clarified and rectified. For blood is the soul. And then blood ferments and becomes

milk [Talmud, Bechorot 6b] — which is the aspect of the

nekudos ha-kesef [silver vowel-points], the aspect of

mocha chivarsa k'kaspa [the white brain like silver].

From there the whitening of the bloods flows — the aspect of blood fermenting and becoming

milk. And therefore it is forbidden to eat blood — for therein is the

nefesh ha-behemiyus [animal soul]. It cannot be eaten except when

one clarifies and purifies the soul from animal to human through holy longing. Through

which the letters and vowel-points are paired — of the aspect of

zivugay ha-nefashos [the pairing of souls] — through which blood

ferments and becomes milk. And then specifically the blood is clarified and purified and

from it milk is made. And then it is permitted to eat. For the essential rectification of

Israel's holy eating is through holy longing — through which souls are made — through

which one merits that all eating be of the aspect of Lechem ha-Panim.

This is the essential rectification of holy eating.

But blood itself is forbidden — for it is the aspect of the animal soul which is forbidden

to eat before it is rectified and clarified and purified from blood into milk. This is the

essential aspect of Pesach and the Exodus from Egypt — when blood ferments and becomes

milk, as is known. And this one merits through holy longing, as above.

[Hebrew — §10]

And this is the aspect of melichah va'hadachah [salting and

rinsing]. For the essential rectification of the soul — which is the blood — is through

holy longing, as above. And this one merits through the rectification of the

bris specifically (as is explained there

well) — for through shemiras ha-bris, chesed

is revealed: love and longing and holy yearning, through which souls are made, and so on.

And through this the letters of the Torah are formed for good, and so on — see there.

And shemiras ha-bris is the aspect of melach

[salt] — the aspect of bris melach olam [an eternal covenant of

salt], as is known. And for this very reason the tzadik — who is

of the aspect of shemiras ha-bris — is called by the name

"bris melach." Because through this he merits holy longing,

through which souls are made. For holy longing is the aspect of salt — which causes thirst

[tzima'on] — the aspect of soul-thirst

[tzima'on ha-nefesh] — that is, holy longing and yearning,

through which souls are made. The aspect of:

"My soul thirsts for You, my flesh pines for You, in a dry and

weary land without water" [Psalms 63:2]. The aspect of:

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And in this aspect one must perform the 39 melachos and commerce during the six days of activity — in the aspect of the illumination of the Ratzon that one draws from Shabbos into the six weekdays — in the aspect of "and the work of his hands, may You favor" (Deuteronomy 33:11). For one must draw the illumination of the Ratzon onto the hands, which are the instruments of action of all the 39 melachos. And through this, specifically, "Hashem shall bless his substance" (ibid.) — for the essence of blessing comes from there, from the aspect of the illumination of the Ratzon, from which comes the essence of parnasah, as mentioned above. And then all the melachah of the six weekdays is done by itself, in the aspect of the work of the Mishkan, as mentioned above.

And this is the aspect of "six days shall work be done" (Exodus 31:15) — "and on the seventh day is Shabbos." "Ta'aseh" [shall be done — in the passive] specifically — for through Shabbos one merits that the melachah is done by itself, as mentioned above. For the essence of the sustenance of all the six days of activity is through Shabbos — through the rest and cessation of Shabbos, through this comes the vitality, abundance, and sustenance of all the six days of activity. As it is written: "And G-d completed on the seventh day His work which He had done" (Genesis 2:2). And our Sages of blessed memory expounded: "What was the world lacking? Rest. Shabbos came, rest came — the work was completed and finished" (Bereishis Rabbah 10:9). For the essence of the sustenance of all the labors that Hashem, blessed be He, as it were, performed during the six days of Creation — all of it is only through the rest and cessation of Shabbos, as mentioned above. And this is the aspect of "Vayechal" — vayechal being a language of ratzon [longing/will], as it is written: "My soul longed and was also consumed (kalsah)" (Psalms 84:3), and as it is written: "And the soul of David was consumed (vatechal)" (II Samuel 13:39). For the essence of the sustenance of the weekdays is only through the illumination of the Ratzon that shines on Shabbos, as mentioned above.

