Part 7 · Chapter 15

Chesed and Gevurah are the same essence 0:02

That's the whole thing we talked about in י"א. If you're saying that the חסד is all the way going up to the עצם and the גבורה is going all the way to the עצם, so you must say they're really one עצם. They're not two separate things.

Being mean and being nice, you mean? Yeah, it's really him doing whatever he wants. That's all it is. There's no real thing of being kind. What does that mean, you're being kind? That doesn't mean anything.

You create some like form or some pattern that defines being kind, but it's not really like it's really you're doing what you think is you want to do, what you think is the best thing to do. There's no difference really between the two things.

It's like addition and subtraction, they look like they're opposites, but they're really not. This is like the thing that all Jews, in the פנימיות it's really all like the same thing. Even though they come out later, they have different souls, and some are head souls, some are hand souls, some are heart souls, and feet souls, and they have all different jobs, and they serve God in different ways, and at first glance, it looks like they're different, you know, and they can hate each other, and you know, like a head guy says the main thing is you have to do התבוננות to understand חסידות.

A foot guy says the main thing is you have to go do מבצעים, and you know. And the head guy hates going on מבצעים, and he likes learning חסידות, and the foot guy likes going on מבצעים, and he hates learning חסידות, and you know.

And they hate each other cuz they think each one is contradicting the other one. They think they're both saying, you know. And they really really what they're doing is they're just, you know, using their כח to serve God as best as they can. וכן מעצם עין סוף דוקא בא כח הגבול והמדה, so too, from עצם עין סוף comes the כח הגבול והמדה, אשר בבחינת רשימו שבקו, which in the רשימו שבקו, שמחמת זה נקרא קו המדה, and because of this רשימו it's called קו המדה, that God chose that it should be a certain way, because just like God can he could do whatever he wants.

Eye of Infinity and the line of measure 1:31

וזהו על ידי אחד דוקא וכו' הוא על ידי עין סוף דוקא שזהו עין סוף הוא... וכן מעצם עין סוף דוקא בא כח הגבול והמדה אשר בבחינת רשימו שבקו שמחמת זה נקרא קו המדה. ובהבלעה תליא דוקא, and they're interdependent, God could do what he wants, so he can make a system and he could break a system.

כמו שמבואר במקום אחר בענין כללות חסד וגבורה שבעצמות, like explains elsewhere about the ענין of חסד וגבורה in the עצמות דהעין סוף, שהוא בחינת כח הגבול להגביל ולהעלים בעצמותו בעילוי אחר עילוי עד אין קץ ושיעור, that first there's the ענין of that the כח הגבול, the גבורה, which is that he's able to limit and hide within himself higher and higher to no end ושיעור, עד אין קץ ושיעור, his עצם אור, and make it look like a רשימו, like a totally separate limited thing that's totally outside of his power and and it looks totally like you don't see any connection between things and it just seems totally set.

The אור is like where you see like there's an inner נקודה that unites it, you see that there's a כוונה, but like once it comes to רשימו, it's like no. There's no deeper meanings, there's no inner intentions, all I want is take a לולב and shake it. That's it. With the לולב, with the הדסים and the ערבות, and the אתרוג, and shake it.

And you say, but what does he really mean, what does he want, say no, that's it, there's nothing else, that's what he wants, and everything else is hidden. Or like you go to a wall, and you try to walk through it, and the wall says no. That's it, you can't walk through. You say, why? No whys, no buts, that's just the way it is. That is the טבע, the magical word טבע, of the wall, that's it.

But really that's coming from the עצמות. That's ממש like the עצמות. That is like a thing that it's that it's it's a מציאות on its own, it doesn't have any reason before it or after it, and it just is a thing on its it's a מציאות on its own. That's the יש גמור that comes from the יש אמיתי. והיינו עין סוף למעלה עד אין קץ, that's the עין סוף that goes up to no end, וכו' ובחינת התפשטות האור למטה מטה עד אין תכלית, and there's also התפשטות האור down to no end, שעל ידי הקו נמשך מן הרשימו וכו', that through the קו it comes down through the רשימו and God reveals himself in the world more and more.

Now which side of these are is which side is חסד, which side is גבורה? So that is really doesn't really matter because the idea of חסד and גבורה are interchangeable, like when you face somebody, your right side is facing their left side.

So it's totally relativistic term, right? So like let's say when the רבי comes out and says lots of שיחות, so in a way, you say that's a חסד, cuz he's teaching us a lot, right?

