Article No. 30, 1991
The Zohar says (BeHaalotcha, Item 66), “Rabbi Yosi said, ‘man, man’ twice. Why? He replies, ‘A man who is a man, fit for reception of a high soul, but has blemished himself because he caused himself to be blemished.’ ‘Man, man’ means he is worthy of being a man, ‘or on a far off way,’ since a person who defiles himself is defiled from above. And since he is defiled above, he is on a far off way from that place and that road to which the descendants of Israel grip. Rabbi Yitzhak said, ‘It is written, ‘If [any one of you] becomes impure for a soul or on a far off way,’ which is the meaning of the word ‘or.’’ Rabbi Yosi said, ‘Here, when it says ‘impure for a soul,’ it means before he is defiled from above. But when it says here, ‘a far off way,’ it means after he was defiled from above and fell to a far off way, which is the Sitra Achra [other side]. This means that both will be devoid of Kedusha [holiness] above, and will not do the Passover when Israel do it.’”
Our sages said (Shabbat 104), “When one comes to defile, it is opened for him; when he comes to be purified, he is aided.” We should understand what is written here, that “when a person who defiles himself is defiled from above.” He does not say that it is opened for him, but that he is defiled from above. Also, we should understand why it is opened for him, since “the Creator does not complain against His creations.” RASHI interprets that the Creator does not slander His creations (Avoda Zara 3), so why is he given from above some assistance that is to man’s detriment? On the contrary, he should have been assisted, as it is written, “He who comes to be purified is aided.” If he is not given help for his benefit, at least they should not do above an act that is to his detriment.
There are certainly many explanations in the literal, but we should interpret this in the work. It is known that when one observes Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] in the manner of the general public, meaning to receive reward, and does not pay attention to the issue of the aim to bestow, he sees that each day he advances in the work, since this is the truth. In the practice, everything a person does is registered to his name, and in that state, called Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], one cannot see that it is Lo Lishma, meaning that he cannot see that there is a matter of deficiency here, that it should be Lishma [for Her sake], while he is working Lo Lishma. Instead, the things he does generally illuminate for him.
As a result, a person cannot see any deficiency in himself. That is, in terms of the general public, there is a correction that the things he does illuminate for him as Surrounding Light, which is a correction on the level of actions. Hence, one must be careful not to slight the practice of Torah and Mitzvot, even if it is only in action and without any intention. That is, even if a person does his deeds by coercion, it is still considered a great thing.
Hence, people who still cannot work with the aim to bestow have a correction that they do not find any fault in the things they do, so they will be happy with their work, as it is written, “Serve the Lord with gladness.” Conversely, when a thought and desire come to a person and he begins to feel that there must be the matter of intention in observing Torah and Mitzvot, and he awakens to act not in order to receive reward, but in order to bestow, then begins a new order.
The order is that at that time, a person shifts to working on the left, when he begins to criticize his actions, whether they are in order to bestow, and he enters the work called Tuma’a [impurity] and Tahara [purity]. This means that he begins to work on the purification of the Kelim [vessels].
It is impossible to work on purity before we know what is Tuma’a. That is, it is not enough that it is written that there is the matter of Tuma’a, but one must feel what losses the Tuma’a causes, what he loses by knowing that he is defiled, meaning what he would gain if he were not impure, and what he loses now that he has been defiled.
In other words, although before he began the work of bestowal he knew that there was the matter of impurity and purity, he did not know why impurity was bad and purity was good. Therefore, one must engage in recognition of evil, meaning to try to grasp that the will to receive for oneself is called Tuma’a. That is, this Tuma’a removes him from Kedusha [holiness], meaning from the Creator, as it is written, “You will be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” This means that you will be removed, meaning that as the Creator gives, so man should try to make all his actions be with the quality of bestowal, and this is called Kedusha. The opposite of this is called Tuma’a.
