AiynBase with R' Paltiel 1/29/10 Friday 14 Shevat 5770
Page 11 - 9 lines from top of the page - “kati malka”.
Serving with excitement is not real bitul – he's outside. The level beyond that is quiet – bitul be metziut.
We're saying two things – complete bitul and an inaudible sound. Why is there a sound altogether if there is complete unity? The answer is that it is from shem mah – shem / name pertains, when there is an exterior, but there is such a level of unity that there is no yesh involved. It is from the outside, but with total connection. There is an internal message and recognition of that what you are looking at, since it is from outside, but it is not a recognition that leaves you outside. You're conscious of your connection rather than being outside.
Bitul be metziut, be metziut mamash, yet with the still quiet voice. Bitul be metziut means, not that you don't exist, but that you are not conscious of your own presence. Then the essence of that presence begins to function. After there is the nullification of metziut then surfaces the real metziut. This is the transition from, “what I am” to “what Hashem has made”. An example of this is the barmitzvah boy, who after he has completed his preparation, reads the Torah, with the memory Hashem has blessed him.
The rebbe told a man to forget about remembering. This can mean stop trying to use more external faculties of memory and rely on the essence.
Koach mah – means it is a functioning faculty, yet it is mah – nothing. It is bitul be metziut.
All kochot need our conscious attention, with the exception of sight – there is no process involved in sight – you see it because it is there – absolutely effortless – no conscious sense of seeing. Because there is not involvement of the yeshus of the person, this is why it is so real.
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AiynBase with R' Paltiel 1/28/10 ThursdayNight 13 Shevat 5770
Page 11 – 4th line from the top of the page.
We have been looking at the fact that in seder hishtalshalus is generally chitzoni of the ohr, with a glimmer of the pnimius.
This is what pushes the seder hishtalshalus till it reaches the point of ultimate pnimius at the lowest element.
There is another kind of hamshacha – this is different in that it is intially from the pnimius. It is initiated from the pnimius.
The difference between etzem and gilui is that no matter how much gilui you have, you have the possibility of darkness. We have light but not day. When it comes from pnimius itself it is day, there is no darkness.
Mah works over the shem ban till it becomes, metziut mamash. Metziut chitzoni is not bitul, it insists on being recognized and is thus yeshus. Metziut that is through and through, is on account of bitul, which brings out metziut mamash.
Avraham avinu recognized the reality of the world. Though the world looks precarious, it has at the same time the quality of a real metziut. He saw that world is not limited to world. Like looking at the body – it is fragile yet you see the way it heals itself and you see the ein that supports it.
How does the body relate to this chayut / life? It lives from the chayut. It relates to it by bitul. The chayut is real and the body is transient – through the bitul of the guf it is a keili for the neshamah. If the guf / body were to resist the neshamah then there would not be a real unity.
Chesed is the unlimited openess. Shem ban has the bevurot. Chesed is rooted in the ein sof of elokus. There is another aspect of ein sof that will relate in gevurah / severity. There are 2 types of ein sof. From our perception, open space couldn't care less what happens to it – it is completely uninvolved in how it is being used. But this is only the chitzonius of ein sof. The pnimius is, on the contrary, holding that all exists and has significance, and conditions – meaning that gevurot are more pnimi than chesadim.
Gevurot are demanding and restrictive and thus all that comes through gevurot comes in a limited and definitive and restrained fashion. This represents definition, metziut and yesh. And shem ban is of the aspect of gevurot.
The bitul brought into gevurot brings about a burning desire and is thus not a full bitul. Excitement is by definition a matter of yeshus still, even though it has the bitul of seeking something and is thus sensitive to something bigger.
Above that is a level where his metziut is completely bitul – in terms of being a separate entity he does not sense it at all. He serves without flaming excitement – he serves with a fine quietude. This is where the King Himself is coming. An audible hush. This is an experience without excitement – there is not separation, yet there is an experience. This is the bitul of shem mah itself.
AiynBase with R' Paltiel 1/28/10 Thursday 13 Shevat 5770
Page 11 – top of the page.
We are being introduced to a revelation call shem mah atzmo. Chitzonius is the definition of hishtalshalus. Chitzonius is how the ohr apprears. But it has an element of pnimius – it is rooted in the pnimius, but it takes a whole seder hishtalshalus to “hit on” the pnimius. The whole seder is needed to show there is a real essence there.
The pnimius is what is pushing the chitzonius to “roll down”. It pushes it down till it reaches a common ground till the external / chitzoni and the internal / pnimi coincide. But this is on a low level.
Atzmus shem mah is in contrast to the ha-arah of the shem mah that worked on shem ban. The essential level is not really seder hishtalshalus. The start of the hamshacha is pnimius, which is the head of atik – the element of the pnimius ha kesser / crown.
This is like the difference between chochmah and ratzon – chochmah is “the way you look at the ratzon from outside – not the essence of it” but ratzon has its own presence.
Similarly here, this is pnimius ha-kesser, which is not a message it is the thing itself.
After there has been a birur the whole seder hishtalshalus, can change from being an expression or a message, to being essence.
