Working docname =escaa7a et seq Final docname: sc_e_aa7 'Flying Edit' of =sc_aa7 "A Flying Edit is to a professional edit as is to lunar cartography the memoirs of the Cow Who Jumped Over the Moon." "To edit Shlomo, take out every third mamash." R. Joshua Witt N.B.: It is my intention in this Flying Edit to preserve all the conceptual material presented by RSC, and not to alter that conceptual structure, although I will try to bring it out more clearly. I will not ncessarily preserve style, for that you go back to the verbatimn. I do not intent to purne style nor conceptual structure for the comfort of the average reader. Flying Edit of =sc_aa7.txt, which is Input of RSC xerox manuscript AA7 . R. Shlomo Carlebach, Miami, 26 Dec 1974, Tape 6a "out of 21" Transcriber not stated. No further Provenance Info on Manuscript. ------------------------------------------------------------------- THE RABBI TAUGHT, MORE OR LESS: We have one G_d, then we have the two tablets, the three fathers, four mothers, the five books of Moses and Mishnios. TEXT UNDER DISCUSSION: You know, when water comes form the well, it's only one drop. The more it gets away from the well the wider the river becomes. So he says like this: [ Who says it and where -- in what book. I would have assumed Reb Nachman, but at the top of ms. p4 R. Shlomo says, 'give me [ the book by] Reb Nachman ] The beginning there is only one G_d. But then the Rabbenu shel Olam gives us a Torah. there's already G_d and the Torah; it's already two. So the two tablets is already G_d and the Torah. Therefore he says: The Torah begins with the letter Bet which is two because it's G_d and the world. It's already two. But the Torah itself, the (Heb.) AseR Daberot [ 10 sayings, the 10 Commandments ) begins with one because the ten commandments, the Torah brings us back to the roots. It's again like one. It begins with an Aleph which is one. [ This is a reference to the lst of the 10 Commandments, whihc begin with the word ANI, which begins with the letter Aleph, which has the numberic value one in the Hebrew numbering system, where the letters of the alphabet are used in numeric sequence (on a decimal basis) ] The difference between the secular western alphabet and the holy Hebrew letters is very simple. The secular alphabet is used only as letters, the holy Hebrew alphabet is used also as numbers. But then we have the Torah, we have Israel and we have G_d. It's already three. So we have AVRaHaM , YiTzaCHQ , Y'aQoV who are vessels for the beginning of Israel which is the oneness of G_d, the Torah, and Israel. He says a mother brings down, puts down, the child into the world, We have three fore_fathers; but the fore_mothers is already four fore_mothers because to take this three -- G_d, Israel and the Torah -- and really bring it down to the world we need the four mothers. They momish bring it down into the world. (eaa-0) Then he says: After we have these people what do you do with the Torah. The people have to live; this is Torah. So therefore the Torah is already five. Five books of Moses which is the oneness of G_d, Israel, and the Torah in this world. (eaa7-0a) Then he says something very beautiful: The world has six corners: four corners, plus above and below. And then there are two directions of movement of the Torah: the Torah bringing itself down into the world, and the Torah penetrating the world. This is Gemorah, Torah sh'b'al Peh, the oral Torah. So therefore Mishnaos is already Six. (eaa7-1) G_d is One. But G_d gave us the Torah. It's already two. The two tablets. But then there is the oneness of G_d, Israel and the Torah. So it's already three. These are the three fore_Fathers. But then momish to bring it down into the world, like a mother, who is really bringing the child down into the world, it's four. But then, after you have this, the way they live the Torah, bring it really down, is five. But then the way they penetrate it to the walls of the world is six. (eaa7-1a) (eaa7-1a) [ Is this some kind of commentary on the Pesach after_dinner song Echad, mi Yodea ] What is this 'the four corners and above and below': He says: 'above' is what I believe in. 'Below' -- the last one -- is 'seder Taharis' -- how to purify that which is impure. That which fell under, I an still fix it. So the six, taka a gevalt you know. NEW TEXT: REB NACHAN, NO FURTHER IDENTIFICATION OF TEXT: Give me Reb Nachman. You have to know: Everything is a combination of two things: Everything is a little bit revealed, and a little bit hidden. G_d is a little bit open and a little bit hidden. When you see the world you know there is one G_d, but what do you know about G_d. You just know a little. The utmost, the real real thing is always hidden. The same about people: What do you know about people. You know a little bit. You can look at them, you see them, hut the greater part is always hidden. What you see is only the outside. It's not that: " you know a little bit of the inside, but the great part of the inside -- [ is hidden ]. The truth is, whatever you know, whatever you see is taka very schvack. It's only the outside of the outside. (eaa7-2) [ I