“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.