Part 1 · Chapter 27

Intro to Lights of אבא and אימא 0:00

והנה, and behold. אחר שנתבאר דרך פרט קצת בענין אורות או״א, after we explained a little bit in detail, so that was only a little bit of explanation, about the lights of אבא and אימא, right, פרצופים of חכמה and בינה, ובבחינת יחודם, and the way that they joined together בפנימיות וחיצוניות כנ״ל, whether on the inner level or the outer the external level. We said there's three different types of, you know, levels of יחודים: whether they connect in the חב״ד, they connect in חג״ת, they connect in נה״י.

And we explained, before that we explained how the אור, the אורות of אבא ואמא themselves, that there's the way they receive from the מזלות, and there's the way they receive from the זרועות, and there's the way they receive from the נה״י, right, of כתר. מעתה, now, יש לבאר פרטי ענין אורות דז״א.

Introducing ז״א: Israel and Jacob 1:08

Now, we ought to be moving right along on to ז״א, right? שנקרא ישראל ויעקב, which ז״א the פרצוף of ז״א is called ישראל and it's called יעקב, we're we're explain later why it's called both those, וכל פרטי יחודים דזו״ן, we should also we explained the lights of ז״א, we should explain the explain the יחודים of of of ז״א with נוקבא, שנקרא יחוד ישראל ולאה, או יחוד יעקב ורחל.

And later we're going to say really that there's the there are more there's four combinations here: you can have ישראל and לאה and ישראל and רחל, and then you can have יעקב and לאה and יעקב and רחל. So we have to explain all those different יחודים. So now we're going to we we're going to explain it in like five chapters or so, because now we are going to begin a five-chapter introduction about the lights and vessels.

You know, then we're going to actually start explaining ז״א generally a little bit, then we're going to give a give a recap יחוד, and then we're going to explain what the difference is between יעקב and רחל, and then we explain the יחודים. So we're you know, it's a it's five chapters before we start talking about ז״א specifically again, and ten chapters before we actually talk about the יחודים of ז״א with נוקבא.

Prerequisite: Intro to Lights and Vessels 2:30

אך תחילה יש להבין הקדמה בענין אורות וכלים,

but first we have to understand some prerequisite concepts about lights and vessels בכלל ובפרט, in general and in their details. דהנה ידוע פירוש מה שאמר דאיהו וחיותיה חד, הן אורות, ואיהו וגרמוהי חד, הן בחינת הכלים. It's known, this is like very famous מאמר of the זוהר that איהו וחיותיה חד, איהו וגרמוהי חד, that He is one with His the the life forces, it's a משל of like the soul and the body.

He is one with the soul, He is one with the body. גרמוהי means organs, it means the body, right? So חיותיה, the life or the soul, that means the lights of this השתלשלות, and גרמוהי, the organs or the body, is a משל for the vessels. So now we're going to explain to you this idea of how the body is a משל for the vessels. ומצד בחינת האורות דעשר ספירות בכלל ובפרט נקראים עשר ספירות בלי מה, בלי מהות.

Ten Sefirot Lights Without Essence 3:38

When we're talking about the lights of the ten ספירות in general and also for each ספירה, so then we call the ספירות בלי מה, that they are בלי מהות, that they don't have a מהות, which means that you can't tell me what they are. They are not tangible or defined. They don't have a defined existence. You can't say what they are. They could really it could really be anything.

The vessel is what makes it something that's limited and defined, right? Like back to chapter 10 and 11, so like in in chapter 11 he brings up like the the he mentions this for the first time, the idea of בלי מהות, right, בלי מה. And he says there that like it's a משל like in אחד, so like a person that that you know he says knows that he wants to let's say buy let's say you you want to buy a present for somebody for their birthday, so you already know the general רצון you want, but you don't know what you want to get them yet.

What is it? You say, I don't know. You don't know, because it's still just the the light, you know, the general light. כמו שכתוב, like it says, ולא מכל אינון מדות כלל וכו׳, because the light is revelation of God, and we say that God is not, nothing to do with any of these מדות at all. He's really above them all. So the revelation of God within the ספירות is not definable.

It's only the vessel that define it. So then we can, you know, call like wisdom. Wisdom is the vessel. The the revelation of it is that like He is wise. The wise guy, you know, the the one who is wise. So the thing that you know about Him from the wisdom is not really tangible thing, though. That's like it's not really definable thing, the way that He's expressed.

You know what I mean? Like let's say you say that in in in the wisdom you see Him. You can get to know Him from His wisdom and from His kindness and from all these different things, you get to know Him a little bit. But that thing that you get to know Him is not really a tangible thing, because you can't really like you like let's say I know you, you know, after whatever, I know you as much as I know you.

After all of our experiences together and sitting next to you in 770 and stuff, you know what I mean? So, but if somebody asks me like, "Who are you?" I can't I still can't explain your your עצם. It's still I don't know, it's just you, it's just שמואל, right? It's not really something tangible, even though I see you in all kinds of things. And I could even sometimes say, "Oh, that's like I can see like you in it.

That's a you kind of thing." Yeah, there's like a certain style, you know, that's like the revelation of the person is בלי מה. It's not tangible, and the vessel is, etc. Yet you know you know the way the person is, but you know it the way it's through what he does, and what he you know, what he thinks, and what he says and does.

And just because something is בלי מה doesn't mean that it's not a real thing and you don't know it at all. That's not what it means at all. You know, it's like that's the real thing, like a person's talent. You can appreciate a person's talent for something, which is already still like a light, and that's, you know, but it's still a בלי מה thing.

