{
"title": "Mevo HaShearim",
"language": "en",
"versionTitle": "merged",
"versionSource": "https://www.sefaria.org/Mevo_HaShearim",
"text": {
"Title Page": [
"With God’s help.",
"Show me your ways, O Lord, and I shall walk in Your truth. Designate my heart to fear Your name.",
"This is the book Hovat haAvreikhim. Section One, which is the introduction to this book, is called
Entrance to the Gates [Mevo haShearim].",
"This book is the third section of the work Hovat haTalmidim and Hakhsharat haAvreikhim, and only one who has read those may read this book.",
"Kalonymous Kalmish—son of the holy rabbi, our master and teacher R. Elimelekh of Grodzisk—",
"Av Beit Din of Piacezno."
],
"": [
[
"Chapter One
Part A",
"We read in the Talmud (Megillah 14a): The Rabbis taught: Forty-eight prophets and seven prophetesses prophesied to Israel, without adding nor detracting from that which is written in the Torah, except for recitation of the Megillah… as it is taught “Many prophets arose on behalf Israel—double the number which left Egypt; yet, only the prophecies which were necessary for the generations were recorded in Scripture, while those not necessary for the generations were not...",
"We must understand this: Since the prophets neither added nor detracted from that which is written in the Torah, of what benefit were their prophecies for Israel?",
"Now, regarding the phrase “prophecies which were necessary for the generations,” Rashi glosses “to teach repentance or [other] instruction.” What is the nature of this ‘instruction?’ It cannot refer to adding or detracting from the Torah, since the passage states they did not issue such instructions. Nor can it mean that they innovated specific rulings regarding Torah law, using prophecy rather than standard legal reasoning or hermeneutics. For Maimonides writes (in the introduction to his Mishnah Torah): “Know that prophecy is legally inefficacious in interpreting the Torah or extrapolating legal details via the hermeneutical principles. Rather, just as Joshua and Phineas utilized analysis and reasoning, so too did Ravina and Rav Ashi.” Maimonides continues on to explain that the prophet had only the additional capacity [over the sage] to temporarily suspend a Torah law, as did Elijah on Mount Carmel, but no more. If so, in what sense is the prophet’s ‘teaching of repentance or other instruction’ superior to that of any other [authority]?",
"Maimonides himself asks this question: “If so [that is, if a prophet is unable to add to, nor detract from, the Torah], why does the verse state “I will establish a prophet from among them, for them?” [Answer:] It is not to establish religious law, but rather to command the people regarding the Torah, warning them not to violate it.” (Laws of the Foundations of the Torah 9:2)",
"Further, we must understand: How does the function of the prophet differ from that of any other non-prophetic rebuker? Why does God say “I will establish a prophet for them” rather than “I will establish a rebuker?” And, what is the precise distinction between the forty-eight prophets whose words were necessary for future generations, and the other prophets whose holy words were only necessary for their own generations? After all, though it is true that the chastisement [mussar] they articulated was meant for their generation, nonetheless, would it not be beneficial for us too to be chastised towards fulfillment of the Torah by them? [After all, t]he chastisement of those prophets whose words were not written down would arouse us as well to fulfill the Torah. We cannot claim that Rashi means that it was only the forty eight prophets uttered instruction and chastisement, while the rest of the prophets only included portents relevant to their generations; for a) the prophecies of the forty eight prophets which were recorded in Scripture also included portents (like those of Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc.); and b) it is unthinkable that all of those other prophets, twice the number which left Egypt, merely issued portents, without any praise to God or mussar or instruction to Israel! Indeed,",
"Scripture is explicit that the primary function of the prophet is to instruct Israel regarding God’s word: “I will establish a prophet, and I have placed My words in his mouth, and he will speak to them all that I command him.” (Deut. 18:18) Who may overlook the Targum’s rendering on the words “And you will meet a band of prophets... and they will be prophesying ... and you will prophesize along with them…” , rendered as ‘and they will be praising...and you will praise with them.” This is written specifically regarding the other prophets, whose words were not recorded, and yet [we see that] they, too, issued praises of God, not just portents.",
"What, then, is the difference between the praises said by King David and Deborah the prophetess, about whom the Talmud tells us that their prophecies were necessary for all generations and thus recorded, and the prophecies of the other prophets, which were relevant only to their generations, and not recorded?",
"Now, it is true that, to our sorrow and distress, as the heavenly gates have been locked and we have neither prophet nor seer, we know but a little of them, that is, of their holy words ‘necessary for the generations,’ recorded in Scripture. But of the essence of the prophet and his Holy Spirit, and even his other words which were deemed irrelevant to us, we know nothing at all. Regarding the ‘words deemed necessary for the generations’ themselves, each person hears and understands them only in correlation to the limits of his understanding and intelligence. Thus, an erroneous impression regarding the essence of the prophet has been formed in our minds. We perceive him only in accordance with our needs, as a portender informing Israel in accordance with their needs (to locate the asses, or to bestow blessing onto a tin of flour and a flask of oil, or to advise them militarily as to which wars they should or should not engage in).",
"If we see in the words of our masters that the words of the prophet were ‘to teach repentance and instruction,’ one could erroneously think that the prophet was merely one who rebuked. Even in yesteryear, during the times of the prophets themselves, when people beheld the(se) ‘pillars of fire’ before them and the flames of God flowing from the mouths of these holy ones—we see that the people nonetheless called the prophets by terms reflective of their utility. As the verse puts it, “for the prophet today used to be called the seer” (I Samuel 9:9). Why would one call him a seer when the Torah preceded him to call him a prophet, as in “I will establish a prophet?” The answer is, simply, that the names and terms we use cannot convey anything beyond the boundaries of human utility or sensory perception. After all, an angel [malakh] is referred to as such due to its function as a messenger, not according to its essential nature. The soul [neshamah] is referred to as such after the breath (see Rashi to Genesis 7:22). For we have no name for the essence of the angel nor the essence of the soul. So too, the term ‘prophet’ does not describe the essence of the prophet but merely that God has spoken with him (despite the biblical reference to a prophet as “man of God,” [see Berakha 1 and several times in Kings], the Targum always translates “man of God” functionally, as “prophet of God”). Therefore the people named them (the prophets) in correlation to their needs, alternating their titles according to the functions which the prophets performed more frequently: when the prophets were primarily teaching Israel repentance and issuing instruction, they called them neviim, from the language of “niv sefatayim” (Rashi to Exodus 7:10), and when they more often told the future and provided for other needs, they were called seers. “For the prophet today used to be called the seer”-i.e. the people called them as such.",
"But just as we call an angel ‘a messenger’ and a ‘soul’ is named after the breath, though we know that an angel is not merely a messenger and the soul is no mere breath but rather has an ungraspable spiritual essence of which we perceive only its actions—so too, though they were called prophets or seers, the people knew that these things which the prophet did were not his entire essence. He was not there just to serve them.",
"This was true while the prophets existed before their very eyes, and bands of prophets and their disciples blinded the people by their light. Now, however, that is no longer the case, and we are left with only their names and activities as recorded in Scripture. And so the matter has degenerated from a time when ‘an erroneous impression regarding the essence of the prophet was formed in some peoples’ minds,’ to now when some fail to even consider the essence of the prophet, presuming instead that they were merely portenders or chastizers in the name of God; and, furthermore, that these figures were the only prophets.",
"However, when we examine the holy texts—Zohar, Kabbalah, and hasidism—we see that ‘prophet’ and ‘prophecy’ are in fact levels of avodah. As it says in the Zohar “In ancient times prophecy rested upon people, so they knew and contemplates supernal glory.” [Zohar, Vayekhi,238a] indicating that prophecy entails gazing at the supernal glory.",
"And, as it says in the introduction to Tikkunei Zohar (2a) “...and from then Israel were called kings, righteous, seers, prophets, masters of Torah, mighty, pious (hasidim), mavens, wise.” Just as the righteous, masters of Torah, hasidim etc. so too ‘prophets’ denotes a level of divine service. It is impossible to claim that since we have seen him teach in public, that constitutes the essence of a master of Torah. This is merely one thing he does—but at his essence he is one soaked in Torah. Nor can we claim that the essence of a tzaddik is encapsulated in his good and righteous deeds. Even were we to say that he is a tzaddik because he has imbibed a certain degree of Torah and demonstrates a certain degree of righteousness, we would have still not described his true essence as such.",
"Adjectives describing an essence are not the same things as the essence itself. As an analogy, if we call something white or cold, the whiteness and coldness are not the thing itself, but merely descriptions thereof. Only when we call this thing ‘snow’ have we articulated its essence. All the more so when we try to describe tzaddikim and sacred things, which are above our grasp. The adjectives are not the essence, but merely describe the essence.",
"Regarding my grandfather, the Maggid of Kozhenitz, may the memory of the righteous be for a blessing, we know that his greatness was constituted by his essence, that of being ‘the Maggid of Kozhenitz,’ [an essence] impossible to describe with words. On the contrary, everyone knows that in order to rise to this level of essential greatness, in order to become ‘the Maggid,’ one would [first] need to acquire much revealed and hidden Torah, and a great wealth of righteousness, etc. As such, the essential greatness of the tzaddik is distinct from (his) Torah and righteousness, which are prerequisites for its attainment. The essence itself is impossible to describe, but must rather be seen or felt.",
"And who is able to do so? Only one who is himself a righteous and great individual, who is thus able to sense within himself this type of greatness and to gain some measure of understanding as to what a tzaddik is and what the essence of the Maggid was. In this vein, when we speak of the prophet and prophecy, we speak of a type of greatness inhering in the essence of this worshipper, yet indescribable, attainable only upon performing the avodah of prophecy.",
"As it says in the Midrash on Song of Songs (chapter 1): “R. Isaac says, it is written “And God commanded me:” There are things which He said to me privately, and things which He instructed me to convey to His children…”",
"Not only do we not grasp the prophet, we do not even grasp all that which God said to him. We only have those things which He said to him which are relevant to us. In the introduction to R. Hayyim Vital’s Shaarei Kedushah, he elaborates in greater detail in what sense prophecy is in fact a type of avodah, and indeed what type of avodah and cleaving [deveykut] prophecy is. Here are his holy words:",
"“Thus says the young one, Hayyim son of Joseph Vital: I have seen people of ascent [bnai aliyah], few in number, desiring to rise; yet the ladder is hidden from their eyes. They examine the ancient works, searching for the paths of life, ‘the way they should go and the actions they should do’ to rise up to their supernal roots and cleave to Him, may He be blessed. For that is the ultimate perfection, as did the prophets, who cleaved unto their Creator their entire lives, and the Holy Spirit rested upon them via that cleaving to instruct them as to the path wherein the light resides, to illuminate their eyes in the secrets of the Torah. As King David said, ‘uncover my eyes and I will see wonders from your Torah,’ to direct them in the proper path towards the place prepared for them with the bnai aliyah…”",
"We see here that their primary focus was constant dveykut with God; the Holy Spirit rested upon them as a derivative of that dveykut. This dveykut was not focused on merely in order to portend future occurrences, but rather also in order to instruct and guide them [that is, themselves] in the way of God.",
"Maimonides as well [in his Commentary on the Mishnah, Introduction to the Order of Zeraim] says that Elijah, Elisha and other prophets did not perform miracles in order to establish their prophetic bona fides (for by that time in their careers that they performed them their bona fides had already been established), but rather for their own needs and because of their closeness to God He fulfilled their desires, etc…Note: It is necessary to examine that citation and include fuller explication of the sage’s words.",
"This indicates that it is not the performance of wonders, nor portents, which constitute the primary, essential nature of the prophet. Rather, it is his closeness to God. This is the little extent to which we, with our limited understanding, are able to surmise regarding the nature of the prophet: he purifies his body until it becomes as a soul, and through this purification he merits to complete deveykut with God, the ‘iron wall’ of materiality separating him from the holy has been nullified. When his entire essence becomes attached to the holy, his supernal avodah is as the doings of the sefirot and the service of the angels. Actually, his avodah is even higher, as his body is incorporated in this holiness and dveykut. This is not a soul which soars and clings to God when only when separated from the body, nor a soul which though within a body grasps what it grasps on its own. This is a body which has become soul; and two together—body and soul—perform heavenly avodah. The prophet also eats, and also has children (Isaiah 5:3). These were all sefirotic actions—his eating is that of ‘eat, lovers, and drink,’ as it known from the Zohar: unifications of Hokhmah and Binah, Tiferet and Malkhut, and the birthing of souls—for the unifications of the prophet were his legacy. ",
"Because of all this, he did not sense the mind and will of God only with his mind or emotions but also with his physical senses, as his body had become sanctified, becoming a soul. He would see visions of God and hear the voice of God. What is more, from within himself the Master of masters, the Almighty, would speak; as the Sages said about Moses, regarding the verse “ God would reply with a voice,” that is, the voice of Moses.",
"This, then, is that which R Hayyim Vital writes (ibid and 3:7), that the avodah of prophecy continues into the present. Despite the cessation of prophecy itself, the avodah of prophecy continues, the avodah to remove the boundary between holy and profane. Whatever spiritual situation one is in—close to the heavens and the prophets, or much lower—regardless, his avodah is not to save only the soul and abandon the body, but rather to sanctify the body and make it a soul. Thus, the light of holiness to which he holds fast will not be hidden from his body. This is the avodah of the prophets, and it is the aspect of dveykut-- for he is connected—all of him—without separation.",
"God wants and desires to be connected in complete dveykut with all of Israel, “the people close to Him”—that is, not just with the prophets, but with all of them. God’s ultimate desire is that all of Israel be prophets, as it says “The Holy One says, in this world there are individual prophets, but in the world to come all of Israel will be prophets, as it says ‘And it will be that I will pour My spirit on all flesh and your sons and daughters will prophesy.” [Bamidbar Rabbah 15]",
"Even in these days, everyone, even one who does not merit God speaking with him prophetically, should still perform the avodah of prophecy. Then God’s light and holiness will merge in everyone’s hearts and bodies alike. This is why, when it came to the receiving of the Torah, God did not merely command them with signs that the commandments issued from God (as He did in Egypt, where He gave them the first sign and then the second sign so that the people should believe that God appeared to Moses). Rather He spread forth His light until “and God descended unto Mount Sinai before the eyes of the entire nation...and they saw the God of Israel...and they envisioned God...and the glory of God (appeared) before all of Israel...”and afterwards till “and they shall make for Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst,” as the Sages expounded “it does not say in it but rather in them (b’tokhom),” that the Holy One resides in the heart of each Israelite.",
"Behold, regarding the revelation which inheres in all of creation, God made a line via which His light could spread throughout the worlds and sefirot. From the beginning of the highest level through the bottom of the rest; and regarding the sefirot, there is the backbone which stretches from Keter, Daat, and Tiferet through Yesod, via which the light spreads from high to low, lengthwise and widthwise. So too with His unification with Israel, “the people close to Him,” we see that He always makes a place through which His holiness and light can extend and spread from the heavens, at the place at which earth and sky kiss and where the boundary between the physical and spiritual ceases, and from which the light shines forth and spreads. From His perspective, materiality does not conceal, nor is ‘darkness darkened from you and dark is as light before Him.’ It is only from our perspective that material is actually material, concealing the holy lights from descending and becoming truly revealed rather than apparent only via masks and contractions, still deeply concealed (much is said about this in the holy books). For us as well God made such a place without separation between the material and the spiritual, a place in which the physical is spiritual. From this place His holiness spreads unto us, to sanctify our materiality.",
"On Mount Sinai, before Israel had Torah and avodah, He Himself prepared this holy site and bent the heavens onto the mountain. After they received the Torah, He commanded Israel that they should make the holy place—“and they shall make for Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst” — in the midst of each and every individual. And this “and I will dwell in the midst” of each and every individual was accomplished through the Tabernacle, the holy space at which earth and heaven kiss, and the division of materiality becomes null. In fact, in the Temple the windows were made to be narrow from the outside and wide from the inside, so that the light should shine from inside the Temple outwards. Now, how would the physical form of the window be relevant to spiritual light? How would the manner of the former’s construction affect the latter? If the windows were narrow on the inside and wide on the outside, it would also shine! But this is the crux of the matter: In the Temple, the boundary between the physical and the spiritual was nullified, with no divide between them. Holiness was revealed even in forms which we call physical, and the material was made spiritual. Just as in this place the wall fell and there was no difference between the material and spiritual, from this place His holiness goes out to all of Israel. “I shall dwell in their midst,” in the midst of each individual in Israel.",
"This was the function of the prophet for Israel. Since his ' path of avodah was to purify his body till it became a soul, and to continuously cleave to God, without any separation between the material and the holy, he became the ‘place’ whereupon earth and sky kissed. The prophet was a heavenly window, through which the light of God spread to Israel, filling their hearts and even their bodies. Just as when God spoke, the prophet not only accrued knowledge—that God did or did not desire something —but also light and understanding of God which filled him to the extent that the verse says (Jeremiah 20:9) “and it was in my heart as a burning fire….”—so too with Israel: when the prophet spoke to them, it was not merely to impart instructions and chastisement. After all, they could determine how they had sinned till that point through their own minds, and many know the laws of the Torah. Nonetheless, they do not want [to fulfill them], or they want to but are unable to compel themselves to do so. [How many there are who recognized their lowly state and are concerned about it, but still find it difficult to rule their spirit and raise themselves from their lowliness!] It was only when the light of God was spread to Israel by the prophets and filled them, that they were able to observe their own lowliness, and via the spirit of God which filled them they were strengthened and sanctified. This is the ‘repentance and instructions’ to which Rashi referred, and the ‘to instruct regarding the Torah’ to which Maimonides referred.",
"The prophets, mouthpieces of God on the earth, were not satisfied with correcting the peoples’ ways, that the people [merely] desist from robbing and stealing and committing abominations. Rather, they aspired to make them into a people of God, a nation of prophets. Moses our Teacher said, “Who would grant that all of God’s people could be prophets,” and his generation was called the ‘generation of knowledge.’ See the Zohar (Shlach 168b) regarding them, that there has never been in the world a generation as lofty as this one, nor will there be until King Messiah comes...and in the future the Holy One will prepare a place for them to come to when they are the first resurrected. “The generation of Hezekiah were all filled with Torah, even the children.” (Sanhedrin 104)",
"None of the prophets were satisfied with spreading their greatness to individuals alone. Rather, they tried to raise their entire generation to the messianic telos and the tikkun of the end times, as it says in the midrash above that is was not just individuals but rather all of them [who were prophets]. It says in the Zohar (Acharei Mot 79) about the generation of R. Simon b. Yokhai “Rabbi Yehudah taught, “The generation in which Rabbi Shimon b. Yokhai dwells are all virtuous, all devout, and sin-fearing, and Shekhinah dwells among them, which is not so in other generations...For when R. Shimon uttered the mystery of this verse, the eyes of all the Companions streamed tears , and all the words that he spoke were clear in their eyes...It has been taught: In the days of R. Shimon, a person would say to his fellow, ‘Open your mouth and let your words shine!’ After R. Shimon passed away, they would say, ‘Do not let your mouth make your flesh sin.’ If even the donkey of Rabbi Pinhas ben Yair was illuminated, observed the Torah, was stringent beyond the letter of the law, and apprehended through inspiration that its food was not tithed, we can only imagine the extent of the prophet’s desire to make of Israel “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”",
"The prophet Isaiah says about the messiah (Isaiah 11:4) “He shall strike down a land with the rod of his mouth, and slay the wicked with the breath of his lips.” He will not utter mere words, but rather will fill the whole world with holiness and purity; divine light will flow through the spirit of his lips, all evil will be destroyed and all sinners will return from their sins and be purified before God.",
"Not only the messiah’s, but rather every prophet’s speech was an active stream of divine fire [penetrating] the hearts of Israel. Those who repented, repented, while those who were steadfast in their wickedness were destroyed, may the Merciful One save us. God said to Jeremiah (1:10) “See, I appoint you this day over nations and kingdoms: to uproot and to pull down...to build and to plant.”",
"How was Jeremiah to do all this? God did not grant him might nor power, but merely his mouth and the capacity for the divine to flow through him. He even caused His holiness to flow, via the prophet, onto the non-sentient world, which does not have ears with which to hear the words of the prophet and the rebuke which he issued to human beings. What does the world itself have to do with observing shabbat or the ordinances, which humans violate and the prophets chastise about? And yet, in the Shaarei Kedushah (ibid.) it says that the prophets draw forth holiness to the [non-sentient] world as well. Thus he says (Part III, end of Chapter Two and beginning of Chapter Three): “And this is the secret of ‘and I will place my words in your mouth...to build the heavens (Isaiah 51:16),’ for the human...draws life to heaven and earth...he is My partner, I create and he fulfills; and therefore do not find it difficult, the issue of prophecy and its impact on the lower spheres...on the contrary, prophecy is necessary in the world in order to straighten man and fix his deed and draw bounty to all the worlds.”",
"And yet: even this act of filling of the world with holiness was done for the sake of Israel. For only exceptional individuals are able to stand apart [l’hitboded] and remove themselves from the world, becoming sanctified and prophetic despite the materiality of the world. Only to Moses did God say ‘but you, remain here with Me.’ This is not so of the rest of the nation, who could become prophets while yet ensconced in the world (something Moses desired when he said ‘Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets,’ small and great alike according to their stature). This is only possible when both the world in which they exist and their very bodies are sanctified by the influence of prophecy. For how could it be possible that the prophets, windows of the heavens, could bring down portions of Beriyah and Yetzirah to this world [Note: See the Zohar, Vayetzeh 149, and in M’M there, and other places in the Zohar; cf. Shaarei Kedushah 3:6,",
"This is the inner purpose of our Torah and its holy path: To sanctify this world, including the body [guf], with the holiness of the supernal worlds. It is like parchment and phylactery straps which are made on animal skin, and which become sanctified, holy objects, with holy names [inscribed] on it; and like the shofar made from an animal’s horn, and wool made into fringes—through the commandments, these become holy objects. So too, the world itself is sanctified through the prophets, thus allowing all of Israel existing in this world to spark into prophecy.",
"Thus God’s spirit had fallen upon Saul as he approached (but had not even yet arrived) at Samuel’s city—‘and he walked on, prophesying.” Samuel had sanctified the world, and when Saul drew close to his city, there was so much holiness and prophecy lying there that he too began to prophesize. Through the great sanctification that the prophets drew down onto the world and Israel, the Blessed One dwells and joins with Israel.",
"Like this-worldly items which become holy objects through the commandments, though not everyone sees them at the same level—that they are in fact sacred names, angels, sefirot and souls—so too with regards to the prophecy drawn down to the world and Israel by the prophets. Rather than everyone receiving the spirit of God in the same measure, each individual received it according to his situation. The most capacious began to themselves prophesy, like Saul when he met the band of prophets and prophesied with them, and like Saul’s servants when they were chasing after David and came to Samuel the prophet. [Note: See Zohar Parshat Vayetzeh, 149, and Mikdash Melekh there, as well as other places in the Zohar. Cf. Shaarei Kedushah III:6, that the prophets received their prophecy via the worlds of Beriyah and Yetzirah.]",
"Those who were less capacious absorbed less, becoming endowed with the Holy Spirit [ruakh ha-kodesh], or simply servants of God (not as ones with dried out and darkened hearts and souls, but as lofty people with the flame of God lit inside). And, to our sorrow, there were also lesser ones, about whom it is said “[they] hear indeed but do not understand; see, indeed, but do not grasp; the heart of this people has become dulled…”",
"Here is the difference [between holy objects and the spirit of prophecy]: Regarding the commandments, even one who does not perceive, but merely believes in, their holiness, and performs the commandments because God has so commanded, has fulfilled the commandment (for the essential thing is in the performance, and indeed he has performed them). This is not the case when it comes to prophecy. For God’s intent when it comes to prophecy was that the person should perceive, and that there should be no separation between him and God. ‘And they beheld God.’ Thus, it is only when one sees his Father opposite him and He is not again hidden from him thereafter, that the Father’s will is satisfied. This is why the prophets other than the forty-eight were required for each generation.",
"It says in the Midrash on Song of Songs (4), that in the days of Elijah there were many prophets, whose purpose was for just that generation. Why did Elijah not suffice for them? Regarding concepts [muskalim] external to a person, every generation—as long as it possesses true intellect—has equal access to them; they differ, however, in their levels of comprehension, as one generation is wise and understands more, and another less. And so, each person and generation needed to prepare itself, each according to its essence and nature, in order to receive the light of prophecy. Imagine a prophet prophesying and directing observance of the Torah and commandments to his students. Among the students is someone from our generation. He will be able to understand the ideas conveyed by the prophet’s words, but he will be distinct from the others in that he will not thereby be able to prophesied, and he may well not receive as much of the prophetic light and spirit.",
"The forty-eight prophets and seven prophetesses were like windows of the heavens, and God appeared through them and their holy words, His Holy Spirit shining from then on to all the generations, so that even now one can receive this spirit according to his level. The other prophets prepared their generation to receive and absorb God’s spirit through their efforts (and those of the forty-eight). Through them, they could see God and hear His voice, even in the world itself.",
"In his introduction to Pirkei Avot, Maimonides articulates some criteria of the prophet, including that he have cultivated character virtues and intellectual virtues (that is, of the soul (for Maimonides terms the holy soul the ‘intellectual soul’). The level of prophecy is thus in proportion to his capacities. Further, R. Hayyim Vital (Shaarei Kedushah, especially chapter three) articulates the tikkunim which the prophet would have to enact, and after fixing each and every trace of problematic elements in his body and traits, he tells how the prophet needed to cultivate joy, even during trying times; and how extreme his joy was to be when learning Torah and fulfilling the commandments; and how he should strengthen his thoughts and cleave to God; and how after all this he should know how to strip himself of his soul (not as in a dream-state but when he is awake), and how he should remove his thoughts entirely, and utilize his imaginative faculty to visualize himself as if rising to the supernal worlds, to the root of his soul, until he truly visualizes his supernal source, with the images of all the lights engraved in his thoughts, knowing the Names and kavannot. And after doing a comprehensive tikkun on himself and revealing his soul and raising it up, he would have to know how to prepare himself for a specific time, to sit and contemplate at a time during which he desired to draw down the Holy Spirit (cf. there).",
"These tikkunim vary according to each generation, and indeed according to each person and his nature, his character traits, and the strength of his thoughts and imaginative faculty etc…, to the point that a tikkun which is good for one person is damaging to another. The whole nation, even those who did not have the goal of becoming great prophets but merely to become the nation of God, a nation of prophets, needed to do such tikkunim.",
"Since these tikkunim were not merely for the sake of general avodah but rather for prophecy and drawing forth [hamshakhah] the Holy Spirit, only prophets were able to rectify their generation in this respect. Prophets just for their own generation were closer to the people and effected tikkun(im) for them, so that they could receive the light of the forty-eight and seven. These were enough for all the generations, while each generation had many more prophets (as stated in the aforementioned sources), because they all needed their own tikkunim. Truly we can say, therefore, that our generation does not receive the effect of the light of prophecy and certainly the Holy Spirit from Moses, chief prophet before and after, nor from the forty eight and seven who words were for their generations and ours, and who function as eternal heavenly windows and pipelines of prophecy for all of Israel- because those prophets who existed for their own generations do not exist for ours.",
"Thus, it is incontrovertible that Rashi’s words above regarding prophecy ‘necessary to all generations’- “to teach repentance and instruction”- was not meant to exclude prophecy relevant to its own generation (that these did not include instructions regarding repentance) but rather that only the teaching of these things relevant to the generations was written. Even the songs and portents therein are really instructions about repentance, because in addition to their literal meanings they also contain holiness and divine inspiration relevant to all generations, filling the ears of the one who heeds them as he prepares himself.",
"As a brief addendum regarding the two types of prophets: when the prophets drew down lights from Beriyah and Yetzirah to this world, they had to also raise up the world of Asiyah so that it could receive these lights. “And God came down on to Mt. Sinai.” The Talmud (Sukkah 5a) teaches that in fact that divine presence only came within ten handbreadths of the mountain (the Throne descended down further). The physical place [i.e. the mountain] reached high and the throne of glory descended; a drop does not descend from heaven until two arise from the earth.",
"When the Temple stood, the world of Asiyah and Malkhut was at the level of Tiferet and the world of Yetzirah, and there was a true unification. After the destruction of the Temple, Malkhut and the world of Asiyah descended. See Etz Hayyim III:2, “This is the secret of ‘He threw down earth from heaven,’ for Tiferet Israel, which is Zeir Anpin, threw down Malkhut, which is called ‘earth,’ which had been its Tiferet [state] which is called ‘heaven…’ This why there were two types of prophets. The forty-eight drew down light from the supernal worlds and the prophets of each generation raised up the world of Asiyah so that it could receive the light. This was in the sense of the companions of the King and the companions of the Matroness; Moses was like the former, and Aaron, who was closer to the people and rectified them so that they could receive, was like the latter. That was why “the entire house of Israel cried for Aaron.”",
"Israel was sanctified through these two types of prophets, and the spirit of God spread to all them to a greater or less degree. It was impossible for even the simplest of the simple who did not close up his ears or stiffen his neck not to get close to God in a prophetic manner.",
"Part B
The prophets were not the only ones who functioned as windows of the heavens through which Israel might be illuminate; rather, after the prophets came the Men of the Great Assembly, the Sages of the Talmud, the Geonim etc. The Divine spirit speaks in all of their words of Oral Torah, though at first glance a foolish person might see only intellectual material therein. As it is explained in the Talmud (Talmud Bava Batra 12a): “R. Avdimi of Haifa said: From the day that the Temple fell, prophecy was taken from the prophets and given to the sages...this is what he means to say: even though prophecy was taken from the prophets, it was not taken from the sages.”",
"* [Note: I have already proven this to those of little faith, and they could not reply. I said to them, behold, regarding all worldly wisdom we see that each later generation becomes wiser than the one preceding it. This is so not only regarding disciplines subject to empirical verification, about which we might say that the more generations there are the more experiments can be conducted so that the generations become wiser, learning that method X is not good but only method Y. This is not truly wisdom but rather greater familiarity. It is also true regarding rational thought itself—we become wiser as to how to think, and later generations do not use their minds as they once did, to the point where rational arguments of the past appear as erroneous today.",
"And yet, why is it that with regard to our holy Torah, mutatis mutandis [lehavdil], the previous generations were more mighty and wise, and each succeeding generation less so to the point that even a genius of our generation could not, under any circumstance, compose a work like Maimonides, Nahmanides, or Rashba? And these geniuses themselves, with all their intellectual power, could yet not reach the level of the Talmudic sages [Amoraim], nor the Amoraim to that of the Mishnaic sages [Tannaim].",
"This proves that their intellect was not of human origin, but rather an expression from Above: God expressing His spirit to Israel. It is an eternal expression, initially through the prophets, then the Men of the Great Assembly, then to the Tannaim etc. Since the generations decline and God’s light becomes more and more concealed. Thus, the intellect of the Torah, which is an expression of God’s spirit, also becomes more and more minimal and constricted. Yet we do not require intellectual proofs for this, for. One of the tenets of Torah and Israel is to truly believe that Torah is from Heaven, including the Oral Law given at Sinai and revealed to us through the talmudic sages, and that they too were windows of heaven shedding light on Israel.“‘And God spoke to Moses face to face.’ R. Isaac says, God said to Moses, ‘Moses—you and I shall explicate the Law.” (Talmud Berakhot 63) Both the primary and homiletic meanings of Torah are not merely intellectual, but are rather constituted of divine light. For through Toray [study], there exists the aspect of ‘face to Face.’",
"This is especially so for the kabbalists, who walked in the paths of the prophets, drawing God’s light and holiness towards Israel, as we cited the words of the Zohar (Terumah pp. 154) in Hakhsharat haAvreikhim, how R. Yaakov would call the students of R. Shimon b. Yokhai ‘faithful prophets.’",
"Now behold: It would be wrong to ask, God forbid, which generations and individuals from among the sages of the Mishnah and Talmud were kabbalists. For which were not kabbalists?! Everything they said in those works were based upon the Kabbalah and its secrets, and is written in Raya Meheimnah (Pinhas 244b) “All the teaching of the rabbis of the mishnah and Talmud were ordered according to the secrets of the Torah.”",
"* [Note: See Tanya, Iggeret haKodesh 26, which requires further analysis. It must be his intent is to refer only the sages of those generations not mentioned in the Mishnah and Talmud; for those to whom statements are attributed in these works said them in accordance with mystical teaching, as mentioned in this passage from the Zohar and in R. Hayyim Vital’s introduction to Etz Hayyim].",
"Sefer Yetzirah, attributed to Abraham, evidences this point. Several passages in the Mishnah, Talmud, and Midrash are filled with teachings about the Workings of the Chariot, the Workings of Creation, and Holy Names (the seventy-two-letter name; Ani v’Ho…). Kabbalistic learning was so widespread that they legislated laws as to whether it was permissible to learn it and to whom and how much it was permissible to teach (sometimes only the chapter headings…), as explained in (tractate Hagigah, chapter 2), “We may not teach…”",
"We may thus only ask: who among these holy ones opened the study of Kabbalah to us as well? To this query we can respond that the godly tanna, Rabbi Shimon b. Yokhai, along with his holy fellows, opened this window into the heavens for us, which had been heretofore closed to all but those rare holy elites—one in a city, etc...—who were able to totally remove themselves from their bodies and arise through the window. Like the four who entered the Pardes (Talmud Hagigah 14b), and in the Raya Meheimna Pinhas (223b) it states that they ascended to the level of the chariot [merkavah], that is from [or: the chariot of] ‘Zeir Anpin’ who is Metatron...Pardes... Rashi and Tosafot [Hagigah ibid] explain that they went up to the heavens by reciting the divine name, though Tosafot claims that they did not literally go up but rather that it merely appeared to them as if they did so.",
"They cite Arukh [in his entry on the word ‘even’] who himself cites from the heikhalot literature that they would perform acts and pray in purity etc. and gaze at the palaces. Maharsha explains that they entered “the Orchard [‘Pardes’] of wisdom (Hokhmah), which is the wisdom of divinity.” All of these interpretations are ‘the words of the living God,’ for alongside the literal meaning that they went up, as explained by Rashi and in the Raya Meheimnah, all kabbalistic study in those days constituted a sort of ascent. For only one who was able to strip himself from himself and from this world was able to go up and reach the heavens. It was only the man of God, R. Shimon b. Yokhai in the holy Zohar, who drew downwards, as it says in the beginning of the introduction to the holy Tikkunei Zohar, “permission is granted you...to go down among them...and to reveal all the angels and holy names to them;” that is, that the lights and sefirot would be drawn downwards so that even one who was unable to go up, if he would but sanctify himself in accordance with the instructions written in the holy books, would be able to learn; and thus the light of God would shine upon him as well.",
"As it says in Zohar Terumah (149a): “And God gave Solomon wisdom, as he had promised him…””Gave Wisdom”-like someone giving a present or gift to a beloved friend...King Solomon reflected and saw that even in that generation, more perfect than all generations, it was not the will of the supernal King that so much wisdom should be revealed by him. Torah, originally sealed, was revealed; he opened doors. Yet even though he opened, they are close, except for the wise who are worthy—and stammer in them...As for this generation, in which Rabbi Shimon dwells, it is the wish of the blessed Holy One, for the sake of R. Shimon, that concealed matters should be revealed by him.”",
"All is fully explained here. Grasping the secrets of the Torah is not of an intellectual nature; rather, “God gave Solomon wisdom,” as one who gives a tangible gift to his beloved, for God gave him light and holiness. The salient distinction between the generation of Rash”bi (R. Shimon b. Yokhai) and the preceding generations is also fully explained here. Even in the generation of Solomon, itself the most perfect generation, the Almighty King did not desire to reveal that much wisdom. Though Solomon opened doors, they were still closed to all but the wise, and even they understood in only a halting and unclear revelation. This was not so for the generation of R. Shimon b. Yokhai; it was God’s will that for his sake even ‘closed’ matters were to be revealed, fully and unhaltingly, to the entire generation, and not just to the wise.",
"Thus, we perceive via our very senses how in each and every jot and tittle in the Torah there are mounds of laws. This is what R. Shimon b. Yokhai meant when he said “I have seen those bnai aliyah but they are few.” [Talmud Sukkah 45b] Until his time only the bnai aliyah were able to go up were among those who could behold the Shekhinah, and they were few in number. Therefore he (Rash”bi) worked to draw [divine light] downwards.",
