אמתטריקס

Eating “And Hashem said to Moses: Take one jar and put in it a full omer of manna, and place it for safekeeping for your generations, so that they may see the bread” etc. And this is puzzling: why did Hashem, blessed be He, command that they see the bread, and what does it matter to Him whether future generations see it or not? But indeed, it is known what the verse says: “From afar she brings her bread.” And the matter is that the Shechinah (Divine Presence), as it were, contracts herself to give Israel their sustenance through some cause among causes, and the Shechinah, as it were, clothes herself within that cause to feed and sustain each and every one of Israel according to his sustenance and his nature. And this is “Sustenance does not depend on merit, but depends on mazal” – and this is the mazal of the supernal Aleph, in which the Shechinah clothes herself to feed each and every one of Israel.   And this is “Do not eat (tilchom) the bread of one with an evil eye” (Proverbs 23:6). For in truth, bread comes down from heaven, from a holy place, as said, through the clothing of the Shechinah in some cause among causes. Now, our Sages of blessed memory said: the time of eating is a time of war (milchamah), for one must fight with the yetzer hara (the evil inclination) at the time of eating; and as our Sages of blessed memory said: a meal that you enjoy – withdraw your hands from it. Now, when the sustenance comes to a person from Hashem, blessed be He, Himself, through some cause that happens to him by which he earns his livelihood, or even through people – if they are generous (good of eye) and give him bread to eat – then he is able to do so, to fight at the time of war, which is the time of eating. That is not so when he eats with people who have an evil eye: then you will not be able to “fight the bread” (le-hilachem et ha-lechem) – meaning, to fight against the yetzer hara at the time of eating – since the giver has an evil eye, and the bread he eats comes to him from the side of the evil eye, which is the side of the yetzer hara; and then you will not be able to fight with the yetzer hara, since this food is from its side. Therefore let each one set his eyes and his heart not to benefit from what belongs to others if they have an evil eye, for the Shechinah is not clothed there in that food, and then you will not be able to fight at the time of eating. That is not so if he sets his aim toward Hashem, blessed be He: whatever Hashem, blessed be He, gives him he will accept with a pleasant countenance, and he will not rely on receiving a fixed amount from people who volunteer to provide his needs; for the gift of God is where the Shechinah rests, and the Shechinah clothes herself in that sustenance that comes down to a person. And of the Shechinah it is said, “From afar she brings her bread,” which is through the mazal of the supernal Aleph, as said. And this is “Take one jar.” Explanation: for in truth, why was it called man (manna)? Because “they did not know what (man) it was,” for it is supernal spirituality coming down from heaven. And even now, this very day, each person’s sustenance comes down from heaven, as said, through the clothing of the Shechinah in some cause among causes; only that in the generation of the wilderness it came down from heaven without any clothing in any cause, and now it is clothed according to the cause. And this is “Take one jar” – meaning a vessel – “and put in it a full omer of manna”: that the aspect of manna, which is bread from heaven, will be clothed within it – that it will be clothed in a vessel through some cause among causes. And this is “so that they may see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness” – that they should know that I gave in the wilderness without any clothing and covering in any cause; therefore even now, when it is clothed and covered in some cause among causes, they will know and understand that this is the very bread that comes down from heaven. Understand this.   To understand all the above: it is known that all our service, and the intent of all performance of the mitzvot, is that we come to the level of “and to Him you shall cleave” – which is to cleave oneself, with the Divine portion dwelling within him, to the Root of all, through engagement in Torah and the performance of the mitzvot. For this reason they are called mitzvot, a term of joining (tzavta), for through them we merit to join the Divine portion and the life-force flowing within us to the All, the Root of all, above. Now, because there are holy sparks and fallen souls that have no strength to rise above by themselves, since they are cut off and very coarse, therefore the one who serves must bind himself with all the levels and bring them up to the root of the supernal holiness. Now it is known that eating is called a korban (offering), as it is said that a person’s table is in place of the altar, and as it is said: since the Temple was destroyed, a person’s table atones for him. And we also find that fasting is called an offering, because one offers his fat and his blood, as is known. And to understand this: how is it possible that two opposites in one subject should be considered one thing? But it is as said above: for in truth there is an aspect of cleaving to the Root of all from below (mi-tata), which is to bring near all the lower levels and the holy sparks from fallen things and to bind them to the Creator, blessed be He; and through this he is cleaving to the Creator, blessed be He, together with those fallen levels. And this is the secret of eating, which is considered an offering: for he brings near all the sparks and the supernal life-force clothed in that food – which is the taste that he tastes in that food, for the taste is spiritual and not material; it is the supernal holy life-force clothed within that physical food. And when he eats of it, the life-force remains within the person and is added to and bound with that life-force, which is the Divine portion dwelling within him. And if with that power and life-force that was added to him he serves Hashem, and speaks words in devekut (cleaving), and does mitzvot in devekut – all this through the power and life-force from the food that was added to him – then through his rising and cleaving to the Creator, blessed be He, with this power, there is an ascent for that holy spark which was clothed in the physicality of the food. And the externality is pushed outside, after the life-force has separated from it, along with its beauty: at first it was beautiful and splendid because of the life-force, and now, in the absence of the life-force from it, there remains a dead and putrid thing.   