ומ"ש ובכל נפשכם. ידוע פלוגתת רז"ל בכמה דוכתי בש"ס. לחד מ"ד תיבת כל פי' כולו. ולחד מ"ד פי' מקצת וכל שהוא. וכן הוא הענין כאן שניהם אמיתים. כי כמה בחי' ומדרגות יש בזה כל אדם לפי כח טהרת לבו ומחשבתו שהאדם שכחו יפה בטהרת המחשבה והכוונה יוכל לדבק את כל נפשו מגודל האהבה והתשוקה לו ית"ש וכל א' לפי כחו וגם לפי ענין הכנת טהרת לבו אז. כי גם לא כל העתים שוות באדם בטהרת המחשבה רק זאת ראוי ונכון שעכ"פ יראה שתהא כוונתו רצויה לדבק לו יתב' באהבתו וטהרת לבו מקצת נפשו בכל תיבה. לכ"א הכתוב ובכל נפשכם דלהוי משתמע לתרי אפי כנ"ל כל א' לפי כחו ומדרגתו והכנתו.
And what is written: “and with all your [plural] souls-Neffesh682Heb.: u-v’khall nahf-sh’khem”, it’s known that our sages (OBM) had different opinions in several places in the Sha”s (Sanhedrin 78a). One opinion is that the word “khall” means “all of”, while another opinion says it means “a part of” and “a very small part of”. So too, in this context, both are accurate. For there are a variety of qualities and levels related to this, with each person [achieving] based on his capacity to tightly focus his heart/mind and thoughts683Heb.: ko-ahkh ta-ha-raht leebo u-mahkh-shahv-toe, implying a clear, unsullied, and focused quality of heart/mind and attention/intention. I translate what would be literally translated as “according to the strength of the purity of heart and thought” as “based on his capacity to tightly focus his heart/ mind and thoughts”.. For a person who is strong in focusing his thought and attention/intention684Heb.: sheh-ha-ah-dahm sheh ko-khoe ya-feh b’ta-ha-raht ha-mahkhsha-vah v’ha-ka-va-nah is able to bind “all of his soul-Neffesh”, based on his vast love and yearning for Him (blessed be His name). And each person [achieves] according to his strength—and also according to how well he prepared to tightly focus his heart/mind then, because, again, not every moment is identical regarding a person’s ability to focus his thought. This alone is worthwhile and correct: that in all cases, he should see to it that his attention/intention is sincere685Heb.: r’tzoo-ya, to bind to Him (blessed be He), with his love and focused heart/mind, “a small part of his soul-Neffesh” in each word. For that reason the text stated “and with all your [plural] souls-Neffesh”, for it can be understood from two perspectives, as discussed previously, each one according to his ability, level and preparation.
2
ועיקר ההכנה לזה הוא לפי הנהגתו כל היום והלילה בתלמוד תורה ומצות. ומדרגת חנה היתה. ששפכה בתפלתה לפניו ית' כל נפשה. לכן אמרה ואשפוך את נפשי כו' ושפיכה פי' לגמרי כידוע בש"ס. (והיינו שלא נשאר לה שום רצון לעניני עה"ז. כי נפש פי' רצון כמ"ש (שמואל א כ׳:ד׳) מה תאמר נפשך ואעשה לך ורצון הכללי קשור בכלל הנפש):
And the main preparation for this is based on his practice686Heb.: hahn-ha-ga-toe, a construction of the word na-hoog., all day and night, of Torah study and mitzvote687Rav Chayyim asserts that the primary practice that should be used to prepare to achieve a focus of heart/mind, thoughts and intention is Torah study and mitzvote.. And Channa was on the level that, in her prayer, she poured out before Him (blessed be His name) “all of her soul-Neffesh”. Therefore she stated: “and I have poured out my soul-Neffesh…”. And “pouring” means completely, as is known in the Sha”s. (And it’s that she had no personal desire688Heb.: ra-tzone—personal will; a quality of personally wanting something, that motivates effort towards acquiring or achieving it. remaining related to matters of this world, for “soul-Neffesh” means “personal desire”, as is written (Shmuel Aleph 20[:4]): “whatever your soul-Neffesh says, that I will do for you”. And the overall quality of personal desire is included in the overall soul-Neffesh.)689Rav Chayyim begins here to differentiate between the overall Neffesh, which is one part (the lowest part) of the overall soul, and the individual parts of the Neffesh itself.)
