Article No. 3, Tav-Shin-Mem-Het, 1987/88
It is written in The Zohar, Haazinu (Item 210): “Happy is he who has been summoned to the King and knows how to call upon Him properly. If he calls and does not know Whom he calls, the Creator moves away from him, as it is written, ‘The Lord is near to all who call upon Him.’ To whom is He close? He reiterates, ‘To all who call upon Him in truth.’ But is there anyone who calls upon Him in falsehood? Rabbi Aba said, ‘Yes, it is he who calls but does not know Whom he calls.’ How do we know? Because it is written, ‘to all who call upon Him in truth.’ What is ‘in truth’? It is with the seal of the King’s ring, which is the completeness of everything.”
It is very difficult to understand the answer of The Zohar to the question, Does anyone call Him in falsehood? To this comes the answer, “Rabbi Aba said, ‘Yes, it is he who calls but does not Whom he calls.’” This is very perplexing. Why does one who does not know Whom he calls is regarded as lying? We could say that he is mistaken, but not lying! Also, the evidence he brings to the interpretation, “truth,” saying that it is with the King’s ring, which is the completeness of everything, what evidence is this, that we must know whom we are calling or it is called a “lie”?
To understand the above, which is necessary because according to the words of The Zohar, “One who prays but does not know to Whom he calls, the Creator moves away from him,” can we understand this? But how can one know to whom he is calling? Certainly, every person calls upon the Creator. Otherwise, to whom does he pray? So, what does it mean “to whom he calls.” What is even more difficult to understand is why he says, “and does not know to whom he calls.” After all, we learned that one should believe and not know to whom he calls.
We need to establish the matter of the purpose of creation and correction of creation first, and then we will know what man must correct. It is known that the purpose of creation is for the lower ones to receive delight and pleasure, and for this reason He has created in them the will to receive pleasure, and otherwise they cannot exist in the world. This desire forces them to do everything they can in order to obtain pleasure, and by this they can exist in the world.
Yet, along with it, as it is written in the introductions, upon the reception of the pleasure, shame is born within this will to receive—that it receives in a dishonest manner. In order to correct this, there was the Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment, where the spiritual pleasure is hidden from us and is revealed only to the extent that the will to receive for oneself departs, to that extent, the spiritual pleasure is revealed. If the will to receive is present in some place, the abundance promptly departs from there, and both cannot be in the same place.
Accordingly, we can understand the correction of creation, when corrections are made so that creation will achieve the goal for which it was created—meaning to receive complete delight and pleasure without any bread of shame. We learned what is the order of the work, meaning what a person must do so the shame will be removed from him when he receives pleasure from the Creator, since before a person obtains this Kli [vessel], which is to receive with the aim to bestow, at which time there is no shame, meaning that while receiving, he will not feel unpleasantness due to oppositeness of form.
This means that as long as the lower one has no will to receive, and that will to receive will not make any disparity of form in relation to the light and the abundance, the Tzimtzum and concealment are still on it. This means that the upper abundance does not reveal, and anything of Kedusha [sanctity/holiness] he looks at, he sees as dark and not as light.
However, this applies to people who truly want to draw near to Kedusha. This order applies to them because from above, they do not want them to waste time needlessly, since they are fit to achieve the holy work in purity, meaning in order to bestow. In these people, if they do not aim in order to bestow, they see darkness and not light.
Conversely, in people who belong to the general public there is the matter of the general light, which shines for them as surrounding. They are satisfied by this and do not feel their lacks that they must correct. This light illuminates in Lo Lishma [not for Her sake].
However, when a person wants to emerge from the general public and be a servant of the Creator, built on the basis of faith above reason, when he does not want to receive the gift of flesh and blood—as we explained that sometimes when one’s faith is not enough to commit him to engage in Torah and Mitzvot—but since he is in an environment where all the friends engage in Torah and Mitzvot, he receives a gift from the friends. It is as though they give him part of their desire, and through the gifts of parts of desire he receives from the friends, it causes him to also engage in Torah and Mitzvot. It follows that the Torah and Mitzvot that he observes is built on the basis of the gift of flesh and blood and is not based on the Creator. In other words, the power of faith in the Creator that he has is not enough to compel him to engage in Torah and Mitzvot. Rather, the reason that causes him to observe Torah and Mitzvot is the gift of flesh and blood.
