Part 2 · Chapter 54 Part 2 to End

Kliphah concepts and upside‑down sefirot 0:00

It's already Hell's Angels. Right. And it starts off from the education. עד שנסחפו למטה מטה. Wait, where is it? It's only about והוא Okay, right. Here. כי ידוע. So that's basically the end of this. ויש בחינת שיר אדם בזה לעומת זה דקליפה, כולם, ונקרא אדם בליעה בליעל. Oh, בליעל, right. Okay. So the למ״ד is missing.

והוא בחינת זה דקליפה, wait a minute, I want to write it in here. בליעל. והוא בחינת זה דקליפה.

כמו ויאבק איש, in other words, it's a whole פרצוף. Right, but it's an upside down פרצוף. It goes down, not up. Whatever, of course, the whole the whole thing is upside down. Their brain is in their תחת, no? Yeah, the קליפה is the בליעל, בליעל means they're not going to go up, they're going to go down. They are going down. Yeah, the 10 ספירות of קליפה are upside down.

Right, and you see that they're going to go down. Right, it's a it's a downward motion. It's a downward motion, right. והוא בחינת זה דקליפה כמו ויאבק איש עמו, which in other words he's fighting with יעקב. Right.

שנקרא עומק רע, שהוא עומק הרצון והתענוג לכל דבר רע.

The רצון for all the bad things. והוא מקור לכל רצון רע, ונקרא בזוהר Well, you skipped a line.

Oh, sorry, right. והוא בחינת זה דקליפה ויאבק איש, מדות שהן ממוחין דעבודה דקליפה, עד בחינת כתר ועתיק יומין דקליפה שנקרא עומק רע, שהוא עומק הרצון והתענוג, in other words, that's what he's saying here. That כתר and עתיק is the עומק. That's the deepest part. Right. That means that's the lowest part. Exactly.

Okay, but really it's it's not lowest, it's straight, because עומק טוב

is the same thing. The כתר is in the עומק. Right, but it's an עומק that's up. Yeah, but in in its own dimensions, it's in exactly the same position. Yeah. But it's לעומת זה, it's like it's like a it's like a mirror. Right. Everything in this is like the thing of this, what's what's here is exactly the same over there.

The head is in the עומק by good, so the head is in the עומק by רע. Exactly. The head is in the עומק. Exactly. By good, it's also the head in the עומק. In עומק טוב, the head is in the עומק, the רצון for everything good.

Right. So, the fact it's not upside down, it looks it works the same way. It works the same way, but it goes down, not up.

Well, actually it goes up, not down. Yeah. It goes really In its thing, it goes from כתר to מלכות, and מלכות is higher up than the כתר. It's the reverse, that's all. It's the reverse, that means that who is the worst people of all?

Not the murderer in the street, the philosophers. Right. They're the עומק, the עומק is the חכמה they have כתר חכמה בינה. They're the they're the philosophy behind this whole thing.

Philosophers as the deepest klipah 4:11

Right. So, it works the same way. It still goes from, even though like you're saying, it goes like that, but it really it goes from it it it starts in the מוחין and it goes down to the מדות.

Except that he's back, he's upside down. Right. And and of course, these people are upside down, which is called כישוף ומעשה כשפים, בלשון הגמרא, שערי טומאה.

כולם, בדרך כלל, יש בחינת עשר ספירות דקליפת נוגה דבי״ע, אך בחינת נוגה דאצילות אין בו רע כלל, כמו שנאמר לא יגורך רע כולו. רק שהוא בחינת היש המורגש ובולט ביותר, that he feels how great and good he is. כמו בחינת החסד המורגש באדם להתפאר בו, like somebody who's really a big גביר, but is very proud of it. It's 100% good. Right, he's a he's a good guy.

He's a good guy. And he knows that he's a good guy. Well, he knows he's a good guy. וסוף הדבר חסד, ובחכמה שמרביש, מרגיש בחכמתו ביותר, he's a real חכם, but he knows what a חכם he is. Right. He doesn't, he feels that it's his own חכמה ממש. Right. וכן בכל מדותיו ומעלותיו יודע ומרגיש בבחינת בליטה גדולה, בהתפשטות...

sorry, בבחינת בליטה גדולה, ובהתפשטות יוצא מזה בחינת רע. Right. When it goes down into בי״ע, it starts, it comes out of that a real רע. Right.

כמו המרגיש עצמו לחסדן, יוצא מזה התפשטות חסד רק להשתיהר ולגרמיה, כמו חסד ישמעאל. Right. Like the Arabs. The Arabs are actually, they're very... And he'll do the חסד, but he'll do the חסד because he wants the honor. He wants to be a big shot. And and if if you don't acknowledge the חסד, he might kill you. Right. If you don't acknowledge what a great host he is, he'll get mad.

Yeah, which is the next thing he's going to say over here. וכאי גוונא. והוא הדין בהשתלשלות נוגה דבריאה, שנתפשט מנוגה דאצילות שמיעוטו רע, על כל פנים בבחינת ולגרמיה ויוהרא דהתנשאות, יש עניין נפרד.

