סימן י"ב

There: "But through the sweetening of the anger and wrath through compassion — as above — then the wrath that was within the Tzaddikim is sweetened through compassion — and then compassion overpowers them and they have mercy on the world — and they are reconciled to leading it. And through this compassion they lead the world." In my humble opinion: this means that at first — through the diminished faith that exists among Israel, G-d forbid — wrath and anger descended upon the Tzaddikim — and they hid their faces from the world and were not reconciled to leading the world. And through the sweetening of the anger and wrath through compassion — the aspect of: "in wrath remember mercy" — through this the wrath that was within the Tzaddikim is also sweetened through compassion. And they say in their hearts: on the contrary — is this the measure: that because of the diminished faith among Israel we hide our faces from them entirely — and they may come thereby, G-d forbid, to wherever they come — and moreover: it seems to us that we are not worthy to lead the world? But in truth — on the contrary: since there is no leader and guide for Israel and their faith has also diminished — certainly the compassion for Israel is very great. Therefore the duty falls upon us to accept the crown of kingship and leadership — for the good of Israel — since we are strengthened, with the help of Hashem, in His holy faith in perfection — and there is in us no trace of heresy or any ways of the Amorites and the like — as elaborated in Letter Gimmel. Therefore we are compelled to accept upon ourselves the authority and leadership — in order to complete the faith among all of Israel as well — and bring them too to the good goal.

And this too is the aspect of "Hashem's anger burned against Moshe" above — for initially there was the hard bondage upon Israel through the aspect of wrath. And afterwards — when His compassion for Israel was stirred — and Moshe refused his mission and diminished himself because of the above-mentioned wrath — then Hashem's anger burned against Moshe — and He decreed that he must accept the leadership — because of the great compassion that exists for Israel. And this is what he wrote afterwards: that this is the aspect of the kartelirah [chest/box] — meaning the wrath above — "in which precious stones are set" — this being the above-mentioned crown — the aspect of the above-mentioned compassion. Meaning: the very wrath that existed because of the diminished faith — turned afterwards and was sweetened into compassion — through which he was stirred afterwards with compassion to lead Israel in order to complete the faith among them. And what he wrote: that the precious stones are the aspect of the crown — meaning: for a king's crown is made of precious stones — as is also elaborated above at the end of Siman 6. And also Malchus itself is called avna tava [precious stone] as is brought in the holy Zohar in many places. And: "from the wing of the earth we have heard songs — glory to the righteous — my secret, my secret" [Isaiah 24]. In Siman 9 [Tehomot Yechasuyumu] he speaks of the essential life-force received from prayer — when one prays with all one's power, one's strength is renewed — the aspect of: "new each morning — great is Your faithfulness" [Lamentations 3]. And the twelve tribes and twelve versions of prayer — each tribe has its special gate — and prayer stirs the power of one's constellation which illuminates below and causes growth. And "a star shoots forth from Yaakov" [Numbers 24]. And Israel through prayer cause the union of the Holy One and His Shechinah — and also sustain their Heavenly Father. And prayer bestows life-force on all three divisions of the world.

There — Letter Gimmel — "And Malchus will turn to heresy [minus]…" — meaning: it turns specifically — for heresy is the exact opposite of Malchus — whose essential nature is the aspect of compassion — and the essential compassion depends on faith as above. And alien thoughts surrounding a person in prayer — and through truth one finds the opening and emerges from the darkness.

