Soul in Body – Beauty of Sin

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:38 1/31/2011 Monday 26 Shvat 5771

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Page 38 – 6 lines from the end of the page (line starts “she ha koach...”).

In sechel the ohr is experienced, not the etzem itself. Like we said before, “this light exceeds the capacity of the sun, though we identify it as 'light that comes from the sun'”.

The very fact that it comes through a process of sechel, means that it is not an etzem/essence. You have a means by which you get to it. Etzem is universally present.

What is so convincing about sechel that comes in ohr yoshar? It makes sense. The basis of the sechel is sechel. And this clearly has it's limits.

The basis of what comes in response to ohr chozer is reality itself. In comparison to the previous level it is bli gvul.

It becomes compelling. The student is forced to accept, since he sees this is reality itself. For this reason it is without a limit.

Sechel is like sight. We observe object, without experiencing them. Yet still we are sure they are real. The basis of the reality of sight is that what you see is beyond the object itself – 'it is the correctness of the object, which is more true than the object itself'. You see something not because it exists, but because it has to exist – this is like sechel.

There is truth base on, 'this fitting for a human' and there is truth based on, 'this is fitting for one who is created by Him'.



Light and dark both bear witness to His infinity. The dark physical object, is representing atzmus/essence. It presents itself as, “I'm just here!” This is the way things are in darkness. This metziut is bli gvul – without limit. We don't relate to it as making sense.

Revelation Unlimited p:38

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:38 1/30/2011 Sunday Shvat 5771

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Page 38 – 7 lines from the end of the page (line starts “behagiluim...”).

We are talking about sechel ha-atzmi that comes directly from the source. It relates to the truth itself, not as it emanates into the sechel and is observed by the sechel. From this come revelations without limit.

Human,common sense, sechel enushi, stand up and his head holds him up. It demands that a person behave like a human being. Nevertheless there is a fundamental orientation of tending towards the bottom – towards the earth – things are placed on a surface and we take for granted this essential truth of things being based on the earth.

AyinBase P: 38 Last few lines of the page. Right click to enlarge

This means that the sechel ha-atzmi is in gear all the time, but we have said that it needs a initiator.

Everything is based on the Creator – the Baal Shem Tov explains that the most seemingly insignificant occurance is rooted in essence. Each world has it's own truth due the the overall truth. A human being is human because he is a creation of Him. Without this he is just an evolved monkey in a “dog eat dog” world.

“Open your eyes and see” means see what the eye can see, that the hands cannot see. This rises a person's horizon and sechel. “oh, there is a spirituality that is real, elokus is a reality... though elokus is not tangible and not spiritual!”

The animal soul is not affected by the arguments or even the essence of human identity. The animal soul is affected by elokus. He does not have yechidah, he has a makif, but not the point of G-dly truth. “This space is a G-dly reality” and the animal soul cannot be taught by debate. He tastes the truth through hiskafia and hishafcha.

“This space is a G-dly reality” is not a point in the debate. It takes the animal soul out of his territory. It is hiskafia, where the animal soul is told, “this is not your space, you didn't make this. This is not your store, you don't decide the price of the merchandise...!”



There is an internal debate and battle. Each one is fighting his nefesh habahamit – his animal soul. You reach the animal soul with a universal truth, till the animal soul sees it too.

A level of unlimited revelation is reached. Many things are properly based. New building can begin. A proper foundation for life is established.

There are limits. Take the mashal of light. Our sense of daylight is the sun, which brings us light and daylight. Daylight is more than light. You go beyond the sense that the light is illuminating the darkness. An overall orientation of light is provided. We go further and say, “the sun is wonderful and gives us day, but how does it do it? How is it possible? So here your realize there is a power without limit that provides for it! I now see sunlight supported by an Unlimited Power! Otherwise the sun would dissipate.”

This is similar to how the body when the soul leaves it doesn't last. The soul had been refreshing it all the time. This is like the G-dly force that refreshes the sun continuously.

One can go further and say, “its a lie that the sun gives light! It is the G-dly power that gives light. The sunlight represents something beyond sun. Light from the sun is sechel – and we can see how we have it. But we come to the point of realizing that the light we have is beyond the sun. the sun is just camouflage.”

Why does He make a camouflage? Why create something that is not part and parcel of the world? You realize that the light is a G-dly element. Light is part and parcel of G-d's plan for the world. He put into the world something that cannot be understood from a worldly perspective.

This is a real world. Light cannot be explained by sechel at all. It is a joke to say it came from the sun.

Because of your soul you know there is a truth in this world way beyond sechel. In sechel we do not grasp the full impact. The point of light in the world is to enable us to recognize The Creator.

Truth Seeker

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:38 1/28/2011 Friday 23 Shvat 5771

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Page 38 – 7 lines from the end of the page (line starts “behagiluim...”).

The sechel from the essence, relates very closely to the soul – sechel is the primary nature of the nefesh – it seeks truth.

The seeking is not looking for something it doesn't have. The soul cleaves to the truth, and is one with it. It is not a metziut.

The sun gives off light without diminishing in power. There has to be a unlimited Power behind it that maintains it. We don't see that Power. So how do we relate to it? How is this an answer? This is an answer for sechel, since sechel is not limited to tangibility. It understands on the basis of truth and is not concerned that it cannot define the power.

Sechel drawn from koach hasechel ha-atzmi is one with truth. But truly it too has an element limit on a subtle level. Why do we say so? For although it is representing the essence, still the sechel that comes from essence has an element of limit. Sechel is a revelation as opposed to the essence itself.

The Power of Truth – Not, “what's in it for me?” p:38

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:38 1/27/2011 ThursdayNight 22 Shvat 5771

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Page 38 – at lower quarter of the page (line starts “ukmo talmid...”).

Sechel it self, essentially is beyond keilim/vessels. On a super functional level, sechel is the search for the pure truth. Why does it do this?

This is like thing stand not because they are on the earth, since the earth itself hangs in space depending on nothing. Things stand because He holds them up. Sechel searches truth in the same way.

Do I see Him holding up the world? Since I don't have another answer, I say it is Him holding it up? No, one focuses in and sees the earth hangs on something that is not a metziut – something that is not a metzius we can't relate to, but for chochmah that's not a problem, chochmah says, “ahh, now we're talking about the truth itself...!”

Only something intangible can be infinite. One sees, this in intentional, beyond the world, from it's source. He didn't make it a certain way 'cos otherwise it wouldn't work. He makes/made it this way by intention.

Chochmah sees the G-dy presence, not just a way out of a conundrum...!

light shows how something is unto itself, not how it affects me. In darkness I know only how it affects me. How do I get to relate to a true presence other than by own, so true that it can trump the sense of touch. Light reveals the true presence that alerts me to the truth that there is a Creator.

Sechel looks for the light – looks for the reality. It doesn't just wanna know, “what's in it for me?” It wants the pure truth. This is chochmah that leads to elokus.

By the proper warfare and dealing with the nefesh habahamit (our animal soul), it is impressed and transformed. Eventually you tell him, “this is what you also want!” And he is receptive to it.

You have to weaken the animal soul. If you just satify it's desires, it won't be responsive to the question, “don't you want something real?”

there is a level where sechel cannot serve the purpose, since there is a “student, that makes wise his teacher”. The student doesn't know what's going on. The student is dedicated, but doesn't get it. The teacher has to find a way to reach him. The student elicits an actualization of the sechel beyond sechel, that will reach the student's essence.

This leads to revelations unlimited.

Essence and the soul - space cannot be occupied

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:38 1/27/2011 Thursday 22 Shvat 5771

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Page 38 – at lower third of the page - at the end of the line (line starts “gvul...”).

What do we mean by saying that the essence of the soul is without limit?

A house is built in space and demarcates the space. The space itself does not change by being enclosed in a house or being occupied by masonry and timber. Nothing can capture the space. The space remains unlimited. This is true from a worldly approach and a G-dly approach.

The reason there is such a thing as unlimited presence and possibility is because of the G-dly principle. From a natural perspective everything has a limit. The “nothingness” of space, which is also acknowledged in a worldly perspective, is a G-dly creation.

Just as we understand that space is limitless, and is an essence and has no limit to how it can be used, and cannot be captured, this is our mashal/metaphor for essence and bli gvul. Sechel has a limit, but there is no limit to how much sechel can be drawn from the nefesh.

Essence is without limit.

Sechel draws from the essence, which is not sechel at all, by the power of the ohr chozer (reflective light).

Ohr chozer (reflective light) is when there is an opposite approach. The regular sechel process is within a context, but the talmid that makes wise his teacher, is different. He says, “i have no idea what my rav is talking about, but I will work on it till I get it!” He asks questions from outside the sechel. Yet the student has the intent of understanding, so when he says, “what's going on?” then he elicits a new sechel from the teacher.

“I talk to students who have no idea about what marriage is. It is a deep human thing and they don't get it. They say, 'everyone does it, so too us...' they just don't have a concept of it. So I say to them, 'project in your mind that you lived your life and never married' then they (mostly) get it. They see the essential nature of marriage, by being hit in the essence in this way and this elicits a response from the essence.”

Essence, but not identifiable p:38

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:38 1/26/2011 Wednesday 21 Shvat 5771

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Page 38 – at lower third of the page (line starts “kuli...”).

The essential truth has not boundaries. Essence has no limit. There is limit where there is hamshacha or some kind of presentation.

An hamshacha/download has an intent – it comes with the element that can be presented to the body, and thus it has a limit.

Nefesh is not limited and knows only Him.

Koach ha sechel has 2 elements. A topic that is infinite and a presenter (the koach itself) that is null to the topic and thus we say that it too it infinite.

Giluim sichliim – revelations on the leve of mind – come where there is a mind sensitivity. Without this they cannot be revealed. “the basis of chochmah is to know that there is a first being” says the Rambam. Why? Why not have sechel with proofs without this premise? Isn't empirical proof sufficient?

But we say, no, there has to be acknowledgment of the First Being. 

Something falls when dropped is not sechel. It is a physical fact. Where is sechel? It is the statement, that “the basic state of the world is darkness and things tend downward – this is a principal fact not a physical fact – it is a statement of what the world stand for and what He is creating the world for. Without this there is no significance to gravity.

To know the world from a physical level is to know it like an animal. To know the world like a human being then sechel is the basis.

Mind and soul – the empty room and perfection

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:38 1/25/2011 Tuesday 20 Shvat 5771

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Page 38 – at lower third of the page (line starts “aval...”).

Yesterday we looked at the koach hasechel – the basis of mind.

Sechel is dressed in the body and has to communicate with it. If ratzon and oneg was completely revealed in the body, it would be completely overwhelmed.

Sechel sees to it that the nefesh has it's effect and the body can process it. This is the hamshacha/download of sechel.

This incluldes all the koachot of sechel, and even the koach hamaskil – it too is downloaded.

The koach ha maskil acknowledges that there is a lack of understanding and it addresses this. The koach ha maskil is drawn from the nefesh/soul to the body and works in this context.

At the level of infinity/soul, there is no such thing as “i don't understand”, so when the koach ha maskil works in the lower setting of the body it limits itself to a process.

Koach ha sechel hahiuli ha atzmi is above this and is there du to the essence of the nefesh. This is like a room prior to being furnished. One already “sees” the furniture it will contain. It can exist even without the definitions of koach since it is united with the nefesh/soul.

