Article No. 20, 1987<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Zohar<\/em> (Korah, Item 4) interprets the verse, \u201cAnd Korah took.\u201d It asks, \u201cWhat is \u2018took\u2019\u201d? And it replies, he \u201ctook a bad advice for himself. Anyone who chases what is not his, it escapes him. Moreover, he loses even what he has. Korah chased what was not his; he lost what was his and did not win the other one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We should understand in terms of the work, what is the thing that we can say that it belongs to a person, that we can say that it is his, and what is the thing of which we want to say that it is not his. The Zohar<\/em> says about Korah that he chased what was not his and lost what was his, as well. What do these words tell us in the work, so that a person will know how to keep himself from Korah\u2019s punishment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is known that the primary innovation in creation is the will to receive, as it is written (The Study of the Ten Sefirot<\/em>, Part 1, Histaklut Pnimit<\/em>), \u201cHis desire is to do good to His creations, which is the connection between the Creator and the created beings. He has created a deficiency, meaning a desire and craving to yearn to receive delight and pleasure. Otherwise, it is impossible to enjoy anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is known that it is forbidden to speak of that which preceded creation. Instead, all that we speak of is by way of \u201cBy Your actions, we know You.\u201d This means that we speak of that which exists in the creatures. Yet, why did the Creator make such a reality? He could have done it differently! Of this, we are forbidden to speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We see the nature that is in creation, that it is impossible to enjoy anything unless there is craving for it. Moreover, the craving for something determines the amount of pleasure that we can derive from the thing we crave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this reason, we attribute this Kli<\/em> [vessel], called \u201cwill to receive delight and pleasure,\u201d to the Kli<\/em> that the Creator has made. We have no permission or ability to revoke this Kli<\/em>, or to spoil that will to receive. Once that Kli<\/em> has come out and received the abundance that the Creator wanted to give her, the Kli<\/em> felt that the root is the giver and the Kli<\/em> is the receiver, that there is no equivalence of form here. For this reason, the Kli<\/em> desired to be a giver like her root. She placed a Tzimtzum<\/em> [restriction] on the quality of reception in a manner that the Kli<\/em> is a receiver and the Emanator is the giver. Instead, she said that she will not receive anything but only to the extent that she can receive in order to bestow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We attribute that Kli<\/em>, who receives only if it is in order to bestow, to the creature, since this is an opposite action from what the Creator has created. The Creator created the lower one to receive, as this is the purpose of creation, called \u201cHis desire to do good to His creations,\u201d so the creatures will enjoy. But the lower one took the opposite action: It wants the Creator to enjoy. This is its gauge; it does not consider itself, its own pleasure, and in every act it calculates whether it should do this or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, if it brings contentment to the Creator, it will do it. But if it does not see that it will bring contentment to the Creator, it avoids taking this action. This means that all the calculations it does prior to any operation are according to the ability to delight the Creator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The abundance that spreads over this Kli<\/em>, called \u201cin order to bestow,\u201d is called \u201cthe light of line.\u201d It means that the light illuminates according to a line and a measure that the receiver can aim to bestow, which is equivalence of form. It does not regard its own pleasure because it wants Dvekut<\/em> [adhesion]. Hence, it turns out that all the many worlds and Partzufim<\/em> and Sefirot<\/em> were made because of the receivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This means that while the light was illuminating in the Kli<\/em> of the Creator, called \u201cdesire to receive in order to receive,\u201d called Malchut<\/em>, that Kli<\/em> had the ability to receive the delight and pleasure that was in the thought of creation because certainly, to the extent of delight and pleasure that He wants to give, He has created the size of the Kli<\/em>. Therefore, the Kli<\/em> received all the light and there was only one, simple light there, as it is written in the book Tree of Life<\/em>, that \u201cPrior to the Tzimtzum<\/em>, the upper, simple light filled the whole of reality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, Malchut<\/em>, called \u201cwill to receive,\u201d received all the abundance that He wanted to give, since that Kli<\/em> came from the Emanator. For this reason, He certainly made the Kli<\/em> whole, so she could receive what He wanted to give. But afterwards, Malchut<\/em> said that she did not want to receive with the Kli<\/em> of the Creator, but that she had her own Kli<\/em>, which she has made. But since the lower one, who is the created being, cannot make a Kli<\/em> like the Creator, instantaneously, but rather, the lower one is limited in what it should do, hence, that Kli<\/em> was made slowly-slowly, according to the ability to aim in order to bestow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many degrees emerge from this, meaning that the light shines according to the ability of the Kelim<\/em> [vessels] of the lower ones. He interprets likewise (The Study of the Ten Sefirot<\/em>, Part 1) what the Tree of Life<\/em> says, that the light expanded slowly-slowly. He asks, \u201cHow can it be said, \u2018slowly-slowly,\u2019 in spirituality, since there is no time there, and \u2018slowly-slowly\u2019 implies time?