243. “The Tefillin are the letters of the holy name, etc.” “The king is held captive in the tresses” [Song of Songs 7:6], namely, he is tied and held in those boxes of the tefillin, in order to be ‎unified in that holy name appropriately. Therefore, one who is rectified in them is in the image of God. Just as the ‎holy name is unified in Elohim, the holy name is appropriately unified in him as well. “Male and female He created them” [Genesis 1:27], that is, the tefillin of the head and the tefillin of the hand, and it is all one. ‎

“The king is held captive in the tresses.” This means that the Ze’er Anpin is tied and unified in these boxes. That is, the boxes in ‎which the chapters are placed are called “tresses [rehatim].” Rehatim are troughs of water from which the sheep ‎drink [see e. g., Exodus 2:16]. Similarly, the brains, which are the waters of Ḥokhma and the waters of [the light of giving], are tied ‎and concealed in their vessels, the boxes. This is why the boxes are called “tresses.”‎

[The Zohar] continues: “He is tied and held in those boxes, to ‎be unified in that holy name appropriately.” The mystical meaning of the boxes is the aspect of ‎Tiferet, Netzaḥ, Hod, and Yesod, of Tevuna, [the female component of Yisrael Sabba and Tevuna]. This is called “the large dalet of [the word] eḥad [one],” about which it is stated: “Let the dry land appear” [Genesis 1:9] (as mentioned above, in the third commandment). It was explained there that by means of the appearance of this dry land in Ze’er Anpin, [Ze’er Anpin] can subsequently give the ‎brains to the Nukba, in the mystical meaning of “that which was dry land becomes a land for bearing fruits and offspring, and for planting trees” [section #206#]. Thus, were it not for his boxes, which are from the aspect of this dry land, Ze’er Anpin would have been ‎unable to transmit the brains to his Nukba. ‎

This is the meaning of: “He is tied and held in those boxes,” that the Ze’er Anpin is tied and held in the boxes of the chapters that come from “the dry land.” “To ‎unify in that holy name appropriately,” so that [Ze’er Anpin] can unite and transmit to the holy name, which is the Nukba, appropriately, in ‎the mystical meaning of the revelation of “that which was dry land becomes a land for bearing fruits etc.”; see there in detail. This is the mystical meaning of: “The king is held captive in the tresses.” ‎

[The Zohar] continues: “Therefore, one who is rectified in them is in the image of God.” That is, the lower man ‎who dons tefillin draws forth the brains: Ḥokhma and Bina, Ḥesed and Gevura, which are called tzelem [tzadi-lamed-mem], from [Ze’er Anpin] and Nukba. Ḥokhma and Bina are ‎called mem-lamed, and Ḥesed and Gevura are called tzadi. This is the mystical meaning of the image of God. “Just as the ‎holy name, which is the Nukba, is unified in Elohim, which is the Bina, the holy name is appropriately unified in the person as well,” as stated above. ‎

[The Zohar] continues: “Male and female He created them,” referring to the tefillin of the head and tefillin of the hand, and it is all one.” That is, [the verse] “And God created man in His own image” [Genesis 1:27] is the brains: Ḥokhma and Bina, Ḥesed and Gevura, which are called tzelem, as stated. They consist of male and ‎female, namely tzelem of Ze’er Anpin and tzelem of Nukba, which are called the tefillin of the head and the tefillin of the hand. ‎