Translation:Likutei Moharan/48

by Nachman of Breslov

“Al Asher Me’altem (This Is Because You Broke Faith) with Me among the Israelite people, at the Waters of Merivah (Conflict) at Kadesh in the wilderness of Tzin…. You will therefore view the land from a distance, but you will not enter it.” (Deuteronomy 32:51-52)

[Judgment and Compassion]

T ZeYReY is an aspect of “And [God] YiYTZeR (formed)” (Genesis 2:7) — a formation for good, a formation for bad; a formation for reward, a formation for punishment — corresponding to judgment and compassion.

This is also the aspect of Binah, which is where the fetus is formed, as is written (Proverbs 2:3), “Im (If) you call to Binah.” And there are two aspects there: lovingkindness and judgment. For judgment is aroused from there (Zohar III, 10b).

And [Binah] is an aspect of SuKkah, as is written (Psalms 139:13), “You SuKeini (covered me) in my mother’s womb.” It also corresponds to the power of prayer — i.e., we pray energetically, [as in,] “All my bones will say” (ibid. 35:10). And this is the aspect of SuKkah, as is written (Job 10:11), “You SoKhekheini (shielded me) in bones and sinews.” This is because <the KoaCh (energy)> a person puts into the letters <of prayer> is the Khaf Chet (twenty-eight) letters of the Act of Creation with which the world was created. And the Ten Sayings by which the world was created (Avot 5:1) receive koach from these khaf chet letters.

Now, the words that a person recites energetically are themselves the words of the Holy One. This is the aspect of “I put My words in your mouth <and with the shade of My hand I covered you>” (Isaiah 51:16). <“I put My words in your mouth,”> for they are the very words of God. And they are “His koach (powerful) works” (Psalms 111:6).

And the Sayings by which the world was created are an aspect of lovingkindness, as is written (Psalms 89:3), “For I said: The world is built on lovingkindness.” And lovingkindness is an aspect of sukkah, an aspect of embracing. This is: “I put My words in your mouth,” then “and with the shade of My hand I covered you” — this being the aspect of sukkah, which corresponds to the shade of the hand, the right hand’s embrace (Zohar III, 214b).

However, those words <which contain no holiness> cause an arousal of <another sukkah, an aspect of> a sukkah of idolatry. This is the sukkah of <the nations,> as is written (Psalms 144:11), “whose mouth speaks lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood” — the embrace of the Other Side.

This is the meaning of “conceal them in a sukkah from quarrelsome tongues” (Psalms 31:21). For when the tongues of the idolators become overpowering, God forbid, then the Shekhinah (Divine Presence) quarrels with the Holy One. As is written in the Tikkuney Zohar (#21, p.45b): “Hear, O mountain, the quarrel <with God>” (Micah 6:2) — She riv (quarrels) for the sake of Her children in exile. But in the Land of Israel She is rabi (master), because the letters RIV are turned into RaBI.

And, in essence, the Land of Israel is the result of “His koach works,” as in, “He informed his people of His powerful works, to give them the heritage of the nations.” But when this koach — the aspect of sukkah — is blemished, then the nations of the world gain power. The right hand of falsehood becomes overpowering, and rabi is turned into riv. Then, She quarrels for the sake of Her children, who have been chased away from their Father’s table and have been expelled from their land.

[Preternatural Aid]

Because of this, sukkah — i.e., energetic prayer — is a preternatural aid for having children. This is why Sukkot is immediately followed by Shemini ATZeReT; for the Female OTZeReT (retains) and absorbs the drop so that She does not miscarry.

And this is the aspect of “You sukeini (sheltered me) in my mother’s womb” — i.e., the aspect of sukkah is turned into an aspect of pregnancy. Because of this, Chanah prayed “upward to God” (1 Samuel 1:10). “Al <YHVH>,” in that she is an aspect of sukkah.

{“Behold, children are the heritage from God; the fruit of the womb, a reward” (Psalms 127:3).} The Land of Israel, too, is a preternatural aid for having children, as our Sages taught: “Go forth from your native land” (Genesis 12:1) — and there, you will merit children (Rosh HaShanah 16b). For “children are the heritage from God.” And this is because “the fruit of the womb, a reward” is the reward for sukkah, corresponding to “You sukeini in my mother’s womb.”

