The Zohar, Chapter “Shemot (Exodus),” Item 59: The Creator never left Israel in exile, before He came to place His Divinity with them.
It is even more so with Jacob, that when he went down to exile, the Creator and His Divinity and the upper holy ones and the Merkavot, all came down with Jacob… This is the conduct of the Creator in all the exiles….

What does it mean that “Divinity went down to exile with the nation of Israel“? We think that there exists something, in which the Creator does not take part. However, the only one Force that acts in the whole creation and in us is the Creator or the Light.

Exile is a special state of the creature (the desire He created), which the Light purposely creates in it in order to lower and distance the creature from Himself, to create a desire for Him in it. The Light measures out very precisely all the states of exile, all the problems, emptiness, and misfortunes that will be revealed in the will to receive pleasure. The reverse side of the Light or the Creator, acts in exile, as it is written, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart (Exodus 10:1).” (The Creator was also clothed within the great flood, and so on.)

“There is none else beside Him.” The exile is a form of the Creator’s, the Light’s influence in its oppositeness or reverse side. This influence is precisely measured in all the gradations of qualities, against every desire of every soul, and in all the connections between them.

Therefore, the Creator, the Light surely exists together with the people in exile, constantly influencing and supporting us. He creates this exile Himself, with His reverse, shadowy side, as King David wrote, “Thou hast beset me behind and before (with Light and with darkness) (Psalms 139:5).”

When the Light no longer needs to act from the reverse side, that is, through darkness, when the Creator stirs up and rouses the desire (Kli) to a sufficient extent, and it will truly aspire to the front side of the Light or bestowal, then He pulls the Kli out of exile, to liberation. However, the Light is the only acting force, which influences us from either the reverse or front side. Therefore, the exile is Him preparing us for our liberation.

From the 1st part of the Daily Morning Lesson 4/12/10, The Zohar

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