With closed eyes – with open eyes p: 49

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 49 4/29/2011 Friday 25 Nissan 5771

Page 49 – 6th line from the top of page (line starts: hakav...)

In biya/lower worlds there isn't revelation of the of the actual line of light/kav, just a reflection of it.

Sunshine represents the sun. light of a candle represents the fire of the candle. Each has an essence, but the sunlight has a higher essence.

Between atzilus and biya is a curtain. Atzilus does not have a curtain above it. Yet it is a 'worldly' state. It represents overall the level of chochmah. Biya represents bina. Between binah and chochmah there is a gap. Binah cannot relate to the purity that chochmah engenders. This is like sight and hearing. Sight connects to the reality itself. Hearing has a gap, 'you are talking about something'.



Sight sees the thing itself, but it is not the thing itself. It shows the reality of it. There is a small gap, but no parsah/curtain/obstacle. We say shma with closed eyes. We acknowledge the truth that is inherent. Then with open eyes it is the same truth,but now you're looking at it. Atzilus is like this second stage. We are looking at that which we know with closed eyes, but it is not the same, now we are observing it.

“I'm a king” p: 49

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 49 4/28/2011 ThursdayNight 24 Nissan 5771

Page 49 – 5th line from the top of page (line starts: im ha-kaylim...)

We said that the kav ends in malchus of atzilus. The continuation into the lower worlds is via a curtain that does not allow the ohr/light to come through. The vessels are more definitive than the ohr/light and can penetrate the curtain, to the other side.

King David

Why is malchus of atzilus different. Why can it pass through the curtain. Malchus is unique – it can relate to anything. This is like a king that incorporates all under his rule. Every inch is under him – from the halls of power to the simple hovel. Even the space is his domain. Thus from the perspective of malchus, also biya (the lower worlds) can survive and exist.

A blind man is released from all mitzvot since he doesn't have a real world and no evil inclination. What is the difference? Both the sighted person and the blind man can explain an idea, but for a man that sees, the idea is real because he saw it. The blind man has just the understanding. Understanding cannot create a reality. Only seeing the reality can create it.

Bina has a sense of reality from chochmah. Chochma is like the sight. Because we saw the truth of G-dliness with closed eyes, hence what we see with our open eyes is real. We take a step based on a sense of overall reality. Bina is sustained by the chochmah.

Bina has a right of being due to the chochmah, which gives it a sense of reality.

How does bina receive from chochmah? By acceptance, and by grasping on its own terms.

What if you have a creature with zero incling of what chochmah is? It cannot exist. Chochmah cannot create something that has no grasp of it.

This is not the case with the king. If you are in his domain and recognize him, you receive all of your life force even if you have no understanding of the king. This is a completely different form of hashpaa/influence.

The king represents a fundamental reality that includes all.



Every man is a king in his home. A stranger cannot enter. 'I'm a king not just on my table and food, but on every inch of space in my home!'

This element of malchus is what allows for biya/lower worlds.

The space in the world is the ultimate of bitul. It accepts all.

This malchus facilitates the creation of the lower worlds which have no way to relate to the essence of G-dliness. Once we recognize we are in the King's domain then we can start to build.

“The Line of Light and the King” p: 49

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 49 4/28/2011 Thursday 24 Nissan 5771

Page 49 – 5th line from the top of page (line starts: im ha-kaylim...)

We are looking at the nature of ha-arah/reflection (as opposed to essence). The ha-arah is affected by its setting and changes as it descends.

The light from after the tzimzum is generally known as kav/line. Before the tzimzum it was light unlimited. After it was light processed through a narrow opening.

There are 2 elements to this. A line of light carries within it the impression that it originates some place. This is the beginning of ha-arah – it is a reflection of light preceding the contraction. It is not the 'thing itself' but it has the effect and represents the origin.

Beyond atzilus, the kav/line is interrupted. Only that which is dressed in vessels of malchus of atzilus continues beyond there. What changed? The kav, though it is a narrow stream of light, it has an important feature of being rooted in the light that was before the tzimzum.

This element is interrupted at the edge of atzilus. Below that there is no recognition except for what is carried in the vessels of malchus of atzilus. This can be understood by looking at the prohibition against stealing. It is based on a direct recognition of a G-dly presence in the world. Things are the way He creates them. This is a direct connection to Him, but when we define it in the vessels of the prohibition against stealing the light becomes concealed, to the point of almost losing the reflection. The vessel becomes 'self justifying'.

The fact that it is rooted in a greater, fundamental truth is lost.

This is the difference between worlds of atzilus and biya.



The lower worlds of biya are a 'breakaway from the kav'.