The birur works over shem ban which was a yesh, till it is purified and becomes a true metziut / entity, till it becomes absorbed in shem mah.
We said about chochmah that it is also a flow from kesser, except it only gets the ein. The real yesh of kesser it doesn't get. It cannot come down. The yeshus of shem ban, by contrast is a precarious yeshus, it says, “i made myself, and there is nothing else”, but the fact that it makes a declaration indicates yeshus on a conscious level. A true yesh, which is not yet found in our world will be the real state of revealing the yeshus of elokus. This is like yechidah – the real yeshus, that has no connection with, or corresponding level in klipah.
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AiynBase with R' Paltiel 1/27/10 Wednesday 12 Shevat 5770
Page 10 – end of 2nd line from the bottom.
Even though from kesser into chochmah is a flow / relation, on the level of “without compare” - ein aroch. Yet we say it is still in the general framework of seder hishtalshalus.
This hamshacha, which is part of seder hishtalshalus, it is an external aspect, with a glimmer of the inner light, which makes it possible that there should be a flow that is without compare – shelo be-erech.
Hishtalshalus, means a downward flow, which is due to the fact that like water, it seeks a base – to come to a calm place. Up above it doesn't have a base to hold it up. Take chochmah into bina – chochmah is like sight, and bina is like observation. The sight exists only while you see it. It initiates the seder hishtalshalus. Ohr of seder hishtalshalus is called chitzonius, since it doesn't have a basis to stand on its own.
Till it reaches the bottom, it is still on “shaky ground” - a sechel has not reached it's purpose till you can identify it's result. Till the sechel goes down, machshavah, dibur and ma-aseh, it is still on “shaky ground” - unresolved. The sechel goes from theoretical to factual.
Sechel has an objective and a subjective level. The full objectivity of the sechel exists when it comes to action.
Only chitzonius has the status of being an observer. The logic may be valid on the sechel level, but it is not compelling for the midot, but bringing it to action is the “proof” of the pnimius and the etzem.
See video of the Yud Shvat fabrengen with R' Paltiel at Yehudah's house.
AiynBase with R' Paltiel 1/26/10 Tuesday 11 Shevat 5770
Page 10 – about 10 lines from the bottom - “chitzonius”.
We are discussing that there is a “system” from seder hishtalshalus, providing a connect between the higher and lower level, with different stages – kesser – mochin and za – with different types of hamshachas.
There is a element of mochin that midot receive and recognize. The emotions can relate to and identify the intellectual level. But higher up chochmah does not really relate to kesser – it is ein – it gets only the ein aspect of kesser – this is a chitzoni aspect. Kesser is such an entity that from the perspective of chochmah it is ein.
Also chochmah receives this ein, but not the mehus of kesser. Chochmah is bitul, and so it can relate without grasping – it receives it the way it comes. We receive and benefit from light, but we cannot grasp it.
The difference between inner and external is that pnimi / inner is how the light views itself. Chitzoni is how it is viewed from outside. All the light in seder hishtalshalus is all chitzoni. It represents the pnimius. Chitzoni is how it is observed from outside. Pnimius is internal truth, without a connection to the outside – it is what it is – it is not prepared to express itself.
AiynBase with R' Paltiel 1/25/10 Monday 10 Shevat 5770
Page 10 – about 12 lines from the top - “shelematah”.
There is the interchange / inter-inclusion of mah in ban and a bitul / relating of the world to elokus. And through this is the effect of the tikkun. The kav is “fixed” and not separate.
The hamshacha in the kav, can have an element of metziut yesh, thus there is mah and ban, and the wold of tikkun effects a reunification with elokus. And this is achieved by means of mah hachadash.
Bitul was so profound that a new unity was effected.
Midot / emotions cannot be convinced by sechel, they have to sense the actual experience of sechel / intellect to be affected. This is ilu ve alu – an influence of the cause that is drawn down into the affect.
Human midot / emotions, have continually and element of sechel / intellect. He has a feeling, with the reason for it underneath it. There is a truth / reality associated with it.
AiynBase with R' Paltiel 1/24/10 Sunday 9 Shevat 5770
Page 10 – about 10 lines from the top “lehachayoto”.
We have a principle, that just as a human being makes something and it reflects his quality. Same is true above, that He created everything to reflect that it is a G-dly creation. A human being, as great as he is, being just a human, he has no greater value than the animal, but when the first man – adam got up, all the animals came to worship him, because he represents G-d. When the king used to read the parsha, hakhel after sukkos, it is like hearing it directly from Him. Without His quality, what is the significance? This gives us an opening to see in everything that exists, the G-dly aspect.
The Rebbe said, there is a simple logic to the earth and sun (apart from the fact of the complete absence of fixed reference points in space). the earth has Torah and man, what does the sun have? Earth is the master and the servant / sun revolves around the master.
He wanted dirah be tachtonim – that He is discovered through the tachton – by the realization that the tachton cannot be the end purpose of creation. Similarly, all that He created stands alone. He created an entity that is whole, not like a table that won't stand. At the time of flying to the moon, the rebbe said, “they'll be disappointed with what they find.” on the one hand there's nothing to it, yet the cycle of the moon is the months and has enormous significance. Its real value comes out at the place of real value. We have to search and live at the level of real value. Look at the moon from a G-dly perspective - “why is it there”.
