“Perfect Affinity” p: 68

AyinBase with R' Paltiel Tuesday 29 Tevet 5772  

Page 68 – at about the lower quarter of the page (line starts, 'tynug ha-atzmi...')

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We have seen how osiot/letters are rooted higher than chochmah – they represent chochmah in its pristine level. Letters are indicative of the essential level in chochmah.

We have seen, 'You were a dwelling place for us' – meaning You are the dwelling place of our souls/neshamos.

The fathers are the root of the souls of Isreal and they are rooted in His essence preceding any process.

Essence has no definitions and no limit to what flows from it. And this is where Israel and Torah are rooted.

Israel and Torah are tied together with Him, since the souls of Israel and Torah represent the essential tynug/pleasure. There is a perfect affinity.

In the fact that the Jewish People have been able, through the exile, to still exist one sees the proof – a continuity based in essence. It makes no sense. It is above making sense. The thrashing that the people sustained has not diminished them. Bees make honey contained in cells in the hive. To extract the honey a centrifuge is uses to separate the honey from the wax - Jews have gone through this kind of spin and are fully identifiable.

The connection is like that the 'full desire of the father, from the essence of his soul, is exclusively for his son, since he is his essence'. It is an affinity not based on qualities.

How does bechirah/selection apply here? Choice implies selection from among various options. It would seem there is not competition in the relationship described! It applies because of the fact that Essence is completely separate even from essential tynug/pleasure.

We are saying the souls of Israel are rooted in the essential pleasure. And now we are saying that Essence is separate from this level?! It couldn't have been any other way, yet he was not compelled to make this choice!

“Infinite Expanse” p: 68

AyinBase with R' Paltiel Tuesday 29 Tevet  

Page 68 – about just above the mid point of the page (line starts, 'bechinat...')

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Shashuim – are 'toys' or playthings' – something one enjoys for no apparent reason, just that it suits him perfectly – an this is the level of affinity between Him and His Torah.

'Your mitzvahs are very broad' – indicating an infinity of essence. At the revealed level the higher something is the less expression is present. Till you get to the essence – there, there is 'merchav ha-atzmi' - 'the breadth of the essence' – it is not reduced to a point. It has limitless expansiveness and this does not detract from its essential power – this is the quality of Torah. 

Torah and Him are literally one at the concealed level. We think of Torah as a functional aspect, and we think of its application in the world. But here we are saying that just as He is beyond world so too the Torah.

So too the souls of Israel at their original state, in His pristine thought, so too they are bound with the essence/hidden element of Torah and Him.

This is the source from which they are carved.

The inanimate objects give silent testimony to Him. And the plant world, but their growth gives expression to His limitlessness. The animal kingdom is alluding to a word beyond itself – seeking nutrition and roaming in the open expansiveness. The human is called a medaber – 'speaker' and he is even more able to declare the G-dly truth. The others express it by their being, the humans give expression to Him knowingly – through his bitul. Sechel is very fine, but it is 'a thing', speech is different – one has to put himself completely aside and relate fully to the thought he is trying to express. . . ! And he has to relate to the thought, 'not as his thought' but how it is truthfully.

The fact that the thought can be expressed, shows on that fact that speech is rooted prior to the root of sechel. A human being's expression is not limited to his metziut. Israel is rooted in the letters that precede mind.

“Inside Story” p: 68

AyinBase with R' Paltiel Monday 28 Tevet 5772  

Page 68 – about a third from the top of the page (line starts, 've-atzmus...')

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The hidden Torah is Torah in its pristine state. There are hidden aspects that are only for Him and cannot be valued by man. Only G-d understands its. This is where Torah is one with Him and by knowing Himself he knows Torah.

Chochmah of Torah is the wisdom of Torah as it is included within Him. But chochmah is something that can come down and be known by us in this lower world. But from above it is 'knowing Himself'.

This is like sight – you observe something and it is real, but you don't see it unless you look – it is still external to you. Chochmah as it is in His essence is paradoxical. It is not sight that could not be seen. It is seen within the source itself. So if it is Him Himself, why is chochmah there?

This is the purist level, that cannot be not seen, and this is the real source of Torah.

One may think this is made for export. It is made for internal consumption. This inner knowledge is for Him.

Torah is not for His expression and revelation. Torah contains His inner story – ratzon/will and oneg/pleasure.

In essence there is no 'before and after' – knowledge is not acquired – truth exists. There is a primary reality. Reality is not coming into being. In our world 'real' means something made. In the real reality it is different. In our own experience, we can relate to the concept real reality. You build a house, but the space was always there, but still it can be measured. So in our little perception, space is the foundation of presence... it is a metaphor for fundamental reality...

