READING: BETWEEN AFTER MIDNINGHT AND DAWN FRIDAY

Baal HaSulam. Shamati, 16. What Is the Day of the Lord and the Night of the Lord, in the Work?

LESSON MATERIAL

16. What Is the Day of the Lord and the Night of the Lord, in the Work?

I heard in 1941, Jerusalem

Our sages said about the verse, “Woe unto you who desire the day of the Lord! Why do you need the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light” (Amos 5): “There is an allegory about a rooster and a bat that were awaiting the light. The rooster said to the bat, ‘I am waiting for the light since the light is mine. But you, why do you need its light?’” (Sanhedrin 98b). The interpretation is that since the bat has no eyes to see, what does it gain from the sunlight? On the contrary, to one who has no eyes, sunlight only makes it darker.

We must understand that allegory, meaning how the eyes are connected to looking in the light of the Creator, which the text names “the day of the Lord.” They gave an allegory in that regard about a bat, that one who has no eyes remains in the dark.

We must also understand what is the day of the Lord, what is the night of the Lord, and what is the difference between them. We discern the day of people by the sunrise, but with the day of the Lord, in what do we discern it?

The answer is, as the appearance of the sun. In other words, when the sun shines on the ground, we call it “day.” When the sun does not shine, it is called “darkness.” It is the same with the Creator. A day is called “revelation,” and darkness is called “concealment of the face.”

This means that when there is revelation of the face, when it is as clear as day for a person, this is called “a day.” It is as our sages said about the verse, “‘The murderer rises at daytime to kill the poor and indigent; and in the night, he is as a thief.’ Since he said, ‘and in the night, he is as a thief,’ it follows that light is day. He says there, that if the matter is as clear to you as light that comes over the souls, he is a murderer, and it is possible to save him in his soul” (Psachim 2). Thus, we see that in the matter of “day,” the Gemara says that it is a matter as clear as day.

It follows that the day of the Lord will mean that the guidance by which the Creator leads the world will be clearly in the form of good and doing good. For example, when one prays, his prayer is immediately answered and he receives what he has prayed for, and one succeeds wherever one turns. This is called “the day of the Lord.”

Conversely, darkness, which is night, will mean concealment of the face. This brings one doubts in the guidance of good and doing good, and foreign thoughts. In other words, the concealment of the guidance brings one all these foreign views and thoughts. This is called “night” and “darkness,” meaning that one experiences a state where he feels that the world has turned dark on him.

Now we can interpret what is written, “Woe unto you who desire the day of the Lord! Why do you need the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light.” The thing is that those who await the day of the Lord, it means that they are waiting to be imparted faith above reason, that faith will be so strong, as if they see with their eyes, with certainty, that it is so, that the Creator watches over the world in a manner of good and doing good.

In other words, they do not want to see how the Creator leads the world as The Good Who Does Good, since seeing is contradictory to faith. In other words, faith is precisely where it is against reason. And when one does what is against one’s reason, this is called “faith above reason.”

This means that they believe that the guidance of the Creator over the creatures is in a manner of good and doing good. While they do not see it with absolute certainty, they do not say to the Creator, “We want to see the quality of good and doing good as seeing within reason.” Rather, they want it to remain in them as faith above reason, but they ask of the Creator to give them such strength that this faith will be so strong, as if they see it within reason, that there will be no difference between faith and knowledge in the mind. This is what they, those who want to adhere to the Creator, refer to as “the day of the Lord.”

In other words, if they feel it as knowledge, the light of the Creator, called “the upper abundance,” will go to the vessels of reception, called “Kelim [vessels] of separation.” They do not want this since it will go to the will to receive, which is the opposite of Kedusha [holiness], which is against the will to receive for one’s own sake. Instead, they want to adhere to the Creator, and this can be only through equivalence of form.

However, to achieve this, meaning in order for one to have desire and craving to adhere to the Creator, since one is born with a nature of a will to receive only for one’s own benefit, how is it possible to achieve something that is completely against nature? For this reason, one must make great efforts until he acquires a second nature, which is the desire to bestow.

When one is imparted the desire to bestow, he is qualified to receive the upper abundance and not blemish, since all the flaws come only through the will to receive for oneself. That is, even when doing something in order to bestow, deep inside there is a thought that he will receive something for this act of bestowal that he is now performing.

In a word, man is unable to do anything if he does not receive something in return for the act. In other words, he must enjoy, and any pleasure that one receives for one’s own benefit, that pleasure must cause him separation from the Life of Lives, because of the separation.

This stops one from adhering to the Creator, since Dvekut [adhesion] is measured by the equivalence of form. It is thus impossible to have pure bestowal without a mixture of reception from one’s own powers. Therefore, for one to have the powers of bestowal, we need a second nature, so one will have the strength to achieve equivalence of form.

In other words, the Creator is the giver and does not receive anything, for He lacks nothing, meaning that what He gives is also not because of a lack, that if He has no one to give to, He feels it as a lack.

Rather, we must perceive this as a game. That is, it is not that when He wants to give, it is something that He needs. Instead, this is all like a game. It is as our sages said regarding the queen: She asked, “What does the Creator do after He has created the world?” The answer was, “He sits and plays with a whale,” as it is written, “This whale You have created to play with” (Avoda Zarah, p 3).

The matter of the whale refers to Dvekut and connection (as it is written, “according to the opening of man and the connections”). This means that the purpose, which is the connection of the Creator with the creatures, is only a game; it is not a matter of a desire and a need.

The difference between a game and a desire is that everything that comes in the desire is a necessity. If one does not obtain one’s desire, he is deficient. But with games, even if one does not obtain the thing, it is not considered a lack, as they say, “It is not so bad that I did not get what I planned because it is not so important.” This is so because the desire he had for it was only a game and not serious.

It follows, that the whole purpose is for one’s work to be entirely in bestowal, and he will not have any desire or craving to receive pleasure for his work.

This is a high degree, as it is what happens in the Creator. And this is called “the day of the Lord.” The day of the Lord is called “wholeness,” as it is written, “Let the stars of morning be dark; let it look for light, but have none,” for light is considered wholeness.

When one acquires the second nature, the desire to bestow that the Creator gives him after the first nature, the will to receive, now he receives the desire to bestow, and then one is qualified to serve the Creator in completeness. This is considered “the day of the Lord.”

Thus, one who has not been rewarded with the second nature, to be able to serve the Creator in the manner of bestowal, and waits to be rewarded with this, meaning with bestowal, meaning he has already exerted and did what he could to obtain that force, he is considered to be awaiting the day of the Lord—to have equivalence of form with the Creator.

When the day of the Lord comes, he is elated. He is happy that he has emerged from the control of the will to receive for himself which separated him from the Creator. Now he clings to the Creator and considers it as having risen to the top.

It is the opposite for one whose work is only in self-reception: He is happy as long as he thinks that he will receive some reward from his work. When he sees that the will to receive will not receive any reward for his work, he becomes sad and idle. Sometimes he comes to doubt the beginning and says, “I did not swear on this.”

Thus, moreover, the day of the Lord is attaining the power to bestow. If one were to be told, “This will be your profit from engaging in Torah and Mitzvot,” he would say, “I consider it darkness, and not light,” since this knowledge brings one to darkness.