Sechel is understand a topic from the outside. No matter how well you understand and how many proofs you have, it is still not something that stands on its own.

The real basis of chochmah is that there is a truth.

Peace of mind and chasing rabbits

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:38 1/24/2011 Monday 19 Shvat 5771

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Page 38 – at about halfway into the page (line starts “ofen...”).

Sechel in it's original/essential state is in a state, where “it could not, not be” - this is the soul.

Lower than that it has a purpose and a design.

Anything at this lower level has a limit.

The Rebbe said Einstein was very developed in a certain area, but the Previous Rebbe was an expert in all areas!

We say about King Solomon that his wisdom was unlimited, but this is unusual, since chochmah/wisdom has a limit. In the time to come essence will be revealed in physicality.

In the nefesh is a power of sechel that is not downloaded and recognized as a stand-alone faculty at all – it is part and parcel of the soul. It is a presence without a recognizable presence. It is present due to the soul itself.

The nature of the soul of man rises upward – not because something disturbs it, but because this is it's very nature – and it has the inyan of sechel, which is like sight – you se things, not because of your metziut, but because they're true. An animal sees with the sense of touch – a human sees with the sense of sight.

Global warming and real light

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p:38 1/23/2011 Sunday 18 Shvat 5771

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Page 38 – at about a 3rd into the page (line starts “hagbalah...”).

We went into koach hamaskil. We looked at how sechel is mugbal. Sechel is an emanation from the nefesh – not just a response to external phenomena.

The soul is without limit, but the light from there is limited.

Koach hamaskil makes you understand. It precedes sechel, yet it is not sechel. It demands, “get a sense of this – things should be meaningful and make sense”.

This is the essential element of sechel in the person.

Take day and night. The “naturalists/empiracists” will say “it is just the rotation of the planets – thus resulting in light and dark, and it is just your perspective to call it day and night!”

we say it is a reality. Day is an intended creation and night is a creation. Each one has significance and meaning. The koach hamaskil won't allow you to negate the significance of what is happening.

Koach ha maskil is already a state that evoved from the nefesh. It is the source for revealed sechel.

The nefesh provides sechel so one can deal with the external world and in this way the nefesh has a way to interface with the outside. This is the reason for the download of sechel.

This is the meaning of the nefesh being dressed in the body.

The soul enlivens the body. This is in contrast to the way the sun illuminates the sun. the body comes to life, since the soul reduces it's life force to the extent that it will relate to and enliven the body. This means that whatever happens to the body, the soul is a participant. The sechel is what enables the soul to be a participant in the body.

This is a hidden download, since the koach hamaskil doesn't acctually relate to the world. It remains hidden. It is there to provide for the sechel that is revealed and relates to the world.

There are 3 minds. Sechel eloki, sechel enushi and sechel habahamit – G-dly, human, and animal minds/perspectives. We translate from the G-dly soul to the human level to guide our animal mind.

When one sleeps his sechel goes up above. Also the sechel bahamit can be hidden – a person can cause harm to himself, an animal wouldn't do that.

When seeing the constant power of the sun, one's human mind, directs one to acknowledge the input from Above.

The next level is to say, “okay, the sun is only able to do what it does since there is input from a higher, Eternal Source. It is not the sun that provides light, He provides it to us through the sun. The Provider is not the sun, but Him. Before we paid attention to this we thought this is just a natural phenomena, it is an accident, but then we see, 'the sun couldn't provide this light on its own' there is a Power behind the sun. why does He provide the sun with this power, ''cos he wants us to have sun or 'cos he wants us to have light?' so now he lives in a different reality and the sun is just a tool of the One who makes it. Our light is from Him, not the sun. we have G-dly light. There is a G-dly element in there being day and night – it is not inadvertent! “

Sechel eloki also has a limit. Giving one's life is going beyond sechel eloki. The way the previous rebbe conducted himself was out side of halacha. He risked his life so that children learn could learn aleph – base!



The animal soul is affected by the light one shines on it from the G-dly soul via the human soul. The animal soul is taught to be under control. With his-hapcha the animal soul is completely transformed.

There is definition in which area one excels and even within that there is a limit in the degree to which he can excel. The point is that, in the koach hamaskil there is already a form.

Through will and avodah one may merit to draw down a new form for his sechel as we saw with Yekusiel Lepler.  

The way it is and the way it touches you p38

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 1/21/2011 Friday 16 Shvat 5771

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Page 38 – at about the 10th line (Line starts “vezehagbalah...”)

what is the emphasis in the fact that sechel has a limit. How does limit reveal shortcoming? What are we saying about it?

Hagbalah/limit means that it is in contrast to the real truth which has no limit/hagbalah.

Sechel is convincing yet it is founded on the basis of something that didn't come through sechel. It cannot stand alone. “There is a First Being” is the foundation of sechel.

This is why you can explain the difference between right and wrong and it is convincing, yet not compelling.

If one sees the human as evolved from an ape, then one asks, “why act like a human being”.

Sechel is called objective. What does this mean? It means to see the subject as it originates, as it comes from ein. Sechel looks at this reality, rather than at, “what it means to me”.

Koach hamaskil forces one to ask, “what is going on? What is the reality? What is the substance?” Since nothing created itself, one looks for “why is it there” and “what is it's reality”.

With koach hamaskil, you sense there is the truth and you want to base your perspective on it. Why? Since truth is “self-enticing”. It is desirable because it is true, not due to any features or factors.

Sechel as it is rooted in the soul deals with this level of purity. At the level of koach hamaskil it has this truth at a sechel level and is compelling also because there is an element of definition.

Koach ha sechel hahiuli ha-atzmi is the source of sechel as it is rooted in the soul. This is the pure level. The hamshacha from here is about putting things in a sechel perspective.