“An Essential State of Who You Are” p: 68

AyinBase with R' Paltiel Sunday 27 Tevet 5772 

Page 68 – about 8 lines from the top of the page (line starts, 'gum mibechinat...')

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G-d chooses not by comparison.

How did the choice occur. There are 3 knots that are connected – Israel – Torah – G-d.

These attachments exists at all levels – the hidden and the revealed levels. If you have something hidden in your pocket – it is the same coin whether there or on the table. There are things that are His secrets – topics that find full presence in a hidden state. gilui/revealed is when something is recognized from outside - it has an external effect. Sosim is where it is entirely within itself – it cannot be known from the outside.

An example of this is that, 'a human being is a human being and different from all other creations, without even considering the question'... all feel it... what would the world be without humans? It would be nothing! This is an example of hidden knowledge.

There is a level that is hidden even from the primal thought. Susim is a hidden level that precedes thought. One may have a feeling (a feeling of the mind), and you are in touch with the source, and then it is a 'translation' to bring it down into thought... Emunah/faith so fine it is not known to us... it is revealed when challenged. Though is 'well defined' in contrast to susim. Even the thought which is a close companion to the soul and one's inner life, yet is has the element of knowing from the outside. In contrast to the chochmah or other midot, thought is like an external grasp.

There is an inherent awareness that is not conscious. This comes from an 'essential state of who he is and is not dependent on him' – this is how he was made. Some things are so fine that thought cannot hold them – the thoughts contain how that fine element is manifest...  

One cannot know the essence of your soul – if you pay attention you know the messages it sends, the effects of the soul. The very essence cannot be held in thought.

We contemplate something that is impossible to consider! When we received the Torah how did we do it? We said, 'we will do and understand!' This is because they knew they were getting into something that is beyond their ability to relate to it. 'Let Him define it for us'. 

We need to contemplate the principle that, as the Rambam says, 'the foundation of all foundations is to know that there is a First Being who is unprecedented and He is there not due to any functionality or reason. We know He is there not due to any proofs, but directly! Miraculously our souls have this knowledge. The phenomenon of being is a truth not an accident. This is a G-dly reality. The 'hidden of all hidden' it is 'truth in itself' and does not require anything. This is the most important and most difficult principle to relate to. But we know that everything that exists has a truth to it – it is not circumstantial. 

One can explain 'don't steal' at a very low physical level, but it is really rooted in a G-dly truth.

The only way not to be envious of other people's stuff is being connected to his G-dly source.

Know that there is truth in everything.

Essence is 'stimu de chol stimu' – 'hidden of the hidden' – and thus beyond function and any 'contribution' to the creation.

You may think that since it is so hidden and beyond functionality, that it has no content, but the Rebbe steers us right, “not correct at all, it has the most full content – it contains infinity, but not because it 'contains', it is infinite – one way we can relate is 'there's a first presence that brings all into being, from the truth of His presence, all are being created – 'from the truth of his presence', not from some 'creative element' and truth has no limit!” Truth is intentional and not there due to any circumstance.

This is why the Torah could not have been accepted in any other way! It had to be on the level of, 'we'll go for it, and then we'll understand!' 

“Exodus Inc.” p: 67

AyinBase with R' Paltiel Friday 25 Tevet 5772  

Page 67 – 2^nd paragraph, about 8 lines from the top of the page (line starts, 'bocher...')

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Israel is rooted in essence. His choice.

This selection and special affinity exists across time – in the best of times and in the worst of times. Like it says, 'I descended into a garden of nuts' – Song of Songs. Like the fruit is totally hidden by the shell that needs to be broken to get to the fruit. So too the souls of Israel, while sunk in impurity of the exile of Egypt, He Himself came down to break the shell with the 10^th plague, and to redeem Israel from there. And it says, “did any god ever try to come and take a nation out of another nation?!” and He Himself did it – and not by means of an angel or an emissary.

He did the redeeming... He himself by his malchus/kingship as it is in the essence itself. The Exodus is his project.

We were enslaved and surrounded by the klipa/shells till He redeemed us. This principle is evident in all the miracles and signs that occurred in Egypt. In each plague and sign the distinction was made between Israel and Egypt. 'I well make a gap between My nation and yours', say G-d.

Yet this choosing in Egypt was still in a 'small' way – it was a rescue, but at the giving of Torah the choosing was in a 'great' manner. Israel was selected to be the sole recipient of the Torah. Israel became an eternal chosen nation and this element is increasingly revealed.

At Sinai He showed and shared with Israel, 'face-to-face' – full observation, experience and recognition. As it says, 'the whole nation, see the voices' – meaning they see what is normally heard. And each voice/pronouncement had 2 faces. A face that produced life for Israel and demise for idolatry.

The choice is made at His essential level.