Likutei Moharan 47:6/ליקוטי מוהר"ן מ״ז:ו׳

16. I first recorded this lesson as well on my own, and some things are more fully clarified in it. Then too, in the above version, which is Rebbe Nachman’s holy formulation, the explanation of the verse Vaakhaltem is lacking its conclusion. Thus that which one lacks, the other reveals…. I have therefore also inserted the following copy of the version which I recorded on my own:

2“Then you will eat and be satiated and praise the name of God your Lord [who performed for you such wondrous deeds. Never again will My people be ashamed].”

3When someone is free of the desire for eating, he can be a miracle worker. But when someone is steeped in the desire for eating, it is a sign that he is a liar. Likewise, even a righteous person who was already free of the desire for eating, if he fell from his level and succumbed to the desire for eating—it is a sign that falsehood has issued from his lips. It also shows that Above he is beset by judgment. And it is also an indication of poverty.

4The matter is as follows: It is written, “and you will eat and be satiated and bless.” Apparently, from this comes the argument of the Evil Inclination that one ought to eat and be satiated, filling himself, and afterwards bless God. However, in truth, our Sages taught: It is written, “[God]… who shows no countenance,” and it is written, “May God bestow His countenance upon you”…. Will I then not favor them after I said, “and you will eat and be satiated and bless,” and yet they are stringent with themselves from an olive’s worth to an egg’s worth?

5Now, this is a wonderful allusion. If the Jewish people are so stringent not to eat too much, just “from an olive’s worth to an egg’s worth,” then, they are in an aspect of “May God bestow His countenance” and there is a show of favor. But if it is the reverse, God forbid, then from the positive [deduce the negative]. For when they are steeped in the desire for eating, there is a hiding of the countenance, God forbid. This is the meaning of “I will hide My countenance… and they will be food [for their enemies].” That is to say, if they are steeped in the desire for eating, then “I will hide My countenance,” God forbid.

6And behold, a show of favor is an aspect of truth, as explained in the kavanot -meditations of the Thirteen Attributes: The rectification Truth is the illumination of the countenance. And this is as we said: Someone steeped in eating is far from truth, because the countenance, which is the Attribute of Truth, is hidden from him.