Concepts in Chassidus - Part 6

00:00 Speaker 1 The point of Rashbi’s words about the... about the actual reminder. And, my friends, Akudim, Nekudim, and Berudim. Now, in general, what is the connection between Yaakov Avinu’s speckled, spotted, and streaked sheep and the concept of Akudim, Nekudim, and Berudim, all of them complete? We didn’t discuss that; we didn’t bring it up. So what exactly is the point here? The Torah tells a story about Yaakov Avinu and Lavan’s flock, which he tended. A large part of Parshas Vayeitzei—quite a few verses—describes what Yaakov Avinu did in Lavan’s house. There was the flock, and he arranged the speckled, spotted, and streaked sheep. Everything in the Torah has significance. What does that mean? We also know that the stories of the Torah are names of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That brings us to this point. There’s a story from the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, a story about Rabbi Baruch Rafael [?]. It is known that on one occasion he said... he repented. [unclear] Then he told them that this is stated in two versions. In one version, he told them: The Midrash says that the entire Torah consists of the names of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So it follows that Lavan, too, is a name of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. If the entire Torah consists of His names, then Lavan is one of them too.

02:03 Speaker 1 [unclear] There is a second version: He told them that there is a Midrash about Lavan. [unclear] At the beginning of Parshas Vayeitzei, the Midrash says that the name Lavan alludes to the One Who whitens the sins of the Jewish people on Yom Kippur. So the Midrash specifically says that Lavan alludes to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, Who whitens the sins of the Jewish people on Yom Kippur. There is another explanation of the matter of Lavan: it does not refer to Lavan the Aramean. It means the supernal whiteness; it means Ein Sof. Ein Sof is called “whiteness.” Why is Ein Sof called whiteness? Because white is a color that has no color of its own. In other words, it has no particular hue, and every hue can be applied to it. This is not the white of this sheet of paper; it is the white of [unclear]. It is true whiteness, not yet marked by any color and able to receive every color. That is the idea of whiteness. To describe Ein Sof without a particular definition, they called it “whiteness.” Ein Sof is the source of every [unclear]. It is the Ein Sof that precedes the tzimtzum. And Yaakov—who is Yaakov? In the story of Yaakov and Lavan, Yaakov represents the kav, the line. Why does Yaakov represent the kav? It says that the letters of “Yaakov” can be rearranged to spell “yibaka,” “will break through”: “Then your light will break through like the dawn.” That is a verse in Yeshayahu; we say it on Yom Kippur. “Will break through” describes a breakthrough: there is darkness, and something breaks through it, like the dawn breaking through the darkness of night and bringing light into it. There is much to say about this. That is the idea of the kav. There is the tzimtzum, the darkness of the tzimtzum, and—

04:02 Speaker 1 —the kav breaks through that darkness and allows light to shine after the tzimtzum. So that is the difference between Lavan and Yaakov. Lavan represents the supernal whiteness, the Ein Sof before the tzimtzum: Ein Sof in its true state of simplicity. Yaakov is the illumination of the kav. It draws from above, takes the light, and brings it into Seder Hishtalshelus, establishing the order of Hishtalshelus through the kav. That is why Yaakov Avinu is called, in Kabbalah, the tzaddik who is master of Olam HaTikkun. In other words, he is in charge of Olam HaTikkun. Yaakov Avinu was a person and also a collective soul. Yaakov Avinu, the person who lived in history, had a soul with a role in Olam HaTikkun. It is very interesting: people lived in the world at a particular time, but their souls had a general role in Seder Hishtalshelus, both before they came into the world and afterward. Yaakov Avinu’s role as a soul is to bring Olam HaTikkun into order. He organizes Olam HaTikkun. The whole story in Lavan’s house is about how Yaakov Avinu drew from Ein Sof and, through the kav, built the order of Hishtalshelus. We have already discussed this: the kav is the light of Ein Sof that enters the darkness of the tzimtzum and builds Seder Hishtalshelus. So how did he build it? Through the sequence of Akudim, Nekudim, and Berudim. That is what we discussed last week. Yaakov Avinu built Seder Hishtalshelus in this order: first Akudim, then Nekudim, and then Berudim. This applies in a general way too. So that was Yaakov’s role. Yaakov represents the tikkun of the kav, and he establishes the order of Hishtalshelus. This helps us understand many things. For example, Yaakov and Esav—yes, we spoke about Yaakov and Lavan, and now Yaakov and Esav.

