Part 1 · Chapter 30

פרק ל' ובזה יובן המאמר וכד אנת תסתלק מניהו אשתארו וכו' כגופא בלא נשמתא. Now that we explained in the previous, like the last three פרקים, we explained about אורות and כלים, we explained first that when the אור comes into the כלי, it changes from being physical from being spiritual to being physical, and it also becomes limited.

Lights and Vessels: Basic Interaction 0:17

That's the general idea of אורות and כלים. And then when we're doing a particular התבוננות, we explained the idea of איהו וחיוהי חד איהו וגרמוהי חד, that God is one both with the lights and the vessels, because He makes He decides what the limitation is going to be and what how the what what the vessel is going to be. And so that comes from His בחירה, from His choice, just like just like the lights do.

So even though the lights are revealed as being simple and infinite, and the vessels are revealed as being limited, but since that limitation is coming from His choice, so that's also really one with Him, and it's a whole its only existence is God's choice.

And we explained how the vessels come from the thickening of the light, that when the light comes to be brought down, the lowest level of the of the light makes the form of the vessel. Like for example, we said that a person wants to drink water, and so since the the water is like liquidy and they can't hold it in their hand really, so they make the idea of a cup, and so based on that desire comes the form of a cup, that it has to be waterproof and it has to be able to hold the water.

Or like with the power of sight in the eye, the eye has to be made in a way that it can see and everything.

So that's the idea of of the thickening of the light makes the vessel. And now we can understand the מאמר of the תיקוני זוהר that says, we say פתח אליהו every week, that when you leave them, when you leave the vessels, the names, then they are left like a body without a soul. שהוא בחינת הכלים דמוחא ולבא וכו' שנקרא שנקראים גופא בלא נשמתא, שהם בחינת האורות דנר"ן וכו'.

Thickening of Light Forms the Vessel 1:58

This refers to the vessels of the brain, the heart, and the liver, which are called a body without a soul, which the soul are is the refers to the אורות of נפש רוח נשמה וכו'.

Well, we have a question: אך מאין ימצא מציאות כלי בלא אור, מאחר שמהתעבות האור נעשה כלי כנ"ל? But how can you have the how can the כלי exist without the light?

Because we explained in the previous פרק that the כלי is created by the thickening of the light. So if the כלי is made by out of the light, how can you have a כלי without the light? If the light leaves it, how then how can you have the כלי there? אבל לפי הנ"ל, now, but based on what we explained in the previous פרק, דשורש הכלים קדם לשורש האורות וכו', that the source of the vessels precedes the source of the lights, because the the vessels come from the רשימו, which is before the קו, and the רשימו is the source of the vessels, and the קו is the source of the lights.

Source of Vessels Precedes Light 3:08

אם כן, יש מציאות לכלים בפני עצמן. That so if so, then the vessels have their exist their existence independent of the light. They really exist on their own. ועל זה אמר, and about this it says, דאיהו וגרמוהי חד וכו', that God is one with His organs, He is one with the vessels.

In other words, that really the כלים come from the same they both originally come from the עצם, from Hashem's עצם, that He chooses the lights and He chooses the vessels.

And then the source of the vessels is actually revealed before the lights, it's revealed in the רשימו, and only afterwards the lights are revealed.

And so the the vessels come straight from the עצם without needing the light in between. And this is an idea of like the the matter of the vessel that comes before the light. In other words, the light only makes the form of the vessel.

But the actual vessel itself is coming from before that. And the truth is that even the form of the vessel exists without the light. The light is just choosing which form it should take on. Like we see that like the soul controls the body, and the soul helps the body to develop in a certain form, but even when the soul leaves, the the body doesn't like immediately lose its form.

So you can have a body without a soul. It doesn't immediately turn back into dirt, because it has a certain existence without the soul.

ולפי זה, based on this, המכוון בשם הויה כמו בהאי ברכה דצלותא, when somebody, when you're דאווענינג and you're מכוון to the names, יכוון למקור התהוות הכלי, you should be מכוון to the source that creates the כלי, שהוא עיקר בחינת השם, that's the main thing of the name, דאיהו וגרמוהי חד הוא, the main thing of the name is that God chooses the vessels, that He chooses how they should be.

And that's why they represent Him, that's why they're a name. וממילא נמשך האור, and automatically, if you recognize that God is choosing how the vessel should be, then automatically it reveals Him, then the light is automatically drawn down. וממילא נמשך האור אחר הכלי כי דרכו של איש וכו' וד"ל, because it's the way of a man לחזר אחר אשה, to go after a woman. So when you have the כלי, which is like the אשה, then automatically the אור, which is like the איש, will come, וד"ל.

