428. This Is the Constitution of the Torah [Law] – 2
“This is the constitution of the Torah.” RASHI interprets, “Since Satan and the nations of the world count Israel, saying, ‘What is this Mitzva [commandment] and what is the point about it?’ He wrote about it, ‘a constitution,’ a decree before Me and you have no permission to doubt it.”
We should understand this, for this implies that this is why it is written about it, “a constitution,” since the nations of the world ask for the reason. Conversely, regarding the rest of the Mitzvot [commandments] of the Torah, of which the nations of the world do not ask, He does write the reasons for the Mitzvot. Yet, the reasons for the other Mitzvot are not explained, and it seems as though it should have been the opposite—precisely where we seek a reason for the matter, we should give the reason, and not where no one is asking.
We should also understand the connection to the allegory that RASHI brings about a handmaid’s child who soiled a king’s palace. They said, “Let his mother come and wipe clean the faces.” Likewise, let the cow come and wipe clean the calf. This implies that this is the reason for the cow.
About the verse, “They shall take to you,” RASHI interprets that it is always named after you, the cow that Moses had made in the desert. We should understand why specifically the cow is named after Moses and not other Mitzvot, since there were more Mitzvot that he did in the desert.
To understand all the above, we first need to introduce the purpose of Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] and what they mean. It is written in Midrash Rabbah about the verse, “And you shall offer from your cattle and from your flock.” Rabbi asks, “Why should the Creator mind whether he slaughters at the throat or at the back of the neck, for it was said, ‘The Torah and Mitzvot were given only in order to cleanse Israel through them.’”
The thing is that since the creatures were created with a nature of being receivers, and this is called Av [thick], and since it is impossible to go against nature, we were therefore given the advice that through Torah and Mitzvot we will be able to invert our nature and walk in the ways of bestowal. Only then will we be fit to receive the King’s gift without any lack, meaning without the bread of shame.
The discernment by which one can know if he is receiving only for the purpose of Mitzva is if he feels that he could relinquish the pleasures although he has a desire and yearning, and he receives only provided that such is the will of the Creator. This is considered that he is receiving only because of a Mitzva, and only when he can relinquish the pleasures can he achieve the state of receiving in order to bestow.
The rule is that to accustom himself in concessions, he must accustom himself with smaller pleasures and then with greater pleasures, since we always go from light to heavy.
It is accepted by us that the greatest pleasure in the world is to be in Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator in the manner of attainment of Godliness. For this reason, it is written in The Zohar that the matter of the Tzimtzum [restriction] was done, which is a correction of the issue of the bread of shame.
A Tzimtzum means concealment, where as long as one is still under the authority of the will to receive, he cannot feel any attainment of Godliness because the pleasure of attainment of Godliness is so intense that it is utterly impossible to relinquish it. This means that even if this would not be a Mitzva, he would still receive the pleasure, and this is called “separation” and Lo Lishma [not for Her sake].
In order for one to be able to act because of a Mitzva, which is in order to bestow contentment upon his Maker, there had to be the matter of the Tzimtzum, which is concealment, for during the concealment there is the matter of work in Torah and Mitzvot by way of faith, meaning that he takes upon himself the burden of Torah and Mitzvot because it is a decree before Him. This is called a “constitution.”
The rule is that when do we feel that it is a law and not a reasoning? It is only when a desire and yearning awaken in a person to feel the reason, but he does not feel. Then, when he takes upon himself the burden of Torah and Mitzvot, he accepts it as a law. Conversely, when there is no demand for reasoning, how does he know that there is no reason to it, but it is rather a law?
This is the intimation, “This is the constitution of the Torah,” for the laws of Torah seem as laws only when Satan asks, meaning the evil inclination, as our sages said, “He is Satan, he is the evil inclination, he is the angel of death” (Baba Batra 16a).
The order is that during the question, when he asks about the reason for it, this is called the “evil inclination.” Afterward, it obstructs him from observing, and then it is called “Satan” because it stands as Satan on his path.
Afterward, it puts him to death, and then it is called “the angel of death,” since it takes away from him all the vitality of Kedusha [holiness] that he had, and in return gives the vitality of this world. In other words, he finds no taste of life except in corporeal things, which is the vitality of the wicked, whose lives are regarded as death.
It follows from all the above that only when Satan comes with a complaint and asks about all the work, we should prevail over this Satan and reply to him, “This is the constitution of the Torah”; I am observing the Torah only because it is a “law, a decree before Me, and there is no permission to doubt it.”
This is what we received from Moses and we believe in him, for the meaning of the cow is “faith,” which is a law. This is why the cow is named after Moses, who is called “Moses, the loyal shepherd,” who brings the faith to all of Israel.
This is the meaning of what our sages said, that the cow is named after Moses. The cow that Moses made in the desert, where “desert” is regarded as prior to entering the settlement that is the land of Israel, as it is written in the books that the land of Israel is the permanent installing of the Shechina [Divinity], in complete attainment, called “the revealed world,” while where it writes “desert,” it means “concealed world,” meaning a law.
The meaning of the calf is presented in The Zohar in the introduction about the verse, “Raise your eyes to heaven and see who created these.” “Who” means light of Hassadim, and “these” means light of Hochma without Hassadim.
The matter of “who” means that when Satan comes and asks “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?” we should take everything upon ourselves as a constitution, which is Hassadim, meaning bestowal, where everything is only above reason, called “faith,” the quality of “Moses, the loyal shepherd.”
Conversely, “these” are called “knowledge,” and it was said about it, “These are your gods, Israel,” meaning that the name of the making of the calf is called wisdom and knowledge, and it is the opposite of the cow, which is called “faith.” For this reason, when we accept “the constitution of the Torah,” it is a correction of the making of the calf.
This is the meaning of “Let the mother come and wipe clean her son,” and this is the meaning of “on which a yoke has not been placed.” Baal HaSulam interpreted that we must accept the faith with joy and not as a burden, which means that he wants to get rid of it and waits for the opportunity when he can throw this burden off of him, and as it is written, “because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy.”
It follows from all the above that faith is primarily in order for man to be able to work in choice, meaning even where he does not feel the delight and pleasure in Torah and Mitzvot, yet he observes them because he believes that such is the will of the Creator, to serve Him with faith.
He does not want to receive in a different manner, and he is as inflexible as steel about the matter, as our sages said, “Any wise disciple who is not as hard as steel is not a wise disciple” (Taanit 4a).
This means that even if one is proficient in Mishnah and Gemara, yet is not as hard as steel, he is not a wise disciple. That is, one must be as hard as steel concerning receiving the pleasure, whether in mind or in heart, until he has it in his own mind that his intention is only that this is the Creator’s will. And precisely he is called “a wise disciple,” since the Creator is called “wise,” and the Creator only gives.
Hence, if a person walks with the quality of the Creator, meaning that he also bestows, it is considered that he is a wise disciple, learning the quality of the Wise, meaning the quality of the Creator, and only then can we receive all the delight and pleasure that the Creator had contemplated in our favor.