Kee Saitzay

When You Go Out to War Against Your Enemies, Hashem Your God Will Deliver Him into Your Hand, and You Shall Take His Captives Captive (Deuteronomy 21:10) Explanation: “When you go out to war against your enemies” (Deuteronomy 21:10)—this is the yetzer hara. “Hashem your God will deliver him into your hand”—that is, the yetzer hara will give, meaning deliver, “Hashem your God” into your hand, in the sense of “the tzaddik rules through awe of God” (II Samuel 23:3). The Torah provides counsel for this: “You shall take his captives captive”—through the very thing with which he seeks to overpower you, namely self-aggrandizement, you shall overcome him. Say to him: How can I rule when I possess pride and the Holy One, blessed be He, does not dwell with me? This is sufficient for one who understands. (Likutay Moharan I, Teaching 107)

When You Go Out to War (Deuteronomy 21:10) The time of conducting business is a time of war, for one must then battle the sitra achara, clarify, and elevate holy sparks from it; the principal purpose of business is the clarification of sparks. When business is conducted with emunah in the plain sense, and one’s speech is truthful—yes means yes and no means no—and one binds the inwardness of one’s thought to Torah while only the external aspect of thought engages in business, one merits clarifying and elevating many fallen sparks and forms of holiness. Through business the worlds ascend and great rectifications are accomplished, as through prayer.

This explains “When you go out to war” (Deuteronomy 21:10). “When you go out” is the aspect of business, in the aspect of “Rejoice, Zevulun, in your going out, and Yissachar in your tents” (Deuteronomy 33:18). Business is called “your going out.” Although Zevulun and Yissachar are equal insofar as Zevulun supports Yissachar, and the verse says “Rejoice, Zevulun,” Zevulun is nevertheless “in your going out,” whereas Yissachar is “in your tents,” for Torah service is more inward and higher than the service of business. Although business is a great service and supports the Torah scholar, Torah remains higher. The same applies at every level: a lower level is called “your going out” relative to the level above it, which is called “your tents.” Even deveikus in Hashem is called “your going out” relative to a higher deveikus.

This is “to war against your enemies”: during business one battles the enemies in order to clarify and elevate the sparks from them. “Hashem your God will deliver him into your hand” is the aspect of emunah, as it is written: “His hands were emunah” (Exodus 17:12), for through emunah the sparks are elevated. “You shall take his captives captive” is the aspect of Torah, as it is written: “You ascended on high; You took captives captive” (Psalms 68:19). (Likutay Moharan I, Teaching 280; together with the abridged Likutay Moharan associated with Teaching 6)

When matters proceed out of order for a person, this is opposition to ratzoan: he wants the matter to be one way, but it occurs in the opposite manner, out of order. This is the aspect of war, for every war is opposition to ratzoan and an aspect of disorder. This is “When you go out to war” (Deuteronomy 21:10)—when matters proceed out of order for you and your ratzoan encounters opposition. “Hashem your God will deliver him into your hand”—all forms of ratzoan opposed to yours will be nullified, and matters will proceed for you in order, according to your ratzoan.

When does this occur? When “you shall take his captives captive”—when you are in the aspect of mah, “what,” and draw Godliness, the Divine Name expanded with alephs. This explains machshavah, “thought”: chashoav mah, “think mah” (Zohar, Bereishis 24; Tikkunei Zohar 69), continually binding His Godliness within your thought. This is the aspect of “The King is bound in the channels” (Song of Songs 7:6)—in the channels of your mochin. “You shall take his captives captive” means that you draw mah into your thought and bind His Godliness within it; for anything drawn from a high place is called a captive, as it is written: “You ascended on high; You took captives captive” (Psalms 68:19). Through this, all wars and all forms of ratzoan opposed to yours will be nullified. This secret is alluded to in Etz Chaim, Introduction, Principle 19, and in the intentions for Rosh Choadesh Elul. (Likutay Moharan II, Teaching 82)

She Shall Weep for Her Father and Mother for a Month of Days (Deuteronomy 21:13) It is forbidden to intermarry with idolaters, who are an aspect of sorrow and sighing, since they did not merit receiving the Torah, which is the principal joy. As it is written: “One who begets a fool does so to his sorrow” (Proverbs 17:21). They are bound to this world, which is filled with sorrow, sighing, anger, and pain, as it is written: “All his days are anger and pain” (Ecclesiastes 2:23). Israel is therefore forbidden to intermarry with them, for we lack the power to sweeten their sorrow and sighing.

Even within a union among Israel, great strengthening is required so that the union will be in holiness and can subdue sorrow and sighing and transform them into joy. The principal craving derives from sadness, sorrow, and sighing. One must strengthen oneself greatly, sanctify oneself, break the physical craving—the aspect of sorrow and sighing—and cleave to supernal holiness, the aspect of joy. Sorrow and sighing are thereby sweetened and transformed into joy; this is the principal holiness of the bris. But a foreign woman is the essence of sorrow and sighing, “a harlot,” and an aspect of “more bitter than death,” as it is written: “For her house sinks toward death” (Proverbs 2:18). Israel lacks the power to sweeten the force of her sorrow and sighing; on the contrary, the sitra achara may overpower him, uproot him from both worlds, and bring him down to Sheol in sorrow, God forbid.

This is why the passage concerning the beautiful captive states: “She shall weep for her father and mother for a month of days” (Deuteronomy 21:13). Our Sages, of blessed memory, said: So that a daughter of Israel will be joyful while this one is sad (Sifrei Devarim 21:9). A daughter of Israel is rooted in joy, in the aspect of “Rejoice and exult, daughter of Zion” (Zechariah 2:14), for she derives from the root of the souls of Israel, who are the essence of joy. Only after many developments does an aspect of sorrow and sighing take hold of her from the feminine side; additional holiness is therefore required to sweeten the judgment so that sorrow—the hold of the sitra achara and the intensification of craving—does not take hold. A daughter of the idolaters is the aspect of the klipa itself, whose name signifies sadness and wailing. The prohibited relations represented by the acronym nashgaz are therefore forbidden, may the Merciful One save us, as explained in the sacred works, particularly the Zohar and Tikkunim. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Procreation and Laws of Marriage 3:14, 22)

You Shall Not See Your Brother’s Ox or Sheep Straying and Conceal Yourself; You Shall Surely Return Them… You Shall Do Likewise with His Donkey… You May Not Conceal Yourself (Deuteronomy 22:1–3) The mitzvah of returning lost property is an aspect of breaking the craving for money. A person finds an object of value that he could have taken for himself, yet returns it to its owner; he thereby breaks the craving for money. Returning lost property to its owner is an act of kindness and an aspect of tzedakah, and acts of kindness are greater than tzedakah (Sukkah 49b). Thus returning lost property is the breaking of the craving for money through tzedakah and kindness, through which complete providence is drawn, as explained in Likutay Moharan I, Teaching 13.

The mitzvah of returning lost property is therefore stated in terms of sight: “You shall not see your brother’s ox or sheep straying and conceal yourself from them; you shall surely return them”; “You shall do likewise with his donkey”; “you may not conceal yourself” (Deuteronomy 22:1–3). Specifically “you may not conceal yourself”—one may not close one’s eye to the lost object, lest one blemish the supernal eyes, the aspect of His complete providence. When a person sets his eye upon the lost object, watches over it, lifts it, and returns it to its owner, he draws complete providence from above. This is the principal aspect of returning: breaking the craving for money through tzedakah and kindness, through which complete providence is drawn.

Loss principally results from blemished watchfulness: the owner did not properly watch over his property or guard it. The blemish comes through distraction, an aspect of damaged complete providence. A person begins to look at the object, but before his sight reaches it and its image becomes fixed in his eyes, his attention is diverted and his vision disperses to the sides; the object is then stolen or lost. A person does not knowingly lose his property, for one who deliberately loses what he is given is utterly foolish; most losses result from distraction and insufficient guarding. The finder who sets his eye upon the lost object, does not conceal himself, and returns it to its owner once again completes and rectifies the blemish in watchfulness and draws complete providence. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Lost Property and Found Objects 3:9)

If Your Brother Is Not Near You and You Do Not Know Him, You Shall Gather It into Your House; It Shall Remain with You until Your Brother Seeks It, and You Shall Return It to Him (Deuteronomy 22:2) The verse must be thoroughly understood in relation to the tzaddik, who is the principal restorer of all the lost objects of everyone in the world and labors in his service until he finds them all. He desires at every moment to return them immediately to the owner of the lost object; but as long as the souls remain distant from him, he must gather them to himself, “and it shall remain with you until your brother seeks it” (Deuteronomy 22:2), in the aspect of “if your brother is not near you.” As explained in Likutay Moharan I, Teaching 188, one must come to the tzaddik and search for the lost object that one lost and forgot immediately upon entering the air of this world.

All the souls who come to the tzaddik so that he may draw them close to Hashem, blessed be He, come to seek their lost object. The tzaddik takes these souls, elevates them, and renews them in the aspect of gestation, and through them draws wondrous and awesome Torah insights, as explained in Likutay Moharan I, Teaching 13. In this way he returns their lost object to them, for their principal loss is the Torah they forgot when they entered the air of the world, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said (Niddah 30b). Each time they come to him, he elevates and renews their souls and once again draws for them the Torah that was lost from them, with greater force, through the renewal of their souls in the aspect of gestation.

Through the Torah the tzaddik draws for them, he shines a great light upon them until they possess the power to search independently for their remaining lost objects. It is impossible to return all their numerous losses at once, lest excessive light harm them, for too much oil extinguishes the lamp. He must return them gradually, according to their preparation and awakening to truth. Every teaching they receive from the tzaddik draws for them a light and lamp for searching, for “a mitzvah is a lamp and Torah is light” (Proverbs 6:23), and the search for lost objects is conducted with lamps. Through the light of Torah and mitzvos that the Sage enables them to attain, the light of their souls shines and they can search for and find their lost object, in the aspect of “The soul of a person is Hashem’s lamp, searching all the chambers of the innards” (Proverbs 20:27). (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Lost Property and Found Objects 3:2)

You Shall Surely Raise It with Him (Deuteronomy 22:4) The true tzaddik, through his great power, can certainly elevate and raise everyone—even those who are exceedingly low and fallen, lying under the great weight of the burden of their sins. He certainly endeavors to elevate and raise them all, in the aspect of “you shall surely help with him” and “you shall surely raise it with him” (Exodus 23:5; Deuteronomy 22:4). Yet everything depends upon “with him”: the person himself must desire to have compassion upon himself, endeavor to rectify his soul, and remove the great burden upon him, although he cannot do so alone and awaits someone who will help him.

If a person withdraws himself completely and refuses to make any effort toward rectifying his soul, but demands that the tzaddik accomplish everything for him while he himself does and attempts nothing, the tzaddik need not engage with him. It is impossible to help one who does not wish to engage at all in his own rectification, for free choice remains operative. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Lost Property and Found Objects 3:15; following Otzar HaYirah, “Tzaddik,” 241)

A Man’s Implement Shall Not Be upon a Woman, and a Man Shall Not Wear a Woman’s Garment (Deuteronomy 22:5) This mitzvah alludes to Rabbeinu’s teaching beginning “The Third Chapter of the Book of Concealment, Nine Precious Rectifications” (Likutay Moharan I, Teaching 20). During prayer one must pray solely with mercy and supplication, stand as a destitute and needy person, and make no use whatsoever of one’s good deeds. Only at the time of assembly, when the congregation gathers, must one use the powerful staff of one’s good deeds to subdue the evil within the congregation. During prayer one stands as destitute and prays with supplication. Moshe Rabbeinu erred in this matter, as explained there.

This is alluded to in “A man’s implement shall not be upon a woman, and a man shall not wear a woman’s garment” (Deuteronomy 22:5). During prayer one must stand as destitute, speak gentle words and supplications, and not use the powerful staff. Prayer is called “woman,” the aspect of a recipient and one of weak power, in the aspect of “a woman who fears Hashem” (Proverbs 31:30). The worshiper must regard himself as possessing no power from his good deeds, but speak gently and supplicate as a destitute and needy person. This is “a man’s implement shall not be upon a woman”: when one is in the aspect of woman during prayer, one must not use the power and might of one’s good deeds. Conversely, at the time of assembly, when one must be in the aspect of man and stand like a warrior with the powerful staff to subdue evil, one may not wear “a woman’s garment” and assume weakness.

The general rule is not to exchange the two, God forbid: during prayer one must stand as destitute and not use the power of one’s good deeds; when seeking to subdue the evil in the congregation, one must stand like a warrior, and not the reverse. Rashi therefore explains that this exchange leads to sexual transgression. When the aspects are exchanged, the evil in the congregation is not subdued. The principal evil is sexual craving, for “the principal purpose of the evil inclination is to uncover forbidden relations” (Zohar). Thus the exchange leads to sexual transgression because the evil—the aspect of sexual craving and the principal evil—is not subdued. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of a Man Not Wearing a Woman’s Garment 2)

A Man’s Implement Shall Not Be upon a Woman (Deuteronomy 22:5) Garments are coverings—that is, the lower intellect that clothes and limits the higher intellect. Every person must strengthen himself to attain perceptions according to his level. This is the aspect of the prohibition “A man’s implement shall not be upon a woman” (Deuteronomy 22:5): one whose intellect is small and whose level is low is in the aspect of woman, an aspect of unsettled understanding; one on a higher level is in the aspect of man, an aspect of settled intellect. One who is in the aspect of woman and on a low level may not wrap himself in a tallis that is not his—that is, look above his level.

