Only the Light in the Torah Reforms the Person
Torah refers to the Light clothed in the Torah, meaning, as our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice.” This refers to the Light in it, since the Light in it reforms it.
Baal HaSulam, Shamati [I Heard], Article no. 6,
“What Is Support in the Torah in the Work”
The Torah is the only spice to annul and subdue the evil inclination, as our sages said, “The Light in it reformed them.”
Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”
A person, born with the will to receive and wishing to correct it to in order to bestow, which is known to be against nature, has only one counsel: Only through the Light of the Torah can he invert into being in order to bestow.
Rabash, The Rungs of the Ladder,
“What Is Torah and Work on the Path of the Creator”
The most important thing is to be rewarded with Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, which is called “a vessel of bestowal,” meaning equivalence of form. And this is why the remedy of Torah and Mitzvot was given, so that through it we will be able to exit self-love and reach love of others.
Rabash, The Rungs of the Ladder,
“What Is the Substance of Slander and Against Whom Is It?”
Our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice,” meaning the Light spices the evil inclination. In other words, the Creator provides the strength to desire to do all of one’s deeds for the sake of the Creator.
Rabash, The Rungs of the Ladder,
“As I am for Free, You Are for Free”
The Torah that we which engage in is in order to subdue the evil inclination, to attain Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator: that all one’s actions will be solely in order to bestow. Alone, it is impossible that one will able to go against nature, since the matter of mind and heart, in which one must be complemented, necessitates receiving assistance, and that assistance is through the Torah, as our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice.” This is so because while engaging in It, the Light in it reforms them.
Rabash, The Rungs of the Ladder,
“What Is Torah and Work on the Path of the Creator”
Man was created with the will to receive self-pleasure, called “the will to receive for one’s own benefit.” We are told that one has to nullify that will to receive and acquire a new Kli [vessel], called “the will to bestow.” Not every person is rewarded with it, meaning with the ability to acquire Kelim [vessels] suitable for the Upper Light to reside in.
For one to attain the will to bestow, our sages said (Kiddushin 30), “I have created the evil inclination, I have created for it the Torah as a spice,” meaning that specifically through the Torah, one can achieve the Kelim of bestowal.
Rabash, The Rungs of the Ladder, “The Importance of Faith”
How one can achieve complete equivalence of form, so all one’s actions are to give to others, while man’s very essence is only to receive for oneself? By nature, we are unable to do even the smallest thing to benefit others...
Indeed, I admit that this is a very difficult thing. One cannot change the nature of one’s own creation, which is only to receive for oneself, much less invert one’s nature from one extreme to the other, meaning to not receive anything for oneself, but rather act only to bestow.
Yet, this is why the Creator gave us Torah and Mitzvot, which we were commanded to do only in order to bestow contentment upon the Creator. Had it not been for the engagement in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma (for Her Name), to bring contentment to the Creator with them, and not to benefit ourselves, there would have been no tactic in the world that could help us invert our nature.
Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”
Through the natural remedy of the engagement in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma, which the Giver of the Torah knows, as our sages wrote (Kidushin 30b), “The Creator says, ‘I have created the evil inclination, I have created for it the Torah as a spice.’” Thus, that creature develops and marches upward in degrees of the above spoken exaltedness, until he loses all remnants of self-love and all the Mitzvot in his body rise, and he performs all his actions only to bestow, so even the necessity that he receives flows in the direction of bestowal, so he can bestow.
Baal HaSulam, Matan Torah [The Giving of the Torah], Item 12
Thus, we see that the main work we must do, to achieve the purpose for which the world was created—to do good to His creations—is to qualify ourselves to acquire vessels of bestowal. This is the correction for making the King’s gift complete, so they will feel no shame upon reception of the pleasures. And all the evil in us removes us from the good that we are destined to receive.
We were given the remedy of Torah and Mitzvot so as to achieve those Kelim. This is the meaning of what our sages said (Kidushin, 30), “The Creator says, ‘I have created the evil inclination, I have created for it the spice of Torah,’ by which he will lose all the sparks of self-love within him and will be rewarded with his desire being only to bestow contentment upon his Maker.”
Rabash, The Rungs of the Ladder,
“What Is the Substance of Slander and Against Whom Is It?”
By not being able to exit the will to receive for oneself and feeling the need for the Creator’s help, a need is born to be assisted by the Creator. The Creator’s help is through the Torah, because the Light in it reforms him, meaning he receives vessels of bestowal.
Rabash, The Rungs of the Ladder,
“What Is the Foundation upon which Sanctity Is Built”
Our sages said, “The Creator said, ‘I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice,’” meaning that the Torah and Mitzvot spice the evil inclination, to give it flavor, for the evil inclination is called the will to receive.
When it is for oneself, it is tasteless, for the restriction is over it, and it remains in a vacant space. But through Torah and Mitzvot, one reaches the intention to bestow, and with this vessel, called “will to receive,” one receives all the delight and pleasure.
Rabash, The Rungs of the Ladder, “Concerning the Goal”
Our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice” (Babba Batra, 16). The matter of the spice is as our sages said, “If only they left Me and kept My Torah, the Light would reform them” (Yerushalmi, Hagiga, 6b). Thus, that there is a power in the Torah to reform a person, referring to the evil within man, meaning to make the will to receive be in order to bestow.
Rabash, The Rungs of the Ladder, “Man Is Created in the Torah”
We see that the purpose of creating the worlds and the souls was entirely with one intention: to correct everything to be in order to bestow, which is called Dvekut [adhesion], “equivalence of form.” The Creator said about the Torah, “I have created the evil inclination, I have created the spice.” In other words, after a person receives the Torah as a spice, the evil inclination is corrected to being in order to bestow, as written in The Zohar, “The angel of death is to become a holy angel.”
Rabash, The Rungs of the Ladder,
“What Is Torah and Work on the Path of the Creator”