Likutay Moharan - Torah-teaching 50

Likutey Moharan Volume 1: Torah 50

"Rescue my soul from the sword, from the hand of the dog etc." (Psalms 22)

[In the language of our master, of blessed memory]

For all who damage the **covenant** [bris], cannot pray in the aspect of: "**All my bones shall say**" (Psalms 35). And when he does not pray in the aspect of: "**All my bones**," then the dog descends and eats his offering (see Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 21, folio 45b and 62b)—that is, his prayer. And when he prays and tastes sweetness in the words of the prayer, this aspect is called: "**All my bones shall say**." And he cannot taste sweetness in the prayer except when he rectifies the damage of the covenant. For **sweet waters** [mayin metikin], this is the aspect of **pure male waters** [mayin d'dakhya] (see Zohar, Exodus 6a, and in Zohar, Naso 124a, 125a, Isaiah 13a). And one who is in the aspect of sweet waters, then his speeches are sweet and good. And when they come out from his mouth and he hears in his ears, as they said (Berakhot 15a): "Make heard to your ears etc.," then the sweetness of the waters enters into his bones, in the aspect of (Proverbs 15): "**And a good report fattens the bone**." And when the bones feel the sweetness of the speeches, this is the aspect of: "**All my bones shall say**." And then the lion descends and eats his offering, for **bone** [etzem] this is the aspect of lion (as it is written in the Tikkunim, Tikkun 3, in the last five Tikkunim).

But one who has damaged his covenant is in the aspect of **bitter waters** [mayin meririn], in the aspect of (Exodus 15): "**And they could not drink the waters from Marah**"—**impure waters** [mayin mesobim], **defiled seed** [zera tamei]. Then he cannot pray in the aspect of: "**All my bones shall say**." And then the dog descends, which is the aspect of bitter waters, which cries "**Hav! Hav!**" [Give! Give!]. And it is the aspect of **Marah** [bitterness] that has two mouths. And it is the aspect of: "**a two-edged sword**" (Proverbs 5), the aspect of **Gehinnom** [hell] that has two daughters that cry "Hav! Hav!" (as it is written in the Tikkunim there). And this is the aspect of the illness called **bone sickness** [brechenish], may the Merciful One save us, which breaks a person's bones. And this is due to the damage of the marrow in the bones, the aspect of impure waters, bitter waters. This illness comes from the lust of adultery. And this is why we were commanded regarding the Paschal offering (Exodus 12): "**And you shall not break a bone of it**." [And it is written in the Zohar (Bo 41a) that they used to keep the bones for: "**You shall cast it to the dog**." And this was very difficult for the Egyptians; see there.] This was so that each and every Israelite could distinguish himself, to see if his covenant was in its rectification. For concerning the Paschal offering, it is written (there): "**And no uncircumcised person shall eat of it**." For the essence of the Paschal offering is dependent on the commandment of **circumcision** [milah], as is known. And when they threw its bones to the dogs and saw if the dogs took control over them, G-d forbid, they would know that the covenant, G-d forbid, was not in its rectification. And this is what is found in the Zohar (Parashat Kedoshim, folio 80): "**Do not be like a horse, like a mule**," concerning the impurity of the covenant, "**they do not understand**," and it brings the verse: "**And the dogs are impudent of soul**." See there.

And this is: "**Rescue my soul from the sword and from the hand of the dog**" (see Ra'aya Meheimna, Pinchas 224b). But "**save me from the mouth of the lion**"—that is, when the lion eats my offering, this is salvation for me. And this is why next to sword and dog, the language of "rescue" is written, and next to lion, the language of "salvation" is written. And know that the **impudent faces** [azei panim] that are in the generation, they are the dogs, as it is written (Isaiah 56): "**And the dogs are impudent of soul**." And they stand and dispute the prayer of the Israelite man who has not yet rectified his covenant in completeness. And this is what our sages, of blessed memory, said (Ta'anit 11b): "**A Torah scholar who sits in fast, let the dog eat his portion**." For certainly, the righteous person's eating is of precious value, for he satiates the soul of holiness, as it is written (Proverbs 13): "**The righteous eats to the satisfaction of his soul**." And this Torah scholar who starves his soul and does not know how to satisfy his soul—because of this, "let the dog eat his portion," for it is also written regarding them: "**They do not know satisfaction**," for he too does not know how to satisfy his precious soul. And because of this, the dog is called by the name **Shegal** [shegal] (Rosh Hashanah 4a), for it comes on the desire of intercourse, as mentioned above. And specifically one who does not need to fast and fasts, then "let the dog eat his portion." But one who needs to fast certainly needs to fast, and it is a mitzvah (see Be'er Heitev, Orach Chaim, Siman 571). And this is the aspect of "who **sits** [d'yative] in fast," "sits" specifically, indicates something that does not change, as brought. [Up to here his language, of blessed memory.]