Brit - Its Damage and Rectification (continued)
32. All of the hardships that a person has on the road are all due to damaging the brit, and through shmirat habrit one will not have trouble on the road. (There^)
33. Through shmirat habrit one merits freedom. (There^)
34. There are two aspects of the brit: one aspect is shmirat habrit kodesh and it is an upper aspect. The second aspect is keeping [the laws of what is] permissible and forbidden. Therefore, one must learn the judgments of [what is] permissible and forbidden to also attain this second aspect. When one merits shmirat habrit in both of these aspects, then he is comparable to an angel of HaShem of Armies and he merits complete faith and draws all the blessings and influxes as stated above. [Also,] he merits love [of HaShem], and silence [together with] good yearnings for HaShem by which he merits to form the letters of the Torah for good, and then the letters of the Torah themselves request from him that he'll speak them with his mouth in order to form them for good. Through this, he merits that all his eating and dining will be in the aspect of 'bread of the face', and then his table with atone like an altar. Then all of the stars and constellations and all the nations entirely will toil for his livelihood. (There^)
35. The main trial and refinement that a person is tested with is only in promiscuity, which is the generality of the lusts of all 70 [prototype] nations. And when a person comes into this exile in trial, each according to his aspect [and level], then he needs to yell out many shouts to HaShem, exactly like a woman giving birth who screams several shouts as a result of the bitter pain of the birth pangs, which amount to 70 screams at least. Thus one must yell out many shouts to HaShem until HaShem will have mercy on him and he'll merit to overcome and break this lust. Then he merits to give birth to [divine] intellects, and then the secrets of the Torah are opened up to him, and hidden things are revealed to him. Everyone, according to the trial he stood in and breaks his lust, is the [amount he] merits to a major revelation in the Torah and serving [HaShem], and [how much] he merits the 70 faces of the Torah. (Likutei Moharan I, 36)
36. The remedy for thoughts of promiscuity that come to a person is to say "Shema..." and "blessed be the name of the glory of his kingdom forever", and then his soul will be included into the twelve tribes of Yah and he separates his soul from the soul of the mixed multitude that come from a prostitute woman who is a bad maidservant; that from there comes this lust which encompasses all bad characteristics. (There^)
37. When a person has a random thought at all, then to say these two verses [mentioned above] is enough for him. However, if he normally has thoughts of this all encompassing evil lust and he is unable to separate himself from it, then he needs to shed tears, also, at the time he receives the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven [that is, when he says the shema]. That is, that he'll arouse himself [through it] until he cries and sheds tears at the time he says "shema" and "blessed be the name of the glory, etc". (There^)
38. When one rectifies the sign of the brit kodesh, then his mind is whole and he is able to understand the speech of the tzadik. According to the [amount of] rectification of each one, thus [is the amount of] his attainment [of understanding the speech of the tzadik]. This is a major principle, that it is impossible for any person to reach and grasp the speech of the tzadik if one does not first rectify the sign of the brit kodesh properly. However, through damaging the brit, one's knowledge and mind become damaged until he doesn't grasp or attain the words of the tzadik at all, and he can stumble by them if he goes after the wickedness in his heart and after the foolish questions that fall upon him in his mind. (There^)
39. Through the lust for promiscuity it is possible to come to insanity, to become literally crazy. Therefore, the expert doctors have written that castration is a remedy for a crazy person. (There^)
40. One who breaks this lust for promiscuity, then he can easily break the rest of the lusts - therefore it is tikun haklali [meaning the all-encompassing rectification]. Everyone, according to his distance from this lust, is closer to a revelation of Torah - and thus [it is] for the opposite, God forbid. Therefore, before a person merits a revelation of Torah he needs to come to testing and refinement in this lust. This is the main testing and refinement. And when one prevails in the test and he breaks the shell that precedes the fruit, he'll merit the fruit; that is, a revelation of Torah as stated above. (There^)
(Continue to the next part)
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