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Inapoi la pagina 1991 (ŞLAVEY HASULAM (TREPTELE SCĂRII) – link

What Does It Mean that We Read the Portion, Zachor [Remember], Before Purim, in the Work?

Article No. 21, Tav-Shin-Nun-Aleph, 1989-91

The verse says, “Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt, what happened to you along the way. Blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; do not forget.”

We should understand why we must remember what Amalek did to us in order to observe “Blot out the memory of Amalek.” That is, this means that if we do not remember what he did to us, we cannot blot out, but rather precisely as much as we remember of him, this we can blot out, and not more. We should understand what it means in the work that he says, “Blot out the memory of Amalek,” and if we have no memory then we cannot blot out. Therefore, first we were given the Mitzva[commandment/good deed], “Remember what Amalek did to you,” and then we have the memory of Amalek, and we can carry out the Mitzva of blotting out Amalek.

It is known that there is no light without a Kli [vessel], no filling without a lack. Hence, a person cannot do anything if he has no need for that same thing. Therefore, how can we blot out Amalek if we have no need to blot him out? That is, a person does not know what is Amalek or why we need to perform the action of blotting him out. Therefore, first we must know what is Amalek and what troubles he had done to us. Afterward, to the extent that we understand that he is causing us troubles, to that extent we are ready to observe “Blot out the memory of Amalek.”

In other words, according to one’s memory of the troubles he had done to him, to that extent a person is willing to blot him out. That is, precisely according to what he remembers that he had harmed him, to that extent he wants to remove him from the world. If a person does not remember that he had done to him many troubles, then he has no need to blot him out. Hence, to the extent that he remembers, he can blot him out, and not more.

It follows that it is impossible to observe the blotting out of Amalek, but only to the extent that he remembers the troubles that he did to him. For this reason, the preparation for blotting out Amalek should be that one must know what is Amalek, meaning what is the role of Amalek against the people of Israel. It is about this that the verse says, “Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt, what happened to you along the way.”

To the extent that a person feels the “what Amalek did to you,” he can carry out “Blot out the memory of Amalek.” That is, if a person does not remember that Amalek harmed him, he has no reason to blot him out. When a person introspects and wants to see who is his enemy and does him only harm, it is the will to receive for one’s own sake, which is called the “evil inclination,” since it prevents a person from receiving the delight and pleasure that the Creator wants to give him.

Therefore, when one looks at it, to the extent that he feels that the will to receive is his enemy, to the extent of the preparation to know and to feel the suffering it causes him, only to that extent is one willing to obliterate it from the world. This is the meaning of what is written, “Blot out the memory of Amalek.” That is, this implies that we should know that we can blot out only to the extent that we remember what is the measure of the bad that he had done to us.

Accordingly, we can understand why we read the portion Zachor [remember] before Purim. First we must understand what is Purim in the work. The importance of Purim is explained in the words of the ARI (The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 15, Item 220), “This is the meaning of what is written, ‘Their memory shall not fade from their descendants.’ That illumination is on the days of Purim each and every year. Therefore, in the future, all the occasions will be cancelled except for the scroll of Esther. The reason is that there has never been such a great miracle, not on Sabbaths and not on good days, for such an illumination to be. In this respect, there is a big merit to Purim over all other days, even Sabbaths and good days.”

In the commentary Ohr Pnimi, he interprets that that light, which was in the days of Purim, can shine only at the end of correction and not before. This light is called “the light of the purpose of creation.” That is, it is light of Hochma that is clothed in vessels of reception, meaning he wants to receive the delight and pleasure that is there, which comes from the purpose of creation. This light of the purpose of creation, called Ohr Hochma, cannot shine without clothing, and it dresses in the light of the correction of creation, called Ohr Hassadim. Before the end of correction, this light of Hochma, called Gadlut of Hochma, cannot shine together with light of Hassadim.

At that time, there was a miracle because of the fasting and the outcries, which extended Ohr [light] Hassadim, and then Ohr Hochma could dress within the Ohr Hassadim, and this is considered that there was a miracle when the light shone before the end of correction, since by nature, that light can shine only at the end of correction, which is called “in the future.” The miracle was that it illuminated before the end of correction. This is why our sages said, “All the occasions will be cancelled except for the scroll of Esther, since the light of Purim is the light that will shine in the future.

It is written (Shabbat, p 88), “‘And they stood at the bottom of the mountain.’ It means that He forced the mountain on them like a vault and said, ‘If you accept the Torah, very well. But if you do not, there will it be your burial.’ Raba said, ‘Although the generation received it in the days of Ahasuerus, as it is written, ‘they kept what they had already received.’”

We therefore see the importance of Purim, that they accepted the Torah willingly, whereas until then, it was only by coercion. By this we can interpret what we asked, What is the meaning of the portion Zachor being before Purim? The reason is that there is no light without a Kli. Hence, first we must remember what Amalek did, for Amalek in the work is called “the evil inclination,” and remember the troubles he caused the people of Israel. Afterward, once we have a Kli, meaning a lack, it is possible to pray, as then it was fasting and crying out, and then they were rewarded with “kept and received willingly, for the love of the miracle.”

It follows that we must prepare for Purim. We must say that the preparation is for the need and the Kli [vessel] for the reception of the light. This means that by feeling the lack, we can receive the filling. As there are six workdays before we can come to the state of Shabbat [Sabbath], as our sages said, “He who did not toil on the eve of Shabbat, what will he eat on Shabbat?” meaning that only when there are six workdays, then when Shabbat comes there is rest.

Therefore, one who works on Shabbat is regarded as “desecrating the Shabbat,” meaning he desecrated the rest. Likewise, the preparation for Purim is also the feeling of the evil of Haman, who wants to destroy and to kill and annihilate all the Jews, from youth to old, infants and women, in one day.

Therefore, one must pay attention to the Haman in his heart, how he wants to destroy anything related to Kedusha [holiness], meaning anything that can yield something that is regarded as Kedusha. Regardless of the measure of the matter, even if it is the smallest, he wants to destroy it. He regrets that he hasn’t the power to overcome the sensation of evil of Haman, who wants to destroy all the Jews.

We should interpret that “all the Jews” means anything that has some relation to “for the sake of the Creator,” this he wants to destroy. This is called “recognition of evil,” which is a Kli and a lack. Afterward, we can receive a filling for it, called “light,” which comes to fill the lack that is in the Kli. Hence, afterward, Israel were rewarded with “and it was turned to the contrary, so that the Jews governed their enemies,” and they were rewarded with receiving the Torah willingly and not forcefully.

But the heart of the miracle is that “the Jews governed their enemies.” That is, when the quality of “Jews” in one’s heart governs, the work of the Creator can be done willingly and not by force. It follows that the heart of the miracle is when he was in a state where Haman controls and wants to destroy the entire quality of the Jews. But when the Jews control one’s heart, they can observe willingly and not forcefully.

This is as our sages said, “Tyre was built only out of the ruin of Jerusalem, and vice-versa, when one rises, the other falls.” Hence, the heart of man’s work is to pray to the Creator to give him the desire to bestow, as this is the heart of the prayer, as it is written, “He who comes to purify is aided.” When the Creator gives him the desire to bestow, this is the heart of the miracle, and this is called “a second nature,” and it is in the hands of the Creator to give him a second nature.

This is why we read the portion Zachor before Purim. But before the portion Zachor, we read the portion Shekalim [pl. of shekel]. This comes to tell us that in the work, as The Zohar says, “Shekalimmeans Even [stone] with which to weigh.” This is so because one must weigh the order of one’s work, to see whether or not it is for the sake of the Creator. That is, it is impossible to blot out Amalek before one knows the power of the bad within him, and how it causes all the distancing from the Creator.

Therefore, when weighing the work in order to see if they are fine or not, we can come to the recognition of evil. Then, the extent to which we feel the bad and cannot overcome it, meaning that we see that we cannot prevail over it, this is still not regarded as “recognition of evil.” However, this means that he sees the losses that the evil causes him and he wants to get rid of the evil but cannot. This is called “recognition of evil,” meaning the sensation of the evil. In other words, when he sees the losses that the evil causes him, this is called “recognition of evil.”

This feeling comes to a person through labor in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds], when the light in the Torah makes him feel that the situation he is in is very bad because it causes him to be far from Kedusha. But if he does not feel that he is immersed in self-love, it harms him (and this is called recognition of evil). Precisely through Torah and Mitzvot, when he tries to obtain through them assistance in the work, the Torah reveals to him the bad in him. The first assistance he receives is the recognition of evil, meaning to recognize that the bad, meaning the will to receive for oneself, is bad and harmful to spirituality. It follows that the meaning of recognition of evil is to recognize that the bad, meaning the will to receive, is what is harmful to man. And when one feels that it is harmful, he can pray from the bottom of the heart.

However, we must understand why there should be a prayer from the bottom of the heart. The answer is that since one cannot feel the real taste of anything unless he has a yearning for it, from above they want that when he asks for something, that his request be answered, there must be a real lack. This is called “a prayer from the bottom of the heart,” and it is known that “heart” means “desire.”

Hence, when one prays to be given some filling, he must have a lack for the filling. For this reason, if one has another desire in one’s heart, it is a sign that he does not have a big desire, since his desire splits into two desires. It follows that neither are great. But if he has but one desire in the heart, this is considered that what he asks is from the bottom of the heart. That is, he does not have any desire in between. He might have a desire to learn Torah but also a desire to rest and not exert. This, too, is considered two desires and is already not considered that the fact that he wants to learn Torah is one desire, since he also wants to enjoy rest.

Therefore, we read the portion Shekalim before the portion Zachor, since first we must know that the will to receive is called “bad and harmful,” and then we can say, “Remember what Amalek did to you,” when he enthroned the will to receive over the people of Israel in both mind and heart. And since we know that he did a bad thing, we want to obliterate Amalek.

We should know that in the order of the work, we must make several discernments:

1) When a person begins to enter the work of observing Torah and Mitzvot, he does not feel deficient, since he knows that he is more or less observing Torah and Mitzvot. Hence, he has no reason to say that he has bad.

2) When he begins to examine his actions, he begins to feel that he has bad in him, and he is wicked, but not a complete wicked, since he sees that there are worse people than him. Therefore, he is called “incomplete wicked.”

3) When he wants to work in order to bestow, he sees how far he is from this work. Hence, the wicked comes to him with the “Who” and “What” questions. At that time, he comes to a state where he sees that he is a “complete wicked” in both mind and heart.

4) When he is in a state of ascent, he thinks of himself that he is righteous, meaning that he will remain in a state of ascent forever. Yet, afterward, another descent comes to him and he sees that he is wicked. Therefore, he does not know what to say about himself, whether to say that he is a complete wicked, since he sees that he has ascents when he appears to himself as righteous, or to say that he is righteous, since he sees that during a descent, he is wicked.

Since a person is close to himself, he accepts a bribe from the body, which he loves, and says that in truth, he is righteous, but an “incomplete righteous.” In other words, since the body will enjoy more if he justifies himself, he says about himself that he is an “incomplete righteous.” Because he has descents, at which time he is in a state of “wicked,” and he does not say that he is “wicked” because of the descent, for the above reason that he accepts a bribe from the body, so he chooses to say that he is righteous, but an incomplete one, as it is written (Deuteronomy 16:19), “A bribe blinds the eyes of the wiseand distorts the words of the righteous.”

We can see an example of this in the manner that the world behaves. We see that many people buy lottery tickets in order to win the draw. Each one thinks that he will win the grand prize in the lottery, although there could be a million participants in the lottery and only one winner. Nevertheless, he participates in the draw and thinks that he might win. That is, although it is doubtful, he thinks that he might still win.

Conversely, we see that when those who buy the lottery want to go some place by car, we see that one out of a million has a car accident, and people are hurt. But that person who bought the lottery ticket is not afraid that he might have an accident. He does not say, as when he comes to buy a ticket, that he might have an accident.

The reason for this is that since a person is close to himself, he cannot see anything bad about himself. If there is something bad, it will probably happen to others, and not to him. Although he has hopes about winning the lottery, with a car accident, someone else will “win” this, and not he, although based on what does he determine that there is a difference between the lottery and an accident. And yet, “A bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and distorts the words of the righteous.”

Therefore, when one sees that he has ups and downs, he says that in truth, he is righteous, so why is he having descents, for then, during the descent, he sees that he is wicked? As a result, he says about himself that he is righteous, albeit incomplete.

5) When he is rewarded with complete faith and can aim his work in order to bestow, but only in vessels of bestowal, it can be said that he already has love of the Creator, although only with the good inclination. But the vessels of reception, which pertain to the evil inclination, those are still outside of Kedusha.

6) When he achieves “repentance,” meaning when he is rewarded with love of the Creator “with both your inclinations,” as it is written, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,” meaning with both your inclinations, the good inclination and the evil inclination. This is considered that one has repented, meaning that the bad in him, which are the vessels of reception, have also entered the Kedusha [holiness], and he can work with them in order to bestow. This is why our sages said, “In a place where they who repent stand, complete righteous do not stand.” This means that complete righteous cannot stand in Kedusha, meaning that complete righteous cannot use Kelim [vessels] of the evil inclination, which are vessels of reception for self-benefit, so they are corrected and are in Kedusha, meaning that they work for the sake of the Creator.

It follows that everything follows the order of degrees, from light to heavy. Hence, the order of the work is that we begin in Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], and then we achieve Lishma [for Her sake]. Accordingly, we should interpret what our sages said about the words “received and kept, kept what they had already received.” That is, thus far it was by force, as it is written, “And they stood at the bottom of the mountain,” and they explained, “He forced the mountain on them like a vault and said, ‘If you accept the Torah, very well. But if you do not, there will it be your burial.’”

It follows that thus far it was by force, and now, on Purim, they accepted it willingly. This is called “the order of the work.” That is, the beginning of man’s work should be by force. By nature, when a person wants to work for the sake of the Creator, his body objects to it. This means that in truth, we begin in Lo Lishma, when the body does not object so much, since when it believes that it will be rewarded for relinquishing small pleasures and receive in return great pleasures, meaning he promises the body that it will receive a greater reward in return for his work in Torah and Mitzvot, this is not against nature. Hence, this is truly the first beginning.

But afterward, when he begins the work in order to bestow, the body resists it as it contradicts the nature with which it was born, which is to think only about its own benefit. At that time, the work is coercive. That is, he must not look at the body, whether it agrees to work for the sake of the Creator. Rather, one must do everything by force, even if the body disagrees.

This coercion that a person does is regarded as “a prayer,” since a person wants to observe “love the Lord your God,” but sees that he has no love for the Creator, for there is a rule that where there is love there is no coercion. Rather, specifically where there is no love, and a person wants to work for someone for whom he has no love, he can work for Him.

Thus, we should ask, If a person has no love for the Creator, why does he work for Him? That is, Why should one work coercively? The answer is that we were given faith. A person must believe that through the coercion that he forces himself, and he truly wants to love the Creator, this is a prayer. By this he will be rewarded with “accepted willingly, for the love of the miracle.” That is, the Creator gave them the second nature, which is the desire to bestow, and they were rewarded with the love of the Creator and received everything willingly.

Inapoi la pagina 1991 (ŞLAVEY HASULAM (TREPTELE SCĂRII) – link

Inapoi la pagina 1991 (ŞLAVEY HASULAM (TREPTELE SCĂRII) – link

What Is, “There Is Nothing that Has No Place,” in the Work?

Article No. 20, Tav-Shin-Nun-Aleph, 1989-91

Our sages said (Beresheet Rabbah 68:9), “Why is the Creator called ‘Place’? It is because He is the place of the world, and the world is not His place. From what is it written? ‘Here is a place with Me.’ Thus, the Creator is the place of the world, and His world is not His place.” It was also said (Avot4:3), “There is nothing that has no place.” We should understand what this comes to teach us in the work.

In the work, a “place” is a place of deficiency. That is, if a person has some lack, we should say that he has a place in which to receive a filling for the lack. But if he has no lack, it cannot be said that it can be filled, since there is no one to fill. For example, if one is not hungry, he cannot eat. This is considered that he has no place to fill his hunger. Or, if he is not thirsty, he cannot drink water, since he has no place in which to receive the filling.

According to the above, we should interpret the difference between “the place of the world,” and “Blessed is the place,” meaning the place of the Creator. In the work, we should interpret that the Creator is the place of His world. That is, the correction of creation is that the place of the Creator, meaning the lack, called “the place of the Creator,” is that the Creator wants to bestow, meaning the deficiency.

The deficiency that can be said about the Creator is that He wants to do good to His creations. That desire to bestow, when the world is deficient because they want to bestow like the Creator, at that time the world will exist in wholeness. At that time, the Creator will be able to bestow upon them delight and pleasure. Why? Because the reception of delight and pleasure will be in a manner of correction.

However, His world is not His place. That is, the deficiency, meaning the desire that is in the world, is the very will to receive. This does not belong to the Creator, since from whom would He receive? Hence, He, meaning the desire to bestow that the Creator has, is what His world must take upon themselves, and not use the nature of the will to receive, the lack with which creation—which is called “existence from absence”—was born. This is called “the place of the world.”

Man’s work is only about how to emerge from the nature of the desire that is in the world and acquire a different desire, which is the desire to bestow. This is hard work, and it can be obtained only through the Torah, as our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” Specifically through the Torah can we emerge from the control of the will to receive for ourselves and obtain the desire to bestow, since this is a second nature, to which only the light of Torah helps.

