Likutay Moharan II Torah 79: The Voice Is the Voice of Yaakov

Likutay Moharan II Torah 79: The Voice Is the Voice of Yaakov [We found further in the manuscript of our Rebbe, of blessed memory, and they are headings of sections from some wondrous Torah [teaching].] The voice is the voice of Yaakov, herald of Esav, and Yitzchak raised his voice, time [ zman kuf , tzadik, sleepers, and so forth, and you shall return to Hashem your G-d and listen to His voice, Yitzchak son of Avraham, time unified, Avraham My beloved, in his eyes as a few days in his love, and Shear Yashuv your son, if you return and I will restore you, you shall stand before Me, for the sun has come (Tikkun 18), take words with you and return, from the stones of the place, stones, letters, from his head, thought clarifies everything, and Yaakov sent angels, time-bound mitzvahs [commandments], he performed many mitzvahs, many angels were created before him, teshuvah [repentance], and I will restore you before Me, to the land of Sayeer nudtahar [these Hebrew letters standing alone are an acronym for nukva ditahom raba - female of the great abyss], I will establish a booth, teshuvah shelters me, in my mother’s womb, birth, and Yaakov dwelt in the land, to fulfill honoring the father, to nullify the power of Esav’s honor, these are the generations, disqualifying Esav’s seed, Yosef, teshuvah, additions [ Tosafos ] to tzadikim , in the place where penitents [ baalay teshuvah] stand, Esav’s house to stubble, Yosef’s house to flame, at the end of two years, the end of days, and Pharaoh dreams, the sitra achara [other side] strengthens, and behold it stands, he was silent, the river, teshuvah, from the weeping of rivers it bound, and Yehudah approached him, approach [ tikruvta ], king with king unified in mitzvahs, for behold the kings, then all the angels of destruction passed, let him speak now in the ears, and they shall not confuse my voice, and let not your anger burn, in your distress as Pharaoh, teshuvah in paying off debts, in volunteering, for as you are like Pharaoh, teshuvah the weight, and the days of Israel approached to die, unification of time, to die, this is in your distress, and so forth, in the end of days, and he called to his son, to Yosef, teshuvah, Shear Yashuv your son, I hid my shame, do not bury me in Mitzrayim , in the straits of the throat, at the time of the aspect of in your distress, and these are the names, go see the deeds, and so forth, desolation, actions, mitzvahs, desolation, separation between the mitzvahs, and it was every soul, and so forth, seventy souls, and I appeared to Avraham, and so forth, in El Shaddai, time and boundary, exile, and My Name Hashem, when they knock on the gates of mercy (see Or HaChaim Parshas Va’era ), this is the approach of times, and also I established My covenant, and so forth, to give them their sojourning land, their seats, teshuvah, and also I heard the groaning of the children of Israel, this is the voice of their sojourning, gathering of the sparks in teshuvah, I came to Pharaoh, Moshe in the aspect of the unification of times, what was is what will be, Pharaoh, his voice goes like a serpent, I hardened his heart to place My signs, if they do not believe the voice of the sign, in its midst, his hardening that he hardened on Israel to arouse them to teshuvah, and Pharaoh brought near. And Yitzro heard, the splitting of the Sea of Reeds and the wars of Amalek, the splitting of the Sea of Reeds, this is the nullification of times, and Hashem looked down upon the camp of Mitzrayim in a pillar of fire and cloud and confounded them, pillar of fire this is night, and cloud this is day, and the Holy One, blessed be He, mixed them and nullified the times, the war of Amalek, this is teshuvah, Moshe, Aharon, and Chur, Rashi explained they were engaged in fasting, and Yitzro heard, he heard the voice.

[Thus far the words of our Rebbe, of blessed memory.] All this we found from the manuscript of our Rebbe, of blessed memory, and we transcribed it letter for letter.

Behold, the matters are sealed and closed from the eye of all, neither going out nor coming in.

