Likutay Moharan - Volume 2 - Torah-teaching 85

Nuts Called Luzim

Egozim [nuts] called luzim [almonds] allude to the aspect of Leah, who is in the nape [oref], who is the first feminine, and afterward one enters the Temple, which is the aspect of: "Jacob called it Beis El" [Pesachim 88a]. And this is what Rashi explained: "By way of Luz, one enters Beis El" [Judges 1:23]. And this is: "Comfort, comfort" [Isaiah 40:1]—"nachamu" is numerically equivalent to "kadkod" [crown of the head], which is the aspect of the nape [oref], through which one enters Beis El. And this is the three weeks, which are twenty-one days between the straits, and corresponding to it in the almond tree [luz]. Therefore, it is customary to eat an egg at the meal before the fast of Tisha B’Av, for the egg is completed in twenty-one days, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said: "A hen hatches in twenty-one days" [Bechoros 8a, see Tosafos there]. And corresponding to it in the almond tree [luz]. And this is the bone luz that is in the nape of a person, which remains after the body’s destruction, and from it the body’s structure is renewed at the time of the resurrection of the dead. And this is the essence of our comfort, the aspect of "nachamu nachamu," as above, for regarding the body it is said: "Lie down until the morning" [Ruth 3:13], which is the time of resurrection. And behold, in the morning, and behold, it is Leah: "And it was in the morning, and behold, it was Leah" [Genesis 29:25], which is the aforementioned bone luz, through which the body is built. And because all of Jacob’s intention was for Rachel, it is said regarding the sons of Rachel, that is, Joseph: "And to the crown [kadkod] of the nazir of his brothers" [Genesis 49:26]. And regarding Benjamin, it is written: "And between his shoulders He dwells" [Deuteronomy 33:12], alluding that through the aspect of Leah, who is first, one can come to the aspect of Rachel—"kadkod" and "keseifav" [shoulders]—this is the aspect of the aforementioned luz. "Oref" [nape] is numerically equivalent to Shabbas Nachamu [SH-N], alluding to the above.