It follows that He, meaning the Creator, is the place of the world, meaning that the world must obtain the deficiency of the Creator, who is the desire to bestow. However, His world, which is the will to receive, meaning the lack that is in the world from the perspective of creation, which is the will to receive for oneself, this is not the Creator’s lack.

This is why we say, “Blessed is the place.” That is, when one has been rewarded with receiving the lack of the Creator, which is the desire to bestow, the person thanks the Creator for giving him His place, meaning the desire to bestow, which is what the Creator has. A person should achieve this degree of having the desire to bestow. This is why we say, “Blessed is the place,” for giving us the place, meaning His deficiency, which is the desire to bestow, for with this desire of the Creator, the Creator can satisfy it with delight and pleasure.

Accordingly, we should interpret what we asked, What is “There is nothing that has no place” in the work? It means that this thing that a person wants to obtain, meaning the desire to bestow, which is what a person feels he lacks, a person must first work so that the thing he wants to obtain, namely the desire to bestow, must first have a place, meaning a real lack.

This is expressed in two ways: 1) to feel deficient, 2) to feel that only the Creator can help him, and the person himself is utterly unable to emerge from the governance of the will to receive for himself.

This is the meaning of “There is nothing that has no place.” It means that the order of the work is that one must first prepare the place, meaning the lack, and then the Creator gives the filling of the lack.

However, we should know that although the heart of man’s work is to come to know that he lacks the desire to bestow, and to pray for the Creator to satisfy his lack and give him that desire, one should also walk with the right line, which is regarded as wholeness. That is, a person should feel himself as whole, in order to be able to thank the Creator, for when one prays for something, that the Creator will satisfy his deficiency, he is considered “cursed,” and “The cursed does not cling to the Blessed.”

This is why our sages said (Berachot 32), “One should always establish the praise of the Creator and then pray,” since when one establishes the praise of the Creator, it is certain that if a person sees the praise of the Creator and praises Him, in that state he is in a state of wholeness, meaning that man is in a state of blessing, and naturally, “The blessed clings to the Blessed.” At that time, a person can extend the blessing from above.

The order should be that one should find within him something good that the Creator has given him. Although now he is deficient, he should invoke within him Reshimot [recollections] of something good he had from the Creator, and for which he can be grateful to the Creator. It does not matter what one enjoys, but only that he enjoyed it and thanks the Creator for it. Then he is in a state of wholeness.

In other words, then he was at peace with the Creator because He delighted him, so he can already be in gladness from what he had, and now he can come to the Creator to help him because now he is not in a state of sadness, where he feels that he is worse off than all other people, a state called “cursed,” and “The cursed does not cling to the Blessed.” Rather, now he is in a state of “blessed.” Hence, a person should look within him for something that will enable him to be thankful to the Creator.

This is the meaning of the verse, “And none shall appear before Me empty-handed.” We should interpret that when one comes to ask for something from the Creator, he should not be empty-handed, meaning that he has nothing. Rather, one should first try to find within him something that the Creator gave him and for which he blesses the Creator.

Afterward, he can ask of the Creator because he is thinking about what he received from the Creator. Thus, he already has connection with the Creator, for the Creator has given him something, whatever it is, but what matters is that he can thank the Creator for it, and already has a connection with the Creator in that he is pleased with the Creator for bestowing upon him.

Hence, since now he is in wholeness with the Creator, it is a Segula [remedy/cure/virtue] for the Creator to grant his wishes. This is as Baal HaSulam said, that by this, “The blessed clings to the Blessed.” Hence, one must be very careful not to fall into the Klipa [shell/peel] of sadness, for then one is apart from the Creator, unlike when he is in a state of “blessed.”

And most important, a person should try to be in a state of “rewarded,” meaning to pray to the Creator that he will be rewarded, for when one is in a state of “rewarded,” he has a yearning for Torah and prayer, and he likes everything he sees in Kedusha [holiness]. This gives him high spirits because he feels the taste of life in everything that pertains to Kedusha.

But when he is “not rewarded,” it is the complete opposite—he has no desire for Torah or prayer. Anything he does in Kedusha is forced on him, and when he introspects, he says about everything that pertains to Kedusha that it is to him as the potion of death, that he wants to quickly run away from all those things around him.

Although he sees that people around him engage in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] and have high spirits in the work that they do, his body excuses itself by saying that if the people had the same taste that he is feeling, they would not be any better off than he is. Sometimes, he does not even contemplate explaining why they can and he cannot. That is, their enthusiastic engagement in Torah and prayer is not enough to give him a yearning in the work. In truth, we should say that since this person is in a state of “not rewarded,” his Torah becomes to him a potion of death.

According to the above, we should interpret what our sages said (Yoma 72), “Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi said, ‘Why is it written, ‘This is the law that Moses set.’ If he is rewarded, it becomes to him a potion of life; if he is not rewarded, it becomes to him a potion of death.’”

We should interpret in the work, that if a person is rewarded, his Torah becomes to him a potion of life. This means that he feels the taste of life in the Torah and in prayer, and in everything of Kedusha. And if he is not rewarded, his Torah becomes to him a potion of death, meaning that he feels in the Torah and in the work the potion of death, meaning the taste of the potion of death, and wants to escape the campaign and the work, and all that he does is by compulsion.

However, we should know that the order of man’s work is in two ways: 1) Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], 2) Lishma [for Her sake], meaning in order to bestow. As he says in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” (Item 29), “Know that our work during our seventy years is divided to four divisions:

“The First Division is to obtain the excessive will to receive without restraints, in its full, corrupted measure from under the hands of the four impure worlds ABYA. If we do not have that corrupted will to receive, we will not be able to correct it, for ‘one cannot correct that which is not in him,’ for the Klipot [shells/peels] will dominate it and give it of their lights, to provide one with all the material he needs to work with and correct.” This is until the completion of thirteen years.

“The second division is from thirteen years and on. At that point, the point in his heart, which is the Achoraim [posterior] of the soul of Kedusha [holiness] that is clothed in his will to receive since his birth is given strength. However, it only begins to awaken after thirteen years (for the above reason), and then one begins to enter the system of the worlds of Kedusha. The primary intensification of the will to receive is only in spirituality. And yet, it is a much more important degree than the first, since this is the degree that brings one to Lishma, as our sages said, ‘One should always engage in Torah and Mitzvot Lo Lishma, as from Lo Lishma, one comes to Lishma.’ And the final degree in this division is to fall passionately in love with the Creator, until the object of passion remains before one’s eyes all day long and all night, as the poet said, ‘When I remember Him, He does not let me sleep.’

“The third division is work in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma, in order to bestow and not to receive reward. This work cleanses the will to receive for oneself in him and replaces it with a will to bestow. To the extent that one purifies the will to receive, he becomes worthy of receiving the five parts of the soul called NRNHY.”

We therefore see that first we must work in Lo Lishma, meaning to obtain the desire and yearning for the light of pleasure that is dressed in Torah and Mitzvot. This work, which one should do only for his own sake, meaning to engage in the work in order to delight that will to receive with greater pleasures than corporeal pleasures. It follows that this work, called Lo Lishma, is because he works only in order to derive emotional satisfaction, and not in order to bestow contentment upon his Maker. In other words, he works in observing Torah and Mitzvot for his own sake and does not think about the benefit of the Creator.

When one begins to work in Lo Lishma, in order to obtain emotional fulfillment, he begins to feel a good taste in Torah and work, and he has high spirits and begins to feel the love of the Creator. At that time, he has the grace of Kedusha. Yet, when he wants to begin the work of bestowal, meaning to work for the sake of the Creator and not for his own sake, the taste he felt while working only for his own benefit is taken away from him.

This is so in order for him to accustom himself to work for the sake of the Creator and not for his own sake. Since he was used to feeling the taste of the work in the state of the second division, and now he does not feel that same taste of sweetness he felt while working Lo Lishma, he thinks that he does not feel a good taste in the work as he did before he began the work of Lishma because he has become worse than he was then. Therefore, he says that he sees that this work is not for him, and he wants to escape the campaign.

But in truth, a person should believe that the fact that he does not feel a good taste in the work is not because now he has descended from the degree he had before. Rather, it is that now he is being guided from above to accustom himself to work for the sake of the Creator, and not notice himself—whether he enjoys this work. Rather, he should accustom himself to work for the sake of the Creator. It is as Baal HaSulam said (in “The Order of the Work, by Baal HaSulam”), that one should believe that when he attributes his work to the Creator, the Creator accepts his work, regardless of the form of his work.

It follows that when one does not feel a good taste in the work, he should say that now he has an opportunity to work only for the sake of the Creator, meaning for the Creator to enjoy his work, since now he does not feel any flavor in the work, that he can say that he is attracted to the flavor.

However, when one overcomes and works in order for the Creator to enjoy his work, he should try to enjoy having a place to work only for the sake of the Creator, and from this one should derive high spirits. It was said about this work, “Serve the Lord with gladness.” That is, when one sees that he has work, meaning when he sees that he has a place to overcome, since the body wants specifically for the will to receive to enjoy his work, he should overcome and work specifically because the Creator will enjoy his work, since now he does not feel taste in the work, to say that the flavor draws him. This is called “work.”

From this work, a person should derive joy, from seeing that now he has a chance to perform work that will be only in order to bestow contentment upon his Maker. Yet, here begin the ascents and descents, since each time, a person is made to feel the truth of why he is remote from the Creator, since it is against nature.

But we should ask, Why did the Creator make it so that man will be unable to overcome his vessels of reception by himself, but will need the help of the Creator? Baal HaSulam said about this, that if a person did not see that he cannot overcome the evil in him without the help of the Creator, he would remain outside of Kedusha. He said that the reason is that if man could overcome the evil in him, he would naturally taste a good flavor in the work and would be content with little. That is, he would feel “Thank God, I engage in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds],” and he would feel that he is doing everything for the sake of the Creator, so what else does he need? Therefore, he does not see what else he needs to add, since he really is working for the Creator. And since one cannot work without a lack, he would remain in Katnut [smallness/infancy] of Kedusha.

But if a person sees that he cannot overcome and work for the sake of the Creator, and each time he has descents and ascents, by which he sees that he needs the help of the Creator, and the help that the Creator gives is as The Zohar says about what is written, “He who comes to purify is aided,” it asks, “With what is he aided?” and he replies, “With a holy soul.”

That is, each time, he is rewarded with a higher soul, according to the help for which he asks—initially the light of Nefesh, then Ruach, until he is rewarded with the NRNHY of his soul. It therefore follows that the ascents and descents that one experiences come from above on purpose, so that through them, he will attain what pertains to his soul.

However, while one is still in Lo Lishma, and even when he has not obtained the Lo Lishma in the manner of the great passion for the Creator, as in the second division, as in “When I remember Him, He does not let me sleep,” he should still begin with the work of bestowal and not wait until he achieves the state of Lo Lishma called “When I remember Him, He does not let me sleep,” since one might remain in this state forever. But once he has achieved the state of Lo Lishma and feels a good taste in the work, he is given from above an awakening to want to work in order to bestow. At that time, the real work begins, until from above he is given the desire to bestow.

Inapoi la pagina 1991 (ŞLAVEY HASULAM (TREPTELE SCĂRII) – link

Inapoi la pagina 1991 (ŞLAVEY HASULAM (TREPTELE SCĂRII) – link

What Is, “Rise Up, O Lord, and Let Your Enemies Be Scattered,” in the Work?

Article No. 19, Tav-Shin-Nun-Aleph, 1989-91

The Jerusalem Talmud says, “The Tanna Rashbi says, ‘If you see people whose hands have given up on the Torah, stand firm and reinforce yourself in it, and you will receive everyone’s reward.’”

We should understand the meaning of people giving up on the Torah. Giving up has to do with a person who has made great efforts to obtain something but saw that all his efforts did not help him and he still did not obtain that thing. At that time, a person comes to despair. It follows that if a person sees that people have given up on finding the Torah, it must be that they have made efforts, so how can it be said, “Stand firm and reinforce yourself in it”? After all, we see that the labor did not help them, so with what can we reinforce ourselves?

It is known that in the work, we learn everything within one body. It follows that seeing people whose hands have given up on the Torah is in one person. Thus, what does it mean that he sees that they have given up on the Torah? We should understand why he says that their hands have given up on the Torah. It is known that “hands” means that which we take with our hands. Thus, what does it mean that “their hands have given up”? It means that they saw that it is impossible to receive in their hands from the Torah what they want to receive. Thus, we should know what it is they wanted to receive from the Torah but have given up.

It is known that man was created with the evil inclination and the good inclination. The evil inclination was created as soon as one is born. A person does not need to work to acquire this desire, since the Creator created man with this nature, called “desire to receive delight and pleasure.” Therefore, since it comes by nature, it is very strong and needs no assistance. Wherever one sees that he can enjoy something, he immediately does all that he can to obtain that pleasure. Accordingly, we should ask, “If it tries to bring one pleasures, why is it called “evil inclination”? After all, it is concerned with bringing pleasures, not bad things, to a person.

The answer is that since the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations, in order not to have the matter of shame, there was a correction that the abundance does not reach the vessels of reception. This is called “the correction of the Tzimtzum [restriction].” Only a very thin light shines into the vessels of reception. This is the meaning of what the ARI interprets, that Malchut sustains the Klipot [shells/peels], as in “Her legs go down to death,” and the corporeal world is nourished by this.

Yet, the real delight and pleasure, of which He thought, does not shine into the vessels of reception. It therefore follows that the evil inclination, called “will to receive for one’s own sake,” cannot receive the real delight and pleasure. Hence, since the will to receive for oneself is the disruptor, it is called “evil inclination,” as it disrupts a person from receiving the abundance.

For this reason, since man was created with a nature of wanting to receive for himself, how can he have the power to emerge from the control of the evil inclination? The answer of our sages to this is “Thus the Creator said to Israel: ‘My sons, I have created the evil inclination, and I have created for it the spice of Torah. And if you engage in Torah, you will not be given into its hands’” (Kidushin 30).

This means that only through the Torah can we emerge from the control of the evil inclination. That is, when one learns Torah, he should always see whether he has taken from the Torah the subjugation of the evil inclination. Hence, if one learns Torah, he sees that he did not receive from the Torah the cure of the Torah, which subdues the evil inclination.

It follows that to the extent of the time and effort that one has given to learn Torah, and yet did not move at all from his evil, but sometimes sees the opposite, that he has retreated, and each day he thinks that he is a new creation, meaning that each day he thinks, “Perhaps today I will be rewarded with the Torah giving me the cure to persuade the evil inclination,” but since he sees that he is not succeeding, he falls into despair. Then he says that although our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,” this might be so for a person who was born with good qualities. Yet, he sees his own lowliness, that he cannot achieve this level. Thus, he must leave the campaign since it is not for him, and he is wasting his time working in vain. This brings him to a state called “pondering the beginning.”

This is the meaning of what is written, “If you see people whose hands have given up on the Torah,” meaning that all those days when he engaged in Torah with the aim to obtain from the Torah the cure of annulling the bad, and since each day was a new creation for him, it follows that he has many creations within him. Now, their hands have given up on the Torah because he is in a state where he will never receive this cure from the Torah. Yet, in this way, he is under the control of the will to receive. Hence, what should he do now? Normally, when one gives up on something that he wants to obtain, he quits it and runs from it. Thus, he should escape the campaign.

Rashbi says about this, “Stand firm and reinforce yourself in it, and you will receive everyone’s reward.” We should understand what Rashbi says and adds, “You will receive everyone’s reward.” Why is it not enough that he says that he should believe what he is saying, “Stand firm and reinforce yourself in it”? In other words, we must believe in the sages that we must not give up, and believe that the Creator hears the prayer of every mouth. Why does he add and say, “and you will receive everyone’s reward”? If he does not receive everyone’s reward, should he not reinforce himself and not give up?

We should interpret what he says, “and you will receive everyone’s reward,” that this is the reason why he must not give up on receiving the cure from the Torah that brings to us the cancellation of the evil inclination. The thing is that we must believe that when one begins the work of bestowal, he sees each time that he is more immersed in self-love. Each day he adds in the work, which is regarded as a new creation, as our sages said, “A gentile who became a proselyte is like a newborn child,” which means in the work that each day when one takes upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven, he becomes “Israel,” and this is called “A gentile who became a proselyte is like a newborn child.”

It follows that man consists of many creations. And the more creations there are, he sees that he has still not been rewarded with permanent faith and he is still far from the Creator due to disparity of form, which causes separation from the Creator. This is called that he sees that the creations have given up on the Torah, meaning that they have given up on receiving the medicine called “annulment of the evil.”

The question is, Why does the Creator not give them what He promised us, as He said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice”? Why does He not give the spice to those people who want to work in order to bestow?

The answer is, as we explained in previous articles, that “There is no light without a Kli [vessel], no filling without a lack.” Since one is not shown more lack than he can receive, meaning to the extent of the good within him, meaning since he engages in overcoming the bad and does things in order to cancel the bad, therefore, he is shown a greater lack each time, according to the value of his work, and how far he is from the desire to bestow.

It follows that in truth, the Creator does hear a prayer, but the answering of the prayer is not the way the person thinks he needs it, meaning the filling, since what man really needs is the lack, meaning a real desire, to want to be rewarded in his life with only a desire to give contentment to the Creator. But in the beginning of his work, a person thinks that he needs a little bit desire to bestow, meaning that he still does not have a need to be able to bring contentment to the Creator. It is not a big desire because he is not as materialized with self-love.

