Letter No. 56
To…
Because I am moving about, the letters do not reach me by order. Only last week I received the first letters from Israel. I already wrote four letters to Jerusalem, to those who wrote me, and they are…
And regarding the words that you want to elaborate on, I am repeating the entire excerpt: Our sages said, “Rabbah bar Rav Huna said, ‘Any person in whom there is Torah but no fear of heaven is like a treasurer who was given the inner keys but was not given the outer keys; how will he enter?’” RASHI interpreted that fear of heaven is like the outer doors through which to enter the inner ones. Thus, if he is fearing heaven, he becomes anxious to keep and to do. If not, he does not fear for his Torah. “Rabbi Yanai declares, ‘“Woe unto he who has no house but built a gate for the house’” (Shabbat, 31).
We should ask:
1) Rabbah bar Rav Huna likens fear of heaven to externality, and Torah to internality when he says, “But was not given the outer keys; how will he enter?” That is, if he has no fear of heaven, how will he enter the internality? Rav Yanai likens the fear of heaven to internality, for he said that fear of heaven is like a house, and the Torah only to a gate, and a gate is externality. It follows that he thinks that the Torah is externality.
2) What did Rav Yanai add to Rabbah bar Rav Huna, and said, “Woe,” and gave the example of of Rabbi Yanai.
It is known that the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations. In order to be able to receive the good that has been prepared for us, we need qualification, which is equivalence of form. This means that our intention should be only to bestow and not receive for ourselves. After we are rewarded with the light clothed in the inner Torah (when we attain the hidden light clothed in the inner Torah, it is called “the Torah and Israel and the Creator are one”). Our sages said about this, “There is no good but the Torah,” of which it was said, “Who are nicer than gold,” etc., meaning that the sweet tasting light of life is clothed in the inner Torah.
It is known that “A man is born the foal of a wild ass,” for “the inclination of a man’s heart is evil from his youth,” and as our sages said, “I wish they had left Me and kept My Torah [law], since the light in it reforms him” (Jerusalem (Talmud), Hagiga).
I have already interpreted this article for it is difficult to understand the connection between leaving the Creator and keeping the Torah. How can there be Torah without the Creator, of which it was said, “left Me”? The answer is written next to it: “because the light in it reforms him.”
This means that when a person wants to bring himself closer to the Creator, the Creator tells him that as long as he is immersed in evil lusts, the Creator cannot bring him closer, for then a person is still in the quality of falsehood, and the verse, “He who speaks falsehood will not be established before My eyes.” When a person is proud, the Creator says, “He and I cannot dwell in the same abode,” and so forth.
Rather, by keeping the Torah, whose light reforms him, he will come out from the evil qualities, called “reception,” and will be able to engage in bestowal, which is the meaning of reforming him, as it is written, “My heart overflows with a good thing; I say, ‘My work is for the King’” (Psalms 45).
In other words, everything he does is only in order to bestow upon the king, and only afterwards does the Creator bring him closer. That person is rewarded with permanent faith (as it is written in the Sulam [Ladder commentary], in the “Introduction of the Book of Zohar”).
Therefore, for a person to obtain fear of heaven and the ability to do good deeds, he has no other choice—as explained in the words of the Jerusalem [Talmud]—but to “keep My Torah [law].” That is, through the Torah, whose light reforms him. Then, when he has been reformed, meaning when he has obtained fear of heaven through the Torah, he will be rewarded with the inner Torah, meaning the light of Torah that is clothed in the outer Torah.
It is as our sages said, “In the light that was created on the first day, Adam saw from the end of the world to its end. The Creator looked at the works of the generation of the flood and the generation of Babylon, and saw that their works were flawed. He stood and concealed it. Where did He conceal it? In the Torah.
By that we can interpret the words of Rabbah bar Rav Huna, who likens the fear of heaven to the outer keys, and the Torah to inner ones. He is referring to a person who wishes to be rewarded with the internality of the Torah, where all the life and good, and pleasure is found. Before he tries to acquire fear of heaven, he lacks the proper qualification to be fit for reception of the hidden light, as it is written, “And will deny the wicked their light” (see the beginning of Mesilat Yesharim [Path of the Upright]). But before a person has corrected his bad deeds and has acquired fear of heaven he is unfit to receive the good.
