Monday, February 28, 2011

Money earned p: 42

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:42 2/28/2011 Monday 24 AdarAleph 5771

Page 42 – middle of second paragraph (line starts “kuli...”).

Bitul/humility has a great advantage, but there is a smallness/lacking to it – this is seen in igulim/circles, where the inner circle is completely null to the outer circle.

To recognize G-dliness in the 'natural' process, one needs special insight, special vessels. This is like emunah vs intellect. Emunah is an overall faith that may not affect our actions. A thief may pray for success in his thievery – this is katnus. Gadlus is that the creature is able to relate to G-dliness in his own intellectual processes and actions.

Yoshar/straight is a process of a cause and effect. Each has its own place. It may seem the cause just kicks the cause into action, but that is not the case, the cause is carried along in the effect. The cause is recognized in the effect – the cause is representative of the cause. Sechel is the cause of the midot/emotions. This is not to say the emotion 'knows there is a sechel and then acts on its own'.

In our days one seems to lose focus and see the effect, without the cause and the real Cause. Healthy emotions are actually formed by their cause. 'I had a big success in a business venture, what is the real significance? Is it 9 portions of my fellows or is it my portion? Do I sense His hand in it, or do I see it as besting my competitor?! The fact that it comes from Him is what gives me the excitement and appreciation.'

One feels the value of money earned more than that of money inherited. If you win it in the lottery, you don't feel it as a direct gift to you, but if you prepare, sow and reap then you feel it as a direct gift to you.



The big vessels of yoshar/straight reality is that, though he is his own existence he still feels the input of the Creator. It requires enormous insight to see G-dliness in nature. Igul/circle reality means the individual is completely subsumed in the higher level – he has no sense in his own experience.

Where do you appreciate elokus? In the world! For example Radio reveals the G-dly reality in the world. A voice here can be heard there at the same time.

In yoshar the cause is represent in the effect.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

The quiet gangster - High and low p: 42


AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:42 2/27/2011 Sunday 23 AdarAleph 5771 


Page 42 – last three lines of top paragraph (line starts “ukmo...”).

The higher a level/element, the lower it has to come. A high level is nullified to it's source and it wants to reveal the source.

Does it have to be this way (that the highest level manifests in the lowest level down here) or is just that sometimes things play out that way?

In answer to this question (seen/heard at the start of the video) Rabbi described the incident where an artist was commissioned to paint a likeness of Moses, who was leading his people in the desert. The artist went to the desert, found Moses, and completed his mission. He returned and showed it to his partron.

“Can't be – this looks like a gangster!” was the patrons response to seeing the artist's work. “no” replied the artist, “I was true to the task – this is a likeness”.

Martina Shapiro - Rebbe
“Can't be,” said the patron, “I have to go see for myself.”

He himself went to the desert and saw the artist was right.

We mentioned the medrash that describes how the light and dark are the work of good and evil and it was not clear, initially which He desired. This is a wild medrash. Evil actions, doesn't mean evil it means the way the rasha-im get their good. In darkness you only know the tangible.

The world is unlimited and one who wants to make his entire life, based on gashmius, can do it – there's no limit – and this is the work of rasha-im. For tzaddikim the primary reality is Elokus. Physical reality is tangible and it reveals G-dly infinity, but there is coming out of the darkness and realizing that ohr is equally as real as darkness.

This is the yisron ohr. The desire of the animal soul and the G-dly soul is equally balanced. So how does the G-dly soul triumph? Because it wants it because this is the G-dly truth and this brings down the source. The infinity of G-d himself is revealed and this trumps the infinity of creation.

The root of physicality is higher than that of spirituality. Physical stuff does not point back to it's source, representing that there is a Creator without a source. In the physical can be dressed the ein sof itself. There is nothing superior to a mitzvah in deed. The action is supreme.

Etzem/essence is outside of worldly parameters. Essence is true of itself – self substantiating. Real existence is from the truth of His presence. In everything there is the manifestation and then there is the essence – the essence is the Creator element that it represents.

Rashaim reveal the infinity in the creation, and the tzaddikim reveal the ein sof in the Creator. This is called koach atzmi – the presence of the Creator in the creation.

The lie of the wicked is to attribute infinity to the physical. Know that there is One who embedded it there!

Live in the physical world, but don't get confused about what it represents – this is avodah ha birurim.

We have a medrash that tells how the world was originally covered with water and this is like a king who built a palace and settle therein mute inhabitants. Another palace had articulate tenants.


This is like the water and the world of dry land. You have creatures in the sea and on dry land. So what's the difference? They are representing igulim/circles and yashar/straight. 2 ways of G-dly energy coming into the world.

Igulim are like concentric circles. Energy comes from His realm into the world. G-dliness and world are two different systems. G-d has/needs no source. In the world everything has a source. With concentric circles each is fully surrounded by a higher circle and is thus completely nullified to the one that surrounds and supports it. It has no expression/hispashtus. Expression is possible where there was a lacking and you fill that vacancy with the expression. The sun shines into the places where it is not present. With igulim the bigger reality provides all and there is nothing to say or express.



This is how Moshe Rabbenu had difficulty of speech. He was part of Elokus at all time and was, “drawn from water”. He was in total bitul. His prophesy superceded that of all other prophets. None could reach his level. For him it was like, “a man talking to his friend”! His world was so G-dly that he didn't sense his source, he was inside his source continually and his face shone.

Igulim/circles is a process with small vessels. Vessels are the structure used to present an idea.

