Article No. 5, Tav-Shin-Mem-Het, 1987/88
It is written in the Megillah (p 29): “Tania Rabbi Shimon Ben Yochai says, ‘Come and see how fond is the Creator of Israel; wherever they exile, the Shechina [Divinity] is with them, as was said, ‘And the Lord your God returned from your captivity.’ It did not say, ‘will return,’ but rather ‘returned,’ showing that the Creator returns with them from the exiles.’”
We should understand in the work, 1) What it gives us in the work if the Shechina, too, is in exile. That is, what is the benefit from the Shechina being in exile, as it is written, “Israel are beloved by the Creator,” in that the Shechina, too, is in exile. Thus, we should understand what this adds to us in the work. In other words, What is the correction that we find in the Shechina, too, being in exile?
2) What does it mean that our sages said, “It is the sorrow of the Shechina that she is in exile”? Our sages also said, “A person should be sorry for the sorrow of the Shechina.” How can it be said that there is sorrow above, that we must ask the Creator to raise the Shechina from the dust, meaning that we should ask the Creator to pick her up from the dust?
3) What does it mean in the work to understand that the Shechina is in the dust, that she herself cannot rise up by herself, but needs the Creator to raise her?
4) In order for the Creator to raise her, we must pray for this. It is as though without our prayer, the Creator cannot raise her from the dust.
To understand all these we first need to understand which discernment we call the Creator, and which discernment we called Shechina. Baal HaSulam said a commentary about what is written in The Zohar: “He is the Shochen [dweller in male form] and she is the Shechina [where the dweller dwells].” We should know that the many discernments we make in upper worlds are only from the perspective of the receivers. But from the perspective of the Creator, it is written, “I the Lord do not change.” Therefore, all the worlds are discerned by two discernments: 1) The Creator, who is the Shochen. He is called “light,” “bestower,” “giver,” and “reviver.”
2) The place where the Creator is revealed, meaning the place where we feel Him and attain Him according to the value of the Kli [vessel] that has equivalence of form. This correction emerged after the Tzimtzum [restriction]. Accordingly, he said that the place where the Shochen is revealed is called Shechina. Thus, they are not two things but are light and Kli. The light is called Shochen, and the Kli where the light is clothed is called Shechina.
According to his words, we should interpret the whole work we have ahead of us concerning the correction of creation, that it is only the correction of the Kelim [vessels], meaning how the upper abundance that He wants to impart upon His creatures, so the Kelim are suitable to receive the abundance and the abundance will not go to the outer ones. This is our only work, and nothing more.
It follows that the Shochen wants to be revealed, meaning that the delight and pleasure will be revealed to the creatures. To the emanator, we attribute only bestowing and giving, as this was the purpose of creation.
However, from the perspective of the lower ones, for the Kli where the delight and pleasure should be revealed, since she desired equivalence of form with the root, namely to be a giver like the root, she said that she does not want to receive in order to receive, and on this she placed a Tzimtzum.
Only when there is an ability to aim to bestow, the Kli will receive the delight and pleasure. This was done in the upper worlds, which are regarded as the roots of the souls, meaning that the souls, too, will receive the abundance only under such conditions that are called “in order to bestow.” This causes a delay that the delight and pleasure cannot be revealed until the lower ones are fit to receive the abundance.
It therefore follows that if the lower ones do not give the place where the Shochen must be revealed, since they haven’t the strength to place the aim on the gift that the Shochen will give so the reception will be in order to bestow, this is called “the sorrow of the Shechina.” That is, it is that the Creator cannot impart the delight and pleasure as He wishes, for His desire is to do good to His creations.
It follows that the sorrow of the Shechina means that the Creator regrets being unable to reveal the delight and pleasure because the creatures cannot give the place that is suitable to receive, for if He gives them the delight and pleasure, it will all go to the Sitra Achra [other side]. Therefore, it follows that He cannot impart the delight as He wishes.
By this we will understand that a person should be sorry for the sorrow of the Shechina. We asked, Why does the Creator not raise her from the dust, but must instead ask the lower ones to aim that their actions—meaning what they do—will be only with the intention to “raise the Shechina from the dust”?
