Klach in Thirty-Four Cards

The whole book in thirty-four short cards. Each card has a narrated video of about a minute, the principle in one line, a short story, the diagram, and a question to check yourself.

The mnemonic When Every Piece Plays, Structure Takes A New Route; Partners Zealously Complete.

Room A · The Axioms

what the book is about

Card 1 of 34

His Will, not His Essence

רצונו, לא עצמותו

Kabbalah speaks only of His Will (רצונו). His Essence (עצמותו) is forbidden ground.

A story · The door with no handle

A king lets you tour every hall of his palace and read every law he wrote. Each law shows what he wants. At the very top is one door with no handle. You may study everything he wills; you may never ask what he is in himself. In the Tree, that door is Keter (כתר).

The Tree, with a dotted line drawn just above Keter (כתר): the ceiling of inquiry.

On the Tree the boundary is Keter (כתר): from Chochmah (חכמה) downward, inquiry is permitted; above it, it is not. Every later term in the book, Chesed (חסד), Gevurah (גבורה), Tiferet (תפארת), is an attribute of His Will, never of His Essence.

Check yourself When we say “Chesed” (חסד), what are we naming an attribute of?

✓ His Will (רצונו), never His Essence.

Card 2 of 34

Only His Will rules

יחוד

Not merely that there is one God: no other will can ever genuinely limit Him.

A story · The puppet theatre

On stage the puppets argue, chase and even defy the king puppet. It looks like many wills. Look up: every string runs to one pair of hands. The puppets truly move, and their choices are real inside the play, but no puppet can cut a string. That is Oneness (יחוד) in its strong form.

The Descent, the top orb alone: Eyn Sof (אין סוף), the Limitless.

This is the strong form of His Oneness (יחוד): even a will He created with apparent autonomy, ours, cannot set a boundary to His. Everything that follows, including evil and human choice, operates inside His Will, not against it.

Check yourself What is the “strong” form of Oneness (יחוד)?

✓ That only His Will is in absolute control; no created will can limit Him.

Card 3 of 34

Evil is a means to good

הרע אמצעי לטוב

Evil (רע) is created by Him as an instrument for bestowing good; at the close of the cycle it reverts to good.

A story · The shadow painter

A painter adds dark shading so the light in the picture can be seen. Without the shadows the canvas is a flat white blur. By the last brushstroke the shadows are part of the light. Evil (רע) is that shading: made for the sake of good, living only in the three lower Worlds (בי״ע).

The Descent, the three lower Worlds shaded, with an arrow curving back up toward the light

This is Ramchal's signature move. Evil is not a rival power and not a mistake: it is the shading that makes an earned good possible. It lives only in the three lower Worlds (בי״ע), never in Atzilut (אצילות), and its root is the breaking of the vessels (שבירת הכלים).

Check yourself Where in the four Worlds does evil live, and where does it never live?

✓ In Beriyah, Yetzirah, Asiyah (בי״ע); never in Atzilut (אצילות).

Card 4 of 34

The purpose: an earned good

תכלית הבריאה

Creation exists to give creatures the ultimate good, and a good given for free would be “bread of shame” (נהמא דכסופא).

A story · The diploma in the shop window

Imagine buying a medical diploma in a shop. It hangs on your wall, and every time you see it you feel small. A diploma you earned through years of study fills you with joy. Ramchal calls the bought one bread of shame (נהמא דכסופא). Creation is built so the good can be earned.

The Descent, the bottom orb, Asiyah (עשיה), labelled “where the good is earned.”

So the whole architecture of creation is the architecture of earning. The governmental order (הנהגה) was built to produce a being with free will (בחירה) who can deserve what he receives. The bottom of the ladder, Asiyah (עשיה), is where that earning happens.

Check yourself Why can the good not simply be given?

✓ An unearned good is bread of shame (נהמא דכסופא); it must be earned by free choice.

Card 5 of 34

The plan: one cycle, concealment then revelation

הסתר וגילוי

Concealment (הסתר) first, then revelation (גילוי); deficiency (חסרון) is built in so that perfection (שלימות) can be earned.

A story · Hide and seek

A father plays hide-and-seek with his small son. He hides, but not too well; a sleeve shows behind the curtain. The hiding exists for the joy of the finding. The cycle of the world is the same game: concealment (הסתר) first, then revelation (גילוי). The first hiding is the Tzimtzum (צמצום).

The Descent drawn as a loop: down the ladder, and an arc back up to the top.

The Tzimtzum (צמצום) is the first act of concealment. The cycle runs down the ladder and back up; six thousand years is one complete turn. Every chapter of the book is a step in this one loop.

