# Torah 19 - A Prayer Of Habakuk

> מקור: https://rabenu.app/books/kitvey-en/19/torah-19/

a) The craving for sexual pleasure is the embodiment of all the evils stemming from the seventy nations, for each nation has a special evil associated to it. In other words, each has a certain bad attribute which they are deeply involved in and from which they draw strength. But the desire for sex is the overall evil for within it lies each evil of each nation, which includes all the physical cravings.

All of these cravings burn together in a person and become a bonfire which is the fire that burns in a person to crave sex. However, the Holy One separated us from the nations and raised us above all the languages so we have to separate ourselves from all their evil, from all their cravings, which are unique to them and do not belong to us at all, especially the craving for sex which is the all inclusive evil of all the nations. This is the main difference between us and the other nations that we separate ourselves from the desire for sex. This is the main holiness of the People of Israel. A Jew has the strength to remove his mind from this craving and thus to break it. This is the essence of our holiness.

b) The main essence of holiness is holiness of the brit. To this we merit by the holiness of the tongue and speech which we sanctify with holy words. That is why our language is called the Holy Language, for wherever you find an element of sexual blemishes, there you find holiness. To reach perfection of the holy language is by speaking many words of holiness, words of Torah and prayer and conversations with G-d. (Even though one may talk to G-d in English, this is also included in holy language for it is preferable to speak to G-d in one's own language. The main thing is to guard one's tongue and sanctify it with holy words.)

To take care and guard one's tongue is by not saying bad, blemished things such as loshon hara, lies, idle talk etc. for they blemish the holy language. This is the main way to subdue and break all the physical desires, especially the craving for sex which is the main thing which needs to be broken.

c) Guarding the brit (sexual purity) is an aspect of a spirit of holiness, holy language, by which we nullify the spirit of folly that causes blemishes to the brit, Heaven forbid.

d) The main way of making and rectifying holy language depends on "fear of G-d which is His Treasury" (Isaiah, 37).

e) Guarding the brit and the perfection of the holy language are inter-dependent, for one cannot exist without the other. To the degree that one speaks many holy words, so one merits to guard the brit and vice versa. The opposite also. Someone who blemishes the brit loses his holy language whereas one who has holy language also guards the brit.

f) All forms of disgrace, shame, and insults come to a person because of his blemishing of the brit. So also, the opposite. By guarding the brit one merits to honour.

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g) The craving for sex is the general evil and is an aspect of the Primeval Serpent who tempted Eve impregnated her with poison which is the stormy spirit, the spirit of folly, a foolish woman. It tempts the spirit of holiness, which is the holy language, that represents the guarding of the brit, and instills poison. This is what it says, "Sin crouches at the door" (Genesis, 4). The door alludes to the opening of the mouth with holy language. The sin refers to the Serpent who crouches in order to draw strength from it by blemishing the holy brit (through sexual blemishes). The main power of the evil urge to make a person sin is by this craving.

h) Nowadays, by our many iniquities, the wisdom of oratory in holy language has fallen greatly such that most orators are ignorant people who are immersed in the craving for sex, the all-inclusive evil, the opposite of holy language. They are as it says, "Your orators have transgressed against me" (Isaiah, 43, 27) .By the lucidity of their oratory they attract the heart of some young Jews until they lead them into complete atheism. This is what it says, "The lips of a strange woman drip honey and her mouth is smoother than oil." (Proverbs, 5, 3). All this stems from the Serpent that tempted Eve (who represents the power of speech of holy language) and poisoned her, Heaven forbid.

i) The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is the language of Targum

( Aramaic ) which is the intermediary between the holy language, the wise woman who is completely good, and the language of the seventy nations which is all evil, for all their languages are now completely evil. When they want to draw power from the holy language, they cannot do it other than through Targum. The main way of building and perfecting the holy language is only by pushing down the evil in Targum while elevating the good in it to the level of holy language.

 By this we perfect the holy language and all the seventy languages fall (as the Sages said ) " one language falls on another". This is what it says, " And the L-rd G-d caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man" (Genesis,2, 21 ). Sleep ( "tardema" ) has the numerical value of Targum,as the Ariz'l explains. "Fall" (v'yapel") alludes to the initial letters of the verse " pe l'hem v'lo y'deberu"( " they have a mouth yet do not speak") because sleep is an aspect of the language of Targum which is the prime means by which we build the holy language, represented by Eve. We do this by raising the good in Targum and pushing down its bad. As a result, all the seventy languages fall, as it says," they have a mouth yet do not speak".

 j) The main form of dream is during sleep. The dreams are according to what you eat, for in every thing there are letters with which this thing was created. When you sleep the vapours from what you ate rise to the brain and the letters in all the foods combine to create a dream. Someone who has perfect holy language knows the letters contained in each thing so he can solve dreams,like Joseph,the tzaddik. He merited to perfect holy language which comes primarily through sleep which is Targum. He merited to clarify the good from the evil in it so he knew to find the good and the truth in the dream, in the Targum.