Only the vessels of the malchus of atzilus are an exception to this. Malchus can relate to that which is beyond similarity. Like a king that rules over his land. The ministers relate to the king and his principles. The simple subjects just know that there is a king and he must be obeyed. That is the level of their relationship and that is where malchus is seen.

The king is a king not over his servants and ministers, but over the peasants and rocks and trees.

Malchus extends everywhere.

This is what allows the creation of the lower worlds of briya. But what comes through is not a sense of connection to where it comes from.

Atzilus has keilim, since in atzilus there is a ha-arah of the kav. Definitions appear that are not part of the ha-arah.

Malchus is a paradox. It is the lowest sphira, yet most representative of the king.

"Steady Faith” p: 49

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 49 4/24/2011 Sunday Nissan 5771

Page 49 – at the top the page (line starts: hamakif...) 

We can identify in our own experience the difference between tree of life and tree of knowledge. chaim/life is an essential thing – there is no interruption.

Chochmah is the epitome of sechel and though it is so wholesome and complete, yet there is the element that it is coming into being and is thus part of a process – you get to know it by it's effect. Life on the other hand is not experience – it is the reality itself. So chaim/life is the essence. This is seen in emunah in contrast to sechel (even to chochmah). Emunah is a plain reality – it is like the essence of the neshamah itself. That has no capacity to be misconstrued – it cannot go to tree of knowledge and there is no garment for it. We sense it in the brain, but not because the mind grasps it. It is pure neshamah. 

Ha-arah / reflection means illumination of an area where it is not... we see things, though the world remains dark. Light in essence is not functional for the sake of enabling us to see.

Work of the righteous is light – it is founded on the awareness of the presence of the King himself. It is based on unity with Him. He is light. Meaning that if you are in the dark, and you bump into something then this is a discovery and the object is coming into being for you – a discovery. In light and for Him all exists due to an inherent truth. There is not bumping discovery since all exists based on a fundamental reality.

This is the difference between light and dark. Light both reveals an item that was hidden, but it also has the element of truth that it exposes..

sechel comes from chochmah which has a sense of emunah, but it is a ha-arah of that. It becomes further formatted till it can lose its light and go off track.

On the one hand emunah/faith is something steady, that isn't 'discovered'. It can be concealed and not experienced. A person can lose all sense except that of the physical world. Faith is the steadiness – the reality of life, but on the other hand we are aware of it. It is not something beyond our awareness.

We say, 'constant pleasure, is not a pleasure'. That is because everything in the world needs to be rejuvenated. Emunah is constant, yet there is a sense of awareness to it. It is like a mashal for the world of ein sof. It is something that is absolutely real, yet provides for awareness.

Before the tzimzum there is not sense of revelation. After tzimzum there is the sense of things coming through an opening. It may seem to be limited – where is the infinity? There is an element of 'there's more where this come from'. So the sense is not the limit of what you get, but where it came from.

The essence of anything is not what it is, but what makes it be, where it came from.

Light gives us not just the sense of the object, but of the reality of the object. The object may be a simple box, but it finds a place in space. The space preceded the object. We are aware of the space even with closed eyes. The object has this sense of reality, by virtue of being part of space. The reality we sense is not the object, but the reality/space that allows for it. The kav too provides a sense of the real reality, of where it comes from...

In atzilus, there shines just the reflection of the kav, not the essence. This means the kav/line itself. This is phenomenal. In sechel you have the logic and the structure, but the light is the source/secret that it points to.  

“One and One is Two” p: 48-9

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 48-9 4/22/2011 Friday 18 Nissan 5771

Page 48 – several lines from the end of the page (line starts: gum beyiradatem...) 

The soul is good itself and is thus not affected by coming down into the world.

The fact that can come aspects that are negative is only due to the garments not due to the light of torah itself. The light of torah does not get mixed in the possibility of 'tov ve rah – good and bad'.

Levushim – garments can be understood like this: when it says, 'don't steal' it means something in a worldly context. Since the garment conceals the light that is within it, one can think of the deed as being just practical – till it is misunderstood and misconstrued.

The light of torah itself cannot be affected by the garment.

The misunderstanding results from paying attention to the garment to the exclusion of the light. 

Yet the levush/garment is the means by which the mitzvah is performed in the world, at the same time one needs to take care that it does not conceal the ohr/soul.

At the level of the 'tree of knowledge' it can devolve to a situation of 'good and bad', since it is only a ha-arah/reflection, not an essence. 

It you perceive of a human being evolving from a monkey, then there is no basis for real human intellect. You are left with physicality, and the intangible element of human mindfulness is stripped away.

