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What Is “He Who Enjoys at a Groom’s Meal,” in the Work?

Article No. 35, Tav-Shin-Nun, 1989-90

Our sages said (Berachot 72), “He who enjoys at a groom’s meal and does not delight him transgresses in five voices. And if he delights him, what is his reward? Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi said, ‘He is rewarded with the Torah, which was given in five voices.’”

We should understand what it means that if he enjoys at a groom’s meal he must delight him. If he does not enjoy at a groom’s meal, should he not delight him? Also, what does it mean that he must delight him? Is the groom sad that he became a groom, that he should try to delight him? We should also understand with what can we delight the groom, so that by delighting him, we will be rewarded with the Torah.

It makes sense that if a person is told to perform some commandment, he is promised the next world as a reward. But here they said that his reward will be the Torah. Is this a reward that obligates one to delight the groom? How should we understand all this in the work?

Also, we must understand why it is not required to delight the bride, but only the groom. Concerning the bride, we find another requirement. Concerning the bride, it was said (Ketubot 16b), “How does one dance before the bride? The House of Shammai say, ‘the bride as she is.’ The House of Hillel say, ‘a fair and graceful bride.’ The House of Shammai said to the House of Hillel, ‘What if she is lame or blind, is she told, ‘a fair and graceful bride’? But the Torah said, ‘Stay far from false words.’ The House of Hillel said to the House of Shammai, ‘According to you, one who makes a bad bargain in the market, should one praise it before him or criticize it before him? That is, he should praise it before him. Consequently, the sages said, ‘One’s view should always be mingled with people.’’’”

We should understand why concerning the bride, we are speaking only of dancing, and it was not said that the bride should be made happy only during the dance, and what name should be given to the bride, whether as she is, or a handsome name, even if it is not the truth.

Shabbat [Sabbath] is also called “bride,” as it is written, “Go my beloved, toward the bride.” Before Shabbat there are six workdays. During those six days, we must toil in order to prepare everything for Shabbat, and we also eat the Shabbat meal.

Shabbat is called Malchut, “bride” is called Malchut, and the “land of Israel” is also called Malchut. Also, “creation” is generally called Malchut. This means that in general, we should speak of two subjects: 1) Creator, 2) created beings.

The Creator is called the “groom,” and the created beings are called the “bride.” A Hatan [groom] is named after being Nahut Darga [of inferior degree], as our sages said, “Descend in degree and take a wife.” It means that the Creator can be called a “groom” only when He has a bride. It is as in corporeality, when we say that some person is a groom, it means he has a bride. But what does this imply to us in spirituality?

Since it is impossible to speak of a Creator without created beings, one who says that there is a Creator, it is after He has created creatures and they attain Him, that He created them. Then the creatures say that there is a Creator. But if there is no one to attain Him, then there is no one to speak of Him. Therefore, when He created the creatures, it was by restricting Himself several times, after which it was possible for created beings to emerge. They are the receivers, and they are far from Him in terms of oppositeness of form, since His desire is only to bestow, and the creatures want only to receive, and disparity of form in spirituality creates remoteness and separation.

It follows that precisely by lowering Himself so that the creatures would attain Him, it is possible to say that the Creator is called a “groom,” for He lowered Himself so as to be attained.

Those who attain are called “bride,” who knows that there is a “groom,” and if the creatures would not attain Him, He would certainly not be called a “groom,” and those who attain would not be called a “bride.”

When we speak about the worlds in general, we distinguish everything into two discernments: 1) The bestowing light, called a “groom,” which shines into the worlds though Tzimtzum [restriction] and Masach [screen]. This is called a “groom.” 2) The Kli [vessel] that receives the light and abundance, which is called the “general Malchut of the worlds.”

However, in person, there are many discernments in the light, and the proliferation comes because of the Kli that receives them. That is, concerning the light, we say that there are no changes in the light, but all the changes are in the Kli. This is so because the light shines only through restrictions, and to the extent that there is equivalence between the light and the Kli.

For this reason, it depends on the work of the receiver, how much he can correct himself so as to have equivalence with the light. Hence, from the perspective of the receiver, who is called a Kli, we can discern many discernments in the light. For this reason, although we have many details, it is still generally one light and one Kli, as we learn that at the end of correction “the Lord will be one and His name, One.”

Shabbat is called a “bride,” and there are six workdays before her, which is the time of labor, as it is written, “For six days, the Lord made the heaven and the earth, and on the seventh day, He Shavat[rested].” Thus, Shabbat means the completion of the work, and “bride” also means the completion of the work, as it is written, “Moses finished” [in Hebrew, Klot (finished) is similar to Kalah (bride)], that the work was completed.

We should understand the meaning of “labor,” and the meaning of “the completion of the work,” which is called “Shabbat” in the work. The writing says, “Which God has created to do.” As it is explained in the Sulam [Ladder Commentary on The Zohar], the six workdays are the correction of the six qualities called HGT NHY, since the Creator created the world with a desire to receive for oneself. This is called “created,” meaning existence from absence.

Since it is of different form, which causes remoteness and separation, this Kli, which the Creator created, was given for the lower ones to do, meaning to correct, namely to place on the act of reception, the aim to bestow. This is called Dvekut [adhesion], “equivalence of form,” by which creation, called “receiving for himself” and “separation,” was corrected with a correction of Dvekut, where reception acquires the form of bestowal.

When the lower ones give this Kli, the light can reach the lower ones. That is, at that time comes the thought of creation, which is “His desire to do good to His creations,” into practice. This is called “the completion of the work” of the Kli that is fit to receive the abundance that belongs to the Kli.

It follows that the six workdays are regarded as work to do the intention to bestow, and Shabbat means that the Kli that will work in order to bestow has been prepared. Therefore, “the coming of Shabbat” implies that the light has come to a Kli that is ready for the light. Then it is called “Shabbat,” meaning that He already Shavat [rested] from His work of making the Kli, since He already corrected the Kli.

When the light shines in the Kelim [vessels], the Kli has nothing to do but only to enjoy the light, as this is the purpose of creation, “to do good to His creations.” This is the meaning of what our sages said, “When Shabbat comes, rest comes.” This is so because when the light shines in the Kelim, there is no more room for work. Rather, this is called “enjoying the meal of Shabbat.” This is what our sages said, “He who did not toil on the eve of Shabbat (to make Kelim), what will he eat on Shabbat?”

In other words, Shabbat is called “a meal,” which is a time of reception of delight and pleasure. If he has no Kelim that have been prepared on the eve of Shabbat, when the light comes, he hasn’t the Kelim in which to receive the meal. This is why Shabbat is called Kallah [bride/finished], from the words “concluded,” “ending,” “completion.” It is as it is written, “And on the seventh day, God concluded the work that He had done.” This means that the meal is already prepared, since the Kelimfor reception of the meal have already been completed, and it is known that it cannot be said that the light is missing, as it is written, “The whole earth is full of His glory.” Rather, when there are Kelimthat are ready, we see the light, meaning the light is revealed inside the Kelim.

The land of Israel is also called a “bride,” since she has a groom, as it is written, “A land that the eyes of the Lord your God are upon it from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.” This is seemingly difficult to understand why specifically the land of Israel is like that. After all, it is written, “The eyes of the Lord roam in everything,” and not specifically in the land of Israel.

We should interpret that the Torah gives us a sign, to those who work for the Creator and want to know if they have already been rewarded with the quality of the “land of Israel.” The sign is that the person feels that “the eyes of the Lord,” meaning His Providence, is in the form of good and doing good. This is regarded as a person being in the land of Israel. At that time, the land of Israel is called “bride,” since she knows she has a groom.

Likewise, in whom is there a groom? That is, who knows that there is a groom? It is the one who attains the groom. This degree is called “bride,” meaning one who has attained Godliness. The light is considered Godliness, and the receiver of the light is the one who attains. For this reason, the “land of Israel” is called a “bride,” meaning that the groom is revealed in her, that the Creator is the Overseer.

In order to attain the land of Israel, called “a land that is regarded as a bride,” it is customary that as in corporeality, we go to look for a bride in whom there are no flaws, as it is written about the spies, who slandered the land of Israel saying that the bride, meaning the land, is not worth taking for many reasons.

Some said that she was proud and had many demands from a person, meaning that one should annul his reason and will before her, and only those who can walk with eyes shut and obey all her demands, with him she can speak. And if he wants to understand what she is saying within reason, she promptly runs away from him.

Therefore, they say, how can one annul his entire being for her? That is, she is so firm-minded that if he disobeys what she tells him once, she will immediately run away from him. In other words, the “land of Israel” is the kingdom of heaven, and one must accept the kingdom above reason, and not wait for the body to agree to assume the burden of the kingdom of heaven. Acceptance of the kingdom of heaven must be so that a person comes to love the Creator “with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might,” and all on the basis of above reason, meaning unconditional surrender, namely that the body, too, does not understand.

The person must go and assume the land with his eyes shut, meaning above reason. If, in the middle of the work, when he is awarded some ascent in spirituality, a person feels a good taste in the work and says, “Now I do not have to believe in faith in the Creator because I already feel a good taste in the work, and I take the taste I feel in the work as a basis,” at that time it is as in the allegory, that the minute he wants to understand faith above reason, “Why should I?” and says, “Now I already have a basis for believing in the Creator,” she immediately runs away from him. In other words, the whole ascent that he is feeling, he immediately descends from his state. This is regarded as Malchut, called the “land of Israel,” runs away from him, and he remains in a state of “abroad.”

This is as our sages said, “The land of the nations, their air is impure.” This means that during a decline, a person descends from the land of Israel and enters the “land of the nations,” whose air is impure, meaning that all the thoughts of the “nations of the world” enter his mind and heart, and the desires of “Israel,” called “desire Yashar-El [straight to the Creator],” depart from him, and instead comes the desire of the “nations of the world,” which are the opposite of Kedusha [holiness].

It turns out that in a state of descent, a person says, “What have I gained from all the efforts I made in order to obtain Kedusha? Now I see that not only did I gain nothing, I am even worse than before I began the work of obtaining the aim for the sake of the Creator.” In other words, he says, “Not only do I not have the aim to bestow, but even in practice, the situation has become harder to observe, meaning in the act without an intention. Conversely, before I wanted to come into the ‘land of Israel,’ I could easily observe Torah and Mitzvot.”

This is as it is written in The Zohar (Shlach, Item 63), “It is written, ‘And they returned from touring the land.’ ‘And they returned’ means that they returned to the side of evil, and returned from the path of truth. They said, ‘What have we gained? To this day, we have not seen good in the world. We have toiled in the Torah but the house is empty. And who will be rewarded with that world? Who will come into it? It would be better if we did not toil so. We toiled and learned in order to know the part of that world, as you advised us, and it is also flowing with milk and honey. That upper world is good, as we know from the Torah, but who can be rewarded with it?’ The faithful ones, what did they say? ‘If the Lord desires us, He will give it to us.’ When a man exerts with the desire in the heart for the Creator, he will be rewarded with it, for all He wants of us is the heart.”

Thus, we see that the “land of Israel” is Malchut, meaning a bride. People are sent to see if the bride is good or if she is proud.

Also, Shabbat is called a “bride,” with respect to the completion of the work. Therefore, before Shabbat there are the six workdays, where the work and toil are in order to adjust to the terms that the bride presents, if we want to accept her. The labor during the six workdays is as it was with the spies: Sometimes they think that the bride is good, and the one who takes her is the happiest man in the world, and it is worth doing anything, meaning accept all the terms that she demands.

But what does she say? Only after a person says that he annuls all his needs, which a person’s body demands, meaning his desires that are for his own sake—he relinquishes them and cares only for the benefit of the “bride,” who is called Malchut, the “bride,” which is the kingdom of heaven, only then, when he cancels his self, as our sages said, “The Torah exists only in one who puts himself to death over it,” this means that all the thoughts and desires pertaining to his own needs, he puts to death and cares only for the sake of the Creator.

Likewise, during the six workdays, a person has ascents and descents. In other words, sometimes a person says that the spies are right in saying that we should escape the campaign, that this is not for us. Sometimes, they overcome and say that Joshua and Caleb, who said, “If the Lord desires us, He will give it to us,” are right.

After we complete the work, when a person agrees to all of the bride’s terms, a person is rewarded with Shabbat being called “Shabbat the Queen.” That is, she gives to the man who annuls himself before her all the delight and pleasure she receives from the groom. These are the demands she presents—that specifically after he accepts all of her terms, she shows what a person gains in his life if he can accept her as a “bride.” And then the “bride” gets a name, which is “the King’s daughter,” and nothing is missing in the King’s house.

Now we can interpret what we asked, Why is it required to delight the groom? The answer is that since from the perspective of branch and root, the “groom” is the Creator and the “bride” is the created beings, who should receive from the Creator, and since the Creator created the world in order to do good to His creations, when the creatures receive delight and pleasure, this is called “the groom’s joy.” It is as our sages said, “There has never been joy before Him as in the day when heaven and earth were created.”

It follows that every person enjoys a groom’s meal, meaning that all the pleasures in the world come from the Creator, which is called “a groom’s meal.” “Not delighting Him” means that he slanders the “bride,” meaning says that the “bride” is not fair and is full of flaws. The “bride” is the created beings, who should receive the delight and pleasure from the Creator. They say that the bride, called Malchut, who contains all the soul, does not give to the created beings delight and pleasure.

It follows that it is as though the Creator does not give her anything. Thus, if a person says that Malchut has nothing to give to the created beings, he is slandering the bride—that she is poor and meager—as well as slanders the Creator because the Creator is not giving her anything so she has what to give to the created beings.

For this reason, any person “who enjoys at a groom’s meal and does not delight him transgresses in five voices.” Concerning “five,” it is known that in spirituality, anything complete is called “five Sefirot,” “five worlds.” This is why he is called Ubar [embryo], meaning Over [passing over] them and does not receive them. “If he delights him,” asks the Gemara, “What is his reward? Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi says, ‘He is rewarded with the Torah, which was given in five voices.’”

We should understand why he is not promised to be rewarded with the next world, as is promised in all the places. The answer is that it is because he delights the groom, meaning he believes in the kingdom of heaven, who is the “bride.” He says that she is a fair and good bride, and he believes with faith that she has a groom, and we can already see that He is with the bride.

This is called a “Shabbat meal.” It means that then, on Shabbat, Malchut, which is the collection of the souls, already has what the Creator, who is called the “groom,” wants to give to the souls. This is the meaning of Shabbat being a “similitude of the next world,” for then is the time when we enjoy the groom’s meal.

Now we can understand what we asked, Why does he say that the reward of one who delights the groom is the Torah, and does not say that he is rewarded with the next world, as it is written in many places? The answer is, With what can a person delight the groom in the work, when the groom is the Creator? It is when a person says that the bride is beautiful and flawless.

From this, the groom enjoys, meaning that the bride is called Malchut from the perspective of faith above reason. He says that Malchut, who leads the world with her governance, leads in the form of good and doing good. This is as it is written (Song of Songs, 4), “You are all beautiful, my wife; there is not a flaw in you.” At that time, a person is rewarded with the Torah, which is called “the king’s meal,” which is the Torah, with respect to the names of the Creator. This Torah does not appear before a person is rewarded with “faith,” called “kingdom of heaven.”

However, before one is rewarded with faith, called Malchut, a “bride,” there are ascents and descents there. This is called a “dance.” There is where all the work to be rewarded with taking upon himself the kingdom of heaven is found, so he will not do anything that concerns his own benefit, but all his actions will be for the sake of the Creator.

Our sages said about this, “How does one dance before the bride?” meaning in order to be rewarded with the quality of “bride.”

In this there is a dispute between the House of Shammai and the House of Hillel. The House of Shammai say “A bride as she is.” That is, however a person feels, whether he feels good or bad. About everything, he should believe above reason that all his sensations are for his sake. This is very difficult.

But the House of Hillel says that a person should say that what he feels in the state he is in, that he does not feel good, he should believe that it is good, but he cannot see the good because he is still unworthy of seeing. Therefore, what he feels is untrue because “They have eyes and see not.”

But everyone says that a person should go above reason and delight the groom. Therefore, there are two kinds of work: 1) during the six workdays, which is the time of work, and 2) during Shabbat, which is the time of the meal (see Article No. 12, Tav-Shin-Mem-Tet).

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

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

What Is “The Earth Feared and Was Still,” in the Work?

Article No. 33, Tav-Shin-Nun, 1989-90

Our sages wrote in Masechet Shabbat (p 88a), “Rabbi Hizkiya said, ‘Why is it written, ‘From heaven You sounded judgment, the earth feared and was still’? If it feared, why was it still? And if it was still, why did it fear? Indeed, first it feared and in the end it was still. And why did it fear? As Rish Lakish said, ‘Why is it written, ‘And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day’? Why the extra Hey [in Hebrew]? It shows that the Creator set a condition along with the work of creation and told them, ‘If Israel receive the Torah, you exist. If they do not, I send you back to Tohu ve Bohu[chaos].’’’”

We should understand why the Creator set a condition along with the work of creation, that it depends: If Israel accept the Torah, very well. If not, He will return them to Tohu ve Bohu. First we should understand what is the work of creation. We see that we refer to the whole of the work of creation by the name “Earth,” as it is written, “The earth feared and was still.” Therefore, we should understand what the word “earth” implies. The verse says, “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” Thus, why does it call the work of creation only by the name “earth,” as it is written, “The earth feared and was still”?

We should interpret that “the work of creation” pertains to the beginning of the thought. This means that the beginning of the thought of the work of the creation of the world is as it is written, “The purpose of creation was because of His desire to do good to His creations. This is the meaning of ‘the work of creation.’” In other words, this is the purpose of the act, that the created beings will receive delight and pleasure.

However, in order for the pleasure that they receive to be complete, meaning that they will not feel shame upon the reception of the pleasures, there was a correction called Tzimtzum [restriction], where the light does not shine where there is a desire to receive for one’s own sake, meaning that the light of pleasure does not reach there, but rather after the created beings correct themselves so as to have the intention to bestow.

It follows that if there is no intention to bestow, they will have no abundance. Naturally, the whole of the work of creation, meaning the purpose of creation to do good, there will be no one to receive it, and naturally, the whole purpose of the work of creation will be cancelled. We therefore understand that if there is no one with the aim to bestow, this is called “the return of the work of creation to Tohu ve Bohu.”

However, we should understand the connection to Israel, that if Israel receive the Torah, the work of creation will persist, and if they do not, it will be cancelled. According to the above-said, that the Creator wants to give them delight and pleasure, and they also need to correct their will to receive so as to work in order to bestow, what is the connection between the correction to work in order to bestow, that because of this they must receive the Torah?

The answer is as our sages said, “The Creator said, ‘I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.’ Through the Torah, its light reforms him,” and he will achieve the intention to bestow. It follows that without Torah, there are Tzimtzum and concealment on creation, which is called “existence from absence,” namely the vessels of reception, and the light of the Creator cannot come into the vessels of reception.

It follows that the work of creation, which is the matter of doing good to His creations, is cancelled if there are no Kelim [vessels] that can receive the purpose of creation, which is the delight and pleasure, due to the correction of the Tzimtzum. This correction comes by observing the Torah, and then instead of the Tzimtzum, the abundance appears once more.

