May 24, 1966, Eve of Shavuot<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hello and all the best to my friend,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I long to know how things are going with your work, and especially your health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments.\u201d RASHI interprets, \u201cIs this the keeping of the Mitzvot<\/em> [commandments]? When he says, \u2018and keep My commandments,\u2019 then we are referring to keeping the Mitzvot<\/em>. Thus, what am I keeping by \u2018If you walk in My statutes\u2019\u2014that you labor in the Torah. \u2018And keep My commandments\u2019\u2014labor in the Torah in order to keep and to observe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We should understand why he had to say that the verse, \u201cIf you \u2026 in My statutes,\u201d comes to point to laboring in the Torah. Could we not keep, \u201cand keep My commandments,\u201d if we do not observe the study of Torah in order to know what we must do? After all, how can we observe Mitzvot<\/em> if we do not keep \u201cwalk by My statutes\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, we can say that if the verse tells us to keep the Mitzvot<\/em>, we must certainly learn the Torah first. It is not written that this is necessary because it is impossible to keep the Mitzvot<\/em> if we do not know them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, there is a different issue here than the study of Torah in order to know how to observe the Mitzvot<\/em>. That is, even when we know the Mitzvot<\/em>, the body does not want to observe them. For example, everyone knows that there is a Mitzva<\/em> [commandment] to love the Creator, but only a chosen few can observe the Mitzva<\/em> of loving the Creator, while the whole world is under the governance of self-love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In order to be able to observe the Mitzvot<\/em> for the sake of the Creator we were given the remedy of Torah, as our sages said, \u201cThe light in it reforms him.\u201d This is done specifically through labor in the Torah. To the extent that one engages in the Torah, to that extent he draws the light of the Torah, and by that he will have the strength to observe the Mitzvot<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is RASHI\u2019s precision: \u201c\u2018If you walk in My statutes,\u2019 meaning labor in the Torah.\u201d It is so because we know about learning the Torah in order to know the Mitzvot<\/em> that we should keep from the verse, \u201cAnd keep My commandments.\u201d Therefore, we say that the verse, \u201cIf you walk in My statutes,\u201d comes to show that we should labor in the Torah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n RASHI interprets about that: \u201cand keep My commandments\u201d\u2014labor in the Torah in order to keep and to observe.\u201d Although there seems to be no connection, we should toil in the Torah in order to be able to keep and to observe because through labor we acquire the light in the Torah, and the light in it reforms him, hence the keeping and observing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From all the above we see the power of labor\u2014it can turn all the evil in man to good. We should also make two discernments in the study of Torah: 1) to learn the laws in order to know what we should do, 2) learn Torah by labor, in order to have the strength to keep and to observe. In the latter part, it does not matter if we are learning laws or learning Torah, which does not speak of laws at all, but only that in the Torah there is room for labor, and then the Torah grants one with the light in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n May the Creator help us be rewarded with the light of Torah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I conclude my letter with the blessing of Torah, and may the merit of the Torah protect us and we will be saved in every way, in corporeality and spirituality. May we be rewarded with complete redemption soon in our days, Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag<\/p>\n\n\n\n Son of Baal HaSulam<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" May 24, 1966, Eve of Shavuot Hello and all the best to my friend, I long to know how things […]<\/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-13810","book","type-book","status-publish","hentry","topic-rabash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n