חובל בחבירו ושמירת הנפש

According to what Rabbainu of blessed memory wrote in the discourse "I am Hashem, that is My Name" (Likutay Moharan I, §11) — that speech is dependent upon honour (kavod), which is the aspect of Malchus [Kingship], as mentioned above — and a blemish of honour is a blemish of speech. That is: because kavod in its wholeness is kavod malei vav — honour spelled in full, with a vav — and when it is blemished, the vav departs, and then one becomes kevad peh — heavy of mouth. And the vav is the aspect of tal oros — dew of lights [thirty-six lights]. And when it is blemished, there are then produced the thirty-nine labours (lamed-tes melachos) — the aspect of "in toil shall you eat it" — the aspect of deficiency of livelihood, etc. See there. And this is the aspect of the prohibition of striking — that it is forbidden to strike a Jew. For all blows and lashings are drawn from the aspect of lamed-tes [thirty-nine] lashes, which are the aspect of the thirty-nine labours mentioned above. For the thirty-nine labours and the thirty-nine lashes are one and the same aspect, and both are drawn from the contamination of the serpent (zuhamas hanachash) — the aspect of the thirty-nine curses — as is brought [in our sources]. And from there all blows are drawn. And therefore our Sages of blessed memory derived the prohibition of striking from the thirty-nine lashes, as it states in the Gemara: "Forty shall he strike him — he shall not add" (Devarim 25:3), etc. — from here [we learn] that it is forbidden to strike a Jew. For all blows are drawn from there, from the thirty-nine lashes, as mentioned above. And this is the aspect of the blemish of honour — for in striking him, he disgraces him and blemishes the honour of the Jew. And through this, honour is blemished. For the essential wholeness of honour is when honour rests with Israel — for to them all honour is due — for their root is in honour, in the aspect of "let not my honour be joined in their assembly" (Bereishis 49:6) — as is brought in the words of Rabbainu of blessed memory. See there. It follows that when one strikes a Jew, he blemishes the honour by shaming a son of Israel, as mentioned above. And then the vav is blemished, and the aspect of the thirty-nine labours and thirty-nine lashes is produced — and all this comes about through the shame and the striking, as mentioned above. And the essential thing is the shame (bushah) — for the essential thing is the blemish of honour, as mentioned above. And this is why our Sages of blessed memory were especially strict regarding shame, as is brought [in our sources]. And this is why the Torah likewise was exacting in the prohibition of striking regarding the shame — as it is written: "Forty shall he strike him, he shall not add, lest he add to strike him" — and as mentioned above — "and your brother shall be degraded before your eyes" (Devarim 25:3). For the essential prohibition of striking is the shame — meaning the blemish of honour, as mentioned above — which is the aspect of the thirty-nine lashes from which all blows are drawn, as mentioned above. And therefore his punishment and his rectification is through money (mamon) — that he must give money specifically for five matters — as our Sages of blessed memory expounded: "so shall be given to him money" (Vayikra 24:20), etc. — for there he blemished the aspect of livelihood and money. That is: he blemished in the thirty-nine labours through the striking which is the aspect of the thirty-nine lashes, as mentioned above. And therefore his punishment is in money, as mentioned above. And this is the aspect of the five matters that he must give — corresponding to the blemish of honour which is the blemish of speech, which is the aspect of the lower Heh — Malchus — whose wholeness is through the tal oros [thirty-six lights], as mentioned above. And through the blemish the thirty-nine labours are produced, as mentioned above. And therefore he must give money — five matters — to rectify the honour and the Malchus, which is the aspect of Heh, through the rectification of money — which is the aspect of the rectification of the thirty-nine labours back into the thirty-six lights. For money and livelihood are the aspect of the thirty-nine labours, as mentioned above.