Bitul/humility has a great advantage, but there is a smallness/lacking to it – this is to be continued.

Rabbi recalled a story he heard as a young boy from a favorite teacher: A man had a business. Trading. He had many workers. Then a relative asked for work. He took him in. The relative was taken aback by the kind of work he had to do. He nudged him for a higher position. So he said, “let's try it out, see those merchants, go and see what they are trading.” he goes out to find out and he gets sent out repeatedly , running back and forth. Then he says, “watch how its done” and sent one of his experienced guys out who returns with a full picture.



If you have a question and you can only think in terms of that question, then it is a matter of keilim katanim – small vessels. A bigger picture has many questions until you have the entire concept defined in words. This is keilim rechavim – expansive vessels.


Friday, February 25, 2011

Too pure to receive p: 41


AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:41 2/25/2011 Friday 21 AdarAleph 5771

Page 42 – middle of top paragraph (line starts “hu min...”).

We see that even angels were not suitable for torah – they were too pure. Something high/pure needs a coarse place to rest.

What is higher and lower? We discussed the supremacy of light from darkness. We experience light that is really only a reflection of the real light. We have light that reveals to us the objects, but there is a light that is beyond this function.

The real supremacy/yitaron of light is the level that does not reveal activity in the world, but is a revelation if it's source.



The higher something is the less of a metzius it is and the more it is pointing to the truth and it's source.

A wedding is not the joy of two people finding it each other, it is a new world coming into being. With open eyes one senses this, even though the physical eye sees just the wedding hall, food and napkins...!



The excitement of a wedding is the permeating of truth. The higher something is, the more it presents it's source, but in order to do that in this world it has to come down to the lowest level. The structure in this world is upside down – and so things come in a reverse order. Essence is not a worldly concept. Essence is true in-and-of-itself. Essence is above world – it is G-dly.

Etzem can only presented by the physical. Torah comes in the form of kabalos ol - “do this deed”, which in this world is very difficult since it bypasses the usual channels of thought, speech and action.

It works in reverse order. You do a deed, which channels a G-dly power, which enables you to see the content of the deed. The deed leads the thought...

“Everything you do affects everything you think, and all you think affects all you do...”

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Real Experience! p: 41


AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:41 2/24/2011 ThursdayNight 20 AdarAleph 5771

Page 41 – 4 lines from end of the page (line starts “umah shebah...”).

The essence comes into physicality. That which is supreme, extends to the lowest levels and into the coarse garments.

This is a principle: essence is found specifically in physicality. There are many illustrations of this. As said above, the more refined and elevated something is, the more physical and coarse it is in this world.

This is like a lion and the ox. It is known that the face was on the right side of the G-dly chariot, which is a higher level than the face of the ox which is on the left side. But down here the ox is kosher and can be brought on an alter, but the lion is an impure animal that is fierce/destructive in it's manner.

Since the lion is higher above, it is impossible that even by many steps downwards that it would be resolved as a pure animal. It's download is by means of a fall and a beakdown – it breaks away from it's source and hence it arrives here below.



So too with the faculties of the soul. Sight and hearing: sight is of a higher level than hearing. “shmiah is not comparable to re-iyah” - what you see has a much more profound effect on one. Shmiah can relate to the sound which is a more physical presence, and sight relates to physicality. Further more, the experience of sight is due to the black pupil and not the white, which is more representative of human life.

Also the angels asked for Torah, but it was given to humans! This is because the true principles of torah cannot be expressed on a spiritual level, but rather on the level of physical mitzvoth/halacha!

When they made the request, Moshe Rabenu rebutted them by saying, “do they have a yetzer hara?!” The true ohr/light of torah can only come by virtue of birur/purification of the yetzer harah.



Birur of the yetzer hara, means one is no longer limited by his own personal experience and involvement. He goes beyond saying, “reality is true since I experience it”. This is the limit of physicality.

When one can step out of this limit, as the Rambam says, “the first principle of mind is that there is a first Being that makes everything” and one feels I am a creation of His and my significance of my existence is that I am aware of this first Being. This is real intelligence, this is real sensitivity. One breaks out of one's dark awareness of self, to an awareness of Him, a true existence and not a relative existence.



This is light out of darkness. This is the birur. One starts with one's own experience, where the first Being is not a necessity. “One prefers one measure of his own to 9 measures of his fellow” - why? The 9 of his fellow he came to know after the fact, the one portion of he knows, he saw it coming into being out of nothing. This is the supremacy of 'light out of darkness' - we first have to nullify the coarseness of the physical, and break away from the personal experience. And say, 'no, there is a Real Experience!'

We went as far as to say, there is light in the darkness.

How does one know the reality of something without coming into contact with it? The contact element and the knowledge it provides has to do with it's effect. Knowledge without contact is proof that it really exists, without my experience of it. This yisron, is such a fine point that there is no way to identify it except by fighting with the yetzer hara.

One tells the yetzer hara, that 'you need to put aside what you know now, then you will come to see something based on the truth...' There is something special about physicality – it is something one cannot denie. It is so real that it is inescapable. In total contrast to this is another opposite presence – the First Being – the real truth is also undeniable. One comes to the real truth through the physicality – through the birur of the physical.

It is being shown to me p: 41

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:41 2/24/2011 Thursday 20 AdarAleph 5771

Page 41 – last quarter of the page (line starts “shehaetzem gufah...”).

The new entity is created in the form of being separate from the etzem. Like a part of the essence separating from it, or a spark leaping off a flame.

In a cult they are attempting to have a superimposed affect on their members and their thoughts are no longer sourced in their souls. Their whole reality changes. This is not hashpaa/mentorship. In a cult the student becomes totally enslaved/attached. In real mentorship the only way it works is if the student is a separate entity. He has to find it in his own soul and ask questions.

A child is reflective of the parents, but a healthy child has to become as independent as the parents. The child doesn't break away, it is part of his original mentorship to be separate.

Rabbi was talking with a mother about raising her children. He said, don't say, “mommy will be happy if....” since then the child's attachment is to you and not to the real thing.

p 41, last quarter,  ayinbase, rebbe rashab (right click to  enlarge)


Talking about etzem/essence: it is a super worldly element. There is nothing in the world that is essential. In the world all is temporary. If the father has essence and bestows it to the child, why is he not here forever? Since he's a soul in a body and the body is not essential and the essence of the soul is not dressed in the body. Essence is a G-dly inyan. Essence is something that exists 'of itself', without a source. This is G-dliness. Because the world is a G-dly creation directly, and not an evolutionary product based on reaction and survival, therefore it has a G-dly element which doesn't dissapate. This is why during a human life he is an essence (the union of soul and body is a G-dly miracle).



Sight has two aspects, 1. I see it and 2. it is shown to me. 'It is being shown to me' is of a far higher level. There is something real. There is reality beyond what I see. This is true of a person's existence in the world. One makes a vessel, but He wills it that there is a connection between body and soul – that is the reality of the human being. This is not graspable by the sechel/mind.

Life is infinitely valuable/venerable. An additional moment of life is priceless. It is a miracle, it is not worldly phenomenon/currency.

Only in a physical entity can there be a transfer of essence.


Wednesday, February 23, 2011

You alone! p: 41


AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:41 2/23/2011 Wednesday 19 AdarAleph 5771

Page 41 – below the middle of the page (line starts “ha-atzmi-im...”).

The essential drop is a derivative of essence and contains an infinite aspect. Further, every faculty that is involved with producing this drop is also by virtue of the essence.

Since the essence itself is brought along in this hashpaa, the result is a whole new presence, not just an effect.

The essence itself is transmitted, though we already explained that an essence does not become a source to something. A makor/source is involved with gilui/revelation and hispashtus/expansion.

There is a Freudian idea that the will to procreate is the primary human impulse. This is saying that everything that a person does needs a reason. Nothing is self-sufficient. We say 'yes, indeed there is an essential element in this, but it is the G-dly presence, and without recognizing the G-dliness it becomes meaningless and destructive.'

“Dir alein – You alone!” would the alte rebbe say in his davening/prayers. “G-d I just want You – not Your manifestations and revelations”.



We contrasted the download of essence vs that of light. A download of anything is based on the content, but essence has no element that describes what it is, nor justification, nor process. Essence is not a “hamshacha from...” but a “hamshacha of...”

There are rules of physics that are deemed to be part of this physical world. Like inertia. But the reason they are present is because a G-dly infinity has been implanted in the world.

The klipa claims that what it has, which was given by Him, belongs to it. This is why it dissipates.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Keep it clean p: 41

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:41 2/22/2011 Tuesday 18 AdarAleph 5771

Page 41 – below the middle of the page (line starts “ikar...”).

We are looking at the fact that the tipa/seminal drop is sourced specifically in the essence. To understand this better we need to reexamine the way there is mentorship of sechel and light. How does an essence have light? The essence recognizes in itself, the universality of what it stands for. The hashpaa of sechel comes from this element. We attempt to transmit sechel based on this principle of universality. Koach ha maskil is from the nefesh – it is the cognizance of a universal truth in sechel.

Layda/birth, by contrast is different. Is not from revelation of ohr/light. It is specifically from the essence. About the drop it is said, “this is mine”, not this is a universal truth. The child resembles the parent, because it is personal, not universal. It is a matter of eternity not universality.

p 41, AyinBase, Rebbe Rashab, lower section of the page (right click to enlarge)


The intent of ratzon is to arouse the sechel. 'I want to live'. Now what it is to have a human life is first identified by the sechel. To live like a human being, one's sechel needs to be employed. The sechel says one should keep things clean, and wear clothes. The ratzon says, 'live'.



The truth is that space is a G-dly infinite presence that allows for everything. The space itself is greater than anything that occupies it. Ratzon is like the demarcation of space, which is like the nefesh/soul. The nefesh itself does not need to be focused – it is a truth unto itself. Yet it has the desire to influence and hence the ratzon takes on a focus.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Miracle of Birth p: 41

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:41 2/21/2011 Monday 17 AdarAleph 5771

Page 41 – about 13th line from the top of the page (line starts “be-etzem hanefesh...”).

Though holada/birth also goes through a process, it is essentially an essence function. This faculty becomes revealed in full, not just it's effect. This is also identifiable in the faculty of sechel as it is reflected in the offspring. The essence of the faculty results and not a ha-arah of it alone.

Sechel is not an external process – it is a soul perception, but it is only the ohr/light of the soul that is revealed.

Thus the root of the faculty of sechel is the koach hamaskil, saying that it is formatted for the sake of a purpose and function. Even so when sechel downloads from the koach ha-atzmi, the essence does not come down with it – only a reflection in the form of light and revelation.

In contrast the seminal drop carries the essence itself.

