Purpose of Society - 1. 1-1 (1984)
Purpose of Society - 2. 1-2 (1984)
Concerning Love of Friends. 2 (1984)
Love of Friends - 1. 3 (1984)
Each One Shall Help His Friend. 4 (1984)
What Does the Rule "Love Thy Friend as Thyself" Give Us. 5 (1984)
Love of Friends - 2. 6 (1984)
According to What Is Explained Concerning “Love Thy Friend as Thyself”. 7 (1984)
Which Keeping of Torah and Mitzvot Purifies the Heart. 8 (1984)
One Should Always Sell the Beams of His House. 9 (1984)
Achieve in Order Not to Have to Reincarnate?. 10 (1984)
Concerning Ancestral Merit. 11 (1984)
Concerning the Importance of Society. 12 (1984)
Sometimes Spirituality Is Called “a Soul”. 13 (1984)
Forevermore One Sells All That Is His and Marries a Wise Disciple's Daughter. 14 (1984)
Can Something Negative Come Down from Above. 15 (1984)
Concerning Bestowal. 16 (1984)
Concerning the Importance of Friends. 17-1 (1984)
The Agenda of the Assembly - 1. 17-2 (1984)
And It Shall Come to Pass When You Come to the Land that the Lord Your God Gives You. 18 (1984)
You Stand Today, All of You. 19 (1984)
Make for Yourself a Rav and Buy Yourself a Friend - 1. 1 (1985)
The Meaning of Branch and Root. 2 (1985)
The Meaning of Truth and Faith. 3 (1985)
These Are the Generations of Noah. 4 (1985)
Go Forth From Your Land. 5 (1985)
And the Lord Appeared to Him at the Oaks of Mamre. 6 (1985)
The Life of Sarah. 7 (1985)
Make for Yourself a Rav and Buy Yourself a Friend - 2. 8 (1985)
Jacob Went Out. 9 (1985)
And Jacob Went Out. 10 (1985)
Concerning the Debate between Jacob and Laban. 11 (1985)
Jacob Dwelled in the Land Where His Father Had Lived. 12 (1985)
Mighty Rock of My Salvation. 13 (1985)
I Am the First and I Am the Last. 14 (1985)
And Hezekiah Turned His Face to the Wall. 15 (1985)
But the More They Afflicted Them. 16 (1985)
Know Today and Reply to Your Heart. 17 (1985)
Concerning the Slanderers. 18 (1985)
Come unto Pharaoh - 1. 19 (1985)
He who Hardens His Heart. 20 (1985)
We Should Always Discern between Torah and Work. 21 (1985)
The Whole of the Torah Is One Holy Name. 22 (1985)
On My Bed at Night. 23 (1985)
Three Times in the Work. 24 (1985)
In Every Thing We Must Discern between Light and Kli. 25 (1985)
Show Me Your Glory. 26 (1985)
Repentance. 27 (1985)
The Spies. 28 (1985)
The Lord Is Near to All Who Call upon Him. 29 (1985)
Three Prayers. 30 (1985)
One Does Not Regard Oneself as Wicked. 31 (1985)
Concerning the Reward of the Receivers. 32 (1985)
The Felons of Israel. 33 (1985)
And I Pleaded with the Lord. 34 (1985)
When a Person Knows What Is Fear of the Creator. 35 (1985)
And There Was Evening and There Was Morning. 36 (1985)
Who Testifies to a Person. 37 (1985)
A Righteous Who Is Happy, a Righteous Who Is Suffering. 38 (1985)
Hear Our Voice. 39 (1985)
Moses Went. 1 (1986)
Lend Ear, O Heaven. 2 (1986)
Man Is Rewarded with Righteousness and Peace through the Torah. 3 (1986)
Concerning Hesed [Mercy]. 4 (1986)
Concerning Respecting the Father. 5 (1986)
Confidence. 6 (1986)
The Importance of a Prayer of Many. 7 (1986)
Concerning Help that Comes from Above. 8 (1986)
Concerning the Hanukkah Candle. 9 (1986)
Concerning Prayer. 10 (1986)
A Real Prayer Is over a Real Deficiency. 11 (1986)
What Is the Main Deficiency for which One Should Pray?. 12 (1986)
Come unto Pharaoh – 2. 13 (1986)
What Is the Need to Borrow Vessels from the Egyptians?. 14 (1986)
A Prayer of Many. 15 (1986)
The Lord Has Chosen Jacob for Himself. 16 (1986)
The Agenda of the Assembly - 2. 17 (1986)
Who Causes the Prayer. 18 (1986)
Concerning Joy. 19 (1986)
Should One Sin and Be Guilty. 20 (1986)
Concerning Above Reason. 21 (1986)
If a Woman Inseminates. 22 (1986)
Concerning Fear and Joy. 23 (1986)
The Difference between Charity and Gift. 24 (1986)
The Measure of Practicing Mitzvot [Commandments]. 25 (1986)
