Chasidut do Pirke Awot 4:24

I thank God with all my heart,³This opening is based on the verse in Tehillim (111:1). In the counsel⁴“Sod,” in Hebrew, means both counsel and mystery. “In the counsel of those who remain,” “b’sod hanisharim” in Hebrew, is a play on the words of Psalm 111, “b’sod yesharim,” “in the mystery of the upright of heart.” This leads us to the simple principle that the unknown becomes known through proper counsel, which is the aim of this treatise. It is also an allusion to the four major works penned by this author, collectively called Sod Yesharim, as mentioned in the introduction. As is often the case regarding the titles of Hasidic works, the numerical equivalent of the phrase, “sod yesharim,” is “Gershon Henokh.” (=630) It may be that this equation is the least significant of the mysteries contained in the pages of this book. of those who remain⁵“Those who remain and those who love,” refers to members of each generation who yearn for Divine truth. It is as though, at this point in the opening of the work, the author is inviting the souls of the great Torah masters of the past; for he is entering into a battle of the spirit, and not going alone. His polemic is not only armed and positioned with a regiment of prophetic spirits, but with the prophets themselves and the One who speaks to them. All God fearing men who enter into a dialogue with the soul and the “penimiyut,” or internal aspect of the Torah are a part of the counsel, and all who revere the message and morals of prophets and kabbalists and are worthy of the mystery. and those who love, ⁶cf. Megilla 6b, “אוהבי שרידים יושבי רקת”. According to Rashi, “lovers of Israel.” Those who thirst for God’s word, Those love His Torah with truth and wholeness. They do not learn the Torah as a woodsman sharpens his axe, in order to earn a living.⁷See Pirkei Avot, 4:5, Nedarim 62a, where the Sages speak sharply against those who use the Torah in order to gain honor or riches. Nor do they adorn themselves in it like a fur coat.⁸כאדרת שער, cf. Bereshit 25:25, “And the first came out all red, like a hairy garment.” Esav, the hunter, the man of the field, would put on the act of righteous to win his father, Yitzhak’s favor. Those who, “adorn themselves in the Torah as one wears a fancy coat,” were religious men whose saintliness was more an expression of self-aggrandizment than inner dedication. The author was known as a bold fighter, and not afraid to compare many of the self-styled scholars and holy men of his generation to Eisav. Yet they bend their ears to hear the words of the sages. Their hearts yearn to know the truth.

Deuteronomy 7,12. “it will be that as a result of your ‎listening, etc., that G’d will faithfully maintain for you the ‎covenant and the attribute of love that He has sworn to your ‎forefathers.”
It is an accepted principle that the “so-‎called” reward that G’d grants us for performing the ‎commandments of the Torah is the least of all the pleasures that ‎we will experience. The major pleasure is the satisfaction we ‎derive from having been able to give the Creator a feeling of ‎satisfaction that He created mankind, and that at least part of ‎mankind, Israel, has seen fit to acknowledge this. This is what the ‎‎Mishna in Avot 4,2 meant when the author states that ‎the true reward for performing the commandments is the ‎commandment itself. When we reflect on the significance of the ‎performance of the commandment we will realize that having ‎performed it was an unparalleled pleasure. Even the reward that ‎G’d has “saved up” for us in the hereafter pales into insignificance ‎when compared to the satisfaction of having been able to provide ‎‎Hashem with pleasure.‎
This is what Moses had in mind when he described the ‎‎mitzvah performance with the word ‎עקב‎ in our verse above. ‎This word, meaning “heel,” when used elsewhere in Scripture, is ‎used by Moses to describe the minute part of the pleasure that ‎G’d’s “reward” provides for us when we compare it with the ‎pleasure we provided for ourselves by having been the ‎instrument to please the Creator.‎

