1. It is written, \u201cIsrael has rejected good; an enemy will pursue him.\u201d \u201cIsrael has rejected good\u201d is the good inclination, which King Solomon called it good, as it is written, \u201cBetter a poor and wise child than a foolish old king.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAn enemy will pursue him\u201d is the evil inclination, man\u2019s enemy, which King Solomon called \u201cenemy.\u201d It has many names, as it is written, \u201cIf your enemy is hungry, feed him bread,\u201d and bread is the holy Torah, as it is written, \u201cGo, eat of my bread.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. For this reason, a person must put words of Torah on the evil inclination so it will break, since there is no enemy to the evil inclination besides words of Torah. This is why it is written, \u201cAnd these words that I command you today will be on your heart,\u201d meaning on both your inclinations, both hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. why does the good inclination need words of Torah? It is because the good inclination is crowned with words of Torah, and the evil inclination surrenders to words of Torah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4. This is why it is written, \u201cWhen you go out to war against your enemies,\u201d which is the evil inclination that we must go out against with words of Torah, and batter it, and then it will be given into man\u2019s hands, as it is written, \u201cAnd the Lord your God delivers it into your hand and you take it captive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
5. Woe to this, and woe to that. It is written, \u201cUnder a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when he is satisfied with food,\u201d since the good inclination is taken captive by the evil inclination, which is king over it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
6. \u201cAnd you see among the captives a beautiful woman.\u201d This is the soul, as it is written, \u201cA woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised,\u201d since each day, these associations and leaders of the souls, and those associations and leaders of the evil inclination are in perpetual hatred, battering one another, and all the organs of the body are agonizing between them, between the soul and the evil inclination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
7. \u201cThen you shall bring her into your home,\u201d the home from which she was banished. It is written about this, \u201cand a maidservant that inherits her mistress,\u201d meaning that the maidservant, the evil inclination, went into the house, and the mistress, the soul, was banished from there, and now he brought the soul back to the house. It is written, \u201cShe shall shave her head and trim her nails,\u201d so she is purified from that filth which the serpent had cast into the soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
8. \u201cShe shall take off the clothes of her captivity,\u201d the clothes of impurity, and the bad kinds that she had since the sin of the calf, since at first, they had clothes of holiness that they received on Mount Sinai, and when they worshipped the calf, these clothes of honor were removed from them, as it is written, \u201cAnd the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
9. \u201cShe shall mourn her father and her mother a full month.\u201d A full month means Elul, which is the time of repentance in which Moses went up to the mountain to plead for mercy before the Creator, to atone for Israel for the sin of the calf. And because of it, \u201cShe shall mourn her father and her mother,\u201d since he exposed the nakedness of the Creator, who is the father of the soul, and the nakedness of the Torah, the mother of the soul, as it is written, \u201cThe nakedness of your father or the nakedness of your mother you shall not uncover,\u201d and it is written about that, \u201cMy eyes shed streams of tears because they do not keep Your law [Torah].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
10. Israel were far from the king, the Creator, from the beginning of Elul until the Day of Atonement, when forty days had been completed and Moses came down from the mountain. Israel were fasting throughout that day, and then the king adhered to the queen, as it is written, \u201cAfter that you will come to her and go in to her, and she shall be your wife.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
11. They made a covenant with the Creator not to commit idol-worship, as it is written, \u201cBehold, I am making a covenant before all your people,\u201d and it is written, \u201cYou shall make no molded gods for yourselves.\u201d And this is why it is written, \u201cBut you shall not sell her for money,\u201d meaning you shall not be untrue for gods of silver, as it is written, \u201cYou shall not make anything to be with Me\u2014gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
12. Happy are Israel, on whom the Creator decreed fasting on this day, since it is written, \u201cFor any soul that is not afflicted on that same day shall be cut off from her people,\u201d so that all their sins will be atoned for, as it is written, \u201cFor on this day, He will atone for you, to purify you from all your sins; you will be purified before the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1. It is written, \u201cIsrael has rejected good; an enemy will pursue him.\u201d \u201cIsrael has rejected good\u201d is the good […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":14587,"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":[28],"class_list":["post-14588","book","type-book","status-publish","hentry","topic-zohar"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n