Bilvavi Part 5 - 235 Satisfying Yourself

בלבבי משכן אבנה ח"ה – עמ' רלה-רלו מאמר נא

“Kol”: Revealing Your Ability To Have “Everything” In You

It is written, “And Moshe said, so said Hashem, at about midnight, I will go out, in the midst of Egypt.” Why did Hashem have to come precisely at midnight?

The word for midnight is “chatzos”, from the word “chatzi”, halfway, which implies something partial and thus incomplete. The opposite of something partial is when it is complete: when it is kol, “everything”. Yaakov Avinu possessed the quality called kol, of feeling that he had everything, for he said, “I have everything.” [He felt complete from within himself].

[To further illustrate this concept], the six days of the week were each “partial”, for on each day, more of the Creation was created. It represents the concept of chatzos, for it was partial, half. But Shabbos represents the concept of kol, when “everything” is here. Hashem “finished” the Creation on Shabbos, for Creation was complete then; everything was now complete. Shabbos is the revelation of the concept of kol\everything.

Hashem Coming Into Egypt: The Revelation of “Everything” Within The “Confines”

The redemption from Egypt thus came about through the final plague, which was the death to the firstborns. It came in the midnight; the reason for this is because was that the “partial” was being nullified, and in its place, “everything” was revealed. “At about midnight, I will go out in the midst of Egypt” - The “I” of Hashem was revealed then – and that is kol, everything.

It is precisely within the Egypt that the “I” of Hashem went out, to show that even within the worst confines, “everything” can be revealed and banish away all the incompleteness.

The confines of Egypt represent the limitations placed on us; when we are limited, we cannot be complete. With the plague of the death of the firstborn, however, it was revealed that even within the limitations, perfection and completeness can be revealed: the perfection of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. It was revealed then that all of the limitations and confines on us are only external; in the inner dimension, there is only HaKadosh Baruch Hu, Who is kol – everything.

The Ultimate Rectification For Damaging The ‘Yesod’

The sefarim hakedoshim revealed that the reason why we had to endure the Egyptian exile was to rectify the 130 years after Adam’s sin, in which he separated from Chavah; during that time, [sperm left his body][1], and thus his trait of Yesod (“foundation”: guarding your personal holiness) was damaged; and Yesod is also known as kol\everything, so we needed to get back our aspect of “kol.”

The rectification began with Yosef HaTzaddik when he first went down to Egypt, and he was tested in the area of Yesod (guarding his personal holiness.) At the end of the exile of Egypt, the aspect of Yesod\Kol\everything was once again revealed in its pure and complete form.

Thus, the death of the firstborn was an end to the “chatzos”, to the “partial” level of man in which man is limited and confined; and in its place came the revelation of the level of kol, “everything”, the perfected level of man [when man realizes that he contains in himself ‘everything’ he needs]. The end to the exile of Egypt was now completely realized, and the Jewish people could now be redeemed.

The trait of Yesod (guarding one’s personal holiness) is referred to in the statement of Chazal about the desires of one’s evil inclination, that “There is a small organ in a man’s body. If you satisfy it, you starve it; if you starve it, you satisfy it.”[2] The deeper understanding of Chazal’s words is as follows: “Starving” the male organ is really a revelation of one’s Yesod, for man’s Yesod is parallel to the concept of “Kol”, “everything.” Because when a person realizes he has everything inside of him, he knows that he lacks for anything [and thus he will not be seeking anything outside of himself, so he will not seek to satisfy his male drives].

In other words, “starving” your physical lusts doesn’t mean that you force yourself to simply “starve” it. Rather, it means to reveal your aspect of completion within yourself; to realize that you lack for nothing. Because your Yesod implies that you really contain everything you need inside of yourself - for Yesod, by its very essence, is your all-inclusive aspect.

Understand this well…