Adam Kadmon

 

 

 

The proposition has three parts: Part 1: The first order… This explains the first order, which is called Adam Kadmon. Part 2: This is the order… This explains that this order is that of the Name, blessed be He. Part 3: This means that… This explains the meaning and purpose of this order.

 

Part 1: The first order assumed by the emanated light… As we have already discussed, the Residue existed initially only as the first root of all that would be created afterwards, standing as a general whole waiting to divide into its particulars. Indeed, many powers are found there, and thus the ARI stated that this emanation contains worlds without end (see Etz Chayim, Drushey Igulim VeYosher 12:1).

 

To explain this further: The Tikkuney Zohar states, “There is no angel that does not have within it the name of HaVaYaH, blessed be He, and all the other names are considered attributes of this Name” (Tikkun 57 end). The Zohar states, “There are men who inherit three hundred and ten worlds, but it is impossible to ascribe any number to the worlds of the Master of the Universe” (Pinchas 257b). What this means is that although we usually speak only of four worlds, the truth is that there are worlds without number. This is because every complete governmental order consisting of an active source of influence (mashpiah) and a receiver (mekabel) is called a “world” (olam), and is one complete system or “tree” of all the relevant sources of influence and receivers and their various orders and interconnections. There are very many such trees. Speaking generally, every name is a tree in itself, all of whose levels, influences and “chariots” (merkavot — governmental apparatus) are arranged in an order unique to itself.

 

These are the “worlds” which the Tzaddikim inherit. For example, with the emanation of Chochmah from Keter, three hundred and ten complete trees came into being (for Chochmah is yesh me-ayin, “existence out of nothingness”, and the letters of éù, YeSh, have the numerical value of 310). This is the secret of the three hundred and ten worlds of the Tzaddikim (Uktzin, 3:12; Zohar loc. cit.). In addition, there are the worlds of the souls, for each soul is a major root in the governmental order, and each soul has a tree of its own. This is the meaning of the statement in the Zohar (loc. cit.) that each Tzaddik has a world of his own — i.e. the Tzaddik himself is the world. One who attains only his own root takes his world. But one who attains everything receives the entire emanation of Chochmah, which consists of three hundred and ten worlds.

 

In every world there are various different kinds of clothing (hitlabshut), states (matzavim), coupling (zivugim), ascents (aliyot) and descents (yeridot), depending on the nature and purpose of the world in question. The number of lights in the different worlds does not correspond directly to the number of the Ten Sefirot. Rather, each has its own particular number of lights, the sum being bound up with the nature of the given tree. Even the Name of HaVaYaH, blessed be He, gives rise to seventy trees that are all completely different from one another: these are seventy “date palms” (the word tamar, a date palm, has the connotation of temurah, signifying exchange or the substitution of letters or numbers.) However, the order of the Ten Sefirot in the form of the worlds of Atzilut, Beriyah, Yetzirah and Asiyah is called only one tree, as we will be discussing further, with the help of God.

 

Now all these trees are in the Chariot below, but the root of all this lies above. For as the Line extended inside the Residue and formed orders within it so that the government would unfold properly from the first recipient to the last (for this is called a complete structure), the Line produced many different orders. These are all the attributes or forms of address (kinuyim) that were revealed, such as “compassionate”, “gracious”, etc., for they were all revealed within the Residue. They all have different functions and are the root of various different phenomena in this world. Each one is in the form of a tree in itself. All the many different great orders that make up the overall order of government were all rooted there, as we have said, each in the form of a tree in itself.

 

And then Eyn Sof, blessed be He, brought forth one order which He put in control of all of them, making all the other trees nothing but attributes, forms of address and garments with which to clothe this order. According to the way in which the different levels of this order are aroused, so all the other trees carry out their particular functions through this central Tree. This alone is what really acts, and it is only from here that the lower realms and creatures emerge and are governed, and their entire service is bound up with this alone. Note the phrasing of the passage from the Tikkuney Zohar quoted earlier: “All the other names are considered attributes of this Name”. It does not say that they are attributes, but rather that they are considered as such — they are the equivalent of attributes. For each one is a tree in itself, but Eyn Sof, blessed be He, took them and made them a garment around this Tree.

 

This Tree of which we are speaking is the Tree of the four letters of HaVaYaH, blessed be He, which includes everything from the beginning of Adam Kadmon to the end of Asiyah in all the different aspects discussed in Kabbalistic literature. Standing around it like a garment are the various worlds we have mentioned. In themselves they do not act at all. Rather, they are like a garment in which the body is clothed: it is not the garment that acts but rather the body clothed in the garment. Similarly, this Tree acts through these garments around it. Just as the garment that clothes the active body part is included in the action, similarly the worlds surrounding whichever part of this Tree acts are also included with it. They are not there without purpose, for it is those in which the Actor is clothed that hold sway, while the Actor Himself acts in accordance with their power in executing their controlling functions. Yet it is only the Wearer of the garment who acts, not the garment itself. Men’s service and all that they receive are bound up with this central Tree, the Name of HaVaYaH, which is garbed in the Partzufim. Afterwards they also attain the worlds in which this Name is clothed, for they inherit them as a matter of course when they inherit the One clothed in them.

 

To be continued.