READING: BETWEEN AFTER MIDNINGHT AND DAWN TUESDAY

Rabash. What Is Peace in the Work?. 34 (1989)

LESSON MATERIAL

What Is Peace in the Work?

Article No. 34, 1989

The verse says, “Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give him My covenant of peace … because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the children of Israel.’”

We should understand this in the work. 1) What is, “because he was jealous for his God”? 2) What is, “and made atonement for the children of Israel”? 3) What is “My covenant of peace”?

It is known that the order of the work is that a person must achieve the completion of the goal, which is that he will receive the delight and pleasure that was in His desire to do good to His creations. However, in order for man to merit receiving it, he must fight with the Sitra Achra [other side], which is the quality of the “nations of the world,” which opposes the quality of “Israel.”

“Israel” means that all their actions are Yashar-El [straight to the Creator], while the “nations of the world” are the opposite of Kedusha [holiness], and want everything for their own sake, for which they are separated from the Life of Lives. Because of this, they are called “dead,” as it is written, “The mercy of the nations is a sin,” and The Zohar interprets, “All the good that they do, they do for themselves.” This means that they only work for their own benefit, since man is born with a desire to receive for himself, which is a Klipa [shell/peel].

It is written in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” (Item 11), “And he remains under the authority of that system for the first thirteen years, which is the time of corruption. And by engaging in Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] from thirteen years of age onward, in order to bestow contentment upon his Maker, he begins to purify the will to receive for himself, imprinted in him, and slowly turns it to be in order to bestow. By this he extends a holy soul from its root in the thought of creation. And it passes through the system of the worlds of Kedusha and dresses in the body. This is the time of correction. And so he accumulates degrees of Kedusha from the thought of creation in Ein Sof [Infinity], until they aid him in turning the will to receive for himself in him, to work entirely in order to bestow contentment upon his Maker, and not at all for his own benefit. By this one acquires equivalence of form with his Maker.”

It therefore follows that a person should qualify himself to have equivalence of form, for precisely through vessels of bestowal he can receive the completeness of delight and pleasure. However, in order to be rewarded with vessels of bestowal, which are vessels that work for the sake of the Creator, and which are against the nature with which man is born, since man is born the opposite—with a desire to receive only for himself—therefore, as long as he works for reward and punishment, called Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], the body does not resist the work so much.

But when a person wants to engage in the holy work, to make it a means by which to obtain vessels of bestowal—which is completely against nature—the body comes with “who” and “what” questions, meaning questions corresponding to the mind and to the heart, which is called “spies.” Although the person overcomes each time, the order is that then the entire order of the work is in ascents and descents, and a person comes to a state where he wants to give up on ever achieving equivalence of form.

Also, many times he wants to escape the campaign because he sees that his work is in vain and he has no reason to hope that it will ever be good, as he sees from the past. For this reason, many people who begin the work of bestowal, see that it is too difficult and therefore leave this work and say that this work is only for great people, and not for ones like him.

This is the time when a person has complaints and demands to the Creator, and he is in dispute with the Creator and argues, 1) Why did the Creator create him with a nature of wanting to receive? 2) Why does the Creator want him to cancel his vessels of reception? After all, the Creator is good and does good, so why is He not behaving toward us as we understand? We understand the ascents and descents in such a way that sometimes, during the ascent, we are at peace with the Creator and say about Him that He leads the world as the good who does good. But during the descent, we haven’t the strength to say that He behaves with a guidance of the good who does good. Hence, we are always in dispute.

Indeed, why is the order of the work so difficult that it requires ascents and descents? The known answer to this is what is written, “As the advantage of the light from within the darkness.” In other words, it is impossible to receive light if he has no lack and need for the light.

For this reason, when a person sees that the nations of the world in him object to the Creator, and he cannot tolerate the enemy of Israel within him, he becomes jealous for his God and does not look at any descents he has, and does what he can and cries out to the Creator to help him be able to defeat the wicked ones within him.

By this he overcomes and does not escape the campaign. At that time, the Creator gives him the covenant. That is, he makes a covenant with Him that there will be peace between him and the Creator, by receiving a gift from the Creator, which is the vessels of bestowal. This is regarded as making the covenant, which is the Klipa [shell/peel], called “will to receive for himself,” and instead of the foreskin, the Creator gives him vessels of bestowal, and by this they make a covenant, meaning peace.

