סימן ח-ראיתי מנורת זהב

Section 1 — Letter א — [on Letter Daled, Section 1 of the discourse] Letter Daled, Section 1 of the discourse: "For the deficiency comes from sins…" — This means: the essential spirit of life [Ruach HaChaim] resides in the Torah. When one damages any aspect of the Torah, a damage and deficiency is thereby caused, G-d forbid, in the spirit of life. And likewise, afflictions and deficiencies come upon one — for the essential root of all deficiencies is in the spirit of life, as explained in Letter Alef. Now G-d made the one corresponding to the other for the sake of free will, as is known. Therefore, corresponding to the holy spirit of life that flows from the totality of all Torah, there is against it an impure spirit, a spirit of storm [Ruach Sa'arah] — the exact opposite of holiness. And all its sustenance is from whatever Israel transgress, G-d forbid, of the Torah's commandments — for through this a damage and deficiency is caused, G-d forbid, in the holy spirit of life. And from this damage and deficiency the spirit of storm — which is the aspect of the chieftains of Eisav [alufay Eisav] — draws nourishment. Therefore the Tzaddik — who cleaves to the Torah so completely that he has the power to draw down the spirit of life to complete all the deficiencies of those who cleave to him and are attached to him — since the essential deficiencies flow from sins through which the spirit of life was damaged and diminished, and the Tzaddik has the power to rectify this and complete their deficiency — it follows automatically that he also atones for their sins, in the aspect of: "and a wise man will appease it." And in truth this flows from the immensity of the compassion and grace of the Creator, blessed be He, who contracts Himself as it were — to have the spirit of life reside with the Tzaddikim in such a manner that they are able to complete all the damages done to the spirit of life through Israel's sins, G-d forbid. And then automatically the power and sustenance of the chieftains of Eisav is nullified — since the damage is rectified and the deficiency filled — this being the aspect of: "He preserves kindness for thousands, bears sin and iniquity" — for he also atones for their sins, in the aspect of "a wise man will appease it." [See Rashi on Brachos 32: "Leave Me alone — this shows that it is within his [Moshe's] power to forgive through prayer."] There — Letter Hay of the discourse — "To explain the matter somewhat: it is known that all created beings are comprised of four elements — fire, wind, water, earth — and so too man is comprised of them. And so too the spirit of life that sustains all is also in the aspect of the four winds, as is explained in Letter Khes. And the root of all of them is the four letters of the holy Name Haveye'ah — which is the spirit of life of all — as it is written: 'And You give life to all of them.' And from there it descended through many levels until below there was produced the aspect of the four physical elements comprising good and evil." All good character traits flow from the good within the four elements, whose root above is the aspect of the four letters of Haveye'ah — and this is their spirit of life. And correspondingly there is the aspect of the impure spirit, the spirit of storm, from which the root of the evil within the four elements flows — namely all the evil character traits that also derive from the four elements. And the essential foundation of Torah study in its simple sense is to separate and distinguish between good and evil — this being the aspect of the permitted and forbidden, pure and impure, fit and unfit that exist in the Torah. And as long as the halacha has not been clarified — at which point one's Torah study is as it were still mixed with good and evil — since one might still be able to say the forbidden is permitted or the impure is pure — meaning: it seems to him at that point that this is so according to the Torah, because he has not yet clarified the halacha — for in truth the ruling of the halacha is the opposite — therefore at that point one also cannot separate and nullify the evil from the good in one's character traits. And one is in the aspect of: "He who seeks evil — it shall come to him" — for one gives, G-d forbid, through one's unclarified study, power to the evil — which is the aspect of the spirit of impurity — to draw from the good which is the aspect of the spirit of life. For the essential spirit of life is in the Torah as above — this being the aspect of the life-force of the good within the four elements — and evil has no life or existence of its own at all. It only came into being for the sake of the power of free