Hello darkness, my old friend; A rule that pierces the mountain

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 8/3/2010 Tuesday 23 Menachem Av 5770

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Yesterday we reviewed the principle of etzem.

We saw how sechel is not limited to grasp, it is not seeking what it can translate and experience in its world.

Sechel translated on a physical level is sight.

It is the means by which we know an object separate from ourselves. We know it by virtue of what it is. “If it is real without it having an affect on me, it is real” - and this is what sechel sees.

Etzem/essence is the non-metziut that is the source of the metziut.

Torah is not to set a confused world straight. It is not an afterthought. Torah is the source of existence. It has an essential message. This is in the meor. Tov and ra is at the level of metziut. There is an absolute good that does not have a counterpart. First in Genesis light and darkness was made and He chose light. He chose the work of tzadikim – bitul, versus the work of evil – yeshus. Shaul hamelech (King Saul) started his kingship and all that he undertook was with full force “yarshiyah”.

They say about religion that it is a cop out, to get away from the world. “religion is the opiate of the masses”. In a way it can be seen to make sense – the tzaddik accepts what comes his way. This is bitachon, “everything will be the way He wants it, and the way He wants it will be good”. The rasha (evil one) seems like a real creation, “i will stand on my own two feet and do it my way!”

but He chose good – veyar et ha-elokim ha ohr ki tov – he discerns a new level in light. There is the functional element and then the essential level. The tzaddik depending on Him supercedes the acts of the evil ones. The tzaddik says, “forget about seder hishtalshalus, I serve Him – I go straight to the meor/source, I'm not interested what happens in the world.” this is beyond ohr ve choshech.

This is a tov beyond tov ve rah. This is when you have a real creation. Not like the rasha that denies his source. The tzaddik says, “I have a source and I am part of the source.”

Torah returns him to the essence of good.

He realizes darkness too is a creation, and this turns him to his source. It raises him above metziut.

Root means the base upon which it stands, and the torah is rooted in essence.



To listen to "Sounds of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel, click here.

Sounds of Silence

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence

... וחיי עולם