About Giving And Receiving

Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar“:We should know that spiritual matters are not like corporeal matters, where giving and receiving come as one. In spirituality, the time of giving and the time of receiving are separate. This is because first it was given from the Creator to the receiver; and in this giving He only gives him a chance to receive. However, he has not received a thing yet, until he is properly sanctified and purified. And then one is rewarded with receiving it. Thus, it may take a long time between the time of giving and the time of receiving.

Question: Why is there a disparity between the time of giving and the time of receiving?

Answer: Giving is bestowal and receiving is bestowal. But the giving prepares the “vessels” in us, the details of perception. After all, there is no concept of “time” in spirituality, but when it comes to our “matter,” to our desire to receive, the upper bestowal cannot be in contact with it.

There is a “shell” between them that keeps the dualism of their relationship—separation and mutual connection.

How does the Light reach the vessel in the first place? How can the connection between these two opposite attributes exist? There is nothing like it in our world. When fire and water come in contact, one of them annuls the other, but they both belong to one world and the inner nature that is aimed at conquering, at mutual annulment, is concealed in them.

On the other hand, when a spiritual force reaches a corporeal force, they cannot come in contact, they cannot “get to know” one another.

The first attempt to come in contact would evoke mutual annulment in them. We know about such phenomena in physics. Contact between opposites is simply impossible.

This is the reason for the “shell” that should be highly respected, which is wonderful, powerful, whole, and very complicated.

It is exactly what creates the right connection between “Holiness,” which means the attribute of bestowal, and the egoistic desire that simply wants to receive pleasure. The “shell” brings the “lie of the truth” and the “false truths” to life, what “has not been said to the end,” and “what has not been fully clarified,” as areas that “coordinate” between the poles that cannot be tied into one. We use such tricks in politics and in other fields.

So the time of giving is not the end of history. All of creation—its essence is in the difference between the time of giving and the time of receiving.

The chain of events from the top down into this world and the ascent back from the bottom up are only so that from state 1 we will reach state 3, and they are the perception of the Creator’s message to the created being. You also see how long it takes to “digest” this idea and to respond to it.

Question: According to what formula does the connection between the opposites exist? How is the string from the upper to the lower actually drawn?

Answer: If we speak about an initiative that comes from the upper, it is possible only if we annul ourselves and receive His desire as the one which determines things instead of our own desire; this is the connection.

Using the same technique, we bring different parts in contact, equalize their ranges, and use a certain link as a “coordinator” between them.

We have to create a certain place in which this equivalence takes place.

In spirituality it is the seven lower Sefirot of Bina, the “mother’s womb,” the lower third ofZeir Anpin to which Malchut connects.

We have to design this special “adaptor” which in Kabbalah is also called YESHSUT, or the system of TzeLeM.

One way or the other, the task of the two sides that are connected is for each side to annul itself in order to connect to the other. But while the upper can do that since it is perfect, the lower, being totally imperfect, attains it, accepts it, and annuls himself before the upper.

It is about simple things. In everyday life we constantly renew our place on the scale of connection and communication. In media, instruction, education, and culture the connection is built even instinctively by itself. If I want be in contact with another, I have to withdraw from my uncompromising stance to some extent, and to accept the other’s opinion.

Question: How does the lower become adapted to the giving of the upper?

Answer: The upper descends to the lower and gives him what he wants, but in this “package,” in this message, there is the whole inner force that develops the lower.

After all, the lower only wants to “fill its belly.” He doesn’t want to grow and doesn’t know what it is. But in the “milk” of the upper, which means in the Light of Hassadim, there is the “blood” that operates, the Light of Hochma that raises the baby. The lower would not be able to grow without the “blood” in the “milk.”

First, during the time of Ibur (gestation), the lower annuls himself before the upper and agrees to receive everything from Him. Then he receives the “blood”—the direct bestowal of the upper. Then the lower becomes more independent and the upper intentionally designs a system in the lower one that matches it and that is used as an adapter between them. It is exactly like the mechanism of lactation, feeding milk. In fact, it is about the same “blood,” about the Light of Hochma, but it receives the “dress ofHassadim.” Now the lower can compare the attribute of bestowal that is typical of the Creator and the attribute of receiving that is typical of the created being, and when he grows, he receives them both simultaneously.

But at this point, the lower is still small because he annuls himself with regard to the “milk,” and agrees to receive it from the upper…
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/10/13, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”