תולעים ב

The essential Chesed through which one cuts Malchus from the Four Kingdoms, as mentioned, is drawn through rebuke (tochachah) — for through rebuke, Chesed is revealed. And the rebuke is according to the Torah and prayer of each individual, and according to the boldness (azus) of each individual, etc., as is explained well there in the said discourse. And all of this is included in the holy beard — for the hairs of the beard are old and severe in subduing harsh judgments, as is explained in the holy Zohar. This is the aspect of the holy boldness — the aspect of "strong and hard" (az v'kasheh) — through which the essential comprehension of Torah and prayer are included in the holy beard. For the totality of the Torah that is innovated consists in the thirteen attributes through which the Torah is expounded, which are drawn from the thirteen configurations of the beard. And likewise prayer is included in the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy — as our Sages of blessed memory said, that the Holy One Blessed Be He wrapped Himself in a prayer shawl and taught Moshe the order of prayer, and then revealed to him the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, etc. For the essential prayer is mercy and supplication — to arouse the Thirteen Attributes of His mercy, which are included in the thirteen configurations of the beard, as is known.

From that teaching: There are people in the aspect of the six weekdays, the aspect of Metatron — the aspect of kosher and disqualified, pure and impure — meaning they have no Shabbos rest, not being established in consistent service and teshuvah. At times thoughts of teshuvah fall upon them, then they return to their former state — alternating: sometimes kosher, sometimes disqualified, sometimes pure, sometimes impure. But the Tzaddikim are in the aspect of Shabbos, for Shabbos is the aspect of teshuvah, the aspect of Shaddai — their teshuvah is in tranquility and permanence, for they push away the evil entirely. And these Tzaddikim surrender their souls for Israel, for they see their own lowliness and the importance and greatness of Israel. (See there carefully.) Now: "a bird — this is Metatron" as cited in the Tikkunim (Introduction, p. 3). And the aspect of Metatron is the aspect of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which is the aspect of kosher and disqualified, pure and impure. And it is written: "from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil you shall not eat." And everything in the aspect of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil — where good and evil are intermingled — we are forbidden to eat from. And therefore the essential rectification of all our eating is through the Oral Torah transmitted to the Tzaddikim — which is the aspect of the Six Orders of the Mishnah that clarify the good from the evil, the permitted from the forbidden. And therefore we are commanded to do all that the true Tzaddikim and Sages of each and every generation instruct us, as it is written: "you shall not deviate from the word they tell you, right or left" (לֹא תָסוּר מִן הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר יַגִּידוּ לְךָ יָמִין וּשְֹמֹאל), even if they tell you etc. For in each and every generation clarifications must be made to raise up the good from the evil that became intermingled through the sin of the Tree of Knowledge. And no individual has power to make these clarifications except through the true Tzaddik of each generation. For simple people who have not yet merited complete and perfect teshuvah — who have no rest yet — are themselves still in the aspect of the Tree of Knowledge, still alternating: sometimes kosher etc. Therefore they certainly cannot on their own clarify the good from the evil. Only the true Tzaddik of each generation — who has already pushed the evil away entirely and is in the aspect of Shabbos — has the power to clarify the sparks in everything: to separate the good from the evil, the permitted from the forbidden. And therefore all our kosher eating — its essential rectification and clarification — is through the Tzaddikim of the generation to whom the Oral Torah was transmitted. For even though all the mitzvos are spelled out in the Torah — from the Torah itself alone one cannot know anything, only through the Tzaddikim and Sages to whom the Oral Torah was transmitted. They know the details of every matter: how to conduct oneself in each case according to the need of the clarification of that matter. And Hashem Blessed be He did this intentionally — He did not spell out every matter in the Written Torah but commanded us to rely specifically on the Sages of the generation. For in truth in every generation new clarifications must be made until the coming of Mashiach. And the clarification of every matter is possible only through the Tzaddikim who are the Sages of the generation — who have already pushed the evil away entirely. While other people who have not yet pushed the evil away entirely — who alternate: sometimes kosher etc. — have no power to clarify. And even through Torah study they lack this power: for "if one merits, it becomes an elixir of life; if one does not merit, it becomes an elixir of death, Heaven forfend." And therefore without the true Tzaddikim of each and every generation we are unable to lift hand or foot to do anything in kashrus — for we do not understand the ways of Torah at all except through the true Tzaddik. And therefore Hashem Blessed be He intentionally did not spell out the particular rulings of any mitzvah in the Written Torah — so that we know we must