Chasidut к Мишлей 3:41

Similarly, we find in the Midrash Sochar Tov: “How may a young man make his path pure? By serving according to Your word” (Tehillim 119), Shlomo said, “In all your ways know Him.” If you know and are conscious of God in all that you do, He will straighten the paths before you. Thus, it is said (Tehillim, 16), “Make the path of life known to me.” So too, Moshe said to God (Shemot, 33), “Now, if I have found favor in your sight, let me know Your ways.” And also (Tehillim, 25), “Lead me in Your truth, and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation.” And (Tehillim, 86), “God, teach me Your way.” And it is written (Yermiyahu, 6), “Stand on the roads and see, and ask about the ways of the world, and see which is the good way. Then walk in it, and find rest for your soul.” Look at the path that Avraham took, and look at the path that Nimrod took, and see who succeeded. So too did David say, “And you, Shlomo my son, know the God of your fathers, and serve him.”

“Blessings upon the head of a righteous man” (Proverbs 10:6). This is why the Talmud begins with Tractate Blessings (Berakhot), for it is the essence of everything: “Know the god of your father” (Chronicles I 28:9), and afterwards, “serve him,” for you have to know for whom you are serving. This is why a person says a blessing before each ritual act, to dedicate all of his actions to God, as the verse says, “In all your ways, know him” (Proverbs 3:6), as Maimonides wrote. This is accomplished by making the blessing, as the rabbis said the requirement [in terms of necessary age for making a blessing] is a child who knows to whom he is blessing (Bavli, Berakhot, 48a), as opposed to the rest of the mitsvot which have no requirement of knowing to whom one is making the blessing, such as phylacteries or the like. It is clear that the essence of a blessing is the knowledge of to whom the blessing is being made, and blessings were instituted for this purpose. This is the beginning of entering into Torah, as the verse says, “The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God” (Psalms 111:10). Fear of God is achieved through “I have placed God before me always” (Psalms 16:8), as Rabbi Moses Isserles wrote in a comment at the beginning of Oraḥ Ḥayyim. This explains why all blessings begin with direct, second-person, address (lashon nokhaḥ), because right at the beginning of the blessing God must be present (nokhaḥ) before a person’s eyes, as if God is standing in front of and commanding him. The conclusion is in third-person, because God immediately disappears, as the verse says, “Over his nestlings he hovers” (Deuteronomy 32:11), making contact and then moving away, as is known.

Levitcus 18,6. “none of you shall come near anyone of ‎his own flesh to uncover nakedness; I am the Lord.”
I ‎first wish to explain what King Solomon said in Proverbs 3,6 ‎בכל ‏דרכיך דעהו‎, “in all your ways you are to acknowledge Him.” ‎Solomon means that all our activities should have as their ‎ultimate aim to provide our Creator with satisfaction and ‎pleasure. When man marries a woman this should not merely be a ‎legal means of satisfying his sexual urges, but should be ‎fulfillment of the first commandment in the Torah. When having ‎marital relations with one’s wife, the object should not be to ‎satisfy one’s libido. The words: ‎איש איש אל כל שאר בשרו‎ refer to his ‎wife as being ‎שאר בשרו‎. The words: ‎לא תקרבו לגלות ערוה‎, mean that ‎when you engage in intimate relations with your wife you are not ‎do so only for the purpose of satisfying your sexual urges. The ‎reason why the verse concludes with the words: ‎אני ה'‏‎, is a ‎reminder that even while engaging in the most physical act, one ‎not only legally condoned by G’d but commanded by Him, you ‎should never forget that you are doing so in order to fulfill one of ‎His commandments.‎

