R' Ashlag 31 (sect. 1)

[Note: I'll transfer the whole chapter over to Ravashlag.blogspot.com once it's completed. This is only section 1 of two sections.]

__________________________________________________

Chapter Thirty-One:

Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag's "Introduction to the Zohar"

-- as translated and commented on by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

__________________________________________________

31.

1.

-- Rabbi Ashlag now cites a dictum that seems out of place on the surface. But as we’ll quickly see, it lends credence to what’s to follow.

"It’s written in Tikkunei Zohar regarding the verse, 'The leech has two daughters (named) Give (and) Give’ (Proverbs 30:15), that 'the leech stands for Gehennom where all the wrongdoers stranded there cry out Give! Give! like dogs; Give us all the riches of this world and The World to Come!' (Tikkunim Chadashim 97B)".
-- That’s to say, since our sages argue that it’s greedy, lowly, and wrongful to want to be fulfilled on both a worldly and otherworldly level, it would seem wrong to foster both a material and a spiritual ratzon l’kabel as spoken of in the last chapter, wouldn’t it?

"And yet it’s a very much higher level than the first."
-- That is, even though acquiring a spiritual ratzon l’kabel is an amplification and expansion of our inborn material ratzon l’kabel, and would thus seem to be an even more inherently selfish and lowly desire, it’s actually loftier.

"For aside from acquiring a full measure of ratzon l’kabel and using it for all the material things we’d need to engage in, in our Divine service (as we're asked to do), (we're also asked to realize a spiritual ratzon l’kabel because achieving) that level is what leads us to (achieving) the level of (doing things) altruistically."
-- We're taught here that while we've indeed been created selfish and self-serving, that's not necessarily a bad thing. What's asked of us is to use that inclination for good ends, though, and to thus set out to accrue things as we're prone to for *G-dly purposes*. And so we'd do well to set aside the fine foods we crave for Shabbat, when we serve G-d by purposely eating well and heartily. We're then asked to transcend that, too, by acquiring the spiritual ratzon l’kabel we spoke of before. But, how do we get from one to the other?

"As our sages said (about doing that), 'one should always (initially) observe Torah and Mitzvot for self-serving purposes (literally, 'not for its name’s sake'), since by doing that we (eventually) come to observe it for altruistic reasons (literally, '*for* its name’s sake') (Pesachim 50B)."
-- Our sages had long grappled with the tension between the very-human inclination to do things -- both holy *and* profane -- for self-serving purposes, and the Torah ideal of being altruistic. Accepting the reality of the tension, they decided that the solution lies in using the flawed inclination to achieve the ideal one -- in observing Torah and Mitzvot for self-serving purposes at first *so as to eventually observe it for altruistic ones*. It's often equated with rewarding a child with a trinket when he or she does something important and noble on the assumption that the child will continue doing those sorts of things later on, on his own, once he understands how inherently important it is to be principled.
-- In our context that comes to this. As we've learned, it's vitally important for us to foster a willingness to bestow (which is the ideal; see 11:2), yet we're born with a contradictory very human ratzon l’kabel. So, how do we achieve a willingness to bestow? Again, by using the flawed inclination to achieve the ideal one: by indeed observing Torah and Mitzvot for self-serving purposes, but with an eye toward eventually observing it for altruistic ones. And by then striving to only want to bestow.
-- Understand though, as Rabbi Ashlag emphasizes any number of times, it’s actually impossible for us to turn our natures around like that on our own. The only way we could ever achieve a willingness to bestow is with G-d’s direct intercedence. What’s asked of us to do is to pray for that to happen, and to fulfill His Mitzvot and learn His Torah for that end, and for no other.

“That explains why this level which we (only) achieve after we’re 13 is deemed holy.”
-- ... even though it would seem at first to be inherently selfish. For while it’s indeed a ratzon l’kabel, it’s still rooted in holiness and it will eventually lead to an altruistic willingness to only bestow (see 30:2).

(c) 2005 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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

********************************
AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued at *at a discount*! You can order it right now by logging onto www.tinyurl.com/49s8t (or by going to www.rowman.com and searching for it). Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has translated and commented upon "The Gates of Repentance", "The Path of the Just", and "The Duties of the Heart" (Jason Aronson Publishers). And his new work on Maimonides' "The Eight Chapters" will soon be available from Judaica Press.
His works are available in bookstores and in various locations on the Web.
Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled "Spiritual Excellence" and "Ramchal".