42. What Is the Acronym Elul (I am for My Beloved, and My Beloved Is for Me) in the Work?

I heard on Elul 15, August 28, 1942

In order to understand this, we must understand several other things.

1. The matter of the Malchuiot [pl. of Malchut], memories, and Shofarot [pl. of Shofar, a ram’s horn], and what is the meaning of what our sages said, “Annul your will before His will, so that He will annul His will before your will.”

2. The words of our sages, “Evil—at once to death, and righteous—at once to life.”

3. The verse, “The sons of Gershon, Libni and Shimei.”

4. The words of The Zohar: “Yod is a black dot that has no white in it.”

5. Malchut of the upper becomes a Keter to the lower.

6. What is, joy testifies if the work is in wholeness.

All these things apply in the preparation of the month of Elul.

To understand all the above, we must understand the purpose of creation, which is said to be because He wishes to do good to His creations. And because of the Tikkun [correction], so there will not be a matter of the “bread of shame,” a Tzimtzum [restriction] was made. And from the Tzimtzum extended the Masach [screen] by which the vessels of reception are turned into bestowal.

When the vessels are prepared to be in order to bestow, we immediately receive the light that is hidden and treasured for His creatures. It means that one receives the delight and pleasure that was in the thought of creation, to do good to His creations.

With that we can interpret what is written, “Annul your will before His will,” meaning annul the will to receive in you before the desire to bestow, which is the will of the Creator. This means that one will revoke self-love before the love of the Creator. This is called “annulling oneself before the Creator,” and it is called Dvekut [adhesion]. Subsequently, the Creator can shine inside your will to receive because it is now corrected in the form of receiving in order to bestow.

This is the meaning of “so that He will annul His will before your will.” It means that the Creator annuls His will, meaning the Tzimtzum that was because of the disparity of form. Now, however, when there is already equivalence of form, hence now there is expansion of the light into the desire of the lower one, which has been corrected in order to bestow, for this is the purpose of creation, to do good to His creations, and now it can be carried out.

Now we can interpret the verse, “I am for my beloved.” It means that by the “I” annulling my will to receive before the Creator in the form of entirely to bestow, it obtains “and my beloved is for me.” It means that My beloved, who is the Creator, “is mine,” He imparts to me the delight and pleasure found in the thought of creation. Thus, what was hidden and restricted before has now become disclosure of the face, since now the purpose of creation has been revealed—to do good to His creations.

We must know that the vessels of bestowal are called YH [Yod-Hey] of the name HaVaYaH [Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey], which are pure Kelim [vessels]. This is the meaning of “All who receive, receive in the purer Kli [vessel].” In that state, one is awarded, “and my beloved is for me,” and He imparts abundance upon him, meaning he is rewarded with the revelation of the Face.

Yet, there is a condition to this: It is impossible to be rewarded with disclosure before one receives the phase of Achoraim [posterior], which is the state of concealment of the Face, and says that it is as important to him as the disclosure of the Face. It means that one should be as glad as though he has already acquired the disclosure of the Face.

However, one cannot persist and appreciate the concealment like the disclosure, except when one works in bestowal. At that time, one can say, “I do not care what I feel during the work because what is important to me is that I want to bestow upon the Creator. If the Creator understands that He will have more contentment if I work in a form of Achoraim, I agree.”

However, if one still has sparks of reception, he comes to thoughts, and it is then hard for him to believe that the Creator leads the world in a manner of “good and doing good.” This is the meaning of the letter Yod in the name HaVaYaH, which is the first letter, called “a black dot that has no white in it,” meaning it is all darkness and concealment of the Face.

It means that when one comes to a state where one has no support, one’s state becomes black, which is the lowest quality in the upper world, and that becomes the Keter to the lower one, as the Kli of Keter is a vessel of bestowal.

The lowest quality in the upper one is Malchut, which has nothing of its own, meaning that she does not have anything. Only in this manner is it called Malchut. It means that if one takes upon himself the kingdom of heaven—which is in a state of not having anything—gladly, afterward, it becomes Keter, which is a vessel of bestowal and the purest Kli. In other words, the reception of Malchut in a state of darkness subsequently becomes a Kli of Keter, which is a vessel of bestowal.

It is like the verse, “For the ways of the Lord are right; the righteous will walk in it, and transgressors will stumble in it.” This means that transgressors, those who are controlled by the vessels of reception, must fall and crouch under their load when they come to that state.

The righteous, however, those who are in the state of bestowal, are elevated by this, meaning by this they are imparted vessels of bestowal. (“Wicked” should be interpreted as those whose heart is still not set on obtaining vessels of bestowal, and “righteous” means those whose heart is already set on obtaining vessels of bestowal but are as yet unable.)

It is as The Zohar writes, that the Shechina [Divinity] said to Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochai, “There is no place to hide from you,” and this is why she appears to him. This is the meaning of what Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochai said, “Because of this, and His desire is upon me.” This is, “I am for my beloved and my beloved is for me,” and then he bestows upon the VH [Vav-Hey].

This is the meaning of “The Name is incomplete, and the throne is incomplete until the Hey bonds with the Vav.” The Hey is called “the will to receive,” which is the last and final Kli in which the Vav will bestow into the Hey, and then it will be the end of correction.

