Taking with the Arm: The Tzaddik Draws Blessing

12“Fortunate is the one You choose and bring near …” can also be explained through the blessing the tzaddik brings us, along the lines of the explanation I have given of a teaching of Chazal. On the verse “Listen now, you stout-hearted,” Chazal expounded: “These are the tzaddikim. All are sustained by charity, and they take with their own arm.”¹ I explained that “with their own arm” means this: the tzaddikim are close to the upper worlds, and the flow of blessing lies ready before them to take in their hands. A person who is close to something can easily take it in his hand; so too the tzaddikim. That is “to dwell in Your courts”: the tzaddik dwells in Your holy courts on high and takes the flow of blessing from there to bring it down to us. And that is “may we be sated with the goodness of Your house”: through this we too are sated with all the goodness of Your house on high. Understand this.

13aNow to explain the verses about Avraham: the tzaddik always thinks that he does not serve Hashem at all, and afterward he is privileged to reach a great level. That is “He lifted his eyes and saw”:² through his seeing, always looking at himself and examining himself in this way, he rises higher still. “And behold, three men standing over him” hints at the three levels in which the tzaddik must serve: fear, love and splendor. Splendor means that through his deeds he glorifies Hashem in His greatness and exaltedness. These three levels stand firm, nitzavim, in their place and station, and never move from him. This is the meaning of “Elokim nitzav ba'adas El, God stands in the congregation of God”:³ the tzaddik turns the attribute of judgment around, until the Name Elokim, which is the attribute of judgment, stands firm, nitzav, in its place “in the congregation of El,” which is kindness, as in “the kindness of El is all the day.”⁴ We may also say that nitzav is a word for an implement, as in “the haft (nitzav) went after the blade”:⁵ the Name Elokim becomes a vessel for kindness.

13bThrough these three levels the tzaddik draws down the flow of life, sustenance and children. For these, as Chazal say, “do not depend on merit but on mazal,” fortune;⁶ here mazal is the upper world called Mazla [from nozel, “flowing down”], which the tzaddik rouses so that it bestows these three. We may say that this explains the verse “Not by bread alone does man live, but by all that comes forth from the mouth of Hashem does man live.”⁷ Lechem, bread (לחם, 78), has the numerical value of mazla (מזלא, 78): the count of the one is the count of the other. The verse is saying: it is not only by rousing the upper world called Mazla, the “bread” of the verse, that the tzaddik draws down the flow of life, sustenance and children. “But by all that comes forth from the mouth of Hashem”: also when the tzaddik brings forth from his mouth the holy Name, as it should be said, in holiness and purity, he draws down that same flow.

14To go on with Avraham's verses: “He saw, and he ran toward them.”⁸ After the tzaddik grows stronger still, he sees and looks at himself even more; that is why “he saw” is said twice. “He ran toward them”: then this tzaddik cannot be still, rest or stop himself from his love, his fear and his glorifying of Hashem, blessed be He. He always pursues these levels, running toward them again and again. All this he earns “mipesach, from the entrance” of the tent, by holding himself in humility. “And he bowed to the ground …”: the bowing draws the flow of blessing down below. “He said, ‘Please do not pass on …’”⁹ After all the services and levels he will reach, he still needs to strengthen himself in prayer and supplication, entreating and pleading before Hashem that it not pass from him and never leave him. Every day he must worry about the next day, that he not fall, Heaven forbid, from his holiness. For the service of Hashem is like mountains hanging by a hair:¹⁰ if he is not careful in his service and falls short in it by a hair's breadth, at once “the Satan is at his right hand to accuse him”¹¹ and throws him down from his level. So he greatly needs to strengthen himself in prayer and supplication to Hashem day and night, that He help him and that it not pass from him.

15aOnce the tzaddik has reached all these levels, he must rebuke others. And when a person rebukes others, it is the way of things that their stray thoughts fall upon him. That is why Avraham put it this way, in the passive: “Let a little water be taken, please,”¹² as though through a messenger. He did not draw near to them in his rebuke with his whole body and level; he was careful and guarded, so as not to fall from his holiness. “And wash your feet”: the dust on the feet is the sins and the slight lapses in fine points, which are like dust, yet still need atonement, confession and regret. This is what is said of Yaakov Avinu: “And a man wrestled (vaye'avek) with him,”¹³ and Chazal expounded: “They raised dust (avak) up to the Throne of Glory.”¹⁴ We may say that they too meant what we have said: they raised the sins, which are like dust, up to the Throne of Glory, a hint at teshuvah and regret, as Chazal said: “Great is teshuvah, for it reaches the Throne of Glory.”¹⁵

15b(“And recline under the tree”: in the spirit of the blessing “May you see your world in your lifetime.”¹⁶ We may say that when a person sanctifies himself with great holiness, he feels the delight of the World to Come in his lifetime. That is “recline under the tree”: you will delight in and feel the great delight that is under the Tree of Life.)¹⁷

16“I will take a morsel of bread, and sustain your hearts.”¹⁸ A tzaddik who wants to bring down blessing to the world must do it through other tzaddikim, by joining with them. When he feeds them a meal eaten in holiness, a great flow of blessing is drawn down through him. That is what Avraham said, “I will take a morsel of bread, and sustain your hearts”: you will sustain your hearts in holiness through this eating, for the heart is the place where holiness dwells, as the verse says, “that we may bring a heart of wisdom.”¹⁹ And when you do this, you will bring blessing down to others. That is “achar ta'avoru, afterward you may pass on”: achar (אחר), “afterward,” has the letters of acher, “another,” and ta'avoru (תעבורו), “you will pass on,” is read as ta'aviru (תעבירו), “you will pass along”: you will pass the flow of blessing along to others as well. Understand this.