Rather, he thinks that whenever he wants to work in order to bestow, he will be able to do so. Thus, he still does not have a real need to feel how far he is from doing anything not for his own sake. This is why this is still not regarded as a real need for the Creator to satisfy.

Hence, the beginning of answering the prayer of a person who wants to walk on the path of bestowal is that the Creator shows him each time a greater lack, that he is removed from the work of bestowal. It follows that the fact that one sees that the Torah is not giving him the spice is for his sake, since by this he receives a Kli, called “lack,” for the Creator to later give him the filling for the lack.

Thus, to the extent that each time he receives a greater lack for the desire to bestow, he thereby receives more Kelim [vessels] that can receive the filling of the lack. In other words, if he has a big desire to obtain the desire to bestow, it follows that the increase in desires is called “increase in the Kelim for the reception of the filling,” called “desire to bestow.” That is, he receives a big desire to bestow, according to his Kelim. This means that according to the measure of the lack, to that extent he can receive the spice from the Torah. It follows that according to the increase in the Kelim, to that extent he receives light.

Accordingly, we should interpret what we asked, What does Rashbi add to us when he says that he takes everyone’s reward? We should interpret that when one sees that the creations have given up on the Torah, that they see that they are not receiving into their hands the spice that the Torah is meant to give them, namely the annulment of the evil inclination, but on the contrary, Rashbi says about this, “Know that all the rejections you feel, that each time, you are pushed farther away from nearing the Creator, from equivalence of form called ‘Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator,’ it is in order for you to acquire Kelim in which to receive the spice.”

It follows that now that you have many Kelim, which come from many rejections, now all the Kelimwill receive reward, meaning the filling, and this is called that he will receive reward for everyone, for all the rejections, since these rejections are Kelim in which to receive the filling called “reward.”

It follows that by seeing that one is in thoughts and desires of the will to receive, which are called “wicked,” since they harm a person so he cannot achieve the delight and pleasure that is in the thought of creation, which is to do good to His creations, we must know that they are also called “enemies of the Creator” because they obstruct the Creator and He cannot carry out His plan to do good to His creations. Because of the will to receive for one’s own sake, the Creator cannot bestow upon them because it will all go to the vessels of reception, which are the Sitra Achra [other side]. Thus, these wicked, the desires of reception that have accumulated within man, are considered “the enemies of the Creator and the enemies of man.”

Now we can interpret what is written (Psalms 34), “I sought the Lord and He answered me.” The RADAK interpreted “I sought,” since while in their hands, he sought the Creator in his heart and begged before Him in his heart to save him from them.

In the work, we should interpret that David saw that when he was in their hands, under the rule of thoughts and desires of the will to receive, his heart sought the Creator. That is, although he saw that they controlled him, his heart demanded of the Creator to save him from them. In other words, even though on the outside they governed him, within the heart he protested their governance and begged the Creator to save him from them. In his heart, he demanded and begged the Creator to save him from them and did not give up because they controlled him on the outside. This is as our sages said (Berachot 10), “Even if a sharp sword is placed on his neck, he should not deny himself mercy.” Thus, the descents, too, cause the filling of the lack.

According to the above, we should interpret what we asked, “What is ‘Rise up, O Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee before You’?” In the work, we should interpret who are the Creator’s enemies in the work, who do not let one work for the sake of the Creator. These are the desires within us to work only for our own sake. These desires are called “enemies of the Creator and enemies of man.”

Being unable to work for the sake of the Creator is called “enemies of the Creator.” Yet, it is not that the Creator needs to be served. Rather, by working for Him, they receive Dvekut with the Creator, called “vessels of bestowal,” and in these Kelim the Creator can give them the delight and pleasure that was in the thought of creation. Since these desires of self-reception interrupt this, it follows that they are disrupting the desire to do good to His creations from being carried out.

Thus, they are also called “man’s enemies,” since the desires to receive interrupt people from being able to receive the delight and pleasure that the Creator wants to give them. These desires for reception for themselves can receive only from the light called “very thin light,” which shines into the Klipot [shells/peels]. This thin light can illuminate to the vessels of reception that belong to the Klipot.

But on the real light, there was a Tzimtzum [restriction] so it will shine only in vessels of Kedusha[holiness] called “vessels of bestowal,” meaning specifically on the desire to bestow contentment to one’s Maker and not for one’s own sake. This is why we ask, “Rise up, O Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered,” since all the power in the will to receive is because the Shechina [Divinity] is in the dust, the Shechina is in exile. That is, since the Kedusha is concealed and hidden, and we do not see its importance, the enemies of the Creator and the enemies of man raise their heads and want to rule.

But this is not so if the Creator helps us during the concealment, when Malchut is regarded as dust, when the creatures do not feel the existence of the Creator but the Klipot stand before us and the Kedusha is concealed and we do not see its importance. At that time, the enemies of the Creator and the enemies of Israel are the rulers.

As is said in The Zohar about Malchut, she is the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If he is rewarded, it is good, meaning that the bad is covered and not seen outside. Naturally, the evil does not rule because it is concealed. If he is not rewarded, it is bad, meaning that the good is concealed and the bad is revealed outward. At that time, the bad rules because the bad is revealed and the good is concealed.

Hence, a person sees that sometimes he understands that man’s purpose is to work for the sake of the Creator. He has no doubt about it and thinks that it is natural, that it cannot be otherwise. Afterward, after this state when he understands that what matters is only to do the holy work and not to follow the majority, and moreover, sometimes when he looks at the general public, he cannot understand how intelligent people can be so immersed in superficial things and not engage in the holy work.

Afterward, the person himself falls into all kinds of foolish penchants that he previously ridiculed and could not comprehend. Now, he is in there himself.

We should understand how such a thing can happen. The answer is that later, when one has come to a state of “not rewarded,” the good disappears from him and the bad becomes revealed in him. Hence, he is taken after what is revealed outside, which is the bad. He has no choice; he does only that which is revealed outside.

This is the meaning of the words “Malchut is called ‘the tree of good and evil.’” However, the whole matter of choice is about what is revealed, namely the choice to be “rewarded” or “not rewarded.” It follows that man must do only one thing—to pray to the Creator that the bad will be covered and the good will be revealed. Then, he will consider working for the sake of the Creator as labor, since he will not be able to understand otherwise than to work for the sake of the Creator. At that time, he will have no effort annulling himself before the Creator, since he will think that this is natural. Hence, everything he previously thought was impossible, now he sees that it is natural and he wants to annul before the Creator like a candle before a torch. And all this is because the bad is concealed and the good is revealed outside.

This is the meaning of the words “Rise up, O Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered.” We pray that the Creator will “rise up,” the way we pray and say, “The Merciful One will raise for us the fallen hut of David,” where the “hut of David” is Malchut, which is the Shechina in the dust. We ask the Creator to raise her from her falling and that she will rise, meaning upright.

Naturally, each one will cancel his self and will want to work only for the sake of the Creator and not for himself. Through “Rise up, O Lord,” the “Let Your enemies be scattered” will happen. In other words, the desires in the creatures, which are the enemies of the Creator and the enemies of man, will be scattered, “and let those who hate You flee before You.” That is, when there is “Rise up, O Lord,” when the Kedusha is in the state of Panim [anterior/face], then “and let those who hate You flee before You” will come true, meaning that all the enemies and haters will flee.

Concerning “Rise up, O Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered,” we should know that scattering the enemies is not the end of the work, although it is the heart of it, as it is written, “And you shall uproot the evil from the midst of you.” However, this is only the correction of creation, and not the purpose of creation. The purpose of creation is for the lower ones to receive delight and pleasure, which is called “Torah,” as in “the names of the Creator.”

It follows that the first discernment is “faith,” the kingdom of heaven, and then comes the Torah. This is the meaning of the verse “For the Torah shall come forth out of Zion.” Man must be rewarded with the quality of the Torah, which is the names of the Creator, namely the delight and pleasure that was in the thought of creation.

However, we must not forget that man should primarily exert to walk on the “right,” called “wholeness,” and believe in the sages, who said that one should be happy that the Creator has awarded him the ability to observe Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] even if Lo Lishma[not for Her sake]. That is, when a person sees that everything he does is only for his own sake, and that he cannot do anything for the sake of the Creator, this is also a great thing. One should be happy about this and thank the Creator for it. It is as Baal HaSulam said, that the Lo Lishma that one does is more important to the Creator than the importance a person ascribes to the Lishma [for Her sake]. Clearly, the Lishma is more important, but the Lo Lishma is also important to the Creator. Hence, one should be happy even with the Lo Lishma.

Inapoi la pagina 1991 (ŞLAVEY HASULAM (TREPTELE SCĂRII) – link

Inapoi la pagina 1991 (ŞLAVEY HASULAM (TREPTELE SCĂRII) – link

What It Means that We Should Raise the Right Hand over the Left Hand, in the Work

Article No. 18, Tav-Shin-Nun-Aleph, 1989-91

The Zohar asks (Yitro [Jethro], Item 1), “‘And Aaron raised his hands.’ It writes ‘His hands’ without a Yod [in Hebrew], which means one hand, since he had to raise the right over the left.” This means that if the right is above the left, it indicates that the right governs the left. Hence, it is regarded as one hand.

We should understand what are “right” and “left” in the work, and that we must raise the right over the left.

It is known that “right” means wholeness, meaning that a person feels about himself that he is a complete person and is not deficient in corporeality or spirituality, since he is content with little. For this reason, this person can be grateful to the Creator for completing all his needs, and for behaving with him with the quality of mercy. That is, he sees that he does not deserve all that he has, and when he looks at other people, he sees that they have far less than he, and he says that he certainly does not deserve more than the rest of the people. That person is always happy and can be grateful to the Creator for what He has rewarded him, and he feels that the Creator loves him and he loves the Creator. He is always high spirited because the Creator loves him, and he always wants to cite psalms and praises to the Creator. And the more he thinks about the Creator, the more he enjoys, since he feels that He is a soulmate and this gives him high spirits, and he has no concerns over deficiencies, and he feels that he lives in a world that is all good. He always yearns to speak with the one who loves him, meaning he always feels the Creator’s love, and he regards other people in his surroundings as pitiful, since he sees that they are all living a sorrowful life, appreciating meaningless matters as though they were the most important thing in their lives. And since they cannot be satiated, they have nothing with which to be happy. He has nothing in common with them because when he begins to speak with them, they do not understand him. He cannot do anything for them other than to ask for mercy for them.

However, we should know that a person should also walk on the left line. “Left” means criticizing one’s actions, whether or not they are fine. That is, on one hand, he is content with little. But on the other hand, he needs to see what he is doing for the purpose of creation, for His desire to do good to His creations was not about being content with little. Rather, He wants to give to the created beings abundant delight and pleasure, and in this respect, he sees that he is bare and destitute. At that time, he has no other choice but to pray to the Creator to bring him closer and give him vessels of bestowal. Through them, he will be rewarded with Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator and will also be rewarded with the Torah as in “The Torah, and the Creator, and Israel are one.” But as long as he has not received the vessels of bestowal, and he sees how immersed he is in self-love and is inherently incapable of emerging from this governance, but only the Creator can help him in this, and he sees more, that not only did he not advance in the work, he regressed! And sometimes, he comes to a state where he wants to escape the campaign.

It follows that this left is truly opposite from the right, called “wholeness.” At that time, he should ask, “What should I do?” That is, since now he sees that the one line he had before, meaning wholeness, now that wholeness is regarded as “right,” since there cannot be “right” if there is no “left,” it follows that this “left” has made for him the previous situation of wholeness as “right,” and now he has “right” and “left.” That is, each one contradicts the other.

However, we must know that a person can walk forward only on two legs, and not on one leg, as the ARI says (in the poem “I will Sing the Praises”), “Right and left, and in between a bride.” We should interpret that through the “right” and the “left,” we are rewarded with the bride, who is called “The installing of the Shechina [Divinity].” But a person cannot walk on one leg.

Therefore, a person should raise his hands, meaning both hands, where raising a hand means raising the hand to look what he has in the hand, meaning what he has acquired from all the work that he engages in the work of the Creator. However, a person must know that when he looks at the left hand and sees how far he is from the Creator, it causes him separation from the Creator, since when he sees that he is not all right, in that state he is regarded as “cursed,” and “The Blessed does not cling to the cursed.” For this reason, one must shift to the right line, where a person works in a state of wholeness.

However, wholeness cannot be built on a lie, but on truth. Hence, when a person raises the left hand and sees there that he is full of faults, how can he then say that he is a complete man and thank the Creator for his good situation?

The answer is that by being content with less and saying, “I am happy that I have some grip on the work, even though it is Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], and even though he cannot overcome and labor as befits one who wishes to serve the King, and he thanks the Creator for rewarding him with grip in the work, to the extent that he appreciates it, to that extent he is considered a complete person. However, he should know that this “right,” that he is content with little, is after he walked on the left line. Then it can be said that he is content with little, meaning that the left made him see how full of faults he is, so when he is content with little, it is considered complete because he appreciates small things in the work as important. From this, he can ascend because he is saying the truth by being content with less. Conversely, one who has only one line is not regarded as being content with little. Rather, he thinks of himself as complete and not as settling for little.

This is similar to a person having guests and giving each of them 300 grams of bread. There are people there who are used to eating 200 grams of bread, and there are people there who are used to eating 400 grams of bread. Certainly, we cannot say that those who are used to eating 200 grams of bread settle for little, that they should suffice for the little bread that they are given, since for them, 100 grams of the bread are already redundancies. Rather, only those who are used to eating 400 grams of bread can be said to suffice for less, since they need more but have none. Then it can be said that they suffice for little and are thankful to the landlord for the bread that he has given them, as though the bread filled their entire need.

The lesson is that when a person walks on one line, he suffices with whatever grip he has on the work and understands that he is whole, meaning that he does not need more. Instead, he sees that he is in a state of wholeness, while other people around him are inferior compared to him. It follows that he sufficed for less because he saw that he had more possessions than other people.

But when he raises his left hand, meaning looks at the value of his possession in the work and begins to understand that we must walk on the path toward achieving Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, called “equivalence of form,” he sees that he is far from it. So how can he be happy that he is serving the Creator, when he sees how immersed he is in self-love? Sometimes he falls into a descent where he sees that he is so low that he does not even want the Creator to help him emerge from the governance of the will to receive. Thus how is it possible to work in the right, called “wholeness,” and for this wholeness not to be built on falsehood?

The answer is that the person believes in faith in the sages and says that the sages told us that the order of the work is that a person should walk on the right line, meaning wholeness. Therefore, he grows stronger and observes the faith in the sages, who said, “Who is rich? He who is happy with his share.” In other words, he is content with little and says that he is grateful to the Creator for rewarding him with doing something in the work, although it is all Lo Lishma, but only for his own sake.

At that time, he does not want to work for the sake of the Creator, and yet he is content with his share even though it is Lo Lishma. Out of this joy, because he observes faith in the sages, he can be rewarded with achieving Lishma [for Her sake], meaning that the Creator will help him and give him the second nature called “desire to bestow.”

It follows that in order for one to be able to appreciate the work of Torah and Mitzvot[commandments/good deeds], it is only by being content with little. That is, a person must appreciate it if he has some small grip on spirituality, and regard it a as a fortune. Therefore, when one walks on one line, he still does not need to appreciate the little grip he has, since he does not feel that this is regarded as “little.” On the contrary, he feels more or less like a complete person and only sees that others are in lowliness. But he, thank God, feels that he is serving the Creator and he is happy about it and rejoices, and can thank the Creator for this. Hence, on one hand, one who walks on one line, it is very good, since he does not have complaints or demands to the Creator, and he is happy and high spirited.

For this reason, such people must not be told that there is any fault in their work, since there is a rule that it is forbidden to reveal a deficiency in one’s friend’s work if his friend does not feel the deficiency himself, or at least that his friend has revealed to him that he is dissatisfied with the work. Then it is possible to tell his friend the truth, that we must do the holy work in order to achieve Dvekut with the Creator. Otherwise, it is considered that a person is shown a lack while a person is capable of working only in the manner of the general public and not in the manner of individuals. It follows that we are giving a grip to the Klipot [shells/peels]. Hence, when he walks on one line he is fine. This is regarded that this person belongs to the “still of Kedusha [holiness].”

However, to be a “vegetative of Kedusha,” meaning to have progress in the work, requires that one walks on two lines, which are called “right and left.” We need the right because it is forbidden to reveal any deficiency, since where there is a deficiency in Kedusha, there is a grip to the Sitra Achra [other side], as the ARI says, “In Ibur [impregnation], we need the depicting force and the detaining force.” Ibur means that this is the beginning of man’s entrance into Kedusha. The depicting force shows the truth, meaning a depiction of the work, meaning if he has a good depiction about the situation he is in and the work shines for him, meaning what form he has when he looks at his work, whether he is in wholeness or not, whether he is working in order to bestow or does he want to nonetheless work in order to bestow.