But from the very desire to understand and comprehend as much as possible from the pleasant wonders of his holy insights, I toiled and found a little bit, like peering through the cracks.

Behold, I, the one who sees, know that these matters he wrote in the manner of headings of sections in mere allusion for memory.

After study, I understood some premises that he intended, upon which this entire matter revolves. I found its edge, not its entirety.

For it is clear that he intended additional premises, which I did not merit to grasp.

Because of this, it is impossible to explain and expound this matter well so that all its words would be understood.

Nevertheless, what is possible to understand a little based on the premise I understood from his words, I have said to explain what is in my hand, and perhaps through this a wise person will hear and add insight, and understand further from within my words to explain the rest correctly. Behold, what Hashem enlightened my eyes with is that our Rebbe, of blessed memory, wishes to reveal that teshuvah and the aspect of above time, meaning the nullification of times, are one aspect.

Through this, one merits to hear the voice of holiness [ kol dikdushah ] and to subdue the voice of the sitra achara [other side]. it is explained in the Aleph Bet HaChadash, letter Tav , teshuvah, section 1, and this is its language: The day a person performs teshuvah is above time and elevates all days above time, and so Yom Kippur is above time, thus far its language.

Thus, it is explained that teshuvah is above time. In my humble opinion, this is what he wishes to explain in these verses with the addition of some premises that I did not merit to grasp, as mentioned above.

Now come and see, and you will understand a little from his words. We will begin, for example, from the end of his holy words, and that is: And Yitzro heard, the splitting of the Sea of Reeds, and so forth, as mentioned above. The splitting of the Sea of Reeds, this is the nullification of times, and Hashem looked down, and so forth. Meaning, in this he wishes to explain and prove in wondrous brevity that the splitting of the Sea of Reeds is the aspect of the nullification of times. For regarding the splitting of the Sea of Reeds, it is written (Exodus 14:27): “And Hashem looked down upon the camp of Mitzrayim in a pillar of fire and cloud and confounded them.” The pillar of fire is night, and the cloud is day, and the Holy One, blessed be He, mixed them and nullified the times.

Thus, the splitting of the Sea of Reeds is the aspect of the nullification of times. He goes on to explain the aforementioned premise that the nullification of times and teshuvah are one aspect, and so forth. This is what he wrote: The war of Amalek, this is teshuvah, Moshe, Aharon, and Chur, Rashi explained they were engaged in fasting. Meaning, he brings proof that the war of Amalek is teshuvah, for then Moshe, Aharon, and Chur were engaged in fasting, which is the aspect of teshuvah. Thus, the splitting of the Sea of Reeds and the war of Amalek are the aspect of the nullification of times and teshuvah, which are dependent on each other. And Yitzro heard, he heard the voice, meaning, as mentioned above, for through teshuvah, which is the nullification of times, through this one hears the voice of holiness, as mentioned above. Based on this approach, you will return and see all these matters written above and find in them pleasant things. Now we return to the beginning of his words: The voice is the voice of Yaakov, herald of Esav, and he raised his voice. Meaning, one must amplify the voice, the voice of Yaakov, over the voice of the sitra achara, which is the aspect of Esav, regarding whom it is said (Genesis 27:22): “And he raised his voice,” that he seeks to overpower and conceal, Heaven forbid , the voice of Yaakov. One must overpower to subdue the voice of Esav in order to merit to hear the voice of Yaakov. This is merited through teshuvah, which is the aspect of the nullification of times, as mentioned above. This is: Yitzchak, time, kuf , tzadik, sleepers, and so forth. Meaning, Yitzchak hints at time [ zman ], for Yitzchak, the letters are קֵץ חַי [end of life], as brought, ketz [end] hints at time, which is the aspect of the end of days, as brought below: At the end of two years, the end of days. This is what is stated, that the letters kuf , tzadik, sleepers, and so forth, hint at time, as explained elsewhere that the essence of time is the aspect of sleep [as explained above in Torah 61]. And you shall return to Hashem your G-d and listen to His voice, meaning, through teshuvah, one merits to hear His voice, blessed be He, meaning the voice of holiness [ kol dikdushah ], as mentioned above. For teshuvah is the aspect of the nullification of time, through which one hears the voice, as mentioned above. Now he goes on to explain that teshuvah is the aspect of the nullification of time, meaning that time is unified, meaning that time rises and is connected and included in the aspect of above time. This is what he explains in his holy language: Yitzchak son of Avraham, time unified, Avraham My beloved, in his eyes as a few days in his love, and Shear Yashuv your son, and so forth. Meaning, he explains that Avraham is the aspect of above time, for Avraham’s attribute is love [ ahavah ], as it is written (Isaiah 41:8): “Avraham My beloved.” Love is the aspect of the unification of time, as it is written (Genesis 29:20): “In his eyes as a few days in his love.” This is the aspect of teshuvah, which the word son [בֵּן] hints at, as it is written (Isaiah 7:3): “And Shear Yashuv your son.” For teshuvah is above time, as it is written (Jeremiah 15:19): “If you return and I will restore you, you shall stand before Me.” Before Him, blessed be He, is certainly above time, for Hashem, blessed be He, is above time, as is known. Thus, Yitzchak son of Avraham hints at the unification of time through teshuvah. For Yitzchak, who is the aspect of time, as mentioned above, rises and is unified and included in the aspect of Avraham, who is the aspect of love, the aspect of above time, through the aspect of son, which is the aspect of teshuvah, as mentioned above. Then the voice of Yaakov overpowers the voice of Esav, and so forth, as mentioned above. For through teshuvah, which is the aspect of the nullification of time, through this one hears the voice of holiness, which is the aspect of the voice of Yaakov, as mentioned above. This is: For the sun has come, time was shortened, for the sun came not in its season for Yaakov, and time was shortened, which is the aspect of the nullification of time.

