Chasidut para sa Mga Panaghoy 3:23

"One should strengthen himself like a lion to stand up in the morning" etc., i.e. one must arise quickly without laziness, and this is the aspect of emunah/faith, as our Rebbi wrote (in Sefer Hamidot -- Quickness), that zerizut/quickness is like faith. For at night the faith is amongst the klipot/shells, but in the morning the faith grows and is awakened. Therefore one must arise from sleep in quickness, to strengthen himself in faith in order to build and to grow [in] faith. And this is "that he should be the one to wake up the dawn," i.e. the aspect of the gazelle of the dawn, the aspect of malkhut/kingship, the aspect of faith, and this is the aspect of breaking the lust for money, through which one can raise the souls and drawn down Torah. As it is written in the teaching "Happy are the people" [regarding Divine] supervision (in Likutei Moharan 13); see there. Because each and every day one must receive the Torah anew, as our Rabbis of blessed memory said (Deuteronomy 10:13) "...which I command you today..."; let them be each day like new in your eyes (Sifri there). And receiving the Torah is through raising the soul and renewing it, as explained there. And this is done through breaking the lust for money, as mentioned above, which is the aspect of waking from sleep quickly, the aspect of faith as mentioned above. For the lust of money is like apostasy, like night, like darkness, dark face, like sadness and laziness, like death, like sleep which is one sixtieth of death (Berachot 57). And one needs strengthening to break the sleep which is like death, the aspect of the lust for money. And then he can renew his soul and rise up and bring down Torah. And then when he breaks the sleep, the lust for money, then on the contrary the sleep is, on the contrary, specifically good for him. For through sleep he renews his soul, the aspect of (Lamentations 3:23) "They [Hashem's kindnesses] are new every morning: great is Your faithfulness." And likewise through money he renews his soul through trade/[lit. buying and selling] in faith, which is like sleep, as is written in the Torah "Happy are the people..." [where he discusses the] zarka [the “~“ cantillation mark] (Likutei Moharan 35) and this is the explanation of "How long will you sleep, O sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep?" I.e. how long will you sleep in laziness? When will you break the sleep, whereupon, on the contrary, through sleep he will strengthen his mentalities and his soul will be renewed, as mentioned above. And this is the idea of "when will you arise out of your sleep?" In other words, that you should be revived, that your soul should stand and rise up via the sleep. And when one merits to raise up his soul through breaking the sleep, through this he makes unification of the Blessed Holy One and His Presence. And this is the idea of "that he should be the one to wake up the dawn," to awake "the gazelle of the dawn" to mate. And this is the explanation of "one should strengthen himself like a lion" which is the aspect of collections of souls, to raise them up, as our Rebbi wrote in the lesson “Happy are the people” (Likutei Moharan 13). The aspect of "I have gathered my myrrh with my spice" and through this one draws down complete [Heavenly] supervision, through drawing close to the power of vision through the Torah. And this is (Psalms 16:8) "I have set Hashem before me always", in other words, that His supervision is always upon us. And this is that which is written ([SA OC]1:3) that it is proper for all those who fear Heaven that they should be afflicted and concerned about the destruction of the Holy Temple, for whoever mourns Jerusalem shall merit to see its joy, as our Rabbis said in Bava Batra 60. We find, that through being afflicted and concerned over the Holy Temple, this is an aspect its construction. And building the Holy Temple is the aspect of building knowledge, through which one can raise souls, as mentioned above. As explained in the Likutei Moharan 13 mentioned above, see there. And this is the aspect of rising at midnight, that one breaks the sleep which is like the lust for money and he mourns Jerusalem and the destruction of the Holy Temple and through this he builds it. And through building the Holy Temple, through this they can collect the souls and raise them up. And therefore midnight sweetens judgments, for they break the sleep which is like death, like apostasy as mentioned above. For as long as there is idolatry etc. [there is (Divine) anger in the world] (Sifri, Parshat Re'eh) and through rising at midnight we raise the faith and draw down loving-kindnesses. And this is what our Rebbi said (Likutei Moharan 149) that midnight is as effective as a pidyon (redemption) — like a pidyon specifically. For a pidyon is like charity, that breaks the lust for money and sweetens the judgments. And likewise [rising at] midnight is breaking the sleep which is the aspect of the lust for money as mentioned above, through which judgments are sweetened, as mentioned above.

For the main element of life-force is received from prayer, as it is written, "A Prayer to the God of my Life." Therefore, a person must pray with all of their power, for when a person prays with all of their power, and puts their power into the letters of the prayer, then their power is renewed there, in the aspect of "they are renewed in the morning, great is your faithfulness." For faith is [also] prayer, as it is written, "and his hands were steady," which [Onkelos] translates as, "they were spread in prayer."