וכמו שמהתלהבות הבולט בהרגשת עצמו בתפלה, יכעס על המנגדו לעכבו מלרוץ, כשנוגע בכבודו. Right. And this is also like the people who get mad when the kids are making noise in in שול. Right. And they start shouting and get mad. Right, it's disturbing their תפלה. Yeah. And really, that is even could be like that in אצילות ממש, וכך אמרו: שטן ופנינה לשם שמים נתכוונו, שזהו בחינת נוגה דאצילות.

Pride and arrogance in spiritual realms 7:02

שטן, he's saying here is, all the way up to נוגה דאצילות. נוגה שטן. Right. Even in אצילות there is שטן. ונתן עינו במקדש ראשון להחריבו. And this is the same... What's this ענין with פנינה? פנינה made what's her name, חנה... חנה, she made her... ...mad. But she did it לשם שמים in order that she should pray to have children. Right. But still she shouldn't have done it.

Right. And this is like this is like the thing of of of נוגה of אצילות. The difference is between like the other one, יכעס על המנגדו לעכבו מלרוץ, כשנוגע בכבודו ממש, נוגע in his כבוד, and שטן of אצילות is when he gets mad at the children, because that's not his כבוד anymore, but for לשם שמים. There's ממש people like that that I know.

And it's a holy thing, and they think it's a holy thing. Right. And they'll bring you הלכה, there's הלכות like that ממש. They'll show you the הלכה in the book that you're supposed to throw all the kids out of the שול.

וגם מבחינת קנאת של נחש הקדמוני, בחינת יש, ולגרמיה בבחינת רע. That יש ולגרמיה, יש and for his own for his own self and a little bit

of evil, אף על פי שקנאה זו באה מזה מצד הכרתו וקירובו, he understands how holy the שול is. Right. כי כמו מצד... how could somebody have a קנאה that that they're making noise in the שול if he doesn't know the holiness of the שול?

Right. וכתיב בנוגה דיצירה, חציו רע וקטרג ממש,

כמו ויבוא גם השטן. That's in איוב. Yeah. ויאמר ה׳ החינם החינם ירא איוב? After all, You gave him so much money. Right. עד שאינו נוגע בהשערה רובא רע עליהם כל דין קשה וזהו חיותו ממש. He actually loves to do דין. נקרא צבוע בישא וכו' על כל וכו'. כמו העלוקה שמוצצת פצעי דם. And again, you see that if you know how to use an עלוקה it's medicinal.

Right. ועל כך נאמר לעלוקה וכו' הב הב. Give me give me. Right. וזהו שורש הגיהנום של ראש השם יחול ידוע בג' קליפות הטמאות הם כמו נחש שרף ועקרב שבמדבר עמים בחינת כתר דקליפה. So what does he mean with וזהו שורש? What's he referring to? What's the מוסב? וזהו שורש הגיהנום is referring to what? To all of these. To all of them, okay. And the lower down it is, it's backwards to remember.

So the strongest one is not in אצילות, it's דווקא it's backwards. Right. The strongest one

is דווקא down here. Right. All the way to the עלוקה. And then that's from there comes the ג' קליפות הטמאות. The עלוקה is the lowest part of קליפת נוגה. Right. And now these last three lines is the next השתלשלות.

Right. In other words, in קליפה there's also the he just told you the first was קליפת נוגה, קליפת נוגה is basically אצילות. Right. And in אצילות is also אבי\"ע, which he just told you was the אבי\"ע of קליפת נוגה. Right. And then there's from there there's also ג' קליפות הטמאות which now the next three lines is three more השתלשלויות.

That's the בריאה יצירה עשיה of קליפה. Right. נחש שרף ועקרב שבמדבר העמים בחינת כתר דקליפה שהן רע גמור בלי תערובת טוב כלל וכלל. So what do you mean כתר דקליפה? But העמים is ממש עשיה.

Right. Upside down. Totally bad. In other words, total their whole תענוג is only in עולם הזה and only in bad stuff. Right.

So that's what they love, you know. Right. וזהו הנקרא מצד ה life ממש. Right. וזהו הנקרא רשע ורע לו, that ממש that's what they love, to go to war or you see like what you said yesterday that 9/11 what they worry about the football.

Right. שאין להם בירור עדיין כלל and for that there's no בירור for them at all. רק לעתיד וכו' ורוח הטומאה אעביר לגמרי כו' וכנודע וד\"ל. And this will happen in the future meaning tomorrow. שער היחוד הדרן עלך שער היחוד הדרן עלך שער היחוד הדרן עלך שער היחוד.

We had a מנין, you can say the special קדיש, you know. Yeah. And that's

basically now we did the whole השתלשלות. So what are we doing here? What are we doing here? So the, the question comes up: why do we do this? Right? It's like this crazy idea. Why do we come out here, like, this week, to sleep in this, like, hut thing? It's cold at night, the rain comes through the roof, and the food gets soggy. Why do we do this?

