SKG Articles: The Peace

An empirical, scientific study about the necessity of the work of God

By Rav Yehuda Ashlag, the Ba'al HaSulam

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lay down with the kid; and the calf and
the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And it shall come to pass in
that day, that the Lord shall get his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his
people, that shall be left, from Ashur, and from Egypt, from Patros, and from Kush, and from ‘Elam,
and from Shin’ar, and from Hamat, and from the islands of the sea (Isaiah 11).”

Rabbi Shimon Ben Halafta said: “God did not find a vessel to hold the blessing for Israel but peace,
as it says: The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace (Okatzin
tractate).”

After having demonstrated in previous articles the general form of His work, whose essence is but
His love for others, practically determined as “bestowal upon others”, meaning that the actual
manifestation of His love is bestowal of goodness to others. Therefore it should be determined as
bestowal upon others, best suited for its content, aiming to ensure that we do not forget the aim.

Now that we know for certain the method of His work, there still remains to inquire whether this work
is acceptable to us by faith alone, without any scientific, empiric basis, or that we also have an
empiric basis for it, which is what I want to demonstrate in this article. But first I must thoroughly
demonstrate the subject itself, meaning whom is it who accepts our work?

But since I am not an enthusiast of formative philosophy, as I dislike studies that are theoretically
based, and it is well known that most of my contemporaries agree with me, for we are too
experienced with such foundations and know them to be rickety, and when the foundation fluctuates,
the whole construction tumbles down. Therefore I have come here to speak only from empiric
knowledge, starting from the simple recognition no one disagrees with, through proving analytically,
until we come to determining the uppermost topic. And it will be tested synthetically by seeing how
His work is confirmed and reaffirmed by simple recognition from the practical aspect.

The Contradictions in the Providence

Every person of his right mind who examines the reality before him finds in it two complete
opposites. For when one examines creation from the aspect of its reality and its erection, there is an
apparent and affirmed leadership of great wisdom and skill, both regarding the formation of reality
and the securing of its general existence.

Let us take as an example the formation of one man: it is the love and pleasure of his progenitors
that is the first reason, certain to perform its duty. And when the essential drop is extracted from the
father’s brain, providence has secured for it with great wisdom a safe place that qualifies it to
receive life. Providence also gives it its daily bread to the exact amount, and it has also prepared for
it a wonderful foundation in the mother’s womb so that no stranger may harm him.

And it tends to his every need like a trained nanny who would not forget him even for a moment,
until he has acquired strength enough to come out into our world, at which time providence lends
him just enough strength to break the walls that surround him, and like a trained well-armed warrior
he breaks an opening and comes out to the world. Then too providence does not abandon him, and
like a loving mother brings him to such loving loyal people he can trust called Mother and Father, to
help him through the days of his weakness until he grows and is able to provide for himself. And as
man so are animals and plants and objects, all are cared for wisely and mercifully to ensure the
continuance of the species.

But those who examine the ensuring of existence of that reality can clearly see disorders and great
confusions, as though there is no leader and no providence, and one can do as one pleases,
building himself over the ruin of others, and the evil thrive and the righteous are trampled upon
mercilessly.

Bear in mind, that this contradiction is set before the eyes of every sensible person and has
occupied humanity from its early days. Many methods try to explain these two opposites that seem
to exist in providence and occupy the same world.

The First Method: Nature

This method is an ancient one, because it is apparent to them that these two opposites can not be
brought together, which led to the assumption that the Creator, who created all these, who watches
mightily over his reality lest something will be extracted from it, is a mindless senseless being.

Therefore, although he created this reality and observes it with wondrous wisdom, despite that He
himself has no mind of His own, and He does all that unconsciously. For if there were a mind and
feeling in Him, He certainly would not have left such malfunctions in the world, with no pity for the
tormented. Therefore they have named Him “nature”, meaning a mindless heartless supervisor. For
that reason they believe that there is no one to be angry at, or to pray to or to justify oneself before.

The Second Method: Two Authorities

Others were cleverer: they found it hard to accept the assumption of the supervision of nature
because they saw that the supervision over reality, to secure its existence reaches far beyond
human capability, and they could not agree that the supervisor is himself mindless, for can one give
that which he does not posses? Can a fool teach the enlightened?

