PNC Front Matter — Shir Na'im — Reb Nosson's Opening Hymn to Likutay Moharan

**"Ve-ailu divrai Rabbeinu, zichroinoi li-vrachah — Shir Na'im, koleil inyonim rabbim bi-dvorim me'utim."** *And these are the words of Rabbeinu, of blessed memory — a Sweet Song, encompassing many topics in few words*: **me'at machzik ha-marbeh** — *a little holds the much*. The Shir *yedabber niflo'oas, meshabe'ach Toirosainu ha-kedoishah u-meshabe'ach Moshe Rabbeinu olov ha-shoalom, u-musor nifla ve-his'oreirus otzum she-ye'oreir kol echad es nafshoi, vi-yedabber mi-gedulas ha-Borai yisborach ve-niflo'oas beriyoasov.* It is **the gateway-poem** Reb Nosson set at the threshold of Likutay Moharan, to *wake the sleeping, rouse the slumbering, strengthen the weary*: **"ye'oreir yeshainim, yokitz nirdomim, yechazek aifim — yoidi'a la-adam mi-godel kochoi asher be-yodoi ve-kocho li-zkos le-chol aileh."** A man does not know *the power that is in his hand*; the Shir is the shofar that lifts the kol to declare it.

**Ha-Shir poseich bi-tehilas ha-Dos** mi-kol nimoiset ha-amim. **"Nimoisai ha-dosois kulom loi yishvu le-dosainu — chachmaihem bodu mi-libom nimoisim be-sichlom ha-enoishi."** *The laws of all the nations are not equal to our Dos — their sages invented from their own heart, by human intellect alone*. *Aval Moshe alah la-morom, ve-onon levushoi nimtza ha-mechayev — dibber imoi be-chol pa'am, u-fairesh min ha-ishah.* **Moshe ascended on high; the clo'akof his ascent was an anan; HaShem spoke with him constantly; he separated from his wife.** *The contrast is sharpened*: human law begins from a man's own libo; Toiras Moshe begins from anon, mi-shomayim, mi-Pi ha-Gevurah. **"Nivzim ve-davuyim u-schufim anachnu — chochmoaso mai-ayin timotzai, mi-menu lokach toiv lokachnu."** We are despised and crushed in golus — yet *His chochmah, from whence will it be found? — mi-menu*. *From within our own broken people lies the goodness of Toirah.* **"Melech bi-Yeshurun im dosainu ke-shnai achim loi yisporedu."** *King and Dos — like two brothers who do not part.*

**Ke'iv ha-golus ve-ha-nechomah**: *nafshi ha-chazokah ve-ha-pikachas — lomah loi chasta ole'ich, ve-shokachas ha-omon ha-megadeil oisach, ve-he'echilach mamtakim ve-hilbishach argomon? Ve-atah ata-rumusah bain ikvai tzoin u-vain raglai ha-ta'avois ha-eivim ve-ha-gashmiyim, ve-atah airoam ve-airyah.* **"Yain mishtai-cha nehefach le-mishtai shimchas-cha nehefach le-mispeid ume-soach chefz'i bi-chayai yisborach."** *Your wine of feast has been turned into a wake.* The Shir then *turns* — *kum ranni va-laylah! Ba-golah atah, mar yivkayun* (Eichah 1:2). **"Yoideia ani ki ha-dema'ois la-asid ta-fugnah, loi yoa'ilu oid — shuvu bonim shovevim! Refu'ah koidem la-makah"** (Yeshayohu 57:19): **"Boirai niv sefasayim — sholoam sholoam la-rochoik ve-la-korov, omar HaShem, u-refoasiv"** (see Shabbos 104). *Boirai niv sefasayim, ve-sholoam sholoam* — *ha-shvilas-sholoam ha-kefulah* — *oalah be-mispar **teshuvah*** (see Tikkunei Zoihar 18, 19). **The Refu'ah comes before the makah.** **"Musor HaShem takshiv oznecha"** (Mishlay 2:2) — **"shuvu bonim — oy la-moired ba-Mokoam, oy la-moired be-Dosoi."** Two cries fused into one: *the rebel against the Place of the world* and *the rebel against His Dos* — *chad inyana hu*. *Shimchah lonu bi-shvil koach Toirosainu — bah soidois amukois u-refu'ois mi-cholo'ai gufoseinu.*

**"Lechu chazu mif'aloas HaShem — ha-oloamoas kulom nimshochois mai-oisiyois ha-Toirah, mai-oas alef ad oas tav, be-tziru-faihem u-ve-chilu-faihem u-ve-gilgu-laihem, b'AT-BaSH u-b'ALBaM"** (see Tikkunei Zoihar 21, 70). The peak of the Shir: *come and see — all the worlds, all of them, are nimshochois from the oisiyois of the Toirah*. *Alef ad Tav, in their permutations, their substitutions, their atbash-letterings.* **Ha-Toirah ha-kedoishah shoameres oisanu mi-kol tum'oas; ha-tzedokah matzeles mi-misois meguno-os.** **Ne'echal le-vad le-kiyum nafshoasainu u-le-malachai ha-shoreis.** The poet rises *higher* — listing the *bechinois of mal'ochim, ofanim ve-chayois ha-koidesh, hanhogos malchus ha-oilom, kvod u-malchus ail-yon ad ain ketz, ad keloas ha-koal — chusha! anneini HaShem! ratzaih malkainu bi-sfilloasainu, rotzeh be-vonecha, rotzeh bonu*. The Shir ends on a *single petition*: *ratzaih bonu*. **Reb Nosson set this poem at the gate of the saifer** because the saifer to follow IS *the koach of the very Toirah from which all the oloamoas are drawn*. *Enter, then, with the Shir's own kavonoh on your tongue.*