Article No. 34, 1991
It is written in The Zohar (BeHaalotcha, Items 140-144), “Rabbi Aba said, ‘The evil in the heart, which clings to all organs of the body, does that to them. ‘There is evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy upon men.’ This evil is the force of the evil in the heart that wishes to dominate the worldly matters and does not watch over the matters of that world at all.’ He asks, ‘Why is the heart evil?’ And he replies, ‘The following verse proves it, as it is written (Ecclesiastes 6), ‘A man to whom God has given wealth and possessions and honor, whose soul lacks nothing of all that he desires, and God has not empowered him to eat from it, for a foreign man shall eat it.’’
“This is a perplexing verse, since it is written, ‘whose soul lacks nothing of all that he desires,’ why will God not empower him to eat from it? After all, his soul lacks nothing. He replies that a person walks in this world and the Creator gives him wealth so he will be rewarded with the next world by it, and will remain with a principal of his money. What is a principal? It is that money that exists forever. This is why he must keep this principal after him, and he will receive this principal after he departs from this world. Because this principal is the tree of life of that world, which is ZA, there is nothing of it in this world but the fruits that come out of it. This is why a man who has been rewarded with these fruits in this world eats them, while the principal remains for him in that world, to be rewarded by it with the upper life, above.
“And one who defiles himself and is drawn after self-benefit, and lacks nothing for his soul or his body, God does not empower him to eat from it and to be rewarded with that wealth.”
We should understand what it means in the work that he eats their fruits in this world and keeps the principal for the next world. Also, What is “to whom God has given wealth and possessions and honor,” in the work? of which he said, “God has not empowered him to eat from it, for a foreign man shall eat it.”
It is known that in the work, we have the matter of “doing,” as it is written, “Which God has created to do.” This means that the Creator created man with a desire to receive delight and pleasure. To the extent of one’s desire and yearning for something, so is his ability to enjoy it. Hence, we were born with a desire to receive for our own sake, and we attribute this to the Creator.
Yet, He has given us to make other Kelim [vessels], which are opposite from the Kelim that the Creator has made. In other words, the Kelim that the creatures should make are a desire to bestow upon the Creator. This means that the Kelim that the Creator made are for the creatures to receive delight, and the Kelim that the creatures should make are for the Creator to receive delight. However, if man was born with a nature of a desire to receive, how can that nature be changed?
The answer is that there is a Segula [remedy/power/virtue], and with this Segula they can receive a second nature from the Creator. Our sages said about this, “The Creator said, ‘I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,’” since “the light in the Torah reforms him.” That is, through the light in the Torah, they will ultimately receive the second nature, which is the desire to bestow contentment upon the Maker. At that time, they will be rewarded with Dvekut [adhesion], called “equivalence of form.”
However, before we obtain the desire to bestow, one must go through several degrees:
1) First, one must understand that we must obtain this desire, since when we come to do something, we go and see how people behave, if the people around us also think that we should do everything for the sake of the Creator. Naturally, a person goes to see among those who engage in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds], and sees that no one around him is concerned with finding ways by which to obtain the desire to bestow.
The reason he does not see it in others is simple: They are not on the path toward obtaining the intention to bestow. At that time, he sees the truth. However, those who do engage in Torah and Mitzvot in order to bestow are probably working in concealment, since if their work were revealed outside, externality would become involved in their work, since by nature, when one sees that others are looking at what he does, he thinks that the other appreciates his work. This gives him strength for the work not because the Creator mandates his work, but the other person, by looking at him, obligates him to work in Torah and Mitzvot. Hence, those who want to work for the sake of the Creator conceal their work from others. This is why it is impossible to see if someone is working in order to bestow.
Therefore, one has a lot of work before he comes to feel that he is deficient of the desire to bestow. Although sometimes, he begins to understand that he does need the desire to bestow, but he sees that many people are engaging in Torah and Mitzvot, and they are respectable people, and he does not see that they have any deficiency, that they suffer because they haven’t the desire to bestow. Thus, the first work is to try to obtain the need to be rewarded with the desire to bestow.
