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Chapter FourAfter the restriction and the screen that were made on the will to receive, it became unfit to be a vessel of reception and departed from the system of Kedusha [holiness]. In its stead, the reflected light serves as a vessel of reception, and the vessel of the will to receive was given to the system of Tuma’a [impurity].After the restriction and the screen that were placed on that vessel called “will to receive,” it was canceled and departed from the system of Kedusha. In its stead, the reflected light became the vessel of reception, (as it is written in Part 3).Know that this is the whole difference between ABYA of Kedusha and ABYA of Tuma’a. The vessels of reception of ABYA of Kedusha are from the reflected light that is established in equivalence of form with Ein Sof, while ABYA of Tuma’a use the will to receive that was restricted, being the opposite form from Ein Sof. That makes them separated and cut off from the “Life of Lives,” namely Ein Sof.

Man feeds on the yeast of the shells, and thus uses the will to receive as they do.Now you can understand the root of the corruptions that were incorporated promptly in the thought of creation, which is to delight His created beings. After the cascading of the five general worlds, Adam Kadmon and ABYA, the Klipot appeared in the four worlds ABYA of Tuma’a, too, as in “God has made them one opposite the other.” In that state, the turbid, corporeal body is set before us, of which it was said, “For the inclination of a man’s heart is evil from his youth.” This is so because its entire nursing from its youth is from the yeast of the Klipot. The whole matter of Klipot and Tuma’a is the form of the desire only to receive that they have, and they have nothing of the will to bestow.By this they are opposite from Him, for He has no will to receive whatsoever, and all He wants is to delight and bestow. This is why the Klipot are called “dead,” since their oppositeness of form from the Life of Lives severs them from Him and they have nothing of His abundance.Hence, the body, too, which feeds on the yeast of the Klipot, is also severed from life and is filled with filth. And all of this is because of the will to only receive and not to bestow that is imprinted in it. Its desire is always open to receive the whole world into its stomach. This is why “The wicked, in their lives, are called ‘dead,’” since their fundamental disparity of form from their root, where they have nothing of the quality of bestowal, severs them from Him and they become truly dead.Although it seems that the wicked, too, have the form of bestowal when they give charity, etc., it has been said about them in The Zohar, “Any grace that they do, they do for themselves, as their aim is primarily for themselves and for their own glory.”But the righteous, who engage in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] not in order to receive reward but to bestow contentment upon their Maker, thus refine their bodies and invert their vessels of reception to the form of bestowal.It is as our teacher said, “It is known and revealed,” etc., “and I did not enjoy even with the little finger” (Ketubot 104). This makes them completely adhered to Him, for their form is identical to their Maker without any disparity of form. Our sages said about the verse, “Say unto Zion: ‘You are My people.’” It was interpreted in the “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Item 67, that you are with Me in partnership. This means that the righteous are partners with the Creator, since He started creation, and the righteous finish it by turning the vessels of reception into bestowal.

All of reality is contained in Ein Sof and is extended existence from existence. Only the will to receive is new and is extended existence from absence.Know that the whole matter of innovation that the Creator had innovated with this creation, which our sages said He elicited existence from absence, applies only to the form of the desire to enjoy imprinted in every created being. Nothing more was innovated in creation, and this is the meaning of “maker of light and creator of darkness.” Nachmanides interpreted the word “Creator” as indicating a novelty, meaning something that did not exist before. You see that it does not say, “create light,” since there is no innovation in it by way of existence from absence. This is because the light and everything contained in the light, all the pleasant sensations and conceptions in the world, are extended existence from existence. This means that they are already included in Him; hence, there is no innovation in them. This is why it is written, “maker of light,” indicating that there is no innovation or creation in it.However, it is said of the darkness, which contains every unpleasant sensation and conception, “creator of darkness,” since He invented them truly existence from absence. In other words, it does not exist in His reality whatsoever, but was rather innovated now. The root of all of them is the form of the “desire to enjoy” included in His lights, which expand from Him. Initially, it is only darker than the upper light, and is therefore called “darkness,” compared to the light. But finally, the shells, Sitra Achra [other side], and the wicked, cascade and emerge because of it, which cuts them off completely from the root of life. This is the meaning of the verse “Her legs go down to death.” “Her legs” indicate the end of something. He says that in the end, death cascades from the legs of Malchut—the desire to enjoy that exists in the expansion of His light—to the Sitra Achra and to those that feed off her and follow her.

