In the work, meaning when we want to come to work in order to bestow and not receive for ourselves, of course we must observe the 613 Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] in actual fact.One who learns Torah but does not want to observe the 613 Mitzvot de facto, is learning knowledge, the way one learns external teachings (Rabash, “What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given Out of the Darkness in the Work?“).
Question: Does this apply to us in the sense that a person who still does not observe the Torah and the commandments in practice is, in essence, merely “acquiring wisdom” rather than studying the Torah?
Answer: I can tell you, as I understand it, what Rabash most likely means, not as others explain it, but according to his own interpretation.
A person who studies the Torah is one who is learning to become like the giver of the Torah. But if he does not draw the guidance for becoming similar to the giver of the Torah from the Torah, then for him the Torah is merely a science. He is not studying it in practice. It is written: “Good is the study that leads to action,” but such a person does not come to action, to correction.
If the Torah does not lead to action, it becomes merely a science, mere intellectual knowledge. About this it is said: “Believe that there is wisdom among the nations of the world.” What a person studies from the Torah while wishing to remain a non-Jew is called a science. But if a person wants to become a Jew, even though at present he is still a non-Jew, that is, he remains in the desire to receive, then he is truly studying the Torah, not merely a science. One who studies the Torah seeks through its illumination to attain the lights.
An action is called the correction of the screen over the desire to receive. Action is the fulfillment of a commandment. You take an evil desire and transform it into a good one. Therefore Rabash says that the commandments of the Torah consist first of 613 counsels (Eitin) for correcting the soul, and then 613 commandments (Pekudin), through which these corrected parts are filled with the lights.
In the end, after you have corrected and fulfilled all these commandments, all these parts, and filled them with the light called the Torah, you are rewarded with the general Torah. And when you come to the correction of the entire vessel, and the truly all-encompassing light is revealed to you, this is called Kadosh Baruch Hu (the Creator).
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/26, Rabash, “What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given Out of the Darkness in the Work? ”
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