תּוֹרָה יד - לְהַמְשִׁיךְ שָׁלוֹם

Torah 795

The primary honour of Hashem Yisborach is when those who are most distant draw themselves close to Hashem Yisborach — for then the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, is exalted and glorified above and below [Zohar, Yisro 69a], and His honour, may He be blessed, is greatly magnified. Therefore every person must strive greatly to draw those who are far close to the service of Hashem Yisborach. And no person should say: "How can I draw close to Hashem Yisborach when I am so distant on account of my many evil deeds?" — for on the contrary, the more distant one is, the more the honour of Hashem Yisborach is magnified when one strives to return and draw close to Him, may He be blessed — for this is the primary honour of Hashem, may He be blessed, as above.

When people who are outside of holiness draw themselves to within the holy — whether converts who convert, or ba'alay teshuvah [penitents], who were also outside — when they are drawn close and brought within, this is the primary honour of Hashem Yisborach. And then the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, is exalted and glorified above and below. And the honour is elevated to its root — which is awe [yir'ah]. And through this, peace [shalom] is drawn into the world.

Through Torah one can draw close converts and ba'alay teshuvah and show them the path in which they should walk.

Through engaging in Torah in holiness, one arouses sinners of Israel and converts to repentance. But it is impossible to merit this except through ultimate humility and lowliness [anavah v'shiflus b'tachlis]. And through this one merits Torah — to the point of being able to illuminate and arouse through one's Torah the soul-roots [shorshay nishmos] of Israel — even those far from him by many miles — and even sinners of Israel, as long as the name of Israel is called upon them. For ""even though he sinned, he is still Israel"" [Sanhedrin 44a]. And one can illuminate to the place where he is — a radiance from the root of his soul — through the Torah. And through this he returns in repentance.

Every person — and especially a Torah scholar — must see to it that he can illuminate and bless through his Torah study at the root of souls [b'shoresh ha-n'shamos] — that is, through thought first, as above. And through this he can draw close and arouse wicked people and converts to repentance — even those far from him. And through this he merits that his own son too will be a Torah scholar [talmid chacham]. But when he does not study in this mode, his son will not be a Torah scholar [see Nedarim 81a].

No person merits Torah except through lowliness [shiflus] — through breaking his pride in four aspects of lowliness. For he must diminish himself before those greater than himself, before people of his own level, and before those lesser than himself. And sometimes he is himself the least of the least — and must diminish himself as well, measuring himself against his own level, imagining himself to be below his own level.

One must guard oneself from all the things through which people commonly seek to aggrandise themselves — and these are three things: wisdom, strength, and wealth — as it is written: ""Let not the wise man glory..."" etc. [Jeremiah 9:22]. That is, one must break the pride that comes from all these things — and be humble and lowly in all of them.

In proportion to how much one breaks one's pride, so does one merit Torah. And through this one merits to draw those who are far close to Hashem Yisborach — through which His honour, may He be blessed, is magnified and elevated. And the honour is elevated to its root. And through this one merits awe [yir'ah]. And through this one merits peace within oneself [shalom b'atzamav] — ""peace in his bones"" [Psalms 38:4] — [see §12. Meaning: that the body too desires with the desire of the soul. Understood within: that in proportion to how much one merits to strip off the filthy garments [b'godim ha-tzo'im], so does one merit the holiness of the Land of Israel.] And through this one merits prayer. And through this one merits the universal peace [shalom ha-k'lali] — peace in all the worlds.

When one illuminates and arouses the sinners of Israel to repentance, they are still very far from holiness — and many obstacles may beset them. And great efforts are needed to strip from them the filthy garments that they have clothed themselves in [Zechariah 3:4]. For these filthy garments prevent them from returning to the Holy One, blessed be He — and they obstruct like a river that cannot be crossed. Therefore let not your thoughts panic you when you see that you wish to draw close to Hashem Yisborach and great obstacles come upon you — for it is inevitable that many and great obstacles will come upon you, for they all flow from the filthy garments made from one's sins. And one must suffer toil and bitterness until one casts off the filthy garments from oneself. And through this all the obstacles and dividing screens between him and holiness will be nullified.

