Mamer Yud Shevat D"H Basi Ligani 5726, Class Two , Rabbi Yossi Paltiel - 5786

Today is Tuesday and it's the third day in the month of Tavis. Um it's the day after what Charlie calls the ninth day of Hanukkah. But if you count you know how we used to countd is 30 days. So since you have two days is 60 days. So we're holding by the 67th day of Hanukkah. If you remember Charlie's Mishagas, the thing about Charles Mishagas, why they're based on the you know when you listen to the Reb talk about Kanek and the idea of that you add every day another candle. The deb almost wanted that you should continue lighting a candle. The nth day of Kani should light nine. The 10th day of Kani you should light 10. He should never stop lighting candles and every day you should add more light. So the Reb tried to communicate the idea that although physically we're not lighting the candles but the idea of that one of the messages of Khan is that every day we go higher and we do more is foundational. It's fundamental. It's very very critical very important. It's a great priority. So the ninth day of Kaneka means plus one is the neph is the kan is the of is the of the relationship between and that you can't break and you can't understand. You know I always go back to that little film that chlorophy made in the 80s. It's no nobody's ever reproduced any Jewish video with that kind of holy clarity like that little video. It's called lights and you have this. It's a story of Kanek and the story revolves around the oasis around the letters. There's the Hebrew letters and the Greek letters. The Hebrew letters are made to look old and faded. And the Greek letters are made to look robust and and crisp and powerful. But the Hebrew letters have a fire alak are studying the olive and the are looking around. So they hide the oius. They take out the drreel. The Greeks go away. They take out they put away the drrele. They take out the oius. And there's the Msavni, this the helanized Jew, a big tall guy with a big sword. And he's going around and offering the children the Greek letters. But there's a condition. He only gives you a Greek letter if you give him the Hebrew letters with the fire. And the children refuse. And he chases them. And the children run away. And one of the moments in this film, in this animation film, is where this Greek man is walking and the letters are chasing after him. The little tiny Hebrew letters are chasing after him. Old, worn, frayed letters, but there's a fire and the fire is getting him crazy. So, he turns around, pulls out this big massive sword, and he's trying to kill the fire. You can't kill a fire. You can't. You can kill other things but you can't kill a fire. You can't kill a fire. That's the unkillable fire which is represented by the she which is the secrets of the secrets represented by she and this is the y of kan and this is the timelessness of this what says that when told to tell his brother that what does greater than what the did for inaugurate the because he lights the So that says that does not mean the B mikdash because the candles and the B mikdash also were extinguished. It means the kan that have burnt and continue to burn and will always burn no matter what. I I heard oncehat which I think is that it's a fascinating thing that on the one hand nobody is into we make public lightings all over the world and some of our man are so big they're not even kosher they're too tall. um you can't make a braha, you can't be whatever. There's all kinds of uh situations. Just one second. And at the same time, our own personal mona we light inside the house, right? Most if unless they live above the third floor, put the in the window, which is the best place to put the that the world is you're supposed to put supposed to put it facing the street. If you can't put it face in the street, you put it in the mirror in the window in a place where it's dangerous and then you put it on the table. Of all the in the world the which on the one hand is in so much into the is to put the on the table it doesn't add up. So the I heard once in that putting the min on the table reminds us of the idea that you cannot extinguish the lights of Khan because you could be in a place where you can't publicize it because it's a sak. [clears throat] So you can't put it in the window, you can't put it in the door. So you hide it but you have it. So we light our mana dapka in the house to rem to to represent to symbolize the immortality of the kaneka candles that if you can't do it publicly you do it privately. So Kabad is doing two things. On the one hand, we're doing the pursuing in an incredible way. But on the other hand, we're underscoring the power of the neph that's represented by the that the result of this is that if you have to put them in a hidden place, you do as long as you light the candle. So this is a so now it's the day after. So there's a there's no physical lights, there's no physical, right? And I guess some people said there's no physical lkas and donuts. [laughter] My son-in-law told me that if I dance three hours, I'll burn off the calories of one donut. I got to go to a lot of but okay. Um but the the the union of that it represents the the level of the point of connection with which cannot be broken. It's as simple as that. it cannot be broken. [sighs] um is the is what we celebrate is really it's the y of and in order to make this emphatic we don't make a sud you don't make a meal you don't wash you don't eat meat cuz you want to emphasize that this is about the spirit of yen which is represented by the by the kan candles and the oil above all else because he wanted to be absolutely clear that this is one of those which goes to the very essence of what is so now so right after the truth of The matter is it should start but because then you have but we're already ini season. So Sunday night I think I gave you a class oni and now Tuesday morning I'm giving you the second class on the but before we learn I have to read the list and I and I really hate the word list because every single person whose name we're mentioning is an that's connected to a maes in other words none of these people are in a vacuum every one of them has a father and a mother and a brother and a sister and a wife or a husband and and what touches them touches everybody around them and the the need for extends well beyond the person who's ill and well beyond the physical illness and who created all of this I heard once in the name of Hashem cuts [snorts] and he holds. He holds. He holds. So now so forkl arson Benyalia meas Scott Ben Adam. It's also And it's a form and Benuel Mild Brit. Vanam and Dan Elamy and Alex Clayton Clayman and Peter Mer. I don't know if I'm pronouncing it correctly. Hashem Yimi and Boris Tetleroid. Hashem yim titson and um from Dubai. Okay. And like I said, I'm reading a list. I'm reading a list. you know list every name is a world anyway you know this is who we are it's not an act it's and for two reasons number one because there's no other way to serve the and number two because after all after all we live in aisha's world and that's how we're defined by that existence And is we can't understand possibly understand. You know, there's a song called has a song that begins with the words and he says in Yiddish is when something good happens, it's you. It's God Almighty. If something happens which is not so good, it's also and if it's you, it's good. used to sing that. So the says because we have so little D. We have so many needs and has to provide us with what we need. Okay, we're learning. I gave you a class Sunday night. And that class was mostly an introduction. It was history. It was context. And it was just the beginning of the mime. But one of the things I said in that class, which I'm going to repeat now, is the following. This mav is from the first cycle the first 20 years of basilani where the rebba would study the previous m in order from the beginning of the chapter to the end of the chapter point by point he'd read a few lines and explain it read a few lines and explain it until he went through the whole chapter but I believe that in this p mment more than a lot of the others in that cycle there is a single point being made a single point being made very important single point and that single point is what we want to fly when we learn this mime which is going to take us four classes I I sent you the PDF and I I put the markers where I'm stopping and starting in each class and that single point is as follows the Reb is trying to talk to us about the suppl's treasure because of the mush of the war that you have to win that the king is the king personally involves himself in the tactics of war. He dispenses of his own treasure and the treasure of his ancestors recklessly so long as he could win the war and he even throws away his own life. So the rebay is explaining this phenomena of a king that when he's facing a does all of those things and he develops a long analysis of he develops a long analysis of what does it mean hem's treasure and to explain this he explores the the says godliness is higher than anything we can fathom and it extends lower than any place you could imagine that's basically what the z is saying and the rabbis spent chapter 12 13 14 15 explaining both sides of this Our chapter which is the beginning of the basis the fourth of the four of the sequence of the previous um begins to explain that the treasure is the idea of the treasure is the godliness which is hidden not the godliness which is revealed. The godness which is revealed is so powerful that it extends into the darkest places and that's it that's its advantage. But the godliness that is hidden is so deeply hidden that not only we don't know it, we have no sense of it and we'll never know it. So the previous Reb spends chapter 16 telling us how impossible it would be to access the godliness of the treasure. Ourbis studies the previous is my but he has one purpose I think one purpose to make it clear and even to explain that the godliness that we can't have at all is given to us and we have it in other words the treasure is defined as godliness which we don't know and we'll never know and we cannot know because it's beyond knowing directly redirectly even having an inkling of what it is we'll never know what it is and yet that's the That's given to the officers to the oil to the to the but it's given to them for the for the simple foot soldier that they should be in and the to win the battle of Muhammad's base to bring mashia to ku. So somehow this godliness which you cannot know and you can't know anything about we have in the previous that aspect is not so clear. The Reb takes the previous chapter, he uses his own words. He used the Fedic's words and he uses them to argue that the godliness that we know nothing about, we not only have not only are given, we have it. And to me, that's the of this m this p this mime. But not this class. I've divided the mid into four. Classes three and four are going to be focusing on that idea. And perhaps part of the reason I'm doing it this way is because I'm not ready to teach it yet. I have no idea how I'm going to explain how godness which nobody has is given to us and we have it. The Reb explains it and he uses like I said he uses theis of the previous painting. Today we're going to learn what the what the big philosophers love. In other words, in the yeshivas this is the most popular but it's not the most important. It's just the most popular. And part of the reason it's the most popular because it's the most familiar. Um the this mid is really what we're going to be learning in the next two which I'm assuming are going to be if things are normal Friday morning and then Sunday night when we'll finish the and by the way after that I'm giving you one on one she the the beer of the in I taught it but I didn't teach it. So I'm going to do that. Okay. And then after we do then we're going to do the next. Wait, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We got the second but I I take it back. I I there's one more that's connected to that I'm going to teach. Then we're going to do the and then we're going to do the fourth of the 12 and then we're going to start the cycle again. We're going to go back to Okay, that's how we're doing this. And Hashem has to help us because there's so much to do and there's not enough time in which to do it. But the good God has to finish what we start because um so the next two classes are going to be exploring that how the godliness which we have no access to is actually given to us and we have but this class is going to talk about elus godliness and I want you to know that if you're familiar with yeshividis and you're familiar with basili this theme has repeated itself in pedic chapter 12 chapter 13 it's been come up again again and again and it's based on the it's based on they go back all the way to the alter which are they used to call the to understand the concept of they now call these the idea of light versus a flow why the name was changed I do not know but I I believe it's true to say that even change you look at And according to the footnotes here which I did not look up even there's a safe to understand the concept of godliness when you get to the has like five on it at least it's called okay so today's class is classic and typical but it's heading to tomorrow's class and the class after that which is going to delve into idea that there's a godliness which nobody can in any way shape or form no one have and yet it's been given to us and then that's the treasure. So the topic of today's class is before we can go deeper we have to speak the basic now these same basic were already discussed probably most comprehensively in the m of from four years ago pic chapter 12 now we're holding chapter 16 but it's time for us to revisit them okay so let's start reading I'm going to read a little bit and then I'm going to continue this introduction ction and then we're going to learn. Okay, then we're going to learn. So we're starting pic it's on page if you have my PDF and here's my basilani continues in the chapter of this year this year meaning 1966 and 1986 and 2006 and now we're holding out edif6 this is four cycles with the following words and the two ideas that godliness ascends higher and higher without an end and lower and lower without a purpose. Which means in simple English, godliness is so ephemeral that nobody has any idea what it is. Godliness is so transcendent that you can see him and find him everywhere. Those are two concepts. Concept one, no one has a clue what godliness is. Concept two, everyone has a very clear idea of what godliness is. And by the way, if you take out the word godliness and you'll put in the wordidus, it'll work exactly. Everybody, no one has a clue whatus is and everybody's impacted by. That irony, that duality is just incredible. It's it's mish cuz that's what she is. That's what is. That's what that little fire that we talked about 20 minutes ago is. It's an it's an it's an imperceptible. It's an incomprehensible and extremely actual union in what defines the Jewish people as the Jewish people. What connects the Jewish people to the great God and what creat. So godliness is so beyond no one knows what it is. And godliness is so expansive that it's everywhere. Wherever you go you don't know. Wherever you go you find it. But there's two ways of understanding this basically. One way is godliness is one idea that has two characteristics like oil. It doesn't mix with any fluid. That's the idea. It penetrates every surface till its edge. That's it's one truth called godliness has two characteristics. Now of course you know if you listen to me because I talk about it non-stop that the entire cabala is about this one word. You take godliness out of kabala, you just make godlin kabal into philosophy. Mish godliness is an idea that's not hashem but it's also not not hashem. It's it's it's it's not him anymore. It's not anything other than him yet. So what is it? We use a lot of names to allude to we call it his face. We call it his name. Specifically the name Havay and we call it light a safe godly light is consumed consumed with wrapping its mind around this conceptus is obsessed with you should learn until the idea of a of godliness as they say in it should it should be it should resonate with us. It's the very essence of is to understand godliness because what godliness is is hashem that touches and can be touched. Hashem doesn't touch and hashem cannot be touched. He's a built that's the word of the godliness is hashem but that's that touches and can be touched. You know says in the very first words of the foundation of all foundations and the pillar of all wisdom is laid that there's a first cause. So says doesn't mean hem means as he exists existentially exist and in my humble opinion you can very easily say that is referring to the