Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 183

Chapter 18. The Root of Hatred

In this world it is customary that refraining from slander means that a person should not speak ill of their friend, that people should be good to one another, and that every person should examine themselves before saying something critical about another. Today, there are so many thick books on the subject that before people do something or approach someone, they first check the law books of slander to see how it is advisable to approach and how they can protect themselves through what is written. That is, people do not examine their hearts, but rather look at “what is written in the books” and act according to what is written. What is written is permitted, and what is not written is not.

In other words, importance is given to what a person utters with their mouth, while there is no discussion about what takes place in the heart. That belongs to the hidden teaching. For the general public, for the still level, this is indeed the accepted path and appropriate for its degree. However, “slander” is certainly not what we express with our mouth or even what we feel in our heart toward the environment, but only what we feel toward the Creator. What we feel toward the Creator is either slander or good speech.* The sole intention is with regard to the Creator.

Since the entire purpose is to reach adhesion with the Creator and the only way to do so is to improve my qualities so they will be in equivalence of form with Him, everything I do is always to compare myself to Him: where I am, where the Creator is, how much I understand who He is, what He is, how I can make this correction, reduce the gap between us, how much I value the situation as beneficial for progress that He builds around me and within me, and how much I understand His state.

The way a person feels this entire situation, even before they examine and criticize it, is essentially their attitude toward the world that the Creator has shaped for them, and if they are not satisfied with it, their attitude toward their life is called “slander.”

In the wisdom of Kabbalah we learn that our soul includes two parts:
GE (Galgalta ve Eynaim) – vessels of bestowal, called “Israel.”
AHP (Awzen, Hotem, Peh) – vessels of reception, called “the nations of the world.”

The general correction is that until the end of correction it is impossible to use the vessels of reception, but only the AHP that ascend through their incorporation in the vessels of bestowal. The vessels of reception themselves are called “gentile,” and their incorporation in the vessels of bestowal is called a “convert.”

From this follows the correction that can be made to these two types of vessels:

The correction for Israel, for Galgalta ve Eynaim, is “Love your neighbor as yourself” (per Rabbi Akiva), because they can reach adhesion with the Creator. “Your neighbor” is the Creator.

The correction for the nations, for AHP, is a restriction called “What is hateful to you, do not do to your friend” (per Hillel), which means restrict your evil. This is because the vessels of reception in and of themselves cannot be corrected until the end of correction.

This is precisely the difference between Rabbi Akiva and Hillel, and this is the difference in the relationship between these two corrections. In Galgalta ve Eynaim, vessels of bestowal, it is permitted to use them, and in AHP, vessels of reception, it is forbidden to use them.

From this we can understand the “holy language” as a language spoken through vessels of bestowal, Hebrew, Panim (anterior), and the “language of translation” as that which is still not the holy language, but a language through which we prepare ourselves in AHP to later reach correction so that it will be like Galgalta ve Eynaim, the Achoraim (posterior) of the holy language. Therefore, Galgalta ve Eynaim speak in the holy language, and AHP speak in the language of translation. This is also why The Book of Zohar was written in the language of translation, in the Achoraim, because it is a book that still deals with corrections.

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 182
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 181
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 180

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