The verse therefore says “shall not be” rather than “a woman shall not wear,” whereas its conclusion says “a man shall not wear.” One on a low level cannot truly clothe himself in the man’s implement, since he has not yet reached that level; even for the implement merely to be upon him temporarily is forbidden. By contrast, it says “a man shall not wear,” for one on a higher level can certainly clothe himself in the garments of one below him and attain the lower person’s perception, but he is forbidden to do so: he must strengthen himself to attain according to his own level. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of a Man Not Wearing a Woman’s Garment 1:1)

A Man’s Implement Shall Not Be upon a Woman, and a Man Shall Not Wear a Woman’s Garment (Deuteronomy 22:5) There are garments of truth and garments of emunah, corresponding to the garments of a man and the garments of a woman. Truth is the aspect of man, while emunah is the aspect of woman. In the chambers of exchanges, which are an aspect of the sitra achara, the garments are exchanged: where the holy intellect clearly apprehends the truth, false beliefs come and cover and conceal that truth, as though clothing truth—the aspect of man—in the garments of a woman.

Conversely, where truth itself requires one to rely upon emunah because the intellect cannot apprehend the matter, corrupted intellect comes and seeks to investigate and comprehend it, as though clothing emunah—the aspect of woman—in a man’s implement. All heresy and false beliefs are drawn from this exchange. Rashi therefore explains that it leads to sexual transgression, for sexual transgression principally derives from denial, and whoever blemishes the bris is regarded as though he denied the fundamental principle.

Hashem, blessed be He, however, separated us from those who err and illuminated within us the point of truth through the true tzaddikim. They clothe truth and emunah in the chaluka deRabbanan, in holy garments that are their awesome Torah insights, and through these they instill truth and emunah within Israel in their proper form: where the intellect can apprehend, truth removes false beliefs; and where the intellect cannot apprehend, truth itself strengthens emunah. For it is impossible to apprehend fully Hashem, blessed be He, the reasons for the mitzvos, or the holiness of the true tzaddikim except through emunah. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Shaving 4:11–13; following Otzar HaYirah, “Emunah,” 88)

Man and woman are aspects of truth and emunah. One must take care not to exchange their implements and garments, lest one stumble, God forbid, through a “foreign woman,” the aspect of heresy and false beliefs. Truth is the aspect of knowledge, whereas emunah pertains to a matter for which no reason is apprehensible; nevertheless, the principal emunah comes through truth, in the aspect of “righteousness when joined with truth.” One who desires absolute truth understands in whom it is proper to believe. But one who deceives himself, is bound to the vanities of the world, and has ulterior interests of honor, money, and the cravings of this world exchanges and reverses the order.

In truth, whatever the human intellect can understand, it is a mitzvah to understand thoroughly; whatever cannot be understood must be entrusted to emunah, as it is written: “God led the people around by way of the wilderness toward the Sea of Reeds” (Exodus 13:18). This is the aspect of truth and emunah, and the principal matter is that everything be in absolute truth. All this cannot be explained fully, either in writing or orally, for the principal perfection of truth and emunah is for each person according to what he estimates within his heart, as I heard from his holy mouth, of blessed memory.

Those who turn from truth because of the vanities of the world reverse the order. Where truth is required—that is, knowledge through which the matter is understood thoroughly—they say that they nullify their understanding and rely upon emunah. Where emunah is required, they say that they desire to understand the truth solely through their own knowledge. This is the prohibition “A man’s implement shall not be upon a woman” (Deuteronomy 22:5): where emunah, the aspect of woman, is required, a man’s implement—the aspect of truth and knowledge—shall not be upon her; one must not break through to investigate there and comprehend the matter with one’s knowledge.

Conversely, “a man shall not wear a woman’s garment” (Deuteronomy 22:5): where truth can be understood, the aspect of man—“Gird your sword upon your thigh, O warrior, your glory and your majesty; and in your majesty ride prosperously for the sake of truth, humility, and righteousness” (Psalms 45:4–5)—one may not wear a woman’s garment, the aspect of emunah. These verses were stated concerning the true Torah scholar, who wages the battle of Torah and clarifies its ways in absolute truth. Where the truth can be clarified through knowledge, it must be clarified according to the ways of Torah and true knowledge; one must not reverse and falsify truth through a false and deceitful emunah. Only one who desires absolute truth and does not deceive himself can discern, according to what he estimates within his heart, where the true knowledge upon which it is proper to rely is found. Whatever cannot be understood certainly requires him to nullify his understanding before that knowledge and rely upon emunah—but not the reverse, God forbid: despising true knowledge and nullifying his understanding before foolishness in which no true intellect is evident. May Hashem, God of truth, show us the truth, grant truth to Yaakov, and instruct us in the way of absolute truth all the days of our lives, forever. Amen and amen. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Interest 5:52)

If a Bird’s Nest Happens before You on the Way (Deuteronomy 22:6–7) The holy Zohar teaches that the “bird’s nest” alludes to souls that were driven from their place. It is known that through all the Torah, prayer, and good deeds in which a person engages, he clarifies holy sparks—that is, souls that fell and descended to their place through Adam’s sin and through the sins of each individual. A person must elevate and clarify them through Torah, prayer, and good deeds. This is “If a bird’s nest happens before you on the way” (Deuteronomy 22:6): these are souls that fell into exile and wandering, and you desire to acquire them—that is, to take, elevate, and clarify them.

The Torah alludes to a person when he comes to engage in a matter of holiness, especially words of Torah and prayer. At that time he engages in taking and elevating souls from the place to which they were driven and descended. This is “on the way, in any tree” (Deuteronomy 22:6), the aspect of wandering and exile. When he wishes to engage in a matter of holiness, he engages in taking and acquiring the bird’s nest that is in exile—that is, elevating and clarifying the fallen souls. Words of Torah and prayer in particular are an aspect of the bird, for speech is called a bird, as explained in Likutay Moharan I, Teaching 11. This is “a winged creature will tell the matter” (Ecclesiastes 10:20), for birds and winged creatures are an aspect of speech.

“The mother is roosting upon the fledglings or upon the eggs” (Deuteronomy 22:6): the “mother of the children” is intellectual contemplation, which constantly rests upon the words, corresponding to fledglings or eggs whose wings are not yet complete. Intellectual contemplation rests upon them in order to enlarge and perfect them. In this world, however, coarse evil inclinations attach themselves to most people and confuse a person greatly; the evil inclination and its forces principally attack thought and intellect. A person must contemplate with his intellect in great holiness, from which all forms of holiness are born. Through its schemes, however, the inclination attacks precisely intellectual contemplation—the aspect of the “mother of the children”—and confuses it when one is engaged in bringing a holy matter into actuality and giving birth to it. This is the aspect of “in sin my mother conceived me” (Psalms 51:7).

The Torah therefore warns: “You shall not take the mother together with the young; you shall surely send away the mother” (Deuteronomy 22:6–7). Take care not to pursue the “mother”—the confusions within intellect and thought—in order to seize and capture them; if you do, neither this nor that will succeed in your hand. You will be unable to pray, and the thoughts will intensify further because of the profound exile of these fallen souls; when one endeavors to overpower the thoughts directly, they grow stronger. The principal counsel is not to look or gaze backward at the confusions and imaginings that have attached themselves to your intellectual contemplation. Allow them to depart, and do not pursue them in order to battle them. Through this itself you send them away and remove them from yourself.

“But you may take the young for yourself” (Deuteronomy 22:7): the young are the souls clarified through the holy words. These alone you shall take for yourself and merit elevating and clarifying. But the mother—the aspect of “in sin my mother conceived me” (Psalms 51:7), meaning the intensification of imaginings and confusions within your intellectual contemplation—you shall send away and remove from your mind. Do not look at them or battle them in order to seize and capture them, for you lack the power to do so because of the depth of the exile. This is what our Sages, of blessed memory, expounded: “If it happens”—excluding that which is prepared. As long as speech and the souls remain in exile, and a person has not yet merited sanctifying and purifying himself properly, he cannot take the souls together with the mother, for the serpent’s contamination attaches itself most strongly to the mother. His rectification is to take only the words-souls: to speak them with truth and great simplicity, as though he possessed no knowledge or understanding, without looking backward and without attempting to clarify and rectify the thought.

One who has already acquired the bird’s nest, however—the great tzaddikim who have already sanctified and purified themselves completely, until the words and souls, the aspect of the bird’s nest, are established and prepared with them, in the aspect of “his prayer is fluent in his mouth” and “even the bird has found a home” (Psalms 84:4)—is permitted to take the mother together with the young. With him, the contamination does not overpower intellectual contemplation, and these imaginings and confusions do not come upon him. Even when foreign thoughts occasionally come to him, they come so that he may rectify and clarify them. The tzaddik knows from where each thought is drawn and knows how to elevate it to its root and clarify it properly. He can therefore acquire the mother together with the young, since with him the bird’s nest, the aspect of the souls, is prepared—the opposite of exile and wandering.

One whose bird’s nest is still “on the way, in any tree” (Deuteronomy 22:6), in great exile and wandering, cannot take the mother. He must fulfill “you shall surely send away the mother” (Deuteronomy 22:7): he must not allow his intellect, intermixed with many imaginings, to confuse him, but must pray with great simplicity and not look backward at all. He will then merit “you may take the young for yourself” (Deuteronomy 22:7), the words that are the souls. Even if he sent her away and she returned, sent her away and she returned, he must send her away again as long as he has not acquired the young. Even after he diverts his attention from the imaginings and prays in his usual manner, they return many times. He must therefore be obstinate and fulfill “you shall surely send away” time after time, even a hundred times. Whenever the confusions return, he must stand his ground, not look after them, and remove them solely by diverting his attention while continuing to do his part. The yetzer hara remains bound to a person and attacks more fiercely in response to every counsel; one therefore requires immeasurable obstinacy, as explained in Rabbeinu’s holy teachings, particularly Likutay Moharan II, Teachings 48–51. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Sending Away the Mother Bird 4:2)

If a Bird’s Nest Happens before You on the Way… You Shall Surely Send Away the Mother (Deuteronomy 22:6–7) At the present time the Shechinah is in exile, as it were, in the aspect of “like a bird wandering from its nest” (Proverbs 27:8), and in the aspect of “If a bird’s nest happens before you on the way” (Deuteronomy 22:6)—specifically “on the way,” the aspect of wandering and exile. It is incumbent upon every person to endeavor to rectify this bird’s nest and to elevate the Shechinah, as it were, from exile. The principal rectification is through seeking and searching, “Where is the place of His glory?” For the principal exile of the Shechinah consists in His kingship, blessed be He, being concealed, as it were, because of the intensification of the klipoas and the sitra achara.

One who merits believing and knowing that in truth “His kingship rules over all” (Psalms 103:19) knows that although the idolaters, who are the klipoas, presently rule over Israel, the klipoas themselves receive vitality only from Him, blessed be He. He gives life to them all, and His kingship rules over all. They receive, however, from the concealment and hiddenness of the concealed utterance, the aspect of ayeh, “where.” When one truly believes and knows this, and seeks and searches even from there for His glory, blessed be He, in the aspect of “Where is the place of His glory?” through this itself the klipoas and the sitra achara fall and are entirely nullified, and His kingship, blessed be He, is revealed. This is the aspect of the Shechinah’s ascent from exile.

This is the aspect of the mitzvah of sending away the mother bird: “You shall surely send away the mother, but you may take the young for yourself” (Deuteronomy 22:7). “You shall surely send away” is the aspect of ayeh, the concealed utterance. When one sends away the mother, she flies off and disappears from his sight, and it is unknown where her place is. He thereby alludes to and reveals that the principal vitality of these birds comes from the aspect of ayeh. The mother is the source of their vitality, for the fledglings need their mother and their vitality depends upon her; when he sends away the mother, he binds the root of their vitality—the mother—to the aspect of ayeh, the concealed utterance. He can then take the young, rectify them, and elevate them. The bird’s nest is principally driven into wandering through the intensification of the klipoas, because of which His kingship is concealed, as it were; this is the aspect of the Shechinah’s exile. But by sending away the mother, when it becomes unknown where her place is, one reveals that the root of the birds’ vitality—the mother—is in the aspect of ayeh, from which all things in the world receive vitality, even the klipoas themselves. When this is revealed, the klipoas are subdued and nullified. One can then take the young, for the evil and klipoas that had attached themselves to them and caused the exile and wandering have been nullified, and His kingship, blessed be He, is again revealed. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Sending Away the Mother Bird 2; following Otzar HaYirah, “Exile and Redemption,” 13)

If a Bird’s Nest Happens before You (Deuteronomy 22:6) There are souls that fell through their evil deeds, became distant from holiness, and wander in exile, in the degradation of exile. They are in the aspect of “If a bird’s nest happens before you… and the mother is roosting upon the fledglings or upon the eggs” (Deuteronomy 22:6). The root of all souls is in the glory of Hashem, blessed be He, and glory is the aspect of “the mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20). Glory roosts and hovers over these souls like a mother over her young, protecting them so that they will not, God forbid, sink completely into the degradation of exile. One must endeavor to acquire these souls, bring them out of exile, and draw them close to Hashem, blessed be He. In accordance with the souls’ emergence from exile, glory too, as it were, emerges from exile, for the root of their souls is in glory.

