Likutei Moharan 60:10/ליקוטי מוהר"ן ס׳:י׳

110. This is the explanation of:

2Rabbi Yochanan said: All the days of that tzaddik [Choni HaMaagel] … He said, “Is it possible for someone to sleep seventy years?” Once, while traveling, he noticed a man planting a charuv (carob tree). He said to him, “Since the carob tree does not bear fruit for seventy years, is it so obvious to you that you’ll live seventy years to eat from it?” The man answered him, “I found a world with carob trees. Just as my fathers planted for me, I, too, am planting for my children.” [Choni] sat down to eat a meal. Drowsiness overcame him and he slept. A grotto formed around him and covered him from sight. Thus, he slept for seventy years. When he woke, he noticed a man eating from that carob tree. “Do you know who planted this carob tree?” he asked him. “My grandfather,” answered the man. “Surely I must have slept seventy years,” [Choni] said. He saw his donkey, which had given birth to several generations of mules (Taanit 23a) .

3Choni HaMaagel was very great. As [the Sages] said in that same passage: “When [Choni] would enter the study hall, he would solve for the rabbis any question that they had,” since there was no face of Torah that was hidden from him. Thus, he asked:

4Is it possible for someone to sleep seventy years?—That is, how is it possible to fall into the aspect of sleep from all the seventy faces, <the seventy years>? For although it is possible to fall from one face or more, it hardly seems possible to fall from them all.

5he noticed a man planting a charuv. He said to him… is it so obvious to you that you’ll live seventy years to eat from it?—“Charuv” is the aspect of an elder/ Atik. This is because charuv [alludes to] cypress trees, which are the aspect of Mordekhai. As our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “In place of the brier, a cypress shall rise” (Isaiah 55:13)—this is Mordekhai (Megillah 10b). And Mordekhai is the aspect of “abundant kindness”—since they are numerically equivalent—which is the aspect of Atik .

6In other words, he noticed someone telling stories from ancient times, which are the aspect of Atik, as explained above. He asked him: “Is it so obvious to you that you’ll live seventy years?” “Live” is the aspect of rousing from sleep, the aspect of speech, as explained above. That is: Did you at all attempt to rouse people by telling stories of recent times?

7to eat from it—This is the aspect of “from what is permitted to your mouth”—i.e., that your words should be heard; that the students should be worthy.

8{That is, he asked him: How can you engage in telling such exalted stories from ancient times, when unworthy students, who are not in the aspect of “from what is permitted to your mouth,” might hear you? Have you already attempted and tried to rouse them by telling stories of recent times, which are within the seventy years, the seventy faces of the Torah? [Have you] succeeded in rousing them from their sleep through this—by means of your words reaching worthy students, who are the aspect of “from what is permitted to your mouth,” the aspect of “to eat from it,” as explained above—so that you now want to engage in telling even more exalted stories, the stories from ancient times? How are you not afraid to tell such exalted stories as these, when unworthy students might hear you?}

9The man answered him, I found a world with carob trees—That is, even if I tell stories from ancient times, which are the aspect of charuv, as explained above, I can induce the aspect of forgetfulness, so that the unworthy students will forget it, as explained above.

10{That is, as clarified earlier, when the tzaddik attempts to rouse the world from sleep by telling stories, God protects him so that his words are forgotten from the hearts of unworthy students, as explained above.}

11Just as my fathers planted for me, I, too, am planting for my children—That is, just as I was born by means of the aforementioned telling of stories <from ancient times>, in the aspect of unbinding the mouth of the mute and unbinding the mouth of the barren, “I, too, am planting for my children”—i.e., our children, too, <will be> born through this, as explained above.

12{The explanation: He said to him that he had to tell stories such as these in order that special providence be granted to barren women. Just as my fathers engaged in telling stories, and through this brought about procreation, the aspect of the special providence granted to barren women, as explained above, and as a result gave birth to me, so too, I have to give birth to my children by this means. This is because procreation is brought about mainly by means of storytelling, as explained above. This is: “Just as my fathers planted for me, I, too, am planting for my children,” as explained above.}

13[Choni] sat down to eat a meal. Drowsiness overcame him and he slept—That is, he ate his meal, and as a result of eating became drowsy and slept—i.e., by eating, he fell into the aspect of sleep commensurate with his spiritual level. As clarified earlier, it sometimes happens that eating causes one to fall into the aspect of sleep.

14A grotto formed around him—This is the aspect of the circling and the fantasies that keep going round and round at the time of sleep.

15[covered him from sight] so that no one knew—People do not recognize when someone is in the aspect of sleep. They think he is occupied with Torah and serving God, when in truth it is all the aspect of sleep, as explained above.

16When he woke—This is the aspect of an arousal from below.

17he noticed a man eating from that carob tree—That is, he saw him engaged in the aforementioned telling of stories. He was eating from them—i.e., the aspect of “from what is permitted to your mouth.”

18Do you know who planted this carob tree? he asked him—That is, [did he know] from which time this story comes; since it is possible for a person to tell a story [he thinks is] from <ancient times>, when in fact it took place only <three or> four years earlier.

19My grandfather, answered the man—This is the aspect of an elder/ Atik. That is, he answered him that the stories he tells are stories from ancient times, which are the aspect of an elder/ Atik, as explained above.

20Surely I must have slept seventy years, [Choni] said—That is, he surely fell into the aspect of sleep from all the seventy faces, which are the aspect of seventy years, as explained above.

21He saw his donkey, which had given birth to several generations of mules—This is the aspect of wealth, the aspect of “Yissakhar is a strong-boned donkey.” For this brings to great wealth, as explained above: By means of the aforementioned telling of stories, through which one rouses people from sleep, [the aspect of] unbinding the mouth of the mute <and> unbinding the mouth of the barren <is made>. Through this, fear is revealed. Fear brings to length-of-days/an elder/the rectifications of Atik, and this causes wealth to be infused into length-of-days, as explained above.