{"id":12527,"date":"2025-12-17T14:25:55","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T14:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.kabbalah.info\/?post_type=book&#038;p=12527"},"modified":"2025-12-17T14:25:56","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T14:25:56","slug":"when-balak-took-counsel","status":"publish","type":"book","link":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/when-balak-took-counsel\/","title":{"rendered":"435. When Balak Took Counsel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>July 1978<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Balak took counsel, he said, \u201cand I will drive it out from the land.\u201d He said, \u201cThat degree to which Israel grip is from the land for certain,\u201d for it is&nbsp;<em>Malchut<\/em>, which is called \u201cland.\u201d This is the meaning of \u201cFor it is mightier than I, for certain, who can fight and stand up to Israel,\u201d for their degree is stronger than his.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For this reason, \u201cI will drive it out from the land,\u201d meaning from their degree, which is&nbsp;<em>Malchut<\/em>. If I drive them out from that land, meaning he can make them sin, he will be able to do with them everything he wants (<em>The Zohar<\/em>, Balak, Item 264).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We should interpret why he says that the degree of&nbsp;<em>Malchut<\/em>&nbsp;is stronger than his degree.&nbsp;<em>Malchut<\/em>&nbsp;is called \u201cabove reason,\u201d as our sages said, \u201cOne should not say \u2018impossible\u2019 about pork, but rather \u2018possible\u2019 but the Torah forbade.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is called \u201cabove reason,\u201d when the reason of the created being cannot agree to go against the will to receive, since man\u2019s nature is that when he must relinquish the pleasure, he must know and understand why, meaning why I am making a concession, what does my body gain from preventing myself from enjoying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At that time, it should be replied that it is either because of fear, meaning that by relinquishing pleasure, he denies himself the afflictions of Hell, meaning that when he weighs the value of the flavor of pleasure compared to the taste of suffering he will suffer for that pleasure, he sees that it does not pay because the suffering is far greater and it is not worthwhile to endure great suffering in return for a short-lived pleasure while the suffering is eternal suffering in Hell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or from the perspective of love, meaning that in return for relinquishing a fleeting moment of tasting pleasure, he will receive a greater pleasure and more prolonged, namely the pleasures of the next world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For those two reasons, if a person compares the commandment to the transgression, he has the power to overcome the pleasure. Yet, in that state, although the body understands this, the evil inclination might come and confuse his calculations because everything follows the calculation of the will to receive, so the evil inclination has the power to confuse him and blur the depiction of heaven and hell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But when one is rewarded with all his power of detaining being because of the kingdom of heaven, meaning that he is rewarded with not having to work for himself at all, but only in order to bestow, the evil inclination cannot argue with him because it has nothing to give him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the meaning of the words, \u201cand I will drive it out from the land,\u201d from the degree of the kingdom of heaven, and then I will be able to make them sin. But a \u201cland,\u201d which is the kingdom of heaven, is stronger than him, and with this degree, it is utterly impossible to make them sin, and this is with respect to the heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is likewise with respect to the mind: He must believe that the Creator hears the prayer. That is, if a person avoids everything and wants to adhere to the Creator, the Creator connects to him and brings him closer, as in \u201cHe who comes to purify is aided,\u201d as&nbsp;<em>The Zohar<\/em>&nbsp;writes, \u201cwith a holy soul.\u201d In other words, the Creator is revealed to him, and then he naturally forgets about the whole world and remembers only the Creator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Come and see that the \u201cThe Lord, when you came out from Seir as you marched from the field of Edom, the earth quaked\u2026\u201d When the Creator wanted to give the Torah to Israel, He went and summoned the children of Esau but they did not accept it, as you say, \u201cthe Lord came from Sinai, He shone on them from Seir,\u201d who did not want to receive it. He went to the children of Ishmael but they did not want to receive it, as it is written, \u201cappeared from Mount Paran.\u201d Because they did not want it, He returned to Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We should understand why He went first to the children of Seir and Ishmael and did not go to the children of Israel straight away, if Israel would receive the Torah. Afterward, He would go to the children of Esau and Ishmael so that they, too, would receive the Torah. Also, if Israel would receive the Torah, there would be no place for the children of Esau and Ishmael to also receive the Torah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We should interpret this according to the path of truth, according to the order of the reception of the Torah, as in \u201cI have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice\u201d (<em>Baba Batra<\/em>&nbsp;16), by which we are rewarded with the Torah of the Creator, in the sense that the Torah is the names of the Creator. In other words, the Torah is not a sorting of&nbsp;<em>Tuma\u2019a<\/em>&nbsp;[impurity] and&nbsp;<em>Tahara<\/em>&nbsp;[purity], but rather the whole of the Torah is the names of the Creator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When one begins to observe Torah and&nbsp;<em>Mitzvot<\/em>&nbsp;[commandments], he thinks that the Creator invited the children of Seir, as well, meaning he thinks that he can observe the Torah together with the children of Esau, since man consists of all seventy nations, and Esau and Ishmael are the roots of the nations of the world because the&nbsp;<em>Klipa<\/em>&nbsp;[shell\/peel] of Esau is the quality of the \u201cleft,\u201d corresponding to the mind, and the&nbsp;<em>Klipa<\/em>&nbsp;of Ishmael is the quality of the \u201cright,\u201d corresponding to the heart, while the rest are branches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hence, a person agrees to observe Torah and&nbsp;<em>Mitzvot<\/em>&nbsp;but does not want to relinquish the quality of the children of Esau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Afterward, he sees that they do not agree to receive the Torah if he does not relinquish them, so he realizes that with the children of Esau, this will not go well. This is considered that they did not want to receive it, meaning that the person sees that with them he will never come to the real Torah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Afterward, he thinks that perhaps together with the children of Ishmael he will be able to observe the real Torah, but then he sees that if he does not relinquish the children of Ishmael, he will never achieve the real Torah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is considered that a person thinks that the Creator gave the Torah to the children of Ishmael, that even if he did not relinquish them, the Creator intended to give them the Torah, meaning together with them. But when he truly understands, he sees that even with them He did not give the Torah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is considered that \u201cthey did not receive it,\u201d meaning they do not agree. Once a person has come to a complete resolution that the children of Esau and the children of Ishmael do not want the Torah, this is considered that a person has achieved the recognition of evil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At that time, a person returns to the quality of Israel, called&nbsp;<em>Yashar-El<\/em>&nbsp;[straight to the Creator], where everything he does must be aimed directly for the sake of the Creator, and this is the meaning of&nbsp;<em>Yashar-El<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then he has a choice: He can relinquish everything and take upon himself the quality of&nbsp;<em>Yashar-El<\/em>, or stay as he is, observing Torah and&nbsp;<em>Mitzvot<\/em>&nbsp;with the aim he has had since childhood, or accept above reason, called \u201cWe will do\u201d before \u201cWe will hear,\u201d meaning \u201cfor the Lord alone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the meaning of the words, \u201cThen he returns to Israel,\u201d meaning that then a person returns to Israel because the Torah was given only to the discernment of the name \u201cIsrael.\u201d This is called \u201cWho has chosen us from among all the nations.\u201d Only when one has come to a state of&nbsp;<em>Yashar-El<\/em>&nbsp;is he capable of receiving the Torah. It follows that the real Torah is given to a person only when he is in the quality of Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prior to this, he can observe the Torah in practice, but not with an intention that is in order to bestow contentment upon his Maker, and then he receives the Torah as a means, which is \u201cI have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.\u201d Afterward, when he becomes Israel, he is rewarded with the internal Torah called \u201cthe names of the Creator.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>July 1978 When Balak took counsel, he said, \u201cand I will drive it out from the land.\u201d He said, \u201cThat [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":6246,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"topic":[26],"class_list":["post-12527","book","type-book","status-publish","hentry","topic-rabash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Kabbalah | 435. 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