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Psalm 59 · פרק נט

On the verse nafshi b'chapi tamid v'sorasecha lo shachachti [my soul is in my palm continually and Your Torah I have not forgotten] — from the topic of clapping the hands (mechias kapayim). See there in Likutay [Moharan] I, Siman 46. For there are three hands: the great hand (yad hagedolah) which is the right hand, and the strong hand (yad hachazakah) which is the left hand, and when the hands are joined together the aspect of the raised hand (yad haramah) is made. And each hand is the aspect of the Name Havayah blessed-be-He — Yud letters and Vav Dalet letters etc. And these three Havayahs sweeten the three Elokim that are in the throat (garon) etc.

And therefore when one strikes palm against palm (makeh kaf el kaf) during prayer, through this a great rectification is made, the aspect of sweetening the judgments (hamtakas hadinim). For speech issues from the throat, which is the aspect of the three Elokim, the aspect of judgments. And through the arousal of the hands, striking palm against palm, through this the aspect of the three aforementioned hands is aroused, which are the aspect of the three Havayahs, and they sweeten the three Elokim in the throat from which speech issues, as mentioned. And this is: nafshi b'chapi tamid v'sorasecha lo shachachti — the initial letters of v'sorasecha lo shachachti spell shalay"v [shin-lamed-vav], which is the gematria of three Havayahs and three Elokim, as is brought in the holy writings on the verse shalev hayisi [I was at ease] etc. See there all this well.

And all the Torah depends on this. For the general principle of the commandments of the Torah is to sweeten the judgments, for all the grasp of the sitra achra and the evil inclination is from the judgments, as is known, for they are gripped from the left side. And all the Torah and commandments are to nullify the grip of the judgments, to sweeten the judgment gripped on the left and to include the left within the right (l'achlala smala biyamina), as is known. And this is the aspect of Terumos uMa'asros: that one must first give Terumah to the Kohen, and afterward Ma'aser to the Levi, and afterward return and give terumas ma'aser to the Kohen. For the giving is through the hands, the aspect of charity (tzedakah), the aspect of pasoch tiftach es yadcha lo [you shall surely open your hand to him]. And through giving these three gifts — Terumah, Ma'aser, and terumas ma'aser — through this the aspect of the aforementioned three hands is rectified. For Terumah to the Kohen is the aspect of the right hand, which is kindness (chesed), the aspect of the Kohen, man of kindness (ish hachesed). And afterward Ma'aser to the Levi is the aspect of the left hand, which is the side of the Levi, the aspect of the holy left (smol dikdushah), as is known. And afterward the Levites must return and give terumas ma'aser to the Kohen, so that the left be included within the right — this being the essential rectification of the sweetening, the aspect of the joining of the hands. It turns out that through these three gifts the aspect of the three aforementioned hands is made and rectified, and they sweeten the three Elokim in the aforementioned throat, from which all the judgments come — which we need to sweeten from the grain, to take it out from the curse of the first Adam, for whose sake the earth was cursed. And all the grip of the curses is from the judgments in the throat, as mentioned. And therefore the essential curse was in the matter of eating, as it is written: b'itzavon tochlanah b'zei'as apecha tochal lechem [in toil you shall eat it, in the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread] etc., for eating is the satiation of the throat. And Yisrael must, before eating the bread that comes from the grain, sweeten the judgments in the throat where the eating and satiation are, through the three aforementioned hands. Therefore one must give Terumah and Ma'aser etc. And therefore this parshah of giving Terumah and Ma'aser and all the priestly gifts was juxtaposed to the parshah of Korach. For this was the essential blemish of Korach: that he disputed against Aharon the Kohen and sought to interchange the left for the right (ba'a l'achlafa smala l'yamina), as is stated in the holy Zohar. For Aharon was the Kohen, man of kindness, the aspect of the right, and Korach was a Levi, the aspect of the left. And his entire rectification was that he should be included within Aharon the Kohen, the aspect of the right — this being the aspect of the principle of all rectifications, for the rectification of all the worlds depends on this, as mentioned. And