What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given Out of the Darkness in the Work?

Article 21, 1988

It is written in the Midrash (VaYikra, Chapter 6): “Our sages say, ‘The nations of the world did not receive the Torah, since it was given out of the darkness. He says about them, ‘for the darkness will cover the Earth’ (Isaiah 60:2). But Israel received the Torah, since it was given out of the darkness, as it is written (Deuteronomy 5), ‘As you hear the voice out of the darkness.’ He says about them (Isaiah 60): ‘The Lord will shine upon you and His glory will be seen upon you.’’”

We should understand why the Torah was given out of the darkness, and why the nations of the world did not want to receive it out of the darkness. It is as though the Creator deliberately gave the Torah out of the darkness so the nations of the world would not receive it. And we should also understand why Israel did receive the Torah out of the darkness.

First, we need to know what is darkness in the work. The thing is that because the purpose of creation was “to do good to His creations,” when a person is satisfied with his life, it is considered that the world shines for that person, meaning he enjoys the world. But if he does not find satisfaction in life, he says, “The world has grown dark on me.”

It is known that in the work, we call the vessels of bestowal “Israel,” and we call the vessels of reception, “the nations of the world.” Hence, when a person wants to draw near to the Creator, meaning use the vessels of bestowal, but he cannot because the body disagrees with it, since his body extends from vessels of reception, at that time a person feels that the world has grown dark on him, for he understands that if he cannot obtain vessels of bestowal, he will never be rewarded with the upper light, which is the light of “doing good to His creations.”

It follows that the darkness he feels from not being able to obtain vessels of bestowal by himself gives him the need that someone will help him obtain those Kelim [vessels]. According to the rule, “There is no light without a Kli [vessel], no filling without a lack,” it follows that now he has received a need for the light of Torah. It is as our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.”

Thus, the Torah is given specifically to the deficient, and that deficiency is called “darkness.” This is the meaning of the words, “The Torah was given out of the darkness.” That is, one who feels darkness in his life because he has no vessels of bestowal is fit to receive the Torah, so that through the Torah, the light in it will reform him and he will obtain the vessels of bestowal. Through them, he will be fit to receive the delight and pleasure, for those two are included in the Torah: 1) The Kli—that he wants to bestow. 2) Then he receives the delight and pleasure into the vessels of bestowal.

Conversely, the nations of the world did not receive the Torah, since it was given out of the darkness. In the work, “the nations of the world” means that the body comprises seventy nations that want the Torah not because they feel darkness when they have no vessels of bestowal. Rather, their only desire is the vessels of reception and they have no desire to emerge from that control. They want the Torah in order to add more light to themselves, meaning more pleasure than they receive from corporeal matters. That is, they also want the next world, as it is written in The Zohar, “They howl as dogs Hav, Hav [give, give], give us the wealth of this world, and give us the wealth of the next world.” That is, the wealth of this world is not enough for them, but they also want the wealth of the next world.

It follows that the Torah was given specifically to those who feel that their will to receive controls them. They cry out from the darkness that they need the Torah in order to deliver them from the darkness that is the control of the vessels of reception, on which there was a Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment so that no light will shine in that place. But that place is the cause for the need to receive the Torah.

For this reason, since the Torah came because of the darkness, the Torah did two things: 1) “The light in it reforms him.” Then, the Tzimtzum and concealment depart from his vessels of reception because where he had vessels of reception, he has now been rewarded with vessels of bestowal. This is the meaning of the words, “And the Lord will shine upon you.” That is, as the Creator wants to bestow, so man will be rewarded with a desire to bestow. 2) After he has been rewarded with vessels of bestowal, meaning he was granted the ability to work Lishma [for Her sake], which is called “learning Torah Lishma,” then he is shown the secrets of the Torah, as Rabbi Meir says (in the Mishnah, Avot). This is the meaning of the words, “And His glory will be seen upon you,” meaning the glory of the Creator, which is the revelation of Godliness. It “will be seen upon you,” for then one is rewarded with “The Torah, and Israel, and the Creator are one.”