Alternatively, we should focus on the words: ‎אשר תשמעו‎ in ‎the next verse. This formulation is unusual, as the Torah ‎normally writes: ‎אם תשמעון‎, “if you will hearken,” and not ‎אשר ‏תשמעו‎.‎
Many of you, my readers, are familiar with a statement in the ‎Talmud Kidushin 39 according to which no reward for ‎observing Torah commandments may be expected in this life. ‎There is, however, one kind of “reward” that man receives already ‎during his life on earth, i.e. ‎שכר מצוה מצוה‎, “having performed the ‎commandment results in the satisfaction gained from the ‎knowledge that one has been able to perform the commandment ‎in question.” (Avot 4,2). What greater “reward” can there ‎be than the knowledge that one has provided the Creator with ‎pleasure by one’s deed? It is this that Moses tells the people here, ‎‎“see that I have provided you with a blessing (reward) already this ‎day, i.e. in this life.” All you have to do to qualify for this blessing ‎is to serve Him. When becoming more precise about what must ‎be done to qualify for this “reward,” the Torah (Moses speaking) ‎continues with ‎אשר תשמעו‎, “that you hearken to G’d’s ‎instructions.” In other words, the very act of “hearkening” ‎qualifies you for the blessing that Moses speaks of, a blessing that ‎is available in their daily lives on earth. Comparison with the ‎קללה‎, curse, of which Moses speaks which will be the people’s fate ‎if they fail to hearken to G’d’s voice by departing from the proper ‎path (verse 28), will show us that the word: ‎היום‎, “this day,” while ‎alive on earth, is significantly missing. Moreover, the very idea ‎that the people might depart from the proper path is mentioned ‎only as a possibility, i.e. ‎אם לא תשמעו‎, not as certainty, i.e. ‎אשר‎.‎

Deuteronomy 16,22 “and do not set up for yourself a ‎stone pillar (as a religious symbol).”
I believe that we ‎should interpret this verse in accordance with a saying of the ‎sages in Avot 4,21: ‎התקן עצמך בפרוזדור כדי שתכנס לטרקלין‎, ‎‎“prepare yourself in the vestibule so that you may [be able] to ‎enter the banquet hall.” The author of this saying, Rabbi Yaakov, ‎views life on earth as being lived in the vestibule to the celestial ‎regions, and that those who merit it will be admitted to “the ‎palace” upon leaving their bodies behind on earth. Whatever man ‎eats and drinks in this life is merely in preparation for the life to ‎come. He must see to it that when the time comes he will enter ‎that domain in a healthy condition. The sum total of what we ‎consume in food and drink while on earth is described by the ‎Talmud in Pessachim 68 as “the half that is yours.”‎
‎[The Talmud there debates how the festival days ‎should be divided by the people, one opinion stating that “half” is ‎to be used for eating, drinking, and sleeping, whereas the other ‎half is to be devoted to spiritual pursuits. The Talmud, of course, ‎quotes verses from Scripture supporting such a view. Rabbi ‎Eliezer is not happy with such an interpretation and insists that ‎either the entire day of the festival be dedicated to spiritual ‎pursuits, or to mundane pursuits, the difference being which ‎festival is meant for devotion to only spiritual pursuits. ‎Ed.]‎
Our author understands the word ‎לך‎ in our verse above to ‎mean that any physical enjoyments we permit ourselves even on ‎the festival days, when this is a commandment, must be viewed as ‎something transient, as only a stepping stone to when we will be ‎allowed entry into the “banquet hall,” i.e. the celestial spheres.‎

Good lads and young men, please judge for yourselves - you have begun to internalize our words up to this point, in which we have made you understand what a Jewish young man [actually] is, how God is inseparably connected to him and the yoke that he must bear in developing His holy people - please tell me, is there any greater grief than the grief from these haughty ones; is there any blemish like their blemish? Jewish young men, we do not need to warn you about this terrible character trait. We are certain that the words of God - "A man must fear his mother and father" (Leviticus 19:3); and "The fear of your teacher should be like the fear of the Heavens" (Avot 4:12) - are engraved upon your hearts. You know quite well that it is God who is teaching you Torah; and that the voice of God is encased in the voice and words of your rabbi when he speaks to you about matters of Torah, divine service and even about proper behavior according to the Torah. And the fear and joy, the fright and terror that the people of Israel experienced at the time they were at Mount Sinai and heard the voice of God in flames of fire - some of that is also with you now when you are in the yeshiva: When you remind yourselves that the room in which you are in now is full of angels and seraphim and that God's voice comes out from among them - encased in the voice of your rabbi entering your ears and your heart - fright and joy, fear and love shake your body and roil your heart, and you humble yourselves to the Torah of our God heard in the words of your rabbi.

