a) Through belief in Torah sages, a person's brain becomes purified and he merits to clear intellect. As a result of this he merits to ascertain and apply true judgements from whatever he learns; true judgements, that's to say, correct behaviour in the service of G-d. He will know how to behave in each thing, whether for himself or for others who conduct themselves according to his opinion. However, when he blemishes his belief in Torah sages, a person is sentenced to weariness of the flesh, that's to say, bodily wastes, as the Sages said, "Someone who mocks the words of the Torah sages is sentenced to boiling excrement, as it says, (Eccl.12:12) 'much study is a weariness of the flesh'" (Eruvin,21). Then the putrid vapours rise to the brain, mixing and confusing his mind such that he can't get any true judgement or true proper behaviour from his learning. On the contrary, he concludes things that are the opposite of the truth, like Do'eg the Edomite who learned a crooked judgement saying that David was not fit to be (considered) part of the community of Israel. This was because his learning was an aspect of bodily wastes. (See the original text for a full explanation.)
b) There are leaders who, are called by the name of Rabbi, but their learning is from bodily wastes and refuse. They cannot even guide themselves and even more so others. Nevertheless they take greatness to themselves and chase after leadership in order to guide the world. Each person has to see to it that he doesn't give support to them and not to give them any strength or stature, so that they will not be called rabbis. For they themselves are not so much to blame; they have a big evil urge to guide the world. However, those who give them strength and status and cause them to be designated as rabbis through their support, these people will be held accountable for this in the future.
c) By giving status to a rabbi who is not worthy, the power of the written word of the Jews is weakened and this gives power to writing of the hand of the nations. Because of this they decree that there will be no power to our writings, rather, only their writings have power and so Jews will have to learn their writing. As a result of this, they decree that Jews will be exiled from the places where they have already settled to places where no Jews have ever been. This is an aspect of exile from the Land of Israel. By this, our knowledge of the movement of the constellations in the heavens has been taken from us; that's to say, the knowledge of all the changes and future events that occur to us through the constellations. This is the secret of the method of intercalation which is passed over to the nations. For the neshama controls the movement of the constellations (see the original text). Who knows their workings like the leader, but this neshama needs to have a body which is pure and clean. In a place where Jews have settled, the air has been sanctified in the aspect of the air of the Land of Israel (see full text). Then all the fruits and grains that grow there and which sustain man, they are the source of his sperm from which the body is woven. It is all an aspect of "the fruit of the Land" (Isaiah, 4:2). Then it is fitting to receive a great neshama which controls all the motions of the constellations. As a result he will know the movements of the constellations which is the aspect of the secret of the intercalation, as above. But when the Jews are driven out of the aspect of the Land of Israel, then they cannot form holy bodies and cannot receive a great neshama. Therefore, through this, the secret of the method of the intercalation is taken from us. All this occurs because we give authority to rabbis who are not worthy. However, when the Torah sage, who is worthy to be given authority and is ordained as a rabbi, by this we bring a radiance and strength to our writing. Then all the judgements of all their behaviour are all determined by our writings. Then, through Jewish writing, the air becomes sanctified in an aspect of the air of the Land of Israel and, in turn, this rectifies everything, as mentioned.
d) Also by blemishing one's faith in Torah sages, a person never has perfect advice; he is always in doubt and his mind is torn between two directions. By this blemish he is sentenced to boiling excrement, as mentioned, and his heart becomes filthy like a toilet which is a place for the advice of women, as Rav Ilish said (Gittin, 45). Then all his ideas are foolish and he doesn't know how to complete any idea in his heart about how to behave with regard to anything.
e) Whoever mocks holy books based on our holy Torah, he will also be sentenced to boiling excrement. He will not merit to derive correct behaviour from his learning. His advice will always be split until he returns in perfect repentance; then everything will be rectified.
f) For anyone who has already sunk into these bodily wastes, there exists water which purifies from this filth; in the aspect of "I will sprinkle pure water upon you, and you will be pure…from all your idols I will cleanse you" (Ezekiel,36:25).These waters are an aspect of controversy, called (in Aramaic) 'plugta', as alluded to in the verse "peleg Elohim" (a river of G-d), "full of water" (Psalms,65:10). For by the controversy which comes upon a person, he returns in repentance and rectifies any blemish in the faith of Torah scholars. The main reason that a person suffers controversy is because of his lack of faith in Torah scholars. According to the degree of the blemish, so is the amount of controversy that he experiences. Therefore, through the controversy, a person can contemplate how he has blemished his faith in Torah sages and then repent by increasing faith in Torah sages. In so doing, everything mentioned above will be rectified. There are tzaddikim of the generation whose faith is certainly perfect, nevertheless there is controversy on them. This is an aspect of "he bore the sin of the many" (Isaiah, 53:12); they suffer the anguish of controversy because of the blemish in the faith of Torah scholars of the general public. Through the controversy which comes upon them, they rectify the people's lack of faith in Torah scholars.
g) When a person is aroused from the controversy that comes to him and repents on any blemish in his faith towards Torah scholars, this leads to the sweetening of any harsh judgement in any place where there is some kind of constriction and severe judgement. There are several holy books now that are according to the holy Torah, both the Written and Oral Torah, and so there will be more books in the future, and the world needs them all; it is forbidden to mock any of them, as mentioned. In the beginning, when he didn't have faith in Torah scholars, all these books were like nothing to him, because he mocked them. But when he returns in repentance, having been aroused by the controversy that came upon him, because of a blemish in his faith towards Torah sages, then these books once again become important in his eyes. This is an aspect of "and my adversary would write a book" (Job, 31:35). By the controversy and argument that he experienced, a book was created. There are tzaddikim of the generation whose faith is certainly perfect, even so, there is controversy on them, because they do not believe in themselves. They don't believe that G-d takes delight from the Torah innovations that they innovate. As a result of this they weaken in their efforts to write their innovations in a book. Someone who merits to create Torah innovations by himself and his intention is for the sake of Heaven, has to have faith also in himself, to believe that the Holy One has great pleasure from his innovations, as mentioned. If he doesn't believe in his own innovations, then this is also a form of blemish in faith towards Torah scholars and then he will also suffer controversy; he will, as a result, repent and his innovations will regain their importance in his eyes, leading him to return to innovate Torah ideas and write them down; from this a book is created. Behold, all the sweetening of harsh decrees is through the intellect, which is called 'kodesh' (holy), as is known. Every harsh judgement and constriction has a particular intelligence which can be sweetened by it. However, there is a Supernal Wisdom in which all the constrictions and harsh judgements are sweetened. The Torah stems from this Supernal Wisdom (as it says in the holy Zohar,Pt.2,62). But the Torah cannot receive from this Supernal Wisdom other than when it has perfection. Perfection of the Torah is by the Oral Torah, therefore, through the new books written when a person suffers controversy, the Torah becomes perfected. Then it can receive from the Supernal Wisdom, which is an an aspect of an all-encompassing intelligence, an aspect of "the Holy of Holies", an aspect of the Foundation Stone, which bestows all the wisdoms and intelligences. Through this, all the harsh judgements are sweetened.
g) By means of traveling to true tzaddikim on Rosh Hashana, we sweeten all the harsh decrees in the world. This we need on Rosh Hashana, so we travel specifically for Rosh Hashana.
h) In addition, by many Jewish souls coming to the real tzaddik and uniting together, in great love, great joy and immense happiness come about.
(Prayer 61)
Let us merit to have children, living and enduring for Your service, for fear of You and for the Torah. Help us so that our eating and marital relations be in great holiness until we merit to give birth to very pure, holy bodies that will be fitting to receive very great higher souls, holy souls which will have great perception; such that they will merit to ascertain in This World the secret of intercalation (harmonizing of lunar and solar calendars by inserting a day or month) and to know the secret of the cycle of the heavenly spheres and all the matters and changes brought about by them, as is Your good will. Lord, full of compassion, have mercy upon us, help us and save us, Your Nation, the House of Israel, so that we all merit to have children and raise the holy souls drawn to us at all times by holy honour. May our wives give birth very easily, without any difficulties in childbirth at all. Let us merit to raise our children in contentment and peace without any anguish of parenthood at all. In Your bountiful mercy, grant us fear and love so that we truly fear and love Your Name and by this, bestow upon us power of the Holy Heavenly Hands – Mighty Hand and the Great Hand. By this, may we merit to give birth to and raise the soul in contentment and tranquility without any difficulty in childbirth and without any parental anguish at all.
Great in advice and mighty in deed. Your eyes behold all the ways of mankind,” who knows and understands their thoughts and secrets. You save and redeem them from all their thoughts and secrets. You save and redeem from all their oppressors. Have mercy upon me, for Your Name’s sake; help me and save me very speedily so that I can perform Your will. Provide me with good advice; grant me perception, understanding and intellect so that I may merit to know how to give counsel to my soul wit regard to everything in the world. May I merit to always have perfect advice. Let me never be in doubt about anything. Do not split my advice into two so that it is ambiguous. Heaven forbid. Grant me “the spirit of wisdom and understanding; the spirit of advice and might: the spirit of knowledge and fear of G-d.” Have mercy me and save me; let me merit to real belief in the sages, as You desire, so that I believe in all the true sages with really perfect, wholehearted belief. Let me never swerve from their words of advice, whether to the right or to the left. By this, let me merit to the holy judgment, to really judge myself. Bring my judgment out into the light.
Grant me merit to always learn Your holy Torah for its won sake, to learn, to teach, to observe, to do and to fulfill with love all the words of Your Torah. Enlighten my eyes in Your Torah. Grant me holy wisdom, understanding and perception in order to gain insight and understanding from all my learning of Your holy books. Let me understand and learn rules from them all, with regard to really good and just behavior. Let me not swerve or turn away from the truth, whether to the right or left. Rather, let me merit to know how to behave with regard to everything by my learning the holy Torah.
Take pity and have mercy upon my poor, wretched soul. Save me from foolish advice, from the advice of women, from weak advice, from ambiguous advice. Now I am in doubt all the time and do not know how to give perfect advice to my soul about how to behave with regard to anything. Every time I desire to find a good counsel how to really come closer to You, I do not succeed. Because of this my advice is ambiguous and I have many doubts. Sometimes it comes to my mind to do a certain thing and to behave in a certain way and I even have many arguments and proofs that I must behave like this but, when I have finally decided to do this, when I begin to do it, so other ideas come to mind which contradict the first piece of advice. I get lots of reasons and proofs that I have to do exactly the opposite, such that my advice is split into two and is always hanging in the balance without my knowing how to decide one way or the other. Even if, sometimes the advice clearly points in one direction I do not merit to always have strong firm advice. My advice is very weak. All the time my heart gets doubts and confusions which weaken my advice and continually overturn my mind and heart, making me think that I should not do it like this…. Because of all my many immense sins, iniquities and wilful transgressions, I come to foolish, weak, ambiguous advice.
My Father in Heaven, have mercy upon me, my Father in Heaven, I do not know with what words of pleading for mercy or what words of crying or which words of sighing and shouting out to You I must use so that You will answer me and come to my help. In Your bountiful mercy, rectify all this by Yourself, for I have not the strength to rectify this. Even one point of all this is beyond my ability to rectify. I rely only upon You. Full of mercy, help me. You who are full of salvation, full of saving, full of good advice, provide me with good advice from You. Let me merit to perfect advice and let me fulfill it in such a way that I may now escape from all that I need to escape from. Yours is advice and wisdom; Your advice is faithful and Your deed truth. You are righteous and honest, close to those who call Him truthfully. Have mercy upon me for Your sake. Take pity upon my soul, upon all my children and all those dependent upon me. Grant me perfect, true and proper advice and let me merit to carry it out in such a way that I can save my soul from the Pit. Let me merit to always progress in the path of truth without any confusion of the mind at all, so that I may serve You with really perfect worship, all the days of my life, the life of my children and their descendants, from now on, forever.
Have mercy upon us and save us. Our Father in Heaven, Master of All, Lord of Peace, King to whom peace belongs, draw upon us blessing, life and peace. Save us from all sorts of controversy and strife. Protect us and remove from us any enemy, plague, sword, hunger or sorrow; remove Satan from before us and from behind us. Please save us from our enemies and persecutors, whether material or spiritual. Save us from all those who oppose us or hate us, from all the slanderers who speak evil against our soul. Save us from all the accusers and close their mouths. May the counsel and thoughts of those who rise against us be thwarted and frustrated. In Your bountiful mercy, guard us and save us so that the controversy will not harm us, either materially or spiritually. Rather, grant us by the controversy to repent perfectly with regard to all our sins, iniquities and willful transgressions, especially any blemish regarding belief in the sages, for I have blemished the honour of the true sages and their holy books. I did not really believe in them completely; I treated their words as something not binding; they were not important in my eyes.
