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R’ Ashlag’s “Introduction To The Zohar”: Ch. 51

Ch. 51

1.

We now touch on the idea of teshuvah, which while commonly translated as “penitence” is actually better termed “returning” — returning to God after having abandoned Him and gone one’s own merry way without giving a thought of Him. So if dwelling on thoughts of God draws one close to Him as most would say, or if emulating Him as Ashlag would indicate does that, then giving no thought to any of that is a great and terrible error. While conventional Jewish ethics-texts would challenge us to repent if that were true, that’s to say, to amend our ways and rectify our character, Ashlag charges us to intensify our efforts to emulate Him.

He now explains the process, which can be likened to a form of spiritual evolution that entails rising higher and higher up the great chain of being.

            Know that you’re only credited with having drawn closer to God and purified yourself when your efforts are permanent, and when (it’s clear that) you won’t ever lapse. As it’s said, “What is (true) penitence? When He who knows all secrets would testify that (you) won’t ever lapse” (see Maimonides’ Hilchot Teshuvah 2:2).

Philosopher, halachist, and classic ethicist Rabbi Moses Maimonides indicated that true penitence — true spiritual ascent and expiation after having transgressed and lowered one’s stature — comes down to “no longer committing the transgression one once committed, not thinking of committing it anymore, and affixing in his heart the commitment to never do it again” (ibid.), and to doing that so distinctly that even He who knows your heart (i.e., God) would affirm your effort.

Ashlag will now make the point that the source of our transgressing — our stark willingness to only take-in itself — is what calls for teshuvah.

            Hence it follows that what we’d said … that if you purify the mineral-ness of your ratzon l’kabel that you’ll merit a partzuf of the Nephesh of Assiyah, and that you’ll ascend upward and be engarbed in the sephirah of Malchut of Assiyah … means that you’ll certainly be rewarded when you permanently purify your mineral-ness to the degree that you’ll never lapse. And you’ll be able to ascend to the world of Assiyah, since you’ll have realized purity and a complete affinity of form with that world.

That means to say that if you repent for your willingness to only take-in on a mineral, a most basic level, then you’ll have achieved a degree of purity and teshuvah that would enable you to draw closer to God than you could have before indeed. For you will have attained an “affinity of form with that world” at least, and thus begun the process of attaining an essential affinity with God Himself (see 11: 2), which is the greatest act of teshuvah and of drawing close to Him.

2.

            But as to (achieving) the other levels — Ruach, Neshama, Chaya and Yechidah of Assiyah — you’d need to (first) purify their ratzon l’kabel’s corresponding vegetable-ness, animal-ness, and verbal-ness in order for them to be engarbed in and receive those lights. But that purification wouldn’t have to be permanent, (i.e., to the point where) “He who knows all secrets will testify that (you) won’t ever lapse”.

… as you had to do to achieve the above level.

            Because the whole world of Assiyah — along with its Keter, Chochma, Binah, Tipheret, and Malchut (cluster of) sephirot — actually only encompasses the realm of Malchut, which is only germane to the purification of mineral-ness. And its five sephirot are only five subdivisions of Malchut.

            Thus, since you will have already merited purifying the mineral part of the ratzon l’kabel, you’d already (be experiencing an) affinity in form with the entire world of Assiyah.

That is, since “everything that exists on a comprehensive level exists on a particular level as well” (Ch. 50), you’re having achieved an affinity in form to the above degree insinuates that you’ll achieve it to succeeding degrees, too — though not permanently, as we’ll soon see.

3.

            It’s just that since every sephirah from the world of Assiyah receives (illumination) from its corresponding sephirah in the higher worlds.

            Thus when, for example, Tipheret of Assiyah receives (illumination) from the world of Yetzirah, which is all Tipheret and Ruach-Light; when Binah of Assiyah receives (illumination) from the world of Briah, which is all Neshama; or when Chochma of Assiyah receives (illumination) from Atzilut, which is all Chochma and Chaya-Light — even though you’ll have only permanently purified your mineral-ness, still and all if you (eventually) purify the remaining three aspects of your ratzon l’kabel (i.e., their vegetable-, animal-, and verbal-ness), even though you will not permanently purify them, you can still receive the Ruach, Neshama, and Chaya (levels) from Tipheret, Binah, and Chochma of Assiyah, though only temporarily.

But why will you only receive them temporarily?

            Because once one of those three parts of the ratzon l’kabel has been stirred, it’s immediately deprived of these lights.

That’s to say that once your innate inclination to take-in rather than bestow kicks in, be it on a primitive or sophisticated level (for even the more erudite and learned lapse into selfishness to a degree from time to time), you’ll have taken a step backward and wouldn’t have truly repented of your ways as you would have to.

 (c) 2012 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal

R’ Ashlag’s “Introduction To The Zohar”: Ch. 50

            Nonetheless know that the five lights of Nephesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chaya, and Yechidah from the world of Assiyah is only a Nephesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chaya, and Yechidah of Nephesh-Light, and hasn’t anything of Ruach-Light or beyond.

