Lesson 14

Topic: Preparation for the Kabbalah Convention "Awakening from Below"

Selected Excerpts from the Sources

PART 1: "Awakening from Below"

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

"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 invested 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."

2. RABASH, Article No. 26 (1991),"What Is Revealing a Portion and Covering Two Portions in the Work?"

"When he says, “I revealed a portion and I concealed two portions,” it means that those who have no need for the matter will not exert to work and reveal, while those who do have a need, when they are told, “I revealed a portion and I concealed two portions,” they are willing to work until they attain the portion he revealed, since the Creator helps them. When a person gives the awakening from below, he receives help from above.

It follows that He did reveal the matter to those worthy of them. Who is worthy? Those who make an effort. To them, the portion they revealed is revealed to them. That is, those who do not have the quality of the correction of creation cannot receive anything from the purpose of creation, which is to do good to His creations."

3. RABASH, Article No. 161, "Awakening – 1"

"Sometimes in life, a person does feel vitality in Kedusha. This can be for a short while, such as a minute of feeling the flavor of Kedusha, which comes to him by an awakening from above, and a person can awaken a Reshimo [recollection] from this, that once he had an awakening.

It therefore follows that every person has within him a Reshimo, and that Reshimo contains the Kli [vessel], meaning the heart, and by this, one can make an awakening from below."

PART 2: Kabbalistic Meal

4. Baal HaSulam, "The Peace"

“All is ready for the feast,” for the true goal. And the sublime delight that is destined to emerge with the revelation of His purpose in creation, when all the trouble and toil and anguish that befall us over times and generations will seem like a host who greatly troubles himself to prepare a great feast for the invited guests. And he compares the anticipated goal that must finally be revealed to a feast whose guests attend with great delight.

5. Maor Vashemesh, Parashat Miketz

"The most important aspect of the eating is to raise the spirituality of the food to the place of its root, the upper place. And the spirituality in everything is holy and it is its livelihood, and without it the thing would have no existence… and it is drawn from the upper place, namely from Chochma and Bina, and this is the nourishment in the food. Afterward, when one eats of this food, he raises all the holy livelihood from the food to the place of its root, and by this he brings contentment to the Creator… Hence the main satisfaction comes from the holiness and the spirituality in each food, and this is “the righteous eats and is satisfied” because he eats only to satisfy the upper soul, meaning that his desire is to only eat the spiritual livelihood of the food which is in the place of its root, hence “the meek shall eat and be satisfied”... since their main intention is spiritual and not the physical part of the food. However, those people who have the mind of an animal, whose intention is not spiritual and their food is only for the physical , their eating is rough and does not satisfy them, and this is the hunger of their soul, because the soul has no livelihood except when one draws from spirituality, and this is the meaning of “the belly of the wicked shall not be satisfied”."

6. Baal Hasulam, Shamati 173, Why Do We Say Lechaim

"He said about saying L’Chaim (to life – cheers (when toasting a drink)) when drinking wine, that it is as our sages said, “Wine and life according to the sages and their disciples.” This is perplexing: why specifically according to our sages? Why not according to the uneducated?
The thing is that saying L’Chaim implies Higher Life. When we drink wine, we should remember that wine implies “the wine of Torah,” a reminder that we should extend the Light of Torah, called “life.” The corporeal life, however, is called by our sages, “The wicked, in their lives, are called ‘dead.’”
Hence, it is specifically our sages who can say, “wine and life.” This means that only they are qualified to extend spiritual life. Uneducated people, however, have no tools for it, with which to extend. (And perhaps, “according to our sages” means according to the view of our sages. This means that life, what they call “life,” refers to spiritual life.)"

PART 3: Singing Together

7. RABASH, Article No. 146, "Suffering and Joy"

"One must be grateful to the Creator for rewarding him by giving him a thought and desire for the least thing in Kedusha, since he sees that he is not more worthy or important than the rest of the people, yet the Creator awarded him with this. Hence, such a state commits him to thank the Creator, meaning that this is the time to give singing and praising to the Creator."

8. Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, Bnei Machshava Tova

"The melody is only a form of revelation of the soul and its feelings. It is revealed in the words that one says to one’s friend about his thoughts and feelings of sorrow and of joy, and even more so in his voice. As it is said in the holy books as evidence of that, when one’s sorrow increases, he can no longer speak, and he only cries out and weeps with his voice. Therefore, the tune, which is happy or bitter sounds, awakens the person’s feelings in which the sparks and organs of the soul are revealed."