And how can you say about He who performs before us such astute deeds, that he does not know
what He is doing, that He does it by chance, when it is evident that chance cannot organize any
orderly deed, much less secure its existence. Because of that they came to a second assumption:
that there are two supervisors - one creates and sustains all the good and the other creates and
sustains the evil. And they have greatly elaborated that method with signs and wonders along their
way.

The Third Method: Multiple Gods

This method was born from the bosom of the method of the second, because they have separated
and divided each act for itself, meaning strength, wealth, control, anger, beauty and so on, and
appointed each its own supervisor. And they have expanded the system at will.

The Fourth Method: Left His operation

Lately, when people became wise and saw the tight link between all parts of creation, they
recognized the concept of multiple gods to be completely impossible, and thus again the question of
the contradiction in creation arose. From that they assumed a new assumption: that indeed the
supervisor is mindful and caring, but because of His exaltedness beyond conception, our world is
deemed a grain of sand, nothing in His eyes. And it is not worth it for Him to bother with our minute
business, which is why our livelihood is so disordered and each can do as he pleases.

Alongside these methods, there existed religious methods that promote Godly unity, but this is not
the place to examine them for I wanted only to examine the origins from which the fouled method and
perplexing assumptions were taken and given control and expanded in different times and places.
And we find that the basis over which all these methods were built, is the contradiction between the
two supervisions that are detectable in our world, that all these methods came about only to mend
that great tear.

But still a world acts as it always does, and not only did that great tear not mend, it grows and
expands before our eyes into a terrible chasm, without hope to see a way out of it. And looking at all
those attempts that humanity have used for several thousand years in vain I ask, perhaps we should
not ask the supervisor to mend that chasm after all, perhaps this great correction is in our own
hands?

The Necessity to Practice Caution with the Laws of Nature

We can all plainly see that the human species must lead a social life, meaning it cannot exist and
sustain itself without the help of others. Therefore imagine an event where one retires from society
to a desolate location and lives there a life of misery and great pain due to one's inability to provide
for one's needs. One would have no right to complain to providence about one's fate, and if a
person would, meaning complain and curse one's bitter fate, one would only be displaying one's
foolishness. That is because while providence has prepared for him a comfortable, desirable place
within society one would have no justification to retire from it to a desolate location. Such a person
must not be pitied since he goes against the nature of creation and has the option to live as
providence has ordered him. Therefore he should not be pitied. That sentence is agreed upon by all
of mankind without dispute.

And I can add and emphasize it on a religious basis and give it such a form: since providence
extends from the Creator, who undoubtedly has a purpose in His acts, as there is no act without a
purpose, we find that he who breaks a law from the laws of nature that He has imprinted in us,
corrupts the purposeful aim.

Because the purpose is undoubtedly built over all the laws of nature, none excluded, just as the
clever worker would not add or subtract even a hair-thin of what is necessary to attain the goal.
Thus, he who alters even a single law, harms and damages the purposeful aim that the Lord has
set, will be punished by nature. Therefore, we creatures of the Lord must not pity him, because it is
the aim of the Lord that he desecrates and defiles. That, I believe is the form of the sentence.

And I believe it is not a good idea for anyone to contradict my words, the form that I have given to
the sentence, because the words of the sentence are one, for what is the difference if we say that
the supervisor is called nature, meaning mindless and purposeless, or if we say that the supervisor
is wise, wonderful, knowing and feeling and has a purpose in his actions

For in the end we all agree that it is upon us to observe the commandments of providence, meaning
the laws of nature, and we all admit that he who breaks the laws of providence, meaning the laws of
nature should be punished by nature and must not be pitied. Thus the nature of the sentence is
uniform and the only difference is in the motive, that they maintain that it is necessary and I maintain
that it is purposeful.

And so from now on I’ll not have to use both tongues, meaning nature and a supervisor, between
which, as I have shown, there is no difference regarding the following of laws, it is best for us to meet
halfway and accept the words of the kabbalists, that nature (teva) has the same numerical value (in
Hebrew) as the word God (Elokim) - eighty six. Then I’ll be able to call the laws of God the
commandments of nature and vise versa, for they are one and the same, and we need discuss it no
further.