A man was in a market selling spray to kill bugs. A lady buys it and goes home sprays it and it runs away, she complains and he says, you missed a step, after you spray it you crush it with your little finger.
In the text, page 10 about 10 lines down. We are looking at the effect of world of tikkun. The creations are able to sense the elokus. And the second feature is the bitul that is present in the creations. This is universally present. All creations have the element of bitul to elokus. Bitul does not mean subservience and self-effacement, rather it manifests a recognition of real greatness. The creation is a fully worldly presence, and yet part of this existence is a recognition that the worldly level is not the real thing – it points to elokus that is superior to the world.
Flow of mah into ban doesn't necessarily result in bitul. But when Israel receives a blessing, the more humble they become. This is in contrast to other nations. To know it is insignificant – to be it is what you want, though it involves more work and less excitement. You don't focus on your experience, you focus on the truth itself.
The movement of the sun is it's expression of praise. When Yehoshua stopped the sun, he told it to be silent, this stopped it's movement. When the sun moves and shines, it does not claim it for itself, it says, “I am only serving Hashem in this. The message here is not my giving, but Hashem's presence.” This is applicable to every creation.
Atzilus doesn't have bitul since it is in a state of hisachdus (unity), briah (creation) is where bitul exists.
The bitul in the creation, allows them to represent and declare the greater truth.
In poetry they say we ascribe human attributes to inanimate objects (personification), but in Torah we say all creations acutally have a soul and the inanimate objects, have a silent desire and statement. The bench is satisfied by our sitting and learning together.
Notes from Yud Shvat Fabrengen at home of R’ Paltiel
“We are in a war. We love peace and we get it by winning thewar.”
Fiend vs friend – sometimes they are dressed alike and not easy to distinguish.
War is waged by a king – not by an individual. David used to lead in war. Until he was endangered, and he was a supreme warrior he used to go out front. His general Yoav saw he was in danger and said he can’t go to the front any more.
The King opens all for his soldiers.
There is a formula for conquest – it is hiskafia and hishafcha.
This sounds easy?
Hiskafia is done by kabalat ol malchus shamayim – this is recognition of the King.
Any level less than this does not accomplish; – motivations such as “this is good for me” or “this is the right thing to do (socially)” will not gain traction.
One cannot reason with the yetzer hara. Tyvah has a senseless pull. It is senseless and pulls strongly – it supersedes all arguments. It is only the presence of the King that stands up to that.
How do you bring the King in? You represent the King who declares the war.
All know the destructive nature of tyvah, yet without hiskafiah it cannot be fought.
It is not just a contest; the nefesh habahamit has the effect, the the nefesh haelolkit becomes dulled – till you don’t realize the effect of the action.
Sometimes the finest and best of us get pulled in and can’t untangle ‘cos they lost the power of will – they don’t see the G-dly sparks – they lose self strength.
Every time (for the King) you abstain from a tyvah its not just that you become better – but you conquered ground for the King. You stand up against the force that opposes kedusha.
Results of the war: bringing the King back into the world.
The Freddike Rebbe was at war throughout his lifetime – and he had soldiers. Our Rebbe had to begin to train his army. After the war in Europe people were broken.
The Rebbe loves peache and says to his shluchim – go peacefully, but don’t compromise an iota.
R’ Paltiel, when he was a bachur remembers a young Rebbe who said, “I don’t accept the shidduch unless she wears a sheitel.” He would tell the bochrim in 770, “you wanna marry? Let your beard grow.”
He was a “modern” Rebbe with a down hat and a tie – and no compromise. This gives the shluchim the power.
The Rebbe in a maamar explains the matter of dancing at a chasanah – shtus shel kedusha. That ish and ishah have the name yud kay – that Hashem is in their midst – this is the factor of banyan adei ad – eternality.
The Freddike Rebbe was very intent on people knowing how to lead a home – this is the place of the schinah. The home is His creation. Have respect for the home out of respect for the schinah.
Kiyum – the home has it not because “you hold it up”, but because it is His building – it has an eternal nature.
The first two Batei Mikdash had human input – barnash, but the third is of His making – the home has this kiyum – Hashem gives courage to follow through.
The Holtzbergs were a holy couple – a koach beyond the individual.
Man brings knowledge to his come – this home is a holy place, where we do mitzvoth.
The Rebbe moved out of his apartment – no-one would go look to rent it.
Eventually a yid moved in and he later had yechidus with the Rebbe. The Rebbe told him that he should continue to do mitvot in this home – the Jewish home is a holy place. Hashem builds it.
Man goes to war not to win for himself – he wouldn’t have the strength.
If he goes for the King he can follow through – so too in building the home.
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AiynBase with R' Paltiel 1/22/10 Friday 7 Shevat 5770
page 10 – top line.
We have been saying that in tikun it is different from tohu. In both cases there is a separation / gap between the creation and the Creator, yet in tikun there is a flow / hamshacha from above, to purify and elevate the lower level (this is shem mah enclothing itself in shem ban).