A Near Way and a Far Way. 26 (1986)
The Creator and Israel Went into Exile. 27 (1986)
A Congregation Is No Less than Ten. 28 (1986)
Lishma and Lo Lishma. 29 (1986)
The Klipa [Shell/Peel] that Precedes the Fruit. 30 (1986)
Concerning Yenika [Suckling] and Ibur [Impregnation]. 31 (1986)
The Reason for Straightening the Legs and Covering the Head During the Prayer. 32 (1986)
What Are Commandments that a Person Tramples with His Feet. 33 (1986)
Judges and Officers. 34 (1986)
The Fifteenth of Av. 35 (1986)
What Is Preparation for the Selichot [Forgiveness]. 36 (1986)
The Good Who Does Good, to the Bad and to the Good. 1 (1987)
The Importance of Recognition of Evil. 2 (1987)
All of Israel Have a Part in the Next World. 3 (1987)
It is Forbidden to Hear a Good Thing From a Bad Person. 4 (1987)
What Is the Advantage in the Work More than in the Reward?. 5 (1987)
The Importance of Faith that Is Always Present. 6 (1987)
The Miracle of Hanukkah. 7 (1987)
The Difference between Mercy and Truth and Untrue Mercy. 8 (1987)
One’s Greatness Depends on the Measure of One’s Faith in the Future. 9 (1987)
What Is the Substance of Slander and Against Whom Is It?. 10 (1987)
Purim, and the Commandment: Until He until He Does Not Know. 11 (1987)
What Is Half a Shekel in the Work - 1. 12 (1987)
Why the Festival of Matzot Is Called Passover. 13 (1987)
The Connection between Passover, Matza, and Maror. 14 (1987)
Two Discernments in Holiness. 15 (1987)
The Difference between the Work of the General Public and the Work of the Individual . 16 (1987)
The Severity of Teaching Idol Worshippers the Torah. 17 (1987)
What Is Preparation for Reception of the Torah - 1. 18 (1987)
What Are Revealed and Concealed in the Work of the Creator?. 19 (1987)
What Is Man’s Private Possession?. 20 (1987)
What Are Dirty Hands in the Work of the Creator?. 21 (1987)
What Is the Gift that a Person Asks of the Creator?. 22 (1987)
Peace After a Dispute Is More Important than Having No Disputes At All. 23 (1987)
What is Unfounded Hatred in the Work. 24 (1987)
What Is Heaviness of the Head in the Work?. 25 (1987)
What Is a Light Commandment. 26 (1987)
What Are “Blessing” and “Curse” in the Work?. 27 (1987)
What Is Do Not Add and Do Not Take Away in the Work?. 28 (1987)
What Is “According to the Sorrow, So Is the Reward”?. 29 (1987)
What Is a War Over Authority in the Work – 1. 30 (1987)
What Is Making a Covenant in the Work. 31 (1987)
Why Life Is Divided into Two Discernments. 1 (1988)
What Is the Extent of Teshuva [Repentance]?. 2 (1988)
What It Means that the Name of the Creator is “Truth”. 3 (1988)
What Is the Prayer for Help and for Forgiveness in the Work?. 4 (1988)
What Is, “When Israel Are in Exile, the Shechina Is with Them,” in the Work?. 5 (1988)
What Is the Difference between a Field and a Man of the Field, in the Work?. 6 (1988)
What Is the Importance of the Groom, that His Iniquities Are Forgiven?. 7 (1988)
What Does It Mean that One Who Prays Should Explain His Words Properly?. 8 (1988)
What Does It Mean that the Righteous Suffers Afflictions?. 9 (1988)
What Are the Four Qualities of Those Who Go to the Seminary, in the Work?. 10 (1988)
What Are the Two Discernments before Lishma?. 11 (1988)
What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?. 12 (1988)
What Is “the People’s Shepherd Is the Whole People” in the Work?. 13 (1988)
The Need for Love of Friends. 14 (1988)
What Is “There Is No Blessing in an Empty Place” in the Work?. 15 (1988)
What Is the Foundation on which Kedusha [Holiness] Is Built?. 16 (1988)
The Main Difference between a Beastly Soul and a Godly Soul. 17 (1988)
When Is One Considered “A Worker of the Creator” in the Work?. 18 (1988)
What Are Silver, Gold, Israel, Rest of Nations, in the Work?. 19 (1988)
What Is the Reward in the Work of Bestowal?. 20 (1988)
