| Noam Elimelech | |
| נועם אלימלך | |
| merged | |
| https://www.sefaria.org/Noam_Elimelech | |
| This file contains merged sections from the following text versions: | |
| -Sefaria Community Translation | |
| -https://www.sefaria.org | |
| Noam Elimelech | |
| Introduction | |
| Approbations | |
| A Note from the Author's Son | |
| Excuses du fils de l'auteur (e.g., [fr]) | |
| Je voudrais tout d'abord expliquer ma conversation précédente avant de parler et laisser mes paroles flotter pour moi. | |
| Je ne décevrai pas mes paroles, je ne raconterai que la vérité, afin d'exposer ce qui était toujours dans mon cœur et mes idées, pour glorifier mon père et mon maître honoré, le grand et célèbre homme de Dieu, le saint Boutsina D'Nehora, dont le nom est agréable et honoré, notre maître, le vénéré Rabbi Elimelech (que son souvenir soit béni), que son nom soit sanctifié. | |
| Lorsqu'ils étaient ici, presque comme un temple, rassemblant la sainte congrégation d'Israël pour entendre les paroles du Dieu vivant sorties de cette bouche sainte, et sur lui, couleraient les paroles honorables de mon père, comme du miel doux. Chacun d'eux y trouvait la direction de son âme et de son cœur sur la manière de servir l'Éternel, en utilisant leurs intelligences selon leur niveau. Beaucoup buvaient avidement ses paroles saintes pour être gravées dans le style d'un scribe préservé pour les générations et pour les amener à la maison de l'impression. Ils disaient : "N'importe quel jour, un miracle se produira et nous voyagerons toujours vers l'honneur de mon père, que son souvenir soit béni, pour entendre ses paroles saintes de sa propre bouche. Et lorsque ces choses seront dites dans le livre du souvenir, nous nous réjouirons tous toujours en lisant nos propres actions, et nous saurons comment comprendre nos voies devant notre Créateur et soutenir nos actions comme il convient et approprié, chacun selon sa compréhension. Et chacun dira que tout ce qui est dit là-dedans, c'est tout pour moi". | |
| C'est mon souhait pour eux et moi-même, je désire ardemment parler de cela, et certainement, c'est la vérité et l'honnêteté. Cependant, il est impossible de faire quelque chose, que ce soit petit ou grand, sans la connaissance de mon père, que son souvenir soit béni. Et en particulier, une grande affaire comme celle-ci, je dois obtenir sa permission. J'ai dit que je demanderai cette chose à lui, peut-être qu'il écoutera ma voix. | |
| Je me suis rapidement précipité en l'honneur de mon père, que son souvenir soit béni, et j'ai parlé ces paroles à ses oreilles, et il a répondu en ces termes : "La vérité est vraiment le bon mot devant le Créateur du monde, qu'Il soit béni, qu'il soit publié. Car chacun trouvera sûrement en lui la réponse à son désir selon sa position et son niveau de service, mais je ne veux pas que cela se produise de mon vivant pour des raisons qui sont enfouies." J'ai donc été commandé par son commandement absolu de le publier après sa mort. Et voici ce qu'il a dit : "Il n'y a pas de commandement plus grand que celui-ci, car bien que les choses semblent simples à première vue selon la perception des yeux, mais quand un homme juste, droit et sage viendra et étudiera ce livre, il trouvera certainement en lui tout son désir, et c'est ainsi que la chose me convient." | |
| Pour ces paroles saintes que j'ai entendues de sa bouche, j'ai décidé dans mon cœur de les accomplir pour l'honneur du Créateur, béni soit-Il, et pour l'élévation de Sa mémoire, béni soit-Il. Et tout chercheur sincère du Seigneur qui souhaite approfondir la signification des paroles, trouvera une profondeur immense et des directives droites et agréables. J'ai appelé ce livre "Noam Elimelech" en l'honneur de mon père, que son souvenir soit béni, et en l'honneur de cette expression agréable qui résonne dans la communauté sainte. Je demande humblement à l'Éternel, le bon Nom, de l'assister dans la finalisation de cette affaire. Que Dieu me vienne en aide. | |
| S'il vous plaît, mes chers frères et amis, je vous demande, si vous trouvez quelque chose qui semble être une erreur ou une déviation du langage, ou des choses simples, je vous implore de bien examiner cette affaire. Après une véritable analyse, si vous trouvez réellement une erreur, vous saurez alors que l'auteur s'est trompé, comme le dit notre vénéré Maïmonide, que sa mémoire soit bénie, qu'un homme né d'une femme ne peut échapper à l'erreur, et peut-être ai-je emprunté cette voie. | |
| Je loue ton grand et magnifique nom, pour la grande bonté que tu as manifestée envers moi jusqu'à présent, et pour tout le bien que tu as abondamment répandu sur moi maintenant, me permettant de révéler les mystères de la sagesse qui émanent clairement de la lumière supérieure, les paroles du Dieu vivant, l'honneur de mon père, que son souvenir soit béni. Dans cette immense bonté, j'ai trouvé ma joie et me suis réjoui. | |
| C'est pourquoi je me prosterne devant toi, ô Miséricordieux, pour ta grande abondance de bonté et de grâce envers moi dans cette affaire, pour m'aider et me soutenir. | |
| Que mon cœur soit intègre dans ta Torah, et que ce livre soit constamment devant mes yeux et dans mon cœur, pour apprendre de lui tes grandes élévations, et me souvenir de mon humilité et de mes lacunes, afin de ne pas dévier de cette bonne et droite voie, qui est ma part et mon labeur. | |
| Désormais, je demande devant Dieu, mes chers frères et amis qui m'ont aidé à concrétiser les idées en actions, qu'ils soient bénis de toutes les bénédictions de la Torah. Qu'ils méritent la protection de mon père, que son souvenir soit béni, et qu'ils puissent servir avec élargissement, tirant profit de toutes leurs ressources et échapper à toute maladie, affliction et corruption de l'esprit. | |
| Pour l'honneur de ton grand nom, je te prie de réaliser et de maintenir toutes les bénédictions qui sont toujours prononcées avec l'honneur de mon vénéré père, pour être une bénédiction pour Israël et pour offrir son âme pour eux en tout temps, annulant les décrets néfastes par sa prière fidèle et son abnégation. Mon père dans les cieux, s'il te plaît, souviens-toi de tout cela pour le bien de mon père, et que son âme sainte soit liée à l'âme d'Abraham, d'Isaac et de Jacob, et aie pitié de nous et libère-nous de toute détresse, et réjouis notre cœur avec ta grande joie et avec ton salut que nous attendons et espérons jour et nuit. | |
| Comme tu étais avec mon vénéré père, sois aussi avec moi, avec mes frères et mes chers amis, les bien-aimés de mon âme, et permettez-nous de marcher également sur ses voies saintes. Que celui qui nous a toujours guidés dans ton service se tienne à nos côtés pour que nous ne nous écartions ni à droite ni à gauche. Ne nous abandonne pas et ne nous rejette pas, et que nous tous méritions la fin de la rédemption. Que les paroles de ma bouche et les méditations de mon cœur soient agréables devant toi, Seigneur, mon Rocher et mon Rédempteur. | |
| Le 24e du mois, s'excuse humblement, le rabbin Eliezer, auprès du grand et célèbre maître, le rabbin Elimelech, que sa mémoire soit bénie. | |
| The Tzetel Katan | |
| THESE ARE THE MATTERS WITH WHICH A PERSON SHOULD CONDUCT HIMSELF AND LIVE BY THEM, Every moment when one is free from Torah study, specifically when one is sitting idly alone in his room or lying on his bed and is unable to sleep, he should think of the Mitzva "And they shall be sanctified in the midst of the children of Israel" and place on his soul and picture in his mind as if there were a great awesome fire burning before him to the heart of the heavens, and for the sanctifying of the AlMighty's blessed name that he break his nature and cast himself into the fire for sanctifying His (G-d's) blessed name. And this good thought G-d will consider as if he actually did so. Thus, it is found that one is not sitting or lying idly rather he is fulfilling a positive Torah commandment. | |
| During the first verse of reciting the Shema prayer and the first blessing of the Amidah one should think in the same manner. And further imagine if all the nations of the world would afflict you with all severe afflictions and flay his skin from his flesh so that he can deny, heaven forbid, His (G-d's) oneness, he should bear all the suffering and not admit to them such, heaven forbid. And he should picture on his mind and thoughts as if they were doing such to him, and with this one will fulfill his obligation of reciting the Shema and Amidah properly. | |
| Also when eating and cohabiting one should think similarly. When he begins to feel physical pleasure he should imagine in his mind such and immediately say verbally and in his heart that the pleasure and joy of preforming the Mitzva of "and I shall be sanctified" in the manner prescribed above is greater than that physical pleasure which out of suffering of separation it urges. So shall he say, and a prove the matter that the pleasure and happiness of doing the positive commandment of "And they shall be sanctified" above, that even if he were to be beaten by murders in the middle of eating and cohabitation and afflict him with harsh suffering, 'I would make myself rejoice regarding the sanctification of G-d's name more than this pleasure. However he should be careful to say this truthfully in his heart so that the matter would then be ingrained on his heart in essence and substance in total truth, and not make oneself foolish to try to fool the knowledge of the one above, Heaven forbid. | |
| With everything in the world, be that with Torah, Prayer and Mitzva performance, one should accustom oneself to say the following: "Behold I am doing for the sake of the uniting with the Holy One and His divine presence to cause a pleasing spirit for the Holy One, may His name be blessed". And accustom oneself to say this with the essence and substance of the heart, and with the passing of time one with feel great influence (of the Divine presence) with saying this. | |
| When one begins to feel temptation from one of his bad traits which he is accustomed to, for example: stubbornness, haughtiness, laziness, idleness that bring one to foolishness and the like, he should say the following verse with all his might: "The Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Prizite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite," and he will be saved. One should also accustom oneself to not look out side of his four cubit personal space even when he is at home, and specifically when he his in the (Torah) study hall and/or the room which he studies (Torah). If when he is walking and outside and sees before him a woman, even a woman and her children, he should have before his eyes the name of G-d | |
| If, G-d forbid the evil thought of lust comes to ones mind, he should say several times "And you shall be guarded from all evil," and think then about the exegesis of our sages, of blessed memory that one should not think lustful thoughts in the day and come to night emissions, and not allow, G-d forbid, to keep this bad thought in ones mind so as not to defile the divine intelligence (within him) , G-d forbid. | |
| Were there to be before one, heaven forbid, a improper sight, for example: wild, domestic animals or birds mating, or an uncovered hand-breadth's part of a woman's nakedness or the image of one's wife when she is menstruating or in similar circumstances; One should say immediately the verse "Do not stray after your heart [and after your eyes]", and not defile his mind, Heaven forbid. | |
| One should accustom himself to not begin to speak with any person except for a great reason which he is forced to do so; and even in forced circumstances he should speak should speak very shortly "sifted with 13 sieves" so that his words do not contain any falsehood- heaven forbid- or any flattery, gossip, slander, shaming, or exposing of one's actions to others. And he should accustom himself with the rule that our sages of blessed memory said, "teach your tongue to say 'I do not know' ". When people who are not careful from speaking needlessly come to speak to him- he should remove himself from them with all his strength and with all types of strategies. And when it is not possible to leave them in any manner, never the less he should extremely limit (his speech) to that which he is forced to answer them. | |
| One should accustom oneself, immediately right when waking up from one's slumber to say, "I acknowledge before you (Modeh Ani), the Living Extant King, that you have given me back my soul compassionately. Your faith is abundant." And say, even if in the Ashkenazic language, with a joyous heart: "Blessed is the Most High God who gave me the commandment of the tzitzit I am wrapped in, and the commandment of washing hands in the morning, to remove the evil spirit and harsh klipah from my two hands." Be sure that one's heart is full of joy when saying this, and accept up oneself the restriction of limiting speech which was mentioned in section 8. | |
| One should be very careful with consistency of studying the lessons in their proper order, immediately right after waking from slumber, and after saying Tikkun Chatzot and the Tzetel Katan. One should not leave the book one is studying even for one hour. Every time that one is settling down to study, and after saying the Prayer of Repentence which begins "Ana Hashem etc." and the Prayer for Torah Study from the Shaarei Tzion which starts "Hineni Rotzeh Lilmod," one should be as sure as possible not to cause any delay, even with an unrelated thought, apart from the thoughts of study, and the thoughts of the Tzetel Katan which is before one's eyes, because the light in it brings one back to the good. | |
| One should accustom oneself to pray with full strength, and with a voice that arouses the intention to attach thought to speech, and with one's face toward the wall inside the Siddur, both morning and evening. One should not look to the side from the beginning of prayer to the end, and during the Chazan's repetition one should attend to the Siddur, to answer "Amen" with full strength to every single blessing. And during the Torah reading, one should listen for every single statement from the reader, similar to Megillah reading. One should act like a mute person in the synagogue, even before or after the prayer, until leaving to go home. | |
| One should constantly picture in the mind, and especially while reading this Tzetel Katan, that someone is standing close by and encouraging one with a in a loud voice to uphold all these practices, and should not allow any one of these practices to drop, even down to a tiny dot. And when one accustoms oneself in this way, then over time, a great enthusiasm will come over one, from the part of one's soul: fiery coals of God's flame. | |
| At all times, one should tell someone who is showing them God's way, or even a trusted friend, all the bad thoughts and fantasies that are in opposition to our holy Torah, which the Evil Inclination raises in one's mind and heart, whether during times of Torah and prayer, whether when one is lying in bed, or whether in the middle of the day. One should not leave anything out due to shame. It will occur that through discussing these things, by bringing it from force to action, one breaks the force of the Evil Inclination, so it will not be able to overpower one the next time. Besides, there might be good advice that one can receive from a friend which is God's way, and this is a wonderful segulah. | |
| One must be very, very careful to return periodically to this Tzetel Katan, and parse out every letter in the Ashkenazic language. And this should be one's rule, not to be violated: before sex, one should study Chapter 16 of Reishit Chochma, and the teachings of the Ariza"l, and if one still has time, one should also study Chapter 17 of the Reishit Chochma mentioned above, and this should be one's rule, not to be violated. | |
| Before washing one's hands to eat, one should say the Prayer of Repentance of Rabbeinu Yona z"l, and after eating [a small bite for] Hamotzi, one should say these words, "For the sake of unifying the Holy Blessed One and His Shechina, I am not eating for physical pleasure, Heaven forbid, but only so that my body will be healthy and strong to serve Him whose Name is blessed, and no sins or violations or evil fantasies or physical pleasure should prevent the unification of the Holy Blessed One through the holy sparks of this eating and drinking." And one should intend while eating something or drinking something, that the flavor that one tastes in the mouth while chewing and swallowing, is the holy inner essence and holy sparks that dwell in this food or drink. And through eating, and grinding with teeth and digestion, the inner essence of the the food is purified, which is not unbound/permitted to influence the outer portion, and then one's soul will enjoy the inner essence, while the trash is unbound and and ejected to the outer portion. And one should accept then mentally that immediately when one feels the urge to eliminate wastes, one will not delay that trash inside one's body, contaminating, Heaven forbid, one's mind, fouling one's soul, by delaying with feces or urine inside one's innards for even one moment. One should also picture before one while eating and drinking the letters "Mem-Aleph-Kaf-Lamed" (="Food") written in Assyrian script, and should ponder the fact that they add up to 91, the same sum as the Tetragrammaton when combined with "Adonai." | |
| Man was only created in the world in order to break Nature. For this reason, one must encourage oneself to fix one's middot, specifically in the eighteenth year, as I will explain. For example, if someone was born with a stubborn nature, they should break their nature by doing for forty consecutive days exactly the opposite of what their mind thinks of doing. And similarly if someone is naturally lazy, they should accustom themselves for forty consecutive days to do everything enthusiastically, from going to lie down in bed to waking up in the morning, to enthusiasm in getting dressed, washing their hands, cleaning their body, walking enthusiastically to synagogue immediately after finishing one's study, and the like. And similarly, someone who is shy by nature, and it's the bad kind of shyness, should accustom themselves for forty days to pray specifically with a loud voice, with forceful movements of their limbs, and to obey "all my bones say..." (=to sway during prayer), and to say Torah blessings with a loud voice, until They help them from Heaven by removing the bad shyness from them. And similarly someone whose words do not come out nice and organized, due to their habitual nature and their speech organs, should accustom themselves for forty days to pay attention to the words they say, whether in general speech, in sacred speech, or while studying, because in every situation, habit becomes the boss. And similarly someone who naturally does not pay attention to their studies, should accustom themselves also for forty days, and study more than one usually does, and should look each time before studying at my Tzetel Katan. And from then on, They will help them from Heaven to add and continue breaking their bad middot until they are completely gone. | |
