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You can see that our substance is constructed of two parts: the first part is
the evolution of the worlds, the Partzufim and the Sefirot,
from above to below, and the way they later emerged, expanded, and organized,
giving birth to the First Man, the soul within these worlds; and also how this
soul evolves, breaks, and descends to this world - all that happens to it.
The second part deals with the soul once it is already here in this world,
broken and clothed in our bestial bodies. We begin studying how this soul
starts to work out of the body to elevate back to the place that it descended
from. Eventually it gets to its root, and that is called the end of
correction.
In other words, what we study, what the Kabbalists write for us, is made from
two parts: one is the spiritual nature, how it is born, and how the created
being evolved and is constructed now around us and inside us within our world.
It is first necessary to know how the created being becomes something from
nothing, from the beginning of creation through the four Behinot and
down to our world, all of the five worlds, and then becoming the soul, Adam.
Later we begin to elevate back to infinity.
Drawing Nr 1
So whether we want it or not, whether we feel good about it or not, without
learning the wisdom itself and doing one’s inner work, by just feeling and
being excited, it is not possible to attain real spirituality.
Baal HaSulam writes “Why do we study the Wisdom of Kabbalah itself?”
In the introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot he writes:
“Accordingly we have to ask, why have the Kabbalists obligated each and
every person to study the wisdom of Kabbalah...” I repeat – each and
every person, specifically the wisdom of Kabbalah, and not some other stories
or articles about inner life. He wrote specifically about the wisdom of
Kabbalah, and about everyone, with no limitation. “Indeed there is
something great in it which should be published, since there is an
immeasurable and wonderful remedy for those who involve themselves in the
wisdom of Kabbalah, and even though they do not understand what they
study…” It is not necessary to understand. There are some who can claim
that they never learned anything or even attended school – it is not
important. We just need to sit and study. No one says that we have to
understand. He writes “even though they do not understand what they are
studying”. It has nothing to do with understanding, it could even be
Chinese - it does not make a difference.
“But it is out of the strong desire to understand what they are
studying…” since they want to enter it, they feel they belong to it, that
there is something in it that is very close to them, that they are actually
there. A person actually desires to get to his or her own root; we actually
desire to know about ourselves. “Who am I?”, is actually our deepest most
inner question. We will later see that this is really what we are asking –
who is the “I”.
“Out of their strong desire to understand what they are studying they
awaken upon themselves the light surrounding their souls”. It means that
the study itself is the action. I am here, in a dark place with no light, but
if I desire to know something about what is written, about some level in
which a Kabbalist has been, then I awaken upon myself surrounding light from
the place the Kabbalist was in when writing. This light acts and brings me
closer to that place at which the book was written, to that same level.
So whether we want to or not, we have to study the wisdom of Kabbalah as well.
This includes women and children. You can read: there are quotes of different
Kabbalists who write that children need to be taught from at the age of nine,
even before they develop common sense, so that they would receive some
knowledge, some sense about how the world is constructed.
We are not even talking about some illustration, or about investigations. We
are simply talking about sitting down, and from listening, attracting
surrounding lights. You remember, I said that it is good if we sit here,
thinking about us being together, desiring together to attain something
spiritual - something lofty. In such a way our vessel becomes larger and we
accelerate the times, and we can attain the goal faster. The lights that come
down from above act on all of us together. If there are two hundred people
here then each person can receive two hundred times more. It should not be
disregarded.
Why am I saying this again? Because I may miss some of these lectures, and
since we are discussing wisdom, we simply need to know how it works, how it
comes to us. To know means to sit and try to understand. As he says: do not
understand, but try to understand what they study; make an effort. The effort
is called ‘raising MAN’ when a person awakens the lack that is in him or her.
According to this the person receives surrounding light which acts not on the
desire, the vessel which receives knowledge and wisdom, but on the soul,
correcting it, bringing it closer to spirituality.
Even though we make an intellectual effort, the surrounding light which we
draw by it acts and brings us a feeling, a sensation, an impression, an entry
into sensual spirituality. That is why many think that it is unnecessary,
that it is just intellectual stuff that we do not really need to know it. Why
would I need to know how many angels are up there, how many worlds there are?
It is not so important for me. Some people fall asleep and get bored, but it
is impossible to awaken the surrounding lights without this material.
Therefore the question is this: do you agree to continue attending classes
here every Friday even if I will not be here, and continue to draw the
wisdom, the surrounding lights without me, with one of my students?
You have to decide, yes or no. Those who will continue and move on will
indeed receive more. I will not repeat these things, but simply continue, I
really recommend coming, you will receive explanations and knowledge about
what happens.
The second part we spoke about is not related to the wisdom, but to a person’s
impressions and entry into spirituality. We learn this part every morning out
of the articles “Shlavei HaSulam” (steps of the ladder). We read an
article written by my Rabbi, and then I discuss it. The discussion may not
always be related to the article, but somehow related to my audience, to the
way I sense the audience’s demands, lacks, and deficiencies. I can only talk
according to that. I can not just talk, and I never really know how I will
talk.
So as you can see, sometimes the lesson can be very difficult, and not seem
to go anywhere, because the audience does not demand or want anything from
me. I can only open myself according to the lack of those who sit here. So
these conversations about “Shlavei HaSulam” are very important,
because they eventually explain a person’s inner work. They explain it in a
consistent manner, even though he writes in a concealed way, he tries to blur
things and it is difficult to understand his text. Even when a person already
has a command of the language and has read a lot of the material, the person
still does not see the inner part of the text. That is why I explain the
articles.
