Introduction to The Book of Zohar - Part TWO

Part TWO of THREE

26.

We have already stated that the first state necessitates the third state, to fully materialize as was in the Thought of Creation – in the first state – not omitting a single thing (see Item 15). Therefore, the first state necessitates the revival of the dead. That means that their excessive will to receive, which had already been eradicated and rotted in the second state, must now be revived in all its exaggerated measure, with no restraints whatsoever, meaning with all its past flaws.

Then begins the work anew, to convert that excessive will to receive to be only to bestow. And then we will have doubled our gain:

1. We would have a place to receive all the delight and pleasure and gentleness in the Thought of Creation, since we would already have the body with its greatly excessive will to receive, which goes hand in hand with these pleasures.

2. Since our reception in that manner would only be in order to bestow contentment upon our Maker, that reception would be regarded as complete bestowal (see Item 11). And that would bring us to equivalence of form, which is Dvekut (adhesion), which is our form in the third state. Thus, the first state absolutely necessitates the revival of the dead.

27.

Indeed, there cannot be revival for the dead, but only near the end of correction, towards the end of the second state. For once we have been rewarded with denial of our excessive will to receive, and have been granted the will to only bestow, and once we have been endowed with all the wonderful degrees of the soul, called Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida, through our work at negating this will to receive, we have come to the greatest perfection, until the body could be revived with all its excessive will to receive, and we are no longer harmed by it by being separated from our Dvekut.

On the contrary, we overcome it and give it the form of bestowal. And indeed, this is done with every corrupt quality that we wish to remove from it. First, we must completely remove it until there is nothing left of it. Afterwards, we can receive it again and conduct it in the middle way. But as long as we have not fully removed it, it is impossible to conduct it in the desired, medium way.

28.

Our sages said, “The dead are destined to be revived with their flaws, and then be healed.” This means that in the beginning the same body is revived, which is the excessive will to receive, without any restraints, just as it grew under the nourishment of the impure worlds before the Torah and Mitzvot have purified it in any way. This is the meaning of, “in all their flaws.”

And then we embark on a new kind of labor – to insert all that exaggerated will to receive in the form of bestowal. Then it is healed, because now it obtained equivalence of form. And they said that the reason is “so it will not be said, ‘It is another,’” meaning so it will not be said about it that it is in a different form from the one it had in the Thought of Creation. This is so because that excessive will to receive stands there, aiming to receive all the bounty in the Thought of Creation.

It is only that in the meantime it has been given to the Klipot for purification. But in the end, it must not be a different body, for if it were diminished in any way, it would be deemed entirely different, thus unworthy of receiving all the bounty in the Thought of Creation, as it receives there is the first state.

29.

Now we can resolve the above second inquiry: what is our role in the long chain of reality, of which we are but tiny links, during the short span of our days? Know that our work during the seventy years of our days is divided in four:

The First Division is to obtain the excessive will to receive without restraints, in its full, corrupted measure from under the hands of the four impure worlds ABYA. If we do not have that corrupted will to receive, we will not be able to correct it, for “one cannot correct that which is not in him.”

Thus, the will to receive imprinted in the body at birth is insufficient. Rather, it must also be a vehicle for the impure Klipot for no less than thirteen years. This means that the Klipot must dominate it and give it their lights, for their lights increase its will to receive. That is because the fulfillments that the Klipot provide the will to receive with only expand and enhance the demands of the will to receive.

For example, at birth, he has a desire for only a hundred, and not more. But when the Sitra Achra provides the one hundred, the will to receive immediately grows and wants two hundred. Then, when the Sitra Achra provides fulfillment for the two hundred, the desire immediately expands to want four hundred. And if one does not overcome it through Torah and Mitzvot, and purifies the will to receive to turn it into bestowal, one’s will to receive expands throughout one’s life, until eventually he dies without attaining half his desires. This is regarded as being under the Sitra Achra and the Klipot, whose role is to expand and enhance his will to receive and make it exaggerated and unrestrained in any way, to provide one with all the material he needs to work with and correct.

30.

The Second Division is from thirteen years and on. At that point, the point in his heart, which is the posterior of holiness, is given strength. Although it is dressed in his will to receive at birth, it only begins to awaken after thirteen years, and then one begins to enter the system of the pure worlds, to the extent that one observes Torah and Mitzvot.

The primary aim of that time is to obtain and intensify the spiritual will to receive, because at birth, one has only a will to receive for corporeality. Therefore, although one has obtained the excessive will to receive before he turned thirteen, it is still not the completion of the growth of the will to receive, for the primary intensification of the will to receive is only to spirituality.

This is because if, for example, prior to turning thirteen, one’s will to receive wishes to devour all the wealth and respect in this corporeal world. This is apparently not an eternal world, and for all of us it is but a fleeting shadow. But when one obtains the excessive spiritual will to receive, one wishes to devour, for one’s own delight, all the wealth and delights in the next, eternal world, which is an eternal possession. Thus, the majority of the excessive will to receive is completed only with the will to receive spirituality.

31.

It is written in New Tikkun (97b) about the verse (Proverbs 30, 15), “The horseleech hath two daughters: ‘Give, give.’”: “A leech means Hell. And the evil caught in that Hell cry as dogs ‘Hav, Hav (Hebrew: Give, Give),’” meaning “give us the wealth of this world, give us the wealth of the next world.”

Yet it is a much more important degree than the first, since aside from obtaining the full measure of the will to receive, giving one all the material one needs for one’s work, this is the degree that brings one to Lishma (for Her Name). It is as our sages said (Pesachim 50b): “One should always engage in Torah and Mitzvot lo Lishma (not for Her Name), as from Lo Lishma, one comes to Lishma.”

Hence, this degree, which comes past the thirteen years, is deemed holiness. This is considered the holy maid that serves her mistress, which is the Holy Shechina (Divinity). This is because the maid brings one to Lishma, and he is rewarded with the inspiration of Divinity. Yet, one should take every measure suited to bring one to Lishma, since if one does not strain for that and does not achieve Lishma, he will fall into the pit of the impure maid, which is the opposite of the holy maid, whose role is to confuse a person, that the Lo Lishma will not bring him to Lishma. It is said about her: “handmaid that is heir to her mistress” (Proverbs 30, 23), for she will not let one near the mistress, which is the Holy Divinity.

And the final degree in this division is that he will fall passionately in love with the Creator, as one falls passionately for a corporeal love, until the object of passion remains before one’s eyes all day long and all night long, as the poet says, “When I remember Him, He does not let me sleep.” Then it is said of him: “but desire fulfilled is a tree of life” (Proverbs 13, 12). This is because the five degrees of the soul are the Tree of Life, which stretches over five hundred years. Each degree lasts a hundred years, meaning it will bring him to receive all five Behinot (discernments) NRNHY (Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida) clarified in the third division.

32.

The Third Division is the work in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma, in order to bestow and to not receive reward. This work cleanses the will to receive for oneself and replaces it with a will to bestow. To the extent that one purifies the will to receive, he becomes worthy of receiving the five parts of the soul called NRNHY (below Item 42). This is because they stand in the will to bestow (see Item 23), and cannot clothe one’s body as long as the will to receive – which is opposite, or even different in form from the soul – controls it.

That is because the matter of dressing and equivalence of form go hand in hand (see Item 11). And when one is rewarded with being entirely in the will to bestow and not at all for oneself, he will be rewarded with obtaining equivalence of form with his Upper NRNHY, which extend from one’s origin in Ein Sof in the first state, through the pure ABYA, and will immediately extend and clothe him in a gradual manner.

The Fourth Division is the work conducted after the revival of the dead. This means that the will to receive, which had already been completely absent through death and burial, is now revived in its excessive, worst will to receive, as our sages said: “The dead will be revived in their flaws” (Item 28). And then it is turned into reception in the form of bestowal. However, there are a chosen few who were given this work while still living in this world.

33.

Now remains the clarification of the sixth inquiry, which is the words of our sages who said that all the worlds, Upper and lower, were created only for man. It seems very peculiar that for man, whose worth is but a wisp compared to the reality before us in this world, much less compared to the Upper, Spiritual Worlds, the Creator would go to all the trouble of creating all that for him. And even more peculiar is what would man need all these vast Spiritual Worlds for?

And you must know that any contentment of our Maker from bestowing upon His creatures depends on the extent that the creatures feel Him – that He is the giver, and that He is the one who delights them. For then He takes great pleasure in them, as a father playing with his beloved son, to the degree that the son feels and recognizes the greatness and exaltedness of his father, and his father shows him all the treasures he had prepared for him, as it is written (Jeremiah 31): “Ephraim, my darling son, is he joy of his parents? For whenever I speak of him, I earnestly remember him still. Hence, My heart yearneth for him, I will surely have compassion upon him, says the Lord” (Jeremiah 31, 19).

Observe these words carefully and you can come to know the great delights of the Lord with those whole ones that have been granted feeling Him and recognizing His greatness in all those manners He has prepared for them, until they are like a father with his darling son, the joy of his parents. And we need not continue on that, for it is enough for us to know that for this contentment and delight with those whole ones, it was worth His while to create all the worlds, Higher and lower alike.

34.

