Article No. 16, 1985<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is written, \u201cBut the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel\u201d (Exodus 1:12). The meaning of the words, \u201cBut the more they afflicted them\u201d is that they will multiply and spread to that same extent that they are afflicted. It seems as though it is a condition\u2014that there cannot be multiplication and spreading in the work before there is a basis of affliction first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But to understand the above written, we must know our tenet, meaning know what is our essence. As it is explained in the introductions, it is only our will to receive. And certainly, when the will to receive fulfills its wish, that fulfillment is not considered work, since work means that for which one is rewarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In other words, work is actions that man would avoid, and he does them only because he has no choice, since he wishes to receive some reward. The reward is considered the thing that he craves, and his only desire and wish is for that thing. True craving means that this thing touches his heart so deeply that he says, \u201cI\u2019d rather die than to live if I cannot obtain it.\u201d It follows that if he has no affliction or pain for not having what he craves, it is not considered a craving. And his craving is measured by the extent of his suffering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It therefore follows that if one wishes to receive some satisfaction, there must first be a lack. This is so because there is no light without a Kli<\/em> [vessel], and no one can fill it with anything if there is no deficiency. For example, one cannot eat without appetite or enjoy rest without fatigue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hence, one is not suffering because the Egyptians in his body are afflicting him unless he does not want to obey them and wishes to go by a way that displeases them. The root of reception in man is called \u201cself-love,\u201d and this is regarded as \u201cEgypt.\u201d There are many nations, which are generally called \u201cthe seventy nations,\u201d that are the opposite of Kedusha<\/em> [holiness], which are the seven Sefirot<\/em>, where each Sefira<\/em> [singular of Sefirot<\/em>] consists of ten, hence the number seventy nations. And also, each nation has its own unique desire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Klipa<\/em> [shell] of Egypt is a general Klipa<\/em>. It is where the sparks of Kedusha<\/em> fell, which the people of Israel\u2014who were in Egypt\u2014had to correct. Thus, first there must be pain and affliction for not being able to exit their governance, as it is written, \u201cAnd the children of Israel sighed from the work, and they cried out, and their cry came up unto God from the work. And God heard their groaning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We should be precise about the words \u201cfrom the work\u201d being written twice. We should explain that all the sighs were from the labor, meaning that they could not work for the Creator. Indeed, their suffering was from not being able to make the work that they were doing be for the Creator, due to the Klipa<\/em> of Egypt. This is why it is written, \u201cfrom the work\u201d twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1) All the sighs were not because they were lacking anything. They lacked only one thing, meaning they did not wish for any luxuries or payment. Their only lack, for which they felt pain and suffering, was that of not being able to do anything for the Creator. In other words, they wished that they would have a desire to give contentment to the Creator and not to themselves, but they couldn\u2019t, and this afflicted them. This is called \u201cwanting to have some grip in spirituality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2) The second \u201cfrom the work\u201d comes to teach that, \u201cAnd their cry came up unto God,\u201d that God heard their groaning, was because their only request was work. This is implied by the second \u201cfrom the work.\u201d It turns out that the whole exile that they felt was only because they were under the rule of the Klipa<\/em> of Egypt and they could not do anything to make it only in order to bestow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is written in The<\/em> Zohar<\/em> (Exodus, Item 381 in the Sulam<\/em> Commentary), \u201cRabbi Yehuda said, \u2018Come and see that this is so, as Rabbi Yehoshua of Sakhnin said, \u2018As long as their minister was given dominion over Israel, the cry of Israel was not heard. When their minister fell, it writes, \u2018The king of Egypt died,\u2019 and promptly, \u2018And the children of Israel sighed from the work, and they cried out, and their cry came up unto God.\u2019 But until then they were not answered in their cry.\u2019\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this reason, we can say that if it is not time to dethrone Egypt\u2019s minister, there is no room for choice, to repent and to be able to come out from the exile. He says (Exodus, Item 380 in the Sulam<\/em> Commentary), \u201c\u2018In those many days.\u2019 \u2018Many\u2019 refers to Israel\u2019s stay in Egypt, that is, that the end has come. And since their exile has been completed, what does it say? \u2018The king of Egypt died.\u2019 What does that mean? It means that the minister of Egypt was lowered from his status and fell from his pride. This is why the writing says about him, \u2018The king of Egypt died,\u2019 since decline is regarded for him as dying. As when the king of Egypt\u2014who was their minister\u2014fell, the Creator remembered Israel and heard their prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The<\/em> Zohar<\/em> asks this question about the verse, \u201cIn your distress, when all these things come upon you\u201d (Deuteronomy 4). It means that before everything takes place, it is impossible to achieve perfection. It turns out that you give an excuse, a pretext that all the things that one should go through can be experienced through suffering, and this is measured by neither time nor quantity of affliction, but by the measure of feeling (see in The<\/em> Zohar<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n We can understand it through an allegory. If a person should make one kilogram worth of labor, which is a thousand grams of suffering, the reward comes for that as well. As our sages said, \u201cThe reward matches the pain.