תּוֹרָה יט - תְּפִלָּה לַחֲבַקּוּק

Torah 780

The desire for immorality [ta'avas ni'uf] is the all-encompassing evil [ra ha-kolel] — for within it are gathered all the evils of all seventy nations. For every nation and tongue has a hold on a particular evil — some evil trait or evil desire that is particular to that nation, and they are immersed in that desire, and there is their foothold. But the desire for immorality is the all-encompassing evil — for within that desire is gathered and assembled every single evil of every single nation, being the evil of all desires. And all these evils blaze together and form a great bonfire — and this is the great conflagration [tav'eras ha-m'durah] that burns in a person toward the desire for immorality. But Hashem Yisborach has separated us from the nations and raised us above all tongues — and we must be separated from all their evils, that is, from all the desires that are particular to them as above and have no relevance to us at all. And especially from the desire for immorality — which is the all-encompassing evil of all the nations as above. For this is the primary distinction and difference between us and the nations — that we separate ourselves from immorality — for this is the primary holiness of Israel. For there is power within a person to divert his mind from this desire and to break it — and this is our primary holiness as above.

The primary holiness is the holiness of the bris [covenant] — and this is merited through the holiness of the tongue and speech — by sanctifying speech with holy words. And therefore our tongue is called loshon ha-kodesh [the holy tongue] — for ""wherever you find a fence around sexual immorality, you find holiness."" And through the completeness of loshon ha-kodesh — that is, through multiplying holy speech: Torah, prayer, and personal conversation [sichah] between oneself and one's Creator. (And even though one speaks and converses between oneself and one's Creator in the Ashkenazic language [Yiddish] spoken in our country, this too is included in the category of loshon ha-kodesh. For indeed, between oneself and one's Creator one must specifically speak in the language one uses naturally, as explained in Part II, §25. Only the primary thing is to guard one's tongue and sanctify it with holy speech — and this is the aspect of the completeness of loshon ha-kodesh.) And one must be scrupulous to guard one's tongue from speaking evil and blemished words — slander [loshon hora], lies, idle talk and the like — which blemish the holy tongue. Until one merits that one's speech and tongue be in the aspect of the completeness of loshon ha-kodesh. Through this is the primary subduing and breaking of all desires — and especially the desire for immorality — which is the primary one to break.

The rectification of the bris is in the aspect of ruach ha-kodesh [the holy spirit] — that is, the aspect of loshon ha-kodesh. And through it the spirit of folly [ruach shtus] — which is the blemish of the bris, may the Merciful One spare us — is nullified.

The primary making and rectifying of loshon ha-kodesh depends upon the fear of Hashem — ""it is His treasure"" [Isaiah 33:6].

The rectification of the bris and the completeness of loshon ha-kodesh are interdependent — for one cannot exist without the other. In proportion to how much one multiplies holy speech — which is the aspect of loshon ha-kodesh — so does one merit the rectification of the bris. And in proportion to the rectification of the bris, so does one merit the completeness of loshon ha-kodesh. And likewise the reverse regarding blemish, G-d forbid — for one who blemishes the bris loses loshon ha-kodesh, and one who has loshon ha-kodesh guards the bris.

All the humiliations, shames, and disgraces that come upon a person come through blemishing the bris. And likewise the reverse — through the rectification of the bris one merits honour.

The desire for immorality — which is the all-encompassing evil — is in the aspect of the serpent that seduced Chavah and injected its impurity into her: the stormy wind, the spirit of folly, the foolish woman [eshes k'silus]. And it goes and seduces the ruach ha-kodesh — which is loshon ha-kodesh — [the wise woman (ishah chachamah)] which is the aspect of guarding the bris — and injects its impurity into it. And this is the aspect of: ""sin crouches at the doorway"" [Genesis 4:7] — "at the doorway" meaning the doorways of your mouth — the openings of loshon ha-kodesh. For this sin — the serpent — crouches to suck from it through blemishing the bris. For the primary strengthening of the evil inclination to cause a person to sin is through this desire.

