T1 (Tinyana) PNC - Tiku Vachodesh Shofar (Blow the Shofar at the Renewal of the Month)

Rebbe Nachman opens his second volume with the verse 'Blow the shofar at the new month, when the moon is concealed, on the day of our festival' (Tehillim 81:4). This single verse will hold the keys to the entire teaching: the renewal of the moon (Rosh Chodesh and the regalim), the shofar (the heart), and the day of festival (judgment sweetened into joy). Israel was created with one ultimate purpose — to attain dominion over the very angels who minister before HaShem.

Israel was created so that he should rule over the angels — this is the tachlis, the very purpose of his existence. The Sages teach that tzaddikim are greater than the ministering angels, for the angels must ask 'What has G-d wrought?' while the tzaddik decrees and HaShem fulfills. To live for any lesser purpose is to forfeit the crown for which man was made.

How does one attain this dominion? Only by binding oneself to the souls of Israel. As the verse says, 'He grasps the face of the throne' (Iyov 26:9) — one must grasp himself to the roots of the souls of Israel, which are hewn from beneath the Throne of Glory. Alone, no one can rule the angels; bound to Klal Yisrael's collective root, one is lifted above them.

To bind oneself to the root of Israel's souls, one must know who the true mefursamim — the renowned tzaddikim — of the generation actually are. There are mefursamim of truth and mefursamim of azus (sheer audacity who have made themselves famous through brashness). Recognizing them is itself a high spiritual accomplishment, and Rebbe Nachman now reveals the criterion.

The discernment between true and false mefursamim is achieved through the building of Yerushalayim, which is the aspect of the heart. For Yerushalayim is 'complete fear' (yir'ah sheleimah), and the heart contains three traits that, when corrupted, ruin the fear of Heaven: love of wealth (mamon), excessive eating (achilah), and forbidden intimacy (niuf). When the heart is purified of these three, the false mefursamim can no longer hide behind their azus.

Each of the three traits has its root in the heart. Wealth — 'the blessing of HaShem, it enriches, and no sorrow is added' (Mishlei 10:22) — connects to the heart through grief: 'And He was grieved in His heart' (Bereshit 6:6). Eating connects to the heart because food strengthens or weakens it. Intimacy connects through the heart's heat, for milk of an impudent woman creates inner fire: 'My heart was hot within me' (Tehillim 39:4).

Conversely, the milk of an impudent woman creates much heat — recalling the verse 'My heart was hot within me' — and the Hebrew word ChaLaV (חלב) is itself an acronym hinting at the three lusts. The Sages teach that during each watch of the night, HaShem 'sits and roars' over the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash; this 'roar' is the same heat that ruins the heart's Yerushalayim.

The remedy for all three traits is daas — clear, settled knowledge. As the verse says, 'You shall know today and bring it down to your heart' (Devarim 4:39). One must draw daas from the brain into the heart; through this descent, all three traits are rectified at once. Without daas, the lusts dominate the heart; with daas brought down into it, the heart becomes Yerushalayim again.

Each trait is rectified at one of the three regalim. At Shavuot, the lust for forbidden intimacy is rectified, for at Matan Torah blood became turbid and turned to milk (the impure heat of niuf transforms into the pure nurturing of Torah). At Sukkot, the lust for eating is rectified, for Sukkot is called 'the festival of gathering' — eating becomes elevated to mitzvah-eating in the sukkah. At Pesach, the lust for wealth is rectified, for Pesach is the rectification of Egypt where Israel left with great wealth that did not corrupt them.

Once Yerushalayim — the perfected fear of Heaven in the heart — is rebuilt, an angel is created who bestows prophecy upon those who are vessels for it. Prophecy comes from the aspect of the cherubim, as the verse says, 'And he heard the voice speaking to him from above the cover that was upon the Ark of the Testimony, from between the two cherubim' (Bamidbar 7:89). The cherubim are inside the Holy of Holies, the heart of the Mikdash.

Once prophecy is drawn into the world — even if no actual prophet rises — even small ones can prophesy, as the verse promises: 'Your sons and daughters shall prophesy' (Yoel 3:1). The presence of the channel of prophecy in the world elevates the spiritual sensitivity of all souls.

But there is one great danger to guard against: hismanus, the chase after appointed positions of authority. One who has fear of Heaven discovers his words are heeded (Berachot 6b); naturally he begins to crave appointment over others. He must guard himself exceedingly, for one who runs to be appointed is one who buries his own fear.

Through the bestowal of prophecy in the world, prayer itself is redeemed and saved. People belittle prayer, rushing through it to discharge an obligation, treating it like an affliction to endure. But prayer is exalted beyond measure — it is the very speech of HaShem entering the world. When the channel of prophecy is open, prayer rises from being a chore to being the supreme work.

