איסור עריות ותשובה מקורות

(18) There is nothing in the entire Torah that is more difficult for the majority of people to separate themselves from than sexual misconduct and forbidden relationships. Our Sages said: When the Jews were commanded regarding forbidden sexual relations, they wept and accepted this mitzvah with complaints and moaning, as implied by the phrase: "Crying among their families," [which is interpreted as meaning]: "Crying about family matters."

(19) Our Sages said: A person's soul desires and craves theft and forbidden sexual relations. You will never find a community that does not have some people who are promiscuous regarding forbidden relationships and prohibited sexual conduct. Moreover, our Sages said: Most people trespass with regard to theft; a minority with regard to forbidden sexual conduct, and all with regard to the shade of undesirable gossip.

(20) Therefore it is proper for a person to subjugate his natural inclination with regard to this matter and train himself in extra holiness, pure thought, and proper character traits so that he will be guarded against them. He should be very careful with regard to entering into privacy with a woman, for this is a great cause [of transgression]. Our great Sages would tell their students: "Watch me because of my daughter," "Watch me because of my daughter-in-law," so that they would teach their students not to be embarrassed about such matters and distance themselves from entering into privacy with women.

(21) Similarly, a person should distance himself from levity, intoxication, and flirtation, for they are great precipitators and steps [leading] to forbidden relations. A man should not live without a wife, for this practice leads to great purity. And [our Sages gave] even greater [advice], saying: "A person should always turn himself and his thoughts to the words of the Torah and expand his knowledge in wisdom, for the thoughts of forbidden relations grow strong solely in a heart which is empty of wisdom." And in [Solomon's words of] wisdom [Proverbs 5:19], it is written: "It is a beloved hind, arousing favor. Her breasts will satisfy you at all times. You shall be obsessed with her love."

It is a clear and apparent matter that the concepts of purity and impurity are Scriptural decrees and they are not matters determined by a person's understanding and they are included in the category of chukim. Similarly, immersion in a mikveh to ascend from impurity is included in the category of chukim, because impurity is not mud or filth that can be washed away with water. Instead, the immersion is a Scriptural decree and requires the focusing the intent of one's heart. Therefore our Sages said: "When one immersed, but did not intend to purify himself," it is as if he did not immerse.Although it is a Scriptural decree, there is an allusion involved: One who focuses his heart on purifying himself becomes purified once he immerses, even though there was no change in his body. Similarly, one who focuses his heart on purifying his soul from the impurities of the soul, which are wicked thoughts and bad character traits, becomes purified when he resolves within his heart to distance himself from such counsel and immerse his soul in the waters of knowledge. And Ezekiel 36:25 states: "I will pour over you pure water and you will be purified from all your impurities and from all your false deities, I will purify you."

(1) Know, a person must judge everyone favorably (Avot 1:6). Even someone who is completely wicked, it is necessary to search and find in him some modicum of good; that in that little bit he is not wicked. And by finding in him a modicum of good and judging him favorably, one genuinely elevates him to the scale of merit and can bring him to repent.

(2) This is the aspect of “In yet a little bit the wicked man is not; you will reflect upon his place and he will not be there” (Psalms 37:10). That is, Scripture warns to judge everyone favorably. Even if you see that he is completely wicked, you must search and seek the little bit of good in him, wherein he is not wicked. This is:

(3) In yet a little bit the wicked man is not—You must seek the “yet a little bit” of good that he still has within him, because in that place he is not wicked. For although he is wicked, how is it possible that he does not still possess even a little bit of good? Is it possible that throughout his life he never once did some mitzvah or good deed? And by your finding in him yet a little bit of good wherein he is not wicked, and your judging him favorably, you genuinely elevate him from the scale of guilt to the scale of merit, until, as a result of this, he returns [to God] in repentance.

(4) Thus, this is “In yet a little bit the wicked man is not.” By finding in the wicked person “yet a little bit” of good, as a result:

(5) you will reflect upon his place and he will not be there—That is, when you contemplate and consider his place and level, he is no longer there in his original place. For by finding in him yet a little bit of good, some good point, and judging him favorably, we genuinely move him from the scale of guilt to the scale of merit.

(6) This is the explanation of “you will reflect upon his place and he will not be there,” as explained above. Understand this.

(1) 2. Likewise, a person must find [some good point] within himself. It is known that a person must take care to be happy always and to keep very far away from depression {as has been explained in our works a number of times}.

(2) It may be that when he begins examining himself, he sees that he possesses no good whatsoever and is filled with sin, and that as a result the Evil One wants to push him into depression and sadness, God forbid. Even so, it is forbidden to fall on account of this. Rather, he must search until he finds in himself some little bit of good. For how is it possible that throughout his life he never once did some mitzvah or good deed? And even if when he begins examining this good thing he sees that it, too, is filled with flaws and contains no purity—i.e., he sees that the mitzvah or holy deed that he merited doing is itself comprised of impure motives, external thoughts and numerous faults—nevertheless, how is it possible that this mitzvah or holy deed contains not even a little bit of good? For in any case, despite this there must have been some good point in the mitzvah or good deed that he did.

