Article No. 19, 1991
The Jerusalem Talmud says, “The Tanna Rashbi says, ‘If you see people whose hands have given up on the Torah, stand firm and reinforce yourself in it, and you will receive everyone’s reward.’”
We should understand the meaning of people giving up on the Torah. Giving up has to do with a person who has made great efforts to obtain something but saw that all his efforts did not help him and he still did not obtain that thing. At that time, a person comes to despair. It follows that if a person sees that people have given up on finding the Torah, it must be that they have made efforts, so how can it be said, “Stand firm and reinforce yourself in it”? After all, we see that the labor did not help them, so with what can we reinforce ourselves?
It is known that in the work, we learn everything within one body. It follows that seeing people whose hands have given up on the Torah is in one person. Thus, what does it mean that he sees that they have given up on the Torah? We should understand why he says that their hands have given up on the Torah. It is known that “hands” means that which we take with our hands. Thus, what does it mean that “their hands have given up”? It means that they saw that it is impossible to receive in their hands from the Torah what they want to receive. Thus, we should know what it is they wanted to receive from the Torah but have given up.
It is known that man was created with the evil inclination and the good inclination. The evil inclination was created as soon as one is born. A person does not need to work to acquire this desire, since the Creator created man with this nature, called “desire to receive delight and pleasure.” Therefore, since it comes by nature, it is very strong and needs no assistance. Wherever one sees that he can enjoy something, he immediately does all that he can to obtain that pleasure. Accordingly, we should ask, “If it tries to bring one pleasures, why is it called “evil inclination”? After all, it is concerned with bringing pleasures, not bad things, to a person.
The answer is that since the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations, in order not to have the matter of shame, there was a correction that the abundance does not reach the vessels of reception. This is called “the correction of the Tzimtzum [restriction].” Only a very thin light shines into the vessels of reception. This is the meaning of what the ARI interprets, that Malchut sustains the Klipot [shells/peels], as in “Her legs go down to death,” and the corporeal world is nourished by this.
Yet, the real delight and pleasure, of which He thought, does not shine into the vessels of reception. It therefore follows that the evil inclination, called “will to receive for one’s own sake,” cannot receive the real delight and pleasure. Hence, since the will to receive for oneself is the disruptor, it is called “evil inclination,” as it disrupts a person from receiving the abundance.
For this reason, since man was created with a nature of wanting to receive for himself, how can he have the power to emerge from the control of the evil inclination? The answer of our sages to this is “Thus the Creator said to Israel: ‘My sons, I have created the evil inclination, and I have created for it the spice of Torah. And if you engage in Torah, you will not be given into its hands’” (Kidushin 30).
This means that only through the Torah can we emerge from the control of the evil inclination. That is, when one learns Torah, he should always see whether he has taken from the Torah the subjugation of the evil inclination. Hence, if one learns Torah, he sees that he did not receive from the Torah the cure of the Torah, which subdues the evil inclination.
It follows that to the extent of the time and effort that one has given to learn Torah, and yet did not move at all from his evil, but sometimes sees the opposite, that he has retreated, and each day he thinks that he is a new creation, meaning that each day he thinks, “Perhaps today I will be rewarded with the Torah giving me the cure to persuade the evil inclination,” but since he sees that he is not succeeding, he falls into despair. Then he says that although our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,” this might be so for a person who was born with good qualities. Yet, he sees his own lowliness, that he cannot achieve this level. Thus, he must leave the campaign since it is not for him, and he is wasting his time working in vain. This brings him to a state called “pondering the beginning.”
This is the meaning of what is written, “If you see people whose hands have given up on the Torah,” meaning that all those days when he engaged in Torah with the aim to obtain from the Torah the cure of annulling the bad, and since each day was a new creation for him, it follows that he has many creations within him. Now, their hands have given up on the Torah because he is in a state where he will never receive this cure from the Torah. Yet, in this way, he is under the control of the will to receive. Hence, what should he do now? Normally, when one gives up on something that he wants to obtain, he quits it and runs from it. Thus, he should escape the campaign.
Rashbi says about this, “Stand firm and reinforce yourself in it, and you will receive everyone’s reward.” We should understand what Rashbi says and adds, “You will receive everyone’s reward.” Why is it not enough that he says that he should believe what he is saying, “Stand firm and reinforce yourself in it”? In other words, we must believe in the sages that we must not give up, and believe that the Creator hears the prayer of every mouth. Why does he add and say, “and you will receive everyone’s reward”? If he does not receive everyone’s reward, should he not reinforce himself and not give up?
We should interpret what he says, “and you will receive everyone’s reward,” that this is the reason why he must not give up on receiving the cure from the Torah that brings to us the cancellation of the evil inclination. The thing is that we must believe that when one begins the work of bestowal, he sees each time that he is more immersed in self-love. Each day he adds in the work, which is regarded as a new creation, as our sages said, “A gentile who became a proselyte is like a newborn child,” which means in the work that each day when one takes upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven, he becomes “Israel,” and this is called “A gentile who became a proselyte is like a newborn child.”
