Kabbalah Library

297. One who is in torment [fasting] on Shabbat, does he create a fault in the Shabbat, or does he not? Does he not create a fault, since he avoids the meals of faith? And, is his punishment grave because the joy of Shabbat has been canceled for him?

298. He is examined from above more than all the people in the world since that day is joy above and below, a joy above all the joys, a joy where all the faith is present. Even the wicked ones in Hell rest on that day. But that person has no joy and contentment, and he is different from all the upper ones and lower ones. Everyone asks about him, “What is the change that so and so is in grief?”

299. When Holy Atik is revealed on Shabbat, and that person is in grief, his prayer rises and stands before him. At that time, all the sentences he had been sentenced are torn, and even if the king’s courthouse had agreed negatively about him, it is all torn, since when Holy Atik is revealed, every freedom and joy is present, since he is revealed in the feast of joy of the king, ZA.

300. A seventy-year sentence is torn for him, although all those seventy Sefirot of the king had agreed upon it, namely HGT NHYM, in each of which are ten, which he is seen in them. It is all torn away because Holy Atik takes a person; he protects him. But this is if he awakens about him in a Shabbat-night’s dream, if he is tormented the dream-torment, and not on other torments.

301. This is like a king who had a feast of joy for his son, and decreed joy for everyone. In the day of joy, the whole world delights, but one man is sad, chained in fetters. The king comes to the joy and sees the whole nation rejoicing as he had decreed. He raises his eyes and sees that man who is chained in fetters sad. He promptly commands and he is freed from his shackles.

302. So it is for one who is in torment on Shabbat; the whole world is happy and he is sad and chained in shackles. When Holy Atik is revealed on that day, and that man is chained in shackles, although everyone agreed about all seventy years regarding him, the seven Sefirot of ZA, everything is torn and there is no judgment on him. On another day, even one who is tormented on a weekday, there is permission in him to tear his sentence in that day. It is much more so on Shabbat.

303. There is no day without a special force that governs it. One who is in a dream-torment in that day when he dreamed, the day does not pass before his sentence is torn. However, the seventy years are not as the day of Shabbat. For this reason, in that day, one must really torment oneself, since there is no permission for one day over another day; each day, one does that which happened on that day, and he can revoke his sentence. But what did not happen in that day, he does not do and cannot revoke his sentence. Hence, one must not postpone the torment from one day to another day, and this is why it is written, “Complete your work, your daily task each day,” and not “Complete your work, your daily task another day.”

304. It is with good reason that he is awakened from a bad dream, in order to ask for mercy for him. Woe to a person who is not woken up and is not alerted in the dream, for he is called “evil.” This is why it is written, “Evil will not dwell with you,” and it is written, “And he who has it will abide in satisfaction; he will not be visited with evil,” he will not be visited in a dream, since he is evil.

305. “Nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words.” Since it is written, “nor finding your own pleasure,” what is “nor speaking your own words”? After all, speaking of his needs is also among his pleasures, but until he cuts the words properly and says it, meaning the commandment to speak words of Torah. To explain the matter, it is implied from the verse, “And speak the word.” Happy are Israel in this world and in the next world; it is written about them, “And He said, ‘Indeed, they are My people, children who will not lie,’ and He became their Savior.”