Now it is vitally important for us to observe the commandments of nature and know what it demands
of us, lest it would mercilessly punish us. We have said that nature obligates man to lead a social life
and that is simple. But we need to examine the commandments that nature necessitates us to
observe in that respect, meaning the aspect of society.

When we generally examine it we find that there are only two social precepts to observe, which can
be called “reception” and “bestowal”. Meaning, each member must, by nature, receive his needs
from society and must benefit society through his work for its wellbeing. And if he breaks one of
these two commandments he will be mercilessly punished.

We need not excessively examine into the commandment of reception because the punishment is
carried out immediately, which prevents any neglect. But in the other commandment, that of
bestowal upon society, not only does the punishment not occur immediately, but it is given indirectly.
Therefore this commandment is not properly observed.

Because of that humanity is being fried in a heinous turmoil and strife and famine and their
consequences do not cease to this day. And the wonder about it is that nature, like a competent
judge, punishes us according to our development, for we can see that to the extent that mankind
develops, so increase the pains and torments providing for our existence.

Thus you have before you an empiric, scientific basis, that His providence has commanded us to
observe with all our might the commandment of bestowal upon others with utter precision, in such a
way that no member of our society would work any less than the measure needed to secure the
happiness of society and its success. And as long as we are idle in performing it to the fullest,
nature will not stop punishing us and taking its revenge.

And besides the blows we take today, we must also consider the drawn sword for the future, and the
right conclusion must be drawn, that finally nature will defeat us and we will all be compelled to join
hands in the following of the commandments with all the required measure.

The Proof of His Work by Experience

But he who wishes to criticize my words might still ask: although I have thus far proven that one must
help others, but where is the proof that it has to be done in the name of the Lord?

Indeed history itself has troubled in our favour and has prepared for us an established fact that is
sufficient for a full appreciation of this matter and unequivocal conclusions: anyone can see how a
large society such as the state of Russia, with hundreds of millions in population, which has at its
disposal more land than the whole of Europe, with a second to none wealth in raw materials, that
has already agreed to live a communal life and has practically abolished private property altogether,
where each worries only about the wellbeing of society, while having seemingly acquired the full
measure of the virtue of bestowal upon others in its full essence, as far as the human mind can
grasp.

However, go and see what has become of them: instead of rising and exceeding the achievements
of the capitalist countries, they have deteriorated ever lower until they not only fail to benefit the
lives of the workers who work harder than in the capitalist countries, they cannot even secure their
daily bread and clothes. Indeed that fact puzzles us. Because judging by the wealth of that country it
should not have come to such a state.

But they have sinned only one sin, for which the Lord will not forgive them. That sin is that all this
precious and exalted work, which is bestowal upon others, that they have begun to perform needs to
be in the name of the Lord and not for mankind. And because they do their work not in His name,
from nature’s point of view they have no right to exist. Because try and imagine if every person in
that society would be anxious to observe the word of God to the extent that it says: “And thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might (Deuteronomy 6,
5)”, and to that extent each would rush to satisfy the needs of his fellow man, just as one rushes to
satisfy one’s own needs, as it says: “Love thy neighbour as thyself”.

And if God himself would be the goal of every man when working for the wellbeing of society,
meaning that he would expect to attain by this work adhesion with Him, the source of all goodness
and truth and pleasantness in the world, there is no doubt that within a few years they would rise in
wealth over all the countries of the world put together. That is because then they would be able to
utilize the raw materials in their rich soil and they would set an example for all the countries and they
would be regarded blessed by the Lord.

But when all the work of bestowal is based on the good of society alone, it is a rickety foundation
indeed, for who and what would obligate the individual to toil for society? In a dry, lifeless principle
one cannot hope to find motivation even in developed individuals. Thus rises the question - where
would the worker or the farmer find enough motivation to get him to work?

For his daily bread will not increase or decrease because of his efforts, when there are no rewards
or an aim. It is well known to researchers of nature that one cannot perform even the slightest
movement without motivation, meaning without somehow benefiting oneself.