It follows that man consists of many creations. And the more creations there are, he sees that he has still not been rewarded with permanent faith and he is still far from the Creator due to disparity of form, which causes separation from the Creator. This is called that he sees that the creations have given up on the Torah, meaning that they have given up on receiving the medicine called “annulment of the evil.”
The question is, Why does the Creator not give them what He promised us, as He said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice”? Why does He not give the spice to those people who want to work in order to bestow?
The answer is, as we explained in previous articles, that “There is no light without a Kli [vessel], no filling without a lack.” Since one is not shown more lack than he can receive, meaning to the extent of the good within him, meaning since he engages in overcoming the bad and does things in order to cancel the bad, therefore, he is shown a greater lack each time, according to the value of his work, and how far he is from the desire to bestow.
It follows that in truth, the Creator does hear a prayer, but the answering of the prayer is not the way the person thinks he needs it, meaning the filling, since what man really needs is the lack, meaning a real desire, to want to be rewarded in his life with only a desire to give contentment to the Creator. But in the beginning of his work, a person thinks that he needs a little bit desire to bestow, meaning that he still does not have a need to be able to bring contentment to the Creator. It is not a big desire because he is not as materialized with self-love.
Rather, he thinks that whenever he wants to work in order to bestow, he will be able to do so. Thus, he still does not have a real need to feel how far he is from doing anything not for his own sake. This is why this is still not regarded as a real need for the Creator to satisfy.
Hence, the beginning of answering the prayer of a person who wants to walk on the path of bestowal is that the Creator shows him each time a greater lack, that he is removed from the work of bestowal. It follows that the fact that one sees that the Torah is not giving him the spice is for his sake, since by this he receives a Kli, called “lack,” for the Creator to later give him the filling for the lack.
Thus, to the extent that each time he receives a greater lack for the desire to bestow, he thereby receives more Kelim [vessels] that can receive the filling of the lack. In other words, if he has a big desire to obtain the desire to bestow, it follows that the increase in desires is called “increase in the Kelim for the reception of the filling,” called “desire to bestow.” That is, he receives a big desire to bestow, according to his Kelim. This means that according to the measure of the lack, to that extent he can receive the spice from the Torah. It follows that according to the increase in the Kelim, to that extent he receives light.
Accordingly, we should interpret what we asked, What does Rashbi add to us when he says that he takes everyone’s reward? We should interpret that when one sees that the creations have given up on the Torah, that they see that they are not receiving into their hands the spice that the Torah is meant to give them, namely the annulment of the evil inclination, but on the contrary, Rashbi says about this, “Know that all the rejections you feel, that each time, you are pushed farther away from nearing the Creator, from equivalence of form called ‘Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator,’ it is in order for you to acquire Kelim in which to receive the spice.”
It follows that now that you have many Kelim, which come from many rejections, now all the Kelim will receive reward, meaning the filling, and this is called that he will receive reward for everyone, for all the rejections, since these rejections are Kelim in which to receive the filling called “reward.”
It follows that by seeing that one is in thoughts and desires of the will to receive, which are called “wicked,” since they harm a person so he cannot achieve the delight and pleasure that is in the thought of creation, which is to do good to His creations, we must know that they are also called “enemies of the Creator” because they obstruct the Creator and He cannot carry out His plan to do good to His creations. Because of the will to receive for one’s own sake, the Creator cannot bestow upon them because it will all go to the vessels of reception, which are the Sitra Achra [other side]. Thus, these wicked, the desires of reception that have accumulated within man, are considered “the enemies of the Creator and the enemies of man.”
Now we can interpret what is written (Psalms 34), “I sought the Lord and He answered me.” The RADAK interpreted “I sought,” since while in their hands, he sought the Creator in his heart and begged before Him in his heart to save him from them.
In the work, we should interpret that David saw that when he was in their hands, under the rule of thoughts and desires of the will to receive, his heart sought the Creator. That is, although he saw that they controlled him, his heart demanded of the Creator to save him from them. In other words, even though on the outside they governed him, within the heart he protested their governance and begged the Creator to save him from them. In his heart, he demanded and begged the Creator to save him from them and did not give up because they controlled him on the outside. This is as our sages said (Berachot 10), “Even if a sharp sword is placed on his neck, he should not deny himself mercy.” Thus, the descents, too, cause the filling of the lack.
According to the above, we should interpret what we asked, “What is ‘Rise up, O Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee before You’?” In the work, we should interpret who are the Creator’s enemies in the work, who do not let one work for the sake of the Creator. These are the desires within us to work only for our own sake. These desires are called “enemies of the Creator and enemies of man.”
Being unable to work for the sake of the Creator is called “enemies of the Creator.” Yet, it is not that the Creator needs to be served. Rather, by working for Him, they receive Dvekut with the Creator, called “vessels of bestowal,” and in these Kelim the Creator can give them the delight and pleasure that was in the thought of creation. Since these desires of self-reception interrupt this, it follows that they are disrupting the desire to do good to His creations from being carried out.