To prepare His creatures to reach the aforementioned exalted degree, the Creator wanted to affect it by an order of four degrees that evolve one out of the other, called, “still,” “vegetative,” “animate,” and “speaking.” These are, in fact, the four phases of the will to receive, by which the Upper Worlds is divided. For although the majority of the desire is in the fourth phase of the will to receive, it is impossible for the fourth phase appear at once, but by its preceding three phases, in which, and through which, it gradually develops and appears, until it is fully completed in the form of Phase Four.

35.

In Phase One of the will to receive, called “still,” which is the initial manifestation of the will to receive in this corporeal world, there is but a collective force of movement for the whole of the still category. But no motion is apparent in its particular items. This is because the will to receive generates needs, and the needs generate sufficient movements, enough to satisfy the need. And since there is only a small will to receive, it dominates only the whole of the category at once, but its power over the particular items is indistinguishable.

36.

The vegetative is added to it, which is Phase Two of the will to receive. Its measure is greater than in the still, and its will to receive dominates each and every item of its items, because each item has its own movement, expanding through its length and breadth, and moving towards the sun. Also, the matter of eating and drinking and secretion of waste is also apparent in each item. However, the sensation of freedom and individuality is still absent in them.

37.

Atop that comes the animate category, which is Phase Three of the will to receive. Its measure is already completed to a great extent, for this will to receive already generates in each item a sensation of freedom and individuality, which is the life that is unique to each item separately. Yet, they still lack the sensation of others, meaning they have no preparation to participate in others’ pains or their joys, etc.

38.

Above all comes the human species, which is Phase Four of the will to receive. It is the complete and final measure, and its will to receive includes the sensation of others, as well. And if you wish to know the precise difference between Phase Three of the will to receive, which is in the animate, and the fourth phase of the will to receive in man, I shall tell you that it is as the worth of a single creature compared to the whole of reality.

This is because the will to receive in the animate, which lacks the sensation of others, can only generate needs and desires to the extent that they are imprinted in that creature alone. But man, who can feel others, too, becomes needy of everything that others have, too, and is thus filled with envy to acquire everything that others have. When he has a hundred, he wants two hundred, and so his needs forever multiply until he wishes to devour all that there is in the whole world.

39.

Now we have shown that the Creator’s desired goal for the Creation He had created is to bestow upon His creatures, so they would know His truthfulness and greatness, and receive all the delight and pleasure He had prepared for them, in the measure described in the verse: “Ephraim my darling son, is he joy of his parents?” (Jeremiah 31, 19). Thus, you clearly find that this purpose does not apply to the still and the great spheres, such as the earth, the moon, or the sun, however luminous they may be, and not to the vegetative or the animate, for they lack the sensation of others, even from among their own species. Therefore, how can the sensation of the Godly and His bestowal apply to them?

Humankind alone, having been prepared with the sensation of others of the same species, who are similar to them, after delving in Torah and Mitzvot, when they invert their will to receive to a will to bestow, and come to equivalence of form with his Maker, they receive all the degrees that have been prepared for them in the Upper Worlds, called NRNHY. By that they become qualified to receive the purpose of the Thought of Creation. After all, the purpose of the creation of all the worlds was for man alone.

40.

And I know that it is completely unaccepted in the eyes of some philosophers. They cannot agree that man, which they think of as low and worthless, is the center of the magnificent Creation. But they are like a worm that is born inside a radish. It lives there and thinks that the world of the Creator is as bitter, as dark, and small as the radish it was born in. But as soon as it breaks the shell of the radish and peeps out, it claims in bewilderment: “I thought the whole world was the size of the radish I was born in, and now I see a grand, beautiful, and wondrous world before me!”

So, too, are those who are immersed in the Klipa (singular for Klipot) of the will to receive they were born with, and did not try to take the unique spice, which are the practical Torah and Mitzvot, which can break this hard Klipa and turn it into a desire to bestow contentment upon the Maker. It is certain that they must determine their worthlessness and emptiness, as they truly are, and cannot comprehend that this magnificent reality had been created only for them.

Indeed, had they delved in Torah and Mitzvot to bestow contentment upon their Maker, with all the required purity, and would try to break the Klipa of the will to receive they were born in and assume the desire to bestow, their eyes would immediately open to see and attain for themselves all the degrees of wisdom, intelligence and clear mind, that have been prepared for them in the Spiritual Worlds. Then they would themselves say what our sages said, “What does a good guest say? ‘Everything the host has done, he has done for me alone.’”

41.

But there still remains to clarify why would man need all the Upper Worlds the Creator had created for him? What use has he of them? Bear in mind that the reality of all the worlds is generally divided into five worlds, called a) Adam Kadmon, b) Atzilut, c) Beria, d) Yetzira, and e) Assiya. In each of them are innumerable details, which are the five Sefirot KHBTM (Keter, Hochma, Bina, Tifferet, and Malchut). The world of AK (Adam Kadmon) is Keter; the world of Atzilut is Hochma; the world of Beria is Bina; the world of Yetzira is Tifferet; and the world Assiya is Malchut.

And the Lights clothed in those five worlds are called YHNRN. The Light of Yechida shines in the world of Adam Kadmon; the Light of Haya in the world of Atzilut; the Light of Neshama in the world of Beria; the Light of Ruach in the world of Yetzira; and the Light of Nefesh in the world of Assiya.

All these worlds and everything in them are included in the Holy Name, Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey, and the tip of the Yod. We have no perception in the first world, AK. Hence, it is only implied in the tip of the Yod of the Name. This is why we do not speak of it and always mention only the four worlds ABYA. Yod is the world of Atzilut, Hey – the world of Beria, Vav – the world of Yetzira, and the bottom Hey is the world of Assiya.

42.

We have now explained the five worlds that include the entire spiritual reality that extends from Ein Sof to this world. However, they are included in one the other, and in each of the worlds there are the five worlds, the five Sefirot KHBTM, in which the five Lights NRNHY are dressed, corresponding to the five worlds.

And besides the five Sefirot KHBTM in each world, there are the four spiritual categories – Still, Vegetative, Animate, and Speaking. In it, man’s soul is regarded as the speaking, the animate is regarded as the angels in that world, the vegetative category is called “dresses” and the still category is called “halls.” And they all robe one another: the speaking category, which is the souls of people, clothes the five Sefirot, KHBTM, which is the Godliness in that world. The animate category, which are the angels clothes over the souls; the vegetative, which are the dresses, clothe the angels; and the still, which are halls, revolve around them all.

The dressing means that they serve one another and evolve from one another, as we have clarified with the corporeal still, vegetative, animate and speaking in this world (Items 35-38): the three categories – still, vegetative, and animate – did not extend for themselves, but only so the fourth category, which is man, might develop and rise by them. Therefore, their role is only to serve man and be useful to him.

So it is in all the spiritual worlds. The three categories – still, vegetative, and animate – appeared there only to serve and be useful to the speaking category there, which is man’s soul. Therefore, it is considered that they all clothe over man’s soul, meaning to serve him.

43.

When man is born, he immediately has a Nefesh [1] of Kedusha (Holiness). But not an actual Nefesh, but the posterior of it, its last discernment, which, due to its smallness, is called a “point.” It dresses in man’s heart, in one’s will to receive, which is found primarily in one’s heart.

Know this rule, that all that applies to the whole of reality, applies to each world, and even in the smallest particles that can be found in that world. Thus, as there are five worlds in whole of reality, which are the five Sefirot KHBTM, there are five Sefirot KHBTM in each and every world, and there are five Sefirot in every little item in that world.

We have said that this world is divided into still, vegetative, animate and speaking (SVAS), corresponding to the four Sefirot HBTM. Still corresponds to Malchut, vegetative corresponds to Tifferet, animate to Bina, and speaking to Hochma. And the root of them all corresponds to Keter. But as we have said, even in the smallest item in each species in the SVAS there are four discernments of SVAS. Hence, even in a single item of the speaking category, meaning even in one person, there are also SVAS, which are the four parts of his will to receive, where the point from the Nefesh of Kedusha is dressed.

44.

Prior to the thirteen years, there cannot be any emergence of the point in one’s heart. But after thirteen years, when he begins to delve in Torah and Mitzvot, even without any intention, meaning without any love and fear, as is fitting when serving the king, even in LoLishma, the point in one’s heart begins to grow and disclose its action.

This is so because Mitzvot do not need an aim. Even acts without an aim can purify one’s will to receive, but only in the first degree, called “still.” And to the extent that he purifies the still part of the will to receive, one builds the six hundred and thirteen organs of the point in the heart, which is the still of the Nefesh of Kedusha.

And when one completes all six hundred and thirteen Mitzvot in action, it completes the six hundred and thirteen organs in the point in the heart, which is the still category of the Nefesh of Kedusha, whose two hundred and forty-eight spiritual organs are built by keeping the two hundred and forty-eight positive Mitzvot [2], and its three hundred and sixty-five spiritual tendons are built through observing the three hundred and sixty-five negative Mitzvot, until it becomes a complete Partzuf (spiritual face) of Nefesh of Kedusha. Then the Nefesh rises and clothes the Sefira (singular of Sefirot) of Malchut in the spiritual world of Assiya.

