Utilizing Your Da'as - 03 Higher Da’as and Above Daas

(Summary: We will continue to explain da’as. We have so far explained da’as d’havdalah (differentiation) and da’as d’hachraah (decision). Now we will explain the third function of da’as, which is da’as d’chibbur.

We have explained that thus far about the lower and higher uses of chochmah and binah.

When it comes to the lower use of chochmah and binah, the da’as can only serve as da’as d’havdalah – to separate between a chochmah-thought and a binah-thought.

In the higher use of chochmah and binah, the role of da’as is hachraah, to decide between the chochmah and the binah.)

Da’as D’Chibbur: Connecting The Knowledge

Now we will explain a third, higher system of how chochmah and binah work together, in which the power of da’as serves to connect the chochmah and the binah together. This is called da’as d’chibbur, which Rashi describes as ruach hakodesh (the holy spirit).

Chochmah sees a general view, and binah sees a detailed view. They both “see” either the general view or the detailed view. Da’as comes to connect these two views. How does it connect the two views? There are several ways of how it connects them.

Connecting Details

The basic way in which da’as connects chochmah and binah is that it connects together the details of binah. The chochmah sees the general view, the binah sees the details, and now the details need to be combined together; the da’as is what combines all the details together.

Connecting Chochmah with Binah, or Binah with Chochmah

Another way of how da’as connects is that it connects the chochmah with the binah: it connects the general view with the detailed view, which gives you the completed picture.

These are the first two ways of how da’as connects. The first way mentioned is a lower use of daas, and the second way mentioned is a higher use. The lower use of daas serves to connect details together. This is a lower use of “daas d’chibbur”. The higher use of da’as - which is essentially the higher use of da’as d’chibbur - is what connects two different views together.

There is a vast difference between these different connecting powers. Compare this to a chain. A chain connects many pieces together; this illustrates the first use of da’as d’chibbur. The higher use of da’as d’chibbur connects more than details together - it connects two entire views together.

How One Begins To Learn A Sugya of Gemara

To give a simple illustration of the concept, there is a kind of person who will learn a sugya of Gemara and first seek to connect all the details together. Another kind of person will first seek the general view of the information, and only after that will he look to see the details.

The first kind of person connects binah with chochmah, and the second kind of person begins with chochmah and then he connects it with binah. Some people naturally start with chochmah, and some naturally start with binah.

People who begin with binah want to see the hekef (detailed view of the sugya) first, and then they want the general view. They see chochmah as part of their binah. Others want the “hashkafah rishonah” (first take) on the sugya and they seek to see how all details are in line with the hashkafah rishonah; they start with chochmah and then connect it with binah, which means that they see binah as part of their chochmah.[1]

Accessing The Root of the Information

Now we will address a third use of da’as d’chibbur.

This is the kind of da’as that is found above the points of chochmah and binah. Usually, the order is chochmah, binah, then da’as. But that is all with regards to the lower da’as. By contrast, higher da’as is above chochmah and binah. It is not just above thepoint of middos (character traits\emotions) of the soul - it is above the very chochmah and binah.

It is also referred to as ayin – “nothingness”, the plane of non-thought, the source of the very wisdom. It is written, “Chochmah (wisdom) is found in ayin (nothingness).” The source of chochmah is “ayin”, which is the higher da’as.

The Gemara says that “those who are “arum” (lit. unclothed) in their da’as make themselves like an animal and place themselves in a corner” in order to understand the Torah; this does mean to behave like an animal, chas v’shalom. It means to access “ayin”: the kind of da’as that brings one to have bittul, to nullify oneself.

People who are willing to have bittul on themselves so they can understand the Torah are those who access ayin, because by having bittul they make themselves into ayin, nothing. And from that, they are able to receive the higher daas, the very source of the wisdom.

This is really the depth behind ruach hakodesh. With ruach hakodesh, a person draws forth chochmah from the inner source of the chochmah.

Chochmah Sees An Outline of Reality, Daas Can See Reality Itself

We will try to understand this a little.