What we see nowadays — that because of our many sins, the wisdom of eloquent expression [m'litzas loshon ha-kodesh] has greatly fallen — so much so that almost the majority of the wisdom of eloquence is found among the frivolous ones of the world who are deeply immersed in the desire for sexual relations — which is the all-encompassing evil, the very opposite of the holiness of loshon ha-kodesh — and they are in the aspect of: ""your interpreters have transgressed against Me"" [Isaiah 43:27], may the Merciful One spare us. And through the eloquence of their expression they draw the hearts of many young men of Israel — until they bring them to complete atheism, G-d forbid. This is the aspect of: ""the lips of the strange woman drip honey"" [Proverbs 5:3], and likewise: ""she has made her words smooth"" [Proverbs 2:16]. And all this is in the aspect of the serpent that seduced Chavah (who is the aspect of the speech of loshon ha-kodesh) and injected its impurity into her, may the Merciful One spare us.

The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is the Aramaic tongue [loshon targum] — which is intermediary between loshon ha-kodesh (the wise woman [ishah chachamah], which is entirely good) and the language of the seventy nations (which is entirely evil — for all the languages of the nations now are absolute evil). And when they — that is, the serpent as above — wish to suck from loshon ha-kodesh, they cannot do so except through the Aramaic tongue, which contains both good and evil. [Said the copyist: For through a person's character traits being mixed — good and evil — he is in the aspect of the Aramaic tongue, which is the aspect of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. And through this the all-encompassing evil can overpower him — for his loshon ha-kodesh is not yet complete. But through casting down the evil within him entirely, and elevating the good within him — through this his loshon ha-kodesh is completed, and he merits guarding the bris. And all this is the secret of the serpent that seduced Chavah — only through the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.]

The primary dream occurs during sleep — that is, during deep sleep [tardaimah] — and dreams correspond to what one has eaten, as has been explained. For in every thing there are letters through which that thing was created — and when one sleeps, the vapours of what one has eaten rise to the brain and the letters within them combine — and from this the dream is formed. And one who has the completeness of loshon ha-kodesh knows the letters that exist in every thing as above — and therefore he can interpret dreams in deep sleep [tardaimah] — like Yosef the Tzadik, who merited the completeness of loshon ha-kodesh. And the primary source of his completeness was through deep sleep [tardaimah] — which is the aspect of the Aramaic tongue as above — that he merited to clarify it: to elevate the good within it to loshon ha-kodesh and to cast down the evil within it. And therefore he knew how to clarify the good and the truth within a dream — which is the aspect of Aramaic, as above.

And this is the aspect of a nocturnal emission [mikreh lailah], may the Merciful One spare us — for the spirit of folly — that is, the seventy tongues — rises through the Aramaic tongue, through deep sleep and slumber, and sucks from loshon ha-kodesh, from the holy spirit, from the holy bris. For one who has the completeness of loshon ha-kodesh cools his ardour through loshon ha-kodesh. But one who lacks the completeness of loshon ha-kodesh — then the stormy wind, that is, the seventy tongues as above, cools him through a nocturnal emission in sleep, may the Merciful One spare us — in the aspect of ""who happened upon you on the way"" [Deuteronomy 23:11] — the word "karcha" denoting cooling. ""On the way"" is the aspect of: ""the way of an adulterous woman"" [Proverbs 30:20] — the stormy wind going through the Aramaic tongue which is in the aspect of the intermediate radiance [nogah], and sucking from the "chashmal" which is the aspect of loshon ha-kodesh. And through the completeness of loshon ha-kodesh — that is, through clarifying the aspect of the Aramaic tongue and deep sleep as above — one is saved from nocturnal emissions in sleep. Therefore one must cool one's ardour with holy speech — which is the aspect of the completeness of loshon ha-kodesh — and through this one is saved from seminal emissions [keri], may the Merciful One spare us — that the stormy wind should not cool him as above.

Bathing in warm water on the eve of the holy Shabbos is in the aspect of the rectification of the bris. And likewise the reading of the Torah portion twice in Scripture and once in Aramaic translation [shnayim mikra v'echad targum] is also in the aspect of the rectification of the bris. [Through this will be understood what the Sages said [Berachos 8b]: even the place-names "Atoros" and "Divon" — and they did not mention the names of the tribes. According to this one may say that in truth one need not complete the names of the tribes in place of the Aramaic translation — see §36 — for they represent the totality of holiness [k'laliyus ha-k'dushah] — and therefore Balak said to him [Numbers 23:13]: ""and its entirety you shall not see."" And also according to the interpretation of the Tosfos the halachah is likewise as the Rosh wrote — see there: [Berachos 8b].]

