Article No. 26, 1988<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is known that \u201claw\u201d means without intellect, meaning above reason. That is, there is no reasonable way to answer why this was done this way, or why it should be done this way, in the way and manner that the Torah requires of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, our sages said (Minchot<\/em> 29b), \u201cRav Yehuda said, \u2018Rav said, \u2018When Moses went to heaven, he found the Creator sitting and tying crowns to the letters. He said to Him: \u2018Master of the world, who is holding You back?\u2019 (RASHI interprets that \u2018crowns\u2019 are like the tags [markings] in a book of Torah. \u2018Who is holding You back?\u2019 refers to what You wrote, that You must add tags to them). He told him, \u2018In a few generations time, there will be a man whose name is Akiva Ben Yosef. He will interpret myriad laws over each and every dot.\u2019 He said to Him: \u2018Master of the world, you have such a person, yet You are giving the Torah through me?\u2019 He replied, \u2018Be quiet! Such was My thought.\u2019 He said to Him: \u2018Master of the world, You showed me his Torah [law], show me his reward.\u2019 He saw that his flesh was being weighed in a slaughterhouse. (RASHI interprets that this is the place where butchers weigh meat, as said in Berachot<\/em>, p 61, that his flesh was combed with iron combs.) He said to Him: \u2018Master of the world, this is the Torah, and is this its reward?\u2019 He replied, \u2018Be quiet! Such was My thought.\u2019\u2019\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We see Moses\u2019 above reason in two ways: 1) Above reason that the Creator gave to Moses, as it is written, \u201cMoses will delight with the gift of his lot, the gift of the Torah that will come through him, which is certainly only the salvation of the Lord.\u201d A person does not know why he deserves such a great gift. That is, Moses saw that this was not according to his actions. In his view, the Torah should have been given through Rabbi Akiva and not through him. 2) Above reason in the opposite way: Moses asked, \u201cThis is the Torah, and is this its reward?\u201d It seems to be a punishment. Above reason, he had to say that this was a reward and not a punishment, as Moses thought. This is called \u201cthe law of above reason,\u201d which the mind cannot attain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It follows that when a person takes upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven, the body asks, \u201cWhat will you get out of it?\u201d There should be two answers to this: 1) Lo<\/em> Lishma<\/em> [not for Her sake]. That is, a person should make up for himself some answer that the body will understand with its reason that the goal is worthwhile. This is called Lo<\/em> Lishma<\/em> and it is called \u201cwithin reason.\u201d As we explained (Essay No. 23, Tav-Shin-Mem-Het<\/em>), we should discern five manners in Lo<\/em> Lishma<\/em>, and a person should sort out the Lo<\/em> Lishma<\/em> in the state that he is in, so the body will understand that it is worthwhile to work because of the Lo<\/em> Lishma<\/em>, that now it understands that it is worthwhile. In this manner, he will have fuel for work and he will always have a place to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, a person should also try to begin to work and seek tactics by which to get to Lishma<\/em> [for Her sake], since a person does not know what is Lishma<\/em>. Its literal meaning is \u201cto work for the sake of the Creator,\u201d and who does not know what is to work for the sake of the Creator? Still, before a person begins to engage in work in order to achieve this \u201cfor the sake of the Creator,\u201d he cannot know what \u201cfor the sake of the Creator\u201d means, since in the work, what counts is the feeling, not the intellect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this reason, any person who wants to achieve Lishma<\/em> must take time, part of his workday, meaning his Lo<\/em> Lishma<\/em>, and begin to work on Lishma<\/em>. Then he will understand the meaning of \u201cabove reason,\u201d meaning that the body does not understand why it needs to work for the sake of the Creator. At that time, he also begins to understand what it means that a person must believe above reason. Conversely, in Lo<\/em> Lishma<\/em>, it is not so difficult to believe in the Creator since the body understands that it is worthwhile to observe Torah and Mitzvot<\/em>, as it is written (Essay No. 23, Tav-Shin-Mem-Het<\/em>) that there are five manners of Lo<\/em> Lishma<\/em>, and when the body finds something for which it is worthwhile to observe Torah and Mitzvot<\/em> [commandments\/good deeds], it is regarded as \u201cworking within reason.\u201d Since the body understands within reason that the matter is worthwhile, that he will gain more by being secular, meaning that his body will enjoy more than one who does not observe Torah and Mitzvot<\/em>, for this reason, the Lo<\/em> Lishma<\/em> is called \u201cwithin reason,\u201d meaning that the need for it makes sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But if he takes some of the time he has dedicated to Torah and work on the basis of Lo<\/em> Lishma<\/em>, for example half an hour a day, and begins to ponder whether it is worthwhile to work for the sake of the Creator, meaning not for his own benefit. Then, the body begins to ask the person Pharaoh\u2019s question, who said, \u201cWho is the Lord that I should obey His voice?