ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש אלה הדברים אשר

It is written: “Disgrace has shattered my heart” (Psalms 69:21). That is, disgrace and humiliation shatter a person’s heart. And the rectification for this is binding one’s heart to the nekudah applicable to one’s heart at that moment. Through this the disgrace that weighs on one’s heart is eliminated.

2. For the principle is that the tzaddik has the power to exercise rule as he sees fit. As our Sages taught: “a tzaddik rules…” (2 Samuel 23:3) —Who rules over Me? The tzaddik (Moed Katan 16b). This corresponds to “Yosef was the ruler” (Genesis 42:6). He is the encompassing root of all Jewish souls, and they are the extensions that receive from him.

Now the essence of [this] rule is to shine into and awaken their hearts to serving God. As is written (Deuteronomy 33:7), “May God hear Yehudah’s voice and bring him to his people.” In other words, to shine the tzaddik’s radiance into the extensions—i.e., into Israel’s heart. This is “bring him to his people.”

3. This aspect of “Yosef was the ruler” corresponds to the m’loopum. As is written: The brit is the vehicle for Yesod, the HaVaYaH which is punctuated with a m’loopum. This is because the letters of M’LoopUM spell M’Lo PUM (a full mouth), indicating that the vessels of bounty—i.e., the tzaddik’s mouth—are filled with the Blessed One’s Godliness.

For on the face of it, it is hard to understand why we have to pray when God knows [all our] thoughts. However, this is because words are the vessels of bounty, through which we receive the influx of bounty. As is written (Deuteronomy 1:11), “and bless you as He said to you”—i.e., the influx of bounty is in accordance with the speech. If the words, the vessels of bounty, are perfect and in fullness, then we can receive abundant bounty in them.

And the words of the tzaddik are certainly [spoken] with perfection and fullness. Therefore, he can draw bounty to Israel. This is why he is called an aspect of “a full mouth,” to indicate that his mouth is full and perfect.

4. Now, each and every Jew possesses an aspect of “a tzaddik rules,” corresponding to “a full mouth,” as in (Isaiah 60:21), “Your people, all of them are tzaddikim.” This is the <aspect> of “Israel, His rulers” (Psalms 114:2). That is, “Who rules over Me? The tzaddik.”

For in every Jew there is something precious, an aspect of a nekudah, which his friend does not have. As in the story of Abaye and Abba Umna, where they answered him, “Your deeds do not match those of Abba Umna” (Taanit 21b). And with this aspect in which he surpasses his friend, he influences, enlightens and inspires his friend’s heart. And his friend has to receive inspiration and this aspect from him, as in (Targum, Isaiah 6:3), “One receives from the other.”

For prior to the giving of the Torah, the rule was in God’s hand. But after the giving of the Torah, He put the rule in Israel’s hand, each [Jew] commensurate with his aspect. This is because the letters of the Torah are the embodiment of God’s will. God’s will is that the mitzvot be a particular way. For example, it was His will that the mitzvah of tefilin consist of four Torah portions, and boxes of leather, not silver. Such is His will.

Thus it is that His will is clothed in the entire Torah. And now, with the Torah having been given over to our hands, God’s will has also been given over to our hands. We rule, as it were, so that His will is in accordance with ours. This is the aspect of “Israel, His rulers,” as mentioned. {“You, God my Lord, have done many things ; Your wonders and Your thoughts are for us” (Psalms 40:6).}

This is as our Sages expounded (Yerushalmi, Rosh HaShanah 1:3): “You, God my Lord, have done many things”—prior to the giving of the Torah. But after the giving of the Torah, “Your wonders and Your thoughts are for us”—i.e., it is all in our hands. {“I am God your Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide and I will fill it” (Psalms 81:11).}

And this is, “I am God your Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt”—i.e., prior to the giving of the Torah everything was “I.” But after the giving of the Torah, “open your mouth wide and I will fill it.” This is the aspect of the m’loopum, corresponding to “Yosef was the ruler”—i.e., “Who rules over Me? <The tzaddik.>” In other words, the influx of bounty is commensurate with the opening wide of the mouth and the vessels of speech, each person in accordance with his aspect.

5. The m’loopum —i.e., the aspect of “Yosef was the ruler”—is a point with a vav. This is because the aspect of Yosef is drawn from Chokhmah and Binah, as is written (Genesis 41:39), “Now that [God] has made all this known to you, there is none so understanding and wise as you”—that is Wisdom and Understanding. And the result of this was that “Yosef was the ruler.”

