“No Message” p: 47

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 47 6/30/11 ThursdayNight 28 Sivan 5771

Page 47 – at 11th line from the top of the page (line starts:  levad...)

We started with a review of the love and fear of the mind/sichli, that appears to be touching on the essence, but that too is only a reflection/ha-arah, because the idea, that He is omnipresent and infinite is itself just the level of ha-arah/reflection. It too is an emanation of Him.

Elokus/G-dliness itself is on a different level. It has no message.

Everything in creation, if it is a 'thing' is of an external level.

How is love and fear rooted in sechel/mind? They seem to be a subjective element. And sechel seems objective. It is pointing to the fact that the sechel/mind itself is rooted in ratzon/will. The love and fear are the ratzon/will element within the sechel itself. A higher element within sechel. Sechel is not based on 'nothingness', it is based on elokus/G-dliness. There is no greater experience than sechel – sechel pnimi/inner mind. 'Knowing' Him is rooted in the essence of the soul and the sechel gets it from there.

Doing a mitzvah is a 'grasp' of essence. A mitzvah is a good thing, but this is not the principle of the mitzvah. The name itself denotes the principle. It means a 'command or directive' and a directive does not exist without a 'Director'. A mitzvah exists because the Commander wants and creates it right now. Thus you have the Commander Himself. It is completely dependent on the Commander and there is no object beyond this. Putting on tefillin is nothing, but that He tells you to do it.

Take the example of shlichut – being an emissary. You go out to do something for the one who sends you. If a man sends a bill of divorce to his wife by means of the agent, but on the way the husband/sender dies... then the document is null and void. The power of the agent exists exclusively because now the sender is telling him to do it. This is a metaphor for mitzvot.

Because He said to do it, hence the halacha has a conclusion. Even if the final decision seems to be on the basis of a count of pros and cons – this is not according to sechel, but because the halacha is a devar havayah (word of G-d). Sechel would demand that you start comparing the reasons themselves. You bypass the sechel process. Halacha is a different level.  

It is said that even souls in atzilus, when enclothed in a body do not comprehend the essence of G-dliness, only the experience.

Atzilus is not really a world. It is G-dly. It is like the sunlight within the sun itself... Yet souls from that level are limited when enclothed in bodies... this is what we have discussed many times, that when in a body, and even though the brain is very sensitive, it is limited. Like rough hands cannot feel the smoothness of silk... The brain does not get involved in experience, it is cold and moist, and a vessel for everything, and sechel/mind is not a physical experience, nevertheless it occupies space and is limited – deals with presence/metzius and not mehus/essence...

Prophecy is the revelation of essence. When Moshe/Moses spoke it was not a human being talking. He could stand steadfast and talk. In contrast to other prophets, who 'lost control'. For Moshe the enclothment in physicality was not real limited restriction by the body.

This is the same with the Rebbe. With the Rebbe we saw it with our eyes. He would pick up the cup and in the later years he would support it with his finger, then after he would stand for hours, without support and pour perfectly into all the recipients' little cups without spilling a drop...  

And when the soul goes up above to Gan Eden (Garden of Eden) then it is possible to have essence, since they are not limited by physicality. This explains the fact that the Arizal saw secrets when he slept – since when tzaddik sleeps his soul rises upwards, and he saw what would take him 80 years to express...!

“Mystic Motors” p: 47

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 47 6/30/11 Thursday 28 Sivan 5771

Page 47 – at 11th line from the top of the page (line starts: levad...)

We started the shiur with a look at 'love and fear on the level of sechel/mind'.

The extensive discussion we have been having is to lay out and show how all in the world from the spiritual to the physical, including the function of souls below is all only a reflection – it is not an essence. Sechel/mind, our highest faculty is also only a reflection.

Hishtalshalus/development from infinite to the finite is also a G-dly process itself. It is not just that there is a lower level coming about from a higher level – rather the story here is about how a G-dly element can be traced through to each level – this testifies to a direct G-dly presence. In physicality there is also a kind of hishtalshalus – there is internal combustion resulting in secondary and tertiary motion – this is translated to the level of turning the wheels! The motion originated in the motor, but by the time it reached the wheel the movement is detached from the source...

