Tikun Habrit According to the Abir Yaacov

By the holy Kabbalist, Rabbi Yaacov Abuchatzera, AKA the Abir Yaacov

 LEARNING TORAH
The letters of the first word of the Torah, Berashit, can be rearranged to spell Brit Aesh, meaning a Brit of Fire. [ברית אש]This comes to hint that for someone who has blemished the sign of the holy Brit, the most beneficial and powerful tikun is to study Torah. There is in this path of repentance an atonement that matches the sin. For he has heated himself in the fire of his evil inclination; and now, in order to rectify, he must come and heat himself in the fire of the Torah. Furthermore, he blemished the Brit, and the Torah is also called Brit – may one Brit come and atone for the other. In addition, the Brit is called tov, and the Torah is called tov –made one tov come and atone for the other.

In this light, I can explain the verse: “And the stream of the wadis that goes down to the dwelling of Ar, and lies upon the borders of Moav” (Bamidbar, 21:15). It is known that the (genetic) elements found in the zera (seminal fluid) are derived from every organ of the body. It is further known that a person who emits semen in vain is considered evil, as the verse says, “Yehuda’s firstborn son, Er, was evil....” In this light, the “the stream of the wadis” refers to the wasted zera that streams from all of a man’s organs when the zera is spilled in vain. Someone who does this wasteful act, he “goes down to the dwelling of Ar,” and when the word Ar is reversed, it reads ra, meaning evil. His tikun is to “lie upon the borders of Moav,” that is to occupy himself with the Torah whose source is M’av (from Abba), or according to the Kabbalah, from the partzuf of Abba. From this we learn that Tikun HaBrit is to learn Torah. Let the fire of the Torah come and atone for the fire of evil inclination that he followed in transgressing the Brit.This is the Torah’s inference in the word Berashit, a Brit of Aesh or Fire, meaning that the rectification of a person who damaged the Brit is to occupy himself with the learning of Torah which is called fire.

PURSUE SHALOM

We can also learn more about this from the letters of the word Berashit. Its letters can be arranged to form the initial letters of: Tikun Brit Yihiye Ohev Rodef Shalom [תיקון ברית יהיה אוהב רודף שלום] meaning that a principle rectification of the Brit is to pursue shalom. This is because in damaging the Brit, a person gives strength to the Sitra Achra, which is called machloket (division), bringing disunity to a place of shalom. Thus in returning in t’shuva, the person must pursue shalom, and in so doing he will add harmony to the world, rectifying the blemish he caused. Also hinted at in this arrangement of the letters of Berashit is the understanding that the learning of Torah, which is called shalom, has the power to rectify. Let the learning of Torah, which is called shalom, come and atone for the blemish to the Brit, which is also called shalom. This is the meaning of the verse: “Or let him take hold of My strength, that he would make shalom with me, and he shall make shalom with Me” (Yishayahu, 27:5). The doubling of the word shalom in the language of the verse comes to teach that someone who blemishes the Brit must occupy himself with the learning of Torah and with pursuing shalom. The meaning in the verse of holding on to My strength is holding on to the Torah, which is called strength. Also in order make peace with Me, you should pursue shalom. When you do this, the blemish you caused in the spiritual grade of the Brit, which is known as shalom, will be rectified, in that you will have made peace with Me. Thus, an integral part of the tikun to rectify damage done to the Brit is to pursue shalom.  

TEACH OTHERS
The letters of the word Berashit can also be arranged to form the initial letters of: Tikun Brit Yilmad Acharim Shalom Rav, [תיקון ברית ילמד אחרים שלום רב] to hint that someone who has transgressed against the Brit should now teach the Torah to others in order to rectify what he has damaged. This is because violations to the Brit cause holy sparks to be dispersed into the realm of the Sitra Achra. When a person returns in penitence and teaches others Torah, this causes the holy sparks to be gathered up back to the realm of holiness of the holy Jewish Nation. This can be seen in the anagram, Tikun Brit Yilmad Acharim Shalom Rav, since shalom rav is a synonym for the Jewish People.

INCREASE TORAH LEARNING

The letters of Berashit can also form the initial letters of Ratzoi Brit Achre Shuvu Yirbe Torah [רצוי ברית אחרי שובו ירבה תורה], meaning that in returning in t’shuva from transgressions to the Brit, it is proper for a person to increase his study of Torah by learning more Torah than was his wont before he sinned.