The answer is that all that the Creator gives is delight and pleasure, for His purpose of to do good to His creations. But to raise the Shechina from the dust, meaning for the Creator to be able to give the abundance without the abundance going to the Sitra Achra, this can be only when the lower ones do not want to receive for their own benefit, but only in order to bestow.
Yet, this pertains to man’s work, and not to the Creator. What pertains to the Creator is giving, but not giving does not pertain to the Creator but to the creatures. In other words, the creatures do not want to receive for themselves unless it is in order to bestow. It is as our sages said, “Everything is in the hands of heaven except for the fear of heaven.”
Baal HaSulam interpreted that the Creator gives everything. Everything means that every good that is given, the Creator gives it, and “fear of heaven,” which is not to receive for oneself, is all that man must do. Therefore, it is upon man to correct himself so the Creator may give the delight and pleasure.
Thus, the question is, What is the benefit from man’s work for the Creator? What does the Creator need that we should work for the sake of the Creator, which the Creator receives from man’s work? We can say that it is only one thing: a place where He can impart the delight and pleasure that He wished to impart at the time of the creation of the world, namely to do good to His creations.
Therefore, when we say “the sorrow of the Shechina,” we mean that the Creator cannot reveal to them the delight and pleasure. It turns out that there is seemingly sorrow for His inability to do good to the created beings. This is called “the sorrow of the Shechina,” sorrow that He cannot bestow impart upon the Kelim, as we said that the Kelim are called Shechina, where the Shochen is present.
The reason we should aim all our actions toward the sorrow of the Shechina is that we should achieve equivalence of form, called “in order to bestow and not to receive for our own sake.” The rule is that a person cannot work aimlessly. Therefore, a person must see before him what he wants from his effort, meaning what he wants to obtain in life, so he will know that if he obtains it, he will be the happiest man in the world.
Therefore, he is told that nothing is greater or more important than satisfying the Creator’s wish and not the will to receive for himself. At that time a person should know what is missing in the King’s palace, the lack that he can fill. That is, what can be said that causes the Creator sorrow, that He misses, and that if He is given it, He will be happy.
To this comes the answer that a person should be sorry for the sorrow of the Shechina, meaning that the Creator is seemingly sorry that He cannot impart delight and pleasure upon the creatures, as in the allegory in the Midrash, which says that it is similar to a king who has a tower filled abundantly but no guests.
To understand the allegory of the Midrash, we can use allegory about a person who held a wedding for his son, and invited food for five hundred guests, but for some reason, no one came and he could barely get a Minyan [ten people] for the Huppah [wedding ceremony]. What sorrow that person felt that he had food for five hundred people but they did not come.
It is on this reason that a person needs to work to be rewarded with bringing contentment to the Creator—by receiving from Him the delight and pleasure. A person who achieves this degree is the happiest person in the world.
But if a person observes Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] in order for the Creator to give abundance into his vessels of reception because he wants to delight himself, that person is far from the abundance, since the upper abundance can only come into vessels of bestowal. Hence, the reason he observes Torah and Mitzvot must be because by this he will be among those who want to please the Creator, as in the allegory.
Yet, since man is born with a Kli for self-reception, how can he change his nature and say that he is not concerned with himself in any way, and the only thing that pains him, and for which he is sorry, is the sorrow of the Shechina, meaning the sorrow that seemingly exists above because he is unable to satisfy His will.
That is, since He desires to do good but He cannot execute this benefit because the creatures haven’t the suitable Kelim to receive it, and since by observing Torah and Mitzvot he will be able to make suitable Kelim, as our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice,” this is why he works with all his might to observe Torah and Mitzvot, so that by observing Torah and Mitzvot he will emerge from self-love and will be rewarded with vessels of bestowal. Then, he will be able to bring contentment to the Maker, from whom he receives the delight and pleasure.