We say man was made as such, and didn't make himself by encountering the elements.

From a torah view, man is not just created by G-d, but he represents Him in the world. And all that he does must be guided by this principle. Human sechel also acknowledges that he was created, but he goes on to focus on being 'a human being' – it is a ha-arah/reflection and from this position it is possible to descend into gross physicality.

Sunlight is really beyond our world, but the light we get from the sun is only the functional light that allows us to move about. It is not the essence, but the practical level.

elokus/G-dliness does not lend itself to being within limits. For starters Elokus didn't 'come into being'. For instance we talk about space. In our conception it is infinite. It is just 'a presence, without having to be made – the absence of anything else'. Yet, elokus does come into limitations... this is like space allowing for physical/defined objects existing within it. This is because in truth the space that we experience is really a creation.

The G-dliness in the world is a reflection, rather than the essence.

The Sky Looks Different p: 48

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 48 4/21/2011 Thursday 17 Nissan 5771

Page 48 – below middle of the page (line starts: mipneh she...) 

torah descends and gets involved with worldly affairs – even with low-level issues – false claims (tienot shel sheker). Adjudications can even be made on the basis of a false claim. And lower than than - a guy steals a piece of silver and he does not denies the theft, but he says, 'it really belongs to me' – so he's either a robber or he took the law into his own hands.

Every place where torah goes it affects a birur/clarification. It finds that point by which the G-dly spark can be recognized. It can go to the lowest elements and does not get affected nor damaged. On the contrary it brings a clarification and G-dly light.

When we look at an object in the world we see the element of light that illuminates it. Sechel is a completely different way of looking a things. You see purpose. You go to a hall and you see the point – the simcha the joy. But you can also see the tables and chairs – this is a negative aspect. The light on an object reflects to different degrees – this is how we experience color. 

In torah there are rules of adjudication that is based on the situation – and to avoid a negative consequence. Torah provides the rule as it is viewed from above since it sees all that is in the world is a G-dly creation. This is like a soul that can differentiate between good and bad, without getting affected. This is because it is an essence. The soul does not take input from outside and adapt.  

There was a child who could see that the sky looks different on Shabbat. This is unusual for there to be such a level of purity. But the soul enlivens the body and does not undergo a fundamental change.  

In the body the soul is involved with the brain and hence cannot conceptualize an idea without form or some relationship to time and space. But even though we know things in a physical realm we know things also by their essence.

There is a big difference between touch and sight. Touch is primarily a negative experience – I move my hand, but then it is stopped by something. This is negative. Psychology feels that there is no direct experience, that everything is a reaction. But we say no. the soul is true of itself and thus we can relate from a truth perspective.    

What does it mean, 'true in and of itself'? This is in contrast to bumping against stuff and the sense that I am not aware of anything except myself. How it affects me is the negative reality and means I will never get to know the truth of the object/other. The soul is in contrast an inner essential light and knows the truth.

The soul knows the essence of something, rather than how it is affecting the person. The Rambam says the basis of all knowledge is to know that there is a first being that brings all into being. Thus each thing has an absolute truth – and this is how the soul knows it – it knows it by the G-dly element. A table becomes not just a human convenience, but a G-dly creation. The soul recognizes the G-dly truth of everything and is thus not affected.

Hashem say he goes down into a 'garden of nuts' – as brought in gemara. The meaning is that though a nut can get dirty, that is just the shell, wash it, and crack it and its is fine for eating. So too Torah and souls are not changed. They can be affected and acquire some impurity, but this does not affect them, since they are the essence of good.  

There is a First Being that brings all into existence. He does not come into being due to the world!! He preceded the world. He is outside the world and comes into it. He comes into the world from outside. He comes first. He retains this primacy. Thus there is no way for G-dliness itself to become impure and to be affected by the world. A mashal/metaphor for this is the way sun shines on the dirt of the world and is unaffected.

Thus 'tov be-etzem' – essentially good – means that the soul and torah are not good 'under the circumstances'. For us good is often the opposite of bad. Or good in our world is circumstantial – 'it is good for this purpose'. Good in the pure sense, like light in a pure sense we cannot conceptualize. When He first made light, there was no body that emanated that light. This is light that represents an essential truth. We think of good as the elimination of suffering and want. Our orientation is physical, with it's constant concern. Tov be-etzem is a soul quality – it is the G-dly goodness.

We cannot relate to it with our intellect, only with our emunah, which is a spark of the soul itself.

The intellect is already dressed in the body and cannot reach what is attained by the intellect.  

