ADVENTURES IN HASSIDIC THOUGHT: CREATION

Our sages teach us that the world was created for the sake of Abraham...The only reason that He created the universe was because of the great delight and pleasures that would would exist before Him (to the extent that we can express this) from the deeds of the righteous who would ultimately exist in the world that He would create. These righteous individuals would enhance and publicize His Godliness and the holiness of His glorious, great and fearsome Name to all the inhabitants of the world. Everyone would then know and recognize that God alone is the creator of all things, and the One who gives them all existence. There is no other, and without His sustenance, Life Force and goodness, which is constantly bestowed upon all universes and everything in them, they would all revert to absolute nothingness. Everyone would also know of His great love and goodness, as well as His wondrous and fearsome deeds...It is written "The world is built of love". This means (to the extent that we can express it) that God looked and perceived that a person like Abraham would same day come into existence, and do deeds of love and kindness with all the inhabitants of the earth. Through him, God's love, as well as His greatness and excellence, would be publicized and made known to all the world.

The Talmud tells us that when Hannina ben Dosa prayed for the sick, he would predict which would live and which would die. When he was asked, "How do you know?" he replied, "If my prayer is fluent in my mouth I know that it is accepted; and if not, I know that it is torn away."

...In order to explain this, we must first discuss another question. We must understand why a righteous person can pray for the sick and cause him to be healed. This would seem to involve a change in God's mind. God, however, is truly a Simply Unity, and heaven forbid that we should even think such a change possible. The concept is this. At first, before the universe was brought into being, all worlds, together with everything that was created, existed potentially in the Infinite Being. Then, when His simple Will decided to create, He brought them from potential into actuality. Everything that would ever be therefore had potential existence in the blessed Infinite Being. There, when a person is healed as the result of prayer, there is no change. All this already existed potentially in the Infinite Being. The entire sequence existed there, namely that an individual would be sick, that a righteous person would pray for him, and that the prayer would have a beneficial effect...We find that two complete strangers can meet and immediately be strongly attracted to each other, even though they had never previously known each other. Still, as soon they meet and come together, they immediately become attached with a strong bond of love. This is because both of them were together before they were born in the Garden of Eden where souls exist before birth. Therefore, when they come together, this original love that existed in the Garden of Eden is reawakened. This explains what Rabbi Hannina ben Dosa meant...He was saying that the prayer was familiar, like something with which he was already acquainted. The reason is exactly the same as in the previous case. The episode, the prayer, and the righteous person, all existed potentially in the Infinite Being. They are therefore just like the two individuals who are attracted to each other because they were together in a previous existence. In such a case, he knew that the prayer would be accepted. It already existed potentially in the Infinite Being, and nothing changes before Him.

‎It is known that every influence bestowed by God must come through an aspect of limitation and constriction. If God's sustenance did not come through some aspect of constriction, nothing would be able to accept it. From this, we see that all sustenance granted by God must include an aspect of both Love and Restraint. The aspect of Love is God's abundance, where He only desires to give. The aspect of Restraint, on the other hand, is one of limitation and constriction. His abundance then is granted with a measure and bound, so that its recipient is able to accept it. This is with respect to the Giver. With respect to the recipient, however, these two concepts of Love and Restraint also exist. With respect to the recipient, the concept of Love is that he desires to accept God's abundance, since in so doing, he provides pleasure for the Giver. This is very much like the teaching, "More than the calf wants to suckle, the cow wants to give him . milk." The concept of Restraint, on the other hand, is that the recipient makes himself like "leavings." He nullifies himself into absolute nothingness, making himself as if he takes up no space whatsoever, obliterating all ego and feeling. It is only then that one can accept God's sustenance. This is like a seed planted in the ground, which cannot grow until its original form is obliterated in the earth, and it ceases to exist as a seed. There thus exist four attributes between the Giver and the receiver, two for each one. These are called "four hands," since this is like something that is given from hand to hand. It is known, however, that the attributes of Love and Restraint are two absolute opposites. In order for the sustenance to descend from the Giver to the receiver, there must be an intermediate aspect between them.

(1) God said to Moshe, “Bo el Paroh (Go to Pharaoh), for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I might set these signs of Mine in their midst; and that you might recount in the ears of your children and your grandchildren how I have made a mockery of the Egyptians, and of My signs which I have wrought in their midst—that you might know that I am God.” [Moshe and Aharon went to Pharaoh, and they said to him, “Thus says God,] ‘… tomorrow I will bring locusts into your borders.’” (Exodus 10:1-4),God created the world as a consequence of His compassion. For He wanted to reveal His compassion, and if Creation had not taken place, to whom would He have shown His compassion? He therefore created the entire creation, from the inception of Atzilut all the way down to the center point of the corporeal world, in order to display His compassion.,Yet when God wanted to create the world, there was no place in which to create it, since there was nothing but Ein Sof (the Infinite One). He therefore contracted the Light to the sides, and through this contraction the Vacated Space was made. Then, within this Vacated Space, all time and space came into existence—this being the creation of the world {as explained at the beginning of Etz Chaim} .,This Vacated Space was necessary for the creation of the world, since without the Vacated Space there would have been no place in which to create the world, as explained above. Yet, understanding and comprehending this contraction [that resulted in the formation] of the Vacated Space will be possible only in the Future, since it is necessary to say about it two contradictory things: existence and nonexistence.,The Vacated Space is the result of the contraction; that [God], so to speak, withdrew His Godliness from that place. Thus there is, so to speak, no Godliness there. Were it not so, it would not be vacated. There would then be nothing but Ein Sof, with no place whatsoever for the world’s creation. However the actual truth is that, even so, there is surely Godliness there as well. For there is surely nothing without His life-force. This is why it is not at all possible to comprehend the concept of the Vacated Space until the Future.r and solution for this question. This is because “thus has it arisen in thought,” which is more exalted than speech. Therefore, you must keep silent regarding this question, because it is in the aspect of “arisen in thought,” where there is no speech to answer it. The same is true of the questions and conundrums that stem from the Vacated Space, where there is no spoken word or intellect, as explained above. They are thus in the aspect of silence; one must simply believe and keep silent there.,This is why it is forbidden for anyone other than the tzaddik who is the aspect of Moshe to enter and delve into these words of heresy and the conundrums. For Moshe is the aspect of silence, in the aspect that is called “heavy of speech” (Exodus 4:10), the aspect of a silence more exalted than speech.,Therefore, the tzaddik who is the aspect of Moshe, the aspect of silence, is capable of delving into these perplexing words, which are the aspect of silence, as explained above. He should especially delve into [them], in order to elevate the souls that fell into there, as explained above.

One might wonder, since at the end of the account of creation, the Torah states, And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good." Throughout the story of creation, it is also written many times,
And God saw that it was good." In the Book of Deuteronomy, however it is written, "Behold, I have set before you life and good, and death and evil" This would tend to indicate that evil also comes from God. The question then arises, from where did evil originate? But the truth is that evil is also actually good. It is merely the lowest level of good. This is indicated in the Zohar, where the term "to evil" is used to indicate the downward direction. Therefore, when it is used for good, evil also becomes good. When it is involved in a sin, however, then it becomes true evil. This is very much like a broom. When a broom is used to sweep the dirt out of a house, it is somewhat good. Even though it is on the lowest level, it is still serving a good purpose. But when this broom is used to beat a child who has done wrong, then it becomes truly evil.