(3) Thus, a person has to search and seek to find in himself some little bit of good in order to revive himself and to attain joy, as explained above. By searching until he finds a remaining little bit of good in himself, he genuinely moves from the scale of guilt to the scale of merit and can return [to God] in repentance. This, in the aspect of “In yet a little bit the wicked man is not; you will reflect upon his place and he will not be there,” as explained above.

(4) That is, just as has been explained above, that we must judge others favorably, even the wicked, and find in them some good point, and by doing so move them from the scale of guilt to the scale of merit, in the aspect of “in yet a little bit… you will reflect…”—the same applies with regard to oneself. A person has to judge himself favorably and find in himself some remaining good point, in order to give himself the strength to avoid falling completely, God forbid. On the contrary, he will revive himself and bring joy to his soul with the little bit of good he finds in himself—i.e., that once in his life he merited doing a mitzvah or good deed.

(5) Likewise, he must go on searching until he finds in himself yet another good thing. And although this good thing too is mixed with much impurity, still, he must extract some good point from there as well. Indeed, he must go on searching and gathering further good points.

(6) And it is through this that melodies are made. As explained elsewhere, the aspect of playing a musical instrument is the aspect of gathering the good ruach from the ruach of gloom, depression; see there. {The principle is that music of holiness is extremely lofty, as is known. In essence, music is made through the separation of good from evil; by selecting and gathering the good points from the bad, melodies and songs are created. Study there well.}

(7) Therefore, by not letting himself fall, but reviving himself by searching and seeking until he finds in himself some good points, gathering and separating those good points from the evil and impurity within him—through this melodies are made, as explained above. Then, he is able to pray and sing and give praise to God.

(8) For it is known that when a person becomes depressed over his gross physicality and evil deeds, and he sees how very distant he truly is from holiness, it generally makes him completely incapable of praying. He cannot even open his mouth at all, due to the magnitude of the depression, sadness and heaviness that come over him when he sees how exceedingly distant he is from God.

(9) However, if he revives himself by means of the aforementioned suggestion—

(10) that is, although he knows within himself that he committed evil deeds and numerous sins, and that he is exceedingly distant from God, yet he nevertheless searches and seeks until he finds some remaining good points in himself, as explained above, and he brings himself vitality and joy through this; for it is certainly right that a person feel ever-increasing joy over every good point stemming from the holiness of Israel that he yet finds in himself—then, when he revives himself and brings himself to joy through this, as explained above, he is then able to pray, sing and give praise to God.

(11) This is the aspect of “I will sing to God b’odee (with the little I have left)” (Psalms 146:2). Specifically b’ODee—i.e., by means of my OD that I find in myself, the aspect of “In yet a little bit the wicked man is not,” as explained above. By means of this point I am able to sing and give praise to God, as explained above.

(12) And this is: I will sing—Specifically “I will sing”; i.e., the songs and melodies that are made by gathering the good points, as explained above.

(13) {[Rebbe Nachman], of blessed memory, cautioned us to live by this teaching, for it is a major foundation for anyone who wishes to draw closer to God and not lose his eternal reward completely, God forbid. In most cases where people are far from God, the main reason for this is sadness and depression. They fall into depression because they see for themselves the great harm they have caused through their actions, each person commensurate with what he himself knows of his heart’s affliction and his anguish. Due to this they become depressed, and most of them despair [of] themselves completely. As a result they pray without any concentration, and do not even do what they are still capable of.

(14) Thus, a person has to be very sagacious in this matter. For although all his depressions are due to the evil deeds he did indeed commit, still, that he fell into depression, and that sadness and melancholy descend upon him because of this, is nothing but the work of the Evil One, who discourages him in order to defeat him completely, God forbid. One must therefore be very resolved to live by this teaching, to each time search and seek within himself a little bit of good and good points, etc., as explained above. Through this he will revive himself and bring himself joy, and he will still look forward to God’s help. He will be able to pray, and sing and give praise to God, in the aspect of “I will sing to God with the little I have left,” as explained above. And because of this, he will merit to genuinely return to God, as explained above.}

(1) 3. Know, too, that someone who is capable of making these melodies—i.e., gathering the good points that are to be found in each Jew, even a Jewish sinner, as explained above—he can lead the communal prayers. For one who leads the communal prayers is called the messenger of the people; he must be sent by all the people—i.e., he must gather every good point that is to be found in each of the congregants. All these good points are merged in him, so that when he stands up to pray, it is with all this good. This is the meaning of “messenger of the people.” Thus, he must have within him this exalted aspect, as a result of which all the points are drawn to him and become merged within him.

