# Torah 126 - A Land Which Eats Its Inhabitants

> מקור: https://rabenu.app/books/kitvey-en/126/torah-126/

a) Belief alone, that he believes in the tzaddik and comes close to him even if one doesn't receive anything from him, is itself very good, for, by faith, and just coming close, the bad within a person gets eaten and turns into the essence of the tzaddik – on condition that the person's intention is for the sake of Heaven. But whoever travels and brings himself to a tzaddik for an ulterior motive, this won't help him at all.

b) Whoever travels to the Land of Israel and his intention is really for the sake of Heaven, in order to return to G-d by this, the Land of Israel will certainly benefit him a great deal. Just by entering the Land of Israel he will be devoured by it and turn into the holy essence of the Land. Therefore, even "if a Jew walks four paces in Israel he is certain to be a son of the World to Come"(Ketuvot,111). However, if his desire in this has nothing to do with the service of G-d, to eliminate the evil in him, dwelling in Israel will not benefit him for the Land of Israel will spit him out, like it says, "Like it spewed…" (Levit.18:28).

(Prayer 129)

May it be Your will, O Lord, our G-d and G-d of our fathers, G-d of Faith, that You grant us merit, by Your bountiful mercy and immense loving kindness, to really perfect, wholehearted faith. May I merit to believe in You and in Your true tzaddikim with really perfect faith. May I merit to enter into, cleave to and be enveloped within perfect, holy faith. Let me be strong and bold in holy faith such that I merit to turn the materiality of my body into the essence of holy faith. May the holy faith consume me until all the evil which has a hold in me be devoured and nullified. Let me merit to turn from evil to good by way of perfect faith, so that I merit to be included and nullified totally within holy faith. Let me merit very speedily to come to the land of Israel with out harm and there to come close and cleave to true tzaddikim, with great attachment and really perfect belief.

In Your great compassion, have mercy upon me; do not repay me according to my sins. In Your mercy, open for me the gates of holy belief; help me enter into faith with truth, to be enveloped within it completely such that I merit to be consumed by faith and to turn into its holy essence, the essence of the holy Land of Israel, the essence of the holiness of true tzaddikim. Do not let the Land or holy faith vomit me out as it did the other nations who came before me. Even though I am not fitting or worthy to touch holy faith or the holy Land of Israel or to come close to real tzaddikim, for I have committed many evil deeds and spoilt my holiness, nevertheless, Lord, Your compassion is great. So have mercy upon me, help me, save me and grant me merit so that the holy faith will be able to stomach within itself an to always retain me, until I become consumed and really changed into the essence of holy faith.

You, who are full of compassion, let me merit to perfect faith in all aspects, for we have no hope or support nowadays other than by holy faith. You know the immense yoke and force of the exile upon our souls because of the cravings of the body which overcome us all the time. Because of our many iniquities, we no longer have the strength to stand against them and break them and nullify them completely. We have only the strength of holy belief, that You will bring us into faith, such that we merit to be consumed by faith and change to the essence of holy faith. Our eyes, O Lord turn towards faith. In Your plentiful mercy, let me merit to really perfect, holy belief, as is Your desire. “All Your commandments are faith”. “I will sing of the loving-kindness of the Lord forever; with my mouth I will make known. Your faith to all generations”. “For I have said: A world of loving-kindness will be built up: Your faith You will establish in the very heavens”……..”Your faith is round about You”. Fulfill in us the verse which says: “I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in judgment and in loving-kindness and in mercies. I will betroth you to Me in faith and you will know the Lord”.

 Blessed be the Lord forever. Amen and amen.

130.

By being humble, a person is saved from the craving for sex and merits to guard his brit (his sexual purity). On the other hand, through haughtiness and pride, the evil urge overcomes him with this craving.

(Prayer 130).

I have stretched out my hands to You. Instruct and teach me Your paths of truth and Your upright advice at all times in such a way that I merit to quickly repent for having bad deeds and indecent thoughts. Then merit me, as a result, for a speedy rectification of the brit in a really complete way as You desire. Grant me true knowledge and intelligence so that I will know to truly feel my lowliness. Let no thought of pride or haughtiness come into my mind for according to my true worthlessness I should not have to pray at all to e saved from pride. Who am I that I should feel any pride! But You know how strange thoughts of pride confuse my mind especially when I want to perform something in the realm of holiness.