The lowest level is still energized by the highest level. 

'Love and fear on the level of sechel/mind', though one of the great phenomenon is still not essence. Sechel/mind does relate to the truth of something, in contrast to middot/emotions. The Alter Rebbe says the heart of man reflects the other's heart like water reflects a face. He says, 'imagine a great king comes to a man sunk in the dirt and lifts him and cleans him, and the simple man's heart will melt in love of the king'. It is love that elicits love. Your feelings brought out my feelings. This is a personal experience/response as opposted to an objective truth.

But when it comes to sechel, it is on a different level. We can recognize things at the truth level, rather than at the personal level. So, 'I understand the greatness of The King, not how He affects me.' Now when the sechel is fully engaged it creates a love an fear based on truth, not personal experience, it seems essential, and 'I am drawn to Him in love, not because He draws me, but because it is worthy to go that way...' This in general what separates souls from angels, who generally don't attain this level. Angels are constantly aroused due to their closeness. The souls are higher. So it seems essential, 'why else are you drawn to it?! Because of essential truth, surely!' But the Rebbe says 'all of that is only on the level of chitzonius/externality!

Saying 'He is everywhere, at all times' is not an essential description, since it comes down to being a 'time and space' description. So too recognizing His Greatness is not essence.

“You do not understand, love is real!” p: 47

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 47 6/29/11 Wednesday 27 Sivan 5771

Page 47 – at 6th line from the top of the page (line starts: vechen...)

The presence of a Jew gives substance to the world. His mere being byond his activity. 

The expression of something spiritual and even one's emotions can be grasped, but not the essence.

Some people think they can understand everything and they deny the spiritual quality of the human being. They reduce the human being to an interaction between organs or other entities. As a result of this they deny the existence of the soul. Love/ahavah says chassidus is the deepest emotion and connects us with G-d and with others. As far as they can see it doesn't exist and everything has an ulterior motive.

They become sure of this position. They say shame or embarassment is just social, not a soul expression. And that love is just machination.

Since we cannot grasp the essence, so what makes it real? Only because you know on a deeper level that there is a 'first Creator' and so this makes the creation real...

it goes without saying that going into greater permissiveness or promiscuity will not lead to purpose or satisfaction. Contact with a true Jewish element will give him deep satisfaction. He looks for and comes into contact with the 'truth of his existence'.

P 47, AyinBase, Rebbe Rashab (right click to enlarge and open in new wiindow)

Kids are told, 'you'll become an engineer and make money and be a somebody!' and the kid answers, 'I cannot build myself on external means, it doesn't speak to me, I have to be real, then I can do something.'

“Not something that he, himself can understand” p: 47

Sketch of Moshe, by Hershel Boncheck

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 47 6/28/11 Tuesday 26 Sivan 5771 

Page 47 – at end of first line from the top of the page (line starts: mehut...)

Stepping back slightly: we are saying that the sechel/mind that the angels have is only a reflection. In fact sechel overall is a reflection – not essence.

Sechel/mind is not the ability to maneuver mental constructs, but rather the conception of reality itself.

'No thought can grasp Him at all' – an thus sechel/mind and understanding is not on the level of essence.

Sechel even at the higher level is not at a primary level. Thus it is a reflection.

Elokus/G-dliness is known not by observation. Sechel is not an imaginary aspect. One may say, 'well here's a world, and thus there is a Creator, and I start projecting what He is like this and like that....', but that is just imagining and projecting. Chochmah goes further and has a direct relating. Hasaga in elokus/G-dliness is a reverse process. Elokus is a primary presence and it is omnipresent. So in essence it is not sechel/mind nor a reflection.

The reason we know it is by virtue of its omnipresence. We know it before comprehension. hasaga/understanding comes later at a secondary level...

