READING: FROM MIDNIGHT TO DAWN SUNDAY

Lesson on the topic of “A Dispute for the Sake of the Creator”

LESSON MATERIAL

A Dispute for the Sake of the Creator – Selected Excerpts from the sources

1. Avot 5:17

Any dispute for the sake of the Creator will endure. One that is not for the sake of the Creator will not endure. Which is a dispute for the sake of the Creator? It is the dispute between Hillel and Shamai. Which one is not for the sake of the Creator? This is the dispute of Korah and his entire congregation.

2. RABASH, Article No. 36 (1991), “What Is, ‘Peace, Peace, to the Far and to the Near,’ in the Work?”

The dispute is necessary. That is, if the created beings do not understand the matter of the dispute, they can never achieve the purpose of creation, which is to do good to His creations, since it is impossible to correct anything if we do not know what is missing. Hence, once we know the dispute between the desires, we can make peace between them.

3. RABASH, Article No. 23 (1987), “Peace After a Dispute Is More Important than Having No Disputes At All”

Since man is born by nature with the desire to receive and must work against nature, here lies the real dispute. It is so much so that one cannot defeat and subdue his will to receive and be able to work for the Creator and not for his own sake.

Here we can say that they are called “two things that deny one another.” The will to receive is the complete opposite of the will to bestow, and then comes the third party and decides between them, meaning until the Creator comes and makes peace between them. In other words, the Creator gives him a gift: the desire to bestow. Then, opposite the giving of the Creator, the evil surrenders, bringing the above receiver under man’s good.

4. RABASH, Article No. 23 (1987), “Peace After a Dispute Is More Important than Having No Disputes At All”

Specifically when a person begins to work in order to bestow and contemplates whether he wants to work in order to bestow, it is up to him, meaning depends only on his will. But when he begins to work he sees that he is not the landlord who can do whatever he wants, but that he has another view with him, meaning the will to receive objects.

In that state, we feel the hardest work. This is even harder than the work of choice that a person needs to place on the act of Mitzvot, since he wants to do truly clean work for the sake of the Creator, as was said, that he wants to do the work of Kedusha, which is in order to bestow.

At that time begins the real dispute between good and bad. In terms of action, it was still not clear to the body that it wanted to walk on the path of not receiving anything for itself, but that everything will be for the Creator. It thought that everything would be for the receiver.

5. RABASH, Article No. 23 (1987), “Peace After a Dispute Is More Important than Having No Disputes At All”

“Wicked” means the bad in a person’s body. These wicked need to undergo correction, as we learned that the will to receive must be corrected so as to serve the Kedusha. This is the meaning of “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with both your inclinations.” But how can the inclination undergo such a correction? This can happen specifically through the dispute with the good inclination, as was said above, that the good inclination should anger it, meaning make war with it.

Through these wars, the evil in him appears. That is, he feels the troubles that the evil inclination causes him, and then a person determines that the receiver for himself is called the “evil inclination.” If the receiver for himself does not cause him harm, a person works for it wholeheartedly and all his concerns and thoughts are only for the sake of the receiver.

This receiver, which does many things against Kedusha, is named in plural form, meaning “wicked.” For these wicked ones, peace is not good, but rather dispute, for through the dispute they will be corrected.

6. RABASH, Article No. 36 (1991), “What Is, ‘Peace, Peace, to the Far and to the Near,’ in the Work?”

Since His name is “Peace,” meaning that peace was made between the Creator and the created beings, meaning that the name of the Creator, that He is good and does good, becomes revealed. Through the dispute, called “disparity of form,” the good cannot be revealed. It follows that the created beings are in dispute with the Creator. But when peace is made from the perspective of the vessels, meaning from the perspective of the desires, when it becomes that there is one desire in the world, called “desire to bestow,” then all the delight and pleasure in the world become revealed.

7. Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”

the matter of social unity, which can be the source of every joy and success, applies particularly to bodies and bodily matters in people, and the separation between them is the source of every calamity and misfortune.

But with concepts and ideas, it is the complete opposite: Unity and lack of criticism are deemed the source of every failure and hindrance to all the progress and intellectual fertilization. This is because drawing the right conclusions depends particularly on increasing disagreements and separation between views. The more contradictions there are between views and the more criticism there is, the more the knowledge and wisdom increase, and matters become more suitable for examination and clarification.

The degeneration and failure of intelligence stem only from the lack of criticism and disagreement. Thus, evidently, the whole basis of physical success is the measure of unity of the society, and the basis for the success of intelligence and knowledge is the separation and disagreement among them.

8. Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”

When humankind achieves its goal, with respect to the success of the bodies, by bringing them to the degree of complete love of others, all the bodies in the world will unite into a single body and a single heart, as written in the article, “The Peace.” Only then will all the happiness intended for humanity become revealed in all its glory. But against that, we must be watchful not to bring the views of people so close that disagreement and criticism among the wise and scholarly might be terminated, for the love of the body naturally brings with it proximity of views. And should criticism and disagreement vanish, all progress in concepts and ideas will cease, as well, and the source of knowledge in the world will dry out.

9. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, Assorted Counsels, “Peace,” 10

The essence of peace is to connect two opposites. Hence, do not be alarmed if you see a person whose opinion is completely opposite from yours and you think that you will never be able to make peace with him. Or, when you see two people who are completely opposite to each other, do not say it is impossible to make peace between them. On the contrary, the essence of peace is to try to make peace between two opposites.

10. Maor Einayim, Portion VaYetze

Everything is one unity, for in the root, from which Daat is extended from the world of Bina, there are no division or dispute at all. Indeed, when all the disputes are elevated to the root of the source, to the world of unity, unity is formed.