Likutay Moharan - Volume 2 - Torah-teaching 36

Likutay Moharan II, Torah 36: The Main Purpose Is Only to Serve and Walk in the Ways of Hashem for His Sake, Blessed Be He

“From those who die by Your hand, Hashem, from those who die of the world…” “I, in righteousness, shall behold Your face…” (Psalms 17:14-15)
The principle is that the main purpose is only to serve and walk in the ways of Hashem for His sake, blessed be He, in order to merit to know Him, blessed be He, and to recognize Him, blessed be He. This is the main purpose, and this is His will, blessed be He, that we recognize Him, blessed be He. And it is not fitting for a person to have any other intention in his service of Hashem, blessed be He, except to fulfill His will, blessed be He, that His will be done. For there is one who serves all his days and pursues the desires of this world in order to fill his belly and stomach with the desires of this world. And there is one who serves and strives in order to merit the World to Come. And this too is called filling the belly, that he wants to fill his belly and his desire with the World to Come. And this is the aspect of: “Their portion in life, and Your hidden treasure fills their belly”. Chelkam [their portion] in life and tzefuncha [Your hidden treasure], that is, those who choose their portion in life, that is, to fulfill their desire in their life in this world, and those who choose the great good that is hidden, that is, the World to Come. And this is tzefuncha, that they choose the hidden good, that is, the World to Come. And both of them are the aspect of filling their belly, as mentioned above. And this is: Chelkam in life and tzefuncha fill their belly, that these two groups, those who choose this world and those who serve for the sake of the World to Come, are the aspect of chelkam in life and tzefuncha, as mentioned above. Both are the aspect of filling their belly, that they want to fill their belly and their desire, this one in this world and that one in the World to Come. Only that the one who chooses the World to Come is wiser, for he chooses an enduring, eternal world and rejects this world that passes and perishes. And also in truth, it is certainly much better to serve Hashem even if one serves for the sake of the World to Come. But even so, this too is called the aspect of filling the belly, as mentioned above.

And this is: “They are satisfied with children”, that their satisfaction is with children, as is the way of the world, that all their service is to leave an inheritance to their children. And in truth, one who is not a holy person and pursues desires and leaves his wealth to his children, he is like one who soils himself with filth and takes filth and covers the filth. For in truth, wealth of holiness is very lofty, and there are in it many lofty and holy aspects, very exalted, as explained elsewhere. But the wealth of the desire of this world is the excess that remains from the person, the excess after he has fulfilled his desire in this world. And the excess after all his desires is the wealth that remains after him. Also, the children who are not born in holiness are also actual excess, for they come from excess and stench and the turbidity of the mind that goes out. And from this, the children are formed, the aspect of (Avos, Chapter 3) a putrid drop, actual stench. And for this reason, the children are called olalim [children], the language of filth, for olel, Rashi explains (Psalms 8) as filth and dirt, as mentioned above. And one who leaves such children, it is a disgrace and shame, for they are the aspect of excess and filth. Therefore, he wants to cover them and beautify them with the wealth that is also complete excess that remains after all the desires, as mentioned above. And this is the inheritance that he leaves to them after his death. It is found that he covers filth with filth. And this is: “They are satisfied with children”, that their satisfaction is with children, for whose sake they spend their days. And they left their excess to their olalim, that they cover with excess over the olalim, which are also the aspect of excess, as mentioned above. This is the inheritance that they leave to the children, for whose sake they spend their days, as mentioned above.

But I do not choose for myself from these two groups mentioned above, except to merit to behold the pleasantness of Hashem. And this is: “I, in righteousness, shall behold Your face”, that David the King, peace be upon him, said that he chose for himself only to merit in his righteousness to behold the face of Hashem and to recognize the Creator, blessed be He. And also the children that he desires to leave, his intention is only for the sake of Him, blessed be He, to complete, as it were, His image, likeness, and form. For children of holiness are very lofty, and as our Sages, of blessed memory, said (Yevamos 63): “Anyone who does not engage in procreation is as if he diminishes the likeness”. For when a son is born into the world, the image of G-d is born and comes, as it were, and His image, likeness, and form are completed. And this is: “I shall be satisfied”, that is, the satisfaction of children, the aspect of “They are satisfied with children”, is only: “When I awake, Your likeness”. That the main satisfaction of children is only what he awakens and arouses through this His likeness, the aspect of His image, likeness, and form, as mentioned above.

And this is: “From those who die by Your hand, Hashem”, and so forth. For there are those who die a natural death, who are born with a root moisture and other such things, through which they are worthy to live a certain number of years, and they are sustained and live all those years until their moisture and vitality are exhausted, and they die of the world. And there are those whom Hashem, blessed be He, decrees death upon before their time for the sake of punishment. And this is: “From those who die by Your hand, Hashem”, and so forth. And these are worthy of the World to Come, since they died before their time. But those who die of the world are the aspect of the people of this world, who have no World to Come, for they live and are sustained in this world without any punishment until they die of the world, as mentioned above. And David the King, peace be upon him, said that from these two groups mentioned above, that is, the people of this world and the people of the World to Come, and this is: “From those who die by Your hand, Hashem, from those who die of the world”, that is, from those who die by Hashem, and they have the World to Come, and from those who die of the world, that is, the people of this world. And this is: “Their portion in life and Your hidden treasure”, that is, the two groups, as mentioned above, that both are the aspect of: “Fill their belly”, that is, filling the belly in this world or in the World to Come, as mentioned above. And this is: “They are satisfied with children and leave their excess to their olalim”, as mentioned above. And also one who chooses the World to Come and wants to leave his merit to his children, this too is the aspect of: “They are satisfied with children and leave”, and so forth. But I choose for myself from these two groups mentioned above: “In righteousness, I shall behold Your face”, that with all my righteousness, I shall merit to behold the face of Hashem. “I shall be satisfied when I awake, Your likeness”, as mentioned above.

And even so, it is very good even for one who serves for the sake of the World to Come, and it is also good to leave his merit to his children, as it is brought that a person should not receive all his reward, but leave some of his merit for his children after him. But the complete tzadikim, the true lovers of Hashem, such as David and the like, do not choose any of this at all and do not want either this world or the World to Come, nor to leave their merit and righteousness to their children, but only to fulfill the will of Hashem, blessed be He, as mentioned above.