What Is “The Earth Feared and Was Still,” in the Work?
Article No. 33, 1990
Our sages wrote in Masechet Shabbat (p 88a), “Rabbi Hizkiya said, ‘Why is it written, ‘From heaven You sounded judgment, the earth feared and was still’? If it feared, why was it still? And if it was still, why did it fear? Indeed, first it feared and in the end it was still. And why did it fear? As Rish Lakish said, ‘Why is it written, ‘And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day’? Why the extra Hey [in Hebrew]? It shows that the Creator set a condition along with the work of creation and told them, ‘If Israel receive the Torah, you exist. If they do not, I send you back to Tohu ve Bohu [chaos].’’’”
We should understand why the Creator set a condition along with the work of creation, that it depends: If Israel accept the Torah, very well. If not, He will return them to Tohu ve Bohu. First we should understand what is the work of creation. We see that we refer to the whole of the work of creation by the name “Earth,” as it is written, “The earth feared and was still.” Therefore, we should understand what the word “earth” implies. The verse says, “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” Thus, why does it call the work of creation only by the name “earth,” as it is written, “The earth feared and was still”?
We should interpret that “the work of creation” pertains to the beginning of the thought. This means that the beginning of the thought of the work of the creation of the world is as it is written, “The purpose of creation was because of His desire to do good to His creations. This is the meaning of ‘the work of creation.’” In other words, this is the purpose of the act, that the created beings will receive delight and pleasure.
However, in order for the pleasure that they receive to be complete, meaning that they will not feel shame upon the reception of the pleasures, there was a correction called Tzimtzum [restriction], where the light does not shine where there is a desire to receive for one’s own sake, meaning that the light of pleasure does not reach there, but rather after the created beings correct themselves so as to have the intention to bestow.
It follows that if there is no intention to bestow, they will have no abundance. Naturally, the whole of the work of creation, meaning the purpose of creation to do good, there will be no one to receive it, and naturally, the whole purpose of the work of creation will be cancelled. We therefore understand that if there is no one with the aim to bestow, this is called “the return of the work of creation to Tohu ve Bohu.”
However, we should understand the connection to Israel, that if Israel receive the Torah, the work of creation will persist, and if they do not, it will be cancelled. According to the above-said, that the Creator wants to give them delight and pleasure, and they also need to correct their will to receive so as to work in order to bestow, what is the connection between the correction to work in order to bestow, that because of this they must receive the Torah?
The answer is as our sages said, “The Creator said, ‘I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.’ Through the Torah, its light reforms him,” and he will achieve the intention to bestow. It follows that without Torah, there are Tzimtzum and concealment on creation, which is called “existence from absence,” namely the vessels of reception, and the light of the Creator cannot come into the vessels of reception.
It follows that the work of creation, which is the matter of doing good to His creations, is cancelled if there are no Kelim [vessels] that can receive the purpose of creation, which is the delight and pleasure, due to the correction of the Tzimtzum. This correction comes by observing the Torah, and then instead of the Tzimtzum, the abundance appears once more.
However, according to this, it means that if a person has already achieved the correction of his Kelim, meaning that he already has Kelim that are called “receiving in order to bestow,” why does he need the Torah? After all, he has already accepted all the counsels how to do everything for the sake of the Creator.
The answer is that it is known that The Zohar calls the 613 Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] by the name “613 counsels” and by the name “613 deposits” (“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” “General Explanation for All Fourteen Commandments and How They Divide into the Seven Days of Creation,” Item 1). These are tips by which to achieve the correction of creation, which is to obtain the desire to bestow, by which we acquire equivalence of form and the Tzimtzum and concealment are removed. This is the correction that our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.”
Once he has obtained the spice, the 613 Mitzvot are called “613 deposits,” for in each Mitzva [singular of Mitzvot] there is a special light that is there as a deposit, waiting for man to have the suitable Kli [vessel] for it. At that time, a person is given what was there as a deposit, which he could not take out because the Tzimtzum and concealment governed it.
