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Atzilut is Private Providence The Striking of Thoughts upon Man Against Your Will – 1 If There Is a Virgin Maiden The Meaning of Sins Becoming as Merits A Gentile Who Observes the Sabbath Must Die The Correction of Lines This Is the Path of Torah – 1 A Hedge for Wisdom – Silence - 1 For He Whom the Lord Loves He Admonishes - 1 The Fear of You and the Dread of You Shall Be upon All the Animals of the Earth - 1 The Whole World Is Nourished by My Son Hanina – 1 A Hand on the Throne of the Lord – 1 Thus You Shall Say to the House of Jacob Ordinances The Numbered Things of the Tabernacle – 1 Concerning the Shechina [Divinity] The Garments of the Soul - 1 Beginning to Speak from the Connection with the Creator Concerning the Will to Receive - 1 Sanctification of the Month And You, Israel Behold, I Am Setting Before You The Main Thing We Need The Summoning for the Blessing on the Food Who Will Not Lift Up the Face Three Lines – 1 The Earth Feared and Was Still The Creator Observed Their Works Turn Away from Evil and Do Good – 1 How I Love Your Teaching Man’s Greatness Is According to His Work What Is Amalek, Whose Memory We Must Blot Out TANTA [Taamim, Nekudot, Tagin, Otiot] Find Favor and a Good Mind Who Hears a Prayer Fish Means Worries The Blessing of the Torah Anyone with Whom the Spirit of the People Is Pleased – 1 Concerning Two Witnesses Raising the Hands Serve the Creator with Joy The Discernments of “Woman” and “Sons” in the Torah Ruin by Elders—Construction; Construction by Youths—Ruin Sons of Wise Disciples This Moment and the Next Moment Worse than Everyone Right, Wholeness, and Truth Our Faith in Books and Authors God Made It so that He Would Be Feared Questions in the Work A Kli [vessel] that Holds a Blessing Ani [I] and Ein [nothing/null] A Request for Help You Stand Here Today – 1 Turn Away from Evil and Do Good – 2 Woe unto You Who Await the Day of the Lord The Order of the Work The Difference between Kedusha [holiness] and Sitra Achra [other side] The Meaning of Exile The Work of the Greatest in the Nation Greeks Have Gathered Around Me The War of the Inclination What Is Handsome In the Work? Against Your Will You Live; Against Your Will You Die A Horse to Ride On A Prayer for Life and Nourishments The Degree of “Wicked” Joy and Fear All Bitter Herb [Maror] Old and New The Torah Must Be Received with Both Hands Midnight Correction Faith Above Reason Good Deeds Are Called Sons The Unification of ZON The Ruin of Kedusha [Holiness] Man Determines Nothing New Under the Sun The Meaning of “Torah Lishma [for Her sake]” From Lo Lishma to Lishma Joy that Comes from Dancing Definitions – 1 Exalt the Lord Our God Knowledge and Faith The Testimony of the Creator Upper and Lower It Is All Corrections Passion for Knowledge Suffering and Joy Faith Is Called “Action” The Desire to Bestow – 1 The Need and Importance of Teaching Faith Awakening – 1 Love of Others Colors in the Work What to Ask of the Creator—to Be His Servant Faith Within Reason How Good Are Your Tents, Jacob – 1 Man and the Torah Faith Is Regarded as Above Nature Concerning Shekalim – 1 The Greatness of the Creator Is His Humbleness Foundations The Association of the Quality of Judgment with Mercy Devotion Concerning Suffering – 1 Hochma and Hassadim Raising MAN – 1 Concerning Fear The Torah Is Acquired through Suffering Two Kinds of Repentance Three Things in the World For Your Crimes, Your Mother Was Sent Away The Meaning of Dust A Groom and a Bride Man’s Actions A Palace Run My Beloved Good Taste in Small, Corporeal Things Entry into the Work The Reason for the Faith Moses Is the Quality of Faith Am I In the Place of God? The Whole Earth Is Full of His Glory Mind and Heart Discernments in States As He is merciful, So You Are Merciful Repentance Concerning Shekalim – 2 Inner Keys and Outer Keys Anyone Who Is Settled in His Wine One Learns Only Where One’s Heart Desires One Does Not Toil Over a Meal and Misses It Anyone Who Associates the Aim for the Creator with Another Thing Specifically through a Man and a Woman I Wish They Left Me and Kept My Law Why Israel Are Compared to an Olive Tree Be Mindful with a Minor Commandment as with a Major One – 1 Be Mindful with a Minor Commandment as with a Major One – 2 Be Mindful with a Minor Commandment as with a Major One – 3 I Have a Minor Mitzva [commandment], Whose Name Is Sukkah A