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

What Is, “The Smell of His Garments,” in the Work?

Article No. 09, Tav-Shin-Nun-Aleph, 1989-91

“Rabbi Zira said about the verse, ‘And he smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him. And he said, ‘The smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed’ (Genesis 27:27). ‘The smell of his garments,’ do not call it Begadav [his garments], but Bogdav [his traitors], for even the traitors among them have a smell to them’” (Sanhedrin, 37a).

We should understand the words of Rabbi Zira. What is the connection between “garments” and “traitors”? “Garments” are clothes that a person wears, meaning there is a connection between the clothes and the person. It is a good thing that the person has clothes. But “traitors” are the complete opposite, since when one person betrays another, it is a bad thing for that person. In other words, a person feels so bad in his situation that he wants to come out of that state, and he has no other choice but to betray the person who put him in the bad state he is in. Therefore, how come Rabbi Zira explains about the verse that “garments” means “traitors”?

It is known that the order of the work is that person should correct himself and enter Kedusha[holiness], since man was born with the evil inclination, which comes to a person and as soon as he is born, it is with him. The Zohar says about it (VaYeshev, Item 1), “And when one comes into the world, the evil inclination immediately appears to partake with him, as it is written, ‘Sin crouches at the door,’ for then the evil inclination partakes with him.” It says there (Item 7), “‘An old and foolish king’ is the evil inclination. From the day he was born, he never parted from his Tuma’a [impurity]. And he is a fool because all his ways are toward the evil way, and he walks and incites and lures people.”

It is known that the order of the work divides into the work of the general public, meaning what the general public can do, and the work of the individual, what the general public cannot do. This is expressed by the words Lishma [for Her sake] and Lo Lishma [not for Her sake]. In other words, the work of bestowal pertains specifically to individuals. But work that is in order to receive reward is work that the general public can do, as well. Maimonides says about it, “Therefore, when teaching little ones, women, and uneducated people, 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” (Hilchot Teshuva, Chapter 4).

Therefore, when a person wants to walk on the path of individuals, to do everything in order to bestow, the evil inclination, called will to receive, which is concerned with its own benefit, can work only in order to receive reward. When a person wants to work for the sake of the Creator, the evil inclination objects to this work, since it conflicts with the nature with which he was born. Hence, here begins man’s work with a hard battle, since the person tells his body when the body asks him why he observes Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds], “What will you get out of it?” The person tells him that our sages said, “The Creator said, ‘I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.’”

“Therefore, since I haven’t the power to annul you, by engaging in Torah I will have the strength to annul you and remove you from your kingship over me, as it is written, “You are an old and foolish king.” Therefore, I want to remove you from your governance that you govern me, and take upon myself the governance of the King of all kings, the Creator.”

What should the evil inclination, called “will to receive for oneself,” do? It has no other choice but to interrupt with all its might. However, normally, a person does not make efforts to obtain something if he can obtain it easily. Therefore, when a person begins to work and makes little efforts to emerge from its dominance, the body does not need to resist a person with all its might. Rather, the evil in a person emerges gradually, with greater force each time, depending on man’s work.

In other words, the order of the work is balanced, so that one will have a choice to elect the good and reject the bad. This is as our sages said, “One should always see oneself as half guilty, half innocent. If he performs one Mitzva [singular of Mitzvot], happy is he, for he has sentenced himself to the side of merit” (Kidushin p 40b). The reason one should see oneself as “half guilty, half innocent” is so as to have a choice. Conversely, if one thing is more than the other, he can no longer make the decision.

Therefore, if a person performs one Mitzva, he has already sentenced to the side of merit, so how can he make a choice once more, since the side of merit has already prevailed? The answer is that if the bad in a person sees that the person has overcome it, the evil uses greater force, meaning brings him just arguments why it is not worthwhile to work for the sake of the Creator. It makes one taste the taste of dust when he wants to do something to bestow, and gives him a greater flavor in work for self-benefit.

In other words, each time, he gives him a greater pleasure is self-benefit. In other words, he never thought that there is so much pleasure in self-benefit, since when he makes more efforts, he sentences to the side of merit. Hence, he must give him more evil in order to be able to choose. That is, it does not mean that he gives him more bad deeds. Rather, it means that he gives him greater pleasure in self-benefit, to the point that it is difficult for him to retire from self-benefit and work in order to bestow.

This is regarded as a person suffering great descents. That is, when the evil appears to him with greater force and it is difficult to overcome it, the person sometimes comes to a state of “pondering the beginning,” meaning that he sees that he has labored and toiled in vain, since in fact, it is impossible to emerge from the governance of evil. Thus, it is a shame that I exerted for nothing. It follows that during the descent, he betrays the work of the Creator. Afterward, when the Creator sends him an awakening from above, he ascends to spirituality once more and thinks that now he will be in a state of Kedusha.

However, afterward the evil appears within him once again, and with greater force, and he suffers another descent, just as before. Each time he thinks the same, meaning that each time, he falls into betrayal in the work. It follows that “He who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than him,” since otherwise, there would not be choice. It follows that one who is greater has more betrayals in the work, where as one who does not have the strength to overcome, the evil does not need to show its full strength.

Hence, the question is, If he has committed a transgression, woe unto him, for he has sentenced himself to the side of fault, since he has already decided, so how can he later make a choice? The answer is as our sages said, “Transgressed and repeated? It becomes as though permitted to him.” In other words, he does not feel the power of the evil that there is in the transgression, and naturally, he does not need excessive overcoming. Rather, with a small overcoming, he can choose the good and loathe the little bit of evil that is in him.

Conversely, one who is great, that person has many ups and downs. That is, often, he betrays the work of bestowal, as the complaint of the spies who slandered the land of Israel, which is the kingdom of heaven. In other words, his taking upon himself the kingdom would not be for his own sake, called Eretz [land] but because of the Shamayim [heaven]. Put differently, the person wants to take upon himself the burden of Torah and Mitzvot in order to bring contentment to his Maker, so the spies slandered it, as it is written in The Zohar (Shlach, Item 63):“‘And they returned from touring the land.’ ‘They returned’ means that they returned to the bad side, returned from the path of truth, saying, ‘What did we get out of it? To this day we have not seen good in the world. We have toiled in Torah and the house is empty. Who will be awarded that world? Who will come and be in it? It would have been better had we not toiled so. We learned in order to know the part of that world. That upper world is good, as we know in the Torah, but who can be rewarded with it?’”

We should understand the argument of the spies. After all, they said what they felt. When a person is in descent, he does not lie; he says what he feels. Hence, during the ascent, he wants to annul before Him as a candle before a torch, since he feels that he will be happy from this. Conversely, during a descent, he sees that all that the will to receive argues is correct. Thus, why does the verse say as it is written, “And they slandered the land”?

According to what Baal HaSulam says, the answer is that they had to believe that since the Creator promised to the people of Israel that He would give them the land of Israel, which is a land “flowing with milk and honey,” the Creator will certainly give them. But the situation that they saw was that they had to believe that this revelation of the bad came to them from above, meaning the revelation of the evil that exists in man by nature, and that one is unable to emerge from the governance of evil and be rewarded with Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator. Rather, it is only the Creator Himself. They had to believe that the Creator would give them a second nature, which is the desire to bestow, and by this they will receive all the delight and pleasure called “a land flowing with milk and honey.” Then, when they have the vessels of bestowal, the Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment are lifted from them and they are rewarded with the delight and pleasure that were in the purpose of creation. At that time, it is a “land flowing with milk and honey.”

It follows that these descents are required in order to reveal the evil, so that afterward they will know that only the Creator can help. His help comes specifically on a complete lack, for then the complete help can come. This means that if the evil were not completely exposed, there would not be a complete lack. Hence, first we must see that the evil is revealed.

Subsequently, the filling called “help from the Creator” comes and fills his lack. This follows the rule, “There is no light without a Kli.” We could ask, Why must we wait so long? That is, there are many accents and many descents, but the bad could have appeared at once. The answer is that if the bad were revealed in full, no one would be able to begin the work, since the bad would prevail and there would not be room for choice. Hence, the bad appears according to the level of the good that a person increases in the work.

According to the above, we should interpret what we asked, What does it mean that Rabbi Zira interprets the verse, “And he smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him.” He says, “Do not call it Begadav [his garments], but Bogdav [his traitors], for even the traitors among them have a smell to them.”

We should interpret that since Jacob was rewarded with wholeness, meaning that from all the descents he achieved wholeness, so that the help from above could come, since all the bad has been revealed in him. It follows that the descents, which are the betrayals, are called “sins.” When the light appears through them, we now see that the sins have become as merits, that were it not for the descents, we would not be able to achieve wholeness. This is why Rabbi Zira interprets that the smell of his garments was because he achieved his completion, meaning that the betrayals were also corrected. It follows that the betrayals were as fragrant as the merits, since everything was corrected in him. This is why he says, “the smell of his traitors.”

Therefore, when a person is in a state of ascent, he must learn from his state during the descent in order to know the difference between light and darkness, as it is written, “as the advantage of the light from within the darkness.” However, for the most part, a person does not want to remember the time of darkness because it pains him, and people do not want to suffer for no reason. Rather, a person wants to enjoy the state of ascent that he is in.

However, one must know that if he considers the descents while he is in an ascent, he will learn two things from this, which will benefit him and he will therefore not suffer from descents for no reason: 1) He must know how to keep himself as much as he can from falling into a descent. 2) “As the advantage of the light from within the darkness.” At that time, he will have more vitality and joy from the state of ascent, and he will be able to thank the Creator for bringing him closer to Him. That is, now a person has a good feeling from being in a state where he understands that it is worthwhile to be a servant of the Creator, since now he feels the greatness and importance of the King.

But during the descent, it is the complete opposite. The body asks him, “What will you get out of wanting to annul before Him and cancel yourself from this entire world, and care only about how to bring contentment to the Creator?” When a person considers both extremes, he sees the differences between them. At that time he has the values of a different importance than he thought about the ascent. It follows that by looking at the descent, the ascent rises in him to a higher level than he feels without looking at the descent.

It follows that when he thinks about the time of betrayals that he had during the descents, all the descents are sweetened and filled with the blessing of the Creator, since they are causing an ascent. Hence, when a person completes the work, everything is corrected into merits. This is the meaning of what he says, “And he said, ‘The smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed.’” This means that then the smell of my son’s betrayals is as the smell of Malchut, who is called “a field that the Lord has blessed.” That is, he already received all the bestowals of delight and pleasure from the Creator.

Accordingly, we should interpret the words, “And the Lord said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples will be separated from your abdomen, and one nation shall be stronger than the other.’” RASHI interprets “‘Two nations’ as ‘There is no nation but Malchut.’ ‘Will be separated,’ one to his wickedness and one to his wholeness. ‘One nation shall be stronger than the other,’ they will not be the same in greatness; when one rises, the other falls.”

We should understand what the RASHI interpretation adds to us. Here the writing brings the order of the work when we want to achieve Dvekut with the Creator. He says “nation” as “There is no nation but Malchut.” That is, a person must know that there are two discernments in Malchut: 1) an old and foolish king, 2) the King of all kings.

The evil inclination belongs to the old and foolish king, but there is also the good inclination in him, which pertains to the King of all kings. Therefore, he says, “‘Will be separated,’ one to his wickedness and one to his wholeness. ‘One nation shall be stronger than the other,’ They will not be the same in greatness; when one rises, the other falls.” This pertains to ascents and descents, where each wants to overcome the other, meaning that specifically by quarreling, each one grows, as was said, “All who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than him.”

This is called “One nation shall be stronger than the other,” meaning that both grow, and each one grows through the other. In other words, the descents, which is the old and foolish king, his power grows through the ascents of the good inclinations. It is as our sages said, “To the righteous, the evil inclination seems like a high mountain,” since he has many ascents, which in plural form is called “righteous.” That is, in the work, when speaking of one person, that he is a small world, there are many righteous in a person, meaning many ascents. They come by overcoming the wicked. Concerning “many wicked in one person,” this is called “many descents,” since in each descent he becomes wicked. It follows that each one grows through the other. This is the meaning of “One nation shall be stronger than the other.”

Conversely, those who do not walk on the path toward achieving Dvekut with the Creator, which is to obtain the desire to bestow, are called “wicked” in that they are not walking on a path where they will be able to do everything for the sake of the Creator, but rather for their own sake.

Yet, here, “wicked” is a different discernment, a completely different interpretation. That is, there are no righteous there in the middle, but all their actions are as wicked, meaning not for the sake of the Creator, but for their own sake.

In the work, they are called “wicked,” but to the general public, who observe Torah and Mitzvot, they are called “righteous.” They are called “wicked” only in terms of the intention, in terms of the work, to work only for the sake of the Creator and not for their own sake. And since they do not have a quality of “righteous” in between, their evil does not receive an addition, for only if there is a righteous in between, meaning an ascent, when he wants to work only in order to bestow, then the bad must receive more bad so as to be able to lower him from his degree.

Hence, “To the wicked, the evil seems like hairsbreadth,” and the bad does not grow in them. Instead, “Transgressed and repeated? It becomes as though permitted to him.” In other words, he has no sensation of the evil. This is as our sages said, “And one nation shall be stronger than the other.” As RASHI interpreted, “They will not be the same in greatness; when one rises, the other falls.”

But how come when he rises he then falls? Each time, someone else receives an addition. Once the good receives an ascent from above and the bad falls, and when the bad receives bad from above, the good falls. This is the order of descents and descents, until all the evil within man is revealed specifically by a person receiving good each time, which is called “ascents.” This is the meaning of “And one nation shall be stronger than the other.” Hence, a person should not be alarmed by the descents. Instead, he should ask the Creator each time to bring him closer to Him.

According to the above, we should interpret, “Thus far, Your kindness has assisted us and Your mercies have not left us, the Lord our God.” We should ask, In which state is he in now, and what was his state before, of which he comes to say something new, as though now he is in a state of delight and pleasure? It seems as though he was not in a good state, but was in a state where he was not happy, and now he has come to realize that thus, what we felt have been help from above, from the side of mercy. Although he did not feel them as mercy, now he sees that that then, too, his feelings, which we felt as bad, were also from the side of kindness. “And Your mercies have not left us” means that then, too, Providence was from the side of mercy and not from the side of judgment.

We should understand how this is so, meaning to say that the bad state was also mercy. The thing is that there is no light without a Kli, since a person cannot be given something if he has no need for it. It is like a person who cannot eat if he is not hungry. Therefore, when a person begins to walk on the path of the Creator to achieve Dvekut with the Creator, he cannot receive help from the Creator because normally, a person does not ask for help from someone unless he cannot obtain that thing by himself.

Therefore, when one thinks that he can come to work in order to bestow alone, he does not ask the Creator to help him. Thus, when one begins to work for the sake of the Creator, and sees each time that he is incapable of achieving the degree of work in order to bestow, he becomes needy of the Creator’s help. It follows that all the descents he had, to the point that sometimes he despaired and came to “pondering the beginning,” and wanted to escape the campaign, and certainly, these state are called “bad states,” and he was in a state of “wicked.” But afterward, when he has satiated the lack of the Kli, when he saw that his Kli was full of lacks, the Creator gives him help, which is the desire to bestow, a second nature. At that time, he sees that thus far, the many descents he felt, and thought that the reason was that he was unsuitable for it, and this is why he suffered the descents, now he sees that thus far it was also help from the Creator.

This is the meaning of “Thus far, Your kindness has assisted us,” and it was all mercy, as it is written, “and Your mercies did not leave us.”

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

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

What Is, “And Abraham Was Old, of Many Days,” in the Work?

Article No. 08, Tav-Shin-Nun-Aleph, 1989-91

It is written in The Zohar (VaYeshev, Item 3), “‘A poor and wise child is better than an old and foolish king.’ ‘A wise child is better’ is the good inclination, which is a child from few days with man, since he is with man from thirteen years of age onward. ‘An old and foolish king’ is the evil inclination, called ‘King and man’s ruler in the world over people.’ He is certainly ‘old and foolish,’ since he has been with man from the day he is born into the world. Therefore, he is ‘an old and foolish king.’ But ‘a wise child is better’ is as it is written, ‘I was a youth and I grew old.’ This is a youth who is a poor child with nothing of his own. Why is he called ‘a youth’? It is because he has the resumption [renewal] of the moon, which is always resumed, and he is always a child.”

It appears from the words of The Zohar that “old” indicates the evil inclination, whereas the good inclination is called “a child.” If this is so, what is the meaning of “And Abraham was old, of many days”? What does it come to tell us when it says, “Abraham was old”? What merit is there to Abraham being old and of many days, for it seems as though the text is praising Abraham.

It is written in the “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” (Item 140) about the verse, “Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.” It says there, “Prior to the end of correction, before we qualified our vessels of reception to receive only in order to give contentment to our Maker and not to our own benefit, Malchut is called ‘the tree of good and evil,’” since Malchut is the guidance of the world by people’s actions.

“Hence, we must receive the guidance of good and evil from the Malchut, as this guidance qualifies us to ultimately correct our vessels of reception.Often, the guidance of good and evil causes us ascents and descents, and each ascent is regarded as a separate day because due to the great descent that he had, while he doubted the beginning, during the ascent he is as a newly born child. Thus, in each ascent, it is as though he begins to serve the Creator anew. This is why each ascent is considered a specific day, and similarly, each descent is considered a specific night.”

Now we can interpret what we asked, Why does it say, “And Abraham was old, of many days”? What is the merit in Abraham being old? The answer is “many days.” That is, there is one who is old, which is one state that extends over a long period of time, and the prolonging turns this state into an old one. It is written about it in The Zohar, “Why is the evil inclination called ‘old’?” It says that it is because of the prolonged time, “since he is with man from the day one is born into the world.” In other words, there is no change in his situation and he has been the same since he was born. This is called “An old and foolish king.”

