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Yehuda Leib HaLevi Ashlag (Baal HaSulam)

Explaining the Three Worlds Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya

144) There are seven basic points to discern in the three worlds BYA:

  1. From where was the place for these three worlds made?

  2. The levels of the Partzufim BYA and the initial stance of the worlds when they were created and emanated from the Nukva de Atzilut.

  3. All the levels from the added Mochin and the stance they had obtained prior to the sin of Adam ha Rishon.

  4. The Mochin that remained in the Partzufim BYA and the place to which the worlds fell after they were flawed by the sin of Adam ha Rishon.

  5. The Mochin de Ima that the Partzufim BYA received after their fall below Parsa de Atzilut.

  6. The Partzufim of Achor of the five Partzufim of Atzilut, which descended and clothed the Partzufim BYA and became what is discerned as Neshama to Neshama for them.

  7. The Malchut de Atzilut that descended and became Atik to the Partzufim BYA.

145) The first discernment has already been explained (Item 66): Because of the ascension of the ending Malchut, which was below the Sium Raglin of AK, to the place of Chazeh de ZAT de Nekudot de SAG, which occurred during Tzimtzum Bet, the two lower thirds of Tifferet and NHYM fell below the new point of Sium at Chazeh de Nekudot. Thus, they are no longer worthy of receiving the Upper Light, and the place of the three worlds BYA was made of them:

146) The second discernment is the levels of the Partzufim BYA and their stance upon their exit and birth from the Nukva de Atzilut. Know that at that time, ZA had already obtained the Behinat Haya from Aba, and the Nukva had already obtained the Behinat Neshama from Ima.

And you already know that the ZON receive the Mochin from AVI only by ascension and clothing (Item 142). Hence, ZA clothes Aba de Atzilut, called Upper AVI, the Nukva clothes Ima de Atzilut, called YESHSUT, and then Nukva de Atzilut sorted and emanated the world of Beria with its five Partzufim.

147) And since the Nukva stands at Ima’s place, she is considered having Ima’s degree, since the lower one that rises to the Upper One becomes like it. Hence, the world of Beria, which was sorted by her, is considered the degree of ZA, since it is an inferior degree to the Nukva, considered Ima, and the one lower to Ima is ZA. Then the world of Beria, which stands at the place of ZA de Atzilut, is below Nukva de Atzilut, which was then considered Ima de Atzilut.

148) Thus, it is considered that the world of Yetzira, which was sorted and emanated by the world of Beria, is then at the degree of Nukva de Atzilut. This is because it is the degree below the world of Beria, which was then considered ZA of Atzilut. And the one below ZA is considered Nukva. However, not all ten Sefirot of the world of Yetzira are considered Nukva de Atzilut, but only the first four of Yetzira. The reason is that there are two states to the Nukva: face-to-face and back-to-back:

And since at that time the state of all the worlds was only back-to-back, there were only four Sefirot in the Nukva. Hence, the world of Yetzira, too, has only its first four Sefirot at the place of Nukva de Atzilut. And the bottom six of Yetzira were at the first six Sefirot of the current world of Beria, according to the qualities in the place of BYA in the first discernment (Item 145), where the worlds BYA fell after the sin of Adam ha Rishon, and this is now their permanent place.

149) The world of Assiya, which was sorted by the world of Yetzira, is considered the current degree of Beria. Since the world of Yetzira was previously at the degree of Nukva de Atzilut, the degree below it—the world of Assiya—is considered the current world of Beria. But since only the first four of Yetzira were considered Nukva de Atzilut and its lower six were in the world of Beria, as well, only the first four of the world of Assiya below it are regarded as the bottom four Sefirot of the world of Beria. And the bottom six of the world of Assiya were in the place of the first six of the current world of Yetzira.

At that time, the fourteen Sefirot— NHYM of the current Yetzira and all ten Sefirot of the current world of Assiya—were devoid of any Kedusha (holiness), and became Mador ha Klipot (the shell section). This is so because there were only Klipot (shells) in the place of these fourteen Sefirot, since the worlds of Kedusha ended at the place of Chazeh of the current world of Yetzira. Thus we have learned the levels of the Partzufim BYA and the place of their stance upon their first emergence.

150) Now we shall explain the third discernment—the levels of the Partzufim BYA and the stance they had had from the added Mochin prior to the sin of Adam ha Rishon. This is because through the illumination of the addition of Shabbat, they had two ascensions.

1. On the fifth hour on the eve of Shabbat, when Adam ha Rishon was born. At that time, the illumination of Shabbat begins to shine in the form of the fifth of the sixth day. At that time:

2. On the eve of Shabbat, at dusk. Through the addition of Shabbat, the bottom six of Assiya rose to the place of Nukva de Atzilut, as well, and the worlds of Yetzira and Assiya stood in the world of Atzilut, in the place of ZON de Atzilut, in the form of face-to-face.

151) And now we shall explain the fourth discernment—the level of Mochin that remained in BYA, and the place to which they fell after the sin. Because of the flaw of the sin of the Tree of Knowledge, all the added Mochin that they had obtained through the two ascensions departed the worlds, and ZON returned to being VAK and Nekuda. And the three worlds BYA were left with merely the Mochin with which they initially emerged. The world of Beria was at the degree of ZA, which means VAK, and Yetzira and Assiya in the above-mentioned measure, too (Item 148).

Additionally, the discernment of Atzilut had completely left them and they fell below Parsa de Atzilut, to the quality of the place of BYA, prepared by Tzimtzum Bet (Item 145). Thus, the bottom four of Yetzira and the ten Sefirot of the world of Assiya fell and stood at the place of the fourteen Sefirot of the Klipot (Item 149), called Mador ha Klipot.

152) The fifth discernment is the Mochin de Ima that BYA received at the place to which they fell. After BYA departed Atzilut and fell below Parsa de Atzilut, they had only VAK (Item 151). Then YESHSUT clothed in ZON de Atzilut, and YESHSUT mated for the purpose of clothing in ZON, and imparted Mochin de Neshama to the Partzufim BYA in their place:

153) The sixth discernment is the Neshama to Neshama, which the Partzufim BYA obtained from the Partzufim of Achor of the five Partzufim of Atzilut. This is because during the lunar diminution, the Partzuf of Achor de Nukva de Atzilut fell and clothed in the Partzufim BYA. It contains three Partzufim, called Ibur, Yenika, Mochin.

They became Behinat Neshama to Neshama to all the Partzufim BYA, which is considered Haya, with respect to them.

154) The seventh discernment is the Nukva de Atzilut, which became the RADLA and the illumination of Yechida in BYA. This is because it has been explained that during the lunar diminution, the three discernments— Ibur, Yenika, Mochin—of Partzuf Achor de Nukva de Atzilut fell and clothed in BYA. They are regarded as the Achoraim of the bottom nine of Nukva, which are Ibur, Yenika, and Mochin:

However, the Achor of Behinat Keter de Nukva became Atik to the Partzufim BYA, in a way that the Lights of the current Partzufim BYA are primarily from the remnants, left in them after the sin of Adam ha Rishon, which is the VAK of each of them (Item 151).

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