You I need not warn about this bad trait. But know that the Mishnah says (Avot 4:4), "Be very, very lowly." One has to distance pride from oneself more than any of the other bad character traits, so that not even a trace of it remain. (Editor's note from the printed edition: As is known from the Rambam's Eight Chapters.) Hence perhaps there is a student among you who - while he is not affected by pride to the extent that he opposes his rabbis and parents - still has a bit of pride internally. He does not humble himself in his heart or admire and value them or their words. So even if he has the ability to overcome the evil pride in himself, since it is faint - and even if he listens to them and overcomes himself enough to do what they command - since he nevertheless has a strong sense of selfhood and rock-hard independence, he also needs to be laundered and washed until his heart and spirit are totally cleansed from the traces of this pride. And not only that. Even someone who is prideful towards his friends - whether because his intellect is sharper than theirs or whether he has no reason and is just proud - is also being clawed, together with his spirit, by his evil impulse. A young man like this - please listen to our words: Rise up quickly, be strong and expunge it, if you care about your spirit. Wash and purify it if you don't want to go bad, God forbid, all the days of your life forever.

Pure-hearted students, you must love one another! Be careful about the words of the Mishnah (Avot 4:12), "Let the honor of your friend be beloved to you like your own." And your love for one another should not be forced - like one who only loves himself, but since he is warned and commanded to also love his fellow, forces himself not to hate him. That is like one who takes a tiny part of his love for himself and offers it as a voluntary sacrifice to his fellow. Such love is nothing even when it exists, and will quickly dissipate and melt away.

But don’t worry. We hope that God will help us, members of the low generation, on the heels of the Messiah and the end of generations,¹⁵⁷The Talmud tells us that the history of the world until the final redemption will last six thousand years. If not the end of all generations, our generation, as was the author’s in 5704, is one of the last. to control ourselves and come closer to Him, may He be blessed. At such times when are heavy of heart, you can nonetheless conjure up the image of a close relative or friend who passed away, and think about what it was like when you were together. Think about how you talked together, laughed together, and enjoyed each other’s company. Now think about what he looks like in the grave. Black, flesh torn, bones exposed … You are sitting comfortably at home, standing and speaking according to your wants and needs, and still your spirit overtakes you to indulge yourself, while your relative or friend lies in a narrow grave surrounded by the wet earth, where worms nested in his mouth or throat, for, “man’s expectations are worms.”¹⁵⁸Pirkei Avos, 4:4.

But the truth is as follows: the performance of a mitzvah is primarily based on the aspect of receiving the Face of the Shekhinah, which is the Attachment, from the terminology of Fellowship which is implied by the terminology of mitzvah. Just as [the Sages] said in [Pirkei] Avot, “The reward of mitzvah is mitzvah” (Mishnah, Avot 4.2), the essential reward from the mitzvah is the mitzvah, i.e., the Godly Attachment and the Spiritual Enjoyment that is in the performance of a mitzvah in the aspect of receiving the Face of the Shekhinah. For without this, the mitzvah is called “empty,” meaning it is without life-force and soul, and is merely the body of the mitzvah as is known. It is only called mitzvah through the Desire and Attachment of the Godly part that dwells within him to the Blessed Root along with all the parts of Israel, as is known. For all Godly Service, whether in speech or action, has the aspect of Body and Soul, which gives life to that speech or action and without which it is without life-force. And therefore “the wicked are called ‘dead’ in their lifetime” (Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 18b) because their actions are without life-force. But in truth the request made by Abraham our Ancestor, peace be upon him, was this: do not pass by etc., because he was engaged in receiving the Face of the Shekhinah with certainty as is explicit in the verse And the LORD appeared to him (Gen. 18:1). And at the moment he saw the guests he asked Blessed God that even when he went to fulfill [the mitzvah of] welcoming guests do not pass by your servant: let the mitzvah not be empty, God forbid, but may You be with me even there, so that I can fulfill the mitzvah with Attachment, which is the aspect of receiving the Face of the Shekhinah. And the proof of Rav Yehudah’s [interpretation], that welcoming guests is greater than receiving the Face of the Shekhinah, is that if welcoming guests were not greater, Abraham our Ancestor, peace be upon him, certainly would not have set aside the certainty of receiving the Face of the Shekhinah and gone to welcome guests, which is in doubt [as to whether it will or will not include receiving the Face of the Shekhinah]. For [Abraham] needed to request, regarding [welcoming guests], that there would also be receiving the Face of the Shekhinah and Attachment to Blessed God. And specifically it is known what our Sages of Blessed Memory said, “They appeared to him as Arabs” (i.e., ordinary passersby; Babylonian Talmud, Kiddushin 32b), and so as far as he could tell they were not called “Faces of the Shekhinah.” Rather, certainly the mitzvah itself is much greater, even if – God forbid – it would not include receiving the Face of the Shekhinah; but [Abraham] requested to do this mitzvah in complete wholeness, as he said, do not pass by etc., and understand this.

