06-One Love

One Love

Rabash

Through the wearing out of the hearts, 

Even of the strongest ones,
Each will bring out warmth
From the walls of his heart,

And the warmth will ignite
The sparks of love
Until a clothing of love Will form.

Then, both of them will be covered
Under one blanket, Meaning a single love Will surround and envelop the two of them,

As it is known that Dvekut [adhesion]
Unites two into one.

07-The Fire of Love

The Fire of Love

Rabash

Each gift that he gives to his friend

Is like a bullet
That makes a hollow in the stone.
And although the first bullet Only scratches the stone,
When the second bullet hits the same place,
It already makes a notch,
And the third one makes a dent.

And through the bullets that he shoots repeatedly,
The dent becomes a hollow in his friend’s heart of stone,
Where all the presents gather.
-

-
And each gift becomes a spark of love

Until all the sparks of love accumulate
In the hollow of the stony heart
And become a flame.

The difference between a spark and a flame is
That where there is love,
There is open disclosure,
Meaning a disclosure to all the peoples
That the fire of love is burning in him.
And the fire of love
Burns all the transgressions one meets
Along the way.

27-Truth and Falsehood

Truth and Falsehood

Rabash

I shall add another rule:

It is known that it is impossible

to see a small object

and it is easier to see

a large object.

Hence, when a person commits few lies,

he cannot see the truth-

that he is walking on a false path.

Rather, he says that he is walking

on the path of truth.

But there is no greater lie than that.

And the reason is

that he does not have enough lies

to see his true state.

But when a person has acquired many lies,

the lies grow in him

to the extent that he can see them

if he wishes.

Thus, now that he sees the lies-

that he is walking on a false path-

he sees his true state.

In other words,

he sees the truth in his soul

and how to turn to the right path.

It follows that this point,

which is a point of truth-

that he is treading a false path-

is the medium

between truth and falsehood.

This is the bridge

that connects truth and falsehood.

This point is also the end of the lie,

and from here on

begins the path of truth.

32-Train Up A Child According to His Ways

Train Up A Child According to His Ways

Rabash

There are two aspects to education:

The action.

The intention.

For example, when a father teaches his son,

Telling him that it is forbidden to steal,

Then the child hear the matter of action.

Later the child asks the reason for the intention.

Meaning why it is forbidden to steal

Since he likes his friend’s item

And he wants to have it.

However his father prevents him from stealing it.

Then the child asks:

Tell me, why is it forbidden to steal?

And if the child has not reached

The right understanding

His father tells him:

You should know that there is police,

And whoever steals,

They arrest him

And put him in jail.

And the child asks:

What is jail?

Then they tell him

That in jail one cannot speak

with whoever he wants,

And he cannot eat whatever he wants

Or play with what he wants

But he is limited in everything,

Which cause great torments.

Hence even should he steal that item

And gets pleasure from it,

Nevertheless this pleasure

Is not worth all the agonies

That he will suffer when he is put in jail.

36-Rag Doll

Rag Doll

Rabash

A little girl who plays

with a boy or girl rag doll,

and receives pleasure from it,

which is  not a real boy,

however if there happened to be

a real one year old baby in the house,

if the mother asked the little six year old girl

“why are you kissing a fake doll,

go play with the real child so we can all enjoy it,

because the mother cannot tolerate

the baby’s crying,

and the baby will enjoy

playing with you and stop crying,

and you will enjoy playing with him

as much as you enjoy playing with the doll.

To this the little girl replies,

all this sounds good

but I do not find any pleasure

in playing with the real baby.

And when the mother answers her,

you can see that when I have time

I play with the real child

and not with a doll”

And the girl replies,

I can see that you do not want

to receive pleasure in this world,

therefore you play with the real child

but I want to enjoy

and therefore I am playing with the doll.

43-Having A Good Occupation

Having A Good Occupation

Rabash

We know that there is a custom,
applied all over the world,
that it is not good
for a highly skilled professional
to be among poorly skilled workers
and learn from their actions.

For example, when a cobbler
is among unskillful cobblers,
they let him understand
that it is not worthwhile
to make a good shoe,

But do it however it comes out,
and it is not worthwhile
to make a good and handsome shoe.

Or a tailor, if he is skillful,
when he is among unskillful tailors,
they let him understand that it is not worthwhile

to strain to make the clothing neat,
tidy, and fitting its owner.
Hence, he should be wary
of being in contact with them.

But when a builder is among tailors,
he cannot learn from their bad actions
because there is no connection between them.

However, within the same profession,
each one should watch himself
and be in contact
only with pure-hearted people.

48-The Tutor

-
The Tutor

Rabash

Two students came to a tutor

To learn a trade.

The teacher did not pay attention to one of the students

To see if he was working properly,

And the other one, he criticized all day,

Telling him the mistakes that he was making.

That boy came and told his father.

"Why is the teacher

Yelling at me,

Telling me,

I don't know how to work,

–

And to the other one

Who is a poorer worker than me,

He says nothing?

It must be that the father of the other one

Pays him more money,

And so he doesn't criticize him.

–

Therefore, I ask of you father,

Please give him more money

Than the other students,

Then the teacher will not point out my flaws

As he does not criticize

The other students."

And his father went and said to the teacher,

"Have you no mercy on my son?

Is it because

I do not pay the fees

That other people do,

Hence you take vengeance on my son?"

–

Then the tutor told him,

"You should know that of all the students,

I enjoy only your son,

Because I see that he is gifted

And he can be a star

And this is why I put my efforts in him,

Because it's worth my while,

Since my effort will not be in vain.

–

Whereas the other students,

I teach them generally,

Because they're not as gifted as your son.

Therefore, with every little work that he does,

I criticize him.

And so you are wrong about everything you think of me,

As if I want to fail your son

Because I'm angry with you

Because of the little fees that you pay me.

–

You should know

That if I did not want to shame him,

I would teach your son for free.

Believe me! I would teach him for free,

Since I enjoy him

And all the efforts I put into him are worth it!"

56-Foundation for Building

Foundation for Building

Rabash

When building a building in corporeality,

we see that anyone

who wants to build a building

must first dig the foundations,

and on the foundation

he builds the building.

In digging the foundation,

we see that we should discern

between having to build

a one-story building-

that is, only the ground floor-

or a multi-story building.

Thus, the digging of the foundation

into the ground

should be according to the height

of the building.

The foundation is not dug at once.

Rather, each day

the foundation is built

so that it will be deeper,

and then one can build

a higher building.

The same order

applies in spirituality.

When a person wishes to build

a one-story building,

he doesn’t need to dig very deep.

He only digs a little,

and he can build his building

in keeping Torah and Mitzvot

[commandments].

And what is digging in spirituality?

It is a deficiency,

when a deficiency

is dug in the heart,

Since the heart is called “desire,”

a heart is called Malchut,

and a heart is called

“earth” or “ground.”

58-A True Deficiency

A True Deficiency

Rabash

“I have Nothing to Wear”

A person may have more income than others,

And even more important things that his environment,

And still it is possible not to receive contentment from it.

It is more noticeable with women,

Since if they lack something, even if she has

many more things than her friends,

She feels a lack and says,

 “I’d rather be dead”.

And she is unable to comfort herself

By saying that she has more things than her friends.

Rather if her deficiency troubles her heart

She says that she is

The most miserable person in the world.

And the reason is that when one feels

A true desire

He is unable to comfort himself

By the thought that many others

have the same lack.

It follows that the feeling of torment

We suffer from not being able to fill the desire

Determines that at times brings man

to commit suicide, and only that is called

“A true deficiency.”