Truly, one must know and understand, that from God’s point of view, it is all one, whereas the concealment of God’s presence and separation exist only from man’s point of view. God gave man the power to serve the Divine with his power of choice in order to unify all of the attributes and connect them to their source. Once this is done, he will see that they are, in reality, not even called attributes. This is how Ben Zoma shook the entire world in asserting, “Is it not written that that the Heavens were made by the word of God? And here, after God said, let there be a firmament, it is said, and God made the firmament. Thus, in this place, there is a difference between God saying, and God doing.” The conclusion in the Talmud, after reviewing this statement, was that, “Ben Zoma is still on the outside. But what is the actual distance between the upper and lower waters? Like the space between two garments spread one over the other; or as the space two cups fitted over one another.” That is to say, there is no separation whatsoever.³⁰⁸Likewise, there is no actual separation between God saying and doing. The separation is only an appearance in order to enable man’s ability to serve the Divine. A veil must conceal the source from its effects in the world we live in, for if the source were revealed there would be no impetus from the side of man to perform Divine service. Therefore, in Tehillim 148:4, which describes how all the elements of creation give praise to God, it does not say, “Halleluiah, all of the waters which are below the heavens,” but it says specifically, “all of the waters which are above the heavens,”³⁰⁹The full verses are: “Praise Him, you highest heavens and you waters above the heavens... Praise G-d from the earth, the great sea creatures and all the depths.” The “depths” are mentioned here (תהמות) but not the waters themselves. for the depth below is no more than a vessel,³¹⁰The depth below refers to the world of concealment in which man lives and exercises his free choice. and not the waters. If the waters are praising the Creator, then, by definition, they are called, “upper waters,” for at such a time of proclaiming God’s praises the lower waters have ascended and are in a state of complete unity with the upper waters. God is constantly occupied with healing the veil of separation, as was mentioned above, in Chapter Seven, with the Midrash Kohellet on the verse, “I have wounded, and will heal.” This is also hinted at in the Zohar (Vayigash, 207a): “God established the heavens with understanding.” (Mishlei, 3:19) What does the word, “establish,” mean? Rather, God establishes each day, never ceasing. He does not fix the world once, but rather fixes the world each and every day. God established that from the creation’s point of view a separation exists, and all that descends from the source in the upper realms to enclothe itself in the lower world takes on the appearance separation. This is as it is written in the Zohar (Bereshit, 22b): All of Rabbi Shimon’s fellowship stood up and said, “Rabbi, Rabbi, is there a separation between Abba and Imma,³¹¹The supernal personae (partsufim) expressing the Divine conduct of Wisdom (represented by the partsuf of Abba-Father) and Understanding (representing the partsuf of Imma-Mother) for Abba is in the path of atzilut (the World of Emanation), and the side of Imma in the world of beriya (Creation)?” Rabbi Shimon answered, “My friends, my friends, it is not like this. The Adam³¹²Meaning the partsufim (see previous note). of atzilut is male and female, from the side of Abba and Imma.³¹³The two are cleaving together as one, equal to each other. This is as it is said, ‘Let there be light, and there was light.’ ‘Let there be light,’ comes from the side of Abba, ‘and there was light,’ from the side of Imma.³¹⁴This follows the principle in the kabbalah whereby Abba represents speech and Imma represents action. This is the meaning of the teaching that Adam was initially created with two faces, one male and one female.³¹⁵See Bereshit, 1:27 However, the Adam of beriya has no image (tselem) or likeness (d’mut)³¹⁶See Bereshit, 1:26, “let us make a man in our image and after our likeness.” from Abba and Imma. Rather, the supernal Imma was called by the name whose numerical equivalent is Elo-him (86). This name is, ‘light and darkness.’ As a result of the darkness existing in this name, father said that Adam of beriya would sin in the future.” It is apparent from the Zohar in parshat Kedoshim (page 83a) and in the Tikkunei Zohar (Tikkun 67, page 98b) that sin cannot touch atzilut whatsoever.

