Sefer Baal Shem Tov - 023 The Deep Understanding of Dveykus

[ספר בעל שם טוב עם פי' בלבבי משכן אבנה: עמ' ע"ר- עד"ר]

D’veykus (Attachment To Hashem) Is The Point Above The Soul, Which Thought Cannot Access

There is a deep terminology found in the holy sefer Pri Ha’Aretz: “The point of d’veykus [attachment to G-d] is the “severed” point [from the soul].” In other words, the point which becomes “severed” from the soul is where the point of d’veykus is.

This is because, from a deep understanding, the “I” can never become fully attached with the EinSof (the Infinite). The Infinite and the “I” are contradictory to each other, so to speak. (We explained earlier that this contradiction is only from the perspective of our soul, however, and it is not actually a contradiction, from the higher perspective). Which is the part of the soul that is attached with the Infinite? Only the part which becomes severed from the “I”.

The “I” is one’s point of da’as (understanding), but the point of d’veykus cannot be thought about, even slightly, because one cannot access it through his da’as. The point of d’veykus is separate from the rest of the parts of the soul. In the point of the soul where there is no more “I”, where one’s daas doesn’t even think of reaching; that is the point which becomes miskalel (integrated) with the Infinite.

Thus, the point of d’veykus is hidden from [even] the soul. It is a point in the soul where the soul cannot “think” about, because if one is thinking about it, it is the “I”. The depth of the point of d’veykus is that a person doesn’t even recognize it as a point found within himself. Above the daas – that is where d’veykus is.

The more that there are traces of parts of the “I”, the more there is an avodah (task) upon man to be miskalel (integrate) all of the parts of his soul, which are rooted in his daas; and to keep nullifying more of his daas, more of his daas, etc. This is not simply to recognize that I cannot comprehend d’veykus; it is rather that I don’t even think about how I can reach it. It is the point which is already miskalel\integrated with the Creator.

Below that point, there is feeling, the realm of yeish (the tangible realm), but the point of true d’veykus is the point where the soul doesn’t think about and doesn’t even entertain a thought of trying to reach. It is just the point that is already integrated with the Creator.

What The Righteous Live For

This is the depth of the matter that “In the future, Hashem will remove the sun from its sheath, which will judge the wicked and heal the righteous.” To understand this matter, there is a verse, “An increase of knowledge is an increase of pain.” This does not simply mean that there is more pain with the more you know and are aware of. It means that all of our pain really stems from our point of da’as, knowledge. To give an example of what we mean, when a person is in a lot of physical pain, he is given painkillers, which dull the senses and then the brain cannot feel the pain, so the body will not feel it either. Therefore, the fact that knowledge is an increase of pain is not happenstance. It is because da’as (knowledge) is the root of all pain. Thus, the root of suffering is in the point of da’as. When there is no da’as involved, there is no suffering. With the more a person has an increase of da’as, the more he can feel his pain, because da’as is the “vessel” that empowers suffering. The more knowledge and awareness a person has acquired, the more he suffers. “An increase of knowledge is an increase of pain.” Since the avodah of a tzaddik (a righteous person) is to nullify his da’as (knowledge), when the future comes and Hashem will remove the sun from its sheath, it will be a state where the “I” becomes nullified. The tzaddik, who had spent his whole life trying to remove his sense of “I”, in the moment that his “I” is completely removed from him, there will be no more daas, and no pain. This is why the righteous will be healed from this powerful light of the future. Their entire desire in their “I” was to nullify this “I”, and the result is bliss.

Of course, if there is no “I” present, there is no one here to experience the pleasure, so what does this mean? It does not mean that the “I” will be removed totally. Rather, it will be revealed a sense of nullification of the “I”. The total nullification of the “I” will not take place until the end of the tenth millennium. Whatever level of complete self-nullification we can achieve now cannot be felt, as the sefer Pri Ha’Aretz quoted earlier describes.

In contrast, the wicked person, who lived his whole life in order to expand his own “I”, will have an increase of knowledge in the sense of expanding his “I”, and this itself will be painful to him, for knowledge fuels pain. When the light of the self-nullification comes in the future, the wicked person’s daas will not want to nullify itself, and this will be suffering. The stronger the daas, the more difficult its nullification will be, hence there will be greater suffering with it.

(Thus this phenomenon is not only referring to wicked people in general, but to those who never accessed the level beyond their daas).

