AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/31/2010 Friday 24 Tevet 5771
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Page 41 – 9 lines from the top of the page (line starts “hu...”)
Even in the light that is ohr chozer and without tzimzum it is still be-hagbalah/limited. The effect of this light/mentorship is very profound, but it doesn't give a vessel as much as open it up.
This ohr is be-ratzon and has a limit. This is in contrast to the hashpaa that brings about birth of an entity similar to the mashpia.
The hashpaa ruchniut, has to be received by an existing keili. The hashpaa that results in birth of a new presence is by means of hashpaas atzmius – essential hashpaa – it is a piece of the essence.
Even though it is hashpaa, yet it is of the essence. The initiator is the essence.
This hashpaa also seems to be by ratzon. And ratzon has the effect of tzimzum. We have to go beyond the apparent root of it. The ratzon is a means to get to the ikar. Here the ratzon arouses the hashpaa, but does not control it. It does not act as a gatekeeper.
Why is there the koach in the nefesh to give of itself? The answer is that it, itself is unlimited and thus automatically goes beyond itself. It is bigger than itself.
What makes a person get married? Beyond practical and superficial factors there is a real Torah view. Marriage is an inherent imperative in a human being. A person leaves his mother and father and cleaves to another. Why not stay with the father and mother? There is an element in a person that breaks through – it is bigger than the individual – he goes beyond what he can experience to what he can create...
Why get married? A person is bigger than just eating and drinking and doing good things – he has to create a new world. His essence is beyond limit.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/30/2010 ThursdayNight 23 Tevet 5771
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Page 40 – 2 lines from the end of the page (line starts “ha-etzem...”)
In our shiur we are taking away all structural elements and going straight for the essence.
We went beyond the light that dissipates, to the essential light, which is like the essence itself and is thus limitless. It is not worldly. It is counter intuitive. How can ohr be einsof/infinite?
Just as the tzimzum limits the light and reduces what it will reveal, so too it is limited in the manner that it will extend. You cannot know a person as he knows himself. He knows himself not by revelation of information, but by direct contact.
Every koach testifies to the existence of a living nefesh in a person. But each koach/faculty operates under certain circumstances. What controls this? This is the ratzon of the nefesh. The faculties function under the direction of the ratzon/will.
The real understanding – that is true to the sechel (beyond structural truth) – is because we want to understand. No two people think alike. This is because they have a ratzon in a certain direction.
This is a sensitive point since it sounds like, “I understand it this way, because I want to see it this way”(!) But really, this want is from the nefesh – there is a truth element to it.
Ratzon is like a gatekeeper. It creates a functioning koach/faculty. Faculties are the revelations of the nefesh/soul in a focused productive manner.
Practice makes a koach/faculty emanate from the nefesh. It allows the koach to show itself in a practical setting. It is rooted in the nefesh. Shlaymut hanefesh (completeness of the soul) means that all faculties are included there.
Because the will/ratzon is the gatekeeper, this means that the learning and developing of the koach is cumulative. This is the normal process of the development – this is the process of ohr yashar.
Standing – means you're not, not growing. The foundation is the same and you see further. But you don't move.
Walking – means you move from place to place. You take a step and leave the place where you were before. This is a real movement, but you can trace back how you got to the new place. The new place is in the proximity of the previous place. This is like sechel developing from sechel.
Jumping – is like a hop. There is an ein/nothing inbetween. I arrive and don't know how I got here. I fly and don't know where I will land. This is ohr chozer that is not based on a structure. It is just true. I don't see the basis. Like the rambam says, “he relates to truth, because it is the truth” - not based on any structure or other reasons. This is from etzem koach hasechel – the essence of sechel, straight from the nefesh.
This sechel is not by means of tzinor, tzimzum and ratzon. When there is this revelation there is no gatekeeper.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/30/2010 Thursday 23 Tevet 5771
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Page 40 – 3 lines from the end of the page (line starts “tzimzum...”)
Ohr/light is a revelation, but it can be bechinat ein sof. It can have an aspect of the essence. Usually the light is a subset of the essence. If something is an essence, then it's gilui/revelation is automatic. Essence per se is not something we can conceptualize.
The fact that the light has a limit is because not the full aspect of the essence is revealed – it is coming through a tzimzum.
The light created on the first day had no limitation. A man could see with this light “from one end of the world to the other...” This light has been hidden for the time to come...
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/29/2010 Wednesday 22 Tevet 5771
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Page 40 – 4 lines from the end of the page (line starts “hu...”)
The light/haarah/reflection is from the essence, but is different from it. There are 2 types of hashpaa – illumination of darkness (which is not done by the essential light of the sun). This is a haarah – it is taking from the sun the element that deals with darkness by illumination. This is an external effect and this haarah has a limit regarding how far it will extend.