Those who do not review these explanations really miss the main point. it is
true that we draw upon ourselves surrounding light, but what should we do
with this surrounding light? We do not know. How to make it work in us, and
how we should work with it with all of this spiritual energy causing changes
in us, we do not know either. It is only possible to study it from articles
and introductions written by the Rabbi or by Baal HaSulam, which we do not
understand. That is why I talk a lot after we listen to “Shlavei
HaSulam” in the morning.
All of my discussions are on a small disk which includes one hundred lessons.
David Krupnick, who is in charge of our sound system, is the publisher. A
hundred conversations on a single disk, around a hundred hours of listening
time. If you only listen once in the middle of the night it will not be
enough.
The Rabbi used to write for us an article once a week. We used to read this
article during the week every morning and every evening, thirteen or fourteen
times of reading the same article during the week. That was all; there was
nothing else back then. Today there is already more material, but then there
was nothing that related to the inner work.
Here I see people listening to tapes; it is much more comfortable, less
expensive, and more effective. It is necessary to repeat these conversations
constantly. Without doing so it is impossible to advance.
Why is it important? Because it is a means of communication between us, our
generation, where we are, and the generation of Rabash and Baal HaSulam, as
well as all other Kabbalists. If you will not know these conversations you
will not even know what Kabbalists are saying to a person, what they mean. It
is a sort of a bridge between modern man and “Shlavei HaSulam”, that
is, all of the introductions, articles and letters of Rabash and of Baal
HaSulam, as well as all other Kabbalists.
That is why I say that without this it is impossible. If you do not
constantly review these conversations then you are wasting your time. Now
two more disks are being published with my conversations about man’s inner
work. Please get them – there is no other way.
I recommend listening in Hebrew. You will understand, and it will provide you
with an entry into all of the other material including letters and articles,
and you will be able to listen to our lectures, our morning lessons. It is
not possible to remain within the Russian material. The language of Kabbalah
is Hebrew.
The corrections that we perform are for the soul. Are these
corrections also expressed in our physical organs? Is there a
connection?
Corrections are only for the soul. The lights only come into the spiritual
vessel. They act in the vessel, the soul. But this soul is garbed in a body,
and there is a projection to the body, not just our bestial body, but there
are many bodies in a person, many garbs from the inside out, and the soul is
located at the inner core.
There is a certain transition between the body and the soul, which is hard to
explain. How is it that a soul suddenly departs when a body dies? A person
lives and then suddenly dies, God forbid, something happens but how can it
cause the soul to depart from the body? We will talk about it sometime later
on, when we will have the vessels, or more words to describe and explain what
happens. There is certainly a connection, but it is not possible to say that
a Kabbalist who heals the soul also heals the body.
Why? There is a vessel, a person. Our bodies, our desires to receive, divide
this soul into 600,000 parts, and then into billions of more parts.
What is the difference between one vessel and the other? The difference is
that each one is enclosed in an egoistical desire which swallows everything
into itself. After the breaking, each one is introverted, absorbing into
itself.
Drawing Nr 2
Once a person begins to correct him or herself, the surrounding light comes
to the person and corrects the person. First one, then another and so each
one that becomes corrected begins to behave in an opposite way. Instead of
absorbing from the outside in, the person now acts from within and outwards.
Whether the person wants it or not, he or she changes. It seems to us that we
remain egoists, even more so than before; it seems to us that we are much
worse, much less pure than before. It is true because the vessel opens more
and more and the person senses it as being worse and worse. But this was
always inside, it is just being revealed now because now the person is able
to correct it.
But at the same time, even if the person does not admit to it, or does not
see or feel it, the person still becomes more of a worker, acting from the
inside out. The person is affected, even when not feeling it, and becomes
more and more bestowing towards the outside.
Once a person begins to bestow to the outside the balance becomes different.
To the extent the person bestows, the person begins to be connected to all
of the other souls. The person starts being concerned with his or her nation,
surroundings, the entire world. He or she begins to have more external
thoughts, or concerns about what is outside. During the correction of the
soul we become confused; we think that we are worse. When correcting the body
we also seem to be worse, we feel worse; we become week, we feel sick, and we
have problems. That is because we begin to be included in all of the other
souls that come to us.
There is in it a two-sided development that can not be prevented. On one hand
whoever studies and continues to develop in Kabbalah becomes stronger. On the
other hand, the person suffers just as much or even more, because the person
reveals his or her own vessel, and his or her inclusion with the other vessels
that are also uncorrected. The person begins to feel the lacks and the worries
of the entire population.
So if we look at Kabbalists who lived in various generations, we will see
that in each of them these things coexist. On one hand the person advances,
bestows to the whole world, corrects his or her own soul and merits a lot. On
the other hand the suffering that the person goes through is different, and
the person accepts it differently. He or she does not feel it in the way that
we see it from the outside. Baal HaSulam passed away due to severe illnesses.
There were many Kabbalists who suffered through the years, not to mention
Rabbi Akiva whose skin pealed off.
In short, when we look at a Kabbalist, from our perspective the Kabbalists
suffers. That is because the Kabbalist absorbs trouble from the masses, from
all the other souls, absorbing their desires, their troubles, and elevating
them. The Kabbalist enjoys being in these states because he or she can see
the lights that are in these vessels. The future that the Kabbalist is
causing is already the Kabbalist’s present.
When we see it through our eyes, not being able to see the future that the
Kabbalist sees, we do not sense the inclusiveness that exists in the
Kabbalist’s soul, and we think that externally in the Kabbalist’s life there
is nothing good for which we may say that it is worth while to study
Kabbalah.
