Returning Light (Kabbalah)

The returning light is formed when the partition of a particular level of existence rebuffs the supernal light, returning it to its source in the manner of a light refracting off a mirror. This returning light is generated through the resistance of the receiving entity to receiving the supernal light. The returning light does not disappear but rather enclothes the supernal light, which is then manifest as a new vessel for the supernal light. All the levels and partzufim of creation are formed through enclothing supernal, or “direct light” in the receiving entity’s returning light.

Sources

7. Therefore, the ten sefirot of the direct light and the ten sefirot of the returning light had to spread from the partition and downward. The reason is that it was at that point that the ten sefirot of the returning light became vessels that receive and enclothe the ten sefirot of the direct light. At this stage, the partition is already positioned above the ten sefirot of the returning…

Introduction to Sulam Commentary 7:1

Thus, when the supernal light is drawn down and expands toward the emanated being, this partition rebuffs the light backward, and there is a kind of collision between the supernal light and the partition. This collision gives rise to the returning light, which returns the light from below to above and enclothes the ten sefirot of the supernal light. That part of the light that is rebuffed upward is called the returning light…

Petichah LeChokhmat HaKabbalah 14:2

However, these ten sefirot of the returning light, which emerge from the partition and rise upward and which enclothe the ten sefirot of the direct light, are not yet genuine vessels, because the term “vessel” is indicative of opacity, namely, the force of judgment that the partition contains, which prevents the enclothing of the light in Malkhut. There is a principle that the force of judgment is active only from the place where the judgment is…

Introduction to Sulam Commentary 6:2

This is the mystical meaning of head and body in each level, since the fusion through the collision of the supernal light against the partition gives rise to the returning light from below to above and enclothes the ten sefirot of the supernal light in the form of the ten sefirot of the head, which refers to the roots of the vessels, as there, in the head, there cannot yet be actual enclothing in order to form complete vessels…

Petichah LeChokhmat HaKabbalah 14:3

Initially, the first partzuf of Adam Kadmon emerged, because immediately after the first constriction (tzimtzum), in which the fourth level was restricted from serving as a receiving vessel for the supernal light, and a partition was placed upon the fourth level, as stated above, the supernal light was drawn down to be enclothed in the vessel of Malkhut in its normal manner, that is, with the supernal light trying to fill any available space…

Petichah LeChokhmat HaKabbalah 27:1

Through this, the degradation is transformed into honor. Thus, the usual receiving vessels still function now as they always did, only they have received a new form. You can apply the same idea to the matter at hand. It is true that the fourth level was disqualified from serving as a receiving vessel for the ten sefirot of the supernal light due to the opacity (ovyut) within it, meaning the contrast in form as a receiver in comparison to the Giver, which separates it from the Giver, as stated above…

Petichah LeChokhmat HaKabbalah 18:4

Head, Interior, End ; Mouth, Navel, Endpoint of the Legs of the partzuf
6. On account of the new vessels formed from the returning light, we can discern three aspects in each partzuf. These are called head, interior, and end. The end of section 5 above explained that the resistive force of the partition preventing the arrival of the light in the vessel of Malkhut led to a fusion through collision with the light against the partition…

Introduction to Sulam Commentary 6:1

Accordingly, it is obvious that if the partition contains all five of these levels of opacity, it yields five vessels for enclothing the ten sefirot. However, when the partition does not contain all five levels – for example, if it lacks the opacity of the fourth level – then the partition yields only four vessels. Consequently, the partition has the capacity to give rise returning light that will enclothe only four lights – Ḥokhma…

Petichah LeChokhmat HaKabbalah 22:3

The first criterion is the partition that fuses with the supernal light through a fusion through collision, giving rise to the returning light and enclothing the supernal light. The height of the lower new partzuf will be commensurate with the measure of the enclothing of the supernal light (as explained in Petiḥa LeḤokhmat HaKabbala, section 21)…

