Baal HaSulam. Letter 17

Letter 17

6 Tevet, Tav–Reish–Peh–Vav, December 23, 1925

Dear…

… Yet, let me write to you with regard to the middle pillar in the work of God, so as to always be a target for you between right and left. This is because there is he who walks, who is worse than he who sits idly. It is he who deflects from the road, for the path of truth is a very thin line that one walks until one comes to the King’s palace.

One who begins to walk in the beginning of the line needs great care so as not to deviate to the right or to the left of the line even as much as a hairsbreadth, for if at first the deviation is as a hairsbreadth, even if one continues completely straight, it is certain that he will no longer come to the King’s palace, as he is not stepping on the true line, like this, for example:

This is a true comparison.

Let me explain to you the meaning of the middle pillar, which is the meaning of “The Torah, the Creator, and Israel are one.” The purpose of the soul when it comes in the body is to be rewarded with returning to its root and with Dvekut [adhesion] with Him while clothed in the body, as it is written, “To love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, and to adhere to Him.” You see that the matter ends with “to adhere to Him,” meaning as it was prior to clothing in the body.

However, great preparation is required, which is to walk in all His ways. Yet, who knows the ways of the Creator? Indeed, this is the meaning of “Torah that has 613 ways.” He who walks on them will finally be purified until his body no longer forms an iron partition between him and his Maker, as it is written, “And I will take away the stony heart from your flesh.” Then he shall adhere to his Maker just as he was before the clothing of the soul in the body.

It turns out that there are three discernments: 1) Israel is one who exerts to return to his root; 2) The Creator, namely the root he longs for; 3) The 613 ways of the Torah by which one purifies one’s soul and body. This is the spice, as it is written, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created for it the Torah as a spice.”

However, these three are actually one and the same. In the end, any servant of the Creator attains them as one, unique, and unified discernment, and they only appear to be divided into three because of one’s incompleteness in the work of the Creator.

Let me clarify something to you: You shall see its tip, but not its entirety, except when He delivers you. It is known that the soul is a part of God above. Before it comes in a body, it is adhered as a branch to the root. See in the beginning of Tree of Life, that He created the worlds because He wanted to manifest His holy names, “Merciful” and “Gracious,” etc., and if there are no creatures, there would be no one on which to have mercy. These words are very deep indeed.

However, as much as the pen permits, as “The whole Torah is the names of the Creator,” as they said. The meaning of attainment is, “That which we do not attain, we do not define by a name.” It is written in the books that all these names are the reward of the souls, which is compelled to come into the body, for it is precisely through the body that it can attain the names of the Creator.

Its stature is according to its attainment. There is a rule: The sustenance of any spiritual thing is according to the merit of knowing it. A corporeal animal feels itself because it consists of mind and matter.

Thus, a spiritual sensation is a known discernment, and the spiritual stature is measured by the value of what is known, as it is written, “One is praised according to one’s mind.” However, the animal knows; it does not feel at all.

Understand the reward of the souls: Before a soul comes into the body, it is a tiny dot, although it is attached to the root as a branch to a tree. This dot is called “the root of the soul and its world.” Had it not entered into this world in a body, it would have had only its own world, meaning its own part in the root.

However, the more it is rewarded with walking in the ways of the Creator, which are the 613 ways of the Torah that return to being the actual names of the Creator, the more its stature grows according to the level of the names it has attained. This is the meaning of the words, “The Creator imparts each and every righteous 310 worlds.”

Interpretation: The soul consists of two righteous: upper righteous, and lower righteous, as the body is divided from the Tabur [navel] up and from the Tabur down. Thus, it is rewarded with the written Torah and the oral Torah, which are two times 310, being 620 in Gematria. These are the 613 Mitzvot [commandments] of the Torah and the seven Mitzvot de Rabanan [of our great teachers].

It is written in Tree of Life, “The worlds were created only to disclose the names of the Creator.” Thus, you see that since the soul came down to clothe this filthy substance, it could no longer adhere to its root, to its own world, as before it came to this world. Rather, it must increase its stature 620 times, as it previously was in the root. This is the meaning of the entire perfection, the entire NRNHY up to Yechida, for which Yechida is called Keter, implying the number 620 [Keter is 620 in Gematria].

Thus, you see that the meaning of the 620 names, being the 613 Mitzvot of the Torah and the seven Mitzvot de Rabanan, are, in fact, the five qualities of the soul, meaning NRNHY. This is because the Kelim [vessels] of the NRNHY are from the above 620 Mitzvot, and the lights of NRNHY are the very light of the Torah in each and every Mitzva [sing. of Mitzvot]. It follows, that the Torah and the soul are one.

However, the Creator is the light of Ein Sof, clothed in the light of the Torah, which is found in the above 620 Mitzvot. Understand that thoroughly, for this is the meaning of their words, “The whole Torah is the names of the Creator.” It means that the Creator is the whole, and the 620 names are parts and items. These items are according to degrees and steps of the soul that does not acquire its light at once, but gradually, one at a time.

From all the above, you find that the soul is destined to acquire all 620 holy names, its entire stature, which is 620 more than it had before it came. Its stature appears in the 620 Mitzvot where the light of the Torah is clothed, and the Creator in the collective light of the Torah. Thus, you see that “the Torah, the Creator, and Israel” are indeed one.

Examine these words carefully, as they require only a simple explanation. It is about that that they said, “I shall not explain the literal,” and you shall be happy if you understand what is before you.

Let us return to the issue that before the completeness in the work of the Creator, the Torah, the Creator, and Israel appear as three discernments. At times, one wishes to complete one’s soul and return it to its root, which is considered Israel. At times, one wishes to perceive the ways of the Creator and the secrets of Torah, “for he who does not know the commandments of his Master, how will he serve Him?” This is considered Torah.

Sometimes one wishes to attain the Creator, meaning to adhere to Him with complete perception. One essentially regrets only this and does not agonize over attaining the secrets of the Torah. Also, he does not agonize over returning his soul to its origin, as it was prior to clothing in a body.

Hence, one who walks on the true line of preparing for the work of the Creator must always test himself to see if he wants the three above discernments completely equally, as the end of the act equalizes with its beginning. If one wants one of them more than the second or the third, then one strays from the path of truth.

Thus, you would better hold onto the goal of yearning for the commandment of the Master, for “He who does not know the ways of his Master and the commandments of his Master, which are the secrets of Torah, how will he serve Him?” Among all three, this is what guarantees the middle line most.

This is the meaning of “Open for me one aperture of repentance, such as the tip of a needle, and I will open for you gates where carts and coaches enter.” Interpretation: The eye of the needle is not for entry and exit, but to insert the thread for sewing and for work.

Similarly, you are to crave only the commandment of your Master, to work, and then I will open for you a door such as an entry to a hall. This is the meaning of the explicit name in the verse, “But indeed (spelled like Hall in Hebrew) I live, and the glory of the Lord shall fill all the earth.”

Yehuda Leib