Lesson #34. Building a Good Environment: From Within and Beyond - 2
Part 1: Building a Good Environment: From Within and Beyond - 2
Selected Excerpts from the Sources
1. Each and every individual in society is like a wheel that is linked to several other wheels placed in a machine. This single wheel has no freedom of movement in and of itself but continues with the motion of the rest of the wheels in a certain direction to qualify the machine to perform its general function.
And if there is some malfunction in the wheel, the malfunction is not evaluated relating to the wheel itself, but according to its service and role with respect to the whole machine.
- Baal HaSulam, "Peace in the World"
2. If several individuals come together with the force that it is worthwhile to abandon self-love, but without the sufficient power and importance of bestowal to become independent, without outside help, if these individuals annul before one another and all have at least potential love of the Creator, though they cannot keep it in practice, then by each joining the society and annulling oneself before it, they become one body.
For example, if there are ten people in that body, it has ten times more power than a single person does.
However, there is a condition: When they gather, each of them should think that he has now come for the purpose of annulling self-love. It means that he will not consider how to satisfy his will to receive now, but will think as much as possible only of the love of others. This is the only way to acquire the desire and the need to acquire a new quality, called “the will to bestow.”
And from love of friends one can reach love of the Creator, meaning wanting to give contentment to the Creator.
- RABASH, Article No. 6 (1984), "Love of Friends – 2"
3. The essence of the assembly is for everyone to be in one unity and for all to seek but one purpose: to find the Creator. In every ten there is the Shechina [Divinity]. Clearly, if there are more than ten then there is more revelation of the Shechina. Thus, each one should assemble with his friend and come to him to hear from him a word about the work of the Creator, and how to find the Creator. He should annul before his friend, and his friend should do the same toward him, and so should everyone do. Then, when the assembly is with this intention, then “More than the calf wants to suckle, the cow wants to nurse,” and the Creator approaches them and He is with them, and great mercies and good and revealed kindness will be extended over the assembly of Israel.
- Maor VaShemesh, VaYechi
4. One must disclose the love in his heart towards the friends, since by revealing it he evokes his friends’ hearts toward the friends so they, too, would feel that each of them is practicing love of friends. The benefit from that is that in this manner, one gains strength to practice love of friends more forcefully, since every person’s force of love is integrated in each other’s.
- RABASH, Article No. 2, (1984) "Concerning Love of Friends"
5. One should depict his friend as serving the Creator more than him, […] and “authors’ [also counters’] envy will increase wisdom.” By this, he will grow increasingly stronger in the work of the Creator. This is the meaning of “Each one is burned by his friend’s canopy,” from the word “fervor.” By seeing that his friend’s canopy is bigger than his, a fire will burn in him and his soul will further ignite toward the work of the Creator, and he will attain more attainments of Godliness.
- Maor VaShemesh, Portion Yitro
6. Each one should try to bring into the society a spirit of life and hopefulness, and infuse energy into the society. Thus, each of the friends will be able to tell himself, “Now I am starting a clean slate in the work.” In other words, before he came to the society, he was disappointed with the progress in the work of the Creator, but now the society has filled him with life and hopefulness.
Thus, through society he obtained the confidence and strength to overcome because now he feels that he can achieve wholeness. And all his thoughts—that he was facing a high mountain that could not be conquered, and that these were truly formidable obstructions—now he feels that they are nothing. And he received it all from the power of the society because each and every one tried to instill a spirit of encouragement and the presence of a new atmosphere in the society.
- RABASH, Article No. 30 (1988), “What to Look For in the Assembly of Friends“
7. It is impossible to observe Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] except through Arvut [mutual responsibility], when each one becomes responsible for his friend, since the essence of observing the Torah, which is the desire, is through unity. Therefore, anyone who wants to take upon himself the burden of Torah and Mitzvot, which is mainly through the intensification of the desire, should be included in the whole of Israel with great unity. It follows that precisely through the Arvut, when all are regarded as one, precisely by this they can observe the Torah, since the essence of love and unity is in the desire, when each one is pleased with his friend, there is no disparity of desire between them, and they are all included in one desire. By this they are incorporated in the upper desire, which is the end goal of the unity.
- Likutei Halachot, Hoshen Mishpat, Hilchot Arev
8. Every person should say, “The whole world was created only for me” (Sanhedrin 37). It follows that if the whole world has been created for me, I have to look and delve into the correction of the world at all times, satisfy the needs of the world, and pray for them.
- Likutey Moharan, First Edition, Mark 5
9. Life’s direction is to attain adhesion with Him, strictly to benefit the Creator, or to reward the public with achieving adhesion with Him.
