Chasidut su Ecclesiaste 7:78

2. Now the general rule for our subject is: there are aspects that are in order and not in order, which are the aspect of (Psalms 139:5), "you have formed me backward and forward”, the aspect of Adam and Eve, Aleph Bet and Tav-Shin-Resh-Kuf. Adam corresponds to YHVH spelled out with Alephs , which is numerically equivalent to 45, which is the aspect of order, corresponding to “before”, to Aleph Bet in a forward sequence. Eve is the aspect of speech, the aspect of “night to night will tell” (Psalms 19:3), the aspect of Malchut Peh, etc., the aspect of Tav-Shin-Kuf-Resh in a backward sequence, to, ”backward”, etc. This is as we see, that a person sometimes goes along not in order. This comes about from the aspect of 'not in order', as seen above, by the person having severed disorder from order. This blemish is caused mainly by haughtiness, as (one says) "I will rule", for in this way a person takes Eve-Malchut for himself and severs it from Hashem, and then it is not in its whole perfect state. This is because its main sustenance is from the Divine Name of מ"ה, which is the intellect, which is in the aspect of order. The perfection of all things is only when they are united and bound with Hashem, when they receive perfect sustenance from Him. Wholeness comes from the mind, etc., the aspect of Wisdom, כ"ח מ"ה (the power of Mah), as in "Wisdom sustains life" (Kohelet 7:12) and as in "What is our life, what is our strength, etc" (morning prayers), and מ"ה is (numerically) equivalent to Adam. Then, it contains wholeness, etc. This is, "G-d's is the earth and its bounty" (Ps. 24:1), and then, everything is in order for a person, since, "Wherever there is the masculine, the feminine is not mentioned". Zohar III, Chukat, 183b. Therefore Eve, disorder, becomes submerged and nullified into Adam, order. And the aspect of order is called Yud and Malchut is called Dalet - דלי"ת לֵית לָהּ מִגַּרְמָהּ כְּלוּם, which has nothing of its own. Zohar I 170a. Hashem draws the sustenance of Wisdom, represented by the Yud, into the Malchut, represented by Yud-Vav-Dalet. This is "You formed me backwards and forwards and placed your Kaf upon me"; Kaf not meaning hand, but the letter Kaf, which is the Yud-Vav-Dalet (the letter Yud spelled out), which in Gematria equals Kaf (20). When a person separates the Dalet for himself and draws sustenance from it, his life then becomes disordered, and things do not go for him "in order", for he is now being sustained by "disorder", by the Malchut-Eve, tav-shin-resh-kuf. And therefore when one sees that things are not going 'in order', you should know that you have become haughty and you feel 'I shall rule'. What should you do? Repent, humble yourself and return to the category of מ"ה, as is written, "We are Mah (nothing) (Ex. 16:7). Then Eve is restored to the aspect of Adam, to the aspect of Mah, and things are restored to order. The main time for this repentence is during the month of Elul. Study all of this there well.

And the essence of tefillin Brains are the aspect of life of Holiness, which one attains through tefillin, for the Brains are the Life, as written (Eccl. 7), “Hachokhmah tichyeh/Wisdom preserves alive,” as our Rabbis z”l said (Menachoth 44), “One who lays tefillin attains life, as it says, “Adonai `aleihem yichyu/Adonai, by these things men live” (Isa. 38:16), as brought in the Qawanoth, that tefillin are the aspect of the three names Ehyeh H' Eyheh [21+26+21=68] which are gematria ChaYIM [68], which are the Brains, see there, for the Brains of the tefillin are drawn from the aspect of Tiqunei Diqna Qadisha, as brought in the Qawanoth, as they are the entirety of these holy elders, who have their root in the aforementioned Most Supernal Elder, who is the blind one, who boasted that he lives truly long life, for he is very old and yet he is an utmost suckling babe, and still has not begun to live at all, but nevertheless he is very old, and all the world's time does not amount to him so much as an eyeblink etc. And behold, although these are things that the `Atiq Yomin has covered and thought cannot grasp it at all, and there is no man on earth who can make this interpretation and explain this mystery; nevertheless since by Hashem's compassion on His people these words of his have come out of his holy mouth and they have taken form and been printed in a book, it behooves us to dig and find in them some Remez relevant to the story, such that we may merit waking up from our sleep, which this was his holy intention with these stories that he told, in order to wake up all people who sleep away their days etc., as explained in the Torah ”Pathach R' Shim`on” (LM #60), and there you will see and understand the great wonders of these stories, for they are the aspect of stories of Shanim Qadhmoniyoth/Ancient Years-Faces, the aspect of `Atiq/Ancient, the aspect of Hadhrath Panim/Distinguished Face, from which all the seventy faces of the Torah derive etc.; take a good look there.