This haarah does not extend beyond sechel. The tzimzum is the cause of the limit. Light that is of the element of the essence will be like the essence.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/28/2010 Tuesday 21 Tevet 5771
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Page 40 – 5 lines from the end of the page (line starts “unifsak...”)
Haarah/reflection of the source is like when something from the essence is revealed “outside”. This is in contrast to when the light is in the source itself.
Hence the reflection/light does not have the full impact. Through the light, from outside the sun, one can know what the sun is. Hence the power of the light dissipates.
An essence is a reality itself and doesn't point to or depend on anything else.
The reflection/light, with the waning of the connection to it's source, dissipates. In the places where the light does reach there is an element of essence.
The limit of sechel is that it can only affect the vessel that is a proper receptacle for it. It does not create a new entity. Even though the sechel is representing something very true – it is a limited representation. All sechel is dependent on that which is higher than it.
Someone who does not concede that there is an overall principle/Creator to the world, then the sechel of “behave like a human being” lands up having no traction/foundation for him.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/27/2010 Monday 20 Tevet 5771
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Page 40 – at the lower third of the page (line starts “maskil kemohu...”)
The koach of a haarah/reflection ends at some stage. What's the point?
We spoke in the past about the way that in the sun we have the phenomenon, that though it is only light that reaches us, but through the light there is an element of “sun” that comes to us. The light has an element of the illuminator.
When a person thinks, another person doesn't know what he's thinking. They are contained in the thinkers keili/vessel. The only way for it to be revealed is by speech. The thought does not permeate the entire keili.
This means that if there is such a thing as a light that comes right out and shows itself, there have to be prerequisites. There is no particular action, like there has to be speech to represent the thoughts. The light of the sun comes automatically – the light is not something it possesses – it is light in essence. The neshamah does not labor to produce life – it is life in essence. For an essence there is no vessel.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/26/2010 Sunday 19 Tevet 5771
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Page 40 – at the lower third of the page after the parenth. (line starts “maskil kemohu...”)
How does hashpaa come from etzem koach hasechel? The light that is spread from the sun is present in the sun itself. What is spread? Ohr that comes from the essence of the sun.
Ohr means something that is capable of illuminating and presenting itself. Without the light darkness is the default setting. On the other hand light is natural – it fits right into the world. We say, “a little light pushes off much darkness” - darkness dissipates automatically. Why? This is because light belongs in the world to the same extent that darkness belongs.
The world is an equal receptacle for light and dark. The meaning of world is that it is essentially dark, but it is an open recipient for light. Light is the revelation of the world's source and purpose.
The light in the world comes from the fact that at essence there is light and dark. So at source is His intention and His intention is not light. It is His intent that dark and light are both present in the world – and each has its time. They are of equal of reality.
The essence is higher than higher than function – beyond light and dark. This is like the etzem sechel hauli. The light comes from the etzem indirectly.
Cape Town Harbour, Table Mountain in the background
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/24/2010 Friday 17 Tevet 5771
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Page 40 – at the lower third of the page after the parenth. (line starts “hu be-ofen...”)
Previously we explained that you, “cannot put a head on someone's shoulders” - sechel can only be taught to one who is receptive on the level of sechel. Here we are talking about a light that comes from the essence. If the student has the bitul and relates to what his teacher/rav tells him then he receives it.
“Open your mouth and you will be filled”, is the verse about this situation. You have to allow the rav to direct you without the filter of bitul. The student has to be a vessel for the light. The light is not life on its own – the student has life and has to allow the light to affect his essence.
How is he a vessel for the light if not by sechel? He recognizes there is a light way beyond his grasp. He desires the truth, rather than what he can grasp. He recognizes in himself a truth element in sechel that is beyond sechel. How do you get it? You get it if you're given – it is from the rav.
There is a way to seek it. Through complete bitul. The student labors to the full extent, and he doesn't relent, till he hits the wall, and that's when he first gets it.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/23/2010 ThursdayNight 16 Tevet 5771
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Page 40 – below the middle of the page (line starts “hu beofen...”)
We're talking about sechel coming directly from it's source. That sechel, relative to that of ohr yashar, infinite.
Yet, in truth, that level also has a definition, though it is not readily evident.
Sechel creates a new view of reality and life. It is not something for figuring things out.
Sechel is what gives the world a truth existence.
The rav finds the talmid's question in his own essence and then finds a way to bring the talmid into where that essence becomes sechel.
When a woman comes and asks, “what is superior, a cat or a computer...” one cannot respond using sechel. The question comes from the dark and you have to appeal to the essential level to address it. The teacher has to access the essence to answer the question.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/23/2010 Thursday 16 Tevet 5771
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Page 40 – at the middle of the page (line starts “kenaal...”)
Sechel and the nefesh of man are a perfect union.
When we teach a child to eat in a proper way, it is not done in order that he should eat, but in order that he should get a sense of the fact that there is a proper way. It is not for an extraneous purpose – it is for its own sake.