Please Lord, in Your bountiful mercy, let me merit to rectify all this so that I have pity on my soul and look at myself well. Let me understand and learn how much I have blemished my belief in the sages by the fact that there is controversy and opposition to me. May I repent perfectly in this respect and rectify all my deeds from now on. Let me merit to fulfill the words of the true sages, without straying to the right or left….. In Your bountiful mercy and Your immense loving-kindness, help and save me.
Have pity upon me and save me from sorrow; remove from me all sorts of sadness, worries and melancholy, especially sadness and worries caused by the burden of making a living. In Your great mercy, remove and cancel these feelings from me, for due to my many iniquities, due to the immense feeling of burden, sadness and melancholy which dominated my heart because of my evil desires, the yoke of the burden of making a living has been added to all this, such that the spirit of my heart has become stupefied and the spirit of the pulse in my heart cannot flow smoothly through all my limbs as it should. Because of this my hands and limbs are very weighty and due to this immense burden the spirit of the pulse has become even weaker, so it continues in a vicious cycle until, due to the immense heaviness and weakness and blocking of the heart by great sadness, my soul almost leaves the body, Heaven forbid.
Master of the World, You know all this, You know my bitter and impetuous heart. The bitterness of my heart reaches to the heights of the heavens, until “the strength of the bearers of the burdens is decayed”. “Woe is me, my mother, that you gave birth to me”. On these holy days of Rosh HaShana, write us down for a good and long life, for a good, sweet year and that we merit to really fulfill Your desire and always accept the yoke of Your kingdom upon us. Let us merit that our souls be joined together with great love among the souls of the true tzaddikim until we merit by this to great happiness and tremendous joy, as is written: “The light of the righteous rejoices”. Especially on these holy days of Rosh HaShana may we merit to tremendous happiness, as is written: “….eat the fat and drink the sweet; send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; do not be sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” And it says, “Blessed is the nation that knows the joyful sound (teruah); they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Your Countenance. In Your Name they shall rejoice all the day; in Your righteousness they shall be exalted.”
62. AND G-D LED
a) Through the Jewish people's eating, a unification of the Holy One and the Shechinah, face to face, is brought about. But the eating has to be from food after it has been separated from any hold of the husks which became mixed up in the foods as a result of the eating from the Tree of Knowledge. For, by the food which contains this mixture, a person can come to sin; and by sins, a separation between the Holy One and the Schechinah is caused.
b) Clarification of the foods is through faith. When a person has perfect faith he may be able to cause a unification of the Holy One and the Shechinah by his eating, as above. This is an aspect of "graze on faith" (Psalms, 37:3), an aspect of eating with faith.
c) The limiting of the human mind by the Holy One, so that it can understand, means that is a great mitzvah to sharpen the intellect to understand each thing completely. About this it says, "Know what to answer the heretic" (Perkei Avot,Ch.2). However, there are philosophical questions of faith that the human mind cannot understand or answer; only in the future the answer will be revealed, so, in the meantime, it is forbidden to delve into them. Anyone who relies on his intellect and delves into and investigates these questions, about him it says, "None will go into there and return" (Proverbs, 2:19). For in a question such as this, one mustn't rely on the intellect; rather one must rely on faith.
d) Even regarding those questions that have an answer, sometimes the paths of the intellect are blocked and he cannot answer to the heretic in his heart. This is an aspect of "their heart is divided" (Hoshea, 10:2) meaning there is a conflict in his heart between the two inclinations. For knowledge is from the good urge in his heart, whereas the concealment of knowledge is from the evil urge in the heart; and it is this concealment that is itself the heresy and the difficult questions that the evil urge asks so that a person's heart will fall into evil. The rectification to this is to learn halachic decisions, for the source of this dissent is from the dissent in holiness, that's to say from the disagreements between the Tana'im and Amori'im of the Gemorra. From their dissent the dissent of the evil urge materialized in the world. But by learning halachic decisions, a person becomes connected to holy peace; then the controversy of the evil urge in his heart is nullified and the gates of intellect are opened for him so that he will now how to answer the heresy in his heart. All the time that he doesn't merit to sharpen and open his intellect, he must rely only on faith even regarding these questions, for faith is the main thing.
e) Peace-Shalom- is alluded to in the initial letters of 'o'da ma sha'tashiv l'apicoris' – 'Know what to answer the heretic'. By learning halachic decisions, which represent peace (deciding between different opinions), one merits to know how to answer the heresy in one's heart.
f) Furthermore, by learning halacha, one merits to pray properly with all one's heart. For the main obstacle to prayer, that one doesn't pray with the proper intentions, is only because a person hasn't got perfect faith and his heart is divided from G-d. The truth is that if a person were to know and believe with all his heart that all the world was full of G-d's glory, and the Holy One stands over him at the time of prayer, hearing and listening and paying attention to every single word of prayer, he would certainly be very careful to concentrate on all his words and he would pray with great enthusiasm. It is only because his heart is divided and isn't strong in this knowledge with all his heart, because of this he isn't so careful and doesn't concentrate well in his heart during prayer. And all this stems from the questions and heresy in his heart, as above; that they are the controversy of the evil urge in the heart. Therefore, by learning halachic decisions, one nullifies the dissent of the evil urge at its source, as above. By this, one merits to pray properly, with all one's heart in truth. This is what it says, "I will give You thanks with uprightness of the heart" (Psalms, 119:7). Specifically in the heart, with the two inclinations; and when is this? "When I learn Your righteous judgements", as explained previously.
g) The main perfection and adornment of faith is by bringing those far away from G-d closer to Him. To perfect the faith, that's to say, bringing those far away closer to the Holy One, first one has to raise the sparks of the letters of speech. To rectify this is through a fast, for all the physical cravings are an aspect of husks and bodily wastes; this is because without these cravings the body could still exist. When these cravings overcome a person, this reflects the husks overpowering the holiness. The prime cravings are to eat and drink for and all the other cravings are drawn after them. When they overcome a person, they draw the power of speech into exile, to the narrow straights of the throat and to the back of the neck such that he can't say anything to G-d, like it says, "My throat is dried" (Psalms,69:4). By the fast, that he starves himself from moistening the narrow straights of the throat. He fulfills "Cry aloud, spare not" (Isaiah, 58:1); so that then he is able to speak out to G-d and pray with proper concentration. As a result, the voice then turns itself and gathers holy sparks from among the husks which then remain without life-force. Then the nations, who draw their vitality from the husks, when they see that they have no life-force, throw away their faith and all turn to the Jewish faith. By this, one perfects one's faith and merits to complete faith and thus to clarify the foods. Through one's eating one is able to unite the Holy One and the Shechinah, face to face.
h) Faith applies only to things that one doesn't understand their reason. Even though, for the believer, the thing he believes in is apparent as if he actually sees it with his eyes, this is because of the intensity of his perfect faith.
i) Faith is renewed for a person every morning, as it says, "They are new every morning" (Lamentations, 3:23). However, during the day, because of the bother of worldly affairs, this faith becomes concealed.
j) Because their faith is not perfect, many people stumble into the mistake of making the causes, intermediaries between themselves and G-d. That's to say, they believe in G-d but they believe also in the intermediary means, saying that one needs the cause. They believe, for instance, that the cause of making a living is trading, and say that the cause of the trading is the main thing as if without this, Heaven forbid, the Holy One wouldn't be able to provide a livelihood. Similarly the cause of the cure is the medicine and they make that the main thing, as if, Heaven forbid, without this, the Holy One couldn't cure. This isn't so, for the Holy One is the Cause of all Causes, the First Cause of all First Causes; He needs no intermediary cause. When one uses any one of these intermediary causes, one has to believe solely in the Holy One and not make the means the main thing.
k) The main element in each thing is the beginning, for all the beginnings are difficult since one goes from one extreme to another. However, after the beginning, one enters into somewhat of a routine, it becomes less difficult. Therefore, the work and fear of a person each day is according to the beginning; for every day he has to go backwards and take strength from the beginning which was then very difficult for him. This being the case, one has to start every time from anew because perhaps the beginning was not as it should have been, meaning that all one's service of G-d isn't as perfect as it should have been, for everything is according to the beginning. So, one has to strengthen oneself and arouse one's heart to start anew each time with great enthusiasm and a new, increased strength in the service of G-d, as if one had never started before. All this is in order that his service of G-d be proper, according to the strength of the beginning, as mentioned. Every time one has to have this suspicion that maybe one hasn't yet started properly and thus increase one's strength to start anew from now on.
l) Every time that one comes to the tzaddik one also has to see to it that one comes anew, not with the feeling that you were already by him and now you are coming a second time; you have to feel that you are now coming for the first time. You must start each time from anew, for the main thing is the beginning, as mentioned.
m) Controversy leads to heresies and through this one also cannot pray properly, as explained. However, when there is peace, all the heresies and apostasy in the heart of each person are nullified. For when there is peace and people get together to speak with each other, each one can bring his friend back from his evil opinions extracting the heresies and disbelief from his heart. But, because of controversy, a person does not get together to speak to his friend returning his mind to the truth; even if they speak together one doesn't listen to the words of his fellow. This is because of his desire to be victorious in the argument. It turns out that the main faith depends primarily on peace.
Prayer (62)
Lord, our G-d and G-d of our Fathers, plant faith in You firmly within our hearts and the hearts of all the People of Israel faith in You. Merit us to have really strong, proper and whole-hearted faith without any doubts or confusion at all. Let our faith be so firm that we have the impression of actually seeing the thing we believe in. May we merit to serve You always, with all our hearts. Help me to drive out all kinds of disbelief from my heart and mind.
So also, help me, in Your bountiful compassion, so that I merit to study books of Halacha with great persistence. Help me to learn a great deal of Halacha every day; open my mind and prepare my heart so that I can study with great speed and understand the Halachic decision very clearly. Assist me to clarify and to know how to decide what is the true Halachic decision. By this may I draw peace into all the worlds until it spreads into this world as well. Place peace among all Jews forever and nullify all kinds of controversy from the world. Let peace multiply in the world until each person can talk with his fellow and explain to him the ultimate Truth. Merit us to believe in You and in Your genuine tzaddikim so that we can really serve You with all our heart, with all of our desires. Merit us to know with complete knowledge and with a full heart that all the world is full of Your glory. You, Yourself, in Your glory stand over us when we pray. You hear and listen to every word of prayer. Let us feel Your G-dliness at all times especially at the time of prayer. As a result of this, give us great spiritual arousal so that we pray with tremendous enthusiasm and with immense concentration, reciting each word with great care in order to have the proper intentions.
In Your great mercy, give us merit to rectify the spoiling of speech and help us to separate and raise all the sparks of the letters of speech that fell into a great exile among the husks of the Other Side because of our iniquities, because of our having followed the stubbornness of our hearts and having chased after the craving for food and drink. We used to fill ourselves with excessive food, eating and drinking, that which is not necessary for the body’s survival, until by our many iniquities, by the blemish of the craving for food and drink, the three ministers of Pharaoh, which are the three husks, overcame us – the Minister of Drinks, the Minister of Bakers and the Minister of Cooks, which are (symbolic of) the windpipe, gullet and veins. By this, the yoke of the exile of Pharaoh and Egypt, which is the narrow straights of the throat, has overcome us: holy speech is drawn to the nape, to the narrow confines of the throat, until the throat becomes parched and one cannot say anything worthwhile before You.
Master of the World! Master of the World! You know the desires of my heart; You know me from the beginning to end. You know my disgrace, shame and reproachfulness; al my oppressors are before You. I know of now way nor of any advice for how to behave with regard to eating with holiness, in a way that I can merit to really be saved from the blemish of the craving for food and drink. Master of the World, my needs are many, regarding everything, and in every single matter concerning worshipping the Lord, until my need for salvation in incredibly great in all matters. Therefore, I have no word to express myself and I cannot speak at all for I do not know where to start to speak and to illucidate myself. The truth is that I know myself that I am culpable from beginning to end. There are several blemishes I have caused by the craving for food and drink because I did not make any effort to drive away that craving from myself, until by this, my speech became very blemished and the parts of my speech fell into a very great exile, so much so that I do not merit to say anything fitting and worthy. I still have not started to really and properly call You at all. “I have become weary in my calling, my throat parched and my eyes have ceased from hoping for my G-d”.
Master of all the World, I am immeasurably distressed. I do not know any way, suggestion or scheme at all to rescue my wretched, miserable soul from the Pit, for I have no strength other than in my mouth and this also is precluded from me. “For there is no word in my vocabulary. Yes, Lord, you know it all”, for the parts of my speech have fallen into a very great and heavy exile. Oh, Lord! I am very distressed. Behold I call to You out of distress, from the restriction of the throat, from the depth of the exile. “From the depths I called You, Lord. Lord, hear my voice; let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications”, “You heard my voice; do not hide Your ear from the sighing and my cry”.
In Your great power and immense loving-kindness, help me so that I merit to truly and completely break the craving for food and drink. May I be content with little, with eating very sparingly only that which is vital for me. May I eat with great holiness and purity without any craving or enjoyment of the body at all.