The detaining force is considered that when the depicting force shows him the truth, that during Ibur, called “beginning of the work,” he certainly sees deficiencies and there can be a grip to the Sitra Achra [other side]. Therefore, there must be a detaining force so the fetus will not be aborted, meaning abortion to the Sitra Achra. In order to prevent an abortion although there is a lack, as the depicting force indicates what is form of this work, the detaining force is called “right” because he shifts to wholeness. That is, he believes in the sages who said that a person should be happy with his share, meaning whatever grip he has on Torah and Mitzvot he regards it as a great privilege, since he sees that there are people to whom the Creator did not give even the thought or desire for the little bit of grip that I have. This is called the “detaining force,” so he will not fall off from the work and will also be born later, meaning that from this work of keeping himself in Ibur at the beginning of the work, he will have two lines, right and left, and he will be rewarded with birth and with being in Yenika [nursing] of Kedusha. Thus, through the depicting force and the detaining force, a complete newborn will emerge in Kedusha.

Accordingly, we should interpret what The Zohar says, that the reason why it is written about Aaron, “‘And Aaron raised his hands’ with a missing Yod [in Hebrew], which means one hand, it is because we must raise the right over the left.” We asked what this teaches us in the work. According to the above, we should interpret that the fact that a person should walk on the left, he should be careful that the right is always higher than the left. That is, while he is walking on the left and looks at the depiction of the work, whether or not it is complete, he should see that he can immediately return to the right, meaning that the right will always be of higher importance, and that he needs the left only in order to help the right, meaning to have room to always be in wholeness and on the path of truth. That is, he should be happy with his share, and this is called the “detaining force,” since we must be careful that the person does not use the left for long, since when one raises the left, he sees his fault. And according to the rule, where there is a lack in Kedusha, there is immediately a grip to the Sitra Achra. It follows that the person is placed under the Sitra Achra and should therefore remember that when he enters the state of “left,” he does not intend to remain in the left, but for the left to serve the right. It follows that then the left does not merit its own name because the aim is not only the left, for the purpose of the left, but that the left is required for the purpose of the right. For this reason, the left does not merit a name. This is regarded as having only one hand, since it is annulled before the right. This is why The Zohar says that “we must raise the right over the left,” and this is regarded as “his hand,” one, which is why it is written with a missing Yod.

According to the above, we should interpret what we say in the prayer, “How good are your tents, Jacob, Your dwellings, Israel.” It is known that Jacob is called Yod-Akev [Hebrew: Yaakov (Jacob), Yod-Akev (Yod-heel)], which means Katnut [smallness], heels, the end of Kedusha, as it is written in The Zohar, “That Yod that Esau threw to the back, Jacob took to the head.” We should interpret in the work that Yod is called Malchut, which is the kingdom of heaven, called “faith.” Esau does not want to use it; it is regarded as dust, something tasteless, which he considers dust. Rather, he wanted only to work in a manner that he will see what comes out from his work, what benefits he gets from his work. When he prays, he is willing to pray in a manner that he will receive what he is praying for immediately. When he is told, “You must believe that the Creator hears the prayer of every mouth,” meaning that a person must not say that the Creator hears only the prayer of an important person, but if an unimportant person prays, the Creator does not hear his prayer, this, too, is regarded as not believing that the Creator hears the prayer. This is as Baal HaSulam said, that one should believe what is written, “For You hear the prayer of every mouth of Your people Israel with mercy.” This means that anyone asking for the Creator’s mercy should believe that the Creator hears the prayer of every mouth, even if he is the lowliest.

It follows that if he says that the Creator does not hear every mouth, this is considered that he does not believe. Hence, even when a person sees that his prayer was not accepted, he should believe above reason, and this is called Yod, meaning the kingdom of heaven. A person should take upon himself this faith, the work that Esau threw to the back.

But Jacob placed it in the head. This is why it is Yod-Akev, where the Yod is before the Akev [heel], meaning that heel is considered “end” and “lowliness,” that which a person tramples with his heels. This means that it is something unimportant, and the person takes this as his head, meaning values it, and this is work where a person considers himself whole in that he has been rewarded with something. That is, in prayer, when he prays as much as possible, a person should depict to himself and believe as though he feels the existence of the Creator although he sees that the body is not impressed by what a person thinks.

Still, when he grows stronger and believes in the sages that this small contact that he has with spirituality, he appreciates it and believes in the sages that the Creator has more contentment from this work than from other works that a person thinks, that precisely when one thinks that the body agrees to the work, the Creator derives contentment from this. Yet, a person believes that precisely when one must use the above reason, this work is important to the Creator. Hence, he must work a lot in order to be able to appreciate work of lowliness, when the body disagrees with the work. This is so because when a person walks on the left and understands that he must achieve the degree of “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,” which our sages said, “with both your inclinations,” meaning that the evil inclination should also agree to be a servant of the Creator, and naturally, when a person sees that the body does not agree to the work, he says that in any case, there is no point to this work, so why should he exert for nothing? And yet, he believes that this is important work.

This is as Baal HaSulam said (Essay, “Faith in the Rav,” Tav-Shin-Gimel, 1943), that before a person is rewarded with the singular authority, meaning when he no longer has multiple authorities, which is two desires, meaning a desire to bestow, but he also wants to use the will to receive for himself, a person cannot know the importance of his work. That is, he might think that his work is in descent, when this is not the truth. Also, sometimes a person thinks of his work as an ascent, which is also not true. Instead, one must believe with faith in the sages, who said that one should walk on a path where he feels wholeness in the work even if it is of utter lowliness. However, we should also walk a little bit on the left, to the extent that it serves the right.

According to the above, we should interpret what is written, “How good are your tents, Jacob.” It means that one should see and try to appreciate and thank the Creator when he is inside the “tent of Yod-Akev,” meaning in a state of “heels,” which is the end of Kedusha, and say, “How good.” In other words, he does not have sufficient intellect to value this state and say that it is a good state, and thank the Creator. Afterward, by appreciating the “tent of Yod-Akev,” he will be rewarded with the “dwellings of Yashar-El [Israel],” where Israel is already regarded as Rosh [head]. It follows that through the degree of Yod-Akev, he will be rewarded with Gadlut [greatness] and the Rosh of the degree, called “Your dwellings, Israel.”

Inapoi la pagina 1991 (ŞLAVEY HASULAM (TREPTELE SCĂRII) – link

Inapoi la pagina 1991 (ŞLAVEY HASULAM (TREPTELE SCĂRII) – link

What Is, “For I Have Hardened His Heart,” in the work?

Article No. 17, Tav-Shin-Nun-Aleph, 1989-91

We should ask about the verse, “for I have hardened his heart,” why did the Creator not harden Pharaoh’s heart right in the beginning, but we see that only after Pharaoh admitted and said, “The Lord is the righteous one, and I and my people are the wicked,” then the verse says, “for I have hardened his heart”? Also, all the interpreters ask, Why did the Creator deny Pharaoh the choice?

It is known that the order of the work is that we begin the work in order to receive reward. To the extent that the body hears that it will be rewarded, and if it does not suffer, this leads a person to work in observing Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds]. That is, to the extent that he believes in reward and punishment, he receives motivation so as to be able to observe Torah and Mitzvot in all its details and precisions.

In this way, a person sees that he is advancing each day, and therefore enjoys his work, since he sees progress in the work. This follows the rule that one cannot do any work unless he sees progress in the work. It is like a person learning a profession and sees that he is not advancing in this profession, so he looks for something else to do, an easier job for him. But without progress, it is impossible to do anything. This stems from the matter, “which God has created to do.” For this reason, there must be progress in everything.

This is like the horse that circles the grindstones and walks in circles all day long. Because it constantly walks in the same place, its eyes must be covered so it does not see the truth, but will think that it is walking to a different place each time. That is, even animals must see progress in what they do, and any progress in the work is seen only when we work in order to receive reward.

But when we begin to work in order to bestow, when we want to achieve Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, which is equivalence of form, a person cannot look at the things he does. That is, although he sees that now he is doing more than he did while he was working in order to receive reward, but now he has a different measurement, which is to what extent he aims his actions to be in order to bestow and not for his own sake. At that time, he sees that he is far from it. Although he has many ascents, meaning he ascends in his degree, and now he wants to do everything for the sake of the Creator, it is only because he has received an awakening from above. Then he wants to annul before Him, as a “candle before a torch.”

But afterward, he descends from this state and falls once more into self-love. Then he sees that he has become worse; that is, he sees that each time he is farther from the work of bestowal, to the point that many times he comes to a state of “pondering the beginning.”

A person asks himself, “Why when I worked in order to receive reward, I had a good taste in the work, and I prayed and learned willingly, but now that I want to make more efforts than I did while I worked in order to receive reward, I see that I do not have the flavor that I had then?” The person asks, “Now that I want to work for the sake of the Creator, it stands to reason that I should have felt more closeness than while I was working for my own sake, but now I see the opposite! Not only am I not advancing in the work, but I am going backwards!”

The answer is as Baal HaSulam said, that one must believe that everything he feels now, that he is farther from the Creator, comes from above. That is, it is the hardening of the heart that the Creator gives in order for one to discover the real need, meaning to feel that without the help of the Creator, a person cannot emerge from the control of the will to receive for himself, but only the Creator Himself can help. That is, as the Creator gave him the nature of the desire to receive for himself, He should now give him a second nature called “desire to bestow,” since there is no light without a Kli[vessel], which is called “deficiency.” That is, the lack puts the taste in the filling.

Thus, if a person is given a filling but he has no need for it, he cannot taste the real taste in the filling. If he is given the filling before he has a need, he will not be able to use the filling, to elicit from the filling what is in it. It follows that the lack is part of the filling, since one without the other does not work. It follows that as one is given a filling from above, so one should be given a lack. It turns out that when a person sees that now he is farther from the work of bestowal, he is given this from above because the lack is part of the filling. Therefore, as the upper one gives the filling, so He gives the lack.

By this we can interpret the two questions we asked: 1) Why specifically after Pharaoh said, “The Lord is the righteous one, and I and my people are the wicked,” the Creator hardened his heart, and not before? 2) Why did He deny him the choice, as it is written, “for I have hardened his heart”?

The answer is that in the beginning, when starting the work, a person must see that everything depends on him. This is so as long as he is working in order to receive reward. At that time, a person can say, “The Lord is the righteous one, and I and my people are the wicked.” Hence, when one wants to work in order to bestow, meaning achieve Dvekut with the Creator, he must see the truth: It is not within man’s hands, since it contradicts the nature with which he was born. Only the Creator can give him a second nature, but without a lack, there is not real flavor in the filling. Hence, the Creator gives the hardening of the heart so that the person will feel the deficiency to the fullest.

This explains why only afterward did the Creator harden his heart, meaning after he began to work for the sake of the Creator and not before. Also, why did he need the hardening of the heart? It is for another reason, that if one does not feel the real lack, one cannot receive the real filling, since there is no light without a Kli. It follows that the hardening of the heart was not to his detriment, to remove him from the Creator. On the contrary, the hardening of the heart was in order to bring him to Dvekutwith the Creator. We therefore see that the lack that a person feels when he is distant from the Creator, that, too comes from above and not by a person’s awakening.

By this we can interpret what our sages said (Avot 2:5), “In a place where there are no people, try to be a person.” We should interpret this in the work. When one begins the work, he begins in order to receive reward. Afterward, he sees that there are no people here, since in the work, we learn everything in one person. It follows that he saw that there was no quality of people in his heart, but only that of beasts—who do not know anything more than their own benefit. And he thinks about himself, how can it be said about the chosen people, as it is written, “You have chosen us from among all the nations; You have loved us,” that there is nothing more than a beast’s desire in the heart of the chosen people? Our sages said about this, “In a place where you see that there are no people in your heart, do not look at how the rest of the people behave. Rather, try to be a person.”

In other words, since you have come to see the truth, that one must be a person and not a beast, while the rest of the people have not achieved this awareness—that there are no people in their hearts—since they have not received this awareness, it is a sign that they still do not belong to the work of the individual, which is the work of bestowal. This is the meaning of the words, “In a place,” meaning in a place where the knowledge comes that “there are no people,” meaning that this person who received this awareness must try to be a person and not a beast.

Hence, for the most part, a person feels that he is complete. He prays, he learns Torah, and he observes Mitzvot. He thinks that he should only increase the quantity, but in terms of the quality of the work, he has nothing to examine because he thinks that he is doing everything for the sake of the Creator.

It therefore follows that when one feels deficient, that he is immersed in self-love, and that he is far from the matter of bestowal, this does not come from the person, but rather by an awakening from above. That is, from above, he was notified his real state, that he is removed from the Creator and does not want to annul before Him. That is, when one feels his own lowliness, he must believe that it came to him from the Kedusha [holiness]. This is similar to what is written about Moses (Exodus 2:11-12), “He went out to his brethren and saw their suffering, and he saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man, one of his brethren, and he saw that there was no one.”

In the work, we should interpret that precisely when a person has the quality of Moses, called “Torah,” he can see how an Egyptian man, meaning the will to receive for himself, he says that it is called “a man,” and with this force, called “Torah,” he sees that it strikes the Hebrew man. That is, for the Hebrew, a “man” is one who does not do what a beast does, meaning that a man is one who does not use the desires of beasts, as it is written, “and he saw that there was no one,” meaning that “a man” will never emerge from him by itself. This is so because that person has the quality of Moses, who is the quality of “faithful shepherd” (who shepherds the faith for the whole of Israel), and that force awakens a person to see the truth, that he will never achieve the quality of “man” by himself. This is the meaning of the verse, “and he saw that there was no one.” This causes him to ask the Creator to give him faith in the Creator, by which he will achieve Dvekut with the Creator.

However, once a person has been rewarded with faith, it is still incomplete, for although now he is called “man,” and not “a beast,” he should also achieve the quality of Torah, for specifically through the Torah, a person achieves his wholeness, since he should achieve the state of “the Torah, the Creator, and Israel are one.” This is called “the quality of speaking,” as it is written about Moses, who said, “And Moses said to the Lord, ‘Please, Lord, I am not a man of words.’”

In the work, we should interpret that he asked that it was not enough that he was already in the quality of “man,” but he wanted to be a “man of words,” to be rewarded with the quality of “speaking,” called “Torah,” for specifically the quality of “speaking,” which is the Torah, is regarded as wholeness.

However, we must not forget that in the work, there is the matter of “right,” which is the opposite of “left.” That is, just as on the path of the “left,” the more deficiencies a person sees in him, the better, since a lack is called “a Kli [vessel],” so a greater lack means a bigger Kli. The same is true for the “right”: The more complete one feels, the bigger is his Kli. That is, the more a person sees that he is full of deficiencies, the bigger is the prayer that he can pray compared to one who is not so deficient, and whose prayer is therefore not as wholehearted. Thus, specifically the lack determines the measure of the prayer.

Also, the path of the right is considered that a person must feel that there is wholeness. Here, too, to the extent that he feels wholeness, to that extent he can thank the Creator. That is, the wholeness that one is in determines the measure of the gratitude to the Creator. Hence, a person must seek advice how to see that he has wholeness. However, he must see that his wholeness is not built on falsehood. We should ask, If a person sees that he has no need for spirituality, and he is immersed in self-love, how can he tell himself that he has wholeness?

First, we must appreciate the connection we have with the Creator, meaning that one must believe that the state where one feels that he is empty and destitute, when he feels that in his heart, there is no need for spirituality, who gave him that feeling? Usually, a person worries about what he lacks, and he does not worry about what he does not need. Thus, we should ask, Who gave him the worry for that which he does not need?

The answer is that in truth, he does have an inner desire, he does need nearness with the Creator, but that lack is still not revealed within him to an extent that he will need to seek advice how to satisfy his lack. For this reason, a person must be glad that at least he has a need for spirituality, whereas the rest of the people have no interest in spirituality whatsoever.

When a person appreciates this, although it is not important to him, he does appreciate it and tries to thank the Creator for this. This causes him to acquire importance for spirituality, and from this a person can be happy. By this, a person can be rewarded with Dvekut, since as Baal HaSulam said, “The blessed clings to the Blessed.” In other words, when a person is happy and thanks the Creator, he feels that the Creator has blessed him by giving him a little something of Kedusha, then “The blessed clings to the Blessed.” Through this wholeness, one can achieve real Dvekut.

Baal HaSulam said that a person should depict to himself, even when he is in utter lowliness, when he thinks that if the Creator had illuminated for him a great awakening as he once felt during the ascent, he would certainly be willing to do the holy work. But now that he does not feel anything, how can he deceive himself that he has wholeness? At that time, he must believe in the sages, who said to us that one must depict to himself as though he has already been rewarded with feeling the existence of the Creator in all his organs, and how he would thank and praise the Creator. Likewise, now he should thank and praise the Creator as though he has already been rewarded with the real wholeness.

Inapoi la pagina 1991 (ŞLAVEY HASULAM (TREPTELE SCĂRII) – link

Inapoi la pagina 1991 (ŞLAVEY HASULAM (TREPTELE SCĂRII) – link

Why We Need “Reply unto Your Heart,” to Know that the Lord, He Is God, in the Work

Article No. 16, Tav-Shin-Nun-Aleph, 1989-91

The Zohar asks (VaEra, Items 89-90), “‘Know this day and reply unto your heart that the Lord, He is God.’ He asks, ‘This verse should have said, ‘Know this day that the Lord, He is God,’ and in the end, ‘And reply unto your heart,’ since knowing that the Lord is God qualifies him to reply so to the heart. And if he already replied to his heart, it is especially so if he already has knowledge. Also, it should have said, ‘reply unto your heart’ [with one Bet] instead of ‘heart’ [with a double Bet].’ He replies, ‘Moses said that if you want to insist on this and to know that the Lord, He is God, then ‘reply unto your heart.’ Know that heart [with a double Bet] means that the good inclination and the evil inclination, which reside in the heart, have mingled in one another and are one, so the bad qualities of the evil inclination will become good, meaning he will serve the Lord with them and will not sin through them. Then you will find that the Lord [HaVaYaH] is God, that the quality of judgment, called ‘God,’ is included in HaVaYaH, which is the quality of mercy.”