In order to access the higher use of da’as d’chibbur, one needs tohave bittul, to nullify himself to the information. What does bittul have to do with chochmah and binah? How does it play a part in the understanding of information?

Chochmah sees information - but it doesn’t see the reality of the information. It sees the “hanhagah”, the “path” of a concept, but it cannot see the concept itself. Chochmah is called a “nesiv” of chochmah, a pathway – there are 32 nesivei chochmah (“pathways of wisdom”) - because chochmah can only see a “tahalich”, a path.[2]

The general “tahalich” is called chochmah, and the details of the “tahalich” are called binah. “Tahalich” is also called “tenuah” (movement), meaning, a person’s chochmah and binah can only see movement of something, but it never views the actual concept. The Sages state that when a person sins, it is only because a “ruach shtus” (spirit of folly) entered him[3]; the depth of this is that when there is a tahalich that is not viewed with chochmah, the situation becomes a ruach shtus. Chochmah is, in essence, tenuah\movement.

So chochmah is to grasp a “tahalich”, or a “tenuah”, of a concept. But chochmah cannot recognize the very reality (havayah) of a concept. It only sees tahalich. “Hashem looked into the Torah and created the world” – this hints to us that the way we [initially] view the world is through chochmah, [for the Torah is called chochmah], and chochmah can only perceive the tahalich of this world, not the havayah of this world. Only da’as can see the havayah (reality) of something.

The Sages state that “A Torah scholar who has no da’as, a corpse is better than him.” When a Torah scholar lacks daas, he is missing the understanding of havayah, thus, he is not a real Torah scholar. He has chochmah, but he has no daas, so he doesn’t perceive the essence of a matter; such a Torah scholar is not a real Torah scholar.

“Torah scholars have no menuchah” (rest), not on this world and not on the Next World”[4] – the depth of this is that their chochmah brings them to an endless tahalich. All he can understand is tahalich, which goes on forever, thus, he never has menuchah. But that is only if he has only developed his chochmah and he remains at that level. If he accesses da’as, though, he can see reality - havayah.

Another word for havayah (reality) is “metzius”. The word metzius is used more often by the writings of the Sages, while the Torah uses the word havayah to convey reality. Chochmah sees the tahalich of a concept, and da’as sees the havayah of a concept.

Da’as\havayah\metzius is the root of the chochmah. Thus, chochmah is rooted in da’as. And what is da’as? Recognizing havayah.

The Sages state about da’as, “If you acquire this, you have all of it.”[5] If you have da’as, you have everything – why? Superficially, it sounds like da’as is the most important thing. But why does that mean I have everything if I have it? The true understanding of this is: da’as is about recognizing havayah, and havayah is the essence of everything. (And on a deeper note, there is no havayah except for Hashem). Thus, da’as is the power to recognize havayah.

The Sages say that a person should train himself to say, “I don’t know.” Superficially this means that people don’t know things, like the time or the date. But the true definition of “I don’t know” is, that initially, we don’t know what havayah is, so we are usually not seeing reality as it is.

There is a statement in our sefarim hakedoshim, “The purpose of yediah (knowing) is to know that lo yeda (we don’t know)”.[6] The depth of this is that the purpose of all that we know is to leave lower da’as and access higher da’as, in which you “don’t know” of lower chochmah and lower binah - and all you will know of is havayah. This is the purpose of all yediah\knowledge – to “know that you don’t know” – to transcend the lower view and “not know” of it anymore, because now you see havayah\the actual reality.

Higher da’as is called da’as d’chibbur; what does the daas connect? It connects together facts and reveals they are all one at their root. It sees how all is one havayah. When it comes to seeing the tahalich\hanhagah of things, your chochmah can see different angles of understanding in a concept, because there are different levels of understanding. But with daas, which stares at the reality behind the concepts, you only see one root concept.

The power to recognize the havayah is total chibbur (connection) with the knowledge of something, and it vastly differs from what we are used to understanding about the concept of chibbur.

We have so far explained that within da’as d’chibbur itself, there are three uses – connecting details, connecting two viewpoints together, and viewing the root of two viewpoint by seeing the root reality that is behind them (which is the highest way to use our daas to connect). Now we will elaborate further into each of the three uses of da’as d’chibbur that we have mentioned.

Connecting Details Through Revealing the Root

The first use of da’as d’chibbur, we mentioned, is to connect details. How does one connect details? Superficially, it means that I simply connect one detail to another, but this is a very shallow level of da’as.

The real way of how to use chibbur is to connect all of the details to their root. It’s not simply about connecting details together. The inner way is to reveal the root of the details, through connecting them together. So it means to look for the root.

This is really the depth of binah. Binah is not just about connecting details. When binah just connects details, this is a lower use of binah, which is at the level of the middos, a lower point in soul than the mochin\mind. The Rambam refers to the middos as “de’os”; in other words, da’as can connect the middos. This refers to the lower use of da’as, where daas connects a detail of binah with another detail of binah. Here, the connection is just to connect details together; such as knowing the difference between good and bad uses of the middos. It doesn’t necessarily reveal the root behind the middos.

The higher use of chibbur - da’as d’chibbur - is to really use the depth of binah. It is really the depth behind tikkun hamiddos (rectifying our character traits): to reveal the da’as behind each middah, for the inner essence behind all middos is da’as. Here, the binah which connects details together – enabled by da’as d’chibbur - is an even higher use. It is where one finds the root and the branches of each middah. When you find the root, everything can be connected. There is a rule, “Opposites share the one root.”[7] If you find the root, you can see how two opposite concepts bear one root.

For example, the Midrash relays how Rachel cries over her children when they are in exile; she is called akeres habayis, “the main mother.” Her children are in exile, and she cries to Hashem, and Hashem tells her that they will return, in the merit of her davening. What does her tefillah do? Simply speaking, it means that she davens for us as we are in exile. But the deeper meaning is because she is the main mother, the akeres habayis, when she davens for the redemption as her children go into exile, she reveals how the root of exile and redemption are one. The Maharal says that galus (exile) and geulah (redemption) have the same root - gal, to reveal. Both the exile and the redemption are ways that reveal the reality of Hashem, and they are two different angles of understanding, but at their root, they share the same root: they both reveal the root, Hashem. That is why she is called the akeres habayis, because she reveals the ikkar – the “root” – of both the exile and the redemption.

How To Get To The Root

We only gave one example, but it is a clear concept.

With higher chochmah and binah and da’as, a person sees the root of the information. He then sees the branches of the information, and then he can connect them, because he has the root. He can keep doing this until he connects all of the details in the Torah together. With everything he sees, he thinks into what is opposite entails, then he sees the root of that concept and its opposite, and now he can connect something to its opposite. And from that, he can keep connecting all details together.

On a deeper understanding, using daas d’chibbur to see the root of two concepts is essentially taking da’as d’havdalah and turning it into da’as d’chibbur. Da’as d’havdalah separates between good and evil, light and darkness; but Hashem said “let there be light” and there was now “one day”, which represents how chibbur (connecting) can reveal the root of all havdalah (separation) and, thereby, turn havdalah into chibbur! All of this is contained in the binah that is within mochin d’gadlus (the higher mode of thought).

We have tried to make this concept here practical. You can practically work on this concept by getting used to seeing opposite of a concept, then to see what the root of a concept and its opposite; that is how you can connect a concept with its opposite. Try to work on this: try to see the root of the information, the opposite of a concept, and then you can unify them by seeing their common root.

Thus, connecting details for the sake of connecting details is a lower use of binah, for it only relates to middos (the character traits), which is at a lower point than mochin (the mind). This is not the true use of da’as d’chibbur. It is actually a use of da’as d’chibbur that has become lowered from the level of mochin\mind to the level of middos.

In the mochin, the da’as d’chibbur is of a higher use: it connects the root with the details, as we explained.

Connecting Two Views Through Revealing the Root

The higher use of da’as d’chibbur is to connect chochmah and binah, which is to unify the general view of chochmah together with the detailed view of binah, together. We will explain.

