Bold and in quotes: Original text of Baal HaSulam
Regular: Commentaries of Rav Laitman
lowercase italics: emphasized words
Capitalized italics: transliteration from Hebrew
We are reading in the book Shamati, Article #103, Whose Heart Makes Him Willing.
In the verse, “of every man whose heart maketh him willing ye shall take My offering.” This is the meaning of “the substance of an offering from Sanctity.” In other words, how does one come to a state of offering? Through Sanctity.
This means that if one sanctifies oneself with the permitted, he thus comes to a state of offering, which is the Holy Shechina (Divinity), called “my offering.” And this is the meaning of “of every man whose heart maketh him willing.” All of his heart, meaning if he had given all his heart, he is then rewarded with My offering, to cleave to the Holy Shechina.
It’s a correction that a person should make in his vessels of bestowal when he first corrects them. And this effort is called an “offering” when he attains the degree of the greatness of Sanctity. He is attached to bestowal. He appreciates bestowal more than anything he can imagine in his heart. When he comes to a state of offering, it is called “whose heart makes him willing.” And that’s what they tell us about offering and tithing. These are the tiny parts in which we correct ourselves in all 125 degrees, i.e., in acquiring the quality of bestowal and then working with it to correct our natural Kelim, our vessels of reception.
First, a person begins offering with his whole heart. Then he works with that Sanctity with the heart until he becomes sanctified. Meaning that he works with it until he is attached to the holy Divinity, until the whole of the Upper Light, the Creator, is in his heart, i.e., a person’s heart is the holy Divinity. Because we understand from the study of perception of reality that what we perceive is perceived within our own desires, not outside of them.
That’s why when we talk about all the discernments with respect to Divinity, the Creator, and, of course, the creature, all of the discernments are within a person’s desires, either naturally in order to receive or by correction in order to bestow. But they are all in man’s heart. That’s why man’s heart is called by the names of all these desires.
So “offering” means that one’s heart reaches the degree of the holy Divinity and then he continues to work with this correction of bestowal to cause the filling of Divinity, the appearance of the Creator in Divinity.
In the verse, “in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart,” espousalsmeans being of inferior degree, which is lowliness. If a person takes upon himself to serve the Creator in a state of lowness, and at the same time he is happy with this work, this is an important degree. And then one is called “a bridegroom” to the Holy Shechina[the individual himself].
It is because we attain everything from within our own Kelim. So a person feels gladness when he works in lowness with respect to his own desires, when he has to subjugate them. And he is happy that he can do it through the Upper Light, which reforms him, which gives him the ability to bow his head toward the quality of bestowal so it dominates him. So being able to receive in order to bestow is called “the Creator lands in him” or that “a person has become the bridegroom of the holy Divinity.
”There are many depictions here from the perspective of the Creator and from the perspective of the creation. It doesn’t matter how we picture it. We don’t have a single word that isn’t pictured in the Kelim,i.e. that it is possible to say about a person. Meaning that “the Creator’s name is called upon you.” And the person is called “the bridegroom of the holy Divinity.” It’s a little strange to think about a person this way: that he can seemingly be instead of the Creator. Because the Creator is called “the bridegroom” when he descends to Divinity.
But here, he talks about a person, whose corrections are made this way. And what is the Creator? Who is the Creator? The Creator is “come and see ( BoReh).” In other words, how from the corrected Kelim, a person appreciates the quality of bestowal and to the extent that a person can receive in order to bestow, he can also appreciate this bestowal at the level of receiving in order to bestow. And by that, one knows the quality of bestowal not as bestowal, but as something that comes as giving from the Creator. This is already an additional discernment that appears to a person within his vessels of reception in order to bestow.
Question: What’s the difference between cleaving to the holy Divinity and cleaving to the Creator?
It’s two different things that were just explained. It’s the Divinity, and the One who dwells. To cleave to Divinity means that a person builds only vessels of bestowal. Cleaving to the Creator means that a person already receives in order to bestow. His vessels of reception are not only in subjugation, but they are working to the extent that he can receive in order to bestow. They work by subjugating themselves; they assist in bestowal.
