<- Kabbalah Library
Continue Reading ->
Kabbalah Library

Rabash

Articles
Purpose of Society - 1 Purpose of Society - 2 Concerning Love of Friends Love of Friends - 1 Each One Shall Help His Friend What Does the Rule "Love Thy Friend as Thyself" Give Us Love of Friends - 2 According to What Is Explained Concerning “Love Thy Friend as Thyself” Which Keeping of Torah and Mitzvot Purifies the Heart One Should Always Sell the Beams of His House Achieve in Order Not to Have to Reincarnate? Concerning Ancestral Merit Concerning the Importance of Society Sometimes Spirituality Is Called “a Soul” Forevermore One Sells All That Is His and Marries a Wise Disciple's Daughter Can Something Negative Come Down from Above Concerning Bestowal Concerning the Importance of Friends The Agenda of the Assembly - 1 And It Shall Come to Pass When You Come to the Land that the Lord Your God Gives You You Stand Today, All of You Make for Yourself a Rav and Buy Yourself a Friend - 1 The Meaning of Branch and Root The Meaning of Truth and Faith These Are the Generations of Noah And the Lord Appeared to Him at the Oaks of Mamre Make for Yourself a Rav and Buy Yourself a Friend - 2 Jacob Went Out And Jacob Went Out Concerning the Debate between Jacob and Laban Mighty Rock of My Salvation I Am the First and I Am the Last And Hezekiah Turned His Face to the Wall But the More They Afflicted Them Know Today and Reply to Your Heart Come unto Pharaoh - 1 He who Hardens His Heart We Should Always Discern between Torah and Work The Whole of the Torah Is One Holy Name On My Bed at Night Three Times in the Work In Every Thing We Must Discern between Light and Kli Show Me Your Glory The Spies The Lord Is Near to All Who Call upon Him Three Prayers One Does Not Regard Oneself as Wicked Concerning the Reward of the Receivers The Felons of Israel And I Pleaded with the Lord When a Person Knows What Is Fear of the Creator And There Was Evening and There Was Morning Who Testifies to a Person A Righteous Who Is Happy, a Righteous Who Is Suffering Hear Our Voice Moses Went Lend Ear, O Heaven Man Is Rewarded with Righteousness and Peace through the Torah Concerning Hesed [Mercy] Concerning Respecting the Father Confidence The Importance of a Prayer of Many Concerning Help that Comes from Above Concerning the Hanukkah Candle Concerning Prayer A Real Prayer Is over a Real Deficiency What Is the Main Deficiency for which One Should Pray? Come unto Pharaoh – 2 What Is the Need to Borrow Vessels from the Egyptians? A Prayer of Many The Lord Has Chosen Jacob for Himself The Agenda of the Assembly - 2 Who Causes the Prayer Concerning Joy Should One Sin and Be Guilty Concerning Above Reason If a Woman Inseminates Concerning Fear and Joy The Difference between Charity and Gift The Measure of Practicing Mitzvot [Commandments] A Near Way and a Far Way The Creator and Israel Went into Exile A Congregation Is No Less than Ten Lishma and Lo Lishma The Klipa [Shell/Peel] that Precedes the Fruit Concerning Yenika [Suckling] and Ibur [Impregnation] The Reason for Straightening the Legs and Covering the Head During the Prayer What Are Commandments that a Person Tramples with His Feet Judges and Officers The Fifteenth of Av What Is Preparation for the Selichot [Forgiveness] The Good Who Does Good, to the Bad and to the Good It is Forbidden to Hear a Good Thing From a Bad Person The Importance of Faith that Is Always Present The Miracle of Hanukkah The Difference between Mercy and Truth and Untrue Mercy One’s Greatness Depends on the Measure of One’s Faith in the Future What Is the Substance of Slander and Against Whom Is It? Purim, and the Commandment: Until He