The Clear Vision and the Clouded Vision ויקהל משה A New Kabbalah class by Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz

Welcome to our class on this. We're going to be learning a beautiful discourse in the Reb name of the discourse is called the Reb said this discourse in Shabas. That year was it was also the 27th day of the month of Adar the first which is also the Shabas that blessed the second Adar in the year which is exactly 67 years ago. So again the discourse is based on the opening verse where it says gathered all the Jewish people and he tells them these are the words that God commanded us to do. So now literally what is it referring to? It's referring to the Mishka and the tabernacle. But before he tells him about the tabernacle, he starts with the instruction about keeping Shabbat. Why? To teach us that even though we're excited about the Mishkan, but no work in the Mishkan can happen if it desecrates the Shabbat. And therefore, he had to go ahead and gather all the Jewish people. Why? because we're talking about the Mishkan, the tabernacle, which is a general uh communal place that applies to all the Jewish people because we know the Mishk where it says in the God said I'm going to dwell amongst you and like just like in the beginning of creation as we know the world was created complete and as we know when Hashem created the world the the main presence of Hashem was felt in this world. So now we're talking about the Mishkan. Hashem's going to be present. That's why he gathered everyone. Now even though the Mishkan is a general idea, but nevertheless, there's details in the Mishkan. For example, you have the you have the courtyard of the tent of meeting. You have the tent of meeting. You have the holy of holies. Three different areas. And these three areas refer to the different levels the general ideas of all the way the worlds are created which is called as we know there's three worlds and that's the what are the three worlds that's the world the infinite world before and then you have and then you have bri he's dividing into three three different regions the infinite before Atsulus, the world of Atsulus. And then he's grouping together Bri at which is connected to the three areas in the courtyard of the tent of meeting, the tent of meeting and the holy of holies and also in the curtains that they hung in the in the Mishkan. So curtains is spiritually is connect to mak things that hover over like it's like it's known but nevertheless it was different levels because you had the lower curtains you had the uh the curtains that was made out of of the goats you had the g the curtains that were made out of of of ram and then you have the kashim. So you had three different types but and and and how much more so when it came to the vessels of the mishk you had different different vessels you had the shul on the table the monora the misbak which is connected to the internal light so obviously there's multiple levels so what he's saying is even though the mishk is general but you have multiple details within it now the the general preparation which you need for all the mish for everything in the tabernacle is like the ver the Torah tells us that that you would have to wash your hands and your feet. And what in which vessel was that? That was the wash basin. And this preparation you needed for everything in the Mishk. even for the courtyard of the of the tent of meeting and like it says clearly in the Torah when you come into the or if you want to come into the misbay which was in the courtyard of the tent of meeting and therefore we find that when because this was the first introduction there was a special participation of moenu like it says in reference to all the the the commandments of the mishk that moenu gathered the Jewish people and putting in the water in the basin and the washing he also moan participated it like it says clearly that you should put water in there to wash and they're they're going to go ahead moisture is going to wash and was not only for that generations for all future generations and like the Talma says that the the the wash basin had to be enough that there should be enough water to be able to wash four priests just like when it was originally made that who washed who washed over there moish Rabenu Aaron and Aaron's two two sons and for all gener generation it's important the participation of Mosherenu in the wash basin why because the wash basin is a general idea a general vessel so now that we realize we're dealing with the Mishkan and what's the introduction to everything the wash basin we have to understand what's this wash basin so we understand it based on the things that were used to make the wash basin. Because the wash basin, you never use that word in Yiddish. It represents represents itself with also ideas that it was made from. Now, the wash basin was made from the mir I'll say it in Hebrew the mirrors that the the Jewish women used to make themselves beautiful and like to explain that lent in and many places inic discourse that says maro plural multiple mirrors now what does that mean on a physical level physical multiple mirrors what does it mean spiritually so the I'll say it in Hebrew I'll translate aspario hamero and aspar A vision which is clear, which shines and a vision which is not so clear, which doesn't shine so clearly. What does that mean? So he explains what does that mean? You have a a a specular a vision that that that shines clearly and a practical spiritual level. So we'll understand it from the reward of serving Hashem because we know that what is mitzvah? What's the reward of doing a mitzvah? Not a physical prize. No, doing the mitzvah, that's the reward. They have a connection with Hashem. Now, where do we get the reward for doing the mitzvah? Where's that start? It starts in the garden of Eden. And in reference to the Garden of Eden, Kal tell us that the righteous people are sitting and they have crowns on their head and they're literally basking and enjoying the ray of theina. And it's explained, what does that mean that sadikim are sitting? Yeah, they're totally