Bold and in quotes: Original text of Baal HaSulam
Regular: Commentaries of Rav Laitman
lowercase italics: emphasized words
Capitalized italics: transliteration from Hebrew
We are reading in the book Shamati, Article number 59, page 86, About the Rod and the Serpent.
“And Moses answered and said: ‘But, behold, they will not believe me,’” etc. “And the Lord said unto him: ‘What is that in thy hand?’ And he said: ‘A rod.’ And He said: ‘Cast it on the ground…’ and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it” (Exodus 4).
We must understand that there are not more than two degrees, either Kedusha (Sanctity) or Sitra Achra (Other Side). There is no intermediary state, but the same rod itself becomes a serpent, if thrown to the ground.
The whole of creation comprises two forces: the force of the Creator and the force of bestowal, giving, love, altruism. Opposite the existence from absence is the force of the creature, i.e., the attribute of the creature: egoism, the force of reception, our ego. Only these two forces can act in reality.
Reality is called “a person who consists of these two forces after the breaking of his vessels.” Through an internal war, an internal scrutiny, he must (according to the Thought of Creation) become similar to the Creator. That’s why he is called “ Adam (man/human).”
That’s why from the beginning there are preparations in the form of these two basic forces— reception and bestowal—in a person, and man should scrutinize it. As it is written, “The Creator puts one’s hand on the good fortune,” meaning [He] brings him to understand that there is another force (the force of giving) besides the one he is born with. He says: “Take this… start discovering it.” All of one’s free choice, his work, his efforts is to discover the force of bestowal and make it dominate the force of reception in him. It’s not that one can do it by himself but to want that this will happen in him. This is man’s work, “I labored and found.”
To the extent that a person makes an effort, the Creator then finishes the work by bringing a person the attribute of bestowal. In that one becomes similar to the Creator. As it is written, “Return oh, Israel onto the Lord thy God.” Therefore, in the story of the Exodus from Egypt, Moses the greatest Kabbalist, who was disclosed to us, tells us how it happened and how it happens with everyone. A person comes to a situation where he has two options: either the rod or the serpent; either he discovers the force of reception (the serpent) or the force of bestowal (the rod).
Then the Torah tells us how a person should work with these two forces because you can’t work with only one. There cannot be only the force of bestowal in us because from the beginning we are creatures, opposite from that force of bestowal. However, the reception in us should receive the form of bestowal.
Therefore, from the very beginning we are controlled by Pharaoh (by the serpent). By starting to manage the force of bestowal, to grab the rod, meaning, to manage ourselves through the force of bestowal, then instead of a serpent, the serpent itself becomes the rod. Meaning, our own attribute of reception acquires the form of the rod, of bestowal. This is what Baal HaSulam tells us about here.
In order to understand that, we will precede with the words of our sages, that He had put His Shechina (Divinity) on trees and rocks. Trees and rocks are called things of inferior importance, and specifically in this manner He placed His Shechina. This is the meaning of the question, “What is that in thy hand?”
A hand means attainment, from the words, “and if a hand attains.” A rod means that all one’s attainments are built on the discernment of inferior importance, which is faith above reason.
(This is because faith is regarded as having inferior importance, and as lowness. One appreciates the things that clothe within reason…
To begin with, we discover ourselves as being in the attribute of reception, in egoism. And it is done deliberately by the Creator so that we will reach the attribute of bestowal from the greatest possible distance, from the opposite attribute. This is so since we, as creatures, can feel, understand and discern the attributes or any sensations at all only when our discernments are built of two ends. As it says, “As far as Light is excelleth darkness.” Accordingly, we can discern, feel, decide, and understand things.
Therefore, in order to know the Creator and reach His degree, we have to go through opposite states. Left, right, left right and then when we grab these two ends, in between these ends we build our middle line.
With these ends, the force of reception and the force of bestowal, we connect them together as managing the force of bestowal atop the force of reception and in that middle line a person builds his self. Meaning, man does not belong to reception or to bestowal, neither to the serpent nor to the rod. The Creator places both of these forces for man’s service. And it is man who knows how to grab the serpent and make of it the form of the rod. Meaning that the form of reception will acquire the form of bestowal and man is a result of both. By that one builds oneself, one’s understanding, sensation and status.
