New Jersey Convention – “Completing The Circle” Preparation For Lesson 3

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Lesson 3: There Is None Else Besides Him

1. …The Creator’s desired goal for the Creation He had created is to bestow upon His creatures, so they would know His truthfulness and greatness, and receive all the delight and pleasure He had prepared for them
—Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” #39

2. 116) … all that there is in the world is from the Creator, that He alone did, does, and will do all the deeds in the world. He knows in advance all that will unfold in the end, as it is written, “Declaring the end from the beginning.” And He watches and does things in the beginning in order to repeat them and to do them perfectly after some time.
—”Lech Lecha [Go Forth]”

3. Thou hast hemmed me in behind and before, meaning the revelation and concealment of the face of the Creator. This is because indeed, “His kingdom ruleth over all,” and everything will return to its root because there is no place vacant of him. But the difference is in present tense or future tense, because who connects the two worlds, discovers His clothing in the present: everything that is done is a clothing for the revelation of divinity… through the will of the dresser, for that is precisely His wish.
Writings of Baal Hasulam, “Thou Hast Hemmed Me in Behind and Before”

4. We know that “the whole earth is filled with his glory” and so should every man believe; however, the Creator made a concealment so that one cannot see it, to give place for choice, where there is faith – to believe that “The Creator fills the whole earth and is involved with the whole earth.” After a person engages in Torah and Mitzvot and keeps the commandment of choice, then the Creator reveals himself to him so that he sees that the Creator rules the world.

It follows that one makes him king, to rule over him, which means that one feels the Creator, that He is the ruler of the whole world, and this is called that one makes the Creator king over him. Until one reaches this feeling, the kingship of the Creator is in concealment. About this we say, “On that day the Creator will be One and His Name One,” meaning that the glory of His kingdom will be disclosed to us. This is the entire correction that we should be doing in this world, and by this we continue all the best in the world, where all the bestowals above continue by working in Torah and Mitzvot, with the intention to continue His Kingdom over us.
Writings of Rabash, Vol 2, Letter No. 76

5. The purpose of the soul when it comes in the body is to attain returning to its root and to cleave unto Him, while clothed in the body, as it is written, “To love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to cleave unto Him.” You see that the matter ends in “to cleave unto Him,” meaning as it was prior to clothing in the body.

However, great preparation is required – which is to walk in all His ways. Yet, who knows the ways of the Creator? Indeed, this is the meaning of “Torah, that has 613 ways.” He who walks by them will finally be purified until his body will no longer be an iron partition between him and his Maker, as it is written, “And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh.” Then he shall cleave to his Maker just as he was before the clothing of the soul in the body.

It turns out, that there are three aspects: 1. Israel, is he who strains himself to return to his root; 2. The Creator, which is the root one longs for; 3. The 613 ways of the Torah, by which one purifies one’s soul and body. This is the spice, as it is written, “I have created the evil inclination, I have created for it the Torah as a spice.”

However, these three are actually one and the same. In the end, any servant of the Creator attains them as single, united and unified. They only appear to be divided into three because of one’s incompleteness in the work of God.
—Baal HaSulam, Igrot, “Letter 17”

6. The essence of one’s work is only to come to the sensation of the existence of the Creator, meaning to feel the existence of the Creator, that “the whole earth is full of His glory.” This will be one’s entire work, meaning all the vigor that he puts into the work will be only to achieve that, and not for any other things.
One should not be misled into having to acquire anything. Rather, there is only one thing a person needs, namely faith in the Creator. He should not think of anything, meaning that the only reward that he wants for his work should be to be rewarded with faith in the Creator.
—Baal HaSulam, Shamati  #4, ”What Is the Reason for the Heaviness One Feels when Annulling before the Creator in the Work”

7. Even if we see that there are two parts to the Torah: The first—Mitzvot between man and God, and the second—Mitzvot between man and man, they are both one and the same thing. This means that the actual purpose of them and the desired goal are one, namely Lishma.It makes no difference if one works for one’s friend or for the Creator…  Thus, when one completes one’s work in love and bestowal for one’s fellow person and comes to the highest point, one also completes one’s love and bestowal for the Creator. In that state there is no difference between the two, for anything that is outside one’s body, meaning one’s self-interest, is judged equally—either to bestow upon one’s friend or bestow contentment upon one’s Maker.
—Baal Hasulam, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

8. May we be granted with His Light and follow in the ways of the Creator and serve Him not in order to be rewarded, but to give contentment to the Creator and raise Divinity from the dust. May we be granted adhesion with the Creator and the revelation of His Godliness to His creatures.
—Baal Hasulam, Shamati #3, “The Matter of Spiritual Attainment”

Related Material:
New Jersey Convention – “Completing The Circle” Preparation For Lesson 1
New Jersey Convention – “Completing The Circle” Preparation For Lesson 2

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