Concerning this the verse warns: “You shall not take the mother together with the young” (Deuteronomy 22:6). One must take care not to take the glory for himself together with the souls—that is, not to draw these souls close in order to magnify his own honor, God forbid. If he does so, he will be unable to bring them out of exile, for it is impossible to draw them close to Hashem, blessed be He, except through Torah, which is the root of all souls; and it is impossible to merit Torah except through ultimate humility and lowliness. He must flee from honor and pay no attention whatsoever to his own honor. Precisely then can he merit a Torah of kindness, elevate the souls through it, bring them out of the degradation of exile, and thereby magnify the glory of Hashem, blessed be He, and restore it to its root. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Sending Away the Mother Bird 3; following Otzar HaYirah, “Honor,” 15)

If a Bird’s Nest Happens before You on the Way, in Any Tree or on the Ground, Fledglings (Deuteronomy 22:6) It is known and explained in the Tikkunim that the mitzvah of the bird’s nest alludes to the exile and wandering of the Shechinah and Knesses Yisrael, both collectively and individually. Concerning this it is stated: “Like a bird wandering from its nest” (Proverbs 27:8). When a Jew moves about and wanders in the exile of his soul, he is in the aspect of “on the way”—wandering and exile. “In any tree” (Deuteronomy 22:6) means that he has not yet clarified the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil; the Tree of Life and the tree of death are still intermingled within him, and he has not yet separated them from one another, in the aspect of “from there it divides” (Genesis 2:10), as explained in Likutay Moharan I, Teaching 8. “Or on the ground” (Deuteronomy 22:6) is the ultimate degree of physicality.

Nevertheless, even there Hashem, blessed be He, in His wondrous kindness, prepares for him “fledglings or eggs” (Deuteronomy 22:6), aspects of the holiness of Torah and mitzvos. The Tikkunei Zohar states: “fledglings”—masters of Mishnah; “or eggs”—masters of Scripture. Everything, however, is still in a state of smallness and is incomplete; their wings are not complete. “The mother is roosting upon the fledglings or upon the eggs” (Deuteronomy 22:6) is the aspect of the mother sheltering her children, the aspect of “if you call understanding mother” (Proverbs 2:3), the supernal Shechinah and the collectivity of the first three sefiros. There it is said: “Do not inquire into what is wondrously beyond you” (Chagigah 13a), in the aspect of “The glory of God is the concealment of a matter” (Proverbs 25:2).

All the goodness and kindness that Hashem, blessed be He, extends to a person amid his profound distance—when he snatches some Torah and mitzvos, although they are incomplete—is exceedingly precious and constitutes a great salvation. Everything is drawn from a very high, supernal, awesome, and exalted place, in the aspect of “she brings her food from afar” (Proverbs 31:14). The mother, the aspect of binah and the supernal mother, the concealed world, roosts upon the fledglings and eggs—the good points of Torah and mitzvos that Hashem prepares for a distant person wandering “on the way, in any tree.” Hashem, blessed be He, devises from afar how to benefit each person and incline him toward life, as it is written: “He devises means so that one banished from Him will not remain banished” (II Samuel 14:14).

The verse, however, warns: “You shall not take the mother together with the young” (Deuteronomy 22:6). Do not take the mother as well—the hidden and concealed contemplation—together with the young, the goodness and salvations that Hashem caused to happen before you. It is true that everything is drawn solely from there, and the mother herself roosts upon the fledglings and eggs whose wings are incomplete so that they can endure such exile and wandering. Nevertheless, you do not yet have permission to take the mother together with the young—that is, to seek immediately to contemplate, understand, and see the ultimate salvation. Although Hashem has helped you greatly and caused such forms of goodness to happen before you, you still have no grasp of the mother of the children, the supernal contemplation that is the ultimate salvation, for mother-binah is the aspect of the World to Come.

Therefore, “you shall surely send away the mother” (Deuteronomy 22:7), for one must not inquire into what is wondrously beyond him. You must know that you are still very distant from the ultimate salvation. “But you may take the young for yourself” (Deuteronomy 22:7): take the fledglings and eggs, the points of Torah and mitzvos that Hashem, blessed be He, prepared for you in His mercy; engage with them and raise them from smallness to greatness, which encompasses the service of Hashem. The ultimate salvation itself, however—the supernal contemplation of “mother-understanding”—is still distant from you. “If it happens”—excluding that which is prepared: the warning to send away the mother is directed principally to one before whom the nest happens on the way, while he is still in exile and wandering. One who has already labored and exerted himself greatly in the service of Hashem until he merits preparing holiness—for every matter of holiness requires preparation—can take the mother together with the young according to his level. The great tzaddikim, for whom the bird’s nest is in the aspect of something prepared, merit apprehending the Torah’s mysteries, the aspect of the mother of the children. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Sending Away the Mother Bird 5:3–4)

You Shall Surely Send Away the Mother (Deuteronomy 22:7) It is explained in the Tikkunim that the bird’s nest alludes to souls driven from their place—that is, those distanced from Hashem, blessed be He, through their improper deeds. This is “If a bird’s nest happens before you on the way” (Deuteronomy 22:6). One who wishes to take and draw close these fallen souls, to acquire them and draw them close to Hashem, blessed be He, cannot do so unless he first endeavors to send away and remove their previous wisdom and understanding. They must remove their own understanding from themselves as though they possessed no intellect whatsoever.

Rabbeinu, of blessed memory, wrote concerning the verse “A base people and not wise” (Deuteronomy 32:6): a people who received the Torah and did not act cleverly. It is impossible to draw close to the true tzaddikim and to Torah unless one casts away all one’s previous forms of wisdom, as though one possessed no intellect. Even after entering the service of Hashem, one must remove from one’s mind all the clever notions and confusions that disturb one from day to day. They all derive from vain forms of wisdom to which one became accustomed from youth and which became fixed within one as though one had received them at Mount Sinai. (Likutay Moharan I, Teaching 123)

In truth, the rationalizations and clever notions that confuse a person derive from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, from the serpent’s contamination implanted in Chavah, who was “the mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20). Consequently, every person, from the time of his birth from his mother’s womb, possesses a hold of this contamination, in the aspect of “in sin my mother conceived me” (Psalms 51:7); from it derive the confusions and foolish rationalizations that prevent him from the way of life. This is “the mother is roosting upon the fledglings or upon the eggs” (Deuteronomy 22:6): the mother is the aspect of “if you call understanding mother” (Proverbs 2:3), the intellect of each person. A person’s principal vitality and growth come from his intellect, which gives him life, directs him, and sustains him, in the aspect of “wisdom preserves the life of its possessor” (Ecclesiastes 7:12); the intellect is therefore called the mother of the children. The intellect born with a person roosts over his soul to give it life and cause it to grow. Through Adam’s sin, however, the serpent’s contamination attached itself to this intellect, and from it come all foolish and vain forms of wisdom.

This is “You shall surely send away the mother, but you may take the young for yourself” (Deuteronomy 22:7). It is impossible to draw close the souls that are like fledglings or eggs whose wings are incomplete—souls that do not yet possess perfection or wings with which to fly in the service of Hashem and draw close to Him—until one first sends away the mother. One must send away, remove, and eliminate from them all their previous forms of wisdom and rationalization, the aspect of the mother. Afterward, “you may take the young for yourself”: one can draw them close until they are called children, for whoever teaches another person’s son Torah is regarded as though he fathered him. He removes from them the previous intellect from which their vitality had initially come, and draws into them a new intellect and new vitality, as though they were actually born today. They are then called “children,” in the aspect of “You are My son; today I have begotten you” (Psalms 2:7). The principal drawing close consists of removing the previous intellect; the person is regarded as though he were born today. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Meat and Milk 4:2)

Honor is the aspect of “the mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20), for it is the root of the soul. Therefore, when honor comes to a person, he must exercise great care: perhaps the honor has come for the departure of the soul, in the aspect of “the glory of Hashem will gather you in” (Isaiah 58:8). Generally, however, honor comes for good—that is, a new soul comes with it, clothed within the honor. One must therefore take great care not to pursue honor. Whoever pursues honor finds that honor flees from him; and because the soul is rooted in honor, when honor flees and the soul is drawn after it, the person may depart from the world, God forbid. One must therefore flee from honor and minimize one’s own honor.

Even when honor reaches a person, he should intend only to extract the soul clothed within it, but flee from the honor itself, lest it have come for his departure, God forbid. This is the aspect of the mitzvah of sending away the mother bird: “You shall surely send away the mother” (Deuteronomy 22:7)—send away honor, the aspect of the mother of all living; “but you may take the young for yourself” (Deuteronomy 22:7)—extract and receive the souls clothed within the honor that came to you. Flee from the honor itself, lest you depart through it. The verse therefore concludes: “so that it will be good for you and you will prolong your days” (Deuteronomy 22:7). In this manner the person will not depart through honor; on the contrary, he will receive from it a new soul and new vitality. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Sending Away the Mother Bird 1; following Otzar HaYirah, “Honor,” 14)

You Shall Surely Send Away the Mother, but You May Take the Young for Yourself (Deuteronomy 22:7) The mitzvah of sending away the mother bird alludes to the prohibition against entering forms of wisdom and investigation that lie beyond one’s intellect according to one’s level. “You shall surely send away the mother” (Deuteronomy 22:7) is the aspect of the first three sefiros, which one is forbidden to investigate; “but you may take the young for yourself” (Deuteronomy 22:7) is the aspect of the six directions, “from one end of heaven to the other end of heaven” (Deuteronomy 4:32), within which one may contemplate with one’s intellect. It is impossible to apprehend His perception, blessed be He, except specifically through constrictions. Constriction is the aspect of sending away the mother: one sends away, distances, and constricts the intellect, and precisely then can take the fledglings or eggs upon which the mother roosts.

The mother is the aspect of “if you call understanding mother” (Proverbs 2:3), the mother who shelters her children. The fledglings and eggs are constrictions of the intellect, the aspect of masters of Mishnah and masters of Scripture, as explained in the Tikkunim. As long as the mother, the source of intellect, roosts upon the constrictions, everything is one and the intellect cannot be received or apprehended. One must therefore send away the mother—that is, constrict the intellect. Then “you may take the young for yourself”: specifically through the constrictions of intellect, the aspect of the young and the eggs, one can take, receive, and apprehend His perception, blessed be He. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Eggs 3:2)

So That It Will Be Good for You and You Will Prolong Your Days (Deuteronomy 22:7) The sacred works explain that different mitzvos possess different seguloas: one mitzvah is conducive to attaining a particular level and matter, while another is conducive to another level. Concerning tzitzis it is stated: “So that you will remember and perform all My mitzvos” (Numbers 15:40), and “You shall not stray after your hearts and after your eyes” (Numbers 15:39); the Gemara also relates the incident of a man whose tzitzis struck him upon his face and thereby saved him from sexual transgression. Concerning tefillin it is written: “So that the Torah of Hashem will be in your mouth” (Exodus 13:9). Every mitzvah and good deed possesses a distinctive segulah through which one can merit a particular level and attainment.

Nevertheless, if a person fulfills a mitzvah and does not merit the matter and level attributed to it, he must not become discouraged at all. All the words of Torah and the words of our Sages, of blessed memory, are true and enduring, and it is forbidden to question them; rather, we do not understand the ways of Hashem, for “Your thoughts are exceedingly profound” (Psalms 92:6). Perhaps Hashem, blessed be He, elevated his service and mitzvah for the sake of an even higher and more wondrous rectification. Thus our Sages said concerning sending away the mother bird and honoring one’s father: Where is this person’s length of days? Rather, “so that it will be good for you”—in the world that is entirely good; “and you will prolong your days”—in the world that is entirely long. This contains many aspects hidden from human beings that cannot be understood fully, all for the sake of free choice. In any event, the good a person presently performs is certainly never lost, for no good ratzoan is lost. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of the Signs of Kosher Animals 4:49; following Otzar HaYirah, “Mitzvos and Good Deeds,” 6; “Strengthening,” 55)

When You Build a New House, You Shall Make a Parapet for Your Roof, and You Shall Not Place Blood in Your House, for the One Who Falls May Fall from It (Deuteronomy 22:8) Our Sages expounded from the verse “When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, and you shall not place blood in your house, for the one who falls may fall from it” (Deuteronomy 22:8), that a person must not raise a vicious dog or place an unstable ladder in his house. When fallen souls, the aspect of baalay teshuvah and converts, are elevated, their entire ascent is through the aspect of a ladder. Just as physically an object is raised from the ground to a roof, or from a deep pit and hollow, by means of a ladder, so it is spiritually; the deeper the pit, the stronger and more secure the ladder must be.

These souls fell and descended exceedingly far, in the aspect of “she descended wondrously” (Lamentations 1:9) and “I have entered the depths of water” (Psalms 69:3). This is particularly so at the end of the bitter exile, when they still possess free choice and the hostile oppressor stands over them, inciting them with numerous cravings, foreign opinions, foolish counsels, and discouragement caused by the abundant mockery of scoffers and opponents. One who engages in their rectification and rescue must therefore erect an exceedingly sound and strong ladder, so that the one who falls will not fall from it.

Sulam, “ladder,” has the same numerical value as Sinai, for their entire ascent is through the Torah given at Sinai. The Torah was given upon Mount Sinai, the low and humble mountain, to teach that the tzaddik, the aspect of Moshe, brings the Torah down to Israel through lowliness. He lowers and humbles himself utterly, rolling through every kind of mud and mire in order to elevate the fallen souls from the depths of the great abyss, strengthen them with every form of encouragement, and restore them with delicacies that revive the soul, until they remain established in holiness forever.

