תורה 207

All diburim (words) are the aspect of gevurot (severities), as it is written, “and of Your gevurah (strength) yedaberu (they will speak)” (Psalms 145:11). And as is written in the holy writings: The five gevurot in daat break through and emerge from the mouth, where they become the five articulators (Etz Chaim, Shaar TaNTA, Chapter 3). Thus it is that all spoken words are the aspect of severities that one has to mitigate. Their mitigation is by means of Torah study and the good words that people speak. Through this we mitigate the diburim, which are the aspect of severities.

Know, too, that there are times when fierce severities emerge, God spare us, which in this world affect the generation’s leaders since their daat is great. Therefore, when fierce severities emerge, God forbid, they enter the daat of the leaders. There, they break through and emerge from the mouth, to be turned into words, as explained above. Then the words are the aspect of fierce severities that one must be certain to mitigate.

When people do not mitigate the fierce severities, God forbid, it is either because they lack the ability to mitigate them, or cannot mitigate them since they are then on a low level due to some blemish or sin they committed. For even great tzaddikim occasionally blemish and err in some matter, [as in,] “For there is no man on Earth so righteous [that he does good and never sins]” (Ecclesiastes 7:20), and because they are then in that aspect, they do not mitigate the fierce severities, which are the words.

And when they fail to mitigate the words which are the fierce severities, then with these words they begin to speak evil about people generally and about specific individuals. Alternatively, they speak about the tzaddik of the generation. Then all their words, which are fierce severities, affect and beset the tzaddik of the generation, God forbid.

Thus the tzaddik of the generation must see to mitigate these fierce severities, which are the aforementioned words. By virtue of his judging [these people] positively in this that they speak about him, we may conclude that he inclines toward chesed (lovingkindness). With this, he mitigates them. Or, by virtue of his accepting with love the suffering that stems from their speaking about him, he likewise mitigates their words, which are the fierce severities, as explained above.

However, if the tzaddik of the generation lacks the ability to mitigate them, God forbid, then he can fall greatly from his level because of the aforementioned severities that affect him. Or, this might cause him to pass away altogether, God forbid. Then, through his passing, his soul mitigates these aforementioned fierce severities.

It was from this that the Baal Shem Tov passed away. For he said he would pass away because of the episode of Shabbatai Zvi, may his name be obliterated. Among the followers of Shabbatai Zvi, may his name be obliterated, there were a number of the generation’s leaders and outstanding scholars whom he deceived, as is widely known. They disassociated themselves from the community and spoke evil of the entire Oral Law. This was because they were affected by fierce severities, which they did not mitigate due to the aforementioned aspect. They therefore spoke evil words about the people generally, and these words beset the leader of the generation. The Baal Shem Tov, of blessed memory, was then the generation’s leader, and he passed away from this. This is as they say in the Baal Shem Tov’s name; he said that he had two holes in his heart as a result of the episode of Shabbatai Zvi, may his name be obliterated. And it was from this that he passed away, as explained above.

For speaking against the Oral Law and speaking against the tzaddik of the generation himself is literally one and the same thing. This is because the essence of the Oral Law is dependent upon the tzaddik of the generation, as it is written: “The Shekhinah (Divine Presence) resides between two tzaddikim” (Zohar I, 153b) ; [the Shekhinah ] being the Oral Law, as is brought elsewhere. Likewise, the Torah scholar is himself the Torah, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said (Makkot 22b): How foolish people are. They rise for a Torah scroll [but not for a Torah scholar].

However, when the tzaddik mitigates their words, he thus transforms their words into Torah, as is brought elsewhere. He then creates Torah of lovingkindness, namely, [Torah] for teaching others, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said concerning the verse (Proverbs 31:26), “the Torah of lovingkindness is on her tongue”—this is someone who studies in order to teach (Sukkah 49b). For when he transforms these words into Torah, he is certainly able to teach it to others. From this we may conclude that it is Torah of chesed, with which he mitigates them.