תורה 54

3. As for the common people, who do not have the intellect to go deeply into all this so as to understand the hints, as explained above, all this happens to them automatically, by means of sleep, tzitzit, tefilin, Torah study, prayer, and doing business.

Sleep is the aspect of attaching one’s thoughts to the World to Come in a general way, as explained above, corresponding to “YHVH, Elohay (God, my Lord),” which was mentioned above. The reason for this is that while sleeping, [a person’s] soul ascends to the World to Come.

Tzitzit and tefilin correspond to “GaDaLta me’od.” Tefilin are the aspect of haGDaLah (expansion) of the intellect, which was mentioned above. {This is because, as is known, tefilin are the aspect of intellects—i.e., expanding the intellect so as to understand all the hints that God sends him each day, as explained above.} And tzitzit is the above mentioned aspect of contraction, which is the aspect of me’od. This is because t’kheilet is the Throne of Judgment, which is the aspect of contraction This is why tzitzit precedes tefilin, in the aspect of “His left arm is under my head” (Song of Songs 2:6), and then afterwards “his right arm embraces me.” {For, as explained above, the left side is the aspect of judgment/contraction, which is the aspect of tzitzit, while the right side is the aspect of intellect/ tefilin .}

Torah is the aspect of contentment, which was mentioned above. For Torah corresponds to “the tree of life” (Proverbs 3:18), because it contains sustenance for all—i.e., everyone has all he needs from it. We see from this that [the Torah] is the aspect of contentment. And in Torah study itself there is the aspect of contentment. As our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “The work is not yours to finish” (Avot 2:16). The study of Torah is therefore the aspect of contentment. And even the common people, who are incapable of study, they fulfill being involved in Torah by reciting the Shema, as our Sages said (Menachot 99b) .

Prayer corresponds to “majesty and splendor,” which was mentioned above. This is because prayer is [for the] transient life. This corresponds to “and the earth is My footstool,” which was mentioned above—i.e., the aspect of the feet of holiness that are enclothed in this world, as explained above.

And doing business corresponds to “You have stretched out the heavens like a curtain”—i.e., the aspect of union between the righteous person and the Community of Israel, which was mentioned above. This is because the righteous person and the Community of Israel are the aspect of masa u’matan (doing business). The righteous person is called masa (carrier) because he carries the world “like a nurse carries an infant” (Numbers 11:12). He also carries all blessing, as it is written (Proverbs 10:6), “Blessings settle upon the head of the righteous,” and “he carries off a blessing from God” (Psalms 24:5). He carries the drop of seed of all the souls, in the aspect of “carrying a measure of seed” (ibid. 126:6), and he provides for the Community of Israel, who distributes to all the world. On account of this the Community of Israel is called matan (provider), because “she provides food for her household and a daily portion for her maidens” (Proverbs 31:15) .

The union between the righteous person and the Community of Israel is achieved through masa u’matan. This is because everything in the world has in it sparks of holiness that fell at the time of the Shattering of the Vessels. “Shattering” is the aspect of letters that shattered and fell into each and every thing of this world. For every thing has its time: it must come at that time, to that person who shares the same root with those sparks in that thing.

Thus, when that thing comes to this person, and he receives vitality from it—i.e., from the shattered letters that are there—through this the shattered letters are encompassed in this person, in his vitality. They become a complete entity, and infuse the vitality of the entire body. Through this the letters are restored and become complete. Then that thing must stay with this person, for him to use, until the letters and sparks that are associated with his root terminate. After this it leaves his possession for someone else; the time has come for the remaining letters to have an ascent. They share the same root with that other person and so depart for his possession.

Still there are times when the thing returns to that person who had it originally. Since he did not possess the components of soul-spirit-higher soul , he was unable to complete these letters until now that these components of soul-spirit-higher soul have become his. Through them he is able to complete the remaining letters, which in the meanwhile had to remain with the other person.

And when he completes these letters, he gains illumination in his soul-spirit-higher soul because of the illuminations of these letters that came to him and which he completed. Through this illumination he illuminates the root of his soul-spirit-higher soul, which is with the righteous person and the Community of Israel; the root of all the souls , as explained above. As a result of this shining there is a union between the righteous person and the Community of Israel, who are called masa u’matan. On account of this, all buying and selling and all study are called “doing business,” because through them the righteous person and the Community of Israel—who are called masa u’matan—unite, as explained above.