“A land where you will eat bread without scarcity.” Eating bread refers to the upper abundance, as our sages said about Adam HaRishon, “By the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread” (Pesachim 111). Scarcity is when a person is needy of people. At that time, he is considered “poor.” But when he is happy with his lot, he is considered “rich.” Eretz [land] comes from the word Ratzon [desire], as it is written in the Midrash, “Why was she called Eretz? Because she Ratzta [wanted] to do her Maker’s will.”
When a person is poor, meaning deficient, it means that his observance of Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] is inappropriate in both mind and heart. At that time, he comes to the point of truth called “recognition of evil,” when he sees his true state. By this, he can be rewarded with the filling of the lack. However, if he has no lack, meaning a Kli [vessel], how can abundance be poured into it?
We can interpret this as in “Poverty befits Israel like a red trapping a white horse” (Hagigah 9b), for each time he has a lack, he can receive for it, and by this he moves from degree to degree. Otherwise, he remains as though standing still and not as one who walks.
However, along with having a Kli [vessel] called “poverty,” he should also be happy with his lot, regarded as being rich, meaning to agree that if the Creator wants him to remain in the state of deficiencies that he is in, he is also content.
This is as our sages said, “As one blesses for the good, so one blesses for the bad” (Berachot 54a). In other words, a person should depict to himself how he would praise the Creator if the Creator bestowed upon him the satisfaction of the lacks, and this is how he blesses for the bad that he is in, so that with all the recognition of evil that he feels about himself, he is still happy with his lot, and then the Creator bestows upon him bread.
This is the meaning of Eretz [land] being Ratzon [desire] “without scarcity,” meaning that with a lack alone, he cannot be rewarded with bread from above. Rather, he also needs wealth, which is called “without scarcity.” At that time, “you will eat bread” there, meaning upper abundance.
Baal HaSulam said that because “The cursed does not cling to the Blessed,” “The Shechina [Divinity] is present only out of joy,” since he agrees to remain with all the bad if the Creator wants it this way, and in this way he engages in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments].
This is called “happy with his lot,” and at that time, he is rich. This is the meaning of “As one blesses for the good, so one blesses for the bad.” It means that if he were to be rewarded with the good that is concealed in Torah and Mitzvot, he would certainly work with joy and excitement and peace of mind. Likewise, now that he is deficient, he should also make his work be with joy and peace, and then he will be rewarded with food for humans, called “bread.”
This is what it means that one must engage in Torah day and night, that the night and the day should be equal for him, as written in The Zohar (BeShalach). In other words, the state of completeness called “day,” and the state of incompleteness called “night,” should be equal. That is, if his aim is for the sake of the Creator then he agrees that he wants to bring contentment to his Maker, and if the Creator wants him to remain in the state of incompleteness, he agrees to this, as well. The consent is expressed by doing his work as if he were rewarded with wholeness. This is regarded as “agreeing,” when the day and the night are equal to him.
But if there is a difference, to the extent of the difference, there is separation, and on that separation there is a grip to the outer ones. Hence, if a person feels that to him there is a difference, he must pray to the Creator to help him so there will not be a difference for him, and then he will be rewarded with completeness.