Part 6 · Chapter 25

Descending Levels and the Scales of Justice 0:03

ובירידת המדרגה עוד, and then as the light descends lower, אין מוחין דחכמה בינה דאצילות מקבלים רק מבחינת נצח והוד דאריך אנפין. Then there's an even lower level of where the intellect only receives from the נצח and הוד of אריך אנפין, שהוא הבאת השפע דחסד וגבורה למטה, which נצח and הוד just bring out the חסד וגבורה to actuality, they're bringing it down, כמו נצח והוד שנקראים מאזני צדק בכל מקום, like נצח and הוד which are called the scales of justice, on every level they're called the scales of justice.

גם למטה ממידות שמצד השכל. This is true also in the מידות of ז״א, of זעיר אנפין, which are under the שכל. So it doesn't matter, the מידות of זעיר אנפין, the מידות of אריך אנפין, the נצח and הוד are always the idea of bringing the שפע down, which that's the idea of the scales of justice. Because that's like once you already figure out what is good and what is bad, now you come to a particular situation, you have to figure out what is the best way to bring out this law, or this ruling, to actuality.

And so that's the idea of like weighing what would be just in this situation, especially like the sentence, as opposed to the verdict, to figure out like how to actually bring the law out. What to do to the person? Should we punish him? Should we reward him? How should we punish him? How should we reward him?

And so like it's the idea that you weigh like, should I give or should I hold back? רק מידות שברצון שנקראים אריכות אנפין, the only difference that when it's in the מידות of the רצון, the מידות of כתר, there it's called אריך אנפין, it's called like a big face. So it's like a mature and it's like an infinite מידות. הן בלתי מוגבלים, at that level, נצח and הוד are not limited, all the מידות there are not limited, כמו הרצון עצמו, just like the רצון itself, שהוא בלתי מוגבל, which is not limited, that the רצון of אריך אנפין is infinite רצון.

So, in אריך אנפין, you don't want a good job, you want infinite money. You don't want a nice house, you want a huge palace. It's no end. Everything there is to no end. So the same way, the emotions of you know, חג״ת are infinite, that like the love and the fear there are like these infinite, essential מידות, and also the נצח and הוד, and the יסוד there, the נה״י there is also like that.

גם בחינת נצח והוד הן בבחינת בלתי מוגבל, they're also unlimited. And this is like the idea that because of a person's essential love for their family, they'll want to, let's say, work to provide their family with food and clothing and shelter and all their needs.

So because it's coming from their essential desire, so it comes out also like an essential נצח and הוד, that the application of, so therefore because I love my family, I have to provide for them, is also essential and it will never stop.

Regular Intellect in Daily Life 2:53

And so this level of intellect, when it receives from the נצח and הוד, this is like a normal intellect already. This is the regular way that your intellect works. You're not thinking, on a regular day, you're not thinking about the inner truth behind things, which would be like the מזלות, going all the way to the חב״ד and all the way to עצם that's higher than the חב״ד, the כתר, and you're not thinking about like your inner beliefs and your inner values and morals, which would be the חג״ת, you're just thinking about how to do your day-to-day things, which is like based on your beliefs and based on your worldview and your, you know, your nature and your feelings and your morals and all those things, that's already set.

Now you're just applying that. So now I need to go, the נצח and הוד of that is that I have to go to work, and you're figuring out how to drive to work, and once you get there, figuring out how to do your job and how to get your groceries and you know, just do your day-to-day stuff.

So this is like already a regular intellect when it receives from this level. And so at this level, it will be, the intellect will be, in a way, it's kind of honest, because in a way you're not so partial, but on the other hand, it's you're not looking into the truth of things at all. You're just based, assuming this whole system, and based on that you're, you're already like assuming all these axioms, you're just working from there.

Based on that, you come up with an intellect. But you already assume that you want to go to work and, you know, that you know that you love your family, you know that this is the right thing to do, and that's it. And you're not really thinking about questioning any of those things. In order to really get to the truth of an idea, you have to question all the way back to the original axioms and see if those are true, and then you can build from there.

Questioning Axioms to Reach True Understanding 4:22

And if you don't, if you don't dig into the source, then you're, you're never going to really find the truth of an idea. But once that's all set up, so now the intellect just runs on autopilot. וכידוע דפירוש זכר רב טובך הוא בחינת יסוד דאריך אנפין, as it's known that when it says, "Remember your of great, your abundant goodness," the idea, that's, that's the idea of יסוד of אריך אנפין, the טוב represents יסוד, like we'll explain later, and the idea of the Your great goodness, that's infinite good, also is called רב טובך, and that's יסוד of אריך אנפין.

That that is the level where God connects to us in an infinite way, and so He always wants to give to us, no matter what. וכן ובטובך הגדול, and see also like it says your great goodness, וכאי גוונא, and the like. וכן אם יגמלך טוב, רב טוב לבית ישראל. It says that if you will bestow goodness, and abundant goodness to the House of Israel, וכאי גוונא. So here you see that there's two: there's the regular טוב, and then there's the רב טוב.

Regular טוב is is like of זעיר אנפין, and then the רב טוב is of אריך אנפין. מה שאין כן בבחינת יסוד ז"א, but the יסוד of זעיר אנפין, שהוא בבחינת מדות שנולדו מבינה, those are the emotions that come only based on a reason, they're coming out from the intellect, הוא בבחינת קטנות ביותר. Those are very small, very immature. That's only, in other words, you're only connected to it for a reason, and as soon as the reason goes away, then you won't do it anymore.