In tikun the ohr of atzilus enlivens all the creations.
Chayut here means not the life that is the element of physical living. There are 4 levels, inanimate on up. All four have the aspect of domim / inanimate. And medaber has features of all the other 3 levels. What is chayut – it is that which elevates it above the domem. Domem has “nothing to say”. Why not? It is there just as a presence, but without excitement or vision – it does not strive anyplace – it does not see beyond itself.
A plant turns to the sun – this is an inyan of chayut – it has an inspiration to grow and strives towards the light.
Real chayut is in Adam. The life is the striving – that he wants to live. This comes from a sense of a supreme truth, a supreme reality. A person without strength, struggling to breathe, and yet perseveres, senses that another moment is worth the struggle. All chayut ultimately is an element of elokus of atzilus.
Claustrophobia, though it is a phobia, still the person has the feeling that he is cut off from the ultimate reality. This is the great suffering of being in prison – you cannot connect to the chayut. You can even play tennis in prison, but it is not life. The essence of life is a keen, subtle sense that there is a reality that is really real. This only comes from elokus. Chayut at even the lowest level is from atzilus. We do everything to stop the man who wants to jump of the bridge since we are absolutely positive that there is real life.
From the pulse, the life of the person can be discerned. The pulse has an impetus, beyond the heart, the heart does not do it on its own, the real chayut of this pulse/pump is chayut eloki, even thoug contained in the body and the brain.
The rebbe could look at a person and talk directly to you – he can see what makes you pulse, he can see who you are at a first meeting.
Shem mah and shem ban interact and inter include. The ohr of atzilus is present to give life down to the lowest levels of creation. At night the lions roar for their prey – this is their sense of a greater beyond, otherwise why roar? They would just go out and find food.
AiynBase with R' Paltiel 1/21/10 ThursdayNight 6 Shevat 5770
How do you know you are alive? This is not “knowledge”. You feel it through and through. You have not question – you are totally united with this chayut. And there are two separate things – the body and the flow of life. The point is that we cannot be margish the mehus of elokus and are thus separate.
There is a G-dly presence in the world – this is a hamshacha and this allows for a hargasha, despite the separation that exists.
We explained why we go into hergesh rather than knowledge. Knowledge is altogether separate, but hergesh has to do with a relationship and an achdus / unity. Nevertheless it is not a real hisachdus, since it is only a hergesh of metziut.
There is a sense , that there is an absolute reality – creations feel that they are not just circumstantial – that is an element of elokus in the creation. This is a hergesh.
The earth has a power of tzameach / growth. This is intangible. Scientifically we look at it totally differently, yet despite that we sense that the earth produces the growth.
We sense there is a truth beyond our understanding and then we have sechel to recognize that we have that sense. Sechel tells us, “you should know that that is the truth,” but with sechel alone you wouldn't get to that level of truth. This sense is from ratzon and oneg.
We sense that we are alive, but not that we are alive, we sense life itself. It is a neshama, not a guf / body thing. The chayut in the world is from shem havaya, but it comes through shem elokim. How do we know? Because we are margish that we are alive – this is life itself. There isn't a separation between us and the life. This is the mehus – relating through hergesh of mehus.
The very fact that a person can go and do things contrary to his own well-being and to what life demands, shows he is not conscious of life as a presence. What causes him to go against life? He's enticed and affected by some metzius, then he can go and ignore the metziut of the nefesh.
6 lines from the bottom of page 9 “hisachdut mamash”.
Hergesh means an actual sense and a presence. But it is only metziut and not hisachdus mamash.
There is unity when there is gilui of elokus. Mehus is not felt through it's manifestation, but sensing the ohr itself, not its presence.
Day is not in contrast to darkness – it is a new state. This is like relating to mehus. “What does day think of night?” “Day doesn't think of night at all, light and dark know each other.”
this talk of atzilus and briah was brought down only to show something about of tohu. In tohu the levels of atzilus and briah and all levels are in a state of total separation. In tikun there is a hergesh, though without full unity, but tohu doesn't have this. In tohu each thing feels only itself.
In tohu too, each level is derived from the other, yet they don't relate to each other. The don't have an identifiable affect on each other.
In tikun the relationship between atzilus and briah is one of actual affect, shem mah gets enclothed in shem ban. Each aspect is able to relate to the other, shem mah goes down and shem ban allows itself to be elevated.
AiynBase with R' Paltiel 1/21/10 Thursday 6 Shevat 5770
Hargasha – what is it? The rebbe is explaining that in tohu all the levels are separate, but that they are self-contained. To explain how there is a lack of connection, especially between especially atzilus and briah, he pointed out that even in tikun there is not really a hisachdus between these levels.
He explains there is a hergesh of elokus in the lower levels, but only of the metzius of elokus in briah. Hamshacha of elokus in biah does exist. Presence can exist on different levels. Knowing about something doesn't have to do with unity / presence. To know that there is a Creator, by recognition of one's shortcomings is true and valid, but it doesn't bring the Creator into our midst. So this knowledge is clearly not an inter-relationship.
