תורה 67

3. When a person’s gluttony causes blemish, so that glory is blemished and has no face, brazenfaced people gain power; glory, which is Malkhut, falls. The brazenfaced people of the generation then appropriate the glory, since “brazenness is kingship without a crown” (Sanhedrin 105a). When Malkhut, which is the table of holiness, is deficient, then brazenness—namely, “kingship without a crown,” without the crown of kingship—grows stronger.

{“The dogs are brazen, they are never satiated; these are shepherds who cannot understand” (Isaiah 56:11).} This is the meaning of “The dogs are brazen, they are never satiated”—i.e., on account of gluttony, which is the aspect of “the belly of the wicked wants.” Hence “they are never satiated,” the reverse of “A righteous man eats to satisfy his soul.” [Such craving] empowers the brazenfaced, who are like brazen dogs, as in: The face of the generation is as the face of the dog (Sotah 49b). And this is “these are shepherds who cannot understand”—they become the shepherds and leaders of the generation, because glory has fallen to them and become entirely theirs.

However, breaking the craving for food, as in “A righteous man eats to satisfy his soul,” brings to a lifting up of the face. The brazenfaced then have no command or rule. This is because they are sustained only from the concealment of the face, through gluttony, as explained above. This is the meaning of “he will abide sated, he will not be visited with evil” (Proverbs 19:23). “He will abide sated” is the aspect of “A righteous man eats to satisfy his soul,” because of which “he will not be visited with evil”—i.e., evil, those who are brazenfaced, have no command or authority.