Part 2 · Chapter 22

Types of Inclusion and Nullification in Opposition 0:04

So we just finished saying how each ספירה divides into ten and then subdivides into ten within each of those ten. And we gave some examples for how that works.

But now we're going to explain how there are different types of התכללות. והנה יש התכללות שנקרא ביטול דבר בהיפוכו המנגדו והיה כמוהו ממש.

There is one type of inclusion which is called the nullification of something in its opposite that opposes it to the point where it becomes like it ממש, it becomes literally like it.

So here, one type of התכללות is when it becomes a total it it gets totally turned over וכמו מיתוק הגבורות בחסדים like the sweetening of severities in kindnesses כמו שהמקטרג נהפך לסניגור

like the prosecutor gets transformed into a defender. וכן להיפך, שהסניגור יהפך למקטרג. And also the opposite, when the defender gets turned over to a prosecutor.

So this can mean both that the person himself gets won over. And when the person himself gets won over, so in a way it's even stronger because he was on the other side.

So it lends strength. So if somebody that was originally a a big adversary that was against something and then he himself becomes pro, you know, like let's say somebody that was like a big a big fighter against חב"ד, and then if he himself admits that it's right, true and become would become חב"ד, so then that's like a big help to the חב"ד publicity and everything because it takes not only does it take away opposition, but then if even he admits, it kind of gives a boost to to to the defense.

That's why like if like the אלטר רבי would have met with the הגר"א, it would have been a big deal because a big part of the opposition was based like on the הגר"א. Even if or at least was in his name even if it wasn't really from him.

And if the הגר"א would have, you know, admitted, would have met the אלטר רבי and would have realized that it's a good thing, and would have been pro, then it would have dissolved a lot of the opposition. The same thing, the opposite, when a defender becomes a מקטרג, it's also וכמו מיתוק מים המרים במתוקים,

or like the sweetening of bitter waters in sweet waters, like if you take chocolate and you put in sugar, so the cocoa is is bitter, it's very bitter, but if you put in a lot of sugar, it becomes sweet.

Well, same thing like coffee is very bitter. If you add a lot of sugar, it's not as sweet as chocolate, but it also sweets, or lemonade, or anything like that.

So there it actually total it totally like nullifies the bitterness, and now it actually becomes sweet, and you just it just tastes good. או להיפך, or the opposite, if you nullify the sweetness in bitterness, so then it actually just tastes bad. If you taste something sweet and you put a lot of bitter things in it, it will just you'll just taste bitter. It will taste worse than something that's just plain bitter.

In a way it tastes worse because the the contrast like makes it more noticeable. וכן ביטול שכל הזכות בשכל החוב וכאי גוונא, and the same thing when an intellect for merit gets nullified in an intellect for guilt וכאי גוונא. So that is like what we talked about in the parentheses before, that the merit when the merit is in is is is looked at from דין, it gets totally turned over and that merit itself becomes a דין.

Merit Nullified into Guilt 4:28

So like somebody's be you're you're saying, "Well, you should let the person off because look at, you know, his childhood and his surroundings and everything and it wasn't like if somebody else would be in that situation, they would also come to that, so he's not really worse than you." So that's like the thing of merit. They're saying that 'cause he had such a bad, such bad parents, such bad friends, and the whole environment and upbringing was so bad, it's not really his fault.

But then in דין, they say, yeah, but the fact that he was totally raised from the beginning in such a bad environment means that he's bad through and through. And so then for sure, he's a danger to have around society, and there's no hope for us to try to reform him. He's totally rotten. And so even though he has our sympathies, whatever, but we should throw the book at him.

So that itself, the merit itself gets turned over to a חוב. Or like we were talking about the opposite way in the שיחה of רחל אמנו, that יעקב said to יוסף, יש בלבך עלי, that יוסף felt bad that his mother was not buried in מערת המכפלה.

Rachel's Sacrifice Becomes Greater Merit 5:39

And the answer that he gave him totally turned it around to a to a זכות. That he said that the whole ענין of רחל was having מסירת נפש to help other people, and so the what she would want, what she really wanted, is that to to to give away her her place in מערת המכפלה in order to be on the roadside to help the אידן, to to דאווען for them.

And so the fact that she's giving something up, that itself brings out the מעלה of her מסירת נפש, which was her main מעלה, her main עבודה. So it turns it over to a to a bigger זכות. The fact that she was like losing out something, the main thing that turns it over is the fact that she chose it, and that it's like something that she would want.

So then it totally becomes a good thing. וכאי גוונא, הרי זו התכללות אמיתית. This is a true inclusion. והא, and and so with here, it totally it totally loses its מציאות and becomes the opposite. והיינו רק לפי שיש כח זה במנגד עצמו.

Hidden Opposite Within the Opponent 7:09

And the only reason why this is possible, this is a complete ביטול of the opposite side, that it becomes totally, let's say it's gone, it's only one side now.

And the reason why this is possible is because there really is the other in the מנגד, in the opposite side, there is hidden the other side also.

So like every person that's opposing something has a little part of him that would go for it, that he would be able to believe it, he'd be able to enjoy it and be into it.

And in a way, when a person has violent opposition, that shows that he's very scared of letting that side out, and so that's why he's he's opposing it violently and forcefully to like protect himself from that. That doesn't mean it's it's wrong. It could be that he's trying to protect himself from something that really is bad.

But if somebody doesn't feel feel like threatened by it, that means he doesn't feel that part of him that that would want it or that would be drawn to it, and so he won't like run, you know, run away from it so badly.

Never-sinned vs Baal Teshuva Mindset 8:22

This is the difference between like somebody that never sinned and a בעל תשובה. Somebody that never sinned, he's supposed to say that, I want it, but what can I do? God told me not to.

Because he's not in touch with the side of him that has a desire for these bad things, 'cause he never tasted it. So he thinks that he's above it, and he has no desire, and he would never want it, and he looks down on people that do it, you know, and whatever it is, they're involved in bad things, and he thinks, oh, they're just so bad, and you know, but he would never do it.

So in order to protect him, he needs to acknowledge that I really would want it, but God told me not to, so I'm not doing it. As soon as he starts thinking that he really doesn't want it, then he's in trouble. It says that's what that's what אדם הראשון's mistake was.

That he thought, that it says in לקוטי דבורים, he thought he was a רבי, and that he was totally above the bad, and so he thought he was able to look at it and elevate it. But really he had a יצר הרע for it, and so by looking at it, it drew him into it. It made him want it.

He didn't have an actual, like, desire for it yet, because he never tasted it. That's why it says like the יצר הרע was outside of him. By looking at it, then it connected him to it.

But a בעל תשובה, it says the מגיד says, that a בעל תשובה should not say that. Shouldn't say that I want it, but God told me not to. He should say, I don't want it.

Because he needs a bigger שמירה to not go into it. Why? 'Cause he already tasted it, so he knows that he has a desire for it. So he doesn't, it's not like he needs admit that. So for him, though he, he's able to actually say that, "Yeah, I want it," but and and he knows that, but at the same time is he has to say like, "I that whole desire and the pleasure and everything that comes along with it, I know that I could I I could enjoy it, but I don't want it."

He's not saying that like he can't enjoy it. The צדיק thinks he can't enjoy it. So the בעל תשובה knows he can enjoy it, but he has to say that he doesn't want it. He has to totally like hate it and and go away from it to protect him from going back.

And this is because he has this opposite side in him also.