(1) On the topic of the true tzaddik’s simple devotions:
(2) At times, the true tzaddik is a genuinely ordinary person (called prustik), comporting himself in the ways of simplicity. He does not reveal any Torah teachings, but engages in everyday conversations and the like, and so then resembles a genuinely ordinary person.
(1) 2. Know! the Torah is the essence of life, as it is written, “for it is your life and the length of your days” (Deuteronomy 30:20). Anyone who separates from the Torah it is as if he separates from life (Zohar I, 92a). Therefore, on the face of it, the matter is puzzling and amazing. How is it possible to separate oneself from the Torah even for a short while? In fact, it is unavoidable; it is impossible to be constantly attached to the Torah, day and night, without a moment’s interruption. Every Torah devotee, including the scholar who studies Talmud and its commentators, and the like—each one commensurate with his level, according to the subject matter he studies—must absent himself from the Torah for some time during the day. The same is true also of one with deep mystical insight, and also of one who is much, much loftier. Even so, he must interrupt and set aside his perceiving for a while, because it is impossible to continuously cleave to Torah or mystical perception, without interruption. Of necessity one must stop for a while, to engage in some business or the like, because one must also care for the body’s needs.
(2) The rule is that it is absolutely impossible to cleave to the Torah and mystical perception without any interruption, and of necessity one must break for a while. During that time he is absent from the Torah, this scholar or mystic is a genuinely ordinary person (i.e., a prustik).
(3) On the face of it, this is very perplexing: How can a person separate himself from the Torah even for a short while? Why, it is our life…. Who would want to separate himself from life for even a brief moment? Thus, although our Sages, of blessed memory, said: Setting aside Torah perpetuates it (Menachot 99b), still, who would want this—to be absent from the Torah even though this is its perpetuation? Cleaving to the Torah, which is life and length of days, is nevertheless certainly even better. Which person wants to separate from life even for a single moment, particularly someone who is fortunate to love the Torah and is extremely diligent in Torah and much attached to it? More so someone who has merited feeling some sweetness in Torah, originating some insight, even a straightforward explanation of Talmud and its commentaries? And even more so a mystic, particularly one who has merited entering the King’s treasury, a privilege the mind cannot fathom. Thus, how can he want to separate from the Torah for even a short while?
(4) In truth, as mentioned above, it is impossible to continuously cleave to Torah study, because of necessity one must break and stop for a while. If so, from what do people draw life during the time they are absent from Torah? Why, the essence of life is from the Torah, as mentioned above.
(1) 3. But know! during the time the true tzaddik is an ordinary person, he draws life from the road which leads to the Land of Israel. For know! all these ordinary people—i.e., the scholar while he is absent from Torah, at which time he is an ordinary person; likewise a genuinely ordinary person who, although not a scholar, is a religious and God-fearing person and certainly receives life-force from the Torah; and likewise even those of lower station, and even the nations of the world, as they, too, certainly receive life-force from the Torah—all these ordinary people must have an extraordinarily ordinary individual over them, so that they might all receive life-force through him. This is because all the aforementioned ordinary people have to receive some life-force from the Torah, which is the essence of life. However, in reality, they are far from the Torah, for they are ordinary people (called prustakes). Therefore, they need an extraordinary ordinary individual over them, through whom they all receive life-force from the Torah.
(1) 4A. Know! all the aforementioned ordinary people—whether a scholar who engages in Torah study for its own sake, {because when one engages in Torah st udy not for its own sake, his st udy does not contribute to settling the world. Study not for its own sake is solely a personal need, but even in this there are levels. Only when one engages in study for its own sake is he engaging in settling the world.} who when he sets aside his studies is a genuinely ordinary person, or the other ordinary types—each one, commensurate with his connection to Torah, draws life while in a state of simplicity from the concept of the world’s existence prior to the receiving of the Torah.
(2) For prior to the receiving of the Torah, the world existed solely through His kindness. There was as yet no Torah and no mitzvah performance through which to perpetuate the world. The world essentially existed through His kindness alone. The tzaddik, while in a state of simplicity, separate from the Torah, receives life-force from that element [of kindness].
(3) This is the concept of the Treasury of Unearned Gifts. For there is a treasury with unearned gifts. Someone with no merit at all receives from there (Shemot Rabbah 45:6). This Treasury is surely not prepared for the wicked. If it were, the wicked person would be greater than the tzaddik, since the wicked person certainly has no merit whatsoever. Should he, on account of this, receive from the Treasury of Unearned Gifts? However, in reality, the wicked person definitely does not receive from there. Rather, this Treasury of Unearned Gifts is for the tzaddik alone, that is, at the time the tzaddik is an ordinary person, as mentioned above. He then receives from this Treasury of Unearned Gifts.