And he lay down in that place, and it is stated that the word “and he lay down” is the aspect of yesh kaf-bet [there are 22], meaning the 22 letters of the Torah, from which all speech comes. This hints at teshuvah, the aspect of (Hosea 14:2): “Take words with you and return.” This is: From the stones of the place, stones, letters, meaning the letters of the speech, which are the aspect of teshuvah, the aspect of: “Take words with you and return,” as mentioned above. This is: From his head, thought clarifies everything, for the essence of the rectification of teshuvah is through the holiness of thought, which clarifies and rectifies all blemishes, for all were clarified in thought (see Zohar, Pekuday 254b). Thus, the verse “And he lay down in that place, and so forth, for the sun has come, and he took from the stones of the place, and he placed at his head” (Genesis 28:11) all hints that teshuvah is the aspect of above time. Based on this approach, study well all the matters written above, which are written in allusion in the manner of headings of sections, and you will understand and see the aforementioned premises each and every matter. You will see its edge, not its entirety, for there are still lacking several premises that he intended here, which I did not merit to grasp yet. Also, these premises that we already found in his words, thanks to G-d, still require broad explanation, for in truth, the essence of the service is to connect and nullify the aspect of time, to elevate it and unify it in the aspect of above time. This is the aspect of time-bound mitzvahs, in order to merit through time-bound mitzvahs that time be unified and time rise to the aspect of above time. All the troubles and judgments and the hold of the sitra achara are only in the aspect of time, which is the aspect of (Deuteronomy 4:30): “In your distress,” and so forth, in the end of days, specifically, which is the aspect of time. Then “And you shall return to Hashem your G-d,” meaning that we merit to return, and through this we merit to nullify time, as mentioned above. Then all the troubles and judgments and all the hold of the sitra achara are nullified, and we merit to hear the voice of holiness, the aspect of: “And you shall return to Hashem your G-d and listen to His voice.” All this is explained from within the words of our Rebbe, of blessed memory, in these headings of sections. Give to a wise person and he will become wiser, to understand a little based on the approaches mentioned above, the many words of our Rebbe, of blessed memory, written here, and understand well.