Explanations of the Prayer - Halleluyah, Halleli - Part 3

00:01 We still need to explain the verse “Who executes justice for the oppressed” according to [?]. We said that this entire chapter is about what we’ve been discussing: the difference between the flow of blessing that comes from holiness and the flow that comes from kelipah. The first half of the chapter explains that. Even though the flow from holiness is abundant, afterward it has no description. So when the flow comes from holiness, it is a genuine flow. That is what we discussed in the first half of the chapter. Here he begins to discuss what happens to the sparks of holiness within the kelipah. After all, the reason the kelipah can provide so abundantly is that it has a spiritual spark of life that gives it that capacity. These are the holy sparks that entered it through the shattering of the vessels, and from them the kelipah receives all its life and vitality. What happens to those sparks? What happens to them when, as we see, they have no discernible form? Ultimately, those sparks are refined and return and ascend to holiness. That is the point the second half of the chapter discusses. We can also explain this point in terms of the souls, as we’ll see now. First, let’s read what it says, beginning with the plain meaning of the verses. It continues what was said earlier: Hakadosh Boruch Hu helps each and every person. Fortunate is the person who relies on Hakadosh Boruch Hu and trusts in Him, because Hakadosh Boruch Hu is faithful and will fulfill His promise. The psalm then goes on to describe all the things Hakadosh Boruch Hu does.

02:00 The kindness Hashem shows each and every person. It says: “Who executes justice for the oppressed.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu brings justice to all those who have been robbed, all those who have suffered pain and hardship at others’ hands. Hakadosh Boruch Hu never leaves a debt unpaid; He brings them justice so they receive back everything they lost. That’s the plain meaning. In other words, someone may have gone through something bad, some injustice, troubles in this world, matters involving non-Jews, and wants to get on with life—all these things. A Jew deserves everything good, spiritually and materially. If there has been oppression, Hakadosh Boruch Hu brings justice. In the end, He does not leave a debt unpaid. “Who gives bread to the hungry”—Hashem gives bread to people who are hungry. “Hashem releases the imprisoned”—when people are in prison, when they have such troubles, Hakadosh Boruch Hu sees to it that they get out. “Hashem opens the eyes of the blind”—when people have problems with their eyes, Hakadosh Boruch Hu heals them. “Hashem straightens the bent”—when people are bent over and struggle to get up, Hashem raises them and helps them recover. “Hashem loves the righteous.” On the plain level, why does “Hashem loves the righteous” suddenly appear here? Well, perhaps this is the idea: Why does Hakadosh Boruch Hu do all these things? Because He loves the righteous. Hakadosh Boruch Hu loves the righteous, and the Jewish people are righteous. So when a Jew is in trouble, Hakadosh Boruch Hu ultimately helps him out of all these bad situations. There is another explanation on the plain level—an interesting, nice explanation. I once heard it. It’s a little clichéd, but it’s good too. He said—

03:57 What’s the explanation? “Hashem loves the righteous” suddenly appears here. The psalm speaks about the imprisoned, opening the eyes of the blind, straightening the bent, and so on. Then it continues with converts and widows. But in the middle it says that Hashem loves the righteous. So he explained that Hashem loves the righteous people who spend their time among the orphans, widows, and hungry. There are righteous people who are very great, but they deal only with important people, only with the VIPs, as they say. They don’t deal with ordinary people. But there are righteous people who come down among the people, who work with the sick, the orphans, and the widows, and help them. That includes the materially poor, and it can also mean those who lack knowledge. Many Jews need someone to bring them close. It is these righteous people, the verse says, whom Hashem loves. Hashem loves the righteous who are there among the hungry and the imprisoned, the orphans and the widows. That makes sense. And then, “Hashem protects the converts.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu protects converts; “He encourages the orphan and widow.” As the Chumash specifically says, converts, orphans, and widows are in a particularly [unclear] situation, so their suffering reaches Hakadosh Boruch Hu all the more, and He protects them in a special way. Hashem protects and encourages them in the ways they need. “But He twists the path of the wicked”—those wicked people who cause others pain and so on, Hakadosh Boruch Hu frustrates them and does not allow, G-d forbid, their schemes to succeed. And then it concludes: “Hashem will reign forever, your G-d, O Zion, for generation after generation.” A Jew accepts the sovereignty of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and prays for the time when it will be revealed to everyone that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is King over the entire world. That is the plain meaning. Now, how exactly did the Rebbe explain this? We said we are discussing the holy sparks.

