שלהבות של אמונה כ׳Flames of Faith 20
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1THE COMPONENTS OF THOUGHT
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2There are two approaches as to the identity of the three mochin, “intellects.” From one perspective, the three intellects that enable all meaningful abstract thought are chochmah (wisdom, intuition), binah (understanding), and da’as (knowledge, internalization). If one looks at these forces from a different vantage point they would be called keser (essential will), chochmah (wisdom, intuition), and binah (understanding). The highest possible level of the personality is keser— essential will.
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3Keser literally means, “crown.” A crown sits atop the head. It repre- sents levels of a person that transcend the logical and the rational.359The yechidah part of the soul is another name for the aspect of keser that is within man. There are items that I want, I have a will for them, and I cannot explain why I desire them. These wills are an expression of the crown of my personality. This point is higher than the stages of wisdom, understanding, and internalization, so the mind cannot comprehend the reason for these urges. In truth, will is an extension of essence.360Heard from the Stitchiner Rebbe. I want certain behaviors or items because they are true and good for my truest self. When I experience the fulfillment of those wishes I feel, at my core, that I have experienced my essential identity.
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4An example of essential will is the love between a groom and a bride. Why did the groom choose this bride? Why did the bride agree to marry this groom? Is each one absolutely certain that they could not find someone else in the world a little wiser, prettier, or nicer? Why did they decide to commit to each other?
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5The real answer is that their innate will is being expressed. The will to link their lives stems from a point that is beyond rational explanation. Will is an extension of essence. Each feels that their very essence is linked with that of their spouse. They sense, in a hidden manner, that they are each a half of the other’s soul. That is why they are attracted to each other, and it is why they will commit to each other wholeheartedly.
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6Beneath will stand the forces of chochmah and binah, which enable acquisition and comprehension of knowledge. Chochmah literally means, “wisdom,” and binah means, “understanding.” Chochmah is a spark of light, and binah is the enlargement, development, and application of that beginning. The spark is the start of intellectual thought, what we commonly call “intuition.”
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7Picture a student studying Talmud. He reads a difficult passage with his study partner and discovers an intractable contradiction. He and the study partner knit their brows in concentration. He paces the floor of the study hall, thinking, delving into the depths of the topic, desperately seeking a resolution. Then his forehead clears, a small smile appears on his lips. “Aahh! I know the answer,” he exclaims. “Tell me,” his partner says. He cannot. After a few minutes of clarifying what he is feeling, he details the answer.
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8Chochmah was the flash of inspiration, the feeling of intuition, when the student sensed that he knew the answer. When the student pulled out of his initial illumination the components that explained the resolution it was binah, “understanding.” The word chochmah spells two words: koach mah, “the force of something.” However, the word mah can also mean, “nothing.”361For example, Moses said, Va-nachnu mah ki talinu aleinu, “We are noth-ing, so why do you complain about us?” (Exod. 16:7). Thus it is initial existence with a connection to the force of nothingness. First thoughts, that are not yet defined, seem to come out of nowhere. The next level of the intellect, binah, reveals details and implications. Binah recalls the phrase, meivin davar mitoch davar, “Comprehending one matter from another,” and the word binyan, “building.” Understanding builds upon the inspiration of intuition and develops a complete system of thought.
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9Chochmah and binah can be symbolized in the stages of construction. Chochmah is the bricks, the basic pieces. Binah is putting one brick on another, dividing bricks that are too large, and arranging the materials into a meaningful edifice. The basic postulates in any field of study are the chochmah element. How principles interact, such as resolving contradictions between them, and determining when the principles are to be applied, is the force of binah. When I place my hand on a table and say to myself, “I am touching a table,” it is chochmah. When I realize the properties of the table, such as the facts that it occupies space and is made out of wood, those realizations are binah. You will rarely find chochmah and binah divided. Immediately when I know of something I also realize some of its details. Their linkage causes the mystics to term them, Terei reyin de-lo misparshin, “Two friends that do not separate.”362Heard from the Stitchiner Rebbe. Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan writes, “One of the Biblical sources for chochmah and binah is the verse: “God founded the earth with chochmah, ‘wisdom,’ and established the heavens with binah, ‘understanding’ (Prov. 3:19). The Bible states here that chochmah and binah are the basic components of creation. In a divine sense, chochmah constitutes the axioms which define the world while binah is the logical system that connects these axioms. All the laws of nature are essentially axioms, and the simplest axiom contains several levels. For example, the fact that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line means that a point exists, straight lines exist, space exists, the concepts of existence, of shortness and length exist. All of these categories exist in chochmah. In binah they interplay logically and emerge as a coherent system of laws.”
The Stitchiner Rebbe explained how chochmah is the foundation of the world in the following manner. Chochmah is the grasping of a concept. When God conceived the need for an item He thought of the entire item and the need for it, as a result of having arisen in Divine thought, the item then immediately appeared.
The Stitchiner Rebbe explained how chochmah is the foundation of the world in the following manner. Chochmah is the grasping of a concept. When God conceived the need for an item He thought of the entire item and the need for it, as a result of having arisen in Divine thought, the item then immediately appeared.
