Its not her; Its you!

“I have heard from my Master ZLH”H, that the Nefesh, Ruach and Neshomeh of Adam {in the Kabbalistic tradition, the Primordial man} got reincarnated in the Seven {lower} Sephirot. The Nefesh {gets incarnated as} are ones servants and animals; and if he defiles his Nefesh, meaning action, he causes himself pain from his servants and animals. And the Speaking Ruach is speech; and if he defiled {his speech} with gossip and the like, this speech {these words} become the people who cause him grief and speak {bad} about him.
And it is known, that Speech is {also} known as Sex; and this is what the Sages, of blessed memory, {Kesubes 13a referring to a woman having sex, said} “they saw her speaking vechulu {Mei Medaberes, Lihsneh Maalyeh nokat}” so that his wife is {his} Ruach, {and as with those effected by his Nefesh} so too “{if} he merits, she {his wife} becomes of help; and if not, she {becomes} against him “ {Yevomes 63a}.
The Neshome resides in the mind, {and} it is from this {the Neshomeh} that the drop of semen {gets created} which are his children. And if one defiles within thought of mind {Neshomeh}, he causes himself suffering from his children.
And from all the Sephiros {one} could raise {his parts of his} Nefesh, Ruach and Neshomeh. Not so in the Seventh Sphere {Sephira}, which is {the Sephira of} Malchus, and from there {Malchus} feed the Husk of Noga; {from there} it is hard for one to raise The Nefesh, Ruach and Neshomeh belonging to him.
The principle that we learn {from the preceding schmooze is} that people who hate one, have come about through the defilement of his {own} speech. Therefore, one is obligated to raise and mend them through words of prayer, i.e. to pray for them to come back and to be mended, as is stated in the Talmud Beroches {10a} {concerning a conversation} of Rebbe Meir and his wife Beruryeh “may Sin come to an end” and not “may the sinners come to an end.”
And if one does not do like this {pray for the spiritual wellbeing of the people who hate him}, but pushes them away, {he this is what causes them to} become more material and coarse and they also hate him more. And this what our Sages OBM {Ber. Shom} said {referring to spiritually punishing people who make one suffer} “also punishment TO the Zaddik is not good” for it is the Ruach of the Zaddik himself that generates the people who hate him. And one needs to restore and to raise them in his prayers. And through prayer, the thing {judgment} gets sweetened in its root, and he takes out {from his enemies} his Ruach and what {ever evil} is left within them disintegrates by itself vechulu. And this is the thing {inyon} of Moses our Master, peace upon him, who was a Sheppard of sheep and then he gave them the Torah and they {the former sheep} became his disciples vechulu and the words of the wise are charm”.
Toldos, Lech Lecho, 15a
So the process of A”K takes place within each and every one of us, as with all other Lurian Kabbalistic symbols- according to the Besht.
The Besht understand this process to work as follows; whatever man defiles needs mending. The opportunity to mend, repair and fix one’s own soul- comes up every time anything emotion-provoking comes up in our lives.
If one experiences hate from another- its opportunity to face reality. Now I can do the usual “how dare he” “how could he” “why me” routine, which leads nowhere but to more hate. Or can take advantage of this opportunity to solve matters far greater than the petty hate.
The Besht teaches us that everything, Hate included, must be generated in a higher world in order to show face here, in our lives. So, if someone hates me, spends his time trying to hurt me. Where does this hate come from? The clue to the answer to this question resides in another question: why is it directed against me?
That hate, which exists in our enemies, is us. It is parts of divine energy that we have impurified. Being of an impure nature they find their way to impure people, the kind that regularly spends time, money and energy on hating. When our fallen clusters of souls enter this man, we now have the whole war machine in action against us.
So, the Besht cautions us against {rightfully} hating back- as it will accomplish nothing but make the enemy stronger and his hate greater.
Much stronger than the “turn the other cheek” teaching- the Besht advises us to completely forget about the hate-monger, as he isn’t the problem, and start fixing this problem by mending our soul- the particular part of it that has been afflicted. In our case, it is most certainly our Ruach that needs our attention. So we start by saying lots of good words. Speech comes from our Ruach, the bad words defile her- the good ones heal.
But in order to mend and heal these particular parts of our soul- we must address them. They are within our enemy. So we have no choice, we have to pray for our enemies until we get our Ruach particles back from them.
After the transformation, when the hate stops, we can rest assured that all that power of hate will now be a part of our divine flow and work with us instead of against us.
Later Chassidim {who cares about who} understood the Besht to be saying that once the tikkun is done- these guys die. This is based on a misunderstanding of “v’hanishor bohem koloh”. This is clearly wrong and as anti-Beshtian it could ever get. The point isn’t for anyone to die. The whole point is that in order to heal myself, I must pray for my enemy and heal him too.
So the next time “honey” starts up- don’t let your ego get activated and get the better of you. Take it personal… don’t blame. Pray and pray. Transformation is sure to follow- “honey” will become sweet once again.