"Now we can understand a bit more, albeit with our limited capacities, of the chain of Kabbalah, and of Torah generally. The written Torah is of the world of Asiyah, the oral Torah of Yetzirah and Beriyah, and the holy Zohar and Kabbalah of Atzilut; see the introduction to Etz Hayyim of R. Hayyim Vital.",
"This is not to say that the written Torah, which is the primary portion of the whole corpus, is, God forbid, lower than the others. Rather, it means that it is garbed in more ‘clothing,’ including the clothing of Asiyah. Thus, if a person has the lowly inclination to steal and cheat, the Torah has descended even to these inclinations and has become garbed in them, and has been revealed in “You shall not steal, you shall rob, you shall have honest measures and weights, etc…” Actions, not concept concepts, were revealed in these commandments—be they actions of the hands of actions of the heart, like loving God and Israel, reverence etc… These went down to the actions of the person and are perceived in them. After this, the sages of the Talmud came to reveal more to us, for the supernal light is enclothed in many layers in the written Torah and covered even in stories and narratives. They revealed the light, refracted as Yetzirah and Beriyah, stripped down and bare from more of these clothes. They somehow managed to allow the light of Yetzirah and Beriyah to be revealed even in this world, in even the human intellect. For already in the Talmud there are already intellectual explanations, accounting for every commandment through casuistry and reasoning. They already knew, therefore, the meaning of the commandments and had no need to record the oral Torah. But [they did so in order to] innovate and reveal the intellect of the Torah.",
"Here is what Maimonides writes, in his Introduction to the [mishnaic] Order of Zeraim: “Know that each commandment which God gave to Moses was given to him with its explanation. He would articulate first the commandment itself followed by its explanations and commentary and all else. They would write down the commandments and study its explanations orally [literally, Kabbalah, that is, the received explanations]. So too did our rabbis teach: “And God spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying…so too the principles and details of all the commandments are from Sinai.” For example, God told Moses “and you shall dwell in booths for seven days.” Afterwards He informed him that this obligation is incumbent upon males but not females, that the ill are exempt as are travelers, and that the roofing must be made from plants, and He informed him that eating and drinking and sleeping must be done within it, and that its height must be at least ten handbreadths from the ground, etc.. So too with regards to all six hundred and thirteen commandments, with the commandments themselves written and their explanations transmitted orally. Nonetheless, though these explanations are all received and there is no disagreement about them, we are able to use the wisdom of the Torah granted us to derive these explanations through reasoning and exegesis and proofs and hints contained in the Bible. When we see sages in the Talmud disagreeing in their analyses and bringing a proof for one of these explanations, such as when the verse refers to a ‘fruit of the beautiful tree,’ that perhaps it refers to a pomegranate etc. Until they proffer the proof of “a tree whose wood and fruit taste the same,” and “a tree whose fruit remain on it from year to year”—these proofs were not brought because they were actually confused, for we have seen without doubt from Joshua onwards that they always used the etrog in the lulav bundle. These sages were merely establishing a hint in the verse for the accepted explanation.”",
"Why, then, were all the search for hints, and all the debates filling the Oral Torah necessary? Because the sages were doing something new in the realm of the human intellect, so that people might understand with their own intellect that indeed the received tradition was correct. As Maimonides wrote (above), that we are able to use the wisdom of the Torah granted us to derive these explanations—specifically, the wisdom of the Torah. So too, the Sages endeavored to reveal the light of the oral Torah to the human intellect so that, in addition to arriving at the received explanation on their own, there were some commandments that they were able to explain using their human intellects. For example (Talmud Bava Metziah 3a), “Why did the Torah so that one who admits to a partial claim must swear an oath (while one who denies an entire claim is exempt from swearing?) Because of the presupposition that one will not be so brazen as to deny an entire claim [falsely; and so therefore one who denies the entire claim is exempt, while one who merely denies part of the claim might be lying and thus must swear that he is being forthright].” And another example, regarding the lesser fine for stealing sheep than oxen, either because God has pity on human dignity, or because of the loss of the ox’s labor, referring to the well-known debate between R. Yokhanan b. Zakai and R. Meir. Even though everyone knows that the Torah did not issue the commandments on account of the human intellect, God forbid, and were a very wise sage come and reason to the contrary, not even a jot of the Torah’s laws nor its accepted explanations would shift. And, Heaven forbid for us to say that one who violates these laws has merely violated a product of human reasoning, for violation of both rational and [apparently] irrational laws constitute the same transgression of God’s commandment. Nonetheless, the Sages endeavored to draw down and reveal [the Torah] even to the human intellect, because they thereby removed its enclothment in Asiyah, and the light of Yetzirah and Beriyah were thus revealed. Thus, they insisted that a person, using his Yetzirah and Asiyah (and Beriyah) —that is, his thoughts and intellect—grasp it.",
"This is to say that the prophets revealed the light of prophecy to Israel even in the world of Asiyah. Indeed, most of their words, with which they instructed and chastised Israel, regarded the world of Asiyah, such as observing the sabbath, doing justice etc. For they extended their prophetic spirit into even the depths of Asiyah. Thus, in their times—for the prophets were for their generations—these ‘servants of the Matroness’ prepared their generation and the world itself. The entire nation was astounded and saw how the forty-eight prophets provided a glimpse of the heavens to those on the earth. Each individual, while yet still residing on the earth, beheld the supernal light. Each [experienced this] according to his level: either transforming into a new person and prophesying with them, or merely seeing the lights without achieving the level of a prophet, as written above.",
"Due to our sins, we no longer have prophets to prepare our generations and we, alongside the world of Asiyah, have descended, and have become further despised within enclothment and concealments, especially after the Destruction, as we cited above the end of the first chapter from Etz Hayyim, on the verse ‘He threw from heaven to earth…” We thus find that the words of the prophets are closed up in in the world of Asiyah. They themselves struggled mightily to draw the illumination of holiness to Asiyah so there too the naked, supernal light should be visible, till their entire generation was prepared by their efforts to see it. Just as Moses, the greatest of the prophets, went up to heaven and brought down the written Torah, the greatest source of light and holiness, to Asiyah. His generation and those after saw supernal lights in Torah and in the world, in the sense of “and they beheld God.” But now that we do not have those to prepare us as such, we find the light of their prophecy where they left it, in Asiyah, but enclothed and closed, without the light being seen as it is. (All we see is) chastisement on observing the sabbath and idolatry, on justice etc. We see in them only Asiyah [except for the person who arises and prepares himself].",
"The holy talmudic sages saw that the prophets had ceased and the world and nation ‘descended appallingly’. The Torah remained closed in Asiyah to the people, and they were as distant from the soul of the Torah as one can be from his own soul, though it indeed is in him, because his body encases it. Though the Torah and commandments descended with them, and in this world, they fulfill the commandments—of the festival booths [sukkah] and fringes [tzitzit] etc. —but the prophecy, that is the revelation that all is holy including Asiyah, was no longer. Thus, these holy ones worked mightily and held fast unto God, and drew the light of prophecy inhering in the Torah to the world and the nation which had descended. Though they were unable to reveal the divine light in the depths of Asiyah, so that this light would be apparent in even a bush and other physical entities, and so that one might even with his depths, his senses and eyes see an angel of God—‘behold the God of Israel sitting, sapphire beneath His feet’—hearing the voice of God with his [very] ears—nonetheless, he would now be able to receive and grasp the light of God with the Yetzirah and Beriyah within him.",
"We have already spoken in Hovat haTalmidim (in the first of the “three essays”) of how there are aspects of the four worlds of Atzilut, Beriyah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah within a person, in accordance with his particular situation. His mind and intellect, from his spirit and soul, are his Yetzirah and Beriyah. This is why they [i.e. the Sages] worked to ensure that the Torah’s prophetic light would be revealed to at least his intellect and mind.",
"This means that the intelligence which we discern in the oral Torah does not exhaust all that our sages drew down and revealed in it—one hesitates from even mentioning this possibility—for in fact, they drew down [supernal] light and souls. It is due to our inability to grasp it as it is in its true place, as the prophets were able; nor can it be revealed in our Asiyah. Therefore, they revealed it in our intellects of Beriyah and Yetzirah. Since these are our intellects, only human intelligence could grasp it. This is why the Torah was enclothed in human intelligence.",
"See Pardes 6:7 and 7:5, how each sefirah affects the corresponding sefirah below. Even though the sefirah of Netzakh comes after Tiferet, nonetheless it derives its source from Hessed. When Hessed within Hessed is strengthened, the aspect of Hessed within all the sefirot are strengthened. Cf. Etz Hayyim 42:2.",
"We see this within a person as a well, that doing something pertaining to Asiyah strengthens the Asiyah in him, and so too something pertaining to intellect. Thus, in order for one to receive something into his Beriyah and Yetzirah, they had to strip the light of Torah from its Asiyah, leaving its Beriyah and Yetzirah barer and thereby allowing the Beriyah and Yetzirah in the person to receive them. To state all this simply: Talmud is constituted within the element of Beriyah and Yetzirah, as is the level of prophetic sight.",
"Yet truly supernal Beriyah and Yetzirah, allowing one who has been influenced by them to prophesize, has ceased to exist. See I Samuel [3:6] and Rashi there. The entire nation received their light, enclothed in Asiyah, elevated by the prophets of each generation, accompaniers of the Matroness [Shekhinah]. Yet the sages of the Talmud wondrously managed to draw down the Torah to our lowly, simple world of Asiyah—though not to the Asiyah within it itself, within the bush, which would have allowed them to see the revelation of divinity and angels within it, and with their ears to hear a simple voice from God—so similar that Samuel erred as he said ‘it is the voice of Eli’—but rather to the Yetzirah and Beriyah in it, that is, to the human intellect in each person, even a child beginning to learn Talmud. How much Yetzirah and Beriyah each person can grasp in Torah is dependent on his particular level of holiness and his own Yetzirah and Beriyah.",
"Regarding the Talmudic sages, the Talmud (Talmud Bava Batra 12a-b) says that though prophecy was taken from the prophets, it was not taken from the sages. In their learning, they experienced a sort of prophetic sight, since they were lofty and their Beriyah and Yetzirah were great they were able to receive light from above, to the extent that Rashi (ibid) says that one’s reasoning comes to him prophetically. So too, every person who elevates himself from his own mere ‘humanity,’ and in whom Beriyah and Yetzirah are lofty, will sense in the Torah not only human intellect, but also supernal light, in accordance with his condition. This will not be the case for one whose Yetzirah and Beriyah is limited to human intellect, for he will only perceive human intellect in the Torah. With him, the supernal light, illumination of His divinity, is hidden in his intellect, for reasoning comes to him through prophecy as well but is yet hidden from sight. He understands only intellectual explanations, not the prophecy which flows in the intellect. Indeed, he has fulfilled the commandment of learning Torah and cleaves to God’s holiness, in accordance with his level. But as for prophecy—which is open cleaving, seeing the Father, as is fit for the nation of God, as Moses said, “If only the entire nation of God were prophets,” for since they are nation of God they must have prophecy within them- this is not found within him.",
"A person may be used to engaging various intellectual matters whose very existence is lacking. Its existence is akin to a thing’s shadow—the shadow does exist, and makes something of the original object itself discernable, yet has an existence of void and nothingness. In truth, it does not truly exist at all. What sort of existence accrues to a person when he contemplates how two plus two is four? He does know something, but that knowledge is shadow-like, without force or existence. If he contemplates some innovative formula which a given mathematician has developed to ease a calculation, e.g. the sum of fifteen times four or twenty-five and three thirds, does his mind thereby draw close to that of the mathematician? If the latter is an evil person, will all who contemplate his formula became evil in turn, or vice-versa if he is a good person?! Nothing will happen to he who contemplates the mathematician’s formula, for though he has the formula in mind, its existence is shadow-like, an empty existence. Thus, as the result of such regular experience, people assume that intellectual comprehension creates only [an existence of] shadowy nothingness.",
"There are those who, though they realize that the intelligence of the Torah is not like that of secular matters, God forbid—for the Torah and its ideas are the holy of holies, while other intellectual matters are pedestrian and secular—nonetheless, they believe that the effect of a Torah idea upon one who contemplates it is the same as the effect of any other idea. Even if they are not so brazen as to sinfully equate the intelligence of the Torah to that of other intelligences. Nonetheless, since they think that there is no real effect on one who contemplates Torah ideas, as it has only a shadow-like existence, they unwilfully sin, underestimating the effect that the Torah’s ideas have on one who contemplates them. That is, they think it affects them the way they are used to, which is actually no real effect at all. It is akin to the concept of an angel. No matter how much we tell the average person that an angel is not human and does not have a human appearance, nonetheless when he thinks of an angel, it is impossible that he would not imagine something human-like with wings. Because of the imagery of a messenger who speaks and acts which has been fixed in him his whole life, despite the fact that this imagery is merely deployed heuristically. Even were we to explain the matter further—how there is in fact a drawing the light of the intellect into the mind of one who contemplate—he would not thereby be made wiser. He will misconstrue the light as well. It would be like when a more sophisticated mind has to constrict itself when explaining something to a less sophisticated mind, resulting in a [relatively vacuous drawing forth.",
"There have been many casualties felled by the erroneous assumption that all things termed ‘spiritual’ are identical. If the science of mathematics is termed ‘spiritual,’ then people think that all spiritual matters are like it. They do not heed the distinction that mathematics has no existence outside of the human mind. It is the human who contemplates it, and even in his mind its existence is merely shadow-like, without substance. This is not the case with Holy Spiritual matters which are in fact like a soul: truly existent and substantial, even able to vivify and move the body. We must proclaim that one who errs as such, God forbid, does not believe in the holy existence of the Torah and how it is drawn forth. The spirituality of all holy matters of the Torah are sui generis, unlike other matters termed spiritual which in actuality lack true existence. The spirituality and holiness of the Torah, on the other hand, does exist and has substance; nay, it is the very source of existence. Its intellect is incomparable to human intellects, God forbid. It is above the grasp of the human intellect, yet the existence of its light is like that of a soul: though ungraspable and spiritual, it is nonetheless not ‘spiritual’ like the non-existence mathematics, God forbid. On the contrary, it is the source of human existence, the source of his strength and existence.",
"In general, it is prohibited to evaluate such matters according to human comprehension, with only that which a person understands considered to be true, as the foolish heretics think, Heaven help them. It is prohibited to even compare the letters of the Torah to those of other languages, which are mere signs without existence and substance, interchangeable with any other mutually agreed upon signs. The forms of letters of the Torah, on the other hand, are constituted of a chain from the heavens, of the holy sefirot. This too seems incomprehensible, that they are both heavenly yet exist spiritually, taking physical form upon physical parchment. Yet—do not all forms in this world, from the human to the animal to plants, change according to their spiritual vitality? Even the human face changes and shines differently if he is wiser and his physical form is higher. Why should one be astounded, then, upon hearing that the forms of the letters of our holy Torah are constituted of light, sefirot, holy supernal worlds, beyond human comprehension, and that the physical form we see is an extension of their spiritual nature? Only a fool is so self-aggrandizing as to believe that the human mind is the measure of the possible. This is not so. A truly understanding person understands that almost everything in this world is beyond our comprehension. It is thus almost impossible to distinguish between the physical and the holy, for even that which at first glance appears to be physical is actually more spiritual—physicality and spirituality are combined in them. Such a person is often actually ashamed to deploy his intelligence even in appropriate matters (because he recognizes the limits of his intellect).",
"Part C",
"Thus, avreikh,you must know and believe in the distinction between the existence of the intelligence of the Torah and that of other disciplines, and the difference between the effect of the Torah’s intelligence on the one who contemplates it and the effect of the others. For the intelligence of the Torah is substantial, like a soul, and its effect is to sanctify a person and draw down holy supernal light, while the intelligence of other disciplines is vacuous and without such effect. However, since you are yet an avreikh, and as our goal here is to have you comprehend with your mind that you must nullify your mind, with simple faith [emunah peshuttah] governing your entire self.",
"We pray to our merciful Father that we merit to rise up and to raise you up to wisdom whole, to serve God with wisdom, reverence, and love, and all the while with simplicity. Thus, we shall explain a bit of this matter to you, so that you may understand with your own mind the intelligence of the Torah and its effect on a person.",
"Behold, you already understand the nothingness of the intelligences of worldly sciences and their effect on one who contemplates them, how even one who contemplates some discovery in mathematics or the other sciences does not thereby imbibe anything of the sage’s existence—for he only has access to the idea. [Note: A concept- that which a person contemplates, e.g. when he contemplates a mathematical formula as in the example above of 15 x 1/4 or 25 x 3/3, then that formula is the concept which his mind contemplates. He examines the concept with his faculty of wisdom, for his wisdom allows him to intellectually comprehend concepts].",
"Yet if we could imagine a situation in which one is able to access the intellectual faculty of the sage, then indeed he would have incorporated it into his existence. The idea itself, such as that two times two is four, has only shadowy existence, but the intellectual faculty, which is itself a revelation and extension of the soul, a spiritual and physical force, exists as does the soul. One who grasps the intellectual faculty of the sage as he contemplates his ideas becomes close to and purified like him, via the purification of the ideas, which influence even his character.",
"And so: What is the intelligence of the Torah? The parameters and details of the commandments, their effect on one another, and their rationales and hints in the Torah. Since everyone knows and believes that the essences of the commandments are holy—for it is only regarding (the Torah’s) ideas that one might God forbid err in comparing them to other ideas—but regarding the commandments themselves everyone recites “sanctify us with your commandments,” “who has sanctified us with His commandments,” etc…; and even adornments to ritual objects, such as the decorations of the sukkah, are holy.",
"Thus, one who fulfills the commandments and is occupied with Torah, which is after all an intelligence which extends from their holiness—not only the idea but the force and intellectual faculty of the soul residing in the intelligence of the Torah, and those who contemplate it, resides in his mind. A real, substantial, living, holy, soulful ‘drawing down’ flows inside him. One who merely fulfills the commandment also has this force flowing inside, but when he does not also study and analyze them, he is akin to a child born with mental capacity but who never uses it. Thus, those capacities remain latent and hidden, even from himself. But when he uses those capacities, he reveals the treasure within him, and his wisdom—even he himself—grows and rises. Even regarding the commandments which are inoperable today, such as sacrifices, we say “instead of bulls we will pay our lips,” i.e. that speech and learning are equated to having performed them. This is only so, however, because we perform other commandments and have incorporated their holiness; we can therefore dress the commandments which to our sorrow we are unable to perform, with the force of the intellect we have accrued by performing the other commandments, as an intellectual faculty can be dressed with various ideas. This would not be the case for one who does not fulfill the operable commandments, God forbid. Even would he spend the entire day learning Torah he would be unable to say “instead of bulls we will pay our lips,” for he will be merely contemplating ideas, shadowy and empty things without the force of a substantial, intelligizing soul.",
"Therefore, hearken and hear the words of the living God, avreikh-hasid, lift up your eyes and see that God is with you wherever you are—when you sit in your home and travel on the road, when you arise and when you lay down—if you will but toil in the Torah, i.e. performing both your learning and your avodah in the commandments with toil rather than superficially. Then, you will burrow and enter into the Lord, God of Israel, Who is garbed in the Torah. For, as we have told you, the Written Torah is enclothed in Asiyah, and our Sages of blessed memory have removed the clothing from the Oral Torah and revealed it on the level of Yetzirah and Beriyah, [revealing] even in its humanity. And—Who is dressed in all these? The Lord, God of Israel.",
"A parable is brought forth in the holy books which will help us comprehend this a bit: A king was dressed in many layers. Each time he would strip off a layer, more of his essence was seen—first from ten layers, then nine, then eight etc. each time seeing more of which had been previously hidden. So too, originally the lights were enclothed in Asiyah, then in the oral Law the lights of Yetzirah and Beriyah were revealed. Then R. Shimon b. Yokhai and his fellows—servants of God, exposed to Atzilut, householders of the King’s palace—removed more layers of the Torah’s clothing, from the hidden God, until the light of Atzilut descended and was revealed to us [in the form of] the holy Zohar and the Kabbalah. Indeed, regarding the Kabbalah, we pray that God merit us to discuss further in the work which He in His mercy will merit me to compose. For now, though, we wish to speak only of the development and revelation of the light of the Torah via the written and oral recensions, Kabbalah to Hassidism. Nonetheless, when one wishes to open outer doorways using the outer keys, we must be directed toward the inner doors so that we may afterwards approach and open them a bit. Therefore, now as well, though we are speaking of the order of development and about the Kabbalah, we must speak a little about what Kabbalah is."
],
[
"Chapter 2
In the holy books, “Kabbalah” is called “the learning of Kabbalah” or “wisdom of Kabbalah.” In fact, when referring to the kabbalistic masters, the Zohar applies the idiom “a sage is superior to a prophet.” All this could cause us to erroneously imagine that (kabbalistic learning) is merely an intellectual, analytic activity; and certainly an individual person could imagine this, as he perceives intellectual material before him when studying Kabbalah. In the beginning of the aforementioned introduction to Tikkunei Zohar, the author explains the verse “And the knowledgeable (maskilim) will be radiant like the bright expanse of sky:” “And the maskilim: These are R. Shimon and his fellows. Heaven granted permission to all the souls dwelling above to descend among them, and to all the angels to descend in hidden fashion, by way of the intellect. The Holy Blessed One gave permission to all the holy names… and monikers to each reveal its hidden secrets, according to their respective levels. Permission was granted to the ten sefirot to reveal to them their hidden secrets, not to be revealed further till the generation of the Messiah.”",
"Two elements are mentioned here: that there was revelation via the intellect, and that this revelation was granted in secret. Yet it is also mentioned that tis is not merely human intellectual analysis. Rather, Elijah and souls and holy supernal names are drawn down to them, and lofty secrets revealed to them. It is thus a revelation from the heavens. Cf. that which we cited from the Zohar (Terumah, pg. 149a) above in Part B, “And God gave Solomon wisdom,”-stressing that there was indeed a giving. And cf. the Zohar (154) we cited in Hakhsharat haAvreikhim, that the students of R. Shimon b. Yokhai were called prophets.",
"As it says in [Zohar] Idra, Naso 132b: “R. Shimon said: I call the highest heaven and the highest holy earth as witnesses that I see now what no human has seen since the day that Moses ascended Mount Sinai the second time. I see my face shining like the light of the powerful sun that is destined to radiate healing for the world…”",
"Here it is explicit that this is a revelation, and such a revelation until R. Shimon says that he has seen that which no one has since Moses ascended Sinai the second time. The Zohar is full of the revelations revealed to them.",
"Let us now understood this matter of “a sage is superior to a prophet.” Did not a prophet have to be a sage as well? For sagacity was one of the criteria to be a prophet, [as well as] mighty [and] wealthy. And what is this matter of ‘seeing that which no one had seen since Moses the second time?’ A heavenly voice [bat kol] came forth many times stating: “Here is a person worthy of having the Divine Presence rest upon him, but the generation is not worthy [Sotah 48b, et al]. And the text there says, “from the death of Haggai, Zachariah, Malakhi, the Holy Spirit left Israel but they still make use of the ‘bat kol’…” implying that each generation descended in prophetic matters.",
"We are not so brazen, God forbid, to (attempt to) comprehend nor even inquire into the matter of the prophets and that which the godly sage R. Shimon b. Yokhai grasped. But we have already cited from the introduction to Shaarei Kedushah of R. Hayyim Vital that prophecy is an avodah, one which continues to our own day. Though the ways and path of R. Hayyim Vital are concealed from us—and what business would we have in examining those levels and steps on the ladder reaching heaven?—nevertheless, it says in Tanna d’Bei Eliyahu on the verse “And Deborah the prophetess” (Judges 4:4): “I call upon Heaven and Earth to testify that a man or a woman, kuthite or Israelite, servant or maid—the Holy Spirit rests upon each in accordance with his deeds.” A Jew nowadays is certainly not inferior to a kuthite [Gentile] of those days, and so today as well every Jew has the ability to merit the Holy Spirit according to his deeds and avodah. If, to our sorrow, we have not merited this, permission is at least granted us to understood their words—not according to their holy state, but in correlation to the light with which they illumine us; and, not to offer our own explanations, but rather to understand just a bit of their words, and as explained by those very words.",
"According to the introduction of the Tikkunei Zohar, the revelation to the kabbalists was of an intellectual manner. That which the prophets perceived through images, sights, and sounds was revealed to the kabbalists through (intellectual) grasp. As we said above, the prophets drew down the supernal light and revealed it in Asiyah. Since Asiyah was thereby sanctified, their sacred imaginative faculty—which is lower than a person’s faculty of hokhmah [as we have noted in the note to Hovat haTalmidim, Three Letter, 2:1, and in Hakhsharat haAvreikhim], was able to serve as a chariot for prophecy to dwell upon. Even the this-worldly things which they envisioned, e.g. Jeremiah’s almond branch, Zachariah’s candelabrum, etc. also became sanctified, clothing the prophecy therein. Moses saw in a clear vision, not through riddles or images of God, while the prophecy of other prophets was enclothed in this-worldly images. Because they sanctified themselves, their imagination, and indeed this world, prophecy was able to become enclothed in their imaginations and in the things of this world, such as a staff and candelabrum.",
"It says in Tikkunei Zohar (19, 40b), “When the Holy One desired to draw forth prophecy...and Malkhut is the image of them all, as it says ‘through the prophets I will be imagined…’ so too all the sefirot reveal their force and images and forms through it to the prophets each according to his grasp...this is what it means ‘through the prophets I will be imagined…’ to each according to his capacities, that is his soul, I will be imagined…",
"* [Note: As we have already mentioned in Hovat haTalmidim, in the second of the ‘Three Letters,’ part A, as well as in Hakhsharat haAvreikhim.]",
"We have already cited in Hakhsharat haAvreikhim chapter four, from the words of Tikkunei Zohar (Tikkun 70) that the soul-force of figuration—that is, that part of the soul which has the capacity to figure and envision even things not in front of oneself, comes after the soulforce of thought, that is of Hokhmah, which grasps. This is what the Tikkunei Zohar means when it says that prophecy is revealed via the soulforce of figurement and imaginative visioning, which functioned as the chariot for revelation of prophecy. The prophet would see this-worldly figures such as the staff or candelabrum, because the prophets so sanctified themselves until they drew the light low enough that prophecy was revealed even in the soul’s capacity of figuration, which is lower than that of thought. Everything in this world was sanctified until things in it could be envisioned in prophecy. That is, they did not merely behold prophetic visions in their imaginations, but rather their figuration became a chariot for prophecies to literally rest upon, so that they could literally see prophecies with their eyes and hear them with their ears. For they, their imaginations, their senses, these worldly objects, had all become holy and worthy of prophecy resting and being enclothed in them.",
"Regarding the Talmudic sages about whom the Talmud says ‘even though prophecy ceased from the prophets it did not cease from the Sages,’ and the Kabbalistic masters about whose grasp we cited R. Shimon b. Yokhai’s words above—revelatory images were revealed to their intellectual faculty, to the soul’s capacity which perceive that which is above the capacity of figurement with which the prophets perceived. With this faculty, they did not receive prophecy through imaginations of this-worldly things, but rather with the intellect of the Torah [as expressed] in Talmud, Kabbalah, and the sefirot. Indeed, it is difficult for us to understand how the intellectual faculty and prophetic revelation work together; yet then again, and in truth, it is difficult for us to understand how prophecy was revealed in the imagination of the prophet in the sense of “through the prophets I will be imagined [adameh].” We have become accustomed to this notion since our childhood. Yet we are astounded when we hear that the sages of the Talmud and Kabbalah received prophecy through their intellectual faculties, wondering, what connection could there be between the intellect and prophecy?! And yet—why are we astounded? Are not all matters of the intellect and its revelations beyond human comprehension? Just as we do not comprehend how the prophets envisioned prophecy through their imaginations, we cannot intellectually comprehend how revelation was revealed in their words. Yet, we can surmise just a tiny bit of how every student of the Torah experiences something of prophecy, though it is really different from the grasping of the prophets. Sometimes, when a person is deeply analyzing something in the Torah, and is unsure of a specific meaning or intent, and there are indications to various possibilities—then suddenly, as he is sitting silently, all at once he says “This is its meaning! My heart tells me such…!” What is this utterance of the heart? It is his soul sparking forth to be revealed in his intellect, gazing at the Torah from a [vantage point] above proofs and demonstrations. More than this, it is brought in the holy books [ I believe in the Meor Enayim] that when a person is learning and a feeling comes to him that he has something new to say regarding a given verse or a piece of Talmud, yet he intellectually has nothing yet to say, and it is only when he thereafter analyzes it that the new ideas comes to his mind—the previous feeling was a spark of the Holy Spirit. That is, a spark of the Holy Spirit was revealed to his intellect, and had he not thereafter employed his intellect in thought, the Holy Spirit would not be revealed through his intellect.",
"I place my hope in God that I merit to write about all this in the book Hovat haAvreikhim, in which I will explain more about this, God willing. In any event, why should we perseverate over whether or not we understand the notion of prophecy without images- it is mentioned several times in the Zohar and the Tikkunei Zohar.",
"And see Tikkunei Zohar (30: 74b): …Regarding prophecy, the Upper Mother [i.e. Binah] is closed vision without imagery; the Lower Mother [i.e. Malkhut] is revealed vision with imagery; about it is said, ‘I will be imagined by the prophets…’ The master of Hokhmah is comprehended by the mind, and thus a ‘sage is superior to a prophet…” This means that prophecy in the vein of Malkhut comes in visions, that of Binah of vision without imagery, that of Hokhmah even more internally, in a mode superior to the prophet. From Hokhmah it is drawn to Binah, as it says [in the passage cited above] ‘a discerning heart;’ and see in Kisei Melekh which explains that Binah is the discerning heart. The supernal Hokhmah and Binah, which is prophecy without images, was revealed to the masters of the Zohar through their own Hokhmah and Binah.",
"The intellectual statements of our sages were in truth prophecies revealed in the intellect, as we have cited Rashi (Talmud Bava Batra 12b s.v. v’lav ). These statements also functioned as ‘chariots’ onto which other prophetic matters above the intellect, including literal prophetic portents, rested. So too in Tikkunei Zohar (Zohar Hadash 123a) [it indicates that in the end days, Elijah] will reveal himself in different modes: to some, ‘face to face,’ while to others ‘hidden in their intellect.’]",
"What is this revelation of Elijah in one’s intellect? Merely comprehension, God forbid? No—rather, that his intellect became a chariot for prophecy (not only that that which they grasped in the sefirot and upper worlds was intellectual prophecy, but that actual prophecy was revealed to them via their intellects). See Zohar Shemot (6b) that after the prophecy about what God would do in the future was revealed to them, “Rabbi Elazar said, ‘[That of the bird, of the children,] is all supernal prophecy…’Surely God does nothing without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets,” and ‘sages are superior to prophets,’” –then, actual prophecy was revealed to them. And R. Yehudah concluded, “the wisdom of R. Elazar surpasses them all.”",
"“Great is the capacity of the prophets, who liken the form its Creator.” (Kohelet Rabbah 2) It is indeed greatness to be able to enable so much revelation in this world until the form, that is, the things of this world, are sanctified and through them, and prophetic visions revealed. As said above, in the later generations, due to the lack of their prophets, they were unable to enable such revelation, and the light of the prophets was closed in Asiyah, unable to reveal liken the form to its Creator, in the forms of this world. They had to reveal their lights in Yetzirah, Beriyah, and Atzilut within Kabbalah, in the intellect of the Torah, rather than in the actions of Asiyah, that is, the forms and actions of this world. It was thus revealed in Yetzirah, Beriyah, and Atzilut—though not in the higher senses alone, but as those levels exist within Asiyah.",
"One who is not a prophet cannot comprehend how it is possible for prophetic vision to be revealed in the imagination and to be enclothed in the forms of this world. It is likewise impossible for him to grasp how prophecy might be revealed in the intellect and the comprehension of the kabbalists, for both of these are beyond us. Yet, both are true. To utilize a physical analogy, one person might describe a field and the beauty of its plants, while another might describe its nature, intellectually. Since they address different foci, they utilize different terms and language. Yet, both describe the same field. So too, a prophet who speaks of the chariot and animals with wings, and noises emitting from their flapping; the throne of glory and on it a human image; and the kabbalists who describes Primordial Man [Adam Kadmon], worlds of Atzilut and Beriyah, etc… Both the prophet and the kabbalist are conveying the same prophecy. It is just that since the prophet has raised up the things of this world and sees images from this world, the terms and ‘materials’ of his revelations are of this world. He sees things—animals, wings with their noise—as these things simply exist in this world, unmediated by the intellect. The kabbalist, however, conveying prophecy comprehended via the intellect, speaks in conceptual language—of the worlds of Atzilut, Beriyah [ the throne of glory], Yetzirah, and above all these, Adam Kadmon [“an image like a person on it’]. Even when he conveys that which the prophets saw, the kabbalist renders them in conceptual terms. Yet, all of these renderings are prophetic. Just as the prophets did not see a truly physical person and animals, God forbid, but rather beheld divinity, so too the kabbalists did not merely comprehend the notions of Adam Kadmon, Tiferet, Malkhut intellectually. Rather, they also grasped [these entities themselves via] prophetic vision.",
"A corollary of not having drawn down the light as far down as did the prophets is that they were, however, able to drawn down the light from a higher source, from Hokhmah, while the prophets drew down from [the lower sefirot of] Netzakh and Hod. This is part of their greatness—“a sage is greater than a prophet” —in that they grasped from a higher root. As the Talmud says that Isaiah said “and I saw God,” though even regarding Moses it is said “No one can see Me and live,” —for Moses’ vision was far greater, through a clear glass, while the other prophets saw through an unclear one. Understand this.",
"Now, there is a difference between the revelation of the light of Torah in Yetzirah and Beriyah, that is, Talmud, and in Atzilut, that is, Kabbalah. Both begin in the intellect. Yet the Talmud deploys the intellect to discuss human matters—opinions, desires, business, manners of living, such as lenders and borrowers, partial and complete admissions, disputed ownership, presumptions of real estate ownership, damages etc… The light of Torah is drawn forth and enclothed in these matters, and they are like its body and clothing. Worldly things are involved in the performance of the commandments, both interpersonal and ritual. So too in Torah learning: they are enclothed in Asiyah and human ways, e.g. that people sometimes totally deny monetary claims because they desire money; and the laws regarding measurements of the sukkah. Indeed, human ways and understandings are its clothing.",
"This is not the case with Kabbalah. The intellect here is focused on spiritual and abstracted entities, like the soul, heaven, sefirot and Names, etc. Even the laws of lenders and borrowers et al in Kabbalah are stripped of their ‘human-ness’ and remain bare, as the highest spiritual entities. So it says in Etz Hayyim Book 7, 47:2, as cited in my grandfather’s Imrei Elimelekh on Parshat Hayei Sarah: When Ein Sof emanated forth [k’she-nitpashet] ], the ten sefirot of Atzilut came into being, like the locust called kamtzah whose ‘clothing’ is organic to and grows with it...and from the breaking of the vessels of Atzilut came the ten sefirot of Beriyah, and so too from Beriyah to Asiyah. You already known that the ten sefirot of Atzilut are animated by one thought, as the limbs of a body are animated by one’s thought, without need for direct and explicit command…This is why the world of Atzilut is called ‘mahashavah,’ [thought], for Ein Sof—It and Its lifeforce—are unified in it. But Beriyah is not akin to one person with his thoughts, but rather as two people or a king with his servants...wherein one cannot telepathically convey his thoughts to his servants but must speak with him directly…”",
"And so, we may understand the distinction between the literal meaning of the Torah in Talmud, which function in the sense of Beriyah and Yetzirah, and in Kabbalah, which functions in the sense of Atzilut. Though this revelation is not of the highest levels of Atzilut but rather of Atzilut within Asiyah, according to each person’s level within Asiyah, nonetheless it is of the quality of Atzilut. Thus, its light can only be enclothed in something of its own nature, like the reptile [kamtzah], and its intellect and intellectual matters must be similarly spiritual and abstracted.",
"This is true not only of the kabbalistic subject matter; the intellectual faculty as well must be abstracted—that is, only with the abstracted, Atzilut of the intellect, which is itself unknown to a person, may one grasp Kabbalah.",
"When it comes to intellectual matters of this world, even though it may be spiritual and abstracted at times, nonetheless a person seizes upon its material aspects. For example, the intellectual aspect of mathematics is spiritual, but a person tends to speak and seize upon its material expression. So, when considering that 3 times 3 is nine, one imagines things like (3 x 3) coins, though he may speak of ‘three’ and ‘nine’ and not explicitly note that he is referring to coins or other physical objects which he has seen and touched. So it is with all sciences: one analyzes them with the material form in which the abstracted intellectual matters have become enclothed. And so too, the intellect, one’s pure intellectual capacity, can become enclothed in the things of this world which are more readily grasped by thought, that is, enclothed in one’s thoughts and understanding. This is why one’s intellectual capacity becomes enclothed in one’s Binah and understanding, seizing onto the things of this world and becoming wise through them.",