A person should ask the Creator to help him grasp the evil that is found in the will to receive for oneself, meaning that the Creator will help him feel the loss that the will to receive for oneself causes him, and how much he could gain if he had the power of the desire to bestow. In other words, great Tuma’a or small Tuma’a and great Kedusha or small Kedusha are not measured by the size of the Tuma’a or Kedusha, but by the measure of harm that the Tuma’a brings, and the measure of importance that the Kedusha brings, meaning how much he suffers when he knows that he is impure and how much pleasure he would feel when he knows that he is in Kedusha.
According to the above, we should interpret what we asked about what our sages said, “He who comes to defile, it is opened for him.” We asked, “The Creator does not complain against His creations,” so why is it “opened for him”? This implies that he is shown that he can go further into the Tuma’a, whereas before he came to defile, the place of Tuma’a was closed, and only when he came to defile it was opened for him. From above, there should have been mercy on that person, as it is written, “And His mercies are on all of His deeds.”
We should interpret the meaning of “He who comes to defile.” It means that one who wants to begin the work of bestowal cannot work in order to bestow unless he knows the loss of working in order to receive, which is why he now comes to know the measure of the bad that exists in the will to receive for oneself, meaning what is the measure of the bad that is found in the will to receive, which is called Tuma’a, which is the opposite of Kedusha. He asks the Creator to let him know the measure of the bad that is found in the will to receive that is called “impure,” meaning impure for the soul. When he asks the Creator to help him, the answer to that is “it is opened for him” to see the bad that exists in the Tuma’a of the will to receive.
There are two discernments: 1) coming to defile, 2) seeing that he is already impure and wanting to see more than he sees now. If he asks to see more, he is helped from above, as it is written here in The Zohar, “A person who defiles himself is defiled from above.” In other words, once it is opened for him and he sees that he has been defiled, and he asks for more, to be shown the truth—that he is so far from Kedusha—then he is defiled from above. That is, he receives help from above by being shown the loss that is found in the will to receive for oneself. This is regarded as arriving at a state of “recognition of evil.” At that time, a need is born in him, called a Kli [vessel] that the Creator will help him and give him the purity, as it is written, “And I will sprinkle on you pure water.”
By this we can interpret what we asked, Why does The Zohar say, “A person who defiles himself is defiled from above”? After all, the Creator does not complain against His creations! The answer is that being defiled from above is help, meaning he is assisted from above to see the truth of how the will to receive is bad and impure, since now he is asking for this help because he wants to see the truth about what is evil.
Accordingly, we should interpret what Rabbi Yitzhak asks about Rabbi Yosi, who says about the verse, “If a man, man, is impure for a soul or on a far off way,” that a far off way is also regarded as Tuma’a, but when he is defiled from above it is called “a far off way.” It is written, “or on a far off way,” meaning that they are two things, meaning that a far off way is not Tuma’a. Rabbi Yosi explains, “When it says, ‘impure for a soul,’ it means before he is defiled from above. And here, when it says, ‘on a far off way,’ it means after he has been defiled above and fell to a far off way, which is the Sitra Achra.”
We should interpret that there are two discernments in Tuma’a in the way of the work: 1) He who comes to defile, meaning comes to see if the will to receive is Tuma’a, meaning that it inflicts stupidity of the heart. At that time, it is opened to him to see the evil. But before a person comes to defile, meaning to see the bad in him, there is a correction from above that a person cannot see the evil, since there is a rule that one is not shown more than one can correct in oneself. It is as in corporeality, when one is not told one’s true illness if the illness is incurable.
For this reason, precisely he who comes to defile, who wants to see the truth, it is opened for him. If he wants to advance and prays to be shown the true measure of the bad that is found in the will to receive for oneself, he is assisted from above, meaning he is defiled from above. That is, he is shown from above the harm in Tuma’a. At that time, he begins to pray from the bottom of the heart that the Creator will give him the desire to bestow instead of the will to receive that he has by nature, and to be given a second nature, which is a gift from above.
