a) There are such tzaddikim who are 'teachers of G-d', that's to say, they teach G-d, so to speak, by giving Him advice. They go as messengers of G-d to reprimand Israel and return them to the Holy One. Because of this they are called 'legs' because of the advice, as Rashi explains on the verse (Exodus,11), "The people who are at Your feet." – 'who walk in (follow) Your advice'. When the Holy One decrees a harsh judgement on the world and it has to be in accordance with the laws of the Torah, and since the tzaddikim are teachers of G-d, so to speak, He consults with them and reveals to them the judgement decreed on the generation. Then the tzaddik covers the words of Torah and seals them, as it says, "as a fountain sealed."(Song of Songs,4,12) so that the forces of evil will not take strength from them and so that the decree won't become cruel, Heaven forbid. These tzaddikim to whom the decree has been revealed, go and reprimand the generation in order to make them repent and return to the good, thus sweetening the harsh judgement. Even at the time they teach ethics they are careful to seal and hide the decree so that the forces of evil cannot draw strength, Heaven forbid. Because of this they are called a seal within a seal. This means a seal of the legs and an inner seal. These tzaddikim, teachers of G-d, who reprimand the generation increase peace in the world, as it says, "All your children will be learned in G-d's ways." (Isaiah,54) for they go to make compromise and peace between Israel and their Father in Heaven.
b) It is impossible to receive reprimand and ethical teachings from these true tzaddikim other than by faith, for faith is like hands which receive the reproach. This is a higher seal than the previous one; that's to say, the seal of the hands, an outer seal. This seal needs extra guarding so that this seal won't get spoilt, meaning faith won't get spoilt, for by being spoilt, heaven forbid, they can spoil the inner seal as well and then the peace in the world becomes damaged, Heaven forbid. Then, by faith being spoilt, this leads to atheism and false beliefs and to several kinds of mockery such that a person doesn't listen to the reproach at all. By the reproach and ethics being damaged it leads to people being uprooted and having to wander in exile; it causes controversy in the world, the opposite of faith. It turns out that faith is the main thing, the essence of the higher seal of holiness which includes all holiness. Then, with faith, people will listen to and accept the reproach and return to G-d and He will have mercy. So, all the realm of holiness is protected by faith.
c) It is impossible to merit to perfect faith other than by coming to the true tzaddikim of the generation. They draw down the main faith of Israel to the generation for they encompass all the leadership, faith and holiness. And the main tzaddik, who is an aspect of Moshe, and is called because of this the Faithful Shepherd, for he shepherds faith and rectifies it to bring it to perfection; he is one of the seven shepherds of each generation.(See Baba Metzia,87, about Rav Chia and his sons.)
d) It is impossible to come to these shepherds and to approach the realm of holiness other than by boldness specifically, as the Sages said, "Be bold as a leopard."(Perkei Avot,ch.5) like it says, "You guided them in Your strength to Your holy dwelling." (Exodus,15) for there are shepherds from the Other Side and they are also the famous leaders of the generation who force people to lower themselves to serve them; their main power is through audacity, for audacity is "kingship without a crown." (Sanhedrin,105A). They are like dogs in their boldness, they are "the face of the generation which is like a dog" (Sotah,49B), as it says, "the dogs are bold of soul…they are shepherds."(Isaiah,56,11). Therefore it is impossible to be saved from them , from under their control, other than by having great boldness, by standing up to their evil audacity and by being strong willed against their will. So it is impossible to save oneself from all the obstacles, opposers and opponents of truth and to come close to truth other than by holy boldness. (See Shulchan Aruch, Ch.1).
e) So also, a person has to have holy audacity against himself, that's to say, against the audacity of the body which is so bold and strong in its bodily cravings; it has no shame from the Holy One. Through the audacity of the body, the soul can't support itself and come close to the body to inform it of the soul's perceptions. For certainly the soul of a person always sees and perceives very sublime things, but the body doesn't know of them at all because the soul is far away from it due to its audacity since it is very strong with cravings. Each person has to have great mercy on the flesh of his body and make sure to purify it, to break its evil audacity of physical cravings in order to allow the soul to come close to the body and show it a reflection of each perception it ascertains so that the body will also know of it. Therefore, one needs holy boldness to stand up to the audacity of the body. This holy boldness comes by means of the voice of holiness. All the sounds of the voice, whether screams or sighs or the sound of a shofar, song or the words of true tzaddikim and all the other sounds of holiness, all of them reflect this holy boldness. Even the sound of the rattling of coins being given to charity, this is also the sound of holy boldness. By these sounds we break the audacity of the body.