"This is not so with Kabbalah. Regarding it, the very first step is to strip, to the extent possible, one’s intellectual faculty from its materiality, to delve into spiritual intellectual matters without any materiality. Even when one utilizes, in the course of one’s learning, terms with these worldly referents, e.g. land, throne (as in ‘throne of glory’), measurements, etc…, one must mentally strip them of their physicality and analyze their abstracted, spiritual sense. Our intellectual faculty, when it has no material things to seize upon, will be automatically forced to reveal its abstracted intellectual force, which is the aspect of Atzilut within it, in order to grasp the Atzilut and abstracted Hokhmah within Kabbalah, ungraspable [otherwise] to himself and to this world. With this faculty he will be able to grasp Kabbalah, using his Atzilut to connect with the Atzilut which flows [down]. One who wishes to grasp Kabbalah in the same way in which he grasps the Talmud—through his filtered reasoning, built upon proofs and demonstrations from this worldly opinions—such a person does not even know that he does not know what Kabbalah is. He merely knows the order of the sefirot and parables about them. He will thus err, saying “It is Kabbalah which I study, and Atzilut which I grasp.”",
"There is much to say on this matter, and on the latent mental capacity which resides within a person which one must extract, at least a bit, in the study of Kabbalah. In this book we pray to God that He grant us the merit to grasp and teach about this much more expansively, God willing. But for now, let us mention an example. We know that the sefirot of Hessed and Gevurah exist Above, as spiritual entities beyond our grasp. Yet one must have some sense of [this-worldly] hessed (kindness) and gevurah (discipline) in order to distinguish between these qualities. Thus, he imagines an act of kindness that one might do for his fellow in this world, giving him money. Yet money is a material object, without possible analogue above. So, he abstracts the kindness from the monies, and thinks of the [abstract] benefit which one desires to demonstrate to his friend by giving over something of himself. This is the aspect of kindness. But he must clearly know that he cannot think of this beneficence without a person giving and a person receiving, nor without giving monies or some other object. And yet, if he uses his understanding and thinks with clarity of people—a giver, a receiver, and an object given—his latent capacity for knowledge [now] knows of abstracted kindness.",
"When one accustoms oneself to this sort of abstraction, he will discover within himself [the capacity for] a type of apprehension which is, itself, distinct from [normal] material, human modes of apprehension. His ‘apprehensions’ will be somewhat inchoate, of a different quality than his other standard moments of knowing; but they are apprehensions nonetheless rather than mere surmises. They are not lower forms of knowing but on the contrary, higher ones, on his level of Atzilut [not true Atzilut, which is ungraspable, but the light of Atzilut as refracted through his Beriyah and Yetzirah, foundations of Hokhmah and Binah]. This is why this faculty can apprehend some abstract concepts. When one wishes to understand such concepts, such as the essence of ‘doing good,' with his normal human faculties, he will not understand anything, because he wishes to grasp an utterly abstract concept with modes of knowing which depend on instantiation of that concept in material and sensory contexts.",
"What will emerge then is not just this type of apprehension, with which he can apprehend selected abstract concepts such as love or awe. Rather, with this new[found] intelligence, the light of his abstracted [non-material] soul will emerge, changing his comprehension of all matters. One who does not do this will, when learning Kabbalah as well as hasidism, encounter only stale content. Even though he clearly knows that everything Above is spiritual, nonetheless the learning will be difficult for him. He will study without understanding anything at all, or be full of questions and difficulties if he tries to understand a bit. Even were we to utilize parables/analogies to try to help him understand, he would [reductively] understand the referent in material terms as well. I have indeed seen such a learner.",
"One who approaches a kabbalistic text as an academic work, as an object to research and analyze; and further sees that, in the commentaries to these texts, the authors explain matters utilizing explanations and questions familiar from academic scholarship, and thus erroneously suspects that Kabbalah is an academic discipline, God forbid, just more esoteric—to him we cry out bitterly “Have mercy and get up, do not be so brazen as to enter and sully God’s Temple, the sanctuary of Atzilut! Tread not upon the holy of holies with your dirty feet, and touch not its door-knobs with your filthy hands!” Even one who knows and believes that the Torah in general is constituted of revelation and a drawing down of the light of actual soul, with Kabbalah constituting a higher revelation from Atzilut, might believe that though our predecessors revealed in Kabbalah souls and supernal lights, people of our stature can only engage intellectually with these texts. He might seek to evidence this by pointing to the Talmud, which though sacred, we—and certainly beginner students—can only engage with intellectually. He does not recall that the Talmud is constituted of a drawing down of Yetzirah and Beriyah to human matters, and the Kabbalah is constituted of Atzilut and speaks of supernal souls, names, sefirot etc… Such a person will understand nothing of what he learns.",
"R. Hayyim Vital in his introduction to Etz Hayyim warns strongly against this and mentions there, inter alia: “There is no doubt that these matters will not be understood through human, material analysis.” He further cites the warning of Nahmanides in his introduction to the Torah about this; and in Book I, end of chapter 1, he says: “Behold, when you delve and truly seek to understand these matters, you might come to comprehend them if you God be with you as you will be whole-heartedly [tamim] with Him.” I think that those of whom they tell [stories], people who studied Kabbalah and went off into heresy, were these types of learners.",
"For our holy predecessors, Kabbalah constituted a prophetic vision. But even for our lowly generation, when one extracts his Atzilut-level illumination, his whole grasp changes. Even human matters which he had difficulty comprehending beforehand will be understandable using this abstract intellectual faculty. He will derive spiritual pleasure from them. He will utilize this worldly parables and analogies to understand Kabbalah, but as keys to unlock abstracted comprehension of matters beyond sensory perception. When he studies lofty matters such as the sefirot, his human intellect will understand their ordering and emanation in this world, but his abstracted faculty will understand the abstracted, spiritual sense of these things, clearly and certainly and not merely surmising. For he will have revealed within himself the illumination of a type of knowing distinct from human knowing, deriving not from proofs and demonstrations but from knowledge itself. This matter requires greater elaboration, but this is not the place for it. May God help us to elaborate further within the book.",
"And yet: all this does not exhaust what it means to grasp Kabbalah. The main point is to merit the spark of prophecy inhering in Kabbalah, each according to his level. The abstracted faculty which he has extracted from within is merely a tool with which to receive the light of Atzilut. With one’s Asiyah he receives the Torah which has emanated to him in Asiyah, and with his intellect, which is his Yetzirah and Beriyah, he receives the Torah emanated on those levels. His Atzilut then becomes a vessel through which the light of Atzilut—which is Kabbalah—is revealed. By studying for some time with this faculty of Atzilut, a faculty unlimited by the bounds of physicality and sensory perception, he will merit that the prophetic spark in Kabbalah, itself functioning in the aspect of Atzilut, will be revealed.",
"Each person, in accordance with the level of purity of his body, senses, and consciousness, will occasionally merit to behold a heretofore unseen spark of God’s greatness—a greatness which is above the ten levels of Asiyah, the ten angelic cohorts of Yetzirah, the ten thrones of Beriyah, the ten sefirot of Atzilut and the infinite worlds- all of which he has studied and knows from kabbalistic texts. Through them all, he will gaze at divine illumination via non-sensory or imagery-laden sight. His soul will tremble and become nullified, until he becomes too ashamed and awestruck to even pray, and all the more so to make requests for his personal needs. It is only since, on the contrary, God wants him to connect to Him through prayer and avodah that he therefore strengthens himself and does so with love, reverence, and desire for God. Sometimes the evil inclination seduces him into thinking that it is all just his imagination. Yet, we could also deny that daytime is daytime, since it is merely perceived to be as such by our senses.",
"Why would a person not prepare himself to experience this sight all the time, if it is merely the effect of his own imagination? Why is it that it is almost beyond his ability to conjure this vision up, with it rather coming to him automatically, with him merely preparing himself to merit seeing it?",
"The study of Kabbalah in this manner—removing the garb, each according to his level, from both the thing cognized and the intellectual faculty, along with prior preparation in the avodah of fulfilling the commandments and Torah study etc… illumines and sanctifies Israel and increases its unity with God. For the whole Torah is a garbing and drawing forth and revelation of God. And what is the essence of this revelation? That it enters inside a person during his learning and avodah. For when are Torah and the commandments complete? When a person learns and fulfills them. The Blessed One is ‘Ein Sof,’ and His love and desire for the Israelite, even as a this-worldly physical being, is unlimited. His desire is not cooled until he enters them, actually dwelling and unifying with them. This is prophecy, and this is Torah. Even God’s garb above in sefirot, thrones, angels etc. is rooted in its being garbed in Israel. For the wise, a hint suffices: The Israelite’s head is in the highest levels of Atzilut, and his bottom in their lower levels.",
"We will speak further about this, God willing. For now, be silent and understood that which is said in the Zohar: Israel, even the average Israelite in this world, holds fast onto the body of the King. Both Above and below, they are the body in which the divine light is enclothed. In every body there are different limbs—sefirot, thrones, angels, prophets, seers, Talmudic sages, kabbalists, and hasidim. This is the full “shiur komah.” Understand this."
],
[
"Chapter 3
As is known from the “Holy Epistle,” (in the work Porat Yosef), when the Besht’s soul ascended in the year 5507 [1746], he was in the palace of the Messiah. The Besht asked the Messiah, “When will Master come?” The Messiah replied, “When your springs spread forth around.”",
"Hasidism is, then, the final revelation before the coming of the Messiah, may it be speedily in our days. The first rays shining from his light, the essence of the messianic revelation, are included in the verse “and the whole world will be knowledge of God, as waters cover the sea,” and the foundational teaching of the Besht is included in his interpretation of “the whole world is full of His glory.”",
"Many, even from the Torah world, persecuted our master [the Besht] on account of this teaching, claiming that he held a materialist conception of God’s glory, God forbid. Yet, our master the Besht was not only not rendering the divine as material, but on the contrary revealed how expansive God’s glory is. He not only conveyed this intellectually, but actually sparked the rise of dawn before the Messiah’s coming—for if people are not able to greet the dawn and accustom themselves to its light, they might, God forbid, prevent the morning from arising. Therefore, the Besht proclaimed that not only does divine lifeforce reside in everything in this world, with materiality surrounding and hiding this force, but even more [strongly, he proclaimed that] this materiality and earthiness is only such to our eyes. For in reality, all is divinity. You need but eyes to see and a body sanctified, and then when you look upon the world, you gaze at God before you. “The whole world is full of His glory,” even the earthy clothing and vessels. This is the beginning of “and the whole world will be filled with knowledge…” which will be fulfilled with the coming of the Messiah speedily in our says, when the earth too will be fill with knowledge of God.",
"Previously, the drawing forth and concatenations, whether of greater or lesser quality, were directed into the vessels. But those of the Besht and his disciples were new: they entered into the walls of the vessels themselves, not by changing them but by revealing their light. For what are these things, really? If God created them from light, then that is what they are—the light of God.",
"As is known, the root of the letters and vessels is higher than that which they contain, and the former emanated first, as explained in Etz Hayyim Book I: 4, especially in R. Gedaliah haLevi’s homily there. In 1:2, gloss A, he presents the following distinction: God created the vessels of Malkhut of Asiyah first, before even Adam Kadmon and Atzilut, while their lights were made last. That is, the vessels of Asiyah were created before their lights and before even the lights of Adam Kadmon and Atzilut. The root of vessels, even those of Asiyah, are very lofty. It was only later that they ‘thickened’ and the vessels became concealments. It is possible to understand this a bit using common sense. For what, in truth, was the purpose of the creation of the vessels? To reveal His light in them, which without creation would not have been possible. His light is only revealed through the vessels. Now, regarding human, material matters, the maker and the object made, along with its vessels, are distinct entities. In such a scenario, it is possible for the intent of the maker to be good, but this good might be expressed via painful, negative means. For example, a surgical knife, bad in itself, is used for the good purpose of surgery. This is not true with God and divine matters, where everything is spiritual and His actions are not truly external to him, as He is one with His knowledge (see Maimonides Laws of the Foundations of the Torah, chapter 2). If so, the vessels themselves which He has made derive from the light of His will and plan.",
"Now, what is His will? That they [paradoxically] effect a contraction [tzimtzum] and concealment, in order to reveal the light of His holiness. That is, the inner essence of His will and of the vessels is revelation of the divine, and only their outward expression constitutes a concealment. Before the inner essence of His will could be revealed in this world, that is, before the beginning of the revelation of the messianic tikkun, only the outer, concealing nature was apparent. This continued on till, through the many concatenations, this world became physical, even [full of] the ‘other side’ [sitra akhra] and sins.",
"This will not be the case in the messianic times, when the light of His inner will is to be revealed. Then, their inner essence, the revelatory rather than concealing aspect, will be revealed. Even S’M will be elevated into a holy ministering angel, with only his evil descending. The letter MEM (signifying death; Hebrew, mavet) will be removed from his name, leaving only the letters samekh-aleph-lamed, whose numerical value is equivalent to that of Havaya, Adonai, holy names, as the Besht taught us. Thus, the holiness of the vessels themselves, even of this world, will be revealed, and ‘the world will be filled...’ Indeed, even its ‘earthiness’ will become holy.",
"The opponents [Mitnagdim] of the Besht noisily protested: Why did his predecessors not interpret the verse “the world is full of His glory” the way he did, and why did he have to abandon its simple meaning as previously explained, to wit, that God’s glory and life-force may be found only within the vessels and the physical world?! But we have already explained multiple times, that our holy masters, flaming fires illuminating the world, were not sharing mere interpretations when they ‘spoke Torah.’ They were, rather, literally drawing down souls. Before them, the drawing-down was designed to draw down the inner light filling the vessel, with the vessels themselves only needing to be sanctified in order to receive and contain the light within them. Thus, knowledge and apprehension on the level of the simple meaning of this verse sufficed, that is, that the light and life-force existed within. Yet the Besht revealed that the vessels themselves were light as well, illumining rather than concealing. Thus, the knowledge and apprehension of his interpretation of the verse was also revealed, to wit, that even materiality is the light of God.",
"In Hakhsharat haAvreikhim we set out to inquire: what is hasidism, and what is hasidic avodah? We were unsatisfied with the answer that hasidism is defined by enthusiasm in Torah, prayer, and avodah; for even though there is some truth to this, the kabbalists before the hasidim also certainly were enthused in measures beyond our grasp. And, were one to next claim that in the generation before the Besht, this enthusiasm and ardor had cooled and he renewed it in hasidism, why then did they adopt a new nomenclature of ‘hasidim’ rather than ‘kabbalists?’ And why did the opponents protest so noisily if the hasidim weren’t innovating anything? With what he has said thus far and will additionally say with God’s help, I hope to God that we will apprehend according to our limited apprehension what hasidism really is.",
"According to the aforementioned development, from the Oral Torah and on, the lights were revealed within the vessels and, through the Talmud, within man’s apprehension, albeit an apprehension which seems ‘human.’ They were further revealed in Kabbalah through an apprehension which seems supernal. Thus, these revelations were all founded on intellectual apprehension. This is not the case with hasidism. Its drawing is not limited by the intellect, and extends to all things, even to the vessels themselves. If this be the case, with hasidism predicated on the revelation of even the lights within the lowly things, why should the body be ‘left out’ of that of the intellect? True, the body is lower than the intellect, but this after all is the essence of hasidism, to reveal even the light in the lowly place, and that it too is holy. This why even the body and emotive faculty (middot) of a person can affect [the higher levels of reality] Above.",
"Until the hasidic period, the sequence of avodah was to first subjugate one’s body along with one’s feelings, and to quiet one’s emotions—indeed, to afflict oneself, in order to control them all so that they would not act at all, for they are all evil. Only then could one draw light to oneself, be it the light of his soul which he awakens and releases from his soul, or a light higher than his soul. All this was accomplished through apprehension, wisdom, thought, kavannot and yihudim. Wisdom is the essential site of holiness in a person, and the kavannot are the essential force for drawing supernal light. Fulfillment of the commandments fixes only the world of Asiyah and the externalities of the world, while apprehension of wisdom and kavannot fixes the worlds of Atzilut, Beriyah and Yetzirah as well as the interiority of the worlds, as is known from Pri Etz Hayyim, beginning of the chapter on prayer. In Mikdash Melekh, Parshat Vayakhel it says “...and from here is a dispositive proof that one retains a piece of the commandment which he fulfills, according to his understanding.” This is to say that one’s portion in the commandments is according to one’s understanding: If he has proper intention, he is able to draw down supernal lights in correspondence to the level of his intention. Arousal and enthusiasm are good only if they come from above; that is, only in a tzaddik who has already subjugated his body and emotions. In that case, his awakening derives from only his holy soul or somewhere higher. However, the desires and awakening of the body are not good; they must be quieted and muted and destroyed so that they do not harm him nor impinge upon the lofty avodah in one’s mind and apprehension and kavannot.",
"This is not the case with hasidism, which shines into the vessels themselves and whose primary point is to reveal that the essence of even the lowly is holy. Therefore, one’s avodah is not to subjugate nor to quiet the body lest it harm and interfere, but rather to reveal its holiness and elevate its inclinations to lofty avodah. Even one’s bad traits are founded upon the light of holiness. The great Maggid says about the verse “and a man who takes his sister, it is hessed,” that even the awakening of an evil love to sin and take his sister, may Heaven help us, is founded upon the supernal sefirah of Hessed, which has descended and become corrupted in him.",
"Thus, it is not enough for one to subjugate his traits, for is an Israelite merely some wild animal for whom it is enough that it not gore nor bite nor damage? Is it possible for his soul to unify with God if his body and emotions are the snake’s curse, a swamp and pile of rotting garbage, which must be banished? Even his lowliness is holy, and with it as well he must serve and cling to his Father, his King, his Holy One. If one contemplates a negative lust aroused within himself and remarks, ‘is this love not from the supernal sefirah of Hessed? How can I sully it with this negative lust?’—then from this love he will arouse a love of God, a love which, though derived from a deficient love, has become transformed to a great thing, love of God and Torah.",
"More: even one who merely envisions being aroused in love and reverence, this too is good. As it says in the introduction to the Shaarei Yihud vehaEmunah of R. Aharon of blessed memory, in the name of the great Maggid, on the verse “to whom will you compare Me,” that even though it be merely imagination, it is still holy. For in truth, the Israelite, in his holy foundation, is truly aroused towards God. It is merely the externalities of physicality in which he is ensconced, through his actions and thoughts which are not directed towards God, which stop him. Now that he has overcome them and wishes to be aroused even through them, then it is only from their perspective that this awakening is limited to the imagination. But as to the ‘Israelite essence’ within him, it is a true arousal. When an Israelite is occupied with even his physical needs, such as business and labor—if he does them via the path of Torah, they are considered by hasidism to be forms of avodah.",
"The holy Besht remarked: If one who learns the talmudic laws of bartering animals is considered to be great before God, how much more so one who actually barters and engages in other business activities according to the regulations of the Torah must be great before Him. Long ago our holy masters informed us that such would be the messianic revelation and form of avodah: “For in this world, My spirit spread in only one limb (that is, the intellect, according to the commentators), but in the future it will do so in the whole body; as it says ‘and I will place My spirit in your midst.’(Ezek. 36) [Genesis Rabbah 26:6]. Since the Besht’s revelation is the beginning of the shining rays of the Messiah, its sanctification inheres in the entire body and all physicality, and not just in the intellect and kavannot.",
"Thus, there is no debate between these lofty masters. For, until the Besht, when the drawing forth was only into the contents of the vessels while the vessels themselves remained concealments and mere containers, it was necessary to be as distant as possible from this-worldly matters. This was not so once the drawing forth and revelation began through the Besht, in the sense of rectification and preparation for the future world, when the vessels and all else will be fixed and their holiness revealed. At that point it became necessary to elevate these matters, not distance them, so that they too might illumine and become means for serving God.",
"Now, it is true that the interior light of avodah in holy matters—in Torah, in prayer, etc. —is much greater and direct than the holiness of the vessels and secular matters. Yet, is this not the case Above as well, with varying levels of lights and sefirot, some higher and some lower? It is the same in this world, which is indeed a rung and refraction of God’s light, the lowest of the four worlds.",
"The entirety of all worlds, their vessels and physicality, are constituted of divine light, each according to its respective level: the upper worlds are much higher than ourselves and our grasp, and this world at its own level. And yet, the root of Israel is higher than them all. It is one with the Holy One, for ‘Torah, the Holy One, and Israel are one;” and further, all the worlds are perfected through it, illuminated from the light of God. As for Israel, it itself is illuminated by the essence of His light.",
"* [Note: This illumination is not of the light itself, by rather from it. The light of a candle is the light itself, and the light in the house is merely illumination from it. And there is further illumination from illumination, as with light from an adjacent room which is illuminated from the light of the first room but not directly from the candle therein. This last light is weaker than the second, which is derived from the candle.]",
"This is why Israel has free will—that is, a will which truly originates internally to a person—but the angels and things in this world do not. Flowering from the ground begins not on its own but from the rain, which derives from the clouds, [that is,] from an external cause. Even an animal, which experiences desire and therefore moves from place to place, is not the true source of its own will. It sees grass and it is the grass which causes its desire. It is forced by the grass to move. The Blessed One is the Cause of all causes, compelling the world and everything in it—for the sun to shine, in turning causing the rain to fall and grow things, each in its time; and that this person profits through some causes or God forbid one is punished or falls ill, whether it be for internal reasons or because he went to some place beset by the disease which he caught, and when he heals—it is all through causes which He caused. Free will begins with Him and not, God forbid, through any other cause. All is only because He so wills.",
"The creation of the world was accomplished through this simple will, as is the constant re-creation and functioning of this world, for ‘He creates and renews creation every day,’ continuously guiding it. Since the whole world, then, is ‘caused,’ there is no original will in it, as there is no original will in an animal. It wants because it wants, and for reasons external to it, as when it sees grass. Only a person has free will, whether or not to act or to think or to speak. If so, in the Israelite there is illumination from His light and essence, including of His originating will, while in the rest of the world only has a derivative illumination, without an internally originating will.",
"Therefore, the revelation in all things is completed through the Israelite, for it is through him that the essence of God is revealed. Through all else, the illumination of the clothing is revealed, but the Israelite reveals the enclothed One as well. We who are capable only of speaking of this world see in it traits in animals such as love and fear and even sparks of wisdom, for ‘You created them all with wisdom.’ Yet these animals are all compelled to do so: to love at this time and fear at another, to act intelligently here and craftily there. Only the externality, the vessel, of these traits is revealed here, while the internality of these vessels and wisdom is lacking. Indeed, the vessels contain light, but it is derivative light from yet another derivative, and is not the original source of light. But the Israelite has true will, and wisdom and traits originate in him. Thus, the interiority of these traits and wisdom begin with him, and through him the whole world is completed and fixed. Without him they are all lacking, as vessels without a soul.",
"This is why love of Israel is so great a thing. According to the Besht’s path, and the result of his holy path, all is divine light, and the Israelite illumines from God’s essence, and all worlds are completed through him. How, then, would it be possible to love God if one does not love, with a complete love, Israel, in whom is the light of God’s essence? One must love all of the Israelite, to endeavor to see to his bodily needs, since he is, from head to toe, inside and outside, a piece of the holy of holies. In the writings of my revered and holy father, it says that one must even give over one’s life for the sake of Israel, and that such a gesture reveals one’s love and connection to God. It is like when the servant of a king gives over his life for the sake of the prince, the king sees just how connected the servant feels, that he is willing to do so not only for the king himself but even for his son. [Note: See Likutei Torah, end of Song on Songs, on the verse “as with the new heavens,” he says “ The souls which descended down to this world...drawn down an influx of light in Eden from God’s essence...for Israel draws down from the sense of ‘and You are holy’ to ‘and Your name is holy.” For “Your name” refers to the vessels which develop in all the worlds, and draw from “You are holy” in the sense of God’s essence.]",
"* [Note: I have written this introduction—Mevo haShearim- before God took from me my partner, the rabbanit and righteous Mrs. Rokhel Hayah Miriam [daughter of the Rabbi, the righteous and holy R. Yerahmiel Moshe, may the memory of the righteous and holy be for a blessing] under the wings of His Shekhinah. She read it, as she did some of my other works, and noted that I should elaborate on a few items, specifically here. For according to what we have written here, free will, that is the illumination of God’s essence, is for Israel alone; yet assumedly Gentiles have free will as well.]",
"Though I intend to elaborate on those in greater depth in the book, should God help and merit me to compose it, I will nonetheless briefly remark here, that as is written in the final chapter of Maimonides’ Eight Chapters—and as is cited in chapter 7 of this introduction—there are some Gentiles who say that humans are compelled and do not have freewill. This is because they sense in themselves that they are under compulsion, for “the kindness of the nations is sinful” [Proverbs 14:34]. The sages explain (Talmud Bava Batra 10b) that all good that they do is for their own benefit, like giving charity only for their own prestige. That is, since they have only an animalistic soul and nature, they are totally compelled so that even the good they do is for their own sake. If so, they have no originating freewill. Only Israel which has a holy soul above the animalistic soul and is not compelled by the latter—only Israel can compel the animalistic soul and has true freewill.",
"Now let us return to where we began this chapter. Before the hasidic revelation, the primary avodah was only in thought, in kavannot and unifications (yihudim). Therefore, only the great tzadikkim were able to draw down supernal light through their avodah. After the hasidic revelation, it extended into even sensory and physical avodah. For even the physical traits of the Israelite are supernal, then just as apprehension of the Talmud is made real only when one implements its commandments, and if one does not then the comprehension and thought and intellectual apprehension will be of no benefit in drawing one close to the holiness of the Torah—as we said above in chapter 1—for one encounters ideas but not the Intellect. So too, then, apprehensions and kavannot regarding the sefirot and holy names dependent on them which one may apprehend and intend mentally will be activated only when one implements them. Now, what does implementation in this context mean? It means expressing them in one’s internal traits (middot), which are, in truth, supernal sefirot. He shall worship God in love and reverence, and glory...Then, when he is aroused through them in prayer and avodah and kavannot, the kavannah is literally a soul, containing supernal elements alongside supernal thoughts deriving from the sefirot of Hokhmah and Binah. In addition to the holiness within himself, he draws down additional supernal holiness as well. This is not the case when he does not arouse his traits and merely intends kavannot in his mind. For of what benefit are these mere thoughts? How does it help someone if he imagines he is in Jerusalem when he is outside the Land?",
"Now in the Zohar and other kabbalistic works, they also issue many directions regarding the avodah of these traits such as love and reverence. Indeed, the Torah itself commands “and you shall love,” “and you shall revere.” Yet in these kabbalistic works, these forms of avodah are treated as any other type, like the physical commandments to eat unleavened bread on Passover (matzah), etc... We do not find explicitly mentioned therein that these forms of avodah [e.g. love, reverence] are themselves higher-order. Rather, just as with physical commands of Asiyah, they are raised up through mental kavannot and yihudim as described in the kabbalistic works such as Pri Etz Hayyim, Sefer haKavannot, Sidurei Ari etc.. This is not so in hasidic works and their avodah, which are filled with directions as to how to rectify traits and perform physical avodah with love and reverence etc…, with the claim that these themselves are the higher-order and primary avodah. Further, since our sages found that not everyone could do both—that is, to both engage in kavannot as well as develop their traits—they recommended forgoing the former rather than the [latter] avodah.",
"As we cited in Hovat haTalmidim, in the second of the Three Essays, from the prayerbook of the ‘old rebbe’ [R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi]: When it comes to the detailed kavannot, even one who knows them should not employ them in prayer. Rather, when praying, one should intend only a distilled version of the kavannah, and focus on the detailed kavannot when learning, except for recitation of the Shema which does require such kavannah.",
"So too in part II of Sur Mera, termed va-Aseh Tov, of the genius, righteous kabbalist R. Zvi of Zhitchov, he clarifies that it was not the intent of the [hasidic] sages that we have no need of Kabbalah, God forbid, for in the aforementioned prayerbook itself it says that one should learn and be knowledgeable in all these matters. So too in Noam Elimelekh, Lekh Lekha s.v. va’Yaavor, it says “and this is what it means ‘One who has acquired knowledge has acquired all,’ that is, first one must acquire knowledge of all the world, and then he ‘has acquired all’ in that is will be able to ascend and arrive at the level of ‘intention of all the worlds,’ and that this should be the primary focus of his prayer, that he pray with the root of each respective prayer.” And in ibid, Parshat Kedoshim, it says that one who only believes that there is one sole Creator, without investigating into all His wondrous creations in the upper worlds and the sefirot and how they may be grasped using the holy name, is not on the true path, and is in fact on a deficient one. And, in the additions to Sur Mera from R. Zvi Elimelekh, author of the Bnai Ysoskher, it says “Know that only one who has engaged with the sacred wisdom [i.e. Kabbalah] will comprehend the words of the Besht.” ",
"According to the kabbalistic path, since the supernal lights are drawn to only one’s mind and intellect, one is only able to draw them to Asiyah using his mind and kavannot. When he intends these kavannot, he is focused on supernal matters, and then, using his intellect, he draws them down to his Asiyah. This is why not everyone could study Kabbalah; only the righteous, who had nullified their bodies, the light of Atzilut from above clinging to them and with their kavannot drawing the lights into Asiyah, could do so. For the supernal light is drawn down to one’s Atzilut, that is, his mind, and not everyone merits this. One who has not become greatly purified, with Atzilut remaining far above him, will be unable to draw it down even where he to employ kavannot in his Atzilut, that is his thoughts. However, this is not the case with hasidism. Since the lights are drawn down into the entirety of the Israelite, and the supernal sefirot are revealed even in their senses and bodies, their kavannot are focused on not only supernal matters but rather also focused on the interior of the Israelite—because inside him are to be found supernal lights and souls.",
"There are thus two distinctions [between Kabbalah and hasidism] which emerge: One, that we are more lenient with the study of Kabbalah, allowing even one who has not been fully rectified to engage in this study. As it says in Sur Mera, in these generations even the average lay people must study Kabbalah and will not understand the words of the Besht without so doing. For since he is studying not just supernal matters but the lights inside him, he activates the former by focusing his avodah and intentions on the latter. From them, he draws lights throughout the all concatenations, one giving and one receiving, as stated above.",
"Secondly, and following the first distinction, is the idea that one who cannot both engage in kavannot and become aroused should forgo the kavannot during prayer. For it is true that the one’s life force and soul are perfectly fulfilled when one also reveals them in his mind and intellect, and the fulfillment of the sefirot inside him are when they are revealed with the first three [sefirot]. But is it possible for one to have intellect and knowledge without life force? When one is aroused in holiness, then the very stuff of the sefirotic lights is inside him, and he needs kavannot in order to reveal the sefirot, in their completion, the first three of Hokhmah, Binah, and Daat. Yet when this is impossible for him and he arouses himself without intentions, at least his life-force and the light of the supernal sefirot will be within him. He has just not yet revealed their ‘minds’ [mohin] during prayer and only engages in a truncated kavannah. On the other hand, one who engages in kavannot without awakening is like one who intends that he is in Jerusalem when he is actually outside the Land.",
"In the holy work Meor vaShemesh of my holy grandfather, Parshat Ekev, it is explained that in these generations we need not engage in kavannot of the names during prayer, because, essentially, those kavannot correlate to the vowels and cantillation and scribal marks, which as is known are the nefesh, ruakh, and neshamah [of the text]. Therefore, when one put his own nefesh, ruakh, and neshamah into the letters and words of prayer, he has already thus unified the Names, and this kavannah is higher than all others. It is therefore explicit here that when it comes to kavannot, our generation is different from prior ones, and the nefesh, ruakh, and neshamah of a person are the essential focus of our kavannot, not only that which is above. In the holy work Avodat Ysoskher on the holy R. Berish of Wolbףrz, in the anthology, it says “Our Master the Rebbe of Mogielnica would say about kavannot, that whatever kavannah an Israelite chooses for himself is received in Heaven.”",
"This accounts for the phenomenon that over the years, the matter has deteriorated to the point that other than the hasidim, even those who know a bit of Kabbalah, engage in frigid avodah, while the avodah of the hasidim—that is, those who are truly hasidim- is warm and passionate. Because other than the hasidim, people only want and are capable of drawing down supernal lights, which in truth only the spiritual elite [bnai aliyah], such as the kabbalists of old, are capable of. Everyone else, especially in the generations of lower status, remained stuck on the level of thought alone, without achieving anything. This is not the case with hasidim: from their very physicality as well as their sensory activation, they are moved into holy enthusiasm.",
"For example, an old question has occupied many great righteous ones and kabbalists: How could the Torah command matters of the hearts? It is sensical to have commandments to perform actions, even if one does not want to do them, such as laying phylacteries or eating matzah, because one can overcome one’s resistance and fulfill a positive commandment anyway or, conversely, overcome his desire to eat forbidden foods—for one has the capacity to overcome when it comes to actions. But this is not the case with matters of the heart. How then can the Torah command “and you shall love,” if he does not, God forbid, love God from his own volition (and the same regarding reverence of God)? Various answers have been offered to this question. But in hasidic works, we reject the very premise of the question: if indeed one had no elements of love or reverence at all, it would be impossible to command these emotions. But when does indeed experience love or reverence, though they are experienced for foolishness—like loving lowly things, or his reverence leading him to anger—then it is indeedreasonable to command that he elevate these negative traits to holiness, to love and revere God.",
"In the work Zot Zikaron of my sainted grandfather the Seer of Lublin, s.v. beit Yaakov esh, he cites the Great Maggid [R. Dov Ber] that when one wishes to be aroused in love of God for prayer, he should recall things which he loves, like his children or even his money, and from this love he will come to a love of God when he recalls His wonders and kindnesses. He offers a parable there: When one wishes to ignite a flame but is having difficulty lighting the match and coals, he first lights some straw and uses them to light the wood and coals.",
"In the parable, all these materials are physical and the fire is the same substance just in lesser quantity; this is what allows him to transfer the fire from one to another. But, in the analogue, how can his lowly, physical love for money arouse a holy love for God in prayer?",
"However, given what we have written, that all of the Israelite’s emotions and traits [middot] and even his physicality are expressions of the supernal sefirot which he utilizes for lowly things which thus enclothes them—when he desires to redirect them, a burning holy flame blazes forth.",
"Again, none of this involves new ideas which eluded the earlier Kabbalists. Rather, the revelation and avodah of hasidism is to reveal that the light inheres even in the lowly, and that one can engage in a lofty avodah using the emotions and sensory inclinations, for they are holy as well and can used for self-inspiration [hitpaalut]. Therefore, every hasid is capable of self-work and becoming impassioned, and if it is difficult for him to do so with them he should utilize spiritual advice [etzot] in order to do so. As it is asked in the holy work Noam Elimelekh, Lekh Lekha: “Look upon the heavens,” ‘How a person can gaze upon the majesty of the heavens and the stars in their paths and come to a reverence, allowing him to comprehend the majesty of God?!’ And see there, how he instructs that one should envision himself as if he literally sees the Temple, built, before his eyes, and him standing in the Holy of Holies. Or as is said in Beit Aharon, that before prayer one should envision himself lying in the grave, suffering greatly, with people telling him ‘Arise and pray!,’ as we have cited in Hovat haTalmidim, chapter 9.",
"Hasidism even regularized the practice of drinking whiskey with fellow hasidim. In general, the Besht instructed people in various techniques, as we cited in Hakhsharat haAvreikhim, including utilizing physical techniques designed to arouse his physical senses and inclinations for holy purposes—for one may serve God with these as well."
