אהבה

When there is no love between people, they go about gossiping, and through gossiping, they come to mockery, and through mockery, they speak falsehood.

In the place where a wedding agreement (condition) or any covenant is made, the L-rd, blessed is He, is present there.

Through hatred comes frightful events, and through hatred come fires (lit: things get burned). Through the love of Hashem, may He be blessed, the soul is guarded from all evil calamities. When the plants grow to their completeness, through this there is love in the world The love of a woman for her husband is discernable by the flies and mosquitoes that are in the house.

Also, through their love, it is possible to know the power of the evil inclination, whether it has been weakened or not.

Sages of the generation that have love between them, who/that see each other occasionally, then they have the power to judge the whole world, and their judgment stands, and no one can change or annul their judgment, for the Holy One Blessed be He is the Chief Judge of their court. When you first repent of your sins, you can come to love Hashem Blessed be He. Whoever prays for [the people of] Israel with self sacrifice, everyone loves him. Through needless hatred, one blunders (to eat) non-kosher meat/food.

Through love, one is strengthened. When you strengthen a person in the service of G-d, blessed-be-He, he will love you. *"They set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue walks through the earth"* [Psalms 73:9]. Because now heresy has spread — the restraint has been removed to speak slander against all the *tzadikim* and against all the G-d-fearing. And this is like someone who sticks out his tongue against the whole world, not caring about the whole world at all.

And in truth this heresy is against Hashem Yisburach Himself. But they are ashamed to speak with their mouths against Hashem Yisburach, therefore they redirect their heresy to speak against the world. And this is: *"They set their mouth against the heavens"* — because in truth what they say with their mouths is in truth above in the heavens, because the essence of their words is against Hashem Yisburach Himself, as mentioned. But *"their tongue walks through the earth"* — because since they are ashamed to speak with their mouths against Him blessed He, therefore *"their tongue walks through the earth,"* that they stick out their tongue against the world as mentioned. But in truth, *"they set their mouth against the heavens"* as mentioned.

Through saying Hallel in a loud voice, one merits to love Hashem, blessed-be-He. When you will be careful (to abstain) from baseless hatred, then when you have a legal case with a strongman who isn't willing to settle (-compromise) with you, through this he will settle with you. It is fitting that one should feel the distress of an individual, and certainly the distress of the many, Heaven forbid, in the heart. Because it is possible that one knows of the distress, Heaven forbid, and knows clearly the pain of the distress, Heaven forbid — and yet his heart feels no distress at all. And in any case, the distress of the many, Heaven forbid — it is fitting that the heart should feel the pain of the distress. And if one does not feel it, one must knock the head against the wall — that is, to knock the head against the walls of the heart, as mentioned elsewhere (below, article 217) on the verse *"And you shall know today and return it to your heart"* [Deuteronomy 4:39] — that one must bring the mind into the heart. And understand this well. Afterwards I heard in his name that he said: This is the aspect of *"And Hezekiah turned his face to the wall"* [Isaiah 38:2] — that he turned and drew the face — which is the mind and knowledge — toward the walls of the heart,[68] that is, as mentioned. Because the essence of the face is the wisdom and the knowledge which is the light of the face, as explained elsewhere.[69]

One who is careful from (making) a false oath, he certainly will not transgress (the commandments – Leviticus 10:17) “do not take revenge and do not bear a grudge.” [The] Garlic is conducive (segulah) for love. Regarding the books of investigators,[70] it has already been explained by us many times that it is forbidden to engage with them, and one must keep very far away and not study them and not look at them at all — even the books of investigation by the great ones of Israel. Because it is a very great prohibition to study them. (And it is already explained in many books the great prohibition of studying them,[71] because this is not the portion of Jacob, for we have no connection with them. Because we believe in Him blessed He with faith alone, without any investigation — for He blessed He created all the worlds and sustains His world and will in the future renew His world, etc. And the way of these books is to raise objections that appear to be great objections while the answer is very weak — and one who wishes to investigate further and to raise objections against the answer can do so, and the answer will not satisfy him. Therefore it is forbidden to study them at all. And in truth all their objections are nothing and are all vanity and vexation of spirit.

And what we see — that there are people whose minds are not drawn after the very holy and awesome books, such as the books of the Zohar and the books of the Ari z"l and the like, even though they have in them very, very awesome insights that illuminate the eyes and are sweeter than honey; and they are specifically drawn after other matters such as investigations — know that this is because of their constitution [mizug], because their constitution by nature is a bad constitution from birth: they were born with a bad constitution and cannot endure the truly holy matter.[72] And in truth they certainly have free will and the power to break their bad constitution. But since they were born with such a bad constitution, they must endure great bitterness to break their bad constitution and evil nature. And fortunate is one born in holiness. One who serves out of love - his merit protects until two thousand generations. Through lust of eating, one loves one of his sons more than his other sons. And know in truth that the entire world in its entirety is in the aspect of a spinning wheel, what they call a dreydel [spinning top]. And everything returns in a cycle and is reversed — from person to angel and from angel to person; and from head to foot and from foot to head; and similarly all other matters in the world — all of them go round in a cycle and revolve and are reversed from one to the other and from the other to the one, from the upper to the lower and from the lower to the upper.[73] Because in truth at the root everything is one. For there are the separated ones [nifdalim] — that is, angels who are completely separated from matter — and there are spheres [galgalim] which are matter but of very pure matter. And there is the lower world — that is, this lower world which is complete matter. And even though certainly each and every one of these three mentioned is taken from a specific place — even so, at the root there, all are one. And therefore the entire world in its entirety is in the aspect of the spinning wheel, and everything returns and is reversed — now this thing is in the upper aspect in the aspect of head, and another thing in the lower aspect in the aspect of foot, and afterwards it is reversed and cycles, and what was in the aspect of foot becomes the aspect of head, and from head foot; and similarly, reversed from person to angel and from angel to person, as we find that our Sages o.b.m. said[74] that angels were cast from the heavens to the lower world and entered into complete matter until they became masters of desires, etc. And similarly many times angels came in this world and clothed themselves in matter, as explained in many places.[75] And similarly in reverse — we find that from a person was made an angel. Because the world is in the aspect of the spinning wheel, and everything cycles as mentioned,[76] because in truth at the root everything is one as mentioned. (Also we find that the foot of this one is higher in level than the head of another. And similarly with the worlds — because the lower level of the upper world is higher in level than the upper level of the lower world below it. But in truth everything cycles as mentioned.)