until He Does Not Know Why the Festival of Matzot Is Called Passover The Difference between the Work of the General Public and the Work of the Individual What Is Preparation for Reception of the Torah - 1 What Are Revealed and Concealed in the Work of the Creator? What Are Dirty Hands in the Work of the Creator? What Is the Gift that a Person Asks of the Creator? What is Unfounded Hatred in the Work What Is Heaviness of the Head in the Work? What Are “Blessing” and “Curse” in the Work? What Is Do Not Add and Do Not Take Away in the Work? What Is “According to the Sorrow, So Is the Reward”? What Is Making a Covenant in the Work Why Life Is Divided into Two Discernments What Is the Extent of Teshuva [Repentance]? What It Means that the Name of the Creator is “Truth” What Is the Prayer for Help and for Forgiveness in the Work? What Is, “When Israel Are in Exile, the Shechina Is with Them,” in the Work? What Is the Difference between a Field and a Man of the Field, in the Work? What Is the Importance of the Groom, that His Iniquities Are Forgiven? What Does It Mean that the Righteous Suffers Afflictions? What Are the Two Discernments before Lishma? What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator? What Is “the People’s Shepherd Is the Whole People” in the Work? The Need for Love of Friends What Is “There Is No Blessing in an Empty Place” in the Work? When Is One Considered “A Worker of the Creator” in the Work? What Is the Reward in the Work of Bestowal? What Beginning in Lo Lishma Means in the Work What Is the Difference between Law and Judgment in the Work? What Is, “The Creator Does Not Tolerate the Proud,” in the Work? What Is, His Guidance Is Concealed and Revealed? What to Look for in the Assembly of Friends What Is the Work of Man, in the Work that Is Attributed to the Creator? What Are the Two Actions During a Descent? What Is the Difference between General and Individual in the Work of the Creator? What Are Day and Night in the Work? What Is the Help in the Work that One Should Ask of the Creator? What Is the Measure of Repentance? What Is a Great or a Small Sin in the Work? What Is the Difference between the Gate of Tears and the Rest of the Gates? What Is a Flood of Water in the Work? What Does It Mean that the Creation of the World Was by Largess? What Is Above Reason in the Work? What Is “He Who Did Not Toil on the Eve of Shabbat, What Will He Eat on Shabbat” in the Work? What It Means, in the Work, that If the Good Grows, So Grows the Bad What Is, “Calamity that Comes upon the Wicked Begins with the Righteous,” in the Work? What Are the Forces Required in the Work? What Is a Groom’s Meal? What Is the “Bread of an Evil-Eyed Man” in the Work? Why Is Shabbat Called Shin-Bat in the Work? What Does It Mean that the Evil Inclination Ascends and Slanders, in the Work? What Is, “A Drunken Man Must Not Pray, in the Work? Why Are Four Questions Asked Specifically on Passover Night? What Is, If He Swallows the Bitter Herb, He Will Not Come Out, in the Work? What Is “Do Not Slight the Blessing of a Layperson” in the Work? What Is the Meaning of Suffering in the Work? What Is the Preparation to Receive the Torah in the Work?