I heard during a meal, Passover 1, April 15, 1949
He asked if the redemption of our land from the oppressors is affecting us. We have been rewarded with liberation from the burden of the nations, and have become like all the nations, where one is not enslaved to another. And if that freedom has acted upon us so that we would have some sensation of the servitude of the Creator, and he said that we should not think that it does not affect us, that no change appears in this servitude from that freedom.
This is impossible, since the Creator does not act in vain. Rather, everything He does affects us, for better or for worse. This means that additional power is extended to us from every act that He performs, positive or negative, light or dark. From this act we can also come to ascend, since there is not always permission and strength in spirituality, as we must continue under this force.
Hence, one cannot say that the freedom he has achieved induced no change in him. Yet, if we do not feel any change for the better, we must say that this is a change for the worse, even though we do not feel.
And he explained it after the good day, after the Havdala [end of holiday blessing]. It is like a meal of Shabbat [Sabbath] or a good day, where the corporeal pleasures awaken spiritual pleasures by way of root and branch. It is a kind of “next world.” And certainly, tasting from the next world requires great preparation during the six workdays. To the extent of one’s preparation, so is one’s sensation.
But without any proper preparation to extend the spiritual taste of Shabbat, it is to the contrary: He grows worse due to the corporeal pleasures. This is so because after corporeal meals one is only drawn to sleep, and nothing more, since after eating comes sleep. Thus, his eating brought him lower.
But it requires great exertion to come to spirituality through corporeal pleasures, since this was the King’s will. Although they are in contrast, as spirituality is placed under the line of bestowal, and corporeality under reception, and since this was the King’s will, spirituality is attracted to corporeal pleasures, placed under His Mitzvot, which are the pleasures of Shabbat and a good day.
We should also see that even with this freedom that we have been granted, we need great preparation and intention in order to extend the spiritual freedom, called “freedom from the angel of death.” Then we are rewarded with “The whole earth is full of His glory,” called Mochin de AVI. This means that we do not see a time or a place where the Creator cannot be dressed, that we cannot say that “He cannot be dressed” at that time or at that place, but rather, “The whole earth is full of His glory.”
But before that, there is a difference “between light and darkness, and between Israel and the nations”: In the lit place the Creator is present, and it is not so in a place of darkness.
Also, in Israel, there is a place for the Godly light of Israel to be. This is not so in the nations of the world: The Creator does not dress in them. “And between the seventh day and the six workdays.” Yet, when we are awarded Mochin de AVI, we are rewarded with “The whole earth is full of His glory.” At that time, there is no difference between the times, and His light is present in all the places and at all times.
This is the meaning of Passover, when Israel were awarded freedom, meaning Mochin de AVI, considered “The whole earth is full of His glory.” Naturally, there is no place for the evil inclination since one is not distanced by his actions from the work of the Creator. On the contrary, we see how it has brought man closer to His work, although it was only by way of an awakening from above.
This is why they said that the Shechina [Divinity] says, “I saw the image of a drop of a red rose.” It means that he saw that there was a place that still needs correction, that He cannot shine in this place. This is why they needed to count the seven weeks of the Omer count, to correct those places, so we would see that “The whole earth is full of His glory.”
It is similar to a king who has a tower filled abundantly but no guests. Hence, He created the people, so they would come and receive His abundance.
But we do not see the tower filled with goodly matters. On the contrary, the whole world is filled with suffering. And the excuse is that “and royal wine in abundance,” that from the perspective of Malchut, there is no need for the wine, for pleasures that are comparable to the wine. Rather, the deficiency is only from the perspective of the Kelim [vessels], that we do not have the appropriate Kelim to receive the abundance, as it is specifically in the vessels of bestowal that we can receive.
The measure of the greatness of the abundance is according to the value of the greatness of the Kelim. Hence, all the changes are only in the vessels, not in the lights. This is what the text tells us: “Vessels of gold—the vessels being diverse from one another—and royal wine in abundance,” as it was in the thought of creation, to do good to His creations, according to His ability.