Check yourself What is the first act of concealment called?

✓ The Tzimtzum (צמצום).

Room B · The Vocabulary

the categories the book thinks in

Card 6 of 34

The Sefirot: ten visible attributes of His Will

ספירות

Lights that He permitted to be seen; each Sefirah (ספירה) is one attribute of His Will (רצונו).

A story · The ten windows

A great house stands in the dark. You cannot see inside, but ten windows are lit, each in a different colour. Through each window you see one way the owner chooses to act: kindness, strength, beauty. The windows are the Sefirot (ספירות): visible lights, each one an attribute of His Will (רצונו).

The Tree with all ten orbs lit.

They are an innovation in the cosmic order: Eyn Sof (אין סוף) is not seen, the Sefirot are. Their class is “visible lights”; their content is “attributes of the Will.” A Partzuf (פרצוף), later, is a Sefirah unfolded into a full body.

Check yourself Name the class and the content of a Sefirah (ספירה).

✓ Class: a visible light. Content: an attribute of His Will.

Card 7 of 34

The Tree: ten names, three tiers, three columns

עץ החיים

Keter (כתר), Chochmah (חכמה), Binah (בינה); Chesed (חסד), Gevurah (גבורה), Tiferet (תפארת); Netzach (נצח), Hod (הוד), Yesod (יסוד); Malchut (מלכות).

A story · The man with his arms open

Stand with your arms open. Your head is the top three: Keter, Chochmah, Binah. Right arm Chesed (חסד), left arm Gevurah (גבורה), chest Tiferet (תפארת). Right leg Netzach, left leg Hod, and Yesod between them. Your feet on the ground are Malchut (מלכות). Right is kindness, left is judgment, the middle is mercy.

The whole Tree: this is the card on which the reader learns to draw it.

Three tiers, top to bottom:

The Mochin (מוחין), the brains: Keter (כתר), Chochmah (חכמה), Binah (בינה)
The body, chest and arms: Chesed (חסד), Gevurah (גבורה), Tiferet (תפארת)
The legs: Netzach (נצח), Hod (הוד), Yesod (יסוד)
The receiving mouth: Malchut (מלכות)

Three columns, side to side:

Left	Middle	Right
Judgment דין	Mercy רחמים	Kindness חסד

Learn to draw this from memory; it is the picture every other picture is built on.

Check yourself Draw the Tree and label the three columns.

✓ Right = Kindness (חסד), left = Judgment (דין), middle = Mercy (רחמים).

Card 8 of 34

Appearance is real, but it is not the Sefirah

מראה ועצם

The prophets see chariots (מרכבות), thrones and fires; the image follows the operational need and never claims to be the Sefirah's intrinsic shape.

A story · The judge's two faces

A judge sentences a thief harshly in the morning and comforts an orphan in the afternoon. Is she stern or gentle? Both pictures are true, and neither is her soul. The prophets saw chariots (מרכבות) and fire the same way: true images shaped by what the moment needed, never the Sefirah itself.

The Tree, one orb with two contradictory silhouettes projected off it.

The appearance has spiritual form and is true, yet even the spiritual form is not the essence. A single Sefirah (ספירה) can appear in two opposite forms at once, both true, because neither is what it is. This is the grammar behind every image in the book, including the Likeness of Man (דמות אדם).

Check yourself Can two opposite images of one Sefirah both be true? Why?

✓ Yes; neither is the Sefirah's essence, each serves an operational need.

Card 9 of 34

Government is built toward a purpose

הנהגה

The order of the Sefirot was structured to produce man with free will (בחירה); it is not arbitrary.

A story · The school building

Every corridor, bell and classroom of a school exists for one reason: a pupil who chooses to learn. Remove the pupil and the building is pointless. The government (הנהגה) of the Sefirot is designed the same way. Its whole order exists for the sake of a being with free will (בחירה).

The Descent, an arrow from the Tree down to Asiyah (עשיה) labelled “for man's free wi

Hanhagah (הנהגה), government, is the book's word for how His Will runs the world through the Sefirot. It is teleological: the order exists for the sake of a chooser. And it runs in two registers, revealed (נגלה) and concealed (נסתר), which card 27 develops.

Check yourself What was the governmental order (הנהגה) built to produce?

✓ Man with free will (בחירה).

Card 10 of 34

Clothing: inner within outer

התלבשות

One Sefirah is expressed through another; the inner is clothed (מתלבש) in the outer.

A story · The lamp in the lantern

A flame sits inside a glass lamp, the lamp inside a paper lantern, the lantern inside a window. Each layer is clothed (מתלבש) in the next, and the light still shows through all of them, softer at each layer. That is Hitlabshut (התלבשות): the inner clothed in the outer.