We should ask, But he is an angel, as it is written, “For He will command His angels over you, to keep you in all your ways.” The Zohar interprets that this pertains to the good inclination and the evil inclination. So how can we say that it is a fool?

The answer is that every angel is named after its task. Hence, since the evil inclination installs a spirit of folly in a person, as our sages said, “One does not sin unless a spirit of folly has entered him,” for this reason the evil inclination is named “fool,” accordingly. However, he always plays the same role—installing the spirit of folly in people. This is why he is called “An old and foolish king.”

However, in Kedusha [holiness], when a person begins to work on the path toward achieving Dvekut[adhesion] with the Creator, meaning that all his actions will be for the sake of the Creator, the person should first come to the recognition of evil, meaning to know the measure of the evil within him. It is as our sages said, “To the wicked, the evil seems like hairsbreadth, but to the righteous, it seems like a high mountain.” This is so because one is not shown more evil that exists within him than he has good, since the good and the bad must be balanced, for only then can we speak of choice, as our sages said, “One should always see oneself as half guilty, half innocent.” Hence, those who want to achieve the work of bestowal undergo ascents and descents, as said in The Zohar, which interprets “Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.”

It follows that the quality of “old” in one who works in order to bestow is not in the sense that one state has taken a long time. Rather, he is “old” because he has had many days and many nights. This is why it says, “Abraham was old, of many days.” To interpret “many days,” “And the Lord blessed Abraham with all,” what is “with all”? Since he had many days, he must have had many nights in between, for if there are no nights in between, there cannot be many days. “The Lord blessed Abraham with all” means that the nights were also blessed with him. This is the meaning of “And the Lord blessed Abraham with all.”

According to the above, we should interpret the words “A wise child is better,” as it is written, “I was a youth and I grew old.” In other words, although “I” grew old, “I” remain a youth. This is so because the order of the work is that when a person should take upon himself faith above reason, since the body objects to this, this work is daily. In other words, each day a person must take upon himself faith, and it is not enough that yesterday he took it upon himself, as it is written (Deuteronomy 26:16), “This day the Lord your God commands you to do.” RASHI interprets, “Each day, they will be as new in your eyes, as if on that day you were commanded them.”

It follows that each day is its own discernment, since each day he is a youth and must begin anew the acceptance of the kingdom of heaven. This is as the ARI says (Shaar HaKavanot, p 61), “In each and every prayer, the Mochin enter, and after the prayer they depart. You should know that the matter is not as it seems, meaning that the Mochin that come are the ones that depart, and they are the ones that return with each prayer. The thing is that with each prayer new Mochin come.”

This means that although a person begins anew each day, it does not mean that he begins from the same place he began. Rather, “of many days” means that he has many new days. It follows that “I was a youth and I grew old.” That is, the old age is not from one state, because that state was prolonged. Rather, “old” in Kedusha means that he has had a long time of many resumptions, meaning that growing old came from being many days in a state of “youth,” meaning a child. Thus, the meaning of “I was a youth and I grew old” pertains only to the times of “youth”; from this he became old.

This is the meaning of the words, “This is a youth who is a poor child with nothing of his own.” In other words, all the work, which is only to bestow upon the Creator and not for his own sake, this work is against the body, where he wants to work specifically for his own sake and not for the sake of the Creator. At that time, a person sees that after each ascent, he immediately has a descent, and from this he gets the matter of “nights and days.”

This continues until a person decides that he is powerless to do anything, since he sees that everything he does in order to advance, he sees the opposite, that each time, he has more evil. At that time, he decides and says, “Unless the Lord builds a house, they who built it labored in vain.” For this reason, when a person is rewarded with the Creator giving him the desire to bestow, meaning that he has been rewarded with being able to do all his actions for the sake of the Creator, he sees that he is a “child.” That is, he has no more power than that of a child, meaning he has nothing of his own. In other words, he has achieved nothing by himself, but rather the Creator gave him everything.

At that time, he sees that the Creator gave him the descents, as well, and for himself, he has nothing. This is the meaning of “Why is he called ‘a youth’? It is because he has the resumption [renewal] of the moon.” In other words, as the moon has no light of itself except what it receives from the sun, likewise, when man is rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator, he sees that he has gained nothing by his own strength, but the Creator gave him everything, while he is always a “child.” In other words, in every situation, he is as a child, doing nothing, and having only what a child is given, while he himself cannot do anything. This is why one should always ask the Creator to give him the power to prevail in the work, and the person himself is completely powerless.

According to the above, we should interpret what is written (Genesis 15:6), “And he believed in the Lord and He regarded it to him as righteousness.” This seems perplexing. What is Abraham’s praise in that he believed in the Creator? After all, any person who had the revelation of Godliness and the Creator would speak to him would believe in the Creator. We should interpret that once Abraham saw that he had no power of his own to be rewarded with anything in Kedusha, since the will to receive is the ruler, as it is written, “an old and foolish king,” and he was powerless to emerge from its governance and be rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator, this is why it is written in general, “And he believed in the Lord and He regarded it to him as righteousness.”

In other words, the fact that Abraham could be rewarded with faith is only charity from the Creator; the Creator gave him charity and delivered him from the governance of the old and foolish king, who objects to faith above reason. Av-Ram [high father] means that he wanted to go specifically above reason, which is regarded as “the herdsmen of Abraham’s cattle” (as written in Article No. 1, Tav-Shin-Nun-Aleph).

But the whole body resists it. Hence, when the Creator gave him the power of faith above reason, Abraham regarded it as having been rewarded with faith, as it is written, “And he believed in the Lord,” meaning what he could believe in the Lord, to Him, to the Creator. “As charity,” that the Creator gave him charity by giving Abraham the power of faith.

However, in the order of the work, we see that there are ascents and descents. During an ascent, when one feels the importance, when he feels that he is close to the Creator and has some feeling of the importance and greatness of the Creator, and wants to annul before Him because he feels a little bit of love of the Creator and wants to annul before Him as a candle before a torch, in that state he does not remember that he ever suffered a state of descent. Moreover, he does not want to remember that there is such a thing called “a state of descent,” and he yearns for his state of ascent to be permanent.

But in the end, he suffers a descent. Sometimes, he falls into such a lowly state that he says that there is no way he will ever be able to do something for the sake of the Creator. When it occurs to him that we must work and observe Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] for the sake of the Creator, so why do I not want to do this, he gives himself a true answer, in his opinion, that there is nothing to reply to this, since man, meaning the will to receive within man, is the ruler during the descent, and it says that it is willing to do everything for the sake of the Creator, but on condition that I will know what my will to receive will gain from this.

In other words, he is willing to work for the sake of the Creator but on condition that his self-benefit will profit from this. It follows that during the ascent, if he looks at the descents that he receives each time, he is impressed with how such a thing can be—that there will be such a difference between ascents and descents, as the gap between heaven and earth. In other words, during the ascent, he thinks that he is already in heaven, that he no longer has any connection to corporeality, and that from this day forth, his only engagement in the world will be that which concerns spirituality. He even becomes upset with the Creator for giving him corporeality, to engage in worldly matters and that he must dedicate time and effort to these things, to obtaining corporeality.

At that time, a person does not understand for what purpose the Creator created this. The whole corporeal world seems to him redundant. But along with all the good calculations, he suddenly suffers a descent and falls to the ground. Sometimes, during the descent, he loses consciousness altogether and completely forgets about spirituality. Sometimes, he does remember that there is such a thing as spirituality in the world, but sees that this is not for him.

However, we should understand why the Creator gives us these descents. That is, first, one must believe that the Creator gives us these descents, and then a person asks for what purpose the Creator gave me these descents. In other words, when one believes that the Creator is sending this to him, the descents come to a person after he had a state of ascent and he asked the Creator to bring him closer to Him, and he believes that the Creator hears a prayer.

But what did he receive in return for his prayer? He thought that after the prayer he would receive an ascent to a higher degree than the state he was in during the prayer. But in the end, he sees that the Creator has given him a worse state than he was in before he prayed to the Creator. The answer is as Baal HaSulam said, that there is the matter of “as the advantage of the light from within the darkness.” He said that a person cannot appreciate the importance of the light, and to know how to keep it, unless from within the darkness. At that time, a person can discern the distance between the light and the darkness.

We should interpret his words with an allegory. When one gives a present to a friend, which is worth 100 shekels in the eyes of the receiver, the receiver is happy with the fact that his friend appreciates him and sends him a gift, and he accepts it with great joy. However, if the recipient finds out afterward that the gift is worth 10,000 shekels, we can understand how the recipient would be happy now, and how his love for the giver of the gift would be established in his heart, and how he would keep the gift from being stolen

The lesson is that when a person receives an awakening from above, when the Creator brings him closer to Him, the person feels some importance in feeling that he is speaking with the Creator, but a person cannot accept the real joy from this nearing, since he still cannot appreciate the greatness and importance of the Creator so as to receive the delight and pleasure from the Creator speaking to him.

The reason is as said above, “as the advantage of the light from within the darkness.” Since a person does not suffer because he is far from the Creator, he cannot appreciate the greatness and importance of a situation where he is close to the Creator, and he also cannot appreciate the suffering of being away from the Creator, if he never felt what it means to be close to the Creator. For this reason, the order of the work walks on two legs—right and left, as our sages said (Sotah 47), “The left should always reject, and the right pull nearer.”

“Right” means wholeness. During the ascent, when a person feels that now he is close to the Creator, he has vitality and joy, and he lives in a world that is all good. Afterward, it is desired above that he will feel the importance of the Creator bringing him closer to Him, so he can enjoy and be happy, not as one appreciates it as in the allegory, as worth 100 shekels. Therefore, when he suffers a descent and feels suffering from being in a descent, although during the descent he does not always feel that he is in a descent, meaning if he has descended from his level and does not suffer because he fell, it is not considered a descent, for who knows that he has fallen if the person does not feel it?

Rather, this is like a person who was injured in a road accident and does not feel that he has fallen under the car, since he is unconscious. Who does know that he has fallen under the truck? only people on the outside. But what does he feel from other people seeing that he is unconscious?

It is the same in spirituality when he suffers a descent. It is known above, but once a person recovers, he realizes that he is in a state of descent, and then begins a new procession and he is given from above another ascent, and then another descent. From this, a person acquires the distinction between light and darkness. Also, from this, a person acquires letters by which to appreciate it when the Creator brings him closer, and by this he will know how to keep himself from dropping anything into the Klipot [shells/peels], meaning into his vessels of reception, since he knows what he is losing because “as the advantage of the light from within the darkness.” This is the meaning of descents and ascents that a person has to go through these state.

One who is clever and wants to save time does not wait until he suffers a descent from above. Rather, while he is in an ascent and wants to acquire the importance of the state of closeness to the Creator, he begins to depict to himself what is a state of descent, meaning how he suffers from being far from the Creator compared to how he feels now that he is close to the Creator. It follows that even during the ascent he learns from the discernments as though he were in a state of descent. At that time, he can calculate and discern between an ascent and a descent.

At that time he will get a picture of the advantage of the light over darkness, since he can create a depiction of how he was back in the state of descent, and thought that the whole matter of the work of bestowal does not belong to him, and how he suffered from these states when he wanted to escape the campaign, and only from one place he could get some relief, meaning only from one hope, that he thought, “When will I be able to go to sleep?” for then he would escape from all the states of impatience, when he felt that the world has grown dark on him.

Now, during the ascent, he sees everything differently. At that time, he wants to work only for the sake of the Creator, and he has no concern for his own benefit. From all those calculations that he will do during the ascent, it follows that now he has a place where he can discern between light and darkness, and he does not need to wait until he is given from above a state of descent.

According to the above, we should interpret what our sages said (Shabbat 152), “I search for what I did not lose.” RASHI interprets, “I search for what I did not lose out of old age, I walk bent, swaying, and I seem as though I seek something that I lost.” We should understand this in the work, what it comes to teach us. An old man is considered wise, meaning he wants to be a wise disciple.

As Baal HaSulam said, the Creator is called “wise,” and His manner is bestowal. When a person wants to learn from His ways, meaning to also be a bestower, that person is called “a student of the Wise.” That person does not wait until he suffers a descent and then comes to ask to be elevated again, meaning that he lost his state of ascent and he asks to be lifted up once more. Instead, before he loses the state of ascent, he searches as though he has already lost it. By this he saves time. It follows that as far as descents are concerned, there is room for man to rise and receive a place to discern the advantage between light and darkness.

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

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

What Is “Man” and What Is “Beast” in the Work?

Article No. 07, Tav-Shin-Nun-Aleph, 1989-91

It is written in The Zohar (VaYera, Items 1-2), “‘The buds appear on the earth.’ This means that when the Creator created the world, He placed in the earth all the power it deserves. Everything was in the earth, but it did not bear fruit until man was created. When man was created, everything appeared in the world and the land revealed its fruits. Similarly, the heaven did not endow the earth with force until man came, and the heavens halted and did not rain upon the earth since man was absent. When man appeared, the buds immediately appeared in the land.”

We should understand what this comes to teach us. We should know that the purpose of creation was because of His desire to do good to His creations. However, in order to bring to light the perfection of His deeds, there were Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment, where the good is not revealed to the created beings before they are rewarded with working for the sake of the Creator. Otherwise, there is the matter of shame because of the disparity of form in the vessels of reception of the created beings. Hence, a person cannot receive the purpose of creation, which is the delight and pleasure, due to shame. This is called “separation and remoteness from the Creator.” That is, we understand the matter of the bread of shame as separation from the Creator to such an extent that this disparity of form makes it as “The wicked in their lives are called ‘dead.’”

Therefore, man’s work emerges from the beastly state and acquires the quality of “man.” It is as our sages said (Yevamot 61), “Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai says, ‘You are My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, you are ‘man.’ You are called ‘man,’ and the idol-worshippers are not called ‘man.’’” We already explained the importance of “man,” that the nations of the world are not called “man.” It is as our sages said (Berachot 6), “‘In the end, all is heard, fear God and observe His commandments, for this is the whole of man.’ What is ‘for this is the whole of man’? Rabbi Elazar said, ‘The whole world was created only for this.’” In other words, one who has fear of God is called “man,” and one who does not have fear of God, it means he is a “beast” and not “man.”

It therefore follows that before a person is rewarded with having fear of God, with doing everything for the sake of the Creator, he is still not regarded as a human being but as a beast. In other words, everything they do is only for their own sake, like beasts. And since there were Tzimtzum and concealment on the will to receive for one’s own sake, although for His part, the delight and pleasure are already revealed in Kedusha [holiness], since there is equivalence of form there between the light and the Kli [vessel], the lower ones—which were created—still do not have the quality of man, as it is written, “Man is born a wild ass.” It follows that he is placed under the Tzimtzum and the concealment, where there is no disclosure of light.

Thus, although all the delight and pleasure in the purpose of creation has emerged and been revealed by Him, it is all concealed from the lower ones. They see no delight and pleasure, but only a tiny light from the Kedusha, which fell into the Klipot [shells/peels], and on this the whole of the corporal world is sustained.

By this we can interpret what we asked concerning the interpretation of The Zohar about the verse, “‘The buds appear on the earth.’ When the Creator created the world, He placed in the earth all the power it deserves. Everything was in the earth, but it did not bear fruit until man was created.” We should interpret that although from the perspective of the Creator, everything has emerged, but they were all under the Tzimtzum and the concealment, meaning that there was no one who could enjoy it, since the concealment blocks everything and they did not see that there are delight and pleasure in the world.

“When man was created, everything appeared in the world and the land revealed its fruits.” This means that once a person acquires the quality of “man,” when he has fear of God, meaning that everything he does is for the sake of the Creator, the concealment is removed from him and he sees all the fruits that there are in the world, which he did not see before he acquired the quality of “man.”

When it says, “Similarly, the heaven did not endow the earth with force until man came,” it means that before one is rewarded with the quality of “man,” a person cannot have permanent faith that powers are given to the earth. That is, from above they give powers below, to the created beings, so they can ascend on the rungs of holiness. But afterward, when he is rewarded with the quality of “man,” he sees that all that exists on earth, in the lower ones, comes from above, and then he does not need to believe this, since then he attains it.

This is regarded as when the quality of man comes, everything is revealed in the world. This means that all that has been renewed now, existed also before, except he did not see this. This is the meaning of the words, “and the heavens halted and did not rain upon the earth since man was absent.” That is, before the quality of man is revealed, he would say that he is praying to the Creator every time but he is not being answered from above. This is called, “and the heavens halted and did not rain,” meaning he received nothing for his prayers.

The reason he could not see if he is answered is that he still did not have the quality of man. Hence, everything was concealed from him, and he could only believe that the Creator does hear the prayer of every mouth. But afterward, when man appeared, promptly, “the buds appeared in the land.” In other words, all the things that were thus far concealed became visible. When the quality of man came, everything appeared. That is, then we see the delight and pleasure that were in the purpose of creation has already been revealed in the world.

For this reason, one should be careful not to escape the campaign and say that the Creator does not want to help him, since he sees that he has asked him many times to help him, and he thinks as though he is not being looked at from above. However, whether or not he is praying, it is all the same, unchanging. Therefore, he does not see anything that will help him. Instead, he sees that he is as an empty Kli [vessel] that has nothing, and whatever the Creator wants to do, He will do. But for man’s part, he is powerless to do anything.

