Listen to Me, My People
Listen to Me, My People
Listen to me, my people.
From the depth of my soul do I speak with you, from the depth of the soul of my soul, from the depth of the bond of life that binds me to all of you and all of you are bound to me; from the depths of that feeling that I experience as being deeper than all my feelings of life, that you, only you, only all of you, your entirety, all of your souls, all of your generations, only you are the content of my life.
In you I live, in you, in the bloc that comprises all of you does my life have that character that is called life.
Without you I have nothing. All hopes, all ideals, all the value of the worth of life, all of it I find within myself only with you.
And I must bond with all of your souls, I must love you with an infinite love. It is impossible for me to feel any other feeling. All types of love, small and great, in all areas of my life, are all encompassed in your love, in the love of the totality of you—the totality in which all your individuals exist and live.
Everyone of you, every individual soul from the totality of all of you is a great and significant spark from the torch of eternal life, which illumines the light of life for me.
You, you give me meaning to life, to devotion, to Torah, to prayer, to song, to hope.
Through the conduit of your being I feel everything, I love everything. Upon the wings of the spirit of your affection I am lifted up to the love of God, and it grows more transparent to me, more clear to me, it takes flame in my heart, it grows purified in my thoughts.
With you, my nation, my people, my mother, the source of my life, with you I soar to the eternal breadths. With your eternity do I live an eternal life, with your splendor I am filled with glory and splendor, with your impoverishment I am filled with pains, with the suffering in your souls I am filled with bitterness, with the knowledge and understanding within yourselves I am filled with knowledge and understanding.
The treasure house of life for me is every rhythm, every rule [created by] the stance of your feet.
Your land, the land of your hope, is holy to me. Its skies are a source of grace to me, the source of the beauty of all worlds. Its fertile field and its coastland are the source of hope, the source of blessing, the source of the joy of life. Its thorn and briar crown before me glory and eternal grandeur.
The Merits Of The Jewish People
At the end of every holy Sabbath, Elijah sits beneath the Tree of Life and records the merits of the Jewish people.
Therefore, it is proper for anyone who possesses a connection to the desire for the secrets of the Torah—(which corresponds to a visitation of Elijah on some level) even if [that desire] exists only in some imaginary fashion or is an emotion or some product of human intellect; and certainly if he has risen (with the [help of God’s] supreme lovingkindness) to higher levels—that following each Sabbath, on Saturday night, he too emulate Elijah’s deeds and engage in [bringing to light] the merits of the Jewish people.
And he should recognize intellectually, and with a shining and clear insight, the holiness of the Jewish people and the preciousness of their qualities. And he should cling to the entirety of the holy nation, the nation of Hashem, which is the beloved jewel of [God’s] inheritance. Every single individual of that nation possesses an endless, infinite phenomenon of the light of [God’s] holiness, so that the entire world in its entirety is founded upon [these individuals], even on those [people of] Israel who are empty [of merit].
And he should tremble in holy awe at the holiness of the sublime, Godly holiness of the soul of every individual Jew. He should be filled with longing and endless love for the holiness of the exalted nature of the cornucopia of Israel in general, and for the success of each individual of Israel in all the work of his hands: in the physical, in the spiritual and in everything good.
Fortunate are you, O Israel: “fortunate are you, O Israel; who is like you, a nation saved by Hashem.”
I have loved you, my nation and my people, I have desired you with all my heart and with all my spirit. I have desired you with all the warmth of [my] heart, with all the fire of my bones.
I yearn to see your honor, your beauty and your glory, when you will be uplifted and elevated, when you will grow in the beauty of your nature, when all of your wondrous special traits hidden within you will come out of potential and into actuality, when you will be planted and rooted in the land of your nature, in the land of your beauty, and the harmony of your might and the height of your horn will be revealed to all directions.
“The nations will see your righteousness and all of the kings you honor, and call you with a new name that the mouth of Hashem has chosen. And you will be a crown of beauty in the hand of Hashem, and a diadem of royalty in the palm of your God.”
The Great Worth Of The Holy Nation
Who can properly evaluate the great worth of the holy nation at the end of the holy Sabbath? Who can properly praise the radiance of the exalted holiness of the Jewish soul, which was already elevated in the radiance of its beauty by the holiness of the holy day, the most beloved of all days?
Who will gather the strength to sing about, describe and envisage the precious glory of the wondrous people, who rise to the heights of the world, who wear the sun as a necklace in its place, who fly to the heavens, who rise with the holiness of their desire to the heights of the canopy of the highest heavens, upon [each of] whom during the entire day of the Sabbath the light of Hashem shone, appeared and glowed at his meals, in his prayers, in his feelings, in his delights, in his tranquility and glory?
And who will speak even more of the great worth of the holy people and the righteous, those who know how to praise the Sabbath and to give it the honor that it deserves in accord with its elevated holiness, who they distribute riches to all their nation, the riches of heaven, the wealth of the blessings of holiness of elevated feelings and mighty desires? How precious they are to me!