-2 What Is the Meaning of Lighting the Menorah in the Work? What Is the Prohibition to Teach Torah to Idol-Worshippers in the Work? What Is, “He Who Is Without Sons,” in the Work? What Is “A Road Whose Beginning Is Thorns and Its End Is a Plain” in the Work? The Daily Schedule What Does “May We Be the Head and Not the Tail” Mean in the Work? What It Means that the World Was Created for the Torah What It Means that the Generations of the Righteous are Good Deeds, in the Work What It Means that the Land Did Not Bear Fruit before Man Was Created, in the Work When Should One Use Pride in the Work? What Are the Times of Prayer and Gratitude in the Work? What It Means that Esau Was Called “A Man of the Field,” in the Work What Does It Mean that Our Sages Said, “King David Did Not Have a Life,” in the Work? What Does It Mean that by the Unification of the Creator and the Shechina, All Iniquities Are Atoned? What Is “For Lack of Spirit and for Hard Work,” in the Work? What Is the Assistance that He who Comes to Purify Receives in the Work? Why Is the Torah Called “Middle Line” in the Work?-2 What Is Half a Shekel in the Work? - 2 What Is, “As I Am for Nothing, so You Are for Nothing,” in the Work? What Is the Order in Blotting Out Amalek? What Does, “Everything that Comes to Be a Burnt Offering Is Male,” Mean in the Work? What Is, “There Is None as Holy as the Lord, for There Is None Besides You,” in the Work? What Is, “Every Blade of Grass Has an Appointee Above, Who Strikes It and Tells It, Grow!” in the Work? What “Israel Do the Creator’s Will” Means in the Work What Is “He Who Enjoys at a Groom’s Meal,” in the Work? What Is, “A Cup of Blessing Must Be Full,” in the Work? What Is, “Anyone Who Mourns forJerusalem Is Rewarded with Seeing Its Joy,” in the Work? What Is, “For You Are the Least of All the Peoples,” in the Work? What Are a Blessing and a Curse, in the Work? What Is an Optional War, in the work? - 2 What Is, “The Concealed Things Belong to the Lord Our God,” in the work? What Is, “We Have No Other King But You,” in the Work? What Is, “Return, O Israel, Unto the Lord Your God,” in the Work? What Is, “The Wicked Will Prepare and the Righteous Will Wear,” in the Work? What Is, “The Saboteur Was in the Flood, and Was Putting to Death,” in the Work? What Is, “The Herdsmen of Abram’s Cattle and the Herdsmen of Lot’s Cattle,” in the Work? What Is “Man” and What Is “Beast” in the Work? What Is, “And Abraham Was Old, of Many Days,” in the Work? What Does “The King Stands on His Field When the Crop Is Ripe” Mean in the Work? What It Means that the Good Inclination and the Evil Inclination Guard a Person in the Work These Candles Are Sacred What “You Have Given the Strong to the Hands of the Weak” Means in the Work What Does It Mean that Man’s Blessing Is the Blessing of the Sons, in the Work? What Is the Blessing, “Who Made a Miracle for Me in This Place,” in the Work? Why We Need “Reply unto Your Heart,” to Know that the Lord, He Is God, in the Work What Is, “For I Have Hardened His Heart,” in the work? What Is, “Rise Up, O Lord, and Let Your Enemies Be Scattered,” in the Work? What Is, “There Is Nothing that Has No Place,” in the Work? What Does It Mean that We Read the Portion, Zachor [Remember], Before Purim, in the Work? What Is “A Lily Among the Thorns,” in the Work? What Is the Meaning of the Purification of a Cow’s Ashes, in the Work? What Does It Mean that One Should Bear a Son and a Daughter, in the Work? What Is, “If a Woman Inseminates First, She Delivers a Male Child,” in the Work? What Does It Mean that Charity to the Poor Makes the Holy Name, in the Work? What Does It Mean that the Creator Favors Someone, in the Work? What Is Eating Their Fruits in This World and Keeping the Principal for the Next World, in the Work? What Does It Mean that the Right Must Be Greater than the Left, in the Work? What Are Truth and Falsehood in the Work? What Should One Do If He Was Born With Bad Qualities? What Is the Reason for which Israel Were Rewarded with Inheritance of the Land, in the Work? What Does It Mean that the Right and the Left Are in Contrast, in the Work?

