READING: between after midnight and sunrise of Monday

Lesson on the topic of “He is forced until he says, ‘I want'”

“He is forced until he says, ‘I want.’” – Selected Excerpts from the Sources

1. RABASH, Article No. 19 (1986), “Concerning Joy”

“He is forced until he says, ‘I want.’” That is, this follows the rule that our sages said, “One should always engage in Torah and Mitzvot even Lo Lishma, since from Lo Lishma he comes to Lishma” (Pesachim 50b). This means that by subjugating himself each time, although the body does not agree to work for the Creator because where he does not see self-gratification he cannot do a thing.

Still, he does not notice the body’s complaints and says to his body: “Know that even by force, you are doing the Creator’s commandments. It will not help you to resist the work. It is said that practical Mitzvot have the power to bring one to Lishma.” This is the meaning of “He is forced,” meaning that he forces himself and does not listen to any logic and reason that the body tries to explain to him, but tells it, “In the end he will achieve Lishma.” This is the meaning of “until he says, ‘I want.’” That is, from Lo Lishma we come to Lishma, which is called “I want.”

2. RABASH, Article No. 19 (1986), “Concerning Joy”

We can compare it to a child who does not want to eat, who derives no pleasure from eating, so the parents force the child to eat whether he wants to or not. And although the child has no pleasure, in the end, even by coercion, it helps the child, as well, so he can live and grow. However, it would certainly be better if the child wanted to eat by himself, meaning if he enjoyed the food. But even without pleasure and completely by coercion it still benefits the child.

We should say likewise in serving the Creator. Even if we keep Torah and Mitzvot by coercion, meaning we force ourselves to keep and our bodies resist anything that is of Kedusha [holiness/sanctity], still, the act he performs does its thing, and by this he can come to a state where he has a desire to observe. At that time, all the things he did are not in vain. Rather, everything he did enters Kedusha.

3. Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 19, “What Is ‘The Creator Hates the Bodies,’ in the Work?”

During the work, when the will to receive comes to a person with its arguments, no arguments or rationalizations help with it. Though one thinks that they are just arguments, it will not help one defeat his evil.

Instead, as it is written, “Blunt its teeth.” This means to advance only by actions, and not by arguments. This is considered that one must add powers coercively. This is the meaning of what our sages said, “He is coerced until he says ‘I want.’” In other words, through persistence, habit becomes a second nature.

4. Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 5, “Lishma Is an Awakening from Above, and Why Do We Need an Awakening from Below?”

If one works with faith above reason, coercively, and the body becomes accustomed to this work against the desire of his will to receive, then he has the means by which to come to work that will be with the purpose of bringing contentment to his Maker, since the primary requirement from a person is to come to Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator through his work, which is discerned as equivalence of form, where all his actions are in order to bestow.

5. RABASH, Article No. 841. “Coerced”

“Will offer [also “bring closer”] him to His will.” RASHI interpreted, “It teaches that he is coerced until he says, ‘I want.’”

Baal HaSulam said about the words, “The Lord is your shade,” that according to the acts of people, so happens above, at the root of one’s soul. Hence, it follows that if one coerces himself below, he also causes coercion above, until the Creator says, “I want,” and accepts your work.

6. RABASH, Article No. 40 (1990), ‘What Is, ‘For You Are the Least of All the Peoples,’ in the Work?”

We can understand when a person is forced to work. But how is it possible to want such a work, which feels tasteless? And since he does not have the strength to overcome and feel joy in such a work, how can he serve the King in such a lowly state, when he feels the taste of dust while serving the King?

Hence, in this regard, he does not ask the Creator to give him the revelation of His greatness, so he will feel a good taste in it. Rather, he asks the Creator to give him strength to be able to overcome the body and work gladly because now he can work only for the Creator, since the will to receive does not enjoy work that tastes like dust.

7. Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 57, “Will Bring Him as a Burnt Offering to His Will”

We must know that the path of Torah is a more successful way and yields more benefits than the path of suffering. This is because the Kelim [vessels] that will be fit to receive the upper light are broader and can yield Dvekut [adhesion] with Him.

This is the meaning of “He is coerced until he says, ‘I want.’” It means that the Creator says, “I want the deeds of the lower ones.”

The meaning of prayer is what our sages said, “The Creator craved the prayer of the righteous,” for by the prayer, the Kelim are made fit for the Creator to later give the abundance, since there is a fit Kli to receive the abundance.

8. RABASH, Letter No. 26

When the awakening from above comes to a person, it seems to him that there is no longer any war, for at that time he begins to feel the beauty and glory of holiness, and the lowliness of corporeal matters, until he resolves to work only for the Creator.

But since a person did not really finish his work, the awakening that he was given is taken away from him, and he soon falls into his previous state, where he feels grace and beauty only in corporeal things, and regards matters of sanctity as redundant. At that time he engages in Torah and Mitzvot only out of compulsion and coercion, and not because of the desire and joy as when he had the awakening. […] Therefore, if he is smart, he should always exert until he is helped from above to be rewarded with real wholeness.

9. Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 145. “What Is He Will Give Wisdom Specifically to the Wise”

One should exert in Torah and work although he has no desire for it. This is called “labor.” This means that he does things although he has no desire for the thing he does. It is as our sages said, “All that your hand and strength can do, do.” And by the virtue of exerting, a desire and craving for wisdom will form within him.

And then the verse, “He will give wisdom to the wise” will become true in him, and he will be rewarded with “hearing the voice of His word.” Thus, that which was previously by way of doing, an act without a will, he has been awarded a desire for it.

10. Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 20, “Lishma [for Her sake]”

His sole intention should be only for the Creator, as it is written, “Then shall you delight yourself in the Lord.” Thus, when he served the Creator in the past, he did not sense any pleasure in the work. Rather his work was compulsory.

But now that he has accustomed himself to work in order to bestow, he is rewarded with delighting in the Creator, and the work itself renders him pleasure and vitality. This is considered that the pleasure, too, is specifically for the Creator.

11. Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 5, “Lishma Is an Awakening from Above, and Why Do We Need an Awakening from Below?

“Then shall you delight in the Lord.” The meaning of “Then” is that first, in the beginning of his work, he did not have pleasure. Instead, his work was coercive.

But afterward, when he has already accustomed himself to work in order to bestow and not examine himself—if he is feeling a good taste in the work—but believes that he is working to bring contentment to his Maker through his work, he should believe that the Creator accepts the work of the lower ones regardless of how and how much is the form of their work. In everything, the Creator examines the intention, and this brings contentment to the Creator. Then one is rewarded with “delight in the Lord.”

Even during the work of the Creator he will feel delight and pleasure since now he really does work for the Creator because the effort he made during the coercive work qualifies him to be able to truly work for the Creator. You find that then, too, the pleasure he receives relates to the Creator, meaning specifically for the Creator.

12. Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot”, Item 98

Now you can see that the question the interpreters asked about the Mitzva of love, saying that this Mitzva is out of our hands since love does not come by coercion and compulsion, is not at all a question since it is entirely in our hands. Every person can labor in the Torah until he finds the attainment of His open Providence, as it is written, “I labored and found, believe.”

When one is rewarded with open Providence, the love extends to him by itself through the natural channels.