The Tree with three concentric translucent rings around the middle column: brains inside b

Hitlabshut (התלבשות) is the grammar of every “X clothed in Y” sentence in the book: Atik (עתיק) in Arich (אריך); Chochmah-Binah-Daat (חב״ד) within Chesed-Gevurah-Tiferet (חג״ת) within Netzach-Hod-Yesod (נה״י). The rule of the picture: the inner glow shows through the outer wrap.

Check yourself In a Partzuf (פרצוף), what is clothed in what?

✓ Chochmah-Binah-Daat within Chesed-Gevurah-Tiferet within Netzach-Hod-Yesod.

Card 11 of 34

Direct light and returning light

אור ישר ואור חוזר

Light descends directly (אור ישר) and is returned back up (אור חוזר); every Coupling (זיווג) rests on this two-fold motion.

A story · The echo

Call into a canyon and your voice comes back to you. The call goes down; the echo comes back up. Without the wall that returns it, the voice is lost. Light works the same way: direct light (אור ישר) goes down, returning light (אור חוזר) comes back up, and every Coupling (זיווג) rests on both.

The Descent, a down-arrow and an up-arrow beside the Line (קו).

The down-and-up is the heartbeat of the system. It appears first as a fundamental of the Sefirot, later as the Line (קו) entering the Residue (רשימו), and at the very end as the Female Waters (מיין נוקבין) sent up to meet the influence coming down.

Check yourself Which later doctrine rests on the two-fold light?

✓ The Coupling (זיווג): direct light down, returning light up.

Card 12 of 34

Letters: twenty-two, each a mix of the three columns

אותיות

The government of the worlds is implemented through letters (אותיות): exactly twenty-two, the Hebrew alphabet.

A story · The three paints

A painter has only three paints: white for kindness, red for judgment, purple for mercy. Mixing them in different amounts, she makes twenty-two colours, and with those she paints everything. The twenty-two letters (אותיות) are those colours, each a different blend of the three columns of the Tree.

The Tree's three columns feeding a row of twenty-two tiles beneath it.

The organizing key of each letter is its particular combination of Kindness (חסד), Judgment (דין) and Mercy (רחמים), the three columns of the Tree. The letters are the alphabet in which the Names (שמות) are written.

Check yourself How many letters, and what is each one a combination of?

✓ Twenty-two; each a combination of Kindness, Judgment and Mercy.

Card 13 of 34

The Name and its four fillings: AV, SaG, MaH, BaN

מילויי השם: ע״ב ס״ג מ״ה ב״ן

The Four-Letter Name spelled out four ways (מילויים), each with its own gematria (גימטריא).

A story · One name, four spellings

Write your own name four ways: in block letters, in cursive, in full, and in initials. It is still you each time, but each spelling suits a different use. The Four-Letter Name is spelled out four ways too: AV (ע״ב) 72, SaG (ס״ג) 63, MaH (מ״ה) 45, BaN (ב״ן) 52.

The Descent, four horizontal bands 72 · 63 · 45 · 52 across the Adam Kadmon (אדם קדמון) or

AV (ע״ב) = 72 · Chochmah (חכמה), Atzilut
SaG (ס״ג) = 63 · Binah (בינה)
MaH (מ״ה) = 45 · Zeir Anpin (זעיר אנפין) · the new MaH of repair
BaN (ב״ן) = 52 · Nukva (נוקבא), Malchut (מלכות) · the BaN of the breaking

This is the code that nearly every technical chapter runs on.

Check yourself Which filling is “new,” and what does it repair?

✓ MaH (מ״ה), 45; it repairs BaN (ב״ן), the broken material.

Room C · The Cosmogony

how the space and the first structure came to be

Card 14 of 34

Eyn Sof and the Tzimtzum: the Place is opened

אין סוף · צמצום

The Limitless (אין סוף), not seen, contracts (צמצום); a Place (מקום) is opened in the Light.

A story · The full hall

A hall is packed wall to wall with light, so bright that nothing in it can be seen. The host steps back and makes room. Now there is a space, and in that space shapes can finally be told apart. The stepping back is the Tzimtzum (צמצום); what appears in the space is the Sefirot (ספירות).

The Descent, the top orb with the hollow opened beneath it.

This is the first act of concealment. Its immediate result: the Sefirot (ספירות) become visible. Before, a uniform field of light; after, a hollow surrounded by Light, and the hollow is not black, only a dimmer tint of the same field.

Check yourself What is the immediate result of the Tzimtzum (צמצום)?