(4) This corresponds to prior to the receiving of the Torah, when the world existed solely through unearned kindness, as in “for His kindness is everlasting,” which refers to the era before the Giving of the Torah. {As is brought in the Talmud, Pesachim (118a) : To what do those twenty-six “for His kindness is everlasting” correspond? They correspond to the twenty-six generations….} For then there was no Torah at all, and people were occupied solely with settling the world and derekh eretz (worldly occupation), as our Sages, of blessed memory, taught in the Midrash: Greater is derekh eretz, for it preceded the Torah by twenty-six generations (Vayikra Rabbah 9:3). The world essentially existed then through unearned kindness alone.
(5) 4B. In truth, the Torah surely existed then as well, prior to the receiving of the Torah, because the Torah is eternal. However, then, before the Giving of the Torah, the Torah was hidden and concealed. That is, the entire Torah is encompassed in the Ten Commandments, and so, before the Giving of the Torah the Ten Commandments were hidden within the Ten Utterances through which the world was created. It follows, that the entire Torah was hidden and concealed within the settling of the world, which was created through the Ten Utterances.
(6) Thus in all the words of the world and all the deeds and works—whether of a woodchopper or some other occupation—the Torah is hidden in all of them, for everything was created through the Ten Utterances in which the Torah was hidden and concealed before the Giving of the Torah. And the tzaddik, at the time he separates from the Torah and corresponds to an ordinary person, receives life-force from this aspect of before the Giving of the Torah.
(7) And this is the concept of the aforementioned derekh (road) to the Land of Israel from which the tzaddik draws life while in a state of simplicity. This is because the power of the Land of Israel’s sanctity is in essence produced by the concept of “He informed His people of the power of His acts, to give them the heritage of the nations” (Psalms 111:6). This is as Rashi comments on the verse Bereishit: The reason Scripture begins with “In the beginning” (Genesis 1:1) is to prevent them from saying, “You are robbers….” Scripture therefore began with “In the beginning,” [to make known] that God created everything, and by His wish He gave it to them, and by His wish…. It follows, that the Land of Israel’s power in essence stems from the Ten Utterances through which the world was created, which are the concept of “the power of His acts.” Through this Israel was able to go and conquer the Land of Israel.
(8) 4C. And here, too, in the Diaspora, this concept applies. There are instances when Israel, the holy nation, comes to places which were extremely distant from the sanctity of Israel, for example, a place which originally belonged to idolaters and even now is ruled by one who is very distant from Israel’s sanctity. Jews come there, conquer the place and sanctify it, making it a Jewish place. This, too, is the concept of the Land of Israel, and they could have said, “You are robbers. You conquered this place which is not yours.” However, through “the power of His acts,” the concept of Ten Utterances, we are permitted to conquer the entire world and sanctify it with the sanctity of Israel, because God created it and of His own will gave it to us.
(9) It follows, that the Ten Utterances enclothed in worldly occupation—namely, in settling the world, since the world was created through them—are the road to the Land of Israel. Thus, through the concept of the Ten Utterances it is possible to conquer the Land of Israel. This is the concept of derekh eretz (worldly occupation). It is the derekh (road) and path to eretz—i.e., to Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel). This is because derekh eretz, which is settling the world that was created with the Ten Utterances, is itself the road and path to the Land of Israel, as mentioned above. This is derekh eretz—it is the derekh to Eretz Yisrael .
(10) And through this derekh eretz, namely, the derekh of the Land of Israel—i.e., the Ten Utterances with which the world was created, in which the Torah is hidden and through which the world existed on His kindness during the twenty-six generations that preceded the Giving of the Torah—through this itself the tzaddik vitalizes himself while in a state of simplicity, not studying Torah. He then vitalizes himself through the concept of the Torah hidden within the world, in all the words and all the works which were created through the Ten Utterances, where the Torah is hidden, as mentioned above.
(1) 5. Therefore, the great tzaddik is forced to descend and fall into simplicity, and to be a genuinely ordinary person for some time. Through this he gives life to all the aforementioned ordinary people, no matter who they are, even the nations of the world. He vitalizes himself from the Torah hidden in the Ten Utterances enclothed within the world, and all the aforementioned ordinary people receive life-force from him. And the closer a person is to holiness and the aforementioned tzaddik, the more exalted the life-force he receives from him.