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We should ask, How come before he began to think of working Lishma<\/em>, he was content with faith in the Creator and the body did not ask those questions, whereas now that he is thinking only about walking on the path of bestowal, the body begins to ask such questions? The answer is that we see that when a person works for an employer, we should consider who is the employer and what is the salary that the employer pays. However, although he wants to know the employer, it does not matter. That is, even if he never sees the employer, but he is confident about the reward, a person agrees to work. Moreover, even if he is told that he will never see the employer, it will still not matter. Rather, what matters is the salary. This determines if the work is worthwhile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But if a person is told, \u201cThere is an important person here who needs people to work for him. However, he does not pay anything for the work.\u201d In this case, he needs to see for whom he needs to work. That is, he wants to know if he is really an important person worth working for without any reward. However, if there are people who respect him and he sees that he will be honored, meaning that people who know the important person will respect him for his work because he is serving an important person, he can work even if he himself will never see him and will never be able to see if what they say is true so that he will grasp his greatness and importance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is also because this honor is not that the important person respects him, but he derives pleasure from people\u2019s respect for him because he is serving an important person. It follows that here it is enough that he sees the people who respect him, and therefore does not have such a great need to see the employer. Rather, he is content with knowing the people who pay his salary through their respect for him. That is, it is enough for him to see the people who pay his reward, which is called \u201crespect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conversely, if he is in a place where there are no people who respect that important person, meaning he sees that according to the service that people give him, he sees that they appreciate him as one who is a little bit important, and only a handful of people regard him an important person, but those people are not important in the eyes of those who have little regard for him. In that state, a person faces a dilemma: Should he listen to those people who are not appreciated among the respected people?<\/p>\n\n\n\n That is, people of influence in the general public say that that person should be appreciated because of his importance, but only to a degree, not simply admire him above reason, meaning more than seems reasonable. But a person sees that the influential people are the majority and the most valued, and if he listens to them, meaning serve him according to their appreciation of him, these people will respect him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or, he should slightly obey those who are not influential, or even worse, that it is a disgrace to openly say that he has connected to these lowly people who say that he is an important person and worth serving devotedly. Since the rule is that the majority rule over the individual with their views, when a person begins to work in order to bestow and not accept any return, each time, the majority view awakens\u2014perhaps it is not worthwhile to work and serve him with his heart and soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this reason, Pharaoh\u2019s question awakens each time: \u201cWho is the Lord that I should obey His voice?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It follows that the reason that the \u201cwho\u201d question appeared is the \u201cwhat\u201d question, which is the wicked\u2019s question. It is written about it, \u201cA Wicked, what does he say? \u2018What is this work for you?\u2019\u201d That is, when a person wants to go against the general public, who say that they settle for working Lo<\/em> Lishma<\/em> because Lishma<\/em> is for people who can go above reason, and we, the majority of Israel, settle for being able to observe Torah and Mitzvot<\/em> with the aim to benefit ourselves, and doing everything with the aim to benefit the Creator is no business for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet, he does want to work in order to bestow and not receive at all. At that time the body asks, \u201cWho is the Lord?\u201d That is, are you sure that He is so important that it is worthwhile to work for Him? In other words, working for respect, meaning to work in order to be respected, does not apply here because the general public does not appreciate him because he is working in order to bestow. On the contrary, they degrade him and say about him that he is a fool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this reason, he must establish the importance of the Creator by himself. Here is where man\u2019s ascents and descents begin. Those two\u2014the \u201cwho\u201d and \u201cwhat\u201d\u2014come together and ask him their questions, and a person cannot always overcome them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It follows that the main reason why a person begins to ask questions, and he is seemingly asking because he is ready to do the holy work and has no lowliness in himself, except it is hard for him to go with faith above reason, this is why he asks the \u201cwho\u201d question. But in truth, the questions arise out of man\u2019s lowliness, since he is immersed in self-love and cannot overcome his self-love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is human nature that it is difficult for him to say that he is wrong, that he does not have a view about himself, but that he follows his heart, as our sages said, \u201cA wicked is in the hands of his heart,\u201d as it is written, \u201cAnd Haman said in his heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this reason, it is better for him to say that if he knew the Creator, he would certainly serve the Creator. But since the mind does not understand the whole matter of faith above reason, it argues, \u201cWho is the Lord that I should obey His voice?\u201d But in truth, his will to receive claims that it only wants to understand if this is true, and wants an answer to the question, \u201cWho is the Lord that I should obey His voice?\u201d That is, when we say to the body that we need to work for the sake of the Creator and not for our own sake, this is why he asks the \u201cWho is the Lord\u201d question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But when he worked with the intention Lo<\/em> Lishma<\/em>, he did not need to ask the \u201cWho is the Lord\u201d question, since the work Lo<\/em> Lishma<\/em> is within reason. Hence, the acceptance of faith is also within reason for him. That is, both the mind and the heart are built above reason, and both need the Creator\u2019s help in order to be rewarded with mind and heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It follows that \u201claw\u201d means that it is above reason, and the intention pertains to faith, and by faith above reason he becomes Israel. Conversely, before he was rewarded with faith above reason, he is regarded only as \u201csacred still,\u201d called \u201cdust.\u201d That is, he still tastes in the spirituality that he attains the taste of dust. This is called \u201cShechina<\/em> [Divinity] in the dust.\u201d This is so as long as he does not accept above reason. This is as we said above, that we must ask the Creator to give us the strength to be able to go above reason and not be enslaved to our reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conversely, the Torah is called \u201cjudgment,\u201d which is specifically within reason. In other words, he must understand the Torah, called \u201cthe names of the Creator.\u201d However, it is impossible to attain the Torah, called \u201cwithin reason,\u201d before he is rewarded with \u201cIsrael,\u201d as it is written (Hagigah<\/em> 13a), \u201cRabbi Ami said, \u2018One does not deliver words of Torah to idol-worshippers, as it was said, \u2018He did not do so to any nation, and they do not know the ordinances.\u2019\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n From this we see two things: 1) The Torah is called \u201cjudgment,\u201d as it is written, \u201cand they do not know the ordinances.\u201d 2) It is forbidden to teach judgments, meaning Torah, to idol-worshippers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The question is, Why is it forbidden to teach an idol-worshipper Torah if he wants to learn? It stands to reason that it should be to the contrary: By learning, there will be sanctification of the Creator. That is, even the idol-worshipper will acknowledge the importance of the Torah, so why the prohibition?<\/p>\n\n\n\n We should interpret this in the work. It means that idol-worshippers and Israel are in the same person. Before one is rewarded with the law, called \u201cfaith above reason,\u201d he is still not called \u201cIsrael,\u201d who can attain the Torah as \u201cthe names of the Creator,\u201d regarded as \u201cwithin reason.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the work, there is a rule that Baal HaSulam said, that where it is written \u201cforbidden,\u201d it means \u201cimpossible.\u201d This is the meaning of the Torah being given specifically to Israel, since Israel is the quality of Yashar-El<\/em> [straight to the Creator], which means that all his actions are for the sake of the Creator. This is called Dvekut<\/em> [adhesion], \u201cequivalence of form.\u201d When a person is rewarded with this law, then comes the time when he can be rewarded with the judgment called Torah. This is the meaning of the Torah being given only to Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It therefore follows that \u201cjudgment\u201d is the first nine Sefirot<\/em>, which is regarded as the Torah. This is received within reason. It is as our sages said (Baba Metzia<\/em> 59b), \u201cRabbi Yehoshua stood on his feet and said, \u2018She is not in heaven.\u2019 Rabbi Yirmiah said, \u2018For the Torah has already been given on Mount Sinai.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n By this we will understand the side-locks, which are like the edges of the field. We must leave a side-lock, as the ARI wrote (The Study of the Ten Sefirot<\/em>, Part 13), \u201cMalchut<\/em> de<\/em> Galgalta<\/em> is called Pe\u2019ah<\/em> [side-lock]. This is known from the words, \u2018You shall not reap the sides of your field. Leave them for the poor and for the stranger.\u2019 Malchut<\/em> is the last of them, like the edge of the field that remains after the harvest. Likewise, after one shaves the hair of the head, which is like the harvesting of the field, one should leave the side-lock, which is as the Malchut<\/em> of the hair. It follows that the Pe\u2019ah<\/em> [side-lock] is forever Malchut<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Accordingly, we see in the words of the ARI that he likens the reaping of the field to the shaving of the hair of the head. A person must not receive for himself the Pe\u2019ah<\/em>, which implies Malchut<\/em>. Rather, both on the field and on the hair of the head, the Pe\u2019ah<\/em> must be kept, implying Malchut<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The meaning is that Malchut<\/em> is regarded as faith above reason, when a person has no clue. This is the intimation that a person has no permission to receive into his reason, but that he must leave this to the Creator. That is, a person\u2019s hand does not reach there, and \u201chand\u201d means \u201cattainment,\u201d from the word \u201cIf a hand attains.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is called \u201claw.\u201d Conversely, the Torah, which pertains to the upper nine, is regarded as \u201cjudgment,\u201d which pertains specifically to man. That is, he must attain this within reason, as was said about the Torah, \u201cShe is not in heaven.\u201d This means that the field, except for the Pe\u2019ah<\/em> of the field, is called \u201cthe upper nine,\u201d regarded as the Torah, which pertains to man. But the Pe\u2019ah<\/em> of the field and the Pe\u2019ah<\/em> of the head imply Malchut<\/em> and pertain only to the Creator, meaning above human reason. This is called \u201centirely for the Creator, and man\u2019s hand does not attain there at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Torah is the opposite. It pertains specifically to people, to accept it within reason. This is the difference between Torah and Mitzva<\/em> [commandment\/good deed]. Concerning the Mitzva<\/em>, we were not given the reasons for the Mitzvot<\/em>. Rather, we accept the Mitzvot<\/em> without any rhyme or reason, but as a constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the Torah, our sages said, is named after man. That is, the Torah pertains to man. The question is that once it is written, \u201cHe desires the Torah of the Lord,\u201d and another time, it is written, \u201cHe will contemplate His Torah day and night.\u201d They interpret, first it is called \u201cthe Torah of the Lord,\u201d and once he has learned it and has internalized it, it is called \u201chis Torah.\u201d This is why Raba said, \u201cThe Torah is not his, for it is written, and he will contemplate His Torah day and night\u201d (Kidushin<\/em> 32b).<\/p>\n\n\n\n We see that the Torah is named after man. That is, it must come within reason. This is called \u201cjudgment,\u201d the opposite of \u201claw,\u201d which is faith. However, this work of faith, which is regarded as Tzedakah<\/em> [righteousness\/charity] and not Torah, should be with joy, as it is written, \u201cServe the Lord with joy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, a person taking on himself the kingdom of heaven should be with joy. He must not look at the nature of humans, that it is hard for him to go against the intellect, and that instead, he wants to understand and to know what he wants. And since a person cannot immediately assume this work of acceptance of faith above reason, so it will give him joy, we must begin this work coercively, even though the body disagrees. This is regarded as a person having to \u201ctake upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven as an ox to the burden and as a donkey to the load.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, one must know that he must achieve the degree of joy upon assumption of the kingdom of heaven. It is as we say after reading Shema Israel<\/em> [Hear, O Israel], \u201cAnd you will love the Lord.\u201d This means that although a person begins coercively, he must come to a state of joy, and then he will not feel \u201clike an ox to the burden,\u201d which always wants to throw away the burden because it cannot stand it. Conversely, when he is glad about it, it cannot be said that he regards it as a burden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now we can interpret the meaning of the \u201cred cow on which no burden has been placed.\u201d Since a red cow is called a \u201claw,\u201d which is Malchut<\/em>, it is written, \u201con which no burden has been placed.\u201d A \u201cburden\u201d means that he is still not in gladness and still cannot observe, \u201cAnd you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Article No. 26, 1988 It is known that \u201claw\u201d means without intellect, meaning above reason. 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