מאכלי עכו"ם ג

And this is the entire service of a person in this world: to always seek in all matters in the world the face and the essence, which is the truth — which is Hashem the Blessed, who is the very substance of truth, and He is one and there is no second, and He is the root and source of all worlds, and He created everything, and He enlivens and sustains at every moment all things in the world. And He is the essential face of all things in the world, for they all receive their vitality from Hashem the Blessed, who is the aspect of their face and their essence, as mentioned. For every person must always seek the face of Hashem, as it is written (Tehillim 105:4): "Seek His face always" (bakshu fanav tamid), and it is written: "To You my heart said: seek My face, etc." (lecha amar libi bakshu fanai). And it is written: "This is the generation of those who seek Him, those who seek Your face, Yaakov, selah" (zeh dor dorshav mevakshei fanecha Yaakov selah).

All the prohibitions in the Torah are in the dimension of fallen letters — letters that have fallen and descended very far below until they have come into the depths of the klippos [husks] and from them has been made the prohibition, which is the dimension of the universal evil [ra ha-kolel] — the dimension of the seventy languages of the seventy nations. For all the prohibitions come from there: from the fall of the kingship [malkus], in the dimension of the fallen Sukkah of David, in the dimension of the falling sickness [choli nofel], God have mercy. For the malkus — the mouth — in its completeness is the dimension of the Holy Tongue [lashon ha-kodesh], the dimension of the woman Chavah, as is explained elsewhere. And her fall, God forbid, is through the strengthening of the blood — the universal evil — the seventy languages that oppose the Holy Tongue.

For truth is the aspect of the face of Hashem — for one who merits to know the truth as it truly is: that Hashem the Blessed created everything from nothing, enlivens and sustains everything according to His will, and watches over all with individual Divine Providence — this true knowledge is the aspect of the illumination of the face of Hashem, for truth is the face of all faces, as mentioned. That is, when one knows the truth — this is the essential aspect of the illumination of the face. As an analogy in physical terms: with a king of flesh and blood, as long as the king is hidden in his chambers and one does not merit to see him, this is the aspect of the concealment of the face. And when he reveals himself to his people and they see him, this is the aspect of the illumination of the face — he shows them his face, which was hidden from them until now. Likewise, so to speak, with Hashem the Blessed — Blessed is He, King of kings, the Holy One Blessed Be He — Whom it is impossible to see with physical eyes, and even with the eyes of the intellect only each according to what he can gauge in his heart, as appears in the holy Zohar and is mentioned in our words many times. When Hashem the Blessed helps a person and the knowledge of His truth sparkles in that person's mind — this is the aspect of the illumination of the face. And for this we pray always: "May He illuminate His face for us, selah" (ya'er panav itanu selah). "Illuminate Your face upon Your servant, etc." (ha'irah panecha al avdecha). "Your face illuminate upon Your servant" (panecha ha'er b'avdecha). And the Kohanim were commanded to bless Israel with this blessing, as it is written: "May Hashem illuminate His face toward you, etc." (ya'er Hashem panav elecha). For this is the essential — to merit the illumination of the face of Hashem, i.e., that the truth of His divinity should shine in one's mind — for this is the essential light of the face. For truth is the face, as mentioned.

But the essential light of the face cannot be received except through Emunah. For the very face itself — which is truth — i.e., the knowledge of the true reality of His divinity, cannot be received due to the overwhelming abundance of light. For if His truth were revealed openly to the eyes of all, the world would become nullified in existence — for even sunlight cannot be looked at by people due to the abundance of light. How much more so — infinitely more so — this great and awesome light. Therefore Hashem the Blessed in His mercy, desiring the existence of the world, contracted and concealed the light of truth, the light of the face, in the aspect of "truly You are a God who hides Himself" (achen atah El mistater). And specifically through the many contractions can one know something of His truth — for He contracted the truth with wondrous wisdom, through many varied contractions, in wondrous and awesome ways, until the attribute of Emunah came into being. Through His wondrous wisdom He caused the attribute of holy Emunah to shine in the person — there is an impression in the soul of the person from the truth of His divinity, through which one has the power to believe in the truth even though one does not yet see the truth in one's mind.

And Emunah is the essential knowledge, in the aspect of "I will betroth you to Me in Emunah, and you shall know Hashem" (v'erasich li b'emunah v'yada'at es Hashem) — Emunah is the essential knowledge. As we see even in physical terms, the essential clear knowledge is through Emunah specifically — what one person believes from another. And the world cannot exist without Emunah — what one person is compelled to believe from another. For without Emunah no business transaction or commerce can be sustained. As an analogy: when one wishes to know the price of some commodity in distant places — for instance, the price of wheat in Odessa or Istanbul or even more distant places — if he refuses to rely on any person's word whatsoever, he will certainly never know the price. For even if he were the greatest of all wise men and investigated through his analysis with many brilliant speculative theories and philosophies — now it seems the price ought to be high — even so, this knowledge based on speculative theories is no knowledge at all. For we have seen many times that the reasoning suggested the wheat price should be high, yet the price was very low, and so with all goods and commerce — knowledge based on reasoning and speculation is no knowledge at all.