And that is the meaning of that which is written, “Let Us make man.” Meaning to say, in partnership [with man], by way of the act of circumcision from below. And that is the meaning of that which was said (Yevamot 61a), “[Jews] are called Adam (a man).” Meaning to say, it is [like] the expression, “I will resemble (edameh) the Most High” (Isaiah 14:14) – for he takes the image of God upon himself. And that is the meaning of that which is written in the Midrash (Avot D'Rabbi Natan 2:5), “Adam (the first man) was born circumcised, as it is stated (Genesis 1:24), ‘And God created man (Adam) in His image.’” And that is why this commandment is hinted to at the beginning of the parasha, with the expression, “Bereshit” - bet reshit (two beginning[s]). That is that the Torah is called, the beginning; and circumcision is also [the beginning, in that] it is the first commandment of a man. “And the end of a matter is better than (tov me the beginning of it” (Ecclesiastes 7:8) – meaning to say, when he is good from (tov me) his beginning.

And this corresponds to Rosh Hashanah, to the blowing of the shofar, which is the aspect of arousal from sleep. As is brought in the Kabbalistic texts, Rosh Hashanah corresponds to sleep, and the shofar representes arousal from sleep, since, "The whole world was created in Tishri" (Rosh Hashanah 10b). This is the aspect of disorder, Tav-Shin-Resh-Kuf, and when disorder is aroused, you must submerge yourself completely in sleep, which corresponds to the sleep of night. Rosh Hashanah is the first day of the Ten Days of Repentance, and the essence of repentance is to repent from haughtiness, humbling oneself and truly sensing one's lowliness and unworthiness. As our Sages said, "One self-chastisement is greater than one hundred floggings" (Berachot 7a), and, "He forgives transgression for the remainder" (Micah 7:18) - "to the one who makes himself a remainder" (Rosh Hashanah 17b). Therefore the essence of repentance is humility and humbleness, for all sins arise from disorder, from separating the Malchut and possessing it with haughtiness. That is the source of all judgments, to which the evil inclination and the forces of evil are attached, from which all sins arise. The holy books speak about haughtiness being the cause of all sins, since, "Whoever is haughty is as if he worshiped idols" (Sotah 4b), and, "Whoever acknowledges idolatry is as if he denied the entire Torah" (Chullin 5a). We find, all sins come through haughtiness, G-d forbid, for haughtiness separates disorder from order, which is the cause of all sins. Therefore, the essence of repentance for all sins is humbleness, making yourself as dust to be tread upon, sensing your lowliness and distance from Hashem, lowering yourself and breaking your heart before Hashem. That is how G-d will forgive a person, as written, "G-d will not scorn a broken and oppressed heart" (Ps. 51:19), and "Who forgives transgression for a remainder" - "for one who makes himself as a remainder". This is because humility and humbleness, one makes himself as Mah, as nothing and naught. In this way, one returns to order, represented by Mah, through which all judgments, which correspond to sins, disappear. Therefore, on Rosh Hashanah, which is the first day of the Ten Days of Repentance, the first day of Adam's creation, we must "sleep" - we must completely submerge ourselves as if we have no knowledge at all, but only cry out to G-d and declare Him King, in complete sincerity, without sophistication. On Rosh Hashanah Adam and Eve were created, corresponding to order and disorder. It was their task to rectify all the worlds, representing disorder, into order, to bring 'Eve' into 'Adam'. Had they done that, everything would have been brought into order, without any suffering and judgments, which represent disorder. But they blemished with their sin, and in doing so, they separated disorder from order, for their main sin was haughtiness, 'I shall rule', which was the essence of the Primordial Serpent's enticement, as written, "For G-d knows that on the day you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you shall be like G-d" (Gen. 3:5). As our Sages said, "It told them, 'Every craftsman hates his fellow craftsman - G-d ate from this tree and created all the worlds'" (Genesis Rabbah 19:4). In other words, he aroused jealousy in them and a desire to rule: 'you shall be like G-d' - 'creators of worlds', as if to say, 'Why should you subdue yourselves to Him? If you eat from the Tree of Knowledge, you will be a Gd and a King just like Him!' All this is the aspect of 'I shall rule', in that one desires to draw Malchut/Kingship to oneself, and then everything gets in disorder, for the person himself is in disorder. That is why all generations of mankind became destined to die, for they had blemished order, corresponding to wisdom, the source of all sustenance, as in, "Wisdom sustains life" (Kohelet 7:12), as in, "Mah is our life?". With their blemish, they separated themselves from order, from wisdom, from Mah, the main source of sustenance, and death as opposed to life was the inevitable result. Their blemish also caused everything to become disordered, represented by all the blemishes and decrees that were a result of their sin, as written, "With toil you shall eat of it...thorn and thistle will grow for you" (Gen. 3:17-18), upon which Rashi comments, "When you plant wheat, the earth will give forth thorn and thistle". All this corresponds to the disorder they caused with their sin, which was haughtiness, 'I shall rule', which caused all things to become disordered, since they had evoked disorder upon themselves with their sin. Not only did they not rectify, elevate and refine the world of the judgments that are attached to disorder, bringing everything into order, which is what they were supposed to do on the day they were created - for elevating the entire world to its source, merging disorder into order, was the very purpose for which Adam and Eve were created - but they caused great damage with their sin. The serpent first entices Eve, since she represents disorder, from which the forces of evil derive their power. The rectification should have been by merging disorder into order, by Eve being subservient to Adam, but the serpent overpowered Eve, representing disorder, enticing her to separate 'Eve' from 'Adam', disorder from order, so that Adam would follow Eve's will, so that disorder would rule over order. But they immediately repented and began rectifying everything, a rectification that would not be completed until the coming of the Messiah.

