Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

613 Suggestions and 613 Deposits

We should keep the Torah and Mitzvot so [specifically because] it will bring us into purity [and not in order to receive reward in this or the next world or because it was commanded by the Creator]. Purity means purification of the Kelim [vessels] from the will to receive for oneself, which is called “dirt” [impurity] for it is in disparity of form from the Creator, who is all about [the property of] bestowal. Hence prior to cleaning the Kelim, it is impossible to place anything good [exalted] in them [it’s impossible to fill them with the sensation of eternity and perfection] because anything that is placed in a dirty Kli (vessel) will be spoiled [according to the law of the equivalence of form].

Therefore, we must seek good advice [of Kabbalists who already underwent the path of correction] for things that will purify our Kelim [egoistic desires]. This is called “qualification [suitability] and preparation to be able to receive the delight and pleasure” [which awaits us in the revelation of the Creator]. And because of that, we were given 613 Mitzvot [instructions], which The Zohar calls, “613 counsels.” These are suggestions on how to purify ourselves [our desires since man is specifically a vessel of desires] from the filth of our vessels of reception.

It is written in the “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” (p. 242), “The Zohar calls the Mitzvot in the Torah, ‘deposits.’ However, they are also called ‘counsels.’ The difference between them is that there are front and back in everything. The preparation for something is called ‘back,” and the attainment [reception] of that thing is called ‘front.’ Similarly, in Torah and Mitzvot there is ‘We shall do,’ and ‘We shall hear.’

When keeping the Torah and Mitzvot by way of ‘Who do His words [correcting their egoism],’ before they are rewarded with hearing, the Mitzvot are called ‘613 counsels,’ and they are considered ‘back.’ And when rewarded with hearing the voice of His word [the property of bestowal within], the Mitzvot become deposits [the sensation of the Light within], from the word “deposited.”
– Rabash, The Rungs of the Ladder, “Holiness and Purity in the Work”
[36431]

Related Material:
Kabbalists On The Torah And Commandments, Part 36
Kabbalists On The Torah And Commandments, Part 35
Kabbalists On The Torah And Commandments, Part 34

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