Part 1 · Chapter 29

אך גם הנה בהתבוננות באורות וכלים דאצילות דרך פרט יותר, however, when a person, when you're going to do התבוננות in the אורות and כלים of אצילות in a more particular way, אין כוללות ועיקר מכוון בהם רק בעניין זה דאיהו וחיוהי חד וגרמוהי חד. The main thing is not all the stuff we're explaining to you about the vessels, the difference between lights and the vessels, and how the lights become limited, and how they become change of מהות from spiritual to physical.

Focus on Unity of Lights and Vessels 0:10

When you're doing a particular התבוננות, that's like the general עניין of the lights and the vessels just to understand what, you know, what goes on. But when you're doing a particular התבוננות on them, the main thing is not all this stuff, but rather is the idea of איהו וחיוהי חד, איהו וגרמוהי חד, that He is one with His, the lights, and one with the vessels, with the life force and the organ, the body.

שבאמת אין הפרש בין איהו וחיוהי חד לאיהו וגרמוהי חד, that you should understand that God is, just like He's one with the lights, He's also one with the vessels. So even though, you know, the general thing, the vessels relate to the light in the way we described in the last few chapters, but when you're when you're doing a particular התבוננות, you're supposed to try to, the main thing is to realize that the limitation of those vessels is coming straight from God, and He's choosing it with a בחירה חפשית, and it's a revelation of His עצם and His כל יכול-ness and everything just as much as the light is, cuz it's a straight choice from His עצם.

Divine Choice Makes Vessel Limitation Higher 1:37

And so it's just like איהו וחיוהי חד, so too is איהו וגרמוהי חד.

Now he's doing a new עניין, and he's giving you a little preface that he gives in the begin- the beginning of new עניינים. And the preface in the beginning of new עניינים is always in Kabbalistic terminology.

דגם שהאורות הם בלי מה, that even though the lights are בלי מה, והכלים הם בחינת יש וכו', and the vessels are already like a tangible, concrete thing that are limited.

So like the lights are totally transcendent, infinite, and the vessels are limited, so seemingly the lights are a better revelation of God, because God is a great, unknowable beyond, right?

So no, it's not really true. מכל מקום מצד עצמות המאציל הרי אז עשה שורש להתהוות הכלים קודם שעשה שורש להתהוות האורות. Really, when you're talking about the עצמות המאציל, God made the source, the root for the to create the vessels before He made the root that creates the lights.

In other words, that really, that because the lights come from the קו, and the vessels come to רשימו, and the רשימו is before the קו. So really, the limitations are really higher than the lights. In other words, that when the way God chooses to reveal Himself in a limited way is higher, is in a way higher revelation than when God is revealed as being like just infinite, transcendental, great, unknowable beyond.

דמה שמהתעבות האור נעשה כלי, that this this is apparent because from the fact that from the thickening of the light comes the vessel, the vessel comes from the light thickening into, right? הרי קדם לזה עצמי שורש ומקור, there has to be something before that. In other words, it's true that the light is thickening, but what's making it thicken? Light would just keep going straight.

Why Light Needs a Vessel to Thicken 3:24

If you just shine a light, it'll keep going. So what's going to make it stop and turn, you know, get a form? Right, so let's say so so so if you're saying, oh, it's true, so God really is like so God reveals Himself as being this infinite, transcendental thing that's above all limitations and whatever, and you say and then only when that infinite thing, the light, transcends all limitations, comes into a particular revelation, that's that's how it becomes it goes into the vessels, becomes like a vessel.

So the question is, what made it go into that vessel? What made it go into חסד? What made it go into חכמה? What made it go into any vessel? So there must be a higher thing, which is ממש like God is choosing to reveal Himself in a particular form, which is stronger than the light, because it's forcing the light to go into a certain form.

You know what I mean? So it's like a revelation of like a higher thing that's the boss of the light, tell the light what to do.

We see that in your body, your body exists has like a separate is a separate existence than the soul, first of all, and second of all, like we see that that really the ability of sight and these kind of things is really, in a way, it's really like made out of like the perceptions, like the limited things, and like the same thing, you know, that that that's that's what it means, it's a power of sight, is that it can see those things, that's what it means.

Simple Matter Precedes Form in Creation 5:09

והוא שנקרא חומר הפשוט, and this source for the vessel that comes before the light is called the simple חומר, או חומר ההיולי, or the חומר היולי, שקודם לצורה כו׳, which goes before the form. Because the form is given to that חומר.

So, in other words, like we see that when the soul comes into the body, even though the soul gives the body its form, you know, which is called like the thickening of the light, but that is only because before that form comes in, there's already the the the physical matter already exists and it's it's just forming that into a certain form.

Like we spoke about before, with the למעלה, the ענין of like the thickening of the light, that there is already, first you already know that there's a thing of the outside world, and it has certain limitations, and therefore your רצון and your whatever light comes, when they meet, they come in a certain way. But it has like a separate source already.

Well, it mean, it means that the form isn't coming totally from the light. In other words, before, even though like the the light is like this abstract thing, so let's say like you want like the thing of a cup. The real thing of a cup is like that you want to be able to drink water.

Desire to Form Needs Pre‑Existing Materials 6:12

You have this רצון to drink water, and then, but since, and how do you get the form of a cup? Since within the world, water needs to be held in something that that it was waterproof and that, you know, so it has to be shaped in a certain way that the water will be able to go in and won't come out.

