Wondrous New Things

If even a simple person sits before a holy book and gazes at the letters of the Torah, he will be able to see wondrous new things. When he gazes at the letters, they will begin to shine and combine, as did the letters upon the breastplate of the cohen gadol. Then he will see new things, wonders and combinations. He will even be able to see things that the author did not have in mind.

A great person can see this without effort. But even a totally simple person can come to and see such new things, if he will sit and gaze at the letters of the Torah.

But do not make this into a test, for then you might see nothing at all.
Likutei Moharan 281

Creating a Container of Space and Time

Looking at something creates a container—the container of space and time.

Before you look at something, it is indeterminate. But when you look at it, it gains definition….

And that is the meaning of “trust.” “Trust” is a type of looking: you look to and hope in God alone, and you trust in Him…

And when you look toward Him with trust, you create a container—the container of space and time. God’s energy flows down from above without cease, but it is outside the realm of time. So it could be that you need something now, but it will only come into the world in two or three years.

But when you look [toward God] with trust, you create a container of space and time for that energy, so that it will come when [and where] you need it. “The eyes of all look towards You”—and as a result, “You give them their food in its time” (Psalms 145:15).

from Likutei Moharan 76

Giving Someone the Eyes of a Tzaddik

In a number of places, the Talmud tells of a case in which someone did something wrong, and a holy man “placed his eyes upon him and he turned into a heap of bones” (Berachot 58, Shabbat 34, Bava Batra 75, Sanhedrin 100).

What does this mean?

The answer is that when a person does something wrong he doesn’t see how far the damage reaches.

But the tzaddik, the holy person, does see, because he has the “eyes of Hashem.” We see this from the verse, “Hashem’s eyes [look] toward the righteous” (Psalms 34:17), which can be translated homiletically as “Hashem [gives His] eyes to the tzaddikim.” And so the tzaddikim possesses the eyes of Hashem.

And we learn from a verse that “the eyes of Hashem travel across the entire world” (Zechariah 4:10; Chronicles I).

Thus the tzaddik sees how far the damage of a sin reaches.

And so this is what the Talmud is saying. The tzaddik “placed his eyes upon him.” He gave his own eyes to the other person so that he would be able to see with the eyes of the tzaddikim.

“And he turned into a heap of bones.” The word for heap—gal—is also related to the word meaning “be revealed.” And “bones” is related to the word meaning to squeeze tightly—particularly, to squeeze one’s eyes shut tightly, as in the verse, “and shuts his eyes from seeing evil” (Isaiah 33:15).

So the phrase can now be rendered, “The tzaddik gives the man who committed a sin his own eyes of a tzaddik so that his closely shut eyes can now see.” Now he sees the damage that he caused, which had been hidden from him before.

And there is no great punishment than seeing the damage than one has oneself caused.

Likutei Moharan 98.