What Are Merits and Iniquities of a Righteous in the Work?

Article 22, 1988

It is written in The Zohar (BaHar, Item 67), “A complete righteous—all his merits are above, and his iniquities below. A complete wicked—his iniquities are above and his merits below. That is, a complete righteous—all his merits are kept for him above, for the next world, and he does not receive anything from them in this world. His iniquities, namely the punishments for his iniquities, are below in this world. A complete wicked—his iniquities are above, meaning he is avenged in hell after his passing from this world. And the merits he had done are below, meaning he is given his reward in this world. Intermediate—both judge him, meaning that both his reward and his punishment are below in this world.”

We need to understand the meaning of “complete righteous,” “complete wicked,” and “intermediate” in the work, as well as what are “this world” and “the next world” in man’s work, and the meaning of “above” and “below.”

It is known that the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations, meaning that the created beings will receive delight and pleasure. For this reason, we see that the whole world, without exception, strives only to receive delight and pleasure, since this was the purpose of creation. However, in order to have equivalence of form, there was a correction that everything we do must be with the aim to bestow contentment upon the Creator and not for our own sake.

How can one do something not for his own sake when this is against nature? The answer is that when a person believes in the greatness of the Creator, to that extent a person can do things in order for the Creator to enjoy his work. In nature, when the small serves the great, he derives pleasure from it and does not need any reward. Just the privilege of serving him gives him vitality and makes him feel like the happiest person in the world.

Therefore, when a person achieves this degree where his only aim is to bestow upon the Creator, he is called “righteous.” That is, when he can bestow upon the Creator, this is his only hope in life, and he does not need to be given anything else in life. If he sees that he is not permitted to serve the King, he says that he must have committed some iniquity for which he is punished with ejection from the King’s palace into a place of litter, a place of waste.

That is, he is thrown into the pleasures he derived from self-gratification, of which he said that this was suitable for the “animate,” not for the speaking, which is the human level, as our sages said, “You are called ‘man,’ and not the nations of the world.” But now he is in a state where (he) can enjoy only that which pertains to self-benefit. At that time he says that he must have been punished for some iniquity, that he was not careful and was therefore punished. This is the degree of “complete righteous.”

Conversely, the pleasures of the complete wicked are only those that can be received in vessels of reception, which is only for self-benefit. If he sees that no self-benefit would arise from this work, but rather everything will go toward bestowal without any reward, he cannot derive pleasure from this. Then he says that he must have committed some iniquity, which is why he cannot receive anything in the vessels of reception, and he looks and examines why he cannot make the vessels of reception enjoy.

It follows that when he thinks that the will to receive will not receive anything, he is very worried. He says about the state he is currently in that it is truly hell, that he is being punished above for his iniquities, and this is why the will to receive for himself (cannot) enjoy anything, meaning that now he has nothing to live on.

“Intermediate—both judge him.” Once he agrees with the righteous, and once he says that the complete wicked is correct.

By this we can interpret what The Zohar says, “A complete righteous—all his merits are kept for him above.” He regards merits as “above, in the next world,” meaning that he can do things that belong above, namely in order to bestow above, to the Creator, who is of superior importance. He regards this as “the next world,” and the next world is called “reward.”

He does not receive from them anything in this world. This world is called “receiving.” That which a person receives in the vessels of reception is called “this world,” regarded as Malchut, whereas the next world is called Bina, which is a vessel of bestowal. For this reason, Bina is called “above,” “the next world,” and Malchut is called “this world.” Hence, the righteous does not want to receive for himself anything in the vessels of reception, but rather only in order to bestow.

He says, “A complete wicked—his sins are above.” This means that he sees, when he engages in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds], regarded as “above” in importance, that he is wicked, meaning that he does not want to work in order to bestow upon the Creator, but to bestow pleasure upon himself, and this is why he engages in matters of above. That is, things he should bestow upward, when he sees that below, meaning the will to receive, will not gain from this work, the wicked says about this state, “Why am I unable to give something to the will to receive for myself? It must be because of iniquities; this is why the will to receive cannot enjoy.”