By this we will understand the second question, How can it be said that there is sorrow and lack above? The answer is that it is because He wants to give abundance to the created beings, yet the creatures cannot receive due to disparity of form. His inability to give to the place where the Shochen must be revealed, which is called Shechina, this is called “the sorrow of the Shechina,” meaning sorrow that there cannot be a place where the Shochen can be, for Shechina is called the Kli where the light is revealed.
Accordingly, we can understand the third question we asked, What does it mean in the work that the Shechina is placed in the dust, and that the Creator needs that only the creatures can raise her from the dust, as though He Himself cannot?
We should interpret that since the place where the Shochen can be revealed is when there is a Kli with the intention to bestow, and among the creatures, who were born with the will to receive for themselves, the place for bestowal is called “the taste of dust,” since it is against their nature, hence, each time they want to work with an intention to bestow, they feel in this the taste of dust, since bestowal goes against nature. Hence, the creatures must perform deeds and actions that can correct the place so it is fit to receive the delight and pleasure.
Therefore, when speaking of the correction of the Kelim, the lower one must correct itself to be able to receive. And according to the rule, each one must see that he is fine and that he can do what he should do. Hence, what the giver should do pertains to the giver, and what the receiver should do pertains to the receiver. That is, the receiver should try to have suitable Kelim, meaning that the Klipot will not take from him what he will receive. In other words, the receiver should try to be able to have the aim to bestow while receiving, or the upper light will not be able to reach those Kelim due to disparity of form. For this reason, the lower one must erect the quality of bestowal in order to receive the bestowal from above.
Now we can understand what we asked, What is the benefit in what our sages said, “When Israel are exiled, the Shechina is with them,” in the work? Our sages said (Tanhuma, Nitzavim 1), “When torments come upon Israel, they surrender and pray. But the nations of the world kick them and do not mention the name of the Creator.”
We should interpret this in the work. In the work, suffering is when a person comes into a state of descent, and suffers from having no flavor or vitality in Torah and Mitzvot, and the whole world grows dark on him, and he finds no peace of mind.
He begins to look into the past, meaning what is the reason that he has come to a state of lowliness and cannot find anything to which to attribute this descent. Moreover, it is hard for him to understand how come before he began the work of bestowal, he felt that he was in a world that was all good, and it was great work for him to observe what our sages said, “Be very, very humble.”
But now he sees that he is the worst in the world. He sees that the whole world lives and enjoys engaging in Torah and Mitzvot, and when they pray, they feel that each word they utter leaves an impression above. And because they believe that it leaves an impression above, this leaves an impression below. That is, each one feels in his heart that today he did a great thing by praying or by learning Torah, and he continues similarly each and every day.
Yet, he sees himself as the worst in the world because the whole world has grown dark on him. That is, the sun that shines to the world does not shine for him and he does not see that he has a right to exist in the world.
At that time, a person faces a dilemma: He can say that he is regarded as Israel. He believes in the Creator, that everything is under His Providence. That is, the situation he is in now, the Creator who sent him this descent. His suffering at being in a state of lowliness comes from Him, meaning that certainly, the Creator wanted him to ascend in degree and not remain in a state where all his work is for his own sake, for by this he becomes separated from Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator.
Instead, the Creator wants him to see his real state, how remote he is from working for the benefit of the Creator. For this reason, the Creator has taken from him the flavor he felt in LoLishma [not for Her sake], which leaves him lifeless. It follows that the Creator is tending to him and wants to admit him into Kedusha.
Therefore, now he must pray to the Creator to help him, since now he needs His help. Otherwise, he sees that he is completely lost. This is regarded as having obtained a Kli and a need for the Creator’s help, since now he sees that he is truly separated from the Creator because he has no life, for one who adheres to the Creator has life, as it is written, “For with You is the source of life.”
Now he can certainly pray from the bottom of the heart, for a real prayer is specifically from the bottom of the heart. Accordingly, he should be thankful to the Creator for letting him see his true state. Now he sees that he needs the Creator to give him the necessary assistance, as our sages said, “He who comes to purify is aided.” And The Zohar asks, “With what is he aided?” and it replies, “With a holy soul.”
