Chasidut · Breslov
Likutei Halakhot, Orach Chaim, Laws of Morning Conduct 4:2/ליקוטי הלכות·
אוְכָל זֶה נַעֲשָׂה בְּכָל בּקֶֹר, שֶׁאָז בְּשַׁחֲרִית עוֹלָה אַיֶּלֶת הַשַּחַׁר (תהלים כב, א וברש״י), שֶׁהוּא בְּחִינַת עֲלִיּוֹת עַמּוּד הַשַּׁחַר (יומא כט.; ירושלמי ברכות ד:), שֶׁהוּא בְּחִינַת מַלְכוּת (זהר משפטים קיט:), חָכְמָה תַּתָּאָה הַנַּ״ל, שֶׁנִּקְרָא ״שַׁחַר״, כִּי הוּא מְצַמְצֵם הָרְאוּת, שֶׁכָּל הַשָּׂגוֹת אֱלֹקוּת עַל־יָדָהּ.
1RISING BEFORE DAWNReb Noson opens his discourse by explaining that lower wisdom—our gateway to perceptions of Godliness—is renewed every morning. He then links the renewal of lower wisdom with the mitzvah of rising early to “awaken the shachar” through Torah study and service of HaShem.Now, all this—the rectification of Malkhut and the building of a person’s intellect through lower wisdom—occurs every morning. At the time of Shacharit, the Shekhinah, in Her identity as Ayelet HaShachar, ascends.22 mountain deer); see Bekhor Shor on Shemot 34:30. Thus איילת) the light of shachar is called AYeLet HaShachar In the kabbalistic lexicon, Ayelet HaShachar .(השחר is an appellation for the Shekhinah (Zohar II, 19b), Whose rectification and return to wholeness comes with the morning’s dawn. This is indicated by the ascension of the first ray of shachar, dawn.23 II, 46a). It is also symbolic of the lowest sefirah, Malkhut, in its aspect of lower wisdom—meaning as the light of Divine wisdom constricted to our low level, as discussed previously. This lower wisdom is itself called shachar, because it constricts vision, just as the shachor, blackness, of the eye constricts the large objects that appear in the pupil. It is only through this that all perceptions of Godliness come about.
בוְעַל־כֵּן צְרִיכִין לְהִתְגַּבֵּר מְאֹד לַעֲמֹד בַּבֹּקֶר הַשְׁכֵּם כְּדֵי לַעֲסֹק בְּתוֹרָה וַעֲבוֹדָה, כְּדֵי שֶׁיְּגַדֵּל וְיַעֲלֶה וִיעוֹרֵר בְּחִינַת הַשַּׁחַר הַנַּ״ל, בְּחִינַת חָכְמָה תַּתָּאָה הַנַּ״ל, בִּבְחִינַת (תהלים נז, ט): ״עוּרָה כְבוֹדִי וְכוּ׳ אָעִירָה שָׁחַר״, כְּדֵי שֶׁיִּזְכֶּה לִבְחִינַת הַשָּׂגַת אֱלֹקוּת, לְהַכִּיר אוֹתוֹ יִתְבָּרַךְ, אֲשֶׁר לְכָךְ נוֹצָרְנוּ, כִּי כָל אָדָם מֻכְרָח שֶׁיָּבֹא לָזֶה, כִּי רַק בִּשְׁבִיל זֶה בָּא לָעוֹלָם, וְכָל הָעוֹלָמוֹת נִבְרְאוּ רַק בִּשְׁבִיל זֶה, ״בְּגִין דְיִשְׁתְּמוֹדָעִין לֵיהּ״ (זהר בא דף מב:).
2Therefore a person must greatly strengthen himself to rise early in the morning, before daybreak, in order to study Torah and serve HaShem. By doing so, he will magnify, elevate and awaken the shachar in its aspect of lower wisdom. This is as in “Awake 24 The Zohar (II, 42b) teaches: There is only one God, my soul … awaken the shachar”—so that one will wake up from sleep, and through the lower wisdom from his Torah study merit a perception of Godliness and gain awareness of HaShem. It is for this that we were created! This is not the reserve of the tzaddikim. Each person must attain this awareness. It is the only reason he has come into this world. The Supernal Worlds too were created only for this, as the Zohar states, “in order that they should know Him.”24 (II, 42b) teaches: There is only one God, yet He is called by different Holy Names—El, Elohim, etc.—so that we might know Him in each and every characteristic; how He directs the world through chesed and din, loving-kindness and judgment, in accordance with a person’s actions.