READING: BETWEEN AFTER MIDNINGHT AND DAWN SUNDAY

Baal HaSulam. Shamati, 47. In the Place Where You Find His Greatness

47. In the Place Where You Find His Greatness

I heard

“In the place where you find His greatness, there you find His humbleness.” It means that one who is always in true Dvekut [adhesion] sees that the Creator lowers Himself, meaning the Creator is present in the low places.

One does not know what to do, and this is why it is written, “Who sits on high, who looks down on heaven and on earth.” A person sees the greatness of the Creator and then “who looks down,” meaning he lowers the heaven to the earth. The advice that is given to this is to think that if this desire is from the Creator, we have nothing greater than that, as it is written, “He raises the poor out of the litter.”

First, one must see that he has a lack. If he does not, he should pray for it, why does one not have it? The reason he does not have a lack is due to the diminution of awareness.

Hence, in every Mitzva [commandment], one must pray, why does he not have awareness, for he is not keeping the Mitzva in wholeness. In other words, the will to receive covers so he will not see the truth.

If he would see that he is in such a lowly state, he would certainly not want to be in that state. Instead, one should exert in one’s work every time until he comes to repentance, as it is written, “He brings down to the netherworld, and raises up.”

This means that when the Creator wants the wicked one to repent, He makes the netherworld so low for him that the wicked one himself does not want to be so. Hence, one needs to pray pleadingly that the Creator will show him the truth by adding to him the light of the Torah.