            That’s to say, we’re merely addressing the lowest level of Nephesh-, Ruach-, Neshama-, Chaya-, and Yechidah-lights, no matter how high and exalted they are from our perspective.

            For Ruach-Light …

            …the next highest one…

            … only exists in the world of Yetzirah, while Neshama-Light only exists in the world of Briah, Chaya-Light only exists in the world of Atzilut, and Yechidah-Light only exists in the world of Adam Kadmon.

            Still and all, as we’d indicated before, everything that exists on a comprehensive level exists on a particular level as well, and even in its remotest detail.

Ashlag alluded to a core aspect of this principle (enunciated in the expression, “the beginning is lodged in the end, and the end is lodged in the beginning”, Sefer Yetzirah 1:7) in Ch’s 9 and 15. He spoke directly of the idea above in broad terms in Ch. 42, in terms of all the worlds being “inter-woven”, and said outright in Ch. 43 that “everything found in existence in general can also be found in each and every world, as well as in each and every one of each world’s tiniest fragments”.

His point is that we needn’t be overly concerned for the fact that the five lights spoken of above are an aspect of Nephesh-Light alone, for all the worlds are interwoven; hence what’s true of one is likewise true of them all. It’s nonetheless ironically true as well that…

            All five levels of Nephesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chaya, and Yechidah exist in the world of Assiyah as well, as we explained. It’s just that they’re only a Nephesh-level of (the whole cluster of) Nephesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chaya, and Yechidah (for all practical purposes).

            Along the very same lines there’s also a Ruach-level Nephesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chaya, and Yechidah (cluster) in the world of Yetzirah; a Neshama-level Nephesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chaya, and Yechidah of Neshama in Briah; a Chaya-level Nephesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chaya, and Yechidah of Chaya in Atzilut; and a Yechidah-level Nephesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chaya, and Yechidah in Adam Kadmon. The discrepancies between them is the same as the ones we’d indicated between the Nephesh-, Ruach-, Neshama-, Chaya-, and Yechidah-levels of Assiyah.

(c) 2012 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

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Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal

R’ Ashlag’s “Introduction To The Zohar”: Ch. 49

1.

We’re slowly approaching our end-point now with some final insights into just how we grow from harboring-souls to bestowing ones.

            Then, once you earn this great light which is termed “Neshama-Light”, … ”     

That is, once a “point from the light of holy-Chayah” referred to at the end of the last chapter, “extends outwards” and precipitates the appearance of a “partzuf of Neshama”…

            … (which is) the partzuf in which each of the 613 organs radiates fully and separately like an independent partzuf, …

You then earn a human-like partzuf that has command over each of its elements, unlike a mineral one, which has no command over its elements, ostensibly; a vegetable one, which has only some; and an animal one, which has a decidedly larger amount of command over its elements but hardly as much as this human-like one.

            … then the means to observe each mitzvah with its true intention is provided you. For each organ of the partzuf of Neshama uncovers the path of each mitzvah relevant to that organ.

For once you achieve that state and your self is opened-up as never before, organ by organ, you’d have advanced to the point where you can fulfill mitzvot for their own ends alone rather than for selfish designs.

            And then, thanks to the great power of those lights, you’re able to go on to purify the verbal aspect of your ratzon l’kabel and to transform it into a willingness to bestow. And the point of Chayah-Light which is engarbed in your 248 spiritual organs and 365 spiritual tendons is then able to bolster itself correspondingly.

2.

            Indeed, when the point of Neshama-Light becomes an entire partzuf (unto itself) it ascends upward and is engarbed in the sephirah of Chochma in the world of Assiyah, which is an unfathomably subtle vessel. It then extends a great and mighty light from the Infinite that’s termed Chaya-Light (referred to above) or the “Neshama of Neshama”.

As was explained in Ch. 41, there are five supernal lights which correspond to the five levels of the soul that are termed Nephesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chaya, and Yechidah. Ashlag has expanded upon Nephesh, Ruach, and Neshama so far. The “Neshama of Neshama” cited here corresponds to the Chaya which is the arcane root or “soul” of the more empirical, lower soul levels of Nephesh, Ruach, and Neshama. (We won’t be referring to the Chaya’s own “soul”, however, because as we also learned there, it’s utterly beyond our ken.)

            Then all the details of Assiyah — all its mineral-ness, vegetable-ness, and animal-ness  that correspond to the sephirah of Chochma — help it take in the Chochma -light in full, along the lines we explained in regard to Nephesh-Light

            See Ch’s 46-47.

            It’s then also termed “Holy Verbal-ness” because it corresponds to the pure level of human verbal-ness.

3.

            The stature of that light vis-a-vis its Godliness is equal to that of (the level of) verbal-ness in physical mineral-ness, vegetable-ness, animal-ness , and verbal-ness. That means to say that it develops an awareness of others.

The ability to not only move about at random and at will but to likewise move out of one’s own being, so to speak, and to thus be able empathize with others is what enables us to sense others’ needs, and to bestow rather than just take-in.

            As such, this light’s level of spiritual mineral-ness, vegetable-ness, and animal-ness is on par with the material verbal-ness of material mineral-ness, vegetable-ness, and animal-ness.

