Concepts in Chassidus - Part 3

00:00 Speaker 1 Ah, let’s get a little into seder hishtalshelus, the order of the spiritual worlds. Until now we’ve spoken about general matters before the tzimtzum—before the tzimtzum. Now we’ll begin to go a little deeper into the matters within seder hishtalshelus. We’ve already discussed that there are circles and there is the straight line, right? We read about that last time. In other words, seder hishtalshelus as a whole is divided into two types: circles and encompassing levels, called keser—and there are larger circles and smaller circles—and the straight line, which represents things that enter into the actual progression of the worlds, through all the levels. That’s what it says. Now, when we begin speaking about what’s within seder hishtalshelus, we’ll talk about—hmm? The empty space. Within that whole empty space, the structure of all the worlds comes into being. As for the order of all the worlds, we generally know from Chassidus that the first creation—the first thing that came into being after the tzimtzum—what is that level called? Well? What is the first level after the tzimtzum? Yes. It’s called Adam Kadmon. Adam Kadmon. That’s the first stage, let’s say, after the tzimtzum. We said there’s a line, right? There’s the circle and there’s the straight line. So immediately after the tzimtzum, along with it in tikkun. After that the progression of the line began—and after that—so there’s the continuation of the line, and right away the first stage. What is the first stage after the tzimtzum? It’s this level called Adam Kadmon. So today we’ll talk a little about this area: what Adam Kadmon is, what its nature is, what its role is, what it does there, and so on—what needs to be explained about Adam Kadmon. The general definition of Adam Kadmon, to put it simply, is the general thought and desire for the entire seder hishtalshelus after the tzimtzum. In other words, immediately after the tzimtzum—which, as we said, left an empty space—there was that

03:03 Speaker 1 space for everything. After the tzimtzum took place, what was the first stage? What was the first move after the tzimtzum? Hakadosh Boruch Hu made the plan, the—the blueprint, so to speak. What do I want now in the worlds? The general thought. That’s why this level, Adam Kadmon, is often called by various names in Chassidus. Machshavah Hakadmonis, the primordial thought. You’ve seen that name many times, haven’t you? Machshavah Hakadmonis is another name. Yes. Or sometimes it’s called Ratzon Hakadmoni, the primordial desire—that’s another name for it. Tehiru Ila’ah, sometimes. Sometimes, because Tehiru Ila’ah can refer to a different level, but sometimes it refers to this one. Ah, [unclear]. Well, we won’t go through all the names. Let’s explain the idea. Yes? What is it? These all refer to one level, right? They’re just different names for this level. Here’s the idea: after Hakadosh Boruch Hu, so to speak, withdrew and contracted His boundless light, an empty space came into being. There was now a state of limitation, concealment and obscurity—a reality of limitation—and the entire seder hishtalshelus had to enter that limited space. So after the tzimtzum, Hakadosh Boruch Hu thought, so to speak: What do I want to build here in this space? To understand this through an analogy, think of a person who develops a desire for a house. Yes? First there’s the general desire, when the desire for a house arises. That general desire encompasses everything. A person gathers up all his desires and settles on one point: I want a house. At that stage, “I want a house” is a general idea. A house, after all, includes many details. A house

05:27 Speaker 1 has rooms, walls, windows and doors; it has tables and chairs, rugs, plants, flowers and pictures. A house includes many things. The initial desire, the general desire, includes all the details he’ll want later. But because it’s a general desire, when a person starts making a plan—what do I want?—the first stage is: I want a house. No particular detail is felt there. All that’s felt is the general decision: I want a house. Of course, that house must have details. A house is made up of many details. But at the first stage, the details aren’t felt; what’s felt is the general point that all these details will fulfill: I want a house. Then comes a second stage: What exactly do I want? Let’s take the example of a person. First, he wants a house. Then he begins to think in detail about what he wants, and he starts specifying it. He wants this and that, and there’s an order to it: first the big things, the most important things, then the less important things. And so there’s a whole sequence of particular desires, each one concerning its own thing: wanting the walls, wanting the windows, wanting the doors, wanting one room a certain way and another room a different way. Yes. Now, in the general desire for a house, on the one hand, all that’s felt is one general point: a house. I want a house—a house that will fulfill my desire. Yes. On the other hand, all the details are certainly present there as a matter of course. In other words, if a person builds the house, and after some time—he builds the house with all