05:52 Speaker 1 Esav represents Tohu. We always say that Yaakov and Esav represent Tohu and Tikkun. We haven’t yet discussed Tohu and Tikkun—though we spoke about it earlier. Perhaps we’ll get to it today; we’ll see if there’s time. That is Yaakov and Esav: Tohu and Tikkun. Yaakov’s role is Tikkun; he repairs and builds Seder Hishtalshelus. This is also connected with Yaakov having Rachel and Leah and the tribes—all of that. And the Exodus from Egypt. It is all part of Yaakov Avinu’s work of building Seder Hishtalshelus, building and arranging the world so it would be ready to become a dwelling place for Hashem. That is the whole point. From there we come to Akudim, Nekudim, and Berudim. I just want to clarify something, because we didn’t finish last week. Sometimes we look at a diagram, a map. How does the map of Seder Hishtalshelus work? After the tzimtzum, the first level is Adam Kadmon, or A”K, which includes all of Seder Hishtalshelus together. As we discussed, this is the thought and the will. Hishtalshelus has not yet taken place in actuality; it is only the general thought and will encompassing all of Seder Hishtalshelus. This is the will after the tzimtzum. It is therefore called the general will—the will after the tzimtzum—in which all the details of Seder Hishtalshelus are included. But in what way? In a general state: that is A”K. From A”K comes the next level, called Akudim. As we discussed, in Akudim you already have the sefiros, but they are all contained in a single vessel. What matters is not the distinctions between them but their shared, general point: together they complete the whole of the will, the will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is Akudim. After that comes Nekudim, where each sefirah’s own point is revealed—truly as a point, without regard for another—

07:40 Speaker 1 From the second. But with each sefirah, they no longer feel that all the sefiros are one. On the contrary, each sefirah feels its own particular concern: chessed has its concern, gevurah and chochmah have theirs, and each sefirah has its own. But its own concern exists only in its essential form, as a point: the essence of chessed, the essence of gevurah, in its utmost simplicity. Now, we said that Berudim corresponds to the World of Atzilus. There, in Berudim, the sefiros already reach a state in which each sefirah draws close to another and joins with it. That is the structure of seder hishtalshelus, the chain of spiritual worlds. And we said that these four levels are Adam Kadmon, Akudim, Nekudim, and Berudim. In the soul, for example, it is as we explained: there is the level of yechidah in the soul, what Chassidus calls the soul in its pure state. There is no existence of faculties there yet; there is only the soul. It is just that the soul has the capacity to produce many, many faculties. That is Adam Kadmon, where there is still only the level of yechidah. After that come the faculties as they are included within the soul. One moment—that is already talking about faculties, but faculties as they are included within the soul, and that corresponds to Akudim. After that come the hidden faculties, corresponding to Nekudim. And after that come the revealed faculties—the faculties as they have developed downward, with each faculty also receiving help from the others. That corresponds to Berudim, the realm of distinct existence. These are the four levels as they are presented in Chassidus, the four categories we mentioned. All right, there is another subject connected to this one: Tohu and Tikkun. This is another concept, a new concept, but it is connected to the previous one. What are Tohu and Tikkun? Before we go into explaining what Tohu and Tikkun are, according to what is brought in Chassidus, the World of Tohu is associated with Nekudim.

09:43 Speaker 2 What is it associated with?

09:44 Speaker 1 What does that mean? The World of Tohu is associated with Nekudim. In other words, the World of Tohu is a part and a detail—an offshoot, you could say—of Nekudim, while the World of Tikkun is Berudim. So closely, in fact, that sometimes Chassidus even says, “Nekudim is the World of Tohu,” as though they are simply the same thing. Nekudim is the World of Tohu. Right? Although, seemingly, the World of Tohu develops from Nekudim; it is not Nekudim itself, and we will explain why. But in any case, the World of Tohu is part of this concept. It is associated with and develops from Nekudim, while the World of Tikkun is Berudim. This is Tohu and this is Tikkun. It follows that Akudim comes before Tohu and Tikkun. Right? Akudim is a level to which Tohu and Tikkun do not apply; it is something different from those concepts altogether. So first we will explain what Tohu and Tikkun are, and then we will explain the significance of Akudim, which is said to be above Tohu and Tikkun. We are not discussing all this just to get somewhere in an abstract way. If we explain the subject properly, we will be able to understand what all this has to do with us. So first, let us explain what Tohu and Tikkun are in general. Again, we explained earlier that Tohu and Tikkun are Esav and Yaakov, but that is down here. Let us explain what they are above, and then we will see how, down here, they are Esav and Yaakov. What does Tohu mean? What does Tikkun mean? It is like this: When Hakadosh Boruch Hu created seder hishtalshelus, as we said in this whole outline—Adam Kadmon, Akudim, Nekudim—the chain of worlds progressively unfolded. What, ultimately, is the purpose of this entire structure of seder hishtalshelus? The ultimate purpose is that this whole process should produce a world with a distinct existence. As

11:36 Speaker 1 we explained in the previous classes, before the tzimtzum, a world, a distinct existence, was not possible; there was only [unclear]. The tzimtzum came so that a world, a distinct existence, could be possible. But even for a world to come into being, there is an order to the process. The tzimtzum did not take place and immediately produce a world like ours. There is an entire sequence. Right? After the tzimtzum, when the radiance began to emerge—the kav, a light meant to illuminate this world—there was an entire sequence. Take the example we gave earlier of the soul. We say there is a soul and there is a body, but the transition from soul to body is not immediate. There are four stages between the soul and the body. As we explained, there is the soul, there are faculties, there are hidden faculties, and there are revealed faculties. There is a whole sequence from the soul to the body. And likewise, there is a progression from spirituality to distinct existence—from spirituality to the kind of existence Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted our reality to have. There is an entire sequence, and at every descent, at every stage of development, at every link in the chain of seder hishtalshelus, the G-dly light becomes more limited. Consequently, the world becomes more of a distinct existence—what is called a vessel. The less revelation of spirituality there is, the more substantial the existence of the world becomes. And so it continues downward: the G-dly light becomes increasingly limited, and in this way a world and a distinct existence come about. In general, what do Tohu and Tikkun mean? Tohu means that a kind of world comes into being in which things are not ordered; they are confused. Rashi gives us something of a translation of the word Tohu. Tohu means something confused, something that is not orderly, not... More than that: in Rashi’s commentary on Chumash, on Bereishis, the verse says, “And the earth was Tohu and Vohu.” That is actually the source for the concept of Tohu as well. “And the earth was Tohu and Vohu.” What does Tohu and Vohu mean in the physical sense? Rashi says that Tohu

13:35 Speaker 1 is when a person looks at a jumble and cannot tell where anything is. The eye is bewildered and astonished. The eyes become confused. He cannot see clearly. That is called Tohu. You cannot make anything out here; what you see is disorder. In other words, it does not just mean that things are not arranged in order. It means that there is such an overwhelming revelation here that the recipient cannot benefit from it. It confuses you. It makes you lose your concentration. You cannot focus. That is a useful general principle. So what does it mean spiritually? What is meant by Tohu? Tohu means a G-dly revelation in which the light is so powerful and so boundless that the recipient—the distinct existence, the world—cannot receive it. There is an abundance of light. As a result, the recipients, those who are meant to receive from the light, become confused and disordered, and they cannot connect with that light. Right. That, in general, is Tohu. All right. Again, then, the defining feature of Tohu is a G-dly revelation that comes with such force that the recipient cannot benefit from it. Tikkun, by contrast, is when the G-dly revelation becomes more limited, more focused for the recipient, so that the recipient can receive it gradually. There is an order here, from higher to lower, from the first level to the second. That is the basic difference. If we think about it, we can now understand why we said that Nekudim and Berudim correspond to Tohu and Tikkun. What did we explain? What does Nekudim mean? We explained that each sefirah appears as a point. What does it mean for each sefirah to appear as a point? It means that the sefirah is present in its full force. A point. When you say “point,” there are two things. When you say “point,” you mean a point, something

15:38 Speaker 1 Small, right? But sometimes a point means that you put something there with its full force, something that leaves no room for excuses. It is such a powerful light. Today, as we have in the world, there is such a thing as a laser beam. It is a kind of light that concentrates a great deal of light into one point. So that is what it means. A point here does not indicate weakness; on the contrary, it means that the whole matter is present here in full force. Right. And so what happens? On the one hand, a point shows that the sefirah is revealed as it is, without any contractions. He gives you the idea as it is, in a single point. He does not try to spell it out. Maybe we can explain it with a simple example, along the lines of the difference between Mishnah and Gemara. Someone studies Mishnah and can understand what he needs. Someone studies Chumash. He reads it straight from the text: “[unclear].” That is a point. That point contains everything discussed in the books, but let me ask you: Can you learn from it? Can you tell what it says here? Can you understand anything? After all, everything is included here. The entire idea has been put into those words. But an ordinary person cannot benefit from that. He does not grasp what you are trying to tell him. If you want me to understand it, you have to break it down into details, into the smallest details. Tell me the first point, then the second, then another point, and so on. So the meaning of the world of Nekudim, as we said, is that the sefiros are present there as points. In other words, each sefirah is present with its full force, without any expansion or unfolding. That is what brought about the state of Tohu, in which there was