Thus we come to a different kind of perception – hargasha. Sechel can know things even in total abstentia, by deduction, but this doesn't bring you close – it is a valid stage of knowledge. Midot do not have that capacity at all. They don't relate to things that are known indirectly – they relate only to what touches them directly. They feel the presence of something.
Sechel has to come to a more factual level, called daas, to affect the midot.
That is why we say avodas hashem must come down to midot – to touch the person.
Midot do not step out of themselves – so it has to come down and touch them. A midah says, “I feel it”.
Daas is called hargasha – but hargasha of sechel – that it becomes my perception / perspective.
Hamshacha of elokus in biyah means a hargasha eloki, not a hargasha sichli.
This is the meaning that a creation, even though a yesh and metziut, whose primary orientation is knowing itself, but it still has a certain sensitivity – a sensitivity to the truth. This sensitivity can be denied, till a man is not interested in anything beyond himself. The answer is yes, He made a man, who is really a creation, but imbued him with sechel and blessed him with fine qualities.
A human being has a body and a nefesh. And the nefesh is independent of the body – He blew into his nostrils, and thus the nefesh is continually connected to its source. The body can be purified through and through, since it is also a G-dly creation. In the times to come it will be higher than the nefesh.
The hergesh eloki is that the true reality is beyond metzius. It is way beyond what even chochmah is based on. This is hamshacha of elokus in briah. This is evident in the fact that there can be an hergesh elokus – sensing His presence. This is not hergesh hakochot, it is hergesh ha etzem – being margish something that is beyond creation. This is sensing His metzius, not His mehus.
AiynBase with R' Paltiel 1/20/10 Wednesday 5 Shevat 5770
10 lines from the end of page 9 – line starts “hanaal”.
We're dealing with sensitive material – we're looking at how in sphirot of tohu which are in the form of a nekudah are contained nevertheless abiyah, but they are not identifiable.
Although creation comes from atzilus, yet it is separate from it. The effect of atzilus is not present in the briah. Here we're talking about tohu.
Elokus and the creations are separate from each other. And if the creations do sense it anything it is not a level of unity.
Metziut means the presence / existence of something. Metziut can even be recognized from a negative perspective – I cannot sit in that seat since someone else is there – a recognition, without any content.
But what about the creation getting to recognize / know the Creator? First he sees his own inadequacy and that he is a creation, and he works from here and can get to understand, what is the contribution of the Creator to him and why he's doing it. But his whole knowledge is based on his own metziut – that he is a separate entity – and that is not real unity. Hishashat hamehus – sensing the mehus – something sensed directly because of its presence, not indirectly because of my presence. This is like sight in comparison to hearing.
People with perfect pitch can recognize a note directly, without comparison to other notes on the scale. This is where there is real unity – sensing of the thing by what it is, versus how I know it.
A nivrah (creation) cannot sense elokus in this direct way, since if he did he would cease to be a nivrah.
A nivrah can know Him by his own shortcoming, then he's not sensing what the Creator is. Avraham avinu looked for the truth. At 3 years he found, because the external level, leads one to the pnimi (inner truth). He continued to search and found that He is beyond world. At first he realized, the world does not provide for itself and he goes further, “what I actually see in the world is attesting to something that is super-wordly”. At this point he could say, “I am looking at a G-dly presence – on the one hand it is finite yet it has an infinite power.”
when he delved into understanding the boreh (Creator) independent of the creation, he had a direct understanding – he left the nivrah behind and focused on the will of the Creator till he was able to follow through with the akeidat Yitzchak (binding of Isaac).
He is now margish the inyan of elokus independently of the creation – “I relate to the Creator since that is the primary reality that I live with.” But he is still in the world.
We have a sense of the active presence of life, and this is hargashat hamehus.
For video, click here.
AiynBase with R' Paltiel 1/19/10 Tuesday 4 Shevat 5770
10 lines from the end of page 9 – line starts “hanaal”.
In tohu also there was the aspect of abiyah – atzilus and the lower levels, even though all is in the aspect of nekudah – sharp self-definition, without wider development. Nevertheless in that nekudah is contained abiyah.
Though briayh came from atzilus, in tohu they were separate, without a real relationship. Even now in the olam of tikun, where there is an inter-relationship, still atzilus is in a category all by itself. There is a categorical difference between elokus and the nivrah (creation).
Atzilus is overall the inyan of chochmah and briayah corresponds to binah – both are like sechel in that they relate to what is above them. The knowledge of chochmah is all about the knowledge, and not, “I know”. Briyah has a sense of self. Like binah, though there is a focus on the source / truth, it is “how the truth is translated on the outside”. It is known because, “I understand it, not because it is there”. This is the difference between elokus and nivrah (creation).
Elokus is not really a presence – it is the default truth – the fundamental truth. In briyah things have to be explained and justified.
Nivroim know they are created. We have logical imperatives that say these things were created and there is a Creator. At this level we know the shortcoming of a nivrah, but we don't know the Creator. However there is also an inyan of hergesh of elokus – even though he's a nivrah he can be margish (sense) the metzius of elokus. He feels, “this creation comes from a Creator that does not have the limits of this creation”.
