Ramchal

Section 14 is termed “The Source of (Divine) Covert Governance” and it’s comprised of Petachim 78-84.

We’ll first present each Petach then we’ll delve into the lot of them.

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This section’s final Petach (77) is clear-cut and acts as a summation. It reads, the connection, i.e., the conjunction, of these “male” and “female” aspects of Attik is literally like two powers joined together within a single body. “That’s to say,” Ramchal explains in his comments here, “that their joining with one another is what completes Attik”.

That likewise implies that while Attik is indeed a snug blend of “male” and “female” it’s nonetheless comprised of two subtlety but distinctly separate elements.

That completes Section 13.

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The next point is that not only are aspects of Attik conjoined and co-equal side-by-side, as we saw just above in relation to MaH and Ban as “male” and “female” — they’re conjoined “fore” and “aft” as well.

The “fore” aspect is termed Attik’s “face” while its “aft” is termed the face’s “back”.  At bottom, Attik’s “aft” is utterly subsumed to its “fore” and Attik is a thorough unity in all dimensions. There is some seeming aspect of an “aft”, technically speaking, but that turns out not to be a true “aft” so much as a relative and inconsequential one. Here’s how that’s worded in Petach 76.

The phenomenon of the “back (of the ‘head’, as opposed to its ‘face’ or ‘front’)”, which is defined as being symbolic of the instance where the lights are darkened and don’t irradiate [1](as opposed to the “face”, which is symbolic of the instance in which lights irradiate fully — as if being projected outward “full-face”), isn’t found in Attik. For, instead, Attik manifests a full “face” or “front” on each side.

Its aspect of a “back”,suchasitis, is subsumed under the aspect of the “face” side there that governs. It’s just that there’s a “face” when it comes to the MaH there and a “face” when it comes to the BaN there, but the BaN’s “face” is considered MaH’s “back” relatively speaking, while it’s really not a “back” at all [2].

Note:

[1]       See Pitchei Chochma v’Da’at 42.

[2]       See Klallei Chochmat HaEmet 46, “v’al yikshe”.

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Petach 75 relates that like the other Partzufim beneath it, the Partzuf of Attik is likewise comprised of a MaH and a BaN, which are its “male” and “female” aspects. But  unlike the lower instances of MaH and BaN, they, i.e., those of Attik, literally function as a single entity and as one body, such that it is impossible to assign either a separate and independent place, and to call one “right” and the other “left”. Rather, they’re literally joined together as a single entity that‘s comprised of a single body [1].

What that means to say, in short, is that unlike the “male” and “female” of the lower Partzufim (i.e., Erich Anpin, Abba and Imma, etc.), the “male” and “female” aspects of Attik are of the order spoken of in the verse that reads, “male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27), which alludes to the fact that Adam/Eve was originally a hermaphrodite (Breishit Rabbah 8:1) — male and female at one at the same time.

The point here is that that state was the prototype and it remains the ideal, so the closer to the Source a Partzuf is the more this holds true. As such, Attik very closely embodies this while the other Partzufim only do so to varying degrees, as we’ll see.

Note:

[1]       Also see Klallot HaIlan 3:1, 3-4 and Klallei Chochmat HaEmes 46.

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Ramchal makes the point elsewhere that the various arcane phenomena that came about before the world of Atzilut — which are the world of Adam Kadmon and everything connected with it — are all relevant to the World to Come, which will manifest itself after the world as we know it will no longer exist. That’s to say that they’re all quite literally unearthly and Divine.

In fact, so utterly unearthly are those higher worlds that they don’t even touch upon the Afterworld, which is a product of reward and punishment and is thus relevant to this world (while obviously functioning on a different plane). The utterly transcendent World to Come on the other hand is beyond the world of Atzilut and our spiritual efforts in this world that determine reward and punishment.

But he then states that there’s nonetheless a point that acts as a bridge between the otherworldly Adam Kadmon and the more-worldly Atzilut, which is Partzuf Attik [1].

That’s to say that Attik straddles the utterly transcendent and the more mundane; and as such, it serves as a bridge that allows for the creation of the more mundane out of the transcendent, and it’s conversely the one that one would have to cross to go from the more-mundane to the utterly transcendent [2].

Ramchal will now return to the specifics of Attik.

Notes:

[1]       Klallei Milchamot Moshe 5.

[2]       Also see Adir Bamarom p. 390 where Attik is depicted as being an essential element of the Tikkun process and likewise allowing for a return to a more transcendent state.

