I heard on Iyar 21, Jerusalem
“Rabbi Hanina Bar Papa said, ‘That angel, appointed on conception, its name is Laila [night]. It takes a drop and places it before the Creator and says to Him: ‘Master of the world, this drop, what shall become of it, a hero or a weakling, a wise or a fool, a wealthy or an indigent?’ But he did not say ‘a wicked or a righteous’” (Nida 16b).
We should interpret according to the rule that a fool cannot be righteous, as our sages said, “One does not sin unless a spirit of folly has entered him.” It is even more so with one who is a fool his whole life. Hence, one who is born a fool has no choice since he has been sentenced to be a fool. Therefore, saying, “He did not say ‘a wicked or a righteous’” is so that he would have a choice. But what is the benefit if he did not say “a righteous or a fool”? After all, if he is sentenced to be a fool, it is the same as being sentenced to become a wicked!
We should also understand the words of our sages: “Rabbi Yochanan said, ‘The Creator saw that the righteous are few, He stood and planted them in each generation, as was said, ‘For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and He has set the world upon them.’’” RASHI interprets “‘He has set the world upon them’—He dispersed them in all the generations to be an infrastructure and sustenance and foundation to sustain the world” (Yoma 38b).
“They are few” means that they are growing fewer. Hence, what did he do to multiply them? “He stood and planted them in each generation.” We should ask, “What is the benefit in planting them in each generation, by which they multiply?” We must understand the difference between all the righteous being in a single generation or being dispersed through all the generations, as RASHI interprets. Does being in many generations multiply the righteous?
To understand the above, we must expand and interpret our sages’ words, that the Creator sentences the drop to be a wise or a fool, meaning that one who is born weak, without the strength to overcome his inclination, and is born with a weak desire and without talents, since during the preparation, when beginning in the work of the Creator, he must be fit to receive the Torah and the wisdom, as it is written, “will give wisdom to the wise,” he asked, “If they are already smart, why do they still need wisdom? It should have been ‘will give wisdom to the fools.’”
He explains that “wise” means one who craves wisdom although he still has no wisdom. But because he has a desire, and a desire is called a Kli [vessel], it follows that one who has a desire and craving for wisdom is the Kli in which wisdom shines. It therefore follows that a fool means one without yearning for wisdom, whose yearning is only for his own needs. In terms of bestowal, a fool is completely incapable of achieving any bestowal whatsoever.
Therefore, one who is born with such qualities, how can he achieve the degree of a righteous? It follows that he does not have a choice. Therefore, what is the benefit from saying, “he did not say, ‘a righteous or a wicked’?” So he would have a choice. After all, since he was born unwise and weak, he is no longer capable of having a choice, since he is completely incapable of any overcoming and craving for His wisdom.
To understand this, that even a fool can have a choice, the Creator made a correction, which our sages call, “the Creator saw that the righteous were few; He stood and planted them in each generation.” We asked, “What is the benefit of this?”
Now we will understand this matter. It is known that as it is forbidden to bond with the wicked even when one does not do as they do, as it is written, “nor sat in the seat of the scornful.” This means that the sin is primarily because he sits among the scornful, even though he sits and learns Torah and keeps Mitzvot. Otherwise, the prohibition would be due to the cancellation of Torah and Mitzvot. But rather, the sitting itself is forbidden, since man takes the thoughts and desires of those he likes.
And vice versa: If one does not have any desire or craving for spirituality, if he is among people who have a desire and craving for spirituality, if he likes these people, he, too, will take their strength to prevail, and their desires and aspirations, although by his own quality, he does not have these desires and cravings and the power to overcome. But according to the grace and the importance he ascribes to these people, he will receive new powers.
Now we can understand the above words: “The Creator saw that the righteous were few,” meaning that not any person can become a righteous, for lack of qualities for it, as it was written, that he is born a fool or a weakling; he, too, has a choice and his own qualities are no excuse. This is because the Creator planted the righteous in every generation.
Hence, a person has the choice of going to a place where there are righteous. One can accept their authority, and then he will receive all the powers that he lacks by the nature of his own qualities. He will receive it from the righteous. This is the benefit in “planted them in each generation,” so that each generation would have someone to turn to, adhere to, and from whom to receive the strength required to rise to the degree of a righteous. Thus, they, too, subsequently become righteous.
It follows that “he did not say ‘a wicked or a righteous’” means that he does have a choice: He can go and adhere to the righteous for guidance, and through them receive strength, by which they, too, can later become righteous.
However, if all the righteous were in the same generation, the fools and the weak would have no hope of approaching the Creator. Thus, they would not have a choice. But by dispersing the righteous in each generation, each person has the power of choice to approach and draw near to the righteous that exist in every generation. Otherwise, one’s Torah must be a potion of death.
We can understand this from a corporeal example. When two people stand one opposite the other, the right hand of one is opposite the left hand of the other, and the left hand of one is opposite one’s friend’s right hand. There are two ways: the right—the way of the righteous, which is only to bestow, and the path of the left—who want only to receive for themselves, by which they are separated from the Creator, who is only to bestow. Thus, they are naturally separated from the Life of Lives.
This is why the wicked in their lives are called “dead.” It therefore follows that as long as one has not been awarded Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, they are two. Then, when one learns Torah, which is called right, but is to the left of the Creator, meaning he is learning Torah to receive for himself, it separates him from Him, and his Torah becomes a potion of death to him since he remains separated, as he wants his Torah to clothe his body. This means that he wants the Torah to increase his body, and by this his Torah becomes a potion of death to him.
However, when a person becomes adhered to Him, a single authority is made, and that person unites in His uniqueness. Then, the right side of the person is the right side of the Creator, and then the body becomes a clothing for one’s soul.
The way to know if one is marching on the path of truth is that when one engages in bodily needs, one should see that he does not engage in them more than is necessary for the needs of his soul. When one thinks that one has more than he needs to clothe the needs of one’s soul, it is like a clothing that a person puts over his body. At that time, he is meticulous about keeping the garment not too long or too wide, but clothing his body accurately. Similarly, when engaging in one’s bodily needs, he should be meticulous not to have more than he needs for his soul, meaning to clothe his soul.
To come to Dvekut with the Creator, not all who wish to take the Lord may come and take, since it is against man’s nature, who was created with a will to receive, which is self-love. This is why we need the righteous of the generation.
When a person adheres to a real rav, whose only wish is to do good deeds, but one feels that he cannot do good deeds, that the aim will be to bestow contentment upon the Creator, by adhering to a real rav and wanting the rav’s fondness, he does things that his rav likes, and hates the things his rav hates. Then he can have Dvekut with his rav and receive his rav’s powers, even that which he does not have from birth. This is the meaning of planting the righteous in each generation.
However, according to this, it is hard to see why plant the righteous in each generation. We said that it was for the fools and the weak. But he could have solved it otherwise: not to create fools! Who made him say that this drop will be a weakling or a fool? He could have created everyone wise.
The answer is that the fools are also needed since they are the carriers of the will to receive. They see that they have no counsel of their own by which to draw near to the Creator, so they are as those about whom it is written, “And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men… for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.” They have become ashes under the feet of the righteous, by which the righteous can acknowledge the good that the Creator did for them by creating them wise and strong, by which He has brought them closer to Him.
Hence, now they can give thanks and praise the Creator since they see the lowly state they are in. This is called “ashes under the feet of the righteous,” meaning that the righteous walk by it and thus thank the Creator.
But we must know that the lower degrees are also needed. The Katnut [smallness/infancy] of a degree is not considered superfluous, saying that it would be better if the degrees of Katnut were born immediately with the Gadlut [greatness/adulthood].
It is like a physical body. There are certainly important organs, such as the brain and the eyes and so forth, and there are organs that are not as important, such as the stomach, intestines, fingers, and toes. But we cannot say that an organ that performs a not-so-important task is redundant. Rather, everything is important. It is the same in spirituality: We also need the fools and the weak.
Now we can understand what is written, that the Creator said, “Return unto Me, and I will return unto you.” It means that the Creator says, “Return,” and Israel say the opposite: “Bring us back, Lord, and then we shall return.”
The meaning is that during the decline from the work, the Creator says “Return” first. This brings a person an ascent in the work of the Creator, and one begins to cry, “Bring us back.” But during the decline, one does not cry, “Bring us back.” On the contrary, he escapes the work.
Hence, one should know that when he cries, “Bring us back,” it stems from an awakening from above, since the Creator previously said “Return,” by which one has an ascent and he can say “Bring us back.”
This is the meaning of “And it came to pass when the ark journeyed, that Moses said: ‘Rise up, O Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered.’” “Journeying” means when advancing in servitude of the Creator, which is an ascent. Then Moses said “Rise.” And when they rested, he said “Return, Lord.” And during the rest from the work of the Creator, we need the Creator to say, “Return,” meaning “Return unto Me,” meaning that the Creator gives the awakening. Hence, one should know when to say “Rise” or “Return.”
This is the meaning of what is written in Parashat Akev, “And you shall remember all the way… to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments, or not.” “Would keep His commandments” is discerned as “Return.” “Or not” is discerned as “rise,” and we need both. And the rav knows when to “rise” and when to “return,” since the forty-two journeys are ascents and descents that unfold in the work of the Creator.