January 22, 1965<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To my friend,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I do long to know how you are doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel.\u201d RASHI interpreted \u201cto the house of Jacob\u201d to be the women\u2014speak to them with a soft tongue. \u201cAnd tell the sons of Israel\u201d\u2014punishments and precisions\u2014he interpreted it to be to the men, words that are as hard as tendons (Mechilta<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is said in The Zohar<\/em> (Jethro, item 161): \u201cThus you shall say to the house of Jacob,\u201d meaning by saying, from the side of judgment. \u201cAnd tell the sons of Israel,\u201d the sons of Israel means the men, who come from the side of Rachamim<\/em> [mercy].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It seems from the words of The Zohar<\/em> that to the women it is in saying, which is from the side of judgment, since women are from the quality of judgment, and to the men, \u201ctell,\u201d with the quality of mercy, for they come from mercy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the words of RASHI imply the opposite, that with the men you will speak words as hard as tendons, and to the women you should speak with a soft tongue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We should interpret that they are saying the same thing, but first we need to understand what is judgment and what is mercy. Judgment is when two people go to court, one says, \u201cIt is all mine,\u201d and the other says, \u201cIt is all mine.\u201d That is, one who argues, \u201cIt is all mine,\u201d is regarded as judgment. Mercy means giving, which is as our sages said, \u201cAs He is merciful, so you are merciful.\u201d It follows from the above that the quality of judgment means one who is receiving, and mercy is one who is giving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A female is one who is deficient, meaning receiving, and a male is one who is in a state of giving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Accordingly, it follows that a female is judgment, meaning receiving. If one who is receiving is told to engage in bestowal, he cannot do it because it is against his nature. Therefore, when we want him to engage in work of the Creator, we must speak to him with a soft tongue, meaning with a language he understands, namely the langue of reception. This is so because one who is in a state of Nukva<\/em> [female], which is judgment, agrees to work only in order to receive reward. This is called \u201cwith a soft tongue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n To the men, who are regarded as \u201cgiving,\u201d it is possible to speak with a tongue \u201cas hard as tendons,\u201d for bestowal is difficult for the body to hear, since the body wants specifically to receive. And since he is regarded as a male, meaning has the power to overcome\u2014that he overcome his qualities\u2014we speak to him from the side of mercy, for mercy means bestowal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By that we will understand the words of RASHI: \u201cto the house of Jacob\u201d is the women; speak to them with a soft tongue.\u201d That is, one who is in a state of female, who cannot prevail over the power of the body, and he is called \u201cfemale,\u201d as in \u201cHe was as faint as a female,\u201d we must speak to him with a soft tongue, namely in order to receive reward. To this the body agrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To the men, it is with a harsh tongue, namely bestowal, with which it is difficult for the body to agree. However, he has the power to overcome, so we can speak to him with a tongue of mercy, which means bestowal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n May the Creator help us overcome the evil within us and may we be rewarded with the reception of the Torah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From your friend who awaits hearing good news from you,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" January 22, 1965 To my friend, I do long to know how you are doing. \u201cThus you shall say to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":6249,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"topic":[26],"class_list":["post-13806","book","type-book","status-publish","hentry","topic-rabash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n