Concealing Two While Revealing One

by Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag - Baal HaSulam

There is an idiom among great sages when they come to disclose a profound matter: they begin their words with, “I am disclosing a portion and covering two portions.” Our sages took great care not to utter words needlessly, as our sages instructed, “A word is a rock; silence is two.”

chanoch's Commentary

In modern parlance "Silence is Golden". The unasked question which is being answered by Rabbi Ashlag is why is it necessary to say the words "i am disclosing a portion and covering two portions" and what does this statement really mean? Rabbi Ashlag also has to reinforce the idea that there are no wasted words or letters in Torah. This applies to the Tanach and the writing of Sages. This includes Zohar and Talmud as well as other books by Sages. This is not a well known teaching as it applies to the writings of Sages especially the academic Kabbalists of today. They attribute these kinds of statements as formulaic without any real meaning to the subject being discussed. Actually, these words are energetic and not formulaic. Learn this well.

This means that if you have a priceless word whose worth is one rock, know that not saying it is worth two rocks. This refers to those uttering needless words without pertinent content or use except to decorate the tongue in the eyes of the beholders. This was strictly forbidden in the eyes of our Sages, as is known to those who examine their words. Hence, we must be attentive to understand this common idiom of theirs.

THREE KINDS OF CONCEALMENT OF THE WISDOM

There are three parts to the secrets of the Torah. Each part has its own reason for being concealed. They are called by the following names:

Unnecessary

Impossible

The counsel of the Lord is with them that fear Him

There is not a single fraction of this wisdom - Kabbalah where scrutinies of these three parts do not apply, and I will clarify them one at a time.

1. UNNECESSARY

This means that no benefit will stem from its disclosing. Of course, this is not such a great loss because there is only the issue of the cleanness of the mind here, to warn of those actions defined as “so what,” meaning so what if I did this, there is no harm in it.

But you should know that, in the eyes of the sages, the “so what” is considered the worst corruptor. This is because all the destructors in the world, those that have been and those that will be, are the “so what” kind of people. This means that they occupy themselves and others in needless things. Hence, sages would not accept any student before they were certain that he would be cautious in his ways, so as not to reveal what was not necessary.

chanoch's Commentary

Rabbi Ashlag is hinting at the idea that the person who reveals unnecessary ideas is coming from a strong connection to the negative system. This person is feeling that it is important to say these unnecessary words because they have an aspect of ego related to the idea they want to hear themselves speak. when this occurs they are wasting time and while it is not overly important, anything that takes you away from your spiritual work may be a negative action that creates chaos. Remember we are speaking of people who have a high spiritual level and so their evaluation and judgments will be made using a scale that is also higher than that of a normal human being in front of a nightly Bet Din.

2. IMPOSSIBLE

This means that the language does not compel them to say anything of their quality, due to their great sublimity and spirituality. Hence, any attempt to clothe them in words may only mislead the examiners and deflect them to a false path, which is considered the worst of all iniquities. Therefore, to reveal anything in these matters, permission from Above is required. This is the second part of the concealment of the wisdom. Yet, this permission, too, requires explanation.

PERMISSION FROM ABOVE

This is explained in the book, The Gate to Rashbi’s Words, by the Ari, in The Zohar, Parashat Mishpatim, p 100. It reads as follows, “Know that some of the souls of the righteous are of the Surrounding-Light kind, and some are of the Inner-Light kind. Those that are of the Surrounding-Light kind have the power to speak of the secrets of the Torah by way of concealment and intimation, so their words will be understood only by those worthy of understanding them.

chanoch's Commentary

A soul that is of the inner light kind is indicating that this light has been revealed by someone of the surrounding light kind first. Then it becomes available to both kinds. The process of revealing it outside of the human vessel causes it to become revealed within the human vessel. Then each person can access it for themselves. Prior to that first revelation it is waiting for the right person at the right time and the right place to reveal it. This is ultimately the issue for the Mashiach Ben Joseph which is a surrounding light soul. When this light is revealed the Mashiach Ben David will be able to be revealed which is an inner light soul.

“Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochai’s soul was of the Surrounding-Light kind. Hence, he had the power to clothe the words and teach them in a way that even if he taught them to many, only the worthy of understanding would understand. This is why he was given ‘permission’ to write The Book of Zohar.

“The permission was not ‘granted’ to write a book in this wisdom to his teachers or to the first ones who preceded them, even though they were certainly more proficient in this wisdom than he. But the reason is that they did not have the power to dress the matters as did he. This is the meaning of what is written, ‘Yochai’s son knew how to guard his ways.’ Now you can understand the great concealment in The Book of Zohar, written by Rashbi, that not every mind can grasp his words.”

chanoch's Commentary

Each of us when we first start reading the Zohar find difficulty in understanding what is being revealed. After a bit of growing our vessels we begin to see what is being revealed yet there is always more to be revealed if we would only build the vessel correctly.

His words in essence: Explaining matters in the wisdom of truth is not dependent whatsoever upon the greatness or smallness of the Kabbalist sage. Rather, it is about the illumination of a soul dedicated to this: the illumination of per this soul is considered “giving permission” from Above to disclose the Higher Wisdom. We therefore learn that one who has not been rewarded with this permission must not make clarifications in this wisdom, as he cannot clothe the subtle matters in their suitable words in a way that will not fail the students.

chanoch's Commentary

When someone has an inclination to teach this wisdom they have been given permission to reveal all that they have learned from their teachers. No one has permission to reveal a Chidush - a new revelation without receiving permission from a sage or teacher to do so. If they do not ask they are never given permission. When i was a student there was a great beloved teacher who revealed many things based on the rationale that it must be written somewhere even if i have not read it. This is Satan who creates a path for people to stumble. Learn from Rabbi Ashlag not from anyone else including me except another recognized Sage. Only a Kabbalist can recognize a Sage.

For this reason we did not find a single book in the wisdom of truth that precedes Rashbi’s The Book of Zohar, since all the books in the wisdom prior to his are not categorized as interpretations of the wisdom. Instead, they are mere intimations, without any order of cause and consequence, as it is known to those who find knowledge, thus far understanding his words.

chanoch's Commentary

This is an amazing teaching. There is the Tanach. There is the Zohar. There is the ARI. There is Rabbi Ashlag. There is Rabbi Brandwein. There is Rabbi Berg of the Kabbalah Center. What do we do about the Baal Shem Tov and his students? They follow the ARI but not in the same way that Rabbi Ashlag does. It is important to recognize these differences. Can i learn from other Kabbalistic teachers? Yes, but be very careful.

I should add, as I had received from books and from authors, that since the time of Rashbi and his students, the authors of The Zohar, until the time of the Ari there was not a single writer who understood the words of The Zohar and the Tikkunim (corrections) like the Ari. All the compositions before his time are mere inklings in this wisdom, including the books of the sage, Ramak.

And the same words that were said about the Rashbi should be said about the Ari himself—that his predecessors were not given permission from Above to disclose the interpretations of the wisdom, and that he was given this permission. And also, this does not distinguish any greatness or smallness at all, since it is possible that the virtue of his formers was much greater than the Ari’s, but they were not given permission for it at all. For this reason, they refrained from writing commentaries that relate to the actual wisdom, but settled for brief intimations that were not in any way linked to one another.