However, if one’s mind does not attain it, but resists one’s mind, then one should say that the faith is of superior importance to one’s mind. It follows that at that time one lowers one’s mind, and says that what he understands within reason, that he resists the path of the Creator, that faith is more important than his mind. This is because all the concepts that contradict the path of the Creator are worthless concepts.
Rather, “that have eyes, and see not, that have ears, and hear not.”
A person can understand, attain the real reality only by joining these two attributes, reception and bestowal, together by clothing them one on top of the other. The form of reception doesn’t have a real shape in and of itself, and neither does the form of bestowal. With respect to a person both are concealed. They can appear only if a person brings them together and puts them one atop the other. In other words, we can say that we are in this world below the Machsom (barrier). We can’t discover the real shapes. We can discover them on condition that we combine the will to receive and the will to bestow together, and this is called “man rises above reason.”
A person has reason, which is the will to receive and then one transcends the will to receive with the will to bestow, with faith above reason. He builds that middle line consisting of these two lines but leans toward the right. Meaning, that the attribute of bestowal dresses and controls the attribute of reception. By that, one builds one’s form, one’s attainment, understanding and sensation. One can not exist as “ Adam” by living only within one of these lines (separated from the other two lines).
These are forces that become clarified, felt and understood with respect to a person only when they join in the middle line. In that middle line we measure a person as either being in a state of Ibur (conception) or Yenika (drawing of sustenance/sucking/suction) or Mochin (mindedness/braininess). The third line, the middle line is actually the man.
Rather, “that have eyes, and see not, that have ears, and hear not.” It means that one annuls everything that one hears and sees, and this is called going above reason. And thus it seems to a person as lowness and smallness.
This means that man is that measure by which one is able to go above reason. His own reason is the original, natural attribute that within it his ego appears. And above reason is the attribute of bestowal, which dominates the attribute of reception and only in that he begins to reach attainment.
However, with the Creator, faith is not considered lowness. This is because one who has no other counsel and must take the path of faith considers faith as lowness.
Because he doesn’t see that precisely through faith above reason he comes to some kind of sensation and perception of reality. To begin with, what is outside a person seems nonexistent. For example, donate everything you have to everyone, just like that. You don’t feel like you’re giving. You don’t know to whom to give. You don’t have any connection with anything outside of you. Just to throw it out? It’s like throwing something into space outside of yourself, into Ein Sof (Infinity), just to nowhere. This is so because you don’t have a sensation of the outer Kli (vessel).
Thus, the act of bestowal is considered one that is unreal, it’s not serious, it’s unsupported. I don’t know where I am entrusting it, nor what, nor where it will be, or be kept. I don’t know what will come out of this act; I don’t have the motivation to do it.
There is the absence of the sensation of the outer Kli which is that everything outside of me is really me (the realme) and not what seems to me right now as “me,” my little Kli, that tiny point that now appears as five senses with ego. The absence of the sensation of my real Kli gives me the sensation that an act of bestowal is unrealistic, not serious, unsupported, without any calculations. It’s as if it’s unimportant, an immature act, not serious.
However, the Creator could have placed His Shechina on something other than trees and rocks.
Yet, He chose this way, called faith, specifically. He must have chosen it because it is better and more successful. You find that for Him faith is not regarded as inferior importance. Quite the contrary, this path has many merits, but it appears low to the eyes of the creatures.)
We are so detached from the attribute of bestowal that we don’t even know what we gain from it. Okay, I can say, “Yes, if I feel bad and I stop thinking about myself, then I become happier. I stop my will to receive, at least diminish it. And if I have less desires, less worries, then it will be better.”
I test and measure everything with respect to my will to receive. By my nature I can’t give, I need motivation, I need to justify myself. What am I doing? What am I gaining from this? My nature will not enable me to perform an act of bestowal. So actually, an act of bestowal is not an act of bestowal but an act of reception but in a way that I am seemingly the giver. The actions are of giving but in my intention, I am receiving. The internal content, the essence of the act remains as receiving.