Does a Zaddik sin?

Just ask any kid in Williamsburg, he will tell you; a tzaddik is someone who does everything right, has only righteous thoughts. Read any book on any tzaddik and you will learn that they knew Shas by age 3, fully developed by age 8- and most importantly- just consult the Alter Rebbeh- a tzaddik has no desire but to do what’s right. The world of a tzaddik is an exclusive one, including only those recognized by all to do only right and the already departed {whose “wrong” could easily be forgotten, re-arranged and manipulated}.
With such indoctrination it is no wonder that we have not produced another baal shem tov or anything close in 300 years {while by the natural order of evolution we should have had many bigger than the Besht by now}. By the time one even dreams of expanding beyond convention, one already “know” that he is not a Zaddik and will never be one.
In the following Torah of the Besht we get a glimpse into the inner making of a Zaddik. It is one of extreme good and extreme evil. For whatever is present within Bilaam {Moses’ opposite} is also present in Moses {see Degel, Ki Tisa and Pri ha’aretz, Matoys}. The great tzaddikim and sinners have everything in common- only the zaddik uses the bad to reject it and inch closer to the good while Bilaam uses the good for the achievment of evil.

“and so I have heard from my Master ZLH”H, {who explained the verse} “And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see” etc. {“God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here I am”}, for the Shechina consists of all the worlds the inanimate {domem}; the vegetative {tzomeach}; the animal {chai}; and the speaking {medaber}, and all creations of the world are good or bad, and {therefore} it was a surprise to Moses {Moyshe Rabeinu} A”H that the complete union is the Shechina how is it that it contains two opposites in one dimension good and bad and this is the union.
And so too the name of Moses contains everything, good and bad. And this is what it says “Moses your Master is a gambler {Kuvyustus- see Tosfos Becoyres 5a and Chulin 91b} vechulu and how can the union {possibly} come through him vechulu. But in truth all works out well, for the bad is a stool for the good as {in the concept of} “and Pharaoh brought closer” {the Beshtian interpertation of “hikriv” in place of the traditional “came closer”} vechulu. Or when one sees the deeds of the wicked and one {knows that one} is not in that category, one experiences pleasure, and the advantage of the good over bad, and this pleasure spreads throughout all worlds {and this is all caused} by the bad. And the bad nearly has an elevation through this, but once it goes above {this level} the operators of evil are dispersed and the words of the wise are charm”

Toldos, Lech Lecho, 15a

“for Moses was afraid that perhaps he is the Husk {klipeh} until god said “Moses, Moses” {only} then he said “here I am”… for when {God} said “Moses” the first time he did not say “here I am” for it was wondrous to him how the union is achieved. For when the lowest level revealed itself in the {burning} bush, all opened {revealed itself} {from} the upper sources {all the way} down. {and Moses couldn’t understand} why the bush does not get consumed, that the bad symbolized by the Bush- does not get consumed and destroyed {by the divine symbolized by the fire}- until he {God} told him a second time “Moses” that this union is {to be} done by him {Moses} and the connection and tying {together of} the lowest level to the highest vechulu {only} then {did} he say “here I am”- and the words of the wise charm for I have {been} brief”

