The Need to Travel to the Tzaddik; MusarBooks Alone Are Not Enough

120 – The Need to Travel to the Tzaddik; MusarBooks Alone Are Not Enough The matter why one needs to travel to the tzaddik—and why books of *musar* are not sufficient—is explained in the Torah: “And Gd said to Moshe: ‘Write this for a memorial in the book, and put in the ears of Yehoshua’” (Exodus 17:14). Even though He commanded him to write it in the book, that alone was not enough; He also commanded: speak it into the ears of Yehoshua—meaning mouthtomouth—because the primary impact comes from hearing with one’s own ears the tzaddik’s words. Indeed, as our rabbis taught in the Midrash (on Devarim parashah 3) regarding the verse: “Hear, O Israel, today you cross over the Jordan”, this is expressed in Midrashic language: to a king who betrothed a noblewoman with two pearls, and one was lost—he said, “You lost one; guard the second.” Similarly, the Holy One, blessedbeHe, betrothed Israel with “We will do” and “We will hear.” They lost “We will do,” so Moses said: “You lost ‘we will do guard ‘we will hear’: ‘Hear, O Israel.’” This is Midrashic interpretation. Thus: when one studies from the written book—that is the aspect of * na’aseh * (“we will do”)—there is limited power to awaken the heart because Israel lost that operational commitment. But when one hears directly from the mouth of the tzaddik, it corresponds to * nishma * (“we will hear”), and that receptivity is the crown that remains for Israel.