English translation — מאמר שיר המעלות תשכ"ב

With the help of Heaven.

Lag BaOmer,

5722*

"A Song of Ascents by Dovid: Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together also in unity."

And the Rebbe, my father-in-law, the Rebbe, precisely analyzes in his maamar beginning with this phrase,

[that] "for brothers to dwell" is when they sit together in brotherhood and love,

and what does "also in unity" add?

And he explains,

that "brothers" are the souls of the male and female that belong to each other

(groom and bride),

and "for brothers to dwell" is the drawing near and connection of their betrothal bonds,

and this is the preparation for the marriage,

at which time there is

(also)

"in unity,"

in addition to connection, also unification.

And he continues in the maamar,

that it is stated in the Zohar

[regarding] "for brothers to dwell also in unity,"

[that it refers to] the Holy One Blessed be He and the Congregation of Israel,

"also" includes the lower Israel.

And it can be said,

that the connection of the interpretation that "brothers" are groom and bride with the statement of the Zohar that it refers to the Holy One Blessed be He and the Congregation of Israel,

is,

that the groom and bride below are derived from the groom and bride above,

[namely] the Holy One Blessed be He and the Congregation of Israel,

and therefore the maamar brings what is said in the Zohar

(that)

"brothers" are the Holy One Blessed be He and the Congregation of Israel,

for this is the foundation for the interpretation that "brothers" are groom and bride.

And seemingly, one may add,

that the explanation in the maamar

(regarding the two matters of "dwelling as brothers" and also "together")

is also according to the interpretation

that "brothers" refers to the Jewish people,

that in their love and brotherhood there are two levels in general.

Connection

(analogous to the binding of conditions),

and through this they subsequently come to unification.

And based on this, it may be said,

that what the maamar brings from the Zohar's interpretation that "dwelling as brothers also together" refers to the unification of the Holy One, blessed be He, and the Congregation of Israel,

is

because in order for the love and brotherhood of Israel to be in a manner of "together"

(analogous to the unification of marriage),

it is

through the revelation of the unity of Israel with the Holy One, blessed be He.

And based on this, one may also explain what the verse

continues

(that "dwelling as brothers also together" is)

"like the good oil upon the head, descending upon the beard, the beard of Aharon, descending upon the collar of his garments,"

because in order for the unification of the Holy One, blessed be He, and Israel to effect in Israel true love and brotherhood, even to the degree of "together,"

it is through the descent and drawing down of the good oil,

as will be explained below

(section 8).

2)

And this will be understood by prefacing what is stated in the Zohar:

Once the world needed rain,

they came before Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai,

and through his saying a discourse on the verse "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell also together," rain fell.

And the precise point in this is known,

for we find that in order to effect the descent of rain, they would add six blessings in the Shemoneh Esrei

and decree thirteen fasts,

and Choni the Circle-Maker drew a circle and stood within it and prayed,

yet Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai effected this through the recitation of a discourse, with no exertion at all.

And the point of the explanation in this

(as understood from the discourses),

is that the need for special effort to effect the descent of rain is in prayer.

For since prayer is from below upward,

therefore, in order for the service

(prayer)

of the lower beings to arouse and draw down rain

(for the source of rain is above the chain of descent),

special effort is required.

But Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai drew down the descent of rain through the recitation of Torah,

for Torah is from above downward,

and therefore he did not need service or exertion.

And the reason for this, that specifically Rashbi brought down rain through the utterance of Torah,

is,

that the descent of rain

(after there was initially a cessation of rain)

is a change in the world,

for that a change occurs in the world is

(generally)

through prayer,

as explained in Tanya18.

But in Rashbi,

even in his engagement with Torah there was

(also)

the quality of prayer,

and therefore he brought down rain through the utterance of Torah.

3)

And the explanation is,

that the distinction between Torah and prayer is analogous to the distinction between blessing and prayer19.

For prayer is from below to above

(as above),

that the one who prays is below and requests that they bestow upon him from above,

and blessing is from above to below,

that the one who blesses

[he who has the power to bless,

and in the manner of Avraham Avinu, to whom the Holy One, blessed be He, said "the blessings are given to you"20]

is above the root from which the blessing is drawn, and draws it from above to below.

And this is that blessing is in the manner of a command,

for the one who blesses is above the root from which the blessing is drawn, and therefore has the power to command.

