741. To Cleanse the People
1957-1958
There is a story that Turnus Rufus the Evil [an epithet given to Quintus Tineius Rufus, a provincial governor under the Roman Empire] asked Rabbi Akiva, “What deeds are good, those of the Creator or those of man?” He said to him, “Those of man.” He replied, “But the sky and the earth, can man do the likes of them?” Rabbi Akiva replied, “Do not speak to me of something that is above people, that they do not control. Rather, speak of things that are found in people.”
He said to him, “Why do you circumcise”? He replied, “I knew that you would ask me this. This is why I told you in advance that the works of man are better than the works of the Creator.” Rabbi Akiva brought him stalks of wheat and cakes, and said to him, “These are the works of the Creator, and these are the works of man; are these not nicer than the stalks?”
Turnus Rufus said to him, “If He desires circumcision, why does the baby not emerge circumcised from its mother’s womb?” Rabbi Akiva replied, “And why does its umbilical cord come out with it, and it is hanging by its belly and its mother cuts it? And what you are saying, why does it not emerge circumcised, it is because the Creator gave the Mitzvot [commandments] to Israel in order to purify them, as David said about it, ‘Every word of God is pure’” (Psalms 18).
To clarify the argument between them, we should first present the reason for the creation of the worlds. It is explained that the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations. It is known that “There is no thought or perception in Him whatsoever,” and all that is spoken of is “By Your actions, we know You,” as it is written in the Poem of Glory, “They picture You not as You are, and they depict You by Your actions.”
It therefore follows that what is written, that the reason for the creation of the worlds is to do good to His creations is because all those who said that this is the reason because they attained that this is so, this is regarded as “By Your actions, we know You.” That is, they saw that the world is filled with abundant pleasures and there is no place for agony, so they determined and said that this is the reason.
They also attained that there is a discernment of reward and punishment. That is, sometimes the abundance stops, and sometimes it increases. So they also determined the reason that causes reward and punishment.
Where there is Dvekut [adhesion], meaning equivalence of qualities, the abundance increases more each time. Conversely, self-love— called “will to receive for oneself”—awakens, the fountain dries up, and the abundance stops. Then, they knew that we must go specifically with the quality of equivalence of qualities.
And why is this the Creator’s will? They said that it is in order not to have the bread of shame, so there will be completeness in the benefit that the Creator gives. That is, when a person takes for himself, he is always limited, meaning that the delight and pleasure he received is enough for him.
But if he receives because of the Giver, since the Giver wants to give indefinitely, the lower one will not feel satisfied in the middle of his work and say that the spiritual possessions he has acquired are enough for him, and he does not need to extend anymore, since here the receiver is not taken into account. Rather, the only measurement to how much pleasure he will receive is the Giver.
Hence, in order to satisfy the desire of the Giver, he draws down more abundance each day, for otherwise he is regarded as cutting the plantations, unable to extend more fruits to the world.
And the reason he cannot is that there is no need for it. For this reason, in order to have completeness in the benefit, which is that His abundance will be drawn more each time and he will not be ashamed while drawing the abundance, but on the contrary, he will know that each time he continues to draw, he does his Maker’s will, as it is written, “More than the calf wants to suckle, the cow wants to nurse,” in order for one to achieve this degree, to have an intention to bestow, we were given the opposite work than what seems to us from the purpose of creation.
Because of the purpose of creation to do good to His creations, we were imprinted with a desire to receive for ourselves. When we want to work in a manner of bestowal, meaning not to receive, it is against the acts of the Creator, who wants us to receive the abundance, yet we reject all the pleasures.
This is what Turnus Rufus the Evil asked. That is, he asked the question of the wicked one who argued, “What is this work for you?” From the perspective of the Creator, the goal is to do good to His creations, meaning to use the will to receive, since the Creator’s wish is for the lower ones to receive the delight and pleasure, as this is called “to do good to His creations.”
But the created beings came and took action, and inverted the will to receive, wanting to work only with the desire to bestow. This is called “works of flesh and blood,” since the works of the Creator is that the lower ones will receive, and you say that it is forbidden to receive for oneself.
This is why Rabbi Akiva replied to him that the works of flesh and blood is finer.
He asked, “But the sky and the earth, can man do the likes of them?” He meant that if the works of flesh and blood are better, then it is worthwhile to walk on a path that is opposite from the purpose of creation. So he asked, the sky and the earth, which are the upper worlds, the upper light, regarded as the filling that fills the Kelim [vessels], can man create the upper light, called abundance and pleasure?
Rabbi Akiva said to him, “Do not speak to me of something that is above people, that they do not control.” In other words, the light and the pleasure precede creation. This is called “existence from existence,” and we have no control, but only from creation onward, meaning from the will to receive, onward.
In other words, I can speak only from the perspective of the Kelim and not from that of the lights. From the perspective of the Kelim, our Kelim are finer than the Kelim that extend from the Creator, which are called “will to receive.”
Then he asked Rabbi Akiva from the perspective of the Kelim, meaning “Why do you circumcise?” Circumcision is regarded as removal of the foreskin. Baal HaSulam explained that the foreskin means the will to receive. Although man was created to have a will to receive, he should still work to remove from him the will to receive and take instead a desire to bestow.
This is called “the works of flesh and blood,” as it is written, “Everything is in the hands of heaven but the fear of heaven.” Baal HaSulam explained that from the Creator comes only the filling of the lack, meaning that the Creator gives abundance and pleasure called “to do good to His creations.” But fear of heaven, called “correction,” meaning not to receive so he will not be separated from the equivalence of form called Dvekut, this comes from the lower one.
It is explained that the light of the corrections, called “light of Hassadim [mercies],” comes only through an awakening of the lower one that wants to correct itself to also be a giver like the root.
Rabbi Akiva brought him stalks of wheat and cakes, by which we see that the work of people is finer. He showed him that the stalks of wheat are in the cakes, too, but now the stalks have been corrected by adding work on the part of the lower one, which is reception in order to bestow.
Then he asked, If He wants circumcision, why does the newborn not emerge circumcised from its mother’s womb? That is, why is man not created with a desire to bestow to begin with, but must make great efforts in order to acquire the possession of bestowal?
Rabbi Akiva replied, “And why does its umbilical cord come out with it, and it is hanging by its belly and its mother cuts it?” In other words, even to acquire the desire to receive, the work of the lower ones is required, since before he emerged into the world, the fetus was its mother’s thigh, eating what its mother eats, meaning he had no authority in and of himself, not even on the will to receive. Rather, he was denied of any choice and everything was as an upper force upon him.
When he emerges to the world and comes into his own, through cutting his connection with the mother, the blocked opens, and the opened becomes blocked, for only through corporeal food for thirteen years he acquires the will to receive in full.
Afterward comes the cutting of the foreskin, which is an act in order to acquire the desire to bestow. This is the meaning of the words, that the Creator gave the Mitzvot [commandments] only in order to cleanse them by them.