Running Commentary on Torah 50 — Hatzilah mei'Cherev Nafshi

Beginner: **Editorial header**: *'In the language of our Rebbe, of blessed memory.'* This Torah is recorded in Rabbeinu's own words. The whole drasha will turn on **two contrasting reactions** to a person's tefillah from the upper-world animals — *kelev* (dog) versus *aryeh* (lion) — and on the central image of *etzem* (bone) as the unit through which sweetness, or its absence, is registered. Intermediate: **Header**: 'Leshon Rabbeinu z"l.' Torah recorded in Rabbeinu's own words. Central axis = kelev/aryeh response to tefillah; etzem as the carrier of mesikus or marirus.

Beginner: **Opening verse**: ***'Hatzilah mei'cherev nafshi, mi'yad kelev yechidasi'*** — 'Rescue my soul from the sword, my only one from the hand of the dog' (Tehillim 22:21) — followed in the next verse by *'hoshi'eini mi'pi aryeh'* — 'save me from the mouth of the lion.' The whole Torah is built on the precise asymmetry of this pair of verses: by *cherev* and *kelev* the tehillim says ***hatzalah*** (rescue); by *aryeh* it says ***yeshu'ah*** (salvation). Why? Because — as Rabbeinu will unfold — the dog and the sword are forces from which one must *escape*; the lion is a holy force from which one *receives a gift*. The same upper-world act of 'consuming the korban' is destruction when the kelev does it and salvation when the aryeh does it. Everything depends on whose mouth. Intermediate: **Opening pasuk**: 'Hatzilah mei'cherev nafshi, mi'yad kelev yechidasi' (Teh 22:21) // 'hoshi'eini mi'pi aryeh' (22:22). Asymmetry: cherev+kelev = lashon ***hatzalah***; aryeh = lashon ***yeshu'ah***. Same act ('eating the korban') = destruction with kelev, gift with aryeh.

Beginner: **The body of the teaching — sweetness in tefillah, the etzem-aryeh, and the bitter-waters / cherev-piyos / kelev complex**. Rabbeinu opens with a stark principle: ***'kol ha-pogem b'bris ein yachol l'hispalel b'bechinas "kol atzmosai tomarnah"'*** — anyone who damages the *bris* (the covenant of sexual purity) cannot daven on the level of *'kol atzmosai tomarnah, Hashem mi kamocha'* — 'all my bones shall say, Hashem, who is like You' (Tehillim 35:10). And when he is *not* on that level, ***'kalba nachas v'achil karb'noi'*** — 'the dog descends and eats his offering' (Tikkun 21, daf 45 and 62) — meaning his *tefillah* itself is consumed by a kelev-force in the upper world. **What does it mean to daven on the level of *'kol atzmosai tomarnah'***? Rabbeinu defines it experientially: it means that when one prays, *one tastes sweetness in the very dibburim of the tefillah*. The *taste* of the words. And one cannot taste this sweetness *except* by having rectified the pegima of the bris. Why? Because **mayin mesikim** (sweet waters) are the **mayin dudchin** (the male/upper waters of the Zohar — Zohar Shemos 6, Naso 124-125) — and these are *zera kodesh* (Yeshayahu 13), *shmiras ha-bris*. Sweet waters of speech upstairs and rectified seed downstairs are one and the same flow. **The chain that follows from sweet waters**: a person who is in *bechinas mayin mesikim* — his *dibburim* (his speech) becomes *metukim v'tovim* (sweet and good). When those dibburim go out of his mouth and he listens with his own ears (Berachos 15a — *'hashma l'oznecha mah she'atah motzi mi'picha'* — 'let your ear hear what your mouth produces') — *the sweetness of the waters enters into his bones*, on the level of *'u'shmu'ah tovah tedashen atzem'* — 'and a good report fattens the bone' (Mishlei 15:30). And when the bones themselves feel that sweetness, ***that*** is *'kol atzmosai tomarnah'*: the bones literally speak. **And then *aryeh nachas v'achil korbano*** — the lion descends and eats his offering — *for etzem (bone) is itself the bechina of aryeh* (as in Tikkunim, Tikkun 3, in the eleven last tikkunim). The aryeh of holiness, drawn down by sweet bones, consumes the korban-tefillah as a yeshu'ah. **The opposite case** — *one who has damaged his bris* — stands in *bechinas **mayin meririn*** (bitter waters), the bechina of *'lo yachlu lishtos mayim mi-Marah ki marim heim'* — 'they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter' (Shemos 15:23) — and this is *mayin mesa'avin* (impure waters), *zera tamei*. He cannot daven on the level of *'kol atzmosai tomarnah'*; and instead, *kalba nachas* — the kelev of bitter waters descends, the one that screams *'Hav! Hav!'