must say this gets close to the epistemologic dead-end that Wittgenstein confronts with his remark, "An 'inner' object stands in need of outward criteria." (Philosophical Investigations), ] But what a person has to do in this worrld is to get to the inside. Always find the secret of it, the deepest depths of it. (eaa7-2a) [ Which I think is something that Wittgenstein, in flight from his own mysticism maybe, refused to consider. ] How do you get to it: Reb Nachaman says: What's the whole thing of davening: When I pray, I want to get into the depths of something. Learning is something that is open. I see the words, I understand, its open. Praying is, for that thing that is not open to me. So Reb Nachman says: In a certain strange way I pray with words. So the words are open, but what I'm putting in is hidden. Ten people pray. Everybody says the same words. And yet one is really praying, inside praying; and the other one is just outside praying. So Reb Nachman says: You have to tie your thoughts and the depths of your soul to your words. And then, when you pray them, something happens to you. Because you're tying the inside to the outside, and the outside to the inside. And that which previously was hidden from, you, becomes a bit more revealed to you. Reb Nachman says: G_d wants to give you everything in the world. G_d always wants great sweetness goodness from Heaven to flow to you. But you need vessels for it. Then Reb Nachman says -- I think we have learned this hitherto: The name of the vessel is: 'I'. We always think that this depends upon the sense in which you mean the term 'I'. When you say the word 'I' on a very low level, it's a very bad thing. [ I am not clear here whether RSC intends to assert the previous sentence, or is merely characterizing a popular misconception. The intonation onf the tape might resolve this question. Or might have. ] But you have to think of it in a very deep way. G_d created me you know. Without getting involved: (eaa7-3e) (eaa7-3e) [ RSC uses the quaisi-Talmudic phrase 'without getting involved' to indicate that what follows will be a short summary of a much more detailed discussion. ] According to some [ non-Jewish schools ], the highest greatest level is if I completely annihilate my 'I'. But this is not according to orthodox Judaism. According to us: If I can change my 'unholy I' to become this 'holy I' -- which is the vessel for what G_d wants to give me -- [ sentence not completed -- I do not know if it had an intended consequent, or whether it simply means, 'I can change' etc. ] [ Reference: RSC Ms. AA7, Page 6 ] Because G_d created me that I am not Rabbi Leibowitz, Rabbi Leibowitz is not I. I am not YiTChaQ, YiTzChaQ is not I. So my utmost vessel for what G_d wants to give me is that I'mmomish I. I'm momish what I have to be. So Reb Nachman says: ANI is threee letters, A (Aleph), N (Nun) I (Yud) . Aleph, comesfrom the word aleph you know, learning. Aleph means learning. [ Why is it said that Aleph means learning? ] N (Nun) comes from [ symbol, maybe for 'G_d'] words becase (?) MROT YNN ShM?I? Nun N comes from words and Yud Y is my thought. The depths of my I is a combination of three things: Mm thoughts, my words, and that deepest depths of me which always is the beginning of learning. I want you to know something very very deep: You know Aleph is the very first letter. And the question is, this is from RAV KOOK: The truth is, with one letter you can not say a word. [ That is: In Hebrew, unlike English, there are no 1_letter words ] You need at least two letters [ in Hebrew ]to form a word. How can 'HE' teach you something with one letter. But he [ Rav Kook, presumably: SOMEONE FIND SOURCE ] says: Thaere is some kind of lesrning going on with one letter. This is the holiness of us. The aleph we're learning with one letter. This is the deepest depth of lesrning. Not letters with words, not teaching with words, but teaching with letters. (eaa7-5) [ So this is Larry Kushner's Book of Letters -- Sefer Otiot. Sefer Otiyot, The Book of Lettes, A Mystical Alef-bait , by Lawrence Kushner, Jewish LIghts Publishing, Woodstock, Vermont, ISBN 1_879045_00_1 Copyright (c) 1975 and (c) 1990 by Lawrence Kushner. lst printing Haper & Row, NY 1975 PJ4589.K8 492.4'1'1] Like when you teach children you teach them the aleph bais, A B . Sadly enough some of our parents nebach never had the pleasure of teaching their children Aleph Bet. You know they don't know what they're missing. They think they're teaching them everything in the world but they don't know that the holiest teaching in the world to teach them the letters. Not a, b, c, please don't mix it up. A b c is very cute and sweet but's not Aleph-Bet-Gimel-Dalet. To teach a Jewish child Aleph is the holiest thing there is. One letter. Gvealt do I know G_d when I know this one letter Aleph, Deepest depth there is. I wish I would know G_d now the way I knew 'HIM' when I knew this one letter Aleph. Real 'soul learning'. Not mind learning, soul learning. I am a combimination [ compound ] of this, the first thing Iearned in my life, Aleph. (eaa7-6) (eaa7-6) [ Well, this resembles the sort of