And as for me, how precious are Your companions, God, how mighty are their leaders.”
You are pleasant to me, Torah sages amongst Israel, sages of the Torah, men of rare quality.
You are pleasant to me, righteous men, straight in heart, faithful in spirit, faithful ones of a chosen nation.
You are precious to me, all of you, all of your masses, it is all holy.
In the inner being of their soul a holy fire burns.
I see your honor, I am crowned and beautified with the loveliness of the radiance of your spirit—beloved of [my] heart, children of holiness, you shall be a blessing in the land, in the beloved land shall you be blessed, upon the holy land shall you spread out [like] branches.
All of the nations will praise you, kings will fear your glory, and you shall be called the cohanim of Hashem, the servants of our God.
Every pure thought of yours will come forth, every clear idea shall be elevated and rectified through you, every soul will delight with you in your strength, everyone will become beautified through you, will grow greater because of you.
I Will Speak With My Heart
I will speak with my heart, and my spirit will seek, it will seek and it will find, it will seek with the lamp of Hashem, which is the human soul. And [God’s] thought of Israel, which preceded everything else, will illumine with the ultimate strength the source of all the letters of the Torah.
“Behold, a nation like a young lion will stand and like a lion will arise.”
“Behold I shall open your graves and take you up from your graves with me, and bring you to the land of Israel.”
“‘And I will place my spirit upon you and give you life’—in the past, I gave you Torah, in the future I will give you life.’”
The soul of Israel, the source of Torah, will find itself. And when it finds its essence, all of the letters of the Torah will gleam before it with their beautiful radiance of life, and they shall be called by a new name, a new name that the mouth of Hashem will designate.
From the brilliance of the sight of the salvation of the whole, the light of the individual— which has nothing besides that which is in the whole—will shine.
“And the survivor in Zion and the remnant in Jerusalem will be called holy, each one who is written for life in Jerusalem.”
Our Soul is Great, Strong And Mighty
Our soul is great, strong and mighty. It breaks walls of bronze, it bursts mountains and hills. It is infinitely broad, it must spread out. It is impossible for it to shrink.
Over all our twelve million Jewish souls on all their levels, in all their ascents and descents, on all the hills that they have climbed and in all the valleys into which they have descended, in all the heights of the city where they stand at the very pinnacle, in all the burrows where they hid from the oppression of disgrace and shame, toil and affliction, in all of them, in all of them our soul spreads, it embraces them all, it revives and encourages them all, it returns them all to the site of the house of our life.
“Who are these that fly like a cloud and like doves to their cotes” (Isaiah 60:8).
Listen to me, my people.
From the depth of my soul do I speak with you, from the depth of the soul of my soul, from the depth of the bond of life that binds me to all of you and all of you are bound to me; from the depths of that feeling that I experience as being deeper than all my feelings of life, that you, only you, only all of you, your entirety, all of your souls, all of your generations, only you are the content of my life.
In you I live, in you, in the bloc that comprises all of you does my life have that character that is called life.
Without you I have nothing. All hopes, all ideals, all the value of the worth of life, all of it I find within myself only with you.
And I must bond with all of your souls, I must love you with an infinite love. It is impossible for me to feel any other feeling. All types of love, small and great, in all areas of my life, are all encompassed in your love, in the love of the totality of you—the totality in which all your individuals exist and live.
Everyone of you, every individual soul from the totality of all of you is a great and significant spark from the torch of eternal life, which illumines the light of life for me.
You, you give me meaning to life, to devotion, to Torah, to prayer, to song, to hope.
Through the conduit of your being I feel everything, I love everything. Upon the wings of the spirit of your affection I am lifted up to the love of God, and it grows more transparent to me, more clear to me, it takes flame in my heart, it grows purified in my thoughts.
With you, my nation, my people, my mother, the source of my life, with you I soar to the eternal breadths. With your eternity do I live an eternal life, with your splendor I am filled with glory and splendor, with your impoverishment I am filled with pains, with the suffering in your souls I am filled with bitterness, with the knowledge and understanding within yourselves I am filled with knowledge and understanding.
The treasure house of life for me is every rhythm, every rule [created by] the stance of your feet.
Your land, the land of your hope, is holy to me. Its skies are a source of grace to me, the source of the beauty of all worlds. Its fertile field and its coastland are the source of hope, the source of blessing, the source of the joy of life. Its thorn and briar crown before me glory and eternal grandeur.
The Merits Of The Jewish People
At the end of every holy Sabbath, Elijah sits beneath the Tree of Life and records the merits of the Jewish people.
Therefore, it is proper for anyone who possesses a connection to the desire for the secrets of the Torah—(which corresponds to a visitation of Elijah on some level) even if [that desire] exists only in some imaginary fashion or is an emotion or some product of human intellect; and certainly if he has risen (with the [help of God’s] supreme lovingkindness) to higher levels—that following each Sabbath, on Saturday night, he too emulate Elijah’s deeds and engage in [bringing to light] the merits of the Jewish people.
