Arich Anpin, in Aramaic, "the long Face," as opposed to Zeir Anpin, "the small Face." According to Shaar HaKlalim, it is the point of Keter of the world of the Nekudim, rebuilt into a complete partzuf of ten Sefirot; it corresponds to the tip of the yod in the Name.
Arich Anpin clothes the seven lower Sefirot of Atik, which is like a soul for him; and he in turn is the soul of all the rest. Shaar HaKlalim says it: Arich Anpin is the soul of all of Atzilut, he spreads and clothes himself in all of it, and the light of the Infinite passes through him; it is of him that it is said "and You give life to them all." Abba and Ima clothe him from the throat to the middle of the chest, Zeir Anpin and the Nukva from there down. That is why the Idra says that only his head is seen: his body is entirely clothed by the others.
His head has a particular feature. His skull contains Keter and Chokhmah, a single brain, the "hidden brain"; Binah descended into his throat, because she could not receive the light of Atik from close by. His hair is white like pure wool, that of Zeir Anpin black, that of the Nukva red.
His beard carries thirteen arrangements. Etz Chaim links them to the thirteen attributes of mercy of the prophet Micah: "Who is a G-d like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over transgression," up to "from the days of old." The hairs of the beard are the channels through which the holy oil flows, and they bear the names of the thirteen attributes of the Torah: "L-rd, L-rd, G-d merciful and gracious, slow to anger..." Two of these arrangements are called mazal, that which flows: Abba is nourished from the eighth, Ima from the thirteenth.
One may connect the name of this face with the expression erekh apayim, "slow to anger," whose two words form two of its arrangements: patience is inscribed on the highest face.
For Cordovero, Arich Anpin is simply Keter, "the first concealment" of the Emanator, while Zeir Anpin gathers the following Sefirot. He also describes how, when the Emanator wishes to give, Atika Kadisha, Keter, Arich Anpin, pours light and abundance upon all the Sefirot, whose faces turn straight toward him; when the sins of a generation make the faces turn aside, the channels fall into disorder. Keep this in mind: in both schools, everything that descends passes through this face, and human conduct decides whether it stays turned toward us.
