Article No. 24, 1990
It is written in The Zohar (VaYikra, Item 70), “‘If his offering is a burnt offering.’ Rabbi Hiya started, ‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts.’ The thought of the Creator is superior and the beginning of everything. From that thought, ways and paths extend to devise the holy name. And from that thought emanate the written Torah and the oral Torah, which is Malchut. Man’s thought is the beginning of everything. Ways and paths extend from that thought to divert one’s ways in this world and in the next world, and from that thought emerges the filth of the evil inclination to harm oneself and all others. Also, transgressions, sins, and evil doing come from that thought, as well as idolatry, incest, and bloodshed. It is written about that, ‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts.’”
In Item 73, it says, “Everything that comes to be a burnt offering is male and not female, since the burnt offering rises [“rises” is spelled the same as “offering” in Hebrew] over the heart, meaning on the thought, which is above the heart, since the thought, which is Hochma [wisdom], is regarded as male and the heart as female, meaning Bina [understanding], as in ‘the heart understands.’”
We should understand what is “the thought of the Creator” in the work, and what is “the thought of man” in the work, of which the writing says, according to what is written in The Zohar, “for My thoughts are not your thoughts.” We should also understand what it implies to us when he says, “a burnt offering is male,” since it atones for the thought, which is male. What does this imply to us in the work, so we will know how to behave?
It is known that although the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations, for the creatures to receive delight and pleasure, in order to bring to light the perfection of His deeds, a correction was done, called “Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment,” on the delight and pleasure. Since all creations were created with a desire to receive delight and pleasure, it follows that man cannot do anything unless he knows he can receive delight and pleasure from that thing. Otherwise, he cannot make a single move, since it will contradict the root of the creatures.
Sometimes, when a person does act, although he derives no pleasure from these actions, it is because he knows that by this he will receive delight and pleasure later, which he will be given in return for his work, meaning for the actions he took and in which he took no pleasure. Only because of the pleasure he will receive after the work, it gives him strength to do the work from which he does not enjoy at the moment, but will in the future.
Yet, if the reward is not certain, he has no power to work when he does not enjoy it. For example, a mother feeds her children. Although it is work to buy the groceries and prepare them for eating, and she also feeds them, we should discern two actions here: 1) actions she would give up, 2) actions she does not intend to give up.
Buying groceries and preparing them for eating, she would give up. We see that among the rich, there are people who buy the groceries and there is a cook. This shows that the mother can do without them. But the mother looking at the children eating, although while looking at the children eat, the mother does not eat, in that state she gives up on herself but she enjoys seeing the children eat. It will never occur to the mother to think, “What do I get out of watching the little children eat?”
She does not want “the next world” for this, or “this world,” since she derives pleasure from this act, so she needs no reward. Hence, if the taste in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] were revealed, as our sages said, that the 613 Mitzvot are called “613 Pekudin [Aramaic: deposits],” as is explained in the Sulam [Ladder commentary on The Zohar], in each Mitzva [singular of Mitzvot] there is a special light that shines in it, if this were revealed and they would not have to believe it, the whole world would engage only in Torah and Mitzvot.
However, since a concealment was placed on the delight and pleasure, and it is not revealed before a person is rewarded with vessels of bestowal, there are disturbances from the body, which cry out, “Why do you want to go against the nature with which the Creator created man, to receive delight and pleasure? You want to give this up?” Although a person promises the body that it will be rewarded, in that it observes the commandments of the Torah, meaning it will be rewarded, the body seemingly asks, “In what Kelim [vessels] will I receive reward, in vessels of reception or in vessels of bestowal?”
At that time, if the person says to it, “You will receive the reward in vessels of reception,” the body asks, “Why did the Creator give us so many commandments? After all, He is a merciful Father and is good and does good, so why does He not give us all the reward He wants to give for observing all 613 Mitzvot in return for observing half of the 613 Mitzvot? Why does He mind if He gives the full reward for observing a small part of the Torah and Mitzvot? Also, why do we need to work so hard to observe the full 613 Mitzvot?”
This is similar to the allegory about the mother who feeds her children with food and drink, but she must buy the groceries and cook them and so forth, which she would forego. What she does not forego is that she sees and looks at how her children eat. The little children, she herself feeds and enjoys it. She does not want to relinquish this work, since she enjoys the work itself and does not need any reward for this work.
We therefore have two things:
1) It is not so far from the intellect. That is, one who wants to receive reward in vessels of reception but asks why the Creator wants us to observe so many Mitzvot, meaning that He should have given all the reward He wants to give for observing half of the 613 Mitzvot, since there is no pleasure in the work he is doing, but rather in the reward he will receive afterward, this is regarded as “receiving reward in the next world.” That is, during the work, he feels no pleasure, and the only reason he wants to work is for the reward that will come later.
2) We can discern in the reward that he wants to receive the reward in vessels of bestowal, meaning to have love of the Creator and to feel that he is serving the King. It follows that he hopes to receive a reward, and he will receive this reward later, in Kelim [vessels] that are in this world, meaning in the present. Then, when he is rewarded with 613 Pekudin, when he receives each Mitzva in the manner of “this world,” he does not say, “Why were we given so many Mitzvot?”
