תּוֹרָה נה - מַה אַבָּא שָׁאוּל אוֹמֵר

Torah 688

To see the downfall of the wicked — it is impossible except through the aspect of the Land of Israel. As it is written: ""sit at My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"" [Psalms 110:1]. And the Land of Israel is called right — as our Sages of blessed memory said (brought in Rashi on Parshas Vayishlach on the verse: ""and his father called him Binyamin"").

And even now in the exile — when the Land of Israel is under the hand of the Other Side and its holiness is unable to be revealed — even so one can reveal and draw its holiness through the flashing of the merit of the Patriarchs. As it is written: ""and I will remember My covenant with Yaakov etc. and the land I will remember"" [Leviticus 26:42]. And through the flashing of the merit of the Patriarchs the holiness of the Land of Israel is revealed. And through this one merits to see the downfall of the wicked. And not only is the person saved from the wicked — but one also sees in the wicked what the wicked wanted to see in him.

For the wicked draw evil eye upon their enemies — as our Sages of blessed memory said: ""and furthermore — he sees his enemies"" — as it is said: ""the heights of Your judgments are far from him"" [Berachos 7a]. And through judging favourably — which a person judges about the wicked — he is saved from the evil eye of the wicked. Also: the fact that the wicked prevail in judgment (as they said there) — and His judgment, may He be blessed, is elevated and removed from them — all is for the benefit of the Tzadik. For the Holy One, blessed be He, also judges favourably about the wicked — in order to save the Tzadik from his evil eye. For Hashem Yisborach holds the attribute of justice in His hand — and when He removes His judgment so it does not reign over the wicked — the hand of Hashem is revealed. And a shadow is created — in which the Tzadik is covered. As it is written: ""and with the shadow of My hand I covered you"" [Isaiah 51:16]. And then the wicked — whose eyes in this bitter exile are sharp as burnished mirrors — through the shadow their eyesight is dimmed — so their venom cannot harm. But the Tzadikim — whose eyesight in this time is small — as it is written: ""who is as blind as the one who is complete"" [Isaiah 42:19] — through the shadow their eyesight is strengthened. Like those of weak vision who cannot see well in strong light and need shadow in order to see. And through the shadow the Tzadik's eyesight is strengthened — and he can see far away. And he sees and attains the righteousness [tzidkas] of the Holy One, blessed be He — that the justice with which the Holy One, blessed be He, acquits the wicked in judgment — this is the righteousness of the Holy One, blessed be He — ""for I will not acquit the wicked"" [Exodus 23:7].

And through seeing the righteousness of Hashem — his faith is strengthened and his heart is straightened from the crookedness it had before — and he can pray. For the primary prayer comes through faith — believing that everything is in the power of the Holy One, blessed be He — even to change nature. And ""the Holy One, blessed be He, does not withhold the reward of any creature"" [Pesachim 118a]. And then he strengthens himself and prays for his needs. And this is the aspect of the red cow [parah adumah]: "parah" [cow] is the aspect of prayer — as it is written: ""and we will complete the bulls — our lips"" [Hosea 14:3]. ""A completely red cow etc. upon which no yoke has been placed"" [Numbers 19:2] — this is the aspect of seeing and attaining the righteousness of Hashem — that He weakens the power of judgment and removes it from the wicked for the benefit of the Tzadik. And through this his faith is strengthened and he can pray — as explained in the main text — all of this.

And this is the aspect of dust and ashes mentioned in the cow. For prayer requires the aspect of dust and ashes. For during prayer one must subdue the evil in the particular and the evil in the general under the good — in the aspect of: ""and you shall tread down the wicked — for they will be as ashes under the soles of your feet"" [Malachi 3:21]. The evil in the particular — that is, one's own body and material self — one should nullify during prayer — as the early pious ones [chasidim rishonim] who had the stripping away of physicality [hispashtus ha-gashmiyus] during prayer. And the evil in the general — that is, the prayers of the Jewish sinners who pray with him — one should nullify their evil — and make from the evil a throne for holiness. (See the book "B'ibay Ha-Nachal" for an explanation of this.) This is the aspect of the ashes in prayer. And the dust in prayer — that is, one binds oneself with the souls, spirits, and neshamahs of those who dwell in the dust. And arouses them through one's prayer — in the aspect of: ""Awake and sing — you who dwell in the dust"" [Isaiah 26:19]. This is in general. And in particular — that is, the portions of one's own soul-spirit-neshamah that have already come in transmigration and have been rectified — one arouses them as well as above. And this is called communal prayer [t'filah b'tzibur]. For the letters of tzibur [צבּ"ר] are the initial letters of Tzadikim Beinonim R'sha'im [the righteous, the middling, and the wicked]. The middling person is the one praying. The righteous — this is the aspect of dust. The wicked — this is the aspect of ashes as above. (See the main text.)