Help us to always engage in studying Your holy Torah and to serve You wholeheartedly. May we feel that our service is new every single day. Let us start anew each time as if we had never started to serve You. This is especially true of someone like me who is of so little worth having never really started to serve You. And even when You enable us to serve You really properly, merit us to always start again from anew each time so that we renew our youth like an eagle with Your Torah and holy service. Let us not fall at all to a feeling old age and a lack of strength.
In Your bountiful mercy, let us merit to faith and real, wholehearted trust. Let us cast before You alone all our please for that which we lack and may we always be very strong in our perfect trust in You. Do not let us put our hope in any cause or intermediary factor but, rather, let us know and believe that everything comes about by Your Divine Providence alone; whether it be income, children, health or any other things in This World. With regard to them all, may we not use or put faith in any natural cause at all. Rather, let us know, believe and really put our trust in your ability to arrange our income in a perfect way, without any intermediary cause such as business deals etc. So also, You can send us complete healing without us going to any doctor or using any medicines for You are the Lord, our G-d the First of all causes, the Cause of all causes. Even when according to Your will, we are forced to engage in some cause, some natural means, in order to acquire an income etc., let us merit to believe in You alone and not make the means the primary thing. Heaven forbid.
In the merit of true tzaddikim give us strength to nullify, by our prayers, that which has been decreed because of fortune. Let us overturn and change the process of nature by our prayers and supplications, such that everyone will see and really believe that there is no law of nature at all. Rather, everything always takes place according to Your Divine Providence…..Pardon and forgive us and all of Your Nation, Israel, for all the blemishes we have caused to Your holy belief by our putting faith in natural causes. From now on, strengthen our hearts and the hearts of all Your Nation, Israel and all the people of the world, so that we all merit to know and believe that You are the Lord, G-d in the Heavens and upon the Earth. Everything happens only by Your Divine Providence. All the causes are from You alone.
Lord, G-d, return the radiance of Your Countenance and let us be saved. May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart find favour before You, G-d, my Rock and Redeemer.
Amen and Amen.
63. THE SECRET OF MILA
a) The brit (sexual organ) is called in Aramaic, 'ama', an aspect of the measurement of length called 'ama' which consists of six tephachim, an allusion to "Seraphim stood above him; each one had six wings" etc. (Isaiah,6:2).
{ Editor's note: It seems the meaning is that the brit is called Yisod, which is the sixth Attribute and includes all the other Attributes, as explained in Torah 29. Therefore, when one rectifies the brit, one automatically rectifies all the six Attributes. That is 'ama' of six tephachim. This is because the six tephachim are an aspect of the six days and the six days are an aspect of the six Attributes.}
b) The true tzaddikim and leaders have various ways of behaving towards those who come close to them. Sometimes the tzaddik shows himself as very close to the public, whereas sometimes he covers and hides himself from them and distances himself from them very much. Not only does he distance himself from them so that they cannot approach him, but also they have doubts and queries about him such that their minds become crooked and confused from how the tzaddik behaves towards them. All of this is for the benefit of those who come close to him. Consequently, don't let your thoughts get confused about this, for everything is for your good.
c) However much more you come close to G-d, you have to know that you are still very far away. If you think and imagine that you are already close to the Holy One and have knowledge of G-d, this is a sign that you know nothing , for if you knew even a little of the Holy One, you would know that you are very far away from Him and don't know anything at all. This is a matter that cannot be spoken about or explained, for the exaltedness of the Creator is beyond measure.
d) Sometimes the tzaddik takes suffering upon himself for the sake of the world. That's to say, he doesn't want the bounty or Divine Providence that should have come to him, but rather, takes upon himself suffering. He chooses spiritual bounty and Divine Providence. That (material) bounty that went away from him spreads among the public.
e) There is a Serpent which is an aspect of "wise men spreading evil", the researchers of philosophy and atheism. Through their evil words , such as slander, gossip, lies, mocking, flattery, embarrassing words, obscenity, idle talk and other evil speech, especially slander against the tzaddikim and kosher Jews, they create wings for the Serpent so it can fly and harm the world a lot, Heaven forbid. In other words, their evil wisdom and atheism becomes stronger and flies (from one place to another). This is an aspect of the Primaeval Serpent, which by evil speech, as mentioned, damages the world a great deal. However, by holy speech we create wings of holiness. When these holy wings are as they should be the Serpent will not have wings created by evil words, as explained above; then they cannot harm the world so much.
{Editor's note: It seems that the meaning of the six wings mentioned in paragraph a) is that it refers to the six Attributes that are included in the brit. Through holy words, we make and rectify all of the holy Attributes. Also, the contrary, through evil words we strengthen the bad Attributes of the evil wise men. We give them strength to harm the world with their evil wisdom, Heaven forbid. May G-d protect us from them and may we always merit to holy words.}
Prayer (63)
Guardian of the brit and of loving kindness, have mercy on me for Your Name’s sake. Merit me from now on to guard the holy brit such that I will not blemish the brit at all. May I sanctify myself with the utmost holiness in what is permissible. Let me rectify in my lifetime all the innumerous and immense blemishes that I caused to the holiness of the brit during my lifetime. No one needs Your compassion more than someone who causes blemishes against You specially with regard to spoiling the brit. Master of the World have mercy upon me and upon all those who are far away from You who need great compassion. Do it for Your names sake and for the sake of the true tzaddikim who guard the brit. Merit us from now on to complete repentance so that we will not return to our folly.
May the tzaddikim rectify everything we have blemished in the holy brit. For we have no power to rectify even one blemish. We rely solely upon the merit of the tzaddikim and upon their great power. Merit us in Your bountiful compassion to come close to true tzaddikim who guard the brit with the utmost perfection. Have mercy on us and make them known to us. Merit us to know to which of the tzaddikim to come close so as to receive from them real holiness and purity. Then merit us to complete repentance and to turn away from all the evil. Let us only do that which finds favour in Your eyes.
Please G-d, do it for Your Name’s sake. Do not allow our sins to make us become distant from the tzaddikim. Rather let us be strong with perfect faith always. Help us to believe that all their ways are very
straight and proper. They are truly righteous in all their ways and in every movement. It is just that we cannot ascertain their awesome and sublime level. Merit us that the tzaddikim will have mercy upon us bringing us closer each time. May they lower themselves to us, while clothing and covering their great light, in such a way that we can merit to see their wonderful light revealed. Let them bring themselves close to the public so as to have mercy upon us with great love and compassion and may their thoughts always be to bring us close and not to drive us away, heaven forbid. By this may we always be able to cleave to them forever.
Therefore merit us not to struggle against the suffering we have to undergo as is Your will. Let us draw upon ourselves the Light of Your Countenance, drawing good bounty into the world at all times. May the true tzaddikim protect us for they suffered greatly for the sake of the Jewish people. Have mercy upon them and grant them all forms of good. Save them and their offspring especially from all kinds of anguish and suffering, from all kinds of worries and fears. Cure them from all kinds of illness.
So have mercy upon us and save us. Merit us to guard our mouths and tongues from all kinds of evil words. Let me never say a falsehood, slander, gossip, mockery, flattery, idle chatter or obscenities nor anything that would cause another Jew to be ashamed. Master of the World, Who is full of compassion, have mercy upon us; guard us and save us from all these kinds of blemished speech. My G-d guard my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking deceitfully. By this subdue, break, crumble, uproot and nullify all forms of evil wisdoms of the philosophers and deniers of faith for their evil wisdom damages the world, very much. Their words are like a serpent. Save us from all their evil wisdom so that it does not reach us. Hide us in the shadow of Your wings. Do not let their atheism and philosophical investigating fly into our mind and heart. Weaken their evil wisdom in all of its aspects and reveal to the world the true wisdom of the genuine sages. Turn all the nations to a clear language to call out to G-d and to serve Him with one accord.
64. COME TO PHAROAH
a) It is a severe prohibition to delve into philosophical books for there are several difficult questions that stem from the Vacant Space (see inside) to which no answer at all can be found; only in the Time to Come will the answer be revealed, because only then the secret of the constriction of the Vacant Space will become known. This in itself will be the reward of the tzaddikim who will ascertain and understand what had previously been impossible to understand in This World. However, in This World, it is impossible to find an answer to these questions through any human intellect and whoever delves into these philosophies, stemming from the Vacant Space, will sink and become lost there. About these people it says, "None shall go into there and return" (Proverbs,2:19); it is impossible to find the Holy One there and to answer these questions and the perplexities within them with any kind of intelligence. Only the People of Israel, through their faith, pass over all these philosophies and all the perplexities in the world. This is because they have faith in G-d and in His holy Torah without any investigation or philosophy; only with pure faith. Because this, the Jews are called 'Ivrim' – Hebrews, for, by their faith they pass over ('ovrim') and transcend all kinds of investigations and philosophies. They don't need to investigate at all for they know the absolute truth as a result of their perfect faith that they believe in the truth according to what we received from our fathers and our holy rabbis. By this they pass over and transcend all the philosophies, all of them.
b) Know, there are great tzaddikim who are obliged to delve into these philosophies. This is even though they also cannot reveal the godliness that is in the Vacant Space, nor answer all the questions and perplexities that stem from this Vacant Space, for all this is impossible until the Time to Come, as explained. Even so, through their delving into these philosophies, they raise and extract from there several souls who have fallen and sunk there. This is because by the great holiness of the tzaddik, when he studies these philosophies, he subdues the power of perplexities and investigations that come from these philosophies. Since everything craves for its source, so when the tzaddikim deal with these philosophies, all of the souls who fell into them begin to desire and become enthused to cleave to the neshama of the tzaddik who removes them from there.
c) Through the song of the true, great tzaddik he raises the souls of those who fell into atheism, as above, which has no answer.
{ Editor's addition: That is what the Sages said that David raised the yoke of repentance… by tunes and songs of King David, he returned all the Jewish souls in repentance even those who fell into the perplexities of the Vacant Space. Therefore, the Rebbe said that saying Psalms has the special power of bringing a person to repentance.}
d) The existence of controversy between the true tzaddikim is drawn from the aspect of the Vacant Space (see inside). It is impossible to understand this through human intelligence, therefore it is forbidden to think about this controversy. Rather, one has to believe that these and these are the words of the Living G-d; but we cannot possibly understand this. We have to strengthen ourselves in faith alone.
Prayer (64)
Master of the World, who performs great wonders beyond understanding and wonders beyond number. Master of the Universe You fill all the worlds and surround all worlds. You are above all worlds, below all worlds and between all worlds. There is no place void of You. Through Your good will bountiful mercy You created the world from before time in order to reveal Your compassion in the world. You consctricted Your G-dliness, so to speak. You removed Your great, infinite Light to the sides thus creating a void space. Within this space You created all the worlds from beginning to end all in order that acknowledge Your existence in the world. Guard us and save us from all kinds of disbelief and atheism. Let no query or doubt from the investigations of the philosophers come into my heart to confuse me. These doubts and queries stem from the void and have no answers.
Out of Your bountiful compassion, send us true tzaddikim of very great stature, who are an aspect of Moshe our teacher. Give them strength to enter these philosophical ideas stemming from the vacant space such that they can break, nullify and uproot them completely. May they extract all the Jewish souls that have fallen into these enquiries in the vacant space and let the great tzaddik have the power to arouse and reveal the sublime tune and song, the chosen song of all songs of the world, for by this song he can extract all the souls that have fallen into the queries and confusions stemming from the vacant space. He alone knows the extent of the mercy they need.
Master of the World, You informed us that every wisdom in the world has a special song and melody. So also, every form of belief has a special song and melody. So also, every form of belief has a special song and melody. Therefore, take pity and have mercy upon us. Save us so that we never hear a special song or melody belonging to a foreign wisdom, especially any wisdom or atheism or any false belief, Heaven forbid.
May we merit to sing joyfully and play holy melodies before You; to glorify Your Name with songs and melodies drawn from Your holy belief which, themselves, have the strength to remove from denial and perplexities in the heart and all sorts of confusion of the mind. Let us really arouse and draw the heart towards You, to Your Torah and to Your true worship. “Awake my glory; awake psaltery and harp; I will awaken the dawn”. Grant us, draw upon us and reveal to us holy songs, songs of praise and melodies stemming “from the earliest beginnings of faith” stemming from the sublime melody and song of Moses, may he rest in peace, from whom all the songs and melodies of the world derive. By this, let us merit to really perfect belief.