We are completely detached from the ability to even understand or appreciate what it means to give. All the more so, we consider which benefit we can have. If there is a possible benefit, then we immediately begin to measure in the vessels of reception: the profit, the percentage, the possibilities etc. Meaning, we have no ability whatsoever (not Kelim, tools of bestowal), completely no ability to measure what the act of bestowal, of giving is. That’s why the world of actions of bestowal and results from bestowal is called “the hidden world.” It’s a dimension that we can only talk about and this talk is only out of values in our will to receive.
If we didn’t have the point in the heart and if we didn’t have the wisdom of Kabbalah (which brings us closer to these qualities of bestowal from which the wisdom itself and the point in the heart come), then we would never be able to discover that dimension, that place, that site, that space where the qualities of bestowal are— the Upper World.
The desire to bestow is tremendous. It is hidden from us. It is ours but we are outside of sensing it. Kabbalists compare it to an unconscious person unaware of his Kelim, of his actions, of his possibilities, of his life. Meaning, if we can picture ourselves it’s as if we are outside of the universe of bestowal.
If the rod is thrown to the ground and one wants to work with a higher discernment, meaning within reason, degrading the above reason, and this work seems low, one’s Torah and the work immediately become a serpent. This is the meaning of the primordial serpent, and this is the meaning of, “Any one who is proud, the Creator tells him: ‘He and I cannot dwell in the same abode.’”
The reason is, as we have said, that He has placed His Shechina on trees and rocks. Hence, if one throws the discernment of the rod to the ground, and raises oneself to work with a higher attribute, this is already a serpent. There is no middle; it is either a serpent, or Kedusha, since all the Torah and the work that one had from the discernment of a rod, all has now entered the discernment of serpent.
There might be confusion within a person, i.e., where he is, or there might be concealment. There are all kinds of situations where he can’t know where he is or that he is confused about which attribute he’s in. But because bestowal and reception are the only two attributes that exist in reality and they’re opposites, you can’t have both or you can’t mix them. As a basis it is either the serpent or the rod.
But a person can receive the attribute of reception and give it the shape of bestowal, otherwise, it’s impossible. One can’t cling only to the attribute of bestowal in such a way that he will be in this attribute without his will to receive. When we talk about the creature, we talk about the natural will to receive in the five senses, which are like five degrees, five qualities and the corporeal will to receive in it which consists of levels of still, vegetative, animate and speaking and the attribute higher than them.
When a person works with them, it’s called “the desire for this world or this world.” And a person is in this desire, in this attribute of reception. This is not called “ego.” That’s not an egoistic desire with respect to spirituality. It’s called “this world, a point.”
That’s our situation from where we begin. One begins from within the point in the heart that awakens in him. Through the Light that he receives from the Surrounding Light when he studies the wisdom of Kabbalah, he then begins to develop this point in the heart. Along with the point and opposite it develops an egoistic desire within him with respect to the Creator, which is called “the serpent.” That desire is aimed against the Creator, he wants to exploit spirituality, Godliness for himself.
Then they both grow. The will to receive toward spirituality and the point in the heart toward spirituality both become two lines—the left and right. If a person wants to ascend the degrees between right and left, then he must acquire a Masach (Screen), and dominate the right over the left and build the middle line. All of his desires which belong to this world, are just fundamental desires where he exists in his body. They remain in him and he doesn’t work with them to reach similarity with the Creator. It is not with the desires in this world that he builds his spiritual shape, butonly with the desires that grow in him in the left line, as opposed to the point that grows in the right line.
It is known that the Sitra Achra has no Lights. Hence, in corporeality too, the will to receive has only deficiencies, but not fulfillments of the deficiencies. And the vessel of reception remains forever in deficit, without fulfillment, because one who has one hundred, wants two hundred etc., and one does not die with half one’s wish in one’s hand.
This extends from the Upper Roots. The root of the Klipa (Shell) is the vessel of reception, and they have no correction in the six thousand years. The Tzimtzum (Restriction) is placed upon them, and hence, they do not have Lights and abundance.
This is why they entice one to draw Light to their degree. And the Lights that one receives by being adhered with Kedusha, since abundance shines in Kedusha, when they seduce one to draw abundance to their state, they receive that Light. Thus, they have dominion over a person, meaning they give him satisfaction in the state he is in so that he will not move away.
Here, Baal HaSulam is talking about work in two lines to build the middle line. The will to receive in the left line doesn’t have any power. The power in the will to receive in the left line comes from the right line. Why? It is actually written concerning this: that the Creator revives the Klipot (Shells), He cares for them so they will not vanish from the world and that the angel of death has control in the world. We learn about a special pull from Above, from the world Atzilut to the worlds BYA ( Beria, Yetzira, Assiya), which sustains the broken Kelim. Why? Because a person has to acquire opposite discernments from both lines. Meaning, he has to acquire the sensations of darkness and the sensations of the Light.
The will to receive itself doesn’t give the sensation of darkness. It can only give the sensation of darkness on condition that a person sees the darkness in the will to receive. Therefore, within the will to receive there has to be Light but it has to be used in the opposite manner; to receive instead of to bestow and then a person deciphers it as darkness. For the time being, if the Light of pleasure appears within the desire, then we decipher it as Light, as pleasure, as life (liveliness).
And the left line is actually the same Light that should appear in the right line but it appears within the desire to receive in order to receive as the apparent ability to enjoy it. Meaning that the left line is the complete opposite form from the right line, and that’s how it’s built.
That’s why the Klipa has such great domination over a person because it entices him in the same way as bestowal but it tells him, “Look, you want to enjoy? No problem. Through the natural act of reception you get pleasures.”
Actually, it shows him pleasures from the right line, but in the style of the left line that through the act of reception you can reach them. That’s why it’s called “conning, seductive.” Meaning, it lies to a person as if there aren’t any pleasures but shows as if it has pleasures but from the right line.
We have to understand that the left line is built from the form of bestowal of the right line, which you can seemingly reach through acts of reception. It happened this way so that a person will discern between the acts themselves so he will not be immersed in this or that desire. He will transcend from the desire to the forms of the desire because the difference between right and left is in the form. Reception or bestowal, the difference between them is above the act itself; it’s the form of the act.
Because the creature, which is made of the substance of the will to receive, the act of bestowal is always receiving in order to bestow. So the difference between right and left is in the intention, in the quality of the act, for whom and to whom is it done. This is why the right and the left build each other with respect to a person, or within a person and one is not created without the other. We can’t discover the right without the left or the left without the right. Only to the extent that a person has prepared himself in a previous state to cope with these two lines and to make of them the right combination, then both appear to him.
This is how our whole work is done in 6000 years, 6000 degrees, meaning that our desires to receive grow every time, 6000 times. By that, we correct our desires until we have one big desire that will receive all of the forms as one form, the comprehensive form of bestowal, with all the desires to receive that are included together. And this form that we will have in the end is called “the form of bestowal or faith above reason” meaning, the rod, which is built atop the serpent.
Hence, one cannot move forward through this dominion because one has no need for a higher degree. Since one has no need, one cannot move from one’s place, even a slight movement.
In that state one is unable to discern if one is advancing in Kedusha or the other way around. This is because the Sitra Achra gives one power to work more strongly, since now one is within reason, and can therefore work not in a state of lowness. It follows that thus one would remain in the authority of the Sitra Achra.
In order for one to not remain in the authority of the Sitra Achra, the Creator had made a correction where if one leaves the discernment of the rod, one immediately falls into the discernment of the serpent. One immediately falls into a state of failures and has no power to strengthen, unless one accepts the discernment of faith, called lowness, once more.
In other words, as he said before, there is no intermediary state. There is either a rod or a serpent. If a person acts (even if he doesn’t know how to act) like a child who is thrown from place to place, and runs around and acts and as it is written, “Whatsoever the hand can attain, let it,” then by that he is certain that he is using both lines which he always gets and he progresses quickly.
