42. What Is the Acronym Elul in the Work
In order to understand that, we must understand several other things.
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The matter of the Kingship, memories, and the rams’ horns, and what is the meaning of what our sages said, “annul your will before His will, so that He will annul His will before your will.”
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The words of our sages, “Evil—at once to death, and righteous at once to life.”
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The verse, “The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei.”
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The words of the Holy Zohar: “ Yod is a black point that has no white in it.”
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Malchut of the Upper becomes Keter to the lower.
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What is, gladness testifies if the work is in wholeness.
All these things apply in the preparation of the month of Elul [1].
To understand all the above, we must understand the purpose of creation, which is said to be because He wishes to do good to His creatures. And because of the Tikkun (Correction), so that there will not be a matter of “bread of shame,” a Tzimtzum (Restriction) was made. And from the Tzimtzum extended the Masach (Screen), by which the vessels of reception are turned into bestowal.
And when the vessels are prepared to be in order to bestow, the hidden and treasured Light for the creatures is received immediately. It means that one receives the delight and pleasure that was in the Thought of Creation, to do good to His creatures.
With that we can interpret what is written, “Annul your will before His will,” meaning annul the will to receive in you before the will to bestow, which is the Creator’s will. This means that one will revoke self-love before the love of God. This is called “annulling oneself before the Creator,” and it is called Dvekut (Adhesion). Subsequently, the Creator can shine in your will to receive because it is now corrected in the form of receiving in order to bestow.
This is the meaning of, “so that He will annul His will before your will.” It means that the Creator annuls His will, meaning the Tzimtzum (Restriction) that was because of the disparity of form. Now, however, when there is already equivalence of form, hence now there is expansion of the Light into the desire of the lower that has been corrected in order to bestow, for this is the purpose of creation, to do good to His creatures, and now it can be carried out.
Now we can interpret the verse, “I am my beloved’s.” It means that by the ‘I’ annulling my will to receive before the Creator in the form of all to bestow, it obtains “and my beloved is mine.” It means that My beloved, which is the Creator, “is mine,” He imparts me the delight and pleasure found in the Thought of Creation. Thus, what was hidden and restricted before has now become disclosure of the Face, since now the purpose of creation has been revealed, which is to do good to His creatures.
We must know that the vessels of bestowal are called YH (Yod, Hey) of the name HaVaYaH (Yod,Hey, Vav, Hey), which are pure vessels. This is the meaning of, “All who receive, receive in the purer vessel.” In that state one is awarded, “and my beloved is mine,” and He imparts abundance upon him, meaning he is rewarded with the revelation of the Face.
Yet, there is a condition to that: it is impossible to obtain disclosure before one receives the discernment of Achoraim (Posterior), discerned as concealment of the Face, and to say that it is as important to him as the disclosure of the Face. It means that one should be in gladness as though one has already acquired the disclosure of the Face.
However, one cannot persist and appreciate the concealment like the disclosure, except when one works in bestowal. At that time one can say, “I do not care what I feel during the work because what is important for me is that I want to bestow upon the Creator. If the Creator understands that He will have more contentment if I work in a form of Achoraim, I agree.”
However, if one still has flickers of reception, one comes to thoughts, and it is then hard for him to believe that the Creator leads the world in a manner of “good that doeth good.” This is the meaning of the letter Yod in the name HaVaYaH, which is the first letter, called “a black point that has no white in it,” meaning it is all darkness and concealment of the Face.
It means that when one comes to a state where one has no support, one’s state becomes black, which is the lowest discernment in the Upper World, and that becomes the Keter to the lower one, as the vessel of Keter is a vessel of bestowal.
The lowest discernment in the Upper is Malchut, which has nothing of its own, meaning that she does not have anything. And only in this manner is it called Malchut. It means that if one assumes the Kingdom of Heaven—which is in a state of not having anything—gladly, afterwards, it becomes Keter, which is a vessel of bestowal and the purest Kli. In other words, the reception of Malchut in a state of darkness subsequently becomes a Kli of Keter, which is a vessel of bestowal.
It is like the verse, “For the ways of the Lord are right, and the just do walk in them; but transgressors do stumble therein.”
This means that transgressors, those who are controlled by the vessels of reception, must fall and be crouching under their load when they come to that state.
The righteous, however, meaning those who are in the form of bestowal, are elevated by that, meaning by that they are imparted vessels of bestowal. (Wicked should be interpreted as those whose heart is still not set on obtaining vessels of bestowal, and righteous is interpreted as those whose heart is already set on obtaining vessels of bestowal, but are as yet unable).
It is as the Holy Zohar writes, that the Holy Divinity told Rashbi (Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochay), “There is no place to keep from you,” and this is why she appears to him. This is the meaning of what Rashbi said, “because of that, and His desire is upon me,” and this is, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine,” and then he administers to the VH (Vav, Hey).
This is the meaning of “the Name is incomplete, and the throne is incomplete until the Hey bonds with the Vav.” The Hey is called “the will to receive,” which is the last and final vessel in which the Vav will dispense into the Hey, and then it will be the end of correction.
