READING: BETWEEN AFTER MIDNINGHT AND DAWN WEDNESDAY

Baal HaSulam. Shamati, 232. Completing the Labor

232. Completing the Labor

I heard

“I labored and did not find, do not believe.” We must understand the meaning “I found.” What is there to find? Finding concerns the Creator finding us agreeable. “I did not labor and found, do not believe.”

We must ask, after all, he is not lying; this is not about a person concerning himself as an individual. Rather, it is the same rule with the whole. And if one sees that he is favored by Him, why “not believe”? The thing is that sometimes a person is rewarded with favor through prayer. This is because so is the power of the prayer—it can act like labor. (As we see in corporeality, some get provision through their labor, and some get their provision through prayer. By asking for provision, he is allowed to provide for himself.)

But in spirituality, although he is rewarded with favor, he must still pay the full price later on—the measure of the labor that everyone gives. If not, he will lose the Kli [vessel]. This is why he said, “I did not labor and found, do not believe,” since he will lose everything. Thus, one should subsequently pay one’s full labor.