READING: between after midnight and sunrise of Thursday

Not Escaping from the Campaign

Not Escaping from the Campaign – Selected Excerpts from the Sources

1. RABASH, Article No. 19 (1985), “Come unto Pharaoh – 1”

We should pay attention […] and believe through the worst possible states, and not escape the campaign, but rather always trust that the Creator can help a person and give him, whether one needs a little help or a lot of help.

In truth, one who understands that he needs the Creator to give him a lot of help, because he is worse than the rest of the people, is more suitable for his prayer to be answered, as it is written, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit.”

Therefore, one should not say that he is unfit for the Creator to bring him closer, but that the reason is that he is idle in his work. Instead, one should always overcome and not let thoughts of despair enter his mind, as our sages said (Berachot, 10), “Even if a sharp sword is placed on his neck he should not deny himself of mercy”.

2. RABASH, Article No. 22 (1989), “Why Are Four Questions Asked Specifically on Passover Night?”

Reason dictates that each day he should advance and move forward. Yet, he sees that it is actually the complete opposite—each day he is regressing. Thus, reason makes him say, “This work of going in bestowal is not for me. Rather, it is work for a chosen few.” He understands that he would be better off escaping the campaign.

And what is he told? That he should once again go with faith above reason and disregard what reason compels him to do. As it is written in the essay “Faith in His Rav” (1943), one cannot see his true state. Instead, he should go above reason, and only in this way can we reach the goal and be rewarded with Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator.

3. RABASH, Article No. 42 (1991), “What Is, ‘An Ox Knows Its Owner, etc., Israel Does Not Know,’ in the Work?“

A person believes that the Creator does everything, and there is no doubt that the Creator does everything for man’s sake, so the descents that he receives, he says that the Creator sent him these states for his own benefit.

This gives a person strength not to escape the campaign although he does not see that the Creator watches over him, meaning feels that the Creator helps him. Rather, not only is he not advancing in the work, but he has even regressed. Yet, if he believes that the Creator helps him by sending him the descents, then he no longer escapes the campaign.

Instead, he says that the Creator does help him, but not in a way that the person understands, meaning in ascents. Rather, the Creator helps him through descents. This is why this faith makes him stronger so he does not escape the campaign. Instead, he waits for the help of the Creator and prays that he will have the strength to continue the work until the Creator opens his eyes and he will be rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator.

4. RABASH, Article No. 29, (1987), “What Is ‘According to the Sorrow, So Is the Reward?'”

The labor begins to work when one wants to work for the sake of the Creator. Only then do the arguments of the spies come to him. It is very difficult to overcome them, and many people escape the campaign and surrender to the argument of the spies.

But those who do not want to move, but rather say, “We have nowhere to go,” suffer from not being able to always overcome them. They are in a state of ascending and descending, and every time they overcome, they see that they are farther from the goal that they want to be rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator, which is equivalence of form.

The measure of sorrow that they must tolerate is because in truth, a person cannot emerge from the control of self-reception by himself, as it is the nature in which the Creator created man, which only the Creator Himself can change.

5. RABASH, Article No. 12 (1987), “What Is Half a Shekel in the Work – 1”

Sometimes a person escapes the campaign when he sees that he has already prayed a lot in his opinion, but the Creator does not notice him. At that time, sometimes a person sentences the Creator to the side of merit for not granting his prayer, and says that it is because he has a poor character in every way, in virtues, and in good qualities, etc.

It was said about this, “The poor shall not give less,” meaning that a person should not belittle himself and say that the Creator cannot help a lowly person such as him, for it was said about this, “The Lord is high and the low will see.”

And sometimes, a person leaves the campaign because he knows that he is rich, meaning he has much Torah and many good deeds, and he knows that he is superior to others. Therefore, when he asks the Creator to help him be able to do everything in order to bestow, why is the Creator not granting him, for he knows that he has already given many prayers for it. Therefore, he says that the Creator does not want to answer him, and therefore he runs.

And yet, a person must always overcome.

6. RABASH, Article No. 19 (1985), “Come unto Pharaoh – 1”

During the exertion, when a person sees that the work is still far from finished, he sometimes escapes the campaign and falls into despair. At that time he needs great strengthening, to believe that the Creator will help him, and the fact that help has not arrived is because he has not given the required quantity and quality of labor for preparing the deficiency in order to receive the filing, as it is said (“Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” item 18), “And if one practices Torah and fails to remove the evil inclination from himself, it is either that he has been negligent in giving the necessary labor and exertion in the practice of Torah, as it is written, ‘I have not labored but found, do not believe,’ or perhaps one did put in the necessary amount of labor, but has been negligent in the quality.”

7. RABASH, Article No. 6 (1991), “What Is, ‘The Herdsmen of Abram’s Cattle and the Herdsmen of Lot’s Cattle,’ in the Work?”

A person must know that when he comes to a state where he does not see how he will ever be able to emerge from self-love and he wants to escape the campaign, he must know that there are two matters here, which are opposite from one another, as our sages said (Avot, Chapter 2:21), “It is not for you to finish the work, nor are you free to idle away from it.”

Thus, on one hand, a person must work and never idle away from it. That is, it is within man’s power to attain, since he says, “nor are you free to idle away from it.” This means that one should work because he is guaranteed to get what he wants, meaning to be able to work for the sake of the Creator in order to bring contentment to his Maker.

On the other hand, he says, “It is not for you to finish the work.” This implies that it is not within man’s hands, but rather, as it is written, “The Lord will finish for me.” This means that it is not within man’s ability to obtain the desire to bestow.

8. RABASH, Article No. 34 (1991), “What Is Eating Their Fruits in This World and Keeping the Principal for the Next World, in the Work?”

