Chapter XVIII · 1 min read
Metatron and Malchus
Analogy, not identity
There is a cautious but fruitful analogy between Metatron and מַלְכוּתMalchusKingship; the tenth and final sefirah, the receiving and speaking faculty of the sefirotic order, and the point from which a lower world begins.Glossary.
Malchus is described in Kabbalah as having nothing of its own:
לית לה מגרמה כלום.
Original text
This does not make Malchus worthless.
It explains its astonishing capacity.
Because it does not insist upon originating its own light, it becomes the vessel through which the preceding sefirot can enter another order.
Malchus is mouth.
Malchus is speech.
Malchus is moon.
Malchus is throne.
Malchus is שְׁכִינָהShechinahThe Divine Presence as it dwells. The word shares a root with dirah, dwelling — indwelling rather than visitation.Glossary in its relation to created worlds.
Its greatness is relational.
Its apparent emptiness becomes hospitality.
There is room for another.
Metatron's greatness can be read through the same law without equating the two categories.
He bears nothing independently.
Therefore he can bear a Name.
He does not originate the decree.
Therefore he can transmit it faithfully.
He does not own the household.
Therefore the keys can be entrusted to him.
He is not the King.
Therefore he can become the most faithful servant of the King.
This is the inversion at the heart of holiness.
The ego imagines that possessing something of one's own creates greatness.
Kedushah discovers that what is most transparent can sometimes carry the most.
The window shines because it does not paint itself opaque.
The moon illumines night because it receives.
The womb gives birth because it makes room.
The servant carries the seal because he does not forge his own.
So too the “Lesser הֲוָיָ״הHavayahThe customary respectful designation used in Chassidic writing for the four-letter Divine Name, avoiding its pronunciation and its decorative use.Glossary”.
His smallness before Havayah is his capacity to reveal Havayah.