There is a rule: Where one sees no progress, one cannot make any effort. At that time, the only way is to have faith in the sages, who tell us that we must believe that such is the order of the work, that a person must not see what he is doing. He should believe that this concealment is for his best, that it will lead him to be rewarded with Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator. If he overcomes and believes that it is all for his best and the Creator does hear the prayer of every mouth, but there should be an awakening from below, “and the salvation of the Lord is as the blink of an eye,” meaning when all the sparks gather, one should scrutinize and ask that they will enter the Kedusha, and then he receives the help at once.

However, when one feels that he is empty, meaning that he feels that he has neither Torah nor Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] or any good deeds, what can he do? At that time, he should ask the Creator to shine for him so he can obtain the greatness and exaltedness of the Creator above reason. In other words, although he is still unworthy of feeling the greatness and exaltedness of the Creator, since he has still not been rewarded with the quality of “man,” and the Tzimtzum and concealment of the Creator are still on him, as it is written, “Do not hide Your face from me,” he still asks the Creator to give him the strength to receive greatness and importance of the Creator above reason.

It is as Baal HaSulam says about what our sages said (Iruvin 19), “Even the empty ones among you are filled with Mitzvot like a pomegranate.” He said that Rimon [pomegranate] comes from the word Romemut [exaltedness], which is above reason. Hence, the meaning of “Even the empty ones among you are filled with Mitzvot like a pomegranate” is that the measure of the filling is according to his ability to go above reason, which is called “exaltedness.”

In other words, emptiness can be precisely where there is no presence and he feels that he is devoid of Torah, Mitzvot, and good deeds. When this continues over time when a person wants to work for the sake of the Creator and not for himself, then he sees that everything he does is not for the sake of the Creator but only for his own benefit. In that state, he feels that he has nothing and he is completely empty, and he can fill this place only with a pomegranate, meaning if he goes above reason, which is called “exaltedness of the Creator.” In other words, he should ask the Creator to give him the power to believe above reason in the greatness of the Creator. That is, the fact that he wants the exaltedness of the Creator does not mean that he says, “If You let me attain the exaltedness and greatness of the Creator, I will agree to work. Rather, he wants the Creator to give him the power to believe in the greatness of the Creator, and in this he fills the emptiness in which he is in right now.”

It follows that were it not for the emptiness, that is, if he did not work on the path toward achieving Dvekut, meaning in equivalence of form, called “in order to bestow,” but rather like the general public, who suffice for the practices they observe, these people do not feel themselves as empty, but as full of Mitzvot.

However, specifically those who want to achieve bestowal feel the emptiness within them, and they need the greatness of the Creator. They can fill this emptiness specifically with exaltedness, called “full of Mitzvot,” to the extent that they ask the Creator to give them the power to be able to go above reason, which is called “exaltedness.” In other words, they ask the Creator to give them power in exaltedness that is above reason in greatness and importance of the Creator. They do not want the Creator to let them attain this, since they want to subjugate themselves with unconditional surrender, but they ask for help from the Creator, and to that extent they can fill the empty place with Mitzvot. This is the meaning of “filled with Mitzvot like a pomegranate.”

According to the above, we should interpret the words of The Zohar (VaYera, Item 167), “When the Creator loves a person, He sends him a gift. What is the gift? A poor, so as to be rewarded by Him. And when he is rewarded by Him, the Creator draws upon him a string of grace that extends from the right side, spreads over his head, and registers him so that when the Din [judgment] comes to the world, that saboteur will be careful not to harm him. For this reason, the Creator first gives him something with which to be rewarded.”

We should understand what is poor in the work, and what is “a string of grace,” and what is the judgment that comes to the world. It is known that “poor” means poor in knowledge. What is poor in knowledge? There are two categories in the work:

1) The general public, who are primarily about practicing. Concerning the intention, to make everything for the sake of the Creator, they pay no attention to this. They engage in Torah and Mitzvot and are generally whole, feeling no deficiencies about themselves. But because our sages said that one should be humble, they search for deficiencies in themselves in order to observe, “Be very, very humble” (Avot 4:4).

2) Those who want to work in order to bestow and engage in Torah and Mitzvot so it will bring them to be able to do everything in order to bestow and not for their own sake. This is as our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” Thus, these workers understand that each day they should advance, be rich in knowledge, meaning to understand each time that it is worthwhile to work only in order to bestow. Yet, in fact, they see that each day when they want to walk on the path where everything is only for the sake of the Creator, the body understands differently each time. It begins to understand that it is better to work for one’s own sake than to work for the sake of the Creator. At that time, they are baffled over why it turns out the opposite of what they thought. They pray to the Creator to send them the understanding and the knowledge so the body will understand that it is worthwhile to work for the sake of the Creator. Yet, they see otherwise, and many times they despair because the Creator does not hear the prayer, and sometimes they want to escape the campaign.

The answer, says The Zohar, is that “When the Creator loves a person, He sends him a gift. And what is the gift? A poor.” In other words, the fact that one sees that he is poor in knowledge, that the body does not understand why it needs to work for the sake of the Creator and not for its own sake, the Creator sends him the gift of the thought and the feeling that he is poor, since He loves him. But why does the Creator love him? It is because he wants to work for the sake of the Creator. For this reason, the Creator loves him.

However, he cannot, even though he wants to, since it is against nature. Man was born with a will to receive for his own benefit. Since there is a correction that as long as one is not ready to walk on the path of truth, he will not be able to see the truth because it will harm him, those people who do not intend to walk on the path of bestowal are not shown the truth, that they are incapable of going against the nature of the will to receive. They think that all they lack is some desire, meaning that if they agree to walk on the path of for the sake of the Creator, they can do everything for the sake of the Creator. For this reason, anything that a person thinks that he can do by himself, he does not suffer from not doing it, since it is easy. Therefore, it does not pain him that he is not working for the sake of the Creator although he knows that we should do everything for the sake of the Creator.

This stems from the rule that our sages said, “Anything that is about to be collected is deemed collected” (any debt that a person is going to receive back from the borrower, it is as though he already took his debt because it is certain, he knows he will receive). Hence, because he knows that whenever he wants, he will be able to do everything for the sake of the Creator, he does not feel a lack although he is still not doing it. This is the correction for those who work in the manner of the general public.

However, those who truly want to walk on the path of doing everything in order to bestow, the Creator loves those people, as it is written in The Zohar, the Creator sends them a gift. What is the gift? A poor, meaning poor in knowledge. In other words, the body does not understand how there can be such a thing that we will be able to work for the sake of the Creator, as it is against nature. At that time, he sees that he is poor even in actions. That is, he is not only poor in knowledge, but in practice, too. Put differently, he sees that he does not have even one deed that is for the sake of the Creator. Rather, everything is for his own benefit.

Then, a person becomes needy of the Creator to help him because he is the poorest of all, in mind as well as in heart. He sees then that he is truly wicked, meaning that he cannot justify how the Creator behaves with him, and he sees that even the prayers he prays to the Creator are as if the Creator does not hear his prayers, and many times he falls into despair. However, a person must believe that all those feelings that he feels come to him from above, that the Creator sends them to him, and that they are a gift from above.

This is the meaning of saying “And what is the gift? A poor, so as to be rewarded by him.” The question is, How can we say that poverty is a gift? He answers this, “so as to be rewarded by him.” In other words, by seeing that he is poor, that he has nothing, a person has a complete lack, meaning a complete desire for the Creator’s help, for in order to receive the filling from the Creator, one needs a complete desire—when one sees that no one can help but the Creator. Thus, through poverty, he acquires a need to make his vessels of reception worthy of the Creator giving him the desire to bestow instead of the will to receive.

This is the meaning of the words “And when he is rewarded by him,” meaning that through the poor he acquired a complete need and lack, then “the Creator draws upon him a string of grace that extends from the right side.” Put differently, the Creator gives him the desire to bestow, called Hesed, meaning a giver, which is called “right,” meaning he receives the second nature called “desire to bestow.”

This is the meaning of the words, “spreads over his head.” “Head” means knowledge. The Hesed that a person receives is on his head, meaning above his head, meaning above reason. Through the string of Hesed, he can walk above reason.

He says, “When the Din [judgment] comes to the world, that saboteur will be careful not to harm him.” This means that since the string of Hesed is on his head, meaning that he is in faith above reason, when the judgment comes—meaning the will to receive, on which there was a judgment that no light shines in it—and he wants to harm a person with its questions, since the string of Hesed, called “faith above reason,” is stretched over that person’s head, it can no longer harm him. The saboteur comes with the arguments of the will to receive, called “the quality of judgment,” meaning that he argues with his reason. Hence, once he has been rewarded with a string of Hesed in both mind and heart, and goes above reason in regard to everything, thanks to the string of Hesed, it cannot harm him any longer.

However, when a person feels that he is poor, meaning that he has no awe when he wants to work for the sake of the Creator, but to the contrary, at that time he sees that to him, the Shechina [Divinity] is in the dust. That is, to him, she has the form of dust. “Dust” is as it is written about the serpent, that the Creator said to the serpent, “You shall eat dust all your life.” Our sages explained that whatever the serpent eats, it tastes the taste of dust. In the work it means that as long as one has not corrected the sin of the tree of knowledge, he tastes the taste of dust. When one wants to do his deeds in order to bestow, which is called “Shechina in the dust,” he must not tell his body, called “will to receive.”

In other words, he must not tell the will to receive for oneself that he does not feel any awe with regard to spirituality. He should not even discuss work matters with his will to receive, since he must know that no arguments with the will to receive will help him. Therefore, when a person comes to a state of being poor, he must only ask the Creator to help him and give him the strength to overcome it.

This is as our sages said (Avot de Rabbi Natan, end of Chapter 7), “If a man comes to the seminary and is treated disrespectfully, he should not go and tell his wife.” We must understand what this teaches us in the work. Also, is one permitted to demand respect? After all, our sages said, “Be very, very humble.”

We should interpret that a person coming to the seminary to learn Torah, the Torah is as in “for they are our lives and the length of our days.” In other words, the Torah is respected because all the good things are in it. He came to the seminary but the Torah did not respect him. That is, the Torah was concealed from him and he was not shown any of the glory and importance that there are in the Torah. Instead, he tastes the taste of dust. For this reason, he wants to consult with his will to receive if he should continue. They say, “He should not go and tell his wife,” meaning the will to receive. Instead, he should tell everything to the Creator, meaning that the Creator will open his eyes and he will be rewarded with the glory of the Torah.

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

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

What Is, “The Herdsmen of Abram’s Cattle and the Herdsmen of Lot’s Cattle,” in the Work?

Article No. 06, Tav-Shin-Nun-Aleph, 1989-91

It is written (Genesis 13:7), “And there was a quarrel between the herdsmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdsmen of Lot’s cattle.” Baal HaSulam said about this, that “cattle” means “possessions,” that the quarrel was among the herdsmen of Abraham’s cattle, who said, “How can we be rewarded with spiritual possessions, which are regarded as Av-Ram [High-Father], meaning specifically the quality of Ram [high] which is above reason, for the quality of Abraham is Av [father] of the faith.

Av-Ram means that he would want—Av comes from the word Ava [wanted], as in “He did not Ava[did not want] to send them away.” Ram means above. That is, Abram went above the desire that exists within man, called “will to receive,” and above the desire that exists within man, and which is called “desire to know and understand what he is doing, and does not want to believe.” Abram went above those two, meaning the mind and the heart. This is called “herdsmen,” for only in this way would he like to guide himself.

This is not so with the “herdsmen of Lot’s cattle.” Lot means Alma DeEtlatia [Aramaic: cursed world], from the word “curse,” referring to the will to receive, which is the serpent, meaning the will to receive for oneself. Lot was a chariot for the quality of the serpent. They would say that we must go and delight ourselves because this is how the Creator created the creatures—with a will to receive for ourselves. Otherwise, He would not have created the will to receive, since who does something in the world in order not to use it? Hence, since He created in us the will to receive, we must work for it, so the will to receive will take its satisfaction. Otherwise, it is considered that the Creator created it in vain.

Therefore, when considering the work, Abram and Lot are qualities within the same body. There is a dispute in the body: Some think like Abram, and some think the opposite and side with Lot. Hence, there is a quarrel between them as to how a person should behave in the work. That is, should man’s work be for the sake of the Creator, and to achieve this, one must go above reason, which is the quality, Av-Ram, or should it be within reason, which is the will to receive for one’s own sake, and since there was a Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment on it, this quality is called Lot, a curse, where there is no delight and pleasure—as was in the thought of creation, which can enter there—and it remains a vacant space devoid of light.

In the work, “herdsmen” means a guide how to behave, as in Moses being called “the faithful shepherd,” who guided the people of Israel with the quality of faith. Lot and Abram mean the good inclination in the person and the evil inclination in the person.

According to the above, we should interpret what The Zohar says (Lech Lecha, Item 162), “‘Abram was very heavy with cattle, and silver, and with gold.’ ‘Very heavy’ means from the east, which is Tifferet. ‘With cattle’ means from the west, which is Malchut. ‘And silver is from the south, Hochma, and ‘with gold’ means from the north, Bina.”

We should understand this in the work. It is known that east and west are two opposites. East means that which shines, such as the sunrise, and west is the opposite, meaning that which does not shine. Where the sun sets and does not shine, this is the west. The middle line, which is Tifferet, includes everything. For this reason, it is called “east,” since it illuminates because it contains the whole work that emerged from all the lines.

This is not so with the west, which is called “the kingdom of heaven.” We must accept the kingdom of heaven “with all your heart and with all your soul,” even if He takes your soul away. Also, we must take upon ourselves the kingdom of heaven, called “faith,” with love, as it is written (Article No. 4, Tav-Shin-Nun-Aleph), that even if he has no vitality, which is called “even if he takes his soul away,” meaning that he has no vitality. This is called “west,” meaning it does not illuminate. Still, a person should be in a state of faith above reason.

This is called “cattle,” by which we buy spiritual possessions, called “the herdsmen of Abram’s cattle.” In other words, specifically through faith above reason, meaning even if he feels darkness on this path, and even though he understands that if Malchut had illuminated openly and not in concealment, and the body would feel the greatness of the Creator, it would be easier for him to move further and be rewarded with always being in a state of work and he would have no descents, he nonetheless chooses to go above reason. This is called “the herdsmen of Abram’s cattle.” This is called “west,” meaning that even though it does not shine for him, he is still with all his might, as though everything illuminated for him openly.

This is the meaning of what is written, “Abram was very heavy,” meaning east, Tifferet, which is the middle line. It is called “east” because the middle line includes all the work he had, and it was sweetened by him, since he already went through all the work that needs to be done, and the light shines there anyhow. This is why the east is called “very heavy,” since the glory of the Lord, meaning the greatness and importance of the Creator is already very much revealed, meaning that at that time the light of the Creator shines.

For this reason, it is regarded as we explained (in Article No. 4, Tav-Shin-Nun-Aleph), “Anyone who runs from honor, honor chases him.” In other words, once he passed the dispute between the two lines, called “two writings that deny one another,” he is rewarded with the middle line, where the glory of the Creator is revealed and shines. This is called Tifferet, “east.”

However, the main work is in the west. This is the place of the work because when a person is still in a state of darkness, where there are ascents and descents, since all the concealments are on this place, called “west.” “West” indicates the kingdom of heaven, and in general, Malchut is called “faith,” and the matter of good and evil applies there, as it is written in The Zohar, that Malchut is called “the tree of good and evil.” If he is rewarded, she is good and the evil is concealed. If he is not rewarded, the good is concealed and the evil becomes revealed outward, and anything that is outside rules.

For this reason, “west” is called “cattle,” since this is the main possession that one should acquire, which is the kingdom of heaven. If he does not have it, meaning Malchut, called “faith,” then he has nothing. For this reason Malchut is called “cattle,” as it is written, “Abram was very heavy with cattle.” Because of it, cattle is called Malchut and west, since from here begins all the possessions of Kedusha[holiness], as it is written, “The beginning of wisdom, the fear of the Lord.”

This is the meaning of the words “Silver is from the south, Hochma,” as our sages said, “He who wants to grow wise should go south,” meaning to be rewarded with a garment of Hassadim [mercies], where Hesed [singular of Hassadim] is called “love,” when he wants to give and to bestow. He wants to annul before Him, and this is called “silver,” from the word Kisufin [longing], as it is written, “My soul longed and also yearned.” “South” means right, wholeness, when he needs nothing and his only passion is to be passionate about the Creator. He has no thought of himself, and only after the stage of the right can we be rewarded with the left, called Bina.

This is the meaning of “with gold means from the north, Bina.” “Gold” means as it is written, “Gold means from the north.” Gold is regarded as Bina that returns to being Hochma. Also, it is written, “Wisdom is for the humble,” meaning that Hochma [wisdom] should be clothed in a garment of Hassadim, which is called “humbleness,” by clothing in Bina and not being seen without a garment of Hassadim.

The thing is that it is known that Hochma dresses in vessels of reception. For this reason, she needs keeping so that the vessels of reception will always work in order to bestow. Hence, since he is using vessels of reception, guarding is required. For this reason, Hassadim must be extended, as this is the light that shines in vessels of bestowal. By this, the light of Hochma that can shine in vessels with the aim to bestow can shine.

This is why they said that south is Hochma, meaning that one who wants to grow wise should go south. He who wants the wisdom to remain in him and not depart needs the south, meaning Hesed, called “yearning,” from the words “My soul longed and also yearned.” Those two, south and north, which are Hochma and Bina, illuminate in the middle line, called “east,” Tifferet, where everything is included. However, the essence of the work begins in the west, which is the quality of Malchut, called “cattle,” which is regarded as Malchut, and “west.”