When, for example, one moves one’s hand from the chair to the table it is because one thinks that
by putting one’s hand on the table one will thus receive greater pleasure. If one would not think so,
one would leave one's hand on the chair for the rest of one's life without moving it an inch, all the
more so concerning greater efforts.

And if you say that there is a solution, to place them under supervision so that he who is idle at his
work will be punished by denial of salary, I shall ask: do tell me where these supervisors themselves
should take the motivation for movement from? Because standing at a certain place and watching
over others and working them is also a great effort, perhaps greater than the work itself. Therefore it
is as though one wants to turn on a machine without fueling it.

Therefore by nature they are doomed, because the laws of nature will punish them because they
are incapable of adapting themselves to obeying its commandments, meaning that they perform
these acts of bestowal as work for the Lord, so as to come through it to the purpose of creation
which is adhesion with Him. It was explained in the article Matan Torah (chap 6) that this adhesion
comes to the worker in the measure of His pleasant and pleasurable bounty, increasing to the
desired measure for rising to know His validity, developing further and further until he attains great
exaggeration, implied in the words: “neither has the eye seen, that a god, beside thee (Isaiah 64, 3).”

And imagine if the farmer and the worker would see before their eyes that goal when they were
working for the good of society, they would certainly not need any supervisors because they would
already have enough motivation for a great effort, enough to raise society to the ultimate happiness.

Indeed, understanding that in such a way takes great care and reliable practice, but everyone can
see that without it they have no right to exist in the eyes of the stubborn, obstinate nature. This is
what I wanted to prove here.

Thus I have proven through empirical deduction - out of the practical history that unfolds before our
very eyes, that there is no other remedy for mankind, but the acceptance of the commandment of
providence, which is bestowal upon others in order to bring contentment to the Lord, in the measure
of the two verses: the first is - “love thy neighbour as thyself”, which is the attribute of the work itself,
meaning that the amount of labour to bestow upon others, for their happiness, should be no less
than the measure imprinted in man to care for his own needs. Moreover, he should put his fellow
man’s needs before his own, as it says in the article Matan Torah (chap 4).

The other is “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy might (Deuteronomy 6, 5)”, which is the goal that must be before everyone’s eyes when
labouring for one’s friend’s needs, whose instruction is that he labours only in order to please the
Creator, to do His will.

And if you wish to listen you shall feed on the fruit of the earth, for poverty and torment and
exploitation shall be no more in the land, and the happiness of each and everyone shall rise ever
higher beyond measure. But as long as you refuse to take upon yourselves the work of God, in all
the above measure, then nature and its laws will stand ready to take revenge and it will not let go
until it defeats us and we accept its authority in whatever it commands.

Now I have given you a practical scientific research, examined by experimental knowledge, regarding
the absolute necessity of all people to take upon themselves the work of God with all their hearts
and with all their souls and with all their might.

Clarification of the Phrase from the Mishna: “everything is in deposit and a fortress
spreads over all of life”

Now that we have learned all the above, we can understand an unclear phrase from the Mishna that
goes as follows: “He (Rabbi Akiva) would say, all is in deposit and a fortress spreads over all of life.
The store is open and the shopkeeper sells by deferred payment, the book is open and the hand
writes, and all those who want to borrow may come and borrow, and the collectors return regularly
and every day man repays both knowingly and unknowingly and they have what to rely on and the
judgment is true and all is ready for the feast”.

That phrase did not remain unclear for no good reason without even a hint as to its meaning, which
tells us of the great deepness we have here. Indeed the knowledge we have thus far acquired
clarifies it very well indeed.

The Wheel of Transformation of the Form

First let me present the opinion of our sages about the concatenation of the generations of the
world, that although we see the bodies changing from one generation to the next, it is only the case
with the bodies. But the souls, which are the core of the body’s essence, do not become absent by
transience but go from body to body, from generation to generation. The same souls that were at
the time of the great flood descended during the time of Babylon and during the exile in Egypt and
so on until this generation and until the end of correction.

