Likutei Moharan 280:2/ליקוטי מוהר"ן ר״פ:ב׳

12. In addition, business activity must include faith. That is, one must engage in the masa u’matan (give-and-take) faithfully, speaking words of truth, as [the Sages] said: Have you conducted your business affairs faithfully? (Shabbat 31a). This is because the maSA u’maTaN is the aspect of our menaSӔin (taking) and raising up the issue, and our noTeNin (giving) and restoring it to its place.

2There are fallen elements of holiness—i.e., the aspect of sparks that have fallen—and by means of business activity we take and raise them up, and give them over to their place. This is the aspect of the masa u’matan of business, as explained above.

3And the separation of the sparks from the forces of evil is mainly by means of faith. For it is common for faith to reside with these holy sparks, in the aspect of “This is Yerushalayim; I placed her among the nations, and surrounding her are the lands” (Ezekiel 5:5). Yerushalayim is “the faithful city” (Isaiah 1:21)—the aspect of faith; she resides “among the nations, and surrounding her…,” for she is among them always, as explained above. These sparks that fell thus cleave and attach themselves round about faith, and she raises them up from there.

4Aperson must therefore engage in the masa u’matan faithfully, because it is by means of faith that we raise up the sparks, as explained above. For this is the essential aspect of business activity—to elevate the sparks, as explained above.

5Now, this is the aspect of the inner essence of ChaBaD of Asiyah ascending to Yetzirah, and Malkhut of Asiyah ascending from the forces of evil.

6Yetzirah is the aspect of the vav, which is the aspect of the Torah {as is brought in the holy Zohar}. Thus, when a person binds his inner thought to the Torah while engaging in business activity, as explained above, this is the aspect of the inner essence of the mentalities of Asiyah. That is, the business activity, which is the aspect of Asiyah, ascends to Yetzirah—i.e., the Torah—as explained above. And Malkhut of Asiyah—i.e., the aspect of faith within business activity, as explained above—ascends from the forces of evil, for it separates the sparks and ascends from [these forces]. Then, as a result of ChaBaD of I having ascended to Yetzirah, there is room for Malkhut to ascend to Asiyah.

7In addition, due to the ascent of ChaBaD to Yetzirah—i.e., by one binding one’s thought to the Torah—faith acquires the power to separate the sparks from the evil forces and to elevate them. For without this power, there would be the possibility that [the evil forces], too, would attach themselves to faith, God forbid. However, because we bind the inner mind to the Torah, [faith] receives the power to ascend, as explained above. And then, there is a war, for it is necessary to fight against them in order to remove the sparks from them.