Letter No. 53

To my friend,

I long very much to hear how things are going for you and especially your family. I have no news and we are trusting in the Creator to hear good news. I will conclude my letter with words of Torah.

Our sages said, “What is Hanukah? Our sage taught,” etc. We see that Hanukah has the letters of Hanu (parked/paused) Koh (here/thus far), meaning that on the 25th of Kislev (third Hebrew month) they had a pause in the war, as pausing happens specifically in the middle of the work. The pause in the middle is in order to muster strength in order to be able to continue the work.

We need to understand what they still had to do once they have completed the first war, and what they still needed to do until they could say that they have finished the war.

We find that during the Second Temple, the Greeks inflicted decrees on Israel and did not let them engage in Torah and Mitzvot (commandments). It therefore follows that the whole miracle was that after the war they were able to engage in Torah and Mitzvot, and this is regarded as the miracle being only on spirituality.

But on Purim, the miracle was over the bodies, meaning over corporality. This is why on Hanukah we are to commemorate the miracle with praise and gratitude and not with feast and joy. But regarding Purim, it is written, “feasting and rejoicing,” meaning things that relate to the body, too, since then the miracle was on the bodies, called corporeality.

We need to understand all this in relation to the work of the Creator. Our sages said, “With all your heart—with both your inclinations, the good inclination and the bad inclination.” We need to understand how we can serve the Creator with the evil inclination. First we need to understand the meaning of the evil inclination. It is known, and we already said that the evil inclination is the will to receive for oneself. That is, wanting to please oneself causes one to make all the sins. This means that wanting to transgress is only because he wants to receive pleasure for himself, so he steals and robs and lies, and does not want to take upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven because “a slave is happy when left alone.”

But the good inclination is wanting to please others: either wanting to please people or to please the Creator. This is the meaning of the commandments between man and man and between man and the Creator.

The Creator created the world in order to do good to His creations. For this reason, a desire to receive pleasure—to enjoy, to please themselves and not give to others—was installed in the creatures. Hence, when one has to work in order to please others, it is very difficult for him because it is against nature.

The Torah’s obligation that we should work in order to bestow is only a correction, to avoid the bread of shame, for one who receives a gift from his friend is ashamed to receive, but the Creator wants wholeness in the pleasures that He wishes to impart us. For this reason, He has given us work and labor, so that each will receive according to his work. Then, if one achieves a degree where he can receive all the pleasures while his intention is only to bestow contentment upon his maker, there will be wholeness in the pleasures.

For this reason, we have two works: 1) the work of the good inclination, when one does not want to receive any pleasure for oneself, but all of one’s actions are only to bestow, and this is why he prays and engages in Mitzvot. This is called a “soul,” “spirituality.” This is the degree that they were awarded on Hanukah, meaning that the Greeks did not let them engage in Torah and Mitzvot, and they had a pause from this work.

2) However, the war was not over yet. Now they have the work of receiving all the pleasures that the Creator wanted the creatures to receive, so now they have to work on achieving a degree where we can receive all the pleasures while their intention is only to give by that contentment to the Creator. At that time, when receiving all the pleasures, it is regarded as serving the Creator with the evil inclination, meaning that he is performing a Mitzva by receiving the pleasures with the body.

Therefore, when they succeed and can receive everything that the Creator wants to give, the miracle is called “redemption of the bodies,” when the miracle was on the body, which is the will to receive.

This is why it is written about Purim, “feasting and rejoicing,” which imply that the miracle belongs to the body, meaning to corporeality. For this reason, on Purim they observed and received, which is already regarded as the end of the work. But on Hanukah, it was only a pause in the war and we must carry on. This is why on Hanukah the intimation is Hanu-Koh (paused here).

May the Creator open our eyes and award us complete redemption soon in our days, Amen

Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag,

Son of Baal HaSulam