It follows that the purpose of creation is the 613 deposits, which are deposited there until the creatures correct the creation, and only then will they receive the purpose of creation. And the way by which to obtain the correction of creation—that everyone will have Kelim that can aim to bestow—is through the 613 Mitzvot, which are as counsels, meaning tips.
What are the counsels? It is as it is written, “The light in the Torah reforms him.” We should know that in the 613 Mitzvot, which are called “counsels,” a counsel is given when a person desires to obtain something but does not know how. That person seeks advice how to obtain that something.
Therefore, when a person observes Torah and Mitzvot, the body asks a person, “Why are you observing Torah and Mitzvot?” Then the person replies, “I believe in reward and punishment. Therefore, in order to receive reward and not to be punished, I observe Torah and Mitzvot.” However, we cannot refer to reward and punishment as an advice, for an advice is a means to obtain something. It follows that counsels are one thing, and what one receives through the counsels is another thing.
Thus, one who observes Torah and Mitzvot in order receive reward, it cannot be said that they are tips how to receive reward. Rather, the work is called “labor,” and the reward is called “return.” It is not that we say that the work is the counsel for the reward. Rather, it is like an exchange, where the employee gives the employer the work, and in return, the employer pays him.
Thus, what is the meaning of the 613 counsels? We should interpret that counsels apply when a person wants to be rewarded with Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, meaning that he wants all his actions to be in order to bestow contentment upon his Maker and not to work for his own sake. Since man is born with a nature that he cannot understand doing anything other than for oneself, and a person wants to emerge from the governance of nature, but sees that he cannot do anything not for his own sake, then a person seeks advice how to obtain this desire.
Since the body claims that it is customary that one who does something for another receives reward, here, when a person begins to work for the sake of the Creator and not for his own sake, the body’s resistance to the work grows stronger every time because the person wants to annul self-benefit through Torah and Mitzvot, meaning that he will not work for the sake of the body. How can the body give him energy to work on annulling it?
This is similar to one person assisting another person, who wants to kill him. Is it normal for a person to help the murderer kill him? Rather, as hard as one can, he resists him.
Therefore, when a person comes and says to the body, “I want to kill you,” of course the body resists. It is as our sages said about the verse that King David said, “My heart is slain within me, that they killed the evil inclination through fasting.”
Thus, the body certainly resists with all its might if he wants to work only in order to bestow. At that time, a person seeks advice how to emerge from the control of the evil inclination, called “will to receive for himself.” It follows that only in this state, when he wants to work in order to bestow, he needs advice. It was said about this that the 613 Mitzvot are 613 counsels, meaning tips how to emerge from the control of the evil.
Thus, when a person learns Torah, he must intend that the Torah and Mitzvot he is doing will help him emerge from the control of the evil, and he will have the strength to do everything with the aim to bestow. Then, when he learns Torah, he wants the light in the Torah to reform him, and then he needs what they said, that the Creator said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” It follows that the Torah and Mitzvot that he engages in are to him in this state only as tips.
Now we can understand why after he was rewarded with vessels of bestowal through the tips of the Torah and Mitzvot, what should he do next in observing Torah and Mitzvot? That is, he no longer needs the Torah and Mitzvot as tips. It is known that the tips only cause to achieve the goal that he wants to achieve, and that until he found the counsels, he could not obtain what he wanted to obtain. The question is, What does he want? That is, What is the purpose he should achieve?
There is a simple answer to this: The purpose is that a person seeks advice how to achieve the goal. What is the purpose he must achieve? We should say that since a person does not work for his own sake, but has already been rewarded with emerging from the control of self-love, now he wants to achieve the purpose of the Creator, whose desire is to do good to His creations, for the created beings to receive delight and pleasure.
It follows that through the 613 counsels he has reached the goal of the Creator, meaning the Creator’s desire for the creatures to receive delight and pleasure. The Zohar tells us about this that the delight and pleasure are as 613 deposits, that in each Mitzva there is a special light deposited, which waits for the time when it can return the deposit that is in the Mitzva, as was said, that in each Mitzva there is a special light that implies the Mitzva as a branch and root.
