# Torah 35 - Happy Are The People Who Know To Blow The Shofar

> מקור: https://rabenu.app/books/kitvey-en/35/torah-35/

a) Know that repentance means to return the thing to the place it was taken from, an aspect of 'zarka' (the cantellation sign ~, as explained in the Tikkunim, 21, 43). That's to say, return it to its source. The source of all things is Wisdom, as it says, "You created all things in wisdom" (Psalms, 104:24). Therefore, each person has to guard his wisdom and mind from exterior wisdoms called 'the daughter of Pharoah'. 'Daughter' alludes to a wisdom that is not really wisdom at all, as the Sages said (Menachot, 110). Pharoah has the meaning of nullification, as it says, "prevented the people" (Ex.5:4). Unkulus translates that as "nullified". That's to say 'worthless' wisdoms are those outside the Torah. The main wisdom is to acquire perfection and that is only by godly wisdom. All the other wisdoms are just worthless; they are not wisdoms at all.

b) Therefore, each person has to guard his mind and thoughts very much so that no extraneous thought, superficial wisdom, strange thought or, much more so, evil idea will enter his mind. For all the blemishes, sins and iniquities, Heaven forbid, stem only from these blemishes to the mind, as a result of not guarding the thoughts properly and letting them go out of the bounds of holiness. On the other hand, when a person is careful and guards his thought well, which is the wisdom in his mind, this is the main rectification and repentance for all the sins (Editor's footnote: As it says, (Isaiah,55:7) "Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord and He will have mercy on him") for he strengthens himself to overcome and drive away all these extraneous thoughts from his mind and intelligence. The mind is the neshama (holy soul) so when he sanctifies his mind, meaning his neshama, he raises and returns everything to the mind and this is the essence of repentance.

c) Every Jew has 'a portion of G-d from on high' which is an aspect of holy wisdom. For this reason they are called "first", as it says, "Israel is holy to the Lord, the first-fruits…" (Jer.2:3). However, at birth, the wisdom is very limited in each person. Then, when he begins to use it to consider how to serve G-d, his mind begins to grow and develop, like it says, "And Sh'lomo's wisdom excelled." (Kings 1,5:10). But, when a person lets extraneous thoughts, which are worthless wisdoms, enter his holy mind, then the holiness of his mind contracts according to the space that the extraneous thoughts take. Around such a thought, all the bad, lowly traits and cravings collect and become joined.

d) So, the main thing is to guard one's thoughts and mind from these extraneous thoughts and wisdoms from which the entire evil urge is built, Heaven forbid. The evil urge is an aspect of the Primeval Serpent which attaches and wraps itself around the realm of holiness. This is why it is called a large city ('city', in Hebrew 'krach', contains the letters as 'wrap around'- 'korech') for it always tries to attach itself, especially, to the greatest rabbis of the generation, more than other people, as the Rabbis taught (Succah,52) on the verse, "though he has done great things" (Yoel,2:20). This is because the Torah scholars have the greatest understanding; the evil urge wants to cause them to sin, Heaven preserve us. Therefore, the main thing is to guard against bad thoughts.

e) When a person preserves his mind from these extraneous thoughts, this is not enough, he has to rejuvenate his mind as all times for, by this, he renews his soul, for, as we saw, the mind is the soul, as it says, "The soul of the Almighty gives them understanding." (Job, 32:8). The Sages taught (B'rachot, 10) that the soul nourishes and gives vitality to the body and the soul itself is the intelligence, as it says, "Wisdom gives life…" (Eccl. 7:12)

f) Renewal of the mind, meaning renewal of the soul, is by sleep, like it says in the Zohar (Pt.1,pg.19; Pt.2,pg.213B) on the verse, "They are new each morning" (Lam.3:23) – 'the soul is new every day' etc. When the mind becomes tired, sleep refreshens it, as we see clearly. During sleep, the mind, meaning the soul, enters the realm of faith and that is what the verse says, "They are new each morning; great is your faithfulness"(ibid). That's to say, by sleep, our faith grows bigger. This is the meaning of the blessing we say every morning, "Who gives strength to the tired". First we were tired but now we have gained strength.

g) There are several aspects of sleep. There is physical sleep which gives a rest to the brain; there is also an aspect of sleep, relative to cleaving to G-d, through learning when one learns the simple interpretations of the Torah (Zohar,Pt.3,244B) as the Sages said of the verse, "He has set me in the dark places." (Lam.3:6) – ' this is the Talmud Babli' (Sanhedrin,24). This is an aspect of faith. A person who is always involved in cleaving to G-d tires his mind because of the immense effort of cleaving, so then he should learn simple Torah interpretations.

h) Through faith one receives brains, meaning the soul, from the Light of the Face, like it says, "The light of the king's countenance" (Proverbs, 16:15). There are several aspects of the Light of the Countenance. Some people receive intellect from the face of the Torah, for there are seventy faces to the Torah. Others receive from the light of the face of tzaddikim, that the tzaddik shows them affection, which leads them to receive a new intellect and a new soul from the holy face of the tzaddik. For the essence of intellect comes from the Light of the Countenance, as it says, "A man's wisdom makes his face shine" (Eccl.8:1).

