Torah 23: You Commanded Righteousness

Torah 23: You Commanded Righteousness Suvay Divay Atuna – Elders of the House of Atuna [The story of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hananiah and the “elders of the house of Atuna (possibly Athens)” (Suvay Divay Atuna [elders of the house of Atuna]), a Talmudic tale from Bechoros 8b, features a clever exchange where Rabbi Yehoshua demonstrates the supremacy of the Torah over the Greek scholars’ materialistic pursuits.] Suvay Divay Atuna The Suvay Divay Atuna said to Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hananiah: Say to us words of falsehood (mili dikh’dibay [lies]).

He said to them: We had a kadnaysah [mule] and she gave birth (viladah), and there was hanging on it a piskah [note, document or will], and it was written in it that its father’s house owes (or, is owed) one hundred thousand zuz. They said to him: And does a kadnaysah give birth? He said to them: These are the words of falsehood (mili dikh’dibay). Salt, when it spoils, with what do they salt it? With the silusah [afterbirth] of the kadnaysah. And is there silusah for a kadnaysah? And does salt spoil? [Bechoros 8b] [Rashi: Words of falsehood – lies. kadnaysah – mule.

Hanging a piskah – a document on the offspring’s neck. These are the words of falsehood – lies.

silusah – placenta.] The language of our rabbi, of blessed memory You commanded righteousness Your testimonies and faith greatly [Psalms 119:138]

Why Only Some Nations Find It — The Good Subdued Under Their Hand — The Writing of Israel

1. [Pertaining to section 1]: There it is explained that money is the aspect of faces, etc., see there. And for this reason, our sages, of blessed memory, said: The faces of the earth are the rich, as Rashi explained on the verse: “And the famine was over all the faces of the earth” [Genesis 41:56], who are the faces of the earth? These are the rich [Genesis Rabbah 71:9], for money and wealth is the aspect of faces [as above]. There, the desire for money is the aspect of darkness, anpin chashochin [dark faces], etc., see there [Zohar Miketz 193a]: He set an end to darkness, etc., this is the filth of gold.

2. And know that through the rectification of the holy bris [covenant, sexual purity], one is saved from anpin chashochin [dark faces]. Through the blood of the bris, the blood of niddah [menstrual impurity], the desire for money, is rectified, as it is written: “Also by the blood of your bris” [Zechariah 9:11], through the bris, “I have sent forth your prisoners from the pit” [Tikunay Zohar Tikun 48]. The pit is the spleen, marah shechorah [black bile], “In sorrow you shall eat it” [Genesis 3:17]. For the bris is the aspect of salt that sweetens the bitterness and sorrow of sustenance, as it is brought in the Zohar: If not for salt, the world could not bear the bitterness [Vayechi 241a]. And this is: “A bris of salt everlasting it is” [Numbers 18:19], “You shall not omit the salt of the bris of your G-d” [Leviticus 2:13], your G-d, precisely, for through this, one connects to divinity and separates from the service of elilim, as it is written: “From my flesh I shall see G-d” [Job 19:26, Genesis Rabbah 48:1, Zohar Lech Lecha 94a, Tikunay Zohar Tikun 19, Tikun 24]. For through the rectification of the bris, one radiates for himself the light of the face of the king, life. And this is: Salt (-used for preservation, of) money (is by) detract (-giving charity) [Kesuvos 66b], for through salt, the desire for money is diminished.

3. [Pertaining to section 3]: “And He shall drive out the enemy from before you and say destroy” [Deuteronomy 33:27], etc. For all Israel are called tzadikim [righteous ones] because of the bris [covenant, sexual purity], etc., see there. And therefore, anyone who guards the bris more than his fellow can cause his fellow to fall, for he is the aspect of a tzadik, anpin nehorin [radiating faces, divine countenance of holiness], relative to his fellow. And about him it is also said: “And He shall drive out the enemy from before you” [Deuteronomy 33:27], etc. And therefore, one must be careful when there is a dispute against a person that he not fall into the desire for money, for perhaps his fellow is anpin nehorin against him and has the power to cause him to fall. And the fall is that they cause him to fall into the desire for money [as above]. Therefore, one must be careful of this. There, for all Israel are called tzadikim because of the bris. I heard then from his holy mouth explicitly, that he said that all Israel, because they are circumcised, therefore they are all called tzadikim.