In the work, when one sees that it is hard to get what he wants, he escapes from the work. He says, “I believe that there are people who have been rewarded and to whom the Creator gave the desire to bestow. But this was because they were more gifted than I am. But a person like me, with worse qualities than others, has no chance of meriting this.” Hence, he escapes the campaign and begins to work like the general public.

Only those who say that they want to escape from the work but have nowhere else to go, since nothing satisfies them, those people do not walk out from the work. Although they have ups and downs, they do not give up. This is as it is written, “And the children of Israel sighed from the work, and they cried, and their cry went up to God from the work.” In other words, they cried out from the work because they were not advancing in the work of the Creator, so they could work in order to bestow contentment upon the Maker. At that time, they were rewarded with the exodus from Egypt. In the work, this is called “emerging from the control of the will to receive and entry into the work of bestowal.”

9. RABASH, Article No. 38 (1990), “What Is, ‘A Cup of Blessing Must Be Full,’ in the Work?”

A person needs great mercy in order not to escape the campaign. Although he uses the counsels that our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,” but the person says that he has already used this advice several times to no avail.

He also says that he has already used the advice “He who comes to purify is aided,” and it is as though all the counsels are not for him. Thus, he does not know what to do. This is the worst state for a person, meaning he wants to escape from these states but has nowhere to run. At that time he suffers torments at being between despair and confidence. But then a person says, “Where will I turn?”

At that time, the only advice is prayer. Yet, this prayer is also without any guarantee, so it follows that then he must pray to believe that the Creator does hear a prayer, and everything that one feels in these states is to his benefit. But this can be only above reason.

10. RABASH, Article No. 30 (1989), “What Is the Meaning of Lighting the Menorah in the Work?”

It does not occur to a person that he must advance in obtaining darkness, that this is the only Kli he needs to acquire. A Kli is a need for a filling. That is, if he has no filling for the lack, he feels that he is in the dark. For this reason, a person must not say that he is not advancing in the work.

Hence, he wants to escape the campaign, for it is not the truth, since he sees each time how far he is from obtaining the light, meaning for the Creator to give him the Kli called “desire to bestow.” He cannot obtain the desire to bestow by himself, and then he comes to feel that the world has grown dark on him. At that time, the light comes, meaning help from above, as it is written, “He who comes to purify is aided.”

11. RABASH, Article No. 42 (1991), “What Is, ‘An Ox Knows Its Owner, etc., Israel Does Not Know,’ in the Work?“

Sometimes, the descent he suffers is so deep that he wants to escape from the campaign.

At that time, the question is, Why is it that before he began the work of bestowal, he was always in high spirits, and now he often feels that he is far from the work altogether and does everything by force? But there is a rule, “a Mitzva induces a Mitzva,” so why did he receive a descent?

The answer is that the fact that a person feels that he is in descent, called “a state of evil,” is also for his best, for specifically by both can he be rewarded with help from the Creator. This is the meaning of “One must bless on the bad.”

12. RABASH, Article No. 37 (1989), “What Is ‘A Road Whose Beginning Is Thorns and Its End Is a Plain’ in the Work?”

When a person wants to work only for the sake of the Creator and not for himself, the body objects to every single thing he does, and each time, he must overcome anew, and every time he overcomes and the body resists, it stings him and afflicts him like thorns.

It follows that the way he is walking is as though walking on thorns, and each time, he wants to escape from the campaign. But “Anyone who is wise, listens to him.” That is, one who has faith in the sages listens to him. “He takes it. He exerts some, but he goes in peace and comes in peace,” as it is written, “For her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace,” since afterward, when he is rewarded with vessels of bestowal, he walks in a way that is on a plain.

13. RABASH, Article No. 1 (1991), “What Is, ‘We Have No Other King But You,’ in the Work?”

It is written (Psalms 89), “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever, generation after generation I will make known Your faith with my mouth.” We should understand the meaning of “sing forever.” How can one sing to the Creator when he sees that he is full of faults and his heart is not whole with the Creator, and he feels far from the Creator? And sometimes, he even wants to escape the campaign. How can he say that this is the Lord’s mercies and he is singing about this to the Creator?

According to the above, a person should say that the fact that he is in a lowly state is not because now he has become worse. Rather, now, since he wants to correct himself so that all his actions will be for the sake of the Creator, from above he is shown his true state—what is in his body, which until now was concealed and was not apparent. Now the Creator has revealed them […] and he will be able to ask of the Creator for a real prayer.

14. RABASH, Article No. 44 (1990), “What Is an Optional War, in the work – 2?”

When a person is in a state of lowliness, it is considered that the Creator has moved away from him, and he has no desire or yearning for the work, this is regarded as the Creator giving a person a shape of tastelessness about spirituality. Moreover, a person wants to escape and forget about the work altogether. This is regarded as the Creator showing him the Achoraim.

The Panim [face/anterior] of the Creator is His desire to do good to His creations, and the Achoraim is the complete opposite. Why does the Creator show a person the Achoraim? It is on purpose, for by this a person gets a thrust toward Dvekut with the Creator, for he cannot remain in a state of lowliness. It follows that here, within the Achoraim is the discernment of Panim.

15. Likutey Halachot, “Deceit,” Rule No. 3

The main rule in the work of the Creator, and the basis upon which everything depends, so his spirit will never fall, whatever he experiences, and all the righteous who have ever lived, who were rewarded with what they were rewarded—happy are they and happy is their portion—they all came to their completion only through this discernment: They never gave up or despaired. They, too, had many descents and falls, but they reinforced themselves each time, although they experienced what they experienced. Through their strengthening, they were rewarded with what they were rewarded, happy are they.