| At all times, when one is free from Torah or prayer, one should teach oneself things one needs to know by heart, like Tikkun Rachel and Tikkun Leah, and the Prayer of Repentance and the Blessing for the New Moon and "Berich Shmei" and "Al Hakol" and the Modim of the Rabbis, and one should contemplate the positive commandment of "And I will be sanctified etc." as written above. | |
| All this I found in manuscript. | |
| Ce sont les choses que l'homme doit faire et par lesquelles il vivra. (e.g., [fr]) | |
| 1. À tout moment et à chaque instant où il est libre de l'étude de la Torah, en particulier lorsqu'il est assis seul dans une pièce ou couché sur son lit et ne peut pas dormir, il devrait réfléchir aux mitsvot positives de "Je serai sanctifié au milieu des enfants d'Israël". Il devrait imaginer dans son esprit et se représenter que devant lui se trouve un grand et redoutable feu qui brûle jusqu'aux cieux, et que c'est pour la sanctification du Nom béni qu'il rompt sa nature et se jette dans les flammes pour sanctifier le Nom béni. Le Saint, béni soit-Il, associe une bonne pensée à l'action, de sorte qu'il ne se trouve ni inactif ni oisif, mais qu'il accomplisse la mitsva positive de la Torah. | |
| 2. Au premier verset de la récitation du Chema Israël et dans la première bénédiction de la Amidah, il devrait méditer comme mentionné précédemment. De plus, il devrait avoir l'intention que même si toutes les nations du monde le tourmentent avec toutes sortes de souffrances et lui arrachent la peau de son corps pour le faire renier, qu'il endure toutes les épreuves et ne renie jamais, que cela ne se produise jamais. Il devrait se représenter dans son esprit et sa pensée qu'ils lui font exactement cela, et ainsi il remplit son obligation de réciter le Chema et de prier conformément à la loi. | |
| 3. Même pendant les repas et les relations maritales, on devrait avoir l'intention mentionnée précédemment. Lorsqu'on commence à ressentir du plaisir physique, on devrait imaginer comme mentionné auparavant. Immédiatement, on devrait dire à voix haute et dans son cœur que l'on trouverait plus de plaisir et de joie à accomplir la mitsva positive de "Je serai sanctifié" de la manière mentionnée ci-dessus que de ce plaisir physique qui est éphémère et transitoire. Et ainsi, on dira et on aura une preuve que l'on trouve plus de plaisir et de joie dans l'accomplissement de cette mitsva positive de "Je serai sanctifié" que dans ce plaisir physique. Même si des meurtriers nous attaquaient en plein repas ou pendant les relations maritales pour nous infliger des souffrances atroces, on devrait se réjouir de sanctifier le Nom divin plus que de ce plaisir physique. Cependant, il faut veiller à être sincère dans son cœur, et à ce que, lorsqu'on agit, on ait gravé dans les profondeurs et les recoins de son cœur une véritable sincérité, sans se laisser distraire par des pensées impures, qu'il n'advienne pas cela, que cela ne se produise jamais. | |
| 4. Dans toutes les choses du monde, que ce soit dans l'étude de la Torah, dans la prière ou dans l'accomplissement des mitsvot pratiques, on devrait s'habituer à dire les paroles suivantes : "Je fais cela pour le dessein de l'unité du Saint, béni soit-Il, et de Sa présence, pour apporter satisfaction à notre Créateur béni soit-Il." On devrait s'habituer à le dire avec profondeur et sincérité dans les profondeurs et les recoins du cœur, et avec le temps, on ressentira une grande illumination à travers cette déclaration. | |
| 5. Lorsqu'il commence à ressentir en lui une mauvaise inclination, qu'il soit préservé, issue de mauvaises caractéristiques auxquelles il est habitué, telles que l'obstination, l'arrogance et la paresse, qui conduisent à l'ennui et autres similaires, qu'il dise immédiatement et de toutes ses forces avec ces mots : "Le Cananéen, le Hittite, l'Amoréen, le Perizéen, le Hivvéen et le Jébuséen" et qu'il se sauve. Qu'il s'habitue à limiter sa vision en ne regardant pas en dehors de la portée de quatre coudées, même lorsqu'il est dans sa maison, en particulier dans la synagogue et dans la salle d'étude. En marchant dans la rue et lorsque se présente devant lui une femme, même sa propre femme et ses jeunes enfants, et autres similaires, qu'il imagine devant ses yeux le Nom divin. | |
| 6. Lorsqu'une mauvaise pensée d'adultère lui vient, qu'il dise plusieurs fois "Et tu te préserveras de tout mal" et qu'il médite alors sur les enseignements de nos Sages selon lesquels on a averti de ne pas méditer le jour et de ne pas provoquer une pollution nocturne, et qu'il ne laisse pas, qu'il soit préservé, la mauvaise pensée persister dans son esprit pour ne pas souiller l'Intelligence supérieure, qu'il soit préservé. | |
| 7. Lorsqu'il est confronté, qu'il soit préservé, à une situation où il pourrait regarder une chose mauvaise en face, telle qu'un animal, un animal sauvage ou un oiseau qui se comportent d'une manière suggestive l'un envers l'autre, ou une partie dénudée d'une femme là où cela ne devrait pas être, ou la forme de sa femme pendant la période de menstruation, et autres similaires, qu'il dise immédiatement et de suite le verset "Et vous ne vous égarerez pas après vos cœurs", et qu'il ne souille pas son esprit, qu'il soit préservé. | |
| 8. Il devrait s'habituer à ne pas commencer à parler à quiconque, sauf pour un besoin majeur et indispensable. Même dans ce cas, il devrait parler de choses extrêmement courtes, limitées à treize mots, afin qu'il n'y ait en aucun cas de mensonge, de flatterie, de médisance, de fausseté ou de vanité dans ses paroles, et qu'il ne montre pas ses actions aux autres. Il devrait s'habituer à suivre la règle énoncée par nos Sages qui ont dit : "Apprends à dire : Je ne sais pas." Lorsque des personnes viennent lui parler de choses futiles, il devrait s'en éloigner autant que possible avec toutes sortes de prétextes. Et lorsque cela lui est impossible d'éviter de les écouter de quelque manière que ce soit, il devrait en tout cas raccourcir très rapidement sa réponse. | |
| 9. Il devrait s'habituer dès son réveil à dire immédiatement et de suite : "Je remercie devant Toi, Roi vivant et éternel, qui a fait retourner mon âme en moi avec grande miséricorde, Ta foi." Et il devrait même dire en langue ashkénaze avec un cœur joyeux : "Béni soit le Très-Haut qui m'a donné les commandements des tsitsit que je porte et les commandements du netilat yadaïm que je fais le matin pour chasser l'esprit impur et la coquille dure de mes deux mains." Il devrait veiller à ce que son cœur soit rempli de joie en prononçant ces paroles, et il acceptera alors la limite de parole mentionnée précédemment dans le chapitre 8. | |
| 10. Il doit être très vigilant dans la constance de son étude, en suivant régulièrement son programme, immédiatement après s'être réveillé de son sommeil et après avoir récité la prière de Tikoun 'Hatsot (Réparation de Minuit) et le petit Zémer (Chant). Il ne doit pas quitter le livre dans lequel il étudie, même pendant une heure. Chaque fois qu'il s'assoit pour étudier, après avoir récité la prière du retour (Tefillat HaShav) qui commence par "Ana Hashem" et ainsi de suite, et la prière du Talmud Torah BeSha'arei Tzion (Portes de Sion) qui commence par "Hineni Ratzah Lilmod" (Me voici, désireux d'étudier), il doit faire tous ses efforts pour ne faire aucune interruption, même dans ses pensées, sauf celles liées à l'étude et au petit chant qui se trouve devant lui, car cette lumière qu'il contient le ramènera vers le bien. | |
| 11. Il doit s'habituer à prier de toutes ses forces, en élevant sa voix pour stimuler l'intention afin de maintenir la concentration de la pensée dans la parole. Son visage devrait être tourné vers le mur tout au long de la prière du matin et du soir, et il ne devrait pas regarder sur les côtés depuis le début de la prière jusqu'à sa fin. Lorsque le hazan récite le dix-huitième bénédiction (Shemoneh Esrei), il devrait examiner le Siddour (livre de prières) pour répondre Amen de toutes ses forces après chaque bénédiction. Lors de la lecture de la Torah, il devrait incliner son oreille vers chaque parole que le lecteur prononce comme si le lecteur lisait le livre d'Esther (Meguilah). Il devrait se comporter comme s'il était muet dans la synagogue, même avant la prière et après celle-ci jusqu'à son départ pour sa maison. | |
| 12. Il doit toujours imaginer dans sa pensée, en particulier pendant la lecture de ce petit chant, qu'une personne se tient près de lui et le réveille avec une voix forte pour accomplir toutes ces conduites, et il ne doit pas laisser tomber la moindre chose, même une petite ponctuation. Lorsqu'il s'habitue ainsi, avec le temps, une grande éveil viendra de son âme, des flammes ardentes de la lettre yod-hei (le nom divin) [י''ה]. | |
| 13. Il doit confesser à chaque fois devant son enseignant ou même devant un ami fidèle toutes les mauvaises pensées et réflexions qui vont à l'encontre de notre sainte Torah que le mauvais penchant fait surgir dans son esprit et son cœur, que ce soit pendant l'étude de la Torah et la prière, pendant qu'il est couché sur son lit ou pendant la journée. Il ne doit rien dissimuler par honte, et cela permettra, par le récit des choses, de mettre en œuvre le pouvoir en acte, de briser la force du mauvais penchant, de sorte qu'il ne puisse pas prévaloir autant lors d'une autre occasion, sauf avec le bon conseil qu'il peut recevoir de son ami dans le chemin du Nom divin, et cela est une merveilleuse protection. | |
| 14. Il doit être très, très attentif à répéter de temps en temps, à chaque occasion, ce petit chant, et il doit prononcer chaque mot en langue ashkénaze. Cela doit être pour lui une loi, et il ne doit pas passer à l'étude avant d'avoir révisé le chapitre 16 de "Reshit Hokhmah" (Le Commencement de la Sagesse) concernant les enseignements et les conduites de Rabbi Isaac Louria, et s'il lui reste du temps libre, il doit également étudier le chapitre 17 de "Reshit Hokhmah" susmentionné, et cela doit être une loi pour lui, et il ne doit pas passer outre. | |
| 15. Avant de se laver les mains pour manger, il doit réciter la "Tefilat Hashiv" de notre maître Rabbi Yona, que son souvenir soit une bénédiction, et après avoir consommé le pain, il dira dans ces termes : "Dans l'intention de l'unité du Saint, béni soit-Il, et de Sa présence divine, je ne mange pas pour satisfaire mon corps, que cela ne soit pas ! Mon seul désir est que mon corps soit en bonne santé et fort pour le service de Celui dont le Nom soit béni. Qu'aucun péché, aucune iniquité, aucune mauvaise pensée ni aucun plaisir matériel n'entravent l'union avec le Saint, béni soit-Il, à travers les étincelles de sainteté contenues dans cette nourriture et cette boisson." Il devra avoir l'intention, lorsqu'il mange ou boit quelque chose, que le goût qu'il ressent dans sa bouche lors de la mastication et de la déglutition soit l'intériorité de la sainteté et les étincelles de sainteté qui se trouvent dans cet aliment ou cette boisson. Par le biais de la mastication, de la pression des dents et de la déglutition, l'intériorité est séparée de la nourriture afin qu'elle ne puisse pas influencer les éléments extérieurs. Ainsi, son âme profite de l'intériorité, et les déchets deviennent permis et sont rejetés vers l'extérieur. Il devra alors décider immédiatement, dès qu'il ressentira le besoin d'uriner, de ne pas retenir les déchets en lui, de ne pas souiller, que cela ne soit pas, son esprit et de ne pas abominer son âme en maintenant les excréments et l'urine en lui, même pour un court instant. Et il devra également visualiser devant lui, pendant le repas, les lettres de l'alphabet "Ma'akhal" en écriture ashourit, et méditer sur le fait que leur valeur numérique est équivalente à celle du Nom divin "Adonaï". | |
| 16. L'homme n'a pas été créé dans le monde uniquement pour briser la nature, donc il devrait s'efforcer de corriger ses traits de caractère à l'âge de 18 ans spécifiquement, comme l'a fait Abarr. Par exemple, celui qui est né avec une nature de rigidité devrait briser sa nature pendant 40 jours en faisant précisément le contraire de ce qui lui vient à l'esprit. De même, celui qui a une nature paresseuse devrait s'habituer pendant 40 jours à faire toutes choses avec diligence, que ce soit en se levant pour se coucher, en se levant le matin de son lit, en s'habillant rapidement et en se lavant les mains, en nettoyant son corps et en allant rapidement à la synagogue dès qu'il se lève du livre, et ainsi de suite. De même, celui dont la nature est timide en raison de la part néfaste de la honte, devrait s'habituer pendant 40 jours à prier à voix haute et avec force mouvements de ses membres, à réciter toutes les parties de lui-même, et à bénir la Torah à voix haute, jusqu'à ce que les cieux l'aident à éliminer la mauvaise honte de lui. De même, celui dont les paroles de sa bouche ne sortent pas correctement et ordonnées en raison de son habitude naturelle et de son instrument de parole, devrait s'habituer pendant 40 jours à incliner son oreille vers les paroles qui sortent de lui, que ce soit dans des affaires mondaines ou célestes, que ce soit pendant l'étude, car l'habitude de toute chose devient un contrôle. De même, celui dont la nature n'est pas constante dans son étude, devrait également s'habituer pendant 40 jours et étudier plus que sa propre habitude, et regarder chaque fois avant l'étude dans un court récapitulatif de sa part, et à partir de là et au-delà les cieux l'aideront à devenir plus diligent et à progresser dans la rupture des mauvais traits jusqu'à la perfection. | |
| 17. Chaque fois qu'il est libre de l'étude de la Torah et de la prière, il devrait s'étudier lui-même oralement des choses dont il a besoin, comme la rectification de Rachel et la rectification de Léa, et la prière de retour, et la bénédiction de la lune, et la bénédiction du ciel, et sur tout cela, et la bénédiction des sages, et il devrait réfléchir aux commandements positifs qui lui sont assignés, tels que "Tu seras sanctifié" et ainsi de suite, comme il est écrit précédemment. | |
| 18.Tout cela, j'ai trouvé dans un manuscrit. | |
| Sefer Bereshit | |
| Bereshit | |
| 'Comment' 1 | |
| <strong>In a beginning created God etc</strong> - see the explanation of Rashi "in a beginning - due to Israel that are called beginning, and due to Torah that is called beginning" and the midrash, too, has "due to the mitzvah of first fruits, that are called beginning" (Rashi on Genesis 1:1). And one could say that all those opinions have the same intention, that one opinion says this, the other opinion says that, and they do not dispute. | |
| Since there is in the mishnah "on three things the world stands on Torah, and on Service and on Acts of Loving Kindness" (Avot 1:2) and there is in the mishnah "on three things the world stands, on Judgment, and on Truth and on Peace" (Avot 1:18). And we can also say that they have the same intention, that behold we are presented with three levels in the service of the High Creator, one - Torah learned for its own sake, and in truth our sages of blessed memory allowed us [study of Torah] even not for its own sake, as they said "a person should always engage etc" (Pesachim 50b:5) even if one does not reach to the levels of learning for its own sake nevertheless you should not refrain from it, since it is not quickly that one attains to learn for its own sake, but through a great exertion in one's service to the Blessed Name with all the good personal qualities. | |
| And the second level "Service" - this is the Prayer that is the center of the service of the heart as they said "and to serve God with all your heart, this is Prayer [<em>Tefilah</em>]" (Taanit 2a), because the heart understands and with [Prayer] it can rise to clinging to the Creator and tie itself to the Blessed One, since <em>Tefilah</em> comes from the expression knot/connection, to cling oneself to the Blessed Creator with a great clinging, and this hints to the knot of the <em>tefilin</em> of the hand to tie the thought in one's heart to the High One, and for that one needs more effort to always pray to the Holy Blessed Name that God will help that one's yetzer hara [inclination for evil] will never be separated from clinging to the Creator, because the nature of a person is that one is likely to turn [at any moment] his thoughts to the issues and preoccupations of this world. | |
| (4) And this is the explanation of the verse "And Hashem saw that the evil of the humans on earth was great" (Genesis 6:5), that is to say, at all times that one is on earth and one's evil is great, ["and all the humans' impulse of thought in their heart"] through that, also the one who wants to serve the Holy Blessed Name and does not do evil, even though one's thought reins that person in "only evil all day", "and Hashem נחם nacham [had pity/regretted/consoled]" meaning, there was a consolation for the Blessed One in that a human could exert effort in front of the Blessed One, "that he made the humans", meaning, like the saying of our sages of blessed memory: "were it not for three verses etc" (Sukkah 52b and Berakhot 31a) and one of them is "that I made evil" (Micah 4:6) their hearts - that I gave them the impulse to evil. "And God was sad עצב in his heart" - meaning, that the Holy Blessed name was sad due to the heart of the human, that God had given the human a heart of stone like that. "And Noach found favor" (Genesis 6:8) - meaning, that Noach נח was a tzadik and switched himself from the nature that makes humans likely to separate themselves from clinging to the Exalted Creator and strengthen oneself to cling to the Creator, and so [Noach] found favor, Noach נח with switching the letters becomes חן Chen, favor/grace, which is him becoming a favor/grace in the Blessed Name's eyes. | |
| The third level "acts of lovingkindness" - that behold in the upper worlds God set 'Compassion', which is love and 'beloved' that is the the Holy Blessed Name loves the righteous because of the righteous' holy deeds on the earth, yet in this world they are called 'lovingkindness', that even for a person who is not decent, the Holy Blessed Name does lovingkindness freely, providing for that person's needs. Nevertheless, the righteous who attain the level of rising up every physical thing, which is rising the holy sparks that exist in corporeality, which is in one's eating and drinking and so on, and all one's thoughts in the time of doing physical things are only to rise the holy sparks in them, and a righteous person such as this one does not need lovingkindness, meaning, free lovingkindness as explained above, giving the things needed in this world from the side of lovingkindness, because the Holy Blessed Name showers [the righteous] with their needs according to the deserved letter of the law because of their good deeds. And this is the explanation for "deeds of lovingkindness [roots g.m.l./kh.s.d.]": from the expression "the weaning [g.m.l.] of Yitzchak" (Genesis 21:8) - there is no need for the levels "lovingkindness" [חסד] just what is deserving to the righteous through the love of the Blessed God for the righteous, and through that the righteous connects him/herself above above to the eternal life, even while in this world the righteous attains the higher pleasure of the eternal life, and this is the explanation for the gemara "you will see your world in your lifetime" (Berakhot 17a), that through one's deeds and movements which are all done in holiness and purity and clinging to God and happiness and love and awe, from that one attains pleasures of the higher worlds in this world. And there is to say that this is also the intention of the verse "and y'all who cling to Hashem you God are all alive today" (Deuteronomy 4:4) . Meaning, through clinging that y'all cling to the Blessed Creator y'all will get eternal life, even "today", in this world, as explained above. | |