This use of da’as d’chibbur doesn’t just connect the details. It connects the details into the general view and fuses them together, to form a greater picture of understanding.

Previously, we explained a lower use of daas d’chibbur, which is how to connect two details. Now we are dealing with a higher kind of chibbur: to connect the details into the general view - to connect all of the details together.

To illustrate the concept, the Torah has many letters. We can connect them and see words. Moshiach will combine all the letters of the Torah, as the Baal Shem Tov says, into one word. The depth of this is that he will combine binah into chochmah. He will not just connect details to show the root of the details - rather, he will connect all details together and show you the all-inclusive view.

Unifying the details as part of the general view is a much higher avodah than what we spoke of previously. It is to see the bigger picture of what all the details can form. This is the deep meaning of “All of them you made with wisdom).

The concept implies that a person needs to develop two kinds of chochmah. He needs to see the opposite of a concept, and he also needs to see the root of a concept and its opposite.

How can binah connect to chochmah? How do you reveal the expansive view through all the details? It is by seeing the opposite of each detail, then finding the root of each concept and its opposite, and that gives you the chochmah, because you have connected the details\binah with the chochmah\all-inclusive view.

The Ramchal writes that if someone sees more than two roots in a concept, he won’t arrive at chochmah. A person has to keep seeing two opposite roots in a concept he’s learning about, and then find he needs to find a root that connects the two opposites together.

We are discussing the essence of the power of da’as, which is da’as d’chibbur, the higher use of da’as. Each person can understand this concept as much as he can, on his own level.If a person gets used to this concept, in everything he hears and knows and senses, he will be able to take the information and connect them to their root.

We have been brief here in describing these concepts, but the words describe the root of all chochmah. Living like this means to experience all the chochmah one learns as entirely one unit.

Seeing All The Details of Torah as One

Without this approach, a person learns the chochmah of the Torah and he sees many sugyos (discussions in Gemara), but he cannot see the connection between them. He sees many details of the Torah, and “endless ocean” which indeed the Torah is, sugya upon sugya,and halachah upon halachah; there doesn’t seem to be a connection between all these details. He can combine details, but he doesn’t see how all the details can connect to form a greater picture.

But when someone makes use of daas d’chibbur, he connects details to a higher view, and he can see all the points in a sugya as being connected to one point, and he can connect many sugyos as branches of one point.

Of course, it will still be difficult to see the connection, and it will take exertion. But it gives a person an entirely different view towards his learning: seeing every sugya as all one sugya, and there is only one sugya: it’s all one point of chochmah.

Chochmah is a dot of wisdom, binah is when it expands into points that branch out of them, and daas is when we connect all the branching points into the root point. This is the meaning of what is written, “Your thoughts are very, very deep.” The first “very” is referring to binah, which reveals the depth of the chochmah, and the second “very” is referring to using daas d’chibbur, which reveals a whole new depth to the chochmah.

So there is really only one sugya in all of life. The entire Creation is all branching out from one point. “Hashem looked into the Torah and created the world” – all of Creation stems from the one point of chochmah, which is the Torah. This is called entering the sod he’echad – the “secret of oneness.”

Moshiach will come and reveal how all the Torah is one point – it will be the full revelation of this concept to the entire world. The depth of Torah is all contained in point.

Thus, a person should view Torah as all being branches of one single point. This does not simply mean that Hashem is One and that the Torah are the many branches of His oneness. Such a view is actually a view of disparity towards the Torah. The Torah is not a bunch of random details; it is really all one connected unit.

How can our soul deal with the contradiction that “Hashem is One” while the Torah contains endless details?

Some people, in response to this contradiction, feel that part of our avodah is spent on closeness with Hashem, and the other part of our day is spent on Torah, and as the Nefesh HaChaim says, when you learn Torah, just learn the Torah, and don’t think about connection with Hashem. However, people do not understand this correctly, and they erroneously come to think as if Hashem and Torah are independent from each other (chas v’shalom), and that there is no way to contain thoughts about both Hashem and Torah in one thought.