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10In the process of creating life the male’s seed is chochmah, it is a small point. The mother’s womb is the arena of binah. She develops the initial spark, actualizes all its potential, and a fully developed child emerges.363“The relationship between chochmah, ‘wisdom,’ and binah, ‘under-standing,’ can be grasped in terms of the relationship between male and female. In a human relationship, the male essentially provides the sperm and the female takes it, holds it in her womb for nine months, after which she delivers a fully developed child. In the same way, chochmah, ‘wisdom,’ is a series of facts which we can put into the womb of binah, ‘understanding,’ in order to develop an entire logical structure. The paradigm of this is mathematics. If we take ten digits from zero to nine and a few axioms, put them in the womb of binah, and let them gestate, we can obtain the whole corpus of mathematics” (Aryeh Kaplan, Innerspace pg. 58-59). The Kabbalists refer to chochmah as abba, “father,” and to binah as imma, “mother.”364Perhaps the idea in the Talmud that women have added binah relates to this analysis. The feminine intellect is one of comprehending details, while the masculine intellect is inclined to sweeping generalizations and flashes of intuitive inspiration. See further the Vilna Gaon’s commentary to Prov. 6:20.
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11Man’s body parts perform tasks that bear traces of the spiritual roots (the Sephiros). The spirit of Elijah the prophet once taught a lesson in the academy of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in which he detailed how the parts of the human body represent the Sephiros. The lesson is known by its first words, Pasach Eliyahu, “Elijah began.” Some Chasidim recite it every morning before their first prayers. According to his teaching, chochmah is in the right brain, the seat of thought. Binah is in the heart, and it is the power of the heart to understand. Chochmah and binah are the parents. Once da’as, “internalization,” is employed, they produce offspring: emotions, feelings, and behaviors.
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12Da’as implies connection and separation. Da’as implies connection, as the attachment between husband and wife is called in the Torah a da’as relationship.365The initial intimate closeness between Adam and Eve is called a connection of da’as: Va-yeda adam es chavah ishto, “And Adam knew Eve his wife” (Gen. 4:25). It also connotes a separation as evidenced in the statement of the Jerusalem Talmud, “Without da’as how could distinction be drawn?”366Da’as Tefillah pg. 401. Da’as means focusing upon and blending together the ideas from intuition (chochmah) and understanding (binah). To focus on a thought, I must separate my mind from other concepts and attach it exclusively to a single topic.367See further Da’as Tefillah pg. 402, who applies this focus to internalization of a sense of holiness and quotes the following source: “The concept of holiness requires two stages. Initially, it is a struggle and its end is a gift. Initially, man sanctifies himself, and at the end, God dedicates man.”
The effort entailed in man’s sanctification is that he detach himself entirely from materialism, and he must attach himself fully, at every moment, to His God. This level caused the prophets to be called angels, as was written in regards to Aaron, “For the lips of the priest preserve da’as, and Torah will be sought from his mouth, for he is an angel of the Lord of Hosts” (Mal. 2:7). Even at moments when he is involved in material acts that are needed for his body, he feels a sense of attachment with the Divine.
“It is impossible for man to reach this level on his own. Man is a material being composed of flesh and blood, which is why I said that the end is a gift. Man can attempt to pursue da’as of truth and constant appreciation of the saintliness of deeds. However, successful attainment of these levels comes from God who will lead man down the path he has chosen and He will place upon man His holiness and He will sanctify man” (excerpted from Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, Path of the Upright, Chapter 26). Feeling fully connected to the ideas that are father and mother (wisdom and understanding) causes them to fully enter one’s personality and to create emotions.
The effort entailed in man’s sanctification is that he detach himself entirely from materialism, and he must attach himself fully, at every moment, to His God. This level caused the prophets to be called angels, as was written in regards to Aaron, “For the lips of the priest preserve da’as, and Torah will be sought from his mouth, for he is an angel of the Lord of Hosts” (Mal. 2:7). Even at moments when he is involved in material acts that are needed for his body, he feels a sense of attachment with the Divine.
“It is impossible for man to reach this level on his own. Man is a material being composed of flesh and blood, which is why I said that the end is a gift. Man can attempt to pursue da’as of truth and constant appreciation of the saintliness of deeds. However, successful attainment of these levels comes from God who will lead man down the path he has chosen and He will place upon man His holiness and He will sanctify man” (excerpted from Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, Path of the Upright, Chapter 26). Feeling fully connected to the ideas that are father and mother (wisdom and understanding) causes them to fully enter one’s personality and to create emotions.
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13The following scenario is an example of the intellects producing emotions. The other day I was sitting at the table and I felt my stomach growling. I then looked up, a picture entered my mind, I saw a jar with brown circles in it, and each circle contained small black dots (chochmah). I then delved into the details of the snapshot. I realized that I was seeing a cookie-jar filled with chocolate chip cookies, my favorite snack (binah). When I concentrated on the import of the scene and internalized what it meant (da’as) my emotions were aroused. I felt love, a desire to reach out and take a cookie (the attribute of chesed). If I were to have been on a diet, I might have realized that the jar was a clarion call to the horrors of obesity. Concentrating on thoughts of premature death from heart failure would have caused recoiling and loathing toward the unhealthy sweets (the emotion of gevurah).
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14Love and loathing are examples of attributes that the intellects produce. In total, the intellects produce seven basic emotions. These seven types of feelings bear traces of the seven lower Sephiros.
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15Both approaches reveal only three intellects. Why is there no system that counts four intellects: keser, chochmah, binah, and da’as? The deeper wisdom reveals that da’as, “internalization,” and keser, “innate will,” are two forms of the same force; da’as is an externalization of keser.368Heard from the Stitchiner Rebbe. To understand this point more fully, we must first study the attributes. After describing what the seven behaviors and feelings are, it will be possible to explain the link between da’as and keser. Lesson Twenty-One will explain, and provide examples of, the seven emotions.