Likutay Moharan - Torah-teaching 81

81

Go up this in the south and go up the mountain

Go up this in the south and go up the mountain [Numbers 13]

And Rashi explained: “Waste of the land of Israel” — this is the general meaning. The speeches of a tzadik (righteous person), when he speaks in Torah or in prayer, are called the “land of Israel.” For land is the aspect of nefesh (soul), as it is written (Psalms 143:6): “My soul is like land” (נַפְשִׁי כְּאֶרֶץ). And soul corresponds to the aspect of speech, as it is written (Song of Songs 5:6): “My soul went out when he spoke” (נַפְשִׁי יָצְאָה בְדַבְּרוֹ). When the tzadik speaks in Torah or prayer, this is called the “land of Israel.”

However, the speeches he utters to the masses in ordinary weekday conversation are called the “waste of the land of Israel”. Why does he speak weekday conversation? It is in order to bind the masses to da’at (knowledge), which corresponds to the aspect of the mountain. For the Gemara states there is “no mountain to Lebanon” — meaning no mountain to Lebanon proper (it should say “to Lebanon,” see Gittin 56a and Yalkut, Parashat Va’etchanan, citing Yelamdenu) — but rather the mountain is the Temple, as it says: “This good mountain and Lebanon”. The Temple represents the aspect of knowledge, since the Gemara (Berachot 33a) says: “Anyone who has knowledge in him, it is as if the Temple were rebuilt in his days.” The Temple was given between two letters, and knowledge was given between two letters (alluding to the Hebrew letters that bracket these words).

Because through Torah and prayer it is impossible to directly bind them to their root — due to their distance from the truth — as is the case with Talmai the king (Megillah 9a), who seated seventy-two elders to write a book of Torah, and they all wrote “G-d created in the beginning” etc., because he was far from the truth, and they needed to reverse the letter combinations. Similarly, a tzadik who wishes to bind the masses — who are distant from the true Torah — must speak to them in ordinary weekday conversation, clothing the Torah in letter combinations. This is called the “waste of the land of Israel,” for even though they are “waste,” nevertheless there is Torah within them, which are aspects of Israel.

This explains the verse “go up this,” meaning that you, the masses, go up “this in the south” — that is, the aspect of the tzadik, as it is written (Ecclesiastes 12:14): “For this is all man”. Our Rabbis of blessed memory expounded (Shabbat 30a) that the whole world was created only to accompany this. The tzadik is in the south — that is, the waste of the land of Israel — which is weekday conversation. Through this, he can bind you and “go up the mountain” — meaning to the knowledge aforementioned.

Moreover, sometimes the tzadik falls from his level. When one from the masses comes and speaks with him words of the vanities of the world, and the tzadik derives pleasure from him, this revives the tzadik and the tzadik descends to his level. Afterwards, the tzadik can raise them to the aspect of knowledge.

“Go up this” means that when the tzadik needs to ascend to his level, you must be in the south — that is, speak to him in weekday conversation in order to revive him. And by this, “go up the mountain,” the tzadik can bind you to the aspect of knowledge that is called “mountain,” as explained above.