“When you build a new house” (Deuteronomy 22:8) is a house in which one dwells—the holy house of study, whose principal purpose is to produce true Torah insights that bring a person to good deeds and save him from all evil. It is called a “new house” because true Torah insights are developed there and the souls of Israel are renewed, removed from the old age of the sitra achara, the aspect of an old and foolish king, and illuminated with the new light that shines each day through the true tzaddikim, who constantly renew themselves. The principal purpose is to reveal holy emunah, which every Jew must accept anew each day: “which I command you today” (Deuteronomy 6:6)—each day they shall be as new in your eyes; “They are new every morning; great is Your emunah” (Lamentations 3:23). In this way true baalay teshuvah are made, in the aspect of “Return us to You, Hashem, and we shall return; renew our days as of old” (Lamentations 5:21).

This is “you shall make a parapet for your roof” (Deuteronomy 22:8), the aspect of constricting the mochin, as explained in the teaching “Sound Emunah” (Likutay Moharan II, Teaching 5). When one ascends to the aspect of mochin, one must guard their constriction. Even within holiness the mind must be constricted, in the aspect of “Do not inquire into what is wondrously beyond you”; how much more must the mind be kept from emerging toward the sitra achara, God forbid. The parapet, a barrier around the roof, is the aspect of the barriers of the mochin. When the mochin are complete together with the rectification of constriction, pure utterances are formed that give life to the fallen souls and guard them from falling again. This is “you shall not place blood in your house, for the one who falls may fall from it,” and it is also the unstable ladder forbidden by our Sages: everything alludes to the fallen souls who must be elevated. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Damages 5:25)

Our Sages learned from the verse “When you build a new house… for the one who falls may fall from it” (Deuteronomy 22:8) that one may not keep an unstable ladder in a house. A person’s house is his honor, for his principal honor and splendor are in his house, in the aspect of “like the beauty of a person, to dwell in a house” (Isaiah 44:13), “all the glory of the king’s daughter is inward” (Psalms 45:14), and “every man shall rule in his house” (Esther 1:22). He must draw honor into the house with great holiness, in the aspect of “the glory of Hashem filled the house” (II Chronicles 7:1). When one sanctifies one’s house through Torah, service, and hospitality, the glory of Hashem dwells there and it becomes a miniature Sanctuary, as explained in Likutay Moharan II, Teaching 67.

Rabbeinu wrote that sukkah is conducive to building a house, as it is written: “Yaakov journeyed to Sukkos and built himself a house” (Genesis 33:17), for the sukkah is the Clouds of Glory, holy honor, which is the principal rectification of the house. (Likutay Moharan I, Teaching 266) Building a house entails danger because construction draws honor; when honor is drawn to a person, he is weighed in the scales, in the aspect of righteous scales. At times honor may gather in a soul if the person does not merit receiving it properly. Our Sages therefore said that whoever builds becomes impoverished, in the sense of “he built storage cities for Pharaoh” (Exodus 1:11).

The sukkah is therefore a segulah for building a house, for it rectifies honor and saves from danger to life. When one merits drawing honor into the house with holiness, one can specifically merit new souls through it. This is “Fortunate is everyone who fears Hashem… your wife will be like a fruitful vine in the inner chambers of your house; your children like olive shoots around your table” (Psalms 128:1–3). One who fears Hashem merits children specifically through the house; they are the aspect of souls gained through honor that comes for good.

Therefore, when a person builds a new house and draws honor, he must guard exceedingly well lest a Jewish soul be lost and depart, God forbid, because of the honor. “You shall make a parapet for your roof, and you shall not place blood in your house” (Deuteronomy 22:8)—specifically “in your house,” for in the house, the aspect of honor, the soul requires special guarding. By fulfilling the mitzvah of the parapet, he rectifies his house and the honor; then, instead of a soul departing, he can merit new souls through the honor that comes to him for good. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Injuring Another and Preservation of Life 3:17)

When You Build a New House (Deuteronomy 22:8) The principal perfection of the rectification of building a house comes through perfection of knowledge, the aspect of the sukkah and the mother sheltering her children. The principal protection from every kind of harm likewise comes through perfection of knowledge. The Torah therefore commanded: “When you build a new house” (Deuteronomy 22:8)—draw complete knowledge into it, the aspect of sukkah and “through wisdom a house is built” (Proverbs 24:3); “you shall make a parapet for your roof” (Deuteronomy 22:8)—guard the souls of Israel so that they will not be harmed, God forbid, through the construction of your house. This draws the aspect of the mother sheltering her children, which is the perfection of the building.

Hashem, blessed be He, constantly guards His people Israel, and the principal protection is the aspect of sukkah: the Shechinah protects and shelters Israel and saves them from every harm. Concerning this we request in the blessing Hashkiveinu: “Spread over us Your sukkah of peace… and guard our going out and our coming in.” When we ourselves take care to preserve Jewish lives from every harm, which is the mitzvah of the parapet, we draw upon ourselves protection from above in the aspect of sukkah and the mother sheltering her children. This is the principal perfection of the rectification of the house. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of a Parapet and Preservation of Life 2:1; following Otzar HaYirah, “Inside and Outside,” 27)

When You Build a New House, You Shall Make a Parapet for Your Roof, and You Shall Not Place Blood in Your House, for the One Who Falls May Fall from It (Deuteronomy 22:8) A house must be built through wisdom, in the aspect of “through wisdom a house is built” (Proverbs 24:3). The house is then in the aspect of sukkah, which is binah and mochin, for the principal rectification of building the house is through the mochin of sukkah, in the aspect of “Yaakov journeyed to Sukkos and built himself a house” (Genesis 33:17), as explained in Likutay Moharan I, Teaching 266. The mitzvah of the parapet is protection for the mind and intellect so that they will not fall. One must guard exceedingly well not to permit the intellect and thought to emerge and expand beyond the boundary of holiness into external thoughts.

The parapet and barrier for the roof of the house are a boundary for the beginning of intellect, which is higher than everything. It must be guarded so that it will not emerge into an external thought, in the aspect of “Until here you may come, but no farther; and here the pride of your waves will be stayed” (Job 38:11). The intellect is the sea of wisdom; it tends to rise through the waves, the intensification of thoughts seeking to emerge outward. Hashem decreed a boundary for it, and a person must subdue the thoughts and break their waves, in the aspect of “I placed sand as a boundary for the sea” (Jeremiah 5:22), so that they will not leave the boundary of holiness.

The principal protection depends upon the beginning of thought. When thought is guarded from its inception, it is readily subdued; but the moment one allows it to emerge outward, the mind may fall, God forbid, in the aspect of the falling sickness, as explained in the teaching “One Who Goes to Marry” (Likutay Moharan I, Teaching 29). This is the fall of the mochin through the intensification of the bloods that spray into the mind and cause it to fall.

This is “you shall not place blood in your house, for the one who falls may fall from it” (Deuteronomy 22:8). When one fails to make a barrier for thought, one actually brings bloods into the house, into the mind, and they cause it to fall. The matter depends upon the mind’s own blemish: when it is not guarded and is allowed to leave the boundary of holiness, it gives power to the bloods until they intensify and enter it. Our Sages expounded: this person was fit to fall, and the verse therefore calls him “the one who falls”—he already began to fall when he left the boundary of holiness, and the bloods subsequently complete his fall.

For this purpose the Torah commanded the parapet: to guard the mind from leaving the boundary of holiness and coming to a fall. Protection of the mind is alluded to in building the house because the house is built through wisdom; guarding the wisdom in the mind is therefore the protection and rectification of the house. When the mind is guarded from falling, it is complete, and the house is rectified in the aspect of sukkah. Falling is a blemish in the sukkah, in the aspect of “the fallen sukkah of David” (Amos 9:11), and the aspect of the falling sickness. The parapet is therefore the protection of the house in the aspect of sukkah. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of a Parapet and Preservation of Life 1)

When You Build a New House, You Shall Make a Parapet for Your Roof (Deuteronomy 22:8) The foundation of emunah, which is the foundation of the Beis HaMikdash discovered by David and the aspect of Mashiach, can never be destroyed. The enemies destroyed only the structure upon the foundation, which is the aspect of a roof and upper story relative to the foundation. This is “Why do you leap, O many-peaked mountains?” (Psalms 68:17): David tells the destroyers that all their might extends only to destroying the back and roof, but they cannot destroy the foundation of holiness, for “This is the mountain God desired for His dwelling; Hashem will indeed dwell there forever” (Psalms 68:17). The foundation discovered by David-Mashiach will remain until an eternal structure is speedily built upon it.

“When you build a new house” (Deuteronomy 22:8) alludes to the Third Temple, in which a new light will shine upon Zion, in the aspect of “Behold, I am doing something new; now it will sprout” (Isaiah 43:19). Every person must begin engaging in its construction now, principally by making a parapet for the roof—rectifying and perfecting the entire structure upon the foundation so that it will never again be destroyed. All transgressions are an aspect of bloods, drawn from the intensification of the bloods within the 365 sinews corresponding to the 365 prohibitions; through them those who fell have fallen and the Temple was destroyed. It must be built with rectifications through which people will no longer sin, everyone will remain strong in emunah, and the house will endure forever.

The exile is prolonged because Hashem, blessed be He, awaits the construction of an eternal building and a complete redemption after which there will be no exile. This depends upon the true tzaddikim in every generation making rectifications through which Israel will never again fall from their holiness or return to folly, in the aspect of “I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh… and I will cause you to follow My statutes” (Ezekiel 36:26–27). It is difficult to assist one who possesses free choice, and the end of the wonders therefore cannot be determined; nevertheless, “the counsel of Hashem will stand forever” (Psalms 33:11).

Hashem comforts and gladdens us with the holy foundations we have already attained: the Exodus from Egypt, receiving the Torah, and the mitzvos every Jew seizes each day. David already discovered the site of the Temple; the House was built twice; offerings and incense were brought there; and the laws of Torah were clarified in the Chamber of Hewn Stone. The tzaddikim thus established foundations that cannot be destroyed even amid the ruin. Nor did our God abandon us after the destruction: great tzaddikim arose in every generation, including the tzaddikim of our own generations, who established strong foundations. This is “Although I have dispersed them among the nations and scattered them among the lands, I have been for them a miniature Sanctuary” (Ezekiel 11:16), which our Sages expounded as referring to synagogues and study halls. Through their power we await the new House whose structure will never be destroyed. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of the Blessing of Thanksgiving 6:68–69)

When You Build a New House, You Shall Make a Parapet for Your Roof… for the One Who Falls May Fall from It (Deuteronomy 22:8) The teaching “A Seal within a Seal” explains that holy boldness is attained through “we shall do and we shall hear,” the aspects of Torah and prayer, revealed and concealed. One must proceed from level to level: transforming what is heard into what is done and the concealed into the revealed. A still higher dimension of hearing and concealment then opens, and one must apprehend it as well and transform it into doing and revelation. Thus one continually ascends; before every ascent there must be a descent, for the descent is the ultimate purpose of the ascent. (Likutay Moharan I, Teaching 22)

“When you build a new house” (Deuteronomy 22:8) is the attainment of a higher “we shall do and we shall hear”: new Torah insights and revelation of what was concealed in Torah. Torah, true wisdom, is called a house, as it is written: “Through wisdom a house is built” (Proverbs 24:3); it therefore begins with the letter beis of Bereishis, which also signifies “the head of the house.” A house comprises a lower house and an upper story: the revealed is the body of the house, while the concealed, the aspect of prayer, is the upper story above it, for “as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways” (Isaiah 55:9).

The concealed is therefore alluded to by an upper story: “his windows were open for him in his upper chamber” (Daniel 6:11). Sages who sought to apprehend hidden laws sat and expounded them in an upper chamber; the Mishnah likewise refers to laws stated in the upper chamber of Chananyah. Rabbeinu wrote that dwelling in an upper story is more beneficial for serving the Creator than dwelling on a lower floor, for a person’s service is to ascend from level to level and each time apprehend what had been concealed from him, the aspect of prayer. When he builds a new house and rises to a higher level, he must make a parapet for the upper story, a fence and barrier so that he will not fall, for the adversary attacks one who ascends with particular force.

Our Sages learned from the verse that one must neither place an unstable ladder nor raise a vicious dog in one’s house. Through “we shall do and we shall hear” one attains holy boldness and a powerful voice, in the aspect of “Behold, He gives forth with His voice a voice of strength” (Psalms 68:34). An “unstable ladder” is weakness and laziness; the ladder must be forceful and strong. Yet one must beware of the boldness of the sitra achara, “the dogs are brazen of spirit” (Isaiah 56:11), which is the “vicious dog.” The tzaddikim transform even boldness into holiness and stand boldly against those who impede them, but one who acts brazenly against those who truly fear Hashem for his own ends raises a vicious dog. The two warnings complement one another: a strong ladder of holy boldness, without evil brazenness.

“For the one who falls may fall from it” (Deuteronomy 22:8): a person must strengthen himself exceedingly, for he must constantly ascend from level to level, and there will necessarily be a descent before the ascent, an aspect of falling. He must make a parapet and strong ladder so that the descent will not become an actual fall, but a descent for the sake of ascent, in the aspect of “Though he falls, he will not be cast down, for Hashem supports his hand” (Psalms 37:24). If he strengthens and fortifies himself through everything that passes over him, all descents and falls will ultimately be transformed into great ascents, until “in those days and at that time… the iniquity of Israel will be sought, but it will not exist” (Jeremiah 50:20). (Likutay Halachos, Laws of a Parapet and Preservation of Life 4:1–3)

You Shall Not Sow Your Vineyard with a Mixture (Deuteronomy 22:9) The Torah juxtaposed the prohibitions of mixtures: “You shall not sow your vineyard with a mixture,” “You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together,” “You shall not wear shaatnez,” followed by “You shall make twisted threads for yourself” (Deuteronomy 22:9–12). Every kind of mixture was forbidden so that the letters of Torah, which are the root of all things, will not be confused. Every entity in the world—mineral, vegetable, animal, and human—has a root in the letters of Torah. Creating a forbidden mixture causes, God forbid, confusion among the Torah letters at the root of those things, and from this come all the impediments in the world.

