{"id":8251,"date":"2025-11-15T16:20:24","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T16:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.kabbalah.info\/?post_type=book&p=8251"},"modified":"2025-11-15T16:20:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T16:20:24","slug":"if-thou-faint-in-the-day-of-adversity","status":"publish","type":"book","link":"https:\/\/www.kabbalah.info\/en\/if-thou-faint-in-the-day-of-adversity\/","title":{"rendered":"If Thou Faint in the Day of Adversity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

179) \u201cIf you are weak in the day of adversity, your strength is small.\u201d \u201cIf you are weak\u201d means one whose hands let go of the Creator, an do not grow stronger in Him. And how does one grow stronger in the Creator? By growing strong in the Torah, for one who grows stronger in the Torah, grows stronger in the tree of life, as though he gives strength to the assembly of Israel, which is the Shechina, to grow stronger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

180) If he is idle in the Torah, it is written, \u201cin the day of adversity, your strength is small,\u201d meaning that on the day when adversity comes, he will seemingly push the Shechina, which is the force of the world. \u201cYour strength,\u201d [in Hebrew] with the letters for Koah [Strength] and Koh1<\/sup><\/a> [Thus], where Koh is the name of the Shechina, and \u201cyour strength is small\u201d means that he restrains the force of the Shechina, called Koh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

181) When a person is idle in the Torah and goes by an improper way, several enemies may come upon him in the day of adversity. Moreover, even man\u2019s soul, which is his strength and authority, will become his enemy and turn against him, as it is written, \u201cyour strength is small.\u201d This is because she has become his enemy and foe. \u201cYour strength is small\u201d relates to the soul, which is man\u2019s strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

182) When a man walks by the path of Torah, and all his ways are proper and correct, several advocates stand by him, to speak favorably of him. It is written, \u201cIf there be for him an angel, an intercessor\u2026\u201d is not everything revealed before the Creator? Does He need an angel to tell Him good or bad?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

183) Of course He needs an angel, even though He knows everything. This is so in order to evoke mercy, since when man has several advocates to mention his merits before the Creator, and he has none to speak unfavorably of him, then, as it is written, \u201cHe is gracious toward him, and says: \u2018Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

184) It is written, \u201cIf there be for him an angel\u2026\u201d It would be good if it did not write more. But it writes, \u201can intercessor, one among a thousand.\u201d Thus, who is he? It is the angel that is appointed to being at a man\u2019s left side. It is written, \u201cA thousand may fall at Your side.\u201d This is the left side. Afterwards, it is written, \u201cand ten thousand at Thy right hand,\u201d meaning that the previously written \u201cThy side\u201d was the left side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

185) But one out of a thousand is the evil inclination, which is one of those 1,000 damagers, which stand at the left, because he rises up and takes permission, and subsequently descends and puts to death. Hence, if a man walks on the path of truth, that evil inclination becomes his slave, as it is written, \u201cBetter is he that is a lowly one who has a servant.\u201d At that time, he rises and becomes an advocate and speaks before the Creator in favor of the man. And then the Creator says, \u201cDeliver him from going down to the pit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

186) Yet, the evil inclination does not return empty handed, since it is given another person to control, instead, and to take his soul from him. Since that person\u2019s sins have been put forward and he was caught for them, he becomes the ransom for the person who was saved, as it is written, \u201cI have found ransom to redeem him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

187) Also, The Creator says to the angel, \u201c\u2018I have found ransom,\u2019 that advocacy, which you said about that person, will be a ransom for him to redeem him, so he will not go down to hell and die.\u201d For this reason, one should walk in the path of truth, so his prosecutor will become his advocate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

188) Such as that are Israel on the day of atonement. They give a scapegoat to the evil inclination, which is Sam, and occupy themselves with it until it becomes their slave and rises and testifies to the Creator and becomes their advocate. It is about this evil inclination that Solomon said, \u201cIf thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

189) For this reason, in the day of adversity, when one is idle in the Torah, he seemingly pushes the Creator toward the evil inclination, which becomes man\u2019s slanderer, to hear his slander. Thus, this is a day of adversity. And then it is written, \u201cyour strength is small,\u201d with the letters for Tzar [narrow], Koah [strength], and Koh [Yod-Hey]. It restrains the strength of the Shechina, called Koh, since the evil inclination draws near the Creator in order to slander, and the strength of the Shechina weakens because of the slandering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

190) \u201cThe Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who take refuge in Him.\u201d What is \u201ca day of trouble\u201d? It is Jacob, when Esau came to slander against him. \u201cHe knows them that take refuge in Him,\u201d when the trouble of the judgment of Rachel\u2019s death came upon him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

191) The slanderer is not over man, except in a time of danger. Because Jacob was late to keep the vow that he took before the Creator, the judgment prevailed over Jacob through the slanderer, who demanded him sentenced at the time when Rachel was in danger. He said before the Creator, \u201cBut Jacob made a vow and did not pay. He is greater than all in wealth, in sons, and in all that is needed, but he did not complete the vow he had taken before You, and You did not receive a punishment from him. Immediately, \u201cand Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor,\u201d since the judgment above, with the angel of death, was harsh upon him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

192) It is written, \u201cIf you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken away from you?\u201d This is why Rachel died, and the judgment was passed by the angel of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

193) When Esau came, Jacob \u201cput the handmaids and their children foremost,\u201d since he feared for Rachel, so that that wicked would not see her beauty and desire her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

194) It is also written, \u201cThen the handmaids came near, they and their children.\u201d The women were before the men. But about Rachel, it is written, \u201c\u2026and afterwards Joseph came near and Rachel,\u201d that is, Joseph went before his mother, covering and hiding her. This is why it is written, \u201cJoseph Ben [son of] Porat,\u201d for he augmented his body and covered his mother, and it is written, Ben Porat over the eye,\u201d the eye of that wicked, so he would not gaze upon her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

195) Here Rachel was punished by the evil inclination, who slandered at the time of danger, and Jacob was punished for not keeping his vow. And this was harder for Jacob than all the troubles he had endured. And how do we know that Rachel\u2019s death was because of Jacob? Because it is written, \u201cRachel died unto me,\u201d certainly upon me, for I was late keeping my vow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

196) \u201c\u2026the curse that is causeless shall not come.\u201d It is said \u201cnot\u201d with a Vav [which means \u201cfor him\u201d], the causeless curse shall not come. If it is a curse of a righteous, even if he did not at all intend to curse, once the curse comes of his mouth, the evil inclination receives it and slanders with it at a time of danger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

197) Jacob said, \u201cWith whomsoever thou finds thy gods, he shall not live.\u201d And even though he did not know that Rachel stole them, Satan received that thing which is always among men, and in the time of danger, slandered against him. This is why we learn that one should never open one\u2019s mouth to the devil, for he takes that word and slanders with it above and below. It is even more so if the word comes from the mouth of a sage or a righteous. And Rachel was punished for those two: 1) because he was late keeping his vow; and 2) because of the curse he had uttered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. Koh, written in Hebrew with the letters Kaf-Hey, is a common way to write YH, part of the Yod, Hey, Vav, Hey. Because it is uncustomary to spell it as Yod and Hey, the Kaf replaces the Yod.\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    179) \u201cIf you are weak in the day of adversity, your strength is small.\u201d \u201cIf you are weak\u201d means one 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