Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 116

How Is the Concept of “a Vessel of Bestowal” Possible, Both a Vessel and a Bestower?

Indeed, there is something strange about the concept of a vessel of bestowal, a will to receive for the sake of bestowal. Since the Kabbalists lacked linguistic tools to express spiritual states, they used various simplified and condensed formulations. Had they not done so, they would have had to write entire books just to describe states such as Ibur (embryonic state), Katnut (smallness), Rosh (head), Toch (inner part), and so on, and even that would not have been enough. Therefore, they developed a language that would let them express spiritual states.

How does this language work? Through a kind of pre-agreed “password,” information is conveyed. This password carries extensive details about the subject matter and the intent of the author. If the reader is on the same spiritual level as the author, they share a common conceptual framework, and the meaning of the password is immediately clear to them.

For example, someone who does not know the meaning of the word “Rosh” (head) in Hebrew will have no idea what to do upon hearing it. We must be familiar with the word to understand its meaning.

However, mere familiarity with the word is not enough to grasp its full context. We must also understand the intent behind the term.

The language of Kabbalah is like a coded language where only those who recognize its codes can comprehend the meaning hidden behind the words. That is, in order to read Kabbalistic texts, we must know what the Kabbalists mean by their terms. They write to one another much like spies communicating in coded messages with no one but themselves able to understand what they were writing.

Why is it necessary to read Kabbalistic books? Baal HaSulam writes in “The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot” (item 155) that when we long to understand the inner content of the words, without deceiving ourselves by forming imaginary, physical representations of them (as people often do when reading the Torah as if it were a historical narrative), and without interpreting the text in a corporeal, materialistic way, but instead deeply yearn to grasp the true, inner meaning of the words, we draw upon ourselves the surrounding light (Ohr Makif) from the state the text describes.

However, if instead of delving into the deeper layers of what the Kabbalists write, we imagine pictures from this world, then both the narrative and the imagery remain within the framework of this world. In such a case, we do not draw any illumination from above and remain stagnant, unable to progress.

This is the essential difference between the method of Kabbalah and any other approach to studying the Torah. In Kabbalah, we seek to draw the surrounding light upon ourselves. We strive to understand the inner meaning. This is called studying the inner aspect of the Torah, that is, learning precisely what it is conveying in its coded language.

Then, as we repeatedly attract the surrounding light during our study, we gradually advance until we enter the spiritual world.

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 115
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 114
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 113

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