A Highly Erudite Animal or A Human Being?
The Torah is called “613 counsels,” meaning 613 tips by which one is rewarded with vessels of bestowal.
Afterward, once he is rewarded with vessels of bestowal through the Torah, he must receive the delight and pleasure that is found in the thought of the Creator. That delight and pleasure is also called “Torah,” meaning that at that time, the 613 counsels become 613 deposits (RABASH, “What It Means that the World Was Created for the Torah”).
The Creator created the desire to enjoy, but He wants this desire to enjoy bestowal rather than reception. Therefore, it must undergo changes, and must do so independently, according to the principle: “We shall do and we shall hear.”
Where is this desire found? It is in the human species, at the human level of development. As Baal HaSulam writes, after all examinations, we find only one advantage of man over the animal: the impulse to work for the Creator and to adhere to Him. One in whom this impulse exists is called “human” (Adam). If this urge, this ascent, has not yet been born within him, then he is called an “animal.”
And yet it is said in Psalms: “Man and beast You save.” All gradually draw closer to awakening toward adhesion with the Creator. And having awakened, they begin to act according to the principle “We shall do and we shall hear.”
“We shall do” means the correction of the Kelim, when we carry out the 613 counsels. And “we shall hear” means the filling of the Kelim through the 613 commandments, that is, deposits, investments, when the corrected Kelim enters a contribution, a pledge, meaning the light.
Through correction and filling, by means of counsels and deposits, we come to realization: all our 613 desires are corrected from reception to bestowal and are filled with the upper light, or the Creator. In the end, we find ourselves filled with Him, or in adhesion with Him, when He fills us.
Therefore, the Torah (the method of correction) was created only for those who wish to correct their egoistic desire with an intention to bestow. Only they truly engage in the Torah. After all, “Torah” is the light that returns to the source (the reforming light). One who does not exist for this purpose is not called a “human” who carries out correction.
If we were to look at our world through spiritual lenses, we might see here perhaps only a few humans. All the rest would belong to still, vegetative, and animate nature, including many animals in the form of people, though this is only an external resemblance.
If a person has not awakened to correct himself and to attain the height of the Creator, it means that he is still at the animate degree of development. The method of correction was not created for him, whatever he may be engaged in. He may be a great erudite, he may consider himself righteous, but if he does not care about correcting his evil inclination every second, he is still called an “animal.” And therefore, it is said that all are like animals.
Thus, we must respect the desire that has awakened within us that is directed toward adhesion with the Creator and respect the friends in whom this fire also burns. We can unite among ourselves so that the common desire of all will dwell in each one. Then, upon this great desire that encompasses everyone, we will draw the light that returns to the source, and it will indeed unite all our desires into one great, already corrected Kli. It will be filled with the upper light, the Creator, and thus we will become similar to Malchut of the world of infinity, as it is said: “He is one and the Creator is one.” He is the light, and the Creator is the vessel, the Kli, HaVaYaH.
Thus, it turns out that the entire world was created for correction. In the end, all will have to correct themselves and come to adhesion, of which it is said: “All shall know Me, from the smallest to the greatest.”
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/11, Rabash ,“What It Means that the World Was Created for the Torah”
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