],
[
"Chapter 4
In general, study and intellectual inquiry play a different role in hasidism than they do in Kabbalah, where the focus is on study. Nevertheless, all kabbalistic analysis and traditions, even kavannot, gain a new appearance in hasidism. [These kabbalistic traditions are] tightly connected and integrated with Kabbalah, to the extent that one cannot understand the words of the Besht without them, as stated above. Nothing in Kabbalah is changed per se in hasidism, but its content does become garbed in a new form. Now, it is impossible to fully detail and explain this point, and only one who diligently studies both kabbalistic and hasidic works dealing with kabbalistic matters, will understand this, each according to his grasp. Nonetheless, in the following we summarize and explain the matter as we are able:",
"The Written Torah utilizes human idiom to articulate the divine word, in that it speaks of, for examples, God’s of the eyes, hands, and feet. The prophet Ezekiel went further and described a human form sitting on the form of the Throne. Our holy commentators explained that, God forbid, this does not mean to impute corporeality and human limbs to God; after all, the Torah says “For you have seen no image.” Rather, the Torah and the prophets merely utilized such images as figures of speech to ease comprehension, though these things surely do not exist above [as described in material terms]. Indeed, Kabbalah is full of depictions of limbs and human forms: of the Primordial Man [Adam Kadmon], skulls, hairs, the ‘three heads,’ (that is, the three aspects of the head), throat, neck, heart, body, left and right arms, thighs, etc...The kabbalists clarified that these we are all spoken of metaphorically.",
"In the beginning of Kanfei Yonah, the Ari [R. Isaac Luria] is cited as saying the following: “Know that we are granted permission to speak in corporeal metaphors only in order to facilitate our understanding, as the verse says ‘and from my flesh I shall see my God.’ But you, wise one, purify your thoughts and know that there is no corporeality above, God forbid, and that we have no permission to engage in matters prior to Atzilut...but regarding the ten sefirot and below, we do have permission to utilize metaphors and imagery.” And in his commentary to Sifra diTzniutah, he says “Let not your thoughts entice you into saying that in the supernal emanations there are apparitions and colors, for those who believe as such are doomed to hell...for there are no colors nor apparitions...indeed, though, their roots are above…” That is, regarding the realm above Atzilut we do not even have permission to contemplate, even metaphorically; it is only from the ten sefirot and below that we have permission to utilize metaphors and imagery.",
"And yet, these are not the type of metaphors in which the there is no correlation between the metaphor and its referent, like the ‘parables of foxes and washers,’ in which there is no correlation between the fox and the human referent. This is what is hinted at in the citation above, that ‘their roots are above,’ i.e. the roots of the metaphor’s referents are above. In the holy Pardes 10:2 (cited in Hovat haTalmidim, Second Letter), it says that a person, with all his limbs, is the image and form of the Supernal, a shadow of the Supernal which has become corporeal, like the reflection of the form, pushed down to this world.",
"We can understand this via the metaphor of a person and his soul, for even the terms ‘head’ and ‘hand’ by which we refer to these limbs refer not to the flesh and bones but rather to their capacities, that is, the wisdom in the head and force of the soul which animates the hand so that it does work. This is why we can speak of the soul’s head or hands, though the soul is not constituted of the physical forms of these things, since we are [really] referring to the force and root of these things, which are indeed found in the soul. So too, since the roots of a person and his limbs are Above, and he is but a shadow of the supernal which has become corporeal, we may utilize these terms to refer to that which is above. We do so not merely to please the ear. For, though it be true that the physicality of these limbs are spoken of only metaphorically, nonetheless there is some real correlation between the metaphor and referent. For they do really exist, though only spiritually and not, God forbid, physically.",
"Nonetheless, we may ask, what relevance does the physical world have to the spiritual? We must answer that its relationship is like that of the shadow to that which casts it, and like the reflection of the object. That is, the world of Yetzirah is related to that of Beriyah as is a derivation from a root category, the former partaking of the essence of the latter; or of a cause to an effect, in this case the latter being the continuation of the former, since both Yetzirah and Beriyah are spiritual. But this is not true of the world of Asiyah and of the human vis a vis the upper worlds, since the former are physical, all of which’s inclinations are natural, while the upper worlds are spiritual. Thus, they are not of the same sort, and their relationship is merely like the shadow of “nothing” to “something,” which are quintessentially different from each other.",
"Since this world, including the human [who is of it], is like merely the shadow of the upper worlds, with real existence only above, the effects of one’s tikkunim and yihudim thus take place only Above. This [then] casts shadows and reflections here in this world. A person can only have an effect on the world Above using his thoughts and wisdom derived from his soul, which partakes of the world Above. From there, he draws forth illumination to this world, to the commandments he performs in Asiyah. This drawing down to this world corresponds to the source of his action above, and again is merely like a shadow. This is dependent on the level of each tzaddik and kabbalist; our predecessors about whose greatness we cannot imagine, the effect of their yihudim, kavannot, tikkunim of the luminaries and names and sefirot etc… was so great that even that which they drew down into this world was a great revelation. For those smaller than they, whose effect above was smaller, so too was their drawing down. Most of the effect of this drawing down was in the grasping and intentions of his soul’s intellect which derives from above. From there, it was drawn down to this world and our actions, like as a shadow [cast by a form]. If he does not engage in kavannot, he will only rectify the externalities of the world by his performance of the commandments, as cited above in the name of Etz Hayyim and Mikdash Melekh.",
"This is the case regarding the physical avodah of observing the commandments mandated by the Torah. Indeed, the world of Asiyah was sanctified through the written Torah which was drawn down to Asiyah, and even though Asiyah was elevated through the prophets and ‘children of prophets.’ Nonetheless, now, with the decline of the generations and after the destruction [of the Temple], the primary effect of one’s performance of the commandments is Above, in one’s thoughts, and drawn from there to Asiyah. This is all the more true when one wishes to perform bodily avodah in optional performances not mandated in the Torah, in order that all his thoughts, speech, and actions become avodah to God, through them effecting tikkunim and yihudim Above. This cannot be accomplished with his body and inclination but only with his thoughts, leaving him to merely subjugate and afflict his body.",
"Any use he makes of his body and senses is only in order to thereby arouse his soul, as we cited in Hovat haTalmidim in the [introductory] ‘Speech with Educators and Parents,’ citing Pardes 10:1, that one who wishes to affect Hessed he should wear white, on Gevurah, red, etc… Since the soul is affected by colors, it becomes aroused and in turns arouses the spirit, etc.",
"Cf. Shlah on tractate Rosh Hashanah, who says that the same holds for eating foods which hint towards the good, e.g. eating the head of a lamb, or leeks etc…, which are customarily eaten on the eve of Rosh Hashanah only in order to arouse one to pray for those virtues. He then cites the words of Pardes above, implying that one’s actions done with one’s body are merely performed in order to arouse the soul via the physical sensations. But to directly have effect Above, the body can only accomplish but a little.",
"This is the path of all learning and apprehension in kabbalistic matters, in which one comprehends only things found Above, like variations of Names, sefirot, hands, feet etc…—that is, these worldly things. These are all employed metaphorically, not in the erroneous sense we articulated above, of metaphors without correlation to the referent, employed only to please the ear. Rather [there is a correlation], like that of a shadow to that which casts it.",
"All this is an abbreviated presentation of the path of Kabbalah (as much as we have permission to contemplate), until the [period of the] revelation of hasidism. Yet after the Besht revealed the beginning of the illumination of the light of the Messiah and the future rectification, and revealed the holiness of the vessels of the world of Asiyah and the lower levels, it emerged that there is no greater difference nor distance between Asiyah and the upper worlds than between one upper world and another. Just as the world of Yetzirah derives from that of Beriyah, the top of the former constituting the bottom of the latter, so too Asiyah derives from Yetzirah, its head constituting the latter’s bottom. This is not merely in the sense of the distinction between the shadow of a thing and its reflection; rather, God created four worlds, all holy and distinguished only by their levels, one above, one below, one distant. Therefore, though we may not speak about that which is above the sefirot, why shouldn’t we do so about the sefirot forward [i.e. below], speaking of them regarding the world of Asiyah as we do about Yetzirah and Beriyah, and vice-versa?",
"And why should we force ourselves to claim regarding descriptions of the Divine holiness, in the Torah and prophets, Talmud and Zohar, that they are mere metaphors employed to facilitate our understanding, as they are called by the names of limbs of the body and other parts of this world? Why should we not say that there is truth conveyed in this terminology, and that these are what they are called both Above and below? Are not the things of this world holy as well, divinity and levels of ‘His whole glory fills the earth?’ For, in each of the four holy worlds, there are levels and distinctions in holiness, and they are called by the same terms.",
"Shall it be that since, to the eyes of the corporeal human the world and human appear to be corporeal as well, these things are actually [entirely] corporeal, to the extent that we cannot use these terms to describe the upper worlds? If one has poor eyesight or is mentally unstable and a human appears to him to be an ape, but out of habit still calls this being ‘human’—would we say that this term is an inaccurate one for this being, and say that every person to whom this term is employed is thus derogatorily referred to as an ape? The dignified valence of the term remains in place, and the onus is on the ill person to be healed until he can accurately behold the human in his ‘form and image.’ Since the Besht taught that when we gaze at the world we see God, each seeing divinity in the world according to his sanctification, why should we not call the upper worlds according to their true names, as in this world as well these distinctions and levels pertain? Is it because of dulled eyes or unstable mind which do not perceive the world as it truly is? But we know that in truth all is divinity, and these simply do not see accurately, and the onus is on them to raise their sight to truly see God’s world.",
"The world of Asiyah and its contents are holy as well, constituted of rungs of holiness, though this world the last [i.e. lowest] of the four worlds. Now, it is true that Yetzirah is ‘less’ than Beriyah and Asiyah less than Yetzirah; but just as we do not claim that the sefirot of Yetzirah and its levels of holiness—such as its angels—are merely metaphoric, but rather understand that they actually exist, so too the supernal sefirot and rungs and names in the world of Asiyah exist actually exist. All we can say is that it is the last of the four worlds, but we cannot say that everything in this world is last. For, on the contrary, all of the four worlds were created only for the sake of the Israelite, who exists in this world.",
"It is cited from the great Maggid that ‘for the sake of the forefathers who did [she-asu] Your will,’ that the forefathers aroused God’ will to create the world, when He saw their holy service with which they would serve Him. If so, the root of Israel is above the sefirot, for it was through them that He willed to emanate the sefirot; thus, they preceded and caused the sefirot. As we have already mentioned from the Besht, that we have no right to grasp or speak of that above the sefirot, we can understand that which is cited from the Noam Elimelekh Parshat Pinkhas, that ‘when Israel is unified they are beyond comprehension;’ and in Parshat Devarim, ‘The collective of Israel is in the aspect of Adam Kadmon.’ Understand this.",
"Thus, the study of Kabbalah did not change via hasidism, but was rather understood via hasidism. The supernal entities are not mere metaphors and idioms but rather truly exist, and are not just Above but also in this world, and even within a person. When we learn Kabbalah as presented by the hasidic tzaddikim, especially in the works of the Maggid and his student, my grandfather the Kozhnitzer Maggid, we often see that they simultaneously speak of the lofty kabbalistic matters as expressed both Above and within a person—not metaphorically, nor in the sense of ‘this sort of thing occurs within a person as well;’ rather they speak of it all in one utterance, as if the human is Above and the upper worlds are in the human. As they say about the Mishnah, ‘Know that which is above you,’ if you want to know that which Above, you may do so from yourself, for it is all one. Even the verse “from my flesh I shall see God,” often employed in Kabbalah to explain lofty matters via that which one finds within oneself, his limbs, his traits, etc. is also, according to hasidism, not meant metaphorically but rather as we write here.",
"As we have cautioned multiple times against claiming that our sages were merely articulating words and intellectual matters, God forbid, but rather insist that they were literally drawing down souls, with the intellectual matters and interpretations deriving therefrom, we can justly employ a metaphor and say that Kabbalah lowered the Heavens only as low as one’s wisdom and understanding, allowing him to peer upwards from a distance to the One who dwells in Heaven.",
"Yet, hasidism gazes at the highest Heavens from the street. It filled the house, the attic, the porch, and crowned the One who sits in Heaven, within the human."
],
[
"Chapter 5
With this, and even granted our limited understanding, we can understand a bit regarding the divergence of paths within hasidism which were manifest already at the beginning of the movement. [This occurred even] though all these paths originated from the same source: the revelation of the Besht. They established their entire holy path on intellectual apprehension, rather than on kavannot and yihudim of letters and Names and the [notion of the various worlds] alone. From there, their path then affected not only their thoughts, but on the contrary put its stamp on all the kavannot and yihudim of the Ari which they engaged in. All took the form of hasidism.",
"For example, as is known regarding the higher and lower unification which are explained and revealed in the Tanya (II, Chapters 1-7)—[which describes] not merely the kavannot of the letters and forms of the upper worlds but also the concatenation of God’s light in this world, and not just thoughts but also service with the whole body. This is the case with the many yihudim and combinations in the Zohar and Ari.",
"In hasidism, the path of avodah via imaginative thought [mahshavah] focuses on comprehension of supernal matters. This entails not merely performing mental combinations and yihudim of Names and letters, but also engaging in manifold thoughts of God’s greatnesses, which precedes His Names and their letters. [Further, i]t entails not merely thoughts of His greatness in the supernal worlds, but also of His greatness in this world, since an influx of holiness and revelation of His greatness is drawn into this world as well through the revelation of the Besht. Furthermore, ever since our sages drew forth and revealed the light in the vessels, the avodah of thought and apprehension focuses not only on kabbalistic matters, but also on the simple meaning of the Torah, of bartering animals and the like. It is true that the Zohar refers to the simple meaning of the Torah as sackcloth and its kabbalistic meanings as more minimal, purer garbing, in the sense of “You have removed my sackcloth…” Yet, now the vessels and sackcloth have become sanctified and are garbs of holiness, and great is the level of one who embraces the King even through his garb.",
"It says in Tanya 1:4 that even when one learns and thinks about the simple meaning of the Torah, there is no difference in his level of closeness and cleaving to the King if he embraces Him through one garb or many, since regardless the King’s body is within. The avodah of his thought and unification in this is so great that it says there (ibid. chapter 5) that the level of the commandment of knowing and grasping Torah is wondrous and great beyond measure, more than commandments of action and even ‘speech,’ and even of the commandment of ‘learning’ Torah oral [rather than mentally] etc…",
"The specific form of the hasidic path is apparent even in the study of Kabbalah in the Zohar and Ari. In the hasidic path, [we see the attempt] to make these matters accessible to even the simple, ‘human’ intellect, which is capable of grasping only this-worldly, quotidian matters, will also be able to grasp kabbalistic matters (as we have elaborated on elsewhere].",
"Such is the avodah of thought. There is a similar focus in the avodah of the heart, of generating feelings of love and reverence and self-nullification, of arousing the soul of holiness in general to serve God with a burning spirit and to cleave to Him. In the hasidic path, the manner of awakening is through thought and contemplation, for: a) the avodah of thought and knowledge, of delving into God, is very great, and through it one effects connection and cleaving to God. For knowledge (daat) connotes connection, as in “and Adam knew his wife…” This is the ‘Eden’ of knowing and understanding and grasping with one’s intellect and understanding that which one can of the light of Ein Sof, through the Hokhmah and Binah of God which illuminate creation (ibid. 39, 42). Further, b) since the mind is the source and site of the soul of holiness, drawn from there to the heart, one’s soul is aroused through the mind’s thought. Each person’s [measure of] love and reverence correlate with one’s knowledge of God (ibid. Chapter 44). Furthermore, even if one’s heart is not aroused into a revealed, visceral love and reverence of God, if one’s decides nonetheless to fulfill the Torah by mentally understanding that he needs to love and revere Him, these mental understandings will be rendered as revealed, visceral love and reverence, and his soul considered as one which thirsts for God because of the burning coals of love in his heart (ibid. Chapter 16). [In short, t]he foundation of all divine service is in the mind, even the avodah of ‘turning from evil,’ since the soul is aroused and the evil inclination distanced through the mind, and a little light pushes aside much darkness. For it is man’s nature for his mind to rule over his heart (ibid chapter 12).",
"The second path of hasidism is that of avodah through simple force (koakh) and belief. The holiness of an Israelite’s soul, which each must reveal from within himself and the holiness which he must draw down from Above, is much higher than a person’s knowledge and grasp or even his native capacities. Just believe that God created the worlds so that the Israelite should serve (H)im and with His unlimited power wondrously placed this supernal loftiness within the avodah of an Israelite. Therefore, one is able to reveal all this holiness through his avodah performed with force and effort and ‘harvanya’ (to use the phrase of the Karlin tzaddikim), for only avodah performed with dedication and sacrifice is complete.",
"The more a simple avodah is performed earnestly, the greater it is in this path. As the author of Beit Aharon said, he is jealous of the horses upon which people ride to get to a circumcision. As far as our limited understanding allows, we can understand that this is because their avodah- to travel for this great mitzvah—is simple, performed with force and earnestness.",
"Even the Kabbalistic matters which these sages discuss is in fact entirely focused on avodah, primarily the simple form of avodah. Through such holy avodah, the holy soul within an Israelite becomes aflame. This is the vitality and passion he experiences in avodah, as well as the pleasure of Eden which is borne out of avodah performed in this world (Beit Aharon, in the anthology of sayings from R. Shlomo of Karlin). Yet, an Israelite should not pray for such passion, for his focus should be on the avodah itself. Let one enter into such states through prayer and avodah, and the passion will emerge on its own (see ibid, comments on Pentecost). As it says, “For the matter is very close to you, in your mouth and heart, to do it-” first it is in your mouth, and then your heart; one should not wait for the heart’s arousal. Rather, if one finds that he can only pray with his mouth, then he should begin with that, and through such prayer his heart will awaken and become aroused. Even if he feels no vitality, but rather feels like an ox with a yoke or a donkey with a saddle, let him experience pleasure from this as well, and through this he will come to feel the ‘taste’ of avodah (ibid, Shabbat Shuvah). This path’s instruction to come to awakening through simple avodah extends to the beginning of one’s avodah, that is, turning away from negative traits, which also must be done through proactive avodah.",
"The notion of differentiated paths within hasidism can be understood a bit by considering the well-known adage of the sages that Abraham’s avodah was in the aspect of Hessed and love, Isaac’s in Gevurah (might) and reverence, and Jacob’s in Tiferet. Though Abraham also had reverence and Isaac had love, the principle form of Abraham’s avodah was that of love, and even Isaac’s love took the form of reverence, and Jacob’s Tiferet was a combination of love and reverence. So too with regard to the sefirot, as is known: though they are one entity, a distinct form is revealed in each one. And so, though all hasidic paths incorporate avodah with the body and especially of the heart—that is, prayer—along with study of revealed and hidden aspects of Torah, accompanied by revelation of the soul—nonetheless, in one path the mental aspect informs all else, while in another a simple, wholesome avodah informs study of the simple meaning of Torah and Kabbalah.",
"To sum up the matter acording to our limited understanding: In one hasidic path, the type of revelation privileged in Kabbalah centered in Hokhmah, Binah, and Daat was dominant, and also in hasidism concerning revelation in the vessels [the dominance of the intellect] was evident. In another path, the manner of revelation in hasidism emerging from Hokhmah and Kabbalah was also prevalent, while extending this revelation to the vessels themselves. In yet a third path, these two orientations are combined. In truth, when we examine the works of our sages, we see these distinctions expressed there as well. For when those who champion the holy path in which the mind is strengthened speak of the world, they tend to focus on the question of its [ontic] existence [yeshut], which appears to exist on its own. That is, they often speak of how ‘existence’ does not, in fact, exist. They found totally convincing the Besht’s contention that divine self-limitation (tzimtzum) is illusory, as in the parable of the king who created the optical illusion of walls separating him, yet when one girded himself to approach the king he discovered that in truth there were no concealing walls at all. They also understood well the words of the Maggid, that the shells (kelipot) are not real, and are merely ‘garbing.’ The notions of the ‘other side’ and of the world and even of a human being are all but apparitions. All existence in this world is but a shell, including that of a person with even his good traits are but the shining shell (kelipat nogah; see Tanya I: 1, 29). Only the soul residing in the mind of the average person, (excepting the truly righteous) is holy, and is revealed only occasionally during prayer. All this is different from the other hasidic path of simple avodah.",
"Though the sages of this path speak of fighting one’s evil inclination and destroying the ‘other side,’ the general spirit of this path is one which affirms the veritable existence of this world. This world truly exists, constituted of and suffused with divinity and holiness, as we cite below in chapter 7 from the great and holy R. Asher of blessed memory, that God exists down below, on the lowly earth, etc… This is all the more so regarding the Israelite, who is entirely holy—even his negative traits—and all emerge from supernal sefirot. It is only because he does not utilize them correctly that they become obstacles and he falls through them, as we said above regarding “and a person who takes his sister...it is hessed.”",
"We behold in these two holy paths the following wonder: In the path of the mind, though they do not demand fasts, especially nowadays as the generations have weakened and it is difficult to observe all the fasts written about in the works of Ari regarding all the manners of atonement—nonetheless, an especially religious individual (baal nefesh) who wishes to rectify himself is commanded to fast (Letter on Repentance, Chapter 3, end of Tanya). On the other hand, those who walk the path of simple avodah in our generations are totally distant from fasts, as it says in the anthology of Beit Aharon: “Fasts and penitential practices only help us with three conditions: [they work for] a healthy person, an [especially] coarse sin, G-d forbid, and [during the winter,] when the days are short. We give permission to take upon oneself a [voluntary] fast once, but this is only if one drinks warm [beverages] before the day [of the fast]. And we only hold this if [the faster] will not fall into a depressive or melancholic state, G-d forbid... [O]ne can be pushed away from holiness, G-d forbid, when one is pressed (meytsr) with fasts and asceticism. “Whatever side you take”- one cannot go along an upright path if one’s fasting and mortifications are not also straight. Rather, one travels along the true path when one eats and sleeps well.",
"This accords with what we have stated above: In one hasidic path, the manner of revelation as was expressed in Kabbalah was strengthened [and continued] in hasidism, while in the other path of hasidism this revelation, was extended to the vessels themselves.",
"The hasidic path spread into different sub-paths, each person in accordance with the quality and quantity of the revelation of Kabbalah and hasidism within him. Yet, all the paths are really one, [a single path on] which to travel to God, Who is completely unified, Above and below, and not external to us but within us. For all the supernal lights and sefirot are found within us; and with the unifications [yihudim], we are in fact unifying ourselves.",
"Part B",
"The essence of hasidic teaching and avodah lies not in grasping something [only] external to a person but rather something internal as well. The upper and lower worlds, rectifications and yihudim, reside within him as well. And in general, avodah and not intellectual study itself is central—that is, avodah in/with all faculties: the intellect, study, thought, imagination, desire etc. as well as with the body, with its capacities and efforts. This is why hasidism could not transmit its path with mere words and study, as intellectual and legal matters are transmitted. Rather, it is necessary for the students to be with their rebbe. The Mishnah directs one to ‘exile oneself to a place of Torah;’ and the Talmud asks when should one study with one rebbe as opposed to another…” for study directly from a teacher makes an impression on how the student receives the Torah. This was the practice of the kabbalists as well, their purpose was to learn Torah directly from their mouths, as in ‘and they shall seek Torah from his mouth.’ This is not the case with hasidism, in which the primary point is that the student be with the rebbe. The rebbe and student together, with their particular avodah and tikkunim—this is not something which can be captured verbally, as an intellectual matter, but rather demands that they come to him in person. And when they do so, not only when they hear words of Torah but rather the entire time they are there becomes an avodah and act of unification.",
"Is the sefirah of Malkhut, when unified with the six lower sefirot, able to effect a unification in order that they receive her light, when they are distant from each other? Even the consciousness of Father and Mother, which are Hokhmah and Binah, which extend to the six lower sefirot—Tiferet and her traits—will not be pulled downwards unless they are joined via the central bar, because Hokhmah and Binah and their lights are not units of intellectual matter but rather the very soul and light of the intellect. When the rebbe is unified with his hasidim, lights thereby become unified. He illuminates them and they increase his light; and if they are unable to do this, nonetheless their hearts’ desire for him arises to him and becomes feminine waters [mayim nukvin] to arouse in him an abundance of light, both for himself and for them. They become unified, and they experience increased joy and yearning, thought they know not what it is nor from whence it comes. But the unification is that which increases their light.",
"All the rebbe’s thought, will, nobility and inner work effects his hasidim, while all their yearning, even one’s bitterness over his lack of desire [to improve and ascend from his] lowliness, affects the rebbe. All this occurs ‘without speech or words.’",
"It is written in the book Maor vaShemesh on Parshat Titzaveh that when hasidim come to visit their rebbe, seeking the path of God, benefit accrues both to them and to the rebbe. This benefit is not only in the additional holiness added but also in new ideas in Torah and advice [etzot] and practices as to how to serve God. Their connection has an effect even after they have ‘returned to their tents,’ and they are no longer physically proximate to each other. Their thoughts and will are elevated through the effect of their rebbe on them, and those of the rebbe through their effect. This is why sometimes when a rebbe says Torah, one hasid says ‘he directed these words to me’ and another hasid says the same, though sometimes the rebbe does not intend them for any particular person at all. But because their thoughts had an effect on their rebbe’s soul, the ‘shadow’ of their thoughts may be seen in his thoughts and Torah, to the point that each sees himself in them. * [Note: Avodat Yisrael on Avot 2:7 s.v. marbeh etzah].",
"This is why the rebbe owes it to them to say words of Torah, since those words partly belong to them. It is written in the holy books that saying Torah and offering spiritual direction involves a spark of prophecy. Just as God would issue prophecy in accordance with specific individual and their needs, so too even when a rebbe sits alone in his room, contemplating and writings words of Torah, sometimes his lines of thought are affected by the people he is connected to. At times, when he wishes to issue directions or advice to people in their respective circumstances, specific hasidim will arise in his mind, each with their respective circumstances, and arouse his mind to discover a remedy for them. Then etzot and direction arise within him, and he records them in a book. Even when the rebbe examines himself—the vagaries of his own rising and falling, how he arose easily and then only with difficulty, then falling or another time remaining upright; or when he goes deep inside to rectify himself—observing how things requires continuous rectifications, each grain of sand revealed within himself, identifying each page on its own, isolating each thought and each splinter of his traits, identifying the root of each deficiency and how to rectify it, how to reveal his light and elevate it—through these efforts as well, the sparks of his hasidim are lit, their situations improve, and light and direction comes to them as well. Even the lowest among them can utilize these directions. Why? Because they are woven into his soul, and are present in his soul and its processes.",
"After the hasidim come to the rebbe to receive hasidism, they feel changed, each in his own way. They have awakened somewhat from the non-sacred which had become strengthened in them and their souls, and even their bodies arise from their fallings and sleep and they become as living souls. Now, there are some visits in which the hasid does not feel the benefit. He might feel that he had not spoken of all his spiritual and physical needs to his rebbe. He might even have a smidge of doubt that his rebbe has paid him no heed and has not empathized with his sorrows, and therefore he did not fully express his complaints or needs. He is thus even more worried about himself. Yet these two thoughts are false. For the opposite is the case: since now a more inner yearning has been aroused, and after his elevation during his travels he sees his lowliness more clearly, his worry from before his travels have remained and even become heavier. Since he now feels a heavier worry, as it appears to him as if his travel had no effect, since he did not express all his needs or his rebbe did not empathize with his sorrows.",
"God forbid for one to sinfully hold such a suspicion! Broken-heartedness and lowliness of spirit due to travails have an effect on their rebbe. When God forbid one suffers even physically, a rebbe’s spirit falls, and it says ‘Am I not responsible for this?’ Indeed, he might be ashamed to look others in the face because one of his hasidim suffers. His understanding of his responsibilities is no mere intellectual one, but rather [deeply emotional], as his spirit breaks on its own accord, and he says ‘How much good and joy might reach a hasid connected to a rebbe such as I?!’ And when the rebbe then prays for him, he does so as one responsible for some harm, and he pleads that he merit to repair that which he had rendered crooked and that God should redeem him from his sorrow. When God helps one his hasidim for whom he has prayed, he experiences no thoughts of inflated ego, [not] thinking that he caused the hasid’s salvation due to the merit of his own Torah and prayer.",
"It says in Meor vaShemesh on thebeginning of Parshat Miketz, that even when a tzaddik sees clearly that God has saved one for whom he prayed, he should wonder, why would God listen to the prayers of an exceptionally despicable and deficient person such as himself?",
"Even when God assists a rebbe, and he sees an elevation of his Torah, his prayer, his avodah and connection to God, and the light of the heavens shine in his soul, he still sees himself as the lowest of the low. He might even cry ‘A rebbe who is not on the level of his predecessors like the Rebbe of Lublin and the Maggid of Kozhnitz—does he need deceive both himself and the world? True, he could justify himself, ‘Jeftah in his generation is like Samuel in his,’ but then again, every sinner has his justification so that he might continue to sin unconcerned. Woe, all my life is full of deceit! How happy must the laborer or seamster: a simple, uneducated layperson who serves God with simple faith, with prayer and psalms, without carrying great responsibility.’",
"The feeling of bitterness can become so strong that he might think, ‘since I am unsatisfied with myself, and the more I add to my avodah the more I see its lackings. They are so severe that they endanger my very existence and eternality—it would have been better had I come to actual trial and cast myself onto the pyre for the sake of God! At least then I would be connected to God, albeit not at the level of R. Akiva. R. Akiva wished for that opportunity his whole life,",
"because he desired this only because of his avodah and desire to be connected to God, which he desired for his entire life to the extent that he was pained at not have this opportunity. While he desires it out of bitterness and fear lest he be sent down from the level of holiness to hell below.’ The rebbe might have these thoughts occasionally, not consistently.",
"[Still], this worry will vex him to the point that when he comes to his father or grandfather’s graves, he finds it difficult to pray for his physical needs. His prayer there, and sometimes also at home, is mostly comprised of ‘Ho, my holy ancestors! How can you abandon me to be sent away and distant from God, God forbid? Did not you experience this flaw, God forbid? For the mind of the son comes from that of the father?’",
"When he arrives at moments of Torah and avodah and his heart is strengthened in God, in joy and spiritual greatness, and lofty spiritual understandings come to his mind, he does not know from whence these came to him. When he directs his hasidim in service of God and hasidism, and he finds great words coming from his mouth and does not know from whence this greatness comes, he experiences regret thereafter—‘is this not once again deceit,’ [he wonders]? Cf. in Noam Elimelekh, Parshat Tazriah, that the tzaddik never experiences levels of virtue in himself, but rather experiences himself as impurified by sin, thinking that he has certainly not become pure in his avodah etc… Yet when he must pray for something...on the contrary, he must strengthen his sense of his level/stature, and be not at all derelict in praying for anything.",
"His fallings of spirit may also be due to his connection to his hasidim, for his soul spreads forth and inheres in their souls, and theirs in his. Thus, his selfhood [enokhiut] is not self-contained, for his hasidim are implicated in it as well, and parts of his soul are divided amongst them. He has no independent identity. All he has is therefore is lowliness of spirit.",
"In Maor vaShemesh, Parshat Vayeshev, he gives two signs to identify a tzaddik: a) if he does not experience any trait of his own, functioning like the sefirah Yesod which is merely a channel for influx to travel through from above to below, as he passes on everything to Israel. b) If he inflames the hearts of those connected to him, that they continuously desire to connect to the Creator.",
"Now, why does he not experience any emotions? Because he leaves nothing for himself. Rather, his entire self is dedicated to Israel.",
"Furthermore, since he is connected to them, though he cannot see the metaphysical cause [mazal] he sees the burden cast upon him: the physical and spiritual needs of his hasidim which he must try to cast light upon, and their requests to him to pray for their physical needs or show them the path of God and elevate them. From their inner souls they turn to his soul, and his soul yearns for their souls and has mercy on them, and all the boundaries of self melt away. He feels such an obligation for all of Israel, to worry for them. ‘Israel is in such straits, feeling fear and darkness vis a vis their physical and spiritual needs. ‘Who will worry for them, if not those who are called the heads of Israel, the shepherds of Israel whom God has brought up to heaven? Upon whom has God abandoned his despondent sheep in such vicissitude?’ His soul collapses under the burden of these worries, till he can no longer find any merit in his own deeds."