concept of godliness. God himself is called you go up to a higher level of understanding and understand that Hashem exists but non-existentially if Hashem exists non-existentially there's no relationship there's no proximity between the creator and the creation but because he makes it in himself that there should be which is what godliness is Hashem that can reach us and Hashem that we could reach we can come closer to him and he come closer to us. And the language of it's called the whole is different because of this one idea. Because of this one idea, we come close to come close to us. We even have the radical idea of mitzvah because of this concept of of godliness. Everything in revolves around this one. The problem is it's very hard to understand intellectually. to if you take all the clues about what godliness is, you come up with an idea which cannot exist. It's too many contradictions. It's not Hashem. It is Hashem. It's almost Hashem. It's exactly Hashem. It's not Hashem at all. It's Hashem completely. The The number of contradictions that have to converge to explain godliness is extraordinary. It's really really a lot. That's why so much of is going back till the and then the and I'm sure the has it but the are in a little bit of different form and all the have the we want to understand what godliness is in this we're saying that godliness has two characteristics nobody knows what it is and everybody knows what it is it's not available anywhere and it's available everywhere But in this notion of that it's available everywhere. It's not available anywhere that everybody knows it. No one has a clue what it is. There's two ways of explaining it. The first way of explaining it is that it's two sides of the same coin. It's two characteristics of one idea. And that's how it was understood in the previous mime in the last four chapters 12 13 14 and 15. And this mime that is going to change and say it's two levels. It's not just two concepts about one notion. It's two levels in this notion of godliness. Let's continue to read. Okay. It's not two concepts in godliness. It's two steps in godliness. Moreover, there's an enormous distinction, a great distance between the first one and the second one. This is the end of the call for the previous Reb's mind. So now the Reb explains with these words. The previous rabbi is adding something new to the fourchapter old discussion on the concept of godliness which is that the notion that godliness goes higher beyond an end and low beyond the purpose is not just as explained in the last four chapters 12 13 14 and 15 that it's it's it's drawn to the highest levels meaning no one knows what it the lowest love means he can find it even in the darkest and most plays one idea that has two characteristics but rather that godliness as he is alone before there is a world is as godliness is by itself already has the idea of to be higher and higher beyond the end and lower and lower beyond the purpose. In other words, if godliness is one idea with two characteristics, those two characteristics only show themselves if you have two circumstances. The circum the the characteristic of shows itself when you when you find yourself in a very high level and you're told godliness is beyond you. When the characteristic of is when you're in a very low world and you think where you live God doesn't exist and godliness reaches you also. So two characteristics of one idea require two circumstances says the M know if there's no circumstances there's still two ideas even if there are no two circumstances the lad circumstance and a godliness as it is by itself already has these two ideas which leads to the following statement that I'm reading on this means that ain't Even godliness as godliness is alone. Hashem exists and then heavenliness exists. But Hashemliness is not shining and being revealed anywhere because there is no anywhere. It's two levels also. There are two levels named is an enormous distinction between one level of godliness. the level of which is the lower level and the higher level of godliness which is the idea of okay so this is the it's not just two expressions of one idea it's two levels and they're very far apart the lower level of godliness is the godness which is revealed and revealable and it's about revelation and the higher level of godness is about mystery it's about secret about unknowability and there are two different levels and He explains which leads us to the following conclusion. And now the Reb gets fancy right very very quickly when we're speaking about these two ideas and godliness and we're calling them two levels. The godliness which exists for the worlds to be able to know him and the godness which exists for no one to ever be able to have any idea of what it is. You're not talking about the possibility for light. You're talking about the actual light. Now I don't want to give long speeches on your list. did this four years ago when I taught the and you're welcome to get the class. I even did a special supplemental class when I taught that. You're welcome to listen to that class if you wish. The in Hebrew there's the word which means potential and which means possibility. The difference between the word potential, the word possibility is when you have different potentials, you have different character traits, different tools. When you have different possibilities, you don't have different character traits. You're one, but there's a possibility for you to do many things. Uh the what my teacher taught it to me is throwing a ball is a is a potential. Throwing a ball to the east and to the west and to the north and the south is not a potential. It's a possibility because it's not in your arm, it's in the environment. So says there's two levels. There's a level where we have the tool of the tool of the tool of the tool of the level of the possibility for the possibility for the possibility for the possibility for what's the difference the difference is that the level where you have tools there are many different parts to the neph that about on the level of tools inside your ne there's a lot of individual character traits the character traits which creates the character trait which creates bina the character trait which creates and the character trait which creates but in the level of potential you're a single essence of infinity that because you're infinite [clears throat] there's a possibility for you to have there's a possibility for you to have gav there's a possibility for you to have there's a possibility for you to have bina but the possibilities don't exist at all and therefore there's a law that in the m of kayak every kayak is a different number and mga All the are one. So the are simply part of the nephesh that it's possibly could have possibly could have possibly could have and so on. And one of the discussions that you have in the is this idea called the possibility of light shining and the possibility of light not shining. The possibility of godliness being revealed and the possibility of godliness being hidden. But at a level of possibility those are not two possibilities. They're one possibility. Everything is possible including the possibility of godliness being revealed and the possibility of godliness is being hidden. So that makes the following statement. If the two characteristics of godliness are two sides of one coin, A, no one knows them. B, everybody knows him, you could say that that's the way godliness is on the level of the possible. But if they're not two sides of one coin, they're two levels. There's a level of godness which nobody knows, and there's a level of God that everybody knows actually. So you can't say we're talking about godness on the possible level. You have to be talking about godliness on the actual level. In other words, if it's two sides of one coin can be talking about the way it's part of but you're talking about as two steps as two different levels of this has to be a matas. There's the mitas of godliness which is called that everybody knows and there's a different higher matas of godliness which is called which no one knows no one will ever know. It's two. So the reb makes a statement that now that we're not saying that these two ideas are two sides of one coin but the two different levels it's clear that we're talking about godliness where godness already is a mus not the possibility for godliness to shine but godliness as a thing. And there's two things. The thing of godliness which everybody knows and the thing of godness which no one will ever know. Let's read the words again which leads us to the following conclusion that this is not the idea that there's a possibility for godliness because there's a level of possibility where there's no actual entities. There are that godliness could be revealed and could not be revealed that could come down and could not come down. But the level of possibility rather than the level of potential you can't call them two steps. The whole notion of possibility is that it's one possibility. Hashem has a possibility do anything he wants. In the possibility do anything he wants. There's an infinite number of individual possibilities but they're part of a singularity. The idea that Hashem has the possibility to do whatever he wants. So certainly the idea that God is shining and not shining on the level of possibility are part of one. The other changes a little bit and this I'm going to read and translate and I'm not going to explain mostly because I don't understand it myself. Even if we're going to press ourselves and say that since there is a two different motions a motion of hiddenness and the motion of manifestation. So possibility is one. But how in the level of possibility the for being hidden for being manifest you could say even that there's two steps whichever does not explain how you could say it but it says if you would push in that direction nevertheless if you're going to say that and that the two but they're not very far apart. part because neither of them exist. Neither of them exist in any way. Both of them exist as part of and the is one. There is no actual separation between two of them at all because which is what the potential possibility truly is. There's a possibility for this and a possibility for the opposite. But they're not two possibilities. They're simply part of the notion that Hashem has the possibility to do anything which includes these two things as well which comes back to his original point when we say these two ideas of two ideas but they're two levels. You're not talking about how godly exists possibly. You're talking about godliness, how it exists actually or at least potentially. There's the actual matas on some level of godliness of the face of god or the name of god or the light of god or whatever other word you want to use. So the first thing that says is like this in this pic and is two levels. Therefore in this pic and in is not it's two levels of the mat of because there's two different levels a higher level and a lower level and now the has a having established that we're talking about and that in the which is a two there's still a even if you're talking not about god but about godliness and you're not talk about how God has the possibility to shine his godliness but how the godliness has been shown it's emerged from a way of the question still is how could you say about godliness it has two steps high beyond an end beyond the person ain't safe its name is ain't safe and ain't safe doesn't mean it goes on forever ain't safe means It's an essence of infinitude. It's an essence of everything in one. So how could you say about godliness which is everything in one of two levels and the question is safe its name is safe and the meaning of explains it in many places and the later all bring it till the idea the true concept of safe which is as going to explain ain't doesn't mean got light that comes from the light is itself ain't safe and as it says in the including in this that the himself is not called a safe himself is called Hashem has no beginning the light has no end so a safe is not an illusion to him a safe is an illusion to himliness and himliness godliness is the face of what he is. The meaning is the true notion of the infinitude and the unity of godliness. Godliness has everything in it. Everything in it. But godliness has everything in it in a singularity. It's part of a oneness. Like the light of the sun reflects every wavelength in a singularity. The aish's presence reflects itself in the light in a way that it carries [snorts] a everything Hashem has. And B, it's as one as it is in him. It has no head. It has no before the head and has no end. The question is therefore, how can you speak of God as having levels? And there's a higher level of godness called Milo and a lower level of godness called La M. This defies the very definition of the word because the definition of the word of is that it's everything but everything how it's a mus of one and here we're speaking about is divided up into steps of by so the say we start this pic by saying it's not two definitions of one idea it's two different levels and we immediately say number one if that's the case it's not It's a mit of and then we ask the question even if it's only of considering that the issafe which means not it comes from the aafe but it's ain't safe itself how could there be levels in something which is truly a safe I'm six lines from the bottom of page of you reading my text the answer is explains in the Now if you look in footnote one and two you will see that one is a tob and two is it I'm sorry three and four three is a and four which I did not look up but apparently in he has this which is based on the I'm gonna go out on a limb and make a suggestion we have hundreds of hundreds of in print that when the reb said this mime 60 years ago were not in print. So is finding a source for this idea in a m which already had if you're going to do today you don't have to bring you could bring himself has this because it's originally of the which is later extended by the after that and so on and so forth and like I already mentioned the probably has it in his own version but I don't know that so he's from but it's really who asks the question which is what I told you before to which means it doesn't mean to explain the concept of the infinite light it means to explain the concept of godliness that's what ain't safe is godliness and godliness is extremely paradoxical by its very nature because it is and it isn't you understand it's absolutely and not at all all wrapped into one and here it's a singularity and a great diversity and the question that's being asked is how those two things could be and it's part of the conundrum. It's part of the befuddlement of this idea of aing safe and it you spend your whole life trying to understand it and you spend your whole life saying I understand it and then the next minute no I don't got it that's how ephemeral it is [snorts] and here we're focusing on one particular point the idea that it ain't safe could have levels if it's truly a safe how could there be levels and he brings where he chooses to explain the concept of godliness that who ain't safe although we've already accepted we're not talking about a light which comes from the a but light which is a save at the same time we use the illusion of light if you are familiar with you know that the earlier used the word used the word shea shea means a flow and means a light the word shea is a better word because shea doesn't describe What the hash could be? It could be anything. It could be ideas. It could be feelings. It could be food. O is a specific thing. Light. We all know what light is. So the earlier Makub preferred the word shea because it's more inclusive. The lateral preferred the word because it's more precise. Shea goes along with the word mashia. O goes along with the word mo. Shea means a flow that comes from a a giver with a capital G. O is a light which comes from a luminary with a capital L. But there's a very big difference. Mashia, a giver gives deliberately and attentively. I'm giving you I'm giving you a I'm talking to you. So what I'm giving you is shea and it's coming from me the mashia but it's engaged. When a mashia gives shea to a makabo he's not just giving what he's giving, he's giving himself because he's engaged in that event. When mo radiates light, when a source produces light, it's completely passive. Every one of us has a light. You know, our face is our light. And we don't get more tired if more people look on us, look at us rather than less people looking at us. It's very, very simple because they're not taking anything from us. It's just our light. It's passive. So the word shea has its advantages, but it also has a very big disadvantage. If you describe what Hashem gives as she you're describing Hashem as a mashp as a giver that precludes the whole notion of