Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 182

Why Is Slander Called “A Help Against Him”?

In reality there is no such thing as something that is simply “against.” Therefore, in the Torah, the word for “against” (Neged) is always written with a prefix of “as” or “like” before it, (Keneged) in the sense of “one against another” (Zeh Keneged Zeh). What does the prefix “as” or “like” imply? It means something like or as if opposite to something else. One thing actually supports the other, and in order to clarify one thing, something appears opposite it.

Sometimes it seems to us, due to lack of understanding and the absence of a comprehensive view of what is before our eyes, that there is something that contradicts and destroys. Indeed, this might appear to happen, but even the worst occurrence has the purpose of serving as a support, a foundation, for the structure and the next degree.

Whether we receive Kedusha according to our equivalence of form with it, or according to our opposition of form to it, depends only on us.
From a Talk on the Article “What Is the Substance of Slander and Against Whom Is It?” – Part 1 6/12/2002

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 181
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 180
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 179

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