Person Builds a Building Turning His Ear from Hearing Torah The Creator Is Meticulous with the Righteous Man and His Role One Who Restrains Himself in Strife The General Public and the Chosen Few Delight Them with a Complete Building – 2 The Meaning of Evil You Have Not a Blade of Grass Below Discernments in a Spiritual Kli [vessel] Man’s Work Prayer Concerning Equivalence of Form Happy Is the Man A Cure before the Blow Noah Was a Righteous Man Anyone with Whom the Spirit of the Creator Is Pleased Mind and Heart The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil The Lord Appeared to Him by the Oaks of Mamre How to Draw Near Him He Who Has No Sons Abraham Begot Isaac And Isaac Was Forty Years Old And Judah Approached Him – 1 And Behold, the Lord Stood Over Him Joy While Learning Torah The Way of the Land Preceded the Torah Jacob Sent Anyone Who Sanctifies the Seventh – 2 The Lord Hears the Poor When Pharaoh Sent the People This Is the Day that the Lord Has Made Hear, O Israel The Lord Your God Was Unwilling to Listen Three Prayers - 1 Save Your Servant, You, My God Your Children, Whom You Said The Counsel of the Lord Ever Stands This Day, the Lord Your God Commands You You Stand Today - 2 The Concealed Things Belong to the Lord Our God Sins Become for Him as Merits There Is Fear Only in a Place of Wholeness What Is Joy? The Ascent of Malchut to Bina The Middle Line Concerning the surrounding lights He Who Comes to Defile “Right” Means Wholeness What It Means to Bear a Son and a Daughter in the Work What Is, He Swallowed Maror [bitter herb], He Will Not Come Out, in the work? Three Lines – 3 Movement Due to Shame You Shall Tithe a Tenth Questions about “Return O Israel” Nourishment Laboring and Finding The Power of Thought The Exile of the Shechina [Divinity] Desire for Spirituality Cast Their Seed Among the Nations General Attainment and Personal Attainment Two Labors Concerning the Goal I Will Remove the Stony Heart The Act Is What Decides Righteous and Wicked The Face of the Lord Is in Evildoers The Upper One Scrutinizes for the Purpose of the Lower One Malchut of the Upper One Becomes Keter to the Lower One Why He Waited until the War Against Amalek And Jethro Heard Those of Little Faith Remember that You Were a Slave Peace at Home Overcoming The Mitzva of Sukkah Anything that the Merciful One Does, He Does for the Best Man’s Inclination Inheritance of the Land Justice, Justice You Shall Pursue By Your Actions, We Know You The Generations of Jacob Joseph If Any Man of You Brings an Offering - 1 Who Despises the Day of Smallness Branch and Root To Admonish Another Annulment - the Baal Shem Tov Way The Quality of Moses Miketz [After] There Has Never Risen a Prophet Like Moses One Who Walks along the Way Action and Thought Tzimtzum The Journeys of the Children of Israel The Measure of Overcoming Man as a Whole Two Discernments in the Kelim Inverse Relation between Lights and Vessels Merging of the Body The Difference between the Soul and the Body It Is Good to Thank the Creator Pleasure Cancels the Mind The Birth of the Moon Bo [Come] We Will Do and We Will Hear – 2 Internality and Externality The Godliness Made the Concealment The Need for Gentiles Dead Fish Turn Away from Evil and Do Good - 4 None as Holy as the Lord The Need for a Kli without Light Three Prayers - 2 Good Writing and Signing Rosh Hashanah The Rosh Hashanah Prayer With a Shofar You Will Renew An Article for Sukkot What Is Hanukah What Is the Miracle of Hanukah The Meaning of Amalek When He Let His Hand Down, Amalek Prevailed Blotting Out Amalek Revealing the Concealment Until He Does Not Know The Meal of a Wicked One His Law He Contemplates Two Opposites I and Not a Messenger Concerning the Environment The Torah Spoke Regarding Four Sons The Need for an Act from Below The More One Speaks of the Exodus from Egypt And he said, “When You Deliver the Hebrew Women” And God Spoke to Moses And I Will Take You as My People Come unto Pharaoh Behold, a People Has Come Out of Egypt The Passover Offering Concerning the Beginning of the Month Peh-Sah [speaking mouth] The First Innovation Concerning the Exodus from Egypt The Duty to Tell the Story of the Exodus from Egypt Concerning the Matza [unleavened bread] The Time of Redemption Questions for the Exodus from Egypt Concerning the Omer [Count] The Exodus from Egypt and the Giving of the Torah The Point in the Heart The Ninth of Av

