390. Coercion and Inversion

Shevat-Adar Aleph, February 1981

“Raise a contribution for Me; from every man whose heart is willing, you shall raise My contribution.” RASHI interprets “for Me,” “for My name.” “Whose heart is willing,” RASHI interprets, “meaning donation, good will.”

We should understand the following:

1) “Taking” means by force. “His heart is willing” is good will. This contradicts “will take.”

2) Why does it write, “My contribution”? This implies that it is the contribution of the Creator. It should have said, “Take the contribution of he whose heart is willing”; why does it say, “My contribution”?

3) What does it mean when it says, “for My name”?

4) We need to understand the common question about the verse, “Wherever I mention My name.” It should have said, “You mention.”

The thing is that there are two degrees: “coercion” and “inversion.” Such as this we find in what our sages said in Avot de Rabbi Natan, “Who is a hero? He who makes his foe his friend.”

“Hero” means one who conquers his inclination, who is regarded as “forced against his will.” This is the meaning of “take,” implying by force. Afterward, he promises that you will come to an inversion, where his foe becomes his friend.

This is the meaning of “from every man whose heart is willing,” meaning that afterward he will have a good will. This is as Baal HaSulam said about the words of The Zohar, “When one is born, he is given a soul from the side of the pure beast.” This means that his beastly soul will agree to follow the ways of the Creator.

He said, “When a man is born and enters Kedusha [holiness],” it is a sign that he has been rewarded with a soul of a pure beast, that his beastly soul agrees to walk in the ways of the Creator. This is called “inversion.” It follows that first, one must take against his will although his body disagrees to walk on the path of truth which is called “for Me,” “for My name.”

When we are told to walk on a path where everything is for the sake of the Creator, the body resists. But later it will be rewarded with “his heart is willing,” meaning that the body will agree. This is the meaning of “whose heart is willing, you shall take My contribution,” meaning that the “for the sake of the Creator” that was there before, as in “You shall take My contribution,” called “for the sake of the Creator,” afterward we are rewarded with it being in the manner of “whose heart is willing,” voluntarily.

Concerning his interpretation of “for Me” as “for My name,” indeed, a person has nothing to give to the Creator, as it is written, “If you are righteous, what will you give Him?” All that one can give to the Creator is the intention, called “for My name.” There is nothing more that he can give Him because the Creator has no deficiencies so He can be given something. Thus, all that we give Him is the intention.

Even the intention for the sake of the Creator is not for the Creator’s benefit but for man’s benefit, for by this, man will receive all the pleasures without the bread of shame, since through equivalence of form, he emerges from receiving to a state of giving. At that time, a person can receive all the pleasures.

This is called “for My name.” If the Creator can say that this place is “My name,” since the person said that he does not want anything for his own benefit, but everything is for the Creator, then the Creator can mention His name there, since the man has cancelled his own authority and made the place for the Creator.

At that time, “I will come to you and bless you.” At that time, the blessing of the Creator can come there—all that the Creator wants to bestow upon His creations.

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Excerpts from the Daily Kabbalah Lesson

Excerpts from the Daily Kabbalah Lesson

Excerpts from the Daily Kabbalah Lesson

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