שילוח הקן ג

Section 17 — Avraham’s Shoelace: Tzitzis, Tefillin, and Holy Wealth

Based on the teaching in Siman 64 of the first book [Likutay Moharan I:64], on the verse: "The knowledge of secrets belongs to Hashem our God, but the revealed things belong to us and to our children forever, to fulfill all the words of this Torah" [Devarim 29:28]. See the entire teaching there carefully. And the general principle: the essential bechirah [free will/choice] comes through the presence of questions [kushiyos] and contradictions [s'tiros] that are impossible to resolve with human intellect in any manner — such as the contradiction between Divine foreknowledge and human free will, etc. And this is the essential bechirah — that one does not know intellectually how to resolve the question of foreknowledge and free will. For this is the essential concealment [hester panim] that is the foundation of free will. And through this concealment — through the questions and contradictions — all the illumination of bechirah and the rectification of the world come about.

Based on Likutay Moharan I:64 — that the essential bechirah [free will] exists through there being questions and contradictions that are impossible to resolve with human intellect in any way — such as the question of foreknowledge and free will — for this is the essential concealment on which bechirah is founded. For the essential question is: since Hashem, Blessed be He, knows everything from the beginning to the end, how can there be free will? And this question is impossible to resolve with human intellect — for the intellect of a human being cannot grasp Hashem's foreknowledge at all. And therefore, through this very concealment — through the impossibility of resolving this question — free will exists. For if a person could resolve this question intellectually, there would be no free will — for then the person would know with certainty exactly what he must do, and there would be no choice. But through the concealment and the question remaining unresolved — through this free will exists. And the entire creation of the world is for the sake of bechirah — for Hashem, Blessed be He, created the world in order to reveal His Divinity through the bechirah of man. And therefore the essential maintenance of the world is through bechirah — for all births and creations in the world are in the bechina of the birth of mochin [supernal mental lights]. For only for this did Hashem, Blessed be He, create the world — and for this He, Blessed be He, sustains the world — all for the purpose that the mochin and da'as should be revealed — that all should know that Hashem is God. For everything was created with wisdom — as it is written: "How manifold are Your works, Hashem; You made them all with wisdom" [Tehillim 104:24] — and through the revelation of the wisdom and da'as embedded in creation, Hashem's Divinity is revealed to all. And the essential revelation of this da'as is through bechirah — for through the free choice of man, through his toil in Torah and mitzvos and the subduing of his evil inclination — through all this the da'as of Hashem is drawn down and revealed in the world. And this is the essential birth of mochin — which is the essential purpose of creation, as above. And this is the bechina of: "And every firstborn donkey you shall redeem with a sheep" — for even in the birth of pure animals [behemos tehorim] the Sitra Achra has a grip on the birth and rectification is needed — through the sanctity of the firstborn that one gives to the Kohen, as above. All the more so with the births of a donkey, which is an impure species [min tamei] and is called chamor — the bechina of heaviness and materialism of the body [chomer ha'guf] and the bechina of questions and concealments through which free will exists. For the chamor is in the bechina of the question that has no answer — the bechina of concealment — through which the Sitra Achra grips and from which it draws vitality. For the questions and contradictions are the bechina of the Sitra Achra's foothold — which is the bechina of chamor — through which the Sitra Achra draws its vitality from holiness. And when one redeems the peter chamor through the sheep — and gives it to the Kohen — through this one draws down the holy mochin and reveals the hidden wisdom within the questions and contradictions — and the Sitra Achra is weakened and subdued — and the bechirah is clarified and elevated to holiness. And therefore Yisroel were commanded to sanctify the first birth of the donkey — to redeem it with a sheep for the Kohen. For the essential drawing down of holy da'as is through the Kohen — who are the sons of Aharon, who merited the priesthood through not being jealous of Moshe Rabbeinu — as our Sages of blessed memory expounded. For Moshe Rabbeinu is the bechina of holy da'as and Tefillin — and Aharon, by meriting to humble himself before Moshe, drew this holy da'as and mochin down to all Yisroel through his priesthood. And through giving the sheep to the Kohen, the firstborn donkey is redeemed — meaning: the bechirah is clarified, the questions are elevated from their place of concealment, and the holy da'as is drawn down — so that the world's essential purpose is fulfilled: the revelation of da'as of Hashem through the bechirah of man. And therefore one gives to Aharon the Kohen the sheep in exchange for the firstborn donkey — for Yisroel are likened to sheep: "You, My flock... you are Adam" [Yechezkel 34:31]. And the sheep is the bechina of the holy wealth of Ya'akov — who merited through the sheep to "make them his own fortune" — as it is stated: "your flocks shall enrich their owner" [Devarim 7:13]. For the sheep is entirely holy — as is explained regarding the sacrifice of the sheep — and through giving the sheep to the Kohen, one draws down the sanctity and holy da'as of Moshe upon the donkey and redeems it to holiness.