05:58 Regarding the oppressed, the Mitteler Rebbe explains that there are three levels among the sparks—three kinds of sparks. First are the sparks of holiness that fell through the shattering of the vessels at the beginning of creation. Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world. As the teachings of Kabbalah explain, there was first the world of Tohu. In the world of Tohu there were abundant lights and few vessels. Then the vessels shattered, all the lights departed upward, and many sparks—288 sparks—fell into the depths of the kelipos, down into this world. Those were the first oppressed ones: the 288 sparks that fell into the world and need to be dealt with, holy sparks oppressed in the depths of the kelipos. After that came the story of Adam Harishon. This appears in the Zohar: for 130 years Adam Harishon was not with Chava. That’s what it says. From the episode of Kayin and Hevel, 130 years passed during which, as it says, Adam Harishon did not live with Chava. Only when he was 130 did Adam Harishon return to Chava, and then he fathered Sheis. The Zohar and the Rishonim say—and Tosafos as well; Rashi also brings it—that during those 130 years, souls fell into the depths of the kelipos. In other words, during those 130 years Adam Harishon did not live with Chava, but there were emissions from which souls were formed. Not with Adam Harishon’s wife; rather, they were formed through what Kabbalah calls Lilith. That is a type of kelipah mentioned in the Sephardic works. Right, it’s mentioned in the books of the Rashash with the kavanos, the ones you have in Bnei Brak; it appears there [unclear]. Lilith is the name. I may not have recalled the details correctly. It is the name of a kind of female aspect of the kelipah.

08:03 That is what brought all the souls that subsequently fell deep into the kelipos. From there came all kinds of souls that are found in those depths and must later be corrected and raised back to their source, and so on. Then there is the third kind: the sparks that fall into the kelipah when, as can happen, each person stumbles from time to time in undesirable matters. All the things connected with sins—as it says in Tanya—add to the impurity in the world. They cause a great many sparks of holiness to become mixed up and scattered throughout the world, in the mire of the kelipos, and afterward they must be corrected. All of these are the oppressed ones. As it says in the Zohar, these sparks weep; they are oppressed, because they truly belong to holiness. But because of all these undesirable things, they fell into the mire of the kelipos, and they weep, plead, and beg. They want someone to take them out of there. This is what the verse means when it says, “He executes justice for the oppressed”: Hakadosh Boruch Hu executes justice. Here, justice means mercy. As explained in [unclear], Hakadosh Boruch Hu has mercy on these sparks and sees to it that “none shall be cast away from Him”—that all these sparks return and are reawakened to holiness and to their source. If we interpret this in terms of avodah, it can be understood in a person’s inner life. Even when a person knows about himself that he has fallen because of undesirable things, his fall has a purpose. Sometimes a person stumbles in undesirable things, in matters of evil, and he knows that he has fallen into the mire of the kelipos. Then his soul is among the oppressed—a Jewish soul, an actual part of G-d above.

10:12 The soul wants—as it says in Tanya—even at the time a person sins, [unclear]. Even while he sins, the soul does not want to be in the mire of the kelipos surrounding it, because it wants to draw close to G-dliness. But what happens? Against its will, it is clothed in a body, and the body pulls it along, taking it into the mire of the kelipah by looking at what it should not look at and doing what it should not do. That is how it falls into all these undesirable things. So the verse tells us here that He “executes justice for the oppressed”: Hakadosh Boruch Hu helps the soul in its state of oppression, so that afterward it can get out of the mire and once again return and draw close to G-dliness. “For none shall be cast away from Him.” Within this, there are four levels mentioned in the verse. We can see four kinds of decline, of falls in serving Hashem, in the four terms used here: the hungry, the imprisoned, the blind, and the bowed down. These four levels are four ways a person can fall in serving Hashem. He falls into the hands of the kelipah, into the hands of evil, and they correspond to the four worlds. We begin from the top and go downward. What do they mean in avodas Hashem, according to the inner dimension of Torah? First, the verse speaks of the hungry. What defines the level of the hungry? It is the highest level—a higher, how shall I put it, a more subtle kind of fall. It is the highest of these levels. “Hungry” specifically means that he has a hunger for G-dliness. We are speaking about a Jew who studies Chassidus and learns about serving Hashem. He contemplates these things, but he feels hungry. In other words, he feels unable to satisfy himself. He does not feel fulfilled. He cannot satisfy his hunger for G-dliness. He studies—he studies about

