Keser Elyon (כתר עליון) — The Supernal Crown

Core definition

Keser Elyon — "the Supernal Crown" — is the highest rung of the chain of being: the first garment (levush rishon) of the Ohr Ein Sof, as the Pardes (Shaar 3:7) teaches [31688/maamar_012 :: §83–84]. The 5634 maamar defines it precisely: "Kesser Elyon is the first ayin drawn from the true Yesh" — the first nothingness emanated from the True Existence [58844/maamar_022 :: §254].

"Ayin" here means perpetual cleaving: just as the sun's rays are always bound to the sun (without the sun there are no rays), so the Keser Elyon ayin is always bound to its source, the true Yesh. Its entire desire and longing is only to be included in the true Yesh — and since the will is so, it is as if already included in the true Yesh [58844/maamar_022 :: §257–258].

How the Rebbeim develop it

The "blackness" of Keser Elyon. Before its source (the Cause of Causes), Keser Elyon is called "black" — darkness — in three ways, paralleling Beriah's threefold superiority-as-darkness [58844/maamar_022 :: Overview]:

1. Cleaving to its source. Near its source it takes no distinct place — like the sun's rays near the solar orb, which are not called "light" (a distinct existence that illuminates) but only radiance, "darkness" meaning absence of place-taking [58844/maamar_022 :: §262]. 2. Longing to be included in its source. As in Malchus of Atzilus ("l'ma'an y'zamercha chavod v'lo yidom" — the lower light constantly calling to the supernal light), so Keser Elyon's constant desire is inclusion in its source; hence "called black, for the nullification of being included in its source" [58844/maamar_022 :: §268, §274]. 3. Ascending upward, not revealing below. It is always in bitul, rising upward — and therefore not in the category of revelation below ("since it is busy being swallowed, it does not emit") [58844/maamar_022 :: §275].

The root of concealment. Kesser Malchus's concealing power — the "delaying of the light" (עכבת האור), the investment in which the light unifies with its receiver and is thereby somewhat changed — derives from Keser Elyon. This is why Keser is not revealed among the sefiros [31688/maamar_012 :: §83, Summary p. פא]. Correspondingly, the maamarim distinguish "hamelach hamromam levado" (exalted from His own side) from "hamisnasei mimos olam" (exalted over a nation) [31688/maamar_012 :: Summary p. פא].

The root of kingship. "Kesser elyon ihu basar malchus" — the desire for kingship is rooted in Keser Elyon; "ana emloch" (I shall rule) arose in the first thought. On Rosh Hashanah, Israel's inward kabbalas ol arouses the essence of the Ohr Ein Sof itself to desire kingship — keser malchus [31682/maamar_002 :: Overview].

Two faces of Keser. The corpus distinguishes pnimiyus haKeser from chitzoniyus haKeser: in chitzoniyus haKeser there are middos (the ratzon l'zachot per ta'am — "a ta'am kamus," "Chochmah sheb'Keter" — hence changeable); "ki lo adam" is pnimiyus haKeser, the essential simple ratzon and ta'anug, never changing [31640/maamar_021 :: Summary p. קנד].

Key distinctions

Keser Elyon vs. Keser Malchus. Keser Elyon is the supernal crown as such — the first garment of the Ohr Ein Sof; Keser Malchus is the power of concealment/delay within Malchus, which derives from Keser Elyon [31688/maamar_012 :: §83].

Pnimiyus vs. chitzoniyus haKeser. The inner Keser: essential will and delight with no cause, unchanging ("ki lo adam"); the outer Keser: will clothed in reasons, composite and changeable — the level the maamarim call "adam" [31640/maamar_021 :: Summary p. קנד].

Tefillin d'HaKadosh Baruch Hu. The Aggadic image of the Holy One "donning tefillin" is read as the aspect of Keser Elyon; the "donning" is the drawing of additional light into the mochin, through which the revelation of the Awtsmoos of the mochin is drawn into Ze'ir Anpin [31688/maamar_012 :: §137–138].

Related concepts

Sources