Binah (בינה) — analysis, understanding in length and breadth

Core definition

Binah ("understanding") is the second of the intellectual sefiros (ChaBaD), the power that takes Chochmah's flash-point and develops it into full comprehension. Where "chochmah is the level of the flashing lightning-bolt, which has not yet come to comprehension and understanding," "binah is the level of comprehension and understanding, in length and breadth" — drawing out the implications, the distinctions, and the details of the idea until it is grasped. And "for the flashing-bolt level of chochmah to come to comprehension and understanding in the level of binah — this is through daas": daas elyon is what connects Chochmah and Binah [31671/maamar_006 :: pp.פג–פד].

How the Rebbeim develop it

Seeing vs. hearing. The וכל העם רואים discourse develops the classic pairing: "seeing is chochmah, hearing is binah" — "ro'im et hanir'eh" and "shom'im et hanishma." On "v'ilu n'vonim afilu b'yemei Moshe lo ishtakach" (if they were nevonim, even in Moshe's days they would not be forgotten): though seemingly the sage (chacham) is above the navon, the maamar unfolds "the loftiness of 'shom'im et hanir'eh' over chochmah" — hearing's aspect within seeing's, and seeing's within hearing's, in the future perfection [31654/maamar_011 :: p.תכט].

"Mi" — the measurer. On "mi madad b'sha'alo mayim" (Yeshayah 40:12): "'mi' is binah, the measurer; the middot's birth through the mochin's limiting." Binah measures and limits — "kulam b'chochmah asita" is read "in binah": the particulars' depiction, "as the fetus in the mother's belly." Worlds of middot alone would stay null; it is through binah's measuring and limiting that the middos are born [31654/maamar_011 :: p.תי].

"Bina liba" — binah extends to the heart. Binah is not confined to the head: "bina liba, u'vah halev meivin" — binah's extension in Ze'ir Anpin's chest. The natural middos' root is above intellect, but they are aroused through intellect's preceding; "hence chochmah is 'light,' the middot's light" — and binah is the bridge by which the intellectual light becomes the heart's understanding [31654/maamar_011 :: p.תכו].

The connection through daas. Daas elyon "is what connects the level of chochmah and binah." Without it, Chochmah's bolt remains a flash that has not come to comprehension; with it, the bolt is drawn into binah's length and breadth — full hasagah and havanah [31671/maamar_006 :: pp.פג–פד].

Key distinctions

1. Chochmah vs. binah — the flashing lightning-bolt before comprehension vs. comprehension and understanding in length and breadth [31671/maamar_006 :: p.פג]. 2. Seeing vs. hearing — chochmah is "seeing" (the instantaneous grasp); binah is "hearing" (the drawn-out, received comprehension) [31654/maamar_011 :: p.תכט]. 3. Binah as measurer — "mi" (who) is binah: it measures, limits, and particularizes; the middos are born through the mochin's limiting [31654/maamar_011 :: p.תי]. 4. Binah in the head vs. in the heart — binah extends into Ze'ir Anpin's chest ("bina liba"), arousing the middos [31654/maamar_011 :: p.תכו].

Related concepts

Sources