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Crown Heights, NY, snow December 2010

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/31/2010 Friday 24 Tevet 5771

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Page 41 – 9 lines from the top of the page (line starts “hu...”)

Even in the light that is ohr chozer and without tzimzum it is still be-hagbalah/limited. The effect of this light/mentorship is very profound, but it doesn't give a vessel as much as open it up.

This ohr is be-ratzon and has a limit. This is in contrast to the hashpaa that brings about birth of an entity similar to the mashpia.

The hashpaa ruchniut, has to be received by an existing keili. The hashpaa that results in birth of a new presence is by means of hashpaas atzmius – essential hashpaa – it is a piece of the essence.

Even though it is hashpaa, yet it is of the essence. The initiator is the essence.

This hashpaa also seems to be by ratzon. And ratzon has the effect of tzimzum. We have to go beyond the apparent root of it. The ratzon is a means to get to the ikar. Here the ratzon arouses the hashpaa, but does not control it. It does not act as a gatekeeper.

Why is there the koach in the nefesh to give of itself? The answer is that it, itself is unlimited and thus automatically goes beyond itself. It is bigger than itself.

What makes a person get married? Beyond practical and superficial factors there is a real Torah view. Marriage is an inherent imperative in a human being. A person leaves his mother and father and cleaves to another. Why not stay with the father and mother? There is an element in a person that breaks through – it is bigger than the individual – he goes beyond what he can experience to what he can create...

Why get married? A person is bigger than just eating and drinking and doing good things – he has to create a new world. His essence is beyond limit.



A person may be a social, financial, and professional success, but if he were not married then all his accomplishment does not really mean anything to him since he is not for real – getting married makes him a real presence in the world. Now things are significant.

Marriage itself has an element of eternity. Because it has this eternal presence, if the couple merits, there will be children, that come from an eternal presence.

Constant coming into being

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/30/2010 ThursdayNight 23 Tevet 5771

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Page 40 – 2 lines from the end of the page (line starts “ha-etzem...”)

In our shiur we are taking away all structural elements and going straight for the essence.

We went beyond the light that dissipates, to the essential light, which is like the essence itself and is thus limitless. It is not worldly. It is counter intuitive. How can ohr be einsof/infinite?

Just as the tzimzum limits the light and reduces what it will reveal, so too it is limited in the manner that it will extend. You cannot know a person as he knows himself. He knows himself not by revelation of information, but by direct contact.

Every koach testifies to the existence of a living nefesh in a person. But each koach/faculty operates under certain circumstances. What controls this? This is the ratzon of the nefesh. The faculties function under the direction of the ratzon/will.

The real understanding – that is true to the sechel (beyond structural truth) – is because we want to understand. No two people think alike. This is because they have a ratzon in a certain direction.

This is a sensitive point since it sounds like, “I understand it this way, because I want to see it this way”(!) But really, this want is from the nefesh – there is a truth element to it.

Ratzon is like a gatekeeper. It creates a functioning koach/faculty. Faculties are the revelations of the nefesh/soul in a focused productive manner.



Practice makes a koach/faculty emanate from the nefesh. It allows the koach to show itself in a practical setting. It is rooted in the nefesh. Shlaymut hanefesh (completeness of the soul) means that all faculties are included there.

Because the will/ratzon is the gatekeeper, this means that the learning and developing of the koach is cumulative. This is the normal process of the development – this is the process of ohr yashar.

Standing – means you're not, not growing. The foundation is the same and you see further. But you don't move.

Walking – means you move from place to place. You take a step and leave the place where you were before. This is a real movement, but you can trace back how you got to the new place. The new place is in the proximity of the previous place. This is like sechel developing from sechel.

Jumping – is like a hop. There is an ein/nothing inbetween. I arrive and don't know how I got here. I fly and don't know where I will land. This is ohr chozer that is not based on a structure. It is just true. I don't see the basis. Like the rambam says, “he relates to truth, because it is the truth” - not based on any structure or other reasons. This is from etzem koach hasechel – the essence of sechel, straight from the nefesh.

This sechel is not by means of tzinor, tzimzum and ratzon. When there is this revelation there is no gatekeeper.

The constant gift of light

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/30/2010 Thursday 23 Tevet 5771

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Page 40 – 3 lines from the end of the page (line starts “tzimzum...”)

Ohr/light is a revelation, but it can be bechinat ein sof. It can have an aspect of the essence. Usually the light is a subset of the essence. If something is an essence, then it's gilui/revelation is automatic. Essence per se is not something we can conceptualize.

The fact that the light has a limit is because not the full aspect of the essence is revealed – it is coming through a tzimzum.

The light created on the first day had no limitation. A man could see with this light “from one end of the world to the other...” This light has been hidden for the time to come...



What does this light mean? What is the special gift of light? What would be lacking if there was not light? One can navigate a room by touch. But the difference between sight and touch is that touch relates you to the metzius, but sight relates you to the mehus/reality.

Through light you realize that the world is real. You actually relate to the reality, “it is real , in and of itself.” you cannot destroy things in the world since they represent a G-dly creation. This is recognized by sight, but not by touch.

The reality of the world is not created by virtue of their being light, but by virtue of it being a G-dly creation. It is infinite in itself – it is not defined by it's function.

Light reveals this reality. Through light we touch the reality of the world. If we could see the world as a G-dly creation, then it would be limitless.

Ultimately, in the time to come, the world will still be a world, but it will not misrepresent itself.

Light beyond function

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/29/2010 Wednesday 22 Tevet 5771

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Page 40 – 4 lines from the end of the page (line starts “hu...”)

The light/haarah/reflection is from the essence, but is different from it. There are 2 types of hashpaa – illumination of darkness (which is not done by the essential light of the sun). This is a haarah – it is taking from the sun the element that deals with darkness by illumination. This is an external effect and this haarah has a limit regarding how far it will extend.

This haarah does not extend beyond sechel. The tzimzum is the cause of the limit. Light that is of the element of the essence will be like the essence.



There is essence and Elokus in the world, but it is hidden to such an extent that everything seems circumstantial and relative.

Essence is not something we will fully grasp nor define. Anything that is there by virtue of being a presence is not an essence.

Even though it is something very true...

AyinBase with R' Paltiel 12/28/2010 Tuesday 21 Tevet 5771

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Page 40 – 5 lines from the end of the page (line starts “unifsak...”)

Haarah/reflection of the source is like when something from the essence is revealed “outside”. This is in contrast to when the light is in the source itself.

Hence the reflection/light does not have the full impact. Through the light, from outside the sun, one can know what the sun is. Hence the power of the light dissipates.

An essence is a reality itself and doesn't point to or depend on anything else.

The reflection/light, with the waning of the connection to it's source, dissipates. In the places where the light does reach there is an element of essence.

The limit of sechel is that it can only affect the vessel that is a proper receptacle for it. It does not create a new entity. Even though the sechel is representing something very true – it is a limited representation. All sechel is dependent on that which is higher than it.

Someone who does not concede that there is an overall principle/Creator to the world, then the sechel of “behave like a human being” lands up having no traction/foundation for him.



The reason sechel is limited is because it comes through a tzimzum. This means it does not reflect the full impact of the essence.

Speech does not reflect thought, it presents it. But light reflects the essence. Thought is contained in the brain and the brain is not totally permeated by the thought. Light on the other hand permeates the sun “through and through”.