“All of the forgetfulness that a person has is drawn from these lesser mochin. Whoever can, through their actions, draw them down below [to their proper place] by drawing in the greater mochin that push them… will have wondrous recollection in Torah and will understand the secrets of Torah”. (The Ari”zal, Etz Chayim 22:3)[1]

In that passage, “lesser mochin” means a diminished state of mochin—a mode of consciousness in which the light of intellect is present only in a constricted measure, corresponding to concealment rather than clarity. The text is stating a causal chain: forgetfulness is not treated as an isolated psychological glitch but as a spiritual effect that is “drawn from” that constricted state. In other words, when the mochin are in a lesser mode, the mind’s holding power and the soul’s internal access to Torah become weakened, and this expresses itself as forgetfulness.

But the moment this is said, a person may feel the pressure of the question that cannot be bypassed: I don’t understand how this happens or comes about. How can a constricted measure of consciousness become the concrete experience of confusion, blockage, and forgetting? The next clause answers by refusing a simplistic explanation. It does not speak as though the only issue is “more light” versus “less light.” It introduces an ordering problem, not merely a quantity problem. It speaks of “drawing them down below [to their proper place].” This implies that these lesser mochin can be situated in an improper position relative to the structure of the partzufim. When something that belongs “below” is lodged “above,” or when a constricted illumination occupies the place that should be governed by expansive illumination, the result is confusion, blockage, and forgetfulness. The repair is described as relocating the lesser mochin into their correct place in the hierarchy.

There are two different claims packed into that line, and the second one only becomes intelligible once you separate them. First claim: there is a normal “lesser mochin” mode, and it has a place. “Below” here does not mean “bad.” It means “appropriate domain.” A constricted measure of intellect is sometimes the correct state for a given stage, task, or vessel. In the Ari”zal’s architecture, not every vessel can hold the same measure at the same time, and not every function of the mind belongs in the “head.” Second claim: the problem is when the constricted state is sitting in the wrong seat of governance. “Above” here means the controlling level, the place that sets order for everything under it. If constriction is occupying the governing position, then even if it is not intrinsically negative, it will act like a small aperture placed at the top of the system. Everything that is meant to expand and illuminate downstream must first pass through that narrow opening. The result is that the entire structure experiences the world through a reduced measure, even when a larger measure is required. That is what “blockage” means in this context: not an external obstruction, but a misplacement of measure at the control point.

In that condition, forgetfulness is not mysterious at all. Forgetfulness, in this frame, is not merely “information loss.” It is a failure of stable internal holding. Torah does not “settle” in a lasting way because the governing mind is operating in constriction. A person may understand in the moment, but the understanding does not become a stable, retained acquisition, because the upper ordering faculty is not in the mode that can seat, organize, and hold the light. When the control level is constricted, the lower vessels receive in fragments, under pressure, without the calm spaciousness that allows ordering, integration, and recall.

And then the next question becomes unavoidable, because the passage itself forces it: If constriction is occupying the governing position, how does that come to be? It can come to be in two broad ways. One way is structural and ordinary. The inner order naturally cycles between katnut “constriction” and gadlut “expansion.” When a person remains in a katnut state while trying to function from the “head” level—meaning, to learn, retain, and penetrate Torah as though the governing light is already expansive—the constricted mode effectively becomes the ruling lens. Nothing “went wrong” in the sense of a foreign intrusion; rather, the person is operating from a smaller measure at the very point that is supposed to organize and seat the light. In that condition, comprehension can occur momentarily, but it does not settle into stable acquisition. A second way is displacement through pressure. Even when a person’s proper place would be gadlut, constriction can rise into the governing position when the system is crowded by agitation, fear, fatigue, distraction, or inner conflict. Then the mind narrows at the top, not because the person chose it, but because the vessels cannot yet tolerate breadth. The “head” protects itself by reducing measure, and the reduced measure becomes the operative governance. The result is the exact symptom the passage names—forgetfulness—because retention requires a spacious ordering faculty, not merely a flash of understanding.

Now the mechanism of “the greater mochin push them.” The passage is describing a reordering, not a battle. When greater mochin are drawn, they belong “above.” Once they arrive, they take their natural place as the governing illumination. The constricted mochin are not erased—they are displaced downward into their proper domain. Practically, that means constriction becomes a subordinate layer rather than the ruling lens. When that reordering occurs, the mind’s holding power returns, and “wondrous recollection in Torah” follows, because the light is now seated in its correct vessel and hierarchy, and deeper understanding becomes possible as a further consequence.

In the language of the excerpt, “drawing in the greater mochin” means creating the conditions, through avodah and action, for the rightful governance to return. When the greater mochin arrive, they do not annihilate constriction; they relocate it. Constriction resumes its proper function “below”—as a subordinate tool for measure—instead of serving as the ruling ceiling over the entire mind.

How does that relocation happen? “By drawing in the greater mochin that pushes them.” “Greater mochin” here is the expansive mode, the illumination of mochin in a fuller measure, aligned with Chochmah, Binah, and Da’at operating as they should. The mechanism the passage describes is not that the lesser mochin are destroyed, but that the greater mochin arrive and “push” the lesser mochin downward into their proper domain, restoring right order in the inner architecture. Once the structure is ordered, memory returns not as a trick of recall, but as a natural consequence of the mind being filled by the right level of illumination.

That is why the concluding promise is specifically “wondrous recollection in Torah” and then “will understand the secrets of Torah.” The text is mapping two results of the same rectification: first, retention and recall, because the obstructive constriction has been repositioned, and second, penetration into sod, because the greater mochin are not only clearing blockage but also supplying the higher capacity needed for deeper comprehension.

Rabbi Avraham

on Shevat 3, 5786

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[1]

“Behold, every capacity for forgetfulness that a person has is drawn to him from these Mochin of smallness. And whoever is able, through his deeds, to bring them down below—by drawing the Mochin of greatness, and pushing away the Elokim of smallness, and removing them from ז”א Zeir Anpin entirely—will then have a wondrous remembrance in Torah and will understand all the mysteries of the Torah. For every ‘remember’ in the male, only the Elokim of smallness prevents the illumination of the male in the secret of ‘remember.’ Yet whoever lowers them also from נוקבא Nukva, ‘the Female,’ down to הבריאה Beriyah—this one will certainly have no forgetfulness at all, and the mysteries of the Torah will be revealed to him in their proper rectification.”