And know, that all these verses and allusions that are brought after some of the stories are only hints and a scant disclosure of the subject matter, so that they might know "ki lo-davar reiq hu/ it is no empty thing," God forbid. As was heard from his holy mouth, saying that he is revealing a few mere hints from a few verses that hint to the secret of the stories, so as to know that he is not saying, God forbid, prattle. But the essential secret of the stories is far from our knowing; "`Amoq `amoq, mi yimtzaenu/ Deep-deep; who can find it out?" [Eccl. 7:24]

"To the One who makes great lights, God's love endures forever" (Ps. 136:4) [We can understand] the verse according to what is written in the Zohar (Zohar 2:136b) "R. Hamnuna the Elder, when the morning star would come out throughout Shabbat, he would sit for a moment and raise his eyes, and was happy, and would say that he was sitting under the sight of the joy of the superior angels. They go out and they rest, and throughout Shabbat a person sits in the world of souls." according to what is known, in every Erev Shabbat Kodesh the souls have an ascent, and through this the extra souls come down, on Shabbat, to this world. And through this we explained what is written in the Gemarah in the name of Rabbi Zeira, that Rabbi Matana said, that Rav said: the fats and the wicks that our sages talked about, which we to not light the candles of Shabbat, we do light with them the candles of Chanukah, whether on Shabbat [of Chanukah] whether the rest of the week. And this is a hint regarding the souls that are distant, as it is explained in other places the fats are symbolic of the soul, the wicks are symbolic of the body. The fats and wicks which are not kindled for Shabbat are due to the fact that there are some defects on humans, God forbid, defects that make them distant, every so often, from ascending the place of their soul-root. And this is the strength of the Shabbat and Chanukah that are an ascent even for souls that are distant, and [feel] outside. And this is the explanation of "Maker of great lights" - those are the lights of Shabbat and Chanukah. Shabbat is called light as we say "a rest and a gladness, light for the Jews" (zemirah of Shabbat). And on Chanukah the hidden light of the seven days of Creation is aroused and this is why, together, they are called "great lights." "Because God's love endures forever" (Ps. 136:1) - this is the Higher Love to all the world, without any dismissal of any sort, and to rise them to the source of their quarrying [creation]. Despite all this, they hinted so we could understand the greatness of the Tzaddik of the generation, that he is a conduit to pull down the Flows and all the above mentioned Fixings are done through his hand, as it was when we heard the deed that occurred in the times of the Besht z"l. A reincarnation of a certain great man, from the times of the Ari z"l, came to him and from that time [of the Ariz"l] onward he was waiting for hundreds of years until the Besht came and fixed his soul. And he was not able to merit to go to the righteous of his generation because he was not set in front of them, until the time of the Besht z"l. And to understand - why is this thing dependent upon the will of the tzadik? Isn't God, in God's compassion, able to free the bound? Why did he need to wait until the compassion of the tzadik was aroused (?) towards him? Indeed, from the beginning of creation it arose in the Will of the Blessed Name that a tzadik would govern etc as it is written "gracious compassionate and righteous" (Psalms 112:4) (Shemot Rabbah 15:20). And the Tzadik that is the basis of the world, he is the middleman through whose hands the salvation that fixes [the other person's] soul root above. And this is the verse "say of the tzadik, he is good" (Isaiah 3:10) - the righteous is called good. And this is "a good name is better than fragrant oil [shemen]" (Eccl. 7:1) - because the tzadik unifies the Name and therefore it is in his hand to fix a soul [neshamah], a good oil [shemen] - that comes [shemin] from God. [שמ"ן ה' and נשמה share the same letters]