Ramchal

Agra

Kabbalah Library Home /

Rabash / What “You Have Given the Strong to the Hands of the Weak” Means in the Work

What “You Have Given the Strong to the Hands of the Weak” Means in the Work

Article No. 13, 1991

Here is the order of the work: When a person wishes to do everything for sake of the Creator, that his actions will be in order to bestow and not to receive reward, it is against nature because man was created with a desire to receive for his own benefit. This is why we were given the work of exiting self-love and working only in order to bestow for the sake of the Creator.

To be able to perform this work of exiting the domination of self-love, we were given the Mitzva [commandment/good deed], “love your neighbor as yourself,” which, as Rabbi Akiva says, “Is a great rule in the Torah.” As it explains in the book The Giving of the Torah, through it we will exit the domination of the will to receive for ourselves and will be able to work for the sake of the Creator.

And concerning “love your neighbor as yourself,” we should make two interpretations:

  1. Literally, between a man and his friend.

  2. Between man and the Creator, as our sages said, (Midrash Rabbah, Yitro, 27:1), “Do not leave your friend and the friend of your father.” “Your friend” is the Creator, as it is written, “For the sake of my brothers and my friends,” which is interpreted as the Creator, who called them “brothers” and “friends.” It follows that “love your neighbor as yourself” refers to achieving love for the Creator as for yourself.

Thus, there are two discernments in “love your neighbor as yourself”:

1) We should say, as a cure. In other words, the reason why one must love his friend is only because through it, he will be able to come to love the Creator, too, as presented in the book The Giving of the Torah. Hence, as with love of friends, when a person wishes to cling to friends, he chooses with whom to bond. In other words, when a person chooses for himself friends, he searches for those who will have good qualities.

Likewise, when one wishes to love the Creator, he should try to see the greatness and importance of the Creator. This evokes the love of the Creator in a person. If he cannot see the greatness and importance of the Creator because the evil in man slanders the Creator, one must pray for the Creator’s help to have the strength to overcome and say above reason, “I want to believe in the greatness and importance of the Creator so that I can love Him,” as it is written, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” In other words, love of friends is a means by which to attain the goal, which is the love of the Creator.

By this we can interpret what our sages said, “It is good to have Torah with the right conduct, since toil in both mitigates iniquity.” This means that toiling in the right conduct, which is the work between a man and his friend, is a cure by which one can come to love the Creator, who is called “Torah.” The essence of the Torah is that through the Torah, one connects to the giver of the Torah. Our sages said about this, “The Creator said, ‘I have created the evil inclination; I have created the spice of Torah.’” That is, through the Torah, which is the spice, one is rewarded with Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator, and this is regarded as “reforming him.”

This is the meaning of, “Toil in both mitigates iniquity.” In other words, through labor between a man and his friend and between man and the Creator, meaning by exerting in the Torah, it mitigates iniquity. That is, the iniquity of the tree of knowledge, from which the iniquities extend, is corrected by both.

The writing says (Psalms 33, Rejoice ... You Righteous), “Behold, the eye of the Lord is toward those who fear Him, toward those who await His mercy; to deliver their souls from death, and to keep them alive in famine.” We must understand what is meant by “The eye of the Lord is [specifically] toward those who fear Him.” After all, the eyes of the Creator roam everywhere. We must believe that the Creator watches over the whole world in private Providence, as The Good Who Does Good, and not necessarily those who fear Him.

We should interpret that we speak of the Creator only from the perspective of “By your actions, we know You.” This means that it is specifically those who fear Him who feel that the eye of the Creator watches over the whole world. In other words, only those who fear the Creator attain that the Creator watches over the world in private Providence, as The Good Who Does Good. But as for the rest of the world, for them there is concealment of the face on Providence, since they cannot attain His Providence as being The Good Who Does Good.

It is written in the “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” (Item 138), “As long as the receivers have not been completed so they can receive His whole benevolence, which He had contemplated in our favor in the thought of creation, the guidance must be in the form of good and bad.”

In other words, as long as our vessels of reception are littered with self-reception, it is impossible to see Providence as good and doing good. Rather, those who can see the eye of the Creator, that His guidance is good and doing good, are only those who “Await His mercy.” This is because “His mercy” means that they yearn to receive the quality of Hesed [mercy] from the Creator—the quality of bestowal—which is called “equivalence of form,” known as “Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator.”

Therefore, when they are rewarded with the quality of bestowal, their vessels of reception are no longer littered. At that time, they are rewarded with “The eye of the Lord,” to feel that His Providence is one good and doing good. But those who do not wish to obtain the quality of Hesed, meaning vessels of bestowal, are under the influence of good and bad.