f) The essence of a man, what is called 'me', is the soul which is eternal. But it is far from the body and flesh because of their boldness and cravings. When a person breaks this boldness, the soul can approach the body for it won't be trapped in its delights. Then the soul will be able to return to its true virtue and delights through the delights of the body. It is a benefit for the soul to fall sometimes for when the body is pure and bright, the soul can raise itself and return to its proper level by way of the delights of the body. Since the body is also good and kosher and isn't trapped in physical delights, the soul can return to its true virtue. So also by the impression left in the body by the lights that the soul radiated in it previously; now the soul can by remembering, rise and return to its proper level. This it what it says, "from my skin I will see G-d." (Job,19:26). That's to say, a person can see from his body and flesh very sublime perceptions which the soul perceives at all times. And by the voice of sighing, which is holy boldness, the audacity of the body is broken and then the soul can come close and the bone will cleave to the skin, meaning that the soul will cleave to the body. That is what it says, "By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones cleave to my skin." (Psalms,102).
g) So, generally among people, there is an aspect of bone and flesh. The true wise man is the bone, like the soul of the people who are below him. When they are like the flesh to the tzaddik, then they hear the sound of sighing of the wise man, and this breaks their body. As a result, he can come close to them, as it says, "by the voice of my groaning etc." However, sometimes the audacity of the Other Side increases, in particular and in general. Therefore, at such a time, the true wise man is far away from them and cannot radiate within them and let them know of his wonderful perceptions; this is since they don't cleave to the wise man like the flesh to the bone. Similarly, the body is far away from the soul to such a degree that it isn't flesh to the bone and doesn't hear the sound of the voice at all, even when he sighs and shouts out to the Holy One. Because of its great distance it only hears the echo and so doesn't merit to break the boldness of the body. So also, the audacity of the people isn't broken by the sound of sighing and by the reproach of the true tzaddik because they only hear the sound of the echo. For when the voice of holiness is aroused, the voice of the Other Side is also aroused and that is the echo which arouses their sins and they shout their accusations, Heaven forbid. By serving the wise man, one becomes flesh to him and can cleave to him; through this one can merit to hear his voice such that the boldness of the Other Side is broken. In a similar way, when the body serves the soul by performing mitzvoth which require action, the body becomes flesh to the bone which is the soul; then he can hear the sound of his own sighing and shouting. As a result he will be able to break the boldness of his own body. This is how we reach perfect faith which includes all forms of holiness which we receive from the true tzaddikim of the generation.
h) To achieve holy boldness one needs joy, for the main boldness and strength in a person, which allows him to approach the service of G-d, comes through happiness and joy, as it says, "For the joy of the Lord is your strength." (Nechemia, 8:10).
i) Achieving joy is through Torah and prayer which are an aspect of 'we will do', meaning it's revealed, and 'we will listen', that which is hidden. This is an aspect of, "Everlasting joy will be on their head." (Isaiah,51:11). Those are the two crowns that were placed on the head of each Jew at Mt. Sinai when they said "we will do and we will listen", as the Sages tell us (Shabbat, 88).
j) Each person has an aspect of the revealed and the hidden, which are an aspect of Torah and prayer. We all need to go from one level to another each time and to go from one world to another such that we merit each time to a new level of 'to do' and 'to listen' which is higher than before. Every time he has to turn the "listen', the hidden, which is prayer, an aspect of the words of Torah which surround each mitzvah but don't state explicitly how to serve G-d, which is an aspect of G-d's Torah, as it says, "the hidden things are to the Lord, our G-d." (Deut.29), this has to be turned into 'I will do' which is revealed and has become an aspect of "his Torah". Then he will merit to a new, higher level of 'to listen'. When a person comes to a higher level than before, what was hidden becomes revealed so he receives a new level of 'listen', of the unknown. So on, from one level to another. One has to learn Torah and pray a lot to G-d that He will reveal the unknown such that it becomes understandable. Afterwards one has to pray so that the higher level of the unknown become revealed to him. So on, each time from one spiritual level to another, higher and higher, each time asking from the Holy One to understand that which is more hidden until one arrives to the beginning of the point of Creation which is the beginning of the World of Atzilut (the highest world from before Creation, closest to G-d). There also there are aspects of the 'to do' and 'to listen' and there is the real Torah of G-d, so to speak. The truth is that in every world and at every level there is the Torah of G-d, so to speak, for when the Torah is beyond our understanding it is called G-d's Torah. However, in the aspect of 'to listen' at the beginning of Atzilut, there exists the real Torah of G-d for there is nothing higher than that, other than literally G-d's Torah itself. Then he can become included in the Infinite, blessed be He, such that his 'to do' becomes literally the Torah of G-d and his 'to listen' becomes literally the Prayer of G-d. For there exists the Torah of G-d, as the Sages said, "I fulfilled it first" (Jerusalem Talmud, Bikurim and Rosh Hashana). There is also the prayer of G-d, as our Sages said, "From where do we know that the Holy One prays (Berachot, 6); it says, "make them joyful in My house of prayer" (Isaiah,56,7). By this way one merits to joy, as mentioned.