            The level of light of the Infinite engarbed in this partzuf is termed “Yechidah-Light”.

Let’s now review how we’ve progressed from Nephesh-Light to Yechidah-Light.

We learned in Ch. 41 that, “the light of Yechidah shines in Adam Kadmon” which is the highest realm, “the light of Chaya shines in Atzilut, the light of Neshama shines in Briah, the light of Ruach shines in Yetzirah, and the light of Nephesh shines in Assiyah”, in descending order. Our task was to reverse that process and to ascend upward from Nephesh-Light.

Nephesh-light corresponds to the pure mineral-ness of the ratzon l’kabel” (Ch. 45). We’re born with it. When “we struggle to observe Torah and Mitzvot with proper intentions” we manage to acquire a degree of Ruach-Light and to go on to develop the Neshama-Light that’s engarbed in it by “engaging in the secrets of the Torah and in the reasons behind the mitzvot” (Ch. 48).

Then as we saw in section 2 above “when the point of Neshama-Light becomes an entire partzuf it then ascends upward” and “extends a great and mighty light from the Infinite that’s termed Chayah-Light”, which then leads to our developing a Yechidah-Light.

(c) 2012 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal

R’ Ashlag’s “Introduction To The Zohar”: Ch. 48

1.

            By then engaging in the secrets of the Torah and in the reasons behind the mitzvot…

Which is to say, by then delving into the heart and soul of the Torah and its mitzvah-system by reflecting upon Kabbalistic texts that reveal such things,…

            … you purify the animate part of your ratzon l’kabel accordingly.

For the deeper you delve into the secrets of the Torah and in the reasons behind the mitzvot, the surer will be your realization of the fact that we’re all driven by a lethal and all-consuming willingness to take-in rather than to bestow, and the deeper will be your commitment to undo it.

            You (then) build-up the point of your Neshama that is engarbed in its 248 organs and 365 tendons. When its structure is completed and it becomes a (full) partzuf, it ascends upwards and engarbs the sephirah of Binah in the world of Assiyah, whose vessel is incomparably finer than the preceding ones, Tipheret and Malchut. And you then spread a great light from the Infinite into it which is termed “Neshama-Light”.

Refer to 44:2 which speaks of the stages you reach “when you fulfill all 613 mitzvot on a tangible level”; and to 44:3 which addresses the idea of your spiritual accomplishments corresponding to the “extent that (your) soul has (been) trained” in and granted insights.

2.

The Kabbalistic terminology is beginning to get rather turgid at this point, so let’s review the basic concepts behind what’s being said.

As Ashlag said, “reality is comprised of five (supernal) worlds”: Adam Kadmon, Atzilut, Briah, Yetzirah, and Assiyah (Ch. 41). The five of them in turn correspond to the five cluster sephirot, so that Adam Kadmon corresponds to Keter, Atzilut corresponds to Chochma, Briah corresponds to Binah, Yetzirah corresponds to Tipheret, and Assiyah corresponds to Malchut. Those five pairs further correspond to the five levels of the soul — Yechidah, Chaya, Neshama, Ruach, and Nephesh — all which in turn correspond to the 4 letters of God’s name along with the tip of the first letter, yud.

Recall that we’ve been discussing ascending upward in our beings from the bottom up, i.e., from mineral-ness, vegetable-ness, animal-ness, to verbal- or human-ess (Ch. 34).

To now we’ve addressed ascending up from the NepheshAssiyah-mineralness level to the RuachYetzirah-vegetableness one. We’re now touching upon the next higher level.

Ashlag’s point here once again is that once we engage “in the secrets of the Torah and in the reasons behind the mitzvot” (see above) we begin to “purify the animate part of (our) ratzon l’kabel” and we go on from there to “build-up the point of (our) Neshama” which then “ascends upwards and engarbs the sephirah of Binah in the spiritual world of Asiyah” and to acquire “Neshama-Light”. That brings us up to date.

At that point…

            All the details of mineral-ness, vegetable-ness, and animal-ness in the world of Assiyah associated with the Binah-complex then come to help our human-ness Neshama partzuf fully take in light from the sephirah of Binah, which is (then) also termed “holy animal-ness” because it corresponds to the purest aspect of the animal part of the human body. In fact, that is that’s light’s nature, as we explained in connection with corporeal animal-ness.

            See 37:2.

            (For,) it’s what grants the characteristic sensation that makes up each of the 613 organs of the partzuf, and (enables) each one to sense its own aliveness as well as its freedom and independence from the partzuf as a whole.

            (That process of ascent continues to the point where each of) the 613 organs are deemed 613 (full) partzufim, each with its own cast of light. In fact, the status of this light in comparison to Ruach-light is nearly equal to the difference between animal-ness and that of mineral and vegetable-ness in the physical world.

            A point from the light of holyChayah, which is the light of the sephirah of Chochma, extends outwards when the partzuf of Nesham, which is engarbed in it appears.

(c) 2012 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal

R’ Ashlag’s “Introduction To The Zohar”: Ch. 47

1.

