The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Lesson July 12, 2025.
Part 2: Recorded lesson - June 27, 2006. Baal HaSulam. Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah. Taamim, Nekudot, Tagin, Otiot [Flavors, Dots, Tags, Letters (TNTO, pronounced Tanta)] #48
Reader: Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah, item 48.
Reading: (00:10) Baal HaSulam. Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah. Taamim, Nekudot, Tagin, Otiot [Flavors, Dots, Tags, Letters (TNTO, pronounced Tanta)] #48
48) Yet, these levels, which emerge on the screen during its gradual refinement, are not considered an expansion of real degrees, like the first level that emerged before the beginning of the refinement. Rather, they are considered Nekudot, and they are called reflected light and judgment [Din], since the power of judgment of the departure of the lights is already mingled in them. This is so because in the first Partzuf, as soon as the clash began to occur and it refined the screen of the Guf from phase four, it is considered as having been completely refined, since there is no “some (part)” in the spiritual.
Once it begins to be refined, it has to be refined completely. Yet, since the screen is refined gradually, there is time for the upper light to copulate with it at each degree of coarseness that the screen assumes during its refinement, until it is completely refined. Hence, the force of departure is mingled with the levels that emerge during its departure, and they are considered as only Nekudot and reflected light and judgment.
M. Laitman: How does this work? We have a coupling in the Peh [mouth] with the upper light. On the Behina Dalet level of coarseness, afterwards, from feeling the Bitush, the beating of the inner light and the surrounding light, in the Tabur [navel], it decides to be refined, to purify. The decisions are always made in the head, Rosh, in Tabur, you cannot make decisions. And then, when it is purified, refined, it performs the Zivug on the third discernment, and the Partzuf then spreads to the third degree of the Guf. These Partzufim, which spread from the couplings, whose purpose is to be purified, they are called Nekudot [dots]. Then we rise to a Zivug, a coupling on a higher degree, spreading down to the second degree, the Darga [degree] Bet of the Guf, of the body. Then it rises further up in coupling, and then spreads down to the degree Dalet, four. And then again, to the degree of Shoresh. Each Partzuf here has direct light, and reflected light. Zivug de Hakaa, coupling by striking, and an expansion from above downwards, inner light, yes? Each and every Partzuf, all these Partzufim faces these five Partzufim, they are called the Paltzufim of Nekudot. Or Nekudot, dots. Partzufim faces, and if we are speaking about spirituality, anything that exists in spirituality, it's always a Partzuf. It has Rosh, Toch, Sof, inner and surrounding lights. There's nothing we can talk about that exists in a partial manner. Nothing is partial in spirituality. It's always the complete measure, including everything. When we say that the screen is refined, it's the screen in the Rosh which is refined. And then as an outcome of that, the screen of the Guf as well. And so it rises from Tabur to Peh. But of course, nothing exists in the body except that which was decided upon in the Rosh, the head. Because in the Rosh, there's the decision to undergo a coupling by striking on a smaller degree each time. Dalet, Gimel, Bet, Aleph and Shoresh [root]. Any questions about this?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (05:44) The two last couplings, they're actually over one level of coarseness or two? How does the Partzuf come out of that?
