Chastisement - BOOK TWO

BOOK TWO:

1. One who has not reached a high level of righteousness, and does not have ancestral merit, yet wants to draw people to the service of G-d, should guard himself from tests, especially that the wicked should not envy him.

2. One who draws close those who are far, to the service of the Blessed L-rd, the blessings are given over to his hands (i.e. he is empowered to grant blessings).

3. One who hears chastisement and does not accept it, should know that he will need to borrow from others. A sign for this is: "A slave will not be corrected by words" (Proverbs 29:19), and "A borrower is a slave to the one who lent him" (Proverbs 22:7).

4. No one is able to throw words into the mouth of his friend from a distance (translator's note: a concept found in the Medrash on the verse (Exudos 4:12), that G-d shot His words into Moshe's mouth). Not until he brings his friend first into the aspect of "fetus" (translator's note: I.e a state of spiritual renewal. This can be derived from the above noted verse, where God says he will “teach” Moshe what to say, and the Medrash offers to additional meanings for the word “teach”, shooting – hence the first part of this dictum, and the second – to become pregnant with – hence the contingency of the second part of the dictum).

5. With this, that people go out to greet an important man, the ten statements with which the world was created, are aroused. This is done also through drawing the far, close [to G-d].