And all the spiritual elements of still, vegetative and animate in that world, which correspond to that Sefira of Malchut of Assiya, serve and aid that Partzuf of Nefesh of one who has risen there, to the extent that the soul perceives them. Those concepts become its spiritual nourishment, giving it strength to grow and multiply, until it can extend the Light of the Sefira of Malchut of Assiya in all the desired perfection, to Light man’s body. And that complete Light aids one to add exertion in Torah and Mitzvot and receive the remaining degrees.

And we have stated that immediately at the birth of one’s body, a point of the Light of Nefesh is born and dresses in him. So it is here: when his Partzuf of Nefesh of Kedusha is born, a point from its adjacent Higher degree is born with it – the last degree of the Light of Ruach of Assiya – and dresses inside the Partzuf of Nefesh.

And so it is in all the degrees. With each degree that is born, the last discernment in the degree above it instantaneously appears within it. This is because this is the whole connection between Higher and lower through to the top of the degrees. Thus, through this point, which exists in it from the Upper One, it becomes able to rise to the next Higher degree.

45.

And that Light of Nefesh is called “the Light of the holy still in the world Assiya.” This is because it corresponds to the purity of the still part of the will to receive in man’s body. It shines in spirituality like the still category in corporeality (see Item 35), whose particles have no individual motion, but only collective motion, common to all the items equally. So it is with the Light of Partzuf Nefesh of Assiya: although there are six hundred and thirteen organs in it, which are six hundred and thirteen forms of receiving the bounty, these changes are not apparent in it, but only a general Light, whose action enfolds them all equally, without distinction of details.

46.

Bear in mind that although the Sefirot are Godliness, and there is no difference in them from the head of Keter in the world of AK, through the end of the Sefira of Malchut in the world of Assiya, there is still a great difference with respect to the receivers. This is so because the Sefirot are considered Lights and Kelim (vessels), and the Light in the Sefirot is pure Godliness. But the Kelim, called KHBTM in each of the lower worlds – Beria, Yetzira, Assiya – are not considered Godliness, but are rather covers that conceal the Light of Ein Sof within them and ration a certain amount of Light to the receivers. Each of them will receive only according to the level of its purity.

And in this respect, although the Light itself is one, we name the Lights in the Sefirot NRNHY because the Light divides according to the qualities of the Kelim. Malchut is the coarsest cover, hiding the Light of Ein Sof. The Light it passes from Him to the receivers is only a small portion, related to the purification of the still body of man. This is why it is called Nefesh.

The Kli of Tifferet is purer than the Kli of Malchut. The Light it passes from Ein Sof relates to the purification of the vegetative part of man’s body, because it acts in it more than the Light of Nefesh. This is called “the Light of Ruach.”

The Kli of Bina is purer still than Tifferet, and the Light it passes from Ein Sof relates to the purification of the animate part of man’s body, and it is called “the Light of Neshama.”

The purest of all is the Kli of Hochma. The Light it passes from Ein Sof relates to the purification of the speaking part of man’s body. It is called “the Light of Haya,” and its action is beyond measurement.

47.

In Partzuf Nefesh, which man one attains through engaging in Torah and Mitzvot without the intention, there is already a point from the Light of Ruach clothed in there. And when one strengthens and keeps Torah and Mitzvot with the desired aim, he purifies the vegetative part of his will to receive, and to that extent builds the point of Ruach into a Partzuf. And by performing the 248 positive Mitzvot with intention, the point expands through its 248 spiritual organs. And by observing the 365 negative Mitzvot, the point expands through its 365 tendons.

When it is completed with all 613 organs, it rises and clothes the Sefira of Tifferet in the spiritual world of Assiya, which extends to him a greater Light from Ein Sof, called “the Light of Ruach,” which corresponds to the purification of the vegetative part in man’s body. And all the items of the still, vegetative, and animate in the world of Assiya, related to the level of Tifferet, aid one’s Partzuf of Ruach to receive the Lights from the Sefira of Tifferet in all its entirety, as was explained above with the Light of Nefesh. Because of that, it is called “holy vegetative.”

The nature of its Light is like the corporeal vegetative: there are distinct differences in motion in each of its elements, so in the spiritual Light of vegetative there is much strength to shine in unique ways for each and every organ of the 613 organs in Partzuf Ruach. Each of them manifests action-power related to that organ. Also, with the extension of Partzuf Ruach, the point of the next degree Above it extended from it, a point of the Light of Neshama, which dresses in its internality.

48.

And by engaging in the secrets of Torah and the flavors of the Mitzvot, he purifies the animate part of his will to receive, and to that extent builds the point of the soul, dressed in him in its 248 organs and 365 tendons. When the construction is completed and it becomes a Partzuf, it rises and dresses the Sefira of Bina in the spiritual world of Assiya. This Kli is much purer than the first Kelim, TM (Tifferet and Malchut). Hence, it extends a great Light from Ein Sof, called “Light of Neshama.”

And all the items of still, vegetative, and animate in the world of Assiya, related to the level of Bina, aid and serve one’s Partzuf of Neshama in receiving all its Lights from the Sefira of Bina. And it is also called “holy animate” because it corresponds to the purification of the animate part of man’s body. And so is the nature of its Light, as we have seen with the corporeal animate (Item 37), which gives a sensation of individuality to each of the 613 organs of the Partzuf, that each of them is alive and free, without any dependence on the rest of the Partzuf.

At last, it is discerned that its 613 organs are 613 Partzufim (plural for Partzuf), unique in their Light, each in its own way. And the advantage of this Light over the Light of Ruach, in spirituality, is as the advantage of the animate over the still and the vegetative in corporeality. And there also extends a point from the Light of Haya of Kedusha, which is the Light of the Sefira of Hochma, with the emergence of Partzuf Neshama, and dresses in its internality.

End of Part TWO of THREE

Original Post Link - Introduction to The Book of Zohar

COURTESY: Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education & Research Institute

Copyright © 2006. Bnei Baruch. All rights reserved.

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[1] Translator’s note: By Nefesh he means the first degree in NRNHY.

[2] Translator’s note: Positive Mitzvot are precepts you have to perform in action, and negative Mitzvot are precepts you keep by avoiding certain actions.

Introduction to The Book of Zohar

Part ONE of THREE

1.

In this introduction, I would like to clarify matters that are seemingly simple. Matters that everyone fumbles with, and for which much ink has been spilled, attempting to clarify. Yet we have not reached a concrete and sufficient knowledge of them. And here are the questions:

1. What is our essence?

2. What is our role in the long chain of reality, of which we are but small links?

3. When we examine ourselves, we find that we are as corrupted and as low as can be. And when we examine the operator who has made us, we are compelled to be at the highest degree, for there is none so praiseworthy as Him. For it is necessary that only perfect operations will stem from a perfect operator.

4. Our mind necessitates that He is utterly benevolent, beyond compare. How, then, did He create so many creatures that suffer and agonize all through their lives? Is it not the way of the good to do good, or at least not to harm so?

5. How is it possible that the infinite, that has neither beginning nor end, will produce finite, mortal, and transient creatures?

2.

In order to clear all that up, we need to make some preliminary inquiries. And not, God forbid, where it is forbidden, in the Creator’s essence, of which we have no thought or perception whatsoever, and thus have no thought or utterance of Him, but where the inquiry is a Mitzva (commandment/good deed), the inquiry of His deeds. It is as the Torah commands us: “Know thou the God of thy father and serve Him,” and as it says in the poem of unification, “By your actions we know you.”

Inquiry No. 1: How can we picture a new creation, something new that is not included in Him before He creates it, when it is obvious to any observer that there is nothing that is not included in Him? Common sense dictates it, for how can one give what one does not have?

Inquiry No. 2: If you say that from the aspect of His almightiness, He can certainly create existence from absence, something new that is not in Him, there rises the question – what is that reality, which can be determined as having no place in Him at all, but is completely new?

Inquiry No. 3: This deals with what Kabbalists have said, that one’s soul is a part of God Above, in such a way that there is no difference between Him and the soul, but He is the “whole” and the soul is a “part.” And they compared it to a rock carved from a mountain. There is no difference between the rock and the mountain, except that He is the “whole” and the rock is a “part.” Thus we must ask: it is one thing that a stone carved from the mountain is separated from it by an ax made for that purpose, causing the separation of the “part” from the “whole.” But how can you picture that about Him, that He will separate a part of His essence until it departs His essence and becomes separated from Him, meaning a soul, to the point that it can only be understood as part of His essence?

3.

Inquiry No. 4: Since the chariot of the Sitra Achra (other side) and the Klipot (shells) is so far, at the other end of His Holiness, until such remoteness is inconceivable, how can it be extracted and made from Holiness, much less that His Holiness will sustain it?

Inquiry No. 5: The matter of the rising of the dead: Since the body is so contemptible, that immediately at birth it is doomed to perish and to be buried. Moreover, The Zohar said that before the body rots entirely, the soul cannot ascend to its place in the Garden of Eden, while there are still remnants of it. Therefore, why must it return and rise at the revival of the dead? Could the Creator not delight the souls without it?

Even more bewildering is what our sages said, that the dead are destined to rise with their flaws, so that they will not be mistaken for another, and after that He will cure their flaws. We must understand why God should mind that they would not be mistaken for another, that for that He would recreate their flaws and then would have to cure it.

