The Creator’s Presents

Question: What are “the Creator’s gifts?”

Answer: We give presents to someone we love, and we receive presents when there is no doubt that they come from love. I may feel that someone is giving me a present to repay me for as a bribe.

This means that I must distinguish between a real and unselfish present that comes from the closeness that I already feel toward the giver who wants to make us both happy by the present and a present that is meant to buy me for a price and connect to me in order to use me later for one’s own interests. It turns out that the present can be because of the interests of the giver, because of my interests, or because of our common interests.

Several types of bestowal come to us from the Creator, and we call one of them a gift. As it is written, “He who hates gifts shall live,” but it refers to gifts for our ego, for the desire to receive fulfillment for free, since this is what the ego considers a gift.

The real present is “I labored and found.” A finding is also a kind of present since it is given to me out of love although I don’t deserve it. This means that it is not a direct outcome of my work, but rather, “I labored and found.” It isn’t a payment, but a present, a finding.

It is a very slight difference that is only understood by whomever purifies his vessels of perception (his senses) more and who then discovers different attributes to which he gives different names.

You can receive a present only if it helps you in the work. As it is written, “Open for me an opening like the eye of a needle” so that I can put a thread through it and start “sewing,” start working. This is how we are ready to receive a gift from the Creator since otherwise, we will not be able to get close to Him.

Therefore, the Torah is called a present since the Light in it reforms. So, I receive this present although I don’t deserve it, but, through this gift, I can correct myself and reach adhesion with the Creator. Eventually, I return to the Creator with this present as if I have taken it as a loan from His shop and am returning it.

It turns out that one of the types of receiving and bestowal is called a present.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/27/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam