סימן ס"א

📋 Translator's Summary — Siman 19 (Tefillah L'Chavakuk) This discourse was said on Rosh Hashonoh of the year [5]565 — and Rosh Hashonoh fell then on Thursday and Friday — and it was said at twilight, as was always his custom — that is, close to the beginning of the night belonging to the second day of Rosh Hashonoh — and it was already dark. And I sat very close to him, and gazed upon him, and I saw that when he began the discourse — he then said the words "nine precious rectifications were transmitted to the beard" with very, very great force — to the point of expiring of soul — with awe and fear and trembling and shaking — such as it is impossible to estimate. And he then grasped his holy beard several times with great force. And it is impossible to depict this in writing. See the discourse. And then at the beginning of the Torah he immediately began to speak of the Land of Israel — and he said these words: "whoever wishes to be a Jew — namely: to go from level to level — it is impossible except through the Land of Israel. When one wins the battle one is called a man of war — for before winning the battle one should not boast like one who unlaces — only when one wins the battle is one a man of war." And afterwards he began to speak of the soul — and became very inflamed — and raised his voice and said: "there is a soul…" — as printed in the book in this discourse — only that in the writing it begins immediately with the soul, while in the saying of it he began with the Land of Israel as above. And after completing the above Torah — afterwards during the conversation — I asked him what his intention was in what he said about the Land of Israel — that it is so great and that this is the essential victory of the battle. And he rebuked me and answered and said: "my intention is the Land of Israel literally — with those houses and dwellings." And he said it in Yiddish [lashon Ashkenaz]: "ich mayn takki dos Eretz Yisrael mit di stuber mit di haizer" — meaning: that all his intention in what he elaborated at length about the greatness of the Land of Israel was literally the Land of Israel — where the children of Israel travel — and it is his will that every person of Israel — every one who truly wishes to be a person of Israel as above — should travel to the Land of Israel. And even though one has many obstacles — one should break through all the obstacles and go there — for this is the essential victory of the battle when one merits to come to the Land of Israel. And see further in the discourse on the matter of what happened at the time he gave this discourse to be copied — regarding the yahrzeit of his mother — and so on. [All the above is copied from Chayyay Moharan.]

Siman Twenty — Tes Tikkuninסימן כ — ט' תיקונין In this above discourse: "and whoever wishes to draw Torah interpretations" — meaning: now — after that soul above was removed and the Torah interpretations drawn through it were removed — therefore whoever now wishes to draw Torah interpretations must first draw warm words for himself — as is elaborated in the discourse. And likewise it is elaborated at the end of the discourse: "everything that was hidden will be found" — meaning: everything that used to be found through that soul which was removed — is now found through this beard [dikna] — as is elaborated there.

In this above discourse: "and whoever wishes to draw Torah interpretations" — meaning: now — after that soul above was removed and the Torah interpretations drawn through it were removed — therefore whoever now wishes to draw Torah interpretations must first draw warm words for himself — as is elaborated in the discourse. And likewise it is elaborated at the end of the discourse: "everything that was hidden will be found" — meaning: everything that used to be found through that soul which was removed — is now found through this beard [dikna] — as is elaborated there. There: "and the speech is drawn from the supernal heart…" — see Letter Hay, where it is elaborated that the Shechinah is the aspect of the above-mentioned heart.

There — in the commentary on the passage of the Sifra d'Tzni'usa: "hairs upon hairs before the openings of the ears — until the beginning of the mouth" — meaning: before they heard — if they could receive — they opened their mouths and said "we will do." This means: for the essential power of the staff of strength of the Tzaddik — which he has from his mitzvos and good deeds — is through the aspect of "we will do and we will hear" that is in them — namely: what these mitzvos that all of Israel perform and fulfill — such as tzitzis, tefillin and the like — but the Tzaddik performs them with great inflaming and cleaving and great longing — this being the aspect of: "we will do and we will hear — your mouths preceded your ears." There — Letter Daled and Letter Hay — "and this is: 'Your staff of strength — Hashem shall send from Zion'" — see Yalkut Shimoni, portion Chukas, in the name of Midrash Yelamdenu: "'Take the staff' — this is what Scripture says: 'Your staff of strength shall Hashem send from Zion.' Another interpretation: 'Take the staff' — this is what the verse says: 'Folly is bound up in the heart of a child' [Proverbs 22] — these are Israel — 'the rod of discipline will remove it far from him' — therefore the Holy One said to Moshe: they need chastisement in order to subdue the evil in the congregation." And see the Rashbam who also explained it in a similar vein. Therefore because of this they cannot deny His Divinity entirely — only they are led astray after another service as well — and the Almighty is not sufficient for them — and they are led astray after false divinities and serve them and burn incense to them and bring offerings to them — to make them intermediaries, G-d forbid — according to the error of their foolish thinking — as is known from the words of the early authorities.] Now: the essential fall of this good — which is so deeply captured that it forgot its nobility — namely: it forgot its nobility from its very root — that it is from portions of the souls of Israel who arose first in the thought of the Holy One, blessed be He — and the entire creation was for their sake — because the Holy One saw all the glory He would receive in detail and in every particular detail from every portion of the souls of Israel — even from those that fell and were captured and absorbed among the nations — as l ong as the name of Israel is called upon him — meaning: as long as he denies idolatry and prides himself on his faith in Hashem — that he believes in the G-d of the world — and knows that the Almighty is sufficient for every creature — especially for the souls of Israel which are an absolute unity with Him. Then — even though he fell as he fell and was captured among the nations to the point where they stripped him of many mitzvos — and all similar things — nonetheless: let him know and believe that just as he prides himself on his holy faith, so too Hashem prides Himself on him in detail — as it is written: "You have elevated Hashem today… and Hashem has elevated you today" — and the Sages expounded: "You have made Me a singular treasure in the world — and I too will make you a singular treasure in the world" — which is the aspect of the tefillin of Israel and the tefillin of Hashem. But when this good falls in its mind — because it has been captured among the ido l-wors hippers and distanced from the holiness of Israel and the fulfillment of the mitzvos — to the point that through this it forgets its nobility — that it comes from such a holy, elevated, and awesome place — then it can be led astray after idolatry, G-d forbid — and truly lose its nobility, as it were. And then the idolatry draws sustenance from the damage of the portions of the altar. And therefore the rectification for this is charity — for through this a calm and pure air is produced. And then when the Tzaddik — who is the aspect of Mordechai — speaks his words which are refutations of idolatry — and he engages to reveal the glory of all Israel, even of the least of them — and reveals that all who deny idolatry are called Jews — and Hashem receives glory from them — even though they are captured among the nations — and the Tzaddik's words are written and engraved in the air until they are written even in their books — then when this good — which is the portions of the souls of Israel captured among them — finds in their books words that are the opposite of their faith and refutations of idolatry — then this good remembers its nobility — that it comes from such a lofty place. For it is the portion of the souls of Israel — and all the worlds were created for their sake — and the Holy One took counsel with the souls of Israel to create the world — for even though the Midrash explains that He took counsel with the souls of the Tzaddikim — the meaning is that they reveal this to Israel, as above — for He saw all the glory He would receive from all portions of the souls of Israel in detail and in every particular detail — and for this reason created all the portions of creation with all their particular variations in detail and in every particular detail.