1. There Is None Else Besides Him
2. Shechina [Divinity] in Exile
3. The Matter of Spiritual Attainment
4. What Is the Reason for the Heaviness One Feels when Annulling before the Creator in the Work?
5. Lishma Is an Awakening from Above, and Why Do We Need an Awakening from Below?
6. What Is Support in the Torah, in the Work?
7. What Is, “A Habit Becomes a Second Nature,” in the Work?
8. What Is the Difference between a Shade of Kedusha and a Shade of Sitra Achra?
9. What Are Three Things that Broaden One’s Mind in the Work?
10. What Is “Hurry, My Beloved,” in the Work?
11. Joy with Trembling
12. The Essence of Man’s Work
13. A Pomegranate
14. What Is the Exaltedness of the Creator?
15. What Is Other Gods in the Work?
16. What Is the Day of the Lord and the Night of the Lord, in the Work?
17. What Does It Mean that the Sitra Achra Is Called “Malchut without a Crown”?
18. My Soul Shall Weep in Secret – 1
19. What Is “The Creator Hates the Bodies,” in the Work?
20. Lishma [for Her sake]
21. When One Feels Oneself in a State of Ascent
22. Torah Lishma
23. You Who Love the Lord, Hate Evil
24. He Will Save Them from the Hand of the Wicked
25. Things that Come from the Heart
26. One’s Future Depends and Is Tied to Gratitude for the Past
27. What Is “The Lord Is High and the Low Will See”? - 1
28. I Shall Not Die but Live
29. When Thoughts Come to a Person
30. The Most Important Is to Want Only to Bestow
31. Anyone Who Pleases the Spirit of the People
32. A Lot Is an Awakening from Above
33. The Lots on Yom Kippur and with Haman
34. The Advantage of a Land
35. Concerning the Vitality of Kedusha
36. What Are the Three Bodies in Man?
37. An Article for Purim
38. The Fear of God Is His Treasure
39. And They Sewed Fig Leaves
40. What Is the Measure of Faith in the Rav?
41. What Is Greatness and Smallness in Faith?
42. What Is the Acronym Elul in the Work?
43. Concerning Truth and Faith
44. Mind and Heart
45. Two Discernments in the Torah and in the Work
46. The Domination of Israel over the Klipot
47. In the Place Where You Find His Greatness
48. The Primary Basis
49. The Most Important Are the Mind and the Heart
50. Two States
51. If You Encounter This Villain
52. A Transgression Does Not Extinguish a Mitzva
53. The Matter of Limitation
54. The Purpose of the Work – 1
55. Haman from the Torah, from Where?
56. Torah Is Called Indication
57. Will Bring Him Closer to His Will
58. Joy Is a “Reflection” of Good Deeds
59. Concerning the Rod and the Serpent
60. A Mitzva that Comes through Transgression
61. Round About Him It Storms Mightily
62. Descends and Incites, Ascends and Complains
63. I Was Borrowed on, and I Repay
64. From Lo Lishma, We Come to Lishma
65. Concerning the Revealed and the Concealed
66. Concerning the Giving of the Torah – 1
67. Depart from Evil
68. Man's Connection to the Sefirot
69. First Will Be the Correction of the World
70. With a Mighty Hand and with Fury Poured Out
71. My Soul Shall Weep in Secret – 2
72. Confidence Is the Clothing for the Light
73. After the Tzimtzum
74. World, Year, Soul
75. There Is a Discernment of the Next World, and There Is a Discernment of This World
76. On All Your Offerings You Shall Offer Salt
77. One's Soul Shall Teach Him
78. The Torah, the Creator, and Israel Are One
79. Atzilut and BYA
80. Concerning Achor be Achor
81. Concerning Raising MAN
82. The Prayer that One Should Always Pray
83. Concerning the Right Vav and the Left Vav
84. What Is “He Drove the Man Out of the Garden of Eden so He Would Not Take from the Tree of Life”?
85. What Is the Fruit of a Citrus Tree, in the Work?
86. And They Built Arei Miskenot
87. Shabbat Shekalim
88. All the Work Is Only Where There Are Two Ways – 1
89. To Understand the Words of The Zohar
90. In The Zohar, Beresheet
91. Concerning the Replaceable
92. Explaining the Discernment of Luck
93. Concerning Fins and Scales
94. And You Shall Keep Your Souls
95. Concerning Removing the Foreskin
96. What Is Waste of Barn and Winery, in the Work?
97. Waste of Barn and Winery
98. Spirituality Is Called That Which Will Never Be Lost
99. He Did Not Say Wicked or Righteous
100. The Written Torah and the Oral Torah – 1
101. A Commentary on the Psalm, “For the Winner over Roses”
102. And You Shall Take You the Fruit of a Citrus Tree
103. Whose Heart Makes Him Willing
104. And the Saboteur Was Sitting
105. A Bastard Wise Disciple Precedes a Commoner High Priest
106. What the Twelve Challahs on Shabbat Imply
107. Concerning the Two Angels
108. If You Leave Me One Day, I Will Leave You Two
109. Two Kinds of Meat
110. A Field that the Lord Has Blessed
111. Breath, Sound, and Speech
112. The Three Angels
113. The Eighteen Prayer
114. Prayer
115. Still, Vegetative, Animate, and Speaking
116. He Who Said, “Mitzvot Do Not Require Intention”
117. You Labored and Did Not Find, Do Not Believe
118. To Understand the Matter of the Knees Which Have Bowed to Baal
119. That Disciple Who Learned in Secret