Now the topic clarified was: kochot atzmi-im (essential faculties). We see that though sechel has a logical structure, it still has nefesh/soul quality.

If somethng is al pi sechel one relates to it dynamically – one relates to it comfortably/automatically. One feels, “yes, that is the right way to do it”. Going back to the deeper elements in the person – the birth of a child – is like a miracle – 'something from nothing'. How does a human being really relate to a child? It is rooted in the soul – that the soul of man senses the eternity, that it begets another human being.

The new birth is a continuation – the new child is rooted in the essence of the soul. All the processes involved with birth are rooted in this cognizance/precognition. This is part of the eternity of the nefesh/soul.



Marriage is called 'binyan adei ad (an eternal structure)' and the eternity is recognized not after the fact of a birth, but already at the outset of the marriage. The marriage itself is the element of eternity. At the time of marriage it is revealed that one is a full presence.

The essence itself not the ohr of the essence is what initiates the tipa (seminal drop).

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Combat and the mentor p: 41

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:41 2/20/2011 Sunday 16 AdarAleph 5771

Page 41 – 6th line from the top of the page (line starts “tzimzum...”).

There is a limit in the light, and without this the light would be like the essence.

The tzimzum is illustrated by the topic of ratzon/will. This enables the faculties to come in a focused fashion. The soul focuses it's intent through the ratzon. Just as in the mashal of the four walls of a house demarcating space, 'that can be used for living' similarly in the faculties, no matter how much the space is demarcated, it is still the original / primal space, 'it is the real thing' but now one can relate to it.

This is true of sechel, that although it goes through a tzimzum, still the 'ohr/light of the sechel' is directly from the nefesh. 'It is a nefesh view'.

Not all thought is sechel. Thought is the garment for sechel, but not all thought draws from sechel.

The letters ratzon spell also tzinor, which is a conduit. Just as a conduit/channel brings water from the reservoir in a focused manner, so too ratzon.

Ohr of sechel would be unlimited, even though it is ohr, but the tzimzum gives it a limit and thus the mentorship of sechel, that comes by means of ohr chozer (reflected light) from the essence, is in fact without limit, because there the tzimzum doesn't apply so much.

Ohr chozer is a reaction from the essence itself. It is not formatted or initiated as a presentation.

Page 41 AiynBase, Rebbe Rashab, top of the page


There's a story with Yoshke who was traveling with Yeshuah ben Prachyah – his teacher – and they were at an inn and they were served dinner by a hospitable host. Yeshuah said, 'what a nice lady!', and Yoshke said, 'her eyes are a little crooked.' Yeshuah said, 'are you mad, I don't want to deal with you'. Yoshke came back to ask forgiveness, once, twice and three times. The third time, Yoshua was not able to answer and Yoshke went off and created havoc. If you really have a keli, if you are willing/searching, you come back as many times as necessary.


Another story: Avraham Drizin lived in Kvar Chabad. There was some kind of disagreement and he had to leave and come to Crown Heights. He came without the Rebbe's consent. He sat for years by the Rebbe's fabrengen. The rebbe wouldn't respond to him. Still Avraham was traveling and saw the results of the Rebbe's work, and at this time of being a pariah he still took joy and pride in seeing this. After many years, one day the Rebbe said, “why doesn't Reb Avraham say, l'chaim?” - and with this he was back inside. This is what it is to be a vessel. To be a willing student.

Karoo, South Africa


One may think that the life from the soul, that comes through a tzimzum, is infinite. It is dressed in the body and it is via a tzimzum. The body comes alive, but it is still a lifeless body in essence.

The body has to actively be replenished and fed etc. the activity is so constant and complete, that some even say the body lives of itself without a soul. This is like light illuminating the world, but we see not light, but rather light combined with darkness. Light and shadow. The soul doesn't eliminate the body – it enlivens it. The body has to work to be a live. The soul doesn't have to work to be alive.

This is the normal provision of life for the body. But holada/birth is sourced in the essence of the nefesh, not the way the nefesh enlivens through a tzimzum. Thus the root of this hashpaa/mentorship is only the essential faculty that is part of the nefesh and not part of the guf/body.



Why is there light coming from an essence? Essence recognizes nothing except the truth of itself, so it will illuminate anything outside of this. Like the sun it says, 'what is inside or outside is all the same to me, I shine there too...' Still there is a distinction between the ha-ara and the essence. So too with nefesh.

Light in the sun, is not in contrast to darkness – it is light itself. If there was something from the essence of the sun, not light, what would it be? Another sun!

Inside p 41 AyinBase, Rebbe Rashab, right click to enlarge


This is what the Baal shem tov says – 'if you grasp part of it, you have all of it.'

a blind man can father a sighted son. The birth is from the essence and the essence has no blemish. Birth is from the essential identity.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Getting up in the morning p: 41

What used to be a rural, Jewish store in Calvinia, South Africa
AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:40 2/18/2011 Friday 14 AdarAleph 5771

Page 41 – 2nd line from the top of the page (line starts “kuli...”).

The soul enlivens a lifeless body. Like giving light to a dark world. This is because it is giving only a reflection of the life of the soul. Not the essence of life. The body comes to life, but in a limited way.

The soul also provides for the specific faculties and senses. And these too are limited.

The soul provides in a way that the body has to be prepared and exercised to recognize receive what the soul is giving. This reflection of light from the soul comes by means of tzimzum.

