What Is the Degree One Should Reach

What is the Degree One should Reach

Question: What is the degree one should reach, from which one does not have to come here a second time? It is written in the book Shaar Hagilgulim (Gate to Reincarnation) that “All the children of Israel must reincarnate until they become complete with their entire NRNHY. However, most people don’t have all the five parts called NRNHY, but only Nefesh, which comes from Assiya.” This means that each person must only correct one’s own part and the root of one’s own soul, nothing more. For that person, that completes the correction. The thing is that we must know that all the souls come from the soul of Adam HaRishon. After the sin of the tree of knowledge Adam’s soul broke into 600,000 souls. This means that the single Light that Adam HaRishon had in the Garden of Eden, which the Zohar calls, “Zihara Ilaa” (Upper Light), now fragmented into many parts. In the book Panim Masbirot Baal HaSulam writes, “After the good mixed with the bad (meaning after the sin), there established a great structure of Klipot with the power to cling to Kedusha. In order to beware of them, the Light of the seven days of creation was divided into very small particles, which are too small for the Klipot to suck from. It can be compared to a king who wished to deliver a great sum of money to his son who lived across the sea. Alas, all the people in the king’s domain were conniving thieves, and the king could not find a loyal emissary. What did he do? He divided the money to pennies and sent them with a great number of emissaries. Thus, they did not find the pleasure of theft worth dishonoring the kingship. In this manner of an order of times in many souls, the illumination of the days enabled the scrutiny of all the holy sparks that were robbed by the Klipot by the sin of the tree of knowledge. A great number of souls means that the Light is divided into many inner lights, and the meaning of many days is a division into many outer lights. From pennies come pounds, being the great Light that caused the sin of Adam HaRishon, and then will the end of correction come. This leads to the conclusion that every one is born with but a small part of the soul of Adam HaRishon. When one corrects that part, there is no longer a need to continue the reincarnations. That is why one can only correct that which belongs to one’s own share. It is written about it in the Tree of Life that, “There is not a day that is like another day, or moment that is like another moment, and there is not a person who is like another person. The Helbona (part of the sacred incense) will correct what the Levona (another part of the sacred incense) will not. Each must correct one’s own part.” However, we must know that every person has a choice, for one is not born righteous. Our sages said, “Rabbi Hanina Bar Papa said: ‘The angel that is appointed on conception, its name is Lila (Night). It takes a drop and brings it before the Creator and says: ‘This drop, what shall become of it? Will it be a hero or a weakling, a wise or a fool, a rich or a poor? But it does not ask, ‘Will it be righteous or wicked?’” This means that one is not born righteous, for he did not ask, “Will it be righteous or wicked?” This is given to our choice, each person according to his or her labor in Torah and Mitzvot. In this manner one comes to cleanse one’s heart and correct what one must according the root of his soul, and by that one reaches wholeness.