Concerning Malchut, called “west,” and “cattle,” we should know that the order of the work begins with the kingdom of heaven. Before every Mitzva [commandment/good deed], a person must take upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven, called “faith,” where he believes that the Creator leads the world in a manner of good and doing good. For this reason, he blesses Him.

This is as our sages said, “One should always establish the praise of the Creator and then pray.” We should ask, What is the praise of the Creator that a person should establish? The answer is that since a person says to the Creator that he believes that He leads the world in a manner of good and doing good, this is called “the praise of the Creator.” Afterward, he should pray.

Baal HaSulam said about this that when a person asks something of his friend, the order is that 1) he knows that his friend has what he asks of him, and 2) his friend has a kind heart and likes to do favors. In that state, it is relevant to ask from his friend.

Hence, when a person asks the Creator to give him what he is asking, he should believe that the Creator can give him what he wants, and that He is good and does good. Because of it, the beginning of man’s work is to establish the praise of the Creator, meaning to believe that He is good and does good, although the body disagrees with what he says, and he sees that it is only lip service. At that time, he should say that he wants to believe above reason and he is happy that at least he knows the truth about what one must believe.

Although these words that he says are compulsory, meaning that the body will not agree to what he says, he is happy about that, too, that he can say with his mouth words of truth.

“And then pray” means that once he has established the praise of the Creator, that the Creator leads the world in a manner of good and doing good, if this were within reason, of course he would be happy. But since this is only above reason, although it is compulsory, still, sometimes he has the strength to pray to the Creator to give him the power to believe that this is really so and he will be able to say all day the praise of the Creator by the Creator only doing good to him.

In this work there are ascents and descents. A person must believe that he has a point in the heart, which is a spark that shines. But sometimes, it is only a black dot and does not shine. We must always awaken that spark because at times that spark awakens by itself and reveals a lack in a person, where he feels that he needs spirituality, that he is too materialistic and he sees no purpose that enables him to emerge from these states.

That spark gives him no rest. That is, as a corporeal spark cannot illuminate, but using the spark, a person can light up things, so that through the things that the spark touches, a great fire can ignite. Likewise, the spark within man’s heart cannot shine, but that spark can light up his actions so they will illuminate because the spark pushes him to work.

However, sometimes the spark quenches and does not shine. This can be in the middle of the work, and this is regarded as a person having a road accident. In other words, in the middle of the work, something happened to him and he descended from his state and was left unconscious. Now he does not know that there is spirituality in reality, he has forgotten everything, and he has entered the corporeal world with all of his senses.

Only after some time does he recover and sees that he is in the corporeal world and he begins to climb up once again, meaning to feel the spiritual lack. Then, once again, he receives a drive to approach the Creator.

Afterward, he descends from his degree once more, but he must believe that each time he raises his spark to Kedusha [holiness]. Although he sees that he has descended from his state and fell back to the place where he was at the beginning of his work, each time he nonetheless raises new sparks. That is, each time, he raises a new spark.

In the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” (Item 43), he says, “When man is born, he immediately has a Nefesh [soul] of Kedusha. But not an actual Nefesh, but the Achoraim [posterior] of it, its last discernment, which, during its Katnut [smallness/infancy], is called a ‘point,’ and it dresses in man’s heart.”

We should interpret that this “point,” which is still in the dark, reveals and shines each time according to one’s work on purifying his heart. At that time, the point begins to shine. This means that each time a person begins to ascend once more after the descent, he should believe that this is a new discernment from what he had during the previous ascent, for he has already elevated it to Kedusha. Thus, each time he begins a new discernment.

Since in every beginning a person must start over the acceptance of the kingdom of heaven, it is not enough that yesterday he had faith in the Creator. For this reason, every acceptance of the kingdom of heaven is considered a new discernment. That is, now he receives a part of the vacant space that was devoid of the kingdom of heaven, and admits that empty place and fills it with the kingdom of heaven. It follows that now he sorted out a new thing, which did not exist before he took that empty place and filled it with the kingdom of heaven. This is regarded as elevating a new spark into the Kedusha. Finally, from all the ascents, he always raises sparks from the vacant space into the Kedusha.

It follows that from each descent he arrives at a new beginning and raises new sparks. Hence, when a person sees that he has descents, he should be careful not to escape from the campaign, even though he sees that he is not progressing. Rather, he must try to start anew each time. That is, the fact that he begins to ascend does not mean that he returned to his previous degree. This would mean that he did nothing by his work, since he thinks that he is now ascending to his previous level. Rather, he must believe that this is a new discernment, that each time, he raises different sparks, until he raises the sparks that pertain to his essence.

According to the above, we should interpret what our sages said (Bava Metzia, Chapter 7), “Elazar said, ‘Thus, the righteous speak little and do much, and the wicked speak much and do not even do little.’”

Concerning “wicked” and “righteous” in the work, we should interpret that all those who want to observe Torah and Mitzvot for the sake of the Creator are called “righteous” in the work, meaning they want to be righteous. Conversely, those who engage in Torah and Mitzvot not for the sake of the Creator are called “wicked,” in the work, since they are in disparity of form from the Creator. Hence, they are regarded as wicked (though among the general public they, too, are considered righteous).

Among those who work in the manner of the general public, we can say, for example, when a person is forty, he knows that since the time of his Bar Mitzva [age 13], meaning since he was thirteen until he turned forty, he has acquired a possession of 27 years of Torah and Mitzvot. It follows that they say that they have a lot. This is the meaning of “speak much.” In other words, they have much Torah and Mitzvot. However, they do not work even in the least for the sake of the Creator.

But the righteous “speak little.” That is, they say that they have been engaging in Torah and Mitzvotfor 27 years but have not been rewarded with doing anything for the sake of the Creator. However, they must believe that they are doing much, meaning that from each doing that they see that they are incapable of doing it for the sake of the Creator, and it pains them, this is called “a prayer.”

In other words, they make a lot of prayers, by seeing how far they are from the Creator, from having a desire and yearning to bring contentment to the Maker. In other words, they are far because they haven’t the ability to appreciate the greatness of the King. Hence, they do not have the power to do anything for the sake of the Creator, but only for themselves. It follows that they do a lot in order for the Creator to bring them closer to Him.

It follows that one need not be impressed when he wants to work for the sake of the Creator and sees each time that he is regressing. He must believe that he is doing much in order to approach the Creator and be rewarded with the Creator giving him the desire to bestow. That is, specifically through the descents and ascents, a person can pray to Him to really bring him closer, for each time, he elevates new sparks into the structure of Kedusha until he elevates all the sparks that belong to him. Then he will be rewarded with the Creator giving him the second nature called “desire to bestow.” Then, he will be rewarded with permanent faith.

But before he is rewarded with all his works being for the sake of the Creator, there is no room for faith. This is as it is written (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Item 138), “It is a law that the creature cannot receive disclosed evil from the Creator, for it is a flaw in the glory of the Creator for the creature to perceive Him as an evildoer. Hence, when one feels bad, denial of the Creator’s guidance lies upon him and the superior Operator is concealed from him to that same extent.”

In other words, as long as a person does not have the desire to bestow, he is unfit to receive delight and pleasure. Therefore, when a person suffers, he loses the faith. But once he has been rewarded with the desire to bestow, he receives delight and pleasure from the Creator and is rewarded with permanent faith. It follows that all those ascents and descents bring him to a state where the Creator helps him achieve the desire to bestow, and then all his works are for the sake of the Creator.

However, a person must know that when he comes to a state where he does not see how he will ever be able to emerge from self-love and he wants to escape the campaign, he must know that there are two matters here, which are opposite from one another, as 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.”

Thus, on one hand, a person must work and never idle away from it. That is, it is within man’s power to attain, since he says, “nor are you free to idle away from it.” This means that one should work because he is guaranteed to get what he wants, meaning to be able to work for the sake of the Creator in order to bring contentment to his Maker.

On the other hand, he says, “It is not for you to finish the work.” This implies that it is not within man’s hands, but rather, as it is written, “The Lord will finish for me.” This means that it is not within man’s ability to obtain the desire to bestow.

However, there are two matters here: 1) A person must say, “If I am not for me, who is for me?” Hence, he should not be alarmed by the fact that he has not been rewarded with obtaining the desire to bestow, although in his opinion, he has made great efforts. Nonetheless, he should believe that the Creator waits until he reveals what he must do. 2) Afterward, the Creator will finish for him, meaning that at that time, he will receive what he wants at once, as it is written, “The salvation of the Lord is as the blink of an eye.”

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

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

What Is, “The Good Deeds of the Righteous Are the Generations,” in the Work?

Article No. 05, Tav-Shin-Nun-Aleph, 1989-91

RASHI brings the words our sages about “These are the generations [offspring] of Noah; Noah was a righteous man.” Why does it not mention the names of the sons, Shem, Ham, and Yaphet, but rather “These are the generations [offspring] of Noah; Noah was a righteous man”? It is to teach you that the offspring of the righteous are primarily good deeds.

We should understand if saying that the offspring of the righteous are good deeds, is this information for other people to know or is it something that the righteous themselves should know? It is known that in the work, we learn everything within one person. It follows that the rest of the people having to know that the offspring of the righteous are good deeds is also in the same body. That is, the righteous himself should know that his offspring should be good deeds. We should know this with relation to the righteous himself, what this information adds to him in the work.

To understand this, we first need to know what are good deeds or bad deeds in the work. Good deeds means that it is known that in observing Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds], we should discern the practice, when a person observes Torah and Mitzvot in practice, meaning that he believes in the Creator, observes His Mitzvot, and allocates times for the Torah. However, he does not pay attention to the intention, meaning for whose sake he is working, whether it is for himself, so that he will be rewarded for observing Torah and Mitzvot, which is called “self-benefit,” or is he working for the sake of the Creator, which is not in order to receive reward.

The difference between them is that when a person still works for his own benefit and is still immersed in self-reception, on this reception there were Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment. That is, concerning the purpose of creation, which is to do good to His creations, he cannot receive the delight and pleasure. It follows that the deeds where the aim is for one’s own benefit are called “bad deeds,” since these actions move him away from receiving the delight and pleasure. It follows that when a person does deeds, he should gain, but here he is losing because he is separated from the Creator.

But if a person does everything for the sake of the Creator, so the Creator will enjoy it, then he is walking on a line and a path leading to Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, which is called “equivalence of form.” When there is equivalence of form, the Tzimtzum and concealment are removed from him, and a person is rewarded with the delight and pleasure that were in the thought of creation, which is to do good to His creations. For this reason, what a person does for the sake of the Creator is called “good deeds,” since these actions lead him to be rewarded with the good.

According to the above, we should interpret that the righteous should know that the offspring of the righteous are good deeds. Offspring are called “fruits,” which are the results of the previous state. This is called “cause and consequence,” or “father and offspring.” It follows that when a person observes Torah and Mitzvot and wants to be righteous, how can he know whether or not he is righteous, as our sages said (Berachot 61), “Rabba said, ‘One should know in one’s heart whether he is righteous or wicked’”? Yet, how can one know this?

For this reason, they said, “the generations [offspring] of righteous are good deeds.” If a person sees that his engagement in Torah and Mitzvot yields for him good deeds, meaning that the Torah and Mitzvot he does causes him to do everything in order to bestow, which is for the sake of the Creator, it is a sign that he is righteous.

However, if the Torah and Mitzvot he performs do not yield for him the offspring of good deeds, but rather bad deeds, meaning that he works only for his own benefit and does not bring him the ability to do good deeds, which is for the sake of the Creator, then he does not fall into the category of “righteous,” even if he observes Torah and Mitzvot in all their details and precisions. However, this is so only in the work. For the general public, one who observes Torah and Mitzvot with all the precisions is considered righteous.

This is why concerning the verse, “Noah was a righteous man, complete in his generations,” RASHI brings the words of our sages, “Some praise him and some condemn him.” We should interpret why they praise and why they condemn, meaning which is the truth.

In the work, when relating everything to one person, the offspring, too, do not pertain to several bodies but to one body at several times. Therefore, what is the meaning of praising and condemning? It is written in the “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” (Item 140), “‘Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.’ Often, the guidance of good and evil causes us ascents and descents. You should know that for this reason, each ascent is regarded as a separate day because due to the great descent that he had, pondering the beginning, during the ascent he is as a newly born child. This is why each ascent is considered a specific day, and similarly, each descent is considered a specific night. At the end of correction they will be rewarded with repentance from love, for they will complete the correction of the vessels of reception, so they will work only in order to bestow contentment upon the Creator, and all of the great delight and pleasure of the thought of creation will appear to us. At that time, we will evidently see that all those punishments from the time of descents, these sins will be inverted into actual merits. And this is ‘Day to day pours forth speech.’”

According to the above, we should interpret “Noah was a righteous man, complete in his generations,” that there should be praise here, as well as condemnation, and both are true. In other words, if it is written, “in his generations,” in plural form, it means that the generation divided into several intervals. Hence, there are many generations. This is possible when during the work he had ups and downs; hence, they divided into several generations.

It follows that the time of descent is considered a condemnation, as he says in the Sulam [Ladder commentary on The Zohar], that sometimes we come to a state of “pondering the beginning.” There is no worse condemnation than this. It follows that condemnations pertain to the descents. Also, there are praises, meaning the time of ascents. It is praise because then he has connection with the Kedusha [holiness].

“Complete” means that all the generations have become wholeness, which is called “complete.” In other words, he has been rewarded with the end of correction, meaning that they have completed the correction of the vessels of reception to receive in order to bestow. It follows that the proliferation of generations, where there were intervals in between, meaning descents, have been corrected and he became complete in his generation. This is the meaning of condemning and praising, and both are true, and both become one matter, called “complete in his generations.”

However, for the most part, those who engage in Torah and Mitzvot in practice have no ascents or descents to the point that they can come to a state of pondering the beginning, since as long as they do not want to blemish the will to receive, the body does not object to the work so much. Hence, these people regard themselves as complete. When they look in the Torah, they see themselves as not so bad, more or less fine.

This is called “Ayin [eye/seventy] faces to the Torah,” meaning that there are two discernments to make here:

1) Narrow-eyed turns his face to the Torah. That is, he interprets the Torah in the manner of a narrow-eyed, called “narrow in Hassadim [mercies].” In other words, he does not understand how there can anything more than self-benefit. For this reason, he interprets the Torah in a manner that no harm will come to his self-benefit. This is as our sages said (Avoda Zara 19), “One learns only where one’s heart desires.” That is, if he is narrow-eyed, the Ayin faces of the Torah are in a manner that will yield self-love.

2) There is the blessed Ayin, as it is written, “The good-eyed, he will be blessed.” This means that one who has a good eye, who likes to bestow, which is the opposite of the narrow-eyed, since he wants to work in order to bestow, when he looks in the Torah, he sees that in all the places in the Torah, a person must work in order to bestow. This is regarded as learning from the place where he is. In other words, he sees that we must work only in order to bestow. It follows that the good-eyed is rewarded with the blessings called Hesed [mercy/grace], namely with Dvekut [adhesion]. By this, he is later rewarded with the delight and pleasure that were in the thought of creation.

It follows that a person must work in order to obtain the need that the Creator will help him and give him the second nature, called “desire to bestow.” However, each person wants the reward first, and to work next. That is, each one wants to first be given the desire to bestow, although he still does not understand that he needs the desire, but he heard that the reward one receives for the work is that from above he is given the desire to bestow. Hence, he wants to be given that desire, but his intention is only that he will not have to work in order to obtain it.

However, there is no light without a Kli [vessel]. That is, a person must first toil in order to have a desire and a need for it, since there is no filling without a lack. Therefore, a person must accept descents each time, since through the descents he acquires a need that the Creator will help him and give him the strength to be able to defeat the will to receive in him so he is rewarded with the desire to bestow.

Therefore, we ask the Creator to give us the desire to bestow in order to have Dvekut with the Creator, while for our part, we are unable to overcome our will to receive and subdue it so it will cancel itself and give its place so that the desire to bestow will govern the body.

The order of the prayer is as it is written, “Our Father, our King, do for Your sake if not for our sake.” This phrasing is perplexing. Normally, when we ask a person for a favor, we tell him, “Do me a favor for you, meaning for your sake. If you do not want to do me a favor because it will be to your benefit, do it only for my benefit.”

But it is certain that if he does not want to help him although it will be for his own benefit, too, and he still does not want to, then if he does not derive any benefit from this, he will not do him the favor. So what does it mean “Do for Your sake,” and if not, meaning if not for Your sake, then “Do for our sake,” meaning only for our benefit? Can this be?

We should interpret this: We say, “Our Father, our King, do for Your sake.” We ask the Creator to give us the strength so we can perform all our actions for You, meaning for the sake of the Creator. Otherwise, meaning if You do not help us, all our actions will be only for our own benefit. That is, “If not,” meaning “If You do not help us, all our actions will be only for ourselves, for our own benefit, for we are powerless to overcome our will to receive. Therefore, help us be able to work for You. Hence, You must help us.” This is called “Do for Your sake,” meaning do this, give us the power of the desire to bestow. Otherwise, we are doomed; we will remain in the will to receive for our own sake.

However, a person must know that there is no light without a Kli, no filling without a lack. For this reason, he must first feel that he lacks the desire to bestow. In other words, he does not regard wanting the desire to bestow as an accessory, that he is actually fine but he would like to be more complete. We should know that this is not regarded as a lack with respect to spirituality. In spirituality, everything must be complete, meaning a complete light, complete lack. Accessories are not regarded as complete lacks, and therefore the complete light cannot enter.

Hence, the light, regarded as the Creator giving a person the desire to bestow, is called “light of repentance,” since before a person receives the desire to bestow, he is placed under the governance of the will to receive, which is the opposite of Kedusha [holiness], called desire to bestow, as the will to receive belongs to the Klipot [shells/peels]. This is why our sages said, “The wicked in their lives are called ‘dead.’”

