Letter No. 11
To the one who is tied to my heart, may his candle burn:
I received your words, and concerning the traveling of ... I can inform you that God willing, I will bring him together with me to Jerusalem. I think I will issue a visa to Beirut for him, and from there to Jerusalem on my permit, for I have no other way at the moment. I have already informed this to my family in a letter.
...concerning the words of Torah you ask of me, you should have written what it is you’re lacking without them, for you should accept everything with love. Indeed, so is the path of truth, but you should feel the love, and it is felt only in a place of deficiency. This is the meaning of, “He who shares the suffering of the public is rewarded with seeing the comfort of the public,” and “To the extent that a person allots, he is allotted.”
You have often heard that all the good of the awakening from below concerns only our learning how to feel the deficiency, as it is set before us by the Creator. This is the meaning of “A prayer makes half,” because as long as one does not feel half the deficiency—the part that was cut off from the whole, and the part does not feel as it should—one is incapable of complete Dvekut [adhesion]. It is so because this will not be considered advantageous for him, and one does not keep or sustain a needless thing.
Our sages told us that there is a remedy for this feeling by the power of the prayer. When one is persistent in praying and craving to cleave unto Him perpetually, the prayer can do half, meaning that he will recognize that it is half. When the sparks multiply and become absorbed in the organs, he will certainly be rewarded with complete salvation and the part will cling to the whole forever.
This is the meaning of “There is only a hairsbreadth between the upper and lower waters,” as our sages said, “A thread [or hair] was tied to him,” as in “Mountains that hang on a thread.” This thread needs a filling, and this is the reason for the division of the lower waters from the upper ones.
This is the meaning of the words, “The head of its mouth was inside of it.” That is, as long as the blocked was not opened, meaning the mouth in the head [Peh de Rosh], it is fed through its navel [Tabur], and the blocked must be open. It turns out that “The head of its mouth was inside of it; it will be a lip around his mouth,” means he will not settle for little because “If we permit our share, who will permit the share of the altar”? This is why he will feel the heaviness in the head.
That feeling will circle for him a lip for the mouth, since he will pour out his heart to the Creator extensively, to purify the lower lip. This is the meaning of the verse, “It will be a lip around his mouth, a weaving,” meaning that the sparks of craving gather side by side and unite together “like the opening of a coat.”
In other words, the reasons that cause the sensation of pain and pouring out of the heart will not be cancelled whatsoever, but will gather together and become a mouth, as our sages said, “His sins became to him as merits.” It follows that he has two mouths, for “around” in Aramaic means Sehor, Sehor [circling, as well as merchandise].
Thus, the face is a complete Partzuf, and the Achoraim is a complete Partzuf. If he is rewarded with it, he acquires “the opening of a coat” and then “that man is guaranteed that he will not be torn because his name is Yinon for all eternity.” Observe carefully and find, for this is the meaning of “They shall inherit doubly in their land.”
There is great depth in my words, and I haven’t the strength to interpret them now. But if you understand my words you will certainly be rewarded with coming and going without permission. As the portion ends, “and its sound is heard when he enters the holy place and when he goes out,” may it be so.
On the whole, you do not understand the merit of attaining the Torah. If you did, you would certainly devote yourself to it and you would be rewarded with it. You see the verse, “A candle is a commandment; the Torah is light.” If you have a house full of candles but no light, the candles will be taking up room in vain. The word Torah comes from the word Horaah [instruction] and from the words Mar’eh and Re’iah [“vision” and “sight” respectively], meaning complete recognition that leaves no thread behind it. May the Creator make you understand my words henceforth ... ...
I will also ask that you make great efforts in love of friends, to devise tactics that can increase the love among the friends and revoke the lust for bodily matters from among you, as this is what casts hate, and between those who give contentment to their Maker there shall be no hatred. Rather, there are much compassion and love between them.
I ask that each will show his letter to his friends because the matters are said from one to another, and there is one law for you in enslaving the body and sanctifying the soul. But do not change, God forbid, as do those with bodies. You should henceforth heed my words, for it is your life, and the length of your days.
It is not for my own favor that I ask, but what can a fine general do when soldiers change his orders to them?
Yehuda