18- The Garments of the Soul

Concerning the garments of the soul, “Rabbi Shimon says, ‘To the extent that a person exerts in observing Torah and Mitzvot [commandments], a garment is made for him above in that palace (the palace of the essence of heaven, Hod), to wear in that world’” (The Zohar, Pekudei, Item 166).

We should understand the meaning of clothing. It is known that nothing can be attained in spirituality except by clothing, which is like a Kli [vessel] that is suitable for revealing light. Hence, if a person exerts, the exertion makes the Kli for him, meaning the desire and the need for the filling of light, since nothing is given from above before there is a need for that illumination.

The labor that a person exerts causes him a need and a desire, meaning he becomes needy of the Creator’s help to emerge from the strait in which he finds himself during the labor. Were it not for the labor, he would have no need for His help. It follows that precisely the labor provides him with the clothing of the soul, so there will be revelation of Godliness.