It is written in the Zohar (Yayehi, 223b): Since Shlomo HaMelech inherited the moon in its state of completeness, he needed to inherit it in its state of deficiency. He strove to understand spirits and demons (i.e. the forces of evil) in order to inherit the moon in all its aspects. For this reason, in the days of Shlomo HaMelech the moon shone in all its aspects. And in the Tikkunei Zohar (Tikkun 26, p. 71b): Clearly The Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shekhina have not changed. Yet from an outside perspective, they do change. That is to say, (in this world) they are concealed in layers of garments and shells. This is why Shlomo HaMelech said (Shir HaShirim, 7:11), “I descended to the egoz⁵⁵Egoz means “nut,” in Hebrew. garden.” He had a complete knowledge of the kelipot (impure shells), which gave him a thorough knowledge of all forms of sorcery. The faithful shepherd⁵⁶The faithful shepherd, here, is the Messiah. The Zohar also refers to Moshe Rabeynu as Raya Mehemna which means, “the Faithful Shepherd.” One of the books that is included in the Zohar corpus is also called the “Raya Mehemna.” will break all of the kelipot, bringing forth the essence which the shell conceals, meaning the Tetragrammaton (YHVH).” And in the Zohar (Ta’azria, 47b): “And I saw the superiority of wisdom from folly.” (Kohelet, 2:13) From folly itself emerges something of benefit to wisdom. If it were not for the existence of folly, wisdom and all its extensions would not be known. We have learned that together with wisdom, it is incumbent upon man to learn something of folly, for in knowing it, it serves to benefit his wisdom. In fact, the knowledge of folly or evil is a component of none other than the mystery of faith. It is written in the Zohar (Bo, 34a): It is proper for man to know good and to know evil, and to return himself to the good.⁵⁷Here the Zohar is speaking about King Shlomo, whose great wisdom certainly allowed him to know the good. But how did he “know evil?” Referring to a king, the Torah commands (Devarim, 17:17), “he shall not have too many wives, and his heart shall not turn away.” Yet, of King Solomon, the verse states: “…” The queens of King Solomon encouraged him to study and practice idolatry. When King Shlomo wrote, “I descended into the nut garden,” he was telling us how he had become intimately acquainted with the force of evil in the world. This is the mystery of faith. The more one can find the good hidden in evil, the more he will understand how, “God created one over against the other.” (Kohelet, 7:14)⁵⁸The verse reads, “On a good day, be in the good, and on a bad day, see that also God made one over against the other.” The Biblical commentor, Rashi, explains: “This is the good and its reward, versus the evil and its punishment.” The commentary Metsudat David explains, “Know that the evil itself was sent from God. The degree of evil has a corresponding punishment.” In Kabbalistic writings, the verse generally means that for every force of good, God created a parallel force in the realm of evil. In view of the quote from the Zohar, Parshat Bo, “see” could mean to recognize the evil, but realize that “God made one over against the other” – that we must choose the good in response. Hasidic teachings take an even further, unified approach. They seek to find the good within the evil itself. This is the Baal Shem Tov’s idea that evil actually provides a setting, or “throne,” for the good (רע כסא לטוב). For without a knowledge of evil, it would be impossible to recognize the good. Thus, evil actually plays a role in revealing God’s goodness, and is thus a part of the Divine unity itself. “See that also God made one over against the other,” would mean to see the good within the evil itself. This is as it said in the Zohar (Shemot, 15b): Rabbi Akiva said, why did Shlomo HaMelech say, ‘I descended to the egoz garden.’? This is just as we say, “he descended to the Merkava (Divine chariot).’ Rabbi Akiva asked, what does the dirt that is found in the shell of the egoz represent?”