- Baal HaSulam, "The Writings of the Last Generation"
10. By causing the entire world to receive the delight and pleasure that exist in the purpose of creation. It follows that he has become a partner of the Creator in that through him will come the assistance by which everyone will achieve the purpose of creation. Thus, he has become a partner of the Creator.
- RABASH, Article 11 (1987), "Purim, and the Commandment: Until He Does Not Know"
Part 2. The Structure of the Upper Worlds
Items 26-29, 46-49 from the "Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah" >>
The Five Partzufim of AK
26) We have thoroughly clarified the issue of the screen that has been placed in the vessel of Malchut—phase four after having been restricted—and the issue of the five kinds of coupling by striking within it, which produce five levels of ten Sefirot one below the other. Now we shall explain the five Partzufim of AK that precede the four worlds ABYA.
You already know that this reflected light, which rises through the coupling by striking from below upward and dresses the ten Sefirot of the upper light, suffices only for the roots of the vessels, called “the ten Sefirot of the Rosh of the Partzuf.” To complete the vessels, Malchut of the Rosh expands from those ten Sefirot of reflected light that clothed the ten Sefirot of the Rosh and expands from it and within it from above downward to the same extent as in the ten Sefirot of the Rosh. This expansion completes the vessels, called “the Guf of the Partzuf,” as written in Item 14. Hence, we should always distinguish two phases of ten Sefirot in each Partzuf: Rosh and Guf.
27) In the beginning, the first Partzuf of AK emerged. This is because immediately following the first restriction, when phase four was banned from being a vessel of reception for the upper light, and was erected with a screen, the upper light was drawn to clothe in the vessel of Malchut, as before. Yet, the screen in the vessel of Malchut detained it and repelled the light. Through this striking in the screen of phase four, it raised reflected light up to the level of Keter in the upper light, and this reflected light became a clothing and the roots of the vessels for the ten Sefirot in the upper light, called “ten Sefirot of the Rosh” of “the first Partzuf of AK.”
Subsequently, Malchut with the reflected light expanded and extended from her and within her by the force of the ten Sefirot of the Rosh into ten new Sefirot from above downward. This completed the vessels of the Guf. Then, the entire level that emerged in the ten Sefirot of the Rosh clothed in the ten Sefirot of the Guf, as well. This completed the first Partzuf of AK, Rosh and Guf.
28) Subsequently, that same coupling by striking repeated itself on the screen erected in the vessel of Malchut, which has only the coarseness of phase three. And then, only the level of Hochma, Rosh and Guf, emerged on it, since the absence of the screen in the coarseness of phase four caused it to have only four vessels, KHB Tifferet. Hence, the reflected light has room to clothe only four lights, HNRN [Haya, Neshama, Ruach, Nefesh], lacking the light of Yechida. This is called AB of AK.
Afterwards, that same coupling by striking repeated itself on the screen in the vessel of Malchut that contains only the coarseness of phase two. Then, ten Sefirot, Rosh and Guf, at the level of Bina emerged on it. This is called Partzuf SAG of AK. It lacks the two vessels, ZA and Malchut, and the two lights, Haya and Yechida.
Afterward, the coupling by striking emerged on a screen that has only the coarseness of phase one. Then ten Sefirot, Rosh and Guf, emerged at the level of Tifferet, lacking the three vessels, Bina, ZA, and Malchut, and the three lights, Neshama, Haya, and Yechida. It has only the lights Ruach and Nefesh, dressed in the vessels Keter and Hochma. This is called Partzuf MA and BON of AK. Remember the inverse relation between the vessels and the lights, as mentioned in Item 24.
29) Thus we have explained the emergence of the five Partzufim of AK, called Galgalta, AB, SAG, MA, and BON, one below the other. Each lower one lacks the higher phase of its upper one. Partzuf AB lacks the light of Yechida. Partzuf SAG lacks the light of Haya, as well, which its upper one, AB, has. Partzuf MA and BON lacks the light of Neshama, which its upper one, SAG, has.
This is so because it depends on the measure of coarseness in the screen on which the coupling by striking occurs, as explained in Item 18. Yet, we must understand who and what caused the screen to gradually diminish its coarseness, phase by phase, until it divided into the five levels that exist in these five kinds of coupling.
Taamim, Nekudot, Tagin, Otiot [Flavors, Dots, Tags, Letters (TNTO, pronounced Tanta)]
46) Now we have clarified the clash of surrounding light and inner light, occurring after the expansion of the Partzuf into a Guf. This causes the screen of the Guf to be refined, all the lights of the Guf depart, and the screen with the records that remain in it rise to the Peh of the Rosh, where they are renewed with a new coupling by striking, and produce a new level in the measure of coarseness in the records. Now we shall explain the four types of lights, Taamim, Nekudot, Tagin, Otiot, occurring with the clash of surrounding light and the ascents of the screen to the Peh of the Rosh.