3
והנה כל הנ"ל בענין התפלה שעיקרה שפיכת הנפש לדבקה לו יתב' בכל תיבה היינו שפיכת כלל הנפש לו ית'. בלא כוונה והבחנה בבחי' הפרטי' הכלולי' בנפש. אמנם יש מדרגה יותר גבוה בזה. והוא לכוין בבחי' הפרטים הכלולים בנפש אלא שצריך חינוך להרגיל עצמו ממדרגה למדרגה שאחר שכבר הורגל בתפלתו איזה זמן בענין שפיכת והתדבקות כלל הנפש. אחר זה יעתיק עצמו לכוון בבחינת הפרטים שנפשו כלולה מהם:
And so, all that we’ve discussed until now in the context of prayer—whose key feature is pouring out the soul-Neffesh to attach to Him (blessed be He) with each word—is the pouring out of the overall soul-Neffesh to Him (blessed be He), without attention/intention to, nor distinction between, the parts that make up the soul-Neffesh. However, there is another level690Rav Chayyim refers to two aspects of the soul-Neffesh: that the soul-Neffesh itself is comprised of a soul-Neffesh (Neffesh ha-Neffesh), soul-Ruakh (Ruakh ha-Neffesh) and soul-Neshama (Neshama ha-Neffesh), and that simultaneously, it is the lowest part of a higher overall structure, consisting of the soul-Neffesh, a higher soul-Ruakh, and a still higher soul-Neshama., higher in this respect, and that is to attend/intend to the distinct components that make up the soul-Neffesh [*], but it takes training to get used to [being/functioning at] one level or the next. For after one is already used to praying for some time in the context of pouring out and attaching the overall soul-Neffesh, after that he can change direction to attend/intend to the distinct components that make up his soul-Neffesh.
4
הגהה: וצריך שתדע. שאף בהתפללו במדרגת התקשרות פרטי הנפש זה בזה. לא יניח מקומו מהתקשרות כלל הנפש כי הוא פרט הצריך לכלל. וכלל הצריך לפרט. היינו שקודם התפלה העיקר לקשר כלל נפשו ורצונו המקיפים כלל פרטי כחותיו ורצונותיו להכלל באור ה'. ועל כל תיבה ותיבה שמתפלל ידביק פרטי כחות נר"ן ועפ"י כח התקשרות הכללי יומשך קו אור ישר על כל פרט. שיוכלו כל פרטי רצונו להכלל בהתקשרות כח המקיף הכללי.
Annotation: And you need to know, that even when he prays at the level of connecting the distinct components of the soul-Neffesh to each other, he shouldn’t abandon his practice of connecting the overall soul-Neffesh, for this is a specific context that requires the general691Heb.: praht ha-tza-reekh l’khlal, and a general context that requires the specific692Both are necessary.. That is, that before praying693Before praying one works on doing one thing; while praying one does something else—both are necessary. Here Rav Chayyim hints at what the Early Pious ones might have been doing when they “paused” for an hour prior to praying. Also see what Rav Azkari says about this in the Sefer Chareidim 254, end of chapter 65., the key thing is to connect his overall soul-Neffesh and his personal desire, [both of] which envelope/surround the totality of the components of his powers and personal desires, so as to be integrated into God’s-YHV”H light. And [during prayer,] to each and every word that he prays, he should bind the components of the powers of NR”N, and as a result of the strength of the overall connection, a stream of descending light694Heb.: Or ya-shar, in contrast to or cho-zeir (returning light)will be drawn down upon each component, so that each component of his personal-desire will have the ability to be integrated into the connection of the overall enveloping/ surrounding light’s strength.
