"Speak unto the children of Israel: When a man or
woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to commit a trespass against the
L·rd, and that soul is guilty. Then they shall confess their sin which they have
done; and he shall make restitution for his guilt in full." (Numbers 5:6)
I heard from my Master [the Baal Shem Tov]
that the pleasure of sin derives from the sparks of the Primordial Kings that
fell during the Shattering [of the Vessels] into the Bright Shell
[Kelipat Noga].
The Zohar and Lurianic writings speak of a cataclysmic
event at the early stages of the creation called the "Breaking of the Vessels,"
or the "Death of the Eight Kings," based upon the verse:
"These are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any
king over the children of Israel." (Genesis 36:31) According to this teaching, the light that
emanated from the G·d-head to fill the vessels of creation was too strong, and
the eight lower Sefirot, from Da'at to Malchut, shattered
and fell into the Kelipat Noga, a realm of creation that stands
between the pure and the impure. (See the Book of Tanya for a full discussion of
this level of creation and our relationship to it.)
It is through this very spark that a person comes
to repent.
These are the sparks of holiness that are enclothed in
and enliven all elements of creation. They are the spiritual root of all
physical pleasure, including the pleasure derived from sin. It is the role of
human beings to uplift these sparks to their supernal root. This is done through
the path of Torah and mitzvot, and in the case of sin, through the act of
repentance, as this teaching of the Baal Shem Tov explains.
It is through this very spark that a person comes
to repent. For when a person regrets his sins, he uplifts this spark to the
Supernal World…
That is, a person who repents literally bears, or
lifts up, the sin that he committed and returns the spark of holiness to its
source.
…as it is written: "who bears iniquity..."
(Exodus 34:7)
[Translation and commentary from
Tzafnah Paneach, Teruma 3, p. 90b
by Rabbi Dr. Eliezer Shore.]
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