June 7, 1962, Eve of Shavuot, Antwerp
To my friend…
Concerning your question, “One transgresses only if a spirit of folly has entered him,” which means that without the spirit of folly he would not transgress, so why did the spirit of folly enter him? After all, he has not committed any transgression yet. And also, who is causing the entrance of this spirit of folly? And if it already entered, why is this his fault? After all, he has no choice in the matter because the spirit of folly caused it.
Our sages said, “The eye sees and the heart covets.” That is, the eye causes the sin. Seeing means both seeing something forbidden with the eyes, or seeing with the mind, meaning a foreign thought.
Our sages also said, “Delight that comes to a person involuntarily … not permitted and unintended, the whole world agrees it is permitted” (Pesachim 25b).
It is known that one cannot control the eye and the mind. Therefore, seeing does not constitute a sin. Rather, afterward, when the heart covets, then the sin takes place. And since he saw the sin, he must promptly repent for seeing, so it does not make him covet. At that point he still has the choice because he still did not sin.
If he did not awaken right away to repent for the coercion, which is called “seeing,” then the coercion is the cause of the coveting, which is called a “mistake.” But if he did not repent for the mistake, meaning for coveting, he comes into sinning.
The spirit of folly enters a person promptly after seeing if he did not repent for seeing. At that time the spirit of folly enters him for the purpose of correction. This is so because when he does not know how to keep himself—to repent for the thought—he blemishes the glory of heaven. This is called “knowing his master and intending to rebel against him,” since the thought must lead to coveting.
At that time it is a great correction that he does not feel the greatness of the Creator and the spirit of wisdom that was in him departs from him, for then he does not place such a blemish on the greatness of the Creator, since then he does not feel the greatness of the Creator because a spirit of folly has entered him.
This is the meaning of, “One transgresses only if a spirit of folly has entered him.” It teaches us that one should know that all the calculations that he does during the sin, although he thinks his calculations are full of wisdom, our sages told us that one should know that everything, meaning all the calculations, is done by the spirit of folly.
This is so because now this is the operator, and not the spirit of wisdom, for it has already departed from him, even though he is a wise disciple and does good deeds. It was said about this: “The righteousness of the righteous will not be remembered on the day of his wickedness.”
Therefore, at that time he mustn’t be smart, but take upon himself the kingdom of heaven above reason. That is, he should annul his view and thought completely, and then, when he repents, he will be able to make some calculations with regard to the Mitzvot [commandments] and the transgressions.
It was said about that (Avot 4), “Be careful with a minor Mitzva [commandment] as with a serious one, for you do not know the reward of the Mitzvot [pl. of commandment].” This means that one should be mindful and perform the Mitzva when it is minor in his eyes, from the words “shame” and “contempt” [in Hebrew the word Kalah [minor/light] sounds similar to the word Kalon [disgrace]], although the Mitzva is in a state of sin, like a minor, unimportant thing, so why should I do them now? In any case, my actions have no importance above.
It is one thing when the Mitzva is for him in a state of “serious,” meaning that while having fear of heaven, he felt the graveness of the transgression and the seriousness of the Mitzva. That is, he felt the benefit and honor, and understood that it was worthwhile to engage in Torah and Mitzvot. But now that the Mitzvot are minor in his eyes, it is not worthwhile to be so cautious.
It was said about this that a person does not know which state gives contentment above. That is, if we say, “The reward is according to the effort,” it means that when he regards Torah and Mitzvot as degradable and contemptible, he has greater labor to observe them. For this reason, it is possible that there is more contentment above from this state. Therefore, one must be cautious and keep them.
May the Creator help us keep Torah and Mitzvot abundantly.
Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag