Hora’ah – הוראה – Teaching
“The Tzaddik is also an intermediary. He is an agent between G-d and ourselves. Yet he is not an intermediary at all. G-d forbid that anyone thinks he needs a medium between the Almighty and himself; not from his side, and certainly not from G-d’s. Rather, because the Tzaddik is one who has conquered the physicality of this world and entered the spiritual realm, he serves as an agent and a catalyst for bringing spirituality to this world. Having attained the wisdom and understanding necessary for srving G-d in a true and proper manner, the Tzaddik serves him by bringing His will to mankind and by getting people to recognize G-d in all aspects of their lives. The average person cannot perceive G-d’s will, and therefore has to turn to someone who can. This in this sense, the Tzaddik is an intermediary.”
“Crossing the Narrow Bridge,” Chaim Kramer, p. 323
The tzaddik is said to be a dwelling place for the Shekinah, the Divine Presence of G-d in our physical world:
“A vessel is placed under the Sabbath light to receive the sparks. This law of the Mishnah refers to the ‘zaddik, who is called the vessel of the Shechinah, which is light, for the Torah is call light; that is, the study of Torah and performance of the mitzvoth is light, The zaddikim are the throne for the Shechinah, as it is says of Abraham, ‘And the Lord *went up* from Abraham’ (Gen. 22:17). The zaddikim are the channels through which the sparks of the Shechinah pass that they might scatter to all the world.”
“The Zaddik,” Samuel Dresner, p. 126
The Shekinah, associated with Malchut, is the ‘first gate” of connection for us.
“How apt then, the Baal Shem Tov’s interpretation of Psalms 118:20, ‘This is the gate to G-d, tzadikim. Tzadikim are the gate to G-d’.”
Chassidic Dimensions Volune 3, Jacob Immanuel Schochet, p. 111
The tzaddik is the connection between the souls of the living:
“Within the hands of Yesod/Tzaddik are the souls of all living things. Because of this it is also called Hei ha-olamim (the “eternally living one,” or, “Living God”).”
Along the Path: Studies in Kabbalistic Myth, Symbolism, and Hermeneutics, Elliot R. Wolfson, State University of New York Press, Albany, 1995, p. 86.
NEW TESTAMENT
“And He searching the hearts knows what [is] the mind of the Spirit, because He makes intercession for the saints according to [the will of] God.”
Rom 8:27
“Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the descendant to whom the promise had been made. It was administered through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary is not for one party alone, but God is one.”
Galatians 3:19-20
“For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
1Timothy 2:5
“Therefore He is able also to save to the uttermost those who come unto God by Him, [since He] ever lives to make intercession for them.”
Hebrews 7:25
“And for this cause He is the Mediator of the new covenant, so that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions [that were] under the first covenant, those who are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.”
Hebrews 9:15
“For Christ has not entered into the [Holy of] Holies made with hands, [which are] the figures of the true, but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”
Hebrews 9:24
“My little children, I write these things to you so] that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ [the] righteous.”
1John 2:1