Introduction to Sulam Commentary 66:2

Since these two lights are the opposites of one another, and they are both connected to each other in the partition of Malkhut of the head of Adam Kadmon, they therefore beat and collide with one another. Meaning, the fusion through collision that takes place in the mouth of the head of Adam Kadmon – that is, in the partition of the Malkhut of the head called mouth…

Petichah LeChokhmat HaKabbalah 33:2

In addition, the Malkhut upon which the partition was placed for the fusion through collision is called mouth. This alludes to the fact that just as in a corporeal mouth the letters emerge by means of a fusion through collision of the five kinds of utterances of the mouth, so too there is a fusion through collision in the spiritual mouth through which the ten sefirot of the returning light emerge, which are the aforementioned five levels…

Introduction to Sulam Commentary 6:3

From the aforementioned parable, which involves an interpersonal relationship, one can understand the aforementioned concept of fusion through collision and the returning light that rises by means of it, which becomes a new receiving vessel for the supernal light instead of the fourth level that was initially meant to serve as the receiving vessel. The collision of the supernal light against the partition and how the light desires to expand into the fourth level, can be compared to a person imploring someone to dine with him…

Petichah LeChokhmat HaKabbalah 16:1

Twelve Partzufim in Atzilut
57. Every level that contains three sets of ten sefirot, that is, ten sefirot of the head, ten sefirot of the interior, and ten sefirot of the end (as stated in sections 5 – 6 above) is called a partzuf. It is categorized in accordance with its head, its upper aspect: If the upper aspect is Keter…

Introduction to Sulam Commentary 57:1

The difference between them is like the distance of an emanator from an emanated being. The Malkhut of the head that fuses, by means of a fusion through collision, with the supernal light, is regarded as an emanator relative to the body because the partition placed on the Malkhut of the head did not repel the supernal light when the light impacted against the partition. On the contrary, by means of the returning light that rose from the partition…

Petichah LeChokhmat HaKabbalah 38:4

Light and Vessel
5. It is impossible for light to exist in all the worlds without a vessel. The concept of a spiritual vessel is explained in Petiḥa LeḤokhmat HaKabbala, sections 3 and 4. Initially, there was only one vessel in the ten sefirot, which was Malkhut. When we say that there are five levels, namely, Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut…

Introduction to Sulam Commentary 5:1

In the Malkhut of the head these two aspects are present only in the form of two roots. The terminating Malkhut of the head is the root of the Malkhut of the body that ends the level, while the fusing Malkhut of the head is the root of the enclothing of the light in the vessels. These two dynamics become manifest and occur in the body of the partzuf: From the mouth to the navel is where the force of the…

Introduction to Sulam Commentary 8:4

There is a difference between the partzufim of the first three and the partzufim of the six extremities, both regarding their emergence and birth and with regard to their enclothing of the body of the upper partzuf. This is because the partzufim of the first three emerge from the mouth of the head of the upper partzuf that is adjacent to them…

Introduction to Sulam Commentary 63:2

Three Stages in the Emergence of the Ten Sefirot
70. The first stage occurs in the first partzufim of Adam Kadmon, where the ten sefirot emerged all at once. Upon the fusion through collision on the partition of the fourth level, the ten sefirot emerged at the height of Keter. Upon the fusion through collision on the partition of the third level…

Introduction to Sulam Commentary 70:1

You are already aware that this returning light that rises as a result of the fusion through collision from below to above and enclothes the ten sefirot of the supernal light is sufficient only to form the roots of the vessels, which are called the “ten sefirot of the head of the partzuf.” In order to complete the vessels, the Malkhut of the head from among those ten sefirot of the returning…

Petichah LeChokhmat HaKabbalah 26:3

The first is the fusing Malkhut, which fuses with the supernal light through the force of the partition placed upon it, as stated above. The second is the terminating Malkhut, which arrests the flow of the supernal light into the ten sefirot of the body through the force of the partition placed upon it.

Petichah LeChokhmat HaKabbalah 38:3

Relatedראו גם

Enclothe (Kabbalah)

Partzuf (Kabbalah)

Level (Kabbalah)

Partition (Kabbalah)

Sheetsדפי מקורות

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