Likutei Moharan, Part II 4:3/ליקוטי מוהר"ן·תנינא ד׳:ג׳

13. Nevertheless, the benefit of giving charity is extremely great, as charity helps always. The body’s needs are numerous. Even the essentials—<such as> eating, drinking, clothing and shelter—are numerous and vast. One can spend all one’s days and years on the necessities alone, and they considerably hinder a person’s service of the Creator.

2This is so even though [all our efforts in pursuit of these needs] are themselves the service of God. They are the concept of an arousal from below, for through an act below there is an arousal on high. Whatever labors and works people engage in awaken the supernal form of that work in the Act of Creation. It also brings vitality and illumination to the supernal form of that work associated with the Act of Creation on high, which parallels that labor and work a person engages in below, in this world.

3The labors and works that we engage in create “the Tabernacle.” All works are included in the thirty-nine-works, namely, the primary works. “Primary” implies that there are “derivatives” (Bava Kama 2a). All the types of work and labor that people engage in are included in the thirty-nine-works. These [thirty-nine] are the primary ones; the rest are derivatives.

4And the thirty-nine-works correspond to the works of the Tabernacle, as our Sages, of blessed memory, taught: What do the forty-less-one primary works parallel? They parallel the works of the Tabernacle (Shabbat 49b), for the forms of the Tabernacle resembled the forms of the Act of Creation (see Tikkuney Zohar, Introduction, p.13a). A nd [they parallel] the human <who does> the work, for the form of the [human] body resembles the form of the Tabernacle (ibid.). It follows that by a person engaging in work and labor, a Tabernacle is created. When he performs the work and labor fittingly, the way he should, he gives vitality to the Act of Creation and illuminates it, and [his labor] is the world’s mainstay. It follows that this, too, is the service of God.

5Even so, if He were to pour His lovingkindness upon us, we would have no need for all this. For how did God create the entire world out of the absolute nothingness, when there was no existent through which to effect an arousal from below? Yet He created worlds such as these, and did so entirely by means of His lovingkindness, without any arousal from below whatsoever, as in “The world is built on lovingkindness” (Psalms 89:3).

6Considering that God could have created worlds such as these solely by means of His lovingkindness, without any arousal from below, He can certainly sustain and perpetuate the worlds solely by means of His lovingkindness. Then we would not have had to engage in any labor or work whatsoever, as even the [work for one’s] necessities would be done by others, as it is written (Isaiah 61:5-6), “Foreigners will stand and pasture your flocks, and the sons of the stranger will be your ploughmen and your vineyard workers. And you will be called ‘priests of God.’” Specifically “priests of God,” which is the concept of lovingkindness, as in “The world is built on lovingkindness.” In other words, they will be called “priests of God”/<God’s> lovingkindness, for they will not have to engage in any <labor or> work. The world will sustain itself solely by His lovingkindness. But when the lovingkindness is held back <with God>, God forbid, so that He does not bestow His lovingkindness upon us, it is necessary to act to effect an arousal from below.

7This is the meaning of “Yours, O God, is lovingkindness, for You pay each man commensurate with his deeds” (Psalms 62:13). When the lovingkindness is held back with God, that is, “Yours, O God, is lovingkindness,” for the lovingkindness is held back with God and He does not bestow it upon us—then “for You pay each man commensurate with his deeds,” i.e., God repays <him> commensurate with his actions and labors. His actions must be specifically <in order to effect an arousal>, because the lovingkindness is held back with God and He does not bestow it upon us. If, however, He would bestow the lovingkindness upon us, we would not have to act at all. Then, “for You pay each man as if his deeds” would be fulfilled—it would be as if he acts, for we do not have to do anything when He bestows His lovingkindness.