Light Up Every Place p: 48

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 48 4/17/2011 Sunday 13 Nissan 5771

Page 48 – about middle of the page (line starts: lechen...)

torah descends and gets involved with worldly affairs – even with low-level issues – false claims (tienot shel sheker). Adjudications can even be made on the basis of a false claim. And lower than than - a guy steals a piece of silver and he does not denies the theft, but he says, 'it really belongs to me' – so he's either a robber or he took the law into his own hands.

Every place where torah goes it affects a birur/clarification. It finds that point by which the G-dly spark can be recognized. It can goe to the lowest elements and does not get affected nor damaged. On the contrary it brings a clarification and G-dly light.

The reason it works this way is because in essence the torah is an inner, essential light, that always stands alone and does not become part of anything else. So even when the torah gets involved in the 'tree of knowledge' – that is it presents in 'terms I can grasp' it is not sullied nor trapped there.

daas/knowledge is only a reflection. All the faculties dressed in the body are only a reflection, with the exception of one – emunah/faith. Emunah/faith is an essence – it is constant – not a process. Emunah/faith is steady – it does not vary.


Human beings agree that there is right and wrong. But you cannot build a legal system on this. It has be be constructed on what society allows. This is a social contract that permits us to set up laws. This is not based on good and bad and Divine will.

Sandvlei, Cape Town, South Africa

So the laws lose their human perspective of right and wrong because they are grabbed and sullied by worldly aspects. Professors teach students how to seduce the jury. Human intelligence can be 'grabbed' to such an extent that it is not guided by the light, but rather by the vessel. The sechel becomes part of the metziut and is perverted.

Torah is also involved in the world, but is not sucked in and perverted by the world.

There can be those who attempt to pervert Torah's meaning, but it does not affect any change in the Torah itself, since it is an essential light, which is never captured and made impure.



The reform and conservative movements said, 'the gemara was put together in their time and put together the laws, why not have our chachamim/wise sages of today address issues from an inception level – turning on a light is effortless, you no longer have to hit a rock and make fire...' and so they pushed for a new perspective. By the Saducees you cannot say they rejected the oral law for personal comfort. We say the motivation was their yeshus. But this did not change the Torah.

'The whole thing is that he can make a mistake!' p: 48

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 48 4/15/2011 Friday 11 Nissan 5771

Page 48 – about middle of the page (line starts: lechen...)

We are looking at the fact that Torah was also enclothed in the tree of knowledge – in the world essentially. But this is not the type of involvement that grasps/limits the torah. It is rather that the torah is from the level of essential light and it directs the world.

The objective of torah is to transform/elevate the world.

It is not grasped by the world, though it is involved in all the intricacies of the world. Torah starts from before the world.

Up until the creation of Adam, there were no human beings. We all acknowledge how this was not a full world. When Adam was created, then the word became a real presence. He brought to the world something higher than world – independence of world.



No animal can transgress. This is only something the human can do – he was the one who was told, 'don't eat from the tree of knowledge'. This also means there is One who tells man. The animals just have a nature, but Adam has an endless capacity, and thus he represents the Creator and he needs his Maker to guide him. Adam perceives that he's here to reveal the glory of his maker.

By making man, the world becomes something that houses G-d Himself. Thus it has a new and different reality.

video to follow...

'Tell me how to live in Your presence!' p: 48

Table Mountain from Milnerton Lagoon

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 48 4/14/2011 Thursday 10 Nissan 5771

Page 48 – about middle of the page (line starts: le ra...)

we are looking at the fact that Torah was also enclothed in the tree of knowledge. Enclothement has to do with ha-arah – reflected light and torah is an essential light. The answer is that it is enclothed for the sake of making a distinction below.

It identifies good and bad, without having to taste each and work with contrasts.

We come into this world and our first awareness is world. And then we start to recognise things, till we say, 'there cannot be a place without a king' and now we start to relate to the king. This is a birur, since he starts from below. Torah brings the manhig/king into the birah/palace. This is the principle of na-aseha/we will do, preceding nisham/understanding. This is due to the king being more real than the structure. Now torah becomes not, 'tell me how to live in your world!' but rather, 'tell me how to live in Your presence!'



The soul comes into the body. The body has 613 parts. Each part gets a different vitality from the soul, but it is one life. This is from Above to below – this is not something created on a physical level. Mishnah notes all the different circumstances and defines the halacha – from above. The essence does not become bound by the garment.

No-one has to be told 'don't walk into fire' – in the future the mitzvot will have this level of clarity to us.

Torah descended and got involved in very low levels – as in the cases of 'false claims'. You may think torah would deal with this by just weeding out the false claims, which is true, the Rav has to scrutinize the witnesses etc, but there is another aspect. If one contestant could have said a lie and the court would not have known of it, then it stands, since torah is dealing with this world.