            As we’d already observed, the partzuf of Nephesh (i.e., the lowest partzuf of the five) that we achieve by observing Torah and Mitzvot without (any specific, lofty) intentions already has a point of Ruach-Light engarbed in it.     

See 44:1.

            Thus, when we struggle to observe Torah and Mitzvot with proper intentions, we purify the vegetable aspect of the ratzon l’kabel there, and build up the point of Ruach into a (full) partzuf accordingly.

That is, when we elevate our intentions and serve God in love and awe, we correspondingly elevate our beings, step by step and measure for measure, and also begin to purge our ratzon l’kabel. What follows are the inner esoteric details.

2.

            When we fulfill the 248 imperative mitzvot with (the proper) intentions, the point (of the heart) expands outward to our 248 spiritual-organs; and when we avoid committing the 365 prohibitions the point expands outward to our 365 tendons.

            And when all 613 of our spiritual-organs are perfected,…

… by our fulfilling all 248 imperative mitzvot and avoiding all 365 prohibitions en toto

            … the point then ascends and becomes engarbed in the sephirah of Tipheret in the world of Assiyah. The Infinite then issues it a more eminent light, which is termed Ruach-Light, in accordance with the degree you’d purified the vegetative aspect of your body.

That is, our beings continue to ascend higher and higher to the point where…

            All the details of mineral-ness, vegetable-ness, and animal-ness in the world of Assiyah (in your being) which are relevant to the Tipheret-complex, then help your Ruach partzuf (which is higher than the Nephesh partzuf we’d been discussing) take in light from Tipheret in its entirety in ways we explained before in terms of the Nephesh-Light. And it’s then termed holy– vegetable-ness.

            The light (of holy-vegetable-ness is indeed higher than mineral-ness, as can be determined by the fact that it) corresponds to material vegetable-ness, in that one can differentiate actual movements in each detail, and the spiritual light of vegetable-ness then becomes powerful enough to emit light to each of the 613 organs in the partzuf of Ruach, which then exhibit the functions of that (spiritual) organ.

            And then, along with the appearance of the partzuf of Ruach, comes a point of the next highest level, which is to say, of Neshama-Light which becomes engarbed in it.

(c) 2012 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

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Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal

R’ Ashlag’s “Introduction To The Zohar”: Ch. 46

1.

            But understand that while (all) the sephirot — from the top-most point of Keter in the world of Adam Kadmon to the bottom-most point of Malchut in the world of Assiyah — are Godly, changeless and undifferentiated, there’s still and all a great difference (between them) as far as those (of us) who receive are concerned.

That’s to say that from a God’s eye-view, the sephirot are all part of the one great, smooth, clear bouillon of His own making and Being without distinction and particularity. But from our perspective — from the other side of the picture, touching on the effect that each sephira has upon us and absolutely everything in the material universe — there’s a “world” of difference.

We could perhaps liken the difference between the two perspectives to the one between how parents see themselves when they make a decision about the household — as a unit, as opposed to how their children see them — as mother versus father.

            For the sephirot are grouped into (two aspects, which are) lights and vessels. While their light (aspect) is pure Godliness, their vessel (aspect) which is termed K.C.B.T.M. (i.e., Keter, Chochma, Binah, Tipheret, and Malchut) in each of the lower worlds of Briah, Yetzirah and Assiyah, are not Godly. They are (merely) cloaks that conceal the light of the Infinite within them and bestow the receivers with the amount of light each is to receive according to its degree of purity.

Though thoroughly Godly on their own, as we just learned, nonetheless the sephirot are comprised of two aspects when they touch upon creation: an inner, essential aspect of light; and an outer, external aspect of vessel. What that comes to is this.

If the everything-bound-to-everything-else that is the primeval bouillon of God’s light were to emanate as-is toward us, we’d drown outright. We could withstand it and could even flourish thanks to it if it came upon us bit by bit, though. The phenomenon of it all becoming bit by bit is nonetheless unnatural to the primeval bouillon, as it calls for everything-bound-to-everything-else to unbind, but it’s a necessary event nonetheless. In order for each element to be set off from the next, though, it has to be encased and set off by a self-container or “vessel”. Thus, everything in our experience is comprised by an essential light and a necessary (albeit nonessential) vessel or encasement.

Ashlag is underscoring the point that while the sephirot’s light aspect is pure Godliness, their vessel aspect actually conceal the light within them, while still-and-all bestowing us receivers with the light due us, according to our purity (or, preparedness). He also makes the point of saying that all that only occurs in the lower worlds of Briah, Yetzirah and Assiyah, but not in Atzilut because everything in Atzilut is undifferentiated Godliness. But since that’s out of our present experience, it’s not to be considered.

2.

            As such, even though the light itself is one (i.e., undifferentiated), we nonetheless refer to the lights in the sephirot as N.R.N.C.Y. (Nephesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chaya, and Yechidah)…

That is, we break them down into their component parts, which can then be broken down into even more and more attenuate parts. And we do that…

            … because the light is differentiated according to the attributes of the vessels.

