גילוח א

And this is the aspect of the Three Festivals — for then is her ascent to the light of the Countenance. Therefore they are called by the name of "feet" (raglin), for the essential ascent [of Malchus] is through the aspect of feet, as mentioned. And this is the aspect of the Three Festivals — for the totality of the feet is three, the aspect of Netzach, Hod, Yesod. That is: through the going up on the pilgrimage festival (aliyah l'regel) by walking with one's feet, through this very walking of the feet one rises to the aspect of the feet — which is the aspect of rebuke. For through the pilgrimage festival there was a great arousal to the service of Hashem the Blessed — for they would arouse one another through their very journeying. As we find regarding Elkanah, of whom it is written: "va-ya'al ha-ish ha-hu mei-iro mi-yamim yamimah" ("and that man went up from his city year by year"). And the Sages of blessed memory said: the road by which he went up one year he would not go up the next, in order to arouse the world and rebuke them to make the pilgrimage. And through this — that they were walking to make the pilgrimage, which is the aspect of rebuke as mentioned — through this Chesed is revealed, as mentioned.

And this is the aspect of the exceedingly severe prohibition of ribbis — for in truth Israel is a holy people, bound to the seventy radiant countenances — which are the aspect of the seventy souls of the house of Yaakov and so on. And the nations are the seventy peoples, and they are bound to the seventy darkened countenances — which is idolatry, death, and darkness and so on. It follows that Israel is at its root entirely remote from the lust for money, which is idolatry. And therefore Israel is at its root far from loans and debts — as it is said: "and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow... and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you" (Devarim 15:6) — for debts and loans are the essential domain of the lust for money, which is idolatry and so on. As is understood from the end of the aforementioned teaching, regarding the statement: v'talu pitka b'tzavaraihu ("and they had hung a note around their necks") and so on — for idolatry is called chovah (obligation/debt) and so on. And all who cleave to it are perpetually debtors and so on — for the lust for money comes from having no faith and trust in the Blessed Lord — that He can arrange a person's livelihood through a simple means, without great effort. And on account of this one perpetually runs after one's livelihood with great exertions and so on, and one is filled with sadness and worries and melancholy, and borrows much money from others — because one does not believe that the Blessed Lord will arrange one's livelihood in its time without great effort, through a simple means and so on. And all of this is drawn and held only from the aspect of time (zman) — for the Blessed Lord is above time and place, and Israel arose in thought first, and the Holy One, blessed be He, the Torah, and Israel are all one. And therefore Israel is also above time, and all of Israel's service in this physical world — which is in time and place — is only that they should merit to elevate and connect the aspect of place and time to the aspect of above time and place — that is, to elevate and connect and include all of creation within that which preceded creation. And the essential is emunah (faith) — as it is said: "all Your commandments are faithfulness" (Tehillim 119:86) — for through the faith by which we believe in Him, blessed be He, that He created everything by His will, and all time and place flows from Him, blessed be He, from the aspect of above time and place — through this we elevate and connect place and time to the aspect of above time and place. And then all of creation is in the aspect of above time and place — which is the aspect of Providence (hashgachah). And this is the aspect of bitachon (trust in G-d) — for in truth the essential sadness and worries of livelihood come from lacking trust in the Blessed Lord. And the essential deficiency of bitachon is drawn only from the aspect of time and place — for in truth the Blessed Lord constantly pours forth His good abundance without interruption for even a moment — only when the abundance comes into this physical world, which is in place and time, it must necessarily clothe itself in place and time. And therefore the abundance of livelihood and wealth is not drawn except in a known place and a known time — as one observes tangibly that there are times when a person prospers and times that are the opposite. And so with place: in this place people prosper and in another place it is the opposite. And on account of this the essential worry about livelihood comes from this — that sometimes the flow of one's livelihood is delayed — and so anxiety about livelihood arises in the heart, and one worries what one will eat tomorrow. And on account of this one pursues one's livelihood with great exertions. And in the end one does not achieve one's livelihood except when its time and season comes. And if one had true wisdom and believed in the Blessed Lord that everything is from Him, blessed be He — only one must wait until its time and season comes — one would not have run so intensely after one's livelihood — for the Blessed Lord will give one's livelihood in its time through a simple means — for the person must perform some light action for the sake of livelihood, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said: "and I will bless you in all that you do" (Devarim 15:18) — for it is impossible to draw down abundance in this world except through vessels. And therefore one must perform some business transaction and commerce — for through this one creates vessels and channels to receive the abundance. But in truth the commerce is not the essential thing at all — only the essential livelihood is from the Blessed Lord through His Providence alone — for a person does not know through what he will profit. And therefore it is forbidden for a person to push the moment and pursue livelihood with great exertions — as if, G-d forbid, the livelihood depended on this alone — for on the contrary, through this his livelihood diminishes — for whoever pushes the moment, the moment pushes him. For there is no need to do commerce and business, except to fulfill the commandment of performing commerce in faithfulness — in order to make a vessel and channel to receive the abundance, as above. And whatever one does is sufficient for this. And this is: "and I will bless you in all that you do" — that is: in all that you do, whatever it may be, even something light and small — the Lord will bless you. As one observes tangibly with the majority of people — that many times they run and pursue much over many periods of time and nothing whatsoever of profit rises in their hands. And afterward the Blessed Lord has compassion upon them and arranges for them their livelihood — and sometimes even great wealth — through a very light means, which is almost without any natural path whatsoever. And the whole world is full of such stories — which are very common throughout the world, with almost every single person who engages in commerce. And if one had wisdom and relied at the outset upon the Blessed Lord and had no worry whatsoever — one would not have needed at all those exertions one had undertaken in vain. And when one's time came, the Blessed Lord would have arranged one's livelihood through a simple means, as above. And not only does one not gain at all through one's worry and sadness and