Archive for category: Library

 

It is known that since man is always among people who have no connection to the work on the path of truth, but to the contrary, always resist those who walk on the path of truth, and since people’s thoughts mingle, the views of those who oppose the path of truth permeate those with some desire to walk on the path of truth.

Hence, there is no other counsel but to establish a separate society for themselves, to be their framework, meaning a separate community that does not mingle with other people whose views differ from that society. And they should constantly evoke in themselves the issue of the purpose of society, so they will not follow the majority, because following the majority is our nature.

If the society isolates itself from the rest of the people, if they have no connection with other people in regard to spiritual matters, and their contact with them is only on corporeal matters, they do not mingle with their views, since they have no connection in matters of religion.

But when a person is among religious people, and begins to converse and argue with them, he immediately mingles with their views. Their views penetrate his mind below the threshold of his consciousness to such an extent that he will not be able to discern that these are not his own views, but what he received from the people he connected with.

Therefore, in matters of work on the path of truth, one should isolate oneself from other people. This is because the path of truth requires constant strengthening, since it is against the view of the world. The view of the world is knowing and receiving, whereas the view of Torah is faith and bestowal. If one strays from that, he immediately forgets all the work of the path of truth and falls into a world of self-love. Only from a society in the form of “They helped every man his friend” does each person in the society receives the strength to fight against the view of the world.

Also, we find the following in the words of The Zohar (Pinechas, p 31, Item 91, and in the Sulam): “When a person dwells in a city inhabited by evil people, and he cannot keep the Mitzvot of the Torah, and does not succeed in the Torah, he relocates and uproots himself from there and plants himself in a place inhabited by good people, with Torah and with Mitzvot. This is because the Torah is called ‘Tree,’ as it is written, ‘She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her.’ And man is a tree, as it is written, ‘for is the tree of the field man.’ And the Mitzvot in the Torah are likened unto fruits. And what does it say? ‘Only the trees of which thou knows that they are not trees for food, them thou may destroy and cut down,’ destroy from this world and cut down from the next world.”

For this reason, he must uproot himself from the place where there are wicked, for he will not be able to succeed there in Torah and Mitzvot, and plant himself elsewhere, among righteous, and he will succeed in Torah and Mitzvot.

And man, whom The Zohar likens unto the tree of the field, like the tree of the field suffers from bad neighbors. In other words, we must always cut down the bad weeds around us that affect us, and we must also keep away from bad environments, from people who do not favor the path of truth. We need a careful watch so as to not be drawn to follow them.

This is called “isolation,” when one has thoughts of the “single authority,” called “bestowal,” and not “public authority,” which is self-love. This is called “two authorities”—the Creator’s authority and one’s own authority.

Now we can understand what our sages said (Sanhedrin, p 38), “Rav Yehuda said, ‘Rav said, ‘Adam ha Rishon was heretic,’ as it is written, ‘And the Lord God called unto the man, and said unto him: ‘Where art thou?’’ Where has thine heart gone?’”

In Rashi’s interpretation, “heretic” refers to a tendency for idol worshiping. And in the commentary, Etz Yosef (Joseph’s Tree), it is written, “When it writes, ‘Where, where has thine heart gone?’ it is heresy, as it is written, ‘that ye go not about after your own heart,’ this is heresy, when his heart leans towards the other side.”

But all this is very perplexing: How can it be said that Adam ha Rishon was inclined to idolatry? Or according to the Etz Yosef commentary, that he was in the form of “that ye go not about after your own heart,” is it heresy? According to what we learn about the work of God, that it is solely about the aim to bestow, if a person works in order to receive, this work is foreign to us, for we need to work only to bestow, and he took everything in order to receive.

This is the meaning of what he said, that he failed in “go not about after your own heart.” In other words, he could not take the eating from the Tree of Knowledge in order to bestow, but received the eating from the Tree of Knowledge in order to receive. This is called “heart,” meaning the heart wishes only to receive for self-gratification. And this was the sin of the Tree of Knowledge.

To understand this matter, see the introduction to the book Panim Masbirot. And from this we can understand the benefits of the society—it can introduce a different atmosphere—working only in order to bestow.