The True D’veykus Is The Point Which Cannot Be “Thought” Of

In the end of the matter, what comes out from all of this is, that the point of complete d’veykus in the Creator is the point of hiskalelus (integration) which is above d’veykus (attachment), and it is the point in the soul where the soul cannot comprehend.

If a person thinks about the concept of d’veykus, it is like thinking of the Infinite [which is impossible], because the very concept of d’veykus is the point which cannot be a part of the “I”. Therefore, it is the part in the soul which is “not a creation” [rather, it is above the created state], and it is impossible to think about something which is not a creation.

As long as a person thinks that he can grasp the point of d’veykus by thinking about it – whichever way he wants to understand it – he will only comprehend how “I” understand closeness with the Creator. The genuine d’veykus is the point where a person cannot think about his own d’veykus with Hashem. In other words, one’s point of d’veykus is above his “I”. It is above his thoughts, because d’veykus is a point that cannot be “thought” about. It is just a reality that is above the point of da’as (understanding). To think about d’veykus is an attempt to feel Hashem through one’s “I” [which is impossible]. From a subtle perspective, this is a form of separation [from the Creator].

The actual essence of d’veykus itself is a point which man cannot “know” of. So how does one reach it? The more that a person lessens his “I”, the more the point of d’veykus will be accessed. To recognize the concept of d’veykus is not an actual recognition of d’veykus per se – rather, it is the more one recognizes that there is no “I”, there will be resulting hiskalelus and d’veykus in the Infinite. It is never a direct attempt to understand the d’veykus.

(On a deeper note, it is the more a person negates his “I”, by understanding that he is still not yet fully integrated with the Creator).

This is all because you cannot understand the part of the soul that is not part of the “I”. The part in the soul which is not part of the “I” is above the “empty space” and “contraction” which Hashem used to create the soul [thus it cannot be grasped].

For example, the Kotzker said that the teaching “Do not judge your friend until you reach his place” means that you will never reach his place, therefore, don’t judge him. A person cannot understand the da’as of another, and in fact, one cannot even understand his own daas fully, because there is a part in the soul which one will never access through thought. It is a hidden point which cannot be grasped by the soul, and it is impossible to think about it and understand it.

If a person yesterday wanted to know something and today he doesn’t want to know it, it means that there is a part in the soul which is already fully integrated with the Creator. It must be that he is not yet fully integrated with Hashem, because if he would be, it wouldn’t be possible to think about it. If a person says that “yesterday I recognized it and today I don’t”, it is clear and simple that there is a part of his “I” still left over which allows him to think about it. If he would have reached total integration with Hashem, he wouldn’t be able to think about it at all.

This point needs to be accessed at times, and to be withdrawn from at times. Whenever a person does not think about his I, on some level this is the point of the “non-creation” state. Whenever a person thinks about his “I”, this is his created state.

This is the meaning of the “Fiftieth Gate of Understanding.” The Sages wrote that “The world was created with fifty gates of understanding, with one of them missing”, and the Ramban [esoterically] explains that “the fiftieth gate is not a creation”. However, the rest of our sages wrote explicitly that there were fifty gates of understanding that were “created”. This is the explanation of this matter: the “fiftieth gate” in the soul is the point which moves back and forth (“ratzu v’shov”, “advancing and retreating”) between the “I” and the point above the “I”, which is d’veykus. At times a person can stop thinking about his “I”, and in those moments, he is above the limited created state. The “fiftieth gate” is therefore a “creation” in the sense that one regresses from it at times. The fact that a person can leave his thoughts about his “I” is his “non-created” state, and when he thinks about his “I”, this is his “created” state.

In other words, there is a point above the fifty gates of understanding. It cannot be thought about, and not even with a slight, passing thought. It cannot be accessed through any thought about it. There are moments where a person accesses it, without thinking about it. Then a person retreats from it and it returns later, and the cycle repeats. The fact that a person doesn’t think about it is what makes the “fiftieth gate” regarded as a non-creation; the fact that a person thinks about it in the sense of “advancing and retreating” from it is what makes it a creation.

Thus, the point of d’veykus, which is the point of hiskalelus, is not a point which we can analyze intellectually. It will always be a point which cannot be perceived or thought about. Simply speaking, the point of d’veykus\hiskalelus is when a person reaches a point where he is not thinking about himself at all, and he is only thinking about Hashem; that a person thinks that he is “integrated” with the Creator. But the depth of this matter is the opposite: the point of d’veykus is when a person does not think about anything at all – not about himself, and not even about Hashem.

