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Previously:
Two levels of Binah: Binah and Tvunah.
Tvunah is the extension of the light of Binah as a result of the proper absorption of the concept in the brain to bring it to expression in many different ways.
So the man of Tvunah is one who can explain a deep theoretical concept to another in simple terms and analogies, making the concept understandable in a down-to-earth way.
The power of Tvunah is the power to extend the power of Binah to bring its depth down into revelation to the recipients etc.
And now Chapter 2.03
So far the Mitler Rebbe has explained how a concept as it is still only understood by Binah and not Tvunah is still theoretical. Even as it spreads out within itself to a length and a width, those are only the dimension within the explanation of the theoretical idea. Only once the idea is brought from Binah into the power of Tvunah does the idea extend into something separate. In addition, he has enumerated for us a few examples of the ‘separate things’ into which Tvunah can extend:
(a) analogies to explain the understanding of Binah to someone else,
(b) a decision or ruling based on the understanding of Binah, as in a legal decision and
(c) a practical use for the understanding of Binah, like the development of the atomic bomb from nuclear theory, the theory of relativity and other theoretical physics. Later the Mitler Rebbe will add a few more to the list.
For example, the way that algebra is usually taught in highschool, even though it is explained with a width of explanations - the many types of problems, many examples of each type, and the many approaches to solve each problem - and also a length - explaining simply how to do algebra, beginning with "low," easy problems and then building up to "higher," harder ones. However, even after mastering the methods of algebra completely the question still remains in many students minds, "what is all of this good for?" or "how am I going to use this in life?" or "How am I going to apply this?" This is because they teach only the Binah of the idea, it is not until one is studying to be an engineer or some other technical job that one is taught how to apply what was learnt.
An even better example for the difference between the power of Binah and that of Tvunah is the difference between the culture of the ancient Greeks and that of the modern American/Western culture. The ancient Greeks were a culture of Binah, for they were great philosophers and scientists, well developed in the maths and sciences, yet mostly in a theoretical way for they had few technological advancements relative to their theoretical achievements. While the American culture is one of Tvunah, for the greatness of modern technology is specifically the ability to find applications for the sciences, how they can be used to improve our lives. For a particular example, the ancient Greeks discovered steam power and even invented a working turbine, basically a steam jet engine! Yet, they viewed this as only a kind of toy, an interesting natural phenomenon and a wonder of sophistication, but no more than that. They (quite literally) never made the connection and never thought of hooking it up to something. It wasn’t until centuries later that the Americans thought that this power could be harnessed and used, and made a steam boat out of it. This ability to find application for ideas and discoveries is a genius in and of itself (i.e. Tvunah) and is the main greatness of the inventors leading the technological advancements of the present age. The ability to say "hey I could make money off this thing" is from the power of Tvunah and it is this power that is the main greatness of Western technology.
However, this that the power of Tvunah, is said to be that which is spreading out from the power of Binah, refers to the fact that it is in its ability to bring the theoretical essence of the understanding into a state of extension lower than itself into everything separate from it. This ability applies equally whether it is bringing a verdict of guilt or innocence, or to become emotionally excited, which is also an application of the theoretical concept to something separate from it to decide "how should I feel about this" or "what does this mean to me," (In the process of emotional excitation there are three main stages Binah, Tvunah and Daas. Imagine a child learning about dinosaurs in school, they describe to him the height of a Tyrannosaurs Rex, the size of its teeth and claws and its colossal strength. This is all only Binah and the child is not going to hyperventilate from fear. Next comes Tvunah, as the child thinks to himself "you know, that things pretty scary and can be dangerous to me." Now he has made an interpretation of the facts that he learnt with Binah and has come to a conclusion of how those facts apply to him, that since that thing is much bigger and stronger than me and is very dangerous - and I like to live - I should be scared of it. Yet, the child does not run out of the classroom in panic, because there is no Daas. As long as the thing is no where around, there is no immediate connection to the decision of Tvunah and so there is no fear. So that the emotions come from Daas, but without the Binah and then Tvunah there will be no emotion either. For example, someone who never learnt about a lion before may not show any more fear towards it than a kitty cat and might want to pet it, because his Daas will connect to it according to his understanding.) and similarly to bring the idea into thought in many different ways, so that the power of Tvunah is also what brings the subconscious understanding of Binah into conscious thought, as will be mentioned later in this chapter and explained later in the book, and so on with any other type of application.
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