Sechel is an atzmi/essence - “part and parcel of the nefesh – everything in the nefesh goes through sechel”.
Sechel sees that anything superimposed on a person is not sechel – he feels he is not living his real self. When he sees things according to his sechel, which is according to his nefesh, then he feels that he is really living.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/22/2010 Wednesday 15 Tevet 5771
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Page 40 – above the middle of the page (line starts “ha-utzmit...”)
An etzem does not create a subset, only a reflection.
Hispashtus would be if the derivative was intending to be a source. This is like reformating a personal intellectual experience into a format that can be communicated to others. This is done by koach hamaskil. The sechel itself is connected to the essence of the sechel, but it is intended for “export”.
This means that it is a reflection and not an essence.
When a student sees his teacher, he focuses on the material, but he also sees his teacher and has a sense of the essence from which the teaching originates.
Ohr yashar is sechel that is rooted in sechel. Ohr chozer results in sechel that is rooted in essence.
This sechel is unlimited, but on a higher level it is also limited. This is because the fact that it is sechel, even though it is from the essence, means that it does not represent the essence, but a revelation of light from the essence.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/21/2010 Tuesday 14 Tevet 5771
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Page 40 – above the middle of the page (line starts “ha-utzmit...”)
An etzem sees everything through its own principles. It sees things in its own terms. Hence the nefesh elokis wants to rule the whole body and so too the nefesh habahamit.
An etzem is not mispashet. It recognizes only itself. The sun sees a place of darkness only as a place for light.
Sun cannot co-operate with darkness.
From the etzem is drawn a ha-arah. A reflection of the essence that stands for the same principle. It transforms the distant area into what the essence stands for. It says this is a universal principle, not my own.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/20/2010 Monday 13 Tevet 5771
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Page 40 – about a third from the top of the page (line starts “lesechel...”)
The koach hamaskil is the faculty that drives understanding. It demands sechel and becomes its source.
The nefesh of the human can only relate to that which is rooted in truth, rooted in G-dliness. Just because something forces itself upon me, does not make it real to the nefesh of man. Sechel asks, why is it there and what does it stand for?
This koach ha maskil is rooted in the higher elements of the soul. The nefesh says, “I can participate here if I find the sechel – the truth of the situation. This is the means by which I can be present in your world”.
An essence on the other hand is not downloaded. It cannot be outside of itself.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/19/2010 Sunday 12 Tevet 5771
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Page 40 – 10 lines from the top of the page (line starts “she haray hu ...”)
the child is reflective of the essence of the father. This is in contras to in the area of sechel. There something becomes real due to the essence holding up the construct.
Imagine all the steps in building a house. Each part of building the house (eg the bricklaying) is not a mehus, with self-sustaining value. A sechel is not a mehus. The basis is the hidden essence.
Mehus means something that is real “in itself”. This is the difference between birth and sechel. The birth of a child is a mehus. The child has the essence and develops on his own.
When a child is shown how to eat at the table, he doesn't just mimic what he's shown. He feels how it fits with his sechel. The “why” it makes sense to him, is the essence.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/17/2010 Wednesday 10 Tevet 5771
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Page 39 – 3 lines from the end of the page (line starts “deleholid...”)
To give birth comes from a G-dly faculty.
Hashem added the letter Hay to Avram's name – it became Avraham and he could father Isaac. This Hay corresponds to binah which is connected to atik. This is the difference between procreation in humans and the rest of creation. In the humans the power of birth is imbued within the human. His soul is a vessel for this element.
The human seed is part of the essence. In the human there is the ultimate cognizance of the ein sof, which is drawn down from his nefesh in this physical form.
There is another difference between the influence of spirituality and that of physicality. Spiritual influence does not become a physical form.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/16/2010 ThursdayNight 9 Tevet 5771
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Page 39 – about 10 lines from the end of the page (line starts “she lematah...”)
Beyond intellect is the influence of a factor that causes birth. He is giving the essence – the infinity of his nefesh. This births a child, who stand on his own...
This phenomenon exists not only in humans, but in other creatures too.... so do animals have the idea of giving infinity?
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/15/2010 Wednesday 8 Tevet 5771
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Page 39 – about the middle of the page (line starts “yiheyeah...”)
We have been looking at hashpah sichli – it has cognizance of an essential truth, but the hashpah, the sichli does not have the essence.
Hashpah gashmi is different. You may think it is less than that of sechel. Gashmi (physicality) seems like only a keili (vessel) for the ruchni (spiritual), yet within the gashmi is an element of ein sof. If one fathers one child it does not detract from his ability to give birth to more children – this ability comes from the essence of the moach.
The human being, by his existence represents an eternal presence.
Each has a sense of the eternality of his own life.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/14/2010 Tuesday 7 Tevet 5771
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Page 39 – a third from the top of the page (line starts “haba mizeh...”)
The rebbe is saying that in all sichlim and more so in the sechel hahuli ha-atzmi, there is a recognition of the essence of the thing itself. This is knowing something from its own reality as opposed to how it presents itself.
