Chasidut zu Mischlej 10:12

Said Rabbi Meir: we consider from where the vegetable lives. (Baba Metzia 10:6) I heard from my teacher (the Baal Shem Tov) regarding the verse "behold, darkness will cover the land etc" (Isaiah 60:2) and on the verse "love covers all sins" (Prov. 10:12) that the base is the center and the root of all construction. If the base is unstable and weak the building will fall. So too a person whose base is unstable and weak, such as when a person has arrogance, then all that person's good deeds are built on a basis that is weak and unstable. This is not the case with a strong base, that is able to deal lovingly with hatred and sin, covering them. And those are words of a wise mouth. And this is "from where the vegetable lives" - whether the source that nurtures it comes from a weak and unstable base of not, as above.

I heard from my teacher (the Baal Shem Tov) regarding the verse "behold, darkness will cover the land etc" (Isaiah 60:2) and on the verse "love covers all sins" (Prov. 10:12) that the base is the center and the root of all construction. If the base is unstable and weak the building will fall. So too a person whose base is unstable and weak, such as when a person has arrogance, then all that person's good deeds are built on a basis that is weak and unstable. This is not the case with a strong base, that is able to deal lovingly with hatred and sin, covering them. And those are words of a wise mouth. (Tzfonat Paneach, Terumah, 5:36)