The Rambam says sechel is to know that there is a First Being. We have the ability to know Him not only in answer to the question of “where did the world come from?”

one can know Him beyond the limits of the world. You may have thought “the day of rest” means it is fine to carry a hanky on the sabbath. But First Being is one who is completely above world. Know Him and then look at the world – see how He desires it.

Something from nothing

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 1/20/2011 ThursdayNight 15 Shvat 5771

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Page 38 – (Line starts “vechein...”)

Yesh mi ein in contrast to yesh mi yesh, which is only capable of the production of something similar. Yesh mi ein – something from nothing - is a a real creation. A real, new, full fledged entity results that is fully independent of its source.

Only atzmus/essence can create an existence that denies it's source.

With all of this you cannot ask, “why did He create the world?” There is a limit to the concept. It will not explain the entire existence. The concept has a limit. Sechel is a means to see existence from a G-dly perspective – it sheds light on the world, but this is from a worldly, not G-dly perspective.

Kabbalos ol – means you relate to something that you don't fully/really understand.

It has been said by the Rambam that according to sechel an airplane is essentially an impossibility. Yes, it does fly, but it is not within the grasp of human sechel. If one denies the limits of human sechel and says yes, I see it, it is according to sechel, then he is doing damage to his human perception and he starts to live in a world that is not fully real to him. He becomes enslaved to a physical world till he cannot think like a human being.

If one's sechel is allowed to develop it can have undesired results. On the other hand there can be a branching out that clarifies the sechel more and more. The branches bring out the clarity of the sechel. If not directed it can result in something that is not true. Thus there needs to be a limit applied to the sechel. It is part of the task of sechel to limit the branching/derivatives.

In this regard it is says that it is said, “the question of the wise, is half the answer..!”



can we see something in simple human living regarding, “staying on track”? In the manufacture of a car there are many stages and people involved. Each has a role. The beginning is the conceptualization. The origin is before the designer, it is the human element – the human was given by G-d rulership over the entire world and hence he sees himself as involved with/responsible for the entire world. So something that gives him access to many places is within this vision.

This means the car is rooted in a very profound human element. Then people compete and building race cars becomes an industry – people risk their lives – and it goes so far that some say, “cars were invented for racing!” - total stupidity – racing in circles, without serving a human purpose.

The sechel is based on proofs and the koach ha maskil is what makes you understand and gives it substantiation.

Constant and not graspable

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 1/20/2011 Thursday 15 Shvat 5771

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Page 37 – at the start of the meimar (Line starts “vayomer...”)

As long as there is a sun there is sunlight. The ohr/light is the result of the presence of the sun – a fundamental reality. You may think it is unlimited, but it has a limit.

Sechel has a beginning, an edge, and an end – thus it is grapable. Emunah/faith is not graspable and constant.

Sechel is like ohr ruchni and it has a limit. sechel/mind has a limit and works with definitions and structure.

Why does a rav point out to his student, the fact of yesh mi ein / something from nothing? If something exists, it has to have been brought into existence. Otherwise, where did it come from. Sechel recognizes you have to be able to explain things logically. If you accept that something exists, it has to fit with logic. Sechel recognizes, “if something exists, it has a right to exist”. This is revealing to the student that there is an overall reality.

Page 38 Ayin Base - Rebbe Rashab

Ultimately the logic is based on emunah. At the outset you start from your experiences. The ohr ruchni shows that there has to be an underlying truth to the facts that we encounter and deduce.

Spiritual and physical

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 1/19/2011 Wednesday 14 Shvat 5771

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Page 37 – at the start of the meimar (Line starts “vayomer...”)(we looped back to redo this section)

In making the world He gathered the waters together and placed in it mute creations. They would enquire of the wellbeing of the King. Then he placed articulate creatures in the world who would sing His praises.

At the beginning there was no great expression. Later he revealed dry land for the creation of man who could express richer praises.

What is the deeper meaning of mute and articulate? Also it is known that the sea creatures are of a higher level than those of the land. The sea creatures are of “the concealed world”, which is higher than the revealed world. It also needs to be understood the “gathering of the water” and the revelation of the land for growth of plants.

To understand these topics, we will look at the verse, “let us make man in our image.”

Neshamas are rooted in, and connected to atzmus. Israel are children to Hashem. Just as the son is rooted in the essence of the father, so too the souls of Israel are rooted in the essence of the wisdom of G-d.

Souls are from a physical unity, and angels are formed from a spiritual union. Like the union of kissing, which is the cleaving of spirit to spirit.

It would appear that the spiritual union is higher than a physical union.

But the resulting angels are not as high as the souls that are created.

This is due to the fact that the most internal and essential shefa/download is specifically by physical union. By external mentorship is this brought about. Internal mentorship/hashpaa is united with him, himself.

Spiritual union is like sechel coming from the moach/mind. The mashal for physical union is like the flow of the seminal drop from the mind in the process of conception. Both originate in the mind/moach, but there is a big difference between them.



Mentorship of sechel is the giving of spiritual light/ohr, yet there is a boundary to what is given. Every sechel has a limit.



P37 AyinBase (Right Click to enlarge)

Spiritual mentorship is really external/chitzoni – since it has limits and boundaries – you grasp things by their edges. Although he gives spiritual light it is still within a structure, which is the means to transfer it.

The thread of truth

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 1/18/2011 Tuesday 13 Shvat 5771

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Page 43 – around the middle of the page (Line starts “hayoshar...”)

In essence there is no such thing as “old stuff” - it is ever fresh.

Tzimzum facilitates yoshar. What exists in yoshar has an independence. This is the process of the birth and creation of neshamas. What is the birth of a soul? The soul/neshamah gets an element of metzius. It is really G-dliness, yet it is a metzius.