And he should recognize intellectually, and with a shining and clear insight, the holiness of the Jewish people and the preciousness of their qualities. And he should cling to the entirety of the holy nation, the nation of Hashem, which is the beloved jewel of [God’s] inheritance. Every single individual of that nation possesses an endless, infinite phenomenon of the light of [God’s] holiness, so that the entire world in its entirety is founded upon [these individuals], even on those [people of] Israel who are empty [of merit].
And he should tremble in holy awe at the holiness of the sublime, Godly holiness of the soul of every individual Jew. He should be filled with longing and endless love for the holiness of the exalted nature of the cornucopia of Israel in general, and for the success of each individual of Israel in all the work of his hands: in the physical, in the spiritual and in everything good.
Fortunate are you, O Israel: “fortunate are you, O Israel; who is like you, a nation saved by Hashem.”
I have loved you, my nation and my people, I have desired you with all my heart and with all my spirit. I have desired you with all the warmth of [my] heart, with all the fire of my bones.
I yearn to see your honor, your beauty and your glory, when you will be uplifted and elevated, when you will grow in the beauty of your nature, when all of your wondrous special traits hidden within you will come out of potential and into actuality, when you will be planted and rooted in the land of your nature, in the land of your beauty, and the harmony of your might and the height of your horn will be revealed to all directions.
“The nations will see your righteousness and all of the kings you honor, and call you with a new name that the mouth of Hashem has chosen. And you will be a crown of beauty in the hand of Hashem, and a diadem of royalty in the palm of your God.”
The Great Worth Of The Holy Nation
Who can properly evaluate the great worth of the holy nation at the end of the holy Sabbath? Who can properly praise the radiance of the exalted holiness of the Jewish soul, which was already elevated in the radiance of its beauty by the holiness of the holy day, the most beloved of all days?
Who will gather the strength to sing about, describe and envisage the precious glory of the wondrous people, who rise to the heights of the world, who wear the sun as a necklace in its place, who fly to the heavens, who rise with the holiness of their desire to the heights of the canopy of the highest heavens, upon [each of] whom during the entire day of the Sabbath the light of Hashem shone, appeared and glowed at his meals, in his prayers, in his feelings, in his delights, in his tranquility and glory?
And who will speak even more of the great worth of the holy people and the righteous, those who know how to praise the Sabbath and to give it the honor that it deserves in accord with its elevated holiness, who they distribute riches to all their nation, the riches of heaven, the wealth of the blessings of holiness of elevated feelings and mighty desires? How precious they are to me!
And as for me, how precious are Your companions, God, how mighty are their leaders.”
You are pleasant to me, Torah sages amongst Israel, sages of the Torah, men of rare quality.
You are pleasant to me, righteous men, straight in heart, faithful in spirit, faithful ones of a chosen nation.
You are precious to me, all of you, all of your masses, it is all holy.
In the inner being of their soul a holy fire burns.
I see your honor, I am crowned and beautified with the loveliness of the radiance of your spirit—beloved of [my] heart, children of holiness, you shall be a blessing in the land, in the beloved land shall you be blessed, upon the holy land shall you spread out [like] branches.
All of the nations will praise you, kings will fear your glory, and you shall be called the cohanim of Hashem, the servants of our God.
Every pure thought of yours will come forth, every clear idea shall be elevated and rectified through you, every soul will delight with you in your strength, everyone will become beautified through you, will grow greater because of you.
I Will Speak With My Heart
I will speak with my heart, and my spirit will seek, it will seek and it will find, it will seek with the lamp of Hashem, which is the human soul. And [God’s] thought of Israel, which preceded everything else, will illumine with the ultimate strength the source of all the letters of the Torah.
“Behold, a nation like a young lion will stand and like a lion will arise.”
“Behold I shall open your graves and take you up from your graves with me, and bring you to the land of Israel.”
“‘And I will place my spirit upon you and give you life’—in the past, I gave you Torah, in the future I will give you life.’”
The soul of Israel, the source of Torah, will find itself. And when it finds its essence, all of the letters of the Torah will gleam before it with their beautiful radiance of life, and they shall be called by a new name, a new name that the mouth of Hashem will designate.
From the brilliance of the sight of the salvation of the whole, the light of the individual— which has nothing besides that which is in the whole—will shine.
“And the survivor in Zion and the remnant in Jerusalem will be called holy, each one who is written for life in Jerusalem.”
Our Soul is Great, Strong And Mighty
Our soul is great, strong and mighty. It breaks walls of bronze, it bursts mountains and hills. It is infinitely broad, it must spread out. It is impossible for it to shrink.
Over all our twelve million Jewish souls on all their levels, in all their ascents and descents, on all the hills that they have climbed and in all the valleys into which they have descended, in all the heights of the city where they stand at the very pinnacle, in all the burrows where they hid from the oppression of disgrace and shame, toil and affliction, in all of them, in all of them our soul spreads, it embraces them all, it revives and encourages them all, it returns them all to the site of the house of our life.
“Who are these that fly like a cloud and like doves to their cotes” (Isaiah 60:8).