Editing Kesser (section)

== Chitzoniyut HaKeter (The Outer Aspect of Keter) ==
Chitzoniyut HaKeter (which is often called Ratzon HaElyon [the Supernal Will]) is the root of Torah and mitzvot. This will is called "supernal" because it has no revealed reason (like will that stems from intellect) but only a concealed reason. The analogy in Chassidut for understanding the concept of concealed reason is the reason for a father's love for his son: we see in practice that a person loves his son more than others even when there is no rational reason for this, and even when the son is less successful than others. This doesn't mean that this love is mere stubbornness without any reason at all. The father's love certainly has a deep reason rooted in the very nature of the father's soul, but this reason is so lofty beyond intellect that it cannot be clothed in it - even the father himself has no intellectual explanation for it.

But since Hashem's will is that there should be a world where Jews learn Torah and fulfill mitzvot, it is understood that the Supernal Will includes within it the root of all the above-mentioned matters: the human soul, worlds, Torah, and mitzvot. The root of Torah is Mocha Stima'ah, the root of mitzvot is Gulgalta, and the root of worlds is Arich Anpin.

==== Arich Anpin ====
This is the outer aspect of Keter, and it is the root of worlds. The definition of a world is time and space:

Space is a reality that has six sides: the four directions of the world, up and down - and its root is the six spiritual dimensions: Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut.

Time is a reality of past, present, and future - and its root in spirituality is the attribute of Malchut: melech (king - past), melech (king - present), and yimloch (will reign - future).

The actual existence of midot (emotional attributes) begins in the world of Atzilut, but its root is higher, and it is the level of Arich Anpin. Chassidut compares the difference between the midot in Atzilut and their root in Atik to the difference between a visible flame and the fire within a coal: in a coal, it is not at all apparent that there is fire within it, but when one brings a straw near it or blows on it, a flame emerges, and this is called "concealment that is close to revelation."

The meaning of the name of this level, Arich Anpin, is "large face." Face is the place where a person's inner state is revealed (a person's emotional state, whether he is happy or sad and so forth, is recognizable in his face). The face of the "Man of Atzilut" is called a "small face," and in relation to it, the "face" of the level of Keter is called "large." That is, "Ze'ir Anpin" is the midot of Atzilut in which the mochin (intellect) of Atzilut are revealed, and "Arich Anpin" is the externality of will in which its inner aspect (Atik, the level of pleasure) is revealed.

==== Mocha Stima'ah ====
Above Arich Anpin is Mocha Stima'ah (also called Kav HaMidah), which gives measure and limit to the will of Archin of Gulgalta. The will itself is only that there should be mitzvot in a general way, without details. Chochmah Stima'ah acts so that the drawing down of the will should be specifically in such and such a manner as it comes in the Oral Torah in particular, for only there is the will revealed in detail to instruct the order and quality of the drawing down in particulars and generalities. The analogy brought in Chassidut for Chochmah Stima'ah is a homeowner who determines where to place each vessel in the house. The vessels were in the house initially before he decreed about them, but they were in a state of ownerlessness and disarray, and through Chochmah they receive measure and limit - how, how much, and in what manner will be the revelation of Divinity in this mitzvah, and how, how much, and in what manner it will be in another mitzvah.

==== Avir ====
Above Mocha Stima'ah but below Gulgalta is the Avir, which is sometimes also called "the very concealed brain." Its purpose - the Divine light as it is at the level of Mocha Stima'ah cannot be revealed as it is in the worlds, and there is a need to constrict it. The constriction is accomplished through the aspect of hairs. The hairs draw from the brain through the hollow within them, but the magnitude of the constriction between the light of intellect in the brain and the light that has been constricted to give life to a hair is understood, to the extent that even if one cuts it, the brain feels no pain. To constrict the light at the level of Mocha Stima'ah requires a power greater than it. This power comes from the Gevurah of Atik Yomin, but since the Gevurah of Atik is too lofty to be clothed in Mocha Stima'ah itself, there is between the membrane of the brain and the skull the aspect of Avir (and sometimes called "the very concealed brain") which, due to its fineness, can have the light of Atik clothed in it, and through it to constrict the light of Mocha Stima'ah to the aspect of hairs.

==== Gulgalta ====
The skull surrounds the inner aspect of the outer Keter (Arich Anpin and Mocha Stima'ah). The skull has several aspects:

Levnunit - its whiteness. 613 Archin d'Gulgalta - the spaces between the hairs. Tikunei Gulgalta - the seven tikunim (rectifications) within it. 13 Tikunin Dikna - the beard hairs. The hairs of the head that grow from it, as well as the cheeks and more.

==== Levnunit ====
The whiteness is the root of mitzvot, and it will be understood through the same analogy of "from my flesh I perceive G-d": from the skull itself grow the hairs, and its white color is seen between each hair, separating them from one another. The skull is the "substrate" from which the hairs grow, and without it, the existence of hairs would not be possible, but the source of the hairs is not the skull itself; rather, they are drawn from the brain. And the analogue above: the whiteness is the essence of the Supernal Will in the fulfillment of mitzvot, and it is divided in detail into 613 Archin d'Gulgalta - spaces between the hairs. The essence of the will has no reason (revealed, but only a concealed reason - see Ratzon HaElyon).

==== Se'arot (Hairs) ====
The hairs of the Gulgalta are the root of Torah, and they are drawn from Mocha Stima'ah through tremendous constriction, by having a minuscule amount of vitality drawn through the hollow in each hair. And just as in the analogy one can cut the hair without feeling pain, so too in the analogue, the vitality drawn from Mocha Stima'ah is so constricted that its source is not felt at all.

==== Tikunim d'Gulgalta ====
The language of Kabbalah is that the Chesed of Atik Yomin clothes itself in the Gulgalta of Arich Anpin, and through this are made there seven Tikunei d'Gulgalta. Since the Gulgalta is will without reason, meaning the source of will before it is clothed in Chochmah, it is still unlimited, an aspect of Ein Sof (Infinite), and therefore it unites with the lower aspect of Essence (which is the aspect of Chesed of Atik, meaning, the revelation of the aspect of Atik not through Gevurah and constriction) and through this unification, seven tikunim are formed in the Gulgalta. The reason they are specifically seven and not ten is because the main intention in creation is "let us make man," and the main aspect of man is seven midot. Only after the seven tikunim are made in the Gulgalta are they drawn from there to Mocha Stima'ah, which is the root of the ten sefirot.

==== Almin (Worlds) ====
It is brought in Tanya that in the Gulgalta there are eighteen thousand worlds. This does not refer to actual worlds but to letters that are still included in their supernal root, which if they were to descend and become materialized, would create from each of them a complete order of Hishtalshelut (chain of descent) in a manner completely different from the order of Hishtalshelut that we know.