Chasidut su Isaia 60:78

Indeed, from the moment of creation and onward, God desired that man receive reward based upon his own efforts and (what the psalmist calls) “the work of his hands.” This is as it is said in the Midrash,²⁷Midrash Kohelet, 4:6, on the verse, “Better a handful of quietness, than two fistfuls of labor and striving after the wind.” “Man’s efforts are called striving – and then eating.” For this reason man was given free choice. This is as it is written in the Tikunei Zohar (70, page 137b): When the Torah says, “let us make a man,” it means that man needs to fulfill the commandments of the Torah, and exert himself in the Torah, “to work it and to guard it.” From this he will be rewarded and gain mastery over the angels. This is (Yeshayahu, 60), “the bud of My planting, the work of My hands in which to glory.” We find that although the supernal angels are mighty in strength and perform God’s word, still they are not mighty in the service of the Holy One, blessed be He. This is because they are forced to serve Him, and face no obstacles like the physical body or the evil inclination.... For this reason it is said, “let us make a man (who overcomes these obstacles by using his power of choice, to serve God out of his own volition).” For this reason man will rule over the angels.

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)

2. For this reason these days are called Chanukah, from the word chinuch [preparatory training] and practice for what is to come, for the future redemption. For then, the hidden light will be revealed to us in its fullness, as the Sages taught that “God hid it away for the righteous in the future”, as it says, “the sun will no longer be your light in the day, nor will the glow of the moon be a light for you. But God will be an eternal light for you” (Isaiah 60:19). And this will be at the end of this exile that began with the fourth Kingdom. But even before the end of the third Kingdom, the Kingdom of Greece, the Blessed God shined a small bit of that light for us, even after prophecy had ceased, so that the light can remain with us in this current exile in place of prophecy. For through this light a person can gaze from one end of the universe to the other. And it is therefore called the Chanukah candle, the candle of chinuch [preparatory training] and practice for the eternal light of the future redemption, when that hidden light - about which it was said “let there be light” - will be revealed.

This verse make these afflictions depend upon the skin. This is based on the verse that says: "...the Lord God fashioned garments of skin for the man and his wife and God dressed them." (Genesis 3:21) The Midrash refers to a distinction between the "garments of skin" and "garments of light." It was because of sin that they came to be garbed in this coarse clothing, the skin of the snake. All of corporeality derives from there. Previously, they were in a spiritual state, as is said of the future. At the giving of the Torah, too, Israel were ready for this state. That is why it says of Moses that the skin of his face shone. (Exodus 34:29) He so redeemed "skin" that he was lit up through the shining speculum. But we did not remain at that rung. Therefore, the afflictions reappeared; the Midrash teaches that it was sin that made us again impaired. It is also known, however, that the skin is porous, containing many tiny holes. These allow the light to shine through its "shells." Only sin clogs up those pores, so that "darkness covers the earth." (Isaiah 60:2) That is why "the leprous affliction" is translated [into Aramaic] as segiru or "closing." Now we also understand why the purification rites are assigned to Aaron and his sons the priests; it was they who set right the sin of the Golden Calf.

Isaiah proclaims, Ve-ammeich kullam tzaddikim, “[Members of] Your nation are all righteous” (Isa. 60:21). This verse is also understandable in the light of yechidah. Since every Jew at his or her deepest level wants to serve God, from that perspective he or she never wanted to perform any sins and is completely saintly. Based on yechidah, all of Jewry is guaranteed a portion of eternal reward united in the perfect fellowship of pure virtue and total observance.²¹⁰See further Sanhedrin 90a.