logical atomism that Wittgenstein displayed in the Tractatus, and then tried again with language-games in the Brown Book, until he abandoned the project of showing that our knowlege and language-use could be shown to be increasingly elaborate compounds of "simples". ] On a mind level I didn't know anything. So you know one letter, what do you know. But on a G_d level I know the deepest depth there is. Because aleph is the beginning and you know the beginning including everything after that night. Ok, you can explain it in your own way. Everybody in his own way. I don't even want to explain it too strong because got to leave it up to your own imagination. ANI is three things. The first letter I learned. The first thing I learned. The second thing is my word, and my thoughts and then momish it flows down into me. These are the three vessels I made. Ok now listen to this: My thoughts, the ANI of me, the inside, my Aleph is completely hidden. The utmost hidden. You know what happens when you teach a little baby Aleph, You touch the most hidden thing in a baby. in a child. Because you're not touching their minds. They'll remember this is Aleph. The deepest depth there is. It doesn't have to be a baby in years, might be a baby in knowing. You can take anyone in the world and tell them you know momish vista(?) yid you know. It's true you're a little yidalah. Teaching the Aleph of Yiddishkeit. So deep. I don't know why. I don't understand it. My mind maybe isn't with it, but I know I'm a Yidalah, right, that's my Aleph. Deepest depth there is. And then my thoughts, this is already a little bit more revealed and my words, which are momish revealed, right. So I am a combination of these three. So when I pray, the most important thing is I have to take all those three together I have to pray with my innermost secrets. This one thing which connects me to G_d, my Aleph. I have to pray with my thoughts and I have to pray with my words. Then I'm a vessel. It's also between me and people. Sometimes my whole communication between me and people is on a word level. Sometimes I commuicate on a thought level and sometimes my two -- Alephs meet you know. The two Alephs. And again, two alephs never make a word, you know. Some people think, you know, this two -- tremendous couple because they're a good combination, make a good word. That's a very low level of combination, right. The real combination of those two Aleph's you know, are one aleph. Very deep kind of Aleph. I don't know if I make myself clear. I hope I didn't. Praise the LORSD. Let's learn a few more minutes -- This is a very long Torah we'll have to finish it tonight: It says: Mi Ha_AISh Ha_ChoFeTy ChaYIM / AoHev YaMIM L_RAOT tOv Who is the man who wans to live. [ But more literally: Who is the man who desires life, loving days in which to see good. ] He loves days -- just rmemeber the words -- he loves days, to see good. Just remember something very deep: There is such a thing as loving life, loving this, loving this. And there is a very high level which is called loBing days. We'll comt to it in a second. He says: [ WHO SAYS WHAT, AND WHERE. REB NACHMAN I ASSUME. BUT WHERE. ] THE PEACE PROCESS; He says: The essence of everything is: Everybody has to pray and ask and cry for peace. There should be peace beween Israel. If all of Israel would be peaceful among ourselves, then it would emanate peace to the world. But before that: I can not have peace between me and Yitzhakil unless I am peaceful and he is peaceful then we both meet, then there's peace between us. But if he's torn apart and I'm torn apart, then when we two meet there's an explosion. So therefore he says: There has to be peace between me and my own emotions. Without geting involved: Everybody has seven emotions. They are, in descending order: love, strength, beauty, eternity or victory, honor, foundation, and kingdom. [ RSC here gives in translation the 7 lower sephirot: chesed, gvurah, tiferet, netzach, hod [ more often translated 'splendour' than 'honor', although the latter is also supported in biblical use of the term -- eg 'hodor '' ki tov -- ki l'olam Chesed:o' ] Let's take just those two emotions, love and strength, or a little bit hatred. A little bit pushing off, strength right. And if I don't know exactly when to love and when to push away; when I don't know when to talk loud when to talk soft, I never know, I'm not peaceful, right. You know, sometimes it's very strong. Imagine I talk to may baby, I don't know how strong, got to tell them something very strong. How strong am I suppossed to say it. Am I supposed to yell. Am I supposed to say it soft. I walk into a grocery store. Sometimes I say (very softly) can I have some herring. You know, sweet. He'll take somebody else before me, right. Then I'll stand there like a dope in line for four hours and each time the line moves I say (very sweet, quiet) can I have some herring. And then I will say, listen I'm talking with so much love, but this is not the place. This graocery store is making a living from selling ham. You got to say it with a lot of strength. Listen! Give me my herring! I want to go home. That's