That’s to say that we differentiate the lights into parts because the recipients of those lights each have their own needs. And we break them down by degrees, as we’ll now see in ascending order.

            Malchut, which is the thickest cloak, conceals (nearly all) the light of the Infinite. The amount of light that issues from the Infinite (though Malchut) to the receivers is very small in relation to the purity of the mineral-ness of man’s body. Its light is (thus only) termed nephesh-light.

            The vessel of Tipheret is finer than that of Malchut, so the light that the Infinite issues (through it) is connected to the purity of the vegetable aspect of man’s body, because it’s more active than the nephesh-Light. Its light is termed Ruach-Light.

            The vessel of Binah is finer yet than Tipheret’s, so the light that the Infinite issues (through it) is connected to the purity of the animal part of man’s body, and its light is termed Neshama-Light.

            And the vessel of Chochma is the finest of them all, so the light that the Infinite issues (through it) is connected to the purity of the verbal part of man’s body, and its light is termed Chaya-Light, and its actions are immeasurable (which is all the more so true of Yechidah).

The point is that the thinner and finer the cloak, the more light of the Infinite can shine through and the higher it passes in the human makeup, from mineral-ness all the way through to humanness. In ascending order that differentiated light is termed first Nephesh-light, then Ruach-Light, Neshama-Light, and Chaya-Light. “Yechidah-Light” isn’t discussed because Yechidah is the point at which the light is joined to (“yachad” with) the Yechidah Godliness itself, so there’s absolutely no differentiation there whatsoever.

(c) 2012 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

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Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal

R’ Ashlag’s “Introduction To The Zohar”: Ch. 45

1.

            This nephesh-light is termed the holy light of mineral-ness of the world of Assiyah, since it corresponds to the pure mineral-ness of the ratzon l’kabel in the human body.

We’d just learned that it’s the point in your heart that’s the mineral aspect of your soul (44:2). Ashlag is now terming that point “the holy light of the mineral-ness of the world of Assiyah” to indicate that despite it’s essential mineral-ness and its corresponding to the pure mineral-ness of your ratzon l’kabel it’s nevertheless holy since it’s an aspect of the world of Assiyah (which, while the lowest world, is still and all an aspect of pure Godliness).

Also see 46:2.

            Its light shines (i.e., functions) on a spiritual level much the way mineral-ness does in the physical world, whose details don’t move about on their own but rather in general and in ways that encompass all of its details equally.

That is, just as inanimate objects are … inanimate … and only move on a molecular level and perhaps from place to place as a whole, and then only when provoked by external forces, the light of the mineral-ness of the world of Assiyah likewise only functions to those minimal degrees.

2.

            The same is true of the light of the partzuf of the nephesh of Assiyah. For even though it has 613 spiritual-organs that are (actually) 613 essentially different forms of accepting the (Divine) bounty, nonetheless those differences aren’t apparent, and (the only thing governing it) is an all encompassing light whose function affects them all equally without a clear distinction of details.

We’d already learned that all 613 spiritual-organs of the point in your heart form a partzuf, which we depicted as an integrated organism (see 44:2). What’s being underscored here is the fact that those spiritual-organs serve as “613 essentially different forms of accepting the (Divine) bounty”. That means to say that like our bodily organs, each one of these spiritual-organs has likewise been created by God and nourished and maintained by His bounty, and is each one is to serve distinct needs and to function in unique ways. It’s just that their mineral-ness dictates that the lot of them functions as a whole  rather than as the separate units they are.

(c) 2012 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal

R’ Ashlag’s “Introduction To The Zohar”: Ch. 44

1.

            Now, this “point in the heart” doesn’t become manifest before age 13, only afterwards, (and only) when you begin to engage in Torah (study) and (the observance of) mitzvot.

That is, though we’re each born with this most basic albeit hindmost part of a soul, it still and all only hovers in the background until we become 13 and grow to be responsible for mitzvah-observance. And it only truly comes into its own and becomes manifest when we do in fact engage in mitzvah-observance and Torah study. We’re taught however that all of us are mitzvah-observant to some degree or another (see Berachot 57A), so this last point shouldn’t be seen as discouraging those of us who don’t observe the mitzvah-system outright so much as reassurance that we each play a role in it all.

            It does though begin to develop and to display itself outright even if you do so (i.e., engage in mitzvah-observance) without (lofty) intentions, which is to say, without the sort of love and fear (of God) that’s only warranted of one who serves a king; and even (if you engage in them) less than altruistically.

We’re said to serve God outright and to be near-at-hand to Him when we engage in His mitzvot and study His Torah. The realization of that should strike us deeply with either a sense of reverence or of love (or both), and should encourage us to do our best at it and to fulfill it in as high-minded a manner as we can. The point in our heart still and all manifests itself even if we engage in mitzvot in rather humdrum, even self-serving ways.

            For (in point of fact, we’re taught that) mitzvot needn’t be fulfilled with any intentions, for even random (mitzvah-related) acts are qualified to purify your ratzon l’kabel — but only to the lowest degree, i.e., (on the) mineral (level).

