Part 2
Morning Lesson December 24, 2021
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Baal HaSulam - Shamati 100. The Written Torah and the Oral Torah – 1
Reading Baal HaSulam -Shamati 100. The Written Torah and the Oral Torah -1
1. R. (01:26) These are things that are a little higher, this is an addition to our corrections we will then feel. I will read it.
Rav reads: “The written Torah is considered awakening from above and the oral Torah is an awakening from below from the creatures and together both are called 6 years he shall serve and, on the 7th, he should go out free” meaning that they need to work on all the correct connections between our will to receive and the intentions in order to bestow which all the intentions to bestow will cover the entire will to receive. Then we will be free of it since it will all work also in order to bestow. “Because the essence of the work is specifically where there is resistance and it is called Alma ‘world’ in Aramaic for the word HaElem, concealment then when there is concealment there is resistance” because we don't know for what for why because there is no feeling of importance “ and then there is room for work as we have to work against our desire. This is the meaning of the words of our sages 6000 years the world meaning concealment and then ruined, meaning that the concealment will be ruined and then there is no more work because there's no more concealment. We know, we understand, we feel because we are in the qualities of bestowal, that there's nothing to conceal from us, we could relate to everything in bestowal. “However the Creator gives them wings, he gives them screens, reflected light, which are covers upon our egoistic design so that he will have work. Then the person, when he completed the corrections and has a screen, reflected light then he seemingly remains idle, he doesn't have a way to show his love to the Creator. Imagine to yourself that if you love someone and you would like to give them something, to do something as a sign, an expression of love and he says, where you see that he has nothing to give. He is whole, he is complete, then you are perplexed what to do. There is no greater sorrow, there is a sorrow from the will to receive where we want to receive and there is nothing to feel the will receive with. But the will to receive is nevertheless limited. I received a little and that is it and then my will to receive lessens to the extent that I received. Whereas if I love someone and I want to give, like to a baby, to someone I love, then I'm in great sorrow that I have nothing to give. It is a very big sorrow because it is truly sorrow from above. This is called the sorrow of the Divinity because you cannot bestow to the Creator because you cannot bestow to the creatures because they are not ready to receive what he has to do for them and then there is sorrow for this and then there is a big problem. Then it turns out that's when we discovered this sorrow, how should I say it, that we are not capable of giving more to one another. Let's say in the end of correction what else can you do, not one to the other you cannot give anything because everyone is full, not to one another and not to the Creator because I can’t give to the Creator to begin with. I give to the Creator only that which I give to the others because if you are right, what will you give him, meaning there's nothing to give, he has no lack, his pleasure is by us filling one another. Then it works out we are in great perplexity as we are done with the corrections, we cannot give to one another and then it is written that the Creator is makes us wings, meaning of special concealment, this is as he writes in the end of this article, and this is as covers so that he will have work. So I will nevertheless be able to continue and to give more and more to others and through them to the Creator. Otherwise the creatures are limited to the extent that they can give, to the extent to which they can discover there are deficiencies. That's why we have here two each time to receive additional lacks and deficiencies in the others and this is how I fill the others and to this extent I certainly delight the Creator.
2. S. (08:18) Why are the terms used, oral Torah and written Torah, what does it mean oral and written Torah?
R. That's we have to learn the part and it is not simple, let's put it this way, the oral Torah is what we do with the Peh of the Partzuf and the written Torah is already the corrected vessels practically as they receive the intention in order to bestow upon themselves but there's so much there that I did not want to touch upon it now. It will take us in another direction. Let's ask those that organize our lessons for them to collect for us materials about the written and oral Torah all kinds of excerpts that we can learn, there is a lot of material on this and we can see that even in a few sentences, we are just got into it and we see that we can sit there for many hours.
3. S. (10:10) What is special about the concealment from wings and what are other kinds of concealment?
R. When there is concealment it gives us an opportunity to perform acts of bestowal because if there was no concealment let's say the Creator would be revealed so we would all be servitude, slavery, we would constantly want to give him all the good, why? Because his revelation that he's great, complete, whole and rules over us will oblige us, with our small will to receive, to bestow upon them all the time necessary as an element of nature. That is why there is concealment. That is first, the Creator wants to be concealed from the creatures in order to give him freedom, freedom of choice, of thought and that is why he has to hide, to be concealed. We think concealment is something that hides us, on the contrary if not for concealment if the Creator was not concealed, we would not be able to be called created beings, creatures, that we have free choice. Therefore who are the still, vegetative animate and speaking this is the will to receive which is more and more the four degrees of resistance, distancing from the Creator. If it was not for the concealment, how would we exist, we would simply be incorporated in him, doing everything without our minds, without feelings, because why do we need our own mind and feeling, we would just do everything and that is it.