Now, at the time of his eating, if he sets his heart to look at the inwardness, so that his entire intent is for the sake of Heaven, to fulfill (Proverbs 3:6) “In all your ways know Him” – which is the secret of da’at (knowledge): to know that there is nothing separate from His service, blessed be He, and on the contrary, through this he becomes cleaving to Him, blessed be He, as explained above – then that eating is considered an offering to Hashem, for he brings the parts of holiness near, from below to above, to their root, and he also adds extra devekut to the Divine portion within him. And this is something in which the Creator, blessed be He, has great delight: that the lower levels draw near to Him. For this is what delays the coming of our Mashiach, as is known – until all the sparks are raised up. And the secret of fasting is the drawing near of the Divine portion to its root from above to below (me-ila le-tata); for from below to above there is none in it, since he does not eat on the fast day. And because he then has a broken heart and is humbled before Him, blessed be He, the root of supernal holiness is aroused toward him, to draw him near to Him, blessed be He. Now, not every person merits this, to be on this level where his eating is considered an offering, that he cleave himself with the life-force of the food; and this is because he has no da’at, as said, for he eats only to fill his appetite, and he remains below with his life-force and with the life-force added to him from the food. This is the opposite of the tzaddikim, of whom it is said (ibid. 13:25): “The tzaddik eats to satisfy his soul” – “his soul” precisely, for it is an addition of holiness in him, in his soul, through the eating, since through it he is cleaving to Him, blessed be He. But those on the lower level are without da’at – and “without knowledge the soul is not good” – and they add no holiness to their soul through the food; and it is possible, and nearly certain, that it distances them from the Creator, blessed be He. And because Hashem, blessed be He, desires kindness and “devises means so that the banished one not be banished from Him,” so that there be an ascent in some measure for all the external eating of all Israel, He therefore fixed one day in the year – the eve of Yom Kippur – on which it is a mitzvah to eat and drink. Even when one eats in the external aspect, to fill his appetite, on the eve of Yom Kippur it is also counted for him as a mitzvah, and as though he had fasted, etc. And through there being, once, a mitzvah in that external eating, there is through this an ascent for all the external eating of the whole year; since in this aspect too there is, once, a drawing near to holiness, through the power of the mitzvah that he does on the eve of Yom Kippur, even in the externality of the food there is a drawing near for that whole aspect throughout the year. And after this comes Yom Kippur, which is the secret of fasting once a year; for from the Torah there is no other fixed fast in the year except Yom Kippur, as explained by us elsewhere. For on Yom Kippur there is the awakening and appearance of the supernal teshuvah (teshuvah ila’ah) upon all Israel – even upon those who have no strength to awaken teshuvah within themselves on their own, without an awakening from above (it’aruta di-le’ila), since they are on a very low level where no good remains to awaken them to teshuvah. This supernal teshuvah contracts itself to him, so that he will be awakened and bring his portion near to the Creator, blessed be He; for He, blessed be He, devises means so that the banished one not be banished from Him. And this is the secret of the offering from above to below: that he is brought near through the drawing near of teshuvah from above to below. And therefore it is the secret of the fast on Yom Kippur, since the aspect of the fast is an offering from above to below, as mentioned above, for there is no drawing near from below to above in it – that he bring himself near with the life-force of the lower levels of the food that he eats. And since on Yom Kippur the supernal teshuvah must contract itself to bring all Israel near from above to below, we were therefore commanded to fast on that day specifically, so that the whole aspect of drawing near on this day be from above to below and not through food – to indicate this intent, so that the supernal teshuvah be awakened from above to below, as mentioned above. Understand this. And the aspect of the rectification of drawing near from below to above was already rectified the day before, on the eve of Yom Kippur; for had the aspect of drawing near from below to above not been rectified beforehand, it would not be possible for there to be a drawing near from above to below, as is known. And through the eve of Yom Kippur, which was rectified beforehand, the supernal teshuvah flows and shines from above to below. And the drawing near of the parts of the offering that ascends from below to above – from the eating of the eve of Yom Kippur, the rectification of all the external eating of the whole year – is united with the drawing near of holiness that descends from above to below on Yom Kippur, from the aspect of the fast; and all the parts of holiness that are made from below