Because we are branches that are extended from Ein Sof, the things that are in our root are pleasurable to us, and those that are not in our root are burdensome and painful.We can ask, “Since this disparity of form of the will to receive must be in the created beings, for how else would they be extended from Him and shift from being Creator to being created beings?” This is only possible by the above-mentioned disparity of form. Furthermore, this form of the will to enjoy is the primary essence of creation, the axis of the thought of creation. It is also the measure of the delight and pleasure, as we have said above, for which it is called a “place.” Thus, how can we say about it that it is called “darkness” and is extended to the state of death, since it creates separation and interruption from the Life of Lives in the receiving lower ones? We should also understand what is this great anxiety that comes to the receivers because of the disparity of form from His self and why the great wrath about it.To explain this subtle matter sufficiently, we must first clarify the origin of all the pleasures and sufferings felt in our world. Know this: It is known that the nature of every branch is equal to its root. Therefore, the branch desires, loves, and covets every conduct in the root, and does not tolerate and hates any conduct that is not in the root. This is an unbreakable law that applies to every branch and its root. Because He is the root of all His creations, everything in Him, and which is extended directly from Him, is pleasurable and pleasant to us, for our nature is close to our root. Also, everything that is not in Him and is not extended to us directly from Him, but is rather opposite to creation itself, will be against our nature and will be difficult for us to tolerate. For example, we love rest, and vehemently hate movement, to the point that we do not make even a single movement if not to find rest. This is because our root is motionless and restful; there is no movement in Him whatsoever. For this reason, it is against our nature and hated by us. Similarly, we love wisdom, power, wealth, and all the virtues because they are contained in Him, who is our root. We hate their opposites, such as folly, weakness, poverty, ignominy, and so on, since they are not at all in our root, making them despicable, loathsome, and intolerable to us.We should still examine how there can be any extension that does not come directly from Him, but from the opposite of creation itself. It is like a wealthy man who called on a common person, fed him and gave him drinks, and granted him silver and gold every single day, and each day more than the day before. Note that this man simultaneously tastes two distinct flavors in the great gifts of the rich man: On the one hand, he tastes immeasurable pleasure due to the abundance of his gifts. On the other hand, it is difficult for him to tolerate the abundant benefits and he is ashamed when receiving it. This matter causes him intolerance due to the abundant gifts showered on him every time. It is certain that his pleasure from the gifts is extended to him directly from the wealthy benefactor, but the impatience that he felt in the presents did not come from the wealthy benefactor, but from the very essence of the receiver—the shame awakened in him because of the reception and the free gift. The truth is that this, too, comes to him from the rich man, of course, but indirectly.

Because the will to receive is not in our root, we feel shame and intolerance in it. Our sages wrote that in order to correct this, He has “prepared” for us labor in Torah and Mitzvot in this world, to invert the will to receive into a desire to bestow.From all the above-said, we learn that all the forms that are extended indirectly to us from Him contain impatience and are against our nature. By this you will understand that the new form that was made in the receiver, namely the desire to enjoy, is not in any way inferior or deficient compared to Him. Moreover, this is the primary axis of His creation. Were it not for this, there would be no creation here at all. However, the receiver, who is the carrier of this form, feels the intolerance due to his “self” since this form does not exist in his root.By this we have succeeded in understanding the answer of our sages that this world was created because “One who eats that which is not one’s own is afraid to look upon one’s face.” This seems very perplexing, but now their words feel very pleasant to us, for they refer to the matter of disparity of form of the desire to enjoy, which necessarily exists in the souls, since “One who eats that which is not one’s own is afraid to look upon one’s face.” That is, any receiver of a present is ashamed when receiving it due to the disparity of form from the Root since the root does not have that form of reception. In order to correct this, He created this world where the soul comes and clothes a body. Through engagement in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] in order to bring contentment to his Maker, the soul’s vessels of reception are inverted into vessels of bestowal.Thus, for herself, she did not want the distinguished abundance, yet she receives the abundance in order to bring contentment to her Maker, who wishes for the souls to enjoy His abundance. Because she is cleansed from the will to receive for herself, she is no longer afraid to look upon her face, and this reveals the complete perfection of the created being. The need and necessity for the long cascading to this world will be explained below, that this great labor of turning the form of reception into the form of bestowal can only be conceived in this world.

The wicked lose twofold, and the righteous will inherit twofold.Come and see that the wicked lose twofold for they hold both ends of the rope. This world is created with absence and emptiness of all the good abundance, and in order to acquire possessions we need movement. It is known that profusion of movement pains man, for it is an indirect extension from His essence. However, it is also impossible to remain devoid of possessions and good, for this, too, is in contrast with the root, since the root is filled abundantly. Hence, we choose the torment of movement in order to acquire filling with possessions.However, because all their possessions and property are for themselves alone, and “he who has a hundred wants two hundred,” it follows that “One does not die with half one’s wishes in one’s hand.” Thus, they suffer from both sides: from the pain of increased motion, and from the pain of deficiency of possessions, half of which they lack.But “The righteous in their land will inherit twofold.” In other words, once they turn their will to receive into a desire to bestow, and what they receive is in order to bestow, they inherit twofold. Not only do they attain the perfection of the pleasures and a variety of possessions, they also acquire the equivalence of form with their Maker. Thus, they come to true adhesion and are also at rest since the abundance comes to them by itself, without any movement or effort.