This means the souls are capable of zivugim, which represents the download of essence/atzmus.

Usually there is a content to a presentation and hence it has a limit. Thus essence/atzmus is not recognized in the world. As a result of a soul being a metzius and relating to another on the level of zivug, the essence/atzmus is revealed.

Essence is not revealed by a metzius – it is there hidden. By the zivug there is revelation of the essence. The birth is testimony to it. Zivugim/unions result in childbirth – if there are close cousins and there has been intramarriage, tay sachs can result, since the zivugim were no between real separate entities.

A groom is absolved of kriah shmah – he is facing a challenge.

The verse of “the water is gathered” and the next, where “let the earth produce vegetation” - refer to the levels of igulim and zivugim of yoshar respectively.



Gathering of the water is contraction and tzimzum. The dry land becomes evident – which represents the element of yoshar. This yoshar/dry land is the ultimate intent, since there is the download of essence.

Yekavu also has the implication of kavin, which means lines. Yoshar according to Zohar has to do with lines – areas are connected by paths or defined actions.

Standing up – Spiritual stance – Continual renewal

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 1/17/2011 Monday 12 Shvat 5771 (and for yesterday's shiur see below)


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Page 43 – about 11 lines from the top of the page (Line starts “haya bechinat igulim...”)

Kavanah originates in, and represents the etzem.



Kavanah is an intend without any prior prodding. It is not the result of “cause and effect”.

Yoshar has that type of set up where you have independent entities that show initiative. A person has to make his own decision – there is nothing that compels. Every time a Jew does a mitzvah he is re-creating the impetus – he is exercising his intent.

A man versus a fish. A man has to have a spirit to stand – that is the spirit that holds him up. Standing on two feet is not a logical/physical position. It is a spiritual stance.

Answers don't hold you up. A spirit of inspiration is what supports one. The sense of “what am I doing” is being created constantly. The essence is beyond inspiration and is indestructible, but we are not always aware of it. Every motivation comes from there, but occasionally this essence has to be revisited.

Yoshar has to come from tzimzum. The fish are really submerged in the water, but a man drinks, not by jumping into the lake, but by taking a cup-full out of the lake. It is the same water, but now it is transformed and not the huge lake. It is defined, and in a new environment – this is the concept of the tzimzum which creates yoshar. The water comes to the man in a way that doesn't disturb his individual presence.

This is like getting Torah at mount Sinai – we had to accept it and not be flooded by it.


AyinBase with R' Paltiel 1/16/2011 Sunday 11 Shvat 5771 

Creator and creation

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Page 43 – 8 lines from the top of the page (Line starts “kehilat Yaakov...”)

In the essence of mind/intellect is the sense of the essence and from there comes conception and birth.

This level of mind has a sense of the “fundamental truth of the world”.

For everything that exists on the land, there is a counterpart in the sea. In the sea it doesn't represent itself, but the sea – it exists because of the sea. The sea creatures are mute and don't express their own perception. They are submerged in the sea/ein sof.

On the land, things represent themselves.

The real intent of the Creator is seen in yoshar (signified by land, as opposed to igulim, signified by sea) specifically.

The intent/kavana/point is seen in yoshar. He did not make the world for the sake of tohu – chaotic unfocussed existence, but that it should be settled.

Without design or compass the city or boat goes in circles.

Atzmus/essence is downloaded by settled situations.

Unification of diverse factors indicates essence. It represents a single viewpoint.

It a man is a “jack of all trades” he lacks center and focus. To create anything one has to use many faculties/energies. The owner stands on the side, commissions the job and doesn't get his hands dirty. The owner has the intent, not the function. This intent represents him, himself. It gives value to the entire project. This is where it becomes a human structure. The house is not to show the skill of the architect or bricklayer, but to settle a human being and family.

Something worthwhile is “an end in itself”. What is the significance of the human being, who eventually has “his last day” of life? We see the logic of the question, but the truth goes against this. All recognize a moment of life is priceless.

A human being is infinity itself because he represents his Creator, not himself. The animal does things with instinct and develops very quickly. The human does things with intent and takes time to develop.

The principle of transformation

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 1/14/2011 Friday 9 Shvat 5771

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Page 43 – 8 lines from the top of the page (Line starts “kehilat Yaakov...”)

The principle of conquest is that man is not just to settle and maintain, he is to transform the world. This is an essential faculty – to bring out the essential quality that is in the world.

This is the man sensing “how it should be...” He goes beyond “how it is” to “how it must be”. He brings out the true value of the world.

The rebbe says in basi legani – the king will spend all for the purpose of triumph.

Mochin in general is what facilitates speech. It transforms and brings something new into the arena. mochin/intellect is the recognition of an “objective” truth that is beyond dis/comfort. This is in contrast to middot where one is personally involved. This means mochin per se is yoshar and metziut davar – it says, “I am here and this thing I know from it's essence, not from how it affects me”.

First in the creation there was igulim/water/circles/tohu. The Ohr Ein Sof was an all encompassing presence. We're all like fish in the sea, but not on our functioning level.

On land and in the sea

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 1/13/2011 ThursdayNight 8 Shvat 5771

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Page 43 – 5 lines from the top of the page (Line starts “ha-atzmus...”)

Essential mentorship is not of a specific content or information – it is just essence to essence.

Something that has an essence can relate and receive this kind of mentorship.

On the land, you stand on the ground, not because you are supported in every direction, but because you are a metius. In the sea, you don't stand as a separate entity, but because you are supported – all the creatures of the sea are in a constant state of rest.

Creatures of the land, to rest they have to close their eyes.



Reproduction of the human being is a soul matter.

We made a distinction between mentorship and the union of male and female. In the first case the mentor must find the student within himself to present something to him – there is interinclusion. Thus the student senses there is something knowable.