Genesis ‎18,5. “let me take a piece of bread so that you can refresh ‎yourselves,……he presented it to them and they ate.” The true ‎meaning of this verse has been best explained by the Or ‎Hachayim, according to whom even the highest ranking angel, ‎Michael is on occasion referred to as “High Priest,” whereas on ‎other occasions he is known by another name. [Not in my edition ‎of the ‎אור החיים‎. Ed.] The point of this is to alert us to the fact ‎that the standing, or even existence, of the angels in the celestial ‎spheres, is affected by the mitzvah performance of the ‎Israelites in the terrestrial part of the universe. When Israel is ‎meticulous in the performance of G’d’s Torah, then the most ‎senior of the angels in the celestial spheres assumes the title: ‎‎“High Priest.” When Avraham spoke about a ‎פת לחם‎, instead of ‎merely ‎פת‎, bread, he alludes to both the written and the oral ‎Torah. The word ‎פת‎ refers to the written Torah, whereas the word ‎לחם‎ refers to the oral Torah. The word ‎לחם‎ in psalms 78,25 i.e. ‎לחם אבירים‎, is an allusion to the Torah. According to the Talmud ‎‎Menachot 34, the word ‎פת‎ amongst the Africans means ‎‎“two.” [The latter half of the word: ‎טוטפת‎. Ed.] The word is used ‎as an allusion to Torah also in Proverbs 9,5, ‎לכו לחמו בלחמי‎, “come ‎and partake of My bread.” [Compare Alshich, pages 171-172, my ‎translation of Proverbs. Ed.] When Avraham is now described as ‎serving the angels, we may see in this the reward both for ‎Avraham‘s having performed the circumcision on himself, as well ‎as reward for the angels, their being hosted by a person of ‎Avraham’s standing. [Perhaps the mitzvah of hospitality ‎shown the angels by Lot in the following chapter was a factor in ‎his being saved, whereas his wife was not. Ed.] When Avraham, in ‎verse 8, is described as standing next to the angels while the latter ‎were seated while eating, the “tree” mentioned in that verse may ‎be a reference to the tree described as “tree of life” in Proverbs ‎‎3,18, i.e. an allusion to the Torah.

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).

But through this you can understand what they said, “The tzaddik rules [through] reverence for God (2 Sam. 23:3) … [I rule over humans, but] who rules over Me? The tzaddik, [for I make a decree but he annuls it]” (Moed Katan 16b). For at the hands of the wicked the world collapses and remains in contraction and judgment, God forbid; but at the hands of the tzaddikim the king’s anger is settled, as if it were possible. This can be compared to the child of a king, who when he enters into his father’s [presence] – even at the time of his anger – since the king’s will is to draw very close to his precious child, the characteristic of love is awakened within [the king] toward his child; and then that characteristic expands to all those who are in the king’s gate as well. So it is at the hands of the tzaddikim, who bring themselves closer – along with all things – to their Father in Heaven, giving [God] a restful spirit: [God’s] mind settles, as if it were possible, and the judgments that were awakened at the hands of the wicked are sweetened. And that is [the meaning of] “to collect from the wicked, who destroy [a world created] through ten statements” – for even though the Creation happened through ten statements for their benefit, in order that even there in their lowly place they should be able to hold onto [God’s] characteristics, and similarly [God’s] characteristics and divinity were contracted for them in order that they should recognize [God’s characteristics], as was stated above – and even still, on the contrary, on account of [all] this they distance themselves further. “And to give good reward to the tzaddikim, who sustain a world created through ten statements” – as we have stated above, by way of [the world] being created through ten statements, through contraction; for without this it would not have been possible, and understand this.