We should understand what it comes to teach us when The Zohar says that it is impossible to know that “The Lord, He is God,” before a person achieves the degree of “Reply unto your heart.” We should know what is the quality of “God” in the work, and what is the quality of mercy in the work, which is called HaVaYaH. We should also understand what is the evil inclination in the work, and what is the good inclination in the work. That is, in the work, when a person wants to achieve Dvekut[adhesion] with the Creator, what is the evil inclination and what is the good inclination?

For the general public, this is simple: Those who observe Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] are regarded as following the way of the good inclination. If they transgress the Torah and Mitzvot, this is regarded as following the advice of the evil inclination. But what is it in the work, when walking on the path toward achieving Dvekut with the Creator?

It is known that the creatures were born with a nature called will to receive for one’s own sake. For this reason, man cannot do anything that does not yield some benefit for oneself. Hence, the Torah tells us, “If you observe Torah and Mitzvot, I will reward you, as it is written, ‘If you indeed obey My commandments, I will give the rain for your land in its season, and you will eat and be satiated.’”

Maimonides says (Hilchot Teshuva, Chapter 5), “They are taught to work only out of fear and in order to receive reward. Until they gain much knowledge and acquire much wisdom, they are taught that secret little-by-little.” It follows that for the general public, the evil inclination and the good inclination pertain only to the observance of Torah and Mitzvot, but they do not speak at all about the prohibition to work in order to receive reward.

However, when speaking about the work of bestowal, the evil inclination and the good inclination have completely different meanings. The good inclination means that it leads a person to obtain the delight and pleasure that He wished to impart upon His creations, as it is written, that the purpose of creation is because of His desire to do good to His creations. But in order to avoid the shame, there were Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment where the creatures cannot receive the good before they have equivalence of form, called Dvekut. This is obtained by doing everything for the sake of the Creator. At that time, the Tzimtzum is lifted and there is room for the good to spread within it. This is called the “good inclination.”

The evil inclination is when the inclination advises a person to work only for self-benefit, meaning only to receive. Since this is disparity of form from the Creator, whose desire is only to bestow, and that disparity of form causes man never to be able to receive the delight and pleasure, therefore, this inclination is called “bad” because it harms a person by not letting him work in order to bestow, which causes him not to be able to receive delight and pleasure.

According to the above, we can interpret what it means that a person should work with himself to love the Creator with both inclinations. The thing is that as long as one has two inclinations, they are disputed. Sometimes the good prevails, and sometimes the bad prevails. It follows that two forces work within man in a mixture. This is called “light and darkness working together.” As long as the bad has not surrendered, the Tzimtzum and concealment that were on the Kelim [vessels] of the evil inclination—called “will to receive for oneself”—control it, and he cannot receive the delight and pleasure.

It follows that then a person does not obtain the good. For this reason, he is in a state of “judgment,” meaning he says that he does not see the Creator’s mercy, so he will be able to say that the Creator leads the world with the quality of mercy, but rather with the quality of judgment, since the person cannot see His guidance as delight and pleasure.

Thus, as long as one has no vessels of bestowal, a person does not have Kelim in which to be able to receive delight and pleasure. Naturally, he remains devoid of delight and pleasure.

The person says, “Who is to blame for this? Only the Creator, for not giving the creatures what He should give.” That is, since creation was in order to delight His creatures, because of the correction so that there would not be the bread of shame, the creatures are unfit to see it because of the inherent evil in man, which is called in the work, “evil inclination.”

Accordingly, we can understand what we asked, “What is judgment and what is mercy in the work? Also what is the good inclination and what is the evil inclination in the work?” “Judgment” means that a judgment was passed over the vessels of reception, called “will to receive for oneself,” that the light does not shine within it. It follows that when we say that there is judgment in the world, it means that there are no vessels of bestowal that can receive delight and pleasure in the world. For this reason, suffering and lack reign in the world.

But when there are vessels of bestowal in the world called “mercy,” as our sages said about the verse, “And to cleave unto Him, as He is merciful, so you are merciful,” meaning that as the Creator is the giver, so man should see that he has vessels of bestowal. When man has vessels of bestowal, the Creator’s quality of mercy becomes apparent, meaning that the Creator bestows delight and pleasure to the creatures in the Kelim of mercy that the creatures have.

Thus, once a person obtains the vessels of bestowal, meaning that the evil inclination has surrendered to the good, it means that the evil inclination already wants to work in order to bestow. This is called “Reply unto your heart,” meaning both hearts. Then he realizes that “the Lord [HaVaYaH], He is God.” In other words, until now, it was only mercy and not judgment. That is, what he saw, that His guidance was judgment, now he sees that this was a reason to come to the quality of mercy. Therefore, now they see that “the Lord, He is God,” that the quality of judgment is included in the HaVaYaH, which is all mercy. But before he achieved the state of “Reply unto your heart,” His guidance seemed to him as good and bad.

By this we can interpret the meaning of the verse, “And God made it that He would be feared.” That is, the Creator deliberately made it so there would be governance to the Klipot [shells/peels], so “He would be feared,” meaning to create a need to obtain the greatness of the Creator. Otherwise, everyone would remain still, without knowledge of Kedusha [holiness], and would settle for the work of observing Torah and Mitzvot without any need to work to be rewarded with the greatness of the Creator. They would remain with the same mind they had when they were little children and would have no need for the Creator’s help.

We must know and understand what our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” This means that only when a person has evil inclination, he needs the spice that is found in the Torah. Otherwise, he does not need the Torah, since he can observe Mitzvotwithout the Torah. But when he has the evil inclination and he comes and asks “What is this work for you?” or when he asks Pharaoh’s question, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?” and he must overcome him, then he needs His help.

The Zohar says that the help of the Creator is the light of Torah. That is, it is considered that he is given a soul from above, by which he can overcome the bad within him. It follows that if there were no Klipot, man would have no need to receive the help of Torah from above. This is called “And God made it that He would be feared.”

There are many issues concerning the help that comes from above:

1) The help is simple: The Creator gives him the kingdom of heaven called “permanent faith.” Since before a person is rewarded with vessels of bestowal, it is impossible to have faith because there is disparity of form between the creature and the Creator, a person is still unfit to receive the good. Therefore, when he receives bad, he must lose the measure of faith that he had, since this is a correction so he would not slander the Creator. For this reason, before one is rewarded with faith, he must have vessels of bestowal, since when he has equivalence of form, the Tzimtzum that was on the vessels of reception is lifted from him and he receives delight and pleasure. Only then can he be at the degree of permanent faith. It follows that the Creator must give the first assistance, giving him vessels of bestowal, which are called “second nature.”

2) By having constant disturbances from the Klipot, he always needs the help of the Creator. By this, a person needs the Creator’s help, and through the help that he receives from above each time, it is possible that the NRNHY that he has in his soul will be revealed to him. It is known that there is no filling without a need. Hence, the Klipot are the cause of the revelation of the Kedusha, as it is written, “And God made it that He would be feared.”

According to the above, it follows that the thoughts that the Klipot send to a person cause deficiencies in a person, and deficiencies are called “Kelim to receive fillings to fill the lack in the Kelim.” In other words, the questions that the Klipot ask, which are the wicked’s questions and Pharaoh’s questions, called “Who” and “What,” cause a deficiency in a person, which pushes him to ask the Creator to help him overcome those questions. It follows that these Klipot keep a person walking on the right path that leads to Dvekut with the Creator. At that time, we see that the Klipotwere not enemies of the Kedusha, as it seemed during the work. Rather, now we see that they are the ones that caused being rewarded with the Kedusha.

The like of this is presented in The Zohar (Beresheet, Item 175), “‘And there is no God with Me’ refers to other gods, which are SAM and the serpent, for then it will be revealed that SAM and the serpent never separated between the Creator and His Shechina [Divinity], and was but a servant to hurry the redemption of our souls. The Creator’s guidance from the beginning will appear throughout the world, and then, ‘Sinners will cease from the earth, and the wicked shall be no more.’ That is, unlike what it seems to us during the 6,000 years, that there is a governance that objects to Kedusha, which are SAM and the serpent.”

We see from this that the matter of Klipot that the Kedusha must sustain as in “God has made one opposite the other,” is that we need the Klipot to be a servant helping the Kedusha. This becomes revealed only at the end of correction in the general public, and to individuals, at the end of the work. At that time, the matter becomes revealed in retrospect, as it says, “and was but a servant to hurry the redemption of our souls.”

It is said in The Zohar (Tazria, Item 6), “‘Her price is far above pearls.’ He asks, ‘It should have said ‘worth,’ meaning that it is harder to buy her than pearls; why does it say ‘her price’’? He replies, ‘She sells and turns over to other nations all those who do not fully cling to her and are not whole with her. And then they are all far from those high and holy pearls, which are the secrets and the internality of the Torah, for they will have no part in them. This is the meaning of ‘Her price is far above pearls.’”

It therefore follows that the Klipot, which are other nations, she sells them. That is, since there is the quality of “other nations,” when person begins to walk on the path toward achieving Dvekut, and in the middle of the work he becomes negligent in the work, meaning falls into the governance of the nations, who control him, he cannot emerge from their control and achieve Dvekut with the Creator, called “equivalence of form.” At that time, he thinks that it is because he is incapable of this work, and this is why he is under their governance.

At that time, the writing tells us that the fact that he has fallen under the control of other nations is for his own good, so he will not fool himself and think that he is walking on the right path and can continue in this state without feeling that he is marching on the wrong way. For this reason, there are Klipot called “other nations,” outside of Kedusha, and then a person sees that he is in a state of descent, and he has no connection to the Kedusha. At that time, he should seek advice how to be saved from them and march on the right path that leads to Dvekut with the Creator. It follows that the Klipa [singular of Klipot] keeps the Kedusha.

This means that if there were no Klipa that the Shechina could sell him there to be under their governance, man would remain in his lowliness and he would think that he is advancing on the path toward Dvekut. But when he is shown from above the deficiencies that he is in, he can feel that he must correct his way. This is the meaning of the words “Her price is far above pearls,” meaning that the Shechina gives the man to the authority of the Klipa.

In other words, at that time he sees how immersed he is in self-love and that he has no desire to be a giver. That is, he is so immersed in self-love that he never thought that he was such a sordid person, the worst. It follows that we should interpret that the words “And God made it that He would be feared,” mean that specifically through this Klipa, when he sees that it governs him, this pushes him to do all that he can to achieve Dvekut with the Creator.

However, whena person sees that he is under the governance of the Klipot, since he sees that they are the ones who sent him the known questions of “Who” and “What,” and he cannot provide them with the right answers that will settle in the heart, he thinks that he must be so ignoble that he cannot answer them these simple questions. At that time, one should know that this is not as he thinks, that these questions really are tough.

This is so because the Creator gave power to the Klipot to ask tough questions, so that a person will know his real situation, that he was created in disparity of form from the Creator, and that he should achieve equivalence of form. It was done on purpose that man would not be able to answer these questions, so he would need the Creator, meaning that only the Creator can answer him because man’s entire intellect is built on a basis of doing everything within reason, and man’s reason understands only that which concerns one’s own benefit. Therefore, they are correct.

However, one must know that we were given the path of observing Torah and Mitzvot above our reason, since our entire reason understands nothing but that which concerns self-benefit. This is called “faith above reason.” Before a person can go above reason, anyone who comes to him and asks questions that are built on the reason of the body, it is impossible to answer them in a manner that the reason will understand.

Therefore, why did the Klipa come and ask these questions, which a person certainly cannot answer? The Klipot know that they are correct and that they will not get answers for them. But the question is according to the rule that is known in the work, that the fact that the Klipa comes and asks those questions comes from the side of Kedusha, as was said, “And God made it that He would be feared.”

Thus, why do these questions come to him? The answer is that he is sent these questions from above, for specifically through these questions, he can observe the Mitzva of faith above reason. This is the meaning of “God made it that He would be feared.” This means that the questions came to him in order to give him an opportunity to be able to reveal the matter of faith above reason. If he has no questions, he cannot know that he is going above reason. But when he sees the questions and does not want to provide answers, which reason mandates doing, he says, “Now that these questions came to me, I can observe the commandment of faith, which is above reason, and I want to take the opportunity.”

Accordingly, we can understand why if the Creator knows that these are tough questions, which a person cannot answer with reason, why does He send them? The answer is as it is written, “And God made it that He would be feared.” That is, specifically through these questions, a person can observe the commandment of faith, called “fear of the Creator.” That is, specifically now he has an opportunity to observe the Mitzva of faith above reason.

Our sages said, “A Mitzva that falls into your lap, do not miss out on it.” We should interpret that “A Mitzva that falls into your lap” is the Mitzva of faith, which “comes into your lap” through the “Who” and “What” questions. “Do not miss out on it,” but rather accept it right away and do not argue with these questions and think about answering the questions. Rather, take the questions as they are, since now you have an opportunity to observe the Mitzva of faith, so “Do not miss out” accepting it as is, with all the toughness of the questions.

This is so because anything that conflicts with the intellect, with what the intellect argues, that it is not worthwhile to walk on this path, faith above reason and intellect is greater. This is why they said, “Do not miss out on it,” do not miss out on the opportunity that you received through their questions.

Therefore, through the “What” question, which is the question of the wicked, who says, “What is this work for you,” that you want to work only in order to bestow? He asks, “What will you gain from this? You should work only for your own benefit.” This is a Kli [vessel], meaning a deficiency for the Creator to give him in the place of deficiency, since the wicked’s question interrupts him from having the power to work in order to bestow, which is called “being rewarded with a second nature,” called “in order to bestow.” This is the meaning of “Reply unto your heart,” meaning that the evil inclination, too, will work in order to bestow.

Through Pharaoh’s questions, who said, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?” when he overcomes this question, he is rewarded with permanent faith, which is called what The Zohar says, meaning after he has been rewarded with “Reply unto your heart.” At that time, he comes to the degree of “The Lord, He is God.”

Inapoi la pagina 1991 (ŞLAVEY HASULAM (TREPTELE SCĂRII) – link

Inapoi la pagina 1991 (ŞLAVEY HASULAM (TREPTELE SCĂRII) – link

What Is the Blessing, “Who Made a Miracle for Me in This Place,” in the Work?

Article No. 15, Tav-Shin-Nun-Aleph, 1989-91

Our sages said (Berachot 54), “A person had a miracle and was saved from a lion. Raba told him, ‘Whenever you come there, bless, ‘Blessed is He, who made a miracle for me in this place.’’” We should understand what this comes to teach us in the work.

It is known that the purpose of creation was because his desire is to do good to His creations. For this purpose, He created in the creatures a desire and yearning to receive delight and pleasure. Otherwise, if there is no desire for the pleasure, a person cannot enjoy, as we see in nature that if a person has no desire for something, he cannot enjoy. For example, if a person is not hungry, he cannot enjoy eating, etc. Therefore, we see and say that the Creator created within our nature a desire to receive delight and pleasure.

We should not ask, Why did the Creator create such a nature? Since our sages said (Hagigah 11), “If one asks about before the world was created, the writing tells us, ‘since the day when God created man on the earth.’” This means that we cannot ask anything about why when He created the world, He created it specifically with this nature that we see. After all, He could have created with a different nature. We cannot ask about this, but we learn everything by way of “By Your actions, we know You.” That is, we begin to learn from the actions we see and not before.

Also, we see another nature, that the branch wants to resemble its root. That is, as the quality of the root of the creatures, which is the Creator, is to bestow and not receive, likewise, when one must eat the bread of shame, he is ashamed. In the words of The Zohar, this is called “the bread of shame.” According to this nature, it follows that when a person receives from the Creator into one’s vessels of reception, which contradict the quality of the Creator, who is the Giver, he feels unpleasantness. Because of this, there was a correction called “Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment,” where as long as the lower one has no equivalence of form, called “desire to bestow,” a person is placed under concealment and hiding of the Kedusha [holiness]. We also should not ask about this, Why did the Creator create a nature of shame? And why did He make the branch want to resemble its root? It is all for the above reason, that we cannot ask about prior to creation.

The Kli of the created beings is the desire to receive pleasure. Before the will to receive was created, we have nothing to speak of. We attribute this Kli [vessel] to the Creator, meaning that we need not work with this Kli, but every person who is created, if he did not corrupt the Kli, that Kli is perfect. That is wherever the will to receive sees that there is a place from which it is possible to derive pleasure, it immediately runs there.

This is not so with the Kli called “desire to bestow,” since a person wants equivalence of form. Since we attribute this Kli to the created being, meaning a person has to make this Kli, since the creature wants equivalence of form, for this reason, it is up to a person to do this.

This is as Baal HaSulam said about the verse, “which God has created to do.” “Has created” refers to the Kli, called “will to receive,” and “to do” pertains to the creatures, who must make the Kli called “desire to bestow.” This is not from the nature that the Creator created. Rather, He began creation from the will to receive, and you, the created beings, must make the desire to bestow. Therefore, when a person must begin to work in order to bestow, it is a different nature than the one with which man was created.