Therefore, now the Creator has given him an opportunity to obtain a holy soul. He should be delighted about the state of descent and suffering that he feels in this state. For this reason, he should say that he is not in a state of descent, but on the contrary, he is in a state of ascent.
By this we can interpret what our sages said, “When torments come upon Israel, they surrender and pray.” This means that when they come into a state of descent, they see their true state, that they are in lowliness. This is considered that they surrender, since they see their state—that they have parted from the Life of Lives, for one who has Dvekut with the Creator is alive. Otherwise, he feels only suffering. Therefore, it is clear to him that now is the time for prayer from the bottom of the heart. This is the meaning of the words, “They surrender and pray.”
But it could be said to the contrary—that it is an argument that belongs to “the nations of the world” and not to “Israel.” That is, he does not believe that the Creator has sent him this state—that he sees that he is in a state of descent and feels that now he has no taste in Torah and Mitzvot, but that he is in a state of suffering and generally has no meaning in life and he “ponders the beginning,” meaning he regrets he put himself into the path of bestowal.
That is, he says that before he began the work of bestowal, he had joy from the work of engaging in Torah and prayer and observing the Mitzvot. At that time he knew that he did not have to make any calculations and his only concerns were about increasing the quantity, meaning to dedicate more time for prayer and Torah. As for the quality of the work, he had no need to pay attention and think about the goal for which he was doing the holy work. He relied on the general public because at the time, it did not occur to him that there was a need to think about the reason that compels him to engage in Torah and Mitzvot. For this reason, he always felt in complete wholeness.
But now that he has begun to ponder the reason for which he wants to observe Torah and Mitzvot and to engage for the sake of the Creator—in order to bestow and not in order to receive for himself—the work has become more difficult for him and it is more difficult for him to overcome his evil inclination.
He says that where he wants to walk on the path of truth, it makes sense that the evil inclination should yield and weaken. Yet, now it is the complete opposite: Everything in Kedusha that he wants to do in order to bestow, the evil inclination overpowers him and it is difficult for him to overcome. He asks, “Where is the justice?” From all the work of having to constantly overcome, he falls into a descent.
At that time he comes to the argument of the spies and says, “I’m fed up with this work,” and he escapes the campaign. He argues that where he should have progressed, he is regressing. Therefore, he “ponders the beginning” and kicks this path of having to work on the intentions and the actions are not enough, but the intention is what counts, as it is written, “Better a little bit with intention than a lot without an intention.” He says that this work is not for him.
Now we can interpret what our sages said, “But the nations of the world,” when suffering come upon them, “kick them and do not mention the name of the Creator.” This means that when suffering comes upon him, meaning when he suffers during the descent because he feels no flavor or vitality in Torah and work, and the suffering is so intense that the whole world grows dark because of them, and he finds no other solution but to escape the campaign, this is considered that they “kick them.”
We should know that this escape comes for only one reason, as it is written, “But the nations of the world kick them and do not mention the name of the Creator.” That is, in a state of descent, when he feels suffering, they “do not mention the name of the Creator,” saying that the Creator has sent him this state of descent so as to know his situation in complete clarity, to what extent he can work for the sake of the Creator, and to feel that now he sees that without His help, it is impossible to emerge from the control of reception for oneself.
Now he does not need to believe the words of our sages, who said, “Man’s inclination overcomes him every day, and if the Creator did not help him, he would not overcome it,” for now he sees that he needs assistance from above. So, now is the time when he can pray from the bottom of the heart, for a real prayer is specifically from the bottom of the heart. That is, he prays with all his heart, for the heart understands that without assistance from above, he is lost.
In the book A Sage’s Fruit (Vol. 1, p 301), Baal HaSulam interprets the matter of the prayer having to be from the bottom of the heart: “There is no happier situation in man’s world than when he finds himself despaired with his own strength. That is, he has already labored and done all that he could possibly imagine he could do, but found no remedy. It is then that he is fit for a wholehearted prayer for His help because he knows for certain that his own work will not help him. As long as he feels some strength of his own, his prayer will not be whole because the evil inclination rushes first and tells him, ‘First you must do what you can, and then you will be worthy of the Creator.’”