47) It has been explained that through the clash of the surrounding light in the screen of the Guf, it refines the screen of all the coarseness of the Guf until it is refined and equalizes with the screen of the Peh of the Rosh. The equivalence of form with the Peh of the Rosh unites them as one, and it is incorporated in the coupling by striking in it.
However, the screen is not refined at once, but gradually: first from phase four to phase three, then from phase three to phase two, then from phase two to phase one, and then from phase one to the root phase. Finally, it is refined from all its coarseness and becomes as refined as the screen of the Peh of the Rosh.
The upper light does not stop shining for even a moment. It couples with the screen at each and every state of its refinement, since once it has been refined of phase four and the entire level of Keter has departed, and the screen has reached the coarseness of phase three, the upper light couples with the screen on the remaining coarseness of phase three and produces ten Sefirot at the level of Hochma.
Afterward, when the screen departs from phase three, too, and the level of Hochma departs, as well, leaving only phase two in the screen, the upper light couples with it on phase two and produces ten Sefirot at the level of Bina. Then, when it has been refined of phase two, too, and this level has departed, leaving only the coarseness of phase one in it, the upper light couples with the screen on the remaining coarseness of phase one and produces ten Sefirot at the level of ZA. And when it has been refined of the coarseness of phase one, too, and the level of ZA has departed, and it remains with only the root of the coarseness, the upper light makes a coupling on the coarseness of the root that remains in the screen and produces ten Sefirot at the level of Malchut.
And when the screen is refined of the coarseness of the root, as well, the level of Malchut departs thence, too, since no coarseness of the Guf remains there. In that state, it is considered that the screen and its records rose and united with the screen of the Rosh, became incorporated there in a coupling by striking and produced a new ten Sefirot over it, called a “son” and a “consequence” of the first Partzuf.
Thus we have explained that the clash of surrounding light and inner light that refines the screen of the Guf of the first Partzuf of AK and elevates it to its Peh of the Rosh, by which the second Partzuf, AB of AK, emerges, is not done at once. Rather, it occurs gradually, as the upper light couples with it at each state in the four degrees it traverses during its refinement, until it equalizes with the Peh of the Rosh.
As has been explained regarding the emergence of the four levels during the refinement of the Guf of the first Partzuf for the purpose of AB, three levels emerge during the time of the refinement of the screen of the Guf of Partzuf AB, as it emanates Partzuf SAG, and similarly in all the degrees. The rule is this: A screen does not become refined at once, but gradually. And the upper light, which does not stop expanding to the lower one, couples with it at each and every degree along its refinement.
48) Yet, these levels, which emerge on the screen during its gradual refinement, are not considered an expansion of real degrees, like the first level that emerged before the beginning of the refinement. Rather, they are considered Nekudot, and they are called reflected light and judgment [Din], since the power of judgment of the departure of the lights is already mingled in them. This is so because in the first Partzuf, as soon as the clash began to occur and it refined the screen of the Guf from phase four, it is considered as having been completely refined, since there is no “some (part)” in the spiritual.
Once it begins to be refined, it has to be refined completely. Yet, since the screen is refined gradually, there is time for the upper light to copulate with it at each degree of coarseness that the screen assumes during its refinement, until it is completely refined. Hence, the force of departure is mingled with the levels that emerge during its departure, and they are considered as only Nekudot and reflected light and judgment.
Therefore, we discern two types of levels in each Partzuf: Taamim and Nekudot. This is so because the first ten Sefirot of the Guf that emerge in each Partzuf are called Taamim, and the levels that emerge in the Partzuf as it refines, after the screen had already begun to be refined until it reaches the Peh of the Rosh, are called Nekudot.
49) The records that remain below, in the Guf, after the departure of the lights of Taamim, are called Tagin, and the records that remain from the levels of the Nekudot are called Otiot, which are vessels. Also, the Tagin, which are the records from the lights of Taamim, hover over the Otiot and the vessels and sustain them.
Thus we have clarified the four types of light, called Taamim, Nekudot, Tagin, Otiot. The first level to emerge in each Partzuf of the five Partzufim called Galgalta, AB, SAG, MA, and BON is called Taamim. The levels that emerge in each Partzuf once it has started to be refined, until it is completely refined, are called Nekudot. The records that remain of the lights of Taamim in each level, after their departure, are called Tagin, and the records that remain from the lights of the levels of Nekudot after their departure are called Otiot or vessels. Remember this in all five Partzufim called Galgalta, AB, SAG, MA, and BON, for in all of them there is refinement and they all have these four types of lights.