| And this is also the explanation of the verse "Moshe commanded [to] us Torah, the legacy of the congregation of Yaakov" (Deuteronomy 33:4) - it is also a hint to the three levels discussed above. "Moshe commanded us" - all of us were commanded to learn God's Torah even if it is not for its own sake, and this is "to us", every person according to their own level. Second, "legacy", this is the second level discussed above, to raise the holy sparks that are called "inheritance of the forebears", as it is known, and the Holy Blessed Name gave us the aspect of this inheritance and legacy to raise up the holy sparks, and this is "legacy". And this is the intention of "maintaining His faith on those that sleep in dust" (Machzor Vitry, Order of Shacharit 88:15), it wants to say that the holy sparks fell down, and the Holy Blessed Name maintains faith with them, to raise them from dust to holiness. And the third level "congregation of Yaakov" is the complete clinging that the righteous have, through which they bring down the flow to all Israel, only good, and behold the righteous congregates the congregations of Yaakov that are collected under the shadow of the righteous' wings to bestow on them. | |
| And through this the saying of the Gemara "Satan said 'where is Torah?' the Holy One said 'go to the earth' earth said 'I don't have it, go to the sea' and the sea said 'I don't have it, go to the son of Amram" (Shabbat 89a) will be explained. One needs to understand: how is it that the Holy One said something that is not [true]? And it seems that behold the Holy One of Blessing said to Satan the Accuser 'go to the earth' because [God is saying that] there is learning of Torah in worldliness and corporeality, that is, Torah not for its own sake, and even that learning is received by Me, and you cannot accuse the children of Israel. And the earth said 'I don't have it' - the explanation is that the essence of the purpose [of studying Torah] does not exist in corporeality, as explained, just 'go to the sea' which is the tzadik who raises the sparks to the Upper Sea for the sake of their raising, the tzadik that get to this level he is the essence of the purpose. And regarding this they said 'all rivers go to the sea' (Ecclesiastes 1:7) meaning rivers/nachalim נחלים comes from the expression נחלה legacy and ירושה inheritance that is the raising of sparks to the Holy are called 'inheritance' as known, and they go to the sea, "and the sea said 'I don't have it, go to the son of Amram'" meaning that there is yet another level higher than this, third, like the level of Moshe our teacher, peace be upon him, that reaches the heights of the clinging to the Creator, Blessed be, in the eternal life. | |
| And let us return to the first issue, "on three things the world stands, on judgment [din]" (Avot 1:18) - this is Torah, as there is that Torah is also called judgment in whichever way it will be, as explained above [for its own sake or not]. "And on truth" - that is the level of Yaakov, that is the average, that is compassion רחמים [rachamim], as it is written 'gave truth to Yaakov' (Micah 7:2) that through the raising of the holy sparks one awakens compassion and there is no need for lovingkindness, as explained above. "And on peace"- that is clinging to God, that one clings to the Blessed Creator since the name of the Holy Blessed One is Peace (Tractate Derekh Eretz Zuta, Section on Peace 11). | |
| And through this one understands the holy reading in this parsha, 'and God commanded etc from every tree of the garden you shall eat, yea, eat, yet from the tree of good and evil you shall not eat from it, for on the day you eat from it you shall die, yea, die' (Genesis 2:16-17). There are many specific questions: (a) the doubling of the expression eat, eat; (b) the expression 'from it' is superfluous; (c) the doubling of 'die/die'; (d) what Rashi explained, and this is his language - "because she added to the commandment she ended diminishing it" (Rashi on Genesis 3:3) is difficult, since didn't she know that in truth Hashem had not ever forbidden to touch? Therefore no proof can be brought from touching to eating, because eating was truly the commandment. | |
| And it appears to me that the root of the issue is this, that the Blessed Holy One of Blessing said "from all the trees of the garden you shall eat, yea, eat" (Genesis 2:16) - a hint to Torah, which is the tree of life, "eat" is an expression of hidden, the explanation is that this is learning for its own sake which is the root and the essence, as the Blessed Holy One of Blessing warned about, and at any instance, if you have not yet reached [the level of] Torah learning for its own sake, in any instance "you will eat", meaning, for your benefit [is] learning not for its own sake, and this is "you will eat": be present, and do not depart from My Torah. "And from the tree of good and bad you shall not eat from it" specifically, meaning, the physical things are in them - the mixture is also good, which are the holy sparks that are in every physical thing; "shall not eat from it", the explanation is that your intention should not be exclusively from the material and physical sides only, rather only from the spiritual side, in which the holy sparks are, from that you shall eat. "Because from the day you eat from it you shall surely die מות תמות" (Genesis 2:17) - <em>mot tamut</em> meaning, "die-mot" in the next world, the eternal life, and the expression "die - mot" is also hidden, a hint to the next world, the eternal life, [and] "die - tamut" in this world. | |
| And behold, Chava heard the two levels, that are the learning of Torah in any way that it is learned as explained above, and also the rising of the sparks, and so she understood immediately that there is another level which is the complete clinging to the Creator, of Blessed Name, and this is what she said "you shall not eat from it neither shall touch it" (Genesis 3:3) - meaning, touching in this world, that is any pause on clinging [to God] you should not do, "lest you die" that is, interrupting clinging, since she reasoned that she was also commanded regarding this third level. And in truth, clinging comes directly from the two levels previously mentioned, and she wasn't yet on that level. And the snake that pushed her until she touched it and said "just as you did not die from this touching" (Rashi on Genesis 3:4 and Bereshit Rabbah 19:4) - the explanation is that you do not pause clinging through this, "so too there is no death from eating" meaning, even if you don't eat with the aforementioned intention, to rise [your] spirituality, "you will not die" (Genesis 3:4). | |
| And this is the explanation for "In a beginning - due to Torah etc and due to Israel etc" (Rashi on Genesis 1:1:2) this is a hint to clinging to the Blessed and Elevated Creator, the clinging to the Blessed One through songs and praises, and this is the hint "Israel" - "God is direct / yashar E'l "ישראל" - יש"ר א"ל". "And due to the first fruits that are called reshit/beginning" a hint regarding the rising of the holy sparks, as it is said "the beginning of the first fruits of your soil you shall bring to the house of etc" (Exodus 23:19), that are the sparks that fell down, "you shall bring to the house of Hashem" to rise them from the ashes, as explained. Hashem taught us the true way to serve God, in completeness, in truth and in honesty/innocence, amen, may it be God's will. | |
| 'Comment' 2 | |
| In a beginning, created - And the explanation of Rashi, may his memory be for blessing: "due to Torah that is called 'beginning' and due to Israel etc" (Rashi on Genesis 1:1). And it seems that we should explain Rashi, may his memory be for blessing, that since these things are to expose the Unity of the Holy Blessed Name that God is unique in God's marvels and being the True Creator, that this is the sign and the proof of God's people Israel, the righteous, that the light of their minds and hearts is immense in its levels and good personal characteristics with no limits, that our eyes see [Israel's] level is higher than all of the other nations, and the holy Torah that the good God, in God's mercy, gave to them... those two [Israel and Torah] will testify and justify on most of God's wonders and marvels, that God created the world by Godself, with no help and no aid, through what they say "three testify on each other's behalf, the Holy One of Blessing, Torah and Israel." And this is "Hear Israel Hashem" - "Hear" hints to Torah, since "Hear" is Torah that we heard from the mouth of the Blessed One, and "Israel" are testifying about Hashem that God is the Maker and the Creator, and to that since Rashi also in his commentary "due to Torah and due to Israel" is saying that those two are proof regarding 'Beginning'/creation. And this is easy to understand. | |
| 'Comment' 3 | |
| Created El-him the heaven and the earth etc - this issue will be explained, but first let us interpret the verse (Ps. 11:7) "because Hashem is righteous, He loves righteous deeds" the explanation is such: behold, we see the ways of humans: the thing they have now is not treasured anymore, rather, people always desire what is out of their reach. But that is not the way of the Blessed Creator. Even though "Hashem is righteous in all His ways" (Ps. 145:17) and does righteousness with all flesh, even though that is the case, God still desires and wants the righteousness of people. | |
| Noach | |
| 'Comment' 1 | |
| <b> These are the generations of Noach, Noach was a righteous person, complete in his time (Genesis 6:9)</b> It appears to me that the person who deals with serving the Blessed and Exalted Creator in all their deeds, meaning, even in physical things such as eating and drinking, that that person eats and drinks in holiness, in any instance trying to distance from the dross and to raise the spirituality in themselves, then in every time that they raise up and get to a different, more complete, level, this is called "generation". This is because the first aspect that they were acting on, all the days they are acting on that aspect, that aspect is called "generation". And after they fall into a different aspect, behold, that person is like one who came into a different generation. And this is the meaning of "a generation goes and a generation comes", as just explained, that the one who falls from one's first aspect in which they were acting until now, that aspect is gone from them, like "a generation goes". "And a generation comes" it is also as explained, that they came to a different aspect, and the text says that nevertheless the person needs to get through the method "and the land [eretz] stands forever", meaning, that the corporeality [artziut], that is, physicality, needs to be maintained so that one will act in it with holiness, as explained, and "stands forever [le'olam]" really means to the Upper World [olam]. And a person that acts as described come to a different aspect every moment, but to one who does not act with holiness, none of this applies, since they do not go to any other aspect at all. | |
| And this is "from generation to generation", meaning, a person who wants to go out and enter from a generation to another generation, that is, from one aspect to another, as explained, "Your deed will be praised", meaning, one needs to make even oneself holy even in their corporeality, to the point that even one's physical deeds will be praise to the Holy Exalted Name, Blessed be. | |
| And this is "Noach was a righteous man, perfect in his generations" - the explanation is that in all his aspects, all that was in him, in every moment he was righteous and perfect, and all that was due to "Noach walked with E-lohim", meaning, all his deeds were only for the Great Blessed Name, and so he always went from one aspect to another aspect. | |
| Lech Lecha | |
| 'Comment' 1 | |
| <b>God said to Avram: 'Go forth from your land etc' (Gen. 12:1) </b> ~ it seems to me that behold, a person needs to serve the Blessed Creator in three levels, one after the other, which are (1) at the outset one needs to break the strength of desire, the natural desire found in a human due to the nature of humans. Examples are eating and drinking, and such, so that one's eating will be in holiness and purity, through that one breaks the strength of "other gods" (elohim acherim) since "gods" has the same gematria as "the nature" (hateva), and one the forces of "other gods" are broken, one merits to come to the level "living God" (E-lohim chayim". | |
| (2) A person needs to break the lower traits that they have. From the moment one comes from their mother's womb, there are those who have worse traits than others, for example, they are easily angered and so on, and the rest of their traits are worse than the traits of their fellows. And after the breaking of the lower traits, one merits to come to the [level of] loving the Blessed Creator. | |
| (3) And after all this, one needs to come to the third level, which is making oneself splendid, as explained before in parshat Noach, that all Noach's deeds were beautiful and splendid, just as the tanna said "all that is a splendor etc and splendor for him from other people." | |
| And this is a hint of "go forth to yourself from your land [eretz]", a hint to the first level, which is the desire of the materialistic corporeality which is natural in the [human] raw material, and one needs to go out of that [level]. "And from your birthplace" is a hint to the second level, which are the ugly traits that are born in every human. "And from the house of your father" is a hint to the third, that behold, the essence of the lower splendors come to a person through their arrogance and self-boasting of one's ancestors, if one is the descendant of great people. And a person needs to come out of this ugly trait to glorify oneself after what is good in the eyes of both God and humans, as explained. And this is [the message in] "bow down to Ad-nai, in the glory of holiness" (Psalms 29:2), meaning, to reach glory and splendor in making holiness splendorous, which is the level of splendor. | |
| And this is [the meaning of] "sweetness drops from your lips, bride, [milk and honey are under your tongue] etc" (Songs 4:11) - also a hint to those three levels. "Sweetness drops" is a hint to the level of awe, [since] "myrrh drops" (Songs 5:13) is explained by our sages z"l with "do not read myrrh but etc" (Shabbat 30b:6). And "your lips bride" is a hint to the level of love, like a bride is beloved by her fiance. And "honey and milk under your tongue" is a hint to the third level, that all one's deeds are like honey and are splendid for all people. | |
| 'Comment' 2 | |
| Or it can be said "sweetness drops" - behold, when a person begins to enter in the service of the Holy and Exalted that person needs to be in awe, and due to the fact that one has not yet fixed all they need to, therefore they speak things explicitly and without shame, and afterwards, when they come to an additional level, behold they get embarrassed of speaking about their deeds, just as a bride whose deeds are done secretly, and this is because God's awe is in that person, and after that when they go to an additional level behold they are modest in all their deeds, and this is "sweetness drips", a hint that one begins at the beginning of their service, and then they leak [their] words, as explained, since their awe is not complete. And after that, "your lips, bride", meaning, that their words are said with embarrassment and their deeds are hidden as a bride's. And after that, "honey and milk", meaning, words that are sweet as honey and milk, they are "under your tongue", that one is walking modestly, absolutely. | |
| 'Comment' 3 | |
| Or one can say "go for yourself" - it seems to me [we can understand this] through the way of a hint: a person needs to research, and search, and seek, always in order to see the greatness of God in every thing that their eyes see, and through this they will merit that the Holy Blessed One will give them intelligence and understanding to succeed and comprehend the upper worlds. And the way to reach this level of being able to observe the greatness of God is to fix one's traits first and foremost, since the Exalted Holy Blessed Name created the human with all sorts of traits, and each and every single trait has a side and a piece that is towards holiness, and also towards the opposite, God forbid, as known. And a person needs to break into their choice so as to use their traits only to holiness, and then they will merit to understand and observe the greatness of God. And the Exalted Holy Blessed Name opens for that person the springs of wisdom, to conceive and comprehend in every instance with the one's higher understanding, more and more, what one's mind eyes have never seen. | |
| And this is "go for yourself", as its simple meaning, that is, you should observe yourself always so as to separate yourself from your corporeal traits [artziut] so as you can switch them to good, as explained. And this is "from your land [artzecha], to bring them only to holiness. "And from your birthplace" meaning, a person who behaves with disgusting traits then from that person come evil results, God forbid, since a trait gives birth to another similar trait, through "a transgression brings about a transgression" - and this is "from your birthplace". "And from the house of your father", meaning, sometimes certain traits get imprinted in a person according to the environment that happens to the person, from the parental forces that insert those traits into the person. One needs to get out of those and make them enter into holiness, and this is "from the house of your father". And then you will be able to merit "to the land that I will show you", that you will merit the higher mind, and the higher land that I will show, a place you have never seen. | |
