This means that vitality is called “light” and “pleasure,”
and pleasure is spirituality.
It is a rule that there is no light without a Kli (vessel), meaning there is no such thing as pleasure without clothing.
For this reason,
the whole difference is not in the pleasure,
called “light,”
but in the clothing,
meaning in the Kli, since there is a
clothing of falsehood
and
clothing of truth.
This is similar to a five-year-old girl playing with a doll.
The girl is playing with the doll
as though the doll is a real child with feelings.
And although the doll does not respond, she talks to it
At the same time, if there is a six-month-old baby in the house, and he is crying, and the five-year-old girl is told, “Go play with the real baby and we will benefit as well because the baby will not cry,” she will refuse completely.
That is, she cannot derive pleasure from a clothing of truth, but from a clothing of falsehood
But as for the pleasure,
we see that the girl is feeling “real pleasure”.
But when the girl has grown to be eighteen,
she must derive pleasure from
clothing of truth.
Likewise, before we grow up,
we derive pleasure specifically from
“clothing of falsehood.”
This is called “shadow,” “concealment,”
and then there is room for work,
and we derive vitality from false things.
Afterward,
when we are rewarded,
we receive the light of faith.
Baruch Shalom Ha-Levi Ashlag (Rabash)/Letters 12B
That is,
because it is impossible to live without delight and pleasure, which extends from the very fact that the purpose of creation was to do good to His creations
therefore a desire and longing to receive pleasure was imprinted in the creatures,
otherwise, a person cannot
exist in the world.
For this reason,
all creatures,
as soon as they are born
must receive pleasure.
The only difference between small and great is the clothing.
There is a rule that one feels NO importance in anything if one has NO NEED for that thing.
As the measure of the need and the suffering if one DOES NOT attain it, TO THAT VERY EXTENT one feels gladness, pleasure, and joy AT THE satisfaction of the need
It is similar to one who is given all sorts of good beverages but if he is not thirsty
he tastes nothing, as it is written
“As cold water to a faint soul.”
Hence,
when meals are set
in order to please people,
there is a custom:
When we prepare
meat and fish
and all sorts of
good things
we take note to serve bitter and hot things, such as mustard, hot peppers, sour, and salty foods
All of this
is to evoke the
suffering of hunger
since when the heart
tastes hot and bitter taste,
it evokes hunger
and deficiency
which one needs to satisfy
with the meal of good things.
No one would ask,
Why do I need things to arouse hunger?
After all, the host should only prepare satisfaction for the need, meaning the meal, and not prepare things that evoke the need for satiation?”
The obvious answer is that
since the host wants people to enjoy the meal, to the extent that they have a need for the food, to that very extent they will enjoy the meal
Hence,
to be rewarded
with the light of the Creator,
there must also be a need.
It follows that if he gives many good things,
it will still not help them enjoy the meal because
there is no filling without a lack.
And the need for this is the labor:
Then, when one has that Kli [vessel] of a deficiency,when the Creator gives him some help from above, he will know how to keep this present.
To the extent that one exerts and demands the Creator during the greatest concealment, to that extent he becomes needy of the Creator, for the Creator to open his eyes to walk by the path of the Creator.
It turns out that the labor is considered Achoraim [posterior]. And when he receives the Achoraim, he has a place in which to be rewarded with the Panim [face].
It is said about that, “A fool has no wish for wisdom.” This means that he does not have a strong need to exert to obtain wisdom.
Thus,
he has no Achoraim,
and he naturally
cannot be awarded the
discernment of Panim.
This is
the meaning of
“As is the sorrow, so is the reward.”
That is, the sorrow, called “labor,”makes the Kli [vessel], so one can be awarded the reward.