4. [Pertaining to section 4]: And this is the aspect of mezuzah [doorpost parchment], etc. And this is: “And Shaddai shall be in your distress, and silver” [Job 22:25], etc., for Shaddai is the aspect of the bris, etc., see there. And this is the aspect of Shaddai who said to His world “enough” (dai), that is, that he is joyful in his portion and says “enough” (dai) to what he has and does not desire more, which is the aspect of breaking the desire for money, which one merits through guarding the bris [as above]. Also, this pertains to section 4: It is explained there that through the mitzvah [commandment] of mezuzah, the covetousness of money is nullified. And therefore, “And you shall write them on the doorposts” [Deuteronomy 6:9], etc., corresponds to “You shall not covet” [Deuteronomy 5:21] [as above], see there. Now come and see the wonders of Hashem, for it is explained in the Yerushalmi [Peah 1:1 and Genesis Rabbah 35:3]: Artaban sent to Rabbi a fine pearl, and Rabbi sent him a mezuzah. And at first glance, it is a wonder, why did he send him a mezuzah specifically, and not another mitzvah? But according to what our rabbi, of blessed memory, revealed in this Torah, the matter is well clarified, for a mezuzah specifically nullifies the covetousness of money. And therefore, he sent him a mezuzah specifically, for Artaban sent him a fine pearl, that is, wealth and money, for it was worth much money, and he made the essence of importance from this. Therefore, Rabbi sent him in response a mezuzah specifically, for a mezuzah nullifies the covetousness of wealth [as above]. Salt, when it spoils (ki sarya), this is one who fell to the stench of the desire for money, etc. And therefore, they expressed it in the language of ki sarya (when it spoils), which is the language said regarding idolatry, as it is written: “They have quickly turned aside (saru)” [Exodus 32:8], etc., for one who is immersed in money serves all idolatry [as above]. And therefore, on every coin is engraved the idolatry of the nations. According to these words, the wise one will understand to explain the entire discussion of: “The gold acquires the silver, and the silver does not acquire, etc., the copper acquires” [Bava Metzia 44a], etc., and the general principle: Whatever is a coin and issued is considered money, see there the entire discussion. And the discussion of: “Whether money is acquired by exchange” [Bava Metzia 45b], and the discussion of: “All that is made money in another” [Bava Metzia 46a], all will be clarified to the wise one according to this Torah with some additional introductions.

And all the mitzvos [commandments] that a person does without money, that is, that he does not want to lose money for the mitzvah, this aspect is called righteousness. And this is: “You commanded righteousness Your testimonies and faith greatly” [Psalms 119:138]. But when the mitzvah is so beloved that he does not feel the loss of money, this aspect is called faith.

For the essence of faith is in money, when one breaks the desire for money [as above], where anpin nehorin [radiating faces, divine countenance of holiness] are “faith greatly” [from “and faith greatly,” Psalms 119:138], this is money, as it is written: “And with all your very” [Deuteronomy 6:5, Berachos 54a]. And this is the explanation of what the Suvay Divay Atuna [elders of the house of Atuna] said: Say to us words of falsehood (mili dikh’divay [lies]), this is the aspect of falsehood, the aspect of the service of elilim [idols], as our sages, of blessed memory, said: Anyone who changes his word is as if he serves idolatry [Sanhedrin 92a]. We had a kadnaysah [mule] and she gave birth (vi'yuldah [offspring]). The kadnaysah is idolatry (avodah zarah), which begins in connection and ends in separation [Zohar Mishpatim 95a]. And vi'yuldah (gave birth) is the aspect of profit, which is called birth. And does a kadnaysah give birth? For idolatry, another god, is sterile and does not produce fruit [Zohar Mishpatim 103a]. And he replied to them: These are the words of falsehood, that is, the falsehood that it seems to them that they profit, and in truth, they do not profit. And hanging on it a piskah [note, document or will] on its neck, that it owes in the father’s house one hundred thousand zuz. The father’s house is the service of idolatry, as it is written: “Who says to the wood ‘You are my father’” [Jeremiah 2:27]. And the service of idolatry is obligation [Rashi on Genesis 14:13], which subjugates all to the scale of debt. And all who cleave to it are owners of debts, as we see in reality, that this trade is hanging on the neck of people, who are not satisfied with their money and borrow money from others, and it seems to them that they earn much profit, and afterward they die as owners of debts. And even if they do not die as owners of debts, they are in their lifetime owners of debts, and they trouble themselves with great toils and endanger themselves with the dangers of roads for little profit, in order to pay the debt of their father, the debt of idolatry, for it is a mitzvah to fulfill the words of the dead. And this matter is to them like a will from their father that they should pay his debts. And this is what the Maharsha explained: Hang a piskah on the neck, a document of a will. And afterward they said to him: Salt, when it spoils, with what do they salt it? For the rectification of the desire for money is the rectification of the bris [covenant, sexual purity], salt [as above]. If he fell to the stench of the desire for money, with what is its rectification? And he replied to them: With the silusah [afterbirth] of the kadnaysah. For in truth, there is still a rectification for the desire for money, that is, that he should look to the root from where all money and all abundances come. And through his looking there, his desire is nullified, for there at its root, the abundance is entirely pure and polished light and spiritual pleasure, and he does not desire except downward. And who is the fool who turns aside here to cast spiritual pleasure and take thick pleasure? But for this looking, it is impossible to come, except until one rectifies his bris, as it is written: “From my flesh I shall see G-d” [Job 19:26].

