Part 2 · Chapter 21

The Source of All Strength: בינה and Distinctions 0:00

Right, ואימא מקור כל הגבורות וכולי, and אימא is the מקור of all the גבורות because it's בינה is the ענין of making distinctions and breaking things up, and which that's the ענין of גבורות, that you part of the process of making distinctions is also that you, first of all, בינה is looking at the חיצוניות, and it's also cutting it up and using a part of it to represent the whole thing.

So both because it's looking at the חיצוניות, it's only like the גילוי and not the עצם, and so that itself is like a limited thing, which is the ענין of גבורות. And then it's also cutting it up, which we'll talk about later, the ענין of the ה' גבורות מנצפ״ך and so on. ובבחינת ההתכללות דב' קוין הללו שיבואו להתחבר במקורם אחד, הוא על ידי קו האמצעי דעת וכולי.

So how can you have like חכמה ובינה come together, or חסד וגבורה? In other words, let's say a person's viewing, let's say whenever you approach any situation, you have these two sides, you can look at it one way or the other way, so which way do you look at it? In other words, and if you could either look at a person and say, like אברהם looked at people and he saw their inner good, and he said that really he realized how even when they're doing bad things, it was really they're being motivated by an inner good desire, but it was just they weren't they're expressing it in a bad way and whatever, but they he appreciated their inner potential or whatever it was.

So you could look at you could you could look at that, and if you want to, you can really overlook a person's shortcomings and always see the good and you could overlook the fact that they're not that doesn't they're not acting in a way that is appropriate. Or you could look at the בינה, you could look at the חיצוניות, and neither one of those really detracts from the other.

So how do you and they're like two totally different ways of looking at things. So in order to have them together, it's דוקא the middle thing, which is דעת. כמו הדעת שהוא בבחינת ממוצע להטות משכל של חסד לשכל של דין, ונקרא דעת נוטה. So what דעת does is it's able to recognize both, and it says I understand that there's the חסד side, I understand that there's the good, I understand that there's also the גבורה side, that on the one hand, it's the inner thing is good, it's the thought that counts and whatever.

דעת as the Mediator Recognizing Both Sides 2:06

And we have this is like let's say a parent with a child or something, an essential connection that's really or something like that. But on the other hand, it's not I don't like the way that the person's acting, it makes me uncomfortable. And it's able to understand both of those things, to be סובל both of them. And then it's also able to see that in that what is in this in other words, what is in this situation for this person, the best way to get them to to acknowledge they have this potential, and that that's always there, and that you're never going to be able to bring it out all the way perfectly and there's always nobody's perfect.

But I want you to work to bring your this thing and express it as best as you can in the חיצוניות thing. And it makes like a personalized thing of what you feel is best in this situation, how's the best way to, which one you should focus on, how much what the proportion should be based on the situation. So it's a judgment call.

דעת is דוקא it's a personal it's an opinion that it's like a non-human, it's a human thing. It's not you couldn't you couldn't like have a computer make a decision on the level of דעת.

The חכמה and the בינה is like a technical thing, but for דעת, you have to you have to say, well what's our real goal? And I know that there's these two sides, and I have these are like it sees both of those sides as tools that or that you can use to motivate, we have to or to accomplish things, and whichever side will be most effective, that's the side we'll take, or whatever combination of it we'll take.

So that's the ענין of the דעת, the דעת נוטה, בבחינת ממוצע להטות משכל של חסד לשכל של דין, ונקרא דעת נוטה.

Dual Use of שכל in חסד and דין 4:19

וכמו יצר לב וכולי, like with the מבול, that the same שכל was used both for חסד and for דין, the fact that man is bad, is born bad. So מצד the שכל of חסד, you can look at it and say, so therefore it's not their fault if they sin. Or you could look at it מצד the שכל of גבורה, but they're sinning, so therefore that's bad. שנטה השכל וטעם לזכות אשר תחלה היה זה השכל עצמו נוטה כלפי חוב, כמו שכתוב וירא כי רבה רעת וכולי, כהאי גוונא, כמו שכתוב במקום אחר.

So this is the ענין that that really they're the the two There's there's every everything has two ways you can look at it, and which one you're going to choose to look you have to choose really which way you're going to look at it. And that's a דעת, that's an opinion, it's a subjective thing. ונמצא בדעת יחובר ב' שכליים הפכיים דחסד וגבורה, להיות נוטה לחסד באופן זה, או לדין באופן זה.

So, וכהאי גוונא, כמבואר במקום אחר. So, this this the דעת, what דעת does, it says that they're both true, but sometimes we In other words, that we're going to overlook a certain amount, and after that we're not going to overlook it. You make a what it's a thing of, like a judgment, that some if it's a little thing, and it depends on the person, and the situation, then you overlook it.

But if it becomes But you expect a certain amount that it should come out in the חיצוניות, that it should be the person should do it in a good way or whatever, so that it should be putting in a certain amount of effort. And that is like we talked about it before, like with the קו, that it's like the teacher has to measure, decide how much effort he's going to put out, and how much effort he wants the student to put out.

It's like the same idea: how much are you going to come down to the to the person, and how much do you want the person to put an effort to come to you?

So that decision is דווקא a thing of דעת. And even in one situation, it's not going to be all or nothing. You can have that you're going to help a little bit, but at the same time you're making them work a little bit. It's not like it decides sometimes like one 100% one, and sometimes 100% the other.

