READING: BETWEEN AFTER MIDNINGHT AND DAWN MONDAY

Baal HaSulam. Shamati, 70. With a Mighty Hand and with Fury Poured Out

LESSON MATERIAL

70. With a Mighty Hand and with Fury Poured Out

I heard on Sivan 25, June 28, 1943

To understand what is written, “with a mighty hand …and with fury poured out, will I be king over you,” we should understand that there is a rule that there is no coercion in spirituality, as it is written, “You did not call Me, Jacob, for you labored about Me, Israel,” and there is the known interpretation by the Sayer of Duvna. Hence, what does “with a mighty hand …and with fury poured out, will I be King over you” mean?

He said that we should know that of those who want to come into the work of the Creator in order to truly adhere to Him and enter the King’s palace, not everyone is admitted. Rather, he is tested: If he has no other desires but only a desire for Dvekut [adhesion], he is admitted.

And how is one tested if he has only one desire? He is given disturbances. This means that he is sent foreign thoughts and foreign messengers to obstruct him so he would leave this path and follow the path of all the people.

If one overcomes all the difficulties and breaks all the bars that block him, and little things cannot push him away, the Creator sends him great Klipot [shells/peels] and chariots to deflect one from entering into Dvekut with the Creator alone, and with nothing else. This is considered that the Creator is rejecting him with a mighty hand.

If the Creator does not show a mighty hand, it will be hard to push him away since he has a strong desire to adhere only to the Creator and to nothing else.

But when the Creator wants to reject one whose desire is not so strong, He pushes him away with a small thing. By giving him a great desire for corporeality, he already leaves the holy work entirely, and there is no need to repel him with a mighty hand.

Yet, when one overcomes all the hardships and the disturbances, one is not easily repelled, but with a mighty hand. And if one overcomes even the mighty hand and does not want to move from the place of Kedusha [holiness] whatsoever, but wants to adhere specifically to Him in truth, and sees that he is repelled, then one says that fury is poured out on him. Otherwise, he would be allowed inside. But because fury is poured out on him by the Creator, he is not admitted into the King’s palace to adhere to Him.

It follows that before one wants to move from one’s place, and breaks in and wants to enter, it cannot be said that he feels that fury is poured out on him. Rather, after all the rejections that he is rejected, and he does not move from his place, meaning when the mighty hand and the fury poured out have already been revealed upon him, then “I will be King over you” comes true. This is so because only through bursting and great efforts does the kingdom of heaven become revealed to him, and he is rewarded with entering the King’s palace.