✓ The Sefirot become visible.

Card 15 of 34

Reshimu: the Residue

רשימו

The trace that remains in the hollow after the contraction, identified as Malchut of Eyn Sof (מלכות דאין סוף).

A story · The scent in the jar

Empty a jar of perfume. The jar looks empty, but the scent remains. That trace is everything the next stage will work with. The Residue (רשימו) is the light's trace left in the Place after the contraction: the receiving, female side, BaN (ב״ן), the raw material of all that follows.

The Descent, a faint glow filling the hollow; the left gutter reads BaN (ב״ן) · Residue ·

The Residue (רשימו) is the raw material of everything that follows, and it is the damage-root side of the cosmos: the BaN (ב״ן), the female, the receiving. Judgment (דין) in the Residue is the root of the material substance of the separate creations.

Check yourself Which side of the MaH/BaN (מ״ה/ב״ן) pair is the Residue (רשימו)?

✓ BaN (ב״ן), the female, receiving, damage-root side.

Card 16 of 34

Kav: the Line; and Circles versus Linearity

קו · עיגולים ויושר

A thread of light (קו) enters the Place and organizes the Residue (רשימו); its two modes are Circle (עיגול) and Line (יושר).

A story · The plumb line

A builder has a yard full of bricks in rings around the edge. He drops a plumb line down the middle, and the scattered bricks begin to stand in a straight, ordered wall. The Line (קו) enters the Residue (רשימו) and orders it. Circles (עיגולים) and Line (יושר) are two ways the same Sefirot stand.

The Descent, the vertical Line through the hollow with concentric rings around it; the rig

The Line ruling and rectifying the Residue is the operational pattern that returns wherever anything repairs anything else in the book. Igulim (עיגולים), the concentric rings, and Yosher (יושר), the upright Tree, are two modes of the same Sefirot.

Check yourself What is “the repair of the Residue” a template for?

✓ Every later repair-of-something-by-something-else; the Line ruling the Residue.

Card 17 of 34

Adam Kadmon: the first ordered emanation

אדם קדמון

Ten Sefirot in the Likeness of Man (דמות אדם) under the four letters of the Name.

A story · The architect's model

Before a city is built, the architect makes one complete model: every street in place, shaped like a man lying across the plan. Every later building follows it. Adam Kadmon (אדם קדמון) is that first model: ten Sefirot in the Likeness of Man (דמות אדם), with four branches, AV, SaG, MaH, BaN.

The Descent, the Adam Kadmon orb with its four bands.

From Adam Kadmon (אדם קדמון, א״ק) emerge the branches AV, SaG, MaH, BaN (ע״ב ס״ג מ״ה ב״ן), and under him the four Worlds are ordered. He is the bridge from the creation story to the worlds-and-Partzufim story; Atik (עתיק), the highest Partzuf, is his Malchut (מלכות) clothed in Atzilut.

Check yourself What are the four branches that emerge from Adam Kadmon (אדם קדמון)?

✓ AV, SaG, MaH, BaN (ע״ב ס״ג מ״ה ב״ן).

Card 18 of 34

The four Worlds

אבי״ע: אצילות בריאה יצירה עשיה

Atzilut (אצילות) Emanation, Beriyah (בריאה) Creation, Yetzirah (יצירה) Formation, Asiyah (עשיה) Action.

A story · Idea, plan, drawing, house

A house begins as an idea in the owner's mind, becomes a plan, then an architect's drawing, and finally a house you can live in. Atzilut (אצילות), Beriyah (בריאה), Yetzirah (יצירה), Asiyah (עשיה): Emanation, Creation, Formation, Action. The Partzufim live in the idea; we live in the house.

The Descent, the four lowest orbs.

Ordered under Adam Kadmon and functioning as one world with three garments:

Atzilut (אצילות), Emanation: the Partzufim (פרצופים) live here
Beriyah (בריאה), Creation
Yetzirah (יצירה), Formation
Asiyah (עשיה), Action: we live here; the influence “goes forth to act”

Together they are ABYA (אבי״ע); the lower three alone, BYA (בי״ע).

Check yourself In which World do the Partzufim live? In which do we?

✓ Atzilut (אצילות); Asiyah (עשיה).

Card 19 of 34

Where evil lives: BYA only

קליפות בבי״ע

The shells (קליפות) and the human realm are in the three lower Worlds (בי״ע); never in Atzilut (אצילות).

A story · The ground floor workshop

In a great house the family lives upstairs, and the workshop with its dirt and sparks is on the ground floor. Mud never reaches the upper rooms. Evil's shells (קליפות) are only in the three lower Worlds (בי״ע), because the breaking that is their root never reached Atzilut (אצילות).