That is just like our inner organs do so in each of our bodies, how do they exist, they carry out commandments. Commandments of nature, commandants of the Creator, that is why all of our work is actually opposite that, to discover the concealment and to try to exist in concealment and then the concealment should not leave but nevertheless, despite us being in the concealment we will also be in revelation. Therefore it is revelation in concealment and the revelation does not erase the concealment, it exists above the concealment and therefore it enables me to be free, free from the Creator and free from my nature. On both sides both from the will to receive and the will to bestow I can be free in the middle. Also my will to receive because it describes these forces to me and it is divided from the Chazeh upwards and downwards GE and AHP and all sorts of actions in me that I will depict correctly what being dependent on the Creator means and what does it mean to be free. Also the oral Torah and the written Torah belongs to this as well but the real war for us, the true war that we join the actions of the Creator, to make from us free, so we will exist not under the authority of the will to receive and not under the authority of the desire to bestow but to be in the middle third of Tifferet. Not the Creator that is above the middle third of Tifferet and not the creature, which is below the middle third of Tifferet, we are in the middle. This is actually where we want to define our free point and this is what the Creator wants us to have for the creature to be free like him. Only the Creator to begin with and we from defining, from deciding the right balance between the will to receive and the desire to bestow and we are like that, like that in the middle point, the middle point of the Partzuf ,we will talk later about it but it is an important thing.
4. S. (15:35) What does wings mean in the article?
R. Wings are concealment, we want to conceal something, we say that we spring spread our wings upon it, it is like a bird that wants to protect her little chicks. She covers them with her wings or the eagle protects, she puts him on her back so if you shoot an arrow from the ground up, if people shoot up at the eagle, I will receive the arrow but not the offspring and that is why he puts them on his back. Meaning the wings are usually in order to conceal and to protect something that is the concept of wings in Kabbalah.
5. S. (16:57) Also question about the wings, in the last sentence he speaks about the transition from in order to bestow to receive, that is the wings?
R. Yes if a person is in order to receive in order to bestow, by that is spreading the wings upon himself. Of course it is done by the common work with the Creator where he prays and the Creator gives him wings but that is how it happens. It is written that the Creator makes him wings which are covers so that he will have work. Because he already does everything and was remains for him to do and if he doesn't do anything, spirituality exists only if we yearn for something greater, spirituality exists in acceleration or you could say like in mathematics in the differential, in change, if there is no change in changing speed or in some discernment, it disappears. There's no spirituality in that case, meaning that if I remain in the same plane, the same state I'm not in spirituality I am, at the moment, fall into corporeality. Only in the condition that I yearn more, try more for spirituality but not me, it could be the friends and I'm with them because I'm in the state that I can't and that is how it is for each one, the one we are like in a flying saucer, all of us are like that together but in such a way we advance.
S. The difference between still and life is there the commandant, transgression, that is still and life is always to search.
R. Spiritual life is also always in permission, you are right.
6. S. (19:47) You said that the Creator is concealed, if he is bestowing and I'm the opposite receiving, so what is the problem, what is the problem if He reveals himself because I do not have any greatness, why does it annul my freedom of choice, what is the problem?
R. The problem is that you will stop advancing because you will see such actions in Him in such aspects that are completely despised by you. Do understand, you can appreciate him as a giver and you being a receiver but if He's a giver and you cannot receive, you cannot discover that, then you will not want Him, He will just be repulsive to you and even more, think about it. That is why the Creator is hidden, to the extent that we come to the equivalence of form with Him, only that way he becomes revealed in order to give us support in that. This is something that requires much thought, it is not simple because you want to enter the upper world, it’s laws and discernments, so that requires effort.
7. S. (21:35) Spiritual life is working in choice that is what I heard but on man's path, he finds himself a lot only engaging in what he's obligated to do. There's a lot of times when he cannot do anything and also the commandant, he struggles to keep it and that time he cannot say that he's in spiritual life?
R. Still even if a person is just there physically with the group not even advancing or feeling that he's not advancing, he is still advancing. It is like you are on the train and the train still takes you somewhere so he is not moving on his own or advancing on his own, he doesn't feel like he's advancing but he is still advancing and this is how the whole world is also advancing but we are ready advancing on their own train. It says that the first Mitzva, is anything but leave, leaving is forbidden for then you fall into the lower world, this world
S. Is the action of dissemination considered as an act of permission?
R. The action of dissemination is very important, it is part of the commandant because by the act of dissemination you publicize the Creator and the method of correction and by that you connect and assist all of humanity.
S. It is a commandment, it is not a permission?
R. Yes, it is a commandment to publicize the Creator's name and to bring the created beings closer to him.
8. S. (23:50) Is there a meaning that it says six years you will work?
R. No, 6 years refers to all the Sefirot that we need to correct from the Parsa and down until the Malchut.
9. S. (24:17) What is real true giving in quality, in the spiritual work?
R. That I bring all together all the friends closer to the Creator through connection between them to the point that the force of bestowal fulfills us together. This is the action and the goal there is nothing besides that, to get there it takes a long time. To me it took a long time so I know from within myself how hard it is to hear it, to accept it, to understand it somewhat and then to feel it, that is the last stage, that is really a big challenge. These are the phases of correction.
