בּוּשָׁה

A person must be very embarrassed before Hashem, may He be blessed, not to act against His will, G-d forbid, and all the more so not to commit any sin or iniquity, G-d forbid. [And] Shame is a very great virtue, for the main fear [of Heaven] is shame. [And] If one does not draw upon himself holy shame in this world, as mentioned above, he will be ashamed in the World to Come, which is harsher than all punishments, for the pain of shame in the future is very, very harsh, even harsher than the bitter Gehinnom (-hell). [And] Even every tzadik will be ashamed before his fellow who is greater than him in stature. [And] Our Rabbis, of blessed memory, said about this: “Woe to that shame, woe to that disgrace” [Mishnah Avos 3:11], and all the more so, and all the more so, how the sinners will be ashamed, G-d forbid, for it is impossible to fathom in this world the magnitude of the pain and bitterness of this shame in the World to Come, may the Merciful One save us. [And] When one merits holy shame not to sin, as mentioned above, through this, he merits prayer, and joy, and holy brazenness, and to draw close and be included with true tzadikim, and to receive from them faith in the ultimate perfection (22).

One must accustom himself to speak between himself and his Creator with great truth, until he arouses his heart in truth, until he begins to speak with the heat of the heart the true words in his heart with arousal in repentance, until he sees his lowliness and the greatness of the Creator, until he is very ashamed before Him, may He be blessed. For until now, he cast his sins behind his shoulders and did not examine them, but now that he knows them, (so/then) great shame enters him for the magnitude of his transgressions against the great and sovereign, the core and the root of all worlds. [And] Initially, the shame is not yet active on his face, for his sins dull his intellect and awareness through the spirit of folly within him. Therefore, before he merits complete repentance, he does not have enough daas (-awareness, intellect, realization of knowledge) to be ashamed as he ought, according to the magnitude of his transgressions and according to the greatness of the Creator, may He be blessed, against whom he transgressed. But afterward, when he does teshuva (-repentance) and removes the foolishness from himself and gains intellect, then he is more ashamed, and the shame is revealed on his face. [And] This shame is the aspect of the light of the tefillin, which are a sign of divaikus (-binding, clinging, attachment) to the Creator, may He be blessed, and it is the aspect of the beaming light of the face. [And] Through this shame, all his iniquities are forgiven, and he binds himself to the Tree of Life [see Dibur, item 7] (38).

One who has the brazenness of the Other Side and is not ashamed from (-before) true tzadikim, and G-d-fearing, and kosher (-worthy) people, it is known that his ancestors’ feet did not stand at Mount Sinai. And he defects the holiness of the tefillin, which are the aspect of the Tree of Life, and attaches himself to the Tree of Death. [And] He is expelled from the Garden of Eden and descends to Gehinnom (-hell). [And] When he does teshuva (-repentance) and is ashamed of his iniquities, through this, his sins are forgiven immediately, and he restores to himself the daas (intellect, realization of knowledge) and moachin (-minds – intellect/consciousness), and expels the spirit of folly from within him, and merits the aspect of the light of the tefillin, which are the aspect of the beamming light of the face, the aspect of the Tree of Life, etc., as mentioned above (ibid., 5, 6).

The main repentance is through shame. For a person needs to be very, very ashamed of himself, for a transgression is certainly an embarrassment, may the Merciful One save us, because a transgression is not at all fitting or appropriate for Israel. For an Israelite (man) is entirely distant in his root from transgression, and certainly it is not pleasing for a Jewish person to have a transgression, G-d forbid. But even when he wants to perform a mitzvah, it is fitting that he have great shame as well, for what merit does he have to perform the mitzvah, and how dare he brazenly enter the palace of the King to perform the mitzvah, and let him fathom in his mind before whom he is performing the mitzvah. [And] Also, the greatness of the virtues/heights of the mitzvah, for the utter preciousness of the mitzvah’s virtue/height in itself is without measure. [And] Certainly it is fitting, that great shame fall upon him when he comes to perform any mitzvah, when he looks at himself and sees that he is distant from Hashem, may He be blessed, and has no merit to perform a mitzvah. [And] How does he come to snatch the tefillin, which are the crowns of the King, and suddenly place them on his head? Certainly it is fitting, that great shame fall upon him. [And] If a person had shame, he would be ashamed before Him, may He be blessed, even to take food into his mouth, for what merit does he have to have food? But the main shame is merited through seeing oneself with the true tzadik, and through this, one merits repentance. For the main repentance is through shame, as mentioned above, and through this, one merits true humility, which is the aspect of the humility of Moshe Rabbainu (-our Teacher), which is the main life, the aspect of eternal life of the World to Come (Part II, 72).