Though understanding in general is only a reflection, but since understanding in Elokus is in omnipresence, one my think it is essential. But the level of G-dliness that is grasped is only a reflection and His essence cannot be grasped.

There is essence, a G-dly essence in man. We have metaphors to look at this, but it cannot be grasped. A man's malchus extends to every corner of his home, but it cannot be defined, nor grasped.

A thing is not an etzem/essence. The essence is in the source. The fact that He creates it gives it essence. The fact that a man is present even when he is not present is not something that he himself can understand, and thus he may deny it and start to live more on an experiential level rather than on an essential level. We cannot grasp the eternity and essential nature of ourselves. 

“Angels and Men” p: 47

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 47 6/26/11 Sunday 24 Sivan 5771 

Page 47 – at end of first line from the top of the page (line starts: mehut...)

angels don't have the essential quality. Angels cannot do what man does. When man was brought into the world it changed everything and gave the world a real/significant presence that it never had before. The man doesn't have to do anything to have this effect. Angels cannot contribute this quality. Man brings a real presence.

Both animals and humans have sight. An animal sees and reacts. A man sees and responds. He identifies the essential presence and then acts if necessary. Man sees the presence. The animal sees a reflection/ha-arah. An animal doesn't relate to 'reality' – it relates to the effect. The sechel/mind of the angels is like a reflection.

The 'nothingness' of space represents the G-dly domain that provides for everything. We cannot identify the essence of space/nothingness and so too cannot grasp how it is a positive presence. Sechel is a ha-arah and can grasp only that which has a function. And so it says of space, 'it does not resist what is put there', but this is just a functional feature of space.

This is like asking, 'what was G-d doing before he made the world?' and this question seems valid, but that is only because, 'we have absolutely no idea what we are talking about'.

At a certain point sechel/mind, falls short. But man has an essential quality.

The pure truth that comes via torah is a G-dly quality that cannot be grasped by sechel.

Everything has a true presence and cannot be usurped by another true presence. Thus if 2 snowflakes collide the world will be destroyed. The G-dly element, even at this low level, is impossible to understand. We see the flake as frozen vapour – a natural process, that is not opposed. But that a snowflake is a G-dly element – we don't see that – but that is the reality, and so too of every variation of nature, and thus it cannot be interfered with. sechel/mind cannot grasp this truth. 

“Beyond Conviction” p: 46

Sketch of Yehudah, by Hershel Bonchek

 AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 46 6/26/11 Sunday 24 Sivan 5771

Page 46 – at end of 3^rd line from the end of the page (line starts: hamehavum...)

We concluded discussing the 'ha-arah' element in creation. We showed how all and even the angels with emotion and mind, are still only from this element of 'reflection'.

It an angel experiences a light beyond their level they become completely nullified.

Matisyahu, going for some chassidus....

The angel has mind, and feels like 'it is really there'. mind/comprehension is amazing! It is the furthest thing from being 'natural'. 

Sight is a good metaphor for the kind of comprehension we are talking of. Sight too is 'unnatural'. Sight brings us the truth of what we see, to such an extend that no further substantiation is needed.

Touch is secondary, it is like 'knowing things through myself' as opposed to knowing things as they are unto themselves, through sight. Sight doesn't need substantiation.

Dancing in the steets, Lag Bomer, 5771, 2011, Crown Heights

The same is true in sechel/mind. We learn things and become convinced they are true. This is not imaginary. We don't say, 'I should see it this way, since sechel is telling me to see it this way' - this is not sechel. Sechel is a direct contact/sighting of the topic. This means I have it on an internal level. This is indicative of being a real a existence.  

How do we differentiate between real hasaga/mind and imaginary conception. A simple answer is 'it is not possible to be different'.

This is a miraculous gift and it exists exclusively in a human being.

Naftali giving a gemara shiur

This is what the Rambam says, the beginning and foundation of sechel/mind is to know that there is a First Being. And without that recognition, you find the world on the basis of your experience of it – that's not chochmah/mind. Know the world has a basis before your experience of it! Then you can have chochmah/sechel/mind. Then the world is real. Without this you just have personal experience. 