That’s to say that if we do though engage in mitzvot perfunctorily or with an agenda of our own (either for reward, or for recognition and the like), our ratzon l’kabel will be purified indeed, but only to a minimum, mineral-level degree.

2.

            Now, the extent to which you purify the mineral part of your ratzon l’kabel is the very extent to which you build-up the 613 parts of the point in your heart, which is the mineral (aspect) of your nephesh.

We begin to purify the mineral, lowest, most demanding aspect of ourselves that only wants to take-in by first honestly taking note of it in our being, and by engaging in mitzvot, whose aim is to foster bestowance. (We’ll explain the 613 parts of our soul shortly.)

            And when you fulfill all 613 mitzvot on a tangible level…

Since that can only actually be carried out by the entire Jewish Nation in the course of history in fact — seeing as some mitzvot can only be fulfilled by Cohanim or Leviim, for example, others can only be fulfilled while the Holy Temple is operational, etc., — Ashlag’s implying that once you play your part in the fulfillment of all 613 mitzvot, then…

            … you (begin to) perfect the 613 organs of the point in your heart, which is the mineral (aspect) of your nephesh.

            Since its 248 spiritual-organs are bolstered by fulfilling the 248 imperatives, and its 365 spiritual-tendons are bolstered by avoiding the 365 prohibitions, and it becomes a complete partzuf of a holy nephesh. Then the soul ascends upward and engarbs the sephirah of Malchut in the spiritual world of Asiyah.

There are 613 mitzvot in all (and 613 parts of our soul, as we indicated): 248 “imperatives” — things we’re obliged to do, like be honest for example, observe the Shabbat, etc.; and 365 “prohibitions” — things we’re obliged to avoid doing, like eating un-kosher foods, stealing, etc.

When we do our part as members of the Jewish Nation to fulfill all 248 imperatives we bolster the 248 “spiritual-organs” of our mineral soul; and when we do what we can to avoid the 365 prohibitions we bolster the 365 “spiritual-tendons” of our mineral soul, and thus bolster all 613 of its parts (see 45:2 for another insight into these 613 spiritual-organs).

We then cultivate a complete spiritual system known as a “partzuf” (literally, “face”, but perhaps best conceived of as an entire and integrated organism with a face or “presence” of its own). While it’s indeed a partsuf and thus significant, it’s nonetheless a partsuf of the lowest order in that it’s attached to the lowest level of the soul, lowest grade of being (mineral), lowest sephirah (Malchut), and the lowest spiritual world (Asiyah), since it’s rooted in our only beginning to purify the lowest aspect of our ratzon l’kabel.

3.

            All the various spiritual aspects of mineral-ness, vegetable-ness, and animal-ness found in that world, which correspond to the sephirah of Malchut of Asiyah, serve and aid the partsuf of the human-level nephesh there.

Up to this point, your having done your part to fulfill mitzvot with the full thrust of your mineral-ness, vegetable-ness, and animal-ness will have solidified your soul and enabled it to attain a portion of the human level of Asiyah (the lowest world). Your portion in it is dependent on something, though. For…

            That’s only to the extent that the soul had trained them (i.e., the aspects of mineral-ness, vegetable-ness, and animal-ness in your being). For all insights (you’d have given them) nourish (the soul) spiritually and give it the wherewithal to grow and mature enough to draw down the light of the sephirah of Malchut of Asiyah well enough to enlighten your body. And that full light then helps you in your Torah and mitzvot efforts and enables you to reach (even) higher levels.

That’s to say that your soul-advancement all depends on how much you’d wizened and enlightened your inner mineral-ness, vegetable-ness, and animal-ness as to what matters in this world and what doesn’t.

For if you’d struggled to concentrate on your relationship to God, and thus used your innate mineral-ness, vegetable-ness, and animal-ness to serve that end, then your observance and your very being will grow to greater and greater heights.

            Now, as we indicated, a point of the light of nephesh comes upon and is engarbed in you as soon as you’re born. The same is true in this instance as well, for as soon as a holy partzuf of nephesh comes upon you, a point from a higher level is produced along with it, which is to say that the last degree of the light of a Ruach of Asiyah

… which is a level up from the nephesh of Asiyah

            … then engarbs itself in the inner recesses of the partzuf of nephesh.

And you ascend accordingly.

            And so it is with each level. Each one that comes about is automatically accompanied by the lowest degree of the next higher one, since that’s (the import of) the connection between the higher and lower (worlds), all the way through to the highest levels. That’s how this point itself is able to rise to the next level thanks to (the input of) the one above it.

The gist of the matter is that all worlds are inter-linked; you need only take hold of one from the bottom and you’re then able to climb higher and higher, as this instance illustrates.

(c) 2012 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal

R’ Ashlag’s “Introduction To The Zohar”: Ch. 43

It’s important to review some things at this point in order to recoup our perspective.