What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given Out of the Darkness in the Work?. 21 (1988)
What Are Merits and Iniquities of a Righteous in the Work?. 22 (1988)
What Beginning in Lo Lishma Means in the Work. 23 (1988)
What Is “The Concealed Things Belong to the Lord, and the Revealed Things Belong to Us,” in the Work?. 24 (1988)
What Is the Preparation on the Eve of Shabbat, in the Work?. 25 (1988)
What Is the Difference between Law and Judgment in the Work?. 26 (1988)
What Is, “The Creator Does Not Tolerate the Proud,” in the Work?. 27 (1988)
What Is, His Guidance Is Concealed and Revealed?. 28 (1988)
How to Recognize One Who Serves God from One Who Does Not Serve Him. 29 (1988)
What to Look for in the Assembly of Friends. 30 (1988)
What Is the Work of Man, in the Work that Is Attributed to the Creator?. 31 (1988)
What Are the Two Actions During a Descent?. 32 (1988)
What Is the Difference between General and Individual in the Work of the Creator?. 33 (1988)
What Are Day and Night in the Work?. 34 (1988)
What Is the Help in the Work that One Should Ask of the Creator?. 35 (1988)
What Is the Measure of Repentance?. 1 (1989)
What Is a Great or a Small Sin in the Work?. 2 (1989)
What Is the Difference between the Gate of Tears and the Rest of the Gates?. 3 (1989)
What Is a Flood of Water in the Work?. 4 (1989)
What Does It Mean that the Creation of the World Was by Largess?. 5 (1989)
What Is Above Reason in the Work?. 6 (1989)
What Is “He Who Did Not Toil on the Eve of Shabbat, What Will He Eat on Shabbat” in the Work?. 7 (1989)
What It Means, in the Work, that If the Good Grows, So Grows the Bad. 8 (1989)
What Is, “Calamity that Comes upon the Wicked Begins with the Righteous,” in the Work?. 9 (1989)
What Does It Mean that the Ladder Is Diagonal, in the Work?. 10 (1989)
What Are the Forces Required in the Work?. 11 (1989)
What Is a Groom’s Meal?. 12 (1989)
What Is the “Bread of an Evil-Eyed Man” in the Work?. 13 (1989)
What Is the Meaning of “Reply unto Your Heart”?. 14 (1989)
What Is, “The Righteous Become Apparent through the Wicked,” in the Work?. 15 (1989)
What Is the Prohibition to Bless on an Empty Table, in the Work?. 16 (1989)
What Is the Prohibition to Greet Before Blessing the Creator, in the Work?. 17 (1989)
What Is, “There Is No Blessing in That Which Is Counted,” in the Work?. 18 (1989)
Why Is Shabbat Called Shin-Bat in the Work?. 19 (1989)
What Does It Mean that the Evil Inclination Ascends and Slanders, in the Work?. 20 (1989)
What Is, “A Drunken Man Must Not Pray, in the Work?. 21 (1989)
Why Are Four Questions Asked Specifically on Passover Night?. 22 (1989)
What Is, If He Swallows the Bitter Herb, He Will Not Come Out, in the Work?. 23 (1989)
What Is “Do Not Slight the Blessing of a Layperson” in the Work?. 24 (1989)
What Is “He Who Has a Flaw Shall Not Offer [Sacrifice]” in the Work?. 25 (1989)
What Is “He Who Defiles Himself Is Defiled from Above” in the Work?. 26 (1989)
What Is the Meaning of Suffering in the Work?. 27 (1989)
Who Needs to Know that a Person Withstood the Test?. 28 (1989)
What Is the Preparation to Receive the Torah in the Work?-2. 29 (1989)
What Is the Meaning of Lighting the Menorah in the Work?. 30 (1989)
What Is the Prohibition to Teach Torah to Idol-Worshippers in the Work?. 31 (1989)
What Does It Mean that Oil Is Called “Good Deeds” in the Work?. 32 (1989)
What Are Spies in the Work?. 33 (1989)
What Is Peace in the Work?. 34 (1989)
What Is, “He Who Is Without Sons,” in the Work?. 35 (1989)
What Is “For It Is Your Wisdom and Understanding in the Eyes of the Nations,” in the Work?. 36 (1989)
What Is “A Road Whose Beginning Is Thorns and Its End Is a Plain” in the Work?. 37 (1989)
What Are Judges and Officers in the Work?. 38 (1989)