The will/ratzon is an intermediate stage between the life of the soul and the human faculties. Will/razon is already defined, “he wants to accomplish, such and such”. The mashal for ratzon was the 4 walls of the house as opposed to open space. The walls demarcate space, but the space has not changed. The walls say the space is usable, and so it is not the etzem. It is not just because the nefesh is in the body, that there are faculties. The soul wants to alert the body that it has senses and it does so through the ratzon.

Here we had a discussion that Naftali initiated about the origin of the tzimzum/contration and the chalal/vacuum. Through this is revealed 'other side of ein sof' – that it is not limited to being infinite. By the removal of ohrot/lights is revealed the element of finitude. Ohr in our world is like an add on, but in the real scheme of things, ohr reveals the source and having a source is more true than being an existence. So darkness is the absense of ohr. Not the other way around that things are fundamentally dark. Thus by removing the light one becomes aware of the gashmi and the metziut.



In our world darkness is fundamental – first we have darkness and then light, but in reality it is opposite to this.

Back to the topic of ratzon/will: the walls of the house do not change the space, but now it is focused space and it can be seen that things can be done. Ratzon creates the tzimzim. He wants to 'wise-up' – the ratzon provides the focus to accomplish this.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

“You ask me a question, and I stop to think...” p: 40

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:40 2/17/2011 ThursdayNight 13 AdarAleph 5771

Page 40 – 4 lines from the end of the page (line starts “vehu...”).

Essence is not found in the world. Uses and function in the world is seen as contrived. Not an essential quality. Essence means that the entire unit is one truth. An etzem/essence t has a infinite quality.

If the sun, as it is to itself, reached us, we would be eliminated. Our world consists of darkness, and the element of touch (in contrast to sight). And the sun knows, not darkness. We live in the world and worldly knowledge consists of a process and of coming into contact with things. Existence begins at the moment of touch, and that is our reality, even if we logically assume existence before our contact with the object.

Sight is totally different from touch. Sight tells us something is really there, independent of my knowledge and experience of it. Sight tells us that it existed before I saw it. In darkness you know things, 'hence forth'. In light you know where things are coming from – there's a Creator and they come from Him.

In a human being, in a simple man, common folk, they all think in terms of posterity. This is a relating to infinity, since he knows the human being is for real. A reality that is eternal.

In light you become aware of reality and it's eternity.

Essence by definition has an ohr/light. Why? Since light is the manifestation of the universality of this essence. “Its not just limited to me – its the truth. I'm telling you its true.”

A human being knows without it being recorded in a data base. Chochmah has the bitul to access purity of the nefesh. Truth itself is a reality. In the world touch not truth is convincing.

Essence is such a permeating truth, that it does not relate to anything that is not this way. If this light that represents this truth comes and represents fully then the darkness of the world and the world would disappear.

If light was too intense. We wouldn't see anything.



We are pointing out that the light that reaches us is just a reflection of the essence.

If the light didn't go through a tzimzum/contraction we would just have the essence itself.

The reason for tzimzum? An essential truth, an additional level of truth is brought about through ohr chozer, and ohr chozer is facilitated by tzimzum. He wanted to give Him, Himself and this is best achieved through this process, which is deeper than the gilui of ohr.

The fact that it comes through a tzimzum means that the light comes to be limited. The light of the sun dissipates as the distance from the source increases. This is an oddity. If sun is really a mashal for infinity, then it's rays should never dissipate.



At the top of the next page – 41 - the whole principle of tzimzum/contraction is only applicable regarding the light, but not the essence.

In the essence itself there is no possibility of tzimzum/contraction. In our example there is not chance of the sun becoming less than light 'through and through'.

Thus we see that sechel has a limit. The sechel the mentor gives is a ha-arah/reflection of the essence and is thus limited.

Rebi said, my wisdom is sharper than my fellows since I saw our teacher reb meir from the back. And his fellows didn't see him. So what is the effect of seeing the teacher? Sight means you relate not just to the words, but to the source, the essence. By seeing physically or in one's mind the teacher, the teaching gets additional traction/potency.

Infinity, world and reality p: 40

Chabad Biking Store, Cown Heights
AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:40 2/17/2011 Wednesday 13 AdarAleph 5771

Page 40 – 4 lines from the end of the page (line starts “vehu...”).

Bli gvul / infinity is an essential quality, not that something takes up a lot of space. A huge ocean, is reduced by a drop when you remove a drop, so it is not really infinite. The concept of atzmi exists only because we have a created world with the Creator infusing the world with Himself. He is infinite. We don't have a means of grasping it in our sechel – sechel works with definitions, time and place. Like a table can only be grasped from it's edges, so too sechel can only grasp things for which it can find an edge.

Reality has an element of infinity since it is a reflection of G-dliness.

The sun serves as an illustration. It is finite and physical, yet it has an infinite quality in that it is a luminary – it gives light and is not diminished – it is a continuous miracle. The sunlight we enjoy comes from the sun, but represents too, light that is independent of the sun. The light of the sun is pure light – not the result of something burning. Of course the sun has a physical structure, but that is a vessel/channel by which He gives light.

We have day and night. These are real definitions. There is significance to day and night. The world is a physical entity. And thus everything has some kind of physical manifestation. But it is a physical entity that is made to represent the intent of the Creator – an element of Truth. All is a representation of something greater than the physical.

There are 2 ways to use your eye sight – 1. seeing things and 2. touching things!