because the whole concept of godliness one of the ideas of godliness one of the many ideas of godliness is the concept of lean the light emerges from the source without the source giving it happens by itself and mashia are the most deliberate construct the mashia is giving hashb and is the most passive construct. So the later Mabalam said we're going to use a word which means something specific rather than use a word which conotes whatever you wanted to conote but the latter form even though light means something specific is going to underscore this one advantage that the emergence of light from a source happens without the engagement of the source. It happens and the magic word is the word and I transfer the word is a trace. A trace of what Hashem is emerges in his light. Now that trace is ain't safe. It's ain't safe and it's a trace. Those are the two extremes. It ain't safe. On the one hand, it's exactly God. On the other hand, it isn't God at all. You know to what extent it's not God at all. It's a trace. It's what's left over after you erase. Now, physically, light is matter, right? We know that in physics there's a there's a relativity between light and matter. That's why there's the law of relativity of exchanging energy into matter, matter into energy. But in toy, light is not matter. Light is only light. Light is a reflection of a source that has no substance other than that. Whatever the source is is now being reflected. So light is everything of the source and it's not any of the source at all whatsoever. Those are the two opposite characteristics of and again the Hebrew word that we would use that's more precise is the word and what it allows for is not only for godliness to be a mas to be a thing rather than just being him but it also allows for to be mad which is the issue on the table in this this sh that not only is godliness a thing and not just a possibility of a a rather than a but it's the kind of thing that allows for levels because its relationship with Hashem is so passive that they can be higher and lower. It's not going to become less a safe if you say there's a lower and a higher M. Let's read it inside page five lines from the bottom of the page. Four lines. Okay, let's let's let's read uh from six lines under the page. Let's understand what godliness means. The meaning of is that the godliness not come but is at the same time is called light which is meant to show it's not the source with a capital s it's light the meaning of light is as the name conotes again I'm trying to say the word is a trace the physical for this is your countenance, your appearance, your how you see, how you're seen, how you're seen is not you at all. You don't get more tired because more people look at you. You don't feel more refreshed if fewer people look at you because it's not you. But at the same time, everything you are is reflected in your countenance. That is the mosh for it ain't safe. The ain't safe in no way is him and in every way it's him. And the way both of those things could both be true is because it's it happens passively from the source with a capital S. That's a Hashem's existence is non-existential. There is a godliness which is nothing of him and yet the perfect reflection of what he is. And we use the word accordingly when you're speaking about the source with a capital S. And the says the way the light is in the source that's the concept of potential of possibility. So on that level you cannot say that there's different levels of godliness because there's nothing there's only the possibility for everything as as a part of a oneness tolerates all kinds of things. There not two steps. is certainly not two steps that are far apart. So in there's no parts and there's certainly no disperate parts in godliness as it exists as a matas and whereas relation but the source is only a trace a reflection of the source which on the one hand is nothing of what the source is on the other hand it's everything what the source is you could say there's higher and lower and you could even say is two levels and not only is there a possibility for two things and that there are two things But the difference between the higher concept of godliness and the lower concept of godliness turn to page which are actually two levels of godliness they're extraordinarily disperate. So when you're talking about as a nimly godliness although on the one hand whatever god is the godliness carries but there's two levels [snorts] to it. the level which no one will ever know and the level which everybody knows and they're very far apart. There are two levels. That's number one. Well, let's say number one is their not the source. They're the expression of the source. Number two, there are two levels. And number three, explains in the this is the classic idea that I mentioned to you a few minutes ago which by the changed from the shea construct when talking about God and godliness and instead you did the construct when talking about God and godliness. And the reason they made this change is the word which means a flow indicates part of the giver comes to you taking the source itself. So if you describe Hashem is giving us shea, you have to call Hashem a mashia. If he's a mashia, he's caught up in the he's giving to us in an engaged way. And it precludes the possibility of godliness. Any descriptive term you call Hashem a teacher, call a father, call a king, any definition you're going to give him means that his relationship with us is engaged. And if his relationship with us is engaged, it doesn't allow for the concept of godliness. And therefore the changed and chose instead the word the word it's only a trace of light is like the relation between the sun and its light where the light is nothing of what the sun is. Now again I understand that in physics this is not so but is so I've talked about this in the past. I somebody once asked me a question about the difference between the mush and the niml and I answered them and then I said I wanted to make a Q&A out of it and I lost the questions. So I I never did it. How do you connect the physics to the way explains? I I don't know for sure, but I have thoughts on it. But the bottom line is according to the light of the sun is not anything you can measure chemically. It's it's a it's a it's a reflection of the sun and it has none of what the sun is at all. Or to the light of compared to the itself is nothing. In no way is it part of the substance and the form of the sun or the itself and again we're going to translate the word as a trace. So see this there's a notion of one thing reflecting another and the reflecting entity compared to what it's reflecting is a perfect reflection of the source and does not carry the source itself. The word that people like to use that I hate to use the essence at all at all. Now, if that's befuddling, if that's, as the kids love to say, the teenagers say, confusing, then you're on the right track because you need to be able to wrap your mind about this contradiction, which only one of many to begin to understand the concept of what we call classically godliness. The Reb continues four lines from the top of page. This is true in godliness that there is a reflection of what Hashem is which is called the trace of light which is this reflection is a safe and a safe doesn't mean infinite a safe means it has within itself everything and it has within itself everything is a part of a singularity but it's a it's not it's explains at length number one that godliness is so infinite there's no limit to how many worlds it could create it could be infinite number of this is a you don't have this is a hard this is a called that when you understand comprehensively the concept of godliness visa v god the the light visa via source. It's it the number of possibilities are infinite but it's all part of a singularity part of a which is safe. But since on the other hand it's art of a although the it is a safe not and because it is safe it carries whatever theish it is all of the infinite possibilities of as part of a singularity but on the other hand it's not him it's himliness it's God with a last name it's at the very least it's the root and the source for the concept of being revealed he because We're dealing with godliness as a mitus, not as a shu. You could say higher and lower. But that doesn't have to mean two levels. It can mean two characteristics. Number two here of this over the last four. It's not just two ideas