By this we should interpret what is written, “This means that both will be devoid of Kedusha above, and will not do the Passover when Israel do it.” In other words, both when a person is in the first state, when he comes to defile, and when he is in the second state, when he is on a far off way, when he is shown from above how far he is from Kedusha, he cannot do the Passover when Israel do it.
We should interpret that “Israel” means that he is already in the quality of “Israel,” meaning that he is already in a state of Yashar-El [straight to the Creator], implying that all his actions are directed straight to the Creator. This is regarded as being in the right line, which is purity, meaning purity of the Kelim, when all his actions are for the sake of the Creator. This is called Lishma, as was said, “Rabbi Meir says, ‘He who learns Torah Lishma, the secrets of Torah are revealed to him.” We should interpret that when a person is rewarded with the quality of “Israel,” this is the time to make the Passover offering. Israel means purity, and when a person is purified, this is the time to sacrifice the offering to the Creator, where sacrificing the offering is regarded as wholeness.
This is as it is written in The Zohar (VaYikra, Item 109), “Rabbi Yehuda started and said, ‘Serve the Lord with gladness.’ If you say that such is the work of the offering, this is not possible. Since that man has breached his Master’s commandment, the commandment of the Torah, and repented before his Master, with what face will he rise before Him? Indeed, by what are they corrected? It is by those priests and Levites who complete the joy and singing for Him.”
He interprets there in the Sulam [Ladder commentary on The Zohar] that this matter will be corrected by an order of three lines. This is why when speaking of the Passover offering, which is the matter of the exodus from Egypt, there must be the intimation in our work that first we must achieve purity, and then comes the nearing and we are rewarded with Kedusha. However, a person must believe that when he is awakened to enter the work, that it comes to him from above, meaning he is brought closer from above, so he will have connection with the Kedusha.
Certainly, he must be thankful to the Creator for pulling him out from the state of lowliness and elevating him to the domain of Kedusha, meaning that he began to feel that there is a higher place from which to receive provision, that his provision should not be as that of animals, but that he should receive provision from the “speaking” level. And the more he is grateful, the more he increases that feeling.
Yet, at the same time, he must know that he should ask the Creator to raise him to an even higher state than the one he is now, to be rewarded with the Torah. That is, although he depicts to himself that the state he is in is very important, meaning that he cannot imagine greater importance in the world, he should still say, “As much as I depict my current state as very important, I still cannot depict the real importance. As much as I depict a state of greatness, I should say that although I am as thankful to the Creator as can be, above reason, I still believe that there is a higher state than the one I am in now, and I am asking You to give me a greater gift.”
By this we should interpret what is written (Psalms 71), “I will always long,” meaning that there are higher degrees than what I can picture to myself. Although one should know that as much as he appreciates the current state, it is truly more important because a person cannot grasp the value of a tiny moment of spirituality. Still, above reason, he believes and asks for it.
This is the meaning of the words “I will always long,” meaning that I will be able to depict that there is more greatness than I can depict. This is the meaning of what is written, “And I will add to all Your glory.” This means that although now I praise you, I am asking to be able to praise You more than I can, and I want to add to Your glory.
However, when one should reflect on his spiritual state, and the person is brought before the judge within his heart, so he would give the verdict, whether one is guilty or innocent, meaning that sometimes, the judge acquits him because he cannot pay the debts that he must pay. At that time, a person needs mercy. That is, at times, the judge within his heart belongs to the wicked, those who condemn their Maker and not themselves. It follows that these judges cause a person to go to the prison of the criminals against the King, as it is written (Psalms 107), “Dwellers of darkness and the shadow of death, prisoners of poverty and iron, for they rebelled against the words of God And spurned the counsel of the Most High.”
Although there might be good judges, they are taking a bribe. That is, the judge in his heart is concerned with his own benefit; therefore, he always sides with man’s detriment. Then, a person has no other choice but to ask the Creator for mercy and to give him a real judge. The person sees that there is no real judge but the Creator.