And Chokhmah corresponds to a nekudah, a yod, the fountain. Binah is the brook that is drawn from the fountain. On account of this drawing [Binah] is a vav.

6. Now, the aspect of m’loopum exists in the general and in the particular. The Ten Commandments <are> a yod, and the Tablets are a vav, as our Sages taught: The Tablets were six handbreadths long by six handbreadths wide (Bava Batra 14a). <And yod vav form a m’loopum.> The Torah and the world are also <an aspect of m’loopum>. The Torah is yod, because it is called “the beginning of wisdom” (Psalms 111:10), and the world is vav, because it was created during the Six Days of Creation.

The tzaddik and Israel are also <an aspect of m ’loopum>. The tzaddik is yod, because the tzaddikim are called “the wise men of the congregation,” and Israel corresponds to the vav, because they are “supporters of Torah” and are called “vavey (hooks) for the pillars” (Exodus 27:10).

{“My mouth utters wisdom, and the meditations of my heart are understanding” (Psalms 49:4).} And each Jew himself is also an aspect of < m’loopum>. Yod, on account of the mouth, as is written, “My mouth utters wisdom.” Vav, on account of <the heart, as in,> “and the meditations of my heart are understanding”—this being an aspect of the Tablets, which, as explained, are a vav, as it is written (Proverbs 3:3), “Bind them around your throat, write them on the tablet of your heart.”

7. Now when the heart, which corresponds to the vav, the Tablets, is immersed in evil loves—i.e., disgrace and humiliation, which are called “the foreskin of the heart” (cf. Deuteronomy 10:16) —it is then an aspect of the shattered Tablets. And disgrace corresponds to the foreskin, as in (Genesis 34:14), “We cannot… give our sister to a man who is uncircumcised, for that is a disgrace to us.”

It is also an aspect of fallen and shattered love. For it is known that the evil inclination and the forces of evil exist due to the shattering of vessels. As is brought in Etz Chaim (Nekudim, Shaar Shvirat HaKeilim 3): The shatterings of the vessel of Chesed fell to Binah of the World of Beriyah. This is: Binah is the heart. But the light of Chesed remained in Yesod of the World of Atzilut. This is the aspect of “the tzaddik is the yesod (foundation) of the world” (Proverbs 10:25).

We see, therefore, that evil loves come from the shattering of the vessel of Lovingkindness. Hence Onkelos renders “because it would be a disgrace for us”: because it would be a ChiSuDa for us. This is because disgrace—i.e., the foreskin of the heart/evil loves—stems from the shattering of the vessel of CheSeD.

For this is something we see empirically, that “love covers up all faults” (Proverbs 10:12). Even if a person sins against his friend, [the latter] does not disgrace him, because the love [between them] covers all faults. But when the bond of love between them goes bad—i.e., an aspect of the shattering of the vessel of Lovingkindness—then he disgraces him, because disgrace comes from the shattering of the vessel of Chesed.

And when the heart is immersed in <evil loves>/disgrace/foreskin of the heart—corresponding to the shattered Tablets, i.e., “Disgrace has shattered my heart”—and a person binds the heart/ vav to the yod / nekudah —corresponding to the tzaddik, which is where the light of holy love resides because the light of Chesed remained in Yesod of the World of Atzilut —then the evil loves/disgrace/foreskin of the heart is eliminated. This is because the tzaddik/ nekudah, which is where the light of holy love resides, shines into the vav /heart and eliminates the disgrace/<evil loves>/foreskin of the heart. For “love covers up all faults,” because that is where holy love resides.

This is what our Sages taught (Nedarim 32b): The Holy One intended to have the priesthood emerge from Shem, but because he blessed Avraham before blessing the Omnipresent One, it was taken from Shem and given to Avraham. As it is said (Psalms 110:4), “You will be a priest forever, because of the words of Malkitzedek.”

And this is what the Holy One said when he bestowed the priesthood on Pinchas: “Behold, I am giving him My covenant of peace” (Numbers 25:12). The priesthood is an aspect of love, which is Avraham, residing in the place of the covenant of peace—i.e., “the tzaddik is the yesod of the world.”

