Part 4 · Chapter 29

Potential vs Actual Limitation of the Vessels 0:00

ובאמת, גם בחינת הכלים דעשר ספירות דאצילות הן כח הגבול. Really, even the vessels of the 10 ספירות of אצילות are only a potential limitation, ולא גבול בפועל, not an actual limitation. רק כאשר האור והשפע נגבל מאין ליש בבי"ע, אז נקרא גבול בפועל ממש, כמו שיתבאר בעזרת השם. Only when the כלים of אצילות actually do something in, in בי"ע is it considered a גבול בפועל. So for example, like with the soul in the body, only when you actually think or actually say something or actually throw something or do something is that an, an actual limitation.

But even though your, your hand has certain limitations to it, which are, in a way, actual, it's still called a potential limitation because it's just, it has certain properties and definition of like, it's like your hand has a certain range of motion, but right now that's not actually limiting you in any way cuz you're not trying to move. It's only when you move in, in a certain way that you call it a גבול בפועל.

So right now, in other words, when it's a גבול בכח, all you have is like the עצם and the מהות in a way. And then when it actually moves, then you have like the מציאות that it actually, it's like comes out in a certain, circumstantial way. That's called a גבול בפועל. ולפי

זה, what did we say until now? We said about the the, yeah, we have to understand the details. So we said in, in chapter 27, 28, we said the general thing of lights and vessels. Now, we started saying that the, when you're, the main thing, that's the general idea of אורות and כלים, but when you're being מתבונן on the idea of אורות and כלים, the main point is to recognize איהו וחיוהי חד איהו וגרמוהי חד, that השם is one with the אור and He's one with the כלי equally.

That He chooses the light and He chooses the vessel, and they're both coming from Him equally. That you should realize the vessel is directly, both of them are directly from God's choice.

And we started explaining, in order to understand that, the idea of difference between a גבול בכח and a גבול בפועל, a potential limitation and an actual limitation.

Potential limitation is like when your soul's in your body, like your arm, so then your arm has a power to move. But it's not, even though it's, in a way, a limitation that your arm can only move in a certain way, but it doesn't force you to move in any one particular way. You can, within that range of motion, you can choose to do whatever you want.

So it's still called infinite, it's just of that it's it's like they called the end of the world of the אין סוף because it's limited to only being within a certain context. Then there's an actual limitation, which is like when you actually throw something, then you only, you only did it the way you did it.

And this is what we're explaining. And that this all comes from the קו המדה and everything, the way He choose. Then we were explaining about this idea of like the כוונות, that you can either be מכוון to the אור, to the כלי.

Intentional Direction: Light vs Vessel 2:53

Right, so we said that the lights come from the קו, and the and the the vessels come from the רשימו, which are both coming from the source of both of them, which is God, He chooses, His choice. So now, ולפי זה, based on this, based on what?

That the source of the lights and the source of the vessels are both, so this is what we just finished saying, that that that the the vessels of אצילות that actually limit, which is the idea of the names ע"ב, ס"ג, מ"ה, ב"ן, which are called אותיות, right?

So that's only a גבול בכח. That's only a potential limitation. And so therefore the actual limitation that comes through the vessels of אצילות is chosen by God. Even though the power of God's creative power, which is like the light of חסד, goes into the vessel of חסד, and through that it comes into בי"ע, but it's not like a machine, it's not like a function, that the light goes into the vessel and automatically the world comes out.

The way that it's going to come out through the vessels is also chosen by God. And so that's why we say that He is one with the the vessels because they are only a potential limitation. And that's the main thing that you have to recognize is that that they're controlled by God and they're it's not a machine. That the השתלשלות, guy, this is the big statement. We are officially making this controversial proclamation against common belief or whatever.

Rejecting the Mechanistic View of Creation 4:24

You know, it's not really people don't like believe it, it's not really controversial, but but people, they don't believe it passionately, but most people's idea of the השתלשלות is that it's like a machine, and it's a like a mechanistic thing. And this is the main thing that you have to realize, that even though there's כלים, and that we're saying it's limited, and you we were explaining that there's a thing of חכמה and a thing of בינה, which are the vessels of אצילות, it's not, they're not machines.