M. Laitman: How does a Partzuf emerge from the striking, coupling by striking on the screen - Aleph, Shoresh - there's no problem. The question is, what is coupling by striking? The will to receive in the coarseness levels of Aleph and Shoresh is very tiny, very thin. And so there's no beating, really, because beating can only exist when I have a big will to receive and I work with it against its nature. The will to receive in coarseness levels, Aleph and Shoresh, it's so small that it doesn't work against its nature. It's just annulled and that's how you work with it. And that's why it's called thin coupling by striking. And the Partzuf that emerges, well, that's the problem. What is the Partzuf here? Because a Partzuf has to be established with desires for reception, where the lights spread and so on. Where can such things exist in coarseness levels Aleph and Shoresh? So we say that there you have a Partzuf, which is like an embryo, like a very small child, which doesn't make decisions, except to annul himself and belong to the upper one. And the lights spread there in vessels which are unfinished, which is, again, something we need to learn. And that there's no Partzuf there which is real. It's the same as with an embryo. You have parts sort of developing. So in spirituality, in spiritual terms, we say that it's a will to receive which isn't properly scrutinized, because we always speak with respect to the receiver, the person who attains. And so that's how we say it. A Guf, a body, exists, but it's not finished. A person is not aware of it fully and with all its discernments. With coarseness levels Aleph and Shoresh, we always have a problem here. Because they're hard to see as distinct Partzufim, which act by their own power, because these are just Partzufim which complete the series of Partzufim. Because on the one hand, in coarseness levels Aleph and Shoresh, you can't have anything, really, because this is the main thing in the process from the bottom up when you grow. But also, when they grow, it's always the upper one doing it, thanks to the lower one who annuls himself. If it's unclear, you can go to all of our drawings here. We have many drawings of the whole process, from below upwards and above downwards, how it is refined. Go ahead. We have the diagram in page 413, and all the way through, we truly have a lot, all the way through to page 424, so that's 11 pages, just showing how the Partzufim are purified and how the lights come into the vessels and depart the vessels. And here, for example, in page 422, he speaks of this. Here, it's more clear, Galgalta, then the coupling in the four phases, then the Light of Hochma reaches SAG, and then how it spreads. This is drawing 29, for example. These things are clear. Baal HaSulam also explains it more elaborately in other places.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (09:58) Is there, each time, a decision for each phase, or it happens once in the first coupling of striking and then it is just the process that continues?
M. Laitman: There's nothing partial in spirituality. It's one decision to remove oneself, remove myself from the state I entered. Because that state, if I continue in the same direction, I will reach a dead end. What does that mean? I'm in Tabur, or if I continue, then I receive in order to receive. Or I stop under the Bitush of Pnim [internal] and Makif [surrounding], and then I stop, I also don't reach the purpose of creation. So I have no choice but to depart, right? That's the situation. And to continue a different way. That's one thing. And that decision is a decision made regarding the entirety of the…, all of the fulfillment. Now, when it departs, when it decides to do so, there's no argument about the decision to be purified entirely. It's like a business lunch, right? There has to be soup, and the main course, and the salad, and some bread, and some pudding. Right? Everything. You can't do anything about it, but instead of that business course, you want to buy something else that's more expensive, go ahead. But there, everything is different. So you let go of that, and you pick a different, complete menu.
So the decision to let go of this whole dish, all its components, that's made in Tabur. But when I emerge from that, when I depart, I feel on the way what I'm parting from, right? So, look, I look at two dishes, let's say, although it's not exactly that way, and I calculate. Here I have this soup, there I have that soup. Here I have this main course, there I have that main course. Here I have bread, and there I have this kind of salad, and as if, right, I'm checking what I had. And that feeling that I'm parting from the lights through which I was adhered to the Creator, and how I received them in order to bestow, all these things, when I get rid of them, I'll tell you. On the one hand, AB is stronger than Galgalta. The Galgalta is the purest, the most refined. On the other hand, he works with much greater experience, with greater coarseness, attaining smaller lights for himself, but Galgalta receives greater lights as a result. He understands the difference between the two Partzufim, and therefore, he has lacks from Partzuf to Partzuf, from course to course, dish to dish, right? He works with the lack of AB. It's not the same way as with the lack of Galgalta, and not the lack that is revealed in him, but rather he works with the lacks of both states.
