What Is, “Peace, Peace, to the Far and to the Near,” in the Work?
The Zohar says (Korah, Items 5-8), “Korah went by way of dispute. What is a dispute? It is removing and repelling above and below. One who wishes to repel the correction of the world is lost from all the worlds. A dispute is removing and repelling of the peace. One who disagrees with peace disagrees with His Holy Name, since His Holy Name is called ‘Peace.’ The world stands only on peace. When the Creator created the world, it could not exist until He came and established peace upon them. And what is it? It is the Sabbath. Hence, one who disagrees with peace will be lost from the world. Rabbi Yosi said, ‘It is written, ‘Those who love Your Torah [law] have much peace.’ The Torah is peace, as it is written, ‘And all her ways are peace.’ Korah came to blemish the peace above—the Torah, meaning the middle line, which is called ‘Torah,’ which makes peace between right and left—and below, of Moses. This is why he was punished by upper and lower, by fire and the mouth of the earth.’”
We should understand why he says that the world can exist only on peace because His Holy Name is “Peace.” It follows that the reason that the world cannot exist is that the Creator is called “Peace.”
We should understand the connection to the name of the Creator. In simple terms, everyone understands that if there is a dispute, there cannot be an existence to the world. But how does this concern the name of the Creator? Also, we should understand why he says, “And what is peace?” He says that peace means Shabbat [the Sabbath], and Rabbi Yosi says that peace is called “Torah.” Thus, how is it expressed that the Shabbat and the Torah indicate peace?
First, we must repeat two tenets that we have spoken of many times: 1) the purpose of creation, 2) the correction of creation, meaning what we should do in order to achieve the purpose of creation.
It is known that the purpose of creation is for the creatures to receive delight and pleasure, as he says, “His desire to do good to His creations.” For this purpose, He created in the creatures a desire to receive pleasure. In other words, if there is no yearning for something, we cannot enjoy it. If we sometimes see that wherever one can enjoy something, he cannot stop himself and not want to receive the pleasure. If we sometimes see that a person does relinquish a pleasure, this must be for some special reason for which it is worthwhile for him to relinquish, since one cannot go against the nature of the will to receive. Hence, if there is a good enough reason, a person will give up pleasures that he wants to receive.
This can happen for two reasons: 1) Because of a reward, meaning that if he relinquishes the pleasure that he wants now, he will receive greater pleasure instead. 2) Because of punishment. That is, if he does not relinquish this pleasure, he will suffer great torments for it, and he sees that it is better for him to give up this pleasure in order not to suffer.
It follows that the fact that a person has now relinquished the will to receive pleasure, this concession is not because he does not want to work for his own benefit. Rather, he sees that if he does not concede what he wants now, it will harm his self-benefit, and this is why he gives it up. For this reason, we do not say that by giving up a pleasure, he did something against nature, meaning that he blemished the will to receive. Rather, all he did was according to the method of the will to receive.
In other words, we should not look at what people do, for sometimes they relinquish something, but it is not a sign that this person is working. Rather, we must see the aim, as well.
For example, a person might give up the lust for food. If he knows that someone might see that he is a person who renounces pleasures, it is a sign that he is a servant of the Creator, and there are people who will respect him for this. Then, a person has the power to overcome because he will receive a greater pleasure, which is respect. This is usually the case.
But there are also exceptions. There are those who can degrade themselves, meaning relinquish respect in order to obtain a lust. Also, there are those who do not relinquish lusts, but not because of respect, but on the contrary, meaning that if one works in concealment, he can eat much, for example, and people are bound to see how he is eating and will despise him in their hearts. He relinquishes the respect in order to gain from this the ability to work in concealment, since through this work he can be rewarded with an even greater pleasure, since one who is humble is rewarded with Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator.
This means that he does not want to be satisfied with people respecting him, since there is a rule that when people think that he is above them they respect him, and respect takes over, so one who develops a passion for respect cannot come out of it and must work and toil in order to obtain the respect. Then, he cannot do anything for the sake of the Creator. Therefore, we were given the counsel to do everything in concealment, and thereby not be given respect. By this he can be saved from falling under the governance of respect. At that time, he can accustom himself to work in order to bestow.
Accordingly, we see that one who relinquishes small pleasures and instead receives a big pleasure, it is not that he flawed the will to receive. Sometimes, he receives the big pleasure from satisfying some passion, and sometimes the great pleasure comes through respect, and so forth.
Sometimes, he receives a small pleasure, meaning a small passion, since he knows that by this he is giving up a big pleasure, which is respect. The question is, Why would he want to relinquish a big pleasure? It is because in return for relinquishing a big pleasure, he wants to receive a higher degree. For example, by relinquishing respect, he wants to be rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator.