Now, the superiority of blessing over prayer is with regard to the person who blesses and the person who prays,

but with regard to the drawing down itself,

the drawing down through prayer is more elevated.

For the matter of blessing is to draw down what already exists in the source, and not something new,

and the matter of prayer is a request from the Holy One, blessed be He, that even if the influence is not changed in the source, Heaven forbid,

and moreover, that it has been decreed upon him that he should be ill, Heaven forbid, or the like,

nevertheless,

a new influence shall be drawn to him from Ein Sof, which is above the chain of descent.

For this is what is said in several prayers: "May it be [His] will,"

for the explanation of "May it be [His] will" is that there should be a new will.

And the reason for this, that the drawing down of a new light is specifically through prayer,

is "for You desire the work of Your hands"21,

and therefore,

through prayer,

the service of the lower one,

they reach Ein Sof which is above the chain of descent.

4)

Now, this concept that in prayer

(through which a new influence is drawn down)

is also present in a general way in Torah.

For through a ruling of Torah law, a change is brought about in the world22

[a new thing is made that did not exist even in the root and source of the world],

this is,

because Torah is above the root of the world

(for Torah is His wisdom, blessed be He, which is above the wisdom of the act of Creation),

therefore,

through a ruling of Torah law, a change and renewal is made in the world.

And thus,

in Torah there are two virtues,

the virtue of prayer – drawing down a new matter,

and the virtue of blessing23.

For the change and renewal made in the world through the ruling of the Torah scholar who engages in Torah is

(not in the manner of a request as in prayer,

but rather)

in an automatic manner.

And as is known24

regarding the concept of "Who are the kings? The Rabbis"25,

that because their Torah study is in a state of self-nullification,

their rulings are that the King Himself

(the King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He)

decrees and speaks the ruling,

and since this is a decree of the King,

it is done automatically.

And similarly regarding the miracles performed by the Tannaim and Amoraim through their Torah study26,

such as Rebbe Pinchas ben Yair who said, "Ginnai River, divide your waters for me"27,

that in this there are two virtues.

A change and renewal in the river

(which is not even in its root and source28)

– the virtue of prayer,

and that the change in the river was made through the command of Rebbe Pinchas ben Yair – the virtue of blessing.

5)

Nevertheless, prayer has an advantage over Torah,

for Torah is wisdom,

and wisdom

(even the wisdom of Torah, which is above the wisdom of the act of Creation)

is incomparable relative to Ein Sof,

and through prayer one draws down a new will from Ein Sof that is above even the wisdom of Torah29.

Based on this, it can be said,

that the novelty in that Rashbi brought down rain through his Torah statement, compared to the awesome miracles30

performed by several Tannaim and Amoraim through their Torah study,

is,

that the change in the world made by all the Tannaim and Amoraim was by drawing down and revealing that it is so according to the wisdom of Torah31,

and the novelty of the rain falling through Rashbi's statement of the discourse on the verse "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity,"

is,

that although the discourse he said pertained only to the matter of rain32

in general, but there was no hint in it that the world was then worthy of rain,

and thus, even according to the wisdom of Torah

(which is above the root of the world)

the world was not worthy of rain,

and that rain fell then through the utterance of the discourse is because through the utterance of the discourse he drew down from Ein Sof that is above the wisdom of Torah,

similar to the drawing down that occurs through prayer.

And it can be said,

that this drawing down from Ein Sof that is above the wisdom of Torah, which occurred through Rashbi's Torah statement,

is,

because in the inner dimension of Torah, Ein Sof shines in a revealed way33,

and since Rashbi was the source of the inner dimension of Torah

[and even in his study of the revealed dimension, the inner dimension shone34],

therefore, through his Torah statement he drew down Ein Sof in a revealed way, which is above Torah.

6)

Now, that in order to effect a change in the creations it is

(generally)

through prayer

(as brought above in section 2 of Tanya),

is for two reasons.

For that a change is made in the creations is through drawing down Ein Sof that is above Seder Hishtalshelus,

and this drawing down is through the raising of Mayin Nukvin of prayer

(as above at the end of section 3),

and also because in order for there to be a change in the creations below through the light that is above Seder Hishtalshelus that is drawn into them, they need to be vessels for the light,

and through the raising of Mayin Nukvin from below, the lower realm becomes a vessel for the light.