Therefore I have come before You, Mercirful One, Who knows the hidden things, have compassion on me constantly and be with me on all occasions. Guard me always so that no thoughts of pride or haughtiness come into my heart at all. Rather, merit me to true humility in such a way that I achieve real holiness of the brit. You have already informed us throught Your holy sages that by humility one merits to guard the brit. But save us from false humility. Give me only genuine humility as You desire. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart find favour before You, G-d, my Rock and Redeemer.

131.

A person has to fear and be frightened of receiving honour, for honour is a great danger, a mortal danger. Therefore, when honour comes to a person he has to be very careful to accept it properly, for G-d's sake alone. If, Heaven forbid, he blemishes the honour even by a hair's breadth and doesn't accept it properly, he may die because of this, Heaven forbid.

132.

There is a tzaddik who is well known in his area but in another area nearby he isn't famous and isn't important at all. Then again in another area he is very famous. However, the truth is that even in the place where he isn't famous or important at all, there also the essence of its existence and vitality comes only through the tzaddik – it is just hidden. This is an aspect of what it says in the Zohar (Tetze,pg.280) – "There is a stream that flows out from one place and goes under the ground until it flows and comes out in another place. And even in the place where it goes under the ground, it waters the roots of the trees."

133.

The truth is that the holy Torah and the true tzaddikim illuminate all the worlds with a very great light. Their light is thousands and tens of thousands times greater than all This World and its vanities. However, because people are deeply involved in the vanities of This World and this is very close to their eyes, they imagine there is nothing better than this. Therefore, This World, even though it is small and of very little worth and has no significance at all, even so, it stands opposite their eyes and prevents them from seeing the great and holy light of the Torah and of the true tzaddikim. It is like holding a small coin right in front of your eyes such that you can't even see a huge mountain, even though the mountain is thousands and tens of thousands times bigger than the small coin. So it is with this small world. The craving for money - the coin in front of a person's eyes- prevents him from seeing the great light of the Torah and the tzaddikim. On the other hand, if a person really takes this itself to heart, how such a small object like this can delay and prevent him from seeing such great lights, all because it is very close to his eyes, then with a slight movement he can remove This World from before his eyes. That's to say, he should turn his eyes away from the world and not look at This World. Rather, he should raise his head and lift up his eyes to look above this very small world which blocks his vision and acts as a barrier. Then immediately he will merit to see perfectly the great and immense light of the Torah and the true tzaddikim. Just like the comparison to the coin mentioned previously, he can easily discard it from in front of his eyes and then he will see straight away the huge mountain. This is exactly so regarding the world and the Torah, like the Baal Shem Tov said, "Oi vavoi, Woe is me! The world is full of heavenly lights and very wonderful, awesome secrets and the small hand in front of the eyes can stop a person from seeing great lights like these!"

(Prayer 133)

I have come before You, G-d my G-d and G-d of our fathers, to ask that You have compassion upon me. Grant me advice, strength and encouragement how to block and remove my materialistic eyes and thoughts from looking at the vanities of this world from now on, especially when I begin to think about something which leads to indecent thoughts, Heaven forbid. For the truth is that I believe that we always have free choice. However because of the immense bitterness of my habits it is hard for me to hold my thoughts in the realm of holiness. But You can help me have apathy, for Your Name’s sake, for the sake of Your honour, so save me from now on from whatever I have to be saved from.

Arouse Your mercy upon me and come to my assistance so that I merit to remove my eyes from looking at This World both materially and spiritually. Just let me turn my eyes, heart and mind to always look at the light of the Torah and the true Tzaddikim who shine with their great, awesome and sublime light. And may this nullify from me all the physical cravings of the world. I believe truthfully with complete faith that all This World and all its cravings and vanities are no more than a speech against the Torah and the Holy tzaddikim who shine throughout all the worlds with a great wonderful and awesome light. It is just that this world, which is so small in size and essence and quality, appears in front of the eyes of people and prevents or delays them from perceiving the great previous light of the Torah and the tzaddikim. Have mercy on us for Your Name’s Sake. Let me not follow after my eyes, rather help me not to raise my eyes to look at the dealings of This World, its vanities and evil cravings which, in the end, are very bitter.

Direct my vision and sight towards the light of the Torah and the true tzaddikim at all times. By this, let all the cravings and affairs of This World be nullified from me. Merit me to spend all my days striving to come close to genuine tzaddikim and for the holy Torah which they drive down, reveal and radiate throughout the entire world all the time.

Help us for Your Name’s Sake. Our Father and King, reveal the glory of Your Kingdom over us speedily through Your holy Torah and merit me from now on to repent fully and purely as You desire. Shine Your Countenance upon Your servant. Save us in Your loving kindness.

