Les Proverbes 20:5 Cabale : Ohr Ne'erav & Sha'arei Orah

The fool, then, has no desire [to comprehend] the hidden things which require understanding to discover. Thus [Solomon] said, A man of understanding can draw them out (Prov. 20:5).⁹The Masoretic text of the Bible reads tevunah (singular), whereas Cordovero wrote tevunot (plural). This inaccuracy is probably the result of his citing the verse from memory. [The fool] only [desires] to air his thoughts [with regard to] the revealed matters which serve as a garment [concealing] the esoteric aspects and which appear to constitute the plain meaning of the subject.¹⁰The Zohar III, 152a, reacts furiously against such people. Cordovero cites this passage in extenso in pt. I, chap. 2. These matters are indeed revealed to the heart, but they are not [revealed] to the hearts of the enlightened—only to the hearts of fools like him. This is the meaning of to air his thoughts: It refers to his limited mental capacity.

This Sefirah is called Thought-Machshavah-מחשבה. That is, it is the conceptual point-Nekudah Machshaveet-נקדה מחשבית, which is the matter of the very inception of the spreading forth of desire in the emanation of creation and drawing down. Thus, this is the matter of the First Yod-י of The Name-Yod Rishonah Shel Shem-יוד ראשונה של שם. This is the letter Yod-י of the Name HaShem-יהו"ה, which is the inner essential conceptual point-Nekudah-נקדה concealed in the Supernal Crown-Keter Elyon, included in the Unlimited One-Ein Sof-אין סוף, blessed is He. For, from this point-Nekudah-נקדה and up, is the world of utter mercies-Rachamim without end, conclusion, limit nor measure. From its adhesion to the Crown-Keter, it spreads forth with breadth and depth, as the verse states,¹⁶⁰Psalms 92:6 “Your thoughts-Machshevotecha-מחשבותיך are exceedingly deep-Amkoo-עמקו.” Now, the verse states, “Your thoughts-Machshevotecha-מחשבותיך” in the plural, referring to the thirty-two pathways of thought-Machshavah-מחשבה that no one is capable of contemplating, since they are, “The depths above-Omek Rom-עומק רום.” That is, they spread forth from the Crown-Keter which is the upper height-Rom-רום. No one is capable of contemplating them, except like a person who draws water [little by little] out of a limitlessly deep well with a bucket. Moreover, he who draws the waters, never actually enters the well to draw the waters out, but only draws them with a bucket. In the same way, no created being is capable of contemplating the secret of the depth of thought-Omek HaMachshavah-עומק המחשבה except by means of Understanding-Binah, which is compared to a bucket. That is, the bucket is the receptacle that enters the well of thought-Machshavah-מחשבה to draw from its depth, whereas the one who draws remains outside. The sign for this is the verse,¹⁶¹Proverbs 20:5 “Counsel is like deep waters in the heart of man, a man of understanding-Tevunah-תבונה will draw them out.” That is, there is no way to draw the waters from the depth of thought-Omek HaMachshavah-עומק המחשבה, except through the quality of Understanding-Tevunah-תבונה.¹⁶²Also see Shaar HaYichud of Rabbi DovBer of Lubavitch, known as the Tract on Contemplation (Kuntres HaHitbonenut), translated as The Gate of Unity, Ch. 1-3 and the explanations there. Even our teacher Moshe, peace be upon him, whatever he grasped of the two upper Sefirot, was as he was outside of them, and he drew from them by means of the Sefirah of Understanding-Binah.