k) This is an aspect of a nocturnal emission, Heaven forbid, when the spirit of folly ,the seventy languages, rises through Targum and by sleep,to draw strength from the holy language,from the spirit of holiness,from the holy brit. Someone who has perfect holy language cools down his heat (evil urge) by holy language, but someone who lacks this perfection the stormy spirit of the seventy languages cools him down( spiritually) by causing him a nocturnal emission during sleep, Heaven forbid, as it says " he met you on the way" ( Deuteronomy,25, 18 ) for "met" has the same meaning as' coldness' in Hebrew. " On the way" alludes to what it says " the way of an adulterous woman" ( Proverbs,30, 20 ) which is when the stormy spirit passes through Targum, the husk of Nogah, and draws strength from the holy "chashmal", holy language. When one perfects holy language by clarifying Targum and sleep,one is saved from nocturnal emissions during sleep. Therefore we must cool down our heat (urges) by holy words which reflect perfection of the holy language. Through this a person is saved from emissions, Heaven forbid, and one won't be cooled down by the stormy spirit, as mentioned above.

l) Washing in hot water on the eve of Shabbat is an aspect of rectifying the brit. So also is reading the weekly Torah portion twice with Targum once.

m) Through raising the good in Targum and perfecting the holy language with which the world was created, one breaks and nullifies the craving for sex. As a result, one strengthens and arouses the power of the letters of holy language which is in each thing; the letters are the power of G-d instilled in all the Act of Creation.

n) Someone who merits to this, merits to eat and drink and draw pleasure as is proper. For the essence of what one eats, drinks and derives pleasure from has to be from the sparkling of the letters in each thing, as it says, " When Boaz had eaten and drunk, his heart was glad."( Ruth,3,7). His eating and drinking was from the radiance of the letters Elohim, mentioned 32 times during the description of the Act of Creation. These letters exist in each thing. This is reflected in the grace after meals (as explained in the Zohar,Vol. 2, pg. 218B )for the food is blessed by perfection of holy language, by arousing and radiating the letters that exist in each thing.

o) Just by wisdom alone a person can understand and know the letters that exist in each thing. However, to feel and take pleasure only from the combinations of letters, as it says, "Boaz had eaten and drunk, his heart was glad", this is impossible to achieve other than by meriting to perfect holy language; that's to say, when he merits to break the craving for sex completely, thus perfecting the holy language, such that he brings about a new sparkling in the letters of each thing. By this, he merits … that his meal, the food and drink and all the pleasures will be from the sign of the letters marked in each thing.

p) When a person reaches this level, his heart radiates, for the heart (lev) is so called because it is nourished by the very best of the thirty-two ( numerically 'lev' in Hebrew) references to Elohim in the Act of Creation. By the light of these thirty-two references to Elohim shining in his heart, his face shines with this light and becomes purified to such a degree that he can arouse others to repentance just by them looking at his face; they see themselves in his face like in a mirror and see how they are deep in darkness. Then, even without reproach or ethics, his fellow Jew will be aroused to repentance just by staring at his radiant face.

 q) Most people don't understand the need to travel to the tzaddik to hear his words for one can study ethics from a book. However, there is a great difference, for someone who hears from the tzaddik himself receives words of the holy language in perfection, that's to say, with fear of G-d .Through this he merits to nullify and subdue the general evil, which is the craving for sex, so that he merits to rectify the brit which is the all-inclusive rectification upon which everything depends. This rectifies all one's physical cravings and bad attributes. However, this is true only when one hears directly from the tzaddik himself. But someone who hears through someone else who heard the tzaddik and certainly when it is even more indirect, is very far from this perfection for it descends each time from one level to another. There is even more of a difference between hearing the tzaddik and studying from a book. A book is only for memory and memory comes from the power of imagination. Therefore, the book is a completely different matter altogether. It hasn't the virtue of being heard from the holy mouth of the tzaddik himself.

r) When tzaddikim want to hear some word from the Holy One, they first of all make the word and build it by their good deeds. Afterwards they merit to hear things from G-d. This is what it says, "Who make His word, hearing the voice of His word."

 (Psalms, 103, 20).First they make the word, then afterwards, hear it. In this word, the Holy One speaks to them. When the tzaddik hears a word of Torah from the mouth of the Holy One, the word has perfection because perfection of speech depends on fear of G-d and fear depends on the ears. This is what it says, " I heard Your report and I was afraid." ( Habbakuk, 32). When one hears from the mouth of the tzaddik himself who hears from Your mouth, this is "Your report", from You; then I had fear. For the essence of fear is dependent on the ears; then the holy language acquires perfection.

s) The Holy One created all the world for the sake of Man who has free choice. Man, specifically, has to rectify all things by separating the good in the Tree of Knowledge. By this he perfects and rectifies all things in the world. Therefore, he has to rectify the mila (be circumcised and keep pure) specifically in This World. This is an aspect of perfecting the holy language by clarifying the good within Targum, for when holy language comes from Above it still lacks this clarification and so lacks perfection which is achieved only through Targum.

t) To raise the good from Targum comes about by rectifying all one's unintentional sins, for this leads to perfect holy language. This is because unintentional sin stems from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, when one's action is bad but one's intention is good.