k) However, the main perfection of joy is by fear, for it says, "rejoice in trembling" (Psalms,2). Fear is an aspect of shame, that one feels fear and shame before G-d so you won't come to sin, Heaven forbid, as the Sages said (Nedarim,20). Shame is a very great virtue. That is B'reishit which includes the letters for fear ('yire') and shame ('b'shet') as it says in the Tikkunei Zohar,2. fear is an aspect of prayer, as it says, "who fears G-d will pray" (Proverbs,31), for one merits to prayer primarily through fear of G-d and shame. By praying with perfect intention and concentration one achieves prayer which contains everything.
l) "In the beginning" (B'reishit) is one of the Ten Sayings with which the world was created (Zohar,T'rumah). It is a complete Saying. Therefore, faith is called Yerushalem because it was mainly built from B'reishit – fear and shame; that is full fear (yira shalem), a full Saying. This means that its building is mainly through fear, a full Saying, which corresponds to prayer. By prayer we merit to everything, to joy and then boldness, by which we can come close to the holy shepherds; this leads us to faith, which is Yerushalem, as it says, "a faithful city." (Isaiah,1,26).
m) When one wants to progress from one level to a higher one, first there has to be a fall, for the whole purpose of a fall is to prepare for an ascent, as it says, " let this stumbling be under your hand." (Isaiah,3,7). 'There are words of Torah that a person can't understand fully unless he first stumbled in them' (Gittin,43). This stumbling is the descent. From this every person can understand how much he needs to strengthen himself in the service of G-d; he must never fall and become discouraged from all the falls and descents in the world. Rather, he has to strengthen and encourage himself while not looking at all this under any circumstances, whatever befalls him. Finally, he will merit that all the descents in the world will turn into great advances for the purpose of each fall is to prepare for a spiritual advance. There is a lot to be said about this subject because everyone always thinks that his own situation is so bad that this idea does not apply in his case. People think it only applies to those on high levels who constantly rise from one level to the next. But you should realize and believe that it holds true even for people on the lowest levels, the worst of the worst, for G-d is always good to all.
n) By pride a person falls into captivity, as the Sages said. (See Megila,17)
o) The attribute of arrogance is very bad indeed when not used for a holy purpose and especially when used against those who really fear G-d and similar cases, for "the arrogant go to Hell" (Perkei Avot,Ch.5:25). Avraham exchanged all the punishments for each thing for being subservient to the nations (See Midrash, Lech Lecha, Ch.42). However the punishment for arrogance remains just in Hell. However, one has to know that just as boldness is a very bad trait, nevertheless one has to have holy boldness specifically in order to stand up to the arrogant ones of each generation who prevent a person from coming to true tzaddikim and from entering the realm of holiness; for it is impossible to enter the realm of holiness other than by boldness, as the Sages said, "The Torah was given to Israel only because they are bold." (Beitza,25).
p) The rectification of these two seals, which are a seal within a seal, is on Yom Kippur and Hoshana Rabba, as is known. All this is by the voices of holiness, for then the People of Israel shout out in prayer to G-d. That is why (the month of ) Tishrei has the same numerical value as twice 'seal' (alluding to the two seals) together with the two words. That is why Tishrei is called 'the month of the strong' (Kings,1,8) which alludes to their power and boldness. It is then that we blow the shofar for the sound of the 'tekiot' also represents holy boldness which breaks the arrogance of the Other Side, specifically and in general. So also do all the voices of holiness. Therefore Tishrei is the joy of Israel, for holy boldness comes through joy, as it says, "for the joy of the Lord is your strength." (Nechemia,8). This verse also talks about Rosh Hashana (Tishrei).
q) A Jew has to feel very ashamed before G-d so that he does nothing against the will of G-d, Heaven forbid and certainly, even more so, not to sin. If he doesn't draw upon himself a feeling of holy shame in This World, he will certainly be ashamed in the World to Come and that is the most difficult of all punishments; the anguish and shame in the World to Come is very, very difficult, harder even than the bitter punishment of Hell, Heaven save us. Even every tzaddik will feel shame before his fellow who is greater than him spiritually. About this the Sages said, "Woe to such shame, woe to that disgrace." (Baba Batra,75) Even more so will sinners feel shame, Heaven forbid; it is impossible to even imagine in This World how great the anguish and shame will be in the World to Come, Heaven save us. When one merits to holy shame, one can achieve prayer, joy and holy boldness; then one can come close to and be included within true tzaddikim and receive from them really perfect faith.