| And this is "leave גול your way to Ad-nai" (Psalms 37:5) - meaning, as explained above, since גול comes from the expression for revelation, התגלות, that your way and your traits will be revealed: you will scrutinize them and you will see that all of them are "to Ad-nai", and you will "trust in Him", meaning, when a person observes and scrutinizes the greatness of God, this is called "trusting". "And He will do" - meaning, then the Blessed Holy Name will do new doings, something you have never seen and never understood, and He "will bring about your righteousness like light". And sit with this to understand. | |
| Vayera | |
| 'Comment' 1 | |
| And Hashem appeared to him etc (Genesis 18:1) - we have to explain first the verse "And Avraham was old, entered in days" (Genesis 24:1). Behold, the upper worlds are called "days" and the tzadik in their kedusha reaches up to the upper worlds, and this is "Avraham was old/zaken" as in "this one acquired wisdom"/Zeh Kanah chochmah" (Sifra, Kedoshim 7:12); "entered in days" meaning, until he reached the upper worlds, and so too about King David, peace be upon him, it was said "And David was old, entered in days etc" (I Kings 1:1) and this is "He asked from You life; You granted him many days" (Ps. 21:5). That behold regarding the tzadik, the life they have in this world is not his, rather, it is as a borrowed thing for one hour, and because of this the tzadik goes and strengthens themself always in holiness, since the tzadik always thinks that lest today it will be the day of returning what was borrowed, and this is "he asked from You life", meaning, meaning, the tzadik who thinks that life is only borrowed from You, therefore "You granted him many days", through this the tzadik merits many days, which are the life in the world to come. | |
| And this is "and Hashem appeared to him at the terebinths of Mamre", meaning, that thought Avraham was on the bed, the essence of his sitting really was on the upper worlds, and this is hinted to in "in the heat of the day", meaning, in the heat of holiness and clinging to God, since the heat and the clinging of the upper world is called 'day', as we explained. And this is easy to understand. | |
| 'Comment' 2 | |
| Or say - And Ad-nai appeared to him etc (Genesis 18:1) - beforehand, let's explain the verse "for Ad-nai is righteous; He loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold His face" (Psalms 11:7). There is in the Gemara "a certain one lead prayers in the presence of Rav Hanina, and that one said 'the great, etc, the fearless' and Rav Hanina asked 'have you concluded all the praise due to your Master?' (Berakhot 33b:22, Megillah 25a:8). And on a first glance, don't we actually praise the Holy Exalted name with many praises that were not said by the Men of the Great Assembly? Yet, see that the Blessed Holy Exalted Name is described with [words such as] compassionate, gracious and righteous. And through the trait with which a person serves their Creator, that same trait is aroused Above, in the Worlds, and the Creator is described by that same trait, and a person needs to serve the Creator with all the traits so as to arouse that trait Above, and when a person arouses that trait they are called tzadik, and then the Blessed Name is described as 'tzadik', and so on in all the worlds. And then a great compassion is aroused towards the world, and all judgments are converted into compassion through that tzadik. And this is "Righteous is Ad-nai", meaning, at the moment the Blessed Name is called 'tzadik' through the continuation of the work of the tzadik, then 'He loves righteous deeds', meaning, compassion and righteousness for this world, and then 'the upright shall behold His face'. The explanation: who caused this? 'the upright, etc', meaning, the upright that looks out always to continue the [presence of] the Blessed Creator to the internalness of the worlds, but 'that one that prayed in the presence of Rav Hanina' that was mentioning the praises through words, did it in a way that implied that the Creator did not create the worlds like that, and therefore Rav Hanina asked 'did you finish praising your Master?' | |
| And this is "to him, Ad-nai, in the woods of"(Genesis 18:1). "To him" meaning, for him, through his service, "Ad-nai" appeared, that is, the trait of compassion; "in the woods" that is the Upper Worlds as I wrote above, "Mamre" meaning through the untarnished sayings (imrot) of our father Avraham, PBUH, which were to continue [the presence of] the Exalted Creator to the worlds, as explained above, and this is easy to understand. | |
| 'Comment' 3 | |
| Or say - "appeared, etc" (Genesis 18:1) that behold, when creating the world arouse in the will of the Exalted, to give good to those created, the Holy Blessed One contracted Godself, and - to where did God contract Godself? I heard from my teacher z"l, that God contracted Godself into the letters of the Torah with whoch God created the world. And he said that this is the explanation for what our sages said 'as if it were possible / KeBeYaCHoL' - meaning, through 22 K"B letters YaCHoL it was possible for the Holy One of Blessing to exist in this world, and the tzadik that engages in Torah for its own sake, that tzadik continues the [presence of the] Blessed Creator and raises inside the letters of the Torah, just like in the moment of Creation. | |
| And this is "and revealed to him, Ad-nai, in the trees of Mamre" (Genesis 18:1). Mamre is an expression of speaking, as explained above. And 'tree' is Torah, and the mitzvot are the branches, and the text is saying that through the untarnished sayings that dealt with Torah, he continued [the presence of] the Creator inside the letters, and this is "the woods of Mamre", meaning, in the tree of his sayings Ad-nai appeared to him. And the text said: "why did he merit that Ad-nai appeared to him through his dealings with Torah? This was due to his great surrender, which is "he sits at the entrance of the tent", that even though he was a great tzadik he held himself in a great surrender, that he was still sitting at the entrance and at the beginning of holiness, since "tent" is a hint to holiness, "as the day warms" meaning, that there are people that look as someone who surrenders but their insides are not like their outsides, and the text says that Avraham had surrendered completely, in truth, with a full heart, and yet it was clear as the sun in his eyes that he had just began in his service to the Blessed One, and this is "as the day warms". | |
| "And he saw, and behold, three men are standing over him" (Genesis 18:2) - this is a hint: Avraham saw that it was on him to fix three worlds, that is, love, awe and balance (tif'eret). The tzadik needs to fix six corners, which are six days of the week, and they are three and three, that is three before Shabbat and three after Shabbat. And therefore the text seized on the language "three men", and this includes all of the six corners, those before with those after Shabbat. And this is what we say "and unify our hearts to love and to hold in awe" that even, truly, a person needs to set awe before love, however we pray for the awe that comes from within the love, that is,three days that are after Shabbat they are love, because they belong to the Shabbat that passed, and the three days that are before Shabbat they are awe, since from inside them one comes to the love that is Shabbat, and it is because of this that we pray "to love and to hold in awe", as the order of the regular days, that begin in love and end in awe, in order to fix the six corners. | |
| "And he saw and he ran towards them etc" (Genesis 18:2) - the explanation is that, after fixing the three worlds as explained above, through that the Flow came to this world, and the essence needs to be the arousing of below, and this is "he saw, and he ran towards them" - that is, with alacrity, that this is the essence, as the tanna said "alacrity brings one to clealiness, etc" (Mishnah Sotah 9:15). "Towards them", that is to say, towards the worlds to fix them, that is the arousal from below. "And he bowed down to earth" that the bowing down is to continue the flow to the world below, and this is "he bowed down to the earth", meaning, that he continued the Flows downward. | |
| "And he said: 'please do not pass over your servant' - meaning that he prayed to the Holy Exalted Name a short prayer so God would not pass us by. "Let a little water be brought" - meaning, that a little compassion be brought from above to below, since this is the way of tzadikim, who say little but do much. "And wash your feet" - meaning, that there should be no touching and no seizing to the feet, which are the external negative forces (hitzonim); to enjoy holiness. "And rest under the tree" meaning, that they [the worlds] should only receive Flow from the essence, and that all the Flow should go to Israel. And sit with this to understand. | |
| 'Comment' 4 | |
| Or one can say - "Ad-nai appeared to him" (Genesis 18:1) behold, Aner, Eshkol and Mamre were "Avram's allies" (ba'alei brit Avram - Gen. 14:13) even though they were Caananites. [This is why] the text surprises us with "And Ad-nai appeared to him in the woods of Mamre", meaning - how could it be possible for the Holy Exalted Name to appear to him in the woods of Mamre, who was a Canaanite, and doesn't the Holy Blessed One refrain his Shechina from the places of idolaters? And the text said: don't be surprised with this, since " he is sitting at the entrance of the tent", the explanation is that this is the way of the tzadik, even when the tzadik is below, the essence of their sitting is above the Higher Worlds, which are called "tent of meeting", since they [the worlds] are always in joy and happiness as in Yom Tov, and the tzadik is always yearning with their thoughts, and they conquer the going up with their thoughts to the Higher World that is called "sitting at the entrance of the tent". And if you say 'how is it possible that the tzadik is both above and below the higher worlds?' To this the text said: take for yourself the proof in the words "warming up of the day", meaning, from the sun that is above the sky, and the light illuminates downwards, and it looks like as if it is above. So too with the tzadik: they are "as the day is warming up", that they are below, and the light of their Torah and their holiness illuminates above, in the Higher Worlds. And this is "Happy is the man You choose and bring near to dwell in Your courts" (Psalms 65:5), meaning, the Higher World. | |
| Chayye Sara | |
| 'Comment' 1 | |
| <b> And Sarah’s lifetime etc (Genesis 23:1) </b> - And the explanation of Rashi "at the age of one hundred she was as a woman of twenty etc beautiful as when she was seven". And for start, what difference does it make that she was as beautiful as she when was seven? And it appears that Rashi z"l intended that his words would hint to two levels that a person should behave all days of their life. The first is that one should be careful and guard oneself against any type of sin and transgression, one should not transgress any positive or negative commandment. And the second level is that even in permitted things, such as eating and drinking, one interjects all of it in holiness, intending them for heaven: that is, when a person dresses in nice clothes, and wears beautiful adornments, one should intend to be adorning the Image of the King, as explained in the Gemara [source not found], and so in every thing one's intention should be to heaven. And when one behaves in such a way, then anything one has, be it money, clothing, they will feel satisfied with what they have, and will be glad because of that, and their life will be theirs. But if one's intent is not for heaven in any of that, then they will always feel lack, and nothing will ever be enough for them, and they will find that their life is not really life, and is not theirs at all. | |
| And this is really the simple hint "as 100, she was like 20" that there was no sin in her regarding positive or negative mitzvot. "And 20 as she was 7" is a hint to the second level, that is, just as a child that tries to adorn themself they have no idea how to embellish themself, and they do not have the desire to adorn themself with expensive jewelry, so too Sarah was at age 20, which is the time when a person is supposed to conquer the desire to embellish oneself, and to adorn oneself, and all the other worldly matters, and every intent she had, in every adornment and embellishment, was to heaven. | |
| 'Comment' 2 | |
| <b> Or we can say </b> - "the years of the life of Sarah etc" (Genesis 23:1) through what we read in the Gemara, "a person is obligated to bless one hundred blessings every day, what is the source? 'What, Israel, does Ad-nai your God ask of you?' (Deut. 10:12) etc do not read mah (what) but me'ah (100)."(Menachot 43b:15). And one needs to say that the explanation is that the essence of the root of a person is to be in a great surrender, and humble in one's own eyes, and think of oneself as <i> "mah"</i>, and then one can act on one's deeds as if the Mikdash was still around, and this is the hint of the 100 blessings, as they correspond to the 100 sockets that were in the Mikdash. And this is the explanation of the Gemara "do not read <i> mah </i>, but <i> me'ah</i>", meaning, when you reach the level of <i>mah</i>, in surrender, you will be able to fix also 100 sockets, meaning, that you will be able to act in your deeds as in the time of the Mikdash. | |
| And this is "The years of Sarah’s lifetime"(Genesis 23:1), and "Sarah" is a hint of even when the tzadik is in the level of <i>nukvah</i> (one of the feminine expressions of Divinity), they should in any instance be humble and surrendering, and to this "100 years" hints, corresponding to the 100 sockets. And "20 years" (teaching seems to be missing). And "seven years" is a hint to fix the seven days of construction, since "shanah" is the gematria of "sefirah". And sit with this to understand. | |
| 'Comment' 3 | |
| Or say ~ that Rashi z"l hints with this words for a person to learn the ways of Hashem. There are two levels in the ways of humans. The first is when a person, in their childhood, maintains their studies and learns with diligence, that learning is called "beauty", which is the beauty of the Blessed Creator. When a person ages, that is, above twenty years old, when their mind is intensely concentrated in knowing Hashem, then the person begins to search their deeds, and sees is they were done properly to honor the Blessed One in truth, and sees and understands that they have not fulfilled their obligation at all, in any way, not in dealing with Torah nor mitzvot, in any deeds or studying at this point, since they learned for some position, or to glorify themselves, or wanting some personal benefit and then the person will fear and regret their past, and will strengthen themselves to fix themselves in all their deeds and learning Torah, that all should be equal for the good, in the Name of the Exalted Blessed One, and not for their own benefit. | |
| And behold it is known that in the holy book "Duties of the Heart" it is written: 'there is no devotion as the devotion of the beginning' (paraphrase of Duties of the Heart, Third Treatise in the Service of God), since every thing that is done, is done at its beginning with desire and courage with all the effort necessary. And this what Rashi z"l explained: "at age 100 like age 20 regarding sin", meaning, just as at age 20, when a person is searching their deeds and finding lacking in them, and seizing with strength the way to fix them, which is the first beginning, as explained, so too she [Sarah] was at age 100, at that same level, and "as age 20 like age 7 for beauty" (Rashi on Genesis 23:1:1) also is understood in that way, since in learning one needs also to exert oneself greatly to understand God's Torah just as when one did at their tender age. And the tzadik that behaves like that, as explained, merits eternal life. And this is "the years of Sarah's lifetime" (Genesis 23:1), using the name <i> Havayah </i>, connecting with eternal life, "the years of the lifetime of Sarah, all equally good" (Rashi on Genesis 23:1:2) is a hint that once the tzadik reaches that level, then all is similar in their eyes, all is for the good. | |
| And behold, a person really needs to strengthen oneself to devote oneself regarding eating and drinking in holiness and purity, that through this they are able to release the holy sparks, and through this they merit eternal life. And this is what Avraham our father PBUH said to the angels "rest under the tree" (Genesis 18:4), meaning under the tree of life, and through this "let me get some bread", that is, through eating, as explained. And this is "Ad-nai said 'behold the human etc and now lest he reaches and takes also from the tree of life and lives forever'" (Genesis 3:22) one can say that it is explained in that way: behold, the Holy Exalted Blessed Name, in God's great compassion, wants that a person would fix what they have broken, through teshuvah. That is why the Holy Exalted Name said 'and now', meaning, now that the First Human sinned, how will he fix his sin? Lest, and maybe there is a fixing of extending their hand to seize and grasp the tree of life through eating, releasing the holy sparks through eating in holiness, and this is 'and he will eat and live forever', meaning, through eating there will be a way of grasping eternal life, and therefore 'Ad-nai send him out of the Garden of Eden to work the soil' (Genesis 3:23) since in the world to come there is no eating or drinking, and so only in this world one can raise holy sparks, as explained. And the tzadik that behaves in holiness, in Torah and in eating and in drinking and in all their deeds, continues the flow of lovingkindnesses to the world. | |
| And this is "Avraham was old, advanced in days" (Genesis 24:1) meaning, zaken, old, as in 'one who acquired wisdom' zeh kanah chochmah, (Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 7 12) and one reaches the level 'days', to continue the flows of lovingkindnesses that are called 'days', through "by day Ad-nai commands God's lovingkindness" (Psalms 42:9) and "Ad-nai blessed Avraham with everything" (Genesis 24:1), that the tzadik who continues the flows needs to have the intent to include all of Israel, and to not doubt oneself at all, as if there is no one else in the world, only that the Holy Blessed One watches out for the tzadik, and blesses them in the inclusion of all Israel, even though the tzadik does not watch out for themself, and this is "and Ad-nai blessed, etc, in everything" - meaning, in the inclusion of all Israel. | |