Amen.

134.

One must be very careful when saying Torah in public that one's words are divisible so that each person will only hear what he needs to and not more. Even though one says Torah in public to everybody equally, nevertheless the words shouldn't enter the person's heart other than what relates to him and that he needs.

135. "I WILL TAKE THE APPOINTED TIME" (Psalms,75:3)

a) Honouring Festivals and receiving them with happiness, joy and generosity, delighting in them with food and drink and suitable clothing according to one's ability, has a special power to save a person from haughtiness.

b) Coming close to a tzaddik also nullifies haughtiness. Therefore if a person is humble, this is a sign that he is really attached to a tzaddik.

c) The main form of attachment is love, meaning that you should love the tzaddik with perfect love, attaching your soul to his soul to such a degree that love for the tzaddik nullifies your love for women, like it says, "Your love for me was wonderful, more than the love of women" (Shmuel,II,1:26).

d) When one receives a Festival as is fitting, this is an aspect of seeing the face of one's rabbi on the Festival, even though one is miles away from him. So also the opposite, if one is attached to the tzaddik one can feel the sanctity of the Festival. By this, one elevates the Kingdom of Holiness from among the husks so the Kingdom of Evil falls and the power of the Nations is nullified.

e) On a Festival one should repent out of a feeling of joy, for on all Festivals the world is judged, as the Sages said, "On four occasions…" (Rosh Hashana,16). Therefore, one has to repent at those times. By this the Kingdom of Holiness is extracted from among the husks, as mentioned previously, and one hastens the Redemption.

(Prayer 135)

May I find favour before You, O Lord, our G-d and G-d of our fathers, so that in Your bountiful mercy, I merit to really come close and attach myself to true tzaddikim, with real desire in my heart and soul, with really great, powerful love. Let me love them with such great love that my love of them will be greater and more wonderful than the love for women, until all my love for women and craving for sex be nullified from me by my overwhelming love of the tzaddikim. Take pity and have mercy upon me; let me merit to real love of the tzaddikim and by this may I merit to attach myself very greatly and firmly to them. Let my soul be tied up in theirs in a very, very strong bond from now, forever until eternity, for eternities.

May it be Your will O Lord, our G-d and G-d of our fathers, that in Your bountiful mercy and tremendous loving-kindness, I merit to welcome all the Festivals and Holy Days with great holiness and purity, with great happiness and joy and wisdom, with absolute perfection as is really Your desire. May I behold the face of my rabbi on the Festival even when I am far from Him. (When you celebrate the Festivals fittingly it is equivalent to seeing your rabbi…..This is true even if you and he are physically miles apart! – Torah 135 Likutei Moharan).

May I merit to behold the faces of the true tzaddikim, to recognize them and love them and to draw upon myself their holiness by welcoming the Holy festival which is drawn from them. By this, may I merit to the Forty-Nine Gates of Wisdom which are revealed and radiate on the Festival. Open for me the light of the holy mind; let me merit to a great and wonderful power to really look into Your Torah and service. By this, may all the foolishness of all sorts of self-importance, pride and haughtiness be nullified. May I merit to completely perfect humility as is Your good desire. Always draw upon me and all of Israel the holiness of Moses, our teacher, may he rest in peace, who merited to real humility; as is written: “Now the man Moshe was very humble, more so than all other men on the face of the earth”. Have mercy upon us, You who are full of compassion, that we merit, through the strength of welcoming the Festivals – “Festivals of the Lord, holy convocations” – to draw upon ourselves the holiness of all true tzaddikim. May all the true holy brains and intellect, drawn from the Festivals, be drawn upon us by them so that, by this, we merit to nullify and cast off from ourselves all sorts of self-importance, pride and extraneous motives. Through this, may we merit to real humility, to the humility of Moses, our teacher, may he rest in peace.

Master of the World, You know my great distance from true humility. “Surely I am more ignorant than any man and have not the understanding of a man”. In my many iniquities I do not know at all what true humility is, for humility is greater than everything. Lord of compassion, have mercy upon me and let me merit to the real holiness of each Festival until I merit by this to know and acknowledge very well the virtue of the greatness of the true tzaddikim, until I nullify myself to them in utter self-nullification. By this, may all sorts of pride, haughtiness, self-importance and extraneous motives and everything else bad that one can talk of or think of be nullified automatically from me; such that I merit to real humility as is Your real desire.