\u201d This means that the labor that one should exert before he receives the reward is because there is no light without a Kli<\/em>, since there is no fulfillment without a deficiency. And the labor that one gives is the qualification for reception of the need, so that afterwards he will be able to receive the filling in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let us say that that person can give the thousand grams of deficiency intermittently, which are discernments in quantity and quality. A person can exert for ten minutes a day, meaning regret his remoteness from the Creator, or he can regret his remoteness from the Creator ten minutes a week, or ten minutes a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is similar with the quality<\/em> of his suffering when he remembers that he is remote from the Creator. Although it pains him, it is not so terrible and there are things that pain him more, things that he craves. It turns out that in quality, too, one should contemplate. Thus, a person has a choice, although he must experience the whole process of labor and affliction through the end, until he comes to a state of, \u201cAnd you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus, man has a choice to shorten the time of the process of affliction due to the prolonging of time, which, as we said, is called \u201cquantity,\u201d and to add in quality, which is the sensation of suffering at being remote from the Creator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But we should know that there is a big difference between quantity and quality in the manner of the work. When considering quantity of time, a person can arrange his schedule, meaning the amount of time he allocates to himself, even by coercion. This means that even though the body does not wish to sit for the whole time of the lesson that he decided on, he must sit for several minutes or hours and regret being remote from the Creator. If he has a strong desire and he is not of weak character, he can sit and keep the schedule he arranged for himself, since this is an act, and with actions a person can do things by coercion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But with quality, this is very difficult because one cannot force oneself to feel differently than he does. If he comes to examine his feelings of pain and suffering at being remote from the Creator, he sometimes comes to a state where he does not care. At that time, he does not know what to do because he cannot change how he feels, and then he is perplexed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This causes the prolonging of the exile because it is hard for us to give the necessary quantity, much less the quality. And when he begins to scrutinize the quality of the deficiency, he sees that he feels no pain, that he is seemingly unconscious, unfeeling. And although remoteness from the Creator means not having life, it doesn\u2019t pain him that he has no life. Then he has no other choice but to pray to the Creator to give him some life, so he will feel that he is dangerously ill and needs to cure the soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And sometimes one comes to a state where he is in such a decline that he doesn\u2019t even have the strength to pray for it. Rather, he is in a state of complete indifference. This is called \u201cbeing in a state of still,\u201d meaning he is completely motionless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In that state, only his society can help him<\/em>. In other words, if he comes among friends and does not criticize them in any way, testing if they, too, have the same obstructions and thoughts but have overcome them, or they just take no interest in introspection and this is why they can engage in Torah and Mitzvot<\/em>, how can he be like them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n At that time, he cannot receive any assistance from society because he has no Dvekut<\/em> [adhesion] with them at all, as they are too small to be his friends. Thus, naturally, he is not affected by them whatsoever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But if he comes among his friends not with his head high, thinking that he is wise and the friends are fools\u2014but rather tosses his pride away and follows the rule, \u201cPoverty follows the poor,\u201d not only is he in a state of decline and feels no need for spirituality, he also receives thoughts of pride, meaning that he is wiser than all his society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now let us return to the first question, regarding what The<\/em> Zohar<\/em> says, \u201cAnd since their exile has been completed,\u201d what does it say, \u201cThe king of Egypt died,\u201d since he regards dethroning as death. And since the king of Egypt\u2014who is their minister\u2014fell, the Creator remembered Israel and heard their prayer. It turns out that there is a pretext that no prayer will help before it is due time. Thus, there is nothing that can be done, because the Creator will not hear their prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the above words we can understand the matters as they are. This is the same issue that our sages described about the verse, \u201cI the Lord will hasten it in its time.\u201d If they are rewarded, \u201cI will hasten it.\u201d If they are not rewarded, \u201cIn its time.\u201d In other words, when the time comes, an awakening from the Creator will come, and through it Israel will repent. It turns out that the choice is in regards to time, as he says in the \u201cIntroduction to The Book of Zohar\u201d (Item 16).<\/p>\n\n\n\n It follows from all the above that one should not consider the time of redemption\u2014that it is written that before that, their prayer was not accepted\u2014because this relates to the time of quantity and quality of suffering, that there is a certain time at which suffering is completed. However, we can shorten the time. The whole quantity and quality by which the suffering will appear can be shortened in a way that all the suffering will come in a short time, but all the suffering will have appeared there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Article No. 16, 1985 It is written, \u201cBut the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":6243,"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-9452","book","type-book","status-publish","hentry","topic-rabash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n