and those that descend from above become one unity. And through this Israel are sanctified and brought near to their Creator. And therefore it is Yom Kippur, which atones for their sins, through all the parts of holiness – which are the secret of the souls of Israel – having been brought near from the externality. And therefore it is considered as though he fasted on the ninth and the tenth, for in truth the two aspects were united and became one unity. And also, without the eating of the eve of Yom Kippur, there would have been no rectification of the ascent of holiness from below to above, and afterwards the drawing near from above, from the supernal teshuvah on Yom Kippur, could not have been. And therefore he reads it as the aspect of the fast, which is the chain of descent of holiness from above. (Me’or Einayim – Emor)   To understand the matter: it is known that the whole world and its fullness – (Psalms 33:6) “By the word of Hashem the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host” – for through speech all of existence came into being, every thing small and great, and it is He who sustains them and enlivens them, as it is written (Nehemiah 9:6): “And You give life to them all.” And were it not for the life-force within the thing, it would cease from existence. Only that they are of the things that fell in the shattering (shevirah) into this lowly world, as is known, from the sin of Adam the first man, and also in the generations after him; so that very many sparks of fallen souls are clothed in things of this world – in kinds of food and drink and the like, of the kinds of the world. For there is nothing in this world that does not have in it a holy spark emanated from the speech of the Holy One, blessed be He, which enlivens that thing; and this is the taste in that thing which is sweet to the palate, as it is written (Psalms 34:9): “Taste and see that Hashem is good” – meaning, what you taste and see as good is Hashem, which is the holy spark in that thing, clothed in it. As is visible to the eye: after a person has eaten the food and the life-force remains within him, the waste is pushed outside without life-force, and it is a spoiled and inferior thing. For the essence of the nourishment by which a person is nourished and which adds strength to him is the holy spark in that food, which is the good taste that the person tastes in that food and drink. And therefore, at the time the person eats the food, that spark is united with the life-force of the person who eats it, and strength is added to him. And when he believes with complete, perfect faith that this is spiritual nourishment, which is His Godliness, blessed be He, clothed there, and he sets his mind and his heart on the inwardness, and cleaves himself – with all his life-force and his mind, and with this power and life-force that was added to him through the holy spark that came within him – to the Root of all, from which all life-force emanated, then he also brings the holy spark, which until now was in shattering and in exile, to Him, blessed be He, who delights greatly in this, as is known. For this is the whole essence of our service: to bring near all the holy sparks from the kelipot (husks), which are in shattering, to the place of holiness, so that there be an ascent of holiness from the shattering. And especially [through] all his service and his Torah, in which he speaks words by virtue of this power and life-force that he received from the taste of the food, which is the holy spark, as said: when he unites his speech with the holy Speech, there is an ascent also for that spark, which is also the word of Hashem, as said above, for they are all fallen letters, as is known. Therefore every servant of Hashem must look at the inwardness of the matter described, so that all his deeds be for the sake of Heaven – in eating and drinking too – to raise the sparks of holiness from the shattering, which is the aspect of captivity and exile, to the supernal holiness, through the blessings that he recites, crowning the Creator, blessed be His Name, as King over that thing. And also afterwards, when he serves Hashem with that power, as said, and thereby speaks words with his powers, which he puts into the words, and cleaves himself to the supernal words, there is an ascent for the fallen letters, which are the holy sparks mentioned above. And likewise all the things in this world, such as commerce and the earning of profit – all the pleasure that comes to him from this – these are his own sparks that belong to him, clothed in this thing that came his way, which belong to him, as explained by us in one place regarding this, as we said on what is written: “In your place they will seat you, and from your own they will give you,” for no person touches what is prepared for his fellow. For the sparks that belong to the root of his soul cannot have an ascent except through this person, since they belong to the root of his soul and are the very aspect of his soul. And this is the reason that each one must travel, this one to such-and-such a place and that one to such-and-such a place: for it is the conduct of the Creator, blessed be His Name, who knows that portions of sparks belonging to his soul are clothed there in food or in some business; and the Creator, blessed be He, brings about causes so that this person will go there, by placing a desire in his heart and clothing the cause for him in some matter for which he will need to travel there. And the main intent is that he eat and drink there, or do business, and through this he will raise those sparks, as this matter is explained by us at length elsewhere.   