Korach in his arrogance (gasuso) wished to overpower Aharon, to strengthen the left over the right, heaven forbid. And therefore he was denying the entire Torah, for all the Torah depends on this: to include the left within the right. And he wished to do the opposite, heaven forbid. Therefore after the parshah of Korach comes the aforementioned parshah of Terumah etc., for through this the aspect of the three aforementioned hands is rectified, through which all the judgments are sweetened and the left is included within the right. This is the aspect of the rectification of all the worlds, the general principle of the entire Torah — which is the opposite of the blemish of Korach, as mentioned. And this is what the Torah was precise about in the parshah of Terumos: kadagan min hagoren v'chamelea min hayekev [like grain from the threshing floor and like the fullness from the wine vat]. Goren [threshing floor] and yekev [wine vat] allude to the aforementioned rectification: that the Elokim of the garon [throat] are sweetened through the Name Havayah blessed-be-He as mentioned. Goren is the aspect of the garon [throat] as mentioned, which is sweetened through the Name Havayah as mentioned — this being the aspect of yekev, which are the letters of yibuk as brought in the holy writings, which in gematria equals Havayah Elokim, as is known. That is, the Name Havayah sweetens the judgments of the Name Elokim — this being the aspect of shalay"v as mentioned, which is three times yibuk, that is, three times Havayah and three times Elokim. And the root of the sweetening is the Name yibuk which is Havayah Elokim, the aspect of yekev which sweetens the aspect of goren, as mentioned. And this is the greatness of the virtue of the commandment of charity (mitzvas tzedakah) which is equal in weight to the entire Torah. And the essential of charity is to give to a worthy poor person (ani hagun). For money is the aspect of the left, as it is written: bismo'lah osher v'chavod [in its left hand are riches and honor]. And when one gives one's money, which is the aspect of the left, to the true tzaddik who serves Hashem in truth and who is entirely right (yamim), the aspect of orech yamim bimina [length of days in its right hand] — through this the left is included within the right, which is the principle of all rectifications, as mentioned. Therefore the essential is to give charity with this intention, in order to draw close and connect to the true tzaddikim who are in the aspect of entirely right (kuloh yamina). For the greater the tzaddik, the more he is included within the right. Until there are b'nay aliyah tzaddikim [elite souls who rise] who attain the Torah of Atika Stima'a [the Concealed Ancient One] and are included therein, where all is right (kuloh yamina) and there is no left there, as is stated in the holy Zohar. And when one gives charity to tzaddikim such as these and to those who cleave to them, and all one's intention is truly for the sake of the fulfillment of the Torah in order to be included within the right — through this one makes a great rectification and it is accounted as if one fulfilled the entire Torah. For through one's money, which is the aspect of the left, the aspect of the right is included with it — which is the principle of all rectifications, as mentioned. And this is the aspect of shitachti aylecha kapai [I have spread my palms toward You], the aspect of parassti yadai aylecha [I have spread my hands toward You] etc., the aspect of nisa levavenu el kapayim el Kel bashamayim [let us lift our hearts with our hands to G-d in the heavens]. For one who is in whatever situation he is in, when he knows no counsel or strategy as to how to draw close to Hashem blessed-be-He from such a place — from there he must lift his hands to Hashem blessed-be-He in the aspect of parassti yadai etc., showing the intensity of his yearning for Him blessed-be-He with utter self-annihilation (b'chlos hanefesh). For through lifting his hands to Hashem blessed-be-He, which contain right and left, through this he includes everything within the right through the intensity of his yearning with utter self-annihilation in the raising of his hands to Hashem blessed-be-He, longing toward the true ultimate end where all is right — this being the essential ultimate end, in the aspect of v'ta'amod l'goralcha l'ketz hayamin [and you shall stand for your lot at the end of days — rendered as "the right end"] (Daniel 12:13). And therefore through this one can be included within the right from whatever place he is in. For the entire sum of a person's deeds for good or for the opposite depends on the hands, which are the