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Kabbalah Library Home / Rabash / Assorted Notes / Anyone Who Is Settled in His Wine

266. Anyone Who Is Settled in His Wine

March 28, 1962

“Rabbi Hiyya said, ‘Anyone who is settled in his wine has the knowledge of seventy elders. Wine was given in seventy letters, and a secret was given in seventy letters; when wine enters, a secret exits’” (Iruvin 65). RASHI interpreted “settled in his wine,” that “He drinks wine but his mind does not become unsound.” A secret exists, since one whose secret did not come out is tantamount to a Sanhedrin of seventy.

We should ask:

1) According to this, one who wants to be tantamount to the Sanhedrin does not need to labor in Torah and work, and has the simple way of drinking wine while seeing that his mind stays clear.

2) What is the answer that his “secret did not come out”? Does one obtain the same wholeness as the Sanhedrin for not letting out his secret? And what if he did let out his secret? Does one who lets out his secret commit such a grave transgression as to say that for this he loses his value, that he is no longer regarded as the seventy Sanhedrin? And if he keeps himself from letting out, does he have the same value as the Sanhedrin?

We should understand that in ethics. The path of Torah is for one to believe in the Creator without any knowledge or attainment, but only above attainment and reason. Then, when he engages in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments], he is regarded as a Jew. Conversely, one who wants to be a servant of the Creator only in a manner of knowing and attainment, this is regarded as idol-worship (as explained in the Sulam [Ladder commentary on The Zohar] in several places).

Even when he is later rewarded with attainment and knowledge, he must not take this as support for the work, meaning to say that now he is delighted that he has attainment, that he has become liberated from the burden of faith, that he had work having to go above reason, that it is a great effort and now he is happy that he does not need to exert over faith and is freed from carrying that load called “as an ox to the burden and as a donkey to the load.”

Rather, he must understand that being rewarded with attainment, now he is happy that he sees that the path he was on before, the path of faith, which is the view of Torah, is the real way. And the proof is that now he has been rewarded with nearing the Creator, that the Creator has given him the attainment.

Hence, now he receives strength from attainment so he can continue to walk on the path of faith. It follows that the attainment is support for faith in a way that he continues to walk on the path of faith.

This is not so. To the contrary, if he takes faith as support for attainment, meaning that faith is a means to be rewarded with attainment, so when he achieves the goal he throws away the means. Therefore, he kicks out the faith and takes to himself the way of going only where he has attainment. This is not the Jewish view.