But to whom does the Creator give the Hesed, called “vessels of bestowal,” which is the second nature? Not to everyone. There are many people who await His mercy—for the Creator to give them the quality of Hesed. However, the Creator does not give the Hesed, called “vessels of bestowal,” to those people who think that the matter of Hesed is only an addition, meaning those who consider themselves whole and need the Creator to give them the quality of Hesed as a good supplement.

This is so because only those with Kelim [vessels] for the filling are given from above. In other words, if there is no real deficiency, it is impossible to fill it. So precisely when is it possible to satiate a need? When a person does not ask for luxuries but for necessity. Then a person receives because luxuries are not considered a deficiency.

When it is written, “The eye of the Lord is toward those who fear Him, toward those who await His mercy,” who are these above-mentioned people who await His mercy? That is, for what purpose are they yearning for the Creator to give them the quality of Hesed? It is specifically such people who feel that they need the quality of Hesed, “to deliver their souls from death.”

In other words, it is precisely in those people who wish to achieve Dvekut with the Creator, to adhere to the Life of Lives. Otherwise, if they have no Dvekut, they feel that they are tantamount to the dead, as our sages said, “The wicked, in their lives, are called ‘dead.’” For this reason, they ask of the Creator to deliver them from death because disparity of form separates them from the Life of Lives.

Dvekut with the Creator is considered life, as it is written, “But you who cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.” It follows that the reason they are asking for the quality of Hesed is because they do not wish to be as “The wicked, in their lives, are called ‘dead,’” and it is to them that the Creator gives the quality of Hesed, meaning vessels of bestowal.

When it is written, “To deliver their souls from death,” meaning his request of the Creator to give him the quality of Hesed is in order to “Deliver their souls from death,” this is called “a deficiency,” which is a Kli [vessel] that can receive the filling. But those people who need the help of the Creator as a luxury have no real Kelim [plural of Kli], no real need for the Creator to give them the Kelim “to deliver their souls from death,” but as a luxury.

Hence, they remain with the vessels of reception, caring only for their own benefit. They do not feel that they have soiled Kelim, that it is impossible to insert Kedusha [holiness] into these Kelim, since Kedusha and self-benefit are opposites.

It therefore follows that only those who understand that if they cannot perform acts of bestowal they will become separate from the Life of Lives will ask the Creator to give them the power to bestow. This is a second nature, as Baal HaSulam said that as the Creator gave the first nature, the desire to receive, it is impossible to change the first nature into a second one. Rather, only the Creator can do this.

As in the exodus from Egypt, the Creator Himself delivered them from the dominion of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, as our sages said in the Passover Haggadah [Passover narrative], “The Lord brought us forth from Egypt, not by an angel, not by a seraph, and not by a messenger, but the Creator Himself.”

However, when does one receive the help that the Creator will deliver him from the rule of Egypt, which is the will to receive for himself? It is precisely when a person has a real need and not a luxury. Hence, if one wishes to achieve Dvekut with the Creator, one receives help for the need. In other words, he should feel that he is lacking, meaning not lacking completeness, but lacking life, since the evil in him is so extensive. Hence, he is informed from above that he is a sinner, as it is written in The Zohar about what is said, “Or make his sin known to him.” It asks, “Who made it known to him?” And it replies, “The Creator made it known to him that he has sinned.”

This means that the Creator shows him the truth of how remote he is from the Creator and that he is in real need of a life of Kedusha. Thus, then one asks of the Creator to help him and give him the desire to bestow because he is deficient of life. And then, since he already has a real need, the Creator gives him the desire to bestow, which is the second nature.

According to the above, we should interpret what is written (in “And of the Miracles”), “And You, in Your great mercy, have placed the strong in the hands of the weak, the many in the hands of the few, and the impure in the hands of the pure.” This comes to tell us that before a person comes to a state where he sees how weak he is, how the evil in him is in such profusion that he cannot overcome, and how impure he is, it is impossible to receive the filling from above. This is because he still does not have a complete Kli that can receive the filling, which relates to the deficiency of the Kli.