| And behold the complete tzadik, as explained, goes continuously in revelation, but one who is not in that level needs to 'walk modestly' (Micah 6:8) to fix their internalness, and this is [how we can understand] "and he said to the eldest servant in his house [the one ruling over everything that he had, and said 'put your hand under my thigh']" (Genesis 24:2). Meaning, the complete tzadik we spoke of says to the second tzadik, who is not yet at that level [of being complete], and is just like a servant at that level, that they still need to walk modestly, as explained, fixing their internalness, and this is "eldest in his house". "The one ruling over everything that he had" - meaning even though they [the second tzadik] are at the level of ruling over this trait of not feeling jealousy towards their fellow, that they do not covet nor desire nor envy other people in their possessions, which is the essence of walking in the ways of Hashem, to take out from one's heart jealousy and coveting of money (which is the essence of what impedes service to God), and this is "the one ruling over everything he has", that they are content with what they have, and does not covet what others had. And the complete tzadik wants to bring them also to the great level, and so he says "put your hand under my thigh" meaning, connect with him. And this is the hint of "my thigh", which is called "yesod", which is connectedness, as known. | |
| And this that is said regarding our father Yaakov, PBUH, "and the sun shone as he passed Penuel [and he as limping at the thigh]" (Genesis 32:32) meaning the "Sun" is lucidity and great holiness, that was shining and illuminating him as he passed through Penuel. Penuel is an expression for Panu El, [vacating God] and this is when a person separates their awareness from holiness, then, immediately, "and he limps on his thigh", meaning, that one has a lack in the thigh. And when he [Yaakov] passed through Penuel, meaning, that he did not separate his awareness at all from holiness, and this why then "the sun shone to him". | |
| We find then that a person needs to connect themself with complete tzadikim in their holiness and their lucidity, and to guard oneself so one will not vacate God from their awareness, and devote oneself in all the traits above mentioned. And Hashem will help us to serve God in truth, and Hashem will be with us as God was with our ancestors. Amen, may it be God's will. | |
| Toldot | |
| 'Comment' 1 | |
| <b> And these are the generations of Yitzchak, the son of Avraham etc </b> (Gen. 25:19) We need to explain the explanation of Rashi z"l "Yaakov and Esav that are spoken about in the portion" through the way of hint [remez]. Yaakov is a hint to Judgment [Din], and Avraham is a hint to Lovingkindness [Chesed] as known. And there are tzadikim whose beginning is suffering and whose end is serenity, and there are evil people who are the opposite, and this is "these are the generations of Yitzchak the son of Avraham", meaning, after Judgment, Lovingkindness is born. And "Avraham gave birth to Yitzchak" means that after Lovingkindness, Judgment is born. And the explanation of Rashi z"l (Rashi on Genesis 25:19:1) that these are Yaakov and Esav who are talked about in the portion is to explain this hint that runs throughout the portion, regarding Yaakov and Esav, that is, Yaakov's beginning is Judgement and his end is serenity, as explained, and regarding Esav it is the opposite. | |
| 'Comment' 2 | |
| <b> Or say </b>, also, through the way [of interpreting] of remez (hint): behold, we see the deeds of people - evil people doing evil, the incitement of the evil impulse in them begins with saying to them that it is a mitzvah to do this, when in truth it is a transgression. And the tzadikim who safeguard themselves from transgressions sometimes will do a transgression for its own sake [lishmah], as we find 'it is permissible to lie [lit. change] for the sake of peace' (Bava Metzia 24a, Tosafot on Bava Metzia 24a:1:1, see also Yevamot 65b) - and this is "these are the generations of Yitzchak"(Gen. 25:19), meaning, the judgment that comes through transgressions. The reason of the transgression is because "son of Avraham" is a hint to a mitzvah, that is, that the yetzer hara says to him that this is a mitzvah, and there are tzadikim who do a transgression for its own sake, as explained. And this is hinted in "Avraham begot Yitzchak", meaning, a great tzadik sometimes begets "Yitzchak", that is, Judgment, by sometimes doing a transgression for its own sake because of the tzadik's great righteousness. And this is easy to understand. | |
| 'Comment' 3 | |
| <b>Or say</b> "these are the generations of Yitzchak etc" (Gen. 25:19) and let's begin by explaining the verse "and Yitzchak sowed in the land etc and found a thousand measures/gates" (Gen. 26:12). One needs to say the hint, that behold the service of the tzadik is always to raise the Holy Shechinah, which is the last letter hey [of the name Havayah], and this is the hint in the commentary of Rashi z"l: "this estimation is for tithing" (Rashi on Genesis 26:12:4) - meaning, Yitzchak estimated himself as tithing - which is terumah, since the Text calls Terumah as Tithing in many places. Terumah is explained as Terom Hey [lit. Raise the letter Hey], and the essence of the service to the Holy Blessed Name through love and fear is the hint [of] Terumah - two from one hundred [trei mimeah] meaning, a person is obligated to bless one hundred blessings every day and one needs to bless [those blessings] in love and awe. And this is called "sowing" regarding the tzadik, that through love and awe a great light is sown within the tzadik, and this is "a light is sown for the righteous" (Ps. 97:11). And through this immediately one hundred measures are found, meaning, through every blessing that the tzadik blesses they open one gate of those Upper Hundred Gates which are called one hundred blessings, meaning, the Upper Pools, and this is "Yitzchak sowed:, as explained, and "found a hundred gates", as explained. | |
| And behold it is known that there is awe that comes before love, since love comes from within awe; and there is Higher Awe that comes from love. And this is the hint in "and these are the generations of Yitzchak"(Gen. 25:19), meaning, awe that through it "son of Avraham", which is love, is born. And there is awe that comes from within love, and this is the hint in "Avraham", which is love, "begot Yitzchak", which is awe. And this is what Rashi z"l explained "Yaakov and Esav, the ones talked about in the portion". What is the practical application that comes out from this? The explanation of Rashi is that the practical application is that through awe and love Compassion is awakened and Judgments are shattered, meaning, "Yaakov" is a hint to Compassion, and "Esav a hint to Judgments. And this is the hint in "after that his brother came out, and his hand was holding onto the heel of Esav", meaning, even though some times the nations are victorious, God forbid, and they want to do evil to Israel, God forbid, and it looks like the thing is just about ready to come, God forbid, and it does not happen, and it does not happen, that after the end of the thing arrives, God forbid, and it is finished, then the power of the tzadik goes out and holds onto the end of the thing that it should not happen at all - and this is "his hand", that is, the tzadik's force "holds onto the heel", that is, the end of, "Esav", that wants to finish the thing, then the tzadik holds onto, and does not permit it to happen, and awakens great compassion for Israel. Amen. | |
| Vayetzei | |
| Vayishlach | |
| 'Comment' 1 | |
| (1) And Yaakov sent messengers ahead of him (Gen. 32:4) - this is explained in the way of hint [remez]. Behold the work of the tzadik is to be clinging to the Blessed and Elevated One, to cling his soul under the Throne of Glory, the place of his root, and the tzadik purifies and cleanses himself from all external desires - and then his cleansed body too clings to the Blessed One. And this is the expression "tefilah" [prayer], that is, clinging, like "the wrestlings [naftulei] of Elokim etc" (Gen. 30:8) [meaning] that the tzadik clings to the Blessed One through the clear and lucid prayers from/in pure thoughts. And this is "and he sent", an expression of accompanying [levayah] as in "Pharaoh commanded men and they accompanied him" (Gen. 12:20), and the Targum: "they led him" [v'a'l'viy'u] (Targum Jonathan on Genesis 12:20), meaning that the tzadik accompanies the messengers that go before him, that is, the words that come out of the mouth of the tzadik create angels from themselves, and the same happens with his clean body which helps his angels to go upward, "ahead of him to Esav his brother"- meaning, through this he causes Esac to become his brother. "Towards the land of Seir" - meaning, that he becomes his brother on below, this is the hint of "field of Edom", the angel-deputy of Edom also becomes his brother. | |
| (2) "And he commanded them saying" (Gen. 32:5) - the explanation of "commanded" is that it is an expression of alacrity, as in "The expression of command always implies alacrity" (Rashi on Lev. 6:2 and Kiddushin 29a:13) meaning, that the tzadik brings out his words from his holy mouth in holiness and alacrity, to such a degree that they become so strong [that] "to say" meaning that this thing will be said immediately, that Esav will have a turn about [and become] his brother, because obviously it is not appropriate to make this thing the essence of tefilah. Only through the Clinging that exists in the rest of the tzadik's tefilah, and the tzadik's words from the clean and lucid thoughts, immediately this word comes to fruition, that [the tzadik's] enemies make peace. | |
| (3) And this is the hint [in] the prophet Yermiahu's command "do not bring out burdens from your houses on the day of Shabbat" (Jer. 17:22), look at this: according to one's behavior all the days of the week, in [having] clean thoughts during prayer, is the addition of extra holiness that Shabbat brings to one. And so to the opposite, God forbid, if one naughtily follows the ways of one's heart, in strange and disorganized thoughts, then on Shabbat all the thoughts of the days of the week, the extraneous and disgusting thoughts, God forbid, they close the gates of lucid prayers, the prayers of Israel, that is, they stand on the Higher gates and prevent the prayers [from entering] the gate of Israel. And this is what the prophet warned against: "do not bring out your burdens on the day of Shabbat", meaning, the strange thoughts that are like an enormous burden and are pass before the person on the day of Shabbat due to the fact that one thought about them in the days of the week and "passed them through the gates of Jerusalem", meaning, do not pass these prayers, marred with disgusting strange thoughts through the Higher gates, that they stand on the entrance of the gate and prevent the prayers of Israel to go up through the pathways of the gates. And how wouldn't one feel awe and great trembling in one's heart, being that one is a lowly human, [seeing] what one's transgression can cause to oneself and others! | |
| (4) "Thus you will say to my master, Esav" (Genesis 32:5) - behold the holy Torah teaches us how to behave in this bitter exile in which we are under the hand of the nations, and we are compelled to accept the exile with love until Hashem will have compassion towards us and redeems us in a complete redemption, soon. And while we are in the bitter exile we are compelled to be submissive to them and call them 'masters'. And this is "thus you will say to my master, to Esav" - meaning, call him master when you talk to him, and then he will continue to do evil to you, through taxes and forced contributions - they will be charged with stealing, and through this Hashem will have compassion on us, since it is enough that we should be submissive to them and give them honor. | |
| (5) "I lived with Lavan and remained until now" (Genesis 32:5) - that behold, LaVaN has the same letters as scoundrel (NaVaL), which is the impulse to evil that is called scoundrel. And after a person merits to work on their two impulses, as it is said "with all your hearts - with both your impulses" then the impulse to evil is transformed into white [lavan] that is, Higher Whiteness [Loven HaElyon, keter]. And how can a person merit this? The essence is through submission, that one should hold oneself in this world as a resident alien [ger] and this is "with Lavan", meaning, that I merited that the impulse to evil was transformed from scoundrel to white. And there is a reason for that: "I lived" [garti], which is an expression for 'gerut'/conversion, meaning, I strengthened myself as a ger/convert with a great submission, and because of that it was not given to me to stay there for a few days, but "I was delayed/acher until now", meaning, I delayed in this work day after/achar day and year after year, and this is what I said (Mishnah Yoma 20:2) "and he already said 'Answer Hashem" and his voice was heard", meaning, that for a long time a person needs to cry out "answer Hashem, help me so I will merit to serve You in truth", and then, one's voice will be heard, but this does not happen quickly, in a short period of time. | |
| (6) And should you say - and from where comes the livelihood of a person (that spends a long time praying)? To that question the text says "and I have ox and donkey" (Genesis 32:6) meaning, livelihood comes automatically if we do the will of the Place. "I send this message to my lord in the hope of gaining your favor" (Genesis 32:6) - meaning, this is the way of the nations of the world, when they see the honor and riches of Israel, then they love Israel, and then they favor Israel, even if they do not enjoy Israel, in any instance they give favor. "And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying: we came to your brother etc" (Genesis 32:7) - meaning, the hint is that the words of the tzadik are effective and enter in the heart of Esav, transforming him in a brother, as we explained above, however, "he also comes to meet you", meaning, even though he behaves and comes to meet you, his deeds are the opposite of your good deeds. "And four hundred men with him" hints that even though he does all sorts of evil deeds, he still says that he has a place in the world to come, that he has 400 hidden worlds, and this is "with him", that he says that with him there are 400, hinting to 400 worlds, as we explained. | |
| 'Comment' 2 | |
| (1) Or one could also say - "I have oxen and donkeys" (Genesis 32:6) that behold it is written "and E-lohim said 'let the waters swarm with living soul [nefesh chayah], and let birds fly over the earth'" (Genesis 1:20). We can read this through hints: through the Torah, which is called 'water', a person merits [to become] 'living soul', which is the higher soul. "And let the birds fly over the earth" meaning, that a person may fly through their thoughts to the higher worlds. "And E-lohim created the great lizards" (Genesis 1:21) and see Rashi's explanation: and the words of the aggadah (Baba Batra 74b:6) - 'this is Leviathan, created both male and female' (Rashi on Genesis 1:21:1). One could say that Rashi z"l hints with his words [that it is necessary] to respond the the language of the Text "and He created" which at a first glance looks superfluous. Also, to the the change in the language, as it should say "and [God] said 'may there be great lizards etc'". However, according to the issue pointed out above, it will be explained that this is a hint to the tzadik who clings to the Blessed One, who is called 'Leviathan', an expression for accompanying [leviyah] and clinging to the Exalted Blessed Name. It is impossible that a person would come to this level without being with the Holy Blessed Name, since at the outset the Holy Blessed Name commanded that a person should work alone regarding this level, to merit a soul, and therefor it is written "and He said etc". But regarding the second level, which is to merit clinging to the Blessed One, called by the name Leviathan, which is to be in such clinging as to almost be disconnected from reality, until the Holy Blessed Name cools the person - and this is "cooled the male" [Ed - the original text Bava Batra 74b:7 is 'cooled the female'], meaning that in this clinging the Holy Blessed Name cools the person so as not to uproot them from reality, "male" is a hint to clinging. "Killed the female" is a hint to such a tzadik, whose female side is the yetzer hara, and the tzadik killed it, completely. "And salted [her] for the tzadikim in the world that is coming" (Bava Batra 74b:6) is a hint for the tzadikim that come after, that will be easy for them to serve the Blessed Name through what the tzadik caused to be, with their deeds, as above. "Salted" is an expression of sweetening, since the salt sweetens the meat, and so too the tzadik sweetens the yetzer hara [impulse to evil] until it is easy for the tzadikim that are coming in the future to serve the Holy Name, with no effort and no strain, and the two levels spoken above are given to the tzadik by the Blessed Name as a gift. | |
| (2) And this is "and I had oxen and donkeys", meaning, that I came to this level automatically, it was given by the Blessed Name, that "oxen" is an expression of observing and seeing, because after the tzadik makes their body merit, then the Blessed Name enables that person to see and observe through God's name, and the name Blessed Havayah goes in front of that person always. And this is "I had oxen", meaning, the higher level explained above came automatically to me, due to God's lovingkindness, may God's name be blessed. "And donkeys" [chamor] is a hint that the physical [chomer] body became thoroughly meritorious. "Sheep, etc" is a hint to all sorts of levels that we mentioned many times. "And I am sending to tell my master" meaning that through this I am acting a continuation, to continue the heart of Esav, "to find favor" in his eyes. "To tell" is an expression of continuation. | |
| (3) "And Yaakov was afraid, etc, and in his anxiety" behold, the complete tzadik serves Hashem completely, with all their heart, there is no nation or speech that can reign over the tzadik for evil, God forbid, and when the tzadik sees that they are scared and afraid, then they are "in anxiety", this thing brings suffering to them, and this is "and Yaakov was afraid", meaning, that he was scared and therefore "he suffered", because the way of the tzadik is not to fear or be scared of anything. And what did he do? "Divided the people", meaning, he immediately made teshuvah, and confessed in front of the Blessed One. Behold, in the Confession (Vidui) we say "we and our ancestors sinned", and one needs to give a reason as to why do we recall the sins of our ancestors. And we can answer that even when a person sins, they should not make themselves as a complete wicked in the eyes of the Accuser, they should only see themselves as a little wicked in their own eyes and as a little righteous in their own eyes. And this is why we mention slightly the sin of our ancestors, that is to say that what we sinned was through our ancestors, that did not make us completely aware of holiness, and this is what brought us to sin, and in truth our ancestors are already in Gan Eden, and the Accuser is not able to harm them. We only mention them so as to give a little opening to the Accuser, that we, ourselves, affirm that we are evil, God forbid, and what happens is that through the confession of sins a person becomes a middling [beinoni], and this is "all of us, middlings" (Brachot 61b:3). And this is "and he separated the people" - meaning, that he taught the people that was with him that they should confess their sins and become middlings, as explained, meaning a half here and a half there, since the tzadik themselves cannot make themselves into middlings. And after the confession and the remorse of the tzadik, they return to their original strength, to their holiness and level, to speak and think in holiness, and this is called "two camps", meaning, one camp below which is the speech, and one camp above which is the thought. And this is "if Esav comes to one camp the other will survive". And on the surface the word "remnant" is superfluous, since he could say "the second one survives". | |