And in this aspect a person must perform all the melachos and commerce during the six days of activity — to know and believe in truth that he does not do anything at all, rather everything is through the power of Hashem. As Hashem, blessed be He, warned us about this, as it is written: "Lest you eat and be sated… and you say in your heart: 'My strength and the might of my hand has made me this wealth'" (Deuteronomy 8:12–17) etc. For one must remember this very much — not to err and forget, G-d forbid, by saying in his heart that he himself does some act or work, G-d forbid. For this is the aspect of "my strength and the might of my hand has made" etc. Rather, one must remember Hashem, as it is written: "And you shall remember Hashem your G-d, for it is He Who gives you the power to make wealth" (Deuteronomy 8:18). For everything is through the power of Hashem alone. And the melachah is done by itself — in the aspect of "six days shall work be done" etc., as mentioned above — in the aspect of the work of the Mishkan. For all the 39 melachos are accomplished and blessed only through Shabbos, when there is the cessation of all the 39 melachos — through receiving then the illumination of the Ratzon, from which comes all parnasah — the aspect of "You open Your hand" etc., as mentioned above. For the hands are the instruments of action of all the 39 melachos. And it is impossible for the hands to draw parnasah through the 39 melachos except through receiving and being blessed from their root — that is, from the aspect of the hands that are in the Sea of Wisdom, from which comes the essence of parnasah — the aspect of "You open Your hand and satisfy every living being with ratzon", as mentioned above, and as explained in the aforementioned discourse.

And this is the aspect of "Not in the strength of the horse does He delight, nor in the legs of a man does He take pleasure. Hashem takes pleasure in those who fear Him" (Psalms 147:10–11). For at first the psalm speaks about the drawing of abundance and parnasah, as it is written there previously: "He Who prepares rain for the earth" etc., "He gives the animal its bread" etc. And afterwards the verse explains that all this does not depend, G-d forbid, on human efforts. Rather, everything is through the will of Hashem alone. And this is: "Not in the strength of the horse does He delight, nor in the legs of a man does He take pleasure. Hashem takes pleasure in those who fear Him" — for the essence of abundance and parnasah is not through human exertion, G-d forbid, through the strength of the horse and the legs of a man — who goes and travels and exerts himself for the sake of parnasah. Rather, the essence of parnasah is through the illumination of the Ratzon that one draws from Shabbos into the six weekdays, as mentioned above. And this is "Hashem takes pleasure [rotzeh] in those who fear Him" — for the essence of parnasah is only through the illumination of the Ratzon, as mentioned above. And the essence of parnasah is received by Malchus, which is the aspect of yirah, from the aspect of the Supreme Ratzon — through the trust of each person — the aspect of "all of them look to You with hope" etc., as explained in the aforementioned discourse. And this is "Hashem takes pleasure in those who fear Him" — "those who fear Him," specifically — for the essence depends on yirah, as explained in the aforementioned discourse, that the essence of the illumination of son and student — through whom the Ratzon shines, from which Malchus receives the parnasah — everything depends on yirah — see there. And this is "those who hope for His lovingkindness" — that is, the fact that each person hopes for His lovingkindness and trusts in Hashem — through this specifically the yirah — the aspect of Malchus — ascends and receives the parnasah from the illumination of the Ratzon, which is the aspect of Shabbos, as mentioned above. For Shabbos is the aspect of yirah, the aspect of yareh Shabbos — for the essence of the illumination of son and student and the essence of parnasah are through yirah specifically, as mentioned above. And this is the aspect of Shabbos Malkesah [the Shabbos Queen], etc., as mentioned above.

— 5 —

And this is why Hashem, blessed be He, cautioned about Shabbos before the work of the Mishkan — to teach that the work of the Mishkan does not override Shabbos, as our Sages of blessed memory said. For since the work of the Mishkan is only in the aspect of the illumination of the Ratzon, as mentioned above, and the melachah was done by itself, as mentioned above — they could have erred and said that it overrides Shabbos, since they are not really doing anything at all, rather all the melachos are in the aspect of the illumination of the Ratzon, as mentioned above. And therefore Hashem, blessed be He, warned us that we should not err in this. For even so, the work of the Mishkan does not override Shabbos, for Shabbos is higher than this — higher than the aspect of the illumination of the Ratzon that is clothed within the aspect of the 39 melachos. For Shabbos is the aspect of complete bitul — the aspect of Ra'avah d'Ra'avin [the Will of Wills]. And then there is no work or activity at all. On the contrary — it is impossible to perform the aspect of the work of the Mishkan — that is, to perform all the 39 melachos in the aspect of Tal Oros, in the aspect of the illumination of the Ratzon — except through Shabbos. That is, through the rest and cessation of Shabbos. For specifically through Shabbos — through resting then completely from melachah, and then meriting the illumination of the Ratzon in its completeness, as mentioned above — through this specifically one merits to draw the holiness of Shabbos into the six weekdays. That is, one draws the illumination of the Ratzon into all the weekday activities, into all the 39 melachos. And all the 39 melachos become included in the aspect of Tal Oros — which is the aspect of the work of the Mishkan.

