{"id":98907,"date":"2022-11-20T04:28:10","date_gmt":"2022-11-20T02:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/?p=98907"},"modified":"2022-11-20T04:28:10","modified_gmt":"2022-11-20T02:28:10","slug":"the-tzaddiks-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/the-tzaddiks-word\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tzaddik\u2019s Word"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe G-d of Israel has said\u2013 the Rock of Israel has spoken to me \u2013 [Be a] ruler over men; a righteous one, who rules with the fear of G-d\u201d<\/em><\/strong> (Shmuel<\/em> II, 23:3)<\/p>\n

Rabbi Abahu interprets this pasuk in a novel way (Moed Katan<\/em> 16b): The G-d of Israel has said, \u201cSpeak, the Rock of Israel. I rule over man. And who rules over Me? The tzaddik. I decree and the tzaddik rescinds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe will not remove His eyes from a righteous man\u201d<\/em><\/strong> (Iyov <\/em>36:7)<\/p>\n

The Midrash states (Bamidbar Rabbah<\/em>, Matot<\/em>, Parashah<\/em> 22) that Hashem will never deprive a tzaddik of that which his eyes desire.<\/p>\n

Hashem saw that the tzaddikim were few. He placed them in every generation, as the pasuk says (Shmuel<\/em> I, 2:8), \u201cFor Hashem\u2019s are the pillars of the earth, and upon them He set the world.\u201d Rabbi Chiya bar Abba says in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: The world exists for the sake of even one tzaddik, as the pasuk says, \u201cThe tzaddik is the foundation of the world\u201d (Yoma <\/em>38b).<\/p>\n

Rabbi Eliezer asks how divrei Torah<\/em> are compared to a pitchfork. He replies: Just as a pitchfork turns over the hay and moves it from side to side, so do the prayers of tzaddikim transform Hashem\u2019s thoughts of harshness to those of mercy (Sukkah<\/em> 14a).<\/p>\n

One Sage asked his colleague, \u201cIs it true that Hashem nullifies His decree in deference to that of the tzaddik?\u201d His colleague answered, yes. But Hashem does not nullify the decree of one tzaddik in deference to that of another tzaddik (Ta\u2019anit<\/em> 16b).<\/p>\n

Our Sages ask (ibid. 23a) what was the message that the Sanhedrin sent to Choni Hama\u2019agal. They replied, \u201cYou would utter a decree and it would be done, and light would shine upon your ways\u201d (Iyov <\/em>22:28). They implied, \u201cYou decreed below, and Hashem would make it happen Above.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whoever has a sick person in his house should turn to the Sage to ask for mercy, as the pasuk says (Mishlei<\/em> 16:14), \u201cThe anger of the king is like angels of death, but a wise man will appease it\u201d (Bava Batra<\/em> 116a).<\/p>\n

Since man\u2019s soul is of Divine origin, as the pasuk says, \u201cAnd He blew into his nose the breath of life,\u201d which Onkelos translates as, \u201cPossessing the power of speech,\u201d it is capable of accomplishing tremendous things, even outside of its realm. Thus, it seems that according to the greatness of a person\u2019s spirit and its bond with the worlds Above, such as the spirit of tzaddikim and Chassidim, what they say materializes quickly. This is well-known among those who possess understanding (Sefer Hachinuch<\/em>, Mitzvah<\/em> 231).<\/p>\n

Sefer Ha\u2019Ikrim<\/em> (4:19) writes, \u201cIt seems to me that a tzaddik\u2019s blessing is not a form of predicting the future. Rather, it is preparing the recipient to be fitting for Divine abundance. The one who blesses a person is merely the agent who brings down Divine blessing. For this reason, one places his hands upon the head of the one he is blessing. The amount of Divine blessing is apportioned according to the level of the one who is blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe G-d of Israel has said\u2013 the Rock of Israel has spoken to me \u2013 [Be a] ruler over men; a righteous one, who rules with the fear of G-d\u201d (Shmuel II, 23:3) Rabbi Abahu interprets this pasuk in a novel way (Moed Katan 16b): The G-d of Israel has said, \u201cSpeak, the Rock of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":26823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1095],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-tzaddiks-word"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}