We should interpret what he says, that “the evil inclination rushes first and tells him, ‘First you must do what you can, and then you will be worthy of the Creator.’” Ostensibly, it speaks like a righteous man. Why is this regarded as the evil inclination speaking to him? The answer is that the evil inclination tells him good things, but what it means by those good words is that he does not need to pray to the Creator, that he still has time to ask of the Creator. Therefore, when he has done everything he could, the evil inclination can no longer come to him arguing that he still has time to pray to the Creator, for then a person immediately replies to the evil inclination, “There is nothing more that I can do that I haven’t done, and it did not help.” Therefore, now is the best time to pray to the Creator.
However, when a person has done what he could and the evil inclination has no more words to say to a person that he still has time to pray, since there is still more to do, since he has already done everything he could, then the evil inclination has other, worse words, with more poison and the potion of death.
These are that they “do not mention the name of the Creator.” In other words, he does not say that the Creator sent him the state of suffering he feels during the descent. Instead, what does he do during the descent? It is written, “But the nations of the world,” during the descent, when they feel suffering, “kick them.” That is, they leave the campaign and escape from the work of bestowal.
Now we can understand the question we asked, What is the meaning of “When Israel are in exile, the Shechina is with them”? As Rabbi Shimon Ben Yochai said, “Wherever they exile, the Shechina is with them.” What is the benefit from this in the work, that he says about it, “How beloved are Israel by the Creator”?
We should interpret that when a person feels that he is in exile, meaning feels the taste of exile in the work and wants to escape from the exile, the meaning will be that a person must believe that wherever they are exiled, the Shechina is with them. That is, the Shechina let him feel the taste of exile. “With them” means that the Shechina is attached to them and they are not separated from the Shechina, that they should say that it is a descent. On the contrary, now the Shechina is giving him a push so he will climb the degrees of Kedusha [holiness/sanctity], and dresses herself in a garment of descent.
When a person knows and believes that this is so, it will encourage him so he does not escape the campaign or say that the work of bestowal is not for him because he always sees that he is in states of ascents and descents, and he sees no end to these states and falls into despair.
But if he walks in the path of faith and believes in the words of our sage, then he must say the opposite. If the order of the work of the rest of the people is proper, meaning that they feel themselves as whole and see that thank God, they are observing Mitzvot, pray, and learn Torah, and what else do they need, it means that they do not have from above special treatment every step of the way, or are told if their work is proper or not.
This is similar to people learning in a seminary. Assume there are a hundred people in the seminary, and some town needs a rabbi. The town’s people send a request to the principal of the seminary to send them a rabbi. Then, the principal chooses a team that will test which of the students can be a rabbi there. From among the one hundred students in the seminary, the best ones are chosen. Assume that five students are selected and tested. The test contains questions that they must answer. However, they need not to answer all the questions. Rather, if they answer ninety percent, they are already considered worthy of being among the select elite of the people. But some answer less than ninety. Can it be said that those students in the seminary that are tested in Torah and wisdom are ordinary people, while the ninety-nine percent of the students in the seminary who are not tested, are they fine in Torah and wisdom, and because they are greater, they do not need to be tested?
Likewise, here in the order of the work, there is a rule. Let us say, for example, that ninety-nine percent of the workers of the Creator are not tested to see if they are fine. That is, they are not shown their situation, whether they are fine in their Torah and work. If they are not tested, certainly, everyone thinks that he is fine.
But let us say that those five percent who can achieve wholeness and be admitted into the King’s palace, these people are tested. They are shown from above their true state in Torah and Mitzvot so they may know what to correct. The corrections are called “faith,” “prayer,” and “labor.”
This is similar to what Baal HaSulam said about the verse, “And he said, ‘I beseech You, please show me Your glory … And the Lord said, ‘Behold, here is a place with Me.’” Our sage said, “‘with Me’ is an acronym [in Hebrew] for ‘faith,’ ‘prayer,’ and ‘labor.’ Through these corrections it is possible to achieve real wholeness.”