And therefore each one must set his eyes and his heart to look at this, which is the secret of “In all your ways know Him,” as we have said elsewhere. And when he sets his mind to this, he will know how the Creator, blessed be He, enlivens him with His very Godliness, as said, as it is written (Deuteronomy 8:3): “For not by bread alone” etc. “but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Hashem” etc. – which is the aspect of the speech clothed in that thing and in that bread; for it is known that all foods are called by the name bread (lechem), as it is written (Daniel 5:1): “made a great feast (lechem).” If so, one who afflicts his soul and mortifies himself so as not to benefit from the world is called a sinner, as there is an opinion in the Talmud that one who sits in fasting is called a sinner. For this too is service of Hashem, like Torah and prayer and tefillin and all the mitzvot; for with the Torah the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world, and with the Torah the world is conducted, and in everything there is Torah, as is known. And every believer must believe that there is nothing outside His service, blessed be He – only that it be according to the Torah, for the Torah permitted eating and drinking – only that he do it for the sake of their Maker and not for his own pleasure; only in the way described is everything called fervent service (avodah chamah). And therefore he is called a sinner, for he deprives the ascent to its root of the holiness clothed in those kinds of food from which he withholds himself.   Even if he does not have complete da’at for this in total perfection, nevertheless he accomplishes something by it. As the Baal Shem Tov, may his soul rest in Eden, said: even a gentile who ate a kind of food in which a holy spark was clothed, and with the strength of that eating performed a service for a Jew – an ascent is made, in some measure, for that spark, although it is not as much as with a Jew who eats it. Come and see how far things reach! For in truth, one who has no da’at in this – are not his Torah and his prayer likewise not in complete perfection? And nevertheless he learns and prays, for in any case they are called Torah and prayer according to the measure of his da’at, and in any case it is called service. So too, necessary eating and drinking is also service; for even simply, he recites several blessings and crowns the Creator, blessed be He, as King over the foods – this too is service; only that he must go from level to level, just as one must go in prayer from level to level, proceeding with greater understanding from time to time.   The general principle of the matter is that they are only one thing, for it is all service of Hashem; only that at a time when his eating is not fervent service, so at that same time his Torah and prayer are not fervent service; and nevertheless they are considered service according to that time, provided that he advance to a higher level and greater da’at, and accustom himself to give nachat ruach (pleasure) to the Creator, blessed be He, in all things, which are a contraction (tzimtzum) of His Godliness, blessed be He – understand this. For what is said in the Gemara, “One who sits in fasting is called holy,” is also true; both opinions are true. For the greatness of the level of fasting, truly, in the complete perfection needed for it, is a very great level and the great and complete unification, as is known – the unification of Tiferet and Malchut, which are the letters of ta’anit (fast): T”T (Tiferet) and ANI (poor), for so the attribute of Malchut is called, as is known, since she has nothing of her own. Nevertheless, because great mochin (expanded consciousness) are needed for this – not every mind can bear this – that there be the complete unification through divesting the thing of its externality, therefore it is good for him to set his mind to fulfill “In all your ways know Him,” which is easier for him – understand this. And this is [the Talmud’s question]: “And against which soul (nefesh) did he sin?” But this is the explanation: this soul – that he afflicted himself from wine, and deprived and withheld the soul clothed in that wine from being brought near to holiness, and it remained profane, as it were. And this is “If a man vows a vow to Hashem” etc., “to bind a bond upon his soul” – that through this he binds upon his soul [that it remain] without drawing near to holiness, as mentioned above; that is, the soul clothed in that thing, which belongs to the portion of his soul, which he could have bound and brought near above, and now he has bound it so that it is not brought near. Therefore the Torah said, “He shall not profane his word” – which is the utterance of the mouth of Hashem, the spark clothed there: he shall not leave it profane; but “according to all that proceeds out of his mouth” – of the Creator, blessed be He, which is a lofty thing – and according to the whole intent of the Creator, blessed be He, in this spark which He clothed there in that food and drink, “he shall do” and rectify. Therefore our Sages of blessed memory said: whoever vows is as though he built a bamah (a private altar), and whoever fulfills it is as though he offered a sacrifice upon it at the time when bamot were forbidden. For in truth, this raising of the sparks through one’s eating is called an offering (korban), for he brings near and unites the holy spark with its root, as it is said, “a person’s table atones for him.” For in truth there is no offering greater than this, for it is a complete unification. And therefore it is called shulchan (table), from the term shelichut (sending): for those sparks that belong to his soul are sent to him so that he will raise them through the foods that come into his hand on the table at which he eats. And therefore it is called “the table that is before Hashem,” for he brings it near before Hashem, as said. That is not so with one who vows, who does not offer the offering before Hashem: even though he intends it for the sake of Heaven, nevertheless it is as though he offered to Hashem on a bamah and not before Hashem – understand this. Blessed be Hashem forever, Amen and Amen. (Me’or Einayim – Matot) Translated from the Hebrew sources page “מקורות- פרק י”ב” by Roni Ayalon-Hirsch.

Sources – Chapter L