* — 'Give! Give!' — the eternal voracious cry of the leech-daughters in Mishlei 30:15. **The kelev's two mouths**: this same kelev-force is the *bechina of Marah de'is la trei piyos* — the *bitterness* that has two mouths — which is *'cherev piyos'* — 'the two-edged sword' of Mishlei 5:4 (the verse describing the path of the *isha zara* — the strange/forbidden woman; closing the same loop back to pegam ha-bris). It is also *Gehinnom de'is la trei banos d'tzav'chin Hav Hav* — the Gehinnom that has two daughters screaming 'Give Give' (Tikkunim there). One root produces the cherev, the kelev, the strange woman, and the gates of Gehinnom — and that root is the unrectified bris. **The bone-disease**: this whole dynamic, R"L, manifests physically in the illness called in Yiddish *brechenish* (literally 'breaking,' a wasting bone-disease) — *which breaks the bones of a person*. And it comes from *kilkul ha-mo'ach she'b'atzamos* — the spoilage of the *marrow within the bones* — which is again *mayin mesa'avin, mayin meririn* — and the illness comes *me-chamas ta'avas ni'uf* (because of the lust of immorality). The bones cannot speak in tefillah because their marrow has been corrupted at its source. **The Korban Pesach as bris-test**: this is why we were commanded for the Korban Pesach, *'v'etzem lo sishberu bo'* — 'and you shall not break a bone of it' (Shemos 12:46). And the Zohar (Bo 41) explains that the Jews kept the bones in order to fulfill *'la-kelev tashlichun oso'* — 'to the dog you shall throw it' (Shemos 22:30) — and *this was very hard for the Egyptians*, see there. **Why the bones to the dogs?** So that *every Jew could check himself to see if his bris was on its tikkun.* For of the Korban Pesach it says *'v'chol arel lo yochal bo'* — 'and no uncircumcised person shall eat of it' (Shemos 12:48), and *ikkar ha-Pesach taluy b'mitzvas milah*, as is known. So when they threw the bones to the kelavim and watched whether the kelavim *prevailed* over those bones, R"L, *that was the sign* that the bris, R"L, was not yet on its tikkun. The bones-vs-dogs test, on Pesach night, was a public diagnostic of bris-rectification. **The Zohar Kedoshim (daf 80)** clinches the link: on *'al tihiyu k'sus k'pered'* — 'do not be like a horse, like a mule' (Tehillim 32:9) — the Zohar reads it on the topic of *tum'as ha-bris*; on *'ein havin'* — 'they have no understanding' — it brings the verse *'v'ha-klavim azei nefesh'* — 'and the dogs are brazen of soul' (Yeshayahu 56:11) — see there. The chain *bris-corruption → animal-soul → klavim* is locked. **And so**: ***'hatzilah mei'cherev nafshi, u'mi-yad kelev'*** — given everything above, the verse becomes a precise prayer: *rescue my soul from the cherev-piyos of Marah and from the hand of the kelev that screams 'Hav Hav,'* both of which are the upper-world expressions of pegam ha-bris (cf. Ra'aya Mehemna Pinchas 224b). Intermediate: **Body**: ***Pogem b'bris ein yachol l'hispalel b'bechinas 'kol atzmosai tomarnah'*** (Teh 35:10); ein b'bechina zo → ***kalba nachas v'achil karb'noi*** (Tik 21, 45 + 62) — tefillaso ne'echeles. **Mesikus b'dibburei tefillah** = bechinas 'kol atzmosai tomarnah'; ein lit'om mesikus ela b'tikkun pgam ha-bris. **Mayin mesikim = mayin dudchin** (Zohar Shem 6; Nasa 124, 125b) = ***zera kodesh*** (Yesh 13) = shmiras ha-bris. Schema: mayin mesikim → dibburim metukim → 'hashma l'oznecha' (Berachos 15a) → ***'u'shmu'ah tovah tedashen atzem'*** (Mish 15:30) → 'kol atzmosai tomarnah' → ***aryeh nachas v'achil korbano*** (etzem = bechinas aryeh; Tikkunim Tik 3, ya"a tikkunim acharonim). **Tzad mu'al**: pogem b'bris = ***mayin meririn*** ('lo yachlu lishtos mi-Marah' Shem 15:23) = mayin mesa'avin = zera tamei → ***kalba nachas*** ('Hav Hav' — Mish 30:15) = ***Marah d'is la trei piyos*** = ***'cherev piyos'*** (Mish 5:4) = Gehinnom d'is la trei banos d'tzav'chan 'Hav Hav' (Tikkunim sham). **Cholas brechenish** R"L (shoveres atzamos) ← kilkul mo'ach b'atzamos = mayin mesa'avin/meririn ← ta'avas ni'uf. ***Korban Pesach 'v'etzem lo sishberu bo'*** (Shem 12:46); Zohar Bo 41 — atzamos l'kelev ('la-kelev tashlichun' Shem 22:30) — kashe la-Mitzrim. Bechinah l'kol Yisra'el im briso al tikkuno (Pesach: 'v'chol arel lo yochal bo,' ikkar Pesach b'milah). Im klavim shaltu ba-atzamos → siman she'ein bris al tikkuno. ***Zohar Kedoshim daf 80***: 'al tihiyu k'sus k'pered' re tum'as ha-bris, 'ein havin,' meivi 'v'ha-klavim azei nefesh' (Yesh 56:11). ***'Hatzilah mei'cherev... mi-yad kelev'*** = hatzalah me-cherev-piyos d'Marah u-mi-kalba d'Hav Hav, sh'shneihem mi-pegam ha-bris (RM Pinchas 224b).

