Why the Soul Was Created with Shame: Understanding "Bread of Shame"

Many wonder: why did we have to descend to this world and face trials and challenges? Why didn't Hashem create the soul perfect and righteous from the start, granting it paradise without delay?

Kabbalah answers this profound question with the concept known as: "Bread of Shame," which we'll explain shortly.

The sages expressed a significant truth about human nature: "A person desires one measure of their own more than nine measures of others'" (Baba Metzia, 38a). A measure is a unit of quantity. In essence, the sages explained that individuals naturally prefer what they gain through their own efforts, even if it's less, over a gift from someone else, even if it's more. For instance, any healthy person would prefer earning their own way rather than depending on a wealthy person's charity.

Similarly, Kabbalah explains that the soul in the World to Come doesn't want a free gift, because such a reward brings shame, like bread given out of charity that can't truly satisfy. A free Garden of Eden is not paradise to the soul; instead, it becomes a place of shame and lack of fulfillment.

The soul, by its nature, is an individual entity, desiring to achieve independence and strength through overcoming challenges and observing mitzvot, thereby earning closeness to Hashem by its own choice. It longs to receive rewards for its genuine efforts.

Following this explanation, many might ask: if the soul feels shame, why wasn't it created without this feeling from the beginning?

This question views the concept of "shame" in a literal sense, as if it were an external feeling the Creator added to the soul, causing it to experience emotions it didn't have to feel.

In truth, the soul was created in the likeness of the Creator, and its qualities parallel those of Hashem:

• Just as the Creator doesn't accept free favors, so too the soul doesn’t wish to receive undeserved goodness.
• Just as the Creator creates, so the soul desires to create.
• Just as the Creator loves the soul with unconditional love, the soul desires to love Hashem without condition.

The soul's great joy in the Garden of Eden isn't an external gift granted for its efforts but a result of its true inner nature. Hashem is the source of goodness, and to draw near to Him, the soul must truly resemble Him. Thus, the soul must genuinely embody goodness, not mere superficial goodness, just as Hashem is genuinely good, not simply appearing so.

To illustrate: Parents, as we know, love their children and thus want them to grow up to become independent, wise, and righteous individuals through their own abilities. No parent desires a future for their child where they don’t develop their intellect, remaining forever dependent on others. Similarly, Hashem desires the souls He created to grow and achieve righteousness through their own will. Through choosing goodness, the soul earnestly draws closer to its Creator, experiencing the greatest joy.