March 27, 1960, Bnei Brak<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hello and all the best to my friend,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I hereby confirm that I received your congratulation telegram for my daughter\u2019s wedding, along with the triple blessing. May your household always know joy, merriment, happiness, and contentment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am writing to you what I said on Shabbat, portion of the [new] month. RASHI says about the verse, \u201cThis month shall be for you the beginning of the months.\u201d These are his words. \u201cMoses was perplexed regarding the beginning of the moon, to what extent should she be seen and be worthy of sanctifying? He showed him with the finger the moon in the sky and said to him: \u2018This see and sanctify.\u2019\u201d RASHI also interprets the verse, \u201cIn the beginning [God] created, and these are his words: \u201cRabbi Yitzhak said, \u2018He should have begun the Torah from \u201cThis month shall be for you,\u201d which is the first commandment that Israel were commanded. What is the reason it began with \u2018In the beginning\u2019? it is because He told His works to His people to give them the inheritance of the nations. Thus, should the nations say to Israel, \u2018You are robbers, you have conquered the lands of seven nations,\u2019 they will reply, \u2018The whole earth belongs to the Creator; He created it and gave it to whom He pleases. Upon His wish he gave it to them, and upon His wish He took it from them and gave it to us.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We should understand, 1) why Moses found this more perplexing than other things? 2) had the Torah not begun with \u201cIn the beginning,\u201d could it be said that it was not the Creator who created the world?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We should interpret this according to the ethics. The earth is called a \u201cbody.\u201d The Creator created the body and gave it to the nations of the world, meaning to the evil inclination, for as soon as one is born, the evil inclination enters him, as it is written, \u201cFor the inclination of a man\u2019s heart is evil from his youth.\u201d Hence, the evil inclination, which is the nations, say that the body belongs to them, meaning that they must govern it and do with it whatever they want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Therefore, after thirteen years, when the good inclination comes and wishes to enter the body and govern it, and wishes to throw out the evil inclination, the evil inclination claims, \u201cYou are robbers,\u201d for the good inclination is called Israel. It follows that the nations say that they want to steal the bodies, which belong to them, for they are arguing, \u201cThe Creator has given to us all the bodies, and after only thirteen years you, Israelis, meaning the good inclination, want to rob us of this body.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here comes the reply that the Torah begins with \u201cIn the beginning,\u201d for Israel are called Resheet<\/em> (beginning). That is, the Creator created the world only for Israel, and the fact that He had let the nations govern the body first is only so as to give room for choice and to be able to enjoy all of His bounty without any shame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the meaning of what RASHI says, \u201cand gave it to whom He pleases,\u201d meaning to Israel. This is the beginning of the intention, to give the people of Israel the full dominion over the body, as the goal is that the evil inclination will control the body. This is the meaning of \u201cUpon His wish he gave it to them,\u201d meaning that His giving to the evil inclination in the beginning was according to His will so that this way the people of Israel would have room to work on choice. \u201c\u2026and upon His wish He took it from them,\u201d meaning that it was all according to one desire, and the Creator did not change His mind. Thus, it cannot be said that in the beginning He gave power to the nations and then regretted it and gave it to Israel. Rather, it was all according to one desire, meaning one thought and intention. This is the precision that RASHI makes, \u201cUpon His wish he gave it to them, and upon His wish He took it,\u201d etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It follows that in order to have choice, he first gave the command to the evil inclination. This is why the world is in concealment, for concealing the face gives room for choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, it is known that the moon implies Shechina<\/em> (Divinity), meaning faith, and one must constantly renew the faith. This is what bewildered Moses, since in its inception, the moon is in utter Katnut<\/em> (smallness), meaning that it is the time of concealment. And then the Creator said to him: \u201cThis see and sanctify,\u201d that the greatest holiness is precisely when a person can sanctify himself even during the greatest concealment, and then \u2026 with exile from Egypt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From your friend who wishes you and your family all the best,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" March 27, 1960, Bnei Brak Hello and all the best to my friend, I hereby confirm that I received your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":6249,"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-13771","book","type-book","status-publish","hentry","topic-rabash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n