Хасидус к Берешит 2:9

And it was at the end of two full years. In the Midrash Rabbah and in the holy Zohar, they began this portion with the verse, "He setteth an end to darkness" (Job 28:3). And it says in the Midrash Rabbah that as long as the evil inclination is in the world, gloom and darkness are in the world. As it is written, "A land of thick darkness, as darkness itself" (Job 10:22). When the evil inclination is uprooted from the world, there is no gloom and darkness in the world. Another interpretation: "He setteth an end to darkness" - He gave a time to Joseph, how many years he should be in darkness, etc. The matter is that beforehand Joseph was in the pit for ten years (as mentioned in Shemot Rabbah, portion 7), and in many places the number ten indicates a complete number of the ten Sefirot. This means that he rectified his aspect in all the ten attributes. And afterwards, he was there for two more years, and they said in Bereishit Rabbah that because he said to the chief butler, "But have me in thy remembrance…and make mention of me" (Genesis 40:14), two years were added to him. And certainly, Joseph did not rely on the chief butler, God forbid, for have they not taught, "Happy is the man that maketh the Lord his trust" (Psalms 40:5) - this is Joseph. Rather, because he saw with the holy spirit that his salvation was destined to come through the chief butler, and as it truly was in the end, therefore he said to him, "But have me in thy remembrance," etc. However, this is still a touch of self-interest, and this comes through the serpent's venom that entered into man to feel the pleasure of the body. And this is considered for the level of Joseph the righteous as a sin, for truly according to his level, he should have left it to God, who would surely finish it for him for the good without his efforts. And it says (Shabbat 55b), "Four died due to the serpent's venom...and the whole Gemara except for Yishai, the father of David, for whom the verse is interpreted, 'Is he then a serpent (נחש)?'…'Is he then one who died due to the serpent's venom?'…and he is called a serpent." And this is according to what is written (Midrash Rabbah, beginning of Parshat Tazria), "'For in iniquity was I brought forth' (Psalms 51:7) - in iniquity is written fully (as opposed to the expected defective spelling). Even if he is the most pious of the pious, it is impossible that he should not have one aspect of iniquity, etc." And this is the serpent's venom that the serpent injected into Adam that he should feel his own pleasure. And therefore, after Joseph the righteous clarified himself in all attributes, he had to further clarify himself regarding the matter of the serpent's venom. And after he clarified himself in these two levels and merited to be "He setteth an end to darkness," that the evil inclination was uprooted from his heart, he still had business in the world, for he lived afterwards for eighty years. And anyone who has no business at all, when he is completely finished, has no life in this world, as it is written, "I can no more go out and come in" (Deuteronomy 31:2). But as long as he still has business, even though he lives without the evil inclination, he still has life in this world, as we find with Jacob our forefather, for it is written, "And Jacob lived" (Genesis 47:28), and it says (Seder Olam Rabbah, chapter 5) that he merited life without suffering and without the evil inclination. And it teaches us in this portion that the main business of man is to be "He setteth an end to darkness," to uproot the evil inclination from his heart. And afterwards, he still has business to rectify the serpent's venom, which is the touch of self-pleasure. And the main rectification is through the Torah, which is called the Tree of Life, as it says (beginning of Seder Olam Rabbah), "There is no Tree of Life other than the Torah." And in the holy Zohar, this portion (202a), "For there is no word to break the evil inclination other than the Torah." And behold, we have already said in what is written in the Tikunei Zohar (Tikun 24), and also in the Tikunei Zohar Chadash, regarding the Tree of Knowledge, one said it was wheat, and another said it was a grapevine, and all is true, the seven species are, etc. And seemingly, how is it possible that they are all true in a matter of dispute about reality? And we said that it is written, "And the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil" (Genesis 2:9). And this means that the inner essence of all the trees of the garden was the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and this power was given to them that if he had tasted from the Tree of Life first, he would have felt in his eating from every fruit of the garden the taste of the Tree of Life, "Come, eat of my bread" (Proverbs 9:5), which is Torah. And since he tasted from the Tree of Knowledge, the mixture was made, and he tasted in all his eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. And this is what he felt of his own pleasure, which is the serpent's venom. (And it is explained in Genesis, from verse 8). And behold, after the sin, it is written, "And now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever" (Genesis 3:22). And one must understand, what harm would it be if he would eat from the Tree of Life and live forever? And especially according to what is written in the Tanna Devei Eliyahu that the Tree of Life is Torah, let him eat from the