It's can make a compromise that we're we're going to come down according to It's in the in the in general, the middle line is that it's individualized, and it's like a human thing. וכן מידת התפארת מכריע בין חסד לגבורה,

תפארת as the Middle Between חסד and גבורה 6:39

the same way that תפארת, which is like a thing of mercy, is an intermediary between חסד and גבורה. In other words, שהוא כמו הרחמים, which that's like mercy, שאינו אלא אחר מידת הדין, that after a person is guilty, and there's a problem, שעם כל זה הרחמנות פוטרתו. But you'll say, "I beg the mercy of the court," that after a person was found guilty, then you ask for mercy.

In other words, that that the ענין of רחמנות means that you recognize that there's the person has a certain good. You also recognize, and that In other words, if there had was no hope, there's no good in the person, then you wouldn't then then you would only feel גבורה.

You recognize that there's some good, but you recognize that there's it's it's being messed up. And then you the ענין of רחמנות is that is that even though really the person is messed up, but you say that, "Sometimes I'm going to overlook it because the person needs the help." In other words, since my real goal is to help the person, I don't It's not really about like a judgment system.

The the the laws are made to It's not really about who's right. The point is to get the person to improve. So sometimes you say that even though really it's like according to the rules, or let's say like a teacher has tests and things like that, or like or these things like makes a whole system, three strikes you're out, and they make a testing system with scores.

The whole purpose of making that is that the person should have to work and the responsibility is on them. But let's say they worked really hard and they and it didn't work out. So, מצד הדין, you'll say, "It doesn't matter. These are the rules, this is the thing, and if I let people off, then the the reason why you have to make a strict standard is because if I let people off, then people aren't going to work and they're not going to learn."

So sometimes you have to say, "I don't care," and and and even like to make an example, to be harsh, דווקא, to make other people be inspired to work. But sometimes, if it's not like it's going to be a private thing, nobody's going to know about it, then, especially then, then you can If a person really like let's say somebody comes to a class and they are way below the level of the class, it's if if they really want to improve, they're not going to care about their grade.

Even if they fail, if as long as they're make improving and learning, they'll be happy. So a teacher that appreciates that would maybe, I mean maybe shouldn't go to the higher class, but whatever, it's there's you could have you could appreciate such a thing and definitely not punish them for for not passing or whatever it is. So that's a thing of this thing of רחמנות is דווקא a ממוצע between חסד and גבורה, and it's also דווקא a human thing, that it's like a coming from a דעת, that it's a subjective thing.

יעקב’s Measure: Helping While Promoting Independence 9:39

וכן מידת יעקב, it's the מידה of יעקב, that יעקב is recognizing that I recognize that you have a potential and there's good, and I recognize that you have problems.

And what I want to do is that we're going to come down and give you as much help as you need, but we want you but the objective is is to get you to work on to to be able to go on your own. So it's like giving a person a ladder, that you're you're you're not going to take them out of the mud and that's it, you're going to give them, help them pull themselves out.

You'll give them as much help as they need for them to rehabilitate and whatever and until they can stand on their own. That's the thing of יעקב. כידוע, וכן בבחינת יסוד, also יסוד, נמצא לכלול ב' הפכים דנצח והוד.

נצח is that since you want to, let's say you want to teach, so you're going to you want to bring out the idea to the student, so you're going to do all the work for them.

You'll explain everything so very simply, and you'll lay everything out, and that's it. They won't have to do any work. The good thing about that is that then they'll you know that they'll get it. The problem is that then they're not really going to get to a higher level, and they'll just they're not going to work and learn to think on their own.

They'll just become dependent on a good teacher. הוד says that you want to get them, inspire them to work and to to go harder, so then you're going to have to make them, you're going to ask hard questions and and make them think, and and you're going to hold back some of the information to keep it above them so they feel like there's something that they want to work to get.

שהוא ענין כליות יועצות, נצח והוד is like the kidneys that give advice, הן ולאו, that they say yes and no. קודם השפעה המשפיע, that

the kidneys, בפשטות ענין דכליות יועצות, from, I mean, it seems from from what I researched about it, is that there's three parts. בכלל, every organ that תורה talks about is three parts that correspond to like חב"ד, חג"ת, נה"י.

Kidney Analogy for נצח and הוד Dynamics 11:40

So the kidney also, what is medically called normally in English is called the kidney is only the bottom third, but on top of it is are are two adrenal glands stacked on top of each other, two glands. So the the top one is connected to the to the pituitary gland in the brain, and it works together with the brain to regulate different things in the body. The middle one is not connected to the brain, it's connected to like the emotional response, and that's what gives off adrenaline, which gives like a הוד response, that adrenaline makes a person like when they are scared, and they think that that that something is bigger than them, then they feel then they get an adrenaline response.

That's a thing of הוד. And that's what makes a person like have fight or flight, where they like give up hope, so they're willing like the ענין of הוד is like מסירת נפש, willing to give up to give their every all of their כח away because that they have no other hope left.

That's like ענין of הוד. The other, it also secretes testosterone, which give made is a thing of נצח, when a person feels that they're confident, and that's why like teenage boys are since they have high testosterone level, they're very cocky, and they're not scared of dangerous things, and they're always doing crazy stuff, because it makes a person feel like pumped up that they can take on anything, and that's a thing of נצח.

So I think, and then the actual kidney itself strains the blood to tell say what's good and what's bad, which is like on the level of נה"י as far as just like the digestive system is like נצח והוד, is, yeah, הן ולאו. So, but the ענין is is that that נצח says yes, and הוד says no, says נצח says to give, and הוד is to hold back.