The Yichud of Eating

In this manner, the yichud of eating is completed.
This teaching is among the deepest secrets of the Torah.

Evil Begins with Yichud but Ends in Disconnection

The main point of this teaching is that every bite we eat alludes to a holy yichud. We must understand that the side of evil also knows the secret of yichud. Yet regarding the side of evil, the Zohar teaches that it “begins in yichud but ends in division.” Although it also knows to start with self-nullification and yichud, it finishes with שכליים נפרדים – ways of understanding that diverge completely. This expression means that after one is in the grasp of the “other side” he becomes filled with his own sense of self-importance and is focused on himself, forgetting about Hashem. But one who goes in the ways of holiness is always connected to Hashem. Even if he appears to be separate and alone, he is actually in a state of absolute yichud with Hashem.

Beginning and Ending in a State of Yichud

The Jewish people are joined to their Beloved in a way that parallels the yichud of HaKadosh Baruch Hu and His Shechinah. This yichud is represented by the final letters of the שם הוי“ה / Shem HaVaYaH:
 - ו the vav alludes to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and
 ה  - the hei alludes to the Shechinah.

Our special relationship with Hashem is symbolized by the word כתובה, the marriage contract, which is a contraction of .inscribe vav and hei ,כתב ו“ה

The Jewish people are completely consumed with knowing fully that everything שכ־ is Hashem and so they remain joined with Him even after they develop individualistic understanding. Those on the side of evil like Bilaam ,לים נפרדים start out knowing that the main thing is to grasp Hashem and attain dveykus; but the moment such people develop more individualistic understanding, the awareness of Hashem’s yichud is forgotten. Bilaam and his ilk “see the visions of the Almighty,” but in the final analysis they reach the level of, “fallen down, with their eyes opened.” They use their understanding only to fulfill their materialistic desires. When the Jewish people enter into the light of yichud with Hashem, they desire only to be completely nullified in Him. They remain suffused with the pure recognition that everything is G-dliness.

The Liver, Gallbladder and Spleen

A person makes a holy union with every morsel he eats and with every mouthful that he drinks. The liver is the place where the masculine aspect of evil resides, the spleen is the housing of the negative feminine aspect, and the gallbladder is called the מרה, bitter, to express the bitter end awaiting those who follow the advice of those two negative influences. [Rav Nosson of Breslov writes that there are two elements of the evil inclination. One convinces a person to sin, while the other makes him give up on himself after the sin.] This bitter end is alluded to in the verse, “And her end is as bitter as wormwood.” This is the aspect of Malchus in the state of the “Crown of Yesod,” which is seated in the gallbladder. This is the hardest place where the sword of the angel of death resides, since the worst portion of the blood is found here. [This may allude to the tendency for one who has fallen into sin and given up on himself to promote false ideologies to justify his sinful behavior. The bitter melancholy produces the worst offense of all – heresy.]

Rebbe Nachman writes that there is a type of prayer which is an aspect of judgment. The prayer of Pinchas was of just this type. [But how can a person take Hashem to task as it were, through forceful prayers?] In the beginning, Hashem created the world through the attribute of din, justice, constricting the G-dliness that filled everything and forming a space to create all worlds. The attribute of din is embodied within the world of Adam Kadmon, which preceded the world of Atzilus, which is associated with mercy. [Adam Kadmon or Primordial Man is the root of our spiritual reward in the ultimate future. The name Adam Kadmon can also mean the first purpose of creating man. This relates to the attribute of justice because each person will be rewarded according to the choices that he made in this world where G-dliness is obscured.]

Adam Kadmon is the source of absolute yichud, an aspect of Kesser. In this high place there is no evil and all blood is pure. [It is only when things descend to the lower levels that the concept of impurity is at all applicable.] Similarly, the liver itself is not necessarily a source of evil. [It is what we do with its spiritual function, which advice we take and what we reject, that determines if the blood produced will be pure blood rushing for holiness. or impure blood pumping with a desire for defilement.]