There — Letter Daled — "Unless he who holds the Malchus strengthens himself in heresy and minus to the point of separating faith from the governance of Malchus…" In my humble opinion — as a possibility — this means: he strengthens himself in heresy and minus — meaning: he introduces, G-d forbid, heresy and minus among all of Israel whom he wishes to rule over and lead — and then faith is separated from Malchus and then it may be possible for the Malchus to remain in his hands. [Only: nonetheless Heaven does not permit him to take it — as is elaborated in Letter Vov.] For as long as Israel holds to faith — even though there is diminished faith, G-d forbid — nonetheless the faith always strengthens the Malchus and leadership of Israel — so that no stranger who is not worthy of it can take it — unless he strengthens himself to introduce into Israel, G-d forbid, heresy and minus — until he separates faith from governance. And likewise it is implied in Letter Hay. And the Holy One is the very essence of truth. And every person must bind prayer to the Tzaddik of the generation — for every Tzaddik is in the aspect of Moshe-Mashiach — and Mashiach encompasses all prayers — therefore Mashiach will be able to judge by smell [morach v'dayan]. And all prayers are in the aspect of the sword at Mashiach's side — but since we are distant from perfect prayer — it is also said of Mashiach: "have You also rejected his sword?" [Psalms 89]. And the essential redemption from all exiles depends on prayer. In Siman 10 [V'Ayleh HaMishpatim] he speaks of the matter that the essential greatness of the Holy One is that even the nations know there is a G-d who rules — and this requires elevating prayer from mountain and field to the aspect of house — the aspect of Yaakov — the aspect of: "great is Hashem and much praised in the city of our G-d, His holy mountain" [Psalms 48]. And only the Tzaddikim of the generation know the essential prayer. And the nullification of pride — which is idolatry — through drawing close to Tzaddikim. And the Tzaddik is the aspect of the thorn of the letter Dalet — from which the four winds blow. And "through the blast — the other god is removed." And the wind blows through the six joints of the arms and thighs — dancing and clapping — through which judgments are sweetened. And the feet: "the feet of His pious ones He guards" — "the faithful kindnesses of Dovid." And the hands: "and his hands were faithful." And the revealed and hidden in Torah = hands and feet. And Moshe — and Mordechai and Esther — and Purim — named for the nullification of idolatry — "I trod the winepress alone" [Isaiah 63]. And Esther said with the Holy Spirit. And the barley omer. And through nullification of pride, wisdom is in its rectification and one lives long — "Wisdom gives life" [Ecclesiastes 7].

There — the elaboration of the passage: "And we saw this chest in which precious stones and pearls are set" — the aspect of the wrath sweetened through compassion — through which the Tzaddikim were crowned with the attribute of Malchus and leadership. "And its ornament is types of fish called birah" — this being the attribute of faith which always strengthens the Malchus and leadership — so that no stranger who is not worthy of it can take it. "And a son of the Amorites came down to take it" — meaning: one whose faith is not perfect — having still in him some of the ways of the Amorites [darkay Emori] — and therefore is called "son of the Amorites" [bar Amora'i] — and he wished to take the kartelirah — meaning: the Malchus and leadership. And it seemed to him it was out of compassion — but in truth he is distant from this compassion. "And he wished to dislodge its hip-fin" — meaning: the above-mentioned birah — which is the aspect of the above-mentioned faith — he wished to dislodge and uproot from it — the aspect of: "He who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed" — for he wished to cause him to fall into hatred of Torah scholars. "And he threw a flame" — meaning: this above-mentioned son of the Amorites strengthened himself in minus to the point of separating the faith — which is the aspect of birah — from holding to the Malchus — which is the aspect of the kartelirah. "And it descended" — meaning: the above-mentioned birah. And then the son of the Amorites could take the kartelirah — together with the aspect of Malchus and leadership — which is conducted through speech, and the essential perfection of the letters — the perfection of speech — is through faith. This being the aspect of the wife of Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa. And: "and in the future she will throw blue wool [techayles] upon the Tzaddikim in the World to Come" — for through the perfection of the letters of faith in Malchus — that is with the Tzaddikim who lead the world — through this they hold to the goal which is the aspect of the World to Come — and draw illumination from this to all of Israel — to each one according to his root in the soul of the Tzaddik — as above in Letter Beis. And in proportion to the appeasing of anger through compassion — and this too is the aspect of the above-mentioned kartelirah — as elaborated above in Letter Beis. And the root of repentance is on Rosh Chodesh. And Yosef — "and without you no man shall lift up his hand or his foot" [Genesis 41]. In Siman 11 [Ani Hashem] he speaks of the upper and lower unification — Shema Yisrael and Baruch Shem Kevod Malchuso — and every person of Israel must accomplish this through himself — and through this can come to the depths of understanding of the Torah. And through speaking words of Torah in speech, the speech illuminates all the places where one needs to repent — enabling exact proportional repentance [teshuvat hamishkal] — and through this one emerges from one's lowliness and attains the depths of Torah. But for the speech to illuminate, one needs humility and smallness — and additional holiness in guarding the covenant. And the thirty-seven lights of dew [tal oros] — not guarding the covenant damages them and draws upon oneself thirty-nine labors and thirty-nine lashes. Guarding the covenant transforms them into the labors of the Sanctuary — "the Sanctuary in its buildings" — dew of lights. And two aspects of guarding the covenant = halacha and Kabbalah — esoteric matters and esoteric of esoteric. And Metatron ruling in the six weekdays = six orders of Mishnah. And the matter of Divine greatness [gadlus] coming as it were from the falling of the pride and boastfulness which is His garment — "Hashem reigns — He has garbed Himself in pride" [Psalms 93].