What Is, “The Torah Speaks Only Against the Evil Inclination,” in the Work?. 39 (1989)
What Is, “Every Day They Will Be as New in Your Eyes,” in the Work?. 40 (1989)
The Daily Schedule. 41 (1989)
What Does “May We Be the Head and Not the Tail” Mean in the Work?. 1 (1990)
What Is the Meaning of Failure in the Work?. 2 (1990)
What It Means that the World Was Created for the Torah. 3 (1990)
What It Means that the Generations of the Righteous are Good Deeds, in the Work. 4 (1990)
What It Means that the Land Did Not Bear Fruit before Man Was Created, in the Work. 5 (1990)
When Should One Use Pride in the Work?. 6 (1990)
What Are the Times of Prayer and Gratitude in the Work?. 7 (1990)
What It Means that Esau Was Called “A Man of the Field,” in the Work. 8 (1990)
What Is, “A Ladder Is Set on the Earth, and Its Top Reaches Heaven,” in the Work?. 9 (1990)
What Does It Mean that Our Sages Said, “King David Did Not Have a Life,” in the Work?. 10 (1990)
What Placing the Hanukkah Candle on the Left Means in the Work. 11 (1990)
Why Is the Torah Called “Middle Line” in the Work? - 1. 12 (1990)
What Does It Mean that by the Unification of the Creator and the Shechina, All Iniquities Are Atoned?. 13 (1990)
What Is True Hesed in the Work?. 14 (1990)
What Does It Mean that Before the Egyptian Minister Fell, Their Outcry Was Not Answered, in the Work?. 15 (1990)
What Is “For Lack of Spirit and for Hard Work,” in the Work?. 16 (1990)
What Is the Assistance that He who Comes to Purify Receives in the Work?. 17 (1990)
Why the Speech of Shabbat Must Not Be as the Speech of a Weekday, in the Work. 18 (1990)
Why Is the Torah Called “Middle Line” in the Work?-2. 19 (1990)
What Is Half a Shekel in the Work? - 2. 20 (1990)
What Is, “As I Am for Nothing, so You Are for Nothing,” in the Work?. 21 (1990)
What Is the Order in Blotting Out Amalek?. 22 (1990)
What Does It Mean that Moses Was Perplexed about the Birth of the Moon, in the Work?. 23 (1990)
What Does, “Everything that Comes to Be a Burnt Offering Is Male,” Mean in the Work?. 24 (1990)
What Is, “Praise the Lord, All Nations,” in the Work?. 25 (1990)
What Is, “There Is None as Holy as the Lord, for There Is None Besides You,” in the Work?. 26 (1990)
What Is, “Every Blade of Grass Has an Appointee Above, Who Strikes It and Tells It, Grow!” in the Work?. 27 (1990)
What Is, “Warn the Great about the Small,” in the Work?. 28 (1990)
What Is, “The Torah Exhausts a Person’s Strength,” in the Work?. 29 (1990)
What It Means that “Law and Ordinance” Is the Name of the Creator in the Work. 30 (1990)
What “There Is No Blessing in That Which Is Counted” Means in the Work. 31 (1990)
What “Israel Do the Creator’s Will” Means in the Work. 32 (1990)
What Is “The Earth Feared and Was Still,” in the Work?. 33 (1990)
What Are “A Layperson’s Vessels,” in the Work?. 34 (1990)
What Is “He Who Enjoys at a Groom’s Meal,” in the Work?. 35 (1990)
What Is, “The Children of Esau and Ishmael Did Not Want to Receive the Torah,” in the Work?. 36 (1990)
What Is, “The Shechina Is a Testimony to Israel,” in the Work?. 37 (1990)
What Is, “A Cup of Blessing Must Be Full,” in the Work?. 38 (1990)
What Is, “Anyone Who Mourns forJerusalem Is Rewarded with Seeing Its Joy,” in the Work?. 39 (1990)
What Is, “For You Are the Least of All the Peoples,” in the Work?. 40 (1990)
What Are the Light Mitzvot that a Person Tramples with His Heels, in the Work?. 41 (1990)
What Are a Blessing and a Curse, in the Work?. 42 (1990)
What Is, “You Shall Not Plant for Yourself an Asherah by the Altar,” in the Work?. 43 (1990)
What Is an Optional War, in the work? - 2. 44 (1990)
What Is, “The Concealed Things Belong to the Lord Our God,” in the work?. 45 (1990)
The Order of the Work, from Baal HaSulam. 46 (1990)
What Is, “We Have No Other King But You,” in the Work?. 1 (1991)