(1) 6. {“And I pleaded with God at that time, leimor (saying)” (Deuteronomy 3:23).} And so, when Moshe Rabbeinu, may peace be upon him, begged to enter the Land of Israel, he requested an unearned gift, as it is written, “And I pleaded with God”—the concept of an unearned gift. And this is “at that time, saying.” That is, his prayer was with the power of the concept of “at that time, saying”—i.e., the power of that time when the world existed through the Ten Utterances. This was before the Giving of the Torah, when the world existed through the Ten Utterances in which the Torah was hidden. The world’s existence was then the result of an unearned gift. And with this power of the world’s existence prior to the Giving of the Torah—i.e., the concept of unearned gifts, the aforementioned Ten Utterances—one merits coming and conquering the Land of Israel, as mentioned above. Moshe therefore used this concept in begging to enter the Land of Israel.
(2) Thus, this is the meaning of: And I pleaded with God— That is, an unearned gift.
(3) at that time, lEiMoR—That is, with the power of that time when the world existed through the maAMaRot (utterances) alone. The world existed then through the concept of an unearned gift, which allows coming to the Land of Israel, as mentioned above. Moshe therefore begged to enter the Land of Israel using this concept. This is the meaning of “at that time.” “That” alludes to hidden and concealed, because at that time, prior to the Giving of the Torah, the Torah was hidden and concealed within the Ten Utterances, etc., as mentioned above.
(1) 7. The rule is: It is forbidden to despair. Even someone who is perfectly ordinary and unable to study at all, or is in a place where it is impossible for him to study, and the like—even so, also at the time of his simplicity he has to strengthen himself with fear of God and simple devotion according to his level. This is because then, too, he receives life-force from the Torah, as mentioned above, via the extraordinarily ordinary individual—i.e., the great tzaddik who gives life to everyone, who is at times an ordinary person.
(2) And even someone who, God forbid, God forbid, is on the absolutely lowest level, may God spare us; even if he is situated in the lowest pit of Hell, may God spare us, should nevertheless keep himself from despair. He should fulfill “I cried out from the belly of Hell” (Jonah 2:3), and encourage himself with whatever he can, because he, too, can return and repent and receive life-force from the Torah via the aforementioned tzaddik.
(3) The main thing is to encourage oneself in every way possible {for there is no such thing as despair! (What he said was: Kein yiush iz gor nit fahr-handin !) He drew out these words Kein yiush…, and said them emphatically and with very amazing and awesome depth, in order to instruct and hint to each and every person throughout the generations not to despair under any circumstances, no matter what happens to him.} And be what may, even if one has fallen to where he has fallen, God spare us, since he encourages himself with something, he still has hope of repenting and returning to God.
(4) Yet, even an ordinary person must have fear of Heaven. There are a number of kinds of fear. Previously, we spoke of the concept of derekh eretz—i.e., the derekh to Eretz Yisrael. However, the Land of Israel itself also contains the concept of ten sanctities, for there are ten types of holiness there, one loftier than the other. They correspond to the Ten Utterances, as each maAMaR (Utterance) is associated with an element of fear, the concept of “Fulfill for Your servant IMRatekha (Your promise), which is for those who fear You” (Psalms 119:38). For there are higher and higher levels of fear. {The Rebbe did not finish explaining this matter.}
(5) And in whatever way he can he has to encourage himself with fear of Heaven also while in a state of simplicity. He can then attain great joy through his simplicity and his faith. For sophistication is altogether unnecessary; only faith, straightforwardness and simplicity, without any sophistication whatsoever. This is because sophistication is very harmful for a person, and sophisticated individuals get caught in their own sophistication. For sophistication leads him astray, from one sophisticated idea to the next, and from that sophisticated idea to another, and likewise to more and more sophisticated ideas until he becomes trapped and is led astray by his own sophistication, as in “He traps the sophisticated by their own cleverness” (Job 5:13). Specifically “by their own cleverness”—i.e., by the cleverness and sophistication which they themselves possess, He traps them. Praiseworthy is the one who follows the path of simplicity.
(1) 8. And we have to plead a great deal with God to be worthy of drawing near to the true tzaddik. Fortunate is the one who, while still alive, is privileged to get closer to the true tzaddik. Fortunate is he, fortunate is his lot. {For afterwards (i.e., after death), it is then very hard to get closer. Thus one has to pray a great many prayers and supplications to merit, while he is still alive, getting closer to the true tzaddikim.}
(2) Presently, the evil inclination has made this its mission, to confuse the world, because the Jewish people are now very close to the End. The Jews now have great longing and yearning for God, the likes of which never existed in earlier times. Each one has great yearning for God. The evil inclination therefore roused, and it instigated conflict among the tzaddikim. It established many false leaders in the world, and also instigated great conflict among the true tzaddikim, such that no one knows where the truth is. Therefore, we have to plead a great deal with God to be worthy of drawing near to the true tzaddik.