This is the meaning of “Righteous—at once to life.” It means that the person himself should say in which book he wants his name to be written—whether in the book of the righteous, meaning that he wants to be given the desire to bestow, or not. Since one has many discernments regarding the desire to bestow, meaning that sometimes one says, “Yes, I want to be given the desire to bestow, but not to completely revoke the will to receive.” He rather wants both worlds for himself, meaning he wants the desire to bestow for his own delight, as well.

However, only those who wish to turn their vessels of reception to work only in bestowal and not receive anything for themselves are written in the book of the righteous. It is so that there will not be room for one to say, “Had I known that the will to receive must be revoked, I would not have prayed for it” (so that he will not say afterward, “This is not what I had sworn to”).

Hence, one must unreservedly say what he means by being registered in the book of the righteous, so he will not complain later.

We must know that in the work, the book of the righteous and the book of the wicked are in the same person. It means that one must make a choice and clearly know what he wants because wicked and righteous relate to the same person. Hence, one must say if he wants to be written in the book of the righteous, to be immediately for life, meaning adhere to the Life of Lives, that he wants to do everything for the Creator. In addition, when he comes to be written in the book of the wicked, where all those who wish to be receivers for themselves are written, he says that they should be written there to death at once, meaning that the will to receive for himself will be revoked in him, as if it had died.

Yet, sometimes one is doubtful. In other words, one does not want his will to receive to be revoked in him at once. It is hard for him to decide at once that all his sparks of reception will be put to death at once, meaning he does not agree that all his desires for reception will be annulled in him at once.

Instead, he wants the sparks of reception to be annulled in him gradually and slowly, not all at once, meaning that the vessels of reception will operate some, and some the vessels of bestowal. It follows that this person has no firm and clear view.

A firm view is that on one hand, he claims “It is all mine,” meaning all for the purpose of the will to receive. On the other hand, he claims that it is all for the Creator. This is called a “firm view.” Yet, what can one do if the body disagrees with his view of wanting to be entirely for the Creator?

In that state, you can say that this person does everything he can to be entirely for the Creator, meaning he prays to the Creator to help him be able to execute all his desires only for the sake of the Creator. It is for that that we pray, “Remember us for life and write us in the book of life.”

This is the meaning of the word “Malchut,” meaning that one will take upon himself the quality of the black dot that has no white in it. This is the meaning of “Annul your will” so that the memory of you will come up before Me, and then He will annul His will before your will. With what? With a Shofar [ram’s horn], meaning with the Shofar of the mother, meaning the matter depends on repentance.

In other words, if one accepts the blackness, one should also try that it will be in an honorable manner, and not in a disgraceful manner. This is called “the Shofar of the Mother,” meaning that one will regard it as beauty and honor.

Accordingly, we should interpret what is written, “The sons of Gershon, Libni and Shimei.” If one sees that he has been expelled from the work, one should know that this is due to Libni,¹ meaning because he wants specifically whiteness. In other words, if he is given the whiteness, meaning that everything one does will shine, which means that he will feel a good taste in the Torah and in prayer, he will be willing to listen and engage in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments].

This is the meaning of “Shimei.”² It means that it is precisely through a form of “whiteness” that one can hear. However, during the work one sees a shape of black and cannot agree to hear of taking upon himself this work. Hence, he must be expelled from the King’s hall, for reception of the kingdom of heaven must be unconditional surrender.

However, when one says that he is willing to take upon himself the work on condition that there will be a shape of white, meaning that the day will shine for him, and he does not agree if the work appears to him in a black form, this person has no place in the King’s hall. This is because those who wish to work in order to bestow are admitted into the King’s hall, and when one works in order to bestow, he does not mind what he feels during the work.

Rather, even in a state where he sees a shape of black, he is not impressed by it, but he only wants the Creator to give him strength to be able to overcome all the obstacles. It means that he does not ask the Creator to give him a shape of white, but to give him the strength to overcome all the concealments.

Hence, those people who want to work in order to bestow, if there is always a state of whiteness, the whiteness does not allow one to continue in the work. This is because, while it shines, one is able to work even in the form of reception for oneself.

Hence, one will never be able to know if his work is in purity or not, and this causes him never to be able to be awarded Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator. For this reason, he is given from above a form of blackness, and then he sees if his work is in purity.

This means that if one can be in gladness in a state of blackness, too, it is a sign that his work is in purity, since one must be glad and believe that from above he was given an opportunity to be able to work in order to bestow.

This is as our sages said, “All who are greedy are angry.” It means that one who is immersed in self-reception is angry, since he is always lacking. He forever needs to satisfy his vessels of reception.

However, those who want to walk in the path of bestowal should always be in gladness. This means that in any shape that comes upon him he should be in gladness since he has no intention to receive for himself. This is why he says that either way, if he is really working in order to bestow, he should certainly be glad that he has been granted bringing contentment to his Maker. And if he feels that his work is still not to bestow, he should also be glad because for himself, he says that he does not want anything for himself. He is happy that the will to receive cannot enjoy this work, and that should give him joy. However, if he thinks that he will also have something for himself from this work, he permits the Sitra Achra [other side] to cling to his work, and this causes him sadness, anger, and so forth.

A word that sounds like the Hebrew Lavan (white).↩
A word that sounds like the Hebrew Shmi’a (hearing).↩

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