For this reason, all that one should do in the work of the Creator is to make the Kli, which is the opposite action to the Kli with which man was created. When one begins to come into the work of bestowal, he still does not feel how much his will to receive interrupts his work of bestowal. This is a correction so that man will not see the truth about the measure of evil within him, since when he sees the evil within him he will certainly run from the work and will not even want to begin this work. This is why Maimonides says that we must first accustom a person in Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], “until they gain knowledge and acquire much wisdom,” and then they are shown the matter of Lishma[for Her sake], called “in order to bestow.”

We should know that a person being governed by the will to receive for oneself is called “exile in Egypt,” since when we begin this work, we are gradually shown from above the measure of governance of evil on us, as it is written, “And the children of Israel sighed from the work.” That is, they saw that they could not perform the work of bestowal that they started to do, since the Egyptians controlled them. At that time, they saw that they could not emerge from the exile in Egypt, but the Creator can deliver them. This is called “a miracle,” for anything that one cannot do by himself, but by help from above, is called “a miracle.” This is the miracle of the exodus from Egypt

We should know that when a person wants to achieve Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, he has ascents and descents. The order is that during the descent, when a person comes into a state of despair, he sometimes comes to a state of wondering about all the labor he has done in vain. This is called “pondering the beginning,” when he wants to escape from the work of the Creator altogether. But suddenly, he receives an awakening from above and receives vitality and passion for the work, and completely forgets that he ever had a descent. Rather, he is content with the ascent. At that time, a person cannot enjoy the ascent more than when he was placed under the governance of evil during the descent.

We should know that the exile he feels, that he is in exile, is measured not by the exile, but by the sensation of bad and suffering that he suffers because he is in exile. Then, when he is tormented because he is under the rule of oppressors and he must do all that they demand of him, and he has no right to do what he wants, but he must serve and carry out all that the nations of the world in his body demand, and he is powerless to betray them, to the extent of the pain he feels and his desire to escape them, to that extent he can enjoy the redemption.

As we see, it is written about a Hebrew slave (Exodus 21:2), “If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years, and on the seventh he shall go free for free.” Certainly, the slave should be happy that he has been liberated and is in his own right, and that he has no master over him. Yet, we see what the Torah says, “And if the slave says, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children, I will not go free.’” We see that it is possible that a person will want to remain a slave. And yet, it is written (Deuteronomy 16:12), “Remember that you were a slave in Egypt.”

This means that being a slave is a bad thing, yet sometimes a person wants to remain a slave. Thus, what does it mean that it is written, “Remember that you were a slave in Egypt”? And who says that being a slave is so bad? After all, there are people who want to be slaves, as was said, that the slave said, “I love my master.” The thing is that exile is according to the level of suffering and pain that one feels in the exile. To that extent, it is possible to be happy about the redemption. This is like light and Kli [vessel], meaning that the suffering we suffer from something is the Kli that can receive light if it liberates itself from the suffering.

For this reason, in the exile in Egypt, where it is written, “Remember that you were a slave in Egypt,” it means that being a slave is so bad because there, in Egypt, the people of Israel suffered. This is why the writing says “Remember,” meaning that we must remember the suffering we suffered there, and then it is possible to be happy about the redemption from Egypt.

There, in Egypt, the writing says, “I also heard the groaning of the children of Israel because the Egyptians are enslaving them, and I remembered My covenant.” It follows that in Egypt, when they were slaves, it is written, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt,” because they suffered. He also says, “And the children of Israel sighed from the work.” Therefore, we were given the commandment to remember Egypt, as it is written, “so that you remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.”

It follows that according to the rule, “There is no light without a Kli, no filling without a lack,” although we have already come out of Egypt, we should rejoice at the redemption from Egypt. For this reason, we must remember the exile in Egypt, meaning remember and imagine how the people of Israel suffered in the exile in Egypt. Then we can enjoy the redemption from Egypt even today.

Otherwise, we cannot rejoice over the redemption from Egypt because the suffering are called “the Kelim [vessels] to receive the joy.” This is why we see about the Hebrew slave that he did not want to go free. We could ask, How can someone not want to go free? The answer is that because he did not suffer while being a slave, he does not want to go free, as is explained when he says, “I love my master, my wife and my children, I will not go free.” But concerning the exile in Egypt, it is written, “so that you remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt,” since there they suffered, as it is written, “And the children of Israel sighed from the work.”

Accordingly, we can understand what we asked, What does it mean in the work when a person should bless in the place where a miracle was done to him. The thing is that when a person begins the work of bestowal, he comes to states of ascents and descents. An ascent is that after a person has been under the governance of the will to receive, enslaved to fulfill all its wishes, and he wanted to overcome it and not obey it, but the will to receive was stronger than him, that person suffered from being removed from the Creator.

Afterward, he received an awakening from above and began once more to feel some elation of Kedusha. At that time, the person wants to annul before Him “like a candle before a torch,” and then a person enjoys the state of ascent. However, one cannot elicit from the ascent, progress in the work because he does not appreciate the nearing he has now received from the Creator, since he does not have the Kelim [vessels]. In other words, during the ascent, he forgets that he once had a descent. Thus, although he feels that now he is close to the Creator and he appreciates it, he soon forgets. Naturally, he no longer has a Kli, meaning a lack, so he can appreciate, as it is written, “as the advantage of the light from within the darkness.” For this reason, he makes no progress as he should be making through the ascent.

Hence, during an ascent, he must remember and say, “In this place, where I now have an ascent, I had a descent and the Creator saved me and raised me from the netherworld, and I emerged from death, called ‘removal from the Creator,’ and I have been rewarded with some measure of nearing to the Creator, which is called ‘some measure of Dvekut with the Life of Lives.’”

For this, a person should be thankful, for by this he has now come to a state where there he suffered, and now he is in a mood of delight and pleasure because the Creator bringing him closer has given him new Kelim of a lack that he can fill with the state of ascent that he is in now.

It follows that he extends a light of joy in new Kelim that he has obtained now by looking at the miracle that he has had, where the Creator saved him. Therefore, when he considers the suffering, it is as though now he is the recipient of the suffering, and now he fills them up with pleasure.

It follows that depicting to himself the state of descent causes him that the ascent he has received now will spread in new Kelim according to the rule “There is no light without a Kli.” Hence, during the ascent, when he begins to contemplate the state of descent that he had, the suffering of the descent are regarded as Kelim in which the light of the ascent may spread.

This is similar to what was said above concerning exile and redemption, that according to the suffering he feels during the exile, so he can enjoy the redemption. That is, the exile is the Kelim of the redemption. This means that the redemption cannot fill more than the Kelim it has from the exile. This is why in the work, when a person depicts to himself the state of descent, this is considered what our sages said, that a person should make a blessing, “Blessed is He who made a miracle for me in this place.”

There are many ways to depict the suffering. Let us take as an example, a person who wants to rise before dawn, and he set the alarm clock. But when the alarm goes off, the body does not want to get up. The body feels suffering if he should rise out of bed now. Nevertheless, he sluggishly overcomes and comes to the seminary. When he sees that there are many people sitting and learning, he receives a desire and yearning to participate in the lessons, and he becomes happy and high-spirited, and forgets in what way he got out of bed and came to the seminary. And if a person wants to receive new Kelim in which there will be joy, he must depict to himself in what way he got out of bed, meaning what level of desire he had then, and what mood he is in now. Then he can also say, “Blessed is He who made a miracle for me in this place,” meaning how the Creator now gave him nearness to Him. From this he acquires new Kelim where the joy over the Creator bringing him closer to Him can spread.

Likewise, a person should accustom himself with anything to compare between the time of suffering and the time of pleasure, and to bless for the miracle of delivering him from suffering to a state of pleasure. By this, he will be able to thank the Creator and enjoy in the new Kelim that have been added to him now when he compares the two times to one another. From this, a person can advance in the work.

This is as Baal HaSulam said, that it does not matter whether a person receives from the Creator something great or small. What matters is how much a person thanks the Creator. To the extent of his gratitude, so grows the giving that the Creator gives. Therefore, we must take note to be grateful, to appreciate His gift, so we can approach the Creator. Hence, when a person always looks during the ascent at the state he was in while in descent, meaning how he felt during the descent, he can make a distinction as in, “as the advantage of the light from within the darkness,” and he already has new Kelim in which to receive joy and be thankful to the Creator. This is the meaning of what is written, that a person should bless, “Blessed is He who made a miracle for me in this place,” meaning in the place where he is now, during the ascent, since there cannot be an ascent if there was no prior state of descent.

However, how can there be a descent if a person was not previously in an ascent and descended from it? The answer is that usually, every person thinks that he is fine the way he is. That is, a person does not see that he is worse than other people in his surroundings. Therefore, he goes with the flow of the rest of the world—a little bit of learning, a little bit of praying, a little bit of charity and good deeds and so forth. But his main concern is to earn well and have a nice apartment and furniture, etc.

This is so because he feels that if he has made an arrangement for himself with the Creator concerning how much he should work for Him, once he has done all his spiritual chores, he feels complete and is free to worry about improving his material state. That person always sees that as much as he may try to make his corporeality complete, he always sees that he is in deficit compared to others. This is regarded as a person being in a state of wholeness.

However, when he begins the work of bestowal, he comes to a state of descent, since he sees how far he is from the intention to bestow. It follows that now that he has descended from the previous period, when he understood that all he needed was to observe Torah and Mitzvot[commandments/good deeds], and did not pay attention to the intention to bestow, but then he received an awakening from above and began to annul before Him like a candle before a torch, and forgot the state of descent that he had. Then, when he is now in a state of ascent, he can say, “Blessed is He who made a miracle for me in this place.” In other words, previously he was in a state where he had a road accident and he became unconscious about spiritual life. That is, he completely forgot about the need to work in order to bestow. Afterward, the Creator helped him and he came to, meaning regained contact with the Creator. By this depiction, he can receive new Kelim so he can receive abundance of joy at the Creator helping him.

However, we must know that when a person asks the Creator to bring him closer to His work, meaning to do the holy work for the sake of the Creator, and a person thinks that the Creator does not hear his prayer, and he has already prayed many times, but it is as though the Creator does not hear his prayer, Baal HaSulam said about that that one should believe that the fact that now he is praying to the Creator, he should not say that this was by his own awakening, to pray to the Creator to bring him closer. Rather, even before he came to pray, the Creator already answered his prayer. That is, a person should appreciate the fact that now he can pray to the Creator; this is regarded as having contact with the Creator. This is a very important thing, and he must be delighted at the fact that the Creator has given him a desire and yearning to pray to Him.

Accordingly, we should interpret what our sages said (Megillah 29), “Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai says, ‘Come and see how fond is the Creator of Israel, for wherever they exile, the Shechina [Divinity] is with them.’” We should interpret that “the exile of Israel” means that the quality of Israel in a person has drifted from the Creator, meaning that a person suffers because the quality of Israel in him, meaning the desire Yashar-El [straight to the Creator], where one should do everything for the sake of the Creator, that desire is in exile under the rule of desires of the nations of the world, and he regrets it.

We should ask, Why specifically now is he feeling removed from the Creator, while prior to this state, he felt that he was far from buying a bigger flat or nicer furniture? All of a sudden, he received suffering from a different remoteness—that he is far from the Creator! The answer is that “the Shechina is with them,” meaning that the Shechina gave him this feeling that he is far from the Creator. This is the meaning of, “Before one prays to the Creator, the Creator gives him a desire and yearning to pray.”

Inapoi la pagina 1991 (ŞLAVEY HASULAM (TREPTELE SCĂRII) – link

Inapoi la pagina 1991 (ŞLAVEY HASULAM (TREPTELE SCĂRII) – link

What Does It Mean that Man’s Blessing Is the Blessing of the Sons, in the Work?

Article No. 14, Tav-Shin-Nun-Aleph, 1989-91

It is written in The Zohar (VaYechi, Items 371-372), “He asks about the verse, ‘And he blessed Joseph and said, ‘will bless the lads.’’ We should look in this verse, for it says, ‘He blessed Joseph,’ but we find no blessing for Joseph here, that he blessed Joseph, but his sons. He replies, ‘Rabbi Yosi said, ‘Et [of]’ is precisely it, since Et implies Malchut.’ It is written, ‘blessed Joseph,’ which is the blessing of his sons, since his sons—Menashe and Ephraim—are regarded as Malchut, which is called Et. And when his sons are blessed, he is blessed first. This is why it writes Joseph, too, since a man’s sons are his blessing.”

We should understand what it means that if the sons are blessed, Joseph is also blessed, in the work. What does this tell us?

It is known that all our work is that we must achieve Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, which is equivalence of form, meaning to bestow, just as the Creator bestows upon the lower ones. Because of it, we were given the work in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds], to do them in order to bestow. By this, one becomes corrected at the root of his soul, which is Malchut de Atzilut, which is regarded as the whole of Israel. This is why Malchut is called “the assembly of Israel,” since all the souls come from her.

Hence, to the extent that they work in order to bestow, they cause Malchut, who is called Shechina[Divinity], to unite with the Creator, called ZA, or Yesod de ZA, for Yesod is called “righteous,” who bestows upon Malchut. However, when Malchut is receiving for herself, she has no equivalence with the Giver, called “the Creator,” and this is regarded as the Shechina being far from the Creator due to disparity of form. This is considered that the Creator cannot bestow upon Malchut, and thus the souls have no abundance.

When the Creator cannot bestow upon the lower ones, due to the disparity of form between them, this is called “the sorrow of the Shechina.” That is, from the perspective of the receiver, she cannot receive abundance because if she receives abundance for the lower ones, it will all go to the Klipot[shells/peels], called “receiving in order to receive.” It is also called “sorrow” from the perspective of the Giver because the thought of creation is to do good to His creations, but now He cannot give them the delight and pleasure because everything that the creatures will have will go to the Klipot.

Hence, the Giver is sorry that He cannot give, like a mother who wants to feed her baby but the baby is sick and cannot eat. At that time, there is sorrow on the part of the Giver. In the words of The Zohar, this is considered that there is sorrow above that there cannot be unification, meaning for the Giver to give abundance to the receiver. The Giver of abundance to the lower ones is called Malchut, who receives abundance from ZA. In the words of our sages, this is called “Israel nourish their Father in heaven.” What is the nourishment? It is that Israel qualify themselves to become fit to receive abundance. This is His nourishment, since this was the purpose of creation, which is to do good to His creations.

Therefore, when the lower ones engage in Torah and Mitzvot with the aim to bestow, they cause unification above, meaning that Malchut, too, who receives the abundance for the lower ones, to become a giver. This is called the “unification of the Creator and the Shechina.” That is, there is contentment above because the lower ones cause abundance to flow downward.

But if the lower ones do not work with the aim to bestow, it causes the sorrow of the Shechina. That is, there is sorrow above that Malchut, who is called Shechina, cannot bestow delight and pleasure to the creatures.

However, we should make two discernments concerning the sorrow of the Shechina. We should discern that there is sorrow from the perspective of the Giver, called “Creator,” and there is the sorrow of the Shechina, who is called “the mother of the sons,” meaning the “assembly of Israel,” who engendered the souls of Israel.

Also, we attribute to Malchut the giving of vitality to the Klipot [shells/peels], as it is written, “And her legs go down to death.” The meaning of “her legs” is Malchut at her end, which is called “legs.” She descends in order to bestow vitality to the Klipot, who are called “death,” so as to sustain them. Otherwise, the Klipot would not exist. Since the Klipot are needed, as it is written, “and God made it so they would fear Him,” Malchut sustains them just so they persist, meaning the amount that enables them to exist.

This is also called “very thin light,” so they can exist. That is, we see that there is pleasure in the corporeal world, and that the whole world chases this pleasure in order to obtain it. In general, this pleasure is clothed in three things, called “envy,” “lust,” and “honor.” Were it not for the thin light there, which places the pleasure within these corporeal things, who could exist in the world? since without pleasure, it is impossible to live because the purpose of creation was with the aim to do good to His creations. Hence, without good, it is impossible to live.

However, we should understand why it is called “the sorrow of the Shechina,” since the Creator created the world in order to do good to His creations. Thus, it should have been called “the sorrow of the Creator.” That is, the fact that the creatures do not engage in Torah and Mitzvot in order to bestow causes that the Creator will be unable to bestow, so the sorrow should be attributed to the Creator, not to the Shechina, who is called Malchut.

Baal HaSulam said, What is the difference between the Creator and the Shechina? He said that it is one thing. It is as The Zohar says, “He is Shochen [dweller] and she is Shechina.” This means that both names are one thing, but are light and Kli [vessel]. That is, the place where the Shochen is revealed is called Shechina. Hence, they are the same thing, but where the light cannot be revealed because of the disparity of form between the light and the Kli, it is considered that the Shechina, where the Shochen should be revealed, is deficient.

For this reason, we relate to the Shechina, since the Shochen cannot be revealed to the lower ones due to the disparity of form. And since we are speaking only from the perspective of the Kelim[vessels], we call the exile “Shechina in the dust,” “Shechina in exile,” since we are speaking from the perspective of the Kelim and not from that of the lights. This is why it is called “the sorrow of the Shechina,” as though she suffers from her inability to bestow upon the lower ones. But if we elaborate on the details, we should say that there is also sorrow here on the part of the Giver, who is called “the Giver to the lower ones.” But when we speak from the perspective of the Kelim, we call it “the sorrow of the Shechina.”

