Likutay Moharan - Volume 2 - Torah-teaching 83

Likutay Moharan II Torah 83: Regarding the Rectification of the Bris

Through the rectification of the bris [covenant, related to sexual purity], which is the bow [keshes], one can draw forth the arrows, which is the tefillah [prayer], which is the life of the blessings of prayer [chay birchan ditzlosa], which are three vavs [ווו], the aspect of arrows, and their place is in the bris, in the aspect of (Psalms 89:35): “And My covenant is faithful to him.” Faith [emunah] is the aspect of tefillah, in the aspect of (Exodus 17:12): “And his hands were faith.” Then begins the sprouting of the horn of Moshiach [Messiah], in the aspect of (Psalms 132:17): “I will cause a horn to sprout for David,” in the aspect of (Habakkuk 3:4): “Horns from his hand to him.” His hand is the aspect of tefillah, and prayers are three, for the generality of Moshiach is in the Patriarchs, meaning Moshiach, who is the speech [dibur] through which one prays, in the aspect of a mute speaker [meshiach illemim], is from fire, water, wind:

Then he becomes a free man [ben chorin], meaning he comes to the holiness of Shabbos [Sabbath], where work is forbidden. For Shabbos is שִׁין בַּת [Shin, daughter]. Shin is three colors: fire, wind, water. Daughter [bas] is the tefillah, which are the blessings, in the aspect of (Bava Basra 16b): “He had a daughter, and her name was Bakol,” the aspect of blessings, the aspect of (Genesis 24:1): “And Hashem blessed Avraham with everything [bakol].”

The holiness of Shabbos is the aspect of the ultimate knowledge [tachlis hayediah], and the ultimate knowledge is that we do not know. For this reason, Shabbos is called the ultimate of heaven and earth, and ultimate [tachlis] is the aspect of (Ecclesiastes 7:24): “I said, I will be wise, but it is far from me,” meaning this is the essence of wisdom—to realize that wisdom is far from him:

This ultimate is the essence of the place [makom], meaning the aspect of the place of the world, which is this ultimate that encompasses the entire world created with wisdom, as it is written (Psalms 104:24): “All of them You made with wisdom.” This is the aspect of (Berachos 6b): “One who fixes a place for his prayer,” for this is the essence of the place, in the aspect of (Exodus 16:29): “Let no man go out from his place on the seventh day.”

Then the leper’s body, which is from the skin of the serpent [mimashcha dechivya], extends, and he dons Shabbos garments, meaning a holy body from the Garden of Eden. For the place causes, in the aspect of (Exodus 3:5): “Remove your shoes, and so forth, for the place, and so forth.” Because of the holy body, it is called Shabbos, in the aspect of (Leviticus 14:9): “And behold, he returns, like his flesh”—he is healed from his leprosy and clothed in a holy body from the Garden of Eden, called flesh [basar], in the aspect of (Genesis 2:23): “Flesh from my flesh.”

Then his fortune [mazal] is elevated, which is flesh from his flesh, and he merits wealth, in the aspect of (Proverbs 10:22): “The blessing of Hashem, it makes rich,” and his good inclination [yetzer tov] is strengthened, meaning a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26)—the good inclination, “He who finds a wife finds good” (Proverbs 18:22). This is (Exodus 19:15): “The voice of the shofar goes and strengthens greatly”—the voice of the shofar that comes from the beautiful body mentioned above. This voice is the aspect of the tefillah mentioned above; it goes and strengthens greatly—this is wealth (Berachos 54a). For his fortune and his good inclination are strengthened, as mentioned above, and sadness [atzvus] and jesting [leitzanus] that come from black bile [marah shechorah] are nullified. For sadness comes from distress and poverty, and jesting is the laughter of a fool (Ecclesiastes 7:6), the aspect of: The spleen laughs (Berachos 61b)—they are nullified through the fortune of wealth and through the good inclination, which is the aspect of (Ecclesiastes 10:2): “A wise man’s heart is at his right.”

