R' Ashlag Ch. 30 (sect.1)

Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag's "Introduction to the Zohar"

-- as translated and commented on by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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30.


1.

"The second stage (of our Divine service) extends from age 13 and onward, and it’s when the point in the heart -- which is the hindmost part of our holy soul and garbed in the native ratzon l’kabel -- is fortified. It only begins to come into play, though, after (we reach) age 13, and it begins to enter the realm of the system of the holy worlds, though only to the extent that we observe Torah and mitzvot."

-- The “point in the heart” spoken of here is that region in our being where our worldly awareness and sensitivity lies. It’s a “point” rather than an entire dimension, and the “hindmost part of our holy soul” rather than an inner part of it, because while it indeed touches on momentous things in our lives, it still-and-all hasn’t any bearing on our essential being and it’s ultimately dispensable (though certainly not “point”less).
-- But don’t misunderstand. It’s vitally important for each one of us to develop his or her own “point in the heart”. First, because without one we can't ever grow close to others or to G-d, or to mature in our beings; second, because it’s impossible to realize that we *have* a ratzon l’kabel, and then to transcend it, unless we gain insight into it and come to know how destructive it is. And only a well developed “point in the heart” allows us to do all that.
-- R’ Ashlag is emphasizing the idea here that we only begin to grow aware and to be sensitive from age 13 on (if at all; for the truth be known, many of us never do). For that’s when we begin to dabble in holiness and to expose ourselves to the nature of our beings; and it's likewise when we can begin to strive for a willingness to bestow -- after first having acquired what he refers to as a "spiritual" ratzon l’kabel as we'll soon see.

(c) 2005 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

(Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org )

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