תּוֹרָה לז - דִּרְשׁוּ ה' וְעֻזּוֹ

Torah 641

The primary purpose of Creation is "b'gin d'yishtemod'in layh" [that they recognise Him] [holy Zohar Part II, 42b] — as it is written [Isaiah 43:7]: ""all who are called by My Name — I created for My glory"" etc.

And the body relative to the soul is the aspect of matter, beast, foolishness, and darkness — the aspect of death and forgetfulness — the aspect of external wisdoms compared to the wisdoms of Torah. Which are the aspect of a person [adam] — as it is written: ""this is the Torah — a person [adam]"" [Numbers 19:14] — the aspect of form — the aspect of light, wisdom, memory, and life. And every person must subdue the matter — that is, the aspect of death — the aspect of the body's foolishness — which are the desires. That is: to separate oneself from all desires.

And this is accomplished through fasting — for through this the four elements of the body are weakened — from which all desires come. And the matter — which is the aspect of foolishness, forgetfulness, and darkness etc. — is subdued and nullified. And the intellect, form, memory etc. as above are strengthened and elevated. And it nullifies the judgment and darkness — and draws kindnesses [chasadim] to the world. And the primary rectification of the fast is through charity. Also: it subdues the external wisdoms against the wisdoms of Torah. Also: one merits livelihood.

And there are two aspects of charity: charity outside the Land of Israel and charity within the Land of Israel. And charity given to the Land of Israel is greater and superior to the charity of outside the Land. And likewise there are two aspects of Torah — for the Torah that comes from the breath of a mouth that has sin is not comparable to the Torah that comes from the breath of a mouth that has no sin [Shabbos 119b]. For judgment is not sweetened and the world is not sustained except through the breath of the mouth of schoolchildren who have no sin — through which the Patriarchs will be revealed in the world to protect. And through charity to the Land of Israel you include yourself in the air of the Land of Israel — which is the aspect of holy breath that has no sin. Through which comes the primary nullification of judgment, darkness, forgetfulness, and foolishness from the world. And through this the external wisdoms are subdued — and one merits the wisdoms of the holy Torah. And one merits memory — the aspect of light etc. as above.

And therefore every person must seek and search greatly after a worthy, decent, and G-d-fearing teacher — and pray greatly to Hashem Yisborach about this — so that the teacher not corrupt the holy breath of the mouths of the schoolchildren who are in the house of study [tinokos shel bays rabban] — upon whom the world is sustained. (For because of our many sins there are now organisations for the education of youth to teach the small children of Israel external wisdoms — which are foolishness and darkness as above — and also the languages of the nations [as brought in "Likutay Halachos", Laws of Pesach, law 7] — which defile the holy breath of the schoolchildren in the house of study. And as is apparent in direct experience that they grow up afterwards into heretics and deniers etc. And therefore it is written there: ""praised is one who distances himself and his children from them."" And the obligation not to bring one's children to a schoolroom where even one of those children who walk in the above-mentioned evil ways is studying — and learns external wisdoms and languages even in another place — for it is forbidden to associate with them at all etc.)

And one must be careful with an elder who has forgotten his learning through circumstances beyond his control — to honour him [Sanhedrin 96a]. And through the honour given to him — his forgetfulness is nullified — and the soul is revealed — that is, the aspect of the memory of Torah as above. And the judgments, darkness etc. are nullified. And light, kindnesses, life, and the wisdom of Torah are drawn to the world. For the root of Torah is the honour of Hashem Yisborach — as it is written: ""I created him for My glory"" [Isaiah 43:7]. And our Sages of blessed memory said: ""there is no honour except Torah"" [Avos, ch. 6].

And the primary deficiency of livelihood that has diminished in these generations is only because of the ritual slaughterers [shochatim] who are unworthy. For there is a worthy slaughterer who feeds and sustains Israel — and he elevates the soul in the living creature that has undergone transmigration [gilgul] — to the level of speech — through the blessing he recites over the slaughter with proper intention. And the slaughterer must have the proper intention to elevate the soul within the blood. And through this the soul comes and ascends to the "Shechinah" — in the aspect of the female waters [mayin nukvin]. And then the "Shechinah" is united through the female waters she has. And through the union she receives livelihood for Israel. Therefore the slaughterer's knife is called "ma'acheles" [feeder] — as it is written: ""and he took the knife [ma'acheles]"" [Genesis 22:10] — on account of the worthy slaughterer who feeds Israel. But when the slaughterer is unworthy — and even at the time of the blessing has an intention of invalidation [piggul] — and is not present during the blessing — then when he stands with the knife to slaughter the living creature he stands as a murderer of souls. And the soul of the living creature suffers and cries out with a bitter voice — for his knife is the sword of the wilderness [cherev ha-midbar] and is not a sword for Hashem [Isaiah 34:6] — the aspect of the "Shechinah" — the aspect of speech. For he does not elevate the transmigrated soul — on the contrary he lowers the soul from its level even in its aspect as a living creature — and it has no resting place for the sole of its foot. Woe to this slaughterer — woe to the soul — for he has killed the soul and delivered it into the hands of its enemies. And the "Shechinah" has no female waters to draw sustenance to her household [and this is: ""he who slaughters the ox — smites a man"" (Isaiah 66)]. And through this: ""at the peril of our souls we bring our bread — from the face of the sword of the wilderness"" [Lamentations 5:9] — for with great effort and toil one must, G-d forbid, draw a little livelihood — on account of his knife called the sword of the wilderness (which delivered the soul to the husks that rule the wilderness as is known).

And through these unworthy slaughterers the soul is subdued before the body and matter — and the bodily desires of the aspect of matter etc. as above increase. But through worthy slaughterers the soul is elevated — and the body and matter — the aspect of beast, foolishness etc. as above — the aspect of external wisdoms — are subdued. And the soul and form etc. as above — the aspect of the wisdom of Torah — are elevated. And through this livelihood flows in great abundance. And this is the explanation of: ""He has given prey [teref] to those who fear Him"" [Psalms 111:5] — "teref" in the language of ""feed me my portion of bread [hat'rifeni lechem]"" [Proverbs 30:8] and in the language of "treyfah". To hint: when Israel guard themselves from "treyfah" [non-kosher meat] — through this they have livelihood.

And this is the explanation of: ""be careful with the children of the common people [b'nay am ha-aretz]"" (meaning: to honour them) — for from them Torah will go forth [Sanhedrin 96a]. For it is known that noble souls were captured in the husk of "nogah" — and the husk desires the soul to sink there — and places it within the drop of the intimate union of the common person — so that soul becomes further defiled. It is found that the children of the common people are precious souls — only they are like birds caught in a trap. And from where do we know the splendour of their beauty? Only through their Torah — when we see that they are children of Torah — it is known that they have a precious soul. Therefore one must be careful to honour them — for through the honour, the Torah within them will be further revealed from its concealment. For the root of everything is the honour of Hashem Yisborach — as it is written: ""I created him for My glory"" [Isaiah 43:7]. And the soul — which is the Torah — longs to be included in the root — which is honour. And through this Torah goes forth from them — and the soul, form, and chesed etc. as above are elevated. And the bodily desire and matter etc. as above are pushed aside. And all judgments are nullified — Amen — so may it be His will.