12:16 it, studies G-dliness, studies Torah, contemplates matters of G-dliness and the holiness of Havayah. He contemplates G-dliness, but he feels hungry. In other words, he feels that it does not fill him. As we might say, he feels that somehow he is not grasping the point. He senses that there is something G-dly here, something wonderful, but he cannot connect to it. It does not become something solid for him; it remains beyond his grasp, distant from him, and that arouses hunger in him. The Torah often speaks about having a hunger for G-dliness, [unclear]. Chassidus also explains that because a person has become caught up in his own desires, he has fallen, and [unclear]. So when he comes to a matter of G-dliness, it does not sink in for him [unclear]. He remains hungry. That is one level. A lower level is the imprisoned. What defines the imprisoned? His mind is working, but his body is held captive. He is bound; his hands and feet are bound. What does that mean? In his mind he understands matters of the holiness of Havayah, but he cannot bring that understanding down into his emotions. His intellect understands G-dliness, but when it comes to bringing it into his emotions—to having love and awe, and for that to find expression in his life and in practice—he is bound. Again, it is for the same reason, but even more so: he is so immersed in these desires. Why is that? As is well known, fire and water cannot occupy the same vessel. Likewise, love of the world and love of Hashem cannot occupy the same person,

14:14 and so, although in his mind he studies G-dliness and contemplates it, it does not come down into practice, into his hands and feet. In other words, his emotions are tied to the kelipah, tied to desires for [unclear]. After that comes the level of the blind. What does that mean? It means that he does not see. [Unclear.] He does not see G-dliness. Why does he not see G-dliness? There is a particular concept of seeing G-dliness with the mind’s eye. We studied Moreh Nevuchim, for example, in the class: a person needs to look at the world and, through the world, see the G-dly life-force within it with his mind’s eye. [Unclear.] In other words, there is such a thing as seeing G-dliness in the world with the mind’s eye. But a person can become coarse. As it says in Tanya, desires lead to a dulling of the heart; with still more indulgence in desires, the mind also becomes dulled. That means that even with his mind’s eye he does not see G-dliness. It does not register with him as something he can see. He has an intellect, but it does not serve that purpose. It is not clear to him. It does not reach the point of seeing. That is what it means to be blind. After that comes the lowest level, what is called “bowed down.” What does “bowed down” mean? It means his head is bent toward the ground. He is bowed down. That means his head is... in other words, he has invested his intellect in material things. It is not merely that he lacks sight. With blindness, he understands but does not see; he lacks the immediacy of seeing.

16:09 Here, the clarity of sight is meant to be firmly in place. But the problem here is not only that his sight is lacking; his whole mind is immersed in kelipah. In other words, he is already immersed in desires—not only with his body, which is the idea of prisoners, and not only with his eyes, which is the idea of the blind. His whole head is bent down and absorbed in business, material concerns, and worries, so his mind, too, is occupied with these things. This is the lowest level, the greatest fall, among the levels being discussed here. So these are four conditions the interpretation discusses, different kinds of decline in the service of Hashem. And when the verse says that Hakadosh Boruch Hu “executes justice for the oppressed,” as we said earlier, it means that Hakadosh Boruch Hu sets things right: He helps, has compassion on the oppressed, and helps them draw close to G-dliness again. So it says that Hakadosh Boruch Hu “gives bread to the hungry.” When a person awakens to teshuvah and wants to return to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives him bread. He helps him absorb G-dliness with the help of [unclear]. Hakadosh Boruch Hu “releases the prisoners,” giving him the ability to leave prison and bring G-dliness into his home as well. Hakadosh Boruch Hu opens his eyes so he can see G-dliness. And Hakadosh Boruch Hu also “straightens the bent,” so he can grasp G-dliness. He can lift his head and turn his mind to matters of G-dliness, matters of Hashem. What does “and Hashem loves the righteous” mean? According to Rabbi Menachem [unclear], “Hashem loves the righteous” means that the tzaddik corresponds to yesod. A tzaddik is “the righteous one, the foundation of the world.” A tzaddik is associated with yesod—the righteous one, the foundation