2) Once he has obtained the need for the desire to bestow, he does not receive the filling as soon as he begins to obtain the deficiency. This is so because the feeling of deficiency depends also on the measure of the suffering he feels from not having the desire to bestow. But when a person begins to feel how much he needs it, and above there is a desire that he will have a real deficiency, then he receives help from above to feel the lack. That is, he is shown how far he is from it, meaning he sees how difficult it is to obtain the desire to bestow, which causes him a great deficiency.
Yet, why do we need a great deficiency? The reason that when something is unimportant, we do not know how to keep from losing it. Hence, before one has a real lack, he is not given the matter from above, for the lack and the yearning make the thing important.
But in the work, when one sees that it is hard to get what he wants, he escapes from the work. He says, “I believe that there are people who have been rewarded and to whom the Creator gave the desire to bestow. But this was because they were more gifted than I am. But a person like me, with worse qualities than others, has no chance of meriting this.” Hence, he escapes the campaign and begins to work like the general public.
Only those who say that they want to escape from the work but have nowhere else to go, since nothing satisfies them, those people do not walk out from the work. Although they have ups and downs, they do not give up. This is as it is written, “And the children of Israel sighed from the work, and they cried, and their cry went up to God from the work.” In other words, they cried out from the work because they were not advancing in the work of the Creator, so they could work in order to bestow contentment upon the Maker. At that time, they were rewarded with the exodus from Egypt. In the work, this is called “emerging from the control of the will to receive and entry into the work of bestowal.”
It therefore follows that the beginning of man’s work is to take upon himself the kingdom of heaven, meaning that where he used to care only to satisfy the desire of an old and foolish king, meaning that all his work was only for his own sake, he has taken upon himself a different King, called “kingdom of heaven,” when he crowns the Creator over all his organs, meaning that all his organs will serve the Creator. This is called in the work, “exodus from Egypt,” exodus from the governance of self-benefit, and taking upon oneself to serve the Creator, as it is written, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be a God unto you.” We should interpret that He brought them out from the governance of the will to receive for oneself and gave them the desire to bestow. This is called “to be a God unto you,” meaning that I gave you the desire to bestow so you can work for My sake. This is called “I gave you the power to feel that I am the Creator.”
However, how does one acquire this feeling that the will to receive is something bad? Who notifies him that he should correct his actions? He writes in the Sulam [Ladder commentary on The Zohar] (Beresheet Bet, Item 103), “Hence, the Creator has imprinted bitter and harsh afflictions in self-reception, instilled in man from the moment of his birth—bodily pains and pains of the soul—so that if he engages in Torah and Mitzvot even for his own pleasure, through the light in it he will still feel the lowliness and the terrible corruptness in the nature of receiving for oneself. At that time, he will resolve to retire from that nature of reception and completely devote himself to working only in order to bestow contentment upon his Maker, as it is written, ‘All the works of the Lord are for His sake.’ Then the Creator will open his eyes to see before him a world filled with utter perfection. Then, he partakes in His joy as at the time of the creation of the world (for our sages said, “There has never been such joy before Him as on the day when heaven and earth were created”).”
It follows that this light of Torah gives one the lack, so he will have the need to ask the Creator to give him the power to take upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven, and all his actions will be in order to bestow. Afterward, when he has been rewarded with the kingdom of heaven, there is another degree, called “Torah,” which is the names of the Creator. This is regarded as “The Torah and the Creator and Israel are one.”
According to the above, we should interpret the words of The Zohar, “Because this principal is the tree of life of that world, which is ZA, and there is nothing of it in this world but the fruits that come out of it, so a man who has been rewarded with its fruits eats them in this world, while the principal remains for him in the next world.”
