Rav Nahman.Where is your glory?

When a person follows his own intellect and cleverness, he can fall into many mistakes and pitfalls, and come to great evil, God forbid. There are those who have caused tremendous damage, like the famous outstanding villains who have led the world astray—all on account of their cleverness and intellect.

The essence of Judaism is to conduct oneself solely with innocence and simplicity, without any sophistication. A person has to ascertain that God is present in whatever he does, without any concern whatsoever for his own esteem. He should do it only if it brings glory to God; but if not, not. This way he will certainly never stumble.

And even when he falls into doubts, God forbid—and one’s descent can be extremely great, may the Merciful One spare us, so that one falls into doubts and heretical thoughts and even questions God—even so, the downfall and descent is for the sake of the ascent [that follows].

Know! glory is the root of the entire creation. For whatever God created He did so solely for His glory, as it is written (Isaiah 43:7), “Everything that is called by My Name, for My glory have I created it…” (Yoma 38a). And since everything has been created for the sake of God’s glory, it follows that His glory is the root of the entire creation.

Now, although it is all one, creation is nevertheless comprised of parts, and each individual part of the creation contains its own unique aspect of glory, which is its root. This is the meaning of: With ten utterances the world was created. Could it not have been created with a single utterance? However, it was created with ten utterances for the sake of reward and punishment (Avot 5:1). And each utterance contains its own unique aspect of glory, which is its root, for glory is the root of all things.

This is the meaning of “and in His Sanctuary, everything declares: ‘Glory!’” (Psalms 29:9). Enclothed in each utterance is God’s glory, through which the world was created, for “the whole earth is filled with His glory” (Isaiah 6:3).

And even in transgressions and evil things, God forbid… God’s glory is not present, as in “I will not give My glory to another” (Isaiah 42:8). For glory has a limit beyond which it will not spread, so that even though “the whole earth is filled with His glory,” there is nevertheless a limit when it reaches the aforementioned places, such that it will not extend out to there, as in “I will not give My glory to another.” Thus each [aspect of] glory enclothed in each one of the Ten Utterances has its limit that keeps it from spreading to the “outside” places...

But know! despite this, indubitably they too receive life-force from God. Even the “filthy places” and temples of idolatry also need to obtain life-force from God.

However, know that they receive it from the concept of the Hidden Utterance. This is Bereishit—a sealed utterance, which includes all the others and all of them receive their life-force from it. The glory associated with the Hidden Utterance is sealed and hidden in the utmost concealment. It is from there that they obtain life-force. For it is impossible for them to receive life-force from the revealed utterances and glory, as in “I will not give My glory to another,” as mentioned above. It is only from the Hidden Utterance, which is concealed in the utmost concealment, that they receive life-force. This matter is incomprehensible, and it is forbidden to ponder it at all.

Therefore, when a person falls into places of this sort, God forbid—i.e., into the “filthy places,” falling into doubts, heresy and great confusion—if he then begins examining himself and sees that he is very far from God’s glory—and as a consequence of his seeing himself far from His glory, having fallen into such places, God spare us, he asks and seeks, “Where is the place of His glory?”—this, this, is the essence of his rectification and ascent, as in the concept brought in the writings: “The descent is for the sake of the ascent [that follows].”

For “Ayeh (Where) is the place of His glory?” alludes to the supreme glory of the highest utterance, i.e., the Hidden Utterance/ Bereishit , from where the life-force for these places is drawn. And so, when a person seeks and searches “Ayeh is the place of His glory?”—through this itself he returns and ascends to the supreme glory, the concept of Ayeh, which, by virtue of its great concealment and hiddenness, gives life to those places. Thus now, by having fallen there and consequently sought “Ayeh is the place of His glory?” he re-connects himself to there, and so instills vitality into his downfall and rises up to the highest heights.

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This is also the concept of repentance. The essence of repentance is when a person seeks and searches for the glory of God, and, seeing for himself that he is far from His glory, yearns for it and asks in frustration, “Ayeh is the place of His glory?” This in itself is his repentance and rectification, as mentioned above. Understand this well.

There is much more to this. For when a person goes on a journey, or when he travels along spiritual paths, the Torah goes before him, as in “When you walk, it will guide you” (Proverbs 6:22). For there are many aspects to this, because each person [goes] according to his Torah. And prior to each [revelation of] Torah there are the aforementioned types of doubt, as, for example, with Torah novellae. Prior to originating a new insight, a person experiences many uncertainties and confusions before he properly elucidates and clarifies the matter. These uncertainties are the concept of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which is the concept of nogah. But when he arrives at the Torah itself, that corresponds to the Tree of Life….

The following relates to the above: And this is the concept of: If someone should ask you, “Where is your God?” tell him, “In the great walled city of Rome” (Yerushalmi, Taanit 1:1, p.3a). There too! Although it is filled with graven images and idolatry, the Blessed One is even there, concealed!

This is the rule: When a person falls into there, God forbid, then when he consequently begins to ask, “Ayeh is the place of His glory?” he thereby revives himself with the life-force of holiness. For the life-force of the kelipot comes only from the concealment, from the fact that God is so thoroughly concealed there that people are completely unaware of Him.

But the moment a person asks, “Ayeh is the place of His glory?” it indicates that he at least knows that God exists; only that He is concealed and hidden, and this is why he inquires, “Where is the place of His glory?” And with this in itself he revives himself in the place to which he has fallen.

For Ayeh corresponds to the Hidden Utterance, from where [the kelipot] obtain life-force. However, the life-force of the kelipot derives from the concealment, whereas he revives himself in the place of his fall with the life-force of holiness, by seeking and searching “Where is the place of His glory?”

Then afterwards, he merits ascending from there entirely, to holiness itself—i.e., to the place where God’s glory is revealed. For the revelation of His glory is the essence of holiness.