In the external eyes a Kabbalist does not seem to gain anything - not health,
not a happy life, not children - nothing is gained in terms of the people
around the Kabbalist. On the contrary, the greatest ones were always murdered
first, and were the first ones to suffer. The prophets went to exile before
the entire nation; it has always been this way. But again, it only looks this
way externally, not in the eyes of the Kabbalist himself, who absorbs very
large vessels from the masses, who are composed of many individual small
vessels. The mass of a small vessel constitutes a very large vessel at the
level of the inanimate. The Kabbalist elevates this vessel to his or her
level, and receives the lights in it, attaining all that the masses will
attain in two or three hundred years ahead by including in it all of their
troubles, and elevating their lacks. This is called the Kabbalist’s soul. All
of this section of Adam becomes the Kabbalist’s soul; he or she is at the
place of the First Man, and that is what happens to each and every
Kabbalist.
Promising a Kabbalist health, money, honor, a peaceful family life, or
anything, is not possible. What is possible is to see everything differently
by elevating, by passing the barrier, by recognizing the Creator; the new
vision is eternal and whole. The Kabbalist sees him or herself, the masses,
in a corrected way, and becomes included with the masses below the barrier,
at the place where the masses are.
Our subject is creation and correction.
There is the Creator, from who emanates Light, which is Behinat
Shoresh. Behinat Shoresh constructs Behina Alef, a
desire to receive, at the end of which, once it begins to sense the light,
there is a desire to bestow. Out of its desire to bestow it contemplates:
“What can I bestow, what do I have to give? In order to give I need to receive
first”. This reception will be considered as bestowal. It contemplates “how
can I do this – I guess that if I receive then it will be fine.” This is
Behina Gimel – a desire to receive which is equal to Behina
Alef.
Drawing Nr 3
After this the Malchut, in Behina Gimel, senses the stature
of the Creator. It then desires His stature – and that is called Behina
Dalet. This is a desire to receive called Malchut, or actually –
the created being. The state in which Malchut filled itself is called
Ein Sof, where Malchut filled itself infinitely, from
Behinat Shoresh, Alef, Bet, Gimel and Dalet. That is the
entire Malchut, and preceding it are these four Behinot of
Direct Light.
So the Malchut receives. It has Shoresh, Alef, Bet, Gimel
and Dalet, and it receives lights with no limitation. This is called
Malchut de Ein Sof (Malchut of the World of Infinity). Later
it feels that the Light that is in it develops it, in the same way as it
happened in the preceding Behinot. The Light which begins to fill it
gives it the sensation that it is opposite to the Creator, of this Light; the
Light that enters Malchut makes Malchut feel completely
opposite.
Because of this feeling, Malchut decides to rid itself of all the
Light that is in it. It cannot tolerate the sensation of shame, of being
different, and so it remains empty.
Drawing Nr 4
Once it remains empty (it is called Malchut of the First Restriction,
or the world of Restriction, because every state of Malchut is
called Olam – world.) Reshimot are left in it from the
Light, called Dalet de Hitlabshut, and from the vessel, called
Dalet de Aviut, of all the Light that filled all of its four
Behinot.
It then thinks “what will I do next? How can I attain wholeness?”
Malchut understands that wholeness is being like the Creator. “I
will do the same as the Behina of Bina – I will construct
above each of my desires a screen.” What is a screen? It is an intention ‘in
order to bestow’. So in each and every desire Malchut uses an
intention of ‘in order to bestow’. The Light comes (Direct Light), it pushes
it back (Returning Light) and does not receive it as it did in Malchut de
Ein Sof. It repeats the state called Restriction, and later on, when it
receives (Inner Light), it is already an act of complete giving. The reception
becomes bestowal and through that Malchut equalizes with the Creator
in its action.
Drawing Nr 5
Drawing Nr 6
The created being performs such a calculation. We do not even realize what it
means to be like the Creator. We have no understanding of what it is to be
beyond our vessels, what eternity, wholeness is, without a past, a present, a
future; no distances, no limitations (distance is also a limitation, being
here, not there…). There is no limit. It is a way of being capable of anything
in all directions, and all dimensions. Such a feeling begins to appear form
the barrier and up.
How is it attained? Malchut begins to plan it actions – “The end of
an action depends on the initial thought”. The fact is that Malchut
goes through all of these preparations in order to understand that this is
the way of correction. But how is this correction actually done? This state,
when Malchut will reach it, is called the end of correction. How is
it reached? What is actually the problem? The problem is that in order for
Malchut to perform such an action of receiving entirely in order to
bestow, Malchut has to be included in the properties of the Creator,
the properties of bestowal, while Malchut itself is entirely made of
the desire to receive.
Having a desire to receive is fine, but in addition to it I also want to have
an intention in order to bestow. How do I allow these two things to exist in
me at the same time? I need to perform some action that will insert into me
the properties of the Creator.
How can that be done? Malchut begins to plan how to cause a state
in which the properties of the Creator will enter it. What is actually the
problem? The problem is that the properties of the Creator and the properties
of the created being are totally opposite. There is nothing that can mediate
between them in any way, which can serve as a passage between the two.
There is only one problem. If it was possible to use one property that exists
in all of these Behinot then I would have been able to find some
link between the desire to receive and the desire to bestow. This link is in
the Bina. Bina is a very unique property.
We’ve learned that Behinat Shoresh is simply a desire to bestow of
the Creator. Then Behina Alef is the entry of the Creator’s desire
to bestow into the desire to receive, building the desire to receive but in
a way that it still has no sensation, and no independence. Later on this
desire, even though it is not independent but created by the Light and has
no “I” of its own, desires to become a bestower.