And by that, he feels that the Upper Light fills him. Meaning that there is no Light, there is no Upper One, there is no descending, and nothing fills. It’s all sensations within a person’s desires, impressions and events that a person experiences in his desires. That’s what they’re called.
Everything is according to the names that we learn. The names are vessels. The name is the Masach (screen) and the Ohr Hozer (Returning Light). So, if a person only subjugates his will to receive and appreciates the will to bestow, then it’s called “building the structure of Divinity.” It’s like acquiring the vessels of Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE). When he completes this work and moves to work with the raised AHP (Awzen, Hotem, Peh),then it is considered that by doing so, he seemingly pulls the Light to come down in him.
What does it mean? Where does that sensation that the Lights descend on him (that the Creator is clothed in him) come from? That sensation comes from a person being willing to work with his vessels of reception under the quality of bestowal. When he works with them in this way, those Kelim are depicted as being filled with bestowal, but not with passive bestowal as they had in Galgalta ve Eynaim. They are filled with active bestowal, which is called “Light of Wisdom clothed in Light of Mercy.
”And when he works in this way, within the correction of these Kelim, he feels that it’s the Light of Wisdom clothed in the Light of Mercy. He also feels the Giver of the Torah, the One previous to him and previous to all of these phenomena, the Host.
That’s what all of these sensations in the Kelim that are born one by oneare called: first of all “Divinity” and then “the Light that fills Divinity.” And then it’s a person who does it and that’s why he is called “the bridegroom.” Then he feels that it’s the Upper Force, which comes previous to his whole being. These sensations appear one within the other. Actually, it appears by delving into a person’s desire. The deeper he goes into his desires, the more he discovers his roots not from outside of his desires, but within them. And we can’t come out of our desires, as we learned in the perception of reality.
We just heard this from Rabash. He explained that from the time the Temple was ruined, “the taste of intercourse was given to transgressors.” And another saying says that “the taste of intercourse was given to those who serve the Creator.”
So, he explains that if you talk to a person on the street, he has all kinds of ordinary desires. However, if you talk to someone who is in the spiritual degrees, he has desires that are millions of times greater. Greater in what? In the same things as an ordinary person, i.e, for food, for sex. Sex is like the root of all pleasures, corresponding to the first coupling, the Upper unification, the spiritual coupling. So, he feels it several times more. Why? Because he is in the spiritual degrees, so the failures that he feels are considered by him to be sins. Whereas they are not considered sins for an ordinary person.
It’s like the joke of the doctor who was asking his patient, “Are you suffering from intoxication?” The patient answers, “Well, I am not suffering, I am enjoying it.” So, why is it called a sin? It is thus called because a person himself decides that it’s a sin, even though he works with it. Each and every pleasure, even the smallest pleasure, is multiplied by the size of the degree and then it becomes something great.
That’s why we can’t evaluate a person in the revealed Torah. It depends on his degree and then everything in this world is arranged correspondingly. This is called that “everyone’s flaws are his own flaws.”
Question: Is it correct to relate to the desires as something external, as something I work with but that it’s not me, or are my desires me?
The Creator created the desire. To the extent that a person feels oneself in comparison to that desire, the person’s attitude to the desire is called “the creature.” What the Creator created is not called “a creature;” it’s not outside of the Creator’s domain (so to speak). “Creature” means that it is outside of the Creator. That’s why he has a name.
From where does a person relate to his own desires as a Kli (vessel) that he works with? From the point in his heart. When he receives that point in the heart, he begins to feel that there is “me” and my desires and he begins to judge himself from the side like an analyst. So if a person is attached to his desires and doesn’t feel himself outside of them, he can’t criticize himself in spirituality. Not so in corporeality, where there are those who can talk about their desires, some do it more, some do it less.
If from within the point in the heart i.e., from the point of bestowal, meaning, from the Creator’s angle (since the point in the heart is a part of God Above), one can relate to the desires, begin to judge them from the same angle as the Creator, then he is called “the creature.” A creature is called “that same point where a person identifies with the Creator,” not the other way around.
Because if it’s the other way around, then you are under His domain. Then a person begins to criticize his desires and sees that that’s his whole Kli.
So, how does he relate to his Kli? He looks at his Kli as if from the lid of the Kli, from the Masach. And then he begins to see what to do with this Kli, i.e., to open, to close, to restrict. And then he’s considered a human who already begins to use what he is given. But he wasn’t given anything other than desires and that’s it.