But the inner perspective is to realize that all of the Torah is one sugya: it is all stemming from Hashem’s oneness. This is the underlying essence of how we cannot the many details of Torah with Hashem.

Chochmah, in essence,is the all-inclusive view in that itshows us d’veykus with Hashem, and binah can show us the details of Torah, which shows us the depth of the chochmah. It is to see all the “details” one learns about as being but “garments” of the general view; to see the details of Torah as the “garments” of Hashem. All the details of Torah are part of one point: Hashem.

Rabbi Avraham ben HaRaavad writes that one should view all the details of his soul, his many soul abilities, as being all branches of one root. In this way you can reveal how all the opposing abilities in your soul have one root which connects them. With this perspective, the spiritual light of d’veykus with Hashem will then be with you even as you learn Torah.[8]

This particular concept is describing a very high level which most people do not reach, and we have only mentioned it here to complete the discussion here.

Higher Daas: Going Above Daas

We have described daas as being the connecting force that connects chochmah with binah, and this is all the lower use of daas, when daas is preceded by chochmah and binah.

The higher level of daas is a higher point than chochmah and binah, and it is reached through bittul, nullifying oneself. Earlier, we brought the statement, “The purpose of knowledge is to know that we do not know”[9] – that after we progress through the level of daas, you then go above your daas. So daas can bring you to that level of bittul, which is a higher daas, above the regular daas. There, a person leaves the view from within his chochmah, and he enters the deeper view of havayah, which we mentioned earlier.

Until now we spoke of chochmah as a general view and binah as a detailed view, and to connect them and revealed how they are one at their root, which is daas. That’s all within chochmah, which sees only the “tahalich” or “hanhagah” of concepts. At this level, one cannot see havayah yet, as we explained. He can find the root of two opposite concepts and thus find the connecting point between them, but his entire daas is still being viewed from within the view of his chochmah, which is not yet the higher view.

Higher daas, which is to see havayah, is not about finding the root of opposites. It is to touch upon the very havayah andthere, a person does not see any divide at all, because there is only oneness there.

This is the highest point of the entire soul, and it is really above the self. It is like the crown above the king; the crown, which is above the king’s head, represents the real glory of the king. Lower daas is “in” the person, and higher daas is “above” a person; it is what lays on top of the soul.

Thus, daas is really the tool we use to receive the spiritual light that is above our own soul. That is the depth of why a person is called a “bar daas” – because he can use his daas to receive higher daas.

The Shechinah (the recognition of Hashem’s Presence) can settle upon a person, but it is always above a person. It is received through our daas. So daas is the tool we use to receive the Shechinah, which is like the crown of the King. Through daas, one can go above his initial level of daas, and enter above the self.

Daas is really the point you can use to ascend the soul itself and go above the daas, and you can then touch upon havayah. Above one’s daas, there is only one point alone: the “Ein Sof”, the Infinite - the absolute recognition of Hashem.

Recognizing the Ein Sof is called “daas”, and it is essentially ruach hakodesh. Our daas, which is “lower daas” (including daas d’chibbur, which is the highest level of our lower daas), is thus only a partial daas. Above our daas is the complete level of daas, which is the recognition of the Ein Sof - the “I” of Hashem.

It is essentially reached through bittul (nullification) of the “I.”[10]

Thus, chochmah is rooted in “ayin”, or “higher daas”, or bittul – and this enables one to recognize who the real “I” is: Hashem.[11] When one reaches that recognition, it gives a person an entirely new mind all of the time, and it connects him to the renewal which Hashem renews Creation every day with.

Conclusion

Until now, with the help of Hashem, we have explained the three uses of daas: Havdalah (differentiation) hachraah (deciding) and chibbur (connecting).

We also described, briefly, the level that is above our daas (havayah), which is higher than daas d’chibbur. From this point on, if we merit Hashem’s help further, we will explore further the details of daas, on the levels that apply to the souls of most people.