Book contents. Next: Part 1, Chapter 1.
The compiler’s foreword
And it is the letter sent to the whole body of the people of our fellowship. May their Rock guard them and give them life.
To you, men, I call. Listen to me, you who pursue what is right, you who seek Hashem (God). And may Elohim listen to you. From the great to the small, every person of our fellowship in our province and in the places near it, let each man come to his place in peace, and to life for the world, forever, selah, and ever. Amen, so may it be willed.
Behold, this is known. It is a familiar saying in the mouths of people, among all our fellowship, to say that hearing words of moral teaching does not compare with seeing and reading in books. For the reader reads according to his own way and his own mind, and according to the reach and the grasp of his intellect, in the place where he is. And if his intellect and his mind are confused, and they walk in darkness in the service of Hashem, only with difficulty can he see the light, that it is good, the light hidden in the books, even though the light is sweet to the eyes and a healing for the nefesh (the lowest level of the soul). And besides this, behold, the books of awe that are built according to a human intellect are surely not equal for every nefesh. For the intellects and the minds are not all equal. And the intellect of this person is not moved and not awakened by that which moves and awakens the intellect of his fellow. And as the sages of blessed memory said (Berakhot 58a) concerning the blessing of the One who is wise in secrets, over six hundred thousand of Israel, that their minds are not alike, this one to that one, and so on. And as the Ramban (Nachmanides), of blessed memory, wrote in the Wars, there, in the explanation of the Sifrei concerning Joshua, of whom it is said (Numbers 27:18), “a man in whom there is a spirit,” that he is able to walk in accord with the spirit of each and every one, and so on. Rather, even in the books of awe whose foundations are in the mountains of holiness, the midrashim of the sages of blessed memory, in whom the spirit of Hashem spoke and His word was on their tongue, and the Torah and the Holy One, blessed be He, are all one, and all six hundred thousand souls of Israel as a whole, and their particulars, and the particulars of their particulars, down to a light spark of the lightest, and those of little worth among our people, the children of Israel, all of them are bound with the Torah, and the Torah is what binds them to the Holy One, blessed be He, as is known in the holy Zohar, behold, this is a general path for Israel as a whole. And though the Torah was given to be expounded in a general rule, and a particular, and particulars of particulars, for every particular nefesh of Israel that is rooted in it, still not every person merits to come to recognize his own particular place in the Torah.
And behold, even in the laws of what is forbidden and what is permitted, which are revealed to us and to our children, we have found and we have seen dispute of the tannaim and the amoraim, from one end to the other end, in fact. And these and those are the words of the living Elohim, a plural wording, named after the source of life for the souls of Israel, which are divided in a general way into three lines: right, and left, and middle. These are kindness and might, and so on. And souls whose root is from the trait of kindness, their conduct too is to incline toward kindness, to be lenient, and so on, as is known. And how much more so, from a light case to a heavy one, in the hidden things that belong to Hashem our Elohim. For they are the awe and the love in the brain and the heart of each and every one, according to his own measure, according to what is measured in his heart. As it is written in the Zohar (Zohar I 103b) on the verse (Proverbs 31:23), “Her husband is known in the gates,” and the rest.
But I speak to those who know me and those who recognize me. They are each and every one of our fellowship in our province and the places near it, among whom speech of affection was common between us, and who uncovered before me all the hidden things of their heart and of their brain in the service of Hashem that depends on the heart. To them my word shall drip, and my tongue is the pen of a writer, in these booklets that are called by the name “Collected Sayings,” gathered from the mouth of books and from the mouth of writers, holy ones of the Most High, their soul in Eden, who are known among us. And some of them are hinted, for the wise, in the holy letters from our teachers who are in the Holy Land. May it be built and firmly established soon in our days, amen. And some of them I heard from their holy mouth when they were here with us. And all of them are answers to many questions that all our fellowship of our province constantly ask, seeking counsel, each one according to his level, to set counsels in their nefesh in the service of Hashem. For the time no longer brings it about to answer each and every one on his own question in particular, and forgetting too is common. Therefore I wrote down all the answers to all the questions, for a keeping, for a sign, that they be for each and every one a remembrance between his eyes, and that he no longer press to come in to speak with me in private. For in them he will find rest for his nefesh, and right counsel for every matter that is hard for him in the service of Hashem, and his heart will be firm, trusting in Hashem, who completes it for us. And one whose mind is short to understand a word of counsel from within these booklets, let him set out his speech before the great ones of his city, and they will give him understanding. And to them is my request, that they not put a hand to the mouth, to conduct themselves in a humility and a lowliness that are false, God spare us. And the bitter punishment for one who withholds grain is known (Sanhedrin 91b), and the greatness of the reward, from the saying of the sages of blessed memory (Temurah 16a) on the verse (Proverbs 29:13), “Hashem lights the eyes of both of them.” For Hashem will shine His face toward them, the light of the face of the King, life. And He who gives life to the living will make us worthy and will give us life, for days when “a man will no longer teach his companion,” and the rest, “for all of them will know Me,” and the rest, “for the earth will be filled with knowledge of Hashem,” and the rest (Isaiah 11:9). Amen, so may it be willed.
And behold, after the booklets mentioned above spread among all our fellowship mentioned above, in many copies from the hands of scribes different and unlike one another, then by the multitude of the differing copies the errors of the scribes multiplied, as they multiplied, very, very much. And for this, the spirit of the men of Ephrath, the named ones mentioned above on the other side of the page, was willing to take trouble with their body and their substance, to bring the booklets mentioned above to the printing house, cleared of every dross and of every scribe’s error, and well corrected. And I say, for the good deed, may their strength be made straight. And because a full verse was spoken by Scripture (Deuteronomy 27:17), “Cursed is one who moves his fellow’s boundary,” and in “cursed” there is a curse, and in it a ban (Shevuot 36a), God spare us, and so on, therefore I come, as Judah and still more to proclaim, to cast a great barrier upon all the printers, that they not print the booklets mentioned above, not by themselves and not by an agent of theirs, without the permission of the named ones mentioned above, for a span of five years from the day the printing is finished. And for those who listen it will be pleasant, and a blessing of good will come upon them. Thus are the words of the compiler of the Collected Sayings mentioned above.
Book contents. Next: Part 1, Chapter 1.
