Part 2 · Chapter 12

Straightening One’s Desire Toward Ein Sof Alone 0:00

עד שיוכל אדם לכוון רצונו במסירות נפש לעצמות אין סוף לבדו. Until a person will be able to straighten out his desire to like correct, in other words, when a person properly understands the השתלשלות and understands the idea of the צמצום, he'll be able to look past and won't be distracted by any other things, be able to look past them and see what's the real main thing, what's really important, and that's what he'll want.

A person should be able to have, the point of מסירות נפש, that he'll self-sacrifice just for the עצמות אין סוף itself, that he'd be willing to give up anything physical or spiritual, even spiritual, to connect to God himself, cuz he realized that everything else is secondary, and it's really like a meaningless thing in of itself, and the whole purpose of it is to connect to God.

If you have that, you have everything. That's like the famous משל where like you know they, the king gives people an opportunity that they can come to his treasure chamber and take whatever they want, but then he sets up around it all of these different booths with, you know, food and people playing music and different distractions, and people come and they're start partying, they figure they have so much time, they get distracted, and then it's too late.

World’s Distractions Set Up by HaShem 1:27

So that's like the idea that that when a person comes to the world, so השם sets up all of these גילויים to distract him, to, you know, he gets dazzled by how great the physical things are, the spiritual things are, and he can get distracted and go off of these side things.

And a person has to like, לכוון means like to to direct it straight, you know, like like you like when you have like a laser pointer like on a or like like on a gun or something, you know? You know where you have like sights and you like get it, you know, aimed and aligned properly, that's like the thing, you're able to get your sights on it and you're able to go straight.

So that's like the idea of that when a person understands the צמצום, then he's able to properly be מכוון his רצון. כמו שכתוב, like it says, אתה הוא הוי' לבדך, you are השם alone, meaning that there's really nothing else, and you know, if you show the definition there's nothing else of value, but really it means there's nothing else at all, it's just God.

So this is כמו שכתוב, this like it says, אתה הוא הוי' לבדך, you are השם alone. So really there's only השם, and then we say that אתה כו', that you, etc. What is the etc.? That you made the heavens and the earth and everything in them, and that everything bows to you.

That's the continuation of the פסוק. And what that means is that that really there's only God, and then really this that השם made the world and everything in them is just part of the revelation of him.

And so you should realize though that really it's not its own thing, and that's what it says, that everything bows to you, that everything is really בטל to השם.

וזהו, and this is what it means, המלך המרומם לבדו, that we call God the king that is exalted alone, that he's above everything. And this is בחינת מלכות דאין סוף שלפני הצמצום, this is the idea of מלכות of אין סוף before the צמצום, שמתנשא גם מימות עולם דא''ק, which is exalted over the days of the world of א''ק, meaning that it transcends even the limitations of אדם קדמון, which is basically the idea that even even like the idea of משיח, which אדם קדמון is like the the general like image of the way the the goal final goal for the whole השתלשלות, the way it's going to be like when משיח comes.

Kingship of Ein Sof Before the Contraction 3:31

So even that, you know, really השם is above that, and he just chose that as like a little thing to like represent, you know, that that should be the way that we'll connect and we'll do עבודה is to try to do that.

שנקרא ימי קדם הנ''ל, which this this is called the מלכות of אין סוף is called ימי קדם. Usually א''ק is called ימי קדם, but here he's talking about like קדמון.

ימי קדם can refer to different things. So a lot of times א''ק is called ימי קדם, but here he's calling א''ק ימות עולם, because

there's there's two levels: there's ימות עולם means like the the days of the world, which means like the regular limitations of like the השתלשלות. or whatever level you're talking about, and then ימי קדם means like the way that those מידות are preceded in the עצם. But then the עצם can really control and do whatever it wants, it's not bound by it. You know, that's like the thing, that's like in the good old days where, you know, that he had to walk uphill both ways to school and stuff like that.

You know, where it's like impossible. So that's here talking about מלכות, the מידות, the way that they're in the אין סוף before the צמצום. That's called like we said in the the end of chapter 11 that we we said that that's called ימי קדם.

Heavens Cannot Contain the Divine Light 5:42

וזהו השמים that it says in the פסוק, השמים ושמי השמים לא יכלכלוך, the heavens and the heavens of the heavens cannot contain you. So what does it mean? השמים, בבחינת סובב הכללי שאחר הצמצום, that the heavens represents the general סובב, the general encompassing light that's after the צמצום, which means the light that includes the whole השתלשלות after the צמצום.