In proportion to the honour one shows to those who fear Hashem [yir'ay Hashem], so is the honour elevated to its root. And the primary thing is to honour those who fear Hashem with a whole heart — and through this one completes the blemishes of awe [p'gamay ha-yir'ah] and merits peace.

There are two kinds of peace. There is peace within oneself [shalom b'atzamav] — for first a person must see that there be peace within himself, since sometimes there is no peace, as it is written: ""There is no peace in my bones because of my sin"" [Psalms 38:4]. And through awe [yir'ah] one merits peace within oneself — and then one can pray. And through prayer one merits the universal peace — peace in all the worlds. And to arrive at awe comes through lowliness [shiflus] and Torah.

The primary prayer comes through awe — for prayer stands in place of the sacrifice [korban]. And regarding the sacrifice it is written: ""for any man in whom there is a blemish shall not draw near"" [Leviticus 21:18]. And when there is no blemish in him — that is, through awe, as it is written: ""there is no lack to those who fear Him"" [Psalms 34:10] — through this one merits wholeness [shleimus] [Zohar, Yisro 79], meaning: that there is peace within oneself — peace between his body and his soul. Then he draws near to serve his service completely — and then he can pray in completeness. And through prayer one merits the universal peace — that is, the completeness of the worlds. For prayer is called korban [sacrifice] precisely because it brings [kiruv] the worlds to their completeness — which is the universal peace, peace in all the worlds. And this is why we conclude prayer with peace ["Sim Shalom", "Oseh Shalom"]. [And this is the matter of Pinchas who merited the universal peace, as it is written [Numbers 25:12]: ""behold I give him..."" etc. And so Eliyahu comes to make peace. And Eliyahu is Pinchas. And all of this comes through prayer — as it is written [Psalms 106]: ""And Pinchas stood and prayed.""]

Every person should strive to merit in full the aspect of peace within himself [shalom b'atzamav] — meaning, that there should be true peace between his body and his soul. Then he will certainly have no desire to engage in any worldly affair except for the sake of his soul. And all his prayers too will be only to bind his soul closer. Even those prayers explicitly in the liturgy that address bodily needs — such as ""Heal us"" and ""Bless this year"" and the other bodily necessities — his intention will not be for his body but for the sustenance and healing of his soul. For truly, when one is rectified spiritually, the physical is rectified as well of its own accord — and Hashem Yisborach will bestow upon him all his needs with ease and great abundance. But his intention should be only for the sake of his soul.

What we sometimes observe — that there are Tzadikim who have certainly rectified everything in full spiritually, and yet have no material abundance — this flows only from the aspect of the transmigration of souls [gilgulim d'nishmatin], as explained in the holy Zohar [Part III, 216b and Tikunay Zohar 69].

The words [taivohs] of prayer rectify dispute — and bring about the universal peace, peace in all the worlds.

One must accustom oneself to pray for everything one lacks — whether livelihood or children, or when there is a sick person, G-d forbid, in one's home who needs healing, etc. — for all of these the primary counsel is only to pray to Hashem Yisborach. And one should believe in Hashem Yisborach that the Holy One, blessed be He, is good for everything — for healing, for livelihood, for every matter. And let his primary effort be directed after the Holy One, blessed be He — not to pursue many stratagems [tachbulos] — for most of them avail nothing at all. And the few that do avail something, he does not know them and cannot find them. But to call out to the Holy One, blessed be He — this is good and effective for every matter in the world, and this he can always find — for He, may He be blessed, is always to be found, as it is written: ""as Hashem our G-d is whenever we call out to Him"" [Deuteronomy 4:7].

It is very good for a person when he relies on nothing except Hashem Yisborach alone. For when he does not rely on Hashem Yisborach, he must pursue many stratagems — for example, when he needs healing, he must pursue many herbs, and sometimes the herbs he needs are not available in his country, and the herbs that are available are not good for his ailment. But the Holy One, blessed be He, is good for all ailments to heal them, as it is written: ""Hashem is good to all"" [Psalms 145:9] — and He is always available to every person, as it is written: ""as Hashem our G-d is whenever we call out to Him"" [Deuteronomy 4:7]. (See Midrash Rabbah on Parshas Va'eschanan on the verse: "For what great nation" etc.; and see Yerushalmi Berachos, chapter Ha-Ro'eh: said Rav Anan etc.) Therefore when one has a sick person, G-d forbid, all his reliance must be on prayer and supplication — and this he can always find, and it will certainly help him, as above. But to receive healing through the remedies of doctors — one must search and seek very greatly to find a doctor with remedies that can heal him. And in truth such a thing is generally not to be found, for doctors cause more harm than they help, rarely [see Pesachim 113a: Rav said to his son Chiya: do not drink medications — Rashi explains not to be accustomed to drink medicines, as said above (42b): all drinks that benefit this harm that, and Rashi explains there: whatever is beneficial for this ailment is harmful for that etc.].