For first, he must rectify the holy flesh, and then he can look to divinity. And for this reason, the essence of the rectification of the desire for money is through the bris. And when he rectifies his bris, it is impossible for him to fall to the desire for money, for through salt, the desire for money lacks [as above]. And the root of abundances is called silusah [afterbirth], for there the offspring is placed, for the silusah is the aspect of the doors of my belly, for a woman has two doors, as it is written: “For He has not shut the doors of my belly” [Job 3:10, Bekhorot 45a].

And there is made from the two doors/dalets (the Hebrew letter Dalet ד, is the word for door, deless, and each ד is half of a square, thus two of them make-) the form of a closed mem [ם], where the offspring is placed, and this is the aspect of mem (which has the numerical value of 40), the days of the formation of the offspring [Niddah 30a]. And so too, above, there are doors of heaven, from where abundances are born, as it is written: “Doors of heaven He opened and rained upon them as dust flesh and so on” [Psalms 78:23]. And this is what he replied to them: With the silusah of the kadnaysah (placenta of a mule), this is its rectification for one who guards the bris when he falls to the desire for money. And they said to him: Is there a placenta of a mule? For idolatry doesn't even have a womb. He said to them: And does salt spoil? For in truth, one who rectifies the bris does not fall to the desire for money. “Men of blood and deceit shall not live out half their days” [Psalms 55:24], that is, one who is a man of controversy falls to desires for money, and his days are consumed in pursuit of superfluities. And this is: They shall not live out half their days, for no person dies with half his desire in his hand [Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:13]. And this is, "they shall not live out half," - because they don't attain half of their desires, as brought above (section 3) on the verse "And he drove out from before you the enemy and said destroy," see there. [Until here, is the language of our rabbi, of blessed memory.] And this is how it (the verse) concludes: “But I will trust in You” [Psalms 55:24], which is the opposite of the desire for money. For one who is immersed in the desire for money does not trust in Hashem, for he serves all idolatry. But: I will trust in You, that You can prepare my sustenance with a light cause [simple means], and I will be joyful in my portion, and I will not be immersed in the desire for money. And therefore, those who are immersed in money, the more wealth they have, the more worries and sorrow and marah shechorah [black bile, melancholy] they have, for their money and wealth is in the aspect of: “In sorrow you shall eat it” [Genesis 3:17], which is the aspect of sorrow and marah shechorah and anpin chashochin [dark faces, impure countenance], death [as above]. And therefore, the more money and wealth they have, the more sorrow and marah shechorah and worries they have, for their money is in the aspect of sorrow and marah shechorah [as above]. And therefore, money and wealth shorten and consume a person’s days and life, for there is nothing that destroys vitality like worry and sorrow, as is known to the wise physicians. And money and wealth increase worry and sorrow [as above]. Therefore, it destroys and consumes his life, for it is connected to the face of the sitra achra (Evil Realm), other gods, darkness, which is the aspect of death, the opposite of: “In the light of the face of the king, life” [Proverbs 16:15]. And therefore, money kills him, for it is in the aspect of death, which is sadness etc. as explained above, all of this being the aspect of desire for money, as explained above. And this is what is written: “And dust you shall eat all the days of your life” [Genesis 3:17], dust is the aspect of money, as it is written: “And dusts of gold for him” [Job 41:5], for money and wealth, which is the aspect of dust, you shall eat all the days of your life, for money consumes and destroys all the days of his life [as above]. For dust is the aspect of sorrow, for in the Tikkunim: Dust is cold and dry, so too the spleen is cold and dry, and from the spleen is drawn sorrow [Tikunay Zohar Tikun 70, 122b]. And this is what concludes there in the Tikkunim: And for this reason: And dust you shall eat all the days of your life etc., i.e. as explained above, see there and understand well. And this is what is written in the Tikkunim (Tikun 3 of the 11 Tikkunim printed at the end): The spleen is Lilith, mother of the mixed multitude (erev rav), laughter of the fool, who is the fool, this is another god etc. see there. And it is diphtheria (ascara) for children, for those who are guilty, it smiles at them with wealth in this world and afterwards kills them. For those who are immersed in money are in the aspect of: “In sorrow you shall eat it,” which is the aspect of the spleen, which is the aspect of sorrow and marah shechorah, and increased worries.