All impediments to the service of Hashem derive from the filthy garments formed through a person’s sins, as explained in the teaching “Drawing Peace” concerning the narrative of Rabbah bar bar Chanah: they become screens and form a riverlike separation between him and holiness, the aspect of Eretz Yisrael. (Likutay Moharan I, Teaching 14) Their principal power to prevent a person from the way of life comes through pride and imaginary honor. If he truly sensed his lowliness and understood how soiled he was by his sins, cravings, and numerous blemishes, he would seek with all his strength the true physician who could heal the illnesses of his soul; who can bear being clothed in filthy garments?

The filthy garments themselves, however, confuse his understanding and warp his heart until he pretends not to recognize the filth of his deeds, still desires the honor of this world, and falls into pride and arrogance. He is then incapable of drawing close to truth, lest people mock him and regard him as foolish. This is especially so now, when “truth was cast to the ground” (Daniel 8:12), “one who turns from evil is considered mad” (Isaiah 59:15), honor has been transferred to strangers, and those who fear sin are despised. But one who truly feels the pain of his improper deeds and his lowliness recognizes absolute truth, breaks every impediment, and draws close to truth wherever it is found.

Pride is therefore called “waste.” Concerning Moav it is written: “We have heard of Moav’s pride—exceedingly proud—his arrogance, his pride, and his wrath” (Isaiah 16:6), and “He repays exceedingly the one who acts arrogantly” (Psalms 31:24). Pride is literally waste, an aspect of idolatry, vomit, and excrement—the refuse of the body and the aspect of the filthy garments. Their principal power to impede a person from truth operates through pride. All impediments are principally impediments of the mind, as explained in Likutay Moharan II, Teaching 46: a person’s understanding becomes confused and turns from truth, and he refuses to take absolute truth to heart.

Through every transgression and blemish, a person damages the Torah letters in which his soul is rooted and becomes distanced from the letter he damaged. The Torah letters then combine for him in other combinations that are the reverse of truth, in the aspect of “if he does not merit, Torah becomes a potion of death for him.” From this derive evil thoughts and inverted rationalizations that mislead many, in the aspect of “those who overturn the paths of uprightness” (Proverbs 2:13) and “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20). Pride removes true Torah wisdom from a person and inclines him toward rationalizations that are the reverse of truth.

Torah cannot be attained perfectly except through true lowliness in all its aspects. One can then engage in Torah with holiness, illuminate the roots of Jewish souls, and make baalay teshuvah and converts. The true tzaddik, who is genuinely humble, the aspect of mah and of Moshe Rabbeinu, attains this in perfection. Yet those who seek to draw close to him must at least truly feel their lowliness; otherwise the filthy garments will prevent them. Thus all impediments derive from combinations of Torah letters confused through one’s blemishes, from which arise confused understanding, inverted rationalizations, and foreign opinions.

This is the prohibition of mixtures: not to confuse the Torah letters, the roots of all creation. Kilayim, “mixtures,” also connotes restraint, as in “the people were restrained from bringing” (Exodus 36:6), “You, Hashem, will not withhold Your mercy from me” (Psalms 40:12), and “they were hidden in prison houses” (Isaiah 42:22)—houses of confinement that prevent a person from leaving. The Torah prefaced the prohibitions of mixtures with “You shall keep My statutes” (Leviticus 19:19): preserve the Torah’s statutes and do not exchange or confuse its combinations. The principal rectification comes through the true tzaddikim, who engage in Torah with holiness and illuminate its letters perfectly. Each time they combine those letters into wondrous new Torah insights according to the rectification required by the souls distanced from their root—according to the time and circumstances, the root of each soul, and the blemishes it committed—and guide those souls upon the upright path with the counsels they require. One must therefore search and seek exceedingly for such a true tzaddik. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Orlah 5:8)

Lest the Fullness Become Sanctified (Deuteronomy 22:9) The eating of Israel is exceedingly precious, holy, and exalted. Holy eating is literally an aspect of Torah, in the aspect of “Your Torah is within my innards” (Psalms 40:9). The holy Torah forms holy vessels through which vitality is drawn from the Life of all life gradually and in proper measure; this is the principal vitality, namely holy wisdom and knowledge. Eating likewise draws vitality, for every food possesses the power to draw and delimit vitality from the Life of all life within living creatures. Foods receive this power from Torah; one must therefore eat with holiness according to Torah, and only in this manner is vitality drawn into every living soul.

This is the distinction between forbidden and permitted foods. Forbidden foods are an aspect of eating from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil; they derive from broken vessels rather than holy vessels and therefore lack the power to draw vitality properly from the Life of all life. On the contrary, the sitra achara, the side of death, is strengthened through them. Foods of the highest holiness, such as sacrificial foods and terumah, are likewise forbidden to a non-kohen: their holiness is excessive, and an unfit recipient lacks the power to receive the light and vitality drawn through them. Eating them would cause the vessels to shatter anew, just as the original shattering occurred because the vessels could not receive the abundance of light; too much oil extinguishes the lamp. Therefore, “no non-kohen may eat sacred food” (Leviticus 22:10), lest excessive light result.

The same applies to a vineyard mixture: it lacks the power to receive the abundance of light drawn through sowing disparate species together. It is therefore prohibited as something sanctified, as it is written: “lest the fullness become sanctified” (Deuteronomy 22:9). This is a prohibited sanctity, the aspect of excessive light not received within rectified vessels. The principal rectification is to receive vitality gradually and in proper measure through the complete rectification of the vessels. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Kashering Utensils 3:1; following Otzar HaYirah, “Eating,” 21)

You Shall Not Plow with an Ox and a Donkey Together (Deuteronomy 22:10) The ox and donkey are two evil species, the aspects of Eisav and Yishmael, who collectively encompass the idolaters, exiles, and afflictions. The verse forbids joining them together so that afflictions will not be combined in a manner impossible to endure. A person must take care not to confuse his understanding and imagine that the entire world has fallen upon him, as though every affliction had come without any relief. One who speaks this way and whose heart becomes crooked toward Hashem, blessed be He, cannot cry out to Him truthfully; pain then draws further pain after it and the afflictions multiply, may the Merciful One save us.

One must create space within one’s understanding, find forms of relief within the afflictions themselves, and offer thanks at all times, for every affliction truly contains relief, in the aspect of “In distress You gave me relief” (Psalms 4:2). Hashem does not arouse all His wrath, in the aspect of “He did not arouse all His fury” (Psalms 78:38). This is “You shall place a space between one flock and another” (Genesis 32:17), which our Sages explained as placing space between afflictions and exiles. Yaakov commanded that the flocks not be mixed, the aspect of the prohibition against mixing ox and donkey.

Yaakov subdued the klipoas of Eisav and Yishmael, the aspect of “I have acquired ox and donkey” (Genesis 32:6). These klipoas draw vitality from judgments and seek to warp the heart in a time of distress as though all hope were lost; this is the harshest affliction of exile, when the nations revile Israel and say, “Where is your God?” in the aspect of “Like murder in my bones, my tormentors revile me, saying to me all day, ‘Where is your God?’” (Psalms 42:11). Yaakov commanded that each flock be kept separate and that space be placed between afflictions: even during distress, one must look at the kindnesses and forms of relief Hashem has extended from earliest times and even within the distress itself. One can then cry out to Hashem and be saved completely from every affliction through His great kindness and wonders. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Crossbreeding Animals 4:8)

“You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together” (Deuteronomy 22:10) is the prohibition of working with mixed animal species—performing labor with two different species together. All forms of labor in the world are aspects of constriction, for the craft of labor consists of constricting a thing according to its function and producing a finished implement. The constrictions of all thirty-nine labors must be rectified and sweetened, and clarified from the serpent’s contamination and Adam’s sin, following which he was cursed, “By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread” (Genesis 3:19), from which the exertion and toil of the labors developed.

Every person must therefore sanctify himself and conduct business and labor with great holiness and for the sake of Hashem, in order to clarify all occupations and forms of labor, which are included in the thirty-nine labors, from the serpent’s contamination. The constrictions are principally sweetened through the particular intellect belonging to each labor. There is no craft without intellect and wisdom, and this intellect is rooted above in holy intellect. The particular intellect within the labor must be bound to its supernal root, which belongs to that constriction; the judgment is thereby sweetened at its root.

Constrictions and judgments are the aspect of animal and absence of knowledge, for compassion and kindness are aspects of knowledge, whereas judgment and constriction are a diminution of knowledge. A person’s service is to clarify and elevate from animal to human, from judgment to kindness: the human being is defined by intellect, and he must clarify the constrictions, the aspect of animal, through the particular intellect belonging to each one. This is the rectification of the thirty-nine labors: clarifying them from the serpent’s contamination and sweetening them until they become the aspect of the thirty-nine labors of the Mishkan.

One may therefore not perform labor with two different animal species together. Each animal is the aspect of a particular constriction, and judgment takes its strongest hold where knowledge is diminished; it can be sweetened only when kept with its own species, through the particular intellect and channel belonging to it. When two species are mixed, two constrictions are confused, and each can no longer be elevated independently to its root and sweetened through its particular intellect. The serpent’s contamination then takes hold of the labor, the mixture of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil.

The holy Zohar states concerning “You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together” that they are two evil species. Seemingly, however, it is likewise forbidden to perform labor with two kosher species together. Yet even in their case, when the two constrictions are confused, each can no longer be sweetened through the intellect belonging to it. The serpent’s contamination is then aroused at its principal point of attachment—the thirty-nine labors, the aspects of “in sorrow you shall eat of it” and “by the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread” (Genesis 3:17–19).

Whenever two animal species, even kosher species, are joined for labor, the mixture of ox and donkey—the two evil species, Eisav and Yishmael—is aroused. Judgment then intensifies, for the mixture prevents the sweetening of the constrictions of the thirty-nine labors and awakens the thirty-nine labors of the sitra achara, the thirty-nine curses, and the serpent’s contamination. The Torah therefore expressed the entire prohibition of working with mixed animals through the ox and donkey: although the prohibition applies to any two species, it revealed that the blemish they cause is the mixture of the ox and donkey, the two evil species. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Crossbreeding Animals 3:1–3)

You Shall Not Wear Shaatnez, Wool and Linen Together; You Shall Make Twisted Threads for Yourself (Deuteronomy 22:11–12) The root of wool is drawn from the aspect of self-nullification, as explained in the teaching “Boaz Said to Ruth”: when afflictions and troubles come upon a person, he closes his eyes and nullifies himself to the ultimate purpose, where everything is good and all afflictions and judgments are nullified. (Likutay Moharan I, Teaching 65) This is wool, the aspect of the rectifications of the beard and “From distress I called to God” (Psalms 118:5), for the Hebrew letters of meitzar, “distress,” form tzemer, “wool.” “The hair of His head was like clean wool” (Daniel 7:9) is stated concerning the Ancient of Days, where the principal self-nullification is found.

Specifically from within distress, when one merits calling to Hashem and being incorporated into the ultimate purpose that is entirely good, one reaches the great mercies. There everything is transformed for good and sins become merits, in the aspect of “Though your sins are like scarlet… though they are red as crimson, they will become like wool” (Isaiah 1:18), and the woolen thread that turned white on Yom Kippur. The afflictions are consequently nullified, for there are no afflictions without sin. Flax, by contrast, is judgments and might, the aspect of Kayin’s offering from the refuse of flaxseed. Wool and flax may therefore not be joined outside a mitzvah: when the judgments see that a person seeks to nullify them through self-nullification to the ultimate purpose, they attack and intensify still more.

In the complete mitzvah of tzitzis, when techeiles was available, mixtures are permitted. The holiness of tzitzis draws the light of the reshimu, the totality of Torah, which cools and nullifies the judgments that seek to intensify after self-nullification, in the aspect of “Ho, everyone who is thirsty, go to the water” (Isaiah 55:1). Then even flax, the judgments, is sweetened and becomes a holy garment and vessel for receiving the reshimu of the ultimate purpose. Flax grows through water and is rectified through water—Torah—which is drawn from the reshimu and cools the judgments. Outside a mitzvah there is no power to draw this Torah; joining wool and flax is therefore forbidden, lest the judgments from which the sitra achara and klipoas take hold intensify. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Morning Handwashing 4:12)

You Shall Not Wear Shaatnez, Wool and Linen Together (Deuteronomy 22:11) The entire occupation of the true tzaddikim is to rectify the garments of the King: to clothe the supernal light in many constrictions and garments so that we can receive it, know Him, and believe in Him, blessed be He. They seek to instill in the world knowledge of the truth of His Godliness, “so that all the peoples of the earth may know that Hashem is God; there is no other” (I Kings 8:60). They make known the ways of His mercy and goodness until there is hope for all who are distant. These garments are garments of wool, drawn from the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy and the rectifications of the beard.

The wondrous light of the true tzaddikim cannot be received except by breaking the impediments and concealment of this world. When they are broken, they themselves are transformed for good and become vessels and garments for receiving the light. These garments are linen garments, aspects of judgments and might, as in “the man Gavriel was clothed in linen” (Daniel 10:5). This world is less than a mustard seed relative to the light of the tzaddikim and Torah, yet because it stands exceedingly close to a person’s eyes, it interposes and conceals the great light.