Hit the rock p: 48

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 48 4/13/2011 Wednesday 9 Nissan 5771

Page 48 – about 8 lines from the top of the page (line starts: eter...)

We went back to emphasize certain points.

Table Mountain, Cape Town

The rebbe says, see that the torah in essence is not of the tree of knowledge but rather in essence of the tree of life. When discussing or analysing on the level of logic, we tend to loose track of 'what we're dealing with'. Going into binah without keeping track of chochmah you loose sense of the 'tree of life'. Torah is coming directly from above. Even the logical elements are a direct emanation from above, not a reaction to an occurance here below.

The rock is not light, but when hit it can give off a spark. The spark is like chochmah. It is not a gradual process. You hit a wall – you hit your head and a spark comes forth...

The source of the chochmah is essence, but it is given into sechel.

The world fits in with the torah, not the other way around. We explain processes in the world by means of logic and 'cause and effect' till you get to a point and have to say, 'the world hangs on Nothing' – 'it is His will that maintains it'. The nefesh cannot be sick – if there are malfunctions, they are on the level of body.

Despite the fact that you learn torah with your mind/sechel, this is not what it is... torah is truth beyond sechel, it is of the 'tree of life.'

'Open up your eyes and you will see' – this is not a matter that needs proof. And to really relate to torah one needs open eyes.



It is only that torah is presented in a logical form – 'the tree of knowledge'. How can an inner light be presented in this form? In order to clarify between good and bad. It clarifies and declares what is good. Torah comes from pnimius/internal level where there is no externality.

All people have mitzvah's – the nations have the 7 mitzvoth b'nei Noach. Animals have not mitzvot. People and animals are totally different creatures. There is also a difference between the Jewish and the other nations. But it is an inner difference that cannot always be seen externally. Torah comes and makes a declaration – how does it come into this world and distinguish between two seemingly similar items? This is because it draws from and declares and inner truth.

What is shown to me p: 48

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 48 4/11/2011 Tuesday 8 Nissan 5771

Page 48 – about 12 lines from the top of the page (line starts: eits hadaas...)

The class began with a discussion about makor/source. In a secular view 'everything made itself' and all energy in the world is negative – for self protection. It is all reactive. There is no true want/desire. Rabbi recalled a conversation with someone who left yeshivah and went into secular thougth, and he said, 'today with psychology we have discovered that the love between mother and child is just selfish'.

The reason they see it this way is due to their perspective.

We don't say, 'I see it because it affects me, I feel it because it affects me, I take it because there is a resevoir'. We say it is given. Sight is what is being shown to me. Everything is given to us from above.

The water we get in the faucet is the same as what is in the reservoir. But in the pipe it is in a totally different level. It flows and covers in the reservoir, but in the pipe it flows in one direction downwards.

Kedusha receives its energy from the willingness of the Giver – via the pipeline. This is the relationship and the proper channels. Klippa just says 'I'll just go and get it from the reservoir'.

p 48 AyinBase Rebbe Rashab

When we breathe, we open our lungs and He puts it into us. Air is a gift that is constant.

If you recognize an element of something being given, then there is a difference between the reservoir and the faucet...

Every word of chassidus is the opposite of the secular world view.

In kedusha all comes through chochmah – he says, 'I chose the King alone. So if I'm going to have water, it will be the King's water and His gift' – he doesn't just want the resource – that's not life – he wants the King Himself.



The Tree of Knowledge has good and bad. Althought daas/knowledge is in kedusha/holiness, it comes as a ha-araah. This means it can lose it's sense of light/good. Since the soul is dressed in the body, one can be mistaken and see life as only a nervous/electrical system.

Emunah/faith is the essence of ohr. Emunah is where we have the essence of the neshamah, but it is not formatted. Torah is an essence – life itself, and cannot be severed from it's source, though it is also enclothed in the world it is not true enclothement.

Review Session - Inner and Outer Life p: 45

Ytzchak Fuchs

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 45 4/11/2011 Monday 7 Nissan 5771

Page 45 - 2nd line from the top of the page (line starts: shebetachton...)

The creation of the world is not from the essence, but not from the inner aspect of the light rather from the external element. This is like the way a teacher cannot give over / teach the most inner aspects of his sechel/mind.

If the teacher cannot give of his inner most mind, how much more so when Ohr ein sof makes the world he needs to make a tzimzum/contraction to conceal the inner light. This tzimzum conceals all of the inner light.



After this contraction of the light there remains a point that contains within it all the light that will be later revealed in the creation of the worlds.