And God chooses how to use them and when to use them, and it's like, so the the product is ולפי זה, and based on this, המכוון בשמות דע״ב ס״ג, when somebody's מכוון different names, so like if you daven in שמונה עשרה and you're מכוון to like the כוונות of of the אריז״ל and stuff like that, you know, that this ברכה is in חסד, this one's in גבורה, שהם בבחינת הכלים המגבילים ממש וכולי, which are the vessels that actually limit וכולי, הרי זו עצמה הכוונה במקור השמות דע״ב ס״ג וכולי.

Aligning Intent with Divine Kindness (Chesed) 5:30

In that intention, when you think about how that God gives חסד, and you think like in a particular way, the way that חסד came out, really you're being מכוון to the to the source, the one that chose to use it and do it in that way.

That's really the idea. In other words, you have to that if you recognize that God is the one that does it, so you can you can either look at it two ways: you can look at it, "Well, God is so nice, He's so kind," or you can look at it and focus on what He did, that "God gave me money," which is the vessel.

But when you recognize that it's that that was by choice, that He didn't have to do it, that He chose to give it to you, so then you're really not thinking about the vessel, you're thinking about Him, the one behind the vessel.

And that's like an obvious thing with a with a person, but people like have this thing, "Well, you know, what are you מכוון to, like the חסד?" and you're saying it's like, you know, the ספירה.

And that's the idea that when you're being מכוון to these things, you're not supposed to be מכוון to the כוונות of the אריז״ל unless you understand them, because otherwise you'll think it's like a machine, and you're davening to חסד and גבורה and stuff like that. But if you actually understand what they what's going on, then those כוונות themselves are helping you be מכוון to השם, because it's and this is like on the level of פשט.

When you say God brings the rain and blows the wind and makes the grass grow, the whole the whole idea behind that is you're not saying that like that is what God is, that God is this force that makes the wind blow, that's not what you're saying, like that's who He You're saying that He's higher than it and He's the one who chose, you know, and that doesn't define Him, but He's the one that chose to do it, and He can do whatever He wants, and He chose to do that.

So, that's the idea of the of the כוונה of the שמות. That's the main idea: to see past them, that He's choosing to to use them.

שמהם נמשך מקור האור דאצילות, that the source of the names ע״ב ס״ג מ״ה ב״ן is the source of the light of אצילות actually, that the whole light that God is trying to reveal through the vessel, that God is revealing through the vessels, is coming from the the same source as these כלים.

The source of the כלים is the source of the light also. So, it's not like the כוונה in the in the כלים is not lesser than the כוונה in the light, when you see past it to the source. It's the same כוונה.

And that's why some places it says, like, really you shouldn't be מכוון to the כלי, you should be מכוון to the light in the כלי, but, you know, there's like different it says different things. And they're all really saying the same idea, that you should be talking to God.

But you should recognize like the idea of the כוונות and the different names, so then if you just want to talk about God, why is it used, these different names and כוונות and stuff? Because you're supposed to recognize what He does for you. So, you want to, you know, you call Him King and you're supposed to recognize how God rules the world and how He controls everything, and, you know, how He's kind and you should realize what good things God does for you.

That's the idea of like, a part of this כוונה. והוא שם העצם שהוא מורה על עצם המקור, כנ״ל.

Understanding the True Meaning of God's Name 8:37

And this is the idea that the real thing of שם הוי״ה, י-ה-ו-ה, is really the שם העצם, that it's that's a God's name. Like like there's different names, like, you know, like that are titles, like father, son, doctor, teacher, those are titles. And then there's like your name, like your name is שמואל. That's just your name. Now, שמואל also means something.

It means, yeah, "God listened to my prayer," right? חנה was happy that her prayer was answered, right, for a child. So, that's the idea that God listened to my prayer.

So, in a way, your name is like a title. But it's not it's it's not really the main thing of it in with you is not really a title, it's really it's really your name.