Sight sees without coming into contact with the object – it gives us a stronger impression of the reality of the world than touch. Since we see, things as they are unto themselves, then we are experiencing a reality, a reason and a purpose. Sight is a spiritual experience.

Darkness means one moves about by touch, “it is all about how it touches you”, there is no self defining reality.



Then comes light – you see an item and you're not touching it - “its just there”. This is light/ohr with the Creator element. Things are here because they are real, not because “I came in contact with it”.

“We will make an eternal name for ourselves base on mortar” said the builders at the Tower of Babel, and they were not “evil” in the real sense of the world, just limited to darkness.

Workers of light (maase hatzadikim) say, “No I'm being presented with a G-dly phenomena for a G-dly purpose. I see light coming without any limit. The light is not limited to a physical capacity.” Here is where we come to the concept of essence/etzem – light is given due to His intent, not due to a composite process of combustion and fuel etc.

reality means that value is a direct creation, not an inadvertent by product. A direct creation means, things stand since they have a real purpose.


Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Light has a limit p: 40


AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:40 2/16/2011 Wednesday 12 AdarAleph 5771

Page 40 – 4 lines from the end of the page (line starts “vehu...”).

Just as in the mashal of light of the sun and candle, the expanse of the light has a limit, and this is due to the light (a ha-arah/reflection) and not due to the source, so too sechel has a limit though the essence is unlimited.

Even so it must be said that the reason for the limit is also due to the tzimzum. The light comes through a tzimzum. There is an intent in the light – it is not just to represent the source, but to “provide light outside”. And when there is the goal of wanting to “provide light outside” without limiting the darkness, there is a tzimzum.

Light that is really a revelation of essence, not via tzimzum, is like the essence with the element of ein sof.



It is a novelty to see that light has a limit. We see that light exists since there is an essence behind it, and an essence is infinite.

Yesterday the main thing we said, is not that a reflection is limited, but, “why would I think otherwise”. What is revealing in the fact that light is limited? This is because the light represents the light, but in a ha-arah/reflection form. Why is this? Why not full representation of the esssence? Because it goes through a tzimzum.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The wonder of light p: 40


AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:40 2/15/2011 Tuesday 11 AdarAleph 5771

Page 40 – 6 lines from the end of the page (line starts “avirim...”).

We're looking at the meaning of light. The physical phenomenon is the vessel for the inner nature. What is the perception of the sechel? If there is a First Being, then every element has a element of the Originator.

From a human perspective, one feels that things have to make sense, and when things are confusing one feels that we are strangers in the environment. We have to go further and see that the more we learn, the more we are participants and the more we “live up” and acknowledge being in His world.

The shemesh/sun is an essential illuminator – it's light is not an “add-on” feature. Darkness is not something the sun can relate to, thus whatever the sun “looks at” it translates it into light. This is light: it is representing the essence of the illuminator, outside of it. It comes and says, “there is no such thing as darkness”.

The chossid lives, like the neshamah touches the body and it comes to life. This is the element of ohr/light. “The light is actually the illuminator – it is the illumnator outside the illuminator.” If this is the case, it cannot dissipate and cannot stop any place.

When we see that the light does dissipate, it gives us a new understanding. We see that it is a reflection of the illuminator, but not it itself. It is a reflection of the way the illuminator affects the outside.

We don't see the end of the light of the sun. from a torah view the earth is the center and the sun is far – so if the sun reaches the earth, there is no place it does not reach. The dissipation of the light of the candle is more obvious than that of the light of the sun across distance.



This is also the case with the mentorship/hashpaa of sechel. It is only a reflection of the teacher's sechel and hence it has a limit. When the rav is mashpia sechel he doesn't just give what he knows, but he digs in further and provides an element of “why” he knows – it comes from a living source. He doesn't present an “off the shelf” product.

Monday, February 14, 2011

The vessel is not your eyes p: 40

vAyinBase with R' Paltiel p:40 2/14/2011 Monday 10 AdarAleph 5771

Page 40 – about a third from the end of the page (line starts “ohr...”).

The Rebbe explains that the ohr chozer is from the touching of the the essence. This is a direct reflection/deflection from the essence and a superior kind of ohr. Nevertheless this is only ha-arah and thus does not create a new entity. But if the student is able to receive it, it will have a profound effect.

This is like the light will “revive the righteous and deplete the wicked”. The same light has the opposite effects.

p 40 of AyinBase - Rebbe Rashab - lower part of the page


This can be seen in light from the sun. There is a level of light that mixes with shadow and darkness, there is a more essential level where the sun rules and the situation is called “day”. Darkness is not a concern. Higher than this is the light of the sun within the sun. The point is that we can see to receive the physical light, there is the element of having a keili – the vessel is not your eyes – it is a bitul, a sense of reality.

The student experienced a revelation of light that is not dependent on the light of sechel/mind. The Rambam says there is a primary knowledge in the human being that is not on the level of sechel/mind – it is a prerequisite for sechel – it is the acknowledgment that there is a First Being.

The student is now able to “relate to something that has no limit, he doesn't have to stand outside and know himself and through this know something else. The student now relates to infinity itself”.



The student is now enabled to relate to a reality “he doesn't have to wrap his hands around – it is a totally different experience, if you can call it an experience”.

Though this is a tremendous effect, it is by virtue of the ohr, not the etzem.

An etzem has not outer limits and does not end/disipate. This is like the sun's production of light, without the diminution of its power.