120. The Reason for Not Eating Nuts on Rosh Hashanah
121. She Is Like Merchant-Ships
122. Understanding What Is Written in Shulchan Aruch
123. His Divorce and His Hand Come as One
124. A Shabbat of Beresheet and of the Six Thousand Years
125. He Who Delights the Shabbat
126. A Sage Comes to Town
127. The Difference between Core, Self, and Added Abundance
128. Dew Drips from that Galgalta to Zeir Anpin
129. The Shechina in the Dust
130. Tiberias of Our Sages, Good Is Your Sight
131. Who Comes to Purify
132. In the Sweat of Your Face Shall You Eat Bread – 1
133. The Lights of Shabbat
134. Wine that Causes Drunkenness
135. Clean and Righteous Do Not Kill
136. The Difference between the First Letters and the Last Letters
137. Zelophehad Was Gathering Wood
138. Concerning Fear that Sometimes Comes Upon a Person
139. The Difference between the Six Workdays and Shabbat
140. How I Love Your Torah
141. The Holiday of Passover
142. The Essence of the War
143. Only Good to Israel
144. There Is a Certain People
145. What Is He Will Give Wisdom Specifically to the Wise
146. A Commentary on The Zohar
147. The Work of Reception and Bestowal
148. The Scrutiny of Bitter and Sweet, True and False
149. Why We Need to Extend Hochma
150. Sing unto the Lord, for He Has Done Pride
151. And Israel Saw the Egyptians
152. For Bribe Blinds the Eyes of the Wise
153. A Thought Is a Result of the Desire
154. There Cannot Be an Empty Space in the World
155. The Cleanness of the Body
156. Lest He Took from the Tree of Life
157. I Am Asleep but My Heart Is Awake
158. The Reason for Not Eating at Each Other's Home on Passover
159. And It Came to Pass in the Course of Those Many Days
160. The Reason for Concealing the Matzot
161. Concerning the Giving of the Torah – 2
162. Concerning the Hazak We Say After Completing the Series
163. What the Authors of The Zohar Said
164. There Is a Difference between Corporeality and Spirituality
165. An Explanation to Elisha's Request of Elijah
166. Two Discernments in Attainment
167. The Reason Why It Is Called Shabbat Teshuva
168. The Customs of Israel
169. Concerning a Complete Righteous
170. You Shall Not Have in Your Pocket a Big Stone
171. In The Zohar, Emor – 1
172. The Matter of Preventions and Delays
173. Why We Say LeChaim
174. Concealment
175. And If the Way Be Too Far for You
176. When Drinking Brandy after the Havdala
177. Atonements
178. Three Partners in Man
179. Three Lines
180. In The Zohar, Emor – 2
181. Honor
182. Moses and Solomon
183. The Discernment of Messiah
184. The Difference between Faith and Intellect
185. The Uneducated, the Fear of Shabbat Is on Him
186. Make Your Shabbat a Weekday, and Do Not Need People
187. Choosing Labor
188. All the Work Is Only Where There Are Two Ways – 2
189. The Action Affects the Thought
190. Every Act Leaves an Imprint
191. The Time of Descent
192. The Lots
193. One Wall Serves Both
194. The Complete Seven
195. Rewarded - I Will Hasten It
196. A Grip for the External Ones
197. Book, Author, Story
198. Freedom
199. To Every Man of Israel
200. The Hizdakchut of the Masach
201. Spirituality and Corporeality
202. In the Sweat of Your Face Shall You Eat Bread – 2
203. Man's Pride Shall Bring Him Low
204. The Purpose of the Work - 2
205. Wisdom Cries Out in the Streets
206. Faith and Pleasure
207. Receiving in order to Bestow
208. Labor
209. Three Conditions in Prayer
210. A Sightly Flaw in You
211. As Though Standing before a King
212. Embrace of the Right, Embrace of the Left
213. Acknowledging the Desire
214. Known in the Gates
215. Concerning Faith
216. Right and Left
217. If I Am Not for Me, Who Is for Me?
218. The Torah and the Creator Are One
219. Devotion
220. Suffering
221. Multiple Authorities
222. The Part Given to the Sitra Achra to Separate It from the Kedusha
223. Clothing, Sack, Lie, Almond
224. Yesod de Nukva and Yesod de Dechura
225. Raising Oneself
226. The Written Torah and the Oral Torah – 2
227. The Reward for a Mitzva–a Mitzva
228. Fish before Meat
229. Haman Pockets
230. The Lord Is High and the Low Will See - 2
231. The Purity of the Vessels of Reception
232. Completing the Labor
233. Pardon, Forgiveness, and Atonement
234. He Who Ceases Words of Torah and Engages in Conversation
235. Looking in the Book Again
236. My Adversaries Curse Me All the Day
237. For Man Shall Not See Me and Live
238. Happy Is the Man Who Does Not Forget You and the Son of Man Who Exerts in You
239. The Difference between Mochin of Shavuot and that of Shabbat at Minchah
240. Seek Your Seekers when They Seek Your Face
241. Call Upon Him When He Is Near
242. What Is the Matter of Delighting the Poor on a Good Day, in the Work?
243. Examining the Shade on the Night of Hosha’ana Rabbah
244. All the Worlds
245. Prior to the Creation of the Newborn
246. An Explanation about Luck
247. A Thought Is Regarded as Nourishment
248. Let His Friend Begin
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Concerning the Vitality of Kedusha
 

35. Concerning the Vitality of Kedusha

I heard in 1945, Jerusalem

The verse says (Psalms 104): “There is the sea, great and broad, in which are swarms without number, small animals with big ones.”

We should interpret:

  1. “There is the sea” means the sea of the Sitra Achra [other side].

  2. “Great and broad” means that it manifests itself and shouts “Give! Give!” referring to big vessels of reception.

  3. “In which are swarms” means that there are upper lights there, which one steps and tramples with one’s feet.

  4. “Without number,” that there are small with large animals, meaning whether one has small vitality or big vitality, it is all in that sea.

This is so because there is a rule that “From above they give giving, and take, they do not take” (as all that is given from above is not received in return, but stays below). Hence, if one extends something from above and then blemishes it, it remains below, but not with the person. Instead, it falls to the sea of the Sitra Achra.

In other words, if one extends some illumination and cannot sustain it permanently because his Kelim [vessels] are not yet clean to be fit for the light, meaning that he will receive it in vessels of bestowal like the light that comes from the Giver, the illumination must depart from him.

At that time, this illumination falls into the hands of the Sitra Achra. This continues several times, meaning that one extends, and then it departs from him.

Hence, the illuminations increase in the sea of the Sitra Achra until the cup is full. This means that after one reveals the full measure of the effort that one can reveal, the Sitra Achra gives him back everything she took into her own authority. This is the meaning of “He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again.” It follows that all that the Sitra Achra received into her own authority was only as a deposit, meaning that as long as she has control over man, and the matter of the control that she has is so that one will be able to scrutinize one’s vessels of reception and admit them into Kedusha [holiness].

In other words, had she not controlled a person, he would settle for little. Then all of one’s vessels of reception would remain separated, and he would never be able to gather all the Kelim that belong to the root of his soul, admit them into Kedusha, and extend the light that belongs to him.

Hence, it is a correction that each time one extends something and has a descent, he must start anew, meaning new scrutinies. And what one had from the past has fallen into the Sitra Achra, who holds it in her authority as a deposit. Afterward, one receives from her everything that she received from him the whole time.

Yet, we must also know that if one could sustain any illumination, even a small one, but if it were permanent, he would already be regarded as whole. That is, one would have been able to advance with this illumination. Hence, if one loses the illumination, he should regret it.

This is similar to a person who placed a seed in the ground so that a big tree would grow out of it, but took the seed out of the ground right away. Thus, what is the benefit in the work of putting the seed in the ground?

Moreover, we can say that he not only took out the seed from the ground and spoiled it; we can say that he dug out a tree with ripe fruits from the ground and spoiled them.

It is the same here: If he had not lost this tiny illumination, a great light would have grown out of it. It follows that it is not necessarily that he lost the power of a small illumination, but it is as though a great light indeed was lost from him.

We must know that it is a rule that one cannot live without vitality and pleasure, since it stems from the root of creation, which is His desire to do good to His creations. Hence, every creature cannot exist without vitality and pleasure. Therefore, every creature must go and look for a place from which to receive delight and pleasure.

But the pleasure is received in three times: in the past, in the present, and in the future. However, the main reception of pleasure is in the present. Although we see that one receives pleasure from the past and from the future, too, it is because the past and the future shine in the present.

Therefore, if one does not find a sensation of pleasure in the present, he receives vitality from the past, and he can tell others how he was happy in past times. One can receive vitality from this in the present, or picture to himself that he hopes that in the future he will be happy. But measuring the sensation of the pleasure from the past and the future depends on the extent to which they shine for him in the present. We must know that this applies both to corporeal pleasures and to spiritual pleasures.

As we see, when a person works, even in corporeality, the order is that during the work he is unhappy because he is exerting himself. And one can continue the work only because the future shines for him, that he will receive a payment for his work. This shines for him in the present, and this is why he can continue the work.

However, if he is unable to picture the reward he will receive in the future, he must take pleasure from the future, not from the reward he will receive for his work in the future. In other words, he will not enjoy the reward, but he will not feel suffering from the exertion. This is what he enjoys now, in the present, what he will have in the future.

The future shines for him in the present, in that soon the work will be over, meaning the time that he must work, and he will receive rest. Thus, the pleasure of rest that one will ultimately receive still shines for him. In other words, his profit will be that he will not be afflicted by what he now feels from the work, and this gives him the strength to be able to work now.

If one is unable to picture to himself that soon he will be rid of the torments that he suffers now, he will come to despair and sadness to the point that that state can bring one to take his own life.

This is why our sages said, “One who takes one’s life has no part in the next world,” since he denies Providence, that the Creator leads the world in a form of good and doing good. Instead, one should believe that these states come to him because from above they want it to bring him correction, meaning that he will collect Reshimot [recollections] from these states so he will be able to understand the conduct of the world more intensely and more strongly.

These states are called Achoraim [posterior]. When one overcomes these states, he will be awarded the quality of Panim [anterior], meaning that the light will shine into these Achoraim.

There is a rule that one cannot live if one has no place from which to receive delight and pleasure. Thus, when one is unable to receive from the present, he must still receive vitality from the past or from the future. In other words, the body seeks for itself vitality in every means at its disposal.

Then, if one does not agree to receive vitality from corporeal things, the body has no choice but to agree to receive vitality from spiritual things because it has no other choice.

Hence, it must agree to receive delight and pleasure from vessels of bestowal, since it is impossible to live without vitality. It follows that when one is accustomed to observe Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], meaning to receive reward for his work, he can picture to himself that he will receive some reward later on, and he can already work on the calculation that he will receive delight and pleasure later.

However, if one works not in order to receive reward, but wants to work without any reward, how can he picture to himself having anything from which to receive sustenance? After all, he cannot create any picture because he has nothing on which to do it.

Hence, in Lo Lishma, there is no necessity to give one vitality from above, since he has vitality from the depiction of the future, and only necessity is given from above, not luxury. Therefore, if one wants to work only for the Creator and has no wish whatsoever to take vitality for other things, there is no other way, but to be given vitality from above, since he demands only the necessary vitality to go on living. Then he receives vitality from the structure of the Shechina [Divinity].

It is as our sages said, “Anyone who is sorry for the public is rewarded with seeing the comfort of the public.” The public is called “The Shechina,” since “public” means a collective, meaning the assembly of Israel, for Malchut is the collection of all the souls.

Since the person does not want any reward for himself, but wants to work for the sake of the Creator, which is called “raising the Shechina from the dust,” so she will not be so degraded, meaning that they do not want to work for the sake of the Creator, but all that one sees that will produce benefit for himself, then there is fuel for the work. And what concerns the benefit of the Creator, and one does not see what reward he will receive in return, the body objects to this work because it feels a taste of dust in this work.

And such a person does want to work for the sake of the Creator, but the body resists it. And he asks the Creator to give him strength to nonetheless be able to work to raise the Shechina from the dust. Hence, he is awarded the Panim [face] of the Creator, Who appears to him, and the concealment departs from him.