will. Therefore in truth it is explained above that the spirit of storm only exists temporarily and ultimately perishes and is lost — for it has no existence at all, since it has no share in the holy spirit of life whatsoever — on the contrary, it is entirely against it. And all its sustenance is only from the holy sparks of the spirit of life that fall into the Sitra Achra — through sinning against the Torah. And the root of its sustenance is from the fact that the Torah itself, as it were, has a hold of good and evil — for the Torah is compelled to speak of evil as well, in order to separate and distinguish it from the good — this being the aspect of all the warnings in the Torah. And as long as the halacha has not been clarified — when one could err and say according to the Torah that evil is good and good is evil, G-d forbid — from this is the essential root of the evil's sustenance, the aspect of the spirit of storm. Now the master of the kelipah is comprised of the entirety of the spirit of impurity, the spirit of storm — the aspect of the evil within all evil character traits of the four elements. And every wicked person has some evil character trait in which he is more deeply sunken than others — and this is the path and channel through which he draws his prolonged spirit [arichas haruach] from the totality of the spirit of storm of the master of the kelipah. When the Tzaddik wishes to subdue him and bring him low, he must descend into that evil character trait and shatter the channel of the wicked person — this being the aspect of: "And Avraham went down to Egypt… and Avram came up from Egypt."

Therefore the Tzaddik — who cleaves to the Torah so completely that he has the power to draw down the spirit of life to complete all the deficiencies of those who cleave to him and are attached to him — since the essential deficiencies flow from sins through which the spirit of life was damaged and diminished, and the Tzaddik has the power to rectify this and complete their deficiency — it follows automatically that he also atones for their sins, in the aspect of: "and a wise man will appease it." And in truth this flows from the immensity of the compassion and grace of the Creator, blessed be He, who contracts Himself as it were — to have the spirit of life reside with the Tzaddikim in such a manner that they are able to complete all the damages done to the spirit of life through Israel's sins, G-d forbid. And then automatically the power and sustenance of the chieftains of Eisav is nullified — since the damage is rectified and the deficiency filled — this being the aspect of: "He preserves kindness for thousands, bears sin and iniquity" — for he also atones for their sins, in the aspect of "a wise man will appease it." [See Rashi on Brachos 32: "Leave Me alone — this shows that it is within his [Moshe's] power to forgive through prayer."] But this Tzaddik must be a completely perfect Tzaddik — one who is in the aspect of: "No evil befalls a righteous man" — so that the evil has no hold on him whatsoever, not even in potential. Then he can descend into that channel and shatter it. This is not the case if he has not reached this level — even if he has committed no evil deed whatsoever in practice, G-d forbid — nonetheless, if he has not yet entirely separated the evil, and the evil still exists in him in potential — and he is not yet entirely secure that no stumbling will befall him through evil, G-d forbid — then it is forbidden for him to provoke the wicked. [For even though he cleaves to the spirit of life in the Torah fully — having done only good and no evil, having damaged the spirit of life in the Torah through no damage whatsoever, G-d forbid — and therefore he also has something of this above-mentioned aspect, to draw the prolonged spirit from the holy Torah and complete his own deficiency, and perhaps also to complete the deficiency of those attached to him (as somewhat implied by the above teaching) — nonetheless, to provoke the wicked is impossible for him.] For there is a place for evil to take hold in him, and the prolonged spirit of the wicked can harm him, G-d forbid, and literally swallow him — since evil still has a hold on him in potential. For it has already been explained above: even though the primary empowerment of evil — namely the spirit of storm — comes only from actually transgressing the spirit of life in the holy Torah in deed, G-d forbid — nonetheless its root of sustenance is from the hold that evil has in the holy Torah itself, as it were, before the halacha is clarified. And this evil is only in potential — not in deed, G-d forbid — for no halachic stumbling has come about in practice, and in