New, improved Kabbalah Series

Chapter 1 - Part 13


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PREVIOUSLY:

Hispaalus - Awakening or lit. Excitement of the Emotions can only be brought about by Hisbonenus.

Hisbonenus is essentially intensive repetitive analytic study And this is what's called Iyun (deep study into something).

For there are three things in every intellectual concept in Binah: the depth, length and width.

Contemplative or meditative concentration(Haamokas HaDaas), is only a vessel to get to the depth of a subject. Whereas the Iyun of Binah, that is, intensive analytical explanatory study is the vessel to the actual subject itself.

And higher than this is the level of Daas/Concentration called a Ma'amik (deep delver) who reaches higher than even the wisdom itself.

Chochmah is the Ein (nothing) (non-apprehended ethereal source) of the concept Binah is the Yesh (something) Like a spring in regards to a river.

In the same way that there is a depth and a length and a width in Binah (Understanding) as stated above, so too there is a depth and a length and a width in the spring of Chochmah.

Chochmah is the discovery of a new intellectual idea which comes out like a flash of lightning.

The source of its origins in its hidden depth is its main essence and inner innerness.

The nothing of Binah is more of a something than the something of Chochmah.

However, the true depth of the Musag (concept) is called Sha'ar HaNun (the Fiftieth Gate) of Binah which reaches until the depth of Chochmah.

As we see in actuality that anyone who delves deeply just into the depth of the Musag (concept of Binah) will eventually discover the root and source of the Muskal (the pure intellectual idea of Chochmah) and will be able to discover new aspects of the light of Chochmah and bring them into Binah (felt, graspable Understanding). And this is what is called a Maamik - deep delver (lit. a deepener) because he deepens the depths of Chochmah and Binah.

Chochmah of Binah is simply to understand another new thing (interpretation, meaning, function, etc.) from the Musag of Binah.) But only within the original concept.

Iyun (repetitive intensive analytical study), which is to analyze the subject matter into all of its parts with detailed identification is called Binah of Binah.

And only after this (process of Iyun/analysis) is it possible to give birth to new ideas and to discover in Chochmah new reaches of understanding (Binah) but only in this particular Musag (concept). And this is called Chochmah of Binah.

And now Chapter 1.13

However, the Kesser of Binah is the aforementioned depth of the understanding, which reaches all the way to the depth of Chochmah as was explained previously; reaching beyond the bounds of Binah itself, unlike Binah and Chochmah within Binah.

Returning to our interpretation of the verse from Sefer Yitzirah "understand with wisdom" is Sa"G (Samech Gimmel - 63 a reference to a particular spelling of the Tetragrameton that is numerically equal to 63 and represents the sfirah of Binah) of A"B (Ayin Bes - 72 a reference to a specific spelling of the Tetragrameton that is numerically equal to 72 and represents the sfirah of Chochmah) (63 OF 72) i.e., Binah within Chochmah, which is the power of explanation inherent within Chochmah itself - that the idea can be explained from many different facets. This is the way the explanations are contained in a hidden way in ones perception of the idea - that hidden within this that one knows the subject one can automatically explain it. For example, like when someone sees a beautiful painting, at the moment that one is looking at it one takes in the entire seen in one glance and immediately realizes what one is seeing and though this is in a non verbal way, later if asked to explain what one saw one can bring forth in ones mind the mental picture and describe it. Similarly when one understands an idea in the way of a perception, that the idea has found a comfortable niche in ones mind so that one can examine it in ones mind as if it is a picture. Then if asked to explain it one just looks at the idea and sees how it fits in with any particular analogy. So that, even before one develops the explanations, there already were certain explanations that fit with the idea and some that don’t. In this state this potential for an explanation is still higher than the actual comprehension of Binah.

The Mitler Rebbe will now demonstrate how even though this power of Binah within Chochmah is lower than Chochmah within Chochmah as it is revealed, still its source is from the depth of Chochmah - Kesser of Chochmah. This is apparent from how when Moshe (Moses) decided (upon his father-in-law Yisro’s advice) to assemble a judicial system, he searched for men who met a tough list of credentials, and indeed he succeeded in finding men most of those qualities, but as the Rabbis point out he was not successful in finding people called Nivonnim - men of exceptional understanding. This quality is one who has the ability to ‘inducing one thing out from another.’ Now this does not refer to a simple logical deduction, but rather, it refers to the ability to see how two seemingly unrelated subjects coincide, and in fact how their mutual understanding is interdependent. As Rashi describes the difference between a Chocham (a wise person) and a Navoan (an understanding person) as like the difference between two money changers, one sits and waits for customers to come to him and the other, when business is slow, goes out to find customers. So too a Chocham is one who collects a great knowledge, but he will only understand what he was taught. The Navoan on the other hand is one who grasps an idea in such a way that he sees how it applies to other ideas as well and so he can understand more than he was taught, and realize that which was not stated explicitly.

(Incidentally, the true essence of this power is actually the whole point of Moshiach, to be able to perceive G-dliness (a thing) from within the created universe and physical world (another thing). To realize this is the whole point of Hisbonenus).

Now in the words of the Mitler Rebbe...

This that it says "men of exceptional understanding he couldn’t find," which means specifically one who can induce one thing from another and not just normal understanding. This that people with this ability were not to be found is because of the source of this power of ‘understand with wisdom,’ which reaches into the depth of Chochmah, as mentioned previously. Therefore, being that the source of this power is in the depth of Chochmah, it is possible to understand a completely different Chochmah from within this Chochmah. In addition, this ability is higher than ‘be wise’ itself i.e., than the actual bringing forth of this Chochmah out from the "nothingness" of Kesser. However, from this ability of Chochmah itself one will not come to understand a different Chochmah or intellect from it. Meaning that the ability to see how two seemingly unrelated ideas complement each other and how they are actually two aspects of a single unifying truth, is greater than the ability of discovery of a new concept. For when one discovers a new concept and not see how it relates to other subjects and disciplines, then ones perception of the truth is limited to this concept; on the other hand to see how everything ties in to the same underlying truth is a much greater and broader perception of the truth of reality, and so it is considered a greater ability and it is also more difficult to attain.

(However, this that one can understand a new idea within the understanding of Binah i.e., Chochmah within Binah, has its source in the ability to ‘understand with wisdom’ i.e., Binah within Chochmah, i.e., that one can induce one thing from another seemingly unrelated thing; only that this ability to ‘understand with wisdom’ is how the ability of innovation within the same subject matter is hidden within the source of the intellect etc., meaning that this that one can innovate within a particular subject matter is a lesser result of the ability of seeing how the explanation comes out from the point of Chochmah. So from this we see that the depth of Binah reaches up into the depth of Chochmah and it is because of this that it can bring out a new idea; for this power comes from the ability to ‘understand with wisdom’ which in turn comes from the depth of the Chochmah itself. And this is enough explanation for the discerning to understand.)


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