Chochmah is the rashit of atzilus. Atzilus is the intermediary between ohr einsof and the worlds below. It is the source and what substantiates what is below it.

This is a general point and later we has a specific point (nekudah pratit) – which is the chochmah of atzilus – the source for the world.  

“Remember your soul!” p: 48

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 48 4/10/2011 Sunday 6 Nissan 5771

Page 48 - 6 lines from the top (line starts: tov...)

the shiur opened with a description of a mashal/metaphor for understanding how the level of ein/nothing can become a makor/source. Rabbi described the way water in the pipes is the source for the water that flows from the faucet. While the reservoir, though connected to the water in every house is not the local source. The element of flowing is the connection, but in the reservoir the water is passive and resting.

Movement is in the pipe not in the reservoir.

How does the sitra achra get power, if it is not His intent? This is because the kedusha is dressed in garments that conceal the ohr. So the other side get their life from the garments. Externality.

The light is dressed in the physical object it illuminates and makes it possible. Hence we can lose sight of the full impact of light. You begin to see not with your eyes, but with your hands.

The richness of light can be lost completely. It can start to be seen as a physical entity. This is due to the fact that the light is dressed in the object. It became part of it. It is almost like it became captured by it. This means you no longer see that light as separate from the object. If daylight is viewed as that which allows you to see across the street then you are missing the whole point – this can be a byproduct of hislabshut and the life can be lost and it can become sitra-achra/the other side.

In light this is not so serious even though very degrading. On the level of soul more is at stake. We see the soul through the body. And it is possible to view the body as life and forget about the soul altogether. This is the extent of the way there can a capture of holiness.

This problem exists in reflected light / ha-arah but not in essence, essential light. The phenomenon of world means that if light comes without a tzimzum/contraction, then 'world would ceasae to be world'. World per se means physicality.

There is an element of the soul called emunah. It has a completely different nature from the other soul faculties.

When we see light in the world though we experience it as it reflects off objects, we also have a sense of 'daylight' – the new situation that light provides.

This is also true on the soul level. Usually we relate to just physicality. Process and levush / enclothment are related. This is true in the nefesh too – up to the level of chochmah, which comes as a flash of light... So generally if anything we understand the nefesh as it is reflected in the body.

The exception is emunah. It is of a different caliber – emunah means steady/steadfast. It does not come through a process. It does not have give and take and proof – it is the presence of nefesh / soul itself. This is where we experience nefesh/soul per se.

it is not enclothed in the body. 'you know it, but you don't know it' – hence it does not have the limitations seen before. The other side / sitra achra cannot access it.

So the whole matter of the the tree of knowledge of good and bad, means that daas/knowledge is not the problem, is not evil, but that it comes to the level of hislabshut/formatting/enclothment, which can result in the other side gaining from it.

Torah itself came into formatting and hence one can use torah to come to a halacha that is contrary to the intent. But Torah in inherently/essence of the Tree of Life, which is the inner light...



life exists in the area of direct connection to elokus. daas/knowledge is already a process/obstruction. Torah is inherently direct from from Him – like the breath of His mouth. Torah is 'all good – kulo tov!' and there is no ra. Even the punishments in torah are not punishments per se. the act is for cleansing of the soul. Ra itself is not found in Torah.

Torah is the tree of life dressed in the tree of knowledge and this enclothment will be discussed.

Review Session “All is from You” p: 44-45

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 44-45 4/8/2011 Friday 4 Nissan 5771

Page 44 - 7 or 8 lines into the second paragraph (line starts: hashayach...)

Atzmus itself, does not have a relationship to the creation of the world. We reviewed a mashal/metaphor that Rabbi had given us yesterday to understand this concept. He described how the water is you faucet is drawn from the pipes of your home. Though the whole system is provided for by the dam of water, at the time you fill you cup at your sink the dam is uninvolved.

Do we not say, 'from You is everything'? That all is created from the ohr ein sof. So how do we call it 'yesh me ein – something from nothing'? This is because the creation is from a reflection alone – and this reflection is called ein.

And in the ha-arah/reflection itself from the aspect of the pnimiut ha-ohr it would still be impossible to make worlds, but only from the inner aspect of this can the world be made.

p45 

Review Session p: 44

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 44 4/7/2011 Thursday 3 Nissan 5771

Page 44 - top of the page (line starts: ayleh..)

p44, AyinBase, Rebbe Rashab

For video, in a new window, right click here.

“It's all good” p: 48

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 48 4/6/2011 Wednesday 2 Nissan 5771

Page 48 - 8th line from the top of the page (line starts: eter...)