For all the nullification [bitul] is only for the sake of the taste [taam] — as the halachic authorities bring, for taste is like the essence by Torah law [taam k'ikar d'orayta], for the essential quality of a food is its taste as it is perceived. And therefore it is called "taste" — literally also a word for speech [taam] — as it says of Avigail: "and blessed is your taste" [I Samuel 25:33]. For the essential life and sustenance of food is from the letters of speech of the Holy Tongue that have fallen there as mentioned. And from there comes the taste of the food — which is the inwardness and essence of the food — which is the dimension of actual taste, the dimension of the letters of speech. And this is [Iyov 12:11]: "does not the ear test words, and the palate taste its food?" — for they are one dimension as explained. But where there is no taste — such as dry-against-dry [yaveis b'yaveis] — it is nullified in a simple majority, for "after the majority you shall incline" is written — literally "incline" — for there is power in the majority to actually incline and nullify the prohibition, as is brought in Rabbainu's words of blessed memory [Siman 181]. For when souls gather together as a majority against one individual, there is power to overcome that individual and cast him down. Therefore when the majority of the permitted outweighs the forbidden, there is power in those souls present in the majority of the permitted to overcome the soul of the forbidden and nullify it entirely. And all nullifications occur only when the forbidden is not recognizable — but when the forbidden is recognizable, it cannot be nullified at all. For the nullification of all forbidden things is an actual nullification — that is, the forbidden thing is truly nullified and the prohibited souls are elevated and rectified through the power of the permitted majority. And because of this, Israel is distinguished through mitzvos — so that they should not become mixed among the nations, God forbid. Therefore God, blessed be He, cautioned them that when they go into exile among the seventy nations, they should be distinguished through mitzvos — as our Rabbis of blessed memory said on the verse "go forth in the footsteps of the flock" [Song of Songs 1:8], citing the verse "set up for yourself signposts" [Jeremiah 31:20] — for the mitzvos are actual signposts [tziyunim] — markers and signs so that they should be recognized as the blessed seed of God — "all who see them will recognize them, that they are the seed whom God has blessed" [Isaiah 61:9] — so that all workers of iniquity will be separated from them and their eyes will have no power over them. And this is why our Rabbis of blessed memory forbade many things solely because of maaris ha-ayin [the appearance of wrongdoing] — even though they involve no legal prohibition — for since the eye perceives it as a prohibition, it becomes forbidden, for the evil eye [ayin hora] takes hold of it as explained. And therefore it is forbidden even in inner chambers — as our Rabbis of blessed memory said: anything they forbade because of maaris ha-ayin is forbidden even in inner chambers — for the klipah that is the prohibition rules over it since it is in the dimension of the evil eye. And therefore there are important things that cannot be nullified because of their importance [chashivus] — such as a significant cut of meat fit to be honoured [chaticha ha-reuyah l'hiskaved]. For all souls are rooted in honour [kavod]. And therefore the nullification of all prohibitions comes through the dimension of honour — through the gathering of the portions of honour of the souls within the majority of the permitted. For this is the dimension of nullification through majority mentioned above: that the majority is able to overcome the individual through the gathering of the portions of honour — for there is the root of the souls. And this is also the power of nullification through the dimension of the completeness of the Holy Tongue — for there all the souls are rooted. And therefore nullification through majority only works when the forbidden is wandering and moving [na v'nad] — but when it is fixed in its place, it cannot be nullified — as our Rabbis of blessed memory said: "a fixed thing is like half and half" [kol kavu'a k'mechtza al mechtza dami]. For when it is fixed in its place it is very strong — as is said: "Moav has been at ease from its youth and has not gone into exile — therefore his taste has remained in him" [Jeremiah 48:11]. For the essential subjugation of evil is through the dimension of "a wanderer and a fugitive you shall be on the earth" — for when the evil wanders it is weakened and can be overpowered. And this is the dimension of: doubt in Torah law [safek d'orayta] is treated strictly [l'chumra]; doubt in Rabbinic law [safek d'rabbanan] is treated leniently [l'kula]; and a double doubt [safek sefeika], even in Torah law, is treated leniently. For all the prohibitions are in the dimension of the universal evil as mentioned above. But the permitted [heter] is from the dimension of Targum [Aramaic translation] — from the dimension of nogah — which is also mixed good and evil but since the good outweighs the evil it is permitted. And the prohibited things are the opposite: there the evil is primary and the good is very little. And Torah-level prohibitions are severe prohibitions — for they come from the dimension of the pure evil side — where that evil is primary and cannot be easily overpowered. And Rabbinic prohibitions are somewhat lighter — they come from a lesser evil — and therefore a doubt in them can be treated leniently. And a double doubt — even in Torah law — equals a Rabbinic doubt, for the doubt of a doubt has weakened the grip of evil to the level of a Rabbinic prohibition.

Rather, whoever wishes to know the price of some commodity clearly must rely on a trustworthy person — he must choose a trustworthy person fit to rely upon, one he knows truly loves him and is faithful. And when this truly trustworthy person writes to him the price of some commodity and the like, this knowledge is certain and beyond doubt — even though he understands by his own reasoning no theory or logic why the price should now be such. On the contrary, the logic might suggest the opposite — even so, he knows with clear and true knowledge that the price is such, through Emunah: he believes his trustworthy friend, who certainly would not deceive him and certainly writes him the truth. It follows that the essential clear knowledge comes through Emunah — for the world cannot exist without Emunah. For all commerce and business dealings in the world and all social interaction among people cannot be sustained without Emunah. For even if a person were the greatest of all wise men, if he wished not to conduct any business until he understood the nature of the transaction through his own wisdom, and not give anything from his hand to his colleague because he does not believe him — he certainly could not conduct any business or commerce whatsoever. For all transactions and commerce must be concluded through the gathering of a number of people, and one must necessarily believe another, and without this no transaction and no commerce can be concluded, as is known and clear from experience.

Only, each person must seek a trustworthy person to whom to give his trust — but in any case, without giving some person trust, he cannot conduct commerce and business, especially large-scale and long-distance transactions. And all the trust between one person and another all derives from the power of the holy Emunah — to believe in Hashem the Blessed, in His tzaddikim, and in His holy Torah. For Hashem the Blessed created in the person the power of Emunah, that he should have the power and free choice to believe in the truth. And from there the Emunah and trustworthiness between one person and another — which is the sustenance of the world — derived and spread.