Meaning that these Behinot: Shoresh, Alef and Bet (down to
the middle of Bet) are Behinot that belong entirely to the
properties of the Creator. Only beginning at the ZAT de Bina (the
seven lower Sefirot of Bina), from the lower half of
Bina and down begin to appear the properties of the created being.
The desire to receive of the Bina feels that if it would not receive
from above, from the Creator, then nothing good will happen to it. So this
desire, which is small but comes from the created being, the Bina,
who wants to bestow, reasons: “in order for me to bestow I need to give Him
pleasure. I can only give Him pleasure if I receive”, meaning that this desire
to receive is not created by the Creator. It is the created being’s own desire,
the created being want to have a desire to receive. It comes out of the
awakening of the created being. Later on this desire becomes realized in
Behina Gimel. Then it even grows in Behina Dalet. We see
that from the middle of Bina and down the desire to receive develops,
and the created being develops. In Bina itself we have to halves.
So within Bina there is some kind of transition between the
properties of the bestower and the properties of the receiver. If we could
somehow insert properties of Bina into the created being we may be
able to really correct the desire to receive so that it would be able to
receive and use its desire correctly, not just “either I receive, or I don’t
because I feel shame” but like Bina desires, to use the desire to
receive only in order to bestow.
How? There is hope. Why? The hope is in the fact that Bina is
actually a single system made of a lower part which is like Malchut,
because it wants to receive, and an upper part which is truly a desire to
bestow, just like Keter. Bina wants to be like
Keter.
Now, how is it possible to somehow connect between Bina and
Malchut? If we insert the entire nature of Bina into
Malchut then Malchut will receive properties of bestowal.
Why isn’t it possible for example to insert Keter, desire to bestow,
into Malchut? There is no common point between the two. Because
Bina includes the desire to receive just like in Malchut,
it is possible to bring it closer to Malchut. In coming closer,
Bina will connect to Malchut in its lower part, and then it
is possible that the upper part of Bina will give its attributes to
Malchut. In such case, the created being will receive properties of
the Creator, and will be saved from this separation, this death, because
otherwise the created being has no life, and the Light does not enter it.
Light is the Light of life. This is a very subtle point, but it is the key to
all of the correction that occurs later.
The desire to bestow is Behinat Shoresh. It is a desire to bestow of
the Creator, His desire to bestow to His creatures, to benefit His creatures
is Behinat Shoresh. Bina, in its upper half, wants to be
similar, to be like Behinat Shoresh. How does this happen? We have
learned that because Behina Alef receives the Light in its upper
half, which is the desire to receive of Behina Alef, in its lower
half it begins to desire to bestow, to be similar to the Light that fills
it.
That is how it is in each Behina – this structure of two parts. In
the first part I receive the Light in a natural way, without any resistance.
In the second part, after I have received it, I feel what this Light does in
me, how it acts on me, and I begin to discover its properties.
Later on, the desire to receive works in Behina Alef. It receives
the Light, enjoys it, and then feels within the Light where the Light comes
from, and what it actually is, its nature, what it wants, and what it gives.
Out of that the desire to receive which is in Bheina Alef reverses
into desire to bestow and Behina Bet is born.
So Behina Bet was born within Behina Alef, within the depth
of sensation. After sensing the pleasure I begin to feel who the giver of the
pleasure is. Behina Bet is a result of Behina Alef.
Behina Alef, at its end becomes Behina Bet, and Behina
Bet feels that it desires to bestow. And indeed, it is in its desire
entirely in order to bestow at the same degree of desire to receive that
existed in Behina Alef. After dedicating itself entirely to bestowal,
Behina Bet sees that it gains nothing from this action.
Who does Behina Bet bestow to? What can it give? Nothing. Out of
this, within this action, Behina Bet begins to sense and discover
that to give, to cause Him pleasure, is only possible by receiving form Him.
He enjoys that I receive. In this way the desire to bestow that is in
Behina Bet reverses into desire to receive.
But this desire to receive is definitely not equal to the desire to receive
that is in Behina Alef. Here it is a desire of the created being, who
consciously, pictorially, checked and saw, and made a decision to develop its
own desire to receive in order to cause pleasure to the Emanator. Behina
Bet virtually gives birth to a created being of its own.
Following this is the development of Behina Bet over Behina
Dalet. I do not want to get into Behina Gimel because it is
complicated. It includes six inner attributes; this is enough for now.
By the way, we should notate these discernments as follows: Behinat
Shoresh is the tip of the Yud. Behina Alef is the
Yud. Behina Bet is the first Hei, Behina Gimel is
the Vav and Behina Dalet is Hei TaTaa – the second
Hei. We can see that Behina Bet and Behina Dalet
are noted by the same letter – Hei. What is the meaning of it? The
meaning is that the desire to receive in Behina Bet is the beginning
of the desire that will later evolve in Behina Dalet. That is why it
is called the first Hei – the initial desire to receive, and later
on eventually it reaches Behina Dalet.
The symbol for Bina is the first Hei. It is a symbol of its
ZAT, its lower part (7 lower Sefirot), its actual action.
From this appears some kind of an opening of a path, to somehow reach the
correction of the created being. How can it be done?
There are two problems here: one is that in the ZAT of Bina
there are vessels of reception which have to be linked to Behina
Dalet. Behina Bet and Behina Dalet need to be together
in some kind of situation. The second problem is, once they are together, how
to cause the first part of Bina, the desire to bestow which is
actually opposite to Behina Dalet, to enter into Behina
Dalet because they are somehow together.
