Likutay Moharan - Torah-teaching 65

Torah 65: And Boaz Said to Ruth

And Boaz said to Ruth, “Have you not heard, my daughter? Do not go to glean in another field, nor pass from this one… Let your eyes be on the field where they reap, and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn” (Ruth 2).

א

Know that there is a field, and there grow trees and grasses, very beautiful and lovely, and the precious beauty of the field and its growth cannot be described—fortunate is the eye that has seen this. And the trees and grasses are the aspect of holy souls [neshamot] that grow there. And there are many, many naked souls that wander and roam outside the field, waiting and hoping for rectification [tikkun] so that they may return and enter their place. And even a great soul, upon which many souls depend, sometimes when it goes out, it is difficult for it to return there. And they all seek and hope for the master of the field [ba’al hasadeh] who can engage in their rectification. And there is a soul whose rectification is through the death of a certain person, or through a mitzvah and service of a certain person. And one who wishes to gird one’s loins to undertake to be the master of the field must be a steadfast and strong person, a mighty warrior, wise, and a very great tzadik. For one must be a very great and exceedingly exalted person. And there is one who can only complete the matter through one’s death, and even for this, one must be very great, for there are many great ones who, even with their death, would not avail, but only if there is a person who is very great and exceedingly exalted can complete what is needed in one’s lifetime vitality. For many sufferings and difficult things pass over such a person, but through one’s greatness and merit, one overcomes them all and performs the actions of the field as needed.

And when one merits to rectify the souls and bring them in, then it is very good and beautiful to pray, for then the prayer is for their rectification. And this master of the field oversees and strives constantly to water the trees and nurture them, and for the other rectifications of the field, and to distance the trees from one another the appropriate distance so that one does not negate the other. For sometimes it is necessary to show a great follower a great distance so that one does not negate one’s fellow.

ב

And know that when the souls produce fruits, performing the will of the Omnipresent, then the eyes of the master of the field shine, and they can be watchmen and see in the place that is needed (Numbers 23): “The field of seers.” But when they do not perform the will of Hashem, blessed be He, Heaven forbid, then one’s eyes are darkened, Heaven forbid (Oholot, Chapter 18, from a minor witness, see there). For weeping is the spoilage of vision, as it is written (Ecclesiastes 12): “And the clouds return after the rain,” and our Sages, of blessed memory, expounded (Shabbat 151): This is vision that follows weeping. And when one’s eyes shine and see, in the aspect of the “field of seers” mentioned above, then one can look at each and every one to bring them to the ultimate purpose, namely, one can look at the speech of each one, if it is not in its complete rectification because it is still far from the ultimate purpose. Then one brings it to the ultimate purpose, and then the speech is proper in its perfection, for every speech is a complete world.

And when a person stands to pray and speaks the words of prayer, then one gathers blossoms, flowers, and lovely roses, like a person walking in a field and gathering lovely roses and flowers one by one, until one makes a single bundle, and then gathers more, one by one, and makes another bundle, and joins them together. And so one continues to gather and collect many beautiful and lovely bundles. Similarly, one proceeds in prayer from letter to letter until several letters are joined, and a word is formed from them, and so one forms complete words. And then two words are joined, and then one continues to gather more until one completes one blessing. And then one gathers more and more, proceeding from Avot to Gevurot, and from Gevurot to Kedushot, and so one continues further. Who can extol the greatness of the splendor of the gatherings and collections that a person gathers and collects in the words of prayer? And when the speech goes forth, the speech comes from the soul, as it is written (Genesis 2): “And the man became a living soul,” and its translation is: a speaking spirit. And the speech comes and is heard by one’s ears, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said (Berachot 15): “Let your ears hear what you bring forth from your mouth.” Then the speech requests and pleads from the soul not to separate from it. And immediately, when the first letter goes forth, such as the letter beit from the word Baruch, then it requests and pleads from the soul not to separate from it, for how can you separate from me given the greatness of the connection and love that exists between us? For you see the precious beauty, radiance, splendor, and glory of mine, and how can you disconnect yourself from me and separate from me? It is true that you must go further to gather more precious and great treasures [segulot], but how can you separate from me and forget me? In any case, you will see that in every place you go and come to, you will not forget me, and you will not separate from me. All the more so when one completes a single word, then the entire word requests all the aforementioned, and it envelops and embraces it and does not allow it to go from it, as mentioned above. And in truth, one must and is compelled to speak many more words and many blessings and matters until the completion of the prayer. Therefore, the principle is that one must make the entire prayer one, and in every word one speaks, all the words of the prayer should be present. And from the beginning of the prayer to the end, it should all be one, and when one stands at the final word of the prayer, one should still be standing at the first word of the prayer, so that through this one can pray the entire prayer. And even so, one does not separate even from the first letter of the prayer.

