The Balancing Scale (2)

The second half of Petach 65, though, calls for a bit of explanation. It’s offered there that it’s just that there was a difference when it came to Nikkudim, i.e., when it came to this lower formulation of male and female. Male and female weren’t rectified at first in this instance since BaN (the female) first emerged on its own then.

It was only afterwards, when MaH (the male) also came to play a part in them, i.e., in the Sephirot of Nikkudim, through the rectification process we’ve been discussing that the sources of male and female from Atzilut and downwards came to depend upon a “balance”, which is the mystical conjunction of MaH with BaN.

That’s to say that God intended for male and female to appear and start functioning separately in Nikkudim unlike in the higher realms, so as to allow for imperfection. It was in Nikkudim that there needed to be the balancing triad we mentioned earlier [1], depicted as the מתקלא (Matkala, balancing scale). It will be explained later [2].

Notes:

[1]       See 8:7 above about the need for a balancing triad.

[2]       In Petachim 69, 96, 98, and 102. The Matkala is first mentioned in Sefer Yetzirah 2:1 and is expanded upon at the beginning of Sifra D’Tziyutah and elsewhere.

(c) 2014 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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