Angels have knowledge – they are masig elokus – they have comprehension. Thus they are real. You cannot comprehend something real unless you are real.

An angel can speak in the name of Hashem. We cannot. The angel speak in His name and he is also a shaliach/emmisary of G-d. While the angel is totally given over to serve Him, yet at the same time he feels like he is carrying Hashem's message. Yet they become null when there is a greater light than what they can tolerate. They sense they are real, but they lack a final level of reality. 

Man accomplishes what angels cannot.

The human being brings the whole world to a different perspective. He brings reality to the world. It is a folly to explain the world to man from the perspective of world. Man brings significance to world. When planning the moon landing, the Rebbe was asked if there was any objection to moom exploration. He answered, 'there's no problem, but they will be disappointed with what they find.' The reality of world (and the moon) is based on man and torah.

The RAMBAM

The angels are not essential (as are the souls of man), but are only a reflection. They are a reflection of the truth – not the truth itself...

“Day on Earth” p: 46

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 46 6/23/11 ThursdayNight 22 Sivan 5771

Page 46 – 4 lines from the end of the page (line starts: kuli...) 

It says in Tanya that the creations are just a 'reflection from the Source that makes them' – and that has to be qualified – 'they are not the reflection, but rather the reflection of the reflection'.

The sun is a metaphor for us of essence. And the sun has a 'reflection' and 'a reflection of a reflection'. The sun is a bright essence. The brightness is not on a functional level. It makes the statement, 'the primary state of existence is light and not dark – the light is not to counter the darkness'. For us knowledge comes after not knowing. Light after darkness. The sun does not have this element. It says, 'light is the primary state!'

Light in our world has 2 levels. Light to be used get around, and the other is the light that makes 'day' (a state of light, where darkness is banished). The light of the sun provides illumination. But the sun itself provides 'day' – a new state. This is due to the presence of the sun itself. It is the 'reflection' – ha-arah of the sun itself that makes day. The ha-arah tells you what the sun it. It does not make worldly phenomena, since light which fights darkness is worldly, but 'day' is not really a worldly phenomena.

Light changes and moves. We know light by shadow and shade. We can see how the sun moves. The experience is within a worldly parameter. The shadows change hour to hour. But the element of 'day' does not change. As long it is day, you don't feel the closeness of night. So it doesn't have worldly parameters.

Creations are made from the reflection of the reflection of the creator. This is equivalent to the light which is functional, as opposed to transformational. The stone makes a statement about its presence. The stone is mute yet quietly announces - 'I am being created'.

The functional element of the essence is not represented in the creation. Emunah/faith is a ha-arah/reflection of the soul and the faculties of man are a ha-arah of the ha-arah.

Our original question: if everything is ha-arah, so how come the angels have sechel which represent a being that is 'an actual thing'.     

“The Defficiency of Angels” p: 46

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 46 6/23/11 ThursdayNight 22 Sivan 5771

Page 46 – about middle of the page (line starts: ha tachton...) 

A subtle point. The creations above – the angels, though real creations, created from spiritual unions, but since they are sourced of spiritual unions they lack a final level of being a full-fledged entity unto itself.

When the rooster calls, in the morning one makes a bracha! Where do we see He is involved?! The answer is that the sound of the rooster is aroused from above. The root of the bird below is from the angel gavriel above. When the angel sings, the rooster crows!

What does it indicate for us? Though the rooster is real, it is a direct reflection of the way things are above. Man is different, though also a reflection of above, he is a replica and can hence do 'his own thing'. The other creations are reflections and hence must do as guided from above. They do according to their nature. Animals react, but humans respond! The human stance – standing and walking, is not 'natural'. It is entirely intellectual.