Toldos, BPY, 126c
Even after enlightenment, Moses, the Zaddik, still encompasses the bad. Until Moshiach’s coming, when all will achieve enlightenment, the Zaddik is doomed to the lowest of the low in order to reach the highest of states. It is only through constant collision with the bad; through falling into evil, that the Zaddik continuously defines and purifies the good.
Here are the words of the Besht himself:

“at times, the holy soul descends from a high and lofty place to the Husk, and the Husks are happy with the happiness of the souls that descended amongst them. And this is {the meaning of the verse} “those who descend unto the sea” talking about the soul that has descended into the sea of the Husk KN”L. however, the Husks do not know that {the continuation of the above verse} “their work is in the great sea” meaning that these holy souls are active {and at work} while they descend into the great sea {as} they bring up souls from the Husk. And this is the mystery of “he bringeth down to the Sheol, and bringeth up” {I Samuel 2:6} meaning that brings the soul down to Sheol, and he brings up {other souls} when they achieve their work… the soul that is not from such a straight place falls on it a fear and trembling when god lowers her to the Husks, not so a soul which is from a high and lofty place- fear shall not rise on her head. And all this pertains to her decent, but when she rises, with the mystery of “decent is for the purpose of ascent” in the mystery of the “returning light”, she raises many sparks in the mystery of “a great nation came out of Egypt”…for they {the Zaddikim} want to rise to a place as high as the sky, and BECAUSE of this they decent to the abyss in the Husk…and this is the mystery of “the soles of Moshiach” that as these souls will be done collecting these souls {stuck} in the soles of that impurity, {the soles} which are the end of that impure body {the Husk}, then Moshiach will come…

Besht’s commentary to Psalm 107, this concept spans across the whole commentary; the need to go to the lowest in order to elevate all those energies stuck in the Husk, once the Husk empties of divine sparks- it remains lifeless, without a divine soul to sustain it, and the redemption of the universe is achieved.
So, as it turns out, the Zaddik, according to the Besht, is the one who fearlessly explores the abyss as he is continuously aware that the husk is just an illusion packed with trapped divine energies. One must descend into the belly of the beast to bring these treasures back to the divine.
How this exodus and transformation happens, and what techniques one should employ to rise again- is discussed at length by the Besht in many other places- we have already touched on some of them. This is not its place, but in a nut shell, the Tzaddik gets so familiar with darkness that he knows its true essence, divine energies in disarray.
{let me just once more emphasize on our need to know the darkness within us, otherwise we may never learn its true essence and break on through to the other side of light}
What I have learned here is that the Tzaddik by definition contains the greatest darkness and it is through this darkness that he may rise to “the heights of the sky”!

More Magic

“…and this is what I have heard from my master ZLH”H, in the Tikkun of prayer {one} needs {to go through the rituals of} Hachnoeh {submission}, Havdoleh {separation} and Hamtokeh {sweetening}”