This is the meaning of what is written in The Study of the Ten Sefirot (Part 1, Histaklut Pnimit, Item 17), “For that reason, the Klipot are called ‘dead,’ since their oppositeness of form from the Life of Lives cuts them off from Him and they have nothing of His Abundance. Hence, the body, too, which feeds on the leavings of the Klipot, is also severed from the Life of Lives. All this is because of the will only to receive. Thus, ‘The wicked in their lives are called ‘dead.’”

Accordingly, a person cannot acquire the desire to bestow, which the Creator will bestow upon him, before he has a complete lack, meaning that he feels that he is wicked because he is under the governance of the will to receive and is separated from the Creator, and he wants to repent, to adhere once more to the Creator so as not to be separated, since separation causes death, as was said, “The wicked in their lives are called ‘dead.’”

It follows that unless a person feels himself as wicked, he does not have a complete lack for the Creator to give him the help, the power of the desire to bestow, which Baal HaSulam calls “a second nature.” Hence, in terms of the work, it is not considered that he has repented before he first feels that he is wicked.

Afterward, he asks the Creator to help him because he wants to repent. Yet, he sees that he is powerless to repent without the Creator’s help. In such a state he has a complete lack, called “a complete Kli,” and then he is fit to receive the complete help from the Creator, namely the desire to bestow.

However, our sages said, “A person does not regard himself as wicked” (Ketubot 18). The reason is that in the work, “transgressing and repeating,” our sages said “becomes to him as permitted.” Thus, a person does not view himself as wicked and can say that he has a complete Kli, that he is so truly remote from the Creator that he feels himself as dead. That is, we should interpret that “The wicked in their lives are called ‘dead’” is when a person can say that he feels that he is wicked before the Creator. That is, when he feels himself as dead—that has no vitality of Kedusha—he feels himself as wicked.

But from where does one take such a feeling? The answer is as we said in previous articles: Such awareness and feeling come from above, as it is written in The Zohar about the verse, “Or, make it known to him that he has sinned.” He asks, “Who made it known?” And he replies, “The Creator made it known to him.” It follows that the awareness and feeling that he has sinned also comes from above. In other words, both lack and filling, both light and Kli, come from above.

However, it is known that everything requires an awakening from below. The answer is that first a person must do good deeds. That is, the work begins when a person wants to do good deeds, which is considered that he wants to work for the benefit of the Creator, regarded as working for the sake of the Creator. Then, by wanting to come closer to the Creator and thinking that he needs only a little bit of wholeness, but in fact, he is fine, since it is seen above that he wants to approach the Creator, he is given each time the deficiency that is in him—that he is actually completely removed from the Creator.

It is not as he thought before, that he lacked a little bit of wholeness. Rather, he is shown from above that he is remote from the Creator to the point of oppositeness of form, to the point that the person feels that he is wicked toward the Creator and cannot do anything in order to bring contentment to his Maker.

At that time, he achieves the degree of “wicked” and sees that he has no vitality of Kedusha, and that he is truly “dead.” Then, he has a complete lack, called a “complete Kli,” and then the Creator can give him a complete light, meaning complete help, which is the desire to bestow. This is considered that he has repented.

However, we should know that in the work, we should discern that there is faith, which is above reason, called “law,” and there is the Torah, called “sentence” [verdict]. Baal HaSulam said that “Law means faith above reason, and sentence means the Torah,” where it is specifically within reason. He said that “One who does not know the commandment of the upper one, how will he serve Him?” Hence, a person must try to understand the words of Torah, called “sentence.”

By this we should interpret what is written (Genesis 4:19), “Lemech took to himself two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Tzillah.” We should understand what it teaches us in the work, how many wives he had, as well as their names. The thing is that Lemech has the letters of Melech [king], which implies that a person should make good conjunctions, meaning to be rewarded with feeling that there is a King to the world, and it is a great privilege for a person if he is rewarded with serving the King of the world.

“Wives” means assistants, as it is written, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make for him a help made against him,” so a woman means an assistant. That is, how does she help? She is called “wife” in her assistance to him, meaning she completes his work by his using her quality. This is why it is considered that she helps him achieve his completion.

We should know that the completion of the work is in two discernments: 1) Mitzva [singular of Mitzvot], 2) Torah. It is known that Mitzva is called “faith above reason,” and “reason” is considered “sun,” as it is written, “If the matter is as clear to you as day.” It follows that “above reason” is the opposite of the sun. This is called “a shadow.”

By this we should interpret that if a person wants to feel that there is a king, he must take a shadow, meaning faith above reason. This is the meaning of the words, “and the name of the other, Tzillah [Hebrew: shade].” In other words, he receives help to be rewarded with serving the King through faith. However, this is still not considered wholeness because the shade on the sun, meaning the above reason, which should be on the faith, is still not regarded as complete work.

The Torah is also required, which is called “sentence” and knowing, since what we do not understand does not fall into the category of Torah but into the category of faith. Torah, on the other hand, is called “testimony.” It is known that there is no testimony by hearing, but by seeing, since seeing is considered knowing.

This is the meaning of the words “The name of the one was Adah,” from the word Edut [testimony], where a person should receive help from the assistant, called “wife,” who helps him in a manner of Torah, which is light and not shadow. Precisely when he has Torah and Mitzva, he is considered a complete human being.

_______________

Adah = Ed [witness] of the Creator about the Creator is the Torah, called Edut.

Tzillah = Tzel [shade] of the Creator is a shadow on the Creator, meaning faith.

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

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

What Is, “The Saboteur Was in the Flood, and Was Putting to Death,” in the Work?

Article No. 04, Tav-Shin-Nun-Aleph, 1989-91

It is written in The Zohar, Noah: “There was a flood and the saboteur was sitting inside.” Baal HaSulam asked what is the difference between the saboteur putting to death or the flood putting to death. He said that the flood caused corporeal suffering, and the saboteur causes spiritual suffering. In other words, within the corporeal suffering there is a saboteur who kills a person’s spirituality, meaning that the torments of the body bring him foreign thoughts until these thoughts sabotage and kill the spirituality.

We should interpret his words. The flood and the rain are called “revealed,” meaning that which is visible to our eyes, that the saboteur was killing the people. That is, what a person thinks, that if the will to receive had what it demands, meaning knowledge and not faith, if it could understand everything about His guidance, as the will to receive requires, he would serve the Creator properly. However, this is not so, and as a result, because it is difficult for a person to suffer, he moves away from the Life of Lives and wants the Creator to impart upon him only pleasures. This is why he moves away.

However, within the corporeal suffering, meaning a person’s inability to understand His guidance, why the Creator does not give him what the will to receive understands that He should give, and he suffers, from this extends death in spirituality, meaning spiritual suffering that causes death in spirituality. In other words, he falls into heresy.

That is, the fact that he suffered the corporeal suffering because the Creator did not give him what he thought, and it pained him, these sufferings cause death in corporeality, as it is written, “The dead is as important as the dead, and one who has no sons is as important as the dead.” However, afterward, he comes to spiritual suffering, meaning that he cannot overcome the faith and believe in the Creator, that He leads the world with a guidance of good and doing good. At that time, he comes to heresy.

This is called “spiritual death,” when a person falls into the vacant space of the Sitra Achra [other side]. Later, when a person reenters the work, it is considered “the revival of the dead.” At that time a person must believe that the fact that now he has begun the work once more is not by his own strength, but he rather received from above the “dew of resurrection.” This is considered “the revival of the dead,” with which he has been rewarded because he received an awakening from above. For this reason, a person must say each day, “Blessed are You, Lord, who returns souls to dead corpses.” Also, one should say (in the Eighteen Prayer), “You are certain to revive the dead.”

Thus, there are two things here concerning suffering: 1) Corporeal suffering, when a person suffers in corporeal matters because of what he needs, and he suffers death because of it, as in “The dead is as important as the dead, and one who has no sons is as important as the dead,” etc. It follows that this death is not related to spirituality. However, afterward, it causes him spiritual death because he cannot believe that the Creator leads the world in a manner of good and doing good.

It follows that this is spiritual death and not corporeal death. This is the meaning of saying that within the flood of rain, which is corporal suffering, he later comes to spiritual suffering, when he cannot justify Providence, and therefore falls into spiritual death.

This is as it is written in the “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” (Item 138), “Prior to the end of correction, Malchut is called ‘the tree of knowledge of good and evil,’ since Malchut is the guidance of the Creator in this world. As long as the receivers have not been completed so they can receive His whole benevolence, the guidance must be in the form of good and bad, reward and punishment. It is so because our vessels of reception are still tainted with self-reception. Thus, we necessarily sense evil in the operations of Providence in relation to us. It is a law that the creature cannot receive disclosed evil from the Creator, for it is a flaw in the glory of the Creator for the creature to perceive Him as an evildoer, for this is unbecoming of the complete Operator. Hence, when one feels bad, denial of the Creator’s guidance lies upon him and the superior Operator is concealed from him to that same extent. This is the worst punishment in the world.”

It therefore follows that when a person receives bad from Him, it makes the operator become concealed from Him. This is called “death” in spirituality. And who caused him to receive bad from Him? Why did he receive bad? It is because those Kelim [vessels] were still dirty with self-reception. Hence, there must be guidance in a manner of concealment and hiding. For this reason, suffering causes death in spirituality.

Because of this, a person must go above reason and not be impressed by the reason he sees and on which he builds his work in holiness, so he may be rewarded with entering the Kedusha [holiness], since this reason came because he received ills, and according to reason, if the Creator is good and does good, why does He not give a person what the person thinks he needs, and instead, the Creator does what He wants? It follows that reason is built on the basis of a guidance of good and evil. Hence, a person’s only choice is to say that what reason tells him is incorrect, as was said about this, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways.” Instead, he should not be alarmed by the reason and say that he is going above reason.

However, concerning the feeling of nearing the Creator, there are two manners to discern: 1) Sometimes he is worried that he should obtain something he needs. Normally, when a person needs something, he prays to the Creator to satisfy his need. If he needs this thing and does not see a natural way to obtain it, and a miracle happens and he receives what he asked for, the person fills with love of the Creator for helping him obtain the matter, and he attributes obtaining the matter to the Creator. It follows that nearing the Creator came to him by reception of delight and pleasure; this was the cause for nearing the Creator.

The same applies for a sick person who has been healed. He was already despaired, and suddenly a change for the better occurred and he was cured. He, too, sometimes draws near to the Creator, for the reason that receiving the good from the Creator brought him closer to the Creator.

At times it is to the contrary. A person suffers torments, and the torments push him to draw near the Creator. That is, it occurs to him that if he takes upon himself the burden of Torah and Mitzvot[commandments/good deeds], the Creator will save him from his troubles. It follows that the suffering caused the nearing to the Creator. It should be said about this that since at a time of trouble, a person is in a state of lowliness, since it is written, “The Lord is high and the low will see,” it follows that the fact that he is in lowliness because of the troubles and torments that have afflicted him, he is ready to receive help from above, as it is written, “The Lord is high and the low will see.” However, usually, we see that suffering pushes a person away from the Creator since he cannot attribute the suffering to the one who is good and does good. Hence, this causes him death in spirituality.

However, concerning lowliness, there are many interpretations. In other words, when a person lowers himself, the question is, What is lowliness? How is it expressed that a person is in lowliness? The literal meaning is that lowliness is when one subdues oneself and works above reason. This is called “lowliness,” when he lowers his reason and says that his reason is worthless.

In other words, man’s reason dictates that if the Creator gives him all his needs, which the will to receive understands that it deserves, then he can love the Creator. That is, he loves Him because he satisfies all his needs. If He did not, he would not be able to lower himself and say that his reason is worthless. Rather, at that time he would depart from the Creator and say that it is not worthwhile to serve the Creator if He does not grant him his wishes. It follows that this is called “proud,” since he wants to understand the ways of the Creator, in what is He regarded as good and doing good, if the body does not get what it demands. About such a proud person the Creator says, “He and I cannot dwell in the same abode.”

But if he lowers himself and says, “I cannot understand the ways of the Creator,” and he says that what his reason dictates is worthless, but he is going above reason, this is called “lowliness,” and it was about him that the verse, “The Lord is high and the low will see” was said. He is rewarded with the Creator bringing him near Him.

Accordingly, we can interpret what our sages said, “Anyone who chases greatness, greatness runs from him” (Iruvin 13). That is, a person says, “I can serve the Creator on condition that He sends me greatness. That is, if I feel His greatness, I will be able to work for the sake of the Creator. Otherwise, I cannot work for the sake of the Creator.” He is told, “greatness runs from him.”

But when a person says, “Now I want to be a servant of the Creator unconditionally, and I do not need greatness,” but he rather wants to serve the Creator in utter lowliness, meaning although he has no feeling of the greatness of the Creator, but above reason, which is called “lowliness,” then he is rewarded with greatness because he lowers himself since he wants to work only for the sake of the Creator and not for his own sake.

Hence, when he says that he cannot work unless he feels the greatness of the Creator, it follows that the will to receive says that if he does not understand the greatness of the Creator within reason, he will not be able to work for the sake of the Creator. It follows that only the will to receive is the operator, but on the will to receive there were Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment. Hence, it is utterly impossible to be rewarded with greatness. Instead, a person must always run from greatness. At that time, it can be said as it is said, “He who runs from honor, honor chases him.”

It therefore follows that there are several stages here in the order of the work: 1) A person must first chase greatness and honor, since otherwise, he has no Kelim [vessels] at all for honor and greatness, since the thought acts on what a person demands. If he has no Kelim for reason, how can he go above reason? For this reason, when a person begins the work, he must think how to receive greatness of the Creator, so that when he has a feeling of the greatness of the Creator, the body will not resist because it is natural for the small to annul before the great. There is no work on this, since there is a rule that the body does not resist anything that comes by nature.

But if he has no yearning for reason, meaning to want to serve a great King, then his work is only in the action, and he has no need for the Creator to help him, since then he works only to receive reward. To the extent that he believes in reward and punishment, to that extent he can work and he has no need for the greatness of the Creator. In other words, even though the King is not so great, he does not mind since he looks at the reward, and not at the giver of the reward.

But if he begins to work for the sake of the Creator then he needs the greatness of the King. It follows that if he does not yearn for the greatness of the King, it is a sign that he is not working for the sake of the Creator. Thus, specifically when he chases greatness, it is a sign that he wants to achieve a state where he can say that all his actions are for the sake of the Creator. Afterward, when he feels that he must know that he has a great and important King, and he sees that this is to him the main disruptor, what he needs in order to be able to overcome the will to receive, he comes to the second stage, when he has to run away from greatness and wants to work for the sake of the Creator unconditionally, which is called above reason.

In other words, although his reason tells him, “You see that you believe in only a small king,” a person should still say, “To me you are a great King, as though I felt it. I believe above reason that You are a great King as though I felt it.” Hence, at that stage, he runs from greatness and from honor and then the greatness and the honor chase him and catch up with him although he does not want to receive the greatness because only then is there equivalence with the Creator.

This is the same as we learn about Zivug de Hakaa [coupling by striking]: To the extent that the Masach [screen] rejects the light, although it has Aviut [thickness], meaning a desire and yearning for the light, it still does not receive it because it wants to be a giver and not a receiver. Hence, by the rejection in the Masach, the Ohr Hozer [Reflected Light] is born in him, and in this Ohr Hozer he receives a new Kli [vessel] for reception of the light.

It is likewise here. First, a person needs to acquire a desire and yearning to obtain the greatness of the Creator, and then a person must acquire strength to reject the greatness and not want to receive it because he wants equivalence of form. At that time he obtains the Ohr Hozer, and in this Ohr Hozerhe receives the greatness and the might.

It follows that there are three stages here:

1) To want specifically the greatness of the Creator.

2) To reject the idea of yearning, meaning that although he understands that if he has a true feeling of the greatness of the Creator, the body will surrender to do the holy work. Still, he runs from the honor and the greatness and says that he wants to work for the sake of the Creator. Although he has no feeling, he asks the Creator to give him the strength to be able to defeat the will to receive, even though it disagrees with it.

3) When he does not need the feeling of the greatness of the Creator and works for the sake of the Creator unconditionally. At that time, he is rewarded with the greatness of the Creator and the glory of the Creator. Then, the words, “He who runs from honor and from greatness, honor chases him and wants to cling to him,” come true because he already has equivalence of form, meaning that he wants to work in order to bestow.

Accordingly, once a person understands that it is worthwhile to receive the feeling of the greatness of the Creator because then the body will agree to serve the King, and once he has a demand for this, since he wants to work for the sake of the Creator but the body resists it because as long as long he does not feel the greatness of the Creator, he does not want to believe above reason, then comes a state where a person must run away from this because this is only an argument of the will to receive.

But when he does not feel the greatness of the Creator, the body does not agree to this work, and then a person must say, “But our sages said, ‘Anyone who chases greatness, greatness runs from him,’” since a person must work for the sake of the Creator even when the body does not enjoy the work, since for the sake of the Creator means not considering one’s own benefit whatsoever.

This is as it is written in the “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” (Item 199), “Whole love is whole on both sides, whether in judgment or in mercy. And even if He takes your soul, your love in the Creator is in complete wholeness, as when He gives you abundance. There is one who loves Him so as to have wealth, long life, sons around him, rule over his enemies, and success on his way. Thus, he loves Him. If it were to the contrary, and the Creator would reverse the fortune upon him with harsh judgment, he would hate Him and not love Him whatsoever. For this reason, this love is not love that has a foundation. Complete love is love on both sides, in judgment or in mercy and successful ways. He will love the Creator as we learned, even if He takes His soul away from Him. This love is complete.”