Inquiry No. 6: Regarding what our sages said, that man is the center of reality, that the Upper Worlds and this corporeal world and everything in them were created only for him (The Zohar, Tazria, 40), and obliged man to believe that the world had been created for him (Sanhedrin 37). It is seemingly hard to grasp that for this trifling human, whose value is no more than a wisp, with respect to the reality of this world, much less with respect to all the Upper Worlds, whose Height and Sublimity is immeasurable, that the Creator had troubled Himself to create all these for him. And also, why would man need all that?

4.

To understand these questions and inquiries, the only tactic is to examine the end of the act, that is, the purpose of Creation. For nothing can be understood in the middle of the process, but only at its end. And it is clear that there is no act without a purpose, for only the insane can act purposelessly.

I know that there are those who cast over their backs the burden of Torah and Mitzvot (plural for Mitzva), saying the Creator has created the whole of reality, then left it alone, that because of the worthlessness of the creatures it is not fitting for the Exalted Creator to watch over their mean little ways. Indeed, without knowledge they have spoken, for it is impossible to comment on our lowliness and nothingness, before we decide that we have created ourselves with all our corrupted and loathsome natures.

But while we decide that the Creator, who is utterly perfect, is the One who created and designed our bodies, with all their admirable and contemptible attributes, surely, there can never emerge an imperfect act under the hand of the perfect worker, as each act testifies to its performer. And what fault is it of a bad garment, if some no-good tailor has made it?

Such as this we find in Masechet Taanit, 20: A tale about Rabbi Elazar who came across a very ugly man. He said to him: “How ugly is that man.” The man replied: “Go and tell the craftsman that made me, ‘How ugly is this instrument you have made.’” Hence, those who claim that because of our lowliness and nothingness, it is not fitting for Him to watch over us, and therefore He has left us, do nothing but display their ignorance.

Try to imagine, if you were to meet some man who would create creatures, precisely so they would suffer and agonize their whole lives as we do, and not only that, but cast them behind his back, not wanting even to look after them, to help them a little. How contemptible and low you would regard him! Can such a thing be thought of Him?

5.

Therefore, common sense dictates that we grasp the opposite of what appears to be on the surface, and decide that we are truly noble and worthy creatures, of immeasurable importance, actually worthy of the Worker who had made us. For any fault you wish to perceive in our bodies, behind all the excuses that you give to yourself, falls only on the Creator, who created us and the nature within us, for it is clear that He had created us and not we.

He also knows all the ways that stem from the evil nature and attributes He has created in us. It is as we have said, that we must contemplate the end of the act, and then we will be able to understand everything. It is as the saying goes, “Do not show a fool a job half done.”

6.

Our sages have already said that the Creator created the world for no other reason but to delight His creatures. And here is where we must place our minds and all our thoughts, for it is the ultimate aim of the act of the creation of the world. And we must bear in mind that since the Thought of Creation was to bestow upon His creatures, He had to create in the souls a great measure of desire to receive that which He had thought to give them. For the measure of each pleasure and delight depends on the measure of the will to receive it. The greater the will to receive, the greater the pleasure, and the lesser the will, the lesser the pleasure from reception.

Thus, the Thought of Creation itself necessarily dictates the creation of an excessive will to receive in the souls, to fit the immense pleasure that His Almightiness thought to bestow upon the souls. For the great delight and the great desire to receive go hand in hand.

7.

Once we have learned that, we come to a full understanding of the second inquiry, in complete clarity. For we have learned what is the reality that can be clearly determined, which is not a part of His essence, to the extent that we can say that it is a new creation, existence from absence. And now that we know for certain that the Thought of Creation, to delight His creatures, necessarily created a measure of desire to receive from Him all the goodness and pleasantness that He had planned for them, that will to receive was clearly not included in His essence before He had created it in the souls, because from whom could He receive? It follows that He had created something new, which is not in Him.

And yet, we understand that according to the Thought of Creation, there was no need to create anything more than that will to receive. This is because this new creation is sufficient for Him to fulfill the entire Thought of Creation, which He had thought to bestow upon us. But all the filling in the Thought of Creation, all the benefits He had planned to render us, stem directly from His essence, and He has no reason to recreate them, since they are already extracted, existence from existence, to the great will to receive in the souls. Thus we evidently see that all the substance in the generated creation, from beginning to end, is only the “will to receive.”

8.

Now we have come to understand the words of the Kabbalists in the third inquiry. We wondered how it was possible to say about souls that they were a part of God Above, like a stone that is carved from a mountain, that there is no difference between them except that one is a “part” and the other is a “whole.” And we wondered: it is one thing to say that the stone that is carved from the mountain becomes separated by an ax made for that purpose, but how can you say that about His essence? And also, what was it that separated the souls from His essence and excluded them from the Creator, to become creatures?

From the above, we clearly understand that as the ax cuts and divides a physical object in two, the disparity of form divides the spiritual into two. For example, when two people love each other, you say that they are attached to one another as one body. And when they hate each other, you say that they are as far from one another as the east from the west. But there is no question of nearness or remoteness of location here. Rather, this implies the equivalence of form: when they are equal in form, and each loves what the other loves and hates what the other hates, they love each other and are attached to one another.

And if there is some disparity of form between them, and one of them likes something that the other hates, then to the extent that they differ in form, they become distant and hateful of one another. And if, for example, they are opposite in form, and everything that one likes, the other hates, and everything the other hates is liked by the first, they are deemed as remote as the east from the west, meaning from one end to the other.

9.

And you find that in spirituality the disparity of form acts like the ax that separates in the corporeal world, and the distance between them is proportional to the oppositeness of form. From this we learn that since the will to receive His delight has been imprinted in the souls, and we have shown that this form is absent in the Creator, because from whom would He receive, that disparity of form that the souls acquired separates them from His essence, as the ax that carves a stone from the mountain. And because of that disparity of form the souls were separated from the Creator and became creatures. However, everything the souls acquire of His Light extends from His essence, existence from existence.

It therefore turns out that with respect to His Light, which they receive in their Kli (vessel), which is the will to receive, there is no difference whatsoever between them and His essence. This is because they receive it existence from existence, directly from His essence. And the only difference between the souls and His essence is that the souls are a part of His essence.

This means that the amount of Light that they receive in their Kli, being the will to receive, is already separated from the Creator, as it is predicated on the disparity of form of the will to receive. And this disparity of form made it a part by which they were separated from the “whole” and became a “part.” Thus, the only difference between them is that one is a “whole” and the other is a “part,” as a stone that is carved from a mountain. And scrutinize this meticulously, for it is impossible to expand further on such an exalted place.

10.

Now we can begin to understand the fourth inquiry: how is it possible that the chariot of impurity and Klipot would emerge from His Holiness, since it is at the other end of His Holiness? And also, how can it be that He supports and sustains it? Indeed, first we must understand the meaning of the existence of impurity and Klipot.

Know that this great will to receive, which we determined was the very essence of the souls by creation – for which they are fit to receive the entire filling in the Thought of Creation – does not stay in that form within the souls. If it had, they would have to remain eternally separated from Him because the disparity of form in them would separate them from Him.

And in order to mend that separation, which lays on the Kli of the souls, He created all the worlds and separated them into two systems, as in the verse: “God has made them one against the other,” which are the four pure worlds ABYA, and opposite them the four impure worlds ABYA. And He imprinted the desire to bestow in the system of the pure ABYA, removed the will to receive for themselves from them, and placed it in the system of the impure worlds ABYA. Because of that, they have become separated from the Creator and from all the worlds of holiness.

For that reason the Klipot are called “dead,” as in the verse: “sacrifices of the dead” (Psalms 106, 28). And the wicked that follow them, as our sages said, “The wicked, in their lives, are called ‘dead,’” since the will to receive imprinted in them in oppositeness of form to His Holiness separates them from the Life of Lives, and they are remote from Him from one end to the other. It is so because He has no interest in reception, only in bestowal, whereas the Klipot want nothing of bestowal, but only to receive for themselves, for their own delight, and there is no greater oppositeness than that. And you already know that spiritual remoteness begins with some disparity of form and ends in oppositeness of form, which is the farthest possible distance in the last degree.

11.

And the worlds cascaded onto the reality of this corporeal world, to a place where there is a body and a soul and a time of corruption and a time of correction. For the body, which is the will to receive for itself, extends from its root in the Thought of Creation, through the system of the impure worlds, as it is written, “and a wild ass’s colt is born a man” (Job 11, 12). And he remains under the authority of that system for the first thirteen years, which is the time of corruption.

And by engaging in Mitzvot from thirteen years of age onwards, in order to bestow contentment upon his Maker, he begins to purify the will to receive for himself, imprinted in him, and slowly turns it to be in order to bestow. By that he extends a holy soul from its root in the Thought of Creation. And it passes through the system of the pure worlds and dresses in the body. This is the time of correction.

And so he accumulates degrees of holiness from the Thought of Creation in Ein Sof (Infinity), until they aid him in turning the will to receive for himself in him, to be entirely in the form of reception in order to bestow contentment upon his Maker, and not at all for himself. By that, one acquires equivalence of form with his Maker, because reception in order to bestow is regarded as pure bestowal.