],
[
"Chapter 6
As we said above, pre-Beshtian Kabbalah ‘bent’ the world of Atzilut down to the Atzilut within a person, that is to his Hokhmah, while the revelation of the Besht had an effect on the vessels and the bodies, [in the sense of] “and all of the community are holy.” Through this, the Kabbalah and all its sacred systems inhered not only Above but also within the Israelite. [In all this,] we have not spoken of the essence of Kabbalah, which is above our grasp—for what am I and my lowly life to speak about and explain such sacred matters? We have merely spoken of our understanding in explicating these matters, as it says in the Zohar on the verse ‘and her husband is known in the gates [shearim],” “each according to how his heart surmises [mishaer]…” Now we wish to clarify why we have primarily spoken of those kabbalistic works authored by the holy angels of God besides the Zohar. [In what follows, we delineate] the difference, as we understand it, between the Zohar and the sacred works of Kabbalah which came after it.",
"As we said above, the godly tanna R. Shimon b. Yokhai said, “I have seen the bnai aliyah, yet they are few,” and he began to draw the light of Atzilut downward. Since he was the first of those who ‘drew down,’ his holy words and the way he garbed Atzilut in the vessels still had the appearance of being above them.",
"This is like that which is written a few times in the holy books, that the sefirah of Keter in each world is the Malkhut of the world above it. This is why Keter is not counted in the enumerations of the sefirot, like a soul before being garbed in the body, limbs, and vessels. * [Note: In the Pardes and other works it is explained why it was not counted.]",
"This is not to say that it is totally of Malkhut, for it is also the Keter of the world below it; yet it is in refracted form. The garb and vessels of the sefirot of the world below it appear on it, as well as like the light of the world above it, appearing as a bare soul.",
"The light of Atzilut and prophetic revelation found in the works of the kabbalists, especially those from R. Moses Cordevero and on, was drawn further into the vessels, and was further defined via the sefirotic names, in full detail: which sefirah, which sefirah within each sefirah, e.g. Hessed in Hessed or Gevurah in Hessed; and in which world, and whether in the aspect of rectification or nullity [tikkun, tohu]; and which letter from the holy Names, etc… Through these definitions, our faculty of speech can be expressed, and our faculties of thought and knowledge, which are designed to grasp onto distinct and separate entities, conceptually and terminologically circumscribed, have what to grasp, each person according to his stature and understanding. Even a boorish man, who sees only the outside of the vessels and does not apprehend the prophetic light shining through all the combinations and unifications of these definitions, can yet apprehend something, that this thing is not of this world but rather of the upper worlds and divine sefirot. Yet his knowledge will be merely intellectual, and no more.",
"This is not true of the Zohar, including the Zohar Hadash and Tikkunei Zohar, in which prophecy is apparent. This is due, first and foremost, on account of the actual prophetic visions which our sages saw and the utterances they heard. Secondly, the tales in these texts—as much as those of the Sages are wondrous and obviously prophetic, above human intelligence—those of the Zohar, along with its tales, are much more wondrous. Almost none of them have any relation to this world and human intellect. Almost all of them speak of the upper worlds, and not only of Eden and Gehenna but of the other worlds as well: of the desire of Knesset Yisrael [i.e. Shekhinah] for her beloved the Holy Blessed One, and how it is wearied in exile from its great desire, and His desire for her; and how in the future He will raised her up; and of the songs of the angels above; and the descent of the soul to this world at the time of birth; and of its ascent at the time of death. This is why the talmudic sage [tanna, i.e. R. Shimon b. Yokhai] began the Zohar and Tikkunei Zohar with the verse, ““And the knowledgebale (maskilim) will be radiant like the bright expanse of sky” For this is a heavenly work, telling of all that happens above, as well as all the effects of all that happens below on the world Above. It contains not just snippets of what happens above but rather describes things in such detail that the reader becomes like a resident of the world above, able to describe everything in full detail. When one learns Zohar, he feels as if he has been removed to that holy world.",
"We further see this unique quality in the Zohar’s kabbalistic matters. In other kabbalistic works, the insights are garbed in Hokhmah, Binah, and Daat, and one who learns these texts through his own Hokhmah, Binah, and Daat contacts them. Even one who perceives more deeply and gazes upon the light from Above shining on the vessels must first grasp that which is written there, using his wisdom and understanding. This is not so with the Zohar, in which the sages told of that which they actually saw, as they saw it, describing it as they apprehended it.",
"A parable: Two aristocrats were summoned to the king’s palace. Upon their return home, both spoke of the wondrous beauty of the palace, and of the king’s wisdom and good taste, of the breadth of his understanding, and even of his wealth, recognizable from the palace’s structure and sophistication.",
"Yet, one focused on the details of the measurements of the palace’s architecture: those of the doors and windows, the length height and width of the rooms and the gates, each precisely measured according to its utility in serving the needs of the king and his ministers. The number and size of the trees in the garden, the weight of the fruits, the number of flowerbeds and that of the flowers within each, etc… The second, desiring to restrict himself, also detailed the beauty and wisdom apparent in the palace, including its measurements.",
"Nonetheless, due to his tremendous astonishment from seeing the palace, and his mighty enthusiasm regarding the apparent wisdom of the king, he was unable to restrict himself to only speaking of measurements, in a scientific manner, but spoke as well of the essence of that which he saw, and expressed how moved and enthused he was. ‘Such a beautiful palace, with so much light in its rooms that it appeared to me that the sun itself has descended into the room, for the windows were so large, with such and such measurements.’ He did not merely speak of the measurements of the rooms and windows, ascribing their beauty to their size, but rather spoke directly of the essence of their beauty. ‘How beautiful is the garden, its fragrance literally revives the dead, etc.’ Because of how moved he was, he was unable to articulate each measurement of the rooms and windows, et al, like the first aristocrat, and even when he did speak of measurements, it was with less precision than the first.",
"Now, there is no distinction between their essential descriptions of the palace. If one has a ‘warm heart,’ then after hearing the description of the first aristocrat, he will envision the beauty of the palace before him, and his warm heart will become enthused from its beauty. He will thereby become enthused from the greatness of the king hovering upon it. Conversely, one who hears the second’s description, if he has understanding, then in addition to his heart’s enthusiasm from hearing the presentation of the palace’s description, his mind will understand its measurements as well. The two presentations are, therefore, distinguished only by their style.",
"This, according to our limited understanding, is the distinction between the revelation of Kabbalah in the Zohar as opposed to in succeeding kabbalistic works. The latter as well did not only speak intellectually, as we have already stated above here in Mevo haShearim;",
"yet, they did restrict their sight to measurements and quantities, detailing them according to the grasp of the human intellect. When we open the Pardes or Etz Hayyim, we must first incline our heads and minds towards them.",
"This is not so with the Zohar, in which is conveyed the essence of their visions Above: this world and that world, this sefirah and that one, describing them and what occurs in them, etc… True, the Zohar does often speak of details of measurements, calling them by their names which define them. Yet in the vast majority of the time it speaks of the essence of the worlds and sefirot and that which occurs in them. In fact, sometimes it does not utilize their proper names, and it is left to the commentators to show us that it is referring to this or that trait or sefirah. It is like in the parable above, regarding the second aristocrat—if the one who hears him has understanding, he will infer the measurements from what he is told of the essence. The commentators on the Zohar understood, and explained to us the measurements and names and aspects intended even when our understanding did not grasp these.",
"For example, as it says in the beginning of the introduction to the Zohar (2a): “The word was concealed with the blessed Holy One, and He revealed it in the Academy on High. Here it is: When Concealed of all Concealed verged on being revealed, it produced at first a single point…” The names of each entity, sefirah, and world are not articulated here, but rather just the sight as it was [beheld]. Yet, when we read how this passage is analyzed in Mikdash Melekh, we see details of names and sefirot etc… This is the case regarding almost the entire Zohar. Furthermore, even when the Zohar does speak of details of the sefirot, it generally does not call them by their names, but rather refers to them as the ‘upper world’ or the ‘lower world,’ ‘upper king’ or ‘lower king,’ ‘place of knowledge.’ Or, as it says in that same passage in the Zohar, “R. Shimon says, From here on, the completion of the verse... These are two rungs, each of which should be inscribed. One is What; the other, Who.",
"This is above, that is below.” He is referring to Binah and Malkhut, calling them two levels, one higher and one lower, but not mentioning their names. Similarly, on page 6, he refers to ‘that lofty point which exists in the palace,’ that is, Hokhmah and Binah.",
"The details of the Names—their aspects and measurements—are not explicated in the Zohar as they are in other kabbalistic works, but are merely hinted at. Nonetheless, the other Tannaim said of R. Shimon b. Yokhai that all his words are ‘revealed.’ See Zohar Akharei Mot 49b, 61a. This is because he did not conceal his visions of the holy in concepts, words, definition, and names, but rather revealed the essence of the prophecy, like the second aristocrat in the parable. Yet in the parable, the teller and tale were pedestrian, while on contrary the Zohar is revelation of actual prophecy, as is said several times in the Zohar, including on folio 61a, cited above. For since God granted him prophetic revelation, each word comes revealed. And yet, R. Shimon b. Yokhai did not reveal matters as did the prophets, for they revealed in the garb of Asiyah and he in Atzilut.",
"Therefore, for the lowly generation, distant from prophecy and more capable of grasping matters which are defined by measurements and concepts, R. Shimon b. Yokhai’s words seem more concealed. Yet the righteous of his generation said that all his words were from revelation.",
"However, even we in our lowly state can observe regarding matters about which we do have some grasp, that even when the Zohar does not detail names and their definitions, it will nonetheless detail the essence of the sefirot and qualities as well as the essence of their actions. These details are not necessary for greater intellectual understanding, as when one offers explanation after explanation to one with limited mental capacity in order to explain to him a deep intellectual matter, each addition constituting an intellectual addition. Rather, the additional explanations of the Zohar are in reality additional prophecies, additional explanations of the essence of the qualities and traits above, as they beheld them prophetically. For example, it is known that sometimes the aspects of Malkhut-Knesset Yisrael diminishes until it is a point, and from the letter heh becomes a yud, and the prayers of Israel arouse the aspect of Tiferet to illumine her. She [then] grows back to her prior state and the unifications begin again. Yet the Zohar does not convey this laconically, with just enough words to explain the matter intellectually, but rather explains in detail how these things operate Above.",
"Here are their words in the Zohar Parshat Balak [191a]: Black I am but beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem—like the tents of Kedar, like Solomon’s curtains. Do not look at me for being blackish… (Song of Songs 1:5-6)...When She is immersed in great love for Her Beloved, through the pressure of love She cannot bear, She diminishes Herself extremely until nothing is seen of Her but the tiniest single point...She diminishes Herself extremely until nothing is seen of Her but the tiniest single point...Then She is concealed from all Her forces and camps, and She says, ‘Black am I,’ for there is no white inside this letter, as there is in other letters. This is the meaning of ‘Black am I’- and I have no room to bring you in beneath My wings.’ What do mighty warriors, Her legions [the tzaddikim] do? They roar like mighty lions...Because of the sounds and mighty roars emitted, like lions, by the mighty warriors, the Beloved above hears, and He knows that His Beloved is as passionately in love as He is, until none of Her image or beauty can be seen. Then, through the sounds and roars of Her mighty ones, Her dear Beloved emerges from His place with many gifts and many presents, with fragrances and spices, and comes to Her and finds Her nearly dead, with no image or beauty at all. He approaches Her, embraces Her and kisses Her, until gradually She is revived by the fragrances and spices. By the joy of Her Beloved at Her side, She is restored and—through Her adornments, Her image, and Her beauty—transformed into Heh, as originally...They and all other forces sand ready to hear what She says, and She stands like a king among Her legions…”",
"I have only cited a portion of this piece, yet it is enough to allow one to understand the passage’s concluding words in the name of R. Elazar, “had Ezekiel the prophet not said this, chaos would enter the world.” This prophetic piece, as much as the sages restricted it in order to draw it down to us, nonetheless is not entirely garbed in the intellect, and is not graspable only via the intellect. Rather, it is a prophetic vision, conveyed as it was seen, and each can see that it is prophecy, for even if Ezekiel the prophet said it, it is wonderous. The text specifies Ezekiel, for this prophet described in detail in accordance with what he saw, more than the other prophets, as it says in the Talmud “to what is Isaiah comparable...to what is Ezekiel comparable…”",
"Now, since the revelation in the Zohar is more ‘bare,’ as a soul before it is entirely garbed in a body, akin to Keter which is also Malkhut of the world above it, as mentioned above—therefore, when hasidism was revealed by the Besht and his students, it was an initial messianic revelation in which the vessels did not conceal the soul within them but rather [on the contrary] revealed their light. Thus, many intellectual matters regarding the upper worlds mentioned in the Zohar are then explained more fully in hasidism. Matters subject to definition, measures, qualities, and names—matters grasped by one’s intellect—these are comprehended within hasidism as it received them via the Kabbalah of Cordevero, Luria, and his students. The additional revelation in hasidism in this matter is, as we said above, that the holy structures of the sefirot and names, grasped through the Kabbalah, are not only Above but also within the Israelite person. This revelation is in the world at large and even more so in the Israelite, [expressed] in the Zohar and in their unification with Him especially at times of Torah, prayer, and avodah. They do not grasp these only intellectually, in terms of measurements and definitions, but rather also grasp their essence. And we [correspondingly] do not grasp these matters merely with our intellects, but rather also with our essence. Some of these matters are understood through hasidism; that is, specifically in hasidism, for some matters in the Zohar are more clearly and fully explained through the specific mode of hasidic revelation.",
"For example, it says in the Zohar (Vayikra 4b): “Furthermore, Israel perfects faith on earth, and Israel is perfection of His Holy Name. When the people of Israel are perfected by their deeds, the Holy Name, as it were, is complete; but when they are not perfected below and are sentenced to exile, the Holy Name, as it were, is incomplete above. For we have learned: One ascended, the other descended—Israel ascended higher and higher; Assembly of Israel descended below... But there is no one whose spirit is aroused, so the blessed Holy One says,” Why have I come, when there is no man? Why have I called, when no one responds?...There is no one whose spirit is aroused.” Mikdash Melekh explains that “perfects faith on earth” means that through Israel, His faith is revealed in the world. “Israel is perfection of His holy name” means that through their good deeds they cause the unification of male and female...thus through them the divine name is completed. He thus explains that Israel is the cause, through their deeds, effects above. “Israel perfects faith on earth” means that they cause the revelation of His divinity on earth. ”And Israel is the perfection of His holy name” similarly, that through their good deeds they cause the unification of the holy sefirot Above.”",
"This is not the case with the hasidic mode of revelation, through which these words of the Zohar are almost self-explanatory, even according to our meager grasp. For all the chains and sefirot exist in Israel, and in point of fact all the supernal worlds emanated and were created and formed for the sake of being revealed in the Israelite person. It is for this reason that they were made in the image of a person. Thus the Zohar says that Israel completes God’s faithfulness [or, belief in God; emunah] in the world. First, because they reveal His divinity in the world, as the Mikdash Melekh explains. But further, because they themselves—literally, they themselves!—actively do this, since in them exist all the worlds, sefirot, etc… “Israel is the completion of the Holy Name.” So too, the unifications which they perform and intend not only affect that which occurs Above, but also unify all the holiness inhering within them, until Atzilut. When they are in exile and descent, both physically and spiritually, their Holy Spirit is distant from their bodies and souls. This is the separation between Tiferet and Malkhut within them, and within all the worlds. This is not to say, God forbid, that it is totally distant from us, for it is with us even now. The lack is “Why, when I came, was no one there, Why when I called, would none respond?, no one whose spirit is aroused?” The essential point is that the person should be, and that means that his spirit should be aroused. He should not just say words of the prayers and perform the commandments, but rather his spirit should be aroused, for as we have already said, this is the essence of hasidism: the awakening[hitorerut].",
"So too in Parshat Tzav (34b): “Come and see: She is not called...a kingdom of priests, but rather mamlekhet—for the priests crowned (amlekhuha) Her [the sefirah of Malkhut] as Queen, making Her Mistress over all...Then she rules over all the King’s treasures and all the King’s weapons, ruling in realms above and below, ruling over the whole world.” For the Besht revealed that Israel did not merely affect the world Above, and did not merely add or detract from the sefirot and supernal lights, and did not merely focus on drawing down light below by acting on high. Rather, ‘know that which is above you— ” that everything which happens Above, is from you. If so, the words of the Zohar are more easily explicated [according to hasidism].",
"For Israel is called “a kingdom of priests,” for they cause the sefirah of Malkhut above to rule on all. Israel strengthens not the just its capacity to be revealed in this world, but rather on all the hidden treasures of the king, that is, also those Above—all are ruled through Israel down below. Know, that which is Above—it is all from you.",
"Is there anything simpler for hasidism than the holy statement in the Raya Mehemnah, Zohar, Parshat Behar (109b): “The Holy Blessed One, when He is not close to Shekhinah in all of Israel who are men of traits (middot), who are her limbs...and it is as if the Holy Blessed One is not one…” We need not strip the text of its simple meaning, saying that it is because the Shekhinah is Above she is adorned by Israel and their [fulfilled] commandments. Rather, it is straightforward: every Israelite person in this world is literally the limbs of the Shekhinah, and when the Holy Blessed One wishes to unite and draw close to her, He unites with Israel. If He does not unite with them, it is as if He is not one.",
"This is the way of revelation from Above. After it is revealed, we see it everywhere. And now, after the Besht opened the gates of Heaven and the supernal light flows even to the vessels and bodies, we see that the Zohar intended this as well. This is the way of revelation from Above, as well as of the soul when it is revealed—it is apprehended in correlation with the vessel into which it has been drawn. In the ear, its auditory character is apparent, while in the eye, its visual character is revealed. So too regarding the sefirot: the same simple divine force, when it is revealed in the vessel of hessed, its character of [the sefirah of] Hessed is revealed, and when in a vessel of Tiferet, its character of mercy is revealed. Yet they are all true and alive and holy, as we have already explained in other works.",
"The Zohar was the first of the revelations in the aspect of Atzilut, and the manner of its revelation was in the soul. Even the measurements and other mental tools of comprehension which it was restricted and revealed were vessels of the soul.",
"Therefore, the Zohar is apparent in all paths of Kabbalah of the holy kabbalists—Cordevero, Luria, etc.., each according to his respective character, Cordevero in his character and Luria in his. All the more so in the path of Besht, in its revelation in which the vessels themselves are sanctified and purified. The soul of the revelation, the initial messianic one, in which the paths of the Zohar and Besht became as one, appear as one revelation.",
"Through this, we can understand even with our lowly understanding why it is that hasidic masters did not command us to learn or recite kabbalistic works which one does not understand, though each letter within is holy and sanctifies the learner; while they did command this regarding the Zohar—that even those who do not understand it should nonetheless recite the holy Zohar and become sanctified. For the crux of the revelation of the Zohar as refracted in hasidism is one in which even the vessels are sanctified, and even one who does not understand is made holy.",
"Thus, we may rightly say of the revelation of the Kabbalah, which is revelation of Atzilut, that the Zohar is its Keter and hasidism its Malkhut, the last of the messianic revelation through which the kingdom of heaven will be revealed. When Malkhut unites with Keter, it becomes the crown of kingship (Keter Malkhut), in the aspect of ‘a woman of valor is the crown of her husband...thus ‘her husband is prominent in the gates.” Understand this."
],
[
"Chapter 7
The term ‘hasid,’ by which the followers of the Besht are called, is not a new one. Already in the Prophets we find the term deployed to describe a person of a stature closest to holiness, such as “The hasid is lost” (Micah 7), “Guard my soul for I am a hasid” (Ps. 86), “His praise is amongst the congregation of hasidim” (ibid. 149), etc. Yet what remains unarticulated there is, which actions one might do in order to rise above the rest of Israel and be called a hasid? For every Israelite is commanded to fulfill the Torah and its commandments, ‘and you are not free to be exempted from it.’ If so, the hasid must do more than fulfill the Torah and commandments—but how so? Merely by doing more of them, quantitatively and qualitatively?",
"From various statements of the Sages, we may infer that a hasid is one who performs all his deeds by going beyond the letter of the Law. Further, the Mishnah in Avot 5:10 states: “What is mine is yours, and what is yours is yours—this is a hasid.” Yet also other actions which are not related to the Law nor going beyond it are correlated by the Sages with the hasid, such as “the early hasidim would wait one hour before prayer…” Note, they did not say that they prayed an hour earlier or took longer to pray, in the sense of working within the parameters of the laws of times for prayer and going beyond the letter of those laws. Rather, they did something new, waiting an hour before and an hour after. Yet, see Bava Kamma (100a Tosafot s.v. Lifnim Meshurat haDin), that the principle of going beyond the letter applies only to cases in which others would have been obligated. And in the ‘teaching of R. Pinkhas b. Yair’ at the end of Sotah, hasidism is mentioned after all the other levels of avodah, even after the level of ‘separation,’ that is separation from that which is permissible, as Rashi explains; and it is the highest of the levels, bringing one to divine inspiration. This implies that the term hasid does not just describe one who performs a set of actions and is stringent with himself, but rather describes a spiritual state and lofty path of avodah. His additional avodah, as expressed in going beyond the letter of the law yet also in other manners, are the result of his spiritual state and path of avodah.",
"And yet: Maimonides, in the sixth chapter of his Eight Chapters, has already described the spiritual state of the hasid. The hasid despises those things which people innately know to be evil, such as theft and stealing, while one who is not a hasid desires those things and must control himself and overcome his inclination. Maimonides distinguishes here between rational commandments which the soul of the hasid despises, from the irrational commandments [hukim] which the human intellect does not understand. The Sages said about this latter type, “one should not say- I do not desire pork etc.. but rather I certainly desire it, but what can I do? My Father in Heaven has decreed against it.” ",
"[Yet,] in Shaarei Kedushah of R. Hayyim Vital I:3 it says that a hasid has all good traits incorporated into his nature, to the extent that he has no need to overcome his inclination but rather fulfills all six hundred and thirteen commandments joyfully and with love. That is, he [innately] desires to fulfill even the irrational commandments. And do not issue a challenge to this by citing the [aforementioned statement of the] Talmud on “one should not say I do not desire pork,” for the Talmud merely says that had the Torah not forbidden this thing we would have desired it, for there is nothing inherently wrong with them. Yet, now that the Torah has in fact forbidden them, we have so imbibed the will of God that we, of our own accord, do not desire it—as every Israelite sees in himself that in truth he does not desire pork or non-kosher meats. Shall we say therefore that we are violating the words of the Sages when they said ““one should not say I do not desire pork etc.. but rather I certainly desire it…?” [No,] for indeed we do say that, and would desire it—were it not for the fact that the Torah has forbidden it. But since the Torah has in fact done so, the words of the Torah enter me [sic] until I in truth do not desire it.",
"The Zohar Parshat Naso (145) reveals more of this matter, helping even of us meager understanding it more clearly. “It is taught...All who have fear of Heaven merit humility; all who have humility merit hasidut...It is taught: Everyone who ‘has’ hasidut is called ‘an angel of the Lord…’ R. Yehudah said, “Just as an angel of the Lord of Hosts is priest Above, so an angel of the Lord of Hosts is priest below. The high priest below...is called an angel of the Lord of Hosts, since he comes from Hessed...R. Yehudah said, But have we learned: Totality of male and female! He replied, ‘Certainly so! For whoever is joined male to female is called Adam, and is then sin-fearing. Not only that, but he is imbued with hessed [kindness, graciousness]. And whoever is not male with female possesses neither awe nor humility nor hasidut...Since the priest is called hasid, he must bless...Thus shall you bless...your devoted ones [hasidekha] will bless You.” That is, hasid comes from the term ‘hessed,’ and it is only through fear of Heaven and humility that one arrives at it and becomes as an ‘angel of the Lord.’",
"If we have both heard and seen that previously, hasidism was entirely focused on avreikhim—well, they spent much time in their rebbe’s presence, who (in turn) spread his spirit upon them. They sanctified themselves, as well as all those surrounding them —from the learned to the simple folk—with the rectifications [tikkunim] of hasidism. One might think that this focus was due to the simple fact that it was these avreikhem who had more time available, since they were supported by their fathers in law; and the younger hasidic boys/adolescents were still too young—for at that time they married at fifteen or eighteen years old. Thus, now that boys are single into their twenties, occupied in hasidism, thank God, there is no need for the ‘kest’ system in order to render the avreikhim free for divine service and hasidic avodah. If one thinks this, he errs. About this very matter the Zohar reveals to us that only a bit of the light of hasidism is directed to the intellect. The bulk of it is beyond the intellect, consisting of divine secrets and mysteries from the upper worlds. This is hasidism: grace [hessed] from Above, whose holy lights extend downwards to the extent that it reaches to the sense of ‘and your faithful [hasidekha] will bless You;’ for just as the lights are drawn to this world, so too does blessing. The hasid is like an ‘angel of the Lord,’ and the essence of hasidism is specifically [expressed in the life of ] a married person. As such, nowadays when, due to the vagaries of the time and to our sorrow, young boys delay getting married, it is a positive thing, indeed a salvation of God, that they occupy themselves in hasidism. But they do not thereby replace the avreikhim. If we would not, God forbid, have avreikhim free to serve God through hasidism, all of hasidism would be diminished and lacking, Heaven forfend. We will speak more about this, God willing.",
"The fundamental essence of the hasid lies in the aspect of ‘hessed.’ What is hessed? In Patakh Eliyahu it makes reference to [in relation to sefirot] ‘one long, one short, one medium.’ ‘One long’ means that the vessel is not totally closed and its light shines forth from it. ‘One small’ corresponds to Gevurah/might, meaning that the vessel is closed and its light is mostly concealed within it, only a bit revealed outwards. And ‘one medium’ corresponds to Tiferet. Accordingly, the term ‘hasidism’ does not have a defined, unique definition; rather, it refers to [qualities of] grace and revelation, for the soul of the hasid is not concealed within vessels and materiality, for he has purified them, as cited above from Shaarei Kedushah.",
"This is the intent of Rashi (Talmud Pesakhim 40, cited in Hakhsharat haAvreikhim), that a ‘soulful person’ is a hasid—that is, his soul is not hidden and concealed in his body, but rather in the aspect of Hessed—‘one long’—until his very soul is revealed in it. He is thus called a soulful person, and his revealed soul yearns for God, to the extent that of its own accord it desires not sin but only fulfillment of the commandments. He engages in many and varied good deeds in order to draw closer to God, going beyond the letter of the law, delaying for an hour before prayer and after and during, being scrupulous in all the levels enumerated in the teaching [beraita] of R. Pinkhas b. Yair, until he comes to the [capacity of ] Holy Spirit. For this is the beginning of this rung: to reveal the root of his soul—as said in the introduction to Shaarei Kedushah, which we have cited in the beginning of Hakhsharat haAvreikhim—until he becomes as ‘an angel of the Lord.’ He even draws blessings to this world, for all his actions are ‘soulful.’",
"All avodah, from prophecy onwards, functions in the sense of hasidism, as mentioned above from verses and statements of the Sages in which they employ the term hasid. For hasidism is not a particular defined path, but rather revelation of the soul and holiness. All additional levels of revelation, within each path throughout the generations, were called hasidism. Nonetheless, the path and revelation of the Besht, who revealed not only the light contained inside the vessels but rather that which inhered within the vessels themselves, and who demonstrated that even that which we had thought to be merely a vessel—material and concealing—from now on shone—could we call this anything other than hasidism, of a sort reaching even the vessels themselves? This, indeed, is the hasidism of the beginning of the messianic revelation, may it arrive speedily in our days.",
"In this, the similarity between hasidism and prophecy is more apparent. For regarding prophecy, a simple man who wanted to come close to the prophets so that their light should shine on him, would become transformed into another person [upon encountering prophets] and prophesize with them. And even if he himself would not prophesize, or if his prophesizing would cease when he was physically or spiritually distant from them, like Saul and his men, nonetheless when they came before Samuel they prophesized. So too with hasidism: even simple people, if they would be but God fearing and observant of the commandments, wholesome and faithful, would become hasidim when they cleaved unto their rebbe according to their respective stature, though hasidism is indeed a lofty level. When his students traveled to the holy Besht and his fellows, angels of God, even the simple people, workers and lease owners [Yiddish, aranderin] traveled as well, and he would draw them close. He would even at times send his great disciples, geniuses and righteous ones, to a simple person to learn from him some good trait, such as simplicity or trust- simple faith in the Sages or love of Israel etc… For does not the soul of Israel, a portion of God above, inhere in these [people] as well, even if not in a revealed manner? And when this person would come to his rebbe, a spark of fire would fall upon him, and his soul would come aflame with a flaming fire. [We will speak further of this, God willing, within the book, as to why sometimes simple people have stronger faith and other simple traits, to the extent that the Besht would at times send his greatest disciples to learn from them].",
"In the end of the Noam Elimelekh, in the ‘holy Epistle,’ it says that his son, the holy and righteous R. Elazar, inquired of him regarding the liturgical change which the hasidim made, from the Ashkenazic rite to that of the Sefaradim. His father replied that the sefaradic rite is a lofty one, with a light so great the world is unfit to use it. Therefore, the Beit Yosef established the Ashkenazic rite in its stead, for it is equally usable by all of our stature. But certainly it was not his intention that the righteous who had washed themselves of their filth and were as punctilious with themselves as a thread of hair,cease from praying with this rite. Now, you might challenge me [by pointing out] that there are some people who are not on this level and yet pray with this rite. [I would retort that t]his is because they are connected to the lofty hasidim and thus they too are called hasidim. The Noam Elimelekh continues on to explain, citing the verse “and they believed in God and in Moses His servant,” that Moses had sanctified himself until the level of prophecy, and ascended Above and brought the Torah down to Israel. Yet all of Israel were unable to come to his level and receive the Torah from the level of prophecy; it was on account of their belief in Moses that they tied and bound themselves to him, and he caused the Holy Spirit to flow onto them so that it was as if they too were on this level. Thus, they were all able to receive the Torah, through their being united and bound to Moses. This is a summary of his words there.",
"We might compare those hasidim, who are not truly fit to be called hasidim, to Israel, who were not all fit for prophecy and receipt of the Torah. Nonetheless, through their cleaving unto and belief in Moses, they were elevated and received the Torah. Yet [on the other hand], though the masters of Kabbalah sanctified those that came to them, we have never found that therefore the insights and wisdom of Kabbalah should enter suddenly into one who has not studied them. Nor have we found this with the Talmudic sages; indeed, they investigated and concluded that if one says ‘I did not toil yet I found, he is not to be believed.’ (Talmud Megillah 6b). The common folk were distant from them [the sages], and those who desired to come close to them were as leaves, whose entire purpose is to protect the fruit, as it says in the Talmud (Talmud Hullin 92). [However, t]his is not so regarding prophecy, and especially hasidism, whose entire purpose is to expand and spread forth His holy light, even to the distant places; in which the vessels are light and even those things which appear to us as concealments are all holy. Even if he be a simple person, nevertheless by coming close to the illuminating light and the burning fire, his soul, dulled within, is lit, and his light shines, as mentioned above.",
"Further, Tana d’bei Eliyahu refers to these simple hasidim, as it says there in the beginning of Chapter 12: “The hasidim of the common folk, though they have not read...since they have seen to it that their sons have read and learned, and they do not worship other gods, and do not thieve nor steal, and do not engage in sexual immorality or murder, and support Torah scholars from their possessions—God brings them and seats them by the righteous, and they receive pleasure from the sun shining for the righteous, until the days of the son of David and the world to come.” This is almost exactly like the words of the Noam Elimelekh: since they withheld from basic transgressions and raised their children to [a life of] Torah and cleaved onto Torah scholars, Elijah calls them hasidim, who will in the next world be found by the righteous, receiving pleasure from their sun.",
"In fact, it is just the opposite [of such elitism]! It is one of the roots of hasidism not to distance but rather to incorporate even everyday householders, even the simple folk; that they have a place in hasidism doing the ‘work of leaves,’ guarding the fruit by working and supporting them. Yet their purpose goes further than this: with their rebbe and the lofty hasidim, they too are lit, and all together they form a flaming, shining torch, illuminating the whole world with the light of God and heavenly fire. This benefits not only themselves but also the great righteous, servants of God, who ascend higher as well when they are connected to the rest of Israel, even with the common folk.",
"In Beit Aharon, Parshat Nitzavim, it says: “They tell a parable in the name of the holy righteous R. Shlomo Karliner of blessed memory: A king needed to get something from a very high place but did not have enough ladders. What did he do? He had ten men stand on each other’s shoulders until they reached this very high place etc...It is not the case that the one on the ground is superfluous, for if he would move they would all fall! So it is—actually [mamash]—with the holiness of the Holy Blessed One. In truth, it is impossible to grasp the blessed Creator without 600,000 of Israel, constituting the entirety of Israel—including [perforce] people of low stature. Without them, the great would not grasp the lifeforce of the blessed Creator.” They are not merely leaves guarding the fruit—rather, even the great ones could do not grasp without those of minor stature.",
"From whence did this great capacity come, upon which the great righteous themselves ascended higher? From the fact that they maintained their position and served their Creator from it. For since the Besht and his disciples drew down His holiness, spreading it even in this world, with its lowliness and vessels, every Israelite—with his body and lowliness, his particular situation, will, traits, simple faith—is able to seize onto His glory and be tied to Him.",
"As it says in the writings of R. Asher the Great of Stolin: “One thinks that God is in Heaven but God is really in the lowest earth. Thus, every Jew can reach out and grasp Him. Even the smallest and most ordinary Jew can reach and grasp God. The only sin is for one to sleep the time and opportunity away.” Almost all of hasidism is summed up in these holy words.",
"We can even see that hasidism has its own path regarding divine inspiration [ruakh hakodesh]. For it says in Shaarei Kedushah 3:7: “Regarding the practice of achieving divine inspiration nowadays...one should do not despair...for we have heard with our own ears and seen with our own eyes how unique individuals have achieved the level of divine inspiration in these very times; they would offer portends, and among them were holders of wisdom which had not been revealed in prior generations.” The author thus says that even now we can achieve divine inspiration and offer portends not seen by prior generations. Yet he does not explain the reason for this ability to merit even more than prior generations.",
"The hasidic masters, however, do explain this matter through their path of avodah and revelation of holiness, as it says in Noam Elimelekh Parshat Vayeshev: “I have heard a sweet parable on this matter from the mouth of the Maggid of Rivne: “We see that when we are in the bitter exile, there are some who merit divine inspiration with more ease than in the days of the prophets, who required many oaths and meditations, as is known, in order to achieve prophecy and divine inspiration. He offers a wondrous and sweet parable of a king who remains in his palace etc... and a certain admirer of the king comes, wanting to invite the king to a feast at his own home. Certainly the king will become angry with him, for it is not in accordance with his honor to leave his own palace for someone else’s home, even if there be some great feast there; and it is impossible for this person to fully prepare and appoint advisors to intervene and convince the king to join him. Yet, when the king is traveling and wants to spend the night on the road, then as long as he finds someplace clean—a clean inn, even if it be in some village—then this is his lodge for the night. The analogy is self-explanatory: When the Temple stood, with His Presence (Shekhinah) residing in the Holy of Holies, when one wished to draw forth from the Holy Spirit or prophecy, he required great avodah...but now, in the exile, when the Shekhinah has been exiled with us, with Her great desire being to find a place to reside in, if She finds a clean place to rest—a person clean of transgression and sins, then that is Her lodging.”",
"In Maor vaShemesh Parshat Vayigash it says, “When one comes to a state of humility and subjugation, then he is automatically stripped of his physicality a bit… and is left in a spiritual state, connecting himself to the upper worlds...This is known, and I have seen it among the greats and the righteous ones. When they connected to the upper worlds, they were stripped of their physical garb; the Shekhinah rested upon them and spoke from their throats, their mouths uttering prophecies and portends.”",
"Why, then, is it more possible nowadays to merit divine inspiration than it was in the days of the prophets? Because after the destruction of the Temple, the light was drawn farther down, even to the exile, as mentioned above from the great Maggid. How can one draw himself closer so that he too might merit divine inspiration? By humbling himself, as mentioned earlier in the Maor vaShemesh. This is their holy path—to draw light down even to the vessels and lowliness. They ascended to the Heavens via the earth, and traveled through Eden, and debated the angels and laid themselves before the Throne of Glory and intervened on behalf of Israel. All this through their path, the path of the lowly: drawing and revealing the light even in the lowliness, such that even in the low places, His divinity is present.",
"We have already spoken in Hakhsharat haAvreikhim, chapter 10, of the meaning of “The Lord is God in Heaven above and the Earth below, there is no other”—not only is there no other divinity besides Him, there is no existence besides Him. There is no existence other than divine existence, and nothing happens which God has done made happen. Everything is divinity and every occurrence, God has made. The avodah of the Israelite is to see, reveal, and expand His divine illumination- inside himself, in his surroundings, both exalted and lowly. There should be nothing in them other than His divinity, will, and instruction/Torah. As in says in Beit Aharon to Sukkot, “I have heard of R. Menakhem Mendel of Baar [a disciple of the Besht] that he would always pray with his eyes cast downwards, because he was searching for a very low place, for there as well is His divinity and lifeforce, ‘and there is no place free of Him.’”",
"Returning to our topic above: even simple folk, when they travel to the rebbe and connect with the hasidim, are called hasidim as well. This is as we cited above from the holy epistle in the Noam Elimelekh regarding the sefaradic rite. True, the essence of hasidism is geared towards the learned and masters of Kabbalah, as we cited from the holy works to the effect that only masters of Kabbalah can grasp the path of the Besht, learning not only with their intellects but rather as men of the heart, minds ablaze with holy flames. However, when all are connected together, they receive from one another, to the extent that the lofty hasidim cannot ascend without the smaller ones and common folk, as we cited from R. Shlomo Karliner regarding the king who needed to reach something high and assembled ten men, one on top of the other. They all need to help one another: the lofty ones helping the smaller ones and common folk, and vice-versa, as in the parable, one standing on the other. In general, hasidism is not for people on one particular stature, but rather for all. It is a revelation of the soul for all, to each according to his situation and avodah. As the Messiah said to the Besht, he would come when ‘your springs spread outwards;’ with a stress on the word outwards, meaning to all. For this purpose, the holy fellowship [hevraya kaddishah] is needed."
