“Crown and Knowledge” p:26

AyinBase / Ayin Beis with R' Paltiel Thursday 4 Tammuz 5773

Photo: Batyah David, Israel

Page 26 (chuf vav). At 4^th line of the page – (line begins: 've-az...') For text, click: Here.

The discussion is how it is that even at the essential level there are different levels. We identified kesser/atik and chochmah/wisdom.

Oneg/pleasure is the heart of chochmah/wisdom. And daas illustrates this principle. We are saying that daas is pnimius of kesser (interior of the crown).

Yesterday we began discussing the principle of daas/knowledge/דעת. Daas is not knowledge in the sense of memory or information.

The Sephirot in Jewish Kabbalah

A bar daas, is a person who has a daas/דעת in life and the worldly presence. He is always participating. You can teach a skill, but you cannot teach reality. Daas means I learned something and I committed it to my consciousness – I live by it – my view is affected by this knowledge and I approach everything with that view.
This is not knowledge that has to be retrieved. The root of daas in general is kesser/crown.
Kesser is even above the chochmah. Kesser is that sense of reality that is beyond being identified.
Think of visiting someone's home. You would not move the furnishings around. You have the ongoing consciousness/daas that you are visiting. This follows a deeper sense of 'I am not in a house, rather I am in the presence of the host' who is presenting this to me. It is the presence of the host, that is the kesser/crown for the whole experience and gives it meaning.
The kesser and daas are identical, but at different levels. You cannot count both (the diagram above, aside). Yet there is a big difference between them.
Inside the text: at the 3^rd line. It is known that when kesser is counted then daas is not counted. Or if kesser is not counted then daas is counted. But what could it mean 'not counted'? It means pnimiut ha kesser, which is not part of the sphirah, but is rather part of the Host. So the Zohar is saying the daas is like pnimiut ha kesser (interior of the crown).

So pnimiut ha kesser (interior of the crown) is not considered part of the sphirot, but daas is, even though they are representative of each other.