5
ועי' ע"ח דרושי עגולים ויושר וזהו ענין המבואר שם שקו האור שנמשך מאור א"ס ב"ה לא הגיע עד קצה תחתית המקיף. ועי' במבא שערים פ"ב ויובן ענין המקיפים זה תוך זה הנעשים דרך המשכת קו האור היינו שכל כח פרטי לפי מדרגתו צריך לקשרו בכלל. וגם הכלל הוא לפי ערך הפרט וראשית קו אור המשובח הוא המשכת מחשבה הכללית לליבא אמצעיתא דכל גופא שכל תיבה נמשכת מהבל הלב. והוא מבואר למבין מדעתו:
Refer to the Etz Chayyim (D’roo-shei Ee-goo-lim V’yo-sheir). And this is the matter that’s explained there, that the stream of light that is drawn from the light of Ein Sofe (blessed be He) doesn’t contact the lower edge of the enveloper/surrounder695Rav Chayyim refers to the Ariza”l’s explanation that when the (metaphorical) stream of the Ein Sofe’s (metaphorical) light is drawn down into the (metaphorical) spherical void created as a result of the (metaphorical) contraction (tzimtzum), it descends a small distance as a straight line towards the bottom of the sphere, and then spreads out as a sphere inside the sphere, before it proceeds to descend once again as a line. This process repeats and repeats. The spheres-within-spheres eventually act as envelopers/surrounders (orot mei-kee-feem) while the line acts as an internal element (orot p’nee-mee-eem). The result is that the light of Ein Sofe both envelopes/surrounds the contents of the sphere, and inhabits it from within as well. The line never descends so far as to contact the bottom interior edge of the metaphorically spherical void.. And refer to the Ma-vo Sh’ah-rim (chapter 2), and the matter of the surrounders/ envelopers being one within the other will be understood, created as a result of the drawing down of the stream of light. That is, each component’s power at its own level, should be connected to the overall [structure], and also that the overall [structure] depends on the relative value of the component. And the origin of this extra-fine quality stream of light is the drawing of the overall awareness/ thought696Heb.: makh-sha-vah ha-k’la-leet—this is accomplished before prayer beginsto the heart/mind, the central focus of the body, for each word is drawn out from the vapor of the heart/ mind697Heb.: mei-hehvel ha-leiv, and this will be very clear to one who is capable of understanding based on his [experiential] knowledge.
ומ"ש ובכל נפשכם. ידוע פלוגתת רז"ל בכמה דוכתי בש"ס. לחד מ"ד תיבת כל פי' כולו. ולחד מ"ד פי' מקצת וכל שהוא. וכן הוא הענין כאן שניהם אמיתים. כי כמה בחי' ומדרגות יש בזה כל אדם לפי כח טהרת לבו ומחשבתו שהאדם שכחו יפה בטהרת המחשבה והכוונה יוכל לדבק את כל נפשו מגודל האהבה והתשוקה לו ית"ש וכל א' לפי כחו וגם לפי ענין הכנת טהרת לבו אז. כי גם לא כל העתים שוות באדם בטהרת המחשבה רק זאת ראוי ונכון שעכ"פ יראה שתהא כוונתו רצויה לדבק לו יתב' באהבתו וטהרת לבו מקצת נפשו בכל תיבה. לכ"א הכתוב ובכל נפשכם דלהוי משתמע לתרי אפי כנ"ל כל א' לפי כחו ומדרגתו והכנתו.
And what is written: “and with all your [plural] souls-Neffesh682Heb.: u-v’khall nahf-sh’khem”, it’s known that our sages (OBM) had different opinions in several places in the Sha”s (Sanhedrin 78a). One opinion is that the word “khall” means “all of”, while another opinion says it means “a part of” and “a very small part of”. So too, in this context, both are accurate. For there are a variety of qualities and levels related to this, with each person [achieving] based on his capacity to tightly focus his heart/mind and thoughts683Heb.: ko-ahkh ta-ha-raht leebo u-mahkh-shahv-toe, implying a clear, unsullied, and focused quality of heart/mind and attention/intention. I translate what would be literally translated as “according to the strength of the purity of heart and thought” as “based on his capacity to tightly focus his heart/ mind and thoughts”.. For a person who is strong in focusing his thought and attention/intention684Heb.: sheh-ha-ah-dahm sheh ko-khoe ya-feh b’ta-ha-raht ha-mahkhsha-vah v’ha-ka-va-nah is able to bind “all of his soul-Neffesh”, based on his vast love and yearning for Him (blessed be His name). And each person [achieves] according to his strength—and also according to how well he prepared to tightly focus his heart/mind then, because, again, not every moment is identical regarding a person’s ability to focus his thought. This alone is worthwhile and correct: that in all cases, he should see to it that his attention/intention is sincere685Heb.: r’tzoo-ya, to bind to Him (blessed be He), with his love and focused heart/mind, “a small part of his soul-Neffesh” in each word. For that reason the text stated “and with all your [plural] souls-Neffesh”, for it can be understood from two perspectives, as discussed previously, each one according to his ability, level and preparation.
