It is said: “I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah (Light) as the means to correct it.” And indeed, it is the most important condition because all other provisions, principles, and the recommendations Kabbalists provide for us, their explanations regarding the Creator and the laws of creation, all of it derives from the above mentioned supreme law.

First, it begins with the creature itself: “I created the evil inclination,” meaning that before it, there is no creature. Until man finds the “evil inclination” within, he is not considered the “created being.” All the other attributes, thoughts, desires, tendencies, and actions that do not pertain to the evil inclination are not regarded as the creature.

In other words, neither the pencil I hold in my hand nor I myself can be regarded as the creature as long as there is no evil inclination revealed within. To start, I need to see the evil inclination which is the only thing we give the title of “creation” or Beria, from the Hebrew word “outside” (Bar) the Creator, meaning opposite to Him, against Him. Thus, there should first be an understanding of who the Creator is, and then you will understand what the “evil inclination” (or the creature standing in opposition to Him) is.

In all of creation, the evil inclination is present only in a human being of this world, and also not in everyone, but only in a person who has developed a desire to receive pleasure with an egoistic intention called “hatred” toward others. If he has a desire that has reached a certain degree equivalent to Mount Sinai (the mountain of hatred), only then can he be regarded as the “created being,” and Kabbalah addresses specifically him.

Everything else doesn’t refer to evil because it is merely nature that functions according to its given laws which we can’t change. If there is a place where something can be clarified and worked on so as to be changed in order to obtain a reward for one’s effort, that place is called the evil inclination, hatred.

Hatred emerges during the breaking of desires (Kelim). There was one integral soul, but it broke, that is, the force of separation, resentment, and hate came and worked between its parts which used to be one whole. Everyone now wants to use others, gaining pleasure from humiliating and exploiting them, until he destroys the other completely. In other words, he enjoys hurting others.

This is the consequence of the breaking of Kelim, and this force is opposite to the Creator. The upper Light shattered the Kli, having entered it directly as is, without the screen, the intention to bestow on the part of the Kli. This is how we became the created being and the evil inclination appeared in us.

Therefore, a person should differentiate between the “self” and the “evil inclination,” the creation within himself, if he comes to discover it.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/17/2011 on the topic of “I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah as a spice”

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