What has he done with the years of his life? He now asks himself, “what could I have done with my years?” How fortunate he would be if he had led every day of his life according to the Torah, in purity and piety. At the very least he would have learned to conduct himself in the proper way. That is to say, at the very least he would have eaten, drank, even conducted his business, with the express intention that it was all only in order to allow him to serve God. Even if he did not reach the level where all of his actions were completely dedicated to the service of God, at least he would have kept that goal in mind. If he could do it again, at the very least he would keep the consciousness of this yearning for closeness to God, His kedushah, and His Torah before him at all times. If only he could go back in time, he would always look deep inside himself, and see clearly every defect of his character, every blemish of his soul, and work with all of his strength to fix them and become whole. And even though it is a nearly impossible task to fix everything that has been mentioned, and no one, not even the greatest Tsaddik can stand before the heavenly court in total innocence,¹⁴⁹Koheles, (7:20), “for there is no righteous man in the land who shall do (only) good and not sin.” still, he would have known that he would be punished in Gehinom for those infractions, and after paying his debt, the Blessed One would return to him and bind his soul in the source of Life. Yet now surely he would not be so fortunate. Even if he had something in his defense that could aid in his acquittal on high, still, since he feels his own guilt and negligence so strongly, how could he even think about being released from doing hard time in hell? He shudders at the thought.

Fortunate is the person who listens to these words, to fulfill all that is written herein. He will never slip (based on Psalms 112:6) and his righteousness will answer for him in the time to come (based on Beraishis 30:33), when he comes to receive his reward. In the measure that a person meets out -- so (In that same measure) is he met with. Fortunate is one who chooses life -- Hashem will repay his endeavors, if it is to scoffers He will scoff (Proverbs 3:34), he will not gain wealth and his wealth will not endure (Job 15:29), woe to his soul -- for the retribution of his handiwork will be done to him (Isaiah 3:11), it will not be cast to the ground (but on their heads -Job 15:29), one who is good before G-d will escape from it (Ecclesiastes 7:26). How great is the goodness hidden away for him (based on Psalms 31:20), in his joy no stranger will take part (Proverbs 14:10), a laboring soul benefits from its labor (Proverbs 16:26, see also Tractate Sanhedrin 99b -- he works here and his Torah works for him elsewhere). Let us pour out our souls to Hashem to put our portion with Him, to stand at the threshold of His shade, they will have no regrets -- those who put their trust in Him (Psalms end of Chapter 34), no eye has seen (their reward) except for You G-d, what He will do for those who put their hope in Him (Isaiah 64:3).