8 . Consequently, each person has to engage in private conversation with His Maker so that the nekudah —the aspect of “My mouth utters wisdom”/<the yod>—shines into the <heart>—the aspect of “and the meditations of my heart are understanding”/<the vav>. And through this <the disgrace/evil loves>/foreskin of the heart is eliminated.

And each person also has to talk to his friend about the fear of God, so that his heart receives inspiration from the nekudah in which his friend surpasses him, as in, “And one received from the other.” For this aspect in which his friend surpasses him is an aspect of a nekudah. There, in this nekudah, the love, which is called “priest,” resides. This nekudah is an aspect of tzaddik with regard to his friend, and this nekudah shines into his friend’s heart, which is called vav.

Now, all these nekudot —i.e., the nekudah that is called “My mouth utters wisdom” and also the nekudah that each person has which his friend does not—are extensions of the tzaddik. For he is the encompassing nekudah of all Israel. Everyone first has to receive from the tzaddik, and afterwards they will receive from each other. And each person will receive from within himself, <by engaging in private conversation with His Maker>. And through these three < nekudot> the disgrace/foreskin of the heart/evil loves is eliminated. This is: “love covers up all faults,” because that is where holy love resides.

And this is: When Yosef the tzaddik was born, Rachel said, “The Lord has gathered away my disgrace” (Genesis 30:23). For when the nekudah in which holy love <resides> is revealed, then the disgrace/foreskin of the heart/evil loves is eliminated.

This is also what is written in connection to Yosef: “that my own mouth is speaking to you” (Genesis 45:12). Rashi explains: “As my mouth is, so is my heart.” In other words, he shone his nekudah into his vav; he shone “My mouth utters wisdom” into “and the meditations of my heart are understanding.” And it is written of him (Genesis 50:21), “and he spoke to their hearts,” which Rashi explains: words that calm the heart. That is, he shone his encompassing nekudah into all <their> hearts.

Thus it is that as a result of these three nekudot [the heart is inspired]. That is, [through] the binding to the tzaddikim and their shining into him, because they are the encompassing nekudah, they inspire his heart; and through speaking with his friend, each person is also able to shine into and inspire his friend’s heart; and through himself, by engaging in private conversation with His Maker <in hitbodedut>, he can also inspire his own heart by means of “My mouth utters wisdom” and so remove the foreskin of the heart, <the evil loves,> from himself.

9. And this is the explanation [of the opening verse]: {“You will be to Me a kingdom of priests and a kadosh (holy) nation. These are the words that you should speak to the Children of Israel.”}

You will be to Me a kingdom of priests — This is an aspect of holy love, as explained.

and a KaDOSh nation — That is, KoDeSh, which is an aspect of a nekudah, and vav (O), which is an aspect of heart, as explained.

How does one come to the aspect of love and the aspect of kodesh vav? By means of:

These are the words that you should speak to the Children of Israel — For Moshe is the encompassing nekudah of the souls of Israel.

Everyone first has to receive from the encompassing nekudah. Afterwards, each and every person has to shine the nekudah he has within him <more than his friend>, into his friend. <Then, after that,> he can shine the nekudah he has within him, into himself—i.e., “My mouth utters wisdom”—to the vav, which is, “and the meditations of my heart are understanding.”

Then, he is called a “ holy nation”—i.e., kodesh vav, with the nekudah illuminating the vav. And as a result, “You will be to Me a kingdom of priests”—i.e., holy love. For when <you> receive from all these nekudot: from within oneself, from the nekudah that each Jew has, and from the encompassing nekudah ….

For there, together with each of the nekudot, resides holy love, which is called “priest,” as in, “Behold, I am giving him My covenant of peace.” [This is] what is written in Etz Chaim: The light of Chesed remained in Yesod of the World of Atzilut.

…<as a result, “You will be to Me a kingdom of priests”—i.e., holy love—and the external loves/foreskin of the heart will be eliminated. Rather, there will be kodesh vav, as explained.> {When a person talks to his friend about fear of God, he receives the nekudah in his friend’s heart without a covering. But there are times he receives the nekudah from his friend by means of other things they discuss. For it is occasionally possible to receive light and inspiration to serve God from his friend’s nekudah by means of the everyday conversation one has with him. Then one receives the light of the nekudah by virtue of its being covered. For sometimes the nekudah has to be within a cover, and so it covers itself within these words and he receives from it.}