The measure of His desire

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 8/5/2010 Thursday 24 Menachem Av 5770

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Page 35 – top of the page – at the end of the 5th line. Line starts “veyaduah...”

we have said that Torah is rooted in etzem mamash (truly, literally in the essence) and hence can supercede the conflict between good and bad.

Thus it is call be zalmaynu – tzura atzmi - “essential form” rather than a means to an end.

This measure of torah is not one of limitation – it is not “a presentation in a manner that is acceptable to us”. The mitzvah is so designed that it is of the measure described, and not for the sake of presentation – it is an essential measure. This means the essence itself is “measured”.

The essence is brought down without any reduction in the ohr ein sof, except there is a measure within the light of how it should come through and this measure is His desire.

This measure is not an imposed limit.

It is not a superimposed restriction – this is the element of medidah found in torah. This is the way atzmus will be brought down.

With essence if you “grab a piece, you grasp the whole”.

In halacha we have, the principle that “land is translated into monetary value without limit – a tiny piece of land can have any price.” Prosbul says the lender has a piece of land of any size. What does this tell us? There was a Russian queen and there was a war in which the generals reported the high price to be paid, she said, “soldiers are replenishable and land is not”. In our world land seems to have an unlimited value. Price is just a functional representation. Land seems to have an essential presence/value. The earth has a measure, but it does not represent a limit. It represents a limitless element.

The powers present in the globe of the earth are limitless.

It represents infinity in a finite manner.

Each person is a finite entity, yet he has an element of infinity – each small human action has “full-life-infinite” element.

For video, click here.

... וחיי עולם

Existence beyond existence

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 8/4/2010 Wednesday 24 Menachem Av 5770

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Page 35 – top of the page. Line starts “upirush...”

For essence there is no question of “ why does it exists”. Created entities were brought into existence and thus the “why does it exist?” question applies. Essence does not have “before and after” and thus cannot be identified with sechel.

Oneg, though we can identify it, cannot be explained. We can identify it since it is in our experience. But it cannot be explained. It is a tziur (form), but a tzura atzmi - “an essential form”.

Torah has this essential form. The mitzvah have a certain measure or parameters. The details of the mitzvah and the mitzvah are one entity.

At the time of shmah we see the One in the 6 dimentions (4 directions and up and down), since the infinity is brought down into the parameters of the world as we relate to it.



This tzurah atzmis is how it correlates the mitzvah to the world.

His unity recognized in the world is called “echad” - that His unity can be recognized in the world, not from the perspective of “yachid”, but rather by the form of echad and within the parameters of the world.

The description of G-dly unity fits perfectly, till the metzius of the world expresses this perfect unity. Mitzvot bring elokus into the world of time and place, where we function.

... וחיי עולם

Hello darkness, my old friend; A rule that pierces the mountain

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 8/3/2010 Tuesday 23 Menachem Av 5770

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Page 35 – top of the page. Line starts “upirush...”

Yesterday we reviewed the principle of etzem.

We saw how sechel is not limited to grasp, it is not seeking what it can translate and experience in its world.

Sechel translated on a physical level is sight.

It is the means by which we know an object separate from ourselves. We know it by virtue of what it is. “If it is real without it having an affect on me, it is real” - and this is what sechel sees.

Etzem/essence is the non-metziut that is the source of the metziut.

Torah is not to set a confused world straight. It is not an afterthought. Torah is the source of existence. It has an essential message. This is in the meor. Tov and ra is at the level of metziut. There is an absolute good that does not have a counterpart. First in Genesis light and darkness was made and He chose light. He chose the work of tzadikim – bitul, versus the work of evil – yeshus. Shaul hamelech (King Saul) started his kingship and all that he undertook was with full force “yarshiyah”.

They say about religion that it is a cop out, to get away from the world. “religion is the opiate of the masses”. In a way it can be seen to make sense – the tzaddik accepts what comes his way. This is bitachon, “everything will be the way He wants it, and the way He wants it will be good”. The rasha (evil one) seems like a real creation, “i will stand on my own two feet and do it my way!”

but He chose good – veyar et ha-elokim ha ohr ki tov – he discerns a new level in light. There is the functional element and then the essential level. The tzaddik depending on Him supercedes the acts of the evil ones. The tzaddik says, “forget about seder hishtalshalus, I serve Him – I go straight to the meor/source, I'm not interested what happens in the world.” this is beyond ohr ve choshech.

