Classes 1 to 18. The Mem Gimmel Class series includes a full year of study at a relatively advanced level. The classes delve into an important area of the chassidus of Rabbi Shalom Dov Ber Schneersohn (Rashab, the fifth Rebbe of Lubavitch). The first 18 classes in this series cover a discourse from 5657 (1897)…

Class Eighty Five. This first class of the מאמר ר’ ברכי’ פתח תרמ”ג included the questions in פרק א and the (beginning of the) answers in פרק י”ח. This is the רבי רש”ב’s דירה בתחתונים. הניח מה שלמעלה בשביל מה שלמטה The question is why? The answer is דירה בתחתונים where opposites come together (in…

Class Eighty Six. The idea of דירה בתחתונים continued. Only in this world is there תשובה because there are sparks of תוהו. If and when they are released, they join together סובב with ממלא. This can not happen in the worlds of תיקון, which have “room” only for ממלא. This is the Rebbe RaShaB’s דירה…

Third class on Reb Brachia (end of Perek 1 beginning of Perek 2) about Karbanos and Beis Hamikdash The questions are: what is the meaning of Hashem’s “food” and house? The Rebbe RaShaB in each case brings a יש מפרשים which he then refutes. The יש מפרשים are the חוקרים; we explore the two theologies…

Chakira vs Kabbalah class two. According to חקירה intellect is Truth (or Hashem.) Anything outside of intellect is false and foolish. According to קבלה, intellect is a creation which doesn’t limit the Creator. This is expressed in the question of נמנעות. Chakira says יש לנמנעות טבע קיים and קבלה argues that Hashem is נמנע הנמנעות….

Chakira and Kabbalah Part three. This last class on these two theologies relates to the question of עבודה צורך גבוה. “Could anything we do matter and “touch” Hashem? Chakira says no, and Kabbalah says yes. . But Kabbalah’s yes, needs qualifying: What we do matters to “G-dliness” (or: אלקות,) an idea which is altogether foreign…

The answer to the question of קרבנות is introduced here. Kabbalah holds עבודה צורך גבוה בניחותא and what we do affects אלקות in אצילות. We introduced the idea of כלים which adds more אור.

Answer to korbanos continued A) the Birur of Klipa accomplishes: revealing אורות דתהו in תיקון and consequently B) the אורות דעקודים 3. Three represents התכללות, which is אין סוף בציור אדם. This is the significance of three here (through קרבנות) as well.

Perek 2, Nevua (1) This class addresses the question of Hashem living in a house, arguing what the philosophers (יש מפרשים) say: that the presence of Hashem in the Beis Hamikdash is like Korbanos. Class one on Prophecy: Nevua is about people (not Hashem.) That man can reach a level where he is worthy שתשרה…

Perek 2, Nevua Class Two Prophecy is about the person and his level- אין שני נביאים מתנבאים בסגנון אחד. If the presence of Hashem in the Beis Hamikdash is like Nevua, then it is obviously not Atzmus, which is not according to one’s level! What Kabbala calls אין סוף, Chakira calls ידיעת השם. All Nevua…