טוען ונטען א

[Note: Pages are missing in the printed editions until the next section.] 25

This is explained based on what is written in the teaching beginning "Teekoo" [Sound the Shofar], which speaks about emunah [faith], in Likutay Tinyana, Siman 5. See there at the end of the teaching, regarding the matter of the tikkun hamishpat [rectification of judgment]. And it is brought there (at the end), in the passage beginning "And in truth it is a very great matter to cast away from oneself all the wisdoms" etc. For through this the tikkun hamishpat is accomplished — in the aspect of "Deep calls unto deep: send forth your waters" (Psalms 42:8). This is the mishpat [judgment], the aspect of "and let judgment roll like water" (Amos 5:24). That is, the mishpat that has fallen as far as the t'hom [deep/abyss] — in the aspect of "Your judgments are a great deep" (Psalms 36:7). For [the teaching explains how] they raise the mishpat from the depths through t'mimus [wholeness/simplicity] etc.

And this is the aspect of "they seize [property] based on [the ruling of] Rabbi Nassan": that there is power in the mishpat dik'dushah [holy judgment] of the righteous court [Bais Din Tzedek] — which is the aspect of the tikkun hamishpat — to raise the mishpat from the depths of the abysses, in the aspect of "deep calls unto deep" etc. This is the aspect of: they seize from this one and give to that one. For the court, which is the holy mishpat, has the power to raise the mishpat from every place to which it has fallen — from abyss to abyss, as above.

And this is the aspect of the court giving a document to the lender at the beginning of the collection, [authorizing him] to go and search in every place where he may find the borrower's assets, and to seize them for himself. For all of this is the aspect of the power of the holy mishpat of the righteous court, which has the power to clarify the mishpat from the depths of the abysses — from every place to which the mishpat has fallen.

And this is the aspect of: they seize from this one and give to that one. For this is the aspect of "deep calls unto deep: send forth your waters" — that is: return and bring forth the mishpat that has fallen to you. That is, the money of the first lender, which is due to him according to righteous law and judgment, which fell to the borrower, and from the borrower to the second borrower — this is the aspect of the falling of the mishpat from abyss to abyss. And the court raises and extracts the mishpat from the abysses, and returns the money that is due according to righteous judgment to its original owners, as above. As it is written: "And he shall give it to the one against whom he is guilty" (Numbers 5:7). For it is necessary to establish the mishpat upon its proper foundation, and to raise the mishpat from the depths of the abysses, as above.

For the essential loans are drawn from the blemish of the falling of the mishpat, from which comes the essential poverty — through which people are compelled to borrow one from another. For the blemish of the mishpat — this is the aspect of not knowing the [resolution of the] quandary of "a righteous one who has it good, a righteous one who has it bad, a wicked one who has it good, a wicked one who has it bad" etc. And this matter stems from the secret of gilgulai haneshamos [the transmigrations/reincarnations of souls], as is brought in the holy Zohar.

This is the aspect of what they said to Rabbi Elazar ben Pedas: "If you wish, I will destroy the world [and recreate it], and perhaps you will be born in an hour that is favorable for sustenance" (Ta'anis 25a). And it is brought in the Tikkunim that this is the secret of gilgul — that [the soul] will be reincarnated in another body, which is the aspect of another world etc. It emerges that the essential lack of livelihood, poverty, and loans is only due to the gilgul, which is the aspect of the galgal [wheel] that revolves in the world. And as is brought in the words of Rabbeinu, zichrono livrachah (Siman 14), regarding the saying of Rabbah bar bar Chanah: "It is a wheel that revolves [galgala hu d'hadar]" — which is the gilgula d'nishmatin [the cycling of souls], from which is drawn: "a righteous one who has it good, a righteous one who has it bad, a wicked one who has it good, a wicked one who has it bad" — through which there must necessarily be poverty and loans in the world.