It follows that through one’s jealousy for one’s God, when he sees that all the nations of the world in his body slander the work when a person wants to work for the sake of the Creator, even though a person often overcomes their views and says, “I am certain that the Creator will help me, as it is written, “He who comes to purify is aided,” they laugh at him and tell him, “But you see for yourself how many times you said that the Creator would help you, yet you are standing in the same situation as when you started to work. Therefore, leave this path.”

Here, a person needs great strengthening, called “because he was jealous for his God.” At that time a person prays to the Creator and says, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory. Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’”

It turns out that at that time, a person cries out for the glory of the Creator, how the nations within him mock him when he says, “I trust the Creator to help me.” At that time, they say, “Where is their God, for you, Israel, say that the Creator will help you?” And when a person is jealous for the Creator, when he is concerned with the glory of the Shechina [Divinity], meaning regrets that the Shechina is in the dust, and cannot stand how they despise the work in order to bestow, this is called what is written about Pinhas, “Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give him My covenant of peace, because he was jealous for his God.’”

This is as it is written in the book Shamati [I Heard] (Essay No. 1), that when a person regrets the Creator not bringing him closer, he should be careful that it will not be for his own sake, meaning because he is far from the Creator, since by this he becomes a receiver for his own benefit, and a receiver is in separation. Instead, he should regret the exile of the Shechina, meaning that he is causing the sorrow of the Shechina. A person should depict to himself that it is like a person feeling pain in some small organ. Nonetheless, the pain is felt primarily in the mind and in the heart, for the mind and the heart are the whole of man. Likewise, the pain that a person feels when he is far from the Creator, since man is but a particular part of the holy Shechina, and the Shechina is the whole of the soul of Israel, for this reason, the personal pain is incomparable with the general pain. This is called the “sorrow of the Shechina.”

When a person regrets this, it is called “because he was jealous for his God.” To such a person, the Creator says, “I give him My covenant of peace.” “Peace” means as it is written (Psalms 85), “I will hear what God the Lord will say, for He will speak peace unto His people and unto His followers, and let them not turn back to folly.” In other words, at that time the Creator tells them “Peace,” meaning that then, peace is made because the Creator gives him as a present, the vessels of bestowal, and naturally, he no longer has anyone who objects to working for the sake of the Creator.

But before he receives the covenant of peace, all the vessels of reception, which belong to the nations of the world, object to a person working for the sake of the Creator, as it is written, “I will hear what God the Lord will say, for He will speak peace, and let them not turn back to folly.”

This means that they will no longer have descents, where they want to work for their own benefit, since a “fool” is one who does not walk on the path of Kedusha. But one who wants to walk on the path of Kedusha, that all his actions will be in order to bestow, is called “wise.” It is as Baal HaSulam said, “Who is a wise disciple? He who learns from the Creator, who is called ‘Wise.’” In other words, he learns from Him the quality, “as He is merciful, so you are merciful.” This means that when a person learns to be a giver just as the Creator is the giver, he is called “wise.” It follows that the opposite is called a “fool.”

Thus, the fact that a person has been rewarded with the covenant of peace is “because he was jealous for his God,” meaning that he saw that the nations of the world in him despise the holy work, which is to work for the sake of the Creator.

This is the meaning of what is written, “and made atonement for the children of Israel.” That is, he was jealous for his God in that he wants that by this there will be atonement for the children of Israel, so they will have the strength to work for the sake of the Creator, which is called Yashar-El, meaning that they will be able to work for the sake of the Creator. By this they are rewarded with His covenant, so he will not turn back to folly.

However, there is a difficult question here: What can one do if he hasn’t the power of jealousy, and when he hears the argument of the spies and wants to run away from them so as not to hear the slander they speak, but as much as he moves away from them, they awaken in him a desire and yearning to nonetheless listen to what they say, and at that moment he descends from his degree and falls into their net?

The only advice for this is prayer. That is, he should ask the Creator not to be taken after the view of the spies. But only when the thoughts of the spies chase him, this is the heart of the work not to be taken after the spies. But why indeed is there room for the argument of the spies? The answer is that it is impossible to feel a good taste in the light unless from within the darkness, as it is written, “As the advantage of the light from within the darkness.”