So that in our world there aren’t any new souls as the bodies are new, but only a certain amount of
souls that incarnate on the wheel of transformation of the form, because they dress each time in a
new body and a new generation.

Therefore with regards to the souls, all generations since the beginning of creation to the end of
correction are as one generation that has extended its life over several thousand years until it
developed and became corrected as it should be. And the fact that in the meantime each has
changed its body several thousand times is completely irrelevant, because the core of the essence
of the body, which is called the soul, did not suffer at all by these changes.

And there is much evidence pointing to that and a great wisdom called the secret of the
reincarnation of the souls, that this is not the place to elaborate on, but to those who believe it is
exaggerated because of their lack of knowledge in this wisdom, it is worth to say that the
reincarnation occurs in all objects of the tangible reality, that each object, in its own way, lives an
eternal life.

And although our senses tell us that everything is transient, it is only how it seems. But in fact there
are only incarnations here, that each item does not rest for a moment but incarnates on the wheel of
transformation of the form losing nothing of its essence on its way, as physicists have shown.

And now we come to clarify the words: “all is in deposit”. It has been compared with someone who
lends money to his friend in order to make him a partner in the profit. And in order to make sure that
he does not lose his money he gives it to him as collateral and thus he is free from any uncertainty.
The same applies to the creation of the world and its existence, which God has prepared for man to
work with and finally gain by it the exalted goal of adhesion with Him, as it says in Matan Torah (chap
6). Therefore one must wonder: who will make mankind observe His work until they finally come to
this exalted end?

About that Rabbi Akiva tells us - “all is in deposit”, meaning everything that God laid down in the
business of creation and gave to people, he did not give it to them licentiously, but secured Himself
with collateral. And should you wonder what collateral?

He responds to that by saying: “and a fortress spreads over all of life”, meaning that God has made
a clever act and spread such a wonderful fortress over all of mankind, from which no one will
escape, but everyone must be caught in that fortress and necessarily accept His work, until they
attain their sublime goal. That is the collateral that God secured Himself with, to make sure no harm
comes to the deed of creation.

And after that he interprets it in detail and says - “the store is open”, meaning although this world
appears to be an open shop without an owner so that anyone who walks in may come and take as
one pleases, Rabbi Akiva warns us about the shopkeeper selling by deferred payment. That means
that although you cannot see any shopkeeper here, know that in fact there is one and the reason
that he does not charge you right away is because he sells it you by deferred payment.

And should you say - how does he know my debt? To that he replies - “the book is open and the
hand writes”. Meaning there is a book in which each act is written not losing even one, and the aim
revolves around the law of development that God has imprinted in mankind, which constantly
pushes us ahead.

That means that the corrupt conducts in the situations of humanity generate the good situations,
and each good situation is nothing but the fruit of the work in the bad situation that preceded it.
Indeed these values of good and bad do not refer to the situation itself, but to the general purpose,
that each situation that brings humanity closer to the goal is called good and the one that distances
it is called bad.

And by that standard alone the “law of development” builds. That the corruption and the evil that
takes form in a situation is deemed the cause and the generator of the good situation, in a way that
each situation lasts just enough time to grow the evil in it to such an extent that the public can no
longer bear it, at which time it must unite against it and destroy it and find a better one for the
correction of that generation.

And the new situation too lasts just as long as the sparks of evil in it ripen and rise to a level that
they can no longer be tolerated, at which time it must be destroyed and a more comfortable one is
built in its place. And so the situations follow one by one and degree by degree until they come to
such a corrected situation where there will be no sparks of evil.

And you find that the seeds from which grow the good situations are nothing but the corrupted acts
themselves, meaning that each exposed evil that comes from under the hands of the wicked in the
generation, join hand in hand and accumulate to a great sum, until the public can no longer bear it.
Then they stand up to it and ruin it and create a more desirable situation. Thus you see that each
specific evil becomes conditioned to the driving force by which the good situation will develop.

Those are the words of Rabbi Akiva - “the book is open and the hand writes”, for any situation that
any generation is placed under, is like a book. And all the evil doers are like writing hands, because
each evil is carved and written in the book until they come to an amount that the public cannot bear
any longer, at which time it ruins the evil situation and organizes under a more desirable one. Thus
each and every act is accounted for and written in the book, meaning in the situation.

