It is written in The Zohar, VaYeshev (236), “‘And it came to pass as that day, and he came home to do his work…’ ‘It came to pass as that day,’ the day when the evil inclination rules the world… When a man comes to repent for his sins, or to engage in the Torah and to observe the commandments of the Torah.”
In “The Soul of…” we say, “You hear the outcry of the poor, You listen to the shouting of the meager and You deliver. Who is like You, and who can be compared to You?” It seems as though we should ask why specifically the prayer of the poor and the meager? It seems as though he means that the outcry and the shouting are over what is written later, meaning “Who will be like,” and “Who can be compared.” But how can one even conceive of resembling the Creator?
We can interpret that there are three kinds in the work of the Creator, in each of which there is the matter of the evil inclination and the good inclination.
1) When he observes Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] with the intention Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], such as in order to be called “Rabbi.” At that time, the intention is that in return for the work, he wants for the created beings to pay him for his labor in Torah and Mitzvot.
It follows that he is not working for the Creator to pay his reward, but for people to pay his reward. Hence, he works in public so that people will see that he is working for them, so they will pay him. If he acts in concealment, who will pay his reward?
The second kind is that he works Lishma [for Her sake], meaning for the Creator to pay his reward, to give him the good of this world or the good of the next world. At that time, he works in concealment, so people will not see his work, which is called “so the outer ones will not have control,” when people on the outside see his work.
By this, he would fall under the governance of the outer ones, meaning to demand reward from people for his work, but he wants the Creator to pay his reward. This is called Lishma, since he wants the Creator to pay his reward. It follows that he is working for the Creator.
Conversely, one who wants people to pay his reward does not work for the Creator, but only for people. The evidence is that he wants people to pay his reward for the labor, and this is called Lo Lishma. Lishma, however, is when he works for the Creator. At that time, he does not want people to pay him, only the Creator.
The third kind is not in order to receive reward. At that time, the governance of the evil inclination comes and asks, “What is this work for you?” This is called “the question of the wicked one,” for then there is nothing to answer him.
In Lo Lishma, the evil inclination has no control since he has what to answer, meaning that people will reward him, that they will pay his reward. In the evil inclination of the second kind, when he works Lishma, he still has what to answer—that the Creator will reward him, meaning that the Creator will pay his reward.
This is not so with the evil inclination of the third kind, which is not in order to receive reward. When it asks, “What is this work for you?” there is nothing to answer to this question. Hence, only then does it gain control.
This is why The Zohar says, “When is the day of the governance of the evil inclination? It is precisely when one wants to repent, to return to his source.” That is, just as our source is only to bestow upon the creatures, we should also be only bestowing upon the Creator, as it says, to engage in Torah and observe the commandments of the Torah.
We should also interpret in the above manner that he wants to engage in Torah so he can observe the commandments of the Torah, as our sages said, “Great is the learning that yields action” (Kidushin 40b).
When one wants to work not in order to receive reward, there is the control of the evil and he cannot perform the Mitzvot of the Torah. This is, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,” meaning that through engagement in Torah, one can come to observe the Mitzvot not in order to receive reward.
This is the meaning of “the outcry of the poor and the shouting of the meager.” What do they want? “Who is like You, and who can be compared to You?” meaning equivalence of form, “As He is merciful, so you are merciful.”
They are called “poor and meager,” meaning in knowledge, since they have nothing to answer to the evil inclination when it asks “What is this work?” while in the two previous kinds there is knowledge what to answer it. Hence, specifically then they are called “poor and meager,” and only then is there control to the evil inclination.