Even the light of the eyes is rooted in the true tzaddik, but free choice allows a person to stray after his eyes and look solely at the vanities of the world that stand close to him, until the light of the tzaddikim and Torah is concealed from him. He must turn his eyes somewhat from this world and distance it from before them; the light of Torah and the tzaddikim, the aspect of wool, will then shine for him, and he will see that this world and its impediments, the aspect of flax, are as nothing before it. The impediments will be nullified and will even become vessels and garments for receiving the light.

This is the prohibition of shaatnez: when flax, the physicality and impediments of this world, is distant from wool, the light of the tzaddik, it cannot conceal that light so greatly. When they are joined, physicality stands close before the eyes and strongly obstructs vision of the tzaddik’s light, until it may be concealed entirely. Wearing shaatnez intensifies the physical screens and impediments and spreads them directly before one’s eyes; the person then fails to see the light of Torah and the true tzaddikim, “the eye sees and the heart desires,” and he may come to whatever he comes to, may the Merciful One save us. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Garment Mixtures 4)

Hashem Your God Transformed the Curse into a Blessing for You (Deuteronomy 23:6) All the rebukes with which Hashem rebukes Israel, and even the humiliations with which He sometimes humiliates them, are directed toward a great good: advocating merit and kindness for them and causing them to return to Him truthfully. At times Israel corrupts its deeds so greatly that the little good remaining within them is scarcely recognizable; if Hashem sought to advocate for them solely through that little good, the accusers would set numerous corruptions against it. Yet Hashem desires kindness and wants His people; in His wisdom He therefore humiliates them, as it were, and says that they have already become like all the nations. The truth is immediately revealed: the good points that distinguish them from the nations.

This is “Hashem your God was unwilling to listen to Bilam, and Hashem your God transformed the curse into a blessing for you” (Deuteronomy 23:6). Bilam sought to arouse Israel’s sins in order to curse them. Although he knew that he could say nothing from his own heart and that Hashem did not desire to curse them, he went in the hope that the accusation would, as it were, compel the attribute of justice to agree with him. “He set his face toward the wilderness” (Numbers 24:1)—he gazed toward the sin of the Golden Calf and imagined that because of its severity the good and merit within Israel could not be revealed.

Bilam, however, did not understand the extent of Hashem’s mercy, which transforms specifically the curse into a blessing. He sought to have Moav and the other nations overpower Israel because of their sins; through this itself his foolishness was exposed, for the multitude of Israel’s virtues and good points relative to Moav and all the nations immediately became visible. Specifically his desire to curse them and drive them away before the nations aroused great merit: relative to those nations, Israel was revealed as exceedingly righteous. The curse itself was thus transformed into a blessing. (Likutay Halachos, following the source text)

When You Enter Your Fellow’s Vineyard, You May Eat Grapes according to Your Desire, to Your Satisfaction, but You Shall Not Put Any into Your Vessel (Deuteronomy 23:25) When a person eats more than he needs, the food harms him. Every thing possesses a root from which it receives vitality: medicines receive vitality from a person taking them for healing, and foods from a person eating them and receiving vitality from them. Food eaten beyond one’s need, however, has no one from whom to receive vitality, since the person does not need it. It resembles food placed in a vessel, from which it receives no vitality.

Because the excess food seeks vitality for itself, it extracts the person’s vitality and harms him; because of it, the other foods join it and likewise cause harm. This is “You may eat grapes according to your desire, to your satisfaction” (Deuteronomy 23:25)—eat to satisfaction, but no more; “but you shall not put any into your vessel” (Deuteronomy 23:25)—do not eat beyond your need, for that excess resembles placing it in a vessel. (Likutay Moharan I, Teaching 257)

She Shall Leave His House and Go and Become Another Man’s Wife… Her First Husband May Not Take Her Again… after She Has Been Defiled (Deuteronomy 24:2–4) The woman is the aspect of constriction and judgment, for constrictions and judgments derive from the feminine side; the man is the aspect of the intellect that sweetens the constriction. Every constriction and judgment possesses a particular intellect that is its root, and only through it are the judgment and constriction sweetened, for a judgment is sweetened only at its root. This explains the severity of adultery: after a woman is bound to her husband through marriage, she is forbidden to everyone else. A different intellect, which does not belong to her constriction, cannot sweeten it; on the contrary, when she receives from it the judgments intensify and the sitra achara takes hold of them.

The power of the particular intellects to sweeten constrictions comes from supernal wisdom through the holy Torah and the multiplicity of sacred books. A woman is therefore betrothed by means of a document, which is a book; even if the man writes it, she is betrothed through it, and in the language of our Sages the kesubah is called “the book of her kesubah.” At marriage she ascends with her husband to supernal wisdom, the root of all constrictions and intellects, and through the book they draw the simple light from there into the particular intellect and constriction and join them.

When the husband wishes to release her, he gives her a get, “a document of severance” (Deuteronomy 24:1). Through it they return to the inclusive intellect, supernal wisdom in which everything is rooted, and nullify the bond at its root. From there intellect and vitality of severance are drawn to her, so that there will no longer be a connection to this constriction. Once the bond is nullified at its supernal root, she is permitted to any man and can receive sweetening from another man through chuppah and kiddushin. This is “she shall leave… and become” (Deuteronomy 24:2): Scripture compares becoming to leaving; just as departure is effected by a document, so betrothal may be effected by a document.

This explains the prohibition against a man remarrying his divorcee after she has married another. She can marry the second man only by virtue of the get given by the first; the second man is therefore in profound opposition to the first, and his understanding is its exact opposite. The first drew separation and distance from the inclusive intellect and released her; the second transforms that very channel of distance, the get, and marries her through its power, binding her to himself and sweetening her constrictions and judgments. Rashi therefore explains concerning “she shall go and become another man’s wife” (Deuteronomy 24:2) that this man is not the first husband’s counterpart—he is his precise opposite.

“Her first husband… may not take her again… after she has been defiled” (Deuteronomy 24:4). She is called defiled relative to him because she became bound to his exact opposite—the second husband, who married her through the power of distance created by the first. This is dispute and opposition of understandings, from which defilement and the sitra achara take hold. Because of the force of opposition that attached itself to her through the second marriage, the first husband no longer possesses the power to sweeten her constrictions and judgments; he therefore cannot take her again. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Divorce 3:10; following Otzar HaYirah)

Remember What Hashem Your God Did to Miriam (Deuteronomy 24:9) The soul is principally revealed through holy honor. One must therefore take great care to honor every Jew with every form of honor, so that his soul and memory will be revealed. Above all, one must take care not to speak disparagingly of another, for one who humiliates him prevents the revelation of that person’s soul and memory.

Lashoan hara blemishes memory and brings forgetfulness, God forbid, even upon the speaker. This is “Remember what Hashem your God did to Miriam” (Deuteronomy 24:9)—specifically “remember”: remembering the incident of Miriam warns against lashoan hara, which damages honor, revelation of the soul, and the faculty of memory itself. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Blessings over Fruit 3)

You Shall Not Enter His House to Take His Collateral (Deuteronomy 24:10) A lender is forbidden to enter the borrower’s house to take collateral. A person’s possessions are his splendor and delight, and his vitality is invested in them; their vitality is rooted in the splendor that Hashem, blessed be He, takes in every Jew, even the lowest of the low. In truth, the principal wealth and precious possessions ought to belong to the tzaddikim, but through the sins of the generations the chambers of exchanges became powerful and goodness fell to the sitra achara. Nevertheless, even the possessions of a poor Jew are rooted in this splendor.

Splendor is principally found in the house, in the aspect of “like the beauty of a person, to dwell in a house” (Isaiah 44:13). Jewish homes are rooted in the Beis HaMikdash, “our holy and glorious House” (Isaiah 64:10), to which their prayers and good deeds ascend and where Hashem receives splendor from them. The Temple’s destruction is the aspect of collateral taken because of Israel’s sins; while it stood, all abundance was drawn to Israel, in the aspect of “You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow” (Deuteronomy 28:12). The Torah therefore commands the lender to act kindly and ease the borrower’s burden, in order to reveal splendor anew and restore abundance. He may not enter the borrower’s house, the place of splendor, and damage it further.

A daytime garment must be returned by day and a nighttime garment by night, for clothing is a person’s principal honor, as stated concerning the priestly garments: “for glory and for splendor” (Exodus 28:2). The changes of day and night are drawn from the splendor Hashem receives from Israel at every time; the garment belonging to that time must therefore be returned immediately, rectifying the day’s splendor. This is “for it is his only covering; it is his garment for his skin” (Exodus 22:26), which the Zohar interprets as tzitzis and tefillin—the principal daily splendor of Israel. Returning the collateral rectifies this splendor, nullifies poverty, and restores abundance. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Claims and Pleas 5:14–15)

A person’s money and possessions contain many holy sparks that must be clarified from the depths of the klipoas. Poverty and deficient livelihood principally derive from sparks not yet clarified; to the extent that a person merits clarifying them into possessions and money, he is saved from poverty, loans, and collateral. Clarifying the sparks within money is the aspect of clarifying prayer. Prayer’s perfection consists of elevating it from the aspect of mountain and field to the aspect of house: Avraham called the site of the Temple a mountain, Yitzchak called it a field, and Yaakov called it a house. The first two Temples were therefore destroyed and became an aspect of collateral, whereas the Third Temple, the aspect of “Yaakov called it a house,” will endure forever.

The same applies physically: as long as the clarified possessions and sparks remain outside, the aspect of mountain and field, they are not secure from harm; only when brought into the house, a guarded place, are they safe. This is “You shall not enter his house to take his collateral” (Deuteronomy 24:10): the Third Temple will never again be taken as collateral, for the clarification will then be completed and poverty, loans, and collateral will be nullified from Israel, in the aspect of “You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you” (Deuteronomy 15:6). (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Collecting a Loan 4; following Otzar HaYirah)

You Shall Stand Outside (Deuteronomy 24:11) One is forbidden to enter the borrower’s house to take his collateral, as it is written: “You shall stand outside” (Deuteronomy 24:11). According to the teaching “Robbery,” all souls are rooted in wealth; principal wealth therefore comes through the woman, who is an aspect of the soul whose root and vitality are in wealth, and one who robs another is regarded as taking his soul. (Likutay Moharan I, Teaching 69) The lender must stand outside and not enter within to take the collateral, which is bound to the soul’s root; the borrower himself brings it outside and can thereby leave the root of his soul within his house.

The prohibition specifically concerns entering the house because the house is the place of wealth, where a person’s possessions rest, and the aspect of “his house—this is his wife.” Our Sages therefore said that a house and a wife are signs of success. Abundance descends into the chambers of the house, in the aspect of “through knowledge the chambers are filled with every precious and pleasant treasure” (Proverbs 24:4). A house built without knowledge brings poverty, whereas a house properly built with knowledge receives wealth. The mezuzah, the rectification of the house and its mochin, is therefore an aspect of wealth. (Likutay Moharan I, Teachings 266 and 23)

The root of wealth and the root of souls are found in the house. The lender is therefore forbidden to take collateral from within, lest he also take the roots of the borrower’s soul. When the borrower brings it out himself, the soul can constrict itself and leave vitality for itself inside. Because the collateral is not suddenly taken from him by the lender’s hand, but is given by him and brought outside, the soul preserves its vitality and does not depart from him, God forbid.

This is the law of returning collateral: a daytime garment by day and a nighttime garment by night. The lender should not find it burdensome to return it repeatedly; each night his own soul ascends to Hashem, and He does not detain it despite the many debts the person owes Him. Returning the garment is literally returning the soul, for “it is his garment for his skin” (Exodus 22:26) and is exceedingly close to his soul. The more the borrower needs it, the more deeply his soul is rooted in it. The verse therefore says, “and it will be righteousness for you” (Deuteronomy 24:13): the lender literally gives him life and leaves a root for his soul, like tzedakah that gives life to and completes the poor person’s soul. When Micah rebuked robbery, he said: “You drive the women of My people from their pleasant homes; from their young children you take My glory forever” (Micah 2:9), for robbery especially affects one’s wife and children, in whom the root of his soul is found. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Collecting a Loan 1)

You Shall Not Exploit a Poor and Destitute Laborer from among Your Brothers (Deuteronomy 24:14) The soul is an aspect of a day laborer with a person, for it performs all the body’s actions; the body has no movement or vitality except through it. One who merits nullifying the body entirely to the soul makes the soul a king that rules the body, and he is free, in the aspect of “all Israel are children of kings.” But when the body is not nullified to the soul, the soul becomes like a servant and hired laborer. He must then have compassion upon it and at least not rob or exploit it entirely, but give it its wages each day—mitzvos, good deeds, Torah, and prayer according to that day’s obligation.

Ideally, one should attend solely to the soul’s needs and close one’s eyes to the spectacle of this world; the person is then a king and free. One who has not attained this must at least observe “You shall not exploit a poor and destitute laborer from among your brothers” (Deuteronomy 24:14), and especially “On that day you shall give his wages, and the sun shall not set upon him” (Deuteronomy 24:15). He must not postpone the soul’s wages until tomorrow, claiming that today it is impossible to pray, study, or serve Hashem. Specifically “on that day”: one must fulfill the day’s obligation, in the aspect of “Today, if you will listen to His voice” (Psalms 95:7), for there is no day without goodness, and the hidden light shines each day.