In Masechet Kidushin it is written that with an important man she gives and he says – by that you are sanctified. Because when his reception is in order to delight her, the giver, it is deemed absolute bestowal and giving. Thus, one buys complete adhesion with Him, for spiritual adhesion is but equivalence of form, as our sages said, “How is it possible to cleave unto Him? Rather, cleave on to His qualities.” And by that, one becomes worthy of receiving all the delight and pleasure and the gentleness in the Thought of Creation.

12.

Thus we have clearly explained the correction of the will to receive, imprinted in the souls by the Thought of Creation. For the Creator has prepared for them two systems, one opposite the other, through which the souls pass and divide into two discernments, body and soul, which dress in one another.

And through Torah and Mitzvot, they finally turn the form of the will to receive to be as the form of the will to bestow. And then they can receive all the goodness in the Thought of Creation. And along with it, they are rewarded with a solid adhesion with Him, because through the work in Torah and Mitzvot they have been rewarded with equivalence of form with their Maker. This is deemed the end of correction.

And then, since there will no longer be a need for the evil Sitra Achra, it will be eliminated from the earth and death shall cease forever. And all the work in Torah and Mitzvot that was given to the world during the six thousand years of the existence of the world, and to each person for the duration of one’s seventy years of life, are to bring them to the end of correction – the above-mentioned equivalence of form.

The issue of the formation and extension of the system of Klipot and impurity from His Holiness has also been thoroughly clarified now: it had to be in order to extend by it the creation of the bodies, which would then be corrected through Torah and Mitzvot. And if our bodies, with their corrupted will to receive, were not extended through the impure system, we would never be able to correct it, for one cannot correct that which is not in him.

13.

Indeed, we still need to understand how the will to receive for oneself, which is so flawed and corrupted, could extend from, and be in the Thought of Creation in Ein Sof, whose unity is beyond words and beyond description? The thing is that by the very thought to create the souls, His thought completed everything, for He does not need an act, as do we. Instantaneously, all the souls and worlds that were destined to be created, emerged filled with all the delight and pleasure and the gentleness He had planned for them, in the final perfection that the souls were intended to receive at the end of correction, after the will to receive in the souls has been fully corrected and was turned into pure bestowal, in complete equivalence of form with the Emanator.

This is so because in His Eternalness, past, present, and future are as one. The future is as the present and there is no such thing as time in Him. Hence, there was never an issue of a corrupted will to receive in its separated state in Ein Sof.

On the contrary, that equivalence of form, destined to be revealed at the end of correction, appeared instantly in the Infinite. And our sages said about that: “Before the world was created there were He is One and His Name One,” for the separated form in the will to receive had not been revealed in the reality of the souls that emerged in the Thought of Creation. Rather, they were cleaved unto Him in equivalence of form by way of, “He is One and His Name One.”

14.

Thus you necessarily find that on the whole, there are three states to the soul:

The First State is their presence in Ein Sof, in the Thought of Creation, where they already have the future form of the End of Correction.

The Second State is their presence in the six thousand years, which were divided by the above two systems into a body and a soul. They were given the work in Torah and Mitzvot, in order to invert their will to receive and turn it into a will to bestow contentment upon their Maker, and not at all to themselves.

During the time of that state, no correction will come to the bodies, only to the souls. This means that they musteliminate any form of self-reception, which is considered the body, and remain with but a desire to bestow, which is the form of desire in the souls. Even the souls of the righteous will not be able to rejoice in the Garden of Eden after their demise, but only after their bodies rot in the dust.

The Third State is the end of correction of the souls, after the revival of the dead. At that time the complete correction will come to the bodies, too, for then they will turn reception for themselves, which is the form of the body, to take on the form of pure bestowal. And they will become worthy of receiving for themselves all the delight and pleasure and pleasantness in the Thought of Creation.

And with all that, they will attain strong adhesion by the force of their equivalence of form with their Maker, since they will not receive all that because of their desire to receive, but because of their desire to bestow contentment upon their Maker, since He derives pleasure when they receive from Him. And for purposes of brevity, from now on I will use the names of these three states, namely “first state,” “second state,” and “third state.” And you should remember all that is explained here in every state.

15.

When you examine the above three states, you will find that one completely necessitates the other, in a way that, if one were to be cancelled, the others would be cancelled, too.

If, for example, the third state – the conversion of the form of reception to the form of bestowal – had not materialized, it is certain that the first state in Ein Sof would never have been able to emerge.

It is because the perfection materialized there only because the future third state was already there, as though it is in the present. And all the perfection that was pictured there in that state is like a reflection from the future into the present. But if the future could be cancelled, there would not be any present. Thus, the third state necessitates the existence of the first.

All the more so when something is cancelled in the second state, where there is all the work that is destined to be completed in the third state, the work in corruptions and corrections and the continuance of the degrees of the souls. Thus, how will the third state come to be? Hence, the second state necessitates the existence of the third.

And so it is with the existence of the first state in Ein Sof, where the perfection of the third state resides. It definitely necessitates that it will be adapted, meaning that the second and third states will appear in complete perfection, no less and no more in any way.

Thus, the first state itself necessitates the expansion of two corresponding systems in the second state, to allow the existence of a body in the will to receive, corrupted by the system of impurity, thus enabling us to correct it. And had there not been a system of impure worlds, we would not have that will to receive, and we would not be able to correct it and come to the third state, for “one cannot correct that which is not in him.” Thus we need not ask how the impure system came to be from the first state, for it is the first state that necessitates its existence in the form of the second state.

16.

Therefore, one must not wonder at how it was that the choice had been taken from us, since we must be completed and come to the third state, since it is already present in the first. The thing is that there are two ways the Creator has set for us in the second state to bring us to the third state:

1. The Path of Keeping Torah and Mitzvot.

2. The Path of Suffering, since the pain itself purifies the body and will eventually compel us to invert our will to receive into the form of a will to bestow, and cleave to Him. It is as our sages said (Sanhedrin, 97b), “If you repent, good; and if not, I will place over you a king such as Haman, and he will force you to repent.” Our sages said about the verse, “will hasten it in its time”: “If they are rewarded, I will hasten it; and if not, in its time.”

This means that if we are granted through the first path, by keeping Torah and Mitzvot, we thus hasten our correction, and we do not need the harsh agony and the long time needed to experience them, so they will compel us to reform. And if not, “in its time,” meaning only when the suffering will complete our correction and the time of correction will be forced upon us. On the whole, the path of suffering is also the punishments of the souls in Hell.

But in any case, the end of correction – the third state – is mandatory, because of the first state. Our choice is only between the path of suffering and the path of Torah and Mitzvot. Thus we have thoroughly clarified how the three states of the souls are interconnected and necessitate one another.

17.

From all the above, we thoroughly understand the third inquiry, that when we examine ourselves, we find ourselves to be as corrupted and contemptible as can be. But when we examine the operator who created us, we must be exalted, for there is none so praiseworthy as He, as becoming of the Operator who created us, because the nature of the Perfect Operator is to perform perfect operations.

Now we can understand that our body, with all its trifle incidents and possessions, is not at all our real body. Our real, eternal, and complete body already exists in Ein Sof, in the first state, where it receives its complete form from the future third state, that is, receiving in the form of bestowal, in equivalence of form with Ein Sof.

And if our first state necessitates that we receive the Klipa (shell) of our body in the second state, in its corrupted and loathsome form, which is the will to receive for oneself alone, which is the force that separates us from Ein Sof so as to correct it and allow us to receive our eternal body in practice, in the third state, we need not protest against it. Our work can only be done in this transitory and wasteful body, for “one does not correct that which is not in him.”

Thus, we are already in that measure of perfection, worthy and fitting of the Perfect Operator who had made us, even in our current, second state, for this body does not defect us in any way, since it will expire and die, and is only here for the time necessary for its cancellation and acquisition of our eternal form.

18.

This settles our fifth inquiry: How could it be that transitory, wasteful actions would extend from the eternal? And we see that, indeed, we have already been extended as is fitting for His Eternalness – eternal and perfect beings. And our eternalness necessitates that the Klipa of the body, which was given to us only for work, will be transitory and wasteful. For if it remained in eternity, we would remain forever separated from the Life of Lives.

We have said before (Item 13), that this form of our body, which is the will to receive for ourselves alone, is not at all present in the eternal Thought of Creation, for there we are in the form of the third state. Yet, it is obligatory in the second state, to allow us to correct it.

And we must not ponder the state of other beings in the world but man, since man is the center of Creation, as will be written below (item 19). And all other creatures do not have any value of their own but to the extent that they help man achieve his perfection. Hence, they rise and fall with him without any consideration of themselves.

19.

With that, we also settle our fourth inquiry: Since the nature of the good is to do good, how did He create beings that would be tormented and agonized throughout their lives? As we have said, all this agony is necessitated from our first state, where our complete eternity, which comes from the future third state, compels us to go either by the path of Torah, or by the path of suffering, and to reach our eternal state in the third state (Item 15).