internalizing it. What does it mean? The crown is on the head. That's Mak. So the sitting means internalizing. The crown is Makave. And that gets internalized, which means they're enjoying that powerful light, which means they're able to take it and internalize it because in the Garden of Eden, what happens in the Garden of Eden, that's what God's revealed. And that's the difference between the Garden of Eden and this world. Because even though in this world God's in this world but in this world God is yeah he's here but he's concealed and that's why the creation of the world comes from which name of Hashem which has the numerical value of nature and like nature is like the verse says that the nature the light is sunk into the earth which means it gets it gets swallowed up it gets concealed. Whatever use in in Yiddish, it's it gets totally dissolved and covered up. Now, even though you have everything complete, Hashem is here. Everything you have here, but he's concealed. However, in the Garden of Eden, godliness is revealed. And that's why it says they sit and they they're able to enjoy the ray of the of the presence of and the and and enjoyment comes when something that's revealed. Now even though in both of them in this world and the garden of Edim you have in both of them the both names of and the name like it says clearly that when it comes to the garden of Eden it says both names of and in this world it says that used and to create the heaven and the earth but that's a difference between the way you have two names that are interconnected know and know the question is what's the primary force you have both names whe what's the primary force is it basically is within it or is it mainly is in it what does that mean which basically the main name is which is a finite name and that's the name that's revealed and the name is but it's concealed so the same thing als also in the world that even though yes you do have this name but the fact is this that you have the strong force and what's revealed is shame because the way the world operates it operates based on the shame elohim which is we said she shame is the numerical value of nature and the name v is concealed in this world and that's why it says she the sun and m the protection is a va yutk represented by the And alohim is is the protection just like when you have a son and you have the protection. So even though you have the sun but it's being protected by it shield and the sun is concealed and what gets revealed is the protection. So the same thing also when it comes to name yudkim in the world that the name um is is the one that's revealed and the name yudk is concealed that takes place in this world. However in the garden of Eden it's just the opposite. It's of what does that mean? The main name is that's the part that's revealed. And the name Elohim is only that through there should shine through Shamloim. And that's why in the garden of Eden the revelation comes through the sphere of Malus because every re revelation comes through Malus but it's in a way that it's totally reveal. It's revealing which is higher than everything goes through all the spheres. It comes through but what comes through and revealed by and that's when it says they literally able to enjoy the the ray of the which means they're able with the the essence of godliness is revealed and like it says in that z the ray is a sphere of and we know that is the end of the infinite worlds that know it's referring to creation not the creator creator not the creation so knows the difference between the garden of Ens is just like the difference between Malus which is the beginning of um things that were created and which is the end of the infinite part of Hashem. Now so based on this says we we don't understand how is it possible that a soul which is a creation should benefit from the ray of the which is the essence of godliness. Now even though you didn't say what do you mean the soul is a part of God and you even say mam it's literally a part of a god but the fact is how is a soul created so the souls were created from the level of rakia and like it's like explained in in in the discourse in the holiday of tish three components there's which is light there's which is water and then there's the raia the heaven what is rakia that's when the water got solidified. In other words, even though the that the raka comes from water, but it becomes something else, becomes a solidified being. It's a raka. So, how is it possible that the soul doesn't come directly from water? It comes from rakia and becomes a it becomes something that's created. How is it possible the soul can benefit from the ray of theina in the garden of Eden? That's that's question number one and more differences we don't understand because the fact is world and the garden of Eden you can't compare and just like you can't compare the difference between something that's created and the creator and that's why we find that when you when they would there's an elevation from this world to the garden of Ed Eden you have to go through a a a powerful um um level of a transformation which is called nahar dinner which basically this this this spiritual place that you're going from this world to the garden of Eden when you go through the process of nahar dinner it affects that you literally forget everything that took place in this world and then after you forget everything you can go ahead and enjoy the garden of Eden why is that because when a person leaves this world to the garden of Eden it's not like it's going from to one level to the next no you can't compare because when you go from one level to the next where there's a there's a relative connection so you don't have to you have to forget the previous previous level and the contrary comprehension of the previous level it's a preparation for the next level so you'll appreciate something higher and like we find that after a person studies something so it takes 40 years 40 years to have full comprehension but and then you comprehend the way the teacher we teach understood which means it's called the internal intellect