These actions are very subtle and hard to perceive. We will discuss them more.
They are the key to the correction and we will constantly discuss it and try
to explain it.
Is the second part of Behina Alef the same thing as the
first part of Behina Bet?
Yes. In general, all of the Sefirot – Keter, Hochma, Bina, ZA and
Malchut each includes two parts. In each Sefira, one part
is its own, and the other is part of the lower one. That is how it is with
everything.
For example in Bina, Bina is the bestower. What is the result of
that? It develops within itself a desire to receive, in order to give to the
Creator. Where is its desire to give to the Creator? It develops the
Malchut; it wants Malchut to have a desire to receive so
that if it would be filled with Light it would be pleasurable for the Creator.
This part is very important.
Drawing Nr 7
The first part is called GAR de Bina (the first three). ZAT de
Bina is the lower seven is its lower part. ZAT is also called
the womb or belly. Later on, when we will study the structure in
Atzilut we will see their names from this world. It is a part that
does not belong with Bina itself. It is there just in order to give
birth, to unite with someone, it belongs to the body of Bina but it
is an extension of it; it is vessels for developing a body of bestowal.
If previously each one divides into two, and the second part is
actually the beginning of the next one, then Behina Gimel doesn’t
cause Behina Dalet…
No. Behina Gimel causes Behina Dalet as well. Each and every
discernment is constructed of being a Behina in itself, and in
addition there is a Rosh (head) for the next discernment.
And why does Behina Bet create Behina Dalet?
Behina Bet creates Behina Dalet through Behina
Gimel, which is the desire to receive. But this desire to receive,
Behina Gimel, is equal in its desire to Behina Alef. What
is the difference between them? Why is it called Behina Gimel, why
is it more coarse, and more bold? Because its desire is at the same size as
Behina Alef, but it emanates from Bina, it comes out of the
created being. The created being wants to receive, but it wants to receive
what the Creator sets for it, what the Creator gives it.
Drawing Nr 8
We spoke about this – there is a table with five different servings of food
on it. On its other side stands the host and here I am looking at the table.
Behina Alef is all of the pleasures that are on the table. If I
receive them it is called Behina Gimel, deciding that I would receive
them for the pleasure of the Creator. But if I want the stature of the
Creator, then this desire is called Behina Dalet. The difference is
essential.
We will still talk about this. It has to settle down in us so that we can
start sensing how it works. It is a wisdom that never clothes in the mind. I
explained this to students from the Kabbalah Faculty of the University of Tel
Aviv. They left without understanding anything. It is possible to comprehend
some sketches, but if one really wants to go into the material, to understand
how it works, why it is this way; the mind gets stuck very fast. There is
nothing similar to it in our world in our natural vessels. We have to develop
the point in the heart, inflate it, expand it, and then begin to sense these
things in it. We will then be able to imagine, link, and get a taste of these
things. When we will discuss a certain state or process it will then be an
inner impression just like what happens in this world, the way we are used to
through our Reshimot.
So the difference between Behina Gimel and Behina Dalet is
that Behina Dalet really wants to enjoy the Creator, so if it will
really become ‘in order to bestow’ it will be an action exactly like the
Creator’s.
This drawing is very important. We should never forget it; you will need to
review it every time.
In order to prepare the supposedly unexpected meeting between Bina
and Malchut, a few simple actions need to take place.
In order for Bina to penetrate Malchut, so that its
properties will enter Malchut, Bina needs to understand who
Malchut is, what Malchut needs, how it is possible to
penetrate it in order to cause corrections in it - not just fillings but
corrections.
Meaning that in order for our system to function, Bina needs to
consider not only the desire to receive that it needs to create in
Malchut, but also how it can build the desire to bestow in
Malchut, and how to give Malchut its own attributes. The
issue is that Bina includes within itself a desire to receive of
Behina Alef; it contemplates what it wants to receive in order to
benefit the Creator. This desire to receive is just like the one in
Behina Alef – ZAT of Bina is similar to Behina
Alef. Without that Bina does not know what to do, that is its
example.
The Creator created a desire to receive and He fills it with pleasure. Now I
take this desire to receive and fill it with pleasure, meaning that
ZAT de Bina is exactly like Behina Alef, only it is made by
Bina, which fills it. Bina is still denied the understanding
of who is the Malchut. In Malchut the desire to receive is
big, equal to the Creator; equal not to the desire that the Creator created
but to the pleasure that the Creator feels out of giving to the created
being.
For example, I get someone a cup of tea. I remember when I used to serve my
Rabbi. If he is great in my eyes, then when I give him a cup of tea I enjoy
giving him. If he is great in my opinion then my pleasure is in accordance
with that recognition of his greatness. When he seems great to me I am willing
to do a lot for him and when he seems unimportant to me I am only willing to
do a little bit for him. My pleasure of serving him is related to my
recognition of his greatness.
Bestowal to someone is not dependent on what is given but on the greatness of
the reciever, compared to the recognition of my own level, my own greatness.
Bina, which desires to bestow to the Creator senses Him as the
bestower of Behina Alef only. He created a desire to receive and He
gives pleasure to that desire in Behina Alef, a pleasure which we
call ‘the Light of Nefesh’, a very small pleasure. A small desire to
receive can not be excited by it; it is still a fetus, almost insignificant.
It is a very faint degree.
The desire to receive of Behina Dalet on the other hand, is a very
large desire. It enjoys very powerfully, with all its might. When it feels the
pleasure which it draws to itself, it discovers that the pleasure is coming
from someone, from a bestower who thinks about it and gives it, and it feels
terrible shame. We cannot understand what a sensation of shame is. Baal
HaSulam writes about it (in TES, part one, inner reflection). He
says that the feeling of shame is available only to very elevated souls who
can feel it. In our world we are ashamed when our desire to receive is
revealed to others. If it has not been revealed we feel no shame.
