Direct/Descending Light and Reflected/Ascending Light
A descending light is a Divine emanation "from above". It is metaphorically called "masculine waters" and "an arousal from Above" in Kabbalah, based on the verses in Genesis 1:6-8 about the Upper and Lower Waters:
6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
The descent of masculine waters can be a free expression of the Sephirah of Hesed (Kindness), which has the essential nature to give Divine blessing in an unlimited way, without considering whether the vessels of the Creation are worthy. Hesed is counterbalanced by Gevurah (Judgement), that measures and withholds the blessing according to the worth and capacity of the vessel.
More commonly, the descent of direct light is in response to the ascent from below of reflected light. This "arousal from below", the ascent of "feminine waters", is the spiritual illumination created by each person through meritorious ethical or ritual mitzvot (Jewish observances). While Kabbalah offered radical theosophical cosmic explanations of Judaism, it remained inherently conservative. The metaphysical doctrines of Kabbalah support and deepen normative Jewish observance. Kabbalah, especially the new teachings of Isaac Luria in the 16th Century, taught the cosmic power of each person to affect and rectify the Divine scheme of Creation. In Lurianic Kabbalah, the ultimate Tikkun is dependent on each individual fulfilling their own unique tasks in Creation, through the mitzvot. This affect would occur whether the person was aware of the deeper meanings or not. The great delight the illumination of the ascending feminine waters causes in the Heavenly realms (Four Worlds), leads to the reciprocal Divine response of descending blessing and light in the Masculine waters. This gives the inherent metaphysical Kabbalistic structure of the traditional Jewish belief of "Reward and Punishment", incorporated in Maimonides' Jewish Principles of Faith. The Kabbalistic explanation puts these external categories in an inner scheme of Divine loving-kindness.
An example given in Kabbalah of the dynamics of "masculine" and "feminine" waters, is found in the yartzheit (date of passing) and birthdays of three central figures in the Jewish mystical tradition. Judah Loew ben Bezalel (the Maharal) died on the 18th day (18 means "Hai"-"life" in Gematria) of the Hebrew month of Elul in the year 1609 (17 September). The 18th of Elul, 12 days before Rosh Hashanah, is a central mystical date in the personal preparations of teshuvah (return to God) for the upcoming "Days of Awe". A central component of the teachings of the Maharal was the concept of Divine paradox, above intellect. This prepared the way for the Hasidic movement, that sought the inner expression in Hasidic philosophy of the Kabbalistic tradition. The founder of Hasidism, Israel Baal Shem Tov was born on the 18th of Elul in 1698 (August 27), and the founder of Habad intellectual expression of Hasidism, Schneur Zalman of Liadi, was born on the 18th day of Elul in 1745 (September 4). Kabbalah teaches that the yarthzeit of a Tzaddik (righteous person) causes the spiritual revelation and ascent of their life's spiritual service, the ascent of the "feminine waters" the Tzaddik illuminated. Anyone who attaches themselves to the teachings and influence of the Tzaddik receives from their illumination and blessing on the yartzheit. In the Kabbalistic scheme, this "arousal from below" ellicited the "arousal of God from above" to descend "masculine waters" by the descent of the souls on this date, later on, of the Baal Shem Tov and Schneur Zalman of Liadi. Kabbalah finds an allusion to the deeper aspects of this structure, including the essence of the different spiritual teachings of these three figures, in a Scriptural verse that relates to the mystical meaning of the 18th of Elul.
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