All of the Creator’s works are not as people’s works. When people build the Temple below, first they make the walls of the city and then the Temple.

First, the walls of the city, to protect them, and then the construction of the house. The Creator builds the Temple first, and finally, when He lowers it from the sky and places it in its place, it will build the walls of Jerusalem. This is why David said, “By Your favor do good to Zion” first, and then, “Build the walls of Jerusalem” (Rashbi, Zohar for All, “The Old Man [The Grandfather]”).

Question: What is the difference between building walls and building the Temple in spiritual work?

Answer: Our work lies in the fact that within the vast desire to receive pleasure that is revealed to us, we define a certain area where we are able to connect only with thoughts and desires aimed at bestowal, and we can relate them to others: friends, the group, the Creator.

All the rest of our desires we are not yet capable of using for the sake of bestowal. Therefore, our desire is divided into many parts, including the stony heart.

This is why we first build boundaries, screens, and only afterward, with the help of those screens, when we already know how to act correctly, we perform Zivug (coupling) and construct a Partzuf.

The building of the inner part of the Partzuf, from Peh to Tabur is called the construction of the Temple (in Hebrew, the word for Temple means House of Holiness). The Rosh (head) of the Partzuf is used for planning; this is called the “work of Bezalel.” The Sof (end) of the Partzuf is not yet properly engaged.

But in essence, it is with these parts of the Partzuf, which serve as boundaries, that the Temple is built, because we can construct something only from its opposite, good and evil, light and darkness; it is only by comparing opposites can we create boundaries and build a structure.

Whereas the Creator builds differently, not through limitations or calculations of “how much there is” and “how much is lacking.”

On the contrary, the upper light builds holiness, bestowal, the Temple itself within the desire, and the remaining part of the desire, which the upper light does not enter, is what forms the “walls of Jerusalem” erected afterward, in the final act.

This is the difference between constructing the Temple from below upward and constructing it from above downward.
[42258]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/3/11, The Book of Zohar, “Mishpatim”

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