Two Spirits at the Spring and the Holiness of Your Deeds

"You shall be holy" (Leviticus 19:2). This is what Scripture said: "May He send your help from the Sanctuary, and from Zion may He sustain you" (Psalms 20:3). "From the Sanctuary" (mi-kodesh) means from the sanctification (mi-kiddush) of the deeds that are within you; "and from Zion may He sustain you" (mi-Tziyyon) means from the marker (mi-tziyyun) of the deeds that are within you. Rabbi Berekhyah said: There was an incident in our town concerning a certain spirit that dwelt at the spring. Another spirit came to join with it and sought to drive it out from there. There was a certain pious man there, and his name was Rabbi Yose, the man of Tzaytor. That spirit revealed itself to him and said to him: Rabbi, behold, for how many years have I been settled here, and at noon and at night I have harmed no creature (and not even by day). Yet this spirit has come upon me from another place and seeks to drive me out from here and to harm the creatures. He said to it: What shall we do? It said to him: Take your staffs and your sickles and go out against it at the hour of noon, and say, "Ours is victorious! Ours is victorious!" and it will flee. So they did, and they drove it away from there. And they did not stir from there until they saw something like a clot of blood floating upon the water. When the sages heard of the matter, they said: If a thing that was not created with any need for help requires help, how much more so the children of man! Therefore David said: "May He send your help from the Sanctuary."