Through this right, he raises the fallen to loves and fears of evil, he raises them to holy loves and fears, in the aspect of (Psalms 150:6): “Let every soul praise Yah.” For His right removes the darkness from their eyes, and then their eyes see wonders, in the aspect of (Psalms 119:18): “Open my eyes, and I will behold wonders.” These wonders are the aspect of Pesach [Passover], which is the right, in the aspect of (Micah 7:15): “As in the days of your going out from Mitzrayim, I will show him wonders.” Pesach is mouth speaks [peh sach], the aspect of (Malachi 2:7): “The Torah of truth was in his mouth,” and it is considered as if he created the world, for there it is written (Genesis 1:14): “Let there be luminaries,” and the darkness that covered the face of the abyss passed:

The light of the eyes also elevates all the requests and supplications that they pray to the Beis HaMikdash [Holy Temple], for there all requests ascend, and from there the light of the eyes goes out, in the aspect of (1 Kings 9:3): “And My eyes and My heart will be there.” The light of the eyes awakens the redemption that depends on the heart, in the aspect of (Isaiah 63:4): “For the day of vengeance is in My heart,” for His eyes and His heart are there. This is the aspect of (Genesis 1:5): “And He called the light day,” the light of the eyes awakens the day of vengeance that is in the heart, to nullify the leaven and chametz [se’or vechametz] of the evil inclination of man’s heart that remains from his youth. The leaven and chametz in man’s heart incite him to reflect on the Torah scholars of the generation and to say this one is fitting and that one is not fitting, in the aspect of (Hosea 10:2): “Their heart is divided.” Their heart, these are the seventy [עַיִ"ן] two [בֵּי"ת] tzadikim of the generation. This is (Pesachim 2a): “Light for the fourteenth,” meaning the light in the eyes, which have twice seven layers of the eye, with which they check the chametz:

Then the heart can blaze in the study of the Torah with flames of love [shalhovin dirchimusa], and many waters, which are external loves and fears, cannot extinguish this blaze, in the aspect of (Song of Songs 8:7): “Many waters cannot extinguish the love.” The Shechinah [Divine Presence] covers with her wings the blood of Israel in this love, so that the seed of evildoers, which are the aspect of the waters of the flood, do not rule over them. This is: He who commits a transgression and is ashamed of it, they forgive him, and so forth (Berachos 12b), for “Love covers all transgressions” (Proverbs 10:12), for through shame his blood is spilled, and then the Shechinah covers his blood in love, as mentioned above, in the aspect of covering blood [kisui dam], and through this covering, all his transgressions are automatically covered (Berachos 12b):

[From the beginning of this section until here is the language of our Rebbe, of blessed memory.]

When the Holy One, blessed be He, wishes to taste the positive mitzvahs of a Jewish man who is a tzadik, then it is the aspect of a limb from the living, which is forbidden to eat, and it requires slaughter [shechitah] to permit it. Therefore, shame [bushah] is needed, which is the spilling of blood [shefichus damim], the aspect of slaughter, which purifies the limb from the living. Then Hashem, blessed be He, can taste from his positive mitzvahs, whether one positive mitzvah or many mitzvahs, for the mitzvahs are called delicacies [matamim], as it is written (Genesis 27:4): “And make me delicacies as I love”—from the positive commandments [pikudin de’aseh], as brought (Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 21, 50a). When his blood is spilled through shame, as mentioned above, then one must guard that the known external forces [chitzonim] do not draw from it, for they wish to draw from this spilled blood. Therefore, covering [kisui] is needed, that the Shechinah covers the blood of Israel, which is spilled in this love, in the aspect of: “As I love,” as mentioned above. This is the aspect of covering blood [kisui dam]:

Regarding the spilling of blood [shefichus damim] of Israel, there are many lofty and hidden matters, whether the spilling of blood through shame or other actual spilling of blood. For there are many, many fallen souls that have no elevation except through the spilling of blood of Israel, of a great man, and sometimes they have no elevation except through actual spilling of blood. This is the aspect of (Yoma 86b): “Willful sins become like merits.” For through shame and the spilling of blood, the Shechinah covers their blood in the aforementioned love, and this is the aspect of: “Love covers all transgressions,” as mentioned above, and the willful sins are transformed into merits, and the fallen souls, which are the aspect of transgressions, are elevated and transformed into merits through the covering of blood in the aforementioned love (see Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 21).