חג השבועות ב

For this is among the ways of t’shuvah: that at first they draw him close from Above, and afterward they distance him and he has a descent. And then he must strengthen himself with whatever he can, and not let himself fall completely, G-d forbid. And then the descent is the purpose of the ascent, and he merits to return and ascend to holiness at an even higher level.

And this is the bechinas what Esther invited Haman to the feast — and our Sages of blessed memory said that this is the bechinas "If your enemy is hungry, feed him bread, etc. — for you are heaping coals upon his head, etc." [Mishlei 25:21–22]. For Esther is the bechina of the concealment — that the face of Hashem is hidden within those who do evil in order to cut them off — and through this they first have all their greatness, etc., as stated. And this is the bechina of the elevation and exaltation of Haman — specifically after Esther was taken, as stated. And therefore in the end the face of Hashem was so hidden that Esther invited Haman [to the feast] — meaning: the hidden face of Hashem elevated him more and more — and then specifically, when he was exalted very high through the very force of the concealment of the face of Hashem — which is the bechinas Esther — that was specifically his downfall: in the bechinas "the face of Hashem is against those who do evil — to cut them off." And all this was through the force of proper prayer, as stated. For at the time when Esther invited Haman to the feast, the heart of Israel went out and their hearts were utterly broken, and they poured out their hearts like water before Him, blessed be He — as is cited in the holy writings. Meaning: at the time of greatest concealment — then one must greatly strengthen oneself to pray and cry out to Hashem. And through this one merits to be saved from the ayin ra'ah — until they merited to see upon him what he had wished to see upon Mordechai, as stated.

And this is hinted at in the law of Chol HaMoed described above. For when one does t’shuvah and sanctifies oneself, this is the aspect of the holiness of Yom Tov — for Yom Tov is the aspect of t’shuvah (as Rabainu of blessed memory wrote). And after Yom Tov is Chol HaMoed. And Chol HaMoed is between one holiness and another — namely, between the holiness of the first days of Yom Tov and the last days. This is an allusion to the aspect of nafik [exiting] — namely, when one goes out and becomes distant from the holiness, the aspect of the above-mentioned descent. Then one also needs to sanctify oneself with the holiness of Yom Tov, even though one has fallen from one’s holiness to the aspect of chol [the mundane]. And this is the aspect of Chol HaMoed — that one must sanctify the aspect of the chol with the holiness of the Moed: to sanctify it from performing labor, which is the aspect of the physicality of worldly affairs. For the 39 labors are the filth of the serpent, and one must sanctify oneself from them even when one falls from the holiness of Yom Tov. And one should not let oneself fall to complete chol; rather, one should be in the aspect of Chol HaMoed — sanctifying the aspect of the weekdays with the holiness of the festival, as above. Only they permitted him the labor of davar ha’avaid [a matter of irretrievable loss]. This is an allusion: that one should not descend and engage in physical affairs except for the sake of davar ha’avaid — namely, the aspect of lost things (d’varim ha’avudim). For there are many nitzotzos [holy sparks] that were lost and fell to where they fell through one’s sins. And for this reason, one fell from one’s level — so that one would be refined and purified in the lower levels, in order to elevate the sparks that fell there, which are the aspect of “lost things.” And this is what our Sages of blessed memory permitted — to perform the labor of davar ha’avaid on Chol HaMoed. Namely, that one should not perform any labor — meaning, physical affairs — except the labor of davar ha’avaid: that one should engage in this labor to rectify one’s lost things — for which reason one descended to these levels, as above. And then, when one sanctifies one’s fall with the holiness of Chol HaMoed as above, one returns to ascend and merits to return to the holiness of Yom Tov. And this is the aspect of the last days of Yom Tov — namely, the aspect of returning and ascending to holiness, in the aspect of “the descent is the purpose of the ascent.” For the last days of Yom Tov have an additional light beyond the first days. For example, on Sukkos, the last days are Sh’mini Atzeres and Simchas Torah, when is the essential delight and closeness of Yisrael to their Father in Heaven, as they said: “Please, remain with me one more day; your parting is difficult for me,” etc. And as is brought, the great value of the holiness of Sh’mini Atzeres and Simchas Torah. Also, the last days of Pesach: then was the Splitting of the Sea, and the plunder of the Sea was greater than the plunder of Mitzrayim, as it is written: “We shall make you circlets of gold with studs of silver” (Shir HaShirim 1:11), as Rashi explained. And as our Sages of blessed memory said: “A maidservant saw at the Sea” [more than the prophet Yechezkel saw], etc. For this is the essential plunder of the Sea — that the sea of wisdom was split open for them and they merited great perceptions. It emerges that the last days have an additional light. This is an allusion that afterward, one merits extra holiness and great Daas when one returns and ascends from the descent, in the aspect of “the descent is the purpose of the ascent,” as above. And see in the Kavanos of Chol HaMoed, in Sha’ar Mikra’ay Kodesh, chapter 5 — there it is alluded that the labor of davar ha’avaid on Chol HaMoed alludes to the holy sparks that were lost through our sins. May the Omnipresent have mercy on us, that we may be able to sanctify ourselves and extract them. Blessed is Hashem forever, Amain and Amain. This short halacha draws an extraordinary parallel between the halachic structure of Chol HaMoed and the inner spiritual journey of t’shuvah. The pattern is: first Yom Tov (= initial inspiration, being drawn close from Above), then Chol HaMoed (= the descent, the test, the distancing), then the last days of Yom Tov (= ascending even higher than before, because the descent was the purpose of the ascent). The key legal concept of davar ha’avaid — the one category of labor permitted on Chol HaMoed — is mapped onto the fallen sparks (nitzotzos) that were lost through sin. One is only permitted to “descend” into physical labor for the sake of these lost things: the soul descended to this level precisely to retrieve them. And when one sanctifies the fall itself with the holiness of the festival, one merits returning to an even higher level — as shown by the fact that the last days of every Yom Tov carry extra light: Sh’mini Atzeres/Simchas Torah on Sukkos, the Splitting of the Sea on the last days of Pesach. The closing section, where Reb Nosson points to the Kavanos of the Ari as independently confirming the connection between davar ha’avaid and lost sparks, adds a layer of validation from the kabbalistic tradition itself. His concluding prayer — “May we be able to sanctify ourselves and extract them” — is both a personal plea and a universal one. ✺ Na Nach Nachma Nachman MayUman ✺

Likutay Halachos – Laws of Purim, Halacha 4