This is knowing an essential truth. An essential truth can never be fully expressed.
The Ari Zal said that he would have taken 80 years and still not have revealed the essence of what he saw.
Essence is by definition above sechel. Yet we say there is a koach that sees the essence (the koach ha hiuli ha atzmi). How can sechel see what is above it?! This is like physical sight – we don't see reality since we grasp and understand it – we see it due to the finesse and refinement of the eye. The eye is transparent – it allows for the light to come through – your activity is not needed. As soon as you try to express it then you are a participant talking about what you see, rather than what it is.
Through bitul sechel sees essence. Ultimately this bitul is the real value of sechel. This is where sechel is different from midot.
Chochmah is where it is all bitul – no personal participation. Binah is where you start to grasp it. Daas is where you relate it to yourself.
In our prayers (of Yom Kippur / Rosh Hashanah) we say that in the future “every creature will know that You are the Creator. And beyond this it will know that You created it – it will know the essence of what is created.” Comprehension in the future will be in a totally different manner. “There will be a knowing of Me.”
In the future we will know the Torah, by knowing Him. We will know it from inside out. The mitzvot will not have to be commanded – it will be obvious. There will be hasaga in mehus ha-davar.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/13/2010 Monday 6 Tevet 5771
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Page 39 – quarter from the top of the page (line starts “mitzad ha sichli...”)
There are 2 elements that come with a revelation of sechel – the level of sechel/intellect and the level of etzem/essence. Essence is only due to the thing being a G-dly creation. From the worldly perspective they ask, “if a tree fall in the forest and none is there to hear it, does it make a noise?” The Baal Shem Tov, by contrast, says that there is essence involved in a leaf turning over in a field...!
The Ari Zal saw in one hour what would take 80 years to describe and teach. He saw with his “inner eye”. During that hour he was not observing, he was experiencing the essence of the thing. Yet still there seems to be a limit - “80 years”...
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/9/2010 ThursdayNight 2 Tevet 5771
At the end of page 38 – last 3 lines.
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א The rebbe explained that the nefesh sees everything from the inside, but there is a defined way to grasp it and yet the concept itself leads to infinity.
The laws of physics can be instrumental in a person losing sense of a “living world”, but when he is misbonen/meditating on them it can bring one to a sense of a “living world”. This is the bottom – this is where we see physicality itself revealing Him. External sechel does not grasp this. Only the essence of sechel can grasp this. This is light coming out of dark.
This cannot be grasped in the garments of sechel.
truth is grasped in an instant. Yet the garments of mind break it down into a process. But this does not take away from the internal truth. This is binah - it does not grasp the truth of pnimiut of chochah, but must refer back to it.
One must go back to chochmah, to the essential truth of any matter.
Sechel is a G-dly gift and relates one to the truth of existence. One may ask, “where does the world come from?” yet this is not a question of the levushei ha sechel – this is the realm of imaginary logic.
The human has knowledge of more than meets the eye and thus asks, “what is going on here?” Sechel sees the truth, not what is presented to it. It only has an interest in pure truth. If one is bored, one can take a candy and divert the body, but the neshamah still says, “what is going on?”
The depth of sechel cannot be dressed up and revealed in garments. So why teach? This is the providing a form/hint that can enable one to get back to the essence.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/9/2010 Thursday 2 Tevet 5771
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We are looking at “there is no such thing as nothingness” in the sechel perspective. In a physical/secular world the movement of an object by inertia is nothing. We say it is indicative of the infinity of the Creator.
We you discover something outside the realm of natural sechel, then it is something that you are relating to something beyond world.
The human being does not fit into the world like a tree or an animal, since his perception is beyond world. The neshamah of the human being is something that comes directly from G-d, not like an animal that was made soul and body together. World is too small for man – it is an imprisonment.
He is also incapable of saying we evolved from monkeys. People rebel against this - “I cannot live like an animal...”
I need to live in reality, not just an explained reality. An animal fits easily into the world, but a human asks, “what is this all about?!” And to this question there are 2 responses - “I am an animal” or “I am a human in a G-dly world”.
One needs to hear one's inner voice – regarding marriage and our existence in the world. Marriage has a G-dly purpose...
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/8/2010 Wednesday 1 Tevet 5771
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Sechel ha atzmi is where you have the infinite. Any revealed sechel by definition has an element of gvul – limit.
The significance of this is that anything that is a limited sechel does not stand on its own. It is true when you focus on it and its support, but as you shift your attention one reverts to another orientation. In contrast to this, the atzmi level of sechel is beyond this. A revelation from the atzmi level that comes as a result of ohr chozer has an element of bli-gvul (infinity) and, that defines reality. This is where our cognizance of G-dliness is on par with our awareness of the world.
Inertia itself reveals an element of infinity. This is the G-dly presence in the world.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 11/29/2010 Monday 22 Kislev 5771
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Page 38 – lower third of the page (line starts “aval...”)