\u201d He explains there in Ohr Pnimi<\/em> [Baal HaSulam\u2019s interpretation to the text of the ARI] that slowly-slowly means that the light does not expand at once, but by degrees, to the extent that the lower ones can receive in order to bestow. This is regarded as \u201cslowly-slowly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It therefore follows that we have two Kelim<\/em>: 1) The Kli<\/em> that we attribute to the Creator. This is the Kli<\/em> called \u201cwill to receive in order to receive.\u201d That Kli<\/em> emerged in whole because from the perspective of the Creator, she has wholeness. 2) The Kli<\/em> we attribute to the creature, namely the desire to bestow. That Kli<\/em> is established slowly-slowly because the lower ones cannot make that Kli<\/em> at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We should know that all of our work is based on a single point, meaning that the Torah and Mitzvot<\/em> [commandments\/good deeds] that we are commanded to observe are in order to obtain the Kli<\/em> that we should make. We can make that Kli<\/em> only through Torah and Mitzvot<\/em>, as Rabbi Hananiah Ben Akashia says, \u201cThe Creator wanted to refine Israel, therefore He gave them plentiful Torah and Mitzvot<\/em>, as was said, \u2018The Lord desired for His righteousness; He will increase the Torah and glorify.\u2019\u201d It is also written in the essay \u201cPreface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,\u201d And it is known that refinement comes from the word Hizdakchut<\/em> [becoming refined]. It is as our sages said, that the Mitzvot<\/em> were given only so as to cleanse Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It follows that we only need to make the Kli<\/em>, called \u201cvessel of bestowal.\u201d We lack nothing else. It is as it is written, \u201cAnd I will bless you in all that you do.\u201d That is, \u201cdoing\u201d refers to the Kli<\/em>. If we make the Kli<\/em>, the Creator will fill it with blessing, meaning abundance, called \u201cHis desire to do good to His creations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The vessel of bestowal is prepared for us in both mind and heart, since the Creator has given us a Kli<\/em> to receive. For this reason, we have a yearning to understand everything with our intellect, since that desire has given us the yearning to gain knowledge. This causes us to want to understand the Torah and Mitzvot<\/em>. However, at the same time, we have a yearning to understand Providence, meaning that man contemplates how the Creator behaves with him in a manner of guidance of good and doing good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here we need to believe above reason. Since a desire to understand and learn was installed in the body, it is clear that a desire to understand the ways of the Creator has awakened in him. However, that desire to understand and to learn was said about the Torah, not about Providence. In other words, with this desire, with this force, we must understand everything only with regard to the Torah, and not with regard to Providence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Baal HaSulam once explained what we say in the blessing, \u201cWho has formed the man and created in him holes-holes, hollows-hollows. It is revealed and known before Your throne that should one of them open, or one of them become blocked, it will be impossible to exist and stand before You.\u201d He said that the difference between \u201choles\u201d and \u201chollows\u201d is that a hole should be blocked, but a hollow should remain hollow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interpretation: There are \u201claw\u201d and \u201cjustice.\u201d \u201cLaw\u201d means that we should accept the matter as a law above reason. This is faith, and acceptance of faith should be above reason. It follows that lack of knowledge, understanding, and the intellect of something keeps it as a hollow, without knowledge. Each time, one must be careful not to fill up this hollow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the blessing, \u201cwho has created,\u201d we say, \u201c[should] one of them become blocked, it will be impossible to exist.\u201d However, a hollow, meaning a place of lack of knowledge, must not be filled. Rather, we should always go above reason. This is called \u201cmind,\u201d in order to bestow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is not so with justice, which is the Torah. Here, specifically, is the place where one should try to do what he can in order to understand the Torah. The Torah is called \u201cthe names of the Creator,\u201d and it is upon us to understand and attain. And here, in the Torah, the lack that is called \u201chole\u201d should be blocked, meaning there should be no lack, and the more the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this reason, we say, \u201cshould one of them be opened \u2026 it will be impossible to exist.\u201d That is, \u201cshould one of them be opened\u201d means that the hole will be opened, that there will be a hole and a lack in understanding the Torah. In such a state, a person has no existence or establishment, and instead, he should immediately see to filling that lack with the light of Torah, since the light of Torah reforms him. This is the Kli<\/em> that is suitable to receive the upper abundance. Afterward, the light that is clothed in the Torah comes to him, called \u201c613 deposits,\u201d as it is written in the \u201cIntroduction of The Book of Zohar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, normally, it is to the contrary. That is, the burden of the kingdom of heaven, which we should accept above reason, specifically here everyone wants to understand the Creator\u2019s Providence over people within reason. But with regard to the Torah, here they agree to go above reason and do not place sufficient attention to understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is written in The Zohar<\/em> (Hukat<\/em>, Item 2): \u201cThis is the statute of the Torah.\u201d It is also written, \u201cThis is the Torah,\u201d and it is not written, \u201cstatute.\u201d \u201cThis is the Torah\u201d is to show that everything is in one unification, to include the assembly of Israel, which is Malchut<\/em>, with the Creator, who is ZA<\/em>, so that all will be one, without separation. \u201cThis\u201d is general and particular together, meaning male and female together, since Vav<\/em> is male, meaning ZA<\/em>, which is the general. \u201cThis\u201d is Nukva<\/em> [female], meaning Malchut<\/em>, who is particular. But \u201cthis\u201d without an addition of Vav<\/em> [in Hebrew] is the statute of the Torah. Of course, she is Malchut<\/em>, called \u201cstatute,\u201d and she comes from ZA<\/em>, who is called \u201cTorah.\u201d She is only the judgment of the Torah, the decree of the Torah, which is Malchut<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We should understand the meaning of ZA<\/em> being called \u201cTorah\u201d and \u201cgeneral,\u201d and \u201cmale\u201d and Vav<\/em>, while Malchut<\/em> is called \u201cthe judgment of the Torah,\u201d \u201cthe decree of the Torah,\u201d \u201cparticular,\u201d Nukva<\/em>, and the \u201cassembly of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the above, we can interpret that the Creator is called ZA<\/em>, as the ARI says, that the guidance of the world is in the form of ZA<\/em> and Malchut<\/em>, where ZA<\/em> is called \u201cgeneral,\u201d meaning that everything extends from him. However, the one who receives from him, always takes only parts. That is, each time a part of the general appears in the parts. From that perspective, Malchut<\/em> is called the \u201cassembly of Israel,\u201d assembling within her parts of Israel, who is called ZA<\/em>. This is with regard to Malchut<\/em> being the receiver of abundance from ZA<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, there is another interpretation. Malchut<\/em> is called the \u201cassembly of Israel\u201d because she contains all the souls. From that perspective, we should interpret that Malchut<\/em> takes abundance from ZA<\/em> and bestows upon the souls of Israel. However, we should discern between the bestowal of ZA<\/em>, called \u201cTorah,\u201d and the bestowal of Malchut<\/em>, called \u201cthe judgment of Torah\u201d or \u201cthe decree of Torah,\u201d which is called \u201cstatute.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is known that Malchut<\/em> is called \u201cfaith,\u201d meaning that the kingdom of heaven should be accepted as a law above reason, for such is the decree of Torah, to accept the faith above reason. This is the meaning of her being regarded as \u201cmind.\u201d Also, in the \u201cheart,\u201d there should also be above reason and not consider what the body explains to us about what we should do and what we should not. Instead, everything must be above reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the Torah is regarded as \u201cgeneral,\u201d meaning that everything extends from it. It means that doing good to His creations, which is the delight and pleasure, is included in His bestowal, and the strength to take upon himself the above reason is also included in the giver. That is, ZA<\/em>, who is called \u201cthe Creator,\u201d must give that force so that the lower one will have the strength to overcome its reason and go above reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This force is called \u201clight,\u201d and any light comes from the upper one. Only the Kli<\/em> pertains to the lower one. A Kli<\/em> means a lack, and a lack pertains to the lower ones. That is, if the lower one feels that he is lacking that force, meaning that he wants to go above reason but he cannot, this is called \u201ca Kli<\/em>.\u201d It was said about this, \u201cThere is no light without a Kli<\/em>,\u201d as it is known that \u201cThere is no filling without a lack.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In that respect, we can call ZA<\/em> by the name \u201cgeneral,\u201d since he includes everything. That is, he gives both the faith above reason and the Torah, called the \u201cnames of the Creator.\u201d We already said that the \u201cnames of the Creator\u201d refers to the delight and pleasure revealed through the Torah, as the general name of the Creator is The Good Who Does Good. It is explained in the Torah how within each and every letter in the Torah, a special light is revealed. This discernment is called \u201cthe Torah, and Israel, and the Creator are one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Accordingly, we understand that when he refers to ZA<\/em> by the name \u201cTorah,\u201d it is with respect to the names of the Creator. This is called \u201cwritten Torah,\u201d where there is nothing to add or to subtract, since there is no attainment whatsoever in the giver, called \u201cthe Creator.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this reason, there is nothing to add or to subtract, but rather everything that there is in the giver is revealed in the receiver. That is, what exists in the giver manifests in the receiver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet, not everything that is in the giver is revealed in the receiver. Instead, each time, another detail is revealed in the receiver. For this reason, Malchut<\/em>, which is the receiving Kli<\/em>, is called \u201cparticular,\u201d and ZA<\/em> is called \u201cgeneral.\u201d For this reason, Malchut<\/em> is called \u201coral Torah,\u201d where \u201coral\u201d means disclosure, for it discloses what is in the written Torah, called ZA<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Malchut<\/em> is called the \u201cjudgment of Torah,\u201d which means that each discernment of the Torah that appears in Malchut<\/em> is according to the judgment concerning what is permitted to be revealed. In other words, since Malchut<\/em> is called the \u201creceiver,\u201d and there was a judgment over the vessels of reception that it is forbidden to receive except to the extent that it is possible to aim to bestow, for this reason there are ups and downs in Malchut<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She is called \u201cstatute\u201d because with regard to faith, she is a law without knowledge. If we ask ourselves, why should faith be a law? the answer is that such was His decree, that we should serve Him above reason, and this is why it is a law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From that perspective, Malchut<\/em> is called the \u201cdecree of the Torah,\u201d meaning that the Torah decreed that such would be the order of the work on work above reason. It is as RASHI says about the verse, \u201cThis is the statute of the Torah\u201d: \u201cSince Satan and the nations of the world cause Israel to say, \u2018What is this Mitzva<\/em> [commandment] and what is its purpose?\u2019 This is why it is written about it, \u2018statute,\u2019 \u2018It is a decree before Me,\u2019 and you have no permission to doubt it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is why we should not ask why the Creator wants us to serve Him above reason in regard to this, as well. That is, on this question, too, comes the answer that it is above reason, since common sense dictates that if our work is within reason, meaning that the body understood the ways of the Creator\u2019s guidance with the creatures, there would be no room for heretics and secular people to turn away from Kedusha<\/em>. Rather, everyone would be servants of the Creator. It was said about this (Isaiah 55): \u201c\u2018For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways,\u2019 says the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is why The Zohar<\/em> writes \u201cand this\u201d with a Vav<\/em> [in Hebrew]. It is to show that everything is in one unification, and to include the assembly of Israel, who is Malchut<\/em>, in the Creator, who is ZA<\/em>. We should interpret that unification is equivalence of form. For this reason, when the lower ones engage in Torah and Mitzvot<\/em> with the aim to bestow, by this they cause, each in the root of his soul, which is Malchut<\/em>, that it will be in order to bestow like ZA<\/em>, who is called \u201cmale,\u201d meaning a giver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This means that including the assembly of Israel, which is Malchut<\/em>, in the Creator, who is ZA<\/em>, by this appears all that there is in the general, which is ZA<\/em>, the giver, in the Malchut<\/em>, who is the receiving Nukva<\/em>. Through the unification, each time, a new detail emerges in Malchut<\/em>. This is why Malchut<\/em> is called \u201cparticular.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the above, we should understand what we asked, What is private property, of which we can say that it belongs to the individual alone? According to what we explained, a person has in his world only the Kelim<\/em> that he has made, called \u201cvessels of bestowal.\u201d This is all that belongs to a person. But what enters the Kelim<\/em> of reception does not pertain to man because that Kli<\/em>, the Creator has made it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this reason, anything that enters these vessels does not belong to man as well, and all that a person has is what he placed in vessels of bestowal. For this reason, when Korah<\/em> wanted to receive in Kelim<\/em> that were not his, meaning in vessels of reception, he lost his Kelim<\/em>, as well, which he had from the desire to bestow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Article No. 20, 1987 The Zohar (Korah, Item 4) interprets the verse, \u201cAnd Korah took.\u201d It asks, \u201cWhat is \u2018took\u2019\u201d? 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