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Da’as: The Only Frontier – By Rabbi Pinchas Winston
I have written about Da’as more times than I can count. It has been a part of just about every discussion so far because it is difficult to talk about Torah and related topics without returning to the idea of Da’as. And yet, there is so much more to say.
We are first introduced to the concept of Da’as in Parashas Bereishis, in the form of a tree. God made a lot of trees in Creation but only two were pointed out from the start, the Aitz HaDa’as Tov v’Ra, and the Aitz HaChaim, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Tree of Life. Apparently, eating from the Tree of Life prolonged life, but eating from the Tree of Knowledge took it away.
Why trees? Because that is what Creation looks like, an upside-down tree. Well, kabbalistically at least. As Kabbalah explains, God’s light began as a single light that emanated downward into the Challal, like a trunk growing up from the ground. As that light descended, it broke into “branches” of different aspects of the light, until it resulted in the very complex physical and spiritual world in which we live.
Therefore, it turns out, the Aitz HaDa’as and the Aitz HaChaim were just physical representations of their spiritual realities. A lot more was happening in the early hours of Creation other than a test of willpower, but that will take some explanation.
Because, in the end, though da’as only means “knowledge,” it is really so much more when a person understands what it actually is, and how to get it. Over the ages, countless kabbalistic works have been written to help with this, but not necessarily for the general public. This book, God willing, will try and bridge that gap, and provide a far more elevated path to personal fulfillment.
The wisest man wrote:
If you want it as you do silver and search after it like buried treasures, then you will understand fear of God, Da’as Elokim you will find. (Mishlei 2:4)
Da’as Elokim? What’s that? Literally, it means “Godly knowledge,” but is that really so hard to find? Why don’t you ask Adam HaRishon. He went looking for it and it cost him, and us, Paradise. And here we are, almost 5800 years later still grappling with the issue, still continuing the search.
Maybe it’s not so obvious after all.
