Inwardly, a Jew Has No Connection to Evil

"I am Hashem your God, who brought you out (Leviticus 25:38)"

Within every single person, there is the aspect of 'Anpin Nehirin' (Radiant Countenances); every Jew possesses a soul with a great light and can attain these 'Anpin Nehirin.' 'They are the aspect of the holiness of Israel, the holy nation, who are distant in their root from all base traits and desires.' The people of Israel, in their essence, have no connection to desires and evil traits because of the holiness of the root of their souls. If a person feels that they are full of evil traits, they should not think that they were born this way, Heaven forbid, because their soul has no connection at all to evil traits.

"Indeed, among the people of Israel, there is a 'grasp of the nations'"

This refers to the external forces that attach themselves to them. It does not belong to them, but it clings to them because of their sins and the sins of their ancestors, and these forces gain strength because they do not study the Torah in its depth. 'They are the aspect of 'Anpin Chashuchin' (Darkened Countenances), which are the aspect of desires and evil traits, all of which are from the aspect of the nations, who are 'Anpin Chashuchin,' as it is written: 'They mingled with the nations and learned their deeds' (Psalms 106:35). This means that he is mixed with the evil traits within him, which are drawn from the nations, as mentioned above. And when a person commits a sin, Heaven forbid, that sin and transgression is engraved upon his bones, as it is written: 'And their iniquities shall be upon their bones' (Ezekiel 32:27), and it is impossible for him to escape this except through the Torah, which is the aspect of 'Anpin Nehirin.'

"So, if a person wants to atone for their sins, it is only through studying Torah with deep analysis (iyun). This is considered like fasting, and thus the sins will be removed from the bones and atoned for. 'It is the opposite of all desires and traits, which are the aspect of 'Anpin Chashuchin,' from which all sins are drawn, Heaven forbid.' For one moment that a person is in 'Anpin Chashuchin' – the desires and evil traits immediately overcome them. 'For a person must toil in Torah and kill themselves over it.' It is not enough just to study Torah; if a person is not willing and prepared to toil over the Torah and kill themselves for it, it is not called Torah study. If a person does not study Torah with toil, but rather with lethargy – the Gemara in Berachot (63a) says: 'If you are slack in the day of adversity, your strength is small' (Proverbs 24:10). Anyone who slackens themselves from the words of Torah has no strength to stand on the day of adversity, and the adversities are the evil traits that overcome them. 'As our Sages said on the verse: 'This is the Torah, when a man dies in a tent' – the Torah only endures in one who kills themselves over it, meaning their own self.' To kill oneself over Torah study means to kill the 'self,' that is, the imagined self-desires that truly do not belong to the holiness of the Jewish soul, and this is done through studying Torah with depth, desire, and joy. Otherwise, one remains with all the evil traits, the evil desires, and 'Anpin Chashuchin,' which are the aspect of the evil traits and evil desires from which all the blemishes engraved upon his bones are derived, as mentioned above.

"For one must toil in the Torah until they merit to understand it"

To toil and kill oneself over the Torah, when it is hot, when it is cold, when hungry, when thirsty, when tired; to study Torah with self-sacrifice, and thus the sins engraved upon the bones are removed. 'Meaning, that he exits the aspect of 'Anpin Chashuchin,' which is the aspect of darkness and the concealment of knowledge, to the aspect of 'Anpin Nehirin,' which is the aspect of knowing and attaining the Torah as mentioned above, and then he is called a man (Adam).' Only then is he called a man, and if not, he is not called a man. And how will he know if he is called a man? When he sees that he does not get angry, but is always happy, loves everyone, guards his eyes, etc., this is called a man. And if not, he is not called a man.

"Rebbe Nachman explains: How does one merit to be a Jew? Only through studying Torah with depth and strength, with immense toil, to kill oneself over the Torah; then one is called a man. 'The aspect of: 'This is the Torah, a man'; meaning, through the Torah one is called a man, the aspect of: 'You are called man,' and the nations are not called man; for the essence of the name 'man' is attained through the Torah' – which is with strength, with depth, with profoundness, with immense toil – 'which is the aspect of 'Anpin Nehirin,' which is the opposite of all evil traits and desires, and for this reason they are called man, the aspect of: 'This is the Torah, a man.' But the nations, who are distant from the wisdom of the Torah, from 'Anpin Nehirin, because they are the aspect of 'Anpin Chashuchin,' because they are immersed in all evil traits and evil desires, therefore they are not called man, as mentioned above.' And since the nations are immersed in all evil traits and desires, even though they want to receive the Torah because they know it is true, they have become so materialized in their deeds that they are not called man, and they do not want to leave their materialism. They are willing to receive the Torah but without the wisdom of the Torah, meaning to analyze the Torah, because they are afraid to abandon their evil traits and desires. Therefore, they cannot receive it. And the people of Israel who received the Torah, they too were immersed in the forty-nine gates of impurity in Egypt, but through their self-nullification to the tzaddik, to Moses, in the exodus from Egypt, at the splitting of the Red Sea, and in the desert, upon reaching Mount Sinai, they merited that the filth was completely removed from them. And all this was through their desire to receive the Torah and to study it with depth and to understand the wisdom of the Torah, as Rebbe Nachman explains further.

