March 6, 1958, Manchester
Hello and all the best to my friend,
I received ten pounds for Purim, which is half a shekel. Ten gerah (a coin that was used in Israel in ancient times. Twenty shekels are one gerah) is a shekel, and half of it is ten. It is written in holy Zohar that half a shekel is called ten, which is a stone with which to weigh the contribution to the Lord (Ki Tissa, item 4).
We should interpret the words of the holy Zohar. Half a shekel means that when a person begins to weigh how to return to the Creator, when he knows that he has many iniquities and transgressions, the holy Zohar says about this that the person should know that he is always regarded as half and half. That is, he is half merits and half faults, and he can always choose to sentence to the side of merit. It is as our sages said, “One should always see oneself as half guilty and half not guilty. If he has performed one Mitzva (good deed/commandment), he is happy for he has sentenced himself and the entire world to the side of merit,” etc.
We should interpret the reason as our sages said, “He who is greater than his friend, his desire is greater than him.” It is so because if he is not given a greater evil inclination, he will not have the choice, since if the good is more than the bad then he does not have choice, as choosing is precisely when both are equal and the person decides.
By that you will understand what our sages said, “In the future (end of correction), the Creator brings the evil inclination and slaughters it before the righteous and before the wicked. To the righteous, it seems like a high mountain. To the wicked, it seems like a hairsbreadth.” We should understand who is right, meaning what is the measure of the evil inclination.
However, as I have explained, the wicked have few merits, so their evil inclination is not so big, but only as a hairsbreadth. This is so because in order for it to be half and half, when there is little good there must be little bad. But the righteous have many merits so their evil inclination must be big, as well. Therefore, in the righteous, the evil inclination is a high mountain.
By that you will understand people’s questions about the verse, “Come unto Pharaoh for I have hardened his heart.” Does it mean that the Creator denied him the choice by hardening his heart? According to what I have explained, it is the opposite. By the Creator hardening his heart he can make a choice once more, for when Pharaoh said, “The Lord is the righteous, and I and my people are the wicked,” it means that he has already sentenced to the side of merit and he is entirely good and has nothing more to do. For this reason, in accord with his good, the Creator had to increase the evil inclination, as our sages said, “Anyone who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than him.” Therefore, when Creator hardened his heart, he could make a choice once more.
May the Lord grant us two portions—healing and salvation.
From your friend who wishes you and your family all the best,
Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag