Musar su Salmi 78:78

To what may this be compared? To [the instance of] a king, who reigned over several hundreds of provinces and ruled over his kingdom with an abundance of strength and splendor, who had the wherewithal to sustain all the places of his rule and all the princes and appointees under him with an abundance of glory and strength. And afterwards there were found some individuals in one city, very few in number, who, in their haughtiness rebelled against the king. And the matter was reported to the king. And while they were yet deliberating the punishment of the rebels, the king went in the morning to promenade in his garden, where he heard a bird of beautiful form and voice singing and bade one of his attendants to take it immediately on that day and put it in his palace so that he could always enjoy it; and he did so. As he was taking it to the king's palace, it began to sing in a sweet beautiful voice — whereupon one of the fools said: "Beautiful bird, how much I would love to see you [always] and hear your beautiful song, and how great my sorrow when I bring to mind the great sorrow that will befall you. For whence will come your food now that we have heard that there are rebels against the king?" And the king's attendant answered: "You fool, with such a king — who reigns over several hundreds of provinces and numberless treasures — will the bird, whose appearance the king enjoys and whose song he rejoices in, have to worry about the few grains it needs for its sustenance because it is found in the province of a little city where one or two rebels have been found?" So, upon reflection, is it, exactly, in our case, a fortiori, many thousandfold: The Holy One Blessed be He, has created this world, the material world, and the higher world. And it is known that in the higher world many worlds are contained, almost without limit. But, as a whole, they are considered three worlds: the world of formation [olam hayetzirah], the world of the angels; above it, the world of creation [olam habriah]; and, above all, the world of Splendor [olam ha'atziluth], where the splendor of the Blessed One's holiness is found. As Chazal have said: "About this, Scripture states (Isaiah 43:7): 'All that is called by My Name [olam ha'atziluth] and which I have created for My glory [olam habriah, where the Throne of Glory is found] — I have formed it [olam hayetzirah, where are found the holy creatures (chayyoth hakodesh) seen by the prophet Yechezkel, and all the world of the angels] — I have also fashioned it [this world and all of the spheres].'" And it is known that this world and all of its spheres are as nothing compared to olam hayetzirah, for there [in the olam hayetzirah] are found classes of angels without limit. And in each class are found angels almost without number, as it is written in Daniel 7:10: "A thousand thousands serve Him. Ten thousand ten thousands stand before Him," about which Chazal have said (Chagigah 13b): "All this, in one class, and the classes are infinite, as it is written (Iyyov 25:3): 'Is there a number to His troops?'" And we find in Tanna d'bei Eliyahu 31 that 496,000 ten thousands of ministering angels sanctify the name of the Holy One Blessed be He always. From the rising of the sun until its setting, they say: "Holy, Holy, etc." And from its setting until its rising: "Blessed is the glory, etc." And it is known that all of the creations, even the highest of the highest, all require the Divine effluence, as it is written (Nechemiah 9:6): "You have made the heavens, the heavens of the heavens, and all their hosts, and You vivify all of them." But the effluence of their sustenance is not like ours. For it is rarefied, spiritual sustenance. As it is written (Psalms 78:25): "The food of the mighty did a man eat," concerning which Chazal have said: "This is the 'bread' [i.e., the Divine effluence] that the ministering angels 'feed' upon."

Therefore, it is important to make a path before the people who are eager to repent. And there is a difference between people. How so? If the one who sinned is well-versed in the Torah and if the anguish and the fasting are too difficult for him, he will not be able to correct his evil qualities, and so it is best to lighten the burden of the various pains and fasting that have been laid upon him, and he should be instructed to occupy himself with great effort in the study of Torah. And thus did they say (Lev. Rabbah 25:1): "If a man went astray and sinned and is deserving of death at the hands of Heaven, what can he do and live? If he was accustomed to read one page in the Talmud let him read two, if he was accustomed to study one chapter of the Mishnah let him study two, since there is atonement in much study. And let this man do kindness and truth, and through these means his sins will be atoned for, as it is said, "By mercy and truth, iniquity is expiated" (Prov. 16:6). And he should exert himself to perform every single precept as it is set forth, and he should trouble himself to cause the many to have merit, to do kind deeds to people, to pray with serious intent and with submission to God and with a rending of the heart, and he should ask forgiveness from the Lord for all his sins. And he should avoid frivolous laughter and aimless strolling about and idle things, and from hearing "the latest news." Similarly, he should avoid all the things that are only for this world, and he should set a definite plan of what he can do and what he can bear in the way of repentance together with his occupying himself with Torah and the commandments. And he must always try to be submissive to God, and he should fast at least one day a week and on that day he should free himself of everything in the world and sit by himself and arrange thoughts in his heart towards God — to cleave to Him and to be sad of spirit because he has raised himself in rebellion against the Great King. And he should weep and mourn with broken heart and multiply pleadings and multiply praises of God and should receive a lashing three times on that day and when they lash him he should say, "But he, being full of compassion forgiveth iniquity and destroyeth not; yea, many a time doth He turn His anger away" (Ps. 78:38). And so must he say three times at every lashing and so should he continue to do until he finds favor before the King, Most High.

Our Sages instituted that we recite three times a day the verse, “And He, the merciful One atones iniquity, and does not destroy; He frequently withdraws His anger, and does not arouse all His rage” (Tehillim 78:38). It is said once in the prayer “Acknowledge Hashem, call upon His name,” once in “And a redeemer will come to Tzion,” and once at the beginning of the evening service. The reason for this is as follows: In this verse there are thirteen words, corresponding to the thirteen Divine attributes of mercy and three times thirteen is thirty-nine. Now, each day the evil impulse overwhelms a person so that it is only with the greatest difficulty that he is able to avoid committing sins carrying the penalty of thirty-nine lashes. Thus the recitation of this verse is a way of requesting the Holy One Blessed is He to grant atonement for the person’s sin as if he had actually received the lashes, in order that he will not be destroyed on account of it. For iniquity provokes the destructive forces called “anger” and “wrath.” It was these that brought indictments against Israel continually while they were in Egypt so that the Holy One Blessed is He, through His graciousness and compassion only revealed Himself to save them in the merit of the three Patriarchs. When He did reveal Himself it was in the form of the three Divine names: E-H-Y-H (“I will be”), Y-H-V-H (Tetragrammaton) and A-D-N-Y (“Lord”). The sum of the numerical values of these names is 112, which is equal to that of the acronym YB”K, the initial letters of the words, Ya’aneinu be’yom kareinu — “He will answer us on the day that we call out” (Tikkunei Zohar Chadash 130a). For this reason after we recite the verse, “And He is merciful, etc.,” we then recite the verse, “Hashem will save; the King will answer us on the day that we call out” (Tehillim 20:10).

הבער,מבעה,בור,שור, are the four principal causes of damage injury or death. We find in Numbers 32,38, that there was a Canaanite city called Sivmah (same letters as the first letters of the four categories of damage). The four causes of damage are related to the four kinds of קליפות "peels" mentioned in Psalms 78,28,"והוא רחום.” They are: חמה, אף, משחית, עון, names by which G–ds destructive agents are known to us. The word מבעה, meaning damage caused by the teeth, i.e. eating what does not belong to one, is something man is judged on when already in his grave, as our sages explain on Maleachi 2,3, וזריתי פרש … פרש חגיכם, that man will be judged in the grave for what he ate illegally while on earth (Shabbat 151). The category of damage known as שור, refers to the "horns" of Samael (Satan), i.e. the evil urge. The first letters of the words שור, קרן, רגל, spell שקר, lie. The fourth category, fire, i.e. אש also known as hav-er - refers to the fire of purgatory, גהינם.

הבער,מבעה,בור,שור, are the four principal causes of damage injury or death. We find in Numbers 32,38, that there was a Canaanite city called Sivmah (same letters as the first letters of the four categories of damage). The four causes of damage are related to the four kinds of קליפות "peels" mentioned in Psalms 78,28,"והוא רחום.” They are: חמה, אף, משחית, עון, names by which G–ds destructive agents are known to us. The word מבעה, meaning damage caused by the teeth, i.e. eating what does not belong to one, is something man is judged on when already in his grave, as our sages explain on Maleachi 2,3, וזריתי פרש … פרש חגיכם, that man will be judged in the grave for what he ate illegally while on earth (Shabbat 151). The category of damage known as שור, refers to the "horns" of Samael (Satan), i.e. the evil urge. The first letters of the words שור, קרן, רגל, spell שקר, lie. The fourth category, fire, i.e. אש also known as hav-er - refers to the fire of purgatory, גהינם.

It is quite appropriate then for Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish to say that Exodus 7,3 can be used to refute the arguments of the heretics. He takes his cue from the word בפיהם, people whose repentance is only "mouth-deep," does not involve their heart. Pharaoh was a perfect example of such a person. This is meant by "the addition of impurity to already existing impurity." Rashi refers to the additional refusals of Pharaoh to repent sincerely after he had failed to repent during the first five plagues. From that time on the impurity remained anchored in his heart, i.e. invisible to outsiders. G–d considered it necessary to demonstrate to outsiders the true state of Pharaoh's mind, therefore He made sure that Pharaoh would display universally visible signs of his impurity.