May I merit to be included within the soul of Moses, may he rest in peace, for he is the aspect of remaining silent. Let me merit to accustom myself to remaining silent and thereby to fulfill what the Sages, of blessed memory, said: “A fence around wisdom is silence”. They also said: “I found nothing better for the body than silence”. “May I also be ‘silent’ (utterly calm) in my mind whenever I need to be silent verbally. Whenever thoughts and confusions come to my mind, especially confusions regarding faith, may I be dumb and remain silent. Let me be like a deaf man who does not hear like a dumb person who does not open his mouth. Do not let me turn my mind and incline my thoughts to answer anything in my mind with regard to all the mistakes and confusions, crookedness and perplexities that come into the mind and heart. Rather, grant me merit me to be mute and keep quiet completely, in my mind also and may I rise and be included in the Supreme Silence Above, which is the source of holy belief. By this, may my belief, my mind and my heart be strengthened to perfection with great strength and holy boldness. As a result, nullify automatically all the perplexities, confusions and doubts in the world. Distance from me all sorts of strange thoughts and improper contemplations in the world, just by the holy trait of keeping silent; whether they be thoughts of disbelief or of adultery and other cravings; whether they be improper thoughts at the time of prayer or when learning Torah or any other evil, improper thoughts or confusions or crookedness in the heart which prevent a person from real holiness. May they all become distanced and nullified from me completely, in utter nullification, just by true silence.
You know our weakness at this time and that we have no council or strategy against them, we cannot give any answer to these many confusions, whether small or big, that stand against us and surround us at every moment, all the time. Really we just depend on You and upon the strength and merit of the true tzaddikim who are the aspect of keeping silent. Let us merit to be enjoined in them and to truly follow in their footsteps. Let us draw upon ourselves the radiance of their holy silence. Our eyes are set towards You alone. Let us hope and long for Your mercy which is hidden away for Your creatures…. I spread out my hands in prayer all day. “I will lift up my eyes to the hills; from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord who mad heaven and earth”. Fulfill in us the verse which says: “And Moses said to the people, ‘Fear not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which He will show you today: for the Egyptians who you have seen today you will never ever see again. The Lord will fight for you and you will keep silent”. Do not forsake me Lord, my G-d; do not be far from me. Make haste to help Lord, my salvation”. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart find favour before You, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Amen and Amen.
65. BOAZ SAID TO RUTH
a) There is a Supernal Field where all the neshamot grow and these neshamot need a Master of the Field who will involve himself in their rectification. Anyone who wants to have mercy on his soul, so that it won't be without clothes, wandering around outside the field, has to ask and plead a lot from the Holy One all the days of his life to come close to this tzaddik who is the Master of the Field; he looks over each individual in order to bring him to his ultimate purpose which is all one and all good, as explained in paragraphs b and c, for it is impossible to reach this good, eternal ultimate purpose other than through this tzaddik who is the aspect of the Master of the Field.
b) The main perfection of prayer is when one merits to come to the ultimate purpose to make one from all the prayer. For when a person is about to pray and begins to say the first word, such as 'baruch', as soon as the first letter leaves the mouth, for example, 'b' from 'baruch', then the letter asks and pleads from the nefesh of the person praying not to become separated from it. It doesn’t let the nefesh go on and speak more; it hugs and caresses the nefesh and asks her not to depart from it. This is even more so when one finishes a word, for then the whole word hugs and holds onto the nefesh and doesn't let her go away to speak other words of prayer. For when a person is about to pray and say words of prayer, he gathers up beautiful blossoms, flowers and roses. This is like a person who goes in the field and gathers beautiful roses and flowers, one by one, until he makes one garland , then, afterwards, he picks another flower and another, collecting them into another garland, joining them together; so he goes and picks and gathers several beautiful, pleasant garlands. Similarly, when he goes in prayer from one letter to another until several letters are joined together, thus he forms a word of speech. Afterwards, he goes on and joins several more letters which form a second word, and so on. After this the two words join together and he goes on and collects more letters until he finishes one blessing. Following this he gathers more and more, progressing from the Avot to Gevorot and from Gevorot to Kedushot and so on. Who can describe the immense beauty of the gathering and garlands that a person picks and gathers in the words of prayer. When a word leaves the mouth it leaves from the nefesh and comes to be heard in the ears; then the word asks from the nefesh not to let her go further; it hugs and caresses her in order that she won't leave it, as mentioned. "For how can you leave me? Do you not see the virtue of my beauty, the radiance and splendour of my beauty, for am I not the word 'baruch'? Please listen to what you say and let your ears hear what you speak out. How can you go on to gather more very desirable, precious charms? How can you leave me and forget me?" At least, in every place where you go, see to it not to forget me and not to depart from me. Therefore, the main perfection of prayer is when one merits to make one from all the prayer such that when one says the last word of the prayers one should still be thinking of the first word of the prayer. Like this, one never departs from the first letter of prayer even at the end of the prayers; then the prayer is perfect. However, to merit to this is impossible other than through the great and true tzaddik who is the aspect of the Master of the Supernal Field, who can bring each individual to his true ultimate purpose which is all good, all one. By this, he will merit to make one from all the prayer and this is the main perfection of prayer, as mentioned.
c) When a person merits, through the Master of the Field, to look at the ultimate purpose, then he has no anguish or suffering from anything in the world. The truth is that there is nothing bad in the world, rather, everything is entirely good. The main feeling of distress when a person has suffering, Heaven forbid, is only because his understanding is taken from him such that he becomes unable to perceive the ultimate purpose which is entirely good. If he were to merit to look at the ultimate purpose, he would have no feeling of distress at all from this suffering, for the intention of the Holy One is certainly for the good; or it comes to remind him to repent or it comes to cleanse him of his iniquities, thus enabling him to merit to the Eternal Life. Therefore, the suffering is a great favour; it would be fitting for him to be full of joy at the great favour that G-d performed for him through this suffering, if he merited to perceive the ultimate good purpose in it.
d) A person has to train himself each time in the aspect of nullification, to look at the real ultimate purpose which is good and eternal. This is impossible other than by closing the eyes from any glimpse of This World, not to look at all at the physical cravings and vanities of This World. This is because it is impossible to perceive and become included in the ultimate purpose other than by closing the eyes, by blocking one's eyes completely from glancing at This World, even if one has to press the eyes closed with the fingers; then one will have no suffering or feeling of distress from anything. However, it is impossible to be in this state of nullification permanently for then one would go beyond the definition of a human being. So, this nullification must be in the aspect of 'running and returning' for then the impression of the nullification radiates to the understanding a light of sweetness and pleasantness, a sparkling of godliness which one person cannot possibly describe at all to his fellow. By this, great joy is drawn upon a person and this leads to a flow of Torah innovations which enable him to rejuvenate himself in times of suffering and during difficult events which he experiences, Heaven forbid. Then he will merit to taste and feel, even while in This World, something like the World to Come.
e) In truth, at the time of nullification to the ultimate purpose which is all good, all the suffering is cancelled, as explained previously. However, it is impossible to maintain this nullification permanently; the nullification must be in the aspect of 'running and returning', as mentioned. When the intellect comes back from this nullification, returning to the brain, it is beyond the brain's ability to receive this intelligence which is an aspect of nullification, for it is an aspect of the Ein Sof, the Infinite. This inability is the reason why the brain feels the distress of the suffering. The suffering even becomes much stronger than previously; it is like two people, who are fighting with each other. When one sees that his adversary is overcoming him, he then makes a bigger effort to resist and subdue that adversary. But afterwards, the suffering becomes weaker and he takes consolation in it through the Torah innovations he merited to as a result of the suffering. This is because, through the nullification to the ultimate purpose, he ascertained that all the experiences of suffering are great favours. This leads a person to be full of joy which, in turn, is a vessel for the Torah innovations (see inside). Then, through them, the suffering becomes cooled. This is an aspect of "Blessed is the man whom You chastise, o Lord, and teach him from Your Torah" (Psalms, 94:12) for, by means of the suffering, he merits to innovations in Torah. (Editor's note: This verse ends "to quiet him down during the bad days". This is because through Torah innovations the suffering is lightened.)
f) The sign that you have achieved something through the suffering, and accepted them properly, is that you merit afterwards to Torah innovations. This is a sign that you merited to nullify yourself to the ultimate purpose through the suffering and, even though you must return yourself from the nullification, even so, from the impression that remains from this nullification you become full of joy and merit to Torah innovations.
Prayer (65)
Unique One, who was, is and will be, in Your plentiful compassion, grant me the merit to really be included in Your Oneness, Please, You who are full of mercy, help me and save me so that I can gather together all my strength and might in order to close my eyes and seal them against looking at This World at all. Let me shut my eyes very tightly so as not to look at all at the vanities of This World and its desires! May I be in This World just like a blind person, not seeing, looking or gazing at This World at all. Rather let me merit to direct my eyes, my understanding and my intelligence to always perceive the true purpose of life, the eternal purpose, such that I merit to really know and understand Your true goodness. Let me be worthy of really understanding that there is no evil in the World at all, for everything is goodness and loving-kindness. You do great good for everyone all the time, at every moment. Your intention is always for the good, for You desire to make us worthy and to bring us to the true purpose in life, the eternal life. Let me merit to always be happy.
Please, Awesome and Holy One, save me from the time of trouble. Be with me at all times. Help and save me any time when, according to Your good judgments and ways of justice, You send me suffering, Heaven forbid. Give me strength and intelligence to look at its true purpose, to look at the ultimately good purpose of the suffering. Help me to really be included within You at the time of suffering. Let me nullify myself completely and seal my eyes completely from looking at This World. With immense willpower, may I close my eyes and seal them against the cravings and vanities of This World such that I merit to behold that which is distant, to perceive the good and eternal benefit which I will be worthy of by my suffering; thereby may I nullify completely all my suffering.
Please G-d, whose goodness never ceases, let me merit from now on to Your true goodness. Provide for us from Your eternal goodness. Help me and grant me to be really and completely included in the Unique One, with proper, total self-nullification, as is Your good desire. Let me understand that everything is good and that there is no evil in the world at all; all the troubles and suffering that exist in the world are all great favours! By this understanding, may I nullify all the troubles and suffering in the world. Let me be worthy of accepting, with great love and happiness, the suffering which has come to me. Let me negate all the suffering by really nullifying myself to the good purpose which lies behind it. Then, afterwards, when we return from that state of self-nullification, do not let the suffering have the power to overcome us, Heaven forbid. Rather, help me merit then to negate the suffering by perception of the Torah. Through happiness, let us merit to ascertain and receive the light of the holy impression left in our minds from our perception of and negation to the ultimate purpose, which is all good, all one. Then, let this impression shine into the vessels of the brain an ability to ascertain the secrets of the Torah.
So have mercy upon us and save us so that we merit to pray with perfection. Enable us to unite with all the prayer such that all our prayers, supplications and requests become merged together in the ultimate unity in a way that will give us strength every day to arrange as many songs, praises and prayers before You with the utmost perfection as You desire.
Please,You who desire the prayers of the Jewish People, You know the immense beauty and splendour of the holiness of the words of prayer, every single letter of the words of prayer, that we merit to recite before You. Who can describe the splendour of the words that we collect and gather together like wonderful and awesome flowers and plants collected from the holy and supernal fields. If we understood the immense, holy value of each word of prayer we would not be able to separate ourselves from the first word and go on to further words of prayer. The connection between the words of prayer and the soul is so immensely strong that the word does not want the soul to go on further to other words..
I have come before You, Compassionate One, Master of all deeds and of all souls to ask that You have great mercy over Jewish souls, especially over my poor soul. Give us a true Master of the Field who can work to rectify our souls, spirits and neshamot. May he have the strength to rectify the souls of the living and of the dead bringing into the holy field all those souls who are outside. Let him involve himself in their rectification and needs, planting, watering and growing them so that they give much fruit while distancing one plant (soul) from another so that it will not damage or weaken its fellow. Guard and protect this master of the field so that he can rectify us and all the field. And may this master of the field in Your immense loving kindness watch and look at each and every Jewish soul who is far from the ultimate goal and bring him closer to the true, ultimate goal so that each one will merit to shut his eyes and mind from even glancing at this world in any way. Then he will be able to always merge, through the ultimate self nullification, in the aspect of running and returning within the true eternal goal which is all oneness and goodness. You, who are good to all, help us to nullify all our materiality completely and merge into your Unity which is always entirely good. Then may our prayers be perfect, holding onto your Oneness from beginning to end.
Fulfill in us the verse which says: “And then G-d will be King over all world.On that day G-d will be One and His Name will be One.