The Talmud in Shabbat 63 interprets the words of ‎Solomon, speaking of the Torah in Proverbs 3,16 by describing it ‎as follows: ‎ארך ימים בימינה בשמאלה עשר וכבוד‎, “lengthy days is her ‎right hand; in her left hand riches and honour,“ anyone reading ‎this forms the impression that Solomon assures people keeping ‎the Torah of worldly rewards, and at least when the reward hoped ‎for is material, i.e. worldly riches etc., it is considered as belonging ‎to the left side of the emanations, i.e. is a negative. This would ‎contradict our statement that even though one keeps the ‎Sabbath for such reasons, it is a positive accomplishment, though ‎of a lower order, i.e. is not the kind of service that the Creator ‎would prefer from His creatures, and that optimally, G’d prefers ‎for His creatures not to serve Him for physical material rewards. ‎Some righteous people completely eschew any recognition of ‎their service to G’d as long as they have attained a more profound ‎understanding of the essence of G’d while on this earth. Some go ‎so far as to renounce the claim to a “name” in the world to come ‎so as not to appear as looking for personal recognition of their ‎accomplishments. This is what the Talmud in B’rachot 64 ‎and in Moed Katan 29 had in mind when it stated that the ‎Torah scholars have no “rest”, ‎מנוחה‎, either in this world or in the ‎world to come, but they keep progressing spiritually from one ‎level to another. [“Rest” in this context is clearly ‎considered as a negative, instead of as a positive quality as in ‎connection with the Sabbath rest. Ed.] According to the ‎way our author understands the prayer quoted, the repeated ‎insistence that in all sections of the universe there is no One that ‎has a name bar the Creator, reflects his view that the perfect ‎‎tzaddik feels that being singled out (by a name) would ‎detract from his selfless service of the Lord. When the author ‎refers to the world to come in that prayer, he means that he does ‎not desire “to rest on his laurels,” even after he (his soul) has ‎been admitted to the celestial regions. The author of that prayer ‎continues by stating that even if one serves G’d with the objective ‎of experiencing the arrival of the messiah and the additional ‎insights we will all be granted concerning the nature of G’d at ‎that time, this too is not the ultimate optimal kind of service of ‎the Lord.
‎[I must confess that I have difficulty in understanding ‎the above prayer as anything but having G’d as its subject, not ‎the author himself or his yearnings for a ‎דבקות ה'‏‎ at the expense ‎of any individuality of his personality. Surely, G’d does not wish ‎to be worshipped anonymously, but wishes to point out to us ‎lesser mortals how great men such as Avraham, Yitzchok, ‎Yaakov, etc, whose names matter, can serve as models for us. ‎Ed.]‎‎

‎G’d called the light: ‘day;’" Bereshit Rabbah 3,8 comments that this phrase refers to ‎the deeds of the righteous, whereas the line ‎ולחושך קרא לילה‎, is understood as referring to the ‎deeds of the wicked. In order to make it plain that the Creator preferred the deeds of the ‎righteous, the Torah added the adjective ‎כי טוב‎, “that it was good,” when defining the word ‎אור‎ in ‎verse 4.‎‎
The average reader of this Midrash surely is puzzled by the fact that there was any doubt as ‎to whose deeds the Creator would prefer so that the Torah had to indicate that G’d preferred the ‎deeds of the righteous! Rabbeinu Yonah, in his commentary on the last Mishnah in ‎‎B’rachot chapter 9, explains that the Mishnah, when referring to the need to serve ‎the Lord with both parts of our hearts, the urge to do good as well as the urge to do evil, speaks of ‎people who do serve the Lord. The Midrash quoted, was careful to refer to the deeds of ‎the wicked as opposed to the wicked themselves, also does so. We may therefore understand the ‎‎Midrash as also referring to good deeds, the origin of which, however, differs. The ‎difference between the two “urges” is that the urge to do evil is by definition the result of anger ‎and hatred, whereas the deeds that are prompted by the urge to do good, are by definition ‎prompted by feelings of goodwill and love. No wonder that G’d prefers the positive deeds that are ‎also the result of constructive attitudes, to the good deeds that are the result of the urge to do ‎evil, even when both deeds may be identical. This idea has been portrayed by Proverbs 3,17 where ‎Solomon has described the ways of Torah as being ‎דרכיה דרכי נועם‎, “her ways are ways of ‎pleasantness;” in other words, it is not only what you do that counts but how you go about doing ‎it.”‎