Why we retreat to the hut 14:02

Like, what are we trying to accomplish? Is it just about, you know, remembering the past when we were wandering in the desert? Or is there something else going on? Because to me, honestly, it always felt like there was something deeper. Something about, like, stepping away from everything.

Leaving the house, the walls, the roof, all the things that make you feel like you're in control. And then you come out here under the stars, under the leaves, and you realize maybe we're not as in control as we think we are. Maybe that's the whole point: to feel that vulnerability, and then find, like, joy anyway. Like real joy. Not because everything is secure, but because even when it's not, there's still, like, this presence, this connection, this sense that we're held.

So maybe that's what it's really about: not just remembering then, but, like, experiencing it now. Anyway, just sitting here looking up, thinking about it. Because it's a difference between a הלכה and a מנהג. Because a הלכה is a הלכה. A מנהג, you have to follow it if it's already there, and not to follow a מנהג, there's always an exception.

Halacha versus minhag: practical distinctions 17:17

If, let's say, by, I don't know, a שמחה, let's say, for example, somebody gets a boy, and by אשכנזים the מנהג is not to play music during ספירה, and by ספרדים the מנהג is you could play music during ספירה, then the אשכנזי, let's say, is invited to a ספרדי boy's ברית, let's say, where he makes it with music, could he go? Yes, because it's a מנהג, because there's a distinction.

Over there, it's a difference between... Wait, so is he not to follow an אשכנזי מנהג? You're not following an אשכנזי מנהג, you're going into a ספרדי שול! Yeah, but it's not a הלכה. You're allowed to be like מקיל on that. You are being מקיל on that. Yes, you can be מקיל over there because it's a מנהג, but over here it's a הלכה. Once it's a הלכה, how could you be מקיל?

Wait, but why? A הלכה you can't be מקיל? How could you be מקיל on a הלכה? If there's a מחלוקת! There's no מחלוקת here! No, in general, if you have a הלכה, could you be מקיל on a הלכה? Yeah, if there's a מחלוקת, or there's פוסקים that say like this, and פוסקים that say like that. And what if somebody does not know that מחלוקת? Does he have to like know the מחלוקת to be מקיל, or can he just be מקיל?

who was quoting something that happened in שמים or something that חז״ל said. He doesn't necessarily have to be quoting the גמרא. Now, the other argument that is often made is that the זוהר was written by משה די ליאון, who lived in Spain in the 13th century, and that he made it up and attributed it to רשב״י in order to make money. This claim actually goes back to the time the זוהר was first published, and it is recorded in the ספר יוחסין by רב אברהם זכות, where he brings the famous testimony of the widow of משה די ליאון.

The story is told that רבי יצחק דמן עכו, who was a student of the רמב״ן, came to Spain after Akko was destroyed, and he wanted to investigate the authenticity of the זוהר. He met משה די ליאון, who swore to him that he had the ancient manuscript in his home in Avila. But on the way there, משה די ליאון suddenly died. When רבי יצחק דמן עכו went to Avila, a wealthy man tried to obtain the manuscript by offering to marry his son to משה די ליאון's daughter and support the family, and the widow supposedly said that her husband never had a manuscript, that he wrote it all out of his own head, because if he wrote it under his own name nobody would buy it, but if he attributed it to רשב״י people would pay a fortune for it.

Debate over Zohar's authorship 24:15

Now, how do we answer this argument? First of all, as the ספר יוחסין itself notes, the account breaks off, and we know that רבי יצחק דמן עכו himself, in his later writings such as his sefer מאירת עיניים, quotes the זוהר with tremendous reverence as an authentic ancient work, which shows that by the end of his investigation he was convinced of its authenticity.

Furthermore, משה די ליאון wrote many sefarim in Hebrew under his own name, books like שושן עדות and שקל הקודש, and when you compare the Hebrew writings of משה די ליאון to the Aramaic of the זוהר, the two are worlds apart. The depth, the genius, the sweeping scope, and the style of the זוהר are completely different from anything משה די ליאון ever wrote. In fact, in his own Hebrew writings, משה די ליאון actually quotes the זוהר as an ancient authority.

Why would someone write the greatest masterpiece in Jewish history, hide his authorship, and then quote it in his own lesser works as an outside source? It makes no sense. Moreover, all the greatest minds of the Jewish people, the רשב״א, the ריב״ש, the בית יוסף, the האר״י הקדוש, the הגר״א, the בעל שם טוב, and the חתם סופר, all recognized the holiness and authenticity of the זוהר. As the חתם סופר famously said, if someone were to tell him that רשב״י did not write the זוהר, then whoever did write it was even greater than רשב״י.

As the רד״ל, Rav David Luria, explains in his sefer קדמות ספר הזוהר, while there may have been later additions and marginal notes by copyists that were incorporated over the centuries, the core of the זוהר is an authentic, ancient tradition of תורת הנסתר that goes back to רשב״י.