This is the meaning of “righteous—at once to life.” It means that the person himself should say in which book he wants his name to be written. Is it in the book of the righteous, meaning that he wants to be given the will to bestow, or not. Since one has many discernments regarding the will to bestow, meaning at times one says, “Yes, I want to be given the will to bestow, but not revoke the will to receive altogether.” He rather wants two worlds for himself, meaning he wants the will to bestow for his own delight as well.
However, only those who wish to turn their vessels of reception to be only in bestowal and not to receive anything for themselves are written in the book of the righteous. It is so that there will not be room for one to say, “If I had known that the will to receive had to be revoked, I would not have prayed for it,” (so that he will not say afterwards, “This is not what I had sworn to”).
Hence, one must unreservedly say what one means by being registered in the book of the righteous, so that he will not complain afterwards.
We must know that in the work, the book of the righteous and the book of the wicked are in one person. It means that one must make a choice and clearly know what one wants, because wicked and righteous relate to the same person.
Hence, one must say if he wants to be written in the book of the righteous, to be immediately for life, meaning cleave to the Life of Lives, that he wants to do everything for the Creator. In addition, when one comes to be written in the book of the wicked, where all those who wish to be receivers for themselves are registered, one says that they should be written there to death at once, meaning that the will to receive for oneself will be revoked in him, as if it had died.
Yet, sometimes one is doubtful. In other words, one does not want that one’s will to receive will be immediately revoked in him. It is hard for one to decide at once that all his fractions of reception will be put to death instantaneously, meaning he does not agree that all his desires for reception will be annulled in him at once.
Instead, one wants that one’s fragments of reception will be annulled in him gradually and slowly, not all at once, meaning that the vessels of reception will operate some, and some the vessels of bestowal. It follows that this person has no firm and clear view.
A firm view is that, on the one hand, he claims, it is all mine, meaning all for the purpose of the will to receive. On the other hand, he claims that it is all for the Creator, and this is called a firm view. Yet, what one can do if the body disagrees with one’s view of wanting to be entirely for the Creator?
In that state you can say that this person does everything he can to be entirely for the Creator, meaning he prays to the Creator to help him be able to execute all his desires only for the Creator. It is for that that we pray, “Remember us for life and write us in the book of life.”
This is why he writes, “Malchut,” meaning that one will take upon oneself the discernment of the black point that has no white in it. This is the meaning of “Annul your will” so that your remembrance will rise before Me and then His will, will be annulled before your will. With what? With a horn, meaning with the horn of the mother, meaning the matter depends on repentance.
In other words, if one accepts the blackness, one should also try that it will be in an honorable manner, and not in a disgraceful manner. This is called “the horn of the Mother,” meaning that one will consider it handsome and respectable.
Accordingly, we should interpret what is written, “The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei.” If one sees that he has been expelled from the work, one should know that this is due to Libni [2], meaning because he specifically wants whiteness. In other words, if one is given the whiteness, meaning that everything one does will shine, which means that one will feel a good taste in the Torah and in the prayer, then one is willing to listen and engage in Torah and Mitzvot.
This is the meaning of “Shimei.” [3] It means that it is precisely through a form of “whiteness” that one can hear. However, during the work one sees a shape of black, and cannot agree to hear of taking upon himself this work. Hence, one must be expelled from the King’s Hall, for reception of the Kingdom of Heaven must be unconditional surrender.
However, when one says that he is willing to take upon himself the work on condition that there will be a shape of white, meaning that the day will shine for him, and he does not agree if the work appears to him in a black form, this person has no place in the King’s Hall. This is because those who wish to work in order to bestow are admitted into the King’s Hall, and when one works in order to bestow, he does not mind what he feels during the work.
Rather, even in a state where one sees a shape of black, one is not impressed by it, but he only wants the Creator to give him strength to be able to overcome all the obstacles. It means that one does not ask of the Creator to give him a shape of white, but to give him the strength to overcome all the concealments.
Hence, those people who want to work in order to bestow, if there is always a state of whiteness, the whiteness allows one to continue in the work. This is because, while it shines, one is able to work even in the form of reception for oneself.
Hence, one will never have the ability to know if one’s work is in purity or not, and this causes one to never be able to be awarded Dvekut (Adhesion) with the Creator. For this reason one is given a form of blackness from Above, and then one sees if one’s work is in purity.
In other words, if one can be in gladness in a state of blackness, too, it is a sign that one’s work is in purity, because one must be glad and believe that from Above he was given a chance to be able to work in order to bestow.
This is as our sages wrote, “All who are greedy are cross.” It means that one immersed in self-reception is cross, since he is always lacking. He forever needs to fulfill his vessels of reception.
However, those who want to walk in the path of bestowal should always be in gladness. This means that in any shape that comes upon him, one should be in gladness, since he has no intention to receive for himself.
This is why he says that either way, if one is really working in order to bestow, one should certainly be glad that he has been granted bringing contentment to his Maker. And if one feels that his work is still not to bestow, he should also be in gladness because for himself, one says that he does not want anything for himself. He is happy that the will to receive cannot enjoy this work, and that should give him joy. However, if one thinks that one will also have something for himself from this work, one permits the Sitra Achra (Other Side) to cling to his work, and this causes him sadness, and anger, etc..