Letter 58

March 7, 1941, Jerusalem

To the holy rav whose light will shine forever...:

... The question was, “What does ‘Haman from the Torah, where from?’ imply,” from the verse, “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” He said that the question was, “Where do we find in the Torah that the Creator summons a messenger to reform a person against his will, as was with Haman, and as it is written, ‘I will place over you a king such as Haman, and you will repent against your will’?”

This is what our sages showed about the verse, “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you,” etc., for then the evil inclination—the angel of death—was created, forcing the man to engage in Torah, as it is written, “I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice.” If one is not to engage in Torah, the evil inclination will put him to death.

It follows that the disclosure of the sin of the tree of knowledge that puts to death—explained in the words, “from the tree,” etc., is the messenger that compels a person to reform against his will. This is similar to “I will place over you a king such as Haman, and you will repent against your will.”

Had he not been trapped in the serpent’s net and had waited for Shabbat [Sabbath], and ate from the tree of life prior to eating from the tree of knowledge, he would have been granted the Tikkun [correction] of the evil inclination being a spice for the Torah. He would not need a forcing messenger such as Haman, as in “I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice.” On the contrary, the evil inclination would have become a spice for the Torah, and now that he sinned, he needs a forcing messenger.

I added to it according to a higher source that there is in the sanctity of the Sabbath, that the evil inclination becoming a spice for the Torah is the meal on the Sabbath evening. This is what is implied in the songs of the ARI, “To enter the openings in the field of apples,” as in “This is the gate to the Lord,” and as is explained through the rest of those songs.

On Shabbat, at the meal of holy Atik, it is possible to receive from the highest place, where the Torah needs no spice, as in “The Torah and the Creator are one,” by ascending to the world of Atzilut, where it was said, “No harm shall come to you.” It therefore follows that if Adam HaRishon had waited with his Zivug for Shabbat, he would have been rewarded with the wonderful degree, “The Torah and the Creator are one,” for at the time of Adam HaRishon the worlds were very high, as stated in Rashbi’s essay, Kedoshim.

Indeed, even after the sin he could have risen to Atzilut, through the ascent of Shabbat, and not come down from there. This is the meaning of what is written, “lest he stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.” There it was in the form of “The Torah and the Creator are one.” But the Creator drove him out from there, as it is written, “And He drove out the man.” We should ask, “Why should the Creator mind if he ate from the tree of life and lived forever?”

The answer is that all the wonderful Kedusha [holiness] of “the Torah and the Creator are one” that was revealed on Shabbat was only as a loan. Shabbat is an awakening from above, without any awakening from below. But the Torah is completed only through an awakening from below, by observing Torah and Mitzvot [commandments]. We should therefore wonder why he was rewarded wholeness on the part of the Creator if his Torah was still incomplete.

This is what our sages answered regarding what the Creator said, “They borrowed on My guarantee, and I collect.” That is, “I can lend you the complete Torah to the fullest, until it is enough for “The Torah and the Creator are one” because “I collect.” That is, I have no fear at all of “Lend to the wicked and he will not pay,” for I can place over you a king such as Haman, and you will repent against your will and observe the Torah from love.

“‘All that is destined to be collected is deemed collected.’ Therefore, I am lending you on Shabbat, as it is written, ‘and a righteous pardons and gives.’” This is why the Creator did not want him to “stretch out his hand and take from the tree of life,” since then Adam HaRishon would not pay and reveal the Torah as an awakening from below, and it would have remained as a loan.

This would make it groundless from the start because a Torah that is not completed does not merit being “The Torah and the Creator are one.” However, the Creator considers the loan as though it was already paid back, since He can force it, and “All that is destined to be collected is deemed collected.” Hence, He really did force him: “And He drove out the man,” to pay back the loan.

In truth, the suspension also extends from the eating of the tree of knowledge, and this is the meaning of what our sages said about the verse, “Libel is terrible to people,” the sin of the tree of knowledge, “You came unto him with libel.” With the above-said we understand that it is to force him to pay back his loan.

With these words we also understand his words when he said the intimation that it is Haman from the Torah, since the tree of knowledge is the discernment of “I place over you a king such as Haman,” etc. Just as Haman wished to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews—women and children—in a single day, so is the tree of knowledge, “for in the day you eat from it you will surely die.”

And just as He forced them to repent from love through the fear of death through Haman’s decree, so the above-mentioned disclosure of the sin, explained in the verse, “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you?”, etc., will compel man to repent from love, as in “I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice.” It is so because if he does not engage in Torah, he will promptly die because of the serpent.

May the Creator help us pay for what we borrowed, and may we be granted complete redemption.

Yehuda Leib

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Excerpts from the Daily Kabbalah Lesson

Excerpts from the Daily Kabbalah Lesson

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