Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 70

How Is the Choice Between Good and Evil Made from this Middle Point?

“Middle” means that good and evil seem equal. But how can we distinguish between them? In our world, there are no labels of “good” or “evil” attached to desires, temptations, or actions. If there were such labels, we would have no free choice. We are positioned between and surrounded equally by all kinds of possibilities.

But if the possibilities are equal, how can we choose? What choice can there be in Klipat Noga, in something half good and half evil, if we do not know what direction to take? After all, we are clueless as to what lies ahead of us. If we knew in advance, what choice would we have? How, then, do we make a choice?

It is only through descents and ascents, through failures. As it is written, “There is not a righteous man on earth who does good and did not sin.” From the failures and the feeling of how the situation is opposite to the spiritual degree, to perfection, to the Creator’s state, we come to recognize the Creator through negation and learn who and what He is, as is it written about “the advantage of light from within darkness,” and then we yearn for Him.

This is how we gather these yearnings until they build a genuine desire that leads to a cry to the Creator from which we receive strength, and we can then adhere to Him. This happens only through the feeling of failure.

The wars mentioned in the Bible with Amalek, the Klipot, and the many conquests are scrutinies of distinctions that must be made in order to reach the Land of Israel (“Land” [Eretz] meaning “desire” [Ratzon], and “Israel” meaning “straight to God” [Yashar-El]), a place where our desire aligns precisely with the desire of the Creator. It is a state where we receive a screen at the level of the light that dresses the level of Ein Sof.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 69

Why Is It Necessary to Awaken the Evil Inclination in a Person?

Baal HaSulam describes this entire process in his “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”:

• In State 1, the Creator created Ein Sof, and through the five worlds of Adam Kadmon, Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya (AK and ABYA), lowered the created being down to this world.
• In State 3, the created being returns, by its own efforts, to the level of Ein Sof.
• The entire process of the created being’s return to Ein Sof is called State 2.

What is the difference between State 1 and State 3? In Ein Sof, the created being completely and perfectly exists in the thought of creation to do good to His creations. The light and the vessel are united in an unchanging state—the one and only state that the Creator created, which is eternal and perfect. However, in this state, the created being is like a fetus in its mother’s womb, at the root degree of the desire’s coarseness (Aviut de Shoresh), where it only feels the light of Nefesh, a basic, minimal light. To attain adhesion with the Creator, the created being must undergo the construction of its vessel, as if it itself creates the desire to adhere to the Creator.

The created being lacks this deficiency, the desire to adhere to the Creator. To develop it, the created being needs to descend into a state opposite to Ein Sof and, through its own will, ascend back to Ein Sof with this deficiency, which is a process called “raising MAN.” This is done through prayer and good deeds. In other words, through corrections, the soul ascends to Ein Sof.

To accomplish this work, we need to possess two opposing forces, two “angels.” These two forces, which are the qualities of the light and the vessel, already exist in Ein Sof in perfection and adhesion. For them to become opposites, a spiritual action called “the breaking of the vessels” takes place. In this process, the screen (the connection between the vessel and the light) shatters. Since nothing connects them, we start feeling two separate forces within ourselves: the struggle between the good and the evil forces, the good inclination and the evil inclination. The good force is the spark of the Creator called a “part of Shechina [Divinity] from above.” The evil force is the stony heart, Amalek, and the three impure shells (Klipot).

We are in the middle, between these two forces, good and evil, as Klipat Noga, which is neither good nor evil. It depends on which force we align ourselves with—good or evil. Therefore, Klipat Noga is called “half good and half evil.”

How can we know where there is good and evil? Our path is always filled with descents and ascents, ascents and descents. First, we enter the left line, see that it is evil, and move to the right line, then again return to the left, and once more move to the right. In such a way, we move between these two forces and ascend until the end of correction.

It is impossible to ascend a step directly. We need to first fall to the left, see that it is evil, and then move to the right. Why can we not just move to the right from the beginning? It is because, by nature, we are initially drawn to the evil inclination, as it is written that “the inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 68

Chapter 7. Free Choice

There is a distinction between someone who lives an ordinary life and someone who, in addition, seeks to progress spiritually. The difference is that a person with a desire to spiritually progress has “spies,” doubts, and must turn to the Creator for help. Such a person feels a lack of contentment in their life because the point in the heart within them demands fulfillment, a fulfillment that can only come about through feeling the Creator and experiencing the light.

Turning to the Creator for help is a unique feeling that draws us to study the wisdom of Kabbalah. Then, we encounter “spies” that give us no rest. They constantly awaken doubts about the spiritual path and make us question why we are on this path with questions such as: “Why is what we already have in our lives not enough?” and “What are we looking for that is so special through this path?”

The spies are the reasons and the vessels through which we progress. They seem like negative forces acting on us, but they are actually messengers of the Creator with a purpose of calibrating us to enter the Land of Israel in a more precise manner.

