Likutei Moharan, Part II 37:1/ליקוטי מוהר"ן·תנינא ל״ז:א׳

1“From those who die by Your hand, O God, from those who die of old age [—those whose portion is in life, and Your concealed treasure fills their bellies; they are sated with children and leave their excesses to their young]. As for me, in righteousness, I will behold Your face; [I will be sated, upon awakening, by Your image].” (Psalms 17:14-15)

2The rule is: The ultimate goal is nothing other than to serve and go in God’s ways for His sake, in order to merit recognizing God and knowing Him. This is the ultimate goal and it is God’s Will that we recognize Him. Nor is it fitting for a person to have any other intention in his service to God, other than to fulfill His Will; that He declared and His Will was done.

3For one person works throughout his life and pursues the desires of this world in order to fill his belly with worldly pleasures. Another works hard at serving God in order to merit the World to Come. This, too, is called filling the belly; he wants to fill his belly and desire with the World to Come.

4This is the concept of “those whose portion is in life, and Your concealed treasure fills their bellies.” “Those whose portion is in life, and Your concealed treasure”—i.e., those who choose as “their portion in life” to satisfy their desires with the life of this world, and also those who choose the abundant good that is concealed, namely, the World to Come. This is “Your concealed treasure”—they choose the concealed good, i.e., the World to Come. Both of these are the concept of filling the belly.

5And this is “whose portion is in life, and Your concealed treasure fills their bellies.” These two groups, those who choose this world as well as those who serve God to attain the World to Come—the concept of “whose portion is in life” and “Your concealed treasure”—are both in the category of “fills their bellies.” They want to fill their bellies and their desires; one, with this world, and the other, with the World to Come.

6Just that the one who chooses the World to Come is smarter, because he chooses a world which is permanent—it is everlasting and it is eternal—and he disdains this world, which is fleeting and perishes. And though it is actually certainly much better to serve God even for the sake of the World to Come, nevertheless, it, too, is called filling the belly.

7And this is “they are sated with children”—their satiation is children. All their effort is in order to leave an inheritance for their children.

8In fact, a person who lacks holiness and pursues pleasures and leaves his money for his children is like someone who soils himself with filth and then takes [more] filth to cover the filth. For, in truth, money that is associated with holiness is very lofty and manifests many very exalted and holy aspects, as is explained elsewhere. Nevertheless, the money associated with worldly pleasures is extraneous matter. What remains of a person after satisfying his appetite in this world is extraneous matter. The extraneous matter remaining after all his pleasures is the money he leaves behind.

9So, too, are the children not born in holiness. They are also quite literally extraneous matter, because they stem from the mind’s extraneous matter, fetor and turbidity, which emerge. This produces children, the concept of “a fetid drop” (Avot 3:1)—literally, fetor. This is the reason the children are called olelim (young), which connotes filth, as in Rashi’s interpretation of olel (Psalms 8:3)—“filth and dirt,” and as mentioned above.

10And when someone leaves such children, it is a disgrace and an embarrassment. This is because conceptually they are extraneous matter and filth. Consequently, he wants to mask and beautify them with the money, which is also entirely extraneous matter that remains after all the pleasures, as mentioned above. This is the inheritance he leaves them after his death. It follows, that he covers filth with filth. This is the meaning of “they are sated with children”—their satiation is children, for whom they waste their lives. “And leave their excesses to their young”—they mask the young in extraneous matter, who are likewise synonymous with extraneous matter. This is the inheritance which they leave their children, for which they waste their lives.