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Thus, the sefirot are termed chochmah , binah , daat , chesed , and so forth, in relation to the beings which are created and vivified by G ‑ d through His will and wisdom, and so forth, which clothe themselves in the emotive attributes.
As it is stated in the Midrash , “By means of ten things was the world created: by wisdom, by understanding, and by knowledge…
Kadayita in the Midrash: "In ten things the world was created: in wisdom, in wisdom and in knowledge, etc.,
as it is written,8 'G ‑ d founded the earth with wisdom; He established the heavens with understanding; with His knowledge the depths of the abyss were burst open, '”9
Dakhtib, "The Lord in wisdom has established the earth, established the heavens in wisdom, in his mind abysses have been broken and so on."
We thus see from the Midrash10 that the world was created by means of “ten things,” ie, the ten sefirot.
and as expressed by Elijah, in the passage that opens with Patach Eliyahu and forms part of the introduction to Tikkunei Zohar, “You have brought forth ten Tikkunim ('garments') , and we call them ten sefirot ,
And according to Elijah's saying, "The fortune of ten corrections, and radiating to the capital of ten spiers,
through which to direct hidden worlds unrevealed (ie, worlds that transcend mortal comprehension) and worlds revealed (ie, worlds that are accessible to mortal comprehension) ,
To Anhaga in the capital of the uninhabited Sethmin cemetery and the Dathagalin cemetery,
and through them, You conceal Yourself… ”- from created beings so that they will not be able to perceive the Divine life-force that creates and vivifies them.
And in the capital the cover, etc. "
The Alter Rebbe now offers an instance of how creation came about through the sefirot .
For example, on the first of the Six Days of Creation, the attribute of kindness — comprised of all [G ‑ d's] holy, emotive attributes, with His will and wisdom and understanding and knowledge enclothed in it — was revealed,
By way of a parable, on the first day of the six days in the beginning - it is revealed from the religion of grace, included from all its sacred and sacred religions, and its holiness.
and with [this attribute,] He created light, through the utterance, “Let there be light,”
And create in her the light - in the article "Let there be light",
which is a diffusion and flow of light into the world from above and its diffusion in the world from one end to the other. This [creation of light] is [an expression of] the attribute of kindness, for chesed is characterized by diffusion and revelation.
Which is the examination of the expansion and the attraction of light to the world from above, and its expansion in the world from the end of the world to the end, to the end;
Yet, because [the attribute of kindness] also includes the attribute of might (for the attributes of Atzilut all incorporate each other) ,
Just because it also includes a degree of heroism,
therefore, [the light] was not as spiritual as the actual supernal light,
Therefore was not spiritual as a light of a supreme virtue,
and it also became enclothed in this world, which is finite and limited, for "it is a journey of five hundred years from earth to heaven and from east to west."11
And we will also be clothed in this world which is in the sense of a boundary and a purpose, which is a year's journey from the earth to the heavens and the firmament.
These limitations would not have come to pass were creation to proceed undiluted from the attribute of kindness, which diffuses without limitation. However, since the attribute of might — the source of limitation — is incorporated within this kindness, creation is finite.
At any rate, because the attribute of kindness was revealed and was dominant during the first day of creation, created beings related to chesed —such as light — came into existence on that day.
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FOOTNOTES
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11. Cf. Chagigah 13a and Tanna Dvei Eliyahu Rabbah 2.