And they are connected to anpin chashochin, another god [as above]. And this is what is written there: And afterward it kills them [as above]. For certainly, money, which is the aspect of the spleen, sorrow, kills them, for money is in the aspect of death, anpin chashochin [as above]. And this is what is said above: mutza (found) or moatza (finds), that the desire for money is: “I moatza (find) bitter more than death the woman” [Ecclesiastes 7:26], and as it is written [Tikunay Zohar Tikun 70, 122b]: And I moatza (find) bitter more than death the woman, and this is the spleen etc. But sustenance of holiness is the aspect of: “One who finds (mutza) a wife finds (mutza) good” [Proverbs 18:22], and this is the aspect of the tzadik [righteous one] [as above]. For the tzadik, the truth, is saved from this, for money does not harm him, as it is said about him: “Good before G-d he shall escape from it” [Ecclesiastes 7:26], as it is written there in the Tikkunim [Tikun 3]: And why are they called children? Because they have no knowledge to be saved from it, but a heart that understands is saved from it, there is the tzadik, and the secret of the matter: Good before G-d he shall escape from it, but a sinner shall be trapped by it. For it requires great wisdom and knowledge so that money does not harm him, that it does not consume the days of his life, for many in the world are trapped in this, that is, in the desire for money, and money kills and destroys them [as above]. And it is impossible to be saved from this except through the tzadik, as it is said about him: Good before G-d he shall escape from it [as above], fortunate is he. See there in the Tikkunim [Tikun 3 of the 11 at the end, and Tikun 70], and you shall see wonders, how now our rabbi, of blessed memory, has opened our eyes and revealed to us the new and wondrous introductions explained above in this Torah. Now, now the words of the Tikkunim mentioned above are well clarified, for now all the words of our rabbi [as above] are clarified there, see and understand and be wise. See there in Tikkun 70 what is written there: If he merits etc. a helpmate, and if not, against him etc., it is said: “And I find (moatza) bitter more than death the woman” [Ecclesiastes 7:26], and this is the spleen, Saturn, etc. [that is, the aspect of sorrow and marah shechorah [black bile, melancholy], which is the aspect of the spleen, Saturn, the fool, the dark one, as is known]. A helpmate, this is the Shechinah (Divine Presence), about which it is said: “One who finds (mutza) a wife finds (mutza) good and obtains favor from Hashem” [Proverbs 18:22]. And for this reason, the masters of the Mishnah said: mutza (found) or moatza (finds) [Berachos 8a]. See there well and understand, and you shall see that all the words of our rabbi, of blessed memory, are now clarified there and in Tikkun 3 mentioned above, it is well clarified. [This Torah is the language of our rabbi, of blessed memory, himself until the place noted above, and from there onward it is in my language, what I heard further, things that were not explained in his holy language, and further to G-d are words, what I heard and understood from his holy mouth when I merited to hear from his holy mouth this Torah.] Difficult are his food sustenance double as the birthgiver [Pesachim 118a], for the birthgiver raises seventy calls, and here there are 140 calls, etc., see above. For one needs to be tested and refined through this desire for money before one merits to engage in trade in faith, to earn and engender money of holiness. That is, one needs to greatly strengthen himself when he engages in trade, that he not fall at all into the desire for money, G-d forbid. Rather, his trade and giving shall be in truth and in faith, and to break and nullify all the thoughts and confusions and desires for money that come upon him. Rather, all his intention shall be for the sake of Hashem, blessed be He, alone, so that he may merit to serve Hashem, blessed be He, through the money he earns, and to give charity, to support Torah scholars and servants of Hashem, etc. And for this reason, difficult are his sustenance double as the birthgiver, for the birthgiver needs to endure the pains of birth and needs to cry seventy calls before the birth. And here there are 140 calls that the Shechinah cries, G-d forbid, “Woe to me from my head, woe to me from my arm” [Sanhedrin 46a], over those who fall into the desire for money. And before one earns money, one needs to go and pass and be tested and refined through these 140 calls, and to cry and pray to Hashem, blessed be He, to pass through them in peace and to be saved from them. Therefore, difficult are his sustenance double as the birthgiver, for there are seventy calls, and here there are 140 calls, and understand. Also, he then clarified that the 140 calls are two times seventy, that is: “Woe to me from my head, woe to me from my arm,” which are the aspect of two types of calls, from my head and from my arm, and each call is the aspect of seventy calls of the birthgiver. And here they are doubled: “Woe to me from my head, woe to me from my arm,” kallani (woe to me) is the language of a call (kol). Therefore, they are 140 calls, for in truth, all profit, which is called birth, and all money and all abundances are drawn only from the breaking of the desire for money, which is the aspect of truth [as above]. And this is the aspect of: “Truth stands (kushta kay)” [Shabbos 104a], for our sages, of blessed memory, said: And all the standing (yekum [root: קום]) that is in their legs, this is the money of a person that establishes him on his legs [Pesachim 119a]. And therefore, the essence of the standing of sustenance, that is, the money of a person that establishes him on his legs, is through truth, which is the aspect of breaking the desire for money [as above].