Thus, they are also called “man’s enemies,” since the desires to receive interrupt people from being able to receive the delight and pleasure that the Creator wants to give them. These desires for reception for themselves can receive only from the light called “very thin light,” which shines into the Klipot [shells/peels]. This thin light can illuminate to the vessels of reception that belong to the Klipot.
But on the real light, there was a Tzimtzum [restriction] so it will shine only in vessels of Kedusha [holiness] called “vessels of bestowal,” meaning specifically on the desire to bestow contentment to one’s Maker and not for one’s own sake. This is why we ask, “Rise up, O Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered,” since all the power in the will to receive is because the Shechina [Divinity] is in the dust, the Shechina is in exile. That is, since the Kedusha is concealed and hidden, and we do not see its importance, the enemies of the Creator and the enemies of man raise their heads and want to rule.
But this is not so if the Creator helps us during the concealment, when Malchut is regarded as dust, when the creatures do not feel the existence of the Creator but the Klipot stand before us and the Kedusha is concealed and we do not see its importance. At that time, the enemies of the Creator and the enemies of Israel are the rulers.
As is said in The Zohar about Malchut, she is the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If he is rewarded, it is good, meaning that the bad is covered and not seen outside. Naturally, the evil does not rule because it is concealed. If he is not rewarded, it is bad, meaning that the good is concealed and the bad is revealed outward. At that time, the bad rules because the bad is revealed and the good is concealed.
Hence, a person sees that sometimes he understands that man’s purpose is to work for the sake of the Creator. He has no doubt about it and thinks that it is natural, that it cannot be otherwise. Afterward, after this state when he understands that what matters is only to do the holy work and not to follow the majority, and moreover, sometimes when he looks at the general public, he cannot understand how intelligent people can be so immersed in superficial things and not engage in the holy work.
Afterward, the person himself falls into all kinds of foolish penchants that he previously ridiculed and could not comprehend. Now, he is in there himself.
We should understand how such a thing can happen. The answer is that later, when one has come to a state of “not rewarded,” the good disappears from him and the bad becomes revealed in him. Hence, he is taken after what is revealed outside, which is the bad. He has no choice; he does only that which is revealed outside.
This is the meaning of the words “Malchut is called ‘the tree of good and evil.’” However, the whole matter of choice is about what is revealed, namely the choice to be “rewarded” or “not rewarded.” It follows that man must do only one thing—to pray to the Creator that the bad will be covered and the good will be revealed. Then, he will consider working for the sake of the Creator as labor, since he will not be able to understand otherwise than to work for the sake of the Creator. At that time, he will have no effort annulling himself before the Creator, since he will think that this is natural. Hence, everything he previously thought was impossible, now he sees that it is natural and he wants to annul before the Creator like a candle before a torch. And all this is because the bad is concealed and the good is revealed outside.
This is the meaning of the words “Rise up, O Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered.” We pray that the Creator will “rise up,” the way we pray and say, “The Merciful One will raise for us the fallen Sukkah [hut] of David,” where the “Sukkah of David” is Malchut, which is the Shechina in the dust. We ask the Creator to raise her from her falling and that she will rise, meaning stand upright.
Naturally, each one will cancel his self and will want to work only for the sake of the Creator and not for himself. Through “Rise up, O Lord,” the “Let Your enemies be scattered” will happen. In other words, the desires in the creatures, which are the enemies of the Creator and the enemies of man, will be scattered, “and let those who hate You flee before You.” That is, when there is “Rise up, O Lord,” when the Kedusha is in the state of Panim [anterior/face], then “and let those who hate You flee before You” will come true, meaning that all the enemies and haters will flee.
Concerning “Rise up, O Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered,” we should know that scattering the enemies is not the end of the work, although it is the heart of it, as it is written, “And you shall uproot the evil from the midst of you.” However, this is only the correction of creation, and not the purpose of creation. The purpose of creation is for the lower ones to receive delight and pleasure, which is called “Torah,” as in “the names of the Creator.”
It follows that the first discernment is “faith,” the kingdom of heaven, and then comes the Torah. This is the meaning of the verse “For the Torah shall come forth out of Zion.” Man must be rewarded with the quality of the Torah, which is the names of the Creator, namely the delight and pleasure that was in the thought of creation.
However, we must not forget that man should primarily exert to walk on the “right,” called “wholeness,” and believe in the sages, who said that one should be happy that the Creator has awarded him the ability to observe Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] even if Lo Lishma [not for Her sake]. That is, when a person sees that everything he does is only for his own sake, and that he cannot do anything for the sake of the Creator, this is also a great thing. One should be happy about this and thank the Creator for it. It is as Baal HaSulam said, that the Lo Lishma that one does is more important to the Creator than the importance a person ascribes to the Lishma [for Her sake]. Clearly, the Lishma is more important, but the Lo Lishma is also important to the Creator. Hence, one should be happy even with the Lo Lishma.