it. If not I'll go to another store you know. There is a time to say it soft, there is a time to whisper, there is a time to talk loud OK, I'm saying it on a low level but everybody knows. SUMMARY OF THE PARABLE OF BUYING A JAR OF HERRING IN GALUTZ: Plus KAVANOT OF putting on TFILLIN to facilitate the Peace Process: There has to be space among my emotions. Now listen to this. This is something very deep. You know, I think Itold you once that: When we put on Tfilin we wrap the tfilin seven times around my arm which is to tie my seven emotions to G_d. (eaa7-7) You know what the tfilin does. The tfilin does: Whatever I do, I do with all my emotions [ in play, but also in harmony -- sa ] Most people do everything with one emotion. The other emotions just stand cold. And the other emotion revolts, you know. [ For example: ] I sit there and whisper. So then my emotion strength will say, why didn't you involve me also, you know. I walk home, I say, I should have yelled. You know why. Becuase my emotion strength was not involved in what I was dong, gets angry at me. It says listen brother, I'mn here sitting in your heart waiting for some action, why didn't you take me out also. Or I meet my friend and I yell at them. Then my emotion love says to me, listen brother, you have me, why didn't you take me along, right. I come home and I'm torn aprt. Tfilin is, not only I'm tying my seven emotions to G_d, when I put on tfilin I say everything I'm doing will be with all seven emotions. You know how beautiful this is. Whatever i do I do with all my heart. With all my heart, right. (eaa7-8) [ And that is of course a commentary on the Shma, and also a commentary on the Link between the Shma and Tfillin. ] (eaa7-8a) You know what peace means: I do it with all my heart, with everything I have. Because if I do it with all my emotions together, then it's 100% peaceful. Then there has to be peace not only between me and my own heart, there has to be peace between me and what's happening to me. You know everybody is ready to fly high when everything goes right. How do you react when, G_d forbid, something goes a little bit wrong sometimes. How well can you take it. How well can you take when someone insults you, you know. How well can you take when someone spits at you. (eaa7-9) Or when someone ignores you, how well can you take it. How much inner strength do you have. How much are you depending on the outside world. And if you're depending constantly on what othes think of you, you know. Imagine I walk home I'll be crying, you know, somebody called me a creep. So mazaltov. You know. So someone called you a creep. Most probably a creep a creep called you a creep. Like most people, when they call you names, actually they tell you their name, right. They really just introduce themselves you know. So what are you angry. Tellthem your name back, right. Someone calls me a creep. I say my name is Shlomo. Mazaltov. You told me my name, I'm telling you my name. (eaa7-10) You know, but the question is always how much inner strength, how much peace do I have inside. And then also, the deepest depth is how much is peace between you and G_d. All the time. How much are you aware that whatever happens to you is from G_d. How much are you with it. So therefore he says something very beautiful: [ NEED SOURCE: REB NACHMAN I PRESUME, BUT WHERE ] TORaH is called BChNH ShOvShO V Shalom What's the deepest depth of learing Torah: Listen, I can get myself a little book by Dale Carnegie, how to treat friends right. What do I need the Torah for. Dale Carnegie is very sweet but (without saying anything bad you know) he was one of the most, you know. Everybody knows in his own office the way he was yelling at people. Throwing his secretaries in and out the whole time you know. So his own hook didn't help. I guess he couldn't afford to buy his own book. (eaa7-11) But you know what it is, all those great people you know. You and I know the truth. All those spokesmen in the world for peace, for ethics, for loving, they themselves were the most messed up people in their own lives, right. Someone told me, I 'm going to this marriage councellor and he is getting his seventh divorce, but he really knows a lot about marriages, you know. So what good is that, you know. But anyway, the Torah is called GRL ShIvShNO ShaLOM . The holiness of us is, that our holy people didn't just talk about it. They momish were. You know the Baal Shem Tov says: Anybody who says something and he doesn't do it is like idol worship, right. You can not pronouce G_d's NAME, you can not pronounce G_d's teaching unless, unless it comes form the depths of your life, right. So therfore he [ Reb Nachman, I presume, but where ] says: Therefore the tzadikim are called peace, and the Torah is called peace. And therefore Isreal, the deepest depth the name of Israel is called peace. But then something else: What is called being at peace with G_d: Peace means its always right. I can not say to you listen brother one minute lets be peaceful, the other minute lets have a fight. Peaceful has to be comes from such a high place, It has to be all_encompassing. It