Bina certainly does not understand who Malchut is, because
Bina is still at Aviut Bet (second degree of coarseness).
In order to really know who Malchut is and correct it, Bina
needs to be actually included in Malchut. That is why this action,
the inclusion of Malchut in Bina needs to happen first.
Later, once Bina will know who Malchut is (and Bina
+ Malchut will mix together) it will be possible to do
Malchut + Bina and then the end of correction will occur.
Drawing Nr 9
Behina Alef becomes Behina Bet, Behina Bet becomes
Gimel, Gimel becomes Dalet. So Bet doesn’t exist
any more? It turned into Gimel and Dalet, how will
Dalet enter into Bet…?
This is a good question – how can there be a connection between Bina
and Malchut if they are so opposite and remote? They are not so
remote or opposite, because in Bina there is a part which is the
desire to receive, and so Malchut has the ability to connect to that
desire to receive.
What is it that Bina wants? Bina wants to receive in order
to give pleasure to the Creator. As much as it wants to receive it is only in
order to cause pleasure to the Creator. It is necessary to show Bina
that Malchut is the vessel of reception, but in the mean time
Bina cannot give anything to Malchut because there is a
restriction on Malchut, and there are no vessels that can receive
and enjoy. The vessels of Malchut are behind the restriction.
While Dalet corrects itself, does Bina even exist
or is it just a memory of the past?
No. All of these four Behinot exist all of the time, because the
Light comes from the Creator through all four of these Behinot into
the Malchut. Malchut itself keeps developing and changing,
and accordingly the Lights reaches it and fills it. All of these levels exist;
they are called Yud Hei Vav Hei – the name of the Creator. What does
it mean? In this way the Creator takes care of the created being and invests
in it the power and the filling.
It is not clear to me; the first step is that Malchut has
to enter into Bina and cause corrections in it? What is the meaning
of that?
Malchut itself discovers that it can not enjoy in the way that it
normally wants to enjoy. A desire to receive in a direct way can not enjoy.
Why? At the moment that I receive all of the pleasures without limitations the
desire to receive disappears. The pleasure that comes in to the desire to
receive annuls the desire to receive and it is replaced by emptiness. If I
have no lack, no appetite, no hunger, I do not feel pleasure from the
fillings and there remains nothing.
People who really get to such states really want to finish their lives. There
are examples like that. Very rich people for example who have everything, but
have no pleasure. Everyone desires to get there, not realizing that it is not
the solution. We constantly crave “more, more, and more pleasure!” and we are
never satisfied. That is because it is not the right method to fill the lack.
In order to fill the lack, the vessel and the sensation of filling have to be
in two different places. Why is a mother never tired of giving to a baby?
Because there is a lack in the baby and a lack in the mother; there is a
filling in the baby and a filling in the mother at two places. If it is
opposite then it is a malfunction of nature.
So in order to fill the Malchut so that it would not lose any
pleasure it is necessary to make the lack remain, so that the pleasure would
not cancel the lack. The more I would eat the more I will want to eat and be
able to eat, in an endless way, more and more and more. It is not bad; it is
what we want but cannot do. We do not understand this principal.
When we begin to study the wisdom of Kabbalah, the wisdom of receiving, of
how to enjoy, then we may grasp the wisdom and know how to enjoy. It is the
goal of creation – to give joy to His creatures. Here is the key to how to
enjoy.
Malchut performs the restriction; it is not capable of doing anything
else. It feels this only through the inclusion with the Bina, so that
its pleasure will not be in itself but in Him. It will be able to enjoy and
the pleasure will constantly renew itself.
What does it mean? I have an infinite source, the Creator. There is also the
created being. I receive filling from the Creator. If I receive it normally
the filling disappears, the appetite disappears. I remain zero. If while
thinking of the pleasure I would think of what is in Him, a desire to bestow
upon me, the way He enjoys, then I will have access to infinite vessels
because enjoyment in Him is infinite vessels. He wants to give me infinite
pleasure.
So for example, I get 1 kilogram of desire to enjoy. If I, while receiving 1
Kilogram of pleasure, think how He enjoys, then this Kilogram of pleasure is
already not in me but in Him. I fill Him. When I fill Him by one kilogram I
feel that He has many more desires to fill me.
He wants to fill me, I receive the second pleasure. Because I receive the
second pleasure I feel how that causes Him pleasure. By causing Him pleasure
I again…
In short, I continuously return and feel how much pleasure I am giving, and
enjoy its flow through me.
Drawing Nr 10
The circle is infinite, and it constantly grows. Therefore our life is just a
sensation of the pleasure. What does it mean when someone dies? It means that
the pleasure is not sensed in all of the senses. It is called death. When a
person feels that the sensation of pleasure constantly renews and grows it is
called that the person is going up on the ladder of steps. He or she is
elevating in spirituality until the person reaches a state in which he or she
does not go up or stay in place, but enters a state in which the reception of
pleasure is infinite. That is what it is necessary to attain, and it is
possible through the Bina; the Bina gives us these tools to
turn from Malchut to the Creator.
How is it done?
Malchut decides now, after the first restriction, what to do. It
first has to build a system that would help it relate between the properties
of bestowal and the properties of receiving. It divides itself into a
Rosh, where it makes plans, Toch and Sof.
