The residue that remains is like the aroma that remains in an empty bottle of aromatic oil.

If the vessels cracked, each with a piece of light attached, then perhaps our task is to repair the vessels so that they may contain the light here.That evil is brought about by those shards that did not have a spark of the divine light attached to them and seek to regain their light by trying to “steal” others’ light, and if unsuccessful, end up extinguishing them, becoming thus minions of the angel of darkness, instead of light.
—Svirat Ha’kelim

N The Zohar speaks of this process somewhat differently. It speaks of the husk that surrounds the spark. It is the second husk that produces the demonic realm. Now, they seek the light, and when someone sins, they open a pathway for them to enter, and either embrace their light, or extinguish them. Now, if we are talking about Ohr Ayn Sof being “contained in a vessel”, this vessel would be referring to the husk, the separate identity, that every spirit being has.

Luria claims that our task is to elevate the sparks returning them to their source, which would leave the world of creation in darkness. Also that would return creation to its original order. But that is inconsistent with his own view of Tsimtsum, which describes the original order as one consisting of that of vessels in which reside the Ohr Ayn Sof.

The restoration is referred to as a communal action, something that the community of Israel has to achieve. And by attaining this state, elevates the whole world, bringing about the age of the Messiah. But perhaps it is an individual task. This is the Jewish hero’s journey. One in which I have to find the sparks that make up my primordial soul¹ and reassemble them to complete my vessel, so that I may become a receptacle for the Divine Light. I am then able to manifest the Divine by shining and expressing that Light, Ayn Sof Ohr, just as He has done in His infinite mercy by the act of Creation.

To paraphrase Scholem:

The task as defined by Luria is the restoration of my primordial spiritual soul or Gestalt. This is the task of every one of us, for every soul contains the potentialities of this spiritual appearance, outraged and degraded by the fall of Adam, the manifestation of the breaking of the vessels in The lower realm, where the sparks of your primordial soul, your soul of souls, were scattered in all directions and become contained and hidden in matter. Your task is to reassemble them, to lift them  to their proper place, and to restore your spiritual nature to its original splendour, a vessel containing and expressing its original splendour, as G!d conceived it.
—Scholem, Kabbalah, p158

N The very “act of Creation” causes your soul to become “degraded” as you experience the fall of Adamfrom the high spiritual place of Gan Eden, he, through the eating of the fruit of the Tree, had to “hide” and G!d provided him the husk that he needed to hide within.

N We speak of the act of Creation as ex nihilo, however, we seldom focus on the miracle of creating imperfection from perfection. We find a key in the verse יוֹצֵ֥ר אוֹר֙ וּבוֹרֵ֣א חֹ֔שֶׁךְ עֹשֶׂ֥ה שָׁל֖וֹם וּב֣וֹרֵא רָ֑ע אֲנִ֥י יְהֹוָ֖ה עֹשֶׂ֥ה כׇל־אֵֽלֶּה (Isaiah 45:7).

[!quote] Classic
I form, עֹשֶׂ֥ה o’se, light and create darkness, I make, עֹשֶׂ֥ה o’se peace and create evil. I, HaShem, do, עֹשֶׂ֥ה o’se, all those things.

• Could also translate “עֹשֶׂ֥ה”, o’se “bring about”, producing “I bring about all these.” It also implies a completion. That peace comes to those who feel fulfilled i.e complete.
• The verb, עֹשֶׂ֥ה o’se, is used 3 times: “I form (light), I make (peace), I do (those things)." That is the unfolding. First formation, then making, then action.
• Take a live play as an example. Formation is the act of bringing all the pieces together, choosing the actors, finding the location, the financial backing, etc, etc, etc. This produces the light, that is the coming together of all these pieces in one place. For that is what the light actually is—the glue (N which is what the Higgs-Boson is supposed to be as well). Then it is bringing all these pieces together and welding them into a harmonious whole (peace). Finally they are ready for the performance, and then they “do” the playas authentically as they are able to. (N I do… – or rather the G!d in me, does.)
• The light has been activated. That is good. Q Only upon activating it, will anyone know it is there?
• "The spirit of the Lord hovered over the still waters"just as the wind hovering over the face of still waters causes waves.
  – END - Day 1

Day 2

• This day, we deal with water!

• What is water? Could it be “slow” light? After all, it does nourish our bodies, just as the light nourishes our spirits.

• This water is also primordial. It existed prior to the light being formed. Now here it too is separatedthough here it is an expanse, an emptiness, that separates the upper water from the lower.

• And the upper is named “Shamyim”, sky.
  – END - Day 2

• Twice create is used: “I create darkness; I create evil!”" Both times they mean the same thing, emphasising the “created” aspect.

• On the first day, G-d says, “Let there be light.” However, prior to that what was there, if anything?

• Is that not the first emanation? No. It is the וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם, the Ruach that is hovering (or perhaps brooding and fertilizing (Syriac)) over the face of the waters.

• Here the description of the process is complete. First, the beginningthe intention, not yet formed, as in “when”? This is the infinitesimally small point that emerged, so small, that it would be impossible to detect, nor was there any eye able to detect it. That is called “the beginning”.

• In this beginning is also contained the direction upon which it is running,² the beginning of which is the “creation of the heavens and the earth.” This emergence occurs in emptiness and darkness,the Ruach Elokim hovering over these primordial waters, perhaps fertilizing them. In this darkness and emptiness, the light enters. That was “good”, in G!d’s eyes. Once the light had emerged, the separation between light and darkness occurred. Though Isaiah Chapter 45 says: “He formed the light, and created the darkness.”

• N What actually occurred here? If the light was only “formed”, it existed prior to the beginning. It becomes apparent that it was the darkness that was new, for it was created in the process of the ”forming of the light”. As soon as you in-form light, you will have deformed light. But G!d is perfect and omnipotent, you say? That these terms are not able to fully describe the Infinite nature of such characteristics in the formation of light, an unformed (form) of said light—which existed prior to creation—is implied—that which we call darkness.³

• G!d names them, “day” and “night” - even though our luminaries were not yet formed and placed in the heavens. This is where you awaken to the fact that the day that G!d is referring to here is not the 24 hour day we “define” as a day, but rather the completion of a process.

According to Luria, man’s soul has 613 spiritual part corresponding to the body’s 613 physical parts and to the 613 commandments (which have never been clearly defined… More on that later). By fulfilling all the commandments man achieves the takin, “restoration”, of his “body”, representing the material world and as well as all the supernal worlds that rend to man’s actions. He has this power because, having been created in G!d’s “image”, he encompasses the entire cosmos in his being, and was created to complete and perfect the creative process that G!d initiated…

Footnotes

Footnotes