Another way of explaining the wording of our verse is based ‎on the realization that G’d in His love for the Jewish people gave ‎them commandments by means of which they would establish ‎their claim to eternal life after their bodies had died. (Makkot, 3 ‎Mishnah 16) The Sabbath features especially largely in that ‎context, as by observing it we experience a foretaste of the ‎afterlife. On that day, as part of its observance, every Jew can ‎experience the meaning of a truly spiritual experience and the ‎satisfaction it brings to the person enjoying it.‎
However, seeing that we have a rule that reward for ‎performance of the commandments of the Torah is not given in ‎this world, i.e. during a person’s lifetime on earth, (compare ‎‎Kidushin 39), and therefore his enjoyment of the spiritual ‎pleasure on the Sabbath, G’d has arranged for this “foretaste” of ‎what to expect in the afterlife, the principal reward being ‎preserved for when the person’s soul returns to its celestial ‎origins.
‎[The concept discussed here is part of one of the ‎Sabbath songs sung at the Jew’s table on Friday nights, the last ‎part of which commences with the words: ‎‏ מעין עולם הבא יום שבת ‏מנוחה‎, “the Sabbath rest is a foretaste of the world to come.” ‎Ed.] When a Jew experiences that as a result of observing ‎the Sabbath he enjoys an additional dimension of spiritual and ‎physical well being, he does not need to be an intellectual in order ‎to fantasize about how much more of this he will experience in ‎the world to come where he has been assured that the principal ‎reward for Sabbath observance as well as mitzvah ‎observance generally will be shared out. It is clear therefore why ‎our sages understood the manner in which the Torah refers to ‎the observance of the Sabbath in our paragraph as an ‎announcement of a valuable gift that G’d was given to the Jewish ‎people. The point the Torah made was that observance of the ‎commandment of keeping the Sabbath results in additional ‎advantages for the Jews doing so, over and above the reward that ‎G’d had promised the people for observing the legislation spelled ‎out in the Torah generally.‎
Not only that, were it not for the foretaste the Jew ‎experiences of the world to come whenever he observes the ‎Sabbath, he would have no such foretaste by observing any of the ‎other commandments, so that observing the law to observe the ‎Sabbath is an encouragement to observe all the other ‎commandments with equal zeal. This may be at the core of the ‎sages in Avot 4,2 having made a somewhat puzzling ‎statement when they said: ‎שכר מצוה מצוה‎, usually translated as: ‎‎“the reward for fulfilling a commandment is the commandment ‎itself.” A more appropriate translation, interpreting this saying as ‎referring specifically to the commandment of observing the ‎Sabbath, would be: “the reward for observing the commandment ‎of observing the Sabbath is that one will also observe the other ‎commandments.” The revelation of this aspect of the reward for ‎Sabbath observance is something that was not revealed to the ‎gentile nations. By not revealing it to them, G’d made certain that ‎the gentiles would not want to socialize with Jews observing the ‎Sabbath and benefit by such socializing.‎
At this point the author comments on part of the Sabbath ‎morning prayers, between ‎ברכו‎ and ‎קריאת שמע‎, which goes as ‎follows: [the Ashkenazi versions is slightly, but ‎insignificantly different, Ed.] ‎אין ערוך לך ואין זולתך אפס ‏בלתך ומי דומה לך אין ערוך לך ה' אלוקינו בעולם הזה ואין זולתך מלכנו ‏בעולם הבא אפס בלתך גואלנו לימות המשיח ואין דומה לך מושיענו לתחיית ‏המתים‎ “There is none to be compared to You, and none beside ‎You; there is nothing without You and who is like You? There is ‎none to compare to You O G’d our G’d in this world, there is none ‎beside You; O our King for life in the world to come, there is ‎nothing without You O our Redeemer in the days of the messiah ‎and none is like You our Saviour in the revival of the dead.”‎ ‎

