The Line

Part 38 of “138 Openings of Wisdom” by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato

Opening 27, part 3

Part 4: The action of the Unlimited in the Residue is called one Line. In other words, the entry of Eyn Sof into the government of the Residue is called a Line from Him that enters inside the cavity. In speaking of a Line, we are saying that a single Line was drawn down from the encompassing Eyn Sof, blessed be He, like a channel or pipe, into the cavity. Through this Channel, light descended from Eyn Sof to what is inside the cavity, and by this means the Emanator is attached to that which was emanated.

To explain: Included among the powers of the All-Powerful is the power to watch over the action of another who exists within limits, separate from Himself. Even though the truth is that, “There is none besides Him”, and Eyn Sof, Who has no limits, negates any other existence, nevertheless, included in His comprehensive power is the ability to look down over and govern the limited creation. And since the way of bounds and limits came into being as a new creation, Eyn Sof, Who is All-Powerful, surely watches over it.

Thus we have here three aspects: (1) Eyn Sof’s action in His intrinsic perfection — executing the very things that we receive within limits. (2) What we receive, as we receive it, within limits. (3) The way the All-Powerful looks down to the very way of limits and boundaries whereby we receive. The way the All-Powerful looks down to the level of limitations is through this Channel, which is also a Line from Eyn Sof, blessed be He. Through it He looks down into and watches over the Residue in accordance with the nature of the Residue, which is within limits. What we receive (#2) is the totality of the Residue. The very thing that Eyn Sof, blessed be He, executes in His perfection (#1) is drawn down from Eyn Sof, blessed be He, into the cavity by way of (#3) the Channel or Pipe.

In other words, clothed and concealed within Eyn Sof, blessed be He’s looking down to the pathway of limits in His intrinsic all-powerfulness (#3, the Channel) is His all-powerful execution of what takes place in the Residue (#1, the Light in the Channel). Accordingly, we will call the one a Channel or Pipe and the other a Line drawn down within it. Through this light drawn in through the Channel or Pipe, the Residue receives its light from Eyn Sof, blessed be He, and this is how the Emanator is attached to that which He emanated.

It is precisely this light that governs the Residue as the soul governs the body. For as you have already heard, the way the All-Powerful looks down into the Residue, through the Channel, is not a radiation different from the Residue: He looks upon it as what it is. However, this Light within the Channel is something different from the Residue, for it is on the level of the supreme perfection of Eyn Sof, blessed be He. Whereas in the Residue there are successive levels of concealment and deficiency, as will be discussed later on, in the soul all is in accordance with goodness and perfection. Thus Eyn Sof is without limits in all His powers and we have no connection with His limitlessness except through this one aspect: His power to actually produce a work outside of and separate from Himself. With this we have a connection, for this too is His work, and even with us, He does it in His perfection and limitlessness. Except that we only receive within limits, like the voice that spoke with Moses, which was heard by none except him, even though it was a great voice that did not cease. We therefore say that this is how the Emanator is connected with what He emanated.

You must understand that the Channel or Pipe is not a particular aspect of His creative act. The two operative aspects are the Light drawn in — the Line — and the Residue. The Channel or Pipe simply transfers the action of the Light, which is without limits, to the resulting work, which comes to us within limits — namely the Residue. The Channel itself does not act. The Residue contains all the laws of reward and punishment, because this way we can see clearly the damage to the worlds through the flaws caused by the sinners. The Light within — the Line — is on the level of Unity, where everything is good and there is no evil at all and no flaw, as it says: “Is corruption His? No: His children’s is the blemish…!” (Deuteronomy 32:5). And it is He who governs the Residue, as we have said above, so that in the end there will only be good and perfection.

And these two pathways are called the Name (Shem) and the “Form of Address” (kinui). Now the encompassing Eyn Sof, blessed be He, is complete perfection, and since good negates evil, showing evil and its remedy is not applicable on that level, for “From the beginning He tells the end” (Isaiah 46:10), and all is seen to be good. However, after the Tzimtzum and the concealment, things divide into two: the Name and Form of Address. This means that in the end, the Name will rule and be revealed, while the rule of the “Form of Address” will return to Him, and everything be in the state of supreme perfection that already exists in the encompassing Eyn Sof.

….one line from Eyn Sof, blessed be He… For although the Residue has many parts, they are not separate but constitute a complete structure. Only in relation to us are they many, for we can only apprehend each thing by itself. However, the entire new creation brought into being by Eyn Sof, blessed be He, is a complete whole, and the All-Powerful looks down over this totality in all His power as one complete whole. Thus Eyn Sof in His intrinsic perfection executes a single act, and accordingly we say that it is a single Line.

You must understand that we are not saying one part but one line. This is because in Eyn Sof, blessed be He, there is no such thing as different parts. In His very perfection and complete limitlessness, He looks down upon the creation. This overall looking down is called a line, namely a ray, like a sun ray emerging from the overall radiance of the sun.

…that enters into the hollow cavity… This is obvious in accordance with the image in the prophetic vision, as we have stated above.

[From this point on until the end of the Opening, Ramchal’s commentary diverges from the phrasing of the initial proposition.]

…within which was afterwards created… That is, after the Line entered the Residue and ordered it into its various divisions, the Residue became worlds, as will be discussed later. The Line itself became concealed within the Residue, and accordingly the Line governs the Residue.

As we have said above, through the Line, Eyn Sof, blessed be, He executes this limited act in accordance with His intrinsic perfection. The Channel or Pipe is like a garment for the Line itself such that we may say that overall, the descent of Eyn Sof, blessed be He, into the cavity is a single Line constituted by the Channel and the Light drawn down within it. For the Line is comprised of these two, and together they are called one Line in the teachings of the ARI.

The way this appears in the prophetic image is that a single line descends from the encompassing Eyn Sof and fills the Residue. This is the Channel or Pipe between Eyn Sof and what is inside the hollow cavity, so that they are attached to one another.

To be continued.

(Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum is the director of Azamra (http://www.azamra.org/).
The 138 Openings of Wisdom is available for purchase online at
http://www.azamra.org/Product_pages/openings.htm)