Likewise, in the corporeal world there is no one who is angry at the Creator for preparing for us so many corporeal pleasures. In the same way, when he is rewarded with 613 Pekudin, at that time he feels in each Mitzva a different taste and does not intend to relinquish it.
But there is a big flaw here while working in the form of 613 Eitin [Aramaic: counsels], meaning when the Torah and Mitzvot are only “tips” that concern how to receive the vessels of bestowal, since the body’s resistance is intense because it is completely against his will to receive with which man was born.
It follows that they (work and reward) are two separate discernments. When the reward is in vessels of reception, he has fuel because he can receive reward. However, he always has exertion since the reward he receives is in “the next world,” meaning not now but some other time, when he comes, he will receive reward. In other words, he looks at the reward he will receive later.
It follows that he would be happier if he received a greater reward for less work, since he is looking at the reward. It turns out that he always has exertion because to him, the reward is the reason that compels him to engage in Torah and Mitzvot. This is similar to the corporeal world: When we are paid for the work, the work is only a means. If he could receive the reward for less work, certainly, each one would choose a place that gives more reward for less work.
Conversely, when a person is rewarded with vessels of bestowal, the concealment and Tzimtzum that were placed on the Torah and Mitzvot are lifted from him and he is rewarded with 613 Pekudin. That is, in each Mitzva that he performs, he obtains the taste in the Mitzva. It follows that the reward is in this world, meaning in the present state that a person is in. Certainly, it cannot be said that a person should relinquish the work, since the work itself is the place to receive the reward. It follows that in “vessels of bestowal,” the 613 Mitzvot are considered “rest,” and not “work and labor.”
According to the above, we should interpret what The Zohar says about the verse, “for My thoughts are not your thoughts.” We asked, What does this imply to us in the work when it says that ways and paths extend from the thought of the Creator “to devise the holy name,” whereas from the thought of man extend “the filth of the evil inclination to harm oneself and all others. Also, transgressions, sins, and evil doing come from that thought, as well as idolatry, incest, and bloodshed.”
The text says about this, “for My thoughts are not your thoughts.” The “thought of the Creator” refers to the thought of creation, which is to do good to His creations. That is, He wants only to bestow abundance upon the creatures. For this reason, the Torah and Mitzvot that He has given us to do, we must say that His intention is not that we will give Him this work and He will accept it. After all, His desire is only to bestow. This is why he says that from the thought of the Creator “ways and paths extend to devise the holy name.”
We should understand the meaning of “to devise the holy name.” According to what we learn, the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations. It follows that the “holy name” of the Creator is The Good Who Does Good. Because that name is hidden from the creatures as long as they do not have vessels of bestowal, we were given the Torah and Mitzvot as Eitin, meaning counsels by which to obtain the vessels of bestowal, as our sages said, “The light in it reforms him.”
It follows that our work in Torah and Mitzvot is not because He needs us to observe His Mitzva. Rather, the created beings observe His Mitzvot, for by this the created beings correct themselves so they can be rewarded with vessels of bestowal. This is the meaning of what is written, “to devise the holy name,” for by this, each one will feel that the name of the Creator is The Good Who Does Good.
But (from) man’s thoughts extend “the filth of the evil inclination” because man, who is a “created being,” existence from absence, thinks only about how to receive and not bestow. Although this is the root of man, concealment and Tzimtzum were placed on that will to receive, which is why the evil inclination extends from this thought in man. In other words, when a person must perform acts of bestowal in order to have Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, called “equivalence of form,” that desire depicts to a person depictions that he will suffer by giving of his strength to others.
Therefore, when a person wants to observe Torah and Mitzvot with the aim to bestow and not receive anything that concerns his own benefit, this thought depicts to him how he will suffer. With that power of depiction, it prevents a person from achieving Dvekut with the Creator.
This is the meaning of the words “From that thought emerges the filth of the evil inclination,” as Baal HaSulam said about what our sages said, “The serpent came over Eve and cast filth within her.” He said that Zuhama [filth] is Zu-Ma [what is this?], meaning that in every matter of Kedusha [holiness], the serpent, which is the evil inclination, comes and says to a person, “What is this?” meaning “What will you get out of wanting to work and do everything for the sake of the Creator and not for your own sake?” It follows that “for My thoughts are not your thoughts” means that the thought of the Creator is to bestow, while the thought of man is only to receive.
Now we can understand what we asked, What does it imply to us when The Zohar says, “a burnt offering is male,” since it atones for the thought, which is male, since a thought is Hochma and is considered male, and the heart, which is Bina [understanding], is female, as in “the heart understands.”
