חזקת קרקעות ד

And this is: "And behold, from the River arose seven good cows and seven bad cows." And similarly seven good ears and seven bad ears — "and they swallowed" — "and it was not known that they had come into them." All of this is the aspect of the concealment of counsel. For all the counsels in all worldly matters are included in seven middos, for which one must know how to conduct oneself in each middah. And there are times when those who review halachos — the aspect of the River — raise all the seven middos properly, and they are good and beautiful, the aspect of "healthy and good." But meanwhile the evil intensifies — the seven evil middos — and confuses the mind until they swallow all the good, "and it was not known that they had come into them" — as if there had never been any good at all, chas v'shalom. And if afterward one returns and strengthens himself and arouses the good — in the aspect of seven full and good ears — but upon this too the Sitra Achara and the confusions return and intensify, until the seven thin and bad ears swallow them. All of this is the aspect of the confusion of counsel, from whence come all the blemishes — the aspect of: "And the counsel of the Most High they scorned"; and it is written: "And they rebelled against His counsel and were brought low in their iniquity." 277

Likutay Halachos, Choshen Mishpat. Based on Likutay Moharan I:65 ("Vayomer Boaz"), cross-referencing Hilchos Nizkay Sh'chainim 1. Translated from the Hebrew.

According to what is explained above in Hilchos Nizkay Sh'chainim, Halachah 1 — that one needs to make a distancing between the trees of the field, which are the aspect of the wealth, where the root of the nefashos is, as above. And therefore Chazal enacted to do "the good and the straight" — that the ba'al hameitzar [the owner of the adjacent field] takes precedence to purchase the field that is adjacent to his field, so that his fields should be together. And no one should interrupt in the middle. For it is certainly fitting that the trees — which are from one root — should be in one place, and that one should bring them as close as possible, and that other trees should not interrupt — so that they should not weaken one another, as above. And through this one does a great good for the ba'al hameitzar. For through this all his fields are in one place. And then he gathers the roots of his nefesh in one place. For the root of the nefesh is in the wealth, as above. And this is what the wise man said: "Save me from the scattering of the nefesh" — that his possessions should not be scattered in many places. For certainly this is the scattering of the nefesh itself. For the root of the nefesh is in the possessions and the wealth, as above. It emerges that through the fact that the ba'al matzra takes precedence — through this he gathers together the portions of his nefesh together. And this is what Chazal said: "V'asisa hatov v'hayashar" ["And you shall do the good and the straight"] (D'varim 6:18). And they learned from here that the ba'al matzra takes precedence (Bava M'tzia 108a). For regarding this it is said "v'asisa hatov" — "hatov" specifically. For this is the main "good" — that it should be entirely one. As is brought in the words of Rabbainu many times: that "entirely one" is "entirely good." And the main completeness of the nefesh is when it is gathered and collected together with all its portions — in the aspect of "entirely one, entirely good." For the scattering of the nefesh is in the aspect of "scattering for the wicked" (Sanhedrin 71b), which is the aspect of the nefashos of Eisav, who are called "nefashos" in the plural. But when one gathers and collects the portions of his nefesh together — this is the aspect of "gathering for the righteous" (ibid.), the aspect of the nefashos of Yaakov, who are called "nefesh" in the singular, as Chazal said. For they are from the aspect of "entirely one, entirely good." And this "good" is made through the din of ba'al matzra takes precedence. For through this one gathers his possessions and his fields in one place — where are the roots of his nefesh, as above. It emerges that he gathers the portions of his nefesh together, in the aspect of "entirely one, entirely good," as above. And this is "v'asisa hatov," as above. And therefore Yaakov — who is at the ultimate of unity, for his bed was complete, and "all the nefesh coming to the house of Yaakov — seventy nefesh" in the singular (B'raishis 46:27) — as above — therefore the inheritance of Yaakov is an "inheritance without boundaries" (Shabbos 118a). For his inheritance is entirely one. For there is no one to interrupt and to make a border and a boundary to his inheritance — since his nefesh is included in the aspect of "entirely one, entirely good." For the boundaries are only from the aspect of multiplicity, as above. But in the aspect of "entirely one, entirely good," there is no boundary or border at all, as above. And for this sake they enacted the din of bar matzra — in order to expand his border further, so that he should draw closer and be included further in the aspect of "entirely one, entirely good," in the aspect of "v'asisa hatov," as above. And therefore Yaakov — who is at the ultimate of unity — therefore his inheritance is completely without boundaries, as above. And this is what is written in the Shulchan Aruch: when one purchases from a gentile, the din of bar matzra does not apply. For one says to him: "Is it not pleasing to you that you have removed a lion from your midst?" (Bava M'tzia 108b). For certainly this purchaser of the field from the gentile did him a great good — a true good. For he expanded the border of Yisroel. For all of Yisroel together are in the aspect of "entirely one, entirely good," in the aspect of the nefesh of Yaakov, as above. It emerges that the main boundary is when a gentile is at his border — which is the main boundary. For they are the adversaries of k'dushah. But Yisroel are entirely one, as above. It emerges that the one who removed the gentile from the border did for him exactly that same good as the din of bar matzra. For he expanded the border of Yisroel, so that no stranger should mix among them, and it should be in the aspect of "entirely one," as above. And on the contrary — that good is certainly even greater than the din of bar matzra that is between Yisroel themselves, as above. And therefore it is sufficient with this good, as Chazal said: "Is it not pleasing to you that I have removed," etc., as above. Also, this is the main looking of the ba'al hasadeh [master of the field] — who looks upon the trees to bring them to the tachlis [ultimate purpose], which is "entirely one, entirely good," as is explained well in the discourse "Vayomer Boaz," etc.; see there well. And it is already explained above that the trees are the aspect of the nefashos, whose root is in the wealth, as above. And therefore Chazal enacted the din of bar matzra — in order to bring them to the aspect of "one" and "good," which is the aspect of the tachlis, as above. For also the tachlis that is explained there — meaning, that his t'filah should be in the aspect of "one" — it is connected to this. For the t'filah is called "nefesh," as it is written (Sh'muel I 1:15): "Va'eshpoch es nafshi," etc. ["And I poured out my nefesh"]. And the root of the nefesh is in the wealth. And the main element of the wealth is the fields, as is explained above many times. And when his fields are in one place — through which he gathers the portions of his nefesh together, as above — then the t'filah is also in the aspect of "one." For the t'filah is the nefesh, as above. And this is the aspect of tz'dakah before t'filah. For tz'dakah rectifies the money, as is brought in the words of Rabbainu (Siman 25). And the tikkun of the money is that the money should not be in the aspect of "marbeh n'chassim marbeh d'agah" ["one who increases possessions increases worry"] (Avos 2:7) — in the aspect of the scattering of the nefesh. For then the money consumes the days of his life and kills him. And tz'dakah saves from this — in the aspect of "utz'dakah tatzil mimaves" ["and tz'dakah saves from death"]. For tz'dakah gathers the dispersed — meaning, that it gathers the scattering of the nefesh. As Chazal said: "The exiles are not gathered except through tz'dakah," etc. (Bava Basra 10a). And as is understood from the words of Rabbainu in the discourse "G'zailah" (Siman 69) — that tz'dakah is the tikkun of the wealth of k'dushah. And the main tikkun of the wealth of k'dushah is that it should be in the aspect of unity — the opposite of "marbeh n'chassim," etc., as above. And therefore one gives tz'dakah before t'filah — to rectify the roots of his nefesh, that they should be in the aspect of "one." And then one can pray in the aspect of "entirely one, entirely good," as above.

And the tikkun is through Yosef, who is the aspect of the true tzaddik who always toils to add wondrous chiddushim to the Torah, from which deep counsels are drawn. This is the aspect of Yosef — the aspect of "d'mosif yosif"; the aspect of "mosif v'holech." He gives counsel to gather the good — the aspect of the food of the good years — that it should be well guarded. This is the aspect of striving to write in s'farim all the chiddushai Torah, to increase s'farim without end. This is the essential guarding of the foods of the Torah. For the sefer is for remembrance — the aspect of: "Write this as a remembrance in the book" — that it should be guarded forever and not be lost or forgotten. And this is: "And Yosef stored up grain like the sand of the sea, until he ceased counting, for it was without number" — the aspect of "the making of many s'farim has no end." For regarding Yosef it is said: "For he is the son of his old age" — zakain means one who has acquired wisdom (zeh shekanah chochmah) — which alludes to the kaneh (reed/pen) and the kulmos (quill) with which the s'farim of the holy Torah are written. Through which the essential redemption will come — as it is brought in the holy Zohar (Ra'aya M'haimna): "In the first exile, with your staff you split the sea. And in the final exile, with your kaneh — which is the kulmos — you will split the sea of Torah." 278