T75 Petten Nanach Commentary - Yevarcheinu Elokim (Nitzotzot/Holy Speech/Shalom, 8 segs)

Opening verse: 'May He bless us, God, and they shall fear Him, all the ends of the earth' (Psalms 67:8). There is an attribute of victory, controversy, and war that arises from 'damim' — blood/vital forces — that have not yet been used to serve God. Before these vital forces are channeled into holy service, they remain in a state of raw conflict. The verse hints: 'And the blood of your wounds (damecha) I have not swallowed' — meaning these unrefined vital forces become the source of controversy and inner war.

Tzedek (righteousness) is the speech (dibbur) of Torah and tefillah — as the verse says, 'Righteousness you shall speak' (Psalms 58:2). The divine sparks (nitzotzot) that have not yet been brought into holy speech remain stuck in the aspects of the body — like the verse about Jacob: 'He limped on his thigh' (Genesis 32:32) — meaning the nitzotzot lodged in the lower, unrectified aspects of the self, unable to ascend through speech.

Before the rectification — before the nitzotzot are brought into holy speech — they lack tzeiruf (refinement/combination) and chibur (connection). They exist in a state of shevarim (brokenness) and controversy, scattered and disconnected from each other, unable to unite into wholeness. This is the essential problem: the unrectified sparks are at war with each other and with the person.

Through holy speech — through Torah learning and tefillah — the nitzotzot achieve tzeiruf (they are refined, combined, and sorted). This creates shalom — peace and wholeness. The scattered sparks are gathered, refined through the letters of speech, and unified. Holy speech is the agent of cosmic repair: it gathers what was broken and transforms controversy into harmony.

Therefore, a person must speak only words of Torah and tefillah — and not 'other things' (devarim acheirim), meaning idle or impure speech. The Talmud (Sukkah 53a; Ta'anit 25a) records that Levi 'hurled words upward' — meaning he spoke inappropriately toward Heaven — and as a result became lame. This reflects 'limping on his thigh': non-holy speech leaves a p'gam (spiritual damage/blemish) in the very faculty of speech and in the limbs associated with it. The lesson: speak Torah or tefillah until the body (guf) itself becomes batel — nullified to the point where it no longer resists the refinement of the nitzotzot.

This is the aspect of the rib (tzela): 'And He built the rib' (Genesis 2:22) — meaning the guf (body) is nullified through holy speech. But this nullification requires yirah (fear/awe) — as the Sages taught (Bava Batra 10a): 'A hard body — fear breaks it.' The fear referred to is Pachad Yitzchak — the Fear of Isaac (Genesis 31:42) — meaning the genuine awe of Heaven that softens and humbles the hardened material self. Now the verse is illuminated: 'Yevarcheinu Elokim v'yiru oto' — 'May He bless us, God, and they shall fear Him' — the blessing (brachah) comes through the fear (yirah): only through yirah is the guf nullified, enabling the nitzotzot to be refined and shalom to emerge.

Through the shattering of the vessels (sheviras hakeilim), the divine sparks (nitzotzot) fell into all material things — food, drink, garments, and all pleasures. The pleasure (ta'anug) that a person derives from physical things comes from the nitzotzot embedded within them — and those nitzotzot are actually letters (otiyot). Before they are drawn into holy speech, they are in the aspect of 'dam' (blood), the aspect of nefesh (soul), as the verse says: 'For the nefesh of all flesh — its blood is in its nefesh' (Leviticus 17:14). The nitzotzot wait within the pleasure of material things, hidden as blood/life-force, awaiting rectification through holy speech that will extract and elevate them.

The verse 'In assemblies bless God' (Psalms 35:18) refers to the gathering and blessing that comes when nitzotzot are unified through holy speech. 'Wisdoms cry aloud outside' (Proverbs 1:20) — the wisdom embedded in all things calls out to be released through speech. [Note: the language of this teaching is rough and fragmentary; Rabbeinu prepared a second, more refined edition of it.] The teaching as a whole: Torah and tefillah, through holy speech, raise the nitzotzot, transforming controversy into shalom, with yirah nullifying the hard body — and blessing (brachah) flowing as a result of that nullification.