instruments of action (clay ha'asiyah). And when he raises them to Hashem blessed-be-He with great longing as mentioned, he includes the entire world of action (olam ha'asiyah), which is the aspect of the hands, higher and higher. For the will and the longing in the raising and lifting of the hands is without limit. And therefore through this he will merit to return to the ultimate end, which is all right (kuloh yamina), as mentioned. And therefore when the congregation of Korach sinned against Moshe and Aharon, who are the aspect of the true tzaddikim in every generation, they said: lo na'aleh [we will not go up]. And Rashi explains: their mouths tripped them up, for they have nothing but descent. For up and down, which are heaven and earth, are the aspects of right and left, as it is written: af yadi yasdah aretz vimini tipchah shamayim [indeed My hand founded the earth and My right hand spread out the heavens] (Yeshayahu 48:13). And all the service of a person in this world is to raise the earth and all that is in it higher and higher — this being the aspect of the elevation of the worlds that is brought about through a person's service, as is known. This is the aspect of the greatness of Moshe, of whom it is written: mi alah shamayim etc., mi hekim kol afsei aretz [who has ascended to heaven... who has established all the ends of the earth] (Mishlai 30:4) — for Moshe was able to ascend to the heavens etc. until he raised and elevated all the ends of the earth, for he raised the earth to the heavens, including the lower world within the upper one. This is the aspect of including the left within the right, as mentioned. But Korach and his congregation, who wished to strengthen the left over the right, heaven forbid, therefore said lo na'aleh, for they did not wish to raise the lower to include it within the upper, as mentioned. And therefore their punishment was measure for measure: they descended to the depths of the earth, for the earth swallowed them and they went down alive to Sheol, to the very lowest depths of the earth. For since they did not wish for ascent, to raise the earth to the heavens — which is the aspect of including the left within the right — therefore they descended lower and lower in accordance with their measure, as mentioned. And therefore the rectification of Korach is through Shmu'el HaRamasi, who descended from Elkana, of whom it is written: v'alah ha'ish hahu [and that man would go up] etc. And likewise Shmu'el is named after Ramah [the height], as it is written: u'teshuvaso haramasah [and his return was to Ramah] (Shmu'el I, 7:17). For Shmu'el merited to ascend from earth to the heavens as mentioned, for he was a Levi, the aspect of the left, and he performed his service completely until he was included in the aspect of entirely right (kuloh yamim), which is the aspect of ascending from earth to the heavens, as mentioned. And therefore through him the congregation of Korach will be rectified, in the aspect of Hashem mamis u'mechayeh morid she'ol vaya'al [Hashem kills and gives life, brings down to Sheol and raises up] (Shmu'el I, 2:6) — which Chanah declared when she merited that Shmu'el was born, as is brought regarding this, and as mentioned. And therefore it is called by the name Terumah, and likewise all the twenty-four priestly gifts (esrim v'arba matanos kehunah) are called by the name Terumah, as it is written at the beginning of the parshah regarding the twenty-four priestly gifts: va'ani hinay nasati lecha es mishmeres terumosai l'chol kadshay vnay Yisrael [and I, behold I have given you the charge of My heave-offerings, of all the holy things of the children of Israel] etc. — see that he called all the gifts by the name Terumah. For all the priestly gifts are the aspect of Terumah, for through them one raises (merimim) the entire world upward, through the left being included within the right through the giving to the Kohen, who is the aspect of the right, as mentioned. And therefore the measure of Terumah is one from fifty (echad mei'chamishim). For it is explained in the topic of clapping the hands (in Likutay [Moharan] I, Siman 45) that through clapping the hands, the hands are included within each other — the five fingers of the right within the left and the left within the right — and through this the aspect of the fifty gates of Binah is aroused etc. And therefore the giving of Terumah, through which the hands are included, left within right, as mentioned, is therefore one from fifty, as mentioned. And this is the aspect of Ma'aser corresponding to the ten fingers of the two hands, which correspond to the ten commandments in the bread etc., as is brought.