Part 8 · Chapter 28

The כלי as a Universal Vessel 0:03

And the truth is the main thing of the כלי is not when it comes to a particular expression just the fact that it's able to be used for anything. So in other words, the fact that your brain that you're able to think with your brain is is like the thing that that's a כלי. And the way that's a תיקון is when you actually think a particular thing and now it lets you bring it across, but it doesn't let you bring across your power to think, it lets you bring across your particular idea.

So מצד the power of thought it's only a vessel, מצד a particular idea it's it's something that that brings it across and transforms it into something that can be brought across. So for example, when you use your hand to move something it doesn't give the thing that you move the power of movement, not really, it just gives it the particular movement that you made.

Whereas your hand is a is a vessel for your power of movement and so it's it's it's infinite, and you can move in however way whichever way you want.

We're going to talk more about this soon about the next chapter about the difference between a גבול בכח and a גבול בפועל which is the difference between the כלים and the תיקונים. If the power of a גבול בכח is ענין of a כלי, the power of גבול בפועל is the ענין of a תיקון.

We're also going to talk about it more later in the למד'ס when we talk about how אותיות are called both כלים and לבושים. That's the same ענין that he's explaining here, that on the פנימיות of it is a כלי and the חיצוניות of it is a לבוש, the same ענין.

תיקון: Conveying Specific Ideas 1:33

Yeah, but before you make an actual movement the the the the the fact that it's able to transform it into a particular movement is the ענין of a is the ענין of a תיקון. Whereas the fact that it's just that your your entire essential power is able to rest there is the ענין of a כלי. That's the difference between a כלי and like a תיקון or a לבוש, that a כלי holds the whole thing and a לבוש is only like one is like only one expression of it.

Because it's like a משל, like when you put on, you know, if you put on your fireman hat and coat and everything like that, so now we see you as a fireman. You know, or you can take that off and you put on like a like a doctor thing, one of those white coats with a stethoscope and Different clothes you put on, it's like you're putting on different roles.

And so we see you now as being like that thing like say, "Oh what is he? Oh, he's a doctor." So that's not your עצם, your clothes are only expressing one thing that you do and it's דוקא how they should relate to you. That's the main ענין of clothes is like a uniform is people should know how to relate to you.

So it's like a very important thing in a way that, you know, like doctors dress a certain way so that you know who the doctor is and you know who's not the doctor.

And the same thing when you're in a store, how do you know who to ask where to find something? Cuz they're wearing the store uniform. If they weren't be wearing the store uniform, then you you'd ask some customer and he'll be, "Oh, I'm sorry sir, I don't work here," you know? So they're right, there's an ענין, the reason why now kind of becomes like a lost thing.

I don't know if most people don't appreciate this and they're not doing it on purpose, they're just trying to copy the רבי, you know, like a little kid that just like wants to dress up, puts on his their father's clothes.

They dress up like their father or something like like my nephew, you know, likes to dress up different things and like the other day I came there and he was all dressed up with like his father's hat on. He was wearing his like שבת suit, vest or coat or something and I don't know, and I asked him what is he all dressed up for. He said he's doing a חתונה, he's having a חתונה.

You know, he likes to dress up, he's going to a חתונה or something or like he's a חתן or you know pretends to doing a חתונה.

So that's like kind of what it's like for most people, they're just copying the רבי. But the real ענין of clothes is a is a is a is a it's an ענין that like, you know, like the רבי didn't just copy the way the פריערדיקער רבי dressed. I mean he didn't dress like the פריערדיקער רבי, actually. So when he was a חסיד and he wanted people to leave him alone and not make a big deal out of him, he דוקא dressed, you know, a way of like somebody that's modern and so people did left him alone.

And when he wanted people to דוקא go to him and know that he's the רבי, then he dressed like a רבי. And it says when משיח comes, the people that that are נביאים are going to wear like קאפאטעס, they're going to wear like a a a long like an אפוד, like that long thing like the כהן גדול would wear, so that people would know to go ask them questions.

Prophetic Attire for Leaders and Messianic Figures 4:22

And that's the ענין the רבי said that people that are like that are like משפיעים and ראשי ישיבה should wear קאפאטעס all day, everyday. Why? So people will know that they're somebody to ask questions to about these kind of things. And people say, "Oh they don't want to, they're humble, who am I?" You know what I mean? It's a kind of a stupid humility.