Sechel comes by hamshacha/download. But the koach ha sechel ha hiuli ha atzmi is at the essential level and included in the nefesh. At the essential level there is also sechel.
From G-d's perspective light is essential. It is not an inadvertent result of the sun – it is a G-dly principle.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 11/28/2010 Sunday 21 Kislev 5771
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Page 38 – middle of the page (line starts “ofen tziur...”)
The nefesh and the hiuli hasechel is unlimited. The koach ha maskil has limits and works with definitions. The functioning sechel has its form.
The tziur of the koach ha maskil is what defines it. The koach ha maskil has an affinity to sechel. Things are in sequence and formatted manner – this is sechel.
The koach ha maskil is able to mashpia sechel. It created the initial demand to understand.
Sechel has a sense that there is a truer and more fundamental source than what I am experiencing and goes in search of it.
One who is big in chochmah, has the light of chochmah more revealed in him. A way to understand is that there is a medical condition called tunnel vision – peripheral vision is diminished and lacking. Things in front of us are in our line of vision. Wider view has much less physicality and the sense behind it is that one senses the entire perspective, not just what's in my direct path.
Similarly in sechel. The koach hamaskil is drawn from the etzem of sechel. If it is drawn in a good way it will determine that he has a wider understanding.
The revelation is in the detail - “what goes into this? There is a truth” - emunah is a direct truth from the nefesh – then there is an expression that we negate, “blind faith” - the reason it is described that way is that they were not able to see any supporting elements to their faith. In fact this emunah/faith is all encompassing – seeing the world – being exposed to reality – broadens your faith!
So if your sechel was downloaded in a good way it is broader. It can handle all the details.
Many were in wonder of the greatness of Einstein's sechel. But the rebbe said about the frediker rebbe has a greater scope – Einstein's mind was focussed in one theme/direction. Mathematicians come to see the rebbe and felt that the rebbe was exclusively involved in mathematics. The rebbe's ability has scope and depth that astounded those who witness it...
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 11/26/2010 Friday 19 Kislev 5771
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Page 38 – third from the top of the page (line starts “lehiyot...”)
We looked at the koach ha maskil which is the root and activator for sechel/ mental life.
What is behind this? Why does one insist that it “makes sense”? From the perspective of koach ha maskil, if the sechel is not engaged then nothing exists.
It says, “find out what this is, find out what is going on, work out what this means”.
This goes against the world's view, “one doesn't do anything unless pushed”, here we're saying the koach ha maskil is an internal life force.
This is an active koach that demands understanding. It is not the essential level. It is the source for functioning sechel.
Sechel at the lowest level is the logic of a particular system or discipline. The ability to excel in one sechel over another is due to the tziur of the koach ha maskil.
Take nigleh vs chassidus. In nigleah/revealed torah, it is the question that drives an answer. In chassidus there are no questions. So what is the instigator/inspiration...?! What do I seek? In essence in chassidus the aim is that one should recognize how every element I observe is connected to the source. It is finding the source in every element that he encounters.
Yud Tes Farbrengen With R. Abba Paltiel, sheyi'
Part 1 of 3 IYH - Notes by Chunah Yosef.
Nekuda: The head of our nation, the Alter Rebbe, was attacked. This has monumental significance. We need to connect to, and protect, our head: the nekudas hachayim, the life of our life.
Different Levels in Gulus/Geulah
Good yom tov. The real hag hagiula.
There are different categories in hag hagiula. In Mitzraim, there was subjugation of our physical and spiritual on a national basis before our identity was established.
Then there was gulus Bavel. Here too, there was a national tragedy. Geulas purim, overcoming a national threat that was only a physical one. Whereas Chanukah we had a spiritual geulah, because at that time only our souls were threatened. All these are dif. levels of geulah were relevant to a lower level of our being. Yud tes is different.
The Alter Rebbe's Significance
Only one man was imprisoned, so we could think there was no national threat, not even a group was targeted: it was just one man. This man though, represented even more than the life force, he represented the Yechida. This is the essence of Jewish life that depended on his moments in prison. Just this one man needs to be in danger and we would all be in danger, not just our physical, and not just our spiritual, rather something most essential.
Do You Mind?
In Midrash, it says that there's an animal that has certain contours that entices a man. When the man follows this animal the animal kills the man but in a unique way. It takes out the brain, the body it leaves.
Yosef’s Dreams
In today’s parsha, Yosef hatzaddik didn't get along with his brothers and he found their faults. He made animosity towards himself by telling them his dreams etc. Whatever his reason- Yosef clearly must have had a profound reason- it was obvious that it would make his brothers angry. In fact, it did, and they wanted to kill him..."because of the dreams". They were enticed to the point of intolerance. The pusuk shtait, "the stars bowed down" and the brothers were upset and Yaakov reprimanded Yosef. The brothers were angry but Yaakov "safeguarded this". It was in Yaakov’s mind, in the deep crevices, that 'this is going to happen'. Rashi says, '...he's hoping for it', not just waiting, but ‘hoping’- “Shamer es hadavar”. There was a quality of nevuah in the dreams, and this in fact compelled yosef to say it, because prophecies you relate by obligation. But why is yaakov so anticipatory about yosef ruling his brothers?
