Handwritten Manuscript 2

[I heard from the Rebbe, etc., on the second day of the week, Parashat Eikev, 5566 (1806), according to the minor reckoning]

And this is the meaning of “And it shall be, if you listen to these judgments” [Deuteronomy 7:12]. Every place where it says והיה (and it shall be) is only joy. That is, in the aspect of עקב ([akev] heel), the aspect of judgment, the aspect of the earth, the aspect of the feet, they hear joy from these judgments, that is, from these judgments, from these afflictions. And then, through the joy, he merits to be a *tzadik*, for a *tzadik* is called one who guards the *bris*, as it is written in the Zohar [cf. Zohar III, 91b]. And one who guards the *bris* merits the kingdom. And then he does not need to guard himself in keeping the *bris*, for Hashem will guard him, for damage to the *bris*, G-d forbid, occurs in most cases through the black bile, which is drawn from the spleen to Lilith, the evil one, from the element of dust, which is the root of the black bile. And when he accepts the afflictions with joy, then he is always in joy. This is “And Hashem your G-d will guard for you the *bris* and the kindness” [Deuteronomy 7:12], that is, Hashem Himself will guard his *bris*. And the kindness, that His divinity will be revealed, shining *chesed el* [divine kindness] all day, as it is written in the Zohar, that a drop of kindness is revealed in the mouth of the mother [Zohar II, 190b]. And through the *eitzah* of the *tzadik*, one can come to this joy, and then the judgment is sweetened before the afflictions come upon him… to the *tzadik* to give joy to the feet.