What Is, “Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,” in the Work?. 2 (1991)
What Is, “The Wicked Will Prepare and the Righteous Will Wear,” in the Work?. 3 (1991)
What Is, “The Saboteur Was in the Flood, and Was Putting to Death,” in the Work?. 4 (1991)
What Is, “The Good Deeds of the Righteous Are the Generations,” in the Work?. 5 (1991)
What Is, “The Herdsmen of Abram’s Cattle and the Herdsmen of Lot’s Cattle,” in the Work?. 6 (1991)
What Is “Man” and What Is “Beast” in the Work?. 7 (1991)
What Is, “And Abraham Was Old, of Many Days,” in the Work?. 8 (1991)
What Is, “The Smell of His Garments,” in the Work?. 9 (1991)
What Does “The King Stands on His Field When the Crop Is Ripe” Mean in the Work?. 10 (1991)
What It Means that the Good Inclination and the Evil Inclination Guard a Person in the Work. 11 (1991)
These Candles Are Sacred. 12 (1991)
What “You Have Given the Strong to the Hands of the Weak” Means in the Work. 13 (1991)
What Does It Mean that Man’s Blessing Is the Blessing of the Sons, in the Work?. 14 (1991)
What Is the Blessing, “Who Made a Miracle for Me in This Place,” in the Work?. 15 (1991)
Why We Need “Reply unto Your Heart,” to Know that the Lord, He Is God, in the Work. 16 (1991)
What Is, “For I Have Hardened His Heart,” in the work?. 17 (1991)
What It Means that We Should Raise the Right Hand over the Left Hand, in the Work. 18 (1991)
What Is, “Rise Up, O Lord, and Let Your Enemies Be Scattered,” in the Work?. 19 (1991)
What Is, “There Is Nothing that Has No Place,” in the Work?. 20 (1991)
What Does It Mean that We Read the Portion, Zachor [Remember], Before Purim, in the Work?. 21 (1991)
What Is “A Lily Among the Thorns,” in the Work?. 22 (1991)
What Is the Meaning of the Purification of a Cow’s Ashes, in the Work?. 23 (1991)
What Does It Mean that One Should Bear a Son and a Daughter, in the Work?. 24 (1991)
What Does It Mean that One Who Repents Should Be in Happiness?. 25 (1991)
What Is Revealing a Portion and Covering Two Portions in the Work?. 26 (1991)
What Is, “If a Woman Inseminates First, She Delivers a Male Child,” in the Work?. 27 (1991)
What Are Holiness and Purity, in the Work?. 28 (1991)
What Does It Mean that a High Priest Should Take a Virgin Wife, in the Work?. 29 (1991)
What Does It Mean that One Who Was On a Far Off Way Is Postponed to a Second Passover, in the Work?. 30 (1991)
What Does It Mean that Charity to the Poor Makes the Holy Name, in the Work?. 31 (1991)
What Are Banners in the Work?. 32 (1991)
What Does It Mean that the Creator Favors Someone, in the Work?. 33 (1991)
What Is Eating Their Fruits in This World and Keeping the Principal for the Next World, in the Work?. 34 (1991)
What Is the Meaning of “Spies,” in the Work?. 35 (1991)
What Is, “Peace, Peace, to the Far and to the Near,” in the Work?. 36 (1991)
What Is the “Torah” and What Is “The Statute of the Torah,” in the Work?. 37 (1991)
What Is the “Right Line,” in the Work?. 38 (1991)
What Does It Mean that the Right Must Be Greater than the Left, in the Work?. 39 (1991)
What Are Truth and Falsehood in the Work?. 40 (1991)
What Should One Do If He Was Born With Bad Qualities?. 41 (1991)
What Is, “An Ox Knows Its Owner, etc., Israel Does Not Know,” in the Work?. 42 (1991)
What Is, “You Will See My Back, But My Face Shall Not Be Seen,” in the Work?. 43 (1991)
What Is the Reason for which Israel Were Rewarded with Inheritance of the Land, in the Work?. 44 (1991)
What Does It Mean that a Judge Must Judge Absolutely Truthfully, in the Work?. 45 (1991)
What Is the Son of the Beloved and the Son of the Hated in the Work?. 46 (1991)
What Does It Mean that the Right and the Left Are in Contrast, in the Work?. 47 (1991)
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What Are Judges and Officers in the Work?
 