…and has no power to strengthen, unless one accepts the discernment of faith, called lowness, once more.
It follows that the failures themselves cause one to take upon himself the discernment of rod once more, which is the discernment of faith above reason. This is the meaning of what Moses had said, “But, behold, they will not believe me.”
How is it possible? Meaning, what is the point in our work, in our status? It’s the point of detachment from the present state, which is written in my attributes and sensations, understandings, which is called “my world or my state.” Every state I am in is called “within reason,” meaning, this is no longer bestowal. Bestowal is only in the detachment from the self. This is why every time we acquire a certain spiritual degree, it’s not that it of itself becomes a Klipa, God forbid it doesn’t. But it appears as reason and it doesn’t have that same uniqueness, or same Godliness that exists in bestowal that is detached from reason.
This is why a person must accumulate powers each time he becomes detached from the self, from his world, his foundation, his understanding, his decisions, and his values and go out into space. Meaning, to throw himself into space from within his general foundation. This act is the act of taking the rod when it is still a serpent in your hand.
This means in the present state we always have to see the serpent. If we transcend the present state without any foundations (each basis can only come from within the present state) then from that state we build the rod. And the rod is what we are certain that we can use to progress to spirituality. That’s how the rod appears in our world. We have the middle line. We have two natural legs, the right and the left, and the middle (the rod) is what you walk with and with it you reach your destination.
When I broke my leg on a hike, I was taught how to walk. They said, “The wise, professional walker, who knows how to hike correctly, he walks securely on two legs. He places each foot where others have stepped ahead of him and to be certain, he has a rod in his hand.” So when you have a rod in your hand and when you put your feet where others walked, then you know you won’t break your leg.
This is the meaning of what Moses had said, “But, behold, they will not believe me.” It means that they will not want to take upon themselves the path of working in faith above reason.
In that state the Creator had told him, “What is that in thy hand? A rod.” “Cast it on the ground,” and then, “it became a serpent.” It means that there is no intermediary state between the rod and the serpent. It is rather to know if one is in Kedusha, or in the Sitra Achra.
It turns out that in any case, they do not have any choice other than to assume the discernment of faith above reason, called “a rod.” This rod should be in the hand; the rod should not be thrown. This is the meaning of the verse, “The rod of Aaron was budded.”
It means that all the budding one had in serving the Creator was based specifically on Aaron’s rod. This means that He wanted to give us a sign to know if we are walking on the path of truth, or not. He gave us as sign to know only the basis of the work, meaning what basis one is working on. If one’s basis is the rod, it is Kedusha, and if the basis is within reason, this is not the way to achieve Kedusha.
However, in the work itself, meaning in the Torah and in the prayer, there is no distinction between one who serves Him and one who does not serve Him. This is because it is the opposite there: if the basis is within reason, meaning based on knowing and receiving, the body gives fuel for work, and one can pray and study more persistently [meaning to pray and to perform Mitzvot (Precepts/Commandments), all kinds of acts] and more enthusiastically, since it is based on within reason.
This means that first of all, we can’t know about ourselves and we can’t know about others if they are working within reason or above reason. How can one even discern concerning himself? Never mind about others since each person should judge himself. However, you should want to judge yourself.
How do I discern if I am within reason or above reason? So first of all, he tells us about a very important pitfall. Those who engage in Torah and the work of God, those who engage in prayer and Mitzvot can mislead themselves. They don’t seemingly have a way to test if they are in the Klipa, in Sitra Achraor in Sanctity.
However, when one takes the path of Kedusha, whose basis is bestowal and faith...
This is his goal, this is his inner drive. With that he comes to class, to work, exerts, expresses himself in society. That’s the secure place, as Baal HaSulam writes, where a person can express bestowal, his attitude to bestowal, What is he going to acquire? What is his intention in general, his goals, and in what he does?
…one requires great preparation so that Kedusha will shine for him. Without the preparation, the body does not give one the strength for work, and one must always exert extensively, since man’s root is reception and within reason.