And one must also rectify three things in one's prayer. (1) The one praying must rectify in his prayer — to elevate those who have fallen into false beliefs — to raise them through his prayer to true faith — which is prayer — and to establish complete faith in their hearts. (2) One must have great devotion in prayer. And through the devotion of the heart in prayer — he rectifies the hearts of those whose intellect exceeds their deeds — and there is no power in their hearts to contain their intellect. And then their intellect causes them to sin even more. And these are the philosophers who have no pure heart — and their heart cannot receive the intellect in holiness in truth as it should. For the primary strengthening of the heart comes through good deeds. But when their intellect exceeds their deeds — then their heart is weak and deficient. And in particular the adulterers who engage in the wisdom of philosophy — it damages them greatly greatly. For through adultery the heart is very deficient — as it is written: ""a man who commits adultery lacks heart"" [Proverbs 6:32]. And there is no power in their heart to contain the intellect within it — to distance themselves from sins and cleave to Hashem Yisborach through it — which is the primary true intellect. (And they cause harm to themselves and to the entire world more than snakes and scorpions and all kinds of harmful creatures in the world — for they blaspheme and revile through their wisdom against Above and against the holy Torah — and in particular against the Sages of the Gemara and the Tzadikim who came after them — as is known and famous. May the Master of Mercy protect the remnant of Israel from them and their multitudes. Rather: one must nullify one's intellect before men of truth who walk in the way of truth — according to what we have received from our Sages of blessed memory.) (3) One must also transform all the degradations into honour — as it is written: ""and in His palace — all say: glory"" [Psalms 29:9]. For when a person stands in the palace of the King — and nullifies himself completely — and sees nothing except the King — it is obvious that if he hears some shame or disgrace — he interprets it as an interpretation of honour to the King. For how is it possible that someone would come into the King's palace and disgrace the King? And there is no thought that perhaps these shames are directed at himself — for his very existence is nullified and there is nothing here except the King Himself. And the words are certainly words of honour. And one contemplates these words — how to interpret and combine them so that honour to the King is produced from them. [For through the combination of the word — the intention changes to its opposite — for example: from "pesha" [sin] — "shefa" [abundance] — and from "nega" [plague] — "oneg" [delight] — and the like.] And the analogy is understood — for during prayer a person stands in the King's palace. And all three above-mentioned things are the aspect of the three things in the cow: ""cedar wood and hyssop and crimson thread"" — as explained in the main text.

And through prayer as its rectification — as above — the light of the merit of the Patriarchs flashes. And through this one draws the aspect of the holiness of the Land of Israel even now in exile. And through this one merits to see the downfall of the wicked. And not only is one saved from their evil eye — but one also sees in them what they wanted to see in him. And all this is done through judging favourably about the wicked — through which one can pray. Also: through this the Tzadikim who perform good deeds merit before Hashem. For before the destruction of the wicked the face of Hashem was hidden among the evildoers — in order to destroy them. And now the face of Hashem is revealed to those who do good.

Not every person can rectify the above-mentioned things in his prayer and subdue the wicked through it — except the Tzadik of very great level — in the aspect of Moshe our Teacher, peace be upon him. And even he must gird his loins greatly to stand against the great wicked ones — to subdue them completely.

Not every person can rectify the above-mentioned things in his prayer and subdue the wicked through it — except the Tzadik of very great level — in the aspect of Moshe our Teacher, peace be upon him. And even he must gird his loins greatly to stand against the great wicked ones — to annihilate and nullify them.

The commandment of "challah" [the dough-portion] is the aspect of the inheritance of the Land — as explained in the main text. For through the commandment of "challah" one merits to draw the light of the merit of the Patriarchs — through which one can reveal its holiness even in this time.

For the most part — those who are tall in stature are foolish — and conversely — those short in stature are people of intellect. And this is understandable through the intellect — as explained in the main text.