rely only on the Tzaddikim of the generation, as commanded: "you shall not deviate etc." For the essential clarification in every generation is made only through the Tzaddikim to whom the Oral Torah was transmitted — through which one clarifies the good from the evil. For the Oral Torah is the aspect of the Six Orders of the Mishnah corresponding to the aspect of kosher and disqualified etc. — for through the Six Orders of the Mishnah one clarifies the kosher from the disqualified, which is the aspect of clarifying the good from the evil. But this Oral Torah was transmitted only to the Tzaddikim who are the Sages of the generation — for only in their hands is the power to clarify, since they have already pushed away the evil entirely. And this is what our Sages hinted at through this mitzvah of the kosher bird — saying: a kosher bird is identified by oral tradition. For "a bird — this is Metatron." And since it is in the aspect of Metatron, which is the aspect of the Tree of Knowledge — it is impossible to eat it, for "from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil you shall not eat." And therefore we cannot eat it except through the Tzaddikim and Sages of the generation to whom the Oral Torah was transmitted — and this is "identified by oral tradition." In truth all other things likewise cannot be eaten except through the Sages of the generation. It is only here that the Torah revealed this more explicitly — since a bird is more in the aspect of the Tree of Knowledge, as described. And therefore the Torah did not explain the signs of a kosher bird at all — so that we know we must rely on the Sages of the generation who have the power to make the clarification of the Tree of Knowledge. This is what the Torah revealed more explicitly through this mitzvah — since "a bird — this is Metatron," the aspect of the Tree of Knowledge, whose essential rectification and clarification is through the Oral Torah transmitted to the Sages of the generation. Also, in truth the clarification of all edible things is hinted at in this teaching — for all things in the world have an admixture of good and evil from the aspect of the Tree of Knowledge, as is known. And we must clarify them through the Oral Torah transmitted to the Tzaddikim. The essential clarification is through eating — for through eating one clarifies the sparks within the foods. And this is "a kosher bird is identified by oral tradition" — for the good in the Tree of Knowledge is the aspect of the kosher bird. For the Tree of Knowledge is the aspect of a bird, as described, and it contains both good and evil: pure and impure, kosher and disqualified. The good in the Tree of Knowledge is therefore the aspect of the kosher bird. And all our eating must be in the aspect of the good in the Tree of Knowledge — the aspect of the kosher bird — which can only be accomplished through the Tzaddikim of the generation to whom the Oral Torah was transmitted. This is "a kosher bird is identified by oral tradition" — all the eating of Israel in kashrus, which is the aspect of the kosher bird, the good and pure in the Tree of Knowledge — is accomplished only through the Tzaddikim to whom the Torah was transmitted: "by oral tradition" (בְּמָסֹרֶת). Also: masores (tradition) hints that these Tzaddikim who have pushed away evil entirely and to whom the Torah was transmitted — they surrender themselves (מוֹסְרִים נַפְשָׁם) for Israel, as explained in the teaching above. And this is the aspect of "by oral tradition" — through the Tzaddikim who have self-surrender (מְסִירוּת נֶפֶשׁ) for Israel, to whom the Oral Torah was transmitted. For in truth the essential rectification and clarification of our eating is only through these Tzaddikim who surrender themselves for Israel — for at the time of eating we must clarify the good from the evil, and we have no power for this ourselves. And the essential nature of their self-surrender is to rectify Israel: to push evil from them and bind them to the good — this is the essential love and compassion the Tzaddik has for Israel. And therefore only through the power of the Tzaddik can we eat in kashrus — clarifying the good from the evil, the pure from the impure — which is the aspect of the kosher bird, the aspect of "the bird of the heavens," as is known. And therefore our Sages said: an am haaretz (one unattached to Torah scholars) is forbidden to eat meat — for the essential and greatest clarification is in living creatures, which have vitality and souls. And one certainly cannot eat meat except through attachment to the Tzaddikim, through whom we have the power to clarify. And an am haaretz is one not attached to Tzaddikim and Sages — as our Sages said: "who is an am haaretz? Even if he read Scripture and studied Mishnah but did not serve Torah scholars — he is an am haaretz." Meaning: one who does not serve Torah scholars to know their thinking and reasoning — as Rashi explains, "serving Torah scholars" means Gemara, that is, the reasons and logic of the Mishnah which one merits receiving from one's teacher through service. And so in every generation we must serve the true Torah scholars who are the true Tzaddikim, to know their thinking and reasoning: how to conduct oneself in every matter. And through attachment to the true Tzaddikim we have the power to clarify. But an am haaretz not attached to a true Torah scholar is forbidden to eat meat — for in meat from a living creature there are many souls and sparks requiring clarification, and there is no power to clarify them except through the true Tzaddik. Blessed be Hashem forever, amen and amen.