18:04 of the higher world. This can be understood in two ways. It can refer to the innermost part of the soul. Yesod is the innermost part of the soul. As we said earlier, even at the time of a sin, the essence of the soul is not nullified. There is the part of the soul clothed in the body, its outer aspect, which becomes entangled in the kelipos and undergoes a fall. Everything we have discussed applies only to the soul’s outer aspect. But the soul’s inner aspect is “the righteous one, the foundation of the world.” The soul’s essence is the level of yesod, which is never impaired. So because the soul is always inherently connected to G-dliness, the fact that Hashem loves the righteous gives a person the ability to leave all his constraints. In other words, all these states—the blind, the bent, the hungry, and the imprisoned—affect only a person’s outer aspect. In the inner depths of his soul, he is a tzaddik. He has a holy part above that is always connected to G-dliness, and because of that he can always leave his present state. Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives him the ability and the opportunity to return in teshuvah once again. And if all Jews are righteous, then of course “Hashem loves the righteous” also refers to the Rebbe, a general soul who stands above all concealments and veils. As chassidim say in a familiar analogy, you cannot free yourself from prison. You cannot lift yourself by your own hair. To get out of the mud, you need someone outside the prison to pull you out. That is the role of a Rebbe. Since a Rebbe is above the world

19:55 and above all concealments, he is a tzaddik. He gives us the ability and strength to emerge from all the concealments and veils. So that is what it means here when it says that Hashem loves the righteous: through the idea of “the righteous one, the foundation of the world,” He connects with our entire soul. Even if until now we were in deep waters, in the state of the hungry, the imprisoned, the blind, and the bent, we can emerge from it and draw close to G-dliness again. Then it says, “Hashem protects the strangers; He supports the orphan and widow.” What does “Hashem protects the strangers” mean? “Strangers” refers to the sparks of holiness we have been discussing. They are called strangers because they are in a place that is not theirs, and they need to be taken out of there. The Siddur explains at length the exile and redemption of the Jewish people, and how this refers to the sparks of holiness called strangers. So what does “Hashem protects the strangers” mean? It means that after a person does teshuvah, he needs protection. Just a moment, a day, a week, or some time earlier, he was hungry. He was imprisoned, blind, bent, or in some other difficult state. So even after doing teshuvah, he might still fall again, [unclear], back into his own deep waters. Teshuvah therefore requires special protection so that he will not fall. That is why we say, “Hashem protects the strangers.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu protects the spark after it has returned to holiness, so that it will remain there. When a Jew draws close to G-dliness again, Hakadosh Boruch Hu protects him and gives him the strength

21:44 to remain firm in his service of teshuvah, so that it brings about genuine refinement. “He supports the orphan and widow.” There is a wonderful explanation of this. It needs to be explained at length, but the point follows what we said earlier: even in the deep waters of the orphan and widow—the orphan who lacks a father and the widow who lacks a husband, which represent different conditions a Jew can experience—Hakadosh Boruch Hu supports him. In general, there is the idea of an orphan without a father and an orphan without a mother; father and mother correspond to sight and hearing, as explained. When a person looks where he should not look, he is called an orphan without a father. When his eyes are in a place of kelipah, and his ears are in a place of kelipah, he is called an orphan without a mother. A widow has no husband, meaning that she lacks an influence of G-dliness. All these conditions are included in “the orphan and widow.” And of them it says, “He supports”: although a person was in the deep waters of the orphan and widow, Hakadosh Boruch Hu encourages him. Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives him the strength to recover. As the Rebbe writes in Likkutei Torah, there is the familiar analogy that a person whose head has been severed can never be healed. But in the service of Hashem, even if a Jew has fallen so far that his head has been severed, “He supports the orphan and widow”: he can be restored and healed through teshuvah. “But He twists the path of the wicked.” The wicked are the opposite—the kelipah, the other side, which constantly tries to make a person stumble and fall back into desires. So Hakadosh Boruch Hu twists their path, meaning that this will not happen. Hakadosh Boruch Hu wrecks and confounds their way. And with this we conclude, “Hashem will reign forever”: the completion of the Geulah and the completion of the birurim. We are fully ready for the completion of the Geulah and the birurim, when all these concealments and veils will no longer exist.

23:40 Then the birur will be entirely complete, as the Rebbe said: we have already completed the birur. That means that now is the time to prepare for the Geulah. Then all these confusions we experience will disappear, and the sparks will be elevated in the fullest possible way. Everything will be connected to G-dliness, and then it will be, “Hashem will reign forever; your G-d, O Tziyon, from generation to generation. Hallelujah”—the revelation of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s kingship. And [unclear], the kingship will be elevated. There is an explanation here of this verse as well. But the point here is the central theme of this chapter. Of course, this chapter is very powerful when you study and interpret it this way. It is a very special chapter. There are a few more points here. Perhaps I will leave the explanation of this for Sunday. What are the consultations? From the opening words