has to be always right. Because it comes from a very high place. Anything which comes from a little place can be for a minute. The higher it is, the less it can be cut off, right. He says: What does it mean that there is peace between me and G_d. He says that: I'm aware that I'm in G_d's Presence all the time. If I say to G_d, I feel very close to you when I doven, when I pray, when I learn, but I really forget you when I do my business, I'm sitting in the stock market looking at those numbers coming up; brother G_d don't disturb me. You know, that means there is no peace between me and G_d. There is no oneness between me and G_d. (eaa7-12) (eaa7-12) { This constitutes a commentary on the passage immediately following the Shma -- that one should have the Divine Unity not merely in mind but also in heart and soul at all times, in all situations. } Then he says: How do you feel when you eat, you know. If a person says , I'm very much aware of G_d on Yom Kippur, but wow when I come home my wife puts a steak on the table, you know. Like he says, everybody is dead when I eat my steak, you know. So there isn't much peace between you and G_d. So he says: You have to know that G_d is momish all over. And G_d is hiding 'HIM'SELF behind a lot of things. And therefore, he says: The Gemorah says: If someone asks you, where is G_d, tell them G_d is in Rome, G_d is in Edom G_d is in all those places which is the most anti__G_d, G_d is right there. Therefore he says: [ so this is Reb Nachman's commentary on the preceeding passage from Talmud ]: If someone asks you where G_d is you have to tell them G_d is right wherever you are, this is where G_d is. (aa7-27) [ And that would be supported by the rabbinic commentary on the passage in Genesis where the angel says to Hagar, the LORD will see the boy where he is at. ] And from there you can cleave to G_d . OK. So therefore he says: There is such a thing as 'loving days'. [ This returns us to commentary on the passage from a Psalm, "Who is the man devoted to life, loving days that he may see good."] Whst are the two days. (aa7-28) [ This seems to be taking 'yomim' not as plural, which it would seem to be, but as the unusual grammatic form, dual . ] There are two days in the world. And here we come to the crux of the whole Tora_la: There are two days. There are good days and there are bad days, G_d forbid. There are days when G_d is open to me you know. G_d gives me everything I need. But then G_d forbid there are days when G_d is hiding and I momish think gevalt where is G_d. What do I have to do, you know. You know it's like meeting a friend who is completely masked. Then I tear off the mask and I say brother I recognize you. What do I hsve to do G_d forbid when something goes wrong. I so to speak have to tear off the mask from G_d's face and say G_d I know its YOU. Takes a lot of strength. [ REB NACHMAN ON THE 'SPIRITUAL ATOMISM' OF LETTERS ] Then he says somethng very deep, then we'll have to make a little stop: He says: Everything what happens to me is letters. Even in my own thoughts you know G_d forbid something goes wrong you know. Then you have leters in your head, right. It says kvais, let's say we lost the white bag. So, the letters I lost the White bag are in my head, right. So I have lettere. But they are dark letters. But what I have to do, I have to be on the level that I should hear G_d's voice behind those lettes. G_d saying them. It's a very very deep thing. He says: The secret of a human being is that we are forming the letters. When something good goes we have letters. And G_d forbid something bad we have also letters. But the secret of it is that I should hear G_d's TRANSCRIBER NOTES: SIDE 1 OF TAPE ENDS START SIDE 2 OF TAPE [ EVIDENTLY SOME TEXT LOSS ON TAPEFLIP ] ... kvais, send me this, send me this. Who cares. When you read a letter from somebody you love very much , it's while you read the letters you hear the person saying them. (eaa7-13) Takes a lot of closeness. So the secret of it is, the first thing is you have to love days. You know loving means close, right. You have to get close to those two days. How do I get close to those two days, the good days, and G_d forbid the not_so_good days. I Have to be so close that all those letters, momish, I hear G_d's voice behind it. RABBI LEIBOWITZ: Do I have to like those days too. RSC: I don't have to like them but you know basically we'll come back to it later, its a little bit like we were talking about last night HatTT Ha_DINIM Now he says something deepest depths: Imagine someone asks me a favor and I tell them, I send them a letter, I'm sorry I can't help you. I read the letter, hesrtbreaking. (aa7-36) [ RSC has just switched sides in this dramatic dialogue, from sender to receiver. One should note that he brought to his lectures a fine dramatic sense, so his illustrations were at times enacted dialogues. ] But imagine if I [ qua petitioner ] could hear the voice of the person I love so much saying this to me, oy, can't help you. It doesn't hurt so much anymore. Because, you know, there's so much behind it, right. [ And this is the halachic teaching, from