Rav Shalom Dov Ber of Lubavitch, zt”l, explained that every day before prayer and before every avodah a person must descend to the place of the liver, spleen, and gallbladder, the place where the side of evil has a hold. We must understand that the positive aspect of the liver is that it is the King’s courtyard. This parallels the altar of earth on which the animal offerings were brought which was in the courtyard of the sanctuary.

The gallbladder (מרה) is the place of Miriam, the source of the soul of Esther who embodies the holy Shechinah. Blood, whether pure or impure, is manufactured by the same organs in the same way. Whether one acts wickedly or properly, his body still functions in the same way. The main determination of holiness is how he uses his strength. Both of these holy aspects are seated in the very same place as the source of both pure and impure blood.

The Holy Judgments of Prayer

When a Jew is about to pray or perform some other act of Divine service, he should first focus his concentration on making a judgment like Pinchas who made a reckoning / פלילות with his Creator and prayed in an aspect of judgment. This aspect is revealed in the liver, spleen, and gallbladder, and it is sourced in Adam Kadmon the place of Kesser which shines in a hidden manner until the place of Netzach, Hod, and Yesod. [The three organs are aligned with these three lower aspects.]

One must be honest and pray with truth. How can he possibly say that he feels that everything is Elokus if this feeling is not genuine? One who wishes to pray in an aspect of strict justice must come to this place with absolute honesty and petition Hashem with pure truth. If there is even a hint of falsehood, he is very distant from even touching this lofty level which is one of the hardest avodos and requires huge strength.

One reason this is so difficult is because it is against a person’s intuitive feelings. Naturally, one who acts properly feels happy since he is drawn closer to holiness, while sin makes one feel distant from good. This is the aspect of reward and punishment at the level of CHaGaT. Chessed, Gevurah, and Tiferes parallel love, fear, and dveykus. One who acts properly builds these emotive avodah capacities, while one who acts improperly has a harder time arousing them.

All those who truly serve Hashem have reached this level, and it is a very great one. This is especially true of those who live in Eretz Yisrael, the land which Hashem gazes on at all times. As we find in the verse, “The sins of the nation that dwells in it are borne.” This is especially true of those who live in Yerushalayim, the city of G-d. The reason for this is that the closer one is to Hashem, the more the aspect of reward and punishment is revealed. The higher one is, the more connected to Hashem he feels with each mitzvah and the more distanced he feels with even the smallest sin, chas v’shalom.

Hashem waits to reveal Himself to a person on this level, by shining the light of His countenance upon him. But what about those who are so distanced from holiness that they have fallen to the lowest levels of Netzach, Hod, and Yesod? Such people are submerged in continuous darkness, as the verse says, “The dead are free.” We understand this to mean that dead people are “free of obligations;” that they cannot observe Torah. In our context, this indicates those who are distant from Hashem and no longer feel His closeness. The Baal HaSulam writes that the moment one stops feeling closeness to Hashem, he is like a wicked man whom the sages call spiritually dead.

But even a little bit of light dispels huge quantities of darkness. If one repents even a little bit and wants to be a faithful servant of Hashem, he is lifted up to the aspect of CHaGaT, reward and punishment, and when he keeps the Torah he feels great pleasure. When he falls, it is very bitter for him.

The Prayer of the Tzaddik

But even if one is an aspect of CHaGaT, he still is unable to draw the light of absolute yichud of Hashem into the lowest places of Netzach, Hod, and Yesod. When one begins to eat, the food descends to the stomach and makes its way to the liver, spleen, and gallbladder, the place of the true clarification. It is only possible to reveal Elokus in this place through the pathway of Pinchas, who prayed in an aspect of judgment. One must fight his natural reluctance and descend to the liver which is filled with blood, the place of evil, and fight for holiness through powerful prayer and making extreme efforts to return to Hashem. He must truly know the endless mercy of Hashem, which he learns through connection to a true tzaddik who transforms all sins to merits. On this level, every obscurity reveals absolute yichud, in the manner of “אתה סתר לי” - "You shelter me.” One believes in Hashem’s boundless mercy and that He protects and shields us from all harm. May Hashem make us worthy to receive the true light of yichud. With the arrival of our righteous redeemer in mercy, speedily and in our days. Amen.