Letter Aleph
The Year 1920
With God's help, nineteen days to the Omer count, in Jerusalem, may it be built and established, according to the order "When they draw near to the Lord," etc., etc.
To my friend... may he live a long and good life, Amen.
Now, at noon, I received your registered letter from the eighth day of the first month, and your words to me are in complaint, like a poor man's prayer that is accepted, as it is stated in the Zohar.
I have already proven to you in my previous letters, that before you reproach me for refraining from writing, you should reproach your own laxity. See, from the seventh of Shevat until the eighth of Nisan, which is more than two months, you have written nothing to me. And I have written to you during this time four letters, on the twenty-second of Shevat, the tenth of Adar, the first of Nisan, and the eighth of Nisan.
And if this small amount still satisfies the lion, it is as it is written: "For one higher than the high watches, and there are higher ones over them," and in response to the strong demand from you, I will answer that everyone believes in individual providence, but they are not attached to it at all.
The reason is, how can one attribute a foreign and impure thought... to the Creator, blessed be He, who is the ultimate good and bestower... Only to true servants of the Lord is knowledge of individual providence initially opened, that He was the cause of all the preceding causes, both good and bad together, and then they are attached to individual providence, for all that is connected to the pure is pure.
And since the overseer is unique in His providence, there is no distinction at all between bad and good, and all are beloved and all are clear, for all are carriers of the Lord's vessels, ready to glorify the revelation of His unity, blessed be He, and this is known through experience, and in this respect, they have knowledge in the end, that all actions and thoughts, both good and bad, are carriers of the Lord's vessels, and He prepared them and they came from His mouth, and this will be known to all eyes at the end of correction.
But in the meantime, it is a long and dreadful exile, and the main trouble is, that when one sees some revelation of an action that is not in order, he falls from his level (and is caught in a well-known falsehood and forgets that he is like an axe in the hand of the one who chops with it) because he considers himself the owner of this action, and forgets the cause of all causes that everything is from Him, and there is no other actor in the world besides Him.
And this is the study, even though he stood in it in the aspect of knowledge initially, nevertheless, at the time of need, he does not control his knowledge to unite everything to the cause, in particular, that he inclines to the side of merit. And this is the entire response to your letter.
I have already told you face to face a true parable about the matter of these two aforementioned knowledges, that one came and taught about the other. Nevertheless, the power of concealment prevails and dominates between them. As our sages said about those two jesters who were before Rabbi, who would cheer up anyone who was sad.
A parable of a king whose servant found favor in his eyes until he wished to elevate and raise him above all the ministers, for he recognized in his heart a faithful love that would not falter.
However, it is not the custom of the kingdom to elevate a person to the highest ranks all at once, and without an apparent reason. Rather, the customs of the kingdom are to reveal its reasoning to all with profound wisdom.
What did he do? He appointed the servant as a gatekeeper in the outer houses. And he instructed a wise minister, skilled in the art of jesting, to disguise himself and pretend to be a rebel against the kingdom, and to go to battle to conquer the house at a time when the soldiers were unprepared.
The minister acted according to the king's command, and with great cunning and wisdom, he pretended to fight for the king's house. The servant, the gatekeeper, risked his life, saved the king, and fought against the minister with remarkable bravery and immense self-sacrifice, until his love for the king was revealed to all.
Then the minister removed his disguise, and there was great laughter (for he fought with great spirit and courage, and now it was evident that it was all an illusion and not reality). They laughed even more when the minister recounted the depth of the illusions of his cruelty and the great fear he feigned. Every detail of this terrible battle became a source of laughter and great joy.
But despite all this - he is a servant! And he is unlearned. How is it possible to elevate him above all the ministers and servants of the king?
The king pondered in his heart and told that minister that he must disguise himself in the garments of a robber and murderer, and engage in a covert battle with him. For the king knows that in the second battle, he will reveal wondrous wisdom, making him worthy to stand at the head of all the ministers.
Therefore, he appointed the servant as the overseer of the royal treasury. And that minister disguised himself this time in cruel and murderous attire and came to plunder the king's treasures.
The unfortunate overseer fought him with all his might and self-sacrifice until the measure was full. Then the minister removed his disguise, and there was great joy and immense laughter in the king's palace, even more than before. For the minister's cunning actions, down to their details, provoked much laughter, because now it was known openly that there is no cruelty in the king's realm, and all kinds of cruelty are merely jesters, to the extent that the minister, with deep cunning, acquired the ability to transform into the garments of wickedness.
But in the meantime, the servant inherits "wisdom" - from the knowledge of the end. "And love" - from the knowledge of the beginning. And then he was established for eternity.
And the truth is that all the battles are a wondrous sight, in that revelation, and everyone knows in their inner goodness that it is all a kind of jest and joy that brings only good. Nevertheless, there is no strategy to ease the burden and threat of the battle.
Behold, I have elaborated on this face to face, and now you have knowledge of this parable from one end, and with God's help, you will understand it from the other end as well.
The main matter you wish to hear about, I cannot answer you at all, and for this, I gave you the parable of PBP, for "the earthly kingdom is like the heavenly kingdom," where the actual governance is entrusted to ministers, yet everything is done according to the king's counsel and signature. The king himself does nothing more than sign the plan prepared by the ministers, and if he finds any flaw in the plan, he does not correct it but appoints another minister in place, and the first one is dismissed from his position.
Similarly, a person, a small world, is governed according to the letters imprinted within, being kings ruling over the seventy nations within. This is the secret in the Book of Creation, "He appointed a certain letter," and each letter is like a minister in its time, making assessments, and the King of the World signs them. When the letter errs in some plan, it is immediately dismissed from its post, and another letter is appointed in its place.