ועיקר ההכנה לזה הוא לפי הנהגתו כל היום והלילה בתלמוד תורה ומצות. ומדרגת חנה היתה. ששפכה בתפלתה לפניו ית' כל נפשה. לכן אמרה ואשפוך את נפשי כו' ושפיכה פי' לגמרי כידוע בש"ס. (והיינו שלא נשאר לה שום רצון לעניני עה"ז. כי נפש פי' רצון כמ"ש (שמואל א כ׳:ד׳) מה תאמר נפשך ואעשה לך ורצון הכללי קשור בכלל הנפש):
And the main preparation for this is based on his practice686Heb.: hahn-ha-ga-toe, a construction of the word na-hoog., all day and night, of Torah study and mitzvote687Rav Chayyim asserts that the primary practice that should be used to prepare to achieve a focus of heart/mind, thoughts and intention is Torah study and mitzvote.. And Channa was on the level that, in her prayer, she poured out before Him (blessed be His name) “all of her soul-Neffesh”. Therefore she stated: “and I have poured out my soul-Neffesh…”. And “pouring” means completely, as is known in the Sha”s. (And it’s that she had no personal desire688Heb.: ra-tzone—personal will; a quality of personally wanting something, that motivates effort towards acquiring or achieving it. remaining related to matters of this world, for “soul-Neffesh” means “personal desire”, as is written (Shmuel Aleph 20[:4]): “whatever your soul-Neffesh says, that I will do for you”. And the overall quality of personal desire is included in the overall soul-Neffesh.)689Rav Chayyim begins here to differentiate between the overall Neffesh, which is one part (the lowest part) of the overall soul, and the individual parts of the Neffesh itself.)
והנה כל הנ"ל בענין התפלה שעיקרה שפיכת הנפש לדבקה לו יתב' בכל תיבה היינו שפיכת כלל הנפש לו ית'. בלא כוונה והבחנה בבחי' הפרטי' הכלולי' בנפש. אמנם יש מדרגה יותר גבוה בזה. והוא לכוין בבחי' הפרטים הכלולים בנפש אלא שצריך חינוך להרגיל עצמו ממדרגה למדרגה שאחר שכבר הורגל בתפלתו איזה זמן בענין שפיכת והתדבקות כלל הנפש. אחר זה יעתיק עצמו לכוון בבחינת הפרטים שנפשו כלולה מהם:
And so, all that we’ve discussed until now in the context of prayer—whose key feature is pouring out the soul-Neffesh to attach to Him (blessed be He) with each word—is the pouring out of the overall soul-Neffesh to Him (blessed be He), without attention/intention to, nor distinction between, the parts that make up the soul-Neffesh. However, there is another level690Rav Chayyim refers to two aspects of the soul-Neffesh: that the soul-Neffesh itself is comprised of a soul-Neffesh (Neffesh ha-Neffesh), soul-Ruakh (Ruakh ha-Neffesh) and soul-Neshama (Neshama ha-Neffesh), and that simultaneously, it is the lowest part of a higher overall structure, consisting of the soul-Neffesh, a higher soul-Ruakh, and a still higher soul-Neshama., higher in this respect, and that is to attend/intend to the distinct components that make up the soul-Neffesh [*], but it takes training to get used to [being/functioning at] one level or the next. For after one is already used to praying for some time in the context of pouring out and attaching the overall soul-Neffesh, after that he can change direction to attend/intend to the distinct components that make up his soul-Neffesh.
