Хасидус к Берешит 31:30

And behold, the root of all desire for this world and all its pleasures and the conduct of the world is through silver and gold, for through them one can obtain all worldly desires and pleasures. And their root above is from the World of Love and the World of Fear: Silver from the World of Love, as it says (Genesis 31:30): “You longed [nikhsof niksafta] to your father’s house”—the word kesef (silver) being related to longing. And gold—its root is from the World of Fear, as it is written (Job 37:22): “From the north comes gold”, which is the left side. And it is known that the nature of the left is to repel, as it is said: “Let the left hand repel and the right hand draw near.” So we find, since their roots are above, as mentioned, and as it is written (Haggai 2:8): “Mine is the silver and mine is the gold,”—their source is Mine, for My Name, meaning: their purpose is to be means by which one may reach the supernal love and fear. For truly, the desire of a person in this world is to gather silver and gold, and through that desire—which drives him day and night, never ceasing in pursuit of his livelihood and accumulation of wealth—he ends up falling into the trap of the evil inclination, and becomes separated from the Blessed Creator. This is the snare spread over all the living, for even animals and birds are caught in their pursuit of sustenance. And similarly with most people in the world: This pursuit leads them to encroach upon others, to deceive, to steal, or similar actions. And this happens because they lack belief in the truth that “no person can touch what is prepared for his fellow,” since each individual’s root is in the Torah—in one of its letters—and each letter is distinct and separated from the others, without overlap. Just as in a Torah scroll, one letter touching another renders it invalid, even though all the letters form one unity, still each has its unique root above. And certainly, if a person believed that the essence of silver and gold is to serve as a means to bring him to love and fear of God, then when a desire would arise in him for something he could acquire with silver and gold, he would awaken himself to love and fear of the Blessed One. He would think: “This desire was only meant to awaken within me a connection to the supernal traits.” For love and fear in this world are merely garments for the supernal love and fear, as is known—that any spiritual thing from above that descends into this physical world must clothe itself in physical garments of this world. As it is said that supernal love and fear are the arms of the world, referred to as “hands”, as it is written (Isaiah 48:13): “My hand founded the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens.” Just as the main activity of the body is through the arms and hands, so too, the primary governance of the worlds is through love and fear. And these traits are drawn down into the physical world as well, becoming clothed in silver and gold, which are the garments into which the spiritual traits are contracted. Understand this well. And if a person possessed da’at and emunah (inner knowledge and faith), then he would not pursue his livelihood day and night, as the wise man said: “If man were not chasing after his livelihood, his livelihood would chase after him.” For in truth, the root of the souls of Israel is higher than all of this world and all that is in it. And the nature of everything is to be drawn toward and yearn to be included in that which is higher than itself. Especially in the Jewish soul, for everything was created for his sake, as we mentioned at the opening—that he and the Torah are one with the Blessed One. But the reason people chase after livelihood is because they are separated from their root and from the Torah. And most of their actions are corrupt, not in accordance with the Torah. And not only do they fail to elevate the fallen traits embedded in silver and gold, but on the contrary, they cast them down even lower, because their behavior is not guided by Torah. And it turns out that silver and gold are on a higher level than they are, because within them there is definitely a condensed form of the holy traits, as explained above, and they have no capacity to corrupt themselves—whereas man does. And so, man chases after something greater than himself—silver and gold. Woe for such shame! As the sages say: “The servant walks on the earth while the master rides in the heavens.” Understand this. For in truth, before the formation of the child, when the drop is brought before the Holy One, blessed be He, to determine its fate—it is decreed: Will he be wise or foolish, rich or poor, etc.—but whether he will be righteous or wicked is not decreed. Rather, all matters concerning how he will function in this lowly world—whether poor or rich, etc.