And one who merits this as above then merits eating, drinking, and all other pleasures as is fitting. For the primary eating, drinking, and all other pleasures should come from the sparkling of the letters [hisnots'tzus ha-osiyos] in every thing — in the aspect of: ""and he ate and drank and his heart was glad"" [Ruth 3:7] — that his eating and drinking came from the illumination and sparkling of the letters of the thirty-two "Elohim" of the Six Days of Creation that exist in every thing — which is the aspect of Grace After Meals [birchas ha-mozon] [holy Zohar, Part II, 218a]. For food is blessed through the completeness of loshon ha-kodesh — through awakening and illuminating the letters in every thing.

One who possesses wisdom alone can understand and know in his wisdom the letters that exist in every thing (as explained within). But to actually feel and take pleasure from the combinations of letters — in the aspect of ""and he ate and drank"" as above — to merit that all his pleasures be only from the letters in every thing: this is impossible except when one merits the completeness of loshon ha-kodesh. That is, when one merits to completely break the desire for sexual relations and to complete the loshon ha-kodesh — until one brings a new sparkling into loshon ha-kodesh, that is, into the letters in every thing. And through this one merits the aspect of: ""may He support you from Zion"" [Psalms 20:3] — that one's sustenance — eating, drinking, and all pleasures — should come from Zion [Tzion], the sign [siman] of the letters that are marked and designated in every thing.

And one who holds to this aspect — through this his heart illuminates. For the name of the heart [laiv, numerically 32] is because it receives nourishment from the beauteous beauty [shufray d'shufra] [holy Zohar, Part III, 221b] — from the thirty-two "Elohim" of the Six Days of Creation etc., as above. And through the sparkling of the light that his heart receives from the thirty-two "Elohim" as above, his face sparkles with this light — and he merits to so purify his face that he can arouse others to repentance through their merely gazing at his face — for each person sees himself in his face as in a mirror, and sees how immersed in darkness he is. Until without rebuke and without moral instruction he arouses his fellow to repentance — simply through gazing at his illuminated face alone.

What seems difficult to people regarding the need to travel to the Tzadik to hear from his mouth — when one could just look in books of moral instruction — know that there is a great difference. For one who hears from the mouth of the Tzadik himself receives holy speech [loshon ha-kodesh] in its completeness — that is, with awe — and through this he merits to nullify and subdue the all-encompassing evil which is the desire for immorality — until he merits the rectification of the bris, which is the rectification of everything, and upon which everything depends — the rectification of all desires and character traits. And this is specifically through receiving from his holy mouth himself. But one who hears from another who heard from him — and all the more so one who hears from one who heard from the listener — is far from this completeness, for one descends each time from level to level. And all the more so is the difference between one who hears from the Tzadik's mouth and one who studies from a book — for a book is only for memory, and memory operates through the power of imagination. Therefore a book is a completely different category — and in no way has it the excellence of one who hears from his holy mouth himself.

When Tzadikim wish to hear a word from Hashem Yisborach, they first make that word and build it through their good deeds — and afterwards they merit to hear words from Hashem Yisborach. And this is the aspect of: ""those who do His word, to hear the voice of His word"" [Psalms 103:20] — for they first make the word, and afterwards they hear that same word from Hashem Yisborach — for through this, Hashem Yisborach speaks to them in that word. And when the Tzadik hears the Torah-word from the mouth of Hashem Yisborach, the word has completeness — for the completeness of speech depends upon awe, and awe depends upon ears etc. And this is: ""Hashem, I have heard Your report and I was in awe"" [Chavakuk 3:2] — when the hearing is from the Tzadik himself who hears from You as above — this is ""I heard from You"" — then ""I was in awe."" For the primary awe depends upon ears — and then this loshon ha-kodesh is complete as above.

Hashem Yisborach created the entire Creation for the sake of the human being possessed of free choice — who can specifically rectify all things through the clarification of the good in the Tree of Knowledge — and through this completes and rectifies all things in the world. Therefore we must perform the rectification of the "milah" [circumcision] — which is the aspect of the rectification of the bris — specifically in this world. And this is the aspect of the completeness of loshon ha-kodesh through clarifying the good in the Aramaic tongue. For loshon ha-kodesh as it comes from Above is still lacking rectification and has no completeness — except through us completing it through the clarification of the Aramaic tongue — and it is then and only then that loshon ha-kodesh is completed.

And to elevate the good from the Aramaic tongue — this is achieved through rectifying all the sins one committed unwittingly [b'shogeg] — through which one merits the completeness of loshon ha-kodesh. For an unwitting sin is in the aspect of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil — its deed is evil but its intention is good.

[continued]