However, according to this, it means that if a person has already achieved the correction of his Kelim, meaning that he already has Kelim that are called “receiving in order to bestow,” why does he need the Torah? After all, he has already accepted all the counsels how to do everything for the sake of the Creator.

The answer is that it is known that The Zohar calls the 613 Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] by the name “613 counsels” and by the name “613 deposits” (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” “General Explanation for All Fourteen Commandments and How They Divide into the Seven Days of Creation,” Item 1). These are tips by which to achieve the correction of creation, which is to obtain the desire to bestow, by which we acquire equivalence of form and the Tzimtzum and concealment are removed. This is the correction that our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.”

Once he has obtained the spice, the 613 Mitzvot are called “613 deposits,” for in each Mitzva[singular of Mitzvot] there is a special light that is there as a deposit, waiting for man to have the suitable Kli [vessel] for it. At that time, a person is given what was there as a deposit, which he could not take out because the Tzimtzum and concealment governed it.

It follows that the purpose of creation is the 613 deposits, which are deposited there until the creatures correct the creation, and only then will they receive the purpose of creation. And the way by which to obtain the correction of creation—that everyone will have Kelim that can aim to bestow—is through the 613 Mitzvot, which are as counsels, meaning tips.

What are the counsels? It is as it is written, “The light in the Torah reforms him.” We should know that in the 613 Mitzvot, which are called “counsels,” a counsel is given when a person desires to obtain something but does not know how. That person seeks advice how to obtain that something.

Therefore, when a person observes Torah and Mitzvot, the body asks a person, “Why are you observing Torah and Mitzvot?” Then the person replies, “I believe in reward and punishment. Therefore, in order to receive reward and not to be punished, I observe Torah and Mitzvot.” However, we cannot refer to reward and punishment as an advice, for an advice is a means to obtain something. It follows that counsels are one thing, and what one receives through the counsels is another thing.

Thus, one who observes Torah and Mitzvot in order receive reward, it cannot be said that they are tips how to receive reward. Rather, the work is called “labor,” and the reward is called “return.” It is not that we say that the work is the counsel for the reward. Rather, it is like an exchange, where the employee gives the employer the work, and in return, the employer pays him.

Thus, what is the meaning of the 613 counsels? We should interpret that counsels apply when a person wants to be rewarded with Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, meaning that he wants all his actions to be in order to bestow contentment upon his Maker and not to work for his own sake. Since man is born with a nature that he cannot understand doing anything other than for oneself, and a person wants to emerge from the governance of nature, but sees that he cannot do anything not for his own sake, then a person seeks advice how to obtain this desire.

Since the body claims that it is customary that one who does something for another receives reward, here, when a person begins to work for the sake of the Creator and not for his own sake, the body’s resistance to the work grows stronger every time because the person wants to annul self-benefit through Torah and Mitzvot, meaning that he will not work for the sake of the body. How can the body give him energy to work on annulling it?

This is similar to one person assisting another person, who wants to kill him. Is it normal for a person to help the murderer kill him? Rather, as hard as one can, he resists him.

Therefore, when a person comes and says to the body, “I want to kill you,” of course the body resists. It is as our sages said about the verse that King David said, “My heart is slain within me, that they killed the evil inclination through fasting.”

Thus, the body certainly resists with all its might if he wants to work only in order to bestow. At that time, a person seeks advice how to emerge from the control of the evil inclination, called “will to receive for himself.” It follows that only in this state, when he wants to work in order to bestow, he needs advice. It was said about this that the 613 Mitzvot are 613 counsels, meaning tips how to emerge from the control of the evil.

Thus, when a person learns Torah, he must intend that the Torah and Mitzvot he is doing will help him emerge from the control of the evil, and he will have the strength to do everything with the aim to bestow. Then, when he learns Torah, he wants the light in the Torah to reform him, and then he needs what they said, that the Creator said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” It follows that the Torah and Mitzvot that he engages in are to him in this state only as tips.

Now we can understand why after he was rewarded with vessels of bestowal through the tips of the Torah and Mitzvot, what should he do next in observing Torah and Mitzvot? That is, he no longer needs the Torah and Mitzvot as tips. It is known that the tips only cause to achieve the goal that he wants to achieve, and that until he found the counsels, he could not obtain what he wanted to obtain. The question is, What does he want? That is, What is the purpose he should achieve?

There is a simple answer to this: The purpose is that a person seeks advice how to achieve the goal. What is the purpose he must achieve? We should say that since a person does not work for his own sake, but has already been rewarded with emerging from the control of self-love, now he wants to achieve the purpose of the Creator, whose desire is to do good to His creations, for the created beings to receive delight and pleasure.

It follows that through the 613 counsels he has reached the goal of the Creator, meaning the Creator’s desire for the creatures to receive delight and pleasure. The Zohar tells us about this that the delight and pleasure are as 613 deposits, that in each Mitzva there is a special light deposited, which waits for the time when it can return the deposit that is in the Mitzva, as was said, that in each Mitzva there is a special light that implies the Mitzva as a branch and root.

It follows that once a person has achieved 613 counsels, he observes the 613 deposits. For this reason, afterward there is a new order, and then the Torah is called “the names of the Creator.” This discernment is called “the Torah, Israel, and the Creator are one.”

It follows that we can detect many discernments in Torah and Mitzvot, but in general, they divide into three discernments: 1) Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], 2) Lishma [for Her sake], when all his actions are in order to bestow. At that time the 613 Mitzvot are to him as 613 counsels. 3) When one is rewarded with achieving the purpose of creation, for His desire is to do good to His creations. At that time, the 613 Mitzvot are to him as 613 deposits.

The 613 counsels are how to achieve Lishma, and the 613 deposits are called “revealing the secrets of Torah.”

In Lo Lishma, there are also several discernments to make: 1) One who learns in order to complain. On this manner, it was said, “His Torah becomes to him a potion of death.” 2) One who learns in order to be called “Rabbi” [great one/teacher]. Those two, he does only for the sake of people, and not for the sake of the Creator.

3) To be rewarded in this world. 4) To be rewarded in the next world. Those two, he does for the sake of the Creator and wants the Creator to pay his reward. In the first two discernments, his reward is what he wants to receive from people like him. That is, one who learns in order to complain, his pleasure is from what he receives from his friend. Likewise, one who learns in order to be called Rabbis demands this of people and not of the Creator.

Now we can explain what we asked: 1) Why is the work of creation called specifically “earth”? After all, it is written, “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” The answer is that “earth” is called Malchut, and our sages said, “Why was her name ‘earth’? Because she wanted to do her Maker’s will.”

Generally, we speak of only two discernments: light and Kli. The abundance and all the lights are called “heaven,” and all that receives them is called “earth.” This is why it is written, “The earth feared and was still.” When we speak in the work about “The earth feared and was still,” we should interpret that Eretz [earth] means Ratzon [desire]. That is, the desire is in man’s heart, fear. What is the fear? Since the Kli that receives the abundance is called “earth,” and in man, his heart is called “earth,” and since the purpose of creation to do good to His creations should appear within man’s heart, since man’s heart is called “will to receive,” and since there was a Tzimtzum and concealment on the will to receive, the upper light does not reach there.

Thus, how can the purpose of creation, to do good to His creations, come to the creatures when all of creation is a desire to receive for oneself? It is through the Torah, as was said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,” when they engage in Torah and Mitzvot with the aim to thereby be rewarded with vessels of bestowal.

However, there is fear on this, since the desire to bestow is against nature. Therefore, here the fear is because he is afraid that he might not be able to do everything in order to bestow, and the work of creation—which is the purpose of creation that must be revealed to the lower ones—will be cancelled.

That is, there are two things here: 1) Perhaps he will not be able to aim the learning of Torah to bring him the desire to bestow, since the body will do everything it can and will not let him aim that the Torah and Mitzvot he does will be with the aim to bring him the spice. Rather, he will have other thoughts: Why should he engage in Torah and Mitzvot? All this is because the body objects to it.

2) Fear that all the work of creation, namely the intention of the Creator to do good to His creations, will be cancelled and there will be no one to receive. Thus, the purpose of creation would not be carried out. This is why “the earth feared,” meaning the general desire, called Eretz [earth], and every person’s desire is also called “earth,” since man’s heart is called Ratzon [desire].

Accordingly, what is the condition that the Creator set along with the work of creation? If Israel accept the Torah, you persist. That is, only by observing the Torah, which is the spice that yields equivalence of form, there is room for the delight and pleasure, which is the work of creation, to persist, meaning that it can be revealed to the lower ones.

Also, why was specifically the earth afraid and not the heaven? It is because fear pertains only to the receivers, perhaps they will not be able to receive. But as for the light, called “heaven,” fear does not pertain to the Creator. He certainly knows that what He wants will be carried out. Thus, all the fears pertain only to the receivers, called “earth.”

We should interpret that thanks to fear, which is that he might not be able to be rewarded with the desire to bestow, thanks to fear they were rewarded with the desire to bestow through the Torah. This is why it was still.

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

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

What Are “A Layperson’s Vessels,” in the Work?

Article No. 34, Tav-Shin-Nun, 1989-90

The Midrash writes (BeHaalotcha 15:8), “‘Even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day; darkness and light are alike.’ To us, it says, BeHaalotcha [when you mount] (the candles), what is this like? Like a king who had a man who loved him. The king said to him, ‘Know that I will be dining at your place; go and set it up for me.’ The man who loved him went and set up a layperson’s bed, a layperson’s lamp, and a layperson’s table. When the king came, his servants came with him, surrounding him from here and from here, and a lamp of gold in front of him. When the man who loved him saw all the glory, he was ashamed and hid everything he had prepared for him, for it was all of laypeople. The king said to him: ‘Did I not tell you that I would be dining at your place? Why have you not prepared anything for me?’ The man who loved him replied, ‘I saw all this glory that came with you and I was ashamed, so I hid everything that I had prepared for you, for they were laypeople’s vessels.’ The king said to him: ‘By your life, I suspend all the vessels I have brought, and because of your love, I use only yours. And He said to Israel, ‘Prepare for Me a lampstand and candles.’”

We should understand what the Midrash is saying, that it is an answer to what the Creator commanded about the lampstand and the candles. After all, He has everything, as it is written, “Even the darkness is not dark to You,” so the question is, Why does He need the lampstand and the candles?

The answer is that although the Creator has everything, He still wants the Kelim [vessels] of the lower one. He calls the Kelim of the lower one, “vessels of laypeople.” Hence, we should understand what are the vessels of laypeople that the Creator wants specifically them.

It is known that the desire is called Kli [vessel]. We should interpret that His desire was to do good to His creations. This is called “the Kli of the Creator,” meaning a desire to bestow. The Creator’s desire to bestow created a desire to receive delight and pleasure, everything that the Creator wants the creatures to enjoy. This is called “vessels of the lower one.”

This means that the will to receive is called “layperson and not Kedusha [holiness],” and the desire to bestow is called “a Kli of holiness.” It is as our sages said about the verse, “You will be holy.” “Can he be like Me?” This is why it is written, “For I am holy, for My holiness is above your holiness.” They asked, would anyone think of saying that man is as holy as the Creator, that you must bring evidence from the text that this is not so? Can this be? However, the meaning of “Can he be like Me?” is “As I use only the desire to bestow.”

For this reason, we can say that the people of Israel should also use only the desire to bestow, and not use the will to receive at all, as it is written, “Can he be like Me? Rather, My holiness is above your holiness,” and you cannot stay with only the desire to bestow, for you also need to use the vessels of reception, except you must place on the Kli an aim to bestow.

According to the above, we should interpret that the Kelim of the Creator are vessels of bestowal, and there is no reception there whatsoever. Rather, His only wish is to bestow. But in order not to have the bread of shame, a Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment were placed, by which the light shines only when there is the correction there that everything is in order to bestow. At that time, the Creator shines His light there.

By this we will understand the allegory that the king said that he wanted to dine at the place of the man who loved him and said to him, “Go and set it up for me,” meaning do the work of receiving in order to bestow, and he went and set it up. Afterward, when the light came as a desire to bestow upon the lower ones, and the receiving person, although it is in order to bestow, the Kli with which he works is the desire to receive and not to bestow. Hence, now he was ashamed that he was using the Kelim of a layperson. Although he had the intention, the act was of reception.

Therefore, the person is ashamed and does not want to engage then in receiving in order to bestow. Instead, he wants to work only with vessels of bestowal, which are the King’s Kelim. All the work that he did in order to make the intention to bestow, he concealed these Kelim, since now he was ashamed to use the Kelim of laypeople. The reason is that now he was awarded seeing the greatness and importance of the King, so he wants to work only because “He is great and ruling,” meaning that the greatness of the King makes serving a great king the most important thing.

This is the meaning of the words, “When the king came, his servants came with him. When the man who loved him saw all the glory, he was ashamed.” It follows that because of the greatness and importance of the King, he was ashamed to use laypeople’s Kelim, which are vessels of reception.

This is the meaning of the words, “The king said to him: ‘Did I not tell you that I would be dining at your place?’” We should understand what it means that the Creator dines at a person’s place. However, we should understand in general, what it means that a person should do everything for the sake of the Creator, which is in order to bring contentmentto his Maker. Our sages told us that we must believe in reward and punishment, as it is written, “You can trust your landlord to reward you for your work.” This means that since the Creator needs someone to observe the Torah and Mitzvot[commandments/good deeds], and they are observing the Torah and Mitzvot in order to please Him, in return, the Creator pays reward.

We can understand this among people, where one needs the other to give to him, since his friend is deficient. At that time, we can speak of giving. And when his friend gives him a gift that the recipient enjoys, the recipient pays him as he deserves.

Yet, how can we say this about the Creator? Is He deficient and the lower ones can give Him something? Therefore, what does it mean that the people of Israel give work, and in return for the work, He gives reward? Also, we should understand what our sages said, “Israel provide for their Father in heaven.” What provision do they give Him by which He is sustained?

It is known that that which gives a person joy, this sustains a person, giving him satisfaction in life. A person may be making a lot of money and has enough to eat and drink, but if he has no satisfaction in life, that person is considered as having nothing to sustain him, nothing to live on, meaning some pleasure for which it is worth living, for the joy he receives.

Therefore, there are people whose satisfaction in life is only from lust. They already have provision, meaning something to sustain them, that makes living worthwhile. That is, that which gives a person satisfaction, gives him meaning to life. For this reason, there are people in the world who are rich and have no lack of money, yet are fed up with life if they have nothing in life that satisfies them. It follows that “provision” does not necessarily mean food and drink. Rather, “provision” means that which sustains a person and from which he derives satisfaction in life.

According to the above, we should interpret what our sages said, “Israel provide for their Father in heaven.” That is, they give the Creator a place to carry out His will, which was to do good to His creations, a place where the Creator can give to the created beings delight and pleasure, and which the creatures enjoy and say, “We feel the delight and pleasure that He contemplated giving, that He wants to give; we are receiving the delight and pleasure.”

In other words, before we obtained the vessels of bestowal, so we can receive in order to bestow, the light of doing good to His creations could not come to the lower ones because the Tzimtzum and concealment were placed on the Kelim that were meant to receive the abundance. Hence, the thought of the Creator could not be realized. But when the people of Israel correct themselves with vessels of bestowal so they can receive in order to bestow, it is possible to carry out His will, meaning that the Creator enjoys His will having a place to be revealed.

This is called “Israel provide for their Father in heaven,” since the pleasure of the creatures from receiving delight and pleasure is the Creator’s provision. That is, the Creator enjoys His goal being carried out, and the realization of His desire to do good to His creations.

Now we can understand what we asked, What does it mean that the king said that he wants to dine and the place of the one who loves him? In corporeality, we can say that the king is dining at the place of a person who loves him, but how can we say that the Creator dines with the created beings?

The answer is that since the creatures enjoy the delight and pleasure that the Creator gives them, this is the Creator’s meal, meaning His provision, for the King’s meal, His provision, is only that the creatures receive from Him abundance. This is the meaning of “Israel provide for their Father in heaven.”

Now we will also understand the meaning of what the king told him, “I will be dining at your place; go and set it up for me. The man who loved him went and set up a layperson’s bed.” “Layperson” means vessels of reception. He corrected them so as to work in order to bestow, as it is written, “When the king came and he saw all the glory,” meaning he was rewarded with attaining the greatness of the king, he was ashamed to use the vessels of reception, even though they worked in order to bestow.

Now we will explain what the Midrash asks, “It is written, ‘Even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day,’ etc. Thus, why did He say to Israel, ‘Prepare for me a lampstand and candles’”? He answers this with the allegory. But we should understand the question, and then we will be able to understand the answer that we gave with the allegory.

In the literal meaning, it is difficult to understand what is the question that the Creator said to Israel, “Prepare for Me a lampstand and candles.” Would anyone think that the lampstand and the candles are in order to illuminate for the Creator? So, what is the question that they answered with the allegory?

We should interpret that this is as it was at the time of the giving of the Torah. Our sages said (Shabbat 88), “When Moses went up to heaven, the ministering angels said to the Creator, ‘Master of the world, what is a woman-born doing among us?’ He replied to them, ‘He has come to receive the Torah.’ They said to Him: ‘Concealed delight, You wish to give it to a flesh and blood? What is man, that You should remember him? The Lord our Master, how great is Your name in all the earth, place Your majesty on the heavens.’ The Creator said to Moses, ‘Answer them.’ He said to them, ‘Did you go down to Egypt? Is there evil inclination within you?’ Promptly, they admitted to the Creator, as it was said (Psalms 8:10), “‘The Lord our Master, how great is Your name in all the earth.’ But it does not say, ‘Place Your majesty on the heavens.’ But before that (Psalms 8:2), it does write, ‘Place Your majesty on the heavens.’”

We see that the complaint of the angels was about the inferiority of the people of Israel because they have Kelim of the will to receive, called “evil inclination.” For this reason, the Torah belongs to those who are not so materialized, but to angels, who have only vessels of bestowal, as it is written (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” The Seventh Commandment, Item 225), “Elijah flew with four wings, whereas the angels with six wings.” He interprets there, in the Sulam [Ladder commentary on The Zohar] that the angels are discerned as above the Chazeh, namely that they are from the Chazeh and above, settling for covered Hassadim, since they have only vessels of bestowal.

Conversely, the souls come from Malchut, who is from the Chazeh and below, which is the place of revealed Hassadim, since there it is the place of the construction of Malchut, which is the collection of all the souls. They have Kelim of NHY, namely vessels of reception. Therefore, the souls need light of Hochma, which is poured only into vessels of reception.

Also, the ARI says that only the souls that ascend to MAN raise ZON to AVI to draw additional Mochin, since the souls require the light of Hochma because they have vessels of reception.

But the angels, who are regarded as from the Chazeh and above, vessels of bestowal, need only Hassadim. Therefore, when they rise to MAN to ZA to ask for fulfillment, which are only Hassadim, and ZA always has Hassadim, they do not induce any ascent in ZON. Only the souls, which need Hochma, which is drawn by the vessels of reception, and which ZA does not have permanently, therefore the souls cause the ascent of the worlds in order to draw the light of Hochma. Hence, when ZON ascend, all the worlds ascend up to Ein Sof [no end/infinity].