This is the secret of "generation by generation and its judges," where at the end of correction, the letter called Messiah will reign and complete and connect all generations to the crown of glory in the hand of the Lord. From this, you will understand how it is possible for me to interfere in your state's affairs, which already... kings and judges, each one obliged to reveal all that was imposed on him to reveal, which the crossings of unity... does not wish to correct, I will correct them with wonder, but in the secret of reincarnation, everything will be clarified.
For this reason, I am eager to hear all kinds of your decisions in the particular aspects, because in each detail, a deep wisdom is hidden, and if I heard from you any fixed orders, I would be able to fulfill them and gladden your heart.
Know that it is very difficult for me to understand your language, because you have no consistency in names and their hints, and therefore, I will open for you a gateway in the values of the appellations, which according to the rules of the appellations that they instruct you, you will measure for me the rule of your wisdom, and in this way, I can reach the end of your words.
I am arranging the appellations, as I have absorbed from all your letters, to be fixed permanently between us, to know everything you write without any scrutiny, like signs on wine barrels.
We will start from the root of all roots, to the end of the end, marked in general by five levels: Yechida, Chaya, Neshama, Ruach, Nefesh, all of which are gathered together in the body of the corrector. Behold, Yechida, Chaya, Neshama are above time, and although even in the heart of the created they are found, but as surrounding from afar, and they will not come into the body found in its correction time, for even in the hidden source, a root is distinguished: head, interior, end, where the head is the root for Yechida, and it is Ein Sof, for there, even in its place, His light is not revealed, and everything is nullified like light before a torch.
Afterwards, the root of the middle, which is the root for Chaya, and it is the secret of the Light of Ein Sof, meaning the revelation of His Light in perfection, and in the secret of time, this light is perceived only in the aspect of the vitality within it, and this is sufficient. Therefore, it is called the root for Chaya.
And afterwards, the root of the end, which is the root for the souls, and it is like at the very beginning, the secret of Ein Sof. Here, the upper curtain is spread, and time begins in the secret of "six thousand years the world exists and one desolate," which is called: Ruach and Nefesh, and their root is attached to the Neshama, but they also extend below, in the secret of Torah, this is Ruach Chaim. And Mitzvah, this is the Nefesh, which is the permanence, the aspect of resting, and it is the power that embraces and strengthens the body in a fixed state, with the power of the punctures embedded in this Nefesh.
And the Ruach is what blows the spirit of life and the light of Torah in the image of the Nukva. Also, in the root, the secret is explained "and He blew into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul," meaning, the Ruach ascends to the Neshama, and receives life from it, in the light of the face of the King, and brings this life to the Nefesh, and at this time it is called a living Nefesh.
And so is the order in all the Zivugim in the seven punctures of the head, and in the two below in the Nefesh, and this is the secret of "God settles the solitary in a house," meaning, in the revelation of the power of the punctures, through "all the glory of the king's daughter is within."
Behold, the main corrections and work are to reveal the powers of the Neshama, which is called in the Zohar: "Upper World," and this also pertains to the aspect of the hidden source, in the secret of the root of the end as mentioned above. And every Zivug is the revelation of one light in the reality of the Upper World, which is the secret of "our sons are like plants grown in their youth," meaning, in the secret of the impregnation in the Upper World, and through Zivug... to the lower ones... Thus it arose in thought, that the end of the head, the hidden source, will complete all the lights... continuation from the book Otzar Yediot. The essence of the intellect is the soul of man, and the whole man, for he is entirely defined by it, and what emerges from it are its garments and servants, some are branches for it, some are considered strangers to it.
And behold, this power, even though it is in his soul, nevertheless he will not see it, and it is hidden from the eyes of all living. And do not be surprised by this, for the eye is a dominant aspect, the most important of all senses, and yet they will never see themselves, but they feel their existence absolutely, in such a way that sight would not add any knowledge to them at all, and therefore nothing was created in vain, for they have the sensation, and there is no need to add to the sense of feeling.
Likewise, the mental power, which is the essence of a person, is not discernible through the senses, as it suffices, at the very least, for the sensation of one's existence, and no person would doubt their own existence to require the testimony of their senses. (The reason is that there is no sensation without movement, meaning that sometimes the sensation ceases, and in essence, movement is not applicable, thus it resembles more an absolute knowledge). It is a great mistake to liken the form of the essence of the intellect to the form of the intellect grasped in its minimal aspect by the imagination, for this is an absolute falsehood, since this intellect is like a light that emanates and acts, and in the continuation of its action, the sensation of its light is also discerned, until it completes its action and its light is lost.
From this, you will understand that the intellect felt during its action is only a small and weak branch of it (the essential sensation is a matter of knowledge, for the power of sensation is also a sense, in the aspect of an emanating action, and the essential sensation does not require it) and it bears no resemblance to its essence, neither in quantity nor in quality, like a stone that is struck and reveals sparks of light, which are renewed from the excitement of the general embracing force within the stone, even though in the form of the embracing force within it, there is no kind of light at all. Similarly, the essence of the intellect is the general force within a person, and various branches are revealed from it, such as in strength and power, in heat and light, according to the laws of the action performed by it.
And although we refer to it as the "intellectual soul" or "essence of the intellect," it is because the intellect is also a branch of it, and it is the most important in the world, for "according to one's intellect, a person is praised," and since one cannot give what one does not have, therefore we define it as intellect. That is, at least not less than the felt intellect, for it is a branch and part of it. And it rules over its other branches, consuming them, like a candle before a torch. The intellect does not connect with any action, but all kinds of actions connect and are established in the intellect, and it is discerned that all of existence are its servants, both in obedience and in enhancing it, for they all perish and pass, and the intellect in general continues to develop. Therefore, all our endeavors are only in the ways of the intellect and its aspirations, and nothing more [and nothing else is needed].