R' Ashlag Ch. 44 (Part 2)

Chapter Forty-Four:

Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag's "Introduction to the Zohar"

-- as translated and commented on by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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44.

2.

"Now, the extent to which you purify the mineral part of your ratzon l’kabel is the very extent to which you build-up the 613 parts of the point in your heart, which is the mineral (aspect) of your holy soul."
-- We begin to purify the mineral, lowest, most demanding aspect of ourselves that only wants to take-in by first honestly taking note of it in our being, and by engaging in mitzvot, whose aim is to foster bestowance. (We'll explain the 613 parts of our soul shortly.)

"And when you fulfill all 613 mitzvot on a tangible level, ..."
-- As that can only actually be carried out by the entire Jewish Nation in the course of history in fact, seeing as some mitzvot can only be fulfilled by Cohanim or Leviim, for example, others can only be fulfilled while the Holy Temple is operational, etc., Rabbi Ashlag’s implying that once you play your part in the fulfillment of all 613 mitzvot, then ...

" ... you (begin to) perfect the 613 organs of the point in your heart, which is the mineral (aspect) of your holy soul."

"Since its 248 spiritual-organs are bolstered by fulfilling the 248 imperatives, and its 365 spiritual-tendons are bolstered by avoiding the 365 prohibitives, and it becomes a complete partsuf of a holy Nephesh. Then the soul ascends upward and engarbs the sephira of Malchut in the spiritual world of Asiyah."
-- There are 613 mitzvot in all (and 613 parts of our soul, as we indicated): 248 “imperatives” -- things we’re obliged to do, like be honest for example, observe the Shabbat, etc.; and 365 “prohibitives” -- things we’re obliged to *avoid* doing, like eating unkosher foods, stealing, etc.
-- When we do our part as members of the Jewish Nation to fulfill all 248 imperatives we bolster the 248 “spiritual-organs” of our mineral soul; and when we do what we can to avoid the 365 prohibitives we bolster the 365 “spiritual-tendons” of our mineral soul, and thus bolster all 613 of its parts.
-- We then cultivate a complete spiritual system known as a “partsuf” (literally, “face”, but perhaps best conceived of as an entire and integrated organism with a face or “presence” of its own). While it's indeed a partsuf and thus significant, it’s nonetheless a partsuf of the lowest order in that it’s attached to the lowest level of the soul (Nephesh), grade of being (mineral), sephirah (Malchut), and the lowest spiritual world (Asiyah), since it’s rooted in our only *beginning* to purify the lowest aspect of our ratzon l’kabel.

(c) 2005 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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

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