Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Academy

We say, “And all believe,” etc., “the Good who does good, to the bad and to the good.” We should understand this in the work, meaning those who want to draw near the Creator, and who regard this as “good,” meaning that this is all that they expect—to be rewarded with Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator. Therefore, why should we interpret here “to the bad and to the good”? That is, why are they regarded as “bad” if we are speaking of a person who wants to reach the good, which he regards as Dvekut with the Creator? And accordingly, what do we regard as the degree of “good”?

To understand this, we first need to bring in the purpose of creation, which we know is about “doing good to His creations.” Accordingly, it means that when we say, “And all believe,” etc., “the Good who does good,” it means, as our sages said, that “the conduct of the Good is to do good.” And yet, we believe that He does good to the bad and to the good, meaning that the bad, too, will receive the delight and pleasure.

According to the simple meaning, we should say that “bad” are those people who do bad to others, meaning that they are concerned only with their own well-being and not to bestow. “Good” are those people who like to do good to others; these are the people who are called “good.” For this reason, we should interpret “the Good, who does good to the bad and to the good” to mean that bad people, who are immersed in self-love, will also receive delight and pleasure.

According to the rule we learn—that there was a restriction and concealment on the vessels of reception in order to receive, that the light will not shine again in this place and it will remain a space devoid of light, and that restriction is called Tzimtzum Aleph [first restriction], which will never be revoked, but only Tzimtzum Bet [second restriction] will be revoked, but one who receives in order to receive will never receive—so how can “does good to the bad and to the good” be true? After all, they do not have vessels to receive the upper abundance, called “to do good to His creations.”

Baal HaSulam once said that there are two types of Kelim [vessels] in a person: 1) vessels of bestowal, 2) vessels of reception, which Kabbalah calls Kelim de Panim [anterior Kelim], which are vessels of bestowal, and Kelim de Achoraim [posterior vessels], which are vessels of reception. The vessels of bestowal are called “good vessels,” and there are people who can correct themselves only with vessels of bestowal. This means that only with vessels of bestowal can they direct their intention to be in order to bestow, and not more. Others are rewarded with a higher degree, meaning that they can aim in order to bestow with vessels of reception, too.

According to the above, we should interpret the meaning of “Good, who does good to the bad and to the good,” to mean that a person should believe that the Creator gives help from above, as our sages said, “He who comes to purify is aided.” Therefore, when they ask of the Creator to give him the strength to be able to direct his actions to be in order to bestow, to ask for a complete prayer, meaning that the Creator will help him have the power to overcome in order to bestow even over his vessels of reception, too, so they will be in order to bestow, this is called “to the bad,” meaning to the vessels of reception. And “to the good” means vessels of bestowal. Both of them should have the intention for the Creator.

Now we can understand why it can be said of a person who wishes for the Creator to bring him closer to His work, so he can aim his work for the Creator, that they are called “bad.” According to the above, it will mean that those who want the vessels of reception—which are called “bad Kelim”—to also draw near to the Creator, we call them “bad.” It follows that when we speak of bad Kelim that will be corrected in order to bestow it is a higher degree than the “good,” since “good” means that he wants the Creator to give him the power to prevail over them and aim in order to bestow.

2. From: Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 34, "The Advantage of a Land"

"It is known from books and from authors that the Creator is benevolent. This means that His guidance appears to the lower ones as good and doing good, and this is what we must believe.

Therefore, when one examines the conducts of the world, and begins to examine himself or others, how they suffer under Providence instead of delighting, as is fitting for His Name—The Good Who Does Good—in that state, it is hard for him to say that Providence is behaving in a manner of good and doing good and imparts them with abundance.

However, we must know that in that state, when they cannot say that the Creator imparts only good, they are considered wicked because suffering makes them condemn their Maker. Only when they see that the Creator imparts them with pleasures do they justify the Creator. It is as our sages said, “Who is righteous? He who justifies his Maker,” meaning he who says that the Creator leads the world in a manner of righteousness."

3. From: Baal HaSulam, Letter No. 55

“Righteous.” It refers to a person who is in the world of the Creator, yet always receives good and pleasant sensations, and is in constant pleasure. For this reason, he always blesses the Creator, Who created him in order to furnish him with such a good and delightful world. He, too, certainly does not need to explicitly utter the words, for the feelings themselves are the blessings that he blesses the Creator, […] This is why he is called “righteous” [also “just”], for he justifies creation and feels it as it truly is."

