The Gift of Grace

The Gift of Grace

Baal HaSulam

.A rich man once gathered a person from the market

He gave him food and drink

And showered him with silver and gold

And other valuables each day.

And every day his gifts surpassed

The gifts of the previous day,

Continuing on and on.

Finally, the rich man asked,

"Tell me, have all your wishes been fulfilled?"

And the man replied, "Not all my wishes have been fulfilled,

For how good and how delighted I would be

If all of these valuables

Came to me through my own efforts

As they came to you,

And I would not be receiving gifts at your grace."

Then the rich man replied,

"In that case, never has a man been created

Who can fulfill your wishes."

All is Measured according to the Vessel

All is Measured according to the Vessel

Rabash

A father gives his young son

A penny a day.

If his love for his son grows,

And he wishes to make him happy

And give him five cents,

The child sees

That he has now received a larger gift.

Surely he will admiringly wish

To praise and thank

His father for that.

But if later on

His father chooses to give him

One penny as before,

His son will fill with anger at his father

For the smaller amount he has now received.

It follows that

Yesterday’s bonus

Was not enough to bring him closer.

Rather, by the father increasing his goodness,

The son has become farther from his father,

Since in his mind,

His father is obligated and must increase his gifts daily.

Father Creates Vessels

Father Creates Vessels

Baal HaSulam

 

  Consider a person

Whose trade is to create clay vases and vessels.

First, he makes round balls of clay,

And then he carves holes in the balls.

When his young son

Sees what his father is doing

He cries out:

"Father, why are you ruining the balls?"

His son does not realize

That his father's main intent

Is the holes,

As only they can be filled and receive.

But the son wishes to fill the holes

That his father made in the balls.

An Allegory of a Tiny Vessel

An Allegory of a Tiny Vessel

Baal HaSulam
 

What does one do if he wishes to give his friend

A barrel full of wine,

But his friend has only a tiny cup?

He pours wine into that cup,

And his friend takes it home

And empties it there.

Then he returns with the cup

Fills it with wine once more,

And again returns to his home,

Until he receives all the barrels of wine.

 

I heard another tale.

Once there were two friends,

One of whom became a king,

And the other a pauper.

When he heard that his friend

Had become a king,

The pauper approached his friend, the king,

And told him of his misfortune.

So the king gave him

A letter for the treasurer,

Allowing him two hours to take

As much money as he wanted.

 

The pauper went to the treasury

With a tiny box.

He entered and filled his tiny box with money.

But as he was leaving,

The clerk kicked the box

And all the money fell to the ground.

And so it happened again and again.

And the pauper cried,

"Why are you treating me this way?"

Finally, the clerk told him:

"All the money you have taken

All this time

Is yours.

You may take it all.

Because you had no vessel

With which to take enough money from the treasury,

I played this trick on you."

 

The Master's Trusted Servant

The Master's Trusted Servant

Baal HaSulam

 

This is a story

About a man, a trusted servant

Of a certain master,

Whom the master loved as himself.

One time,

The master went away,

Leaving his business in the hands of his substitute,

A man who hated the servant.

What did he do?

He took the servant

And whipped him five lashes

In public for all to see,

To degrade him and humiliate him.

 

When the master returned,

The servant approached him

And told him what had happened.

The master was infuriated.

He called for his substitute

And ordered him to immediately give the servant

One thousand coins for each whipping.

The servant took the money and returned to his home.

His wife found him weeping,

Anxiously she said:

"What happened between you and the master?"

He told her.

She asked, "So why are you crying?"

He replied, "I am crying because

He whipped me only five lashes.

I wish he had whipped me

At least ten lashes,

Since now I would have

Ten thousand coins."

A Voice Calls Unto Him

A Voice Calls Unto Him

Baal HaSulam

If one is lost in the thick woods,

If he does not see any way out

To reach a town,

He becomes desperate,

And thinks he will never return home.

When he sees someone from a distance

Or hears someone's voice,

His desire to return home will instantly revive as before,

And he will begin to yell and cry out for someone

To come and save him.

It is likewise with one who has lost

The good path, and

Entered an evil place,

And has grown accustomed

To living among vicious animals.

If he hears the voice calling out to him,

He awakens to repent

For this is the voice of the Creator, not his own.

Thus, when the Creator

Wishes to lead us out of the dense forest

He shows us a glitter from afar.

Then the person musters what strength he has left

To walk on the path towards the glitter, in order to reach it.

Only the Heroes

Only the Heroes

Baal HaSulam
 

Once, a king wished to select

All of his most loyal and loving subjects in the country

And bring them to work inside his palace.

What did he do?

He issued a decree across the land,

That anyone who so desired,

Big and small,

Would come to him

And engage in work inside his palace.

But he positioned many of his servants

As guards at the gate of the palace,

And on all the roads leading to his palace.

He ordered them to cunningly mislead

All those who came close to his palace,

And to divert them from the road that led to the palace.

Naturally, all the people of the kingdom

Started running to the king's castle,

But they were turned away by the diligent guards.

Yet, many overcame them

And succeeded in getting closer to the castle's gate.

Still, the guards at the gate were most diligent,

And whomever approached the gate

Was driven off with great shrewdness,

Until the people left as they had arrived.

 

And so they came and went, and came and went,

regained their strength and came again, time after time

For days and years on end

Until they tried no more.

And only the heroes among them

Whose patience had held up

defeated those guards

And opened the gate.

And they were instantly greeted by the king,

Who appointed each to

The suitable position.

Of course, from then on,

They had no dealings

With the guards

Who had discouraged them and driven them away,

Making their lives bitter

For days and years on end,

Making them run back and forth to the gate.

For they had been rewarded with working and serving

Before the glorious light, the king’s face,

Inside his palace.

The Difference between Envy and Lust

 

The Difference between Envy and Lust

Rabash
 

There once was a greedy man,

Who coveted everything he saw,

And a jealous man,

Who always envied what others owned,

Although he needed nothing.

They walked along together.

On the way, the king met them.

He said, "One of you

Shall ask something of me,

And I will grant it;

Then I will give the other

Double."

 

The greedy one desired both parts.

Hence, he did not wish to be the first to ask.

And the other didn't wish to ask first, either,

As he would be jealous of his friend

If he received twice what he, himself, was given.

Finally, the greedy one urged the envious one

To ask first.

What did the envious one do?

He asked for one of his eyes to be blinded,

So the king would give the greedy one double,

blinding both his eyes.