07:29 Speaker 1 its parts, but one part isn’t built the way he wanted. One part isn’t built the way he wanted. Some window isn’t made in the form he wanted it to have, so he won’t feel satisfied. Not only will he be dissatisfied with that detail; his general desire won’t have been fulfilled either. In other words, my desire hasn’t been fulfilled. You might say: But the basic desire was to build a house. Why should it matter if one detail is missing? Because in truth, all the details together matter to that basic desire. Leave out one point, and something is missing; it’s as though the whole house is not... as though the desire hasn’t been fulfilled. Yes. So on the one hand, it’s all one big point: a house. On the other hand, what’s contained in that house? All the details, down to the smallest detail. When you bring it down into the intellect—let’s say this desire reaches the intellect, as we said, it comes down into the inner faculties—then you can say: No, this is less important and that is more important. If one detail is missing, it doesn’t matter so much, because intellectually you can say that the main thing is that the overall result is fine. Why should a missing detail bother you? But with the general desire, “general desire” means: this is what the house must be like. If it isn’t like that, even if the tiniest detail is missing, then the house isn’t the house I wanted. The house that will fulfill the general desire for a house must have every detail, down to the smallest detail, and in this respect they’re all equal. In the general desire, you can’t say windows are less important, a door is more important, a wall is more important, the living room is more important than the kitchen. There’s no such distinction. Intellectually, you can make distinctions. In the general desire, there’s no difference between one detail and another. They’re all equal. So we come to matters of

09:20 Speaker 1 That is why it is called Adam Kadmon. Adam Kadmon means that Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself formed the plan, the overall thought of the entire seder hishtalshelus, all as one point. In other words, everything is on an equal footing. It is not that only certain worlds were formed in Adam Kadmon. No. In Adam Kadmon, in that all-encompassing will, the entire seder hishtalshelus is present: from the head through every level down to the toenails, from the very highest point of the highest sefiros to the very lowest point of Asiyah. As it says about the tip of a yud—even the most... I have it written down. But it is explained in the Siddur in several places that even a small thing that happens in this world—a worm, a fruit, a leaf falling from a tree, and so on—all of it is already present in the primordial thought of Adam Kadmon. In other words, the primordial thought of Adam Kadmon includes not only the most important aspects of seder hishtalshelus. It includes every detail, down to the smallest detail that occurs in this physical world, in a particular year, at a particular time, in some desert, where a tree falls, or a flower falls, or a bird... Every detail and every detail of those details is included in the primordial thought of Adam Kadmon. This point appears in the prayer we say on Rosh Hashanah: “You remember the deeds of the world,” and so on. And what does it say? “You remember all that was wrought, and no creature is hidden from You”—in Musaf on Rosh Hashanah. We say it there in Musaf. As explained in the Siddur, this passage refers to the primordial thought of Adam Kadmon, which includes the entire seder hishtalshelus and all the heavenly chambers. That is the concept of Adam Kadmon. Yes. So the diagram has one large circle, the first circle. As we said, that is the great circle of Adam Kadmon. That is—

11:32 Speaker 1 And this concept also relates to the lights. That is the large circle before the diagram. The second circle we see here is called the circles of Adam Kadmon. You can look this up in the sources. We call this level the circles of Adam Kadmon. What does that mean? It means the all-encompassing will of Adam Kadmon. After all, we said that a circle represents will. We said last week that a circle is equal on every side, and you can see this in all the different levels of the lights. The circles of Adam Kadmon are the all-encompassing will that includes the entire seder hishtalshelus. And this will is present from the very beginning... Here, everything emerges from it as a matter of will. But just as there are the circles of Adam Kadmon, there is also what is called the straight line of Adam Kadmon. Yes. You can see this in the sources too: there are the circles of Adam Kadmon and the straight line of Adam Kadmon. The maamar says that every level has a circle and a line. The straight line of Adam Kadmon—what is that? Here I want to give a definition. In general, the whole concept of Adam Kadmon was introduced by the Arizal. There are several innovations in Kabbalah. As we said in an earlier class, tzimtzum was an innovation of the Arizal. So was the concept of Adam Kadmon. The concept itself may have another name among other Kabbalists, but Adam Kadmon, with its full explanation—the one who introduced this entire subject was the Arizal. Yes. In general, why is it called Adam Kadmon? What does that name mean? Why is it called Adam, “man”? Why is it called Kadmon, “primordial”? It is not... What is this name? What is its purpose? Why do we need the name Adam Kadmon? And this particular level is the only one called by a name like that. On the one hand, calling it “man” makes it sound somewhat physical, as though it were something—

13:44 Speaker 1 close to a human being. It is given the same name as a human being: Adam. On the other hand, we say it is not a human being; it is Adam Kadmon, as though we are trying to make the term less physical. What are we really trying to convey? What is meant by Adam Kadmon, and why is it specifically called that? Here is the point. There is something unique about a human being that nothing else in seder hishtalshelus has. What is unique about a human being? Who knows? Huh? Think about it. What is unique about a human being, something no other thing in seder hishtalshelus has? Huh?