It turns out that fear of heaven is called “externality,” meaning that through fear of heaven he will be able to receive the inner Torah. This is why in his view, one who wishes to receive the internality of the Torah before he has fear of heaven, it is as though he has the inner keys but was not given the outer keys; how will he enter? Since he does not have fear of heaven, he is unfit to receive the delight and pleasure.
This is what Rabbi Yanai was excited about and declared, “Woe unto he who has no house but built a gate for the house.” That is, the words of Rabbah bar Rav Huna mean that one who wishes to be awarded the internality of the Torah must first acquire fear of heaven, which is external to the internality of the Torah.
It follows that the main thing that one needs to acquire is fear of heaven, for then the fear of heaven will be like a room where you can place objects and fine-looking furniture and precious artifacts. But if he has no room in which to put things, he cannot be given anything. For Rabbi Yanai, the fear of heaven will be the house where he puts the internality of the Torah.
Therefore, he saw that the main thing on which one needs to labor in exert in the world is fear of heaven, that this is the receptacle for the upper pleasures, and saw that people are learning Torah their whole lives but their intention is not to acquire fear of heaven through it, since the study of Torah should be as the abovementioned Jerusalem way, in the words, “I wish they left Me and kept My Torah, for the light in it reforms him,” meaning that through the Torah they will be awarded being good.
That is, through the light in the Torah—even if he is still learning Lo Lishma (not for Her sake), since he was still not rewarded with fear of heaven, so how can he study Lishma before he has been rewarded with faith, which is fear of heaven? But through the light in the Torah that is Lo Lishma—he is later rewarded with the fear of heaven. This is considered that it “reforms him.”
It follows that the Torah Lo Lishma is the gate through which to enter fear of heaven, called “house” (a receptacle for the good in the internality of the Torah). This is why he adds to the words of Rabbah bar Rav Huna and says, “Woe unto one who has no house,” meaning who still has no fear of heaven, “but built a gate for the house,” since normally, one who contemplates building a house can build a door for the house that he will have. But if he is not contemplating building a house, why would he make for himself a door?
This is why Rav Yanai declares, “When a person is concerned with fear of heaven, which is a house, it is worthwhile for him to learn Torah, since the Torah will bring him the light, and through the light he will be rewarded with fear of heaven, called a “house,” in which to place the internality of the Torah.
But if he is not concerned with being rewarded with fear of heaven because he has no need for fear of heaven, why should he trouble himself with spending his life in Torah, for it is only a door to enter the house called “fear of heaven”?
If he does not intend to acquire fear of heaven, it turns out that he is troubling himself for nothing, pointlessly, since the whole point of Torah that in Lo Lishma is that it is only a door through which to enter fear of heaven. Then, when one has fear of heaven, it can be said that he is learning Torah Lishma. But when he has no fear of heaven, when he has no faith, the question is for whom he is learning.
But when a person wants to acquire fear of heaven and the evil within him does not give him the strength to be able to believe in the Creator, our sages advise us that from Lo Lishma he will come to Lishma. That is, he will be rewarded with fear of heaven and faith in the Creator, and he will know for whom he is learning. This is called a “house.”
One who learns Torah Lishma, meaning that he has fear of heaven, is awarded many things. As Rabbi Meir said (Avot), he becomes as a flowing fountain and the secrets of Torah are revealed to him, for the secrets of Torah are the delight and pleasure, and it is the purpose of creation that he will receive delight and pleasure.
It follows from all the above that a door is called Torah Lo Lishma, which means he still hasn’t fear of heaven. A house is called “fear of heaven,” since once he has received the light of Torah, which is in Lo Lishma, he is rewarded with Lishma, meaning with faith in the Creator, and then he will do everything for the Creator. Subsequently, he is rewarded with the inner Torah, which is the delight and pleasure, called “secrets of Torah,” as it is written in the Mishnah, Avot.
I think that I have clarified this thoroughly, and if you have any comments on this, write me and I will know what to correct.
I began the letter but only today (May 31) I finished it. This week I received your letter from the 23rd of May; I am grateful for the details you wrote me, do continue.
Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag
Son of Baal HaSulam