As Baal HaSulam interpreted, there is the matter of the herdsmen of Abraham’s cattle and the herdsmen of Lot’s cattle. The herdsmen of Abraham’s cattle are called “Abraham’s possessions.” This is the quality of faith, as Abraham is called “the father of faith.”

“Herdsmen” means nourishments, which means that the attainment and reason that he receives are in order to strengthen the faith, that the attainment is proof that we must walk in the above-mentioned ways, meaning he takes it as proof. It follows that when we walk on the path of faith, the Creator brings him closer and gives him the light of Torah.

This is not so concerning the herdsmen of Lot’s cattle. “Lot” means a curse, from the word Latia [Aramaic: cursed]. This means that one who receives attainment in order to be able to serve the Creator within reason, from this extends a curse, meaning that the light of Torah departs from him and he remains bare and destitute.

The reason we must walk in the ways of faith is that there is the matter of reception in mind and in heart, and reception in mind is called “knowing,” thus far the gist of his words.

With all the above, we can interpret the words of Rabbi Hiyya, “Anyone who is settled in his wine.” “Wine” means the wine of Torah, as it is written in The Zohar, meaning the light of Torah, which is considered that he is being shown the secrets of Torah. This is regarded as attainment and knowledge.

“Anyone who is settled in his wine” means that by receiving the light of Torah, his mind does not become unsound, meaning the reason that he had before he received the wine of Torah is not lost, meaning it does not disappear from him. On the contrary, the reason that he had before becomes settled within him.

By obtaining the wine of Torah, his mind becomes settled. This requires walking in the ways of faith, that he took from here a proof that the way of faith is the real way, and the evidence of this is that the Creator has brought him closer and has given him the light of Torah. It follows that through the light of Torah, the mind that he had prior to being rewarded with wine becomes settled within him.

This is the meaning of “When wine enters, a secret exits.” A secret is called “faith,” since something in which there is no attainment or reason is considered a secret. Hence, when wine, which is attainment, enters, a secret comes out, for the Torah is regarded as revealing, which is the opposite of the secret.

For this reason, one who has been rewarded with the light of Torah and does not let out a secret, meaning that the faith he had had before does not come out of him and he continues to walk in a manner of secret, he is tantamount to seventy Sanhedrin. By the quality of faith growing stronger in him, he becomes similar to the Sanhedrin.

Although they were regarded as “the eyes of the congregation,” for they have been rewarded with the wisdom of the Torah, they still maintained themselves in the quality of faith. Hence, a person who has been rewarded with the wine of Torah and does not let out the secret, and remains with his view to continue to walk in the manner of the secret although now he has revelation and attainment, he is like the seventy Sanhedrin.

This is the meaning of “Wine was given in seventy letters, and a secret was given in seventy; when wine enters, a secret exits,” since in every thing there is Panim [face/anterior] and Achoraim [back/posterior], which are regarded as light and Kli [vessel]. That is, the full quality of the light must be implied in the Kli, since the Kli is the instrument that will be able to draw the light within it.

This is why it is called “seventy,” as in “seventy faces to the Torah,” which means that when he works in the manner of “secret,” which is faith, he must imagine and depict to himself that he will serve the Creator with the same vigor as though he has been rewarded with the wine of Torah, called “seventy faces of the Torah.” “Eye” implies knowing, and seeing with the mind is called “the eyes of the congregation,” referring to the sages of the congregation.

When he maintains himself in this manner, even when he has room to receive seeing and attainment, he is tantamount to the Sanhedrin.

This is similar to one who believes in the Creator, that He hears a prayer, although each day when he prays and does not see that the Creator hears a prayer, he still believes that the Creator hears a prayer. But when he is rewarded with the Creator answering all his requests, he no longer needs to believe that the Creator hears a prayer, since he sees with his own eyes that the Creator is giving him what he wants.

Hence, the place where he must believe is called “a secret,” and the place of the revelation is called “the wine of Torah.” Man must strengthen himself in faith even in a place where he can receive the revelation that the Creator hears a prayer.