590. Those Who Walk to the Land of Israel
29 Tevet, Tav-Shin-Yod-Het, January 21, 1958
“Stretch out your hand and touch his self and his flesh … but keep his soul” (Job 2).
In other words, He gave him control over all his possessions, but not over the soul, for the soul means faith, as in “A soul without knowledge is also not good.” That is, He permitted him to touch him in everything but not in his faith.
The Sitra Achra [other side] can touch anything that a person acquires. The Sitra Achra can slander and say that his intention is not for the sake of the Creator. However, the Sitra Achra cannot have any touch on faith because the whole basis of faith is above reason. Naturally, the Sitra Achra cannot touch there because all the connection to the Sitra Achra is only where there is reason; there he has room to grip.
However, in a place that is above reason, he has no mouth. For this reason, “He who adds knowledge [Daat (reason)] adds pain,” since there is room there for trials and torments.
Accordingly, do not think of saying “Why should I get into matters of reason?” He says about this the commentary: “A soul without knowledge is also not good.” Rather, we must engage in possessions, too, since “the wisdom of the poor is wretched” and wealth, too, is required, as it is written, “Longevity of days to her right, wealth and honor to her left.” “Longevity of days” is precisely in the quality of the soul, called “faith,” since there the Sitra Achra has no reach.
This is called “right” [side], where there is no fear. But on the left side, called “Isaac’s fear,” meaning wealth and honor, the Sitra Achra can slander and say that it is not for the sake of the Creator but that he is receiving this for his own sake.
Yet, nonetheless, both are needed, as it is written, “If you are righteous, what will you give Him?” However, the Creator makes us receive from Him all the good that has been prepared for our sake, meaning that we must reveal all the NRNHY, discerned as “wealth and honor.”
“Rabbi Shimon said, ‘Job’s is not a trial from the Creator, as are the trials of the rest of the righteous,’ since it is not written, ‘And God tried Job,’ … Abraham sacrificed his only son to the Creator with his own hand, whereas Job gave nothing and passed nothing unto the Creator … since it was evident to him that he would not be able to properly endure it. Instead, he was given to the hands of the slanderer” (The Zohar, Bo, Items 29-30).
We should ask what is the difference whether the trial comes from the Creator or from the slanderer, since he gave a reason that he was not tested by the Creator because he would not be able to endure the test.
We should interpret this according to the Tzimtzum [restriction] and Masach [screen]: If it comes from the Creator, although the Creator illuminates for him the abundance openly, he still sees that there is a higher desire to remove himself from all the abundance and work only in a manner of covered Hassadim [mercies]. At that time, he promptly chooses for himself the path of covered Hassadim.
It follows that he withstood the test, meaning he did everything out of free choice. That is, he had the choice to keep the abundance because the test came from the Creator, meaning he stood at the degree of the revelation of the abundance, which is called “the hand of the Creator.” Then, when he withstood the test, meaning he did everything by choice and not by force, this is considered that the trial came from the Creator.
But if a person is unfit to withstand the test, meaning by choice, he is given to the slanderer, meaning from a Masach that is controlled by force. That is, the disclosure of the abundance is taken away from him, and this is called “in the hands of the slanderer,” meaning that the test is during the departure—whether he complains about His attributes or not.
It follows that here the choice was not about giving back the abundance, since this was taken away from him against his will. He was not given choice here. Rather, he was given all the choice after the departure of the abundance.
It therefore follows that the trial by the hand of the Creator is considered that the test comes when he has the abundance, and the test by the hand of the slanderer means that the test comes after the departure of the abundance.
It was said about it in The Zohar, “And you shall love … even if He takes your NRN.” This is as David said, “I awaken the dawn [also means “black” in Hebrew], and the dawn does not awaken me,” since he invokes the departure, and the departure does not awaken him to the trial, to complain about His attributes.
It is written (The Zohar, Bo, Item 30): “Moreover, it was done by the Creator’s sentence, for having inflicted Israel with hard labor in Egypt” (as it is written in Item 15), since Job was among Pharaoh’s counselors, and when Pharaoh wanted to kill Israel, Job told him, “Take their money and rule over their bodies with hard work.”