In the union of male and female it is a matter of partzufim – complete entities.

The mitzvah of having children rests on the man. Conquest is in the nature of man and not women – it says, “settle the world and conquer her...” Woman are exempt from this mitzvah. The union is between one who has this nature and one who does not...!

This is the special element. It is essence to essence. “this is it”.

In yashar the recipient is in a state metziut davar. He has a presence. A human has 10 faculties that define him as a human being. Before a king the subject still exists as a full fledged human being. There is an essence – metziut davar.

Therefore he is capable of receiving also from the level of essence and not be nullified, since he cannot be nullified.

In marriage she receives from the man the quality of conquest, but she doesn't receive it, she relates to it and is able to give it support.

A car moves by spinning it's wheels. The motor drives the wheels. The wheel has to be able to be a separate entity that is activated/driven by the engine. This co-operation of separate entities does not exist in igulim, where nothing is separate.

What is function of igulim/circular/water reality? It is to recognize different qualities within the essence itself. The sea is one entity yet there are different creatures at various depths. The land is like the development of sea reality to the state where things are stand alone entities. In ratzon and oneg, everything is all one. In sechel things have their own definitions.

Review session

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 1/13/2011 Thursday 8 Shvat 5771

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Page 42 – second paragraph of the page (Line starts “vealpichen...”)

A greater union and ascending the mountain

False Bay, Cape Town, South Africa

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 1/12/2011 Wednesday 7 Shvat 5771

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Page 43 – top line of the page (Line starts “base, mem, aleph...”)

Zivugim is only in the arena of yoshar. Yoshar means one is below the other and not encompassed by it. Zivug is hashpah atzmius, and only a metzius davar can receive this essential download/hashpaa.

Zivugim is not found in the area of igulim. Zivug is different from hashpaat ha sechel, where the mentor finds the issue in his own mind – this interweaving is possible only in the area of ohr. Zivug by contrast, is a situation where each is an entity unto himself – there is no overlap. Zivug is between male and female and each retains their own identity.

The connection between male and female in zivug is an inyan atzmi/essence.

Normal hashpah sichli involves interinclusion on the platform of sechel/intellect. Then there is a level of sechel mentorship where the mentor draws from his own essence (not like zivugim) and due to ohr chozer presents something that is the source of his sechel.

Ohr elyon is not a light from sechel, but comes from the fact of “being there”. This is essential hashpaa. Why is it called “ohr”? In zivug the man and the woman remain discrete, so how do they connect? She recognizes the quality of his level.

Rabbi described being a refugee and persecuted. He remembers coming to America and visiting a local. He saw the house with different rooms and he said, “this is how we are meant to live – we were en route, but this is the reality.”

Dust of the earth

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 1/11/2011 Tuesday 6 Shvat 5771

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Page 42 – 6 lines from the bottom of the page at the end of the line. (Line starts “hayot...”)

In yoshar process, since the mekabel is a stand alone entity it can accept even the element of atzmus and not lose it's presence.

This is seen in a halacha. If food is carried on shabbos one is liable. If one carries a plate he is also liable. But if he carries a plate with less than the minimum amount then he is not liable. The plate is only being carried for the food and the food is less than the required amount. The principle here is that the vessel is butul/nullified to it's content. The plate is completely butul, yet it exists (even though halachically it lost it's value). The reason for this is that the plate is a metziut davar.

If it was only a keili and the content was below the minimum then it would evaporate into nothingness. A metziut is something with a presence in the physical world – it is an absolute presence – it is part of the infinite reality.

At pesach if we have chametz left over it is declared, “like dust of the earth”.

In yoshar the lower does not depend on the higher to be a presence – and hence atzmus/essence can be revealed there.

Zivugim is only in the arena of yoshar. Yoshar means one is below the other and not encompassed by it. Zivug is hashpah atzmius, and only a metzius davar can receive this essential download/hashpaa.

In kabbalos ol, one does the will of the King, without the processing through faculties. At sinai we said, “ we will do and we will hear “ - this was initiated by the people – by the essence of the people. Birth / conception creates a totally independent entity.

The holiness of the letters

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 1/10/2011 Monday 5 Shvat 5771

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Page 42 – 6 lines from the bottom of the page at the end of the line. (Line starts “hayot...”)

in Zohar letters are called stones. Why not learn the letters by their sounds? The rebbe said to do so it is to rob the children of the holiness of the letters. In yoshar everything you come into contact with is a metzius davar. In ingulim you forget the thing and focus on the ohr.

Is kedusha something that belongs only in a higher plane? No, it is something that can come down and imbue itself in the world. We don't say, “be a Jew in your home and a 'human being' in the street.” We don't say, “holiness belongs only in the shul”.

This is the principle, “not just that there is a first creator, but that everything that exists expresses this first creator.”

With yashar the ohr is received into the keilim. The sea is the aspect of igulim. There is no up and down.

The ones on the land – yoshar - have full development – they are articulate and wise.

Moach is only a koach a nefesh. Mochin is a conduit and focussed perspective. Hisrachvus, breadth with many details comes by means of mochin. Higher than mochin there are no details – there is just an infinite experience.

The sky is the color of kindness

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 1/9/2011 Sunday 4 Shvat 5771

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Page 42 – at the break between the paragraphs (line starts “ein ha-adam...”)

Evil is the misuse of reality. Our job is to see through it. Evil does not eclipse the truth. The real thing remains the real thing.

Gemara says that the snake was a great servant of the human being, if he had not stepped over the boundry.

We have been looking at the way that something rooted higher manifests itself on a lower level. It shows itself in physicality. The higher the source the lower the platform where it shows itself.