And all this agony is felt only by the Klipa of our body, created only to be perished and buried. This teaches us that the will to receive for himself was created only to be eradicated, abolished from the world, and to turn it into a will to bestow. And the pains we suffer are but discoveries of its nothingness and the harm in it. Indeed, when all human beings agree to abolish and eradicate their will to receive for themselves, and have no other desire but to bestow upon their friends, all worries and jeopardy in the world would cease to exist. And we would all be assured of a whole and wholesome life, since each of us would have a whole world caring for us, ready to fulfill our needs.

Yet, while each of us has only a desire to receive for ourselves, it is the source of all the worries, suffering, wars, and slaughter we cannot escape. They weaken our bodies with all sorts of sores and maladies, and you find that all the agonies in our world are but manifestations offered to our eyes, to prompt us to revoke the evil Klipa of the body and assume the complete form of the will to bestow. And it is as we have said, that the path of suffering in itself can bring us to the desired form. Bear in mind that the Mitzvot between man and man come before the Mitzvot between man and God, because the bestowal upon one’s friend brings one to bestow upon his Maker.

20.

After all that we have said, we come to the resolution of the first inquiry: What is our essence? Our essence is as the essence of all the details in reality, which is no more and no less than the will to receive (as written in Item 7). But it is not as it is now, in the second state, which is the will to receive for self alone, but as it stands in the first state, in Ein Sof, in its eternal form, which is reception in order to bestow contentment upon his Maker (as written in Item 13).

And although we have not yet reached the third state in actual fact, and we still lack time, it does not blemish our essence whatsoever, since our third state is necessitated from the first. Thus “all that is bound to be collected is deemed collected.” And the lack of time is regarded a deficiency only where there is doubt whether one will complete what needs to be completed in time.

And since we have no doubt about that, it is as though we have already come to the third state. And our body, too, given to us in its present, corrupted form, does not blemish our essence, since it and all its possessions are to be completely eradicated, along with the whole system of impurity, which is their source, and all that is bound to be burned is deemed burned, considered as though it never existed.

But the soul that is dressed in that body, whose essence is also purely a desire – but a desire to bestow, which extends to us from the system of the four worlds of the Holy ABYA (item 11) – exists forever. This is because this form of a desire to bestow is in equivalence of form with the Life of Lives and is not in any way exchangeable. (This matter will be completed below, from Item 32 on.)

21.

And do not be led astray by the philosophers who say that the very essence of the soul is an intellectual substance, and that it only exists through the concepts it learns, that it grows through them, and that they are its very essence. And the question of the continuance of the soul after the departure of the body depends entirely on the extent of concepts it has acquired, until in the absence of such concepts, there remains nothing to continue. This is not the view of Torah. It is also unaccepted by the heart, and anyone who ever tried to acquire knowledge knows and feels that the mind is a possession, not the actual possessor.

But as we have said, the whole substance of creation, both the substance of the spiritual objects and the substance of the corporeal objects, is no more and no less than a will to receive. And although we said that the soul is entirely a desire to bestow, it is only through corrections of Reflected Light that it receives from the Upper Worlds, from which it comes to us.

Yet, the very essence of the soul is a will to receive, as well. And the difference we can tell between one object and another is discerned only by its will, for the will in any essence creates needs, and the needs create thoughts and concepts so as to obtain those needs, which the will to receive demands.

And as human desires differ from one another, so do their needs, thoughts, and ideas. For instance, those whose will to receive is limited to beastly desires, their needs, thoughts, and ideas are dedicated to satisfying that will to receive in its entire beastliness. And although they use the mind and reason as humans do, it is, however, enough for the slave to be as his master. And it is like the beastly mind, since the mind is enslaved and serves the beastly desire.

And those whose will to receive is strong mainly in human desires – such as respect and domination over others – which are absent in the beast, the majority of their needs, thoughts, and ideas revolve solely around satisfying that desire as much as they can. And those whose will to receive is intensified mainly for acquisition of knowledge, the majority of their needs, thoughts, and ideas are to satisfy that desire as much as they can.

22.

These three desires are mostly present in every person, but they mingle in different quantities, hence the difference from one person to another. And from the corporeal attributes we can deduce about the spiritual objects, relating to their spiritual value.

23.

Thus, human souls, too, the spiritual ones, have only a desire to bestow contentment upon their Maker, through the dresses of Reflected Light received from the Upper Worlds from which they come. And that desire is their essence and the core of the soul. It turns out that once dressed in a human body, it generates needs and desires and ideas to satisfy its desire to bestow to the fullest, meaning to bestow contentment upon its Maker, according to the size of its desire.

24.

The essence of the body is but a desire to receive for itself, and all its manifestations and possessions are fulfillments of that corrupted will to receive, which had initially been created only to be eradicated from the world, in order to achieve the complete third state at the end of correction. For this reason, it is mortal, transitory, and contemptible, along with all its possessions, like a fleeting shadow that leaves nothing in its wake.

And since the essence of the soul is but a desire to bestow, and all its manifestations and possessions are fulfillments of that desire to bestow, which already exists in the eternal first state, as well as in the future third state, it is immortal and irreplaceable. Rather, it and all its possessions are eternal and exist forever. Absence does not affect whatsoever at the departure of the body. On the contrary, the absence of the form of the corrupted body greatly strengthens it, enabling it to rise to the Garden of Eden.

Thus we have clearly shown that the persistence of the soul in no way depends upon the concepts it has acquired, as philosophers claim. Rather, its eternality is in its very essence, in its will to bestow, which is its essence. And the concepts it acquires are its reward, not its essence.

25.

From here emerges the full resolution of the fifth inquiry: Since the body is so corrupted that the soul cannot be fully purified before it rots in the ground, why does it return at the revival of the dead? And also the question about the words of our sages: “The dead are destined to be revived with their flaws, so it will not be said, ‘It is another’” (The Zohar, Amor, 17).

And you will clearly understand this matter from the Thought of Creation itself, from the first state. Because we have said that since the Thought was to delight His creatures, He had to create an overwhelmingly exaggerated desire to receive all that bounty, which is in the Thought of Creation, for “the great delight and the great desire to receive go hand in hand” (Items 6-7). We stated there that this exaggerated will to receive is all the substance that He had created, for He needs nothing more than that, to carry out the Thought of Creation. And it is the nature of the Perfect Operator to not perform redundant operations, as written in the Poem of Unification: “Of all Your work, not a thing did You forget, omit, or add.”

We also said there that this exaggerated will to receive has been completely removed from the pure system and was given entirely to the system of the impure worlds, from which extend the bodies, their sustenance, and all their possessions in this world. When a man reaches thirteen years of age, he begins to attain a holy soul through engaging in the Torah. At that time, he is nourished by the system of the pure worlds, according to the measure of the purity of soul he has attained.

We also said above, that during the six thousand years that are given to us for work in Torah and Mitzvot, no corrections come to the body – to its exaggerated will to receive. All the corrections that come through our work relate only to the soul, which thus climbs the degrees of holiness and purity, which means enhancement of the will to bestow that extends with the soul.

For this reason, the body will ultimately die, be buried, and rot because it did not undergo any correction. Yet, it cannot remain that way, for if the exaggerated will to receive perished from the world, the Thought of Creation would not be realized – meaning the reception of all the great pleasures that He thought to bestow upon His creatures, for “the great will to receive and the great pleasure go hand in hand.” And to the extent that the desire to receive it diminishes, so diminish the delight and pleasure from reception.

End of Part ONE of THREE

Original Post Link - Introduction to The Book of Zohar

COURTESY: Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education & Research Institute

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Finding the Creator Within - Part II

PART II of TWO

Question: Baal HaSulam writes in another place that the level of knowledge indicates the level of man's development. If follows that someone more knowledable is more alive than others?

He writes that a beast feels. It’s not aware, it feels. There is a difference. That is the difference between man and beast. What is inside man is the difference.

Question (cont.): What does it mean that there’s someone who’s more alive or less alive? What does it mean, more alive?

To be more alive means to know the reasons. That’s the whole learning, the awareness, to know the reasons, the circumstances, the formation, and the constituents.

We discern three periods in the body. The first from the time one comes to the world, when one has no knowledge, and all the knowledge that he needs for his sustenance, comes from his father and mother, and he lives through their keeping and wisdom. This is the state of Katnut Aleph (the first small state).

It's clear, right? He’s supported by the Upper One; he receives everything from the Upper One and is dependant on the Upper One; and knows that the Upper One provides everything. In other words, he’s aware of the fact that he is under the supervision of the Upper One.

The Bet is when he grows and acquires some knowledge and then he watches things that harm his body with a common guarding, both by the power of his parents and by his own power. This is KatnutBet (the second small state).

Now he becomes like a partner to the Upper One. Where by belonging to the Upper One, in return the Upper one gives him an addition that he still needs. What is the difference between the first state and the second state? In the second state he can already provide some part of the knowledge to himself. Where does it come from? From learning, from accumulating it, from bringing them from the example of Abba ve Ima, from the example of the Upper One. All of these steps are done consciously with a person, because we’re talking about spirituality here. In the other section he says "so exactly is man’s soul" and then he explains "three periods" even those as we discern in the body, but, it’s in the body of the soul.

Question: Is this the Ibur(conception)and Yenika (sustenance )?

Baal HaSulam divides it differently.