Usually we are preoccupied with, “what am I from my perspective”, but when one is refined he senses that a task and an identity has been assigned to him. The start of his path was with self interest, but he develops an interest in the truth itself. He starts to sense that his presence represents a will of the Creator. Why am I here? Not because I chose it, but because He chose to send me.
The sense is that the Creator does not have the shortcomings of the the creations – there is a reality in His presence. This knowledge is limited to the metziut levad – ie he senses that there is a place where I end and He begins. In our context this is the difference between chochmah and binah. In this context the nivrah is limited to binah and metziut levad.
For video, click here.
AiynBase with R' Paltiel 1/18/10 Monday 3 Shevat 5770
Below the middle of page 9 – line starts “ze im ze”.
We saw a case of cause of effect where there is no real connection between the two, though the effect comes from the cause.
A closer relationship is where the effect is a level within the cause. Usually sechel and midot is the example of ilu ve alu – cause and effect. Within the essence of the cause is contained the effect. They are very different – sechel is objective knowledge and midot are personal, yet within the sechel there has to be a subjective sense. If the sechel is devoid of any broader sense of value, then it is also possible to derive the cause from the effect – a question can be theoretical or can come from the life experience of the person. Usually the life force of the sechel inspires the result.
In tohu however sechel, was the cause for the midot, but there as a separate entity. Like and infant in the womb of he mother – it lives from her, but is a separate entity.
AiynBase with R' Paltiel 1/17/10 Sunday 2 Shevat
Just above middle of page 9 – line starts “zehu bechinat”.
How is it that the tifferet remains incorporated in the essence? Tifferes is not an expression by means of kochot, but a statement of “this is me” - not an expression of a quality but of the essence itself. If a man goes onto a bridge to commit suicide, the people do everything to try to stop him and help him. They stop him because, “this is not what he really wants”. The person himself his greater than his kochot, and greater than his desperation, or his anger. This is an illustration of essence versus kochot.
A less extreme example of this is a person getting angry, due to something. We remind him for what he stands for, “but I'm angry” he responds, “but no this is not who you are,“ we answer him.
Tamar send Yehuda the evidence, without exposing him, and says “recognize, recognize your Maker, forget yourself for the moment.”
This is the meaning of pnimiut of the sphirot – they always remain, incorporated and unified with their source. The carry the truth of the essence itself.
Essence is not something that sechel can really comprehend. The 10 sphirot of mah have this aspect of being included in their source, wherever they are. Mah and ban in our world are adam and behema. The behama relates to the metziut and adam needs to relate to the truth, not to something that just happens to be there. Principle aspect of this unity is on the inner / pnimius level of the sephirot.
Each koach is unique. Even sechel is a function, even though it is the source of life. The kochot combine and interact and can be trained to accomplish a certain thing. The left and right hand work together and complement each other. Even at this level of cooperation, they are still doing individual tasks. The sechel and the midot have different activities – they are distinct kochot that are made to cooperate. Then there is “hiskalelus – unity” - it is not just co-operation, they are one – together they represent one entity, one reality called adam.
The cohen with a blemish on his toe nail is called a baal mum and cannot serve in the temple. It doesn't disturb his function, but the entity adam is so rich and deep that all parts need to be in place to express this one principle. This essence is actually contained in each one of the limbs. Externally they are individual kochot, but they are there since they represent adam and that remains the essence of each of them.
There is an inherent bitul in each koach. Hashem made man yashar – straight. It is possible for man to pervert his reality – till he can make a koach function in a way that is not representative of adam.
Shem mah brings a tikkun / perfection to shem ban. The tikkun is the absorption of the one in the other. In tohu the sphirot diverge – like branches going in separate directions. The cause and effect become disconnected even though they are innately connected.
“If I push the cup and it moves, this is cause and effect in a certain sense. Does the cup move because it senses that I want it to be there? No. the movement of the cup is a reflection of the movement of the hand. The cup would not respond to a mental command of it, since in my command nothing is moving, for an actual movement there there has to be an actual mover. There has to be something of the effect in the cause.” This is an illustration of ilu ve alu – cause and effect on the most simple level.
Yet here we say in sphirot of tohu there was not this relationship of hischabrut / connection.
The true principle of the connection between cause and effect (deeper than the cup and the hand) is where the cause includes the effect in its own very essence, not just that you can find the effect in him.
The movement of the cup was due to the flick of the hand, but does the hand contain the movement of the cup? No, the cup is not originating in the hand. Since there is nothing in the hand that states that the cup has to move, so this is not the real principle of hischabrut, nor of cause and effect. The move of the hand and the move of the cup are two separate independent effects.
AiynBase with R' Paltiel 1/15/10 Friday 29 Tevet 5770
Tifferes is constant and is the essence of the light and absorbed within it.
In our world there is no essence. Everything is relative to everything else. There is no essential being. Avraham avinu searched for the source, and began his search by looking for this source from within the world. He discovered that the essence and creator of the world is outside and beyond the world.
This is the case with everything in the world - “it did not make itself”.
