Maggid of Mezrich- Ohr Torah, Parshat Baha'alotcha

Maggid of Mezrich Ohr Torah Parshat Beha'alotcha

ג  וְהָאִישׁ מֹשֶׁה, עָנָו מְאֹד--מִכֹּל, הָאָדָם, אֲשֶׁר, עַל-פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה.  

" Now the man Moses was very humble, above all the men that were upon the face of the earth-" Numbers 12:3

An interpretation of this is that there are two levels to humility.  The first is that ones thoughts should be entirely [directed] above and separate from the material even in lower matters.

On the second level, one is not separated from the material that much. This is the meaning of when it says Moshe Moshe [at the burning bush] without a line separating [the two instances of the name]. When Jacobs name is repeated (gen. 46:2) [cfx. 22:11, I Samuel 3:10] there is a separating line. For there is a Moshe above and a Moshe below, and a Jacob above and a Jacob below. Therefore with Moshe there is no separating line for he was entirely one [unified]. Above and below he was one.  For he was entirely above, and he was separated from the material even in lower matters, and it is obvious [that he was this way] in upper matters as well.

In spite of this he held himself to the attribute of humility even in upper matters.

"...than all men [literally "all man] who were on the face of the earth." "Man"  here is referring to his thoughts all of which were "on the face of the earth". This means Moshe thought of himself as lower  even than that person who is entirely below.

Noam Elimelekh- Naso

Noam Elimelekh

Naso

“Lift up the heads of the children of Gershon them etc...” (Numbers/Bamidbar 4:21-22)

There is a reason why sometimes ״to their families" is written before "to the house of their ancestors", and sometimes "to the house of their ancestors" [before] "to their families." The answer is according to the passage "lift up the heads of the children of israel according to their gilgulotam according to their families etc..."(Bamidbar 1:1). For the tzaddik uplifts the entire world and he lifts them up by means of his devekut and by means of his holiness. By means of this he brings them close to the service of the Creator may his name be blessed. This is called "nesiut rosh"- the uplifting of the head. Therefore HaShem commanded that this uplifting of the head will conduct itself according to the gilgulim/reincarnations. For the tzaddik who knows the reincarnations of souls can know which man has a holy soul or from which world ones soul was taken. Moshe and Aharon were on this level and they knew the reincarnation of the souls. Therefore HaShem may He be blessed commanded "lift up the souls of the children of israel Le gilgulotam- " which means according to the gilgul of the souls-- this is how you should cause them to ascend above.

However, simple person whose souls isn't on that big of a level, they too need to ascend and lift up their heads. Why should they be harmed? And how can they be lifted up? Since they are below, for this reason the tzaddik needs to connect them to the holy ancestors who contain all of Israel. Then they will ascend above by means of the ancestors, and this is why it is written "to the house of their an ancestors" before "to their families" in order to lift them up into the remainder of the families of israel. But for the ones who are tzaddiks whose souls are from the higher world it is the opposite, they raise them according to the order of from below to above - first "to their families" and afterward "to the house of their ancestors" To attach them with the levels of the ancestors as well...

Noam Elimelekh BaMidbar (two selections)

Noam Elimelekh

Parshat Bamidbar

Or one may say [of the verse] “and He spoke...in the desert...” that here it [can be interpreted] through a father who cares for his children. If he sees any pain that they have then he has compassion and he gives him some kind of good food and good things that through them their minds will be comforted. However the distress and pain itself the father is not able to take away from them.

And the Creator, may He Be Blessed, when a person has any pain and prays to Him, may He be blessed, then it is not enough that He takes the distress away, but rather, in spite of this that He gives them all of the goodnesses, divine flow, and blessing. And this is the meaning of the verse, “and the cloud covered the mountain for six days, and He called to Moses on the seventh day...”:

The mountain refers to the attribute of judgement (Din) … and this indicates that during the six days of secularity the attribute of judgement has a power to rule, perish the thought.

However the tzaddik, in his holiness covers this very mountain.

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There is another interpretation of the midrash that we spoke of above in another way--that is the idea that the end action is contained in the initial thought. This is that humanity arose in thought to be created at first, and in the end they were created after all of the creations. This is that they were not also created first in order that they have choice. Therefore all of the worlds were created first and afterwards humanity cascaded into a level lower than all of them in order that they be manifested. And the soul of humanity is carved from under the Chair of Glory, which is the world of thought. And a person needs to serve the Creator, may He be blessed, until he returns to his engraver, and first Source.

And all of the good that is done for Israel is by means of an angel. But if a person is corrected in their level until their Initial Engraver they do not need an angel as a messenger, they simply are convey their own message because they are above the angel.

Consequently, whether it is done by means of an angel or by means of a person, when the messenger is an angel they cannot deviate from their mission to do anything greater or lesser, only what they have received. On the other hand, the tzaddik has permission to change and to add to the good.

The desire of the holy beings is to be messengers to do good for them, but rather when they come down a little bit below, they descend a bit from they holiness for they [normally] hover beneath the Chair of Holiness.........

And this is the meaning of the holy beings running and returning. They are running after their desire to be messengers and returning because they see in their descent that they are becoming physical, and this is very hard.

The only ones  completely corrected until their Initial Engraver were the avoteinu, Abraham, etc. They reached through their holy deeds until the Chair of Glory...n

Or one may say [of the verse] “and He spoke...in the desert...” that here it [can be interpreted] through a father who cares for his children. If he sees any pain that they have then he has compassion and he gives him some kind of good food and good things that through them their minds will be comforted. However the distress and pain itself the father is not able to take away from them.

And the Creator, may He Be Blessed, when a person has any pain and prays to Him, may He be blessed, then it is not enough that He takes the distress away, but rather, in spite of this that He gives them all of the goodnesses, divine flow, and blessing. And this is the meaning of the verse, “and the cloud covered the mountain for six days, and He called to Moses on the seventh day...”:

The mountain refers to the attribute of judgement (Din) … and this indicates that during the six days of secularity the attribute of judgement has a power to rule, perish the thought.

However the tzaddik, in his holiness covers this very mountain.......