תּוֹרָה ה - בַּחֲצוֹצְרוֹת וְקוֹל שׁוֹפָר

Torah 1535

Every person must say: ""The entire world was created only for my sake"" [Sanhedrin 37a]. Therefore every person must always look and consider, at all times, how to rectify the world [tikkun ha-olam] and fill its deficiency — and to pray on its behalf. [As it is written [Daniel 4:14]: ""By the decree of the watchers is the matter, and by the word of the holy ones is the question"" — and as it is written regarding Elisha: ""My father, the prophet has spoken to you a great word"" [II Kings 5:13] — meaning prayer, as it is written: ""Tell me, please, all the great things"" [ibid. 8:4]. And though Elisha said to him "bathe and be cleansed" in a tone of command — nonetheless, he clothed a prayer within those words [as explained in "Darkay Yosher"]. And Elisha is called holy, as it is written: ""a holy man of G-d passes by"" [ibid. 4:9].]

One must perform a commandment [mitzvah] with such great joy that he would not wish for any reward of the World to Come on account of it — but rather that the Holy One, blessed be He, should grant him another commandment as the reward for this one, for he takes pleasure in the commandment itself. Through this one can know what has been decreed upon the world: whether it is before or after a verdict has been passed, and upon whom the verdict has been passed, G-d forbid. And he knows how to pray for the world — for after a verdict has already been sealed, the Tzadikim must clothe their prayer in stories [sippurim]. And all of this one merits through performing the commandment with great joy from the commandment itself, as above.

The primary joy is in the heart. And it is impossible for the heart to rejoice until one removes the crookedness [ikmumiyus] from his heart — so that he has uprightness of heart [yashrus laiv] — and then he will merit joy. And the crookedness of the heart is stripped away through thunderclaps [re'amim] — which are the aspect of prayer with strength, awe, love, and great concentration [kavanah].

To merit the above-mentioned joy, one must pray with all his powers [kochos], with great awe, and with love.

One must pray with all his powers — and bring forth the voice of his prayer with great strength. Through this, the voice strikes the mind [moach] — and then one is able to concentrate [kavein], meaning: the heart hears what he is saying. Through this he merits that the crookedness of his heart is stripped away and he arrives at joy — to the point that he performs commandments with great joy from the commandments themselves, as above. And he merits to clothe his prayer in stories [sippuray devarim] — and to annul all decrees, even after a verdict has already been sealed.

Whoever hears the blowing of the shofar [tekias shofar] on Rosh Hashanah from a man who is filled with awe and trembling [yareh v'chared] — will certainly not be troubled by thunderclaps [re'amim] the entire year.

To merit the above-mentioned aspect of thunderous prayer [re'amim] in completeness, one must clear his mind [moach] of all kinds of external wisdoms [chochmos chitzoniyos], alien thoughts, and evil imaginings.

One must be exceedingly, exceedingly careful to clear the mind of external wisdoms and alien thoughts — lest they cause his wisdom to ferment [yachmitz] through external wisdoms and desires. For these stupefy and contaminate one's mind [m'tam't'min u-m'tam'in mocho] — and it becomes impossible to concentrate in prayer, and impossible to rejoice. One must also guard oneself greatly against external fears [yir'os chitzoniyos] — not fearing anything in the world, only Hashem Yisborach alone — for through external fears it is impossible to concentrate in prayer, and they obstruct joy. The primary thing is to guard one's mind from fermenting — not to harbour evil imaginings and desires, which are in the aspect of chametz [leaven], which is the side of death [sitra d'mosa]. One must rebuke these thoughts — which are the sitra d'mosa, the Other Side [sitrin achranin] — and drive them from his mind and thought so that they should not draw near him; and guard himself greatly that these thoughts not enter his mind, G-d forbid. One must also combine love together with awe [ahavah im yir'ah] — and then specifically will he be able to purify his mind and pray with great concentration with all his powers — until his prayer is in the aspect of thunderclaps [re'amim] — through which he merits joy, and so on, as above.

One must guard oneself from external fears — that no fear of anything in the world should fall upon him. Rather, whenever any fear or dread comes upon him, let him immediately recall the awe of Hashem Yisborach and His great dread — and draw upon himself the fear of Hashem all day, continually. Through this he will be able to pray with all his powers — to bring forth his prayer with great strength — and his prayer will be in the aspect of thunderclaps [re'amim]. And he merits to hear clearly what he brings forth from his mouth. Through this he merits joy — to perform all the commandments with great joy from the commandment itself. And through this he merits to know how to annul all decrees, even after a verdict has already been sealed, G-d forbid.

One must also combine love together with awe [ahavah im yir'ah] in order to merit all of the above — for the primary power to prevail comes through love. However, even so, one must give precedence to awe.

Whoever wishes to have compassion on his own life must strengthen himself not to listen or pay any attention whatsoever to disputes [merivot] between complete Tzadikim — but rather to believe in all of them. On the contrary: when he hears of disputes between Tzadikim, let him take rebuke for himself and look at where he himself stands in the world — for through such disputes he is being rebuked for having blemished the drops of his mind [tipay mocho]. For certainly, had his mind not been blemished, no disputes between Tzadikim would have come to his ears, and no question about them would have entered his heart at all. And the primary purpose of that dispute is for his sake — meaning, for that very person — so that through the dispute between the Tzadikim he should understand and remember where he himself stands in the world: that they are seeking to drive him away from the true life, which is the true Tzadikim, through this dispute — on account of his having blemished the drops of his mind, concerning which it is said: ""none who go to her return, nor do they attain the paths of life"" [Proverbs 2:19]. And whoever is a fool and does not truly understand this is thereby distanced and loses his world. But whoever truly wishes to have compassion on himself — on the contrary, through this very dispute he is aroused and reminded of where he himself stands in the world, as above. And he understands that this is his trial — that he must stand firm in this trial, not to listen and not to look at the dispute. And through this he draws close specifically to true Tzadikim — and through this is his primary eternal rectification. For the primary purpose of the dispute between Tzadikim is specifically this — as a trial: so that the one who is to be distanced should be distanced, for it is fitting to distance him on account of his having blemished the drops of his mind. But if he wishes to stand firm in this trial — to understand from it the magnitude of his own blemish and not to look at the dispute — then through this specifically he is drawn close. For since he has blemished so greatly, he cannot draw close except through this trial specifically. Understand this well. For in truth, Hashem Yisborach is One Who desires lovingkindness and wishes to draw close those who are far — even though they are not worthy of being drawn close. But they can only draw close through this trial, as above.

Alien thoughts and evil imaginings are in the aspect of the side of death [sitra d'mosa] — the aspect of chametz [leaven]. When the alien thoughts pursue the mind to enter it, and the person rebukes them and wages war and battle against them [osseh matzah u-merivah immahem] — and does not allow them to enter the mind — through this he is saved from the chametz aspect of the side of death, and merits to receive great minds [moichin gedolim] which are the aspect of matzah [unleavened bread] — the aspect of life. (And from this it is self-evident that the commandment of burning chametz and eating matzah on Passover is a propitious remedy [segulah] for meriting all of the above.) [Note on wordplay: in Hebrew, the words "matzah" [מַצָּה — unleavened bread] and "merivah" [מְרִיבָה — quarrel/battle] share the same root letters. The battle waged against evil thoughts is itself the "matzah" — the antidote to the chametz of the Other Side.]

The dispute that exists between complete Tzadikim is also only for this reason — in order to drive away the Other Sides [sitrin achranin] so that they should not draw close to the holy dwelling [mashkena d'kedushah]. And therefore this dispute between them is in the aspect of matzah, as above.

[continued]