Exploring Emunah: Vision, Prayer, Trust, Action

(3) Know! the essential reason for exile is nothing other than a lack of ÆMuNaH (faith), as is written (Song of Songs 4:8), “Come, gaze from the peak of AMaNaH.” And emunah is synonymous with prayer, as in (Exodus 17:12), “his hands were emunah,” which Onkelos renders: “[his hands] were spread out in prayer.”

(1) “His hands were faith until the coming of the sun.” (Exodus 17:12)

(2) There are various degrees of faith. There is faith that is only in the heart. Yet ideally a person’s faith should be so extensive that it spreads to all the limbs.

(3) As is brought in the writings of the Ari, when washing one’s hands, one has to raise them opposite one’s head in order to receive holiness. From this we see that one must have faith in the hands—believing that lifting his hands to the level of the head incurs holiness.

(4) For without faith, it is nothing, as it is written (Psalms 119:86), “All Your mitzvot are faith.” But when a person has such faith, he proceeds from faith to the intelligence <within that thing>. And the more he strengthens his faith, the more intelligence he attains. That thing which initially required his relying on faith, now that he has attained greater faith, he understands that first thing rationally.

(5) This is the meaning of what is written of Moshe:

(6) His hands were faith—He had such extensive faith that it spread to all the limbs. Even his hands contained such an abundance of faith.

(7) until the coming of the sun—This alludes to the intelligence within the thing, for the sun corresponds to wisdom, as is brought here in our works (above, in Lesson #1) .

(1) 3. { “He shall drive the enemy from your countenance and proclaim, ‘Hashmeid! (Destroy!)’” (Deuteronomy 33:27). } And this is the meaning of, “He shall drive the enemy from your countenance”—“from your countenance” of holiness; “and proclaim, ‘haShMeiD! ’”—linguistically similar to ShMaD (apostasy), idolatry, namely the desire for money.

(2) For all Jews are considered tzaddikim by virtue of the Covenant. And because of this, when He drives away the enemy from their countenance of holiness, He causes these enemies to succumb to the countenance of the Other Side—namely, apostasy.

(3) Thus [for] each and every tzaddik, when the Holy One wants to drive away the tzaddik’s enemy, He causes the enemy to succumb to greed. This is because “the tzaddik is an eternal covenant” (Tikkuney Zohar #48, p. 85a), and the tzaddik’s enemy, the one who quarrels with the tzaddik, has no salt to sweeten his bitterness. For “with salt, money is lessened”; because, essentially, greed is only diminished through the Covenant.

(4) This is why it is said of Zevulun, who was beloved to Yissachar (Deuteronomy 33:18), “Zevulun, rejoice.” “Rejoice” is the reverse of “with great sorrow”—“the fullness of joys in Your countenance.”

(5) Thus, when Rachav asked for a sign of life—as in (Joshua 2:13), “That you will keep alive my father and my mother”—she said, “… and give me a true sign” (ibid.:12), for truth corresponds to life, as explained.

(6) And they said to her (ibid.: 18), “This tikvah (strand) of crimson thread bind for yourself.” “Tikvah” alludes to faith, as in (Jeremiah 31:16), “There is tikvah (hope) for your end.” And faith is the End-of-Days because all the traits are based upon it, as in (Makkot 24a): Chabakkuk came and based them on one [principle, as is written (Habakkuk 2:4), “The tzaddik lives by his faith”].

(7) And the “crimson thread” corresponds to the Z’RiChat (the shining) of the Light of the Face, as in (Genesis 38:30), “…[with the crimson thread on his hand… Yehudah] named him ZeRaCh.”

(8) “For the darkness covers the earth… but upon you God shines” (Isaiah 60:2). This is because “darkness” corresponds to: “with great sorrow,” the worry and desire for livelihood, a pain which is “double that of childbirth,” darkened faces, idolatry. “But upon you God shines”: this is faith in God, the Light of the Face, “And he graced the city’s countenance,” the rectification of the coin, [i.e.,] the rectification of the desire for money, corresponding to “Zevulun, rejoice.”

(9) This is the meaning of (Berakhot 8a): [When a man takes a wife they ask him,] “Found or find?” This is because a livelihood corresponds to a wife. As our Sages said: Whoever interferes with his friend’s livelihood is as if he had relations with his wife (Sanhedrin 81a). And a livelihood which is “with great sorrow” corresponds to (Ecclesiastes 7:26), “I find that more bitter than death is the wife.” {This corresponds to the bitterness of the world which has to be sweetened with salt. As explained: “Were it not for salt, the world could not bear the bitterness.” Conversely, therefore, of a livelihood which is holy it is written (Proverbs 18:22), “He who has found a wife has found good.” “Good” corresponds to the tzaddik, the covenant of salt which sweetens the bitterness, namely the desire for, and sorrow of, livelihood.}

(10) And a livelihood, which corresponds to “Zevulun, rejoice in your going out,” is an aspect of “He who has found a wife has found good.” And “good” is nothing other than the tzaddik (Yoma 38b) ; namely the Covenant, as in (Isaiah 3:10), “Say of the tzaddik that he is good.”

(11) Moreover it is written (Exodus 2:2), “She saw that he was good”—for he was born circumcised (Shemot Rabbah 1:20). And “good” is nothing other than light, as in (Genesis 1:4), “God saw the light [that it was good]” (Shemot Rabbah, ibid.). This corresponds to “But upon you God shines,” the aspect of the “crimson thread.”