Part 3 · Chapter 1

The Height Concept and Its Role 0:00

וגם בחינת גובה למעלה, and also the height above the idea which we didn't mention before, the idea of the height, להשכיל ממנו עוד למעלה מעלה מעלה, to, based on this idea, to understand something higher than it, to make this idea like a platform to understand a higher idea. It was like a person learns like the basics, let's say they learn how to add, so then, you know, they learn like arithmetic, addition, subtraction, then based on that, they can understand multiplication, division.

And based on those, they can understand like algebra, and then based on those, they can you know, you can keep building. That's the idea of the height.

Now, for a minute, let's skip these parentheses, just to finish the thought. הכל נמשך מעצם עומק נקודתו, all of these come from the depth of the point. So in other words, that the length, the width, and also the height, all the different aspects of the idea all really come from the depth. The depth is the real point. When you have that, you have everything. Everything else is just applying that point in different ways.

Teaching Addition: From Concrete to Abstract 1:08

So for example, when you're teaching somebody, when you're teaching children how to add, so first you have to take the idea and bring it down and make it like physical examples, like one apple plus one apple and one fishy plus one fishy. And then after you give them a few משלים like that, then they actually understand that problem. So they understood one idea. That's the length. Now, you give them another one.

Two apples plus two apples is four apples. And they understand that one. And then when you keep giving them a bunch of examples and they start to understand the difference between the examples, they start to see that there's a certain common theme here. They, and they start to see that common denominator, which is the central point of how to add.

And there's a certain point where they חאפ it. They grasp that point, and now you don't need to give them any more examples, you don't need to give them any more משלים. They understand that you can add anything. Doesn't matter whether it's apples, or fish, or chairs, or books. Doesn't matter what it is, it's the same thing. One plus one is two.

And they understand that just like one plus one is two, two plus two is four, and one plus two is three, and they can now add anything. They can add any fit-like thing, like an apple or a chair, and they can also add any number.

One, two, three, it's all the same. They just know how to add, and that's the point, that's the depth. And like once you have that, then you can bring it into any length, automatically, like if I say, ask you, "Can you, can you add apples for me?" Say, "Well, of course I can add. If you I can add, I can add apples. What's the difference?" Cuz to the essential point, it's the same thing.

It doesn't matter whether you're adding something abstract, you're adding something concrete. And also if I ask you to add any numbers, it's not really going to be harder for you to add even like a really big number. It's just if I give you like a like a seven-digit number to add to another seven-digit number, it's really just adding two numbers over and over again. You just have to know the rules.

You have to know how to add all the numbers. You have to know how to carry it over and it's just really the same idea.

It's not really like a like you know, harder thing. It's just takes more work. So that's like the width, that you have all the different examples. All different particular problems I could give you, you can also add. So that's, that's what happens when you get the depth. So then you say, well, so why, why don't you just teach the kids the depth? Why do you teach them the length and the width?

Why We Teach Length and Width First 3:20

So this is the main point is that it's impossible to grasp the depth without the the length and the width. That through studying the length and the width, that's how you'll grasp the depth. But the depth itself is something that's like beyond. You don't see the depth directly ever. You only see it's how it's applied, how it's expressed in these external things, in the length and the width.

So on the one hand, when you have the depth, according to how much you have the depth, that's how much you'll be able to bring out the length and the width. And the reverse, the more that you study the length and the width, the more you'll grasp the depth.

That's the rule. And this is why if you want to understand an idea, you have to do עיון, cause עיון means to study the length and the width to grasp the depth. And the more you do the עיון, the more you'll get the depth.

And then the more you'll know. Okay, so now let's go back to this parenthesis about the height. He said that there's a height that goes up to understand more from it. עד בחינת עומק רום, so you keep going up higher and higher until you reach the depth of above. That means the highest height. כמו התגברות המים למעלה מעלה בזמן המבול,

Spiritual Flood and the Coming of Mashiach 4:28

like in the time of the flood of נח, Noah's flood, that the water went higher and higher until it covered everything. שכזו יהיה לימות המשיח ברוחניות,

and the same thing will happen spiritually in the time of משיח, that the water will go higher and higher until it covers everything, בשנת תרכ"ה לפ"ק,

in the 500th year of the life of נח,

which explains that what does that mean? That נח he's a צדיק. He's called a צדיק. And so he represents the מדה of יסוד. And the מדה of יסוד corresponds to 6,000 the sixth millennium, which is the what we're in now starting from the year 5,000 to the year 6,000.

And the 500th year of the life of נח means the year 5,500. And so that at that time began began already in other words halfway through the sixth millennium began this flood, this spiritual flood, to prepare the world for משיח, which משיח is this 7,000 millennium. So the second half of the 6,000 millennium was already preparing this flood, preparing the world for the 7,000 millennium, for the time of משיח.

כמו שכתוב בזהר as it says in the זוהר about that time, דאתפתחו מבועין דחכמתא

that the windows of חכמה opened up, that all the gateways of חכמה opened up, and both the at that time both the secular and the and the godly knowledge all opened up. So there was both like in the world there was a big boost in the knowledge of science and then the the knowledge of פנימיות התורה and the חסידות started to spread and open up. והיינו מעיינות תהום החכמה שיתגברו למעלה מעלה ויכסו כל ההרים וכולי.

And this is the the wellsprings of the depth of the חכמה that got stronger, they went higher and higher, and they covered all the mountains.