It follows that once a person has achieved 613 counsels, he observes the 613 deposits. For this reason, afterward there is a new order, and then the Torah is called “the names of the Creator.” This discernment is called “the Torah, Israel, and the Creator are one.”
It follows that we can detect many discernments in Torah and Mitzvot, but in general, they divide into three discernments: 1) Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], 2) Lishma [for Her sake], when all his actions are in order to bestow. At that time the 613 Mitzvot are to him as 613 counsels. 3) When one is rewarded with achieving the purpose of creation, for His desire is to do good to His creations. At that time, the 613 Mitzvot are to him as 613 deposits.
The 613 counsels are how to achieve Lishma, and the 613 deposits are called “revealing the secrets of Torah.”
In Lo Lishma, there are also several discernments to make: 1) One who learns in order to complain. On this manner, it was said, “His Torah becomes to him a potion of death.” 2) One who learns in order to be called “Rabbi” [great one/teacher]. Those two, he does only for the sake of people, and not for the sake of the Creator.
3) To be rewarded in this world. 4) To be rewarded in the next world. Those two, he does for the sake of the Creator and wants the Creator to pay his reward. In the first two discernments, his reward is what he wants to receive from people like him. That is, one who learns in order to complain, his pleasure is from what he receives from his friend. Likewise, one who learns in order to be called Rabbis demands this of people and not of the Creator.
Now we can explain what we asked: 1) Why is the work of creation called specifically “earth”? After all, it is written, “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” The answer is that “earth” is called Malchut, and our sages said, “Why was her name ‘earth’? Because she wanted to do her Maker’s will.”
Generally, we speak of only two discernments: light and Kli. The abundance and all the lights are called “heaven,” and all that receives them is called “earth.” This is why it is written, “The earth feared and was still.” When we speak in the work about “The earth feared and was still,” we should interpret that Eretz [earth] means Ratzon [desire]. That is, the desire is in man’s heart, fear. What is the fear? Since the Kli that receives the abundance is called “earth,” and in man, his heart is called “earth,” and since the purpose of creation to do good to His creations should appear within man’s heart, since man’s heart is called “will to receive,” and since there was a Tzimtzum and concealment on the will to receive, the upper light does not reach there.
Thus, how can the purpose of creation, to do good to His creations, come to the creatures when all of creation is a desire to receive for oneself? It is through the Torah, as was said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,” when they engage in Torah and Mitzvot with the aim to thereby be rewarded with vessels of bestowal.
However, there is fear on this, since the desire to bestow is against nature. Therefore, here the fear is because he is afraid that he might not be able to do everything in order to bestow, and the work of creation—which is the purpose of creation that must be revealed to the lower ones—will be cancelled.
That is, there are two things here: 1) Perhaps he will not be able to aim the learning of Torah to bring him the desire to bestow, since the body will do everything it can and will not let him aim that the Torah and Mitzvot he does will be with the aim to bring him the spice. Rather, he will have other thoughts: Why should he engage in Torah and Mitzvot? All this is because the body objects to it.
2) Fear that all the work of creation, namely the intention of the Creator to do good to His creations, will be cancelled and there will be no one to receive. Thus, the purpose of creation would not be carried out. This is why “the earth feared,” meaning the general desire, called Eretz [earth], and every person’s desire is also called “earth,” since man’s heart is called Ratzon [desire].
Accordingly, what is the condition that the Creator set along with the work of creation? If Israel accept the Torah, you persist. That is, only by observing the Torah, which is the spice that yields equivalence of form, there is room for the delight and pleasure, which is the work of creation, to persist, meaning that it can be revealed to the lower ones.
Also, why was specifically the earth afraid and not the heaven? It is because fear pertains only to the receivers, perhaps they will not be able to receive. But as for the light, called “heaven,” fear does not pertain to the Creator. He certainly knows that what He wants will be carried out. Thus, all the fears pertain only to the receivers, called “earth.”
We should interpret that thanks to fear, which is that he might not be able to be rewarded with the desire to bestow, thanks to fear they were rewarded with the desire to bestow through the Torah. This is why it was still.