G-dliness is above good and evil. The real manifestation of G-dliness is by kabalos ol (accepting the yoke/command) which seems to be a low faculty. This is because the essential connection only reflected at that level. “I don't have a separate presence – I reflect the G-dly presence!”

“The higher something is the lower it comes down” is a common expression in chassidus.
The Rambam says the basis of chochmah is to know that there is a First Creator. Without that premise, chochmah does not have a foundation – it would seem to be just the product of human imagination. What makes chochmah real? It is the recognition in daas that there is a First Creator.

Chochmah is like sight, which is different from all other senses – you can relate to objects by sight without coming into contact with them – so it seems imaginary, yet it is the most powerful of all senses.

Sight means you see objects as part on an infinite reality and thus they are real. So too with chochmah. The concepts are real since there is a fundamental reality behind everything – this is the First Creator. In darkness you have only the object you touch. In light you have the whole context. So too with chochmah – things are real when they are part of the basic reality – His reality – the First Being who is bringing everything into being.



Chochmah requires this recognition of a First Being, since it doesn't stand by itself. The higher/more spiritual something is, the more it is dependent on a recognition of a supreme truth. The higher it is, the more dependent it is on it's source. So coming down it finds expression at that level where the source is recognized in the metziut itself.

Now we start the final paragraph of the meimar. Sea and dry land correspond to the aspects of circular and straight respectively. Circles indicates concentric circles where nothing becomes separate. Straight/Yeshar indicates different levels where the lower level becomes an entity unto itself.

Igulim/circles is “one within another”. This means the inner circle is totally bitul to the surrounding circle. The inner circle does not express/extend itself beyond the outer circle.
This is expressed in the fact that Moshe/Moses had a difficulty expressing himself. “Moshe was drawn from the water”, by Batya. His soul came from igulim/circles and he was this constantly in a state of complete bitul, while speech is the aspect of yeshus/self expression/objectification.

Bitul misconstrued becomes it's opposite (this is what happens in tohu). And yeshus properly used is bitul.

The lion and the ox; the man and the angel

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 1/7/2011 Friday 2 Shvat 5771

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Page 42 – 6 lines from the top of the page (line starts “ein ha-adam...”)

We are dealing with birth and conception. We saw that it is from the highest element in a person and is reflected specifically in physicality. The higher something is, the lower down it reflects itself.

The lion is superior to an ox, but down here the ox is kosher.

Angels requested that they receive the torah as it pertains to them, yet it was not granted to them. This is because the true element of torah is impossible to express in spirituality, but rather in physical deeds. Moshe rabbanu (moses our teacher) answered them that they don't have a yetzer hara. Truth of the light of torah is revealed by confrontation and purification of the yetzer hara.

Supremacy of light is only revealed when it is solicited from darkness.



Hashem said it is “very good” at the end of the creation process. Medrash explains that the “very” is reflective of the evil angel. Only by victory here is “good” made over into “very good”.

The real depth of sechel comes only in an illusion. Only in a physical move/expression is the depth of the sechel revealed – a level that cannot be expressed in speech.

Finite and infinite

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 1/6/2011 ThursdayNight 1 Shvat 5771

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Page 41 – lower quarter of the page (line starts “min ha-avukah...”)

the animal does not have the perception of eternity. The human has a perception of eternity. His reality is based on the infinite truth. An animal is not a real presence, a human is real and has a point. And among the human beings the real point is the Jew.

This is the G-dly truth. This is the point of the world. All human intellect is based on this one point. There is a Creator that precedes the world. He has no definition and needs no definition.

The higher something is the lower it descends and will be dressed in a more physical garment.

This is like the lion and the ox. We know that the face of the lion is to the right of the heavenly chariot, which is at a higher level than the face of the ox which is on the left. But here below the ox turns out to be a kosher animal and can be brought to the alter in the temple in Jerusalem. And the lion is an impure carnivore.

In truth it means that due to the elevation of the lion above it descends to being unkosher below.

The truth of marriage

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 1/6/2011 Thursday 1 Shvat 5771

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Page 41 – below the middle of the page (line starts “kmo she-hem behamshacha...”)

Birth/conception comes from the essence/koach itself. It is not really a koach on a functioning level, rather it is present due to the perfection of the soul. Every koach that participates in the hamshacha/download, even the conscious faculties are based on the essence of the koach, rather than its effect.

If one has meaningful intention, it has to represent something essential, not something of a superficial quality.

The matter of modesty during the intimate moment, provides protection and prevents distraction. The real thing is only that which is rooted in an essential sense.

“My essence expands beyond me” - “a man and a woman become one” - this is how it is possible for an essence to be transferred. Because they are one this is how it is possible to transfer and essence. The man and the woman together are called Adam. A person alone is not part of the general community – he's not a citizen till he gets married.



On the one hand the child comes from the father, on the other hand the child becomes a full presence by becoming muvdal/separate from his father. This is a shinui ha mehus – the son originates his own ideas, originating in his own soul, not to say he doesn't learn from his father and others etc.

On the one hand all are part of the human species, yet no two are identical. The human soul has such depth that its expression can never be exhausted.

Birth and creation

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 1/5/2011 Wednesday 29 Tevet 5771

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Page 41 – at the middle of the page (line starts “beze...”)

Koach ha maskil is that which demands an understanding. Every sechel should connect back to an element of truth. One looks for the concept behind this structure.

One gets to the edge of sechel, and there one senses the truth. Science talks in a relative
sense, but torah in an ultimate sense.

Spiritual mentorship does not create a new entity. But physical hashpaa of the tipah does create a new entity. The student has a new paradigm, but a new presence is not created. A blueprint of a house is not the house.

The hashpaa of the tipah is from the essence itself, and not from a reflection of the essence. From the essence, means that the meaning cannot be defined - it is not based on the experiential level.

