Eating - BOOK TWO

BOOK TWO:

1. One who [manifests] the Image of G-d, through eating something that had life (like meat or fish) elevates it (/he himself is elevated), and so the reverse—[one without that Image degrades that food/ himself).

2. Eating fish arouses sexual desire.

3. By saying Birkat HaMazon (the grace after the meal), the Blessed G-d becomes known in the world.

4. By saying Birkat HaMazon (grace after meal), the government is settled from strife and wars.

5. One who learns Torah with a clear mind, that his eating is so holy that he is nourished from the [same] food from which the angels are nourished, causes that his enemies be punished with strangulation. This is learned from Torah passages: "And it was on the third day, when it became morning…” (Shemot 19:16), "And in the morning there was a layer of dew…” (Shemot 16:13)" "And it was in the watch of the morning…” (Shemot 14:24)

[Rabbi Nosson states]: (“I heard an explanation of this article directly from his (Rabbi Nachman) holy mouth. For the (first) passage, "And it was on the third day, at the beginning of the morning…," was said in reference to the giving of the Torah, the aspect of what was said above, "One who learns with a pure mind..." The second quote, "And in the morning there was a layer of dew…," refers to the manna, which is the food by which the angels are nourished, as the Sages ob”m said. The third quote, "And it was in the watch of the morning…," refers to the splitting of the Red Sea, wherein the Egyptians were drowned in the sea, which is the aspect of strangulation, as the Sages ob”m said. Rabbi Nachman drew a connection between these passages through the word "morning" that appears in all three, through this he found the above hasaga in the Torah).

6. One who does not taste anything when he eats, should know that the Blessed G-d has separated Himself from him.

7. The eating of tzaddikim is higher than the sacrifices, and higher than their conjugal relations.

8. The fish are fat in the merit of the sacrifices.

9. One who was bitten by a dog, it is certain that the mercies of Heaven are removed from him, and it is also certain that he has erred with (eating) forbidden foods.

10. One who guards himself from forbidden foods, he is saved from wild animals.

11. One whose enemies are on the rise, he falls into the desires of food.

12. Through desires of food, one comes to love one of his children more than the others.

13. “Come eat my food (bread) and drink…” (Mishlei 9:5) -- the initials of the Hebrew words in this verse spell Lulav (palm branch taken on Succos). "…with wine…" with the four letters of the word, has the same gematria (numerical value) as the initials of Etrog, Hadas, Arava (citron, myrtle, willow). [The word] “Masachti—I mixed…” – is an aspect of Sukkot (in that the words share the same root letters). [Thus we derive that] through the mitzvah of taking the Four Species and through [dwelling in] the Sukkah, a man merits to have food, drink, and clothing, and also that his soul will receive life-force. Through the sukkah one merits to have clothing, an aspect of "When I placed clouds as his garment." (Iyov 38:9) Through the willow one merits drinking, through the myrtle one merits to vitalize the soul, and through the lulav and the etrog one merits eating, for they have fruits, which are types of food.

14. Food and drink come through law and justice.

15. That when a man drinks, he begins to sing and play music, which is not so with eating, is because they sang (praise to G-d) about the [miraculous] well, but they did not say songs of praise about the manna.