S. Is there a way to speed up the times in that?
R. Together only if we work together, one shall help one’s friend, then we can, try to really do all kinds of actions around the people who have a hard time approaching connection in order to somehow to push them, even confuse them so that they want to achieve connection. It is difficult, it is very difficult to understand that specifically the connections, through the inner connection that goes deeper deeper and it is 125 degrees of connection within the man's heart. To the extent that he feels the others entering his heart and connecting to him and then in these degrees that they enter his heart, he begins to discover to the extent that they enter his heart and connect in his heart, in that vessel he begins to discover spirituality. It’s truly not simple it requires decades but that is the correction and by that we come to the revelation of the Creator that lies there deep within their hearts
10. S. (27:24) We heard more than once that if a person knew what spirituality was, he would not engage in it. I want to ask how can a person get ready to receive from the Creator, when is he worthy of it?
R. To the extent that a person can feel the friend at least in somewhat to that extent he begins to feel the Creator, by that he opens his heart to the Creator to the extent he opens his heart to look friend that is how he opens his heart to the Creator. The friend stands between the person and the Creator. It is like the aperture in the camera, the more you open the heart to the friend the friend is like that aperture then to that extent you can see the Creator because within each friend lies the Creator.
11. S. (29:16) In the first part it says and then gather they called the six years in the seventh he should go free, that is taken from the Hebrew slave. Who is that slave, the will to receive to me or me to the will to receive?
R. This is a very sneaky question. It turns out the first I'm a slave to the will to receive and then I bend it and meant it make it a servant to me.
S. In what state does it happen, that it inverts itself?
R. In our work when we are in order to receive until we make a restriction by the light that reforms, we acquire the vessels of bestowal and then I take control over my will to receive and invert it in order to bestow and that means that from a servant I become a master. That is what it says you will be the master and he will be the slave.
S. This can only happen in the ten and it's not that I can do it alone to change myself?
R. Without the ten you cannot do anything, you will always go in any direction beside the right one.
12. S. (30:55) It is written here that the main work is where there is a resistance from the word, concealment. In a place of concealment does that mean that the created being doesn't feel that it is the Creator doing it to him and it also said that the work is more difficult?
R. Yes, the work becomes more difficult to him but don't start taking one sentence and expanding it to the whole Torah, that is impossible, we will not get out of that. You see we have these four little paragraphs from Shamati articles and for over an hour we are scrutinizing just one piece so it's not impossible so try to focus on what is written here. I'm happy that you have an urge and beautiful questions.
13. S. (32:07) I don't know if this is rude but you tell us that we need a concealment to be free like the Creator, how could the Creator be free, he can only bestow to the good and the wicked?
R. Free to bestow, we need to be the same, free to bestow, this is called being a free nation in our land. What does it mean to be a free nation in our land, to be free in our desire so that I can bestow through my desires as much as I want, without any limit, that means to be free, that is the only way that it's possible to be free.
14. S. (33:09) What does it mean to open the heart, how does it practically happen?
R. To open the heart means that I have no limitation in the action of bestowing towards others, that I feel the others not like others but literally as I feel myself and the Creator and the friends, I just feel that it is all one and that is called the corrected heart in which I want to bestow to all. My work becomes like the Creator's work for filling everyone and so all that I do is pray and ask of the Creator that through me he will fulfill everyone.
15. S. (34:12) About the wings in the wisdom of Kabbalah, you said that we are not valuing what we receive that we can increase it and build something new from it on this basis, that is why we are not building our vessel. Along with that we learn that we are not allowed to just get stuck in a state in which we are in and have to advance, so I can’t connect the two.
R. We need as much as possible to try and build the wings, meaning the screens over our will to receive and by these screens to be above our will to receive and that means to be above the wings. So towards the will to receive we cover it with wings but we ourselves raise ourselves as if above the wings, it is just a metaphor, an example, there we see in nature from the crow that protects its chicks this way.
16. S. (35:37) You say that I ask for all the friends and also you said that the Torah by heart is the action of the Partzuf, what is that place of the Partzuf in our work?
R. I don't know, not easy to answer like that, you are taking a word and relating it to such huge aspects that I have no way to clarify them. The Peh of the Partzuf is a place where we clarify how the will to receive works with intention to bestow, just like we learn from all the Partzufim where the screen stands. Below the Peh is the desire above the Peh, if there's a screen that stands at the Peh there are thoughts in order to bestow. So first there is reflected light that rises from the Peh to the Rosh and clarifies all the disturbances, all the details then and after he does that there's execution, whatever is from the Peh and above happens in the Peh and below. Then there are things happening in practice meaning in organizing the desires to be connected and well-organized in order to bestow. That is the structure of the Partzuf and that is the difference. Well there is the oral Torah and the literal Torah there, written Torah, we will learn how that happens.
17. S. (37:30) What does it mean to keep the concealment?
R. To keep the concealment means that I firmly stand against discovering anything that can make me fail and bring me to in order to receive. It spirituality will open up to me now, I will want to swallow it up in every sense and that is a problem. I do not want that to happen but only to the extent that the Creator will guard me and then I will be able to advance in order to bestow.
18. S. (38:26) How do you keep the concealment?
R. By thinking about the opposite thing, about bestowal, how can I always be connected to the group and always be immersed in the group. To begin with I direct myself to bestowing in the group and certainly am not going to fail.