What are Rosh, Toch and Sof? Rosh, Toch and
Sof are simple vessels of Malchut, as well as all of the
Sefirot, all of the properties. Malchut’s properties of
bestowal are in the Toch. It is called ‘The first nine”. Sof
is called Malchut. The attributes of the Creator are from the top
down to the Tabur. The attributes of the created being are from the
Tabur down to the Sium. That is how the Malchut
divides itself after the first restriction.
Drawing Nr 11
So the place where Malchut can be like the Creator is where it
performs its actions. It receives Light into it according to the greatest
desire to receive, and that is called Galgalta. Later, less then
that is called AB, even less is called SAG, even less is
called ‘upper MA’, and even less is called ‘upper BON’.
Drawing Nr 12
These are five Partzufim, each one of which denotes a different
degree of coarseness: Malchut with Dalet de Aviut as
Galgalta, with Aviut Gimel as AB, with Aviut
Bet as SAG, with Aviut Alef – MA, and with Aviut
Shoresh –BON. Thus we get five Partzufim – the five
Partzufim of Adam Kadmon.
Why five Partzufim? Malchut wants to make itself similar to
the five parts that are in it, to its five levels, to the five degrees
preceding it. It wants to become similar to the work of Behinat Shoresh,
Alef, Bet, Gimel and Dalet accordingly. This is the main plan.
So what does Malchut do? It works with the Tet Rishonot
(First Nine Sefirot) of Malchut and not with itself. With
itself it can do nothing, it remains empty.
Drawing Nr 13
It does not fill itself. I will explain it in a different way. There are
several approaches to every issue in spirituality.
Let’s explain it in a way you will be able to understand.
There is upper Light from above, and there is Malchut. Between the
upper Light and Malchut there are Behinot Shoresh, Alef,
Bet, and Gimel. What is happening here? Malchut wants
to build between itself and the Light an infinite number of steps, and screens
to stop the Light of infinity. When the Light actually arrives to it, it will
be at zero level. Above it is a hundred percent, down at the bottom it will be
zero percent.
Drawing Nr 14
Malchut de Ein Sof virtually inserts its own Behina into
the upper Light and stops it by being included in Behinat Shoresh, in
Alef, in Bet, in Gimel, and in Dalet.
Behina Dalet exists not on its own, but is included in The First
Nine. So there are five parts. This Malchut is still below the
Tabur. For us here it is the Peh.
Drawing Nr 15
It turns out that the Malchut stops the upper Light by becoming
included in Behinat Shoresh – called Galgalta, in
Behina Alef – AB, in Behina Bet – SAG, in Behina
Gimel – upper MA, and in Behina Dalet – upper
BON. Malchut of infinity inserted its desire to receive into
the development of the Light and stopped it. It gradually stops the Light
until it reaches it and stops. By that, Malchut inserted itself into
The First Nine, and was included in The First Nine – the properties of the
Creator. It is still not in Bina, we are still not talking about any
link between them, but that is what Malchut did.
In such a way Malchut built filters around it that weakened or
stopped the Light, so that Malchut can be saved from receiving the
Light. It then remains empty.
This entire action is called “the birth of the Olam (world) of
Adam Kadmon”. Olam is derived from Heelem –
concealment. Malchut performed a concealment; it concealed, stopped
the Light. The first concealment is the inclusion of Malchut in The
First Nine, the Behinot that precede it, that are between it and the
Creator. These actions are called the five Partzufim of Adam
Kadmon.
Drawing Nr 16
What is there in Malchut that helps it perform this
action?
Very simply – everything. All of the preceding Behinot are included in it.
Why? Because Malchut begins to receive after all of the other
Behinot. What causes Behina Alef to desire to bestow? The
feeling of Keter, the bestower of what it received. Out of the
sensation of the bestower was born its desire to bestow. So a desire to bestow
that was created in Behina Alef is a desire to bestow similar to
Keter. The desire to receive in Bina from Behina
Bet was created out of the desire to receive of Behina Alef,
and so on. Malchut includes the Light from all of the
Behinot, which comes from the Creator. That is why all of the
desires, all of the attributes are included in it. It includes everything
that precedes it, all that existed before it. How can I enjoy something if it
doesn’t enter me? Once it enters me then I attain it. In spirituality, when
the Light comes it also brings with it all of the information about itself,
all of the sensation of the giver, and then I understand.
This Malchut, Behina Dalet, when it begins to receive from
Behina Gimel, it first feels pleasure. If it only feels pleasure it
senses Behinat Shoresh; it enjoys the Light that enters. Later, in
Behinat Shoresh it feels – “it comes because He wanted to give to
me” – Behina Alef. “Why does He want to give to me? Because He has a
desire to bestow” – senses Behina Bet. “Why does He have a desire to
bestow? Because He enjoys from me” – Behina Gimel. “So I want to
receive and enjoy from Him, both from the fact that He gives to me and from
the fact that He wants to give and enjoy my receiving”. “I want to enjoy the
servings as well as His stature, to be like Him”. These are two desires that
already exist in the Malchut.
Malchut includes everything that precedes it. It now restricts all of
these Behinot inside itself.
What does Malchut do after the first restriction? It says: “I am
going to build a system through which I am going to receive in order to
bestow”. In this it creates the Rosh (head) of the system. This
decision – to receive in order to bestow – is called Rosh. The entire
Guf (body) down to the Sium (ending) is all
Malchut. The place of the Fist Nine is the place of the
Toch (inside).