So the shape of the cup comes from your your רצון to be able to drink water made tangible, made practical into the world. That's called the thickening of the light. But before you can thicken that desire, before you can make it into something tangible, it already presupposes the properties of water and the properties of ceramics and plastics and whatever you're going to make your cup out of, those are already there.

Those basic building blocks are there. And so you're just putting the form together based on those the definitions that already exist. So in other words, there has to be something that that the light has to already come out in a certain way before, you know what I mean, there has to be some limitations for it to work with, or else it would never come out in a one way over the other way, like the power of growth, that it needs the seed.

In other words, the seed already has certain limitations, tells it how to grow, or else the power wouldn't get thickened into a certain tree ever. It would never come out in a particular. You need something to be מצמצם it. So the thing that's being מצמצם it doesn't, it comes from like a higher source in a way. It's like a separate thing.

And it's the same thing, when the soul comes into the body, even though the soul gives the body its form, because it's what gives it life and makes it, but the the body already has a certain thing of like the DNA and whatever that, you know what I mean, has already a certain form to it.

And the soul is, right. So really, what the form, that's what it explains in certain places, even though we say that the vessel comes from the thickening of the light, but it's really from the hitting of the light against the the the the חומר פשוט. In other words, like there's the the חומר פשוט, like the the the the היולי of the רשימו, and there's the היולי of the קו, and when the two get hit against each other, it makes, the combination of the two synthesized into a certain vessel.

And this is like whenever you have two reference points, then they'll intersect at only one point, so it like makes a certain definition of where they'll meet.

But if you don't have those two reference, if you only have one reference point, then there's no way to, can't start to define anything, because it could be anything.

That's the idea of what we're talking about here, yeah. So now, we're going to explain to you some thing that's slightly related, and it's going to connect back to this. וביאור הדברים ידוע, and the explanation of this is known, ומובן, and it's understood, מהקדמה הידועה, based on this famous introduction, בענין כלים המגבילים ממש, about the vessels that actually limit, שיש ב׳ מיני הגבלה, there's two types of limitations.

Two Types of Limitations: Essential vs Potential 9:14

הא׳ כח המגביל בעצם, one is the essential power of limitation, כמו כלי המוח, like the brain, המגביל, that that limits, והעין המגביל, and the eye that can limit, וכהאי גוונא, אבל רק בכח, but it's only in potential. This is what I was explaining to you before, the last chapter, that the essential, the fact that your brain can limit any idea, you can use it to think any idea, is just that it essentially has the ability, the potential to think, and your eye can see anything, so it gives you the potential to see.

But before you actually saw or thought of a particular thing, that, and on the contrary, it's it lets you it gives you freedom to think anything or see anything, cuz it's not defined yet, וכהאי גוונא. אבל הוא רק בכח, but it's only potential, ולא בפועל, not in actuality of that, כמו שיש בכח היד להניע כל תנועה בגשם, קודם שיניע בפועל ממש התנועה,

like your hand is able to make a particular movement before you actually do it. In other words, that you have the ability to make any movement. Right.

Right, like the cat. ואף על פי שגבול זה שבפועל ובגילוי הוא ממש כמו אופן איזה הכח המגביל הרוחני שביד,

even though when you actually make a certain movement, like when the cat actually jumps on the mouse or whatever, right? That is according to the spiritual ability of the hand. In other words, that you had a certain a strength, a certain ability to move in a certain way, and when you actually make the movement, it's only it's coming according to the ability of your vessel that you move can move in a certain way, and that's just being expressed in this particular movement.

שהוא מקור ושורש לגבול זו, which is the root and the source of this limitation, שבפועל, מכל מקום, nevertheless, נבדל ערך הגבול בכח מגבול בפועל.

Nevertheless, there's a a great difference between the potential limitation and the actual limitation in two ways. הא', the first way, שזה רוחני ועצמי וזה גשמי ונבדל, that the ability of the hand to movement, the build the power of movement that your hand gives you, is spiritual and it's essential, that it's not like in any it's not like a physical thing, it's just like in theory that it has that ability because of its form.

Potential Power vs Actual Physical Movement 11:24

And it's an inherent thing, that it essentially, because of the way it's made, it inherently has this ability. But the actual movement is is is physical, that it's a physical, tangible thing that you made a certain movement, and it's not essential. You don't have to use your hand in that way, it's not inherent, it's not essential, right?

Like you never have to make a cartwheel in your life, but you the fact that you could make one is essential. You Because that's the way that your body is built, but you never actually have to do it. That's already something separate from you, from the way your body is built.

That's the one difference. והב', the second difference, שהגבול בכח אינו גבול ממש, that the potential limitation is not an actual limitation really. It's not It's not a real limitation, רק שמגביל בכחו על פי רצונו ובחירה,

because you limit according to your desire and your choice, so it's really a freedom. It really lets you do whatever you want. It's not really limiting you. The fact that you have a hand doesn't really limit you. It lets you do whatever you can do with your hand.

Potential Limits Are Actually Freedom 12:34

So even though if you're going to do something through the hand you it's a it puts certain limitations on you that you can only have a certain field of motion, but you don't but you get to choose how and when to use it. So right now it's not it's not doing any it's not making any limitation unless you choose to use it, then it limits you.

But right now it's not limiting you at all.