And he says - “all those who want to borrow may come and borrow”, meaning he who believes that
this world is not like an open store without an owner, but that there is a shopkeeper who demands
the right price for the merchandise, meaning that he’ll toil in his work during the time he lives by that
store in a manner that is certain to bring him to the purpose of creation as He pleases.

Such a person is regarded as he who wants to borrow, meaning even before he reaches his hand to
take from this world, which is the store, he thus takes a loan in order to pay the price, meaning that
he takes upon himself to work and reach His goal during the time that he lives off the store, in a way
that he promises to pay his debt by coming to the desired goal. Therefore he is deemed as one who
wishes to borrow, meaning that he pledges to return the debt.

And Rabbi Akiva pictures two kinds of people: the first are the “open store” type. They regard this
world as an open store without a shopkeeper. About them he says - “the book is open and the hand
writes”, meaning although they cannot see that there is an account, their acts are written in the
book, which is done by the law of development imprinted in creation against humanity’s will, that the
actions of the evil themselves instigate the good actions, as we’ve shown before.

The second type of people are called those who “want to borrow”, which take into consideration the
shopkeeper and when they take from the store they do not take but as a loan. They promise to pay
the shopkeeper the desired price, meaning to attain by it the goal. About them he says: “those who
want to borrow may come and borrow”.

And if you say - what is the difference between the first kind, whose goal comes to them out of the
law of development, and the other kind whose goal comes to them by self enslavement to His work,
are they not equal in attaining the goal? And he says further: “and the collectors return regularly
and every day man repays both knowingly and unknowingly”, meaning it is true that both pay their
portion of the debt daily.

And just as the virtuous forces that emerge by dealing with His work are deemed the loyal collectors,
who collect their debt in portions every day, until it is completely paid, so are the mighty forces
imprinted in the law of development deemed also as collectors who collect their debt in portions
daily, until it is paid in full, as they say - “and the collectors return regularly and every day man
repays”.

Indeed there is a great difference and a great distance between them, meaning “knowingly and
unknowingly”. The first kind, whose debt is collected unknowingly by the collectors of development
pay their debt unknowingly, but stormy waves of gush wind of development come upon them and
push them from behind, forcing them to step forward.

Thus their debt is collected against their will and in great pain by the discoveries of the evil forces
that push them from behind. The second kind, however, pay their debt, which is the attainment of
the goal knowingly, of their own accord, by repeating after the virtuous acts that hasten the
development of the sense of recognition of evil. By that work they have a double gain:

The first is that the forces that appear out of His work are set before them as a pulling magnetic
force, who chase it of their own free will in the spirit of love. Needless to say they are free from any
kind of suffering that the first kind will suffer.

The second benefit is that they hasten their attainment of the desired goal, for they are the
righteous and the prophets who attain the goal in each generation, as it is explained in the article
The Essence of Kabbalah, in the item What this Wisdom Revolves Around.

Thus you see that there is a great distance between those who pay knowingly and those who pay
unknowingly, as the supremacy of the light of delight and pleasure over the darkness of pain and
agony. And he says further: “and they have what to rely on and the judgment is true”, meaning to
those who pay knowingly and willingly he promises that “they have what to rely on”, that there is
great strength in His work to bring them to the sublime goal and it is worth it to them to harness
themselves under His burden.

And of those who pay unknowingly he says: “and the judgment is true”. Seemingly one must wonder
why providence lets those corruptions and agonies exist in the world and lets humanity fry in them
mercilessly.

About that he says that that judgment is a “true judgment” because “all is ready for the feast”,
meaning for the true goal. And the sublime delight that is destined to emerge with the revelation of
His purpose in creation, that all the trouble and toil and anguish that befall us through time, are like
a host, who greatly troubles himself to prepare a great feast for the invited guests. And the
anticipated goal that must finally be revealed, resembles a feast whose guests attend with great
delight. Therefore he says “and the judgment is true and all is ready for the feast”.

