The Radiance of Adam Kadmon

 

As I have already said, this Tree extends from the head of Adam Kadmon to the end of Asiyah. In essence, this Tree is Adam Kadmon and the radiance that emanates from Him. For a glorious radiance came forth from Him, and the different parts of this radiance constitute the worlds of Atzilut, Beriyah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. It is through these very worlds that He shows what exists above. Just as there are many kinds of worlds above with one central world inside all of them, similarly, a single order is visible within the worlds of Atzilut, Beriyah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. This is the order of the Name of HaVaYaH, blessed be He, standing in the form of Ten Sefirot, while many other orders stand in the form of the Chariot. These other orders are included in the four Chayot and their four faces and all the other aspects of the Chariot. 

 

Each of these subsidiary orders is a world by itself, but the overall division follows the order of the Name of HaVaYaH. In other words, these worlds that I have mentioned constitute the Chariot in all its turns and pathways, while at the center of all of them is the order of the Ten Sefirot, which includes the whole of Atzilut, Beriyah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. This constitutes the order of the Name of HaVaYaH, blessed be He, which is the essence, while all the others are His attributes or forms of address. And the truth is that even so, all this is called the order of the Name of HaVaYaH, blessed be He. For everything that emerges from Adam Kadmon constitutes the order of the Name of HaVaYaH. This is like a picture or diagram of what exists above, showing how the Tree of the Name of HaVaYaH is at the center with the other attributes or forms of address surrounding it. These very attributes that make up the Chariot are under the control of the Name of HaVaYaH, blessed be He. In other words, the Chariot and its forms of address or attributes constitute Beriyah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, and there too this same order exists: the forms of address or attributes are many, but they are under the control of the Name of HaVaYaH, because they are His “garments”.

 

Accordingly, man’s essential service is bound up with the Name of HaVaYaH, blessed be He, and the chariots themselves are subsumed under the overall order of the Name of HaVaYaH, blessed be He. It is in the context of this order that they are called four Chayot (literally, “beasts”) together with all the other aspects mentioned in Ezekiel’s vision of the Chariot. This Name was placed in control of all the others because all the other trees are pathways of government according to the Residue that remained, while the underlying bond whereby all these things come to unity is the Tree of the Name of HaVaYaH, blessed be He. Thereby the Cause of all causes reveals His unity and binds all the pathways of government into one pathway through which evil turns back to good. This is the order through which the Cause of all causes asserts His unity over all the different orders, joining them together in the mystery of that unity. On this level, as already discussed, there is no division between Kindness and Judgment, but everything is equally good.

 

This is what is meant by the teaching that, “The Name HaVaYaH does not change in any place in its four letters…” (Tikkuney Zohar #57, 94b). What this means is that this Name, made up of its four interconnected letters, is only mentioned when the Cause of causes unifies all the different levels in the mystery of His unity. The Name of HaVaYaH “does not change” in the sense that the Name of HaVaYaH controls all the different levels in order to bring them into unity and to show that despite their various differences, they all serve only one purpose. This is to demonstrate His unity through the fact that He brings everything back to good.

 

This is the essence of the faith of Israel, which depends only on the Cause of all causes. Accordingly they have faith in Him despite the protracted exile, even though they see so much that is the opposite of the truth and face so many challenges from the Other Side. Yet through the power of His unity, they endure everything. Thus the above-quoted passage continues: “Because of this, the faith of Israel is centered on these four letters” — the four letters of the Name of HaVaYaH. Similarly, we find in the Zohar (Vayera 117a): “Rabbi Yose said to him, ‘Well spoken, because He is within the mystery of the letters [of the Name of HaVaYaH], and we should not get involved in other calculations of the end of time’.” It is perfectly evident from this passage that the Redemption depends upon the mystery of these letters. And the reason is because it is through these letters that the Cause of all causes unifies all the different levels, and this is what the Redemption truly depends upon without any doubt at all.

 

What we learn from all this is that various different orders of government exist relating to each and every thing, and many different kinds of worlds exist — whole worlds and whole trees, as discussed above. However, there is one order that lies at the root of the entire government and which governs all the other orders. This is the order of the Name of HaVaYaH, blessed be He. This is the underlying order that exists within all the worlds of Atzilut, Beriyah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. This order begins with Adam Kadmon, and what develops out of it is in Atzilut, Beriyah, Yetzirah and Asiyah.

 

To be continued.