כמו שמבואר במקום אחר בענין צדיק כתמר יפרח כארז בלבנון ישגה. What's the idea? צדיק כתמר, זהו בבחינת יסוד זעיר אנפין. כארז בלבנון ישגה בבחינת, this is supposed to read אין סוף, בבחינת אין סוף שהוא ביסוד עתיק יומין ואריך אנפין. That's the יסוד of עתיק and אריך.

And the idea is that it says a צדיק, which a צדיק represents יסוד, like we'll also explain later, that he starts out growing like a like a palm tree, a date palm. And then, eventually, he becomes like a like a cedar tree. What's the idea of a date palm? A date palm, the purpose of the tree is for the fruit. As soon as it stops giving fruit, the tree is worthless.

And the tree itself, it's like it's not good wood or anything, it's like a it's like a useless tree, mostly. The main purpose of it is just the fruit. So that's like a level where a person is connecting, they're doing something, and they're growing, and they're working, but it's only for a reason. So they're only connected to this because of the fruit. And their whole purpose is for the fruit, like a kid that's doing, you know, learning for candy or is doing something for for a reward.

That's the idea of like זעיר אנפין, those are small מדות. And then the the the idea of יסוד of אריך אנפין is that you're doing it with an inherent integrity, just you're doing it because you want to do it. And that's the idea of a cedar tree. A cedar tree doesn't have fruit, but the tree itself is valuable, the wood itself is valuable. And that's the idea that you're doing it because the thing itself is valuable, not because of something that it's going to bring you.

But you appreciate that this itself is what you want to do. So it's like you do a good deed for somebody or you help somebody because that's the right thing to do, not because you're going to get a reward for it. And the same thing with, like, the תורה and מצות, if you're doing it because you want to connect to השם, שכר מצוה מצוה, the the fact you're able to connect to השם, that is the reward.

And you don't need some separate reward that He's going to give you עולם הבא or גן עדן or money or, you know, blessings or anything. And that's the idea that it's like a cedar tree, that the the fruit is the thing itself. And that's also the idea that's that it's in in Lebanon, which Lebanon is the idea of לב נון, which that represents the source of חכמה and בינה, the the ל"ב is the 32nd path of חכמה and the 50th gate of בינה, which that's where they reach all the way up to עצם, as opposed to just reaching like the external things that come out from it.

Cedar Tree Metaphor and King Solomon 8:22

So when you appreciate the thing itself, that's like a cedar in Lebanon. וכן מה שכתוב בשלמה, and similarly like it says about שלמה המלך, וידבר מן הארז אשר בלבנון ועד האזוב אשר בקיר, it says that שלמה המלך, King Solomon, who is the wisest man, and he spoke about everything. He explained everything. He explained plants, and the animals, and everything, and when he spoke about the plants, it says he spoke about the cedar tree that's in Lebanon every everything from the cedar tree that's in Lebanon all the way to the weed that grows out of the wall, meaning from the greatest plant, the greatest tree, to the smallest little weed.

So this is the idea that he explained both the tree, but all the actual the actual plants, but it also means he explained the idea of יסוד, which is the idea of like a plant, because the ground is like מלכות, and then the tree that grows out from that and stays connected to it, that's the idea of like the מדות the way they're connected to the ground, which the level of יסוד, where they're connected to מלכות.

So the cedar tree that's in Lebanon, we already explained, that's the יסוד of עתיק יומין and אריך אנפין, and then he explained all the way down to the smallest idea of יסוד, which is the יסוד ז"א, which grows out of the מלכות, which is which grows out of מלכות, which is called like the wall, the קיר, because a wall is like a is called like מלכות because the idea that it's בטל, it's totally nullified, it's just an inanimate thing.

And that's like, you know, in the כותל, they have weeds growing out of the cracks there. That's the idea of like a weed growing out of the wall. וכידוע בכוונות דאמן יהא שמיה רבא מברך, and this is like idea when we daven, and we say אמן יהא שמיה רבא מברך, what are we saying?

Shmiyah Rabbah in Prayer and Divine Will 9:56

דשמיה גימטריא רצון. We say אמן, may your great name be blessed. What's the idea of your name? That שמיה is גימטריא רצון. שמיה, your name, has the same גימטריא as רצון, desire. ושמיה הגדול, the idea of שמיה רבא, your great name, which means the big name, that's בבחינת יסוד מלכות דאריך. That's the יסוד and the מלכות of אריך אנפין. The מלכות is the idea of שם, and when we it's connected to to זעיר אנפין through יסוד, that's called שמיה, your name.

שיהיה מבורך באבא וזון. We're saying that it should be drawn down into the שכל, the אבא ואמא, and then זו״ן, נוקבא, וכולי, that השם's great name should be brought out. לאגברא ימינא על שמאלא, that the right should overpower the left. And this is the idea that השם's essential connection to to the יידן, we're asking that to be brought out and revealed, and so He'll have mercy on us.

וכמו ובטובך הגדול ישוב וכולי, like we say, in Your abundant goodness return us, וכולי וד״ל. And this the main idea of this really is that we're asking for משיח, like we explained before, I think, that שמיה רבא means all the way up to the original רצון, like רצון קדום, which is רצון for משיח. And here he's stressing the idea that it's that's being brought out into the אבא וזון, that when the מדות are according to the to the עצם רצון, so then it's always this it will always be the same.

Seeking Mashiach: Lowest Intellect and Divine Favor 11:06

This is the idea that if השם has essential connection to us, and so whether we deserve it or not, השם will always give us good. So this is the lowest level of the intellect where it receives from the רצון, but even there, it's always according to to the רצון.