66. LET THERE BE A DOUBLE PORTION OF YOUR SPIRIT UPON ME
a) It is a very great thing to be present at the passing away of the tzaddik, even if one is not his student, for at that time a great radiance is revealed. This is a great benefit to anyone present and through this they merit to longevity. However, the students who are then present receive the most powerful radiance. They can then merit to receive a double portion of the soul of their rebbe, providing that they are attached to him firmly, like branches of a tree, such that they themselves feel all their rebbe's ascents and descents, even when they are away from him. Then it could be that when the student rays with concentration, he will be able to bring from potential to actuality, deeds and acts of righteousness greater than his rebbe. But, in truth, it is all in the strength of his rebbe.
b) The students are from the same source as their rebbe, the tzaddik. They are dependent on him like branches of a tree, since the tree draws life-force from its source and the branches draw their life-force through the tree. In this there are several aspects. Some students are an aspect of the branches while others are an aspect of leaves, and so on. Therefore they can receive a double portion at the time of the passing away, as mentioned (see inside).
c) There are several aspects to the passing away, for there is also an aspect of the passing away of the name, that he passes away (sacrifices) his name and fame; this is also an aspect of a passing away of the soul, for the soul is the nefesh, an aspect of "a living soul is its name" (Gen.2: 19). In sacrificing his name there is an aspect of real self-sacrifice (see Torah 260). There is also a passing away from one spiritual level to another. According to the aspect of the passing away, so the students, who are present at the time, can receive some kind of aspect of this category of a double portion. And at the time of completely passing away, then the receiving of a double portion is at a greater and more sublime level. Therefore, the student has to try to see the face of his rebbe on each opportunity, for maybe now is the time of some aspect of his passing away. When the student accustoms himself to this, he can merit to an aspect of a double portion in the spirit of his teacher.
d) The main essence of all the mitzvot and sins, is when we bring them from potential into actuality, for the main perfection of a mitzvah is only when we merit to actually perform it. When we merit to bring it into actuality, this is an aspect of the creation of the world, literally, for we sustain the entire world. Likewise, the opposite is also true regarding a sin, Heaven forbid. In the beginning, when a person thinks about committing a sin, Heaven forbid, it is potentiality; afterwards, when he brings it into actuality by performing it, then he is completely wicked. He is considered to be dead for he kills himself and kills a whole world, Heaven forbid. The entire world was only created by this aspect, so that the creation came out from potential to actuality through the Holy One. Consequently, in each sin, Heaven forbid, a person blemishes the generality of all the worlds and the generality of all the Holy Names, Heaven save us, Heaven preserve us. There is no hope other than by repentance, because, through regretting the sin and discarding it, everything mentioned above is rectified. He returns and brings the rectification of all the worlds from potential to actuality.
e) To bring out from potential to actuality is by means of the perfection of the power of speech, for whatever a person does, first has to come into speech, for all things have to pass through the aspect of thought, speech and action. All a person's thoughts that will become actualized in to deed need to come into speech at the time of thought; even though a person doesn't feel this, even so, it exists at a very delicate level, as it says in the holy Zohar. Through the power of speech one can then complete the action as it can go from potential to actuality. So one has to perfect one's speech in order to bring things from potential to actuality.
f) Perfection of the power of speech is achieved by the aspect of the World to Come, for now the power of speech is deficient and imperfect because not everybody in the world uses it to call to the Holy One. However, in the future everyone will call out to G-d with speech, as it says, "Then I will turn upon the peoples a pure language that they may all call upon the Name of G-d" (Zephania, 3:9). Specifically, a pure language, for since everyone will call to the Holy One with their voice and, because of this, the power of speech will be perfect. All this will be in the future through the great revelation of the truth that there will be then. By this, everyone will see the greatness and splendour of the tzaddikim and kosher Jews. So also, the opposite, in the downfall of the wicked. For the main greatness of the tzaddikim and kosher Jews, who are attached to them, will be revealed only in the future, on the great and awesome Day of Judgement; then everyone will see their greatness and splendour. "How great is Your goodness that is stored away for the tzaddikim." Similarly, everyone will see then the downfall of the wicked, for then there will be a great Day of Judgement when Man will be judged on every action and on every single detail – nothing will be overlooked, even the smallest thing, for there is no forgetting in G-d's eyes; then a person will be reminded of everything. At that time everyone will see the difference between a tzaddik and a wicked person, between someone who merited to come close to and attach himself to true tzaddikim and those who opposed them. Through the immensity of this truth that will be revealed, everyone will return in repentance to the Holy One and they will all call out with the Name of G-d. By this, the power of speech will become perfect.
g) But one has to draw this aspect of the World to Come into This World also. That's to say, that there should be a downfall to the wicked also in This World. This is achieved through truth, as explained. For the primary downfall of the wicked in the World to Come will be through the truth that will be revealed then (see inside). Therefore, when a person merits to pray truthfully, for the sake of the Holy One alone, without any ulterior motive for the sake of other people, by this he merits to draw an aspect of the World to Come into This World. That's to say, there will be a downfall of the wicked also in This World such that everyone will have to return to G-d. Through this, one draws into This World the perfection of the holy power of speech. Then one merits to bring out from potential into actuality all the things in the realm of holiness that one desires to do.
h) Someone who feels dependent on other people for his livelihood or even has his own source of income but he has a craving for honour and esteem, is also considered as being dependent on others since he needs their respect and admiration. Because of this, he can fall into great falsehood in his prayer, meaning that he may make false body movements (such as swaying or clapping) for the sake of other people,( to make an impression on them), since he needs them for his livelihood or honour etc. Even a person who is bit more kosher, not being a complete hypocrite or liar, nevertheless, when he is dependent on people in some aspect, it is very hard for him to pray with complete truth. This is because even if he is ashamed to pray in really complete falsehood and wants to pray truthfully but sometimes he is over-sincere, that's to say, he deceives himself and makes some sort of movement or claps his hands etc. for some ulterior motive (to impress someone he depends on) for a livelihood or for honour etc. He fools himself and invents reasons in his mind why he really needs to make this movement in his prayer; he covers the lie with an appearance of truth. However, the Searcher of Hearts knows that this is not the truth. There is only one truth, to pray for the sake of the Holy One alone, without any ulterior motive. Therefore, anyone who is dependent on others in any way will find it very hard to pray in public. This is because among people, ulterior and false motives become covered with a veil of truth, as explained. Therefore, a person has to take care, at the time of praying and serving G-d that at least then he shouldn't feel dependent on people. Rather, he should truthfully put all his hopes and trust in G-d and not think at all about any other person or being. Then he can stand among thousands of people and pray sincerely, for the sake of G-d alone. This is "I will praise G-d with my life" (Psalms, 146:2). That's to say, this is when I live my own life and I am not dependent on others, for he who depends on others, his life is not called life, for his life is not his, since he lives as he does from others. But when I don't need anybody, and my life is my own, then I will be able to praise and pray sincerely before G-d.
i) Through the yearning and longing to bring a mitzvah, or other things in the realm of holiness, from the potential to actuality, one draws vowel points to the letters one speaks. This enables a person to speak out his words perfectly from the narrow confines of the throat such that he calls and cries out a lot to the Holy One with the voice until he manages to bring the holy desire from potential to actuality. This is an aspect of (Song of Songs, 1:11) "points of silver" which alludes to the vowel points being made from 'silver'('kesef'), meaning 'yearning'. By means of the yearning and desire, one creates vowels to the letters of the words, to speak them out perfectly. Then one will merit to actualize the holy desire.
j) All the obstacles that a person experiences are all for the sake of desire, in order that he have more desire for the holy action; this is how it is with people, the more that one prevents a person from something, the more he desires to do it. Therefore, when a Jew has to do something that is crucial to his Judaism, especially if he has to do something upon which all his Judaism is dependent , such as travelling to a true tzaddik, then he is given a desire from Above. The desire he is given is through the obstacle that is prepared for him, for by means of the obstacle, so his desire increases, as mentioned. Consequently, a person has to know that there is no obstacle in the world that he cannot break if he wants, for the obstacle is only for the sake of the desire. Once he will have a strong desire and very great longing, as is fitting for this holy thing that he should be doing; then he will certainly merit to complete it, and bring it from potential to actuality, for the obstacles are only in order to increase the desire, in order that through this desire specifically a person can merit to complete the action, as mentioned previously.
k) Know, that however much greater the thing is that he desires, so, from Heaven, they arrange for him much greater obstacles in order that he increase his desire, for the desire is according to the obstacle. Therefore, it is fitting for a Jew to understand that when he has very very big obstacles that arise and spread out before him in every direction preventing him from coming close to the tzaddik, from this itself he should know and learn the great value of that which he desires to do. Because of this, the obstacles are so great. For against all things in the realm of holiness there are numerous obstacles, especially when he wants to travel to true tzaddikim, an act upon which all his Judaism depends, then the obstacles certainly grow strongest. However, there is an aspect of a point of truth between the tzaddikim when one wants to come close to them, upon which everything depends, then the obstacles spread out a lot and lie before a person in all directions. This in itself shows how important the thing desired is. So, one has to strengthen oneself until one has a very strong desire and yearning in accordance to the thing desired. In so doing he will merit to break the obstacles and attain his desire. This is the rule – there is no obstacle in the world that a person cannot break; it's only that he needs a very strong desire and yearning which corresponds to the thing he desires, as mentioned.
l) Although it's not fitting for a person to excuse himself and find an excuse by saying that since he desires and yearns to perform something holy, but because there are obstacles and he is prevented by force of circumstance, therefore it is considered as if he had done it, as the Sages said," A person who thought to perform a mitzvah but was prevented and didn't do it, he is considered to have done it" (B'rachot,6). All of this is said only about someone who really wants to fulfill his obligation, then he is considered to have fulfilled his duty, for what could he do, for, after all he was prevented by force of circumstance. But someone who doesn't want to only fulfill his obligation with this mitzvah but, rather, he wants the mitzvah or good deed itself, if so what will it benefit him that, through the leniency, he is considered to have done it. This "as if" doesn't appease him. He desires, craves and yearns a great deal to perform the mitzvah itself and is not satisfied to be freed of it with an "as if". For really it is appropriate for a Jew to complete his desire with regard to anything in the realm of holiness, bringing it out from potential to actuality in perfection. Whoever has such a strong desire will certainly merit to fulfill his desire and to bring it from potential to actuality while at the same time breaking and nullifying all the obstacles and forces of circumstance. For all the obstacles come only in order to increase a person's desire, as explained. When he will have a strong desire, corresponding to the virtue of what he desires to do, then he will surely merit to complete anything in the world that he desires to do in the realm of holiness.
m) Anger damages a person's livelihood (see Torah 68). By anger he becomes very distant from the truth, for when his income is pressing he feels dependent on others. Because of this he cannot pray sincerely, as mentioned previously. As a result, he is not able to complete his desire, to bring from potential to actuality all the mitzvot and holy deeds he needs to perform.
n) When one overcomes and breaks the anger, the spirit of Meshiach is made and drawn into the world; the whole world is considered to have been brought into existence and created by such a person. Then he merits to a livelihood and to pray sincerely, for the sake of G- d alone, without ulterior motives such as for the sake of the respect of other people, Heaven forbid; and he merits to bring all the mitzvot and holy deeds he needs to perform, from potential to actuality.
o) Shabbat is an aspect of truth. By this, the downfall of the wicked is drawn down and the greatness of the tzaddikim and kosher Jews is revealed. Through this, the holy power of speech is perfected and through this prayer is brought to perfection.
(Prayer 66)
Lord, G-d of the spirits who rules in the world Above and Below, in whose hand are all the souls of the living and dead, have mercy upon me in Your bountiful compassion and merit me to a good, a spirit of holy life. Draw upon a spirit of true holy life from the true tzaddikim who are our life and the length of our days. Merit me to come close to them and stand before them to serve them and provide for their needs. Let me be really attached to them with utter perfection like a branch to a tree. And when the time comes for them to pass away may we merit to hear them so that we receive twice as much..
Have mercy upon me and grant me truth in the ulitmate perfection. Grant me all my income from Your full and generous hand. Guard me and save me so that I do ot come to need the assistance of others for anthing in the world, nor need their livelihood. May I have no craving at all for any honour, pride, glory, importance or appointment of authority. Rather, let all my trust, expectation and hope be in You alone; in You I will always trust and support myself, for You will never desert me.
Provide for me all the needs of my livelihood and all that I lack, even before I need them, in a generous way fro Your holy hand. Don’t bring me to the need for handouts from people or for their loans. Have compassion on a poor and needy wretch such as myself, who is far from an income. Help me, speedily and soon, to remove and pay back all the loans and debts that I have owed until now. My Father, Merciful and Righteous, Shepherd of Israel, “who gives food to all flesh since His love endures forever.” Open Your hand to a poor needy wretch such as me; fill all that I lack materially and spiritually. Help me to remove very soon all the debts that I already owe. From now on, save me from debts and loans! Have compassion upon me for Your Name’s sake and in mercy, fill all my wishes for the good and provide me with my livelihood from You, not a forbidden one; in contentment, not in anguish; in such a way that I merit to truly do Your will.
You who are full of compassion, let me merit even now to the attribute of perfect truth. Let us merit to absolute truth as You desire and reveal the truth in This World, such that the wicked will have a downfall even in This World…. Help us to draw perfection of speech from theWorld to Come into This World… You know the immensity of the many obstacles that we have that we have to all the holy things we have to do. There is nothing connected with holiness that is without many obstacles, that we have to all the holy things we have to do. There is nothing connected with holiness that is without many obstacles, especially when we have to do a major thing upon which all our Judaism depends, such as coming close to true tzaddikim. Even more so is this the case when we want to come close to the point of truth which is between the tzaddikim. Then all the obstacles and delays become stronger and mulitply very, very much, beyond number or measure. They spread out and put many barriers before us and do not let us come close to the point of truth. However, You have already informed us that there is no obstacle in the world at all! All the obstacles are only for the sake of desire, in order that the desire, craving and longing to do Your will all become stronger. However much the obstacles become stronger, so we need to overcome them such that our desire will be greater and greater, so that by the strengthening of desire, all the obstacles will be broken and we will merit to ascertain the desired holiness.