| (4) And this issue will be explained through the later verses, meaning, that our father Yaakov PBUH began to pray: "I am unworthy of all the kindness etc, with my staff I crossed etc". The hint in "staff" [bemakeli] is that it is an expression of voice [kol], that in the beginning I had only "the voice, is the voice of Yaakov", and I had not merited the world of thought. "And now I am two camps", the hint is as mentioned previously, that I merited at this moment two levels, the level of speech and the level of thought, and therefore I pray "please save me etc lest he comes and attacks me, mother over children" - behold, the tzadik needs to serve the Holy Blessed Name in the general and in the specific. The general is awe, which is the root and is called "mother", and also thought is called "mother", and the mitzvot and speech are called "children", and they are the specifics, since every time one speaks this is specific in itself. And this is "lest he comes and attacks me, mother over children" - meaning, I fear that he would come, God forbid, and muddle my thoughts and my awe, which are the mother over children, as explained. | |
| (5) And this is the explanation of the Text above: "if Esav comes onto one of the camps and attacks", meaning, even if he attacks me in one of the camps, that is, thought, that he should confuse me, God forbid, "and the other camp will be left over" it really wants to say that then, in any instance, the other camp, which is speech, will remain for me, and then through speech I will fortify myself and return to my first camp, which is the world of thought. This is "as a remnant פליטה", an expression for a thing that escapes נפלט its swallowing, meaning, through speech one can save לפלוט the first level. And this is the explanation of Rashi z"l: "against his will that I will fight him", meaning, through speech one can fight and strengthen oneself, and return to one's holiness and thoughts as they were in the beginning. And this is the way of behaving of a tzadik. And in any instance, the tzadik always prays that they would not interrupt their holiness and their thoughts being directed to the Higher World. And this is easy to understand. | |
| Vayeshev | |
| 'Comment' 1 | |
| And Yaakov settled in the land where is father dwelled etc. It seems to me that in combination with the verse "may there be peace in your walls, harmony in your palaces" (Ps. 122:7) that there is in the Gemarah "From the day that the Holy One of Blessing created the world there was no person who called him “Adon” until Abraham came and called him Adon" (Berakhot 7b) - and at the surface, why is it remarkable in that that he called God "Adon"? Yet, see that we need to unify the names Havaya"h and Ad-nai and then God's Blessed Name is called Adon, through what we sing "El Adon over all His Deeds", that "El" is Chesed as it is written "El's faithfulness [chesed] never fails" (Ps. 52:3), and through our unifying of the Blessed Name we cause and continue lovingkindness [chasadim] and compassion to the world, and this is "El", meaning, when we arouse lovingkindnesses through our unifying of God's Blessed Name then God is "Adon over all His deeds". And this is "and YHV'H in His holy abode— be silent before Him all the earth" (Habakuk 2:20), that the name Adona'i is the abode for the name Havaya'h, Blessed, as known. And at the moment that we unify God's great name in the holy abode, that is, the unification in the name Adona'i, "all the earth is silent", that is "has" [silent] in gematria is 'Adona'i' that is, then God was called Adon over all the earth. | |
| Miketz | |
| Vayigash | |
| Vayechi | |
| 'Comment' 1 | |
| 'Comment' 2 | |
| 'Comment' 3 | |
| 'Comment' 4 | |
| 'Comment' 5 | |
| 'Comment' 6 | |
| 'Comment' 7 | |
| 'Comment' 8 | |
| 'Comment' 9 | |
| 'Comment' 10 | |
| 'Comment' 11 | |
| Or we can say "if one hasn't repaid it" (Shabbat 78b:7) that behold, a person has inside a piece of Godliness Above, and even when one transgresses, God forbid... were it not for that Godly piece inside, a person would have no strength to move any part of their body to do anything. And [in a transgression] there is forcing of that Godly piece to cover itself with coverings since those coverings make it possible for that piece to suffer through the great pain of the transgression, and this is secret of the exile of the Shechinah. And after, when a person repents (returns/does teshuvah) and cries over their transgressions, they cry over the exile of the Shechinah, and through this they destroy the coverings that the Godly piece was forced to wear, and reveal, through the fixing (tikkun) of the transgression [the Shechinah]. And this is the meaning in "until one has not repaid" - that is, one has not removed and revealed the coverings from the Godly piece, one has not yet done teshuvah as needed, so one is "obligated." "And if one has repaid, one is exempt", as explained above. "Rabbi Yehudah says etc" as explained above. | |
| 'Comment' 12 | |
| 'Comment' 13 | |
| 'Comment' 14 | |
| You must not see the donkey of your brother (Deut. 22:4) crouching under his burden (Ex. 23:5) etc - that a person that busies themselves with the issues and businesses of this world, behold, the world is like a burden for them, and they crouch under its burden, and the text says "you must not ignore": this is a warning for the tzadik to pray for that person. And this is easy to understand. | |
| Sefer Shemot | |
| Shemot | |
| 'Comment' 1 | |
| 'Comment' 2 | |
| 'Comment' 3 | |
| 'Comment' 4 | |
| Or explain (regarding Exodus 1:1) according to what is said, that the spirituality and the soul of a person are called "names", that the essence of a name for which a person is called, such as Reuven or Shime'on, the name is given to the soul and not to the body. And the proof of this is that when we see that a person is asleep and we want to wake them up, if we touch the body without calling them by their name it is harder to wake them up than when we call their name. And this is because when a person is asleep then their soul goes to the Upper realms, and leaves the body, and therefore it is harder to wake that person up just by touching the body, which is not true when you call their name. And this is why the Text surprises and says "and these are the names of the children of Israel", meaning, the holy tzadikim that are known by the name Israel, which is a high level, "came to Egypt", meaning, after being on such high level, how is it possible that they fall sometimes from their high level, and come to Egypt? It is hinted that they enter in a lower level, and this is what the Text says "with Yaakov", meaning, because of Yaakov, that are the most simple of the people, who are called by the name Yaakov. It is for their sake that there is a need for the tzadik to fall from their level, so that the tzadik will belong and befriend the most simple people so as to raise them to holiness - and if it weren't for this the tzadik would have no belonging with them. And the Text says the reason why the tzadik can raise them up to holiness, which is "a person and their household". Meaning: the tzadik is called "a person and their household", that is, their innerness, meaning, through the tzadik awakening the tzadik's own innerness, the tzadik is able to awaken the simple people's innerness, and they come together to holiness, and this is "a person and their household came". | |
| And this is "I will thank Ad-nai much with my mouth [and among the many I will praise Him]" (Psalms 109:30) - behold, everything goes according to how one thinks, and a person is able to seize through their thoughts many things that the mouth cannot express. And King David PBUH said "I will thank Ad-nai with my mouth", meaning, even though it is not possible to bring out with the lips all that is in my thought, even in this case I will thank God with my mouth - which is the small level. This can be because my intention is that "among the many I will praise Him", meaning, so that God's Name can be praised among the many, as explained: when the tzadik is at the small level, the tzadik can raise those who are among the simple ones of the people to holiness. And this is straightforward. | |
| 'Comment' 5 | |
| 'Comment' 6 | |
| 'Comment' 7 | |
| 'Comment' 8 | |
| 'Comment' 9 | |
| 'Comment' 10 | |
| 'Comment' 11 | |
| 'Comment' 12 | |
| 'Comment' 13 | |
| 'Comment' 14 | |
| 'Comment' 15 | |
| 'Comment' 16 | |
| 'Comment' 17 | |
| 'Comment' 18 | |
| And Moses returned to Hashem etc and since I came to speak in Your name, evil [it is] for this people, and saving, You haven't saved (Exodus 5:23). And on a first glace "saving, You haven't saved"(Exodus 5:23) is a double expression, since he said "evil [it is] for this people"(Exodus 5:23) - in any case He did not save them. And here is its explanation, that we in this bitter exile, in which in our pain He is pained (see Isaiah 63:9), and the Shechinah is exiled with us (see Eicha Rabbah 1:32 and Megillah 29a) - the only thing we should worry and complain about is the exile of the Shechinah, and not think at all about our sufferings, but only regarding the suffering and exile of the Shechinah. And if our direction and our suffering were only regarding the suffering of the Shechinah and not on our suffering, obviously we would be redeemed immediately, but we are flesh without the ability to tolerate our pain an grief, and so our days lengthen in this bitter exile due to our many sins, because we partner our suffering with the suffering of the Shechinah, and we worry about our suffering. And if there was one tzaddik like this he would be able to save the entire world from this exile. And this is what Moses our master peace be upon him said "and since I came to speak in Your name"(Exodus 5:23) - the explanation is that all my speaking was not only for Your great and holy Name, which is in exile, and not only due to our own exile; and the sign and the proof that the truth is with me, that my intent was not only due to Your holy Name is that I see that Pharaoh has done "evil to this people"(Exodus 5:23); that this is the sign to the person who wants to rebuke one's fellow or to say holy words: how does one know that one's intention was only for the sake of Heaven without any other thought or position? If one sees that when one speak in front of people who are not sincere and they get angry over those words, it is obvious that the intention of the words was completely only toward Heaven, and with the Help Of The Highest Name one's words will make a mark - and this is what Moses our Master may peace be upon him said: all my words were not for any other intention but Your Name, truly, and this is the proof - evil came to this people. And since my words were only for the holiness of Your Name, it would have been deserving that Israel be redeemed immediately "and why saved, You haven't saved (Exodus 5:23)"? And this is what King David peace be upon him said: "Return to me the happiness of Your salvation"(Psalms 51:14) - meaning, redeem us and return us speedily to our land, because all my intention is solely for "the happiness of Your salvation", that we should be redeemed quickly for Your salvation, to return Your captivity (Lamentations 2:14) which is the Holy Shechina, and not because of us, but only because of You. And the Name will redeem us speedily, and we will be joyful and be happy in His salvation. Amen. | |
| Vaera | |
| 'Comment' 1 | |
| And El-him spoke to Moshe, etc (Exodus 6:2) - Seems to us that [we should] explain what is in the Gemara "the wicked:their beginning is harmony and their end is suffering but the righteous: their beginning is suffering and their end is harmony" (See Genesis Rabbah 66:4). There is to say that the righteous need to serve the Blessed Creator from the beginning with awe and guard oneself from [being manipulated by] the impulse for evil, and to break every physical appetite, and this is "their beginning is suffering" and after one has merited to break every appetite and one's enemy - this is the impulse for evil - he is in peace with himself, the "their end is harmony". | |
| And this is "and El-him spoke", that "speaking" is the language of difficulty, and Elokim is the level of awe; and the explanation of "and spoke" is difficulty; "Elokim" means that when he was in the level of awe; "and said to him 'I am Ad-nai'" means when he came to the level of love that is 'Ad-nai' then the saying was in a softer language. | |
| And one could say that this is the intention of Rashi z"l "And Elokim spoke - spoke harshly with him [Moses] because he had spoken so censoriously when he said 'why have You done such evil to this people?!'" And as it appears in the midrash that he hurled words towards heaven (Shemot Rabbah 3:9), and in truth, may God protect and grant peace, that Moses hurled words against the Blessed Name - he only did that due to his love for the Jewish people, and this teaches regarding the greatness of the love of the Creator Whose Name is Blessed, and the explanation is this: "And Elokim spoke etc' that is to say that even though it was appropriate for Him to speak harshly because he hurled words against Heaven, yet, since it was because of the greatness of his love for the Jewish people, which is the love for the Creator Whose Name is Blessed, therefore 'He said to him 'I am Hashem' which is a soft saying of love. | |
| And this is what King David of blessed memory prayed (Ps. 119:38) 'Confirm Your word through Your servant', meaning that the One Whose Name is Blessed helps one to come to the level of Love, which is hinted by the language of 'saying'; 'that fears You' means love like this: that from love one will come to fear, which is the higher awe. And this si easy to understand. | |
| 'Comment' 2 | |
| "And I appeared" (Ex. 6:3) - And Rashi, Z"l, wrote "And I appeared to the patriarchs". And at a first glance, what does Rashi want with this, doesn't the verse explain [itself] 'Avraham, Yitzchak etc' and we know that they are called 'patriarchs'. And it seems that the intention of Rashi with this is that Avraham was the attribute of Love (chesed), Yitzchak the aspect of Strength (gevurah) and Yaakov, Balance (tif'eret) and they influenced one another in their aspects, and if so, how was it applicable that El Shadai was seen to all? Isn't it that holiness (kedushah) comes from above according to a person's level? However, the root of this issue is this: from the side of the Blessed Creator there is no change whatsoever, rather, according to the service done by a person in their level [holiness] continues on them. We find that Avraham continued on himself the attribute of Love, and so Yitzchak in his attribute, and also too Yaakov, but from the side of the Blessed Creator, there is unified unique simplicity, and this is why Rashi z"l explained "I appeared to the patriarchs" meaning, that with regards to the Blessed Creator there is no separation or division between them at all, and everything is one, therefore [God] appeared to them in one aspect, as El Shadai. And this is easy to understand. | |
| 'Comment' 3 | |
| "And I appeared etc as El Shadai etc" (Ex. 6:3) - And we seek to explain with what appears in the Gemara "Shadai - that said to the world, 'enough (dai)'" (Chagigah 12a:15) so it would not keep expanding. And the issue is that our sages z"l made us listen to the great goodness that the Blessed Creator did to us: it is known that the Lofty one is more realized the farther it is from the one to whom [the Lofty one] delegated [action], and it is found that were it not for the fact that [God] said to God's world 'enough!' the world would continue to expand to no end, and the husks (kelipot) from the Depths of the Great Void (Nukvah deTehomah Rabah) would have become present in the world, and now that God said 'enough!' - this is the goodness, that the husks would not become so present. And there is also "SHaDDai - " that is, that this name loosens (meShaDeD) [the laws of] Nature for the good of Israel. (see Ramban on Genesis 17:1:1) | |
| And this is "and I appeared etc as El Shadai" (Ex. 6:3) meaning, when I appeared to the patriarchs to promise them regarding the Land of Israel, I promised to them in the name El Shadai, which loosens the divisions, so that the husks and the nations will not have a grip on the Land of Israel, even if, God forbid, Israel aren't deserving. "And My name H' I did not make known to them", meaning, I did not promised them in the name Havaya, Blessed be the One and Blessed be the Name, lest, God forbid, they come to sin, and there is strengthening of the husks and the nations will grip, God forbid, the Land of Israel - therefore God was visible to them as El Shadai. And sit with this (think about it deeply). | |
| Bo | |
| Beshalach | |
| Yitro | |
| 'Comment' 1 | |
| 'Comment' 2 | |
| 'Comment' 3 | |
| 'Comment' 4 | |
| 'Comment' 5 | |
| 'Comment' 6 | |
| 'Comment' 7 | |
| 'Comment' 8 | |
| "And Moshe went up to God" (Exodus 19:3), because the great righteous person (tzadik) is called with the name "Moshe", and to this one there is an extra level above the other tzadikim, mentioned above, [the Moshe-type tzadik] goes up to the higher worlds: "and God called him" the words "and called" denote affection. "Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob" - those are the tzadikim that are not yet at that level, whose responsibility is to fix the Presence [of the Holy One] that is called [denoted] by the word "thus." "And declare to the children of Israel" - these are the real tzadikim, who are known by the name Israel, whose responsibility is to the an extra work, that is difficult as tendons... | |
| 'Comment' 9 | |
| 'Comment' 10 | |
| 'Comment' 11 | |
| 'Comment' 12 | |