We should interpret that a person having to love the Creator in ascent—when he feels that the Creator leads the world as The Good Who Does Good, since during the ascent, a person wants to annul before Him unconditionally—but this is like a candle before a torch, where he annuls without any mind or reason. This is regarded as a person serving the Creator when he has a soul.

An ascent means that the person is alive and has the breath of life. At that time a person has love for the Creator, and this is called “the side of goodness” in the work.

But a person must also love the Creator when He takes his soul away, meaning when the Creator takes from him the breath of life. This is called “the time of descent,” when he has no feeling of vitality, when his soul is taken from him and he has no vitality. If he has love for the Creator in such a state, as well, this is called “complete love.”

Such a thing can be only above reason, since within reason he has no vitality so as to have the strength to overcome. Hence, a person must work during the preparation on escaping from the greatness and honor before he obtains any nearness on the part of the Creator. That is, he should not say that only if the Creator gives him the breath of life he will be able to work in order to bestow, but without vitality, meaning without the spirit of life, he cannot work for the sake of the Creator. This is not the view of Torah.

Rather, a person must ask the Creator to give him the strength to love the Creator even when He takes his soul away, and he is left lifeless, to be able to overcome and love the Creator under any circumstances.

According to the above, we should interpret the meaning of “He made darkness His hiding place.” It means that when the Creator wants to hide Himself from a person, which is certainly for man’s best because he is still not ready for revelation, He gives a person darkness. That is, He takes from him the breath of life, and then he falls into a place of darkness, where the light of Kedusha does not shine.

A person should believe that this is concealment. Concealment means that he believes that there is a great Creator who leads the world in a manner of good and doing good, but this is concealed from him. He should believe that this is only a concealment, and if he succeeds in believing that this is only a concealment but it is not really as he sees it, then he is rewarded with the light shining on this Kisse [cover], meaning that light will shine within this darkness.

Accordingly, a person should learn from the state of descent and from the state of ascent. That is, the state of descent comes to a person when he wants to make great efforts to achieve Dvekut[adhesion] with the Creator. Yet, he sees otherwise, as though he did nothing, but he is in the same state as before he began the work on the aim to bestow. At that time, a person should have faith in the sages and what they say, and not in what a person thinks and says, since these descents give him room to ascend and draw near to the Creator.

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

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

What Is, “The Wicked Will Prepare and the Righteous Will Wear,” in the Work?

Article No. 03, Tav-Shin-Nun-Aleph, 1989-91

The Zohar says (Emor, Item 232), “From good deeds that a person does in this world, a high, stately garment is made for him in that world, to clothe in. When a person has established good deeds but bad deeds overcame him, then he is wicked, since the faults are greater than the merits, and he ponders and regrets the good deeds he did before. At that time, he is completely doomed. He asks, ‘What does the Creator do with those good deeds that that sinner did before?’ And he replies, ‘Even though that wicked one, that sinner, was lost, those good deeds and the merits he had done are not lost, since there is a righteous who walks in the ways of the upper King and fashions garments from his good deeds, but before he completes his garments, he departs from the world. The Creator completes his garments for him out of those good deeds that that wicked sinner did. This is the meaning of the words, ‘The wicked will prepare and the righteous will wear.’ That sinner corrected and the righteous is covered with what he had corrected.’”

We should understand what it means when it says that we are speaking of a person who did good deeds, and why the bad deeds overcome him. After all, there is a rule, “A Mitzva[commandment/good deed] induces a Mitzva,” so why did the bad deeds overcome him to such an extent that he came to a state where he pondered the beginning, at which time he is completely lost, since he doubts the beginning? We should also understand why if the a righteous is deficient of garments made of good deeds, he should receive the deeds of a wicked. He says that this is the meaning of “The wicked will prepare and the righteous will wear.” From the literal meaning of “the wicked will prepare,” it seems as though the wicked can only do bad deeds, but here he says that the righteous will wear the good deeds of the wicked. This means that the righteous takes good deeds and not bad ones.

It is known that the order of the work divides into two kinds:

1) Actions: That is, one who engages in Torah and Mitzvot [plural of Mitzva] and observes the commandments of the King, will be rewarded in return both in this world and in the next world. These people are usually fine in terms of their qualities, as much as possible. Each of them tries to observe Torah and Mitzvot and each works according to the measure of faith that he has. This is called “partial faith,” as explained in the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot” (Item 14), “And each one feels that he is called ‘a servant of the Creator.’” Normally, each one always sees that the other one is wrong, where concerning himself, he always has excuses why he is fine. He feels that he has many merits, so naturally, that person can never come to such bad thoughts that he will doubt the beginning.

2) These are people who want to achieve Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, namely equivalence of form. They want to work only because of the greatness of the King, where to the extent that they believe in the greatness of the King, to that extent they have the strength to work for the sake of the King. And if they cannot depict to themselves the greatness and importance of the King, then they have no fuel to be able to work for the sake of the Creator.

At that time he sees that he is called “a sinner,” meaning that to the extent that he does good deeds, to the extent that he does things in order for it to cause him an “awakening from below,” although the body does not agree to work in order to bestow and resists with all its might, he hopes that through coercion, when he forces this work of bestowal on himself, he will be able to do everything for the sake of the Creator.

But in the meantime, he sees that according to the good deeds that he has done, he should have been adhered to the Creator, but in fact, he sees that the bad deeds have increased, meaning that he regressed and has come to a state of despair and he doubts the beginning. The Zohar says about this that he loses everything, and this is why he now feels that he is wicked. Thus, the question is, What good deeds does he have if he doubts the beginning, since he loses everything?! According to this, it is perplexing when he says, “There is a righteous who walks in the ways of the upper King and fashions garments from his good deeds, but before he completes his garments, he departs from the world. The Creator completes his garments for him from those good deeds that that wicked sinner had done.”

In the work, we should interpret this in one person, meaning when he begins to walk on the path toward achieving Dvekut, which is equivalence of form, meaning to bestow, and he did good deeds in the manner of 613 Eitin [Aramaic: counsels], by which to be rewarded with the desire to bestow. However, it is known that to the extent of one’s work, so it is revealed to him from above how he is immersed in self-love. At that time, he sees the truth—there is no way that he can emerge from the governance of the will to receive and that all his concerns will be only about bringing contentment to his Maker, and that in all that he does, he will want that through his actions, he will cause His great name to grow and be sanctified.

He sees that all this is far from him. Finally, he decides that there is no way that he will achieve this level. As a result, he says, “I worked in vain,” and he doubts the beginning. At that time, he is called “a sinner,” “wicked.”

At that time begins a procession of ascents, since each time, he is given an awakening from above and he begins to do good deeds once more. And then, once more, a descent. Such is the order until all the bad within the person surfaces. At that time, he prays to the Creator to help him because then, too, he must believe above reason that in the end, he will receive help from above, meaning the Creator will give him the desire to bestow, which is called “a second nature,” meaning he will emerge from the governance of the will to receive for himself and will want only to bestow contentment upon his Maker.

It follows that there are three stages here:

1) In the beginning of the work, when he begins to do good deeds, the bad deeds overcome him and then he is a “wicked.”

2) When he is rewarded with help from above, meaning the desire to bestow, and begins to do good deeds in order to bestow. At that time, he is called “righteous, who walks in the ways of the upper King.” But before he completes his garments, he departs from the world. He completes his garments for him out of the good deeds that that wicked sinner did. We should interpret that “Before he completes his garments, he departs from the world” means before he fashioned the garments from the time when he was wicked. “Departs from the world” means that he has departed from the world called “will to receive,” and ascended to the level of the “desire to bestow.”

It follows that although now when he does good deeds in order to bestow, those deeds are fine, he lacks the completion in order to correct the Kelim [vessels] that were in the form of “pondering the beginning.” He calls them “good deeds” because only those deeds that he did caused to make all the efforts so the Creator would bring him closer, meaning give him the desire to bestow.

It follows that the deeds on which there was the state of “pondering the beginning” were now corrected in that through them, the desire to bestow has now been revealed. This is why now the deeds—when he said he doubted the beginning—are now good deeds, since now their benefit is apparent, namely that they caused him to make efforts to ask the Creator to bring him closer; otherwise, he sees that he is lost. Through them, he ascended to Kedusha [holiness].

This is as it is written in the “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” (Item 140), “Yet, sometimes the thoughts prevail over a person until he wonders about all the good deeds he has done and says, ‘What profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the Lord of hosts?’ At that time, he becomes a complete wicked and loses all the good deeds he had done by this bad thought, for they will complete the correction of all the vessels of reception, so they will be only in order to bestow contentment upon the Creator. At that time, we will evidently see that all those punishments from the time of descents, which brought us into pondering the beginning, were purifying us since now they have been turned into merits. This is why those who speak those words are regarded as ‘Those who fear the Lord and esteem His name.’”

According to the above, we can see how the deeds when they were in a state where the bad deeds overcame them, when they said, “We served the Lord in vain,” and “we have walked in mourning before the Lord of hosts,” meaning in low spirit because of the Creator, and all those things that they experienced during the descent, all join the good deeds and become garments for the righteous who walks in the ways of the upper King. Once he has departed from this world, meaning from a state of reception, into the next world, called Bina, which is bestowal, now he has good deeds only from vessels of bestowal. Yet, he lacks the wholeness, meaning the deeds he did before he was rewarded with the next world. Those deeds should also come into Kedusha and should not remain without correction. This is the meaning of the deeds becoming garments.

3) It follows that the third state is when the good deeds that he regretted have already joined. That is, he came to a state of pondering the beginning. After he has departed from this world, meaning from the will to receive, and has received the next world, meaning Bina, which is the desire to bestow, and once he has the desire to bestow comes the third state, namely that the deeds that were lost for him because he doubted the beginning now join as good deeds.

According to the above, we can understand what is written, “The wicked will prepare and the righteous will wear.” This refers to the good deeds that the person did, and for which he was rewarded with a revelation from above that showed him the bad in him, but which was concealed because “He who is greater than his friend, his desire is greater than him.” In other words, a person is not shown more evil than he is able to correct. This means that the good and the bad should be balanced. Otherwise, if a person sees all the bad in him before he has good, that person will escape the campaign and will say that this work is not for him.

It follows that only according to his work and labor in doing good deeds, which he wants to do, called “all his works will be for the sake of the Creator,” this is called “good deeds.” But if a person works for his own benefit, this is called “bad deeds,” since self-benefit is called “receiving for oneself,” and is in disparity of form from the Creator.

It turns out that these deeds remove him from the Creator. The good deeds that a person does, wanting to achieve Dvekut with the Creator, cause him to see the truth each time, that in truth, he is far from the Creator in terms of disparity of form, to the point that sometimes he comes to a state where he says that it is impossible that he will have the strength to defeat the distance, that he is so far from the Creator, to the point that he doubts the beginning.

Our sages said about this in The Zohar, “When a person has established good deeds but bad deeds overcame him, then he is wicked.” This means that by doing good deeds, he was shown from above that there is evil in him and he is wicked. This is the meaning of the words “but bad deeds overcame him,” meaning that from above he was given additional bad deeds.

This is the meaning of the words, “The wicked will prepare and the righteous will wear.” In other words, the fact that the bad deeds grew, for which he is called “wicked,” this was a preparation so that he would know that no one can help him but the Creator Himself. It follows that those bad deeds became garments that the righteous wears once he has become righteous, meaning after he has corrected his deeds, meaning after he has been rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator. At that time, the causes, meaning those revelations of evil that he had, for which he is called “wicked,” now receive correction, too.

There are two things to discern here:

1) The good deeds that a person does, meaning the exertion to reach a state where all his works are for the sake of the Creator.

2) The bad deeds. He saw that because he did good deeds before, he was later notified from above that there are bad deeds within him, meaning that within him there is not a spark of desire to do everything for the sake of the Creator and not for his own sake. This is regarded as “the good deeds that he did caused him bad deeds,” as was said, “When a person has established good deeds but bad deeds overcame him.” And since he has come to a state where the bad deeds caused him to come to a state of pondering the beginning, now both have become bad deeds, since he lost all the deeds and they were included in the bad deeds. Now that he has been rewarded with entering the Kedusha, meaning with the desire to bestow, they were all corrected and everything was made into garments of Kedusha.

This is the meaning of what he says, “The wicked will prepare.” That is, the state where everything becomes bad by coming to a state of pondering the beginning, but without the previous states, he would not be able to come into Kedusha. It follows that “The wicked will prepare,” meaning without the preparation of the two above-mentioned discernments, where everything became bad, which is called “wicked,” from this “the righteous will wear” is made.

By this we will understand what is written (in the concluding prayer), “And You desire the repentance of the wicked, and You have no wish for their death. ‘I do not want the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn back from his way and live.’” This means that when a person does good deeds, meaning wants to achieve Dvekut with the Creator, he is shown from above the evil within him, and he reaches the degree of wicked. At that time, a person wants to escape the campaign and says that this work is not for him, since he sees the truth each time, that by nature, the will to receive cannot agree that the person will cast it out and take instead the desire to bestow.

And who revealed to him this state, that he is wicked? It was the Creator who revealed it to him. The question is, Why did the Creator reveal it to him? Is it in order for him to die wicked? But the Creator does not want the death of the wicked. Thus, why did He reveal to him that he is wicked? It is only in order for him to repent, as it is written, “that the wicked turn back from his way and live.”

For this reason, a person should not be alarmed when foreign thoughts come to him, which are not in the spirit of Kedusha. A person should believe that the Creator has sent him the awareness that he is wicked so that he may repent, meaning return to the will of the Creator, called “desire to bestow.” In other words, the person, too, will ask the Creator to give him the desire to bestow, as we explained, “Annul your will before His will,” meaning that the person will annul his will to receive before the will of the Creator, which is the desire to bestow. In other words, a person should throw and revoke the will to receive before the will to bestow, meaning take the desire to bestow in its stead.

It therefore follows that during the descents, when a person often comes to a state of despair where he doubts the beginning, he should take upon himself faith and believe in the Creator, that the Creator sends him these thoughts so that through them he will repent. In other words, a person should try to take upon himself the kingdom of heaven whether at a time of ascent or at a time of descent.

This is as it is written in “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” (Item 202), “Rabbi Elazar replied, ‘Certainly, this fear must not be forgotten in all the Mitzvot, much less in the Mitzva of love—fear should be attached to it, since love is good on one side, when He gives him wealth and bounty, long life, sons, and nourishments.’ At that time, fear should be awakened, to fear lest he will cause the sin. It is written about this, ‘Happy is he who is always fearful.’Thus one should evoke the fear on the other side, of harsh judgment. It follows that fear clings to both sides, the side of good and love, and the side of harshjudgment.”

Here, too, we should interpret similarly, meaning that one should assume the kingdom of heaven whether he feels good about engaging in Torah and Mitzvot, meaning whether he is in a state of ascent, at which time it is called “The side of the good” (meaning a state where he is happy), or from the side of harsh judgment (meaning when he feels bad). A person should believe in the Creator, that He watches in a manner of good and doing good. That is, the state in which a person feels bad is also for his best. Hence, during the descents he should still take upon himself the matter of fear.

For this reason, a person should be careful during the descent, and think about who is giving him the descents. If he believes that the Creator has given him the descent, then he is already close to the Creator, according to the famous rule, “In the place where a person thinks, there he is.” Hence, when he thinks that the Creator has given him the descent, he already has contact with the Creator.

If he believes in this, this faith, when he thinks about the Creator, that connection can lift him from the state of descent. But if a person thinks about himself, that he is in a descent, then he is in a descent together with his body, since he is attached to the descending person and does not think of the Creator, and no longer has any connection with the Creator.

However, we must understand why the Creator gave him the descents. We can understand this through an allegory. Two students came to learn a trade from a craftsman. To one student, the teacher did not pay attention whether he was working well. To the other one, he kept commenting on his mistakes all day. That student went and said to his father, “Why does the teacher yell at me all day that I do not know how to work, and to the other one, who works worse than me, he says nothing? It must be that his father pays him more, and this is why he never criticizes him. Therefore, I am asking my father to also pay him more than other students pay, and then the teacher will not tell me my faults, just as he does not criticize other students.”

His father went to the teacher and said, “Why have you no mercy on my son? Is it because I am not paying as much as other people, so you are taking revenge on my son?” So the teacher said to him, “Know that of all the students, I enjoy only your son, since I see that he is gifted and can be a star in the world. This is why I make such efforts with him, since it is worth my while, since my work will not go to waste. As for other students, I teach them more generally, since they are not as gifted as your son. This is why I criticize him on every detail.

“Therefore, you are wrong when you think that I want to fail your son because I am angry with you because you pay me little money. Know that if I did not want to embarrass you by teaching your son for free, believe me, I would teach him for nothing, since I enjoy him and it is worth my while to make all the effort that I exert in him.”

The lesson is that all the descents that the Creator gives to those who want to walk on the path of bestowal for the sake of the Creator, specifically with them the Creator pays attention to how they work. Each time a person tries to do good deeds, the Creator shows him the faults—how immersed he is in self-love and cannot work for the sake of the Creator. It follows that the criticism that the Creator is showing him, that his actions are improper, is because the Creator sees that he is trying to work for the sake of the Creator, called “good deeds,” so the Creator shows him that they are not all right, as in the allegory.

Conversely, those who work in the manner of the general public, the Creator does not show them criticism, that their deeds are not in order, since they are still unfit for individual work. It follows that when the general public work and their faults are not revealed, it is because it is pointless.