17:20 Speaker 1 an abundance of light. Not an abundance in quantity; here, abundance means in quality. Light—sorry—of a very high level, very powerful, very—either of a very high level or very G-dly, very powerful or very G-dly. It is so lofty that, in relation to the world that is supposed to receive from the light—what the Kabbalists call the vessels—the vessels are not equipped to receive such a thing. The vessels become nullified. This light causes the vessels to become nullified. They cannot receive it and benefit from it. That is what it means that Tohu came about in Nekudim. And that is why it led to the shattering of the vessels, and the whole subject, which, with Hashem’s help, we will explain in another class. Right, everything that happened afterward with the lights and vessels. What we understand is that Nekudim is the level in the order of hishtalshelus associated with what is called the world of Tohu. Ah, you understand? Right. So here is the point. In Akudim, the earlier level—what did we say Akudim is? Akudim means that all the sefiros are in one vessel. Since there is one vessel there, the vessel, too, has a kind of unity. So in Akudim, it is not yet relevant to speak about vessels that can or cannot receive. They cannot receive because, at that stage, the vessels are not yet entities at all. In Akudim, everything is one. In Akudim, as we said, all the sefiros are united together. The vessels, too, are part of their very essence as sefiros. Consequently, there is not even a distinction there between a giver and a receiver. In other words, there is no receiver that might or might not become nullified, that might or might not be able to receive. They are all together; everything is unity, everything is one. That is Akudim. But when we come to Nekudim, each vessel already begins to be something in its own right. In other words, there is already the beginning of a reality of

19:16 Speaker 1 vessels, the reality of a world with a receiver, and the receiver wants to take G-dly light into itself. But the G-dly light comes to it as a point, with an abundance of light concentrated in one point, so the receiver cannot benefit from it. That is where the problem begins. In Akudim there was no problem, because in Akudim there was not yet a separate entity that could have a problem or suffer from it. Everything was in one vessel, as we said. But in Nekudim, when each vessel becomes an entity, it begins to be unable to receive. It needs the light to be suited to it, and because there is such an abundance of light, that is what later caused the shattering of the vessels. Let’s talk about that next time. And what about Berudim? The world of Berudim. What did we say? What is Berudim? Berudim means that each light connects with another light. There is an idea that... In other words, there the light is not in the form of a point, right? There the lights come in details, down to the smallest details, so much so that it becomes apparent that gevurah also contains chessed, and chessed also contains gevurah. Each one appreciates the other’s quality as well as its own, and it can receive from the other and connect with it. This is called the world of Berudim, and here it comes about through breadth and expansion. There can be interinclusion there, where one receives from another. It is not interinclusion as it is in Akudim; that is the difference. In Akudim, when we speak of interinclusion, it means that distinct forms have not yet begun to emerge. The interinclusion there is one of unity, before any distinct form is recognizable. That is why Chassidus sometimes says that Akudim is... there are no vessels at all. In other words, in Akudim everything is one essence. We are not even speaking about lights. By contrast, in Berudim it is a different picture. There, each sefirah already has

20:55 Speaker 1 its own distinct form on the one hand, while on the other hand, the sefirah can also understand, sense, and receive the other sefirah. The sefiros become interincluded and integrated with one another. That is why the world of Nekudim corresponds to the world of Tohu. By contrast, the world of Berudim corresponds to the world of Tikkun as it exists above. And Akudim is a level above both Tohu and Tikkun. Now, if we understand this basic principle well, we can understand something written in Chassidus. As a general rule, Chassidus often says that the G-dly soul comes from the world of Tikkun, while the animal soul comes from Tohu. Chassidus often says that the animal soul is connected to Tohu, while the G-dly soul is connected to Tikkun. So the question is asked: If that is so, how can the G-dly soul overcome the animal soul? The animal soul comes from a higher level, from Tohu. Tohu has an abundance of light; it is a higher level. Tikkun has light... So how does the G-dly soul have the power to overcome the animal soul? What answer does Chassidus give? That the soul’s faculties come from Tikkun, but the essence of the soul comes from Akudim. In other words, the essence of the soul—the soul’s chayah and yechidah—not its faculties, such as the soul’s attribute of chessed, which do indeed have their source in Atzilus. But the essence of the soul has its source in Akudim. And since Akudim is above both Tohu and Tikkun—because there is not yet any distinction between Tohu and Tikkun there—the essence of the soul, when it is revealed, has the power, through yechidah, to bring about that revelation and overcome the animal soul. It can overcome the animal soul because its source is in Akudim, above Tohu and Tikkun. Good. Next week we will discuss the details of Tohu and Tikkun in order to explain

22:34 Speaker 1 all the questions.