{"id":13057,"date":"2025-12-22T19:34:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T19:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.kabbalah.info\/?post_type=book&p=13057"},"modified":"2025-12-22T19:34:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T19:34:33","slug":"concerning-the-giving-of-the-torah-2","status":"publish","type":"book","link":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/concerning-the-giving-of-the-torah-2\/","title":{"rendered":"161. Concerning the Giving of the Torah \u2013 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I heard during a Shavuot<\/em> meal<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The matter of the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai does not mean that the Torah was given then, and that now it is not. Rather, the giving of the Torah is an eternal thing\u2014the Creator always gives. However, we are unfit to receive. But then, on Mount Sinai, we were the receivers of the Torah. And the only merit that we had then was that we were \u201cas one man in one heart.\u201d This means that we all had but one thought\u2014the reception of the Torah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, from the Creator\u2019s perspective, He always gives, as it is written in the name of the RIBASH [Rav Isaac ben Sheshet], \u201cMan must hear the ten commandments on Mount Sinai every day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Torah is called \u201cthe potion of life\u201d and \u201cthe potion of death.\u201d We should ask, \u201cHow can two opposites be in one subject?\u201d Everything we see with our eyes is nothing more than sensations, but reality itself does not interest us. Hence, when one studies Torah and the Torah removes him from the love of the Creator, this Torah is certainly called \u201cthe potion of death.\u201d And if the Torah brings him closer to the Creator, it is certainly called \u201cthe potion of life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Torah itself, meaning reality in itself, is not taken into account. Rather, the sensations determine the reality here below. And the Torah itself, without the receivers, it seems we should interpret the Torah in and of itself as light without a Kli<\/em> [vessel], where we have no attainment. This is considered \u201cessence without matter.\u201d And we have no attainment in the essence, even in a corporeal essence, all the more so with a spiritual one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When one works for oneself, it is considered Lo Lishma<\/em> [not for Her sake], and from Lo Lishma<\/em> we come to Lishma<\/em> [for Her sake]. Hence, if one has not been awarded the reception of the Torah, he hopes that he will receive it next year. And when he receives the complete Lishma<\/em>, he has nothing more to do in this world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why each year there is a time of reception of the Torah, since the time is ripe for an awakening from below, since then it is the awakening of the time when the light of the giving of the Torah is revealed in the lower ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why there is always an awakening from above, so the lower ones can act as they did then, at that time. Thus, if one continues on the path that the Lo Lishma<\/em> will bring him Lishma<\/em>, he is progressing correctly and hopes that he will eventually be rewarded with the reception of the Torah Lishma<\/em>. But if the goal is not always before his eyes, he is moving in an opposite line from the Torah, called \u201cthe tree of life,\u201d which is why it is considered \u201cthe potion of death,\u201d as he is constantly drifting away from the line of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI labored and did not find, do not believe.\u201d We must understand the meaning of \u201cI found.\u201d What is there to find? \u201cFinding\u201d concerns the Creator finding us agreeable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI did not labor and found, do not believe.\u201d We must understand, after all, he is not lying; this is not about the person himself, as an individual. Rather, it is the same rule with the whole. And if one sees that the Creator found him agreeable, why \u201cnot believe\u201d? The thing is that sometimes the Creator finds a person agreeable as it is in prayer. It is because this is the power of the prayer\u2014it can act like labor. (We also see in corporeality that there are some who provide by labor, and some who provide for themselves through prayer. And by asking for provision, one is allowed to provide for himself.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in spirituality, although he is rewarded with being favored, he must still pay the full price later\u2014the measure of the labor that everyone gives. If not, he will lose the Kli<\/em>. This is why he said, \u201cI did not labor and found, do not believe,\u201d since he will lose everything. Thus, one should subsequently pay one\u2019s full labor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I heard during a Shavuot meal The matter of the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai does not mean that the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":6231,"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":[25],"class_list":["post-13057","book","type-book","status-publish","hentry","topic-baal-hasulam"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nKabbalah | 161. 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