According to the above, in order to have contentment above because “He spoke and His will was done.” This means that in order for His desire to do good to His creations to be carried out, so the creatures will receive from Him delight and pleasure, which is the joy that the created beings cause above—as our sages said, “There has never been such joy before Him as on the day when heaven and earth were created”—when the creatures walk on the straight path, when all their actions are in order to bestow contentment upon their Maker, they make Malchut, which is the root of the souls, work in order to bestow what she receives for the souls, meaning for the souls, so they become able to receive in order to bestow. This is considered that the creatures cause the unification of the Creator and His Shechina.

By this, abundance is bestowed upon the lower ones because the abundance that is extended is for the purpose of correction. That is, through this reception, in a manner that is in equivalence of form, there is pleasure above, since during the reception of the abundance there is no shame there because of the correction that they receive in order to bestow.

According to the above, we will understand what we asked, What is “A man’s blessing is the blessing of the sons”? When the sons, meaning the created beings, who are called “the sons of the Creator,” receive the abundance in a correction of a blessing, meaning that they want to receive only because they want to bestow contentment upon the Maker, for “blessing” means bestowal, which is Hesed[mercy], meaning to bestow, as it is written in The Zohar (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Item 37), that the letter Bet is Hesed, which indicates blessing, which is Hassadim, which is the hall of Hochma, who is included in the Bet.

It follows that by the sons engaging in blessing, meaning working in order to bestow, they cause Malchut above to connect with ZA. This is called “the unification of the Creator with His Shechina.” From this unification, they can bestow above, as well, since the sons engage in bestowal. This causes the blessing at the root above to be drawn down to the sons, and this is considered that the people of Israel receive the abundance from their father in heaven.

It is written in The Zohar (Beresheet, Item 131), “The reason why the great Mochin of Shabbat [Sabbath] are called ‘inheritance’ is that all the Mochin that the children of Israel receive from their father in heaven is by an awakening from below, as they said, ‘I labored and found, believe.’ It is as people purchase possessions in this world. The greater the possession, the greater should be the exertion that they give for it. But the lights of Shabbat do not require any labor.”

The reason that the lights of Shabbat do not require labor is that Shabbat is the completion of heaven and earth, a semblance of the end of correction, when everything is corrected. Hence, before Shabbat, there are the six weekdays, which imply the six thousand years of work until we achieve the end of correction. Likewise, there are the six workdays, which is the time of work, and Shabbat is the rest.

This is why our sages said (Avoda Zarah 3), “He who did not toil on the eve of Shabbat, what will he eat on Shabbat?”

It follows that by exerting to emerge from the control of self-love and be rewarded with vessels of bestowal, which is a blessing, by this there is contentment above, in that they can bestow upon the sons.

Now we can understand what The Zohar answers about what is written, “He blessed Joseph,” and we did not find a blessing here that he blessed Joseph, but rather his sons. He explains that when his sons are blessed, he is blessed. This is why it is written, “Joseph,” too, since “man’s sons are his blessing.” That is, Joseph is called “the giver,” and his “sons,” explains The Zohar, “his sons—Menashe and Ephraim—are regarded as Malchut, which is called Et.”

This means that Malchut, who is called Et [of], is because she contains all the letters from Aleph [first letter in the Hebrew alphabet] to Tav [last letter], since the letters are called Kelim and the receivers of the abundance, which is called “his sons,” since she receives for the created beings. It follows that by his sons being blessed, he becomes blessed, too. That is, the giver, who is Joseph, called Yesod, gives to Malchut, when Malchut can receive for the sons. At that time, Malchut is called “The mother of the sons is glad, Hallelujah.”

When the lower ones engage in Torah and Mitzvot in order to bestow, they cause at the root of their soul, which is Malchut, to equalize in form with the Giver. This is called “unification.” At that time, the abundance is poured to the lower ones. Thus, they cause Malchut to be able to receive abundance for them. Hence, Malchut is called “the mother of the sons is glad.”

Hallelu-KoH [Hallelujah] means Hellolu [praise] Yod-Hey [the Creator] are called Hochma and Bina, who give the abundance to the quality of Joseph, and from Joseph, who is Yesod, to Malchut, who is called Et. This is the meaning of what is written, “He blessed Joseph,” and this is the meaning of “man’s blessing are his sons.” If the sons are blessed, it is considered a blessing for man, when he can bestow delight and pleasure.

However, this work, for all his actions to be in order to bestow, is hard work, since all the organs of the body object to it. This is against man’s nature, who was created with a desire to receive for his own benefit. This is the meaning of what is written (Psalms 22), “And I am a worm and not a man, a disgrace of man and despised by the people.”

We should interpret that “I” refers to “I am the Lord your God,” that this quality in him is as a worm, meaning as weak as a worm. “And not a man” means that when I want to cling to “I am the Lord your God,” they say that it is unbecoming of an intelligent and reasonable person to go above reason. This is more like an insane person.

“A disgrace of man” is the work of faith above reason. This is a disgrace for a person who thinks that man’s main purpose is to cling to “I am the Lord your God.” In other words, wanting to be rewarded with “I” being as “the Lord your God,” means that he will be rewarded personally, and this is called “your God.” At that time, they curse and swear, meaning they say that this work belongs to angels, not to people, that it is a disgrace for a person to want to do this, even though he tells them, “But you see that there many people are walking on the path toward being rewarded with the Lord being their God.”

At that time, they say about these people that they are simply “despised by the people,” meaning that the nations of the world in one’s body tell him that this work, for a person to be rewarded with the quality, “I am the Lord your God,” belongs to the despised, meaning to lowly people, that it is a disgrace to even speak to them, since they are walking on the path of the Creator like mindless fools.

In any case, when one wants to overcome their complaints, it is hard work and there are ascents and descents here. A person needs extra efforts because the arguments of the nations of the world in a person stand ready to find some weakness in the work so as to show man that he is wasting his efforts, since this work is not for him, and they advise him to escape the campaign. A person is powerless to stand against them, but only to increase his prayer that the Creator will help him defeat the enemies within him.

This is the meaning of the verse (Psalms 32), “Many are the afflictions of the wicked, and he who trusts in the Lord, Hesed [mercy] will surround him.” We should understand what is “Many are the afflictions of the wicked.” It seems as though because of it, “He who trusts in the Lord, Hesed will surround him.” But in the work, we speak of one person who comprises the entire world.

The meaning is that as long as one is under the control of the will to receive, he is called “wicked,” since he cannot say that His guidance is good and does good. Hence, he suffers torments when he wants to work in order to bestow. A person asks, “Why did I not suffer afflictions when I engaged in Torah and Mitzvot before I began to do the holy work, that it will be in order to bestow? I had joy in the work and I was always happy, since I believed in reward and punishment, and this is why I observed Torah and Mitzvot.”

But now that he has begun the work of bestowal, he feels pain when he wants to engage in Torah and Mitzvot, and it is hard for him to do anything for the sake of the Creator. Each time, he sees how far he is from Kedusha [holiness], for Kedusha means equivalence of form, and now he sees that he is far from it.

The answer is that he should believe that the fact that now he has become farther from the Creator and he is asking, this feeling that he feels, that now he is worse than when he worked in order to receive reward, is not because he is really worse than before. It is not that now more evil has been added to him and because of it he is worse. Rather, it is because now that he has done many good deeds, the truth was revealed to him, that the evil in him governs him.

Conversely, before he had the good, he could not be shown the truth, since the bad and the good must always be balanced. It follows that he is not in such a descent that he thinks that this work is not for him and he wants to escape the campaign. Rather, this feeling comes to him precisely when he has good.

Yet, he believes in the Creator that he was given from above to feel these states of pain. While one is still in a degree of “wicked,” when he cannot believe in a guidance of delight and pleasure, when that person overcomes, it is called “He who trusts in the Lord.” At that time he is rewarded with “Hesedwill surround him.” We should interpret that Yesovevnu [will surround him] comes from the word Mesovav [consequence]. In other words, the pains that the wicked suffered was the reason for the Hesed, with his meriting the quality of Hesed. It follows that “Many are the afflictions of the wicked” caused him to be rewarded with Hesed.

Inapoi la pagina 1991 (ŞLAVEY HASULAM (TREPTELE SCĂRII) – link

Inapoi la pagina 1991 (ŞLAVEY HASULAM (TREPTELE SCĂRII) – link

These Candles Are Sacred

Article No. 12, Tav-Shin-Nun-Aleph, 1989-91

Baal HaSulam said about what is written, “These candles are sacred and we have no permission to use them, but only to see them,” that we must know the difference between the miracle of Hanukkah and the miracle of Purim. On Hanukkah, the decree pertained only to spirituality, that the people of Israel were prevented from observing the Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds]. The miracle was that when they prevailed over the Hasmoneans, they could observe the Mitzvot. Since spirituality has no Kelim [vessels], since Kelim are called specifically “vessels of reception,” which is called “creation existence from absence,” which is the will to receive, this is why the intimation comes, “These candles are sacred and we have no permission to use them.”

This is not so with the miracle of Purim. Then the decree was over the bodies, too, as it is written, “To destroy, to kill, and to annihilate” (Esther 3:13). It follows that the miracle was on the bodies. “Bodies” are called “vessels of reception.” Hence, on Purim, it is written, “Joy, feast, and a good day,” where a feast pertains to the body. On Hanukkah, we were given the miracle, “no permission to use them, but only to see them.”

This is the meaning of what our sages said, that Hanukkah means Hanu-Koh [parked here]. He asked, What is the meaning of “parked”? He said that “parked” meaning parking, and he gave an allegory about it. Many times, in the middle of a war, soldiers are given a vacation and they go home so that afterward they will have the courage to be brave soldiers. After the parking they return to the battlefield. But some fools think that the soldiers were given a vacation because the war must be over so they are not needed anymore.

But the smarter ones among them understand that they were given a vacation in order to rest, so they would be re-energized to fight against the enemy. Therefore, they understand that the rest is in order to acquire strength to fight.

It is likewise here. On Hanukkah, the redemption was only on spirituality, since the decree was only on spirituality, as it is written (“About the Miracles”), “When the wicked kingdom of Greece arose over Your people, Israel, to make them forget Your law and remove them from the rules of Your will, You with Your great mercies stood by them in their time of trouble.”

It follows that the redemption was only about spirituality, and in the work, “spirituality” is called “vessels of bestowal,” called “light of Hassadim that dresses in vessels of bestowal.” But here, when we are rewarded with vessels of bestowal, it is only half the work, half a war. That is, a person must be rewarded with the vessels of reception also entering the Kedusha [holiness], meaning to use them with the aim to bestow.

Once the vessels of reception have also entered the Kedusha, this is considered that he has Kelim to receive, as well. At that time, this degree is called “sweetening of the Gevurot.” In other words, before he obtained the vessels of reception that work in order to bestow, he could not use the light that was revealed over vessels of bestowal, for vessels of bestowal means that a person gives something, and in return for the giving, he does not want anything, since he believes that he is serving a great King. Therefore, he is happy that he has been rewarded with serving a great King.

But when he uses the vessels of reception, meaning takes pleasures from the Creator, since through reception he becomes separated from the Creator because of the disparity of form, these vessels of reception are called “bitter Gevurot,” because it is bitter for him that he is far from the Creator. Gevurot means that a person has two kinds of Kelim: One is called Hesed, meaning he gives, and one is called Gevura, which is that he receives. It is called Gevura since there is the matter of Hitgabrut[to overcome] here, not to receive. If he does receive, he will be far from the Creator, and that state is bitter for him. Hence, when he can place the aim to bestow on the will to receive, then the previous Gevurot, where he used the vessels of reception, are bitter for him because of the disparity of form.

But now they have been sweetened, meaning that now that he is using the vessels of reception, he feels some sweetness because his intention is in order to bestow, and this is already regarded as equivalence of form. Hence, now he can enjoy them, since in reception in this manner, in order to bestow, there is no bitterness and all is good.

We say (in the song Mighty Rock of My Salvation), “Greeks have gathered over me, then in the days of the Hasmoneans, and broke the walls of my towers.” “Greeks” are those people who go within reason, who cannot do anything if it is against reason. At that time, there was the governance of the Greeks, meaning this dominion governed over the people of Israel.

This authority is called “the wicked kingship of Greece,” whose role was to make them “forget Your Torah and move them from the laws of Your will.” That is, the governance is to go specifically within reason. This is what causes the breaching of the wall that guards the tower. A “tower” means that within man, there is a certain measure of greatness of the Creator. This “wall” is called “faith above reason,” and specifically by faith above reason one can come to feel the greatness of the Creator, as well as depict to himself the greatness of the Creator.

When a person feels the greatness of the Creator, he is “like a candle before a torch,” annulled before Him. But the Greeks, meaning dominion of within reason, which did not let them go above reason, is regarded as “breaking the walls of my towers.” In other words, the faith above reason, which is a wall. Within this wall we can build towers, meaning obtain the greatness of the Creator, which is called “a tower.” That is, specifically through faith above reason we are rewarded with the “reason of Kedusha.”

It follows that man’s greatness, who is rewarded with feeling the greatness of the Creator, comes specifically by lowering himself, meaning lowering his reason. At that time he can be rewarded with the greatness of the Creator called “reason of Kedusha.”

By this we can interpret what is written (“And [the Lord] Will Give You,” for After Shabbat), “Rabbi Yochanan said, ‘Wherever you find the greatness of the Creator, there you find His humbleness.’” There is certainly a simpler explanation, but when we speak in terms of the work, we should understand what is written, that we find the Creator’s humbleness, that He is humble. We should understand how is there the quality of humbleness in the Creator, for it means lowliness, and how can we speak of this quality in the Creator. Normally, it is written, “The Lord is King, He wears pride.”

We should interpret that this refers to the person. That is, wherever a person is rewarded with His greatness, to attain something of the greatness of the Creator, “there you find the humbleness of a person.” According to the greatness of the Creator with which a person is rewarded, to that extent the person sees his lowliness.

In other words, precisely when a person goes above reason, the reason comes to him and wants to obstruct him, and begins to argue with him. At that time, the person sees that he has nothing to reply. Then a person sees the evil within him, that he needs more strengthening so he can be saved from the reason of the evil inclination, which is called “Greeks.” At that time, he sees according to the evil that is revealed in him, that no one is as low as he, since the evil in him is revealed more than in the rest of the people. As said above, this is according to the good that a person does, if he walks on the path of truth and wants to do everything in order to bestow.

It follows that when one is rewarded with even a little bit of the greatness of the Creator, he does not know why the Creator helped him more than other people, since he feels that he is worse than all the people in the world. He tells himself that if the rest of the people knew the path of truth the way he understands it, they would certainly be virtuous people, not like him. It follows that when one feels a little bit of the greatness of the Creator, he comes to a state of lowliness at the Creator helping someone as base as he. This is the meaning of the words “Wherever you find the greatness of the Creator, there you find His humbleness.”

Therefore, when one says to the Creator, “You lend a hand to criminals and Your right is stretched out to welcome the returning” (Conclusion prayer), this means that when one asks the Creator to bring him closer, it is regarded as stretching out the hand for reconciliation, “and Your right is stretched out to welcome the returning.” In other words, a person says to the Creator, “I feel my situation, that I am more wicked and more criminal than the rest of the world.” This comes to him because from above, he was shown the evil. As said above, a person is not shown more evil than what is in him.

As we interpreted what our sages said, “To the wicked, the evil inclination seems like a hairsbreadth, and to the righteous, like a high mountain.” It seems as though it should have been the opposite. The wicked, who cannot overcome the evil inclination, should say that the evil inclination is like a high mountain, and the righteous, who did have the power to overcome, the evil inclination should have been in their eyes like a hairsbreadth.

The answer is that a person is not shown the evil in him but only according to the good within him, so that the good and the bad will be balanced. Therefore, the righteous, who have many ups and downs, all the descents are from the evil inclination. As a result of the many descents, a “high mountain” is built. The word Har [mountain] means Hirhurim [reflections/thoughts]. This means that any reflection, where one doubts the quality of the Creator, when he does not believe in His Providence, that He is good and does good, this is called “a bad thought.”

Therefore, to the righteous, the evil inclination becomes a high mountain, whereas to the wicked, who have no ascents and descents, since it is impossible to descend before you ascend, as we explained concerning Jacob’s dream, where it is written, “Behold, angels of God were ascending and descending on it,” where it should have written first “descending” and then “ascending.”

But in the work, all the people came into this world to carry out the mission of the Creator, and an “angel” is called a “messenger.” Therefore, first one must ascend in the degree of the work, when feeling some nearness to the Creator, and afterward, there can be descents. For this reason, the wicked, who have no ascents, naturally have no descents. Indeed, why do they not ascend? It is because the evil inclination disrupts them from ascending. For this reason, they remain in the evil inclination that is only as a hairsbreadth.

Hence, the righteous, who have the real form of the evil, when the Creator helps them, they feel their lowliness, that the Creator brought them closer, and this is called as it is written, “He lifts the poor up from the trash.” That is, the person says, “I was in the trash, enjoying everything that animals take as their nourishments, meaning trash.” This is the meaning of “In the place where you find the greatness of the Creator, you find His humbleness.”

However, we should interpret this as said above, that one should not say, “Now that I have been rewarded with the greatness of the Creator, I no longer need faith above reason because I have what to build my work on—the basis that I have now been rewarded with the greatness of the Creator.”