And based on this, it must be said,

that this that Rashbi drew down rainfall through his utterance of Torah is because in his utterance of Torah there were both aspects,

the drawing down of Ein Sof that is above Seder Hishtalshelus,

and also the refinement of the lower realm

(as will be explained).

And it may be said,

that this is also what is stated in the Zohar, that the influence that Rashbi drew down through his utterance of Torah was the descent of rain,

for in this it is emphasized that in the Torah of Rashbi there was also the advantage of prayer—not only the advantage of drawing down from above Seder Hishtalshelus, but also the advantage of refining the vessel.

And the explanation is,

that this that the influence of rain comes through an arousal from below is related to the rain itself.

For just as physically, rain comes from clouds that are formed from the moisture of the earth,

"And a mist ascended from the earth and watered the entire face of the ground,"

so too is it spiritually,

that rain is a matter that is made

(drawn down)

through an arousal from below.

And since the matter of rain is a drawing down that comes through an arousal from below,

it is understood,

that this that through the utterance of Torah of Rashbi rain descended,

is

because in the Torah of Rashbi there exists, in addition to the advantage that comes through an arousal from below

(drawing down from above Seder Hishtalshelus),

also the advantage of the arousal from below itself,

the refinement of the vessel.

And the explanation of this may be said,

that this that Torah

[drawing down from above]

and prayer

[the service of man]

are two matters

[and in each one there is an advantage]

is on the level of souls as they come into existence,

but from the perspective of the root of souls as they are rooted in Atzmus, there is no division between drawing down from above and the service of man,

for Yisrael and the Holy One, blessed be He, are entirely one.

For the revelation of this matter

(that Yisrael and the Holy One, blessed be He, are literally one)

is in the inner dimension of Torah,

the Torah of Rashbi,

and therefore in the Torah of Rashbi there is also the aspect of prayer

(refinement of the vessel).

7)

And it can be said,

that this matter of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai's recitation of Torah on the verse "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity" is from two aspects.

Because this relates to the descent of rain

(as above in section 5),

and also because this [that he] effected the descent of rain

(whose concept is an arousal from below,

the service of man)

through the recitation of Torah

(a drawing down from above,

the Torah of the Holy One, blessed be He),

is because Israel and the Holy One, blessed be He, are entirely one.

And therefore his recitation of Torah was on the verse "brothers dwelling together in unity," which refers to the unity of the Holy One, blessed be He, and Israel

(as brought above at the beginning of the maamar).

And it may be added,

that this is also what [is found] in his discourse

(through which he effected the descent of rain)

discussed the matter of love of Israel,

that even those who at first were "combatants of war" who sought to kill one another,

afterward returned to brotherly love,

for through the love and unity of Israel, the love and unity of Israel and the Holy One, blessed be He, is revealed.

For through "brothers dwelling"

(the love and brotherhood of Israel)

there is drawn forth "together in unity,"

also to include the Shechinah with them.

8)

And this is "like the good oil," etc.,

oil is wisdom,

Torah,

and "good oil" is the inner dimension of Torah.

And it is possible to connect this with what is said in the commentaries on the Zohar,

that "good oil" is the illumination of the yesod of Atik,

for the revealed aspect of Torah relates to Arich, and the inner dimension of Torah to Atik.

And this is "brothers dwelling together in unity, like the good oil," etc.,

that in order to achieve "brothers dwelling together," it is through the study of the inner dimension of Torah.

And the verse continues, "coming down upon the beard, the beard of Aharon, that comes down upon the collar of his garments,"

which are two descents.

"Beard" refers to the understanding and comprehension of Torah,

"beard" [alludes to] one who has acquired wisdom.

And "his garments" are the garments of the mitzvos.

For the study of the inner dimension of Torah must permeate

(durchnehmen)

all of one's faculties,

both understanding and comprehension, and also actual deed.

And through this, "brothers dwelling together in unity" is achieved,

that his love of Israel is in the manner of "brothers dwelling"

(connection,

analogous to the bonds of Tannaim)

and even more so in the manner of "together in unity"

(the union of marriage),

and through this, the Holy One, blessed be He, listens to their words, and they become vessels to receive the influence from the Ein Sof, which has no limitations,

not even the limitation of the wisdom of Torah,

[so that] the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself bestows upon each and every one of Israel abundant good, in a revealed and manifest good,

in children, life, and ample sustenance.