This is why one who really exerts and is in the right environment and receives inspiration from it and from the study, finds that he has no power to progress, to do things and discovers within worse attributes and greater emptiness.
Hence, if one’s work is based on earthliness, one can always be alright.
This means that he sees that he’s making progress, that he understands more. According to his goal everything is fine. This is even when he learns from the same books as us. I am not talking about making Mitzvot, praying, keeping all the rules and customs. Even he who studies Kabbalah (he can sit and study) but if his goal is for himself, then it seems to him that he learned more, he acquired more, he understands more, and is higher than others. He thinks that others don’t understand anything and he does understand with respect to the whole world. It all depends on what’s in one’s mind, meaning what one wants to achieve and that’s what one has to demand..
Of course, in the beginning we don’t want to attain the real goal. But to chew on the right material more and more and more within society, and then a person gradually begins to acquire the right valuesThere is no other choice, except constantly be immersed in the real substance and in contact with society.
As Baal HaSulam says, always our vessels, our roots are the attribute of reception and within reason. That’s why when the basis is earthliness, one can always be alright. Meaning, one feels that everything is okay. What can one do? Well, that’s what one has, but still, he can justify himself.
However, if one’s basis for the work is on the discernment of bestowal and above reason, one needs perpetual efforts so as not to fall into one’s root of reception and within reason.
One must not be neglectful for a minute…
This means that he should go above reason. But how is he going above reason? He goes by foot. Feet are referred to as “spies.” He is constantly within reason and constantly goes above reason. He has to go against his ego, against his thoughts, the malicious desires, he has to go against them. He always sweats and works hard. He has no other possibility of building the form of bestowal if not on top of reception. Above reason is not detachment from reception, it’s shaping reception in a different way. That’s the difficulty because if we could just throw ourselves into this space of bestowal, regardless without any contact with our previous matter, it would be great.
Many people flee to monasteries and to caves to detach themselves from reality, to meditate and all kinds of things. They’re not connected to their substance, to their desire to receive. And this is why they don’t grow, they only become detached. They feel better about themselves, they feel lighter but in that detachment they can’t build their Koma (level/degree). That’s what Baal HaSulam says that the Koma that one builds is always atop his natural substance but in the form that he receives it from the Creator.
That’s why it’s called “the wise disciple.” Because as a student he learns from the Creator, the wise, and he’s learning how to acquire on himself that same shape as the Creator. That’s why it is called “he wants to resemble the Creator” in his external form.
One must not be neglectful for a minute, otherwise one will fall into one’s root of earthliness, called “dust,” as it is written, “for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” And that was after the sin of the Tree of Knowledge.
One examines if one is advancing in Kedusha or to the contrary, since another god is sterile and does not bear fruit. The Holy Zohar gives us that sign, that specifically on the basis of faith, called “a rod,” is one imparted “be fruitful and multiply” in the Torah. This is the meaning of “the rod of Aaron was budded”: the budding and growing come specifically through the rod.
We don’t lack the substance of the will to receive—the serpent. What we need are always the shapes of the rod, the shapes of bestowal, which we clothe over our will to receive. This is what we always need to yearn for. How to receive more and more upon ourselves the shape of the middle line called “a rod,” faith on top of reason, above reason.
That’s why he writes in item 17 of Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot, “Therefore, a student commits prior to the study to be awarded the attribute of faith. That this is what he wants from the study and this will be his foundation.” As it says, “A righteous lives by his faith.”
Only by the studying shining upon him in this way so he will acquire this form, this is his life. And that intention has to be prior to the study otherwise, the study does not bring anything desirable. On the contrary, he might do much studying but the study will become a potion of death to him because that’s what Torah is. On one hand, Torah is a potion of life and on the other hand, it’s a potion of death.
Therefore, as one rises from one’s bed daily and washes oneself to purify one’s body from the filth of the body, so one should wash oneself from the filth of the Klipa, to examine oneself if one’s discernment of rod is in completeness.