We should interpret what is written, “And the principal remains for the next world,” which is ZA, since ZA is called “Torah,” and this is called “that world,” meaning “the next world,” which comes after this world, since this world is called Malchut, and the next world comes afterward. The Zohar calls that world ZA, which is the tree of life, the Torah.
It is known that the order of the work is that first, one must be rewarded with the kingdom of heaven, that it will be in order to bestow. But how can one be rewarded with bestowal? This is the meaning of “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” It follows that it is through the Torah, meaning through the light that reforms in it. Thus, the Torah is to him as Eitin (counsels) by which to achieve the kingdom of heaven, for Malchut [kingdom/kingship] is called “this world,” and the light that reforms is called “fruits.” In other words, a person sees fruits in his work, meaning he exerted in the Torah and yielded fruit from it, and the fruits are the reward from the work. Hence, we should interpret that he eats “fruits from the Torah,” meaning that he has been rewarded through the Torah with the desire to bestow, which “reforms him.” This is called “613 counsels.”
Afterward, comes the matter of the 613 Pekudin [Aramaic: deposits], which is already the actual Torah, as in “The Torah and the Creator and Israel are one.” This is called “actual Torah.” This is as it says, “ZA is the tree of life, which is Torah,” and this is his principal for the next world, which is regarded as the Torah. This is called “the principal that is the actual Torah.” Conversely, the kingdom of heaven, which is considered this world, there the Torah is only as fruits, meaning that it is only the light of Torah that reforms him, while ZA is called “the principal that is the actual Torah.” This is regarded as “their fruits in this world,” which is called Malchut, meaning permanent faith. Afterward comes another degree, called “the next world,” meaning it comes after Malchut. This is regarded as ZA, the land of the living, the actual Torah.
According to the above, we should interpret what he asks, “Why is the heart evil?” He replies that it is as it is written, “A man to whom God has given wealth and possessions and honor, whose soul lacks nothing of all that he desires, and God has not empowered him to eat from it, for a foreign man shall eat it.” He asks, “Since it is written, ‘He lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires,’” why has God not “empowered him to eat from them”? After all, “He lacks nothing for his soul.” He replies about this that a person eating their fruits in this world refers to the kingdom of heaven. When the light in it reforms him, this light is called “fruits.” Afterward, he comes to a state of “the principal exists for him for the next world,” meaning that he is rewarded with the “actual Torah,” and this is called “wholeness.”
By this The Zohar explains that “One who defiles himself and is drawn after self-benefit, and lacks nothing for his soul or his body,” then “God does not empower him to eat from it” and be rewarded with that wealth. We should interpret that “wealth” pertains to “There is none who is poor except in knowledge,” meaning that he has been rewarded with learning Torah and knowing all the rules, and he has possessions, meaning he knows that thank God he has great possessions of Torah and Mitzvot and good deeds, and he has honor, and everyone respects him because of the glory of the Torah. And yet, “God does not empower him to eat from it.”
The reason is that although he has wealth and honor and good deeds, because he is drawn toward self-benefit, meaning for his own sake, as it is written, “He lacks nothing for his soul,” meaning that all his concerns are that there will be no deficiency in self-benefit, naturally, he has nothing to eat from Kedusha [holiness], but it all goes to the Sitra Achra [other side].
This is the meaning of what is written, “a foreign man shall eat it.” That is, the Klipot [shells/peels] took everything because all his work was for the will to receive, which is the authority of the Klipot. It follows that all the wealth, when he thought he had knowledge of the Torah, and possessions, which are the possessions of Torah and Mitzvot, are all in the domain of the Klipot.
By this we will understand what he asks, “Why is the heart evil?” We should interpret what is the evil that exists in the will to receive. He replies about this, “The following verse proves it, as it is written, ‘A man to whom God has given wealth and possessions.’” That is, although the Creator let him do many things in Kedusha, since it was all for self-benefit, it all went into another authority. This is the meaning of the words, “for a foreign man shall eat it,” meaning the Klipot, since he worked for them and not for the Kedusha. However, we must know that when one corrects one’s actions, he elicits everything from the Klipot and everything returns to the Kedusha, as it is written, “He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them out.”
