Righteous and Wicked
The Righteous Must Buy the Wicked
Teruma [Donation]
38) “Raise a donation for Me from every man,” from those who are called “men,” who have overcome their inclination. “Whose heart moves him,” meaning whom the Creator desires, as it is written, “To You my heart said.” “The rock of my heart.” “And a good heart.” “And heart was merry.” All were said about the Creator, meaning the Creator’s heart, His will. Here, too, “Whose heart moves him” refers to the heart of the Creator. “From him shall you raise My donation,” for there the Creator is present, for He is in it, and nowhere else.
39) How do we know that the Creator desires it and places His abode in it? When we see that a person wishes to chase and to exert after the Creator with his heart, his soul, and his will, we know for certain that Divinity is there. At that time, we must buy that person for the full price, bond with him, and learn from him. The first ones said about it, “And buy yourself a friend.” One must buy him for the full price to be rewarded with the Divinity that is in him. Thus far one must chase a righteous man and buy him.
40) Just so, that righteous must chase after the wicked and buy him for the full price, to remove the filth from him and subdue the Sitra Achra, and make it, for it is considered for him as though he has created it. This is a praise by which the glory of the Creator rises more than on any other praise. Also, that rising is advantageous to all others because it causes the subjugation of the Sitra Achra and the elevation of the glory of the Creator. It is written about that in Aaron, “and he turned many back from iniquity,” and it is written, “My covenant was with him.”
41) Anyone who holds the hand of the wicked and implores him to leave the bad way rises by three ascensions that no other man has risen by before: he causes the subjugation of the Sitra Achra, causes the Creator Himself to rise, and causes the entire world to be sustained in its existence above and below. It is written about that person, “My covenant with him was life and peace.” He is rewarded with seeing children to children, and is rewarded with this world and with the next world. All the litigants will not be able to sentence him in this world and in the next world; he enters the twelve gates in the firmament and there is no one to protest against him.
A Righteous Who Suffers and a Wicked Who Rejoices
Mishpatim [Ordinances]
438) A righteous is judged by the good inclination. An evil one is judged by the evil inclination. An intermediate, both judge him. One who is from the tree of life, which extends from ZA, is not judged at all, for he has no evil inclination. He is a complete righteous. This is, “A righteous who is happy.” And there is no good except the Torah, as it is written, “For I give you good doctrine; do not forsake My teaching.” And a righteous who is suffering is from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, Malchut. He is called “righteous” because he is suffering, which is the evil inclination. But because the good inclination governs him, he is called “A righteous who is suffering,” for he suffers under its authority.
439) A wicked who is happy. The Torah is called “good.” He is called “evil” because he rose to being a Rosh in his evil inclination, and the good is under his dominion, as a slave under his master. And even though a wicked is crowning the righteous, and a complete righteous can punish him, it is not good to punish the righteous, too. This is so because since that good one is under the feet of the wicked, he must not be punished, for perhaps he will repent and overcome his inclination, and the evil inclination will be dust under his feet.
Illnesses of the Righteous
Pinhas
110) The people of the world are organs with one another. When the Creator wishes to give healing to the world, He strikes a righteous one among them with diseases and afflictions, and for him, He gives healing to all. How do we know it? It is written, “And he was wounded because of our transgressions, oppressed because of our iniquities ... and by his bruising we are healed.” “His bruising” means bloodletting, as one lets out blood from an arm, for by that bruise we are healed; it is healing for us, to all the organs of the body.
111) He never strikes the righteous, except to heal a generation and to atone for their iniquities, for it is the most convenient for the Sitra Achra when the Din [judgment] rules over the righteous, for then he does not mind the world and does not notice them for all his delight from ruling over the righteous. And that righteous, who is tormented for the generation, is rewarded with high governance in this world and in the next world. And if there is a righteous who is happy, it is because the Creator is not concerned with atoning for the world.
112) If the two righteous—the one who is righteous and suffers, and the other who is righteous and happy—were not at the same time, it would be fine. This is because a righteous is happy because the Creator is not mindful of atoning for the world, and a righteous is suffering because the Creator is mindful of atoning for the world. However, there are two righteous at the same time, one with diseases and afflictions and the other with all the abundance in the world.
However, when one or two righteous are enough to atone for the generation, the Creator does not need to strike all of them, just as it is enough to let out blood from one arm to heal all the organs in the body. Here, too, one righteous is enough.
113) And if the disease has attacked all the organs, blood must be let out from both arms. Thus, if harsh iniquities have multiplied in the world, all the righteous are stricken to give healing to the entire generation. But when they are not so many, only one righteous is stricken and the rest of the righteous are at peace, since the world does not need for all of them to be stricken. And if the people are healed, the righteous are healed, as well.
Sometimes the righteous are afflicted all the days of their lives, to protect the generation when the iniquities are very harsh. When the righteous die, everything is healed and atoned.
The King’s Loved One
Teruma [Donation]
86) Happy is the holy nation whose Master seeks them and calls upon them to bring them near Him.
87) At that time, the holy nation must come together and go to the assembly house, and all who are early conjoin with Divinity in a single bonding. The first one at the assembly house is happy, for he stands at the degree of righteous toward Divinity, as it is written, “And those who seek Me shall find Me.” He rises to a high degree. We learned that when the Creator comes to the assembly house and does not find ten who are present there, He immediately becomes angry. And you say that that one who was early bonds with Divinity and is at the degree of righteous?
88) It is like a king who invited all the town’s people to be with him on a certain day at a certain time. While the town’s people were preparing themselves, there was one who arrived early at that place. In the meantime, the king came there and found that man who was early. The king told him, “Mr. So-and-so, where are the town’s people?” He replied to him, “My lord, I was early; they are coming after me at the request of the king.” Then the king was pleased and he sat there with him and spoke to him, and he became the king’s loved one. In the meantime, the rest of the people came and the king was pleased with them and sent them in peace. But if the town’s people had not come, and that one did not come early to speak before the king and to show for them, and say that they are all coming, the king would have been angry at once.
89) Here, too, since one came early and was present at the assembly house, and Divinity came and found him, it is considered as though they are all there, for he is waiting for them there. Divinity promptly bonds with him and they sit in bonding and He comes to know him, and He places him at the degree of a righteous.
But if none had come and was there, it is written, “Why have I come and there was no one?” It does not say, “And there was not ten,” but “And there was no one,” meaning one person to bond with Me and to be with Me, as it is written, “A man of God,” which means being at the degree of a righteous.