great exertions and enormous efforts — on the contrary, one loses the abundant flow of one's livelihood. For in truth the essential flow of livelihood is from above, from the aspect of above time and place — only in this world the livelihood must necessarily clothe itself in place and time. And on account of this one must perform some commerce and transaction for the sake of livelihood — to make a vessel and channel to receive the abundance that descends from above, as above. And when one believes that everything is from above — the time and place become connected to above time and place — and then one has livelihood in abundance — for one is connected to the root of all abundances that flow from above through one's faith and trust in the Lord. But when one runs after one's livelihood with great exertions, one is drawn and connected more to the aspect of place and time — and separates between time and place and the aspect of above time and place. And through this one becomes distant from the root of all abundances. And therefore it is difficult for one to find one's livelihood. And even when one's small livelihood necessarily arrives, it comes only with great and immense exertion — for one has drawn more after the contraction, after place and time, through pursuing one's livelihood with excessive effort. And therefore one's livelihood comes through even greater place and time — that is, through enormous efforts to distant places and over a prolonged stretch of time. And this is: "whoever pushes the moment, the moment pushes him" — and "whoever is pushed aside by the moment, the moment is pushed aside before him" (Eruvin 13b) — for all the more one is drawn after time and pushes the moment, the more one is seized and connected to the aspect of time and place, and becomes more distant from the aspect of above time and place. And on account of this one becomes more distant from the root of all abundances. And therefore the moment pushes him — the moment specifically — because one became more connected to the aspect of moment and time, as above. And therefore one's difficulties increase — for one's livelihood becomes even more distant in time and more distant in place — through running to distant places over a long stretch of time. But one who is pushed aside by the moment and believes that everything is from the Blessed Lord — and when the time comes, one's livelihood will come of itself through a simple means — then one becomes more connected to the aspect of above time and place. And therefore the moment is pushed aside before him — for one merits through this to diminish time and place. And the Blessed Lord sends one's livelihood in little time and from a close place — for one is close to and connected to the aspect of above place and time. And therefore one does not require great exertions for the sake of livelihood — for the essential exertions are drawn from the aspect of place and time, as above. And if a person had very strong bitachon, one would not need to perform any cause whatsoever for the sake of livelihood — for the essential reason one must perform some light cause at least for the sake of livelihood is in order to make a channel and vessel to receive the abundance that descends from above, as above. And if one had strong bitachon, one would make the vessel and channel through the bitachon itself — for through bitachon one creates a vessel to receive the abundance — as our Rebbe, may his memory be a blessing, said elsewhere (LM §76). It follows that the essential blemish of the lust for money — which is idolatry — is only from the aspect of place and time, as above. And therefore the essential blemish of the lust for money is debts and loans — as is alluded to at the end of the aforementioned teaching — that people borrow money from others and die as debtors — for all debts and loans are more seized in time — for one borrows today to repay after a time — for above time there is no relevance to a loan whatsoever. And therefore the Torah cautioned: "if you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, you shall not be to him as a creditor" — for one must have compassion upon this Jew who has been forced to come to a loan — so as not to be upon him as a creditor at all — to elevate him from the aspect of borrower and debtor — for Israel is above time and they are distant at their root from debts and loans entirely — only through the force of exile — in our many sins — the abundance has flowed to the nations, and Israel is nourished from the remnants. Therefore one of them is sometimes compelled to come to a loan — but one must have compassion upon him and elevate him from the aspect of the loan and the debt. And one must appear before him as if he did not borrow from one at all — as is brought in the words of our Sages, of blessed memory: how the lender must distance himself from the borrower, so that it should not seem to the borrower as if he is dunning him — for since one believes in the Blessed Lord who is above time, and the abundance flows from Him alone — it follows that the abundance that will come after a time is already prepared and drawn even now — only one must wait for it to come in its time, as it is said: "the eyes of all look toward You with hope, and You give them their food in its time" (Tehillim 145:15). Therefore what one lends to one's fellow is not a loan at all — only it is as if one exchanges one's abundance that will come after a time with that which the abundance flowed to immediately. And therefore one is not borrowing at all. And therefore the Torah cautioned: "you shall not be to him as a creditor", as above. And this is the very dimension of the immense and severe prohibition of ribbis — as it is said: "you shall not be to him as a creditor, you shall not place upon him neshech..." — for when one wishes to take ribbis from one's fellow, G-d forbid — this is the essential strengthening of the lust for money, which is literal idolatry. For one takes agar natar ("payment for waiting" — the rabbinic definition of the interest prohibition: one is being paid for the mere passage of time) — one takes ribbis for the waiting with one's money for a later time. This is the essential blemish of the idolatry of the lust for money — which attributes everything to time, and does not believe, G-d forbid, that the abundance descends from above, from the aspect of above time. For if one believes in this — one can no longer call it a loan at all. And immediately when one takes ribbis, G-d forbid, for the waiting with one's money to a later time — one is separating and uprooting, G-d forbid, the abundance from the aspect of the root — from the aspect of above time — and becomes bound to idolatry and darkness, in the aspect of death, which is in the aspect of time, as above. And this is: "do not take from him neshech and increase, and your brother shall live with you" (Vayikra 25:36) — "and your brother shall live" specifically — for one must break the lust for money, which is the aspect of the loan, the aspect of ribbis — which is the aspect of idolatry, darkness, death — and only to believe in the Lord that all abundance is from Him, blessed be He. And what one could have profited in this money that one lends to one's fellow — the Blessed Lord will arrange double for one from another source — for "one who lends to the Lord is one who is gracious to the poor" (Mishlei 19:17) and so on. And faith is the light of the countenance, the aspect of life and so on, as above. And this is the aspect of "and your brother shall live with you" — "and shall live" specifically, as above.