Comment: I am hosting the program “Portraits” in which people tell how they came to the wisdom of Kabbalah, what sufferings they went through, and how they suddenly felt that they had found what they were looking for. Everyone is touched. A person cries and is not ashamed of tears.

My Response: It is because the surrounding light (Ohr Makif) is greater than our Kli (vessel). When it overwhelms you, it causes the state of infancy (Katnut), as we call it. The light shines, but there is no place for it to enter. This is when tears appear, and they drip like the release when something excessive is released from the body.

Tears are also shed in spirituality because you cannot contain this feeling, this shock inside you. This is why tears in Hebrew are called “dmaot,” from the word “dam,” blood. Internality is blood, externality is tears. After all, the feeling that something huge is in front of you overwhelms you. The same thing happens at all the degrees!

Question: Why is it said that tears are the state of smallness (Katnut)?

Answer: Because there is no vessel.

The state of smallness is when you cannot fit into yourself the whole great light that is before you. Then the light comes out in the form of tears. There is no other way you can respond to this huge influence on you.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 2/12/10

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