But as we began to address above, all of this — the whole phenomenon of “sorrow” and enmity turning to “sweetness” and “brotherly love” among Zeir Anpin’s Sephirot— was accomplished through the agency of Malchut, as Ramchal points out in Petach 52. As Malchut was established to be the container for all of them, i.e., for the Sephirot of Chessed, Gevurah, Tipheret, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod that lie above it, so that instead of each light functioning separately, they’d all head in one direction, i.e., toward Malchut, and a connection would then be established between them.
Here’s how Ramchal explains it in his comments here. “The underlying principle is that Imma will only rest upon Zeir Anpin when Nukveh is joined to the latter, as Nukveh is the root of the recipients” [1]. That is, since Nukveh is the lowest spiritual realm, and is thus the most proximate one to the lower realms that receive their sustenance from above, Imma will only interact with Zeir Anpin when Nukveh is connected with it. Once that occurs, “everything is then full of joy and radiant excitement”.
The point is that Imma’s gift of “sweetness” and “brotherly love” could only reign only after the Sephirot of Zeir Anpin were purposefully joined to Nukveh, which is itself joined to the lower realms. As, “the Supreme Imma closes or opens the gates (of blessing and accord) according to how ready the Nukveh is for Zeir Anpin”, as Ramchal offers in his comments; and“this shows that the essential makeup of creation — how everything is directed only towards those in the lower world”.
Notes:
[1] See Tikkunei Zohar p. 86a, 125a
(c) 2013 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org
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