So that means the like the wellsprings, the the geysers that burst forth from the bottom of the earth, that's the wellsprings of the wisdom, מבועין דחכמתא. וארובות השמים נפתחו וכולי

and the reservoirs of the heavens opened up also. להמשיך מן המים שמעל השמים which that brings down the water that's higher than the heavens, הנקרא עומק רום which is called the depth of above, שתלוי בעומק תחת which depends on the depth below, כי נעוץ תחילתן בסופן, because the beginning is wedged in the end. And this is explained in two ways: One way is that the depth below, which refers to like the wellsprings that opened up, that's like a secular knowledge, the knowledge of this world, and that from the knowledge of the sciences and everything advancing more and more, that helps to open up also the knowledge of godliness, that we'll see in the world godliness.

The other explanation of it, which this is the one that the רבי הלל מפאריטש gives in his פירוש that's more directly in line with what he's saying here in the ספר, is that when a person does עיון and they work to understand the idea, that's called like opening up the wellsprings of the חכמה, that you're like digging into the earth and trying to bring out the the hidden water.

It's like you take an idea, you delve into it, and you try to uncover the hidden depth. And when a person does that עיון and they try to understand the idea, then automatically that opens up their חכמה that's higher than the world. That means that they should get just like like a חידוש and a flash from חכמה, that that comes automatically. But in order to have the חכמה open up, the source of חכמה should open up to get new ideas, a person has to do the עיון, because נעוץ סופן בתחילתן, that when a person takes the idea and they study it over and over, that's where they really get the essence of the idea, and that's the essence is really higher than even the חכמה, and that's why it will open up the חכמה itself.

כמו like it says in the פסוק: העמק שאלה או הגבה למעלה.

Either cast your question to the depth, means to go deep, or to raise it up on high. Those are the two ways to answer your question, or is that really in a way it's like synonymous if you go deep or if you go high, but also specifically you see that first you have to go to the depth and afterwards you can raise it up to get the the height.

So that's like first you have to do the בינה, the התבוננות, and then you'll be able to get the חכמה. כמו שמבואר בכתבים like it explains in the כתבים, in the the long מאמר of the אלטער רבי. Okay,

so back to what we're saying, that everything, the length, the width, and the height הכל נמשך מעצם עומק נקודת השכל, it all comes from the essential depth of a which is the point of the idea, כמו שנבע מן החכמה the way that it flows out from the חכמה, הנקרא אין, which the חכמה is called like a nothing. It's called like an abstract point, which is like a nothing compared to the explanation of בינה, where it's like a concrete explanation, that's something that is tangible.

כמו שכתוב like it says, ונהר יוצא מעדן וכולי, that the river went out from עדן. So that represents the בינה. A river represents בינה that goes out from the wellspring which is a חכמה וכולי. שהבינה נקרא נהר Because בינה is called a river, that's why it flows out of its source, וחכמה נקרא מעיין, and חכמה is called the wellspring, the source itself, כידוע as is known, והוא הנקרא עיון, and so this is the idea, this is what is called עיון, שעומד על דבר המושכל, that you dwell on an idea, ומעיין בה הרבה מאוד, and you study it very, very much, שהוא העיכוב,

which this is the idea of pausing, taking your time, היפך המהירות, the opposite of rushing, דהיינו כדי לבוא אל עומקו של מושכל, and this, in other words, why do you spend so much time on the idea?

Like a person learns גמרא לעיון, they could spend weeks, months on one page of גמרא even, because if, because you want to really understand the idea before you go on, to get, to reach the the depth of the idea, כמו שהוא בעצם פנימיותו ותוך תוכו דווקא, because you want to understand it the way it is in its real inner, most inner depth and inside. כמו שמסתכל על דבר מה בעיניו,

and this is like somebody that gazes at something with their eye, ולא מעבר בעלמא, not just passing of the eye, not just glancing at it, אלא בדיקוק ותפיסת עיניים, but with an attentive eye and like really absorbing what he what he's seeing, עיכוב גדול, with a lot of, spending a lot of time, pausing for a long time, to really, this is what's called scrutinizing it, to really examine it well, עד שיודע אותו היטב, until he knows it very well, he knows it thoroughly, he's totally familiar with it, בכל חלקיו הפנימיים ותוך תוכו וכולי, even all of its internal parts, and how he how it works, like if you bring something to a craftsman, and something's broken, you ask him what's broken, so he takes the thing, and he carefully turns it over, and he looks at it, and then he takes it all apart, and examines every piece, and evaluates it, and he sees what's wrong, if it just needs to be cleaned, if it needs to be fixed, if it needs to be replaced, and he takes everything, and he lays it all out on the table, and he sees what's what, and exactly

what's going on, and he knows everything, all of its details. והוא הנקרא התבוננות, and this is what is called התבוננות, בנו״ן הכפול, with a double נו״ן. The word התבוננות comes from בינה, it means to make yourself understand, but it should really only have one נו״ן, it should be התבינות. Why is it התבוננות?

Understanding the Meaning of התבוננות 12:09

So grammatically, the double נו״ן implies an intense form of the verb. So if it would say התבינות, that would mean גירסא, and התבוננות means עיון, to study in depth, and it also hints that a person has to go over the idea over and over, that's why there's like the double נו״ן, you can't just learn it once, you have to go back and learn it again. So with the double נו״ן דווקא, דהיינו שמתבונן ומעיין בה הרבה, because that implies that you're מתבונן and you're you're studying it a lot, to analyze it and and really think about it a lot, וכמו שפירש רש״י, like רש״י explains בעיוני, that the how he explained what it means like עיון, לעמוד על דבר להבינו על בוריו וכולי, to dwell on an idea until you understand it clearly with all its parts.