ג

And know that this aspect, namely, the aspect of one [echad], is the aspect of the ultimate purpose [tachlit], (Zechariah 14): “On that day Hashem will be one and His Name one.” And “on that day,” this is the ultimate purpose, and it is the aspect of entirely good, for one is entirely good, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said (Pesachim 50) regarding this verse: “On that day Hashem will be one,” and so forth, “Is He not one now? Rather, now we bless over evil: ‘True Judge,’ and over good: ‘The Good and Beneficent,’ but in the future, we will bless over everything: ‘The Good and Beneficent.’” It follows that the aspect of one is the ultimate purpose, and it is entirely good, for the ultimate purpose is entirely good. For even all the troubles, sufferings, and evils that pass over a person, Heaven forbid, if one looks at the ultimate purpose, certainly they are not evils at all but great goods, for certainly all the sufferings come with intention from Hashem, blessed be He, for one’s benefit, whether to remind one to return in repentance [teshuvah], or to cleanse one’s iniquities. And if so, the sufferings are great goods, for the intention of Hashem, blessed be He, is certainly only for good. It follows that in all the evils and sufferings that a person has, Heaven forbid, if one looks at the ultimate purpose, namely, the intention of Hashem, blessed be He, one will have no sufferings at all, but on the contrary, one will be filled with joy, from the great magnitude of the good that one perceives in the ultimate purpose of these sufferings, for the ultimate purpose is entirely good, entirely one, as mentioned above.

And in truth, there is no evil in the world, only all good, but the primary pain that a person has from the sufferings that pass over one, Heaven forbid, is only because one’s knowledge [da’at] is taken away, until one cannot look at the ultimate purpose, which is entirely good. And then one feels the pain and anguish of the sufferings, for when one has knowledge and looks at the ultimate purpose, one does not feel the pain of the sufferings at all, as mentioned above. And through this, you will understand a hidden and concealed matter, what is ingrained in the soul of a person when one has great sufferings, may we be spared, such as, for example, when a limb is cut off a person, Heaven forbid, then one closes and shuts one’s eyes tightly. For this we see with our senses: when a person wants to look at something far from one, one closes one’s eyes and narrows and focuses the vision to direct the sight toward the distant thing one wishes to see. And this is because vision is a servant and messenger of the mind [moach] to bring the thing seen into the mind, for the essence of seeing is knowing [yediah], namely, to know the essence of the thing seen, and the knowing is in the mind. And when the mind wishes to know this thing that stands before it, it sends the vision, and the vision goes and sees the thing and brings it into the mind, and then one knows what one sees. And therefore, when something passes before a person with great speed, one does not know the essence of the thing, even though one truly saw the thing with one’s eyes; nevertheless, due to the speed, there was no time to bring the thing into the mind. And therefore, when the thing is far from one, the vision lacks the strength to go there and bring it into the mind, because other things seen from the side confuse it, and also because of the dispersion that scatters the vision. Through this, it is weakened and lacks the strength to bring the thing seen into the mind. Therefore, one must close one’s eyes and focus the vision and direct it toward the thing needed, so that other things do not confuse it, and also so that the strength of the vision is fortified and not weakened, and then one can see the distant thing, as mentioned above.

Similarly, when one wishes to look at the ultimate purpose, which is entirely good, entirely one, one must close one’s eyes and direct the perception toward the ultimate purpose, for the light of this ultimate purpose is distant from a person, and it is impossible to see it except by closing the eyes, completely shutting them tightly, even pressing them with the finger, to close them entirely. And then one can look at this ultimate purpose, namely, one must close one’s eyes completely from the sight of this world, conceal and shut them tightly so as not to look at all at the desires and vanities of this world. And then one can see and attain the light of this ultimate purpose, which is entirely good, and then the sufferings are nullified, as mentioned above, for the essence of the sufferings is due to being far from the ultimate purpose, as mentioned above. And therefore, it is ingrained in the soul of a person to close one’s eyes during sufferings, as mentioned above, in order to escape from the sufferings and nullify them through the perception of the ultimate purpose, which is entirely good. And this perception is only possible through closing the eyes, as mentioned above. And even though a person does not know anything about what one is doing, nevertheless, the soul knows everything, and therefore it is ingrained to close the eyes during sufferings, as mentioned above.