Why did the Creator design this entire process for us? It is because observing the commandments alone is not enough to achieve what is contained in the Torah. We need to acquire an additional desire, the desire for adhesion with Him. That is the ultimate goal. Moreover, the desire to adhere with the Creator becomes necessary only after we see that there is no other way to find resolve or fulfillment.

Therefore, the myriad disappointments and challenges brought about by the spies repeatedly frustrate us and makes us despair of achieving our goal through our own efforts. Gradually, a feeling, a readiness, and an understanding grow in our heart that without the Creator’s help, we will never achieve our goal. It is like children who desperately want something, but eventually recognize their helplessness and understand that obtaining what they desire depends on their mother or father, that only their mother or father can help them get what they want. Similarly, we gradually come to recognize our need for turning to the Creator.

It is written about human desires and human nature being completely opposite to the Creator that “the inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” Therefore, without a sincere need, we would never turn to the Creator. It is thus through disappointments that we acquire the desire to turn to the Creator and, in doing so, attain adhesion with Him. We then see that all the paths that the Creator paved for us—the spies, disappointments, previous fulfillments, and the many levels—were solely meant for bringing us to the point of needing the Creator.

Our “I,” the will to receive, was created ex nihilo, opposite the Creator’s nature. The more we transform our will to receive into a will to bestow through an intention to bestow, the closer we come to the Creator until we adhere to Him through equivalence of form.

Thus, the correction is not in the desire itself. Since it is our nature, we cannot change our desire. We can only correct the desire’s modus operandi and the purpose of its use. If the use of the desire is aimed at adhering to the Creator and attaining equivalence of form with Him, then we start gaining proximity with Him. The closer we draw to the Creator, the more we become filled with the upper light, and thereby reach eternity and perfection.

We can only prepare our vessels, and then the abundance in Yud-Hey (of the name HaVaYaH) in Hochma and Bina fills us. How does this happen? Keter, as the root level, is the thought of creation “to benefit His created beings,” from which the light descends. Hochma and Bina, referred to as Abba ve Ima, prepare the light. This is the upper system, the upper light, i.e., the source of the entire plan of creation.

Zeir Anpin and Malchut, or ZA and Nukva (ZON), are the lower levels, the “sons,” our good deeds. To the extent that the lower levels align with the upper ones, i.e., to the extent that Zeir Anpin and Malchut align with Hochma and Bina, they become filled with the unlimited abundance that exists there. Then they reach the purpose of creation.

This is what Baal HaSulam writes in his “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” that the answer to the sense of emptiness that urges us to start asking about the meaning of our lives is “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” This is the upper light, which must fill the vessels—the soul of the created being.

Ultimately, Zeir Anpin must resemble Hochma, and Malchut must resemble Bina, as it is written: “MA will become AB, and BON will become SAG.” This is the condition to reach the end of correction.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 67

Why Do We Agree with the Disregard in Corporeality?

In spirituality there is no concept of agreement or disagreement with what happens. On the spiritual path, we acknowledge and accept the state we are in, which depends on the intensity of the light shining upon us. When a certain light shines and sustains us in a specific state, we can be called a “thief.” If less light shines, we are considered a “robber.” If more light shines, we are a “righteous person.” Therefore, there is no point in lamenting, “Oh no, I’m a robber!” The state arises naturally, and only then do we define and name it. We can deceive ourselves with the label, “I am righteous,” but this will not change our state or make us righteous. It will only alter how we feel.

We should thus focus on accepting our state as it is, instead of reacting to it. Whether we like it or not, agree or disagree, such is the reality. When we begin to engage with internality, we neglect corporeality almost entirely. This phenomenon is not subject to judgment as good or bad. Like in nature, we do not judge a lion for hunting a gazelle; its nature compels it to do so. Similarly, for those on the spiritual path, the nature of spiritual work requires constant renunciation of corporeality.
From a Talk 5/29/2002, “What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given Out of the Darkness in the Work?”

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 66

How, Then, Is a Connection Established Between Corporeal Actions and the Spiritual World?

The general desire to receive—humanity’s collective desire—has reached a level where fragments of the soul began descending from above. In other words, the desire to receive embedded in humanity started becoming illuminated by light from above in order to scrutinize it. When this light shines, a point in the heart emerges.

This point first appeared in Abraham, who was the first to discover the Creator. From him, the lineage of students and the concept of a group emerged. Without Abraham’s revelation, humanity would have continued existing without spiritual scrutiny and advancing according to the general timeline of the universe and reality.

From Abraham onward, people started having free choice. With the illumination of the light, we could start enabling actions from ourselves. What actions could we do? Actions that facilitate connection between souls. We thus need someone close to us, a friend we can admire and emulate. We cannot rely solely on someone distant from us.