In that regard, we should interpret what King David said (Psalms 82), “Arise, O God, judge the earth, for You will inherit all the nations,” meaning that the Creator will be the judge. At that time, a person receives the strength from the Creator, “for You will inherit all the nations,” for then one inherits all the nations in his heart.
The order of the work should be primarily about one thing: to work against man’s reason. That is, when a person is told that he must work for the sake of the Creator and not for himself, this is against man’s reason. After all, it is written, “And lives by them, and not that he will die.” It follows that this contradicts the purpose of creation, which is to do good to His creations.
We can interpret this through Abraham’s trial. On one hand, the Creator told him, “for through Isaac your descendants shall be named,” but then it is written, “Take now your son, your only son, and offer him there as a burnt offering.” We should interpret this in the work. “Your Ben [son]” comes from the word Bina, meaning Havanah [understanding]. “Your only one,” meaning the only understanding that there is in man, which man guards with his heart and soul so that no harm will come to it, namely the will to receive for his own sake. “And offer him as a burnt offering,” meaning slaughter the will to receive for one’s own sake, cancel it, and work only with the desire to bestow and not with the will to receive.
Afterward, He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad.” We should interpret that we should not say that he should revoke the will to receive. Rather, one should work so he can use the will to receive in order to bestow, and the parts that he cannot direct in order to bestow are forbidden to use. We can interpret this by what He said to him, “and Abraham went and took the ram instead of his son.” “Ram” is called Bina, as it is written in The Zohar, where he asks, “Why a ram and not a horn”? And he answers that a ram is regarded as Bina and a horn is Malchut. We should interpret that Malchut is “the will to receive.” Therefore, the vessels of reception that we cannot aim so they work in order to bestow are forbidden to use. Instead of them, we use the Kelim of Bina, which are called “vessels of bestowal.”
Accordingly, we can understand that when a person feels that he is not all right, that he is a sinner, it does not come to him because he did many bad deeds, since there is a rule, “transgressing and repeating, it becomes to him as permitted.” Hence, many sins do not make one feel his fault. Rather, the size of the sin is measured by man’s feeling of how far he is from the Creator. In other words, to the extent that one feels and believes in the Creator, to that extent he feels how far he is from the great King.
This means that when he feels that he is a sinner, he must know that the Creator let him feel a little bit, that there is a King in the world. This feeling, which he received from above, causes him to feel that he is a sinner. But when he has no connection to the Creator, how can he feel that he has sinned before the Creator and did bad things, which are against the Torah, when he does not know that there is the Giver of the Torah in the world? Rather, the sensation of sin is according to the measure of his faith in the greatness of the King, to that extent he can feel the measure of the sin. This means that the sin is measured in the one who flawed.
This is as our sages said (Baba Kama, Chapter 3), “The matter of shame is all according to the one who shames and the one who is ashamed.” We should interpret that if the one who shames is smart, he can know that if one shames one who is great, it is a grave sin. That is, the one who shames has the intellect to appreciate the size and importance of the one who is ashamed. It follows that he has committed a grave sin.
However, if the one who shames does not have the intellect to appreciate the importance of the one who is ashamed, it cannot be said about him that he has committed a grave sin and needs great atonement for the flaw that he has flawed in someone. Therefore, according to the sensation of the greatness of the King, so is the sin. Thus, if a person is righteous and has some understanding of the greatness of the King, his flaw is certainly greater than that of an ordinary person.
It follows that we always measure the importance of the King that a person has according to the person’s feeling. Therefore, if one feels that he has sinned, it must be that he was given from above some nearing to Kedusha, and this is why he feels that he has sinned. It is as Baal HaSulam said about what our sages said, that the Creator is meticulous with the righteous as a hairsbreadth, as it is written, “And round about him was very stormy.” He asked, Why do they deserve more punishment than others? He said that one who is righteous, says that the Creator is meticulous with him as a hairsbreadth. Therefore, when one feels that he has sinned, he should not be alarmed. On the contrary, it is a sign that he is being brought closer from above. Therefore, he must overcome and take upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven, and he will succeed.