Through complete prayer — through which universal peace is drawn down — and through this all creatures have compassion on one another and there is peace among them, as it will be in the future, as it is written: ""and the wolf shall dwell with the lamb"" [Isaiah 11:6] — through this Hashem Yisborach has compassion on all, in the aspect of: ""His compassion is over all His works"" [Psalms 145:9], as our Sages of blessed memory said [Shabbos 151b]: ""Whoever shows compassion toward creatures, compassion is shown to him from Heaven"", as it is written: ""and He will give you compassion and have compassion on you"" [Deuteronomy 13:18].

Through the commandment of the Chanukah lamp, the honour of Hashem Yisborach illuminates and is elevated and His honour in the world is magnified — and the distant are aroused to return to Hashem Yisborach. And one merits awe [yir'ah] and domestic peace [shalom bayis] and prayer — and dispute and slander [loshon hora] are nullified — and universal peace in all the worlds is drawn down.

There are those who spread slander and dispute — who are in the aspect of: ""and a whisperer separates close friends"" [Proverbs 16:28] — for they go and spy and speak gossip [r'chilus] and slander [loshon hora], and create strife and dispute between a person and his fellow and between husband and wife — and this is literally in physical terms. And correspondingly in spiritual terms there is also this aspect — which is the Other Side and the husks [klippos], which strive to entice the person and create a great dispute between his body and his soul — until he is in the aspect of: ""there is no peace in my bones because of my sin"" [Psalms 38:4]. And through drawing the distant close to the service of Hashem Yisborach — through which His honour, may He be blessed, illuminates and returns and ascends to its root, which is awe — through this, those who spread slander and gossip as above are nullified, and peace increases in the world. And so through the commandment of lighting the Chanukah lamp in its proper time this aspect is also drawn down.

When the wondrous peace increases in the world as it will be in the future, then all commerce [masa u-matan] will be nullified from the world. And this is the commandment of lighting the Chanukah lamp "until the foot ceases from the marketplace" — meaning: the aspect of peace created through the return of honour to its root — which is awe — until all commerce is nullified, so that no foot remains in the marketplace and there will be no more merchant [k'na'ani] [Zechariah 14:21]. (And one may interpret it according to its Aramaic translation "tagara" — merchant — for commerce comes about through the aspect of dispute and contention [tagara], as above.)

All illnesses, G-d forbid, are in the aspect of dispute — that there is no peace within himself, and the four elements overpower each other and are not conducted in peace in equal balance [b'mazeg ha-shaveh]. And healing is the aspect of peace.

Our Sages of blessed memory said: ""One who disgraces a Torah scholar has no cure for his wound"" [Shabbos 119b] — for the primary drawing down of peace, which is the primary aspect of healing as above, comes through honouring those who fear Hashem with a whole heart — which is the aspect of returning honour to its root, namely awe. And through this one merits peace and healing.

The primary illumination of His honour, may He be blessed, in the world comes only through the Tzadikim who justify the many [matzdikim es ha-rabbim] — who strive to draw the distant close and return them in repentance — for this is the primary honour of Hashem, may He be blessed. And this is the aspect of the eulogy [hesped] that must be delivered at the passing of Tzadikim, may the Merciful One spare us.

Speaking with one's fellow about moral instruction [mussar] and the fear of Heaven, and arousing him to repentance — this is a rectification [tikkun] for a seminal emission [keri] — in the aspect of: ""if you bring forth the precious from the worthless"" [Jeremiah 15:19] — the letters of this one like the letters of that one [asvon d'dein k'asvon d'dein].