And all the denials [of debts] between one person and his fellow — which are the blemish of mishpat, where one wishes to rob his fellow's money unlawfully — this too is drawn from the secret of gilgulai haneshamos. For the fact that one person covets his fellow's money and wishes to rob him — all of this is because he has some connection to this money through the secret of the gilgul. This is the aspect of: "perhaps there is a possibility of an old loan against him" — that is, an old loan in the secret of the gilgul. For the essential [root of] all desires, at their source, are holy and very exalted things. Only that below [in this world] they have become materialized. And it is forbidden for us to take anything before its proper time. And the essential [cause of] all sins and blemishes stems from hastening to take the thing before its time, and not overcoming one's desire to wait until its time comes in a permissible way. As our Sages, of blessed memory, said (Yoma 38b): "In your name they will call you, and in your place they will seat you, and from what is yours they will give you" etc. And therefore the essential first sin — which is the sin of Adam HaRishon — was only that he did not wait regarding his marital union until Shabbos. And therefore sins are called by the name boser [unripe fruit], which is a fruit that has not yet ripened — as it is written: "The fathers have eaten sour grapes [boser]" (Jeremiah 31:29). For the essential sin is because one takes the thing not in its proper time. And in truth, the essential time to attain the true good taste is only in the Olam Haba [World to Come]. And fortunate is the one who waits and restrains his desire throughout all the days of this world, and closes his eyes from the vision of this world entirely, and waits for the eternal good — as it is written: "Therefore wait for Me, for the day when I rise up forever" (Zephaniah 3:8). For certainly he will merit the true pleasure, the eternal pleasure. But also in this world there are things where the essential prohibition is [only] that one does not wait. And if he waits until his time comes, he will receive it in a permissible way. And as our Sages, of blessed memory, said (Megillah 15a): "Those beds that she [the forbidden woman] spread for him in a forbidden way — she [the permitted wife] spread for him in a permitted way" etc. And the general principle is: the essential power of the ba'al davar [the Adversary] who incites a person to desire or to a transgression, chas v'sholom, is only because this person has some connection to this matter, according to the roots of the souls. Only that he must now restrain his desire until his time comes — whether it is possible that his time will come in this world, that he will receive this thing in a permissible way, or sometimes he cannot receive it except in the World to Come. That is, when he merits to withstand the test and break his desire for this now — through this he will merit in the future, in the World to Come, to receive and take pleasure from the root of this pleasure at its source in the spiritual realm, which is a pure and brilliant light — a spiritual pleasure, a true pleasure. And this is what is written: "You shall not oppress your fellow" (Leviticus 19:13) — "your fellow" specifically. And likewise: "You shall not covet the house of your fellow" (Exodus 20:14) — "your fellow" specifically. For each person has a desire specifically for the house of his fellow. That is, he is his fellow and his companion at his root, according to the transmigrations of the souls. And because in the first gilgul, this money was his, and similar to this there are many aspects — because of this he has a desire and coveting for this house and this money that now belongs to his fellow. But in truth, the Torah warned us about this. For it is forbidden to touch what belongs to one's fellow — even though he is his fellow and his companion at his root from the side of the gilgul. Nevertheless, "the judgment belongs to G-d" (Deuteronomy 1:17). And Hashem Yisborach knows the hidden things — how to arrange the money and the possessions in each and every generation. And it is forbidden to rob and oppress one's fellow. And even to covet is a severe prohibition. Rather, one must believe in Hashem Yisborach — for "the ways of Hashem are straight" (Hosea 14:10). And [one must] accept His judgment with love, and rejoice in his portion that Hashem has given him. It emerges that the essential robbery and denial [of debts] — where one wishes to deny his fellow's money, chas v'sholom — is from the side of the corruption of mishpat, which is drawn from the fact that [people] do not believe in the straightness of the ways of Hashem — whose ways and judgments are exceedingly wondrous and impossible to grasp. That is, the matter of "a righteous one who has it good, a righteous one who has it bad" etc. — which is the secret of the gilgulai haneshamos, from where are drawn the poverty and the loans and all the trials of all the desires and cravings, as above. And therefore the essential rectification is through t'mimus [wholeness/simplicity] without any sophistication — for through this one merits the tikkun hamishpat, and everything is rectified. For one must conduct oneself only with t'mimus, according to the Torah — which is called mishpat, the aspect of the tikkun hamishpat, as above. It emerges: when the borrower robs his fellow and does not pay him — this is the aspect of the blemish of the mishpat. And the court that executes the mishpat and searches through the borrower's assets to find a place from which to collect the lender's debt — this is the aspect of the tikkun hamishpat: that they raise the mishpat from the abysses, from every place to which it has fallen — even from the purchasers, and from the purchasers of the purchasers. And this is the aspect of: "they seize based on [the ruling of] Rabbi Nassan" — that they seize from this one and give to that one. This is the aspect of "deep calls unto deep" — that they extract the mishpat from this one to that one, from all the places to which it has fallen, and they establish the mishpat upon its proper foundation. Amain v'Amain. This compact halachah (3 osiyos, based on LM II:5 "Teekoo") applies the concept of tikkun hamishpat to the rule of Rabbi Nassan: when A owes B who owes C, the court can seize from A and give directly to C. This "seizing from this one and giving to that one" = extracting justice from the depths, tehom el tehom korei — deep calls unto deep. The heart of this teaching is Os 2's breathtaking explanation of why people desire each other's property. All loans, poverty, and financial disputes stem from the secret of gilgulai haneshamos (reincarnation of souls). A person covets his fellow's money because at the soul-root level, in a previous gilgul, that money was connected to him. This is the meaning of "safek milveh y'shanah" (perhaps an old loan) — an old loan from a previous incarnation. The ba'al davar's power to incite comes from the person's genuine soul-connection to the desired object. But the Torah commands: do not take it before its time. "Lo sachmod bais rai'echa" — "your fellow" specifically, because the coveting is precisely for one's fellow's possessions (the soul-companion from the gilgul). All sin = boser (unripe fruit) = taking the thing before its time. Adam HaRishon's sin: not waiting until Shabbos. The tikkun: t'mimus — simple wholeness, casting away all cleverness, accepting Hashem's inscrutable judgment ("the judgment belongs to G-d"), rejoicing in one's portion. Based on Likutay Moharan II:5 "Teekoo"