ושמי השמים, and the heavens of the heavens, שלפני הצמצום, which is before the צמצום, which means like the lights of the טהירו עילאה, לא יכלכלוך, they cannot contain you. That means that everything in the השתלשלות, even the lights before the צמצום, are not really a proper they do not really capture God's essence.

He's way higher than everything. גם בבחינת כלי לכלי, it's not even a vessel for a vessel, כמו גלף גליפו בטהירו עילאה וכו׳ וד״ל, like it says that He engraved an engraving in the higher purity וכו׳ וד״ל. What does it mean a vessel for a vessel or like an engraving for an engraving? So it's like if you have a diamond

Vessel for a Vessel: Engraving Metaphor 6:47

and you engrave letters into the diamond, but you can't really read it because there's not enough contrast between the diamond and the letters.

So what do you do? You take the diamond and you press it into wax, and then in the wax you can see the letters that were really there in the diamond.

So that's the way it is that like the the letters that were estimated in קדמון in the גלף גליפו, so though that's why they say גלף גליפו, like He engraved an engraving, a double engraving, because the letters that were engraved in קדמון in the השערה of the גלף גליפו are still hidden, it's like too fine to be able to see the difference really, and then after the צמצום it's like stamped out on wax, and then it's like revealed as something separate, and then you can really see the letters.

So the relationship between like after צמצום and to these letters, that's called like a like a כלי for a כלי or like an engraving for an engraving.

That means that even though it's not revealed directly, but it's revealed indirectly. But the revelation of God's essence of God Himself is not revealed even indirectly, even like a vessel for a vessel.

That means that nothing captures Him even as like an like a representation of like what He really is. He's really higher than everything. And

so on the one hand nothing can reveal Him, but on the other hand when He decide chooses to like reveal Himself in it, then the whole essence is there.

But the thing is that nothing like inherently can capture Him. It's not like if you know you know, it's kind of like either you have it or you don't.

You have to connect it the the the fact connecting to God you have to like connect to Him directly, and when you connect to Him then you'll be able to get it. But if you'll like understand or appreciate even the highest revelations, it will not really capture Him, you won't really appreciate Him. וכמו

Who Is There for Me in the Heavens? 9:12

שכתוב, and like it says, מי לי בשמים, what is there for me in the heavens? שהוא גם בבחינת סובב הכללי שלפני הצמצום, which includes even the general סובב that's before the צמצום, שנקרא שמי השמים וכו׳, which is called the heavens of the heavens. So what is there for me in the spiritual revelations, even the highest things, the light-encompassing things, ועמך לא חפצתי בארץ, and with You I desire nothing on the earth, בבחינת קו וכו׳ בבחינת ממלא וכו׳ וכו׳, which the earth represents ממלא, the way that God is revealed in not in a transcending way, but in an individualized way

in השתלשלות. In the השתלשלות of the קו וחוט. That's like in a measured way, and it's revealed in wisdom, חכמה and בינה, and all the different things differently.

So once you have God, you have everything, and if you don't have Him, then it's all worthless.

Alt Rabbi’s Tale of Ultimate Self‑Sacrifice 10:19

That's the idea. And there's a famous story about this idea that the אלטר רבי used to sometimes fall into a state of דבקות, and he would and he would like roll on the floor, and he would say, "I don't want Your גן עדן, I don't want Your עולם הבא, I only want You alone."

And that's what he used to say in the earlier years. And then the later years before his passing, he said that, "I know Your I know the גילויים of גן עדן התחתון, I know the גילויים of גן עדן העליון, I know the גילויים of חכמה דאצילות, and I even know the גילויים העצמיים where חכמה and עשיה are equal. But I give myself over with the whole my whole power of מסירת נפש so that You should listen, that השם, You should listen to the prayer of every Jew as if he was a צדיק גמור davening on ראש השנה."

I don't know, maybe the ענין of that is that that in a way, the highest מסירת נפש is like it says in היום יום, that it's better to love who השם loves than even to love השם.

So in a way, even better than wanting God, that's still kind of like a selfish thing that you want to be connected to God, is that you should want that He should, you know, be good to His people and everything.

So now, that's the importance of the צמצום.