The correction of the desire is called “making a Mitzvot (Precepts/Commandments).” In other words, correcting a desire from use “for himself” to use “for others.” The connection of all of the desires into the other souls is called “building the structure of Divinity.” The work he performs for all the other souls is called “public work,” i.e., when he suffers from the public’s affliction and then he is awarded the public’s comfort, because all of the fillings go through him. All of that is within the desires; that’s all we have.
We talk about the desires to the extent that they are revealed to a person. They become revealed to the extent that one has the strength to correct them. If a person doesn’t rush to correct the desires according to the Reshimot (Reminiscences) that appear in him, then those desires that are not corrected are felt in a person as pains. There are no more forces; we don’t need any more forces. A person feels suffering in those desires that are not corrected, but the Reshimot have already awakened in them and disclosed them.
When he corrects these desires, this is called making a Mitzva. When the desires are filled, that’s called “receiving the Light of the Torah.” The Light is divided into two: either it corrects the desires and is called “Reforming Light” or the Light fills the desires and is called the “Light of the Torah.”
The sum of all these corrected desires is called “a person’s soul,” the corrected soul. A person’s soul is corrected to the extent that these desires, these Taryag (613 numeric value) desires of his soul can connect to all the other souls outside of him. They are felt as being outside of him. That’s called “the correction.”
In bonding to the other desires that are outside of him, there is a gradual correction, i.e., one by one, gradually. Gradually means in phases called “degrees.” In correcting his soul, when a person connects to the other souls he becomes connected by 125 degrees of connectedness. To the extent that he connects with the other souls, the General Upper Light that is called “the Creator” becomes apparent in his Kli and in the other Kelim that are connected to him.
Again, it’s all in the Kelim. When a person completely corrects himself by being connected to all the other souls as one man in one heart, this is called “reaching the end of his correction” to the 125th degree. And then all the Light that fills him is called “the Light of Ein Sof (Infinity).” It’s all in the desires. Outside of them there is nothing.
Question: How does one choose one’s desire with respect to bestowal prior to the Machsom (Barrier) if all of his desires are corporeal below the Machsom?
How does one examine one’s desires? What should he examine? We said that we do not fumble with our desires: desire for this, desire for that. How do I know the Taryag desires? Where are they? Oh, I lost one. Where did it go? What kind of work is this? The work should be in connecting outside of me, in the group, in Arvut (mutual responsibility/guarantee), not in seeking this and that desire in me.
On the contrary, I won’t find myself if I fumble in them. I’ll find myself, my essence, on condition that I exit myself and work with others. If I constantly turn to my own desires, I’ll drill a hole in the boat. It’s forbidden to do that. I will be tied to my ego.
This turning to the desire that he is asking about stems from a mistake. It’s wrong if you’re thinking that a person can correct his desire and not that the Upper Light corrects his desires. Only when a person goes out, subjugates and gives to society in order to provide them confidence i.e., the force of the Arvut, and they provide him the force of the Arvut, then this reciprocity draws the Light that Reforms.
After he performs this work with the group, if he studies with society, then the Light that Reforms really shines on him. When he just works with the group, they build “the preparation for the lesson.” That’s why it’s called “the preparation for the study of the Torah.” After they come and study together, then that’s the act of the Light itself; it’s what they draw. They come to the lesson to awaken the Light, after they have already prepared themselves for it to a certain extent, and then the Light shines for them. So he doesn’t need to check how many desires he has there.
Are all the Taryag within me? Are they all revealed or maybe one of them is concealed? Do I see them all, do I not? How does he know? It has to do with the soul. For the time being, his soul is like a point that doesn’t show its action. How can he see Taryag desires in it? He can’t even see one, but only some yearning for something, which he doesn’t know what it is. It’s not called “a desire.”
Question: According to what you just said, is there a meaning to the times when a person agrees with society and times when a person feels resistance to society? Maybe that too doesn’t matter?