Recall that this whole section is in response to Ashlag’s sixth inquiry as to how it could be that all the upper worlds as well as this corporeal one were created exclusively for the sake of humankind — who by all appearances is, “so insignificant, and hasn’t a hair’s-breadth of worth in comparison to all we see before us in this world — to say nothing of the upper worlds” as he put it in Ch. 33. Thus, “why would man need (for there to be) such august and hallowed worlds?” as he asked there. But as he said at the end of that chapter, it would be proven to be “worth God’s while to have created all the worlds, higher and lower alike, for the sake of the satisfaction and delight He’ll derive” from those of us who reach our full potential.

Ashlag then went on to explain that “since God wanted to prepare His created beings for the aforementioned exalted levels, He wished there to be four grades (of them) to unfold out of each other” (Ch. 34), so that we might ease into revelation. The four grades are “known as the ‘mineral’, ‘vegetable’, ‘animal’, and ‘verbal’ (beings)”. And as he then said, which we’ll begin to see later on in this chapter, “those beings correspond to the four degrees of the ratzon l’kabel which the upper worlds are differentiated by.

As we then summed up in Ch. 39, it all has to do with the following: (1) with the fact that the only reason God created the world in the first place was to grant pleasure to His creations; (2) with the idea that the mechanism He created for us to enjoy that great pleasure is our ratzon l’kabel; (3) with the fact that while “some entities … can’t sense God’s presence or great largesse at all … ; others only sense it to a limited extent … ; and others (yet) … sense it fairly much … “; and it touches upon the idea that (4) in the end, it’s we humans alone who can fully sense God’s presence and benevolence.

What will prove to qualify us to sense God’s presence and benevolence will be our adherence to the mitzvah-system, which is unsurpassed in its capacity to refine our ratzon l’kabel and to help us develop the sort of full-spectrum soul that will enable us to gain an essential affinity with God which is the greatest pleasure of all, and to thus satisfy God’s full intention for creation.

Ashlag will now go on to discuss our souls and their component parts; to examine how they relate to the mineral, vegetable, animal, and verbal realms; to indicate how all that ties-in with the sephirot and the various supernal worlds; and to explain what all that has to do with the mitzvah-system after all.

The discussion itself will get rather complex and convoluted at times, but we’ll do what we can to resolve it and enunciate its overarching points.

1.

            We each receive a holy soul (nephesh) as soon as we’re born. But it’s not a nephesh per se that we receive so much as the hindmost part of one, which is the soul’s last rung, and it’s termed a “point” because it’s (so relatively) small. 

While holy, the soul we’re each born with isn’t a whole and utterly pure one so much as the augur of one in the form of its posterior, faintest tiny sheen.

            And it’s engarbed in our heart, which is to say, in our ratzon l’kabel, which manifests itself in our heart for the most part.

We’d been told earlier on about this hindmost part of our soul that’s termed our “point in the heart” and is engarbed in our ratzon l’kabel. And we learned that it’s only operative from age 13 onward, when we’re liable for mitzvah observance (see 30:1 and our remarks there). So we now start to see the connection between the elements enunciated to the mitzvah-system.

2.

            Now, note this principle: Everything found in existence in general can also be found in each and every world, as well as in each and every one of each world’s tiniest fragments.

Like a colossal clan-family and regardless of whether its members are in close proximity or not, everything is in everything else by degrees; a small or large part of this is found in that, and some of that is in this. As such, each world contains facets and parts of each other one, and each facet and part contains the lot of them to degrees.

            As such, just as there are five worlds overall which are the five aforementioned (cluster) sephirot of Keter, Chochma, Binah, Tipheret, and Malchut, there are likewise five (cluster) sephirot of Keter, Chochma, Binah, Tipheret, and Malchut in each and every world, as well as five (cluster) sephirot in the smallest fragment of each world (ad infinitum).

3.

            Recall that as we indicated, this world incorporates the four elements of mineral, vegetable, animal, and verbal which correspond to the four (cluster) sephirot of Keter, Chochma, Binah, Tipheret, and Malchut. (Know that) mineral corresponds to Malchut, vegetable corresponds to Tipheret, animal corresponds to Binah, verbal corresponds to Chochma, and their all-inclusive root corresponds to Keter.

Minerals, the entities that can’t sense God’s presence or great largesse at all, correspond to Malchut, the least Godly of worlds; and in ascending order, vegetable corresponds to Tipheret, animal corresponds to Binah, and verbal (or, human) corresponds to Chochma.

Their all-inclusive, unfathomable root, which transcends all adroitness including the very-human abilities to verbalize as well as think, make choices, and even to worship, corresponds to unfathomable, impenetrable Keter.

            Now as we indicated, (given that everything is in everything else by degrees, it follows that) even the smallest fragment of each grade of mineral, vegetable, animal, and verbal contains four (sub-) grades of mineral-ness, vegetable-ness, animal-ness, and verbal-ness in its being.

            Even a single component of the verbal grade, which is to say, even a single person, likewise contains mineral-ness, vegetable-ness, animal-ness, and verbal-ness, which are the four grades of his ratzon l’kabel and is where the “point” of his nephesh is engarbed.