And that is [the meaning of] King David’s statement, peace be upon him, I have set [shiviti] the LORD always opposite me (Psalm 16:8), which is to say that Existence was the same [shaveh] for me. That is, “When I am attached to Blessed God with clear mind-states” – opposite me connoting opposition – “then when I fall from my level it was all the same for me,” that he was attached to Blessed God even in the moment of his falling. And that is [the meaning of] what King Solomon, peace be upon him, said, Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask this (Ecclesiastes 7:10), which is to say that there are fools who in their falling from their level lie in the dust and do not rise again to Blessed God. And that is [the meaning of] Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these,” meaning that then I served Blessed God and now I have fallen from my level – Do not say such a thing, For it is not from wisdom that you ask this. For Wisdom gives life, and the life-force ebbs and flows, in which case it must be so. And in the Holy Zohar this is called “Arriving and not arriving,” meaning that when he is attached to Blessed God in clarity then it is called “arriving;” but when [the attachment] leaves it is called “not arriving.”

I also understood from his words that Mitath haMelakhim ["Death of the Kings;" shattering of the pre-Creation sefirot] and their repair is alluded to in this story, although neither the aspect of their destruction nor the aspect of their rebuilding are mentioned as the order of the ten aforementioned aspects, for the same reasons above. But still the things are hidden and sealed, because the utmost secret of the story he did not reveal at all; he only enlightened our eyes with the verses and ideas above so that we should know that there are very great and awesome hidden secrets in the story. But we do not know the extent. Fortunate is one who is privileged to understand a bit of the secrets of these stories explained in this book, because they are all extremely wondrous and awesome novelties; "`Amok `amok, mi yimtza'enu/ Deep, deep; who can find it out?" [Eccl. 7:24] "Mah nomar... mah nedaber/ What shall we say... what shall we speak?" [Gen. 44:16] "Mi-shama` kazoth, mi ra'ah ka'eleh/ Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things?" [Isa. 66:8]

The meaning is that there are many channels of abundance through which the abundance travels by any means until it arrived below to the person. But the person’s corruption below causes blockage in the channels; and that is how he comes, by way of his corruption, to the place of the judgments. The judgments stand and accuse and do not allow the life-force, the abundance, to travel to this person; and this is called “blocking the channels.” The virtue of tithing is to transcend the judgments and sweeten the judgments until the judgments consent to the influence of the blessing below, on account of their having been sweetened. And we must understand why this is: for it is known that “In the measure with which a man measures, so is he measured” (Sotah 8b); however a person behaves below, in a certain characteristic, so is it aroused above. If he arouses [in himself] the characteristic of compassion, the same is aroused above as well; and through this he causes sweetening of the judgment. But if, God forbid, the opposite, etc. And therefore through tithing – which is tzedakah – this also causes compassion above on account of his arousing the characteristic of compassion below. And so it is for all the characteristics: a person must offer himself to the Good and imitate his Creator as our Sages of Blessed Memory said, “Just as [God] is compassionate, etc.” (Massekhet Soferim 3.13). Now, regarding Abraham it says, Abraham was old, well advanced in days, which is duplicative language. But it is known that the upper characteristics are called the “thirteen arrangements of seniority;” and that is the connotation of old, that he had arrived at all the “arrangements of seniority,” which are called old. In upper days, he offered himself, with all the characteristics and days, to the upper Good – the place where there are no judgments at all. And that is [the meaning of] “By what merit:” “merit” [z’khut] connotes success as in, “I did not succeed [zakhiti] etc.” (Mishnah, Berakhot 1.5). Surely there is not a righteous man on earth [who does good and never sins] (Ecclesiastes 7:20), but here it is written, and the LORD, “He and His house of judgment,” implying that [the judgments] consented to bless [Abraham]! And is it possible that there would not be a single judgment to obstruct the descending of abundance? So they taught, “By the merit of tithing” as it is written, And Abram gave him a tenth of everything (Gen. 14:20); as is stated above, that this sweetened the judgments until they consented, “He and His house of judgment” all together, to a complete blessing as we have explained.