Through this — through the Torah and prayer, which accord with the boldness of each one — the elder who sits in the academy knows how to rebuke each individual and opens his mouth with wisdom, in the aspect of "her mouth she opens with wisdom" (piha patscha b'chochma), etc. For all the configurations of the beard are around the holy mouth, and the revelation of the holy conduits of wisdom of the holy beard — the aspect of an elder who sits in the academy (zaken v'yoshev b'yeshiva) — is revealed only through the holy mouth, for that is where the essential revelation of all the wisdom drawn through the conduits of the hairs of the pe'os and the beard issues forth. And through the revelation of this wisdom of rebuke, Chesed is drawn — through which Malchus is elevated from the exile of the Four Kingdoms and elevated to the light of the Countenance that shines at the Three Festivals. This is the aspect of Malchus ascending to the holy beard, which is the light of the Countenance.

For the comprehension of His divinity — which is the revelation of His kingdom — comes through many contractions. Each contraction is the aspect of Malchus from a higher world and level — for the Lower Wisdom, the aspect of Malchus in the world of Atzilus, is far higher than the Supernal Wisdom in the world of Beriah. And when one needs to elevate Malchus-Lower Wisdom from its exile, one must awaken and draw radiance from the root of Malchus — from the aspect of Malchus-Lower Wisdom in the root of the supernal worlds. And through this you will understand and discern somewhat a few allusions in the said discourse — for the elevation of Malchus, the said aspect of "four," comes through prayer, which is the root of Malchus — the aspect of Mashiach, who is the root of Malchus, as is explained elsewhere. Therefore the essential rectification of the elevation of Malchus is through the holy beard, which is the aspect of the light of the Countenance. For the holy beard too is drawn from contractions, from the aspect of Malchus in the very highest and lofty worlds, as is explained in the Eitz Chaim — that the lights of the beard are drawn from the two pe'os, which are the aspect of Elokim in gematria equaling pe'ah, the aspect of Malchus, as is explained there. Understand this well.

Therefore the Three Festivals essentially depend on the sages of the generation, who are the elders of the generation, as our Sages of blessed memory said: "Which you shall call them at their appointed times" (asher tikre'u osam b'moadam) — "you," even in error, etc. For the elevation of Malchus at the Festivals to the light of the Countenance depends specifically on the elders, for the elder is the aspect of the light of the Countenance, as mentioned.

For the elders and sages know how to guard the month of Spring so that it falls in its proper time — and they intercalate years and sanctify months, upon which the rectification of all the mo'adim (festivals) depends. For the months are twelve, and their totality is thirteen — this is the aspect of the secret of the leap year (sod ha-ibbur), which is the thirteenth month. These thirteen heads of months are the rectifications of Malchus, which is the aspect of the moon, for the months are counted according to the moon. And they are drawn from the thirteen configurations of the beard — for the essential elevation of Malchus is through the thirteen configurations of the beard, which are the aspect of the light of the Countenance shining at the Three Festivals, as mentioned.