READING: between after midnight and sunrise of Monday

Lesson 3 “Discovering the Landlord”

Discovering the Landlord between Us

1. RABASH, Article No. 18 (1989), “What Is, ‘There Is No Blessing in That Which Is Counted,’ in the Work?”

Those who want to build a structure of Kedusha. They must know and believe that without His help, for He both gives the Kli, the desire and yearning to bestow, as well as the light, which is the power that a person receives so he can work in order to bestow. He gives everything, but a person must first act. That is, before the work, a person must say, “If I am not for me, who is for me.” Afterward, he should say, “Unless the Lord builds a house, its builders labor in it in vain.”

2. RABASH, Article No. 5 (1987), “What Is the Advantage in the Work More than in the Reward?”

Only by a person working in love of others can he achieve Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator. […] And since there are ups and downs about it, meaning that many times the body makes him see that he, too, is a host, meaning that he is allowed to do what he wants and he is not subjugated to the Host, who is the Creator. Naturally, he wants to do whatever he wants. But later, a person overcomes the body’s thoughts and desires and accepts that he is the guest and the Creator is the Host.

3. RABASH, Article No. 118, “Except for ‘Leave!'”

Man is but a guest, and the Creator is the Host. It is known that our sages said, “Anything that the landlord tells you, do,” for so is the custom, “except for ‘Leave!’” This is so because when one leaves the domain of the landlord, he is no longer his host, so as to listen to His voice.

4. Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 1, “There Is None Else Besides Him”

One must always try and adhere to the Creator, namely that all his thoughts will be about Him. That is to say, even if he is in the worst state, from which there cannot be a greater decline, he should not leave His domain, namely that there is another authority that prevents him from entering the Kedusha [holiness], that can bring benefit or harm.

That is, he must not think that there is a force of the Sitra Achra [other side] that does not let a person do good deeds and walk in the ways of the Creator. Rather, all is done by the Creator.

5. RABASH, Article No. 19 (1990), “Why Is the Torah Called ‘Middle Line’ in the Work? – 2”

One must believe as was said above, that “there is none else besides Him,” meaning that it is the Creator who compels him to do the good deeds, but since he is still unworthy of knowing that it is the Creator who commits him, the Creator dresses Himself in dresses of flesh and blood, through which the Creator performs these actions. Thus, the Creator acts in the form of Achoraim [posterior].

In other words, the person sees people’s faces but he should believe that behind the faces stands the Creator and performs these actions.

6. Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 19, “What Is ‘The Creator Hates the Bodies,’ in the Work?”

There is room for work precisely when the will to receive awakens.Then one has close contact with the Creator to help him turn the will to receive to work in order to bestow. One must believe that from this extends contentment to the Creator, from his praying to Him to draw him near in the manner of Dvekut [adhesion], called “equivalence of form,” discerned as the annulment of the will to receive, so it is in order to bestow. The Creator says about this, “My sons defeated Me.” That is, I gave you the will to receive, and you ask Me to give you a desire to bestow instead.

7. RABASH, Article No. 13 (1986), “Come unto Pharaoh – 2”

One who wishes to come to the King—whose only goal is to converse with the King face-to-face—is told that he must first climb to the first floor, since it is impossible to climb to the second floor without first climbing to the first floor.

Certainly, everyone understands that this is so. However, there is a reason why they must first climb to the first floor—it is called “corrections.” In other words, by climbing to the first floor, one can learn how to address the King face-to-face, and will be able to ask the King for his wish.

8. RABASH, Article No. 16 (1988), “What Is the Foundation on which Kedusha [Holiness] Is Built?”

Each day when a person digs the foundation, he digs into the depth of the ground and does not go back to working on what he has already worked yesterday. But the progress is in deepening, and the measure of the depth of the digging is until he receives a genuine need for the Creator’s help, to help him have the desire to work in order to bestow.

“Penny by penny accumulates into a great amount.” Finally, from all the digging, he arrives at such a depth that it is possible to build on it a building that is worthy of being rewarded with NRNHY of the Neshama, with which one should be rewarded.

9. RABASH, Article No. 8 (1991), “What Is, ‘And Abraham Was Old, of Many Days,’ in the Work?”

When a person is rewarded with the Creator giving him the desire to bestow, meaning that he has been rewarded with being able to do all his actions for the sake of the Creator, he sees that he is a “child.” That is, he has no more power than that of a child, meaning he has nothing of his own. In other words, he has achieved nothing by himself, but rather the Creator gave him everything.

10. Zohar for All, Bo (Come unto Pharaoh), “And Pass Over..”, Item 81

A man made a house, and the Creator told him, “Write My name and put it on your doorstep. And you will sit within the house while I sit outside, at your door and watch over you.”