READING: BETWEEN AFTER MIDNINGHT AND DAWN FRIDAY

Baal HaSulam. Shamati, 39. And They Sewed Fig Leaves

LESSON MATERIAL

39. And They Sewed Fig Leaves

I heard on Shavat, 26, February 16, 1947

The leaf refers to the shade that it puts on the light, meaning on the sun. There are two shades: One comes from the side of Kedusha [holiness], and the other comes due to a sin.

Thus, there are two kinds of concealment of the light. As the shade conceals the sun in corporeality, so there is concealment on the upper light, called “sun,” which comes from the side of Kedusha, namely because of a choice. This is as it is written about Moses, “And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look.”

The shade comes because of fear, and fear means that one is afraid to receive the abundance, that he may not be able to aim to bestow. It follows that the shade comes because of Kedusha, meaning that one wants to adhere to the Creator.

In other words, Dvekut [adhesion] is called bestowal, and he is afraid that he might not be able to bestow.

It turns out that he is adhered to Kedusha, and this is called “A shade that comes from the side of Kedusha.”

There is also a shade that comes due to a sin. It means that the concealment comes to him not because he does not want to receive, but on the contrary, it is because one wants to receive in order to receive. This is why the light leaves, since the whole difference between Kedusha and Klipa [shell] is that the Kedusha wants to bestow and the Klipa wants only to receive, and not to bestow at all. For this reason, that shade is considered to come from the side of the Klipa.

There is no counsel to exit that state, except as it is written, “and they sewed fig leaves and made themselves girdles.” Girdles refer to forces of the body that joined in the form of a shade of Kedusha. It means that although now they do not have light since the abundance departed due to the sin, they still overcame in serving the Creator by mere force, above reason. This is called “by force.” This is the meaning of the verse, “And they heard the voice of the Lord, etc., and the man and his wife hid,” meaning they went into the shade. This is the meaning of “and Moses hid his face,” meaning Adam HaRishon did the same as Moses.

“And He said to him, ‘Where are you?’ And he said, ‘I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid.’” Naked means stripped from the upper light.

Then the Creator asked, What is the reason that you came to the shade, called “and I hid”? It is because I am naked. Is it because of a shade of Kedusha or because of a sin? The Creator asked him, “Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?” meaning because of a sin.

But when the shade comes because of a sin, it is called “images, image makers, and sorcerers,” which is “God has made them one opposite the other.” As there are forces in Kedusha to make changes and to show signs and omens, so there are forces in the Sitra Achra. This is why the righteous do not use these forces, because of “one opposite the other,” so as not to give strength to the Sitra Achra to do as they do.

Only on exceptional occasions does the Creator not give the Sitra Achra the same force that is in Kedusha. It is like Elijah on Mt. Carmel saying, “Answer me,” so they would not say that it is witchcraft, meaning that there is the strength to conceal the upper light.

Hence, girdles that come from the side of the fig leaves, which is from the sin of the tree of knowledge, these leaves, meaning this shade that comes due to the sin, since the cause is not from the side of Kedusha, when they choose to take shade by themselves, but they take the shade because they have no other choice, this can work only to exit the state of descent. But afterward, the work must begin anew.