Baal HaSulam clearly distinguishes between the general and the particular Torah. “The opinion of the Torah is opposite to the opinion of the masses,” and the two should not touch each other or interfere in each other’s affairs. We are talking about a completely different Torah, a different approach, a different spirit. The entire course of life for us differs from that of the masses.

Within ourselves, within our thoughts, within our intention, we are constantly tormented by questions: “At what stage am I? What is happening to me?” And so on. Everything for us is internalized. For them, the external part rules: a constant intensification of external actions. And this is good; it is necessary. As long as there is no inner part, we engage in the external. This form of education was introduced by the Kabbalists.

Baal HaSulam writes that the destruction of the First Temple did not have such an profound impact, but after the destruction of the Second Temple, the very concept of Lishma (for the sake of the Creator) vanished without a trace. The surrounding light withdrew, and the Temple was destroyed. The destruction of the Temple means that this illumination was no longer present among the people.

It is the same with us. Sometimes, from the material you absorb, you experience a spiritual ascent, when it seems to you that you sense the Creator, that you have, as if, come back to life and are floating in the heavens.

And then suddenly you feel like a complete fool who has nothing and does not understand a single word. And yet, you have a distant illumination showing you that, compared with a good state, your present state is bad. But what will happen if even this illumination is taken away from you?

That is what happened during the destruction of the Temple. With the destruction of the First Temple, the illumination that had existed among the people, that allowed people to feel they were in spirituality and gave them a sense of inspiration and connection, departed. This illumination disappeared but left them its reverse side, which gave them a feeling of at least some connection with spirituality, a feeling that spirituality exists.

By proceeding from the opposite, people at least knew what Lishma was. Instead of the light of Mochin de Haya, which shone from afar during the time of the First Temple, now, during the time of the Second Temple, the light of Mochin de Neshama came to them. It also shone from afar, but nevertheless, it shone.

And after the destruction of the Second Temple, people lost the feeling that their state was bad compared with the light, and awareness of the meaning of Lishma disappeared. They found themselves in the state of a donkey that knows nothing. Baal HaSulam writes about this in the book A Sages Fruit, in the article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah.”
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/26, Rabash, “One Should Always Sell Everything He Has and Marry a Wise Disciple’s Daughter”

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