תשעה באב ושאר תעניות ה

Section Aleph [א] This is the matter of the tremendous power of the miracle of Purim — which is the downfall of Haman-Amalek. For at first glance it is astonishing: do we not see many wealthy people who are great men of anger, and yet they possess great wealth? And especially the nations of the world, among whom all the wealth resides, and they are filled with anger and murder. But in truth, the essential wealth is holy wealth — which is the magnification of the Name and the holy soul, as is explained there in §59 cited above, that the essential magnification of the Name and the soul is through wealth. And through this, all souls yearn to be rooted in His name, etc. And through this one can draw many souls close to Hashem, blessed be He, and build the bechina of the Holy Sanctuary upon its foundation (as explained there). And such wealth cannot be attained except specifically through the subduing of anger, as stated above. And in truth, this is the essential wealth — and all wealth, all the silver and gold and precious stones, etc. that exist in the world — their essential root flows only from there, from the root of the souls and the holy Name of Israel. For all the divine abundance in the world and all wealth flows only in the bechina of "all of Israel are children of kings" — and certainly all wealth belongs to the children of kings. And this is what Rabbainu, of blessed memory, took such care to articulate (in §68), saying that all of Israel deserve to have wealth, except that there is one quality that harms it and that is anger, etc. For certainly all wealth reaches only Israel, as stated — for each one of Israel, according to the root of his soul, which is his name that is rooted in the Name of Hashem — where is the root of all abundance and wealth — so too is he deserving to have wealth even materially. For each one of Israel, from the greatest to the smallest, must engage in building the Holy Sanctuary mentioned above — that is, to draw souls close to Hashem, blessed be He, for this is why he was created. And the essential means by which they draw close is through magnifying the Name and the soul, which is through wealth, which is the root of the souls as stated. But because of our many sins, the evil quality of anger grows so powerful that it ruins the aforementioned wealth. And through this one tears his own soul with his anger — which is his name, etc., as stated. And this is what caused the destruction of our Holy Temple and the exile of our glory, etc. — for the essential cause of the destruction was through the tremendous power of anger that was aroused among them, until a mighty dispute fell between them and hatred and murder and bloodshed multiplied, and through this our Holy Temple was destroyed. And the essential destruction occurred through the aforementioned bechina — that all the abundance was taken from Israel, that is, all the wealth that was stripped from Israel and given to the nations, which is the essential bechina of exile — as it says: "And these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt" — "names" specifically, meaning the souls whose root is in wealth, all of whom went down into the Egyptian exile which encompasses all the exiles, which are all called by the name of Egypt. And therefore all the enemies who exiled Israel set their faces and their evil intent specifically to destroy the Holy Temple — for in the Holy Temple was all the wealth of Israel, for the Temple itself was built with immense riches, and there too were the treasuries of the House of Hashem, etc. — for the root of all our souls is in the Holy Temple, therefore immense treasures were there, for the root of the souls is in wealth as stated. And therefore the essential fury of the enemies was directed against the Holy Temple and the treasuries of the House of Hashem and the royal palace — for their essential fury was over the wealth of Israel where the root of their souls lay, as stated. And this is what Yirmiyahu lamented: "Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, etc." — meaning he laments that all of Israel's inheritance and their wealth was overturned for them, as stated.