The statement that “mineral-ness, vegetable-ness, animal-ness, and verbal-ness … are the four grades of (man’s) ratzon l’kabel” alludes to things said in earlier chapters. We learned that the mineral stage’s ratzon l’kabel only holds sway over the entity itself and not over its details (Ch. 35); the vegetable stage’s ratzon l’kabel prevails over each and every one of its details, but the details don’t exhibit a sense of self-will (Ch. 36); the animal stage’s ratzon l’kabel is very potent, and each and every one of its details has a sense of self-will (Ch. 37); and the human (i.e., “verbal”) stage’s ratzon l’kabel is fully active and aware of others (Ch. 38).

Thus the larger point is that each one of us has four degrees of a ratzon l’kabel, from an inert and self-contained one to a dynamic, far-reaching one.

(c) 2011 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal

R’ Ashlag’s “Introduction To The Zohar”: Ch. 42

1.

            We’ve now explained the five worlds (of Adam Kadmon, Atzilut, Briah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah) that incorporate all of existence from the Infinite Himself to this world. We saw that they’re all interconnected and that each world contains five worlds — the five (cluster Sephirot of) Keter, Chochma, Binah, Tipheret, and Malchut, in which are engarbed in the five (supernal) lights of Nephesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chaya, and Yechidah, which correspond to those five worlds.

As we’ll see below, when something is said to “engarb” something else that means to say that the thing that’s overlaid serves and derives from the more exalted thing hovering over it. Thus we now learn that the Nephesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chaya, and Yechidah all derive from and serve Adam Kadmon, Atzilut, Briah, Yetzirah, and Assiyah. We’ll soon see the significance of this.

2.

            Now, aside from the five (cluster) Sephirot of Keter, Chochma, Binah, Tipheret, and Malchut found in each and every world, the four spiritual grades of mineral, vegetable, animal, and verbal are found in each as well.

Like many of the ancients who were also concerned with the makeup of the spiritual realm and at a loss as to how to depict it, the Kabbalists likewise used commonplace material phenomena to explain the workings of the heavens. And so they came to use the mineral world as symbolic of inert, apparently lifeless and less evolved phenomena; the vegetable world as representative of more dynamic and evolved ones; the animal world as a step above all that; and humankind (known as the “verbals”, since our ability to enunciate and think is what is most outstanding about us) as the most perfected of all. And as we’ll soon see, they spoke of “clothing” to depict things that come into contact with a phenomenon that still-and-all don’t participate in their being; of “hallways” as emblematic of things that also surround a phenomenon, yet don’t approach it directly; and of palaces (not used in our text) as representative of far more distant surroundings that while vital nonetheless don’t come into direct contact with the phenomenon under discussion whatsoever.

In any event, the point here is that we’ve come to see just how conjoined our souls, the Sephirot and the supernal worlds are with each other (along with the letters of God’s Name). We’re about to start to explore how they all combine with the mitzvah-system by connecting that all with the four grades of being.

            For, the human soul corresponds to the verbal grade here, the animal grade corresponds to angels in this world, the vegetable grade corresponds to the world’s “clothing”, and the mineral grade corresponds to its “hallways”, and they’re all interwoven.

Parenthetically, one of the reasons why the animal grade is said to correspond to angels in this world, curiously enough, is because there’s a rather exalted class of angels that are termed “Chayot” which are usually translated as “Living Entities” (from “chaya”) but which could also indeed be translated as and thus taken to be “animals”, since they’re tantamount to brute creatures in relation to God’s Holy Presence which they serve (notwithstanding their exalted place in our own eyes).

The point is that we’re each part human, animal, and angel, and overlaid by fibrous pieces of “clothing” (i.e., bodies, personalities, etc.), and surrounded by all manner of inanimate extraneous hallway-like things (i.e., surroundings, belongings, etc.). And the lot of it is interconnected and interdependent.

Nonetheless …

            The verbal stage which corresponds to human souls is engarbed in the five Sephirot of Keter, Chochma, Binah, Tipheret, and Malchut here, which are this world’s Godliness. The animal stage, which is the world’s angels, engarbs human souls; the vegetative stage, which are its “clothes”, engarbs the angels; and the mineral stage, which are its “halls”, encircles them all. (Now, what) “engarbed” connotes is that the overlaid entity serves the thing hovering over it, and derives from it.

That’s to say that our spiritual-physical-situational self is viscerally intertwined with the Sephirot and higher worlds, and with Godliness itself. And while there’s a hierarchical relationship between them as we’ll soon see, at bottom, each member of our being supports the whole.

3.

            But as we explained in regard to this world’s actual physical minerals, vegetables, animals, and verbals, the (first) three grades — mineral, vegetable, and animal — didn’t emerge for their own sake, but only so that the fourth grade, humankind, could derive and advance thanks to them. Hence, their whole raison d’être is to serve man and help him advance.

See Ch. 39.

            The same is true of all the spiritual worlds. Their mineral, vegetable, animal, and verbal beings likewise only emerged in order to serve them and help the verbals in that world, which (corresponds to) the soul of man, advance. That means to say that they all aid — (serve and) help advance — man’s soul.  

(c) 2011 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal