גזילה ד

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And this is the aspect of the maitzarim [the straits — i.e., the Three Weeks between the seventeenth of Tammuz and Tish’ah B’Av], when guarding is especially needed, as our Sages of blessed memory said. And the essential guarding is through the derech l’Eretz Yisroel, which we must draw then — in order that we should merit to return to our Land, from which we were exiled because of our sins. And all of this is through the power of the Tzaddik mentioned above, who sustains himself during his time of simplicity through the derech l’Eretz Yisroel, etc. For during these days of the maitzarim [bain hametzarim], we must return and draw the aspect of the chesed chinam mentioned above — to make a paved road to Eretz Yisroel, from which we were exiled during these days. For during the time of exile, the nations and the k’lipos return to saying that Eretz Yisroel and all the bestowals of abundance that depend upon it all belong to them — since Eretz Yisroel is now in their hands. For the essential holiness of Eretz Yisroel is drawn from the aspect mentioned above, from the aspect of “In the beginning He created,” etc. — the aspect of: “The power of His deeds,” etc. (Tehillim 111:6). And therefore when Eretz Yisroel is in the hand of Israel, then it is revealed that Hashem, blessed be He, created everything, and by His will He took it from them and gave it to us — and then all the bestowals of abundance are drawn to Israel, for all the bestowals of abundance are drawn from Eretz Yisroel. But in our exile, when we were exiled from our Land and Eretz Yisroel is in their hands, then the aspect mentioned above, the aspect of “the power of His deeds,” etc., is concealed and covered over. And then they intensify in heresies and say that everything belongs to them, G–d forbid. And therefore now, during the maitzarim, which are the days of the destruction and the exile, one must return and draw the aspect mentioned above — to make a road to Eretz Yisroel. And this is accomplished through the great Tzaddik, through his simplicity, etc., as above — through which he sustains all the simple people, and even those who fell and descended very much, etc., as is explained there at the end — see there. For through the otzar matnas chinam that he receives during his time of simplicity, through this he sustains everyone, as is explained there. And this is the aspect of the weeping and mourning during these days, over the exile of Israel and the destruction of the Bais HaMikdash. That is — we have nothing with which to sustain ourselves, since we were exiled from our Land and the Bais HaMikdash was destroyed because of our sins, from which are all the Mochin and all the life-force. And now, in our exile, we are all like ignorant people and boors entirely. And therefore on Tish’ah B’Av, when the destruction is in its fullest severity, therefore all the Mochin are completely removed. And one does not put on tallis and tefillin at all — one only weeps and mourns over the destruction. And then we are all like ignorant people [amay ha’aretz] and completely unlearned — and we have no life-force except from the aspect of the sustaining of the world before the giving of the Torah, etc., mentioned above. But from the intensity of the destruction, even this we cannot draw except through great weeping [b’chiyah rabbah] over the destruction of the Bais HaMikdash. For in our great transgressions, it is not enough that the Bais HaMikdash was destroyed and we were exiled from our Land — from which are all the Mochin — not enough this, but an additional grief is added upon our afflictions: that the true tzadikim have also departed because of our sins, whose death is equal to double the destruction of the Bais HaMikdash, as our Sages of blessed memory said. And regarding this one must weep greatly, until we arouse His mercies, may His name be blessed, that He should draw upon us even now the power of the tzadikim — to draw upon us chesed chinam from the otzar matnas chinam that they drew through their simplicity, as above. For through the greatness of their simplicity, through which they drew specifically then the otzar matnas chinam — through this they have the power even now, after their departure, to draw upon us the otzar matnas chinam, to sustain us even now with chesed chinam alone. For the tzadikim are greater in their death than in their lives [g’dolim tzadikim b’misasam yoser mib’chayaihem]. For “life” is the aspect of the wisdom and the Mochin, which are the essential life-force, as it is written: “The wisdom gives life” [hachochmah t’chayeh] (Koheles 7:12). And “death” is the aspect of the departure of the Mochin, which is the life-force. But the tzadikim, even in their death, are called “living.” For even during the time of the departure of the Mochin, they receive life-force from the otzar matnas chinam, as above. And therefore they can sustain the entire world even after their departure — through the power of the otzar matnas chinam that they draw during their time of simplicity, which is the aspect of death, the aspect of the departure of the Mochin. And this is: “Be comforted, be comforted” [nachamu nachamu] — twice “be comforted.” For Hashem, blessed be He, comforts us through the true tzadikim with two types of consolation. For in truth, the essential consolation is the holy Torah, as it is written: “This is my consolation in my affliction, for Your word has given me life” (Tehillim 119:50). But it is impossible to be engaged in Torah always — especially in this bitter exile. However, the tzadikim sustain us even during the time