 

According to what is explained concerning “Love thy friend as thyself,” all the details of the 612 Mitzvot are contained in this rule. It is as our sages say, “The rest is its commentary; go study.” This means that by keeping the 612 Mitzvot we will be rewarded with the rule, “Love thy friend,” and following, the love of God.

Thus, what does love of friends give us? It is written that by gathering a few friends together, since they each have but a small force of love of others, meaning they can carry out the love of others only in potential, when they implement it they remember that they have decided to relinquish self-love in favor of the love of others. But in fact, he sees that he cannot relinquish any pleasure of the will to receive in favor of another, not even a bit.

However, by assembling a few people who agree that they have to achieve love of others, when they annul themselves before one another, they are all intermingled. Thus, in each person there accumulates a great force, according to the size of the society. And then they can execute the love of others in actual fact.

Hence, what do the details of the 612 Mitzvot add to us, which we said are in order to keep the rule, since the rule is kept by love of friends? And we see that in reality there is love of friends among secular, too. They, too, gather in various circles in order to have love of friends. What then is the difference between religious and secular?

The verse says (Psalms 1), “nor sat in the seat of the scornful.” We must understand the prohibition on “seat of the scornful.” Is it due to slander or idle words? So the prohibition is not because of a “seat of scornful.” What then does the “seat of scornful” add to us?

The meaning is that when a few people come together for the purpose of love of friends, with the intention that each and every one will help his friend improve his corporeal state, each anticipates that by having more meetings they will profit from society and improve their corporeal state.

However, after all the meetings, everyone calculates and sees how much he has received from society for the self-love, what the will to receive has gained by that, since he invested time and effort to benefit society, so what has he gained by it? He could probably succeed more if he had been occupied with self-benefit, at least the part of his own efforts. But “I entered the society because I thought that through the society, I would be able to gain more than I could gain alone. But now I see that I have gained nothing.”

Then he regrets it and says, “I would be better off using my own little strength instead of giving my time to society. However, now that I have given my time to society, in order to gain more properties through help from the society, I finally realized that not only did I not gain anything from society, I even lost what I could have gained alone.”

When there is someone who wishes to say that love of friends should be engaged in for the purpose of bestowal, that everyone will work to benefit others, everyone laughs and mocks it. It seems to them like a kind of joke, and this is a seat of seculars. It is said about it, “but sin is a reproach to any people, and every grace that they do, they do for themselves.” Such a society detaches one from holiness. It casts one into the world of mockery, and this is the prohibition of the seat of the scornful.

Our sages said about such societies, “Disperse the wicked; better for them and better for the world.” In other words, it is better that they do not exist. However, it is the opposite with the righteous: “Assemble the righteous; better for them and better for the world.”

What is the meaning of “righteous”? It is those who want to keep the rule, “Love thy friend as thyself,” whose sole intention is to exit self-love and assume a different nature of love of others. And although it is a Mitzva that should be kept, and one can force oneself to keep it, love is nonetheless something that is given to the heart, and the heart disagrees with it by nature. What then can one do to make love of others touch the heart?

This is why we were given the 612 Mitzvot: they have the power to induce a sensation in the heart. However, since it is against nature, that sensation is too small to have the ability to keep love of friends de facto, even though he has a need for it. Hence, now he must seek advice regarding how to actually implement it.

The advice for one to be able to increase his strength in the rule, “Love thy friend,” is love of friends. If every one is nullified before his friend and mingles with him, they become one mass, where all the little parts that want the love of others unite in a collective force that consists of many parts. And when he has great strength, he can execute the love of others.

And then he can achieve the love of God. But the condition is that each will annul before the other. However, when he is separated from his friend, he cannot receive the share he should receive from his friend.

Thus, everyone should say that he is nothing compared to his friend. It is like writing numbers: If you first write “1” and then “0” it is ten times more. And when you write “00” it is a hundred times more. In other words, if his friend is number one, and the zero follows it, it is considered that he receives from his friend ten (10) times more. And if he says that he is double zero compared to his friend, he receives from his friend a hundred (100) times more.

However, if it is to the contrary, and he says that his friend is zero and he is one, then he is ten times less than his friend 0.1. And if he can say that he is one and he has two friends who are both zeros compared to him, then he is considered a hundred times less than them, meaning he is 0.01. Thus, his degree lessens according to the number of zeros he has from his friends.