in it's two levels in to be sure that the two levels of the disparity between one level and the other is so significant not only are the two levels of God that is separate but they're hugely separated they're disperate in a very very big way. So it's not two concept is two levels of and the just explained to us how that's possible based on the now I'm supposed to say now questions or comments so I'm going to say it but so let's continue that we have two concepts godliness that's manifest and everybody knows it which is the lower concept, the revealed concept. In godliness, which is withdrawn that nobody knows. And in this pedic, the focus is not on the godliness that everybody knows, the focus on the godless that nobody knows. And you must understand that the reason as we journey through the mime, we go from the godless and everybody knows to the godliness that nobody knows is first of all because the godless and everybody knows is the lower level and the godliness that nobody knows is the higher level. And second of all, because this is what we're after. We're after the godliness that nobody knows because the godless that nobody knows is the treasure which is what our is about. So we're going to talk about the higher notion of goddess as what the previous talks about after he establishes that there's two levels. It's not just two ideas but two levels. He focuses on the higher of the two ideas levels. She says godliness ascends upwards beyond an end. It's a light which is hidden and blocked. Not only it's not revealed has no connection to revelation. The opposite of revelation is hidden. Hidden means it could be revealed but it isn't. This is not only not revealed, it's not even hidden. It's just it's just not accessible. Period. Directly or indirectly. You are higher than all things that are high. You're hidden from all things that are hidden. You're blocked from all things that are blocked. You're sealed away from all things that are sealed away. In other words, the nature of the stem is it's sealed away, but it's not sealed away from us. It's sealed away by itself. Or as people would translate it in a way that I can't stand, it's sealed away in essence. There's a level of godliness which nobody knows and not it's unknown because it's hiding from anybody. It's unknown because its existence is it's quote unquote nature is hidden. And of course this is what we say about the Hashem is everywhere and everybody knows him and nobody has any idea what he is. Not because he's hiding but because his existence is called his existence is not announcing itself. It's just ising. It's just being the nature of his existence for lack of words is modest. It's it's not announcing itself. The highest levels of godliness share this character trait. They're just they're just not trying to be known. So they remain unknown. They're just ising. They're just being by themselves. They're not trying to hide from us or anybody. They're just a being. But the nature of their being is or he repeats himself. The notion of godliness being revealed and everybody knows him which is the lower level of godliness was explained already in chapters 12 13 and 14. And what is it is God and it is found in all the worlds to the lowest may know what lower than is in other words of even in this world itself so low one of the things that talk about in the is you can find Hashem in everything you can find Hashem even wherever you look you see God in the most ungodly place you can find God because God is beyond being locked out or boxed out and that's the title whether the law you're going to find it. However, there's another concept and the other concept is it's godliness which nobody knows because it's removed that it's the idea of is higher than all the things that are high and steam and all the things that are hidden it's hidden from them. All the things that are secret it's secret from them all the things that are mysterious and ephemeral it's mysterious and ephemeral from all of them. I remember one sitting at a fab I've been preparing this m for days as you understand and I keep bouncing around in my head that a menas was the best fab I ever saw. He was extremely entertaining. It really was. And I remember one saying, you know, there's levels of godliness that we know and then there's level of godliness that we don't know. And then the levels of godliness that don't even know the godliness that we don't know. So he said in yish on the level of godliness we don't know it said. Why? Because on the one hand it's so far away from us we don't know it. On the other hand, compared to the level of godliness which is hidden even from the level of godliness which is hidden he's a nobody. There's a level of godliness which is hidden from all the worlds and then the level of god which is hidden even from that. So there's a concept in that it's it's not the it's but it's lack of availability is such that nothing nowhere in any way has any relationship with it. One second. Let's continue. We're on second paragraph. It's eight lines down. Seven lines down. We've established that we're talking about godliness as a matas, as a thing rather than a non thing. We further established that this thing of godliness is only a trace of God. It's everything and nothing. And therefore is able to have different levels including a level of godliness which everybody knows which is the lower level and the level of godness which no one knows and no one will ever know because it cannot be known because it's called all the levels of godness are hidden from the world that godliness is hidden from them because this hiddenness is not a relationship. If I'm hiding from you, I'm actually revealed. I'm just hidden from you. That's called s. But if the condition of hiding is existential, in other words, my being hidden is not about anything other than what I am. You're hidden even from those that are hidden. And the brings from the Now I I learned this. I know what the Reb is going to say from the I'm going to read it. I'm going to explain it and I guess I understand it but I don't feel it. I don't feel it. I don't feel what the is doing and I don't feel I mean the is bringing the this is going to sound blasphemous because he has to bring each one of the and he's bringing the I don't feel what this the brings to this specifically. So like I said we're going to read it. We're going to translate it and if you get it more than I do I'll be happy for you. explains I just want to remind you that all the are mentioned right but in this m they're not in order the mag are not till the very end till what's going to be our fourth shi we're going to have the and the mag so far we had the alter as he mentioned which he's going to mention again and now we have the in these words he is higher than all things that are high he is hidden from all things that are hidden. There's two interpretations. This is the first is that when it says, right? What comes before that? This is this is we say this every Friday. And if you're a good, you say it every single day, which is part of you are one and you have no number. You're higher than all things that are high. You're hidden from all things that are hidden. And then it says there's no thought that can hold you. So actually studies each of these words. And there's a presumption that the first words are a higher level and the later words are a lower level. So let's read it again begins and he says where he goes through this whole thing the beginning of the bas master of the world and will explain that's the highest level you're one there's no calculation there's no measuring your oneness you're higher than all things that are high and you're hid things that are hidden so the asks Are they the same or the two levels? You are one and you have for sure the higher level. But when says you're higher than all things high and you're hidden from all things hidden, is that just another way of saying or is it a lower level? And he brings you both possibilities. One possibility is that it's the same thing with more detail and the other possibility is that there's two levels and that brings both opinions of the onpretation of the first words of the so and these words there's two the first one is when it says you were hired in all things high and you were hidden from all things hidden is gets the same levels. You are one of that that the as he's one without any is higher than all things high and hidden from all things hidden. But