Hence, a person should not complain when the Creator always gives him descents, which show him that he is wicked. It is not because he is worse than other people. On the contrary, he is given a personal treatment, called “special treatment,” since only he is fit to come into the holy work. Therefore, a person should not say that now he sees that he is not being looked after although he prays to the Creator to help him. On the contrary, he must believe that he is given a special treatment since he is worthy of this work of bestowal.

It therefore follows that he cannot receive the good from the Creator, called “desire to bestow,” before he has a real need for it. That is, when he sees that he is wicked, he cries out to the Creator, “Save my soul from the netherworld, for I see that I am totally and utterly lost.”

By this we can interpret what is written, “There is not a righteous man on earth who will do good and will not sin.” We should explain that “There is not a righteous man on earth” means that it is impossible to be righteous, and for the Creator to help him, unless he sins first. In other words, first he must come to a state of sin, meaning see, as it is written in The Zohar, that once he has done good deeds, the bad deeds overcome him. Then he cries out to the Creator to help him, he receives the help of the Creator, and the Creator delivers him from the hand of the wicked, and he becomes righteous. In other words, the Creator gives him the second nature, called “desire to bestow.”

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

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

What Is, “Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,” in the Work?

Article No. 02, Tav-Shin-Nun-Aleph, 1989-91

The writing says, “Return, O Israel, unto the Lord your God, for you have failed in your iniquity. Take with you words and return to the Lord. Say unto Him: ‘Remove all iniquity and take good, and we will pay with the fruit of our lips.’” We should understand the connection, for it is implied that since “you have failed in your iniquity,” therefore, “return to the Lord your God.” Also, what is, “Say unto Him: ‘Remove all iniquity’”? And we should also understand what our sages said, “Great is repentance, for it reaches unto the throne, as it was said, ‘unto the Lord your God’” (Yoma 86).

It is known that in the work, we should make two discernments: 1) that which pertains to the general public. Their work is in practice and they do not work on the intention, meaning to aim that it will be in order to bestow. For this reason, in terms of practice, everyone thinks that they are fine. Each one believes that it is impossible to be a perfect human being, so in general, he thinks that he is complete, and when he looks at his friends he sees their faults, that they are not all right.

He, on the other hand, is fine. Although he is lacking something, he excuses himself with the verse, “There is not a righteous man on earth who will do good and will not sin.” Therefore, he has faults, as well, and he is careful with the quality of lowliness, as our sages said, “Be very, very humble.” Although he sees that he is higher than the rest of the people, he has faith in the sages and believes above reason that he, too, is probably lowly, meaning that he is worse than the rest of the people. However, to him, this is faith above reason.

It follows that when those who belong to the general public engage in Torah, they cannot feel that they have iniquities or that they are worse than other people. Rather, in general, they are happy with their work. Therefore, come month of Elul [last month in Hebrew calendar] and the Ten Penitentiary Days, which is the time to make repentance, they have a lot of work to find iniquities within them on which they must repent.

Otherwise, they might be judged in the courthouse of above and could be punished for their actions. They understand that it is possible that the reward that they think they deserve might not happen, meaning that they will be rewarded less. But punishments? This is out of the question, since they know about themselves that they have much Torah and many Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds].

Conversely, those who work in the individual manner, who want to be rewarded with Dvekut[adhesion] with the Creator, and who understand that the Torah and Mitzvot they are observing are merely in the form of 613 counsels by which to adhere to the Creator, meaning so they will have only one concern—how to bring contentment to the Maker and to have no concern for themselves.

The body certainly resists this and presents just arguments why what it says is correct. It begins to present him with evidence from the whole world that no one is walking on such a path of annulling the will to receive for oneself and working only for the sake of the Creator. That person wants to overcome the iniquities that the will to receive brings him thoughts that contradict faith, which is Pharaoh’s argument, who said, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?”

It follows that the person failed in the iniquity of heresy. The more a person strengthens, the more it comes and prevails over the person. That is, as much as one wants to believe that the Creator watches over the world in a manner of good and doing good, the body shows him the opposite. Naturally, he is always failing and sees that this is endless and he is in ascents and descents, and he does not know what to do against it.

The writing says about this, “Return, O Israel, unto the Lord your God.” And why must it be “unto the Lord your God”? It is because “You have failed in your iniquity.” That is, since you have failed in your iniquity, meaning the iniquity of faith, and now you feel that you are the lowliest person in the world, since the thoughts and desires that you have are the lowest in the world, and you feel that you are utterly removed from spirituality.

In other words, the secular do not say that they are far from spirituality because they do not even believe that there is spirituality in the world. The same goes for the religious, who believe in Torah and Mitzvot—they do not feel that they are removed, since each one feels that he is more or less fine. And if they see some faults in themselves, they are certain to have an excuse for it. And especially, a person sees that the whole world leads a tranquil life, while he is in a state where he is full of failures and iniquities, and he sees no way out of that state.

Therefore, he has no other counsel besides “Return, O Israel.” A person must return to the Creator and not retreat from Him until he is rewarded with the Creator being “your God.” That is, until he is rewarded with complete faith. Otherwise, he will remain in the failures. For this reason, a person must try to do all that he can until there is mercy on him from above and he is given the power called “desire to bestow.”

According to the above, we can understand what is written, “Take with you words.” That is, these words that the body speaks to you and claims that it is not worthwhile to work for the sake of the Creator, take these words when you return to the Creator. Say to Him: “Remove all iniquity,” since these words that the body tells us, we cannot overcome. Take these words when you return to the Creator. It says “all” because only You are all mighty; You can give us a second nature, called “desire to bestow.” You will remove the iniquity, meaning that You can accept our iniquity and correct it, for only You are the carrier of our iniquity, while we are completely powerless.

However, we believe that all those words that the body speaks to us, You gave it these words, and You must have sent them to us, and it is certainly for our best. Therefore, “Say unto Him: ‘Remove all iniquity and take good.’” That is, take this good that You sent us. In other words, those words that the body argued against the Creator, You must give another nature, called “desire to bestow,” for otherwise we are lost, since we are full of failures.

This is the meaning of the words, “And we will pay with the fruit of our lips.” We want that where we are, instead of our lips, where lips is considered the end of the matter, meaning outside of Kedusha[holiness], therefore since we are outside of Kedusha because of our desires, we ask You to “pay with the fruit of our lips.” That is, where we are in the lips, at the end, we want to be whole with fruits, where “fruits” means fertilization and multiplication with good deeds.

According to the above, we can understand what our sages said, “Great is repentance, for it reaches unto the throne.” That is, those people who belong to the general public do not feel that they have failures in the iniquity, called “the first iniquity,” since they feel that they have faith and they are fine. Although they have only partial faith, as is explained (“Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 14), they do not feel it. For this reason, they think that they are complete.

Conversely, those who belong to the individuals, who want there to be only one authority, the singular authority, who want to annul their self-authority called “will to receive,” and to have only the authority of the Creator revealed in the world, they feel how the body objects to this. They want to repent, to return to the Creator, and this repentance reaches unto the throne.

However, we should understand the meaning of the throne in the work. It is known that Malchut is called “the throne,” as it is written in the “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” (Item 31), “There are two discernments in the throne: 1) Covering the King, as it is written, ‘He made darkness His hiding place,’ for which it is called Kisse, from the word Kissui [covering/hiding]. 2) She reveals the glory of Malchut in the worlds, as it is written, ‘And on the Kisse [throne] was a figure with the appearance of a man.’”

The thing is that we must believe that the Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment that took place are a correction for the creatures. In other words, specifically by the concealment and covering that were made, the creatures will achieve their completion. We must believe above reason that the guidance by which the Creator leads the world is one of good and doing good. The reason we do not see that the guidance of good and doing good is concealed from us, we must believe that in truth, the guidance truly is of good and doing good, but there is a cover on this, which covers it.

Although the body objects to this, and to believing above reason, for it claims, “The judge has only what his eyes see,” the person wants to overcome the arguments of the body. This is hard work and comprises ascents and descents.

When a person cries out to the Creator to help him be able to take upon himself this covering, meaning to be able to believe that Providence really is in the manner of good and doing good, except he has still not been rewarded with seeing it, through this work he becomes a chariot to the throne. In other words, he takes upon himself this throne although it is truly a concealment. At that time, that chair [Kisse] becomes the throne, meaning he is rewarded with the Shechina sitting on the throne.

It follows that to the extent that previously he was in the form of a Kisse, which is concealment, when he was as “Shechina in the dust,” now it has become the throne. This is the meaning of the saying that the throne covers the King, as in, “He made darkness His hiding place.” In other words, the throne does not shine and is in a state of darkness. We must overcome the darkness and say, “They have eyes but they will not see.”

It follows that in the period of Kisse, that state is called “for you have failed in your iniquity.” In the state of Kisse, a person has ascents and descents, and he does not see that this work will ever end. Rather, it is a perpetual to and fro, since during the concealment, it is difficult for a person to overcome and say that the Creator behaves in a manner of good and doing good.

Therefore, that person must repent, meaning that from the Kisse, which is “He made darkness His hiding place,” the second state of the Kisse will appear, when it reveals the glory of Malchut in the world, as it is written, “And on the Kisse [throne], high up, was a figure with the appearance of a man.”

This is the meaning of the words, “Great is repentance, for it reaches unto the throne.” That is, repentance must be that a person must be rewarded with the second discernment in the meaning of Kisse, which is the throne. This is the meaning of “Return, O Israel, unto the Lord your God.”

We should interpret that the meaning of “For you have failed in your iniquity” is that when a person wants to repent, meaning he is separated from the Creator because of the will to receive, which is opposite in form from the Creator, and he wants to connect with the Creator, to have equivalence of form, he sees that “The concealed things belong to the Lord our God.”

In other words, when he wants to do something for the Creator, for the sake of the Creator, it is a “hidden” taste. In other words, the flavor of the work is hidden from him. Conversely, when he works for his own benefit, called “for us and for our children,” the flavor is revealed to us. In other words, “concealed” and “revealed” pertain to the taste.

This means that when a person works for the sake of the Creator, called “to the Lord our God,” the taste in the work is concealed. But when it is for one’s own sake, called “for us and for our children,” the taste is called “revealed,” meaning the taste of the work is revealed. It follows that this causes our failures, as it is written, “For you have failed in your iniquity.” Hence, there is no other way but to return to the Creator, as was said about it, “Remove all iniquity and take good.”

According to the above, we should interpret what is written in the blessing for the food: “May we find grace and good understanding in the eyes of God and man.” We should understand why we must ask the Creator to be liked by people. What does it mean that people should respect us and honor us? What does this have to do with the work? Rather, we ask the Creator to be liked by the Creator, and what do we want from Him? To give us the quality of “man,” since by nature, man was created with a desire to receive, called Malchut, which is the name BON, which is “beast” in Gematria.

For this reason, we ask to be liked by God, so He will give us the quality of “man,” as our sages said, “You are called ‘man,’ and not the nations of the world.” Man is MA in Gematria, which is a giver. In other words, we ask to be liked by the Creator so He will give us the quality of “man.” This is the meaning of the words “May we find grace in the eyes of God and man,” so He will give us the quality of man.

It follows that man should pray for only one thing—for the Creator to bring him closer. “Closeness” in spirituality is called “equivalence of form.” That is, he wants the Creator to give him the desire to bestow, called “second nature.”

By this we should interpret what is written (Psalms 147), “who heals the brokenhearted.” We should understand what it means that the Creator heals the brokenhearted. The thing is that it is known that the essence of man is the heart, as our sages said, “The Merciful one wants the heart.” The heart is the Kli [vessel] that receives the Kedusha from above. It is as we learn about the breaking of the vessels, that if the Kli is broken, everything you put in it will spill out.

Likewise, if the heart is broken, meaning the will to receive controls the heart, abundance cannot enter there because everything that the will to receive receives will go to the Klipot [shells/peels]. This is called “the breaking of the heart.” Hence, a person prays to the Creator and says, “You must help me because I am worse than everyone, since I feel that the will to receive controls my heart, and this is why nothing of Kedusha can enter my heart. I want no luxuries, only to be able to do something for the sake of the Creator, and I am utterly incapable of this, so only You can save me.”

By this we should interpret what is written (Psalms 34), “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted.” That is, those who ask the Creator to help them so their heart will not be broken and will be whole, this can happen only if a person has been rewarded with the desire to bestow. For this reason, he asks the Creator to give him the desire to bestow, since he sees that he lacks nothing in the world but the ability to work for the sake of the Creator. It follows that he is asking only the nearness of the Creator, and there is a rule, “measure for measure.” Hence, the Creator brings him closer. This is the meaning of the words, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted.”

According to the above, we can understand what is written there: “Keeps all his bones, not one of them broken.” Man’s bone [in Hebrew, Etzem means both “bone” and “essence”] is the heart, the desire in the heart. The desires in man’s heart constantly change through the ascents and descents, and the Creator guards their desires so that the will to receive will not mingle into the desires of Kedusha.

This is the meaning of the words, “not one of them broken.” In other words, since the will to receive causes the breaking of the vessels, when the Creator keeps him, meaning brings a person closer, called “equivalence of form,” by giving him a second nature called “desire to bestow,” this is regarded as the Creator keeping, as in the verse, “The Lord keeps the fools.” In other words, one who feels that he is a fool, that he is mindless, should keep himself from falling until the control of the Sitra Achra [other side], called “will to receive for oneself.” He asks the Creator to keep him. It follows that the person gives the awakening from below, which is called “a desire” and a Kli, and then the Creator gives him the light.

But when a person is in an ascent, he thinks that he no longer needs the Creator’s help, since now he has a basis of feeling, which he called “knowledge.” In other words, now he knows for what purpose he is working. His work is no longer above reason because he has a basis to rely on, meaning this feeling that he feels that this state is good for him. On this basis he determines the work.

At that time, he is immediately thrown from above and it is as though he is asked, “Where is your wisdom? You said that you already know on what the work relies.” Thus, as long as one thinks of himself as a fool, meaning that the basis of the work is above reason, and that he needs the help of the Creator, the person says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they who labored in it worked in vain.” Specifically in this way, the Creator is called “The Lord is the keeper of Israel.”

By this we understand what it means that the person is in trouble in the work. The answer is that it is known that “narrow” means lack of Hassadim [mercies/plural of Hesed]. Hence, when a person sees that he cannot do anything in order to bestow, this is considered being unable to act in Hesed, unless for his own benefit. He sees that in the state he is in, he will never be rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator, and he regrets it. What can one do? One cannot do anything but cry out to the Creator, and the Creator hears. “From all their troubles [also “narrowness”],” meaning from every state, when he is in a state of “narrowness,” which is lack of Hassadim, when he cannot overcome his actions, the Creator saves him, as it is written, “From all their troubles, He saves them.” When it is written, “He has no troubles,” it means that he does not regret that he cannot do something in order to bestow. Therefore, he has no Kli for the Creator to save him because he feels that he is fine where he is.

Accordingly, we should interpret what our sages said (Hulin 133), “Anyone who teaches an unworthy disciple falls to Hell.” We should understand this, since it is written, “The Creator said, ‘I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.’ Thus, one who has evil inclination and cannot overcome it, He said, I have created the Torah as a spice.” So we see that we should learn Torah even when we are unworthy.

We should interpret this as Baal HaSulam said about what is written, “will give wisdom to the wise.” It should have said “to the fools.” The answer is that one who searches wisdom, although he still does not have it, he is already called “wise,” since he desires to be wise. We should also interpret here that one who wants to be worthy is already called “a worthy disciple.”

That is, one who wants to learn Torah because he wants to be worthy is already called “worthy,” for because he feels that he is far from serving the Creator, since he can work only for his own sake, which is being unworthy, and he wants to be worthy but is unsuccessful, it was said to them: “The Creator said, ‘I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.’”

For this reason, we should interpret “It is forbidden to teach the Torah to an unworthy disciple” that one who wants to be a worthy disciple may learn.

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

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

What Is, “We Have No Other King But You,” in the Work?

Article No. 01, Tav-Shin-Nun-Aleph, 1989-91

We should understand what it means when we say, “We have no other king but You.” It implies that when we praise the Creator that “We have no other king but You,” then we are not like the nations of the world, who have many gods, while we have only You as our king.

It follows as though the Creator is greater than them. Why is this so important if the Creator is more important than they are, and we chose the Creator? We can say this in the manner that is written in The Zohar (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Item 161), “Rabbi Aba said, ‘It is written, ‘Who would not fear You, King of the nations, for it is Your due?’’ What kind of a praise is this? Rabbi Shimon said to him, ‘This verse does not give Him much respect, for it is written, ‘For among all the sages of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You.’ Why this comparison to people, who have no existence?’”

While there are many interpretations to this, we will explain it in the work. It is known that the order of the work begins first of all on the basis of faith. Right at the beginning of the work, we take upon ourselves the burden of the kingdom of heaven, which is to believe that the Creator is the leader of the world. That is, He watches over the world with private Providence, as said in the article, “The Order of the Work, from Baal HaSulam.”

Afterward, we must know that the faith we take upon ourselves is of inferior importance, meaning that if everything were known and we would not have to believe, this knowledge would be more important to a person. Now a person must believe that although faith is of little importance to a person, he still chooses to go specifically in this path of faith above reason, since he believes in the sages, in what they attained and said.

But one who has no faith in the sages says that if knowledge were more successful for man’s work than faith, as one thinks and says that if serving the Creator were in a state of knowing and we would not have to believe, there would probably be many more servants of the Creator, and many people would dedicate themselves to the work. But when a person must believe in both the Creator and the sages, the faith that people must believe pushes them away from being workers.

However, a person who wants to approach the Creator must believe in the sages, who told us that if the way of knowledge were truly better for guiding the world, the Creator would give us the work in a manner of knowing.