2. By the words of the Torah on “and G-d turned the people” [Exodus 13:18] (Likutei Moharan 62), see there. It is explained there that there is a difference between [types of] kushiyot/apparent contradictions/textual difficulties/paradoxes. For there is a kashiya/contradiction whose solution a man could understand. Regarding this it is said (Avot 2:14) "Know what to answer" etc. For the truth is that since Hashem Yisbarach limited the human intellect in what it can understand, it is a great mitzvah to sharpen the intellect to understand a thing according to its nature. And upon this is said, "And know what to answer an apostate." But there exists [such] a paradox, that it is not possible for the human intellect to understand the solution of such a paradox; only in the future to come will the solution be revealed. It is forbidden for a man to look into them and whoever relies on his intellect and probes into it — on this it is said (Proverbs 2:19) "Whoever comes to her does not return". For in such a paradox it is forbidden to rely on one’s intellect, [but rather] only stand on faith, and even those paradoxes that have an answer — sometimes the paths of intellect are stopped up and one does not know how to answer, and apostasy is thrown at him etc. And this apostasy is for each one according to his aspect; one can distinguish between great and small. For one must serve Hashem with the two wills. And in truth if a man knew the knowledge in all his heart that the whole world is full of His glory and Hashem Yisbarach attends at the time of prayer and listens to the prayer — certainly he would pray in great ardor and would be very careful to direct his words. But because a man does not know this knowledge in all his heart — therefore he does not flame up so much and does not take so much precision etc. And all this is from the knowledge being hidden, from the aspect of Machlochet/dispute/detachment, like (Hosea 10:2) חָלָק לִבָּם /Their hearts have become detached [from G-d], like the contradictions that come through the paths of wisdom being congested to the point that he cannot answer the apostasy that is in his heart. And the remedy for this dispute in the heart is to learn decided halachah/Torah laws. For through this he merits peace etc. And through this he merits to annul the contradictions in his heart and merits to pray with a whole heart, the aspect of "with all your heart" (b’khol levavcha) — with both of your wills (Berachot 54) and this is (Psalms 119:7) "I will praise you with uprightness of heart (levav), when I shall have learned Your righteous judgments" etc., see there. But the paradoxes that have no solution — it is forbidden to look into them. One can only strengthen himself in faith. And when he has complete faith, via his eating can be the unification of the Blessed Holy One and His Presence etc. For the selection from the food is through faith. And the main completion and adornment of faith — i.e. to draw specifically those who are far away etc. And for this one needs to raise up the sparks of speech. And then the speech reverses itself and collects the remaining sparks of holiness from the klipot/spiritual husks and impediments etc.; and to raise up the sparks of speech, one needs fasting, etc. For through the craving of eating and drinking, which are the main lusts when they rise up, G-d forbid, they draw the speech into galut mitzrayim/Egyptian (or constrained) exile etc. Then one must attach himself to holiness, so he will not absorb (unholiness), and 'attaching to holiness' is through fasting, etc. For the essence of everything is the beginning, for “all beginnings are difficult…” etc. And then when you are attached to holiness, so that it is impossible for the klipot to enter in and to absorb from them — then the face of holiness is revealed etc. In order to take out what they swallowed from their mouths etc. And then all the distant ones turn to the faith of Israel, as in (Zephaniah 3:9) "For then will I turn to the people a pure language". “Turn” specifically, that the pure language, the aspect of the speech that is clarified from among them, turns its face to the people in order to collect from them the remaining sparks of holiness. And then it will be fulfilled “that they may all call upon the name of Hashem” etc. And this is like the adornments of faith as mentioned above. And this is (Zohar Mishpatim) “The beautiful world that has no eyes… it went out in the morning and was covered in the day.” Because faith is renewed in a person every morning, the aspect of (Lamentations 3:23) "They are new every morning: great is Your faithfulness". And it is “covered in the day” because the toil of involvement in this world covers up the faith etc. And then the faith recommends before Hashem Yisbarach, concerning those far away, that He should draw them close etc. And this is (Genesis 44:18) "Then Judah came near unto him" — this is the drawing near of one king to another king etc. (Zohar Vayigash) — "for you are like Pharaoh". Just as Pharaoh decrees a thing and it does not come to be, likewise you decree and you shall not fulfill it. For the Tzaddik cancels [a harsh decree] etc. Look well there at all this.