CHAPTER TEN
ANY TORAH STUDY AND MITZVAH PERFORMANCE
JOINS THE SOUL WITH HIS CREATOR AND BRINGS A
SPIRITUAL AND HOLY BOUNTY FROM HASHEM
AN ANSWER FOR THOSE WHO CLAIM THEY DON’T
FEEL THIS

1. It is written in numerous places in this work how for bit of
   Torah that a person learns, and through every mitzvah that a
   person performs, a spiritual bounty is created and pours from
   Hashem to the person’s soul, sanctifying it and linking it to the
   Creator Himself. [The opposite is brought about, Hashem forbid,
   with an aveirah.]
2. There are those who claim that they don’t feel this at all, or
   at least not keenly enough, especially when referring to a short
   amount of study etc.
3. The truth is however, that with every small amount of study
   or mitzvah performance, there is a powerful outpouring of
   bounty. Hashem however created the world in a way that in this
   world the body is like a screen which blocks the soul from
   feeling any changes in it. [Not everyone is equal in respect to
   this screen, for some the barrier is greater and for some it is
   less, no place here for further elaboration]. The reason for this is
   so that the world be a world of challenges as the Mesillat
   Yesharim details in the first chapter. Were we to significantly
   feel the influence of mitzvot and aveirot on the soul, the
   existence of a test or challenge would be almost impossible.
4. Only after a hundred and twenty years, when there is no
   longer the obstruction of the soul by the body, then a person
   will see the reality of how every moment of Torah study and
   every part of mitzvah performance brought intense light to his
   soul. This light does not just appear at the time when he sees it
   in heaven; rather it is then that he sees how the light had
   already come at the actual time of the learning and the mitzvah
   performance. Indeed the strength of these very lights enabled
   and assisted him to achieve many things in this world. It was
   just the screen that prevented him from seeing reality. Many
   times one can actually feel the good resulting from this strength
   but doesn’t realize to connect it to the Torah that he learned or
   the mitzvah that he did.
5. This can be compared to a person undergoing an operation
   under the effects of general anesthesia, and the surgeon asks
   him at the end of the operation if he can cut a further few more
   cm deeper than necessary. If the patient is a fool he will agree
   since he anyway can’t feel anything now due to the strength of
   the general anesthetic. However if he is a clever person he will
   refuse this since even though now he cannot feel anything, he
   knows that when he awakens from the anesthesia every extra
   cm cut will hurt tremendously. Were they to cut him when he
   was anaesthetized, then when he comes around he will see that
   the incision was made at the time when they cut him and not
   when he woke up. It is exactly the same with aveirot and
   mitzvot. Of course many times a person merits this elevated
   feeling from mitzvot already in this world. [This is non
   comparable to the natural feeling of satisfaction that comes
   when a person does something that he thinks to be correct – see
   ‘Chayei Olam’ from the Kehilot Yaacov.]