],
[
"Chapter 8
As we said, the term ‘hasid’ derives from the word ‘hessed,’ which is ‘one long one,’ that is, that the light spreads farther. The Besht worked to spread the light to vessels and bodies as well. This is Rashi’s intent when he explains the term “soulful one’ [baal nefesh] as “hasid” —for such a person’s soul is revealed, without any concealment, since the light extends even to his otherwise concealing body.",
"Therefore, hasidism is focused not only on the mind and intellectual apprehension but rather also on avodah which involves the entire person, including his traits, senses, and inclinations. Each hasid is constituted of light, and he must utilize all components of his selfhood in service of God, transforming himself into a fiery flame. Similarly, when hasidim come to their rebbe, it is not merely in order to listen to his words with their ears, but rather in order that the(it) lights should be connected and that at that moment, the giver [mashpiah] and the receivers should cleave together, as occurs with the sefirotic unifications. True, they are indeed in need of his Torah and guidance. Yet, these are only efficacious when they are also connected and unified—this one giving to that, this one receiving from that. This is how they rectify themselves, this world, and the upper worlds. As it says in Tikkunei Zohar 19, even the angels’ ability to give to and receive from one another is dependent on Israel; that is, on [the people of] Israel’s giving to one another, in terms of both Torah and financial support.",
"Therefore, if one wants to become a hasid by learning from books and only intellectually understanding hasidism—without turning himself, his body, senses, all levels of soul (ruakh, nefesh, neshamah) into a hasid—then he will not reach even the edge of hasidism. So too, if he does not travel to a rebbe, or does [perfunctorily] travel but not as a hasid must travel, and is not as a hasid must be when he is with his rebbe, without effecting the aforementioned unifications—then he, too, is not a hasid. The descent of hasidism in our generation, in which even many hasidim do not know what hasidism is—a question we have pursued in Hakhsharat haAvreikhim and here—may be to a large degree based on this error. People wish to understand hasidism only intellectually, but not through avodah; they treat it lightly even when they travel to the rebbe, and their travels are thus not ‘hasidic,’ as they need be.",
"Let us see the distinction between the travels of prior days, as expressed in the holy works, especially Maor vaShemesh, and as we have heard from the elder hasidim, and the travels of the hasid nowadays:",
"Back then, when an individual, an avreikh, would serve God in Torah and avodah, and desired to sanctify himself—yet saw that it was difficult for him, that though he desired and yearned for all of himself that all his desires and thoughts and traits would be sanctified to God yet nonetheless there was much dross in them... He would become anxious and embittered, saying “Do I not see that I am distant from God, God forbid! What will be my life’s purposes hereon in? Shall I remain banished from holiness, God forbid, stuck in filth, Heaven forfend?!” Moved by his great anxiety and bitterness, he would say “I shall travel to my Rebbe! There, on the mountain of God’s house, the evil inclination has no control. The Rebbe will instruct me in the holy path, and seize me by my sidelocks and remove me from my lowliness. I will become connected to him, and he will perforce purify me and elevate me to the One who is pure. Yet, terror will seize him, for the rebbe will recognize all the not-good things he has done; and at the same time, this is his is very desire-to show the rebbe all his blemishes so that he might purify him. And he, the rebbe—in him he puts his life’s hope, both for this world and the next. With a broken heart and with this hope, he goes to the rebbe. The path itself becomes, immediately, one of repentance, for where does he go? To ‘gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, to frequent His temple.’ Thus, it is to God that he is returning. Whether he feels like Israel of yesteryear, as they traveled to go up to God’s house, to ‘appear before the Sovereign, the Lord’ or as a soul Above, released from Hell and being led to Eden, there to derive pleasure from the glow of the Shekhinah, along with the other righteous souls—either way, as he travels, he feels supernal yearning and the joy of Eden.",
"Usually along the way he meets other hasidim who are traveling to their rebbe as well, or perhaps they are traveling to his rebbe. The caravan travels on—far from the city and from other people with their freneticism and ambitions—with one heart and desire, to seek the face of God. They tell each other of their soul’s blemishes, and of how his rebbe has helped him already, and how just as they wash their clothes, his rebbe—literally!- washes his soul. Yet, they caution one another, before we arrive at the rebbe’s, we must repent, lest the rebbe find it distasteful to approach us, to seize and raise us up.",
"How great is the fear as well as the desire, when the hasid sees his rebbe’s city while yet afar—and all the more so when he is in the rebbe’s chambers. In Maor vaShemesh Parshat Devarim, it says that when the hasid comes to the house and his rebbe’s chambers, he would be in such a state of fear and terror that he would no longer know where he was. And in Parshat Ki Tisa it says, that through this fear of the hasid to approach the rebbe, to ‘trample upon his courtyard,’ he would come to fear of God’s greatness, for he would think, “Why am I so fearful of this tzaddik? It is from nothing other than the holiness of God’s existence, Who is here with the tzaddik, dwelling with and connected with him.” Through this, he arrives at such fear.",
"Indeed, he has seen his rebbe many times; and yet, can he express with words that which he feels from the ‘peace unto you’ [‘shalom aleikhem,’a traditional salutation] when he greets his holy face? How great is his desire for him then—his heart and his entire soul are so drawn to the rebbe, till he is prepared to give over all of himself in order to draw close and cleave unto him. [Note: See in the holy book Avodat Yisrael On Avot 2:9, s.v. Amar R. Yose]. He [even] desires to bend over and place himself before him as his footstool. And with how much desire does the rebbe extend his hand to him, and with how loving rebuke, from a hidden love, does he look upon him. This already suffices—he already feels his rebbe’s effect upon him. He runs to the house of study and throws himself entirely into Torah and avodah. Yet, his desire so burns within him that he will not be sated by the pieces of Torah he now learns. His heart burns inside for God as a furnace, as a flaming timber he is entirely aflame, ‘unsatisfied by wealth.’ But this is the very reason he has come to the rebbe: to sanctify him and bring him closer to God, more than he could do on his own. For though it is true that the rebbe himself is higher than his grasp, nonetheless from that which he is able to grasp of him, he sees that there is no screen dividing his rebbe and his Creator. The Shekhinah rests upon him, and he—all his actions, including his eating and drinking and speech, each movement of his eyelids—all are done for God’s sake. The rebbe is entirely Above, cleaving unto God, with but a bit [residing] in this world. Thus, when the hasid cleaves to his rebbe, he cleaves to the Shekhinah.",
"So pass a couple of days before the Sabbath. Already, the hasid sees that he has turned into a different person. In repentance he returns to God, allowing his soul to pour forth its bitterness, and with his elevated state he allows his soul to arise and rejoice in God. If only he could be at home as he is now, before the Sabbath! And yet—as the Sabbath draws near, then, during the prayers, during the rebbe’s sanctification blessing [kiddush] and holy tables (Yiddish: tishen) that he conducts, he can literally feel how his rebbe pushes aside this world, drawing down the supernal worlds in its place. Especially when the rebbe shares words of Torah, they all feel as if he has broken open the heavens and brought down Torah from Atzilut to Beriyah, to Yetzirah, to Asiyah. His words appear, at first blush, like simple words of Asiyah, yet one who discerns sees how all the worlds are in fact present. And from the very manner of the rebbe’s speech, they can see how he is at that moment Above, speaking to them the word of God from there.",
"For a few weeks, the hasidim stayed by their rebbe, and through his hasidic path they served God and rectified themselves, along with the other hasidim and with the holy cohort. Occasionally they would enter into the ‘sanctum’ to inquire regarding various matters of avodah, whether in action or speech or thought; as well as matters regarding apprehension of His divinity, revealed to each according to his stature in the hasidic path. All this they sought from the rebbe, and he would instruct each according to his situation: at times with rebuke, at others by raising up. As for them—all of the rebbe’s words and expressions, on the Sabbath and during the week, as well as in the tales he would tell him—-they imbibed them all, all of these entering into their heads and limbs down to the nails on their feet. They all—the rebbe and the hasidim—ascended through this, as a holy soul which, upon encountering a holy body, enters into it, both being built up and growing through this.",
"The first insight gleaned by the hasid as he lived in the rebbe’s shadow was that service of God is not something that can be done with casual effort. Even if one would not violate positive nor negative commandments, God forbid, nonetheless it is possible that he might yet not be considered a servant of God, and be yet quite far from being a hasid. Our Sages said (BM 30b) “Jerusalem was only destroyed because they ruled according to Torah law.”",
"And in Divrei Elimelekh on Purim it says in the name of my grandfather, the genius and holy of Mogielnica, who remarked in his great humility: “When I gaze into the Torah, I find myself in it a bit; yet when I gaze at the holy tzaddikim who are on this earth, I do not find myself at all compared to them.” Every limb, every ligament and fiber of flesh must serve God, striving in this effort. Each discrete thought, every individual will and speech and action, has its own avodah, be it in the sense of turning from the evil in it or raising it through His service. The essence of it all is effort and hard work. When a hasid does such by his rebbe, he begins to recognize a bit of the greatness of His divinity. For this is not able to be apprehended by knowledge alone, nor through the intellect can we draw down the revelation of hasidism, which is a kind of prophecy. This can only be done by sanctifying all of oneself through effort.",
"In Maor vaShemesh, Parshat Shemot, it says that this [sanctification] was acquired by traveling to [be under] the shade of the rebbe. He says that “the essence of all avodah is to understand that there is a God, Who rules and guides all the worlds with individualized providence, and that there is no place devoid of Him. However, this requires great effort. To truly understand this, one must meditate alone and examine oneself in all matters, to oversee oneself in each and every movement; and one’s heart must be aflame like a burning fire in enthusiasm and yearning for the Creator. Through this he may come to truly know of His divinity. This is the essence of everything...and this is the essence of travel to the rebbe, to stand in the generation’s tzaddik’s shade in order to come through this to know that He is the essence and root of all worlds.”",
"The Maor vaShemesh continues on to say that it was not just the bnai aliyah among the hasidim of yesteryear who achieved such a state by traveling to their rebbe. Rather, any hasid willing to dedicate himself to this avodah, even those who bodies were still ‘physical,’ merited this. In brief we might say that a hasid who searches for God and desires to come close to Him, when he returns from his travels would know and recognize that He is the only existent, with nothing else besides him. There is no physicality nor materiality nor any existence in any of the worlds—rather, all is divinity. He too, the hasid, is His divine illumination, with no other existence in him. All his doings, all day and all night, in thought, speech, and action, even the pedestrian—all are avodah to God.",
"When he returns from these travels to his home, he strengthened himself mightily to practice in the hasidic path, the path of God, which he had traveled along while in his rebbe’s home. Even if he is a merchant at home, working to earn a living as he had done before—he remains a hasid in all these activities, a hasid and servant of God who also [happens to] work for a living. After some time, when he can no longer abide his yearning and missing of his rebbe, he travels there again. He finds that his rebbe has become more elevated since the last time, and that he, the hasid, receives more from him and has become elevated in [a] specific avodah, and in hasidism generally.",
"Such was the level of the travels of yesteryear. What a state they are in nowadays, when Israel’s troubles have increased and they are preoccupied with things which embitter their lives, may God have mercy on them! There are times that the Israelite doesn’t even know if he is alive. Satan arises before our sons and daughters in the form of ideological parties [miflagot], to poison their souls and defile their bodies with heresy and other disgusting, filthy sins, may God have mercy on them. There are some houses in which, when the father returns from the ritual bathhouse [mikveh] and prayer on Friday night, dressed in his sabbath finery, and wants to enthusiastically and passionately arouse the holiness of God and holiness of the sabbath whilst making kiddush— and at the very same time, his son is smoking cigarettes, may God have mercy; or reading romance novels which defile the soul and body alike, may God have mercy; or the children are discussing the defilement they read about or saw in the theaters; or some or even all of them leave the pure Israelite home at this time and go to the theaters, to sin and defile themselves and all of Israel.",
"And the father who sees this, his heart quakes and his thoughts ring. All his enthusiasm falls away, and instead of elevated joy, he feels depressed. At first he becomes angry and bitter, even despising his very life. But as time goes on, he becomes used to his fall and lowliness. As a prince who had long been in captivity among the drunkards and the vacuous, he too loses his lofty spirit and wisdom and remains as a dumbfounded simpleton, like a villager who knows nothing beyond his sustenance and livelihood, a man without aspirations nor lofty yearnings. And if he sometimes will remember his past days, when he was an avreikh, a hasid, a student of Torah [ben Torah], and will want to strengthen and arouse himself—again, he falls when he remarks, “What am I and what is my life?! The days of the workweek are hellish, and this is my Jewish home, and this is my holy Sabbath?! I am distant from God, God forbid, banished from His holy Temple.” All his prayers are despairing, his commandments performed shame-facedly, as he says, ‘what do I have to do with them [i.e. the commandments]?’ In the midst of this depression and fall, he might recall himself and say, ‘I shall travel to my rebbe on the Sabbath.’ Yet many preoccupations and sorrows prevent him from fulfilling this desire. When he is finally able to travel, it is late Friday afternoon, and by Saturday night he is already rushing to return to the Hell in which he is forced to suffer and boil in its streams, may God have mercy. And what is he like over the Sabbath? On Friday night, he is exhausted, a pounding mill in his head from the noise of the market and business and home which he has fled from. He pays no heed to the fact that he is a hasid sitting now with his rebbe.",
"Even when his rebbe says Torah, he either dozes or is unable to focus his mind, and reduce his thoughts to listen to him. He hears the words, yet like a preoccupied one full of travails who passes by the house of study and hears the voices of the students speaking pleasantries of Torah—partial admission [modeh bamiktzat], total denial [kofer bakol], the Sabbath domains, two which are four, etc…—and reminds himself that he too once learned [Torah]. Yet now, he cannot put together what they are saying. So too, he does not understand what his rebbe is saying—broken words ring in his mind as shattered vessels: hasidism, lofty and lower fear, love, to rectify and purify himself, feeling, sefirot. They merely agitate his spirit. Throughout the whole Sabbath he feels himself distanced—what does he have, what has he do to with hasidism and avodah? Sometimes he doesn’t even understand why the rebbe continues to demand hasidism and lofty avodah from us [sic]? What do we have to do with greatness, what do we have to do with lofty hasidism??",
"After the Sabbath, he hurries to give the rebbe his written request, and pour out his broken soul, bent over with many sorrows, God have mercy. Then, he rushes out on his way. On the road or back at home, he finds, at times, that even worse thoughts - thoughts bordering on heresy—plague him, God have mercy. Even if this be only on occasion, it is enough to be saddening, for on account of his falling and distance from hasidism, he felt nothing in his travels. He thinks, ‘how have the Rabbis helped us? What did I gain from my travel? Has the rebbe increased my fear of Haven? I feel nothing. I do not see that he imbued me with any good trait. The tzaddikim of prior generations raised up the hasid by force and blew into him the spirit of repentance and hasidism. But I am now just as I was before my travels.’ After a couple months, when his friends ask him if he will travel to the rebbe again, he gives them excuses as to why he will not, while thinking in his heart “I did not see how my travels helped. Even my material situation has not improved since then.”",
"He will not realize that regarding the early tzaddikim, who were truly able to purify and cleanse souls in such a lofty manner that we have no grasp, the hasidim came to listen and stayed by their rebbe for some time. And, if they were not able to stay for a long duration, they did come more regularly. All their desire was focused on receiving even one thing, even a movement or hint from their rebbe. They inclined their hearts to receive the light and holiness which the rebbe would send directly into their hearts without words nor speech. Nor will he consider [the difference between] how the hasid traveled then and how he does now, as mentioned above; and how we no longer have among us the holy sages, and how even they were different, some quick to learn and slow to forget, others slow to learn and quick to forget,etc., and, how it is impossible to inspire one who travels so infrequently. Even would the rebbe gird all his strength for an entire Sabbath in order to cleanse him and remove his garments and raise up his troubled soul and revive it from its weariness until it is capable of receiving of the rays of light he sends it—still, one Sabbath alone will not suffice. Especially when so much time passes between each visit until he returns, so that the rebbe’s avodah during the first visit has already weakened.",
"In Maor vaShemesh (ibid), he cites in the name of the holy Rabbi, the holy lamp Menahem Mendel that one who goes in circles wondering how to serve God but without grasping the answer, and encounters obstacles and separations and cannot learn or pray properly, and his heart is bitter so he goes to some tzaddik hoping that perhaps he will discover some respite for his soul—then he benefits the tzaddik as well, and through this the tzaddik is able to raise up that man in divine service. This is not the case when one does not pursue service of God and does not go humbly to the tzaddik, in which case he does not cause the tzaddik to rise in his own service of God, nor is there any benefit to that man [this was true even regarding the earlier tzaddikim].",
"Consider: Why are there some of your fellow hasidim who do feel in their travels a spirit of purity and betterment, even now? [Why are] there among them some for whom in every prayer and tish a new spark shines within them, as they know that it is only through their hasidic path that they hold onto the holiness of Israel, and that were it not for hasidism they would already be as naught, God forbid? Even when they are back in their home, their rebbe inspires them with a spirit of awakening in Torah, avodah, and prayer. And further, why should you complain about your physical situation, which unfortunately has not been bettered God forbid after your travels? Do you not know that it is a time of sorrows for Jacob and that in general Israel is afflicted and pursued more than any other nation? And besides this, recall that when our father Jacob came to bless Manasseh and Ephraim, he reversed his hands, placing the on Ephraim before Manasseh; and when Joseph inquired about this, he replied that the younger brother would become great. Why, then, did he not bless the older that he become greater than the younger; after all, Joseph had not asked him to tell the future but rather to bless them—so let him bless the older that he at least not be lesser than his younger brother! This story implies that blessings are also contingent on the one who receives them. Two people may be blessed and prayed for, yet the prayers and blessings work more for one than the other, for the faith of the one being blessed has a great effect. Yet this too [i.e. the level of faith in blessing] is not one what it once was.",
"And yet, even the hasidim who do travel with a sense of connection and yearning to receive hasidism feel the effect which hasidism is already affecting them: the Sabbath and holidays which they spend with their rebbe are among the best of their lives, lofty like the days of yore and of Eden, pure amongst the desolate desert of the profane days of this world filled with lowliness and haughtiness. Even the travels of these [contemporary] hasidim are unlike those of the earlier hasidim, especially as regards dwelling in their rebbe’s house with the other hasidim [which is no longer practiced], along with other practices.",
"Because of this, not only has hasidism itself descended, but also many practices have been forgotten. Not only the inner practices performed within the heart and soul of the hasidim, hidden within, but also many external practices which they performed in order to arouse their souls and activate themselves internally. And, even of those practices which had not been forgotten, many nonetheless appear to be superfluous to the hasidim of our generation, and are paid no heed.",
"As a rule, the essence of hasidism is not inscribed in a book, but rather in the hasidim themselves, in the sense of “This is the book of man’s lineage.” The person(s)—the hasidim—are the text(s) of hasidism : their travels and work on themselves and their emotions, how they worked to reach each ‘line of light’ and vitality in fulfilling the commandments and in prayer and the various levels of hasidism, and how they experienced themselves at each point. Only a bit of this is recorded in the holy books, and even that which is written is not organized as a ‘Shulkhan Arukh’ [Code of Jewish Law] with straightforward commandments so that a hasid might follow them all proceeding from strength to strength, first one then the next, and with alternative directives if one piece of advice doesn’t work, and highlighting pitfalls if one does arise to a certain level, etc… This is on account of the aforementioned point, that the essential locus and story of hasidism inheres in the very selfhood of the hasidim. It is not written in some book how one who wants to be a hasid should practice, because each avreikh who joins the hasidim in their physical and spiritual work on themselves, under the guidance of their rebbe, becomes a hasid.",
"Now, we do find recorded in the holy books many etzot and practices. We have already cited from the Besht of the need for strategies in avodah, and from the Maor vaShemesh that we need new strategies from time to time. At that time, when they would direct someone to be aroused in love or fear, they did so with their holy spirit, for the tzaddikim were able to draw forth a holy fire from Above to each of the hasidim. They also gave etzot, like the ‘words of the living God’ which we cited from the Noam Elimelekh: how one should gaze at the Heavens and see the stars in their paths, and envision the Holy Temple built before him etc… And in Beit Aharon, how he should envision that he is in lying in a grave, afflicted, and they say to him ‘stand and pray!’ etc… And the tune which the Besht instructed should be sung before almost any Torah is spoken. And as cited in Beit Aharon, “Tashuri meRosh Amunah” –the greater a Jew’s faith, the more he will sing his head off.”",
"And in the Likkutim Yekarim (an anthology from the Besht and his students, published in 1850), other general guidelines are cited, such as how one should engage in personal meditation [hitbodedut] whether alone or even with others in the room; and how before prayer, one should not recite many chapters of Psalms in a state of dveykut, lest one’s body thereafter become tired [during the course of the prayers] and he becomes unable to pray further with dveykut. On Yom Kippur, before [the closing prayer of] Neilah, he should recite from the prayerbook in a state of narrow consciousness [mokhin dekatnut], so that he be able to pray the closing prayer of Neilah with great dveykut. For when one is in narrow consciousness, he can pray from a prayerbook; yet when one is cleaving to the supernal world, it is better that he pray with his eyes shut. He should think of how it would be good for God to help him pray half, or most of, the prayers with dveykut, and afterwards when he is tired, he should pray with as much focus as he can till the final Alenu prayer. Even when he merits to ‘ascend,’ it is written how he should experience his feelings: “When he speaks from [within a state of] dveykut with the supernal world, without any foreign thoughts, and a thought comes to him as a prophecy, it will certainly be as follows etc…..At times, he will hear something speaking, for the supernal voice will have cleaved to his prayer and the sound of his Torah study, and he will hear a voice issuing portends…”",
"Even the [practices of] drinking of liquor, dances, and conversations among hasidim which are indeed still practiced have become weakened, if not discontinued entirely, as if they were superfluities. Many contemporary hasidim think, “Can we not be hasidim if we don’t drink liquor etc?! It is not mentioned in the Shulkhan Arukh, nor do we find this commanded in hasidic works.” They do not understand that even if these things are not commandments in of themselves, they are meant to cause an awakening of hasidism within a person. It has come to the point that there are some hasidim who are identical to any other fervent [non-hasidic] Jew, and furthermore have no understanding of what hasidism requires of those who are drawn after it. Is this the meaning of ‘your springs will spread outwards’ on which the Messiah rests his coming, may it be speedily in our days? Torah learning, too, has diminished in our days, and people do not learn as before; but at least one who still learns does indeed learn a bit. Yet this is not the case with their practice of hasidism. For if even those who are called hasidim and truly desire to be connected to the righteous Besht and his disciples, if even they hold onto nothing —neither great nor small—of the hasidism of the Besht, they are not truly hasidim. We can only call them students of Torah, scrupulous in the performance of the commandments, just like non-hasidim. If so, what will become of hasidism, and what will be with the coming of the Messiah?",
"Part B
Let the heart of every hasid be weakened on account of the decrease of hasidic inner spiritual effort and the almost entire cessation of external hasidic efforts and strategies. All the more, the greatest reason for mourning is the complete disappearance of that great foundation of hasidism, the holy fellowship [hevraya kadisha]. It is clear that without it, hasidism cannot exist as it must, for even a day or two. The rebbe cannot be the rebbe hasidism requires of him, nor the hasidim truly be hasidim, without this fellowship. It all, literally, totally, ceases to be.",
"When I search for the model of such a fellowship in the Torah, I discover it in the ‘students of the prophets,’ which includes the prophets of each generation, those whose words were not recorded. Even regarding the supernal sefirot, each can only receive in accordance to its influence on the sefirah below it. When Moses our Rabbi, father of the prophets, saw how Israel had fallen from their yearning and supernal cleaving, as they requested meat for pleasure, he said to the Holy Blessed One: “If You would deal thus with me, [kill me rather]...and let me see no more my wretchedness;” and He said to him, “Gather for Me seventy of Israel’s elders...and I will draw upon the spirit that is on you and put it on them…” God chose seventy men to be with him for the reason we have explained: because Israel could not receive greatness, a casting of light and continuous prophecy, as before, which is why Moses called it “my wretchedness”—that is, a deficiency which affects the giver as well. Therefore, and from then on in, He would give to the seventy elders—“and I will draw upon the spirit which is on you and put it on them.” That is, through them [i.e. the elders,] Moses too could receive [prophecy], or reveal that which he had already received. And through them, they and Moses spiritually influenced all of Israel.",
"We see something similar regarding the other prophets. Whether or not they had prophecies, portends, or chastisement to give over to Israel at a given time, the prophet and his disciples gathered together nonetheless to serve God with a supernal, prophetic avodah. The prophet revealed the light which appeared on him, and they in turn were illuminated by his light and also spread additional light upon him. As the verse states [I Samuel 19:20], “They saw a band of prophets speaking in prophecy, with Samuel sanding by as their leader;” and the Targum [Jonathan] translates, “...a band of prophets were praising [meshabkhin].” This indicates that the prophet gave onto them all of his light from Above, and even the servants of Saul prophesied when they came under his holy shade. Yet, how could this be possible, that the prophet would give over the majority of his light to people who spend their whole year in vineyards and olive-groves, only coming to him occasionally? Can one build a prophet from this, with all his loftiness and influence, to people preoccupied with this world and its needs, even be they servants of God?! If this is what the prophet and his disciples needed, they would be established by him continuously, praising and serving His name with him. Some of them merited thereafter to become one of the forty-eight prophets, and the others were at the least prophets for their own generations, as we said above. They prepared their generation, purifying and elevating it to be able to receive actual effluence of holiness, souls, sefirot, and the spirit of God which He sent him.",
"We have already spoken of the fellowship in Hakhsharat haAvreikhim Chapter 11, but there we spoke primarily to our generation, of how even now we could renew it. That is why we requested of the greatest of the lay hasidim—those with mastery of Torah and understanding of hasidism, each according to his stature, and who want to serve God in the hasidic path—to together form a fellowship. This is not how it was before, when the holy fellowship was formed from those who stood above the hasidim who worked [to earn a living]. While, except for those avreikhim who were supported by their parents, there were hasidim who were engaged in a greater or lesser extent in earning a living, the fellowship itself consisted entirely of people who threw the whole world behind their backs and dedicated their entire being to Torah and hasidic avodah.",
"We said there that, generally speaking, all of the members of the fellowship grew to become rebbes and leaders. We must elaborate and explain that many of these holy fellows, even when they traveled to their own rebbe, were already righteous, worthy of being rebbes and leaders. Yet they did not act as such, tending their own flocks in Israel, because of the great shepherd standing over them—their rebbe, greater than they, who sated and soaked their bodies and souls with Edenic dew. They could not slake their thirst and stop suckling from his holy influence and turn to nursing others.",
"We can, in small measure, gather the extent to which they were already ‘rebbes,’ though not functioning as leaders, while in the shade of their own rebbe, from the fact that on one Rosh Hashanah eve, the Besht gave a request with his name and that of his mother along with redemption money to his student R. Dov Ber, as is known from the discovered letters. Further, the Besht appointed R. Dov Ber to fill his role when he was traveling away from home. We can also surmise in some measure the great holiness of the fellows while still in the shade of their rebbe from the honor shown them by the rebbe. For example, the Besht, in his letter to the holy R. David Lakis, writes “Peace to the honorable one, beloved of my soul, the righteous holy rabbi, man of God, our master and rabbi.” And to the holy rabbi, author of Toledo Yaakov Yosef, he writes “to my student, the holy rabbi, expert in revealed and esoteric realms, man of God, our master and rabbi.” So too thereafter, the great and holy Maggid R. Dov Ber to his students, may their merit protect us, such as when he writes to the holy one of God R. Zusha: “Long life and peace to his honor, my holy primary disciple, holy and righteous one,” etc...",
"Now, though we have described in small measure, per our meager grasp in the holy books, the erstwhile activities and holy avodah between a rebbe and his hasid, nonetheless the activities of the holy fellowship—rebbe- students, angels of God, with their great and holy rebbe upon them—we cannot describe, nor even surmise or contemplate. For is it possible to surmise, for example, that which is known, that when R. Dov Ber would begin to recite a verse to say Torah about, R. Zusha would start thrashing about, becoming impassioned and aflame? If the other students tried to push him outside so that he not prevent them from hearing their holy rebbe’s Torah, he would recite, from outside, the new Torah their rebbe revealed inside. When asked from whence he knew it, he responded that when the rebbe merely said the verse, he opened up the gates of wisdom and the new lights of the secrets of the Torah were drawn forth. Thus, when he heard the verse, he already knew the new Torah, the secrets and insights and ways of avodah which the rebbe would say. This was the reason for his thrashing and impassioned state upon hearing his rebbe recite the verse. Not because he heard, nor that he sensed his rebbe’s thoughts, but rather because the rebbe had opened the gate Above and the light flowed over. [Just as we cannot surmise such influence of the rebbe on the student], we cannot surmise the students’ effect on their rebbe.",
"Yet, we can contemplate this one point, which we have already spoken of above (in chapter five), of the various holy pathways in hasidism. So it was that the holy students, members of the holy fellowship, after their rebbe passed away and they became leaders of Israel in their own right, almost every one of them revealed a new path in hasidism. For example, my holy ancestors R. Elimelekh of Lizensk, the Maggid of Kozhnitz, the holy R. Aharon the Great of Karlin, and the Rabbi (R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi) all traveled to one rebbe, R. Dov, and received one hasidism . Nonetheless, even we with our limited spirit and minds can see how the path of hasidism in Noam Elimelekh stands alone, the works of the Maggid of Kozhenitz stand alone, of the Rabbi [R. Shneur Zalman of Liaidi] stand alone, and the holy path of Karlin stands alone. Is it possible that only after their rebbe passed and then began to lead their communities that they each suddenly began to reveal diverse pathways, while when under their rebbe they did not have different paths, totally unaware of their own individual holiness? This is impossible. And given this, can we surmise the effect such students had on their holy rebbe—rebbe-students, righteous in their selfhood and various paths, requesting and seeking different avodah and insights from their rebbe, and even affecting him, suckling the pure dew from Above within him?",
"It was not only with these supernal angels, rebbes and righteous ones, the first hasidic rebbes, that the holy fellowship functioned with such greatness. Rather, in the following generations till our own, this holy fellowship has been the foundation of hasidism, benefiting the rebbe and acting as a foundation for the hasidim. For when the hasidim are not constantly near their rebbe, so that he might influence them, with them receiving and indeed requesting this from him, they not only will they not ascend the rungs of holiness without great difficulty, but they will also be unaware and unfeeling of that which is already within them. It is like earth: without a seed planted in it, or a vine nourished by it, its vitality goes unrecognized. And, though the quality of humility is a good and necessary one, nonetheless this can cause a negative fall and diminishment for the rebbe. At times, he may feel that he has not Torah nor avodah, nor anything at all, that he is empty, with nothing within. In truth, everything shrinks within him when he has no one to speak to and to influence, as a heart will not move unless it spills out its blood and soul to the limbs and the limbs return it to him along with their dross, and this is its vitality. So too, the rebbe is the heart of the fellowship, and they its holy limbs.",
"From his avodah, ascents, even his falls which are followed again by his ascents, he speaks to them. He hears and receives their contrite pleadings [in the sense of a child pleading before his father]. He speaks of and invests in them to understand lofty matters of Kabbalah according to hasidism; how everything, large and small, is made up of divinity. He speaks of how one can subjugate his will and turn his physicality into holiness and service of God, from subjugation and joy. He not only instructed but also performed this service together with them. Does not the whole world, from the speck of earth on the land to the angels in heavens- is not all their yearning and desire only to praise, glorify, and sing before Him always?!",
"He even, at times, reveals to them a ‘hands-breadth’ description of his spiritual rungs; of how, when he recites ‘from one world to the next You are God,’ he literally sees the world, and how He fills the world; and when he recites “this is my God and I will glorify Him,” he feels or sees before him He who speaks to him, and so forth. He also speaks of more lofty matters, above our grasp, all in proportion to the rebbe and the fellowship. They hear not only his words but also feel his soul which emerges as he speaks, until they see something of what he sees, and become aflame from his passion. When they come close together and are connected as described above, the rebbe’s avodah of selfhood begins to affect them, and theirs on him. This is an avodah which cannot be transcribed in a book. Much light which had been concealed within the rebbe is now revealed to himself and to them, as they are all given an effluence of new light. All arise higher and higher each time, till over time they rise to great holiness. Is it possible to capture the effect on the avreikh-hasid when he came to the rebbe and entered this holy fellowship, and how he prayed and sang songs and praises to God, Who is so revealed to their hearts, minds, and entire being along with these servants of God, priests of the Almighty?",
"Listen to that which is cited in Maor vaShemesh, Parshat Shoftim s.v. “V’ki yavo haLevi…:” “For when a person is awakened...his heart aflame within, to discover the path to light of repentance...he would travel to the tzaddikim of the generation...and they would tie his soul to its roots...Yet we have already said that when one wishes to cleave to the tzaddik...that he should instruct him in his ways, he must cleave as well to those who grew up around the tzaddik so that they can instruct him how to draw from his faithful waters. For he will not understand on his own the ways of the tzaddik, without connection with and love of friends who already know his ways.”",
"And so, when one of the fellows, or an avreikh who has been with the rebbe for awhile and participated in the fellowship, returns to his home and city and the people there see him pray and learn and perform a commandment—indeed, even when they behold this man’s holy visage—this would be enough for them to draw near to hasidism. Based on the writings found in the genizah in Kherson, which have already been published, it appears that members of the holy fellowship were sent to various cities to recruit for hasidism.",
"Not only those precious of spirit, pure souls, capable of becoming members of the king’s household and lofty hasidim-not only they, but also regular householders—merchants, laborers, wholesome God fearers—they too entered under the wings of the Shekhinah, spread forth via hasidism. They too traveled to the Besht and became hasidim by connecting to their rebbe, as explained in the end of the Noam Elimelekh cited above. Furthermore, the lofty hasidim instilled awe and reverence on their entire cities, till all holy matters were performed according to their instructions.",
"But now, due to our great sins, we are without all this. Not only should the rebbe and hasidim bemoans this lack, but all of Israel should cry with eyes flowing with tears. For in place of the avodah of the hasidim of yore, crown ofֿ Israel’s glory, which was to reveal and praise His holy name through lofty avodah, to sanctify every lowly thing in the Holy One of Israel and to hasten the coming of the Messiah speedily in our days, “and all those who dwell on earth shall recognize and know that to You all knees should bow...before You they shall prostrate,” and they shall fear Israel as well, for “they shall see that the Lord’s name is proclaimed over you and they shall stand in fear of you”—[instead of all this,] now hasidim need to do avodah merely to remain faithful, simple Jews. And how much avodah is required of them at home so that their sons, wives, daughters merely fulfill the commandments and avoid transgression, God forbid! Can we hope from such hasidim that the whole city be nullified before them as was with the hasidim before them, who destroyed the evil of the wicked with their very breath? Why should we be so astounded by the abandonment occurring in the camp of Israel—of the lawlessness and gall of the new generation. We are like one without any strategies—knees weak, hands fallen, as the body of Israel falls into pieces. The fortress of the Holy One of Israel might fall, God forbid, if they have no spirit, and if the spirit of hasidism, the soul of Israel, of messianic vitality, is not breathed into their masses, into their very innards and bones.",
"Part C
Given this, when we now return to our words from Hakhsharat haAvreikhim regarding the need to reinstate these fellowships with each rebbe, we understand all the more why it is impossible to raise up hasidism in our generation and draw it at least somewhat near to its roots and past glory, without establishing the fellowship in at least in the way we have described, that is, a minimal version thereof. For even if we do not presently have rebbe-hasidim who stand heads and shoulders above the working hasidim, who abandon any focus on their livelihood and are distant from their physical being for their entire lives, all their years focused only on Torah and dedication to the avodah of hasidism—nonetheless, the hasidim, students of Torah who desire the avodah of hasidism, should still form and connect in fellowship, even if they all work, as we explained there.",
"Yet, we must warn, if they desire to establish a fellowship of even this sort, we must first reinstate the practice of an avreikh’s being supported at his parent’s table for some years (kest-essn), a practice which has grown so weak in our days. These days of being supported by their parents were foundational for their growth, and was so even for the hasidim of prior years, including the holy fellows. This is all the more so now, with the difficult preoccupations one encounters in the world and its matters. Furthermore—and this is the primary reason for the necessity of the kest—though to our sorrow we do not have fellows who will dedicate their entire lives to hasidism, we do have those who would dedicate themselves during the years of kest. At least during these years, their primary focus will be in the hasidic path, spent with their rebbe who will guide them in this path. They will not become unfocused by work-related travels, nor will their rebbe become unfocused. For when the hasidim present change every Sabbath, it either becomes difficult for him to speak and explain an entire (coherent) matter to them, or he does speak but his words to do not enter and cleave to the walls of their hearts.",
