Monthly Archives: January 2012

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 Nephesh–Assiyah-mineralness level to the Ruach–Yetzirah-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 holy–Chayah, 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

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”

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.

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”

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.

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”

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”

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”