He says, “He is avenged in hell after his passing from this world.” “His passing from this world” means that he says that now that he no longer has vitality from this world, called “vessels of reception,” which are now devoid of life, this is called “passing from this world.” This is the meaning of “He is avenged in hell.” Now that he feels that he has nothing from which to derive pleasure for the will to receive, he says it is a punishment and he is being punished in hell. This is why he has no life.

This is the meaning of “a complete wicked above.” To the extent that he must engage in bestowal upward and receive below, it is regarded as a punishment. This is considered that now he feels that he has passed away, since he no longer has any life.

“And the merits he had done are below, meaning he is given his reward in this world.” “This world” is that which the will to receive enjoys. He says about it, “The fact that I can receive delight and pleasure in the vessels of reception must mean that I have merits, and this is why I am given pleasure.” This is the meaning of “his merits are below,” meaning in the vessels of reception, regarded as being of inferior importance.

Accordingly, the meaning of “complete righteous” is that his intention is only to bestow contentment upon his Maker. A “complete wicked” means that he wants only to receive, and not to bestow at all. Yet, both apply to the same person, meaning when he works in Torah and Mitzvot and wants to begin the work of Lishma [for Her sake]. At that time, through work and overcoming, he comes to know that he is a complete wicked and does not want to annul his own authority, and not to think of himself, of how he can delight himself, and make all his concerns about bestowal. At that time he sees that this is difficult.

That person can see the truth—that he is far from the truth of working only for the sake of the Creator. At that time he decides that he is truly wicked because then he sees what his body wants, and he sees that he cannot be a worker of the Creator, but rather his own worker of himself.

Conversely, those who do not begin the work of bestowal can never see that they are completely wicked. Instead, they sometimes see that they have not reached the degree of righteousness, but to see that they are completely wicked, there is no such thing, as it is impossible to see the truth before one begins the work of bestowal.

This world is called “vessels of reception,” and the next world, “vessels of bestowal.” Likewise, “below” means into the vessels of reception, and “above” means vessels of bestowal, namely that the lower one wants to bestow to above.

“Intermediate—both judge him,” meaning not at once, but at two separate times. That is, once he thinks that he has already achieved the degree of “righteous,” and once he sees that he is a “complete wicked.” It follows that a righteous says, “All my merits are kept for me above, and my iniquities are below in this world.” This means that while his pleasures are in vessels of reception, he considers it a punishment.

By this we can interpret the words of The Zohar (Truma, Item 522): “One’s table must be clean, so the body will not approach eating its food unless when it, itself is clean. For this reason, one must first clear himself out, since that food, which he has prepared for himself, the Creator wants it, so he will not approach that table of feces vomit from the Sitra Achra. Once a person has eaten and been delighted, he must give a part to the Klipot [shells/peels]. And what is it? This is the last water, the filth of the hands that must be given to that side, which needs it. Because man is obliged to give him that part, there is no need to bless at all.”

We should understand what is “cleanness” in the work, where he says, “For this reason, one must first clear himself out, before he eats the food of the pure table.” We should also understand what he says, “Once a person has eaten and been delighted, he must give a part to the Klipot [shells/peels]. And what is it? This is the last water, the filth of the hands… Because man is obliged to give him that part.” We should understand why before the meal he says not to give anything to the Klipot, and after the meal he says we should give some to the Klipot, and that it is even mandatory to give, but there is no need to bless.

It is known that the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations. But in order not to have shame in it, there was a correction that we must aim all the pleasures we receive to be in order to bestow and not for our own sake. The Klipot are called “wanting to receive for one’s own sake.” When all the vessels of reception are corrected to work in order to bestow, this will be called “the end of correction.” That is, there will be nothing to correct into working in order to bestow because all the vessels of reception will have entered the authority of Kedusha [holiness/sanctity], called “in order to bestow upon the Creator and not for one’s own sake.”