Toldos, Noach, 14 b
The basic monumental Beshtian concept, that everything is god, and therefore good- could easily be misinterpreted as “all’s good.” While a statement as such may not be false, it is very far from our perception of reality.
We, unfortunately, do not experience an all good existence. There is always some disturbance, some unforeseen event that springs out of no-where. When all finally does temporarily go well, we are consumed by plans of the future and failures of the past.
Now, of course, we can choose to remain shallow and go through life blaming all the many details. For those there is no cure {at least I, do not have time to write them} as their problems are numbered in the millions, every problem solved brings two new ones in its wake.
The Besht offers us an alternative by explaining that all of our problems are really one. Actually physical problems, fear, darkness, depressing thoughts and threats are all divine energies out of place. Within their surface bad one could discover their divine essence {which, again, is all good}, one only needs to connect to their real essence.
In other words, if we only “defragment” {so to speak} our divine energies and allow them to function and flow freely- all of our problems will cease, as the divine energy will no longer function as chaos. After re-organizing and returning all to their proper place, they will be part of the revealed good divine flow. What follows is material success and happiness {for starters}.
So how do we transform these chaotic forces and energies in our lives to divine good?
The chance to do so actually comes to us. Not only we, troubled and overwhelmed, are interested in this restoration. The divine energies, represented as a whole as the Shechina, currently in exiled to chaos within us- continuously enter our mind in the form of thoughts, more specifically as evil or foreign thoughts- waiting for us to elevoate them as we ease our way out of trouble. It is for this reason they prefer {if we can think of them as sef-willed cells} to come into our mind during the holiest of times, namely during study and prayer {as they and us have a better chance of getting our attention during times we unite to the divine}.
For example: man finally stands before god about to start prayer, a completely “foreign” thought arises- a seductive sexy woman seems to occupy his mind.
{now, again, one could choose to indulge in it –which would only intensify its vitality within his soul, it will now be even deeper rooted in ones sub-concisous, bringing along with it all its physical manifestation- or, one could just ignore it, repress it or enter denial- this will provide temporary relief- but no cure}
Step number 1:
Hachnoeh, our submission to the fact that we don’t run this planet. Even our thoughts are not ours. They are all divine. Our problem, in this case an evil thought, is not ours. As we are nothing. Only the divine is.

Step number 2:
Hav’doleh, separation or sifting through the thought. What is it about that seductive woman that appeals to us? What are we really after when we desire her? Etc.
Before long, one will come to realize that it’s the divine energies within that woman that call for our attention. A little deeper into this process we may even begin to see that it’s not sex that we are after, but, rather love- divine love.
By the time we get to the bottom of this desire- we have stripped it down to its bare divine essence- at this point, the façade, the beautiful woman has been separated from its divine source. All that is left is the divine.
Step number 3
Haamtokeh- the sweetening of judgment, our physical “real” trouble gets sweetened and manifests itself in this world as the solution to the trouble it caused in its chaotic form.

This is just one way of understanding this Beshtian concept, those who practice will easily learn new ones, little short-cuts and amendments.
I would like to present two very different interpretations, or rather utilizations, of this very technique {unheard of before the Besht}:
The first one is by the Toldos in the name of the Besht, which employs this technique to complement the Ariz”l’s Kavones {mystical intentions} on the beginning of shmoyneh essreh “ADNY sefosei tiftoch”- which deal with the judgments that come up with the beginning of prayer {see Shaar Ha’Kavanot, Drushei Ho’Amideh, 5}.{ A longer comparative study would be required to evaluate where the Ariz”l left off, but more on that as we go along}. Here it is:
“I heard from my Master an explanation of the mystery of the alphabet etc. and how one is to perform with every word Hakhna’ah, Havdalah, Hamtakah. That is to say, {there are} the judgments of ShKh and PR hinted at in the word ADNY at the opening of the Amidah {shmoyneh essreh} all the intentions contained there {presumably from the Ariz”l} one must intend with every word and utterance to sweeten the judgments. For the letter Aleph is the mystery of Peleh {wonder} and is enclothed in the letter Bet, which is two Alephs, and then in the letter Gimel, three Alephs until the letter Tav, four hundred Alephs. And the further away a letter is {from its source, the Aleph} the further away it is from vitality and it becomes enclothed in the Husks until {the level of} Malkhut She-Be-Malkhut {Kingship of Kingship} where there {is the place of} evil and foreign thoughts etc. And as one pays attention to the exile of the Shekhinah, that {this evil/foreign thought} is a spark of the Shekhinah which is enclothed in the ugliness of these Husks, he will begin to tremble with great trembling and then “all evildoers will be scattered” and the unification of Yirah and Norah {fear and awe} is accomplished; and {through this} the holy spark is sifted and is connected to the vitality above, according to the mystery of “and the living angels ran and returned” (Ezekiel 1:14); and this is the redemption {of the Shekhinah} from captivity. And this is Hakhna’ah: as if he is not speaking but only the Shekhinah; Havdalah: {means} to sever the Husks etc.; and Hamtakah: to elevate and sweeten them at their roots etc”
Toldos, end, 201 a
A far more mellow use is mentioned by the Toldos in the name of Reb Nachman {presumably Reb Nachman of Breslov’s grandfather, a regular at the Besht}:
“that the greatness of this {technique} is that {one} gets out of the trait of Strength {midas Gevureh}, not to judge unfavorably on the people of this world, but {one} should enter {into} compassion and judge all favorably even when he sees something ugly (from) {in} his friend- he should feel that it’s all for his good. {that he was privileged to see this ugliness so that} he could feel within himself a trace of it {this very ugliness that he has just seen in his friend} and he should repent from it even {if this ugliness exists with him only} in thought… and he should get stronger… and the main thing is to understand that god is everywhere and in all his dealings. Therefore, even in the telling of tales {one} can feel {experience} the subjects of the creator blessed be just as {strongly as during} study and prayer”
Toldos, End, 202a
Reb Nachman took it to life, he applied it to all that man hears and sees others doing. Within everything that comes to our attention we can find the divine purity. And this, again, is done via the Hachnoeh, Havdoleh, Hamtokeh technique.
It should be familiar and simple by now:

