"The righteous will flourish like the date palm..." (Tehillim 92:13)
Tomer Devorah [Palm Tree of Devorah] - an ethical treatise devoted to a Kabbalistic understanding of the commandment to imitate G-d based on the Torah verse "...you shall go in His ways" (Devarim 28:9) and "to go in all His ways" (11:22).
The Sifri ("Eikev") explains: just as the Holy One, Blessed Be He, is called 'Compassionate,' you should be compassionate; just as the Holy One, Blessed Be He, is called 'Gracious,' you should be gracious; just as the Holy One, Blessed Be He, is called 'Righteous,' you should be righteous; just as the Holy One, Blessed Be He, is called 'Pious,' you should be pious."
Expounding the verse "Follow HaShem, your G-d..." (Devarim 13:5), the Gemara derives the practical implications of this concept: "Emulate the attributes of the Holy One, Blessed Be He. Just as the Holy One, Blessed Be He, clothes the naked...so should you; just as the Holy One, Blessed Be He, visits the sick..so should you; just as the Holy One, Blessed Be He, consoles the bereaved, so should you..." (Sotah 14a)
In Tomer Devorah, the Thirteen Supernal Attributes of Mercy mentioned in Michah 7:18-20 are analyzed in detail.
The following are the words of the holy Sanzer Rebbi, the Divrei Chaim זצ"ל, as heard by his grandson, Rav Moshe Halberstam זצ"ל from the Satmar Rebbi זצ"ל:
“…the learning from the Sefer Tomer Devorah is a segulah against the terrible sickness…”
It is recommended to learn from the sefer Tomer Devorah once a week or at least once a month, even though this sefer is not easy to understand. This segulah follows the principle of middah keneged middah (measure for measure). If we emulate G-d’s Attributes and act like He does with patience, compassion, forgiveness, etc, HaShem will act towards us in the manner of middah keneged middah and be patient, compassionate and forgiving with us.
To be privileged to channel G-d's blessing and benefit into the world, man must emulate his Creator. It is insufficient that man is created in the Divine likeness - he must constantly, consciously, and willingly cleave to G-d by emulating Him in every way.
"Who is G-d like You, Who pardons iniquity and forgives the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not maintain His anger forever, for He delights in kindness. He will again show us compassion, He will vanquish our iniquities, and You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Show faithfulness to Yaakov, kindness to Avraham, which You have sworn to our fathers from days of old" (Michah 7:18-20)
Consequently, it is proper that these Thirteen Attributes should also be found in man.
Hitbodedut: "HaShem, I realize that I have no separate existence from you and therefore I yearn to be more like You. Please help me to rise above my nature and lead me in the path that I wish to go, which is to think, say and do only what is pleasing to You. May I merit to bring love and mercy to my interactions."
He Will Again Show us Compassion
The Holy One, Blessed is He, does not behave as man behaves. For when a person is provoked, he cannot bring himself to love the one who offended him to the same degree as before, even after he is appeased. But if a person sins and afterwards repents, his stature before the Holy One, Blessed is He, is even greater than before.
This is the intention of the statement our Sages made, "The perfectly righteous cannot stand where repentant sinners stand."
They explain as follows:
"Why is the letter ה (heh) shaped like a porch? So that anyone who wants to go astray can do so!"
The explanation of this is as follows:
The physical world was created with the letter heh, for the Holy One, Blessed is He, created the world in such a way that it is wide-open to evil and sin. There is no area where the opportunity to sin, the evil urge, and blemishes of the soul are absent! It is just like a wide-open, unfenced porch, which has no barriers against danger, as symbolized by the gap at the bottom of the heh. Anyone who desires to forgo the World to Come has many exits, since wherever he turns, he can find evil and sin through which he can enter the domain of the Outside Forces.
And yet, the heh also has a gap in the top left corner, symbolizing repentance, which will be accepted by G-d. But why shouldn't a person reenter by the same path through which they left? Answers our Sages: "Because this will have no effect!" For it is not enough for a repentant sinner to guard himself against sin the same way as perfectly righteous person does. A tzaddik who has not sinned requires only a minor barrier, whereas for a repentant sinner, a small barrier is insufficient - he needs a number of tough restraints, since if he approaches the fence again, his evil urge might seduce him.
Therefore, he should not reenter via the same path by which he left, through the part of the porch he broke through. Rather, he should ascend to the narrow gap at the top of the heh, representing the restraints and penances he accepts upon himself in mending the broken fence, and he should enter through there.
For this reason, "The perfectly righteous cannot stand where repentant sinners stand" - for the latter did not enter through the same door as the righteous such that they should stand together. Instead, they mortified themselves in order to ascend through the upper door, and they inflicted penances on themselves and distanced themselves from sin much more than the righteous. They have therefore ascended and attained the level of the heh that is called "the Fifth Palace of Gan Eden," that is to say, the roof of the heh, whereas the righteous have entered only through the lower opening of the heh - the entrance to the porch.
Therefore, when a person does teshuvah (תשובה), that is to say, tashuv heh, when he returns the heh to its proper place, then the Holy One, Blessed is He, will return His Shechinah to him. And the Holy One, Blessed is He, will restore His love for the repentant person not only as it was originally but in an even greater measure.
This is the explanation of the Attribute "He will again show us compassion": He will increase His compassion for Yisrael, perfecting us and drawing us closer to Himself.
This is also how a person should behave towards his fellow. He should not nurse the hatred born of anger he once felt. Rather, when he sees that this fellow desires his friendship, he should show him even greater compassion and love than before, saying, "He is like the penitents in whose place even the perfectly righteous cannot stand." In this way, a person will draw his fellow very close to himself - much closer than he would draw those who have behaved perfectly righteous towards him, never wronging him.
Hitbodedut: "HaShem, just as you give to me even though I have sinned and repented, please help me do the same and may that also be a teshuvah for my sins so that You restore to me the benefit of Your love. Please help me to see that this was for my growth and development and that the process has produced an amazing good. Help me to trust it and for that trust to produce love and light."