Go, to yourself, from your land. This is because a person is called "goer", and one needs to always be going from one level to another level, and even when one merits getting to a certain level in one's dedication to the Blessed Creator, even this becomes to the person a second nature. And therefore we always need to renew the ways of one's soul in the service of the Holy Name. And Avraham our father a"h was tested with ten tests, and in every test he was made into a new being/creation until he merited to be above nature, as it is written "Wisdom is more of a stronghold to a wise person than ten forces that a city may contain" (Eccl. 7:19) - there is always a force from the from the strength of nature, that tries to bring all back to nature alone - all those wise people that raised above all of it, as it is written "on three the evil impulse had no control, the three Avot" (Bava Batra 17a)

We were only worthy of receiving a small amount of their teachings, as they are scattered about in various books, and not in any one authoritative volume. None of the words of the Baal Shem Tov were ever committed to writing in his lifetime. All of his teachings were passed on to us in the writings of his students and student’s students in the generations after his death. Why didn’t the students of the Baal Shem Tov write down his teachings in his lifetime? All of his students were holy geniuses, and when each one would hear his Rebbe’s words, he would expand upon it from his own knowledge. In this way each one operated, according to the qualities of his own soul and spirit. Due to each student’s great sanctity and driven persistence in his Torah study and Divine service, they could not find the time to properly commit the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings to writing. The few teachings that we have today are like a lone sheaf of wheat gathered from the words of his students, and it bears the crown of the good name.¹⁴⁶See Mishha Pirkei Avot, 4:13. Even the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov’s students are few, scattered hear and there in holy books, and these teachings are the portal through which we can enter into the chambers of kedusha (sanctity). Similarly, most of the teachings of the Great Maggid were not written down, even though most of the students of the Baal Shem Tov learned with the Rabbi Dov Baer. The Great Maggid also raised many new students in his tenure as leader of the Hassidic movement, yet this tenure only lasted for a few years. He was already at an advanced age when he first became a disciple of the Baal Shem Tov, and so little of his teachings, sublime and lofty, dividing the flames of fire,¹⁴⁷See Psalms 29:7, “The voice of God divides the flames of fire.” and so deep - who may fathom them!¹⁴⁸See Kohelet 7:24. - were actually put in writing.

When Moses, in Deuteronomy 32,2 describes G’d as ‎וזרח משעיר ‏למו הופיע מהר פארן‎, “the Lord shone upon them from Seir, He ‎appeared from Mount Paran,” every intelligent person must ask ‎that Esau and Yaakov had been separated already prior to their ‎respective births, and that the two represented two totally ‎opposite perceptions of what life and the world is all about, one ‎deciding in favour of worldly goods, whereas Yaakov decided in ‎favour of spiritual values, so what point was there in G’d offering ‎the Torah to the descendants of Esau? At the same time, since ‎when do we the descendants of Yaakov, expect to have a share in ‎G’d’s largesse on this earth? Does the Talmud Kidushin: 39 ‎not teach us not to expect a reward for serving the Lord while we ‎walk on this earth?‎
The answer to this question is this: Every Israelite is obligated ‎by being part of the covenant between Israel and G’d, to serve the ‎Lord enthusiastically and meticulously with all his soul at all ‎times. Just as G’d supervises his well being every minute of every ‎hour, so, in turn he is obliged to serve the Lord. When G’d on ‎occasion supplies a Jew with material benefits, these are not to be ‎understood as part of the reward for his mitzvah ‎performance. It may be understood as an encouragement to the ‎person concerned, to serve the Lord with even greater devotion ‎and intensity. When Moses speaks of ‎מימינו אש דת למו‎, “from His ‎right side the fire had turned into law,” he meant that if G’d ‎decided to give the Jewish people, or some of the Jewish people, ‎part of the material comforts that had originally been allocated to ‎Seir, i.e. Esau, He referred to G’d’s “right side”, the side exuding ‎love. G’d intended that by doing so even the ordinary Jew who is ‎not steeped in Torah learning will respond to G’d’s Torah with ‎more enthusiasm when he feels that G’d had singled him out for ‎loving care.‎
This is one of the reasons why Avraham called his son ‎Yitzchok, the name reflecting the joy he felt at being granted this ‎son by Sarah. If Yitzchok developed into a personality ‎symbolizing ‎יראה‎, awe, this was because he was rooted in ‎שמחה‎, ‎joy, and joy‘s root in turn is fire. [If I understand the author ‎correctly, the joy described as “fire” is the enthusiasm, almost ‎ecstasy, with which such a person serves his G’d. Ed]. The ‎characteristic ‎יראה‎ is not one that is manifest in the person who ‎possesses it all the time, as it is in the nature of being a response ‎to certain stimuli, in this instance the external “cause” is G’d ‎Himself. This characteristic becomes manifest in response to ‎external stimulants. This is what Solomon had in mind when he ‎said in Kohelet 7,12 ‎ויתרון דעת חכמה תחיה בעליה‎, ”and the ‎advantage of knowledge is that it adds an additional dimension to ‎the life of him who possesses it..”‎
It is significant that the letters in the word ‎מחשבה‎, “thought,” ‎are the same as in the word ‎בשמחה‎,”with joy.”‎מחשבה ‏‎ is an ‎attribute that is both primary and constant. If a person reduces ‎himself to the ‎אין‎, negating all interest in the physical part of the ‎world, having done this he is able to attach himself to the source ‎of all “Life.” When this has occurred, a new “LIFE” is bestowed on ‎him, a life in a different world, one in which he is elevated to be ‎close to Eternal G’d. This concept is portrayed in the Torah in ‎Leviticus 27,10 where the subject is the person who donates to ‎הקדש‎, G’d’s representative on earth, his “net worth,” as defined ‎according to his age. Having done so, the Torah there describes ‎him as ‎והיה הוא ותמורתו יהיה קודש‎, “then both he and his ‎substitute will be holy.” Concerning this procedure the sages in ‎the Jerusalem Talmud B’rachot 2,4 said: the messiah was ‎born on the 9th day of Av, he being the exchange for the Jewish ‎world which had been destroyed on that day (when the Temple ‎was burned). We find an allusion to this negating the physical ‎world and being “reincarnated,” when Avraham before ‎proceeding to offer his son Yitzchok as a total burnt offering, tells ‎the servants attending them, that “we will go, and prostrate ‎ourselves and return to you.” (Genesis 22,5)‎