Angels are nullified when their source shines on them. This is not like the humility and nullity of the simpleton in the presence of a wise man. He still has a presence, yet in terms of wisdom he will be humble and receive. Angels on the other hand will go into heder metziut – this is absence of presence. This is the shortfall of the angels, though they have emotion and mochin/mind – they lack the actuality of human beings.

They do not possess an element called resistance. Hence the angel will dissipate in the face of greater light. A human in the face of greater truth, that he cannot grasp will still stand.

The angel lacks an essential presence. The human soul has an essential presence. Creations represent His creative power, but human beings represent G-d Himself (to such an extent that safeguards had to be put in place lest the creatures see man as G-d!)

What did Amalek do? 'He knows his Creator and intentionally rebels against Him!' what about Pharoah? Didn't he rebel against G-d and His people?! Pharoah king of Egypt saw open miracles. But he did not see the Miracle Maker. Amalek is different – he approached Israel en route to matan torah – mount Sinai and their souls were aflame – this is not a miracle – this is an actual G-dly presence. To have chutzpah to interfere with that presence, which supersedes all miracles is a lower level. This is more than what Pharoah did.

Angels are proof of the G-dly power, but the human being is presence – a G-dly presence.

The angels are an existence under certain circumstances. The human soul is a real existence, beyond circumstances.

“Angels in the Architecture” p: 46

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 46 6/23/11 Thursday 21 Sivan 5771 

Page 46 – about 10th line of the page (line starts: omdim...)

How are the angels created from an external union, when they have emotion and mochin/mind? They have a gasp of things (hasaga) independently of how it strikes them. This indicates and independent stance.

The answer to this is that at the level of deeper truth the angels are not 'real entities' (davar mamash). Something a person says, exists till he stops talking. It does not create a 'stand alone' entity. But if you build something physical and you want it not to exist, it needs to be dismantled. This means it becomes an actual 'physical thing'. Angels lack this quality.

When man was made, truth arrived. G-d's representative was put in his creation. The Creator was present, and the world became a real existence. Angels function like real creations, but they lack this truth of 'stand alone' creations. Only man can sin. They are an existence unto themselves and can think independently of their creator. Man's positive deeds create the world.

“Light Around the World” p: 46

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 46 6/22 Wednesday 20 Sivan 5771

Page 46 – 7th line of the page (line starts: vekan...)

The unity of chochmah and binah is comprable to spiritual hashpaa/mentorship. This is at the level of reflection, not essence. So why do we say that by it angels are created? And the angels have emotion and mochin/mind, which is indicative of a 'fully-fledged' presence.

Emotions are a sense and a presence, but that's not a question, since it is not providing independent existence, as mochin does.

Human beings respond to situations, by evaluation, but animals react without cognition. There is no element of intelligence in an animal. A human, by contrast processes things internally as do angels.

There are higher level angels, called seraphim, that understand beyond what they experience. They understand holiness and strive for it.

Soul Live p: 46

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 46 6/21/2011 Tuesday 19 Sivan 5771 


Page 46 – 2nd line of the page (line starts: ku...)


When thinking from the external element of the world, it becomes the dominant reality and one can completely lose sight of the fact that there is pnimiut – an internal level. The inner level is the spirit and essence, rather than 'what place does it occupy'. In our world something that is 'unto itself' is without function, and a non-presence. So it is always necessary to go back and reflect on the fact that chochmah and binah are great, but they represent not what they can accomplish, but rather 'that there is a nefesh'.


Nefesh / soul is an 'essence of life' and cannot be described by its function. Thus we say faculties of the soul are the external elements, and emunah/faith represents the nefesh/soul itself. Emunah is illusive and cannot be grasped, 'it is that you are alive and have a nefesh/soul'.





The union of chochmah and bina, we have been describing, is external. This is zivug ruchni – a spiritual union.

A point to understand: 'hasaga' is a defining factor in an entity. Hasaga is sechel. An entity that has different faculties and even 'emotions' – like animals, but does not have sechel, is not a full-fledged entity. It is an off-shoot of the situation/progenitor that made it. It lack independence. It is all reactive. It depends on that which affects it. 


Sechel give real presence. What is so special about sechel? If something is reactive then their orientation is their source, they ask, 'how does this affect me?' Sechel asks for and sees the meaning of things.

Real Mind p: 45

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 45 - 6 6/20/2011 Monday 18 Sivan 5771

Page 45 - 6 – last line of the page (line starts: kmo...) 

Bina brings something into existence on the level of thought. Malchus brings it into actual existence.

Thought on the one hand is an external presence, yet on the other hand it is privy to the chochmah – it is a very close garment.

The union of chochmah/nothing and binah/something is the source of the worlds. But this is only involving their external levels and thus a reflection results. Sometimes we confuse thought with chochmah and binah. Thought is only the presentation of them, not the way they are in the nefesh.

For us, since we experience things at the external level, we think of understanding as observation. Yet this is not really sechel/mind in the real sense of the world. Then there is real sechel – 'the understanding of how things operate is because I understand the truth behind it – things fall down – gravity pulls them – this is not sechel, this is identification of the fact – the sechel is that in the world things fall down – this is telling you about the world. The physical situation is 'as it is' due to a real principle. Thus that things fall down represents that in the world everything senses its source/root is in the earth. The exception to that is the soul of man which is not rooted in the earth. Sechel is not significant to physical phenomena. You see via mind. It sees what things stand for.'

'Fire is the ein of world and it rises. It rises up to the boundary of the word. The soul of man is drawn to a higher perspective completely – it doesn't want to be part of world...!'

'Sechel is a certain way of relating to and observing things. And it is to some extent separate from how things present themselves on the physical level. In sechel is chochma and binah. There is the something and nothing. There is the union of these and the coming into existence of world.'

Constant Union p: 45

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 45 6/19/2011 Sunday 17 Sivan 5771  


Page 45 – lower third of the page – 5 lines from the end (line starts: al yedei yichud...)


In order for there to be creation, the infinity of Him has to reveal itself in the form of ha-arah – ein – nothingness – that is a reflection that is aware of Him. This is then developed in the creation of worlds.


Chochmah is privy to the ein sof. In its place ein sof is itself in chochmah there is the awareness of the ein sof. This means there is an outside. This awareness in chochmah is pure, but within it are already details. From this is formed binah. It is the actualization of the detail element of chochmah. This is like sight – it is instantaneous, but the whole panorama is included.


The union of chochmah and bina is constant. Binah develops the chochmah. But its aim is not to be come a something unto itself, but to be the metziut of chochmah.


In a house, you don't live it the walls, you live in the space. This space is one with the space outside the walls and it is the same space from before the house was built. You are aware of the connection. This is a mashal of chochmah and bina. Binah knows that its space is connected to the total reality. If the connection is severed this is misery. It lives from the connection/bitul.  





This is like the value of a house. Not the walls but the location, makes the house.


How do we see a vast vista in one instant? This is because we see not the space, but the basis of the space. The space is real because it has a real source. We cannot conceptualize infinity. We has spoken about malchus – 'the man is a king in his home' - the house realizes a certain reality of malchus. Malchus is a unique quality, without functional elements.


'What's a king?!' He cannot be defined. Yet it is this element gives man and his country reality. An intruder violates your domain. This is because you have a real presence.


This is marriage. It gives reality to a family. There is no functionality. And it separates between holiness and the opposite. This is the eality we recognize in site. It connects us beyond function.


This is the creation of a real world. The light of chochmah shining into binah. This is the union that makes the world.


Chochmah and binah are nothingness and something. Binah constantly looks up to the chochmah. This is a something/yesh that is in constant contact with its ein/nothingness. So it is no a real yesh/discrete entity. This is first seen in actual creation and occurs by means of malchus.

This actual creation represents the person much more than his chochmah and bina. The creation represents him in creation.  


What is 'an internal creation'? This is not imaginary! What kind of yesh is it? This is understood by recalling how we can see a wide vista in one moment. The secular world sees space as 'nothingness' – 'it doesn't provide for, nor object to anything'. We have a completely different view of this space/nothingness. We say it is 'malchus – G-dly presence'. Just like your home is your domain, all of it, even if you are sitting in one corner, this is the ein form of the person, so too this world is all His.


This is what provides for the reason why I can set up a whole home with furnishings, vessels etc. Ultimately things find their place in my domain. This is why it is there. Not due to the space. Domain is more basic than space.


The reality of chochmah is the truth of the soul, of the ratzon. This ratzon is the domain of the soul. It is real, not imaginary. The domain is provided by his own soul. It is a domain in inner space. The soul is the inner reality and it is expansive and creates a domain.

“Continual Union” p: 45

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 45 6/17/2011 Friday 15 Sivan 5771

Page 45 – lower third of the page – 5 lines from the end (line starts: al yedei yichud...) 

we said the world is made by the union of nothingness/chochmah and something/bina. This goes back to the expression, 'it is not yet a metzius/presence' – that is to say that chochmah has an element of metzius – it takes essence from the 'outside'. Due to this element it can connect constantly with bina. The real full expression of chochmah is thru binah.

The chochmah has the potential for structure.

Bina is yesh/something, but is still in constant contact with chochmah. The object of bina is not to have something independent, but to understand that which chochmah sees.

Binah always asks, 'why do I understand this?' and thus feels the illumination of the source.

Bina and chochmah have a constant union. Although bina is a yesh, and is structured and can be disinterested, yet it looks for the light/purpose. Real binah is a quest for truth, for chochmah and asks, 'how can I present this insight to myself'.

Binah is not like middot/emotions that get excited on their own, it is part of sechel/mind.

“Flying Sparks!” p: 45

Cape Town, Table Mountain

AyinBase with R' Paltiel p: 45 6/15/2011 ThursdayNight 14 Sivan 5771 

Page 45 – lower third of the page (line starts: ein lemaalota...)

Okay, we are looking at why wisdom/chochmah is called nothing/ein. It is not yet a thing. It is an emanation and not essence. It becomes a presence when it becomes a 'stand-alone' entity. Thus it is actually still reflective of the essence.

The example of this is a point of mind/sechel that is not yet formulated. It is called barak ha-mavrik – a flying spark. It cannot yet be grasped.  

Essence is called nothing, not because it is not real. Chochmah is not yet formulated and thus still closer to the essence.

Etzem/essence has been discussed for a while and it is impossible to grasp since the world is all a 'structured presence'. All we can point to as metaphor is the space that the object occupies.

The house is the space it encompasses. The space cannot even be described as a function. It is essence/reality itself. It provides the basis, but not in a functional manner. It is way above the function it provides. Space is automatically everywhere. The revelation of chochmah/wisdom is so refined and so pure and keen to portray the essence that it is not its own presence. It has not structure or presentation of its own. This is why it is called a 'flying spark'.

The world doesn't have a continued presence. The continuity of the world is due to a reflection of chochmah/wisdom that comes to it continually. 

From the joining of nothingness and something all the creations came into being. And this union is constant.

Like we say 'He, in His kindness, renews each day His work of creation'!  

We just said chochmah is ein/nothing, like a spark that flies out, since it represents the essence – just a point without constant presence. And this is the source of the world. This chochmah is like sight. Sight exists only while we see the panorama. If you gaze at the view which is in the form of the flying spark, it is that the sight is constantly rejuvenated. This is like chochmah – a momentary experience that is continually renewed. If you loose sense that the world is a creation, then it becomes nothing.

The chochmah must hover there, since without it the bina dies. There is a world on a constant basis since it is being continually created! If the union of something and nothing would cease, there would cease to be an existence of world. The world would die. All would be insignificant. 

The union of chochmah and bina gives the world its constant life and vitality. Purpose is a statement that says, 'Hashem wants it' and it comes to the world via chochmah. Chochmah is the ein/nothingness that can translate His will...