Petach 64 then explains how MaH and BaN — as male and female — then join and function together. It comes to this, as enunciated in the Petach itself and Ramchal’s own remarks on it.
The female has the vessels that had been clarified in BaN ascend upward from the combination of Briah, Yetzirah, and Assiyah where they’d been upward to Atzilut [1], in order to receive their light. And the male then rectifies their Chessed (right-side) aspect while the female rectifies their Gevurah (left-side) aspect [2]. But there’s more to it, that’s far less arithmetic and linear than that.
The male then shares some of itself with the female and they join together. And that rectifies the center aspect of the equation, thanks to the Da’at (from the center aspect) that then joins them. That process then forms the thesis-antithesis-synthesis (left-right-center or Chessed–Din–Rachamim) triad that hadn’t yet been formed in the Shevira process, and that is the richness of the Partzufim.
There’s one more event. The male then grants the female the light and vessels from MaH while joining MaH with BaN in the process and the male then allows for the general makeup of the offspring, while the female then allows for a breakdown into parts. That final aspect is based on the fact that the male MaH alludes to The Line spoken of earlier on which is all-inclusive rather than specific, while the female BaN alludes to The Residue [3] which is specific and breaks The Line down into parts.
Here’s how the Petach itself is worded:
Out of all of the Sephirot in BaN that were broken and that descended down to Briah in the Shevira process, those parts that were to be clarified were indeed clarified, and they, i.e., their vessels, then ascended to receive their lights that were in Atzilut. And they did that by means of Nukveh, which elevated them that way. Alternatively, all the levels of MaH, both their vessels and lights that joined with them, then descended by means of the male, i.e., the Yesod of Adam Kadmon, which drew them downward that way and placed them in Nukveh.
Nevertheless, the male also took part in the Tikkun of the vessels that ascended through the female: the male repaired the right side, while the female repaired the left side. The parts then joined together in Nukveh, and MaH joined with every one of them. And the offspring was complete.
Notes:
[1] See Petach 46.
[2] This depiction comes to settle an apparent contradiction between Ar”i’s statements in Mevoh Sha’arim 2:3:9, and Eitz Chaim, Sha’ar Anach 1.
[3] See our discussion in 8:6.
(c) 2013 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org
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