Etzem of sechel of man is that when a person sees a table, he does not see a plain table – he sees the maker of the table – he sees that this is a human creation. Like entering a hall set up for guests, you see directly the simcha. You know the truth of it not indirectly. You see its source. Without its source it is a non-entity.
Chitzonius hakav is also related to ohr ein sof, but in a manner that is recognized as such – indirectly. The pnimius is always absorbed in its source. This pnimius is constant throughout the seder hishtalshalus.
Recognition of the essence of the ohr, points to the essential presence which is not the ohr, not what it is, but why it is.
How is pnimius haohr still absorbed in its source? Because it represents its source wherever it is.
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AiynBase with R' Paltiel 1/14/10 Thursday Night 29 Tevet 5770
8 line from top of page approx 13th – line starts “yetziah”.
Source of kav is malchus, that relates to expansion to the outside. Since it is relevant to worlds, when it went through the tzimzum it was affected by it. The ohr aquired the nature of expressing itself as being separate from the source – this is chitzonius.
But the inner element is rooted in the concealed tifferes / beauty. This tifferes is known as the middle line. This means it is constant in all places. This means that the tzimzum does not have an affect on it. It remains representative of the essence and included within it. It goes out, but remains absorbed. It affects the exterior by its presence. As essence affects, so too it affects.
Tifferes is beauty and glory. Chassidus explains that its beauty is that it includes the opposites of chesed and gevurah (kindness and severity). The reason that this is where beauty comes out by this blend is because the multiplicity of colors is rooted in the beauty aspect of essence.
How is there a combination of opposites? Externally they are opposites. Chesed is by nature, total openess, “why not?!” It is representative of the abundance of the mashpiah. There is no reason for restraint. Gevurah is just the opposite. It is mashpiah exclusively where it is needed and in a way that is needed. Chessed says, “as much as I give, I am lacking nothing.”
Tifferes is something else – it has aspects of restraint, chesed and hashpah.
Tifferes knows that it is going down, and yet he continues to give. It is the recognition of the essence itself. In tifferes there is a recognition of why I have the ein sof – I have it due to the emes / truth of the inyan. And truth knows no bounds. I go out of my way and give to the outside and the outside is also part of that emes / truth.
Due to tifferes he can be outside and not recognize it as outside – the outside is the same as inside. The outside is there due to the inside. Chesed and gevurah are repsenting the ohr aspect. It is all based on the ohr. Tifferes is representing the source of the ohr.
The sun has light in abundance. It give it without restraint. The light is able to illuminate darkness, but there it comes in a measured manner, giving just the right amount – this is like the gevurah aspect. Then there is another aspect of sunlight – it represents the essence of light – the sun is light through and through. This aspect, of representing essence is true, wherever it is, even the light measured to illuminate is still this essential sunlight. This means it has the purity of light coming from light – the etzem / essence aspect.
Grace is tifferes. When one is gracious it is not rooted in abundance, it is rooted in reality - “you're a human being, and regardless, you need to be treated that way.” This is reality itself, not one quality or another. The feet – netzach and hod – left and right – we see a person to really stand needs both feet. Both need to function towards the same purpose.
Wherever it is the element of tifferes is rooted and absorbed in the essence. The tzimzum has no affect on this level. Affected by the tzimzum means the finite get separated from the infinite and it becomes defined by its definitions.
There is light outside the sun, because the sun is there – the essence. The light is not a luminary at essence, it doesn't know of darkness. It is the essence of light.
Tifferes it the interior of all the sphirot. A person can be doing many varied activities. The person remains the same. Externally there is great variety, but essentially he remains the same.
AiynBase with R' Paltiel 1/14/10 Thursday 28 Tevet 5770
10 line from top of page 9 – line starts “leachar”.
Chitzoni of the kav represents the sense of being outside the essence. All originates in the source, so where does this “external” principle arise? It is from malchus of ohr ein sof. The principle of malchus is to spread forth – it shows how the king includes a presence outside of his own.
Things have an inner truth and a universal truth. Things being true universally, is formed when you have the vessel without the ohr. This is like a conceptualization, that is developed till it can be built, and then it can acquire a presence without it being connected to its source. To do that the idea has to have been developed in a way that it will stand in reality outside its source.
Why does he have a chitzoni? Because he has a pnimius.
The pnimius is so true it overflows into the chitzonius. Man has a sense of movement and dominion over the world, and hence invents a motor car! Chitzonius is representative of pnimius, yet there is a clear demarcation line. Tzimzum means you can identify things separate from their source.
Tifferes is a central line. It remains constant at all points. Tifferes is the root of pnimius hakav.
Because of the tifferes / beauty the kav can be drawn down. Similar to malchus that extends beyond itself, tifferes is not just the presence of the malchus, but the very essence of the king. Tifferes goes from the top to the bottom and doesn't change. Tifferes depicts, “what this ohr is about”. Tifferes is a giving, and the kind of giving that continues to be connected to its source.
The sense of the pnimius of the kav is “what it stands for” and thus it cannot be severed or be influenced by tzimzum.
Tifferes is rooted in daas, which is rooted in kesser. Tifferes is the middle, neither left nor right. How does tifferes incorporate left and right? Tifferes is also a middah, but of a different nature. It measures not, how “I express”, but how the essence expresses itself.