For this I have come to ask of You, O Lord my G-d, who desires our good; rise and come to our aid; let us merit to holy desire so that we long for, desire and crave for You and Your holy service with really great and strong desire and longing. May the desire and longing become progressively stronger, day by day, hour by hour, until the desire becomes strong enough to break the obstacles that need to be broken, until the desire overcomes the obstacles and thye all become nullified by strong desire and longing such that we will not want to excuse ourselves by claiming that force of circumstance or obstacles prevented us. Let us not be satisfied with knowing that if force or circimstance prevents us, it is considered as if we performed the commandment or good deed just because we desired to do it but were prevented.
Please Lord, help us that we should not excuse ourselves by this, for we do not want to fulfill our duty by claiming we were prevented and have it thereby considered as if we had done it. We do not want ot excuse ourselves with any obstacle or force of circumstance. Rather, grant us such strong desire and longing that we be worthy to always turn matters of holiness from theory into action. Every time that we arouse ourselves to do something in holiness, whether big or small, be with us and help us to have a new and strong desire and longing. Let the deisre and longing not weaken at all. Rather, let us become stronger and bolder all the time; to long for, desire and crave for holiness with a wonderful desire and intense longing. In accordance with the power of the obstacle or force of circumstance, so let the longing and desire become stronger until we merit to break all obstacles and delay which stand in the way of all matters of holiness in the world, until we merit to turn the theory into action with regard to all our desires in heavenly matters. Everything that we want to begin doing in the service of the Lord let us do wholeheartedly and successfully, until we actually do all that You really desire.
Master of the World, Lord, G-d of Truth, who desires truth and who is close to those who call Him in truth – rise to my assistance; give me strength, might, wisdom, understanding, intelligence and advice in such a way that I merit to break, nullfiy and drive out from myself all the bad thoughts, all the lies and all the extraneous motives which come into my mind at the time of prayer, to confuse my prayer, Heaven forbid. You know how numerous, immeasurable and immense the obstacles are which hold back my prayer, especially when I stand to pray among many people, for then very, very many improper motives and lies enter my mind. I do not know what to do or how to act for I desire and yearn very much to pray in absolute truth, for G-d alone.
What can I do? My iniquities have caused improper motives and tremendous confusions to arise within me and they confuse my prayer very much with bad thoughts and very numerous, differing confusions. All sorts of improper motives, both the crude and suble, the obvious and hidden automatically come to my mind, in amy aspects, such that it is impossible to detail them. Every single day and during every prayer, the improper motives, confusions become very much stornger, such that I cannot even say one word of prayer proerly, with absolute truth. Take pity and have mercy upon me; help me to complete truth so that I will not need money from others in any way at al.. Let me have no desire or craving for the honour, praise or money of people nor anything else of theirs. Rather, may I know and believe in absolute truth, that everything comes for You…..
67. G-D BUILT THE RIB
a) When new honour comes to a person he needs to be very afraid of this, for sometimes the honour comes to him for the sake of the passing away of his soul, Heaven forbid. Therefore one has to be very careful to receive the honour with great holiness for the sake of G-d alone, without using the honour for one's own needs or pleasure at all in order that one won't be damaged, Heaven forbid, by the honour and that one's soul will not be taken. For the soul is very precious and one needs to take great care over it and protect it a lot. One needs to pray a great deal to the Holy One not to be hurt by the honour and that one's soul will not pass away because of this; for honour is the source of all souls and when the soul passes away it passes away into honour which is its source.
b) However, usually honour comes for a good purpose, for when a new soul comes to a person it comes clothed in honour. Therefore, when he merits to receive honour properly he can receive a new soul through the honour which came to him.
c) By craving for food, honour is blemished and he mars the honour of G-d. This leads to an aspect of G-d's Countenance becoming hidden; harsh judgements increase, Heaven forbid, and then honour falls upon the brazen-faced people of the generation who take all the honour; then all the leadership, rulership, government and honour is in the hands of the idol worshippers, evil-doers and brazen ones. As a result, when Jews need to act boldly in order to preserve our holy religion, we need to receive strength from these brazen ones etc. but when we break the craving for food, then we elevate the holy honour and prevent the brazen ones from receiving any official standing, control or honour. This is an aspect of the elevation (revelation) of G-d's Countenance which is a nullification of harsh decrees.
d) Through giving charity one attracts loving-kindness, nullifies harsh decrees and rectifies any blemish to honour which causes a hiding of G-d's Countenance, as explained; thus one elevates honour and the Holy Kingdom from among the forces of the Other Side. The blemish of the craving for food becomes rectified and honour returns to those who really understand who the true leaders are.
e) Therefore, we give charity when saying, "You rule over everything" (in the morning prayers) in order to elevate the honour and rulership from the realm of the Other Side into the realm of Holiness.
f) When honour returns to those who understand, meaning to genuine leaders, then, when their rulership starts, controversy is aroused.
g) As a result of the split among those who hate the people of real understanding, as mentioned, the former are able to exist longer. But when the haters join together then the excretions of the mind draw nourishment very fast; it is from there that the haters draw their vitality, and thus they fall away quickly.
h) When new honour comes to a person, a holy soul is clothed within it, as mentioned previously, so one has to strengthen oneself in the holy attributes of fear and love of G-d. By this, one will merit to give birth to and bring up the new soul which came to him through honour, as mentioned (see inside).
i) One needs to pray with all one's heart until one feels the words of prayer in all of one's limbs. But when a person prays without his heart in it, then the soul becomes distant from its source and then his soul is tired and his limbs are confused with fright; he has no vitality in his soul or in his limbs. Furthermore, as a result of praying without one's heart in it, one causes, Heaven forbid, wisdom to depart from the elders and the wise men.
j) By means of giving honour to an elder who has forgotten his learning, one attracts cool waters, an aspect of waters of understanding, which revitalize his tired soul; that's to say, one rectifies the blemish of praying without one's heart which is what caused the soul to be tired.
k) Through true tzaddikim, cool waters, from the waters of understanding, are attracted and revitalize one's tired soul. Then one merits to pray with all one's heart, with great intent and concentration such that all one's limbs hear very well the words of prayer; then one's prayer becomes an aspect of "All my limbs will say" (Psalms,35:10), meaning that one prays with all one's strength and mind that are in one's limbs. This is the main form of the perfection of prayer.
l) This is the difference between someone who learns from a book as opposed to someone who learns directly from the true tzaddikim. For a person who learns from a book does not know how much he needs to learn in order to revitalize his soul, but when one hears from the mouth of the tzaddik, then the tzaddik bestows upon a person cool waters in the proper measure, according to the person's spiritual level.
(Prayer 67)
Merciful One, full of compassion. Merciful One, full of compassion. Have mercy on Your great and holy honour. Grant us merit and help us to raise and return all honour to the realm of holiness. In Your bountiful mercy, let us merit to always give plenty of charity; let us give a lot of charity to deserving poor people, with happiness, real good-heartedness and in great perfection as You desire. By this, may we draw the Light of the Countenance into honour. Bless us all together in the Light of Your Countenance and draw upon us Your abundant loving-kindness which is included in Your Great Name… Help us merit to raise the honour and the Kingdom from the aspect of justice to charity. Help us and save us so that we may extract all the honour from the brazen-faced ones and so that we may return all the honour to those with undertanding and perception of holiness. Let all the greatness and honour be returned to the tzaddikim of the generation and those really kosher Jews of the generation who are called the true face of the generation.
So have mercy upon us and upon all of Your People Israel; always make peace between them. Cancel all sorts of controversy and strife from among us and let there be no jealousy, hatred or provocation, or any argument or strife against the kosher Jews who wish, desire and long to really serve You, especially the true tzaddikim and sages. Controversy, strife and accusation have greatly increased among the Torah scholars, because of our many iniquities. “There was no peace to whoever went out or came in.” All the world is full of controversy and strife! You know that controversy and strife damages us a lot in trying to serve You truly. There is specially great controversy and strife, which becomes stronger all the time, against those who were distant from You and have now come to return to You, have come to draw closer to Your great Name to truly serve You. Most of the controversy against them and against those who engage in bringing them closer to You is without reason and about nothing.!
Please Lord, Full of Mercy, Master of Peace, King to whom peace belongs, save us from controversy and strife. Let us merit to a pure and refined mind, perception and intellect without any dross at all. Let us merit to a quiet and serene mind. Let our minds not be confused at all. Nullify all the waste and extraneous matter in the mind for we have no knowledge of how to fight our adversaries and those who persecute us without reason, nor do we know how to react to them. Our intentions should be good, for the sake of Heaven. We desire to really service You and to return to You very soon, in perfect repentance. We do not want any controversy and strife at all!! You, who are full of compassion, have mercy on the oppressed of the flock, on a people dragged and plucked out, a poor and wretched nation. Have mercy, redeem and rescue such weak ones from controversy and strife, for we have no one on whom to rely other than our Father in Heaven. To You alone we have cast our prayers for aid. We rely only upon You. Our hopes are dependent on You, until You graciously answer us.
Take pity and have mercy upon us; fulfill our wishes for the good. Let us merit to always give a lot of charity to truly deserving poor people as You desire. Grant us merit to give charity when we pray, at the moment when we recite the verse: “You reign over all,” and by this let us merit to raise G-d’s authority, honour and kingdom from the husk. Let us raise and extract all Your honour, greatness and authority from the wicked heathens and the brazen ones of the generation and may we return all Your honour and Kingdom to the realm of holiness. Let the honour return to the real tzaddikim and sages of holiness who really understand. Let us be worthy of breaking the craving for food and to draw G-d’s Countenance to honour. By the honour of holiness help us so that many holy souls will come. Let us merit to perfect fear and love. By this, let us merit to give birth to and raise children without any difficulty at childbirth and with out any anguish at all in raising them. Master of the World, let us merit to raise all the honour to its source in holiness. Let the soul never become distant from honour at all.
68. THE SEVERITY OF THE PROHIBITION OF ANGER
a) The soul originates from a very sublime place where money also stems and evolves from. For the beginning of the place where money evolves from is an aspect of holiness and holy abundance; only later on does it materialize in the world below and turn into money. This is what it says about the money of a hired daily worker, "His life depends on it" (Deut.24:15). Therefore, the soul craves for money because the soul comes from the same place as where money stems from. However, one mustn't desire the physical money itself, as already explained regarding the great disgrace of craving money, rather, one must crave for and love the place where money stems and evolves from, as mentioned.
b) Know, it is proper for all Jews to have money but there is one attribute that causes us to forfeit and lose it. This bad attribute is the attribute of anger. Anger causes money that a person should have had to be damaged and lost. Know that when the evil urge entices you to become angry, you should know that at that moment Heaven is bestowing upon you a sum of money, but the evil urge wants to spoil that abundance by arranging for you to get angry for by this it damages the abundance and the wealth (see inside).
c) Know, even if a person has already received the abundance and it turned into money and he already has the money, even so, the Evil One sometimes irritates a person until he becomes so angry that he loses even the money that he already had. May G-d save and protect us from this disgraceful attribute. Amen. So may it be His will.
(Prayer 68)
May it be Your will, O Lord, our G-d and G-d of our Fathers, that in Your bountiful compassion, You have mercy upon me and do good for me from Your true goodness. Save me and guard me at all times form the very severe iniquity of anger. You know that his evil quality of anger and irritation has taken holf of us since we were young. We have laready become accustoemd to this iniquity very much. I have transgressed time and time and time again, beyond counting, until it had become like something permitted. You know the immensity of the blemishes that I have caused by this very severe iniquity of anger which is an alien god, and is really ildol worship, as it says: “There shall be now strange god in you; nor shall you worlship any alien god.”
By this iniquity the soul is actually torn to pieces, as it says: “He tears his soul in his anger.” There are many other immense blemishes caused by this in all the worlds. “Lord, G-d, You know” that because of my many transgressions, I now know no way to save my soul from this severe iniquity to which I have become accustomed very much.
Master of the World, who is good and does good to all, take pity and have mercy upon me. Teach me the ways of Your goodness in such a way that I merit to hold onto Our holy virtues, to always be good and to completely break the characteristic of anger, impatience and irritation so that there will not be any element of anger in my heart at all. At any time when the evil urge wants to provoke me to become angry, Heaven forbid, may I merit to know and believe with perfect belief that at this moment they [in Heaven] want to bestow upon me great wealth. The evil urge wants to spoil this bounty of wealth, Heaven forbid and to turn it into anger so as to tear my soul to pieces, Heaven forbid.