This should be a perpetual examination, and if one is distracted from it, one immediately falls to the authority of the Sitra Achra, called self-reception. One becomes immediately enslaved to them...
In other words, our will to receive constantly grows. If we are in a state of rod, looking for the forms of bestowal, then by that we allow our will to receive to blossom and grow within us. In doing this we make the preparations for it to grow because it has to grow through its 125 degrees. It grows when we are able to cloth it with the form of bestowal. The more we invest in bestowal, we discover that we receive more every time. And once more we want bestowal and again we discover reception and thus, on both legs we progress until we go through all 125 degrees. The next degrees are always higher in ascent and deeper in descent from its predecessor.
As it says about Rabbi Shimon, he became “Shimon from the market” at the highest level when he fell right before Gmar Tikkun (Final Correction). For those who want the attribute of bestowal, this can only be done during the study and only by acting in society. We shouldn’t show any such actions outside but only to friends. It should be thought of as the result of the study, the acquiring of the quality, understanding and force of bestowing. So when we are in it, we are always specifically discovering the opposite qualities, the qualities of reception.
…and if one is distracted from it, one immediately falls to the authority of the Sitra Achra, called self-reception.
One becomes immediately enslaved to them.
It always happens, it’s not that we shouldn’t fall into it. But it is certain, each time a person wants bestowal, he is thrown into the attribute of reception, the Sitra Achra. Thus he discovers himself as the opposite from sanctity. He, who progresses correctly, discovers himself in both these states and the calculation is only about the pace of how these two states appear. That’s the only test that indicates the quality and the quantity of the effort.
…as it is known that the Light creates the Kli, hence, as much as one works in order to receive, to that extent one needs only a desire to receive for oneself, and becomes remote from matters concerning bestowal.
Now we can understand the words of our sages, “Be very very humble.” What is that fuss that it says, “very very”? It is because one becomes needy of the creatures, by having been honored once. At first one receives the honor not because he wanted to enjoy the honor, but for other reasons, such as the glory of the Torah, etc.. One is certain of this scrutiny since one knows about himself that he has no desire for honor whatsoever.
It follows that it is reasonable to think that one is permitted to receive the honor. However, it is still forbidden to receive because the Light makes the vessel. Hence, after one has received the honor, one becomes needy of the honor, and one is already in its dominion, and it is hard to break free from the honor.
As a result, one acquires one’s own reality and it is now hard to annul before the Creator, since through the honor one has become a separate entity, and in order to obtain Dvekut (Adhesion) one must annul one’s reality completely. Hence the “very, very.” “Very” is that it is forbidden to receive honor for oneself, and the other “very” is that even when one’s intention is not for self, it is still forbidden to receive.
This is like an addition to the article. Actually, it can be explained as a continuation to the article and it can stand on its own. Every form that we receive in the left line is the opposite form from the right and that’s why over each such form there is a “very, very.” There is seemingly a double correction, to stay away from reception and reach bestowal.
There is as if, abstinence and purity, two corrections, two phases of correction. And there is another way. When one is in the right line, he should be careful from falling to the left because falling to the left has a double decline by two degrees as we see in Adam ha Rishon.
When he ate for the first time, it wasn’t forbidden and the second bite he received in order to receive. But a transgression brings with it another transgression. It turns out that as much as we are warned (and Baal HaSulam warns about it) the cautions of the sages are not “Don’t do it.” Otherwise, how can one choose it, he’ll do or won’t do. They put it in such a poetic way as if we could avoid doing it, as if we could avoid entering Klipa, or avoid going to the power of falling into self honor.
Of course, a person has to fall but this fall happens specifically because he yearns for sanctity. This is why the Creator gives him this opposite form so he will feel the depth of the Sitra Achra from which he can only rise to the next degree. When he says, “Be very, very humble,” it only indicates the contradiction between the states that one should be in.
But of course, there is no righteous person on earth who “does good and sins not.” A person is not performing Mitzvah unless he’s failed in it. This is why we should understand that the progress is really with two lines where from both we build the middle line as its name “faith above reason.” Both these lines need to become completely merged in the middle line.