Letter No. 65

September 5, 1962

To the friends, may they live forever.

Now is the month of Elul (August/September) and it is customary that even regular people, meaning those with the view ‎of landlords, engage in matters of Teshuva (repentance), as well.

What is the difference between landlords and students of Torah? The difference is that a “landlord” is one who wants to feel that he is the landlord in the world, meaning that his presence in the world will grow, that he himself will be rewarded with a long life and many possessions, which is called the “persistence of reality.”

“Students of Torah” are those who engage only in annulment of reality. He wants to be annulled before the Creator, and his only entitlement to exist in the world is because the Creator wants it. But he himself wants to be annulled. Also, he wants to bring all his possessions as an offering to the Creator, and the only reason he engages in obtaining possession is because it is the Creator’s will.

This is the meaning of saying that the view of landlords is opposite from the view of Torah, since the view of Torah is annulment of reality, and the view of landlords is the persistence of reality. On the month of Elul, the landlords, too, understand that they must engage in annulment of reality.

Our sages said, “In a place where those who repented stand, complete righteous cannot stand.” We should interpret this according to the Kabbalah.

It is known that there is a time of Katnut (infancy/smallness), called Kelim de Keter and Hochma, which are vessels of bestowal. When all we obtain are vessels of bestowal, and bestowal is called “annulment of reality,” when he wants only to bestow upon the Creator and not to receive anything, it is called “complete righteous.” That is, he has no desire for himself, but all his works are only about how to be annulled before the Creator. This is called a “time of Katnut,” since all that shines in vessels of bestowal is Ohr de Hassadim, called Nefesh Ruach.

The time of Gadlut (adulthood/greatness) is when a person obtains the vessels of reception, which are Kelim of Bina and ZON that were below the Parsa during the Katnut. That is, they departed from the degree because of Malchut, which is the will to receive that is on them. In other words, the Kelim de Bina and ZON were placed under the governance of the will to receive so it was impossible to use them to receive in order to bestow. Hence, they departed from the degree.

During the time of Gadlut—when they improve their works—they return to the degree, for then they can engage in reception in order to bestow. At that time they use the Kelim de Bina and ZON, which are called “vessels of reception,” since now they have returned to the degree.

This is called Gadlut because now the light of Neshama and Haya illuminates, and this is called the “persistence of reality,” since now he engages in reception, except that it is in order to bestow.

It follows from the above that Katnut is called “complete righteous,” which is the annulment of reality, being Kelim of Keter and Hochma, vessels of bestowal. But the Kelim of Bina and ZON, which are vessels of reception, are regarded as the persistence of reality, which is for obtainment of possessions, and his only wish is for the possessions to grow and multiply. However, they come and go, meaning that at the time of Katnut they are outside of the degree, and during the Gadlut they return to the degree, but the light that they draw is that of Gadlut.

Therefore, “where those who repented stand,” meaning who have light of Neshama and Haya through their labor, “complete righteous cannot stand.” Thus, one who is complete righteous, who engages only with vessels of bestowal, which are Kelim of Keter and Hochma, has only Katnut, which is Nefesh and Ruach, which is only Ohr de Hassadim and not Ohr Hochma.

And then he is a “landlord,” as it is written, “A house shall be built with wisdom,” since “house” means possession, which is the persistence of reality. This is done specifically through the light of Hochma, which is received specifically in vessels of reception, called Bina and ZON, which require Hochma. But vessels of Keter and Hochma are regarded as vessels of bestowal and are considered annulment of reality because he does not want to receive anything. But in the end, he is drawing only light of Katnut, called Ohr Hassadim.

It follows from all the above that a person should repent to at least become a “complete righteous.” Later, when he reaches the degree of righteous, he should repent once more.

May the Creator help us to at least be complete righteous.

The main thing in the work is that there is no giving of half a thing from heaven. Otherwise, it could happen that if a person repented half way he would receive assistance from above for half the work. But since there is no giving of half a thing from heaven, a person must pray to the Creator to give him complete help. This means that during his prayer, a person sets what is in his heart in order, since prayer is work in the heart, so a person must decide that he wants the Creator to give him a desire to completely annul before Him, meaning not leave any desire under his own authority, but that all the desires in him will be only to give glory to the Creator.

Once he decides on complete annulment, he asks the Creator to help him carry it out. This means that although in the mind and the desire he sees that the body disagrees with him annulling all his desires before the Creator instead of for his own sake, he should pray to the Creator to help him want to annul before Him with all the desires, leaving no desire for himself. This is called a “complete prayer,” meaning that he wishes that the Creator will give him a complete desire without any compromises to himself, and he asks of the Creator to help him always be with his righteousness.

That is a complete righteous means that he has unwaveringly determined to always live in a desire of a righteous. This is the meaning of “complete righteous,” meaning that this discernment is already completely resolved in him. “Incomplete” means that he still has work on whether or not to annul before Him with all the desires. It follows that the beginning of the work is to be a complete righteous, and then we arrive at the other work, called “those who repent,” who restore the vessels of reception and returning them to holiness.