AiynBase with R' Paltiel 1/13/10 Wednesday 27 Tevet 5770
8 line from top of page 9 – line starts “ohr”.
Where is the root of the metzius davar? It is due to the tzimzum. The light after the tzimzum has this element of being a thing “unto itself”.
It is a presentation of light, as if to address the question of, “who are you?”
the interior / pnimi of the kav doesn't feel itself to be “outside” - it is as if it is still included in the etzem / essence.
Chitonius / externality has an element of presentation. Pnimius does not have this element. There isn't a sense of “i exist outside of myself” and thus we say after the tzimzum it is still absorbed in its source.
To have an identity outside of the essence, it has to have a sense of “who am I, what is my function and why am I here?” Pnimius doesn't have these questions or this perspective at all.
This is all to say that the external part of the kav is from the aspect of malchus of ein sof – or from the yesod ha-neelam. In simple terms it means it is from the ein sof that can relate to worlds.
All the sphirot have the sense of “this is my view” (they have an inner view and don't have to justify it), this is in contrast to the principle of malchus, where the view is so refined that it now has truth and effectiveness beyond itself. This is like a king – a king rules over people who do not appreciate his thoughts. He rules over them by the principle that his thoughts are valid internally and also outside – even in a place where it is not comprehended.
A king is inherently a king. His nefesh is bigger than that of an individual. His presence is bigger than himself. We call a person by a name to show that he is a real presence in a bigger reality. This shows that his shlichus / mission is bigger than himself. In torah there is no imprisonment.
This light was affected by the tzimzum so that it would have the element of coming forth outside the etzem.
AiynBase with R' Paltiel 1/12/10 Tuesday 26 Tevet 5770
3rd line from top of page 9.
we are going into looking at the interior and exterior of the kav. The rebbe says the kav has an aspect of metziut. Before the tzimzum all (including this primal light) was included in the ein sof. After the tzimzum all have the aspect of coming forth from the ein sof.
The principle of yetzia chutz me atmuso – this going out of the essance, can be better understood by looking at ourselves – we have an internal world of feelings and thoughts and then there are our actions and words which show themselves to the outside. What shows itself is quite different to what is internal. To speak you have to get someone's attention. Thoughts and feelings don's seem to be in any way separate from ourselves. At first glance he doesn't see the separation between himself and what he's feeling.
Going out of the essence, means that even though it may be absolutely true, still means it has to become a metzius davar – it has to stand on its own. Prior to this state it didn't have a name – it existed because of its pnimius.
The inyan of tzimzum is that there should be such a formulation of the light, that it has its “own” definition.
Atzilus is the level of presenting what is already there. Revelation of what was hidden internally. It is exactly the same thing, but it has its own presence. Sechel itself is rooted in ratzon, which is representative of the nefesh – ratzon is here like etzem and sechel, like atzilus.
Atzilus is not a new creation – it is a revelation from the hidden world, but this gives it an element of metzius (an element of saying, “I have my own presence”). This is applicable from the perspective of outside the kav, but from the inner aspect of the kav (meaning how the kav view itself) it doesn't have the element that it is outside the essence. It sees itself as still within the essence as before the tzimzum.
The external level, rests on and is supported by the internal level. Like one on a mountain top trying to explain the panorama. He actually sees it.
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Pages: 9 - 19
under construction
AiynBase with R' Paltiel 1/11/10 Monday 25 Tevet 5770
On page 8 – bottom line.
In looking at the 10 sphirot of mah, we said that they are included in their source. We said that this was the difference between the tree of knowledge with its fruit and the tree of life with its fruit – each has a different experience.
The 10 sphirot of mah and ban can be seen as the internal and the external elements of the kav. Note that the kav is the ohr not the etzem – yet there is pnimi and chitzoni. This corresponds to the pnimi and chitzoni of the 10 sphirot.
The kav is in a state of metziut ohr – an identifiable presence of ohr.
The kav is an aspect of yesh mi eyin.
it has a quality of metziut ohr, by means of being distinct entity. The kav is principally a continuation of the light from before the tzimzum – how does it represent this source? The tzimzum contracted the infinite light to create a vacant place into which this kav/light shines. In this space the light is a novelty – it is yesh mi eyin in that place. In what way is it representing the light from before the tzimzum? The light before the tzimzum is kalu be atzmuso – absorbed in its source. After the tzimzum the primary presence is seemingly not there and has to be drawn down – but the light that comes retains the element of being from an abundant source. Like a man coming to the window that disemburses the king's treasure – he knows there is more where this is coming from. It is a definition that shows an intent, rather than a limit.
So the kav is not really yesh mi eiyn since it comes from etzem, but in the sense that it is new and a presence in the makom chalul / the vacant space, it is said to be yesh mi eyin.
when it comes through the window, like the kav coming through the tzimzum, the recipient recognizes in the gift, the giver. This way there is a gilui and a development that brings you into connection with the etzem, which is greater than the ohr ein sof itself.
For video, (only part of the class was recorded) click here.
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