechida.
Hence we name the lights in the following order: Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya and Yechida (NaRaNHaY), from down upwards, according to the order of their coming into the Partzuf. When the Partzuf has only one vessel (this can be only Keter), the first light to enter it is not Yechida, which must be inside it, but Nefesh, the lowest light.
When two higher vessels ,Keter and Hochma, emerge in the Partzuf, then the light Ruach also enters it. The light Nefesh exits the vessel Keter and descends to the vessel Hochma, whereas the light Ruach enters the vessel Keter. When the third vessel Bina emerges in the Partzuf, the light Nefesh exits the vessel Hochma and descends to the vessel Bina, while the light Ruach descends to the vessel Hochma and the light Neshama enters the vessel Keter.
When the fourth vessel Tifferet emerges in the Partzuf, the light Haya entersit;the light Nefesh exits the vessel Bina and descends to the vessel Tifferet. While the light Ruach descends to the vessel Bina, the light Neshama enters the vessel Hochma and the light Haya enters the vessel Keter.
Whenthe fifth vessel Malchut emerges in the Partzuf, the light Yechida entersit. All the lights are now in their places, since the light Nefesh exits the vessel Tifferet, and descends to the vessel Malchut, while the light Ruach descends to the vessel Tifferet, the light Neshama enters the vessel Bina, the light Haya enters the vessel Hochma, and the light Yechida enters the vessel Keter.
25) Until the formation of all the five Kelim in the Partzuf has been completed, their five lights are not in their places; moreover, they are arranged in an inverse order. In the absence of the KliMalchut, the light Yechida is missing in the Partzuf. In the absence of the two vessels Malchut and Tifferet, there are no lights Yechida and Haya On the one hand, the pure vessels are born, from Keter to Malchut; on the other hand, the weaker lights (starting from Nefesh) are the first to enterthem.
Since any reception of the light occurs in the purest vessels, each new light must enter the Kli Keter. As the new light enters the Kli Keter, the light that was there descends to the Kli Hochma. When there is a Masach for the vessel Hochma, Ohr Ruach enters the Kli Keter and the Ohr Nefesh descends to Hochma.
As the screen grows stronger, the following vessels are formed: Bina, Tifferet and Malchut, and the lights Neshama, Haya, and Yechida are able, one by one, to pass through Keter and fill all the vessels. All the lights enter their rightful places: Nefesh in Malchut, Ruach in Tifferet, Neshama in Bina, Haya in Hochma and Yechida in Keter.
Remember this rule about the inverse relationship between the lights and vessels, and you will always be able to distinguish whether the lights or the vesselsare meant in a certain context without getting confused. We have learned about the five Behinot (levels) of the screen and how the levels of the Kli emerge one under the other in correspondence with them..