This is a tov beyond tov ve rah. This is when you have a real creation. Not like the rasha that denies his source. The tzaddik says, “I have a source and I am part of the source.”

Torah returns him to the essence of good.

He realizes darkness too is a creation, and this turns him to his source. It raises him above metziut.

Root means the base upon which it stands, and the torah is rooted in essence.



To listen to "Sounds of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel, click here.

Sounds of Silence

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence

... וחיי עולם

It doesn't mind losing itself, as long as....

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 8/2/2010 Monday 22 Menachem Av 5770

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Page 34 – the lower third of the page – about 10 lines from the end. Line starts “veshorsho...”

good has a counterpart of bad, light has a counterpart of darkness. When light illuminates darkness, it pushes it off. It is a situation of either or. But when you go to the level of me-or - “source” it is beyond “good and bad” or “light and dark”. They are emanations. Essence is beyond that level. Tov exists under certain conditions. The “source” has no such parameters or conditions.

Why do we speak in terms of etzem? We can't understand it. Sechel cannot grasp it. But sechel does have the merit of not seeking that which satisfies it. It doesn't mind if it looses its metziut as long as it recognizes what the truth is.

“the real truth is beyond my grasp”. The limit of sechel is that it has to have some kind of beginning. “if I grasp it, it has an active element to it and sechel can grasp it, but something that doesn't have that, a primary truth, isn't limited to being an active element.” so sechel asks, “how does anything emanate from essence?!”

The answer is, “within the essence is rooted (mushrash) everything. The reason we have day and night is that it is rooted there.” The riches of the world is representative of the ultimate richness of the essence. Above good and bad are both good – but, it's a different kind of good.

Good and bad is a personal experience. Essence is beyond experience. This is the primary principle of sechel: “I did not make myself.” “My whole being is relating to and fulfilling the intent, by which I was created, rather than 'what I get out of it'”.

For video, click here.


... וחיי עולם

Bridge to Him; Stairway to Heaven

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 8/1/2010 Sunday 21 MenachemAv 5770

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Page 35 – on top. Line starts “upirush...”

In torah is the element of the luminary. This level transforms everything. Transforms darkness into light.

The transformation is into essential good.

The luminary is the One who precedes ohr. There is good and bad – that are exempified by light and dark. What is the difference – light points to a source and dark does not have a source. Klippa doesn't recognize a source.

Light has the counterpart of darkness. So no matter how much you argue for light, you can counter with darkness. The darkness is not transformed. They are equal. Darkness from our perspective is even more substantive than light. Light is seen to be precarious. But when you go to the level of luminary, both light and darkness is sourced there.



Since the luminary is neither light nor dark. It is the source of everything. In our world darkness does not need to be created, yet there has to be a world where light is missing. The light in the essence is the essence itself.

The torah transformation is to mutav – this is superior to tov – good. In the luminary there is no light and dark.

Luminary here is used not in the sense that it creates light. If it had light it would not be infinite – the reason we call it a luminary is because light has the sense of source. So here we use the term luminary as the meaning of “the source”.

From the maor / luminary perspective, both light and darkness have a source.

“In our form,” says Hashem, did He make torah. What form does he have? Usually a form is an add on. But here it is essential form.

We have day and night and seasons on the earth, yet the earth is a sphere – a form beyond limit, without up and down. The detail of time and season we experience is part of the infinity of the wold. Summer is “summer of the winter” on earth. The earth hangs in space - “it is just there” - it is infinity itself.

This gives us a sense of the infinity – we experience the day element of the entire 24. the measurements that the torah brings into the world are the specifics of the infinity. Since the world hangs on nothing now we have unlimited solidity.

The limits are not limits – they are bringing the infinite into a finite world. The light at the end of the tunnel is not just at the end – it is all along the tunnel...


... וחיי עולם