Beginner: **The closing of the verse and the practical halacha — *aryeh = yeshu'ah*; *azei panim = klavim*; the Ta'an 11b case of fasting that feeds the dog**. ***'Aval hoshi'eini mi'pi aryeh'*** — 'but save me from the mouth of the lion' (Tehillim 22:22): meaning, *when the aryeh eats my korban — that itself is a yeshu'ah for me.* That is why Tehillim uses *lashon hatzalah* by cherev and kelev (where eating = destruction) and *lashon yeshu'ah* by aryeh (where eating = elevation; cf. Ra'aya Mehemna Pinchas 224b). The same vocabulary of 'eating the korban,' two opposite outcomes, distinguished only by *which mouth.* **Now know**: the *azei panim* (the brazen-faced) of every generation — *they are the kelavim themselves*, as it says, *'v'ha-klavim azei nefesh'* — 'and the dogs are brazen of soul' (Yeshayahu 56:11). They *stand and dispute the tefillah* of the Israelite man whose bris is not yet fully rectified. The unrectified davener attracts the upper kelev, and the lower kelev (the brazen-faced person of the dor) is its agent. **And this is what Chazal said** (Ta'anis 11b): ***'tzurba mi-Rabbanan d'yasiv b'ta'anisa, leichul kalba shirusa'*** — 'a young Torah scholar who sits in fast — let the dog eat his (skipped) meal.' Why? Because the eating of a tzaddik is *yekar ha'erech* — of precious value: *'tzaddik ochel l'sova nafsho'* — 'the righteous one eats to satisfy his soul' (Mishlei 13:25); his eating *masbiya nefesh d'kdusha*. But this *tzurba mi-Rabbanan*, by fasting, *starves his nefesh and does not know how to satisfy it* — and therefore his skipped meal goes to the kelev, of whom it is also written *'lo yad'u sav'a'* — 'they do not know satiety' (Yeshayahu 56:11). The dog and the inappropriate-faster share the same dis-knowledge of what proper soul-satisfaction is. **And it is for the same reason** that the *kelev* is also called by the name **shegal** (Rosh Hashanah 4a) — because the kelev *comes upon ta'avas ha-mishgal* (the lust of intercourse), tying the whole image again back to the central pegam ha-bris from which the dog-energy springs. **Crucial halachic limit**: this teaching is *davka* about one who *does not need to fast* and yet fasts (treating the fast as added piety where it is misplaced) — *that one* feeds the kelev. But one who *does need* to fast, certainly must fast — *u-mitzvah hu* (and it is a mitzvah; see Bach, OC 571, the entire siman on the proper place of ta'anis). **The ge'onish nuance in the gemara**: *'d'yasiv b'ta'anisa'* — *yasiv dayka* — *'sits.'* The choice of the verb *yashav* (to sit, to settle, to remain) signals — as Rabbeinu hints from the Tikkunim — *something that does not change*: a fixed, unmoving stance. The misplaced faster has *settled into* a posture of refusing food, not flowing with the actual avodah of the moment — *that* is the precise nuance through which the kelev gets in. (End of Rabbeinu's language.) Intermediate: **Conclusion**: ***'Aval hoshi'eini mi'pi aryeh'*** (Teh 22:22) = ke'she-aryeh ochel korbani, zeh li li-yeshu'ah. Lachen cherev+kelev = lashon ***hatzalah***; aryeh = lashon ***yeshu'ah*** (RM Pinchas 224b). **Azei panim ba-dor = ha-klavim** (Yesh 56:11 'v'ha-klavim azei nefesh'); omdim v'cholkim al tefillas ish ha-Yisre'eli she'adayin lo tikein briso b'shleimus. **Ta'anis 11b**: 'tzurba mi-Rabbanan d'yasiv b'ta'anisa, leichul kalba shirusa.' Ta'am: tzaddik 'ochel l'sova nafsho' (Mish 13:25) = masbiya nefesh d'kdusha; tzurba m'rabbanan ha-mar'iv nafsho v'eino yode'a l'hasbiya'h → kalba (also 'lo yad'u sav'a' Yesh 56:11) ochel chelko. **Kelev = shegal** (RH 4a) — ba al ta'avas mishgal (chazara la-pegam). **Halacha**: davka mi she-eino tzarich u-misa'aneh; mi she-tzarich, vada'i tzarich (Bach OC 571). **Diyuk b'lashon Chazal**: 'd'yasiv b'ta'anisa' — yasiv dayka — moreh al ha-davar she'eino mishtaneh (Tikkunim). [Ad kan leshono z"l.]