"That is, the [aforementioned] ‘entire coherent matter’ is that in which the rebbe attempts to articulate a way for his generation to come close to hasidism, including on the individual level to different types of people, one in this situation and one in that, how each should serve God in their respective manner, etc.., with this amount of avodah, performed with forceful energy, and this amount of thought, as appropriate to him and his avodah. This is in order that they not be like those who wisdom outweighs their actions, nor as a boorish man etc. [Further, the rebbe instructs, if] his avodah has not worked he should do like such and such, and if it has, he should continue another step, and yet another etc.",
"Or he reveals to them a path in speculative matters, so that they grasp not only that which he reveals to them, but their eyes become enlightened in many matters of thought and avodah.",
"Now, in general, in order to explain an entire coherent matter, we need to discuss it over the course of many weeks and months, and sometimes longer. How would it be possible, then, to convey it to different people each Sabbath, so that these matters cleave onto their hearts, if each person hears only a third or a tenth of the entire matter? For the part that one hears he has no need [or: form] nor understanding of it. This is not the case when the avreikhim are supported by their parents, so that at least during those years they can be dedicated to hasidism, spending much time engaged by their rebbe in hasidic avodah. This way, besides the fact that they can hear an entire coherent teaching over the course of the several weeks that they are with their rebbe, even if they miss one or even a few teachings they will not suffer on account of this. This is because every time they do come, they will find one of the fellows who did hear what they missed and will fill them in. Not only will these avreikhim alone soak up dew from the streams of God’s supernal waters. Rather, it will extend to the rest of the hasidim in their cities. Even those preoccupied by their vocations will make space for this matter which they [i.e. the fellows] had heard, to enter into them. Was this not the work of the prophets in each generation, to prepare their contemporaries so that the words of the prophet might enter them? Restoring and [re]establishing [the practice of] supporting them at their parents’ table is, therefore, the foundation for the rectification of hasidism.",
"In the Midrash Tanhumah, Parshat Shelakh, on the verse “God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines,” it reads: “The Holy one said: If I lead them on the straightforward path, each man will seize a field or vineyard, and will become unengaged from the Torah. Instead, I will lead them in the path of the desert, and they will eat the manna… and the Torah will reside in their bodies.” What will we respond when most avreikhim, upon engaging in his vocation has neither field nor vineyard, may the Merciful One save them? He is greatly enslaved to and preoccupied with his work. Are we not destroying his Torah and certainly his hasidism if he do not give him kest?!",
"Granted, the primary reason for the cessation of the kest is the vicissitudes of the times and severe poverty of Israel, may the Merciful One save us. For the majority of householders’ thoughts are on how to scrape together a living and how they might limit even necessary expenditures, so that their households not collapse entirely, God forbid, not perishing in hunger and utter lack, may the Merciful One save them! Or, his mind struggles to devise some new way to get free from his landlord and avoid being thrown on the streets because of rental dues which he cannot pay. When such a person marries off his daughter, he now has another demand placed upon his pitiful head and broken back, to support the couple. And yet: while it is true that Israel’s material troubles torture their souls as well, are not all of the Israelites’ lives bitter and heavy, and the Israelite nonetheless struggles with all his strength and gives over his very soul to be an Israelites and to serve God? Observing the Sabbath has also become difficult for the storekeepers, as is raising children to Torah, and nonetheless every Israelite whose heart has been touched by fear of God, who will never betray his faith—neither he nor his children, God forbid—he does observe the sabbath and raise his children to Torah. Why then [if they still observe these other commandments,] should we treat kest so lightly?",
"There are many things which were not written in the Torah and which in and of themselves are not commandments, and yet they are prerequisites of Torah. Breaking them leads to the destruction of the entire observance of the Torah, God forbid, and by observing them the whole Torah is preserved. Is not the giving of a dowry quite difficult for the average person—and yet the vast majority knock down walls in order to do so, because it is a necessity, for no one will marry off his son without a dowry. So too, we do not treat the value of the couple’s clothing any more lightly than we used to. On the contrary, we have increased expenditure on them from the times they gave kest. Therefore, the reason for the abandonment of kest cannot be the travails of the times alone, but also the lack of understanding that it, too, is necessary.",
"Why do we not pay attention to the fact that one causes the other: since they have stopped the kest, the level of the avreikhim-hasidim has dropped in turn; and, since there is no longer an outstanding avreikh-hasid, who is the foundation of hasidism, the fathers see no reason to trouble themselves to feed him kest. Would they see the avreikh-hasid who was even a bit like they used to be, above and beyond his peers, including even those who are students of Torah: his dedication to avodah, revealed and hidden Torah, his impassioned prayers, connected to God Who is before his eyes all day, his purified traits, loving all of Israel without any distinction, sharing the sorrows of each individual and the collective, working for the benefit of all; and how when he returns from his travels back to the rebbe, it is difficult to look at his face, so full of love and fear and nullification before God etc.. Then everyone would see the necessity of kest and establishment of avreikhim-hasidim. And just like the dowry and clothing, so too the kest—the father of the groom would stand at the setting of conditions upon the engagement, and both of them, the father of the groom and of the bride, would attempt to give so that at least the two of them together could feed the couple and they could spend some years without the burden of sustaining themselves. They would fulfill God’s desire and support them for some years, and their own trade or labor would merit success through this. This is not so now, when we do not see avreikhim-hasidim standing head and shoulder above their pious peers and learners of Torah. The parents error as above, ‘before, when they got married at 15 or 16, they needed to support them for a few years after marriage; but now that they marry after 20, they have already eaten the kest in their fathers’ houses, before their marriages!",
"Yet now, avreikhim, awaken and establish the pillars of hasidism. Do you make little of the words of the Messiah himself, who said to the Besht that his coming, speedily in our days, is dependent on the spread of hasidism? Do the words of the holy Zohar, cited above, not suffice, that hasidism may only be established in marriage? You too, young ones of the Holy One of Israel: if your parents, upon matching you for marriage take kest lightly, you will be robbed through that. For know now that every avreikh hasid (hasidisher yungerman) is a brick in the building of Israel, and every year of kest a stone in the foundation of the Heavenly Temple which will descend below. Without it, the entire structure is weakened, while with it, it is strengthened.",
"* [It is not our intent that a young man should remain unbetrothed until he grows old, God forbid, unless he acquires a betrothal with a kest. Rather, he should be focused on it just as he is on the dowry and clothing. When one, and then two etc. until almost all demand this at the time of the bethrothal, then God will help and kest will return to its normative status]."
],
[
"Chapter 9
And now we come to our primary intent in this work which we desire to compose, should the good and forgiving God merit us. Behold, as we have said, hasidism constitutes a drawing forth, which reveals light in even the vessels themselves, even in this world--”and the whole earth is full of His glory” —, even in earthiness and in the physicality of the vessels. Therefore, [hasidic] avodah is not only performed via rejection of the physical but rather also with the physical, serving God and raising up physical traits, to love God and fear Him with them. Further, we do so not only with the faculties deriving from the spirit [ruakh], but also with the soul [nefesh] and indeed with one’s physical force. These too, we need not afflict and cast aside but rather incorporate them in holiness and service of God. In the holy books, this notion is sourced in a scriptural hint found in the verse ‘for from these we shall take to serve God,’which Moses our Rabbi said to Pharaoh regarding the animals, indicating that these too would come with them [i.e. the Israelites, when they left Egypt]. This means that they would ‘take from them as well,’ that is, from their own animalistic natures, to serve God.",
"In fact, in Reishit Hokhmah, which preceded hasidism, we find avodah of this sort. In the Gate of Love [Shaar Ahahvah], end of chapter 4, he says that one who has no will, even the will of desire, is not [truly] a person, for he will have no will with which to serve God. This is as opposed to one who has will and desires. Such a person should bring his will into holiness, by willing himself to connect to Torah and God’s holiness. Then he will have no need of afflictions and fasts. It is possible that this is the intent of that which I saw in the holy letters of the archive [genizah] of Kherson which have been published, in which the Besht said that the roots of his own path are in the path of Cordevero; and since the author of Reishit Hokhmah was a student of Cordevero, we see how comparable the paths of avodah of the Reishit Hokhmah are to those of the Besht.",
"However, nonetheless, even with our meager intellect we can also discern a distinction between them. For the Reishit Hokhmah articulates there how one can cleave to holiness and nullify all his senses by strengthening one’s will. Without these senses, his soul will cleave to God. Yet, one who has no will at all cannot accomplish this. He cites the story of one who had an evil will and desire for something, may the Merciful One save, and because of his great desire for this thing all his other senses were nullified.",
"Yet, he did not attain this thing he so desired. Now, out of the strengthening of his desire his will became so strong until his soul separated from all other physical feeling. He began directing this strong will to desire God, and he became a holy man of God, to the point that his prayers were heeded and his blessings took effect. The author does not say that the foundation of one’s physical senses are [rooted] in holiness. On the contrary, he seeks to distance one from these senses, though the distancing itself can be accomplished even through an expression of willfulness originally directed towards something negative. Even though such a will was not founded in holiness, nonetheless, since he has the capacity to nullify his other physical senses even without afflictions, when this person is strengthened, his will, singled out from his many other physical senses, cleaves to God. Thus it turns out that his entire being will cleave to God. [However,] the Besht added [another layer] onto all this when he said that, since physicality is also holy, there is therefore no need to distance oneself from one’s body and its senses. Rather, one [merely] needs to remove their negative dross and [then] incorporate all of one’s self and all of one’s physical inclinations in avodah and holiness; not to afflict oneself but rather to strengthen oneself, in love, fear, and the joy of God.",
"As is well known, as the Besht wrote in a letter to the Toldot Yaakov Yosef: “Behold, I have received your letter and see...that your honor says that he is nearly compelled to engage in fasting. My innards trembled on account of this statement, and I add with angelic decree, and joining with the Blessed Holy One and His Shekhinah, that he not enter himself into this danger, God forbid. For this is an act of black bitterness and depression, and the Shekhinah does not resides in depression...but rather in the joy of the commandments…”",
"The Besht thus initiated a new ‘drawing forth,’ of the beginning of a new rectification and revelation, and thus a new path of avodah. For if all is light and holiness, how can we distance ourselves from anything which God has created for us? Do we not thereby distance a piece and spark of holy light? We need merely to remove the evil from it and then the good in it will be revealed, and with it we will serve God. The Besht forbade fasting not only for the [author of the] Toldot, since he was a holy individual, but rather he [forbade fasting] for all. Such is the path of hasidism. As it says in the Noam Elimelekh, Parshat [Ki] Tisa, s.v. veAtah Kakh :” “One should not say that, since it is forbidden for one to derive benefit from this world and from his desires unless it is all for His sake, which is a very difficult, nay impossible, thing to maintain, that he should therefore separate himself from the physical world, not eating nor drinking at all, and becoming totally separated. One should not say as such, but rather should strengthen himself, little by little, to break his desires and turn things over and over, until he arrives at the essential foundation of holiness and its roots in every physical thing.”",
"* [Note: Inter alia, there is no contradiction between his words here and those in Parshat Hukat s.v. Veyikhu elekha, for here too he writes that it is a very difficult work to break all of his inclination and do everything for God’s sake, and the holy books say regarding even the righteous that it is impossible for him to be completely pure as he will be at the end of days. Even according to the citation above, hasidism is merely the beginning of the shining of the messianic light. That is why, if it was possible, he would want to not eat and be like an angel who does not eat, as it says there.]",
"In the holy work Avodat Yisrael, from my holy grandfather, the man of God, the Kozhnitzer Maggid, on the haftarah to Parshat Vayigash, it says that “there is indeed a simple path available, for a person to engage in Torah and prayer...and to afflict oneself in order to become separate from all pleasures and desirables. And there is another path for those who desire to become sanctified, in which even eating and drinking become sanctified etc.. Certainly, one who is able to sanctify himself with even physical things and with desires, his table becoming like an altar, his holiness is greater and more wondrous...Then the power of his avodah will grow, and he will please God a thousand-fold more.”",
"Indeed, the Kabbalists in their holiness also drew forth the light of the supernal worlds downwards, demonstrating how the form of the human body is in fact a form from Above which has unfolded below. [They showed] how the names of holiness are grasped in the things of this world, each name—that is, the names of holiness inhering in them via gematria, notarikon, etc…, constituting the vitality of the thing.",
"Yet, there is a great difference between their path [and the hasidic path]. For, as is known, the spiritual realm does not exist in spatial dimensions, and thus the difference between the spiritual rungs is not that of physical spaces or measurements but rather of [non-spatial] levels and rungs. Just as we say about a Torah scholar that he is a ‘great man,’ not intending that his body is larger than another’s, for we also say about one of small physical stature that he is a great man because we call him as such due to his great level and Torah and spirit—so too when we refer to the ‘supernal world,’ we do not mean merely that it exists in the highest physical level, above the air, moon, sun, and stars in the sky. Rather, we mean that it is higher in level, in spirituality, purity, and holiness than this world, and every world which is purer and holier is ‘higher.’",
"If so, when the holy Kabbalists, may their merit protect us, drew down the holy lights and said that there are holy names in physical things, they merely lowered the supernal holiness to physical things. For example, bread is a physical thing, yet there is a spark of holiness in it drawn forth from three aspects of havayah in the gematria of the word lehem. For the spiritual takes up no space, and there is no physical space between them. Even so, in this physical world, the supernal world can exist and yet still be called supernal. Through this bread, the light of the three aspects of havayah which is from the supernal worlds can exist. This is the ‘lowering’ we referenced above regarding the work of the holy kabbalists. So too, a person’s soul is holy, and his body physical and evil. Yet, a form from Above, a spiritual form, descended and shaped it. It is like forming the shape of a person in cement—the cement remains as such [i.e., the matter remains cement] yet with the form of a person inscribed in it. The difference is, though, that the form of the person in the cement cannot vivify nor animate him, while the form from Above inhering within the body of a person allows him to receive a soul which will be garbed in the body, like clothing which remains merely clothing as it was before.",
"If it is indeed so, that physical matters are lowly—and thus the human body is lowly—and the upper worlds are connected to them only by bending down to them—then, the more one is able to distance oneself from all physical things and to afflict his inclinations, the better. Only with the intellectual faculty of his soul which hovers above his body, in the aspect of his Atzilut, is he able to connect with the lights and names in the aspect of Atzilut which our holy ones have drawn down for him to the world of Atzilut, that is, by performing kavannot with his mind. Had they not drawn down the lights of Atzilut to the world of Asiyah, even though the distance between them is not spatial, nonetheless the [spiritual] distance between them is so great that there would be no kavannot to intend, and they would accomplish nothing even if one would intend them. For he would intend it towards that which is in the heavens, which would not have connected to the earth. But now that our holy kabbalists have drawn the world of Atzilut to the Atzilut within a person, his kavannot, performed in this world, affect Atzilut and the supernal worlds. Through this effect, he is able to sanctify and serve [God] even via his physical activities of this world—though only when they are performed with kavannot. Without them, his body and the things of this world remain merely physical and lowly.",
"But the Besht, in the path of hasidism and through his drawing-down, sanctified the body itself alongside worldly things. Therefore, eating itself is holy and a form of avodah, and a person should not afflict himself. Rather, he should strengthen himself little by little to break the power of desire etc... until he arrives at the essential foundation and root of holiness in every physical thing. As cited above from the Noam Elimelekh, an Israelite, when standing in holy service, in prayer or Torah study and the like, becomes so unified with God, reaching even the light of God’s essence, that is, that which is enclothed, not the clothing. Therefore, the awakening of his self, of the impassioned love and fear within him, is the very foundation and instantiation of the kavannot, as said above. It is also the soul of the words of prayer, the words (tevah) he speaks being the body, and his passion—which is God’s illumination—giving it a soul. A person gives the soul to the word. “Make a window [tzohar] make for the ark [tevah],”—that is, put brightness and light into it [the word], says the Besht. He also says that when one reads the Torah and see the light of its letters, even if he does not chant correctly, since he reads with great love and passion etc, though he swallows the words...God loves him greatly. “His banner of love [diglo] was upon me —his skipping [dilgo] upon Me is loved.” Furthermore, one who inserts kavannot into his prayer only does so with the kavannot he knows. But when he says the word with great connection, all the kavannot enter into the words on their own. (Likutim Yekarim).",
"In Noam Elimelekh, Likutei Shoshana, on the verse “This [zeh] is the day the Lord has made,” it says: We might posit that this is a hint of the twelve combinations of [the letters of the Tetragrammaton] YHV-H, which one must intend every day, all day. Now at first glance [we might wonder,] does the combination not happen automatically as God has made them? Thus the first verse continues, “We will rejoice and be glad in it,” that is, the work is to inject love and fear into this intention. This implication here is that, to the contrary, one does not accomplish much through his mind’s intentions, for they exist on their own. Rather, the crux is [in] his love and fear. His kavannot only incline the vessels of the upper worlds in order to inject love and fear into them.",
"Since all this holiness exists within the person, he is therefore capable of turning his desires, his physicality, every lowly thing, and the animalistic-soul within him.",
"For the root of an Israelite’s animalistic-soul is the face of the ox in the Chariot, as is known from the Raya Mehemna (Naso 123) and in the other holy works, and has become physical in this world and within him due to his lowly actions. When he kindles his light and soul, the holy root of his animal soul is revealed and becomes holy again. When his body and inclinations become holy, the worldly things which he eats and drinks, and which become his flesh and energy, become literally holy when he serves God with the force accrued by eating them, as is said in the holy books. All of this is dependent on the active avodah he does—not sleepily or weakly, but with force, revealing his holy soul. Then his animalistic soul, and that of the world, become sanctified. This is what his cited in Beit Aharon on the verse “turn from evil and do good:” turn from evil by doing good. For by the good one does in serving God, he will thereby remove the evil.",
"Part B
Now, since the sanctification of the world is dependent on the sanctification of a person and on his transformation of himself and of his materiality, and of even the transformation of his evil inclinations to good, we must first clarify this [important matter]. We need to explain all this to you, avreikh, so that you may understand how, according to the hasidic path, even the animalistic soul is transformed into holiness, each person according to his avodah. And how, in this book, we hope to God to discover ways for even our generation on how to quiet the murmuring desires in a person’s heart; and how he may not merely desire to be good and righteous—for what Israelite does not, for his entire existence, in this world and the next, desire and yearn to be among the One who is holy, and whose servants are holy? Who does not tremble and quake from fear, saying ‘Who knows if I am not perhaps banished from Him, God forbid, in the filth of the other side and snakes’ blasphemy?!’ Everyone wants this, and yet not everyone has control of his heart, and cannot always control all his thoughts, traits, and feelings. His rectification and hope lie beyond merely refraining from doing evil. He must also raise up his inclinations and traits themselves to holiness, so that they themselves activate his love and fear of God. Even ‘hasidic seeing’—to see the light of God in everything, not with only intellectualized understanding but with literal seeing, about which we began speaking about in Hakhsharat haAvreikhim—will emerge from him until his entire being will shake from it etc.",
"To explain this, we must first examine a passage in the Talmud (Shabbat 156a): “It was written in R. Yehoshua b. Levi’s notebook… that one born under Mars will be a shedder of blood. R. Ashi said: He will be either a blood-letter, or a thief, or a slaughterer, or a circumciser. Rabbah countered, ‘[But] I was born under Mars.’ Abbaye retorted, ‘Master [i.e. Rabbah] punishes and kills.’” On the face of it, this [passage] is difficult to understand. The Talmud’s position that wealth and poverty are dependent on the stars is reasonable, for since, in any event, there is ‘no reward in this world’ even if one is righteous, it is possible that he born under a star determining that he will not be rich. But regarding service of God, how can we say that it is dependent on the stars whether he will be a thief or other of these evil things mentioned by the Talmud? Perhaps the Talmud means only that he is born with this capacity and tendency, yet is able to overcome his inclination for evil. Yet, if so, why when [the Talmudic sages] Rabbah said ‘I was born under Mars’ did [his junior colleague] Abbaye reply that he [i.e. Rabbah] punishes—that is that he punishes as a religious act—implying that since he was born under this star it was impossible for him for to do anything else, other than directing his tendency towards a religious act? Is it not possible for one born under Mars to overcome this tendency?",
"Even more difficulty emerges from [ibid.] 156b, regarding R. Nahman b. Yitzhak. The Chaldeans said to his mother “He will be a thief.” She covered his head, saying to him “Cover your head so that the fear of Heaven be upon you.” Nonetheless, the Talmud concludes, one day he was sitting and reciting [teachings] under a date palm… (when his cloak fell off his head and) his nature overcame him. He climbed the tree and bit off the dates with his teeth (though they did not belong to him).” Why was it that, even though R. Nahman b. Yitzhak had certainly overcome this tendency, his nature overpowered him and he broke a branch which wasn’t his—[all] because he was born under such a star?",
"We have already said and repeated that we do not intend to understand and describe the state of the talmudic sages and righteous ones, for as we have no comprehension of the angels, we certainly have no comprehension of these individuals and their holiness. All our speech about them is merely in order to learn how they might hint towards our own service and how they might enlighten our paths, the path of God.",
"Behold, Maimonides, in the eighth of the Eight Chapters, says that “we should not think in accordance with the lies of the astrologers, who believe that one’s birth determines his stature or deficiencies and that one is compelled to commit those actions. Indeed, I know that the thing agreed upon from our Torah.. that one’s actions are entirely given over to oneself, without compulsion, nothing else bringing him to them...other than his constitution...which makes something easier or harder. Yet there is nothing to the notion that he is compelled or prevented from doing something.” This implies that Maimonides’ opinion is that there is no compulsion, only inclination; and even the inclinations that one has for this or that is explained by Maimonides as due to his constitution, and not to the stars, as the Talmud indicates.",
"Therefore, it seems clear that he intends something akin to the way the luminaries of the sky affect the earth with their light, as Rashi says on Parshat veZot haBerakhah, on [the verse] “with the bounteous yield of the sun [and with the bounteous yield of the moon…:” [T]here are some fruits ripened by the moon [i.e. cucumber and melon].” Just as the orbits effect changes in the four elements of fire, wind, water, and dust, mixing them and changing from one to the other, and these in turn are the causes of all existence, as Maimonides writes the Laws of the Foundation of the Torah 4:4-6, so too do the stars [have an effect] regarding [human] service of God. Though they do not have an effect on the soul, for the soul and its free will are above the stars, nonetheless they do have an effect one’s body and constitution. Note carefully [Maimonides’ word choice of] his constitution [mizgo]: this one for murder, that one for robbery...Therefore, if one does not merely subjugate and remove his inclinations but rather uses them for holiness—becoming a ritual circumciser, or a slaughter, or a judge—then it might be that he does not fall into transgression because of these inclinations, since he has removed his inclinations and ‘martian’ constitution and tamed them [by directing them into] holiness. This was not the case with R. Nahman b. Yitzhak, for we do not see that he used his star’s inclination for holiness. Therefore, though he tried to force himself to abstain, ‘his nature [nonetheless] overpowered him,’—though, that is not to see that his actually [stole the fruit], God forbid, but rather that his constitution overpowered him for a moment.",
"Maimonides considered the words of the astrologers to be madness, because according to them not only do the stars effect the person alone, but also determine his actions themselves. That is, they not only determine if one is inclined towards theft, but also whether a given act of theft or murder will take place, and by whom. According to them, all is determined by the stars—wealth, poverty, and all other this-worldly matters. If so, these matters are compelled. That is madness. For they [i.e. the stars] in fact only have an effect on one’s nature, on what constitution he will have. As such, they can only incline a person [towards a given action]. After all, if one is born with a sharp mind and then studies philosophy, would we say that he was born under the stars to be a philosopher and not a Torah scholar? Did he not have the ability to choose Torah and to use this mind to become a Torah scholar? The words of the Talmud are in lockstep with those of the Maimonides, for when it comes to service of God and free will, it is certain that the Talmud’s intent is that the stars have an effect on one’s body and humors, as his constitution and capacities are in accordance with them. So too in Shaarei Kedushah of R. Hayyim Vital I:2 it states something similar regarding the effect of one’s constitution and ‘material’ upon him. As we cited above, anger and arrogance come from the foundation of fire, and vacuous things from that of wind, and laziness from that of dust. If one is himself lowly and evil, such that besides his evil inclination, illuminated by this angel, his humor themselves are evil, what is the need for the evil inclination? To add lowliness to his lowliness? His own lowliness should suffice!",
"Behold, in the holy work Imrei Elimelekh from my father and master, the Rabbi and Tzaddik, on Parshat Toldot, it says that the evil inclination of fiery temper can be channeled into holiness, bringing one to a state of great passion [hitlahavut], one’s heart inflamed like a torch. Similarly, in the prayerbook of the author of the Tanya in his commentary to k’gvana—which we cited in Hovat haTalmidim, in the [opening] ‘Conversation:’ “The heat of anger derives from the heat of the heart, and every man who is inclined by nature towards temper, his heart is fit for becoming impassioned by the burning coals of desire.” Upon analysis, we discern the following distinction: Maimonides, when he explains how one can free oneself from his temperament if it be ‘not good,’ says that he should strengthen his effort more than one with a good temperament.",
"And my honorable and holy father, as well as the author of the Tanya, do not say that he should merely work to merely weaken his hot temperament, but rather say that he should channel it into holiness. Indeed, on the contrary [to Maimonides’ advice], therefore, this [approach] inflames [one’s temperament] all the more. This is not merely a piece of good advice, meaning that he could rectify himself without doing so, but that it is merely better to channel it into holiness. This is not so, for it is impossible for him to rectify himself in any other way. This is not merely in order to gain more holiness, but rather that it is impossible to remove their evil without channeling it into holiness.",
"In Noam Elimelekh Parshat Tzav, on the verse “Zot torat haOlah,” it says: “It is impossible for one to break all his tendencies with which he has grown up with from his mother’s womb. Rather one must raise them to holiness. For example, one who has the trait of anger should turn away from ‘external’ anger and be angry at the wicked. So too with all traits.” This refers to the aforementioned hasidic avodah, of ‘for from it we shall take to serve the Lord.’",
"Furthermore, it is not clear that Maimonides himself would not hold this way, given that he wasn’t speaking there of avodah at all but rather of capacities of understanding. For a pure mind is more receptive than a thicker mind, which can only receive [input] with difficulty. So too, it is difficult to make one who is of cool spirit into a mighty person without much difficulty.",
"Behold, as we explained above, the Talmud speaks of temperaments and inclinations, and when it speaks of stars it does so only regarding the inclinations and temperaments caused by the stars. Nonetheless, since we do not now have any knowledge of astrology, when we wish to speak and elaborate bit about it, it is best that we do so in the manner of Shaarei Kedushah, who does not speak of the stars at all but only of the temperaments which are of the person himself. By doing so the words of the Talmud will become clarified to us as well a bit.",
"As is known, there is an angel of the good inclination and an angel of the evil inclination. They both come to try to have an effect upon a person, turning him towards the good or, God forbid, to the bad, through the means of one’s limbs, forces, feelings and thoughts, which use them and become enclothed in them. The good inclination entices one to fulfill a commandment, such as eating matzah. It does not put the matzah in its hand and place it into one’s mouth, but rather becomes enclothed in the person, animating him and thus placing the matzah into his mouth. So it is with the evil inclination when it approaches to cause one to sin by eating forbidden foods, God forbid. If one does not have at the time a hand or if his mouth is shut and he is sick, neither the good inclination could accomplish his eating of the matzah nor the evil inclination for a transgression, may the merciful One save us.",
"Since the work of the angels- that is, the good and evil inclinations- is not meant to merely affect one’s physical actions but rather the entire person—his will, thoughts, traits etc.., therefore, they utilize and are enclothed in all one’s capacities. For example, the element of fire is its own entity, causing hotness. [The use of this entity is] contingent on who is enclothed within and utilizes it: if it is the good inclination, it arouses ‘heat’ for holiness, self-work and passion for God, while if God forbid it is the evil inclination, then it is for anger and haughtiness.",
"The element of wind causes verbosity, and it is contingent whether it is for words of Torah or words of naught, etc... As to how they both can utilize the same capacities, this one for the good and this one for the evil, it is cited in Etz Hayyim 7:2 that the good inclination filters the purity of the blood, drawing the soul close, and the evil inclination the dregs. Now, ever since Adam’s sin, the evil inclination has mixed and become more deeply enmeshed within a person, and it even precedes the good inclination, for the evil inclination is present from birth, ‘sin couches by the door’ and conquered the body and elements of a person. Therefore they are used to feeling physicality and desire. If a person would merely struggle with his desires and subdue his evil inclination so that it not seduce him, then the feeling and awakening of desires in his body, powers, and elements will continue to be seized by it. The evil inclination will have already conquered them and make use of them, to the extent that we could say that it is not the evil inclination alone which seduces him to evil but rather the person himself, in his foundations, is aroused towards evil, from the foundation of fire etc, as aforementioned.",
"Arousal towards evil in one’s body and his foundations and feelings with which he struggles, will not be quieted. His blind, animalistic yearning, without human understanding, from powers and physical foundations without understanding and intellect, will never cease as long as his body, powers, and foundations are within him. Even if one desires and works to distance these from his heart, will, and thoughts, [he will not be successful] since they come from his body, powers, and foundations. This is not the case when one works and expresses his capacities, strengthening the natural temperaments for avodah and holiness. If the temperament of his star, Mars, is strengthened and directed towards murder, he becomes a ritual slaughterer, circumciser or judge, and if that of fire is strengthened and directed towards anger, he should direct it towards holy enthusiasm.",
"Then, on the contrary, he captures his capacities and foundations from the evil inclination and brings them into holiness, leaving the evil inclination outside, like a mere seducer without powers, foundations, or physical tendencies in which to clothe himself and utilize. Thus, he will not have merely stopped up and subdued his physical, evil desires, afraid that they might return to agitate and become strengthened again. Rather, he will have turned them towards holiness. Even if he does not feel them for a long time and thinks “I have purified myself from my sins and filth,” they have really only been [temporarily] subdued within him, capable of returning in the future to seize and impassion him, God forbid. In fact, sometimes after a while they seize him more strongly, as is the nature of forces which are locked up for a while and thereby becoming more agitated and potent. Furthermore, many times it is difficult for one to control himself, conquering and subduing them, and he is left with only good intention, without the means to implement the good deeds, because his good inclination has nothing—no powers or physical foundations with which to enclothe himself and to utilize, for the evil inclination has conquered them for himself. The goodness inhering within him is left [in the state of] will, while his body is dedicated entirely to desire, may the Merciful one save us.",
"Indeed, according to what is said in the opening chapters of the Tanya, to turn the evil to the good, from darkness to light, bitter taste to sweet, is of the level of the completely righteous, the bnai aliyah. Yet Rabbah said about himself that he was merely an average person (end of Talmud Berakhot chapter 9) and not a completely righteous person like King David, who killed the evil inclination. But that is about the angel of the evil inclination itself, the evil itself, subduing it or turning it to holiness—that is indeed a very lofty level which only the bnai aliyah merit—that is, that the angel of the evil inclination turns into the good inclination. And even the level of the average person, which is to subdue the evil inclination, is itself very great, to the extent that Rabbah called himself average. But here, we are not speaking of the angel of the evil inclination itself, rather only of capacities and physical foundations which the evil inclination uses. Regarding these, everyone can steal them from the evil inclination and bring them into holiness, as stated above, even though he hasn’t done so with the angel of the evil inclination itself.",
"Possibly, this is the matter expressed in the second teaching in Likutei Torah of the Rabbi, author of Tanya) to Song of Songs on the verse “[Y]our teeth are like a flock of ewes,” speaking of subjugation and reversal together. It refers not only to the greatest righteous ones but also to every man; for by drawing the blood of circumcision from him and then, when he is in school and does not wish to learn, they hit him with a strap, he thus turns from darkness to light and subdues the other side, see there. [Note: ‘Subduing’ means merely preventing his inclination from acting, while ‘reversal’ means turning it towards holiness, that is serving God even with it. This accords with what we wrote above: since he turns the physical capacities towards holiness, he subdues the evil inclination and conquers it to the extent that he refers to it as a type of reversal—even though he does not turn the essence of the evil to the good, as do only the greatest of the righteous referenced in the Tanya.]",
"Behold, even the ability of a man to rob his powers and elements from the evil inclination and turn them to holiness, derives from the Besht’s drawing-forth which he revealed even in the vessels, that they and their roots are holy. For as long as the vessels themselves were not sanctified, though their roots were in holiness, nonetheless filth and the ‘other side’ grasped their essence. Evil and one’s capacities were not separate entities, separable so that the latter could be brought into holiness. It was only on account of the shining of the initial messianic light into the vessels, accomplished by our holy ones, that we are able to separate them from the evil and to bring them into holiness, establishing them in the aspect of reversal, as aforementioned.",
"One could ask: [I]f our avodah in subduing and reversal now is not as it once was, for it is now focused not on the evil inclination itself but on our capacities, foundations, and physical feelings, how could our avodah be efficacious? For it is possible that we will direct them into avodah and holiness, and nonetheless not subdue the evil inclination, for it [s inactivity would be only due to its] temporarily having nothing to utilize since one’s capacities and feelings are occupied with holy avodah. Yet after a while, when one rests from his avodah, and his capacities are freed-up, the evil inclination will again seize him and utilize them for evil, God forbid, since he had not subjugated the evil inclination itself. Can one who eats non-kosher, God forbid, be assured that he will not eat it again if he has an illness of the mouth and teeth for a couple days and so the evil inclination has nothing with which to cause him to sin and feed him? Certainly, after he heals it will return to cause him to sin again, God forbid. Is it possible for one to be continuously and vigorously occupied with avodah which uses the entire body for service?",
"To this question we would reply [first] that indeed, this avodah of turning his capacities and feelings to holiness will not ensure that he become a completely righteous person, the evil inclination itself turning into the good inclination. For he will not have turned the evil inclination, the angel, itself, but rather its vessels. Do we think that by doing so we can raise someone to the level of the completely righteous, greater than Rabbah, who called himself average [beinoni]? If only we could be average and so subdue our inclination that he we experience no emotions for evil, nor in our thoughts, speech and actions, as the Tanya describes the average person! Nonetheless, we can say that when one continuously engages in this avodah of which we speak, not abandoning his capacities and physical inclinations but rather grabbing them from the evil inclination and serving God with them, then he will come little by little the level of the average person. For first and foremost, he will not sin but rather serve God. By doing so continuously, his inclination and the essence of the other side will be subdued to holiness.",
"Secondly, there are rules and orders of one’s foundations and capacities and emotions, even of his thoughts. If one knows them and uses the elements of his body and soul, he can conquer and subdue them. But if he does not know them nor their paths, not only will he be unable to do so but it will be difficult to make them listen to him even once. This is the cause for a person’s grief when he wonders at himself: even when ‘he’ truly desires something, his body, soul, and thoughts do not protect him. Knowledge of the rules and orders of one’s body, emotions and soul—this is our goal in this composition, with the help of the One who teaches Torah to Israel."