All of these Partzufim are called Toch. Malchut is
the Sof. In the middle is the Tabur (navel) and at the end
will be the Sium and here will be the Peh. If we want to
draw Malchut de Ein Sof as a cup, then as you see in the above
drawing, the Rosh has been added to it, since now it needs to do a
calculation how much to receive, and how much not to, so that the receiving
will be with the intention toward the Creator. The Rosh was added and the
action itself is inside the Malchut. That is what I want to say.
Why is it called “The First Nine”?
If we are talking about the vessel, then for us a vessel is Keter,
Hochma, Bina, ZA, and Malchut. But ZA divides into
Chesed, Gevura, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod and Yesod - six parts,
Vav Ktzavot (six edges). Together there are ten Sefirot. So
besides Malchut there are nine – The First Nine,
Drawing Nr 17
Once more: Keter, Hochma, Bina, Z”A and Malchut, Z”A divides
into Chesed, Gevura, Tiferet , Netzach, Hod and Yesod, and
all together there are ten Sefirot. These ten Sefirot are
divided into The First Nine and Malchut. The First Nine are bestowal
and Malchut is reception.
So The First Nine is like what you drew last week, twenty and eighty
percent?
Last week I drew twenty percent reception and eighty percent remaining empty.
So the twenty percent where there is reception is The First Nine. The
Sof is the Malchut - the eighty percent. The percentages are
just numbers, in reality it is none of those numbers.
Can I assume according to what we’ve studied that a person with strong
and bold desires is more developed than someone who is “kind, and
gentle”?
Without a doubt, a person who has strong, and bold desires… we first have to
explain what strong or bold desires mean. It means that the person is
developed in those desires, not just someone who is an alcoholic… A developed
desire means that I desire to enjoy, to grasp, to swallow the entire world.
That is a desire which is developed, and which is a good desire. A person who
becomes ready feels really empty, whereas someone who has a small desire just
moves from football to playing cards, from playing cards to something else…
and that fills the person. Small desires are easy to fill, but big desires,
when they remain empty are a big problem. That is why in our generation there
are many people who have no choice, so they come to the Kabbalah.
Can we say that the five Partzufim are like five layers of
filtering, filtering the Light?
Yes, these five Partzufim are the maximum extent to which
Malchut can be included in The First Nine and conceal the Light from
itself. We will later learn how it happens.
This is the first time that I give these explanations in this way. That is
because this is the first time that this group is gathering. If you have never
heard it you will come in a few days in a different state and the explanations
will be completely different. I never explained it this way and this time I
explained a few things that I never could explain before. It is because of the
vessel that exists here, you arrived in a good state today. Last time it
wasn’t so good. You were in a different state, and I couldn’t speak. I felt
that you didn’t want anything. It all depends on you.
I recommend that before the lessons you read something, listen to some music,
get excited. It is very helpful later on, you will be able to get things out
of me… and I will gladly give them to you.
So both the Toch and the Sof is all part of Malchut
in infinity, which divides itself into two parts: The First Nine, or
GAR (The First Three) – Shoresh, Alef, Bet and
Gimel. There are four Behinot but they are called the First
Three – GAR. Dalet is a separate Behina.
What is the Rosh?
The Rosh is the same as Malchut, only it is a thought, not
a vessel. It is Malchut beginning to think. When do we begin to have
a ‘head’ in spirituality, in perception, understanding, sensation? Only when
we have an intention to bestow. To the extent that we have an intention to
bestow, the size of the Rosh grows in us. If we have no intention to
bestow, we are in our desire to receive, we have no head, no spiritual
sensation. Therefore what we need is to grasp attributes of Bina and
build out of them Rosh of a Partzuf.
How are these ten Sefirot related to us?
These ten Sefirot are related to us because we have a point in the
heart. Our heart is a desire to receive, a vessel for all of the pleasures of
this world; bestial pleasures like sex, food, family, later on money, honor,
and knowledge. All of these pleasures, their totality, is called the heart of
man, it is what man wants. Later, after man develops this way through
thousands of years, a person suddenly begins to feel the point in the heart,
a desire for spirituality.
So, in the heart there is a point, which does not belong to the person, but
evolves into the person from above. This point, even though the person senses
it as a dot, includes ten parts, ten Sefirot. Through the surrounding
light that we draw during the study this point starts to develop, it expands
and ten Sefirot are built in it. The Sefirot were in it
before, but only as Reshimot, as genes, seeds, inside which the
entire person exists, but in order to develop material is needed.
It is the same here. Light is needed, and with the Light ten Sefirot
will develop from the point, an initial vessel. When you will know how to
divide this initial vessel correctly to Rosh, Toch and Sof,
then this initial vessel will grow into another ten Sefirot and then
another ten and so on. We will learn how.
All of our wisdom is in order to know how to construct Malchut de Ein
Sof out of the point that was given to us from above. Your vessel is the
entire Malchut.
Do I have to sense all of the Light in order to advance?
You have to sense the Light. Without the Light you will not progress. Our
main and only goal is to feel the Creator, to sense the Light. When the Light
will come it will open our vessel. In the mean time the Light comes as
surrounding Light, not felt by us, through our effort in the study.
Is it possible to say that twenty percent is what the Creator gives
and eighty percent is what the vessel desires to receive from the pleasure
of the Creator?
The twenty percent that is received above the Tabur is called “a
very thin line” from the Creator to the created being. Within this line, as we
will see, all the worlds are created. Within these worlds later evolves the
soul. These twenty percent remain above the Tabur, but they are
accounted as belonging to the created being. I still have a lot to explain
before I can answer this so write the question down for later.
I am reminding you again; you should buy these articles and study on your own
as well. When everyone gathers with a desire to know, to understand, it works;
you draw lights with your desire. I am only assisting here…
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