the Torah itself certainly evil has no hold in deed, G-d forbid — for on the contrary, the Torah humbles the evil and forbids it and disqualifies it and declares it impure and entirely separates it from the good. But the essential hold of the evil is only in potential — meaning: before the wisdom of Torah study is brought from potential to actuality to clarify the halacha fully. At that point evil also has a hold in the holy Torah, as it were — for the evil must necessarily be mentioned in the Torah — and then before clarifying the halacha one can err and say evil is good. And from this is the essential sustenance of evil as above. It follows that even this Tzaddik who has not merited to fully clarify his character traits — and evil still has some hold on him in potential — it is forbidden for him to provoke the wicked, G-d forbid. For the spirit of storm has the power — drawing its root of sustenance from the fact that evil has some slight hold in the Torah in potential — to overcome him and swallow him, G-d forbid. But the completely perfect Tzaddik who has merited to nullify evil entirely — so that evil has no hold on him whatsoever, not even in potential — he and all those attached to him are permitted to provoke the wicked. For this Tzaddik can descend into all their channels and shatter and nullify them. See there in Letters Vov and Zayin. There — end of Letter Tes of the discourse — "And all this is the aspect of the spirit of life in the pulse [hadofek]…" — See Reishis Chuchmah, Sha'ar HaYirah, end of chapter 10: "And 1,080 parts of an hour — these are the 1,080 breaths a person breathes. And with every single breath there is a letter from the four-letter Name that gives life to that breath… and there it is also explained regarding the twelve hours, the twelve permutations of Haveye'ah, and the entire above matter explained in the discourse." And through this you will understand the matter somewhat further in detail — according to what is explained above, that the essential spirit of life of all is the four letters of Haveye'ah. The discourse Tik'u Toichechah — "blow the rebuke" — was said on Rosh Hashonoh 5571 — which fell then on Shabbas Kodesh and Sunday. There — Letter Alef: "they draw upon him a thread of kindness [chut shel chesed]." And so on. One can say: the meaning is — that they draw and extend over him the thread that is braided and woven from 72 strands — which are the numerical value of chesed — and so on — as elaborated in the discourse.

There — Letter Hay of the discourse — "To explain the matter somewhat: it is known that all created beings are comprised of four elements — fire, wind, water, earth — and so too man is comprised of them. And so too the spirit of life that sustains all is also in the aspect of the four winds, as is explained in Letter Khes. And the root of all of them is the four letters of the holy Name Haveye'ah — which is the spirit of life of all — as it is written: 'And You give life to all of them.' And from there it descended through many levels until below there was produced the aspect of the four physical elements comprising good and evil." There: "on the matter of the voice that waters the garden — where all the fragrances and the fear grow." And so on. It is possible to say: that this is the secret of what the Sages said — [Yerushalmi Yoma, Chapter 4, Halacha 5] — that the voice is good for the spices [kol yafeh l'vesamim]. And so on. There — Letter Gimmel: "'Vayiphal"el' — the initial letters of: 'Vehashleich Lifnei Phar'oh Yihi L'Sanin' [and cast before Pharaoh — it will become a serpent]." And so on. In my humble opinion the meaning is: for it is known: that the Egyptian exile was because of the sin of lashon hara [evil speech] — as elaborated in the discourse. There — Letter Vov: "a word consisting of three letters — such as asher — from which one can make six permutations — which are: asher — sha'ar — rasha — rosh — shar'ah — arish." And similar to this with every word. And so on — as elaborated in the discourse. And Rabbainu also elaborated this matter regarding the virtue of the holy gathering of Israel for a [holy] purpose. In the manner of what the Sages said: [Toras Kohanim, Leviticus 26] "it is not comparable for ten people to be fulfilling a commandment one by one — to ten people fulfilling a commandment together." And so on — as elaborated in the discourse. And one can explain: that the meaning is — that through prayer in the aspect of judgment [din] — which the great one who possesses the power [ba'al koach] prays — through this the Other Side is forced to vomit out and expel all the holy sparks that it had swallowed. And so on — as elaborated in the discourse.

