חוקות העכו"ם ב

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And this is the aspect of: "Comfort, comfort My people" etc. [Isaiah 40:1] — for the essential comfort is the holy Torah and the true tzaddikim of every generation. For the essential comfort in all this bitter and long exile is the holy Torah — as it says: "this is my comfort in my affliction, for Your word has given me life" [Psalms 119:50]. But not every person merits to receive good counsel from the Torah properly in every time — for he did not merit etc. Therefore all need the mari chitaya [the giver of wheat] — which is the true tzadik who explains and forms the light of Torah for good — in the aspect of: "behold, I have taken the blessing" etc. [Numbers 23:20] and as above. And this is the essential foundation of our hope and our comfort in every kind of exile — general and particular, physical and spiritual — in the aspect of [Genesis 5:29]: "this one will comfort us from our work and from the toil of our hands." "This one" [ze] — this is the aspect of the true tzadik, who is called ze [this one] — in the aspect of "for this is the whole of man" [Ecclesiastes 12:13] — for the entire world was created only for the sake of ze, and "be commanded to this one" and "this one is equal" etc., as our Sages of blessed memory said. And this: "comfort, comfort My people" — double comfort — for we need specifically double comforts, the aspect of nachamu nachamu: the comforts of the Torah — the aspect of "this is my comfort in my affliction" etc. But from the Torah it is impossible to receive and suckle on one's own as is fitting — for he did not merit etc. — for he may, G-d forbid, form the light of Torah in the opposite direction, as above. Therefore we need yet another comfort upon comfort: which is the power of the true tzaddikim who explain and form for us the light of Torah for good and for blessing — and influence and teach us to receive truly good counsel from the Torah for life and for good and not for death and for evil, G-d forbid. And this is the essential comfort — the aspect of "this one will comfort us from our work" etc., as above. And this: "comfort, comfort" as above. And this is: "says your G-d" [Isaiah 40:1] — speaking in a whisper [amira b'chashai] — (as our Master, our Teacher, and our Rebbe, of blessed memory, explained this for its application elsewhere, in Likutay I:21). This is the aspect of the simple light descending from above before the formation — which is the aspect of speaking in a whisper and in secret — for before the revelation and the formation it is in the aspect of silence and secret. "Your G-d" — this is the aspect of the forming of the light for good — for Elokim is the aspect of Malchus [Kingship], the aspect of the drawing and revelation of His G-dliness and Lordship to the lower worlds — which is the essential aspect of the Name Elokim, as is known. And therefore Moshe Rabbeinu — who is the essential totality of the Torah — lived 120 years corresponding to the 120 permutations of Elokim, which are the aspects of the explanations and permutations of the light of Torah. And similarly several holy tzaddikim who drew the Torah into the world each lived 120 years — namely Hillel HaNasi, and Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai etc. — all corresponding to the 120 permutations of Elokim — (as brought in the writings of the holy Ari, of blessed memory) — in order that they might explain and permute for us the letters of the Torah for good, as above. For this is the essential comfort, as above. And this is: "comfort, comfort My people, says your G-d" as above. And this is: "speak to the heart of Jerusalem" [Isaiah 40:2] — specifically al lev [to the heart] — for the essential forming of the light is in the aspect of the heart, which is the aspect of Binah l'leva [Understanding to the heart] — where the essential forming of the light occurs, which is the aspect of tzayray [the vowel] — for the heart is the throne of Binah, where the Name Havaya is vowelized with tzayray, as is known. And this is the aspect of: "and you shall know today and return it to your heart" etc. [Deuteronomy 4:39] — for one must draw the light of knowledge, which is the light of Torah, to the heart — to form it for good. For this is the essential point as above. And this is what is immediately followed by: "a voice calls in the wilderness: prepare the way of Hashem — make straight in the plain a highway for our G-d" etc. "and the crooked shall become straight" etc. [Isaiah 40:3-4]. For through forming the light for good — through the true tzaddikim — through this all paths to Hashem, may He be blessed, are made straight in every place. Even in places that were a desolate wilderness — and all the straight paths are straightened, and all the ruined, crooked, and tortuous paths etc. — all of which are drawn from those who invert the paths of uprightness and who invert the truth until the straight paths are ruined and become a desolate wilderness, and ruined and confused paths are drawn forth greatly. But now through the true tzaddikim who form the light for good — through this all paths to Hashem, may He be blessed, are rectified, in the aspect of: "a voice calls in the wilderness: prepare the way of Hashem" etc. For all this is drawn from the sparkling of the light of Mashiach drawn in every generation — through which our essential sustenance in exile comes, as above. Then will be fulfilled: "I will give them one heart and one way to fear Me all the days" — speedily in our days, Amen. [This connects to the above:] And this is the aspect of [Psalms 84:6]: "fortunate is the man whose strength is in You — in whose heart are the highways." For one needs intense strength [oz] and great fortitude and strengthening in this world — throughout the numbered days of his life of vanity — to stand against all the rebuffs etc. with which the adversary wishes to push him away, G-d forbid, at every time — G-d have mercy — and mainly through his false rationalizations, through which he forms the light in the opposite direction, G-d forbid, as above. And this is the aspect of: "let us search our ways and examine them" etc. — for one must at every time search and examine and seek counsel for how to escape his vanities and draw close to Hashem, may He be blessed — and at the very least, that one should not fall further, Heaven forbid, through his rebuffs which are clothed in mitzvos, saying to him: look at the depth of your materialism and your many blemishes etc. — and why are you still striving and hoping to draw close?! For all this and the like is drawn from the klipah [shell] and the sitra achra — and mainly from the aspect of the klipah of Bilam, who wishes to form the light of Torah in the opposite direction from the truth. And the essential source of his strengthening is through his great defilement that he draws, G-d forbid — which is the lust of immorality that is drawn from him — spreading at length and breadth in this lust and in these thoughts in many aspects. And not content with this — he also wishes through this to form the light in the opposite direction and to cast the person down entirely into the pit of destruction, G-d forbid — as many have already stumbled and fallen through such thoughts, G-d have mercy — therefore one needs intense strength and fortitude against him beyond measure. And this: "fortunate is the man whose oze [strength] is in You — m'silos bi'lvavam" — the initial letters [oz lo bach m'silos b'levavam] form the acronym Bil'am [ב-ל-ע-ם] — for against the klipah of Bilam one needs intense strength and great fortitude, as above.