In this manner, we do not say that he received a small pleasure, such as eating, and gave up a big pleasure, which is respect. Rather, we should say that he also does not relinquish the small pleasure, but only in the eyes of people who are looking at him and say that this person is not smart, since he does not want to relinquish a small passion, for if he gave up that passion he could receive a greater pleasure, but he does not even have the power to overcome a small passion. It follows that it is impossible to know the truth about a person whose way is concealment.
Now we return to what we discussed concerning the correction of creation, that one should come to do everything in order to bestow. Since man was created with a nature of receiving only for his own benefit, how can he be told to go against nature, since the body asks, “What will I get out of this?” Certainly, we should tell it, “You will get out of this, that if you work in order to bestow, you will be rewarded with the delight and pleasure that are found in the purpose of creation.”
Thus, the answer is that the will to receive will obtain a greater pleasure than he can receive now, in the will to receive without the aim to bestow. At that time, the body claims, “So you are saying that then I will benefit, as well. That is, I see that if I work in order to bestow, I will get self-benefit from this.” In that case, a person says that he does not see anything that one can do without yielding some benefit for himself from it.
The answer is that with the intellect, it is impossible to understand how one can do something against nature. Therefore, a person is told, “What you are saying is correct; by nature, it is impossible for man to understand what is in order to bestow.” Therefore, our sages said, “One should always engage in Torah and Mitzvot Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], since from Lo Lishma he will come to Lishma [for Her sake].” Then, when he learns Lo Lishma, “the light in it reforms him,” as it says in the Sulam [Ladder commentary on The Zohar] (Beresheet Bet, Item 103), “If one engages in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] even for his own pleasure, through the light in it he will still feel the lowliness and the terrible corruptness in the nature of receiving for oneself. At that time, he will resolve to retire from that nature of reception and will completely devote himself to working only in order to bestow contentment upon his Maker. Then the Creator will open his eyes to see before him a world filled with utter perfection without any deficiencies whatsoever.”
According to the above, we see that man cannot understand what it means to work in order to bestow and not for his own sake. We can begin to understand it specifically by engaging in Torah and Mitzvot even Lo Lishma. Nevertheless, the light in it can make him see that there is the matter that it is worthwhile to work only for the sake of the Creator and not for one’s own sake.
But without the remedy in Torah and Mitzvot, man’s intellect cannot understand that it is possible to do something unless it yields pleasure with which one can please his will to receive. Hence, when a person is told to do everything for the sake of the Creator, and he sees that he cannot understand such a thing, the answer is that it is true that it is impossible to understand it with the external mind that was given to man, but he is told, “You must know that you are wasting your time waiting and saying that if he learns it, he will understand how to engage in it in order to attain the desire to bestow, and in the meantime he will wait with praying for the Creator to give him that desire. Before he understands that he needs this thing, how can he pray to the Creator to give him something if he does not know he needs it? He can say that he wants the desire to bestow, but how can he pray from the bottom of the heart that this is what he needs?
There is no way to understand this with the external mind, but one who wants to walk on the path toward achieving the goal for which he was created must believe in the sages, who said that one should do everything in order to bestow and not for his own sake. That is, the fact that he must walk on a path where all his actions are in order to bestow, a person cannot take this desire. Only the Creator can give him that second nature, as well as the belief that he will receive the need for this from observing Torah and Mitzvot even Lo Lishma, because “the light in it reforms him.”
Hence, we see here two things that the Creator gives: 1) The need for one to understand that he needs the desire to bestow, and he receives this through the light in the Torah. Later, he also receives the light, which is the power to do everything in order to bestow.
Accordingly, we should interpret what we asked, What is the reason that the world stands only on peace, since the name of the Creator is “Peace”? We asked, What is the connection between them?
The answer is that since it is impossible to make peace where there is no dispute, for only where there is a dispute, there can be peace, for this reason, first we must know what is the dispute that there is in the world, for which we must make peace, since the Creator is called “Peace,” and only then the world exists.
It is known that the Creator’s desire is to do good to His creations. Hence, all the creatures feel that they should receive delight and pleasure from the Creator. It follows that when they are not receiving delight and pleasure, they are disputed with the Creator over why is He not giving them delight and pleasure. Since there was a correction that in order to prevent the shame, everything must be done in order to bestow, the Creator is in dispute with the created beings over why they are unwilling to work in order to bestow.
It therefore follows that there are two opposite opinions here: 1) The creatures say to the Creator, “Let us enjoy; satisfy our desires, meaning our will to receive, with abundance, so we can say, ‘Blessed is He who said, ‘Let there be the world,’’ since we feel the abundance that we have and we enjoy it.” 2) The Creator said, “I, too, want to enjoy the world that I created, and all My joy is that you are enjoying, as this was My purpose in creation, as it is written, ‘His desire to do good to His creations.’ However, I want your pleasure to be complete, without any unpleasantness, called ‘shame.’”
For this reason, once the creatures feel the dispute, they want to make peace with the Creator, since otherwise the world cannot exist. That is, the world must exist only for the purpose for which it was created. If the goal cannot be achieved, then why do they need the world, for the world was not created so that the creatures would suffer torments?
