0 responses to “The Tzemach once said, that the Baal Shem Tov took all the previous Torah and Kabbalistic wisdom and then advanced it to new heights, similarly, the Alter Rebbe, then the Mitteleh Rebbe – Reb Hillel Paritcher was in the room – and he said “and the Tzemach Tzedek, likewise” – of course this would apply to the Rebbe – so I asked my good friend and great scholar Rabbi Wagner what was the Rebbe’s advancement? and he replied Atzmus – in other words, if I may be so foolishly bold to try to explain – there is no doubt, the Rebbe was into Atzmus, Atzmus being God-himself, hence an entirely different picture of reality emerges – when we look into classic Jewish thought, including Chassidus up to the Rebbe (though of course the Rebbe’s ideas are hidden – as all of Judaism ultimately stems from the Torah – but the Rebbes revealed to us dimensions previously concealed) the basic paradigm is one in which that there are two realms, the spiritual and the physical – but Atzmus being the essence, that created both, neither is intrinsically closer or more distant (if anything the physical represents more of the essence of God than the spiritual for it is fundamentally Divine essence (though concealed) in contrast to Divine light (which though revealed, is only what we or higher beings can comprehend, hence it is infinitely less than the Divine essence!)”