Accordingly, we can see what is the real way in Torah and Mitzvot. The way is to achieve Dvekut with the Creator, called “equivalence of form,” by which we are rewarded with life, as it is written, “For with You is the source of life.” Also, ascents and descents are given to the capable ones, who are better capable of entering the King’s palace.
Accordingly, we should interpret what we asked, what does knowing that the Creator, too, will return from exile, like Israel, add to us in the work, as our sages said about the verse, “And the Lord your God returned from your captivity”? They said, “It was not said ‘will return’ but rather ‘returned,’ meaning that the Creator returned with them from the exiles.”
However, first we must understand how can we speak of “exile” in relation to the Creator. Exile means that He has departed from the place where He was and had to go to foreign places and be governed by other kings. Also, He has no choice but to do and obey every wish of every ruler under whom He is. Yet, we must believe what is written, that “The whole earth is full of His glory.” Thus, how can we speak of exile in relation to the Creator?
We should also understand toward whom we say that the Creator is in exile. In relation to Himself, we cannot say because we do not know His thoughts, as it is written in The Zohar, “There is no thought or perception in Him whatsoever.” Rather, all that we say in relation to the Creator is, as in, “By Your actions, we know You.” Therefore, we must say that the Creator is in exile in relation to Israel. In other words, the people of Israel see that the Creator is in exile among the nations. Hence, we should understand how it is expressed that it seems to the people of Israel that He is in exile. Also, we should understand what is exile, and then we will be able to understand that one who is in exile feels the taste of exile.
We should also know that concerning exile, we find two discernments: 1) When the people of Israel were in the holy land and had a Temple. Nebuchadnezzar came, destroyed the Temple, and exiled Israel from the land, as it is written (Esther 2), “There was a Jewish man in the capital, Susa, whose name was Mordecai, who had been exiled from Jerusalem.” It follows that exile means that they have been exiled from a place of happiness and tranquility to go and suffer and wander, and have no peace of mind. 2) We find that in the exile in Egypt, they were not exiled from a place of tranquility, but where they were, they began to feel that they were in exile. They saw that they were enslaved to Pharaoh king of Egypt, meaning that what the king of Egypt required of them, they had no free choice but had to obey his wish in everything he demanded of them.
Accordingly, what does it mean that the Creator was exiled from His place? After all, it is written, “The whole earth is full of His glory,” so how can we say that the Creator has been exiled from His place unto another place? According to the second interpretation of exile, such as the exile in Egypt, when Pharaoh King of Egypt ruled over the children of Israel, they felt exile in this. But how can we speak of exile in relation to the Creator, for does anyone govern Him that we can say that the Creator is in exile?
Certainly, when we speak of exile in relation to the Creator, it is only from the perspective of the creatures. That is, it is according to the attainment of the creatures that there is the matter of exile and redemption. Sometimes they perceive the Creator as a great King dwelling in His palace with Seraphim and animals and wheels of holiness standing around Him, and sometimes they perceive Him as a King who has been exiled from His palace, captive under the rule of another king. This is regarded as the King being in exile.
Accordingly, we should interpret that the people of Israel went out of the land of Israel and the Temple was ruined. In the work, we should interpret that the people of Israel went out and did not feel the flavor of Torah and Mitzvot, and their heart, which was a place for feeling the Kedusha, called “The Temple,” that place was ruined.
The other king, called “an old and foolish king,” conquered their hearts and took all the Kelim of Kedusha out of there. This means that he took out all the thoughts of Kedusha that they had in their hearts and inserted instead, an idol in the palace of the Lord. That is, where previously there was Kedusha, he took out all the thoughts of Kedusha, where Kedusha means thoughts for the sake of the Creator. Yet, he conquered their hearts and installed in their hearts thoughts that are only about their own benefit. This is regarded as a foolish old king conquering the Temple and exiling Israel from within it. That is, the quality of Israel is no longer in their bodies.