And the root of its sustenance is from the fact that the Torah itself, as it were, has a hold of good and evil — for the Torah is compelled to speak of evil as well, in order to separate and distinguish it from the good — this being the aspect of all the warnings in the Torah. And as long as the halacha has not been clarified — when one could err and say according to the Torah that evil is good and good is evil, G-d forbid — from this is the essential root of the evil's sustenance, the aspect of the spirit of storm. And likewise: all the holy sparks that come out from the belly of the Other Side and the kelippos — through the prayer of the above great one who possesses the power — all of them are the aspects of portions of souls of Israel. And so on — as elaborated in the discourse. There: "'u'val yomar shachein chalisi' [and the inhabitant shall not say: I am sick] — [Isaiah 33]." Meaning: for through drawing close to the above gathering — in the aspect of shachen [neighbor/dweller] — through this one is saved from afflictions and illness. And so on — as elaborated in the discourse. And through this is resolved what we see sometimes: that a great gathering assembles near the Tzaddik — and they pray together — through which the houses of prayer are greatly multiplied. Until — and so on — as elaborated in the discourse. There — Letter Yud: "and this is the aspect of: [Genesis 49] 'vayar menuchah ki tov' [and he saw that rest was good]." And so on. See Midrash Rabbah Vayechi, portion 96 — where it expounds there: "Yissachar — a strong-boned donkey [chamor garem]." And so on — as elaborated in the discourse. This discourse was said on Rosh Hashonoh 5571 as above — and this was the last Rosh Hashonoh of his days. And close to his passing — and his illness grew very greatly upon him — to the point he was nearly expiring at every moment. And he told the members of our community about the greatness of his sufferings. And in the midst of this — he clasped his hands — and raised them toward Heaven. And so on — as elaborated below somewhat. And also: before the above last Rosh Hashonoh he told the members of our community about his passing. And then the members of our community were sighing greatly before him — as if saying: what shall we do — and upon whom does he leave us. And so on — and he strengthened them greatly then — and calmed them — and encouraged them. And so on — as elaborated below. And the essence of his words was: that Israel are called holy stones — as it is written: "the holy stones are poured out." And it is elaborated in Sefer Yetzirah on the matter of two stones that build two houses — three stones build six houses — and so on — as elaborated in the discourse. See there. And also it is elaborated elsewhere: how Rabbainu warned Rabbi Nosson greatly — at the time he was engaged in copying this above discourse — to be very careful to copy well what is elaborated there — and so on — as elaborated in the discourse. And the author says: see at the end of the discourse — in the explanation of the Sages' teaching: [Brachos 54b] "the camp of Israel — how much — and so on — for the essential sanctity of the camp of Israel is through guarding from impurity." And so on — as elaborated in the discourse. And behold: even though certainly the words of Rabbainu stand at the very height of the world — and who knows to what extent the matters reach — even so: I said to bring them somewhat closer to the plain intellect — in the way of possibility — to indicate to every person of intellect a path and a way. And so on — as elaborated below. And behold: we see tangibly how the way of those heretics [apikorsim] who wish to lead Israel astray to their evil opinion of heresies and denial — G-d forbid — is: at first they do not reveal their evil opinion explicitly. Rather: at first they come with matters of wisdom and external knowledge. And so on — as elaborated in the discourse. And through this chain of consequences: people come to treat prayer lightly — and do not fulfill what the Sages said: [Avos 2] "do not make your prayer a fixed routine — but rather: a plea for mercy and supplication." And so on — as elaborated in the discourse. And behold: this matter — for the great one who possesses the power — is literally self-sacrifice [mesirat nefesh] — as is understood from the main body of the discourse in the above Letter Yud-Beis. And in truth: literal self-sacrifice for the sanctification of the Name is also the aspect of — and so on — as elaborated in the discourse. And he alluded to us in the above conversations and in the above discourse — that this is the