That's just your who you. So, the same thing, even though, like, הוי״ה has like a connotation of like היה הוה ויהיה and that it's like the idea of מהוה constantly, יהוה, He's constantly creating, and stuff like that, but that's not the real idea of the name, the real thing is that's just God's name.

Like in English when we say God, that's what it's like. דהיינו ממקור התהוות הכלים,

that's the source that creates the vessels, דאיהו וגרמוהי חד, כנ״ל, because here this is the idea that Him and His organs are one, that He God is one with the vessels. The vessels are, you know, connected to that God, that they're totally controlled by Him and everything, and that He created, well, He created the limit- the roles and the limitations, and He uses them however He wants to.

Human Body as Instrument of Divine Choice 10:13

That's the idea. But a person and their body, it's not you don't see that so much, cuz the body isn't really created by the person. It's, you know what I mean? But so in a person you just see that he controls the body. But by God, He actually the reason He controls it is not just because He's able to control it, but because He decided on those limitations to begin with.

וממילא מובן, and automatically it's understood, דגם בחינת תיקונין הנ"ל, that even the level of the vessels which are called תיקונין, which is not the way that the the the the way they're called כלים, and there's the way they're called תיקונים. There's the way they're called vessels, and the way they're called like garments, תיקונים means garments. So, the way they're called vessels, that's the way that the light is just rests there and it's revealed there, like like your consciousness is revealed in your brain, and your emotions in your heart, and stuff like that.

And then the the the idea of ves- of of garments, תיקונין, is when you actually use your כלים not just to have a גבול בכח, it's a potential limitation, but to have an actual limitation, to actually do stuff in the physical world. Like you actually walk around, and talk, and think, as opposed to just having like consciousness in your brain, you think certain thoughts. That's the that's already called a תיקונין, like a garments.

So, even when God uses the vessels not just to like reveal Himself as being a Creator, like that's that He calls Himself a Creator and that's like now reveals Him, but He actually reveals Himself through that vessel by creating something, so He uses it as a way to reveal Himself, so He puts on like the mask of a Creator and reveals Himself through creation, which is like a garment, creation is like a garment to reveal the Creator, על זה אמר גם כן איהו וגרמוהי חד, even on that we say that He is one with His organs, משום דגבול בפועל מתאחד עם הגבול בכח, because the potential the actual limitation connects with the potential limitation, המגביל גבול זה שבפועל, that makes the limitation in the actual limitation.

In other words, just like when you paint a painting, we say that, "Oh, look, look, you painted that," and that it reflects your artistic ability. Or if you do this nice thing, you give somebody, you know, money, so you say, "Oh, look how nice you are," because you chose to do it. You didn't have to do it, and therefore it reflects on you.

So, whatever comes out is still is a is a a revelation of yourself, even though it's now like an actual separate thing from you, but since you chose how to do it, therefore it is the according to your ability and according to your choice of how to use it.

על דרך דוגמא מכח המגביל שביד, like power of movement in your hand, שמיוחד ומקושר בגבול בפועל שבתנועה כנ"ל, which connects to the actual movement that you make. In other words, that you control your body. So, if you go punch somebody, that's cuz you you exercise your hand's ability to move and you decide to do it, and that's why you're responsible for what you do. If a person does something when they, you know, when they're not in control, if they weren't being in control of their body, then they wouldn't be responsible.

You know, like I don't know, like like, God forbid, if somebody had like a seizure, I don't know if they would be I don't think they'd be responsible, you know what I mean? The only way that they could they would be responsible, maybe, is if they know that they get it, and they didn't like do some, you know what I mean? But as far as what's actually like also when a person is sleeping.

Responsibility Tied to Conscious Control 13:15

If a person is sleeping and there was something next to his bed and he knew it was there when he went to sleep, and he breaks it in his sleep, he is responsible. But if it was put there after he was already sleeping, so he didn't know it was there, he's not responsible for breaking it. Because because you don't know, or a guy is totally drunk, he's not responsible for what he does cuz he didn't know what he was doing.

But if you know what you're doing, then it's connected, and so therefore you're responsible cuz it reflects on you.