But on the other hand, that's really a גבורה, because he has to limit his שכל instead of going and learning and, you know, doing things on his level, he has to come down to this really stupid level, and talk really slow, and really stupidly, and, you know, sit there for hours to explain things to us. And then they don't get it, so he has to do it again, you know?

Rabbi’s teaching as both kindness and strength 5:12

So it's a really big גבורה, especially for him. On the other hand, when the רבי, let's say, stay locks up his room or doesn't come out for a long time, and he's busy learning or doing whatever he's doing. So, in a way that's a big חסד. It's like, yeah, vacation, you know, he's able to do things on his level and it's a much higher level and everything is much more בגילוי to him, but to us a big גבורה, because we don't appreciate it.

So I think that's why he doesn't say which one is חסד, which one is גבורה here, because sometimes it explains it one way, sometimes it explains it the other way.

Right, exactly, that's what we're explaining here, that the way the names are superimposed on it, the system is superimposed, so in a way, that makes it easier to understand. Like you can start learning חסידות, because they draw you a map, and they show you there's אצילות, and there's בריאה, יצירה, עשיה, and there's the 10 ספירות, and they put them in three lines for you, and so in a way it makes it easier to start learning because it's now it's very tangible.

It's not so abstract, and you can memorize it and feel like, "I'm understanding something." But on the other hand, that totally is מעלים. It's like a מסך that's מבדיל, and it totally covers over the עצם. And it makes you think these crazy stupid things, you know, that it's like this machine or I don't know, whatever all these weird ideas people have, and it's totally covers over on the עצם of it.

And when you just explain the thing, and people really understand what it's talking about, much easier, but that's why people have all these questions all the time, that here it says one thing, and here it says something else, seems to contradict, because they don't get that it's not like this system. It's not like these things.

And that really even like all the terms, חסד and גבורה, they're all relative, and they're totally really even interchangeable. Really חסד is really גבורה, and גבורה is really חסד, and it's really all just like a superimposed thing. It's really not true, you know, all these distinctions. But yeah, there is a truth to them. It's not like totally bogus. It's not totally true, either.

It's not like a set in stone thing. It's like a person that's deciding to come down and do things in a system. So the system itself is a choice. It's really not a system. So it's really both at the same time.

ובב' קוין שקולין הן, these two lines, these two abilities are exactly equal, בבחינת אין סוף, they're both completely infinite, equally infinite. In other words, that God can make Himself transcend everything infinitely and be above all definitions and all levels, all the way above even the 10 ספירות of יחיד, and above עצמות, and above, whatever, anything. Don't tell Him what to do. Above עצמות, yeah, above everything. If you can name it, He can go above it.

Equality of divine powers and infinite scope 7:21

Even if you can't name it, He can go above it. It doesn't matter. And then it's also infinite going down. So these two lines are equal, and they're both infinite. על כן גם בירידת האור האין סוף בקו זה, שקולין ב' כחות אלו. So therefore, even this just since in the עצמות these two things are equal, that God is כל יכול both ways equally, that He can transcend everything and He can limit Himself down to the smallest thing and put His whole עצם there, and to Him it's all the same.

So even when He's doing things in a small way, like in the קו, and these two מדות are both coming out now in a גבול way instead of an אין סוף way, they're still both equal. That the קו can measure things as big as God wants or as small as God wants. Even though it's all now happening within a smaller scale according to the מקבלים, not according to His essential ability, nevertheless, He can do it as much as He wants either way.

It's the same, they're both equal. לצמצם ולהגביל או לחבר וליחד, to either to limit and divide and separate, or to connect and unite. וכן ענין שינויי האור וההמשכה, and so too all the changes in the light and the המשכה, אם בתוספת אם בגירעון, whether it's coming more or less, כמו מזמן לזמן, like changes from time to time, כמו בחול ושבת ויום טוב, like change from the week to שבת and יום טוב, that there's different ייחודים going on, וכן בזמן בית המקדש ובזמן הגלות, הכל בכח אחד, it's all really one power, שקול, which is equal, שנפעל בב' קוין, which is revealed in two opposite ways.

It's really one עצם thing is revealed as two opposites, חסד and גבורה. It's really God could do whatever He wants, and it's revealed as being able to make the rules and be able to break the rules.

Week versus Shabbat: differing divine revelations 9:20

Well, yeah, now what's the difference between the week and the שבת? The week is that God is making that there's like a system, and you have to follow the system and be מברר things. שבת He's revealing that really we're above the system.

