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Chapter Two: The entire nature of the soul is its bond with the Creator. This delight and satisfaction, as it were, come from the fact that “when
bond is brought about when a person performs the Torah’s mitzvot. He spoke, His will was done” (siddur)—in the sense that people
The Secret of Free Will The word “mitzvah” comes from the word tzavta, meaning want Him, choose Him and accept Him as their King, although they
could do otherwise.
“bond”—a bond with the Creator. Conversely, every sin constitutes
the opposite of the character of the soul and the opposite of its
From the earliest days, people have tried to decipher the riddle of function. Thus, the word chet, “sin,” means “to miss the mark.” If people possessed no free will, what delight would the Creator
existence: the purpose of creation overall and the purpose of every From this, we can see that punishment isn’t the outcome of a sin. have? By analogy, a person chosen from among a number of
individual in particular. However, we, the people of Israel, have Rather, a sin itself is the worst punishment, because it disconnects candidates feels satisfaction and delight; but if he is chosen
had these purposes communicated to us directly by the Creator of a person from the Creator. That is the most extreme expression of because there was no alternative, he will feel no delight. On an
the world. Our holy sages have revealed to us that the Creator is the soul missing the mark. infinitely different level, if the Creator’s goodness were revealed
the ultimate Being of goodness and compassion. Because any being to all, obviously everyone would choose Him, and He would have
who is good does good for others, God created us in order to do The Bread of Shame no satisfaction and delight. The Creator wants people to choose
good for us. Him precisely when He is concealed. That is what gives Him true
That being the case, the question arises: since the Creator wanted satisfaction.
The essence of goodness that we can experience is the ability to to benefit us, why did He bring the soul down from the upper realm
connect and bond with the Creator, to delight in His light and in His into a world of darkness and materiality? Why did He create us in Therefore, when a person is in great darkness and great evil
closeness to us. We accomplish this through our soul. The soul of this world, which contains so much suffering and where the essence confronts him, when he chooses and desires the Creator, he gives
every individual is more important than all worlds. It is holier than of true delight, which is our connection and bond with the Creator, greater delight to the Creator than the delight that comes to the
the entire Torah and its commandments. Overall, its only desire is is so thoroughly concealed? Why did He create man with an evil Creator from a great tzaddik who chooses goodness when he
Hashem. It is entirely divorced from sin. It is literally “a portion of inclination that impels him to sin and do wrong, with a coarse body encounters darkness and obstacles. The holy Zohar teaches that
Divinity from above” (Job 31:2)—which, before it descended into that is attracted to physical pleasures that torment the soul? Jethro was a chief priest, the supreme authority over every form
this world, derived delight and pleasure from the radiance of the of idolatry. When he came to the children of Israel and spoke with
Shechinah—which is its sole delight. The Kabbalistic texts explain that before the Creator made this Moses after the Exodus from Egypt and he said, “Now I know that
world, all souls delighted in the radiance of the Shechinah in the Hashem is greater than all of the gods” (Exodus 18:11), “the glory
Here in this world, the soul’s awareness of God is hidden, supernal world. However, they suffered greatly from the fact that of the Holy One, blessed be He, was elevated above and below.
because it is embedded in a coarse, physical body that cannot they were receiving all of their delight without toil and effort, as an Afterwards, He gave the Torah fully when His governance was over
experience true spiritual delight, and that body is placed in a world unearned gift, without exertion. The Kabbalists call this the “bread everything…. That is because the name of the Holy One, blessed
of materiality and cravings. As a result, the Creator’s light and of shame.” The truth is that a person only gains pleasure from be He, is sanctified when the Other Side is shattered and subjugates
pleasure are hidden from us. All that is revealed to us is the life of something that he has worked for. As the verse states, “When you itself to holiness” (Zohar: Yitro 67b). In accordance with this, Rabbi
this world and its physical desires. Therefore, a person is drawn to eat the toil of your hands, you are fortunate, and it is good for Nachman says that “the principal [manifestation of the] greatness
coarse, physical delights and not to the spiritual delight for whose you” (Psalms 128:2). And as the Gemara states, “A person prefers of the Holy One, blessed be he, will exist when even gentiles will
sake he was created. his own measure to nine measures that belong to someone else” know that there is a God Who governs and rules” (Likutei Moharan
(Bava Metzia 38a). Rashi explains, “He prefers it because he toiled I 10).
But you must be aware that not only is spiritual delight over it.”
immeasurably and incomparably greater than physical delight, Giving God Satisfaction
but that when physical pleasure is disconnected from a person’s Moreover, not only is this “bread of shame” no delight, but it
true purpose, it causes the soul to suffer terribly, and in fact it causes the soul great suffering. The soul is “a portion of Divinity If a person had no evil inclination, he would be like an angel.
constitutes the complete opposite of the soul’s character. from above,” a portion of the Holy One, blessed be he, Who is The Holy One, blessed be He, has tens of thousands upon tens of
entirely true and Whose seal is truth. Therefore, in its essence the thousands of angels. They possess nothing outside the will of Hashem,