It is written in Midrash Rabbah (96): “Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace. All that is written in the Torah, was written for the purpose of peace. And even though wars are written in the Torah, even the wars were written for the purpose of peace.”

We should understand what it means that the wars were written for the purpose of peace, and that because of it, the Torah is called “and all her paths are peace.” There must be explanations to this in the literal, but in the work, we should interpret that we asked, Why do we need the argument of the spies and all those descents?

We explained that the reason is that it is impossible to understand anything except according to the need for the matter. Since “There is no filling without a lack,” it follows that all the wars that were written in the Torah, when pertaining to the work, it follows that all the wars are in relation to work. And since it is impossible to feel a good taste in peace if there is no war, meaning that only when there is the war of the inclination, which wants to work only for itself, and a person wants to work for the sake of the Creator, then there is the matter of darkness, meaning ascents and descents. Then, a need is born within man that the Creator will help him, since he sees that by himself, he does not see how he will be able to emerge from the control of self-love.

At that time, he truly needs the Creator to help him. Then the Creator gives him “My covenant of peace.” That is, the Creator gives him a gift: vessels of bestowal, by which he is rewarded with Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator. And then the verse, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart” comes true, as our sages said, “with both your inclinations, the good inclination and the evil inclination.” This is called “My covenant of peace.”

LESSON

Morning Lesson November 12, 2023

Transcription is made from simultaneous translation, which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio

Part 1:

Rabash. Article No. 34, 1989. What Is Peace in the Work?

Reading Article. (0:37) “The verse says, “Therefore say,..”

1. S. (27:15) What actions bring a person to have trust in the Creator, faith in the Creator, confidence in Him?

R. Confidence is the light that shines on a person from the Creator if a person needs it, if a person needs it. If he sees his relationship with the group, the environment, how much he is capable or incapable of advancing them, accordingly is his demand for confidence. Confidence is the light that shines from the place above.

2. S. (28:22) I understood from the article that the point of covenant to which we yearn is to reach peace with the Creator, to make a covenant with the Creator, that He will help me overcome the nature in order to receive. Is this the point of our unity? Also, it says in the article that you can fight against the Sitra Achra only through Israel, one who yearns for the Creator, this is why we have to gather together. The question is: How shall we build this circle in the ten so that from its center we turn to the Creator?

R. To do that we have to always try to be together, to connect to a single whole. As written, as one man in one desire, towards one goal. And then we gradually reach a state where we have the desire for it, meaning that we demand the Creator to help us in that, to connect, to unite and in such a way we achieve such a state.

3. S. (30:07) It is written in the article that a person draws the holy soul from its root and it goes through the system of the worlds of Kedusha and dresses in the body. What is this process that the soul goes through in its clothing in man’s body which we draw?

R. This is light that comes from the Creator penetrating through all the worlds, Partzufim, Sefirot and reaches the person, influences him and clothes in him and in such a way everything unifies by that light, alright.

4. S. (31:10) Why do we forget about the covenant with the Creator even after we pray?

R. Because that still is not important to us, bit by bit, the matter of the covenant, the connection with the Creator becomes increasingly important but that’s a path there and it takes time, a lot of time and a lot of effort, that a person has to make, has to reveal and then we realize that the connection with the Creator is necessary so that we will build ourselves in the right, true and certain way.

5. S. (32:20) What is the work we have to reach in order to envy, to be jealous of the Creator?

R. To get closer to Him as much as possible, get closer to Him.

6. S. (32:47) Getting closer to the Creator does that mean that the whole group is in one common desire that is very similar to the Creator, desire for bestowal and love?

R. Yes.

7. S. (33:03) The way of the Creator is through love and peace. How can a person run away from the ego and everything that’s in him and come to a state of straight to the Creator with a pure soul and an awakening?

R. Only by increasing the connection with the group, that in the center of the connection between them, he pictures the Creator and that’s how he wants to reveal the Creator by the connection with the friends.

8. S. (34:02) When a person, he’s up until thirteen years, he’s influenced by the Sitra Achra. Then it says that a holy soul is extended to us from the root. What is the holy soul from the root? Is it what you just explained to Kyiv?

R. The holy soul from the root means that what person is on the path after a period called thirteen years, it’s not actually thirteen years, it’s just a period called that way. He begins to receive from above an acknowledgement of the Creator, a feeling of the Creator, he begins to connect with that upper force that shines on him from above and then the vessels in which a person receives the feeling of the Creator that’s called his soul.

9. S. (35:30) Why is it so difficult to work in bestowal? How can we make it easier in the spiritual work?

R. Work in bestowal is not difficult, it’s really not difficult, it’s rather impossible. Impossible, because this quality is completely non-existent within us. It’s like you say, fly, like a bird. What can I do with that? Same thing with the work of bestowal. I don’t have that quality that I’ll include within me, activate within me and then start working in bestowal, this quality is formed in us by the influence of the Creator, the upper light and that’s what we need to get closer to.

S. Come closer through the group?

R. Yes, of course, through everything that we learn, that’s why we learn.

S. It’s the method that makes the work easier?

R. It’s not just that it makes the work easier, it connects us, unites us, strengthens us; our method is everything.

10. S. (37:15) It is written that a person envies the Creator when he sees how all the nations of the world slander him. I feel like I have resistance but I don’t have slander against the work. Is slander a higher state?

R. So you have to continue until you feel in your evil desire that it is evil, you haven’t yet discovered that it is evil, that’s why you don’t have that need for correction that Rabash writes about.

11. S. (38:22) It is written in the articles that in a person there are both righteous and wicked. Who is the person himself who sees all that?

R. That’s just a will to receive.

12. S. (38:48) The article talks about the spies, what are spies and how do they work in the ten?

R. The spies are those desires, thoughts, actions that wish to grab hold of us and distract us sideways and pull us to all kinds of actions far from bestowal, spirituality and getting closer to the Creator; that’s why they are called spies. All right.

13. S. (39:48) How to come to taste peace because we want rest, relaxation and he is talking about spiritual work. How can we taste the taste of peace?

R. We have to try to do that in the group as Rabash writes.

14. S. (40:27) In the work, when a person feels in a good connection with the ten, suddenly a voice comes slowly complaining about the corporeal status and other stuff and throws him out of the work, so how to monitor the small voices which direct us from the work?

R. He has to check what such voices are doing. There are two directions: a force that is about continuing the work and one that is about leaving the work and he has to scrutinize with which he wants to continue and thus, continue. All right.

15. S. (41:44) A friend asked about extending the holy soul and you answered it is from above. Another friend asked about confidence and you gave him the same answer. What’s the difference between them?

R. It’s the same thing in essence, meaning we need to get closer to the Creator. We need the upper light to influence us more and give us the strength and desire to connect between us and thus, connect to the Creator.

16. S. (43:18) How can a person come to be jealous for the Creator? What does it mean to be jealous for the Creator?

R. That is when he tries to work in order to bestow and wants to advance on this path towards the complete correction, then he begins to be jealous towards the Creator.

17. S. (44:08) Is it the rejection that we feel in the topic of the covenant, can we use this rejection as the foundation for the jealousy?

R. Yes, yes. If we correctly use attraction and rejection we all together build the Kli.

18. S. (45:01) Is it possible to somehow organize myself so that the arguments of the spies will only be strong to a certain extent?

R. I don’t really understand why we need to demand in such a way, what the Creator gives us is everything required for our development. Therefore, we should just accept it that way.

19. S. (45:50) It is written and they explained that the reason is that because it is impossible to understand anything except according to the need for it, so how can we exit the need for self-control in order to come to the need to bestow?

R. We have to always think about it in the group and each friend has to strengthen all the other friends, that our goal is to achieve the force of bestowal and then from that we want to get closer to the Creator and demand from Him the help, the power, the importance and so forth.

20. S. (46:40) What does it mean that the Creator has given us the covenant of peace? Is peace a victory over the evil inclination or does it show the complete unification with the Creator who is fighting for us?

R. No, peace is called that a person receives strength to cope with all his desires that are opposite to the purpose of creation, that he’ll be able to connect all his forces for the sake of reaching the connection of the Creator; this is called peace in the work.