This is why it is written, “For you were the fewest of all peoples.” In other words, “The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you because you were more in number than any people, for you were the least of all peoples.” Thus, when a person sees that he is worse than the whole world, specifically in the state of lowliness does the Creator choose you and deliver you from the domination of Egypt, as it is written, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you forth from the land of Egypt, ...to be your God.”

It is written (in the psalm, Hanukkah Song), “I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up, and have not let my enemies rejoice over me.” We must understand who are David’s enemies, of which David said, “And have not let my enemies rejoice over me.” We should interpret that it is known that David is considered Malchut, meaning the kingdom of heaven. That is, the creatures should take upon themselves the burden of the kingdom of heaven with the aim not to receive reward, but because “He is great and ruling,” and not for self-benefit.

But the whole world resists this and hates doing everything for the Creator and not for self-benefit. Therefore, Kedusha is entirely to bestow, meaning to benefit the Creator, as it is written, “You shall be holy for I the Lord am holy.” Thus, as the Creator only bestows upon the creatures, the creatures should bestow upon the Creator, for this is called “equivalence of form,” which is considered Dvekut with the Creator.

It turns out that all those who wish to work only for themselves and not for the Creator are called “the Creator’s enemies,” meaning the enemies of the kingdom of heaven. By this they are called “David’s enemies,” and this is the meaning of David’s words, “And have not let my enemies rejoice over me.”

Generally speaking, there are only two discernments to speak of: 1) the Creator, 2) the creatures. In other words, the Creator created the creatures to impart them with delight and pleasure, as it is written, “His desire to do good to His creations.” Prior to the sin, Adam HaRishon had wholeness of his Neshama, for at that time, he had NRN from BYA and NRN from Atzilut. Only after the sin was there departure of his NRN and he remained only with Nefesh.

Then he had to repent, to raise all of his Kelim, which fell to the Klipot, and reunite them with the Kedusha, meaning to adhere unto Him once more in order to bestow. This is called “repentance” [Hebrew—“to return”], as it is written in The Zohar, “The Hey shall return to the Vav.”

Hey means Malchut, which receives in order to receive and all the souls extend from her. This is why Malchut is called “the assembly of Israel,” which contains all the souls. A correction was placed over this Malchut, to correct her into working in order to bestow. This work was given to the creatures, where by engaging in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] in order to bestow, they cause each one to work in order to bestow at the root of his soul in Malchut of Atzilut. In so doing, they cause unification above, called “the unification of the Creator and His Shechina [Divinity],” meaning Malchut, who is called Shechina, with ZA, who is called “Vav of HaVaYaH.” This is the meaning of “repentance” when The Zohar says, “The Hey shall return to the Vav.”

In general, we should make three distinctions: “one,” “unique,” and “unified.” It is written in The Study of the Ten Sefirot (Part 1, Item 1), “One indicates that He is in uniform equivalence. Unique indicates what extends from Him, that in Him, all those multiplicities are uniform, like His essence. And Unified indicates that although He affects the many actions, a single force operates all of them and they all return and unite in the form of unique.”

The meaning of One is that He is in uniform equivalence, meaning that He created creation with a single desire—to do good to His creations. Unique means that although we see that there are many actions, meaning good and bad, that is, He appears as doing good and bad, He is called “Unique” because His various actions all have a single result—doing good. It follows that He is unique in every single action and does not change through all His various actions. Over each act, there rides a single form—doing good.

One must believe that. In other words, even though a person feels that this action comes from the Creator and it is not a favorable action, one should still believe that this action will enable him to attain the good. This is man’s work, to believe that this is so, even though he does not understand it, and to give thanks to the Creator for it.

Our sages said, “One should bless for the bad as one blesses for the good.” In other words, a person must believe that it is for his own good, or the Creator would not let him feel those states, since His desire is to do good to the creatures, for this was the thought of creation.