—are all decreed, according to the wisdom of the Blessed One, for that is what he needs for his spiritual work in this world. All of his circumstances, possessions, clothing, money—all of it is an extension of his soul and his spiritual stature, as is known. And whatever was decreed upon him, in terms of what he needs for his livelihood—nothing can be added to it, and nothing can be subtracted. No one has the power to diminish it—unless he himself corrupts his path and becomes separated from the Blessed One. For when he becomes cut off from his root, he removes himself from Divine Providence. But if he behaved as described above, then his livelihood would pursue him, to become included in him, so that it may be elevated to its supernal root, from which it was taken. And this applies as well to all matters in the world—such as the study of Torah and prayer, which are things that stand at the heights of the world, through which great rectifications are made in all the worlds. And yet, people treat them lightly. For example, when standing to pray—which is the time to make great rectifications—instead, all of one's thoughts and concerns about his business affairs come to confuse him, to the point that he doesn’t even hear with his own ears what his mouth is saying: “Heal us, O Lord…”, “Look upon our affliction…”, “Redeem us quickly…”, **“Blessed are You, the Redeemer of Israel”—**and yet his heart is not with him. How can such a prayer be accepted, or how can it make a rectification on high, in accordance with the root of his soul? How can the fallen holy sparks and letters be elevated, as is known, if he did not pay attention to his own words? On the contrary—not only does he fail to benefit, but he may even drag the words and letters further down, God forbid. This applies to all things: there are always two paths—either to elevate and rectify oneself and all the matters connected to the root of his soul, or through that same action, to further corrupt and drag everything down. And the main thing is the heart—according to one’s intention, faith, and inner knowledge. As the Baal Shem Tov, may his merit protect us, said on the verse (Psalms 79): “O God, nations have entered into Your inheritance, they have defiled Your holy sanctuary, they have turned Jerusalem into ruins… They have spilled their blood like water around Jerusalem, and there is none to bury.” He explained: The psalmist is lamenting what was described above: **“O God, nations have entered into Your inheritance”—**meaning, into Your holy domain, the place of Your condensed attributes, as explained earlier—that in all physical pleasures, silver and gold, etc., all is Your inheritance, for Your traits are condensed within them. Especially in the words of prayer and the letters of Torah, where the intention was that through them, Israel would be elevated and rectified. But instead, **“nations have entered”—**meaning, the forces of impurity, the evil inclination—and **“defiled Your holy sanctuary”—**that is, the letters and words of Torah and prayer. Because of the entry of these forces, a person causes himself and those things to fall even lower—as it were. This is the meaning of “They defiled Your holy sanctuary, turned Jerusalem into ruins…” And he said: All of this happened because “they spilled their blood like water around Jerusalem.” For it is known that the heart is called Jerusalem, as it is in the center of the body, just as Jerusalem is the center of the world. And it is known that prayer is called ‘pouring’, as it says (Psalms 102:1): “And before God he pours out his speech…” And it is called “the outpouring of the soul”. And it is known from the Sages' saying: “Do not eat on the blood”—do not eat before praying for your blood, i.e., your life. So “they spilled their blood” refers to prayer. This is what is meant by “They spilled their blood like water around Jerusalem”—meaning, around the heart: their prayer does not come from the heart, but only surrounds it. Their speech is not from within the heart, but only from the lips outward. This is “around Jerusalem”—and “there is none to bury”, meaning: There is no one to deepen the words, to draw them down into the heart, which is Jerusalem. Instead, it’s one thing with the mouth, and another in the heart.

And regarding this one should point out that there is a hint in the Text "if a person uncovers a well" (Ex. 21:33) - 'if' implies the expression 'when' that is, the obligation is with the tzadik, who is called 'person', that uncovers a "well" which is a hint to the springs of awe and holiness, to open the hearts of people in greater awe and holiness. "Or when a person digs a well" - "dig" is an expression of excavation, that one begins excavating and carving into the hearts of people awe and holiness. "And a bull or a donkey falls into it" - meaning that then obviously the externalities (kelipot) will fall in it. "The owner of the well will pay", meaning, this is the reward of the tzadik, that the Holy One of Blessing, the owner and master of all holiness and awe, will reward the tzadik in the world to come. And not only that but also "the worth in silver will pay to the owner" meaning that this is also the reward, that this awe and this holiness that cause people to return to God, and add more awe and love and desire to serve God, and this is "silver" [kesef] from the expression "truly longing for" [nikhsof nikhsafta, see Gen. 31:30] that is, the desire and the love go back to the Owner. And it is through this that I explained "words that come from the heart enter in the heart": they enter back into they heart from which they came in truth, those words come back and enter the heart, and add to the heart more holiness. And in the Gemara (Bava Kamma 50a) they asked a difficult question: "if regarding the uncovering of a well there is obligation, all the more so there should be obligation for digging one!" this can be understood as we explained above, if the obligation of the tzadik is to open the hearts of the people with/in the springs of awe, all the more so it is to dig. "To bring a digger after a digger" (Bava Kamma 50a) meaning, if at the first time the tzadik is unable to awaken the heart, the tzadik should go back and try, through the way "you will surely admonish" (Lev. 19:17).