In the very atzmiyus (essence) of the soul, there is no place for thought, because it is nothing but a state of bittul (nullification). If a person is still thinking about his “I”, it is surely not d’veykus, and even if he is thinking about Hashem, it is still his “I” that is thinking about this. But d’veykus\hiskalelus is the point where one’s daas (mind) cannot enter at all.

Therefore, even as a person’s daas is active, there is always a point in every Jew’s soul which can access d’veykus in the Creator. There is no Jew who doesn’t have this point in his soul, in which his daas cannot enter. Therefore, every Jew’s soul has the point of hiskalelus.

The only difference between each Jew’s soul is in how much this point is revealed, and in this, each person is at a different level. There are many differing levels of souls, depending on the strength of the spiritual “light” that is illuminated upon the “vessels”. But the point of d’veykus\hiskalelus exists in every soul, because every person has a point where he can’t think about.

One person will call it “Above comprehension”, another person will call it “Hashem”, but every person has an end point, where his thoughts cannot go. It is not because it is too difficult to think about, but because a person never thinks about reaching it. That point is where a person becomes miskalel (integrated) with the Creator; as for all of the other points in the soul which do not become integrated with the Creator, those are the areas in which each person’s personal level differs from one another.

The greater a person’s soul, the more of an expanded level of da’as he is capable of. In other words, a person with a greater soul level has a more challenging avodah (task).

There is a well-known description of the Tiferes Yisrael about [an artist in the desert who painted a picture of] Moshe Rabbeinu, who said that his face looked like the face of a murderer. The truth is that Moshe did murder someone – he killed an Egyptian. Therefore, there was still work for him left to do in fixing his middos. The depth of this is because Moshe is the all-inclusive level of daas, and therefore, his avodah was to incorporate all of the perfected middos in his being. The stronger the da’as, the more there is a lack of hiskalelus, before one’s avodah.

In the verse “No man knows his burial”, there is a revelation that Moshe includes all da’as, to the point that even his body reached hiskalelus. This was the total rectification for Moshe.

Thus, Moshe had the greatest and most challenging avodah of any person in Creation, because he was the very epitome of da’as, the root of the da’as of all creations, and his avodah was to nullify his da’as, to the point that cannot be reached through da’as. This is the most challenging avodah.

After all of the creations become integrated, they are all at the point of equilibrium, but until then, which is now, the difference between each person is in how much he will integrate his daas into the point beyond daas.

In deeper language, it is called the “sparks of the neshamah” of each person. The root of the neshamah is the point of da’as, which is the point of the “I”. Each person needs to nullify each part of himself, his own daas, to go from the known to the point that is not known, and these sparks of the soul are the parts of one’s daas which one needs to nullify.

If we consider this matter from the “light” that enters the “vessels”, surely da’as is the greatest “vessel” which can reveal G-dliness in oneself, as the sefarim hakedoshim state. But that is only the view of d’veykus within yeish (the material, tangible realm). This includes thinking about the greatness of Hashem, or the level of Ruach HaKodesh, or holy feelings, or purified da’as. But from the higher view [ayini\the purely spiritual], the avodah of a person is turn each point from the known (daas) into the unknown (lo yeda).

From that higher view, each part of the soul must be turned into something that is “unknown”. The parts of the soul which are “unknown” are the areas of the soul which become integrated with the Creator. Regarding this point, the greater the level of da’as, the greater and more difficult the avodah is. To say it in gruffer terms, it will be further from the goal.

This is the deep reason of why greater souls have a more challenging time with purifying their middos. It is because this is precisely their challenge of avodah. There can be a soul on a far lower level who has purer character traits, and there can be a soul on a higher level whose character traits need more work. This is because while the greater souls have a sharper revelation of G-dliness, at the same time, their point of d’vekyus hasn’t been fully accessed, because they have so much more parts to their da’as which need to become integrated into the point beyond their da’as.

To conclude, the crux of what we want to say here is that the point of d’veykus is the point which the soul cannot “know” of from itself. It is the part a person cannot “think” of. It is that part of the soul which will be miskalel (become integrated) with the Creator: the point in the soul which is not part of one’s “I”.