Hence, in order for a person to be able to aim—while receiving the pleasure—in order to bestow, regarded as sitting at one’s table, a person should say, “This is the table before the Lord.” A “table” is the place from which a person derives pleasures. A “table” means the place of one’s sustenance. It is called “table,” as our sages said, “reliant on his father’s table, reliant on others’ table [dependent on others].” Also, during the blessing for the food, we say, “The Merciful One, He will send us much blessing in this house, and on this table on which we have eaten.”

We should understand what are “this house” and “this table.” A “table” is the place where one receives one’s sustenance. This is why we say, “The Merciful One, He will send us much blessing,” meaning that the provision we receive from the Creator will not be with envy, which is receiving for himself. That is, he asks of the Creator that the sustenance with which he is providing the body will not go into the vessels of reception of the body, which are called “envy,” as our sages said, “He is envious of what others have.”

Rather, it should be as “much blessing,” which are vessels of bestowal, which is called “expansion,” which is Hassadim [mercies], when he wants to do only Hesed [mercy]. From this should be his provision for himself, and (his provision) will not be with envy, called “receiving and not bestowing,” since from those who receive for themselves, there cannot be sustenance to the world. That is, if the whole world worked in bestowal, the world would be sustained even in corporeality, as he writes in the book Matan Torah [The Giving of the Torah]. This is the meaning of what he says, “On this table.”

Concerning the words “much blessing in this house,” a house means Hochma, as it is written, “As the glory of a man to dwell (dwells) at home,” and as it is written, “A house shall be built with wisdom [Hochma].” This is the meaning of what is written in The Zohar, “Three things broaden man’s mind: a handsome woman, a handsome home, and handsome Kelim [vessels/tools]. A handsome woman is his soul; handsome Kelim are his organs, and the home is his heart.” That is, the home is regarded as man’s heart, and man’s heart should be a Temple, as it is written, “And let them make Me a Temple and I will dwell within them.”

This means that one should work on two things: 1) The correction of creation, which is Hesed, is called “much blessing.” Expansion is called Hesed, the opposite of envy. This is called “the table of the Lord,” and it is attained through the Torah, as our sages said, “The light in it reforms him.” 2) Afterward comes the work of the purpose of creation, called “light of Hochma [wisdom]” or “light of life.” This light is called “the wisdom of the Torah,” regarded as “the Torah and the Creator are one,” In general, this Torah is called “the names of the Creator.”

This comes after a person has received Kelim of Hesed, which are vessels of bestowal with respect to the equivalence of form. This is as our sages said, “Rabbi Meir says, ‘He who learns Torah Lishma [for Her sake],’” meaning he has vessels of bestowal, meaning only to bring contentment to his Maker, “‘the secrets of Torah and shown to him,’” which is the names of the Creator.

Now we can interpret the meaning of cleanness in the work of the Creator. He says, “For this reason, one must first clear himself out before he eats food on the pure table.” This means that it is impossible to place important things in dirty vessels, since everything will be spoiled by the dirt. So it is in the work of the Creator: Precisely when one works for the Creator and not for himself, meaning when he wants to bestow upon the Creator, the abundance can enter these Kelim because there is equivalence between the light and the Kli [vessel].

Conversely, if the Kli is mixed with reception for oneself, which is regarded as “dirty” compared to the light, which is all about bestowal, accordingly, before a person comes to receive sustenance from the Creator, which are delight and pleasure, he must clean himself up from self-reception. At that time, the abundance, which is the pleasure, does not go to the Klipot, regarded as reception for oneself. Rather, the abundance will go to Kedusha because he can aim to benefit the Creator while receiving the pleasure. This is called “eating the food on the pure table.”

After the meal, it is to the contrary. He must give a part to the Sitra Achra [other side]. This means that he says that there is still dirt here, which belongs to the Sitra Achra, and I must still correct myself.