Instead, the Creator knows that the most successful way for a person to achieve the goal, which is His desire to do good to His creations—for man to be able to receive the delight and pleasure without the bread of shame—is specifically through faith.

However, since man is born with a nature of self-love, the body enjoys that which is closer to self-love. For this reason, when a person is told that he must observe Torah and Mitzvot[commandments/good deeds] on the basis of faith, it is difficult for him. He would be happier if everything were known.

However, there are many discernments concerning faith, meaning what a person should believe. The matter is simple: A person should believe only in reward and punishment. That is, if he observes Torah and Mitzvot he will be rewarded, and if he does not observe he will be punished.

There is reward and punishment on all levels. The only difference lies in what is the reward and what is the punishment. In this there are differences between the degrees. This also applies to corporeal matters. For example, a child is told that if he does not want to eat he will be punished, such as when all the children who eat go on a trip, the child who does not want to eat will stay home.

Sometimes the reward and punishment are expressed in the eating itself, in that someone who does not do what the parents command will not get food today and will stay hungry. It follows that it is the same for all people: The reward and punishment give man the push to advance.

For this reason, sometimes a person believes that by observing Torah and Mitzvot he will be rewarded in this world, as it is written in The Zohar, “There are people whose fear is in reward and punishment of this world, meaning long life, health, etc., and there are those whose reward and punishment are in the next world, meaning they have the Garden of Eden. Also, there are people whose fear is Lishma [for Her sake], meaning “because He is great and ruling,” who are privileged that they are serving the King, and this is their reward, and they do not need any other reward.

In other words, they cancel their own authority, have no concern for themselves, and their only worry is to bring contentment to the Maker. Since the body, called “will to receive,” does not accept this, it resists this work. Therefore, precisely here, in work where one wants to work in order to bestow, there are ascents and descents.

In this work, “reward and punishment” are completely different from those applied in the work to receive reward. When a person has some flavor in the work and he feels he has some nearing to the Creator, this is his reward. If he feels that he has been thrown out from the work of the Creator, meaning he does not feel any flavor in the work, a person considers this “the biggest punishment.”

In other words, he has no feeling of work. Yet, one should say that this pushing away that he is feeling is because he is far from the Creator, since a person understands that if he were closer to the Creator, he would have to feel differently than he is feeling now, as it is written, “Strength and joy are in His place.”

This means that when a person feels that he is in a place of Kedusha [holiness], and it is written about Kedusha, “Strength and joy,” but now he feels that he has no vitality and sees everything as black, and he cannot overcome the state that he is in, to a person who wants to come to work for the sake of the Creator, this is considered the biggest punishment.

When a person wants to overcome the state that he is in, he sees that it is impossible to approach the Creator. Sometimes he falls into despair, meaning he wants to escape the campaign and decides that he will never be able to achieve a degree where he has no concern for his own benefit but only for the benefit of the Creator.

So, the question is, which is the truth? That is, is he wrong, and it is actually possible to come to a state where all his actions are for the sake of the Creator, or is it not? That is, does overcoming help, and a person does have the strength to do by himself everything for the sake of the Creator?

The answer is as it is written, “We have no other king but You,” for we are powerless to overcome and take upon ourselves Your being our king and that we will serve You only because of the importance of the King, and we will not do anything for ourselves except that which is beneficial to You. Only You can give us this power, the second nature, which is the desire to bestow.

Therefore, first we say, “Our Father, our King, we have sinned before You.” That is, a person cannot say, “We have no other king but You,” meaning that only the Creator can give this power. And how does one know that it is not within his power? Therefore, first he must do all that he can, as it is written, “Everythingthat you can do with your hand and strength, do.”

At that time, a person comes to a state where he feels how remote he is from the Creator, meaning that he cannot do anything for the sake of the Creator. Then, the person feels that although he is observing Torah and Mitzvot, he is still regarded as a sinner because he sees that he is not working for the sake of the Creator. Therefore, first, a person must say, “Our Father, our King, we have sinned before You.” Even though he is observing Torah and Mitzvot, he feels that he has sinned by not doing anything for the sake of the Creator.

Afterward, he says wholeheartedly, “Our Father, our King, we have no other king but You.” In other words, only the Creator can help make Him our king, so we can work because we are serving the King, and this is our reward, that we have the privilege of serving the King. This means that only then can we do everything for the sake of the Creator.

In other words, if the Creator does not give him this power, to feel that “we have a great King,” he has no strength to work for the sake of the Creator, for the body claims, “What will you get from bestowing upon the Creator?” In other words, as long as the will to receive dominates, a person is powerless. Sometimes he doubts the beginning, meaning says that now he sees that he has worked in vain and did not gain anything by his labor. Now he really sees that all his work was to no avail.

Therefore, when the Creator helps him and gives him the desire to bestow, and he feels that he has a great King, only the Creator can give this. This is the meaning of what is written, “Our Father, our King, we have no other king but You.” Namely, “Only You can make us feel that we have a great King and it is worthwhile to work for Him, to bring Him contentment.”

According to the above, we should interpret what is written in The Zohar (Haazinu, Item 210), “Happy is he who calls on the King and knows how to call on Him properly. If he calls but does not know Whom he has called, the Creator moves away from him, as it is written, ‘The Lord is near to all who call upon Him.’ To whom is He close? He reiterated and said, ‘To all who call upon Him in truth.’ But does anyone call upon Him falsely? Rabbi Aba said, ‘Yes, it is he who calls but does not know whom he calls.’ It is written, ‘to all who call on Him in truth.’ What is ‘in truth’? It is with the King’s signet ring.”

We should understand what he says about “in truth” and “falsely,” that only those who call “in truth” are heard. He asks, “What is ‘in truth’?” Also, we should know what is “falsely,” meaning what it means that a person calls on the Creator falsely in the work.

The Sulam [Ladder commentary on The Zohar] (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Item 175) brings the words of our sages as follows: “Upon the creation of the world, when He said to the angels, ‘Let us make man in our image,’ Hesed [mercy] said, ‘Let him be created, for he does mercies.’ Emet [truth] said, ‘Let him not be created, for ‘he is all lies.’’ What did the Creator do? He took Truth and cast it to the earth, as it is written, ‘cast truth to the earth.’” Interpretation: It is known that our sages said, “One should always engage in Torah and Mitzvot even if Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], since from Lo Lishma he comes to Lishma [for Her sake].” Because of his lowliness, man cannot engage in His Mitzvot right away in order to bring contentment to his Maker. For this reason, he must first engage in Mitzvot Lo Lishma, meaning for his own benefit. And yet, he still draws abundant Kedusha while performing the Mitzvot. Through the abundance he extends, he will eventually come to engage in Mitzvot Lishma. This is what the truth complained about man’s creation, who said that he is all lies.

According to the above, we see that “truth” means Lishma, meaning for the sake of the Creator, and “falsely” means Lo Lishma, meaning for his own sake. By this we can interpret what The Zohar says, “near to all who call upon Him in truth.” It is known that “far and near” in spirituality mean that equivalence of form is called “near,” and disparity of form is called “far.”

It follows that a person who comes to a state of “truth,” where he feels that unless the Creator helps him come to work for the sake of the Creator, he has no hope of ever achieving the degree of Lishmaby himself, meaning to do everything only for the sake of the Creator. Therefore, he calls on the Creator to help him and give him the quality of truth, called “for the sake of the Creator.”

In other words, he asks the Creator to give him the quality of truth, called “equivalence of form.” To that man, the Creator is near. In other words, he wants to be in equivalence of form with the Creator, who is called “as He is merciful, so you are merciful.” This is called, “The Lord is near to those who want to be near,” which is called “equivalence of form.”

Conversely, to those people who call on the Creator falsely, meaning who want the Creator to help them with Lo Lishma, which is called “disparity of form,” the Creator is far from them, since they do not want to draw near to the Creator, which is called Dvekut, “equivalence of form.” This is the meaning of what he says, “Truth is called ‘the King’s ring,’” which is truth, meaning that the kingdom of heaven that they take upon themselves is regarded as “truth,” meaning for the sake of the Creator.

However, man must first prepare a Kli for this light, called “desire to bestow.” A Kli is called “a need,” meaning that a person does not call on the Creator to help him before he has begun the work of bestowal and sees that he is utterly incapable of attaining this by himself. At that time, a person asks to be given help from above.

For this reason, once a person has done all that he could and saw that he is utterly incapable of obtaining this desire, he comes to realize that no one can help him but the Creator. Then, a person says, “Our Father, our King, We have no King, meaning that there is no way that we will have faith in a king whom we will be able to serve ‘because He is great and ruling,’ but You,” meaning that only the Creator can help him.

There, in The Zohar, he interprets that the King’s ring is called the “middle line,” and the middle line is called “truth.” In other words, each line in itself is incomplete. We can understand this with an allegory: Two people prepared a meal for guests. One prepared meat and fish, and other things, and the other prepared only spices, salt, and vinegar, and so forth. But then, a dispute broke out between them, and each one said that he will call the guests over to him and will give them the meal. When the one who promised to provide only spices let them eat the spices, meaning to drink the vinegar and eat the salt, etc., who could eat? And the other one, who gave meat, fish, and other things to eat, who could eat meat and fish without salt, etc.? Since people could not eat at either place, they had to make peace between them and mix the food with the spices, and out of the two, a good meal emerged.

Likewise, when a person begins to walk in Lo Lishma, he is in a state of wholeness. This is called “one line.” But when he shifts to the left line and begins to criticize the order of his work, meaning with what intention he is working, namely what reward he wants for his work, he feels a bitter taste.

In other words, he sees that he is not all right. Put differently, he sees that he cannot do anything for the sake of the Creator. In that state, each line in itself is incomplete, since the completion of the “right” is only because he is content with his lot, meaning says that he is very privileged that he has a small grip on spirituality, even if it is Lo Lishma, for in terms of actions, he has something, in that he observes the Mitzvot of the Creator. Although the faith in the Creator is only partial faith (as it is written in the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 14), that part is still important to him.

This is not so with the left line, where he sees that he is full of faults and feels a bitter taste in his life. It is like a spice given in order to sweeten the food. But a spice without food is not a dish. It follows that each line in itself is incomplete, but when using both lines, right and left, from this we come to the middle line.

In other words, the Creator gives the soul, as our sages said, “There are three partners in a person: his father, his mother, and the Creator.” The father is called “right.” He gives the white. “White” means that there is no lack there. Mother is called the “left line.” She gives the red, which is called “lacks.” From the two of them together there can emerge the middle line, which is called “The Creator gives the soul.” At that time, the quality of “man” emerges.

We should know that when a person shifts to the left line and begins to see how far he is from the desire to bestow, and that he is immersed in self-love, and sees his faults to an extent that he had never imagined—that he would be so removed from working for the sake of the Creator—he begins to think that foreign thoughts must have come to him from the Sitra Achra [other side], who gives him these thoughts and desires that are inappropriate for someone who wishes to be a servant of the Creator. Even for an ordinary person, who is not working, it is inappropriate to have such thoughts and desires. At that time, a person must overcome through faith in the sages, and believe that all those thoughts come from above, as it is written in the essay, “Other Gods.” In other words, the Creator sends them to a person, but he should not think that these are new thoughts and desires that did not previously exist in the person but came now. This is not so.

Rather, they were previously within man’s body but were not revealed because nothing is done without a reason. Now that he wants to walk on the path of truth and wants to correct himself, he is shown from above what he has in his body, and which is not apparent outwards. Now that a person wants to correct himself, these thoughts are shown to him so he will know what to correct.

To understand this, we should look in the book A Sage’s Fruit (Part 1, p 55), where it is written, “I admit that you are right about that; I do not feel those pains that you feel whatsoever. On the contrary, I rejoice in those revealed corruptions and the ones that are being revealed. I do, however, regret and complain about the corruptions that have not been revealed. If they appeared now, there is no doubt that they were here to begin with, but were hidden. This is why I am happy when they come out of their holes. I remember discussing similarly with you on the first day of Rosh Hashanah [the first day of the Jewish year], Tav-Reish-Peh-Aleph [September 13, 1920], upon our return from the house of A.M. You shared with me very sad things that you saw that morning during the morning service [prayer] (he was the prayer-leader of the morning service). I was filled with joy before you and you asked me, ‘Why the joy?’ I replied to you the same then, that when buried wicked appear, although they have not been fully conquered, their very appearance is regarded as a great salvation and causes the sanctity of the day.”

Therefore, we should not be alarmed if a person feels that he has suffered a descent, as though he were thrown from above. On the contrary, at that time a person should believe that the Creator is tending to him and guides him so he will be able to achieve Dvekut [adhesion] with Him, as it is written, “And to cleave unto Him.”

At that time, a person comes to a state where he feels that he has sinned. That is, before he began the work of bestowal, he thought that he was incomplete, but that in general, he was fine, since he saw the lowliness of other people, whereas he, thank God, was not as bad. But now he sees that he is the worst. That is, no one has such thoughts and desires.

The answer is that in order for a person to be able to receive a complete thing, he must have a complete lack. Hence, from above, he is shown his deficiencies each time, which were concealed within his body. It therefore follows that a person must say that the Creator was merciful with him in that He revealed to him his faults, just as He is giving him the filling, for “There is no filling without a lack.”

By this we can interpret what is written (Psalms 89), “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever, generation after generation I will make known Your faith with my mouth.” We should understand the meaning of “sing forever.” How can one sing to the Creator when he sees that he is full of faults and his heart is not whole with the Creator, and he feels far from the Creator? And sometimes, he even wants to escape the campaign. How can he say that this is the Lord’s mercies and he is singing about this to the Creator?

According to the above, a person should say that the fact that he in a lowly state is not because now he has become worse. Rather, now, since he wants to correct himself so that all his actions will be for the sake of the Creator, from above he is shown his true state—what is in his body, which until now was concealed and was not apparent. Now the Creator has revealed them, as it is written in the book A Sage’s Fruit.

A person says about this that it is mercy that the Creator has revealed to him the bad in him so he would know the truth and would be able to ask of the Creator for a real prayer. It follows that on one hand, now he sees that he is far from the Creator. On the other hand, a person should say that the Creator is close to him and tends to him, and shows him the faults. Hence, he should say that they are mercies.

This is the meaning of the words, “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever.” That is, on one hand, he is happy and is singing about this. On the other hand, he sees that he must repent. In other words, he must ask of the Creator to bring him closer and give him the desire to bestow, which is a second nature.

This is the meaning of the words, “generation after generation I will make known Your faith.” “Generation after generation” means that there is cessation in the middle, which is the meaning of ascents and descents. A generation is positive, and the cessation is negative. However, specifically by this, the light of faith appears.

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

Inapoi la pagina 1990 (ŞLAVEY HASULAM (TREPTELE SCĂRII) – link

Articolul Nr. 46, Tav-Shin-Nun, 1989-90

1. Omul să creadă că există un Supraveghetor al Lumii.
2. Să ştie că credinţa este de o importanţă inferioară, dacă alege să meargă pe calea aceasta.
3. Credinţa omului trebuie să fie în dăruire şi nu în intenţia de a primi.
4. Atunci când atribuie Creatorului munca, el ar trebui să creadă că Creatorul îi acceptă munca, indiferent cum pare să fie aceasta.
5. Sunt de făcut două discernăminte privind credinţa mai presus de raţiune:
   1. Omul merge mai presus de raţiune întrucât nu are de ales;
   1. Chiar dacă i se dă raţiunea şi el nu va mai trebui să meargă mai presus de raţiune, omul va alege totuşi să meargă pe calea mai presus de raţiune;
6.  Omul ar trebui să ştie că atunci când munca sa este în iubire de sine, până la urmă de succesele pe care şi le imaginează că le va obţine, nu va putea să se bucure decât numai el însuşi. Dimpotrivă, în iubirea pentru Creator, el va bucura pe toată lumea.
7. Trebuie să adresăm mulţumiri şi slavă trecutului întrucât de acesta depinde viitorul Adică, în măsura în care adresăm mulţumiri, în aceeaşi măsură apreciem tot ceea ce primim de sus şi ştim cum să păstrăm ajutorul pe care-l primim astfel încât să nu-l pierdem.
8. Esenţa muncii este aceea de a merge pe linia dreaptă, care înseamnă plenitudinea. Adică, indiferent cât de strâns legat este de spiritualitate, omul ar trebui să fie fericit că Creatorul i-a dat gândul şi dorinţa de a face ceva în spiritualitate.
9. Omul ar trebui de asemenea să meargă pe linia stângă. Dar pentru asta, o jumătate de oră pe zi este suficient, asta pentru a calcula cât de mult preferă iubirea Creatorului  iubirii de sine. În măsura în care vede diferenţele, el se va ruga Creatorului să-l aducă cu adevărat mai aproape, întrucât omul poate avansa anume pe două linii.  

Ar trebui să facem trei discernăminte în ordinea muncii: (din Fructele Unui înţelept, Vol.1, p.115)

1. Să tânjim întru completarea propriului suflet şi să ne întoarcem la rădăcină. Asta se numeşte “calitatea lui Israel”.
2. Să înţelegem căile Creatorului şi secretele Torei, întrucât “Cel care nu ştie porunca Celui de Sus, cum îl va sluji el oare?” Asta se consideră a fi Tora.
3. Să tânjim la dobândirea Creatorului, adică să ne alipim Lui cu întreagă recunoaştere, ceea ce se consideră a fi Creatorul.
4. Cel mai bine este să ne străduim să împlinim porunca celui de Sus, care este linia de mijloc.

Inapoi la pagina 1990 (ŞLAVEY HASULAM (TREPTELE SCĂRII) – link