788. He Raises the Poor from the Dust – 1

“He raises the poor from the dust, lifts the indigent from the trash.”

We should ask the following: 1) what is dust, 2) what is poor, 3) what is trash, 4) what is indigent.

“Dust” is as in, “A serpent, all its food is dust.” That is, he tastes the taste of dust in Torah and work, due to lack of faith. At that time, one must strengthen oneself with confidence that “Even if a sharp sword is placed on his neck, he should not give up on mercy,” which is the mind.

“Poor” means that he is deficient of faith.

“Trash” means heart, when one is immersed in worldly lusts.

“Indigent” is Av-Yaven [in Hebrew]. Av [father] means “desire,” from the words, “and he did not Ava [want] to send them away.” Yaven comes from Tit HaYaven [quicksand like material]. When one’s desire falls there, it sinks deeper each time. This is one who has no desire, who does not really want to immerse himself so low, meaning he does not have the sharpness in the will to receive because he only acts without thinking. Conversely, one who thinks and wants acts sharply about executing the will to receive.

And yet, when a person is on the lowest degree in terms of the mind and heart, he must believe that the days of mercy and good will assist one to be rewarded with exceptional success, meaning with a quality that is not in him by way of cause and consequence in a gradual manner, but in the manner of skipping over degrees.