Or like with the let's say like you want something, but like you want something that's not yet defined. Let's say you want a home, and you don't want a house yet, you just want a home. So that that's some רצון, it's not a fake thing, it's a real thing. That's the that's the real רצון. Even though like these kind of things are like even, you know, like all these things philosophers bother themselves with, like "What is love?"

and "What is truth?" and "What is," you know, cuz they don't want to just have particular examples of it, they want to know like the light, what is the real cuz there's different levels of light. There's like just the regular light, which is which is even that's בלי מה, and there's the עצם אור. It doesn't have to be the revelation of the of like the person, that's like עצם אור.

Even the light of the ספירה itself, like the light of the real light of חכמה is still בלי מה, like with these things. Like what is the real thing of wisdom?

You know, you don't really see the real thing of wisdom. You see it in particular instances, but like let's say we're going to what is the essence of wisdom? It's not like a tangible thing that like it's not so easily defined. You can't really like define it. It's like, you know, it's kind of a human thing that you recognize these things. Like kindness, it's hard to like, you know, kindness is not something that you could like write down on like paper what, you know, if you do this and you do that, then you're being kind.

Depends on the situation. It's just it's a certain it's a certain sensitivity. It's just like a an attitude of wanting to to to do good. But it's like you can't really, you know, but what it it's not really like a defined thing yet. Depends on situations and stuff. And the same thing with wisdom, it's like and you know, and understanding, all these things of intellect are like what you feel is graceful and beautiful and symmetrical and logical and orderly and all these kind of things.

Defining Light (אור) and Vessel (כלי) 9:20

A working definition when we say אור? Well, let's start with a definition of כלי, cuz that's a lot easier. Cuz that's, you know, has a מה, it has a מה, right? A כלי means

when something is a tangible, defined expression of something. That is the כלי. And the אור is like the abstract, untangible point behind it. It could either be like the goal, or it could be its, you know, what like the with the The tangible thing is always representing something. So like that untangible thing that it's representing is called a light. Well, kind of, like is it the difference between חכמה and בינה?

I mean, חכמה is called like אור a lot of times, and בינה puts things into אותיות of מחשבה, which are like כלים. So, in a way, yeah, it's kind of like, you know, that relationship, but it's really a more general thing than that, because חכמה and בינה yeah, in a way, yeah, it's like It's true that it says חכמה like doesn't have אותיות and בינה has אותיות, but really חכמה also has אותיות, just they're higher type of אותיות.

Relationship of חכמה and בינה 10:29

You know You know, חכמה also has a כלי.

But it's just not like a language. You know, it's not It's It's not like אותיות of מחשבה ממש it's called. It's not אותיות of like a like a language. You're not thinking to yourself a language in חכמה. You're just picturing things, and like it's So it's like the letters are in in חכמה mean the particular way that you're thinking of the whatever you're thinking about. Like so you imagined it like a certain, you know, if you're thinking about a car, you imagine a certain car.

That particular car that you chose to imagine is a כלי, because you're using it to represent all cars, or to represent, you know Right, so a higher level can be a of כלי can be like abstract to a lower level. And that's the idea how like the words of a teacher become the inner understanding of the students. So, to them, that's like the light, but to the teacher, that's the vessels.

Really really it's not true there. Really, the his words are like a מסך, and then the light is בוקע it, and it comes through from it, but his words themselves are not the actual light. They just carry the light. Well, the כלי also has פנימיות and חיצוניות. The אור is more פנימיות, but the אור is the soul, and the vessel is the body, you know? That's what it is.

Inner and Outer Aspects of Vessels 11:57

Everything has a soul. That's, in a way, a better משל definition, cuz even like, you know, like a guy that's like in an art form or something like that, you know, or somebody speaking, you know, you like he could be going through the motions, but he doesn't have the soul. You know, some people could be doing things technically right, but they don't have the soul, you know what I mean?

Like they don't have the talent, they don't have the feeling. They don't have the sensitivity. Those are all you know, the soul, that's like the light. So people you know, a lot of times people learn things and they can parrot back what they learned and you know, pass their tests and whatever, but they just really don't get it. They really don't. And so they just don't they don't have the light.

You know, they have the vessels, they have the letters, but they really don't have the light. On the other hand, a person that חאפס it and really gets the light, even if they don't do so well on the test, memorizing and whatever, you know what I mean? But they actually get it, and so they can apply it, and they can explain it, and they can use it, and it's like a real thing.

If you have the light, it's a real thing. Sometimes, like there are people, well, sometimes I have this problem, you know, sometimes you can understand something, but because you don't So you have the soul, but you don't have say it in the right language that the other person's like used to, the right terminology, cuz each culture has its own jargon. So like even like within you know, let's say like חב"ד, Chassidic people, like בעל נגלה's and people that are into חסידות have their each have their own jargon.

So like I was learning with this guy that was a בעל נגלה, and I would use like, you know, to explain the גמרא, I would use like חסידות terms, and it used to really annoy him, he didn't get like, what am I talking about? Like I was talking about like the חומר and the צורה, and he like didn't get what He's like It bothered him until he got used to it, you know, because I just wasn't saying it in the right terms.

And there's a lot of truth to that, that sometimes a very big thing is just saying things in people's words. You got to know the lingo. That's the כלים is the words. So it's important, even if you have the light, it's not enough. You can understand something, but if you want to bring it over to somebody else, a lot of times the כלים are very important. You know, it's like when you want to get

married. So like the person's personality, and character traits, and you know, beliefs, and ideas, and you know, views, those are like the soul, and then the way they look is their body, right? How old they are, how tall they are, what they look like, and everything like that. So, people also care about the body, or ניט? So, you know, sometimes you can have, if you have everything good like in the soul, but you don't present it in a way that people like it, they're not necessarily going to take it.

You know what I mean? Some people will, some people won't. Some people care more about the body, some people care less, you know?