The Gimel is the state of Gadlut (adulthood), when one acquires sufficient knowledge for life to be guarded in the right measure in order to exist. Then he exits the authority of his mother and father, and acquires his own leadership; and that’s the Gimel (third) state which is a state of Gadlut.

I would answer your question, this way. There is no state of Ibur, because in the state of Ibur he cancels himself with respect to the Upper One and has no Rosh (head) at all. Here he’s talking about degrees of knowledge that he acquires from the Upper One. In the first degree he knows that there is an Upper One who guards him and he cancels himself with respect to the Upper One. But he is approaching the second degree. You understand what he’s saying, "that all the necessary knowledge for his sustenance through his father and mother, he exists through their keeping and wisdom."

It’s not that he cancels himself. He cancels himself with respect to their actions upon him. It’s more like Yenika or, you might also say both, Ibur and Yenika. Whereas the second is already Katnut, let’s say after two years, we see that Ibur and Yenika are actually two phases which are one phase. What does he get in Yenika? He gets the same blood that he did not receive at the time of the Ibur. This blood, which he did not receive at the Ibur rises up to Halav (milk), and thus the embryo through the passage that is called milk, once more makes blood out of the milk and turns it into meat. By that Ibur and Yenika, are like one thing that he receives from the Upper One, in a way that he is inanimate with respect to the Upper One.

But in Ibur, it is inanimate with respect to the Upper One in all of the Sefirot, meaning he cancels himself. In Yenika he cancels himself, but he also cancels himself not in all of the Sefirot, but, say, in just some of them.

He already has some freedom, but freedom in what? He doesn’t determine anything. He’s not similar to the Upper One in anything, he’s still not Katnut, when he learns from the Upper One. Yenika is when he participates in his own sustenance, in his own growth. But it’s still without a Rosh, and after Yenika comes Katnut, which is a gradual learning from the Upper One, a copying of forms on himself. Then he’s participating with Abba ve Ima (father and mother)—them a little, him a little, them a little, him a little—until he comes to Gadlut, where he acquired all of these forms from them, and can exist without them.

"Existing without them" means that he has the same Rosh andthe same Guf (body). It is because in spirituality, if you have similar things, then they are as one, then he has no opposite reality from the mother and father but he is exactly like Abba ve Ima, incorporated in them. When we said he has his own reality and that he acquired all the corrections from them, it’s a sign he came together with them. It’s the opposite of what seems to us in our world, because he reaches equivalence, Dvekut (adhesion) and then they are interconnected.

It is the same with the respect to the soul, one reincarnates until he acquires the wisdom of truth in completeness. Without them, the soul doesn’t reach its fullest measure. And it’s not that knowledge at one’s hand increased the level of the soul, but it is an intrinsic nature in the soul that it is not granted to its own action to grow before it acquires the knowledge of the spiritual nature.

This means that it is impossible without studying. First there is just mere study, the way we are studying today and then each person is learning it within one's own physical body. Without it, it’s impossible to enter spirituality. It is because spirituality appears in the Kli of a person to the extent that the Kli isscrutinized, to the extent that one sees it and all the connections in it, the attributes and relationships between them. To that extent, he feels livelihood in the Kli, that’s his life, that’s his world. There’s nothing else.

It’s like vision: if my vision is undeveloped, which is connected to the intelligence, then what can I see? You can say that a baby sees the world too. But what does it see—less than me? How many details, how many components can it see in his picture? With respect to the baby, the thought process, the wisdom, that is all acquired slowly. The extent that the wisdom is acquired we know how to use the senses. That’s what Baal HaSulam says:

It is also with respect to the soul a person reincarnates until he acquires the wisdom of truth in completeness.

Why acquire the wisdom of truth? I need it now. Now, let's say I reincarnated maybe thirty-forty times and now I have to reincarnate again? Isn’t it enough? What do I need it for now?

Yes, now the reason for the incarnations is to obtain the wisdom of Kabbalah, how to receive all the disclosure of the attribute of bestowal.

Without them, the soul does not reach its fullest measure. [And it is everyone’s duty to reach the root of his soul.] And it’s not that the knowledge in one’s hand increased the level of the soul, [Knowledge itself doesn’t do it.] but it is an intrinsic nature in the soul that it is not granted through its own action to grow before it acquires the knowledge of the spiritual nature. [Meaning the knowledge in of itself does not mean anything. But it grows through knowledge and] The growth of the soul depends on the extent of its knowledge.

Again, there’s an understanding of the operating of the soul and following it, there’s actual operation of it and then in the correct operation, what fills it is one’s world. That’s how it is tested. But how the soul is operated, is taught in the wisdom of Kabbalah. It is not an intellect, but we’re talking about knowing the relationships among attributes in a person. Not theoretical attributes: "I heard, I saw, I picture this and that." It’s all fictitious; it’s all abstract forms, G-d forbid.

We’re talking about a person examining, researching, and doing everything, practically, within his own attributes. When he arranges them correctly, each time more and more, and then comes to the maximum situation, whereby he has a perfect picture, and there are no examples from the Upper One anymore and in any way, that gives a person the knowledge that he’s reached his root—the end of his correction. Until then, he’ll have to continue reincarnating in a physical body too, even though actually he is evolving in the spiritual vessels of the souls.

Why does he have to do it? Because in each and every situation that the soul experiences, there are situations where he exits or replaces these states, drops and falls in his spiritual consciousness and even falls into corporeal consciousness, and then again returns to spiritual consciousness. He needs a permanent physical basis that is always there, like Shimon from the market. That is why there’s a reality in this body, even when he begins to correct the soul and identifies himself with that.

Question: First, Baal HaSulam said that it is not one's knowledge that makes his soul grow, and now he says that the growth of the soul depends on the level of its knowledge. It is not clear, he writes that i s it not the knowledge itself, but it is the reason for the action?

Knowledge about how to put the Kli together, about its formation, meaning how to mix correctly my desire to receive, the Masach (screen), Aviut (thickness); knowledge of how to work with two lines, how to put together the third line, and what I receive in the third line—this knowledge of Him, of His filling is called the "attainment of the Thought of Creation." So we have knowledge of how to operate the Kli, and of the attainment that I receive, as a result of operating the Kli correctly.

Question: Doesthis attainment mean knowing about the next state?

Absolutely not. In between two degrees, you have a complete cessation, it’s like a cut. We have cause and consequence, it is connected. It’s like from the degrees of vegetative to animate, from monkeys to people: they’re as if adjacent but in between them you have a cessation. After falling into an abyss, we then again ascend to the degree of a person.

Question: Can we see such states for example, as Shimon from the market who is a great Kabbalist or a genius at the university who is as at the level of the baby. Are there such situations?

What do you care about this or that, so you’ll see people?

Question (cont.): Evolutionary wise, is there a connection between the evolution of the brain and…?

That’s another question. Does the developed human brain say anything about the inner evolution of the soul? No. "Knowledge in the gentiles—believe; Torah in the gentiles—do not believe." 'Gentiles' is the will to receive; it has knowledge. You know how many smart people were in the world! You think there was only Einstein, a Jew, and that's it? There was Copernicus, and Galileo. These were great people in their philosophy, wisdom and understanding reality at its depth. It seems primitive to us, but they were very great minds. It has nothing to do with emotional development of the point in the heart, at all. It’s a completely different mind.

By the way, I don’t want to hurt you guys, I don’t want to offend you, but the people that come to Kabbalah that are not necessarily very smart or with a very developed mind, not at all. These are pretty ordinary people. I would say non-descript people. It has nothing to do with that. Excellence, in this world, is entirely dependant upon attributes, completely different attributes from spirituality. Don’t ever relate these things to one another. It’s not a question of the scientist or an actor, or whatever. It’s Shimon from the market.

Question: Does the point in the heart evolve after the greatest desire to receive? You said the mind is a tool for the desire. Would you agree that the smartest person is egoistic and as a result of that he is the closest to spirituality, to spiritual development?

I’ll tell you. Being smart stems from incarnations that a person has experienced, and the wisdom is in the Kli coming to a state that it sees that it is a waste of effort, there’s nothing to enjoy. The evolution in science, technology, medicine, art, music, in whatever—in all of that, people still feel that they have something to enjoy.

Again I’m looking at things from what we see. If we see, that a person is not evolving, perhaps he is in a state where all he cares about is soccer, going to the bar and just his friends, or whatever. Perhaps he’s not evolving because he’s already given up on evolution and that’s why he doesn’t want to learn it. That’s why he doesn’t want anything in life. He agrees to something life compels him to do, to go and do something in which he doesn’t have a choice, only to live. So superficially you can’t say about a person that his will to receive is still developing and he is at the level of an ordinary worker, or that he hasn’t activated his mind more than that, or maybe he’s already given up on all those big things, and is already at the level of the worker. He just carries on in life.

It’s difficult; we can’t see it from the outside, only according to the results. He comes here and then we see that he can’t fulfill himself in a different place. So he comes here and doesn’t go to Tarot cards or other fortune tellers. Also in his inner hunch, in his actual maturity, he doesn’t believe things that cannot be held in your hands. He demands a realistic, genuine solution.

Question: Can a state be attained by a stupid person?

'Stupid' meaning an ordinary person or someone not normal?