This is attained perfectly through emunas chachamim, through which one draws vitality from the inclusive supernal intellect. From there light shines into every particular intellect and every channel and constriction belonging to each person, place, and day, and all judgments are sweetened there. A person can thus draw Hashem’s kindness upon himself each day and wherever he is, cast off the bitterness of anxiety over livelihood, and trust that a wondrous kindness exists even on this day and that his needs will be provided. The same applies to serving Hashem: he must trust that even today he can seize genuine good, yearn for it with powerful ratzoan, and not lose a day of his life.

The principal heaviness in livelihood and serving Hashem comes when the day itself appears difficult: the poor person thinks that specifically now it is impossible to find a livelihood, and a person thinks that today it is difficult to pray. One whose circumstances are constrained is therefore called “one of a difficult day,” as it is written: “Did I not weep for one whose day was hard?” (Job 30:25). This derives from blemished emunas chachamim, which prevents drawing from the inclusive intellect and sweetening the constrictions of the day and place. One who repents for this blemish and nullifies his understanding before the true tzaddik attains trust: “On the day I fear, I will trust in You” (Psalms 56:4)—specifically on the day that appears frightening and difficult, he trusts that a channel of abundance reaches even it; “Blessed is Hashem; day by day God, our salvation, bears our burden forever” (Psalms 68:20). Amid every confusion, constraint, and impediment, he should remember to repent for blemished emunas chachamim and truly believe in the works of the tzaddikim, until he draws from the inclusive intellect and everything is sweetened. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Deposits and the Four Guardians 5:31–32; following Otzar HaYirah, “Awe and Service”)

On That Day You Shall Give His Wages… for He Bears His Soul toward It (Deuteronomy 24:15) All labors and crafts are aspects of rectification and clarification, through which human beings complete the Creator’s work and clarify good from evil. Our Sages therefore extolled labor: the worker clarifies sparks and good points, and they gather within the money he earns. Money is the completion of his soul, for the soul is rooted in wealth; through his labor he gathers the parts of his soul that were dispersed in the depths of action, and when he receives his wages, he receives the goodness collected there and completes his soul. (Likutay Moharan I, Teaching 69)

“On that day you shall give his wages” (Deuteronomy 24:15), because every clarification and rectification belongs to a particular day and hour. The sparks the worker clarified today are parts of his soul belonging to that day, and he must receive his wages then in order to complete his soul. The principal prohibition therefore applies only during the first period: day or night, according to when the labor ended. Day and night are different times and periods; by day a new soul and mochin are drawn, while at night souls ascend. Once the time changes, the previous day’s completion cannot be accomplished in the same manner.

Rashi explains “for he bears his soul toward it” (Deuteronomy 24:15): the worker surrendered his soul in the labor. Even labor involving no physical danger is an aspect of self-sacrifice, for the worker descends into the depths of the world of action, the side of death, to clarify hidden sparks. Labor resembles a new creation: the object was incomplete until the craftsman finished it with his hands. The descent into action is for the sake of ascent; immediately when the labor is completed, the worker’s soul must be restored to him—the money containing his wages and the root of his soul.

A hired worker’s wages are treated more stringently than another debt because the worker hired himself like a servant, descended into action, and surrendered his soul to clarify the sparks; his soul must therefore be restored at its proper time. The Hebrew initials of “on that day you shall give his wages” form Shabbos: when the labor and clarification are finished and the worker goes free, this is the aspect of Shabbos and cessation from clarifications. As long as the goodness, the wages of the labor, has not returned to its place, the clarification is incomplete; payment must therefore be made immediately to complete the cessation. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Hiring Workers 1)

On That Day You Shall Give His Wages, and the Sun Shall Not Set upon Him, for He Is Poor and Bears His Soul toward It (Deuteronomy 24:15) Servitude is an aspect of the serpent’s contamination, from which sins derive; holy freedom is knowledge and illumination of ratzoan, the opposite of sins, drawn from the encompassing lights and the abundance of keter, the aspect of Yom Kippur and forgiveness of sins. The entire Torah therefore depends upon the Exodus from Egypt, which brought us from servitude to freedom: subduing the source of sins and attaining illumination of ratzoan. (Likutay Moharan II, Teaching 7) For this reason the Torah alleviates a Jew’s servitude as much as possible, even that of a day laborer who is not literally a slave.

The laborer descended into servitude because of his need, in order to receive sustenance and keep his soul alive; yet specifically through sustenance and eating one can attain illumination of ratzoan. His descent is therefore the ultimate purpose of ascent: through his wages he receives sustenance, through which ratzoan shines within him and he emerges from servitude to freedom. He must therefore be paid immediately, removing without delay the blemish of servitude that Israel cannot bear even for a single day.

This is “On that day you shall give his wages… for he is poor, and he bears his soul toward it” (Deuteronomy 24:15). Nefesh, “soul,” also means ratzoan, as in “if it is your ratzoan” (Genesis 23:8): because of his poverty he cast himself into servitude to receive sustenance and elevate his ratzoan toward the supernal ratzoan. Immediate payment grants him illumination of ratzoan and removes servitude. One who benefits from the labor of his hands is greater than one who merely fears Heaven, for through eating and sustenance he attains the encompassing lights that are the delight of the World to Come. Wages become payable at the end: after the descent of labor comes the payment that removes servitude and transforms the descent into ascent. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Hiring Workers 2:2; following Otzar HaYirah)

You Shall Not Take an Almanah’s Garment as Collateral (Deuteronomy 24:17) All souls are rooted in wealth; principal wealth therefore comes through the woman, who is an aspect of the soul whose root and vitality are in wealth. (Likutay Moharan I, Teaching 69) An almanah may consequently never be given collateral, even if she is wealthy. The completeness of a woman’s vitality comes through her husband, who endeavors to complete her soul through the wealth he earns; after his death, she has no one to complete her soul.

The Torah repeatedly warned that special compassion be shown to an almanah, for she is an exceedingly afflicted and impoverished soul whose complete vitality has been taken from her. Her remaining limited vitality is principally invested in the property her husband left her. Therefore, “You shall not take an almanah’s garment as collateral” (Deuteronomy 24:17): taking her possessions as collateral is like literally taking her soul, since she has no other source of vitality. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Collecting a Loan 1)

You Shall Not Muzzle an Ox while It Threshes (Deuteronomy 25:4) The Torah has compassion even upon an animal because human souls are reincarnated in animals, beasts, and birds. The Baal Shem Tov said that human beings eat, drink, and ride upon human beings—sparks of human souls are found everywhere. The compassion due a soul reincarnated in a living creature because of its sins is immeasurable. Sins derive from a spirit of folly and absence of knowledge, the aspect of animality; a person’s fall into sin is therefore already the heavy burden of “animal conduct,” all the more so his actual reincarnation in an animal.

“You shall not muzzle an ox while it threshes” (Deuteronomy 25:4): it must be allowed to eat during its labor in order to illuminate the soul reincarnated within it with illumination of ratzoan. Eating is conducive to illuminating ratzoan, and some illumination can therefore reach the soul within through the animal’s eating. (Likutay Moharan II, Teaching 7) The Torah juxtaposed this with the mitzvah of yibum, in which the secret of reincarnated souls is alluded to: the mitzvah of not muzzling illuminates the reincarnated souls with ratzoan, the aspect of Yom Kippur and forgiveness of sins, in order to cleanse them of their sins.

Our Sages derived the law of the threshing ox from the ox mentioned concerning Shabbos, because Shabbos is illumination of ratzoan. It is a mitzvah to increase Shabbos eating in order to attain illumination of ratzoan through it. When ratzoan shines on Shabbos, servitude is entirely nullified; labor, the aspect of servitude and a spirit of folly, is therefore forbidden, and knowledge is revealed. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Hiring Workers 2:4)

The principal clarification throughout the weekdays is accomplished through the holiness of Shabbos, which must be drawn into the six working days. The abundance is thereby clarified from animal to human; this is the purpose of the exertion of business and weekday labor. This is “Remember the Shabbos day to sanctify it; six days you shall labor” (Exodus 20:8–9): by remembering Shabbos one can labor properly and clarify human abundance from animal abundance. Through one’s animal resting on Shabbos, animal abundance returns to the animal and human abundance to the human being.

While threshing, the ox clarifies wheat from refuse—human abundance from animal abundance. It must therefore not be muzzled and deprived of its food precisely when the labor concerns restoring its abundance to it; it must be allowed to eat as it desires. This law is derived from “so that your ox may rest” (Exodus 23:12), because the prohibition against muzzling a threshing ox and the mitzvah of an animal resting on Shabbos are one aspect: restoring the proper abundance to each level. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Commerce 4:17; following Otzar HaYirah, “Hashem’s Appointed Times—Shabbos,” 152)

The Wife of the Deceased Shall Not Marry Outside to a Strange Man (Deuteronomy 25:5) Ordinarily, a woman’s bond to her husband terminates with his death, for his soul has departed from the world and no bond remains between them. But when a man dies childless, his soul still remains in the world, bound to his brother’s feet, because it cannot ascend to the light of the Countenance. This is the aspect of “she uncovered the place of his feet” (Ruth 3:7). His wife likewise remains bound to him through the spirit he placed within her, which does not depart from her, since his soul cannot separate from the world: he left no offspring in it who would recognize Hashem, blessed be He, the purpose for which he came into the world.

Therefore, “the wife of the deceased shall not marry outside to a strange man” (Deuteronomy 25:5); rather, she is bound to yibum. “A brother is born for adversity” (Proverbs 17:17): his brother possesses the power to establish him, drawing his soul again through the son he will father, as it is written: “He shall succeed to the name of his deceased brother” (Deuteronomy 25:6). The deceased thereby receives continuity in the world and his soul can reach its rectification. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Divorce 4:8)

If the Man Does Not Desire… She Shall Remove His Shoe (Deuteronomy 25:7–9) Shoes protect the feet, and the feet are an aspect of emunah and emunas chachamim—Oral Torah, kingship, in the aspect of “Righteousness shall walk before Him” (Psalms 85:14). The Tikkunim state, “The shoe—this is the woman,” for the woman who fears Hashem is the aspect of emunas chachamim and the feet. This is the meaning of removing the yavam’s shoe: when he does not desire to establish a name for his brother, Eisav, who hates his brother Yaakov, takes hold of him; this hold comes through blemished emunas chachamim and prevents him from saving his brother.

Even if he wishes to perform yibum but cannot direct his intention for the sake of the mitzvah, this too is blemished emunas chachamim. Had he been properly holy in the bris, he would have intended for the mitzvah, especially yibum, an exceedingly exalted mitzvah. His inability to intend derives from blemishing the bris and the aspect of a harlot, the opposite of “a woman who fears Hashem” (Proverbs 31:30), emunas chachamim and Oral Torah. Emunah and rectification of the bris are one aspect, as explained in Likutay Moharan I, Teachings 31, 23, and 36. Whether he refuses yibum or cannot intend properly, his shoe must therefore be removed, at the place where Eisav takes hold through blemished feet.

The deceased soul is bound to the yavam’s feet because its principal blemish is in emunas chachamim, the aspect of feet, and its rectification must come through his brother. When the brother does not rectify it, it is caught at his feet like a bird in a trap and may even be further blemished there, for Eisav—the serpent’s contamination—takes hold of the heel, in the aspect of “you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). The deceased man’s wife, who is the aspect of his hands, removes the shoe and subdues Eisav’s hold, in the aspect of “his hand was holding Eisav’s heel” (Genesis 25:26).

Through the spirit the deceased placed within his wife, her action is regarded as though he performed it with his own hands. She removes the shoe from the yavam’s foot, subdues Eisav, and releases the deceased soul. The spittle she spits extracts and rectifies that spirit, for spittle is rooted in an exceedingly high place, the aspect of the union of kisses, and the spirit likewise derives from there. The removal and spitting shame the yavam; shame is teshuvah, and in the place of teshuvah the blemish of emunas chachamim is rectified. From there the deceased soul receives vitality, in the aspect of “Return and live” (Ezekiel 18:32).

She therefore declares: “So shall be done to the man who will not build his brother’s house” (Deuteronomy 25:9). The well-known “man” is Eisav, “a man who knew hunting, a man of the field” (Genesis 25:27), who does not desire to build his brother’s house but constantly pursues Yaakov. Through removing the yavam’s shoe, Eisav’s hold is subdued and a path of rectification opens for the deceased soul. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Yibum 3:8, 11)

She Shall Remove His Shoe from His Foot and Spit before Him (Deuteronomy 25:9) The teaching “On the Day of the First Fruits” explains that there is knowledge that is peace, for peace depends upon knowledge; and there is exceedingly supernal knowledge that is dispute for the sake of Heaven. In truth, love, peace, and knowledge exist there, and both positions are the words of the living God, but we cannot understand these ways of Hashem. This is the aspect of Moshe, whose Hebrew name forms the initials of “the dispute of Shammai and Hillel,” and the aspect of matzah. (Likutay Moharan I, Teaching 56)

Yibum is an aspect of the knowledge of peace because it is a union for procreation, and procreation is peace: “May you see children born to your children; peace upon Israel” (Psalms 128:6). Peace joins two opposites; man and woman are two opposites, and their principal unity is in the child born from them both, as Rashi expounds “and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). When the yavam desires to father a child, yibum therefore unites the opposites in peace.