“Unified” means that a person has already been rewarded with seeing how all the many singular ones have adopted the shape of the Unique, meaning he was rewarded with seeing how for each bad, he already received the good that belongs to it. One is rewarded with being unified only after he has corrected his Kelim to work in order to bestow. At that time, a person is rewarded with the purpose of creation, which is all good.

This is the meaning of what is written in the psalm, The Opening of the House for David. The “opening of the house” refers to the Temple. In the work, a man’s heart should be a Temple for the Creator, as it is written, “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” One should be rewarded with the presence of the Shechina, as our sages said, “The Merciful one needs the heart,” meaning that all the Creator needs is man’s heart, so as to give him what He wishes to give him.

And when a person is rewarded with being Unified, he sees that he has been rewarded with the construction of the Temple. David said about that, “I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up, and have not let my enemies rejoice over me.” This means that all the enemies—which are desires for self-reception—who were obstructing the Kedusha, the Creator saved him from all the enemies and he was rewarded with admittance into Kedusha. This is the meaning of the words, “O Lord, You have brought up my soul from the nether-world; You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit.”

We say (in “Help of Our Fathers”), “You are the first; You are the last; and besides You, we have no King who redeems and delivers.” We also say, “You are before the world was created; You are after the world was created; You are in this world; and You are for the next world.” We understand it literally as relating to the greatness of the Creator. However, what does this come to tell us in the work?

It is known that the order of the work is that one must correct his vessels of reception so as to have the strength to do everything in order to bestow. And one should exert and do all that he can. At that time, he comes to a resolution that without the help of the Creator, there is no way that he will exit the control of the will to receive for himself. This is called “redemption,” when he emerges from the exile in Egypt, that is, the control of the will to receive.

Everyone understands that redemption is a matter for the Creator, since a person sees that it is utterly impossible to emerge from exile by himself. And yet, we should ask, “How does one know that emerging from the exile of the will to receive depends solely on the Creator and is beyond man’s capabilities?”

The answer is that in his view, he has already done what he could do but did not move an inch from his will to receive. On the contrary, he sees that since he started the work, in order to reach the degree where all his actions will be for the Creator, now he sees completely differently—that he is regressing!

In other words, he sees that now he is more immersed in self-love than ever. For this reason, when a person is rewarded with redemption, with emerging from this exile, he says that only the Creator can deliver the people of Israel from Egypt, meaning that redemption belongs to the Creator.

However, entering the exile, meaning surrendering to the dominion of the will to receive, this certainly belongs to man. In other words, it is man’s fault that he cannot overcome the will to receive for himself. Thus, a person goes into exile by himself.

To that, the writings tell us that this is not as we understand it. And although one should say, “If I am not for me, who is for me?” meaning that everything depends on man’s decision, one should still believe that everything is under Providence, meaning that everything depends on the Creator. It is said about that, “You are before the world was created.” It is known that Olam [world] comes from the word He’elem [disappearance] and concealment. And we should know that concerning the exile, there are two discernments to make: 1) when a person does not feel that there are disappearance and concealment, and 2) when a person feels that he is in a state of disappearance and concealment.

This is the meaning of the words, “You are before the world was created.” In other words, the fact that a person does not feel that he is in a state of concealment is the Creator’s doing. This is for man’s benefit, since before a person can correct the evil in him, there is a correction of not seeing the bad. Thus, the Creator created the situation that precedes man’s entrance into the disappearance and concealment.

This is the meaning of “You are before the world was created,” meaning before the concealment was created. Afterward, a person comes to a state of disappearance and concealment. One comes into that state precisely according to his effort in Torah and Mitzvot to achieve a degree where all his actions are in order to bestow.

This is the meaning of the words, “You are after the world was created.” Thus, the fact that one came into disappearance and concealment was from You. This is the meaning of “You are after the world was created.” And after he is already in exile, then comes redemption, and this is, “You are the first, and You are the last.”