Like that's your job. You know what I mean? If you want to do your job well, then you should wear the clothes so people will, cuz that helps you do your job. And if you don't want to do that job, then right, if you don't want to do that job, then דווקא don't. And on the other hand, when people are not doing that job, they don't, they're afraid to take off their clothes.

They feel like, "Oh, if I take off the clothes I'm not" Like the thing of being a חסיד is not is not wearing a קאפאטע, you know what I mean? Because like there's some people, let's say, let's say somebody's a farmer. So, you know, you can be a חסיד wearing jeans and and, I don't know, a flannel shirt and something like that, a straw a straw hat for that matter.

You know what I mean? Like, well, some of these guys, like what's his name, דונין, what's his name, יהודה, יהודה דונין, ישראל? What's his name?

Guy who lived in כפר חב״ד, who was like a farmer. The רבי, the רבי called him like a like a a true איד or something?

Yeah. So, he was like this rough guy, he was like a, you know, he would like curse and things, and he would give like a שיעור in חסידות every day. But he was like a, you know, and he was like a farmer. The רבי told him, I think, דווקא to be a farmer or something.

I don't know. He wanted to go on שליחות or something, or maybe something he wanted to like do something like holy. The רבי told him that he should be a farmer.

Yeah, so he like had a tractor in כפר חב״ד, and, you know. But nowadays people I don't know. I mean, you know, there's a certain there is a certain thing of like the חסידישע לבוש and everything like that, but but people totally like they don't have any consciousness of what they're doing, and they're not doing it with any purpose, really. It's just like this becomes like this this thing, like, "Oh, it's an ענין."

Like the חיצוניות thing just becomes its own ענין, and like it loses the פנימיות totally. There's no Even when it would be appropriate to change the way a person dresses, they don't They just follow whatever They feel like it's like an עצם thing.

Divine Clothing Metaphors in Scripture 6:52

But so that's the ענין of clothes. So, the same thing, like like it says that by קריעת ים סוף they saw השם as like this young warrior, and by מתן תורה they saw Him as this old sage.

So, it's like the idea that, like, He put on different clothes. That's the ענין of, like, תיקונים. So So, then But the difference is that in the משל, the clothes are fixing you. In the נמשל, they're fixing us, so that we should be able to see Him.

You know what I mean? Like a fireman puts on, like, heat-protecting things so he won't get burned by the fire. But God puts on the clothes so we won't get burned by Him.

So in a way it's kind of reversed. It's like in a way it's like more like the eye, or like the or not, so, or or like the brain, or whatever, that, in other words, that really, you have the idea, but it's it's, in a way, that's too big. So, if God would be revealed the way it is essentially, then then we wouldn't be feel that we're separate from Him.

So that's what the vessels do is they first, they just reveal that He that God is reveal is revealed, like, within the vessels, that, in other words, that the פנימיות of the That's why the vessels of אצילות are still called אלוקות. Because His whole עצם is able to be revealed there, and they're still like a בחירה, and they can create the יש מאין, and still like a thing of כביכול.

That's why it's called the סוף and the אין סוף, like we'll explain later. But, on the other hand, they also are the source for the גבול, they're like the ממוצע to at between like the אצילות and בי״ע, because the חיצוניות of them make the actual גבול within time and space and everything that God has reveals Himself in a certain way. So, in other words, like the ענין of Creator, which like the vessel of חסד of אצילות, the idea of a Creator reveals God's essence, that He is the Creator.

But then, when He actually uses that to create something, now God could reveal Himself in a particular way. He can create something, and that is a revelation of Him. But the creation is now something limited. So that So, the vessels bridge the gap on the Because the פנימיות of them reveal Him, because only God could create. So, the פנימיות of it reveals His whole עצם. But the חיצוניות of it, the revelation of that vessel, is a actual limited thing that that we could know.

Vessels Bridging Inner and Outer Revelation 8:39

So, these vessels, in other words, when God connect chose to reveal Himself as a Creator, that now gives a meaning to creation, to give it a a reason to exist. It now exists can be a revelation of God, as an example of His ability to create, which is an example of Him.

So, that's the ענין of the vessels, that the פנימיות, they reveal the whole עצם, and the חיצוניות, they give a place for בריאה, יצירה, עשיה to exist as something like separate from השם. But they're not really separate, but, you know, to be seen as being connected even though they are, like, limited and everything like that.