Rather, as Baal HaSulam said, a person should be careful when he is rewarded with some nearness on the part of the Creator. He should not say that now he knows that it is worthwhile to do the holy work because now he feels a good taste in the work. Rather, he should say, “Now I see that it is worthwhile to work above reason because specifically by wanting to go above reason, the Creator is giving me some nearness to Him.”

Hence, he takes this nearing as a sign that he is walking on the path of truth. Therefore, he resolves that henceforth, he will not want to accept any work within reason. Rather, everything will be above reason. It follows that he does not take the nearing to the Creator as a basis on which he says that it is worthwhile to be a servant of the Creator, “since I already have a basis.” On the contrary, from now on he will work only above reason.

This is the meaning of what is written, “In the place of the greatness of the Creator, there you find His humbleness.” That is, “In the place of His greatness,” meaning in the place where one attains some greatness of the Creator, there you must find His humbleness. In other words, there, in the place where a person finds the greatness of the Creator, a person should find man’s humbleness, which is faith above reason, called “lowliness,” “humility.”

Since faith is regarded as being of inferior importance, faith is called “below.” That is, when one finds the greatness of the Creator, he should search and find a place to work in faith, and not in the sense that he has found a place of the greatness of the Creator.

Since one should say that the fact that he has been rewarded with finding some greatness of the Creator, it is because first he went with faith, which is called “low,” “lowly.” Hence, he continues on the path of faith above reason since he sees that this is the path of truth, and the proof of this is that specifically through this preparation, the Creator brings him closer to Him.

This is the meaning of what is written, “Greeks have gathered over me … and broke the walls of my towers.” This means that a person should guard this wall, called “faith in the Creator above reason.” In other words, a person must not wait until he understands that it is worthwhile to learn and to pray, etc. Rather, he should not consider what the reason advises him. Instead, he should follow the way that the Torah obligates a person. This is how one must behave. Only in this way, called “unconditional surrender,” can one be rewarded with the reason of Kedusha.

And the most important is the prayer. That is, one must pray to the Creator to help him go above reason, meaning that the work should be with gladness, as though he has already been rewarded with the reason of Kedusha, and what joy he would feel then. Likewise, he should ask the Creator to give him this power, so he can go above the reason of the body.

In other words, although the body does not agree to this work in order to bestow, he asks the Creator to be able to work with gladness, as is suitable for one who serves a great King. He does not ask the Creator to show the greatness of the Creator, and then he will work gladly. Rather, he wants the Creator to give him joy in the work of above reason, that it will be as important to a person as if he already has reason.

Inapoi la pagina 1991 (ŞLAVEY HASULAM (TREPTELE SCĂRII) – link

Inapoi la pagina 1991 (ŞLAVEY HASULAM (TREPTELE SCĂRII) – link

What It Means that the Good Inclination and the Evil Inclination Guard a Person in the Work

Article No. 11, Tav-Shin-Nun-Aleph, 1989-91

The Zohar says (VaYishlach, Items 1-4), “Rabbi Yehuda started, ‘For He will give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.’ When a person comes to the world, the evil inclination immediately comes with him. It is written, ‘My sin is ever before me,’ for it makes man sin before his Master. The good inclination comes to a person from the time he comes to be purified. And when does one come to be purified? When he is thirteen years of age. At that time, a man connects in both, one on the right, and one on the left, the good inclination on the right, and the evil inclination on the left. And these are really two appointed angels. When a man comes to be purified, the evil inclination surrenders before him and the right governs the left. And both the good inclination and the evil inclination join to keep man in all the roads he travels.”

We should understand that when we are speaking in terms of the work, we understand that the good inclination guards a person when he walks on the path of the Creator and wants to achieve Dvekut[adhesion] with the Creator, so he receives the guarding of the good inclination. Yet, what guarding does one receive from the evil inclination, for which he will achieve Dvekut with the Creator? This implies that if he is not guarded by the evil inclination, he will not be able to achieve Dvekut with the Creator.

The verse says (Genesis 25:23), “And the Lord said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb, and one nation shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger.’” RASHI interprets, “‘One nation shall be stronger than the other,’ they will not be the same in greatness; when one rises, the other falls.” That is, they will not be in greatness at the same time.

It is known that the order of the work is to come to a state where all your work is for the sake of the Creator. This is out of one’s hands. Rather, this force is something he should receive from above, as our sages said, “He who comes to purify is aided.” However, achieving a degree of bestowing contentment upon one’s Maker permanently comes to a person after he has revealed all the bad in him. At that time, a person receives this power called “second nature,” which is the desire to bestow.

In other words, a person must first reveal all the bad in him, which is called that he already has a complete Kli [vessel], meaning a complete lack. At that time he receives the complete light, as our sages said, “The light in it reforms him.” However, before he has the revelation of this Kli, meaning a need for the help of the Creator—since the help must be complete help, as our sages said, “From above, there is no giving of half a thing, but rather a complete thing”—the lower one’s deficiency must also be complete.

And since it is impossible to reveal to a person all the evil because while he still does not have good, he will not be able to subdue the bad, since the bad will be more than the good, therefore, when a person begins to engage in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds], he increases the good each time, and to that extent he is shown the evil. At that time, man’s work is balanced, as our sages said (Kidushin, p 40), “One should always see oneself as half guilty, half innocent.”

For this reason, he is shown the evil gradually, according to his effort to acquire the good through his efforts in Torah and Mitzvot.

According to the above, when a person wants to walk on the path of achieving Dvekut with the Creator and do all his work for the sake of the Creator, meaning to bestow contentment upon his Maker and not for his own sake, as it is against human nature, who was created with the will to receive for his own sake, and all of man’s work is that he is told that he will not obtain this by his own strength, but only the Creator can give him this power called desire to bestow, and a person should only prepare the Kli to receive this power called “second nature,” it follows that specifically through the evil inclination, which grows within him to its completion, a person sees his real deficiency—that he is unable to obtain the desire to bestow by himself. This brings him to a state where the Creator gives him the desire to bestow.

Thus, both the good inclination and the evil inclination lead a person to achieve the goal of equivalence of form, called “Dvekut with the Creator.”

By this we can interpret what we asked, Why does The Zohar say, “For He will give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways,” which pertains to the evil inclination, too, which guards a person so he will achieve Dvekut with the Creator? But if it guards a person so he will achieve Dvekutwith the Creator, why is it called “evil inclination”? “Evil inclination” implies that it brings a person thoughts and desires that object to Kedusha [holiness]. That is, it makes a person think that it is not worthwhile to exert in Torah and Mitzvot, so how does it guard a person so he will achieve Dvekutwith the Creator, so he will do everything for the sake of the Creator and not for his own sake?

The answer is that if the evil is not revealed to a person to its true extent, he cannot receive help from the Creator because he still does not have a real need. It follows that he still does not have a real Kli. The evil inclination gives him thoughts and desires against the Kedusha, and this is called “the evil inclination,” as Baal HaSulam said, that the evil inclination means “a depiction of evil,” meaning that the evil inclination depicts to a person that if he works for the sake of the Creator and not for his own sake, it will be bad for him. When the evil inclination draws such depictions to a person, it makes him leave the work of bestowing upon the Creator.

For this reason, when a person comes to feel the depictions of the evil inclination, he wants to escape from this work that is only for the sake of the Creator. At that time, he sees that it is impossible to overcome the depictions that the evil inclination draws for him. Yet, only then can he overcome and say that the Creator will help him emerge from the control of the evil inclination, since then he sees that this is above nature for a person to be able to do something against the black state where a person sees the depiction of the evil inclination.

From these depictions, a person sees what is bad, meaning what measure of evil exists in man’s heart, who cannot do anything for the sake of the Creator unless he sees there something for his own benefit, too. Through these depictions, a person acquires an image of the bad each time. One cannot see these images all at once, for he will not be able to endure them. Rather, one is shown a little bit, and that depiction soon leaves. Then, it is as though the person forgets the depiction of working for the sake of the Creator and not for himself. Hence, he has the strength to start the work of bestowal once again. When he thinks that he is already at a stage where he can work only for the sake of the Creator, the evil inclination promptly comes to him and gives him another depiction of work for the sake of the Creator. This depiction moves him once again from working for the sake of the Creator.

It follows that specifically through the evil inclination, a person can achieve the state of truth, meaning that one cannot deceive oneself and say that he is serving the Creator and all his work is for the sake of the Creator, since when the evil inclination gives him the depictions of what for the sake of the Creator means, he sees that he is far from this work. It follows that a person cannot fool himself that he is walking on the path of truth, since he sees how the body objects to this, to such an extent that he must believe above reason that the Creator can help him emerge from the governance of self-love.

It follows that without the keeping of the evil inclination he would never be able to see the truth. Thus, just as everyone understands that the good inclination guards a person on the way to achieving his completion of being adhered to the Creator, meaning to work entirely to bestow, likewise, without the evil inclination, a person would think that he is doing everything for the sake of the Creator.

But when the evil inclination comes to him with bad depictions and tells him that it is not worthwhile to work for the sake of the Creator, it becomes utterly clear to a person that everything he did in Torah and Mitzvot before was all for his own benefit, since now he sees that when the evil inclination shows him the state of working only for the sake of the Creator, he agrees that the evil inclination is correct and the person really does not see what he will gain by working for the sake of the Creator.

This causes a person a state of descent. That is, before the evil inclination came to him with these depictions, he knew that everything he did was for the sake of the Creator, meaning that he was observing what the Creator commanded man to do. Otherwise, why would he observe Torah and Mitzvot? But not for the sake of the Creator? Everyone knows that someone who works not for the sake of the Creator, his work is worthless, so when a person engages in Torah and Mitzvot, he is certain that he is working for the sake of the Creator.

But now that the evil inclination came to him with the bad depictions of work in order to bestow, he sees that he is far from working for the sake of the Creator, and working not for the sake of the Creator is unworthy work, so he wants to leave the work of observing Torah and Mitzvot altogether, since by nature, a person cannot work for no reason. When a person works, he must see that he is doing something. Hence, if he sees that he cannot work for the sake of the Creator—as the evil inclination made him see about what it means to work entirely for the sake of the Creator and not at all for his own sake, and not for the sake of the Creator is worthless—he comes to a state where he wants to escape the campaign altogether.

Now we understand how The Zohar interprets the verse, “For He will give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” Without the evil inclination, a person would never be able to achieve the work of bestowal, since only the Creator can give this power of being able to do everything in order to bestow, and without a lack, a person cannot receive anything. But he does not have this lack for the Creator to give him the other nature, meaning the desire to bestow, since he thinks that he is doing everything for the sake of the Creator, since as long as one does not want to work for the sake of the Creator, the body does not object to the point where a person needs the help of the Creator.

But when a person wants to work in order to bestow, the work of the evil inclination comes to him and begins to make him think that it is not worthwhile to work for the sake of the Creator. At that time, the evil engenders in him a need for the help of the Creator. It follows that specifically by the bad, he comes closer to the Creator. That is, the evil inclination keeps him from fooling himself that he is working for the sake of the Creator.

It follows that when a person prays to the Creator to help him, the prayer must be clear. That is, he must know what he is missing, meaning that the lack will be revealed in him without any doubt, for if the deficiency is not revealed to him for certain, but he is unclear about the lack he feels, this is not a prayer. Hence, when the evil inclination comes to him with bad depictions, the person knows for certain what he needs, and this is called “a complete deficiency.”

This is similar to what is written about Jacob, who said “Deliver me, I pray Thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and strike me and the mothers with the children” (Genesis 32:11 and VaYishlach, Item 70). It says, “This implies that one who prays his prayer, his words should be properly interpreted. When he said, ‘Deliver me, I pray Thee,’ it seems as though it should have sufficed, since he does not need more than deliverance. Yet, he told the Creator, ‘And should You say that You have already saved me from Laban?’ This is why he explained, ‘from the hand of my brother.’ And if you say that other kin are called brothers, too, as Laban said to Jacob, ‘Because you are my brother, should you therefore serve me for nothing?’ He therefore explained, ‘from the hand of Esau.’ What is the reason? It is because we need to interpret the matter properly.”

We should ask about this: We can understand that when we speak of a flesh and blood king, the one who seeks help should have a clear request, so that the king will understand what he is asking. However, when someone asks for something of the Creator, why should the request be so clear? Does the Creator not know what is in one’s heart? He certainly knows man’s thoughts, since the Creator is called “He who knows the thoughts,” as we say, “He who knows the thoughts, please save.” Therefore, why must we clarify the prayer and request that we pray that we will “interpret the matter properly”?

The answer is that a person must clarify the prayer so it is clear and interpreted to the person. That is, a person must know what he missing, since sometimes he thinks that he needs luxuries and prays for them with all his might, while about things that concern his life, without which he cannot receive a life of Kedusha [holiness], this he relinquishes. He thinks that he needs things by which he will come to be a respectable and perfect man, and this is what he asks, when in fact, he is lacking things that pertain to his life, meaning that without them he will remain as though dead, as our sages said, “The wicked in their lives are called ‘dead.’”

Therefore, when the evil inclination pictures for him bad depictions about the work of bestowal contentment upon his Maker, through this evil he sometimes comes to a state of “pondering the beginning,” like the spies who slandered the land of Israel, as The Zohar interprets. At that time he sees that he is truly evil and has no faith in the Creator.

It is as Baal HaSulam said, that one should see to it that on the path he is walking, he will make every effort he can make, as an awakening from below, to obtain faith in the Creator. This is called “I am the Lord your God and you will have no other gods.” These are regarded as Kaneh [trachea] and Veshet [gullet], which are two signs that the life of animals depend on. That is, in corporeality, if these signs stop, life ceases from an animal. Likewise, in the work, if the “I am … and you will have now…” stops, the spiritual life departs from him.

For this reason, sometimes a person cries and prays to the Creator to help him with what he thinks. But even though he cries bitterly, his request is not answered, since he is in mortal danger yet asks to be given nonsense. That is, a person thinks that he is fine, that all he needs, in his view, is some complementary thing, when in truth, he is lifeless. Therefore, the angel called “evil inclination” comes and through its depictions, shows him that it is not worth it to annul before Him because the will to receive will gain nothing from it. At that time a person can see the truth—he is truly wicked.

It is follows that specifically the revelation of this evil keeps him, so he will ask the Creator to give him life, called “faith in the Creator,” so he can adhere to the Creator, as it is written, “And you who cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.” It is as The Zohar says, “For He will give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” That is, both the good inclination and the evil inclination keep the person, so he will achieve Dvekut with the Creator. Without the evil inclination, he would not know the truth, what help to ask of the Creator.

According to the above, we should interpret what our sages said, “To the righteous, the evil inclination seems like a high mountain.” We should explain and say that when a person sees that the evil inclination is so big, like a high mountain, this is a sign that he is righteous, meaning that he is walking on the path of truth, by which to come to be righteous. Otherwise, the evil inclination would not appear to him as a high mountain. This is so because a person is shown the evil in him only to the extent of the good that he has, since the good and the bad must always be balanced. Then, it can be said that a person should decide and choose the good.

By this we can interpret what is written (Genesis 28:12), “And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” The famous question is, Why did the angels of God ascend first? It should have said “descending” first, and then “ascending.” In the work, we should interpret that “angels of God” are those people who want to be messengers of the Creator, to do the holy work, as our sages said (Sukkah 10), “We are messengers of Mitzva [singular of Mitzvot].”

Therefore, those who want to be as angels, to do everything for the sake of the Creator, are called “messengers of the Creator.” They must first rise in degree, meaning do good deeds, which is called “an ascent in degree,” and then, when they are in an ascent, when they are in a state where they are walking on the path of wholeness, they might think that they are in utter wholeness. But since they desire to achieve Dvekut with the Creator, they are shown from above the truth, that they are still far from doing everything for the sake of the Creator. Through the recognition of evil, a person descends from his degree and begins to see the truth, to see what he is missing.

This is the order of the work. First, a person receives an ascent from above, and then he receives a descent from above. It is all for the above-mentioned reason that through the ascents and descents, the person obtains a complete lack. And the lack is so great that no one in the world can fill the lack but the Creator Himself. This is called “a complete Kli,” ready to receive His help.

It is as Baal HaSulam said about what our sages said (Avot, Chapter 2:21), “It is not for you to finish the work, nor are you free to idle away from it.” He said that “It is not for you to finish the work” refers to the work of achieving a state where all his actions are for the sake of the Creator. A person cannot finish this work. Therefore, why should one begin this work, which he cannot finish anyway? Normally, a person does not begin a work that he knows he cannot finish. Thus, why did they say, “nor are you free to idle away from it”? This implies that a person should begin this work. So, the question is for what purpose should he start?

The answer is that in everything, there must be desire and yearning to obtain the required matter. Otherwise, when, if we receive something without a prior need for it, it is impossible to enjoy, as it is known that there is no light without a Kli. For this reason, a person must begin the work of bestowal, and then he sees that after he has made many efforts to obtain that force, yet he cannot have it, later, when the Creator gives him this power of bestowal, he can enjoy it.

Baal HaSulam said about this, that this is the meaning of “We will do and we will hear,” which Israel said when the nations of the world did not want to receive it, since they saw that it was impossible to go against nature. But the people of Israel said, “We will do by force, even though our heart does not want this, and by this we will be rewarded with hearing. In other words, the Creator will let us hear that this work is acceptable to the heart. This is called “Reply unto your heart.”

Inapoi la pagina 1991 (ŞLAVEY HASULAM (TREPTELE SCĂRII) – link