The matter is like this: The Torah is from the Heavens; and when you study Torah, you rise to the Heavens - you rise to God and become united with Him. And He, may He be blessed, is drawn into your brain and your heart and even dwells in your body. For what is the rationale of the Torah that you are analyzing? God gave the Torah, and this rationale is God's knowledge! For why is this and that a commandment? Because God wanted it. Since you have aroused your spirit and revealed some of it and you are exerting it on the Torah and its analysis, your spirit and your brain are clinging to God. And when you understand a thought from the words of the Torah, God's reasoning is now, as it were, found in you - as is discussed in the holy books about this. So when you arouse your will for the Torah and the commandments, this will is not yours. Rather it is He, as it were, that now wills the Torah and the commandments in you. For this is the essence of the Torah and the commandments that God wants, and this will of His is now being revealed in you. So you are feeling the will of God for the Torah and the commandments in you. Is there a greater unification than this? He, may He be blessed - who is higher than all of the worlds, the One with no limit and no end, such that even the angels ask, "Where is the place of His glory" - is united with you and dwelling inside of you! And after this, why should you wonder about the words of the Mishnah (Avot 4:17), "More precious is one hour in repentance and good deeds in this world, than all the life of the world to come?" And is there greater elevation and more of a Garden of Eden than this?!? And this is the enjoyment and the Garden of Eden that you feel at the time that you study Torah and after you study Torah. You will not know it with your physical mind, but your spirit inside will delight and rejoice from this contact with your Father in the Heavens. And you will delight more when you understand a difficult matter than after the study of an easy matter. For since the matter was more difficult and you needed to gather all the abilities of your spirit - and even of your body - in this work, you will have made a greater part of your spirit and strength cling to the Father of souls and the Master of spirits. So you will delight more. But upon an easier matter on which you only expended a little effort, you will have only brought out a smaller part of your spirit to this clinging with the Most High. So this is a lesser delight for the spirit. And if a student delights more after studying an easy matter than a difficult one, it is a sign that his delight is not truly the delight of the Garden of Eden, but rather from the lessening of work; and his delight is from his leisure and his laxness! But truthfully, is there anything easy in the Torah? For example, when you begin to study [Talmud], they taught you [the section], "Two people are grabbing [a garment]," in Bava Metzia, which is easy for a child. But is it truly easy? For how much did the Tosafists and the other commentators - early and late - toil, dig and delve into it! And there is even room for you to make your mark upon it. If you strive and merit, you will still find more there. So in every place and in every topic, you can strive and delve and bring out a larger part of your strength, your spirit and your soul - to have it cling to the Torah and to the Eis Sof who is found in it.

Another way of understanding the verse: ‎ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת ‏כהנים‎. We have a tradition according to which there are three ‎‎“crowns” that can be worn by select people. (Avot 4,17) ‎They are: 1) the crown of the Torah; 2) the crown of the ‎priesthood. 3) the crown of kingship. The only one of these ‎‎“crowns” that can be handed down through inheritance from ‎father to son is the crown of the priesthood. In our verse the ‎concept of holiness through inheritance is expanded to include ‎the entire Jewish people as a whole. G’d assures Moses that as a ‎result of our performing His commandments we have all acquired ‎a hereditary claim to holiness. In Moses’ parting speech to his ‎people, Deuteronomy 32,9, he expands on this theme by saying: ‎כי חלק ה' עמו עקב חבל נחלתו‎, “for the Lord’s portion is His people, ‎Yaakov His own inheritance.” Moses implies that G’d has chosen ‎the Jewish people on account of the holiness transmitted to them ‎by their patriarchs which had become part of their genes. This is ‎the deeper meaning of the expression ‎ממלכת כהנים‎.‎