 i ) There is a further aspect of sleep which is through doing business with faith. When dealing with buying and selling with faith, then the brain, his soul, enters the realm of faith and is renewed there. His brain is revitalized from its tiredness and attracts a new intellect from the Light of the Countenance. The main thing then is to guard one's faith very well. Then, when the brain gets tired, he can renew it through faith by one of these aspects of sleep; it could be simple physical sleep, for then the brain renews itself as is understood. But the main thing is faith; before going to sleep one has to attach himself to faith which is why we say 'Shma on the bed' before going to sleep. Therefore one has to say it with concentration in order to connect his soul to faith and enable it to enter the realm of faith during sleep. Then his soul is renewed as it says, "They are new each morning, great is your faithfulness." As a result he can merit through his sleep to receive a new intellect and soul from the Light of the Countenance. So also, someone whose mind tired through his efforts to cleave to G-d, has to engage in learning simple things in the Torah and also has to enter the realm of faith. That's to say, because his mind begins to get confused such that he can't continue to cleave to G-d with his mind and understanding, he has to put aside his mind and perception completely and to connect himself to faith with simplicity while learning simple things with simplicity and perfect faith. The truth is that even when the mind cleaves to G-d at whichever level he is at, then also the main existence of the mind depends on faith, for a person shouldn't rely on the mind alone. However, when the mind is put aside, one has to rely on faith alone, by one of these aspects of sleep. So when sometimes business is an aspect of sleep to renew the brain, there also the main thing is faith. For when he conducts his business with faith, his soul, which is his mind, enters the realm of faith and is renewed there.

j) It is impossible to perform business with faith other than by knowing well all the laws of buying and selling so that he won't stumble in any of the laws of business. That means that when he deals with buying and selling he is involved in the laws of business.

k) When doing business faithfully one has to guard one's faith very much so that the forces of evil don't overcome him and cause him to blemish his faith, Heaven forbid. Therefore one has to strengthen oneself very much when doing business and behave like Rav Saffra and fulfill the verse which says, "Speak the truth in your heart" (Psalms,15:2) – that even if you have decided in your heart, don't change your word (Makkot,24). Through this, one draws 'Chashmal' (which has the numerical value of 'malbush', meaning 'clothing' and is the holy light which acts as a barrier between good and evil, as seen in the Chariot of Ezekiel). This is a 'clothing' from the world of Binah, for Binah is the heart, and is called Mother (Proverbs,2,3). Then it is like a mother who covers and protects her young. The heart creates Chashmal, a clothing and protection around faith so that the external forces of evil won't be able to draw power from it. By this, a person can guard his mind and soul and faith and then be able to renew his mind and soul within the faith of his business affairs.

l) When a person performs his business with faith it is like bringing a Tamid sacrifice and an incense offering (Ketoret). This is because his mind is an aspect of Chochma, Binah and Da'at and when he connects his mind to faith and the simple Torah, which is an aspect of Yetzirah, as a result, the faith becomes stronger and raises the holy sparks from out of the husks; this is the secret of the eleven spices of the Ketoret. By this, all the husks and nations and countries around the holy faith, called Jerusalem, "the faithful city"(Isaiah,1:21), fall away, and this is an aspect of cutting off the seed of Amalek which is one of the three mitzvot that Israel were commanded upon entry into the Land of Israel (Sanhedrin,20). That's to say, by raising the sparks, one subdues Amalek. Through this, when one rises, the other falls; this is the mitzvah of appointing a king, which alludes to faith and Kingdom. Through this one merits to the mitzvah of building the Holy Temple and Jerusalem, that's to say, faith. As a result, one's brain is renewed and elevated, which is an aspect of building the Temple. This is what the Sages said, "Someone who has understanding it is like the Temple was built in his days"(B'rachot, 33). This is an aspect of the Light of the Countenance, a renewal of the mind and of the soul.

m) Chashmal is an aspect of the straps of the tefillin which envelope Kingdom, that's to say, faith. 'Strap' has the numerical value of 370. This alludes to the fact that through this Chashmal, which is "speaking the truth in your heart", one guards the faith. The soul, that's to say the brains within it, receives from the Light of the Countenance which is formed of the 370 lights of the Sublime Face drawn from the rectification of truth. Therefore, the straps of tefillin guard a person's faith.

n) Even if a person is not a Torah scholar and doesn't receive by himself new brains by conducting his business with faith, since he doesn't learn Torah which is the essence of the brain and intelligence, even so, he also brings about a big rectification by his buying and selling with faith, for, by this, he does a favour to his fellow Jew who is from the same source; he causes his fellow's brains to be renewed through his business with faith. His fellow will have new brains in order to learn and cleave to the Creator.

o) This is an aspect of the blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashana. Rosh Hashana is an aspect of sleep, as is known, an aspect of business with faith. The blowing of the shofar comes to awaken those sleeping which is a revitalizing of the brain, meaning the intellect and the soul of each person by receiving from the Light of the Countenance. This is why the face of the shofar-blower turns red because he arouses the lights from the Sublime Face. Through this, each person, according to his level, merits to receive new intellect and a new soul from the Light of the Countenance.