It was explained above that miracles have been programmed into nature from the creation of the world. Now, you may ask, “How can a person arrive at a place above the natural order revealed in the world?” It all depends upon one’s service of God and upon one’s faith. If one’s service and faith are strong, he can ascend to a place above the system of governance, and draw down a transcendent light that can be fixed within the mind’s grasp.⁴⁰¹Similar to the revelation that occurred at Akeidat Yitzchak, discussed in the preceding chapter. If he makes the absolute most of his Divine service and faith, then the supernal light will be revealed and fixed within the system of revealed governance.⁴⁰²According to this (and as explained previously), faith changes the very nature of a person’s perception of reality (a phenomenological shift), so that even the mundane is perceived as miraculous. This, in turn, allows for actual (ontological) changes in the nature of reality itself; i.e. the occurrence of an actual miracle. Then it will be explicitly revealed that this was the way God had originally conceived it.⁴⁰³“Ala be’makhsava” – literally, “ascended in His thought.” Meaning, the person will see that the miraculous occurrence did not entail a change in the natural order, but was always part of G-d’s primordial plan for the world. However, if a person does not prepare his heart, he will remain under the influence of the revealed order of nature. This is the meaning of the Gemara’s statement (Sotah, 36a), “The Jews in the days of Ezra were worthy of witnessing miracles the magnitude of those seen in the days of Yehoshua, yet their sins prevented it.” Instead of revealed miracles, they experienced hidden miracles. That is to say, miracles that occurred through natural processes and a series of everyday events: The Jews found favor in the eyes of King Korash (Cyrus), and he commanded them to build the Holy Temple. However, had they not sinned, they would have witnessed revealed miracles instead. So too, with all miracles, they depend upon the worthiness of the one receiving them, and to that same degree is the miracle proclaimed in the world. We explained this in our introduction to miracles, with the discussion of the splitting of the Red Sea. Similarly, the miracles performed for the Tanaim and Amoraim.⁴⁰⁴Early and later sages in the Talmud. Some were worthy of experiencing only private miracles; however, the more the miracle worker prepared his heart, the more the miracle was experienced and revealed in the world at large.⁴⁰⁵This seems to be a contradiction to what the author said earlier, that one cannot reveal miracles before an unenlightened public. This is as Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai said in the Idra Zuta (289b), “By God’s knowledge the depths were split” (Mishlei 3:20), and filled all of the chambers and passageways of the body, as it is written (Mishlei 24:4), “And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled.” These lights shine from the supernal hidden brain, which illuminates the mazal (Atika Kadisha), and they all depend on each other, and connect to one another, until it is known that they are all one. They are all Atika, the Ancient, and are not at all separate from him.⁴⁰⁶This means that everything is seen from the perspective of Atika, which transcends nature.

Chochmah and binah can be symbolized in the stages of construction. Chochmah is the bricks, the basic pieces. Binah is putting one brick on another, dividing bricks that are too large, and arranging the materials into a meaningful edifice. The basic postulates in any field of study are the chochmah element. How principles interact, such as resolving contradictions between them, and determining when the principles are to be applied, is the force of binah. When I place my hand on a table and say to myself, “I am touching a table,” it is chochmah. When I realize the properties of the table, such as the facts that it occupies space and is made out of wood, those realizations are binah. You will rarely find chochmah and binah divided. Immediately when I know of something I also realize some of its details. Their linkage causes the mystics to term them, Terei reyin de-lo misparshin, “Two friends that do not separate.”³⁶²Heard from the Stitchiner Rebbe. Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan writes, “One of the Biblical sources for chochmah and binah is the verse: “God founded the earth with chochmah, ‘wisdom,’ and established the heavens with binah, ‘understanding’ (Prov. 3:19). The Bible states here that chochmah and binah are the basic components of creation. In a divine sense, chochmah constitutes the axioms which define the world while binah is the logical system that connects these axioms. All the laws of nature are essentially axioms, and the simplest axiom contains several levels. For example, the fact that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line means that a point exists, straight lines exist, space exists, the concepts of existence, of shortness and length exist. All of these categories exist in chochmah. In binah they interplay logically and emerge as a coherent system of laws.”
The Stitchiner Rebbe explained how chochmah is the foundation of the world in the following manner. Chochmah is the grasping of a concept. When God conceived the need for an item He thought of the entire item and the need for it, as a result of having arisen in Divine thought, the item then immediately appeared.