Two Methods of Da'avning (Prayer Intent) 5:59

So so far we explained two ways to דאווען. We said in פרק כ"ח we said that a person should be מכוון to the אורות, to the source of the אורות, and automatically they'll be מכוון also to the כלי.

In פרק כ"ט we said to be מכוון to the כלים, the external כלים, and automatically they'll be מכוון to the מקור and of the כלים. And here we explain that you should be מכוון to the מקור of the כלים, and automatically the אור will be מכוון also.

And if you notice that the in this פרק and in פרק כ"ח the when he explains what to be מכוון, they're both in parentheses, and פרק כ"ט is not in parentheses, because פרק כ"ט is the simple פשט of how you should דאווען. You should דאווען like a little kid, and you ask השם for what you want in the כלי that you want. You ask השם, "Please give me food and health and things like that."

And you're מכוון that השם is the one that gives you food and health, which is the external כלי.

Then there's a higher way of דאווענינג that you can be מכוון like the אור, that the real thing that you want is not the food and the health and the money and whatever those things, what you really want is that there should be גילוי אלוקות, which is the אור. And automatically if you try to have the אור, then you become like a כלי and a מרכבה to אלוקות, then automatically you'll get everything good בגשמיות also.

And like here he's saying that you that if you're מכוון to the מקור of the כלי, that really God can do anything, so you're you're really asking like that He should make it come out like He can really make it come out anyway, and you're asking He should make it come out this way, and you're recognizing that this is a revelation of Him, and so automatically that brings out the אור.

So again, like there, you want that God should be revealed in a tangible way, and so that's why you want it to come into a כלי. So this is like another this is like a higher way of דאווענינג. So these two ways that are in parentheses are like a deeper type of a כוונה, which is like a higher way of דאווענינג.

But nevertheless, the main thing a person's כוונה should be like he says in פרק כ"ט, not not in the parentheses. You should דאווען like a kid, like על דעת זה התינוק.

Praying Like a Child: Pure Intent 8:26

The רבי said about himself even, that I mean, it says in גמרא also like that, that אני מתפלל על דעת זה התינוק, that I דאווען like this the way that this little kid דאווענס. And really, if you דאווען like that, automatically you have all these other כוונות.

Because that in the simple way that a kid דאווענס, he is really hidden the the deeper type of דאווענינג also. Cuz he like he a little kid thinks about השם, even if he thinks about Him like in a כלי and he like pictures השם as like this invisible guy with a long white beard or something, but he doesn't really think that השם is like a person.

He doesn't really limit Him. It's just like he imagines like when it says השם took us out of מצרים with His arm, with the like a יד רמה or יד חזקה, so he pictures like השם taking us with a hand and picking us up and taking us out, like a physical hand. So even though he's picturing like a physical thing, but the kid doesn't think that like השם is limited to that, to like a body.

He thinks that like השם can do whatever He wants, that He's like, it's magic, and He made Himself like that or He decided to do it like this, but it's not He doesn't it doesn't limit Him.

While as an adult, even if he's picturing the the highest thing, the best thing he can be picturing is like אדם קדמון, but he thinks he really understands what God is, so he really limits Him to that. And if you really limit God to even אדם קדמון, And it already says that it's so close to עבודה זרה, you can already call it עבודה זרה.

And like with a little kid, the way that he thinks of God, it's so close to the truth, you can ממש call it the truth.

But nevertheless, we should be aware of these different types of דאווענען. And this is the thing that the אריז״ל said you should be מכוון to the אורות, and the בעל שם טוב said you should be מכוון to the אלוקות within—the אריז״ל said you should be מכוון to the אור within the ספירות, not the כלים. The בעל שם טוב said you should be מכוון to the אלוקות within the ספירות, not just the אור.

Masters' Guidance on Focusing Intent 10:19

And the אלטער רבי said, "But I say that you should be מכוון to the עצמות." And that's like, once you're like that, then you have everything. That's like a little kid, to be מכוון to the עצם, that's the main thing. But you should understand, in the back of your mind you should like learn about how it works with אורות and כלים, and you should understand, and you should understand how these things are a גילוי אלוקות, and how the אור is, and how the כלי is, and that will help you to be מכוון to the עצם.

But you shouldn't really focus on these כוונות as like their own thing. The best thing when you דאווען and stuff is to just be מכוון, and in general in life, to be מכוון to God simply and straight, like a little kid.

And the point of learning all this is to help you reveal that type of אמונה, and not to be like thinking all these, all these תחבולות, all these like calculations.