They established [reading of] Ruth on Shavu'ot, to say that, by means of B'nai Yisrael being chosen through the Giving of the Torah, they are instruments to draw near the converts, because B'nai Yisrael are called the First of His Crop which is the fruit for which everything was created. This is as it says (Gen. R.), "B'reishit -- for the sake of Israel which is called 'reishit.'" The meaning is that "reishit" is the beginning and the inner essence, as it says (Prov.), "The 'reishit' of wisdom is the awe of God." Therefore it is called the Day of Bikkurim, when the fruit is ripe. But B'nai Yisrael "are excepted from the generality in order to teach to the entire generality" (Sifra, principles of R' Yishma'el), as it will be in the future (Zeph. 3:9), "For then I will make the peoples pure of speech, etc. [so that they all invoke Adonai by name and serve Him with one accord]." And then (Eccl. 7:8) "The end of a matter is better than the beginning of it" [see Ruth 3:10]. And in truth, according as B'nai Yisrael elevate from the nations, they are themselves exalted even more. And this itself is the meaning of putting "na'aseh" before "nishma," for B'nai Yisrael understood this, that they were chosen in order to draw everyone near, and they said (Ex. 24:7), "Everything that Adonai has spoken we will do." It is written here "na'aseh" and it is written there (Gen. 1:26), "Na'aseh adam," as it says (Gen. 12:5) "the souls that they had made," which Onkelos translated "that they had subjugated to the Torah", and it is through this that "we will hear." As it is with the particular -- as the improvement [tikkun] of the deeds, in order to draw each physical deed close to the spirit so that the soul shines in the person -- so it is in general -- as the improvement [tikkun] of K'lal Yisrael to draw near from the nations, so that the Torah shines in them. It is written (Micah 7:20), "You will give truth to Ya'akov, hesed to Avraham," for B'nai Yisrael are in truth God's portion and His Torah, but it is also part of the aspect of Truth to do hesed, to bring near those who are far off and who come for the sake of Heaven: "truth to Ya'akov" is the Torah, "hesed to Avraham" is that we should draw close also from the descendants of Lot -- Ruth the Moabite....