יש בספירות אור ישר ואור חוזר משני מינים. א’, שאחר שירדו המדרגות מכתר עד מלכות, חוזר מלכות ונעשה כתר, וכן בדרך זה, עד שכתר נעשה מלכות. וזה מראה שליטת [נ”א, שלמות] הא”ס ב”ה, שממנו יוצא הכל, והוא סוד הכל, והיינו, “אני ראשון ואני אחרון”, והוא מתגלה כך בראשונה כמו באחרונה. והמדרגות – כל הקרוב קרוב אליו מתגדל בשמו, ומה שהיה מלכות נעשה כתר.
והמין הב’, שום אור אינו משלים ענינו אלא כשיוצא ועוד חוזר למקורו. והיינו כי יורד עד למטה בכח, ואחר כך מידי עלותו מניח למטה מדרגה מה שמניח, והוא מתעלה. ואז המדרגה נשארת בבנינה, וכן כולם:
The Sephirot express two sorts of “forward” and “backward” (movements of) light. Firstly, after the descent (of the Sephirot) grade by grade from Keter to Malchut, Malchut then turns backward (and moves on) to become Keter, and so on in the same way until Keter (turns forward and moves on until it) becomes Malchut. This illustrates the utter sovereignty of the Ein Sof and (the fact) that everything (manifestly) emanates from Him, and that He is the mystical underpinning of everything, as it’s written: “I am first, and I am last” (Isaiah 44:6). He is (accordingly) revealed at the beginning as at the end. (A couple of implications of the “forward” and “backward” movement of the lights are the facts that) the closer any gradation is to Him, the more magnified is it by (its proximity to) His Name, (and that) what was (once) Malchut (eventually) becomes Keter.
And secondly, no light realizes its purpose until it emerges from and then returns back to its Source. That’s to say, (until) the light actively descends and then ascends, and it leaves behind in its place below the grade it had ascended from when the light itself ascended. That (lower) gradation then remains there in the structure, and so on.
This is one of the more esoteric Petachim which touches upon many important Kabbalistic themes. Many of those are touched upon in the body of the Petach itself and are expanded upon in Ramchal’s own comments. As such, there aren’t any ancillary themes cited there outright (though several are alluded to, including Tzimtzum, Kav, Reshimu, etc.).
(c) 2011 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org
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