then is the second interpretations that you are one and you have is the higher level. You are above all things above and hidden from all things hidden is a lower level. So there's two ways of understanding these words. Are they in the same as and we're interested in that's our topic. Our topic is godliness as a not godliness as a but which level of godliness as a level of godness as a mus that no one has any idea what it is. Not. So is this the same thing or no? Says you could say like this and you could say like this. The two different ways of reading it. So the spells out each one. If you choose to say the interpretation that the level of Hashem being hidden from all things, the level of godliness which is hidden things hidden is the same as you are one and no you're talking about godliness which is one and has no there's another idea that I call Lord Stemon I call it's higher than All things high and hidden from all things hidden this itself indicates by saying that a level of godliness that's hidden from all the levels of godliness that are hidden from us because it's hidden by itself is the level of how godliness is one without any it makes a very high level those things hidden their hiddenness is in relationship with if I am hiding from you I'm really close to you never then I'm hidden that's not the idea of being hidden because myself is a hidden in so things hidden are hidden from the world this is hidden from the hidden godliness from the world because this hiddenness is not in context it's not in relationship with the world it's at there's a godliness who existence is to is to be by itself and that's the level of there's no calculating this godliness any calculation you're going to make no matter how high and expansive it's going to be which would even include the next words afterwards How Hashem's wisdom is not knowable and wisdom is understandable which is going to which is a third level which is the lower level when you're talking about being unknown being unknown at least you have 10 it's 10 and not n 10 and not 11 and therefore one without above all and that's but then we continue [sighs and gasps] if you follow the second interpretation the idea that godliness is hidden from all godliness which is hidden is lower than the level of one without any so one without anyh is higher than and is higher than she's explaining that idea of one it goes on himself or the idea of so we're going to say that basically and I just want you to know that in last year's myimm Last year it was so we had in the I wrote it on the margin of my PDF and the said that is not true because only for true everything which is even higher than that's another big controversy but in this mid the is not acknowledging that distinction at all he says and are the same and I'm not going into it because I don't know what to say but the Oh, I call it higher than all levels that are high and hidden from all levels that are hidden. At least it's higher than all things that are high and all things that are hidden. So, it's lower than the idea of but it's above the idea of which includes all things which could be secret and hidden even the level which nobody can know. That includes after the and also which is I got two problems. Number one, I'm not sure what levels we're talking about. And number two, even if I knew what levels we're talking about, I don't understand them. Okay? If I'm not incorrect, that's a big if. If I'm not incorrect, the brings us two possibilities. One possibility and is the same thing and the other possibilities is a higher level and is a lower level. So my understanding of this is that if you say that it's the same level you're actually saying that is lower. If you say that the two levels you're not bringing down the lower one, you're raising up the higher one. So in the first way is the same thing as because understood as lower if you raise higher than you're not lowering you're raising higher and therefore is lower but in the same place it would be in the first because in the first the is So without being sure of the levels one thing is for sure before which is a very radical idea that there should be forum is a very radical idea but that's what it says okay is above sus here is the question above is the level of godly ess which is called nob yeah is a level of godliness or it's a level of possibility for godliness in the first way it's a level of godliness it's a nim and because in the first way the level of issa the idea is the same as it because that's what arpedic is about right what the foundational idea of arpedic is the levels of godliness the foundational idea of arpedic is that if there are levels of godliness Therefore, there can be a higher and a lower level and is the higher level of God. So when it says that the same thing it's because they're both of and it's the which is it's above and it's if you go in the second way that is higher and is lower you're not lowering and you're raising up you're saying that is of and since is not it's only therefore in both of the they stay in the same place. It's godliness as a thing not godliness as a potential as a possible thing but it's godliness as a thing that no one will ever know because this hiddenness is not even hidden from us it's hidden by itself. So the Reb brought the and enhanced with and by juxtaposing it against but when you finish with the you're exactly the same place that you started in I think so it's again this is blasphemy it's as if the quote just to bring the which means I'm missing something is not just bringing the to the want to say something I just don't know what I don't know what the is trying to say about addition. But one thing is certain to me that the difference between the two ways of understanding whether is the same as or it's above is not bringing down it's raising up and remains the same place. It's a but it's higher. Now the complexity becomes what about this level called St. Kates in this particular scheme there seems to be no room for it and Kates is not part of this conversation at all. So the idea that says in B and in other places that is St. hates is not on the table or to say it in different words. In the second interpretation is in the first interpretation. The idea that Kates is is lower than both of those. It's a third level. It's lower than both of those. And don't worry about it. Really, it's it's not important for us right now. The only thing that's important for us right now is to appreciate two sides of a particular coin. The coin is called there's a level of godness which is exists. It's not part of the possibility of existence and it's not hiding from anything. It's an essence of hiddenness. It's hidden by itself. And whether it's the same level is higher than it is details. It really is details. The Reb brings us from the both possibilities. But what we're going to walk away from is and now I'm going to sort of use my own words is that is not a relative concept. The idea that there's a level of godliness which is hidden from all levels of godliness that are hidden doesn't have levels period. It's just one idea. Whether it is or it's lower than is based on how you translate is always going to remain the same thing. Those are the two characteristics. Let's finish this paragraph. When you go back to the godness which is hard in all things high hidden from all things hidden which is godliness that's removed from the world who saw its hiddenness is not the relationship with the creation. Its hiddenness is not even relationship with things that are hidden from the creation. Its hiddenness is its own definition. Just like the is called there's a from the Reb quotes that phrase hidden by himself and writes in the footnote that's just how Hashem is described hidden not from anything hidden means a state of hiddenenness a state of I like to use that word and ide it's a is hidden. This is not because of our inability to receive it. Hiddenness is by itself. There's no relation with revelation whatsoever. So we're we're exhausted. Yeah. But we're not finished. I'm going to read on. And I want you to understand that this may come as a surprise to you. This is the easy sh of this. The hard sham are the next ones because the next ones are making the point of this pedic that the godlessness that nobody knows and nobody could know. We have we have and we know it and we benefit from it. How does that work? So you have to come back for that on Friday. I hope by then I will have wrapped my mind a little bit around the substance of this m and we're reading on we're reading I'm reading just a little bit more. Okay, we're reading a little bit more and we're going to go back to the two levels of godliness. We just spent a lot of time singling [snorts] out which is godliness which is hidden by itself. We're going to go back a little bit to the two levels of godliness. But we're heading in a direction and the direction is how the level of godness which we don't know we can't know and no one will ever know is ours. We'll stop then and we'll leave that for the next class. So let's continue to read the beginning of the previous continues and he says although our pic is primarily about the godliness is nobody knows it but we do have two levels of godliness. that are both two different levels. So the says let's explore the difference between these two levels that the godness which is higher than high without an end and low and low beyond the purpose is two levels of godliness that are indirect in other words two levels of godliness which is hidden hidden from us and hidden by itself hidden in a way that's called direct light or hidden a way which is called indirect light. Hidden away the way of direct light means that today it's hidden tomorrow it's going to be revealed. Hidden the way of indirect light means that even tomorrow you're not going to know it. Hidden in a way that's direct is hidden but near to us. Hidden from us which means today it's hidden could be revealed and is hidden indirectly. It's an indirect it's not only not revealed has no connection to the content revelation at all. steam or the steam and it's hidden from all levels of godness which are hidden from the creation or maybe to illustrate the difference between hidden and really hidden. Yeah. Hidden from us and hidden absolutely he gives an example is in the way of and the example that he gives is a very simple one teaching a student. So you're going to have three levels. What the teacher teaches, what the teacher doesn't teach, and what the teacher cannot teach. The teacher is a lot smarter than his student. Nevertheless, the teacher contracts and arranges his thoughts and his ideas in a way that the student should be able to receive what the teacher is teaching and actually understand it. And he continues and he says, scabulates what the student gets, what the teacher has to teach is the little part of what the teacher knows and teaches that the student actually understands and says in pervades him becomes one with him the nature of the oneness between a person and ideas of is explained in chapter five which we learned a few days ago is it's a light which is called means revealed it's about coming to the student the student gets it but the student gets it in a way that he's able to collect it he's able to own it becomes one with him but we're talking about a teacher and we're talking about a student who's learning from a teacher so obviously there's more to what the teacher knows than what the student is getting there is a depth of ideas The student is not getting it. The part of this idea that the student is not receiving is love is hidden or indirect in relationship with the student. Yeah, it's there but it's removed. However, it's beyond the student's understanding today, but it's not beyond the student's understanding ever. is now he doesn't know it but it's close enough to him that'll be able to get it later on which is called it's hidden but close hidden and near in other words has a relationship with and proximate to what the student is able to know and the qualifies it bringing a which is very famous to us because spoke about this when he had 40 years of the previous proves this from the which brings In the end it takes for till 40 years a teacher is not a student is not going to know. teacher teaches and at the end of 40 years he will know that this does not mean after 40 years learns again when the teacher teaches and then he figures it out but rather when you reach 40 you understand more deeply but you learned 40 years before. So you teach yourself something 40 years ago and you for your whole life you think about it and 40 years later you say aha I finally get it. So what you didn't know you also knew it just took a little while for it to be flushed out. I want you to know that there's a there's two veb that the said about himself that the says it takes 40 years for a student to understand the mind of his teacher. quote I reached the level of understanding of my teacher the same day he taught said and the second is a very beautiful I heard this story from our that his father was and he used to travel as a he used to travel for and he would go into the toes when he came back from his trips and he would bring the list of the money and the names of the It was a whole sad if you were a shad how you went into the but had a policy that if you were a shad you had to be paid you had take a percentage of what you raised the bishov was a businessman he had a matzah bakery he didn't need anybody's money so he told theb that he doesn't want to take a percentage and the said to him if you don't get paid you can't work for me that's a policy you have to get paid so he told the okay I'll take I'll take spirituality So the said what do you want? What do you want? So he told theb had been discussing that it was 1990 that 40 years a heart to know eyes to see and ears to hear. So he told the I'll take as my payment for raising money for mid. And the says all that you want all three things. So he told the okay I'll take one says no no no don't back off you asked for all three stick to it that was the conversation he the wanted to pay him he said I don't want the's money so what do you want I'll take okay what do you want so the had been talking about okay I'll take sobb tells him so much okay I'll take less said no don't back away ask for all three and tak stay with it getting back to the mime what is for Sure. True is that when you understand your teacher better many years later, it's not because he retaches it. It's because you finally have what you got 40 years before. So the Reb says ideas that until now you couldn't understand that you suddenly understand which proves that 40 years before the teacher said it and you didn't get it all some proximity to you 40 years on you figured it out when you heard it it was hidden from you over the 40 years it became revealed to you but what is revealed to you it's revealed from what you got 40 years ago which mean even 40 years ago was close enough to you that one day you'll get it. So you have what you get right away that's pi and you get what's hidden and going to be revealed eventually it's called but then there's something else this is only the level that after 40 years or whatever number of years you are going to figure it out we all understand that the teacher and the teacher is that is a whole different level than the student altogether there are ideas by the teacher that okay such is even after 40 years you'll never get them. A thousand years you won't get them because it's hidden from you in the kind of way that it's remote. It's removed from you. You have no proximity to it whatsoever. And that's a is today I'll know tomorrow. I'll never know it. And that's aim. So in this class we established that are two levels and therefore we established we're talking about not but the mater of and we explained how even though aid is insafe because it's only it can have lower levels and higher levels and we explained that is a level of godness which is so high that whether it's the same as lower than it's going to remain the and we gave a and we're stopping right in the middle of a sentence. I'm stopping right here because in my humble opinion, this is the turning point in the m we just explained. We explained how we can't know it. Now begins the more important conversation that this level of god that we can't know. We have because we're the we're the simple soldier for whom the king gave the the the treasure that they gave to us that we should use to win the war. bring him mashia said ku. So a level of godness which we don't know, we can't know, we'll never know is ours. How does that work? So this you got to come back on Friday. Okay. I unless something unforeseen happens, there's not going to be another class before Friday morning. And I'll see you then at 8mm. Thank you for being there and listening to me. I appreciate it. Good morning. [music]