4. From: RABASH, Article No. 28 (1987), "What Is Do Not Add and Do Not Take Away in the Work?"

"He must believe above reason and imagine that he has already been rewarded with faith in the Creator that is felt in his organs, and he sees and feels that the Creator leads the entire world as the good who does good. Although when he looks within reason he sees the opposite, he should still work above reason and it should appear to him as though he can already feel in his organs that so it really is, that the Creator leads the world as the good who does good.

Here he acquires the importance of the goal, and from here he derives life, meaning joy at being near to the Creator. Then a person can say that the Creator is good and does good."

5. From: Baal HaSulam, Letter No. 1

"Everyone believes in private Providence, but do not adhere to it at all.

The reason is that an alien and foul thought … cannot be attributed to the Creator, who is the epitome of the “good who does good.” However, only to the true servants of the Creator does the knowledge of private Providence open, that He caused all the reasons that preceded it, both good and bad. Then they are adhered to private Providence, for all who are connected to the pure are pure.

Since the Guardian is united with His guarded, there is no apparent division between bad and good. They are all loved and are all clear, for they are all carriers of the vessels of the Creator, ready to glorify the revelation of His uniqueness. It is known by the senses, and to that extent, they have knowledge in the end that all the actions and the thoughts, both good and bad, are the carriers of the vessels of the Creator. He prepared them, from His mouth they emerged, and at the end of correction it will be known to all.

However, in between, it is a long and threatening exile. The main problem is that when one sees some wrongful action, he falls from his degree (and clings to the famous lie and forgets that he is like an ax in the hand of the cutter). Instead, one thinks of himself as the owner of this act and forgets the reason for all the consequences from whom everything comes, and that there is no other operator in the world but Him.

This is the lesson. Although he knew it at first, still, at the time of need, he will not control this awareness to attribute everything to the cause, which sentences to the side of merit."

6. From: RABASH, Article No. 44 (1990), "What Is an Optional War, in the work - 2?"

"A person must believe that this concealment, where a person does not feel that there is a King to the world, the Creator did this, and this is called “the correction of the Tzimtzum [restriction].” However, one must believe and make great efforts until he feels in his organs that the Creator is the leader of the world. And not just a leader! Rather, one must believe that His guidance is in the manner of good and doing good. A person must do all that he can to be able to attain this."

7. From: RABASH, Shamati, Article No. 16, “What Is the Day of the Lord and the Night of the Lord, in the Work?”

"Those who await the day of the Lord, it means that they are waiting to be imparted faith above reason, that faith will be so strong, as if they see with their eyes, with certainty, that it is so, that the Creator watches over the world in a manner of good and doing good.

In other words, they do not want to see how the Creator leads the world as The Good Who Does Good, since seeing is contradictory to faith. In other words, faith is precisely where it is against reason. And when one does what is against one’s reason, this is called “faith above reason.”

This means that they believe that the guidance of the Creator over the creatures is in a manner of good and doing good. While they do not see it with absolute certainty, they do not say to the Creator, “We want to see the quality of good and doing good as seeing within reason.” Rather, they want it to remain in them as faith above reason, but they ask of the Creator to give them such strength that this faith will be so strong, as if they see it within reason, that there will be no difference between faith and knowledge in the mind. This is what they, those who want to adhere to the Creator, refer to as “the day of the Lord.”"

8. From: RABASH, Article No. 28 (1988), "What Is, His Guidance Is Concealed and Revealed?"

"We are told to believe in His guidance—that He leads the world as good and doing good. We must believe that the purpose of creation was because He desires to do good to His creations. We must believe even though we suffer from what Providence sends us to feel. Nonetheless, we should believe that the punishments we suffer for not observing the Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] of the Creator, which the Creator has commanded us, these punishments are not due to vengeance, as it occurs among flesh and blood, who punish because their honor was tarnished when their orders are disobeyed. Instead, here there is a matter of correction.

That is, the torments a person suffers for not observing the Creator’s commandments is because the giving of Torah and Mitzvot was for man’s sake. Through them, he is to receive Kelim [vessels] that can receive the delight and pleasure that the Creator has prepared for the creatures."