Likutei Moharan 22:5/ליקוטי מוהר"ן כ״ב:ה׳

15. And every person must show great compassion for the flesh of the body, illuminating it with every insight and perception that the soul perceives. The body should also be informed of this perception, as in (Isaiah 58:7), “Hide not from your own flesh.” Specifically from “your own flesh.” Do not hide your eyes from showing compassion for your flesh—the flesh of your body.

2For it is necessary to show great compassion for the body, to see to purify it, so as to be able to inform it of all the insights and perceptions which the soul perceives. This is because the soul of every human being is continuously seeing and comprehending very exalted things. But the body knows nothing of them. Therefore, every person must show great compassion for the flesh of the body. He should see to purify the body so that the soul will be able to inform it of all that she is always seeing and comprehending.

3Now, when the body is in this category, it benefits the soul. For there are times when she falls from her level. However, if the body is clear and illuminated, the soul is capable of picking herself up and returning to her level because of the body. That is, through the pleasures of the body, she will be able to recall and ascend to her own pleasures. For now that the body is also good and right, it doesn’t get trapped in the pleasures. Thus the soul is capable of returning by means of the pleasures of the body, to her position and her pleasures.

4Likewise, by means of the lasting impression which the body has because of the enlightenment with which the soul previously illuminated it, she can now recall and ascend and return to her level. This corresponds to (Job 19:26), “From my flesh I will behold God”—specifically “my flesh.” In other words, by means of the flesh of the body he will behold God, that is, perceptions of Godliness. That is, the person—with his body—will see and behold exalted perceptions; that which the soul is always perceiving.

5But when the body possesses brazenness—corresponding to, “The dogs are brazen”—the soul cannot support herself and draw closer to the body, to inform it of her perceptions. This is because she might become ensnared in the aggressiveness and brazenness of the body—that the body is brazen and strong in [its attachment to] the desires.

6Thus it is necessary to have holy boldness—i.e., sounds, as above. With this, the brazenness of the body is broken. For “Sighing breaks a man’s body” (Ketuvot 62a). And by breaking the brazenness and aggressiveness of the body, the soul is able to bring herself closer to the body. She will not be ensnared there.

7This corresponds to (Psalms 102:6), “From the sound of my sighing, my bone has clung to my flesh.” “ATZMi (my bone)” is the soul, which is the ÆTZeM (the essence) of a person. This is because man’s principal essence—that which man calls “I”—is the soul. She is the essence that is eternal.

8But because of the brazenness of the body in its desires, the soul—which is the essence of man—is then distant from his flesh and his body. However, by means of the sound of sighing—the concept of holy boldness—the brazenness of the body is broken. And then the essence draws closer to the flesh—i.e., the soul to the body. This is, “From the sound of my sighing, my bone has clung to my flesh.”

9And the concept of the sound of the tekiah (shofar blasts) corresponds to “from the sound of my sighing.” It breaks man’s body, as in (Amos 3:6), “Shall a shofar blast be sounded in the city, and the people not be afraid?”

10And through them, a person will be able to come to the shepherds, mentioned above. This is the concept of tekiah, shevarim, teruah. Tekiah: these are the sounds, the “sound of boldness” <namely, holy boldness>. SheVaRim: because through them [the sounds], the brazenness of the body is ShaVaR (broken). TeRuAH: this corresponds to (2 Samuel 5:2), “You TiR’AeH (shall tend) My people,” as explained above. They are the shepherds of holiness to whom it is impossible to draw close except by means of holy boldness, which is the sounds of holiness/the sound of the shofar.

11And this is (Genesis 17:23), “He circumcised the flesh of their foreskin, on that etzem (very) day.” And it is written (ibid.:26), “On that very day Avraham was circumcised.” “That day” alludes to the sound of the shofar: it is to be blown during the day (Rosh HaShanah 28a), as in (Psalms 20:2), “God will answer you on the day of your distress.” Through this, the foreskin of the flesh is circumcised and broken, and he receives the light of the etzem (essence).