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In order to understand Ramchal’s statements we’d need to begin with this. The Kabbalists speak of two sorts of movements in the universe: from Heaven down to earth, known as Ohr Yashar (“Light [that emits] straight [and heads downward]”), and from earth back up to Heaven, known as Ohr Chozer (“Light [that emits] backward [or, heads back up]”}. The point is that while we have been presenting the Ohr Yashar dynamicin our discussions of how the universe derived from the Divine, the Ohr Chozer dynamic also comes into play.

For, put plainly, the world wasn’t only created to remain in the present state forever; it will someday return to the pristine oneness with the Divine Presence it enjoyed before the world was created [1]. And it — as well as we ourselves — will experience certain specific stages along the way.

The point is that all of that will come about through a sort of “implosion” of the Ohr Yashar process that Ari has been laying out for us (and which Ramchal has been explaining in Klach) that is the great Ohr Chozer phenomenon. Let’s see how the Partzuf of Attik and others illustrate all this.

Note:

[1]       See 4:6 above and note 16 there.

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And we’re told that the Partzuf of Attik clothes itself, i.e., it’s encased and ensconced, in the world of Atzilut by way of the Partzuf of Erich Anpin in order to connect it to the world of Adam Kadmon and to sustain and govern it.

That’s to say that the Partzuf of Atzilut acts a bridge between the two highest worlds, Adam Kadmon and Atzilut, by means its neighbor Partzuf, Erich Anpin, and that it sustains and governs the world of Atzilut that way.

So much for the lay-out and interactions of these upper worlds and Partzufim (which we’ll expand upon and return to below and at various other points in Klach). Elsewhere, though, Ramchal makes a couple of important esoteric points about Attik that touch upon its “bridge” function, as we’ll see.

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The Petach continues with the technical statement that Attik also extends outward with the repairs that Adam Kadmon needs, i.e., with MaH and Ban. This is offered to clear up an apparent contradiction in Ari’s writings [1].

Note:

[1]  As Ramchal offers in his own comments here, “in one place the Kabbalistic teachings it’s stated that Attik was comprised of MaH and BaN (see Eitz Chaim, Sha’ar Attik Ch. 1), whereas elsewhere it appears that Attik is the Malchut of Adam Kadmon (Eitz Chaim, Sha’ar Seder Attik Ch. 1) which would make it impossible for Adam Kadmon to have been comprised of MaH and BaN”. Ramchal offers that “the explanation lies in the fact that in order to govern Attik, it was necessary for the Malchut of Adam Kadmon to take on these aspects (i.e. of MaH and BaN), which are its repairs, for it is with this ability that Malchut of Adam Kadmon governs Attik” . So there is no contradiction; everything is relevant to its function and stature.

(c) 2014 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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We’re taught here that Attik is the first Partzuf attributed to the world of Atzilut. It is in fact the Malchut of the world of Adam Kadmon. Let’s explain all of that.

Recall that there are five worlds, in descending order:

Adam Kadmon

Atzilut

Briah

Yetzirah

Ari pointed out in a number of places that these are the names of the Partzufim, in descending order:

Radlah (i.e., Reishah d’La Isyadah — The Unknowable Source)

Attik (also known as Attik Yomin) and Nukveh d’ (the feminine aspect of) Attik Yomin)

Erich Anpin and Nukveh d’ Erich Anpin

Abba Ilah (the Higher)

Yisrael Sabah

Abba and Imma

Tevunah

Zaire Anpin

Yisrael

Yaakov

Nukveh d’Zaire Anpin

Leah

Rochel

So, the statement that Attik is the first Partzuf attributed to the world of Atzilut means that even though Attik functions as the Malchut or lowest level of the world of Adam Kadmon, it nonetheless also functions as the highest Partzuf of the next lower world of Atzilut. That is to say that Attik straddles two worlds: Adam Kadmon, which it’s the lowest degree of, and Atzilut which it’s the highest degree of (where it functions as Erich Anpin which will be discussed in the Section Sixteen below).

(c) 2014 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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As we’d said earlier (see 4:1), the Partzufim are usually laid out thusly, in descending order: Adam Kadmon, Erich Anpin, Abba and Imma, Zeir Anpin, and Nukveh.

There are those who speak of Partzufim higher yet than Adam Kadmon [1], and in fact Ari himself clearly alluded to higher Partzufim [2] but they are not our concern here for the most part, both because Ramchal doesn’t focus much on them here and also because Ari discouraged full discussions of them.

In any event, this Petach starts off with a discussion of the Partzuf known as Attik.

Notes:

[1]       See R’ Sarug in his Derushei Olam HaMalbush.

[2]       See Otztrot Chaim end of p. 3a. Also see Ramchal’s own statement that “even though we only (usually) refer to four (or five of them) in truth there are an infinite number of worlds (and hence, Partzufim)” (Petach 31, in his comments).

(c) 2014 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.