| Thus you will say to the house of Jacob and tell the Children of Israel - the energy in the word "thus" is a hint of all the blessings, as it is written "thus you will bless", "thus will be your seed." And the fact that most of the world needs sustenance and abundance, and to this our Creator of Blessed Name said to him [Moshe]: "thus you will say to the house of Jacob" - this is the monetary riches, called [denoted] by the name "Jacob", and the abundance which comes from the aspect "thus" continues for them, bringing blessing and physical abundance from there. "And tell the Children of Israel" - those are the great ones, which are called by the name "Israel", and the higher light continues for them, putting a great love and awe from the higher worlds in their hearts. "And tell" - this is the language of continuation, giving them what they need from the higher worlds so they continue their work for their level of Gods work. And this is easy to understand. | |
| Mishpatim | |
| Terumah | |
| Tetzaveh | |
| 'Comment' 1 | |
| "And you shall command the Children of Israel, (etc.)" It appears appropriate to explain [this verse] in combination with the verse that King David, peace be upon him, stated "Great [deeds] have [You] accomplished, You, Hashem, my G-d, Your wonders and Your thoughts [have been] upon us," etc. It appears to me that apparently one must understand: How is it possible that a Tzaddik performs wonders to cure the sick or free the imprisoned, and other such acts, if, after all, there is nothing new under the sun, or that a Tzaddik innovates secrets of the Torah, how does this come about for the Tzaddik? The matter is as follows: Behold, Hashem, May He be Blessed, His nation and His ministers are light, as it is written, "And G-d said, "Let there be light, and there was light," which signifies that light was created anew there in its place and from there the light is brought down below; and we find that the root remains above. And so the Holy One Blessed be He did with everything He made, the root above and everything made below is through the movement of man moves and shakes the root above that is [then] brought down below. And that is the meaning of, "Great [deeds] have [You] accomplished," meaning that "You, Hashem," have performed and made the many causes and actions, and we find that the root [of these actions] is above, and so, "Your wonders" that we innovate, meaning the cure and the livelihood and every [other] matter, and "Your thoughts," meaning the secrets of the Torah, are "upon us," we are able to do all of them. And this is what the Holy One Blessed be He said to Moshe Rabbeinu, "And you shall command," which is a term of directive related to the influxes of of blessing and mercy, as it is written, "and I have commanded/directed my blessing," etc., and the Holy One Blessed be He said, "And you," the Vav adds to the matter, meaning that you also shall command blessing and influx upon Israel, because everything "commands" and "stands" from the mouth of the Holy One Blessed be He and it imprinted in its source, just that also "you shall command" to shake the supernal root, "and they shall take to you pure olive oil," and the "olive oil" is a hint to the great and pure influx, and the reason is it stated, "to you" when it should have stated "for them," is because the Tzadik, upon seeing that Israel is absorbed in abundance, that gives benefit and pleasure to him, as if the influx was for him, and this is easy to understand. | |
| 'Comment' 2 | |
| Or, let one say that the Holy Torah teaches us the ways of ethics and rebuke, how a person should reprimand his colleague, in that, behold, a person that wants to reprimand people needs to be holy and pure in all his aspects, meaning [the three levels of the soul] N"R"N [Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama], he [should be] holy and his body holy, and [only] then, "you shall surely rebuke/reprimand your fellow compatriot and not carry the sin upon him," because if not this way, in that he has subjected all his ways to holiness and purity, then it is impossible that his rebuke be proper, even if he commands people well and they act according to his word; still both will be unable to complete their tasks fully, and their hearts will go astray: this one in that he will have in his heart a sense of self-aggrandizement, how great is his level that he gave merit to his friend in a mitzvah (commandment) of Hashem, to do it, and all arrogant (self-important) people are an abomination to Hashem, and the other one will also have in his heart a sense of self-aggrandizement, in that he will act act haughtily before people and will not do the mitzvah in a full manner [simply] for the honor of Hashem, and instead there will only be many distractions [leading him astray] in his heart; and all this is because this one that commands the other to do good is not whole in his righteousness and in all aspects of his [character] as discussed previously; however, the Tzadik that is whole, for him it is fitting and proper to reprimand, and the one that follows his command, even in his presence will not feel haughty when close to him due to any form of distraction - neither the one that commands nor the ones that act, rather [the result will be] only that both [sides] as one will do good for the sake of Hashem, may He be Blessed. | |
| And this is [the meaning of], "And you," that the Vav is that which adds to the matter, meaning "you" with all of your qualities mentioned above, "shall command the Children of Israel," in line of what is written in the Talmud, "and Hashem - that is His court," meaning that the Vav is what adds to the matter, and similarly to that is the interpretation here, "and you shall command" for good, for that is what is called a command, in line with what is written in [the holy] books, one commands regarding the good and warns regarding the bad, and if you shall command them with all of your qualities mentioned above, you will accomplish that you all will not come to be led astray by other distractions - not you and not them, and that is, "and they shall bring to you olive oil," meaning all of the repentances and commandments they will do, which is the hint of, "pure olive oil," "crushed for the light," as is found in the holy Alshich's commentary at length, that a person needs to crush and break himself with hardships and abstentions for the service of the Creator may He be blessed, see there, and all of this is even if they perform [the repentances and commandments] in front of you, you all will not come to be led astray by another distraction, G-d forbid, and that is, "and they shall bring to you," which means in front of you, that you see their actions as commanded by you and you all will not turn to any distraction, [performing the deeds] solely for the unification of His Name, may He be blessed, "to light the eternal lamp," which means that your intentions will be only to elevate the holiness and the supernal light which is called, "Lamp," the explanation of "eternal" is that you shall see that the holiness and the supernal light will not move from you forever. And this is the explanation of the verse, "an eternal fire will burn upon the altar," for which the explanation is that the verse is warning that the holiness and the supernal light will remain burning in you so that you will not extinguish it forever, meaning that you shall add light and holiness so that it will not be extinguished forever. | |
| And regarding this our sages, may their memories be for a blessing, stated, "[The term] Tzav [command] specifically means [a call] for alacrity at the moment as well as for future generations," and also regarding this our sages, may their memories be for a blessing, taught us an ethical instruction to reprimand people in this way, meaning that they should hold [think of] themselves always with great humility and without any [sense of elevated] level [or status], just like someone who is now starting their service of the Creator, [starting] with the first principle that brings about [proper] service of Him, may He be blessed, which is alacrity; in line with this concept, the Tanna (a rabbinic authority at the time of the Mishnah) stated, "Alacrity brings about... (etc.) up until [one reaches] the holy spirit, etc.," and we therefore find that, through alacrity, a person can reach great levels, but even so, if he has all of these elevated levels, he should hold [think of] himself as only being at the level of just beginning to have alacrity. And this [statement] that, "[The term] Tzav [command] (specifically means [a call] for alacrity)," means that the essence of a command, in your desire to command that one come to His service, blessed be He, is that you should command them in a way that is "simply a call for alacrity," meaning that they should not hold themselves to be on any level whatsoever, rather at the beginning, which is alacrity, whether "at the moment," or "for future generations," which means even if he has [already obtained] all of the levels. | |
| Ki Tisa | |
| Pekudei | |
| Sefer Vayikra | |
| Vayikra | |
| 'Comment' 1 | |
| And [He] called to Moshe, and Ad-nai spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying (Leviticus 1:1) - on a first glance it would have been appropriate to write "And Ad-nai called Moshe, and spoke to him" so that it would be known Who called him, and now, with "and [He] called", simply, he does not know who called. Yet, the issue is like what is in the Zohar: Vayikra [And He called] is written with a small alef etc, because when the Shechinah is not in Her place then She becomes small, and then they were in the desert, and the essence of the place of His Glory is the Temple in Jerusalem, and therefore from the outset it is written "and [He] called Moshe" the small alef called Moshe, yet after that when He had already called him, and Moshe our Teacher PBUH, had bent himself towards the service of the Holy Blessed Creator with all his might, and he himself was a Temple, deeply, and came to this level of 'and Ad-nai spoke to him' which is a name of Compassion. This is what King David PBUH prayed 'You, Ad-nai, are enthroned forever' (Lamentations 5:19) that due to our many sins the Shechinah is in exile, and when the Holy One of Blessing wants to judge Israel, He needs, due to His immense compassion, move from the throne of Judgment and sit on the throne of Mercy, but in the future to come there will be only the throne of Complete Mercy, and God will not need to move from the throne of Judgment at all and change from one throne to another. It was regarding this that [King David] prayed 'But You, Ad-nai, are enthroned forever, Your throne endures through the ages' that the essence of the Shechinah of the Blessed One's glory is the righteous, and he prayed saying that despite the fact that the generations diminished and so on, despite all this may Your throne be on us in every generation, due to Your great Compassion may the light of Your Shechinah surround us. Amen. | |
| Tzav | |
| Shmini | |
| Tazria | |
| Metzora | |
| Acharei Mot | |
| 'Comment' 1 | |
| 'Comment' 2 | |
| Speak to Aharon your brother - we see to explain that [here] the Holy Torah is teaching people who rebuke others that they should not rebuke those who are clowns and empty-headed, into whom clearly the words [of rebuke] will not enter into their ears at all, as it is said "do not rebuke a scoffer" (Prov. 9:8); only people who pay attention to the voice of rebuke and mussar and who want to do teshuvah, to those one speak and directs to the ways of teshuvah. | |
| And this is "Speak to Aharon your brother"(Lev. 16:2), meaning, that he is your brother, and wants to do good deeds, and would receive rebuke from you, and here you tell him "should not go at all times to the Holy, between the House and the Curtain", meaning, if he is a person like this, that has all types of times, for good and bad, that sometimes does good deeds and sometimes the opposite, that stumbles sometimes - God forbid - on sin, such a person "should not go at all times to the Holy" that is, should not enter oneself into the higher secrets; "that [are] between the House and the Curtain" meaning, since one made a separation between oneself and the holiness, that person should not enter into the higher secrets immediately, rather, at the beginning they should return in teshuvah and regret [their wrongdoings] deeply. | |
| And this is "in front of the ark cover [kaporet]", the expression of atonement [kaparah], that teshuvah and regret atone sins. "On top of the Ark" meaning, before studying Torah one should regret and confess one's sins, and one's learning will be wanted by the Blessed Name, and "Ark" is a hint to Torah, since it is put in the ark, this is the essence. And the text says "because in a cloud" (Lev. 16:2), meaning, if one made a screen that separates, as it is written "You covered Yourself in a cloud, no prayer passes" (Lamentations 3:44), even in that case "I will show [Myself] on the ark cover", meaning, through teshuvah and regret the Holy Blessed Name will show [Godself] to that person and receive that person. "And not die", that the power of teshuvah is so great that extends days, and there is nothing that can stand in the way of teshuvah. | |
| Kedoshim | |
| Emor | |
| Behar | |
| Bechukotai | |
| Sefer Bamidbar | |
| Bamidbar | |
| Nasso | |
| 'Comment' 1 | |
| Raise the head of the children of Gershon, them too, etc - we have to explain for praise the reason why sometimes it is written "according to their families" before "according to their ancestral houses" and vice-versa. This is according to the verse "raise the head of the [all the congregation of the] children of Israel [according to their skulls] legulgelotam and according to their families etc (Numbers 1:2). The tzaddik elevates the entire world and raises them through the tzaddik's clinging and holiness, and through this the tzaddik brings them close to the service of the Holy Blessed Creator, and this is called "raising the head"and therefore the Name commanded that the raising of the head be in accordance to the reincarnations [gilgulim], since the tzaddik that knows the reincarnation of the souls is able to know which individual has a holy soul, or from which world was the individual's soul taken, and Moshe and Aharon were in a such a level, and they knew the reincarnation of souls, therefore the Holy Blessed Name commanded them "raise the head of the children of Israel according to their skulls", meaning, according to the reincarnation of the souls you shall elevate them towards Above, however, the simple folk among the humans whose souls are not in such high level, they too need elevation and raising of the head, and why should they be lessened, and through what can they be raised since they are below? For that, the tzaddik needs to bind them to their holy ancestors that are included in the general [frame] of Israel, and then they can be raised through the ancestors, and this is why sometimes it is written "according to their ancestral houses" before "according to their families", due to the fact that one needs to bind them to their ancestors first, so as to raise them among the rest of the families of Israel, and regarding those who are tzaddikim whose souls come from the Upper Worlds it is switched, that one raises them according to the order of low to high, beginning with their families and afterwards their ancestor houses, to bind them with the level of their ancestors, that too, and if you think about this, it will become clear to you. | |
| Beha'alotcha | |
| Sh'lach | |
| Korach | |
| Chukat | |
| Balak | |
| Pinchas | |
| Matot | |
| 'Comment' 1 | |
| Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of Israel (Numbers 30:2) - this is because, behold, the tzadik that wants to continue the Flows onto Israel needs to befriend other tzadikim, since through the talks that they have, the tzadik influences all of Israel, and they help him with this good to shut up the mouth of the Accuser through the merit of the many, which does not happen when one is alone because that demands great strength and a strong hand to shut up the Accuser in order not to let the Accuser dominate. And this is why Moshe our teacher says "how can I carry alone?" (Deut. 1:12) - meaning when I am alone without the companionship of other tzadikim it is a burden to me to continue to provide all that they need. And this is "Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes" - meaning that he befriended the tzadikim "of the Israelites" similarly to because of the Israelites, so as to continue the Flow to them. And don't overthink this. | |
| 'Comment' 2 | |
| 'Comment' 3 | |
| [Any] man who vows a vow [yidor neder] etc (Numbers 30:4) - It appears to me that behold, a person has a piece of God Above, and any person needs to prepare and make a pleasant living space [dirah] for that piece, meaning, in the upper worlds. "When one vows" [yidor] is connected to the expression "living space", "to Ad-nai" indicates the piece of God Above, and this is what the sages said "an unspecified selling of a living space is for a minimum of 30 days" (Arukh HaShulchan, Choshen Mishpat 312:12). This is a hint for a person who would like to acquire a living space for their piece of Above: one needs to fix their actions every 30 days, meaning, direct their thoughts to teshuvah and review [lehader, also praise or embellish] their deeds every 30 days, and this is why the sages have established fasting every erev Rosh Chodesh [day before the beginning of the month] so one could rummage through their deeds, and because of this they hinted that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi would review his learning every 30 days. (Brachot 38b) | |
| "Or swears an oath" (Numbers 30:3) - meaning, shevuah (oath) comes from the expression "seven". A person needs to work through 7 levels, just as "six days you will do your labor, and on the seventh it is Shabbat". This is a hint that one needs to fix six corners, and after that one comes to the seventh level which is the holiness of Shabbat, and this is "swears an oath", meaning, the seven levels, each and every one of them made of of another seven. | |
| "To impose a prohibition on his soul" (Numbers 30:3) - this is a hint that, after a tzadik goes through all these levels, they should always see in their mind that they have not fulfilled their obligation regarding their service, and it should always look in their eyes as if their service fell short, and the tzadik should always find in themself lackings and sins and transgressions, so that through their rummaging of their deeds they will connect with the world below, and will tie themself with them so as to continue the great and good Flow to their needs. And this is "to impose a prohibition on his soul", meaning, find something, always, that they did wrong. | |
| Masei | |
| Sefer Devarim | |
| Devarim | |
| 'Comment' 1 | |
