READING: between after midnight and sunrise of Tuesday.

Lesson 4 “Giving Thanks to the Creator”

Giving Thanks to the Creator

1. Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 4, “What Is the Reason for the Heaviness One Feels when Annulling before the Creator in the Work?”

With what can one magnify one’s Kelim? The answer is that to the extent to which he praises and thanks the Creator for having brought him closer to Him, so he would feel Him a little and think of the importance of the matter, meaning that he was rewarded with having some connection with the Creator.

To the extent of the importance that one pictures for oneself, so the illumination grows in him.

2. Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 26, “One’s Future Depends and Is Tied to Gratitude for the Past”

We cannot appreciate the importance of being able to sometimes observe the Mitzvot [commandments] of the Creator, even without any intention. In that state, one comes to feel elation and joy in the heart.

The praise and the gratitude one gives for it expand the feelings, and one is elated by every single point in the holy work, he knows Whose servant he is, and thus soars ever higher.

3. RABASH, Letter No. 36

I heard from Baal HaSulam that with the praise and gratitude one gives to the Creator for nearing the Creator, one draws the light of His holiness below. A person should feel whole, and then he is regarded as blessed, and the blessed clings to the blessed.

4. RABASH, Article No. 12 (1987), “What Is Half a Shekel in the Work – 1”

When one feels and depicts to himself that he is serving the Creator, he feels that he is blessed, and then comes the rule that the blessed clings to the blessed.

It follows that in such a state a person feels himself as the happiest in the world. This is the time when he needs to thank the Creator for giving him the little service that he served Him. It follows that in that state he is adhered to the Creator because there is joy in him, as our sages said, “The Shechina [Divinity] is present only out of joy.”

5. Baal HaSulam, Letter No. 52

Two concepts in the work of the Creator: 1) “prayer and plea,” 2) “praise and gratitude.” Naturally, both must be at their highest. To complete the prayer, a person must feel the Creator’s closeness to him as mandatory, like an organ that is hanging loosely, for then he can complain and pour out his heart before Him.

But opposite that, regarding the complete praise and gratitude, a person must feel the Creator’s closeness to him as an addition, a supplement, as something that does not belong to him at all, for “What is man that You should know him, the son of man that You should think of him?” Then he can certainly give complete praise and gratitude to His great name for choosing him from among all those who are standing ready to serve the Creator.

It is great work for the complex man to be completed in both those opposites, so they are set in his heart forever at the same time.

6. Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 26, “One’s Future Depends and Is Tied to Gratitude for the Past”

There are many people in the world who were not given the strength to do the holy work even in the simplest way, even without the intention and in Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], even in Lo Lishma of Lo Lishma, and even in preparation for the preparation of the clothing of Kedusha [holiness], while he was imparted the desire and thought to at least occasionally do holy work, even in the simplest possible way, if one can appreciate the importance of this, according to the importance one attributes to the holy work, to that extent he should give praise and thanks for it.

7. RABASH, Article No. 28 (1987), “What Is Do Not Add and Do Not Take Away in the Work?”

He must believe above reason and imagine that he has already been rewarded with faith in the Creator that is felt in his organs, and he sees and feels that the Creator leads the entire world as the good who does good. […]

Here he acquires the importance of the goal, and from here he derives life, meaning joy at being near to the Creator. Then a person can say that the Creator is good and does good, and feel that he has the strength to tell the Creator, “You have chosen us from among all nations, You have loved us and wanted us,” since he has a reason to thank the Creator. And to the extent that he feels the importance of spirituality, so he establishes the praise of the Creator.

8. Zohar for All, Pekudei [Accounts], “The Palace of Holy of Holies”, Item 832

Anyone who does not know how to establish the praise of his Master, it is better for him not to be born because the prayer must be complete above, out of thought, the will of the heart, the voice, and the word of the mouth, to make wholeness, connection, and unification above. As it is above, and as the wholeness comes out from above downward, so it should be from below upward, properly tying the connection.

9. Baal HaSulam, Letter No. 55

“Righteous.” It refers to a person who is in the world of the Creator, yet always receives good and pleasant sensations, and is in constant pleasure. For this reason, he always blesses the Creator, Who created him in order to furnish him with such a good and delightful world. He, too, certainly does not need to explicitly utter the words, for the feelings themselves are the blessings that he blesses the Creator, as explained in the above allegory. This is why he is called “righteous” [also “just”], for he justifies creation and feels it as it truly is.

10. RABASH, Article No. 2 (1986), “Lend Ear, O Heaven”

Although he does not understand a single word that is written there, it is still a great privilege that now he is adhered to the study of the internality of the Torah.

In other words, he believes that they speak only about Godliness and he has room to delve in his thought, since “everything I’m learning is of the holy names, so I must be very fortunate. Therefore, all I need to do is thank and praise the Creator.