THE GREATEST MERIT

Also the letters of the word Berashit can be realigned as the initial letters of B’lamdcha Torah Acharim Yaish Sachar Rav [בלמדך תורה אחרים יש שכר רב]. This hints at what the Sages have told us; that the reward of one who teaches the Torah to others is greater than the reward of one who learns just for himself. Our Rabbis have emphasized the exalted level of teaching Torah to others by saying that whoever teaches Torah to his friend’s son merits to sits in the Yeshiva in heaven. And someone who teaches Torah to the son of an ignorant man, even if G-d should decree something harsh on the world, this teacher of Torah can cancel the evil degree. Also, the children whom a man teaches are considered his children, as it says, “And you shall teach them to your children.” No one brings more merit on the congregation than the man who teaches the multitude Torah. Therefore, a person who returns in t’shuva should strive, if G-d grant him the honor, to study Torah and teach it to others. He can have no merit greater than this, for in doing this he amends all that he damaged, and this empowers him to rescue all of the sparks that he dispersed to the Sitra Achra. It also protects him from falling back into sin, as our Rabbis taught: Everyone who brings merit to the congregation, no sin comes to his hand, and there is no greater form of benefiting the multitude than in this. We can see that this implication is true in that Berashit  hints at t’shuva, so that if a baal t’shuva occupies himself with Torah, and teaches Torah to others, he makes a great tikun and acquires great reward, as is implied in, B’lamdcha Torah Acharim Yaish Sachar Rav – in teaching Torah to others, there is great reward.  

LEARN THE SECRETS

The Gematria of “Berashit bara Elokim,” with the letter count, is equal to the numerical equivalent of Pashat, Remez, Drash, v’Sod. This implies that one should occupy oneself with all of the levels of Torah learning. This should be a goal of one’s learning, so that nothing will be missing. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai has already taught us in the holy Zohar that the simple meaning of the Torah (the Pashat) is like the outer garment of the Torah, because the Torah itself is a spiritual thing which cannot exist in this lower world with an outer garment. This is similar to the angels who must dress themselves in the proper earthy attire when they descend to this world. Now the Torah has no limit to its spiritual exaltation and holiness. Even the forms of its letters have infinite holiness and sublime meanings without end, as the Kabbalists reveal. For this reason, the Sages praised the learning of Torah more than the offering of sacrifices, because all of its learning is an exalted holy praising without end, even to its very holy letters. The level of Remez contains additional holy matters. And the level of Sod contains the most exalted understandings of all.  And in the level of Drash everything is explained in a unique way of its own.Behold, the essence of the Torah is the Sod, the secrets of the Torah.

As Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai has written in the holy Zohar, someone who does not learn the secrets of Torah, it would have been better for him if he had not been born. For this is the sum of man. The main reason for his creation is to know his Creator and to serve Him, and if he doesn’t learn the secrets of Torah, how can he know the essence of his Creator? How will he know how to serve Him? How will he know how to order his prayers? As King David said to his son, Shlomo, “Know the G-d of your father and serve Him.”  There is a parallel four-part division in the Torah: the Scriptures, the Mishna, the Talmud, and the Kabbalah. They in turn parallel the four worlds as explained by the Kabbalists: the Scripture and the world of Asiyah; the Mishna and the world of Yetzirah; the Talmud and the world of Beriyah; the Kabbalah and the world of Atzilut. According to this, we can say that the Pashat is the Scriptures; the Remez is the Mishna, since the understandings of the Scripture are implied in it; the Drash is the Talmud, since there the Sages explained each matter of the Mishna; and the Sod is the Kabbalah.

It seems, in my modest opinion, that this parallel can also be found in a man who merits it, appearing in his four powers, his guf, nefesh, ruach, and neshama. A man is also composed of four basic elements: fire, air, water, and earth. Furthermore, this parallels the four letters in the ineffable Name of G-d. The last letter Hai parallels the Pashat and also the world of Asiyah. The letter Vav of G-d’s Name parallels the Mishna and the world of Yetzirah. The first Hai  represents the Talmud and the world of Beriyah. And the letter Yud parallels the Kabbalah and the world of Atzilut.

Since a man is composed of four basic elements, and four powers, which all parallel the four sections of the Torah, and the four letters in G-d’s Name, when a man commits a sin, he causes damage to himself, to the Torah, to the letters comprising G-d’s Name, and to the four worlds. 

And behold, when a man is moved to return in repentance, the atonement must be equivalent to the sin in order to rectify what was damaged. Since his transgression caused division to man’s four powers, to the Torah, to the four worlds, and to the Name of G-d, he must return and unify them. This unification is brought about by occupying oneself with the Pardes, the four sections of Torah, Pashat, Remez, Drash, and Sod. This brings about the unification of the worlds, the rectification of everything that was damaged, and the return of all matters to their original healthy state. This is a great rectification for the person who returns in t’shuva – to occupy himself with the study of Torah, with the special effort to study all its divisions.