However, the nations of the world, which do not need the Torah in order to emerge from the darkness, which are vessels of reception, but rather need the Torah in order to add the wealth of the next world to the wealth of this world, as was said, “Give, give,” these people, who are in a state of “nations of the world,” say that they do not need the Torah in order to deliver them from the darkness, since for them, they regard the vessels of reception for themselves as “light.” Rather, they want the light of Torah to come into the receiver.

The verse says about them, “for the darkness will cover the Earth.” That is, they will not be rewarded with the light of Torah because “the light of Torah was given out of the darkness.” In other words, one who feels that he is in the dark is regarded as “Israel,” who need the Torah in order to illuminate their darkness. They are rewarded with “The Lord will shine upon you,” and “His glory will be seen upon you.”

Now we can understand what our sages said (Avot, Chapter 1:17), “It is not the learning that matters, but the work.” Also, in Kidushin (p 40), they said, “They were asked this question: ‘Much learning or much work?’ Rabbi Tarfon replied, ‘Much work.’ Rabbi Akiva replied, ‘Much learning.’ They all replied and said, ‘Much learning, since the learning leads to work.’” We should understand their words in the work, since the literal provides many interpretations to this.

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. It is as our sages said (Eicha Rabbah 2:17), “Should one tell you, ‘There is knowledge in the nations,’ believe. ‘There is Torah in the nations,’ do not believe.” This means that a person can learn Torah, but if he is a gentile, who does not observe the Mitzvot, which makes him a gentile, then the Torah he is learning is called “knowledge” and not “Torah.”

For this reason, one who wants to work in order to bestow must begin to work in action, and then begin with the intention, meaning to place on it the aim to bestow. However, how can we achieve the aim to bestow, since it is known that a person can work under coercion, though “his heart is not with him.” That is, a person might be compelled to work against his will. He can overcome his desire and do something against his will. Yet, changing the heart, meaning the desire and yearning, this a person cannot do.

Thus, since man was created with a nature of receiving only for himself, how can he aim to bestow? as this is against his nature! How can one work against his nature and desire, which is only to receive? Can he force himself to aim his heart with the intention to bestow?

Moreover, we must know that the Torah was given in order to cleanse Israel. That is, all the actions He has given us to do are only in order to obtain this aim to bestow. Thus, how can we do the above, since there cannot be coercion of the heart and the desire?

Baal HaSulam interpreted “which God has created to do.” “Which God created” means that it is about this that man must “do,” on what He has created. We should interpret “Which God has created” to mean that creation is called “existence from absence,” referring to the will to receive. “To do” pertains to the creatures, who must place on it the aim to bestow. This means that all that the creatures must do is only to be able to aim to bestow. This is called “Which God has created to do.” This doing belongs to the creatures.

Accordingly, we should interpret that the above words, “Much learning or work,” do not concern work that the lower ones must do, for clearly, without work there is nothing, since first we must observe the 613 Mitzvot in action. Rather, we should interpret about the Torah itself that the Torah is called Talmud [learning]. Thus, the question, “Much learning or much work?” means that the Torah speaks from two angles: 1) From the perspective of the rules, meaning in which way we should observe the Mitzvot. There is the issue of the measure of the Mitzvot. Take Tzitzit [undergarment with four fringed corners], for example. We must learn the rules of the Halacha [Jewish law] concerning the required size of the Talit [prayer shawl] and the Tzitzit, and likewise regarding the rest of the Mitzvot. This is called the “revealed” part of the Torah, since these Mitzvot are visible and you cannot say that a person makes mistakes there, since that which is visible, if a person pays attention, he can observe these Mitzvot properly. This is why it is called “revealed.” 2) The part of the Torah that does not speak of rules and laws that we keep in actions, but which speak of tales and legends of our sages and have no connection to the 613 Mitzvot. The question is, What part of the Torah is greater, meaning more important to a person, and to which he should pay more attention?