but how do you Get there by meditating on the intellect that you received from your teacher 40 years ago. And whatever you you went through in these 40 years, then you comprehend you you you you create the internal connection. And the same thing also applies with all the levels when things go down from one world to the next. Like it says in the Torah, there was the the ladder that was standing there was the feet was on the ground and the head was in heaven. So when you go and you have an an upgrade from level to to to to one level to the next. So you first have you go through the first first level and then you go to the next level like just like you have you have rungs on the ladder and so when do we say that there's a connection and you go from one to that's when there's there's some kind of relative connection between one and the other. But on the other hand here we're dealing with when you're leaving this world to the garden of e Eden you literally have to forget everything. So what do you see from here that the that the levels you can't compare the connection and the same thing also from go from the garden of Eden to the garden of Eden within their different levels even though they're all called garden of Eden but the fact is you can't compare it's like off the charts the the the different connection. Why is that? Because the garden of Eden, like we said before, comes from which sphere? From the sphere of your side, which is the end of the infinite worlds. In other words, the light is infinite and therefore all the levels of garden and Eden are infinite compared to the compared to the lower level. And therefore when you go when you go you have the elevation from the garden of Eden to the next garden of Eden you have to literally totally forget and nullify the previous level and like we mentioned before the idea of the narr which is one process that it takes you to forget from one level to the next or is another level talks in an a beam in the garden of Eden which also creates a total disconnect between one level and the next why is that because you're going from one level to the next you can't compare here they're they're they're there's infinite infinite space between them and like we understand that when it comes to tora because the whole idea of tora is tora is much higher than the worlds and to is so to speak infinite compared to the world and in terra itself there's multiple levels like we like we find of zera that he fasted 100 fasts to forget the to the Babylonian so should he should be able to appreciate the Jerusalem Talmud. So based on that comes the big question. How is it possible that a soul which is a creation could benefit from the ray of the in the garden of Eden which is infinite and especially as it's multiple levels in the garden of Eden. So says idea is based on what's explained when it says in the Torah Moherenu he was leaving this world and he was going to heaven. So he went into the cloud and then he went up to the mountain. In other words with his body went in he went in heaven and we know when he went to heaven he didn't eat he didn't drink because basically he ate the bread of strong people which does that mean he ate the the the the the ray of the that's what that's what fueled him. So the question is how is it possible that a creation like Moenu should be able to receive from the even from the level of of the soul and how much more from the level of his body because the fact is Mo's body received he didn't wasn't eating food he was receiving from the so what does it what does it say beforehand went into the cloud what is the effect of the cloud the cloud creates or it conceals the real strength strength of the power and the shine of the light. It doesn't totally conceal it, but it creates a concealment that through the concealment you can have the light, which is similar. We're going to go back to the word we used before asparia. You have a vision which you can actually see. In other words, the aspicular conceals on the real intense power and therefore you can you can see the light. It's like a filter and as we know when he prophesied he prophesies this is what God is saying which basically what does it mean spiritually he was he had a lens a lens a vision that you can see right through it and that's why it says went into the cloud because through the garment of the cloud which is called was able to to to to sustain himself and even his physical physical body from the and the say so based on this well understand every single Jewish person with our soul that through learning tora and doing the mitzvah which is the intellect and the will of Hashem that came down to this world they are compared to a specario a lens which shines right through and that becomes a garment for the soul in the garden of Eden that through these garments you benefit and enjoy theina like it's explained in in Tanya. Now we explained before that it says they brought maros multiple multiple lenses and what do we say that there's two types of lenses. There's the asperclaria the lens which you can shine right through and then you have the claria which doesn't shine right through. What does that mean? So the idea that that lens that doesn't shine in a clear way that means that the lens there's a there's a covering which covers up and conceals that you can see the thing obviously doesn't conceal it totally but it conceals enough that you cannot see the thing the way it is and you see like an image of it and that's the purpose of of a cover because without a cover so it would come you would have in cabalistic terminology is called you would have a straight light coming through but through the cover you have a light which is called so you have like an image of it but this cover has to be a very thin cover because if it's going to be a thick cover it will swallow up the whole light up to the point you're not going to know that it's even there like the analogy they use when when when the one animal swallowed and and they didn't become fat you didn't notice that that that anything happened it would totally consider it so you need to have a very thin cover. Now, besides the fact that the cover doesn't totally conceal it because it comes through, you have but more than that that there's a quality even on a higher level with a with a with a lens which does shine through through because by a lens which you can see through so you can see not only you you see yourself and you see what's behind you but when you have a clear lens no you can't see what's behind on you. See, each one so to speak has a pro and a con. Now, with this, we'll understand what what the what the the Talmet said, what it what it says in in in the prophet Isaiah. And the prophet says, the prophet, I saw God. But the question is it says, Hashem says, God says, you can't see me and live. So, how's it possible to prophesy, I saw God, when Hashem says, you can't see me and live. And explains because all the prophets they prophesize with a lens that you can see clearly mo and because they can't see clear. They can say they saw but they didn't really see. They saw it through a lens which totally blurs it out. But mosher had a different lens. He had a lens that you can see straight through. And when a lens that can't you can see straight through. Hashem said you can't see me. In other words, the concealment of a lens that you cannot see through clearly, you can technically see higher because it's a it's a light which is totally distorted. What does that mean practically? It's a light that shines through the work of the animal soul because basically the animal soul is something which covers up and conceals the light. But it's not a total thick covering because there is some good in the animal soul and especially when the godly soul works with the animal soul and refineses the animal soul. So even though he remains an animal, it's covered up, but it's but it's it's a it's a thin cover. And the light that shines through the animal soul is we call there some kind of light that does go through that you have a quality that you can reach a place that you can't really go there with a straight light because it's because it's too clear and you need the obstruction to be able to be able to go deeper. And this is the reason why the soul came down into the body and into the animal soul which is a tremendous downgrade because the soul is we said from where? From the level of rakia and high and and and of a higher level in its source a constant level of water and even higher from the level of light and even a higher even the level of light which is before the sensum. In other words, these three levels of light, water and and and heaven, you also have before the tsunam before the contraction and even before the tsunam the source of the soul is in the level of light and even higher like it says with the king they sat there and when Hashem wanted to create the world who he's consulted with with the souls of sadikim. So they were at the highest level and from there it went down into the into the body into the animal soul which is obviously a tremendous downgrade. But nevertheless this whole downgrade is worth it because of the elevation that happens because of it. Like it says you read that. So therefore you must say that when you have the elevation it goes to the higher than the source of the soul. So even though the source is very high but through the downgrade you can go even higher. Why is that? And he explains like this because the level of raia which we said is basically water that beca that became hard which is becomes it's finite and even the level of water which doesn't have any measure because the fact is water is water is natural and you know water changes based on based on the size of the vessel the color of the vessel and even light which is even more pure and more infinite. But since it is light, it also has it has also has some kind of limitation cuz even the level of light which is comes before the sinsum. So obviously the fact that it's light and it's and and and it's not something else obviously it's f it's limited to the fact that it's light and even though that light has the same components as the source of light but in order to reach true infinity yeah the soul has to come down to this world has to go deal with an animal soul which is totally the opposite of godliness but when you work with your animal soul you're able to reach the level of infinite that a human being can reach like it says in with all your might and you're able to draw down from even from higher than the true infinite because we know that Hashem I'll say it in Hebrew I'll translate something which is called mid when you do your part when you break and you able to transform your animal soul hashem gives you infinite blessings and therefore when a person does their work which means you transform your animal soul you reach true infinite which is the essence of Hashem. Now even with the level of which means the the lens and you can see right through there's still a concealment because basic because the the lens does conceal the intensity of the light and and the what's shining and like we explained in reference to learning to and doing mitzvah which we know is the intellect and the will of Hashem but nevertheless you're not dealing with the intellect the will of Hashem itself. You're dealing with physical things which is concealed and this the fact that it can conceal and you can take in the light. So obviously it source is much higher and therefore can be contained within the light but the fact is in this world it gets conceal it gets concealed. So now explains that's the idea of the maroy the the the mirror the mirrors and it says plural mirrors and both of them are are what does that mean that when the Jewish people left Egypt what would the Jewish people called they were called Hashem soldiers in God's army and the name is referring to godliness in the worlds of Bria and like we know in reference specifically that she's the first one that started to call hem the name. Now however when it tells Hashem what does that mean that the soldier is nullified tok and that's what's called the where you the the creations of hem are totally accepting to