I would like to present evidence that there is no giving of half a thing from heaven. See what our sages said (Yoma 69b): “They said, ‘Since it is a time of good will, let us ask for mercy on the inclination for transgression.’ They asked for mercy and it was granted to them. He told them, ‘Note, if you kill it, the world will be ruined.’ They locked it up for three days and sought a one-day old egg throughout the whole of the land of Israel, but none was found. They said, ‘What will we do? If we kill it, the world will be destroyed. If we ask for mercy on half,’ there is no giving of half from heaven. They blinded its eyes with sand, and what helped was that a person does not lust for his kin,” thus far their words.

This clearly proves that only wholeness is given from heaven. Baal HaSulam said why this is so: Since the Creator is whole, if He gives some abundance below, the man below must also receive wholeness. Otherwise, even if the Creator gives him, the person cannot receive because he does not have Kelim for wholeness.

Therefore, before a person qualifies himself to be fit to receive wholeness, he cannot see the length of the way that he has already traversed on his way toward the goal of wholeness, for only at the end of his work he will be able to see, but not midway, since he will not be able to receive His abundance before he has complete Kelim that are ready for it. This is why we must brace ourselves and say that we are already near the king’s palace, for every penny joins into a great amount, and perhaps soon we will see that the gate is open before us and we will be rewarded with entering and delighting with the king.

We should interpret the above words according to the Kabbalah. We know what is written in several places in the Sulam (Ladder commentary on The Zohar), that first we draw the right line, then the left, and then the middle line. And the role of the middle line is to make the left line illuminate only half a degree, called VAK de Hochma, and not to receive the GAR de Hochma.

There is always the question, “Why as soon as we draw the left line, we draw only half a degree, meaning VAK without GAR?” Also, “Why the necessity to draw a complete degree, and only then, through the middle line, we split the degree, where the GAR de Hochma are removed upward and the VAK de Hochma are extended downward?”

With the above words we will understand it, since there is no giving of half a thing from heaven. We will interpret this by order.

“They said, ‘Since it is a time of good will, let us ask for mercy on the inclination for transgression.’” All the transgressions extend from the left line, meaning that they cancel the left line through the Masach de Hirik. This is called “They asked for mercy and it was granted to them. He told them,” meaning the left line, “Note, if you kill it, the world will be ruined.” That is, the intention of creation was to do good to His creations, referring to Ohr Hochma, since Ohr Hassadim is only the light of Dvekut (adhesion), namely the means by which we can remove the blemish of separation, but this is not the light of the purpose of creation.

“They locked it up for three days,” meaning they did not use the left line, called Ohr Hochma and GAR, “and sought a one-day old egg throughout the whole of the land of Israel, but none was found.” Baal HaSulam explained that “egg” means small vitality, when it is known that there is an animal but it is still not revealed outside. The beginning of the appearance is called a “day old fledgling,” meaning a new vitality of today and not of yesterday.

“Throughout the whole of the land of Israel” means those who are using the light of Hassadim, which is regarded as the “land of Israel,” but no vitality, since vitality extends from Ohr Hochma, as he interprets in “Inner Reflection” of Part Two in The Study of the Ten Sefirot (items 46-47) regarding “Not Possible but Do Intending,” that there must be Hochma and vitality. But once the left line has been completely removed, no vitality was found throughout the land of Israel.

“They said, ‘What will we do? If we kill it, the world will be destroyed.” That is, the purpose of creation will not be accomplished, and this is called the “destruction of the world.” “Let us ask for mercy on half,” meaning we will make such a correction that we draw Hochma for only half a degree, meaning to initially draw only half a left line. “There is no giving of half from heaven,” since from above there always comes a whole thing.

“They blinded its eyes with sand,” which means that after the correction of the Masach de Hirik we use the light of Hochma only as illumination of Hochma, called “female light.” This is the meaning of “receiving and not giving downward.” Blinding the eyes means that that the sight will not spread below, and this is called “They blinded its eyes with sand,” as in “You set a boundary that they may not pass over.” The boundary becomes the sand, since the minute they want to extend from above downward the holy immediately becomes secular (in Hebrew, Hol means both “secular” and “sand”).

“What helped was that a person does not lust for his kin.” That is, we use only illumination from below upward, called “blind,” for it does not look down. This will help a person not to lose the nearness, called Dvekut. But if we draw from above downward, it will lead to removal and separation. This is why the order must be that we must extend the light of Hochma in wholeness.

The intention is that they wanted to make a correction: Once they made the point of Hirik and cancelled the left line, they wanted to make a correction that they would not draw the left line at all, and there would not be room for the inclination for transgression. However, they saw that this will mean the ruin of the world, since “You have made them all with wisdom,” where precisely through Hochma [wisdom], the world will exist, and this is the purpose of creation. They wanted to make a correction that only half a degree of Hochma would be drawn for fear that there will be people who will not be able to make the correction of the middle line and will fail with the left line.

However, “there is no giving of half a thing from heaven,” so there must be the correction through three lines, as is written in the Sulam in several places.