285. A Person Builds a Building

Adar, Tav-Shin-Chaf-Bet, 1962

In this world, a person builds a building and another ruins it. But in the future, he will not build and another will dwell.

This world is called Lo Lishma [not for Her sake], and the future is called Lishma [for Her sake], since from Lo Lishma, we come to Lishma. The place of the present, which is in Lo Lishma, is called “this world,” where one is now. “In the future” means later, when he comes to Lishma.

A building means that a person engages in Torah for the sake of others, not for the sake of the Creator. It is considered that he builds a building (as in “Do not pronounce it Baneicha [your sons], but Boneycha [those who build you]) but for others, since his aim is not for his own benefit, meaning that with the Torah and Mitzvot [commandments], he thereby brings contentment to the Creator, for by this he himself will approach the Creator and the words, “The Creator yearned to dwell in the lower ones” will come true in him. Instead, he works for others.

But in the future, when he engages Lishma, he will build for himself so that he himself will benefit from his work.

We should also interpret “this world.” When one engages in Torah and Mitzvot for his own sake, when the aim is to receive, he cannot benefit from the building he is building.

An hour of Torah and an hour of prayer is similar to a brick over a brick. By this, a large building is made, according to the value of one’s work in Torah and Mitzvot. Those Kelim [vessels] that can be filled with the concealed light, as in “In every place where I mention My name,” as in “until He who knows the mysteries will testify that he will not return to folly,” at that time, “I will come to you and bless you,” and in all the Kelim that a person has prepared, there will be the blessing of the Creator.

This is called “the building of the Temple,” but this is only if his work is for the sake of the Creator. At that time, a person can benefit from the blessing of the Creator. It follows that he dwells in the building he had built. Yet, this is only for the next world. One who works for the spirituality of Lishma, as this world is called “present,” the place where one is now, this is as in “one should always learn Torah and Mitzvot Lo Lishma.”

Afterward is called “future,” meaning a world that approaches and comes, as it is written in The Zohar, and which the sages call “coming to Lishma.” At that time, they will not build but engage in Torah and Mitzvot, and then sit, but he himself, for because his aim is Lishma, the secrets of Torah are revealed to him and he becomes as a flowing stream.

But in Lo Lishma, what our sages said can be said about him: “One comes out to the light,” meaning that he has the privilege that through him, one will come out to the light. It follows that he exerts in Torah and Mitzvot and others benefit from this—those who come out to the light. This is the meaning of “If he is rewarded, he takes his share and his friend’s share in the Garden of Eden.”