ד

And behold, in truth, at the moment of nullification [bittul], when one is nullified to the ultimate purpose [tachlit], which is entirely good, entirely one [echad], then in truth the sufferings are nullified, as mentioned above. But it is impossible to remain constantly fixed in the aspect of nullification, for if so, one would go beyond the bounds of human existence. And therefore, it is necessary that the nullification be in the aspect of going and returning [ratzo v’shov]. Therefore, when the intellect returns from nullification to the mind [moach], which is the vessel of the intellect, then it is impossible for the mind, which is the vessel, to receive this intellect of the aspect of nullification, for it is the aspect of the Infinite [Ein Sof], the aspect of the ultimate purpose, which is entirely one, entirely good. And because of this, the mind feels the pain of the sufferings, for the primary sensation of all the sufferings and pains, Heaven forbid, is in the mind. For from the mind, channels extend to all the limbs, and through this, the mind feels the pain in whichever limb it is.

And know that afterward, when one returns from nullification to the vessels, namely, the mind, then the sufferings become stronger than they were before, like two people wrestling and fighting, strengthening themselves against each other. When one sees that one’s opponent is overpowering one, then one strengthens oneself greatly and becomes even stronger. Similarly, when the adversaries see that one wishes to overpower the sufferings and nullify them through nullification to the ultimate purpose, as mentioned above, then they strengthen themselves and become even stronger. And therefore, afterward, when one returns from nullification, the sufferings are greater than before, for they strengthen themselves against one because one wishes to escape from them, as mentioned above. But afterward, the sufferings are alleviated, and one is comforted from them through the renewal of the Torah [chiddushei Torah] that one merits through the sufferings. For through the sufferings, one comes to the aspect of nullification, as mentioned above. And afterward, even though one returns from nullification, nevertheless, from the impression [reshimu] that remains from the nullification, through this, a renewal of the Torah is achieved. For through the nullification, when one is nullified to the ultimate purpose and attains that all the sufferings are very great goods, through this one is filled with joy. And joy is a vessel for the renewal of the Torah, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said (Shabbat 88): When Israel said, “We will do and we will hear,” sixty myriads of angels descended and placed two crowns on the head of each one, and when they sinned… and in the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will restore them to us, as it is said, “And everlasting joy upon their heads.” It follows that joy is the aspect of “we will do and we will hear,” which is the aspect of receiving the Torah.

And through the renewal of the Torah that one merits through the impression of nullification, as mentioned above, through this, the sufferings are cooled, for through this, one quenches the thirst of the soul [tzimaon hanefesh]. For the sensation of the sufferings is the aspect of the thirst of the soul, for thirst comes through saltiness, and saltiness is the aspect of sufferings, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said (Berachot 5): It is said bris with salt, and it is said bris with sufferings. For the soul is the daughter of the intellect, for the primary growth of the soul is through the intellect that nurtures and rectifies it, as it is written (Proverbs 19): “Also without knowledge the soul is not good.” And when the intellect is in its perfection, then it produces fruits, but when the intellect is blemished, then it is the aspect of (Psalms 107): “A fruitful land into saltiness.” And saltiness is the aspect of sufferings that are felt because the intellect is not in its perfection, as mentioned above, and this is the aspect of the thirst of the soul, as mentioned above. And through the aforementioned renewal of the Torah, through this, the sufferings are cooled, and the thirst is quenched, in the aspect of (Isaiah 55): “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters,” (Psalms 94): “Happy is the man whom You discipline, O Hashem, and from Your Torah You teach him.” For through the sufferings, one merits the renewal of the Torah, as mentioned above, and this is a sign that one has acted through the sufferings and accepted them properly when one merits afterward the renewal of the Torah, which is a sign that one has merited the aspect of nullification to the ultimate purpose through the sufferings, and through this, one merited the renewal of the Torah through the impression, as mentioned above.

And the aforementioned master of the field [ba’al hasadeh], when one’s eyes shine in the aspect of “the field of seers,” then one can look at each and every one, whether one is close to the ultimate purpose. And when one sees in someone that they are far from the ultimate purpose, then their prayer is not yet in its proper perfection, as mentioned above, for one cannot make the entire prayer one, and when one stands at the end of a word, one forgets the beginning of the word and cannot encompass one’s prayer in the aspect of one, as mentioned above. And the aforementioned master of the field looks at them and brings them to the ultimate purpose, which is entirely one, as mentioned above. And then one can make the entire prayer one, and even when standing at the end of the prayer, one is still standing at the beginning of the word of the beginning of the prayer, as mentioned above. And this is the aspect of (Shabbat 104): The letters mem, nun, tzadi, peh, kaf—the seers established them, the hei at the beginning of a word and the hei at the end of a word. The seers, this is the aspect of the master of the field when one’s eyes are in the aspect of “the field of seers,” as mentioned above, then one can rectify and look at those who are close to the ultimate purpose. And when they stand at the end of the prayer, they are still at the beginning of the word, as mentioned above. And those who are far from the ultimate purpose, they are in the aspect of the end of the word, for when they are at the end of the word, they are truly at the end of the word, as mentioned above. And the seers rectify them and bring them to the ultimate purpose, as mentioned above. And this is the aspect of they forgot them and re-established them, namely, that because they are far from the ultimate purpose, they forgot the beginning of the word, for they do not encompass their prayer in the aspect of one, as mentioned above. And they re-established and rectified them to be entirely one, as mentioned above.

And this is the meaning of: “And Boaz said to Ruth,” Boaz is the intellect, as it is written (Ecclesiastes 7): “Wisdom strengthens the wise.” Ruth is the aspect of the soul [nefesh], from which come the speech of prayers, songs, and praises, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said (Berachot 7): Why was her name called Ruth? Because from her came David, who sated the Holy One, blessed be He, with songs and praises. “Have you not heard, my daughter,” for the soul is the daughter of the intellect, as mentioned above. “Have you not heard,” this is “Let your ears hear what you bring forth from your mouth,” namely, incline your ear and hear the request and supplication of the speech that requests and pleads not to separate from it, as mentioned above. And this is: “Do not go to glean in another field,” as mentioned above, for all the letters and words are precious gatherings [likkutim] that one gathers in supernal fields, as mentioned above. And the speech requests from the soul not to go from it to glean other gatherings, as mentioned above. But this is impossible, for one must go and glean more, as mentioned above. But “nor pass from this one,” namely, that even when one goes to another word, one should not pass from the first word, as mentioned above. And this is achieved through meriting the ultimate purpose, as mentioned above. “Let your eyes be on the field where they reap,” this is the aspect of the perception of the ultimate purpose, for reaping [ketzirah] is the ultimate purpose of plowing and sowing. “Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you,” this is the aspect of closing the eyes, that one must shut them and connect the vision to direct it to the ultimate purpose, as mentioned above, for without this, it is impossible to perceive the ultimate purpose, as mentioned above. And this is: “Have I not commanded [tziviti] the young men,” in the language of connection [tzavta] and joining, that one must command and connect the vision, as mentioned above. And the eyes are called young men [ne’arim], for they are the servants of the intellect, as mentioned above, for vision is a messenger and servant of the intellect, as mentioned above. And this is: “not to touch you,” the aspect of the afflictions of the soul [nig’ei hanefesh], for when the vision is scattered and sees everything before it, namely, when one does not close and shut one’s eyes from the sight of this world, as mentioned above, this is the aspect of the afflictions of the soul. And one must command and connect the young men, namely, the vision, not to look aside at the vanities of this world, so as not to afflict the soul. And then one can perceive the ultimate purpose, as mentioned above. And then, through the perception of the ultimate purpose, all the sufferings are nullified, as mentioned above. But afterward, when one returns from nullification, the sufferings become stronger, as mentioned above, which is the aspect of the thirst of the soul, as mentioned above. And this is: “And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.” For to quench the thirst is through the renewal of the Torah, that the mind, which is the vessel of the intellect, receives through the impression that remains from the nullification, as mentioned above. And from there, the soul drinks to quench its thirst, as mentioned above. And “drink from what the young men have drawn,” for the young men, which are the eyes of the intellect, draw the renewal of the Torah from the impression that remains from the perception of the ultimate purpose, as mentioned above. And through this, the sufferings are nullified afterward, and the thirst of the soul is quenched, as mentioned above.

And this is the aspect of the Garden of Eden [Gan Eden], the aspect of Moshe and Aharon. Gan is the aspect of the soul [nefesh], the aspect of (Jeremiah 31): “And their soul shall be like a watered garden.” Eden is the aspect of the ultimate purpose, (as our Sages, of blessed memory, said, Berachot 34), the aspect of nullification, as mentioned above. And this is the aspect of (Taanit 31): In the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will make a circle for the tzadikim, and each one will point with one’s finger… The circle [machol] is the aspect of joy, which is a vessel for receiving the Torah, as mentioned above. And all this is through nullification, through the radiance of the impression from the nullification, from which the Torah comes, through the vessels, as brought there. And this is the aspect of pointing with one’s finger [mar’eh b’etzba’o], pointing is the aspect of the vision and radiance of the impression from which the Torah comes. And this is the aspect of pointing with one’s finger, the aspect of the Torah, which is the aspect of (Exodus 31): “The finger of G-d.”