And this is what our sages of blessed memory said: whoever averts their eyes from tzedakah is as if they serve idols (Ketubot 68a), "avert eyes" specifically, since the essence of tzedakah is the aspect of eyes, to continue the Providence of God's eyes on us, as it is written regarding gifts to the poor "look down from Your holy abode, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel" (Deut. 26:15). This is because the essence of poverty is a continuation of the hurt to the Moon, which is the aspect of darkness, "and his eyes were weak of seeing" (Genesis 27:1), which is the aspect of decrease and concealment of Providence. This is because all income and wealth is the aspect of eyes, as it is written "what good is there to their owner, saving the beholding of them with his eyes" (Eccl. 5:10). And as it is written "The eyes of all wait upon You; and You give them their food in due season"(Ps. 145:15). This is because wealth is a continuation of the aspect of Left, as it is written "on her left is wealth and honor" (Prov. 3:16), and the left is the aspect of after creation, as it is explained in the preceding Torah. And every time that the left is not included in the right, God forbid, meaning, when it is not included in the entirety of creation, which is the aspect of left, before creation, which is the aspect of complete right, then obviously it is impossible to receive the Flow and income, given that we are far away from the root which is the One Who Makes All Live.

‎Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim, (231,1) states that a ‎human being when eating or drinking or performing other ‎‎“human necessities,” must keep in mind that he performs all ‎these acts in order to enable him to better serve the Lord, his ‎Creator. By doing so he performs the commandment (Proverbs ‎‎3,6) of ‎בכל דרכיך דעהו‎, “know Him in the process of performing all ‎your activities.” Man is not to concentrate on the physical ‎satisfaction he experiences as a result of performing these ‎activities. The statement in the Shulchan Aruch may be seen ‎as similar to that of our sages according to which G’d created four ‎categories of creatures, in ascending order. The lowest ranking is ‎the ‎דומם‎, mute and inert, followed by the vegetation, creatures ‎only mobile in a vertical direction but still mute; this is followed ‎by all living and vertically and horizontally mobile animals, ‎capable of some form of communication with one another by ‎means of sound. At the top of this pyramid is the human being. ‎When the human being consumes lower ranking living creatures ‎as his nourishment, every one of the lower creatures experiences ‎a “spiritual” promotion by becoming an integral part of the ‎highest form of living creature, man. When man eats such ‎creatures or even fruit, he “elevates “ them to a higher level, a ‎form of “creative” activity, appropriately referred to in the use of ‎the present tense for the word ‎ברא‎, i.e. ‎בורא‎, as we explained ‎about Adam making fire for the first time. The benediction is an ‎act of gratitude for the pleasure experienced in the process. ‎When a person eats he automatically converts lower ranking ‎‎“creatures” to his level as through not only ingesting them with ‎his mouth, but converting them to his bloodstream, blood being ‎described by the Torah as the essential of man’s life-force, ‎נפש‎. ‎‎(Deut. 12,23). The conversion of man’s food intake to become one ‎with the highest category of creature, man, certainly justifies our ‎referring to the creative process commenced by G’d when these ‎creatures were first created to their being alluded to in our ‎benedictions as being part of an ongoing creative process.‎
There remains only fire as something that though man had ‎been endowed with taking part in the creation by means of his ‎intellect, has not been ingested by man and thus not become an ‎integral part of him, so that the word ‎בורא‎, instead of ‎ברא‎ would ‎not be an appropriate description of what Adam did when he ‎struck two pieces of rock together. On the other hand, the fact ‎that we perform a commandment every week by lighting the ‎‎havdalah candle, fire which is another one of the creatures ‎that is subordinate to man, becomes “spiritually” elevated by the ‎use man makes of it. It therefore is perceived as if it were a new ‎creation. This, at least is the view of the school of Hillel, who ‎therefore feel that this idea be reflected in the formulation of the ‎benediction we recite when performing this mitzvah.‎

We have been taught that cleaving to G’d is something that ‎can be accomplished through fear of the Lord, in the words of ‎Solomon in Proverbs 3,6 ‎בכל דרכיך דעהו‎, “endeavour to become ‎intimate with Him by means of all your activities,” In other ‎words, if all our activities are based upon the teachings of the ‎Torah and in compliance with it we will gain ever greater insights. ‎Moses used the opportunity to teach us this great principle in a ‎nutshell when he said: “Hear O Israel;” as a result of doing so, ‎‎“the Lord our G’d will be One, i.e. His unity will be demonstrated ‎to all.”‎