The intent and thoughts at the time of hamshacha also have an affect, but it is from the essence.

I want to see the truth

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 1/4/2011 Tuesday 28 Tevet 5771

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Page 41 – at the middle of the page (line starts “levad...”)

Koach hamaskil is what empowers our understanding and demands that we understand. It defines the human approach. It is the essence of the sechel, prior to becoming conscious and being given specifity.

The mentor gives from this level. This enables the student to understand on his own.

This demand to understand is not, “wait a minute, I want to have this in my terms”. In fact it is the opposite. The character of sechel is bitul. Hence the demand to understand is “I don't want this in my terms, I want to see the truth in this... I want to see the truth and G-dly element in this topic... Everything is coming from Him, from the truth of His presence”. This is the drive of the koach hamaskil. Nefesh cannot relate, but to the truth.

“The world hangs on nothing” - the world hangs in space and is supported by Hashem.

The world in space is a created reality. It is not a natural reality. One may have a line of questions based on the idea that nature is the reality. But nature is not the reality. Nature has a beginning. All the natural phenomenon we observe are based on a G-dly power, but within a context we can understand them in their limited context.

A constant mentor – back to basics

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 1/3/2011 Monday 27 Tevet 5771

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Page 41 – a few lines above the middle of the page (line starts “hakoach mamash...”)

With birth/conception, the son lands up with his own power of intellect. The son has an independent power of intellect.

Here is the root of the difference between the mentorship of sechel/ruchni/spiritual and that of tipah/seed/physicality.

The spiritual mentorship is draw principally from the hispashtus of the nefesh. Sechel is an actual perception that represents the nefesh. It is the revelation of the nefesh . It is from the faculty of intellect, which is an expression/revelation. The rav delivers/teaches that which he already recognizes in his sechel. He teaches, not only that which he has already processed, but also from a deeper level.

There are 2 levels the student receives. The teacher presents that which he has already processed, but he also gives him from the koach hamaskil - “a way of seeing”. This is the core element of mentorship/hashpaat of sechel/intellect. He “has an effect” on the student. When the rav intends to teach the student it is not enough to just present what he, himself understands. This is not hashpaa/mentorship.



To do this, to really mentor a student he has to stand in the student's shoes, and feel what it is like to not understand this matter and not to relate to this matter. And now he relates to the student at this deeper level. The teacher has to revisit, “what makes me understand this?” and then he has what he can relate to the student. He brings the student along in the process.

If the teacher doesn't relate on this level, then the student just has a piece of learning that he stores away in his own memory. But if the teacher really relates and mentors the student, then if affects the way the student sees and thinks...!

The student can then become a bar sechel. When facing a question/problem he will use his sechel to identify it and relate to it correctly.

Now the student does not want to be pulled by personal preference, but by the truth of the matter.

The Creator becomes the created

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 1/2/2011 Sunday 26 Tevet 5771

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Page 41 – 9 lines from the top of the page (line starts “hu...”)

The ability to birth a new individual is due to the giving of the essence.

The fact that the essence can be given/”downloaded” is making a statement about itself – that it is not finite – it extends beyond itself.

The truth of something is not just what it is, but what makes it be. Metzius is the external presence – this is external, not a true presence. Each thing has it's own source of existence – the, “what makes it be”, as opposed to the “how it contrasts with everything else”.

In birth/conception the essence is involved.

etzem/essence is not true itself, but because of “universal truth”. The faculty of conception is because the human being represents his Creator.

The Creator encompasses the entire world – everything that He made, is encompassed by His quality. The G-dly presence constantly rejuvenates the sun. in the human being by contrast there is literally a G-dly presence. The nefesh does not dissipate when being separated from the body. The body does not limit the power of the nefesh that is housed there. Rambam says we know the Creator directly not via the world. If not for this knowledge all chochmah would be canceled out.

There is an infinite G-dly presence contained in the nefesh. This is because the nefesh is inherently butul. It has a constant desire to be included in G-dliness.

The nefesh never dissipates and is not dependent on the body – this is were the faculty of birth/conception is rooted.



Animals, too, procreate, but this procreation is due to G-d's surrounding infinity. Man is unique in the world. He is so unique that G-d was “concerned” that the animals would think he was G-d. The way the offspring resemble the parents is that they represent the parents – this is due to the nefesh of the parents. This means we are like our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

When a man walks he is not imitating anything. Everything is coming from 'him himself'.
Movement in a car, by contrast is a specific function. Movement in a human being is based on the esence.

It is true to say that G-d enlivens and that the nefesh enlivens. The soul is a G-dly spark.

The Creator becomes the created. How possible? This is possible because the nefesh is butul/null to the Creator . “It is true to say that this child, is this father's son; and its true to say that this child is a G-dly miracle”.

Animals lack an inkling of G-dly unity or infinity.

Abraham our father, grew up in a culture of idol worship. They had a pantheon of gods that were vying for each other - “day destroys the night – night destroys the day”, but Abraham would not accept that.

He said to himself, “this is a co-ordinated palace, but where is the unity?” He realized the co-ordination is worked by One who is outside the limited context of world. This gave him a new and different view of the world.

Now Abraham went a step beyond just teaching the people about the unity. He said, “the Master is not the servant of the world. The world is here to serve Him. To reveal the G-dly greatness. Our role is to serve Him.” this is Abraham's innovation – this last point.

One should live according to the unity of G-d's world – this is sechel enushi – this is the 7 mitzvoth of the Bnei Noach.  

A Jew is involved in going beyond respecting the world, to serving G-d.

Respecting the creation is respecting the world you live in. respecting the Creator is respecting and knowing your purpose in being here. The 613 mitzvoth is not for the sake of the world, it is about His presence here.