By this belief may I merit to strengthen and encourage myself, to overcome, break and nullify my anger completely and to turn it into compassion. May I merit by this to great holy wealth, which is the root of all souls and let the Evil One have no power to spoil the bestowing of wealth by anger and rage, Heaven forbid. Rather, may we merit to have drawn upon us the wall of wealth, as it says: “The rich man’s wealth is his strong city and as a high wall in his own domain.” May the wall of wealth protect us and guard as from all sorts of anger and rage which is like an unwalled, undefended city, as it says: “He who has no rule over his spirit is like a city that is broken and without walls.”
Master of the World, You know how very much I have lost by anger. You know how many souls I have lost, how much wealth of holiness I have lost and how many worlds I have blemished by this. Master of the World. Master of theWorld, because of the fouling of my mind, anger and irritation are aroused and overcome me all the time until my heart has become soured by great crookedness and confuses me very, very much. I do not know what to do. Because of my many iniquities, I do not have patience to arrange my prayers before You so that You will save me from this very severe and aweful iniquity through which some people have been expelled from two worlds, from This World and The World to Come, Heaven forbid. As You know, I do not know what to say other than, Save me! O King, save me! My Father and Lord, save me!. My King. My G-d. Let me merit to break and nullify the attribute of anger completely and let me merit to holy wealth which is the root of all souls.
69. THE SEVERITY OF THE PROHIBITION OF STEALING
a) The prohibition of stealing is very severe for if a person steals money from his fellow, through this he is also stealing his children. That's to say, a thief takes his victim's children and if he hasn't yet got children, the thief may steal from him so that he won't have any. And even if the victim already has children, the thief can harm him such that his children may die, Heaven forbid, because of the money he stole from him.
b) By stealing from one's fellow, a thief can come to bad thoughts of cleaving to and yearning for his victim's wife.
c) Furthermore, sometimes the thief may lose his own marriage partner through the theft; sometimes the thief can steal from his victim the latter's marriage partner.
d) It is also possible that a person has stolen money even though he stole nothing with his hands. He stole by his coveting, desiring and longing for his fellow's money. By this alone he can rob him. This is the severe prohibition of "Do not covet", for coveting itself is a very severe prohibition. Covetousness itself has the power to steal from a person his money, the soul of his sons and daughters, just like a real, physical theft.
e) By giving charity a person can rectify any stolen money that he has; that's to say, stolen through coveting. Actual stolen money has no rectification until it is returned to its owner. And if a person stole money of the community such that it is impossible to return, he should use it for the needs of the general public, as the Sages said.
f) If a person sees that his livelihood is very limited, he should use his money for charity for, by this, he rectifies his money so that he will have plenty of money and a good income.
g) Someone who marries a woman for the sake of money is stupid and a fool; he blemishes and loses his mind. By this, he will have children who are not worthy, as the Sages said (Kiddushin, 70).
h) Because of the craving for money one creates haters and, according to the intensity of the craving for money so the strength of the haters increases. And when the craving for money becomes very strong this creates people who hate without reason.
i) The craving for money makes a person's mind turbid and confused such that he becomes foolish. And so, however much more he craves for money, his mind becomes more and more turbid.
j) Every person has excretions from the brain from which the hairs of his head stem. The wise man and the tzaddikim also have excretions from the brain, an aspect of 'hairs' ( in Hebrew, 'sa'ar'), but for them they are 'gateways' ( in Hebrew, 'sha'ar') with the vowel point over the 's' on the right making it into the letter 'sh'. The excretions of his brain are an aspect of gateways through which he opens up the gateways of wisdom and knowledge to the service of G-d. Because his brain shines far too brightly for the public to receive from, he has to disguise and lower himself to small, lowly matters so that the world can receive from him; then he can open for them the gateways of wisdom and understanding, thus bringing them closer to G-d.
k) The brains of the tzaddik are an aspect of tefillin. And the fact that the tzaddik lowers himself sometimes to small, lowly matters in order that the world can receive from him, which is for him an aspect of excretions of the brain, as mentioned previously. This is all reflected in the straps of the tefillin.
(Prayer 69)
Let me merit to holy wealth which is the root of our souls. Help me to break the craving for money completely and let me not desire or yearn for money at all; even more so, may I not desire other people’s money at all. Rather, may I long for the root of the holy souls and merit to honour the wealthy as is Your good desire. Let all my love for the wealthy and all the honour that I give them be really for the sake of Heaven, for the holiness of the root of the souls that You bestow upon them which is from where they receive their wealth. May I have no craving at all for material money, rather, may my soul always crave for Your Name and Your remembrance.
So, in Your bountiful mercy, have pity on me; always guard me and save me from the very severe sin of theft. Let me not steal from my friend even as much as the smallest coin. May I not covet or desire my neighbour’s house, animals, servant or maid, silver or gold, jewelllery, clothes, household utensils or anything that belongs to him. Whatever happens let me always be careful not to desire them or any part of them.
Master of the World, You know how many souls have sunk in this sin of craving for money; by which some of them have fallen to actually stealing and some of them have fallen to great coveting and craving for the friends’ money which is also considered real theft. Master of the World, protect me and save from this; protect my soul and save me from all sorts of theft: whether actual theft, such as stealing even a small coin from my friend, even inadvertantly or by mistake (I would rather relinquish my own money): or whether stealing by coveting or craving, Heaven forbid, by which one can also steal, G-d forbid, as You informed us through Your holy Sages. Save me from all this! Let me merit to be unsoiled by any sort of theft in the world! Help me so that I will not look at what my friend has at all, nor yearn for or covet anything at all that belongs to him. Save me and protect me, with Your bountiful mercy, so that no one in the world will have the power to steal from me at all, neither by actually taking nor by coveting. Even more so, let him have no power to touch my soul, Heaven forbid, or the soul of my wife, my sons or daughters and descendants. Just grant strength to my soul and to all th souls dependent on me, so that we merit to stand strong against all the thieves who rise against us like killers of souls, G-d forbid and let us subdue them or throw them down into the dust, ‘to extract from
their mouths all that they have swallowed’. Let them have no power to touch us or our money at all.
May we merit to always give a lot of charity and by this may we profit in all our business dealings; arrange our income even before we need it. Grant us great wealth from the side of holiness - wealth, honor and life. Master of the World, You know the lack of a livelihood which exitst nowadays such that ‘the power of endurance fails’, for our lives hang in the balance; we do not know any way to acquire an income other than relying upon You alone, for from whom shall I ask bread or an income and all my needs, which are very great? From You alone, for You support and nourish all living things from the great horned buffalo to the small eggs of lice. Have mercy upon me and save me. Generously provide me with an income from Your benevolent and full hand and let me not come to the need for handouts from people or for their loans.
Help me to remove all the debts that I already owe and from now on, save me so that I will not need any debt or loan at all. Come to my help so that I may soon merit to rectify the blemish of all the thefts that I have perpetrated from my youth until today.
May I merit to return all the stolen money or objects that I stole, or the money from exploitation that I gained unjustly, whether inadvertantly or on purpose, whether by force or circumstance or willingly. All the disputes in money matters which, by mistake or oversight, caused some of my friends’ money to be left in my hands from some trading or debt etc., whether I still remember or whether I have already forgotten, may I reslove and pay back the owner very quickly indeed. In Your mercy, grant me a lot money in such a way that I fulfill my obligations and pay off anyone whose money or possessions I touched in any way in the world. And if, Heaven forbid, I still have in my hands some stolen object or money or debt whose owenership is unknown to me, help me in Your great mercy, so that I merit to use these items for the needs of the community as You commanded us by Your holy Sages. In doing so, may I merit very soon, in my lifetime, to rectify and return all the stolen objects or money or debts that are in my hands. For You know the severity of the prohibition of theft which is considered as if one steals the victim’s soul and the soul of his sons and daughters, as if one commits adultery with a married woman!
You, who are full of compassion, spare me and take pity on my soul; help me to rectify the blemish of all the stolen objects or money or dets in my hands. Open my hand and make me generous; help me and let me merit to give a lot of charity to many deserving poor people in such a way that I merit to rectify by this the blemish or the stolen objects or money in my hands that came about by covetousness, that I used to covet and crave for my friends’ belongings until I stole from him. Please, Lord, let me merit to rectify this by giving charity.
70. AND ON THE EIGTH DAY
a) There exists a true tzaddik who is the foundation of the world, as it says, "And the tzaddik is the foundation of the world" (Proverbs, 10). This tzaddik is unique in the world for he is the foundation of the world; all things are drawn from him and even all the tzaddikim are only branches from him, each one according to his aspect. One is an aspect of a branch from him while another is an aspect of a branch from the branch. This unique tzaddik is humble and lowly and makes himself like the dust of the earth. By this he has the power of attracting, meaning that he pulls all the world toward him in order to bring them closer to G-d and to His holy Torah. This tzaddik draws all the bounty into the world.
b) He is also an aspect of the Tabernacle which had the power of attraction, drawing godliness to the place where it stood. So also this tzaddik. He has this power of pulling godliness to the place where he is.
c) Likewise, the honour that each person has, whether he is insignificant or important, he receives only from this tzaddik, for all the honour and importance exist only in the hands of the tzaddik and everyone else receives from him. This is also true regarding the renewal of honour , for every time a person is appointed to a new position, the leadership and honour are renewed; this all comes from this tzaddik, according to how he raises each time the Tabernacle from which all honour stems.
d) That the general public are far away from this tzaddik and are not all drawn to him is because of the force of compulsion which acts counter to the power of attraction of the tzaddikim. There are people who, through their words and actions, stop this natural pull of the tzaddik and compel people to distance themselves from the true tzaddik. The main way this force of compulsion becomes stronger is by pride, haughtiness and honour for they make a person fear that his honour will be lessened and degraded if he comes close to the truth. Therefore, anyone who wants to know the absolute truth should really humble his mind and remember his real worthlessness and lowliness; he should remember everything that has happened to him until now. When he really feels his lowliness then the truth will certainly be revealed and the power of the attraction of the tzaddik will overcome the force of compulsion; he will then be drawn at great speed to the true tzaddik.
e) When one give charity to this tzaddik who makes himself like the dust of the earth, the person becomes blessed instantly, for this is an aspect of sowing in the earth seeds that will grow and multiply many times over, like it says, "Sow righteousness for yourselves; reap according to loving-kindness" (Hoshea,10:12).
f) However much more a person humbles himself, he has more power of attraction, that's to say, he has more power to attract the Divine Presence into the world below such that it dwells with us. This has been G-d's desire since the day He created His world. So also he has the strength to attract people to him and to bring them close to the service of G-d. In addition, he can draw good bounty and blessings to the People of Israel. He also merits to be drawn towards and come close to the true tzaddik, as mentioned.
(Prayer 70)
Master of theWorld, Master of the World, G-d of truth, You know the tzaddikim who have the power to bring everyone close to You. They have immense power to attract the entire world to them, their holy Torah and their wonderful advice and paths. Many good things could grow from this for all eternity. The rectificaton of all the worlds and the final complete Redemption dependent on this. But, You know Master of the World, the immense and innumerous power of those forces that compel and distance them from coming to tzaddikim. This power overcomes us at every opportunity. Master of the World, G-d, Master of War, You know the awesome war that each generation experiences all the time. On the one side, there is the power of afttraction of the real tzaddikim who draw all the world to the service of the Creator for eternity. But on the other side, there is this power which pulls against and separates or distances people from the tzaddik. Many souls have sunk in this war.
Master of the World, help us and save us, in the merit of the genuine tzaddikim who really have the power of attraction. Let their strength become far greater than that of the forces pulling people away from the tzaddikim and the service of G-d until this force falls and becomes nullified. It is the source of all the obstacles, temptations, seductions, doubts, controversy, questions and all the physical cravings and bad traits – all the obstacles in the world. May they all fall and be nuillified compeltely in the face of the power of attactions of the true tzaddikim until eventually everyone will throw away their idols of silver and gold and all their cravings. Then they will all run after and pursue the true tzaddikim. Merit us to come close to them and to hear their holy Torah and to study their holy books such that we put into practice their words and advice in a perfect way, as You desire.
So, merit us to break and nulify all our evil cravings and traits nullify so that we can nullify ourselves completely. Let us achieve true humility. We the dust of the earth, so we merit to also have the power of attraction. Merit us to attract Your G-dliness and holiness to us and to attract the entire worldto Your holy faith, to true tzaddikim and Your service and holy Torah.
Help us succeed to give charity to true tzaddikim who are really humble, like dust. By this, may our charity blossom immediately. Merit us to bounty in plenty, to blessings, mercy, life and peace, children, life and a livelihood. Guard us and save us so we will not stumble upon unworthy poor people. Rather, in Your mercy, do not let our charity reach the hands of undeserving poor people. Merit us to give a lot of charity to deserving poor people and to true tzaddikim. Help us, for Your Names sake. Have mercy upon us in Your bountiful compassion and merit us to achieve all this very soon.
Grant us merit and help us to run away from honour with absolute truth. Draw upon us holy honour, truly for Your Name’s sake, honour which is drawn from the true tzaddik who has a magnetic power of attraction which always erects the tabernacle. All the real honour of holiness is within him; all of Israel, from the small to the great, all receive their honour and greatness from him. Let us merit to holy honour such that Your great honour always be revealed, glorified and sanctified in the world. Reign over all the world very speedily with Your honour. Let Your honour fill all the earth. Fulfill the verse which says: “ I am the Lord, that is my Name; and my honour I will not give to someone else.” “Tell of His glory among the nations and his wonders among all the people.” “They will speak of the glory of Your kingdom and talk of Your power.” “Blessed be His glorious Name for ever and let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen.”
71. FAMOUS RABBI
a) It is very hard to be a famous rabbi, for whoever is famous needs to accept upon himself a lot of suffering for the sake of the many. However, there are those rabbis who are forced by Heaven to be famous.
72. STRENGTHEN ONESELF…AGAINST THE EVIL URGE
a) If a person arouses himself to do teshuva, then when wants to enter into the ways of G-d, to travel to the tzaddik, a bigger yetzer hara (evil urge) overcomes him each time. Therefore, one needs to strengthen oneself more each time with renewed strength against the new evil urge which overcomes a person on each occasion. This new evil urge causes sometimes that when a person is aroused to travel to a tzaddik or to true servants of G-d, he has, at first, a great desire but, afterwards, when he starts to travel his desire weakens and sometimes, when he arrives to the tzaddik, his desire falls away completely. All this stems from an aspect of the above, for as soon as he is awakened to travel to the true tzaddik, he kills the evil urge he had previously and so, later, when he wants to travel, a new evil urge comes into being to him which is stronger than before, as it says, "Anyone who is greater than his fellow, his evil urge is also greater" (Succah,52). Therefore, whoever wants to really bring himself close to the Holy One needs to strengthen himself anew each time against the new evil urge which renews itself on each occasion.
b) There are several aspects to the evil urge. Most of the world have an evil urge which is lowly and very crude, a real spirit of folly. Whoever has the minutest clarity of mind and who can sense in his heart even a little of the greatness of G-d, for him this evil urge is certainly great folly and madness; even the temptation of the craving for sex is for him foolishness such that he doesn't need to strengthen himself at all to overcome it. Rather, he has an evil urge which is far higher than this. But the evil urge of most people is really great foolishness for someone who just possesses true intelligence.
c) There are those whose evil urge is an aspect of a thin delicate husk. This evil urge only bothers a man of valour of somewhat considerable status. However, this is still not the evil urge of the true tzaddikim, for their yetzer hara is actually a holy angel.
d) Also in the matter of bringing oneself close to G-d there is a big yetzer hara. That's to say, sometimes a person has great enthusiasm, beyond the proper measure, which is from the evil urge. This is an aspect of "In case they cross the boundary to go up to G-d" (Exodus, 19:21). One has to plead for mercy in order to be saved from all of this.
e) Someone who has harsh decrees upon him, Heaven forbid, and has some trouble, Heaven preserve us, has to see to it to muster up courage and strengthen himself especially in order to be saved from the evil urge. At such a time the yetzer hara overcomes a person more than usual, for the main source of all the evil urges is Gevurot (Powers of Severity) and harsh decrees.
f) Some people have indecent thoughts, Heaven forbid, which overcome them especially at the time of prayer. There are people who, whilst praying, see apparitions before their eyes, as if it was an image of idol worship or other evil images. These images then confuse such people a lot when they pray and they have great suffering from these images; they want very much to overcome and remove these images from their minds so they shake their head from side to side. But know, the more suffering they have and the more a person struggles to remove them from his mind, then these confusions and evil images grow even stronger. Such is their nature; the more one thinks about them to push them off, they attach themselves to a person even more. Therefore the main advice is not to pay any attention to them at all and not to care at all about what images or thoughts appear before you; don't listen to them at all, just do what you have to do, whether learning Torah or praying or business matters. Don't take any notice of them at all and don't stare behind you to see whether they have left you or not, just do what you have to do in whatever you are involved in and by this they will automatically disappear. However, this is just a temporary piece of advice, for the moment. The main thing is that a person has to sanctify and purify his body and go to true tzaddikim who will teach him the paths of truth. Then these images will leave a person completely.
g) Sadness is very damaging and gives strength to the evil urge to overcome a person. Sadness also gives strength to those afore-mentioned confusions. Therefore, one mustn't let oneself be sad because of these confusions, nor be afraid or in awe of them at all. Rather, one must strengthen oneself a great deal to make one's soul happy by using all the paths of advice which are explained elsewhere, each one in its place. For the main form of strengthening oneself is through happiness and joy, an aspect of "The joy of G-d is 'your strength' (Nechemia, 8:10). When you strengthen yourself with joy, these evil images will automatically leave you; just don't put it to the test by looking behind you each time to see if they have already disappeared. Rather, remove your mind from them completely, as explained previously. Understand.
(Prayer 72)
You know that it si impossible to perceive the true good in each level otehre that by breaking the power of the evil urge, who blocks and entices us in every level, as the Sage’s said: ‘Whoever is greater that his fellow, his evil urge is greater.’ Master of the World, Master pf the World, You are good and do good at all times at every moment; Your goodness and compassion never cease even for a moment. You knowth great strength of the harsh decrees that want to overcome us on every occasion, Heaven Forbid. For they strengthen themselves and are jealous of a Jew whose heart burns to serve G-d. Cut a pathway each time, for us to return to You and truly recognise You. My Father in Heaven, Who has mercy on the poor, Who looks to guard the persecuted. Teach and instruct me…. to find a path and advice how to strengthen myself against all the evil urges each time. Teach me to become wiase with true wisdom and to strengthen myself in all sorts of ways, at all times and at every spiritual level; in all the ascents amd descents in the world. May I have patience and control my spirit, thus conquering my evil urge in such a way that I merit to subdue, break and nullify all kinds of evil urge and all kinds of forces that prevent me from truly serving You. May I merit to walk in Your holy paths to turn aside fromevil and always do that which is good in Your eyes.
Master of the World, Master of the World, Your great goodness is very sublime, far above all the loftiest holy levels. You Yourself ae entirely good, without any element of harsh decree (din) at all. You are entirely good without any element of din at all, even the ‘din’ which is holy and pure. You are far above this in a very wonderful and awesome way which is impossible to grasp. However, You Yourself give life to all harsh decrees, from the ultimate sublime source of holy and awesome din to the end of the emanation of all the harsh decrees where filth and total waste (husks) take hold of htem. You give life to them all. All these harsh decrees the evil urges take hold of from the very lowest level to the very highest level, until the Sublime Crown which is the secret of the source of the evil urge of the great holy and awesome tzaddikim. These decrees all receive their vitality from You, for without You no one can raise his hand or leg. They have no strength or vitality whatsoever other that from You.
Master of the World, Master of the World, Master of the World… reveal to me some true advice so that I will merit to carry it out and truly repent. Teach me a path, both materially and spiritually, in such a way that I merit to overcome the eveil urge, the obstacle; delay and confusion of any moment at any spiritual level, whether at the time of ascent or descent. Only You know how many thousands and myriads of obstacles, temptations and incitements rise up agains us every day from anew, as the Sages said: ‘Every day a person’s evil urge overcomes him and wereit not for G-d’s assistance he would fall into the evil urge’s hands.’ Have mercy upon me for Your Name’s Sake.
Help me and save. Merit me to be stubborn in the service of G-d. Let nothing confine or frighten me such that my spirit fall or I become distant from You, Heaven Forbid. Let me not take notice of any negative thoughts that bother me and want to weaken my resolve.
You, in the merit of the true tzaddikim, who pray for us, please have mercy upon us. Let us overcome any worrying thoughts. Rather, let us strengthen ourselves studying Torah and by praying… May I return to You in genuine repentance from now on. Letme take joy in Your salvation. Sweeten from over me and for all Jews all the harsh decrees. Break, crumble, subdue, nullify and put an end to all the evil urges at all times and at all levels. Nullify the evil urge of most of the world which stems from actual filth in the blood and is true folly. Furthermore nullify all the forms of the evil urge of the most pious Jews which is an aspect of dybbuk (evil spirit), Heaven save us. Similarly, save us from the evil urge of the tzaddikim which si actually and angel. At all levels, save us. Merit me to strengthen myself every day from anew to start to come close to You through Torah and prayer.
73 ATTACH THOUGHTS TO WORDS OF PRAYER
a) Through prayer with concentration, attaching one’s thoughts to the words of prayer very strongly, one merits to ascertain the innermost, hidden meanings of the Torah. Such prayer brings bounty and blessings to the world, therefore, the Holy One craves for such prayer, for He desires to bestow His Good upon His creatures.
74 EXALTED, O GOD, ABOVE THE HEAVENS
a) There are some types of suffering that a person experiences which stem from decrees of holiness, which is an aspect of suffering from love, an aspect of “One who G-d loves, He reproaches” (Proverbs,3:12). This is an aspect of becoming distant that is a beginning to coming close (to G-d). However, there is a type of suffering which stems from harsh decrees of impurity, Heaven forbid. A sign for a person to know whether his suffering is from the side of impurity or the side of holiness is prayer. That’s to say when the suffering doesn’t prevent a person from praying then he can know that the suffering is from a holy decree, an aspect of suffering from love.
b) Prayer is an aspect of Countenance (see unabridged version for explanation). When prayer gets cancelled this is an aspect of a concealment of the Countenance (of G-d), Heaven forbid, as it says, “You hid Your Countenance and I was afraid” (Psalms, 30:8).
c) By striving to study Torah until one merits to know and understand it, one cures one’s soul and raises it to the place of its source; one sweetens all the harsh decrees. One plants a Tree of Life in the World Above where everything is health. In addition, one sustains and renews all the worlds and reveals the Glory of G-d in the world which is the main purpose of all man’s service of G-d – in order that the Glory of G-d be revealed.
d) When someone engages in studying Torah but cannot understand it, this is also very good for all the words rise above and the Holy One is happy with them. From them an aspect of Aravei Nachal (willow branches) is created.
e) The Festival of Hoshana Rabbah is an aspect of words of Torah without understanding, because a person cannot yet understand. Simchat Torah is an aspect of speech with understanding, meaning that one merits to know and understand the wisdom of the Torah which is a cure for the soul (see inside).
(Prayer 74)
May it be Your will O G-d, our G-d.and G-d of our Fathers, that You help me and save in Your immense mercy so that I merit to cure my evil completely and to elevate it to the place of its source in holiness and great purity. Enable me to engage in study in Torah for Your sake both day and night.
Have mercy upon me and nullify form over me all kinds of harsh decrees in the world. Guard me and save me always from very harsh decrees which stem fromt eh Side of Impurity, from the Poison of the Serpent. Do not deal with me according to my sins but rather guard my soil and save me from these very harsh decrees which come throught the Other Side. Give me understanding and holy intelligence to study Torah truthfully in such a way that I sweeten all the holy decrees that come through the holy path which is an object of the Strengths of Yitzchak. These holy decrees are for the good.
Master of the Universe I believe that all the harsh decrees and suffering that we experience, the Jewish People in general and each individual in particular at any time, all the obstacles, confusions that hinder us from serving You. They are all sent from You for our good. And even if we think that they are bad, Heaven forbid, You think of them for our good; You reprimand, discipline and purify us for our own good. Because the immense materiality and coarseness of our bodies we cannot even accept Your holy decrees, for the suffering confines us a great deal. Wehave not the strength or patience to accept the harsh decrees without becoming distant from You. This is especially true about my poor and miserable self. I coul not stand up to the slighest test or suffering. Have mercy over me in Your bountiful compassion. Sweeten and nullify all the harsh decrees from upon me and all my family and all those associated with me.
Draw upon me and upon all the Jewish People a new heart, an new and holy spirit; let me completely forget my wicked ways and evil confusing thoughts. Merit me from now on to think only about Torah and prayer, with holiness and great purity so I can cleave all the time to You, to the true tzaddikim and to Your holy Torah. By this, merit me to cure my soul from all its immense pains and fatal illnesses which are beyond measure.
75. BLESS US LORD
a) The attribute of wanting to be victorious, wanting controversy and war stems from the blood in a person’s body that hasn’t yet served G-d. For every person has to see to it that he serves G-d with every drop of blood in his body. That’s to say, he should speak a lot in Torah and in prayer, then he will merit to peace and to nullify all the attribute of wanting to be victorious or to cause controversy.
b) By words of Torah and prayer a person raises all the fallen sparks and all the fallen worlds are rectified and rejuvenated; it is considered as if one had created heaven and earth and all the worlds from anew. Therefore one has to speak only holy words, not other words, in order to raise the sparks and to rectify all the worlds. By this one brings closer the coming of Meshiach.
c). One has to speak a lot of Torah and prayer until one’s body becomes completely nullified, like it is absolutely nothing. To this one merits through the attribute of fear of G-d and then one can achieve peace which attracts all the blessings.