Now we can interpret what we say in the blessing for the food, “And do not make us need, the Lord our God, neither the gift of flesh and blood nor their lending, but only Your full and open hand, so we will never ever be ashamed or disgraced.” When a person blesses the Creator and thanks Him for giving him food, during the blessing for the food a person should pay attention and think that thanks to the food he exists in the world, that if he did not have food he would suffer hunger, and now the Creator has provided him with food, and for this he thanks the Creator, for the good that a person feels that the Creator has given him.
From corporeal nourishments, a person must contemplate on spiritual nourishments, which spiritual nourishments he received from the Creator. A person has to know that without corporal food he cannot live in corporeality. It is likewise in spirituality, called “the life of a Jew.” It has many names: Some call it a “life of Torah” or a “life of Kedusha [sanctity/holiness],” and some call spiritual life by the name “life that is connected to the Creator,” meaning that he says that the Creator gives him everything.
Sometimes, the Creator wants a person to ask Him for something, and then He will give him what he wants. The reason is not that the Creator longs for the creatures to ask Him for a favor, and then He will give them, as with flesh and blood. Rather, we should interpret what our sages said (Yevamot 64), “The Creator longs for the prayer of the righteous.”
The reason is that there is no light without a Kli. Therefore, the Creator cannot give them when they have no need or desire. It follows that “longing for the prayer of the righteous” is longing for them to have a need and a Kli for the abundance, since the desire and need of the righteous is in order to bestow upon the Creator, and this Kli and need can hold the abundance and it will not go to the outer ones, as with the breaking of the vessels. Conversely, He does not long for the prayer of the wicked, since their Kli and need do not gain anything because He cannot impart abundance, as it will go to the Klipot [shells/peels], and all the gains of the Creator is in what He bestows.
Accordingly, we should say that the life that a person wants to have contact with the Creator, whether in prayer, when he asks Him to give him something, or when he thanks the Creator for what He has given him, in the end, at that time he is speaking to the Creator. The connection of speaking to the Creator brings him life, if he appreciates the fact that he is conversing with the Creator and he extends life because at that time he lacks nothing. That is, if a person can pay attention and picture to himself that if he could speak to a flesh and blood king, which everyone reveres, it is inherent in nature that a person can give everything he has in order to speak with the king. That person, if he can strengthen his faith that he is speaking to the King of Kings, who does not speak with just anyone, then as we said, we should make three discernments in this:
1) The person does not know that this country has a king.
2) Even if he knows there is a king, he does not know that the king has come to town.
3) Even if he knows the king has come to town, he does not know the importance of his king, who is revered the world over, and all the kings and ministers in the world yearn to speak to his king, while he was fortunate to receive permission to speak to the king, and what else does he need? That is, he does not need the Creator to give him what he asks, for simply the privilege of speaking to the king is enough and gives him life. The reason he is asking something from the king is not so that the king will give him what he wants, since the prayer itself is enough for him, as though he has already granted his wish.
Likewise, when he thanks the Creator for what He has given him, he does not mind the size of the gift, but the fact that now he has the opportunity to speak to the King and thank Him—this is all His importance. This means that he does not consider the giving that the Creator has given him, or what he wants Him to give him. Rather, his entire importance is that he believes that now he is speaking to the King.
In such a state, when a person has no value for what he has, when he does not regard what enters the vessels of reception but measures the importance of what enters the vessels of bestowal, this is called “spiritual life,” since all his thoughts are about being rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator and not for his own benefit.
In these people, it is said that there is the matter of ascents and descents. At one time they feel the importance of Dvekut with the Creator, and sometimes there is the Tzimtzum and concealment and they feel the taste of death in the state they are in, without spiritual vitality.
