Editing The Seventy Languages (section)

== The Seventy Languages in Chassidus ==
The analogy of these two types of stones can be understood spiritually regarding letters (osios) which are called "stones," as they too have two aspects. The first aspect is the creation by Heaven (bidei Shamayim) and is called "stones." The second aspect is made by human hands and is called "bricks" (leveinim).

The letters of the Torah are called "stones" because the Torah is from Heaven - "And Hashem spoke to Moshe." This is called Lashon Hakodesh, which flows from the highest level of Kodesh. However, the aspect of "bricks" refers to the letters of the 70 languages of the nations, where each nation speaks in its own tongue.

It is written, "I have spread you as the four winds of heaven," meaning that the Jewish people are scattered among the 70 nations and also speak the language of each nation where they dwell, using it for business (masa u'matan). Later, when they pray with mesiras nefesh and proper kavana, and learn Torah lishma from their business efforts, they elevate all the letter combinations they spoke to the highest levels, to the root of their neshama, which is the aspect of "pure" - the supreme tehiru that precedes hishtalshelus.

This is called "chulin that was made with the purity of kodesh." This means that while Lashon Hakodesh flows from the highest level of kodesh, other languages are mundane (chol). However, when they are refined through prayer as mentioned (and also when used to understand Torah, as we find Aramaic words in the Gemara like "hai hashta" and "ee amrat b'shlama"), they become purified with the purity of kodesh, reaching the highest level of kodesh and tehiru ela'ah.

Just as with the analogy of bricks - although they are simple earth, through human effort they become as hard and strong as stone, until they build a wall with them - "I am a wall, this is Torah." However, it's impossible for these letter combinations of chulin to be transformed and refined to become "holy stones" except through mesiras nefesh in Krias Shema.

Just as bricks must first be fired in a kiln to become hard and strong like stones, so too in divine service, the "burning of the bricks" happens through praying with kavana and with the flame of ahava v'yirah, saying "V'ahavta" with all your heart. Through this, the foreign letters from all business dealings are burned and included, along with all the vitality and abundance that comes from them, like food and clothing - all ascend and are included in unity in the service of Hashem when one has mesiras nefesh in "Echad" with enthusiasm 

The 70 languages can be elevated so greatly through the service of prayer and Torah study that they too can become like holy stones, to the point where they are called "sapphire brick." To understand this concept: We observe that in every nation speaking its own language, there are still only the 22 letter combinations from the five known places of articulation - the throat (אחה"ע) and so forth - just as in Lashon Hakodesh (the Holy Tongue). The difference between other languages and Lashon Hakodesh is seen in words like "basar" (flesh) in Lashon Hakodesh, where the letters Beis, Shin, Reish actually give life to the flesh through Hashem's creative speech of the Six Days of Creation, unlike other languages which are merely conventional, as explained in the Pardes (in Shaar HaOsiyos) and the Shelah. 

Similarly, the shapes of the letters in Ksav Ashuri (Assyrian script) allude to wonderful concepts - as we see that Rabbi Akiva would expound upon every crown of the letters. None of this exists in other scripts and languages. Nevertheless, the pronunciation of the 22 letters exists equally in them as well.

It is known that the root of these 22 aspects of letters stems from an extremely high source, beyond intellect, though they were fixed in the mouth. Therefore, we see that even the 70 languages have a root for their letters in the supernal realms, which is why they can be elevated through mesiras nefesh (self-sacrifice) during the recitation of [[The Mitzvah of Krias Shema|Krias Shema]], as mentioned above<ref>Likkutei Torah Parshas Mishpatim D"H Vayeru Page 77</ref>.