And this is the aspect of: “Truth stands (kushta kay)”, that is, through truth he has money, which is the aspect of standing that establishes him on his legs [as above]. But falsehood does not stand (shikra la kay), for falsehood is idolatry, the desire for money, as our sages, of blessed memory, said: Anyone who changes his word is as if he serves idolatry [Sanhedrin 92a]. And therefore, through falsehood, which is idolatry, the desire for money, he has no endurance and standing, that is, he has no money that is called standing (yekum [root: קום]) [as above].

And this is: Falsehood does not stand (shikra la kay) [as above], for idolatry, another god, is sterile and does not produce fruit, as is explained there in the aforementioned teaching well [Zohar Mishpatim 103a]. For usually, those who pursue excessively after the desire for money die with debts, and nothing is in their hand. And even if they do not die as owners of debts, they are in their lifetime owners of debts to their desire, for they desire so much for much money that they run and toil greatly all their days with great toils and endanger themselves with great dangers in order to fulfill their desire, as if there were a great debt upon them to pay, that is, the debt of idolatry [as above]. And all their days they are unable to fulfill their desire and to pay this debt of their desire, for no person dies with half his desire in his hand [Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:13], and therefore, his money is not money at all, for he has no enjoyment from his money, for another god is sterile and does not produce fruit [as above]. And therefore, it is impossible to draw abundance and sustenance and to earn money that is called money of holiness, that he should be joyful in his portion, which is the main wealth, as our sages, of blessed memory, said: Who is rich? The one who is joyful in his portion [Avos 4:1]. For only through the breaking of the desire for money, which is the aspect of truth, from there is the essence of the abundance drawn [as above]. And therefore, difficult are his sustenance double as the birthgiver, for one needs to go and pass and break the 140 calls of the desire for money [as above], which only through this can one earn money, for the essence of abundance is drawn from truth, which is the aspect of breaking the desire for money, and in this the teaching is well connected. And understand there well, very well, for the words of our rabbi, of blessed memory, are very, very deep, and there is great depth in them. [And now it is well understood what is said regarding “Say to us words of falsehood (mili dikh’dibay)” etc., that he called the desire for money words of falsehood (mili dikh’dibay), that is, falsehood, idolatry, as it is said there, for certainly it is the aspect of falsehood, for it seems to him that he profits and profits, and in the end, nothing is in his hand, as is common now in the world. And therefore, all the time that he has money, he is not alive at all, for since he has no enjoyment from it, for he lacks more each time and is always a debtor. Therefore, he replied to them: These are the words of falsehood (mili dikh’dibay), that is, falsehood, that it seems to them that they profit, and in truth they do not profit [as above]. For they die as owners of debts, for usually they remain actual owners of debts or they are owners of debts to their desire [as above]. See all this well above, and you shall understand now how everything is beautifully connected. And the main thing is that you understand the matters well in truth, practically, to strive to save your soul from bitterness more than death, which is the desire for money [as above].] (This paragraph was inserted afterwards, it is found in printings as early as 1874).