Daily Zohar # 4938 – Beresheet – Bet and Resheet, a special relationship

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Hebrew translation:

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Zohar Beresheet
Continued from previous DZ
#314
This is the secret that we said (above, #301), ‘מִבֶּטֶן מִי יָצָא הַקֶּרַח’—’ From whose womb came the ice?’ (Job 38:29). Certainly, it is from the womb of Mi (מִי), which is Binah, meaning that which stands for questioning. This means what is said above in #301, ‘And certainly it emerged from within the supernal,’ that the frozen sea comes from the supernal, and the sign is ‘From whose womb came the ice?’ The intention is upon the seven lower sefirot of Binah, which are Yisrael Sava and Tevunah, called Mi (מִי). When they bestow Chokhmah without Chessed, meaning in the secret of the shuruk point, due to the lack of Chessed, the lower ones become frozen and congealed. Therefore, even though the letters Alef-Lamed-Hei (אל” ה) have already ascended to Binah, nevertheless, because the abundance is frozen, they do not combine to reveal the Name Elokim in Binah. And she is still called Mi (מִי). However, after the Chessed emerges and clothes the Chokhmah, then these letters combine with those, and they are completed in the Name Elokim. And she is no longer called Mi. This is why the Zohar here specifies and brings the verse ‘From whose womb came the ice?’ to indicate that only when she bestows Chokhmah without Chessed in the secret of the shuruk point, then she is called Mi, and not in the time of completion, when she receives the chirik point, and the Chokhmah is clothed in Chessed. For then she is called Elokim and not Mi (מִי).
Notes:
This Zohar passage interprets Job 38:29, “From whose womb came the ice?”, to explain Binah’s role in creation, particularly the state of Malchut as the “frozen sea” (ים) when Chokhmah is bestowed without Chessed. It references the splitting of Elokim (מִי and אל” ה) and uses the shuruk and chirik vowel points to describe the rectification process.

#315
Beresheet (בְּרֵאשִׁית) indicates Bet Resheet (ב ראשית). It asks regarding what was said, ‘Beresheet is also an utterance (מאמר, ma’amar),’ whether the intention is that Resheet alone is a ma’amar, meaning without the Bet, or that Beresheet is a ma’amar. It answers: Rather, before the Malchut emerged from Binah, and before her power was extended, when everything was still concealed within her in Binah, it is Beresheet, and it is a ma’amar. This means that the Bet of Beresheet, as said above (#303), is the secret of Malchut that ascended to Binah. It also says that the Bet of Beresheet is the secret of the point (נקודה, nekudah) in her palace (היכל). It explains there that when it is enveloped light (אור מעוטף) and not extended, and it is concealed, it is called air (אוירא, avira). The concealed light in the letter Yud (point in the palace). Thus, the Bet of Beresheet alludes to the ascent of Malchut to Binah, which is the secret of the entry of the Yud into the light of Binah, becoming air (אוירא, avira), and Resheet indicates Binah (as above, #303). This is what is meant by ‘before it emerged and extended, etc., Beresheet it is,’ that before the emergence of the Yud, which is Malchut, from the light of Binah, both are called Beresheet, and it is a ma’amar (utterance). Both together are a ma’amar, meaning Beresheet with the Bet together is a ma’amar. For a ma’amar means a level that emerges from the zivug (union) of striking (הכאה, hakaha), in the secret of the striking of lip to lip. Since the zivug of striking is made upon the Bet of Beresheet, which is Malchut, it is impossible to say that Resheet (beginning) alone, which is Binah alone, is a ma’amar, for the zivug of striking is not made upon the screen (מסך, masach) of Binah. Since the Yud, which is Malchut, emerged from the air of Binah, and the powers of Binah were extended, then Binah is called Resheet; she is a ma’amar alone, without the Bet, which is Malchut, for she has already emerged from her. She is now called Mi (מִי), which stands for questioning, the one that created Eleh (אֵלֶה), as in ‘מִי־בָרָא אֵלֶה’—’ Who created these?’ (Isaiah 40:26). This means that it speaks of the secret of the illumination of the shuruk point, when she is not yet called Elokim but Mi, for the letters Alef-Lamed-Hei (אל” ה), even though they ascended to Binah, are still concealed. They are considered as if they were outside Binah, as said above in the adjacent discussion. And bara (ברא, created) is a term of concealment. This is what is meant by ‘that which created Eleh,’ meaning Binah when she is called Mi, then she conceals the letters Alef-Lamed-Hei due to the lack of Chessed, as mentioned above.

Notes:
Bereshit is split into Bet (ב, Malchut) and Resheet (ראשית, Binah). Before Malchut emerges from Binah, when her Yud (representing Malchut) is concealed in Binah’s light (אוירא, avira), forming “air” (pure air, אוירא דכיא), both are called Beresheet and constitute a ma’amar (divine utterance). A ma’amar arises from a zivug of striking (lip to lip, as in Malchut’s masach), not Binah’s. After Malchut’s Yud emerges and Binah’s powers extend, Binah alone is Resheet and a ma’amar, called Mi (מִי), standing for questioning.

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