אומנין א

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The matter of the four guardians — that they all require an oath from the Torah, even on a claim of doubt — which is not the case in all other laws of the Torah, where no oath from the Torah is found on claims of doubt. For each one of the four guardians must verify with a complete verification that he guarded in truth as is fitting. And the verification is through the oath, for without this he is no guardian at all.

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For it is taught in the words of Rabbainu, of blessed memory, in Likutay Tinyana, siman 2, in the teaching that begins: “The days of Chanukah are days of hoda’ah [thanksgiving/acknowledgment],” and hoda’ah is the aspect of the delight of the World to Come, etc. — see there. For the essential delight of the World to Come is to give thanks and praise, etc., and to know and recognize Him, blessed be He, etc. And this is the aspect of: todah halachah [thanksgiving is a halachah]. And the reason todah is called by the name halachah is because of the tahaluchos hadamim [the circulations of the blood] that flow in proper order when one emerges from the distress, etc. And through todah halachah, which is the aspect of chasdai David [the kindnesses of David] — through this, the emes illuminates within the ribua haddibbur [the square of the speech, i.e. the four parts of speech], in the aspect of: “Give emes to Yaakov, chesed to Avraham” (Michah 7:20). “Chesed to Avraham” — that is, the aspect of todah halachah. Through this, the aspect of “emes to Yaakov” illuminates, and it illuminates within the square of the speech, within the four parts of the speech. For there is a speech of tzedakah, etc., and there is a speech of Malchus, the aspect of “Malchus — peh [mouth],” etc. — see all of this there well. And through the emes illuminating within the square of the speech, the speech is completed. And the completeness of the speech is the aspect of lashon hakodesh [the holy tongue]. And lashon hakodesh is connected to Shabbos. And through this, one draws the holiness of Shabbos into the six weekdays, etc. — see there. And behold, all the guardians — whoever girds his loins to guard some matter — it is impossible to guard the matter in completeness from the many types of damages that can come, G–d forbid, except through the holiness of Shabbos Kodesh. For the essential guarding is on Shabbos. For it is known that on the weekdays they [the forces of harm] have dominion. And all the damages, thefts, losses, and accidents — all of them, all together, come from them, that is, from the mazikim [harmful forces]. But on Shabbos they have no dominion whatsoever. And therefore we do not recite the blessing “Shoimer amo Yisrael” [Guardian of His people Israel] on Shabbos, for on Shabbos no guarding is needed, as is brought. And the essential guarding that we have during the weekdays from the harmful forces of the world is only through the holiness of Shabbos. Through our drawing the holiness of Shabbos into the weekdays, through this the harmful forces are subdued even during the weekdays, and through this guarding is drawn upon us even during the weekdays. And this is the aspect of “Vihi No’am” [Tehillim 90:17] that we recite immediately on Motzaai Shabbos, at the beginning of the weekdays, so that guarding should be drawn upon us through the aspect of the supernal No’am [pleasantness], which is the aspect of the holiness of Shabbos, as is known. And this is the aspect of: “Zachor [remember] and Shamor [guard] were spoken in a single utterance” (Rosh Hashanah 27a). For through “Remember the Shabbos day to sanctify it” — which is the aspect of drawing the holiness of Shabbos into the six weekdays, as our Sages of blessed memory expounded: “Remember it from the first day of the week,” etc. — through this, guarding is drawn, the aspect of Shamor. And this is what we request in the blessing of Hashkivainu, which is a request for guarding, as we conclude: “and guard,” etc. — “Guardian of His people Israel,” etc. And there we request, even during the weekdays: “and spread over us the shelter of Your peace.” That is, that He should spread over us the shelter of peace that is drawn on the day of Shabbos upon Israel, as we say: “Who spreads a shelter of peace over us,” etc. — that He should spread it over us even during the weekdays, in order to be guarded through this from all types of damages. It emerges that the essential guarding is through the holiness of Shabbos that is drawn into the weekdays. And therefore whoever girds his loins to be a guardian for his fellow must have the power to draw the holiness of Shabbos into the weekdays, so that he will be able to guard properly. For the essential guarding is through Shabbos, as above. And to draw the holiness of Shabbos into the weekdays is through the completeness of the square of the speech — the four parts of the speech — which is completed through the aspect of “emes to Yaakov” that illuminates through “chesed to Avraham,” which is the aspect of todah halachah, the aspect of the delight of the World to Come, as above — as all of this is explained in the teaching mentioned above well; see there. And therefore all the guardians are learned from Yaakov, as is brought in the Shulchan Aruch — that one must be careful to guard very well, like Yaakov Avinu who guarded the flocks of Lavan, about whom it is said: “And my sleep fled from my eyes” (Beraishis 31:40), etc. For Yaakov Avinu was a proper guardian, for Yaakov Avinu is the aspect of emes, the aspect of “Give emes to Yaakov.” Through this is the essential guarding. For through the aspect of “emes to Yaakov,” the emes illuminates within the four parts of the speech, and the speech is completed, etc. And through this one draws the holiness of Shabbos into the weekdays, and through this is the essential guarding, as above. For Yaakov Avinu kept the Shabbos, as our Sages of blessed memory said: “And he camped before the city” (Beraishis 33:18) — that he established the Shabbos boundaries [techumin], etc. And therefore it is stated regarding Shabbos: “And I will feed you the inheritance of Yaakov your father,” etc. (Yeshayahu 58:14). “Yaakov” specifically is able to guard, as above. And therefore all the guardians are learned from him, as above. For whoever wants to guard must have the aspect of Yaakov — that is, the aspect of emes — so that the emes should illuminate within the square of the speech, so as to draw the holiness of Shabbos, etc. — through which is the essential guarding, as above. And therefore all the guardians require an oath even if no certain claim is made against them. Even so, they must verify the emes through the oath. For through the oath, the emes illuminates. And therefore wherever there is a denial, an oath is imposed in order to verify the emes through the oath, which is the aspect of the delight of the World to Come, as above. And through the oath, the emes illuminates, for the oath is the aspect of hiskashrus [connection] and cleaving to Him, blessed be He, as is brought — that the oath is the aspect of connection. And this is the aspect of: “And to Him you shall cleave, and by His name you shall swear” (Devarim 10:20). And as our Sages of blessed memory said: “Whoever takes an oath, it is as if he swears by the King Himself,” etc. And this is the aspect of the delight of the World to Come. For the essential delight of the World to Come is to know and recognize Him, blessed be He, and to cleave to Him, blessed be He. For through the da’as, one cleaves to Him and is near to Him, blessed be He, as is explained in the teaching mentioned above. And this is the aspect of the oath while holding a sacred object. For the Torah is the da’as, and from there all the halachos proceed. For it is the essential delight of the World to Come, for through the Torah one knows Him, blessed be He — which is the essential delight of the World to Come. And therefore one holds the Sefer Torah at the time of the oath, in order to draw the aspect of the delight of the World to Come — the aspect of the halachos — so that through this the emes should illuminate, in the aspect of: “Give emes to Yaakov, chesed to Avraham,” as above. And this is: “Give emes to Yaakov, chesed to Avraham, as You swore to our fathers” (Michah 7:20). “As You swore” specifically. For through the oath, which is the aspect of connection and cleaving to Him, blessed be He — the aspect of the delight of the World to Come — and this is: “as You swore to our fathers from days of old.” “Days of old” is the aspect of the delight of the World to Come, which is the aspect of yemai kedem — shanim kadmoniyos [days of old — primordial years]. For the World to Come preceded the world. And through this, the emes illuminates, as above. And this is: “Give emes to Yaakov, chesed to Avraham, as You swore,” etc. It emerges that through the oath, which is the aspect of the cleaving and delight of the World to Come, the emes illuminates, as above. For the World to Come is alma dikshot [the world of truth]. And this is what Rabbainu, of blessed memory, wrote: that through the delight of the World to Come, the emes illuminates. And then, when the emes illuminates, it illuminates within the four parts of the speech, and the speech is completed — which is the aspect of lashon hakodesh. And then one draws the holiness of Shabbos into the weekdays, and through this is the essential guarding. And therefore all the guardians require an oath even when there is no denial. For ordinarily an oath is only required when there is a denial — in order to verify the emes through the oath, which is the aspect of the delight of the World to Come, as above. But the four guardians must always take an oath even when there is no denial, for they always need to verify the emes through the oath, which is the aspect of the delight of the World to Come — so that the emes should illuminate within the four parts of the speech, etc., in order to draw the holiness of Shabbos, through which is the essential guarding. And therefore, immediately upon becoming a guardian, the oath takes effect upon him at once, so that the emes should illuminate, etc. For specifically through this he becomes a guardian — through the oath taking effect upon him. Through this the emes illuminates, etc., and through this the holiness of Shabbos is drawn, etc., and through this specifically one is able to guard, as above. And this is the aspect of the four guardians, whom the Tanna groups together — corresponding to the four parts of the speech, which are the completeness of the speech. Through which the holiness of Shabbos is drawn into the weekdays, and through which is the essential guarding, as above. For the four guardians are in the aspect of speech, for Shamor [guard] is the attribute of night, which is the aspect of speech, as is known. And it is possible to allude in detail: the shomer chinam [unpaid guardian] — this is the aspect of the speech of tzedakah, which is a free gift [matnas chinam]. The sho’el [borrower] — this is the aspect of the speech of teshuvah. For the borrower has all the benefit for himself — this is the aspect of the speech of teshuvah, for one must repent for having filled his desires with the pleasures and cravings of this world. The shomer sachar [paid guardian] — this is the aspect of the speech of the wealthy, for all good flows to them and they receive reward [sachar] in this world. And this is the aspect of shomer sachar, who receives reward. And there is a speech of the aspect of Malchus, the aspect of “Malchus — peh.” And this is the aspect of the sochair [renter]. For the aspect of the Malchus is one who hires [sochair] all who come into the world for His service. For all the reward is there, in the aspect of Malchus. And all are like hired workers in relation to the aspect of the Malchus, for it gives reward to all who serve Him, blessed be He, as it is written: “Behold, My reward is with Me” (Yeshayahu 40:10 / 62:11), etc. Baruch Hashem l’olam, Amain v’Amain.