And therefore the waters of the mikveh only purify when they are on the ground specifically. For the essential [power of] the mikveh is in the aspect of mah, the aspect of lowliness, as mentioned. Therefore they must be within the earth specifically — which is the aspect of lowliness. For "waters only flow to the low" — namely to one who is humble and lowly. For the waters are the aspect of Da'as, as mentioned — and the essential Da'as comes from the aspect of mah, which is the aspect of lowliness. Therefore they only flow to the low. And this is what the Sages of blessed memory compared the Torah — which is Da'as — to waters in regard to lowliness, and said: "mah mayim ein yordin ela el ha-namuch — af divrei Torah" etc. ("just as water only flows to the low — so too words of Torah") etc. — as mentioned. For in truth they are all one. For the waters — which are the aspect of Da'as, the aspect of Torah — only flow and go to the low: to one who is low in one's own eyes, in the aspect of mah. For the essential Da'as is the aspect of mah, as mentioned.

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And this is the aspect of "la-Hashem ha-aretz u-melo'ah" brought in the said discourse: "la-Hashem ha-aretz" specifically — that is, one who makes himself like dust and earth — it is specifically one who is connected to Hashem, the aspect of mah, Adam, Da'as, as mentioned. Then one is "u-melo'ah" — in fullness and completeness, etc., as explained there. And this is the aspect of "melo kol ha-aretz kevodo" ("the whole earth is full of His glory") — "melo kol ha-aretz" specifically: one who is like earth and dust — it is specifically one who is full of His glory, blessed be He, in the aspect of "eshkon es dach" etc. ("I dwell with the contrite"). For when one has pride, God forbid, Hashem the Blessed is not with one — for "ein ani v'hu yekholin la-dur" ("I and he cannot dwell together"), as the Sages of blessed memory said (Sotah 4). And therefore the waters of the mikveh only purify when on the ground specifically — for the essential purification [comes] through the aspect of mah, the aspect of lowliness, the aspect of earth, as mentioned.