Torah and rectify the sin. However, it is according to what is written (Bereishit Rabbah, chapter 21), "And now - there is no 'and now' other than repentance, and he says 'lest' - and there is no 'lest' other than a prohibition." And this means that God opened for him a gate of repentance, and he did not want to repent, and God said "lest" through the serpent's incitement he will "put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life." And in the manner of what is written in the book Divrei Menachem from the holy Rabbi of Rimanov on the verse, "And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife" (Genesis 22:10), that in all the deeds that were the will of God, the limbs of Abraham our forefather would do them on their own from the great enthusiasm, and so it was in every deed of the binding, except for the deed of taking the knife, which was not in His will, may He be blessed, for He did not want to slaughter him, therefore the hands of Abraham our forefather did not want to take it. Only Abraham our forefather suspected himself that perhaps it is from the incitement and laziness of the evil inclination, and therefore it is written, "And he stretched forth his hand" by force to take the knife, end of quote. And similarly here it is written, "lest he put forth his hand," that is, by force, not with the desire of the heart, only through the serpent's and the evil inclination's incitement. And this is what is written, "and take also of the tree of life" - "also" specifically, that he will not cast away his evil deeds. And the Tree of Life will be secondary, and then it will harm what he eats from the Tree of Life, and to what is written, "But unto the wicked God saith: 'What hast thou to do to declare My statutes'" (Psalms 50:16), etc., and when he learns words of Torah and does not rectify his deeds first to be "turn away from evil" (Psalms 34:15). Through the words of Torah, he adds power to the shell, as it is written (Shabbat 88b), "To those who place it on their left hand, it is a deadly poison." And this is when he learns through the serpent's and the evil inclination's incitement. And after he merits to uproot the evil inclination, man has further business in rectifying the serpent's venom. And "at the end of two years," when he clarifies himself in these two aspects, he merits life without the evil inclination, and nevertheless, he has business in this world. And it is that two indicates that it has become a presumption, for in two times we also find in the Torah that it is written, "Lest he die also, as his brother did" (Genesis 38:11). And it is a dispute of the Tannaim (Yevamot 64b) whether in two times it is a presumption or specifically in three times. And these and these are the words of the living God, that also in two times it is strengthened, as we find (Yoma 86b), "Once a man has committed a transgression and repeated it…it becomes to him as if it were permitted." And good deeds are even greater. And when he clarifies himself in these two aspects, "at the end of two years," then "He setteth an end to darkness," that he is secure from the evil inclination that it will not rule over him. However, he still has business in this world until he clarifies himself in the third aspect, and then it is a presumption, and he is complete in every way, and he has no business at all in this world, as it is written, "I can no more go out and come in." And "at the end of two years" indicates that the evil inclination was uprooted from his heart, and nevertheless, he had business in this world, as we see with Joseph, who lived afterwards for eighty years. And when the evil inclination is uprooted, there is no gloom and darkness, which the serpent caused. And the eating of Shabbat is from the side of the Tree of Life, and they are a rectification for the serpent's blemish, which was in eating. And the Greeks wanted to make them forget Your Torah, for the letters of "darkness" (חש"ך) are "forgetfulness" (שכח"ה), and in Bereishit Rabbah it is expounded, "And darkness - this is Greece, which darkened the eyes of Israel," for all their decrees were to nullify the words of Torah. And through Your holy priests, they merited light, which is the aspect of "remember," a place where there is no forgetting and forgetting does not exist in it, as it is written in the holy Zohar (Part 2, 92b

Bond your thoughts to HaShem above. Do not eat or drink excessively, nor eat for pleasure, but solely to maintain your health.¹¹Mishneh Torah, Hilchot De’ot, 3:2 & Ch. 4. Do not look into the matters of this world at all, nor think about them altogether.¹²Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 7:1; Hilchot Teshuvah 10:6 On the contrary, in all things endeavor to separate yourself from physicality. For by gazing at the matters of this world you become gross and spiritually callous, as our sages, of blessed memory, said,¹³Talmud Bavli Menachot 53b; Midrash Tanchuma 15; Rashi Numbers 15:39. “Seeing leads to remembering, which leads to lust,” as written about the Tree of Knowledge, that it was,¹⁴Genesis 2:9 “Pleasing to the sight and good to eat,” that is, its appearance is what made it desirable.

The essence of unification is not to separate the mind from speech, and not to mix evil into the good. This is the meaning of (Genesis 2:9) "The tree of knowledge of good and evil," and (Proverbs 30:23) "A slave-girl who supplants her mistress -" all hinting at the upper waters.