godliness which is to what level of godliness which is higher in the worlds that's why he says mar what does that mean because mara basically conceals and even a level of aar you could see it's concealing and because of the concealment you have you have you have a physical creation but the our goal is to create an level of acceptance in what was created and specifically in the soul because the soul came down here in the in this world in the concealment of the body and the animal soul what's our spiritual work that we need to be ci we need to be dedicated to it means we need to be secondary and totally accepting tok the infinite part of Hashem. How do we do that? When we meditate on the idea of that we're a soldier that we're assigned in Hashem's army and everything comes from Hashem. Everything that was created in in its being and in its physical reality and the 70 nations etc. When a person meditates that it's really all hashem and so you literally nullify the concealment and you affect that you can be at you're a soldier fork that everything is totally nullified to y to the infant part of and just like we do in the when we pray in the morning we pray that we first start off with the we speak at the praise of hashem and then we do the blessings of and then we do thema itself and then we come to the we realize it's all about hem now this basin that we used which is made from the to to to inspire us to meet us a soldier in God's army was made of copper. Why? Because you have to have which means you have to have the power and the strength of a lion not to be afraid of people that make fun. And when you take away the concealment you reach the highest level. And like we learned before, the power of the light that comes from the dark spaces. And that's why the verse says through through the the the the rock, the concealment. Hashem showed his his image and you hear the voice because what is it referring to? It's referring to the soul and the soul is basically in in the concealment. When the soul comes into the body and to the animal soul and especially in exile and specifically through there through the concealment you can harani you can see the most powerful light of Hashem. Now from these mirrors they made the wash basin. What does that mean? Taking away the concealment and going ahead and transforming the body and the animal soul. And that's why he says they would wash their hands and their feet. Because what is hands? The hands are physical hands. What is spiritual hands referring to? Our emo emotions. And they would wash their hands which means transforming our emotions. They would wash the feet. What is their feet referred to spiritually? The garments. What are the garments? Thought, speech, and action. They would wash it means they would take away the the the negative garments. And like we know it says that there was there was dirt on their feet which is referring to the malus of kipah which is the the thought speech and action of the not the other side of holiness. And um and from here became the basin from from these from these uh mirrors which basically is a spiritual work of taking away all the concealment and the all by by doing this comes a preparation for everything in the mishk. Once you do this first, you know, it's based on when you're going whether you're going into the tent of meeting or you're coming to bring a sacrifice in the courtyard of the of the tent of meeting. And like we said that the the like we said in the beginning of discourse that the oil moy is the is is the referring to the level of and the courtyard of the tent of meeting is the world of bri. So in order that is to be in included in the world of which is the place of the altar which is the bringing the sacrifice and when you come close to the to to the sacrifice into the mo which is also the world of briah because the fact is all the transformation takes place where in the level of and especially when you come into the tent of meeting which means you become one with the world and like he says of it was made out is made up of four letters which stands for that basically the real power of on high from know when we we go ahead as an introduction of doing the work in the in in the in the tabernacle we totally become one with Hashem how do we do that through we learn And let's explain that land in the from the alterb and the discourse of and that's why participated in the in the wash basin because personifies what the acceptance of ma and even more than that like it says and the level of ma because through the level of ma acceptance you're able to go ahead and and get involved in any level of the service in the in the tabernacle. And now we'll understand even more why the k the washb is a general idea in the mishkun. Why? Because what's the whole idea of the mishkun bringing godliness after god forgave us for the sin the day after yam kipper where god forgave us. So Mosha gathered the Jewish people that we should be we should reach the level before the sin but not only before even higher because we know when a person repents could fly the Shia you get you get double reward and that's the whole idea of the kia the wash basin that was made from these powerful mirrors that through the concealment you get even higher the level of you go back to the highest level and that's why gathered all the people because you have to gather not just the physical people, all the power, all the garments of thought, speech and action and all the internal powers and who had to gather them specifically. Why? Because Misha represented the idea of ma acceptance and the level of ma of ma the ultimate acceptance and through that you're able to bring down godliness into the tabernacle just like it was in the beginning of creation even higher and the and the goal is that mikdash to make hashem a sanctuary and a holy place and god will dwell in there. Here we have another powerful, beautiful discourse in the Reb. And let's hope and pray we do our part of taking away the concealment of gullus. We're going to merit for God to be revealed. And next class will be have a great and blessed week. Shàu