The Descent, Beriyah, Yetzirah and Asiyah shaded; Atzilut left clear.

This is why the breaking happened only at Nekudim (נקודים), and why the repair arc runs BYA → ABYA → BYA: the lower worlds of Nekudim become the proper four Worlds, and the lower three remain the arena where evil is met and used.

Check yourself Why is Atzilut (אצילות) never the location of evil?

✓ Evil's root is in the broken vessels, and breaking reaches only the lower worlds (בי״ע).

Room D · The Drama

breaking and repair

Card 20 of 34

Nekudim: the world that broke; 288 sparks

נקודים · שבירת הכלים · רפ״ח ניצוצין

The World of Chaos (תוהו), the world of points (נקודים): its lower seven vessels (כלים) broke and 288 sparks (רפ״ח ניצוצין) fell.

A story · The crate of glasses

A crate holds ten glasses. The top three are crystal and stand firm. The seven below are thin, all blown from one batch, and when the light is poured in they crack. Shards scatter: 288 sparks (רפ״ח ניצוצין). This is Nekudim (נקודים), the world that broke.

The Descent, the cracked orb beside Adam Kadmon; on the Tree, the top three orbs intact, t

$The Descent, the cracked orb beside Adam Kadmon; on the Tree, the top three orbs intact, the lower seven fractured.$

Its vessels were a single material, built from sparks of an earlier emanation.
The first three Sefirot did not break: they are crowns over the broken seven; sins do not damage them but drive them away.
The lower seven vessels broke; 288 sparks (רפ״ח ניצוצין) fell.

Everything called damage in the world is rooted here.

Check yourself How many sparks fell, and which Sefirot did not break?

✓ 288 (רפ״ח); Keter, Chochmah, Binah did not break.

Card 21 of 34

All damage is rooted in the breaking; all repair in MaH joined to BaN

מ״ה וב״ן · מתקלא

The root of repair (תיקון) is the joining of MaH (מ״ה) and BaN (ב״ן): the matkela (מתקלא), the balance.

A story · The scale

On one pan of a scale lies broken material; on the other, the new weight that sets it right. Only when both pans are held together does the scale balance. That balance is the matkela (מתקלא). MaH (מ״ה) is always the repair-root and BaN (ב״ן) the damage-root, and repair comes from joining them.

The Descent, the two gutter labels tied into one knot at Atzilut.

The first general principle of Nekudim: every damage and every repair in the world is rooted in the breaking of the vessels (שבירת הכלים). And in every level, MaH is the repair-root and BaN the damage-root. The balance (מתקלא) of Sifra DeTzeniuta (ספרא דצניעותא) is the two held together.

Check yourself Complete: MaH (מ״ה) = ___ roots; BaN (ב״ן) = ___ roots.

✓ MaH = repair roots; BaN = damage roots.

Card 22 of 34

Male and Female: MaH is the Line, BaN is the Residue

דכר ונוקבא

MaH (מ״ה) = Line (קו) = Male (דכר); BaN (ב״ן) = Residue (רשימו) = Female (נוקבא).

A story · Seed and soil

A seed alone does nothing; soil alone grows nothing. Put them together and life comes up. The seed is active, the soil receives. MaH (מ״ה) is the Line (קו), the Male (דכר); BaN (ב״ן) is the Residue (רשימו), the Female (נוקבא). Every Coupling (זיווג) in the book is this one pattern.

The Descent, the two gutters as the two sides of every orb.

Male · דכר	Female · נוקבא
MaH (מ״ה)	BaN (ב״ן)
the Line (קו)	the Residue (רשימו)
the active side	the receiving side
repair-roots	damage-roots

Lights couple in pairs to draw from the Source: the two-generators principle. The pairing exists above Nekudim too, as AV and SaG (ע״ב וס״ג). Every Coupling (זיווג) in the book is this one pattern.

Check yourself Which is the Line, MaH or BaN? Which is Male?

✓ MaH (מ״ה) is the Line and the Male; BaN (ב״ן) the Residue and the Female.

Card 23 of 34

Repair: selection and cleansing; the vessels become Partzufim

תיקון · בירור

Level by level the sparks are selected and purified (בירור); the new MaH (מ״ה) completes the broken vessels, and they become Partzufim (פרצופים).

A story · The mosaic

After the glass shattered, a craftsman sorts the shards one by one, cleans each, and sets them into a new frame. The result is not the old glass glued back. It is a mosaic, more beautiful than the original. Selection (בירור) and repair (תיקון) turn the broken vessels into Partzufim (פרצופים).

The Descent, the cracked orb resolving downward into the Atzilut orb with its stack of fiv

BYA-of-Nekudim becomes ABYA proper. The Tree of Holiness that results is a new state, not the old one restored: “new heavens and a new land.” Repair is the making of something better than what broke.

Check yourself What do the repaired vessels become?

✓ Partzufim (פרצופים).

Card 24 of 34

Man's part: Heaven innovates, man reinforces

אתערותא דלתתא

The hand of Heaven gives innovation; the hand of man gives reinforcement; the whole cosmos is repaired by man's choice (בחירה).

A story · The teacher and the homework

The teacher gives the new lesson; only the pupil can do the homework that makes it stick. The lesson without practice fades; practice without the lesson has nothing to work on. Heaven supplies innovation; man supplies reinforcement. That is the arousal from below (אתערותא דלתתא), and the whole cosmos waits on it.

The Descent, an arrow from Asiyah (עשיה) back up the ladder, labelled “reinforcement.”

Perfection (שלימות) requires deficiency (חסרון); nothing is in vain and nothing is missing; every part is exactly calibrated. Six millennia is one cycle. This card is where the axioms of Room A land in the mechanics of Room D.

Check yourself What does the hand of man supply that the hand of Heaven does not?

✓ Reinforcement; Heaven supplies innovation.

Room E · The Partzufim

the structures that do the governing

Card 25 of 34

Partzuf: one light unfolded into a 613-part body

פרצוף · תרי״ג

The level above a Sefirah: one light differentiated into 613 (תרי״ג) parts, as the mitzvot (מצוות), as the limbs and sinews.

A story · From one cell to a body

A single cell divides until it is a whole body: bones inside, skin outside, head above, feet below, all moving together like a clock. A Partzuf (פרצוף) is one light unfolded into 613 (תרי״ג) parts, with two axes: thickness (עובי), inner to outer, and height (שיעור קומה), higher to lower.

The Family, one figure shown as a template: concentric rings for thickness, a vertical sca

Two axes:

Thickness (עובי): inner clothed within outer; brains within body within legs.
Height (שיעור קומה): nearer the root above, spreading below.

Bound into one order, the Likeness of Man (דמות אדם):

governed from the understanding heart;
moving like a clock whose small wheel turns many great wheels (כונניות);
alive with circulating spirit (רוח).

Check yourself Name the two axes of a Partzuf (פרצוף).

✓ Thickness (עובי), inner-outer; and height (שיעור קומה), higher-lower.

Card 26 of 34

The five Partzufim of Atzilut

עתיק · אריך אנפין · אבא ואמא · זעיר אנפין · נוקבא

Atik Yomin (עתיק יומין), Arich Anpin (אריך אנפין), Abba and Imma (אבא ואמא), Zeir Anpin (זעיר אנפין), Nukva (נוקבא).

A story · The family at the table

At the head of the table sits the great-grandfather, Atik (עתיק), almost silent. Beside him the grandfather, Arich Anpin (אריך אנפין), all kindness. Then the parents, Abba and Imma (אבא ואמא), who raise the children: the son, Zeir Anpin (זעיר אנפין), and the daughter, Nukva (נוקבא). Five Partzufim, one family.

The Family, the whole stack; the Tree overlay shows which Sefirot each is made of.

Atik Yomin (עתיק יומין): Malchut of Adam Kadmon clothed in Atzilut; male and female literally one body; the bridge down from A״K.
Arich Anpin (אריך אנפין): Keter (כתר); the root, the others its branches; complete Kindness in itself.
Abba and Imma (אבא ואמא): Chochmah and Binah (חכמה ובינה); the parents.
Zeir Anpin (זעיר אנפין, ז״א): the six, Chesed through Yesod; Judgment sweetened by Imma.
Nukva (נוקבא): Malchut (מלכות); the Shechinah (שכינה).

Learn to draw this stack.

Check yourself Which Partzuf is made of which Sefirot?

✓ Arich = Keter; Abba = Chochmah; Imma = Binah; Z״A = Chesed→Yesod; Nukva = Malchut.

Card 27 of 34

Two registers of government; the ceiling is the Unknown Head

הנהגה נגלית ונסתרת · רישא דלא אתידע

The cosmos is governed in two registers, revealed (נגלה) and concealed (נסתר); the concealed root sits in the Unknown Head (רישא דלא אתידע, רדל״א).

A story · The two ledgers

A wise king keeps two ledgers. One is open: rewards and punishments people can see. The other is sealed: the hidden plan that turns every event toward the end. The cosmos is governed in both registers, revealed (נגלה) and concealed (נסתר). The sealed root sits in the Unknown Head (רישא דלא אתידע).