The only free choice we have is to take an additional deficiency from someone equal to us. This choice is the same one that Abraham made in his time. When the Creator told him, “I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of the sky” and “Your descendants will be strangers in a land not their own,” He was essentially providing conditions for free choice. For someone to be inspired by another, to take a desire from them, the role of a single Kabbalist was replaced by a group of close-knit individuals, a group of Kabbalists called “Jews” or “Hebrews,” who settled in the Land of Israel.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 65

How Much Are Daily Corporeal Actions Connected to Spirituality?

We need to distinguish between the soul dressed in human form and requiring correction and the body. What we do throughout the day in relation to our surroundings, whether through our body or our animalistic and human desires, does not pertain to the Torah, spiritual progress, or the Creator. People lived before they knew about Torah and Mitzvot. They had partners, children, homes, and the means by which to make a living. None of that relates to spirituality.

Ordinary life disconnected from Kabbalah does not relate to spirituality. It is a bodily, corporeal existence in this world. While such life is not entirely disconnected from the spiritual world, since everything exists as “branches” stemming from spiritual roots, it can be compared to the desire to receive as it manifests in inanimate objects, plants, animals, and humans within this world. In its slow progression, it advances to the end of correction according to the universal timeline of creation.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 64

Why Is it Forbidden to Read the Torah as a Historical Story? Why Is “Do Not Make for Yourself a Graven Image or Any Likeness” the Most Severe Prohibition in the Torah?

If we imagine corporeality instead of spirituality, then we cannot attain spirituality. This causes no harm to the Creator, or to the world, but we remain at the animalistic degree reading the Torah as if it were a novel. That is the reason for this prohibition. It is why there is an obligation to view the Torah as the names of the Creator, as solely this approach leads us to the goal.

Moses wrote the Torah in the form of a story because he had no other language that could convey the meaning he wanted to express. All other forms of writing (Haggadah, Midrash, Halacha, and the language of Kabbalah) make it much harder, almost impossible, to articulate all the nuances and details Moses sought to express. Therefore, he used the language of stories and metaphors.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 63

Why Is the Torah Called “the Names of God”?

The “names of God” refer to the way the light dresses in the vessel, and how the vessel experiences the light’s qualities. For instance, in relation to the saying, “As He is merciful, so you should be merciful,” if we correct ourselves to be merciful, then we also sense the Creator as merciful. This is called attaining or revealing the holy name, “Merciful.”

The Torah is composed of lights that dress within us that enable us to experience the Creator. The Creator is the totality of light, and we receive this totality incrementally according to our degree of correction.

If we receive the entire Torah—all the lights together—we sense the entirety of the Creator and experience Him fully.

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 62

What Does It Mean to “Rejoice in Darkness”?

To “rejoice in darkness” means to be joyful about the purpose behind it. “Darkness” refers to the state of darkness we might be in, while joy stems from what the darkness brings. We might be in an unpleasant state, yet surrounding light shines upon us, enabling us to sense both the darkness and the positive outcomes it will yield in the future.

This is not the same “darkness” that we feel during the preparation stage, which consists only of confusion, emptiness, weakness, and helplessness. The darkness that comes from the illumination of surrounding light also contains a glimpse of the future—spirituality—called the “light of faith,” yet it is still darkness.

When Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai descended to the level of “Shimon from the market,” he determined, from that level, that he was in it, and deduced that the corresponding level would be the state of complete correction. When did he determine this? It was while he was still at the level of “Shimon from the market,” and not from another state.

Did he descend to the level of “Shimon from the market”? Yes, he descended, but it was Rabbi Shimon who descended. He did not become entirely “Shimon from the market,” but rather Rabbi Shimon dressed in the state of “Shimon from the market.” He was at that low level, yet determined from his overall state what this level would bring him.

Even before crossing the barrier (Machsom), we experience states of darkness differently in order to prevent excessive discouragement from descents. The states that take place after the barrier are felt in a certain way before the barrier as well, albeit within the material world, not the spiritual.

The correction of the screen over the desire to receive is called “an act,” meaning taking a negative desire and turning it into a positive one. The Mitzvot (commandments) of the Torah are 613 Eitin (counsels) on how to correct the soul, followed by 613 Pekudin (commands), directives for filling the corrected parts with light.

If we correct all of our parts and fill them with light called “Torah,” we attain the general Torah. Upon completing the correction of the entire vessel, the general light called “the Creator” becomes revealed.

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How Can We Hold a Sense of Spiritual Importance While Experiencing Darkness?

Even during the night we should maintain a sense of greatness and importance of the spiritual goal. If we view the darkness as beneficial, we can rejoice in it, bless the Creator, and then even during the darkness, we can cleave to Him. This is not done at our current level, but at spiritual levels. There we intentionally perform various corrections, such as “the sixty breaths of the horse,” corrections of the night, corrections of slumber (Dormita), and so on, to ascend from one degree to the next. These are wondrous occurrences.

Out of the darkness, all discernments become revealed. Afterward we just need to add intention and correct them. New desires emerge from the darkness.

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