14:25 Speaker 2 Intellect, garments.

14:26 Speaker 1 Intellect exists in other things too...

14:31 Speaker 2 Intellect.

14:31 Speaker 1 Huh?

14:31 Speaker 2 Intellect.

14:32 Speaker 1 Intellect—that’s an idea. Huh?

14:33 Speaker 2 Intellect.

14:34 Speaker 1 In short, for our purposes, what makes a human being unique is that he includes everything. He is the only created being like this: he includes all qualities, all forms of perfection, all traits, everything—higher and lower, above and below. No other created being in the world, whether in the higher realms or the lower realms, includes everything as a human being does. Take angels, for example. They have certain qualities, but that is what they are; they are not beings of the lower realms. Something below is not something above. Chessed is not the attribute of gevurah, and gevurah is not chessed. Within chessed there is gevurah, and within gevurah there is chessed, yes. But a human being is... “In His image He created man,” as it says in Bereishis, chapter 1, verse 26. “In His image He created man.” The human being is the center of creation, and he was created in His image with this extraordinary quality: he includes all the qualities found throughout seder hishtalshelus. Nothing else does. That is why a human being is the best analogy for the entire seder hishtalshelus. Whatever level we discuss, we always have an analogy for it in the soul. The soul and its will are truly this extraordinary thing, this inclusion of everything, where the entire seder hishtalshelus is found. For this reason, Adam Kadmon is also called Adam: in this respect, it resembles a human being. Just as a human being includes all these aspects, so too, as we said, Adam Kadmon is the all-encompassing whole, the all-encompassing source. It includes the entire seder hishtalshelus; everything is included within it. That is why Adam Kadmon is called Adam. But why is it called Adam Kadmon? Why “Kadmon”? After all, a human being himself is different. A human being himself. That—

16:35 Speaker 1 was our original thought, that we would be here for him.

16:39 Speaker 3 Huh? What happened? What happened? What is it? That was important to us. But you see, that was the time.

16:48 Speaker 1 So there is, uh—there is the... Look, why is it called Kadmon? On the one hand, it is called Adam because it has this quality of including every level. On the other hand, it is called Kadmon because although a human being possesses all these qualities and forms of perfection, in a human being they are present as distinct details, in the ordinary way. That is, he has the attributes, and each aspect is present separately. In Adam Kadmon, by contrast, they exist as thought; they are not yet a reality. Nothing can yet be discerned there. As we said before, it is all the thought of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It is as things stand after the tzimtzum, when Hakadosh Boruch Hu contracts Himself to be involved in all this, but it is still a matter of thought. So there is not yet an actual reality here; it exists only in potential. That is why it is called Kadmon: the inner dimension of the will, the inner dimension of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, still shines on the level of Adam Kadmon. This is also why everything there was included in a single point, as we said before: the simplicity of the Ein Sof still shines there. So on the one hand it is called Adam because it includes every level; on the other hand it is called Kadmon to emphasize that everything there exists in a state of simplicity, in an inward way. Now let us get to our point: since Adam Kadmon is on the level of Adam, what did we say is the great quality of a human being? That he contains every level—everything is included within him. Now, every human being has within him—and we have not yet touched on this or opened it up—a human being is made up of both encompassing vessels and inner vessels. It is like the complete form of a human—

18:57 Speaker 1 A person. The completeness of a person is that he has transcendent faculties: will, pleasure, chayah, and yechidah. On the other hand, a person also has inner faculties, which are different from those transcendent faculties. So Adam Kadmon, too, being the all-encompassing level—the universal “person” who includes the entire order of hishtalshelus—has not only the primary aspect of circles and transcendent levels, but also the aspect of yosher, a structured arrangement. In other words, the entire order of hishtalshelus is present in Adam Kadmon, not only as will but also inwardly. That means there are two aspects to the thought of Adam Kadmon. In one aspect, the entire order of hishtalshelus is there as a single will. As we said earlier, if a person wants a house, his desire for the house is not divided into one part and another. It is all one point: the desire for a house. Those are the circles of Adam Kadmon. On the other hand, within Adam Kadmon, within Hashem’s thought at the level of Adam Kadmon, there are also the qualities of Atzilus, Beriah, and Yetzirah. The differences between them are there too. In other words, the details, the distinctions, the levels of each world: what will be in each world, how one world will differ from another, the particular quality of the power of action, and so on. The whole order of hishtalshelus, including its details, must be there. That, too, is included in the primordial thought. So from the standpoint of will, it is called the circles of Adam Kadmon. From the standpoint of Adam Kadmon including the distinctions and details of our ordered system, it is called yosher. So look in the siddur; you will often see, when Adam Kadmon is discussed, that it mentions [unclear]. What is very interesting is that in certain places in the siddur, when it speaks about Adam Kadmon, it sometimes uses the language of