],
[
"Chapter 10
Since the essence of hasidism is not in the intellect but rather in the hasidim themselves—in their purification and avodah—therefore, we see that one expression of its great holiness is in its unfolding (hishtalshelut). That is, its greatness and that of its tzadikkim unfolds in accordance with the unfolding development of the generations. While [the meaning of] textual learning is in a sense fixed, each generation grasping it in accordance with how high or low it is, hasidism, whose locus is in people, inscribed in them, must ipso facto develop and unfold with them. This is not in the sense of being lenient with them, God forbid. On the contrary, they [the hasidic masters] were extremely meticulous and stringent with themselves in their entire process of purification and coming close to holiness. They literally ‘gave over their lives’ to it, and it is impossible to surmise the extent of their reverence and fear, ‘for a hair's-breadth.’ This is why they always saw themselves as deficient sinners, on account of [minor transgressions,] ‘dust of dust’ which no one else would consider sins.",
"My holy and righteous grandfather R. Elimelekh of blessed memory once said about himself that, God forbid, Gehenna itself would not suffice for the sin he committed that day—to wit, that he interrupted his prayers between [the morning prayers of] Hodu and Barukh Sheamar when he asked for the name of the ill person they had mentioned to him—for according to Ashkenazic rite, it is forbidden to interrupt in Hodu since they had already said Barukh Sheamar. His mind was only put a bit at ease because he interrupted for the sake of an ill person, and nothing trumps saving a life.",
"[Returning to the main point,] there was thus an unfolding, lowering the ladder to the state that the generation had become lowered to, in order that they could then climb up higher, and to each time find ways to rectify them according to their generation’s state. For example, regarding the study of Kabbalah: the kabbalists virtually legislated that only one who afflicts himself as they prescribed and as presented in the holy works, who distances himself from the world, and performs the acts of repentance which they defined, is allowed to study Kabbalah. Yet in the holy work Sur Mera, with the additions of the holy righteous author of Bnai Ysoskher, he is lenient, saying that there are some weak individuals for whom it is impossible to fulfill all these prescriptions for their entire lives. On a more basic level, regarding the rectifications which we must do as part of our repentance to God, we see that the generations have descended in their capacities and consciousness. Thus, our righteous ones have been lenient regarding the rectifications for one’s past’s sins which have damaged the supernal worlds, leaving him to instead expend vigorous effort going forward to serve God.",
"In the holy work Imrei Elimelekh from my holy master and father the Rav of blessed memory, Parshat Vayetzeh, it says in the name of my grandfather the holy righteous Rabbi of Mogielnica of blessed memory in the name of my great-grandfather the [Kozhnitzer] Maggid of blessed memory, that a person who desires to truly repent to God...should not first focus his efforts on rectifying that which he has damaged Above, but should first flee from the evil inclination chasing him now...and when he has rectified all his traits, then he can rectify the damage. And in the holy work Beit Aharon he explains that the fact that repentance nowadays is only focused from the present forward is because of the unfolding and descent of the generations. Here are his words in the anthology, in the name of R. Shlomo Karliner: “In order to achieve full repentance, four minutes may not go by without thoughts of repentance. Yet we do not have this capacity so we fulfill the words of the Zohar Parshat Shelakh [which reads]:’ When one awakens in the morning, he should make several blessings, placing his phylacteries on his head…”",
"And (further) in his words of inspiration there: “Our repentance is to repair oneself alone regarding what is to come...With a bit of vim and vigor, one can overcome anything...Because waiting for [the right time] to perform self-repair is not in the capacity of contemporary consciousness, as most of what it’s [trying to] work out within is wandering and lost...Repentance, in our scope, we can translate from [the verse] “Turn from evil” by means of “do[ing] good...” When one draws up holiness into the self, one is, as a matter of course, drawn away from wickedness.”",
"This is all the more true for us, for whom most of the things we need to speak of in hasidism, and most of the books which need to be written, regard the breadth of hasidism rather than its depth. This is so regarding the revealed facets of Torah as well. It is true of a student of Torah who has already filled his belly with Torah, that when he discovers greater depth in the commentaries and sees deeper insights in the Gemara [Talmud], Rashi and Tosafot, his desire to diligently engage in Torah is aroused. But will deep insights help the youth who have abandoned Torah study because they do not want or are unable to strengthen and expend effort in it? Will we rectify this abandonment and draw them close to Torah by adding books with greater depth? If we want to benefit them, we must write books with greater breadth of Torah, which will make it easier from them from the beginning, with minimal efforts, to understand G’R’T [Gemara, Rashi, Tosafot]. Then, when they ‘taste and see that it is good,’ they will expend effort and toil, even in depth. The same is true with hasidism: Now we must unfold and develop along with the generation; for how will it help us to teach them from the deep secrets of hasidism, if they will not understand them? And even if they do, it will be only with their intellects, for they will not expend effort to become sanctified, to become hasidim, with their entire selves.",
"Furthermore, regarding the matter of the need for breadth with which we must occupy ourselves now, both in speech and writing: Our sages said in Midrash Rabbah on Song of Songs Chapter 2: “R. Isaac said, in the past the Torah was the focus, and people requested to hear Mishnah and Talmud; now that Torah is not the focus, they request to hear Bible and Aggadah. R. Levi said, in the past when there was money, one desired to hear Mishnah, Halakha, and Talmud; now that there is no money, and all the more so when they are ill from the servitude, they only request to hear blessings and consolations.” What then will we reply, in Israel’s horrific current state, with constant troubles rather than occasional ones, attacking us from morning to night and night to morning?",
"The sun has been darkened to us, and even the air we breathe has become poisonous to our bodies, inflaming our souls, as if there is no place in the world for us.",
"Our sages said (Bamidbar Rabbah 2) that the flags of the tribes when they left Egypt were colored in correlation with the essence of each tribe. Were we to make a flag colored in accordance with the state of our exile and troubles, we would have to make half of it like burning fire and the other ‘anointed’ with children’s skulls, human blood dripping from it.",
"And yet, in all our troubles, there has always been a refuge for us. In this land they beat and plundered and spilt our blood like water, while in another we were princes and rulers; had we left the land of blood, they would lift us up and bring us to their kings with song.",
"This is not so now, when virtually the entire world has risen against us—this one raising the ax against us, the other plotting to ambush us. This one expels us, and with a murderous cry screams ‘Get out, strangers, from my borders!’ while the other closes his doors to us, saying ‘Do not dare, vile strangers, to tread on my land.” Every nation rests in comfort in his portion, enjoying the dew of his land, gladdened with goodness. And we, with blackened faces and bewildered hearts, are moved about; with fear and trouble, shame and disgrace we are chased, with no refuge. Every moment is dangerous, and each morning greets us with new troubles.",
"And if the troubles of our bodies are unbearably bitter and difficult, those of our souls and the vitiation of our holiness are no less so. The troubles dull our minds and soil our spirits. We have no Torah nor engagement with it, no mind nor passion. Even our very selves are not in our control, as if we are blown about by evil spirits against our will, indeed, blown about by angry gusts. If only, despite all our descents, our children could be our constant comfort, so we might say ‘Behold, our children are [dedicated] to God,’ these holy saplings eventually turning the whole world into the garden of God. But now, they stand to be undermined, because they are stolen from us by seduction, if not by force. To our great shame and trampling of spirit, even our youth who we have raised with great sacrifice to Torah, sanctified to God, abandon us with disdain. With disdain towards us, they are swept up into the enemy’s camp, joining ranks with our Torah’s destroyers.",
"Please God, have mercy on Your holy glory, and upon us, and send a hasty spirit to save us! Show Your greatness and make known Your great power, how You can save one sheep among many wolves. But please God, is there any nation which has recognized and been astonished by this great power? Who among them turns to serve You after you show Your greatness in our travails?! For who would dedicate himself to such a service whose observers are afflicted and wounded with such flowing anger? Who among them will yearn to be counted among the children whose entire lives are dedicated to giving over their blood to their murderers, whose only purpose is to cause their haters to rejoice?",
"Here is the rub: even the avreikhim, the one in a thousand saved from ‘blood, fire, and clouds of smoke’ and by God’s great wonders, prepared to become illuminations of fire, even illuminating for the other’s in the darkness of the underworld—even they do not strengthen themselves to arrive at the pinnacle which God the savior has appointed for them, to reveal the heavenly altar’s coals which [burn] inside them. They suffice with superficiality and easy avodah. Even if in straightforward learning there may still be found individuals who strengthen themselves to study in depth, when it comes to hasidic matters and avodah there are almost none who strive with force and strengthen of mind. If, in the course of their superficial study in the hasidic books, they encounter something deeper or a bit of Kabbalah, they skip it, passing it by without comprehension. They are blessed [with the ability to] arrive at the depth of Torah and hasidic avodah and their heights, but since they do not try to strengthen and exert themselves, how will they know what Torah is, and how will they taste the flavor of hasidism?",
"Indeed, we must beseech them, tearing our flesh from upon us with a noisy cry, until all the hearts of Israel are moved “Ho, lone, surviving Avreikhim, Israel’s treasure and hope! Do not squander Israel’s remaining hope with your laziness, nor let its last flickers extinguish with your recalcitrance!” And yet, is there no obligation upon us to ease their path to holiness? We will not complete our duty via additional depth in the holy books, nor additional intellectual understanding alone. We will do so only by inclining the holy to those who come to be sanctified, and by easing the initiation into avodah of those who come to serve. It is our duty to search out and find for them means and paths through which it will be easier for them to return to our holiness and our hasidic avodah of yesteryear.",
"Let them take one small step after another, toe to heel, and suddenly their eyes will be enlightened and their hearts joyous from the light of Torah and hasidism which will shine before them.",
"In the holy work Beit Aharon, on Passover, it says “My beloved brothers, believe me—and the holy books are full of this—that that which the earlier righteous ones could only grasp in a few days or months, it is now possible to rectify in one moment. For the world has now descended to a lower level… and the Holy Blessed One has had pity on his world, lowering His holiness below.” He lowers His holiness because of the descent of the generation; so too, our tzaddikim have correlated our avodah with the generation’s state, in order to raise up and sanctify them. We must follow their footsteps, and our primary focus in speech and writing must be composed in the vein of ‘unfolding and lowering.’ If it is difficult for us now, in our avodah of average people, to conquer the other side itself, nonetheless we shall steal back our foundations, capacities, and feelings from it and put them in service of the holy. [We shall do so] not only in the sense of subduing it, so that the moment we step the other side will return them to evil’s service, as per the query we posed above. Rather, we shall do so in the sense of reversal, turning a portion of them to holiness. For, as aforementioned, there are indeed rules and orders to them by which we can conquer them.",
"For why, when an Israelite man, when his head-covering falls off his head even while he is sleeping, his hand grabs it and refastens it? Because he has become accustomed to it from his youth. If so, we have thus encountered a rule: through becoming accustomed to something, we conquer our capacities and feelings so that they remain subservient or even turned into holiness even without our knowledge, to the point that it is impossible for the head to remain uncovered, and we serve God from our very selves. Further, why do some ideas which remain imprinted in our minds even without our being accustomed to it [by experiencing it regularly]? For example, if one has a great scare, if this feeling was great enough he will remain afraid even when the person or fire which scared him no longer exists. This indicates that there is another rule: if one feels some emotion especially powerfully, that thought will remain deeply imprinted in him, even against his will. If so, we thus have an etzah as to how to imprint a good thought within us to the point that we will be under its influence even unknowingly, by great emotion.",
"If the sages of yesteryear gave, alongside the grace [shefa] from Above which they and the holy fellowship channeled, also etzot, even simple advice, to those who wished to come close to Him via hasidism, how much must we now try to discover more etzot as to how to capture and conquer our capacities, traits and feelings, even turning them into holiness. We do not wish to suffice with merely making a dry impression with this advice, but rather [desire that it] enter into a man, God willing, into his innermost soul and body, that he should recognize himself and his innermost soul and body. He should be able to look at them and know the ins and outs of their laws. Then he will know how to place a bit and bridle in their mouths in order to make use of them and direct them into holiness. This will be so not only during the times of avodah, resulting in the danger that, God forbid, his inclination might steal them back from him when resting from his avodah. Rather, he will turn them into holiness. This can only be done when he knows and recognizes them. If not, then it will be difficult to bend them to his will even for a short time.",
"For example, in Hakhsharat haAvreikhim we already began to introduce ourselves to this avodah, by recognizing ourselves and the laws of our souls, to conquer them—especially in Chapter Nine, where we spoke of how since our natural law is that when we look at one thought, it dissipates, therefore we should use this law as well when a thought interferes with our thoughts during prayer—that we should look at the foreign thought, seizing it in our minds. Now, we might add to this, that through this knowledge we can identify another weakness which we sometimes encounter in our avodah and, by recognizing its foundation, know also how to heal it. As is known from the holy books, one should envision the Tetragrammaton before one’s eyes, in the sense of ‘I place God before me always.’ It is a bad omen for him if one wants but is unable to do so; and in an manner which seems designed to frustrate, the more he wants and tries to do so, the more difficult it becomes. It is difficult for him to even see the image of one letter, as he worries about this, his forehead starting to sweat and yet he is unable. And yet, do you not already know from Hakhsharat haAvreikhim that even the most familiar image of your father or brother or son which are always in your imagination, including now—when you begin to think ‘What is now in my imagination? The image of my father. I want to imagine it well. Is his image truly in my imagination?’ then the image will weaken in your imagination and cease completely. The more you want and try to imagine it the more it disappears. Therefore, when you fashion a familiar image in your mind and begin to think ‘What is now in my imagination? I want to fashion it well’ etc, thereby strengthening his consciousness and human intellect, then his imaginative faculty becomes weakened and completely passes away.",
"Indeed, for one whose soul is holy and whose body, capacities, and inclinations are continuously becoming sanctified, there is no natural, bodily impediment preventing him from envisioning the Tetragrammaton with his imagination, whenever he wants. For the spirit of holiness governs him, and all else is subservient to it. But one who does not have this spirit governing him so much because he has damaged it, the evil inclination which desires to impede him from becoming sanctified through this holy fashioning of ‘I place God before him always,’ uses and is enclothed now in this person’s nature and impedes him. The more he desires to be strengthened and fashion it, the more his consciousness and human intellect is strengthened and expressed, and the weaker the imaginative faculty becomes and thus the more difficult it is to form the holy name.",
"Among the early hasidim, if something like this occurred to one, he would travel to the rebbe. Whether the rebbe would or wouldn’t give him advice on this, the holy influence of the rebbe and fellowship and the lengthy stay that the hasid would reside there had the capacity to nullify the force of his physicality and emotions until they had no power or natural ability to counter him. Then the man was able to envision the holy name, and besides the fact that the rebbe purified him with his holy influence, he himself [was able to] rectify that which he has damaged. [Note: I have not seen this etzah in any book].",
"This is not the case nowadays, when the rebbe is not like the rebbe R. Ber [of Mezeritch], may the memory of the righteous and holy be for a blessing; and when there is almost no fellowship—though we wish to reinstate it, with God’s help—and the hasid’s travel to rebbe is not as it once was.",
"With the current state of the rebbe and fellowship and pilgrimages, though they do add holiness to the hasid who makes the pilgrimages of hasidism, it is difficult to claim that his entire self and nature and state of feelings become entirely nullified, such that he might immediately and without obstacle envision the holy name. Therefore, he needs to utilize more etzot, [coming] to know the ways and rules of the imagination. Then he can steal back the laws and nature of his feelings from his inclination and use them for the good, in avodah. Even if his inclination desires to disturb his holy imaginative visualizations, it will be unsuccessful, for it will have nothing with which to accomplish this. For, as explained, the evil inclination does not extend forbidden foods to a sinner with its own hands, but rather uses and is garbed in the hand of the sinner himself.",
"When we know the order and laws of his soul and of his deficiencies, then we can know how to conquer and bring them into holiness. While it is true that we have not yet articulated all the physical causes and preventions of the soul which make it difficult to envision the holy name—though we hope to God that He merit us to explain them more within the book itself—nonetheless, even now we can offer some healing remedy. Behold, this individual’s primary will is to envision the holy name, and thus his ego [enokhiut], selfhood and consciousness are tied to this [effort]. As a result, the more he strengthens his will to accomplish this, the more his consciousness and human intellect are strengthened, weakening his imaginative faculty. Therefore, he should abandon this thought of envisioning the holy name, and begin with thinking of something not connected to his will. Since his will is not [implicated] in this [other visualization], it will not be difficult for him to envision it. For example, he should envision the Torah reader, with himself standing or sitting nearby listening. Then, suddenly, they call him up to the Torah [and he should invest his consciousness in imagining this in detail]. At first, he is a bit panicked, for he has never been called up before [or other thoughts which he had once had now arise in his mind] and he does not know whether to go up from the rebbe’s side or the other side. He opens the Torah and the reader chants, and he is looking at each verse—”And God spoke to Moses saying”—and he should focus his thoughts, trying to recall if in that passage it said ‘and Elohim said’ or ‘and YHV-H said.’ In this manner, he will envision the entire verse as well as the Tetragrammaton in his imagination, without his inclination interfering. This stratagem will work as long as he gazes carefully at the words and the holy names each time he is called to the Torah, inscribing them in his mind and imagination. There are many diverse ways and paths in this vein. It takes study as well to [learn how to] strengthen the imagination itself. For how can one envision the holy name or the other things mentioned in the holy books, especially in the Noam Elimelekh “that he should envision Him as if he literally sees Him with his eyes,” if his imaginative faculty is weak, as we have discussed a bit in Hakhsharat haAvreikhim?",
"Even rectifying his character traits requires examination of the soul’s interiority and its expression in the body, for there are primary and derivative rules [to its functioning]. Thus, if he wants to rectify a derivative trait, he will be unable to do so, or will trick himself into thinking that he has rectified it though in truth he has not. For it is impossible to do so as long as its underlying root has not been rectified. As for identifying the thoughts which pass through a person though he is unaware of them—as is said in the Noam Elimelekh, Parshat Vayereh, and if they are of the animal soul, why does human consciousness which also derives from the animal soul not know of them—we pray to God that we may speak of this in the book. We must know all this in order to know how to serve Him, may He be blessed.",
"As stated, it is not enough for one to have a list of etzot. Rather, he must recognize his soul and its ways. Maimonides says in the Eight Chapters that one who is soul-sick requires a soul-doctor, just like one who is physically sick requires a doctor of the body. In Chapter One, he says that just as a doctor of the body must first have knowledge of the body and its parts, that is to say the body of a person etc.., so too a doctor of the soul who wants to rectify one’s traits must know the soul and its capacities in general and particular. That is, one must know not only the soul of the ill person and its sickness but rather also the healthy soul, its feelings, murmurings and movements. Then he will know how to utilize them and enter and turn them into holiness—even his animalistic body and soul—not just during the time of avodah but rather continuously and always.",
"When we examine Noam Elimelekh Parshat VaEtkhanan, s.v.Hishamer, we are moved by this wonderous thing—for he says that it is impossible for one to walk continuously in dveykut, contemplating God’s majesty, without first contemplating, using his soul, as to what his soul is. For in five ways the soul is akin to the Holy Blessed One, and if he does not know them he will not know the Creator; see further there. That is, it is not only necessary for one to be familiar with pieces of advice as to how to conduct himself in order to recognize his soul. Rather, in order to achieve elevated comprehension, he must know his soul first.",
"Yet this is one of the many differences between knowledge of one’s soul and even a small measure of comprehension of the Creator’s works and wonders. For though the Sages said the soul fills the body as the Holy Blessed One fills the world, nonetheless, He is not categorized as of the world, and is not affected by it. The soul, however, is categorized with and effected by the body and the bodily soul, as is stated in the holy books and as we spoke of in Hakhsharat haAvreikhim, Chapter Two.",
"This is one of the reasons for the difference between individual people: besides the fact that the root of one’s soul might be higher than that of another, the body surrounding the soul has great effect. If the state of his body, limbs, mind, and heart are purer, then the soul within them and effected by them is purified or, at least, not hindered by them. If they are coarse and thick, then it too becomes more material. Thus, a person can change not only his in his actions but in his soul as well. When he is wicked, his soul will become different from when he is righteous; and his soul before he enters his entire self into avodah, even had he not been wicked, will be different from when he does enter his entire self into avodah. How great is the distance between generations—besides their distinct roots in God, their actions and deeds of body and soul, even their speech and thought distinguish them and divide them. This is why Maimonides needed to add knowledge of the soul to that which his predecessors taught us, teaching us that in order to rectify our soul and traits we need to recognize and know our souls, because of the change in his generation’s souls. And what then can we say, when our bodies and souls and spirits have so dramatically descended? In order to know how to steal our capacities and inclinations for the evil inclination and to serve God with them, and to raise up via this knowledge to at least a bit of God’s wonders, we must gird ourselves and descend into its depths, as it is now, and to recognize it.",
"This is not to say that one should study diseases of the soul and become a soul doctor like those in the broader world. Our way and understanding is as distant from theirs as is east from west. For, as is known, understanding of the nature of the progression of one’s thoughts, feelings, and other soul activities can only be accomplished by gazing at oneself and the movements of one’s soul, when one looks at them and listens to them, and by listening to others as they convey what they saw when they too ‘toured’ their own souls. Recognition of these hidden phenomena is not like that of the body, which is visible to all who want to know it and to feel, dissect, and see the corpse of another body. The soul is not like this; one cannot see another’s thoughts and feelings. Thus, it is examinable only by self-gazing.",
"Generally speaking, the worldly scientists who examine thoughts and feelings of the soul are without Torah. There are things which an Israelite, fervent for the word of God, fears from doing or even casually thinking of doing, Heaven forfend, yet for the worldly scholars of the soul this is not considered bad and even sometimes positive. Therefore, many of them examine and study only lowly, filthy thoughts. Therefore, not only are our thoughts distant from theirs, but our souls are different; for besides the fact that the soul of an Israelite is higher—a piece of God above—do they not also agree that the soul is activated by one’s thoughts, to the extent that there are many diseases of the nerves whose source is not the material nerves and brain but rather confused and convoluted thoughts and desires which one gets caught in? Since they behold a soul, activated from physicality and thoughts unaffected by thousands of years of Torah, Zohar, and hasidism, they evaluate/judge the man’s soul as an ‘evil spirit’ investing it as full of filthy processes.",
"This is not the case with us, the people of God, who for more than three millennia have desired God, all our thoughts on His holy Torah and pleasing commandments. True, some were more dedicated and some less—but all, from young to old, women and children, every Israelite, everyone’s ultimate purpose and pinnacle of intention was on God’s holiness and eternality. How many Tannaim, kabbalists, pure righteous ones did the holy God send us from above to sanctify us, inside and out? And then the hasidism which the Besht revealed, whose root is to sanctify the vital soul as well as physicality and the body, from the holiness of the days to come—how can we, God forbid, compare our souls, bodies, thought, traits, feelings, all the murmurings of our hearts, to theirs?! If they have scientists who cast aspersions on the soul of a person, it is because they gaze only a trash heap, corpses of filthy thoughts and desires which they have sullied! This rotting heap covers the spark of holiness in them, and for them it is not seen nor found. While as for us—even our animal soul is holy. We want to reveal all its step, and want for each person, with God’s help and following our ancestors as much as possible, to know himself and govern himself with knowledge.",
"The etzot which emerge from this for us are necessary and precious, for through them our bodies and inclination, even our thoughts, will serve God—not to be merely fervent, but to be a genuine hasid.",
"And therefore, you, avreikh, besides those esoterica which you have heard from the Zohar, “as has been clearly demonstrated to you” that hasidism is entirely dependent on avreikhim. For to serve God passively, by avoiding transgression and fulfilling commandments, the elderly along with the avreikhim are capable. But to enter all our warmth, feelings, actions, and even human imaginative faculty into God’s house, turning them into wings and soaring as angels- for all this, avreikhim, with their warmth, feelings, actions, and human imaginative faculties, are more capable. Is such avodah, with its exercises, possible, if not for avreikhim supported by their parents, free from labor and business?",
"If [you], a hasid, will be free [from such material concerns while an avreikh], then thereafter, when you got out into the ‘market,’ even while you are standing in your shop, you will be a hasid, one whose very limbs and fibers are full with hasidism and soaked with holiness.",
"We must, with God’s help, reinstate the kest, and make hasidim- avreikhim, and [re]establish the holy fellowship—sanctifying the whole world, the Besht’s wells spreading forth, hastening the coming of the Messiah, with God’s mercy!",
"From the depths of my heart I pray to God: Please, merciful Father, who has mercy on his lowly children that they not be banished, and on his righteous children-prophets and servants—that they not be pushed aside. Have mercy also on me and draw me close to sanctify and serve You. Enlighten my eyes so that they see my innards and soul’s secrets, that I may see each path unbeknownst to the eagle’s eye, each vein revealed to me, and I will return it and myself to You. And via my gaze so too may others gaze at themselves, and in my return may they return. May I be built from them, and in their merit may I merit as well. In Your holiness may we all be sanctified, and may the glory of Your kingdom be revealed upon us all, those dwelling on high and below; ‘and all the people of the earth shall see that the Lord’s name is proclaimed’ upon us; and may they say, God, Lord of Israel, is King, and ‘His presence fills the entire earth!”"
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]
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