“Learning” refers to the part of the Torah that is only learning, without work, since we are not speaking of the practical part, how to observe. This is called “learning,” meaning Torah without work.

Rabbi Tarfon says that work is greater. That is, the part of the Torah that speaks of performing the Mitzvot, which is the main thing to know—the rules that apply to the Mitzvot. Rabbi Akiva said that learning is great, and everyone answered and said as did Rabbi Akiva, “Much learning.” What is the reason? For learning leads to work.

We should interpret what they said, that “Learning leads to work.” It means that while it is true that the beginning of the work is in the revealed part of the Torah, which speaks of the observance of the Mitzvot, this is only the beginning, since the Torah and Mitzvot were given primarily in order to cleanse people. This means, as it is written (in the essay, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”), that “cleansing” means emerging from the control of the will to receive for oneself and working only in order to bestow. This is called “which God has created to do.” This work, which is done on creation, called “receiving for oneself”—to place the aim to bestow on it, this work is the main thing that the lower ones should do in order to be able to receive the delight and pleasure that the Creator wants to give them.

In order to achieve a state of “work,” which means that a person should work only for the sake of the Creator and not for his own sake, a person can still overcome the revealed part in the 613 Mitzvot by forcing himself to observe the 613 Mitzvot. However, on the concealed part, which is the aim, is something that is given to the heart, and here a person cannot force himself. That is, if the heart does not want to work and love others, man is helpless.

In that state, when a person wants to work for the sake of the Creator and the body disagrees, a person realizes that he cannot work for the sake of the Creator by himself. It follows that now the person has learned something new, which he did not know before he began the work of bestowal: He is a complete wicked, since he does not want to work for the sake of the Creator. Before he began the work of bestowal, he also knew that he was still not working for the sake of the Creator, but at that time he thought that he is not doing everything for the sake of the Creator only because of negligence and idleness, but he would succeed in doing everything for the sake of the Creator the moment he would choose.

For this reason, he was not concerned that he is not doing so now. He could say it was for lack of time, but he is certain that it is within his power to do everything for the sake of the Creator. There is a rule that everything that a person can do does not concern him because he can always do this. He attributes not having it only to the view of others.

But now that he has begun the work of bestowal and has made great efforts, yet sees that he is not progressing, and worse yet, after all the labor he has fallen into despair, now he sees that the evil in him is so great that he decides that the work of bestowal was not meant for him. This recognition is called “wicked.” That is, now he knows beyond any doubt that his body is unyielding and cannot be changed into working for the sake of the Creator. He can convince it to do only revealed things, in action, and to do good deeds. Yet, his heart is not with him. Therefore, only now can he determine that he has an evil inclination that is truly evil against the Creator, that he does not want to work for the Creator, but only for himself.

When a person comes to that state, when he sees that he has evil inclination, he must believe what our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,” since “the light in it reforms him.” That is, his being enslaved to the evil inclination, when he was compelled to work for his own sake and not for the sake of the Creator, now, through the light of the Torah, he is reformed and can work for the sake of the Creator. This is called “good deeds,” meaning only to bestow upon the Creator and not for his own sake.

Accordingly, we see that it is impossible to bestow without the light of the Torah. It follows that the part of the Torah that a person learns, which does not speak of rules and laws, this is called “work,” as it is written, “much work,” meaning the part of the Torah that discusses the doing of the Mitzvot.

And this is the meaning of “much learning,” meaning the part of the Torah that speaks of tales and legends and interpretations of our sages, etc., the part of the Torah that does not pertain to the doing of the Mitzvot. This is called “learning.” They all said immediately, “Much learning,” “since learning leads to work.” Here the meaning of “work” refers to the intention on the work, which is regarded as the revealed. He will be able to aim the heart to work for the sake of the Creator, and this is called “work,” as it is written, “which God has created to do.” Doing refers to the heart, so that man will have the strength to work, so the heart will want to work for the sake of the Creator.