matter of his residence in Uman. And the upheavals that passed over him there — from dwelling to dwelling — and so on. And the greatness of the sufferings and tribulations — and so on — as elaborated in the discourse. And this too is the aspect of what we mentioned above: that he warned the members of our community to hold themselves together. And so on. For even though the essential repair of the souls of Israel depends only on the Tzaddik — and so on — as elaborated in the discourse. And it has already been elaborated elsewhere — see above, Part One, Siman 61 — that this we see tangibly: that the essential maintenance of the bond of unity among all the members of our community — who are called by the name of Rabbainu — is — and so on — as elaborated in the discourse. And know further — O my brother who studies this: regarding the matter of the new song that will be stirred in the future — as elaborated in this discourse — which is the aspect of the voice that waters the garden where all the fragrances and the fear grow. And so on — as elaborated in the discourse. And what was understood: that this is connected to the aspect of the new song elaborated in this discourse. And also: contemplate well the matter of the burial of Moshe in the land of Moav — opposite Beis Peor — and his atonement for the sin of Peor. And so on — as elaborated in the discourse. And also: what he elaborates afterwards there in Letter Vov — on the matter of the great multiplication of the holy houses built through the addition of neighbors to the gathering. Which is itself the aspect of the matter of converts [gerim] that are made — and so on — as elaborated in the discourse. Omitted: connected before the above Letter Beis. There — in Letter Gimmel — it is elaborated in the main body: that the splitting of the Red Sea is the aspect of the repair for the war of Amalek. And see 1 Samuel 15: "and Shaul had compassion." And so on — as elaborated in the discourse. There — in Letter Ches: "for truly the renewal of the world is through the aspect of faith — as it is written: [Psalms 33] 'v'chol ma'asehu be'emunah [and all His work is in faith].'" And so on. And through faith — the world will be renewed. And so on — as elaborated in the discourse. There — Letter Yud: "'vayar menuchah ki tov' [and he saw that rest was good]" — [Genesis 49] — "this is the aspect of prophecy." And so on. "And the land — meaning: Eretz Yisrael." And so on. And there — Letter Yud-Alef: "teru'ah — this is the aspect of — and so on." And so on — as elaborated in the discourse. And behold: the matter of the above Yonah — who fled to Tarshish — and so on. [Jonah 1] — "and there was a great storm at sea." And so on. And he said to them: "take me up and cast me into the sea — and the sea will be stilled for you." And so on — as elaborated in the discourse. And through this it is further elaborated what we wrote above: for the essential death of the Tzaddikim and their burial in the grave is the aspect of prayer in the aspect of judgment — which swallows it. And so on — and through this great repair comes. And so on — as elaborated in the discourse. And so too: in the matter elaborated there in Letters Beis and Gimmel — that sometimes it is impossible to pray in the aspect of mercy and supplication. And then the prayer is in the aspect of judgment. And so on — and precisely through this — and so on — as elaborated in the discourse. Omitted: connected before the above Letter Beis. There — in Letter Gimmel — it is elaborated in the main body: that the splitting of the Red Sea is the aspect of the repair for the war of Amalek. And see 1 Samuel 15 — Shaul's compassion on Agag — as elaborated in the discourse. And the author says: Rabbainu said this discourse — the discourse Tik'u Toichechah — on the night of the second day of Rosh Hashonoh — that is: on Motza'ei Shabbas Kodesh — the night of the second day of Rosh Hashonoh. [For the first day fell on Shabbas — and on the second day — which fell on Sunday — he said it at night.] And he exerted himself greatly and gave up his soul literally in the saying of this discourse. And all of this was for the benefit of the souls of Israel. And this too — and so on — as elaborated in the discourse. And further: close to his passing — when the illness grew very greatly upon him — to the point of nearly expiring at every moment — he clasped his hands — and folded them — and pointed toward Heaven — as if to say: this matter is entirely in Heaven's hands — and he relies on Hashem — may He be blessed — with complete trust. And so on — as elaborated below. Na Nach Nachma Nachman MayUman