when we do not engage in Torah — through the otzar matnas chinam, which is the aspect of the hidden Torah. And therefore they comfort us doubly, with two types of consolation. That is, through what they enable us to engage in the Torah — that is one consolation. And a second consolation is that they sustain us even during the time of simplicity, from the aspect of the hidden Torah, which is the chesed chinam that was sustaining the world before the giving of the Torah. And this is: “Speak to the heart of Yerushalayim,” etc. — “for she has received from the hand of Hashem double for all her sins” (Yeshayahu 40:1–2). “A voice calls in the wilderness: Prepare the way of Hashem,” etc. “Make straight in the desert a highway for our G–d” (Yeshayahu 40:3). That is — specifically the intensity of our troubles, the greatest of all, will be transformed for us into a great consolation. For the essential trouble, the greatest of all the troubles, is the departure of the tzadikim — as our Sages of blessed memory said: the death of the tzadikim is equal to double the destruction of the Bais HaMikdash. And this itself will be transformed for us into a double consolation, the aspect of: “Be comforted, be comforted.” For the tzadikim already toiled during their lives with all their strength, and served Hashem, blessed be He, with wondrous saichel and such great exertion, until they merited even during their time of simplicity to sustain the entire world through the otzar matnas chinam, as above. And through this they accomplished and drew that even after their departure — which is the aspect of the departure of the Mochin and the life-force from the world — even then they sustain the world from the otzar matnas chinam, just as during their lives they sustained the world during their time of simplicity from the otzar matnas chinam, as above. And this is the aspect of: “A voice calls in the wilderness: Prepare the way of Hashem; make straight in the desert a highway for our G–d.” That is, the tzadikim made a paved road in the service of Hashem such that there is a path to draw close to Hashem, blessed be He, even in the aspect of wilderness and desert — and in all the desolate and lowly places, and in all types of crookedness in the world — in all of them there is a straight path to Hashem, blessed be He. And all through the power of the simplicity of the Tzaddik, who was many times an utterly simple man, called ‘prastik’ — who then sustained himself through the derech l’Eretz Yisroel, which is the aspect of the chesed chinam mentioned above — through which he sustains everything even after his departure, as above. And this is that we read Parshas Devarim before Tish’ah B’Av. For all of Parshas Devarim speaks about the derech l’Eretz Yisroel, as is explained there well — that all the admonishment of Moshe there is regarding Israel’s having blemished the derech l’Eretz Yisroel, because they were not strong in their emunah. As it begins there: “Eleven days from Chorev, by way of Mount Sai’ir, to Kadaish Barnai’a” (Devarim 1:2). And as Rashi explained there: “There is no shorter route,” etc. — “And so much was the Sh’chinah exerting itself on your behalf, to hasten your coming to the Land,” etc. And so it continues in all the words of his admonishment throughout the entire sidrah — he admonishes them for having caused a delay in the road to come to Eretz Yisroel, until they were compelled to tarry there forty years. And all of this was through the sin of the Golden Calf [chayt ha’aigel] and the Spies [ham’raglim], who blemished the emunah, as it is written: “And in this matter you do not believe in Hashem,” etc. (Devarim 1:32). For the essential rectification of the derech l’Eretz Yisroel is emunah, which is the aspect of “the power of His deeds,” mentioned above — that is, that we believe that Hashem, blessed be He, created everything, as it is written: “In the beginning He created,” etc. — and by His will He gave it to them, and by His will, etc. And they blemished this, and through this they caused themselves such a delay. And this caused us all the destructions — the destruction of the first Bais HaMikdash and the second. For through this the Sitra Achara has the power to stir up each time to expel Israel from their Land — which is drawn through their saying to them still “You are robbers, who conquered Eretz Yisroel” — since Israel themselves blemished the emunah, through which they blemished the aspect of “the power of His deeds He told to His people,” etc., as above. And therefore we read this before Tish’ah B’Av — for through this is the essential exile and the destruction, as above. And afterward we read Va’eschanan on Shabbos Nachamu — in order to draw the otzar matnas chinam that Moshe Rabbainu drew through his abundant prayers that he prayed to come to Eretz Yisroel — which was all through the power of the otzar matnas chinam, as is explained in the Torah teaching mentioned above. And through this, even though he himself did not come to Eretz Yisroel, even so, through this he drew upon us the otzar matnas chinam — which is our essential consolation during the time of our exile from our Land. For now, the essential life-force is through the chesed chinam that Moshe Rabbainu and all the true tzadikim draw upon us from the otzar matnas chinam — which sustains the entire world always, in all types of descents in the world, throughout all the days of this long and bitter exile, in general and in particular. And through this chesed chinam, they return and make a paved road to Eretz Yisroel, as above — in order that we should merit to return to our Land speedily in our days, amain.