Hence, the name of the Creator is “Peace” because it is impossible to reveal the name of the Creator, as His general name is The Good Who Does Good, but how can the name The Good Who Does Good be revealed when there is a dispute between the Creator and the creatures?
We therefore see that precisely by peace, the world can exist. Peace means that through peace, it is possible to feel that the Creator is good and does good, since they are receiving the delight and pleasure from the Creator, once peace has been established, meaning when the creatures accept the desire of the Creator, who wants the creatures to do everything for the sake of the Creator.
This is called “resembling the desire of the Creator,” whose desire is only to bestow upon the creatures. Likewise, now the creatures become similar to the desire of the Creator in that they, too, want only to bestow upon the Creator. Then, through equivalence of form, it is possible to reveal the delight and pleasure that exist in the thought of creation, and then it becomes revealed that the name of the Creator is The Good Who Does Good.
By this we will understand what we asked about peace being specifically where there is a dispute, so why did the Creator create the world with a dispute to begin with? The answer is that a dispute exists wherever there are opposite things. Since the world was created with a Kli [vessel] of a desire to receive, since otherwise, if there is no desire to receive something, it is impossible to enjoy it; therefore, creation emerged with a nature of wanting to receive for oneself. Afterward, in order to correct it so there will not be the matter of shame in it, the creatures must acquire a second nature, meaning to acquire the desire of the Creator, whose desire is to bestow. For this reason, a dispute emerged from this.
It follows that the dispute is necessary. That is, if the creatures do not understand the matter of the dispute, they can never achieve the purpose of creation, which is to do good to His creations, since it is impossible to correct anything if we do not know what is missing. Hence, once we know the dispute between the desires, we can make peace between them.
According to the above, we can interpret what we asked, “What is peace?” He says that peace is Shabbat. Rabbi Yosi says that peace is Torah, meaning that through the Torah, a person comes to feel the dispute, since the Torah, even in Lo Lishma, the light in it makes him see that there is the need to work in order to bestow. It follows that through the Torah, he first comes to the dispute, and then he knows what needs to be corrected. Afterward, by being rewarded with “Torah Lishma,” the Torah makes peace, meaning gives him the power of the desire to bestow, which is the meaning of doing everything for the sake of the Creator. It follows that through the Torah, he achieves two things: the Kli, which is the lack, and the light, which is the power to be able to do everything in order to bestow.
When it says that peace is called Shabbat, it does not dispute the interpretation that peace is called Torah, since our sages said (Avoda Zara 3), “The Creator said to them, ‘He who toiled on the eve of Shabbat will eat on Shabbat. He who did not toil on the eve of Shabbat, from where will he eat on Shabbat?’”
We should understand this saying in the work. It means that since Shabbat is called “peace,” how can one be rewarded with peace if there is no dispute there? And what is the dispute? It is as our sages said, “One should always anger the good inclination over the evil inclination.” RASHI interprets that he should make war with it (Berachot 5). The war means that since the good inclination is to have the same desire as the Creator, namely a desire to bestow, and the evil inclination is called the will to receive, a person should try to make a dispute, meaning that they are two opposing desires. At that time, Shabbat comes and makes peace.
But if there is no dispute, how can we say that Shabbat makes peace? This is why he says, “He who did not toil on the eve of Shabbat, from where will he eat on Shabbat?” It follows that the toil is the dispute, meaning to fight against the evil inclination, which is the will to receive.
However, why is Shabbat called “peace”? It is as The Zohar writes, “What is Shabbat? The name of the Creator” (brought in The Zohar on the Shabbat morning meal). It is known that the name of the Creator is “Torah,” as our sages said, “The whole Torah is the names of the Creator.” It follows that both Shabbat and Torah make peace. This means that through the revelation of the Torah in the manner of the “name of the Creator,” peace is made between the creatures and the Creator, for the creatures enjoy being rewarded with receiving the delight and pleasure, and the Creator enjoys the purpose of creation being achieved. In other words, the desire to do good to His creations is revealed in full.
According to the above, we should interpret the words of The Zohar, which says that Korah “went by way of dispute,” and one who wants to repel the correction of the world will be lost from all the worlds. We should interpret that the correction of the world was for everything to work in order to bestow. Korah went by way of dispute, and had to later achieve peace, which is correction. But Korah wanted to stay in the dispute. It follows that he repelled the correction of the world. This is why it says, “One who disagrees with peace disagrees with His Holy Name, since His Holy Name is called ‘Peace.’”
This means that since His name is peace, meaning that peace was done between the Creator and the creatures, meaning that the name of the Creator, that He is good and does good, becomes revealed, and through the dispute, called “disparity of form,” the good cannot be revealed, it follows that the creatures are disputed with the Creator. But when peace is made from the perspective of the Kelim, meaning from the perspective of the desires, when there is one desire in the world, called “desire to bestow,” then all the delight and pleasure in the world becomes revealed.