Sunday, February 13, 2011

A negative touch p: 40


AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:40 2/13/2011 Sunday 9 AdarAleph 5771

Page 40 – below the middle of the page (line starts “be-etzem ha koach...”).

The Rebbe explains that the ohr chozer is from the touching of the the essence. And then this kind of light results. The etzem is touched/opposed and a new light comes into being. It is due to the reaction of the essence itself.

The negative is more power than a positive in eliciting the light from the essence. The light is created by the existence of the essence and is not a hamshacha – it has a very powerful essence quality.

The manner this light sourced is higher even than is the light from sechel.

There is a constant growth and “walk” in a person, this is like a baal tshuvah. There has to be a fundamental transformation that requires an ohr chozer type of effect. He wants “this” not because this is better than that. When you walk you put your fist foot forward, and you have a reason, but the second step is beyond reason, it is just, “this is where I want to be”.

Ohr chozer: we did not emphasis last review that the difference is not in the light itself, but in the manner in which it comes. Here we explained that the way that it comes is reavealing another element. Usually light comes from sechel. Here there light comes, not because it makes sense. Koach hamaskil deals with what makes sense. It translates the essence into it's level. Here the light is coming not from the sechel level, but from the essence itself. The student receives a light that originated in essence.

The student is not convinced of the new position. The truth is just revealed to him. He's exposed to something undeniable. It is tantamount to sechel truth on an essential level.

Anything that comes at the level of sechel is open for debate.

Anything essential is beyond debate. Sechel has a process and a way of getting to know something. Any thing found out is open to debate. Koach hahihuli ha atzmi, is beyond process. It is knowing without process. There is no process in the human being where he finds out he's a human being. A child can herd a whole herd of horses.

The effect of the ohr chozer is to change the student entirely. Every person knows that he is a human being, and this knowledge is not real knowledge. That the child knows that he can guide the horse is not from the koach ha sechel.

Essence means the Creator within the created items. The element of what “G-d wants in this creation”- this is what give real presence.

This is an element that, “preceded my existence, because this is what G-d wanted me to be”.

The student needs a vessel for this light. A vessel that will allow him to be nullified to it. Understanding is not the big enough vessel. The keli is of an essential quality.

Then the student can accept the light and as a result there is a great increase in revelation of light. “He opens up – he has a new view – he has a new capacity for revelation of light”.

This is to say the mentor-ship of the teacher affects a engraving and new formulation in the vessel of the student so that he will be like his teacher.

We've said that sight has the unique capacity to reveal the truth of the object, not just it's presence. This is revealed only to an human being – not to an animal. Why does the animal not see it? Because the human being has a different capacity for recognizing truth. While we have been saying that sechel is the faculty that recognizes this, where is the recognition of truth? The background of chochmah is that there is a truth. Where do I get that knowledge from? That knowledge is the essence of the human soul.

The human soul is unlimited. The human is a true presence. Unlimited. If the student has this element of bitul and he brings his whole self and wants to receive the teacher's influence. His whole self is demanding the truth. Then he becomes a vessel for the light. And the light is not sechel, but the reality itself. Then it has a profound affect on the student. It engraves and breaks open the student. He now thinks with his whole self – not with his sechel.

This is a chossid. He receives the Rebbe. The essence of the chossid is the Rebbe. This is true with us from the beginning of time. Not just from the time of the Baal Shem Tov.


Friday, February 11, 2011

100% Purity p: 40

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:40 2/11/2011 Friday 7 AdarAleph 5771

Page 40 – below the middle of the page (line starts “gum ken...”).

Even when there is a flow of sechel from the source of sechel, that comes as a process of ohr chozer it is still ohr, not essence, though it's source is essence.

But nevertheless it is a superior light – superior even to koach hamaskil. This is because it originated in a manner of ohr chozer, which means that which reached and touched the essence of the faculty, not the periphery/presentation.

Essence is not something that is formulated. It is there because of the truth of existence. Thus any Jew, even one who during his life did not care for Judaism, can give his life rather than convert. It is a primary definition and inseparable from his metziut.



Who says there's such a thing as truth? Sechel is not essence, though it may recognize certain imperatives. When it is ohr chozer it doesn't go through a process of sechel at all, and thus a superior light is revealed. Sight connects a person with the object that is observed, yet one still has the ability to close one's eyes – hence it is not an absolute purity. The light from ohr chozer has 100% purity.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Making Sense p: 40

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:40 2/10/2011 ThursdayNight 6 AdarAleph 5771

Page 40 – about 17th line from the top of the page (line starts “hamshacha...”).

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The Ageless Sun p: 40

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:40 2/10/2011 Thursday 6 AdarAleph 5771

For text right click on the icons (in tool bar on the right).

Page 40 – about 14th line from the top of the page (line starts “lesechel...”).

The essence is not downloaded by hashpaa sichli. Essence is what it is and does not relate to “the outside”.

We discussed this yesterday. Sechel is an application of what is happening at the deepest levels, but it is not essence. It is an identification of what is happening in the soul itself. The sechel chitzoni identifies what is proper at a human level. If you discard the human level you can be left with well-mannered monsters.

Sechel, though originating from essence, it is not the essence. It is that which is applied to the practical reality.

Definition of download of essence is the movement of essence from place to place – for this to occur an element of essence must move, not just a haarah.



Atzmus/essence remains what it it. If it affects something else then it is a haarah.

Essence in a worldly context also is in space, like the sun. Conceptually essence is beyond space, but when we talk in a worldly context we can see the essence move from place to place...

