READING: BETWEEN AFTER MIDNINGHT AND DAWN THURSDAY

Baal HaSulam. Shamati, 5. Lishma Is an Awakening from Above, and Why Do We Need an Awakening from Below?

LESSON MATERIAL

5. Lishma Is an Awakening from Above, and Why Do We Need an Awakening from Below?

I heard in 1945

In order to attain Lishma [for Her sake], it is not within one’s hands to understand, as it is not for the human mind to grasp how such a thing can be in the world. This is so because one is only permitted to grasp that if he engages in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] he will attain something. There must be self-benefit there for otherwise, one is unable to do anything. Rather, it is an illumination that comes from above, and only one who tastes it can know and understand. It is written about it, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”

Thus, we must understand why one should seek advice and counsels regarding how to achieve Lishma. After all, no counsels will help him, and if the Creator does not give him the second nature, called “the desire to bestow,” no labor will help him to attain the matter of Lishma.

The answer is, as our sages said (Avot, Chapter 2, 21), “It is not for you to complete the work, and you are not free to idle away from it.” This means that one must give the awakening from below, since this is regarded as a prayer.

A prayer is considered a deficiency, and without a deficiency there is no filling. Hence, when one has a need for Lishma, the filling comes from above, and the answer to the prayer comes from above, meaning he receives fulfillment for his lack. It follows, that the need for man’s work in order to receive the Lishma from the Creator is only in the form of a lack and a Kli [vessel]. Yet, one can never obtain the filling by himself; it is rather a gift from the Creator.

However, the prayer must be a complete prayer, from the bottom of the heart. This means that one knows one hundred percent that there is no one in the world who can help him but the Creator Himself.

Yet, how does one know this, that no one will help him but the Creator Himself? One can acquire that awareness precisely if he has exerted all the powers at his disposal and it did not help him. Thus, one must do every possible thing in the world to attain “for the sake of the Creator.” Then one can pray from the bottom of the heart, and then the Creator hears his prayer.

However, one must know, when exerting to attain the Lishma, to take upon himself to want to work entirely to bestow, completely, meaning only to bestow and not to receive anything. Only then does one begin to see that the organs do not agree to this view.

From this one can come to clear awareness that he has no other choice but to pour out his heart to the Creator to help him so the body will agree to enslave itself to the Creator unconditionally, as he sees that he cannot persuade his body to annul itself completely. It turns out that precisely when one sees that there is no hope that his body will agree to work for the Creator by itself, one’s prayer can be from the bottom of the heart, and then his prayer is accepted.

We must know that by attaining Lishma, one puts the evil inclination to death. The evil inclination is the will to receive, and acquiring the desire to bestow cancels the will to receive from being able to do anything. This is considered putting it to death. Since it has been removed from its office, and it has nothing more to do since it is no longer in use, when it is revoked from its function, this is considered putting it to death.

When one contemplates “What he has in his work which he works under the sun,” one sees that it is not so difficult to enslave oneself to His Name for two reasons:

1. Anyhow, meaning, whether willingly or unwillingly, one must exert in this world, and what has one left from all the efforts he has made?
2. However, if a person works Lishma, he receives pleasure during the work, too.

According to the proverb of the Sayer of Dubna, who spoke about the verse, “You did not call Me, Jacob, for you labored about Me, Israel,” he said that it is like a rich man who departed the train and had a small bag. He placed it where all the merchants place their baggage, and the porters take the baggage and bring them to the hotel where the merchants stay. The porter thought that clearly the merchant would take a small bag by himself, and there is no need for a porter for this, so he took a big package.

The merchant wanted to pay him a small fee, as he usually pays, but the porter did not want to take it. He said, “I put a big bag into the hotel depository, which exhausted me, and I barely carried your bag, and you want to pay me so little for it?”

The lesson is that when one comes and says that he exerted extensively in observing Torah and Mitzvot, the Creator tells him, “You did not call Me, Jacob.” In other words, it is not My baggage that you took. Rather, this baggage belongs to someone else. Since you say that you had much effort in Torah and Mitzvot, you must have had a different landlord for whom you worked; so go to him to pay you.

This is the meaning of “for you labored about Me, Israel.” This means that he who works for the Creator has no labor, but on the contrary, pleasure and elation. But one who works for other goals cannot come to the Creator with complaints that the Creator does not give him vitality in the work, since he did not work for the Creator, for the Creator to pay for his work. Instead, one can complain to those people for whom he worked to give him pleasure and vitality.

And since there are many purposes in Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], one should demand of the goal for which he worked to give him the reward, namely pleasure and vitality. It is said about them, “They who make them shall be like them, everyone who trusts them.”

However, according to this, it is perplexing. After all, we see that even when one takes upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven without any other intention, he still does not feel any vitality, to say that this vitality compels him to take upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven. And the reason he does take upon himself the burden is only because of faith above reason.

In other words, he does it by way of coercive overcoming, unwillingly. Thus, we might ask, Why does one feel exertion in this work, with the body constantly seeking a time when it can be rid of this work, as one does not feel any vitality in the work? According to the above, when one works in humbleness, when his only goal is to work in order to bestow, why does the Creator not impart him taste and vitality in the work?

The answer is that we must know that this matter is a great correction. Were it not for this, meaning if light and vitality had illuminated immediately when one began to take upon himself the burden of the kingdom of heaven, he would have vitality in the work. In other words, the will to receive, too, would have consented to this work.

In that state he would certainly agree because he wants to satisfy his desire, meaning he would work for his own benefit. Had that been the case, it would never have been possible to achieve Lishma since he would be compelled to work for his own benefit, as he would feel greater pleasure in the work of the Creator than in corporeal desires. Thus, he would have to remain in Lo Lishma, since he would have had satisfaction in the work, and where there is satisfaction, one cannot do anything, as without profit, one cannot work. It follows that if one received satisfaction in this work of Lo Lishma, he would have to remain in that state.

This would be similar to what people say, that when there are people chasing a thief to catch him, the thief, too, runs and yells, “Catch the thief!” Then, it is impossible to recognize who is the real thief so as to catch him and take the theft out of his hand.

However, when the thief, meaning the will to receive, does not feel any flavor or vitality in the work of accepting the burden of the kingdom of heaven, in that state, 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.

This is as it is written, “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.