דין JUDGE:

ספר המידות - ערך דין

א. כל דין שדן אמת - דיניו אינם בטלים ונתקים אפלו שלא ברצון בעלי הדינים:

1. Any judge who judges truthfully—his judgments will not be annulled, and they prevail even against the will of the litigants.

ב. על ידי שהדין תורה הולך ונתמעט, על ידי זה הפרנסה נתמעטת, וכן להפך:

2. As a result of Torah law (/resolutions of a Torah court) weakening, through this livelihood shrinks, also the opposite is true.

ג. על ידי העמדת דינים שאינם הגונים באים הרהורי עבודה זרה:

3. Through the appointment of judges who are unworthy, come idolatrous thoughts.

ד. על ידי חתון עם תלמיד חכם על ידי זה נתמנים דינים כשרים:

4. Through marrying a Torah sage, worthy judges are appointed.

ה. על ידי דינים כשרים התורה חביבה בעולם:

5. Through proper judges, the Torah is beloved in the world.

ו. על ידי הבזיונות שמבזין את הדינים, התבואה - נשתלח בה מארה:

6. Due to the insults which the judges are insulted, the crops – plagues (/curse) fall upon it.

ז. על ידי הבזיונות שמבזין דיני ישראל, על ידי זה היקר הוה בעולם:

7. Through the insults which judges of Israel are insulted, through this inflation occurs in the world.

ח. כשאיזהו רשע נתגדל, אזי קשה לחדש איזהו סברה בפוסקים. גם דברי הדינים אינם נשמעים באזני הבעלי דינים:

8. When an evil person becomes great, it becomes hard to deduce novel reasoning in Torah law, and also the words of judges are not accepted (/coherent) by the litigants.

ט. התחדשות המסים וארנוניות הוא על ידי הדינים:

9. The renewal of national and local taxes is through the judges. [translator's note: This is regarding a spiritual relation between the two, rather than a simplistic description of the work of the judge.]

Law by the Codifiers

פוסק CODIFIERS OF THE LAW:

BOOK TWO:

1. By learning the codes of Jewish law until one is able to render halachic decisions, one causes numerous barren women to conceive.

2. Through studying the Shulchan Aruch (the primary book of Jewish law), one comes to fear [of Heaven].

3. Learning Codes of Law annuls idolatrous thoughts.

4. When a wicked person rises in power, it becomes difficult to derive a new theory in the Codes. Also, the words of judges are not heard (acceptable) in the ears of the litigants.

Charity - BOOK TWO

BOOK TWO:

1. Through sexual immorality one falls into imprisonment or diseases causing pain in the feet. Also a student who has not reached the level of being able to rule, and rules, falls into this, also evil spirits attack (dominate) him. Charity has the propitious quality to annul all these punishments.

2. [Learning] Torah, [giving] tithes, and [keeping] the Shabbat give physical life as well [i.e. in addition to other benefits].

3. Through charity, with a simple maneuver he subdues his enemies, and the Holy Blessed One saves him from grand schemes of his enemies.

4. To aid Torah scholars, with this he annuls the ruling of the stars and constellations.

5. Through those who support the poor, the masses are saved from plagues, in their merit. Also in their merit, expanded consciousness precedes constricted consciousness.

6. Through charity, one sweetens the judgment of the Time to Come, that is, the Day of Judgment in the Time to Come. (translator's note: Breslovers understood the awesome import of this entry, because that future judgment will even take into account all the ramifications of that which was caused or triggered by one's deeds, our Sages revealed that even the Prophet Shmuel (Samuel) fears this judgement!)

7. Those who abound in doing kindnesses, but occasionally cause something bad through their kindness, and they pretend not to see the bad that sprouted as a result of their kindness—this is an aspect of the warning to the Cohanim (the Priests), who are the aspect of kindness, that they should not take overly large steps. Through this [failing, one] causes the Judgment Above, God forbid, to be unmoderated. The same is true in the converse, when in performing kindness one is careful that bad should not result, through this the Judgment will be moderated.

8. Those who produce Torah novelty need to learn from the works of the halachic regulators before the novelty and also after, and this learning of the halachic regulators is the protection of the novelty, so that no strangers [people or forces inappropriate to such spiritual Light] touch them. Also, when one wants to give charity, it is necessary to do so – as with the novelty [i.e. to learn halachah before and after].

9. Torah novelty and charity–one elicits the other.

10. Great is the power of tithing that it transforms curses to blessings.

11. Through tithes, illicit sexual thoughts are annulled.

12. One who does kindness does not need ancestral merit.

13. Through doing kindness, one gains longevity.

14. There are prayers that are not accepted Above until one gives sufficient charity, according to the number of letters in the prayer related to the problem about which one is praying. For example, when one prays the words, "Give me children", one needs to give charity according to the number of letters of “Give me children”.

15. Through charity one merits to have children.

16. One who sustains the many, draws blessing from the land of Israel to the rest of the world.

17. Through money one gives to the poor of the Land of Israel, through this one merits to retain his wealth.

18. When a man moves to a city, he should send meat to the poor of that city, and through this he will find favor in the eyes of the city officials.

19. Through the giving of “shekulim” (the currency used in Biblical times) one is saved from the evil inclination.

Book

ספר SEFER - BOOK:

BOOK TWO:

1. Someone who has the potential to write a book and does not; this is considered like losing children.

2. Writers must weigh the words of their books, to see if there is enough in them for a book. For the essence of a book is only the things which have been said with the connection of the souls, in the aspect of: "This is the book of the offspring of man." (Genesis 5:1) And if there is only a small amount from such a binding, then it is insufficient for a book.

3. When those with depth of understanding see novel Torah teachings in a book, they can discern whether the author conceived of them himself, or whether they were already existing beforehand from time immemorial one who conceived these novelty, and, because there had not been enough to comprise a book, these novelty were revealed to this author, for them to be included in his book, but in truth, he did not labor for these teachings, for they came to him with ease, for someone else had already toiled for them and brought them to revelation.

4. When some new Torah book is printed, the crying through which the book was created—in the aspect of "and my drink I mixed (“musachti” - close to “meseches” meaning tractate) with tears”, this crying braces up against the decrees of the nations, that they should not overpower us. Furthermore, the main power of their sovereignty is only from the crying of Eisov. A sign of this (Hosea 2:1): "And the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea." (The acronym of the words of this passage spell "crying" in Hebrew, and the Hebrew word for “number” can also be interpreted as “from the book”. This is further explained in Likutay Moharan (30), just like the sand of the sea banks the ocean from wiping out the world, so too the tears cried when compiling a book protect the children of Israel from the decrees of the nations).

5. One who does not look upon women, merits that his descendants will author commentaries on the Torah.

6. That which holy books by tzaddikim are buried (respectfully), and lost, and forgotten from the world, as with several books of the Tanaim and early Torah sages, which were lost and forgotten, this is beneficial for the world, for through this, many books by heretics and blasphemers, may their names be blotted out, are lost, uprooted and erased. Also, through this is annulled jealousy and hatred (existing) between an upright couple who live in holiness.

7. Through a significant book that comes into the world, barren women conceive. A hint for this (Genesis 5:1): "This is the book of the offspring of man."