Question (cont.): Stupid as to intelligence.

Yes. I wouldn’t say he’s 'stupid' because the mind does evolve according to the desires. If his desires are so ripened that they say him, it’s pointless to do anything in life, then the person is not that developed in his intellect. Maybe he hardly finished school, and didn’t even go to a university. He feels, understands that he doesn’t know that much about the world. He doesn’t get what people want from him. Quite the contrary, he has an inner preparation to operate a different Kli. He’s not an idiot. He doesn’t have such deflections that come from a flaw in his sensation or intellect. He can be pretty strange compared to others, but normally these are ordinary people.

Look at your friends. They are common folk. It’s an example. You don’t need to look on the site for something or to go, to jails, to find someone, but these are the most ordinary people. They were looking here and there, thought they could realize themselves in someway or they didn’t have a choice went to something to realize themselves, and in the end, ended up being here.

Question: What does this despair come from?

The despair comes from the inner Kli. It doesn’t see before it any source of pleasure ahead. Why doesn’t it see? Because the source of the pleasure, after all the scrutiny, is in the vessel of bestowal. It shines for the vessel of bestowal; for me, it is totally dark. I don’t know, I don’t see, I don't want, I don’t feel any pleasure in it. After I evolve and despair from the pleasure of the will to receive, the pleasure in the will to bestow doesn't appear. Otherwise I would run from it like a thief, from within the will to receive. But darkness and despair appear before me. It shines a little for me, in order to draw me there, so I don’t drop into death. I do have some pulling of surrounding Lights from there. It’s like a ray of light through the cracks. But it still shines from afar, from a Surrounding Light.

Question: In concern to the discernment of smart and stupid, we should ask with respect to what? If I'm asking with respect to this world, then if someone is stupid, he should go to the university. If I’m asking with respect to the attribute of bestowal, someone who is stupid with respect to the next world, what should he do in order to be smart?

If he goes into a society and is lucky enough to submit himself, then he’ll progress very quickly. He’ll take their sensations, their intellect, even if he just brings them tea and coffee, if he doesn’t have any brains to do more than that. There are people here who work in the services, they build, they do things because they say, "I don’t have the brains to study." It doesn’t prevent them at all from progress.

Whatever exists in the general Kli pours from one to the other, just like that. To some extent they have to be here and hear about why or where to, what is the reason, what is the goal in general. All the other items that we discuss, wisdom, intellect or reason, all kinds of theories, clothing in the world, no, there’s no predilection toward it. They want to belong, it doesn’t matter how they belong. As Baal HaSulam says about the last generation, you just have to agree that you want to be with them. "Guys whatever you want me to do, I’ll do." And that’s enough. You have to accept him, you can’t reject him. For them it is a legitimate position.

And a person who grows in spiritual desires, grows also in his corporeal mind. He begins to understand the forces, particular desires that build his physicality, the animal in him, his humanness too, of course. He becomes smarter. Previously he was more stupid than everybody else, an idiot, an ordinary person. Idiot comes from the word ordinary. To the extent that he evolves in spirituality his ability for corporeality evolves too. Then he catches on to things more than any other smart guy.

Its growth depends on the measure of its knowledge. The reason is that if she could grow without the knowledge it would be harmed, like a baby that doesn’t know, and has no strength to walk. If he could walk on its legs, it would put itself into flames.

That’s obvious, because we progress from Kli to fulfillment. Hence, if I couldn't build my Kelim, desires, attitude correctly, according to the congruence between the Kli and the filling, I’d be harmed by receiving the disclosure of the attribute of bestowal before I was ready for it, (being) in equivalence of form with it. It would be harmful because then it would burn me, and I would run. Corresponding to an insufficiently corrected desire, it would be a terrible blow. Then I would be harmed; I’d break.

We learn in the wisdom of Kabbalah that the cause of the breaking was that the Kli was not intended to the disclosure on the attribute of bestowal in it. And because of this mismatch between the preparations on the part of the Kli and between the attribute that appeared in the Kli, the gap between the preparation and the corrected state that should be, that will appear, this is what caused the breaking. If I’d been shown that right now the kind of Michael I have to be, I would just freeze, because they would show me some angel Michael, the way you have to be at Gmar Tikkun, in such a way that it’s doomed from the beginning. That’s called the breaking.

You have to understand what it means that the Light appears in the Kli. When you get the real corrected picture of yourself, it knocks the wind out of our sails. That’s why he said that he would put himself in a burning fire—it’s like the burning flame of shame. First you need the preparation for the appearance of the attribute of bestowal, and accordingly as it appears, you feel in it a sigh of relief, tranquility.

Question: What are incarnations and how do they prepare the soul to receive the attribute of bestowal?

Physical or spiritual incarnations? In spirituality, every situation from beginning to end, every sinusoid when you first drop and then you rise up again—all that is called "an incarnation." Or are we talking about a physical life?

Question: The physical too…

How do they prepare it? Each time they add information from an exterior awareness to the inner awareness, whereas the inner and outer awareness are connected. When I leave this world, all acquired knowledge moves to the preparation of the soul. It’s like a seed that rots in the ground. What is the connection between the previous plant and the next plant? The conveyance of this information without the exterior form. From plant to plant, is as if it’s the same plant, but for us it is a difference between two degrees.

It’s in between two degrees: physical, when one is born, as well as spiritual when you also have a spiritual preparation for it. Because when you die, you stop feeling reality in the five senses, there is no difference between the mind that acquired reality in the five senses and the brain that acquires reality in the sixth sense. It’s the same Kli, except to us it seems like it goes through five physical senses.

We’re not a body either. It just seems to us that we are built this way, as is the corporeal world. Corporeality by definition in the wisdom of Kabbalah is in order to receive. Hence, by losing the five senses it is not the body that loses it. Rather, in the awareness, the inner point that doesn’t feel the reality through the five senses, it seemingly goes back to that one root, which develops.

What is our world and the sensation of the five senses? It is the same Kli of Ein Sof, only at its existence on a minimal level. This also that brings up the question, how can it be that at the same time I feel reality in five senses and in the sixth, the soul?

We see how Kabbalists attain both of them together. What kind of duality is it? What’s happening here? Why? How can that be? One Kli is divided into two such layers, is divided in some way. The thing is as it is said more than once, that in this general Kli there’s a part that can’t be corrected. This is called "this world." That is why the greatest Kabbalist is still sensing this reality. This does not bother him, because he doesn’t need to correct anything here. All of the corrections are among the souls. This is like a preparation.

Question: What do we need the five senses for, why do we need this exterior clothing?

In between reincarnations and each and every discernment, you have a measurement or a basis, from which you measure where you are in every state, and where you will be in a state where spirituality is temporarily removed from you. You have an unchanging reality that is not spiritual, called "this world."

You just have to understand what this reality is. It is just given to us for our existence, if you don’t have spirituality, you exist this way, you just feel self-existence. If you do have spirituality it suppresses this world, it doesn’t disappear but you feel yourself there. You see that here there’s nothing to correct, no actions are needed here, and you should be only completely oriented at Ruach (spirit). In this world we have no reasons, no results, no circumstances—all of the religions are a game with regards to this world. Everything we have here in this corporeal world is just so you exist until entering the spiritual world.

Whether in the corporeal or the spiritual worlds, there are ups and downs. In some ways you are here, you enter spirituality, then you exit. So when you are in spirituality it is possible to come back here to this world and then leave again.

If you use this reality to build spirituality over it, that's correct. That’s what you need to use.

Question: In your book, A Thousand Tips for a Good Life, there is a section there that says that there are reincarnations without a purpose. Contrary to what was said by Baal HaSulam in his writings.

I don’t know. I have to see it. They’re not tips for a good life in my book; they’re tips for a life.

Question: So how come we keep falling back into this world?

No, no it’s not about that. When we fall and rise it’s for the purpose of rising. G-d forbid that we should be in a permanent state in spirituality if it’s not Gmar Tikkun. And also in it too, you don’t remain permanently; there’s a lot of development, such evolution, it all flourishes. Are you trying to say that there’s a permanent state, which is a minimal state, the Katnut (smallness) and to that there’s an addition for Gadlut (adulthood). That’s with respect to other souls. With respect to yourself, it’s questionable what state you’re in. I can’t get into that right now. It’s a separate lesson.

Question: You say that at the end of every degree there’s going to be an abyss. What is the next phase after the abyss? The tiny bit after the abyss—what is it?

Malchut of the Upper One becomes the Keter for the other lower one or vice versa. Keter of the lower one becomes Malchut of the Upper One. You were great as a worker now you’re small as a manager. Then you’ve finished all of your Gadlut the degree of the first class manager, you want to become second class manager; you start there from zero too. The Gadlut in a small level becomes Katnut on a greater level, and in between you have the abyss.

What is the abyss? Everything is erased from you. You have to start over, because every level has a complete new awareness, you see a different picture.

Question: You have the Reshimot from the previous incarnation. What is the state of abyss?

You don’t, there’s nothing to rely on. You build it from scratch, in this world. You drop lower down and build yourself higher up. That’s how it is. Otherwise you’re working in your vessels of reception.

End of Part II of TWO

Original Post Link - Finding the Creator Within.

COURTESY: Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education & Research Institute

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