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What Are Judges and Officers in the Work?

Article No. 38, 1989

It is written, “You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your gates.” We should understand what are “judges” and what are “officers” in the work. We should also understand what is “in all your gates” in the work. And we should also understand what is written, “You shall not plant for yourself an Asherah [tree for idol-worship], any tree beside the altar.” Our sages said, “Anyone who appoints an unworthy judge, it is as though he plants an Asherah in Israel.” We should also understand what is an unworthy judge in the work, and why is the prohibition so severe, as though he “plants an Asherah.”

In corporeality, we see that there is a courthouse, and the order there is that each one claims that justice is on his side, and the judges give the verdict and decide who is right. But even when the judges have already decided who is right, it is only in potential. We see the justice, but the one who was found guilty does not want to obey the justice of the judges, so the verdict is given to the police and the officers execute the verdict. That is, the officers overcome the guilty party and execute the verdict against his will. But as long as there is no court order to execute the verdict, the person says that the judges are fine, but he cannot obey the verdict although he does not dispute it.

The order is that when the officers come to execute the verdict, it is impossible to argue with the officers because they are only messengers of the courthouse. Therefore, there is no place to argue with the officers, since only in court is it possible to argue and say everything that is on one’s mind. When someone does want to argue, the officers laugh at him and say, “You are wasting your words; we must follow what the judges said.”

The same applies in the work. When a person wants to walk on the path of truth, a war begins between the good inclination and the evil inclination, where each one claims, “It is all mine.” That is, the evil inclination claims that the whole body belongs to it, meaning that the body should work only for one’s own sake. The good inclination argues that the whole body should work only for the sake of the Creator. And what should be done when two parties quarrel with one another? We go to a judge to give his verdict. The judge will say to whom the body belongs, meaning for whom the body should work.

Hence this judge in one’s heart—and a person wants to obey it, as he must say to whom the body belongs—this judge must be worthy. But how do we know if this judge is worthy? This depends only on the greatness of the judge. In other words, we must see to what extent the judge understands the greatness and importance of the work, meaning whether we serve a great or a small king.

“A worthy judge” means if he understands that he assumes in his heart that the King for whom we must work is a great and important King, worth relinquishing any pleasure that one can have in beastly lusts. He understands that the pleasure of serving the King is so important, more than all the pleasures of this world. This matter, that it is worthwhile to relinquish, can be only if the judge knows and has attained the greatness of the Creator.

Or, it can be otherwise: If he believes in the sages, who told us that we must believe in the greatness of the Creator above reason. That is, although he has not been rewarded with seeing the greatness of the Creator within reason, but on the contrary, each time a person wants to take upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven above reason, it resists. And then, what can one do if the body, meaning the judge in his heart, is not impressed with everything the person tells it? Although he listens and does not say to the person that he is not making sense, but it is similar to what is written, “Like a deaf viper that does not hear the sound of the whisperers.”