According to the above, we can interpret the complaint of the angels, who complained that the holy Torah, which is regarded as the names of the Creator, the internality of the Torah, which is clothed in corporeal dresses, that all of it is the revelation of Godliness to the created beings, so how can such a great thing be given to people, who are of inferior degree? Clearly, there must be equivalence with the light of the Creator in order to be able to receive it. And the light of the Creator, which is the abundance poured onto the lower ones, so the angels understood that only they have connection to the light, which is the giver, since they, too, have vessels of bestowal, and not a woman-born, where “woman” means Nukva [Aramaic: female], which means that Israel were born out of the quality of Nukva, meaning from vessels of reception, since the souls come from Malchut, who is called “the assembly of Israel.”

We should interpret what the angels asked, “What is a woman-born doing among us?” meaning after all, he comes from the quality of Malchut, which is a vessel of reception, in oppositeness of form from the Torah, which is the light of abundance. And what did Moses reply to them? “Is there evil inclination within you?” Promptly, the angels admitted to the Creator and said, “Lord, our Master, place Your majesty on the earth.”

That answer that Moses replied to the angels, “Is there evil inclination within you?” requires explanation. Did the angels not know that it speaks there about observing Mitzvot in corporeality? Do angels have bodies, that they demanded to be given, for example, a Talit [prayer shawl] and a Tzitzit[a fringed piece of garment worn under the clothes] to cover their bodies, until Moses came and told them that the Torah speaks of corporeal matters, and that the Torah can be only in those who have corporal bodies?

The angels certainly understood it, but they probably demanded that the internality of the Torah, which is the names of the Creator, be given to them. Indeed, this is difficult to understand. If the Torah is given to Israel, why can it not be given also to angels? Is it a material thing, that if you give it to one, you can no longer give it to another?

Here it is implied that the angels saw and understood that if the Torah is given to Israel, it means that the Torah can be given specifically to Israel, and not to them, meaning that they are unworthy of receiving the inner Torah, but only Israel. Otherwise, they would have to be given, too.

In other words, the revealed Torah certainly belongs only to those who have corporeal bodies. But when they heard that Moses went up to receive the Torah from the Creator, they asked, “What is a woman-born doing among us?” He told them, “He has come to receive the Torah,” and they did not know about the giving of the Torah at all, and were puzzled.

They said to Him: “‘Concealed delight, You wish to give it to a flesh and blood?’ And You did not notify us, so we, too, would receive the concealed delight.” They must have been thinking about the internality of the Torah, for “internality” means that which is concealed inside, which is considered a “concealed delight.”

This is why they complained, since they saw that the Torah, with regard to the internality of the Torah, belongs to them and not to a woman-born. In other words, they made correct arguments in their view. That is, the revealed Torah certainly belongs to Israel, but why can they not be given the inner Torah, too? And since they did not know about it, about the giving of the Torah, which shows that they have no relation, then they are right.

What did Moses reply to them? “Is there evil inclination within you?” And since you have no evil inclination, did you go down to Egypt? We should understand Moses’ reply, that if they demanded the internality of the Torah, what is the answer that Moses gave them?

The answer is that the internality of the Torah divides into two lights, called “light of Hassadim,” and “light of Hochma.” Light of Hassadim is poured in vessels of bestowal, since it extends from the Ohr Yashar [Direct Light], as we learned, Hochma at its end, after receiving the light of Hochma, which is the purpose of creation, to do good to His creations, since this delight and pleasure that He wants to impart must have someone to receive this abundance, but this did not exist yet. Therefore, He created this will to receive existence from absence, which is called Aviut [thickness] of Behina Aleph[first discernment]. That is, this is the first Behina [discernment/phase] that emerged and was revealed existence from absence, where there was no root of reception in reality.

It follows that the Kli of Hochma is a vessel of reception on the light of the purpose of creation, meaning that for this Kli, the heaven and earth were created. In other words, the whole purpose of the creation of the worlds was for this Kli to receive the delight and pleasure.

It follows that without this Kli, called “will to receive,” there is no room for the creation of the worlds. But afterward, meaning Hochma at its end, having received the light, felt that she was opposite in form from the Giver, and wanted equivalence of form. Hence, she overcame the will to receive in her and said, “I want to bestow.”

This is the root of the light of Hassadim that there is in the worlds, which is regarded as the light of the correction of creation. Afterward, Bina, at its end, saw that since the purpose of creation is for the lower ones to receive and not to give, she made a sort of compromise, to receive Hassadim with a little bit of Hochma, meaning to receive Hochma as Zeir Anpin [Aramaic: small face], called “light of Hassadim in illumination of Hochma.”

Afterward, we learn that at its end, ZA saw that the purpose of creation was not that the upper abundance, which is considered good and doing good, will illuminate in Zeir Anpin, but expansively. This is called the Sefira Malchut, which is the real Kli for reception of the abundance. In other words, the Kli of Malchut is the Kli in which the light of the purpose of creation can shine, and which the Creator wants to give to the created beings.

By this we can understand Moses’ reply when he said, “Did you go down to Egypt? Is there evil inclination within you?” Therefore, you cannot receive the inner Torah, which is the names of the Creator, since this light of the purpose of creation was only for a woman-born, meaning only for those who have a desire to receive, which is Malchut, called “female,” “a woman,” and not for angels, who have no vessels of reception, and who belong to the discernment of “from the Chazeh and above,” which are Kelim of Bina, vessels of bestowal, and not vessels of reception.

This is the meaning of the words, “Did you go down to Egypt?” That is, since there were Tzimtzum[restriction] and concealment on Malchut, a correction must be done on this Kli. As long as there is no correction, it is considered that the Klipa [shell/peel] of Egypt controls the will to receive. Since you do not have the will to receive, how can it be said that you need to make a correction to work in order to bestow? After all, you have no vessels of reception for the light of the purpose of creation!

By this we understand the allegory, that this is the answer, that although He has angels above, which are pure Kelim, without vessels of reception, called “vessels of a layperson,” but are all holy, all pure,” still the Creator chose specifically the lower ones, who have Kelim of laypeople, for only in those Kelim is it possible to receive the Torah with regard to the holy names, whereas angels pertain to the correction of creation. For this reason the angels are the servants of the soul, and this is why He said to the people of Israel, “Prepare for Me a lampstand.”

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

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

What “Israel Do the Creator’s Will” Means in the Work

Article No. 32, Tav-Shin-Nun, 1989-90

Our sages said (Midrash Rabbah, Nasso, Portion 11:7), One verse says, “The Lord will favor you,” and another verse says, “who will not be biased.” How do these two verses coexist? When Israel do the Creator’s will, He favors them. When they do not do the Creator’s will, He “will not be biased.”

This is perplexing: 1) If they do the Creator’s will, why do they need partiality? After all, they are fine, so what else do they need to do in order to be fine? 2) The verse says (Deuteronomy 10), “who will not be biased and will not take a bribe.” But if we do the Creator’s will, there is no greater bribe than this. It is the same as among people, when someone wants the judge to be on his side in a trial, he does what the judge wants and in return the judge leans toward him in the trial and acquits him. So what is the answer that if they do the Creator’s will, He will be biased, as though He would take a bribe?

To understand these two questions, we need to understand the following:

1) What is “the face of the Creator” [in Hebrew, “turning the face to someone” means being biased toward him], and what is “will not turn lift up the face [be biased]”?

2) What is doing the Creator’s will and what is not doing the Creator’s will?

3) Our sages said, “The Creator said, ‘I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.’” We should understand what is the evil inclination and what is the spice.

4) Our sages also said, “I labored and found, believe; I did not labor but found; do not believe.” We should understand what is the meaning of labor. That is, why did they say that there is labor specifically in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds], and without labor, nothing is given. Where is the novelty here? After all, in the corporeal world, where there is no connection to the work of the Creator, nothing is given without work and labor, too. As we can see, the custom is that a person goes to work, as it is written, “One should leave for one’s toil and labor until evening.” Thus, where is the novelty in that Torah and Mitzvot require labor, and without labor no reward is given, to the point that they say, “I found but did not labor, do not believe”? After all, in corporeality, too, there is no such thing as a person obtaining something without labor. Therefore, we should understand why they said, “I did not labor but found, do not believe.”

We know that there are two matters before us: 1) the purpose of creation, 2) the correction of creation.

The purpose of creation is for the creatures to receive delight, to feel contentment. The correction of creation is for the Creator to have contentment. That is, there must be equivalence of form, where as the Creator wants the creatures to enjoy, as it is written, that the creation of the world was because of His desire to do good to His creations, and since the Creator is the giver and the creatures the receivers, the creatures should also bestow contentment upon the Creator. Then it is considered that the creatures seemingly give and the Creator receives, as our sages said, “Israel furnish their father in heaven.” This is called “correction.” That is, in order to have equivalence of form with the Creator, there must be “Cling unto His attributes.”

However, how does one achieve a state where he wants to do everything for the sake of the Creator and not for his own sake, while man is born with a desire to receive for his own sake? As we learned, this desire—that the Creator wants to delight the creatures—the Creator created in the creatures this desire, a desire to receive, to want and to yearn to satisfy their deficiencies. That is, the Creator created in the creatures a lack. This lack demands its satisfaction, or this lack yields in us suffering, which forces a person to do everything he can to satisfy his lack.

Thus, when a person has a desire and a yearning to satisfy his lack, how can he relinquish the satisfaction of his lack and say that he receives the filling because he wants to satisfy the Creator’s will? That is, since the Creator wants the creatures to enjoy abundance, therefore, he receives only for this reason. This is against the way that the Creator created nature!

To this comes the answer, “The Creator said, ‘I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.’” This means that the will to receive for oneself is called the “evil inclination,” since it obstructs us from achieving Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, called “equivalence of form.” Through the Torah, there is the light of Torah that reforms him so as to have the power to overcome the will to receive for himself and do everything for the sake of the Creator.

It therefore follows that the reason that should compel a person to engage in Torah and Mitzvot is in order to obtain vessels of bestowal, which is called the “correction of creation.” When a person engages in Torah and Mitzvot with this intention, it is regarded as “working Lishma [for Her sake].” That is, he works and labors in order to obtain something that does not exist in nature. For this reason, he needs the Segula [remedy/virtue] of Torah and Mitzvot to make him obtain these Kelim[vessels], which he cannot obtain by himself unless with the help of the Creator. This Segula is found in Torah and Mitzvot, and this is called the “light of Torah,” as was said, “the light in it reforms him.”

However, 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].” That is, the beginning of man’s work is Lo Lishma, meaning to receive reward, as it is written in The Zohar, “either for a reward in this world, or a reward in the next world.” When a person works for a reward, he must believe in reward and punishment. If he believes in this, his work is regarded as “according to nature,” meaning that the body does not resist his work in Torah and Mitzvot because at that time he is working for his own sake.

This is called “the natural way,” as in corporeal affairs, when we work we get reward. Yet, in corporeality, he sees the reward in the same place, so the reward mandates the work, while in Torah and Mitzvot he must believe in the reward, so there is work to believe in reward and punishment. But when he believes in reward and punishment, the body can do the holy work.

However, when a person wants to engage in Torah and Mitzvot not in order to receive reward, the body objects to this, as it is against nature. By nature, a person can work only for his own sake. Therefore, when he wants to work for the sake of the Creator, the body objects to this.

Here begins the labor, as our sages said, “I labored but did not find, do not believe; I did not labor but found, do not believe.” Indeed, it is difficult to understand how a person can deceive himself and say, “I did not labor but found.” After all, in corporeality, we do not see that a person finds provision without labor. And here, in the work, where our sages said, “A thousand walk into a room and one comes out to teach,” we see that acquiring Torah is harder than obtaining corporeality. And in corporeality, we do not obtain anything without labor, so how can a person say that he has obtained something without labor?

We should also understand what they said, “I labored but did not find.” Does one lie when he says, “I did not find,” of which they said, “do not believe”? After all, we are speaking of a person who wants to obtain something in the Torah, would he lie?

The thing is that when a person wants to work and achieve the degree of Dvekut, which is equivalence of form, as the Creator wants to bestow upon the creatures, man, too, wants to come to be able to do the Creator’s will. That is, as the Creator wants to bestow, so man wants to do everything in order to bestow. But since bestowing is against nature, man cannot obtain this desire, as it contradicts human nature, for the Creator created man with a desire to receive, so how can man go against the nature with which the Creator created him? Only the Creator can change nature, but not man, as our sages said (Taanit 25), “He who said to the oil, ‘Burn!’ will say to the vinegar, ‘Burn!’”

Therefore, here, too, in work matters, we must say, “He who created in the creatures the desire to receive for oneself will give the creatures the desire to bestow.” That is, only the Creator can change nature, and not man. This is why it is called “a miracle from above,” as it is above nature. This is called “the miracle of the exodus from Egypt,” when the Creator delivered them from control of the Egyptians, which is the control of the will to receive.

Accordingly, “I labored but did not find” means that I have made great efforts to be rewarded with the desire to bestow, meaning I have done everything I could but did not find within me the desire to bestow and I remained with the will to receive for myself even more than when I began the work on obtaining the desire to bestow, which is the Creator’s will, whose desire is only to bestow. When I began to labor, I saw that each time I found myself immersed deeper in the will to receive for myself. Then, I decided that it is true that I labored but did not find, but the Creator helped me find in me the desire to bestow. This is as The Zohar says, “He who comes to purify is aided.” And it asks, “With what?” It replies, “With a holy soul. When he is born, he is given a soul. He is rewarded more…”

It follows that the Creator gives him the soul, each time a higher degree, and this is called the “face of the Creator,” meaning the light of the Creator, called when it is a complete degree by the name NRNHY. This is the assistance he receives from above.

It therefore follows that when a person says, “I did not labor,” it means that the labor did not help him at all, so as to be able to say that through the labor he has found within him the desire to bestow. If the Creator had not given him the light of His face, called a “holy soul,” he would remain in the will to receive for himself, and nothing more. It follows that when he says, “I labored but did not find,” he is telling the truth, meaning that his labor did not help him whatsoever.

Here we should ask, If he is right when he says “I did not labor,” why did they say, “Do not believe”? The answer is that one is not given something for which he has no need, since one who has a need and asks the Creator to satisfy his need receives from above a filling for his need. Therefore, the person’s labor and desire to be rewarded with vessels of bestowal, and his labor and toil for this, for obtaining the desire of the Creator, called “desire to bestow,” this is the Kli [vessel], and the light is called “The desire to bestow.” Only the Creator can give this desire. That is, just as He has given to man the desire to receive when he was born, He can later give him the desire to bestow. But if a person does not labor in order to obtain the desire to bestow, then he has no need. And the evidence that it is not worth his while to exert and toil in order to be rewarded with it is that he cannot receive from above this desire that will change the workings of nature.

By this we can interpret what our sages said (Avot, Chapter 2:21), “It is not for you to finish the work, nor are you free to idle away from it.” We should interpret that if a person knows that he cannot obtain the desire to bestow, but only the Creator can give it to him, then why does he need to labor in vain, since he cannot obtain it? Therefore, we should ask, Why do I need this work? since in any case, he cannot obtain this by himself.

Our sages said about this, “You are not free to rid yourself of it.” This is so because man’s labor is required not because man can obtain the desire to bestow, since the desire to bestow is called “light,” as it is written, “He who comes to purify is aided,” and the aid, says The Zohar, is the light of Neshama, as it is written that he is assisted by giving him a holy Neshama [soul]. Rather, we need the labor for the Kli, meaning to obtain the lack—how much he needs the Creator’s help, to help him and give him the light of Neshama.

However, when a person begins to work in order to obtain the desire of the Creator, which is the desire to bestow, just as the Creator wants to bestow, and a person thinks that he must obtain this by himself, during the work, he sees that each time he becomes more immersed in self-love. At that time, a person escapes the campaign because he sees that he is not advancing. Then the person tells himself that this work of obtaining the desire of the Creator is not for him. Why? Because he sees that each time he becomes worse.

Yet, if a person believes that only the Creator gives the desire to bestow, then why should he escape the campaign and say that it is for more gifted people? After all, the Creator helps with this, so why is it important to the Creator to differentiate one person from other people?

It is known that to the Creator, small and great are equal. Hence, when a person says that working only to bestow is only for a chosen few and not for ordinary people, it is a sign that he thinks that it is within man’s hands to obtain the desire to bestow. For this reason, a person must be strong-minded and believe that he is not required to achieve this desire. Rather, he is required to have a need to achieve the desire to bestow. And when he has a true desire and need to achieve this, the Creator will help him, as it is written, “He who comes to purify is aided.” All the labor that one should give is only to obtain the need and desire to bestow, and nothing else.

Yet, there is a question: When a person feels the bad, to the extent that the will to receive obstructs him from achieving Dvekut, and he prays to the Creator to help him and give him the desire to bestow, why after several efforts that a person has given in order to obtain the desire to bestow, it makes sense that the Creator should give him the desire to bestow? But in the end, what does one receive? Not only did he not get help by the Creator giving him the desire to bestow, but instead, in return for the effort he made, he receives an even stronger desire. That is, each time, he sees that his will to receive has grown more excessive. Therefore, he sees here the opposite work of what should have happened.

The answer is that a person cannot be shown how much evil there is in him, meaning the full measure of evil with which one is born, as it is written in The Zohar about the verse “Sin crouches at the door,” that as soon as one comes out of the womb, the evil, called “sin,” comes along with it. If one were to see all the evil in him, he would immediately say that this work of doing everything for the sake of the Creator is not for him, and he would not even want to begin the work. He would give up in advance.

For this reason, only a little bit of evil is shown to a person, and for the little bit of evil, a person begins to ask the Creator to help him. At that time, some more evil is revealed to a person and he begins to ask the Creator for help once more. Therefore, after every request for help, he can be shown a little more evil, and so he adds requests, and more revelation of evil within him is added to him. Finally, a person gives all the prayers about all the evil that is in him, and then he receives the good he asks for, meaning the desire to bestow, for which he begins to work in order to obtain this desire, which is the will of the Creator, whose desire is only to bestow.

It follows that if a person receives the desire to bestow on a little bit of evil, he will think that this is enough for him. If he is satisfied in the work, then all the evil that is left in him, for which he did not receive the correction of a desire to bestow, this bad will stay within him uncorrected. Conversely, when they see above that each time he asks for help over the bad that is revealed in him each day, then all the bad within him, meaning which was revealed to him, he asks for help from above, and the help he receives through his prayers now is that evil is revealed to him so that in this way, all the evil will be revealed in him.

Afterward, when he receives the help from above, all the bad will be corrected into work in order to bestow. Because he did not receive the desire to bestow in the middle of the work, he does not have anything from which to derive satisfaction. For this reason, he prays each time to be given the desire to bestow. Then, through his prayers, when he asks the Creator to give him the help, there is room for the evil to be revealed in him because he is standing and crying out to be given the help he needs.

This is similar to an expert physician who comes to the country, who heals all of man’s sicknesses in the world. However, a person can only see him once. Any patient who comes to him, whatever illnesses the patient tells him, he heals. One patient came to him with stomach problems, and the doctor healed him. Afterward, the patient learned he had a heart disease, for example, and wanted to go see the doctor. But since he has already been to the doctor and the doctor does not see patients twice, then he was left with a heart disease for the rest of his life. Another patient went in and said, “I have a heart disease and arthritis, and my gallbladder is also troubling me,” since other doctors told him he was suffering from this illness, too. He went to the expert doctor, who healed everything at once. But other patients, who did not know their illnesses, remained with the illnesses they had.

Then, all the patients who did not know their illnesses came to consult with the doctor about how they might know all their illnesses when he gives them the medicine, so it will cure all their sicknesses. Then, the doctor said that anyone who wants to see him, while he makes an appointment, he will give him a pill, and this pill that the doctor gives them will show them all their illnesses. Afterward, when they come to him, he will cure them. Thus, all the illnesses that each one has will be cured at once.

But the patients did not understand what the doctor told them. When they took the pill that the doctor gave them when they made an appointment with him. Therefore, each one saw that he was a little sick, and the doctor gave them a cure and they were healed. Now he sees the doctor’s expertise, that now he has become sicker than before. Previously, he suffered from one disease, and now he sees that each time his situation worsens. That is, sometimes he had headaches, but now he has heartaches, or stomachaches, and so on. Everyone yells at the mediators for advising them to go to this doctor, since they have become worse since they went to the doctor, and still the doctor himself did not treat them, only the doctor’s secretary when he made an appointment to see the doctor. She gave him a pill and his situation has worsened each day.

The lesson is that when a person signs up to do the holy work, which is to achieve the desire of the Creator, the desire to bestow, he is told that the doctor heals all the illnesses at once, and our illness is called “will to receive for ourselves.” In order for the desire to receive to be revealed within man to its full meanness, otherwise, if he asks the Creator to be given help to be able to overcome the will to receive and perform actions in order to bestow, then that person will be satisfied with the work of the desire to bestow.

Thus, the bad will remain in him but will not be revealed, as in corporeality when a person is sick but does not know his illness and must take tests to know the illness. Likewise, a person who wants to work and labor in order to be able to do the Creator’s will, the person does not know his illness, and only through Torah and work can we know his illness.

This is as our sages said, “If his head aches, let him engage in Torah.” Baal HaSulam interpreted that it means he has foreign thoughts. “If his stomach aches,” this means that the will to receive in his guts controls him, and so forth. Hence, first, all the evil in a person must be revealed, and he does not receive the desire to bestow immediately after he has labored. Rather, it is until all the evil in him is revealed. Then, when he receives the desire to bestow, it is over all the evil in him.

It follows that the fact that one sees that he is growing worse each time is a sign that he is walking on the path of truth. The evidence is that the way he is walking on is doing its thing. It is like a person giving a medicine to the sick person once, and he comes to the doctor and tells him, “Now, through your medicine, the illness has become worse.” Then the doctor tells him, “On the contrary, now I see that my medicine has begun to work. It is simply that first it works in one way, and then it works in another way until he regains his health.”

According to the above, we will understand what we asked, What is “doing the Creator’s will”? We should interpret, a desire to bestow, meaning that His will is to do good to His creations, and He wants the created beings to enjoy. Likewise, man wants to obtain that desire because he wants adhesion with the Creator, which is the meaning of equivalence of form. Since man was created with an opposite desire—a desire only to receive and not to bestow—he therefore has much labor to obtain it.

Conversely, when a person works and receives reward in corporeality, it is not regarded as “labor,” since it is not against nature, since everything he does is for his own benefit.

This is not so in the work to obtain the will of the Creator, namely the desire to bestow, where one does only that which yields benefit to the Creator and not to himself. This is labor, since it is against nature. Such a person cannot obtain this desire by himself, but needs the Creator to give it to him. This is called the Creator “favoring him,” since it is impossible to obtain this unless miraculously, above nature.

It follows that there is no other way to obtain this desire unless by being favored. This is the meaning of the words, “The Lord will favor you.” The Midrash explains that when they do the Creator’s will, when they work on obtaining this desire, the Creator must give man the Panim [face/anterior] of the Creator, called a Neshama [soul]. That is, he is assisted by giving him a holy soul, which is the face of the Creator, as there is no other way to be rewarded with the will of the Creator unless through the Creator’s face [favor]. This is the meaning of “The Lord will favor you.”

This is not so with people who do not engage in Torah and Mitzvot in order to be rewarded with the will of the Creator, but engage in Torah and Mitzvot for a reward. They do not need the face of the Creator, called a “soul,” since they are not going against nature. Hence, to the extent that they believe in reward and punishment, they can engage in Torah and Mitzvot, since the reward awakens them to work. It follows that when they do not do the Creator’s will, meaning engage in Torah and Mitzvot, they do not want reward for their work—that the Creator will give them the desire to bestow, but rather a reward for the will to receive. It is written about them that He “will not be biased,” since they do not need a soul, that He would give them, for the face of the Creator is the light of the Creator, called a “holy soul,” which a person receives in order to reform him, and which is called “help from above.”

It therefore follows that what they said, that when they do not do the Creator’s will, the Creator will not favor them, it is because they do not need the Creator to give them the soul that will reform them, since they feel that they are good, that they are observing Torah and Mitzvot in all its details and intricacies. And what is the reason for which they engage in Torah and Mitzvot? It is the reward. To the extent that they believe in reward and punishment, they can do the holy work, since this does not contradict the desire to receive.

Therefore, precisely when they do the Creator’s will, meaning when their work in Torah and Mitzvot is because “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,” then they are learning Torah in order to emerge from the control of the will to receive, which is called the “evil inclination.” They need the light of Torah, for by this they will be rewarded with the desire of the Creator, which is the desire to bestow. By this we will understand what we asked, What is the “face of the Creator”? The answer is that it is a light, the holy soul that the Creator gives to a person in order to reform him.

Now we can also understand what we asked, What is “who … will not take a bribe”? After all, doing the Creator’s will seems to be a bribery in itself. The answer is that he wants the Creator to favor him, meaning give him a holy soul, not for his own sake. On the contrary, he wants the Creator to favor him so he can emerge from self-benefit and be able to work only for the sake of the Creator, and not for his own sake.

Thus, he does not want the Creator to give him something for his own sake, that we can say that the person is bribing the Creator the way one bribes by giving someone a gift with the aim that the receiver of the gift will give the giver of the gift something for his own sake. Conversely, here, a person doing the Creator’s will means that he wants to be able to do the Creator’s will and asks Him to favor him so he can do all that he does for the sake of the Creator.

By this we understand that the “evil inclination” is the will to receive, and the “spice” is the power to emerge from the control of the will to receive, and the Torah is called “the light of Torah,” which is the interior of the Torah, the soul of the Torah.

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

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

What It Means that “Law and Ordinance” Is the Name of the Creator in the Work

Article No. 30, Tav-Shin-Nun, 1989-90

The Zohar says (BeHukotai, Items 16-18), “Malchut is called ‘law.’ The decrees of the Torah are included in her. ‘My ordinances shall you keep.’ An ordinance, which is ZA, to which that statute, which is Malchut, grips. Thus, upper and lower conjoin, meaning the statutes in Malchut are in the ordinances in ZA. And this is the rule of the holy name, since ‘law and ordinance’ is the name of the Creator. ‘And do them.’ He asks, ‘Since he already said ‘walk’ and ‘keep,’ why the ‘do,’ as well?’ He answers that one who performs the Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] of the Torah and walks in His ways, it is as though he made Him above. The Creator said, ‘as if he made Me.’ And they determined it. Hence, ‘And do them,’ as a law and ordinance, which are ZA and Malchut.”

We should understand what it means when he says, “One who performs the Mitzvot of the Torah and walks in His ways, it is as though he made Him.” We should also understand the difference between saying, “one who performs the Mitzvot of the Torah” and what he adds, “and walks in His ways,” for it seems like they are two things. That is, it seems as though although he observes the Mitzvot of the Torah, if he does not walk in His ways, it is not said that he made the Creator. Thus, what is the meaning of “and walks in His ways”?

We should also understand what is written (Item 19), “Similarly, Rabbi Shimon said, ‘And David made Him a name.’ But did David make it for Him? He replies, ‘Rather, because David went in the ways of Torah and kept the Mitzvot of the Torah, it is as though he actually made a name there.’ For this reason, it was said, ‘And do them.’ That is, if you try to do them, to correct the holy name as it should be, all those blessings above will be properly corrected in you.”

We should also ask, What does it mean that David made a name for the Creator? With respect to whom did he make the name? Does the Creator need someone to make for Him a good name among the created beings, so that by the Creator having a good name, they will respect Him? This would befit the creatures, where one person can respect another person like him, but how can we say that the Creator needs to have a good name among the creatures? Also, we should understand how is it that when a person walks in the ways of Torah and performs the commandments of the Torah, the Creator gets a good name.

To understand all this, we must first present the whole matter of creation, meaning for what purpose did the Creator create creation. The answer is, it is known that His desire is to do good to His creations. It follows that the Creator received the name of “a Giver,” who gives delight and pleasure to creation, where creation is called “receiver,” and the receiver must be deficient; otherwise, it is impossible to receive. For this reason, the will to receive delight and pleasure is called “lacking.”

There is no lack in the Creator, for the Creator is perfectly complete. Hence, creation is called “existence from absence,” after this lack when something was created, which did not exist before He created it. And since there is no lack in the Creator, when a person feels lacking, he is already in disparity of form from the Creator. When he satisfies the lack, although he has some measure of equivalence, for now he is not deficient, but by being the receiver while the Creator is the giver, it follows that there is no equivalence of form, since by this disparity of form he becomes separated from the Creator.

In order to correct this, meaning where a person is called “created being,” who is deficient, in order to have equivalence, he must be in wholeness, meaning receive from the Creator abundance. When he receives from the Creator, he is once again in disparity of form, and then this correction called “receiving in order to bestow” is done. That is, although by nature, he has a desire and yearning to receive from something that he can enjoy, he overcomes and does not want to receive the pleasure, unless because he wants to bestow contentment upon his Maker.

Any pleasure that he can say that the Creator enjoys, meaning by observing His thought and will, which is to do good to His creations, meaning that all the pleasures we can say that the Creator enjoys when we receive from Him, only in this manner do we receive. Hence, when a person achieves this degree, which is to bring contentment to his Maker, he can delight Him by receiving from Him delight and pleasure.

Thus, now we have equivalence of form from two sides: 1) There is no longer a lack in the lower one, since he receives delight and pleasure from the Creator. 2) Now he bestows like the Creator. That is, the fact that he receives pleasure now is not for his own benefit, but only for the sake of the Creator. But for his own sake, he is willing to relinquish any pleasure. It follows that now there are two things together—the correction of creation and the purpose of creation.

This is called Zivug de Hakaa [coupling by striking], where by the Hakaa [striking], a unification occurs. In spirituality, Hakaa means two conflicting things, where everything that one rejects, the other wants. In other words, the Creator wants the lower one to receive delight and pleasure, meaning to bestow upon the lower one, and the lower one wants equivalence of form, meaning to bestow upon the upper one.

It follows that they are in conflict. Yet, by this they come to unification. In other words, each one takes the view of the other, meaning that the upper one wants the lower one to receive. The lower one receives only to the extent that he knows that everything that he receives is only because the upper one wants. It follows that now he receives like the upper one wants, and he gives as he wants, and there is no separation here. Rather, now, both are of the same view.

By the creature having vessels of bestowal, he receives in them delight and pleasure, and then it is evident to all that the name of the Creator is The Good Who Does Good. Before the delight and pleasure were revealed, He was called “Shechina [Divinity] in the dust,” meaning that everyone suffers in the world because there are no Kelim [vessels] suitable to receive the delight and pleasure.

Hence, the lower ones must believe that the Creator leads the world as The Good Who Does Good, which is why the name of the Creator, The Good Who Does Good, is not revealed. But when the lower ones receive the vessels of bestowal, the name of the Creator, The Good Who Does Good, can be revealed.

But here comes the toughest question: How can a person receive these Kelim? By nature, he is completely opposite, for man is born only with vessels of reception, meaning that a person cannot do anything unless it yields benefit to himself. So how can he do something that is against nature, meaning to bestow and not receive anything for his own benefit?

Our sages said about this, that the Creator said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” There are two things to note about observing Torah and Mitzvot: 1) the practice of Torah and Mitzvot, 2) the intention, meaning what he wants for observing Torah and Mitzvot.

The reward that one should ask of the Creator is to walk in His ways, meaning in the ways of the Creator. And what is the way of the Creator? We should say that His way is to bestow upon the creatures delight and pleasure. Also, all of one’s concerns should be about bestowal upon the Creator, that He will enjoy, and not to be concerned with his own benefit, but only with the benefit of the Creator, like the Creator, whose wish is to do good to His creations.

Since man was born with a nature of receiving for himself, it is known that by the Creator wanting to delight His creatures, the receiver must have a desire and yearning for the matter. Otherwise, it is impossible to enjoy. Hence, the Creator created the creatures with a yearning to satisfy their lack. But how can the creatures walk in His ways, so that the creatures will bestow like the Creator, which is called “cling to His attributes”?

To correct this, the Creator said, “I have created the evil inclination,” meaning the will to receive only for oneself, “I have created the Torah as a spice.” That is, through the merit of the Torah, we will receive the power to overcome the bad, and we will be able to work only in order to bestow pleasure upon the Creator.

It therefore follows that it is not enough to observe Torah and Mitzvot. Rather, one must also direct the aim, why is he observing Torah and Mitzvot. That is, what is the reward he wants the Creator to pay him for observing Torah and Mitzvot? There are many intentions in this regard. It is written in The Zohar about it, that some want, in return for observing Torah and Mitzvot, reward in this world, and some want reward in the next world. But the main thing a person needs is to receive a reason to compel him to observe Torah and Mitzvot, which is “because He is great and ruling.” That is, he engages in Torah and Mitzvot because he has great pleasure in that he is serving a great King.

This implies that the reason why a person observes Torah and Mitzvot is in order for the Creator to give him the power to bestow, which he does not have by nature. The Torah and Mitzvot are a Segula [remedy/virtue/quality] to obtain this, as it is written, “I have created the evil inclination.” Thus, what is the advice so we can go against nature? The answer is that for this, we were given the Torah as a spice. That is, through the Torah we will obtain the power of bestowal. It follows that a person should aim while engaging in Torah and Mitzvot for only one thing: to walk in His ways. That is, as the Creator’s way is to bestow, likewise, in return for his work, man wants the Creator to give him this force.

By this we should interpret what we asked about the words of The Zohar, “One who performs the Mitzvot of the Torah and walks in His ways.” We asked, What does it add to us that it says, “walks in His ways,” since a person is already observing the commandments of the Torah? According to the above, it means that it is not enough to observe the Mitzvot of the Torah; he must also aim that he wants reward in return for observing the Mitzvot of the Torah. And what type of reward does he want? to be able to walk in the way of the Creator. Just as the way of the Creator is to bestow upon the creatures so the creatures will enjoy, likewise, man wants to have a desire and yearning to bestow contentment upon his Maker and to ask the Creator to reward him for his work. This should be as in corporeality, where a person works and looks, during the work, at when he will receive his salary. Likewise, in the work of the Creator in observing Torah and Mitzvot, one should look forward to the time when he receives the salary for his labor, meaning when he is rewarded with vessels of bestowal.

According to the above, we can interpret what we asked about what The Zohar says about the verse, “And David made Him a name.” It says that because David went in the ways of the Torah, it is as though he actually worked there. This is why it was said, “And do them,” to properly correct the holy name. We asked, Does the Creator need to make for Himself a name with the created beings? This is appropriate for a person. With respect to a person, you can say that he wants to have a good name, but not when it comes to the Creator with regard to the creatures. Can it be said that a person who walks into a henhouse wants to have a good name among the roosters, so they will respect him because of his importance? It is even more so with regard to the Creator and the creatures. What value do the creatures have compared to the Creator, that we can say that the Creator wants to have a good name so they will respect Him? Thus, what is the meaning of “And David made Him a name” by walking in the ways of Torah, meaning that man should make a good name for the Creator?

But since the Creator wants to give delight and pleasure to the creatures, so they will enjoy, if the creatures enjoy the Creator giving them abundance, then the creatures give Him a good name, meaning they say that the Creator is good and does good. This means that the name that the Creator will receive from the creatures, that He is good and does good, He does not need this name so they will respect Him by this. Rather, He wants them to feel this name, meaning that this name is not for the Creator, since He needs this name, but rather for the creatures. That is, the Creator wants the creatures to perceive Him in this way. In other words, it is a sign that they are enjoying their lives, and the evidence of this is that they are saying that the Creator is called The Good Who Does Good.

Therefore, there is a difference between man and the rest of the created beings. Man wants to have a name in order to be rewarded for it. His reward is that 1) The created beings respect him for doing good to others, 2) Sometimes a person does good to others in return for a reward in the next world.

But the name that the Creator wants to be given, The Good Who Does Good, is for the sake of the creatures. That is, when the creatures call Him The Good Who Does Good, the creatures are enjoying Him. Otherwise, they would not call Him The Good Who Does Good.

However, from the perspective of the correction of creation, in order for the creatures to have Dvekut [adhesion] when they receive the delight and pleasure, a person must receive everything in order to bestow. But since man is born by nature with a desire only to receive, we were given the Torah and Mitzvot by which we can emerge from the control of the will to receive for ourselves and do everything in order to bestow.

This is the meaning of what he says, “Because David walked in the ways of the Torah,” meaning that through the Torah, he corrected himself and was rewarded with vessels of bestowal. In these vessels, the abundance is poured from above and a person is rewarded with The Good Who Does Good, meaning that then he attains the real name of the Creator—The Good Who Does Good—because he received the good by correcting himself through the ways of the Torah. This is the meaning of “And David made Him a name,” meaning that David was rewarded with attaining the name of the Creator, called The Good Who Does Good.

However, concerning what it says, “Law is Malchut, ordinance is ZA,” this is the rule of the holy name, since “law and ordinance” is the name of the Creator. This is the meaning of “And do them.” We should understand this, since he says that law is regarded as Malchut, and ordinance is regarded as ZA. Therefore, they are two separate names, so how does he say that law and ordinance is the name of the Creator? They are two names! ZA is called “The Creator,” and Malchut is called Shechina [Divinity]. Thus, what does it mean that he says, “Law and order is the name of the Creator”?

It is known that there is no light without a Kli [vessel]. That is, the purpose of creation, to do good to His creations, created in the creatures a desire to receive delight. This desire is called Malchut, as he writes in The Study of the Ten Sefirot (Part 2, Answer 39), “She is called Malchut because from her extend a guidance of assertiveness and utter control,” like the fear of the kingship. It follows that the abundance that the Creator wants to give to the created beings is called Malchut, and the Sefira Malchut is the Kli that receives the light in each and every degree.

Baal HaSulam said that in general, the light is called “the Creator,” and the Kli that receives the light is called Malchut, or Shechina. This Kli is called Shechina because the light dwells inside the Kli. He said that this is the meaning of what The Zohar says, “He is Shochen [dweller]; she is Shechina [dwelling place],” meaning that they are one thing: light and Kli.

However, there is disparity of form between the light and the Kli, between the giver and the receiver, and disparity of form is called “separation.” Since all the creatures extend from Malchut, and Malchutis called “the assembly of Israel,” which is the collection of all the souls, in order for Malchutto be able to receive abundance for the creatures, Malchut must be united so as to be in equivalence of form with the light.

Because of this, we were given Torah and Mitzvot by which we can achieve equivalence of form with the Creator. That is, all those who engage in Torah and Mitzvot and intend to thereby receive desire and yearning to do everything with the intention to bestow contentment upon the Maker, meaning that as the Creator bestows upon the creatures, the creatures want to bestow upon the Creator, and by this each one corrects the root of his soul, which is Malchut, to work in order to bestow, which is called “unification,” meaning uniting the light and the Kli to be in equivalence of form, at that time the abundance pours out to the creatures, namely the delight and pleasure.

According to the above, we should interpret what we asked, Why does The Zohar say that law and ordinance is the name of the Creator? After all, they are two names, ZA and Malchut, which is “law” and “ordinance.” But as said above, ZA, who is called “ordinance,” is the light that is revealed. This is the abundance. Malchut is the receiver who should receive everything in order to bestow. This is called “law,” meaning that although man sees that he was born with a desire to receive for himself, and was born with mind and reason, and a person should weigh everything he wants to do with his reason, but here, in the work of the Creator, he is told that he should not look at what his mind tells him. Rather, he must accept this as a law, above reason.

Thus, although he was created by nature with a desire to receive, he should nonetheless believe in the words of our sages, who said that man should cling to the attributes of the Creator, as it is written, “As He is merciful, so you are merciful.” It follows that by accepting the Torah and Mitzvot as a law, although it is above reason, meaning that the body does not understand it, through faith above reason, a person can achieve equivalence of form.

That is, each person who engages in Torah and Mitzvot with the aim to bestow, by doing so, he unites ZA, who is called “ordinance,” meaning the light and abundance, with Malchut, who is the Kli that must receive the light, so its intention will also be to bestow, like the light. This is called “the unification of the Creator and His Shechina.” At that time, the name “One” is made, meaning that the two names, ZA, called “ordinance,” meaning HaVaYaH, and His Name, called Malchut, become one.

According to this, we should interpret what is written, “One who performs the Mitzvot of the Torah and walks in His ways, it is as though he made Him above. The Creator said, ‘as if he made Me.’ And they determined it. Hence, ‘And do them,’ as a law and ordinance, which are ZA and Malchut.” This means that by performing the Mitzvot of the Torah and walking in His ways, a person causes at the root of his soul that Malchut above will work in order to bestow, like ZA. This is called “unification.” It follows that the meaning of “and do them,” is the intention to make this unification of ZA and Malchut, called “law” and “ordinance.” And that, too, is called “the unification of the Creator and His Shechina.” This is the work that the created beings should do.

It follows that the meaning is that since they are two names, the creatures must make the unification, so it becomes one. When all creations achieve their wholeness, meaning when all are corrected at the root of their souls, the verse “On that day will be the Lord is one and His name, One,” will come true. This is the work of which it is written, “And do them.”

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

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

What Is, “The Torah Exhausts a Person’s Strength,” in the Work?

Article No. 29, Tav-Shin-Nun, 1989-90

Our sages said (Sanhedrin 26b), “Rabbi Hanin said, ‘Why is the name of the Torah Tushia[gumption/resourcefulness]? It is because she Mateshet [exhausts] a person’s strength.’” We should understand this. After all, our sages said (Avot, Chapter 6:7), “Great is the Torah, for she gives life to those who make her, as it was said, ‘For they are life to those who find them, and a healing to all his flesh.’” They also said (Iruvin 54), “If his head aches, let him engage in Torah; if his throat aches, let him engage in Torah; if his stomach aches, let him engage in Torah, as was said, ‘a healing to all his flesh.’” Thus, this contradicts the above said.

To understand this, we must first understand what is the Torah. That is, for what purpose did the Creator give us the Torah? Our sages said (Kidushin 30), “I have created the evil inclination; I have created for it the Torah as a spice.” This seems to mean that if there were no evil inclination, He would not create the Torah, as it is written, “I have created the Torah as a spice.” Can it be said that the Torah was created for the evil inclination?

The Zohar says (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” “General Explanation for All Fourteen Commandments and How They Divide into the Seven Days of Creation,” Item 1): “The Mitzvot in the Torah are called Pekudin [Aramaic: commands/deposits], as well as 613 Eitin [Aramaic: counsels/tips]. The difference between them is that in all things there is Panim [anterior/face] and Achor [posterior/back]. The preparation for something is called Achor, and the attainment of the matter is called Panim. Similarly, in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] there are ‘We shall do’ and ‘We shall hear.’ When observing Torah and Mitzvot as ‘doers of His word,’ prior to being rewarded with ‘hearing the voice of His word,’ the Mitzvot are called ‘613 Eitin,’ and are regarded as Achor. When rewarded with ‘hearing the voice of His word,’ the 613 Mitzvot become Pekudin, from the word Pikadon [deposit]. This is so because there are 613 Mitzvot, where in each Mitzva [singular of Mitzvot], the light of a unique degree is deposited, opposite a unique organ in the 613 organs and tendons of the soul and of the body.”

According to the above, it means that the Torah and Mitzvot are discerned in two degrees: 1) An advice, as it is written, “613 Eitin.” That is, by observing Torah and Mitzvot, they will have the strength to cancel the evil inclination. By this we should interpret what is written, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” That is, the Torah is considered a spice for the evil inclination. In The Zohar, this is called “613 Eitin.” 2) Torah for the sake of Torah, which are regarded as 613 Pekudin. This Torah is the names of the Creator. We attain this Torah after we have corrected our actions and can work in order to bestow and not for our own sake.

However, when beginning to walk toward attainment of the vessels of bestowal, we said that for this we need the Torah as Eitin, called 613 Eitin. There is also work before this, namely the first manner in which we begin to observe Torah and Mitzvot. This is called Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], and this is the first discernment.

The second manner is when we want to work Lishma [for Her sake]. At that time, we must do everything we can in order to achieve Lishma, meaning to be able to come to do everything in order to bestow.

Afterward, we arrive at the third manner, when we are rewarded with the Torah, called “the names of the Creator,” which The Zohar calls “613 Pekudin.”

Therefore, when beginning to observe Torah and Mitzvot in the first manner, meaning in Lo Lishmaand in order to receive reward, as it is written in The Zohar (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” “General Explanation for All Fourteen Commandments and How They Divide into the Seven Days of Creation”), The beginning of man’s work in Torah and Mitzvot is because of reward and punishment in this world, or reward and punishment in the next world. In this state, he still does not need the Torah and Mitzvot as Eitin. Rather, to the extent that he believes in reward and punishment, the reward and punishment obligate him to observe Torah and Mitzvot, and not because of the advice, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,” where the Torah is the counsel against the evil inclination within man, and the man wants to emerge from its control. That is, a person wants to emerge from self-love and do everything for the sake of the Creator, and this is why he observes Torah and Mitzvot. Instead, the will to receive for himself obligates him to observe Torah and Mitzvot.

Thus, what does “From Lo Lishma we come to Lishma” mean? since we see no connection between a person observing Torah and Mitzvot in order to receive reward, that should make it a springboard for him to shift from Lo Lishma to Lishma. Our sages said, “because the light in it reforms him.” That is, the light in the Torah shines to a person so he will feel that he is not regarded as human, but that he is like any other animal, as it is written (Yevamot 61), “You are called ‘man,’ and the idol-worshippers are not called ‘man.’”

By this we should interpret what we asked, What does it mean that they said, “Why is the Torah called Tushia?” It is because she exhausts a person’s strength. But they said the opposite: “a healing to all his flesh.”

The meaning is that when a person learns Lo Lishma, the Torah makes him feel that the quality of “man” in him is very weak. That is, the “man” power within him is very weak and he is like all other animals. But what is the form that the man sees? It is that the “man” in him is very weak.

We know that the main difference between man and beast is that a beast has no sensation of the other. This is called “will to receive only for one’s own sake.” This is also called “evil.” In other words, the will to receive for oneself is called “evil’ because the Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment were on it, so that no light of Kedusha [holiness] may reach into this will to receive.

Since this will to receive is all that interferes, so we cannot receive the delight and pleasure that He wished to give to the created beings, this is why it is called “evil,” or “evil inclination.” However, it is difficult to understand why when a person observes Torah and Mitzvot with the aim, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,” it bring a person the feeling that there is evil in him, meaning that he was happy at the time of ascent, and then he suffered a descent and feels the bad in him, and why does he have many descents?

It is because the Torah is the spice for the evil inclination. Thus, why do we not see that the evil inclination loses its power? Instead, each time, the evil appears anew. We see that there are many descents when we begin to walk on the path of doing everything in order to bestow. That is, each time, the evil is renewed with greater forcefulness than before he began the work with the aim to achieve a state where all his actions are for the sake of the Creator.

The thing is that the part of the will to receive for himself that is called “evil” has already been cancelled in him, yet there are other parts that he has not cancelled through the light in the Torah.

We can understand this through an allegory. Let us say that the will to receive contains 100 kilograms of pleasure. Yet, a person cannot cancel 100 kilograms of pleasure all at once. If he were to see the size of the evil within him, he would immediately escape the campaign. Therefore, this takes place gradually.

In other words, in the beginning, a person feels that he can receive one kilogram of the corporeal pleasures. When he receives an ascent, the power of the evil is cancelled in him, meaning he can overcome the one kilogram of pleasure that he felt in corporeal things. But since he must receive the strength to cancel all 100 kilograms of pleasure that there is in corporeality, and he cannot overcome 100 kilograms of pleasure right away, he is given one more kilogram of flavor for corporeality.

Consequently, he suffers a descent, since he had the power to overcome only one kilo of pleasure. When he is given a feeling of greater pleasure, he suffers a descent as a result, since he surrenders under a great pleasure. When he overcomes, which is called “an ascent,” he is made to feel three kilograms of pleasure in corporeality, until he completes all the overcoming that there is in work in order to bestow in corporeal pleasures.

Assume he can already overcome all the corporeal pleasures and work with them in order to bestow. Certainly, this requires constant help from above; otherwise, one cannot overcome even the smallest pleasure, as it is written, “Man’s inclination overcomes him every day. Were it not for the help of the Creator, he would not overcome it.”

However, a person must always seek help. If he were to be shown the measure of the lust in the will to receive, he would immediately see that this work is not for him. Hence, in the beginning, he is shown small flavors in corporeal lusts. But afterward, once he has received the power to overcome all the corporeal lusts, a person is rewarded with receiving spiritual lusts, where there is the matter of Masachim [screens], which is about overcoming the light of spiritual pleasures.

But there, too, it follows an order. That is, we begin, for example, from a small degree, meaning light of Nefesh. When he can receive this in order to bestow, he is given the light of Ruach, until he is rewarded with all the NRNHY, as it is written in The Zohar, “When he is born, he is given Nefesh. If heis rewarded further, he is given Ruach.”

This is as our sages said (Sukkah 52), “Anyone who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than him.” “Great” means that he has been granted an ascent in spirituality, meaning that he can already overcome a certain measure of pleasure and receive it in order to bestow. Then he is given pleasure once again, and on that measure of pleasure he is still unable to overcome.

When he is rewarded with overcoming this pleasure and becomes great again, meaning achieves Gadlut [greatness/adulthood], which is called “an ascent,” he is given an even higher degree, which he has never overcome. Therefore, now he sees that he is worse. That is, he is unable to overcome this degree.

Now, too, the same sequence takes place, where he asks the Creator to give him the strength from above to be able to overcome this great measure of will to receive, as well. This is regarded as the lower one ascending to the upper one to seek the power of the Masach [screen].

By this we should interpret what our sages said, “Why is her name Tushia? It is because she Mateshet [exhausts] a person’s strength.” That is, each time, according to his greatness, he receives a greater measure of evil. In other words, the greater the pleasure, the harder it is to overcome it. It follows that “man” means “a giver,” as it is known that “man” in Gematria is MA, and MA is called ZA, a Giver. BON is called Malchut, the receiver. MA is the male, “man,” a giver, whereas Behema [beast], which is BON in Gematria, means female, receiving and not giving.

It follows that in Gadlut, which is the greater light, it is harder to overcome. Thus, the quality of “man” grows weaker every time because each time, he has a greater light.

By this we should interpret what we asked, “If his head aches, let him engage in Torah.” According to what Baal HaSulam said, “If his head aches” means that his thoughts are not in order. “If his stomach aches” means that everything that comes into his stomach is for his will to receive. “Let him engage in Torah,” as was said, “It is a healing to all his flesh.” That is, through the Torah, he is rewarded with Gadlut because “The light in it reforms him” and he is rewarded with being great.

Afterward, he is rewarded with a higher degree on which he still did not have the power to overcome, and he must ask the Creator to be given help to be able to overcome this, as well. It follows that each time, we should speak of two opposite things.

We should always discern two sides in each degree:

1) The lower one ascending to Gadlut, which is called “an ascent” in degree. He begins to appreciate what it means to be close to the Creator. Now he understands that he should be concerned only with the benefit of the Creator, and he himself should not merit a name. That is, he does not need anything for himself and he can relinquish both corporeality and spirituality. Where it concerns his own benefit, he relinquishes, and all his actions will be only to bring contentment to his Maker. This is considered that the Torah gives life to all, as it is written, “Great is the Torah, for she gives life to who make her, and a healing to all his flesh.”

2) “Anyone who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than him.” That is, afterward, he receives a greater pleasure. In other words, as long as he has not been rewarded with vessels of bestowal, he is still attached to corporeal pleasures. Then, each time, he receives a greater taste for corporeal things so he will have to overcome the will to receive for himself, for a person is not shown the measure of the pleasure that is found in corporeality because he will not be able to overcome. Rather, there is a certain measure that each one feels in corporeal pleasures.

But when a person begins to walk on the path toward doing everything in order to bestow and not for his own benefit, he is given from above more sweetness in self-love. It follows that when he begins to enter the Gadlut of the work, meaning that he wants to be among those who work in order to bestow, then each time, he is given more taste for self-love, so naturally, each time, he sees that he has more evil.

According to the above, we see that even during the preparation, when a person wants to begin to work in order to bestow, although he was still not rewarded with this, the matter of “Anyone who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than him” already begins. That is, when a person wants to begin the work of great ones, who engage in order to bestow, he receives many ascents in the form of “the light in it reforms him.” At that time, he is regarded as “great.”

Afterward, he is given more evil to taste, so he will ask the Creator to help him. It follows that we should make two discernments here: 1) The Torah gives him life and he becomes great. 2) Afterward, he is given bad, as said above, that “Anyone who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than him.”

It follows that then he is in a state where through the Torah, he has become great. He came to see the truth, that the strength of the quality of “man” in him has exhausted its strength and he is like a beast, in the sense that the will to receive for himself in him grows stronger in him every time, to the extent of the good that he received from the Torah, which reforms him.

Therefore, we should explain why the name of the Torah is Tushia. It is because through the Torah, he sees that the “man” power within him is weak, and only his “beast” power has strengthened.

It is the same in spirituality. That is, once a person has been rewarded with vessels of bestowal, there is constant overcoming of his Aviut [thickness]. Each time, he must ascend to his upper one and ask for the power to overcome the will to receive, which is now greater than his strength to overcome that he has from what he received before, since now he received greater Aviut. Hence, there, too, meaning after he has been rewarded with vessels of bestowal, he must always go forward in order to correct the will to receive, each according to his degree.

It therefore follows that when a person wants to begin the work of bestowal, he sees that he has only a little bit of evil. That is, he knows about himself that he has a little bit of evil. It follows, that the bad he has comes from what he knows about himself. For this reason, a person understands that he has the power to overcome by himself. Therefore, as was said, “Anyone who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than him.”

It follows that from above, he is given the awareness of the evil, meaning that the evil that has now been revealed to him comes from above. At that time a person stands and thinks, “From where did this evil come to me? since, according to the rule, ‘The light in it reforms him,’ in the beginning, I already felt that I received an ascent in spirituality. Thus, what is the reason that now I have more bad?”

He regards this bad that he received now as coming to him from above reason. That is, the reason cannot understand how he fell to a state of lowliness, called “evil,” meaning that now he received a feeling for all the corporeal things that before he began the work of bestowal, he was already far from them, but now he received greater closeness to self-love.

This is as it is written in the book Panim Meirot: “The meaning of ‘a good reward for the righteous’ is their own attainment of those degrees that through their good deeds, they returned the lights to the upper ZON. The punishment of the wicked is the meaning of the words, ‘One opposite the other.’ To the same extent that a person is rejected from attaining the eternal light, he descends into the pleasures of the filthy Klipot [shells/peels], which are called Sheol [netherworld] and Avadon[oblivion], since a certain attitude has emerged within him that enables him to tolerate them.

It follows that the bad that appears in a person does not come from himself. Rather, he sees as though this bad has come to him above his own reason. At that time, a person sees that there is no way he can overcome this bad that has been added to him now by giving work and labor. But what was the result? He received more bad. Thus, he asks, “What will be the end?” since no work and labor help him out of the governance of evil, which is self-love.

The answer is that a person must know that as the bad came to him from above, so his emergence from the bad will come to him through help from above. Therefore, a person should not be impressed with the fact that he sees that he is utterly incapable of emerging from the governance of evil by himself. Instead, he must know that as the evil in him has been added to him each time not by his own strength, since he did not labor in order to get more bad, but it came from above, namely above reason, which a person does not understand, likewise, he should believe that he will also receive from above the strength to emerge from the evil.

In other words, everything that comes from above reason is cancelled above reason, and we can say that the fact that a person is in exile, under the governance of reason, did not come to a person by his own doing. Rather, it is from above. Likewise, redemption, too, comes from above.

It therefore follows that when a person begins the work of bestowal and knows that he has a little bit of evil, he still does not find such great flavor in self-love. However, when he wants to cancel his self-love and work in order to bestow, he receives from above more passion for self-love. That is, he is shown what was hidden from him, the size and power of control that exist in self-love.

At that time, a person sees that he is on the complete opposite end of the Creator, for the Creator is all to bestow, and man is all to receive. When the Creator helps him, a person feels the greatness of the Creator, how the Creator is treating him in order to deliver him from the governance of evil. Then, each time more bad appears in a person, meaning that a person is lowlier, he sees that the Creator is tending to a lowlier person.

By this we should interpret what our sages said, “Rabbi Yonatan said, ‘Wherever you see the greatness of the Creator, there you find His humbleness.’” This means that wherever a person sees the greatness of the Creator, he sees that the Creator is humble, tending to him personally, in private Providence. Therefore, when the Creator becomes greater, the person sees that the Creator is more humble.

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

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

What Is, “Warn the Great about the Small,” in the Work?

Article No. 28, Tav-Shin-Nun, 1989-90

Our sages said (Yevamot 114a), “Say, and you said, to warn the great about the small.” RASHI interprets this as follows, “Say to the priests, sons of Aaron, and you said these two sayings, ‘Why warn the great about the small? So they will not be defiled.’”

We should understand the novelty about warning the great about the small. When speaking of the work, at which time we speak of one body, what does warning the great about the small imply? That is, who is the small when we learn within one body, and who is the great when it comes to tell us that we must warn the great about the small?

It is known that the labor and the work that we must give in Torah and Mitzvot is because we are born with a nature that we want to receive for ourselves. Therefore, in everything we do, and which the will to receive enjoys, we cannot speak of labor. It is as we see in our world, that a person is never unhappy when he is hungry but has a nice-smelling meal, and say that now he is going to do hard work and great labor in that now he is going to eat, since where there is pleasure, we cannot speak of work and labor.

Accordingly, we should understand this, since the Torah is called “For they are our lives and the length of our days.” So, why is it said that a person must labor in the Torah? Is there anyone who does not want to live and enjoy life? It is written about it, “Who are nicer than gold and from much fine gold, and sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” Therefore, why is it considered “labor” when we observe Torah and Mitzvot?

The answer is that if the pleasure in Torah and Mitzvot were revealed to all, the whole world would certainly observe Torah and Mitzvot. This is as it is written in the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot” (Item 43), “If, for example, the Creator were to establish open Providence with His creations in that, for instance, anyone who eats a forbidden thing would immediately choke, and anyone who performed a commandment would discover wonderful pleasures in it, similar to the finest delights in this corporeal world. Then, what fool would even think of tasting a forbidden thing, knowing that he would immediately lose his life because of it, just as one does not consider jumping into a fire? Also, what fool would leave any commandment without performing it as quickly as possible, as one who cannot retire from or linger with a great corporeal pleasure that comes into his hand, without receiving it as quickly as he can?Thus, if Providence were open before us, all the people in the world would be complete righteous.”

We should therefore ask, Why is Providence not revealed, but we must believe in reward and punishment? Would it not be better if everything were revealed? The answer is that since we must achieve Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, which is equivalence of form, because of it, we must do everything for the sake of the Creator, meaning in order to bestow contentment upon the Maker. If the reward and punishment in Torah and Mitzvot were revealed, it would be impossible to work for the sake of the Creator, since the pleasure would force a person to observe Torah and Mitzvot.

We see that when a pleasure is revealed in corporeality, although it is only a pleasure that is a “tiny light” compared to the pleasure in Torah and Mitzvot, how difficult it is for a person to say that everything he does is in order to bestow, or he would relinquish the corporeal pleasures if he could not aim in order to bestow upon the Creator.

Therefore, with the great pleasures found in Torah and Mitzvot, it would certainly be impossible to be able to say that if he cannot aim in order to bestow, he gives them up. Hence, this correction was done that before a person can say about the small pleasures in corporeal things that he accepts them only on condition that he can aim to bestow, he is placed under Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment where he does not see any pleasure. Rather, he must believe that this is so. That is, a person must believe that the Creator leads all creations with a guidance of The Good Who Does Good.

This is as it is written in the article (Shamati, No. 40, “Faith in the Rav, What Is the Measure,” 1943), “One should depict to oneself as if one has already been rewarded with whole faith in the Creator, and already feels in his organs that the Creator leads the whole world in the form of ‘The Good Who Does Good,’ meaning that the whole world receives from Him only good.”

According to the above, it follows that when a person engages in faith in the Creator, he should dedicate some time to depicting how he would feel if he were rewarded with being near the Creator, and he would see with his own eyes the delight and pleasure extending to him and to all creations, how high spirited and elated he would be.

This depiction requires continuation—that his faith will be as knowing and seeing, meaning that the measure of the faith should be like seeing and knowing. This is a lot of work because this is a path of truth, and it is as it is written, “truth and faith,” meaning that for his faith to be true, it is specifically like this depiction, that he must believe in the measure of the greatness of the faith as though he saw it, that he was believing with his eyes.

In other words, to the same extent that he was inspired when he saw, so should be his excitement when he does not see, but only believes that this is so. This is why it is called “faith in the path of truth.” That is, his faith is true as though he knew this. This is called “true faith,” or as it is written, “truth and faith.”

And since the whole basis should be built on faith, and at the same time we were given intellect and reason to understand everything with the intellect we have, it follows that faith is against our nature, for we can follow the intellect and not be stupid, doing things mindlessly. It follows that on one hand, we teach a person to walk according to the intellect and behave this way with one another, but when a person begins to observe Torah and Mitzvot, he is told that although he should follow the intellect, between man and the Creator we were given faith. That is, we must believe in the sages and follow this path, although it contradicts the intellect, as it is written, “And they believed in the Lord, and in his servant Moses.” In other words, we must believe what the sages said to us and not look at our intellect.

But since this contradicts our reason, we have ups and downs. That is, at times we can believe the words of the sages and depict before us the depiction of truth and faith, meaning that his faith is truly faith, namely that there is no intellect there but everything is against our reason, what we understand. This is why it is called “true faith” or “simple faith,” since there is nothing to understand there but everything is above reason.

Hence, it is beyond man’s power to always be on the same degree. Rather, he ascends and descends, as our Baal HaSulam said, Why is assuming the burden of the kingdom of heaven called Emuna[faith]? It comes from the word Oman [craftsman], Omenet [nanny], who raises the child slowly until she rears him. Therefore, when working on the basis of faith, until we are rewarded with permanent faith, there is the matter of “partial faith.”

For this reason, during the work there are ups and down. That is, sometimes a person might depict the greatness and importance of Torah and Mitzvot, and of the greatness and importance of the Giver of the Torah. In other words, when he can depict to himself the greatness and importance of the Giver of the Torah, he feels that he is in a state of ascent. In other words, he feels that he is above the corporeal world. He sees people who follow corporeal things as beasts and animals who settle for nourishments that suffice for the animate level. But for himself, he feels that he can receive sustenance only from what suits the “speaking” level. As is written in the introductions, the whole merit of the speaking level in man is that he is fit to receive the sensation of Godliness, and this does not pertain to the animate level.

However, afterward, he descends once more from his state and falls into the multiple authorities. That is, now he is in his own authority, and not as before. Therefore, during the ascent, when he feels that there is no one in the world but the authority of the Creator, and he himself does not merit a name, since he wants to annul before Him unconditionally, therefore, during the ascent, a person is in the singular authority, and during the descent, he is in multiple authorities, meaning he already has two authorities.

However, sometimes when a person falls into a state where he is worse than two authorities, since when a person says that there are two authorities, at least he believes that there is a Creator to the world, which is one authority. That is, the Creator is the host, and He does what He wants, but there is another authority, meaning that man, too, is a landlord and does in the world what he wants. At that time, the person wants the Creator to serve the person according to his wish, meaning that the Creator should be at man’s service and the Creator will serve man according to man’s command.

However, even worse is when one does not believe that there is a Creator and a leader to the world, at all. It follows that for this person, there is nothing more than his own, singular authority. However, a person sees that many people have this view, and they all say that they are their own landlords. In other words, each one does what he needs and does not care about other people. If sometimes someone does something good for another, it is because he expects his friend to return him a favor and not be ungrateful.

This is as it is written in The Zohar and in the “Preface” [to the Wisdom of Kabbalah] (Item 57) about the verse, “The mercy of the nations is a sin,” “Since all that they do, they do for themselves.” In other words, they will probably receive something in return for the favor. At that time, “authority of many” means “many individuals.”

It follows that this is not regarded as “two authorities,” meaning the Creator’s authority and man’s authority, and the person still believes in the authority of the Creator. But when a person falls into the authority of many, of many individuals, he does not incorporate the Creator at all, and this is certainly the worst state.

It follows that before one is rewarded with permanent faith, which is a gift of God, and not within man’s hands, he is always in ascents and descents. At that time a person needs heaven’s mercy in order not to escape the campaign. At that time, the order of the work can be only during an ascent, meaning when he is in the domain of Kedusha [holiness].

At that time, a person must work and pay attention to the state he was in during the descent. That is, during the ascent, he can calculate and see the difference between light and darkness, as it is written, “As the advantage of the light from within the darkness.” In other words, at that time he can observe what our sages said (Avot, Chapter 2:1), “Consider the cost of a Mitzva[commandment/good deed] compared to its reward, and the reward for a transgression compared to its cost.”

In other words, during an ascent, a person understands that reception for oneself is considered a transgression, meaning it removes him from the Creator, and there is no transgression greater than this. But during a descent, a person cannot understand that if he does not aim to bestow, it is considered a transgression and that he should have the strength to believe that we must do everything for the sake of the Creator. Rather, he only believes what is written, that a person should observe the 613 Mitzvot that the Creator commanded us through Moses to do. But he will certainly not commit a transgression, breaking what is written in the Torah.

Rather, sometimes a person is angry at why the Creator treated us this way, forbidding us so many things. That is, a person says that if the Creator had asked him about observing the Mitzvot [plural of Mitzva], he would have asked Him not to be so strict and forbid so many things that he covets. Nevertheless, he observes the Mitzvot.

But during the ascent, a person is angry at the opposite: Why did the Creator make us do such things that are necessary, like eating and drinking? It would be better if He did not create them at all and we would not have to do them.

It follows that during the ascent, he wants to have fewer pleasures in the world, and during the descent, he is angry that the Creator forbade us many things that we would enjoy had the Torah not forbade them. We therefore see that there are ascents and descents when a person wants to be rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator. Therefore, we should call the time of descent, a “state of Katnut [smallness/infancy],” and the state of ascent, a “state of Gadlut [greatness/adulthood].”

By this we can interpret what we asked about the meaning of what our sages said, “Say, and you said, to warn the great about the small.” We asked, How can we speak within one person about “great” and “small”? According to the above, we should interpret that “great” or “small” does not refer to two bodies, since in the work we learn everything within one body. Rather, “great” and “small” should be interpreted in two times in a single subject, meaning one person at two times: 1) During the ascent, it is called “great.” 2) During a descent, it is called “small.”

By this we should interpret that when a person is in a state of ascent, he must pay attention and consider that he might come into a descent. And what is a descent? That is, who says that a descent is so bad? After all, he sees that there are many people who live and enjoy life although they are in a state of descent. Therefore, when he himself is in a state of descent, he is taken after them, and then he, too, enjoys life like they do.

However, we can say about the state of descent that this person had a road accident and he was hurt and he is unconscious. That is, he does not feel that he is in a state of descent. Rather, he enjoys the state he is in and does not feel a descent, since he has completely forgotten that there is spirituality in the world and we must strive to achieve Dvekut with the Creator. He forgot everything because of the accident he had, and therefore does not ache because he is in descent.

Therefore, when a person is in a state of ascent, he can think and fear that he might have a road accident. That is, now that he is exerting to advance to spirituality, that he will not fall from his degree in the middle.

But during a descent, he no longer remembers because he has no sensation of spirituality. He can know all this only at the time of Gadlut. Hence, the text tells us: “Say, and you said, to warn the great about the small.” In other words, during the Gadlut, which is the time of ascent, this is the time to be careful with Katnut, meaning not to come into a descent, called “small,” for only during an ascent can one think about the matter of Katnut, meaning about the reason he has come into Katnut, for one should know that there must be something that causes the descent.

This is as I had heard from Baal HaSulam (written in Shamati, No. 35, “Concerning the Vitality of Kedusha,” Tav-Shin-Hey), “Yet, we must also know that if one could sustain any luminescence, even a small one, but if it were permanent, one would already be considered whole. In other words, one would have been able to advance with this illumination. Hence, if one loses the luminescence, one should regret it.This is similar to a person who placed a seed in the ground so that a big tree would grow from it, but took the seed out of the ground right away. Thus, what is the benefit in the work of putting the seed in the ground? Moreover, we can say that he dug out a tree with ripe fruits out of the ground and corrupted them. That is, had he not dug out the seed, a tree with fruits would have grown out of the seed. Likewise, if one had not lost this tiny luminescence, a great light would have grown out of it. Therefore, he should regret having lost a great light.”

We therefore see that a person should keep himself with all kinds of precautions during the ascent. Then, even if he feels that he has a small sensation, if he does all that he can not to lose it, he will march forward every time.

This is the meaning of the words, “Say, and you said, to warn the great about the small.” That is, during the Gadlut, which is a time of ascent, he must make every calculation so as not to come into Katnut, meaning a descent. He must calculate what is the importance he has now, even a small connection to spirituality.

He must work with himself to believe that this feeling comes from above, meaning that at that time, the Creator is calling him, and to think how important it is that the Creator is calling him, and also, that if he can keep this small sensation permanently, he will certainly go forward, as in the allegory, that this ascent is regarded as only a seed that is placed in the ground, but that a big, fruit bearing tree will emerge from that seed.

It turns out that he must appreciate the state of ascent and depict to himself as though this is how he is looking at the purpose. That is, as though he already has a big fruit bearing tree—in what way would he guard the tree so people would not spoil this big tree? In this way, he should continue until he feels in his organs that he must always watch over the tree, and he even does things to hide the tree from people so they cannot cast an evil-eye on the tree.

Likewise, a person should keep this feeling that he has now in a state of ascent, so that strangers will not cast the evil eye on him.

Thus far, we have been talking about the importance of the ascent. However, this is only one side.

However, we should also think about the state of lowliness during the descent. This is called “looking at the other side that there is to think about.” In other words, only during an ascent can a person think about the lowliness of the state of descent. This is called “Warning the great,” meaning a state of Gadlut, “about the small,” the time of Katnut, meaning what he might lose if he comes to a state of descent, for only during an ascent can he calculate “as the advantage of the light from within the darkness.” This can be precisely when he has light. At that time, he can compare between light and darkness, but not while he is in the dark.

This is as our sages said (Avot, Chapter 5:1), “The world was created in ten utterances. But it could have been created with one utterance! However, in order to avenge the wicked, who are destroying the world, it was created in ten utterances, and to give a good reward to the righteous, who are sustaining the world, which was created in ten utterances.”

This is seemingly perplexing. We can understand “to reward the righteous,” so they will have a great reward. But “to avenge the wicked”? Why did He do so? After all, the Creator does not complain against His own creations! Why did He make it so there would be much suffering?

We should interpret that in the work, this means that a person should think what is the good that he might lose, and what is the bad that he might suffer, and from those whom he will come to need to keep the Gadlut, meaning the time of ascent. Otherwise, he will see what he can suffer from the state of descent. This is the meaning of “to warn the great about the small.”

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

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

What Is, “Every Blade of Grass Has an Appointee Above, Who Strikes It and Tells It, Grow!” in the Work?

Article No. 27, Tav-Shin-Nun, 1989-90

Our sages said, “You have not a single blade of grass below that does not have an appointee above, which keeps it, and strikes it, and tells it, Grow!” It is said (The Zohar, and Beresheet Rabbah 10), “Rabbi Simon said, ‘You have not a single blade of grass that does not have a force in the firmament that strikes it and tells it, Grow!’”

We should understand what these words mean to us in the work. We see that in our world, all the creatures like rest, as it is written (The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 1, Histaklut Pnimit, Item 19), “It is known that the nature of every branch is equal to its root. Therefore, every conduct in the root is desired and loved and coveted by the branch, as well, and any matter that is not in the root, the branch, too, removes itself from them, does not tolerate them, and hates them. Therefore, all the matters that are included in Him and extend to us from Him directly are pleasant to us. That is, we love restbecause our root is motionless.”

Accordingly, the question is, Why do we do things that we do not like? Who forces us to exert? The answer is that there is an appointee above with a cane in his hand, who beats the created beings with torments. And since they cannot tolerate the suffering, it causes them to leave the rest and go to work. It follows that this work is called “compulsory work,” where a person is compelled to go to work by the suffering that the appointee beats. Therefore, we act, “and tells it, Grow!” Otherwise, when as a person is born, he would lie in his place and there would be no development at all, both physically and emotionally. Hence, this cane in the hand of the appointee who beats the creatures, causes the development of the creatures.

It follows that the cause of receiving the pleasures, which comes by the development of creation, is because there is an appointee above, who strikes and says, “Grow!” meaning that each and every blade of grass will grow. It follows that people in the world are as blades of grass, and each blade must grow.

In the work, we should interpret that the appointee strikes the created beings, and when the created beings suffer the torments, they must move forward and cannot remain restful, as man is by nature, which extends from his root, which is in a state of complete rest. It follows that the whole drive for the work is only that the suffering caused it.

However, we should understand who is the appointee with a cane in his hand who beats all creations so they do not remain restful, but each one, which is called “every blade of grass,” which strikes it and tells it, “Grow!” This is the second discernment we must make in our root.

In other words, the Creator, who is our root, is full of pleasure. Hence, this begets in us suffering if we have no pleasure, since that which exists in the root, the branches want to resemble, as was said (ibid.), “Every conduct in the root is desired and loved and coveted by the branch, as well.”

Therefore, the fact that the creatures yearn for pleasure and it is impossible to live without it is because pleasure is in the root; this is the appointee that strikes and says, “Grow!” This is as it is written (Item 21), “However, it is also impossible to remain devoid of possessions and good. Hence, we choose the torment of movement in order to acquire the fulfillment of possessions.” Thus, this is the suffering that a person receives from the appointee who strikes and says, “Grow!”

This matter applies in corporeal matters as well as in spiritual matters. The difference is that in corporeal matters, there is no concealment, meaning that in corporeal pleasures there is the matter of “The eye sees and the heart covets.” It follows that what the eye sees causes man suffering, since what he sees, whether in the eyes or in the mind, he yearns to obtain. The yearning for the matter, as long as one has not obtained the matter, afflicts a person.

The suffering is measured by the yearning for the matter. It is as we see in corporeality, that sometimes unrequited love can cause a person to take his life because of his suffering at seeing that he will not be able to obtain the matter. Therefore, he says, “I’d rather die than live,” and commits suicide. However, this pertains only to corporeality.

In spiritual matters, for the purpose of correction, a Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment were placed, so that one does not see the delight and pleasure clothed in Torah and Mitzvot. This was done on purpose, so as to have room for work for the sake of the Creator. Otherwise, it would be impossible to choose, so that one will have the strength to work in order to bestow, due to the above-mentioned reason, since when the eye sees, the heart covets. He would be compelled to do, meaning to observe Torah and Mitzvot, because the revealed pleasure would force him to receive in order to calm his pains of coveting, as is done with corporeal lusts.

But now that he must do everything with faith above reason and say that the Torah and Mitzvot are in manner of “for they are our lives,” and as it is written, “Who are nicer than gold, than much fine gold, and sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb,” if everything were revealed, the will to receive would yearn for the pleasure and it would be utterly impossible that someone will not observe Torah and Mitzvot. But since in order to be rewarded with Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, we must work in order to bestow, there are concealment and hiding on the Torah and Mitzvot. Hence, we cannot say here, “The eye sees and the heart covets.”

