Go Forth from Your Country
Rabash's article "Go Forth from Your Country"
"Go forth from your country, from your kindred, and from your father's house, unto the land that I will show you." Is that the order, first a person leaves his father's house, then his kindred, and then his country?
"Eretz [land/country]" - from the word Ratzon [desire]. "Go forth from your country" - the desire to receive delight and pleasure with which man is created.
"From your kindred," - the father and offspring, cause and consequence, cause and effect. The labor begets a reward, in order to receive the reward. If it weren't for the reward, he would not have made any efforts. A person keeps Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] in order to beget a son, which is called "reward."
There are two kinds of reward: 1) a reward in "this world"; 2) a reward in "the next world." As written in The Zohar ("Introduction of The Book of Zohar"), those two are not considered as what is important because they are founded on the basis of self-love. Therefore, the newborn, the reward he expects to receive, is one of self-love.
"Go forth from your country," - from your will to receive. "From your kindred" - from its offspring. "From your father's house," - the reward that was born of the labor that begets a reward of self-love.
"Unto the land that I will show you" - a desire for bestowal in which he merits the revelation of the Creator.
"That I will show you" - the Creator will reveal Himself to him. Whereas restriction and concealment were placed upon the will to receive and it became dark and separated from the life of lives.
Therefore, the Creator cannot be revealed in our will to receive. Rather with the desire to bestow, through the "equivalence of form," the restriction and concealment are lifted and the Creator is revealed.
"Eretz" [land/country] - desire. If the intention is for the reward, I will not have a lot in this desire, which does not consider the labor, rather only the reward.
"Tzor" - "Tzar" [narrowness], for he feels "Tzarot" [trouble], on "the Sulam [ladder] set up on the earth, and its top reached the heaven," for all their thoughts are about man's work, that their main goal is for their work and not the reward.
Then he wants that desire, and says, regarding the reward, "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God," meaning that is the Creator's business, and we need not consider the reward, but be content with having been rewarded with this work, under any circumstances. And the only thing that is revealed to us is the act.
"And I will make you a great nation" - the greatness and importance among those who are working, are specifically in acts above reason. But they do not take into consideration the Lights that they receive through their work because the Lights are part of "the secret things belong unto the Lord our God," the Creator's deed, Who does whatever He wishes.
For they have only one goal, to give contentment to the Creator without any reward, since the whole reward is in serving Him. The type of service makes no difference to them, because they consider only how they can delight the Creator.
There are not many people who volunteer to do unimportant jobs, only they immediately take them so they may delight the Creator, since not many people want to do so.
There aren't many people who labor above reason, since everyone thinks that it is dishonorable work, and they consider such work as "exile," so those people who wish to delight the Creator specifically take on this role. Then his work is called "raising Divinity from the dust," "Divinity in exile."
"And I will make you a great nation" - the important thing is the act and not the Lights. The essence of their work is in love of others with no regard for themselves, nor in order to greet Divinity, for there is greater pleasure for the body from working in love of others.
A person will be certain that he does not wish to consider profits. While it is truly a great profit to be rewarded with greeting Divinity, he still chooses the act, meaning he does not aim for any reward for his work, but the most important thing is the work. And here is where he finds the place of scrutiny, to relinquish reward and receive work in return.
The way of the world is to the contrary, we make efforts in order to receive a reward. But he does the opposite, he gives the reward so he can receive work. Since the primary greatness is the action.