Sechel is only a reflection of essence, it itself is to illuminate, but it is not the essential light. It affects by asking a question. It works with contrasts. Hence it can be pulled to the 'other side'. 1+1 can be looked at in 2 ways. It can be reduced to physicality where it is no longer 2 it is just 1+1.

Above is an emunah/faith level, which cannot be captured in conscious thought. It is steady and not involved with process, by which it would express itself. Emunah affects the person, not the guf/body. Faith cannot be grasped and it is hard to become conscious of it. It can affect daas, which is above sechel. To have daas one has to eliminate all questions, till one perceives truth directly. Daas is like the conclusion and by-passes all the arguments.

This is like the baal tshuvah, who grew up in different ways. So he would seem to miss the 'youth' in his path. We say the moment of decision is for him the moment of youth, since it is the revelation of youthful daas, emunah, faith.



Torah itself is beyond sechel. Yet it is revealed in the tree of knowledge. Thus there are aspects of right and left and the Torah is enclothed. In essence the Torah is the “tree of life” which is the inner aspect of light. To illustrate, when one's life is measured by what he can produce, we see that it is incongruous. Life cannot be measured against procurement/achievement. Life is not a functional element. Life has functional manifestations, like walking and talking, but that is not life.

Chaim/life is higher than oneg/pleasure!

Torah is in essence the tree of life and above being grasped in sechel. It is the inner aspect of light and cannot be reformatted into another medium. However one has to learn it and follow its directives, which is on the level of the 'tree of knowledge'.

So it does not facilitate life, it gives life. The life that the soul provides is above world. Torah elevates world to the truth of its Creator. Torah gives life without a process, since above all our striving to understand we do a mitzvah because it is from Above. The trick is that Israel accepted Torah beyond their faculties.

Connection to Light p: 48

1909, Reb Pinchas Karlinskii, 84 yrs old, 66yrs service, supervisor: Chernigov Floodgate. Photo: Prokudin-Gorskii (1863- 1944)

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 48 4/5/2011 TuesdayNight 1 Nissan 57711

Page 48 - 2nd line from the top of the page (line starts: mem'mem...)

the sitra achra / other side does not even get a reflection of G-dliness. So hence its existence is only due to the 'garments that conceal'.

One can see with your eyes or with your hands. When you see in the light you see an element of truth. Light alerts to there being a purpose and meaning of the creation. Hence we can relate to it without touching it. When you see with your hands you just have the levushim/garments.

Zeekoevlei, Cape Town, South Africa

The sitrah achrah / other side can thrive in an environment where the light is concealed and you only see that which you can touch.

When the tzimzum went through shvirat ha keilim / breaking of the vessels, then you can have the setting where there is a loss of connection with light.

it is possible to be completely oblivious and say, “this is all physical, this is all body, if you want to find joy, 'go and have a good time!' that's a good time for the soul?!”

Daas is an element of grasp. This means the topic is dressed in garments. You attend to their limits – definitions are made. This is daas as we experience it. The true element of daas is different. It is not the matter of, 'I have a grasp, but I have the reality – I have a feel for the entire area'. It is not in contrast to anything else – it is a feel for the terrain.

Daas is a grasp that goes directly to the truth itself. The Rebbe emphasises that the Rambam says ledaas/know that there is a First Creator. And this is a knowing without contrast to anything else. It means I have a feel for this truth. It is not by means of contrast. First Being, doesn't have a contrast. So this level of knowing is on the level of kedusha, even though it is on the level of knowing.



It is conscious knowledge which is below emunah. Emunah is essence of the soul. It is so pure that it is not translated. Daas/knowledge is more able to relate to effect. Ein sof cannot be affected by anything finite. Daas speaks of the effect, but it is in kedusha and nevertheless from it can ultimately come something of klipa.

Essential and internal light cannot be dressed in garments and cannot be drawn to klipa.

The rebbe said about his father-in-law, the previous rebbe that he did not have to intend to do things, 'for the sake of Heaven', since his whole existence was for the sake of Heaven, was given over to Him. The rebbe is an exception to the rule, that there is no essence in the world. The rebbe performs miracles, without special intent or preparation – a man goes to the airport and the rebbe gives him 2 dollar bills – which was unusual. At the airport he meets a yid that was nervous, 'I always travel with my rebbe dollar and now I don't have it with me.'

'Oh, the other man says, now I see why the Rebbe gave me two dollar bills, here have this one...!”

Beyond Contracts p: 47-8

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 47-8 4/5/2011 Tuesday 1 Nissan 5771

Page 47 - 5 lines from the end of the page (line starts: eloki...)

Life everywhere originates in Elokus/G-dliness, but it can go through so many contractions, that it can become completely oblivious.

