Drawing Down Mercy That Sweetens All Judgments

The daily strengthening from The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a — We want Hashem to pray for us, “upon Hashem.”

“And she prayed upon Hashem” (I Samuel 1:10)

“From Zevulun—those who go out to the army, arranging battle with every weapon of war—fifty thousand; and to help, without heart and heart” (I Chronicles 12:34)

“When retribution was unleashed in Israel” (Judges 5:2)

“I will make all My goodness pass before your face” (Exodus 33:19)

Thursday, __ Tammuz 5783 — If you go with the Tzaddik, you don’t need a heart!

These are his holy words:

We begin the prayer of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy with “Kel Rachum VeChanun.” The first Name of Hashem in the Thirteen Attributes, and the second Name of Hashem—we want Hashem to pray for us.

Rebbe Nachman writes in Torah 105 that the first Name is simple mercy. We want to draw down mercy like that—mercy that sweetens every judgment in the world: “I will make all My goodness pass before your face” (Exodus 33:19)—even though we sinned with the Golden Calf, even though we sinned in every way.

It is written that Moshe, for forty days and forty nights, did not stop praying. For the Calf there is no forgiveness; for the sale of Yosef there is no forgiveness. We wanted to draw down, from the second Name—which is a bit more complete—great mercy, abundant mercy. A prayer like this is called “upon the Name,” and this is Atika Kadisha.

All of our avodah is to reach Adam Kadmon, to Atika Kadisha—and from there all the mercies in the world are drawn down: abundant mercy, “upon Hashem.” This is where Chana reached with her prayer. Chana ascended in her prayer to Atika Kadisha, to the place called “upon the Name,” as it says: “And she prayed upon Hashem” (I Samuel 1:10).

“Upon Hashem” is Ze’ir Anpin—Rachel and Leah. A person’s entire avodah is to reach “upon the Name,” to reach Atika Kadisha. This is where Chana reached with her prayer—until Hashem caused her to conceive, through the angel Matat.

All of Chanukah comes from Atika: it is the aspect of Hashem’s prayer. We light the Chanukah candle, and the entire Chanukah candle is in the merit of Chana, because she prayed “upon” Chanukah.

Like Rachel, who prayed that 600 men would remain from an entire tribe—the tribe of Binyamin—after the incident of the Pilegesh in Giv’ah. Because Binyamin is “without a heart.” They don’t need any heart at all. Binyamin goes without a heart; it is a tribe that has no heart.

In Midrash Rabbah, Part 2, it explains the meaning of “without a heart.” Do they go to war without a heart? War is more severe than Yom Kippur—you need to do teshuvah. So how can you go without a heart?! You must know: now it is war; now is the time to do teshuvah. A person does not know if he will return alive from war; the books of the living and the dead are open before him.

So it is written in Parshas Kedoshim: how do you go to war without a heart? Who introduced this verse about going to war without a heart? How can such a thing be? Rabbi Tanchuma said: what does “without a heart” mean? Let’s read the verse: “From Zevulun—those who go out to the army, arranging battle with every weapon of war—fifty thousand; and to help, without heart and heart” (I Chronicles 12:34). They have no heart; they don’t need a heart. Why do they go out without a heart? Because they go with the Tzaddik!

If you go with the Tzaddik, you don’t need a heart!

Barak asked Devorah: Who will go?

She answered: Zevulun will go! Tell Zevulun to go straight—they will go. They listen to the Tzaddik without any second thoughts; it makes no difference whether it is a man or a woman. Devorah says to go out to war; she says, “So says Hashem: now you will do peri’ah after the cutting of the milah,” as it says: “When retribution was unleashed in Israel” (Judges 5:2). Because until their time, they were not circumcising properly; they did not know the halachos of milah. They would do it the way the Arabs do—only cutting. We do cutting, peri’ah, and metzitzah; the Arabs do only cutting.

Before the war they would circumcise like the Arabs—only cutting. Therefore Sisera took control. Devorah said that from today there will also be peri’ah and metzitzah. They listened to Devorah’s voice: now you can go out to war; you know how to circumcise; you can go out to war. But Zevulun—whether they have intention or they don’t have intention—they go out to war and they win.