יש לו כח בגבולA Power Held to Measure

yesh lo ko'aḥ bi-gevulIn Gamatria ↗

Infinite power, given out in the measure we can bear.

Shaltiel asks what the Ari meant to hide in the tzimtzum. Yehoyada reads it phrase by phrase. 'All was filled with the light of the Infinite' means His infinite power. 'There was no empty place' means finite beings could not come forth from an infinite force; as the Ari says, only a lessened light lets a vessel exist. So God acted as if He had withdrawn, working with restrained power, and the line is light given in the measure creatures can bear. The Midrash reads 'God answered him with a voice' as a voice Moses could bear. Then why a circle with a line inside? Every cause surrounds its effect and also clothes itself within it, like a soul in a body. The circle is the surrounding light, the line the inner light. Both, Yehoyada adds, are parables.

Hover the image to look closer.Tap the image to look closer.