Yosef’s Strength
Having not seen anything in writing about this, Rabbi Paltiel’s pshat is this: Yosef was the youngest of the brothers and he had a supreme quality. He is called ‘tzaddik elyon' and ‘yosef hatzaddik’, whereas the other brothers are 'yehuda' not yehuda hatzaddik’ etc. As well, in tanach, the whole nation is called by the name ‘Yosef’, because Yosef sustained the nation. L'havdil, like noach. Chassidus explains, Yosef had a higher neshama than Yaakov (even though Yaakov's was from atzilut) and even more so than the brothers who engaged in shepharding to avoid distractions of world. Even Yaakov, in a sense didn't have a place with Yosef who was able to be in the world, doing his job in running the world, while being above it. Yaakov, the head of our nation, saw this special quality in Yosef. Now, the Jewish nation, just as an individual, is at the level where his head is.
Watch Your Head!
Yaakov went away from Esau and lied down in the place of the Mikdash. "He gathered the stones and put them under his head". Rashi says "he made a little wall," to protect himself from animals. Why didn't he protect his body? The Fred. Reb, as well as our Rebbe, explain that Yaakov was only afraid about his head. He was going to Lavan, and this was a spiritual fear. Yaakov knew the danger but still he married a woman by accident etc., he had all kinds of meshugas working for Lavan, working and traversing falsehood etc. Though, if the head stayed above water and straight, he'd be okay. So he protected his head and he was kept safe and guided.
Pick Me Up
Again, the head is the essence of the individual person and the place of the nation. The head keeps us afloat. Yaakov recognized Yosef even as a young boy as the head, and he waited for Yosef to rule and show his glory to elevate the nation. This holding the nation up to a higher standard, to Yosef's potential, this was Yaakov’s ‘hoping’.
Yud Tes Geula is the geulah of the head of the nation. There's no substitute for the head. The accusers went straight for the essence. AR was a great tzaddik and scholar, but then was an era of tremendous scholarship. AR went to Vilna to debate the Goan and meet the other great scholars and quiet the machlochis. (If we think we have machlokes now...! Then it threatened the actual lives of the chassidim. Even in the Mittle Rebbe’s time we were instructed to make our own Beis Midrashim. Until then we didn't have separate shuls. There was real danger.) Nevertheless, in the AR times, the other tzaddikim weren't threatened nearly to the same degree, only the AR. There was the Bardichiver..etc. but the threat was focused on the AR. So the geula was therefore specialized. The brain was attacked, and by big lamdim! (Manufactured by the Satan of course, but there were great scholars threatening the life of the AR). It really was an attack on yiddishkeit’s core.
Zos Chanukah
Clearly reminiscent of Chanukah because chanukah also, the threat, the gezerus, were on one nekudah. It wasn’t even against torah and mitzvot. They were only against the nekudah that “G-d commanded it”. "Shabbos is a tradition, but not G-dly." When Yochanan was victorious, and they lit candles, they insisted to light with pure oil. Even though al pi din, they could light with tumedik oil. The tzibbur could have lit al pi din… But because they were moiser nefesh to safeguard the purity of Yidden, Hashem allowed them to maintain this purity even though it wasn't absolutely necessary.
Little Giant
This is Yud tes. There's an expression: ( Rabbi heard it in Yeshiva as from the Berditchever, but later on it was said to be from someone else) “Such a great G-d in a small book”. The nekuda comes in small quantities. (The Tanya, after all, is only 150 pages long. To be fit to be the Torah Sheb’c’sav of Chassidus…!) The Rebbe Rashab "this is the day that the life and light of our nefesh was granted to us" Pshat: Ohr v'hayus nafshenu...the chayus of our neshama?? The life of our souls?! Aren’t our souls our life? But it's possible to have a soul without chayus. That chayus is the yechida, the nekudas haemes. It can be that you do good things, but the nekudas hachayim is absent: to live as a Jew without real G-dly chayus and no taanug. The AR safeguarded the nekuda, the yechida, for the Jewish people.
Destruction? Impossible!
When Haman wanted to destroy everybody it was horrific and we were scared. But the possibility of that happening was virtually null. It was tried throughout history, i.e. the nazis in our day wreaked havoc in an indescribable manner. But even polish and hungarian Jewry, the most affected, were able to be restored. Gerer, Belzer, Obstracheber…, all were able to be restored. Hashem makes a tzedakah that the Jews are spread all over. The Americans were untouched, though threatened and suffering, survival was never really threatened. But when you attack the nekudas hachayim, you're attacking the survival. All you need is to get that little brain out, and leave everything else alone.
