Tens Course - Lesson #12

Topic: Annulment

Selected Excerpts from the sources

Annulment toward the quality of bestowal – the Creator

1. Baal HaSulam, Shamati 42 "What Is the Acronym Elul (I am for My Beloved, and My Beloved Is for Me) in the Work?"

"It is written, “Annul your will before His will,” meaning annul the will to receive in you before the desire to bestow, which is the will of the Creator. This means that one will revoke self-love before the love of the Creator. This is called “annulling oneself before the Creator,” and it is called Dvekut [adhesion]. Subsequently, the Creator can shine inside your will to receive because it is now corrected in the form of receiving in order to bestow.

This is the meaning of “so that He will annul His will before your will.” It means that the Creator annuls His will, meaning the Tzimtzum that was because of the disparity of form. Now, however, when there is already equivalence of form, hence now there is expansion of the light into the desire of the lower one, which has been corrected in order to bestow, for this is the purpose of creation, to do good to His creations, and now it can be carried out.

Now we can interpret the verse, “I am for my beloved.” It means that by the “I” annulling my will to receive before the Creator in the form of entirely to bestow, it obtains “and my beloved is for me.” It means that My beloved, who is the Creator, “is mine,” He imparts to me the delight and pleasure found in the thought of creation."

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

"...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."

3. Baal HaSulam, Shamati 4 "What Is the Reason for the Heaviness One Feels when Annulling before the Creator in the Work?"

"We must know the reason for the heaviness one feels when he wants to work in annulling his self before the Creator and not worry about his own benefit. A person comes to a state as though the entire world stands still, and he alone is now seemingly absent from this world, and leaves his family and friends for the sake of annulling before the Creator.

There is but a simple reason for this, called “lack of faith.” It means that one does not see before whom he nullifies, meaning he does not feel the existence of the Creator. This causes him heaviness.

But when he begins to feel the existence of the Creator, his soul immediately yearns to annul and connect with the root, to be contained in it like a candle in a torch, without any mind or reason. However, this comes naturally, as a candle is canceled before a torch.

It therefore follows that the essence of one’s work is only to come to feel the existence of the Creator, meaning to feel the existence of the Creator, that “the whole earth is full of His glory,” and this will be one’s entire work. That is, all the energy one puts into the work will be only to achieve this, and nothing else.

One should not be misled into having to acquire anything. Rather, there is only one thing a person needs: faith in the Creator. He should not think of anything, meaning that the only reward that he wants for his work should be to be rewarded with faith in the Creator."

Annulment toward the Teacher

4. RABASH, Assorted Notes, n. 680. "Annulment—the Baal Shem Tov Way"

The way to annul the body used to be through abstention. But there is another way, which is annulment before the rav [great one, teacher]. This is the meaning of “Make for yourself a rav.” “Making” is clarified by force, without any intellect.

As abstention revokes the body only through action and not through the mind. Likewise, annulment before the rav is by force and not through intellect. That is, even in a place where one does not understand the view of one’s rav, he annuls himself and the Torah and the work, and comes to the rav so he will guide him.

There is guidance in the manner of the general public, called Ohr Makif [surrounding light], which is light that shines only from outside, and is without words, but only by coming to the rav and sitting in front of him, sitting at his table during the meal or during the service. Yet, there is another way, which is internal, and this is specifically through “mouth-to-mouth.”

5. Baal HaSulam "A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar"

"Because of the great difficulty in the matter, our sages advised us: “Make for yourself a rav [teacher/great person] and buy yourself a friend.” This means that one should choose for oneself an important and renowned person to be his rav, and from him he will be able to come to engaging in Torah and Mitzvot in order to bring contentment to his Maker. This is so because there are two extenuations concerning one’s rav:

1. Since he is an important person, the student can bestow contentment upon him, based on the sublimity of his rav, since bestowal becomes as reception for him. This is a natural fuel, so one can always increase his acts of bestowal. Once a person grows accustomed to engaging in bestowal upon the rav, he can transfer it to engaging in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma toward the Creator, too, since habit becomes a second nature.

2. Equivalence of form with the Creator does not help if it is not forever, “Until He who knows the mysteries will testify that he will not return to folly.” This is not so with equivalence of form with his rav. Since the rav is in this world, within time, equivalence of form with him helps even if it is only temporary and he later turns sour again.

Thus, every time one equalizes one’s form with one’s rav, he adheres to him for a time. As a result, he obtains the knowledge and thoughts of the rav, according to his measure of Dvekut, as we explained in the allegory about the organ that has been cut off from the body and was reunited with it.

For this reason, the student can use his rav’s attainment of the Creator’s greatness, which inverts bestowal into reception and sufficient fuel to give one’s heart and soul. At that time, the student, too, will be able to engage in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma with his very heart and soul, which is the remedy that yields eternal Dvekut with the Creator.

<...> For this reason, our sages said, “Make for yourself a rav and buy yourself a friend.” This means that one can make a new environment for oneself. This environment will help him obtain the greatness of his rav through love of friends who appreciate his rav. Through the friends’ discussing the greatness of the rav, each of them receives the sensation of his greatness. Thus, bestowal upon his rav becomes reception and sufficient motivation to an extent that will bring one to engage in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma.

It was said about this, “The Torah is acquired by forty-eight virtues, by serving of sages, and by meticulousness of friends.” This is so because besides serving the rav, one needs the meticulousness of friends, as well, meaning the friends’ influence, so they will influence him so he obtains the greatness of his rav. This is so because obtaining the greatness depends entirely on the environment, and a single person cannot do a thing about it whatsoever."

Annulment toward the sources

6. From: Rav Dr. Michael Laitman, 10.8.2006

"When we read his writings, we must cleave—so to speak—to the books and to the authors. To attach ourselves to him, to what he is saying: this is what I cling to, this is what I wish to discover within myself, what I want to take place in me, to be felt inside me. And the less I pass it through the intellect, through judgment of ‘right or wrong,’ ‘this way or that way,’ the better. Criticism is necessary, but only in the sense of searching: where is this within me, and what is happening with me in relation to it?

This is far more important work during the study. That is why he is not always precise, for he seeks students of this kind. Therefore, we will not find wisdom here in a continuous, systematic order. Within the wisdom of Kabbalah there remain many blank spaces, even amidst all the explanation."

Annulment toward the friends

7. RABASH, Article 7 (1984) "According to What Is Explained Concerning “Love Thy Friend as Thyself”"

"The advice for one to be able to increase his strength in the rule, “Love thy friend,” is by love of friends. If everyone is nullified before his friend and mingles with him, they become one mass where all the little parts that want the love of others unite in a collective force that consists of many parts. And when one has great strength, he can execute the love of others.

And then he can achieve the love of God. But the condition is that each will annul before the other. However, when he is separated from his friend, he cannot receive the share he should receive from his friend. Thus, everyone should say that he is nothing compared to his friend.

It is like writing numbers: If you first write “1” and then “0,” it is ten times more. And when you write “00” it is a hundred times more. In other words, if his friend is number one, and the zero follows it, it is considered that one receives from his friend ten (10) times more. And if he says that he is double zero compared to his friend, he receives from his friend a hundred (100) times more.

However, if it is to the contrary, and he says that his friend is zero and he is one, then he is ten times less than his friend 0.1. And if he can say that he is one and he has two friends who are both zeros compared to him, then he is considered a hundred times less than them, meaning he is 0.01. Thus, his degree lessens according to the number of zeros he has from his friends."