"The tzadik falls seven times and rises." Each fall is for the sake of an additional rise. After each fall you get a raise.
After each fall in life one must give rise to a new personality, create a new "face." He must rise to the occasion of having fallen.
If we fall, although we must take full responsibility for our actions and suffer the consequences, nonetheless it is by Divine Providence.
Providence has the future in mind. Every detail of our lives, whether good or bad, will ultimately bring us to a better place than before.
In our continual ascent to God, between levels there must be a "fall" to nothing. The apparent descent of the fall is only virtual, not real.
God's intention in creation precedes creation. In His intention there is no evil whatsoever. His intention is ever present behind the scenes
Free choice was given to man. His choice only determines the speed of his ascent to God and the manner, whether in a state of peace or war.
Ascent in a state of war is struggling with an issue before resolving it. In peace there is no struggle, the way ahead is clear.
"The tzadik falls seven times" = Shabbat. Every day of the week one falls, only to rise, consciously, in the fall of Shabbat itself.
To fall is to fail, to rise is to succeed. To fail is false, to succeed is true. Ours is a world of falsehood, the future order is truth.
The lower the fall the higher the rise. The Ba'al Shem Tov preferred to fulfill "you shall return to dust" than to ascend to heaven in fire.
Death, the greatest fall, gives rise to the greatest ascent. Consolation is to know this and that mourning is also for the sake of ascent.
In the creative process light descends and worlds evolve. Descent is from God's Infinite Light to wisdom, evolution is from wisdom on.
Witnessing the destruction of the Temple, while others cried Rabbi Akiva laughed. The fall has ended; the intention behind it has begun.
Mashiach was born at the moment the Temple was destroyed by fire. He will build a better one, one that descends from heaven in fire.