Our sages said, “The eye sees and the heart covets.” We should understand what the “eye” implies. It is known that eyes are called Hochma [wisdom], meaning thought, and the thought is considered male. It is said about it in The Zohar that when a person must take upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven, this faith that a person believes is called “mind.” That thought impacts the heart, and then the heart begins to covet this thing that came as a thought in his mind. In that sense, the eye is called “a thought.” The wisdom, what he sees and likes, is what he gives to the heart; hence, the heart covets the thing that is in the mind.
According to the above, the thought of the Creator is to bestow. We should interpret about this as our sages said (Avot, Chapter 2:1), “Know what is above you; an eye that sees.” We should interpret that man should know what is above him, meaning what is above his thought, that there is the thought of the Creator there, which is called “an eye that sees.” It is as The Zohar says, that “eye” is called “thought,” and thought is called “wisdom,” which is male.
As we learned, the light of Hochma comes from the Giver to the receiver. Hence, man must resemble the “eye” of above and be a giver to the Creator. This is called “equivalence of form,” and it is called “faith in the Creator.” It is called “mind,” meaning a thought that man should be in equivalence of form with the Creator.
This is as it is written in the essay, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”: “Similarly, all your actions will be to bestow and to benefit others. Thus, you will equalize your form with the form of the qualities of the Creator, and this is spiritual Dvekut. There is a discernment of ‘mind’ and a discernment of ‘heart’ in the above-mentioned equivalence of form. The engagement in Torah and Mitzvot in order to bestow contentment upon one’s Maker is equivalence of form in the mind. This is because the Creator does not think of Himself—whether He exists or whether He watches over His creations, and other such doubts. Similarly, one who wishes to achieve equivalence of form must not think of these things, as well, when it is clear that the Creator does not think of them, since there is no greater disparity of form than that. Hence, anyone who thinks of such matters is certainly separated from Him.”
It therefore follows that if a person believes in “Know what is above you; the eye sees,” “know” means Daat [knowledge], and Daat means connection and Dvekut. “What is above you, an eye that sees,” meaning that the eye of the Creator, which is Hochma [wisdom], and “know” refers to Dvekut, when a person adheres to “above you,” which is the “mind,” meaning faith.
According to the rule, “The eye sees and the heart covets,” meaning that the thought, which is “male,” gives to the heart, which is “coveting and desire,” then as the thought, which is “faith,” has equivalence with the Creator, the heart, too, which is the will to receive, does not want to use its own quality, which is reception, but rather to be influenced by the thought and wants to be a giver like the thought. It follows that if a person is complete with equivalence of form in the “mind,” it influences the heart, so the heart, too, will be as in “All your works will be for the sake of the Creator.”
This is as we explained about what our sages said, “Anyone in whom there is fear of heaven, his words are heard.” This means that anyone who assumes the burden of the kingdom of heaven, which is faith, the body hears his words, meaning that the whole body obeys his voice for the above reason that if the thought is faith above reason, equivalence of form, then the thought, which is male, influences the heart, which is female, as it is written, “The heart understands.” This is the meaning of what The Zohar says, “Bina is the heart,” and she is female.
Therefore, if it is a burnt offering, it is male. He says that the reason is that a burnt offering comes to atone for the thought, which is male, Hochma. That is, if a person sinned, meaning blemished his thought, which is faith above reason, he must correct what he has blemished. Since faith is discerned as “the eye sees,” which is “wisdom of above,” meaning that the thought of the Creator is His desire to do good to His creations, meaning to bestow upon the lower ones, and that person blemished this, meaning he does not believe that there is a leader to the world, who watches over the creations as The Good Who Does Good, and man must praise and thank the Creator, if a person does not believe that the Creator is the Giver, called “male,” the person must bring a male offering, which is its corresponding discernment, which he blemished. For this reason, the blemish of the thought is very serious, since this is the whole matter of the purpose of creation. When a person does not believe this, it is regarded that he sinned and blemished the thought, and must make the correction in the same discernment.
According to the above, we should interpret what The Zohar says about the words, “If his offering is a burnt offering,” “for My thoughts are not your thoughts.” He says, “Also, the written Torah and the oral Torah, which is Malchut, were emanated from that thought.” We should interpret that in the work, Malchut means “the kingdom of heaven,” which is faith, while “Oral Torah” is called Torah. In other words, it is impossible to be rewarded with the Torah if one has not been rewarded with faith, as our sages said, “It is forbidden to teach idol-worshippers the Torah.”
But once he has been rewarded with faith, he can be rewarded with the Torah. This is the meaning of the words, “from that thought,” meaning from the thought of creation, which is to do good to His creations, extend faith and Torah. That is, the fact that we were given faith, where everyone asks why He placed a concealment on His guidance and we need faith for this, the answer is that this, too, is in order to do good to His creations, called “in order to bring to light the perfection of His deeds.” It follows that when we are adhered to His thought, we have everything. This is unlike what man’s thought says, but from that thought emerge transgressions, sins, and evil deeds, as it is written, “for My thoughts are not your thoughts.”
Therefore, man must exert to focus all his work on being only in Dvekut with His thought, and believe that He watches over the world as The Good Who Does Good. When he has this faith, he will be rewarded with everything.