"For the essence of the aspect of man is the aspect of the true intellect that one merits to attain"

To attain the true intellect that is in the topic – 'meaning the wisdom of the holy Torah. For there are three intellects: the simple intellect, which is the aspect of wisdom (chochmah), the aspect of: 'You have made them all with wisdom.' And when one studies and understands, this is called understanding (binah), and afterwards, when one knows the Torah, this is called knowledge (da'at), as is known.' Wisdom is simple study; understanding is study with comprehension; and knowledge is memory. 'And these three intellects are the aspect of the hands of the Torah: the aspect of the great hand, the strong hand, and the high hand, through which the Torah is received.' When the people of Israel left Egypt, they accepted upon themselves the great hand, the strong hand, and the high hand, which are the three hands of the Torah, which are the three intellects of the Torah: wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, meaning to study the Torah with depth, to understand and know the wisdom of the Torah. And only through them was the Torah received. 'And these three intellects are the aspect of three times 'Y-K'' – the aspect of 'For in Y-K, Hashem is the Rock of worlds' – 'for Y-K are wisdom and understanding, which are two friends who never separate, which are included in each of the three intellects mentioned above. And three times Y-K is the gematria of Adam (man).' Meaning, when there are three times Y-K, then one is called a man. 'It turns out that the essence of the name 'man' is the aspect of the true intellect,' that one studies Torah with immense toil, and kills oneself, to understand the topic in its depth. 'Meaning the wisdom of the Torah, which is the aspect of 'Anpin Nehirin,' the aspect of distancing and breaking all desires and evil traits as mentioned above,' and then the person will see that they are exiting from the desires and evil traits, 'And this is: 'When the wicked approach me' – this is the aspect of the two 'friends' who never separate, which are the aspect of Y-K, which is the wisdom of the Torah, the aspect of man. 'To eat my flesh' – to eat the body, to kill the body – 'meaning to eat and kill my own self,' the 'self' is the pride of the person.

"Rebbe Nachman explains in Torah 72 that it is impossible to nullify pride and merit humility and lowliness, from which the essence of life and the resurrection in the future to come is derived, except by seeing oneself with the tzaddik. And one only merits this if they are always occupied with increasing their mind and knowledge. And this is only through study with depth, and through this, one merits a quick and sharp mind, as it is written: 'Have you seen a man quick in his work?' (Proverbs 22:29). And as a person analyzes, deepens, innovates, and connects the topics and the contradictions between Rashi and Tosafot and other Rishonim and commentators, to understand the methods, to connect them, and to understand the simple meaning in the topic according to their methods, so the person receives more lowliness and humility because they see that they do not understand the topic well, and they continue and deepen their study, and kill themselves in Torah study. And the study must be until a person feels as if they are dead. And only through such toil in Torah is the Torah acquired, and the person receives Divine assistance, and their mind and knowledge shine, and they receive a shining countenance, as it is written: 'A man's wisdom makes his face shine.'

"For the Torah only endures in one who kills themselves over it, as mentioned above"

The acquisition of Torah is only through self-sacrifice in Torah study, and Reb Noson explains (Likutey Halachot, Yoreh Deah, Laws of Kashering Vessels 4:24) what is brought in the Gemara (Shabbat 89a): At the time when Moses descended from before Hashem, Satan came and said before Him: Master of the Universe, where is the Torah? He said to him: I gave it to the earth. He went to the earth. He said to it: Where is the Torah? It said to him, etc. He went to the sea, and said to it: It is not with me. He went to the abyss. He said to it: It is not in me, as it is written: 'The abyss says, it is not in me, and the sea says, it is not with me; destruction and death said, we have heard its fame with our ears' (Job 28:14-22). He returned and said before Hashem: Master of the Universe, I searched the whole earth and did not find it. He said to him: Go to the son of Amram. He went to Moses, and said to him: The Torah that Hashem gave you, where is it? He said to him: Who am I that Hashem should give me the Torah? Hashem said to Moses: Moses, you are a liar. He said before Him: Master of the Universe, You have a hidden treasure that You delight in every day, should I take credit for myself? Hashem said to Moses: Since you have belittled yourself, it shall be called by your name, as it is written: 'Remember the Torah of Moses My servant,' end quote.

"And on the surface, one must understand the words of Moses our Teacher; did he not receive the Torah?! Rather, from here we see the greatness of his humility, that after forty days and forty nights in which he studied the Torah, he still felt that he had not studied at all, and it is truly perfect.

"And the explanation of the matter is that Moses our Teacher knew that Satan wanted to prosecute the giving of the Torah, and therefore he answered him that he had not yet given the Torah to the people of Israel, but rather it is as if it is lying in the sea, and only one who is prepared to invest immense toil and sacrifice their life to descend into the depths of the sea will merit receiving the Torah. For the Torah is longer than the sea, and if so, there is no room for the prosecution of Satan, for Israel is not worthy of the Torah, except for one who toils in it and attains it, as it is written: 'Destruction and death said, we have heard its fame with our ears,' and Rashi explains there: 'Destruction and death said' – those who destroy and kill themselves over it said: 'We have heard its fame with our ears,' that for one who toils in it, it endures. For the intention is not that he should descend into the sea and the abyss literally, but the essence is the will and the desire, that he is prepared from his side to suffer self-sacrifice in Torah study, even to descend into the sea and the abyss literally, but immediately when he is willing for this with a strong and true will, Hashem helps him to receive it properly. 'And then naturally: 'My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell'' – for the source of the adversaries and enemies, which is the evil inclination, which clothes itself in a person because they do not study Torah with depth, 'For all the adversaries and enemies, who are grasped in 'Anpin Chashuchin,' stumble and fall, for the aspect of 'Anpin Chashuchin' is nullified, and one merits 'Anpin Nehirin,' which is the wisdom of the Torah, which is the aspect of Y-K, the aspect of the two friends who never separate, for which reason specifically Israel is called man as mentioned above, and then all the adversaries and enemies who are grasped in 'Anpin Chashuchin,' in desires and evil traits, stumble and fall, for he has merited 'Anpin Nehirin' as mentioned above.'