תּוֹרָה סד - בֹּא אֶל פַּרְעֹה

Bo El Paroh — "Come to Pharaoh" · Opening: Exodus 10:1 · Likutay Moharan Part I, Toirah 64

It is a great prohibition to study the books of the investigators [ m'chakrim ] — the philosophers. For there are many questions drawn from the aspect of the empty void [ chalal ha-panui ] (see the main text) — for which it is impossible to find any answer whatsoever. Only in the future will the answer be revealed — for then the secret of the contraction [ tzimtzum ] of the empty void will be revealed. And this itself will be the reward of the Tzadikim — that they will attain attainments and understand what it was impossible for them to understand in this world. But in this world it is impossible to settle them with any intellect — and one who investigates these wisdoms derived from there will be sunk and lost there. For about them it is said: "all who come into her do not return" [Proverbs 2:19]. For it is impossible to find Hashem Yisborach there — to answer the questions and confusions in them with any intellect. Only Israel — through faith — pass over all the wisdoms and all the confusions in the world. For they believe in Hashem Yisborach and in His holy Torah without any investigation or wisdom — only with complete faith. And on this account Israel are called Ivrim [Hebrews] — named for the fact that through their faith they pass over [ ovrim v'olim ] all kinds of investigations and wisdoms. For they do not need to investigate at all — for they know the truth in its truest sense through their complete faith — believing in the truth as we have received from our forefathers and our holy teachers. And through this they pass over and transcend all the wisdoms.

Know: there are great Tzadikim who must specifically study these wisdoms. Even though they also cannot reveal the divinity there and answer all the questions and confusions coming from the empty void — for this is impossible until the future as above. Nevertheless through their study of them — they raise up and extract from there many souls that have fallen and sunk into them. For through the great holiness of the Tzadik when he studies these wisdoms — he subdues the power of the confusions and investigations coming from these wisdoms. And since every thing longs for its root — therefore when the Tzadikim engage in these wisdoms — all the souls that have fallen in them long and blaze to cleave to the Tzadik's soul. And he extracts them from there.

Through the melody of the true great Tzadik — he raises the souls that have fallen to the above-mentioned heresy upon which there is no teshuvah. (Said the copyist: see in the book Zimras Ha-Aretz where it is written that this is what the verse says: "the utterance of the man raised on high" [II Samuel 23:1] — and our Sages of blessed memory expounded: the one who raised the yoke of teshuvah — and the sweet singer of Israel. For through the songs and melodies of Dovid the King, peace be upon him — he returned all the souls of Israel to teshuvah — even those who had fallen to the confusions of the empty void. And therefore it is explained in the teachings of our Rebbe, blessed be his memory, §73 — that the recitation of Tehillim is a remedy [ segulah ] for teshuvah — see there.)

The fact that there is conflict between the true Tzadikim — this is drawn from the aspect of the empty void (see the main text) — and it is impossible to understand this with the intellect. [And one who wishes to investigate and understand with his intellect the matter of the conflict that exists between the great true Tzadikim — sometimes through this he can come to heresy. For this conflict is also the secret of the empty void. And just as it is forbidden to investigate the wisdoms and confusions coming from the empty void — for through this he can come to complete heresy — for about this it is said: "all who come into her do not return" — so too it is forbidden to contemplate this conflict. Rather one must believe that both these and those are words of the Living G-d — only we cannot understand this — and we must strengthen ourselves only through faith.] 📜 Translator's Summary — Toirah 64 [from the Translator] Central theme: The philosophical questions arising from the empty void are unanswerable in this world — their resolution is itself the reward of the World to Come. The ordinary Jew must not enter this territory; faith is the true passage over all confusions — hence Israel are called Ivrim (crossers/passers). However, certain great Tzadikim must enter these wisdoms precisely to rescue souls trapped there — not by resolving the questions (impossible) but by their sheer holiness attracting the fallen souls to cling to them. The Tzadik's melody also achieves this rescue. Conflict between true Tzadikim is also drawn from the empty void and cannot be understood intellectually — it must be accepted with faith. Israel as Ivrim (§1): The word Ivri [Hebrew] is interpreted here not as a national designation but as a spiritual description — from the root avar , to cross over. Israel "cross over" all philosophical obstacles through faith, without requiring intellectual resolution. This gives the word its deepest meaning: the people who transcend by believing. The Tzadik who enters the forbidden (§2): A nuanced teaching — the prohibition on investigating philosophical questions does not apply to the great Tzadik, whose very engagement with these wisdoms (paradoxically without resolving them) is the vehicle for rescuing trapped souls. His holiness subdues the power of the confusions even as it activates the soul-magnetism that draws fallen souls back toward their root.