The Shining Letters

"A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, concerning errors" and so forth (Habakkuk 3:1). It is stated in the Book of Concealment, the first chapter (Zohar, Terumah 176b): Until there was a Balance, they did not gaze face to face. 1. For it is difficult for the world: why must one travel to the tzaddik to hear from his mouth? Is it not possible to study books of ethical teaching? But in truth it is of great benefit, for there is a great difference between one who hears from the mouth of the true tzaddik himself and one who hears from the mouth of another who says it in his name; and all the more so when one hears from the mouth of one who heard from the mouth of one who heard, for each time it descends from level to level, far from the mouth of the tzaddik. And likewise, between one who hears from the mouth of the tzaddik and one who studies in a book there is an even greater difference. 2. For one must purify the face, so that each person can see his own face in another's face as in a mirror, until, without rebuke and without ethical reproof, his fellow immediately regrets his deeds merely from looking at his own face; for through looking at his own face he will see himself as in a mirror, how his face is sunk in darkness. 3. For so great is the precious value of the Holy Tongue, in which the world was created, as our Sages of blessed memory said (Genesis Rabbah 18, cited in Rashi): "This one shall be called woman [ishah], for from man [ish] was this one taken" (Genesis 2:23) is a play of language upon language; from here we learn that the world was created in the Holy Tongue. And this is the aspect of Eve [Chavah], the aspect of "And night to night declares [yechaveh] knowledge" (Psalms 19:3); that is, the aspect of the speech of the Holy Tongue, in which the world was created. And this is the aspect of "This one shall be called woman"; that is, speech, as in "And this is what their father spoke to them" (Genesis 49:28).