911. The Meal of a Wicked One
Our sages said, “Why did that generation have to be destroyed?” One said, “Because they bowed to idols,” and one said, “Because they enjoyed the meal of that wicked one.”
We should ask why they did not say “Because they ate from the meal of that wicked one,” but rather that they “enjoyed.” There are two discernments in the work: 1) Mind, which is bowing to idols. An “idol” means that one has some basis for the work. This is called “an idol.” Man should work in faith, as it is written, “For you did not see any image,” for an image and a similitude are bases upon which one can determine that he works for this, meaning he establishes his work on this basis, and this is the support. Conversely, when he has no support, he falls from his work. 2) Enjoying the meal of that wicked implies the heart, if a person enjoys his wicked one enjoying himself. He must eat and drink because otherwise he will not be able to live, but he must not enjoy the meal that his will to receive is doing.
For this reason, their work was compulsory, as our sages said, “observed and received,” thus far by force; henceforth willingly, where by being rewarded with repentance from love, they were rewarded with their work being of their own volition.
We therefore see that even when one is at the very bottom, in the worst possible state, when one has flawed both discernments, still, afterward, they were rewarded with “observed and received,” where what was compulsory has later become willingly. This is the meaning of the Megillah [scroll] of Ester: They are two opposites, where during the concealment, there is coercion, and during the disclosure, it is a time of goodwill.