First, he must say that the fact that he has come to a resolution that the body does not want to obey the arbiter and the judge that it is worthwhile to work for the sake of the Creator, this is natural, since by nature, man is born with a will to receive for himself. Therefore, although the judge said that we should work for the sake of the Creator, he simply does not understand it, meaning how is it possible to do something that a person does not enjoy. But the judge told him that he should achieve a degree where all his concerns are the joy of the Creator. Although the judge brings him evidence from the Torah, which says, “Blessed is our God, who has created us for His glory,” and “All the works of the Lord are for His sake,” the body insists and says, “I see that I must do something against my mind and reason.”

Therefore, there are two manners to this state: 1) “I do not want to obey you, even though you are correct. Hence,” the body says, “I will not obey your order.” 2) It says, “Sometimes I do want to obey you, but I can’t because whenever I do something that is not according to nature, I suffer torments and I cannot tolerate such torments, meaning to work for the sake of the Creator. This is actual death, and how can I put myself to death?”

Therefore, a person must act coercively. That is, he must believe what our sages said, “He who comes to purify is aided.” This means that a person must tell his body, “What you say—that you cannot do things that contradict nature—is true. However, we must know that the actions are mainly in the intention, meaning that the intention should be that the act he does will be for the sake of the Creator.”

Although the body cannot understand this, because it is against nature, meaning against the reason and the intellect, it does this only out of faith and not through its own intellect. This is why it is called “an act.” And when a person wants to observe Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] in action and not in the reason, if a person wants to achieve the truth, he must say—when he wants to execute what the judges said—that we must work for the sake of the Creator. This is called “officers,” and with officers, we see that there is no point arguing with them, that there is no arguing with the officers, meaning that they do not hear what is being said to them.

It is likewise in spirituality. A person must not argue with the body when he goes above reason. He should say to the body, “It does not matter to us if you are right or wrong.” Perhaps the body is one hundred percent correct, but the officers follow the judge’s order, and a person should pray to the Creator to give strength to the officers so they can overcome the guilty one. In spirituality, this means that a person should pray to the Creator to give the power and might to his overcoming, so he can prevail over the body and execute what the judges said.

By this we will understand what we asked, What are “judges and officers” in the work? It is that we must appoint judges who will determine whose is the body. That is, when this body works, who profits from its work? Does the profit go to one’s own benefit or to the benefit of the Creator? Afterward, one needs the power to overcome, to execute the judges’ verdict, and the power to overcome is called “officers.” This should be “in all your gates.”

We asked, What is “in all your gates”? Literally, it seems to mean that in each gate there must be judges and officers. We should interpret “your gates.” It is as The Zohar says about the verse, “Her husband is known at the gates.” It interprets that “in the gates” means “Each one according to what he assumes in his heart.” That is, in each measure that a person assumes in his heart the greatness and exaltedness of the Creator, a person should appoint there “judges and officers” in order to be able to carry out everything.

Now we can understand what we asked, What does “You shall not plant for yourself an Asherah, any tree beside the altar,” mean? Our sages said, “Anyone who appoints an unworthy judge, it is as though he plants an Asherah in Israel.” We asked, Why is the prohibition so severe that it is as though he plants idol-worship in Israel?

According to the above, since in the work, every person is a small world, it follows that when there is a feud between the evil inclination and the good inclination, each one claims, “It is all mine,” meaning “the body belongs to me.” The evil inclination claims that the body should work not for the sake of the Creator, but for one’s own sake, that working for the sake of the Creator is foreign work to us. And since we must obey the good inclination, which says that the body must work for the sake of the Creator, as a result, when a person appoints an unworthy judge, meaning who does not know to say that we must work for the sake of the Creator, but says that we must work for the sake of the body, it follows that he plants idol-worship in Israel, since the judge does not understand that we must work for the sake of the Creator but says that we must work for the sake of the body, which is foreign work to us.

