6. What Is Support in the Torah, in the Work?

I heard in 1944

When one learns Torah and wants all his actions to be in order to bestow, one must try to always have support in the Torah. Support is considered nourishment, which is love, fear, elation, and freshness and so on. One should extract all this from the Torah, meaning the Torah should give him these results.

However, when one learns Torah and does not have these results, it is not considered Torah since Torah refers to the light clothed in the Torah, as our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” This refers to the light in it, since the light in it reforms him.

We should also know that the Torah is divided into two discernments: 1)Torah, 2) Mitzva [commandment]. In fact, it is impossible to understand these two discernments before one is awarded walking in the path of the Creator by way of “The counsel of the Lord is with those who fear Him.” This is so because when one is in a state of preparation to enter the Creator’s palace, it is impossible to understand the path of truth.

However, it is possible to give an example that even a person in the preparation period can somewhat understand. It is as our sages said (Sutah 21): “Rabbi Yosef said, ‘A Mitzva protects and saves while practiced. The Torah protects and saves both when practiced and when not practiced.’”

The thing is that “when practiced” refers to when one has some light. One can use this light that he obtained only while the light is still with him, as now he is in gladness because of the light that shines for him. This is discerned as a Mitzva, meaning that he has not yet been rewarded with the Torah, but elicits a life of Kedusha [holiness] only from the light.

This is not so with the Torah: When one attains some way in the work, one can use the way he has attained even when he is not practicing it, that is, even while he does not have the light. This is so because only the illumination has departed from him, but he can use the way that he attained in the work even when the illumination leaves him.

Still, we must know that while practiced, a Mitzva is greater than the Torah when not practiced. When practiced means that now one receives the light. This is called “practiced,” when one receives the light in it.

Hence, while one has the light, a Mitzva is more important than the Torah when one has no light, meaning when there is no vitality of the Torah. On one hand, the Torah is important because one can use the way one has acquired in the Torah. On the other hand, it is without vitality, called “light.” In a time of Mitzva one does receive vitality, called “light.” Therefore, in this respect, a Mitzva is more important.

Thus, when one is without vitality, he is considered “wicked,” since now he cannot say that the Creator leads the world in a manner of “The Good Who Does Good.” This is called that he is called “wicked,” since he condemns his Maker, as now he feels that he has no vitality, and has nothing to be glad about so he can say that now he thanks the Creator for giving him delight and pleasure.

One cannot say that he believes that the Creator leads His guidance over others in a manner of good and doing good, since we understand the path of Torah as a sensation in the organs. If one does not feel the delight and pleasure, what does it give him that another person has delight and pleasure?

If one had really believed that Providence is revealed as good and doing good to his friend, that faith should have brought him delight and pleasure from believing that the Creator leads the world with a guidance of delight and pleasure. If it does not bring him vitality and joy, what is the benefit in saying that the Creator does watch over his friend with a guidance of good and doing good?

The most important is what one feels in one’s own body—whether he feels good or bad. A person enjoys his friend’s pleasure only if he enjoys his friend’s benefit. In other words, we learn that with the sensation of the body, the reasons are not important. It is only important if he feels good. In that state, he says that the Creator is “good and does good.” If one feels bad, he cannot say that the Creator behaves with him in a manner of good and doing good. Thus, precisely if he enjoys his friend’s happiness, and receives high spirits from this, and feels gladness because his friend feels good, then he can say that the Creator is a good leader.

If one has no joy, he feels bad. Thus, how can he say that the Creator is good and does good? Therefore, a state where one has no vitality and gladness is already a state where he has no love for the Creator and ability to justify his Maker and be happy, as is appropriate with one who is granted with serving a great and important King.

In general, we must know that the upper light is in a state of complete rest, and the whole expansion of the holy names occurs by the lower ones. In other words, all the names that the upper light has come from the attainment of the lower ones. This means that the upper light is named according to their attainments. Put differently, one names the upper light according to the way in which one attains it, meaning according to one’s sensation.

If one does not feel that the Creator is giving him anything, what name can he give to the Creator if he does not receive anything from Him? Rather, when one believes in the Creator, every single state that one feels, he says that it comes from the Creator. In that state, one names the Creator according to one’s feeling.

If one feels happy in the state he is in, he says that the Creator is called “The Good Who Does Good,” since this is what he feels, that he receives good from Him. In that state, one is called Tzadik [righteous], since he Matzdik [justifies] his Maker (the Creator).

If one feels bad in the state he is in, he cannot say that the Creator is sending him good. Therefore, in that state one is called Rasha [wicked], since he Marshia [condemns] his Maker.

However, there is no such thing as in-between, when one says that he feels both good and bad in his state. Instead, one is either happy or unhappy.

This is the meaning of what our sages said (Berachot 61), “The world was not created, etc., but either for the complete wicked or for the complete righteous.” This is because there is no such reality where one feels good and bad together.

When our sages say that there is in-between, it is that with the creatures, who have a discernment of time, you can say in-between, in two times, one after the other, as we learn that there is a matter of ascents and descents. These are two times: once he is wicked, and once he is righteous. But at the same time, for one to feel good and bad simultaneously, this does not exist.

It follows that when they said that the Torah is more important than a Mitzva, it is precisely when he does not engage in it, meaning when he has no vitality. Then the Torah is more important than a Mitzva, which has no vitality.

This is so because one cannot receive anything from a Mitzva, which has no vitality. But with the Torah, one still has a way in the work from what he had received while he was practicing the Torah. Although the vitality has departed, the way remains in him, and he can use it. There is a time when a Mitzva is more important than Torah, meaning when there is vitality in the Mitzva and no vitality in the Torah.

Thus, when not practiced, meaning when one has no vitality and gladness in the work, one has no other counsel but prayer. However, during the prayer one must know that he is wicked because he does not feel the delight and pleasure that exist in the world, although he makes calculations that he can believe that the Creator gives only good.

Yet, not all the thoughts that one has are true in the way of the work. In the work, if the thought leads to action, meaning a sensation in the organs, so the organs feel that the Creator is good and does good, the organs should receive from this vitality and gladness. If one has no vitality, what good are all the calculations if now the organs do not love the Creator because He imparts them with abundance?

Therefore, one must know that if he has no vitality and gladness in the work, it is a sign that he is wicked because he is unhappy. All the calculations are untrue if they do not lead to action, meaning to a sensation in the organs that he loves the Creator because He imparts delight and pleasure to the creatures.