Master of the World, let me merit to fear Your Name really and truly and wholeheartedly. Fulfill in us the verse which says “By humility (comes) fear of G-d”. Let me merit return in complete repentance before You through the radiance of the holiness of the Festival, for You have already revealed to us that the Festivals are days of judgement, days of repentance. By this, may I merit to rectify all the blemishes that I caused to the aspect of the Kingdom of Holiness by my immense iniquities and wilful transgressions. I caused, so to speak, the Kingdom of Holiness to fall. By this the four kingdoms of the Other Side became stronger, especially the husk of Amalek, may his name be wiped out, for he is the generality of all husks; as it says: “The first of the nations is Amalek”. Therefore take pity and have mercy upon me and return in complete repentance before You. By this, may I merit to raise the holy Kingdom from its fall so that all the four kingdoms of the Other Side be nullified, especially the kingdom of Amalek, may his name and memory be wiped out.

May I merit to come close to and really attach myself to true tzaddikim who occupy themselves merited to the aspect of Kingdom. They create the principal holiness of the Festival, which is the raising of the aspect of the Kingdom of Holiness from amount the husks and the nullifying of all the power and rule of the four kingdoms of the Other Side. Therefore, by attaching myself to true tzaddikim, maybe someone very lowly, rotten and insignificant as myself can also welcome the holiness of the Festival such that I merit to real humility, true, holy fear and to perfect repentance and speedy redemption; as the rabbis of bless memory said: Repentance is great since it brings closer the redemption”.

136.

You must look at the entire person and judge him favourably. This is true even of those who oppose you; you must investigate and find merit in them with regard to their opposition. Through this you will be able to nullify the opposition completely or there will be a downfall to those who oppose you.

(Prayer 136)

My Father in Heaven. Assist me and save me so that I may judge every Jew on the side of merit, even those who incite controversy against true tzaddikim and even consult them. Merit me to fulfill that which the Sages said. “Do not judge your fellow until you arrive at his place”. In this way may all the controversy in the world be nullified and let great pace be drawn down so that all Jews become united.

In Your bountiful mercy, help me to repent fully before You until I reach the holiness and virtue of all those Jews who are far above me in their holiness and purity. May I truly reach their place and unite with them with great peace. Teach me to find in them merits and goodness even in the fact that they argue against us. In such a way may I raise them and enter them into the scales of merit. Then they will unite with us totally and perfectly and controversy will be nullified from among all the Jewish people. Please put into the hearts of those who oppose and argue against the truth the thought that they retract all their hate and controversy and instead pursue truth and peace. And those who hate and oppose the truth, who do not really desire peace, subdue them and bring them down to the dust.

Have mercy for Your Name’s sake. Place peace in the world for You know how much controversy damages the Jewish People. Merciful One, in Your awesome wonders, act to draw down real peace into the world. Fulfill the verse: “Who makes peace in the Heavens, bring peace upon us and upon all the Jewish People. Amen.

137.

The Divine portion from Above (the soul) which is in me tells me and teaches me "to keep Your words" (Psalms, 119:57).

(Prayer 137-8)

Master of the Universe, help me to nullify and subdue the coarseness of my body, it opposes the light of my neshama which is a holy portion from Above. Merit me to hear well in my heart what my neshama tells me and teaches me about keeping Your commandments. Purify my heart to serve You truthfully. May I subdue and nullify the evil urge that dwells in my heart until‘my heart is a void within me’. Help me to purify and cleanse my heart from all kinds of extravenous and bad thoughts. Merit me to be totally honest with a pure heart. Through this, may the truth of the light of godliness be revealed and shine in my heart, for you informed us that the heart of each Jew is full of godliness.

Purify my heart so much that I will be able to know future events for my heart talks to me. Merit me that everything my heart tells me will really be the word of G-d.

138.

Someone who has an upright heart, like it says, "My heart is void within me" (Psalms, 109:22), can know the future by what his heart tells him, for that is actually the word of G-d.

139

On weekdays, when the external (impure) forces have control, when a Jew performs a mitzvah the husk takes nourishment from the 'legs' of the mitzvah so that it cannot ascend and go before G-d. But on Shabbat, when the control of external forces is nullified, then the mitzvah ascends and goes before the Holy One. This is an aspect of what it says, "If you return your foot because of Shabbat" (Isaiah, 58:13). The Holy One enjoys and takes delight in the mitzvah and makes from the person's steps a well-trodden path.

140.

The tzaddik himself cannot be grasped; we have no apprehension of him for he is far beyond our understanding. It is only through his followers, who are close to him and who are not yet so distant from the public, about whom we have some grasp, that through them we can understand something about the virtue of the tzaddik.