1) I didn’t just see it or hear it. It was god-sent.
2) The ones doing it {evil} or talking about it are just confused. They are really after the very same thing that I am. Only they don’t know it. I most probably saw it just to be reminded what I too have, at least partially, forgotten- that the source of all desire is divine
3) All is now sweetened (as to whether this technique also works on the other- another time).
Only upon confronting darkness and sweetening the judgments “all” really “is good”!

Transformation

“and through accepting {trouble} with happiness it gets transformed {from the Ziruf} “ZoRoH” to {the Ziruf} “ReZeiH” as I have written in the name of my Master, his memory a blessing.”

Toldos, Noach, 13a

“for the Ramban {Nachmonides} asked how {is it} that through prayer the “verdict of judgment {Gezar Din}” transforms from bad to good? Is there, god forbid, a change of will {did god change his mind? Didn’t he know that this guy was going to pray}? And particularly {hard to understand how it operates, is} he who prays for his friend vechulu {how can my prayer for my friend change my friends situation}

And my Master answered in the name of his Rabbi {the biblical prophet “Achiyo H’Shiloyni,” Ahijah the Shilonite} that prayer is to sweeten the judgments in its root, to connect the judgments of {which are only present in} Malchus onto Bineh, and there {within ones psychic Bineh} he is another person {a person without trouble}…And my Master, ZLH”H explained it more, that the “vedict of judgment” are letters, and the messenger could make a different combination of these very letters”

Toldos, Noach, 13b

Accepting trouble with happiness, spiritualy accoplishes what was previously thought to be limited to the deepest of prayer: “Sweetening of the Judgments in their Roots.”

Darkness was only real on the level of “Malchus”- the level we mostly live and operate on. On higher frequencies of our divine self, these are simply divine energies that have maerialized in what appears to be negative from our view point.

The besht believed that one could change reality, magically turn trouble into triumph, by simply tuning into a higher frequency of spiritual {real} experience. On that higher plane {be it Chesed- as in our former text, or Bineh as in our second text}, these troubles exist – in their pre-trouble state- simply as divine energies. So all one needs to do in order to change his or her reality, was to go to a place within ones psyche that is above the petty darkness.

Once we are connected with its source, when we get to experience life on a truer and purer level, all energies get transformed and materializes as good flowing all the way down into “Malchus,” that place we have gotten accotomed to call “Reality.”
The energies no longer function as separate entities, which could at times materialize as working against our general wellbeing. These energies have now been transfomed to work in harmony with our existence on all of our frequencies-, from the lofty hights of Azilus all the way down to our challenches, hopes and dreams.

The Besht sees this as being perfectly in line with his general ideas about life: everything is this world is comprissed of Thought, speech and deed. These are all just mirrored reflections of our inner most being {deep withn our sub-concious mind}, which materialize via energies. In Beshtian terms, these energies are “letters.” Every energy is a hebrew letter. But these energies get more complex as they intermingle with other energies, also symoblized by Hebrew letters, and now form blocks of energy. These blocks are not only simbolized by the hebrew Alphabet, but actually materialize by the rules of the Hebrew Alphabet. The energies within one block {so to speak} form a word- made up of the letters that symbolize these energies.

Here it gets a little more complex, as any set of letters could spell out different words {in Beshtian terms- Zirufim or combinations}. These combinations are what determin the energies operating channels and nature.

For example, and lets use the one the Besht actually discusses, “trouble” in hebrew is written as “ZoRoH”- it is the very same dynamic positive energies, R, Z and H, that could also spell out “tZoHaR”, “light” and “ReZeih”, complete divine acceptence {to be in complete harmony with the divine flow}. So, again, there is nothing negative about these energies per se, its only their combination and actualization {its very last state of evolution or devolment} that could use some improvement.
In these two texts, two very different methods are presented- though they lead to the same result: connecting with our deeper self, where these energies exist in a purer form, from where they could once again flow down- only this time in a more positive more easily acceptable reality. This is done either through proper prayer or through {a user-friendlier method} of accepting events {as troublesome as they may seem} with happiness. Both methods are guerenteed by the Besht to work the magic of transforming trouble into light and acceptence {tZoHaR and ReZeih, respectovly}.

The prayer method seems to be fairly simple as well:

“and I have heard from my Master ZLH”H {that when one} studies or prays and he does not have in mind their meaning, it is the real of Malchus seperately, not so when one understands {and pays attention to the meaning of the words} one connects Malchus to Bineh

”

Toldos, BPY, end of the book, Pieterkov 1884, pg. 254

{Also see Toldos, BaMidbar, 127d where it presented as more transformative technique. One starts studying and does not understand {presummabely because of the disconnection between ones speech and thought}, being misrabely disconnected in the realm of Malchus- then, transformance- one grasps the concept in his speech- and the magical union {of Malchus with Bineh} happens and all is sweetened.} a lot more to come on acting with consciousness which, according to the Besht, constitutes a divine union between Malchus and Chochmeh as a technique to “annul decrees of judgment.” Also, a variation of the mechanics of the transformation that takes place when one accepts suffering with joy- see Toldos, Eikev}.
By “messenger,” the Toldos seems to be referring to the evolutionary process as a figurative “messenger” that brings the flow from Bineh to Malchus, or he maybe referring to the Zaddik, the “Shlucheh D’Matroniseh,” the “Messenger of the Matron” i.e. the Shechina. It may require a Zaddik, advanced enough in these matters, to operate on other people's Karma. For the zaddik could actually “elovate the sick man {the friend in need} to Bineh” –so goes Rav Yeivo’s version of our second text- quouted in Besht Al ha’Toyreh, Amud Ha’Tefilah FN 155. Also see Degel Machneh Ephraim, beginning of Emoyr}.

Note, that in line with the Beshtian teaching, the lower a place we are {the more trouble and darkness} the greater the oppurtunity to connect to our higher selves. Only trouble could spell light.

Also, all this is in line with the famous chassidic “Ha’aloas Hora” the elevation of evil rather than its elimination {which, as we now influenced the Rav’s {Rabbi J.B. Soloveichik} approach to repentence in “Aal Ha’Teshuveh”}. Bad should not, nor could be, eliminated- as it is all really divine energy, essentially all good.

If anyone is aware of the precise location of this Ramban, please let me know.