This is why the prohibition on an “unworthy judge” is so severe, since the judge tells him to do idol-worship, called Asherah. Hence, if a person wants to know what to do and wants to trust the judge within a person, he must first see if this judge can give a judgment that is the whole truth, meaning to tell him to walk on the path of truth, meaning to work for the sake of the Creator.

According to the above, we should interpret what our sages said (Tanhuma 8), “Anyone who makes a judgment that is the whole truth is rewarded with the life of the next world.” This implies that one who wants to be rewarded with the life of the next world, there is a very easy way that does not require so much labor in Torah and work. Instead, if one tries to give a judgment that is the whole truth, he will be rewarded with the next world. According to the above, a “judge” in the order of the work is one who gives the verdict—to whom the body belongs, meaning whether the body should work for the sake of the Creator or for one’s own sake.

It follows that this judge, which a person establishes within one’s heart so as to give the verdict, to whom the body belongs, meaning for whose sake it should work, for the sake of the Creator or for one’s own sake and not for the sake of the Creator, if he is not a worthy judge and does not know to appreciate the greatness of the Creator, and he is still biased by the will to receive for himself, and the person says, “I will listen to what the judge decides and says about whom one should work for,” it follows that that judge seemingly plants an Asherah, meaning idol-worship.

That is, this judge, which a person wants to obey, tells him it is not worthwhile to work for the Creator. It follows that if he listens to this judge, he will have to commit idol-worship and not work for the sake of the Creator.

This is why our sages said, “Anyone who appoints an unworthy judge, it is as though he plants an Asherah.” We asked, What is the severity in the matter, that if the judge is not worthy, it is as though he commits idol-worship? The intimation is that in the work, it is truly idol-worship because he tells him that we need not work for the Creator. It says, “It is as though he plants an Asherah in Israel,” since every person should have the quality of “Israel,” meaning Yashar-El [straight to the Creator], namely that “all your works will be for the sake of the Creator.” Yet, the unworthy judge says that it is better to work for oneself. This is called “idol-worship.”

By this you will understand what we asked about what our sages said, “Anyone who makes a judgment that is the whole truth is rewarded with the life of the next world.” Thus, why should we work and toil so much in order to be rewarded with the life of the next world? After all, there is an easier way—to try to make a judgment that is the whole truth and thereby be rewarded with the life of the next world.

In the work, this means that there is the “truth,” and there is the “whole truth.” “Truth” means that the judge within his heart tells him he must observe Torah and Mitzvot, but in order to receive reward. That is, the Torah and Mitzvot that he performs should be with a reward and punishment of self-benefit. It follows that on one hand, this is called the “truth.” It is as Maimonides says, “Therefore, when teaching little ones, women, and uneducated people, they are taught to work only out of fear and in order to receive reward. Until they gain much wisdom, they are shown that secret bit by bit” (Hilchot Teshuva, Chapter 10).

This means that the judge gives a judgment of truth.

Conversely, the “whole truth” means that the judge tells him we must work for the sake of the Creator and not for our own sake. This is called the “whole truth,” meaning that the act is true and the intention is also true. This is called the “whole truth.”

However, we should interpret what is the meaning of the “whole truth.” It means that the truth is that it is true, that everyone admits that it is true, and not simply that he says that it is the truth. We can understand this according to what is written in The Study of the Ten Sefirot (Part 13), where he interprets the seventh correction of the thirteen qualities, which are 1) El [pronounced Kel], 2) Merciful, 3) Gracious, 4) Erech [long], 5) Apaim [face. Erech Apaim means “long face” or “patient”], 6) Great in Mercy, 7) And True.

He interprets what is “And True.” In his words, “Therefore, he calls this correction by the name, ‘And True,’ since by the revealing of the two Holy Apples below, the truth of His Providence over the lower ones is revealed. Therefore, the revelation of His Providence is called ‘And True,’ for it is the truth of His will, and all the concealments in the worlds come only to reveal this truth about His Providence, which is to do good to His creations. For this reason, this correction in ZA is called ‘And True.’”

According to the above, we can understand the meaning of “Anyone who makes a judgment that is the whole truth is rewarded with the life of the next world.” It means that then, all the nations of the world in his body see the truth—that they are rewarded with the delight and pleasure found in the will of the Creator, which is His will to do good to His creations. And this is called the “whole truth.”