In The Zohar<\/em>, Teruma<\/em> (item 1), Rabbi Hiya interprets the verse, \u201cThe Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself.\u201d These are its words: \u201cRabbi Hiya started, \u2018For the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His merit.\u2019 How beloved are the sons of Israel by the Creator, Who desires them and wishes to unite with them and bond with them, and He has made them a unique nation in the world, as it is written, \u2018And what one nation on Earth is like Your people Israel,\u2019 and they desired Him and bonded with Him. It is written about it, \u2018The Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself,\u2019 and it is written, \u2018For the Lord’s portion is His people.\u2019 And to the rest of the nations He has given ministers and rulers over them while He took Israel for His portion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We should understand the following about the above words of Rabbi Hiya:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1) He begins to interpret, \u201cFor the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself.\u201d This means that the Creator has chosen Jacob because he says that He wanted them and wanted to unite and bond with them. Afterwards he interprets to the contrary and says, \u201cThey desired Him and bonded with Him,\u201d as it is written, \u201cFor Jacob has chosen the Lord for himself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2) What does it mean when he says, \u201cand He has made them a unique nation in the world,\u201d as it is written, \u201cAnd what one nation on Earth is like Your people Israel\u201d? After all they are a nation among the seventy nations of the world, so what does \u201cone nation\u201d mean? It seems to imply that He made them one nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3) He interprets, \u201cFor the Lord’s portion is His people,\u201d to mean that He has given the rest of the nations ministers and rulers over them, and took Israel to His portion. We should understand what it means that He has given the rest of the nations ministers and rulers, but took the people of Israel to His portion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is known that there are two types of guidance: The first is called \u201cprivate Providence,\u201d and the second is called \u201cguidance through reward and punishment.\u201d They contradict one another, and Baal HaSulam interpreted that one cannot attain this with the external mind, but only when one has achieved one\u2019s wholeness in one\u2019s inner degree can one attain this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The order of man\u2019s work is that we were given the work of the Creator with guidance through reward and punishment. This is why one must not say, \u201cI am waiting for the Creator to give me desire and craving to engage in Torah and Mitzvot<\/em>, and when He feels that I am feeling a good feeling I will keep the Torah and Mitzvot<\/em>. It is forbidden to say that since we are as \u201cclay in the hands of the potter,\u201d in the hands of the Creator. How does our overcoming help to work against the view of our bodies? We are told that we must not look at our bodies, which demand that we satisfy their wishes. Rather, we must accustom our bodies and convince them to follow the rules of Torah whether they agree or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We must believe in reward and punishment\u2014that everything depends on our actions, to the extent that we persuade our bodies to follow the laws of Torah. Our sages said, \u201cThe reward is according to the labor (Avot<\/em>, Chapter 5): \u201cBen He He says, \u2018The reward is according to the labor.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Baal HaSulam said that we must keep the two above types of guidance in the following manner: Before the act, meaning during the preparation, when he is about to keep the Torah and Mitzvot<\/em>, he must believe in Providence of reward and punishment. Then, \u201cEverything that is in the might of your hand to do, that do.\u201d That is, everything depends on man\u2019s work: To the extent of one\u2019s strength to overcome in Torah and Mitzvot<\/em>, so he will be rewarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But after the work he should say that he believes in private Providence. It follows that since it is difficult for a person to say after all the efforts he put in, how can he say that it is private Providence? It follows that afterwards he is still working in reward and punishment. That is, if he tries to believe that it was private Providence he will receive reward for this. If he cannot believe in private Providence, it follows that he is punished for not wanting to believe in private Providence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore, by believing in private Providence and that it is not up to him, but the Creator has chosen to connect with him, he must praise and thank the Creator for choosing him. This applies to each and every discernment. That is, for even the smallest action in spirituality that one is rewarded with doing he should thank the Creator for giving him a thought and desire to do this thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One should accustom oneself to this work. When he rises before dawn, whether he woke up by himself or a friend woke him up, he should believe that although he overcame his idleness and got out of bed\u2014with great effort, and he certainly deserves gratitude and a great reward for such great effort\u2014he should still believe that the Creator has given him the desire to overcome all the thoughts he had when he rose out of bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It follows that it is the opposite of what one thinks, meaning that the Creator deserves gratitude for giving him the power and desire to overcome all this thoughts and desires. It follows that on the one hand the Creator has chosen him, and this is called \u201cprivate Providence.\u201d On the other hand, Jacob has chosen the Creator, and this is the meaning of reward and punishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now we will explain what we asked, \u201cWhat does it mean when he says, \u2018and He has made them a unique nation in the world\u2019?\u201d After all, there are seventy other nations in the world, and the verse says, \u201cAnd what one nation on Earth is like Your people Israel\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is known that singular and plural in spirituality are interpreted as disparity of form and equivalence of form, as it is written (Exodus, 19:2), \u201cAnd Israel camped there before the mountain.\u201d RASHI interpreted, \u201cAs one man with one heart.\u201d This is why it is written, \u201ccamped,\u201d in singular form [in Hebrew]. However, the rest of the pauses are with complaints and disputes, this is why it is written there \u201ccamped\u201d in plural form [in Hebrew]. It follows that singular refers to equivalence of form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the above said we should interpret that the Creator has made the people of Israel. Although they are many, as in, \u201cAs their faces are not similar to one another, their views are not similar to one another\u201d (Berachot<\/em>, 58). Still, He has made them a unique people in the world, which is a great novelty. That is, although they are a nation, meaning plural, they still have the singular form through equivalence of form. As it was at the time of the giving of the Torah, so should be the wholeness of the people of Israel, meaning to become one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is presented in the article, \u201cThe Arvut<\/em> (Mutual Guarantee)\u201d (item 23): \u201cThis is why the text refers to them in singular form, as it is written, \u2018and there Israel camped before the mountain,\u2019 which our sages interpret \u2018as one man in one heart.\u2019 This is because each and every person from the nation completely detached himself from self-love \u2026 It turns out that all the individuals in the nation have come together and become one heart and one man, for only then were they qualified to receive the Torah.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We therefore see that the Creator made it so the people of Israel would achieve wholeness by giving them the power to all be of equal form, which is to bring contentment to one\u2019s Maker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We should also explain the third question. We asked about His giving the rest of the nations ministers and rulers, while taking Israel for Himself, for His own portion. We should interpret this in the work in one person, meaning in one body. When a person attributes everything that happens in the world to the Creator, who does and will do all the deeds, he is regarded as a part of the Creator because there is no other authority in the world. At that time he is considered a part of the Creator. When he does not attribute everything that happens in the world to the Creator, but says that they are other forces, which are not Kedusha<\/em> [holiness\/sanctity], he is in a state of \u201cnations of the world,\u201d meaning having appointees and ministers. However, this is when he is in a state of \u201cthe rest of the nations of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Article No. 16, 1986 In The Zohar, Teruma (item 1), Rabbi Hiya interprets the verse, \u201cThe Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself.\u201d These […]<\/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-9779","book","type-book","status-publish","hentry","topic-rabash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n