The Mishnah says (Avot 4:20), "One who learns as a child is compared to what? To ink written on new parchment. And one who learns as an elder is compared to what? To ink written on scraped parchment." And so is it in all matters - whether in the study of simple understanding or whether in Chassidut and self-improvement. For there are many people who know what service and self-improvement are, yearn for it and even force themselves to do it. Nevertheless they spend all of their years coercing and necessarily forcing themselves and are constantly 'hopping between two lines': Such a person will occasionally force himself to work for half an hour or an hour, but then falls right back to being like he was before. And then he forces himself, falls again and forces himself once more. And he spends his years in this way, without making even one step forward. He will not elevate himself from his state, because he spends his choicest abilities and his best years hopping and falling. [But] you are not like this, precious young men! If you begin from your childhood and work on this from your youth, Chasidut will become your flesh and blood. Even if you fall, you will not retreat; and even if you will sometimes stagnate, you will not sink into the swamp. And you will not need to spend all of your time trying not to fall and just rasing yourselves up from the dirt and the mud. Your main work will only be to elevate yourselves. Even your falls and the times of your acting small will be like those of a mountain climber. He too sometimes get tired and occasionally injures his foot. But even then, he does not [truly] fall or go down. He rests and continues to climb; bandages his foot a little and continues the trek. You will always ascend and always reveal the greatness that is within you. And truly, Jewish young man, you are able to bring out inclinations and improvements from inside yourself which you never imagined, and that you yourself will still not understand. For example, you can bring out a positive and strong will that is even stronger than you - to which your entire self will be subjugated, and which you will be forced to follow against your will without any excuses or equivocations. You will feel inside yourself as if the spirit of God that severs mountains and breaks down boulders is suddenly encountering you and lifting you up to this or that service. It will sever all the impediments and break down all the hindrances. God is the Lord and you are His servant, so you are compelled to serve Him.

It is not that we are saying here that it will be impossible for someone who does not begin the work of Chassidut in his youth and does not accustom his spirit to it from his childhood - such that it should rise from the reed mats and shake off the piles of dirt that cover it - to come to it afterwards in any way. God forbid to say such a thing! The gates of Heaven are always open to every Jew, if he girds his loins and is willing to subjugate his abilities to 'work and to carry.' And does the mishnah (Avot 4:20) that says, "And one who learns as an elder is compared to ink written on scraped parchment," lock the gate in front of penitents who want to repent to Torah in their old age, God forbid? The difference however is the amount of work [required]. As the old man who wants to study Torah and to work at Chassidut must work ten times - a hundred times - as much, or even more, than the child that studies early. (Editor's note from the printed edition: In the Eight Chapters of the Rambam, may his memory be blessed, it says that even someone whose nature is inclined towards shortcomings in his learning is also able to reverse them and better them. It is just that he must add work to the work.) And since - on account of our many sins - not every person is able to dedicate himself with all of his abilities even for easy holy work, and all the more so for the heaviest and hardest work; therefore if you do not rise early and sanctify yourselves now in your youth, young men, it is clear and certain that you will not attain it, God forbid. And it is not just your souls that will mourn about you and cry about your destruction, it is also the souls of all Israel - the prophets and the tzaddikim, from beginning to end. And even the Master of spirits and the Father of all souls will, as it were, be saddened by your negligence and angered by your laziness. For the darkening of your souls is a darkening and threat to all of the worlds; and their light is a light to them all. Moreover, we can say that even one who devotes himself completely to the work of Chassidut in his older years - even if he attains it by much hard work - will nevertheless be forever lacking those periods of time that passed before he began his work. This is besides the first chassidim who lived during the days of the Baal Shem Tov and the Rebbe, Rabbi Baruch (of Medzhybuz), etc., may the memory of the tzaddikim and holy people be for a blessing for life in the world to come. As they were holy beyond our comprehension also from before; and they were - more generally - above time and nature. [So] they attained what they attained even though they only began to work at Chassidut in their later years.

And I have said that there is a hint to this in that which is written (Deuteronomy 1:1), “These are the words that Moses addressed to all Israel on the other side of the Jordan – through the desert, in the Aravah facing Suf.” The understanding is that at first he must study Torah, which is called a desert, as it is written (Numbers 21:18), “from the desert (homiletically interpreted as a reference to Torah) to Matanah”. And afterwards, he should recite Shema, as it is written (Mishnah Berakhot 1:1), “From when do we recite Shema at night (arvit)?” And then it will be effective to remind himself and face the end (sof), meaning the end of a person. And that is the meaning of that which is written (Avot 4:22), “And do not let your [evil] impulse assure you that (thought he conjunction can also mean, since) the netherworld is a refuge for you.” The understanding is that you should not let it reassure you that you will be saved on the day of judgement, because you [will claim that you] were not able to subdue your evil impulse, as it is stated (Psalms 37:32), “The evildoer (here understood as the evil impulse, see Kiddushin 30b) watches for the righteous.” About this, it said to him, “Was not the netherworld – meaning death – a refuge for you?” As by reminding yourself of the day of death, you are able to be saved from the evil impulse. However it is certainly not effective without Torah [study first]. And I have been lengthy in this [discussion].

Numbers 23,24. “they are a nation that rises like a ‎lion, leaps up like the king of beasts. It rests not till it has ‎feasted on prey and drunk the blood of the slain.”‎
In the matter of how to serve the Lord optimally, it is an ‎accepted rule that the first stage of becoming a true servant of ‎the Lord involves that the person concerned expects a reward as a ‎form of recognition for his effort. It is simply not to be expected ‎that every person will begin his career as a servant of the Lord by ‎eschewing every kind of reward. When the Mishnah in ‎‎Avot 1,3 teaches not to serve the Lord on condition of ‎receiving a reward, it does not address “beginners.” Proof that ‎this is the accepted norm is found in Pessachim 50 where ‎the Talmud teaches that if we perform G’d’s commandments, ‎even while also having ulterior motives, in due course we will do ‎so without having ulterior motives. [This is part of the ‎promise that the reward of performing a commandment brings in ‎its wake performance of another commandment, (Avot 4,1) i.e. ‎the same commandment, but on a higher level. Ed.] ‎When one has attained this level of serving the Lord, one will also ‎become the vehicle through which the “fallen” sparks, i.e. ‎spiritual beings or human beings who have “fallen” from their ‎erstwhile high moral/ethical level may be restored to grace ‎through contact with such servants of the Lord. This has been ‎spelled out in the writings of the Ari z’al.
As long as one serves the Lord expecting to be rewarded for ‎this, the human being doing so is considered as on the level of a ‎female, as by definition all females, i.e. their functions, are viewed ‎primarily as recipients, vessels to be filled. Once having attained ‎the level of serving the Lord without any expectation of reward, ‎one has joined the ranks of the males. Not only does such a ‎person not depend on “receiving,” but he is able to become a ‎dispenser of satisfaction and pleasure even to the Creator. This is ‎the true meaning of a statement in the Zohar III,7 that the ‎Jewish people provide G’d with His sustenance, ‎פרנסה‎.‎
This is also what Bileam had in mind when he said: ‎הן עם כלביא ‏יקום‎, “this is a nation that arises like a lioness,” but develops to ‎the stature of being ‎כארי יתנשא‎, “it elevates itself to become ‎comparable to a mature male lion.” [According to our ‎author Rashi commenting on that verse interprets it as ‎sequential, i.e. beginning to serve the Lord while expecting a ‎reward, progressing to serve Him without such expectations. I ‎have not been able to find this Rashi. Ed.]‎

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.

Novel Understandings of Aggadah for Weddings or a Channukat HaBayit
“Male and female He created them; […] and He called them, Man (Adam)” (Genesis 5:2): We must understand the matter of being called a name – of her first also being called Adam, but afterwards He called her “woman (eeshah), for from man (eesh), was she taken” (Genesis 2:23); and afterwards [Adam] called her, Chava (Genesis 3:20). [This can be understood] according to that which is written (Deuteronomy 22:8), “When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, etc.” For it must be understood why He mentioned specifically a new house, since this law applies even to an old house and in any situation in which one needs to remove a hazard from his home. And [we must] also [understand] that which is written, “if the faller should fall from it” – as Rashi had to stretch. And it appears to me [that it can be explained] according to that which was written in Noam Meggadim on the verse, “Wealth and riches are in his house [and his charity will last forever]” (Psalms 112:3), and by way of further explanation according to that which is written (Avot 4:1), “Who is wealthy? One who is happy with his portion.” I mean to say that the way of most people is to become sad about expenses and happy about that which remains to them. But it is just the opposite! For what remains to him is not his, as it was written about Moonbaz (Bava Batra 11a), “My ancestors stored up [money] in a place where the hand can reach (such that it is not assured).” But [as opposed to them,] he was happy with what he spent on charity and for good deeds, as this is truly one’s portion. And this is the meaning of that which is written, “Wealth and riches are in his house” – meaning to say, and he cannot be certain that there are his – however the charity that he has done is what will last him forever.

