“Man was created in the Torah, as it is written, ‘And God said, ‘Let us make man.’’ The Creator said to the Torah, ‘I wish to create man.’ She said to Him, ‘This man will sin and vex you. If You are not patient with him, how will he persist in the world?’ He told her, ‘You and I will establish him in the world, for it is with good reason that I am called, ‘slow to anger’’” (The Zohar, Shmini, Item 2).
We should understand what it means that the Creator asked the Torah to help Him establish man, or it would be impossible that the Creator would create, to the point that they explained about the verse, “Let us make,” in plural form, that it refers to the Creator together with the Torah.
The thing is that it is known that the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations. For this reason, a nature has been imprinted in man that he will want to receive pleasure for his own delight. This is called the “evil inclination” (as explained in the introduction to the Sulam [Ladder commentary on The Zohar]), as it is written, “For the inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”
It is called the “evil inclination” because by wanting to receive pleasure, a person becomes removed from the real pleasure because he has no equivalence of form. However, through the Torah, he will have a correction where through the Torah, it will be possible for him to receive the real pleasures, as our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice” (Baba Batra 16).
The spice is as our sages said, “I wish they left Me and kept My Torah [law], for the light in it reforms them” (Jerusalem Talmud, Hagigah, Chapter 1, Rule 7). It therefore follows that the Torah has the power to reform a person, referring to the evil within man, meaning the will to receive, that it will work in order to bestow.
In this manner, he will have Dvekut [adhesion] and will be able to receive the real pleasures and will not be considered a receiver. Thus, through the Torah, it will be possible to sustain man in this world, for the Torah will reform him.
This is the meaning of “Let us make man,” which they explained, “I and you will establish him in the world.” That is, from the Creator comes the will to receive and from the Torah comes the desire to bestow, and from those two, man will be able to exist in the world. That is, through those two, he will be able to receive abundance yet remain in Dvekut.