21. S. (47:48) What is the power that awakens a person so he feels the help of the Creator more strongly than in the past?

R. The force of bestowal that finally awakens in a person, that a person feels that it is stronger than the force of reception that he had before. If I understood your question correctly.

22. S. (48:35) There is the Shechina which is our common Kli, our common soul and there’s the Creator and there’s also man, the point of man, so on the one hand, a person is incorporated in the common vessel in order to fill it, meaning so the Creator can fill it. On the other hand, the point of man yearns to unite with the thought of the Creator, so it turns out that a person is neither there nor here. What is the place of man, the point of man?

R. Man has to aspire to the Creator, that’s where he came from, that’s where he has to come back, but coming out of the Creator is under the influence of the ego and therefore, returning to the Creator can only be if he transforms his ego to a force of connection, of linkage with the Creator and then his connection with the Creator will become a complete connection with all his body and soul and that’s what we need to achieve.

S. It turns out that the Shechina is man’s body?

R. All of that, that’s not, there’s no reason to come up with new definitions here. No, we will continue and we will clarify this further, we shouldn’t, mustn’t approach this the way you did.

23. S. (50:48) If the Creator is guiding our every action is the winning of the battle not determined already? Is it possible for a man to have free will within this tendency to work for himself or to work for the Creator?

R. It’s as though there is free choice to a person for whom to work, for himself or for the Creator, but in the end he understands that our work, in the end is only to ask for the strength to work for the sake of the Creator and that’s it, there are no other possibilities and this is how we have to work.

24. S. (52:11) He wrote in the article and only when the thoughts of the spies chase him, then is the work to not be drawn after them. The question is: How to identify the spies, especially where they wrap their complaints in that it’s as if advancing you to spirituality, so how do you identify them?

R. Check if through their recommendations, their attractions you are getting closer to the friends, first of all. This is the safest.

25. S. (52:56) How to hate self-reception? You can learn it, you can understand it. Sometimes there are moments of illumination where you get closer to the Creator but then you are pushed away again?

R. You have to do it in this way, you have to check what exactly that action that you are in is giving you. Is it giving you moving nearer to the Creator or moving away from the Creator, nearing the friends or moving away from the friends, and with this kind of sorting, this kind of analysis, through it, you will be able to scrutinize what exactly is happening to you and change the direction of your development.

26. S. (53:58) Whoever wants to follow the path of holiness must first develop the quality of mercy or is it enough if he develops well, the quality of judgment?

R. Neither judgment nor mercy, afterwards, along the way, we will discover what exactly it is, this is why this question is still not felt. Also in the one who is asking. We need only to work on the connection between us and in this way we will attain what we want.

27. S. (54:54) It is said that the pain is felt in the mind and the heart. Is that within reason or above reason?

R. It is within reason, the suffering is felt within reason.

28. S. (55:28) How to learn to be wise and also to not suffer that the Shechina will be in the dust?

R. For this we have to create a good connection between us, among the members of the group, and the closer we come to each other, the more we will see that we are coming into one connection, one group, one force and we discover in it the One upper force.

29. S. (56:28) [No translation]

R. Unity is when we are all different, contradictory, even repelling one another, aspiring for connection because specifically, in connection to discover the Creator and then the state of aspiring for this state, this is called the unity.

30. S. (57:40) It mentions here from Shamati, that don’t be sorry for yourself because that brings separation, be sorry for the exile of the Shechina, it’s like telling a person: don’t feel what you feel, feel what’s written, how can you be sorry for that?

R. I think it’s actually not so difficult. I regret the general state of the group that I am in, my ten, this is what I am sorry for. This is what I regret: why does it not yearn for adhesion with the Creator. Why do we not have such a connection between us in the ten where the Creator can be revealed? That’s it.

31. S. (58:38) What’s the difference between the will to receive and the state of wicked?

R. The will to receive is the will to receive which the Creator created and the desire of a sinner, this is someone of a wicked, this is someone who works according to the will to receive and is governed by it.

32. S. (59:27) Where do you receive this power called the envy of the Creator?

R. From the Creator.

S. So as preparation as to what is written, we need to ask to be jealous of the Creator so that we don’t betray with other desires?

R. Yes, from the Creator.