How does birth occur. The essence is transferred.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Soul beyond mind p: 40

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:40 2/9/2011 Wednesday 5 AdarAleph 5771

For text right click on the icons (in tool bar on the right).

Page 40 – about 10th line from the top of the page (line starts “she haray hu...”).

We are looking at the two forms of hashpaa/mentorship and the principle difference between them.

Hashpaa sichli is chitzoni/external – to do with how the topic shows itself, and the essence and fact of the faculty is not present in the hashpaa.

We are going to look at why in hashpaas ha sechel there is no creation of mehus hasechel, in contrast to leida, where mehus ha sechel is created.

AyinBase of Rebbe Rashab, page 40 from the top (right click to enlarge)


The rav expresses what can be presented, not the very essence of his own understanding. The experience the rav has is not given over in the hashpaa. The whole root is from the koach hamaskil that is in the soul, which is the flow from the soul to be a source for sechel. Sechel searches for the real meaning of things and the soul is the reason for this. In our world things are circumstantial and are not essential entities. Looking at things superficially, objects in the world are not rooted in the world, but are a result of seeking comfort etc.

Nefesh/soul is really an essence. It is here synonymous with will. Here will is not circumstantial. It is to be understood as being higher than sechel. What is higher than sechel? Something for which we cannot identify a beginning. The sechel is really an emanation from that nefesh/will. The reason we understand is because “we want to understand”. There is a reality in sechel, since there is a reality in nefesh.

Pocession means that what we have is based on a G-dly gift. This is the basis of civil life. And there is developed an external level that deals with things and property on the practical level. This is an external level of sechel that addresses things at the worldly/practical level.



We understand sechel, but the reason it has such profound significance is not due to the logic, but due to the sense that there is a truth element and sechel leads you along these lines. To say, “I will not steal, since I don't want my neighbor to steal from me” is lacking a sense of the truth. The truth of how we are supposed to live with others, and each are allotted a portion by Him.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

The child and the man p: 40

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:39 2/7/2011 Monday 3 ShvatAleph 5771

For text right click on the icons (in tool bar on the right).

Page 40 – 8th line from the top of the page (line starts “ma she ein ken...”).

The student becomes a bar sechel on his own. He has the faculty of sechel inherently. This is developed and he starts to function under the understanding and guidance of sechel. This actuallly begins at a very young age.

A foal walks by instinct. The child learns a first step by processing it through his sechel. A human being has to know what he's doing. Don't take chips according to a fist-full, take the amount you need using your fingers. This brings out the inherent sechel.

We said that in hashpaa hasechel / mindful mentorship there can be great progress, but only if the student is receptive. The rav cannot create sechel in the talmid.

In the other mode of hashpaa, when he gives birth, there is created a sechel from inception.

In hashpaa of sechel, the influence comes not from the sechel itself, but from the obversation of the sechel which the teacher then presents to the student. This means it has an element of externality. The sechel itself does not define, nor observe itself. The rav sees and understands and he re formats this to present it to the talmid.

Ohr ha sechel is from the koach ha maskil. This is like the way a person has to learn to eat with sechel. The reason that it is an imperative, and satisfying is because it is rooted in what a person is. The koach hamaskil demands that before approaching anything one needs to consider it and do it in a human way. One perceives that there is a right and wrong way to do things.



Sechel is not instinctive – it has to go through a process and being shown the right way is helpful. One may grow up in the “wilds” but his own sensitivities may lead to a human way of doing things.

Sechel cannot relate to the final fact / physical fact – it relates to the inception. Sechel relates to a sechel environment – that things have a meaningful presence.

Monday, February 7, 2011

The Water Itself p: 40

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:39 2/7/2011 Monday 3 ShvatAleph 5771

For text right click on the icons (in tool bar on the right).

Page 40 – 3rd line from the top of the page (line starts “haketter...”).

We have seen how hashpaa ruchni is limited and hashpaa gashmi is unlimited.

There is another difference. In hashpaa of sechel is does not bring about mehus sechel in the recipient. Like in the case of the mentorship of the teacher and student, if the student has his own sechel then he can accept and absorb the input of his teacher and this will lead to a great increase of the light of sechel. To the extent that he can realize and find a devar sechel on his own, in the manner that his teacher works...

If he's a bar sechel on his own, why does he need the input of his rav/teacher? And if the effect is dependent on the fact that the student understands, so where is the increase in light of the sechel? Why not say, “the more one learns, the more there is ohr sechel? What's the rav's role?”

Haspaa means, effectuating, giving... but the student has to understand on his own. There are the senses of sight and touch. In order to understand one has to be able to relate to what he is learning. He needs some prior connection to the material. If one learns on his own, then everything is essentially based on that which he knows – he understands only by means of what he can relate to.

The hashpaa of the rav is different. Imagine taking water in a cup. This is like learning on your own. He doesn't take the truth of the matter he uses the vessels that he is accustomed to using. But when you bring the cup to your lips, you experience the water itself. In order to do that you need something else to feed him. Hashpaa is like this, he puts his own vessels aside and he allows the rav to teach him. Now the student takes the sechel as the rav gives it, rather than use his own vessels...



then the student is able to take in a sechel for which he has no vessels. It is unlimited in terms of the context, since he applies his havanah/understanding 'bit by bit', allowing for a great increase of light, which he would otherwise not have attained since he lacks the overall vessels for him. The student still has to understand what he is being fed and digest it.