READING: BETWEEN AFTER MIDNINGHT AND DAWN SUNDAY

Baal HaSulam. Shamati, 45. Two Discernments in the Torah and in the Work

LESSON MATERIAL

45. Two Discernments in the Torah and in the Work

I heard on Elul 1, September 5, 1948

There are two discernments in the Torah, and there are two discernments in the work. The first is the discernment of fear, and the second is the discernment of love. Torah is called a state of wholeness, meaning we do not speak of the state one’s work is in, but we speak with respect to the Torah itself.

The first is called “love,” meaning that one has a desire and craving to know the ways of the Creator and His hidden treasures, and for that he makes every effort and exertion to obtain his wish. He regards everything in the Torah that he extracts from what he has learned as having been granted a priceless thing. According to the appreciation from the importance of the Torah, so one gradually grows until he is slowly shown the secrets of the Torah, according to his labor.

The second discernment is fear, meaning that he wants to be a servant of the Creator. Since “He who does not know the commandment of the upper one, how will he serve Him?” he fears and dreads not knowing how to serve the Creator.

When he learns in this way, every time he finds a flavor in the Torah and can use it, he is elated and excited according to the appreciation of the importance from having been granted something in the Torah. And if one persists in this way, one is gradually shown the secrets of the Torah.

Here there is a difference between external teachings and the wisdom of the Torah: In external teachings, the elation lessens the intellect, since emotion is opposite from the intellect. Thus, the elation diminishes the understanding of the intellect.

Conversely, in the wisdom of the Torah, the elation is an essence, like the intellect. The reason for this is that the Torah is life, as it is written, “Wisdom preserves he who has it,” as wisdom and life are the same thing.

Hence, as the wisdom appears in the mind, so the wisdom appears in the emotion, since the light of life fills all the organs. (It seems to me that this is why one should see that one is always elated over the wisdom of the Torah, since in the elation there is a big difference between an exterior teaching and the wisdom of the Torah.)

It is likewise in the work, considered the left line, because it is discerned as reception. The matter of reception means that one wants to receive because he feels a lack, and a lack is regarded as three discernments: 1) the want of the individual, 2) the want of the public, 3) the want of the Shechina [Divinity].

Any want is regarded as wanting to satisfy the deficiency; hence, it is considered reception and left line. Torah, however, means that one works not because he feels a lack that must be corrected, but that he wants to bestow contentment upon his Maker (through prayer, praise, and gratitude. When one engages in a way that one feels oneself in wholeness and does not see any shortcoming in the world, this is called “Torah.” However, if one engages while feeling some shortcoming, this is called “work”).

Also, we should make two discernments during the work: 1) due to love of the Creator, when he wants to adhere to the Creator and feels that this is the place where he can bring out the measure of love he feels and love the Creator, 2) because of fear, when he has fear of the Creator.