It follows that in spirituality, where we first need to work on faith, meaning believe in reward and punishment, it cannot be said, “You have not a blade of grass below that does not have an appointee above that strikes and tells it, ‘Grow!’” Thus, the matter of “strikes it and tells it, ‘Grow!’” is the suffering that a person feels, that he is far from the Creator, and that he wants and yearns to adhere to the Creator, but is unsuccessful. From this he suffers, and these sufferings push him to do all that he can only to have Dvekut with the Creator.

It therefore follows that since it is impossible for man to suffer because of something that he craves, except according to the importance of the matter, the question is, Since man does not progress at all without suffering, for the above reason that he wants rest, from where will man take importance to work for the sake of the Creator? meaning yearn to bring contentment to the Creator, that he will suffer if he sees that he cannot bring contentment to the Creator. These sufferings push him to do everything he can do if only to be rewarded with true Dvekut with the Creator. The verse says about that (Psalms 94), “Happy is the man whom You chasten, Lord, And whom You teach out of Your law [Torah].”

We should understand why he is “happy” when the Creator afflicts him. We should interpret that it means that the Creator is imparting upon him the importance of Torah, and he begins to feel that Torah is as in, “The Torah, and the Creator are one.” That is, the Torah is the names of the Creator. To the extent of the importance that the Creator imparts upon him, the person begins to feel suffering at being remote from the whole spiritual matter.

In other words, he begins to yearn to be rewarded with spirituality, and each time he sees that he is far, he begins to suffer, and the pain pushes him to do everything he can, since he begins to feel that without spirituality, there is no meaning to life.

It follows that in spirituality, too, there is the appointee above who strikes him, meaning afflicts him. But concerning these afflictions, not everyone is rewarded with the Creator imparting him with the importance that there is in Torah, so that this will afflict him. By this we can understand the meaning of the words, “Happy is the man whom You chasten, Lord.” That is, the Creator bestows upon him this importance so he will crave it. This is the above-mentioned suffering, where the appointee above strikes and says, “Grow!” This applies to both corporeality and spirituality.

This is the meaning of what is written in The Zohar (Kedoshim, Item 108): “There is not even a tiny blade of grass in the land on which there is no higher force above in the upper worlds. All that they do in each one, and everything that each one does is all by prevailing of the upper force that is appointed over it above. And all the conducts in them derive from the judgment; on judgment they journey, and on judgment they exist, and there is not one who emerges outside of one’s own existence.”

We should interpret according to the above, that everything is conducted by private Providence, and the lower ones have no free choice to emerge from the laws that Providence has imposed upon them. It follows that when speaking of the work, where each person is a small world, “You have not a blade of grass that does not have an appointee over it from above.” This means that there is not a single desire or thought that comes to a person that does not follow these rules of above. Hence, all the heaviness there is in the work of the Creator is the contradictions that we find. In other words, on one hand, we say that everything depends on man’s work, as our sages said, that man should say, “If I am not for me, who is for me?” This means that everything depends on man, which is the meaning of reward and punishment.

On the other hand, we should say, “Everything comes from above,” as in the words of The Zohar, which says, “There is not even a tiny blade of grass in the land on which there is no higher force above,” implying that everything follows the upper Providence and the lower ones have no ability to change. The answer to both matters, which contradict one another, is as was said in the words of Maimonides (presented in Article No. 25, Tav-Shin-Nun [1989-90]), who says that we cannot understand it, but we must believe that this is so.

The order of advancement in the work, which we said comes by obtaining the importance of the goal, is as our sages said, it comes by the Torah. This is so because even when he sees that he is learning Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], still, the light in the Torah reforms him, meaning that through the light, he receives the importance of the Torah.

At that time, a person comes to a state of “appointee over each blade of grass, which strikes it and tells it, ‘Grow!’” In other words, he begins to feel suffering because he is remote from Dvekut with the Creator. These afflictions cause him to do all that he can in order to obtain Dvekut with the Creator.

It follows that a person should begin in Lo Lishma, although he sees that he cannot work Lishma [for Her sake]. However, if he learns Lo Lishma because he believes that by this he will achieve Lishma, then he receives the light of Torah, and from this he is rewarded with achieving Lishma.

Concerning the suffering, I will bring here what is written in The Zohar (Beresheet Bet, Item 103), for our sages said, “There has never been such joy before the Creator as on the day when heaven and earth were created.” However, a person cannot take part in His great joy unless he has made complete repentance from love.

“Before this, he will not rejoice at all with himself or with the people of the world. On the contrary, he feels before him a world full of sorrow and pain, both pains of the body and pains of the soul, which are the transgressions he commits. All of this has come to him because the world was created only in bestowal, to engage in Torah and good deeds in order to bestow contentment upon one’s Maker, and not for one’s own pleasure.

“But in the beginning, ‘A man is born a wild ass’ colt,’ meaning that his sole interest is his own delight. Hence, the Creator has imprinted bitter and harsh afflictions in self-reception, instilled in man from the moment of his birth—bodily pains and pains of the soul—so that if he engages in Torah and Mitzvot even for his own pleasure, through the light in it he will feel the lowliness and the terrible corruptness in the nature of receiving for oneself. At that time he will resolve to retire from that nature of reception and completely devote himself to working only in order to bestow contentment upon his Maker. Then the Creator will open his eyes to see before him a world filled with utter perfection.

“There are two ways in the corporeal and spiritual afflictions he suffered prior to repenting:

1) “‘All that the Creator does, He does for the best.’ He sees that were it not for those terrible pains that he had suffered for being immersed in the nature of reception for himself, he would never have been rewarded with repentance. Therefore, he blesses for the bad as he blesses for the good, meaning that the bad causes the good.

2) “‘That, too, is for the best.’ That is, not only did the evils that were done cause good, but the evils themselves have been inverted to good through very great lights that the Creator illuminated through all those evils until they were inverted into good.”

It turns out that all of man’s progress is specifically if he suffers in the situation he is in, as this gives him a thrust forward.

According to the above, we should interpret what the ARI says, that no degree ascends unless through the ascent of Mayin Nukvin [Aramaic: female water, MAN], for Nukvin [Aramaic: females] means lack. “Water” means Bina that received within her the quality of Malchut, where Malchut is called “a lack,” from the [Hebrew] word, “hole.” Hence, the upper one must give to the lower one what it needs.

Since “There is no new light in the world except from Ein Sof [infinity/no end], hence, the upper one ascends in degree in order to receive abundance for the lower one. In the work, we should interpret that upper and lower mean that the first state is called “upper” and the second state is called “lower.” This means that if in the state one is in, he does not feel any lack and he is satisfied, clearly, he has no need to advance in the work, since he sees no deficiency that will push him to go forward.

For this reason, if a person is successful, he elicits a lack in the state he is in. There is a rule: “Each and every state is called ‘upper and lower.’” It follows that while he has found a lack in the state he is in, in the second state, called “a state of lack,” that lack is now called “the lower one,” and causes him to leave the previous state and try to correct the lack that he is feeling now.

In the work, this is regarded as the Mayin Nukvin of the lower one causing an ascent in degree to the upper one, meaning to the previous state. This is the meaning of what the ARI said, that through his MAN, the lower one induces an ascent to the upper one. It follows that only the lacks, which are called “suffering,” induce the ascents by which they always rise to go forward.

According to the above, we can interpret what our sages said (Beresheet Rabbah 92a), “Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi said, ‘Every suffering, when it comes upon a person and distract him from words of Torah, are afflictions of admonition. But sufferings that come to a person and do not distract him from words of Torah are pains of love, as it is written, ‘He whom the Lord loves, He admonishes.’”

This is seemingly difficult to understand. Should the Creator afflict him because He loves him? It stands to reason that as we see in life, if a person loves another, he gives him gifts, and not that one who loves another makes him suffer. But according to the above, since without suffering, a person wants to remain in a state of rest, since our root is in a state of complete rest, and only by the appointee who strikes and tells him, “Grow!” meaning only the suffering make us cancel the pleasure of rest and try to acquire new possessions.

But if he does not suffer, he remains in his present state. For example, a person who lives in a single-room apartment gets married, but he is lazy, meaning likes the rest more than others, so he agrees to live in one room. Although when he was single, he lived in one room, he continues to live this way even after he has married.

But if he has a few children, then he, too, feels the crowdedness in the house, and he, too, begins to feel the suffering of living in one room. Then, the suffering forces him to work overtime, meaning to exert more than he is used to, in order to move to an apartment with several rooms.

It is the same in the work. When a person is educated, and his father brought him up to engage in Torah and Mitzvot, and as much as his father let him see what is spirituality and what is for the sake of the Creator, this was enough for him to continue with the work and observe Torah and Mitzvot. But when he grew up, married, and became his own man, with children, and he knows that he must educate them and give them the matter of fear of heaven, he reflects on how much understanding and sensation he has now more than he did when he was a nine-year-old child who had begun his education, or when he had his Bar-Mitzvah [at age thirteen].

Then he sees that he has made no progress so as to say, “Now I understand the importance of Torah and Mitzvot, which I did not know when I was a child.” And if he begins to feel suffering because of this, meaning sees himself as retarded, that he is already a grownup but his mind is as that of a child, meaning that now he has the same understanding that he had then in Torah and Mitzvot and he did not advance as one should advance. It follows that he feels himself like a little boy, and these sufferings push him to exert to find a guide who can instruct him so he grows and becomes a man, and does not remain as a child in the work.

Now we can understand what we asked, What is the meaning of what our sages said about suffering that does not distract from the Torah, that they are called “pains of love”? It means as it is written, “He whom the Lord loves, He admonishes.” That is, these sufferings bring a person the need to advance in Torah and Mitzvot, meaning to understand the Torah and Mitzvot not as when he was a child, but as is suitable for an adult.

It follows that the suffering caused him to learn and engage in Torah and Mitzvot as is suitable for the state of “man” and not for the state of “child,” as our sages said, “You are called ‘man,’ and the nations of the world are not called ‘man.’” “Man” means that he is regarded as “speaking,” meaning he does not take for himself the nourishments of “animals,” but nourishments that are suitable for the “speaking.” This is called “pains of love that do not distract from the Torah,” but on the contrary, for attainment of Torah and Mitzvot.

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

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

What Is, “There Is None as Holy as the Lord, for There Is None Besides You,” in the Work?

Article No. 26, Tav-Shin-Nun, 1989-90

The Zohar says (Tazria, Item 37), “‘If a woman inseminates, she delivers a male child.’ Rabbi Yehuda started, ‘There is none as holy as the Lord, for there is none besides You, and there is no rock like our God.’ This verse is perplexing. It is written, ‘There is none as holy as the Lord.’ This implies that there is another one who is holy, though a little worse than the Creator. Also, ‘There is no rock like our God’ implies that there is another rock, but is a little worse than the Creator. He replies that there are many holy ones. There are holy ones above, meaning angels, and Israel are also holy, but there are none as holy as the Creator. And what is the reason? ‘For there is none besides You.’ Rather, the holiness of the Creator is without their holiness, of the angels and of Israel, for He does not need their holiness. However, they are not holy without You. ‘And there is no rock like our God’ means that the Creator forms a form within a form, meaning the form of the Ubar [embryo] within the form of its mother.”

We should understand the connection between “If a woman inseminates, she delivers a male child” and the verse, “There is none as holy as the Lord, and there is no rock like our God.” Also, how did you think of saying that the people of Israel impart Kedusha [holiness] upon the Creator, for which the text should tell us, “There is none as holy as the Lord”? And also, what is the meaning in the work, that he interprets “There is no rock like our God,” as the Creator forming a form within a form?

It is known that the order of the work is that we must achieve Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, as it is written, “You will be holy, for I am holy.” This means that as the Creator is holy and separated from reception, for the Creator only bestows and does not receive, we must also be holy and separated from reception, and all our actions must be only in order to bestow upon the Creator.

However, since we were born with a nature of self-reception, how can we be rewarded with Kedushaand be separated from self-love? This quality of the will to receive for oneself is called “evil inclination,” and our sages said about it, “The Creator said, ‘I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.’” In other words, by engaging in Torah and Mitzvot[commandments/good deeds] in order to achieve Lishma [for Her sake], the light in the Torah will reform him. This means that he will emerge from the governance of evil and will do good. That is, he will be able to do good deeds, which are called “acts of bestowal.”

It therefore follows that only man’s actions when he engages in Torah and Mitzvot cause him to be rewarded with Kedusha, meaning to be holy and separated from acts of self-reception, and will be in a state of “As He is merciful, so you are merciful,” regarded as equivalence of form. This is called “You will be holy, for I am holy.”

It therefore follows that a person has been rewarded with Kedusha by himself, as our sages said, “If I am not for me, who is for me?” That is, “According to the sorrow, so is the reward.” This means that according to the labor that one gives in order to be awarded with the reward, to that extent he is rewarded, as our sages said, “He who comes to purify is aided.”

Therefore, this means that the Creator does not give assistance from above, meaning Kedusha from above, before a person gives Kedusha from below. That is, when a person sanctifies himself and comes to purify, the Creator can give him Kedusha from above. It therefore follows that the Creator cannot give Kedusha from above until the creatures give Kedusha from below.

Now we can interpret what we asked about how The Zohar answers the question, “There is none as holy as the Lord,” implying that there is another one who is holy, but is a little worse than the Creator. He replies that the fact that it is written, “There is none as holy as the Lord,” is because “There is none besides You.” However, the Kedusha of the Creator is without their Kedusha, for He does not need their Kedusha. “However, they are not holy without You.”

We asked, How can you think of saying that the Creator takes the Kedusha that He has from below, from Israel, can we say this? However, when it concerns the work, although it is implied in all the places in the words of our sages that the fact that the Creator gave Kedusha to the people of Israel, is because He needed them, hence, first there must be an awakening on the part of man, meaning that he should have a desire for Kedusha, then the Creator can give Kedusha.

It follows that the Creator needs the Kedusha from below, and then he can give them Kedusha. The Zohar tells us about this, “There is none as holy as the Lord.” This means that man has no Kedushaat all, meaning that the Kedusha that the Creator gives, He does not need man’s Kedusha. In other words, first a person should be in the form of “He who comes to purify,” and then the Creator can give him Kedusha.

He says about this, “For there is none besides You,” for there is no one to assist You, to give of their Kedusha, meaning that they will give You Kedusha from below, since “There is none besides You,” there is no other force in the world but the Creator. In other words, we must believe in private Providence, as it is written (in Thirteen Tenets, presented in the prayer book after “On us”), “I believe in complete faith, that the Creator, blessed be His name, creates and leads all creations, and He alone does, is doing, and will do all the deeds.”

This means that after a person has done good deeds, by which he will be rewarded with Kedusha, with being holy, meaning that all his actions will be only to bestow, it implies as though man helps the Creator. The Zohar says about this, “For there is none besides You.” Rather, the Creator does everything, and He does not need man’s Kedusha to help Him. Instead, “He alone does, is doing, and will do all the deeds,” and man has no part in this.

Thus, what is the meaning of “He who comes to purify is aided”? It seems as though man does do! We should interpret that this means that man must believe that now he has come to purify and not before. This action, when a person comes now to purify, comes from the assistance from above. In other words, previously, there was an awakening from above, which gave him a desire and yearning to come purify and sanctify himself. It follows that his coming to purify now is not by man’s power, but rather comes from above.

In this way, we should interpret what our sages said (Avot, Chapter 5:27), “Ben Heh Heh says, ‘The reward is according to the sorrow.’” This means that to the extent of the sorrow that a person suffers while observing Torah and Mitzvot, so will his reward increase. This implies that a person does do something, and for doing it, he is rewarded. However, this, too, we should interpret in the above manner, that man must believe that the sorrow and labor that a person has in feeling that he is far from Dvekut with the Creator and that he is immersed in self-love, this sorrow is called “reward.”

In other words, the Creator gave him an awakening not to want to remain in the state of the general public, who go with the flow of the world and do not reflect on what makes them higher in degree than any other animal. That is, they feed on the same things that animals feed, and do not feel that they were created in God’s image, meaning that they have any connection to Godliness and that they must receive nourishment from spirituality, which is suitable for the speaking level and not for the animate level.

This is a reward. That is, the labor and sorrow that they feel is that actual reward that the Creator gives them. We should not think that this is labor that comes by itself when a person exerts. Rather, this is a reward that the Creator calls them to the work of the Creator, whereas others, He does not call. Thus, along with the sorrow and suffering they feel, they should be happy that the Creator wants to connect with them.

According to the above, we should interpret “According to the sorrow, so is the reward,” meaning to what extent should one appreciate the Creator rewarding him? The answer is that according to the sorrow and labor he can feel from being far from the Creator, this is the measure of the reward.

This means that when we want to know how much was the profit of the reward, a person should evaluate how much suffering and sorrow he had had from being far from the work of the Creator. This is the measure of the reward. In other words, it is impossible to appreciate the lack of spirituality before one feels the importance of spirituality. To the extent of the importance of spirituality, to that extent a person can feel the need for it.

It follows that the sensation of the lack is already a reward. Hence, we should interpret the words of Ben Heh Heh, who says, “According to the sorrow.” When a person regrets being far from the Creator, it does not come from the person, but the Creator gave him this feeling, and not the person by himself.

This means that by the Creator illuminating for him the importance of spirituality, to that extent he is sorry that he is far from spirituality. For this reason, we must not say that what a person comes to purify is work that comes from a person. Rather, the Creator gave him a thought and desire to come and purify.

It follows that this is not out of man’s work that we can say that the Kedusha that the Creator has given him, Kedusha from above, the person helped Him, too. Rather, “There is none besides You.” As in the words of The Zohar, the Creator does not need any Kedusha of theirs, meaning of the lower ones, but He does everything.

In this manner, we should interpret the words of our sages about the verse (Exodus 32:10), “And now leave Me alone.” RASHI interpreted that “We still did not hear that Moses prayed for them, and He says, ‘And now leave Me alone.’ However, here He opened for him an opening and notified him that the matter was up to him, that if he prayed for them, He would not destroy them” (Gate of the Words of Our Sages).

We should interpret the words of our sages, who said, “Here He opened for him an opening and notified him that the matter was up to him, that if he prayed for them, He would not destroy them.” It means that the Creator notified him, meaning gave him a desire to pray for Israel that He will forgive them the sin of the calf. It follows that the fact that the Creator told him to pray means that He gave him the strength to pray. That is, unless the Creator gives the strength to pray, a person cannot pray.

It therefore follows that the fact that a person prays to the Creator to forgive his sins, that, too, comes from the Creator, for the Creator gives him the strength and desire to pray. It follows that the Creator does everything. In other words, even when a person prays to the Creator to forgive his sins, they implied about this too, “There is none as holy as the Lord,” since “There is none besides You,” to have power of Kedusha. Rather, everything comes from the Creator.

However, we must not forget that although we say, “Everything comes from the Creator,” a person should say, “If I am not for me, who is for me?” Rather, everything depends on the acts of people. Although this is in contradiction to the above-said, we must believe that so it is, as Maimonides says (as said in Article No. 25, Tav-Shin-Nun).

According to the above, we should interpret what is said on Shabbat [Sabbath] in the song, “Anyone who sanctifies the seventh properly, anyone who observes Shabbat according to the law, so as not to desecrates it, his reward is great, according to his work.” This is difficult to understand. What is the novelty in saying, “His reward is great, according to his work”? This is a straightforward matter; it is customary that one is paid according to the value of one’s work. So, what is he telling us by saying, “His reward is great, according to his work”? Can it be otherwise?

If he had said that one who observes Torah and Mitzvot, even though he transgresses a little, receives a great reward, if this were so then there would be a novelty to hear. But if he does not receive reward more than he works, this is natural and so it is in corporeality.

However, the novelty is that when Shabbat comes, when a person is rewarded with the quality of Shabbat, he feels the truth, that the work itself is the reward that the Creator gives to a person, meaning that He gives a person a thought and desire to observe Torah and Mitzvot and to come and purify himself, as it is written, “He who comes to purify.” The question is, Why did he come to purify now, at this time, and not before? When a person receives assistance from above, the person comes to purify and not before. It follows that the meaning of “His reward is great according to his work” is that the fact that a person works and labors in Torah and Mitzvot is his reward.

It turns out that if he works a lot, this is the reward that the Creator has given him. That is, He gave a thought and desire to do the holy work. Thus, this is not as it is in corporeality, where to the extent that a person works, any worker receives a salary, meaning a reward in return for his work. Rather, here the innovation is that the reward is the work.

Accordingly, the meaning of “His reward is great,” is that how much is the reward? There is no matter here of giving him more reward or less reward. This can be said when a person works in order to receive reward in return for his work, where there is the matter of surpluses and deficits. But if the reward is the work itself, there is no issue of being rewarded for the work. Therefore, to imply this, he says, “His reward is great,” specifically “according to his work,” since only the work is the reward.

By this we should interpret what is written (Deuteronomy 4:2), “You shall not add to the thing which I command you, nor will you take away from it, to keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.” In the work, we should interpret what he says. We understand “Nor will you take away,” but why is it forbidden to add?

In the work, we should interpret that if a person wants to receive more reward, his way can be by adding more Torah and Mitzvot. But rather, “Do not add and do not take away,” since the reward is the work itself that the Creator gives to a person a place to serve the King. And that power is the reward. Hence, there is the intimation, “Do not add and do not take away,” meaning that it is impossible to add more, to receive more reward, but that it is precise, meaning the work and the reward are as two drops in a pond.

This is so particularly in the work. That is, when a person wants to work on the path of truth, which is work in order to bestow, although the literal meaning pertains to practical Mitzvot, that in practice, it means you should not add or take away, but in terms of the intention, meaning when a person works in order to bestow, there is also the matter of “Do not add.” In other words, it is impossible to add to the reward more than he works, since what he wants to receive more from the work is that he wants a reward, meaning that besides the work, he will be given a reward. It follows that he is working Lo Lishma [not for Her sake]. But as said above, the reward and the work are equal, and it is impossible to receive more reward, but only according to the work.

According to the above, we should interpret what The Zohar explains about the verse, “There is no rock like our God.” It means that the Creator forms a form within a form, meaning the form of the Ubar [embryo] within the form of its mother. What is “forms a form within a form” in the work? It is that a person sanctifies himself, meaning wants to work in order to bestow. This Kedusha does not come from man, so that man helps the Creator in any way, for the Creator to impart Kedusha upon him, as it is written, “He who comes to purify is aided.” Rather, the Creator does everything, for “He alone does, is doing, and will do all the deeds.”

This is the meaning of what is written, “forms a form within a form,” meaning the form of the Ubarwithin the form of its mother. This means that the form of the mother is the basis, and with this form, the man is born. This is called “the form of its mother.” Afterward, when a person begins the work and wants to walk on the path of bestowal, he begins with the first degree of Kedusha.

It is known that there are three discernments called 1) Ibur, 2) Yenika, 3) Mochin.

The first beginning, when a person enters the Kedusha, is the Ubar. This is the meaning of the Creator forming a form of bestowal within the previous form, which is the mother, who is called “vessels of reception.” In the vessels of reception, the man is born. Afterward, the man shifts to Kedusha, which is that all his actions are for the sake of the Creator.

Thus, who gave him the vessels of bestowal? It is as we learn, that Aviut [thickness] deKeter is called Aviut de Shoresh, and is called Aviut of the Ubar. The Shoresh [root] is the Creator, whose desire is to do good to His creations. When a person receives the first quality of Kedusha, he receives vessels of bestowal, meaning he can aim to bestow in vessels of bestowal.

This is called that the Creator “forms a form,” meaning the form of bestowal, which is that He gives him the power to be able to bestow within the form of his mother, who is the previous state, before he came to connect with the Kedusha. The previous state is called “mother,” and the next state is called Ibur.

After the Ubar there is birth, until the newborn grows and through corrections becomes Gadol[big/grownup], regarded as having been rewarded with Mochin of Kedusha. We should interpret Ubarfrom the word Over [passing], which is the first state, when he passes from using the vessels of reception into the degree of Kedusha, where he uses only Kelim [vessels] that can aim to bestow. Otherwise, the Kelim are not used.

It follows that Ibur is the most important. As in corporeality, when a woman conceives, she is certain to also deliver. Thus, all the concern is for the woman to conceive. Afterward, the woman will usually deliver, too. However, sometimes there are exceptions and the woman aborts the fetus due to some corruption.

Likewise, in the work, the main thing that is hard for us is to enter the Ubar, meaning that the will to receive will receive within it a different desire called “desire to bestow.” When a person is rewarded with the state of Ubar, meaning that within the desire to receive enters a desire to bestow, this is considered that the Creator forms a form within a form.

We should understand this wonder of forming a form within a form. According to what we interpreted, this is a great novelty, a real miracle, since it is against nature, for only the Creator can change nature, and it is out of man’s hands. This is the novelty, that the Creator forms the form of bestowal within the form of the mother, which is the form of reception. This is called the Kedusha that the Creator gives.

It is said, “There is none as holy as the Lord, for there is none besides You,” as there is no one in the world who can change nature and make within the Kli [vessel] that comes to a person by nature, the desire to receive, that it will later have a different nature, called “desire to bestow.” This is all the innovation of forming a form within a form.

Now we should interpret the meaning of the proximity of “If a woman inseminates, she delivers a male child.” Rabbi Yehuda started with what is written, “There is none as holy as the Lord, for there is none besides You.” It is known that sowing is like, for instance, taking wheat or barley and so forth, and placing them in the ground until they decay. Afterward, the grain that we need comes out of them.

In the work, a woman is considered the one who works, the one who should deliver. For this reason, if the woman, who is a female, meaning a vessel of reception, if one sows the quality of a “woman,” meaning a female—which is the will to receive—in the ground, to decay, this will later yield a male. In other words, if a person sows his female in the ground, meaning the vessels of reception, it will yield vessels of bestowal, called “male.”

And if the man inseminates first, meaning that he wants the vessels of bestowal in him to decay in the earth, meaning that when he engages in Torah and Mitzvot, his intention is that by bestowing and engaging in Torah and Mitzvot, his aim is for the acts of bestowal to come into the earth and decay, then she delivers a female. That is, his will to receive grows. This is the meaning of delivering a female. In other words, the acts of bestowal will bring him self-benefit, called “female.”

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

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

What Is, “Praise the Lord, All Nations,” in the Work?

Article No. 25, Tav-Shin-Nun, 1989-90

The writing says (Psalms 117), “Praise the Lord, all nations; laud Him, all the peoples, for His mercy has prevailed over us, and the truth of the Lord is everlasting, Hallelujah.” We should understand why all the nations must praise the Creator, since it is written, “for His mercy has prevailed over us.” It would seem that it should be to the contrary, that by being merciful with the people of Israel, the nations should be angry with the Creator. Yet, here the writing says, “Laud Him, all the peoples, for His mercy has prevailed over us.” Can this be?

We should interpret this according to the work. When we speak of one person, since every person is a small world, as it is written in The Zohar, there is the quality of the “nations of the world” in a person, and there is the quality of “Israel,” and the Israel in a person is in exile under the rule of the nations of the world.

In other words, it is known that Israel means Yashar-El [straight to the Creator], that he wants all his actions to be directly to the Creator, meaning that everything will be for the sake of the Creator. However, the thoughts of the nations of the world are only about their own benefit, as it is known that each nation has its own lust. They govern the Israel within him and do not let Israel do what Israel must do. Instead, each time, each and every nation imposes its lust on a person so he will do as it wishes. This is called “the people of Israel being in exile.”

However, we should know and believe that everything that a person can receive in vessels of reception is not more than a tiny light compared to the light of the pleasure that is clothed in spirituality, which is received in vessels of bestowal. And yet, our sages said a rule: “One does not die with half one’s wishes in one’s hand.”

That is, there is not a person in the world who can say that he is the happiest person in the world, according to the rule, “One who has one hundred wants two hundred.” Hence, there is not a person in the world who is carefree, at rest, or at peace. Rather, each and every one has his own deficiency, as it is written, “Envy, lust, and honor bring one out of the world.”

It follows that in the end, every person suffers because he cannot satisfy his deficiencies. But one who is rewarded and receives from the Creator vessels of bestowal, in these Kelim [vessels] he receives the delight and pleasure that the Creator has prepared for the created beings, and then a person lives in a world that is all good. It is as our sages said (Avot, Chapter 6:1), “Rabbi Meir says, ‘Anyone who engage in Torah Lishma [for Her sake] is rewarded with many things. Moreover, the whole world is worthwhile for him.’”

In other words, he sees how the world is worthwhile for him, since when a person receives everything in vessels of bestowal, which is equivalence of form, called Dvekut [adhesion], which is called Lishma, the delight and pleasure that is found in the thought of creation called “His desire to do good to His creations” is imparted upon him to the extent of His ability.

This is as described in the essay Matan Torah [“The Giving of the Torah”] (Item 6), “Our sages tell us that the world had not been created but for the purpose of observing Torah and Mitzvot. That is, the aim of the Creator from the time He created His creation is to reveal His Godliness to others. This is because the revelation of His Godliness reaches the creature as pleasant bounty that is ever growing until it reaches the desired measure. And by that, the lowly rise with true recognition and become a chariot to Him, and to cleave unto Him, until they achieve their final completion.”

It therefore follows that when a person is rewarded with vessels of bestowal, he is rewarded with the delight and pleasure that were in the thought of creation. This is called, “When the Lord favors a man’s ways, even his enemies make peace with him.” Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi interprets, “This is the serpent” (Jerusalem Talmud, Terumot 8:3). The serpent is the evil inclination, who is the appointee of the seventy nations. As was said, the quality of the nations of the world in one’s body cause him not to be able to be rewarded with the delight and pleasure.

It therefore follows that when a person receives delight and pleasure, the vessels of reception are also mitigated by his using the vessels of reception in order to bestow. Therefore, they, too, receive the delight and pleasure. This is called “When the Lord favors a man’s ways,” which is when he works only for the sake of the Creator, called “engaging Lishma.” Then, he is rewarded with many things, as said in the words of Rabbi Meir.

For this reason, the nations of the world in a person’s body must also praise the Creator because they are now receiving delight and pleasure by a person being rewarded with vessels of bestowal, called “Kelim of Hesed [mercy].” This is the meaning of the words, “Praise the Lord, all nations; laud Him, all the peoples.” But why should they praise the Creator? “for His mercy has prevailed over us.”

That is, it is because the Kelim of Hesed overcame the vessels of reception. And who gave the power to make the Hesed prevail? Only the Creator gave this, as our sages said, “Man’s inclination overcomes him every day. Unless the Creator helps him, he cannot overcome it.”

It follows that the nations, too, should praise the Creator “for His mercy has prevailed over us.” We have been rewarded with the Creator’s mercy, and by this we now see “the truth of the Lord,” meaning the truth that the Creator watches over the world with a guidance of good and doing good, which is now revealed to all the nations.

It follows that man’s enemies, which is the evil inclination, called “enemy,” as it is written, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him bread,” referring to the evil inclination, as our sages said, that King Solomon would call the evil inclination by the name “enemy,” so he, too, will make peace with him. This is called, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with both your inclinations,” namely with the good inclination and with the evil inclination. When a person’s vessels of reception obtain the force to receive in order to bestow, at that time he serves the Creator with the evil inclination, too. That is, the evil inclination also loves the Creator, for it, too, receives delight and pleasure.

This is why it is written, “and the truth of the Lord,” as he interprets in The Study of the Ten Sefirotabout the seventh correction of the thirteen corrections of Dikna, called “and truth,” that it is called “and truth” because in this correction it becomes revealed to all that this is the truth, that such was the purpose of creation: to do good to His creations.

It therefore follows that in the work, we should interpret what The Zohar says, that all the nations have a minister over them, but as for the people of Israel, only the Creator governs them, for the people of Israel are the portion of the Lord, since the nations of the world receive for themselves, as it is written in The Zohar about the verse, “The grace of the nations is a sin, for all the good that they do, they do for themselves.” That is, everything they do is only for their own benefit.

This is called “seventy nations,” meaning “seventy rulers,” where each nation has a special lust. This is generally called “the evil inclination,” since it causes man to become separated from the Creator. This is regarded as the ministers ruling over the nations of the world. In other words, they do not feel that there is a Creator who leads the world.

Conversely, the quality of Israel, which means Yashar-El [straight to the Creator], feel that they are in the portion of the Creator, since all their actions are for the sake of the Creator and not for their own sake. This is considered that the Creator took the people of Israel to His portion, and no minister governs them. In other words, one who enters the quality of Israel says that only the Creator governs him, and no other force.

This means that both ascents and descents, the Creator does everything. This is as is said (in the Shabbat [Sabbath] Morning Prayer), “God, Master of all the deeds.” That is, everything that a person does, the Creator is the Operator. As Baal HaSulam said, before the fact, a person should say that it is all up to him, as our sages said, “If I am not for me, who is for me?” meaning that man does everything. But after the fact, he should say that the Creator does everything, for He is the Master of all the deeds.

According to the above, we should interpret what is written (Psalms 89), “The heavens will praise Your wonders, O Lord; Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones. For who in the skies is comparable to the Lord? Who among the sons of gods is like the Lord?” We should understand how this concerns us that the heavens are thankful for the work of the Creator, since the main thing we need to know is what we must do.

In the work, we should interpret that “heaven” and “earth” are two states in which man is: 1) In a state of ascent, it is considered that a person is in “heaven.” That is, as heaven is called “giver,” if a person is in a state of ascent, it means that then he wants to bestow upon the Creator. This is considered that all his works are for the sake of the Creator. 2) When a person is in a descent and falls to the earth, “earth” is the quality of reception. In other words, a person has fallen into a state where he cannot do anything unless it satisfies his will to receive. This is called “earth.”

According to the above, a person should believe that the Creator does everything. That is, once a person has overcome his will to receive and works only for the sake of the Creator, it is said, “The heavens will praise Your wonders, O Lord.” That is, this act is truly a wondrous act, since by nature, man cannot do anything that is not for his own benefit. But now the Creator has raised him to heaven.

It is written, “And those people will thank,” those who are now in a state of “heaven,” will thank the Creator, since this work is done only by the Creator and not by man, for man is incapable of doing anything that does not concern his own benefit, since he was created with such a nature.

“Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.” This means that faith, which is in the assembly, who now feel that they are holy, as it written, “You will be holy, for I am holy.” That is, as the Creator wants to bestow, so man should have a desire only to bestow, as it is written, “Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones,” that this, too, comes from the wonders of the Creator—that they have been rewarded with faith, and because of this they are regarded as an assembly of holy ones. There is a double meaning [in Hebrew].

It is written, “For who in the skies.” That is, one who is in the skies, who was rewarded with being in the heavens, meaning with the desire to bestow, called “heaven,” “is comparable to You?” This seems perplexing, because according to the literal meaning, the verse should say, “For who in the skies is comparable to the Lord.” Is there anyone who can make a mistake and say that someone will value himself similar to the Creator?

In the work, we should interpret that the writing tells us that one should not think that the overcoming, the work and labor that he has given, by this he became the quality of heaven—a giver. However, the person had nothing to do with it, that he helped the Creator be able to pull a person out of self-love into the desire to bestow for the sake of the Creator.

Afterward, the verse says about this: “Who among the sons of the gods is like the Lord?” In other words, those strong and mighty people should not think that the fact that they had the power to overcome their evil was by their own strength. Rather, everything came from the power of the Creator, as it is written, “Who is like the Lord?” able to overcome the evil without the Creator’s help.

Yet, it is written, “He who comes to purify is aided,” which implies that man’s work did help the Creator, creating a place to give help, so why is it said that everything is done by the Creator? We should interpret what our sages said, “He who comes to purify.” That is, if we see that the person came on his own to purify, which is an awakening from below, the answer to this is “He is being aided.”

That is, the fact that he has come to purify comes by assistance from above. Otherwise, he would not come to purify. It follows that the fact came to purify also comes from the Creator and not from the created being. This contradicts human reason, that on one hand, we say, “He who comes to purify,” which means that man can choose to do, and on the other hand, we say that the Creator does everything, so they contradict one another.

Maimonides writes in his interpretation on the Mishnah (Avot, Chapter 3:15), “Everything is expected; everything is revealed and known to the Creator in advance, and the permission is given. Nevertheless, man has the authority to choose the good or the bad. In other words, man has free choice. Knowing the Creator, that He knows everything in advance, does not obligate a person in any way. Although this is impossible according to our attainment and understanding, but the Creator’s knowing is not the same as our knowing. There is no similarity between them whatsoever, since He and His knowing are one. As we do not attain the existence of the Creator with our limited mind, so we do not attain His knowing.”

Thus, we see in the words of Maimonides that it is not in our attainment to understand the two above matters, which contradict one another. Baal HaSulam said that although they contradict one another, it is before a person is rewarded with private Providence. However, after he has been rewarded with private Providence, he can understand that this is not a contradiction. But with the external mind, it is impossible to understand this.

This means that there is a contradiction between reward and punishment and private Providence, but with regard to everything, we must go above reason and do both. As we see in the words of The Zohar (Tazria, Item 6), “‘For her price is far above pearls.’ He asks, ‘It should have said ‘worth,’ that it is harder to buy her than pearls, why does it say ‘her price’? He replies, ‘All those who do not adhere to her completely and are not whole with her, she sells them and turns them over to other nations. It is as you say, ‘And the children of Israel abandoned the Lord,’ and He sold them to the hand of Sisera. And then they are all far from those high and holy pearls, which are the secrets and the internality of the Torah, for they will have no share in them.’’”

It follows that here he speaks of reward and punishment. That is, in the work, we should interpret that when a person receives some awakening from above and does not know how to maintain that state of ascent, since he does not appreciate it as he should when the King calls on him to enter a little bit into Kedusha [holiness], at that time the Kedusha sells the person to other nations. That is, the thoughts and desires of other nations control him. It follows that on one hand, a person should say, “Everything is under Providence,” and on the other hand, there is reward and punishment. However, it is as in the words of Maimonides.

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