Likutei Moharan 60:6/ליקוטי מוהר"ן ס׳:ו׳

16. The granting of special providence to barren women is achieved by waking people from their sleep. For there are people who sleep away their days. Although it seems to everyone that these people are serving God and are occupied with Torah and prayer, God nevertheless has no pleasure whatsoever from their service because all their devotions remain below and are incapable of rising and ascending on high.

2<This is because their devotions lack life-force and vitality.> Intellect is the essence of life-force, as it is written (Ecclesiastes 7:12), “Wisdom instills life into those who possess it.” Thus, when the service is with intellect, this instills it with vitality so that it can ascend. But when a person falls into the aspect of a constricted consciousness, the aspect of sleep, [the devotions] cannot ascend on high.

3<There are a number of aspects to this.> There are those who have fallen into the aspect of sleep as a result of lusts and evil deeds. And there are some who are devout and admirable people, but have fallen as a result of eating. For it sometimes happens that when a person eats a food that has yet to be refined for human consumption, his mind falls into the aspect of sleep. Just as in the physical realm there are foods that induce sleep and others that inhibit it, in the spiritual realm, too, there are foods that have not been refined, which cause people to fall into the aspect of sleep, <into the aspect of constricted mentalities>.

4But when a person eats in holiness and purity, it is the aspect of lechem hapanim (the showbread)—<i.e., bread that brings to the aspect of panim (countenance), namely the intellect,> since the intellect is the countenance, as it is written (Ecclesiastes 8:1), “A man’s wisdom lights up his countenance.” However, when his eating is not in holiness, he loses his countenance—i.e., his intellect—and falls into the aspect of sleep.

5The main purpose of food is to revive the heart, as it is written (Ruth 3:7), “he ate and drank and his heart was in good spirits”; and as our Sages, of blessed memory, said: Bread satiates the heart (Bereishit Rabbah 48:11). However, when the food is not refined or a person does not eat it in holiness, it brings evil to the heart. Evil-heartedness mars the countenance, as it is written (Nehemiah 2:2), “Why is your countenance so dour? It can only be [that you harbor] evil in your heart.” And the reverse is likewise true, seeking the countenance—i.e., that he should return and seek his countenance—is contingent upon rectification of the heart, as it is written (Psalms 27:8), “In Your behalf my heart says, ‘Seek My countenance.’”

6Therefore, it sometimes happens that when the food is not refined, so that the heart is marred, this causes him to lose the countenance and fall into the aspect of sleep. Then it is necessary to rouse him from his sleep. Yet it is impossible to rouse him unless he stirs on his own, since there must be an arousal from below. It is just that when he stirs on his own, if there was no one attempting to rouse him, he would go on sleeping. Thus, as soon as he stirs, it is necessary to show him his countenance and to enclothe him in the countenance that left him while he slept. This is the aspect of waking from sleep.

7Now, when we want to show a person his countenance and rouse him from his sleep, it is necessary to enclothe the panim (countenance) for him in the telling of stories. For the Torah has seventy panim (faces), which are the aspect of seventy years, for each [face] is different from the next.

8There are three reasons it is necessary to enclothe specifically the countenance. The first is as when healing a blind person: we need to keep him shut up so that he does not see the light suddenly, and also diminish the light, so that what he does suddenly see, does not harm him. So too, when a person has been asleep and in the dark for a long time and we want to show him his countenance and rouse him, we must enclothe his countenance in the telling of stories, so that suddenly seeing the light does not harm him.

9{“As for me, I will behold Your countenance with righteousness; I will be sated when I awaken to Your image” (Psalms 17:15).} This is the aspect of “As for me, I will behold Your countenance with righteousness.” “Righteousness” is the aspect of clothing, the aspect of “I clothed myself in righteousness” (Job 29:14). Then, “I will be sated when I awaken to Your image,” since afterwards he will be able to see while awake—i.e., when they awaken and rouse him from sleep—because the sudden light will not harm him, as explained above.

10The second reason that enclothing [the countenance] is necessary is so that the external forces do not attach themselves to him.

11And the third reason is that the external forces already attached to him will not let him go. It is therefore necessary to enclothe his countenance, altering it, so that they cannot recognize him, in the aspect of “You alter his countenance and send him off” (Job 14:20) .

12And there are a number of aspects to enclothing the countenance. There are times when we enclothe his countenance in the telling of a story. Yet, sometimes it is impossible to rouse him through his own countenance, and so it is necessary to show him an exalted countenance. Occasionally, the enclothing is also in words of Torah—that is, when delivering an exalted Torah lesson that is impossible to recite as is, we enclothe it in a lower and lesser Torah lesson.

13This is the aspect of “O God, renew Your work of recent times” (Habakkuk 3:2). “Renew,” Rashi explains, means “rouse.” And this is “Your work”—i.e., telling stories; “of recent times”—i.e., the aspect of stories of the seventy faces, which are seventy years, as explained above. That is, we rouse him by telling stories that are of recent times—i.e., the stories of the seventy faces, as explained above.

14However, it happens that a person falls from all the seventy faces, such that there is no countenance that can rouse him except by telling stories from ancient times. All the seventy faces, the seventy years, receive life-force from there. This is the aspect of Atik /an elder/a distinguished countenance; all the seventy faces receive life-force and distinction from there.

15This is likewise the aspect of “abundant kindness” (Exodus 34:6). Anyone who teaches his student a single law does him a kindness, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said: Whoever prevents his student from serving him, it is as if he denies him kindness (Ketuvot 96a). Serving a sage is the aspect of the laws that a student receives from his master. Thus it is that a master teaching his student is the aspect of kindness. Therefore, when he rouses him by means of one of the seventy faces, enclothing him in the aspect of “O God, renew Your work of recent times,” as explained above, it is the aspect of ordinary kindness. But when he rouses him by telling stories from ancient times, it is the aspect of “abundant kindness,” since all the countenances and all the kindnesses receive from there.