20:38 Speaker 1 eyes in Adam Kadmon, ears, nose, and mouth. Have you ever seen that? Ears, nose, mouth, navel, feet. Adam Kadmon is depicted with the whole structure of a human being. If you look at it without the explanation, Adam Kadmon appears just like the form of a person, with a body, eyes and ears, a mouth, a head, and feet. But the explanation in its inner meaning is that Adam Kadmon is the “person” we were speaking about earlier. What does “person” mean? It means that he has everything within him. [unclear] the whole structure of a person. He has all the components, all the names, and all the distinctions of tikkun. In this way, Adam Kadmon includes the entire order of hishtalshelus within itself, both in its transcendent aspect and in its inner aspect, which is called yosher. So that is what the term means. That is also the meaning of “primordial thought.” Yes, so why is it called primordial thought? As we said, it is “primordial” because [unclear]. In the Zohar there is an expression, “for He is not a man.” “Not a man” indicates utter simplicity, the highest simplicity, meaning a level beyond the defined form of a person. But the Zohar itself does not say that this applies only according to the Arizal. So this level of “not a man,” according to one explanation, refers to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Why is it called simplicity? [unclear]. Oh, there is a story about Adam Kadmon. One of the stories told is that once there was a meal with Rabbi [unclear]. It was at some place in Buenos Aires. They needed a large place because chassidim had come from everywhere. Rabbi [unclear] had no fixed place for many years; he went from one place to another. For about ten years he had been

22:37 Speaker 1 in [unclear] before going to Russia, and he spent some time in [unclear], some time in Riga, some time in Jaffa, and in all sorts of other places. In short, they needed to find a place that could hold the hundreds, even thousands, of chassidim who had arrived from different places. There was a chassidic Jew there, not a Chabad chossid, a Polish chossid, who had a sort of hotel or something. He rented it out for the chassidim of Rabbi [unclear]. [unclear] the meal. There was everything the chassidim needed. The chassidim were dancing, and there was a special celebration there in Buenos Aires. They had a hotel set aside for them. The chassidim danced, and with all that dancing, the building simply seemed to be in constant danger. The owner, that Polish chassidic Jew, began to panic when he saw what was happening to the building. So he ran to Rabbi [unclear] and told him, “What should we do? It’s in danger the whole time!” Rabbi [unclear] told him that it says, “And beneath are the everlasting arms.” This is explained in the Zohar and in Kabbalah. What are the “everlasting arms”? They refer to the arms of Adam Kadmon, as though it is holding up the world. Just as we speak of the arms of the Maggid of Mezritch. So these “everlasting arms” hold everything up; [unclear] all of it together is held up, and consequently they will hold up this building too. You have nothing to worry about. And so the people kept dancing, and, boruch Hashem, the building remained standing. Nothing happened. But, but

24:44 Speaker 1 that is the point that comes in here. There is also this story, connected with Rosh Hashanah. [unclear] asked him, “What did you meditate on during your Rosh Hashanah davening?” [unclear] told the Rebbe that during the Rosh Hashanah davening he had contemplated the light before the tzimtzum for half an hour. What does it mean to contemplate the light before the tzimtzum for half an hour? Even [unclear] is only the power, the highest level that governs the entire order of hishtalshelus. That, too, is a lofty level. But even that whole structure is only [unclear]. The light before the tzimtzum is completely infinite. That was his point. I hope you understand. So then the Rebbe asked the other rabbi, “What did you contemplate during your davening?” He said, “I davened with the shtender. I davened with the shtender and contemplated that Hakadosh Boruch Hu [unclear].” By the way, [unclear]. The Rebbe related this story [unclear]. So the Rebbe explained that the point of a shtender is that a person leans on it. That is what a shtender is: a person places his heart there; he rests it against his heart. It is as if the shtender is what the whole person leans on. And with Adam Kadmon, the entire order of hishtalshelus leans on Adam Kadmon. As we said earlier, [unclear]. He leans on the shtender. So [unclear] this was a contemplation of Adam Kadmon, of how Adam Kadmon is completely lofty. [unclear]. That was

26:51 Speaker 1 his [unclear]. My point about the shtender is that the shtender itself is the subject, not Adam Kadmon. It is precisely the thing itself—the physical, material shtender. This is also found [unclear]: the physical thing itself is, is, is one matter. It is a matter of [unclear].