From an article by Rabash, “Destruction by Old Men Is Construction”: “‘Destruction by old men is construction; construction by young men is destruction’ (Megillah 31b). Old men are those who are regular in service to the Creator. Young men are those at the beginning of their work. Destruction is what descent or fall is called. That previously they had some kind of ascent in the work, which was considered to be constructive, meaning that they thought these were ascents. But the destruction at the time that they felt some kind of fall, which comes from the concealment of the Creator, that is to say that the Creator conceals Himself from them, this is called destruction.

The destruction of the old men, when they say that the Creator sent the concealment to them, it is found that they are already found in construction, being that the Creator is taking care of them; and from this they receive vitality. And the essence of faith is revealed at the time of descent; this is to say at the time that He doesn’t enlighten a person, for then he is standing before the dilemmas. Either he will say, “I don’t need any benefit, rather I want to give satisfaction above, and it is not important to me what I feel, or God forbid, the opposite.”

“Construction by old men is construction.” If the “concealment,” rubble, comes to old men, then upon it they build a new level, from experience. An old man is a sage who acquires the way of Torah.

And the young men (the youths) who don’t have experience in the work, even when they merit construction, ascent, they cannot build anything, and with these ascents in the meantime, they build contradictions, ruins, descents, disappointments, until the Upper Light influences them and transforms them into old men, and then they “restore” all the rubble and the contradictions that they built in the process of building from above; this is to say, they raise the shattered “Reshimot” and correct them. And in this way they begin to build upon the rubble. And all this is thanks to their faith. The “Light of faith” is what the Upper Light is called, the Light of bestowal that illuminates the person and makes it possible for him to pass from “destruction” to “construction.”

The rubble, the “contradictions” (conflicts) are the difficult thoughts and doubts that dominate a person and conceal the unity of supervision from him. From our experience it is known that if the person continues to be stubborn, then the Upper Light acts on him gradually and “One penny and another penny accumulate into a large sum.” And so ultimately he reaches a state that through discernment of the conflicts, from the descents and the disappointments, he begins to ascend.

Otherwise we cannot ascend, rather only through feeling the exile, the lowness, in other words, through feeling the shattering, feeling the crisis. Only from this state do all the creatures begin the way of their ascent.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/13/13

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