The entire process of creation is by virtue of the level of ha-arah/reflection and hence due to the many contractions you can land up with something external.

From the perspective of pnimiut, one desires one portion of his own versus 9 portions of his fellow's. He has a relationship to it. On an external level he doesn't care about how it was acquired.

p 48, R' Rashab, AyinBase

 Hashem says, 'okay, my externality can be 'taken', but my glory I do not give to another.' That is to say the essence cannot be separated from its source. We function in a material world, which is part of seder hishtalshalus, yet at any moment we can say they shema, which is a recognition of Him and there is no 'metziut' without Him and thus no separation whatsoever.

That the sitrah achrah / the other side, comes out and exerts itself is due to the concealment of the source. Creations are a reflection of the light that makes them,but the other side is not from the reflection/light, like the other creations, which recognize their source, but the sitrah achrah is not representative of a reflection of the G-dly faculty. Rather, their existence is from the garments that hide.



The body is physical, but feels, pain and delight, showing that there is a level of life that is imbued in the body. Sitrah achrah does not even have that level of sensitivity. The roar of the lion is it calling for its prey. Klipah does not have this. All animals have a degree of sensitivity to their young. Klipah doesn't even have the negative sensitivity. It relates entirely to the levush and not to the light. This is like relating to the body rather than to the life. Unfortunately we have ample illustration of this in today's world.

When psychology says, 'all human experiences are from within himself, and all his interests are a reaction to himself' then there is no cognizance to a greater reality or to reality per-se. From klipa perspective 1 and 1 is just 1 and 1 and not 2. they look to find the core in the entity that creates the whole evolutionary process. And they look for a replacement for G-d, while claiming to search for the truth...

“You enliven them all” p: 47

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 47 4/4/2011 Monday 29 AdarBase 5771

Page 47 - 9 lines below the end of the page (line starts: hi hakavanah...)

The inner factor of all real unions is that they are inherently one.

What does it mean that 'He enlivens them all”? chayut/life is a principle, in a human being you see the body, not the 'life' itself, yet we are immediately aware of chayut.

It is that which presents by saying, 'yes, I am in a limited body, but there is an inherent, infinite reality that is not contained or revealed by this limited form'! Chayut is the sensitivity to the greater/absolute truth. The chayut/life of the soul is its connection to Him. There is a oneness with the real One. Real separation evaporates into nothingness.

this is to say the most external level is also a recipient of G-dly energy. If something 'is', then it is a participant in overall existence. Everything has a relationship with the overall reality. Physicality seems to talk only of itself.



Your money comes through your work, not from the work. There is no such thing as money just from work. Every amount of income that one receives is connected the entire reality. One wanting to disassociate from the overall reality is a search for an impossible situation – he focuses on the external element.

Everything despot will fall. And the Jew is constant enemy since the Jew is connected to reality and the despot is continually making a false claim and hence trying to bolster his position which is continually eroding. The dictator acts as if he owns the world. But he does not. The only way he can hold his position is by destruction. The truth is Him – the One who creates all and the despot makes a false claim to high position.

Essence does not imbue itself in chitzonim – they can only have ha-arah/reflection, not essence.

Resources Unlimited p: 47

Jewish children, with their teacher, Samarkand, 1910

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 47 4/3/2011 Sunday 28 AdarBase 5771

Page 47 - a few lines below the middle of the page (line starts: chitzoniut...)

Holiness also has externality, but it never disassociates from its source. Klipa takes the externality and runs away with it – that is all it is interested in.

That chochmah and binah both recognize an advantage in the other (klipa wouldn't be interested in anything beyond itself). Peretz Mutchkin explains that a pig lies in dirty/mud and that's not enough – he needs to roll in it. He's very satisfied with where he is and there's no telling him to clean up his act.

P 47 (lower half), R' Rashab

Being aware of an element that I don't have and wanting to relate to it, is cognizance of a greater truth.

Learning Rebbe Rashab's chassidus, with R' Paltilel, 2011 

Chochmah and binah form a union based on knowing they will gain – and this is called external. They don't have the cognizance of being one with the other – being 2 halves of one entity.

Once they are in a marriage, they don't ask, 'what's in it for me? What do I get?' they now are in a state of 'let's strengthen this union'.

In the world there is not state of pnimi and atzmus (inner essence). Only if you see the world from the Creator perspective will the G-dly/essential element be revealed.

His desire for Torah and Mitzvot is essential. This is the opposite of a worldly perspective, that rules come to secure and civilize the world. But the truth is the opposite: to reveal Torah and Mitzvoth, the world was created.



When you see in everything in this world in terms of Elokus, then you make a dwelling place for Him.