And really the עצם is above either, and so He can choose either to do this way or that way. And so it's really the גילוי of the same thing. Just one is revealing one, that's the whole point, that God could do whatever He wants. And the way that the עצם is revealed is that it transcends everything and that it goes into everything. And those are two ways of revealing the same thing, the same עצם.

Yeah, the שבת within the rest of the week, and what do you have in שבת that comes from the week? That shows you like the ייחוד of the two there. הבא מכח והאור הראשון, that's the אין סוף, and they both come from the כח and the the first אור of the עצמות אין סוף. כמו שהוא בעצמות, בעצמות as it is essentially to itself, וכן חסד וגבורה וכולי וכולי.

Since essentially it's כביכול both ways, so therefore in the קו it's revealed that it has both things. והיינו כמבואר למעלה, this is like we explained before באות י"ד, דקו לגבי שטח הוא היולי כולו, that the קו is a היולי compared to the rest of the השתלשלות, which is like the שטח, על דרך איזה אור וכח העצמי שבעצמות של המשפיע, according to the עצם המשפיע that he can bring out the שטח however he wants.

Right, when you have like a measuring stick, it doesn't limit the house, you can measure, you can keep measuring and make the house as big as you want, or you can make it as small as you want.

רק שבעצמות הוא בהרחבת הערך ביותר, just that in your עצם it's in a much bigger way, the ability that you have. ובקו זה, but when it comes on the קו, בא כח זה העצמי בבחינת הצמצום, שפע והמשכה למקבל וכולי. Now the same thing is coming out in a limited way. So like the teacher, he understands the idea in an infinite way, both he understands, sees like the נקודה how it transcends all the explanations, and he also can put it into infinite explanations.

Either way he can go infinite. He can make it one נקודה that includes every possible ענין, or he can bring it into infinite explanations and make it totally separate, and each one a different thing and keep going different explanations and different משלים, each one will have its own ענין and its own thing that's different from every other one.

And he could do that infinitely. But when he בפועל ממש, when he explains it to a student, he makes some sort of compromise that's not infinite either way.

But it's coming really from that same thing, it's just that now it's coming in a way according to the מקבל. ואם כן גם בחינת צמצום והתפשטות שבו, משם הוא בא דווקא וכולי. But so therefore both the צמצום and התפשטות, the קו is really coming from there, and that's why really if he wants he can be מאריך the ענין back to the that to עצם if he'll talk to somebody on his level, or he can bring it all the way down to like a little kid and it's all the same thing then.

And that's the point, is that God can do whatever he wants, and it's revealed through two these two things, and but it's the point is that even though God is revealing this thing of צמצום, התפשטות, חסד, גבורה within השתלשלות only in a limited way, that really is coming from the עצם that he can do whatever he wants. So within you see you we only see God doing whatever he wants within the ten ספירות usually, that he makes it a little bit more, a little less, and whatever, but really the fact that he you can make a any change shows that he's already above the whole system, even though you say it's just a little change.

You know, like you say, "Oh, I'm really I'm keeping the laws and the system, I'm just making a little exception." No, once you make a little exception, that's really revealing that the whole thing is bogus.

And that really there's no system and there's no rules and you're doing whatever you want, and there's really no limits, or else you wouldn't be able to make this you know decisions. You know, and really even like when you go to a store, you know, and the person says, "Well, I don't have the jurisdiction. You have to go to my manager," and stuff like that, it's not really true, cuz he's a person and he has a certain a power, and really he could just make an exception.

You know, he could do it. Maybe he doesn't want to do it cuz he's afraid that he would get in trouble, but he could do it.

When you go to a cashier at, you know, Walmart or something like that, they could really do whatever they want. They don't have to follow the rules if they don't want to. Maybe they'll get in trouble, but, you know, I mean they're a human. They forget that they are sometimes, but they can do whatever they want. And you know, well why is a manager any better? The manager is not really any better, just that they set up a system that the manager is allowed to and that this person is not allowed to.

Managers, systems, and the illusion of authority 13:14

But really, what's the difference? It's just making a judgment call. I can make the same judgment call. There's no inherent reason why that this person should be the manager and I shouldn't be the manager. It could be I'm more qualified, and it could be I'm smarter and I can make better decisions, but on the other hand, part of that thing that you decide is he's going to be in charge and I'm going to be not in charge, and that's it, you have to listen to the orders.

And so you the system is, you know, you can decide to make a system, that's what you decided. It's really not a system, but the system is only that you decided to make a system. ודי למבין.