For this reason, since the books of the Ari appeared in the world, all who study the wisdom of Kabbalah have left their hands from all the books of the Ramak, and all the first and the great ones that preceded the Ari, as it is known among those who engage in this wisdom. They have attached their spiritual lives solely to the writings of the Ari in a way that the essential books, considered proper interpretations of this wisdom, are only The Book of Zohar, the Tikkunim and following them, the books of the Ari.

chanoch's Commentary

The impossible category applies to all of the other teachers and writers. One may not know if they have been given permission to reveal the information that they reveal. If they reveal things that everybody understands then one can know that they probably do not have permission to reveal it and to follow them will lead someone astray. It may be truth that they teach but it will eventually lead people astray. This applies to the new testament in my opinion. Again follow the list as follows:

Tanach

Zohar

Rabbi Abraham Abulafia

Ari-zal

Baal Shem Tov - not his students

Rabbi Lusotto - is not approved but there are many truths in his writings

Rabbi Ashlag

Rabbi Brandwein

Rabbi Phillip Berg

These are my teachers. i learn from others but will always clarify when i am teaching something revealed from another teacher.

3. THE COUNSEL OF THE LORD IS WITH THEM THAT FEAR HIM

This means that the secrets of the Torah are revealed only to those who fear His Name, who keep His Glory with their hearts and souls, and who never commit any blasphemy. This is the third part of the concealment of the wisdom.

This part of the concealment is the strictest, as this kind of disclosure has failed many. From the midst of those stem all the charmers, whisperers, and “practical” Kabbalists, who hunt souls with their cunningness, and the mystics, who use withered wisdom that came from under the hands of unworthy students, to draw bodily benefit for themselves or for others. The world has suffered much from it, and is suffering still.

You should know that the root of the concealment was only this part. From here the sages took excessive strictness in testing the students, as they said (Hagiga 13), “heads of chapters are given only to a chief justice, and to one whose heart is worried,” and “Maase Beresheet is not to be explored in pairs, neither is Merkava to be explored alone.” There are many others like that, and all this fear is for the above reason.

For this reason, few are the ones who have been rewarded with this wisdom, and even those who passed all their tests and examinations are sworn by the most serious oaths to not reveal anything of those three parts.

Do not misunderstand my words, in that I have divided the concealment of the wisdom into three parts. I do not mean that the wisdom of truth itself is divided into these three parts. Rather, I mean that these three parts stem from every single detail of this wisdom, since they are the only three manners of scrutiny that are always applied to this wisdom.

However, here we should ask, “If it is true that the firmness of the concealment of the wisdom is so strict, from where were all the thousands of compositions in this wisdom taken?” The answer is that there is a difference between the first two parts and the last part. The prime burden lies only in the above third part, for the reason explained above.

But the first two parts are not under constant prohibition. This is because sometimes an issue in the “unnecessary” is reversed, stops being unnecessary for some reason, and becomes necessary. Also, the part, “impossible,” sometimes becomes possible. This is so for two reasons: either because of the evolution of the generation or by being given permission from Above, as it happened to the Rashbi and to the Ari, and to smaller extents to their formers. All the genuine books written in the wisdom emerge from these discernments.

This is what they mean by their idiom, “I am disclosing a portion and covering two portions.” They mean that it happened that they revealed a new thing that was not discovered by their predecessors. And this is why they imply that they are only revealing one portion, meaning he is revealing the first part of the three parts of concealment, and leaves two parts concealed.

This indicates that something happened, which is the reason for that disclosure: either the “unnecessary” received the form of “necessary,” or “permission from Above” was granted, as I have explained above. This is the meaning of the idiom, “I am disclosing a portion.”

The readers of these tracts, which I intend to print during the year, should know that they are all innovations, which are not introduced purely as such, in their precise content, in any book preceding mine. I received them mouth to mouth from my teacher, who was authorized for it, meaning he, too, received from his teacher's mouth to mouth.

And although I had received them under all the conditions of covering and watchfulness, by the necessity introduced in my essay, “Time to Act,” the “unnecessary” part has been inverted for me and became “necessary.” Hence, I have revealed this portion with complete permission, as I have explained above. Yet I will keep the other two portions as I am commanded.

chanoch's Commentary

As a student of Kabbalah one needs to receive certain understandings of this wisdom from teachers. One is not able to receive these things directly from their own understandings. With this in mind one needs to ask which of the 3 concealments is being revealed to the student. Learn this well.