Now we will explain what we asked about the name of the Creator being “truth,” and for this reason, one who calls upon Him in falsehood, He moves away from him. Rabbi Aba interpreted that falsehood is one who does not know whom he calls. We asked, Why is one who does not know called a “liar”?
To understand the meaning of truth, we will bring here what is written (The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 13), where he explains the seventh correction of the thirteen corrections of Dikna: “Therefore, this Tikkun [correction] is called in relation to Him, ‘and truth,’ since by revealing these two holy apples below, the truth of His Providence over the lower ones is revealed. This is why the revelation of His Providence is called ‘and truth,’ for it is the truth of His will, and all the concealments present in the worlds come only to reveal this truth in His Providence, which is to do good to His creations.”
It therefore follows that what is written, that the name of the Creator is “truth,” means that the truth that the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations is apparent. This is why Rabbi Aba says that “‘in truth’ means with the seal of the King’s ring, which is the completeness of everything.” We should understand what it implies to us that truth is the completeness of everything.
As we learned, the completeness of creation is for the creatures to achieve the purpose of creation, which is that the Creator’s will is for the creatures to receive delight and pleasure. The completeness of everything is that when they receive delight and pleasure from the Creator, they will not part from the Dvekut, called “equivalence of form.” This can be specifically that when they receive delight and pleasure, their intention will be to bestow. This is called “the completeness of everything.”
It therefore follows that when a person asks the Creator to satisfy his wish, he should know the name of the Creator when he calls upon Him. Otherwise, it is not regarded as truth but as falsehood and the Creator moves away from him.
We asked, Why is it considered a lie if he does not know His name, and why does the Creator move away from him? The answer is that when a person comes to pray to the Creator, he should believe that the name of the Creator is “truth.” That is, the Creator wants the quality of truth to be evident, that the Creator wants to do good to His creations. If he calls upon the Creator but does not believe that the name of the Creator is “truth,” that He wants the creatures to receive delight and pleasure, it follows that he does not believe in the purpose of creation, which is to do good to His creations. Thus, he is calling in falsehood. That is, he is asking someone to do him a favor while not believing that that man can do him any good.
Thus, when he calls upon Him to do good to him, he calls in falsehood because he does not believe that the Creator is good and does good. Because of this, the Creator moves away from he who calls upon Him in falsehood.
In corporeality, too, we see that if someone asks someone for a favor, and the other one knows that he does not believe that he can do him a favor but he is asking him for no reason, clearly, that person will move away from him and will not even want to hear what he will say to him.
Likewise, the Creator knows that the person speaks falsehood, that he is not calling Him by His name, which is “truth,” that the Creator truly does good to His creations. Naturally, the Creator moves away from him.
It therefore follows that when a person comes to pray to the Creator to help him, if that person comes to pray to the Creator to bring him closer, to adhere to the Creator, the order is that prior to the prayer he should first examine to Whom he is praying, meaning to which name of the Creator he is praying.
That is, the Creator has many names. The names of the Creator are given after the operations that manifest from Him. It is as our sages said, that each angel is named after the operation.
For this reason, first and foremost, a person must believe that the name of the Creator is The Good Who Does Good, and that the purpose of creation was to do good to His creations, and that His name is “truth.” At the end of correction, His real name will be revealed, that His intention in our suffering was not vengeance, as is done among corporeal people. Rather, it was all with one intention—to do good to His creations. That is, the suffering they suffered were corrections that qualified them to receive the delight and pleasure.
When a person has this faith and he asks the Creator to bring him closer, meaning to give him strength from above to achieve the degree of qualification where all his actions are in order to bestow, and this is what he asks of the Creator—that His glory will be revealed in the world, and not as it is now, when the Shechina [Divinity] is in the dust—and he prays that His glory will be revealed in the world, this is considered that he knows the name of the Creator and is not calling Him in falsehood, but in truth.