QUESTION:
1) Why is it that sometimes there are wicked people who were sent to come back in another lifetime and they achieved a tikkun for their soul? For example the Rama m’Pano says that Vashti came back as a cow who wouldn’t work on Shabbos, and the owner (who was a reincarnation of Achashveirosh) got angry at the cow for not working and he took a knife and killed the cow in his anger, and this is how Vashti fixed her sin of making the Jewish girls work on Shabbos. Why would such an evil person like Vashti have the zechus to come back down again and fix her soul?
ANSWER:
When wicked souls comes back in another lifetime, any tikkun they reach can only be for part of their soul and not for their entire soul, and only for the good sparks that were present in their soul.
QUESTION
2) As an aside, the sefarim explain that Vashti represents kelipas noga, the part of our being which is mixed with good and mixed with evil, which needs to be sanctified and turned into holiness. Is that the reason why Vashti merited a tikkun?
ANSWER
Her tikkun was only for the good sparks in her soul, as mentioned.
QUESTION
3) And if a wicked person (such as Vashti) gets a tikkun for her soul, does that mean that the wicked person goes to Gan Eden afterwards?
ANSWER
Same answer as before [only the good parts in her soul are raised to Gan Eden].
QUESTION
4) In our generation, there are many contradicting aspects in all of our souls, and as the Rav explained, because most of the generation today have souls that are a combination of many souls together in one body. Does this mean also that there are souls of completely wicked people as well as souls of completely righteous people who can be inhabiting one soul? Can any of us be a combination of both a total rasha and a total tzaddik (or more)? And, would that be the reason why we can feel a pull towards the most evil things possible, yet we can also feel the pull towards d’veykus and hiskalelus in Hashem, and all the other qualities of tzaddikim?
ANSWER
Yes! And, it is also because we are in a time period (End of Days) where opposites are becoming integrated together all at once, “like a bolt of lightning”.
QUESTION
Are all of us essentially complete tzaddikim, since we are all a “portion of G-d from above”, a Yechidah, and it is just that we have “others” living inside of us who are not tzaddikim and worse, who are all inhabiting the lower parts of our soul which are from the Chayah level of the soul and downward? Do we need to define ourselves as actually being a Yechidah or rather as a neshamah (with the Yechidah surrounding us but not actually being who we are? Since our inner essence is the Yechidah part of the soul, does that mean that our Yechidah is who we really are? Or is the Yechidah out of our reach?
ANSWER
In order for any Jew to define himself as actually being the Yechidah part of the soul (which is intrinsically connected with Hashem), one would need to reveal the illumination of “Mashiach” in his own personal soul. That is why the sefer Da Es Atzmecha is coming to explain that we need to define ourselves as a neshamah.
QUESTION
6) If there exists a “spark of Erev Rav” within our soul, as well as part of ourselves that are a total tzaddik, and if we choose to let the tzaddik part of ourselves dominate over the evil parts of our being, does that raise the “Erev Rav spark” within us into holiness? And if yes, does that mean that this evil part of our soul achieves a tikkun? Or do we have to look at it that we need to destroy and erase the “Erev Rav” within us (the parts of our character that are totally evil) by choosing truth, righteousness, and living a life of holiness, etc.? And would that make the “Erev Rav” parts of ourselves fall away, leaving us with only the parts of ourselves that are completely a tzaddik?
ANSWER
[The evil parts in us need to become] nullified, integrated into holiness, through the secret of revealing our soul’s deep yearning for Hashem, to be burned up and destroyed so that we can go back to Hashem – to reach the state of hiskalelus, becoming integrated with Hashem.
QUESTION
2) As an aside, the sefarim explain that Vashti represents kelipas noga, the part of our being which is mixed with good and mixed with evil, which needs to be sanctified and turned into holiness. Is that the reason why Vashti merited a tikkun?
ANSWER
Her tikkun was only for the good sparks in her soul, as mentioned.
QUESTION
3) And if a wicked person (such as Vashti) gets a tikkun for her soul, does that mean that the wicked person goes to Gan Eden afterwards?
ANSWER
Same answer as before [only the good parts in her soul are raised to Gan Eden].
QUESTION
4) In our generation, there are many contradicting aspects in all of our souls, and as the Rav explained, because most of the generation today have souls that are a combination of many souls together in one body. Does this mean also that there are souls of completely wicked people as well as souls of completely righteous people who can be inhabiting one soul? Can any of us be a combination of both a total rasha and a total tzaddik (or more)? And, would that be the reason why we can feel a pull towards the most evil things possible, yet we can also feel the pull towards d’veykus and hiskalelus in Hashem, and all the other qualities of tzaddikim?
ANSWER
Yes! And, it is also because we are in a time period (End of Days) where opposites are becoming integrated together all at once, “like a bolt of lightning”.
QUESTION
Are all of us essentially complete tzaddikim, since we are all a “portion of G-d from above”, a Yechidah, and it is just that we have “others” living inside of us who are not tzaddikim and worse, who are all inhabiting the lower parts of our soul which are from the Chayah level of the soul and downward? Do we need to define ourselves as actually being a Yechidah or rather as a neshamah (with the Yechidah surrounding us but not actually being who we are? Since our inner essence is the Yechidah part of the soul, does that mean that our Yechidah is who we really are? Or is the Yechidah out of our reach?
ANSWER
In order for any Jew to define himself as actually being the Yechidah part of the soul (which is intrinsically connected with Hashem), one would need to reveal the illumination of “Mashiach” in his own personal soul. That is why the sefer Da Es Atzmecha is coming to explain that we need to define ourselves as a neshamah.
QUESTION
6) If there exists a “spark of Erev Rav” within our soul, as well as part of ourselves that are a total tzaddik, and if we choose to let the tzaddik part of ourselves dominate over the evil parts of our being, does that raise the “Erev Rav spark” within us into holiness? And if yes, does that mean that this evil part of our soul achieves a tikkun? Or do we have to look at it that we need to destroy and erase the “Erev Rav” within us (the parts of our character that are totally evil) by choosing truth, righteousness, and living a life of holiness, etc.? And would that make the “Erev Rav” parts of ourselves fall away, leaving us with only the parts of ourselves that are completely a tzaddik?
ANSWER
[The evil parts in us need to become] nullified, integrated into holiness, through the secret of revealing our soul’s deep yearning for Hashem, to be burned up and destroyed so that we can go back to Hashem – to reach the state of hiskalelus, becoming integrated with Hashem.
Categories