According to the above, there is the matter of “fruits in this world,” with respect to “the light in it reforms him,” from which he receives the kingdom of heaven, where the work is in order to emerge from the governance of the will to receive and do everything in order to bestow. Afterward, there is the matter of “keeping the principal for the next world,” which is the meaning of Torah, as in “the names of the Creator.”
We can interpret what The Zohar says (BeHaalotcha, Items 26-27), “It is written, ‘And to Zebulun he said: Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out, and, Issachar, in your tents.’ This teaches that they were joined together. One went out and waged war, and the other sat and engaged in Torah. One gives to the other a share of his spoils, and the other gives to the one, a share of his Torah. Issachar is Tifferet, and Zebulun is Malchut. This is why Zebulun inherited going to war, since he is regarded as Malchut, meaning abundance through wars. And the share of Issachar is the Torah. This is why they joined together, so that Zebulun would be blessed through Issachar, for the blessing in the Torah is a blessing for all.”
We should interpret that the partnership between Issachar and Zebulun in the work are in one body. That is, the work should be arranged in two manners: 1) It is in the manner of the kingdom of heaven, at which time there is the war of the inclination, to emerge from the control of self-love, and take upon oneself that all his actions will be in order to bestow. At that time, through the wars, he takes spoils. That is, he takes forces of the will to receive and replaces them with the desire to bestow. This is considered that through the war, he subdues it, and the will to receive must do everything according to his will, meaning that all his actions will be only in order to bestow. But from where does the quality of Zebulun take the powers to win the war? He takes it from Issachar, meaning from the Torah of Issachar.
This is as it is written, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” This is why it says, “and the other gives to the one, a share of his Torah. Issachar is Tifferet.” From the Torah of Issachar, Zebulun has the power to win the wars. This is considered that he “eats their fruits in this world,” meaning he sees the fruits that the Torah brings him. That is, he sees that through the light in the Torah, he has been rewarded with the desire to bestow, as fruits are called “profits from the work.”
This is regarded as 613 Eitin [Aramaic: counsels], and it is considered that Issachar “gives to this one, a share of his Torah,” from which he eats fruits. This is the meaning of saying, “and one gives a share of his spoils.” Through the spoils that Zebulun gives him, he sits and engages in Torah, meaning that had Zebulun not given him of his spoils, he would not have been able to be rewarded with the Torah.
We should interpret that here we are speaking from the perspective of the Torah, which is the names of the Creator, from the 613 Pekudin [deposits], which is the actual Torah. As was said, it is impossible to be rewarded with actual Torah before one is rewarded with faith, the kingdom of heaven, in order to bestow, at which time the will to receive surrenders and the desire to bestow governs.
Hence, when Malchut has the desire to bestow, a desire that Malchut has won by wars, this is considered that she took spoils from the war. When she gives him the desire to bestow, he can “sit in the tent of Torah,” and she calls this discernment Tifferet, ZA. But if there is still no desire to bestow in the degree, there is no place for the actual Torah. This is called “the partnership between Issachar and Zebulun” in the work, meaning when Malchut goes out to war, and ZA, called “Torah,” gives to Malchut of his Torah.
In other words, we should discern two manners in the Torah: 1) “The light in it reforms him.” From this, a discernment of “fruits” extends to Malchut. 2) The “actual Torah,” which is called “keeping the principal for the next world.” This comes specifically after the quality of Malchut has the desire to bestow, with which she has been rewarded through the “light of Torah,” regarded as “fruits.”
This is as our sages said, that the hand Tefillin [phylacteries] comes before the head Tefillin, since a hand Tefillin, says The Zohar, is considered Malchut, the weaker hand, since it needs strengthening, since in the kingdom of heaven there are all the wars required in order to subdue the will to receive. Afterward comes the head Tefillin, regarded as the Torah.