“Not Your Own Vantage Point” p: 65

AyinBase with R' Paltiel Wednesday 9 Tevet 5772 

Page 65 – about a third into the page (line starts, 'veka-asher hu...')

See link (top right) for link to all pages of the text.

We are starting at the beginning of the thought... we are looking at the effect of the two: hasagat hametziut and hasagat hamehus.

Metziut is external. So what is it adding? The principle is that the reflection from a higher level has a superiority over the essence of the lower level. And the combination of the two creates a special affect.

The prophet has a grasp of metziut that is of a higher level. How is that? The prophet has sighting of reality itself – in prophesy he sees to a certain level and with his chochmah he sees up to atzilus. The point is that when he comprehends atzilus he understands it as it is grasped from the level of yetzirah. Chochmah is like sight from a distance, it gives understanding, but does not move the person. Prophesy is like physical sight and yetzirah becomes his level. Though the prophet is a man in a physical body, still his whole basis of reality changes.

There is a great difference in the grasp of atzilus from yetzirah in contrast to how it is viewed from the level of asiah.

Prophesy is not like one who sees from his own vantage point. He enters a new reality.

Moses was always in the state of prophesy. But he was absolutely unique. Other prophets had to 'step into' that mode. But the prophet is different even when not in the state of prophesy. This can be understood by the difference between two blind men – one had sight previously and one never had this faculty.

There is a halacha, that if you carry on Shabbat, and in the vessel is a piece of food that belongs there, then the vessel is secondary to the food, and then the transgression is measured by the food not the vessel. In this world of asiyah this halacha makes no sense! This halacha/law is a Torah view. It is a higher perspective on the whole phenomenon of existence – it is a Torah view. From a world view he carries 2 things – a pot and the food. This is not the Torah view. Torah says, 'this is a G-dly world, things are a creation when they expose a G-dly element, the sun gives light – the real value is what it provides'.

The conclusion of this argument is that all is for the sake of the human being. The G-dly significance is real from the perspective of 'what the world was created for...' If something occurs that does not touch the human being, then it has no significance.

When you see what things stand for versus their physical presence, you see a completely different world. The primary difference between all the worlds is to what extent it is G-dly and to what extent it is a metziut/discrete entity. If someone looks at atzilus, which is all G-dly from the perspective of yetzirah it is vastly different from the perspective from asiah, where G-dliness is only perceived by logic and not directly. For the prophet his base becomes yetzirah.