READING: between after midnight and sunrise of Friday.

Lesson on the topic of “To be partners with the Creator”

To be partners with the Creator – Selected excerpts from the sources

1. RABASH, Article No. 45 (1991), “What Does It Mean that a Judge Must Judge Absolutely Truthfully, in the Work?”

It is written in The Zohar (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Item 67), “‘And to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’’ Do not pronounce ‘You are My people [Ami],’ but ‘You are with Me [Imi],’ with a Hirik in the Ayin, which means partnering with Me. As I made heaven and earth with My speech, so you.” That is, I started creation by creating the will to receive, and you must finish, meaning place the intention to bestow on the will to receive. This is called “partnership.”

It follows that the partnership stems primarily as a result of the Tzimtzum and the concealment that were made on the vessels of reception. That is, the light departed because of the correction of the Tzimtzum, but through the correction called “in order to bestow,” the light can shine once more, to the extent that the Kli has a desire to bestow.

2. RABASH, Article No. 11 (1987), “Purim, and the Commandment: Until He Does Not Know”

The matter of interpretation of a partner can also be applied between man and man, since this implies that later, the whole world will receive the side of merit. It follows that he did good between man and man by causing the entire world to receive the delight and pleasure that exist in the purpose of creation.

It follows that he has become a partner of the Creator in that through him will come the assistance by which everyone will achieve the purpose of creation. Thus, he has become a partner of the Creator, as it is written, “I started creation by wanting to give delight and pleasure, and Israel exert to realize the goal by making Kelim [vessels] that are fit to receive the upper abundance without any flaw, called ‘bread of shame.’

3. RABASH, Article No. 45 (1991), “What Does It Mean that a Judge Must Judge Absolutely Truthfully, in the Work?”

They said, “It is as though he becomes partners with the Creator in the work of creation”? We should understand what it tells us that they say “as though.” The thing is that from the perspective of the light, which is the delight and pleasure, only the Creator gives. In this, we cannot speak of a partnership. But with regard to the Kli, there we can speak of a partnership, since the Creator gave the will to receive and the yearning to receive pleasure, and the creatures give the other half of the Kli, namely the desire to bestow. In other words, we attribute the part of the Kli that is the will to receive to the Creator, and the other part of the Kli, the desire to bestow, we attribute to the creatures; this is what the creatures make. Thus, there are two partners in the Kli.

4. RABASH, Article No. 27 (1985), “Repentance”

The meaning of the partnership between the creatures and the Creator, as it is written in The Zohar (“Introduction of the Book of Zohar,” item 67): “‘And to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’” Do not pronounce ‘You are My people [Ami],’ but ‘You are with Me [Imi],’ which means partnering with Me.” That is, the Creator gave the will to receive, which is the deficiency He has created, which is called “darkness,” as it is written, “And creates darkness.” This comes from His desire to do good. The creatures must give the Masach, by which we have equivalence of form, for only then we have Kelim [vessels] that are suitable to receive the abundance that comes from His doing good to His creations. It follows that “has created” comes from above, and “to do” comes from the lower ones.

5. Baal HaSulam, “You Have Made Me in Behind and Before”

The light of this world was created out of darkness, […] For this reason, he who becomes a partner to the Creator in the work of creation brings out the light from the darkness, meaning considers how lowly and ignoble one is compared to the Kedusha [holiness] of above, and how filthy are his clothes. Through it, the light becomes surrounded.

6. RABASH, Article No. 160. “And All the People Stand Over You”

When the lower ones can receive the complete benefit, creation is completed. It follows that he has become partners with the Creator by receiving what the Creator wants to give.

7. RABASH, Article No. 45 (1991), “What Does It Mean that a Judge Must Judge Absolutely Truthfully, in the Work?”

Any person who wants to judge himself and see his situation in the work needs to be a truthful judge.

Although he is a truthful judge, who sees that all his actions are for the sake of the Creator, that judge still cannot be “as though he becomes partners with the Creator in the work of creation.” That is, the work of creation is the creation of the world, where the intention was to delight His creations. A correction was made so that in order to avoid the bread of shame, the creatures must make the other half of the Kli, which is the aim in order to bestow. And since he judges truthfully, he is still unfit to receive the delight and pleasure because there is still disparity of form between him and the light. Hence, he cannot be a partner.

Conversely, a judge who judges absolutely truthfully, meaning that the aim is also for the sake of the Creator, then there is already a correction of the vessels of reception, so there is equivalence between the Kli and the light. At that time, the light can shine in that Kli and that judge becomes a partner, since he gave the partnership of the Kli, meaning the desire to bestow that is on the Kli of the will to receive, called “receiving in order to bestow.” This means that only now that he has finished the Kli can the purpose of creation, which is the work of creation, be revealed to the lower ones, since the matter of shame has been corrected because they can already receive everything in order to bestow.

8. RABASH, Article No. 554. “The Power of Thought”

We must always be in a state that is regarded as “good,” meaning that we are living in a world that is all good, and everything we feel is for the best.

When people harm him for no reason, but only because they are inherently wicked, and this is why they afflict him, he should not think that this is a coincidence. Rather, for all his anger at them, he must not take revenge on them, but he must say that everything comes from Providence.

By having to overcome his inclination and admit all the powers of the anger into Kedusha [holiness], it is a test that the Creator wants to test him if he can maintain his wholeness at such a time and love the Creator.

By overcoming, a person becomes powerful.

He must know that the partner is clothed within him.

He must not think or do something that is unbecoming of the partner.

He must think of the exaltedness of the Creator and yearn that there will be light.