(2) And someone who can make the aforementioned melodies—i.e., he is capable of judging all people favorably, even the rabble and the wicked, because he persistently searches and seeks to find the good points in all of them, through which melodies are made, as explained above—this tzaddik, since he is on this level, is capable of being the cantor and messenger of the people. That is, he can lead the communal prayers, because he has within him this aspect, which is a necessary requirement to be a truly fitting messenger of the people. For he must possess the aspect whereby all the good points are drawn to him and are merged within him, so that he is capable of gathering all the good points that are to be found in each Jew, even a Jewish sinner, as explained above.

(1) 4. Know, too, that in each and every generation there is a shepherd who is the aspect of Moshe, the “faithful shepherd.” This shepherd makes a sanctuary.

(2) And know, the young schoolchildren receive the undefiled breath of their mouths from this sanctuary. Therefore, when a young child first begins to read and enter the study of Torah, he begins with “Vayikra (And He called) to Moshe” (Leviticus 1:1)—[the word Vayikra is written] with a small aleph—because [the Book of] Vayikra speaks of the completion of the Sanctuary’s erection. It was then that God called to Moshe and began speaking to him from the Sanctuary. This is why the young children begin from there, because it is from there that they receive the breath of their mouths, as explained above, and from there they begin to read and enter into Torah study.

(1) 5. And know, all the tzaddikim of the generation, without exception, are the aspect of a shepherd. For within each one of them is an aspect of Moshe; and each one of them, in his own aspect, makes an aspect of a sanctuary, from which the young children receive the breath of their mouths, as explained above. And each [tzaddik], commensurate with his aspect—the aspect of the sanctuary that he makes—likewise has young children who receive from there. Thus it is that every tzaddik of the generation, without exception, has a specific number of children who receive the breath of their mouths from him; each [tzaddik] commensurate with his aspect, as explained above.

(2) This is the aspect of what our Sages, of blessed memory, said: Young children are snatched away because of the sin of the generation, as it is said (Song of Songs 1:8), “and graze your young goats by the shepherd’s MiShKaNot (tents)”—[the young children] mitmaShKNin (are taken as surety) for the shepherds (Shabbat 33b).

(3) This is the explanation of “by the shepherd’s tents.” They receive the breath of their mouths from the aspect of the mishkanot of the shepherds—i.e., the tzaddikim of the generation, each of whom makes a mishkan (sanctuary), as explained above.

(1) 6. However, to know all this— i.e., to know of each and every tzaddik, which are the young children who relate to him and how much they receive from him, and to know all the aspects involved in this and the generations that will come from them to the very end—know, one who can make the aforementioned melodies can know all this.

(2) And this is the deeper meaning of what our Sages, of blessed memory, said in the Mishnah: In truth, they said, the chazan sees where the young children are reading (Shabbat 11a). “The chazan”—i.e., one who can make the aforementioned melodies—he can be the cantor, the messenger of the people, leader of the communal prayers, as explained above. He sees and knows “where the young children are reading”—i.e., from which tzaddik they receive the breath of their mouths, through whom they read and enter into the study of Torah, as explained above.

(3) This completes Volume One.

(4) Praise to God, the Last and the First.

(5) The following additional lessons are new collections that I gathered from fellow chassidim, that which I heard from them verbally and that which they had recorded, which were not included in the first edition.

(1) Know! when a person prays in the fields, all the flora enters into the prayer, helping him and strengthening his prayer. This is the reason prayer is called SiChah (conversation), the concept of “SiaCh (shrub) of the field” (Genesis 2:5). All the shrubs of the field empower and assist his prayer.

(2) This is the concept of “And Yitzchak went out laSuaCh (to converse) in the field” (ibid. 24:63)—his prayer was with the help and power of the field. All the flora of the field empowered and assisted his prayer, on account of which prayer is called SiChah.

(3) Therefore, the Curse includes the statement: “and the soil will not yield its produce (yevul)” (Deuteronomy 11:17). For all the earth’s produce must empower and assist the prayer. But when this is impeded or delayed, it thus states: “and the soil will not yield its produce.”

(4) Now, even when a person does not pray in the fields, the earth’s produce—i.e., whatever is near the person, such as his food and drink and the like—aids his prayer. But when he is in the field, because he is particularly close to these things, all the flora and all the soil’s yevul (produce) empower his prayer.

(5) And this is YeVUL—the first letters of Vayeitzei Yitzchak Lasuach Basadeh (“And Yitzchak went out to converse in the field”). All the produce of the field prayed together with him.

(6) (This matter is thoroughly explained in Likutey Moharan II, 1:11, “Sound the Shofar at the New Moon”; see there.)