Such as that you will find in Bereshit Rabba regarding the creation of Man: the angels asked: “what
is a man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him? (Psalms 8, 5)”,
meaning what do you need that trouble for? He tells them, so why were Tzona and Alafim created?
There is a proverb about a king who had a tower filled with goods, but no guests. What pleasure
does he take then in his full tower? They said to Him: Lord of the world, the Lord our master, how
great is your name in all the land, do that which pleases you.

Meaning, the angels saw the pain and agony that were to befall humanity and wondered - what do
you need this trouble for? And the Lord replied to them, that indeed he has a tower full of goods, but
only this humanity is invited to it. And of course that angels weighed in their minds the pleasures in
that tower that awaits its guests against the agony and trouble that await mankind, and when they
saw that it was worth it for humanity to suffer for the good that awaits them, they agreed upon the
creation of man, just as Rabbi Akiva said: “and the judgment is true and all is ready for the feast”,
that from the beginning of creation all people have reservations and the thought of the Creator
necessitates them to come to the feast, whether knowingly or unknowingly.

And now you will see the truth in the words of the prophet: “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and
the leopard shall lay down with the kid (Isaiah 11, 6)”. And he reasons all that “the earth shall be full
of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11, 9)”. Thus we see that the
prophet conditions peace in the whole world with the filling of the whole world with the knowledge of
God, just as we have said that the tough, egoistic resistance between people, along with
deterioration in the international relationships, all these will not cease from the world by any human
counsel under any conditions.

Our eyes can see how the poor sick turn over in dreadful pain, and humanity has already thrown
itself to the extreme right as with Germany or to the extreme left, as with Russia, and not only did
they not ease the pain, they have worsened the malady and agony and the voices rise up to the sky
as we all know.

Therefore they have no counsel but to come to the acceptance of His burden, meaning that they
aim their acts to the will of the Lord and to His purpose, as He had planned prior to creation. And
when they do that, it is plain to see that with His work all envy and hatred will be abolished from
mankind as I have shown above thus far, because then all members of humanity will unite into one
body with one heart full of the knowledge of the Lord. Thus, world peace and the knowledge of God
are one and the same thing.

Immediately after that the prophet says: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set
his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people etc. and gather together the
dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth (Isaiah 11-12)”. We learn that world peace
comes before the gathering of the Diaspora.

Now you can understand the words of our sages: “The Creator did not find a vessel to hold the
blessing for Israel but peace alone”, as it says: “The Lord shall give strength to his people, the Lord
shall bless his people with peace (Psalms 29, 11)”. And seemingly one should wonder at the words -
“a vessel to hold the blessing for Israel”, and also how does one conclude that from these words?

But these words become clear to them as the prophecy of Isaiah that world peace must come before
the gathering of the Diaspora. That is why it says - “The Lord shall give strength to his people
(Psalms 29, 11)”, that in the future, when the Lord gives His people strength, meaning eternal
resurrection, then “the Lord shall bless his people with peace (Psalms 29, 11)”. That means that He
will first bless His people - Israel - with peace in the whole world, and then He will “set his hand again
the second time to recover the remnant of his people (Isaiah 11, 11)”.

Our sages said about the reason in the words - therefore the blessing of the peace of the whole
world precedes the strength, meaning the redemption, because “God did not find a vessel to hold
the blessing for Israel but peace”. Meaning, as long as self love and egoism exist among the
nations, Israel too will not be able to worship the Lord in purity, as bestowal, as it says in the
explanation for the words - “And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests (Exodus 19, 6)” in the
article The Pledge. We see it from experience, for the coming to the land and the building of the
Temple could not persist and receive the blessing that God has sworn to our fathers.

And that is what they said: “God did not find a vessel to hold the blessing”, meaning thus far Israel
did not have a vessel to hold the blessing of the fathers. Therefore the oath that we can inherit the
land for all eternity has not yet been fulfilled, because world peace is the sole vessel that enables us
to receive the blessing of the fathers, as it says in the prophecy of Isaiah.

Author: Rabbi Y. Ashlag
Translator: C. Ratz
Proofreading: J. Kersen

Reprinted with Permission from Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Academy