The Family, the closed circle at the very top of Atik (עתיק); a dotted line marks the same

A trace of every faulty deed is registered even after its repair, to reveal the concealed dimension.
The Great Day of Judgment (יום הדין הגדול) is complete repair and reward.
The Unknown Head (רישא דלא אתידע), highest of Atik's three heads (תלת רישין), holds the root of every MaH-BaN combination.
It is the level beyond which inquiry does not go: the same ceiling as card 1, seen from inside Atzilut.

Check yourself What are the two registers of government (הנהגה)?

✓ Revealed (נגלה) and concealed (נסתר).

Card 28 of 34

Arich's head: the toolkit of repair

תיקוני אריך אנפין · דיקנא · מצחא

Every Partzuf's head holds Crown (כתר) plus Mental Powers (מוחין); Atik shines through the Repairs (תיקונים) of Arich's head.

A story · The grandfather's face

A child watches his grandfather's face to know how things stand. When the forehead is smooth, everyone relaxes; when the brow is hidden, the sternness is only softened. The features of Arich Anpin's head work this way. The Forehead of Favor (מצחא דרעוא) removes judgment when revealed, and the beard (דיקנא) holds thirteen conduits of mercy.

The Family, Arich's head enlarged with thirteen lines descending and the forehead lit

The beard (דיקנא): its Tikkunim are the thirteen Conduits of Mercy (י״ג מכילין דרחמי).
The Forehead of Favor (מצחא דרעוא): revealed, it removes stern Judgment; concealed, it only sweetens it.
Eyes, nose, ears, mouth: each head-feature is a repair-mechanism with consequences below.

Arich in itself acts with complete Kindness; his branches act with Justice.

Check yourself What does the Forehead of Favor (מצחא דרעוא) do when it is revealed?

✓ It removes stern Judgment (concealed, it only sweetens it).

Card 29 of 34

Abba and Imma: the parents

אבא ואמא

Abba (אבא) is Chochmah (חכמה), Imma (אמא) is Binah (בינה); together they are the parents of Zeir Anpin and Nukva.

A story · Father and mother teach

A father gives the whole idea in one sentence: be honest. The mother spells it out: what to say to the shopkeeper, how to return extra change. Abba (אבא) is Chochmah (חכמה), revealing the Mental Powers (מוחין) as a whole. Imma (אמא) is Binah (בינה), revealing them in detail.

The Family, the two parent orbs side by side, with lines descending into Zeir Anpin.

They root in the outer dimension of Arich's lower triad and spread the Concealed Wisdom (חכמה סתימאה) in the columns of Kindness and Judgment.
Abba reveals the Mental Powers (מוחין) as a whole; Imma reveals them in detail.
Their entry into Zeir Anpin also generates the additional Partzufim Jacob and Leah (יעקב ולאה).
Their own sub-divisions: Israel Sabba and Tevunah (ישראל סבא ותבונה).

Check yourself Which Sefirot are Abba (אבא) and Imma (אמא)?

✓ Chochmah (חכמה) and Binah (בינה).

Room F · The Operation

how it actually runs, and where it ends

Card 30 of 34

Zeir Anpin grows: pregnancy, suckling, maturity

זעיר אנפין · עיבור יניקה גדלות

The parents direct Zeir Anpin (זעיר אנפין) through his Mental Powers (מוחין); he grows in stages, and the breakage is repaired at each stage.

A story · Nine months, two years, a lifetime

A child is carried, then nursed, then grows up to think for himself. At each stage his parents give a little more of their mind. Zeir Anpin (זעיר אנפין) grows the same way: Pregnancy (עיבור), Suckling (יניקה), Maturity (גדלות), each stage repairing more of the breaking.

The Family, Zeir Anpin with a growth bar: pregnancy → suckling → maturity.

Three stages: Pregnancy (עיבור), Suckling (יניקה), Maturity (גדלות); then a First and a Second Maturity.
Daat (דעת) spreads through his whole body; Chochmah and Binah do not.
His static structure is the Tzelem (צלם).
The cosmos works by gradation (hadragah, הדרגה): intermediaries rather than direct issuance.

Z״A and Nukva together are the root of all the lower creations.

Check yourself Name the three stages of Zeir Anpin's growth.

✓ Pregnancy (עיבור), Suckling (יניקה), Maturity (גדלות).

Card 31 of 34

Nukva is built separately and cut free

בנין הנוקבא · נסירה

Nukva (נוקבא) is built separately, with mitigated Strengths (גבורות ממותקות); the Nesirah (נסירה) cuts her from Zeir Anpin's side into an independent Partzuf.

A story · The twin saplings

Two saplings grow back to back from one root. Neither can face the other until a gardener carefully separates them and replants the second as a tree of her own. Then they can stand face to face. Nukva (נוקבא) is cut free from Zeir Anpin's side in the Nesirah (נסירה) and becomes a Partzuf in her own right.

The Family, Nukva sliding from behind Zeir Anpin to facing him.

Her three states:

back-to-back (אחור באחור): one body, joined at the back;
the Nesirah (נסירה): she is cut from Zeir Anpin's side;
face-to-face (פנים בפנים), below and then above.

Her Strengths (גבורות) must be sweetened before she can be a fit partner for Coupling. Meanwhile the worlds ascend and descend (עליה וירידה) at different times; expansion (התפשטות) is not the same as ascent.

Check yourself What is the Nesirah (נסירה)?

✓ The separation by which Nukva is cut from Z״A's side and made an independent Partzuf.

Card 32 of 34

The Coupling

זיווג

Interior Coupling (זיווג פנימי), kisses (נשיקין) on the level of Ruach (רוח); Exterior Coupling (זיווג חיצוני), vessels and Yesods (יסודות).

A story · Flint and steel

Strike flint against steel and a spark leaps out that neither could make alone. Both must be whole; a cracked flint gives nothing. The Coupling (זיווג) is that meeting at its highest level: interior, on the level of Ruach (רוח), and exterior, through the vessels. From it comes the life of the lower worlds.

The Family, the double arrow between Zeir Anpin and Nukva.

Interior Coupling (זיווג פנימי): kisses (נשיקין), on the level of Ruach (רוח).
Exterior Coupling (זיווג חיצוני): vessels and Yesods (יסודות).
Both partners must be complete.
The Coupling has an eight-stage order.

It is the pattern of card 22, Male meeting Female, MaH (מ״ה) meeting BaN (ב״ן), Line meeting Residue, now at the level where it produces the lower worlds' life.

Check yourself What are the two kinds of Coupling (זיווג)?

✓ Interior (kisses, on the level of Ruach) and Exterior (vessels and Yesods).

Card 33 of 34

The Shechinah gathers angels and souls; the Female Waters

שכינה · היכלות · מיין נוקבין

The Shechinah (שכינה) is Nukva of Atzilut; her branches are angels (מלאכים), servitude without free will, and souls (נשמות), free-will service.

A story · The queen's two households

A queen has two households: servants who do exactly as told, and free citizens who choose to serve her. The servants come in through the palace corridors; the citizens' gifts rise to her from below. The Shechinah (שכינה) gathers angels (מלאכים) through the Chambers (היכלות) and souls (נשמות) through the Female Waters (מיין נוקבין).

The Family, Nukva with two branches beneath her, angels and souls, and an upward arrow fro

Both branches must be contained within her:

angels (מלאכים), servitude without free will: through the ascent of the Chambers (היכלות);
souls (נשמות), free-will service: through the Female Waters (מיין נוקבין, מ״ן) sent up by deeds below.

Six thousand years of Couplings accumulate to complete repair. This is where card 24 becomes mechanism: man's deeds rise as the returning light of card 11.

Check yourself What are the two branches of the Shechinah (שכינה), and how does each enter her?

✓ Angels, via the Chambers (היכלות); souls, via the Female Waters (מיין נוקבין).

Card 34 of 34

The influence goes forth to act; the cycle closes

ירידת השפע לעשיה

The influence (שפע) of the Coupling descends through Beriyah's Chambers and the ministering attendants down to Asiyah (עשיה), where it acts, in bodies and in government.

A story · Rain on the field

Rain forms high in the clouds, falls through the sky, and only when it reaches the field does anything grow. The influence (שפע) of the Coupling likewise passes down through Beriyah's Chambers to Asiyah (עשיה), where it acts in bodies and events. The cycle of cards 4 and 5 closes here, on the ground.

The Family, the arrow down through Beriyah and Yetzirah to a lit Asiyah.

Since Adam we are in restoration mode; daily, the lights are revealed again.
The Female Waters are rooted in the Strengths in Yesod of Nukva, which is Judgment in the Residue (רשימו), the root of the material of the separate creations.
The descent: from the Coupling, through Beriyah's Chambers and the ministering attendants, down to Asiyah, where it acts.

The cycle of cards 4 and 5 closes here: concealment has become revelation, and the earned good is given. “Blessed be God for ever, Amen and Amen.”

Check yourself Where does the influence (שפע) finally act?

✓ In Asiyah (עשיה): in bodies and in governmental events.