And now, for the sake of our brothers and friends, who tremble at the word of God, seeking the Torah and loving its wisdom, I will now say, “Peace unto the lovers of God’s Torah!” Come, House of Yaakov, and you will walk in the light of God,⁴⁸¹Yeshayahu, 2:5. may God be with us as He was with our forefathers, He shall not forsake us and He shall not forget us.⁴⁸²Melachim 1, 8:57 He shall forever lead us by peaceful waters, our rest shall be in our very progression from strength to strength, to ascend the ladder fixed in the ground which rises to Heaven! As for our revilers, who ask why we bother to invest so much contemplation into the Torah until our strength is exhausted? Who claim that the simple explanations of the written and oral Torah is enough. To them, I will offer noble words⁴⁸³See Mishlei, 8:6. which draw the heart of man. Come and consider, see and behold! Taste and see that God is good⁴⁸⁴Tehillim, 34:9 to those who yearn for their souls to be restored by His perfect Torah.⁴⁸⁵See Tehillim, 19:8. Those who contemplate it in the depths of their hearts will see and understand that those who taste its depths will merit life. These are the things that man will do and through them he shall live for eternity. Do you not see now that the house of Yaakov is faithful and the house of Yosef is your provider?⁴⁸⁶Bereshit, 42:6. From the time the house was established, he has been faithful to sustain Israel with every word that comes out of the mouth of God upon which man lives.⁴⁸⁷“…he would make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but rather by all that comes forth from the mouth of G-d” (Devarim, 8:3). Interpreted in hasidic terms, this means that it is not physical sustenance that gives life, but the Divine essence within the food that enlivens. So, too, the author rails against those who neglect or deny the deeper meaning of the Torah, which is like being concerned only with the body and not the soul. On a more personal level, he seems to be attacking those who deny the validity of the unique (and controversial) interpretative approach of his grandfather, R. Mordechai Yosef of Izhbitz, and of his father, R. Yaakov. Those who reject it have “no portion in Yaakov and no inheritance in the house of Yosef.” This shall cast away those who say that they have no portion in Yaakov and no inheritance in the house of Yosef. Their ways are crooked⁴⁸⁸Mishlei, 2:15 and they pervert the explanations of the Torah, hanging their misunderstandings like a lyre, preaching all of their logic which has no basis in God’s Torah, not in the words of the Tanaaim and Amoraim of the oral law, and all that they imagine they hang on a great tree⁴⁸⁹That is, claim that they can based their false interpretation on valid, earlier sources. Here, too, the author may be critiquing those who claim that Maimonides was a rationalist, who did not deal with the secrets of the Torah. The author proved that claim wrong in the first half of this work. asserting, “This is the meaning of the Torah.” For these, the House of Yaakov will be a fire and the House of Yosef like a flame!⁴⁹⁰Ovadia, 1:18. They will see and learn. They will see how to reveal the Torah of God from the plain meaning of the words, for are not His words like fire,⁴⁹¹Yirmiyahu, 23:29. and all who desire its light with truth and faith can come and warm themselves? And likewise, as a flame it will burn all those who learn Torah in order to vex the scholars of the mysteries, and who wear it as a crown and wield it as an axe.⁴⁹²See the Talmud, Pirke Avot, 4:5 And now, House of Yaakov, walk in the light of God and come home. See and understand that all the words of the Torah written in this book are needed for every man of Israel, in every place and every time. And how all of the events recorded in the Torah can illuminate every soul and instruct him how to sustain his life and all that he goes through with justice.⁴⁹³Tehillim 112:5. For the words of the Torah are living and enduring for all eternity. All who contemplate the Torah grasp onto the tree of life, and it is life for those who hold onto it.⁴⁹⁴Mishlei, 3:18. May God illuminate our eyes to His Torah, and place His love and fear in our hearts, in order to do His will, and to serve Him with a whole heart.⁴⁹⁵From the liturgy of the morning prayer, in the blessing before the reading of the Shema Yisrael.