It emerges that it is impossible to perform the aspect of the work of the Mishkan etc., as mentioned above, except through Shabbos, etc., as mentioned above. And this is why He preceded Shabbos to the work of the Mishkan. And wherever the work of the Mishkan is mentioned, the prohibition of melachah on Shabbos is stated first — for the work of the Mishkan does not override Shabbos. On the contrary — it is impossible to perform the aspect of the work of the Mishkan — that is, that all the 39 melachos should be in the aspect of Tal Oros, in the aspect of the illumination of the Ratzon — except through the sanctity of Shabbos, which is the aspect of the Will within all Wills, the aspect of Ra'avah d'Ra'avin, as mentioned above.

§3: HaZan = Chesed. HaAretz = hachnasas orchim/holiness of Eretz Yisrael. Boneh Yerushalayim = Bais HaMikdash = baisa bain shamaya l'ar'a = permanence of true Torah. HaTov V'HaMaitiv = sorting good from misnagdim (slain of Baitar).

For Shavuos is the Giving of the Torah. And the Torah is the aspect of the completeness of Lashon HaKodesh [the Holy Tongue]. Through this, we subdue the evil of the seventy languages — namely, the craving for promiscuity — and we merit sh’miras habris [guarding the covenant]. For the essential Giving of the Torah depends on guarding the bris, as it is written: “And I carried you on the wings of eagles, and I brought [you]” (Sh’mos 19:4), etc., as Rabainu wrote regarding this. And as it is written: “And now… and you shall guard My covenant” (Sh’mos 19:5), etc. For through sh’miras habris, He chose us from every nation and elevated us above every tongue at the time of the Giving of the Torah.

The Annual Cycle Through LM II:72

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SheHechiyanu v'kiy'manu v'higi'anu — these three expressions correspond to the three aspects of differences: man, place, and time. SheHechiyanu [Who has kept us alive] — the vitality from nullifying differences in man (= the essential vitality when soul and body are joined). V'kiy'manu [and sustained us] — the aspect of differences in place (= "sustained" alludes to the place upon which all the world's inhabitants stand and are sustained). V'higi'anu laz'man hazeh [and brought us to this time] — the aspect of differences in time. All differences are encompassed and nullified into one Will through Jews who love each other, encompassed in the Simple Unity through this.

The blessing concludes with laz'man hazeh [to this time], mentioning time specifically — because the essential differences are the aspect of nature, which operates by Hashem's will through the celestial spheres (= time). The essential tikun: nullifying all the differing desires of each person, encompassing them together in love, in Hashem (= the mitzvah of loving Israel) — for which we bless upon seeing a beloved fellow Jew. Since all differences in the world derive from nature (= the spheres = time), time is mentioned specifically.

— 51 —

And this is the aspect of the intensity of the miracle of Chanukah. For the wicked kingdom wished to make them forget Your Torah, etc. — and to destroy the Beis HaMikdash before its time. For they wished to uproot the holiness of Yisrael entirely, G-d forbid — through which the world would have reverted to chaos and void, for the world cannot endure without the Torah. For the Sitra Achra — the aspect of the wicked kingdom — saw and understood that this Second Temple would not endure and was destined to be destroyed. For even then, during its construction, their hand was strong over Yisrael. Therefore they wished to destroy it immediately, in order to intensify the darkness greatly — to darken, G-d forbid, the eyes of Yisrael, so that they would despair completely of the complete redemption.

For the essential creation of the world was only for the sake of Yisrael, for the sake of the Torah, and for the sake of the Beis HaMikdash, as it is written: "In the beginning G-d created the heavens and the earth" [Genesis 1:1]. And our Sages of blessed memory said: "For the sake of 'reishis' — which is Yisrael, and the Torah, and the Beis HaMikdash — which are called 'reishis'", etc. But: "And the earth was tohu and vohu, and darkness upon the face of the deep" [Genesis 1:2] — which are the aspects of the four kingdoms, as our Sages of blessed memory expounded. And it is explained in their words, of blessed memory, that the wicked kingdom of Greece is the aspect of "darkness," and the kingdom of Edom — which is the present exile — is the aspect of "the deep" (t'hom).

It emerges that the wicked kingdom of Greece that ruled then is the aspect of "darkness upon the face of the deep" — the darkness that covers the face of the deep, which is this exile that is compared to a deep. And when one falls into a deep in broad daylight, it is already very bitter and difficult to ascend; how much more so when the darkness intensifies over the face of the deep! And this was the intent of the wicked kingdom of Greece then — which is the aspect of the darkness upon the face of the deep — who wished to intensify the darkness greatly, to join the exiles together, that the Temple should be destroyed immediately, so that the darkness would overpower the face of the deep, so that Yisrael would not be able to ascend and emerge, G-d forbid.