Chasidut su Proverbi 16:28

I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El-Shaddai etc. (Ex. 6:3). Rashi explained, “Alas for those who are lost and not to be found!” etc. The meaning, as is known, is that the secret of Egyptian Exile is that the True Awareness was in Exile; they could not grasp the Awareness to serve the Blessed Creator, along the lines of what is stated, Know the God of your Ancestor and serve Him (1 Chron 28:9). For in truth, Awareness is the essence that brings one to complete Reverence and Love. For once a person knows and believes that the whole earth is full of [God’s] Glory (Isaiah 6:3) and no place is void of Him, and [God] is the pleasure of all pleasures, Blessed is He and Blessed His Name, Life of Lives – if so, for any of the pleasures if you imagine, God forbid, the absence of the influence of [God’s] Blessed Light and Life-Force among the created things, Creation would return to unformed and void (Gen. 1:2). And similarly for all the Upper and Lower Worlds, if you imagine, God forbid, the absence of [God’s] Life-Force, they would be as if they never were. And if that is the case, then [Awareness of God’s presence] is the essence in all things...

"Make an opening [tzohar] for the ark [teivah], closing up to a cubit at the top." (Genesis 6:16) -- The Baal Shem Tov, peace be upon him, explained these words in the following way: let the word (teivah) said in Torah or in prayer radiate light (matzhir)! For in every letter there are worlds, souls and divinity, that rise up and interconnect and cleave to one another and to the divine. Afterwards, these letters connect and conjoin, finally becoming a word. After that, they connect and unify unifications of truth in the Divine - and one must unify one's soul with each of the aforementioned aspects. In this way, all the worlds rise and become as one, and then there is immense joy and immeasurable delight. This is the meaning of "...bottom, second, and third decks," (Genesis 6:16) - that is the worlds, souls and divinities, as it says (Zohar I:159a) "there are three worlds, etc." In each and every word one must listen to what is being spoken, since the Shechina is the world of speech, as it is says (Zohar III:230a) "She speaks and He is Her escort." "Tzohar" - this 'opening' for light - that everything should be illuminated with clarity, giving pleasure to the Creator. One needs great faith (Emunah) for this, since the Shechinah Herself is called Emunat Amen, faithful faith (Zohar II:16b). Without faith, Heaven forbid, She is called (Proverbs 16:28) "A querulous one who alienates their friend." As for the end of the verse, "closing up to a cubit (amah)" -- this is the Mother (Ima). It could be said that after the word leaves one's mouth, it does not need to be remembered again, one does not see that it rises to an elevated place, just as one can not look at the sun, as it says, "closing up at the top." How does one do all this? "Go into the ark [teivah], you and all your household." (Genesis 7:1) -- this means that with all your body and strengths, you shall enter the word [teivah]!

To understand this matter we will begin with the verse, they have forsaken me, the source of living waters (Jeremiah 2:13). Its meaning is that Blessed God is the source from whom comes the flow of life-force to all living things in all manners, there is no other besides [God] (Deut. 4:35); and anyone who is attached to [God] is attached to the root of life-force whose waters do not fail (Isaiah 58:11) – but only so long as there is no blockage from his side. For if, God forbid, on account of his sins he blocks himself from the source, his life-force will become absent; but from Blessed [God’s] side there is no blockage as the verse says, but your iniquities have made a separation [between you and your God] (Isaiah 59:2). But one whose life-force is from the Other Side, who are called broken cisterns (Jeremiah 2:13) since they are gathered waters into which fell sparks of life-force at the moment of breaking, and for this reason they are called broken cisterns – such a person is blocked from his Upper Root and is called separator of close friends (Proverbs 16:28, 17:9). And therefore the Ancestors of the World, who opened the pipelines of intelligence in the world and taught awareness to all people, how to dig himself into the aspect of a well of living water (Gen. 26:19), to be attached to the source from which comes the root of his life-force. And [the Ancestors’] disciples are called by the name “servants,” as the verse says, Isaac’s servants (Gen. 26:32), since their service of the Blessed Creator came by way of the Ancestors.