When prayer is redeemed, all the doctors fall — there is no more need for medicines. Why? Because every herbal medicine receives its power from a specific star and constellation, as the Sages teach, 'There is not a single blade of grass below that does not have a constellation above striking it and saying: Grow' (Bereshit Rabbah 10). Plants heal from the angels and stars; prayer heals from the source above all of them.

Then the verse is fulfilled: 'And He shall bless your bread and your water, and I will remove sickness from your midst' (Shemot 23:25). Healing comes through bread and water themselves, not through specialized herbs, because they are blessed from the root of all — the word of HaShem, which is the aspect of prayer. Bread and water gain the power to heal that herbs once held, because they are nourished directly from the supernal root.

At the supernal root — the word of HaShem — there is no distinction between bread, water, and herbs. All are one expression of the divine speech. When one grasps this root through the aspect of prayer, one can draw healing powers into ordinary bread and water and have them heal as the most potent herbs once did. Above the source, all distinctions dissolve.

However, three impairments destroy the service of prayer just as the three lusts destroyed the heart. They are: (a) scorning any human being — 'Do not despise any person' (Pirkei Avos 4); (b) avodah zarah, including any imperfection of emunah, for incomplete faith is itself an aspect of idolatry; (c) impairment of the bris (sexual misconduct). These three impair prayer just as the three lusts impair the heart.

Sicknesses themselves divide into two categories. There is sickness of growth — like a seed sown in the ground that rots, sprouts, branches, and bears fruit; and there is sickness in the aspect of completion. The first kind is a process; the second is a final state. The verses 'And heed His commandments and keep all His statutes' point to the rectification: the mitzvos themselves are the medicines, divided according to which kind of sickness they heal.

'And heed His commandments' is the rectification of the bris, the aspect of 'And Avraham circumcised Yitzchak his son at eight days, as G-d commanded him' (Bereshit 21:4) — circumcision was 'as commanded.' 'And keep all His statutes' is the rectification of emunah, the opposite of avodah zarah and impaired faith. These two together are the rectifications for the three impairments of prayer (the third — not despising people — is implicit in both).

Then one can be healed even from a complete (fully developed) sickness, through the aspect of the word of HaShem. The verse 'And He shall bless your bread… and I shall remove sickness from your midst' (Shemot 23:25) covers complete sickness as well, for through the word of HaShem one can be healed permanently with anything in the world. The cure becomes universal because its source is universal.

All this is the aspect of the shining of Mashiach. For everything is distinguished from everything else by three things: appearance (mar'eh), taste (ta'am), and scent (rei'ach). The Hebrew word for rain — geshem — forms an acronym hinting at all three: G-Sh-M = Gevulei mar'eh, Shemen ta'am, Mei rei'ach. The thing that causes all plants to grow (rain) is itself the source of these three distinctions, and Mashiach will reveal them at their root in the word of HaShem.

This is the aspect of bearing favor — 'And Esther found favor in the eyes of all who saw her' (Esther 2:15), for each one thought she was of his nation (Megillah 13a). The master of prayer reaches the supernal root from which all powers and ministering princes draw their strength; thus every nation finds its own essence in him, and he carries favor in the eyes of all.

Then the master of prayer can recognize the false mefursamim — the renowned through azus — for their audacity falls before him. When one merits prayer at the level of the word of HaShem, the supernal root from which all the heavenly princes draw their power, the false mefursamim — who borrowed their authority from those very princes — now bow before the source itself. Their azus collapses.

Then one can 'make Rosh HaShanah.' For when a person sits to speak about his fellow, this is itself the aspect of Rosh HaShanah — the day of judgment, when one sits and judges his fellow. One must be exceedingly careful here and examine himself thoroughly: is he worthy to judge another? For the Sages warned, 'Do not judge your fellow until you reach his place' (Avos 2:4) — and only HaShem fully reaches every place.

Therefore HaShem can hold Rosh HaShanah — the day of judgment — because He fulfills 'Do not judge your fellow until you reach his place,' for HaShem is 'the Place of the world' (and the world is not His place). This is the aspect of 'Holiness befits Your house, HaShem, for length of days' (Tehillim 93:5) — His holiness in judgment endures forever because He alone reaches every creature's place.

'In the month' (BaChodesh) is the aspect of the renewal of the mind in the three regalim — for all the moadim and festivals come through the renewal of the moon (Tehillim 104:19): 'He made the moon for the appointed times.' 'Shofar' is the aspect of the heart, which is nourished from the seventy faces of Torah. 'On the day of our festival' is the aspect of Rosh HaShanah, the day of judgment which becomes the day of festival when the discernment of the false mefursamim is achieved.

There is a question regarding prophecy: the angel that bestows prophecy — 'the angel who redeems' — is below the place of prophecy itself, for this angel is the aspect of the Shechinah. So how can a lower angel bestow what is higher than itself? The resolution lies in the Shechinah's role as the conduit: she gathers from above and transmits below. The angel's lowness does not limit the prophecy's height; it limits only the form in which it can be received.