For, in essence, the Land of Israel is the result of “His koach works,” as in, “His koach works, to give them the heritage [of the nations].” And this koach is an aspect of sukkah, “All my bones will say”; an aspect of “You sokhekheini of bones and sinews”; and of “I put My words in your mouth and with the shade of My hand I covered you.”

[Walk Modestly]

{“Mortal! He told you what is good and what God demands of you; nothing more than to act justly, love chesed (kindness), and walk modestly with God your Lord” (Micah 6:8).} This is:

Mortal! He told you what is good and what God demands of you; nothing more than to act justly — This is the judgment, an aspect of “His left hand was under my head” (Song of Songs 2:6).

love CheSeD — This corresponds to the inner ChaSaDim (benevolences).

and walk modestly — This corresponds to makifim (envelopments), the aspect of sukkah.

For the sukkah’s walls must be two of full size — this being Netzach and Hod — and a third of at least a handbreadth — corresponding to Yesod. And this is the aspect of walk modestly. “Modestly” is Yesod, “reveal a handbreadth and conceal a handbreadth” (Nedarim 20b). And “walk” corresponds to Netzach and Hod.

with God your Lord — This corresponds to the Land of Israel. For whoever lives in the Land of Israel is like one who has a God (Ketuvot 110b). This is because the Land of Israel is made from the “His koach works,” as mentioned above.

[Pure Tongue]

{“Then I will turn all peoples to a pure tongue, that they may all call in the name of God and serve Him with one accord” (Zephaniah 3:9).} But in the future, the nations of the world will be tested through the mitzvah of sukkah (Avodah Zarah 3a). <The verse> “Then I will turn all peoples to a pure saphah (tongue)” will then be <fulfilled>. SaPhaH is an acrostic for Sachar Pri Habaten (“the fruit of the womb, a reward”) —i.e., an aspect of sukkah, as explained.

Also then the “quarrelsome tongues” <will> revert, and the aspect of riv will no longer exist, as mentioned. There will be one tongue, to “serve Him with one accord.” And so then truth will gain power, as is written (Proverbs 12:19), “A truthful tongue abides forever.” In other words, even the idolators will return to “serve Him with one accord.”

{“If you do good, se’eit (there is uplift). But if you do not do good, lapetach chatat roveitz (sin crouches at the door)” (Genesis 4:7).} This is, “If you do good, Se’EiT” — an acrostic for Sephat Emet Tikon (“a truthful tongue abides”). “But if you do not do good, Lapetach Chatat Roveitz” — an acrostic for RaCheL, backwards. [Backwards indicates that it is] with face turned aside, an aspect of quarrel. She quarrels about the exile, because the nations of the world — “quarrelsome tongues,” “whose mouth speaks lies” — gain power.

[Waters of Merivah, Conflict]

And this is the explanation [of the opening verse]: {“This is because you broke faith with Me among the Israelite people, at the Waters of Merivah (Conflict) at Kadesh in the wilderness of Tzin… You will therefore view the land from a distance, but you will not enter it.”}

Waters of MeRiVah, Conflict — This corresponds to the waters of the chasadim, an aspect of sukkah, which spares one MeRiV (from quarrelsome) tongues, as is written, “conceal them in a sukkah from quarrelsome tongues.”

Kadesh — Onkelos renders this as ReKeM, which suggests RiKeiM (shaped) and TZiYeR (formed), an aspect of TZeYReY, as explained. From this, the fetus is formed.

the wilderness of TZIN — This suggests TZINei (palms) of the Iron Mount, which suggests TaMaRim (date-palms), which suggests TeMuRah (exchange) and inversion.

The explanation is: The Holy One instructed them to speak to the rock, so that, as Rashi explains, the Israelites would draw an inference from minor-to-major regarding reward and punishment. But they <blemished> the spoken word and, God forbid, caused the right hand of falsehood to become overpowering, as in, “<whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood>.”

This is the explanation: tzin suggests exchange — the exchange of holiness, the exchange of the tzeyrey, the exchange of the sukkah of holiness, a sukkah of the evil forces is made, God forbid. Because of this, their punishment was:

You will therefore view the land from a distance, but you will not enter it — For the Land of Israel is from “His koach works.”