Our attainment is always a kind of comparison between two states. One state on its own, and another state on its own, that can almost, you can almost not feel it in the vessel. It's like you give someone who eats only cookies, give him the same cookies you used to. He's used to it, it's nothing new for him, he disregards it. Now someone who only eats bread, give him a cookie. Baal HaSulam explains this, he talks about it in the beginning of the Idra Rabah, where some peasant comes to a city, and he sees bread, and those cookies, these cookies, all kinds, and he's amazed, how is that made? And they say, oh, it's all made from flour, you bring us that flour, and he says, I didn't know, I didn't know you had such discernments. I worked with desires without comparing them, without processing them. I ate grain, like a beast, yes? And now I see that you have all these foodstuffs, what's the difference? The difference is, when these lights descend, with each and every coupling, on the path of purification, yes, refinement they project upwards to the previous states, illuminations. This is called the reflected light which descends. This is the regular light coming from the Zivugim [the couplings], but it's also called the reflected light which descends because it affects previous states. So, it turns out that you had a screen, right? You had a Masach, a vessel. Inside the vessel there was light, right? Inside of the vessel you have light. Now, that light departed, and what I have left is the Reshimot, the records, and instead of these records I receive a new light now. Then there's a collision now between the Reshimo of, let's say, the third discernment and the light which comes from the second, from Bet. That's exactly how you compare the two dishes, what you had and what you now have. And what I now have, as I adhere to the Creator, it's smaller, it's a lesser degree, but the light is greater than I had before and I don't have now. Okay, so before I was in a bigger state, a greater state, but now that's gone. Now I'm in adhesion with the Creator, but on a smaller state, smaller degree. But by that I can discern what's important to me, if it's to be in adhesion or to work with my vessel, because I have discernments here, what's important to me in my spiritual life. And the delta, which we have from that comparison, that is the vessel. These are the Otiot, [the letters]. We call these letters. These are the letters, the comparison between the two states. And so the refinement is very important, specifically when the light departs, or we don't feel that exactly. I had a good situation, right? And then suddenly I begin to descend, and when I begin to descend, I'm not even aware of the fact that I am descending. I still feel good. When does the descent begin? When I feel good, and I begin feeling that my situation is a good situation, instead of feeling that it's good because I'm connected to spirituality. No, I now started enjoying the state itself, and not the connection with the Creator, let's say. And immediately then the descent begins. But I'm not aware of that. And I just roll down, roll, roll down. I still feel good. Why good? I'm not making any effort. I'm not making any efforts. I just feel good. But suddenly, boom. It's revealed to me that I'm descending. When I feel the descent, it's at the end of the descent already. So, what did I want to say? That for us, these descents, we don't feel them. But a person who's constantly struggling, making an effort to adhere to the Creator instead of just the good feeling, then he always feels these Bitush, these beatings. He's lowered, but he feels that he's being lowered, and he always resists, every time. So, he has these beatings on the way of his descent, and from that, he takes the Reshimot, records, and with those records, he works. So, on his way down, his way down, in essence, becomes a vessel. So, Baal HaSulam then explains to us how to be present in that, like an old man who always feels like he's losing something. He's always being purified. And if at every moment you're not ascending, you should know for sure that you're descending. So, specifically in the departure of the Partzufim, which resist, from that, the letters are born, which are the vessels.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (19:58) From Partzuf to Partzuf, the screen weakens or strengthens?
M. Laitman: From Partzuf to Partzuf, for the time being, the screen weakens. It weakens also when it is purified from Tabur to Peh, the Partzufim of Nekudot, and also it weakens from the Parzufim of AB to SAG, Galgatha to AB to SAG, and so on and so forth. The descent from Ein Sof, yes, it's called a descent because the screen is always refined and keeps becoming weaker. But from below upwards, when the souls later ascend, they acquire screens.
Reader: So we are continuing in item 48.
Reading: (20:56) Baal HaSulam. Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah. Taamim, Nekudot, Tagin, Otiot [Flavors, Dots, Tags, Letters (TNTO, pronounced Tanta)] #48
Therefore, we discern two types of levels in each Partzuf: Taamim and Nekudot. This is so because the first ten Sefirot of the Guf that emerge in each Partzuf are called Taamim, and the levels that emerge in the Partzuf as it refines, after the screen had already begun to be refined until it reaches the Peh of the Rosh, are called Nekudot.
M. Laitman: So Rosh, Toch, Sof, Head, inner parts and end part, the light spreads from this striking by coupling to the Toch of the Partzuf, that's the inner light, and then the screen is purified, refined. The inner light, Ohr Pnimi is called Taamim [flavors]. The inner light departs immediately when the decision is made in the Tabur to be purified. And then you have Parzufim, which are called Nekudot [dots] and records, which remain from the Taamim [the flavors]. Tagin [tags], Nekudot [dots] and Otiot [letters]. That's what Baal HaSulam explains. Is the main thing the lights or the records? We will later come to see, but really it depends on the case, right, case by case basis. If the lights come from above to build, to construct the Partzuf, or maybe these are lights that the Partzuf attains with the Rishimot [records] that awaken inside the Partzuf, or maybe the Partzuf attains them, or they awaken of their own accords. It depends on the person, if it was, if it's Orot [lights] or Rishimot [records]. So we have to understand that the Rishimot, the records, there's seemingly something new here, yes? We learn that there is a vessel, and there is a light, there's a Creator, and a created being, yes? And other than the light and vessel, there is nothing. Now we say Partzuf, face. What is Partzuf? This vessel is divided into a Rosh…