We are speaking only about one principle: that our work is outside of a person. Don’t dig into yourself; work on bonding with others, and that’s it. That’s what Baal HaSulam writes in his essay The Essence of Religion and its Purpose. Many think that our purpose is ethics that tell a person don’t do this, don’t do that. Don’t work with this desire, with that desire. That is not correct. It’s a different Torah; it’s a behavioral teaching, just like people in general are taught. And even today it’s improper to teach the people this way.
It was good for the exile when we said that you’ll be punished, don’t do that, watch yourself, you’ll be in trouble. Why is that good? Because during the exile, there was no other choice but to preserve themselves this way. However, now as we approach the time of Messiah, we have to go from the Torah of ethics to the Torah of Kabbalah. It’s a different method entirely. Don’t worry about your desires, i.e., what each of them is, but put yourself under the Light that Reforms. It’s time to be reformed.
Previously, it was as if you were frozen. That is called “the time of the exile.” Now you have to get out of it, but you can’t do it yourself. And also in the meantime, the Torah of ethics is not working anymore, because the will to receive has already grown above it. We can see it also in our senses. It just doesn’t help the people who previously were fed by it and sustained themselves through it.
So, it is time for the method of Kabbalah. Meaning, we shouldn’t scare people, limit them, force them to check themselves and constantly be alert and petrified. But on the contrary, come out of yourself, “lose” yourself for others; work on Arvut, which you lost from the beginning of the exile. Work on it now in order to attain it and attain it through the Light of the Torah, which you also lost. When you ask for it now, it has to reform you. It is time to do that and that’s it. So, we have to understand that this is the only method that now has to work, only this one.
Question: How do we work in subjugation toward the society?
There are many manners of working in subjugation toward society. It is written, “The friend’s corporeality is your spirituality.” Actually, we are speaking only about the special idea that unites us, which is to be the common Kli for the revelation of Divinity, for the inspiration of Divinity. So, inside that Kli we can feel the quality of bestowal. First of all, to feel the Arvut and through the Arvut as Baal HaSulam writes, “everyone receives the sensation of confidence that only then one can become rid of one’s ego."
One can’t come out of his ego before he is one hundred percent certain that he won’t lack anything. My ego totals one hundred percent, it’s not ninety nine percent. Maybe it can be scratched somewhere, somehow and uprooted? It’s impossible, it is one hundred percent. Meaning, one has to fill it 100% with complete confidence that he won’t miss anything. And then, he won’t feel that he has this ego. So, is that the corrections of the ego? It’s not the correction, I am filling it. It’s not considered lacking anymore. But what am I filling it with? By giving myself, in the meantime, to society and wanting to be given to society.
Because of that, I receive from society that sensation of confidence. Meaning, my confidence against my ego and also my dedication to society reciprocally exist in me. So it turns out that I don’t get rid of and don’t neutralize all my desires and the sensation of confidence, the Arvut. I kind of sit on it, and in this way, society sustains me in that. If I leave society, I’ll immediately lose the Arvut and fall into the Klipa (shell) again. Meaning, to the extent that I invest, I get back.
Actually, this is one’s work with society. And everyone in society must be ready and willing to do the same work with me. Baal HaSulam says that you can’t receive the Arvut if the whole nation does not agree to it. Meaning, it has to be by consent. It doesn’t matter if it is a small or big society, but it has to be complete consent. Otherwise, if anyone is missing anything, then you don’t have the measure of confidence that the Arvut gives. But that’s the work.
Question: It says if a person sanctifies himself then he is permitted. What is the meaning of “you are permitted”?
In the wisdom of Kabbalah, “permitted” and “forbidden” are questions about knowing. Forbidden means impossible; permitted means possible. “Forbidden” means it is not yet in my power to do it, and “permitted” means I am already able do it. That’s the meaning of forbidden and permitted. There is no permitted or forbidden at Gmar Tikkun (End of Correction), because a person knows. He is not limited in any way, i.e., he is not prohibited and not limited in any way that it is impossible. Everything at Gmar Tikkun is possible, so he becomes free.
Question:What is the offering?
“Offering” means offering before the Creator. Meaning, to appreciate the quality of bestowal in everything you can do. It is to worry about the quality of bestowal: Bina, the quality of Bina, vessels of Galgalta ve Eynaim ( GE); to not work with vessels of reception for the time being. It’s bestowal in order to bestow. It’s a degree of reward and punishment.
Question: For me to know what sin is, I have to go back, look where I went wrong and look and say, “Okay, well, I was wrong here.” But now, you just said, I mustn’t test my desires.
All our sins and all our Mitzvot are with respect to bonding with the public, i.e., with the group, on top of my ego. That’s all there is.
Where was the breaking of the Kelim? Let’s use the words that we can have a hold on, from Kabbalah. Where was the mistake, the sin, the breaking? In what? In the bonding among the souls.
As a result, each and every soul received an egoistic desire, meaning intentions to receive over their desires. Previously, they had desires to bestow in those desires and that’s it.
If there are intentions to receive in the soul, it is detached from other souls. If its intentions of the desires are to bestow, then it is connected to the other souls. A soul has Taryag desires. To correct them from the intention to receive to the intention to bestow, i.e., from detachment to bonding with others souls, is called “keeping the Taryag Mitzvot.” That can be done only by studying the wisdom of Kabbalah. That’s what Baal HaSulam and all the other Kabbalists determined. We study it in The Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot.
Why did Kabbalists obligate every person from Israel to study Kabbalah, in general, every person, not just those from Israel? He explains it in Item 155, Introduction to TES. So you don’t have to dig into anything in yourself and worry about anything exceptcorrecting your intentions on everything you have. Don’t count your desires. Can you even count to 613? So, again, Taryag desires is a concept. It’s a concept.
All in all, what we learn is the ten Sefirot. Above the Chaze (chest) there are 248 desires called “organs”, these are vessels of Galgalta ve Eynaim, vessels of bestowal. Below the Chaze of the Partzuf of the soul we have 365 desires in the vessels of reception, which are called “365 tendons,” 365 desires to receive.
These are terms and not really numbers. You also have their explanation as numbers, as branches in Olam ha Zeh (this world) with respect to the Earth, in the desires of the still, with respect to plants and trees, crops. etc. With respect to desires of plants, to desires of animals and beasts, being kosher, and various things. With respect to animate and the society, humanity, and the desires of the speaking within you, i.e., how they are corrected from receiving to bestowal.
There is the whole of the Talmud Bavli, the large Shulchan Aruch, the Jewish book of the Court of Law, with such words and detail that one will drown. But we don’t do that. They were written by people who were in those degrees and went through all these tiny details with precision like in an encyclopedia. What each desire is and how it corrects and is connected to all the other desires in the degrees of a person’s desires in the still, vegetative, animate and speaking.
And from this we have the Taryag Mitzvot, which are explained in this way, like in the TalmudBavli or like in the Shulchan Aruch, or in other books. You have desires from Above and the order of the corrections and connections as it is explained in the language of the branches.
But when those who are not in the spiritual world yet, in those degrees, begin to read them, they won’t be able to picture that it’s about desires of a person. When I do something in the field, what do I do with my inanimate desires by that? And with the crop in the field, with the desires from vegetative, or with an ox or with slaughtering; then it’s animate.
And if I am doing man’s work—Cohen, Levi, the temple, donations, and tithing—that’s speaking; or something to do with my neighbors, stealing, whatever. I’ll be confused and think about other things. I’ll be thinking about Olam ha Zeh, because that’s the way they wrote it. The people in the Gemarah were great Kabbalists, all of them spiritual and holy people. But what they wrote isn’t right for our crudeness. We can’t penetrate this language and constantly remember that it’s about spirituality.
This is why we have to read only Kabbalah books that are written in the language of Kabbalah. We are not confused there. There it’s about Partzufim, Sefirot and Olamot (worlds). Only there with these books, do we (who are weak of mind, and do not yet perceive the thing for what it is) not deviate from the way that is directed for spiritual correction. Because there, they use the same words that we should use and not through some concealment. That’s why it turns out that in Kabbalah books they speak openly and in the other books like Gmarrah and the Shulchan Aruch they speak in the hidden language.
Question: Does the Light that Reforms correct a person’s intention or show him how to correct the intention himself?
The Light that Reforms does not merely bring a person correction i.e., as if you couldn’t see before and now you do, or you didn’t understand before and now you do understand. It also brings one the whole path of the evolution from the previous state to the present state so that a person will understand the elements, the process. In this process, one attains the essence of it, i.e., the internal forces, the internal process, and the implementation of the Reshimot. This is called “attainment.” Attainment means the deepest degree of understanding
You have several levels of understanding: either you understand or you understand more, or you understand much more. Or you just understand superficially, or you understand the internal nature and how things are connected. You understand where it comes from, etc. So, the deepest degree of the whole root in every phenomenon is called “attaining the phenomenon."
Question (cont'd): So, is it as if the Light only shows me what I have to change or does it change me?
It’s the same if the Light explains to you who you are, what you were and changes you, or when you understand because of the Light, who you are, what you are and thus, change. It’s the same. Let’s put it this way. Of course the Upper Force works and you change and then you understand. Who comes first, who works first? Of course, the Light.
Question: How can one connect himself to the group if his will to receive overcomes his ability to give?
That’s why one needs a group. It is in order to change his desire. How does he do it? The question “How do we do that?” is actually the question “How do we operate the Force that changes us?” How do we operate the Force? We don’t know that system. It’s hidden. But we are told some external things we have to do. Do this and you’ll see the changes. It’s like a child. He plays with toys. Now you tell me, how do you explain to a child the ways in which he’ll get smart through playing with all these toys? Even you, the grown up doesn’t know how it happens. It’s a system that is hidden from us.
But play with it and you’ll get the response that they say you will. It’s called “I labored and found.” Here is only the remedy. It’s impossible to see how the system works here because a person isn’t yet in the corrected Kelim that allows him to see it. Thus he will see it this way each time. How can I see how I grow from two years old to three years old? Even though I am only two years old, I have to now be at the level of three years old and see how I am connected to it and how I am preparing the system to elevate me to degree number three. How is that possible?
To the extent that the Light affects me through my games, I get smarter. And to the extent that the Light corrects me, I begin to understand the system, but not before. And that’s why we have to use the Kabbalist’s tips. For the time being, it’s a tip. Either use it, fine, or you don’t. But to understand before your Kelim are correctedis impossible. And we shouldn’t even ask that of others. You can’t force others to do this, to do that. Only explain to them the method and give them examples and conditions to try to do it. There is nothing other than that. There is no coercion in spirituality.
This is why, if he has a group, no problem, he can participate, and participate together with us (like during this lesson). And if he is now studying with us, then it is obvious that he is with us; he is integrated with us. And if he can also participate in all kinds of efforts in dissemination, then he is really integrated with us and must get the same progress that we do. That’s what will happen.
Question: In the last generation, do individual corrections bring about the collective corrections?
Yes, of course. The last generation is called “the first generation after the exile that finds itself in conditions that it must elevate itself to the degree of Redemption.” It’s not the last generation; call it “the first generation” as Baal HaSulam says in the article Time to Act.
The time has come when the exile is over. From what point is it over? From the point when the point in the heart transcends all of the desires. Previously, people were buried under the egoistic desires. Now, the point in the heart is appearing.
From the point in the heart, they started feeling an inclination to return to the Land of Israel; from the point in the heart, man begins to yearn for spirituality. If they don’t get an answer to that, they go into depression and drugs and whatever, even though they don’t know it’s about spirituality. So, all over the world in general, and in Israel specifically, we are at the level called “the last generation.” “Last” in the sense that correction is the last phase in the whole process of reality. But as the generation, we are the first.
Question (cont'd): Does the correction of individuals in the last generation bring individual corrections?
Of course, the correction of the last generation is that the souls again reunite to the same state that existed prior to the ruin. Prior to the ruin, all the souls were connected together as one man in one heart, i.e., in the state of “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” the great rule of the Torah, and the Upper Light was filling all of them. That was only in the level Israel, prior to the ruin. Now, we have to again return to that same state as one man in one heart, with love of man, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”
And with that Light which will fill our Kli, we should also turn to the whole of humanity and join the whole of humanity to us. This is called the realization of the duty of the chosen people, which exists for this very purpose. So, of course, the work in the first generation after the exile and in the last generation (meaning in the last phase, i.e., the phase of the correction) is only the rebonding of the souls. And Yisrael must make that correction first and set an example, show the method and help the rest of the world. This is why our situation is so complicated and unpleasant, because we are behind in our mission.