הגהה: וצריך שתדע. שאף בהתפללו במדרגת התקשרות פרטי הנפש זה בזה. לא יניח מקומו מהתקשרות כלל הנפש כי הוא פרט הצריך לכלל. וכלל הצריך לפרט. היינו שקודם התפלה העיקר לקשר כלל נפשו ורצונו המקיפים כלל פרטי כחותיו ורצונותיו להכלל באור ה'. ועל כל תיבה ותיבה שמתפלל ידביק פרטי כחות נר"ן ועפ"י כח התקשרות הכללי יומשך קו אור ישר על כל פרט. שיוכלו כל פרטי רצונו להכלל בהתקשרות כח המקיף הכללי.
Annotation: And you need to know, that even when he prays at the level of connecting the distinct components of the soul-Neffesh to each other, he shouldn’t abandon his practice of connecting the overall soul-Neffesh, for this is a specific context that requires the general691Heb.: praht ha-tza-reekh l’khlal, and a general context that requires the specific692Both are necessary.. That is, that before praying693Before praying one works on doing one thing; while praying one does something else—both are necessary. Here Rav Chayyim hints at what the Early Pious ones might have been doing when they “paused” for an hour prior to praying. Also see what Rav Azkari says about this in the Sefer Chareidim 254, end of chapter 65., the key thing is to connect his overall soul-Neffesh and his personal desire, [both of] which envelope/surround the totality of the components of his powers and personal desires, so as to be integrated into God’s-YHV”H light. And [during prayer,] to each and every word that he prays, he should bind the components of the powers of NR”N, and as a result of the strength of the overall connection, a stream of descending light694Heb.: Or ya-shar, in contrast to or cho-zeir (returning light) will be drawn down upon each component, so that each component of his personal-desire will have the ability to be integrated into the connection of the overall enveloping/ surrounding light’s strength.
ועי' ע"ח דרושי עגולים ויושר וזהו ענין המבואר שם שקו האור שנמשך מאור א"ס ב"ה לא הגיע עד קצה תחתית המקיף. ועי' במבא שערים פ"ב ויובן ענין המקיפים זה תוך זה הנעשים דרך המשכת קו האור היינו שכל כח פרטי לפי מדרגתו צריך לקשרו בכלל. וגם הכלל הוא לפי ערך הפרט וראשית קו אור המשובח הוא המשכת מחשבה הכללית לליבא אמצעיתא דכל גופא שכל תיבה נמשכת מהבל הלב. והוא מבואר למבין מדעתו:
Refer to the Etz Chayyim (D’roo-shei Ee-goo-lim V’yo-sheir). And this is the matter that’s explained there, that the stream of light that is drawn from the light of Ein Sofe (blessed be He) doesn’t contact the lower edge of the enveloper/surrounder695Rav Chayyim refers to the Ariza”l’s explanation that when the (metaphorical) stream of the Ein Sofe’s (metaphorical) light is drawn down into the (metaphorical) spherical void created as a result of the (metaphorical) contraction (tzimtzum), it descends a small distance as a straight line towards the bottom of the sphere, and then spreads out as a sphere inside the sphere, before it proceeds to descend once again as a line. This process repeats and repeats. The spheres-within-spheres eventually act as envelopers/surrounders (orot mei-kee-feem) while the line acts as an internal element (orot p’nee-mee-eem). The result is that the light of Ein Sofe both envelopes/surrounds the contents of the sphere, and inhabits it from within as well. The line never descends so far as to contact the bottom interior edge of the metaphorically spherical void.. And refer to the Ma-vo Sh’ah-rim (chapter 2), and the matter of the surrounders/ envelopers being one within the other will be understood, created as a result of the drawing down of the stream of light. That is, each component’s power at its own level, should be connected to the overall [structure], and also that the overall [structure] depends on the relative value of the component. And the origin of this extra-fine quality stream of light is the drawing of the overall awareness/ thought696Heb.: makh-sha-vah ha-k’la-leet—this is accomplished before prayer begins to the heart/mind, the central focus of the body, for each word is drawn out from the vapor of the heart/ mind697Heb.: mei-hehvel ha-leiv, and this will be very clear to one who is capable of understanding based on his [experiential] knowledge.