In explaining this verse we must, of course, assume that ‎Moses told the people what G’d had asked him to tell them. The ‎Torah took it for granted that the reader will understand this. ‎The Torah, however, saw fit to also record some explanatory ‎remarks that Moses made when conveying the law of the sanctity ‎of the firstborn to them. Let us now refer to another verse in our ‎portion (Exodus 3,13) ‎ויאמר משה אל האלוקים הנה אנכי בא וגו'‏‎, ‎‎“Moses said to G’d, here when I come to the Children of Israel, ‎etc., (who shall I say has sent me?)” to which G’d replied ‎אהיה אשר ‏אהיה‎, adding further: ‎ה' אלוקי אבותיכם שלחני אליכם‎. Surely this ‎would be confusing for the Israelites who were aware that the G’d ‎Who had communicated with the patriarchs was known as ‎הויה‎ ‎and not as ‎אהיה‎. It appears that the best way to resolve this ‎‎"confusion" is by reminding the reader that there are two types ‎of redemption. One type of redemption was accompanied by the ‎Israelites receiving the Torah and the good deeds commanded ‎therein, as a result of which the people had become entitled to be ‎redeemed. At that time miracles, i.e. extra terrestrial means, ‎גבורות‎, were needed to bring about their redemption. When Moses ‎came to Egypt to orchestrate the redemption, the Israelites were ‎very far from such a spiritual level, so that G’d had to resort to ‎other means, known as ‎גבורות, חוזק יד, זרועה נטויה‎, “heroic deeds, ‎heavy hand, outstretched arm,” in order to accomplish His ‎objective. G’d did not consider the merits that the Jewish people ‎lacked at that time, but He gave them an “advance” on the merits ‎they would acquire as a result of accepting the Torah at Mount ‎Sinai 49 days after the Exodus.‎
When Moses had enquired what merits the Jews possessed at ‎the time so that they could be entitled to redemption, G’d ‎explained to Moses that they would acquire these merits in the ‎near future, hence He described Himself as the G’d known as: ‎אהיה‎, i.e. looking toward the future. At this time only G’d can ‎foretell the future, i.e. that this people will accept the Torah at ‎Mount Sinai, the spot that Moses was standing on, and they ‎would accept it enthusiastically. G’d assured Moses that what ‎seemed now like a far off future, would shortly be transformed ‎into a present. There had been a time in the past however, when ‎He had been very much the G’d of the present, i.e. during the ‎lives of the patriarchs. It was because of their past, i.e. their roots, ‎that He was able now to extend credit to them so that He could ‎redeem them before they had really deserved it. The word ‎חזק‎, ‎although popularly translated as “strong,” is defined as the ability ‎to control powerful urges and not to allow oneself to become ‎overwhelmed by them. In the parlance of the Mishnah in ‎‎Avot 4,1 ‎איזהו גבור הכובש את יצרו‎, “who is a true hero? He ‎who controls his biological urges.” When we describe G’d in our ‎prayers as a ‎גואל חזק‎ as a powerful Redeemer, we refer to His ‎suppressing His urges, overcoming His natural reactions by doing ‎something that according to the “Book,” should not be done at ‎that time. Doing something that was supposed to be done does ‎not require ”heroism,” so that anything that involved miracles, ‎supernatural input, must by definition be an expression of ‎‎“heroism” i.e. ‎חוזק יד‎. The concept of ‎בעל כרחו‎, against one’s will, ‎i.e. under “duress,” when applied to G’d is called ‎בעל כרחו‎. ‎Whenever G’d has redeemed us in the past, He had done so ‎against His will (attribute of Justice) and He has had to invoke the ‎attribute of Mercy after the attribute of Justice had opposed His ‎plan of action. When we described Him as redeeming us ‎למען שמו‎, ‎‎“for the sake of His name,” this means that only because of His ‎invoking the attribute of Mercy was G’d able to redeem the Jewish ‎people.‎