| <b>These are the words, etc.</b> And we will begin by explaining the verse (Psalms 68:35), Ascribe might to God, etc., whose might, etc." At first glance, there is no connection between this and that! However, we have already anticipated this and written that, through his righteous deeds, a righteous person (tzaddik) can nullify all of the decrees upon the Jewish people and bring down favor upon them; when he 'shall decree a matter and it will be fulfilled' - the Holy One, blessed be He, fulfills his words. And this is [the meaning of] that which the Sages, may their memory be blessed, said (Berakhot 6b:36), "The entire world was only created to serve as companions for him (<i>letzavot lazeh</i>, which here is understood as, to command to him)." Meaning the creation of the world was for the sake of commanding to God, may He be blessed, who is called, Him (<i>zeh</i>), as it is written (Exodus 15:2), "<i>Zeh</i> is my God, and I will adorn Him." This is, as mentioned above, that the righteous one decrees and the Holy One blessed be He fulfills it. | |
| And it is possible to say that the Sages, may their memory be blessed, intended this also [when they said], "At first, it went up into [His] thought to create [the world] with the trait of justice. He saw that the would would not survive; so He joined it with the trait of mercy." And those who came before those who came before me already cried out, "And is there, God forbid, change [in God]?" And it appears that it [can be explained through that which] is found in the Gemara (Kiddushin 30a), "There are three partners in [the creation of] a person, the Holy One, blessed be He, his father and his mother." It means to say, his father is the righteous one, who is called the father, like Elisha said to Eliyahu II Kings 2:12), "Father, father, the chariot of Israel"; and his mother is the congregation of Israel, which is the Divine Presence. "And his father plants the whiteness," means to say that the righteous one whitens the iniquities and overturns the strict judgement. And the Divine Presence is also called mercy. | |
| So it comes out that the explanation is thus: That the Holy One, blessed be He, certainly did not retract [anything] and His thought was certainly fulfilled, even after the creation. For it was created with the trait of justice; however He transmitted and gave authority to the righteous one and made him a partner in the work of creation, that he should be able to overturn justice to mercy through his righteous deeds and his prayers. So it comes out that He left the thing as it was previously. And this is the explanation of, "He joined it" - that it relates to the righteous one; that God, may He be blessed, joined him as a partner in this, that he be able to sweeten the judgments and overturns them to total mercy. And this was all with one scan [by God]. | |
| Vaetchanan | |
| Eikev | |
| Re'eh | |
| 'Comment' 1 | |
| See! I give in front of you etc. (Deut. 11:26) - Others pointed out that the language changes from the singular "see" to the plural "in front of y'all". And it seems that we can explain this by combining the verse "the One who makes great lights, God's kindness endures forever (Ps. 136:7) - behold, the two lights are Love and Awe, and both of them were great equally, [since there is Awe of Greatness aka fear] and behold, when the moon said "it is not possible for two kings etc" the moon wanted to rise above its level, or the sun, and not to descend from that level, God forbid. And the Holy Blessed Name saw that that was impossible, due to the evil ones, who need to feel awe only due to fear of punishment, and said to the moon 'go diminish yourself' - and this is the small awe, which begins with the fear of punishment. And in truth there is the light of the seven days of Creation "God saw that it was not appropriate, etc, and hid the light for the righteous in the future". And this is what we say "forms light and creates darkness" and yet we should say "formed light" in the past and not the present. In truth, however, the Holy One of Blessing creates light continuously due to God's mercy. To the tzadik, who walks in God's ways in truth and completion, the Hidden Light [Or Ganuz] is revealed and is seen and at every day that the tzadik goes to higher levels, the more the light reveals itself to him. And this is "God saw that it wasn't enough etc and hid the light for the tzadikim in the world to come" (Bereshit Rabbah 12:6, Chagigah 12a): the future of the tzadikim is to go into this light, the Hidden Light, that is revealed to them. And this is why "God makes the great lights" is also written in the present tense. And behold, to feel fear of punishment is possible even if a person has not seen the thing to be afraid of, as just our saying to them "do not go to such-and-such place, there are bad things there" and they don't go because they feel fear. But love can't happen without seeing the thing that brings love about, and all the time one does not see the thing with one's eyes one just feels desire to see. Love means unity, and that is why the gematria for 'love' is the same as 'one'. And when a person is on that level, in unity, one needs to guard it always and one needs to strengthen oneself that if that level wasn't reached yet. And we find that the root of love is called "seeing", as we explained, since love is not completed without seeing. And this is "see!" - meaning, when you are on the level of love, which is called seeing, "I give to y'all" - meaning, you need to strengthen yourself that you have not reached that level of unity yet, and you are still on the level of the rest of human beings, since "today blessing and curse" - meaning, strengthen yourself as if you began just today to accustom yourself to the levels of Love and Awe. "Blessing" is a hint to love, and "curse" a hint to Fear, which is the whipping for the wicked (Zohar 1:11b). "The blessing, that y'all listen etc" one has to say according to the allegory of a person who has some disease, God forbid, and was healed from it, and at all times the person is noticing and listening to their body to see if the disease is erupting again, God forbid, and so too every person needs to at all times listen to themselves and notice if they have fulfilled their mitzvot for Hashem, if something not good - God forbid! - is erupting, and this is "the blessing if you listen": the blessing resides in listening, as explained, that you listen and notice at all times even if you are fulfilling God's mitzvot if there is something lacking on them. "The curse, if you do not listen" that is to say, if you don't watch out for yourselves as explained above. That is why a person needs to pay attention always, and watch out for him/herself at every moment, so it will be a blessing for her/him, and for their children. And this is easy to understand. | |
| Shoftim | |
| 'Comment' 1 | |
| Judges [shoftim] and Officers etc - we explain this through what is written in the Gemarah "the righteous are ruled [shoftan] by their inclination to good etc." (Berakhot 61b). The explanation is that the way of the righteous is that they have (internally) a rebuker that rebukes them on every action they take, it rebukes them on their faces and shows them that even in their good deeds how they are lacking, and how they did not do them appropriately (lit. according to the halakha) so as to do them for the sake of the Creator Praised Be, and this is "the impulse to do good rules them". This is not what happens to the evil ones, to whom all is upside down, since all their deeds are good in their eyes, and even the evil deeds they do the impulse to do evil shows them that they did a good thing, and this is "the impulse to do evil rules them." "Middling people are ruled by both", as the tanna says "like us, middling". That is, a person needs to strengthen oneself with these two ways, to always dispute internally regarding one's deeds, seeing oneself all the time as lacking in one's work (avodah, also worship) to the Holy One, and that one has not fulfilled one's obligation. As a person does one of the mitzvot of God, one needs to understand and comprehend very well that one did not do it with all the requirements regarding clearness (lucidity) and merit as fitting for Hashem The Praised, and then one will see oneself as humble and despised in one's eyes, and yet one should not, God forbid, hold oneself to be evil, because in that case one won't be able to have heart to do a mitzvah or [study] Torah or pray, and what would this be? A kosher and direct happening? [Of course not] One [in that case] despairs and says that one is not capable to do this. We find that a person needs to strengthen these two levels (intenally) together so they will be perfect within oneself, as the rabbis of blessed memory say "with all your hearts - with your two inclinations", and this is "like us, middling" and "middlings are ruled by both." | |
| And this is "judges and officers you shall appoint" (Deuteronomy 16:18): a hint to the two judges spoken before [paragraph 1] which are the impulse to good and the impulse to evil, and the text designates the impulse to good with the expression "officers", since it is like the police officer that controls the people without doing them harm/evil, also the impulse to good is the one that rebukes and chastises a person with the staff of its mouth, and shows to the person what is lacking in his/her devotion. "At/In all your gates" [is used] because to every thing connected to a mitzvah and to holiness there is a gate of its own, and every thing that a person does in this world, be it Torah, prayer or some holy [act], the person opens the gate of that mitzvah, and this is "in all your gates." | |
| "You must not bend etc and not recognize a face" (Deuteronomy 16:20) because it is written "you shall not have other gods before Me [lit. in front of My face]" (Exodus 20:3) and one can explain it like this: behold, the Blessed Creator is called "face of every thing", since every thing has a piece of divinity that makes it present and gives it vitality, and if, God forbid, a person thinks a extraneous thought, or looks at something evil, then one turns away and distances one's face from it. And the extraneous thoughts and the evil sightings and evil passing thoughts are called "other gods" and this is "you shall not have other gods etc" and this is [also] "you must not recognize faces" that is to say, that you will not sin and not think outside thoughts, so that you won't distance the face and become estranged from yourself. "You shall take no bribe because the bribe blinds the eyes of the wise, etc" (Deuteronomy 16:20), and at a first glance don't our eyes see many and many receivers of bribe, and they are healthy, and strong, and they die closing their eyes? But the issue is that the righteous person who is dedicated to Hashem in truth merits high levels in the eyes of His intellect, that is, the higher Wisdom, and this is "the eyes of Hashem are on the righteous" (Psalms 34:16) that the Holy One of Blessing gives merit to the righteous in the eyes of the Higher Intellect, and this is "you shall not take etc because the bribe blinds the eyes of the wise etc", meaning that the person will not merit in the eyes of His intellect in the Higher Wisdom, "and perverts the words of the righteous" that is, the righteous that speak in their holiness the receiver of bribes perverts them, that is, not just that that person will not merit Higher Wisdom, but also if the righteous want to negate their words and return that person to the good, their words will not help that person, since all their words will appear to that person as perverted. | |
| Ki Teitzei | |
| Ki Tavo | |
| 'Comment' 1 | |
| And it will be, when you come etc. (Deuteronomy 26:1) - it is important to explain that behold, there are two levels of righteous people. There is the righteous that serves G!d out of awe all days of the wee, and when the Holy Shabbat comes an extra holiness is added to that righteous one, that s/he serves G!d out of love, and through that the righteous one comes to the level of love. And there is the righteous person that also during the days of the week serves G!d out of love, and this righteous one is called with the name Shabbat, as we find in the Holy Zohar “a disciple of the sages is called Shabbat”, that is, Shabbat is the aspect of love, and this righteous person is always at this level, therefore s/he is also called Shabbat. | |
| And that is what our sages of blessed memory said “whoever enjoys Shabbat is given an inheritance (nachalah) without limit” that is to say, the righteous person that is always in the aspect of love, and enjoys the Shabbat and they enjoy each other, because that [righteous] one is always in the aspect of love [just] like the Shabbat, “is given an inheritance [nachalah] etc” that is, nachal H’, which is the higher river [nachal] from which the righteous person makes the Flow (Shefa) continue to Israel. And this is what we find regarding Eliahu HaNavi z”l, “and he sat by Nachal Karit and the crows brought bread for him” (I Kings 17:2). And it is important to ask why did G!d chose the crows, which are cruel to their young, to bring bread to him? And according to our previous words “and he sat by Nachal” that he was continuing the Flow from the Higher River, and the ways of the crows, which are the husks (kelipot) is to tear at the flows, and this is the hint (remez) that “the crows brought him bread” that is to say that even the husks agreed with him. And this is “whoever enjoys is given Nachalah etc”, as we said before, to continue the Flows from the River of G!d “without limit” that is to say without any prosecutor nor preventer. | |
| And this is “when you come”, the language is about the individual, which means that when all Israel are in oneness; “that Ad-nai your G!d” meaning that in the collective of Israel there are the two aspects spoken of before, love and awe, Havayah is love and Elokim is judgment which is awe, then, when all are in oneness, “He gives to you as inheritance (nachalah) and you possess it”, that is to say that then the River (Nachal) of Ad-nai will be in your hand to continue the flows of holiness and blessing to all of Israel. | |
| 'Comment' 2 | |
| When you finish setting the tenth part etc (Deuteronomy 17:12) - we see to explain this according to what is read in the Gemara: “one should always separate in thirds one’s years a third for text (Mikra) etc” (Kiddushin 30a, Avodah Zarah 19b) the explanation is like this: Mikra is an expression for happenstance, that is, in the beginning of a person’s service to the Creator, Praised Be, is only happenstance, that sometimes one controls one’s impulse and sometimes the impulse control one, and the service is not a constant thing (discipline). And a person needs to conquer the level of purifying their thoughts until they are completely pure, since the central piece are the thoughts, and this is what the Sages of Blessed Memory explain: “your rounded thighs [are like jewels] (Song of Songs 7:2) - why are the words of Torah compared to thighs? Just as thighs are hidden, so too words of Torah are hidden” (Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 992:29) the explanation is that just as the hidden thigh is a hint to the sin of nocturnal emission, that comes to a man due to extraneous thoughts, G!d forbid, and the thoughts are hidden, to [correct] this one needs a constant/disciplined teshuvah to fix through words of Torah in hiding, that is, one needs to occupy oneself with Torah with a pure heart and for Torah’s sake alone, and it is impossible to cleanse one’s thoughts in one moment, one needs to attain that level every time until from heaven they will help the person. And that is why the beginning of the service to the Holy One of Blessing is in text, from the expression happenstance, as we explained above. | |
| And after that one needs to rise to a more complete level, that is “a third for Mishnah”, meaning, that a person needs to intend for one’s learning to the higher worlds for the sake of unification, as it is known. And this is the expression “Mishnah” that is, double, as “and it was double [mishneh] of what they gathered etc” (Exodus 16:5) and this is “the sages taught in the language of the Mishnah” that is to say that they taught in this language that is double as we explained, that is, they learned for the lower, but their intention was for Above, so to unify. And this is “whoever repeats (shoneh) laws every day is assured a place in the world to come” (Niddah 73a) - which is obviously understood, as we explained. | |
| “A third in Talmud” there is no higher measure, as explained in the Gemara, which are clinging and love. And this is a hint that our sages, of blessed memory, explained: “Bereshit, a beginning - for the sake of Torah, that is called reshit (beginning) and for the sake of Israel, and for the sake of the first fruits, that are called reshit (beginning). And all is one, that behold, the “first fruits | |
| Ha'Azinu | |
| Additions | |
| Likutei Shoshana | |
| 'Comment' 1 | |
| 'Comment' 2 | |
| 'Comment' 3 | |
| 'Comment' 4 | |
| 'Comment' 5 | |
| 'Comment' 6 | |
| 'Comment' 7 | |
| 'Comment' 8 | |
| 'Comment' 9 | |
| 'Comment' 10 | |
| 'Comment' 11 | |
| 'Comment' 12 | |
| 'Comment' 13 | |
| 'Comment' 14 | |
| 'Comment' 15 | |
| 'Comment' 16 | |
| 'Comment' 17 | |
| 'Comment' 18 | |
| 'Comment' 19 | |
| 'Comment' 20 | |
| 'Comment' 21 | |
| 'Comment' 22 | |
| 'Comment' 23 | |
| 'Comment' 24 | |
| 'Comment' 25 | |
| 'Comment' 26 | |
| 'Comment' 27 | |
| 'Comment' 28 | |
| 'Comment' 29 | |
| 'Comment' 30 | |
| 'Comment' 31 | |
| 'Comment' 32 | |
| 'Comment' 33 | |
| 'Comment' 34 | |
| 'Comment' 35 | |
| 'Comment' 36 | |
| 'Comment' 37 | |
| 'Comment' 38 | |
| 'Comment' 39 | |
| 'Comment' 40 | |
| 'Comment' 41 | |
| 'Comment' 42 | |
| 'Comment' 43 | |
| 'Comment' 44 | |
| 'Comment' 45 | |
| 'Comment' 46 | |
| 'Comment' 47 | |
| 'Comment' 48 | |
| 'Comment' 49 | |
| 'Comment' 50 | |
| 'Comment' 51 | |
| 'Comment' 52 | |
| 'Comment' 53 | |
| 'Comment' 54 | |
| 'Comment' 55 | |
| 'Comment' 56 | |
| 'Comment' 57 | |
| 'Comment' 58 | |
| 'Comment' 59 | |
| 'Comment' 60 | |
| 'Comment' 61 | |
| 'Comment' 62 | |
| 'Comment' 63 | |
| 'Comment' 64 | |
| Love thy neighbor as thyself: As it says in the Zohar Hakadosh, that the soul has a refined clothing that it wears in the garden of Eden. This is akin to the limbs of the body. The soul constantly desires to love the Creator Blessed be He. However, the body, that is an unrefined material, needs to be driven and commanded to "Love they neighbor." The Lord is called "neighbor." As it says in proverbs: Your neighbor and friend of your father. "As thyself" refers to the soul that is "like you" as in the example of the body. And the way in which the soul loves the Creator in a complete love, the body agrees with her and loves the Creator in truth. | |
| Iggeret HaKodesh | |
| Introduction | |
| Epistles | |
| Hanhagot HaAdam | |
| A Prayer before Praying | |
| Save us from the jealousy of one man towards another, and let not the jealousy towards anyone else arise in my heart, nor may anyone feel jealous of us. ADERABBE let it be the opposite: let our hearts be able to see the positive qualities of our friends and not their defects; let each person speak with their friends in ways that are upright and desirable before You; and let there not be any hatred between friends, God forbid. |