Jo Knows Life
We are given this understanding in class, with the Hebeshter's help, and we should be able to recognize the attack on the nekuda. We comprehend the significance. When you take the nekuda out, and all else stays in place, in actuality, nothing else really remains. This is how yud tes touches us directly, all of us. The nefesh we have, but the Chayus! to appreciate the nefesh is alive. I can dance, and sing, eat, but does it have G-dly significance? We want Truth!
Bracha V'hatzlacha!
We who are aware and in close proximity to Rabbi, should draw real chayus from these concepts, we should have Living Life. Not existential life, but living life. That’s a different life. We're not just here, we're directly reflective and connected to the living G-d. It's above vulnerability because it's the essence. I’Y’Hashem, this leads to the real geulah. Hashem takes us out of the vulnerability of the world, because we have the essence, we have permanence. Like Merel (?) would say, "it's tied to the top, so we don't fall."
Start a new year, a lebedic yar! With renewed dedication to learning chassidus and pursuing the understanding and let it be our guiding light for our life and activities, relations, friends and family and to stay a bit above the ground.
L’chaim!
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 11/25/2010 Thursday 18 Kislev 5771
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Page 38 – third from the top of the page (line starts “hagbalah...”)
We are looking at the concept of sechel hahiuli ha-atzmi.
From it is drawn the koach ha maskil – which is the source for the functioning and revealed sechel/intellect.
What we recognize in sechel is a true reflection of the nefesh/soul. The revealed sechel reflects this truth level, it is not a circumstantial phenomenon. The koach ha maskil directs us, even though we find ourselves in a physical world that seems to denies the G-dly unity.
The koach hamaskil compels us to see how things are related. It sees things from a true sechel perspective and allows us to see the relationship between things.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 11/24/2010 Wednesday 17 Kislev 5771
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Page 38 – third from the top of the page (line starts “hasechel...”)
We said that in sechel there is hagbalah/limits. The root of the influence of sechel is from the koach hamaskit – the power “that makes you understand”. This is different from koach haiyuli hatzmi.
Koach hamaskil is related not the sechel per se but the hashpah/download of the sechel. For this there has to be a connection/love between the teacher and student.
The functioning sechel has something that activates it – this is called hashpaas ha sechel. What pushes it to understand? This is the koach hamaskil. It is not just a facilitator, it instigates.
Koach hamaskil is already an active state that is drawn from the koach sechel hahiuli ha-atzmi.
Koach is funtioning and atzmi is essential. How can atzmi be referred to as koach? The term hiuli qualifies the word koach.
We are being introduced to concepts that talk to the essence of our sechel. We are getting to the essence of things. Why do we want to get to the essence? The real level of sechel is to be able to relate to the truth itself and it is not imposed.
At the wedding rabbi was asked, “do you really believe in G-d? You have no doubt?” He answered “when you get into it, it is reality and it is not superimposed.” The atzmi is the real thing and all else is a derivative almost circumstantial. Only a truth has an essence. Any external formulation lacks essence.
This is why we want to understand essence (understanding at depth), since then we relate to the truth. So G-d is not an add-on to the world. Not that for some inadvertent reason He is the boss. Rather is is the one that provides the world with a G-dly intent.
Hiuli is not, not present, but it is not a presence.
We talked about the difference between a person who has never seen and one who was sighted and then became blind. He retains a sense of what it is to see and the reality of the world that sight provides. Beyond imagining what is the experience of sight the blind man retains? What kind of experience is it? It is an experience that is not active. It is there, but not really there.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 11/23/2010 Tuesday 16 Kislev 5771
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Page 38 – third from the top of the page (line starts “beze...”)
We are looking at how souls are rooted in essence. Angels come from a spiritual union and souls from a bodily uinion. So why do we say souls are higher than angels?
The principle behind this paradox is due to the fact that the most internal and essential level comes by means of bodily union exclusively.
A metaphor for spiritual union is like the sechel coming from the mind. And a metaphor for bodily union is like the flow of the drop from the mind.
Sechel, if not controlled will lead off in many directions and if it is allowed it will thus pervert the original concept, which was initially correct.
Sechel relates to a specific concept, but the underlying light is not the structure, but the ohr that co-ordinates all the elements. The structure itself can be described as an almost physical structure without engaging the koach hamaskil.
At the wedding last night Rabbi had a conversation about evolution and he explained that gemara talks about natural change, but the theorists of evolutionists developed this idea to an extreme - “from a monkey you can make a human being”.
Koach ha maskil is the background that alows us to relate to the sechel/idea, but inside the koach ha maskil itself there there no specific sechel. Koach ha maskil has the operating procedure of saying, “there is a unity in the world” but this is not a specific identifiable “idea” that it has.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 11/22/2010 Monday 15 Kislev 5771
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Page 37 – third line from the end on the page.
We are looking at how souls are rooted in essence. Angels come from a spiritual union and souls from a bodily uinion. So why do we say souls are higher than angels?
The principle behind this paradox is due to the fact that the most internal and essential level comes by means of bodily union exclusively.
A metaphor for spiritual union is like the sechel coming from the mind. And a metaphor for bodily union is like the flow of the drop from the mind.
Sechel, if not controlled will lead off in many directions and if it is allowed it will thus pervert the original concept, which was initially correct.
What is the import of the fact that sechel has a limit and that the limit must be respected? It states that this is not an essence. An essence is fundamental and universally applicable.
Both the sechel and the tipah/drop draw from the moach/brain. Why do we say that sechel draws from moach? It seems to draw from the sechel, but there it is not yet a metzius that can be nishpah/downloaded. It cannot just be an inner sense – it has to be more defined, and that occurs when it comes into the brain and from this level can come hashpah/downloads.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 11/21/2010 Sunday 14 Kislev 5771
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Page 37 – the last paragraph on the page.
We saw that torah represents not chochmah, but the essence itself. Yet it has a form – it is an essential form. It is the essence as the essence is. It is the way essence presents itself – this was given to the souls of Israel.
Sechel is capable of recognizing the truth of essence, even though it cannot grasp essence. This is because sechel is rooted in chochmah, which is rooted in tynug / delight, which is rooted in essence!
The essence of torah can only come / be revealed to a place that relates to it directly. This is neshamahs/souls. Souls are rooted in the aspect of essence of ein sof. This is a default presence, as darkness is in our reality. Atzmus einsof is not a presence in the simple sense of the world. You may think whatever it creates is thus not essence, but here when souls are created from atzmus they are still united with etzem/essence.
About Jews it says, “you are sons of G-d”, like a son is sourced in the essence of the mind of the father, similarly the souls are sourced in Him – in His essential chochma.
A daughter is also rooted in the essence, but she does not have the same level of creativity that the son has – the son is a new world with the power to create. The nature of man is that he expands and creates. He captures that which has not yet been defined. He creates a world from a non – world.
The neshamah has an intent in its essence – it has a mission. This is in contrast to the world where all interest is reactionary.
Chochma is the first level where the kavana / intent is realized.
Souls and angels are different. Souls originate from the union of male and female – this is the level of emotion which in contrast to sechel is more bodily. A joining on a body level.
Angels are created by the union of chochmah and binah, this is the level of kissing, which doesn't have a physical element – it is a spiritual connection. Breath with breath. A connection of life with life.
So it would seem that the spiritual union is of a higher level than a bodily union. Yet the level of souls is greater than that of angels.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 11/19/2010 Friday 12 Kislev 5771
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Page 37 – top line of the page.
We asked various questions about the creation of the world and the formation of the dry land on the 3rd day.
The creation of vegetation is the next step after emergence of the dry land.
To address the deeper meaning of these steps we will look again at the way He made us in his form and that there is an essential form.
How can there be an essential form? The essence is without form. Yetthe torah is the delight that is inherent in the essence and yet has a form. This form is defining how the essence is revealed/drawn down.
The Jewish soul is the suitable receptacle for this gift of torah/essence.
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 11/18/2010 ThursdayNight 11 Kislev 5771
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Page 36 – at the middle of the page.
On the third day of creation Hashem said, “let the waters gather in one place and then the dry land will appear.”
There is a midrash that says that this is like a king who built a palace and he settled in it a speechless man and he would get up early and ask after the king. Then the king replaced him with a wise man of speech.
At first the praise came from the water and then He gathered the waters so there could be dry land on which man could be created to praise his creator.
What is the significance of the speechless and the articulate dweller in the palace? Why are the sea creatures called speechless and the land dwellers articulate?
Thought is like the hidden world and speech like the revealed world. The elements of his thought are more profound and an expression of his nefesh, but speech is much more external and is much less self representative. So we say the creatures of the sea are superior to those of the dry land. The sea creatures are submerged in their source, but the land creatures are more involved with their own existence.
So why are the sea creatures called dumb and those of the land articulate?
AyinBase with R' Paltiel 11/18/2010 Thursday 11 Kislev 5771
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Page 36 – top line of the page.
When a man acquires a wife, she is not an active participant, she gives her consent – this is silent participation.
This is like the silent prayer of a Jew. He doesn't plead and ask. With silence he sees that He is there.
By tshuvah the level of pnimius hakesser (interior of the crown) is revealed.
When somethings comes by silence there is nothing external that can be identified.
A superimposed tsurah/form is like a vessel. When you put water in a cup in it is in order that you can drink it. The water doen't need the cup. So this is not a form that comes from the water. When a sechel is transmitted it is also given over in a manner suitable to the recipient.
These are imposed, external forms that come from the recognition that for the hamshacha to reach the mekabel it has to be presented that way.