Yet, even once he acquires that strength and can keep the love of others in actual fact, and feels his own gratification as bad for him, still, do not believe in yourself. There must be fear of falling into self-love in the middle of the work. In other words, should he be given a greater pleasure than he is used to receiving, although he can already work in order to bestow with small pleasures, and is willing to relinquish them, he lives in fear of great pleasures.

This is called “fear,” and this is the gate to receive the Light of faith, called “The inspiration of Divinity,” as it is written in The Sulam [15], “by the measure of fear is the measure of faith.”

Hence, we must remember that the matter of “Love thy friend as thyself” should be kept because it is a Mitzva, since the Creator commanded to engage in love of friends. And Rabbi Akiva only interprets this Mitzva that the Creator commanded. He intended to make this Mitzva into a rule by which all the Mitzvot would be kept because of the commandment of the Creator, and for self-gratification.

In other words, it is not that the Mitzvot should expand our will to receive, meaning that by keeping the Mitzvot we would be generously rewarded. Quite the contrary, by keeping the Mitzvot we will reach the reward of being able to annul our self-love and achieve the love of others, and subsequently the love of God.

Now we can understand what our sages said about the verse, “place them.” It comes from the word, “potion [16].” “If granted, it is a potion of life; if not granted, it is a potion of death.” Not granted means that one engages in Torah and Mitzvot to multiply self-love, so the body would acquire possessions in return for its work. If granted, one’s self-love is nullified and he aims to receive a reward that is the strength for love of others, by which he will reach the love of the Creator – that his only wish will be to give contentment to the Creator.

[15] Translator’s note: The Sulam (Ladder) commentary on The Book of Zohar.

[16] Translator’s note: In Hebrew the verb “to place” (Ve Samtem) is phonetically similar to the noun “potion” (Sam).

 

What does the law (Klal [14]), “love thy friend as thyself” give us? Through this law, we can come to love the Creator. If this is so, what does keeping the 612 Mitzvot give us?

First, we need to know what a law is. It is known that a collective (Klal) consists of many individuals. Without individuals, there cannot be a collective. For example, when we refer to an audience as “a sacred audience,” we are referring to a number of individuals who have gathered and formed a unit. Afterwards, a head is appointed to the audience, etc., and this is called a Minian (ten/quorum) or a “congregation.” At least ten people must be present, and then it is possible to say Kedusha (specific part of a Jewish prayer) at the service.

The Holy Zohar says about it: “Wherever there are ten, Divinity dwells.” This means that in a place where there are ten men, there is a place for the dwelling of Divinity.

It therefore follows that the law, “Love thy friend as thyself,” is built on 612 Mitzvot. In other words, if we keep the 612 Mitzvot, we will be able to achieve the law, “Love thy friend as thyself.” It turns out that the particular elements allow us to achieve the collective, and when we have the collective, we will be able to achieve the love of the Creator, as it is written, “My soul yearns for the Lord.”

However, one cannot keep all 612 Mitzvot alone. Take, for example, the redemption of the first-born. If one’s first-born is a girl, he cannot keep the Mitzva of redemption of the first-born. Also, women are exempted from observing time-dependent Mitzvot, such as Tzitzit and Tefillin. But because “all of Israel are responsible for one another,” through everyone, they are all kept. It is as though everyone keeps all the Mitzvot together. Hence, through the 612 Mitzvot, we can achieve the law, “Love thy friend as thyself.”

[14] Translator’s note: In Hebrew, the word Klal means both “law” and “collective.” The author alternates between the two meanings.

 

We must understand how one can help his friend. Is this where there are rich and poor, wise and fools, weak and strong? But when all are rich, smart, or strong, etc., how can one help another?

We see that there is one thing that is common to all—the mood. It is said, “A concern in one’s heart, let him speak of it with others.” This is because with regard to feeling high-spirited, neither wealth nor erudition can be of assistance.

Rather, it is one person who can help another by seeing that one’s friend is low. It is written, “One does not deliver oneself from imprisonment.” Rather, it is one’s friend who can lift his spirit.

This means that one’s friend raises him from his state into a state of liveliness. Then, one begins to reacquire strength and confidence of life and wealth, and he begins as though his goal is now near him.

It turns out that each and every one must be attentive and think how he can help his friend raise his spirit, because regarding the mood, anyone can find a needy place in one’s friend, which he can fill.