This is as it is written (Psalms 79, “A Psalm for Asaf”), “God, the nations have come into Your inheritance; they have defiled the Temple of Your holiness, laid Jerusalem in ruins.” That is, the quality of Israel departed from their hearts and in their stead came gentiles.
Accordingly, this means that the Creator has been exiled with them. That is, He departed from His palace because of Israel, meaning that this is how they feel, that He does not have the importance that they felt before they were exiled from the land of Israel.
What is the benefit of the Creator being in exile with them? We can understand this by what Baal HaSulam said about the words of our sages, “‘A person does not sin unless a spirit of folly has entered him.’ People ask about this, ‘Why did a spirit of folly enter? So he would sin.’” He said that since there is a rule that “The eye sees and the heart covets,” if a person sees something bad, whether in sight or in thought, he must come to covet it. Therefore, although he cannot prevent this with his eyes, because both thoughts and looking come without any preparation, hence, this is still not considered a sin, but from this we come into a sin that is called “coveting.”
If a person immediately repents on the seeing, he will not come to covet and will not sin. But if a person does not immediately repent the seeing, he must come to the sin called “coveting.”
A correction was made above, that in order for man not to blemish the glory of the King, He took out of him the spirit of wisdom and installed in him the spirit of folly. Thus, we see that even in the courthouse of below, a fool is not punished in the same manner as a sane person. It follows that here, when gentiles entered his heart and he does not feel the taste of life in Torah and Mitzvot, it is considered that for him, the Creator, too, is in exile. In that state, he does not have the faith in the Creator he had had before he suffered the descent. Hence, the blemish is not so great.
And there is another meaning to the Creator being in exile with them, when the people of Israel are in exile. When the nations govern them, the Creator is in exile, too. Therefore, we ask for the Creator to come out of exile, since we must be careful not to pray for self-love but only for the sake of the Creator. Hence, when he asks the Creator to take His people out from exile, he is asking for the sake of the creatures, and not for the sake of the Creator.
For this reason, when we believe that the Creator, too, is in exile, we ask for the sake of the Creator. That is, we pray for the glory of heaven. It is as is said in the litany: “Have mercy on us, O Lord, why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ For Your sake, Be merciful with us and do not delay.’” It follows that by knowing that the Creator, too, suffers from the exile, this gives them a place to pray for the Creator and not for himself.
However, how can we say that He is in exile and that the gentiles seemingly control Him as they control Israel? The answer is that since the purpose of creation is to do good to His creations, and over the good that the creatures must receive, there was a correction that they will aim to bestow, hence, when Israel are in exile among the nations—when they are placed under the governance of self-love—they cannot receive the delight and pleasure clothed in Torah and Mitzvot.
For this reason, they cannot feel the taste of life that there is in Kedusha. And since the exile among the nations of the world is on them, anything they will receive will have the taste of the concealment of the face. But since the Creator desires the existence of the world, He must dress Himself in dresses that are not of Kedusha. That is, He bestows upon the world vitality in dresses of corporeality, meaning that He bestows upon the world pleasure and life only in corporeal things.
This means that the world can receive delight and pleasure only in dresses called “envy,” “lust,” and “honor.” That is, He illuminates and sustains the world with dresses of Klipot [shells/peels], dresses that separate them from the Creator, since these pleasures come clothed in Kelim of self-love.
It follows that the Creator suffers from their being in exile, meaning that while they are placed under the governance of the nations of the world, the Creator must hide Himself from His sons so they would not know that He is the one giving them the taste of exile in Torah and Mitzvot, and that they find all the life in vessels of reception. That is, this correction of having pleasures in vessels of reception and being unable to feel the taste in Torah and Mitzvot, the Creator made the correction so they would not blemish the Kedusha and to prevent everything going to the Klipot. That is, they would not draw farther from Kedusha by feeling more flavor in self-reception, since wherever the pleasure is greater, they move farther into the vessels of reception, which separates them from Kedusha.
It therefore follows that by knowing that the Creator is in exile, that He must hide Himself as though He is in exile, by this a person can know that there are no Klipot in the world, but that a person should ask for everything only from the Creator, and there is no other force.