When he does not desire yibum, “she shall remove his shoe” (Deuteronomy 25:9) alludes to the union and knowledge of dispute for the sake of Heaven. This is the supernal unification, an inward and unceasing union that gives life to the worlds and is not for procreation. Because no birth follows it to produce peace, it always appears as dispute; in truth, however, ultimate love and unity are found there, and it may not be investigated, in the aspect of “Do not inquire into what is wondrously beyond you.” This is Moshe’s union, for he separated from the lower union and cleaved to the supernal union.

Moshe was therefore told: “Remove your shoes from your feet” (Exodus 3:5). In the Zohar, the shoe is the woman, the aspect of garments of skin and the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, whose dispute gives the sitra achara a hold and requires peace. Moshe removed the shoe, the lower union, in order to attain the supernal knowledge of dispute for the sake of Heaven. In chalitzah, because the yavam does not desire the knowledge of peace, the deceased must be rectified through connection with the supernal knowledge; the shoe is therefore removed. Spitting is the aspect of the union of kisses, the union of palate and throat, and through it the deceased soul is rectified.

Miriam blemished Moshe’s honor when she spoke about his separation. She did not apprehend that he had attained the supernal union and dispute for the sake of Heaven, and said: “Has Hashem spoken only through Moshe? Has He not also spoken through us?” (Numbers 12:2)—yet we did not separate. She was therefore punished with “If her father had spit in her face” (Numbers 12:14), an allusion to “she shall spit before him” in chalitzah: she blemished the aspect of “remove your shoe” and Moshe’s union. Other people, however, are commanded to produce offspring: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother”—the supernal union of father and mother—“and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24), the knowledge and union of peace through children. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Yibum, following the source text)

She Shall Spit before Him (Deuteronomy 25:9) Divided counsel, when a person does not know how to advise his own soul, derives from excess food that rises to the mind and heart and confuses his counsel until it becomes “the counsel of women.” Division of counsel comes from the feminine side; clarification of counsel, which is the principal holy union and procreation, comes from the masculine side. Children are the rectification of counsel, in the aspect of “All your children will be taught by Hashem” (Isaiah 54:13): netzach and hod, the aspects of counsels. Every Jewish soul is a new intellect and counsel for recognizing Hashem.

The spittle present in the mouth before union is the secret of the union of kisses that precedes physical union. Even physically, spittle is a force that clarifies and expels refuse: it separates the components of food and assists digestion. It therefore aids the clarification of counsel and procreation. In chalitzah, the yevamah must separate from her first husband and extract the spirit he placed within her, the force of vitality intended for producing children and clarifying counsels. She extracts it specifically through spittle, which is likewise a clarifying force.

Every detail of the human being contains wondrous powers and supernal secrets, so that even spittle receives vitality from the Torah’s mysteries and from mitzvos connected to the human limbs. Through it the yevamah is released, for it clarifies the force intended to produce children and numerous counsels that will reveal His Godliness in the world, “so that all the peoples of the earth may know that Hashem is God; there is no other” (I Kings 8:60). These matters are profound and cannot be fully explained in writing; understanding them depends upon familiarity with Rabbeinu’s teachings and careful contemplation. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Divorce 3:27–28; following Otzar HaYirah, “Unions,” 29–30)

She Shall Remove His Shoe from His Foot and Spit before Him (Deuteronomy 25:9) Procreation principally occurs through the spirit a husband leaves within his wife. Its purpose is to reveal and publicize emunah in Hashem throughout the world from generation to generation, in the aspect of “His emunah endures from generation to generation” (Psalms 100:5). Emunah is clarified through the prophetic spirit of the true tzaddik, which clarifies the imaginative faculty and prepares the world’s renewal and the song that will awaken in the future. This subdues the heel of the sitra achara and magnifies the heel of holiness, “the consequence of humility is awe of Hashem” (Proverbs 22:4). (Likutay Moharan II, Teaching 8)

The birth of a Jewish soul is the renewal of a world, for a person is a miniature world and every person is an entirely new matter and intellect. The multiplication of Jewish souls magnifies prophetic spirit, clarifies emunah, and brings about the birth of additional souls, until redemption, for the son of David will not come until all the souls in the treasury have emerged. One who dies childless blemished these aspects, and his soul remains bound to his brother’s heel because he did not magnify the heel of holiness. His rectification comes through yibum and the spirit he left within his wife, whose root is in prophetic spirit.

If the brother does not desire yibum, “she shall remove his shoe from his foot” (Deuteronomy 25:9), for the blemish lies in the heel. Shoes, the aspect of garments of skin, rectify the heel blemished by “you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). “She shall spit before him” (Deuteronomy 25:9) is humiliation, the opposite of the honor from which prophetic spirit is drawn; one who blemished it is humiliated. May it be His ratzoan that we be saved from chalitzah and yibum, and may “the smallest become a thousand and the youngest a mighty nation; I, Hashem, will hasten it in its time” (Isaiah 60:22). (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Procreation and Marriage 5:25; following Otzar HaYirah, “Children,” 33)

Remember What Amalek Did to You on the Way when You Left Egypt (Deuteronomy 25:17) Amalek is the first principle of the sitra achara, the aspect of “Amalek is the first among nations” (Numbers 24:20). Its war is therefore directed against the true head of the house from whom all generations are drawn, in the aspect of “He calls the generations from the beginning” (Isaiah 41:4). It does not seek to fight the small or the great, but the head of the house himself. Yet it has no power to harm the true tzaddik directly, for the tzaddik has already broken all cravings and evil traits completely, nullified the serpent’s and Amalek’s contamination within himself, and surrenders his soul each day for the holiness of Hashem and for Israel.

Amalek’s war therefore consists of confusing the world and arousing dispute against the true tzaddik, the head of the house, in order to distance Israel from him and prevent their return to Hashem through him. Haman-Amalek invests all its schemes in concealing his name. Amalek wants Israel to draw close to all the other leaders; when it cannot establish a notorious wicked person, because upright Jews would not be deceived by him, it clothes itself in a decent person or an incomplete tzaddik, places opposition to the head of the house within his heart, magnifies his name, and publicizes him greatly.

Even if those leaders possess some righteousness, Amalek elevates them in order to distance the people from the great tzaddik through whom the souls of Israel and the worlds are rectified. This is “It cut off all the stragglers behind you” (Deuteronomy 25:18). The masses and those of lesser stature are the aspect of a tail relative to the tzaddik, who is the head; it is better to be a tail among lions than a head among foxes. One attached to the pure is pure, and the king’s servant is like a king; one adjacent to holiness is elevated through its power.

Our Sages expounded that Amalek cut off tails and cast them upward. Through its schemes it transforms a tail into a head: it takes people of lesser stature, who ought to be subordinate to the head of the house, cuts and distances them from him, makes them leaders, elevates and publicizes them, and places opposition to the tzaddik within their hearts. All this is intended to conceal and obscure the true head of the house.

Therefore, “Hashem maintains a war against Amalek from generation to generation” (Exodus 17:16). In every generation redemption is ready to come through the head of the house, the aspect of Moshe-Mashiach and the greatest true tzaddik of the generation; its principal impediment is the immense dispute, the war of Amalek, whose entire purpose is to conceal his name. The mitzvah “Remember what Amalek did to you” (Deuteronomy 25:17) requires recognizing this war and not allowing imagined leaders to distance Israel from the true tzaddik. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Shabbos 5:9–10)

Remember What Amalek Did to You (Deuteronomy 25:17–18) The principal blemish of the bris, from which come all losses and holy sparks banished through cravings, derives from Amalek’s contamination, in the aspect of “who happened upon you on the way” (Deuteronomy 25:18). Amalek therefore pursues the camp of Dan, the rear guard of all the camps, which found and restored every lost object of Israel. Amalek lies in wait for lost objects and seeks to seize them; its principal attack is against those expelled by the cloud, “it cut off all the stragglers behind you” (Deuteronomy 25:18), the aspect of the lost and banished.

Hashem therefore commanded remembering what Amalek did, for a lost object requires memory, and losses come through forgetfulness and distraction, both physically and spiritually. Forgetfulness itself is called loss. One must remember “you shall not forget” (Deuteronomy 25:19): remember what one lost through one’s cravings, search for one’s lost objects, and at least take care not to lose more. As long as one remembers that losses exist, seeks them, and does not despair of oneself like an abandoned lost object, hope remains.

Hashem “devises means so that one banished from Him will not remain banished” (II Samuel 14:14), and ultimately all lost objects will be found and everything rectified. Fortunate is one who takes a greater part in seeking and searching; the reward is according to the suffering. The more one labored, prayed, yearned for true tzaddikim, and endured humiliation and bloodshed for the search, the more fully one will merit having one’s lost objects returned in peace. (Likutay Moharan I, Teaching 188; Likutay Halachos, Laws of Blessings over Fruit)

Although one must fulfill “Do not despise any person” and judge everyone favorably, this does not apply to one who opposes the true tzaddik, humiliates him and those attached to him, and seeks to spill their blood. This comes from the side of Haman-Amalek, concerning whom it is written: “He considered it contemptible to lay hands on Mordechai alone” (Esther 3:6). Subduing him strengthens the tzaddik’s power to teach honor and favorable judgment toward every person, and precisely thereby fulfills the principle perfectly. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of a Designated Lien 5:12; following Otzar HaYirah, “Dispute,” 42)

Remember What Amalek Did to You… Who Happened upon You on the Way (Deuteronomy 25:17–18) “Who happened upon you on the way” (Deuteronomy 25:18): karecha connotes chance occurrence and blemishing the bris, the principal evil inclination; it also connotes coldness. Amalek cools a person’s heart from strengthening himself in prayer, which requires holy warmth, in the aspect of “My heart grew hot within me… I spoke with my tongue” (Psalms 39:4). After inciting a person to blemish the bris, it weakens his resolve to pray concerning it, claiming that people have already cried out for a long time and were not saved.

“It cut off all the stragglers behind you, while you were weary and exhausted, and it did not fear God” (Deuteronomy 25:18): Amalek overpowers those of weak strength; “fear of God” is prayer, the aspect of “a woman who fears Hashem, she shall be praised” (Proverbs 31:30). Weariness is failure to strengthen oneself in prayer, and Amalek itself causes it. One must therefore remember the warnings of the true tzaddikim, who repeatedly taught in many formulations that one must never despair of mercy. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Inheritances 4:11)

Who Happened upon You on the Way (Deuteronomy 25:18) The klipa of Amalek is the principal klipa of the foreskin that covers the holy bris. From it comes the concealment that seeks to obscure the light of the tzaddik, foundation of the world, through blemishing the bris, the aspect of “who happened upon you on the way” (Deuteronomy 25:18). It attacks those of weak strength in particular, “all the stragglers behind you, while you were weary and exhausted,” in order to separate them completely from the true tzaddik, from whom all their vitality and eternal hope derive. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Tefillin 7:9)

It Cut Off All the Stragglers behind You, while You Were Weary and Exhausted (Deuteronomy 25:18) Through finding the good, Amalek—the force of the sitra achara that seeks to cast down the weak among Israel as though they no longer possessed hope—is subdued. This is “It cut off all the stragglers behind you, while you were weary and exhausted” (Deuteronomy 25:18): it seeks to cut off the stragglers and cast them downward. But when a person merits finding a good point within himself even at the time of his fall, he reveals that he is not lost and still has a path of return; Amalek is thereby subdued. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Rising in the Morning, following the source text)

And It Did Not Fear God (Deuteronomy 25:18) Amalek principally gains strength when Israel falls from awe, in the aspect of “while you were weary and exhausted, and it did not fear God” (Deuteronomy 25:18). It then frightens them with fallen fears and wages war above and below: physically it comes with armies of war, and spiritually it inserts heresy into the heart so that they will not elevate the fallen fears to their root.

Fallen fears are judgments from which the klipoas take hold. One who discerns that all fears come from Hashem and elevates them to their root, fearing Him alone, attains good through them, for they return him to Hashem. But the sitra achara may warp his heart, cast him into sadness, and prevent his return; at times it even introduces actual heresy. Amalek frightens a person through its wicked dominion, then prevents him from saying “In my distress I called to Hashem” (II Samuel 22:7) by attributing events to nature, so that he will not return to Hashem; it thereby grows stronger repeatedly.

“It cut off all the stragglers… and it did not fear God” (Deuteronomy 25:18): it overpowers one who does not elevate fallen fears to Hashem, while that very lack of awe results from the heresies Amalek itself inserted. Its subjugation comes through Moshe, the aspect of knowledge: “Whenever Moshe raised his hand, Israel prevailed” (Exodus 17:11). When Israel looks upward and elevates its fears to their root, Amalek is subdued. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of the Firstborn Kosher Animal 4)

It Shall Be when Hashem Your God Grants You Rest from All Your Enemies Around You (Deuteronomy 25:19) The klipa of Amalek will fall completely only when Israel reaches rest and inheritance, as it is written: “It shall be when Hashem your God grants you rest from all your enemies around you… you shall erase the memory of Amalek” (Deuteronomy 25:19). As long as they have not attained holy rest perfectly, Amalek repeatedly regains strength; each time it is subdued anew through the power of Torah and the tzaddikim.

The tzaddikim who dwell in the dust, who have already entered perfect rest, provide particular assistance: “He shall come to peace; they shall rest upon their resting places, each one who walked in his uprightness” (Isaiah 57:2); “There those weary of strength find rest” (Job 3:17), which our Sages expounded concerning the tzaddikim; and “You, go to the end; you shall rest” (Daniel 12:13). Through the power of their holy rest they help subdue Amalek until complete rest is attained and its memory erased. (Likutay Halachos, Laws of Handwashing for a Meal and Breaking Bread 5:48)