Ner Mitzvah VeTorah Or·Gate of Faith·Page 56 side 1נר מצוה ותורה אור·שער האמונה·נו·א

prior to coming after it,

rather, his primacy means that he preceded, being alone without any sharing with him at all.

(Yet, not that even now he is alone,

which is what is called "single" (yachid);

rather, when he was alone without anything at all besides him,

and afterwards in the course of time much more was drawn forth from him,

but everything is from him—this is what is called 'ancient' (kadmon) in the language of holiness,

like a man who was early among the inhabitants of the city, so that there was no man besides him,

and afterwards from his loins, generation after generation, many more residents multiplied, he is called 'ancient' and not 'first'

or like the river that was by itself and afterwards from it was drawn forth to many ditches, and similarly,

it is not fitting to call the river 'first' but rather 'early,' since the river was distinct alone before it was drawn forth from it,

and also whatever was drawn forth, everything is from the river, etc.

Thus will it be understood, for example, in the aspect of Adam Kadmon,

above, which is called 'ancient' because it preceded all that branched off from it—the extensions of lights—in that it was alone and everything is from him, etc.

Unlike 'first' and 'second,' where the first is in the category of number alone, and has a second that adds to it, and likewise the third—

for two things are lacking here: first, that he is not alone even when he is without the second,

since a second exists for him, distinct from him and counted into units like him,

and he is called 'one' of the count, whose totality is a fixed number, ten and the like,

such that every single one has a place of its own, without which the number is not completed.

(And to the 'ancient' there is no second in existence at all, at the beginning and also at the end;

everything is from him, so that all divisions and multiplicity that branch off are included in him literally, as mentioned above.)

And the second: that he is not called 'early' with an absolute precedence over all those who come after him,

even though he was one alone at first.

For inevitably and certainly, the essential source called 'ancient'—from which everything went forth—preceded him,

only that he is called 'first' in number, like a son born first with respect to the second born after him,

according to the fact that he is the beginning of his strength, while the father is the essential source who brought forth all the sons,

and every single one's root in the father's brain is distinct in its own right,

and the first son has no addition at all,

since those who came were not born from him, but rather from the father.

Unlike the parable of the river and the ditches, or the citizen of the land mentioned above,

where all the ditches are from the river, and what this one is first and after him is second,

are all ramifications and extensions that are from the river,

even though it is in such a way that the first ditch extends to the second and the second to the third,

so that the second receives from the first, nevertheless, the water of the river is also ultimately last.

And so it is in the parable of the citizen, a resident of the city who was alone with absolute precedence,

so that there was no prior source to him in this city,

which is the aspect of 'ancient' in the city, in such a way that even the son he begot there is called 'first generation'

and not 'ancient' to the one born from him, since a first father preceded him for whom there was no source that begot him there.

By way of example: Adam HaRishon was alone, and his son Seth was called 'first generation,'

and Enosh 'second generation,' and so until the end of all generations, fathers and sons,

all of them are called in the counted number 'first' and 'second' up to the thousandth generation,

even though every generation is called a father to those after them in the coming generation, such that every generation is included in the one before it.

And this is not like the number of brothers, where the second is distinct in himself in a special root,

and his coming into being was not drawn from the first, and likewise the third and the fourth, etc.

Nevertheless, this too is called a counted number—first and second up to a thousand generations.

But Adam HaRishon himself—it is not fitting to call him 'first generation,'

because from him all generations were drawn forth.

And just as it is not fitting to call the river 'first,' but only that which goes forth from it at first is called 'first generation,' etc.,

rather he is called 'ancient' who preceded all generations with an absolute precedence

in this matter, that he enters into the number of the generations,

even though Adam HaRishon also had a source, for he was created ex nihilo (יש מאין - yesh me-ayin), which is a divine power,

as it is written, "And he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life"—

yet his soul, in the aspect of the soul of Adam, is prior to all without any prior man at first, and includes everything, for from him is everything.